Grace Lutheran Church LWML Sunday, October 2, 2005

The Rev. Evan Gaertner

LWML Sunday "The Diet that Transforms Lives"
October 2, 2005 Philippians 3:12-21
Sermon wrritten with materials provided by the Lutheran Women's Missionary League to celebrate LWML Sunday.

In the United States there is a constant hum of dieting commercials, advertisements and other kinds of marketing around losing weight. We have all seen the ads that trump up a certain diet product. It will include a banner headline like "Lose 10 pounds in 7 days." "Lose 20 pounds in 30 days." There will of course be pictures of before and after and possibly in small print result not typical of the normal person on this diet.

Restaurants try to attach their menu items to specific diets. When the South Beach Diet came out it made a recommendation of specific kind of cheese made in a small town in Wisconsin. The cheese was suddenly sold out with its manager confused to why there was a sudden spike in demand.

There is no shortage of diet plans—the Atkins low-carb diet, the Ornish vegetarian diet, the South Beach Diet, Weight Watchers, The Zone, Jenny Craig, to name just a few. All of these plans have the same objective-to help you lose weight. The ads, the claims, the promises are alike and of course they will appropriately include that exercise should be a part of any diet plan. The big question of course always looming in the background is "which diet really works?"

CNN reported on a study earlier this year that attempted to answer that question. The study focused on the popular diet plans of The Atkinds, The Ornish, The Zone, and Weight Watchers. The study reported, "Study: Pick one diet and stick to it." The researchers found no diet works for everyone, mostly because few stay on a plan.

The study’s author, Dr. Michael Dansinger of Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, said, “We found that all four diets worked well for weight loss (and) heart disease risk factor reduction, but only in the people who could follow their diet closely for a year.” The report added that of the 4 test groups of 40 people on each diet “three in four participants quit their diets before the year was out.” Dansinger, writing in the Journal of the American Medical Association, said no single diet worked for everyone – especially low-carbohydrate diets like Atkins that are in vogue. He said, “To find the one that’s best for you, try ‘dating the diets’ as if looking for a life-long partner. You may kiss a few frogs along the way, but once you find the one you can live with forever, stand by your plan.” In addition to these findings, the report referenced another diet study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine that concluded “no one really knows which diets work and which are a waste of time, with the possible exception of Weight Watchers, which had scientific research to back its approach.”

The things that made this particular report on diet plan research interesting in relation to the message today are the various parallels to the way many people view faith and religion. Many try a “dating the religions” approach in their attempts to find a “life-long spiritual partner.” But, like the dieters, even though some may actually discover Christianity, many quit and the benefits are never realized.

But unlike the findings of the report that found most mainstream diets will be successful if one is able to stick to it, in the area of faith there is only one 'diet plan' among the various religions of the world that will take away your sin and give salvation. I am talking of course about the plan made known to us in the Lord Jesus Christ. His plan of salvation, and His alone, is the one that holds the promise of transforming lives in time for eternity. Jesus is the one that transforms our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body, not just for a week, a month, or a year, but for all eternity. Jesus is the diet that transforms lives and it is the diet that we need to stick to.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Philippians, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do. Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:12-14).

The picture language words of pressed one, sticking to, taking hold are all rooted in the action of Christ Jesus taking hold of him. It is key in this passage of Scripture that Christ took hold first. He took hold of us by tasting the bitterness and pain of this world. "God sent his son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law." (Galatians 4:4-5)

Jesus drank the cup of suffering. He prayed in the garden, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me, yet not my will, but yours be done.' …And being in anguish… his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground." (Luke 22:42,44).

His was a diet of suffering, sacrificing his body, and dying on the cross so that we might receive the forgiveness of sins. Christ has been raised from the dead. Through him death is swallowed up in victory. Through his death and resurrection, Christ takes hold of us. By drinking the cup of suffering and sacrifice Jesus took upon himself the diet we could not maintain. His rising again on the third day was successfully losing the dead weight of sin, death, and the devil.

This victory has been given to you. By faith, we press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of us. We have been given a diet of forgiveness and righteousness, which brings us spiritual health and life.

Yet in any diet there are temptations that loom around every corner that would cause us to stray from faith in God. Jesus described these as the thorns that choke out the crop when he told a crowd the parable of the sower.

We have seen these thorns in the lives of those around us and even in our own lives.

There is the temptation of discouragement—in a diet when results don't come as quickly or as dramatically as desired the dieter becomes more pliable by the temptations of chocolate and other no-nos.

The temptation of discouragement—the temptation to walk away from God in Christ when everything doesn't go our way. We don't seem to get the results we planned and so we get discouraged and selfishly believe God doesn't care. So instead of feasting upon the diet of God's Word that satisfies we starve ourselves in discouragement. We have a father in heaven who knows all, knows what is best, and above all "gives good gifts to those who ask him!" (Mt. 7:11)

There is also the temptation of Pluralism. Each diet has its own specific claims and promises and expectations.

When it comes to our spirituality the temptation of pluralism even though we have in Jesus Christ the Bread of life, the spring of everlasting life, we go to the buffet table of world religions and pick and choose. This causes us to fall into the trap of "picking and choosing" from a whole buffet of false religions and worldly philosophies. We try to define our own truth, instead of being totally committed and reliant upon the truth of God revealed in his Holy Word. St. Paul wrote, "For, as I have often told you before and now say again even with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind in on earthly things."

God's Word reminds us there is no other God than that revealed in Scripture, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. There is no other hope eternal than that which rests upon Christ Jesus, our Lord. Everything else will leave us empty stomachs and empty lives.

Yes there are many temptations that could cause us to stray from the "diet of feasting upon Christ" and many have fallen into those temptations—even those of us gathered here. But the good news is that even these indulgences of the world are forgiven in repentance at the feet of Jesus.

That is one of the best parts of the diet for us. The recipes for this diet are found at the cross where are sins are placed upon Jesus and from whence mercy is served. He is the bread of life who continues to feed us with forgiveness and righteousness.

Therefore, we "forget what is behind and strain toward what is ahead, pressing on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called [us] heavenward in Christ Jesus.

By the Spirit of God we hold fast to the diet that feeds upon heavenly food and heavenly drink because our citizenship is in heaven. We are right now members of the kingdom of God receiving a foretaste of the feast to come. We receive Jesus body and blood, in, with, and under the bread and wine of His Holy Supper, whereby we are strengthened through the forgiveness of sins, knowing that "wherever there is the forgiveness of sins there is life and salvation." His grace smothers us in His love and keeps us steadfast in our faith.

The sweetness of the gospel is like honey on our lips. The message of grace fills us with joy and peace. It brings relief from the spiritual hunger pains that would otherwise be growling in this spiritually starved world.

Jesus Christ is the diet that transforms lives. It is our by grace through faith. We stick to it knowing that it is the only diet plan with weight loss guaranteed by the Holy Spirit. The loss of the death brining weight of ours sins. It is a diet of love that is be shared with our world.

My dear friends, Jesus transforms our lives. His diet is one filled with grace and mercy, forgiveness and love, hope and witness. His is the diet that transforms lives in time for eternity—so, Stick to it! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Grace Lutheran Church

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