Vicar Darren Harbaugh
Pentecost 6 july 24
“But, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” Romans 8:37
Today I’d like to talk about nike. When I was growing up, I wanted a pair of Nike Air Jordans. Those are basketball shoes. Nike always had these great commercials featuring Michael Jordan, doing funny and zany things. I felt like if I had a pair of Nikes, my life would be better. I would be able to run a little faster and jump a little higher than everyone else.
I never got that pair of Nikes. I got whatever was on sale at the store and, of course, I blamed all my problems on that cheap pair of shoes I was stuck with
It’s a nice thought though, right? Put on a pair of magic shoes and all your problems go away, you become superhuman in your ability to deal with adversity, life is great.
It seems like this is how many people approach Christianity. Take, for instance, verse 37 from our epistle reading, “But in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” I remember seeing this verse on one of those Christian motivational posters. There is a picture of a man on top of a mountain arms raised in victory, with the phrase “More than conquerors!” pasted on the bottom. The impression is: With Jesus, you to can conquer any obstacle, even Mt Everest.
I’ve seen Christian leaders using this line of thought, instructing believers on how to conquer lust and fear and envy and other “impossible habits” perhaps by following their “5 principles of success.” Some Christian leaders tell believers to pray for whatever they want and they will get it.
They treat Jesus like a magic pair of Nikes that you slip on to make your life better.
So what do you think? What does experience tell you? Do Christians have any problems in life? Ever encountered any rough patches?
Right. Obviously, we still face anxiety and worry, divorce, family struggles, job setbacks, financial trouble, alcoholism, persistent sin and many other problems.
Sometimes we Christians, experience these troubles more than non-Christians. You can look at an unbelieving friend who seems to be a great person, with a wonderful marriage, a happy family, a fulfilling career and think “What’s going on?”
His parents must have bought him a pair of Nikes when he was a kid. That’s gotta be it.
If you haven’t realized it by now, let me break the news to you: being a Christian does not mean that all life’s problems automatically vanish. Nor does being a Christian mean an easy road to money, success and happiness. But I’ll take it that you’ve figured that out by now.
So what about Romans 8:37? “But in all these things we are more than conquerors though him who loved us.”
We do not achieve success in whatever we put out mind to That is not what this is talking about. You can go down to Ocean Beach, offer God a really sincere prayer, and then try to swim from here to China and back, and well, I’m sorry but in this situation you will not be more than a conquerer.
Paul says that we are more than conquerers in “all these things.” All what things? A couple verses earlier it says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? …No, in all these things we are more than conquereors through Him who loved us.”
Notice, we conquer IN these things not despite these things. We conquer not by avoiding or escaping, or by strapping on our Nikes and out-running the problems of life. No, we conquer in experiencing them.
Conquer in experiencing problems? “That’ll never work.” What a foolish way to achieve a victory. Yeah, That’s what they said as Jesus lifted up on the cross.
It is not our courage and strength and endurance by which we conquer. No, it is all Christ.
All the junk that you experience in this life. All that guilt and pain. All those trials and tempations. All the stuff that keeps you up at night. Those regrets you can’t shake. The mistakes that you feel you can never correct. Those things you wish you could erase from your memory, but remain seared there, taunting you.
Jesus takes all these things upon himself.
The sadness you feel because a loved one has been torn from this life, the depression you experience because your health has been diminished by disease and age, the frustration you have because illness has so limited you that simply living and existing is hard work.
Jesus takes all these things upon himself.
And because Christ has suffered all these things for us on the cross, that is what brings the victory. We have victory in the worst adversity. We are more than conquerors “though him who loved us.”
This love is not a vague sentimental affection. It refers to a specific historical act of love on Christ’s part: his death upon the cross.
Our religion is not a religion only of love, but it is a religion of Christ’s love, a love that hung on the cross and walked out of the grave and ascended to the Father to intercede for us, opening to us the doors of heaven. This is a love that is for us all.
As it says in verse 32 “God who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things.”
We are given all things: our sins are forgiven; God’s demands, impossible for us because of sin, are fulfilled,; the bonds of death itself are broken. Christ ,by his innocent life, suffering, death and resurrection has arisen victorious to release us from bondage, and to heal our hurt and bitterness.
How great is His love for us! Nothing, I repeat nothing, can separate us from Christ, his love and his victory!
We’ve talked a lot about victory and conquering. The Greek word for overcoming, conquering or being victorious is “nikao.” The root word for victory is NeeKay or Nike.
Let me put it in a biblical context for you
I Corinthians 15 54
Death is swallowed up in nike.
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy nike?
Thanks be to God, who giveth us the nike through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I did not get the nike from my parents, but thanks be to God who gives us the nike (the victory) through our Lord Jesus Christ.
The nike is yours.
You don’t even have to pay retail price for it. You don’t have to pay anything at all. Free nike! Free Victory!
You know what’s even better though. Nike was not a good enough word for St Paul to describe the victory we have though the love of Christ. We are more than conquers. Paul made up a word – huper nikao– Hyper victorious, surpassingly successful, an ultimate overcomer, a complete conquer, or, dare I say, super nike. In Christ, we have the super nike. We are super victorious.
A few weeks ago, the Giants played my favorite team the Detroit Tigers and the 2nd game of the series was a super nike for the Giants. They won 15-3. A super victory, excessive, more than expected. In Christ, we are not simply going to be victorious, we are going to be REALLY victorious.
How do we live victoriously? Because of all this junk in life, we are being killed all day long, but through Christ we endure and survive in the midst of it all. You may remember St. Paul’s autobiography from 2 Corinthains 4. He said, "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh" (2 Cor. 4:8-12). Then he says: "So we do not lose heart!" (2 Cor. 4:16a).
Nothing shall wipe us out! Nothing shall separate us from the love and the life of Christ! Nothing! We endure. We survive.
Though we are being killed all day long, we survive because the Lamb of God was willing allow himself to be slaughtered on the cross, enduring the suffering and shame so that we would not be led to the slaughterhouse.
This was a very real, physical, tangible historical act of love. We survive and endure because Christ continues to come to us in love in a very real, physical, tangible, present way, comforting us with his love and grace. You receive Christ’s love and comfort in your ear from the sound waves of the sermon and the absolution. You receive Christ’s love and comfort on your lips in the bread and the wine, his body and blood. We come away refreshed and strengthened.
So that when we see the problems that we face in life, that we will continue to face in this life, in light of the suffering of Christ, we see that they are no longer life-threatening, but life enhancing. Our struggles are no longer final word, but a prelude to something greater that finds its resolution in the suffering of Christ for us.
All the trials in your life point you to the One that suffered for us, in all these things we are more than conquerors though him who loved us. In all these things. The more we see the suffering of Christ in our troubles, the more we are enabled to view them as a victory-producing gift from God.
Christ’s death didn’t look victorious to those who saw it. Even today, it defies the logic of the world. But God's love and loving action in our lives though Word and Sacrament remains victorious—even when it is most hidden by our external and internal sufferings.
The troubles, anxiety, stress, and danger that we face in may no way seem like a victory, but in experiencing them we conquer, because God shows us again and again, day after day his hyper conquering super nike love though Christ our Lord. His love leaps from the ink and paper of Holy Scripture into our hearts as the Holy Spirit enlightens and strengthens us.
So we are able to boldly confess along with St Paul. “ I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angel nor principalities, not rulers nor things present nor things to come or height nor depth nor any other created things shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
