Tomorrow Sunday, June 30th, 2013 at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine: “Set Free” (Galatians 5)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Saint Paul writes this about the life of the flesh I’m about to present:
Galatians 5:21b: “I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
The verb is present tense and is denoting a constant action. We must understand that Saint Paul is describing persistent, intentional, deliberate, habitual, and again -- constant -- behavior. Scripture is describing a life-style which plans to do these and intends to remain in these. All of this is to say that this section of God’s Word is NOT describing sins of weakness! The Christian will certainly be able to relate to these sins, but not in the sense of embracing them, but in the sense of forsaking them!
But it is important that we have a little more to go on for such an important matter. How can we discern the difference? I’ve written this chart to help (note: because the Christian has a sinful nature, the Christian can understand the column on the right (even from experience), but the Christian also constantly knows the column on the left, something which the hypocrite does NOT relate to):
Christian Sinning in Weakness vs Hypocrite Deceiving Himself
1. Relates to the catalog; 1. Revels in the catalog
2. Hates the sins; 2. Approves the sins
3. Is battling these sins; 3. Is planning these sins
4. Disrupts & undulates; 4. Persists in & practices
5. Battles guilt & shame; 5. Battles getting caught
6. Confesses with heart; 6. Confesses with mouth
7. Remission of Sins; 7. Permission to Sin
In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,
Pastor Espinosa
Tomorrow June 23rd 2013 at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine: “Adopted and the Owners of Everything!” (Gal. 3:23-4:7)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“Adopted and the Owners of Everything!” (Gal. 3:23-4:7)
The 5th Sunday after Pentecost, June 23rd, 2013
Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Adoption often gets a bad rap. When I was growing up for example, my older siblings would sometimes subject me to some psychological jabs. Since I had come along 8 years after my three older siblings, I was sometimes referred to as having been adopted. Today, I’m embarrassed by the fact that this used to bother me. I wish today that I had embraced it back then. You know how it is. How often we think to ourselves, “If I had only known then, what I know now!” Why embrace it? Because God’s Word says to you and me dear Christian that every single one of here today for whom Jesus died and rose; and for us who have been baptized into the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus have been adopted into God’s kingdom, into God’s family, into God’s magnificent and eternal love and mercy for us with the promise that He shall never, ever let us go.
This is where the proverbial rubber hits the road in terms of what makes the faith so invaluable. Last week I explained what faith is: 1) it is true; 2) it is trustworthy; and 3) it lives in the reality of the promises given…or simply said, it takes God up on His truth and trustworthiness…it actually lives in His grace, walks in His grace, and expresses its life in His grace. Just think of Peter when He saw Jesus walking on water: 1) He believed that Jesus was really there (that Jesus was true and real); 2) He believed that Jesus was able to call him unto Himself even on the water (Jesus was trustworthy); and 3) Peter actually stepped out and indeed – before he began to sink – Peter was walking on water. This is faith.
I bring this up because adoption is the assurance that we are indeed people of faith: it is the guarantee that God has called us, that God has united us to Jesus, that we have received the grace of God and the gift of faith, and it is the assurance that we are living never, ever alone, but always and constantly with the Holy Spirit. Do you have faith? To answer the question, just back up and ask yourself: “Well, am I adopted or not?” The answer is yes, esp. if you understand when and how God adopts you (answer: in Holy Baptism and by the power of the Word of God contained in the water which joined you to Jesus Christ). And if you are adopted, then yes, you have also received the gift of faith!
If you know this Christian, then you are called to live in great confidence and -- don’t be shy about it now -- in the power of faith in God. This is a faith that might not be impressive to the world with its confused ideas about faith, but it is a faith led by the Spirit of God that leads you to face anything in life with the assurance that God is with you and that God will bless you no matter what. No, this doesn’t mean that you and I always get what we want or what we think we need. But it does mean that God will keep holding us as His adopted children and He will bless us…He always finds a way. And the reason you know that these are not just pious platitudes, is because the One who guarantees your adoption lived and died and rose for you!
Such faith flows from the knowledge that Jesus gave up His life for you and if God loves you that much, then The Father will not allow anything to interfere with the truth of the saving Gospel of His Son Jesus. Faith knows this to be true, because your faith knows that you are adopted/you belong to God. This faith figures that if Jesus could give His life for me, then I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He will always be for me and to erase all doubt He assures me of this reality because He came to me in Holy Baptism, and adopted me as His child.
And this is what makes our faith so glorious even in this veil of tears in the world and even as we bear crosses. It is true, but it is also extremely relevant. This is what the world needs to know about the Christian faith. It is true – based on what actually corresponds to a real state of affairs in space and time – but it is more than just true, it is exceedingly relevant. The world needs this sense of truth, relevance, importance, and meaning. It is true that this past week the Miami Heat won their 3rd NBA championship, but many of you could care less. It may be true, but it isn’t terribly relevant. But when it comes to faith, the truth of the Gospel of Jesus and the life it produces in becoming adopted heirs of God means that our whole lives are impacted: we have clarity about our identity, our purpose, and our destination; and we have gifts poured out from God to live as His adopted people. The faith is true, it is relevant, and it is exciting…and it is on account of our adoption that we begin to see clearly about these things.
But it begins by embracing the guarantee that you are indeed a child of God; not called to doubt who you are, but to be absolutely clear about it. You are a child of God, because you are adopted. That means that this word “adopted” can’t be a weird thing, but a glorious status. We should say with pride and joy: “I am adopted!”
Tomorrow Sunday, June 16th, 2013 at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine: “You No Longer Live, And Now You’re Really Alive!” (Galatians 2:20 & 3:13)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It is one thing to accept that Jesus is real. It is to go further and trust that He is the Savior of sinners. But it is most important that our lives actually enter into His life and that His life actually enters into our lives. Our terrible sin is that we compromise what faith is. We placate ourselves into treating faith like checking off boxes on a form: “Yeah, I believe in Jesus,” as if faith were simply an intellectual exercise. Like playing a game and you come up to the clubhouse and you’re asked the “secret pass word,” and you say, “Jesus” and they let you in. That’s not faith. That’s a game! Faith impacts your life. It changes you. It makes you – by the grace of God – into a different person. Yes, one who still struggles against sin (grant it), but also one who now follows Jesus.
Luther elaborated on such a living faith that does not simply accept and trust, but lives out its relationship with God:
Thus faith is a divine work in us, that changes us and regenerates us of God, and puts to death the old Adam, makes us entirely different men in heart, spirit, mind, and all powers, and brings with it [confers] the Holy Ghost. Oh, it is a living, busy, active, powerful thing that we have in faith, so that it is impossible for it not to do good without ceasing (Triglotta, 941, F.C., Sol. Decl., IV).
Listen to this beautiful commentary from Luther:
“[faith] unites the soul with Christ as a bride is united with her bridegroom. By this mystery, as the Apostle teaches, Christ and the soul become one flesh [Eph. 5:31-32]. And if they are one flesh and there is between them a true marriage…it follows that everything they have they hold in common, the good as well as the evil. Accordingly the believing soul can boast of and glory in whatever Christ has as though it were its own, and whatever the soul has Christ claims as his own. Let us compare these and we shall see inestimable benefits. Christ is full of grace, life, and salvation. The soul is full of sins, death, and damnation. Now let faith come between them and sins, death, and damnation will be Christ’s, while grace, life, and salvation will be the soul’s; for if Christ is a bridegroom, he must take upon himself the things which are his bride’s and bestow upon her the things that are his (LW 31:351).”
And it’s here that we finally really begin to understand what makes faith powerful in impacting the lives of weak and helpless sinners: faith is God’s gift to us through the Word and Sacrament that affects what Luther called “the wonderful exchange.”
Tomorrow June 9th, 2013 at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine: “Separated” (Galatians 1:15-16)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Tomorrow is the Lord's Day and we are given His total assurance that He will meet us in Church to feed our souls with the powerful Word and Sacrament of the Lord Jesus Christ. Also, we are continuing in our sermon series on Galatians. This is a powerful letter that is always applicable to our lives today. Tomorrow, we are going to focus on Galatians 1:15-16: "But when he who had [separated me] before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles..." From this Scripture we will focus on this concept of being separated by the grace of God. That might sound a little strange, but I'm going to demonstrate that the principle of separation is a universal one which permeates life. In Scripture, it is used to describe both blessing and judgment. Our emphasis, however, will be to show how it is a word about your salvation, hope, and your new identity in Christ. Come and be blessed. Come and let God keep you separated from sin and death. Come and be separated as a member of the Body of Christ separated to be blessed in Jesus! Invite a friend for our 9:30 am service. There will be Sunday School and Bible Study as well!
Here is an excerpt from the sermon:
“Separated” (Galatians 1:15-16)
Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa
The Text: “15But when he who had [separated me] before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles…”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. We began our series on the book of Galatians last Sunday with the very practical mission of our Lord Jesus Christ: He came to rescue you dear Christian from the present evil age (Galatians 1:3). This is the perfect segue for today’s continuation of the Galatians’ series: the Holy Spirit through Paul in Galatians teaches us about one of the most predominant principles of life in the universe: separation. In saving you, God separates you from evil, but there is much more to be said about separation.
To live is to experience separation. It is an axiomatic principle of existence. “Cell division [or separation] is necessary for the growth and repair of multicellular organisms and for the reproduction of all organisms (Mader, Inquiry Into Life, third edition, 76).” And what is true at the cellular level is true of the cosmos: “The discovery of the expansion of the universe was one of the great intellectual revolutions of the twentieth century. It came as a total surprise, and it completely changed the discussion of the origin of the universe. If the galaxies are moving apart, they must have been closer together in the past (Hawking, The Ilustrated A Brief History of Time [and] The Universe In A Nutshell, 76).” That is through the constant expansion of the universe separation between the stars and between the galaxies is the natural contour of the physical cosmos. Separation is normal and it is necessary.
Between our chemistry and the cosmos, however, are our daily lives and the separation we experience represents both order for our lives and hardship (depending on the particular type of separation we experience). We desire separation when it comes to our capitalistic system which rewards hard work, education, and ingenuity. All men are created equal (this is true), but God rewards those who work. The Bible says simply in 2nd Thessalonians 3:10: “If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.”
At the same time, we bemoan the separation that springs from materialism, greed, and hedonism which can blind people -- who have much -- to ignore those who are poor and who are suffering. Our country specializes in separation: it is both the key to our success and at the same time the revelation of our shame.
But we also deal with separation in our immediate lives. Disease is the experience of the disorder that has entered our lives. When our bodies are impacted by any kind of malady (be it a virus, an injury, or an addiction) we experience separation from a fuller state of health. This is a distraction to say the least and in some cases the cause for a total shift in the way we live. It is normal in these circumstances to experience bereavement, sorrow, and/or confusion when we are separated from the health and vitality we once knew.
But life is also full of exciting forms of separation. Separation from middle school onto high school is exciting; separation from high school to college is even more exciting. This is a time of many celebrations as we have so many graduates who are separating from one stage of life to another: Hope Taylor is separating from Lutheran High Orange and going to college in Nebraska; Daniel Kuntz is separating from Crean Lutheran High School and going to college in Washington state; and Jacob Mueller is separating from El Toro High School and will be attending college here in Irvine. My daughter Danielle separates from the University of Chicago on August 30th and will then separate from her status of “being single” to the status of being married on September 14th. She will then also separate from the United States in order to live in Germany…a separation that is for me both exciting and bittersweet. Nikki Atanasova who just separated from her under graduate studies at CUI will start in the nursing program at CUI. Stacy Fischer is now separated from her program at USC and will become a Lutheran teacher in San Diego. Nickolas Lewis has achieved his law degree from Chapman University and now separates from law school in order to pass the bar and start an exciting career as juris doctor (joining the other JD’s in our congregation). Indeed, separation is often also the cause for celebration! For myself, 22 years ago today, I was separated for service in the holy ministry through holy ordination. And 14 years ago, my daughter Esbeydi was separated from life in the womb, to life in the world. Happy birthday Esbeydi!
This diversity on separation is also powerfully represented in Holy Scripture. Saint Paul writes at Galatians 1:15-16: “15But when he who had [SEPARATED/[original form: aphorizo] me before I was born, and who called me by his grace, 16was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles…”
This word is important. Aphorizo in the Greek is a compound word from apo = away from, separate, at the farthest point + horos = boundary. It means “to mark off from a boundary or line (Robinson, Word Pictures In The New Testament, 279).” Kittel says simply that we can think of the concept as “to sever (Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Abridged in One Volume, 728).” God separates and for very important reasons, sometimes for blessing and other times for judgment. On the last day when Jesus comes in glory, He will separate all people one from another “as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats (Matthew 25:32).” The angels themselves will conduct this separation -- at the Lord’s bidding -- of the evil from the righteous (Matthew 13:49).
In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,
Pastor Espinosa
Tomorrow June 2nd 2013 at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine: “To Deliver Us From The Present Evil Age” (Galatians 1:1-12)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
People loved by God, [joy can still fill our hearts] even as tears fill your eyes and you work diligently to ease the suffering, to console the bereaved, to bury the dead. You do all this not as a people who are surprised that such suffering exists and comes to human beings. You have been forewarned in Scripture to expect such and more. But you face it knowing that death, destruction, tears and heartache will not be the end of this world. They simply will not. They are indeed “the present form” of this world. But that form passes away.
And what will be, what the Spirit guarantees will be, is the glorious hope we hear of in Revelation: the nail-scarred hand reaching out to touch each weeping face, to wipe away the tears and to do away forever with the sin and the suffering and the death that plague us here and now, striking without warning and tearing apart those whom God created to live together.
The Spirit moves us to tend the suffering as best we may, weeping with them, and praying constantly: “Come, Lord Jesus! Come!”
Part IV:
Vacation Bible School 2013 is this month from Monday, June 24th through Friday, June 28th. Please sign up at church. It is for children pre-school through 6th grade. AND junior high schoolers, high schoolers, and college youth are encouraged to be helpers and have fun with pastor and the kids! Also, we need lots of volunteers as once again we are having VBS on the beach! VBS is 9 am to 12 pm. We will provide snacks and lunch. Registration is FREE! Please speak to Dr. Mary Hobus or Pastor if you are registering or would like to help.
Part V:
Thus far in 2013, we have been blessed with eight (8) confirmations: 4 adults and 4 7th and 8th graders!
I am now forming the next class of youth which will consist of 5th and 6th graders (as we are giving our children the opportunity to be confirmed earlier and at a younger age; there is no need to wait until they finish 8th grade as this is only a more recent tradition in the Lutheran Church). The individual visitations pastor has been conducting to younger confirmands will transfer to a group class this Fall. Thus far, we have the following confirmands enrolled:
1. Faith Ackley
2. Luke Binoya
3. Joshua Bradford
4. Doug Cavanaugh Jr.
5. Bethany Dawn
6. Bryan Espinosa
7. Katherine Espinosa
8. Alyssa Junge
9. Shane Perry
Part VI:
Exciting News!
Former Saint Paul's members (when we were in Laguna Beach), Rev. Steve and Robin Parks have officially requested membership to the congregation. Steve has been conducing doctoral studies in theology overseas and will continue the completion of his writing stage as he joins the full-time theological faculty at Concordia University Irvine beginning on July 1st. Robin has just been hired to work as the case manager at Orange County Rescue Mission Village of Hope in Tustin. I had the great privilege of confirming the Parks into the LC-MS and later marrying them 14 years ago. Steve is an exemplary theologian of the highest caliber (this is no exaggeration; he is a superior theologian). Robin with her musical talents, leadership skills, and compassionate spirit is also a powerful servant of God. We are extremely blessed to be conducting their transfer back to Saint Paul's. We will be seeing more of the Parks this fall.
Part VII:
My health update: As many of you may know by now, on Thursday, May 23rd I was showing the symptoms of Bell's Palsy and on Friday, May 24th I received an official diagnosis of the same. Yesterday, a neurologist confirmed the diagnosis of my internal medicine physician. It appears that I am showing some slight improvement and I believe I'm able to perceive it beyond my imagination. Evidently, the right side of my face is less tight and the left side of my face (which is the paralyzed side) is starting to return to some more normal shape. This is extremely encouraging as the range for healing for Bell's Palsy is very broad. This is known to last for as long as several months. However, it is also possible to heal in a matter of a few weeks. I've been very proactive in rest, taking B-12 vitamins, receiving acupuncture, muscular therapy, taking the prescribed prednisone, using eye drops, and most importantly remaining in prayer.
The neurologist has asked me to rest during this time.
I have made a focused effort for recovery, esp. as this effects my proclamation of the Word of God and my ability to clearly communicate (which from my stand-point is rather important for a pastor-teacher).
At the same time -- and I speak from the heart -- I am also preparing myself for whatever the Lord wills. Sometimes He permits a thorn in the flesh for our good. I have already, in fact, received blessings from this predicament. One of those blessings has been receiving so many well-wishes from so many people. This has warmed my heart and filled it with joy.
I am making one important exception to the resting project prescribed to me: that is conducting tomorrow's divine service. I will not be doing so to be a macho man, to infer that I think I'm indispensable to the Church, etc., but I do it as a source of great comfort and joy to lead my people. I assure you that I will not push myself. I will conduct tomorrow's service with faith, hope, and love. It will be a tremendous blessing and source of strength for me to see you tomorrow and shake your hand. In all honesty, I consider this a vital part of my healing process.
Well, this has turned out to be a long-email. Sorry 'bout that, but I hope to see you God's house tomorrow. Come! Let us worship the Lord!
Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's proclamation:
“To Deliver Us From The Present Evil Age”
(Galatians 1:1-12)
Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I am excited that I get to delve into a series on the letter to the Galatians with you, my dear congregation in the Lord, and for many reasons.
One reason is because more important than the fact that this letter is one of my favorite letters in Scripture, it was Luther’s favorite period. Luther actually called the letter to the Galatians after his beloved wife! He called Paul’s letter “my Katie von Bora” (Kittelson 249) and he said this about the letter overall:
“But in this epistle Paul is dealing with the most important and sublime subject matter: the Gospel, faith, Christian righteousness, the definition of the Person of Christ, the meaning of His work, what He undertook and accomplished on our behalf, and what blessings He brought to us miserable sinners (AE 26:367).”
But another reason that I’m excited to get into this letter is because it came through the revelation given to Saint Paul, the apostle we identify with in the name of our congregation. Over the years I’ve heard people talk about the significance of how congregations are named. For example, if a congregation names itself in connection to an apostle, say Paul, then should that congregation’s name be “Saint Paul’s” (with an apostrophe-“s”) or simply “Saint Paul” (with no “s” at all)? It has been said that to name a congregation as we have gives the impression that the congregation is identified as being in a state of the possessive sense in connection to Saint Paul. That is, we are a congregation that belongs to Saint Paul. This is silly and all of this provides for me the launching pad for expounding on why I’m excited about our name and about the letter to the Galatians.
We are “Saint Paul’s” in the sense that we hold to the powerful and overwhelmingly comforting revelation and exposition of the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ that God provided through the apostle Saint Paul. We are Saint Paul’s in the sense that Saint Paul’s proclamation of the Gospel is what we identify with! That revelation of Jesus that was Paul’s is ours and we are named Saint Paul’s in order to perpetuate this life-saving revelation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
And if there is any letter of the 13 Pauline epistles which communicates this wonderful saving Gospel, then the letter to the Galatians is it! I look forward to this series and I hope you will as well.
One of the other reasons that I’m excited about preaching on this letter is because it was written in such a bold, direct, and no non-sense manner. It is the kind of message that we need today in the 21st century!
Writing this letter was in a sense for Saint Paul a very difficult task. He was indignant and even angry while full of the Holy Spirit and led by God. The congregations in the region of Galatia which he had worked so hard by God’s grace to establish had been compromised by false teachers and by a false, so-called “gospel.”
This letter demonstrates therefore what some might call “tough love,” and what a holy jealousy that strives to protect the beloved sounds like and feels like. Paul writes so as to defend his God-given call and apostolic ministry to refute those who attack him and the work he laid down in Galatia. As a result of the fact that Saint Paul was attacked, the Gospel of Jesus which Paul taught and proclaimed was also being attacked, and therefore the saving Gospel itself in the midst of the people of Galatia was being compromised. The very eternal-life source for the churches in Galatia was being undermined and Saint Paul therefore was red-hot. Yes, we should be a congregation that will proclaim the Gospel with such boldness, because we live in a world today that will otherwise dismiss the true Gospel as irrelevant and in turn dismiss the single most important message in the world and the only source of lasting life. May we never be silent and may we always be bold just like the apostle Saint Paul was when it came to the Gospel proclaimed through him!
In Jesus' Love,
Pastor