From the pulpit to your pocket is a radically honest writer and ELCA Lutheran pastor sharing from his heart, mind, and soul during these amazing but troubling times. Wonder with a spiritually curious preacher like Keith as he explores the ancient scriptures and ponders what the Spirit of Christ is up to today. Special thanks to St. Luke Lutheran Church in Cottage Grove, Minnesota (www.stlukecg.org) where Keith has preached and served as Senior Pastor since 2018.
"By the time we get to his command to “Wake from sleep” and to “throw off the works of darkness” our spiritual muscles are ripped without our knowing. We are poised to get our spiritual affairs in order and get into right relationship with God because the Holy Spirit has been helping us with putting on Christ and his armor of Light. All we need to do to activate ourselves is to remember those 7 words: Throw off darkness and put on light."
Thanks for listening! May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13) For more information about Keith visit www.authorkeithlong.com or St. Luke Lutheran Church visit www.stlukecg.org
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Welcome to the Pocket Pastor Podcast, Sermons on Demand, a show for those on the go, instant inspiration, questions for the quest, strength for the soul. I'm Keith Long, and this Pulpit to Your Pocket preaching comes to you from St. Luke Lutheran Church, a congregation of the ELCA in Cottage Grove, Minnesota. For more information about me, check out authorkeithlong.com. To see what we've got going on at St. Luke, visit us in person at the corner of 70th and Hinton in Cottage Grove, Sundays at 9 a.m., or check out Saint LukeCG.org for more information. Thanks for listening. I'm honored to be part of your spiritual journey. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Clap on clap off clap on clap off the clapper. When it comes to memorable gadgets and inventions growing up, nothing quite compared to the clapper, a sound activated electrical switch meant to activate by clapping. Alexa's great and all, but clapping is so much more joyful. It's too bad the clapper never really caught on. What with that minor quirk where dog barking inadvertently activated it, making particularly rambunctious households in and out of darkness. But nothing beat that marketing campaign. It's been forty years and tune recall is still easy. The absolute key to catchy jingles like that has gotta be keeping the entire tune short while still delivering one clear, focused message. Kinda like our awesome new vision statement, knowing Jesus and making Jesus known. Someone quick, write up a jingle. But that extreme simplicity combined with annoyingly smart repetition allows the brain to easily process, store, and recall the tune, making it become either a marketing darling or a maddening earworm. Other favorites of mine include chia Mentos the Freshmaker. I want my baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back. I want my baby back baby back Chilies Baby back ribs barbecue sauce The best part of waking up is folders in your cup. Quick side note, I couldn't help but tweak a few of these for thinking about our Lutheran sacraments Baptism the Fresh Maker The best part of walking up is Jesus in your cup Movies can get on in on that action too. Whether you've seen it once, twice, a hundred times or never, I'll bet you can complete this one in your sleep. Wax on, wax off. Wax on, wax off, wax on, wax off. Those four famous words were all the rage in 1984, thanks to the karate kids mentor, mister Miyagi, who tells his snotty student Daniel to wax vintage cars using circular hand motions. Right hand wax on, left hand wax off. Daniel thinks he's doing this guy some free child labor, but later, when mister Miyagi attacks him unexpectedly and Daniel uses those exact arm motions to block the blows, boom, it all comes first full circle as Daniel understands that mister Miyagi was a genius. That unthinking kind of response is what the Miyagis of the world refer to as muscle memory. Here's the science of it. First, trust the process, how learning the basics will eventually lead to a bigger payoff. Next, hidden value how seemingly pointless or tedious work can build foundational skills. And lastly, discipline, how repetition instills true growth with patience, humility, and consistency. Miyagi secretly taught a reluctant Daniel the discipline he needed through a repetitive chore or process like waxing a car, so that at precisely that moment of attack his body would correctly react even if his mind was surprised. I wonder, can we replicate all this theologically? Is there a way to build up our spiritual muscle memory? First, let's find a repetitive phrase in this passage. Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep, for salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers. The night is far gone, the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. How about throw off darkness and put on light? Throw off darkness and put on light. Your turn, throw off darkness and put on light. Now for the hidden value. Various scholars and commentators believe this passage from chapter thirteen, which falls within the final three chapters of Romans, offers some of the culminating wisdom of the Apostle Paul's what now and so what questions that he's been slowly building over the entire letter. By the time we get to his command to wake from sleep and to throw off the works of darkness, our spiritual muscles are ripped without our knowing. We are poised to get our spiritual affairs in order and get into right relationship with God because the Holy Spirit has been helping us with putting on Christ and His armor of light almost without our knowing. All we need to do to activate ourselves is to remember those seven words, throw off darkness and put on light. Is it that simple? Why complicate it? Paul was raised learning the laws of Judaism, and it was hammered into him to know them backwards and forwards. Paul's teachers would make Miyagi look like a kindergarten teacher compared to their rigorous instruction. Paul can seem pretty intimidating and intense too, but here in Romans thirteen he makes it very clear that in Christ there is only one law to remember love. Like the Jewish laws, love must be a behavior more than a feeling. Putting on the law of love then is not just about proper attitude. Just as Daniel's instincts were built with repetitive practice, so too with our spiritual instincts. Commentator Elizabeth Shively, lecturer in New Testament Studies at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Where Christ at home, in relationship, in prayer life, in the quiet and personal choices that impact the world at large, such as where we give our money, from whom we purchase goods, what we do with our vote, how we act toward the environment, etc. We practice love consistently like this, and we will owe nothing. Or put a different way, when the only law you practice is love, then love is the only thing you will owe someone. The freedom found in the law of love is precisely to see the other, to care for the other, to love the neighbor rather than being obsessed with one's own maintenance of the rules. It is important here to have some understanding of first century Roman culture. Language of obligation define the livelihood of Roman citizens in many spheres of life. To the emperor they owed honor and allegiance. To their benefactor, if they had one, and many likely did, they owed money, possessions and honor. Slaves owed service and their very lives, wives owed submission, and so on. When Paul exhorts his audience to owe nothing except love, he is in a sense reconfiguring the arrangement of the furniture. Scholar Elizabeth Shively again to owe nothing except love eliminates the structures inherent in the ethic of the Roman cultural narrative. Paul's exhortation to owe nothing except love forces some rethinking. It is this rethinking that I'm all about when it comes to how we practice our theological convictions today. Imagine if love were the only thing Christians were known for. To this end, Paul tries wrapping up his massive teaching to the Romans with an oversimplification of lawmaking. Love your neighbor as you love yourself. I mean that was what was most important to Jesus, so it ought to be most important to us as well. So we put on Christ's truth and his righteousness and his go shoes to proclaim the gospel too, and we put on faith and the protection of salvation as we take up the Word of God. This is what Paul means to put on the armor of Christ's light. Those are a lot of commands, but don't forget to relax too. Paul spent his entire life building the muscle memory needed to accomplish what he accomplished in the name of Christ. But give yourselves a break. Sabbath rest is part of it too. This is an ongoing process, after all. Summer break has reached its conclusion as another learning season is upon us, so let's not waste it in overthinking or worry, but by embracing the simplicity of Christ and His law of love for our lives, as we trust the process of building our spiritual muscle memory, just seven words at a time, throw off darkness and put on light. In Jesus' name, Amen.
