Our Church

                                                  Participation with Christ
Pastor Jim Kyes
Colossians 2:6-19

Grace, Peace, and Mercy from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ

A man comes up a dusty street bent over by the weight of a wooden cross that he is carrying on his back. On his
head is a makeshift crown of thorns. He is surrounded by men in Roman military garb who jeer and mock him as
he walks slowly hampered by the weight of the crossbeams. When they get to the hilltop that has been chosen
for their destination, he is met by two other victims that are to meet his same fate. They are secured by the
Roman guards to other crosses and lifted high. Now comes the time for the one in the crown of thorns to be laid
upon a cross. Nails are pounded through his hands into the wood and he is lifted high upon the cross flanked by
a crucified victim on his left and his right.
       The man who is lifted upon this cross does not come from Bethlehem and this is not Jerusalem. This scene
is taking place in the town of Pampanga in the Philippines. The man in the crown of thorns is one of the
participants in the Good Friday ritual that is performed every year during Holy week by the Filipino Catholics and
it is a cultural tradition that has been going on for many years. All over the Filipino countryside during Holy week,
can be found parades of men carrying crosses usually flanked by scores of other men flagellating themselves in
unison as they walk in their processions until their backs are bloody.
       The desire to be like Christ-- to participate in the suffering of Christ has been a longing and much sought
after thing throughout the reign of Christ’s Kingdom here on earth. Self flagellation was common in the medieval
period. In fact, even Luther before his re-discovery of the Gospel, (salvation by faith through grace), would
flagellate himself for sins that he felt were unforgiven by God, never feeling perfect enough to merit Heaven.
After the discovery of the Gospel though, the flagellation ceased.
It ceased because Luther, being true to Holy Scripture, knew that you couldn’t beat yourself into salvation, or
hammer yourself into participation with Christ, or climb your way up to heaven by any works that man could
devise in his earthly philosophy, for your salvation is given to you out or God’s mercy alone, by grace through
faith that comes not from us, but is a gift of the Holy Spirit by what Jesus has done for us on the cross by the
sacrifice that He made for all of mankind, paying the price for the sin of the world, for all people, all sin, for all
time. As our text so well states: God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14by
canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the
cross.
That is the difference between a religion and Christianity. All religions are a striving to reach UP to God, climbing
the ladder to heaven through a multifaceted and varied system of works devised by people. Christianity, on the
other hand, is about Gods one and only Son coming DOWN to us from Heaven not as a mere prophet,
philosopher or general good guy being an example for us. But as Saint Paul says: in him the whole fullness of
deity dwells bodily, 10and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. So unlike
something our philosophy of logic might conjure for us, Christianity is about what the God Head, Jesus has done
for us on the Cross, not what we have done, but what He has done for us all by the shedding of His Holy
precious blood for the sins of all the world.
Saint Paul warns us in our text about people who would try to turn Christianity into yet another religion, or tempt
Christians into the seduction of earthly philosophies and paganism saying: 8See to it that no one takes you
captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the
world, and not according to Christ.
We here in America, at least in our past, did not like to have things given to us. My Dad for example, would never
have taken welfare. He thought, like most Americans, that what we have-- should be earned. It is natural for us to
think that we can do it on our own. It is an essential aspect of the American philosophy of the life that has made
us so successful in the secular world. It works great folks! So for us it is very easy to take that earthly philosophy
and apply it to our own spiritual state. That false understanding being that our salvation is dependent on our
own works and that we can climb up the old ladder to heaven by what we do, is just a natural step from our
earthly philosophy that feels intuitively right to us.
       The problem is that we can never do enough to guarantee our salvation, for all have fallen short of the
Glory of God as Saint Paul says in Romans 3. That is why God sent His one and only son into the world to pay
the price of that sin that we could not pay for, on our own, so that all who believe would stand in the shadow of
the cross, made righteous before God by the work of Jesus. Neither do we have to punish ourselves through self
loathing or worry, which is a form of mental self flagellation, or must we beat ourselves up in other ways, for our
sins are covered by the blood of Christ and Jesus has given us in His mercy, Holy Absolution through the keys
given to the church for those sins that we may and will commit weekly and even daily absolved in both public and
private confession.
We need not nail ourselves to a cross to participate then in the suffering of Christ for we are brought into
participation by our baptisms. When we are baptized, it is the same as if we were walking down the Via Dolorosa
with Jesus and crucified with him on the cross. That old Adam is killed in the waters of baptism and you through
Jesus’ glorious resurrection are brought into a new life with him, made a child of God through the indwelling of
the Spirit that leads us to do works that are pleasing to God not for self interested merit but because we are led
by the Spirit of Christ.
Saint Paul rightly speaks of our Baptisms as participation with Christ saying: 12having been buried with him in
baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from
the dead.
God has given us this merciful sacrament, to protect us from evil, and bring us new life through the power or the
Spirit, the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead also brings us new life. But we are also sustained within
that union, by the body and blood of our Savior in the Lords Supper, given to strengthen us on continual bases
as we are assaulted by our own fallen natures and by the devil and the fallen world. For being baptized does not
mean that the devil will not try to bring us from salvation into damnation by any means available, and those ways
may seem perfectly logical and even seductive, but specifically he works to stifle and destroy the Gospel. We
also, sometimes are our own worst enemy, in that our fallen nature moves us to do things contrary to Gods will,
often before we even have a chance to think about what we are doing or what we have just done. But the devil
and the our own fallen natures are not strong enough to break the bonds that we have in Christ Jesus, for being
of the Spirit we are led to come before our Lord in repentance and receive His forgiveness every time, without
fail.
I think that much of these overt forms of worship that we see in the Philippines and elsewhere come from a
desire to join in union with Christ and to feel it, even if it hurts. That is where faith comes in. We do not have to
feel the Spirit to have that Spirit indwell in us, for what is needed is only faith. For if you have faith, than you
have the Spirit, for faith cannot come without the Spirit. Now feeling the Spirit is fickle. Sometimes we might feel it
and other times we may not. Does the sufferer in the hospital feel the joy of the Spirit? Hard to feel Joy in the
midst of pain, but one may feel comfort and strength even in pain, even in weakness. The confidence of life
eternal is strength and a comfort given by the Spirit and that is something that we may all feel. With the
continuing in Word and Sacrament we may also grow in our sanctification so that comfort, strength and joy we
feel will become our way of being-- our very life-- in both sickness and in health.
So let us again join with Jesus as he is here in His body and blood, strengthening us in joy and comfort as we
live our lives in union with him through faith, unto life eternal.
Amen

Our Chapel is located on 15 acres
with lots of potential for expansion so
come help us grow and share the
Good News of salvation in Christ!

Songs

"Abide With Us The Day Is Waning"

Pics

Fellowship

It's a whopper!

Confirmation, it's never to late!

To all those accustomed with Lutheran worship, our services will be familiar and true to the
Word of God. To those unaccustomed with Lutheran worship, I would like to extend a
heartfelt greeting and invitation for you to come and experience the depth of devotion and
genuine sanctification that come through word and sacrament service. We are a church
that extends its roots back to the original apostolic church and because of this, we have a
worship that is authentic and deep. All people who have not experienced the richness and
joy of reliving their baptismal grace in Holy absolution or have not experienced the "true
body and blood of our Lord in, with and under the bread and wine" in the sacrament of Holy
Communion should consider trying it with the same wonder and anticipation that I still do
after these many years.

Although the altar is used in our services to its historic and spiritual necessity,

we use

the pulpit to an equal degree and preach the true Word of God as our Lord

has chosen to

come to us in Holy Scripture. We do not change or twist it's meaning to

suit our own earthly

purposes.

Chapel on the Hill Lutheran Church
Missouri Synod

18212 Engebretsen Rd. Granite Falls, WA. 98252 Ph. 360-691-2467