Lent 1—Invocavit
Dear friends in Christ. If you ask most people what day it is today, most would not say “Invocavit—the 1st Sunday in Lent” but they would say “Valentine’s Day.” While the response “Valentine’s Day” is true enough, the more precise answer is that it is “St. Valentine’s Day.” People often forget that little word “Saint.” Far from being a day like it has morphed into, St. Valentine’s Day, is a day to remember a saint, a martyr, one who has died on account of his faith in Jesus and the confession of that faith. Just who, then, is St. Valentine? Our Synod’s Commission on Worship tells us: Valentine was a physician and priest living in Rome. The commemoration of his death in the year 270 became part of the calendar of remembrance in the early church in the West. Tradition suggests that on the day of his execution for his Christian faith, he left a note of encouragement for a child of his jailer written on an irregularly-shaped piece of paper. This greeting became a pattern for millions of written expressions of love and caring that now are the highlight of St. Valentine’s Day in many nations.
For his faith, St. Valentine was beaten with clubs, beheaded, and at great risk to his fellow believers he was given proper Christian burial.
This sheds a different light on the otherwise frivolity and cheekiness shown today on St. Valentine’s Day. But it is an interesting comparison—a day to remember a martyr for Christ has morphed into a day of chocolates, roses, and romance. But this is not at all much different from what some TV type preachers preach and what sadly, because of our old sinful nature, we often think: if I am a Christian then everything should go my way, how I want it; I should be healthy, wealthy and wise. What a far cry that is—that we should be free from any worry or trouble and just receive one earthly blessing after another—from what St. Paul writes in our text about himself and the other faithful proclaimers of Jesus: but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger.
Our dignity as Christians and true glory is often hidden under much suffering disgrace. That is the very nature life in Jesus’ kingdom, the Church. Through faith, we become members of Jesus’ kingdom—but that glory of Jesus’ kingdom is often hidden. It is a true, blessed glory that we enjoy as Christians, but like St. Paul, St. Valentine, and Christians down through the ages have experienced that glory is hidden in this life. St John writes [1John 3.2]: Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. Our true glory and dignity as Christians will first be revealed when Jesus returns but until then our true status and dignity as Christians will be hidden under much suffering, trial and even persecution—and don’t expect, think or let anyone tell you otherwise. The simple fact remains—Jesus’ kingdom is a glorious kingdom but now its glory is hidden to the eyes, yet its glory is seen with the eyes of faith.
1. What is such good news for us is that entrance into Jesus’ kingdom is solely by the grace of God. It is not something that we either earn or deserve. If it were, how would we ever be certain we had done enough, that we had deserved it? What if even one sin would exclude us, shut us out from our Lord’s kingdom? –Then all of us would be excluded, none of us would/ could be part of Christ’s kingdom, the Church!
But it’s not up to us and our supposed holiness that we are our Lord’s Christian and part of His Kingdom the Church. Instead, it’s the Lord’s grace that we. Our text: Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. The Lord comes to us, in His grace, and calls us into His kingdom. For most of us that was when we were babies and He called to us through the water and word of Holy Baptism and by the Holy Spirit at work in the water and word of Holy Baptism He washed away our sins, worked faith in Him and brought us into His holy family, His kingdom—His Church. The glory of our Lord’s kingdom is that it is a kingdom of grace—God not dealing with us as we earn and deserve by our sins, but showing us mercy and dealing with us in that mercy and love.
What happens in Holy Baptism? –We are connected with Jesus and His death and resurrection. St. Paul writes elsewhere [Rm. 6.4]: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Here we see the true glory of our baptism and what our baptism is and does—it connects us with Jesus and as St. Paul writes in another place [Gal. 3.27]: For as many of you as were baptized in Christ have put on Christ. Luther points out here: Christ Himself is our garment…the garment of our righteousness and salvation.
Do you see here our glory and dignity as Christians? Our glory and dignity is the glory and dignity of Jesus! Baptism—which brings us into the Church, Christ’s kingdom—covers us with Christ. He gives us His holiness and righteousness. Our dignity and glory as Christians is the perfect holiness and righteousness of Jesus. That’s how God sees us! Instead of seeing all our sin and rebellions against Him, God looks at us and sees the perfect holiness of Jesus.
In Holy Baptism our sins were washed away and we were connected to Jesus. Each day as we remember our Baptism, we confess our sins and once again, as it were, drown them in the Baptismal waters and, in faith holding firmly to our Lord’s word in the absolution, we again are clothed with Jesus our righteousness.
Here is our salvation! Jesus’ holy, perfect righteousness is now ours through faith. Because of His perfect keeping/ obeying God’s holy Law, because of His suffering on the cross for us God’s wrath and punishment for our sin, heaven stands open to us. We are now dear children of God and heirs of heaven. The eternal glories of heaven stand before us and as Christians we know, by faith, that heaven is our home and we will be there, in both body and soul, for all eternity together with all the saints, the holy angels and the Triune God. And why? Because as St. Paul says—the grace of God.
The foundation of Jesus’ kingdom is His work for us and our salvation—that’s the expression/ carrying out of the grace of God. In our text, St. Paul quotes the words of the prophet Isaiah, words Isaiah heard God the Father speaking to the Son: “In a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Just as the Father heard the prayers of Jesus, His Son, as He was offering Himself as the sacrifice for the sins of the world, that the Father would bring Him through death to resurrection so now the Father hears the prayers of His Son and for His sake brings people to faith and into His kingdom, the Church.
Jesus’ kingdom is a glorious kingdom. It is one which the grace of God founded and in which that same the grace of God holds sway. His kingdom is one in which the forgiveness of sins and peace with God dominates. His kingdom is one in which He gives us His righteousness. We are part of His kingdom now in this life and we will be for all eternity. What a glorious, eternal kingdom! What a glorious dignity we have already now —even if it really doesn’t look like it, now. We are God’s dear children, He is our dear loving heavenly Father; we are the recipients of every heavenly and spiritual blessing; Jesus’ righteousness is ours; heaven awaits us. The glory of Christ’s kingdom is now hidden, only seen with the eyes of faith.
2. Just because the glory is hidden does not mean it’s not there—it’s just hidden. St. Valentine saw that glory of Christ and His kingdom—that’s why he let himself be beaten with clubs and beheaded. St. Paul and his fellow co-workers with Christ saw, in faith, that glory and had great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger. The very fact that they suffered these things was evidence to them and the world that the holy God Himself was in them and mightily at work. It was evidence to them and to the world that they saw and recognized the great glory of the kingdom of Christ—a glory that was now hidden to them, but by faith, by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit, they believed it. And were willing to endure all for it. And Sts. Paul, Valentine, and in Christians down through the ages, lived in this world letting their glory and dignity as citizens of Jesus’ kingdom shine forth in their lives by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God. The Holy Spirit showed He was at work in them, working in them in spite of their human weaknesses and sufferings. Where the Holy Spirit is, there is faith, and where there’s faith it is receiving the gifts, glory and dignity of Jesus.
Because the glory of Christ’s kingdom is hidden, it is easy for us to lose it because we, according to our old sinful nature, look at the outward. If things are going well for us then we all too easily think we are OK with God; if things are going badly for us, then we all too easily think God has forsaken us. Did He forsake St. Paul in his afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger? Did he forsake St. Valentine when he was being clubbed and beheaded? Hardly! But because our glory and dignity as Christians are hidden under much trial and suffering, because the glory and dignity of Christ’s kingdom is hidden, we need to hold in faith to the word and promise of God, and not to the outward circumstance or our feelings. That’s why we need to heed the Apostle’s warning in our text: we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. Jesus has called you into His kingdom, He has made you His dear Christian, He has given you every grace—but graces, gifts, dignity, and glory that are now hidden but only seen with the eyes of faith. So—since we can’t bring ourselves or keep ourselves in the faith—what did Jesus do to strengthen us in the faith, lest we receive the grace of God in vain? Because we live in a material world He gave us material things—things we can touch, taste, hear—and through these He calls us to faith and keeps us in the faith. We heard how in the water and word of Holy Baptism He brought us to faith; but also in the word that we hear, in the absolution, He strengthens faith giving us the greatest treasures of His kingdom; under the simple, physical, bread and wine He gives us His very body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Here are the greatest gifts with the greatest glory—and yet they are hidden. Yes, they are material—we see, hear, feel, taste them—but their treasures are hidden things we can’t see: forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
The glory that we have as Christians is hidden—to the world and even perhaps to us. But listen to what St. Paul writes in our text: We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything. The world doesn’t see our glory and so regards us as impostors, unknown, dying, punished, sorrowful, poor, having nothing but God sees us and we are true, well known, live, not killed, always rejoicing, making many rich, making many rich. As Christians we are seen as humanly insignificant and defeated, but in Christ, in His kingdom we are divinely significant and triumphant.
Like Sts. Paul and Valentine, as members of Christ’s glorious kingdom, let us pass through dangers, persecutions, trials, etc. of life with our eyes fixed on Jesus and the heavenly glory promised us as a reward of His mercy and so in the end not receive God’s grace in vain. INJ Amen.