"God's Hope Brings Joy" (Sermon on Romans 15:4-13) | December 4, 2022

Text: Romans 5:4-13

Date: December 4, 2022

Event: The Second Sunday in Advent, Year A

Romans 15:4-13 (EHV)

Indeed, whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that, through patient endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we would have hope. 5And may God, the source of patient endurance and encouragement, grant that you agree with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, 6so that with one mind, in one voice, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

7For this reason, accept one another as Christ also accepted you to the glory of God. 8For I am saying that Christ became a servant of those who are circumcised for the sake of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs. 9He also did this so that the Gentiles would glorify God for his mercy, as it is written:

For this reason I will praise you among the Gentiles,

and I will sing to your name.

10And again it says:

Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.

11And again:

Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,

and let all the peoples give him praise.

12And again Isaiah says:

There will be a Root of Jesse,

and he is the one who will rise up to rule the Gentiles;

on him the Gentiles will place their hope.

13Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

God’s Hope Brings Joy

As I sat working on this sermon this past week, it was raining. Heavily. Rain can ruin a lot of plans. Our parking lot work has been delayed a few times by weather. A trip to the beach isn’t going to go well if it’s pouring down rain. And if you’re going to make a drive through the mountains, inclement weather is probably not what you want to see.

But, as we in California know very well, the rain is necessary. For all of its potential downsides, the upsides are far more important. And so even if the rain delays or cancels plans that we had, we rejoice to see reservoirs  filling up, land being watered, plants being able to grow, and food supplies stabilizing. The rain gives us many reasons to give thanks.

In our Second Reading for this morning, Paul speaks a length about God’s hope, that hope the he provides to us. Sometimes that hope feels like opposition to what we by nature want to pursue and what the world would tell us is important. But, as we continue our Advent preparation, we see the importance of God’s hope preparing us for Jesus’ return.

Paul begins our reading: Indeed, whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that, through patient endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures, we would have hope. Paul is specifically talking about the Old Testament Scriptures in what he writes, but we can broaden this out to the whole of Scripture. Everything in God’s Word was written to teach us.

This week I was reading some sections of 2 Chronicles for my personal devotions. Over the span of two chapters, the chronicler covered two kings of Judah, the end of King Hezekiah’s reign and the whole of Hezekiah’s son, Manasseh’s reign. Hezekiah was one of the most faithful kings in all of Israel’s history. But the account showed where he stumbled and faltered at the end of his life—and then returned to God’s promises. His son, Manasseh, is always lumped in my head as one of the worst kings. And while it’s true that he devoted most of his life to pursuing sin and idolatry, a fact that I had forgotten was that at the end of his life he returned to the Lord in repentance. What a valuable piece of instruction and learning for us.

The hope of God is an everlasting and perfectly-trustworthy hope. When we speak of God’s hope, we don’t do so with the same connotation that we do when we speak of our hope. When we use the word “hope,” we usually use it in an uncertain context: “I hope the car repairs aren’t too expensive,” “I hope it doesn’t rain doesn’t negatively affect my plans,” “I hope that Christmas gift is still in stock.” For all of those, there’s the assumption that while I want one thing, the other is probably more likely.

But not so with God. We do not say, “I hope God forgives my sins,” assuming he won’t. We have what was written in the Scriptures to teach us, to bring us patient endurance and encouragement. What happened when Abraham sinned? God restored him. What happened when David sinned? God restored him. What happened when Hezekiah and Manasseh sinned? God restored them. What happened when Peter sinned? Jesus patiently, lovingly, and privately restored him. This is how God works. This forgiveness of sins, this patient love that God has for his people, is the hope that God gives to us.

God’s hope stands in opposition to the world’s joy and focus. Not because the world doesn’t like exciting news, but the world doesn’t even want to hear about the facts that would make this news exciting. The world doesn’t want to hear about sin. Truthfully, by nature, you and I don’t want to hear about sin. It would be pleasant to be deluded into the false hope that I’m fine, you’re fine, we’re all fine. But that’s not the instruction of the Scriptures; that’s not true.

So, rather than being deluded by lies, we cling to God’s truth. God is the source and the object of our hope. For as unpleasant as it is to know and be reminded that we are sinners, it’s that much more pleasant to know that we are forgiven. We take John’s direction and repent—turn away from sin, trusting in God’s forgiveness—because we know our Savior’s return is close at hand. Our Advent hope, our Christmas hope, our forever-hope is certain because it rests in the infallible and unshakeable promises and work of our God.

But we know that God’s hope may be like rain in this world. We may endure hardship because we cling to this hope. We may lose relationships and suffer harsh words and mocking. We know that our brothers and sisters in other nations suffer intense persecution—even death—for their faith in Jesus. But as we await the return of our Savior, as we prepare to celebrate his first Advent, we know that for any hardship that God’s hope may bring into our lives, it is worth it, because it is a lasting hope that brings complete joy and peace now, and especially in eternity. God’s hope is like the rainstorm that cancels plans for today but ensures adequate water and food in the long-term: temporarily it may be difficult, but eternally it is so very worth it.

So, we don’t shrink away from this hope. Rather, we magnify it in our lives. Paul says, “May God, the source of patient endurance and encouragement, grant that you agree with one another in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that with one mind, in one voice, you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For this reason, accept one another as Christ also accepted you to the glory of God.” We strive to treat one another in a way that glorifies God. We aim to accept each other just as God accepted us. He didn’t accept us because we were perfect, but he welcomed us with forgiveness. And so we also strive to welcome one another with forgiveness.

We also strive to show this same patient love and forgiveness to those who rebel against this hope, hate this hope, even hate us for clinging to this hope. Paul made clear in the latter part of our lesson that Jesus, that God’s forgiveness, is not just for one narrow band of people. It wasn’t just for the Jewish people; it was for everyone. Today, as well, Jesus’ forgiveness isn’t just for people who love Jesus and live the right way; it’s for everyone.

This season of preparation allows us some unique opportunities to bring this forgiveness even to people who might not like it or might not care about it. You have the opportunity to invite families with young children to join us for Christmas for Kids. You have the opportunity to invite a friend or neighbor or acquaintance to our Christmas Eve or Christmas Day worship, to our New Year’s Day worship, to any event or class or moment in God’s Word. Invite them to join you, forward a live stream or online class email, whatever works the best for you and for them. Ensure that they know that this hope is not only valuable to some, but it is for them as well.

The end result of this hope is joy—joy for what is coming and eventually joy in what we experience in full in heaven. Paul concludes our reading with a joyous blessing: Now may the God of hope fill you with complete joy and peace as you continue to believe, so that you overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. May the God of hope do just as Paul prayed for you—for all of us—now and forever. Thanks be to the God of hope now and forever! Amen.

"Prepare for Advent" (Sermon on Romans 13:11-14) | November 27, 2022

Text: Romans 13:11-14

Date: November 27, 2022

Event: The First Sunday in Advent, Year A

Romans 13:11-14 (EHV)

And do this since you understand the present time. It is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. 12The night is almost over, and the day is drawing near. So let us put away the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light. 13Let us walk decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual sin and wild living, not in strife and jealousy. 14Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not give any thought to satisfying the desires of your sinful flesh.

Prepare for Advent

The time of year calls for a lot of preparation. A great deal of work likely went into getting your Thanksgiving meals ready. Maybe the Christmas decorations have gone up at your house already or you’ll be doing that shortly. We’ll be decorating the sanctuary next weekend. All sorts of plans get laid for the start of a new calendar year. Prep, prep, prep!

And that helps us this morning because that’s really what the start of a new church year is all about as well. Advent is a season of preparation; we even have “Prepare” emblazoned on one of the two banners here in the sanctuary. We are preparing for Jesus’ advent, his arrival. And during this season, our preparation focus is two-fold: we are preparing to celebrate his first advent at Christmas, but we’re also keeping our end times focus, looking forward to his second advent at the end of the world.

Our focus for the last Sunday of the church year last weekend was that of Christ the King. It was a triumphant and celebratory reminder that Jesus reigns and rules all things for us. Today’s focus to start a new church year is a slightly more somber—a reminder that we have things to do to get ready for our King’s return.

In our Gospel, Jesus reminded us that the end is certainly coming, but when it’s coming is anyone’s guess: “The Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect him” (Matthew 24:44). Unlike Thanksgiving, or Christmas, or the New Year, we don’t have a date or time. We can’t schedule our life around it. We don’t have a traditional deadline. As such, because Jesus may return at any moment—even before this sermon is over (but it’s not that long, don’t worry!)—we need to find a way to be in a state of readiness. We need to be prepared. And that’s what the apostle Paul helps us with as he writes to the Romans Christians about this very topic.

Ahead of our Second Reading, Paul brought two encouragements to the Roman Christians in chapter 13 of his letter: submit to the governing authorities as God’s representatives and that Christians love one another, echoing Jesus’ command to his disciples on the night he was betrayed. And it’s with that context that our reading begins, “And do this since you understand the present time.”

We might often find ourselves looking at society around us and thinking, “Wow, the end must be near. Look at all of these ridiculous and scary things that are happening.” It is, perhaps, sobering to remember that Christians living in the first century AD would have thought the same thing. They saw their present time and thought, “Well, the end must be near.” And Paul stokes that fire with scriptural urgency: It is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.

On the one hand, since things seem to be crumbling down around us; we can rightly see the end of all things drawing near. On the other hand, because they’ve always looked like this, for our entire lives and even for the two millennia since Jesus walked the earth during his ministry, we can also get lulled into a sense of apathy and contentedness that this is always that way it will be and that nothing will ever change. This leads to the philosophy that says we should eat, drink and be merry because tomorrow we die, that nothing matters but pleasure and happiness now. If that is our approach, we will be caught completely unaware when Jesus returns, which means we will not be ready, which will end disastrously for us. So, since we don’t want that to happen, we want to prepare for Jesus’ return. Paul outlines for us how to do that.

The night is almost over, and the day is drawing near. So let us put away the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light. Let us walk decently as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual sin and wild living, not in strife and jealousy. A theme that we will see in Paul’s encouragement is that sin leads to not being prepared, while a life of good works shows that we are prepared. But that’s not because of the deeds themselves, but what they reflect about our hearts. Embracing sin means that we’ve abandoned our Savior. If we love sin, we hate God, because the two are diametrically opposed. And since we don’t want to have anything to do with hating God, Paul tells us to “put away the deeds of darkness.”

As you scan through your thoughts, words, and actions from the last week, where are there “deeds of darkness” that you are clinging to? In what places in your heart do you harbor sin? Where are your sins not just a point of weakness but a point of pride, something that you cherish? Are they in that list that Paul gives as examples, or are they different? Our Advent preparation, the preparing for the arrival of our King and Judge, requires us to purge that love of sin from our hearts.

But Advent preparation is not simply about looking good or even being well-behaved. Because on our own, we can’t do that at all. We can’t put away the sin that permeates every aspect of our heart and mind. We actually need Jesus to get us ready for his own arrival. Instead, clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and do not give any thought to satisfying the desires of your sinful flesh.

Jesus’ first advent was the beginning of his work to be our Savior. Because these deeds of darkness clung to us so hard and fast, we needed rescue. No amount of bleach could get these insidious stains our. So Jesus’ arrival on this earth was to bring us the cleansing that we needed.

By the faith he’s given to us, then, we are no longer clothed in the filthy rags of sins, but in the perfect robes of his love and forgiveness. Perhaps Paul’s words make us think of when the apostle John saw the huge crowd of believers in heaven in his vision in Revelation. They were all around God’s throne wearing gleaming-white robes, and of them we are told: These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Because of this they are in front of the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them (Revelation 7:14-15).

Notice how the people didn’t bring the soap—they washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, in Jesus’ blood. And in what Paul says in Romans, we are not clothing ourselves with our best efforts and strength, but we are clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ. You no longer stand clothed in the sinful deeds of darkness, but clothed in the perfection of your Savior who has taken every sin away.

Advent preparation is not really about getting yourself ready—it’s about acknowledging that God is the one who prepares you. We spend time this season in repentance, with sorrow over sin and trusting in our Savior’s forgiveness. We spend time seeking to amend our ways in preparation for Jesus’ return. But we do so not because we’re worried that we’ll get in trouble if we don’t. Our motivation is still—as always—thanksgiving for what God has done for us.

So we spend time with our Savior. We cherish his Word in our lives and perhaps seek out extra time in the Word that we hadn’t before. In each mailbox in the back of church is a Advent devotional booklet from Martin Luther College that can be used in service of our Advent preparations. In each box there’s also a new issues of the Meditations quarterly devotional booklet. These can supplement our weekly Bible classes and worship so that our time in God’s Word blossoms and increases.

And here’s the amazing thing: the more we are in God’s Word, the more we are studying and enjoying what God has done for us, the more the love of sin that we have by nature starts to fall away. Slowly, God strengthens me to put away those deeds of darkness. Because the more I value God’s love, the stronger he makes my faith through Word and Sacrament, the more repulsive sin at large becomes to me. Not that any of us will ever be perfect, but God will strengthen us to say no to temptation more often and be more ready to reject Satan’s ploys.

The more I’m in God’s Word, the more prepared I am for my Savior’s return. Not because I have to be good enough for him, but because God’s Word reminds me over and over again that I am perfect because Jesus has taken all of my sins away. God’s wrath has been satisfied in Jesus’ death and that triumph is proven by his resurrection. That comfort means that while I don’t know when he is coming, I know that when he does come it will be a good thing, not a scary thing. I won’t be facing my angry Judge; I’ll be meeting my Savior who loved me enough to die for me.

In that spirit, now and always, let’s keep getting ready. Advent allows us a joyous focus on preparation for eternity, so let’s prepare together! E’en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come! Amen.

"God's Love Produces Thankful Love" (Sermon on Luke 7:36-50) | November 23, 2022

Text: Luke 7:36–50

Date: November 23, 2022

Event: Thanksgiving Eve, Set 1

Luke 7:36–50 (EHV)

A certain one of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him. Jesus entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37Just then a sinful woman from that town learned that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume, 38stood behind him near his feet weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she began to wipe them with her hair while also kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. 39When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would realize who is touching him and what kind of woman she is, because she is a sinner.”

40Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

He said, “Teacher, say it.”

41“A certain moneylender had two debtors. The one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42When they could not pay, he forgave them both. So, which of them will love him more?”

43Simon answered, “I suppose the one who had the larger debt forgiven.”

Then he told him, “You have judged correctly.” 44Turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house, but you did not give me water for my feet. Yet she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45You did not give me a kiss, but she, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with perfume. 47Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that is why she loved so much. But the one who is forgiven little loves little.” 48Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”

49Those reclining at the table with him began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

50He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

God’s Love Produces Thankful Love

Are there certain things that someone can do for you that inspire overwhelming joy? Maybe the kids pick up their rooms without being asked. Maybe someone could make your favorite meal or invite you over to watch the game. Maybe someone can sit and talk with you during a difficult time. We each have different things that really resonate for us, and probably even have different things at different times.

But while there are differences in what brings up the joy in our hearts, probably the desire to express that joy is universal. You want to make clear how much you appreciate what that person has done for you, how meaningful it was, or how special they are to you. Love shown to you produces a desire to show thankful love.

And we have an example of that tonight in our Gospel. We meet up with Jesus in the middle of his ministry. He’s been teaching the crowds and the Pharisees have been in there, listening, trying to figure out what to make of Jesus. To that end, one of them named Simon invites Jesus to his home for a meal. As is made clear quickly, this is not a believer rejoicing in God’s promised Messiah. This is not a repentant person showing thankful love to his God. This is someone who is curious but also doubtful about who Jesus is and wants some more one-on-one time with him to try to figure him out.

We’re told that in the midst of the meal, a “sinful woman” appeared at the dinner. We don’t know who she was, and while tradition often tries to label this woman as one of the named followers of Jesus, the Holy Spirit doesn’t give us enough information to identify her. But we have plenty of information to understand her heart and mind. Just then a sinful woman from that town learned that he was reclining in the Pharisee’s house. She brought an alabaster jar of perfume, stood behind him near his feet weeping, and began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she began to wipe them with her hair while also kissing his feet and anointing them with the perfume. She cleans his feet with her tears and hair and anoints them with an expensive perfume.

The woman’s tears show us something that Jesus will confirm in just a moment. This “sinful” woman (perhaps she was a prostitute by profession or had been wrapped up in some other public sin) is not proud and boastful about her sin. Sorrow over sin, which we often call contrition, fills her heart. But notice how she does not despair—rather she comes to the one whom she knows and believes forgives sins. Her tears might rightly be seen as sorrowful and joyful at the same time. In Jesus, this woman has found forgiveness and restoration to God. Jesus says that this is the reason for her loving actions at that meal: Therefore I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; that is why she loved so much.

God’s loving forgiveness produces this thankful love. One of Simon’s issues was that he didn’t feel that he had many (or even any) sins to forgive. He was confident in his righteousness. He felt he could stand before God on his own. The woman, though, had no such delusions. She knew what Simon denied—that she was a sinner deserving of God’s wrath. She valued Jesus’ forgiveness because she knew just how much she had to forgive.

We would love to sit here this evening and identify with the woman, right? “If I had been there, I’d have been weeping in thankful joy along with her!” we might say. But would we? How often does the pharisaical comparative bug bite us? How often do we look at the people who have very public, flagrant sins in their lives and think, “Well, at least I know better than that person. At least I’m not doing those things”?

Let’s not follow Simon’s lead here, though the sinful nature in each of us constantly wants to justify ourselves. If we spend any amount of time comparing ourselves to other people in a way that would say, “Well, my standing with God is secure because I’m not like this person,” we’ve radically misunderstood ourselves and God.

Each of us carries a burden of sin. For some of us, that sin is public, but for others, it’s much more private, perhaps known only to ourselves and God. But the reality is, God doesn’t measure quantity. God’s demands are perfection or nothing. So the person who has one sin and the person who has a billion sins are equal in God’s eyes: each are “sinners.” And neither person can do anything to get rid of one part of the this debt.

So Jesus comes. God himself takes on our human nature to live the flawless life that God demanded, but to do so in our place. Jesus’ message to the people was one of forgiveness of sins in himself. At the very end of Jesus’ ministry, Mary from Bethany, Martha’s and Lazarus’ sister, will do something similar for Jesus. In joy she will anoint him with costly perfume to, as Jesus says, prepare him for his burial. Mary looked ahead to what Jesus was going to do. Not only living that flawless life to credit to her, but also that he would die to pay her debt. This woman at Simon’s meal was looking ahead to the same assurance.

Jesus has addressed our burden of sin as well. Public, private, glaring, or secret, Jesus takes all of that sin on himself. He takes it off of your shoulders and mine and puts it on his. He dies to pay for our hell, and his perfect life is given to us. We can gush joyful tears because we have been forgiven. And the Holy Spirit gives us the faith to trust and cling to Jesus as our Savior. Through that faith we benefit from what Jesus has done, so that Jesus can say to you and me what he said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

So, how do you respond to sacrificial love like this? How do you respond to Jesus’ forgiveness? Well, in part we’re doing it right now. Songs and prayers of praise, time in his Word, all of it is sitting at Jesus feet. Our praise ascribes him honor in the same way that the woman’s perfume did. We thank him by… thanking him.

But God also gives us the opportunity to thank him by being generous to others. How can you be generous to your family to show your love for them and also thank Jesus at the same time? How can you be generous to strangers in need by showing empathy for them and also thanking Jesus at the same time? How can you be generous to those who need to hear the gospel message of this forgiveness and also thank Jesus at the same time?

We show thankful love to God by being generous to individuals who need our support. We show thankful love to God by supporting a charity that can do more work than you and I can as individuals. We show thankful love to God by supporting our congregation with time and resources so that all of us here can be reminded of this good news about Jesus, and that those who don’t know this message yet may hear of their Savior’s eternal love. Our worship and praise, our actions and attitudes, all of it is wrapped up in the love of God shown to us in Jesus. These are all ways that we can tell Jesus, perhaps through tears, “Thank you.”

So, my dear sisters and brothers, find your motivation to be thankful in Jesus. Find your opportunity to be thankful in serving him and others in their needs. Find your opportunity to rejoice always in the Lord not just on a holiday but always, for you have been forgiven much—all—and heaven stands waiting for you. Thank you, dear Jesus! Amen!

"See the Glory through the Haze" (Sermon on Luke 21:5-19) | November 13, 2022

Text: Luke 21:5–19

Date: November 13, 2022

Event: Proper 28, Year C

Luke 21:5–19 (EHV)

As some were talking about the temple, how it was decorated with beautiful stones and offerings, Jesus said, 6“These things that you see here—the days will come when there will not be one stone left on another—every one will be thrown down.”

7They asked him, “Teacher, when will these things happen? And what is the sign that these things are about to happen?”

8He said, “Watch out so that you are not deceived! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. 9Whenever you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end will not be right then.”

10Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. 11There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places. There will be horrifying sights and great signs from heaven. 12But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake. 13It will turn out to be your opportunity to testify. 14So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand how to defend yourselves, 15for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 16You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will put some of you to death. 17You will be hated by all people for my name’s sake. 18But not a hair of your head will perish. 19By patient endurance you will gain your lives.”

See the Glory through the Haze

Call me crazy, but I really like gloomy, foggy days. When it’s a touch damp and cold and you’re wondering if the sun is even out. Good days to drink something warm and put on your favorite sweatshirt and maybe get some work done or just curl up with something fun you’d like to do. And given the number of days we have marine layer coming in here in Belmont, this seems like a pretty good place to be.

But there are times when the fog isn’t so great. Like taking the carpool of kids to school in the morning and the fog is thick on the freeway, making it at best slow and at worst kind of dangerous because of poor visibility. When you have to go through the haze and make progress in it, that’s when it becomes a real problem.

Last week we celebrated the festival of All Saints’ Day, the certain triumph that we have in Jesus. Today’s focus is still looking ahead, but it’s more focused on our life here leading to the Last Day. Jesus says that in many ways this life will be like trying to travel through the fog. It’s going to be uncomfortable and even dangerous. But by his grace, we will get beyond the haze of this sinful world and be with him in eternal life.

During holy week, Jesus and his disciples were walking through the temple courts in Jerusalem and those around Jesus were marveling at what was around them. The beauty of everything was overwhelming. The temple had been recently refurbished, and the disciples were amazed. But Jesus didn’t do much marveling. He’s very stark: “These things that you see here—the days will come when there will not be one stone left on another—every one will be thrown down.” Jesus’ statement was proven true just a few decades later when Rome would march on Jerusalem and destroy much of the city, including the temple. It has never been rebuilt.

What is Jesus’ point in this harsh statement? Don’t get too attached to the world around you. It will not last. It will not endure. The things of this life are temporary—even the good and God-pleasing things like the temple was. Everything has an expiration date.

That’s a challenge in this life, right? The danger of driving in the fog is that you can’t see far in front of you. So while you’re nervous about what may be looming ahead of you, you’re spending all of your time focused on where you can see, limited as it may be. It’s easy to adopt that approach in our life, to ignore or put off the coming glory of eternity. We can be deluded by our fogged-in vision and think that what’s around us is the be-all, end-all of existence. But Jesus reminds us that it’s all temporary, it will all pass away. Nothing endures, and we need to stay focused on what is eternally coming, not only on what is right in front of us.

But what about between now and then? While we’re living in this end time fog, we still have responsibilities. We still have family to care for, a congregation to support, people to share the gospel with. We still have tasks to complete and promises to keep. We still need to do our best in whatever vocations we are serving in. We still have love to show and empathy to be poured out. So we will tend to those tasks. But what will it be like to do those things in the haze of this life?

It would be tempting for us to think that, as Christians, life should be pretty smooth sailing. Sure, it’s foggy, but out footings will be safe, right? We should be able to have the confidence that because God loves us, everything should be great. Life should be good, and then the end will come, right? Well, what does Jesus say? “Watch out so that you are not deceived! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them. Whenever you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end will not be right then… Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places. There will be horrifying sights and great signs from heaven. But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake… You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all people for my name’s sake.

This does not sound good. There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s break it down.

First, Jesus says that there will be spiritual, religious leaders that will come teaching messages that are off-kilter and contrary to Scripture. False teachers have come and will come preaching messages that we should just focus on what is here in this life because, they say, God just wants us to be happy. Others teach different messages than we’ve been given, like we heard the Judaizers teach to the Galatians a couple of weeks ago. These false teachers may distort Jesus’ words or lead us to put trust in our own work and convictions rather than in what God has done for us. “Watch out so that you are not deceived! For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and ‘The time is near.’ Do not follow them.”

But it’s not just false teachers that we have to deal with in this hazy life. Whenever you hear of wars and revolutions, do not be terrified, for these things must happen first, but the end will not be right then… Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, famines, and plagues in various places. There will be horrifying sights and great signs from heaven. Kind of sounds like the last couple of years, doesn’t it? It also kind of sounds like the time of World War II, or World War I, or the bubonic plague, or almost every moment in every era from the time Jesus spoke these words until now.

What’s the take away? Things are not going to get better. We can’t make the fog go away. No election or politician can change the track this world is on. No viewpoint or conviction can stop this life from being clouded from God’s truths because of sin. Again, we do well to serve in our roles that we’ve been given faithfully and honestly. But whether we are nurturing our children or voting in an election, we have to recognize that we cannot change the impact sin has on the world around us, on the people we love, and on our own hearts. We cannot lift this haze.

Only Jesus can do that. And even then, the forgiveness is ours, the inheritance of heaven is assured, but we don’t have it in full right now. There is no doubt that it is coming, but we are looking ahead. There will be no paradise on earth. We can see the glory in part, but it’s only like looking for the bright spot on the other side of the fog. Even the sun may be clouded out, but that doesn’t mean it’s gone missing. So too, the promises of God of forgiveness and eternal life stand unmoved, but they’re are not our full experience yet. And being stuck in the pea soup of this like can be deeply, deeply unpleasant.

We’re looking ahead to the glory that is coming. But, Jesus says, that looking ahead to the future glory brings its own problems. Being a Christian in this world will cause its own issues: But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, handing you over to synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for my name’s sake. It will turn out to be your opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand how to defend yourselves, for I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all people for my name’s sake.

Did you notice what Jesus did say and what he didn’t say here? You will face persecution and trouble because of your faith in Jesus. Being a Christian in this world will naturally bring these hardships. But did Jesus say, “Take a stand! Fight for yourself! Defend your rights to your faith!”? No. Did he say we should be loudmouthed, arrogant, and obnoxious, hoping to draw some of these hardships on ourselves, to seek after persecution and suffering? No.

He said you will suffer these things, you may even die. But this suffering will not be the chance to fight, it will not be the chance to cry foul and play the victim, it will be the opportunity to testify. Persecution is not an opportunity to show how tough and strong we are. Persecution is an opportunity to share the love of Jesus with people who clearly don’t know it or understand it. So when you are mocked—or much worse—for your faith, that’s an evangelism opportunity. There’s an opportunity to put into practice what Jesus commanded, to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. And you do not need to worry about what to say in that moment. Your time in God’s Word prepares you; Jesus himself promises to give you the words and wisdom you need to witness to the truth lovingly, with gentleness and respect. Because it’s never about defending yourself—it’s about sharing the love of God with others. It’s about bringing the light of the coming glory to others who are lost in this haze.

And that’s where we need to return, because we could leave a section of Scripture like this feeling really, really down. Jesus is being real with us. He’s being honest about what’s going to happen. But none of this, not one nasty comment, not one natural disaster, not one financial difficulty will ever change what God has done for you. We’ve said a couple of times that all of this has happened, is happening, and will happen because of sin. But that sin is, of course, what Jesus came to solve.

And solve it he did. The reason we look through the haze to glory that is approaching is because of Jesus’ work on our behalf. Without Jesus, all the bad things that he describes here would be the best part of our lives; hell will be so much worse than anything bad we can endure here. But with Jesus, because he took all sin on himself at the cross, that means that we’re not stumbling our way through this haze and falling into a pit. It means we walk this life hand-in-hand with our Savior. He leads us through this life, through good days and difficult days, through joy and sorrow, all the way through this hazy, perishing world to the eternal life he has prepared for us.

Don’t lose track of how he ended our reading: You will be hated by all people for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By patient endurance you will gain your lives.” Focus in on that word perish, because this is not the same as die. Death may speak of physical separation, the end of one’s life. Our hair, just like the rest of us, will surely die unless Jesus returns before then. But not a hair on your head will perish. “Perish” here means eternal death. So great is the love and victory of your Savior that not even the most fragile part of your body will be lost; not a part of you will see hell even for a moment. For as bad as things are here in the haze, by God’s grace you will reach the coming glory unscathed because Jesus has forgiven every one of your sins.

And so, my brothers and sisters, lift up your heads. In joy and thanksgiving to God for his forgiveness, we will continue to do our best in every aspect of life. But don’t let the haze bring you down. Don’t let it distract from the glory that is coming. And don’t forget that every step we take through this fog, Jesus is guiding and leading us with his forgiving love. Come quickly, Lord Jesus! Amen.

"Does Jesus Have Value for You?" (Sermon on Galatians 5:1-6) | October 30, 2022

Text: Galatians 5:1–6

Date: October 30, 2022

Event: Reformation Sunday, Year C

Galatians 5:1–6 (EHV)

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not allow anyone to put the yoke of slavery on you again. 2Look, I, Paul, tell you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3I testify again to every man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obligated to do the whole law. 4You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law are completely separated from Christ. You have fallen from grace.

5Indeed, through the Spirit, we by faith are eagerly waiting for the sure hope of righteousness. 6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, it is faith working through love that matters.

Does Jesus have Value for You?

I’ve had the same conversation more times than I can count. Mostly here in California, but it even happened a couple of times while we were in South Dakota. And it always goes the same. I meet someone new—maybe a barber or a clerk at the post office or someone waiting to visit a loved one in a hospital or care facility—and we get to talking. Nothing major, mostly small talk. But in the course of that conversation it comes up that I’m the pastor of a Lutheran church. And the same question comes so reliably that I can almost finish the sentence for the other person: “Oh, Lutheran? Is that like Christian?”

For those of us who have been Lutheran for a long time, the question seems silly given the confessional Lutheran church’s narrow, scriptural focus on Jesus as Savior. But it makes sense that people would wonder or be curious. Especially around here, the only exposure they may have had to anything “Lutheran” might be driving by a church with that word on its sign. So it’s a good question, and one which usually leads to very quick sharing of the gospel message.

Being Christian (that is, believing in Jesus as Savior) is far more important that being Lutheran. But the reality is that, perhaps especially on a day like Reformation Day, we can get a little out in front of our skis with misplaced priorities of what is truly important. And in our Second Reading for this morning, we’ll see in what Paul writes why reformation is not just for a church at a given time, but that reformation is for our hearts all the time, because the things that pull us away from Jesus are more subtle and insidious than we would like to believe.

The letter to the Christians living in region of Galatia is likely the earliest of Paul’s letters, probably written sometime in the late 40s AD. Paul had started many of the churches in that region during his first missionary journey. But, after he had been there and then moved on, some other teachers came into the region and started teaching a distorted gospel which Paul says in the opening of this letter was really not another gospel at all (Galatians 1:7). To fully understand what Paul is talking about in our reading from chapter 5, we need to understand the root problem these Christians were dealing with.

Teachers came into this region of Galatia whom have come to be known as “Judaizers.” Their message was pretty simple. They taught that Jesus was great and necessary, but in order to actually benefit from what Jesus did for you, you had to keep the Old Testament laws as well. This is the reason that circumcision looms so large in our reading, because these congregations would have been predominately gentiles who would not have had the custom of circumcision. But now they’re being taught that in order to be saved, you must follow this law that requires circumcision. And at this, Paul is furious. In his introduction to the letter he said: If we or an angel from heaven would preach any gospel other than the one we preached to you—a curse on him! As we have said before, so I now say again: If anyone preaches to you any gospel other than the one you received—a curse on him! (Galatians 1:8-9).

What was the gospel, the good news, that Paul had preached to the Galatians originally? That Jesus is the Savior. Now, of course, that sounds reductive, but it’s true. Jesus it the Savior—full stop. That was Paul’s message to the Galatians. When Jesus lived his life, he did so perfectly, but he also did it in our place. When Jesus died on the cross, there all of my sins and your sins were laid on him. He suffered the hell that we deserved to release us from our sins. We have freedom from sin because Jesus lived, died, and rose from the dead. Jesus’ work has set us free from any punishment that we deserved because Jesus did it all for us.

This work of Jesus becomes ours through faith that God gives. God grants us faith, trust, to hold fast to the truth that Jesus died for us. Notice we don’t earn this or pay anything for it. All of it is a gift from God. Paul explained to the Galatians: We know that a person is not justified [that is, declared not guilty or forgiven] by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ. So we also believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law (Galatians 2:16).

So this is the issue that Paul has with what these false teachers are saying. They were teaching that Jesus alone was not enough. You needed to do something to be worthy of his forgiveness. You needed to dedicate yourself to him by outward works so that you can earn a spot in this family. That teaching undermines the whole of what Jesus did! We know we can’t save ourselves, but if we start following the thinking that we need to do a little bit of something to be worthy of Jesus, then we are trying to do things to save ourselves. Doing that is what Paul describes in our reading as allow[ing] [some]one to put the yoke of slavery on you again.

And while the Judaizers’ focus may have been primarily on circumcision, Paul is clear that if you want to start doing something to earn your forgiveness, you cannot pick and choose which things to do and follow. He said, “I testify again to every man who allows himself to be circumcised that he is obligated to do the whole law.” And if you then have to follow the whole law to be saved, well then, Jesus becomes utterly worthless: if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you.

That is not the path to heaven. We cannot earn our way, even by a minuscule percentage, because God demands perfection. And if we are anything short of perfect, we doom ourselves to hell. And we are all far, far from perfect. Trying to be saved by the work we do means Jesus has no value to us anymore.

But this mindset was not unique to these false teachers in region of Galatia at the time of Paul. In fact throughout all of human history, people’s thoughts and hearts have assumed that they need to do something to be right with God. Nearly every religion in the world is based on it. Our legal system is based on it (do something wrong? Do something good or uncomfortable to make up for it). Even our human relationships are, at times, based on it. How many times have you done something that hurt someone in some way and then you scrambled to try to figure out what to do to make it up to that person?

So it’s no surprise that at the time of the Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church had fallen head-over-heels in love with this teaching. Like the Judaizers, Rome taught that Jesus had a great deal of value, but he only did so much. You needed to add your works to what Jesus did if you hoped to be saved. Maybe that meant attending masses, special prayers, or the thing that finally woke Martin Luther up to this distortion, the selling of indulgences. Indulgences were pieces of paper that when purchased supposedly forgave the sins of the purchaser or the one for whom they were purchased. What a flagrant offense to the truth of Jesus’ forgiveness!

Not much has changed. Rome’s teachings today have not really changed. Much of American Christendom focuses you on yourself for comfort—how strong your faith is, how much you believe, how emotional you are when you consider your faith. In fact, much of Christianity today seems to focus people on everything possible except Jesus. Other religions use Jesus’ name but only preach a message of works. In all of these systems, despite what lip service they may give to Jesus, he becomes completely worthless when my good works are trying to be factored into the equation. I can’t put it any more strongly or clearly than Paul did: You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law are completely separated from Christ. You have fallen from grace.

And it’s not just those people over there. It’s not just people in other churches. On a day like Reformation Day perhaps we gloat a little bit. “Those foolish teachers in those other churches teach the wrong thing. But I’m Lutheran! I know the truth!” And in that moment, don’t we also cross the line? Don’t we also put our hope in something other than Jesus? Aren’t we putting our hope in our “Lutheraness” rather than Jesus? How quickly and insidiously this happens. How craftily Satan would lead us to put our confidence in ourselves rather than where it belongs—only with God.

Again, the Reformation was not just something that was needed at one time and place. We recognize that our hearts, daily, hourly need to be reformed by God’s Word to refocus us not on ourselves but again on Jesus and on Jesus alone! We need God to remind us that Jesus not only has value, but he is the only thing of value eternally. Who cares about your denominational ties or your history? If Jesus isn’t valued above all else, everything else is worthless.

In our Gospel, Jesus reminded us that if he sets us free than we are truly free. And that’s what he did. No matter what we’ve done or what misguided notions we’ve had, Jesus came to be our Savior—to completely free us from sin, death, and hell. He did that by living a flawless, perfect life under God’s law in our place and crediting that life to us. He did that by completely taking all of our sins on himself and paying their horrific price when he died on the cross. He proved all of this by rising from the dead to show that it worked. We are free from sin because Jesus has conquered it completely.

So the value that Jesus has is not one of mere helper. He’s not just a guide for our path in this life. He doesn’t just embolden us to be better. He frees us from sin completely, without our intervention at all. Jesus is our Savior and there is no other.

What is the role of good works then? Paul said, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. Rather, it is faith working through love that matters.” It might have been tempting for the Galatian Christians who rejected this false teaching to start feeling pretty good about themselves. “Well, I didn’t let myself get circumcised, therefore I am better.” And, again, in that moment they have the exact same problem as those who tried to follow the law to be saved had. They looked at something they did or didn’t do as reason for confidence before God. So Paul is clear the it doesn’t matter if you’re circumcised or not. What matters is faith working through love.

Faith is trust in the promises of God. Faith that trusts that Jesus is the Savior can’t help but express itself. The expression of that faith is what we would call good works. But the motivation behind them is different than what the Judaizers were teaching. These are not good works done trying to earn God’s love; these are good words done because God has already loved us. These are not works done trying to pay off our sins; these are works done because Jesus has already paid that debt we owed. We do good works to thank God, not to earn anything with him.

In the end, we shouldn’t really care if people understand what a “Lutheran” is, although it is a heritage that many of us cherish. It doesn’t matter if we or someone else are members of a church called “Lutheran.” What matters is that people know who Jesus is because he is the one who has completely and freely set us free from sin by his life, death, and resurrection for us. He broke the yoke that sin had placed on us and freed us to be with him forever in heaven. Trying to add our work to his work devalues him completely. But valuing Jesus means trusting in him completely for the forgiveness of our sins and the certainty of eternal life with him.

So on this Reformation Day, let’s not recommit ourselves to simply being “Lutheran.” Let’s recommit ourselves to the gospel message that makes being Lutheran valuable at all. Is Lutheran equivalent to Christian? By Paul’s words, most certainly yes. Let’s commit ourselves to valuing Jesus, not our own works. Let’s commit ourselves to sharing Jesus with those who don’t know him yet. Let’s commit ourselves to resting in Jesus’ freedom that he freely gives, and thanking him for that free gift today and always. Thanks be to God! Amen.

"Love God, Not the World" (Sermon on 1 John 2:15-17) | October 23, 2022

Text: 1 John 2:15–17

Date: October 23, 2022

Event: Proper 25, Year C

1 John 2:15–17 (EHV)

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, boasting about material possessions—is not from the Father but from the world. 17The world and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

Love God, Not the World

What does it mean to love someone or something? People can play pretty fast and loose with that term, but in general, loving something to value it highly. In human relationships, if we take a God-like view of love, it would mean sacrificing things for them to support and equip them. When it comes to things, it might mean valuing something of that category more than other things: you might, for instance, like pie but love ice cream.

In our Second Reading for this morning, the apostle John gives us direction on who and what we should love in our lives. And this goes well beyond the things that we say we love, which may be a flippant, thoughtless expression. John urges us to really consider our hearts. What do we truly love and value? And is our value and love in the correct place?

John is probably the last of the original twelve disciple to still be alive. He’s writing at the end of the first century, probably around 90 AD or so. John is writing as likely the last-living eyewitness of the life and work of Jesus, and he’s writing to encourage a new generation of Christians. The church had been undergoing a transition for a a number of decades as the apostles handed off the teachings of the church to those who had believed because they heard the gospel through those apostles. A few weeks ago we heard from Peter who would die 20 to 30 years before John, but who wrote to encourage the people in the truth that he taught. Paul wrote a similar “passing-the-baton” letter to Pastor Timothy ahead of his death.

Now John is trying to focus his original readers, likely a broad swath of Christians, from his island of exile. While John was not executed, he was sent to the island of Patmos off the eastern coast of modern-day Turkey (as of this summer known as Türkiye [tur-ke’yeah]) because he shared the message of Jesus. We know for certain that John was on Patmos when he received and wrote the great Revelation that ends the New Testament; it’s very possible that he wrote his Gospel and his three letters while on that island as well.

At the start of chapter 2 of his letter, John had shared this comfort: My children, I write these things to you so that you will not sin. If anyone does sin, we have an Advocate before the Father: Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the whole world (1 John 2:1-2). John is intimately focused on the life of Christians, what it should look like, and what spirit should flow through it and motivate it. But John never loses track of the reason for that life: Jesus as the sacrifice for all sin.

It’s easy to get wrapped up in basic truths of right and wrong. We’re generally programmed to want rules to follow. But it’s much more difficult for us to keep track of the why we should do what we’re doing.

Even the very theme of this sermon, “Love God, Not the World” is able to be applied without the right motivation. “Right, I should love God because otherwise he’ll be mad at me. I shouldn’t love the world because I’ll be in trouble.”

What is the motivation that John gives us for loving God instead of the things in the world? Jesus! Look at how he loves you. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Jesus made atonement for us, that is, he offered himself to cover over our sins and put us “at one” with God again. Though sin had separated us from God, Jesus solved that problem. He restored us to children in God’s family yet again. Though we had been been destined for hell, Jesus’ death in our place saved us and made us right with God!

And that’s the motivation for serving God. Not because it’s right, not because we’ll be in trouble if we don’t, but because he has so loved us, how can we do anything else? How could we let sin reign in us? How could we possibly not devote every breath, every moment to the one who was crucified, died, buried, and rose from the dead on the third day? How could we ever do anything wrong ever again?

How can we not?

I look at my life and I am disgusted. Here I am, a redeemed and forgiven child of God, and how do I behave? Where are the thoughts of my heart? Here I am, a called servant of Christ, called to be your pastor and serve you with God’s Word, and what is my attitude? Where does my energy go? Here I am, called by God to be husband and father, devoted to my family and dedicated to their well-being—is there ever a night that I can lay my head on the pillow and think, “Finally, today, I didn’t fall flat on my face in those responsibilities?”

Maybe you share those thoughts. I know we share the same struggle with sin because this is what it means to be a human being in this world. Martin Luther called Christians at the same time both saint and sinner, and how true that is. I know my Savior, you know heaven stands waiting for you, and yet how do we respond?

And John points us to a huge place that causes these problems for us. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, boasting about material possessions—is not from the Father but from the world. How much time did you spend thinking about eternal life this week? How much time did you spend being grateful for your forgiveness? Or did the things around you crowd it out this week? Were the pressures at home or work so much that God’s work drifted from your mind? Were you so enamored with a sporting event, or TV show, or any other form of entertainment that is pushed thoughts of what God had done away from you and took that priority place in your life? Does a dedication to earthly wealth and treasures and toys make it difficult to focus on what lies beyond this life?

You saw the serious distraction that the things in the world was to the ruler Jesus spoke to in our Gospel. He felt he had flawlessly kept God’s law from beginning to end. Of course, that was a delusion of his own making, but Jesus went along with it. “Oh, you’ve kept all the laws. Ok, great. Well, then, there’s only one more thing to do: give away all of your stuff and then you will be welcomed into heaven.” Of course, Jesus isn’t saying that we cannot have possessions and be saved. What he was showing this man was that he actually wasn’t perfect as he thought—he loved the things in the world more than he loved God, or perhaps even more accurately, he love the things in the world instead of God, because Jesus told us last month that no one can serve two masters (Luke 16:13).

Loving God will likely mean sacrifice of the things of the world. We can’t be wholly dedicated to the fun and pleasure of life here and wholly dedicated to God. But we need God’s help understanding what our priorities should be. Do you more carefully consider the purchase of a home or lunch? Hopefully the home, right? Because it will, ideally, last for a really long time. Where as lunch, if you bought or made something bad, well, you’ll have another meal in just a few hours. It is passing and less important that the place you’ll live for several decades.

John reminds us: The world and its desires pass away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever. This life is temporary. The treasures and joys of this life are temporary. The stress and the struggles of this life are temporary. Don’t fall in the love with the fun things in this life. Don’t fall in love with fixing problems here.

That’s not to say you can’t enjoy this life or shouldn’t work to fix issues you see around you, but don’t let these things consume you wholly because they are not worth it. To give up eternity because you were so focused on the here and now is to lose your house because you were so focused on lunch—only much, much worse.

And lest we lose track of what we wanted to stay focused on, John reminds us: the one who does the will of God remains forever. But be careful—John is not espousing a works-righteousness here. He’s building off of what Jesus himself had said, as John recorded in his Gospel: “This is the work of God: that you believe in the one he sent” (John 6:29). Doing the will, the work, of God is not accomplishing some outward act. The work and will of God is trusting in Jesus as Savior.

And so that’s the reason that one doing the will of God remains forever, because that person is focused not on earthly blessings, but on eternal blessings. He’s focused not on the gifts for this life, but the gift of everlasting life. He’s focused not on earthly wealth, but on the treasure of the forgiveness of sins we have in Jesus.

Does that mean we are lacking anything? Perhaps from the viewpoint of the world, but we don’t really care about the world’s view because the world knows nothing of God’s love and forgiveness. We are not lacking for anything eternally. In the short term, we may not have everything we want or everything we dream about, but we know that God has promised daily bread to take care of our needs. But at God’s direction, we know that a life lived in thanksgiving to him is far more fulfilling than one in which we get all of the toys we want and all of our desires met.

And so, as we continue the path of this life, keep the focus on Jesus and what he’s done for you for eternity. Don’t let the shiny and the tempting of this life prevent you for holding your Savior up as prime importance. In the next few weeks, we’ll focus on the difficulty and joy of standing up for these truths as we live in these end times. May God keep us focused and faithful to him now and until the day he brings us home to himself. Amen.

"Faith Trusts and Thanks" (Sermon on Luke 17:11-19) | October 9, 2022

Text: Luke 17:11-19
Date: October 9, 2022
Event: Proper 23, Year C

Luke 17:11-19 (EHV)

On another occasion, as Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, he was passing along the border between Samaria and Galilee. 12When he entered a certain village, ten men with leprosy met him. Standing at a distance, 13they called out loudly, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”

14When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” As they went away they were cleansed.

15One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. 16He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan. 17Jesus responded, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? 18Was no one found to return and give glory to God except this foreigner?” 19Then he said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you.”

Faith Trusts and Thanks

As I continue to work through the call to Canada, I ran into a interesting puzzle this week: a reminder from the circuit pastor in Alberta that tomorrow is Canadian Thanksgiving, and that would obviously affect my ability to get in touch with people and have phone conversations with them.

And then, after Bible Class was done on Tuesday morning, we were briefly talking about plans for church here in Belmont for the coming months. And in that moment, I felt my stomach bottom out as I thought how close the United States Thanksgiving is. I mean, it’s not close, but it’s just a touch over a month away. And, of course, that means we’re just a touch over two months away from Christmas. Perhaps you can empathize that I stated spiraling for a moment.

But, let’s not jump ahead to Christmas. Let’s focus on Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is always a little bit of a weird holiday to me, mostly because of what it has turned into. It always seems like the gateway for Christmas. In the past, Black Friday sales often encouraged people to line up at stores even on Thanksgiving Day to get the best deals when the stores open. I’m not really sure if that happens as much anymore with as prevalent as online shopping is and as system-changing as COVID has been, but at best it feels like Thanksgiving has been relegated to the gatekeeper of the Christmas season, and perhaps at worst Thanksgiving has actually been changed into the opposite of what it was designed to be: instead of focusing on thanks, it focuses us on discontent and wanting more and more and more things.

We could spend all day talking about the frustrating state of the Thanksgiving holiday, but that might miss our point a bit. Isn’t it just a touch strange or sad that we have need to have a holiday set aside for giving thanks in the first place? Isn’t that something we should be doing even without a day off of work and a plate full of mashed potatoes? Why is showing thanks so difficult for people in this country? Or this continent?

Well, in our Gospel for this morning, we’re reminded that this is not a uniquely North American problem. Thanksgiving is a struggle for people, regardless of place or time. And so we do well to consider the place of giving thanks in our own lives, and identify the proper relationship between faith and thanksgiving.

As Jesus was traveling around between Galilee and Samaria (the regions to the north of Jerusalem) he came across a group of lepers. Now, having leprosy was a life-changing experience for people in those days. Much worse than any COVID-related isolation and quarantine, if you had leprosy in those days you had to be separate from everyone, except others with the same ailment. You lived on the outskirts of towns, you couldn’t see your family. Oh, and on top of that you had a horrible disease that was at best tremendously uncomfortable. The only way to be cleared to return home is to recover (which would have been rare) and to go and show yourself to the priest who could make the call about whether or not the leprosy was truly gone. If he determined that it was gone, you could return to your life.

As Jesus is passing through the area, it’s not a surprise then that the lepers, who had undoubtedly heard about Jesus’ ability to heal diseases and infirmities, seek him out. When [Jesus] entered a certain village, ten men with leprosy met him. Standing at a distance, they called out loudly, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Notice that they leave considerable distance between themselves and Jesus—legally required social distancing. They could only get so close to someone without leprosy and no closer. But their plea is clear—the seek mercy from the one who has proven himself capable to help and to be merciful to the all people, including those on the lowest rungs of society.

Jesus’ miracle here is perhaps one of the most understated in his entire ministry. He makes no big show, he doesn’t even say that he’s going to heal them. His only direction is “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” He still has them live under the law that governed them. He doesn’t circumvent the law and say “You are healed; go home,” though as God he certainly could have done that. He still has them do what had been commanded while at the same working that miracle: as they went away they were cleansed.

Jesus’ mercy and love extended to these ten men. Think of the joy that would have flooded their hearts as they started on their way to the priests and saw their skin clear up. Think of the relief they would have felt as the pain just vanished. Think of the excitement they felt as they got closer to the priests knowing that they were just moments away from being brought back into society and to reestablishing some amount of normalcy to their lives. What joy would have filled their hearts! It would have been euphoric!

But only one of them stopped en route and turned around. There’s no mention of the intentions of the other nine. Were they planning to come back to Jesus after seeing the priests like they told them to? Were they going to seek him out after their reunion with their families? We don’t know. What we do know is what Luke records for us: One of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice. He fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, thanking him. And he was a Samaritan.

This one man knew what had happened. He knew that God had healed him. He knew that Jesus had worked this miracle to change his hopeless, isolating situation and returned to thank Jesus. He couldn’t repay Jesus, he couldn’t do anything except express his gratitude. And Jesus knew this. So he said to him, “Get up and go your way. Your faith has saved you.”

All ten of these men trusted that Jesus could heal them; that’s why they had called out to him in the first place. And that trust was not in something uncertain; that trust was on the rock of Jesus. But this Samaritan’s faith was so strong, it pulled him off the course he was on to come back and thank Jesus for what he had done. His faith trusted Jesus, but it also thanked Jesus.

We had been in a hopeless, isolating situation, one that was far more dire that the ten’s leprosy. Our sin cut us off from God and we could do nothing to fix it or make anything better. So complete was the isolation that we couldn’t even shout to Jesus for help and mercy. We were left alone in our sins, destined to be forever cut off from God in hell.

But Jesus saw our state and had mercy on us. But sin was a far bigger problem than leprosy. No simple visit to the priests would solve this. No, to solve the disease of sin, we needed our Great High Priest to offer himself as the sacrifice. The miracle worked on our behalf was far less subtle than the one we see with the lepers, because on that dark day the Son of God died for the people he created, for the ones who had sinned against him. The cleansing we needed required not physical healing or a third-party’s approval, but the blood of Jesus shed for us.

And so we look at ourselves and we are clean! The sin is gone, the disease is cured. We are restored, not simply to our brothers and sisters here, but to God. We are welcomed into God’s family once again because he cured us and made us whole. We are no longer isolated and hopeless, but wrapped in the arms of our loving God, never to fear again.

The faith that God gives through his Word and the sacraments clings to these promises. There is no doubt in our voice as we plead with God for his forgiveness. Before we even ask, we know we have it because that’s what he’s promised and done for us. We approach our God with complete confidence!

What, then, is our response to this? Do we see the enormity of it? Do we understand the ramifications of what Jesus has done for us? Is there any appropriate response except for overwhelming gratitude? Is there anything we can do but thank God for what he’s done for us? Can we possibly delay our thanksgiving to God until we accomplish this or that task? Hardly!

We throw ourselves at Jesus’ feet in joy for what he’s done. We praise him here at church. We fill our hearts and mouths with prayers of joy and gratitude along with our requests for help. We live lives that reflect our gratitude to God. Paul said in our Second Reading: You will be made rich in every way so that you may be generous in every way, which produces thanksgiving to God through us. Generosity to God, chiefly shown in generosity to the people God places around us, is a primary way that we show our gratitude to God. Which means when we take our forgiveness of sins and eternal life seriously, we look for ways to help others to express that thanksgiving.  We rejoice in our forgiveness in every possible way, not just one hour a week, but every moment of our lives.

We know our lives are not always filled with thanksgiving, though. I would guess all of us, if pressed, would acknowledge that at some points during the past week we took God’s forgiveness for granted. Perhaps his Word didn’t cross our minds on a given day. Perhaps it was a real struggle to really get ourselves going this morning to come to church. Thanksgiving is not as natural and automatic as it should be because of our sin. Often we are not the one thankful Samaritan, we are the other nine.

But our reason for thanksgiving means that there’s reason to rejoice even when we note our failure to thank. Because as we look at all the times we didn’t live our lives in thanksgiving, where we didn’t praise God like we should, where we didn’t reflect his love well to those around us, we know that for all of those things we are forgiven as well. Jesus died even for our ingratitude and thanklessness. That is forgiveness that faith trusts; that is forgiveness for which you can then give thanks.

So as you leave here this morning, go be thankful. Be thankful in your prayers, in your praise, in your words, and in your actions. Why? Because you know Jesus has saved you from hell, and as your faith clings to that promise it also thanks the God who gave it. Amen.

"Trust in the One who Forgave You" (Sermon on Luke 17:1-10) | October 2, 2022

Text: Luke 17:1-10
Date: October 2, 2022
Event: Proper 22, Year C — Annual Church Picnic

Luke 17:1–10 (EHV)

Jesus said to his disciples, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! 2It would be better for that person if a millstone would be hung around his neck and he would be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. 3Watch yourselves.

“If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. 4Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

5The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith.”

6The Lord said, “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could tell this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 7Which one of you who has a servant plowing or taking care of sheep will say to him when he comes in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at the table’? 8Won’t the master tell him instead, ‘Prepare my supper, and after you are properly dressed, serve me while I eat and drink. After that you may eat and drink’? 9He does not thank the servant because he did what he was commanded to do, does he? 10So also you, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have only done what we were supposed to do.’”

Trust in the One who Forgave You

Faith is, perhaps, one of the most misunderstood spiritual concepts in our day. Even many Christians may not be able to accurately describe and define what faith is. You might have heard people say, “Well, you just got to have faith! You just have to believe!” When talking about anything from applying for a job, to a scary medical diagnosis, to an emotional hardship, people can point you to believe. But… believe what?

Faith always needs an object. If we’re going to have faith, it means we are trusting something. You have faith in these public picnic tables to hold you up and not break while you’re sitting there. I have faith that this music stand isbn’t going to topple over and break my tablet that’s sitting on it. But we have to be careful that we’re not creating fiction to trust in, right? No matter how earnestly I may believe I can fly by flapping my arms, that does not make me able to fly.

The thought behind the statement “just believe” with the job application, or the medical diagnosis, or the other emotional hardship is often communicating a thought along the lines of: “God is going to do what you want him to do in this area,” be it getting you the job, curing the disease, or smoothing out the rough problems. But has he made those promises, or are we trusting promises he hasn’t made?

Jesus addresses the concept of faith in our lives in our Gospel this morning, and leads us to examine whom or what we are trusting and what expectations we have from that trust. Jesus urges us to trust the one who forgave you, because that is depending on the promises of God.

The last few weeks we’ve been hearing Jesus’ warnings and directions to the Pharisees. When it came to Jesus’ teachings, we might call the Pharisees unbelievers or fringe believers depending on the person. But in our Gospel this morning, we’re told that Jesus spoke to his disciples. This would include the 12, and probably the broader 72 that Jesus had earlier sent out to do some preaching and teaching work, and maybe an even bigger gathering of disciples. The point is that these words were not spoken to a mixed crowd. Jesus is not trying to shake unbelievers out of their spiritual slumber or apathy. He’s speaking to believers, which means even more than before, Jesus is speaking directly to us.

I want us to jump to the middle of our Gospel. After something that felt difficult to believe, the disciples responded to him, “Increase our faith.” They didn’t think they had an adequate faith to trust or do the things that Jesus was saying. And then Jesus responds with a wildly vivid picture:  “If you had faith like a mustard seed, you could tell this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.”

Can you imagine doing that? Can you imagine me turning and speaking to one of these giant eucalyptus trees here in the park and saying, “Be uprooted and planted in the Bay!” and then it does it? It might feel like I had a wildly strong faith, or a uniquely strong connection to God to do such a thing.

But Jesus says that such an amazing outcome doesn’t require huge faith; it requires mustard-seed faith. Mustard seeds are really tiny. You can see a whole bunch them in a person’s palm on the front cover of the bulletin. Those are not impressive in size or scope. So what is Jesus’ point?

Faith’s power is not from the faith but from what it trusts. If you sit in a strong chair that you just barely believe will hold you, that chair will hold you just as well as if you were completely confident in its stability. Mustard-seed-faith or strong-faith doesn’t matter; what matters is what is trusted.

So, if God had made a promise that you could yell at trees to relocate themselves into the heart of a body of water, and you believed that promise even just a little bit, you could order the trees and they would obey. Because in that example, the power is coming from God’s promises—you’re just trusting that the promise is true and reliable. Of course, God hasn’t made that promise—Jesus is using a hypothetical example. So I would not recommend yelling at the trees the rest of the morning here to see if they’ll move.

We might think of Scriptural example of a one-off promise that was trusted—sort of. Think about when Jesus walked on the water and Peter asked Jesus to bring him out with him and Jesus says, “Sure, come on down!” He made a promise in that moment for Peter that he could walk on the water. And what happened? Peter walked on the water—at least until the wind and the waves shook his faith. That’s the argument for faith that is bigger and stronger than a mustard seed. Strong faith is less likely to let go in times of trial and hardship. But strong or weak faith doesn’t have any effect on the promise believed.

That means that faith has to trust a real promise. Faith can’t make the promise a reality. So, if our faith is going to depend on something, it has to depend on what God has actually said to us. And while God has made a lot of promises in many different areas of our lives, the principle one is that of the forgiveness of sins. He promises through the prophet Jeremiah, “I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34) and through the apostle John, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).

The forgiveness of sins is not some wistful hope that we throw into the spiritual ether hoping it will become a reality. The forgiveness of sins is not a hypothetical situation like the tree being uprooted and planted in the sea. The forgiveness of our sins is not a one-off promise made to one specific person at a specific time like Peter walking on the water. The forgiveness of sins and the certainty of eternal life are the clear, consistent, and accomplished promises from God to all people, including you. Your forgiveness is a reality. Your sin is washed away in Jesus’ blood. You can trust that with all of your heart.

With that established, trusting the one who forgave you, we can start to apply Jesus’ teaching a little more clearly. The fact that you have been forgiven changes your outlook and approach to life. Knowing that Jesus died for you means you approach things differently than you otherwise would. Jesus said, “Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for that person if a millstone would be hung around his neck and he would be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin. Watch yourselves.”

Trusting that we are forgiven means that while temptations are unavoidable, sin is not. Trusting that we’ve been forgiven means we can tell temptation to take a hike and leave us alone because we are the children of God. It enables us to resist that temptation, and more than that, to not be the one through whom they come to others. So, because we are forgiven, it means we don’t try to get people in our lives to do what is wrong. We don’t act as a conduit for temptation for friends at school, our spouse, or our coworkers. Instead, we build them up to do what is right. We live our lives making clear that temptation is not something we want, because we want the chance to be able to share what Jesus has done with them.

And because we are forgiven, we know that when we stumble, when we do let temptation get the better of us and we do sin—because we will—we don’t have to fear that that is the end of everything. We can confidently bring that sin to God and say, “Lord, please forgive me.” And we know that, for Jesus’ sake, that sin is gone.

Jesus goes on: “If your brother sins, rebuke him. If he repents, forgive him. Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to you and says, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” Trusting in the one who has forgiven you means that you can turn around and forgive others. It means treating other people’s sin like God treats your sin. Does God say he forgives you and then later throw it in your face? No, when God forgives, it is gone. Does God say you have to do something to earn his forgiveness? No, Jesus did it all in our place. So when someone wrongs us—even if it happens multiple times in a day—because of our trust in Jesus we can truly forgive that person each and every time.

Lastly, Jesus uses the picture of a servant taking care of his master. The servant receives no special accolades for doing what he was supposed to (though one would hope in that human relationship, gratitude and appreciation is expressed). But when it comes to our relationship with God, we don’t bring all the things we did because we trusted in him and look for special treatment. We don’t say, “Hey, I didn’t succumb to that one temptation—can I get something special?” We don’t say, “Hey, I didn’t bring temptation to someone else—can I get something special?” We don’t say, “Hey, I forgave that person who sinned against me multiple times—can I get something special?” No, when we do those things, we simply say, “We are unworthy servants. We have only done what we were supposed to do.”

As we approach the tasks that God has for us to do, we always remember where we came from. We were sinners, lost to hell for that sin. But God saved us. Jesus’ life and death forgives us. We are restored and whole again with God. That means we’re not looking for special treatment when we do what God asks us to do because he’s already given us that special treatment. We do these things because we trust in the one who forgave us, thus we are doing so out of thanksgiving to that one who forgave us.

Trusting God means depending on certain promises. Trusting God means you will not be disappointed or let down. Trusting God means leaning on him exclusively for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Trusting in God means knowing that we have all that we need for life and eternity, and that we can live our lives thanking him for what he’s done.

Trusting in the one who forgave you doesn’t mean you can command trees to be planted in the depths of the sea. But trusting in the one who forgave you does mean you can soothe your soul with the fact that God has rescued you from the depths of punishment. May God bless your lives lived in joy and thanksgiving to the one you trust, to the one who forgave you! Amen.

"Can You Judge Eternity by its Earthly Cover?" (Sermon on Luke 16:19-31) | September 25, 2022

Text: Luke 16:19–31
Date: September 25, 2022
Event: Proper 21, Year C

Luke 16:19–31 (EHV)   

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. 20A beggar named Lazarus had been laid at his gate. Lazarus was covered with sores and 21longed to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Besides this, the dogs also came and licked his sores. 22Eventually the beggar died, and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23In hell, where he was in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus at his side. 24He called out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me! Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in misery in this flame.’

25“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus received bad things. But now he is comforted here, and you are in misery. 26Besides all this, a great chasm has been set in place between us and you, so that those who want to cross from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

27“He said, ‘Then I beg you, father, send him to my father’s home, 28because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’

29“Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.’

30“‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’

31“Abraham replied to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Can You Judge Eternity by its Earthly Cover?

You’ve heard the trite, cliche line: “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” But, there’s a lot of truth to that. I have a lovely copy of the Lord of the Rings books at home that have these wonderfully-feeling pseudo-leather covers. They look amazing. Despite being only a couple of years old, they smell amazing. I bought them like literally two weeks before the lockdown started in early 2020, and when we were stuck at home I thought this would be a great time to finally read these books. But as I sat down to do it, I discovered that the type in the books is so small that it’s almost unreadable. They are wildly uncomfortable to read. The good first impression did not speak to the whole.

And certainly this doesn’t just happen with books. Movies, video games, breakfast cereals, fast food commercials, real estate listings, and anything else trying to sell you on something or convince you on something’s quality is going to, at the bear minimum, put its best foot forward if not even outright lying about the quality that lies within. And yet, it works right? You go to that open house because the apartment or home looks great in the pictures and then you get there and it’s small and cramped and uncomfortable. You get that sandwich that looked so nice on the menu to find a squashed, kind of gross reality on the tray they hand to you. But still we want to believe that what we see will be what we get.

That becomes especially dangerous when we consider this life as the “front cover” for eternity. Is what we experience here a reflection of what is coming? How much about what we go through in this life shows us what God thinks about us? Should our experiences in this life make us hopeful or worried about what is to come?

In our Gospel, Jesus shares a story that’s probably a parable (although, it’s not called out as such) about an unnamed rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus. The experiences for both of these men in life could not have been more different. There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen, living in luxury every day. A beggar named Lazarus had been laid at his gate. Lazarus was covered with sores and longed to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Besides this, the dogs also came and licked his sores. The rich man and Lazarus are living in two totally different worlds: wealth vs. poverty, comfort vs. pain, an abundance vs. not enough.

To look at this book on the outside, one might say that God loves the rich man and hates or at least is indifferent toward Lazarus. After all, look at all the good things the rich man has and look at all the good Lazarus lacks. Modern-day prosperity gospel preachers like Joel Osteen and his ilk preach a message similar to this. They will encourage people to measure their faith by the observable blessings that they have, and advise that if someone lacks wealth or health or anything else, they don’t believe strongly enough or haven’t pursued it with God often enough.

Does Jesus’ story give even one shred of credit to that notion? Lazarus dies and is taken to heaven and the rich man dies and is in hell. It’s a total role-reversal. If you were judging what God thought about either of these men by the cover of their earthly life, you would guess that God loved the rich man and despised Lazarus. But the reality in eternal life is much, much different. Looking at someone’s earthly life and earthly wealth tells you nothing about the relationship they have with the Almighty.

Last week we spent a good amount of time talking through the dangers of pursuing more and more earthly wealth. It leads to discontent; it could lead to a falling away from faith. And in Jesus’ story we see another strong reason for not pursuing earthly wealth and putting stock in this life: it just doesn’t matter. Being rich in this life doesn’t translate to blessings in eternity, and being poor in this life doesn’t translate to enduring grief in eternity.

I need to stress that again: it doesn’t matter. Earthly wealth doesn’t play into this at all, one way or another. Lest we misunderstand Jesus’ point: the rich man did not go to hell because he was rich in his earthly life and Lazarus did not go to heaven because he suffered in his earthly life. In Jesus’ story, Abraham makes clear the distinction as he speaks with the rich man about his brothers: They have Moses and the Prophets. Let them listen to them.

In this story, the rich man ends up in hell because he does not believe the promises of God. Lazarus ends up in heaven because he does believe the promises of God. Note that God’s promises say very little about earthly life here, save for daily bread. Lazarus seemed to have just barely had daily bread where the rich man had an abundance.

But God’s promises primarily focus on the spiritual and the eternal. Is a person’s earthly life an indication of what is coming? Perhaps, but not necessarily. And if it does coordinate, one did not cause the other. The riches and pains of this life are completely inconsequential when it comes to eternity.

So when you look at your life, maybe you feel nervous about your ability to make ends meet and then worried that this situation means that God doesn’t care very much about you. Or maybe you look at your health struggles and it feels like God has forgotten you. It may feel that way, but the reality is the contrary! God loves you and has forgiven your sins in Jesus. Or when you look at your life and see that you have much more than you need or perhaps more than you could ever use, don’t let that twist your thinking to assume that this means you automatically have things set for now and for eternity.

Regardless of our socio-economic position, our health status, or our reputation among others, we have the same needs that Lazarus, the rich man, and his brothers all had in Jesus’ day: Moses and the Prophets. That’s shorthand for the inspired Scriptures at that time, so we might have sub in just “the Bible.” Rich or poor, healthy or sick, strong or frail, we need God’s message. We need God to come to us and confront our greed or our anger or our lust or our gossiping heart or whatever sins might have a snare around, and show us how incompatible those things are with God’s expectations. We need the message of God’s law to convict us of our sin and show us how we haven’t been the perfect people that God demands we be.

But then we also need the Bible’s message of gospel—the good news that Jesus lived and died to free us from those sins. This is where we actually find out what God thinks of us. You can’t deduce that from a bank account balance, the report from the doctor, or personal awards and accolades. Those things are just the cover of the book, which can be misleading. You can only deduce what God thinks of you by looking at Jesus. And what do you see when you look at him? You see the Son of God living a perfect life in place of your sinful life. You see the Creator of the universe dying to pay the debt his creation owed. You are so precious to God that he was willing to die to save you. That’s what God thinks about you, regardless of what you have or don’t have right here and right now.

We’ve spoken a lot about contentment over the last few weeks, but in Jesus’ story Abraham reminds us that if there’s one thing we should never be content with, it’s how much we know God’s Word, how well we’re connected to his love, and how powerful an impact that message of his love and forgiveness has on our lives of service to others. And those things are all things that God does for us, through his Word and sacraments.

You know how God loves you dearly, not because of what he’s given you now, but what he’s assured you is your inheritance forever. Spend your time focused on what is truly important and truly imparts understanding for what God has prepared for you. Your Savior gives you what you need now, and will give you an abundance in eternity because he loves you. May that fact, more than any earthly metric, be your encouragement as you look ahead to what is to come.

Thanks be to our Savior, who forgives our every sin in his love for us! Amen.

"How to Get Rich" (Sermon on 1 Timothy 6:6-10, 17-19) | September 18, 2022

Text: 1 Timothy 6:6–10, 17–19
Date: September 18, 2022
Event: Proper 20, Year C

1 Timothy 6:6–10, 17–19 (EHV)

But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly cannot take anything out. 8But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be satisfied.

9Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into complete destruction and utter ruin. 10For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evils. By striving for money, some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.

17Instruct those who are rich in this present age not to be arrogant or to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but rather in God, who richly supplies us with all things for our enjoyment. 18Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share. 19In this way they are storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

How to Get Rich

Not too many weeks ago, the Mega Millions lottery prize was over a billion dollars. A billion. I can’t even process that number. I once heard a way to try to distinguish the difference between a million and a billion. A million seconds is 12 days; a billion seconds is 31 years. It’s an astronomical number for anything, including dollars. Of course, if you win that, a huge percentage goes to the government in taxes. But even still, winning hundreds of millions of dollars? What would you even do with all of that money?

Several years ago, another lottery total was up around that much and I remember doing a lot of daydreaming about the good we could do if our family won that amount of money. What could be done for our family? For those suffering with homelessness and poverty? What could be done for our congregation and synod and the spread of the gospel at large? In fact, I can remember standing in line at a convenience store thinking, “I should just buy one ticket,” but they only sold them as a cash purchase and I didn’t have any cash, so I didn’t buy a ticket. But the result was the same as if I had bought a ticket—we didn’t win.

But you’ve likely heard the horror stories of people who win the lottery thinking it will make their lives better and it just ruins them. All of their relationships become strained. All the good they wanted to do seems impossible, and oftentimes, even those who win ridiculous sums of money, are bankrupt within a few years.

Having a ton of money isn’t all its cracked up to be. In fact, it can often be a burden rather than a blessing. Money in general is a tool, but it’s not an end. It’s a means to an end. So what is the Christian’s relationship with earthly wealth? And how do you manage that against the world’s view of earthly wealth? How do you get rich while taking God’s perspective on the matter?

Sometimes there’s a view that the church should’t talk about money. And if all we were going to talk about is how you should give more money to the church and end there, then that sentiment is probably right. But God’s Word is overflowing with verses guiding, advising, and warning about earthly wealth. So if this is important for God to say it’s probably important for us to hear and consider.

In our Second Reading, Paul is writing to Pastor Timothy with advice and guidance for him as he approaches his work shepherding God’s flock in the city of Ephesus. One of the topics he spills considerable ink on in this relatively short letter is money. The very first thing in our reading that Paul hits on is that of contentment. Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly cannot take anything out. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be satisfied.

That is not the way the world looks at wealth. The world’s advice is always get more, buy up more, hoard more, have more. And this is why greed is not a problem for rich people nor is it a problem for poor people, it’s a problem for people. Because whether I have a lot of money or a little bit of money, if I’m pressing on toward wanting more and focused on accumulating more, that’s going to lead me into trouble no matter what I’m starting with: Those who want to get rich (or we might insert the “richer”) fall into temptation and a trap and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge them into complete destruction and utter ruin. A lack of contentment leads to wanting more wealth, and wanting more wealth leads to complete destruction and utter ruin. In other words, continually seeking after more wealth leads to earthly and eternal loss.

How do you get rich? The first step is by realizing that earthly riches are not something to be pursued, but something to be received. When it comes to earthly wealth here, no matter how much we’ve been given, the goal is always management, it’s faithfulness, to what has been entrusted to us. So if you are barely scraping by and just barely making ends meet to feed, clothe, and house your family, that is being faithful with what God has given. If God has given you an abundance to manage, you have the responsibility to use that abundance in a way that pleases God. And no matter where you find yourself on the poor/wealthy spectrum, contentment with what has been given is paramount.

But we know that we’ve not always been faithful, we’ve not always been content. We’ve dreamed about and lusted after more wealth for ourselves, be it adding to a considerable amount we already have or pulling us out of what feels like a low pit of no resources. There have been times, even if not constantly, where money and material things have become an idol for us, a god that we worship because we prioritized it above all other things. And that’s why Paul reminded Timothy that such attitudes lead to complete destruction and utter ruin, because they lead to focusing on worldly things instead of eternal things. In our Gospel, Jesus said that you cannot be a servant to both God and money at the same time (Luke 16:13), and Paul underscores that truth: By striving for money, some have wandered away from the faith and have pierced themselves with many pains.

But Jesus came to save us. When writing to the Corinthians, Paul put it this way: You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that although he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that through his poverty you might become rich (2 Corinthians 8:9). Jesus not only didn’t reach for things that hadn’t been given to him, in order to save us he actually gave up what was rightfully his. There was no reason for Jesus to take on our human nature, but to save us. There was no reason for him to give up on the glory he rightfully has as God the Son, but to save us. There was no reason for him to allow himself to be nailed to a cross and suffer the punishment of hell, but to save us. And saving us was of the utmost importance to him, so that’s what he did. He gave us the power and glory and riches he has as God in order to be our Savior.

Because he gave up those things for us, we are forgiven for the times we have let the desire for and worry about material things drive our lives. We have been forgiven for our discontent.  We have been forgiven for prioritizing earthly treasure over true, eternal wealth. Jesus paid the debt we owed in our sin and he freely gives us the most precious gift of eternal life.

So what now? How do we get rich? First and foremost, recognize that you already are. You have the treasure that no amount of money could ever buy. You have the love of God freely given to you in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. You have faith given to you by the Holy Spirit through his Word and sacraments which enables you to trust that these things are true and certain.

With that certainty of our eternal wealth established, Paul gives us the secret to getting even richer in this life: Instruct those who are rich in this present age not to be arrogant or to put their hope in the uncertainty of riches, but rather in God, who richly supplies us with all things for our enjoyment. Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and willing to share. In this way they are storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Want to be rich? Don’t focus on money or possessions or anything else the world might consider wealth. Rather, focus on being rich in good works. What does that look like? It means living your life in thanksgiving to God—every conversation, every interaction, tackling every moment of every day with the goal of bringing glory to God through it. It means being generous with what you’ve been given in treasures or talents or time, and in whatever degree God has allowed you to have those things.

God has given you the ability to be generous. Now, maybe you can’t write a check and pay off someone’s mortgage or singlehandedly support a new mission congregation somewhere in the country. But perhaps you can do some smaller-feeling things—helping someone who needs some water or a meal, spending time with someone who needs an ear to listen to them and support them, spending some time teaching someone a skill or some facts they need in their lives. There are many, many ways to be generous, and few of them require a giant vault of gold to do so.

So let those earthly resources that God gives be used in his service and in the service of one another. Don’t let earthly things become an all-consuming force. Put them in their place and use them for what God has intended: take care of your personal and family responsibilities, see to it that the message of the gospel goes out from this place and elsewhere, and take the opportunities to be generous to others so that you reflect God’s eternal generosity to all people.

How do you get rich? You let God give you true riches that endure now and forever. Thanks be to God! Amen.

"What Does God Think About You?" (Sermon on Luke 15:1-10) | September 11, 2022

Text: Luke 15:1-10
Date: September 11, 2022
Event: Proper 19, Year C

Luke 15:1-10 (EHV)

All the tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3He told them this parable: 4“Which one of you, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost until he finds it? 5And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6and goes home. Then he calls together his friends and his neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 7I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who do not need to repent.

8“Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, would not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9And when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors and says, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the lost coin.’ 10In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

What Does God Think About You?

Do you ever wonder what someone thinks about you? Maybe you’re wondering if you got off on the wrong foot with that new coworker, or wondering if your first impression with that friend-of-a-friend went really poorly, or perhaps a formerly strong relationship has begun to drift. In any case, you can be left wondering what someone really thinks about you and that can make future conversations and interactions difficult, uncomfortable, or even feel impossible.

That’s bad enough when it comes to our human relationships. It gets multiplied when we consider our spiritual relationship, that is, our relationship with God. Knowing how God thinks about you, knowing what he feels for you, will be vitally important for your peace of mind and heart as you look forward to eternity. So, what does God think about you?

In our Gospel, Jesus took the opportunity to respond to some Pharisees’ criticism. They were appalled that Jesus would spend time with quote-unquote “sinners,” that is, people who were publicly known to have done or be doing things that the Pharisees felt were wrong.

What sorts of people were they referring to? Two of the most commonly referenced people in the Gospels that raised the Pharisees ire were the tax collectors and prostitutes. We know that Jesus welcome such people, spoke to them, and spent time with them. Were the Pharisees wrong to disapprove of these people from a moral standpoint?

Let’s start with the tax collectors this would not be the equivalent of an IRS agent. Tax collectors in Jesus’ day would almost be more akin to a member of the mob shaking down a business for personal gain. Tax collectors were local people commissioned by the Roman government to gather taxes. Now, they had a minimum that they were supposed to gather from people, but Rome turned a blind eye if they took more than they were supposed to. So many tax collectors became fabulously wealthy by collecting many times the required amount from the people and then pocketing the difference. They were morally corrupt by stealing from others what was not owed to them. And the rest of their countrymen found them to socially corrupt, because they were partnering with the foreign power to profit themselves at the expense of their own people. On many levels, this is not conduct that should be condoned.

What about the prostitutes? We don’t need as much background here as prostitution has been relatively unchanged in the history of the world. A prostitute seeks money by distorting God’s design for sex and turning it into a transaction. They are professional adulterers and fornicators. You do not need to look far to see the sin in people that take up this profession.

So no one, Jesus included, would defend the sin of these so-called “sinners.” Jesus would continue to try to help the Pharisees see beyond surface level obedience, though. The Pharisees were good at identifying professional sin. The tax collectors and prostitutes chose occupations steeped in sin or one where sin was very easy to walk into. The Pharisees recoiled at that, and to a certain degree, rightly so. However, what the Pharisees often failed to see was the personal sin, that not just in publicly seen action, but that in the heart of every person is a sinful nature. Sinful thoughts pervade even the most sanctified of people. Sinful desires and temptations claw at every single person. While not every person may feel temptation to the same sins, temptation in general is universal in fallen mankind.

But that’s not really the point of Jesus’ brief parables here with the Pharisees. The point Jesus is trying to make is not whether or not anyone is a sinner. Jesus has been clear over and over again that EVERYONE is a sinner, even the Pharisees who didn’t think they were. But Jesus’ point is that that’s not something someone needs to deny or run from because of what God thinks about them.

These parables are so powerful. What does the shepherd think of that one, straying sheep? He thinks so highly of that singular sheep that he leaves behind the rest of the flock and traverses the rocks and the hills to search it out. How valuable was that one coin to that woman? She spent the night sweeping out her home by lamplight and wouldn’t rest until she found it.

What is Jesus point? What does God think about you? He loves you with a love so complete and strong that you and I can’t even understand it. He seeks you out where you are with his loving forgiveness and brings you back to himself. We know that quest wasn’t just a trip through the rugged countryside or a night spent cleaning the house. The quest to find lost you and lost me cost Jesus his life. He died to forgive our sins. He died to bring us back to himself. He loves you so much that he willingly, gladly gave up his life to save you.

Perhaps you feel like the sheep all alone or the coin that tumbled into the dusty corner of a forgotten room. Perhaps you feel like you are in those places because of your own fault. Maybe it’s something you said to a loved one or failed to accomplish that you should have, or even sinful thoughts that drifted through your head. Perhaps you feel like you’ve wandered away from God and that that’s that.

It makes sense to feel that way—Satan uses guilt to twist us into a spiritual and emotional pretzel—but it does not reflect reality. It does not reflect God’s promises to you. It does not reflect what God truly thinks about you. God isn’t giving up on you. God is not abandoning you. God is not done with you. Rather, God is seeking you out. And he calls us to repentance. And when we repent from our sin, when we turn away from those things that are pulling us away from him, there is a giant party thrown by the angels in heaven.

And this is the thing the Pharisees missed: God doesn’t just love people who look like they live a good life on the outside. God loves all people regardless of who they are or what they’ve done. But notice how Jesus does emphasizes repentance. When Jesus spent time with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other so-called “sinners,”  he didn’t tell them to keep doing what they were doing. He loved them, which meant forgiving them and also not letting them think it was good or wise for sin to run rampant in their lives. It benefitted no one to avoid these people as the Pharisees wanted to do, rather they needed someone to interact with them and to call them to repentance. Zacchaeus the tax collector famously said he would pay back what he stole when he learned of Jesus’ love. Matthew the tax collector became one of Jesus 12 disciples. Jesus told the woman who was caught in adultery that he didn’t condemn her, but that she should leave her life of sin.

So Jesus’ approach to seeking the lost is not letting them stay lost. This is not a case of (as some distort it), “God loves me no matter what so it doesn’t matter what I do.” This is a case of God loving you and because he loves you, he calls you away from that sin.

Sin is a constant threat to our faith because sin leads us away from God. If we are determined enough, we can be a lost sheep that is carried away by sin and sprints away from our Savior every time he’s searching for us and calling to us. That will end in hell. But part of the comfort of God’s love for us is that he’s looking out for what’s best for us. Like a family member begging the person addicted to drugs to get help to get off of them, God calls us to get off of sin, because it only leads to self-destruction. And he provides the way out—Jesus.

So unlike the way the world defines love, God’s love is not letting us do whatever we want. The lost sheep doesn’t keep playing in the dangerous terrain, away from the flock; the shepherd takes the sheep away from the dangerous place and brings it back home. God brings us away from sin and back to himself. His forgiveness means we need not feel guilt over our past faults but also that we actively seek to thank him by living a life free from sin, living according to his will.

And this is the Christian’s constant struggle. Because no matter how much we study God’s Word, no matter how much we know what he wants or has done for us, no matter how much we know and believe that his thoughts for us are filled with love, we will still sin. Sin will be our constant companion until the day we die.

But so will Jesus. Our loving shepherd will continue to seek us out. He seeks us out in his Word as we read or hear it. He seeks us out in the loving concern of a fellow Christian who calls to us to examine what we’re doing or saying. He seeks us out no matter where we are, and in his loving forgiveness brings us back to himself.

What does God think about you? He loves you, and that will never change. God, keep us close to you, forgive our faults, and bring us to your eternal home in heaven. Amen.

"What Does it Cost to be Jesus' Disciple?" (Sermon on Luke 14:25-35) | September 4, 2022

Text: Luke 14:25-35
Date: September 4, 2022
Event: Proper 18, Year C

Luke 14:25-35 (EHV)

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. He turned and said to them, 26“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. 27Whoever does not carry his own cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28For which of you, if he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, everyone who sees it will begin to ridicule him, 30saying, ‘This fellow began to build, but was not able to finish.’ 31Or what king, as he goes out to confront another king in war, will not first sit down and consider if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32And if he is not able, he sends out a delegation and asks for terms of peace while his opponent is still far away. 33So then, any one of you who does not say farewell to all his own possessions cannot be my disciple. 34Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? 35It is not fit for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. The one who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

What Does it Cost to be Jesus’ Disciple?

When you’re getting ready to go away from home for a few hours or a few days, what are some things you have to think through? A lot of it focuses on what you’ll be doing, right? You’ll prepare differently for an afternoon spent in Golden Gate Park than a three day business conference in Dallas. You have to think through where you’ll be and what you’ll be doing to ensure that you’re prepared properly for it. You probably have to factor in time, weather, and what you have available to you.

Planning is important, and can be a lot of work. If you don’t have a natural inclination toward being a planner, doing a good job preparing for something can be a ton of mental and even emotional work. But being well-prepared, especially when you won’t have the time or ability to make adjustments where you’ll be is often the difference between a good experience and a miserable experience.

In our Gospel for this morning, Jesus is urging those following him to plan and consider the cost of what it  means to be his disciple. We do well to listen as well, because nothing has changed between then and now. Being Jesus’ disciple, being a Christian, has a cost associated with it in this life. If we are not well prepared for it, the hardships of this life may lead us away from the forgiveness and eternal life that Jesus has won for us and freely gives to us.

Our reading continues down the path of the middle of Luke’s Gospel that we’ve been walking for the last several weeks. Two weeks ago we heard Jesus directing us to strive for the narrow door, and last week we heard him remind us to approach this life with humility. This week, he urges us to consider what it costs to be focused on that door and being humble in this life. What does it mean for here and now as well as for eternity to be Jesus’ disciple?

Jesus’ first statement is kind of alarming: If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Is Jesus saying I must hate my family to be a Christian? Is self-loathing a requirement for heaven? That’s not what he’s saying, but he is saying something not too far from it. We actually heard Jesus make a related point three weeks ago when he said: Do you think that I came to bring peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. Yes, from now on there will be five divided in one household: three against two, and two against three. They will be divided: 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 12:51-53).

The heart of what Jesus is asking people to consider is what is most important to you. If there was a conflict between doing what your spouse wanted and following Jesus’ direction, who should win? If there was a conflict between being personal desires and what Jesus says, what should win? While hatred is a strong term, Jesus is clear that he must take priority over all things, even our most personal feelings and our closest relationships.

Living according to God’s will is always going to be at odds with the things of this world, and thus will put us at odds with anyone thinking about things from a worldly point of view—including ourselves. Being a Christian will be difficult; Jesus calls it carrying your cross to make clear that this isn’t always going to be pleasant. That’s not to say that every moment of a Christian’s life will be pure misery, far from it. But when those troubling things happen, when those crosses are placed on our shoulders, when we bear these burdens in the short term or the long term, it should not come as a surprise.

Jesus uses that truth to teach a powerful reminder: you need to take this into account when you figure in whether being a Christian is worth it. There is a real cost associated with this life, and we do well to consider that rather than just blindly following what seems best or what our parents or friends are doing. Jesus uses the example of a man starting a building project. He has to consider if he has enough resources to complete the project. He has to know what it costs before he starts to make sure he doesn’t just peter out. Likewise, the king going into battle, needs to weigh the cost and determine if he can win even if he’s outgunned, and if not to try to make peace before the fighting begins.

What’s the alternative to either of those situations? The man who starts the building project and runs out of resources will be left with a construction site and the shame of not being able to finish what he started. Everyone who sees it will begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build, but was not able to finish.’ Likewise, the king who doesn’t carefully consider the situation in front of him may have his authority ripped away from him while losing many lives, perhaps even his own. Starting something and not being able to finish it because you didn’t anticipate what was coming leads to disaster.

The same is true for the Christian life. If someone becomes a Christian but then doesn’t know that it’ll be tough, may have that difficulty choke his desire for Jesus out of him. And if the crosses we must bear as Christians leave us abandoning the Christian faith, what we will face after this life will be the same disaster (or even worse) than it would have been if we had never believed in the first place. If we give up on our faith in Jesus as our Savior, it doesn’t matter that we at one time believed. Abandoning our faith midstream leads to hell the same way that a lifetime of unbelief does.

That’s the point Jesus is making with the salt. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? It is not fit for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. Salt was far more important to people in Jesus’ day than it is in ours. It wasn’t just about flavor; it was a preserving agent in the eras before refrigeration. If salt lost the qualities it needed to be considered salt, it was worthless. It wouldn’t preserve anything, it wouldn’t flavor anything. Unlike spoiled vegetables that may be mixed into the ground to fertilize it or into the manure to aid in the breakdown of that compost, salt that isn’t salty is utterly worthless. It’s just thrown away.

As a Christian, Jesus says you are the salt of the earth. But abandoning your faith for any reason, including the difficulty associated with being a Christian in this world, leads you to be discarded like unsalty salt.

We do well to consider what it costs to be a Christian. Jesus is not the easy way through this life. Jesus is not the path of least resistance. In many ways, because Jesus sets you against the attitudes of the world around you, being Jesus’ disciple is the path of most resistance. It is more difficult to be a Christian in this life and live a life of thankfulness to God than it is to not be a Christian at all.

All of this ties into what Jesus has been saying for weeks in our Gospels. It’s difficult to strive for the narrow door. It’s difficult to be last in this life and look forward to being first in eternity. It’s difficult to live in humility.

Who is up to this task? No one. Not you, not me, not even the most pious, faithful believer that you’ve ever known. Without God’s grace we would abandon this calling, we would abandon this life, we would leave the construction site half finished and walk away to our eternal demise. But with God’s grace? By his grace we see the value in building that tower, so with his aid we strive to complete no matter the cost. By his grace we see the strategy to the battle of this life and with his aid strive to execute on it. By his grace we see the importance of being his salt in the world and with his aid continue to preserve this world by living and sharing his love.

By God’s grace we see the value of Jesus. The cost his high, absolutely. Unbearably high if we were on our own. But we are not on our own. We see that Jesus is the solution to our sin. Every time we’ve felt the pull to just walk away from him, we know that he has forgiven us. Every time that we’ve begun to think that this life isn’t worth it, he’s there to point us to the reality: his life and death paid for every sin which means we will be eternally safe.

We asked the question earlier if it was worth it to follow Jesus, to endure these hardships. The answer is absolutely “yes.” Because he provides infinite, eternal good and peace, not the temporary reprieve of this life. To couch it in financial terms, would you rather have a thousand dollars or an infinite supply of money and resources? That’s the difference between peace here and peace for eternity.

Being a Christian may mean divisions here, crosses that are difficult to bear, and temptations to walk away. But Jesus’ forgiving love guards us and guides us in that. What you are looking for is not a temporary joy that will eventually evaporate; you’re looking forward to the eternal joy that your Savior has prepared for you. Acknowledge that the cost is high, but see that it is absolutely worth it.

And support one another. As Christians, we are not left to bear these crosses alone. Offer to help your brothers and sisters in their hardships; share your need or desire for help in bearing the crosses that Jesus allows to come into your life. Together, we count the cost; together, we bear the crosses; together, we look forward to the perfect eternal life with out Savior who lived and died to forgive our every sin and failing. Dear Christian, press on no matter what the cost, because you press on with your Savior now and forever. Amen.

"You Are Exalted from Humility" (Sermon on Luke 14:1, 7-14) | August 28, 2022

Text: Luke 14:1, 7–14
Date: August 28, 2022
Event: Proper 17, Year C

Luke 14:1, 7–14 (EHV)

One Sabbath day, when Jesus went into the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat bread, they were watching him closely.

7When he noticed how they were selecting the places of honor, he told the invited guests a parable. 8“When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline in the place of honor, or perhaps someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him. 9The one who invited both of you may come and tell you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then you will begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.

10“But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest place, so that when the one who invited you comes, he will tell you, ‘Friend, move up to a higher place.’ Then you will have honor in the presence of all who are reclining at the table with you.

11“Yes, everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

12He also said to the one who had invited him, “When you make a dinner or a supper, do not invite your friends, or your brothers, or your relatives, or rich neighbors, so that perhaps they may also return the favor and pay you back.

13“But when you make a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. Certainly, you will be repaid in the resurrection of the righteous.”

You Are Exalted from Humility

Do you ever read advice columns? Be it in newspapers, magazines, or probably more likely now, online, the whole point of an advice column is that people have a situation in their life that they’re not sure how to handle and they seek out advice on what the solution may be. Perhaps it’s a social question, a work question, a family question, or even a question about the direction of their life. The one writing the response will do their best to give an answer with the limited information they’ve been given in the original note.

That’s seeking out advice, but have you ever received unsolicited advice? Maybe someone offered you some tips on your appearance or your health that you were not looking for. Maybe someone told you how to do you job differently than you were currently doing it, but the way you were doing it was working fine. Maybe your parenting or your relationship with your spouse was critiqued among a group of friends or by your in-laws, producing a really awkward situation that you did not ask for. And again, it would be advice given with very, very limited information.

In our Gospel this morning we hear and see Jesus offering some social and spiritual advice to the people at the meal he was attending, but it was not advice that anyone asked for. They were going about their business and enjoying themselves when Jesus launched into a brief sermon on humility and exaltation, a sermon that perhaps no one wanted to hear. Unlike the advice column or the unsolicited advice we might receive, though, Jesus is not speaking from a perspective of limited information. As God, he had all the information one could possibly need. And he uses that to direct his fellow guests not merely to better social graces, but to applying these principles to their spiritual lives as well.

There’s a bit of overlap in our Gospel for this morning and our Gospel from last week, where we heard Jesus talk about striving for the narrow door and the reminder that last will be first and first, last. But today’s focus is a bit different. Rather than focusing on the path one takes in this life, Jesus is zeroing on what people think about themselves. As he sat watching the guests at this dinner, he could see several people who thought very highly of themselves. They felt they deserved to be honored, and so took places at the table they felt that they deserved.

Jesus’ direction to his fellow guests, on the surface, is some social graces: “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not recline in the place of honor, or perhaps someone more distinguished than you may have been invited by him. The one who invited both of you may come and tell you, ‘Give this man your place.’ Then you will begin, with shame, to take the lowest place.” Jesus advises against taking places of honor without invitation because then you’re inviting shame. If the host of the dinner had a different plan for those places of honor, then you’ll be told to move, and with shame and embarrassment have to take a place that someone feels is right for you.

So, instead, Jesus says, take the lowest position. If you take the lower, more humble place, you may very well be “upgraded” to a higher position, to a position of prominence. And when that happens, you will have honor in the presence of all who are reclining at the table with you. And even if you aren’t moved to a higher position, at least you avoided the public shame of being told to move down to a more lowly place.

But Jesus is not merely focusing on social graces here. What he really wants to address is the attitude of the heart that would lead someone to assume that the place of prominence is for them. That same attitude might also lead them to do something like inviting people to a dinner party with the hope of getting repaid in-kind. Why should they get repaid? Because they deserve it! After all, what they did for the other people means they should be shown the same blessing.

Lurking under the surface here is the idea that getting ahead in this life is the most important thing. Success in business, in family, in hobby, in general recognition or notoriety. Not that pursuing excellence in any of those things is wrong in and of itself, but pursing it exclusively or more than eternal things leads us astray. To use Jesus’ imagery from last week’s Gospel, pursuing these things above all else will make us stop striving to enter through that narrow door.

And this attitude, to one degree or another, is present in all of us. Because it boils down to selfishness, which itself is the essence of sin. Sin is, at its core, believing that what I want is more important than what anyone else needs or wants—including God. I’m more important than anyone and everyone else. Ah, this place of prominence is for me because who else could it possibly be for?

You see the problem right away. And this may take different forms in our lives. Maybe it’s pride (I deserve the recognition), maybe it’s greed (I deserve these treasures), but really it can be anything that exalts us above other people.

That’s the attitude and issue that Jesus came to solve. Jesus, of all people, had the rights to the highest position. He is the Son of God after all. And yet, what place did he take? The scratchy straw in the manger doesn’t seem like a very exalted position. Living in the home of a humble carpenter’s family doesn’t seem to be very eye-catching. Traveling around Galilee, Samaria, and Judea teaching, but never having a home to call his own doesn’t scream, “Success!” And certainly, allowing himself to be condemned and executed without even raising a finger to stop it doesn’t really speak to his power or authority.

Why was Jesus so humble? Because he was taking your place and my place under God’s law. He didn’t come to this world to be the extreme, dominant force in the world, to garner the praise and adoration of the nations. No, he came to give his life as the only possible payment to remove our sin. We said last week that Jesus made himself last to put us first. And today we can see that Jesus humbled himself that we might be exalted. Jesus’ humble work on our behalf lifts us from the shame of our sin. Jesus puts us in the place of honor that we did not deserve and that we had no ability to claim for ourselves. And no one will tell us to go back. We will never face what we deserved because of our sin. We will not be sent to hell in shame for what we’ve done because the forgiving-exaltation Jesus gives is forever.

What is our response to the exaltation that Jesus gives? Do we walk around with chest out, proud of what we have, as if we deserve it or earned it? Walking that path will lead us to put our hope in ourselves, which is the exact problem Jesus came to solve. Putting hope in ourselves in for eternal safety leads to a infinitely more dire outcome than being embarrassed at a dinner party. Putting our eternal hope in ourselves and in our work will lead to hell.

So, no, our response to Jesus work is not pride; it’s gratitude. We rejoice in what Jesus has done for us. We live our lives in way that should reflect that joy, doing what God wants us to do, not to earn something from him, but to thank him for what he’s already given to us.

This leads us to another question: how do we view others who don’t know Jesus? Do we get angry at those who don’t share our hope and thus our moral values? No! As we approach our whole life with thankful humility, that humility reigns in our interactions with the people around us.

There’s an axiom that humility is not thinking less of yourself, it’s thinking of yourself less. To be humble does not mean hating yourself. Humility is prioritizing others ahead of yourself. Paul, when writing to the Christians in Philippi, compared the attitude of Christians with Jesus. He told them, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility consider one another better than yourselves. Let each of you look carefully not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Indeed, let this attitude be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:3-5).

When we consider our relationship to other people, we want to think, “How can I be a little bit like Jesus in this person’s life? How can I love humbly and selflessly?” Your humble treatment of a coworker may be what eventually opens a door to share Jesus’ humble service for them to forgive their sins. Your humble treatment of a fellow Christian may be the reinforcement and reminder of Jesus’ humble love that they desperately need in the moment.

Your sin meant that you deserved nothing good, and everything bad. But Jesus humbled himself to exalt you. You’ve been lifted from the pit of hell and placed in the seat of a child of God in the kingdom of heaven. Rejoice in that humility that saved you. Reflect that humility around you. My dear brothers and sisters, because you are exalted, rejoice with humility at all times. Amen.

"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.