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Disclaimer: This is a transcript of Pastor Fenker’s sermon. It was preached from an outline, and the transcript taken automatically from the audio. Please forgive any typographical or formatting errors.
“To sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared.”
᛭ INI ᛭
YOU CANT CHOOSE HOW YOUR LIFE WILL GLORIFY GOD.
That is outside of your control. That is what we see in James and John this morning, the sons of Zebedee. It’s why it’s good for us to celebrate St. James or to remember any of the saints, to see how God worked in their lives for their sake or through them for the sake of others, so that we see how he then works for us or through us for the sake of others.
James and John were the 2 sons of Zebedee. They were called shortly after the Lord Christ called Peter and Andrew to be apostles. They were business partners, with Peter and Andrew. And then the 1st 4 apostles. And today we see how important it is for it to be red today. Red for the Holy Spirit, who worked through the preaching of James, and red for the shedding of his blood, at the hands of Herod.
They tried to choose their way, but the Lord has called us to paths of which we cannot see the ending, to peril, to ways as yet untrodden, to perils unknown, as one of our prayers has it. This is the core of the Christian faith and the Christian life, that you can’t choose how your life will glorify Christ. The Christian faith isn’t the way of choice, but the way of gift. As Christ said, to the apostles, You didn’t choose me, but I chose you. Or as we have learned it in the 3rd article of the Creed, I believe that I can’t, by my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel and enlightened me with his gifts, that is, given me faith.
We don’t like this. We don’t like this. really as Americans, but we bristle at this really as just human beings. We have ever since the garden. When Adam and Eve took up the fruit and their eyes were opened, they did become like God, knowing good and evil. The word was true. And yet, now we have been trying to be God in God’s place ever since, thinking that we call the shots, that our life is our own, no matter what God has in store for us.
But we cannot choose the way we glorify Christ. The Christian faith is one of gift. The Lord giving himself for your sake. Christ and him crucified for your sins, for your wanting to be God in God’s place, for wanting to call the shots. Even as the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom, A payment for many, A payment for you. Even so, it was a gift for our Lord, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising its shame.
And yet, it is still hard for us as believers in Christ who understand the giftedness of the faith, that our lives are a gift, that all is gift, when we live in a world of endless choices. Grocery store aisles full of choices, clothing wracks, full of choices, And if those weren’t enough, there’s endless more: On Amazon, or in all the shops on the internet.
Our flesh delights in all the choices, even as it’s crippled by them, but our flesh loves the choices and then often chooses the bad. We choose what pleases us rather than what is in service of our neighbor. Our flesh turns us who believe in God and Christ, to believe that God exists to cater to our whims, that our life can be as we choose. And we are displeased with God, and he does something different for us.
So it was with James and John. They believed in Christ, they were His apostles. And then trusted him to give what they wanted. Teacher, do for us whatever we ask of you. What do you want me to do? Let us sit on your right and your left in your glory. And as it is for whatever we ask of the Lord, we often, as he said to them, you don’t know what you’re asking.
The endless choices we ask of the Lord, often get us into all sorts of trouble. And sometimes the scariest thing God can do is to give us what we want. If you want to know what that wrath of God looks like, just read Romans one. But as it stands for us today, YOU CAN’T CHOOSE HOW YOUR LIFE WILL GLORIFY CHRIST. And beware of your flesh, that wants to do big things for Christ.
So James and John wanted, big things for Christ. Big long ministries for Christ. It was not so for James. He was the shortest lived apostle. His brother John, the longest lived. And even Peter. It would have been nice to continue the reading into Acts 13, where we find out this very distinction, that James couldn’t choose, neither could Peter. Because Peter eventually was miraculously released from prison. None of the apostles, none of us can choose this very thing. And we’ll see that in our final hymn, which echoes Hebrews chapter 11 for us, that big faith, big things for IHS, big things for our Lord, is not just working miracles, or preaching the gospel, it can include gruesome suffering and death because of the name of our Lord.
But the way of the Christian life is this cross and suffering and death and resurrection. It is the cup that Christ drank for you and for me, the baptism with which he was baptized, was suffering and death, and by our baptism into Christ, that is now the Christian life: suffering, Dying daily to us, rising to new life, to live not for ourselves, but for him who died and rose again.
And again, you can’t choose what that means for your life: James or John or Peter. But you can’t choose it in your daily life either. As Christ says, Whoever would be 1st among you, Let him be slave of all. Being slave of all—that is the way of glorifying Christ with our lives. And that means glorifying Christ in surprising ways. It means parents for their children, and children honoring their parents. It is for siblings to love and serve one another. It is for husband and wife to love and honor each other. It is for workers, to their bosses, bosses to their workers, friends to their neighbors. It is all the various callings that God has given you, which are not chosen for yourselves. Who your friends are is dependent upon where you’re born. And only the Lord chose that.
As Peter says, Whoever has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s very graciousness. Whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God, speaking the word of God. as whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies, so that in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom he belongs glory and honor forever. Amen.
And so we Christian, we Christians live lives that are different from the world. We are true sons of the Father, not sons of disobedience, living for ourselves, but for the sake of others. Even as the son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. Christ’s glory, the glory that James and John were seeking, was his death. His death for the sins of the whole world, your sins, too, To ransom you from your sin, to rescue you from the devil, to save you from death and everlasting condemnation. This is the glory of God. This is the glory of Christ. Christ life was glorified in his death.
So it is. This St. James the Elder Observance that YOU CAN’T CHOOSE HOW YOUR LIFE WILL GLORIFY CHRIST. In a world of endless choices to cater to your every whim and desire, God gives gifts. He may not give what you want, but he gives what you need, even as he gave Christ as a gift for you. And now he takes up your life into his hands, that you in your serving, However that may be to the people around you, that that is how God is glorified in Christ IHS, to whom be glory and honor forever. Glory and honor forever because he came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
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