Childlike Trust and the Path to Spiritual Maturity

This sermon was preached by Pastor Ted Carnahan for the First Sunday of Christmas, December 28, 2024

Transcript

Grace, mercy, and peace be with all of you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Merry Christmas! I know that everybody thinks that Christmas ends on the 25th, but we know that the party just got started. We also know, as I mentioned on Christmas Eve night, that the scads of people who were here was wonderful, wasn't it? The church was full. Some of you are probably a little more introverted, and you kind of looked at that and went, "Yeah, but I went to the 6:30 on purpose." That's fine. We have options for a reason.

Between the two services, we had 450 people here this year. That's awesome!

Back to the Grind?

Now here we are on the first Sunday of Christmas, and it's back to usual. That's okay, too. We experience the height of the celebration of Christmas, and it's wonderful, and it fills our hearts, and it nurtures our faith, and it reminds us of what this is all about. Then, at least for me as a pastor, we come crashing back into reality. The reality is that Christianity is not just a mountaintop experience religion. Christianity is not just about the big celebrations of Christmas and Easter. They're great, but they're not where true faithfulness is found. True faithfulness is found in the nitty-gritty, everyday, rubber-meets-the-road grind of everyday life.

I'm not saying that worship is a grind, but it requires a certain degree of discipline, of faithfulness, of being different in the world, not just a couple times a year, but being different in the world in an ongoing way. It's a way that changes us so that we have the opportunity to grow spiritually into Christ. Frankly, that's a message sometimes that we don't do a good job of sharing, that there is something that comes to us regularly from the practice of being in worship, submitting ourselves to the Word of God, being nourished by the remembrance of our baptism, being fed at the Lord's table. These things are ongoing processes in the lifelong project of becoming better and better disciples of Jesus.

Lessons from Samuel and Jesus

Something that I think is really interesting about our readings for this first weekend of Christmas is that the readings are about two young men, 12-year-old boys. They both find themselves in the service of the temple. You've got Samuel, who's serving, ministering before the Lord. The writer of Samuel tells us that it's kind of unusual because here's this boy, this little boy, wearing a linen ephod. A linen ephod would be the vestments of a priest serving in the temple. Here's this little boy serving in the temple. In fact, it tells us that his mother brings him each year a new robe to wear because he's outgrowing his old one. The kid's still growing.

This pairs really nicely with what we have in Luke chapter 2. This funny little story about Jesus growing up. He's about 12 years old here. They travel from Nazareth to Jerusalem for the Passover. Then on the way home, Jesus slips out of the crowd and disappears. He heads back to the temple and spends a bunch of time there. They travel out a day. They realize he's missing. They travel back. That's the second day. They look around in Jerusalem for three days. By my count, it's five days where this kid is away without leave. You've got to wonder what's crossing Mary and Joseph's minds at that point. If one of my kids was gone on their own recognizance without telling me where they were, I'd be frantic to find them or incensed that they were gone.

Yet when Jesus is found there in the temple, just like Samuel was, he belongs there too. He says, "Don't you realize that I needed to be in my father's house?" He knows, even from a very early age, who he is and what he's about. He doesn't somehow become Jesus or become the son of God later in his life. He's the son of God from a very early age. Just like Samuel realizes that he is to serve the Lord and hears the voice of God from a very early age. He's a little kid. Just like John the Baptist hears the voice of the Blessed Virgin and leaps for joy in his mother's womb. Children can and do have faith.

Childlike Faith

In fact, Jesus tells us that the faith that you and I, grown-ups, are supposed to be seeking out is not the sophisticated faith of the super-duper well-educated. It's supposed to be the faith like a child. That childlike trust in the Word of God that says, "My Lord has told me these promises and I trust him as I trust my own father." Maybe even more than I trust my father, depending on what relationship you have with your father or had. I trust him because he is my good heavenly father. The Lord is my shepherd. He leads me where I need to go. He designs good for me and it's going to be okay. We are to grow in that childlike faith. Not childlike as in unsophisticated, but childlike as in trusting and accepting of this truth which God gives us through his Holy Word.

We find that if that happens, then just like Samuel growing up in the temple, just like Jesus as a young boy in his father's house, we are to grow spiritually into the likeness of the Lord. Colossians tells us that really clearly. I want to go over this line by line because there's so much here. It's worth paying attention to in Colossians 3, starting off in verse 12, he says this, "As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves." Then he gives a list. We'll talk about that list. But first of all, did you hear what St. Paul is saying to you? First of all, you are God's chosen one. You have been chosen by God to believe. You heard the word of truth proclaimed to you in this preaching, in scripture, in the bread and wine of Holy Communion. You have heard this word of God and you have said, "These promises are for me." That's a kind of belief that doesn't happen on an intellectual level. It's something that happens in your gut. You are holy. You are beloved. You have been marked out, set aside. You have been made clean and good. You have been made holy and set apart. You are beloved by God.

Clothed in Christian Virtues

Then he says, if you are God's chosen one, if you're holy and beloved, then what should that look like? You should be clothed in a certain way. Not blue jeans versus slacks or something like that, but clothing yourself with the things that are the outward mark of a Christian. Clothing yourself with compassion. Clothing yourself with kindness. Clothing yourself with humility and meekness and patience. These are the things into which we as Christians are to grow. We start with this childlike acceptance of the truth of the gospel. "I am chosen. I am holy. I am beloved by God." Now, what does that look like? What does that mean for me? How am I to live? He says, "Clothe yourselves. Put on compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience."

This sounds great, but what about everybody else? It's great to be patient and kind and compassionate, but what happens? Does that mean I'm supposed to be a doormat? Is that what it means? And what does that look like when I have to rub up against other people? Verse 13 says, "Bear with one another. If anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, you also must forgive." Holding on to ancient grudges is not in the spirit of Christ. Those who do are alienating themselves from the goodness of God. Holding on to a grudge, I've heard it said, is like drinking poison in the sincere hope that the other person is going to die. It just doesn't work that way.

Then he says, "Above all, clothe yourselves with love." If there is one law that connects everything for how Christians ought to live in the world, it is as simple as this, to love others as God in Christ has loved you. In fact, if everybody loved each other with the perfect self-emptying agape love of Jesus Christ, there would be no need for any of the other laws because all of us would empty ourselves for the other. We'd be so busy trying to take care of the people around us that there'd be no time for us to curve in upon ourselves. It would, as Paul says, bind everything together in perfect harmony.

From Here to There

That's all well and good, Pastor. You're talking about all these nice things that we ought to be, but how do we get from here to there? Because I don't know about you, but this doesn't describe me very perfectly. I try for this, and I hope you do too, but I believe that I am God's chosen one. I try to hold on to the idea that I'm holy and blameless, and I try to be a person of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. But let's be honest, I don't always do that. And frankly, you don't either.

He says this, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body." First, you have been called to be part of a body of believers, and the peace of Christ should be ruling your hearts by this calling that you have to be part of the body of believers in Jesus. Being here with your brothers and sisters in Christ is step number one. Step number two is three words. It's really simple. He tacks it onto the end of that verse. "And be thankful."

You know, it turns out that when we start listing our blessings, modern psychology talks about how if we talk about our blessings, if we list our blessings, if we do that thing that we do sometimes around the Thanksgiving table, which causes me to just cringe so hard sometimes. But it's good for us to say, "What are you thankful for this year?" It turns out that if you actually do it, it makes you a more thankful person. It actually changes the way your brain works. Recounting your blessings will make you a more positive person. It'll actually change your mood and your disposition. Your personality can change through simple application of gratitude.

Dwelling in the Word of Christ

Then he says this, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." The way that we can follow the path that Jesus Christ has given us is by living on his way. In fact, the earliest followers of Jesus did not call themselves Christians. That was kind of a pejorative term that was used by others. "Christian" means "little Christ." It's like, "Oh, look at the little Christ." It was a mocking term. It's the same word. It's a road and it's made for walking. And that's just what we'll do. One of these days, I'm sorry, I'm going to stop with the song lyrics. No, we're going to walk this road. We're going to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly. We're not just going to expose ourselves to it once in a while in the hopes that maybe something sinks in, but we're going to keep at it. I want the word of God to dwell in me richly, frequently, fruitfully.

Then he talks about all the ways you can do that. Teaching and admonishing each other in wisdom, which is both teaching and admonishing. Admonishing says, "Hey, you know, you're kind of going the wrong direction. The road's over here, dummy. Come on, let's go." And with gratitude in your hearts, it says, "Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God." The one who sings prays twice. We need music. We need that to lift us up.

Then he summarizes it all this way. He says, "Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." Which is a wonderful safety net to put under all of this because whatever it is you're doing, whatever interaction you're having, you're in the grocery store and you're irritated because it's taking too long to check out. Snap at that cashier in the name of Jesus? I don't think so. Are you about to be unforgiving and hold on to a grudge in the name of Jesus? I'd be careful with that. But are you going to forgive in the name of Jesus? Are you going to love in the name of Jesus? Sometimes people use that old phrase, "What would Jesus do?" It's sort of along the same lines, isn't it? What should you do in the name of Jesus?

Because it turns out that when we live that way, then we are clothing ourselves with compassion and kindness and humility and meekness and patience and forgiveness. And it turns out that that is what God is looking for from his chosen ones so that we are held out before the world as holy and blameless. When we live that way, we're letting the word of God dwell in us richly. We're growing into the fullness of Christ so that even though we might be spiritually, it doesn't matter how old you are, small and accepting the gospel with that childlike trust, we can be on that road growing into the fullness of Christ, leaning on his love and his forgiveness because we are imperfect creatures in an imperfect world, fallen and sinful, but forgiven by the love of God in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

So in this Christmas, may you go and dwell richly in the word of God. May you go from this place to share the love of God with others. May you return here again and again to know the love of God made real and physical and tangible in the sacraments. May you hear the word of God and let it sink into your hearts.

Then may the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds strong in Christ Jesus, our Lord, to life everlasting. Amen.