"Strive to Enter Through the Narrow Door" (Sermon on Luke 13:22-30) | August 21, 2022

Text: Luke 13:22-30
Date: August 21, 2022
Event: Proper 16, Year C

Luke 13:22-30 (EHV)

He went on his way from one town and village to another, teaching, and making his way to Jerusalem. 23Someone said to him, “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?”

He said to them, 24“Strive to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able. 25Once the master of the house gets up and shuts the door, you will begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open for us!’ He will tell you in reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ 27And he will say, ‘I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’ 28There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown outside. 29People will come from east and west, from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. 30And note this: Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

Strive to Enter Through the Narrow Door

I love GPS in the car. Well, maybe that’s a weird way to state it. Maybe a better way to state it is that I need GPS in the car. My sense of direction and my ability to accurately remember where the road I’m on actually leads is usually pretty questionable. I’m forever gluing a different road’s end to the one I’m driving on in my mind, and then am shocked when I don’t end up where I think I’m going. GPS can help me focus on the actual route to go. And even if I do know how to get there, it’s nice to get updates on traffic and accidents and such.

But while we were on vacation, we had the opportunity to be driving around in a few different cars. And sometimes, you connect the phone to the car, but the audio wouldn’t work for some reason, or it would but it would be weirdly quiet. So, despite the GPS telling us exactly how to get where we were going, you still had to focus a good deal on the directions it was giving because it maybe wasn’t filling the space with loud, clear announcements. You perhaps had to listen carefully or even look at the map on the screen to make sure you didn’t miss a turn or an exit.

In our Gospel this morning, Jesus is telling us to pay attention to the GPS. But he’s not talking about a road trip. He says we need to be focused on our goal of eternal life and the path to get there. If we’re not really plugged in and paying attention, it’s incredibly easy to take a wrong turn or try to get there by the wrong route. But, by God’s grace, we will stay focused, striving all of our life to enter through the narrow door.

Our Gospel takes place during a time of travel and teaching for Jesus. He would hop from place to place, teaching the people as he had the opportunity. And while he’s doing that, someone in one of the crowds asks him a question, “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” We’re not really given any indication why this man is asking the question, and the motivation behind it can be important. I think there could be roughly three different motivations for it:

The first one that comes to my mind is fear. It is possible that this man is terrified that he’s not going to make it to eternal life and he’d like some assurance that the group is large so that there’s hopefully a better chance that he’s a part of that group. The second option that comes to mind is that he could be asking to try to rate God’s fairness, that is, if only a few people are going to be saved, then he’ll be accusing God of wrong-doing or making mistakes. This is an attitude that I (and probably you) have often run into in people’s thinking today. The third option could come from a sense of pride. In other words, “Are only a few people going to be saved? Because if so, that means I’m part of an elite group.”

It is fascinating that Jesus doesn’t really even answer the man’s question. Remember, the man asked Jesus, “Lord, are only a few going to be saved?” But Jesus’ response is: “Strive to enter through the narrow door.” The man asked for a piece of information and instead got a command from Jesus. Why?

Jesus is redirecting the man away from looking at everyone else, and instead focusing on himself. Not in a selfish way, but in a concerned way. If we can torture the GPS illustration a little bit more, this man seems to be driving down the road, maybe ignoring the directions in his car, but instead focusing on whether the other cars are going to the right way or not. He’s potentially missing his path by critiquing the path others are taking. That’s not real wise.

And so Jesus says essentially, “Be focused on you. Are you going to be saved? Because many people will try to get in and won’t be able to.” We know that it was a regular misunderstanding among people of Jesus’ day that they would be in heaven because of their bloodline. Many believed that simply because they were descendants of Abraham, they were good with God, regardless of what they said, did, or even believed. Jesus spent a good deal of time correcting that attitude for many people, and it seems likely that this is the problem Jesus is correcting behind this man’s question.

And so Jesus uses the illustration of a home owner who is bringing people into his home, but eventually gets up and closes the door because the time is done. And people still outside are pleading with them to let them in: ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ (As an aside, I really wonder if perhaps Jesus was answering this man’s question while standing in the streets of the town—did he even perhaps eat a meal with this man prior to this?) But despite this supposed close relation to the master of the house, they are not let in. In fact, he responds to their pleas in a pretty terrifying way: ‘I don’t know where you come from. Depart from me, all you evildoers.’

Jesus is directing the man to some self-reflection. Why was he confident he would be one of the few saved? What was he putting his hope in? Was it because he attended several teaching sessions with Jesus? Well, just like the master of the house indicated, closeness to the teacher doesn’t mean anything. Was it because of his connection to Abraham, being a member of the Jewish nation? Jesus went on to say that  the faithful Jewish believers would join multitudes from all over the world in eternal life: “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown outside. People will come from east and west, from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God.”

Jesus is directing you and me toward self-reflection as well. Are you confident that you are going to be among the “saved” when the last day comes? And if you are, what do you base that on?

It’s easy for us to gain confidence from some part of our lives. Have you been a life-long Christian, baptized and confirmed in the Christian faith and then active in worship through your adult life? Is that reason for confidence? Are you relatively new to the Christian faith, but you went through the Herculean task of throwing off your old way of life and dedicating yourself to God’s will? Do these types of things give us confidence?

I hope not. Because at first blush, while these roads appear to be heading toward the destination, they turn and veer us far away from where we want to be. Jesus reminds us that it doesn’t come down to how often you’ve sat at his feet listening to him teach, it doesn’t matter how many improvements and corrections you’ve made to your life. In fact, if you’re looking to yourself in any way, shape, or form, you’re going at this the wrong way.

Jesus concluded this conversation by saying, “And note this: Some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.” In other words, some who would seem to be a lock for eternal life by whatever metric may be applied will miss it, and some who would seem to be the last possible person to be in heaven will be there. Why?

Because confidence for eternal life should not come from what we look like, how we talk, where we’ve been, what we’ve done, how often we’ve been in church or read the Bible, where our church membership is or anything like that. Confidence for eternal life can only come from Jesus. You do not remove your sin by the act of coming to church; God does not reward that behavior by taking some sin away. Nor do you earn “points” with God by being a life-long Christian or a very dedicated convert so that he gives you a boost toward heaven. No, the only place to put our confidence in is in Jesus.

Because you and I, no matter what we do, cannot remove any sin. We cannot make ourselves look better to God. We, by nature, are rebellious trash that cannot be in God’s presence. We are the last of the last.

But Jesus, the first of the first, King of kings and Lord of lords, made himself last. He knew our hopeless state and said “I will take that on.” And so he did. He humbled himself to take on our human nature; he humbled himself to take on our sin. On the cross, Jesus became the last of the last so that we would become first. The Father punished him for all of our sins and you and I are set free, justified, declared to be perfect in God’s sight.

Jesus himself is that narrow door. People might come up with all sorts of ways to get to heaven; they might even come up with ways that incorporate Jesus to one degree or another. But any quest for eternal life that is not completely and only dependent on Jesus’ life and death in our place will end as Jesus said it would: many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able.

By God’s grace alone, you will enter through that narrow door to be saved, because God’s love for you means complete trust only in your Savior. He has forgiven your sins, given you faith to trust him, and continues to care for that faith through his Word and sacraments. Striving for that narrow door means never, ever taking your eyes off of Jesus, because he’s the only way to be saved. The spiritual GPS that God gives to us continues to boldly and only so show us Jesus’ cross and empty tomb as our certainty that we will be among the saved.

Are only a few going to be saved? We have no idea that number. But in the end that matters far less than the question: how will you be saved? The answer is the same as it always has been and always will be: Jesus, Jesus; only Jesus! Thanks be to God! Amen.

"God’s Truth Burns and Breaks Our Errors" (Sermon on Jeremiah 23:23-29) | August 14, 2022

Text: Jeremiah 23:23-29
Date: August 14, 2022
Event: Proper 15, Year C

Jeremiah 23:23-29 (EHV)

Am I a God who is only nearby, declares the Lord,
and not a God far away?
24Can anyone hide in secret places
so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord.
Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord.

25I have heard what the prophets who prophesy lies in my name have said. They say, “I have had a dream! I have had a dream!” 26How long will this be in the hearts of these lying prophets? These prophets proclaim the fantasies of their own hearts. 27They think they can make my people forget my name with the dreams each one tells his neighbor, the way their fathers forgot my name because of Baal. 28Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream. But let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully.

What has chaff to do with grain? declares the Lord. 29Is not my word like a fire? declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

God’s Truth Burns and Breaks Our Errors

We like to hear people say what we already think. If you use social media platforms like Facebook or Twitter or any of the other ones out there, they can easily become echo chambers because you set things up to only see things that you like and agree with and avoid the thoughts and ideas that you disagree with or don’t like.

Those types of echo chambers can make us start to think that everyone thinks the way we do, everyone agrees with us, everyone agrees with our opinions. But the reality is that your opinions can divide you from others. Whether it’s something silly like the best brands of ice cream or sports team allegiance, something important like political issues facing our area, or something eternally important things of the teachings of God’s Word, what you think and believe divides you from other people.

In our Gospel this morning, we heard Jesus say that he didn’t come to bring peace and unity of thought; he came to bring division. Not just among people in a country, or a state, or a city, but even among the very members of one’s family, “father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Luke 12:53). God’s Word, the truth of what he’s said and done, causes this kind of division and it always has. In our First Reading this morning from Jeremiah, written almost 600 years before Jesus was even born, we hear God saying the same thing was true then, as it was in Jesus’ day, as it is in our day. God’s truth divides, but it also burns and breaks down our errors, so that his Word leaves us better than we were before.

Jeremiah’s time of service to God’s people was tumultuous. In our Sunday Morning Bible Class, we’ve been studying the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah lived and worked roughly 120 years before Jeremiah. But much of Isaiah’s book of prophecy looked forward to tumult and trouble that would come in the future. Isaiah pointed ahead to those hardships; Jeremiah lived and worked during them.

Old Testament history makes crystal clear how God’s people had been continually unfaithful to him. They had abandoned the truth of his Word, they had served false gods, and generally disregarded everything he said. Not everyone, certainly, but the vast majority of people from kings to the lowliest among them skewed away from God, away from the truth.

So because of this, God sent chastisement in the form of the nation of Babylon who would come to take over the southern kingdom of Judah where God’s people lived and exile them east to Babylon. They would largely destroy Jerusalem, including Solomon’s ornate and magnificent temple.

Jeremiah’s job was to share this impending chastisement for their unfaithfulness, to warn the people so they could know what was coming, and more importantly, why it was coming. This was God calling the people to repentance, calling them to return to him.

You might imagine, though, Jeremiah’s message wasn’t very popular. If there had social media in those days, everyone would’ve blocked Jeremiah’s posting and messages because they had plenty of other spiritual people to listen to. There were prophets who were supposedly bringing messages from God who had radically different words for the people. They said that Babylon wouldn’t pose a threat, that Jerusalem was safe just as it had been when Assyria had attacked during Isaiah’s day. Jerusalem, and the people living there, would always be secure, so said the other prophets.

What is God’s response to this? “I have heard what the prophets who prophesy lies in my name have said. They say, ‘I have had a dream! I have had a dream!’ How long will this be in the hearts of these lying prophets? These prophets proclaim the fantasies of their own hearts…. What has chaff to do with grain? declares the Lord.” Oh.

Again, we like to hear people say what we already think. And so the people of that day much preferred the other prophets’ messages of peace and joy rather than Jeremiah’s message of doom and gloom. But which one was true? And which one did they need to hear?

Where is it that we want a spiritual echo chamber that conveniently ignores what God says? Do we chafe a bit at the idea that his Word should be with us regularly at church each week and in our homes? Do we struggle when his moral directives run contrary to what we want to do or are in the habit of doing around sexuality or helping those in need or not speaking in a way that hurts someone’s reputation (even if it’s true!)? Do we think we should back off on some of the unpopular parts of God’s Word so that our church is more attractive to visitors or make compromises so that more families would join?

When we want to adjust what God says, we are trying to create a spiritual echo chamber that lets us think we possess the truth when we’ve really abandoned it. Instead, we’re really devoted to our own desires and opinions. And having that as our guide is following the lying prophets and their dreams in Jeremiah’s day. Those dreams and false prophets of my own opinions and desires are delusions and lead me down the path of eternal destruction. In the end, if we devote ourselves to our opinions rather than God’s truth, we are depending on what we think for our eternal safety and not what God has done for us. That leads not to the destruction of our city but the destruction of our souls in hell.

While parts of God’s Word are unpopular and difficult for us to come to terms with, God’s Word also offers the solution to our sin. Because whether it’s been an avoidance of the truth or anything else that runs contrary to what God has said, we have disobeyed God and have hearts of stone. But God’s Word brings us the truth of God’s forgiveness in Jesus. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, which removed our sin and proved that forgiveness, is fire that burns away our sin and the hammer that breaks our hard hearts to pieces. Only in God’s truth do we find the solutions that we need. Only in Jesus do we have forgiveness. Only in the Word that God has given us do we find the infallible promises and works of God to save us. Only in God’s truth do we find the way to live our lives in thanksgiving for all that he’s done for us.

And so we take God’s Word and use it to check our opinions and preconceived notions, not the other way around. Rather than picking and choosing what we like from what God has said, we let God’s Word pick and choose which attitudes of our hearts are appropriate and which need to be changed. We don’t surround ourselves in the echo chamber of personal opinion, but we let God envelop us in his truth. When my opinions on how to get to heaven run contrary to God’s, I am the one that needs to change, not God. When my desires and views on moral living disagree with God, again, I need to be changing those desires and views, not trying to warp or ignore God on that matter.

God’s truth burns and breaks those places where we have errors and opens our ears to hear his Word not as adversarial towards us, but eternally loving. If we need correction from God, it is for our eternal good. Because that is his attitude toward us. He made clear through Jeremiah that he was not a God far away but a God who is very near. He’s near to you and me, not to catch us or convict us, but to save us because he loves us.

We are nearing the end of summer here, and the end of summer and beginning of fall for as long as most of us can remember centers around education. Elementary school bells start ringing, college dorms begin buzzing, all in service of learning and growing. So, too, let us find time in the coming weeks to recommit ourselves to growing and learning in God’s Word, allowing personal and group study of his Word to shape us into the people God desires us to be, not the people we are by nature. Let us seek out more opportunities for the loving gospel of Jesus’ death for us to surround us and encourage us in our path through this life as we look forward to the eternal home he is preparing for us.

And let us not fear the division that it may cause in our workplace, neighborhood, or even our families, because being divided from the world means being unified with our God. His truth burns and breaks those errors that separated us from him, and in Jesus we are brought to unity with him forever. God, keep us safe and strong in your truth now and forever! Amen.

"Prayer Accomplishes God’s Purposes" (Sermon on 1 Timothy 2:1-7) | July 24, 2022

Text: 1 Timothy 2:1–7
Date: July 24, 2022
Event: Proper 12, Year C

1 Timothy 2:1–7 (EHV)

First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2for kings and all those who are in authority, in order that we might live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. 3This is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 5For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. 7For this testimony, I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I speak the truth; I am not lying—a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Prayer Accomplishes God’s Purposes

When approaching a problem, it’s often less useful to ask, “What are we going to do?” and more useful to ask, “Why are we going to do it?” For instance, when considering repairing a vehicle, for two different families the what’s may be exactly the same. Let’s say it’s something huge, like replacing a whole engine. Before doing something like that, if you don’t consider the why, you might do something foolish. What if the engine is damaged because the rest of the car is mostly destroyed and replacing the engine won’t make a drivable vehicle? What if this is the only vehicle you own and while you could find a way to pay for engine replacement, a new or different used vehicle is beyond your financial ability? What if this is a rarely-used vehicle and serves no purpose? In each of those situations, the answer to the “why” question is much, much more useful than the answer to the “what” question.

The last few Sunday have seen Jesus focusing his disciples and us along with them on the Christian life. Like so many other things in our lives, when it comes to doing the things God wants us to do, the “why” is often much more important than the “what.” And our special focus this morning is on prayer. In our Gospel, we heard Jesus teach his disciples about the principles of prayer by giving them that most famous model prayer we’ve come to name the Lord’s Prayer, because the Lord Jesus taught it to his disciples. In our Second Reading, which will serve as our focus this morning, the apostle Paul reminds us of the spirit of our prayer life. Our prayers are not to be seeking our will, but God’s. And when we remember that, then truly our prayers accomplish God’s purposes, which are for our eternal good.

Paul is writing to young Pastor Timothy. This first letter is written as encouragement and direction for Timothy as he tackles the work of serving God’s people. And so Paul’s words are partially direction for the pastor and partially direction for the members of the congregation he serves.

And our section from the beginning of chapter 2 is a bit in both categories. It is a reminder for Timothy and it’s a reminder for those in the flock of what our focus ought to be when it comes to our prayers. And that point is made through a bit of inductive reasoning as Paul gives us a specific example that we can then broaden out to other applications.

Paul starts with the attitude and action for those in authority, both locally and more broadly. Where Paul talks about kings and all those who are in authority we might rightly apply to leaders at a national level all the way down the local level in the government. What does he say we ought to do? First of all, then, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all those who are in authority, in order that we might live a quiet and peaceful life in all godliness and dignity. We don’t know the exact, exact date of when Paul wrote this letter, but a good guess would be right around 65 AD. It is written during the reign of Emperor Nero, a wildly temperamental and erratic leader.

If 65 AD is correct, that means that Paul is writing to Timothy about a year after a great fire burned in Rome. It was devastating and the loss of property and life was gigantic. It burned for six days, burning 10 of the city’s 14 districts and leaving hundreds of people dead. Rather than taking responsibility, Nero did what any spineless leader does and shifted blame to the “others” around him, on to minorities or others who could not defend themselves well in the court of popular opinion. In this particular case, Nero seems to have planted the blame firmly on Christians in the empire. And so, the worst persecutions of Christians en masse up to that time began, a persecution that just a few years later likely took the lives of both Paul and Peter.

Can you imagine believers in Timothy’s congregation not feeling too kind toward their emperor? Can you imagine that they might be angry or flustered with or even hate their ruler? And Paul doesn’t say, “That feeling is justified! These leaders are sinning!” though of course that would be true statement. Nor does Paul say, “Pray for their downfall! Pray that God take them out!” No, Paul directs Timothy and those with him to offer these petitions, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all people, and especially for those who are in authority.

Why? Because Paul recognized that peace and stability in government would be a blessing to the spread of the gospel. Not necessarily that the gospel message would be condoned or endorsed by the government (in fact, Paul is making a pretty clear church and state division here). But Paul shows that good government leading to times of peace physically for people would bring greater opportunities for the gospel to be shared.

And there’s the rub—there’s the why. He’s not telling them to pray that these leaders do what the people want them to do. And he’s not really telling them to pray for the leaders so that these Christians can have relaxing lives free from stress or worry from wars, etc. Rather, he’s saying that these prayers should be brought forward with God’s goals and purposes in mind. He says that these prayers for the leaders should be offered, to bring about peaceful and quiet lives because this is good and pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. It’s not just good and pleasing to God for us to have a quiet, calm life, but a quiet, calm life can be fertile ground to bring people to the knowledge of the truth of God’s love and forgiveness.

I don’t know about you, but for me this shines a whole lot of shame on my prayer life. So often my prayers and requests to God are self-serving. “God, make this better.” “God, take this bad thing away.” “God, do this thing that will make life easier for me.” It’s so easy to lose that crucial step and thought that Jesus taught in his prayer and demonstrated in his own prayer life, “God, your will be done.”

Praying for God’s will to be done really is the answer to the “why” question, right? My prayers may be filled with answers to the “what” question. “Please do thing thing to solve this problem.” “Please take this hardship in my life away.” But praying that the Lord’s will be done recognizes that he just might have other purposes for us. He might have a plan for that suffering or hardship.

So what is our take away from this? Remember that from God’s perspective, everything is in service of eternity. Whether good things are happening or bad, whether he’s clearly working through the leaders over us or in spite of them, whether we are content or feel lacking, God promises to use all of these things for our eternal good. And our prayers should reflect a confident trust in that promise.

He encourages, even commands us, to pray. Jesus in our Gospel said we should keep asking, keeping seeking, keep knocking (Luke 11:9)—for ourselves, for friends and family, for our leaders, for literally all people, that his will may done among them and among us. God’s will is that all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth by learning the love of the one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. The reality and joy of God’s love and forgiveness in Jesus and a will that all people know that and we be strengthened in that should guide our prayers as well. Our goal in this life and in our prayers is not just our own, temporary, earthly good, but the eternal good of all people. When that is our driving motivator, then our prayers are guided by God’s will, then we’re praying with his eternal perspective as our guide, then our prayers are accomplishing God’s purposes.

And for the times that when our prayers seek our will not God’s, or for those times that we simply cut God out of the equation and don’t pray at all, we know that for that there is forgiveness. Jesus’ model prayer reminds us that there is forgiveness for our sins, our debts owed to God. And for that we weekly, daily, hourly come to God in prayer as well, “Lord, please forgive us.” And we know that of all prayers, that prayer is according to God’s will because of that forgiveness Jesus won for us is the one and only way to eternal life with him. Above all else, God longs to forgive those sins. And we have that one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. We pray that prayer for forgiveness in complete confidence because of Jesus’ life lived in our place and his death died for us. My brothers and sisters, we truly have forgiveness for all of those failings.

Forgiven for all sins, we can rejoice to pray today more directed toward God’s will. We understand that God is not a vending machine that we put in our prayer quarter and get out the candy bar we wanted. Rather, God is the all-powerful Creator and Sustainer of all things who knows exactly what is best for us. So bring him your problems. Bring him your fears, worries, and heartaches. Even bring him your possible solutions. But in all things, seek his will. Be ready to accept it if the answer is not what you would want to hear, but rejoice that if God’s answer is different than what you were hoping for, he knows what is best for you and for all people, and that he will work eternal good from it.

So pray, pray boldly, pray confidently to your loving God. And let your persistent prayers be led by God’s will trusting his promises to do what is best for you. And as you do so, ask the question: how might what I’m praying for be in service of people being strengthened in God’s truth or even learning it for the first time? There, truly, God’s will is being done. Amen.

"My Soul, Rest Quietly in God Alone" (Sermon on Psalm 62:5-8) | July 17, 2022

Text: Psalm 62:5-8
Date: July 17, 2022
Event: Proper 10, Year C (Non-Lectionary Text)

Psalm 62:5-8 (EHV)

My soul, rest quietly in God alone,
for my hope comes from him.
6He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress.
I will not be disturbed.
7My salvation and my honor depend on God, my strong rock.
My refuge is in God.
8Trust in him at all times, you people.
Pour out your hearts before him.
God is a refuge for us.

My Soul, Rest Quietly in God Alone

This past week was only my second time being able to be at Tree of Life Bible Camp with the awesome kids and wonderful staff to spend a week in nature, having fun with the kids but mostly centering our day around God’s Word. We spent the whole week reviewing the different pieces of armor that Paul lists off in Ephesians 6 like the helmet of faith, or the belt of truth, or the sword of the Spirit, the Word of God.

So our theme was to be warriors for Christ—not fighting physical battles here with people, but fighting the battle of faith as we struggle toward this life and look forward to eternity. We recognized over and over again just how many things Satan tries to use against us, how mightily he strives to pull us away from our God and Savior.

We each have our own weaknesses in this regard. If we went around the room this morning and asked each person what it is that they feel pulls them away from their trust in God and looking forward to heaven, we’d probably get a lot of different answers, but we’d probably find things gravitating to a common themes. Maybe we’d find some people who find the promises of God too intensely good to be believed like Sarah in our First Reading. Maybe we’d find people who mean well but get things just a touch out of order like Martha did in our Gospel. Maybe we’d find people for whom the riches of life are too enticing and they become focused on those to the determent of all else—including their faith in God. Maybe we’d find people for whom the troubles of this life scream and stomp around so wildly in their minds that they just can’t think about anything else.

It’s that last distraction—the troubles of this life—that I’d like to focus on for a few minutes this morning. If I’m being honest, this is one of the real places that I struggle and places where I continually need God’s direction, reprimand, and refocus. And to zero us in on this, I want to read just a few verses from one of the psalms that King David wrote, Psalm 62: My soul, rest quietly in God alone, for my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress. I will not be disturbed. My salvation and my honor depend on God, my strong rock. My refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us.

Psalm 62 gives us direction for when trouble overwhelms us, when sorrow or loss or unfulfilled desires or despair weigh us down. David knew something of these struggles. From things that happened to him (like Saul trying to kill him or his son trying to steal the kingdom from him) or things that he caused (like all the horrible ramifications of his sin with Bathsheba and his attempted cover-up), we know about a lot about the hardships he faced and the trouble that would have tried to pull him away from God.

So David talks to himself in this psalm. Or, more accurately, he talks to his soul. He says, My soul, rest quietly in God alone, for my hope comes from him. That word quietly jumps off the page to me. When worries are crashing in, for me, it feels like they’re screaming in my head morning, noon, and night. I can’t escape them. It’s so loud and so painful and so distracting that I can hardly think about anything else. They occupy all the airspace I have, all the ability I have to think, and my emotions quickly follow suit. I am quickly sorrowful at the first hint of a problem. And then I am quickly frustrated by my inability to fix these problems.

Amid the cacophony of these worries yelling and screaming in our hearts and minds, what does David say? Rest quietly in God alone. Where is there peace from this horrid noise? Where is their calm amid this never-ending tumult? In God, yes, but also in God alone. Notice how David didn’t say, “My soul, rest quietly in your own strength.” Nor did he say, “My soul, rest quietly in your ability to rise above the fray.” No, he said, “Rest quietly in God alone.”

David calls God our refuge and fortress. If an enemy is attacking, where do you want to be? Behind the safety of thick walls, right? You want some protector between you and the adversary. You want protection that is sound. You want a fortress and refuge.

But the very presence of a fortress implies danger, doesn’t it? I always find the signs from fallout shelters from the Cold War-era to be very disconcerting. Here is a thing that exists solely because there is a chance that we should need it to be protected from something horrible.

When God describes himself as our fortress, it means that there will be things to hound us, things to attack us, things to make us sad, and hurt, and distressed. God does not promise that nothing bad will every happen to you. In fact, he promises just the opposite. But when those things do come, he promises to deal with it, to work good from it, to love us during it.

But that’s often not what we want to hear. We want to think that because we’re Christians, because we’re devoted to our God, that we should be immune from all of that bad and troubling stuff. Maybe I don’t want a fortress—maybe I want a rolling green field and a cool breeze or and warm beach with cresting waves. I want to live an idyllic life that has no troubles or worries or anything else of the sort. And when life isn’t that, it is easy to start to turn on God. Isn’t it easy to accuse him of making mistakes? Isn’t it easy to to ask him why he lets this trouble in my life but not this other person’s? Anger, jealousy, hurt, and frustration can seep out of us when life doesn’t go the way we plan, envision, or desire.

Which leads us to the next realization. God is called our salvation. Surely, God saving us is a good thing, but there’s also something else implicit in that, right? If God being our fortress implies danger and hardship, then God being our salvation implies that we need to be saved from something. And this is not being saved from trouble or hardship. This is being saved from sin. Because, whether it’s from our dissatisfaction with what God allows into our lives or a myriad of other things, we have sinned against God. He demands perfection and we have been far from it. We need to be saved because we have rebelled against him and have brought hell on ourselves as the punishment for that sin.

And if we combine those things, it can start to feel like we’re putting God to the test and perhaps trying our luck with him. Is he still going to protect us from those bad things if we continue to complain about how he’s let those troubles come to us in the first place? Is he he still going to forgive us, to be our salvation, if we continue to heap sin upon sin? And that’s where David’s third point as he describes God is so important: he says God is our rock, even our strong rock. God doesn’t have emotions in the same way that you and I do. Hi feelings aren’t fickle like ours can be. He doesn’t feel good about you one day and then feel frustrated with you the next day. He isn’t kind to you one day and then mean to you the next day. God is stable and solid, like a gigantic rock that cannot be moved no matter how hard we might push on it.

So you will not get up one day and find that God has decided to be done with you. God continues to stably and perfectly love you. He forgives every rebellion and sin because he died to take those sins away. You will not find God disposed against you. You will not find a day where your troubles are too much for him to handle or too irritating for him to care about. Every day we awake to a new day of his love and patience for us.

Which is why David encourages us on the path of true resolution to these heartaches and worries: Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your hearts before him. God is a refuge for us. It’s a theme that keeps coming up in sermons probably I personally feel so poor at this task, but how is your prayer life? Is it your first go-to when troubles arise or is it your last line of defense, if you use it at all? Knowing what we know about God’s protection, forgiveness, and stability for us, why wouldn’t we bring every problem to him in prayer? From the small pain to the gigantic personal problem, he wants us to bring all of it to him, and in faith to trust that he will work these things for our eternal good. He is, after all, a refuge for us.

So rest quietly in God, not because he’s going to make life perfectly serene this side of eternity. He won’t. But rest quietly in God because no matter how loud the problems of this life or the guilt of our sin shout—he is greater than all of them. May he focus us on himself, and may we find our quiet rest in him now, until he brings us to that perfect home in heaven when things truly will be quiet and peaceful with him forever. Amen.

"Harvest Workers Labor in God’s Fields" (Sermon on Luke 10:1-12, 16-20) | July 3, 2022

Text: Luke 10:1-12, 16-20
Date: July 3, 2022
Event: Proper 9, Year C

Luke 10:1-12, 16-20 (EHV)

After this, the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them out two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.

2He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field. 3Go your way. Look, I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. 4Do not carry a money bag or traveler’s bag or sandals. Do not greet anyone along the way. 5Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘Peace be to this house.’ 6And if a peaceful person is there, your peace will rest on him, but if not, it will return to you. 7Remain in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, because the worker is worthy of his pay. Do not keep moving from house to house. 8Whenever you enter a town and they welcome you, eat what is set before you. 9Heal the sick who are in the town and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you.’

10“But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, 11‘Even the dust from your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ 12I tell you, it will be more bearable for Sodom on that day than for that town.

16Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

17The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”

18He told them, “I was watching Satan fall like lightning from heaven. 19Look, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing will ever harm you. 20Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names have been written in heaven.”

Harvest Workers Labor in God’s Fields

How do you feel when working on someone else’s project, or with someone else’s tools, or in someone else’s space? Depending on who you are and the situation, there could be a few different ways to view it, I suppose. If you’re working on a friend’s car, and doing something you hadn’t done before, you might view it as a relief to be learning on a vehicle that isn’t yours. Or maybe it’s nerve-racking to have the responsibility of someone else’s vehicle in your hands.

If you’re cooking in someone else’s kitchen (or the new kitchen downstairs when it’s done!), perhaps you feel invigorated by being in a different space with different tools at your disposal to try some new things. Or, perhaps, you’re on edge and feeling discombobulated because you don’t know where anything is and you’re not as comfortable as what you’ve known in your own home.

Doing work that is not completely your own or in a setting that is not yours can have its pluses and minuses. But regardless of how you would feel in those situations, Jesus this morning tells us that the work of the church is work done not in our own spaces, but in God’s. That as we are sent or send out workers into the harvest field, we’re laboring in God’s fields, not our own. The work is his, the glory is his, and the challenges are his too.

As Jesus was making a final tour through the area at the end his earthly ministry, he commissioned 72 of his followers to go ahead of him and be his messengers. They had a specific job to do: Jesus sent them out two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. They were to go and serve kind of a similar roll that John the Baptist served at the very beginning of Jesus’ ministry. They were to go, preach the good news in these various places, and get the people ready for Jesus to come and continue his work directly among them. These messengers were also given the ability to perform miracles like Jesus did as a way to draw attention to the message they were proclaiming.

Jesus gives them a commissioning speech of sorts before they go, but it doesn’t feel like it’s heavily in the “motivational” category: Look, I am sending you out as lambs among wolves. In other words, this work was going to be rough. And Jesus prepares them for that. Just like not everyone would listen to Jesus, not everyone was going to listen to them as they went out. If a town did listen to them, they were to stay there and continue to share with them and live among them. Jesus says: Heal the sick who are in the town and tell them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near you.’ The kingdom of God, faith in the heart that God creates, would be there among the people of that place. Jesus himself would soon be passing through. What a message of comfort and hope!

But, in places where they were not welcomed, where the message was rejected, they were still to announce something similar, but paired with warnings: ‘Even the dust from your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this: The kingdom of God has come near.’ The same phrase, but a wildly different meaning. In other words, “The kingdom of God, faith in the heart that God creates, was available here, but you rejected it. This will end badly for you eternally.”

What does this all say to us today? As a congregation, we are tasked with sharing the gospel message in the place where we’ve been planted. But remember, this work is ultimately God’s work, not ours. He is the one working through us (or in spite of us), and he brings about the results. So it’s tempting to get sucked into looking at the wrong things to measure success. Is it important how many members we have on the roles of our congregation? Is it important how many people love our campus or our congregational personality? All of those things have some value, but if we’re chasing after numbers or just being liked by others, we’re not really doing the work that God has for us.

If Jesus’s primary goal was that everyone they met were to like and get along with these messengers, he would have told them to tailor the message to meet what people wanted to hear. He wouldn’t have warned them about rejection but would have trained them in changing and tweaking things until everyone was happy. But that’s not what he told them to do. And it’s not what he’s told us to do, either.

We have God’s Word to share, and we do not have the authority to change what that Word says, even if it is deemed unpopular by the people we share it with. We can’t modify what we teach to make this person over here like us or to ensure that this family joins the congregation. No, as a congregation as we are workers in God’s fields, not our own. These are his people whom he bought with his own blood. Far be it from us to change the message he wants them to hear just to feel better about ourselves.

Instead of taking rejection personally, Jesus reminds us what’s really going on in those moments: Whoever listens to you listens to me. Whoever rejects you rejects me. And whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. Because they are rejecting the message that God wants to be shared, they’re not rejecting you and me, the messengers, but God, the one who brought this to them through us. While it can be difficult for us to remember, both success and failure, both acceptance and rejection, is not on us, but on our God who brings the good things about or on the people who are rejecting this message.

But this lesson also has something to say to us as people who hear God’s Word. Does the pastor always say the things we want him to say? Is the church run exactly the way we want it to be run? Notice where the focus is in those questions: my desires and opinions. Should those dictate what is done in the ministry of a congregation? God forbid it!

Instead, we should be asking: is the pastor saying the things God knows I need him to say, even if I don’t want to hear it? Is the church being run in a way that is consistent with God’s direction in Scripture? In those questions, the emphasis is on God’s will and Word, not our own subjective, emotional responses. And truly, there is room for variance. There are many things that God has not given clear black-and-white, right-and-wrong directions on. But for the places where he has, we do well not be those whose town would have the dust of the messenger’s feet wiped off against us. We do well to not be described as God described the people of Israel to Ezekiel in our First Reading: hard-headed and hard-hearted (Ezekiel 3:9).

As we consider these things, as we consider our roles as those carrying out this work and those benefiting from this work, we undoubtedly see weakness, failing, and sin on our part. And it is for that very reason that we need this message taught so purely and accurately. Because what is the gospel message but the assurance that God has forgiven every sin? While I may not be comfortable with or want to hear what God says is right and wrong, his Word also assures me that everything I’ve done wrong is gone. Jesus forgave my failings as a sharer or a receiver or his Word. If we water down God’s message of sin, we also water down God’s message of our Savior. But, if we labor in these fields in a faithful way, we also bring the comfort of complete restoration in Jesus’ death for us.

This work, even if approached in the best possible way, is absolutely overwhelming. Never mind the world, just thinking about our immediate context—sharing God’s Word with the 25,000 or so people in Belmont alone (never mind the 8 million+ in the Bay Area) seems impossible. It doesn’t take long for us to see that Jesus’ observation some 2000 years ago is the same today as it was then—The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. And the solution to that problem is the same as it was then—ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest field. As we think about both pastor and teacher vacancy rates being at troublingly high levels across our synod, we will pray and implore our Savior to send out more and more public servants of the gospel into his harvest fields.

But it’s also interesting that Jesus tells these disciples to pray for workers, and then send them out to serve in that very role. So this is not a fire-and-forget prayer. This is a pray-and-act situation. How can we send out workers? Are there people in your family or in our congregation who could serve in the public ministry as a teacher or pastor in our churches and schools? Talk to them about it, encourage them to seek it out, and then also pray for them. Might you have gifts or interests in these areas? This is not just for the young people. Those seeking a second, different career or a new role after retirement might also find encouragement in the needs that Jesus points out. Could you, either here or elsewhere, serve in a more public, active way in our Savior’s gospel ministry?

In the end, members and pastors, congregations and church bodies, all of us are united as Christian brothers and sisters. We all are, to one degree or another, fellow workers laboring in God’s harvest field. May our God preserve us from caving to public pressure to change our message. May he make us bold, loving, and patient as we reach out to a world that increasingly has no idea what Jesus has said or done. And may he bless that work—his work through us—to bring about the purposes that he desires. Amen.

"Following Jesus Is Total Commitment" (Sermon on Luke 9:51-62) | June 26, 2022

Text: Luke 9:51-62
Date: June 26, 2022
Event: Proper 8 (The Third Sunday After Pentecost), Year C

Luke 9:51–62  (EHV)

When the days were approaching for him to be taken up, Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem. 52He sent messengers ahead of him. They went and entered a Samaritan village to make preparations for him. 53But the people did not welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. 54When his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call down fire from heaven to consume them?”

55But he turned and rebuked them. “You don’t know what kind of spirit is influencing you. 56For the Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s souls, but to save them.” Then they went to another village.

57As they went on the way, a man said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

58Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

59He said to another man, “Follow me!”

But he said, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

60Jesus told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

61Another man also said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say good-bye to those at my home.”

62Jesus told him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Following Jesus Is Total Commitment

I am baffled by the dedication many professional athletes have to their health and strength. Athletes who, in season are continually practicing and refining their skills, and in the off-season are working maybe even harder to get stronger, or leaner, or more accurate, or whatever their sport calls for. It is total dedication, total commitment to these small subset of physical tasks.

And while they’re committed to that they are in perhaps the best physical shape a human being can be in. But, what happens if they stop? Or what if they become only half as dedicated? Their performance in the sport and perhaps even their long-term health could suffer. Both are things the athlete wants to avoid at all costs.

Of course, I’m not here today to preach about the importance of dedication to physical fitness. Although, of course, it is important to take care ofd the bodies God has given to us, that’s not really our focus this morning. Instead, I want to think of that picture of the athlete training hard in the weight room or when they are getting ready to go onto the field or court in a sport, and see in their commitment to their physical performance as a picture of what our spiritual dedication to our Savior ought to be.

But before we think and talk about ourselves, we do well to think and talk about Jesus first. In our Gospel for this morning, we’re approaching the latter part of Jesus’ ministry. The time for him to die outside of Jerusalem had come. And yet, we don’t see him shrinking from this or running away from it. Instead we’re told Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem. Literally Luke says that Jesus “set his face to go to Jerusalem.” He locked his gaze on what was ahead. And even though it meant horrendous suffering and death for him, he was determined to see it through. Nothing could veer him off this path. He was totally committed to this work.

But why? Why does Jesus have this total commitment to something that would be so brutally painful, that would bring such unimaginable suffering? In short, it is God’s love for us—love that we do not deserve. That love is what makes Jesus determined to go to Jerusalem. Our sins meant eternal ruin for us and God is totally committed to saving us. So from the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve first sinned, through Jesus’ death and resurrection and beyond even to our personal lives, everything God has done he has done with saving you as the end-goal.

And so as Jesus carries out his mission to save us from our sins, he preaches and he teaches. And that peaching and teaching naturally produced believers, those who trusted in what he said and promised, in the same way that God’s Word does that for us today. In our Gospel we have several rapid-fire examples of people who came to trust in Jesus, but also people who were not totally committed to him.

First, the village in Samaria let their prejudice against Jewish worship lead them to reject Jesus outright. They were not committed to Jesus at all. James and John, likewise, show an almost baffling response to this lack of commitment when they want to destroy the people in that village with fire from the sky. Could they have been any less focused on Jesus’ mission to save? Jesus’ response we have before us is clear and direct: “You don’t know what kind of spirit is influencing you. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy people’s souls, but to save them.”

Then we come to the man who professes what looks to be total commitment to Jesus, “I will follow you wherever you go.” But it seems that Jesus knows that his commitment will not last when pressed by the troubles of being Jesus’ disciple: “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” In other words, “Will you be so dedicated when you lose comforts for my sake?”

Next, Jesus calls a man to follow him and his response is that he first needs to bury his father. At first blush, it seems like a reasonable request. Would we fault anyone for taking time away from church, work, or even immediate gamily to attend the funeral of a family member? But Jesus’ response leads us to think that there’s more going on than we hear in the man’s request. Either the man is saying that he’ll follow Jesus when his father has died—at some undetermined point in the future—which begs the question, “When would you actually start following Jesus?” Or, more dishearteningly, perhaps the man’s father had already died but as an unbeliever, and Jesus is speaking spiritually—“Let the spiritually dead bury the other spiritually dead.” It was more important to tend to the living with the gospel of Jesus’ forgiveness than to go through the ritual of funeral observances for someone who was now beyond the reach of the gospel. Whatever the reason, Jesus is clearly seeing some cracks in this man’s commitment and feels the need to refocus him.

Lastly, the man who wants to say goodbye to the people at home—again, we would say this is another reasonable request. But Jesus’ response seems to be, “If you go back home, would you come back to me?”

The common thread in all of these people seems not to be total rejection of Jesus but a wavering commitment. Other things, to certain degrees, were taking priority over Jesus in their lives. And Jesus makes clear that he and his mission to save are too important to have anything less than total commitment to him.

How’s your commitment to following Jesus? Is it total and complete? Or does it have cracks? Are there things that, at times, are more important to you than Jesus? Jesus expects the same dedication to him that he has for me, but does he find it? Hardly. When my frustration with other things leaks out and negatively impacts my family, I’m committed to my frustration or anger, not Jesus. When my laziness leads me to prioritize leisure over responsibility, I’m committed to the recreation, not Jesus. When I let my focus and energy be on money, I’m committed to my greed, not Jesus.

We each have places where our commitment to Jesus can or does hit a brick wall. Maybe we identify with one of the people in our Gospel; maybe it’s something entirely different from what they were wrestling with. But our commitment is always going to be lacking in some way or another.

This morning, in just a few minutes, we’re going to hear Calvin make some amazing-sounding promises. He’s going to pledge his commitment to Jesus—total commitment even. He’ll read his essay to show what he’s learned and believes. Maybe we will find in his commitment to his Savior a renewal in our commitment to our Savior. We will undoubtedly let our prayers be filled with requests for strength for him, to face the challenges of this life with resolve and commitment to Jesus.

But Jesus calls on all of us to share Calvin’s commitment to him. To resolve to dedicate ourselves more fully to following him, to putting his Word into practice in our lives, to finding continual strength in his forgiveness.

And that last part is perhaps the most important takeaway. Jesus didn’t endorse letting James and John call down fire on the Samaritans because he came to save them, not destroy them. He doesn’t say it’s too late for the other men who show questionable commitment to him; he doesn’t say that they missed their chance. He encourages them all, calls them, wants them to follow him.

He does the same for you and me. When we face challenges to following Jesus, to living our lives as he wants, to prioritizing time with him in his Word, Jesus is there to forgive those stumbles as well. Yes, following Jesus calls on us to have total commitment to him. But for every time that we fall short of that total commitment, Jesus’ forgiveness removes those stumbles, and we face a new hour or day or week or year to follow our Savior with our whole life.

The athlete who fails his carefully regimented diet and spends a day eating garbage is not disqualified from his position. But he then needs to recommit himself to following the plan laid out before him. Likewise, you and I are not rejected by our Savior because we’ve had poor commitment today, this week, this month, this past year, or even the past decade. Our lack of commitment to Jesus is completely solved by Jesus’ total commitment to us. And then, in turn, his total commitment to us is what produces our total commitment to him.

So we don’t follow James’ and John’s example and seek to destroy those who disagree with us or who don’t share our faith. We pray for them and seek ways to share with them, showing a commitment to what Jesus has said and done, and a commitment to them by how we treat them and live our lives around them.

I won’t sugarcoat it—this is going to be tough for all of us all the days that we live here. We will have good days and bad, good weeks and bad, good years and bad. But there is no variance in Jesus’ commitment to us. He has given himself to forgive every sin. And when the time for the end our lives here comes, we will not find him on a day where he’s lukewarm toward us. That day he will be just as committed to us as he was the day he suffered hell on the cross to pay for our sins. Jesus’ commitment to us means we have eternal life with him. Until the day we receive that in full, may God give us the strength to throw off what trips us up and follow him. Amen.

"Tell How Much God Has Done for You" (Sermon on Luke 8:26-39) | June 19, 2022

Text: Luke 8:26-39
Date: June 19, 2022
Event: The Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 7), Year C

Luke 8:26–39 (EHV)

They sailed down to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across from Galilee. 27When Jesus stepped ashore, a man from the town met him. He was possessed by demons and for a long time had not worn any clothes. He did not live in a house but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and said with a loud voice, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!” 29For Jesus had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. In fact, the unclean spirit had seized him many times. He was kept under guard, and although he was bound with chains and shackles, he would break the restraints and was driven by the demon into deserted places.

30Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”

He said, “Legion,” because many demons had gone into him. 31They were begging Jesus that he would not order them to go into the abyss. 32A herd of many pigs was feeding there on the mountain. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission. 33The demons went out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

34When those who were feeding the pigs saw what happened, they ran away and reported it in the town and in the countryside. 35People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was clothed and in his right mind, and the people were afraid. 36Those who saw it told them how the demon-possessed man was saved. 37The whole crowd of people from the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked Jesus to leave them, because they were gripped with great fear.

As Jesus got into the boat and started back, 38the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39“Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.” Then he went through the whole town proclaiming what Jesus had done for him.

Tell How Much God Has Done for You

Today we begin what is sometimes called the “non-festival half” of the church year. And that makes some sense. If you think where we’ve been since November, we’ve been through Advent and had the festival worship services around Christmas and Epiphany, and then Lent with the high festivals around Jesus’ death and resurrection with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter. And finally we just had our services surrounding Pentecost and Holy Trinity Sunday.

All of those festivals and celebrations, largely surrounding the life and salvation-work of Jesus, take us from late November through early June. Now we are in the stretch of the church year, the Sundays after Pentecost, where there really aren’t festivals, at least not major ones. Instead of spending time celebrating the big moments in Jesus’ ministry and work to save us, we’ll be spending time slowing down and walking with Jesus during the somewhat quieter moments of his ministry. We’ll see his compassion as he heals the sick and learn from his wisdom with the disciples as he teaches small groups and large crowds, ever focusing them and us on himself as the only solution to our sins.

This morning’s Gospel is perhaps an unfamiliar account. This event might be covered in Sunday School, but it has not been a part of our rotation of readings in worship until our new’s hymnal’s new lectionary. Jesus went across the Sea of Galilee to the Gerasenes. This was out of Jewish territory; it was a place inhabited by Gentiles. The exact location of this area is up for some debate, but we know it must have been a coastal area because as soon as Jesus puts a foot on the sand, things start to happen: When Jesus stepped ashore, a man from the town met him. He was possessed by demons and for a long time had not worn any clothes. He did not live in a house but in the tombs. A naked man, tormented by demons, who lived in the local equivalent of a cemetery, comes up to Jesus.

Upon seeing Jesus, the man (or more accurately, the evil spirits within him) cry out in fear, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!” It’s fascinating that these demons can see in Jesus what no one else could. This Jesus was no normal human being. He was God-in-flesh. As we confessed from the Athanasian Creed last Sunday, Jesus is both God and man… not two persons but one; one, not by changing the deity into flesh, but by taking the humanity into God. And these demons in this man instantly recognize that this Jesus has the power to do things to them they would find very unpleasant, to torment them, returning them to the abyss, which seems to be another word for hell.

We don’t really have a clear understanding of the supernatural forces at work here. What does it mean for a demon to be roaming the earth or in a man (or pig) compared to being in hell? This account raises many more questions about the working of the spiritual forces around us than it answers. But, that is not the point of our focus this morning. No matter how much these demons did not want to have anything happen to them, in the end the best they could do was bargain with the Son of the Most High God.

We’re told, “the demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.” Permission. Fascinating, isn’t it? Something like demons and hell and all of these things, whether it’s our own imagination or movies and books, or even accounts in the Bible, can seem so scary, so powerful, so unnerving. But what do we learn here? Nothing is beyond the control of God. Every force, power, or being, no matter how daunting or dangerous, must submit themselves to the God who created and rules all things. And in this case, even that God clothed in human nature who was, at the time, not making full use of that glory and might as God.

At Jesus permission and command, the demons flee the man and enter the heard of pigs and drove them off the hillside into the water. What does this all mean for the man living naked and among the tombs? People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet. He was clothed and in his right mind, and the people were afraid. Can you even imagine what it was like for this man? We have no idea how long he endured this demon possession other than Luke’s comment, “for a long time.” This wasn’t something that had happened for days or weeks or even months; this was probably years of suffering under this burden. And then, in an instant, Jesus solves it with just his word.

The people around were scared of Jesus, but not the man. It’s not clear if he would have known anything about Jesus before that moment, but the demons’ testimony about Jesus let him know who Jesus was. And Jesus’ words were powerful to create faith in this man’s heart. The miracle demonstrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was not someone to fear, but someone to praise. This man wanted to be one of Jesus’ disciples, to continue to be with him. As Jesus got into the boat and started back, the man from whom the demons had gone out begged to be with him.

This fledging faith just wants to be near Jesus, which is more than understandable. But Jesus had other plans. This man, this likely-Gentile man, would not be one of the twelve, or even one of the broader group of disciples who would travel with Jesus around Galilee and Judea. No, instead Jesus gave him a different, more personal directive: “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.”

There are times during Jesus’ ministry that we see him tell people to be quiet about the miracles or things he’s done, largely because people might get the wrong idea about his goals and purpose. But not here. Here Jesus very directly tells this man to be a witness, tell others what God had done for him. And what a powerful message he had to share. His suffering was very, very public so the miracle also was very, very public. Jesus had rescued him from this slavery to the minions of hell and he would never forget it.

You and I probably have not lived through the physical torment that this man did, but we all have God’s care in our lives. Maybe we can point to some very specific times where God made his intervention pretty clear—safety in a near certain car accident, healing from a disease that surprised the doctors, daily bread coming to us in dire times from an unexpected place.

But even if we don’t have some specific story from our lives to share, we all have the rescue that God gives not from demon possession, but from hell itself. Because for as bad as that man’s torment by the demons was, we saw that even the demons didn’t want to be sent back to hell. And by our own work, we’re in the same place as they were. We are terrified of what God will do to us because of our sins—because we know that our sins have earned that eternal death in hell.

But Jesus enters, not to torment, but to save. He has mercy on us. He doesn’t just lessen the hardship like he did for the demons, allowing us to be sent into whatever our equivalent of a heard of unclean pigs might be. No, he completely saves us from the hardship, completely saves from hell. He uses his word again to assure us of this, when from the cross he declared his work finished. He suffered hell in our place, died the death we should have died, to ensure that we were saved. Not just from earthly strife and torment, but from eternal suffering.

And beyond that, Jesus’ words create faith to trust him as Savior. Whether we first heard those words as an infant in our baptisms, during childhood, or adulthood, the result is the same as it was for that man possessed the the legion of demons: the Word of God creates trust in everything God has said and done. Our faith is a quiet confidence that knows that our Savior is trustworthy.

As a result, we long to be away from this world of sin and decay and instead to be with Jesus. We want to go where he goes and always have him clearly, visibly with us. And surely, by his grace, we will do that when the time for our departure from this life arrives. But until that time he looks each of us in the eye and says, “Return to your home and tell how much God has done for you.”

Where is home and how do we tell? Well, that’s going to vary a lot from person to person. You bring your children to the waters of baptism to bring them into God’s family and his kingdom. You model the love of Jesus in your family. You live a life of thankfulness to God among your coworkers. Your neighbors may see you journey to church on a Sunday morning as a quiet testimony to your priorities. You comfort a hurting friend, and show kindness to a total stranger. You share the peace of Jesus’ victory over sin with those who don’t know it and remind those who had let it fall out of mind. You support those who publicly spread God’s Word in your name in your congregation, in the other places of our nation, and around the world.

I don’t imagine that man in the Gerasenes ever stopped thinking about the kindness Jesus did to him that day, and likely he continued to prioritize telling how much God had done for him. May God give each of us that same heart and mind. Today, and every day, as you return home and everywhere you find yourselves, tell how much God has done for you. Amen.

"Our Triune God Justifies and Sanctifies" (Sermon on Romans 5:1-5) | June 12, 2022

Text: Romans 5:1-5
Date: June 12, 2022
Event: Holy Trinity Sunday (Confirmation), Year C

Romans 5:1-5 (EHV)

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2Through him we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory of God.

3Not only this, but we also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, 4and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope. 5And hope will not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who was given to us.

Our Triune God Justifies and Sanctifies

It’s useful, but not always pleasant to admit that you cannot do something. Acknowledging your weaknesses, your limits, can actually help get things done because you will ask for help when you need it and even hand something off completely when you can’t deal with it at all.

But, it’s not pleasant because we don’t like to admit that we can’t do something—or can’t do something well. Maybe we feel like we’re burdening someone else with a task if we ask for help, rather than giving them an opportunity to serve. For some this is easy to do, but for many it is not.

But what if you had the task of building a complicated wooden table but didn’t know how to use a saw? And what if your neighbor was a master carpenter? Doesn’t it make sense to ask for help when the person who has al the answers and more in his head and hands is right there?

This Sunday of the church year, the first Sunday after Pentecost, specially focused on the work of the Triune God. It gives us an opportunity to see the Triune God’s work in a special light, how Father, Son, and Spirit work together to accomplish what we could not: reducing us from sin and giving us eternal life. Again, it’s not pleasant admit that we need help, but in this case especially, when we are TOTALLY powerless and our God who loves us is right here ready and willing to save, why would we continue to struggle to save ourselves?

Our Second Reading specially serves almost as a creed, a confession and summary of faith in itself. And we will do well to use it to spend a few moments reviewing and renewing our love of what God has done for us—rescuing us when we were completely helpless.

As Paul wrote to the Christians living in Rome, he was writing to people he had never met. Paul would eventually make it to the capital city of the empire, but he hadn’t yet when he wrote these words. And his letter to them, that we’ve come to know simply as “Romans,” is a beautiful summary and defense of the Christian faith. The first 2 1/2 chapters or so serve as a harsh summary of the reality of our standing before God. Whether people were Jewish believers or Gentiles who knew nothing of God’s Word, Paul shows how all have fallen far short of God’s expectations of perfection. Every single person on the face of the planet stands under condemnation for their sins with no hope of ever fixing it.

But Paul doesn’t leave his readers (or us) in this hopeless state because that’s not where God has left us either. Paul assures us that there is a solution in God alone. He rejoices to tell us that we are freely justified (we’ll get back to that word in a moment) by God’s love for us, shown in Jesus. That in Jesus, every sin is forgiven and every threat of hell has been undone. And Paul moves on to explain how Abraham’s faith, his trust in God’s promises, is the same as ours. That just as Abraham trusted in God’s promises and received what God promised, so too we trust God’s promises and receive what he’s promised.

Which leads us to the beginning of Romans chapter 5, from where our Second Reading is taken. This really serves as kind of a summary of all that has come before. Echoes of the middle of Romans 3 greet us in verse 1 of Chapter 5: Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul uses that word justified. We probably don’t use that word often, or at least not in the same way that Paul uses it. We might use justify in a negative way if someone is trying to argue that the wrong or hurtful things he is doing is actually ok. He’s justifying his actions. And that’s related to how Paul’s using it, but not in exactly the same sense. “Justify” is at its heart a courtroom term. If a judge justifies you, he declares you not guilty. And if the “not guilty” verdict has been issued, it doesn’t matter if you actually committed that crime or not—there will be no punishment, no consequences, nothing bad comes to you after that.

And so it is with God. We have sinned—that is an undeniable fact. And that sin should carry with it the sentence of eternal death in hell. But Jesus undoes all of that. His perfect life was sacrificed for us. Jesus suffered hell on the cross and he did that in our place. So the payment for those sins has already been made. Jesus’ suffering replaces our suffering.

And what are we left with? Our sin was war and conflict with God but now, because of Jesus and only because of Jesus, we have peace with God. Paul says that because we also have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand. And we rejoice confidently on the basis of our hope for the glory of God. God’s forgiveness, his justification, changes everything. We sinned, yes, but that sin has been forgiven. We deserved punishment, yes, but someone else—Jesus—has taken that punishment in our place. We had hell coming as our eternal destination and Jesus has totally reversed that to being with him in heaven.

So we have the hope for the glory of God, or if we felt like speaking Latin this morning, the hope for the gloria Dei. That glory of God is the eternal life that is waiting for us. But hope here is not a hope the way we might use that word. In modern English we use hope attached to a great deal of uncertainty. We hope for something that we just don’t think will happen or we think is a good chance will not happen. But Paul uses hope differently. This hope is confident, certain. There is no doubt about this happening. Jesus’ finished work, his resurrection and ascension, confirm that everything we needed is done.

I know that today is Trinity Sunday, but we won’t spend a lot of time this morning trying to explain the Trinity—how God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit can all be completely and fully God, while at the same time there is only one God. It’s a teaching of God’s Word that defies understanding. In fact, almost every year in Catechism classes I offer the kids that if they can explain the Trinity so that I have no questions about it, they can be done with the class, receive an A+ for everything, and be confirmed the next Sunday. In 14 years of teaching Catechism, I’ve never had anyone even try because the true nature of God goes beyond our reasoning and understanding.

But here in these few short verses from Romans 5, we see the Triune God at work. We have peace with God the Father because of the work of God the Son. And then, as Paul continues, we have the love of God the Father because of the work of God the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit’s work is often called sanctification. Like justification, maybe hearing that word makes our eyes glaze over with “church speak” or maybe we have flat back to our time in Catechism or Bible Information Classes. But in short, sanctification means to set apart as special, to make holy. And that’s what the Holy Spirit does, he sets us apart from the rest of the world. He makes us different by making us part of God’s family, something we couldn’t have done on our own. His work in us is God’s love [being] poured out into our hearts.

And that change from sinner to saint, from one who is condemned to hell to one assured of eternal life in heaven, makes a big change in our lives. It gives us a perspective we would not have had otherwise, a perspective so wildly different of what we have by nature, that it seems almost nonsensical. Paul describes this change this way: “We also rejoice confidently in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces patient endurance, and patient endurance produces tested character, and tested character produces hope.”

The certain hope of eternal life means that we look at even bad things in our lives here as something that can be understood as positive. Perhaps being shut out from that opportunity will lead to a different, better one down the line. Perhaps going through this hardship today will make me more resilient to face a different hardship later, or be in a position to support someone going through something similar down the line. Or perhaps that suffering is just a reminder of the very temporary nature of this life.

When we have the certain hope of eternal life in Jesus’ work for us, we can begin to have God’s eternal perspective and be reminded that the suffering we have here will not be forever. There will be relief from it, probably in this life, but even if not, certainly in the life to come. That’s the patient endurance and tested character that Paul refers to.

The Holy Spirit’s work in our lives and in our hearts remind us not only that Jesus lived and died to forgive all of our sins, but that God always has our eternal best interests in mind. That work gives us a peace even in hardship and suffering that we probably would not otherwise have. That’s part of the sanctification that the Holy Spirit works, producing a life and an attitude in us that is lived out of thankfulness to God, trusting in the certainty of God’s promises.

Our eternal well-bring is what links the work of the Triune God together. We could do nothing and needed him for everything. Thanks be to God that he has a single-minded goal of rescuing us from hell so we can be with him in eternal life. And by his grace and his work for us, on us, and in us, that’s exactly what we will have.

May these truths that we confess and the hope that God gives be the focus and joy for us all our lives. Amen.

"Hold On To Jesus' Word" (Sermon on John 14:23-27) | June 5, 2022

Text: John 14:23-27
Date: June 5, 2022
Event: The Day of Pentecost, Year C

John 14:23-37 (EHV)

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will hold on to my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24The one who does not love me does not hold on to my words. The word that you are hearing is not mine, but it is from the Father who sent me.

25“I have told you these things while staying with you. 26But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I told you.

27“Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not let it be afraid.”

Hold On To Jesus’ Word

Are heirlooms a part of your family? Do you have items that are precious to you and perhaps have been precious to your family for generations? Value can be found in something old—something from decades or even centuries ago—or in something new. Someone might be very mindful of the care of a great grandparents’ photo album and a brand new cell phone. For different reasons and purposes surely, but they will protect what is valuable to them.

This morning Jesus urges us to find value and use careful handling not with a physical object, but with his Word. But he also reminds us that we don’t hold on to this treasure by ourselves—the Holy Spirit himself brings it to us and keeps it with us through this life.

Our Gospel for this celebration of Pentecost is actually taken a little over 50 days before that first Christian Pentecost Day. We’ve had several Gospel readings from that Maundy Thursday evening because Jesus did a lot of teaching with his disciples that evening, and the Gospels record a lot of it for us. Jesus spent much of that evening getting his disciples ready for what was going to happen in a couple of hours—being betrayed by Judas, arrested by the Jewish leaders, and eventually condemned to death. But he also looked forward, looked beyond his crucifixion and resurrection and ahead to what would come after that.

In a few short hours things were going to go crazy for the disciples, and in the weeks that followed, they would probably feel rudderless and adrift. Even though they would be seeing the resurrected Jesus, they had to wonder at times what to make of all of this and even what would come after this stage where Jesus would meet with them and prove his resurrection to them.

Don’t you suppose the temptation to give up on all of this would have been strong for the disciples? I  have to imagine that at least some of them at this time would have thought something along the lines of, “Well, these three years with Jesus were sure something, but I think it’s time to be done.” I mean, there was nothing but chaos surrounding Jesus. By association with him, they were increasingly considered persona non grata by both the religious leaders and the political leaders, and probably the populace at large.

So what does Jesus say to dissuade them from giving up during those difficult times? If anyone loves me, he will hold on to my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. The one who does not love me does not hold on to my words. Giving up on Jesus’ words and the things he had done are tantamount to saying “I don’t love you Jesus. I don’t value what you’ve done.”

Holding on to family photos shows a value and love of the previous generations of your family. Handling a new phone with care might show a good stewardship, seeking to protect something that cost a considerable amount of money. Likewise, holding on to and prioritizing Jesus’ words show a love for Jesus and the forgiveness he won by his life and death in our place.

How are you at holding on to Jesus’ words? If you think through your thoughts and actions this past week, how did it go? If we had a screen up here with everything you said, did, and thought written down on it for the past seventy-two hours, would someone reading it say, “Wow, what a devoted follower of Jesus!” Or would the reaction to those things, written out and collected, communicate a much more negative impression? Would they be embarrassing to have shown to other people?

The reality is sin is always with us. And we think, say, and do things that are not at all in keeping with loving Jesus and holding on to his Word. But his Word is the very thing that brings the solution to that problem. Because Jesus’ Word not only tells us how we should live but tells us how he lived for us. That in his life and death, we have the forgiveness of all of our sins. That because of Jesus, we will be in heaven forever.

This is a message that people need to hear. This is the message Jesus would send his disciples to share. This is the message that really publicly had its debut on that first Christian Pentecost day. But as we’ve seen, we’re not good at holding on to Jesus’ Words. Left to our own devices we would take this Word, given by Jesus from the Father and chuck it right out the window. Our sinful nature finds no value in what Jesus said or did, and has no love for him at all.

Jesus knows that. He knew his disciples and he knows us. “I have told you these things while staying with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and remind you of everything I told you.” The disciples had three whole years with Jesus but they still couldn’t get what Jesus was saying, or hold on to it in their minds. It often escaped their understanding. They were confused and often misapplied Jesus’ words. But the Holy Spirit would come to teach them and remind them of everything Jesus had said.

That’s probably the most remarkable part of that first Christian Pentecost day. Not the sound of the wind, or the tongues of fire, or the apostles speaking in languages they had never studied, but that they got it. They understood what Jesus had taught them. They understood the necessity of everything he did. They understood what all of his work meant for them and for all people eternally.

Now, the apostles were certainly works in progress. We can read through the book of Acts and see them growing and learning even after that amazing Pentecost day. But this is the gift of the Holy Spirit: faith that clings to the promises of God, faith that trusts what God has said.

And while we don’t speak in other languages or have the other gifts that the disciples received that day, we have the same, primary gift that the Holy Spirit gave to them that day. Because you, like Peter and the others, have received the Holy Spirit who created faith in your heart. You, like the 3,000 people that first Christian Pentecost day, have heard the good news and believed it because the Spirit worked that belief in you.

So when Jesus tells you to hold on to his Word, he doesn’t expect us to do that solo or in a vacuum. He gives us the Holy Spirit to create that faith and help us hold on to those promises. The Holy Spirit uses the means of the grace, the gospel message as it comes to us both in the Word and the sacraments, to strengthen our grip on what Jesus has promised and done. The more we are surrounded by God’s Word, the more valuable it becomes to us.

And what is the result of that work of the Spirit on us? “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, and do not let it be afraid.” By keeping us holding on to Jesus’ Word, the Holy Spirit brings Jesus’ peace to our troubled hearts. Sure, we can look at the past week and see failure after failure to live as the child of God, to live as one who holds on to and loves Jesus’ Word. But the Spirit continues to bring us to the cross and the empty tomb, to show us what Jesus did, to show us Jesus’ forgiveness for those failures to hold on to his Word in our life, and then to wrap our fingers around that word and tighten our grip, to see his Word as the most precious gift we’ve ever been given.

The peace that Jesus brings through his Word, through the Holy Spirit, is the peace that comes from knowing our sins are forgiven. It is the peace that comes from knowing we will be safe in eternal life. It is the peace that comes from knowing that no matter how difficult life here becomes, we need not have a troubled or fearful heart, because we have the Spirit in us and are safe in Jesus’ love for eternity.

The peace that comes from Jesus is more precious than any family heirloom or exciting new purchase. The peace that Jesus brings is greater than anything you can get from the world. Jesus’ peace come from his Word. Hold on to that Word; value that Word. By the grace and work of the Holy Spirit, that’s exactly what we will do. Thanks be to God! Amen.

"Jesus' Ascension Shows God's Necessities" (Sermon on Luke 24:44-53) | May 29, 2022

Text: Luke 24:44-53
Date: May 29, 2022
Event: The Ascension of our Lord (Observed), Year C

Luke 24:44-53 (EHV)

He said to them, “These are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

45Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. 46He said to them, “This is what is written and so it must be: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48You are witnesses of these things. 49Look, I am sending you what my Father promised. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

50He led them out as far as the vicinity of Bethany. He lifted up his hands and blessed them. 51And while he was blessing them, he parted from them and was taken up into heaven. 52So they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. 53They were continually in the temple courts, praising and blessing God. Amen.

Jesus’ Ascension Shows God’s Necessities

We will have things we want to do and things we need to do. Sometimes those things are one in the same, sometimes they are worlds apart. But things that are required, are needs, are necessities, are things that cannot be avoided, whether they are pleasant or unpleasant.

When talking about “Daily Bread” with the kids in Catechism class (or almost as often with adults in Bible class!), we have to make that distinction between needs and wants. Wants might be fulfilled or might not be, but God promises that the needs will absolutely be met. So then the question is, what are our needs, what are necessities from God’s point of view? Do they sync up with what we would say our needs or are they pretty different?

Today we are celebrating Jesus’ ascension. Technically, the day for this celebration would have been this past Thursday as Jesus ascended 40 days after his resurrection, but we are observing it this Sunday. Jesus’ ascension gives us a good opportunity to see God’s priorities, what he deems to be necessities. So this morning, as we review the simple account of Jesus’ ascension from Luke’s Gospel, let’s consider what Jesus’ ascension tells us about God and what it tells us about ourselves.

Jesus spent 40 days on and off with his disciples after his resurrection to serve as a coda on his teaching with them. Of prime importance for Jesus was that each of these followers know beyond any possible doubt that he had, in fact, been physically raised from the dead. This truth is massively important for people’s eternal comfort and would be one of the center points of the disciples’ teaching as they went out into the world. So Jesus made sure they knew that he had been raised.

But he was also teaching them a lot about the necessity of what had happened to him and the things he had done. This was not the first time Jesus had said things like this. In fact, at some point after Jesus had been teaching for a while and after John the Baptist had been executed, Jesus asked his disciples who the crowds of people were thinking he was. They knew the crowds had all sorts of answers and gave Jesus a sampling. And when Jesus turned the question to his disciples—who did they think he was?—Peter gave that famous, accurate confession: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16).

While praising that confession we’re also told “From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he had to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and experts in the law, and be killed, and on the third day be raised again (Matthew 16:21). Note how similar that is to his words in our Gospel, just prior to Jesus’ ascension: “These are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms…. This is what is written and so it must be: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day.”

So, in part our answer to the question of “what is a necessity for God?” is following through on the promises he has made. He can’t make a promise and leave it undone. But that point skips a necessary question: why were these promises made in the first place?

And that gets us to the heart of God’s necessities. For God, it was a necessity that mankind not be doomed to hell for their rebellious sin. For God, it was necessary that payment be made for sins, but not by us. For God, it was necessary that we be saved from this punishment and safe with him forever.

And so here is the first necessity for God: our rescue from sin. God did not hesitate for even a moment. It was the very first conversation after Adam and Eve fell where God made that first promise of a Satan-crushing Savior. God’s nature meant that he could not and would not shrug at our sin and leave us to our doom. His love for us is so great, so profound, so deep, so absolutely-selfless, that he promised a Savior and would be that very Savior for us. Jesus’ work had to happen because God’s loving nature, his grace toward fallen mankind, demanded that.

There are times when it doesn’t feel that way. There are times where we think God must not love us very much because we have this hardship or we lack that blessing. But Jesus shows us the error of that thinking. Does God love you? Does God care for you? You know he does because he made your salvation a necessity for himself. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and that’s exactly what he did. And because he did, your sins are forgiven and you are safe with your Savior.

But the necessity is not just in God doing it. It would do no good for God to do all of this and then for no one to know about it. And so from the beginning, he let people know. He let people know what he was going to do—he made those promises in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. But he also let people know what he had done: Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in [my] name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

And we’ll see this start in earnest next week as we celebrate the first Christian Pentecost day. We will see the message of Jesus go out through Peter and the other disciples in that famous day of speaking in languages they had never studied. And in that moment, God will fortify the church by adding 3,000 believers, nearly 30x the number of believers than there had been at Jesus’ ascension.

Throughout the Easter season, we’ve had bits of this history in our First Readings from the book of Acts. Jesus was with his disciples wherever they went, whomever they were talking to, sharing what he had done with the people he had died for. People were brought to faith through this preaching of the Word and through baptism. They were strengthened in their faith by this continued proclamation of the Word and their celebration of the Lord’s Supper.

All of this points back to God’s original necessity: that people be saved from their sins. There is no being saved from sin without Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. But there is also no being saved from sin without the message of Jesus being shared with people who don’t know about it yet, or who had known it and fallen away, or know it and love it but need to be strengthened in it.

And this necessity has not changed. It was needed in the apostles’ day just after Jesus’ ascension, and it’s just as necessary today almost 2,000 years after Jesus’ ascension. Because the truths are still truths. God’s necessities are still the same. He needs people to be saved from their sins. Jesus did the work that was needed, and now that necessary task of sharing that rests on you and me. We are the messengers of God’s loving necessities. We are the ones to share it with our brothers and sisters in Christ, our unbelieving friends, coworkers, neighbors, and even with people we’ve never met around the world.

What is truly needed and necessary? From God’s perspective, it’s you—your eternal safety is the driving motivator for him. His love to save you has forced his hand continually, and he will not stop working toward that goal until you and I are safe with him forever. Jesus’ ascension shows the end of a crucially important part of that work, and the beginning of the next step. May God bless our work in sharing the necessity and the  reality that Christ is risen, he is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

"God's Joy Outlasts Sin's Sorrow" (Sermon on John 16:16-24) | May 22, 2022

Text: John 16:16–24
Date: May 22, 2022
Event: The Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year C

John 16:16–24 (EHV)

[Jesus said.] “In a little while you are not going to see me anymore, and again in a little while you will see me, because I am going away to the Father.”

17Therefore some of his disciples asked one another, “What does he mean when he tells us, ‘In a little while you are not going to see me, and again in a little while you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going away to the Father’?” 18So they kept asking, “What does he mean by ‘a little while’? We don’t understand what he’s saying.”

19Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him about this, so he said to them, “Are you trying to determine with one another what I meant by saying, ‘In a little while you are not going to see me, and again in a little while you will see me’? 20Amen, Amen, I tell you: You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy. 21A woman giving birth has pain, because her time has come. But when she has delivered the child, she no longer remembers the anguish, because of her joy that a person has been born into the world.

22“So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. 23In that day you will not ask me anything. Amen, Amen, I tell you: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. 24Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.”

God’s Joy Outlasts Sin’s Sorrow

Typically, you want things to last. You don’t want the cell phone you paid hundreds of dollars for to last for a few months, right? You want to get several years of use out of it at least. You buy a car for tens of thousands of dollars with the intention that you’ll be able to use it for many years. And if you’re able to buy a home, you spend a much larger amount of money hoping that it might last you decades.

And we want things to last outside of just things we buy. A balanced meal will give you energy and keep you feeling good much better than the same amount of calories from candy and soda. In school or other training, you spend time and effort studying the material so it stays in your head and is a benefit to you moving forward rather than forgetting it when you step out of the class or training session.

Jesus this morning focuses on something that endures much better than a well-made car or a good meal. He zeroes us in on the joy we have in his victory over sin and death. While we are moving farther from it, we are still basking in the joy of Jesus’ resurrection. And one of the points we’ve tried to make during this season is how that Easter joy and blessing endures. Last week we saw that the motivator for Jesus’ work, God’s undeserved love for sinners, lasts beyond this world and into eternity. Jesus’ resurrection, then, is not a one-time event that comes and goes. It’s an eternally-important event that brings so much comfort and blessing for us all the days of our lives.

And Jesus is making that same point in our Gospel for this morning. Our Gospel is taken from the teaching Jesus did during that Maundy Thursday evening, just prior to his betrayal and arrest. And so it’s that heavy context that serves as the back drop of what Jesus has to say. And that helps us to understand what he means when he says, “In a little while you are not going to see me anymore, and again in a little while you will see me, because I am going away to the Father.”

The disciples didn’t understand what he was talking about in the moment, but you and I, with the benefit of hindsight, can see what he’s referring to pretty clearly. In just a matter of hours Jesus would be arrested. The disciples would scatter and largely, they would not see him again. We know John, at least, was at the cross, but we don’t know for sure that any of the other disciples saw Jesus again after this night.

So then Jesus was hidden from them in the Sanhedrin, with Pilate, Herod, the cross, and then finally the tomb. At that point, it was too late. If they had a change of heart, if they wanted to see their teacher and friend again, it was impossible. The stone was in place, the seal applied, and the guard posted.

Of course, you know what comes next. Jesus said, “and again in a little while you will see me.” It wouldn’t be until that first Easter evening, but Jesus appeared to most of these same disciples where they were scared and huddled together.

And in that disappearance and reappearance was the assurance of all Jesus promised to do. In his disappearance, he was cut off from the land of living because in his death he paid for our every sin. In his reappearance we have the assurance that all things are complete. Jesus completed the work that his Father gave him to do. He gave his life to save us, and we have the full and free forgiveness of every single sin. What Easter joy is ours!

But, have you felt joyful from April 17th on? We gathered outside for a beautiful service, we rejoiced that Jesus had been raised from the dead. What could possibly drag you down? What could possibly rob you of that joy? What could possibly make you feel sad knowing that Jesus has conquered sin, death, and hell for you?

Well, a lot, actually. Jesus says as much, “Amen, Amen, I tell you: You will weep and wail, but the world will rejoice. You will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn to joy.” Life brings sorrow in this world. Yes, we trust that Jesus is our Savior. Yes, we rejoice that heaven is ours. But we will not always feel good because we still live in a world of sin. The world attacks us, dear ones fail us, and we become sorrowful at our own inability to live our lives the way God expects. While we live in this world of sin, sorrow goes hand-in-hand with us.

Jesus uses the analogy of a woman in labor to show not only the severity of the pain and sorrow that life here produces, but also the inevitability. No child is born without pain. Even modern medical science that has some options to lessen that pain cannot eliminate it entirely. A child being born causes great pain to the mother who brings the child into the world.

But, to Jesus’ point, that pain is temporary. When the child is born, the pain physically begins to subside, but also emotionally, as Mom gets to hold the child, the joy of the birth well-overshadows the difficulty to get to that point. If Mom and child are healthy, joy beams brighter than sorrow and pain.

It’s no surprise that God often uses this picture to describe life in this world. Pains and sorrow are unavoidable here, but we know what is coming. Eternal life is waiting for us, where there will be no sin or sickness or sorrow or pain. Heaven is prepared for us, where God will wipe every tear from our eyes. Perfection has been won for us, where nothing bad will ever happen to us again. No wonder Paul, when writing to the Romans, observed, “Our sufferings at the present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18).

And that’s great for then, but what about for now? How do we scrape by in this life without despair, without giving up hope, without losing track of the promises God will absolutely keep? “So you also have sorrow now. But I will see you again. Your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you. In that day you will not ask me anything. Amen, Amen, I tell you: Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, so that your joy may be made complete.”

We have sorrow now, and that sorrow will evaporate when Jesus returns at the last day. But until that day, you have access to God through prayer. Jesus said that the disciples at that point had not asked for anything in his name, which makes sense. Jesus was right there; why would they ask the Father for things in Jesus’ name when they could just ask Jesus directly?

But there will come a time when they won’t see him anymore, not the brief time when he’s in the tomb, but after his ascension. The disciples would live through the start of the time that you and I live through right now. We, like they likely did, long to be able to ask Jesus for help, guidance, support, whatever, and it’s frustrating or sad that we don’t have direct access to Jesus.

But, Jesus says, we actually do. Asking the Father in Jesus’ name is tantamount to speaking to Jesus directly. When we can’t see Jesus with our physical eyes, we ask the Father for what we need in Jesus’ name, and we can be sure that we will have what we need.

And in this connection to our Savior and Creator God in prayer is what makes our joy complete. It will find its completion in the comfort we have now, and the ultimate completion in our eternal life with him forever. The sorrows of sin will pass away, but God’s joy never will. His love, and our joy in that love, endures forever! Why? Because Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

"Love Is Eternal" (Sermon on 1 Corinthians 13:1-13) | May 15, 2022

Text: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Date: May 15, 2022
Event: The Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year C

1 Corinthians 13:1–13 (EHV)

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and have all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3If I give away everything I own, and if I give up my body that I may be burned but do not have love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not brag. It is not arrogant. 5It does not behave indecently. It is not selfish. It is not irritable. It does not keep a record of wrongs. 6It does not rejoice over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. 7It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

8Love never comes to an end. But if there are prophetic gifts, they will be done away with; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be done away with. 9For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part, 10but when that which is complete has come, that which is partial will be done away with. 11When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish things. 12Now we see indirectly using a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I was fully known.

13So now these three remain: faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.

Love Is Eternal

This morning’s service is focused on love. We heard Jesus’ clear command to his disciples on Maundy Thursday evening in our Gospel for this morning, “Love one another.” He demonstrated love that is God pleasing when he washed his disciples’ feet that evening. No one else was willing to humiliate themselves to do that lowly work, but Jesus did. He loved his disciples enough to give that brief but powerful demonstration of love.

In our Second Reading for this morning, the apostle Paul does a deep-dive on just what love is and looks like. These are famous words that are likely familiar to us and likely also familiar to those who have never even cracked open a Bible. These words are sometimes used at weddings even when the people aren’t Christians because the sentiment assumed is that of a mushy-gushy, romantic love being celebrated in that moment.

But this morning as we dig into these words, we will hopefully walk away with a better understanding not only of God’s love for us, but of our love for each other, love that should be expressed not only in words and actions, but even in the attitudes of our hearts.

And that’s exactly where Paul begins. He starts this famous chapter on love by addressing the importance of love not only as action but as attitude. If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all the mysteries and have all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away everything I own, and if I give up my body that I may be burned but do not have love, I gain nothing. Paul offers a lot of examples here in these opening verses, but they all make the same point. If I can do and actually accomplish amazing things, but I don’t have love as God defines love, it is all worthless. If I’m only out for self-glory or drawing attention to myself, if my motivation is skewed from love to selfishness, I am nothing.

What love, then, is Paul talking about? Well, he goes on to define it: Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not brag. It is not arrogant. It does not behave indecently. It is not selfish. It is not irritable. It does not keep a record of wrongs. It does not rejoice over unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. This is a definition of God’s love. If you’re familiar with the Greek term, agape, a selfless, self-sacrificing love, that’s what Paul is talking about. Patient, kind, not envious, brag-y, or arrogant.

And this is where those quotes from this chapter can start getting skewed. Because Paul’s point here is not how great the love of the Corinthians has been. His point here is law. He showing where your love and my love have not measured up to God’s definition of love. We might well read these verses like this, Love is patient (but you’re not). Love is kind (but you’re not). Love does not envy (but you do). It does not brag (but you do). It is not arrogant (but you are). It does not behave indecently (but you do). It is not selfish (but you are). It is not irritable (but you are). It does not keep a record of wrongs (but you do). It doesn’t take long for the mushy-gushy vibe some people attach to these verses to evaporate, does it?

Here God forces me to take a step back and evaluate not just my actions and my words, but my very heart. How do I approach my relationship with other people? How do I consider my goals or accomplishments? What do I think about myself compared to what I think about other people? As you work through these thoughts with me, it’s not real pretty, is it?

Think back to this week, look at all the hats you’ve worn and the responsibilities that you’ve had. How have you been as a spouse? How have you been as a single person? How have you been as a parent? How have you been as a child? How have you been as a student? How have you been as an employee? How have you been as an employer? How have you been as a member of our congregation? How have you been as a Christian in general? As you carried out the tasks associated with those roles, did you do so with a God-like love, or did you come off as more of a clattering gong?

None of us probably failed in all ways at all times, but despite the best of intentions, did your selfishness slip in there? Did you have moments of weakness where you weren’t loving at all? Did you seek to use your love as manipulation rather than selfless self-sacrifice?

Of course you did. That’s Paul’s point. This is how we should love, but we don’t. And this is why we need God’s love so desperately. Because God’s love is always patient and kind. It’s never envious, bragging, or arrogant. God’s love is perfectly selfless all the time.

And we see that most clearly in Jesus. Our sin in general, and specifically this morning as we focus on our lack of love, needs forgiveness. Because this is sin that offends the eternal God. This is sin that leads to hell. This is sin that we cannot make up for. My lack of love to another person may be made up for with an apology, a gift, a change in approach in the future, or simply letting some time pass. But that lack of love can never be made up for in God’s sight. It is an eternal weight around my neck, dragging me to hell without hope.

And so God’s love is demonstrated most clearly for us in this: while we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. His death on the cross paid for my lack of love. He died for your selfishness. All of our problems with loving as God loves are solved in Jesus’ perfect life and innocent death. As we look, yet again, at his empty tomb, we see his victory, his inescapable proof of his love for us. His loving victory means we will not be in hell for our sins; we will be in heaven.

That love is then what motivates us to love one another, to look at the times we’ve failed to love this past week and strive to do better. To be that better spouse, coworker, neighbor, friend, parent, child, whatever roles we have, to let love, namely God’s love, flow through those responsibilities. In doing that, we give thanks to God for his love for us.

But love is special, it’s different than anything else. Paul makes this point: Love never comes to an end… these three remain: faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. Why is love the greatest of the amazing triad of blessings of faith, hope, and love? Because it’s the one that never expires. We only need faith and hope when we are waiting for a promise. We have faith in God’s forgiveness and hope for eternal life because God has promised them, but we don’t have the full realization of all that God has promised just yet. But when God brings us home to himself, we will not need faith or hope. When you have something in your hand, you dob’t need faith that it’s there or is coming. And in that moment we will see God face to face! We don’t have to hope, even have confident hope, that heaven is waiting for us when we’re standing in that perfect place.

But love? Love will fill eternity. God’s love for us will be direct and inescapable, even more than it is now. Our love for one another will be perfectly refined, unhampered by sin and failure. Love will be our constant companion through the endless ages of eternal life. Never will we be apart from God’s love or apart from perfect love for each other.

That change is coming, but it’s not here yet. While we journey through this life we will need faith, trust, that God has forgiven us. We need hope, though not doubt, that God will follow through on his promises to us. And we need God’s love that envelops and restores us. God’s love will not fail for eternity and it will not fail us now. Jesus’ forgiveness is not in doubt. God’s eternal love is our possession now and forever.

Take comfort in that eternal love of God. Even when you fail to love or others fail to love you, God’s love in Jesus, your Savior, is a constant. He died for you; he was raised for you. He loves you now and forever. Rejoice in God’s love, and with his love, love one another, because Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

"Jesus Is Our Eternal Shepherd" (Sermon on John 10:22-30) | May 8, 2022

Text: John 10:22-30
Date: May 8, 2022
Event: Good Shepherd Sunday (The Fourth Sunday of Easter), Year C

John 10:22-30 (EHV)

Then the Festival of Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, 23and Jesus was walking in the temple area in Solomon’s Colonnade.

24So the Jews gathered around Jesus, asking, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.”

25Jesus answered them, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The works I am doing in my Father’s name testify about me. 26But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep, as I said to you. 27My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all. No one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. 30I and the Father are one.”

Jesus Is Our Eternal Shepherd

It’s Good Shepherd Sunday, which means the sermon is obligated to include a paragraph about how not-bright sheep are. It might be a little trite or even cliche, but it’s true. If you have spent any time with sheep, you know that they’re pretty mindless. They will wander from safety into danger and from plenty of food and water into a barren place.

This truth is why God so often speaks of himself or even other human leaders over his people as shepherds. You know that we are all too likely to wander off away from the safety of God’s protection and love and instead get ourselves wrapped up in the danger of sin. And like a sheep realizing that it’s no longer grazing in grass but sinking in mud, we often don’t realize the danger we are putting ourselves into until it’s too late to course correct.

So God promises to be our shepherd. Most of our songs this morning are summaries and paraphrases of David’s famous Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” The theme of our whole service is that God provides for and protects his sheep. We know that God is loving and especially forgiving for we sheep who get ourselves wrapped up in sin. He is our perfectly patient, eternal shepherd, who rescues from sin and brings us to eternal life.

But often, we lose track of that. We lose track of the eternal and instead focus on the here and now. We get so focused on earthly things that we take our eyes off of eternity and that leads to real problems. We become sheep wandering away from what our Shepherd knows that we need, and he has to come seek us out and put us back where we belong, refocusing us on what is truly important.

Our Gospel takes place during the Feast of Dedication. You know this celebration by a different name, Hanukkah. Now the celebration that Jesus attended probably looked pretty different than modern-day celebrations, but the event celebrated is largely the same. This festival commemorated a victory of God’s people over rulers who sought to snuff out the worship of the true God.

In the time between the Old and New Testaments, the Greek empire ruled over the Promised Land. Israel was subject to Greek influence, first brought about by the ridiculously large conquests of Alexander the Great. By the early 100s BC, things were going badly. A Greek king named Antiochus IV ruled over this section of the empire, and he demanded unity at all costs. That unity included religious thought and practice. Which meant that anything the didn’t conform to Greek thinking about religion—including Judaism—had to go.

Antiochus did horrible things to God’s people during this time. Perhaps one of the worst symbolic acts he performed was having pigs sacrificed on the altar in the temple. If you remember, pigs were considered unclean animals in God’s Old Testament worship laws; they had no place in sacrifices during worship. This was a defilement of the worship space second almost to none.

So, the people fought back. By God’s grace, through the leadership of a man named Judas Maccabeus, God’s people ended up kicking the Greek rule out of the area and then rededicated the temple. They built a new altar to replace the defiled one and rededicated the worship space to the true God. This Feast of Dedication, Hanukkah, is a celebration of that rededication of the temple, the very temple that Jesus would worship in a little over 150 years later.

It is telling that during this celebration of Judas Maccabeus’ victory over the Greeks that the Jews gathered around Jesus, asking, “How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly.” They undoubtedly has Judas Maccabeus in mind, the champion of that temple fight and purification. Was Jesus going to be another of these heroes? Wouldn’t the Christ, the Messiah, want to save them from the Roman rule that in their day had replaced the Greek rule of 200 years prior? The question is really, “Jesus, are you going to do something to save us from the Romans? Are you going to restore our nation like Judas did long ago? If you really are the Christ, show it to us plainly by action!”

Jesus identifies the problem. “I did tell you, but you do not believe.” He had been speaking plainly to them, but they weren’t listening because they were looking for something very different than what he was providing. Jesus had not come to be a physical or political rescuer as those they were celebrating that day in Jerusalem had been. He had come to be an eternal Savior. “The works I am doing in my Father’s name testify about me. But you do not believe, because you are not my sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

You and I are among those who are Jesus’ sheep. We hear his voice and listen to him, know him, and follow him. We know our sins and our need for a Savior. We know that our sin brings hell on us, but that Jesus came to be our Shepherd, to lay down his life for us. That’s what we need him to do, and that’s what he did for us. His death paid for our sins, and he proved that by his resurrection. We are forgiven and have eternal life because Jesus took away our every sin.

But how often are we still those foolish sheep, wandering away from safety? How often doesn’t the desire of our hearts override what our Shepherd has done for us? Does the appeal of money and other earthly riches distract you from eternity? Does lust in your heart lead you to discount what God’s will for your life is? Does the appeal of work, or entertainment, or sleep pull you away from time with God’s Word regularly in worship with your fellow Christians?

Oh what foolish sheep we are, wandering away from our Shepherd, seeking temporal pleasure and joy rather than focusing on what our Good Shepherd knows is best for us. And yet, he seeks us out. He lovingly picks us up and corrects us. That’s not always pleasant—being told what we want is not what we’ll get is never anyone’s idea of fun. But it’s necessary for us. He refocuses us on himself, on what he’s done to save us, and how the perfect, eternal life waiting for us is infinitely better than even the best life we could find here. “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand.”

Sheep can wander into danger, but there are also dangers that are no fault of the sheep. Predators can come and attack the flock. Wolves can hurt and even kill the sheep. A dozing or absent shepherd may let his flock be decimated by these outside forces.

But not so with our Good Shepherd. No one will snatch us out of his hand. And even more than that, Jesus says that God the Father has given us to Jesus, and that no one can snatch us out of the Father’s hand either. Jesus speaks in simple words that speak baffling truth: I and the Father are one. They are one in so many different ways, especially in their mission to save us from our sins. God the Son, Jesus, came to do this work for us because God the Father sent him. Our Triune God is in perfectly united to save us from our sins and bring us to be with him in eternal life.

As we move through this life, we will face struggles and trials. Some of them will come from outside of us, like wolves attacking a flock of sheep. Others will be self-inflicted, like sheep wandering away from safety and plenty and into danger and scarcity. But no matter what trials and hardships come on us, our Good Shepherd is with us, guarding us and protecting us. He is certainly concerned about our physical, temporal welfare. But make no mistake: our Good Shepherd is ultimately our eternal Shepherd and all of his work is focused on our eternal safety. Don’t mistake him for one who will make life easy; see him as the one who will rescue from this world of hardship and heartache and bring us to himself, to those eternal pastures of heaven, to be safe and secure forever. Amen.

"See Jesus As He Is" (Sermon on Revelation 1:4-18) | April 24, 2022

Text: Revelation 1:4-18
Date: April 24, 2022
Event: The Second Sunday of Easter, Year C

Revelation 1:4-18 (EHV)

John,

To the seven churches in the province of Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was, and who is coming, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, 5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood 6and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever. Amen.

7Look, he is coming with clouds,
and every eye will see him,
including those who pierced him.
And all the nations of the earth will mourn because of him.
Yes. Amen.

8“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.

9I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingship and patient endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.

10I was in spirit on the Lord’s Day, and I heard a loud voice behind me, like a trumpet, 11saying, “Write what you see on a scroll and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.”

12I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. When I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands, 13and among the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was clothed with a robe that reached to his feet, and around his chest he wore a gold sash. 14His head and his hair were white, like white wool or like snow. His eyes were like blazing flames. 15His feet were like polished bronze being refined in a furnace. His voice was like the roar of many waters. 16He held seven stars in his right hand. A sharp two-edged sword was coming out of his mouth. His face was shining as the sun shines in all its brightness.

17When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He placed his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last— 18the Living One. I was dead and, see, I am alive forever and ever! I also hold the keys of death and hell.”

See Jesus As He Is

It was halloween and the Mom and young daughter were going to go out trick-or-treating. Both had costumes, but Mom’s costume did a lot to change her appearance. She was tough to recognize with the mask over her face. As Mom walked into the living room, the daughter gasped and got scared. “Don’t worry,” Dad said, “It’s Mom!” Mom quickly took off the mask and wig to make clear that it was still the one who loved her daughter so dearly under the different-looking costume.

The daughter breathed a sigh of relief and off they went into the neighborhood. But periodically as they went, the young girl asked Mom to let her peek under the mask for the extra reassurance that it was, in fact, still Mom under there. Each time brought relief and a renewed confidence that she was safe and able to have a fun evening.

Maybe it’s not a halloween costume, but all of us need some reassurances from others in our lives that things are ok, right? Maybe a parent sits with a child and helps them think through that bigger project for school, and that child is reassured that their parent loves them and takes care of them. The boss that holds the employee’s feet to the fire a bit in a meeting comes over afterwards to see how she can help the employee with what is ahead. The friend who has been out of touch for a long while calls to check in on and assures the other person that he is always there for them if they need anything.

The same is true about Jesus. The whole season of Easter is going to be Jesus doing just that. Jesus’ resurrection is so massively important that he’s going to spend 40 days from Easter Sunday through his ascension making sure the disciples know beyond any doubt, that he has risen from the dead. As we said last weekend, Jesus’ resurrection was God’s stamp of approval on everything that Jesus had done. We know that all of our sins are forgiven because Jesus was raised from the dead. And because of that, as the disciples would go out into the world after Jesus’ ascension preaching this message, it was vital for them to know this for sure so that they could share it.

People needed to see Jesus as he is, not just the crucified, defeated man who died on Good Friday, but the resurrected, triumphant Savior that burst the tomb three days later. This is not a matter of fine points of doctrine or scholarly debate. The physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus is of the utmost importance for all of us for the assurance of eternal life with our God.

But it wasn’t just the post-Easter disciples that needed encouragement and reminders. Jesus would appear to his apostles at various times during the time of the New Testament to remind them, encourage them, and guide them. This was critical in that difficult period in-between Jesus’ ascension into heaven and before the New Testament was fully complete as a concrete record and reference of God’s inspired words.

And so that’s where we find ourselves in our Second Reading for this morning. At the very beginning of at the book of Revelation, we’re at the very end of the time period in which the New Testament was written. Revelation and John’s letters are likely among the last of the New Testament books to be written and sent out, in the late 80s or early 90s AD.

John is likely the only one of the original 12 disciples still alive at this time. He’s an old man who has spent his entire life devoted to preaching the good news about Jesus. And when he writes down these amazing visions, he’s paying the price for that work. As far as we know, he was not executed for his work like so many other of the apostles. But he was exiled on an island, just west of modern-day Turkey. John says that he was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony about Jesus.

At this time, the Christian church was in rough shape. From both problems internal and external, Christians throughout the world were going trough hardships. Persecutions and false doctrines threatened people’s physical and eternal lives. If you read through the seven individual letters sent to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, you get a sense for what the people were going through. John himself had lived through most if not all of his fellow apostles executed for the message they were tasked with proclaiming. There were likely many times that this didn’t feel like the eternally-victorious triumph that Jesus was supposed to be. As John sits in exile, it probably feels far removed from the joy of that first Easter. Honestly, it probably felt pretty far away from the joy we had at our Easter celebration just last week.

Was Jesus really victorious? Is he really all-powerful? Or did everyone get duped? Did they back the wrong horse in this eternally-important race? The book of Revelation is largely Jesus bringing comfort not only to John but also to all of the churches who would receive the accounting of what he saw and heard, you and me included. And in this intro section at the beginning of chapter 1, we have the answer to what is perhaps one of the most important questions to a struggling Christian: who is Jesus, really?

In his vision, John hears Jesus speak, and he turns to look at him, and this is what he sees: When I turned, I saw seven gold lampstands, and among the lampstands was one like a son of man. He was clothed with a robe that reached to his feet, and around his chest he wore a gold sash. His head and his hair were white, like white wool or like snow. His eyes were like blazing flames. His feet were like polished bronze being refined in a furnace. His voice was like the roar of many waters. He held seven stars in his right hand. A sharp two-edged sword was coming out of his mouth. His face was shining as the sun shines in all its brightness. I wonder, as I read these words, did John even recognize Jesus? Did he look anything like the teacher who loved him so dearly during his earthly ministry? Maybe there was a reminder of Jesus’ transfiguration in this vision, but what John describes here seems to be well beyond the change in appearance the Gospels describe on that hilltop so many years before.

We won’t spend a ton of time this morning going through Revelation interpretation, save for this point: the seven lampstands are symbols of the seven churches to which John is writing. So when Jesus is “among the lampstands,” that is a picturesque way of showing that Jesus was at the moment with his people. Jesus wasn’t far away in some remote part of the universe. He had not ascended and then forgotten about the people he left on earth. Despite what it may have felt like at times, Jesus is there among his people, with them in all of their trials and adversities. He was supporting them—not necessarily making life easy, but make it possible to navigate the difficulties of the crosses they were bearing.

And what a powerful vision of his ability to do so! John began this section by giving us this brief quote and description of Jesus: “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, the one who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty. And in what he sees, Jesus looks the part doesn’t he? You can feel John struggling to come up with words to communicate what he’s seeing. But all the talk of gleaming white, flames, and glowing hot metal really conveys the brightness and power of our Savior. He looks nothing like Jesus did during his earthly ministry, during that time of humiliation. No, he looks every part the Almighty God that he always was.

And whether John recognizes Jesus or not, you can see his reaction to this divine vision: When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. We have this over and over again in Scripture: someone is given even the slightest glimpse of God’s glory, or even the glory of one of his messengers, the angels, and they fall down, terrified. Sinners can’t be the presence of perfection, and more to that, sinners can’t be in the presence of the holy God. And so John might figure here that is life is forfeit.

But here we see the wild looking, glowing guy act very much like the Jesus we know from the Gospels: He placed his right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last—the Living One. I was dead and, see, I am alive forever and ever! I also hold the keys of death and hell.” You can almost hear Jesus using the same voice that he did with Mary Magdalene in the garden when she was so distraught that someone had stolen his body that she mistook the resurrected Jesus for the gardener, until he said her name. Or for Thomas, as he calmly, lovingly, but also directly focused doubts on the reality that stood before him.

But whether it’s Mary, Thomas, or John here in Revelation, Jesus’ patient, kind, loving goal is the same: he wants people to see who he really is. He isn’t a weak pitiful man that someone might mistake him for at the cross. He isn’t an angry, vengeful God that some might mistake him for here in Revelation’s opening vision. No, he is the God-man who loves you. He is the God-man who died for you. He is the God-man who was raised to life for you.

How often do you feel like Thomas, plagued with doubts about God’s ability to follow though on the promises he’s made? Is he really going to work good from hardship and difficulty? Is he really going to not give us more than we can bear, and provide a way our of testing and temptation?

How often do you feel like Mary, overwhelmed with grief and heartache? How many days do you view the world through tears, without being able to recognize God’s presence, even if he stood right in front of you? How often do those heartaches feel totally out of your control to do anything about at all?

How often do you feel like John and those other first-century Christians could have felt, that Jesus had left them all alone. As the world around us seems to come crashing down, as we seem to struggle with difficulties and hardships for our faith rather than find comfort, how often do you find yourself wondering if this is all worth it? How often do the physical trials of this world lead you to lose track of the eternal blessings to come?

Whether you feel like Thomas, Mary, or John and the other first-century Christians, see Jesus here in all of his power, all of his victory, but also in all of his love and care for you. He is the one who holds the keys to death and hell because his death and resurrection have completely defeated both. You are free from their clutches because Jesus won the day for you. He is not an angry God, or an absent God, or a powerless God. He is the God who has set you free for eternity. He’s the God that loves you with an eternal love. He is the God whom you and I are privileged and honored to serve. He is the God who walks among the lampstands, with Gloria Dei, Belmont, CA being one of the many he tends to.

This life is going to be filled with grief and difficulty. Jesus never, ever promised an easy road for those who trust in him. In fact, just the opposite. He promised a life where we will have to bear crosses and suffer for our faith. But, my brothers and sisters, through all of it, don’t lose track of what is real and in front of you. Easter points us not to the here-and-now, but to what is to come, the blessings that God has in store for us in eternal life. Our sins no longer mean hell; Jesus’ sacrifice and victory mean heaven for you and all who trust in him. Though our hearts may waver, Jesus is ever patient, ever loving, ever caring.

Today, Jesus gives us a quick look behind the mask it feels like he wears to reassure us and comfort us. See Jesus as he really is, not with your physical eyes, but with the eyes of faith. Because, blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. Christ is risen; he is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

"Your Savior Is Gentle and Effective" (Sermon on Isaiah 42:1-4) | April 10, 2022

Text: Isaiah 42:1-4
Date: April 10, 2022
Event: Palm Sunday, Year C

Isaiah 42:1-4 (EHV)

Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight.
I am placing my Spirit on him.
He will announce a just verdict for the nations.
2He will not cry out.
He will not raise his voice.
He will not make his voice heard in the street.
3 A bent reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not snuff out.
He will faithfully bring forth a just verdict.
4He will not burn out, and he will not be broken
until he establishes justice on the earth.
The coastlands will wait for his law.

Your Savior Is Gentle and Effective

Do you want gentle or do you want strong? If you look at various cleaning products, you know that they have different degrees of strength. And while it may seem like strong is always the better option because we really want to get something clean, sometimes it’s really the wrong idea. If you use a very strong cleaner on a TV or laptop screen for example, it has the chance to eat through the protective layer on the screen and ruin it. It was too strong for that use case.

In Isaiah’s book of prophecy, we see a lot of God being very, very strong. Isaiah is tasked with bringing bad news and terrible consequences to God’s people. The people of Isaiah’s day were often unfaithful to God. He gave them rules to follow and promised earthly blessings if they did so. Instead of doing that, they ignored God and did whatever they wanted. And much of Isaiah’s message is one of doom and gloom because they had abandoned God. Foreign nations would run roughshod over them. People would be carried off into exile. This sounds disastrous.

But that’s not the only thing that God announces. He also, repeatedly, promises that his Servant is coming. Time and time again this Servant is promised and more insight is given into what he would do and endure.

Our First Reading for this morning is the first of these promises in Isaiah’s book. In this first “Servant Song,” God announces that his Servant his coming. This Servant is described as the one in whom God delights and the one on whom God’s Spirit rests. And for the sinner, whether that be unfaithful Israelites at Isaiah’s day or our often-unfaithful hearts, that brings some trepidation. Who is this guy and what is he going to do? But then the kicker comes: He will announce a just verdict for the nations.

Oof. That’s not what you or I would want to hear. A just verdict from God means only one thing: eternal death in hell because of our sins. We don’t win this battle in court. We don’t want to hear anything about a just verdict because we are as guilty as guilty can be. This is bad news for us.

But Isaiah continues with words that seem a bit at odds with this assumption: He will not cry out. He will not raise his voice. He will not make his voice heard in the street. A bent reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not snuff out. He will faithfully bring forth a just verdict. This description seems far less worrisome. It fact the Lord’s servant seems rather gentle, doesn’t he? No screaming and yelling, no harsh handling even with delicate things like a cracked reed or a barely-working wick. But that just verdict does show up again.

So, how should we understand the Lord’s Servant and his work?

First of all we should be clear, that Isaiah is not talking about himself or any other prophet or messenger. It may be self-evident, but it’s good for us to say clearly: the Lord’s Servant is the Messiah, the Christ. Isaiah is speaking directly about Jesus in these verses.

So Jesus is the one bringing this just verdict to us, but doing so in a gentle way. How does that work? What is he doing?

Well, we’ve seen Jesus’ gentle nature since his birth, right? Content to be born among animals and sleep his first night in a feeding trough, Jesus has been gentle and humble from the very beginning. In his ministry we rarely see Jesus get upset with anyone. He is forever patient, forever calm, forever calling to people to listen to him and follow his guidance. And we see him treat both friend and enemy with that same gentle patience.

This morning we see another striking example of his gentleness and humility. He enters into Jerusalem not riding a majestic, well-trained steed, but on a young donkey that had never carried anyone before. He rides in amid shouts of praise, but not by the leaders and people of prominence. Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, his final time coming to that city before he dies, is overflowing with this gentle attitude.

You might not immediately think of gentle and effective going together. If you’ve ever worked in a factory or a mechanic’s shop, you’ve probably used the soap that seems to be half-soap and half-sand to abrasively clean off whatever gunk got on your hands during the day. If you’ve had a headache, you probably don’t go for the weakest possible option. You want something powerful, something that will work.

But there’s the rub: gentle does not necessarily mean weak. Gentleness can appear weak, but that appearance can be deceiving. And that is truly the case with Jesus.

We walked with him during his entry into Jerusalem where he looked the strongest he’s going to look all week. But you know where this is going. Jesus is going to be washing his disciple’s feet, like the most lowly of lowly household workers. He’s going to be arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane without a fight or any resistance. He’ll be lied about and mocked and beaten at the hands of the Jewish leaders and with approval from Pontus Pilate. He will utter hardly a word of self-defense during this abuse, and takes no action to free or protect himself. Then he’s going to be led, again without complaint or resistance, to Golgotha to be executed, crucified, despite doing nothing wrong. Gentle certainly, but weak?

Through the eyes of faith we see what is going on here. This is not a man too weak or powerless to save himself or too cowardly to defend himself. This is the Son of God going into battle, a battle that we cannot see with our eyes. Here Jesus is going to war with sin and death itself. Jesus is gentle, kind, and compassionate to the people around him. But to Satan? Hardly.

The crucifixion serves as the means for the Father to punish Jesus for every sin ever committed by any person. That’s the Father’s goal and that’s Jesus’ goal, to save us from our sins. A weak Savior would have failed. A weak Savior would have given up. But you don’t have a weak Savior. He will not burn out, and he will not be broken until he establishes justice on the earth.

The justice or just verdict that the Lord’s Servant brings is a bit of a misnomer. It’s not justice in light of what we have done; it’s justice in light of what the Servant has done. Jesus brings a just verdict on all of us as a result of his life and death in our place. While it was an injustice that Jesus should suffer and die for our sins, it would be even more of an injustice for us to be punished for our sins when Jesus had already paid that price. So the just verdict that Jesus comes to proclaim over and on us is that of “Not guilty.” You are forgiven because of your gentle Savior’s powerful victory for you.

And Jesus’ gentleness goes well beyond his passive-looking nature during Holy Week. Even now, to this day, he deals with you and me patiently, lovingly, gently. We may find ourselves sinning by being harsh with a spouse, parent, child, or anyone else in our life. But not Jesus. When we fail, he gently builds us up. When we are on the wrong path, as our gentle Shepherd, he leads back to the right path.

When guilt weighs us down, he is not harsh. He does not berate us. He looks you and me in the eye and he says, “My sister, my brother, I love you. I forgive you.” And in that forgiveness he encourages and empowers us not to live our lives chasing after whatever our sinful nature desires, but instead to chase after his will with our life. His forgiveness, found in his Word, in the water of baptism, and in the Lord’s Supper, emboldens us to live as the members of God’s family that we are.

A bent reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not snuff out. My fellow bent reeds and dimly burning wicks, may we find comfort and joy in this treatment by God’s Servant today and always. And as we journey to the cross this week, remember the Savior who seems weak and powerless is gentle and effective to save you from everything that threatens you. Thanks be to God. Amen.

"God's Anger Has Turned Away" (Sermon on Isaiah 12:1-6) | March 27, 2022

Text: Isaiah 12:1-6
Date: March 27, 2022
Event: The Fourth Sunday in Lent, Year C

Isaiah 12:1-6 (EHV)

In that day you will say:
I will give thanks to you, Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger has turned away,
and you comfort me.
2Surely God is my salvation.
I will trust him and will not be afraid,
because Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song,
and he has become my salvation.
3Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4In that day you will say:
Give thanks to the Lord! Proclaim his name.
Declare among the peoples what he has done.
Proclaim that his name is exalted!
5Sing to the Lord, for he has done amazing things!
Let this be known in all the earth!
6Shout aloud and sing for joy, daughter of Zion,
for the Holy One of Israel is great among you! 

God’s Anger Has Turned Away

The last few weeks I’ve been playing a new video game called Elden Ring. It’s a big world with a lot of bizarre things in it. And it’s very, very difficult. I’m also very bad at it, but that’s beside the point. When an enemy creature starts hunting you in the game it’s tense, especially if the enemy is much more powerful than you are. Often times, the best thing to do is just run.

And for as realistic of a game as it may feel in places, it is still a video game, which means it still has some programming logic that doesn’t mesh with real-world logic. For instance if an enemy is chasing you, and you get outside whatever zone the game makers put them in, the enemy will just turn around and go back to where they started, even if you’re technically still visible to them. 

It often doesn’t make any sense, but I can’t tell you how relieving it is to have this big, powerful enemy chasing after you and then suddenly turn around and leave you alone. The danger is gone and past. You can breathe for a moment and regroup. 

In our First Reading this morning from Isaiah, we have the entirety of chapter 12 before us. A short, but famous, chapter in the book of his prophecy. Those of you who have been working through the early part of Isaiah in Sunday Morning Bible Class know that his book doesn’t always have the happiest tone. Isaiah is constantly addressing unfaithfulness and idolatry in the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah. There’s talk of chastisement for the people’s unfaithfulness, up to and including the arrival of Assyria to take the Northern Kingdom into captivity and to cause a long list of problems for the Southern Kingdom.

God is truly serious about sin. He doesn’t just laugh it off as if we are silly children who don’t know any better. God demands perfection and he sticks to that. And for those who haven’t been perfect, which would be you, me, and everyone else, that means that God’s anger burns against us. God punishes sin not with temporary, earthly trials but with eternal death in hell. That’s where God’s burning anger leads; that’s the end of the story for sinners like us.

Except, listen to Isaiah’s poetic words: In that day you will say: I will give thanks to you, Lord, for though you were angry with me, your anger has turned away, and you comfort me. God’s justified anger that burned against sin and thus against us was very real, but now it has turned away. In a way that makes even less sense than an enemy just stopping the pursuit of a player in a video game, that anger no longer is coming towards us. What happened? 

Let’s establish what didn’t happen. God didn’t change his mind about sin; this about-face is not God saying that sin doesn’t matter. We didn’t suddenly become free from sin. We’ve been sinning since conception and that has not stopped. So God didn’t change and we didn’t change, but something obviously happened. 

Surely God is my salvation. I will trust him and will not be afraid, because Yah, the Lord, is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation. God is not only the source of righteous, justified anger over sin, but Isaiah said he has also become our salvation. And Isaiah uses the personal names for the true God, Yah and the Lord, or Yah and Yahweh, to point to that. That personal name for God is derived from the name we heard God give to Moses last week in our First Reading from Exodus 3, “I am who I am.” This is God’s name by which he wants to be known. And Yah, or Yahweh, or the all-capital-letters-Lord all communicate the same thing. This is is the God who always has been, always is, and always will be. He is eternal and unchangeable. 

Which means that God did not change from the loving God who created us into the vengeful God who punishes us. No, God has always been who he is. He’s always been perfectly consistent. He’s always been the loving God who wants what’s best for us. He’s never wanted to punish people for sin, but sin and his justice made that unavoidable. 

But God’s love doesn’t sit idly by while we burn in our sin. No, God the Punisher is at one-in-the-same-time God the Savior. And so God makes clear his anger over sin and his love for us in the body of his Son, Jesus. He’s serious about sin, that it must be eternally punished, because sin is punished with hell; he’s serious about his love for us because Jesus endures hell in our place, so that you and I will never see it or experience it, despite deserving it for our sins against God. 

Is it any wonder then that Isaiah says that he will trust in God and not be afraid? Is it any wonder that he says that he will direct his fellow Israelites to rejoice in what God has done for them eternally? Give thanks to the Lord! Proclaim his name. Declare among the peoples what he has done. Proclaim that his name is exalted! Sing to the Lord, for he has done amazing things! Let this be known in all the earth! Shout aloud and sing for joy, daughter of Zion, for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!

This should be our response as well. Now, it’s probably good for us to take a step back and see what Isaiah isn’t saying. He’s not saying that we should always feel great, always be doing backflips because God loves us and saves us eternally. The reality is, for a variety of reasons, we will not always feel upbeat and jazzy. Feeling downcast or sullen is not sin, especially when difficulties in this life feel like a vice around you.

But what Isaiah is directing us towards is always valuing and prioritizing God’s forgiveness. Our joy in God may, at times, be a somber joy. When we lose a loved one in Christ, through tears we cling to Christ’s promise of forgiveness and resurrection reunions. In family difficulties, we do our best to attend to our God-given responsibilities and work to improve the problems while at the same time trusting God’s promises to work all things out for our eternal good. When nothing is going right and we grieve the decisions we’ve made or the actions we taken, or the words we’ve spoken, we hold God’s forgiveness fast to our heart and his assurance that he will turn our weeping into rejoicing, and that the present troubles we endure have no comparison to the glory that will be given to us in eternal life. 

In all of those cases, the people involved don’t lose track of the big picture. God’s anger has turned away; God is our salvation. May God prevent us from ever taking that for granted or not valuing what he has done for us. May God enable us to share that truth with others, to encourage them in times of guilt and despair, sorrow and grief.  

If we revisit Jesus’ parable from the Gospel for just a moment, we see two sons who did what was wrong. One son left and wasted his wealth on sinful living; the other burned with self-righteousness and resentment. Both sons can describe us at various times and in various ways. Sometimes we are doing things to bring God’s anger on us, other times we are taking God’s salvation for granted, not valuing the reality of his mercy, or not seeing our need for it.

But the constant in Jesus’ parable is the Father: always patient, always loving, always forgiving. That is our God, and all that we need depends on him, not on you and not on me. God turned his anger away so you will not be punished for your sin. God is your salvation so you will live with him forever. Whether you’ve spent a great deal of time away abusing his goodness or have let apathy set in, or anything else in between, God continues to be there, ready to embrace, ready to forgive, because that’s what Jesus has given. We are forgiven. We are in our heavenly Father’s arms now will be forever in heaven. Amen.

"Are You Standing?" (Sermon on 1 Corinthians 10:1-13) | March 20, 2022

Text: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Date: March 20, 2022
Event: The Third Sunday in Lent, Year C

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 (EHV)

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2and they were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3They all ate the same spiritual food 4and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them—and that rock was Christ! 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them. He had them die in the wilderness. 

6Now these things took place as examples to warn us not to desire evil things the way they did. 7Do not become idolaters like some of them—as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to celebrate wildly.” 8And let us not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell. 9Let us not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and so were being destroyed by the serpents. 10And do not grumble, as some of them grumbled, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11All these things that were happening to them had meaning as examples, and they were written down to warn us, to whom the end of the ages has come. 

12So let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall. 13No testing has overtaken you except ordinary testing. But God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it. 

Are You Standing?

Do you have a piece of technology in your life that you have only a very basic understanding about? If something goes wrong with your phone, your computer, your TV—do you know how to fix it? What about the pieces of your home you probably rarely think about like your electrical outlets or your plumbing? 

When you have a surface level understanding of how something works, that's fine most of the time—until something breaks. Then you’re headed to the phone store or calling the handyman, someone who deeply understands the system, what’s wrong, and how to fix it to get it back up and running. Sometimes knowing your limits is a really good thing, because thinking you know more than you actually do may lead you to make things worse thinking you’re making it better.

The implications of all of this could be dire. You might miss that important email because the computer isn’t working, or that crucial text message because the phone is on the fritz, or risk damage in your home because of that water leak. But there’s something else in our life that we do well to monitor, because an issue with it would be disastrous not just in the short term but in the longest term. How is your faith, your spiritual life? Are you standing on firm, solid ground? Are you sure? If not, do you know how to fix it?

As Paul was writing to the Christians in Corinth, he had to address a lot of problems within their congregation. One of the issues they faced was this distorted idea of Christian liberty. They thought that their connection to Christ meant that they could pretty much do whatever they wanted. After all, they were forgiven, right? Why not just do whatever feels best? 

Paul takes them to the Old Testament for some examples of how this thinking can go so awry. He takes us back to the Exodus, as God brought the Israelites out of their slavery in Egypt. He rescued them from the hands of Pharaoh through the leadership and direction of Moses. They were united to Moses and to each other in all of this. And God worked miracle after miracle, from the plagues, to the parting of the Red Sea, to even providing water from a rock and miracle manna-bread and quail for them to eat in the wilderness. It was clear just how much God loved them and wanted what was best for them.

And what was Israel’s reaction? Were they overwhelmed with gratitude to God to the point of seek special ways to thank him? Were they just awestruck by his love and compassion for them? Hardly. Moses was gone for a little bit of time, so they jettisoned everything God had done for them and they built a golden calf statue to worship—“The people sat down to eat and drink, and got up to celebrate wildly.” They were ensnared by the sex-filled worship of Baal and dedicated themselves to this immorality, and God put more than 20,000 of them to death in one day by the hand of his still-faithful followers. They grumbled against God, Moses, and the daily bread they were given and so snakes came and devastated the community until God directed Moses to build a snake out of bronze and put it on pole, promising to save those who trusted in him.

What seems to be the connective tissue in all of these events? Like the Corinthians, it seems that the Israelites felt they were untouchable. Rather than seeing God’s goodness to them as a reason to devote themselves all the more to him, they saw his goodness and love as something to be abused. It rings of the same false belief that Paul lambasted when he wrote to the Romans: “What shall we say then? Shall we keep on sinning so that grace may increase? … Should we continue to sin, because we are not under law but under grace? Absolutely not!” (Romans 6:1,15).

Both the Corinthians and Israelites serve as models for us, just as Paul said in our reading, “Now these things took place as examples to warn us not to desire evil things the way they did… All these things that were happening to them had meaning as examples, and they were written down to warn us, to whom the end of the ages has come.” Why warnings? Because it’s easy for us to do exactly the same thing, right? Take a step back and consider not your relationship with God, but your relationship with other people. Who is the person you’re most likely to lose your temper at, speak unkindly towards, take advantage of, or burn with resentment at? Often, it’s not going to be the people we have no relationship with; it’s the people we’re the closest with. We often treat our families and dearest other people in our lives as if we don’t owe them respect or need to show our love to them. After all, they’re always going to be there, right? God forbid we treat the dearest people that he has given to us in that way!

Our relationship with God can be the same way. He’s going to always be there for me, so I’ll just do whatever I want and then come back and ask for forgiveness later. God forbid we treat him in that way! And so this is why Paul blasts this behavior and attitude. It’s horrid and awful and, most of all, it’s eternally disastrous. 

You and I are living at the “end of the ages.” Every moment from the beginning of our lives to this moment is a possible end of the world. The qualifications that God set in place for the end coming have all been met long ago, and each generation has seen disaster upon disaster, wars, plagues, and natural disasters. These ongoing troubles and knowing that everything that we can see and understand has been fulfilled, has led many different generations to wonder if the end might come very soon. As we talked about last week in Bible Class, it’s no wonder that people from Paul’s day, to Martin Luther’s day, to our day have all wondered if we might be the generation to not face death but to see Jesus return. 

Knowing that all of this is imminent, should we test God with our sin like the Israelites did in the wilderness? Should we see how close we can get to the edge without falling off the cliff? Should we find any harbor for sin in our lives at all? God forbid! Dancing with sin in such a way can lead to eternal disaster!

Thankfully, the reality of what God has done for us smashes those kinds attitudes on the rocks. The end is coming, but we need not fear. We have sinned, but we need not be afraid. Why? Because of that one little phrase that’s easy to skip past as we read this section: God is faithful.

If we are cavalier with our spiritual life, if we assume we are standing fast because we are so good or have known the truths of God’s forgiveness for so long, it is to us that Paul issues that warning: Let him who thinks he stands be careful that he does not fall. If we think we are standing on our own power, spiritually, we are totally misguided. We don’t stand by our power; we stand by God’s power.

But if we then begin to be fearful or doubtful about what the future holds, wondering if our sins really are forgiven, if we really will be in heaven at the end of all things, that’s why Paul brings that reminder: God is faithful. 

God doesn’t make promises and not keep them. So when he promised you that in Jesus’ life and death your sins are forgiven, you know with absolute certainty the your sins are forgiven! No matter how negligent to your faith you may have been in the past, God continues to be there, continues to be faithful to you. So let us live like it. Let us be the tree that bears good fruit, not bad. Let us live our lives not in a dismissive way toward God, nor in a fearful way toward God, but in a thankful way toward God. Let us thank him with lives of good works. Let us thank him by doing what he wants us to do. Let us thank him in the way we speak, the way treat the people around us, even the way that we think.

And part of that means digging into the nitty-gritty of our faith, not letting it be just a “status quo” kind of thing, but feeding it, exploring it, maintaining it. And the way we do that is by bringing ourselves into contact with his means of grace, God’s Word spoken and read, and his Word specially paired with earthly elements in the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. We might readily think of Bible classes, home devotions during the week, or even our worship service we are in right now.

There our faith is strengthened. There we find the ability to take our stand against testing and temptation. We have God’s promise to us: He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when he tests you, he will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it. That bearing it might mean a strength of faith that can just say no to the sins that come tempting. That bearing it might mean being able to see the eternal-silver-lining in the dark clouds of this life and clinging to that. That bearing it might mean recognizing that you cannot do this on your own, and seeing in your brothers and sisters in Christ a refuge and a support for you to help bear those crosses that God allows to be laid on you.

Are you standing? The more we understand our own weaknesses and failures, the more we have to say, “On my own, no.” But the more we understand our faithful God who loves us and gave his life to save us, the more we delight to say, “With my God? Yes!” Stand with him as he stands with you, now and forever. Amen.

"We Have a Sympathetic Savior" (Sermon on Hebrews 4:14-16) | March 6, 2022

Text: Hebrews 4:14-16
Date: March 6, 2022
vent: The First Sunday in Lent, Year C

Hebrews 4:14-16 (EHV)

Therefore, since we have a great high priest, who has gone through the heavens, namely, Jesus the Son of God, let us continue to hold on to our confession. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. 16So let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We Have a Sympathetic Savior

Sympathy and empathy—caring deeply about someone else’s feelings and current life events—can be a difficult thing to do for many people. For some it comes very naturally, for others, they have to really put in work to put themselves in other people’s shoes and be concerned about what others are thinking and feeling.

But whether it comes naturally or not, sympathy and empathy are things that we should strive for in our lives. We should be more ready to listen than to speak; we should be more ready to adjust our perception than to tell someone else that their experience and feelings are wrong; we should be ready to learn more to better understand where someone is coming from.

In our Second Reading for this morning, the writer to the Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus does not have to work really hard and struggle to try to understand our life situation. He doesn’t need to work at it because he lived it. He experienced it all. He knows it. He knows what it is to be berated by temptation, to feel that pull toward sin every hour of the day. He knows what it is to wrestle with God’s will when it just doesn’t seem to line up with what makes sense from our human perspective. One major difference from us, though—Jesus went through all of this perfectly, never succumbing to these temptations or giving in to sin in word, action, or even thought. 

We saw Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness in our Gospel for this morning. He met every temptation that Satan threw at him with God’s Word. And even when Satan distorted God’s Word to make his temptation to sin seem more God-pleasing than it was, Jesus fought against that as well with clear and actuate teaching. And it’s important for us to remember that those 40 days in the wilderness were not the only time Jesus felt temptation. We know that Satan ended this specific, direct assault on Jesus after our Gospel, but Jesus’ whole life brushed up against temptation from the world and Satan because it’s really no different than what we face in our lives. The writer to the Hebrews summarized it this way: We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.

But we read that Gospel account, and even read the writer to the Hebrews’ summary of Jesus’ life in a verse like that and it can be deflating, can’t it? I can’t take a stand against Satan like Jesus did. Sure, I can and should answer temptation with God’s Word, and I may have the resolve to say no to sin here and there, but I won’t be perfect. I will fail. Sin will get its hooks in me and I will find myself rebelling against God yet again. I can’t be what Jesus was during his earthly life.

It can feel like we’re engaged in a struggle that we cannot bring to an end. It can feel like we are getting beat down and are destined to fail entirely. So it can be tempting to stop struggling, to just give up and succumb to what may. I can’t beat sin in my life, I can’t stop sinning, so why bother trying?

Well, the writer to the Hebrews tells us we can, in a way, end our struggle, but not because we’re losing. A champion has come onto the scene. Jesus lays his hand on our shoulder, and in this moment we understand why he lived a perfect life during his time with us. We are worn out and spent from the struggle, but Jesus looks you in the eye and he says, “I’ve got this for you,” and then he goes in to rescue us.

Jesus’ battle with sin was real. He was a human being, and in the way that Adam and Eve could have either listened to God or, as they did, disobeyed him, so Jesus could as well. But Jesus is also God, which means that when he chose all the right things, when he lived a perfect life, it was counted for all of us. 

And that’s one of the main points that the writer to the Hebrews is making here. It’s easy to get caught up in Jesus’ perfect obedience as a model for us to a follow. In the mid 1990s, there was a trend among Christians to focus on the acronym question, “WWJD?” “What Would Jesus Do?” And that can be useful in some cases, but that view of Jesus’ perfect life is a far secondary thing and actually can distract from the true point of what Jesus did. What Jesus’ perfect life is primarily about is crediting that perfect life to our account. When God looks at you and looks at me he only sees perfection because Jesus has given his life to us.

Because Jesus won. The battle with sin, death, and hell is over. The cry from the cross assures us all is finished. And as we’ll see in just a few weeks, Jesus’ tomb will show just how complete his victory is. And all of this means that we are freed! We have eternal life! Thanks be to God!

But then, look around you. The struggle is supposed to be over, but does it feel like you’re relaxing in Jesus’ completed victory for you? Or does it feel like the hardships endure? Does seem like sin is still vying for you, that temptation still has your number, that you’re constantly engaged and failing in this conflict with sin?

As long as we are in this world, sin will be a part of our lives. Temptation rears its ugly head, our own sinful natures will pull us in directions we shouldn’t go, the world will place its temptations in front of us, and we will fail Satan’s direct assaults on us. So what do we do? What should we be focused on?

The writer to the Hebrews reminds us that we have an ally that knows exactly what we’re going through, Jesus. He knows what we’re going through because he’s been there before: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin. Jesus’ work for us doesn’t mean he yells at us saying, “I could do it, why can’t you?” Instead, we have a Savior who is full of sympathy, who looks at our struggles and his heart bleeds for us. “My dear brother, my dear sister,” Jesus says, “I know exactly what you are going through. It is difficult and feels impossible. Come here and rest with me.” 

Jesus is full of compassion for us. He loves us. And because he endured the same suffering that we endure, we can be sure that when we come to him we won’t find someone who has no clue about our lived experience. Even if every other human being seems to misunderstand us or not comprehend the true extent of the hardships we endure, Jesus does. Going to Jesus is going to someone who knows every scrap of what you wrestle with on a daily basis—and has the power to help you.

The writer to the Hebrews encourages us this way: So let us approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. When we come to Jesus with our failings, with our exhaustion, with all the times we succumbed to temptation, we find in him a heart full of mercy and compassion. We find him full of grace, love that is given to us even though we don’t deserve it. We don’t have to cringe before his power and might as the eternal God. We can approach him in confidence because we know that he loves us.

But it’s not just that he loves us, it’s that he loves us and helps us. The writer of this letter reminded us at the start of our brief reading who it is that we are dealing with: Since we have a great high priest, who has gone through the heavens, namely, Jesus the Son of God, let us continue to hold on to our confession. We have a high priest, an intercessor, a go-between, a meditator, who is not just some guy, but is the Son of God himself, who lives in eternal glory and dwells as the almighty God.

But all of that power, might, and majesty is wrapped in the Savior who loves you, who wants you to have what you need, who cares deeply for you and wants you to be rescued from hell. He is the one who endured all things for you to not only free you from your sin but to be the sympathetic Savior who knows and feels all of your hurts and frustrations. Bring those hardships and failures to him in prayer. Seek out his help directly and through your brothers and sisters in Christ, who can be our Savior’s support and comfort in a very tangible way in this life. 

In Jesus, you find forgiveness, encouragement, and the assurance of eternal life because of his life and death for you. Your sympathetic Savior loves you eternally! Thanks be to God! Amen.

"Love Like Jesus Loves" (Sermon on Romans 12:14-21) | February 20, 2022

Text: Romans 12:14-21
Date: February 20, 2022
Event: The Seventh Sunday after Epiphany, Year C

Romans 12:14–21 (EHV)

Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who are rejoicing; weep with those who are weeping. 16Have the same respect for one another. Do not be arrogant, but associate with the humble. Do not think too highly of yourselves. 

17Do not pay anyone back evil for evil. Focus on those things that everyone considers noble. 18If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, maintain peace with everyone. 19Do not take revenge, dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” says the Lord. 20But: 

If your enemy is hungry, feed him; 

if he is thirsty, give him a drink. 

For by doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head. 

21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. 

Love Like Jesus Loves

What do you feel when that person cuts you off on the way home after a long, draining day? Is your immediate reaction along the lines of, “Wow, I hope that person makes it home ok. It seems like maybe they’re not seeing well.” Or, “I hope that person is doing fine, they seem like they might be distracted by something heavy and difficult in their life.” Or even, “Oh, boy, is it getting to that time where I need my headlights on? I must be doing something to be a bit invisible.” 

If any of those describe your normal mindset, I applaud you. Your resolve and sanctification puts my normal mindset to shame. Most of the time my thought is something along the lines of, “What kind of a fool drives like that?” It’s easy to be indigent when I know someone else did something wrong. You can feel good about leaning into being upset because you are convinced you’re in the right and justified in your anger.

In our Gospel this morning we continued our journey into Luke’s recounting of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (or at least a sermon with very similar content to the one recorded in Matthew). And Jesus’ command, “Love your enemies,” is the very thing that Paul is expounding on in our Second Reading for this morning. Jesus’ command means not just not being angry at the person who unintentionally did something to annoy or inconvenience you, but actually loving those who are your enemies, who hate you. That’s… not easy.

It’s not easy because this runs totally contrary to the way the sinful nature thinks. In a completely illogical way, the very part of me that is always pushing me to sin is also the part of me that wants to see myself as better than other people. Along with that comes the chance to relish the opportunity to be mad at someone. “You we’re wrong; I’m in the right! I’m allowed to be mad!”

Now surely, there’s a right way to address those concerns. Jesus spoke about that in Matthew 18, that when someone sins against you, you ought to go talk to them just one on one and try to work it out, always with the goal of repentance and forgiveness. That is clearly not what the sinful nature has in mind, though. The sinful nature wants to stick it to them and hurt them in the same way that you’ve been hurt—and to view such actions as your right.

That is not the Christian’s approach to life or relationships, though. Paul expounds on some of what Jesus said in our Gospel: Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse. Our reaction to harmful words or actions should be love and pity, not wishing harm on them or getting even. But why? Why should a Christian fight his or her baser instincts when wronged?

Paul wants us to consider our relationships with other people in the light of our relationship with God. What was our natural condition with him? It was one of rebellion and animosity. It was one of, if we can understand this properly, persecution. We fought against everything God is and wanted with every fiber of our being. We did everything in our power to stop him from being who he is or to hate him because of who he is. That’s the natural condition of sinful mankind. That was how we related to God.

And what did God do? Did he seek to curse? Did he gleefully plunge us into hell? Did he seek satisfaction from us for the wrongs we had committed against him? No. From the very first sin in the Garden of Eden he promised not vengeance but salvation. He promised not a list of works we could complete to pay him back and make things right, but a completely one-sided solution that would be God fixing all of it. He would send a Savior to fix sin.

And so Jesus came to those who were his enemies. He came to those who hated him in the flesh and all of us who have hated him in spirit. He came to take all of our wrongs on himself and set things right with the Almighty. Jesus’ mission was one of mercy and compassion. We see glimmers and flickers of that as he feeds the hungry, heals the sick, and even raises the dead. But the far greater mercy and compassion he came to bring was eternal mercy and everlasting compassion. He came to forgive our sins and give us eternal life with him in the perfection of heaven.

And so Paul is really saying, “Let the love God has shown to you reflect in your lives—even to those who despise you.” This is easier said than done because when we do that we are fighting our base, sinful desires and our twisted sense of justice. So what does this look like when we are motivated by God’s love for us?

Paul says, “Rejoice with those who are rejoicing; weep with those who are weeping. Have the same respect for one another. Do not be arrogant, but associate with the humble. Do not think too highly of yourselves.” We have a word for this in English: empathy. Take the concerns of others and make those important to you. You may not feel personal joy in their rejoicing or personal sorrow in their weeping, but see them, acknowledge them, support them. When someone’s emotional response to a situation does not line up with your own, they are not wrong and you are not right. You are both just different. Don’t let that be a bad thing. Respect the differences and let it be an opportunity to support one another as we trudge through this path together with the final goal of eternal life.

Paul continues: “Do not pay anyone back evil for evil. Focus on those things that everyone considers noble.” Here’s the difference between our natural sinful selves and the new selves that rejoice in our rescue by Jesus. We are able to drown our base desires of revenge and justice and able to focus on things that even the world considers to be noble. That means not getting even, but working toward forgiveness when we are wronged. And make no mistake, for us very often forgiveness is a process, not a light switch we turn on. When someone wrongs us it can take a long time for us to truly forgive, and that forgiveness may never bring with it a full restoration of trust—things may never be like they were before. But the Christian’s goal is not that I have to forgive right now; the Christian’s goal is that I’m always working toward forgiveness, not settling into vengeance or grudges. 

Paul summarizes these points: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, maintain peace with everyone.” This is a good acknowledgement that there are things that are just out of our control. Someone may hate you despite your best efforts to change the situation. There are people who will just snipe at you and hold grudges against you that you cannot control or change. That is possible, even likely, to happen. But don’t let those things happen because of you; let them be in spite of you.

But what about justice? Surely there is room to consider that someone deserves reprimanding for wrongs they’ve committed? Certainly. That’s often even a loving thought not wrapped up in vengeance, because consequences and correction have the goal of reform, of teaching someone that this is not the correct path. But when it comes to someone who has done something to hurt us, someone who is not under our authority and responsibility, these corrections and consequences are also not our responsibility: “Do not take revenge, dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” says the Lord.” Leave matters of righting wrongs in God’s hands. Maybe he will do that through the state, if there is prosecution for crimes necessary. Maybe he will do that in more behind-the-scenes ways that we will never know about. Regardless, that’s for God to figure out and do as he knows is right. We are not here to avenge or punish sin.

Jesus had said in our Gospel that we should pray for those who mistreat [us]. And that’s not praying that God will really get them; this is not praying for God’s vengeance to be poured out on them. It’s praying for God to heal these wounds. It’s praying for God to bring peace to the person’s heart, to end whatever hardship is plaguing them and causing them to treat you in this way. It’s praying that if these people do not know their Savior, that God might work faith in their hearts to trust him as the solution to sin and the certainty of heaven. It’s praying that if they do know Jesus, that the love he has made known to them may influence their words and actions in a better, clearer way. 

And as you pray for them, you treat them well. Paul quotes from Proverbs when he says, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink. For by doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” This is sometimes called “killing them with kindness.” But the goal is not the burning coals. The goal is that your kindness would be like coals on their head and force them to acknowledge that their attitudes and actions are all wrong, that they are treating you horribly with no cause. The prayer is that flaming charcoal may lead them to repentance, not suffering.

Paul summarizes the Christian’s journey through this life in the last verse of our reading: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. When I’ve been wronged vengeance will seem like the right and noble path. But even the world with all its twisted understanding knows that vengeance solves nothing, but is instead just poisons the one seeking it. There are countless stories in fiction and non-fiction of people being destroyed by their quest for vengeance. Don’t be overcome by evil; vengeance is evil overcoming you.

Instead, overcome evil with good. This is Jesus, yet again, right? How did he solve the evil of our sin? With the good of his sacrifice on the cross. His death for you means forgiveness for every sin, including every grudge, every wish for vengeance, every egotistical delight in confronting someone else’s wrong. All of those sins are gone, no matter how prominent they may feel or be.

You overcome evil in your own life with good. You overcome it with the loving forgivingness that is only possible when you know God has forgiven all of your sins. You overcome it with the mercy that wants everyone, even your worst enemies, to be spared from the just punishment for their sin in hell and instead to be with you in that eternal paradise. Find joy and peace in your forgiveness which enables you to work toward truly forgiving others. 

Love others, my brothers and sisters, even your enemies, like Jesus loves, because Jesus has loved you. Amen.

"God’s Word Is His Special Tool for Us" (Sermon on Romans 10:12-17) | February 6, 2022

Text: Romans 10:12-17
Date: February 6, 2022
Event: The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Year C

Romans 10:12–17 (EHV)

So there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord is Lord of all, who gives generously to all who call on him. 13Yes, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 

14So then, how can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one about whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without a preacher? 15And how can they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news of peace, who preach the gospel of good things!” 

16But not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who believed our message?” 17So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ. 

God’s Word Is His Special Tool for Us

I’m always amazed by craftsmen who do their complicated jobs well and seemingly effortlessly. It’s just astonishing to see someone who knows what they’re doing accomplish their goals, whether it’s a painter, an electrician, or an athlete. For me it’s especially amazing when it’s something I’ve dabbled in and know from first-hand experience that I could never do that, or at least, not do that as well as they can.

There are often times interesting, specialized tools involved in those areas of work. From a huge machine on the floor of a factory to specialized pens for detail in drawings, looking at the tools a professional uses for their work can sometimes be almost as interesting as the work itself. 

But Consider the work of gospel messengers. Outside of a computer program that can speed up looking up Greek and Hebrew words or a little kit designed to bring communion to the home of a shut-in, there’s not really a lot of tools associated with that work that are of much interest or outside the realm of the familiar or mundane. But, as Paul shows us in our Second Reading for this morning, that’s because God chooses to work through the familiar, through the mundane, through the written and spoken Word. And for that reason, we do well to consider both our congregational work and our personal witnessing work recognizing the true power of the tool we have. 

In our reading this morning, the apostle Paul sets a baseline need for God’s Word. He says, So there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord is Lord of all, who gives generously to all who call on him. Yes, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” This is important for us to remember as a general truth when working with God’s Word: no one is beyond reach. No matter what someone has done, no matter how convinced they seem to be of thinking that is in conflict with God’s Word, no matter how entrenched they may appear in their unbelief, the subtle-looking power of God’s Word is able to change all of that. The message that God has is for everyone. The warnings and condemnation of sin that God declares is for everyone. The forgiveness of those sins that God gives is for everyone. The eternal life that God has prepared is for everyone.

We should not limit the audience by assuming someone won’t listen. We should not limit the audience because culture or attitude might make us uncomfortable. We should not limit the audience for any possible reason. Jesus is for all, so we should be for all as well. 

But this all raises a question, doesn’t it? If Jesus is for all, if God gives his forgiveness, freely, to all people, why will some not be in heaven with us? Forgiveness is made available to all, but faith is required. One must trust what God has promised and done. And this is the true power of God’s Word because no person can decide to believe. No person can make themselves a Christian or accept these truths on their own. God must convince them; God alone must work that faith, that trust, in their hearts. And he uses his Word to do that. 

That brings us to Paul’s questions: So then, how can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one about whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent? The Word is the tool God uses, but he doesn’t just write it in the clouds. He doesn’t often send angels to be his heralds to people on earth. No he uses people to bring his Word to other people. He uses you.

He intends you to bring the comfort of the gospel to someone overwhelmed with guilt and shame. He intends you to bring the correction of the gospel to a fellow Christian who is caught up in a sin. He intends for all of us to be his messengers. Because preaching the Word is not only a pastor standing in a pulpit. It’s a compassionate word spoken to someone wrestling with despair. It’s a teaching word spoken to someone who doesn’t firmly understand God’s will or work. How can people hear this unless preachers, messengers, are sent? 

What will the results of this preaching and sharing of the Word be? Will there be a 100% success rate? Hardly. You know as well as I do that often times the message of God’s Word is rejected, no matter how true and comforting it is. And you know why, because you feel it in your own heart. You don’t want to hear you’re a sinner. You don’t want to hear that you can’t do anything to save yourself. You don’t want to hear what God has done for you—you want to know what you can do for yourself (and maybe for God along the way too). The sinful nature in us recoils at and rebels against what God has said in his Word. 

Because we know our own hearts, even now, and how they respond to the message that God has to share, it is no surprise when we run into that same attitude when we share it with others. The message is rejected in ignorance; it’s rejected because it doesn’t allow people to do what they want to do even if it’s harmful; it’s rejected because it flies in the face of human reasoning. So we will not always find people rejoicing when we share this message. Paul acknowledges this: But not all obeyed [that is, believed] the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who believed our message?”

But a lack of belief on the part of the hearer doesn’t mean that we have wasted our time. It also doesn’t mean we should change things. You know the true power of the Word because you’ve experienced it yourself. God’s Word has changed you from a someone constantly warring against God to someone rejoicing in his peace. You’ve found forgiveness for your rejection of God’s standards; you’ve found forgiveness for when your desires run contrary to God’s expectations. And you know that you didn’t make that happen, God did. 

So when we don’t see the results of sharing the Word that we would like to see, we need to remember how God works. He doesn’t work better if we change or water down the message. He doesn’t work better if we ignore the message of the Bible and focus on having fun and entertaining people. He doesn’t work better if we’re ingenious in the way we present things. If we do enough tweaking and changing of the Word to distort the truth of the message, what benefit is there in that?

No amount of flashy programs or colorful personalities can make the Word more effective. No, there’s only one thing that brings about a change, and Paul closes out our reading with the reminder: So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through the word of Christ. 

The Word, the Word, and only the Word can change hearts. If we as a congregation or as individuals are looking to change people with something else, with a beautiful building or rationale arguments or overflowing generosity, we’re barking up the wrong tree. All of those things may be in service to the Word, may help to break down barriers or provide introductions, but the Word on the page, the Word spoken, and the Word connected to water, bread, and wine in Baptism and the Lord’s Supper is the only thing that truly changes and sustains hearts in faith and trust in Jesus as Savior.

So we need to go and share. We need people to be sent to proclaim. In our Bible Class on Sunday mornings in January, we heard that congregational ministry is perhaps well thought of in a one-by-one, individual way rather than thinking in a big sweeping numbers. You can be the one with beautiful feet by sharing your faith to a neighbor, or friend, or family member, or coworker. You don’t need to be theologically trained minister nor a classically trained orator to be able to share the love of Jesus. You can be the ones who bring good news to people.

But you can also send messengers in other ways. You can invite people to join us for a worship service or Bible Class. You can forward our weekly emails with all of the worship and Bible study information in them to people as a low-stakes invitation that they could even do from their kitchen table if they wanted. You can ask the question, “Do you have a pastor who will come and visit you? Because my pastor would if you want.” You can send a messenger of the gospel just by passing along an email or phone number to me.

But as we heard in our WELS Connection last week, we also have a great need in our church body for more people to go and share this good news. Do you have elementary, middle, or high school students in your family who might have the gifts to pursue being a teacher or pastor in our schools and churches? We should go on a trip to visit Martin Luther College and see if that might be the way for them. What about you who are already established in life or even retired—might there be a new chapter as a formal messenger of the gospel, supporting that work here or elsewhere? Pray about these things because the need is great for more who will catch not fish but people with the message of God’s love and forgiveness.

That message doesn’t look all that impressive on the outside, but on the inside we know it changes people’s hearts from damned to saved, from sinner to saint. Not only can it, but it’s the only thing that can. That Word points us to Jesus who died for us and gives us the faith to trust him as our only and complete Savior. That Word has changed us. May God bless our work to use it, and it alone, to change the hearts of others. Amen.