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 2^nd 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 30^th and will then separate from her status of “being single” to the status of being married on September 14^th. 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

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