First Lutheran Church (El Cajon): Recent Episodes
First Lutheran Church
Do you ever feel like your daily work and struggles are meaningless? Like you're just grinding through the same problems over and over again? In this powerful sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:50-58, we explore Paul's promise that our "labor in the Lord is not in vain."
šŗ What You'll Learn:
The mystery of what happens when Christ returns
Why death is still our enemy (and how it will be defeated)
How the resurrection gives meaning to our daily struggles
What it means to be "changed in the twinkling of an eye"
Why Christians can say "Death, where is your victory?"
This is the final sermon in our series on 1 Corinthians 15, Paul's great resurrection chapter. Whether you're facing grief, burnout, or just feeling overwhelmed by life's endless demands, this message offers hope rooted in Christ's promise to return and make all things new.
Key Bible Verses: 1 Corinthians 15:50-58 | Revelation 21 | 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
Perfect for: Christians struggling with purpose, those grieving loss, believers wanting to understand biblical eschatology, anyone feeling overwhelmed by life's daily grind
š Sermon Series: "1 Corinthians 15: The Resurrection Chapter" āŖ Church: First Lutheran Church
ChristianSermon #1Corinthians15 #Resurrection #ChristReturn #BiblicalHope #ChristianFaith #Lutheran #Scripture #Gospel #Encouragement #Purpose #Meaning #Death #Victory #SecondComing #Eschatology
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transcript: https://youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Is the Bible just a collection of moral rules and life lessons? Many people think so, but Jesus himself gives us a very different answer. In this powerful Ascension Day message, we explore what Jesus told his disciples the Scriptures are truly about - and it will transform how you read the Bible.
š„ Key Points Covered:
Why the Bible isn't primarily about moral philosophy or life principles
The shocking truth about biblical "heroes" like Abraham, Moses, and David
What Jesus said the Old Testament was really pointing to
How every story in Scripture connects to one central message
Why this changes everything about salvation and faith
Whether you've been reading the Bible for years or are just getting started, this message will open your eyes to the unified story that runs from Genesis to Revelation. Don't miss this life-changing perspective on God's Word!
š Perfect for: Bible study groups, new Christians, anyone struggling to understand how the Old Testament connects to Jesus, theology students
BibleStudy #AscensionDay #Scripture #Jesus #ChristianSermon #Gospel #OldTestament #BiblicalTruth #Christianity #Faith
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transcript: https://youhaveaplace.com/sermons
What does the final chapter of the BibleāRevelation 22āreally say to us today? In this sermon, we explore the urgent and hopeful message of Jesusā return: āCome quickly, Lord Jesus.ā Far from being a book of fear, Revelation closes with an invitationāan open call to all who thirst for life, forgiveness, and redemption in Christ.
Through vivid images of robes washed in the blood of the Lamb and the Tree of Life, this message reminds us that salvation is a free gift, not something we earn. Jesus is coming soonāand while we wait, we are called to share that good news with the world.
ā
What happens when He returns?
ā
Who gets to enter the City of God?
ā
Whatās our mission while we wait?
Join us as we rediscover the promise, power, and urgency of Revelationās closing words. The victory is already wonāare you ready to share it?
š Scripture Focus: Revelation 22
š Theme: Jesus is coming soonāshare His invitation now
š Key Verse: āLet the one who is thirsty comeā¦ā (Rev. 22:17)
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transcript: https://youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Revelation22 #SecondComing #JesusIsComing #ChristianHope #BookOfRevelation #ComeLordJesus #Sermon #BibleTeaching #GospelHope #UrgencyAndGrace
What kind of bodies will we have when Jesus returns? Will we still be us? Will we recognize each other? In this message, we explore 1 Corinthians 15 and St. Paul's beautiful, hope-filled answer to the question: "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body?"
The resurrection isn't just about escaping deathāit's about the transformation of our whole selves. Just as Jesus was raised in glory, power, and perfection, so too will we be. No more pain. No more decay. No more sin.
Join us as we dive deep into Paul's imagery of seeds, stars, and spiritual bodiesāand discover why the resurrection gives us real, bodily hope.
š Subscribe for more messages about the hope we have in Christ.
š Scripture: 1 Corinthians 15:35ā49
What does the resurrection of the body really mean for Christians today? In this sermon from our series on 1 Corinthians 15, we explore the powerful implications of Christās bodily resurrectionāand why your body matters not just now, but for eternity.
St. Paul challenges the Corinthiansāand usāto reject the idea that Christianity is just a spiritual or mental practice. He insists: If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die. But because Jesus was raised body and soul, so too will we be. That changes everything about how we live today.
š In this message, youāll hear about:
Why heaven is not the ultimate goal of the Christian life
How bodily resurrection shapes Christian hope
What it means to ādiscipline the bodyā as a follower of Christ
Why our physical acts of loveāfeeding others, parenting, caregivingāhave eternal significance
The dangers of a spiritualized faith that forgets the body
How Word and Sacrament deliver grace bodily, not abstractly
āļø Christ did not come to save souls only. He came to redeem youābody and soulāfor the resurrection on the last day.
š Text: 1 Corinthians 15:29ā34
š Subscribe for more sermons that take Scripture seriously and apply it to real life.
Resurrection #1Corinthians15 #ChristianLife #EternalLife #LutheranSermon #BiblicalTeaching #BodyAndSoul #TheologyOfTheBody #ChristIsRisen #ChristianHope #SermonSeries #ChurchOnline
IIs death really a friendāor is it still our enemy?
In this powerful message from 1 Corinthians 15:20ā28, Pastor [Your Name] walks us through Paul's bold proclamation that death is not the goal of the Christian lifeāresurrection is. Too often, funerals soften the truth about death or confuse it with eternal life. But Scripture tells a better story: Christ is the firstfruits of those who have died, and He will return to raise all who belong to Him.
š Learn why we must rethink how we talk about death and embrace the full hope of the resurrection.
š Scripture Focus: 1 Corinthians 15:20ā28
āļø Topic: Resurrection, Death, Funeral Theology, Eternal Life
šļø Encouragement for mourners and clarity for believers.
ā”ļø Subscribe for more biblical preaching rooted in Lutheran theology.
š Visit us at: https://youhaveaplace.com
Transcript: https://youhaveaplace.com/sermons
š¶ Weekly Worship | Biblical Preaching | Resurrection Hope
Is Heaven the finish line? Not according to Scripture.
In this powerful Easter-season sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:12ā19, we explore a truth often overlooked in modern Christianity: the bodily resurrection of the dead. Many say āGrandma is in a better placeāābut Paulās words remind us that Easter means more than souls in heavenāit means graves will be empty.
š Discover how the resurrection of Jesus Christ is not just part of the Gospelāitās the very keel that keeps it afloat. Without Easter, faith is futile. With it, every funeral becomes a sowing of hope.
š¬ Vicar Roland Rossmiller gently unpacks:
Why Paul says our faith is useless without resurrection
How our language around death often sells short the Christian hope
The difference between comforting myths and the glorious reality of bodily renewal
Why the resurrection empowers us to take holy risks and live boldly today
š āIf Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.ā ā 1 Cor. 15:17
šŗ But Christ has been raised... and so shall we!
š If you've ever wondered what happens after deathāor want hope grounded in Scripture rather than sentimentāthis sermon will both comfort and challenge.
ā”ļø Subscribe for more Christ-centered preaching rooted in Godās Word.
š Visit us at: https://youhaveaplace.com
š¶ Weekly Worship | Biblical Preaching | Resurrection Hope
Did Jesus actually rise from the deadāor is it just a nice story? In this Easter season sermon, we explore 1 Corinthians 15 and the powerful testimony of hundreds of eyewitnesses who saw the risen Christ. Pastor Huenink explains why the resurrection is not a metaphor, but a historical event that changes everything. Faith is not blindāitās built on real evidence. Discover how the Bible's detailed witness accounts, from Peter to 500 others, strengthen our hope in Christās victory over death.
š Subscribe for more sermons about the truth of the Gospel and the power of the resurrection!
Resurrection #EyewitnessEvidence #ChristianFaith #1Corinthians15 #EasterSermon #JesusIsAlive
š Donāt forget to like, subscribe, and share this message of service in Christ.
š First Lutheran Church, El Cajon, CA
š Visit us: https://youhaveaplace.com
Transcript: https://youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Alleluia, Christ is risen! This Easter message explores the powerful truth of Jesus' resurrection and what it means for believers today.
Pastor examines the story of the women at the empty tomb and that crucial moment when "they remembered His words." Why didn't the disciples expect Jesus to rise from the dead when He had clearly predicted it three times?
In this sermon, discover:
How Jesus perfectly fulfilled His prophetic promises
Why trusting Christ's words brings profound peace in our lives
The assurance we can have in our own resurrection
How Christ continues to reveal Himself to us today
Join us throughout the Easter season as we explore 1 Corinthians 15 and dive deeper into the resurrection promises that transform our lives and give us hope beyond the grave.
Scripture references: Luke 9, Luke 18, Luke 24, Deuteronomy, 1 Corinthians 15
EasterSermon #Resurrection #ChristIsRisen #FaithAndTrust
š Donāt forget to like, subscribe, and share this message of service in Christ.
š First Lutheran Church, El Cajon, CA
š Visit us: https://youhaveaplace.com
Transcript: https://youhaveaplace.com/sermons
In this Easter vigil sermon, we explore the theme of waiting on God's salvation through stories of trust and divine deliveranceāfrom Creation to the fiery furnace, and ultimately, Jesusā resurrection. Discover how Ezekielās promise of a new heart of flesh reflects Godās saving grace through Christ. Join us as we reflect on the transformative power of baptism and the hope of a Savior who trusted His Father to raise Him from the dead. Donāt miss this message of faith and renewal! #EasterSermon #GodSaves #HeartOfFlesh #JesusResurrection #ChristianFaith
š Donāt forget to like, subscribe, and share this message of service in Christ.
š Scripture Focus: Ezekiel 36:24-28
š First Lutheran Church, El Cajon, CA
š Visit us: https://youhaveaplace.com
Transcript: https://youhaveaplace.com/sermons
In this Good Friday sermon, we reflect on the crucifixion of Jesus, the King who rules not with power but with love and sacrifice. Through the lens of Johnās Gospel, we explore Jesusā humble kingship, His journey to the cross, and how His selfless love offers us true life. As we look at Jesusā trial and death, we are reminded of what it means to live a life of service, following our Savior who gave everything for us. Join us in remembering the beauty of a life lived for others, just as Christ lived and died for us.
#GoodFriday #JesusKing #Sacrifice #ChristianFaith #Lutheran #KingWhoServes #Crucifixion #Cross #ChristianLiving #Gospel #BibleSermon
š Donāt forget to like, subscribe, and share this message of service in Christ.
š Scripture Focus: John 19
š First Lutheran Church, El Cajon, CA
š Visit us: https://youhaveaplace.com
Transcript: https://youhaveaplace.com/sermons
On this Holy Thursday, we remember the night Jesus gathered with His disciples to celebrate the Passoverāand to fulfill it. In this sermon, we explore how Christ becomes the Greater Passover Lamb, offering a new covenant through His body and blood. From Egypt to the Upper Room, from the first lambās blood to the blood of Christ poured out for you, this is the story of true freedomānot from Pharaoh, but from sin and death itself.
ā”ļø What is the real meaning behind the Last Supper?
ā”ļø How does Jesus fulfill the Old Testament Passover?
ā”ļø Why is Holy Communion not just symbolicābut a true meal of freedom and life?
Join us as we walk through Scripture and see how Jesus gives us a covenant we cannot break.
š Donāt forget to like, subscribe, and share this message of freedom in Christ.
š Scripture Focus: Luke 22:7ā20, Exodus 12, Jeremiah 31
š First Lutheran Church, El Cajon, CA
š Visit us: https://youhaveaplace.com
HolyThursday #Passover #LastSupper #Communion #JesusOurPassover #LutheranSermon #FreedomInChrist #NewCovenant #MaundyThursday #BodyAndBlood #LambOfGod
Transcript: https://youhaveaplace.com/sermons
What does the Garden of Eden have to do with the Cross? In this sermon, we explore how Lukeās Gospel presents Jesus as the New Adamāfaithful where Adam failed. Just as Adam brought death by eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Jesus brings life from the tree of the Cross.
Discover how Luke connects the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness to the ultimate temptation on the Cross. Learn how Jesus, unlike Adam, remained faithful in a world of suffering, transforming the Cross into the Tree of Life for all who believe.
š Key Themes:
Jesus as the New Adam
Temptation in the wilderness and on the cross
The cross-shaped Christian life
Lukeās unique portrayal of Jesus
From death to resurrection: the Tree of Life
š Whether you're studying the Gospel of Luke, wrestling with the problem of suffering, or curious about biblical imagery, this sermon brings fresh insight and deep comfort.
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š Learn more: https://youhaveaplace.com
LukeGospel #JesusNewAdam #TreeOfLife #ChristianSermon #CrossShapedLife #LentSermon #BibleTeaching #GospelOfLuke #TheologyOfTheCross
In this final message from our Core Values series, Pastor Huenink explores the difference between outreach and evangelism, and why individual witnessānot institutional programsāis often the most powerful way to share the Gospel.
Drawing on John 4 and the story of the woman at the well, this sermon reminds us that evangelism isnāt about having all the answersāit's about sharing what we know: Jesus saves. Discover how the Holy Spirit does the real work, how youare already equipped to share the Good News, and why evangelism isnāt about pressureāitās about invitation.
š Key Scripture: John 4:1ā42
šļø Part of our series on the Core Values of First Lutheran Church: Worship, Growth, Life, Care, Outreach, and Witness.
ā Like, share, and subscribe to hear more Christ-centered sermons that encourage and equip you to live out your faith.
Why would anyone reject a message of healing, salvation, and grace? In this powerful sermon on Jesusā Parable of the Wicked Tenants (Luke 20), we explore the striking parallels between ancient Israelās rejection of Godās prophets and our modern resistance to Godās free grace. Learn how this vineyard parable speaks to the political destruction of Jerusalem, the spiritual downfall of the religious elite, and the ongoing challenge for Christās Church today.
Discover why grace isnāt popularāand never has beenāand why the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone of our salvation. This message reminds us that God still owns the vineyard, still sends His messengers, and still calls us to be faithful in a world that prefers religion on its own terms.
š Key Text: Luke 20:9ā18
šŖØ Featuring: Isaiah 5, Romans 11, Ephesians 3
āļø Theme: Judgment, grace, and the cornerstone of Christ
ParableOfTheVineyard #JesusParables #CornerstoneChrist #FreeGrace #BiblicalSermon #GospelPreaching #Luke20 #ChurchJudgment #ReformedTheology #LutheranPreaching #JesusSaves #Isaiah5 #Romans11 #Ephesians3 #firstlutheranelcajon
For a transcript, go to our website: https://youhaveaplace.com/sermons
How does outreach really work in a church? Itās not a single event or a quick conversationāitās a long-term, intentional process of guiding people into a relationship with Christ and His Church. In this sermon, we explore Acts 19, where Paulās persistent ministry in Ephesus shows us the power of ongoing gospel outreach.
We also discuss practical outreach strategies, including how a Lutheran school in Chicago integrated ministry into daily life, creating constant touchpoints for the gospel. Outreach is about relationships, presence, and patienceāmeeting people where they are and trusting the Holy Spirit to work through the Word over time.
š Scripture: Acts 19
šÆ Topic: Outreach and Evangelism in the Church
š Join us as we learn how to move people from community connections to an active life in Christ!
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The parable of the prodigal son is one of the most well-known and powerful stories Jesus told. But what if weāve been missing something? This sermon explores the scandal of Godās grace, the Fatherās extravagant love, and what it means for sinners like us. Why did Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners? Why did the Pharisees grumble? And how does this story reveal the true heart of the church?
Watch as we unpack the depths of God's mercy and how He welcomes us backānot as servants, but as His beloved children. If you've ever felt too far gone, too broken, or too ashamed to return, this message is for you.
š Scripture Reference: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
š Join us in rediscovering the joy of God's forgiveness!
š Don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE for more sermons and biblical insights!
How does the church care for peopleās physical and emotional needs while staying focused on the gospel? In this sermon, we explore human careāone of our congregationās core valuesāand its role in the Christian life. From Acts 2 to Jesusā miracles, we see how caring for others flows from the love of Christ.
Human care includes acts of mercy, like feeding the hungry, supporting our community, and serving our neighbors. But how is it different from evangelism? Can ministries like ESL classes or food drives lead to gospel conversations? Join us as we define human care, its connection to vocation, and why sharing the gospel remains distinct but essential.
š Scripture References:
Acts 2:42-47 | The early churchās care for one another
Matthew 25:31-46 | The parable of the sheep and the goats
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š¬ Comment below: How does your church engage in human care and outreach?
ChristianCare #ChurchOutreach #MercyMinistry #Acts2 #JesusCares #GospelAndService
We tackle the age-old question: Why does God allow suffering? From natural disasters to personal struggles, explore how Jesus responds to tragedy in Luke 13āurging us to repent and trust in Him rather than seeking answers to every "why." Discover hope in a broken world, the promise of Christās return, and how we can share eternal life with others. Hit subscribe for more faith-building messages! āļø
WhySuffering #JesusAnswer #ChristianSermon #FaithInHardTimes #Repentance #HopeInChrist #Luke13 #GodsWill #EternalLife #Sermon2025
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
Discover the profound meaning of the sanctity of life in this powerful Lenten sermon from March 2025! We dive into how every humanāfrom conception to natural deathāis created in the image of God and redeemed by Jesus Christ. Explore how this core Christian value shapes our views on abortion, children, racism, and more. Join us as we reflect on Genesis, redemption, and building a culture of life in todayās world. Donāt miss this inspiring messageāsubscribe for more faith-filled content! āļø
SanctityOfLife #LentenSermon #ChristianValues #FaithAndLife #ImageOfGod #ProLife #JesusChrist #ChurchSermon #CultureOfLife #Christianity2025
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
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In this powerful sermon based on Luke, we dive into Jesusā heartfelt mourning over Jerusalemāa city He longed to save, yet one that rejected Him. Explore how His love for the lost shines through, even amidst rebellion and failure, and how it mirrors our own struggles with loved ones whoāve turned away from faith. From His tears to the hope of Pentecost, this reflection reveals a Savior who never stops calling us back with grace and mercy. Perfect for Lent or any season of spiritual growth. Subscribe for more biblical insights and encouragement!
JesusWeeps #LukeDevotion #LoveForTheLost #ChristianFaith #GodsMercy #HopeInChrist #Jerusalem #SpiritualReflection #Lent2025 #BibleStudy #FaithJourney #ChristianEncouragement #GospelMessage #GraceAndLove
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
Discover the profound lessons from Jesusās temptations in the wilderness as told in Lukeās Gospel. In this sermon, we explore how Jesus resisted the devilās shortcutsāturning stones to bread, seizing power, and seeking gloryāto stay true to His Fatherās will. Unlike Adam, who fell in a perfect garden, Jesus triumphed in a barren wilderness, showing us the strength of faith and the danger of small compromises. Learn why the cross was essential for our salvation and how we can follow Christās example in a world obsessed with glory and success. Perfect for Lent reflections or anyone seeking a deeper understanding of Jesusās mission.
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š
Date: March 10, 2025
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Lent2025 #JesusTemptation #FaithOverFear #GospelOfLuke #ChristianSermon #SpiritualGrowth #CrossAndSalvation #TrustInGod #BiblicalLessons #ChristianLiving
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
This Ash Wednesday, March 2025, we begin a sermon series on the core values of our LCMS congregation, starting with 'Christ-Centered Worship.' In this powerful message, we explore how God gives His grace to His gathered people, who respond with prayer and praise. Discover why worship is less about what we do and more about what God does for usāoffering forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life through His Word and Sacraments. Perfect for Lent 2025, this sermon kicks off our journey reflecting on values like Christian catechesis, sanctity of life, outreach, evangelism, and human care. Donāt miss this Divine Service reminder of Godās gifts! Subscribe for weekly sermons and LCMS insights.
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š Like, share, and commentāhow does the theology of worship affect your church experience?
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
Have you ever wished for a sign from Godāa glimpse of His power in your life? The Transfiguration of Jesus was more than just a dazzling display; it pointed directly to His mission of suffering, death, and resurrection. In this sermon, we explore how this moment reveals Christ as the fulfillment of God's promises and what it means for our daily faith journey. Whether you're young in faith or have walked with Christ for decades, the command remains the same: Listen to Him. Watch now to discover how the glory of Christ sustains us in both the extraordinary and the ordinary. #Transfiguration #Jesus #Faith
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š Like, share, and commentāhow has Godās love transformed your life?
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
Jesus commands us to love our enemiesābut what does that look like in real life? In this sermon, we explore four powerful stories of love in action: Jesusā ultimate sacrifice, Josephās forgiveness of his brothers, Polycarpās astounding kindness, and Pastor Henry Gereckeās ministry to Nazi war criminals. These true accounts show the incredible power of Godās love working through His people, even in the most difficult circumstances.
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š Like, share, and commentāhow has Godās love transformed your life?
LoveYourEnemies #Jesus #Forgiveness #Christianity #Grace
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
What does it really mean to be blessed? Jesus' words in Luke challenge everything we think we know about blessing and woe. While the world associates blessing with wealth, success, and comfort, Jesus flips that upside down. Why does He say, Blessed are the poor, the hungry, and the persecutedābut woe to the rich and full?
This message reveals how true blessing isnāt about circumstances but about the gift of eternal life in Christ. Even when life feels like anything but #blessed, God gives us a sure sign of His grace. Watch to discover how Jesus, the prophets, and the sacraments assure us of a blessing that no hardship can take away!
š Key Passage: Luke 6:20-26
š Main Takeaway: Blessing is not in earthly success but in Christās presence and promise.
š Subscribe for more biblical truth that strengthens faith!
Blessing #JesusWords #GospelTruth #Faith
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
We often hear sermons about evangelism that make us feel pressuredālike the whole job of bringing people to Christ depends on us. But in this message, we dive into Luke 5:1-11 and discover the truth: Jesus is the one who does the work!
Like Peter, James, and John, we may toil all night and catch nothing, but when Jesus speaks, the nets are full. Evangelism isnāt about having the perfect words, the perfect programs, or the perfect churchāitās about trusting in Christās power through His Word.
š£ Are you a fearful fisherman, afraid of failure, or a confident caster, trusting that Jesus is at work? This sermon will take the pressure off and remind you: it's not about youāitās about Him!
š Key Passage: Luke 5:1-11
š¬ Letās discuss! Have you ever felt like evangelism was all on you? How does this message change your perspective? Drop your thoughts in the comments!
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Faith #Jesus #Sermon #Evangelism #TrustInGod #ChristianLife #BibleTeaching
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
What does it mean to be called to ministry? In this sermon, we explore Jeremiah's divine calling and the struggles of discerning a pastoral vocation today. Reflecting on personal experiences, we see how God's faithfulnessānot personal abilityāequips those He calls. Like Jeremiah and Moses, we may feel inadequate, but God reassures us: "Do not be afraid, for I am with you."
Join us as we discuss the challenges, doubts, and ultimate trust in God's plan for our lives. Whether in ministry, family, or daily life, He is with us, guiding and strengthening us every step of the way.
š Key Scripture: Jeremiah 1:4-10, 1 Thessalonians 5:24
š "He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it."
PastoralCalling #Faith #TrustInGod #Jeremiah #ChristianSermon
š Share your thoughts in the comments!
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š Like this message, and share it with someone who needs the light of Christ this Epiphany season.
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
When Jesus returned to Nazareth, His hometown, He wasnāt met with celebrationāHe was met with skepticism. As He read from Isaiah, proclaiming that the Scripture was fulfilled in their hearing, the congregation whispered: Isnāt this Josephās son? They expected miracles and action, but Jesus delivered something greater: the announcement of Godās grace and the promise of eternal life.
In this weekās sermon, we explore Luke 4 and how Jesus, the rejected prophet, fulfills the hopes of the Old Testament and proclaims the Gospelāa message that continues to challenge expectations today. Why do so many reject Godās grace in favor of worldly results? What is the Churchās true calling amidst demands for power, prosperity, and politics? Join us as we delve into the profound truth that the GospelāJesusā death and resurrection for our sinsāis the greatest miracle of all.
š Scripture: Luke 4:16-30
annointing #prophet #rejectedprophet #JesusChrist #missionofthechurch #Jesus #goodnews #messiah #gospelmessage
š Share your thoughts in the comments!
š Subscribe for more sermons and messages of hope.
š Like this message, and share it with someone who needs the light of Christ this Epiphany season.
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
Dive into one of the most unique stories in the Gospelsāthe wedding at Cana. Why does Jesus begin His ministry by turning water into wine? What deeper meaning lies behind this first miraculous sign? From the overflowing jars of wine to the joyful imagery of the Messianic feast, discover how this moment points to the grace, abundance, and eternal promises of God's kingdom. Join us as we explore the profound connections between Old Testament prophecy, New Testament fulfillment, and the overflowing grace of Christ that comes to us even today.
š Scripture: John 2:1-11
wedding #miracle #EternalLife #JesusChrist #ChristianLiving #newage #wine #messiah
š Share your thoughts in the comments!
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š Like this message, and share it with someone who needs the light of Christ this Epiphany season.
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
In a world overwhelmed by a constant stream of headlines, what news truly matters? This sermon dives into the Gospel of John the Baptist's proclamation, reminding us that the coming of Jesus, the Messiah, is news that changes everything. Discover what it means to repent, live differently, and respond to the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.
Join us as we explore the eternal significance of the Saviorās arrival and how it calls us to live in newness of life. Whether youāve heard this message many times or for the first time, itās a timely reminder to focus on what truly matters.
š Scripture: Luke 3:16-18, Romans 6:3-4
#Good News #Repentance #EternalLife #Jesus Christ #ChristianLiving
š Share your thoughts in the comments: What does it mean to live differently in response to the Gospel?"
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š Like this message, and share it with someone who needs the light of Christ this Epiphany season.
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
James Huenink contrasts the power dynamics of King Herod and King Jesus, highlighting Herod's use of violence and prestige to maintain his kingdom, which ultimately faded after his death. He contrasts this with Jesus' humble birth in Bethlehem, His non-violent, selfless acts, and His ultimate sacrifice on the cross. Huenink emphasizes that Jesus' power is rooted in love and service, not force, and that His teachings and resurrection continue to endure, transforming lives and offering eternal life. He argues that true power, as exemplified by Jesus, is not temporary or reliant on external symbols but is everlasting and transformative. Christians are sometimes tempted by holding power like Herod's, but true transformative power comes from Christ and his word. #epiphany #wisemen #threekings #power #christiannation #wordofgod #Jesus #christian #dominion #kingdomofgod
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
In this sermon, the speaker explores the profound truth that as believers, we are chosen, redeemed, and sealed by God. First, we are chosen by God before the foundation of the world to be His beloved children, part of His eternal family and recipients of His promises. This adoption into God's family transforms our identity and gives us purpose. Second, we are redeemed through the blood of Christ, freed from the power and penalty of sin. Redemption restores our broken relationship with God, granting us forgiveness, freedom, and peace. Third, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit, who is God's mark of ownership and guarantee of our eternal inheritance. The Spirit assures our salvation, protects and preserves us, and empowers us to live confidently in Christ. These three truths - being chosen, redeemed, and sealed - form the foundation of the believer's identity and inheritance. In response, we are called to live in the assurance of our identity, praise God for His grace, and share this hope with others. Join us as we explore the profound significance of being chosen, redeemed, and sealed in Christ. #chosen #redeemed #sealed #adoptionassons #christ #redeemer
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
What does Simeonās song teach us about Godās faithfulness and the peace found in Jesus Christ? In this powerful Christmas sermon, we explore the timeless beauty of the Nunc Dimittisāthe song Simeon sings when he sees the Savior. Discover how this ancient hymn connects to our daily lives, from bedtime prayers to Holy Communion, and even to moments of loss and hope at funerals. Simeonās trust in Godās fulfilled promises reminds us that through Christ, we too can depart in peace, knowing salvation has come.
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
Discover why the story of Jesusā birth is more than a yearly traditionāitās a life-changing truth that meets us in every season of life. In this Christmas Day sermon, we explore how the unchanging message of Christās birth becomes new as we face fresh challenges, joys, and opportunities. Just as Mary treasured and pondered the events of that first Christmas, weāre called to do the same, allowing Godās Word to guide and renew us daily. Join us for this uplifting message about the timeless power of the Gospel and its relevance for today!
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Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
Is the story of Jesus' birth just a heartwarming tale, or is it something far greater? In this Christmas Eve sermon, we dive into the historical reality of Jesus' birth, life, death, and resurrection. Discover why the events of that holy night in Bethlehem aren't just stories but the foundation of our faith. If this truly happened, nothing else matters more. Watch now to rediscover the profound truth of Christmas!
https://www.youhaveaplace.com
Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
The sermon, titled "The Guarding Peace of Christ," explores the promise of God's peace as described in Philippians 4:7. It emphasizes that this peace surpasses human understanding, guards our hearts and minds, and is secured through Christ. The speaker highlights the disciples' courage and the prophet Isaiah's words to illustrate this peace. Practical steps to embrace this peace include rejoicing in the Lord, praying with thanksgiving, meditating on God's word, and abiding in Christ. The sermon concludes with a call to trust in God's promises and live as people of peace, reflecting His light in the world.
https://www.youhaveaplace.com
Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
James Huenink discusses the significance of Mary in the Christian tradition, particularly in the context of the Magnificat and the upcoming Christmas celebrations. He highlights Mary's humble origins in Nazareth, her poverty, and her status as a virgin, emphasizing that she was chosen by God not because of her virtues but because of His grace. Huenink references biblical figures like Abraham, Moses, and David to illustrate that God often chooses the lowly and sinful. He concludes that Mary's exaltation and the titles given to her are examples of God's grace, which also applies to all believers, reinforcing the message of God's choice and blessings.
https://www.youhaveaplace.com
Transcript: https://www.youhaveaplace.com/sermons
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
James Huenink discusses the contrast between the harsh message of John the Baptist and the more palatable approach often taken by modern churches. He emphasizes the importance of repentance and the harshness of God's law in leading to the gospel. Huenink questions whether churches should be more akin to commercial entities focused on numbers and attendance or true congregations centered on the ministry of the gospel. He argues that a true church cares for its members as part of the body of Christ, not just as clients, and that pastors should act as shepherds, guiding and caring for their flock, not just high-value clients.
https://www.youhaveaplace.com
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
James Huenink discusses the significance of Advent, emphasizing the anticipation of Jesus Christ's birth and return. He explains that Advent readings, such as those from Luke, highlight Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, linking it to His arrival in our lives and His future return. Huenink recounts various miracles performed by Jesus, including healing a blind man, a leper, and raising a dead man in Nain, and notes the crowd's acclamation, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord." He reflects on the church's endurance through persecutions, the power of Christ's resurrection, and the unity of the church community, encouraging each other through shared faith and support.
https://www.youhaveaplace.com
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
James Huenink's sermon on Thanksgiving Eve emphasizes the importance of gratitude and faithfulness in both prosperity and adversity. He discusses Deuteronomy's warning about the dangers of forgetting God amidst prosperity, contrasting King Saul's unfaithfulness with King David's recognition of God's gifts. Huenink urges believers to view all blessings as God's, not their own, and to remain thankful through practices like prayer before meals. He highlights that true gratitude and faithfulness come from recognizing Jesus Christ's eternal gifts, which transcend temporal prosperity.
https://www.youhaveaplace.com
Join us for Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
James Huenink discusses the end times, referencing the Book of Revelation and Daniel's vision of Christ's eternal kingdom. He emphasizes that believers are citizens of this kingdom now, despite its hidden nature in a fallen world. Huenink urges believers to live with hope and not fear, trusting in Christ's promise to make all things new. He addresses modern anxieties, particularly the impact of social media and global concerns, and encourages focusing on the eternal kingdom rather than temporary desires. Citing Martin Luther, he highlights the choice between trusting in God or Mammon, advocating for faith in Christ's promises over worldly pursuits.
https://www.youhaveaplace.com
ames Huenink discusses the Christian view of the end times, focusing on the return of Jesus Christ and the final judgment. He outlines three eschatological views: pre-millennialism, post-millennialism, and amillennialism, explaining that amillennialism, which he supports, holds that the current age is the end times. Huenink emphasizes the importance of being ready for Christ's return, which will be sudden and unexpected, and describes the events leading up to the judgment, including cosmic signs and the gathering of the elect. He explains the dual judgment: one based on works and another on whether one's name is in the Book of Life. Huenink concludes by highlighting the promise of a new heaven and earth, where believers will live eternally with Christ.
James Huenink reflects on the significance of the church's stained glass windows, which depict key Christian events and symbols. He questions the purpose of celebrating the church's 60th anniversary, emphasizing that God does not need a physical structure to dwell in. Huenink highlights that the church's essence lies in the proclamation of Jesus Christ's gospel, the fellowship, and the sacraments. He underscores that the church's beauty and history are secondary to its role in spreading the message of salvation through Jesus' death and resurrection. The celebration is about the enduring power of the gospel and the sacraments, not the building itself.
Pr. Derek Mathers, representing the English District Bishop, delivered a sermon focusing on the stained glass window in the congregation's sanctuary, which symbolizes the Holy Trinity. The triangle in the window represents God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, emphasizing their unity and oneness. The sermon drew parallels to Isaiah's vision of God's holiness and human sinfulness, highlighting the need for repentance and salvation through Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit's role in revealing sin and drawing believers to Christ was also discussed. The speaker encouraged the congregation to see the stained glass not just as a static image but as a dynamic symbol of God's love and action, calling them to share this message with the world.
The sermon discusses the role of the Holy Spirit in Christian life and the church, emphasizing three aspects: bearing witness to Christ, guiding believers to truth, and glorifying Jesus. The Holy Spirit testifies to Christ through the Word and Sacraments, as seen in the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. The Spirit guides believers in understanding and living out God's will, particularly through the Scriptures and sacraments like baptism and communion. The Spirit's work is unified with the Father and Son, always pointing to Christ. Believers are encouraged to actively participate in bearing witness to Christ and to trust the Spirit's guidance in their faith journey.
www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship services at 8:30am and 11:00am
James Huenink discusses the symbolism of the church's sanctuary windows, focusing on the New Jerusalem descending from heaven, the lily representing Christ's resurrection, and a tree-like bush symbolizing heaven. He emphasizes the biblical promise of eternal life and the presence of God with humanity, referencing Revelation and the history of God's dwelling with his people. Huenink highlights the intimacy of God's care, as depicted by wiping away every tear, and contrasts earthly citizenship with the eternal promise of the New Jerusalem. He concludes by underscoring the hope and anticipation of Christ's return and the fulfillment of God's promises.
www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship services at 8:30am and 11:00am
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
www.youhaveaplace.com
Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
March 28th- Holy Thursday worship at 7:00pm
March 29th- Good Friday worship at 7:00pm
March 30th- Easter Vigil at 6:30pm
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
www.youhaveaplace.com
Sunday worship at 8:30am and 11:00am
March 28th- Holy Thursday worship at 7:00pm
March 29th- Good Friday worship at 7:00pm
March 30th- Easter Vigil at 6:30pm
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Join us for Divine Service at 8:30am and 11:00am on Sundays.
Ash Wednesday service at 7:00pm on February 14th
www.youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Join us for Divine Service at 8:30am and 11:00am on Sundays.
Ash Wednesday service at 7:00pm on February 14th
www.youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Worship times 8:30am and 11:00am on Sundays.
www.youhaveaplace.com
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. I talked a little bit in our opening about the themes and ideas that are coming up in our readings for the church here. We are heading towards the end of the Church year. And those readings always point us to the end of time, the return of Jesus Christ. And we saw them in the readings that we see today. The prophet Amos talks about the judgment coming on the day of the Lord, though on that day, he was pointing to the danger of the Assyrians coming into Israel, a judgment and not a gift from God. And Jesus points us also to the return of well of Jesus, when He comes like a groom to a wedding. Not at the time you expect. The question is, what's going to happen on that day? What will it be like, on the day that Jesus returned? And that's the question we're going to explore through the reading that I did from First Thessalonians. Now, this question is rather controversial, because there are two main theories about what will happen on that day. I'm gonna give you a big theological word today, maybe you've heard it, maybe you haven't. Actually, it's It's hard enough that I screwed it up in the first service. Hopefully, I'll get it right this time. It is free millennial dispensationalism. Say that, again, re millennial dispensationalism. Now you can go out knowing that you've got your theological education for the day. Now, this idea is idea about the end of the world and what will happen when Jesus returns. The other competing theory is much easier. It's a millennialism. Free dispensational millennialism teaches that God has worked throughout time in history in different dispensations, different ways of working through his promises. And it teaches that God's promises in the Old Testament to Israel are now still active on the nation of Israel, and the Jews today. This is the claim I dealt with back in August when he talked about how St. Paul says that all of the promises of God come through to Jesus, and that everyone who is in Christ is through Israel. And then everything that God promised to in the Old Testament comes through and today, we're going to deal with a passage that Freeman millennial dispensationalists use to refer to the Rapture. What that's what they say is, when the end times come, Jesus will secretly return and take all Christians, and all the dead, and they will all in Christ and they will disappear. Then, seven years of Tribulation will happen. After that, Jesus will return again and establish an earthly government for the millennium, 1000 years. Then at the end of the 1000 years, a rebellion will happen. It will be defeated. And eternity, we'll call a millennium teaches. We are currently in the tribulation. The 1000 years of Revelation are happening now. Where Jesus rules on earth through his church, and he will come back visibly on the last day and raise everyone from the dead and we will live eternally with him all who believed in Trump. The passage we looked at from First Thessalonians chapter four is the proof tax for the idea of the rapture. That is, the Jesus will appear secretly take all living Christians and all dead Christians and leave the rest of the earth for the seven years of the tribulation. to point that out, They look at what we read, they save. For this, we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive are left until the coming of the Lord, we will not proceed those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, under the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first, then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. They focus on the idea that Christians will be caught up with price and be with him. You may have been a seen this, I sometimes do that when we're driving along, and you'll see a bumper sticker that says, in case of Raptor, this car will be unmanned. That's what they're talking about. The Jesus will secretly return and snap, people will be gone, airplanes will crash. Cars will swerve, everything will be missed. They also say that this tribulation begins. And the reason why Christians aren't here for that is because we are not part of this great tribulation, God is going to pull us away. There's another passage they point to this is Matthew chapter 24, where Jesus says this. But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Whereas in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark. And they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So it will be at the coming of the Son of men, then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one lap. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay away. For you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. Here they focus on the idea that one person will be taken up to heaven and one lap. They also talk about this happening right before this great tribulation, sometimes at rest of Revelation talks about because they believe that Christians will be spared the wrath of God. One of the ways they do that is by pointing to First Thessalonians chapter five, as it says, For God is not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. In doing this, I also looked up some of the things that David Jeremiah says at Shadow Mountain. And he mentioned that Christians can't be a part of this great tribulation, because of what it says in Romans chapter eight. There is now no condemnation through Jesus Christ. And if Christians have no condemnation, it means that we can't be part of this wrath, or this tribulation. I've done my best to represent this as best as I can. But I think the rapture is mistaken. This is not what will happen on the day that Jesus returned. And we can do that by looking at exactly the passages that they use to support this verse. Let's take a look at Matthew chapter 24. It says, whereas in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark. They were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So it will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill one will be taken and one last year the image is of Noah and the flood. And Noah was saying he was the one who was left the flood swept people away in judgment. So if Jesus is consistent using his this imagery, the people who remain are the one who are saved The people who are taken away are swept away in judgment,
like the flow, which means this image is actually opposite of what the people in the rafters said. You can also look at our passes for the day. First Thessalonians chapter four, where it says, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Now, this is pretty impressive, right? It says that Jesus will come from heaven, with the cry of an archangel, and the sound of the trumpet of God. That doesn't sound like a secret to me, does it? Of course not. That's a trumpet. That is the cry of command the voice of an archangel, it's going to be pretty clear what happens on that day. Jesus himself says that we will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds with power and might. No one's going to miss. It's not going to be a secret. There is no wondering whether you will be ready for the wrath of God, Jesus will descend from heaven. On the last day, there will be no secrets, there will be it will not be hidden, it will be clear. And he gives us this promise, so that we can know he is coming. Coming to rescue is coming to save us to give us life that lasts forever by his own death and resurrection. And his voice will cry out and call us up from our graves and give us perfect bodies, and we will go to meet him in the air while his judgment comes down. And then we will live forever with Him. One thing I haven't dealt with is that tribulation. They say Christians cannot be a part of this great tribulation, because we do not receive this wrath. He say because there is no condemnation. That's misunderstanding what's going on. Jesus himself says that we are part of a tribulation. He says in John, In this world, you will have trouble will take heart, I have overcome the world. That's the same Greek word as the Great Tribulation. The John himself writes in Rebbi revelation. So we know now the tribulation has been going on. Since the day Jesus ascended into heaven. The church has always been suffering. The church has always been persecuted. St. Paul gives us these words, so that we can look forward to the day when he comes to power and might and clearly reveals Himself to us, and gives us eternal life. Up until now, this has been a pretty doctrinal sermon. I'm giving you Bible passages and analyzing them and you know, all of this stuff. And you may be asking yourself, well, so what Pastor? Why is this actually important for me now? I mean, we're all find out eventually, anyway, either he's gonna come and rapture us or he's just gonna come and show up and raise the dead. And it'll be just like you said, there's a good reason why we need to know this. First, and the people who teach about the Rapture end up focusing too much on the news of the day. They stress each other out about the signs and the seasons and everything that is going on, especially when we have things going on in Israel. Every time there's war or violence or battle, everybody in dispensationalism thinks knows the end, he gotta get worried. And they point us to think about things that are so far away that we can't do anything about and all we do is dress up. And that is not why St. Paul writes to the Thessalonians. He says, I want you not to grieve like those who have no hope. The point here is just to come I'm not to point us to this world and say, watch the news. Think about the signs come up with charts that show us exactly where in the rapture timeline we are. They do. There's even a website that has a rapture countdown clock, as if they can figure out when this might happen. What Jesus gives us is something very simple. He promises to return, and he'll raise you from the dead. That's easily appoints us comfort that points us piece that we're not stressing out, we're trusting in Him. The other thing that this teaching about the Rapture does is it points us away from our duties now. So think about those things that are far away. Because the Jesus really wants us to think about our neighbors, and our families, the people around us, the things that we can control. When he says Love your neighbor as yourself, he isn't thinking about or worrying about things that are half a world away. He wants us to simply do our job serving others. So the Raptor points us to thinking and worrying and feeling about things that we have no control. Over, that don't matter to us. What God really wants us to do, to serve the people who are nearer love the people who are in you. To be the people God created us to be around. And when we think about something that is that far away, and we're always worrying about what's happening in the news. It means we turn our attention away from the people God has sent us to law. This passage from First Thessalonians is there to guide us into a hopeful expectation of the day that Jesus returns and raises us from the dead. It's not here to make us worry about some secret rapture in a complicated system about the end. It's just there to give us hope. In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Sermon for November 5th, 2023
www.youhaveaplace.com
Join us for worship on Sundays at 8:30am and 11:00am
pastorhuenink@youhaveaplace.com
Visit First Lutheran Church. www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship is at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible Study in between.
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
Visit our website at www.youhaveaplace.com
Worship times are at 8:30am and 11:00am with Bible study in between.
So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, āIf you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.ā They answered him, āWe are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, āYou will become freeā?ā
Jesus answered them, āTruly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to itā the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling. Selah
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah
Come, behold the works of the Lord,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
āBe still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!ā
The Lord of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The first reading for reformation Sunday is from Revelation Chapter 14, verses six through seven, it reads, Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea, and the springs of water. Here ends the reading. This reading is the reading for reformation Sunday, and it takes place of the Old Testament reading, you'll notice that revelation is not in the Old Testament, but it's one of the traditional readings that we use during rebel during the Reformation text. It begins with an angel flying overhead and it says with an eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth. I'm sure this reading is chosen because of that eternal Gospel passage that Martin Luther out of the Reformation, renewed the idea of the gospel that we are saved by grace through faith on account of Christ without works, and that it was a message for every nation and tribe and language and people. The idea is, of course, is that this gospel is for all people, a free gift of grace through Jesus Christ. This comes in the middle of a passage where the 144,000 are gathered together before the living creatures, and everyone is gathering together the fullness of God's people, and what are they gathered around Christ and His gospel, the message of salvation. And that's what we are celebrating on Reformation Day. And it says with a loud voice, Fear God and give Him glory, because the hour of His judgment has come and worship Him who made heaven, earth, the sea and the springs of water. And we say, how do we worship that God? How do we truly do what he wants us to do is to hear the gospel, receive His sacraments and believe in Him, so that when he comes we will be counted among his people. That's it for our reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Matthew 22 is our text. And it starts with a fascinating, ironic seeing Pharisees and Herodians working together. How did that happen? Guys from political parties in opposite spectrums, theological enemies are joining forces, the Herodians word the supporters of the Roman Empire, the Pharisees were a strong opposition to Rome. Then these guys hate each other. They see pretty much everything in religion and society from different perspectives. But here, there's theming. Together, what is making them to do that? They want to put an end in Jesus, they came up with a meal trap. Jesus enemies, they have been trying through other questions before and they will try again, in the sequence. But now, the trap is about politics. They wanted to know what side is Jesus? And what's your favorite political position? Jesus? What's your ideology? I don't even need to say to you how controversial this conversation was.
And still is today?
How much this subject leaves people on the edge? In preaching about it is not easy. I wish I had a different text. I really do. I will proceed cautious than trying to explain what's going on here. There are two main points, if you will, there is a question. And there is an answer. Let's work through this structure. The question, it is right, to pay taxes to Caesar. Have you ever thought about it? What's behind this? What kind of question is this? What they really wanted to know? What is the trap behind the question? Now, one thing that helps us to understand is to see what kind of taxes they are talking about here. Because there were a lot of taxes back then. And the question is about one in a specific, the Imperial tax in the amount of money wasn't too high. But it was symbolic. It was the text paid to Rome, to have the benefit of being a colony. He was the text Rome charge every year to the places that they control. It was like we conquer you. But we will not kill you. We will not destroy everything in everyone. But that's gonna cost you IR B. We know from the history that when this tax was imposed by Rome, to Judea into that area, there was a big insurrection led by a guy called Judas Galilean. You and he did three things. He called everyone not to pay the tax. Second, He cleansed the temple of traders. And three, he said, From now on, we will only obey elap God to be our king will begin the kingdom of God. What happened to him? He was captured. It executed 25 years earlier than this story. And now what's happening? Here comes a guy Jesus. And he comes speaking about the Kingdom of God. Teaching throughout the country that the kingdom of God has arrived second, he cleans the temple. He expels the merchants and he caught the attention. People are intriguing what's happening here. We will have a new insurrection. A lot of people thought so. But there was one thing missing. He talks about the kingdom. He cleaned the temple. What was missing to characterize the revolution of 25 years ago? Yep. Call for a tax boycott. You see, the question goes deeper than just caught in Jesus to one side or the other. It's not just about attacking Jesus popularity. The question behind it is right to pay taxes to Caesars is Jesus? Are you a new revolutionary? In here's the trap. If Jesus says, No, don't pay tax, he will be calling for a revolt just like Judas did 25 years ago, he would be given the green light to the Jews to begin an armed revolution. And the Herodians would immediately report him to the authorities with a supposedly legitimate accusation. And the rebellion will be a nickel plated. And perhaps Jesus would be killed or arrested, before fulfilling his mission in Jesus would become none as only a political martyr, a second Judas Galilean, his work would have been this one more who rose again, the Empire. Now, if Jesus says yes, just go and pay the tax, then everyone who heard him teaching about the Kingdom of God wouldn't conclude his talk was just baloney. Why? Because Jesus could not talk in the first century about a kingdom of God, from a purely spiritual point of view, like something private, avoiding any social or political implication. Why is that? It is kind of difficult for us to understand, because in a way, we're all fruit of the Enlightenment. John Locke and Immanuel Kant, people who a few centuries ago, began to defend the thesis that religion and spirituality are matters of private life. That we should read the Bible, pray, come to church, thinking that Christ only wants to live inside here. He just wants to forgive us and take us to the heaven someday, that our faith in Jesus only serves to calm our consciences or to deal with feelings in has nothing to do with our everyday life, our social and relational life, our professional and political life and public life. When, when that's the case, we don't understand the trap Jesus was in for some today, it kind of would be completely okay for Jesus to say just, you know, I brought the kingdom of God to you come to church on Sunday, in whatever you do with the rest of your week, with your ethical decisions, with your priorities, with your relationships, with your multiple colleagues in your vocations with your money, none of that matters to God, keep God only in your heart, pray from time to time in whatever you do with the rest of your life is up to you. I am not sure if you are tempted to feel that way to think like that. The problem is that if Jesus said in the first century to that people who clung to promises and callings of a kingdom of God, they were much more real and concrete than just God in my heart. If Jesus said that to them, they would see the disconnection between him in the Old Testament and between him and himself in his words, because when he showed up and preached his first sermon, he said, I am the one who Isaiah has announced it. I am the one who came down from heaven to preach the good Gospel to the poor, to bring freedom to the captives, to give food to the, to the hungry, to be the God of the widows and the orphans to heal the sick. Do we understand? If Jesus who have been announcing the kingdom of God, if He now just says it is, it is right to pay taxes to says it? Oh, yeah, sure. Oh, stop doing, keep your heads down. Just pay the tax without any questioning. Keep God in your heart and be satisfied to be a law abiding citizen, enjoying your inner peace. If Jesus said that His followers wouldn't live him. Because this preaching don't match the kingdom of God. The God promise, he would lose credibility. And if he says Don't, don't pay it, don't pay a Texas QB hunt by Rome, and becomes a political prisoner, just like that. That is the drama behind the question. Are you? Or are you not the Messiah? Who will bring the to kingdom of God? That was the question. Let's work on the answer. Now. This is the situation in which Christ finds himself in his response is incredible. Interesting. When politics
when politicians in general, when they hear a controversial question, a question for which there was no prior narrative construction, no rehearsal with the team of advisors. What do they do? They avoid, right? They don't respond. They change focus, and we are disappointed, because we're expecting an answer. But Jesus, trappers were not disappointed. On the contrary, after Jesus entered, they marveled because not only Jesus did not avoid answering, but he said something that was so profound in the wreck in clear at the same time, render to Caesars the things that are Caesar's, and to God, the things there are gods in this answer, just like the question has more elements than we might notice, at first glance, and the best way to analyze is to think about this answer. And notice what Jesus is rejecting, with that answer. What is he benign? With those words, Jesus was cornered. He heard a question in now, in response, he will refuse a couple of things. First, with his answers, Jesus rejects a simplistic point of view, about politics and culture in our life in the world. The question is quite obvious. They wanted a simple answer, yes or no. To pay, you're not to pay one side or the other. Which party? Are you in? Are you going to join the Herodians, supporting Rome? Or the Pharisees against Rome? And in that sense, Jesus answer is disappointing. Because the answer give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God that things are God's to that question about our relationship to the state, our relationship to the Empire, our relationship to the politics, our relationship to the Texas was not a yes or no answer. But yes, no. It's not this or that. But this, in that both M. Jesus gives notice a balanced answer of nuances. On the one hand, he resisted what is on the court. On the other hand, he accepted. They wanted to know which side Jesus is, whether he's right or left in he refuses to see the situation in those terms.
He resists simplistic politics Next,
he resists polarized politics, we could say, the Gospel may not fit 100% into this, for that agenda, an implication
for us about this,
we should today, be careful to co opt Jesus into the agenda of one side, we can surely say, this value. This proposal seems to be in tune with the principles and values of God and Jesus in the gospel. But we should be cautious on saying, Jesus is on my side. I stand on the platform of Jesus. Anyone who does not vote like I do. I don't consider a Christian. I don't know. Jesus is inviting us with his answer to see the complexity of some things, to resist the temptation of oversimplify social and cultural and political matters. That's the first point of Jesus, he's refusing that simplistic answer to every question. Some questions. Sure. There is a yes or no. But not every question. Remember, brothers and sisters, the gift of the Holy Spirit, which one pastor, the gift of moderation, exercise moderation, on conversations about stuff happening in the world? Because sometimes they are not simple. Because maybe sometimes our brothers or our friends or our family members, maybe the little ones in faith, we're starting to walk with Jesus. Maybe they need patient, maybe they need a fraternal conversation, maybe because they don't know a lot of things yet, maybe because we may be wrong in this question, that's why Jesus is teaching first of all, humility, and moderation in these things. Don't be a mother zealot, how the zealot resolves their questions, they count, they cancel. They explore things. We don't need to be on the fence. We don't need to be always in a central position. Not necessarily. We can have our strong opinions about things. But whatever you find yourself, find yourself using moderation. Second thing on Jesus response, he resists both political admission and political idolatry. How so? I explained the details on the text, don't lose that. Jesus begin his answer asking for something. You see it. He asked for what a particularly coin to pay that specific Imperial text. It was a denarius. We know that currency. There are some examples in museums around the world. They are silver, and they have an icon printed in them. And Jesus then asks, Who is imaging is on the denarius? You have the emoji. And the scription, Jesus asked for the inscription to Tiberius Caesar, Son of God, Augustus, maximum pontiff, high priest. Jesus takes out a coin that says that the Roman Emperor is king, Son of God, in high priest. Jesus asks for this coin, and he's asked about the image and says, Give it to him. What's his pay him taxes? Not necessarily. It's not what he's saying. He said, Give to him. What his kids and to God, what is God's? Well, what is or what was Caesar's, so to speak. That which has his image, which is coins. There he is. They were minted from his wealth. Give Caesar whatever has his image printed on it. And we're talking about coins. We're talking about money. Now, give to God Whatever has his
image printed in it,
and what has God's image printed in it?
S You
to Caesar the coin to God, all of it yourself entirely. It's Jesus way of saying, pay the tax, okay? Now, total commitment, total Alliance, your entire life, no way that belongs to God and only God. Until that time, Jesus in one way or the other by force, or rhetorically all human governments had asserted that they were representing God on earth, that they have divine authority to be unquestionable, God chose us we are Gods every empire said that. And therefore we have the authority. No one can speak against us. No one can stand against us. Jesus is saying No way. Don't you dare to give to Caesar or any other ruler, this kind of covenant, give him the things with his image imprinted on it, give him the coin. But don't give you your wedding ring. Don't idolize
your ruler.
Another detail the verb Jesus used. They asked if they should pay. Caesar, the verb to pay is to give a gift. Jesus respond with another verb, a slightly different meaning. Jesus talks about not giving a gift but giving something back, giving back what whatever he gives to you. It's giving good government, give it back. If the government is unfair, resist, go to the streets, go to the polls, open your mouth vote reported in the proper way, of course, but call out the government when they are doing something wrong. Make no mistake, there is something you can and should give to Caesar. That scenarios there is political involvement, participation, contribution, but we cannot give him the same things if he exceeds his limit and becomes a beast of the revelation. If he ultimately is demands towards our total Alliance. Are uncritical support, there are situations we have the responsibility to stand against it. become a citizen of the kingdom of God has this political social involvement in the sense, as sinners, we're all part of the problem. But as Christians, we are all part of the solution. We don't want to be an zealot who is revolting. But we don't want to be an s sin. Don't run to the desert running away from the problem and leaving everything behind. Let's not become a lineated or distracted by things. But find out where is our place, our vocation, that God has placed us with our gifts and responsibilities and experiences in society. So we cannot say that Jesus was a political agitator. If he was one, he would have taken the advantage of that opportunity and call for rebellion. But we cannot say that Jesus advocates for a completely spiritual kingdom without any political social engagement without any participation or criticism, because by publicly declaring that no one should give Caesar His covenant. In his idolatry. Jesus is declaring that the government it's not supposed to be our God in so we can question if the government needs to be questioned, but we can and should support if the government needs our support. With this answer gives to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's Jesus was saying, on the one hand, I am not a politician. On the other hand, I'm credible, engaged in the life of the world. On the one hand, I don't have a government platform, at least not a detailed one. On the other hand, I do have a kingdom platform, because I am a king, not a king, like all of the other kings. Because my kingdom is dealing with the real poverty, with the real suffering, with the real injustice and the real disease with real conflict with real evil. I will bring peace and reconciliation with God, with others and with yourself. Life, abundant life, real, eternal life. There were two kings in this story, a king without a coin. In on the coin, another king. One had all the coins in the world, both claimed to be the Son of God, the high priest, the savior of humanity. But look how different they are. One King Caesar is doing his thing through conquest and colonization, and killing and by force. The other King, Jesus, do not conquer, do not colonize. He converts by love. And this one, Jesus, thy kingdom doesn't come to replace Caesar. He says, I am better than Caesar. I am different. My work is to solve yours and the world's problems, one by one, each in their own time. And I'm going to start by solving the biggest problem of all, the monster that lives inside all of you. Your sin. And I will do that. Not with a sword, nor with power, nor with the crease. I will do it with a sacrifice with a donation. My life, my blood in ransom from all of you. I will die for you. Without any coin, without any penny. Without a political party supporting me. Without a legion of fans supporting me. I will die empty, naked, totally offered to you. A king without a coin. A king who came to give, to serve to wash feet to die for us. That's your king.
That's our King. Give to him. What is yes, he deserves it.
It's not a coin. Amen.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, October 22, comes from Matthew chapter 22, verses 15 through 22. It reads, then the Pharisees went and plotted how to entangle Jesus in his words, and they sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians, saying, Teacher, we know that you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you're not swayed by appearances. Tell us then, what do you think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? But Jesus aware of their malice said, why put me to the test, you hypocrites, show me the coin for the tax. And they bought him a denarius. And Jesus said to them, Whose likeness and inscription is this, they said, Caesars, then he said to them, therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are gods. When they heard it, they marveled, and they left him and went away. He runs the reading. So a reading begins with a plot. And it's a plot that's quite interesting. What we see is the Pharisees and the Herodians. Team up to go against Jesus. Now, you know that this is a big deal. What you get is, on one side are the hardcore Jewish legal lists the people who are leaders of the religious parts of of God's people, they are upfront, they are hardcore, and pretty likely against the idea that there would be this this king who is not a son of David on the throne, a king who was propped up by the Romans, and that King's name was, you guessed it, Herod who the Herodians support. So the Herodians were the people who are on the side of King Herod. And so you get together, the Pharisees, one team, who often fight against the Herodians on the other team, and they all join up to put Jesus in a bind. So they begin by buttering them up. Teacher, we know that you are true, and teach the way of God truthfully. And you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. What a great way to start a conversation. There's sort of like back and trying to back Jesus into a corner, like oh, yeah, you are always wise and truthful. And you would never try to get out of a difficult situation by evading the question, Jesus, here's the here's some buttering up for you. And some of its true, Jesus is certainly wise and he would not try to evade questions. He's not swayed by appearances is what this means. Jesus did not bow to authority, but just because other people liked it. And he did not shy away from people just because other people disliked them. And now they get the question. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? This is what they think they think they've got him. On one hand, Jesus, if he says, Yes, you have to pay taxes to Caesar it means that he is supporting the, the Romans, and he is on the side of the Herodians. And all of the people, the Israelite nationalists, the people who are about the Kingdom of God and the throne of David, all of those people, they want to throw off the Roman oppressors, and Jesus has just made them mad. Now, on the other hand, you could say, I side with Israel, it is not lawful, we need to throw off the oppressors. And then the Herodians get mad, and the Romans get mad. And all of a sudden, he is a true usurper, who is trying to take away the Romans and fight against them. Jesus will become a criminal. So what they're thinking is, no matter how you ask, answer this question, Is it lawful? Yes. Is it lawful? No. No matter what you do, Jesus is stuck between someone. But he sees their trick. He says, show me the coin for the tax. They bring him a denarius, and he says, Whose likeness and inscription is this? So if you looked at a coin, the tax the denarius, Caesars face was stamped on that. And so they say, Caesars, and he replies, therefore, render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's I do love that sometimes we do the we hold on to the old just because it's traditional render. It's not like we're making soap here. It means give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God. And this is where Jesus establishes the separation between church and state, right? No, not at all. You see, what Jesus is doing is he's making a joke. Jewish people now, even if, if Caesar's image is on this, this coin, it still doesn't belong to him. If you give to Caesar the things that are Caesar's Caesar gets nothing. If you give to God, the things that are God's God gets everything. And we have to remember that when we use the image and likeness is who are we Christians made in the image of we are created in the image of God. And then we are stamped into the image of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. Which means that everything that we are is Christ, everything that we are is God. So Jesus isn't coming down on the separation of church and state here. What he's doing is he's showing how awful these Pharisees are, and reminding us that we all belong to God in everything we do, whether it's paying taxes or the rest of our lives. This is Jesus showing his wisdom and his power. And it's helping us to see that we are made in God's image following a Savior who was formed us after him as well. That's it for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, October 22, comes from First Thessalonians chapter one, verses one through 10. It reads, Paul Silvanus, and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians, and God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, Grace to You, and peace. We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father, your work of faith, and labor of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in Word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake, and You became imitators of us, and of the Lord, for you receive the word in much affliction with the joy of the Holy Spirit. So that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in a Kea, for not only as the word of the Lord sounded forth from you, and Macedonia and new Kea, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead. Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath to come. Here ends the reading. Paul and the others Silvanus. And Timothy, begin this letter, the way they normally begin letters, it begins with the people who are writing it. So we know Paul Silvanus, and Timothy are writing it. And then it mentions the the addresses the people that are hearing the letter, the church of the Thessalonians. And it's it mentions they are in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul continues on where he says, We give thanks to God always for you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers. This is another regular facet of Paul's letters is that he begins by telling them how he gives thanks to God for them in in their prayers. And it reveals individual things for each individual letter. And I think for Paul, he's looking at the at what's coming up to show something about the Thessalonians. He says, remembering before our God and Father, your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, for so he's pointing to their steadfastness, we'll get to that in just a little bit. Now, he continues, for you know, brothers loved by God that he has chosen you, because our gospel came to you not only in Word, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and with full conviction. Now, this forces us to go back and say, Well, what do we know about Paul's visit a visit to the town of Thessalonica. Well, we can go to Acts chapter 17, and see it, Paul, and others go to Thessalonica. And they begin doing their thing. It says, and Paul went in as was his custom and on three Sabbath days, he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead and saying, this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ. Now, what happens then is some are persuaded and some are not.
But the Jews get jealous. And what they do is they start a raffle and they form a mob, and they start trying to go after Paul and Silas and all of the people who are there, now they sneak away. But the Thessalonian Christians who have only had Paul and Silas there for three weeks, get the worst of it. And they find this man named Jason that Paul and Silas had been staying with, and they beat him up and arrest him and do all sorts of bad things to him. And then Paul and Silas, scoot out and head off to the town of Berea after that. Now, what I want you to think about as we consider this letter, then, is that Paul and Silas had gone to Thessalonica for only three weeks before they were forced out. And so they've got all of these brand new Christians. Like super brand new Christians, and yet somehow, the power of God was at work among them to withstand this kind of immediate and powerful persecution. And I really think that's what it means when it says the Holy Spirit, in power, and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. Now very often coming in the Holy Spirit and power means that there were miracles accompanying it. And I think that that may have been the case Paul and Silas certainly were known to have bring miracles along with them. But what greater miracle could there be than Baby Christian brand new to the faith, with standing this kind of torment and persecution, when their leaders are gone? Praise God for their amazing faithfulness. And Paul continues to say things like that, he says, and you know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake, and You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you receive the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in a Kea. So, he says that they proved to be a certain kind of person. And then that is associated then with the other, the people of Thessalonica, receiving affliction as well. And so I think this, this idea is we proved to be people who are willing to suffer for the faith. And then you became imitators of us, you Thessalonians that, and then, by imitating us imitated the sufferings of our Savior. And that's really what Christian aspires to, when we face suffering for the sake of Christ, is what we see is meaning in that is that we are living in the wounds of Jesus, living the affliction of Jesus. And so, with their their young faith, they became examples for everyone. And because of their bravery, because of their steadfastness, even in the face of not knowing anything about the gospel, only a few weeks, they became an example for everyone in Macedonia, and a Kea. And what a joy that is right, to see how it is not knowledge alone, that makes a Christian a lesson. Paul and Silas and Timothy and all those people who are out and about doing their thing they could preach they could teach. But the powerful lesson that came out of Thessalonica was not the word of God or the the miracles or a doctrinal treatise. It was the fact that when God came by the power of the gospel to these people, they stood up to persecution right off the bat, and remain faithful to Christ, even to torture and death. And what an example that can be for us, as we wait as St. Paul says, To for the true the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to the calm and the Thessalonians. They turned from their false idols to serve the true and living God who will save us on the last day. And we do the same. We turn to the true and living God, who is coming Jesus Christ, who will come with the clouds in great power and might raise us from the dead and deliver all the wicked unfaithful into eternal condemnation. That's the end of our reading. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, October 22, is Psalm 96. Oh Sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord all the earth. Sing to the Lord bless his name. Tell him his salvation from day to day. declare His glory among the nations is marvelous works among all the peoples. For Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the people are worthless idols. But the Lord made the heavens, splendor and majesty are before him. strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. Ascribe to the LORD or families of the peoples of Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, Ascribe to the LORD the glory, do his name, bring an offering and come into His courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness trembled before him all the earth, say among the nations, The Lord reigns, yes, the world is established, it shall never be moved, he will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar and all that fills it. Let the field exalt, and everything in it, then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord for He comes, for He comes to judge the earth, He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. Here ends the reading. The Zone begins, oh, Sing to the Lord, a new song, sing to the Lord all the earth. Now often when people see this in the Psalms, they see this passage Sing to the Lord a new song as a call to sing new kinds of worship songs. But if you look at the Bible, the places where it says Sing to the Lord, a new song, it does this when when God does a new kind of thing in his salvation history. And so we see this parallel being done in the book of Isaiah before our the reading that we had, for the Old Testament for this same Sunday is a couple of chapters before Isaiah 45. Isaiah says to sing to the Lord, a new song, about the salvation that God is going to deliver through Cyrus and we see coming up that Cyrus is going to save Israel. And that calls for a new song because it's a renewed salvation event, thing to the Lord, a new song. That means when God does something new, we sing in a new way about that. And that can be using the old songs, but also new using new songs, especially we can see that in the salvation we have through Jesus Christ is that all things become new. And we have come up with so many new songs and new ways of talking about Jesus since the day he ascended into heaven. It continues, Sing to the Lord bless his name, tell of His salvation from day to day, declare His glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples. One of the great ideas about singing these new songs, these these new salvations is to share the message that God is truly the one who's in charge, that our God is God and not all the worthless idols as a talks about. One of the reasons Isaiah pointed us to Cyrus was to show Cyrus and the rest of the world, that it is truly God and God alone, the one the father of Jesus Christ and and the one with the Holy Spirit. He is the only one who has control who has power. Everything else is worthless. And so this the song that we're singing extols the majesty of the only God who has power to save. The next section begin to this Ascribe to the LORD or families of the peoples Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, describe to the Lord the glory, do his name, bring an offering and come into His courts. Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness, tremble before him, all the earth. When we sing our song, what do we do? We Ascribe to the LORD the glory to his name. Now, one of the ways that the Lutheran Church has always dealt with the praises of God is that we praise God not for his qualities, but for the things he does. And so if you Look through our hymnody we don't do so much like praising God for being all powerful or a mortal or wise or anything like that. Most of our praising comes by repeating the things he did does for us through Jesus. And so we praise the Father, we praise the sun was praised the spirit for the work they do, which not only gives us the ability to sing about what God has done for us, but it also norms our praise, so that it molded and reflects, and even teaches us why we love God so much. Because we don't love God because he's all powerful. We don't respond with joy to God, because he's mighty, or eternal. We respond with joy to God because He sent His Son Jesus Christ. And that's why we worship. That's why we praise. And so our praise in our singing is constantly about the work that God does for us. So that we can we can do our praise by reflecting what God has already given us. And that leads us into the next section where it says, say among the nations, The Lord reigns, yes, the world is established, it shall never be moved, he will judge the peoples with equity. The kingdom of God, is a big piece of what Jesus came to bring when he he comes in the Gospel of Matthew and Mark and Luke, after his baptism, he goes around preaching the kingdom of God is at hand. And that's what it means. The Lord reigns. Or if you're translating directly, Yahweh reigns. It means that God is in charge. He is the king over all creation. And we can rejoice in that, as it says, Let the heavens be glad and let the earth rejoice. Let the sea roar, and all that fills it. Let the field exalt, and everything in it, then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy before the Lord for he comes. For He comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his faithfulness. This, this closes with some prayer, prayer and praise. But it also talks about God's judgment. Earlier it says he judges the people with equity, and he judges in righteousness later and with faithfulness. What this means is that God judges with impartiality. One of the pain points of the prophets is that God blamed the judges and the kings, for judging people based on bribes is that the widows and the orphans were taken advantage of the wealthy got the justice because they could give money to the judges. And that was not equity, that was not faithfulness. We have to be careful that when we look at this we don't see is God has a preferential option for the poor because he doesn't do that either. He judges people based on his standards, and that alone, the rich, the poor, the wise, the foolish, all are equal before God and they are judged equally before he the standard of Him who is the King of all creation. And for us who are Christians, we rejoice that we are judged not based on what we have done, but on the faithfulness of Christ and His actions for us. That's the end of our reading for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, October 22, comes from Isaiah chapter 45, verses one through seven. Thus says the Lord to His anointed to Cyrus whose right hand I have scratched, to subdue nations before him, and to loosen the belt of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed, I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces, the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hordes in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the LORD, the God of Israel, who call you by your name, for the sake of my servant, Jacob and Israel, my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, there is no other. beside me there is no God. I equip you, though you do not know me that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the West, that there is none besides me. I am the Lord. And there is no other, I form light and create darkness, I make well being and create calamity. I am the Lord who does all these things. Here ends the reading. Isaiah is calling out to a guy named Cyrus, it says, Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped. If you know about Isaiah, Isaiah spends much of his time looking forward from the eighth century BC, round 740 BC, to the days of the Babylonian exile. And then even farther on when Cyrus the Great King of the Persian Empire, sends the Jews back to Jerusalem. And so Isaiah has predicted that someone would come in destroy the city of Jerusalem and take them off into captivity. And that happened in 598, B C ish. It's during that time that they do all sorts of stuff to destroy the city. And Isaiah is looking ahead to that. And but he's even more specific here, where he says even beyond that, he's going to call out the very guy who is going to send Israel back, that is to Cyrus, the great king of Persia. Notice what Isaiah says that the Lord is saying, he calls Cyrus God's anointed, and says, whose right hand I had grasped. The idea of anointed means Messiah chosen one, the same word they would have used for Jesus, the same word chosen for any any king who would have been anointed to lead God's people are the judges of the Old Testament. This time, it's going to a pagan king, who is going to be born hundreds of years later. Interestingly, the whose right hand I have grasped reflects a tradition that the Persian kings would grab the hand of Marduk, the god of Babylon, and that hand would then guide the king during this time. Here God is saying that he is the one who has grasped Cyrus's right hand, and he's going to do it to do all sorts of terrible things to the world, sued new nations lose the belt of Kings destroy stuff, Cyrus is going to have all of this amazing success. Destroy doors of bronze breakthrough bars of iron, he gets the treasures and secret places all of that is going to happen, and why it's for Israel. He chooses Cyrus for the good of his people. says, For the sake of my servant, Jacob, and Israel, my chosen, I call you by your name. And we see what happens is that when Cyrus does come to power in the Babylonian Empire, he allows the Jewish people to go home and helps to fund rebuilding their temple and rebuilding the walls. And so the city of Jerusalem becomes a new and a vibrant city by the time Jesus is born. And it's all because of this guy named Cyrus. What this offers for us Christians today is an interesting view of how God works through history is that God chose Cyrus, a pagan king, someone who didn't know him who didn't understand who who never called upon him. And he used this king, as, as a tool to free Israel and bring them to the promised land. And God still arranges all of history today, to point all of us to the end, to the day when Jesus our king will return and raise us from the dead. All of history is moving towards that point, and God arranges it all for the good of his church. So we can trust in Him knowing that God predicted hundreds of years before a king would come. His name was written in the Bible. And Isaiah was recognized as a prophet because of this. And we too can see this pattern working out that God uses the the people of this world for the good of the church, and bringing us to the resurrection on the last day. God truly is powerful, that he can use all of these people for the good of the church. That's it for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. These past three weeks, we have been doing a sermon series on raising children in the faith. Today is the third Sunday in our three week series. The first one was called planting the seed nurturing faith in the hearts of children. And we talked about the role of parents as the primary person for raising a child in the faith, how the Christian faith is passed on as parents talk about who Jesus is, establish patterns in the home and share that with their children. And that no amount of work that a congregation can do can really overcome the challenges of that. Parents are the primary people who begin this life in faith. Last week, we did a sermon called gathering in the name. And it discussed how the role of the worship service, the divine service is central to the life of every Christian, from the youngest to the oldest, because it's here that God comes to us, as a body, delivers his word and Sacraments and empowers us by the Holy Spirit, that every Christian, no matter how young or old, belongs in the divine service, to receive from God, His grace, and mercy. And today, we are talking about how parents and a congregation can come together to help them raise their children in the faith and make that faith a living an active faith through their lives as they grow into adulthood. And as we do that, I think it's good always to back up one step. And remember, what is the goal of a children's ministry? Or a youth ministry? What is the goal of the ministry that we do together to help these parents? And it is very simple. We ask every confirmation student in fact, we ask our new members to come into the congregation as well this question, do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession? That is the confession of the Lutheran Church in this confession and church and to suffer all even death rather than fall away from it? That's our goal. The goal of a children's ministry is the same as the goal of an adult ministry to grow adult lifelong Lutherans who are faithful to their savior, Jesus Christ, who returned to their their church, to receive the Word and the sacraments, be empowered by the Holy Spirit, and live lives of service wherever they go. Now, that may mean, they remain here for their entire lives, it may mean that we send them off, they head out to college or jobs or anything. And that we transfer them on to other Lutheran congregations where they continue in their life of faith. The goal is to make them faithful Christians their entire lives. And the only way that can happen is through the power of the word and the sacraments. The same way it happens with the adults, because the Holy Spirit comes to you, the same way to them, as they gather together, hear the word partake of God's grace, and are empowered by the Holy Spirit. But as we consider what that means for our children, as they as they grow from very young children all the way up until adulthood, we understand that very often this means they get approached in ways that are different than adults do. As we help these children understand their faith and grow in their ability to live it out. We have to ask, what does a congregation do in partnership with their parents? And I think it falls under two broad themes. The first of them is one that every I think most churches do. Training and understanding the doctrines and the content of the faith. What that means is, we teach them the word of God, plain and simple. They learn Bible stories. They hear from the from God's word, they understand the themes and the arc of the plot of the Bible. And as much of that as also, what it means for them. But the grace of God has been applied to them in their baptisms, and that they can continue to receive it every Sunday here in worship. But we also have an opportunity as a congregation, to encourage children of all ages from very young all the way up to just before adults for active service. And leaving out of that faith. Because active participation in the work of a congregation is also part of training and growing, and understanding what the faith means. Because faith is not just something that is in our heads, or in our hearts. Faith is something that produces works. And to understand what that means we have to teach children to do it. The same way we have to teach adults to be living and active in their service. And so congregation's job, is to help everyone grow in this ability, by giving them opportunities to build connections with each other, to do things of service acts of good works. And that's one of the reasons why I chose the Epistle reading for today from James, is to remind us that faith is not just something that is internal. but faith is something that produces works, that when the Holy Spirit works in us and builds us up and changes us to be like Christ, the evidence shows in your life. faith produces works. A long time ago, a professor of mine used this analogy to help us understand what James is trying to say. He was a kind of a car guy. And so he had like model teas that he owned. And back when he was a young pastor, the way he would greet people in his new town, very small town, they'd move in, he drove up his Model T to their house. Instant conversation starter, right? And what he said is, how do you know a car is running? The look? Can you go inside and see the flames? Do you look at the gas as it pumped into the cylinders? And go Oh, yes, I can see that. There's the fire. There's the pistons. You have to look at external things to understand. Unless you're willing to open up the entire engine as it burns fuel, kind of dangerous. You have to ask, Do I hear the sound? Do I see the smoke. That is how I know a car is running. And very often, what we do is we see faith that produces works is a way of expressing the faith that is inside us. As we can see that God is changing us and molding us to live in the world. And so faith without works, as James says, is dead. So our job is to help Christians understand what the faith is, and live that out in our lives. For us, I think we do a good job on training the knowledge of the faith. We have lots and lots of programs for our children, the children can be involved in our Sunday School meets for a whole hour right during my Bible study time, or all of our kids can come in and get an hour of lessons and hear God's word and do activities and talk together. It's a great way of understanding and growing in the faith. as they age out of elementary school, our confirmation classes, we have two years of training for one hour a week. The first year is a year of understanding the entire story of the Bible. The idea is that rather than teaching individual stories, we teach them how they all piece together as you go from Genesis all the way through Revelation as we prepare for the day that Jesus returns. And then the second year is understanding the Catechism that Martin Luther wrote, that gives us the basic doctrines and teachings and habits that set the Lutheran church apart from the Protestant churches around us to help us understand that God comes to us through these sacraments to justify us and give us the Holy Spirit.
We do these things. And these are part of of how we do this. And in that, in that Information class, we also learn from our songs as well. We lately have started singing this hymn called these are the holy 10 commands. You heard that one? No it? Did you know that Martin Luther wrote a hymn to help people memorize the 10 commandments. Isn't that kind of cool? That's great. It helps us do these things. But they're not done after confirmation. We also have a youth group that meets every Sunday, after our worship services, for our teenagers, all the way up through high school. These are all great ways that we have for training and the knowledge of the faith classes, helping them understand who Jesus is, what he does for us how he works. They are there to help us. Let these these students encounter God's word, receive the Holy Spirit, ask questions on their own, so that they can begin to understand and grow in their faith, almost independently of their family, especially as they as they begin entering into these middle school and high school years, becomes more important for them to do that on their own as they transition into adulthood. These cannot replace what you do at home, parents, but they do help. And they're a big piece of, of the life of the congregation. Where our congregation and I think many of our congregations need work, is incorporating children into the life and ministry that we do, how we take them as they as they grow, and we give them knowledge and classes and we help them. And I think we do a great job with that. It's as they age out of these elementary school years. How do we incorporate them with relationships with adults in the congregation, into the life and service of the church. That's an important piece of training. An important piece of, of developing an active and living faith is actually living it out. Jesus did that with His disciples. In Matthew chapter 10. We see Jesus sends out his 12 disciples, he had spent a whole lot of time teaching them preaching with them. Jesus went out and heal the sick, and he cast out demons and he did all this cool stuff. And then he said, now it's time for you to practice. You sent them out into the world. And while Matthew chapter 10, isn't a manual for training, it does offer us some help to understand that the faith is not just in our heads, but active in our lives. How can we, as a congregation, enable children and youth to serve alongside us to build relationships between people so that they can feel included not just as children of parents, but as equal members of the Body of Christ? We are currently going through a process of understanding and trying to figure out where we're going some strategic planning. And I think this is a big piece of what we need to think about. How do we incorporate these people into our lives? And personally, I am especially concerned about that transition from late elementary age in through confirmation. Historically, confirmation has been a time of teaching and training, where they hear the word of God and they think about it and then we stand them up in front of the congregation, we ask them a bunch of very serious questions like, well, you suffer all even death rather than fall away from the Lutheran Church in Christ. And the idea is, it's supposed to be a rite of passage, almost like you're stepping into adulthood in the faith. But we do this with 14 year olds. And in our society, you don't step into an adulthood when you're 14. And so it's almost like they go through this big ritual, two years of preparation, they stand up, they put on the robes, they do that thing. And then they go back to being the same as they were before. And I wonder what can we do to make that not the case? To take children who've gone through our confirmation, who are growing in their independence and treat them as slightly more independent, encourage them to interact in our congregation in ways that are unique to that person. So they can live out the Holy Spirit's work in their life. Where it becomes difficult, is what happens as they, as they begin to grow as they gain through high school, and eventually they turn 18. If we don't offer them a way to transition from childhood to adulthood, all of a sudden they become 18. And we say that's not for you, no more youth group have a great life. You go, Oh, now you're an adult, you've graduated Great. What do you do? We can use that time, as a way to grow in the faith to transition into more and more adult like responsibilities. So that when they turn 18, it is not like, what do I do now. But there's a clear path into our congregation as a full adult member. There are lots of ways we need to think about how we do this. I don't have all the answers. I'm just some guy up in front. You guys know your congregation, you know us much better than I do. Most of you have been here longer than me. And so you can think through how does this work here in this place? How can we as God's people love and help and build relationships with the young children, the older children and the high schoolers and incorporate them into our lives? But we do need to think about it. How can we build these organic relationships, to build up the faith that has been passed down to us? How can we tie them to the congregation through these person to person relationships where the word of God can be shared? And support can be given? How can we encourage faithful actions? One of the things that I've I've done historically as a pastor is that when people leave my congregation to go off to school somewhere, I will sit down with them, and walk through their options of where to go for church nearby. I think it's a great way for them to think through this. And I want to talk about one student who really typifies how a congregation can take a young adult and embrace them and build these kinds of relationships. It's this young boy named Nathan. He went off to school in Michigan, and I called up the nearest congregation and I said, Hey, I've got this Lutheran student, great kid. I want him to come to your church he wants to come to Can you get him there? First Sunday, he was there. Some old lady shows up at his door and says, given you a ride to church, that's how it starts, right? Faith in Action, God's love going out. He already had a friend in that congregation. He gets in the car, she gives him a ride every Sunday. He gets there. Not too long later, I see a photo of him carrying the processional cross into the sanctuary. The new guy, college student, he's got the robe on with the cross and he's walking in and everybody sees him. He's involved. He's doing stuff. You never missed a Sunday, at least as far as he told me. You know, what do you say to your pastor? But we can think about that sort of thing, as a way that congregations gather together people into their midst and build these ties that the Holy Spirit uses to bind them to the Word and Sacrament. And it's something we need to think about. How can we do that as our children grow? How can we do that as our youth transition into high school and adulthood? How can we build these relationships that then live out what we teach them every Sunday? In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. Hey, everyone, we're finishing up our sermon series on raising children in the faith this week, and I've chosen Matthew chapter 10, verses one through 15 as the Gospel reading for Sunday, October 15, it goes like this. And he called to him his 12 disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. The names of the 12 apostles are these first Simon, who is called Peter and Andrew, his brother, James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas and Matthew, the tax collector, James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. These 12 Jesus sent out instructing them, go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and proclaim as you go saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons, received without paying, give without pay, acquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, no bag for your journey, or to tunics, or sandals or a staff, for the laborer deserves his food. And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it, and stay there until you depart. As you entered, the house greeted, and if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace returned to you. And if anyone will not receive you, or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet, when you leave the house, that house or town, truly I say to you, it will be more bearable on the Day of Judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. Here is the reading. So our reading begins with Jesus calling the 12 disciples and it lists out who they are. Simon, Andrew, James, John, Philip and Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Thaddeus, Simon, Judas. And Jesus takes them all out. And he sends them out to the the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now, as an interesting note, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, to the disciples to only go to the house of Israel, and he changes that, finally, at the very end, when he says, go make disciples of all nations, not just the house of Israel, but all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son in the Holy Spirit. Now, Jesus sends them out, and he gives them a task, proclaim, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers and cast out demons. So what he's doing is he's telling the disciples at that time, to do the same things that Jesus has been doing. Jesus has been proclaiming the kingdom of God, and healing, raising the dead, cleansing lepers, casting out demons. The idea is Jesus here is training them for the ministry, by having them do the things that he's doing. So the disciples have been with him for a while. And then he says, Now, you go, you've seen me work, you go do it. It's an interesting way of teaching people, right. You teach them they follow along, they hear the master doing it, and then they're supposed to mimic him, go out and do the thing. Now for the disciples, at that moment, he sends them out without any any preparations, without any any extra supplies, no bags, no belts, no extra coppers or silver or gold or anything like that. When they go out, they're supposed to rely on the hospitality of strangers. They get to a town they proclaim the kingdom of heaven is at hand and someone is supposed to take them in, as he says, For the laborer deserves his food. If they find no one who in the town who was willing to take them in, is supposed to take the dust and shake it off their feet as judgment against them. Now the reason I chose this one when we're talking about raising children in the faith is it shows a good example of the way Jesus brought up his disciples in this pattern that he was trying to teach them that he walked with them. He taught them He gave them knowledge, they watched him work, and then at some point They had, he decided to give them some practice. And later on, we'll see them come back and they debrief over it and they talk about it. This is a thing that that we need to do as congregations and as families trying to raise Christians in the faith is that there becomes a time when it's less about Bible study and about gaining knowledge. But we also need to help them practice it, especially as they as they transition from being children into almost adults, there's a time where they have to start taking more and more responsibility and do more and more things for themselves. And one of the things that I think the church has really struggled with, is thinking about how do we transition children into being adults in an appropriate way? Sometimes I think it's almost like they hit a teen and they're like, Fine, you've graduated now go out and be adults, you're ready for it, right? And they go, wait, wait, Yesterday, you were still emailing my dad to ask permission for me to go on events. It's an interesting thing that we have to think about is this transition. It's like, do we just sort of drop them into adulthood? Or is there a better way? And I think churches need to think through that. Just like Jesus thought through this, this growth in this practice, before they actually were sent out into all nations. That's all I have for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. This week, we're finishing up our series on raising children in the faith with the third sermon in our series. So I chose readings that are a little different. The reading for this upcoming Sunday, October 15, for the Epistle reading is from James chapter two, verses 14 through 26. It reads, what good is it my brothers, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, Go in peace be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body? What good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works. And I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one you do? Well, even the belief, demons believe and shutter Do you want to be shown you foolish person that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar, you see that faith was active along with his works. And faith was completed by his works. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. And he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way, was not also Rahab, the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way. For as the body apart from the spirit is dead. So also, faith apart from works is dead. Here is the reading. This is a tough one for us, Lutherans, brothers and sisters in Christ. faith apart from works is dead. Let's take a look. So he begins with a question. What happens if your faith does not have works? And it goes, What good is it my brothers if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If her brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them Go in peace be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body? What good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. I think this is a fascinating look at what it means to have faith. I think for for many of us, Faith seems to be having an idea in our heads or a warm feeling in our hearts. And that kind of faith isn't really a faithfulness so much as just sort of having an inkling about Jesus. But James is doing here is he's saying faith leads to works. And if you don't see the works, maybe we have to ask some questions about the faith. So the example he uses is if a member of the congregation a brother or sister doesn't have food, what does faith do? Does faith say? I'll pray for you? Or does faith say I'll help you? Well, hopefully it actually says both. And what James is saying is that a faithful Christian who's filled with faith in Christ will then go out and give someone who is hungry or cold, warmth, or food. So faith all by itself? Well, it's hard to see. So he says later, but someone will say you have faith and I have work. Show me your faith apart from your works. And I will show you my faith by my works. What does that mean? Well, what I think he's doing is again, the works show in the life of a Christian is evidence of their faith. He wants you to go out and be like, point to my faith. Can we do that? Can we point to faith? I'm not sure. But we can point to things that are evidence, things by the works that we do, that faith genuinely leads towards. And that's what I think it means when it says faith without works is dead, is that a Christian who has faith will lead towards the works that are good towards good works towards our brothers and sisters in Christ towards the world and towards God. God, do these works save us? Well, you also see he has like, you have faith. And I have works. Like works apart from faith don't mean anything either. Right. And so the key component is faith that leads to works. Now one of the real challenges is when he goes through this, this big thing about Abraham being justified by works, he says in verse 21, Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered up his son Isaac on the altar, you see that faith was active along with his works and faith was completed by his works. So here is showing a bit of a of an example how Abraham's faith was lived out, by actually trusting in God, Abraham, his faith, he trusted God, which meant then, that he did the work of offering up Isaac on the altar. He believed that God could raise Isaac from the dead, who was willing to offer him as a sacrifice, which means that the faith he had had a chance to be lived out in his works. And similarly, Rahab, the prostitute, when the spies came in, she knew who the God of Israel was. And she knew that he was coming on the march. And she was, well, she knew that he was going to win. And so her knowledge, her faith, was completed. By doing works. From her faith came the act of trusting God, to protect her when the armies came. It's an interesting way of seeing how faith produces the works that that God calls on us to do. Now, what's interesting is when I talk in our Bible studies, and I talk with members about what it means to be justified by grace through faith on account of Christ, and that our works don't save us. I almost always get someone from the group who will raise their hands and say, But Pastor, we have to do works, right. And I go absolutely, Christians, that our faith causes us to do works, they're the natural result of works. And so it flows out of us into the world. What's funny is then when I turn us around, and we start to do the faith without works is dead thing. And people tend to get a little nervous, because when we say things like, well, you know, the historic church would excommunicate people who didn't go to church once a year. We don't do that. I mean, that's pushing it a little far for us, but saying, maybe if you are despising preaching in His Word, and not coming to the church and not receiving Communion and not asking for the sacraments, maybe that is a demonstration about where our faith is. Faith without works is dead. And I think that's where we're going with this. This passage from James, is that when we have faith, we see the works in action. And so faith without works is dead. And James says, show me your faith, you can't see it, right? No, we when we we live out our faith, that faith shows the world and shows goes out into the world in works. You know, I had a professor at an college actually, who talked about this relationship. You said that when you when you look at a car, and it's running, you can't actually see the engine running. What do you do? Well, you listen, and you can hear the engine rumbling. And you can see smoke coming out of the back. Well, hopefully not too much smoke, hopefully just a little smoke. So you know, the engine is running. And that's kind of how this faith and works thing is going on. So that sometimes we see the things that we do and that's the sign of the faith that's in us. And that's I think what James is getting at here. Well, that's it for us today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation.
Everyone I apologize for the recording quality. I'm recording this from home. I'm a little sick, so I don't have my normal equipment from my office. We're continuing the sermon series from about raising children in the faith. This one is from Psalm 91. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust, for He will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his pinions and under his wings, you will find refuge His faithfulness is a shield and buckler. You will not fear the terror of the night nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noon day. 1000 may fall at your side 10,000 at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord your dwelling place the Most High who is my refuge. No evil shall befall you. No plague come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you, to guard you in all your ways. on their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the after the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot because he holds fast to me in love. I will deliver him I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him with long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. Here ends the reading. Psalm 91 is a Psalm of trust. It is a psalm that describes how God is a refuge and a fortress, that he is there in times of difficulty and trouble. The thing about Psalm 91, though, is that it is not a promise that everything will go well. But simply a promise that we can trust in God in difficult times. We begin He who dwells in the shelter of the Most tide will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust. Now we know that we can trust in God, our refuge and our fortress. He has promised that in Jesus Christ that we have protection, not just from the evil things of the world, but from sin, death and the devil itself. And so the next few verses list all of the things that God will save the boss from the snare of the fowler deadly pestilence or disease, that God covers us with his his wings, and he is a shield and buckler. These are all examples of the difficulties that an ancient Israelite would have would have faced and examples of things that God protects against. No, of course we know. Sometimes deadly pestilence does get people. Sometimes God's protection doesn't seem like it's there. But we know that God is with us. Because Jesus came and died for us an entered into death so that we can rise with him on the last day. And so 1000 As it says in verse seven 1000 may fall at your side 10,000 at your right hand, but we know that death is not the end. The God is coming, that Jesus Christ will save us and raise us to everlasting life. continues in verse nine, because you have made the Lord your dwelling place the Most High who is my refuge, no evil shall be allowed to befall you know plague come near your tent, free will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. on their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the after the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. Similarly, what we see here is another example of all the dangers that God commands His angels to guard us He commands His power to protect us. Not from the day to day dangers of this world, but from death itself. Because it doesn't matter if the lions eat us, or the ad or poison us, poisons us. Doesn't matter if cancer gets us or if we are blown up in a terrorist attack. What matters is that Jesus Christ is coming to raise us from the dead and he shall holds he continues this in the last few verses where God says, because he holds fast to me in love. I will deliver him. I will protect him because he knows my name. When he calls to me, I will answer him, I will be with him in trouble. I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation. What a great promise for us who wait for Christ to return. Even in the midst of difficulties and terrible news all over the world. We know that God will be with us and save us. That's it for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation.
Everyone sorry for the delay in getting this episode out. I was sick yesterday, still a little under the weather. So you'll notice a difference in the recording quality. Please forgive me for that. This week, we're finishing up the sermon series on raising children in the faith. So the readings are a little different from the lectionary. The reading that I've chosen for the Old Testament for this upcoming Sunday comes from Joshua chapter four, verses one through seven. When all the nation had finished passing over the Jordan, the Lord said to Joshua, take 12 men from the people, each from each tribe, a man and commend them saying, take 12 stones from here out of the midst of the Jordan. And from the very place where the priest feet stood firmly, bring them over with you and lay them down in the place where you lodge tonight. Then Joshua called the 12 men from the people of Israel whom he had appointed a man from each tribe. And Joshua said to them, pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you, when your children ask in time to come, what do these stones mean to you, then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel, a memorial forever. Here ends the reading. This reading follows up on an important story in the history of Israel. Just before this, Joshua and the people were on the far side of the Jordan. And God instructed the priests to take the Ark of the Covenant and walk into the Jordan River. And where they did this, the Jordan River would stop and pile up on where the the ark was, and everything underneath it would be dry. So the people of Israel crossed into the Jordan River, very similar to the way that they crossed the Red Sea when Moses was around. Now, this time, God has a plan with Joshua, to help the people of Israel. Remember, they didn't do a great job of remembering what God had done when they crossed the Red Sea, or with the manna, or with the quail or anything like that. They just kept fighting against God. So what God tells Joshua to do is pick up 12 stones. And he says, pass on before the ark of the Lord your God in the midst of the Jordan and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, this may be a sign among you, when your children asked in time to come, what did these stones mean to you, then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord. The idea behind these stones is that they would take them out and pile them up and make it into a monument that would remind God's people about the event that happened. And God anticipates something here, he anticipates the children going by and seeing these these stones and going, Huh, that's weird. stones don't pile up like that all on their own. What's going on here? And it would be an opportunity for the congregation of Israel, whether the parents or others to say, Do you remember the story? Do you remember what God did for us? This is a way to incorporate the history of God's promises into the life of Israel. And we as a congregation have a number of ways that we do that. We incorporate the history of God's work through our divine service, through reading and speaking about God. And it's the entire congregations efforts along in partnership with the parents to help pass this on and tell these stories. And so, Joshua, and God set up this memorial for all time, that these stones will then be there to remind God's people of his work and his promises. And what a great way to incorporate that into the life of Israel as a physical reminder of what God has done and how he promised to to bring salvation to God's people by bringing them into the Promised Land. That's it for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
We are today continuing in a sermon series on raising children in the faith. This is a three sermon series. Last week we talked about how important it is that the biblical role of introducing the faith and sustaining the faith is for parents, that parents are the primary person who teaches the faith to their children's. The habits and actions of home life, are the ways that we really, they really see what it means to be a Christian. Today, we are talking about the importance of having children and in fact, having everyone in the divine surface. And next week, we're going to talk about how a congregation and parents can partner together to help train a living faith in the lives of those children. Today, as we begin this, I'd like to read from Mark chapter 10. People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them. But the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, Let the little children come to Me, and do not hinder them. For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these, I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God, like a little child will never enter it. And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them, and bless them. Today, as we consider this idea that children belong just as much in the divine servants as adults, we're going to take a look at it in a few ways. First, we're going to talk about the theology of the divine service, and why all of us should be here. Next, we'll talk about some of the practical reasons. Finally, we'll look at some objections. And last, we'll look at ways that we as a congregation can support parents who bring their children here. The beginning, is the theology of what happens here in worship, as we gather together. Now that theology is contained in a phrase that Lutherans have used to talk about worship, called the divine service. And we call it that, because in the divine service, God comes down from heaven, in a special way, and serves us through His grace. We see that in a number of ways. We see it in the confession and absolution, where you confess your sins. And then the pastor forgives your sins, in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This is not just magic words, not just something wishing nice to the Holy Spirit actually is delivered through them to forgive your sin. In Holy Communion, Jesus Christ comes down. In a way he does not come down any other time. It is special. It is unique. Well, God is everywhere. While Christ is everywhere, he only comes in his body and his blood for you, in the divine service. In the word to hear, we have a special moment where all God's people gathered together to hear not just a Bible reading, though, that's important. But also it applied to the life of a congregation, applied to the adults, applied to the children, applied to the people whose memories are fading, whose eyes aren't working to everyone of all different kinds of abilities. In the divine service, all of God's people gathered together around his word, and Sacraments to receive His grace. And what a great joy that is, that we can be here where God says that He is where God gives you salvation, where he delivers his grace to you. And Jesus says, Let the children come to Me. And what's interesting about the story that I just read is that it's in the middle of Jesus's teaching. Right beforehand, he's talking to the Pharisees and right afterwards, there's a little teaching with the crowds, and there's all this stuff going on. And when mothers bring their babies to Jesus, the disciples are like, No, back off. Adults are doing important things. Jesus is teaching. One of the things we get right About this passage is later when Jesus says you have to receive it like a little child. We often say that it's because the children are loving or trusting, or something like that. That's not what's going on here. In the ancient world, children were the least important members of society. Babies, especially because most of them would die before they reached age five children that were to be neither seen nor heard. Adults are the important ones, especially the elders. And that disciples, in any other circumstance, any other teacher would be like, What are you doing bringing these kids here? Jesus is far too important for that. But Jesus says, the lowliest among us, receive His grace. And the most humble among us, must receive His mercy. And isn't that how God's grace works, not just with children, but all of us, that those who come to God with a proud heart he turns away. But when we come to him with repentance, when we come with need, when we say I am not strong, I am too weak, I can't do it God, Jesus Christ comes with His grace and His mercy, and gives you salvation. This is what he does with children. This is what he does. And all of God's people gather together at this special moment where God says, I am here. That is why we bring children here. But there are some practical reasons as well. One, goes back to Proverbs, Chapter 22, verse six, or Solomon writes, train a child in the way he should go. And then when he was old, it will not depart from it. Pretty good wisdom, right. And when you take children out of worship, when you train them not to go to church, you're training them not to go to church, right? When you say, church is not for you, go do something else. You're teaching them that that is their place to be. That that is where they are to go. That they are not welcomed with the adults, they should be with the kids. And if you teach them that they might believe you. Which is a shame, isn't it? We want to be a place that loves them, a place that cares about them, that welcomes them into the body of Christ as equal members. Because they are not the lowest of us. They are just one of us, you children. You are equal members in the body of Christ, not to be tossed out, not to be neglected not to hide away. One of us, full members of the Church fully saved fully in need of God's grace, the same way we are. To train them not to come to church, they will not come to church. The next thing is what you have to ask a question. What happens when they graduate from children's church, they have spent all of this time many years of their life, playing games, reading a story doing crafts, and they love it. It's fun, it's great. And then one day later, they're not allowed to go back anymore. You pull them from their community, from everything they know from their people, from their teacher. And then you plop them into the church. And they go, I don't want to be here. I want to be where the toys are. I want to be where the books are. I want to see Miss Kathleen again. And she does a wonderful job with the kids. But all of a sudden you're taking away their community and their life and plopping them in a bunch of strangers. They don't know the songs, they don't know when to stand, they don't know what to do. I've seen it happen over and over and over again. They're not learning how to be one of us, in our life, and in our church. And one of the things that the divine service does is it passes on our culture and our habits and our practices. Now you might think these kids are too young, there is no way they can pay attention to that. There is no way they can they can get anything out of this.
I'm going to tell you a story. In my first Church in Chicago, I was invited over to a family's house. It was two parents and they had a young boy, he must have been four years old at the time, really young, one of those boys ran around active, barely paid attention. You could see it. I understood it was amazing. When I got there. I walk in the door, Kristen and I are there and he sees me. And immediately he runs to the bathroom and he grabs his white robe, pulls it over, ties around his waist, runs into his dad's closet and grabs a tie, draped it over his neck, like a stole. And then we spent the next 30 minutes doing a mini divine service. He preached the way a four year old can it was, I forget what he said. He handed us crackers and juice. That's how kids pick things up, right? They may not pay attention, they may be doodling they may be moving around, but they can hear. They're not deaf. They can see. And this kid knew exactly what was going on. He knew exactly what happens. The Word of God is proclaimed. And Christ comes to you in his body and blood. I wish adults knew that as well as that kid did, right. And he didn't catch it because somebody taught it to him. He caught it because he was in church. And he saw me do it. And he understood what God is doing. We don't give our kids enough credit, that even when they're squirming or drawing or playing, they still hear and they still see they get a lot out of coming to church. Another another objection is that children are too loud and too distracting. And they can be right. Children can be loud. Children can be distracting. That was the objection that the disciples had, I think, when they were bringing the babies to Jesus just don't get in the way. something important is happening here. I agree something important is happening in the divine surface for the adults and for the kids. And they deserve to be able to hear it too. But even more than that, what do we do as a congregation when someone gets distracting? Do we kick them out? Should I point to Kathleen every time she opens up a hard candy in the beginning of my sermon and be like, Excuse me, ma'am. I told her I was going to tell that story. Don't worry, she gave me permission. Do we give our ushers a red card and a yellow card for noise? Of course not. We've got people who are neurodivergent. We have people who don't shut off their phones. We have people who sometimes say things when they shouldn't. But you know what happens in a family. We welcome all of God's people into this place. That's part of the unity that we have in Jesus Christ, that He binds us together as one. With all our problems with all our distractions with all our weirdness. We wouldn't kick them out just because they're different. We wouldn't kick someone out because they have autism. We welcome. Another objection is that children should be in a more developmentally appropriate setting something that is more on their level. And I agree with you. That is why I'm a fan of the liturgy. When we do the liturgy, a lot of the church service is memorizable. We do the same songs every Sunday with other hymns. But we have pieces that we do every single Sunday. And little kids love repetition. Just asked someone who was raising a girl in the middle of the frozen era. How many times did they watch that? How many times did people watch Finding Nemo? Kids love repetition. And they can memorize it and put the word of God that is part of our liturgy in their hearts. But also, we do have a wonderful time when children can come and be You know, the developmentally appropriate setting. It's called Sunday school. Right now it happens at nine o'clock right before our worship service. Kathleen is there with an excellent lesson. She works with the kids, parents, you can drop your kids off there and have an hour free. No kids, it's great. And they can read a story from the Bible and play the games and do the crafts. And it's awesome. And then they come here and hear the Word of God as well. It's a great way to put together both the lessons that they need to hear with Bible knowledge, as well as the divine service where they get God's grace that we do here. Now I get it. Parents, this is tough. When you have a kid who's squirmy. When you have a kid who doesn't pay attention, maybe who's loud, and you go, Oh, my gosh, they are going to embarrass me so much. It's tough. I get that. But St. Peter, and First Peter, chapter three says this, if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. And sometimes working with kids that are unruly, is suffering, right? Every parent knows that. But it's wholly suffering. Because what you're doing is bringing kids here to hear God's word, so that they can know that we love them, and that Jesus loves them. But they're not to be cast out. But one of us. So what can we do as a congregation to support parents? First, I think we should love the noise. I think we should love the squirms. One of my favorite moments as a pastor here was when I went to the the choir concert right before Christmas, we had a choir concert. My very first year I had been here, oh, it must have been two weeks. And one of the moms from 2911 brought her little son to the concert. And I get up and I'm in front of the congregation giving my greeting and he goes faster. And he races on the middle of the aisle and I pick them up and put them on my hip. And we just keep going. How much fun was that? The same thing during my sermon in the middle. I preached for like 15 minutes with a kid. Hallelujah. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't it great? When we gather them together among us and make them one. The sound of moving kids the action, all of that it's the sound of a living church. It's the sound of of hope of a new generation of joy. I love it. And I think we should too. Another thing we can do is to make parents feel welcome. Make their kids feel welcome. You guys are a loving church. I know what you guys do a great job welcoming and smiling. This isn't a problem, I think. But it's something that we have to be active about. Because sometimes we give a look when a kid makes a noise we should maybe think about because parents are pretty sensitive about that. A look misunderstood or misinterpreted can go and cut pretty deep. The other thing I think we can do is offer to help. Now, I know that there are lots and lots of grandmothers in here who would love nothing more than to sit with a kid once in a while to be able to help and distract and manage so that maybe mom or dad can take a break and listen to the sermon. And the parents if you want that. Let me know. We've got dozens of grandmas who would be joyful, and being able to help that out. And I'm sure we can find someone to do that. God wants all his children to come. He wants everyone to gather together in the divine service. And it's a central part of making a Christian whether they are super young, or super old. It's because here God comes to us with his means of grace binds us together as a people and gives us life. We should welcome the children, all of them. In Jesus name, Amen.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. This week, we're continuing our sermon series on raising children in the faith. So the Gospel reading that is chosen for Sunday, October 8, comes from Mark chapter 10, verses 13 through 16. And they were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, Let the children come to Me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God, like a child shall not enter it. And when he took them in his arms and bless them, laying his hands on them, Here ends the reading. Before we get into the actual tax, let's take a look at what's going on. Jesus has just gone to the region of Judea, beyond the Jordan and a crowd gathers. And so he begins to teach them. During that teaching, Pharisees come up and they asked him a question. And they talk about whether it's lawful to divorce a wife and Jesus weighs in on this question. And in the middle of all this, some women bring up children to Jesus, that He might touch them, and the disciples are mad. Now we get this idea that the disciples were mad, and we get a little confused. Why would they be upset that Jesus is blessing children? Well consider the situation. Jesus is talking with the Pharisees, and he's teaching the crowds. And these people are bringing these babies up to Jesus. They can't talk, they can't learn. They can't do anything. They're not worth Jesus's time. What is going on? No, no, no, no, no. Jesus has got important things to do with important people. They're just going to distract. But Jesus is indignant. He says, Let the children come to Me, do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God, like a child shall not enter it. We must understand this pretty frequently. Much of the time, we think the idea of being like a child is this simple, trusting faith, like a child trusts their parents. But that's not the way the ancient world would have seen that. In the ancient world, your value to society grew as you aged. When you were a baby, or a young child, you are worth just about nothing. I mean, I'm sure your parents, the parents loved them, and wanted their kids to grow and all of that. But out in society, kids were neither to be seen nor heard. They were to be out of the way. They were the lowest of the low, ignored until they had something to contribute to society until they became adults. And so Jesus isn't saying received the kingdom like a trusting and loving child. He's saying the kingdom of heaven belongs to the lowly, to the least, to the people who are distracting and should be out of the way that maybe the adults don't want in the room because they're noisy and playful, and they make sounds and get in the way when adults are talking. Jesus thinks is important that the lowliest get it. And I think as we consider what it means to be blessed by Jesus, we need to consider what it means to have people in our congregation who are not like adults, the children, the neurodivergent, the people who can't read, maybe have have troubles controlling the volume of their voices or whether they talk or the sounds that they make, or the smells that they have. The people that often we would think, well, maybe they just shouldn't be around distracting us from the sermon. Jesus wants the lowest, the children, to come to Him and be blessed by Him. And where does that happen? It happens in the divine service, as the whole body of Christ gathers where Jesus is to receive his blessing. That's it for our gospel reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. This week, we're doing something a little different. We're continuing our sermon series on raising children in the faith. So I've chosen a different reading for the Epistle reading for October 8. It comes from Acts chapter two, verses 42 through 47. And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and the prayers, and all came upon every soul. And many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes. They received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day, those who are being saved. He rents the reading. This is an interesting passage that I think most people misunderstand. When you look at this passage, and they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching, and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. What we often see are disjointed pieces, like they devoted themselves to the teaching. And later on to getting together and hanging out. Some of them would have dinner, and then others would pray. And there are all sorts of different things. Luke has this interesting theme that he runs through the Gospel of Luke as well as into the book of Acts. That is this idea of table fellowship. And the Gospel of Luke table fellowship is something that happens with Jesus, there's Jesus comes to be with them. He teaches the people they eat, and they're in His presence. And it continues building and building all the way through the book of Luke until you get to the very end, when Jesus appears to the disciples on the road to Emmaus. And so Jesus appears to these disciples, it's after he has died and risen from the dead. And they don't know what's him. So he teaches them how the old the whole Old Testament focuses on him and leads to his death and resurrection, to save the world. They don't recognize him. And so they go on and on until they get to the end. They Jesus pretends that he wants to go on and they invite Him in. And it isn't until they he blesses the bread and breaks it that they finally realize who he is, and then he vanishes. And they say that they recognized him in the breaking of bread. What this means is that this prayer for this fellowship, of the breaking of the bread, this table fellowship, is actually part of the pattern of worship that the church began with. And that's what Acts 242 is all about devoting themselves to what you would do in the divine service. It's the apostles teaching, which is what we do in the beginning, the fellowship, communion, the congregation, breaking up bread, and the prayers. Now many translations don't call it the prayers they say and to prayer. The difference there is that it's talking about something, a communal prayer, rather than individual prayer. Luke is describing worship. They devoted themselves to hearing God's word to teaching about Jesus fellowshipping together, receiving Holy Communion and praying together in God's name. And this gathering of believers, all of the believers, top to bottom, oldest to youngest leads to all the wonders and signs and amazing things. And they continue to do this as part of the regular habit of the church. And that is what's going on in Acts 242. Luke is setting up the pattern of worship that the apostle set down of all of God's people gathering together to receive this great gift. That's it for our reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. This week, we're doing something different. We're continuing our series on raising children in the faith, which means that we've departed from the lectionary. So the psalm that I've chosen for Sunday, October 8, is Psalm 121. I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth, He will not let your foot be moved. He who helps you will not slumber, Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night, the Lord will keep you from all evil, he will keep your life the Lord will keep you're going out. And you're coming in from this time forth, and forevermore. Here hence the reading. This Psalm is the beginning of a section called about is titled A Song of a sense, as in going up. The idea is that there's a whole set of psalms that the people of Israel would sing or pray as they were heading up to Jerusalem for the great feasts. They would do this several times of year as required by God's law to come to Jerusalem, where the temple is to offer the appropriate sacrifices, to do the appropriate celebrations, and to be in God's presence for that required Festival. It's also something you could sing every time you were heading up to Jerusalem. It's a song of a sense, because Jerusalem, the trip was always upward, you always go up to Jerusalem. And so you can imagine you are down beneath Jerusalem. And you read these words, I lift up my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth, and you're looking up at the city of Jerusalem, where the temple was, where God said that he was in a special way, his presence in the middle of that city. It goes through a number of promises, though, that God will give to his people. And the point of this psalm is to prepare people who are coming into God's presence, who are making the journey to where God is, and reminding them why they go and they worship that God. As we consider what we do in worship, it's very similar. We look up, up not to a city on a hill, we look up our altar space, to where God promised to be in a special way through His Word and Sacraments, through the proclamation of the gospel, and through his body and blood of Holy Communion. And God promises to be there in a very special way, in a way that he isn't in other places. Not in your homes, not out in fields, not at work. He is there with his grace through the means of grace in his word, and his sacraments. And so all of these promises that he will not let your food your foot be moved, that he is your keeper and your shade, that He the Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. We turn to the divine service where God comes to us on Sunday mornings to give us His grace. That is why we go to church. It's this song of a sense where God comes down to us. That's it for Psalm 121. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. This week, we're departing from the lectionary readings, and we're looking at raising children in the faith. And so the Old Testament reading I chose for this Sunday is Proverbs chapter 22, verse six, it's very short, it goes, Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. This is a well known proverb from the book of Proverbs. Like many proverbs, it's an idea of wisdom. It talks about the way the world works. And we know how this works, right? My parents raised me to be a sci fi nut. Every night, we watched some Star Trek The Next Generation, and we got so interested in it, and so good at it in the reruns that we would have competitions to see who could guess the plot of the show first, as we'd entered into it. And it was really exciting if we did it during the star date, Captain flog beginning of the show. And it really set me up to be a sci fi not my whole life. Now, I love it all. All the Sci Fi, spaceships, laser swords, explosions, gotta love it. And I think this is the idea behind proverbs 22, verse six. When you get a child in the habit of doing something more likely than not, when that child grows up, they will not depart from that habit. And this is true for the faith. If we do it pretty seriously. You train a child in following the Christian faith, and that child will grow up in it. And when they're old, the hope and the prayer is that they will not depart from it. But many Christian parents, they decide, oh, we will train the child to go to church every once in a while. And then go, why is my child not a Christian will train the child to see that everything comes first, except for Jesus. And if you've got time left over, then we'll do the things of the church, then we'll pray, then we'll read God's word, then we'll attend divine service. Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it. We realize the things that we do are the things that our children learn about. And if you teach them to ignore the habits of the faith, if you teach them that everything else comes first. They'll learn that if we teach them that God comes first, that the salvation of Jesus Christ is more important than all other things. That prayer and the habits of faith come before all of the things. They will learn that and grow in that too. Of course, we know that the Holy Spirit is the one who is truly in charge of whether a child claims the faith or not. But it is a parent's responsibility to make sure that those habits are put into practice as much as possible. That's the end of proverbs 22. We'll see you on Sunday.
Grace, mercy and peace be yours this day from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. It seems almost fitting that I should be here on this Sunday to be talking about this text. Because this is the world I live in every single day, this balancing act between the civil world and the religious world. See, in Lutheran side of the house, we have this distinction about the two kingdoms. And I love it. In fact, as an active duty Navy chaplain, that distinction alone helps us very well to be able to put on the different hats at the appropriate times, depending on which Kingdom we're living and working in. Now, are we always living and working in both at the same time, no matter who you are? Absolutely. But it's a little bit more pronounced if you live, work and breathe in the federal system, state system, any sort of government system, and it becomes a little bit more unique. So what are the two kingdoms that Martin Luther started putting out? Well, what he says is you have two kingdoms, and how God rules the world. You have the left hand kingdom, which, for you guys, you're looking at me, it's right, but it's my left, you have the left hand kingdom over here, which deals in the civil realm. And it is ruled by the law. It's ruled by rules, that things happen, and then punishments occur according to whatever that thing is. Luther goes on to say there's also the right hand to kingdom over here, where God is ruling through his church, through Christ. And it is ruled by the gospel. Not something that says you've broken the rule, and now you must pay. It's the one that says, I forgive you, all your sins. This reading from Romans 13, highlights this kingdom. And Martin Luther actually used this text very exclusively to talk about one of his writings that he put out there, which was, Can soldiers to be saved. Because it says, Don't murder don't kill. And this was troubling to Him, and to many, many people, can we who are ordered to go to war, to go and kill, can they be saved. And he uses this text to highlight that there is a distinction with the authority given to a government and an individual, to the government is given this authority appointed by God for the protection of its people, in order to be able to have peace, prosperity in the land in the world, whatever it may be. And in the last 50 years, 6070, the world has gotten a whole lot smaller, in terms of how governments and everything interacts. Which makes this side a whole lot more difficult. But what he highlights here, what Paul is highlighting in Romans, is that the institution of the government is a good thing for the sake of its people, and that we should follow our leaders. The context for which Paul is writing, it's not a great time. He's writing to the church that is in Rome, but who's the big powerhouse at the time? Who's ruling the world? Caesar who is Roman. And they didn't particularly like Christians, in fact, in just a few decades, would be the time when the Jewish temple is destroyed by the government. The Christians are dispersed throughout the world. And even Nero would be lighting his highways with burning Christians. It's not a good time, because they didn't have the things that we have the ability to believe, as you see fit. It was hard. And yet, Paul says these words to the church. He said As obey the authorities if you're doing good, nothing's gonna come to you. No authority will punish you for doing good. And later on in a different buy a book even goes and even if they do punish you for doing good, do it anyway. Do good in the world. But here he's highlighting, there's only a threat to those who are trying to do evil. When we talk about this side of the house, I found that there's really two ways that law order all of this stuff that is ruled by this kingdom is done. It's done either by power, or it's held by what I'll throw out there called contractual lism. I'll explain that in just a second. Power, I think we understand. Power is the thing that so many people have in so many are, so few people have. And so many people want. Power is the thing that allows me to control what you do. And whether we want to admit it or not, our positions in this life, do hold certain power. Look at me up here right now, right? We're in the robe and the stalls and everything, there is a certain power associated with being a pastor, especially if you're a loved pastor, when I was still acting in the civilian churches, My People loved me. So whenever I put something forward, would anyone ever tell me no? No, they don't necessarily tell you no. There's power, there's a thority. In these, if we're looking at the civil realm, there is power in those positions, and the power has to hold law in order. On the more local level, the thing that I was talking about with contractual ism is actually a philosophy put out by a man named Scanlon. And what if you've ever seen the show the good place it was on a few years ago, this is one of those topics, they were talking about how we determine what is good, what is morally right and wrong. This is one of those things. And what contractual ism says is, a group of people comes together and they say, like a contract. This is what we agreed to be right and wrong. I think this is how most of our everyday lives go either through the power struggles from those that have power and those that don't have power, or through the common contracts that we interact with each other. But if you notice where I'm standing, when I talk about all of this, I'm in the left hand kingdom right now. When Paul talks about this, I think he's giving good advice to the church so that they can continue living long as they can healthy lives, while still being the church. But he's talking about the righteousness of being good people in this world. He moves on to a different thing. Towards the end of the verses. He says all of that stuff, is how you should interact. But he moves over here and says, however, for you in the church, the way you're live should be directed. Do that stuff. But don't forget, this is the governing factor here. The debt that you owe to each other, and to people everywhere, is that of love. When we look to how power can be used, it's often the ones who have no power to do anything about it. That are the ones that are hurt, that are taken advantage of. We come over here in the side of the church and we can look over there and say that's not the way it ought to be. When the poor, the marginalized, the whomever are taken advantage because of power. It shouldn't be it our governing factor for us is that of love. The love for the neighbor, even if it's at our own expense, because what goes on over here is that power, contractual ism. All of that stuff is looking to what serves me For the best.
Coming over here, love doesn't ask about what is best for me. In fact, it's most of the time, not good for me. Love asks what's good for you? What's good for that person who is hurting, who is struggling? How can I love them in the face of such darkness. We do this and why Paul puts us forward on this side of the house. Because we have a greater story being told. This is the exact love, we see on the cross. The love that comes down and says, you have nothing to offer me. And so I will give you everything. I love you not because you're a sinner. I love you because you need me. And I need to help you. That's the love of Christ for you that has been in each and every one of your lives. And why Paul argues for a different way of life for the Church. We love not because we get anything out of it. But because that person in front of me is deserving, and worthy of love. When the whole world beats them down, they need to know that someone cares. And the cool thing about this whole thing that that Luthor put forward is that it's not just two separate, they're both going on at the same time. But who is the middle person? Or how do you bridge these two things together? It's through you. You get to bring in your jobs in your volunteering, whatever you're doing school, you get to bring love across the line over here. Even if you don't speak about Christ, even you don't do anything religious, you carry the love over to show that you care about people, as people. That's why I love my job so much. I don't think I actually lived in the real world until I joined the military. I think I lived a very sheltered life if I'm being honest. And it wasn't until I started joining the military and having conversations with people who are talking about horrible things that were going on in their lives. Before they even turned 18 things I couldn't even imagine happening to fellow human beings. They're living every day of their lives. And when we have those conversations, it's that opportunity to show the love that in the midst of abuse in the midst of pain, uncertainty, divorce, any of that stuff. I love you. And I don't hold any of that stuff against you. That's the beauty of living in both of these kingdoms that Luther put forward. And that what Paul wants for us. You get to be a light to people that are hurting that know no other way. And you can say you have maybe never heard this before. So let me tell you this right now. I love you. Not because you give me something not because you bring something to the table, but simply because you're here with me. And I love you. Let's figure out this life together. That's the beauty of the debt that we owe to one another being love. You get welcomed into some of the best and worst circumstances of people's lives. And they don't do that to everyone. We don't open our stories to everyone but showing that you care. That opens the door to show someone that very same love that we've been shown here. That's the beauty of love. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Today we are taking a break from the normal lectionary readings that we do during the church here to pause on a sermon series. Today is the first one of three Sundays, where we are going to look at the theme of raising children in the face. This is something that our youth ministry worker and I Kathleen have been talking about for a while. And so we're going to take an examination of this both to help parents who are doing that, as well as our congregation, think about what it means as we begin our strategic planning process. Over the course of this sermon series, I'm going to do three sermons. The first one is today, it's about parents and the role of parents in raising their children in the faith. Next Sunday, we'll be talking about the importance of having children in worship. And the final one is how the partnership of parents and the church can work together to grow and active and living faith in children as they practice that faith out in the world. Now, before we get to this, we have to ask the question, what is the purpose of raising children in the faith? That might seem like a silly question, right? But before you can say, this is how we do it, you have to say, what's the goal? Is the goal, to grow a big ministry? Is the goal to have lots of fun? Or is the goal to have a child grow up, live and die in the face? We have to remember that, for the Christian Church, the project of a child in the congregation begins with baptism, and doesn't end for hopefully, 9095, maybe 120 years, right. And that for men like me, when I come and greet an infant, and welcome them into the Church of God, the projects that has been begun that day, I will not see its end. The hope is that I die long before they do. And we will have to hand this on to someone else. And so what we want is a child who grows fully committed to Jesus Christ, and the sacraments of the church through their whole life. We asked this question, when we welcomed in new members. The same question we asked whenever we have a confirmation ceremony, it is this Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and church, and to suffer all even death, rather than fall away from it. And they say, I do so intend, with the help of God. This was our goal. That they can be constant in the word and Sacraments, where Jesus Christ comes to them strengthens their faith, deliver salvation, and confirms them in that faith all the way up until their end, so that when he returns, they will rise on the last day. And with that goal in mind, we think not just about what we're doing now, but what that will lead to as they grow the habits and things that they need, so that they can remain faithful their entire life. This begins with parents. The biblical role of passing on their faith begins with the life of a parent. Because the pastor cannot barge into your house, knock down the door and throw water at them, to get them baptized. As much as I would like to. Parents, bring them to church, establish their worship, attendance, build the foundation and the patterns of habits that begin at home. This is why Deuteronomy chapter six gives that instructions parents are it says, You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down and when you rise. But I think it's even more beautiful when we look at the example of what Jesus's parents did for him. Mary and Joseph as they raised him We get this beautiful example of a child, 12 years old who goes to the temple. And he knows so much about God's words that the teachers there are amazed. Now, I do have to admit they had a bit of an advantage, their son was the Son of God. But at the same time, the only way he could know those things, is if Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to their local synagogue, talked about God's word at home, taught him how to read something that not everybody learned in those days. This joyful gift that Jesus's parents brought to the Son of God, is the same joyful gift that we asked parents to do with their own children. Speak the word of God, and by that power of the Word of God, deliver faith, and establish the habits that lead to faithful adult Christians. That's the job of parents. And if you're here, I probably don't have to convince you that that's your job. Most people who are here like yes, I would love to have my children in the faith. Yes, I would love our children's ministry to establish these patterns and help parents be equipped for this work. Because we know the joy that Christ gives us. He gives us eternal life by His death and resurrection. He promises that I will begin this project with you parents will see them on the last day when they are raised from the dead, will be face to face with Christ as he returns. So what do we need to do? How does this work? A faith centered household has two elements. First, is that there is a pattern of life in the parents, that shows how important the Christian faith is. And second, there is a living interaction with the Word of God in the home. Both of these things are important, because the Christian faith is not just doctrines and insight is also something that is caught by the example of the parents. I, myself, have to give thanks to God, because of my own father, and my mother. I couldn't ask for better parents. I am the man I am today. Because of their example in the face, I cannot be more thankful than I possibly am now for what they have done for me. And I think their example is where I learned what most of what I know about. You see, my parents were the ones who raised me in the faith. And they had an example of devotion of their own, that their faith was a living faith in my household. One of the ways that I could see this was in our living room, my parents were both avid readers, and we had two recliner chairs for them. And you know, they they've had the chairs, there was the table with the books and the magazines, it was always a pile things that they wanted to read. But no matter how many books changed, or how many magazines shifted around, there was always one book that never left was the Bible. And I would see them on a regular basis, sitting quietly reading their bible on their own. You have no idea how important that is. For child justice see that they do what they tell you to do. Simply get to watch the parents live a living thing. You have no idea because I remember it to this day. Seeing my parents doing this on a regular basis. Parents also set a pattern for us of daily prayer habits was important for us to do this. They took time out of their day to make sure we would always come together as a family and pray happens before meals. We ate breakfast and dinner together every single day and we would always pray our prayer Come Lord Jesus VR guests, you know that one right? was important. We never missed it. The same thing happened in the evening right before bed. The whole family gathered together. When when we were really young. My brother and I were in bunk beds. So that was easy. And we did our evening prayer
They showed by this that no matter what we did, no matter where we were, whether we were out eating or at home, this life of faith was important that we could pause everything that we were doing, and we would pray to them. We also did things like during the season at home, my parents placed one of those Advent wreaths with the four candles in the middle of our dinner table. And every single night before dinner, we would say our prayers, and then we liked the appropriate number of candles. And it was a big deal, which brother got to light the candles. You have no idea how many fights there were no, I get to light the candle. But it was a big deal in our family, especially on Sunday nights, when we let the next can. And we can be ready one more week, before Easter, or Christmas, sorry. These are the things that I remember. But I know there's much more. I my memory only goes back to when I was you know, not too small. But like that. If you're interested in figuring out ways that you can establish these in your home, we have a staff member Kathleen, with all sorts of resources, we can talk about to be able to establish these habits and bring the Word of God and prayer into your life can talk to me as well. One of the other things that my parents taught me was devotion to hearing God's word, as they would discuss it with me as well. They were always willing to talk about the faith, talk about Jesus Christ, and mentioned how much they trusted in His mercy, and His grace in their own. As an example of this. They also were involved in the church, my home church where I grew up, I think my father was the president of the congregation more years than he was not. You know, people like that. And they made an emphasis of showing how important it is to be involved. Now, I don't say these things to say, to shame anyone, or to make you feel guilty. But simply as an example of the amazing grace that God gave me by giving me parents who did this, so I could be the man I am today. I can't be thankful enough for what they did. What they did is they exposed me how much they trusted in God. And just showed by their words and actions that this faith that they lived in was real, and true. The most important thing they did for me, was bringing me to church. Now my mother was an organist very often, which meant that my dad was a single parent during the worship service with two boys who ran every time you set them down. Very frequently, they would tell me stories of going to stores, they would set us down and we would go the opposite direction. And yet, we never missed a Sunday. As I grew older, I joined all the sports. I was in every sport you could think of. And in a small town a guy as short as me I could play basketball wouldn't happen anywhere else. We were in basketball leagues that had tournaments every single Sunday. And no matter what my teams always knew, we played on Sunday morning, Jim and David wouldn't be there didn't matter. I can count on two fingers. The number of times we missed for a sport. What it meant was that my family made sure I heard the word of God that I heard a sermon that I could receive Holy Communion when I was old enough. And that this was more important than basketball tournaments than letting down my friends than teams than anything else. This was the center of our lives. And it's what made me who I am. They were upfront with my coaches as soon as I joined they knew not available Sunday morning. And it turned out okay. This is how important it is for us to be faithful as parents to show them exactly what it means to be faithful to God. As it says in the Bible, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world forfeits his soul. Now, after all of this talk about what parents can do examples from my family, I think it is always wise to remember what the role of the Holy Spirit. Parents, no matter how hard you try, you cannot plant faith in a child's heart. You cannot punch your hands in there and drop the word of God. It just doesn't work. Only the Holy Spirit can do that. Which means that just like everyone else, you can't control it. You do your best. You do everything you can, and trust the spirit to do the rest. So this isn't a step by step guaranteed way to make your children faithful. It is simply best practices, to give them as much encounter with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God through the means of grace as you can and show them by your life and faith. That this is the way to live. The rest is up to God. And we know so much so that even men like Samuel the prophet Samuel, when his children became judges over the land of Israel, they did not follow through. It happened and yet, God gives us the task nonetheless. To pass this pastors faith on using the habits and practices of the church. In Jesus name, Amen.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. Hey, everyone, this week, we're doing something a little different. This Sunday is the beginning of a sermon series on raising children in the faith. So the readings I've selected are a little different from the lectionary. The Gospel reading for Sunday, October 1 is Luke chapter two, verses 39 through 52. And when they had performed everything, according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. And now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was 12 years old, they went up according to custom. And when the feast was ended, as they were returning the boy, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, his parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group, they went a day's journey. But when they began to search for him among their relatives, and acquaintances, and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. After three days, they found Him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them, and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, Son, why have you treated us? So? Behold, your father, and I had been searching for you in great distress? And he said to them, Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father's house. And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom, and in stature, and in favor with God. And man, Here ends the reading. Now, the beginning of this reading covers up a story that we didn't include in the reading, because it's quite long, it says, And when they had performed everything, according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. So the story that happens before this is when there's two things, first, Joseph and Mary have Jesus circumcised. And then after 40 days, they go to the temple to offer a sacrifice for the firstborn. Now, this is Joseph and Mary's responsibility to raise Jesus in the faith. And I think it's fascinating to think about, that these things are happening as part of Jesus's fulfilling the law of Moses for us, so that we don't have to. And yet it happens when Jesus is a baby, unable to do it himself. God relies on Mary and Joseph, to bring about the salvation of the world, by fulfilling the law with Jesus. How amazing is that? So they continue, and the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. Now, we know that children learn how do they learn, not on their own, but from their mother and their father in their homes, especially when there isn't a public school system or a system of education like we have it today. And Jesus would have been raised by his family to understand the word of God. And the next story is a fantastic example of that of how parents raised Jesus to understand the faith. I'm just going to point out this piece. It says, After three days, they found Him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. Now, I guess I do have to say that perhaps Mary and Joseph had a slight advantage in raising Jesus in the faith as he was the son of God himself. But this does show that somebody had been teaching Jesus. He had to learn how to read, he had to be pointed to the Scriptures. He had to have it heard and proclaimed in the synagogue, and he had to be brought to Jerusalem. These are the things that his mother and his father did. Not the Father in heaven, but Mary and Joseph. And we see them being faithful parents raising children in the faith, as the Son of God, Jesus himself and they offer us a good example of what mothers and fathers do when they offer the Word of God to their children that's it for today we'll see you on Sunday bye
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Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. Hey, everyone, this Sunday, we're doing something a little different. We're starting a sermon series on raising children in the faith. So the readings are not the same as the lectionary readings. The Epistle reading that I've chosen for Sunday, October 1 is Ephesians, chapter six verses one through four. It reads, Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land. Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Here ends the reading Ephesians chapter six is in the middle of a long section where it talks about different duties for different groups of people, husbands, wives, children, fathers. And this section really focuses in on the instruction between parents and children. So it begins with children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is write, Honor your father and your mother. This is the first commandment with a promise that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. So the first thing he says goes out to the to the Children, obey your parents, Honor your father and mother. This is of course the fourth commandment by the Lutheran numbering from the 10 commandments. And so what is saying is children God wants you to listen to your parents as they raise you. Now, this is not just a command to children. A Honor your father and mother is a commandment that suggests that fathers and mothers should be honorable, that the things that they tell their children are right and good and true. And the heart of that is raising children in the faith so that they can grow up in the Christian faith and have eternal life. In St. Paul points out this promise, it says that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Now, the interesting thing about this idea of living long in the land is not the idea that if people listen to their parents, life goes better. The idea is if you listen to faithful parents, ancient Israel, you will keep the covenant. And God will not kick the people of Israel out of the promised land. Because that's the thing that was going on. There is not that the if they listened to their parents that live a happy and full life. But God had said in the covenant of the commandments, that he would keep them forever in the land if they followed his covenant, but kick them out if they did not. Hear, here's a promise that is not about a full life, but about salvation and God's promises. And for us when when faithful children listen to faithful parents, it means that they will live long, not in a in a land or a country, but in eternal life. When God returns and raises them from the dead, that continues, fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Now Roman fathers had a great deal of power over their children. In fact, children owned nothing in the household of Rome, and the fathers, the head of the household, owned everything, all land, all money, all everything. And they could tell their children to do what ever they wanted. And if you go back long enough, in Roman times, fathers could even kill their children without repercussion. Not Not so in Paul's era, but this is still part of the history and tradition of Rome. So he's saying, Don't do don't be cruel. Instead, show the kind of love that an honorable father and mother would give by bringing them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Discipline is the behavior. So it would be like doing the spiritual practices, service, love and care. And the instruction is the teaching, understanding God's word, hearing it and learning it and knowing it. And that's what God gives to parents to raise their children in the faith through the discipline and instruction of the Lord. That's it for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. Hey, everyone, this Sunday, we're starting something new, a sermon series about raising children in the faith over the next three Sundays. So our readings will be a little different from the normal lectionary. The psalm I've chosen for this upcoming Sunday is Psalm 78, verses one through eight. Give ear, oh my people to my teaching, incline your ears to the words of my mouth, I will open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark sayings from of old things that we have heard and known that our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation, the glorious deeds of the Lord, and His might, and the wonders that he has done. He established a testimony and Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commands our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments, and that they should not be like their fathers are stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. Here ends the reading. This Psalm is an interesting Psalm that talks about the way that God passes on the faith from generation to generation. It begins by talking about the words of God going out into the world, and how they should not be hidden from the next generation. It says, We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation, the glorious deeds of the Lord and His might, and the wonders that he has done. This is the role of every Christian congregation and every Christian parent, is that we are to talk about the glorious and wonderful deeds of God for the psalmist. This was the salvation that they accomplished in bringing them out of Egypt, out of slavery, and making them into people and plopping them into the Promised Land. And for Christians, it is about the death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, and His Promise to come again to judge the living and the dead and bring about the resurrection. The funny thing about this is that the message of the gospel does not go on on its own. It always requires people to do it. And so it says, He commanded our fathers to teach their children that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God. God has set up a system where the the Word of God is always passed down through people. Primarily it happens through parents as they work with their their kids in their home, also through the church as we gather around our Sunday gatherings around Word and Sacrament. But it requires that people constantly speak to the next generation, always calling to bring them up. And what it wants to avoid is what often happens that a generation is stubborn. It says that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. The Psalmist I think has in mind all of the different generations that went through Israel that didn't turn to God. You can think about the people when they were wandering in the wilderness when Moses brought them to the promised land. And they sent spies into Israel to see if they could take it. And they didn't trust God enough to go in and conquer the promised land. You can think about them while they're wandering in the desert. And God is providing them with mana, and they are constantly complaining and he has to constantly remind them how much they need him. You can think about the book of Judges how every 40 or 60 years or so a new judge has to arise because the people were were unfaithful and went after false gods. And over and over and over again, this pattern happens. And I think we're surprised to see when this pattern happens in our day today. That has the word of God is going out perhaps in a more lackluster way. We're surprised when the new generation doesn't, doesn't follow. Seems like that has been the way that our church have done that all the way up until recently. And we need to be considerate that we need to teach the next generation. We need to be intentional about it. That's the end of our reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. This coming Sunday, we're starting something new, a sermon series on raising children in the faith. So all of these readings aren't part of our normal lectionary. Over the next three Sundays, we'll be talking about how parents and congregations can work together to raise children in their faith. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, October 1, is going to be Deuteronomy, chapter six, verses four through 15. Here we go. Here, O Israel, the LORD our God, the Lord is One, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house. And when you walk, by the way, and he went when you lie down, and when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes, you shall write them on the doorposts of your house, and on your gates. And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant. And when you eat and are full, then take care, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the Lord your God, You shall fear Him you shall serve by his name you shall swear you shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you. For the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God, lets the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from the face of the earth. Here is the reading. The Book of Deuteronomy is a little bit like Moses, his last words to Israel before they cross over into the promised land. And one of the things he gives them is the command, the Shema, the hero, Israel, the LORD our God, the Lord is One, you shall love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul and all your might. This is kind of a confession of Israel, the Lord is One, love him with all that you are. But what's interesting is that Moses has an eye towards the future in the book of Deuteronomy, he knows what the Israelites are like, and that he, they will go across into the promised land, and they will experience plenty and wonder and all these great things. And then they will be like they always were, they'll turn to other gods. So he gives them a hint of what to do, to help make sure that the next generation does not forget God. He says, You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house. And when you walk, by the way, and when you lie down. And when you rise, you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes, you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. What he's saying is he's giving this image of the Word of God being everywhere in the life of the family, and of the children. The idea is that God's people would constantly be talking about him in their day to day activities. This was specifically so that when they would go into the Promised Land, they would remember who God is. Now, for us, we are not in this same situation, we don't have a promised land to go to, like Israel did. But I think the advice of Moses is good for families today. We should talk about God, we should talk about his word about his gifts about all the things that he does for us, every single day, it should be so present in our lives, that it's like it's taped to our forehead, and written on our walls and on the doorposts of our house and on the backs of our hands. Perhaps the best way to do this is to have a regular ritual of family devotions. So that you can constantly be in prayer as a family and reading God's Word together. Now Moses continues when he talks about what will happen when they go into the Promised Land. He says, then when the Lord your God brings you into the land, he swore to your fathers, etc, etc. He offers them this this idea that there will be cities They did not build. And it says houses full of all good things that you did not fill cisterns that you did not dig, et cetera, et cetera. This is, well, the blessings that we have in Christ are not houses that we didn't build, but a salvation that we didn't earn, that Jesus provided this amazing blessing for us. And that he will complete it on the day that he returns and raises us to new life when we live in a perfect world. But what Moses knows about Israel is that when they go, and they eat, and they are satisfied and happy, they will forget that they need God. He says, is the Lord your God, You shall fear Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear you shall not go after other gods, the gods of the people who are around you. For the Lord your God in your midst is a jealous God lets the anger of the Lord be kindled against you. And we have to remember that in our families, all sorts of things tend to creep into our lives to be take the place of God from the first place in our life. We have to remember God is a jealous God. He is judgment, there is judgment for the people who turned from him. Let's keep him first in our families, and our lives. That's it for the reading today. Hopefully, we'll see you on Sunday. Bye
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mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Back in June, we began a sermon series on the book of Romans. And Paul has been, we've been walking through what Paul has to say over this time. It begins with a message about the grace of God, that we are saved not by following God's law. We're saved by grace, through faith on account of Christ, and that no human being can ever please God by doing anything. Then it moves to the question that obviously follows that, if we're saved by grace, what do we do with our behavior? Right? Can we do whatever we feel like? Paul says, No. He tells us that in our baptisms, we died with Christ and rose with him, so that we have a new life, a new nature in Christ, so that we can walk in, in love forever. That section ends in Romans chapter eight, where St. Paul declares the amazing promises of God, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not even death itself. So it leads to another question. If nothing can separate us from God's promises through Jesus, what do we do with God's chosen people from the Old Testament? The Jews? Paul's answer for that is that the faith has always been passed down by the word of God, that people have always taken it up of their own, that there is no genetic relationship to the faith, even in Judaism. And so, we get to Romans chapter 12, where St. Paul calls the Christian church, a body, bound together by the body and blood of Jesus, bound together in love created by him, both here in this place, with this union that we have, and with all Christians all over the world. And so he says, Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast, to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. outdo one another in showing honor. His words go on. As he sort of mentioned, it's kind of like a grab bag of good things that Christians should be doing. There's a whole lot there. And if we wanted to be here all day, I could talk about each and every one of them. Good thing we have all day, right? You don't mind a four or five hour sermon. Someone out there wanted I like it. Now, instead of nailing down each and every one of these, what I like to do is talk about the love of God at work. Because I see the love of God at work in lots of different people. I don't think I as a pastor have to point my finger at you and say, be loving. Why? Because the love of God comes to you through Christ. And the power of the Holy Spirit makes you want to love. That is simply how God's grace works. It is not something I have to threaten you for. It's not something I have to shake my fist and pound on the podium, like some old school German preacher. This is what happens when Jesus Christ comes to his people. He puts love in your hearts and makes you like him. And it's what I see all around us. Paul explains it in Romans six. When he says we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Being connected to Christ by baptism, united with Him in His death and resurrection means that you have his love. Second Corinthians chapter five that says something similar. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him, who for their sake, died and was raised To make it short, we could say what John says, We love because he first loved us. And so today, what I'd like to do is encourage you to live out that love by talking about the many stories of God's love in action that I've seen in this congregation over the last. What is it 19 months that I've been here now, still pretty new. So I probably have missed a few. The first I'd like to talk about is the love that Kristin and I feel here. I have to admit, I have never felt loved and supported, like I do in this congregation. You might I might be struggling here. It began, the moment we got here, Christian and I spent three or I forget how many days driving across country from Chicago all the way to California. We went along the southern route, so we got to see a whole lot of flat. My parents drove the giant U haul truck. Kristin and I drove our itty bitty car with a bike on the back. And we got here and 20 or so people were standing in our driveway. We were here ready to unload that giant truck. And we're like, okay, it's gonna take a few hours, we can do it. Sweaty, hot. Here we go. And it took 20 minutes. In fact, it was they unloaded so fast that I didn't get a chance to tell them where all the stuff went. They were it was too much. You didn't do that? Because you knew us. You didn't do that. Because you thought Kristen was so amazing. You did it because you love God. Because you love his word. Because you were happy to have a pastor. Even more importantly for us, was what Warren Did you remember Warren Goodrich? Well, maybe you do. Maybe you don't some of you knew him well. I live in his house, or what was his house. And when he died, he donated a whole ton of money to the congregation that allowed us to continue living in California. Without him, that would have been a big question mark. And without you putting up just a little extra money to make that happen. That would have been a question mark for us. And the love and support that we felt. And the investment that you made in us is overwhelming. And you did it not because you think I'm amazing. You didn't do it. Because Kristen is an awesome triathlon coach. You did it because you love Jesus. Because you care about his word, and you want it to be proclaimed to you. That's what the Holy Spirit does. And a group of people in a congregation. I see it also in the many people who make our congregation function. Like I said, I've only been here just short, just shy of two years. So I might not know all of the amazing things that people do. And I'm, I'm going to do some listing here, which means I'm going to miss someone. But know that there's a lot of people who work behind the scenes to make our congregation function. A lot of people who show up during the week. Nobody knows they're here. And they do a number of things. The gardeners who trim away every Wednesday morning and I go up and I try to distract them by talking about all sorts of other things. And they hand me their their grass clippings and their stuff to go in my compost pile. There's our sound people who sit in the back and you don't see them. But make sure that you can hear every Sunday. The people who come in on Wednesdays to put together the slideshows that you see are people who change the lightbulbs. Count the offerings rehearse in our ensembles. People who write notes and answer emails, or even just the prayer list. The Board of Directors the board of elders are quilters. We never see them. When we put out our prayer quilts. They're not standing behind the table going look at me, right
There are so many people who make our congregation function who work without thanks. And we can only gather here together today because they are all behind the scenes making it happen. sharing the love of Jesus. And it's joyful, and wonderful. And here's what happens when Christ comes with His Holy Spirit, to work in the hearts of God's people. So that they do it with joy. Not out of compulsion. Another story, we had a funeral here not too long ago. As sad as it was, I looked and I saw something joyful in that. I've done many funerals back in Chicago for elderly people. Usually what happens is you get just this small group of family, you know, the kids and a couple of grandkids, about 20 people in the pews. Often quite sad, actually. Pretty rare where I come from, for congregation members to come to funerals like that. Which is why it's so amazing when I came here, and I saw a pretty packed house. I saw people who hadn't seen him in a while, but loved him nonetheless, who came here to remember our dearly departed loved one, and support the family. This is what happens when Jesus Christ binds his people together as a body when they come together in love, when the body of blood of Jesus Christ that we take together makes us one. We show that kind of love and support. And it's joyful. And it's wonderful. And I give thanks to God, but you're a congregation that does that. One of the reasons that I decided to come here is another example of the joy and the love of God at work. It's the moms at 2911. But those of you who might not know or need a reminder, 2911 is a maternity home that welcomes in moms who need housing, and all sorts of help during it through their pregnancy and beyond. And this congregation offered up the house that's on our property as a place for them. It was the Blue House and then the White House and now it's the maternity home. Right. One of the reasons that convinced me that this was the place to be was that you had done that, that you had offered up that house for almost nothing as a place to care for women, so that they can make the choice to keep their babies alive. So that they could raise their babies in the faith. And even better was what happens on these Wednesday nights when all those moms come in for our soup and suffer our soup and supper worship services. You know, we all have during Advent and Lent, soup and supper and we do a worship service. And the moms come in with all their babies and the noise and it's just great. It's it's so wonderful. And all of a sudden, there are 20 different grandmas who want to pass around baby Asher. Right? You remember baby Asher? cutest little baby on the planet. Right? There was one story one night when Asher was getting passed around, Mom was off eating pass around and one of the other kids little Jason was running around interacting with everybody. And he saw baby Asher in the wrong person's hands. Like this wasn't his mom, and he goes, he's not yours.
But there's so much joy and love welcoming strangers into that congregation. There's so much joy in seeing people passing around babies, welcoming children into our congregation, welcoming the noise and the buzz and all the things that come with it. Because they too, are part of the body of Christ. Because they too are one with us. And you did it with strangers. What a joy. These are the things that Christ does by the power of His Holy Spirit. What he does when he gathers His people around his body and blood, what he does when he he fills us with the spirit and gives us His love. And I think these are the things that can encourage us as we continue to keep going following this path of love St. Paul says Let love be genuine. outdo one another in showing honor. Love one another with brotherly affection. In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
So our sermon title is all about perspective. And a little personal story is that perspective matters, especially when you're in church. When I was growing up, I only ever saw the church from down there. And I remember sitting in the pews, listening to our pastors, one of them was very exuberant. In fact, when I would start falling asleep, he always seemed to know when he needed to scream, and scare me away. But sitting down there is very different than coming up here. And the perspective is very different, because of how I'm seeing everything. Because I'm so used to looking at things from one viewpoint. When I was at my congregation, when I was still, in the civilian side of the house, I actually made my congregation do this, I'm not gonna make you do this. But it was to help people be a little bit uncomfortable and to shift their perspective by asking everyone to stand up and switch sides of the church. I already heard some Oh, noes. I'm not gonna make you do that. But it's uncomfortable because we have where we sit, we have what we do. We have where we go on a weekly, daily hourly basis, we have our routines. And so when I made them stand up and switch sides, one of the very first things I heard the moment they sat down was I don't like this. Well, yeah, it's uncomfortable. It's not what you're used to. But the thing about perspective is that perspective is actually shaped by the habits we do, but more specifically, by how we think. There's a term in psychology, and I'm not formally trained in psychology, I'm trained as a pastor. But I've done a lot of reading on psychology, how the brain works, talked with a lot of different counselors, and interesting thing that has come out in recent years in the world of counseling, is that the words we use impact the reality around us. It's called neuroplasticity. And what it focuses on is that our brains, actually based off of the way we interact with the world, the language we use, our brain gets wired to react a certain way. Because as smart as our brains are, it has so much information that it has to try and process that it's looking for shortcuts. So when we use language in the interpretation of reality around us, it creates Oh, danger, I need to react in this way. So, Lion sitting there, or maybe just I'm nervous and scared. My brain reacts the same way, because it's created this pathway that ties the words we use with the action we do. So when I say the language we use creates the reality around us. I don't mean like God, when He says, Let there be if only let there be a million dollars, let there be no war let there be. And it would be nice to know, this use of language, actually, is to help shape shape, our perspective and how we interact in this reality. The cool thing about neuroplasticity is that you can change that pathway. And you do so by changing the language you use. So if I think I'm worthless, I'm no good. How am I going to interact in this world? It's like I'm worthless. Like I can't do anything, right? If I think and use the language of I am loved, I am worthy. From a Christian side, I am forgiven. And how does that shape how we interact in this world? I asked you this morning to think about the language you use to describe yourself. I dare say in many of my interactions with people, the language we use to describe ourself is very, very bad.
And that we kind of fall in that I'm not good enough.
I'm worthless. I I'm just not up to par, I can't do anything, right. There's nothing ever good. That's important that we address that. Because from a Christian side, that's not how God views us. And I often ask people, if you were to hear someone saying those things out loud to another person, those very thoughts that you're having in your own head, if you were to hear someone say that to someone else, what would your reaction be? And they'd be, I'd be upset. Because how dare they say that to another person? To which I always reply, so why are you saying that to yourself? From a Christian side, I say it like this. That's not how God views you. That is not the story of Christianity at all. It's the story of Christianity of Christ is the one that comes into the broken world into the people who are hurting and struggling, who think they have absolutely nothing to offer. And he says, I am making you my own, you are now my child you are loved and cared for. And the whole point of the cross is to shift our perspective. To shift first and foremost, how we view ourselves. That's the thing of love, that we've been going over these last three weeks, is that love isn't about me. First and foremost. It's about the love of Christ for you, to help shift who you are. And then what that does, is it shifts the perspective to what we talked about last week, is that it's no longer about me. It's about others. So the language you use in describing yourself is very, very important in this journey we have in the Christian faith, because how you view yourself is also going to impact how you view other people. How do I view people in this building? First and foremost? How do I view people when I step outside these doors? How do I view people? When I'm driving on the five?
For me, it's usually with anger. But how do I view people that are not me? If I don't think I'm very good, I very well may not think other people are either.
But what if that perspective, perspective shifts? What if we see ourselves the way Christ sees us the way God the Father sees us through Christ as one who is worthy of dignity, respect, love, care, all of these things are no merit of our own. We know that it's a free free gift given to us by Christ. How does that shift our perspective to those outside the store? I'm going to say it shifts dramatically. When we come to today's text, that's the shift that Jesus is trying to highlight in how the Kingdom of Heaven functions completely differently. In my world, and many of you are from the military as well, military backgrounds, but in my world, a lot of it has to do with how do we get promoted? How do I make myself look good? How do I keep progressing more and more and more and more and more? And it gets all about me? That's what these workers were thinking. It's a very rational thought, right? So the story is, this master goes out at six in the morning, and he hire some workers and he goes, Hey, I need some people to go out of my field and do some work. I'm going to give you all a denarius. We're going to work a 12 hour day, normal, excuse me, normal pay, you get a full day's wage. You go work and they say, sounds good. I want to eat today. So they go out and they work for him. And then the master goes back to those town yard and it's now nine o'clock, 12 o'clock, three o'clock, and he does this over and over and says hey, I need more people to work. And finally it's five o'clock in the evening. Almost time you Know the bell is about to ring time to go home, get your wages go enjoy time with your family. And so he goes out into the square one more. And there's these guys still standing there. And he goes, Why are you just being here? Why haven't you done anything all day and goes, nobody wants to hire us. We have nowhere to go. And it looks like we're not going to have our day's wage. So we can't go get food, we can't do these things for our family. And he goes, Listen, go out there to I'm hiring you. So the rational thought process, when he starts paying these workers that only worked an hour, the denarius is that oh, my gosh, I finally get more. Because they work there all day. And the perspective that these workers have, is that they deserve more because they've done more, because they've endured more. What's their reaction? When they get paid the exact same wage? As the people that worked one hour? You gotta be kidding me. You made me equal with them. I've been out here, I've got a sunburn now. I'm dehydrated. And I don't, this is totally unfair. But the whole point was, their perspective was that I need more. What the master brings forward is that I am generous. That's the perspective shift, are we who are Christians here, who have this message. It's not about us in this very kind of consumer mindset about getting more getting more getting more. It's about who the master is, and what he gives freely to everyone. That He is Generous, to the point where everything that he gives is more than enough. And that highlights a danger or a caution that Jesus wants to highlight, which is don't make it about you shortly after this part, and it closes with. The first will be last and the last will be first. Well, shortly after this just a few more verses, it talks about James and John and the request that was made to Jesus that was said, Hey, can we be on your left and right hand we want to be in positions of authority and power. And the disciples get irritated at them and start yelling at them not because what they asked was wrong, but because they didn't think of it first. That's why they get upset. And Jesus says, You don't know what you're asking. It's not about being first. It's about what is given to others. Our perspective, and the language we use shows how we view this. How do we view this message of Christ? Do we view it as one that is for me? Or do we view it as one? That's for us? For you? That's the beauty of this message. Is that the language that is shifted, as we start to be shown more and more of who we are in Christ, that this love is first and foremost for you. And then for others that are not me. It shifts how we interact with people. So as you go forward looking at this, where is our perspective? What is our orientation?
What are we looking for? Where are we oriented as an individual? And as a group? Where do we want to go? And then the big fun stuff comes? How do we get there.
But in all of this, what Jesus is highlighting is the kingdom of heaven does not work like the rest of the world. It's not about being the greatest not being about being the strongest, not about being the most popular with whatever. It's about the message of forgiveness, and maybe even some suffering for the sake of that. But what has he done for us? And so our perspective is always oriented on the cross, and how we view ourselves and others. Amen.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, September 24, is from Matthew chapter 20. verses one through 16. For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard, and going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And to them, he said, You go into the vineyard too. And whatever is right, I will give you so they went going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the 11th hour he went out and found other standing. And he said to them, Why do you stand here idle all day? They said to Him, because no one has hired us. He said to them, Go, you go into the vineyard to and when evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first and when those hired about the 11th hour came, and each of them received a denarius. Now, when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house saying these last own worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day in the scorching heat. But he replied to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong. Do you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go, I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity so the last will be first. And the first last hearings, the reading. This is quite the story that runs contrary to everything that human beings generally believe in about fairness, in in life. The Master goes out and he hires people. And he says, I will pay you one denarius a day that's a pretty standard wage for a worker, one denarius. And then he hires several people throughout the day. This is right away in the morning, and then at the sixth hour, and the ninth hour and the 11th hour and the 11th hour would have been right about at the end of the workday, just before the end. And so people are working various amounts of time. And he doesn't hire them hourly, he hires them by the day. When they line up to get paid, which is how you would do it. At the end of the day, if you hired day laborers, you hire them for the day, and then you pay them for the day. In fact, the Old Testament talks a lot about withholding the wages of workers and not paying them on time as a terrible thing. So you pay them out at the end of the day, and we get this variation. It says and when those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received in a denarius. I think we can understand those workers frustration, right? They work the whole day, and they get paid a denarius and someone who shows up and does just a couple of hours works also gets paid a denarius Come on. That's not how it's supposed to work. We are supposed to get paid at the appropriate sum for the right amount of work. We who got here first should have been paid more. When they grumble, the master says, I am doing the you know wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go, am I not allowed to choose to do what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity that's really a reminder that what we perceive as fairness is not always actually fair. They contracted to work for one denarius a day and they got what they contracted for. The people also, it doesn't really reflect on their contract what others get, right. So there really is no reason to complain. They agreed to work for a denarius. They got to denarius doesn't matter what God decides to do or the master decides to do with others. Now, what we see here is that Jesus compares this to the kingdom of heaven and When he does parables like this, the master is always God of some way. And so God is gathering workers into his vineyard. vineyard is often image for Israel or for the world. He says he's got people in the vineyard, and they're working. Some people work various amounts, but they all get the same reward. And this is true for us in the kingdom of God. People who've been Christians their entire life who've been devoted, who've been baptized as children and stayed in the church and have always done what is right, we receive the same reward, the same gift of God, as people who are dying on their deathbed and are baptized and converted. We're all in Christ, everything is the same. When we see that, sometimes we get well, we get a little upset, right? That someone in our congregation is treated with the same amount of, of respect, and honor. No matter how often they've been to church, no matter how, how long they've served the gospel. It's all the same. And sometimes we're like, wait a second, I have been in this congregation for years and years and years, and this person is new. Or I have been on this served in this committee, I have done all of these things. And these new people are trying to do whatever we have to remember, all of us are equal in the body of Christ, all of us received the same reward, because none of us have actually deserved it. It's given to us by grace in Jesus Christ. And so Jesus here is reminding us that there is no first or last in Christ, but all are the same. And we all receive the same reward. That's it for this reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, September 24, comes from Philippians chapter one, verses 12 through 14. And then verses 19 through 30. It reads, I want you to no brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard, and to all the rest, that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. And then it skipped ahead. For I know that through your prayers, and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out from my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet, which I shall choose, I cannot tell, I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith. So that in me, you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So that whether I come and see you, or am absent, I may hear a view that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God, for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now here that I still have Here ends the reading. St. Paul is writing this in a time when he is imprisoned. He is we're not exactly sure what portion of this life part of his life it is. St. Paul was likely imprisoned twice, once is recorded in the story of Acts when he is put in jail and then set in the prison for three years. And then he appeals to Caesar and he goes to Rome. And it's likely that he made it their appeal to Caesar and was released. And then again later on when he was murdered, he would have been imprisoned and arrested. We don't know exactly which one this is, if I were to guess it is likely to me that this is the the first imprisonment, because he talks about that it's likely he will get out and head off and visit the Philippians again. So Paul is in prison, in chains for the gospel because of his proclamation. And he starts like this. I want you to know brothers, that what has happened to me has really to serve to advance the gospel. So it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard, and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. So he is saying much like Joseph, that this imprisonment, this bad thing that has happened, has brought about some kind of good. The guards know that this imprisonment is because of Christ. And so they hear about it as he is in prison. He also continues, and most of the brothers having become confident and Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. This is something that the church has always focused on is we tell the stories of the martyrs. They've always encouraged us by their example, to be bold in the face of persecution. So stories like St. Paul's, but also stories of the martyrs throughout the history of the church are good reminders to encourage us that as we face similar or even less difficult circumstances, we can be bold just like they were. He continues, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This will turn out for my deliverance, for it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now, as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by my life or death. This follows the way the early church often talked about what would happen when they were imprisoned and headed on their way to trial, that they didn't want to be ashamed. But they wanted to prove to be a Christian. And by that they meant that when they stood on trial, they would remain faithful, deliver in faith, the message of the gospel, and suffer the consequences, whatever it would be. Now, it's likely if this is this first imprisonment, the Paul would be let go. But here he still is assured or wants to be assured that he will remain faithful when he stands on trial. Then he says, For me to live is Christ and today's game, if I am to live in the flesh, that will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I'm hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. So he's saying there's a division, it would be wonderful to be with Christ, and to be out of this veil of tears and to suffer no more and not have to deal with the the persecutions and imprisonments. And Paul's lists of suffering goes on and on beatings, stoning, and eventually death. But he says that while we are here, we have a purpose. And that purpose is to serve Paul's purpose particularly, is to preach the gospel to the Philippians, and others, and helps us to see that our purpose is service for our neighbor. Because the good works that we do, the things that God calls us to do, aren't because God needs our service and our works, but because our neighbor does. St. Paul knows the same thing that the proclamation of the gospel doesn't make God any more powerful or any stronger. But it does bring the message of Jesus Christ to people who need to hear it. And then we'll skip ahead just a little bit. He says, Only let your man or of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So whether I come and see you or an absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. St. Paul is doing two things here, one, he is saying that they need to be as one body, one mind, standing side by side with each other. This is an image of the congregation working together in unity, for the good of the gospel against the opponents who would persecute them. That's the other part is that this side by side, this togetherness is a united front against the persecutors. And we always have to remember that there is this. There's unity that we have in Christ that guides us. And this unity makes it possible for us to stand together against a sinful world and share the message of Jesus Christ skips ahead, and he says, For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had. And now here that I still have it's interesting success word has been granted to you almost like a gift. One of the things that the church often talks about in his history is the gift of suffering with Jesus, that we are counted worthy to be like Christ and share in His suffering and this is part of the gift. And I think St. Paul is talking about, it's granted to us to participate with Christ in his sufferings. That's the end of our reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, September 24, is Psalm 27, verses one through nine. This is a Psalm of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes It is day who stumble and fall, though in army and camp against me, my heart shall not fear, the war arise against me yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple, for he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble, he will conceal me under the cover of his tent, he will lift me high upon a rock, and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Here, oh, Lord, when I cry aloud, Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, seek My face. My heart says to you, your face Lord, do I seek I not your face from me? Turn not your servant away in anger, Oh, you who have been my help. Cast me not off. forsake me not, oh God of my salvation. Here ends the reading. This is a pretty famous Psalm, The Lord is my light. And my salvation reminds me of a song that I would sing with with kids in in the chapel. You're my light and my salvation, I won't be afraid. You're the stronghold of my life by you all things were made, I'm not gonna sing the whole thing. Don't worry. It big begins with a note of competence. You are my salvation, you are my stronghold. There is nothing that I can fear. And it continues, listing a number of things when evildoers assail me. adverset adversaries when an army wore all of these things, I will be confident. David is saying that no matter what is going against him, he can be confident in God's promise. And David had it in a very specific way. When Samuel came to David and anointed him as the next king. That was sort of like, David, you're immortal until you become king. Like if David really, truly believed that promise. When he went up against Goliath, he didn't have to worry because God had promised that he would become king. When David went out to battle, he went out into war, all the time before he became king. He had no fear because God was the stronghold of his life. This also can be true for us, though it's not quite in the same way. We don't have the promise that we're going to be king so that we can't die until that happens. But we do know that our life is safe in the stronghold of our Savior, because he lived and died for us and then rose from the dead to give us eternal life. So our life is safe with Christ in heaven. And St. Paul tells us that in Ephesians, that we are our life is in Christ who is seated at the right hand of God, it continues. One thing I've asked the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell on the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. Now, David is writing this before that temple is actually built, though he did write psalms in preparation for when that temple was being built. He says that he wants to be in the house of the Lord. We have to remember that the temple was a special place where God put His presence in a way that he didn't place His presence elsewhere. same thing was true for the tabernacle, which is where were the moveable temple before they built the permanent one, right? God placed his presence there. And so if you're going into the house of the Lord, you're going to where God's presence is in a special way. This isn't a metaphorical entering into His presence, or a ritual that he did to make him feel the presence of God. He was literally walking into the temple, literally going to the tabernacle where God promised his presence would be. And we have to remember that that when we're applying this, it is different for us because we don't have a physical building where God says His presence is, but we do have where God promises to be present in a similar way, through the holy body and blood of Jesus Christ. Right? God comes down and places himself Jesus Christ places himself in the bread and the line in a way that he does not anywhere else. So when we gather for the divine service, we hear Christ's word, we receive His Body and Blood, we are in the house of the Lord, in a way that is different from the rest of our time. David continues with with more confidence that God he will hide me in a shelter, he enemies are taken out. And then we get this last section it says, Here, oh, Lord, when I cry aloud, Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said seek My face. My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek hide not your face from me, turn out your servant away and anger, Oh, you who have been my help, Cast me not off. forsake me not, Oh, God of my salvation. This is the sincere desire of David, to seek God's face. Not Not literally, but his face meant his presence, right. Which is again, for David, going to the temple, offering appropriate worship and sacrifice and prayer. We have to remember, the temple was a special place of God's presence. This is not a spiritual discipline, to feel the presence of God. And many Christians today, when they see this, they say, Ah, I have to seek the face of God. And to do that I have to do all sorts of particular things. I have to pray in a certain way I have to devote certain amounts of time I have to do all of this stuff, to show that I am seeking God's face. And it's not really true. That's not how it works. God's face God's presence is located where he promises it to be. And for us, when we gather together on Sunday, around his word, and Sacraments, God says I am, there were two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them, or when we have Holy Communion, the body of Christ is there and then the angels and archangels, and all the company of Heaven gathered together to be in that place in Christ. We don't have to, we don't have to do anything to seek God's face. God is where he promises to be. And that is there in the divine service. And all of the confidence that we have can come from this amazing gift of just being where Christ says, I am here. This is my body. This is my blood. So we don't have to struggle. We don't have to work hard to seek God's face. It's just be there and receive from God, his amazing blessings. That's all I have for the reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation.
The Old Testament reading for Sunday, September 24, comes from Isaiah chapter 55, verses six through nine. Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. He runs the reading.
Over the last several Sundays, we've been dancing around Isaiah quite a bit, and not the ones immediately before it. But you know, about a month or so ago, and it's all in this section. We're this section of Isaiah is talking about a dance back and forth between the judgment that God has brought on Israel. Well, Isaiah is predicting it, the judgment of the Babylonians coming in and destroying everything, but also the promise of restoration. There is a constant back and forth in Isaiah as ministry during the section. And so here he is saying, turn to the Lord, while he may be found. It's, it's a call to say, Look to God, while he is available to give you mercy, right. It says, Seek the Lord while He may be found call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.
This is Isaiah calling out to the people of Israel in those days, return to God well, before the Judgment has happened. ask for his forgiveness, forsake your evil ways, and return to the covenant that God established with Israel. And so while God before God has brought about this judgment, returned to him. Now for us, we're not in the same position. We're not Israel trapped in a covenant. We are not facing down a Babylonian invasion in several 100 years. But it's still true that we need to seek the Lord while He may be found. For each and every one of us a day is coming, when the forgiveness of God is no longer on offer. That day is either the day of our death, or the day that Jesus Christ returned. After that day, there is no chance to turn from our evil ways, there is no chance for repentance. Once we die, we stand before God and we wait the judgment. Once Christ returns, there is no turning to him for grace. And so we call on God while he is near. And to do that, we go to the divine service, where Jesus Christ comes down from heaven, and marks his place among us amongst the people of God in a special and wonderful way, where he offers us the forgiveness of sins, and his holy body and blood for our salvation. What a great time to turn to the Lord and ask for his forgiveness and receive that abundant pardon in ways that he offers to us without question, we don't have to guess we don't have to wonder, we eat his body and drink his blood. And we know that it's certain and true.
Isaiah continues, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
We can see in God's plan for Israel, that his plan was unknowable.
He had, he had plans to send that of a invasion. No one knows why or where it happened, why he did it the way he did it, or what the plan was, until after it happened. We also see this happening when God includes the Gentiles into the promises of Israel. St. Paul is just astounded at what God has planned to do and is amazed that this amazing gift that God had promised Abraham now goes out to not just the promised people, but to everyone in the whole world. And I think we see in our own life that God's plans are things that we cannot know. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. We don't know when we will live or die.
We don't know how long our
Life will be. All we know is that now is the time to turn to God for forgiveness. We also don't know why God chose bread and wine to be the things that communicate his grace, or why he chose individuals to offer the confession and absolution of the pastor's often to the church. We don't know why God chose baptism, water and not other things. But he did. And so as we prepare for the day when when our sudden death comes, and we know that we will stand before the judgment seat, let us turn towards the means of grace to the word to remembering our baptism, to Holy Communion to confession and absolution to leave behind our evil ways and receive God's grace.
That's the end of our reading today. Hopefully, we'll see you on Sunday. Bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for September 17, is Matthew chapter 18, verses 21 through 35. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother's sinned against me, and I forgive him, as many as seven times. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times, therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. And since he could not pay, his Master ordered him to be sold with his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring Him, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything. And out of pity for him, the master of the servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100, denarii. And seizing him, he began to choke him saying, pay what you owe. So this fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me, and I will pay you. He refused, and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed. And they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt, because you pleaded with me, and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you. And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt. So also, my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother, from your heart, coherence, the reading. This reading follows immediately, the section in Matthew chapter 18, where Jesus talks about what we do when a brother sins against us, it's first go tell him his fault, just the two of you. If that works, you've gained a brother next, bring one or two witnesses. And if that doesn't work, bring it to the congregation. And if that doesn't work, treat him as he would a Gentile and a tax collector. And he says, Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven, talking about forgiving and retaining sin. So the natural question then is what Peter says, how often? He says, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times. So the question is, like, makes sense. How often should we forgive? Peter's like, Oh, I've got this huge number seven times. And Jesus says, No, not seven, but 77. Okay, so that means when I have my my sin against me book, I have to have 77 checkmarks. And then I stopped forgiving, right? Of course not. This is not an accounting problem about sin. Jesus is saying, no, no, no, seven is not enough. You have to multiply it so much that we always forgive. And that's the thing. Jesus is telling him, You must always forgive. So he tells a parable. I won't read it all. But it's a parable about a servant who owes a bajillion dollars to a king. That's about what 10,000 talents is way more than anyone could ever have. The king forgives it when he begs. And then that same servant goes to another servant, who owes him just a pittance. He says, pay me what you owe. The servant can't. He begs for forgiveness, and that first servant refuses. This is a parallel for our relationship with God is that the sin that we owe against God, our debt to God is so vast that there is no way we could ever pay for it. Every day we sin every day our hearts turn away from God, and our lives are filled with horribleness. And in fact, even all our best deeds, all our good works. They're all tinged with the stain of sin so that even they are filthy rags. We have nothing that we can present to God to pay him back. But he forgives us for the sake of Jesus Christ because Jesus gave up his holy Precious Blood by his innocent suffering and death, so that His infinite value of his infinitely valuable life can be poured into our bank account to pay back what we owe. Now, when someone sins against us, even if it's a huge deal, not a pittance, but a really big deal, it can still never live up to the debt that we owe God. An interesting thing about this is every once in a while I get the chance to counsel someone, they'll come into my office, and we'll talk about forgiveness like this, that when someone sins against you, we are required to forgive. And sometimes every once in a while, someone will say something like this, but pastor, it's just too easy. It's just, I'm just saying the words, and it lets them off the hook. And I always have to remind you that when someone confesses their sin to you and says, Please forgive me. And we offer forgiveness, it is actually not easy. We're saying your sin is so bad, that Jesus needed to die for it, that the Son of God, the Eternal savior, gave up his life to pay this debt. It actually takes in very, very seriously, it is not just papering it over say, ah, that's okay. Don't worry about it. It's saying Jesus died to take care of this sin. That's a big deal. So, when the fellow servant, when the King found out what the servant had done, he goes, and I'll read this, he says, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me, and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you. This is where God's law comes in to remind us that when God forgives us an infinite amount of our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are required, as God's loving people to forgive the same way that God has forgiven us. In this story, the master throws the servant in jail until he should pay all his debt. And Jesus says, so also, my heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. We're required to bring about forgiveness. And I think this helps to put in context, what pastors do when they do the office of the keys, not just what individual Christians do, they also are required to forgive. But pastors don't get to choose who to forgive. It's kind of a misconception. They often say, Well, who are you to judge? Who are you to choose who gets forgiveness and who doesn't? It's actually really simple. There's no choice. Pastors, forgive people who repent. That's it. Not complicated, not hard. Pastors forgive people who repent. Because of this rule. Whenever someone comes to me to ask for forgiveness, it's my job to give it straight up. That's all there is. And it's true for us, as well as individual Christians. When someone comes to us and ask for forgiveness. We must, we are required by the blood of Jesus Christ to give it and what a joy it is to be able to offer up this kind of forgiveness, knowing that our savior has forgiven us as well. That's all we have for this reading. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday September 17, comes from Romans chapter 14 verses one through 12. It reads, as for the one who has weakened faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he meat may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstained. And let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats. For God has welcomed him, Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another, it is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld, For the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day is better than another, while another esteems all days alike, each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord, the one who eats eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God, for none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we will live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be both Lord of the Dead End of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you? Why do you despise your brother, for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, for it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Here is the reading. This reading requires some background information. It begins with talking about quarreling over opinions. And it says one person may he believes he may eat anything, well, the weak person eats only vegetables. Wait a second, is it the strong people are meat eaters, and the weak people are vegans? Not so much. So what's going on here is that in pagan cultures, every time you would eat meat, that meat would have a portion sacrificed to an idol. And so you take an animal and you kill it, and the butcher or other person or the person providing the meal would offer a portion of it as sacrificed. And so what you get then is that there's a group of people who might be considered the strong, who would say, idols don't exist, they're false, so I can eat the meat. And there are other people who are might be considered weak who would say to themselves, Oh, no, this, this meat has been sacrificed to an idol and I can't participate without wounding my conscience. And either one is kind of equivalent, right? And so you say to, to them, St. Paul is saying to them, one shouldn't judge the other as if one is a better Christian than the other? Sure. If you are, if you are theologically astute, you can say, oh, yeah, idols don't actually exist. So then you're sacrificing the sacrifices not to a true being. Let's not worry about it. But for the other, they're like, oh, no, I am horrified. Similarly, there are people who believe that one day is is more important than another. And he's saying, when you when you do that, we don't need to, to pass judgment on each other about the ways that we esteem particular days, whether it's feast days, or sad days, or whatever it is. These things are not commands of God, but they are the kinds of things that we we do for ourselves. Let's not pass judgment over it. And so in the meat versus vegetables thing, it's all about making sure that the person who is doing it is doing it for a good reason. And we don't need to make judgments about it. It's difficult to think about something that might have an equivalent here, but it could be something like people who are struggling with alcohol. Often people who struggle with alcohol, believe that it is is untouchable or maybe even evil. And so if they've been through a 12 step program, they approach alcohol as if it is this thing that is, has a power, whereas other people will approach alcohol is a thing that can be abused, or a thing that can be used correctly. And you just say, yeah, I, if I use it, well, it's just fine. Nobody really should be judging the other about how, how they deal with it. Because both of these opinions are sort of equally valid. One person approaches are one way for their own good. Other person can handle alcohol, so it's fine. It's not not a great, equivalent, but similar. In the second section, it talks about steaming different days and observing them in honor of the Lord. I think this is a good time to talk about what it means to have like a church worship schedule, like the church here, we have different days that we esteem as higher than others, like we go to church on Sunday, following the tradition of the Christian church since the very beginning to celebrate the day of the resurrection. We also have other days that we celebrate December 25, is Christmas, we celebrate Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday as days of celebration. But we don't do it as days that are required. These are just things that we do out of out of tradition as teaching tools to mold our lives around telling the story of Jesus. Nobody said that it's required to do it this way. You don't have to. And so there is no real judgment about who's a better Christian for, say, celebrating Christmas or not. We just simply do it as part of our teaching tools. So it's not something required by God, but something that we do. I think, the question that is great to consider, and this is what St. Paul says, Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another, it is before his own master that he stands or falls. And so whether we are whatever we do with these things that are neither commanded nor forbidden by God, what we do is we say, These things are matters that can be decided differently for different Christians. We're not going to make judgments about it. Fall, Paul finishes up when he says, Why do you pass judgment on your brother, or you why you despise your brother, for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, for it is written, as I live says, The Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. And this reminds us that in the very end, we're not here to judge each other. We are here to stand before God, and that God will on the last day, each of us will have to give an account to him. And there will be a judgment seat. And that is the one whom we serve. And so our judgments passing, saying you're doing it wrong, you're doing it right about these things that are indifferent. But that's not what we're supposed to do. What we're supposed to do is look and say, whose heart is in the right place? How do we how are we doing this in faithfulness? Eventually, we end up standing before God and all of us will be equal on that day, begging mercy for the sake of Jesus Christ. That's it for our reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, September 17, is Psalm 103 verses one through 12. Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us? Here into the reading zone begins with praises, Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that it was in me, bless His holy name, Bless the Lord, oh, my soul and forget not all His benefits. So it's beginning with Let's praise God. That's what it means to bless the Lord. Like we think of blessing is giving of gifts or maybe the holy presence of God. When we bless the Lord, it's not those things. It's praise, we praise the Lord and give thanks for what he does. And so the next piece of the psalm explains why. And I think that's an important piece of what what we focus on when we praise God is that it's not just praising him because he's praiseworthy. We always connect our praises of God for what he does. And that's what the psalm does here. It lists a number of things, forget not all His benefits, it says, He forgives iniquity. He heals diseases, he redeems your life from the pit. He crowns you with steadfast love and mercy satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed. God certainly forgives our iniquity right now, through the blood of Jesus Christ by a confession and absolution. he redeems our life from the pit. And he crowns us with all of these things. And we see the the promise of God delivered to us now through the work of the church in the means of grace. And we look forward even more towards the day of the resurrection, when all disease will be taken away when our bodies are pulled out of the pit and raised to new life. And our youth is renewed like an Eagles forever. And continues, the Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. That's an important phrase there justice and righteousness is kind of the two code words for the work of the king in Israel is that they are supposed to do righteousness that is doing things that are the righteous towards God, and justice that is bringing about justice for the poor, as well as the rich equally for everyone. Then it continues, he made known his ways to Moses his acts of to the people of Israel. This is again looking at prays with a mind to what God has already done. God brought Israel out of Egypt and freed them from slavery and gave them to a prompt a promised land. And Moses recalling this and saying that we're praising him not just because he's praiseworthy, but because of how He has revealed Himself to us, that He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love. It continues on where it's not always chiding or judging, but he forgives because God does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. That is, God does not punish us for our sin, at least not like in the typical way that people think of it. Like God doesn't sit up in heaven and say, Ah, you James Huenink Your sin is particular bad today. I will press the smite key on my keyboard and zap you know, that's not really how it works. God does not respond to our sin with all of the judgment that we deserve. He forgives us actually. And so he removes our transgression from us as far as the east is from the west and he provides his steadfast love to us by sending Jesus to die for us and rise for us so that he can be with us in our lives that's the end of our reading for today we'll see you on Sunday bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, September 17, comes from Genesis chapter 50, verses 15 through 21. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. So they send a message to Joseph saying, Your father gave us this command before he died. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgressions of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you. And now, please forgive the transgressions of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are Your servants. But Joseph said to them, Do not fear for a mind the place of God. As for you, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus, he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Here ends the reading. There's a lot of story that is going on in the background behind this this particular passage. You know, the story of Joseph Joseph was one of the youngest of 12 brothers of Jacob. He got the amazing coat, and then the brothers got jealous they beat him up, threw him in a well sold him as a slave. He made it all the way to Egypt, where he was working in the house of PATA far when he was made the highest official, the part of his wife accused him of trying to rape her, so he went to jail. While in jail, he interpreted some dreams for Pharaoh's cup bearer and Baker. And then interpreting these dreams meant that eventually Josef's power to interpret dreams was brought to Pharaoh when Pharaoh had a dream. Joseph successfully interprets the stream, and Pharaoh raises him up to become the highest official in all of Egypt. When Joseph's family has troubled during the famine, they come to Egypt to buy food, and they go before Joseph to get that food. After all sorts of back and forth, Joseph tests them and tricks them and then eventually he reveals themselves to him. And they say, oh, no, Joseph is going to kill us. It'll be terrible. Joseph weeps, forgives his brothers and welcomes them back into Egypt. And Joseph's father Jacob travels all the way down and moves there. And Joseph cares to them grants them land, all sorts of cool stuff. This story begins when Josef's father dies, the brothers think Joseph has been kind to us, only out of love for the Father for Jacob. Now he's going to finally take his revenge. I have to say, can you imagine taking keeping a grudge for that amount of time holding on to that amount of anger all that long? Yikes. How much would that be a burden. So they say, when when the father dies, they say, Dad asked you to forgive us. Joseph had already done that. He already said that he couldn't, he had forgiven them. But he says this. He says, Am I in the place of God. That's really where the key for this is, is God is the one who judges God is the one who brings about justice. He is the only one who can condemn. What we see in Joseph is a mirror for Jesus a type for him, that Joseph went down into Egypt, he suffered, went into a prison, and then rose up to prominence so that he could save all of Israel, to bring Jacob down to Egypt. And from there, they grew into a mighty people. And he saved not just Jacob and the family from this terrible famine, but all of Egypt and everyone else. And so we see in in Jesus, something very similar, that he was beat up by his people. He suffered, He went into the prison of the tomb, came out and on the other end saves everyone who believes in Him. And it's because of Jesus that we can have the forgiveness that Joseph has and say, all of the evil of this world is part of God's plan. And God brings about good in it Our job is not to bring about vengeance or judge or anything like that, but to love as Christ has loved us. And so we follow the pattern of Jesus who forgave us, and so we forgive others as well. And so it ends up with Joseph comforting the family and saying, Don't do not fear, I will provide for you and your little ones. And that's what he does. And there the family grows until eventually it gets to be so large that the new pharaoh imprison them. And we get the whole story of the Exodus And Moses. That's the end of our reading for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, September 10, is from Matthew chapter 18, verses one through 20. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck, to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world for Temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes. And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet, to be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven, their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has 100 sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray. And if he finds it truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the 99 that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. If your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth, about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven, For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them, here since the reading. This is a lot there is so much going on in this reading, I'm going to do just a little snippet of every little piece in here. So we begin with a question of the disciples who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus points to a child. Now, one of the things that you have to know when Jesus says this, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven, is it's not the way that we normally think of it. We often think, Oh, they're so cute and trusting and wonderful and innocent, and you just have to be trusting like a child. It's not really the way people thought of children, we have a very different understanding of the value of children in our society. Back then children were just the lowest of the low, you might see them, you certainly wouldn't want to hear them. Because you have to remember little children, they died. The death rate between birth and five years old was something like 50% kids died all over the place. And they were basically worthless. They were the bottom rung of society, outcasts. And they only really mattered once they got up into into adulthood, so they could finally contribute to the family and to the rest of the world. So when Jesus pulls out a child, he isn't saying all become precious and innocent. He's saying, Look, you all think this is the least important person in the entire village, you need to be like this. Similarly, he goes on to say whoever receives one such child, one such despised and lowly person receives me, but Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would it be better to have him have a great millstone around his neck and be thrown in the depths of the sea. So again, it's not just the important people we have to deal with even the lowliest of the low. And now even we as Christians having generations of this and our different view of children, we often want children to sort of be tucked off and off to the side. especially when it comes to worship. They we act like they're a distraction or like there's something that we need to keep out so we can do the really serious business of the church. But we're supposed to welcome them, welcome them, even though they are sometimes considered the loneliest and least important, they're not going to get out, they're going to be loud, they're going to be rustling. Jesus says, welcome them. Jesus continues, Woe to the world for Temptations to sin. He says, If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. And he goes on. Of course, I don't see anyone who is actually physically doing that. In fact, if anybody took this seriously, all of us would be without arms and legs and knees, and feet, and eyes and mouths, and well, we'd kind of be dead. But most of all, what we'd have to do is we'd have to cut out our hearts. Because sin doesn't come from our hands or our eyes or our mouth. But it comes from our tendency of our heart to want what it shouldn't have. Jesus is instead telling us that we are supposed to cut out the things that cause us to sin in our lives, cut out all of those things that are, are tempting us and try to stay true and focused on the Christian life. Jesus goes back to the little ones and next one, he says, See that you do not despise one of these little ones. Again, he's, he's talking about the lowliest, right? We're not supposed to despise the people who were despised in that society. They are important. Now he goes, If a man has 100 sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go search for the one that went astray? We hear that so often we go of course, of course, if a sheep leaves, you're gonna go out and find it. But that's crazy. If you have 99 sheep on a mountain, and one goes away, what do you do? Do you leave the 99 and let them hang out on their own that nuts. Jesus is showing that he's kind of crazy, that every shape is so important, even the lowliest children, that he leaves and goes to get them. The last piece of this is the order of a, a way of talking about how we deal with sin in the Christian church. It's if your brother sins against you, first, go and talk to him on your own. And if he repents, you've gained a brother back. Second, take some witnesses on with you. Third, if that doesn't work, take it to the church. And if that doesn't work, treat them like a Gentile and a tax collector. We call that the process of excommunication. And then he gives it a spiritual thing. He says, Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. This is an interesting thing, where he says in connection with sin and dealing with it, if you forgive a person, their sins, that it is forgiven, but if you hold on to it, if the church says you are unrepentant, it actually is retained. Now this isn't there to kick the terrible sinners out or to be judgmental and cruel. This is there to try to bring about repentance. And it matches up well with what is the keel says about if we give a word to the sinner, and we don't say it. It's on us. God calls us to speak to the sinners and call them back to repentance in Christ so that they can have forgiveness and be one with us. That's the end of our reading. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, September 10, is from Romans chapter 13, verses one through 10. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exists have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resist what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but too bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority, then do what is good, and you will receive His approval, for He is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God and Avenger, who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this, you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing, pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue, to whom revenue is owned, respect, to whom respect is owed, honor, to whom honor is owed, Owe no one anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law for the commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, you shall not covet. And any other commandments are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore Love is the fulfilling of the law. He runs the reading. So the beginning piece of this reading is interesting about the perspective Paul has about the Roman authorities. Now, as we consider this, I think many of us have, in our background, this idea of the separation of church and state, and it seems obvious to us that Christians should be like we have our thing in religion, and on the other side is the state. And that's a totally different sphere of influence. Now, that's not quite what Romans chapter 13 is saying. What it's saying is, is that God is in charge of everything. And God has appointed certain people for the public good. That is the leaders. These leaders are God's ministers to bring about order in society. They are there to punish evil, and carry out God's wrath on the evil door, as it says, quote, for he is the servant of God and Avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Now, this is easy when you have good leaders, and even easier for Christians to imagine when we have Christian leaders. But I think it's also important to remember Paul is saying this about the Roman rulers who were persecuting Christians who would very soon kill Christians and throw them into the arena. This is not so much the situation that we have in the United States. It's more like what's going on in Iran, or North Korea. We have leaders who are well, they're those leaders are kind of crazy. And they do some really mean things, but they're still they're appointed by God for good. This doesn't mean they do a great job. In fact, many of them violate the rules that God has set up for them and don't do justice. But it makes them no less God's servants for the good of the people. In the end, Paul is just telling the Roman Christians, not to rebel against these appointed leaders, the servants of God, but to live life in humility and peacefulness. The next section, he says, Oh, no one anything except to love one another. For the for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. This points back to what he was talking about at the end of 12, where he's talking about gives you a grab bag of love ideas, that begins with Let love be genuine. and love your neighbor as yourself is the kind of thing that should run a Christian's life. We love each other, the way we ought to love ourselves. And that means that we care for each other. We correct each other when we're going wrong. We help each other and we hold each other up. This is the summary of God's law. And we see it especially in Jesus Christ, who loved to us so much that He gave up his life for us and spoke to us to reveal the will of his Father to us so that all of us can be saved that's the end of Romans chapter 13 We'll see you on Sunday bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for Sunday, September 10, is Psalm 32 verses one through seven. It reads, bless it is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blesses us with a man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up from the heat of the summer, I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the great rush in the Russia of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me, you preserve me from trouble, you surround me with shouts of deliverance, Here ends the reading. The song begins with blessing it is the one who's transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. And what a great blessing it is to be a forgiven sinner in Christ, whose sacrifice on the Cross paid the penalty for our sins and gives us eternal life. We are all blessed when he turned to Christ for forgiveness, and he delivers it to us. David continues, he says, For When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I think for anyone who's got guilt weighing heavily on them, you can identify with this. For When I kept silent, my bones wasted away. I think David is talking about having a sin that is, is weighing heavily on him, almost as if a disease is taking him. But then he continues, I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity, I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Now, I think as we look at this, we should put this in contact company in the context of what it means to, to turn to God for forgiveness in the Old Testament. This was something you actually did at the temple, there was a thing called a sin offering. And if you committed a sin, you would go bring an animal to the temple where you would offer a sacrifice, confess your sin on the animal, and they would kill it. And that was a way of obtaining forgiveness from God. We have something somewhat similar, though the sacrifice has been done once and for all through Jesus Christ, we offer the gift of confession and absolution, where you can come confess your sins to God and receive the absolution from the pastor as from God Himself. And that's a way to rid yourself of this guilt. This is a gift that the church offers to her people, not as a threat to say, Ah, you must confess. But when your guilt is laying heavy upon you, and your bones are wasting away, and you're groaning and you you're just struggling with your own sin. Confession is a way to deal with that. When you come before the person that God says, Forgive my people, and you can receive forgiveness face to face. David continues, therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him, for you are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble you surround me from with shouts of deliverance. For someone who is in Christ and has confessed their sin and receive forgiveness. We can offer our prayers to God and be protected by him in the rush of a flood or the great waters are all that God is a hiding place a protector who saves us. That's all we have for today. See you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for September 10, is from Ezekiel chapter 33, verses seven through nine. So you son of man, I've made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them morning for me. If I say to the wicked, wicked one, you shall surely die. And you do not speak to one the wicked to turn from his way that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you want the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul here into the reading. So God is speaking to Ezekiel and saying that he has made them a watchman for the house of Israel, someone who guards and protects. And there's the role. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. So the idea here is that if there is an incoming army, the watchman is supposed to warn the city so they can prepare. Now this is, of course, a figurative thing for a prophet. Ezekiel isn't out there saying, you're all going to prepare for an invading army. But he is telling God's word to the people who need to repent. And so God gives Ezekiel a bit of a threat. He says, if I give you a word, and you don't say it, that's on you, Ezekiel. But if I give you a word, and you do say it, then whatever happens isn't on you. If the person repent, yay, wonderful. And if they don't, you will have delivered your soul. Now, in the Lutheran church, we say that the pastor's are often the the inheritors of this office of preaching, an office of the watchman in the church. In fact, one of our ordination hymns is called God of the prophets. Bless the Prophet, son. And it's all about bringing in a new pastor and saying he's taking on this role of, of Prophet in the congregation that is speaking God's word to the people. What it means then is it actually gives me a little quake in my heart as a pastor to say, Oh, God sends us a word. And we must speak it, whether we want to or not, because I have to tell you, it is much easier not to send the Word of God out to those who always need to hear it. It's much easier just to say, You know what, that's on them. But does he he'll says, No, if you have God's word, and you don't speak it to those who need to repent and turn from their ways, then their blood is on you. Oh, Pastor. Yikes. It reminds me a bit of what James says in chapter three, verse one, he writes, not many of you should become teachers, my brother's for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. So, God is warning all the pastors and teachers of the church that when he sends a word to us, we must speak it, the word of Scripture, and all of its content, everything. It's our job, to tell sinners about God's will and call them to return to his grace. That's it for our reading. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, September 3 is from Matthew chapter 16, verses 21 through 28. It reads, from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed. And on the third day, he raised and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan, you are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake, we'll find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul, for the Son of Man is going to come with His angels to the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here, who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. So this passage is an interesting contrast with what we read last week. Last week, we saw Jesus go to the disciples and and say, Who do you say the Son of Man, or people say, and they give all sorts of answers, and Jesus asked, But who do you think I am? And Peter says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus heaps praises on this and says, on this rock, I will build my church. Now, immediately after this, Jesus begins to tell the disciples what he's going to do, that he will suffer, die, and on the third day be raised, this is the mission. This is what Jesus was sent for. And Peter responds, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. And Jesus goes, Get behind Me, Satan, you are a hindrance to me, for you're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Can you imagine? You go from this Hi, amazing moment where Peter is, is saying, the height of the confession of faith, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Jesus calls Peter Satan, Get behind Me, Satan. Yikes, Jesus, can't you be a little more Christ like and a little less judgmental. It's almost like you can hear that in your mind, right? But what Peter's trying to do is prevent Jesus from suffering and dying so that we can be saved. Peter is actually setting his mind on the things of man, kind of a theology of glory, saying that successful things are the things that human beings find glorious. Whereas the theology of the cross shows that the successful things are the things that have the power of God, which, to us is a suffering and dying Savior, who then rises three days later. And we see it again, in some of the most difficult words that Jesus says to any Christian, when he says, If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Now, does that sound like a glorious life? Is that the perfect plan that God has laid out for everyone with this glorious future? deny himself take up his cross and follow me? That's the theology of the cross, where Christians look to see the power of God in the hidden in the suffering, in self sacrifice, and not in the glorious and the powerful and the rich and the wealthy. Jesus continues, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with the angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. So now, here we go. And we look ahead and we see the glory. Right now the life of a Christian is denying yourself taking up our cross and following Jesus in the future, when Jesus returned, that is when Christians see the glory when he comes with the angels and judges, the living and the dead, and repays each one person according to what he has done. Now, you might hear that and go whoa, whoa, whoa, Jesus. I thought we believed in salvation by grace and that That's what it is. He's repaying each person according to faith in Christ, those who are with him and those who are not. And so we rejoice in looking forward to the day that Jesus comes and gives salvation to his people and saves them and makes them glorious. That's the end of our gospel reading. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for September 3 is from Romans chapter 12. verses nine through 21. It reads, let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. rejoice in hope Be patient and tribulation be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all, if possible, so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written, VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good here hence the reading. This reading seems a little bit like a grab bag of different suggestions. But what it does is it flows directly from the image of the Body of Christ that we had just before this in Romans chapter 12. Where St. Paul says that we the church are members of the Body of Christ and members of one another, that we should not think of ourselves higher than we ought to think. And that binding together in the body of Christ leads us to this list, a wonderful list that I wish I could touch on every single one and say, and talk about it in depth. But it begins with Let love be genuine. Now this list that we see, let love be genuine. And all of these other things, though, all the different ways that it talks about loving each other inside the church. You could look at these and say, St. Paul is giving us command, we absolutely have to do it. But I think there's another way to look at it. We can say to that this is what we already want to do. We Christians want to love one another. And I think we should think about the all of the ways that our churches care about each other the members of the congregation, you can think of stories in your own life the prayers that we offer up for each other the the ways that we care for each other the the rides that we might give to each other when we show up together and have lunch together or celebrate or or pray or you know, there are just so many different stories. And especially for a pastor who's still relatively new, it's hard to come up with them all. But the idea here is not so much that St. Paul is wagging a finger at the Romans or us but that there's this thing that God has planted in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, to give us genuine love for each other. And that is what really makes a congregation genuine love that we live out with joy. Now there's another side of this as well. There's there's the side of how do we deal with those who are outside of the church who are against us, the those who persecute and the still, the thing that it that Romans tells us is that there's still this love, a genuine love for those who persecute us. So verse 14, Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Or later on and 19 it says beloved, never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God forbids written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. This reflects the kind of love that Jesus showed for his enemies, the people who were there who were trying to kill him, even said, Father forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. He came to us while we were still enemies of God and made us People in baptism and brought us together into the body of Christ. And so when we face people who persecute us or hurt us, or, you know any kind of of terrible difficulty, we have to say, Let's be like Christ, who loved us while we were outsiders. And so we overcome evil with good. We respond to hate with love. And what that does is that makes enemies into friends. And then we win, right? That's the standard that God sets for us and the love that he shows for us in Jesus. Well, that's it for Romans chapter 12. Hopefully, we'll see you on Sunday. Bye.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm, epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The psalm for September 3 is Psalm 26. vindicate me, oh, Lord, for I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Prove me, oh Lord, and try me test my heart and my mind for your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness. I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consult with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers and I will not sit with the wicked. I wish wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, oh, Lord, proclaiming Thanksgiving aloud and telling all your wondrous deeds. Oh, Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, Nor my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are evil devices and whose right hand are full of bribes. But as for me, I shall walk in and take my integrity, redeem me and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground in the great assembly, I will bless the Lord. Now, if you listened to the reading from the Old Testament, in Jeremiah, you might see something very similar in this psalm reading. It's a Psalm of David where he cries out to vindicate him. That first phrase vindicate me, oh, Lord, gives you a clue as to the situation that might be going on behind the song. You see, throughout the Psalm, David is saying, look at all of my qualities and how faithful I am I, I don't consort with evildoers. I'm not with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of the wicked. I trust in You, I follow your word. I love the habitation of the house, and the place where your glory dwells. This phrase vindicate me suggests that there is a problem that David is facing. And he feels like he needs to be vindicated from God, that God should come down and save him from whatever's going on. And that is, is added to when you look at the end, in verses 11 and 12, where it says, But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity, redeem me and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground in the great assembly, I will bless the Lord. So we've got this idea of redeem, save me, pull me out. And similarly, in verses in verse nine, it goes, Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, Nor my life with bloodthirsty men. There's something going on in the background of this. This is almost like a complaint. David is looking at God and what's going on around him and saying, This doesn't make sense to me, God, I, I serve you. I'm faithful to you. I do all of these things. I don't, I'm not a blatant sinner, I don't go out and do all the bad things. And yet, I need to be vindicated. What I think this does is a couple of things. First, it shows us that it is okay to complain to God when things aren't going the way that we think we should be. When bad stuff happens to us, we can say wait a second God. This is not the thing that you promised for me like you didn't I serve you and stuff is terrible. Fix this. But it also shows us that the pattern of life for God's chosen people often includes being in a situation where we need to call on God to vindicate us. It's especially true for Jesus who is David's son, and I guess the ultimate and perfect king of Israel, who was perfect. He didn't sit with men of falsehood or consult with hypocrites. He hated the assembly of the evildoers and did not sit with the wicked. He loved the habitation of God's house and the place where his glory dwells, and yet, the evildoers all around him seemed to succeed. And so he needed to wait for the Lord his God in ours to vindicate him. And that is the same thing for us. Now that Jesus is risen from the dead. We wait for God to vindicate us, even as we suffer in this world and we face terrible things. We can complain to God and say, Hey, God, this is terrible. This is awful. send Jesus to save us, raise us from the dead so that we can be like him. That's it for today for the psalm fourth Sunday, September 3, we'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, September 3 is Jeremiah chapter 15, verses 15 through 21. It reads, oh Lord, you know me, remember me and visit me and take vengeance for me on my persecutors in your forbearance take me not away, know that for your sake, I bear reproach your words were found, and I ate them. And your words became to me a joy, and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, oh, Lord, God of hosts. I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice, I sat alone because your hand was upon me. For you. It filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful Brook like waters that fail? Therefore, Thus says the Lord, if you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth, they shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. And I will make you to this people, a fortified wall of bronze, they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you, to save you, and deliver you declares the Lord, I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless here and the reading. This is such a difficult reading, I think, for us to just read out of the middle of nowhere, because Jeremiah situation is difficult. Jeremiah is a prophet, letting everybody know that God is about to send Babylon into Jerusalem to destroy them. And right ahead of this though, section right before that, God is speaking through Jeremiah to, to the people to tell them that they are going to be delivered off to the enemy. There's a section where it talks about the people who are assigned to the sword will be killed by the sword to pestilence, pestilence and to spoil, and it's really very gross and sort of like, God is giving the people into exile. And after all of that, we sort of get this, this prayer to God from Jeremiah. And it goes, Oh, Lord, you know me, remember me and visit me and take vengeance on me. For for me on my persecutors in your forbearance take me not away, know that for your sake, I bear reproach. And so Jeremiah is using something very similar to what many of the chosen of God have used. It's this idea that I have been serving you, God, and all of these bad things have been happening to me, come and save me take vengeance on those who are persecuting me, because I'm serving you. He continues, your words were found and I ate them. And your words became to me a joy and a delight for your for my heart, for I am called by your name, oh Lord, God of hosts. So Jeremiah is talking like he's this prophet, who took the Word of God and made it a part of him not just like eating but deep into his heart. One of our prayers about the Word of God talks about it, taking it in and inwardly digesting it, so that it becomes a part of us. I think he's talking about that. He continues in his defense 17 Verse 17. I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice. I sat alone because your hand was upon me for you. It filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unceasing my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me a deceitful Brook like waters that fail? He's continuing his complaint to God saying what's going on? I've served you. The word is deep in my heart, and yet, I'm alone. People are against me. My pain is unceasing. Will you fail me God? And God replies, if you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious and not what is worthless you shall be as my mouth they shall turn to you but you shall not turn to them. And I will make you to this people have fortified wall of bronze. They will fight against you but they shall not prevail over you. For I am with you to save you and deliver you declares the Lord. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless. So here Jeremiah is seen as if you turn to God, He will make you firm, make you like a wall of bronze so that when people attack the Prophet, that he will not be destroyed. He is a fortified city, a wall, they will turn against him and he will be saved. We are not quite like Jeremiah called to the same work that he is called. But through Christ, we see something very similar. We have a Savior whose the indignation of the people was on him. The they fought against him, they worked against him and yet he uttered only the precious Word of God and was made a fortress for us a mighty fortress that we can stand in and be saved. That's it for today for today. I'll see you on Sunday.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Ever since June, we've been going through the book of Romans talking about all the things that the apostle Paul has to say to the church in Rome, the early chapters talked about the amazing gift of God that we are given grace to save us freely and truly, without works of the law. In chapters six and six through eight, St. Paul covers the question, if we're saved by grace, what do we do with our works? Are we free to do whatever we want? He said, No, of course. Because by being united with Christ in our baptisms, the sinful self is killed, and we are made alive with Christ to live like Him in a new life. The end is chapter eight, with amazing declaration of the promises of God, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not even death itself. Chapters nine through 11 Talk about the question of if that's the case, God's promises are certain and true. What do we do with the promises of Old Testament Israel? And we say, the answer was, the faith for Israel was the same as it is for us. It is passed down through the word of God, and those who believe receive it, and those who do not, do not. And so we end chapter 11. With this declaration of praise that St. Paul gives to God, it's really interesting how our lectionary has divided up this reading. So if you look, it's the end of 11, and the beginning of 12. And so it ends this section, in the beginning of our reading today, with that, oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. So then, in chapter 12, we get a lot of stuff. There is a whole lot in our reading that I can talk about. And I truly wish that I could hold you here for the next three hours while I explained it all. Actually, no, I'm sure you'd get a little fidgety, wouldn't you? Probably. So instead of talking about everything, the living sacrifice, the transforming of our mind, all of these other things, we're going to talk about what St. Paul talks about last in this reading, the idea of the church being the body of Christ. He says, For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than we ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. So we though many are one body in Christ, and individually members, one of another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophesy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts, in his exhortation, the one who contributes, in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. St. Paul gives a model of what the Christian church is, I think both in the congregational sense and in the broad sense of all of the Christians all over the world, is that we are bound together in Christ's body. It's a mystical union with Jesus Christ. It begins with our baptisms, that by being baptized into Christ, we are united with Him. We become ONE with Him. him, killed and then made alive to live a new life with Jesus. It continues in our mutual sharing of Christ's Body and Blood, that he gathers us together and binds us as one when we eat his body, and drink his blood. And so not only are we coming together to receive grace, but he makes us one, as we share this mystical gift, the Christian church, and each individual congregation is one body, bound together into this mysterious thing, the body of Jesus. And so while we look like we might be a collection of individuals, a bunch of people from all sorts of places, we are really and truly just Jesus gathered together as his body. Throughout the history of the church, many people have tried other models, other analogies to talk about the organization of the church. And often when we do that, it sort of throws us off a little bit. Back in the Roman Empire, and in the Middle Ages, they had a sort of a feudal system for understanding the church, that everything flowed down from the King, which they called the Pope, down to the bishops, down to the people. And it ended up creating almost a monarchy within the church, which eventually led to selling indulgences that started the Reformation. In other eras, we've used other models. Dwight moody, created the model where we use kind of advertising to be the main part of the church, where the goal of the church was to gather a bunch of people together and give them an emotional experience that would manipulate them into the faith. I think Billy Graham represents the kind of the radio star version of the church. But the one that we have today, unsurprisingly uses what I think is probably the most powerful model of success in American culture, is the tech guru entrepreneur, model of Christianity. And we know how this works. When we look at the the mega churches that often pop up, because they follow that model. Mark Driscoll founded Mars Hill out of Seattle. And he followed this kind of model. He was the the the visionary leader, the Steve Jobs of the church. Very quickly, he gathered together a really big church, and they were doing really big things. Their goal was to break stuff and fix things, and he had the vision for the church. And well, that doesn't define how we live our lives together. I think this model of the entrepreneurial church defines much of how we think about it. And so today, what I like to do is compare and contrast those two models, the idea of church, like a business with the pastor as the CEO, versus what it looks like to be a body. These I think these two models compete in our minds because of the culture that we live in. So let's dig in. The question with that then is who runs the church in each of these models? With the tech guru, innovator, entrepreneur idea, the goal is to get someone who has a visionary new idea, something that will shake up the church environment. They come up with a plan, a great idea that will gather together all of the people around them and make a big difference in the life of their city. Well, that sounds exciting. What that means is that every new startup, the goal is innovation. something new, something different. We saw that in places like Mars Hill, Mark Driscoll started a church that was all about being extra manly. He was a leader Are brash, strong. He talks about if people didn't get on board, we throw them under the bus, really. And, and ended up blowing up the church. This isn't the only place where that sort of thing happens every five 810 years, there's a new a new trend in the church as we get along another theological fad. As someone goes out and leads the way in innovation. Before that becomes passe, and a new innovator has to pop up. In a body, it's a little different. We're not always chasing something new. We're not trying to disrupt everything. We are listening to the head, Jesus.
We're not innovators. We are bearing the Word of God from one generation to the next. And we hear in the church where I live, now we have no better access to that than the people who've gone before us. We can't look back and say, all those people that had no idea what they were talking about, we know the way now I have the vision. All we can do is turn to those who've gone before us glean wisdom from them, and hear the Word of God as it speaks to us today. And I think the key for that is we listen to Christ, and base our decisions all on his word. Innovation, trying something new has to be done very carefully. Because we consider what Christ we also have to examine what the nature of the church is. When we look at these two ideas. In the entrepreneurial idea of the church, the church is the staff. It begins with the founding pastor who has a vision who has a plan, he knows what's going to happen. And they gather together like minded individuals who will do it just right. And if you're not on board, you get left behind. You can also look at as the church grows, primarily, what happens is that the staff does ministry, right? You say you guys are the ministers, we are the spiritual consumers. And it develops a rather unfortunate relationship where you become the audience, and we become the providers. And the goal of the church is to make sure that the customer is happy to make sure that you get what you feel like you need and to gather in more people and build up the business. Now there's something different in a body. In the body of Christ ministry isn't about what the staff does only. We are all responsible for the entirety of the ministry of the church. Every single one of us gathers together to make it all happen. Now, of course, that doesn't mean that everybody gets to stand up in front. Because public speaking is terrifying, just as the people who come up and make announcements every Sunday, right? St. Paul gives us a whole definition of what that means. Each according to our abilities. And he lets several those you have ability and administration, you administer communication, you communicate. If you'd like to make quilts, you make prayer quiz. If you're good at counting money, you can do that too. If you teach, then teach. And we take all of these things, all of these different talents and abilities, and we gather them together. And we say we are all responsible for this work that we do. We all care for each other. We all work together for the good of our congregation. And everyone comes together around the work and ministry of the church. And what that means then is that we're not pitting people against each other. We're not saying Oh, you guys got to do this. We're saying we do that. And it makes everyone just as important and as everyone else. As we consider what we are doing as a congregation. bound together as a body connected to Jesus Christ. That is why I like this program we're doing serving in God's mission. The idea was for us is to think about our strategic plan, not as a staff led idea, but as a congregation lead plan. Because I tell you, I will not live forever. I don't know if you know this, right? I will not live forever. And the pastor after me will not live forever. Staff may change the congregation, you are a big piece of staff come and go. But the culture of the congregation is ongoing. And what we don't want in a congregation is for new staff to come in and change everything every time. Because that happens, right? What we want is the body of Christ to come together and choose together to make decisions. So think about who we are, what are our talents? What are our abilities? And where can we go from here. That's why serving in God's mission is about strategic planning, based on you, not on me why when we go to this meeting, I sit in the back and I don't talk. Because we want the body of Christ to speak for herself.
Another difference, as we consider the two models of what a church is, is the difference about how we have as a relationship to each other. In a business, when you're running a business that is focused on getting stuff done and doing things right. You either get on board or you get out. When a new CEO comes into a company, what do they do? They clean house, right? They get there, they get old people out, and there are people in that's not how the church works, right. With a body, you don't cut fingers off. You don't gouge out different parts. You're committed to each other. And we're committed to each other in the body of Christ. Because we know that Jesus Christ has come to die for each and every one of us. The by the power of his body and blood, he binds us together in a way that is far more important than then simply gathering together here in a space, far more important than membership in a club. We are a body. We are committed to each other. We want love for each other. Not our own love, not our own feelings, but the power of the love of Jesus Christ working in us. And what St. Paul says right after this is all about that when he talks about letting love be genuine, which we'll read next week, because we get into that sermon, and all the all the kinds of good that we do for each other. That's what it means to be in a body. We're not expendable. We don't cast each other aside. We don't we don't wish each other away. We love each other in everything that we do. Jesus Christ has gathered together at church, not to follow the model of the world, the innovation, innovative entrepreneur, but to follow the of the Mystical Body. We are all bound together as one. We're all bound together as Christ people in him which means that we are part of each other members, one another.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, August 27 2023, is from Matthew chapter 16. It reads, now, when Jesus came into the district of Cezary, Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is, and they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, are one of the prophets. He said to them. But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven, and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. Here ends the reading. So this is an important piece passage in the Gospel of Matthew, as it talks about the identity of Jesus, it begins with a question Jesus says, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Now the Son of Man itself is a bit of a of a strange sort of way of talking about yourself. Many of times, in the Old Testament, God would speak to a human being and say, Son of man, justice mean, hey, you, guy. But we also can look to Daniel, where it talks about one like the Son of man, coming on the clouds in might and power. And I think that's really what Jesus is referencing here. So they reply, some say John the Baptist, other sage, Elia, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. So the disciples reply with the various answers that people gave, and it was all these different kinds of profits. And we have to ask ourselves, when we ask the question, maybe of ourselves or others, who do we think Jesus is? What are the various answers that the world gives? Is he just a teacher? Is he some heavenly Santa Claus? Is he a figment of our imagination? Is he just a nice guy who just tells us to love ourselves? Who does the world say is? Is he just nothing? Is he's someone you don't even think about? What an interesting way of thinking of the question, Who do people say that I am? But then he moves on, he said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the Christ, that's the Messiah, the chosen one, the one who was chosen by Israel, and the Son of the living God, the One who only one who knows the father, who was sent into the world to declare the Father's Will for the world? What a faithful answer what a joy that we could give that answer to. And Jesus responds, blessed are you Simon bar Jonah. Now that's kind of a weird thing to do in a translation, Simon bar Jonah. That just means Simon, son of Jonah, I don't know why they didn't translate it that way. So it says, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who was in heaven. We know that we can only proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul tells us that it continues, and I tell you, that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, lots of Protestants and Lutherans get kind of upset about this one when Jesus says, You are Peter and on this rock, and he's obviously making a play on words on Peters name. Peter did become the rock of the church, the cornerstone of the I guess, Jesus is the cornerstone, but he is the chief stone of the apostles. And he the church then gets the keys to the kingdom of heaven and it says, I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. This reflects other language in Matthew from Matthew chapter 18, where Jesus talks about forgiving sin, the church and especially lead pastors as the officers of the church, the public ministry has the keys to the kingdom of heaven to bind sin and lucid to forgive sin. What a great gift. You can come to your pastor. And you can confess something, haven't put his hand on your head and say, I forgive you in the name of the Father, Son in the Holy Spirit, and there's a promise that it actually happened. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. What a joy it is to be able to be released from your burdens like that. The reading ends with that he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. What a crazy thing, right? Jesus says, don't tell anyone. But we know that this is because Jesus is heading to the cross, that the message doesn't go out until after he has died and rose from the dead. Because we can only understand what it means that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, if we see it through that his death on the cross, and know that Christ did not come to be a king like David with a sword in his fist, and spear in his hand, but a one with nails through his wrists and feet, to suffer and die for us. And so we know that this message doesn't make sense until Jesus has died and risen. Now we tell the whole world. That's the end of the reading. Hope to see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for August 27 2023, comes from Romans chapter 11, and 12. It reads, oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable his ways For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor, or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid, For from Him, and through Him, and to him are all things to him be glory forever. Amen. I appeal to you, Therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, and acceptable, and perfect. For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body, we have many members and the members do not have the same function. So we though many are one body in Christ, and individually members, one of another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophesy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who serves, in his teaching, the one who exhorts, in his exhortation, the one who contributes, in general generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness, he rents the reading. Let's dig in. This reading begins with the end of Romans chapter 11. And St. Paul is concluding his previous discussion of the relationship between Old Testament Israel and the church with this amazing declaration of praise to God. Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God, How unsearchable are His judgments, and how inscrutable his ways For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been his counselor who's been given a gift to him that he might be repaid, For from Him, and through Him, and to him are all things to him be glory forever, amen. This end of the section from Romans nine to 11, shows the mystery of God, that the amazing thing that God has brought the Gentiles into Israel, and making the church that by by sending His Son Jesus Christ, He gathers a new Israel out of the old and incorporating all of the Gentiles. Who could have thought looking at the Old Testament that way, amazing. Now, our reading splits the end of that section and goes into the next section in Romans chapter 12, where it begins, I appeal to you therefore brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable God, which is your spiritual worship. So, because of God's mercy, we are called to present our bodies as a living sacrifice. Now, a living sacrifice is kind of weird, because sacrifices are the kinds of things that you kill, right? You, you kill an animal to offer it as a sacrifice to God. But we are living sacrifices, because in Christ we have been brought from death to life. We were killed in our baptism, buried with Christ and then raised to new life again, so that we are now body and soul, a living sacrifice. We no longer belong to ourselves, we belong to God. He continues with the thought, do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. So we are not to be molded by the world, but by God, and how does a Christian do that? Well, it comes from his word and Sacraments. This is how the Holy Spirit comes to us, to mold us and change us so that we can understand God's will, all of which we do in the divine service on Sunday. It continues, for by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you, do not think of himself more Hi Really than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. Now many people see the humility of the Christian church, it's kind of a negative thing, almost like you're supposed to hate yourself and despise yourself. That's not what he's saying. He's saying, don't think about yourself more highly than you ought to think. But think with sober judgment, that none of us is really more important than the other, we're not supposed to think of ourselves as too important. But we also shouldn't despise ourselves. And he continues and says, we are all part of the same body, quote, For as in one body, we have many members and the members do not have the same function. So we, though many are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. So this is the idea that all people who are in the church, especially I think, in the local congregation, so we are all a body of Christ in that place. And each of us has different gifts, gifts that are important piece of the whole. And so it's not just the pastor's whose gifts that are important, even though he's the one up in front on Sunday morning. It's all of the gifts. It's the gifts of every single person that uses these for service in the body of Christ. None of us is more important, more valuable or better than the other. Even though we all have different functions. Everyone is of equal value in Christ. That's the end of the reading. Hope to see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Psalm For August 27, is Psalm 138. It reads, I give you thanks so Lord with my whole heart, before the gods I sing your praise, about down towards your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness. For you have exalted above all things, and your name and your word. On the day I called you answered me, my strength of soul you increased. All the kings of the earth shall give thanks, oh, Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord. For great is the glory of the Lord. For though the Lord has high he regards the lowly, but the hottie he knows from afar, though I walk in the midst of trouble you preserve my life, you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me, for the Lord will fulfill His purpose for me, your steadfast love, oh, Lord endures forever. Do not forsake the word of your work of your hands, your hands, the reading. Let's take a look. I give You thanks the Lord with my whole heart. Before the gods I sing your praise, I bow down towards your holy temple and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness. This begins with something interesting, I think, for Christians, where it says, Before the gods, I sing your praise, that seems weird, right? We only believe in one God, we don't have multiple gods. We have to go back into the minds of the Old Testament and say, there were a pantheon of gods who are out there that were options for everyone. And David, when he writes, this psalm is saying, You God are the best of them all. Like there is no God like you. I will sing your praises in front of everyone, all the gods, you know, they will, they will show up. And I'll be like, no, no, no, I sing praises towards only the true God, the God of Israel. And when he does that, he goes towards the Holy Temple for his steadfast love and faithfulness. And what is this a steadfast love and faithfulness? It reads, For you have exalted above all things, your name and your word. On the day I called you answered me, my strength of soul you increased. Now, for David, it might be the the word is the promise that he received. David received some pretty great promises, beginning with the anointing of Samuel, when Samuel chose David to be king, and meant that David couldn't be killed until he got to be king. And so he could trust in this word. Later on. After David became king God came to him and said that he would always have a son on the throne of Israel. And perhaps that's the promise that God had given David. He calls out to God and He waits for this promise to come true. We also cry out to God and wait for the promises he gets us to come true. They come true to us for Jesus is Jesus is the one who's who answers our prayers when we cry out by giving us salvation. The psalm continues, all the kings of the earth shall give you thanks so Lord, for they have heard the words of your mouth, and they shall sing of the ways of the Lord. For great is the glory of the Lord. For the low. The Lord is high. He regards the lowly, but the hottie he knows from afar. So we have a transition here. It moves from I will praise you to all the kings of the earth shall give thanks, all of them will praise you. But here's another thing. Why is it because God is powerful? No. Is it because he's mighty? No. Is it because he crushes the enemies? No. Here's why. For the Lord is high. But he regards Filoli but the hottie he knows from afar, so even the Lord even though the Lord is high up, even though he is the most powerful and the most mighty, he gives mercy to the lowly and judgment to the proud. And that is the true as we see it in Jesus Christ, who did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom. The psalm continues, though I walk in the midst of trouble you preserve my life. You stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies and your right hand delivers me. The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me, your steadfast love Oh Lord endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands. Here's where I think the The the idea that this is a Psalm of David becomes most important, because we see David as a stand in for Jesus, like David was his life was preserved in the midst of trouble in the midst of enemies God was going to get deliver on these promises. But how much more is that true of Jesus? Jesus walked in the midst of trouble in yet God preserved His life, the wrath of their enemies came and they fought and they even killed Jesus. And yet God preserved His life. The purpose of God was was set out and achieved because God's steadfast love for his King Jesus Christ endured forever. And so because of that, we know that God's steadfast love for us endures forever through Jesus Christ, because he is raised from the dead. So will we be to that's the end of our reading. I hope to see you on Sunday. Thanks, bye
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. Are you ready to dig in? Here we go. The Old Testament reading for August 27 is from Isaiah chapter 51. It reads, listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the Lord, look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug. Look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you. For he was about one when I called him, and that I might bless him and multiply him. For the Lord comfort Zion, he comforts all her waist places, and makes her wilderness like Eden, her deserts like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness will be found in her Thanksgiving and the voice of song. Give attention to me, my people and give her to me, my nation, for a law will go out from me. And I will set my justice for a light to the peoples. My righteousness draws near my salvation has gone out, and my arms will judge the peoples, the coastlands hope for me, and for my arm, they wait. Lift up your eyes to the heavens and looked at the earth beneath. For the heavens vanish, like smoke, the Earth will wear out like a garment. And they who dwell on it will die in like manner. But my salvation will be forever. And my righteousness will never be dismayed. Here is the reading. So let's get started with this. It opens up with Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness who seek the Lord, look to the rock from which you are human and to the quarry from which you are dug. So what it is, is it's pointing out to all the faithful people says look to where you grew out of what he's doing is he's looked preparing us to look ahead to Abraham, and continues. Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah, who bore you. For he was but one when I called him, that I might bless him and multiply him. You can see in this assumption that Isaiah is speaking to the people of Abraham. It's a sort of as a group identity, that Abraham the father and Sarah his wife bore them. And he says, Abraham was just one man when he called him so that he could bless him and make him multiply. I think the idea here is that for people that Isaiah was likely thinking about were stuck in exile and and tragedy that God had blessed Abraham who was just one person and made him huge. How much more could he bless Israel? How much more could he bless God's people? It continues for the Lord comfort Zion, he comforts all her waist places, and makes her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness would be found in her Thanksgiving and the voice of song. So not only is God going to bless the people of Israel who are reading this in Isaias day, it is also a blessing for the church. We who are children of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ. Now we have this comfort that God gives not just to Zion of the Old Testament, but to the whole Christian Church on earth, that God is going to make the waist places of life like a garden. Now, this might be somewhat metaphorical for the Christian now, but on the day that Jesus Christ returns, all of the earth will be made perfect joy and gladness and Thanksgiving in song. Isaiah continues, give attention to me, my people, and give here to me, my nation, for a law will go out from me. And I will set my justice for a light to the people's. It's interesting when when the Old Testament uses that word law, sometimes it doesn't mean law as in a set of rules. Sometimes it means law, like the Torah is in the whole Old Testament covenants and promises and all of the things that Moses wrote. And so I think here this idea is that God's promises His law and his gospel will go out from him out into the peoples. He continues, my righteous drawers, nests drawers near my salvation has gone out and my arms will judge the people's, the coastlands hope for me and for my arm, they wait. This idea is that when God's righteousness goes out into the world, it is not just the Jews, but also to the Gentiles who are waiting for his his law, His righteousness, His justice. And that's what it means when it says the coastlands it's the far off peoples, not just those who are nearby. Isaiah continues, lift up your eyes to the heavens and look at the earth beneath. For the heavens vanish, like smoke, the Earth will wear out like a garment. And they who dwell in it will die in like manner, but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed. Everything in this world goes away, doesn't it? The heavens vanish, like smoke, the Earth will wear out, and we all eventually die. But God's salvation lasts forever. Because Jesus will come back and take the dying and Vanishing Earth and make it new. He will take all our bodies and make them new, and we will live forever with Christ and the resurrection from the dead. All of the things that vanish now, they will be made new on the day that God salvation returns for the final time in Jesus Christ. That's the end of our reading today. I hope to see you on Sunday.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We've been working our way through Romans ever since June, almost nearing the end of our scheduled readings for Romans, there'll be coming up in about three weeks. But we've been in a section that is actually kind of difficult, or understanding what St. Paul is saying, these chapters nine through 11, are asking a question, what do we do with the promises given to Old Testament Israel? At the end of chapter eight, St. Paul declares this amazing promise that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not even death itself. And he raises the question, then, what about Israel? What about the promise of the land and the temple and the kings and all of those things? How do we as Christians think about that? Romans nine through 11, builds to this point, where it talks about what the relationship between Israel and the church is, and how to understand that those promises come true for us in Christ. And so what we have to do then is look at what this what St. Paul does here in Romans 11, to talk about this relationship. In the end, very simply put, the church is the true Israel, the people of Israel that we think of as the nation, or the Israelites who are genetically descended from Abraham, or not. And the theology behind that is what Jesus does in his life. Now, unfortunately, our reading, if you look at the Epistle reading in your bulletin, there are a lot of holes in there, right? It goes, Romans chapter 11, one through two, A, and then 13, through 15, and 28, through 32. And that's because it really wants to skip a lot, to cut out some things. And what that cuts out is this idea that there is a section of the genetic offspring of Abraham, who have turned away from the gospel and left behind the faith that has always been passed down. Much of the book of Romans the purpose of talking about the faithfulness of God to the promises by faith, has shown that God's promises were not a genetic handing down by the DNA of Abraham. But a passing on of the promise through faith that Abraham was saved by grace through faith, just as we are, that Jacob was also saved by grace through the promise. And the promise didn't go just to every kid, because Abraham had lots of children. And not just one. And that has continued down through the ages. One of the sections that cuts out is when Paul talks about Elijah, who goes and hides and God promises that a remnant of true Israel has been saved only 7000, who did not worship ball, the false god. What St. Paul is helping us to see is that the true Israel promised from the Old Testament is Jesus Christ Himself, and that all who are in Christ, become part of Israel. What that means, then is that opens up membership in the land of Israel and the people and the promise of God to everyone who comes to Christ. Everyone who believes in Him. If you look at the work of Jesus, especially in the Gospel of Matthew, the entire structure and and path of, of Jesus's life is shown to prove that Jesus is the true Israel, the one who fulfills the covenant. It begins with the announcement of Jesus as the Son of David who would be the king, who would rule over Israel for forever. Then Jesus hustles off down to Egypt, where he is escaped just like Abraham. He comes out of Egypt, just like Moses did. It crosses into the Jordan River to begin his ministry just like Joshua. He spends 40 days in the wilderness just like Israel spent 40 years as being tempted in the wilderness. After coming back into his ministry, Jesus goes to the top of a mountain and gives a sermon about the Old Testament law. A lot like Moses, who went to the top of Mount Sinai and brought down the 10 commandments. And it goes on and on like that, we see Jesus handing out bread in the wilderness to people who are hungry and could not get enough when he feeds the 5000. And I think most significantly to what we're talking about today. Jesus Christ chose 12 men, to begin the new family of Abraham, just like the 12, sons of Jacob, who became the heads of the tribes of Israel, all of the sudden there is a new Israel, headed by the 12 apostles, to create the same nation, but in a new way, by membership and faith in Jesus Christ. And we can see that most explicitly and what St. Paul says in Galatians, chapter three, where he says, For as many as you were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to the prompt. One of the other sections, they cut out in our reading today from Romans chapter 11, gives us a more explicit metaphor, or this it's a metaphor of an olive tree, that the olive tree of Israel, just like our fruit trees, you know how when you buy a fruit tree for your backyard, they've they've got they do grafting, right, there's the root stock, and then there's the fruit stock, I don't know what they call that I'm still too new to California to know the actual parts, but there's the root and then there's the rest of the plant, right. And sometimes, if you're, if you're really exciting, you get one of those fruit salad plants, where you've got the root and then the stock and then you've got like apples and pears and peaches, and whatever, you're gonna get as many as you want all on the same planet. That's grafting, right? St. Paul gets a metaphor of grafting wild all of branches, the Gentiles, onto the holy root of Israel. And that makes it the Gentiles who are brought into Christ, then are grafted into the Old Testament promises of Israel, made greater and newer in Christ. He says, Now I am speaking to you Gentiles in as much as then I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, in order that somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean, but life from the dead, if the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so as a whole lump, if the root is holy, so are the branches. But here's where we didn't get it, it says, But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others, and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are Remember, it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you say branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in. That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So we see this promise that God has always been working. The promise that begins with Abraham goes to Isaac goes to Jacob, to all of the nation of Israel, through Moses, and all the way up to Jesus Christ. All of that is the work of salvation that God has always been planning in the world, and is now present in the church. Christ is Israel. And by being in Christ, we have all the great promises of the Old and New Testament. You may be asking yourself, well, that's really interesting information, Pastor. I'm sure now that I can pass the test on Romans chapter 11. And I have all this nice stuff. But what does this actually mean for me, a Christian?
Well, a big piece of Romans 11 is helping to show us that some of the the expectations in the Christian church about the end are a little unusual. Now you're gonna have to let me pause and talk about what what certain people teach right now, there are three different views about the end of the world and what will happen when Jesus returns. And so I have some slides, visual aids to help you out sweet, like we knew these would come in handy. Let's go and take a look at the first one. Okay? This is called post millennial, post millennialism. What that means is, it's Jesus is supposed to come back after this thing called the millennium. So what you have right now is we are in the church period, post, millennials believe that things are going to just generally get better throughout all of humanity, until we reach this utopia. And then after the period of 1000 years of Utopia, Jesus will return and everything will be great. This is sort of the Star Trek theory of, of church. Like in Star Trek, you know, everything sort of just got better until it was this utopian world. And then Jesus returned. This was really popular before World War One and World War Two, and we blew everything up. And since then, has not been quite as popular. But it's thinking still underpins a lot of the progressive thought about history, that everything is progressing towards something hurt. Another way of teaching is this one. This is what the Lutheran Church teaches. We are currently in the in the world of in the reign and rule of God on earth through his church. And everything is going to happen by grace through faith on account of Christ until Jesus shows up. And he will raise us all from the dead and give us eternal life. That's the story you hear from me just about every Sunday. And it's the one that the Bible teaches. Things are going to go on as they go. And then in a moment, when no one is expecting it, Jesus will appear in the clouds, and he will raise you from the dead and give you life forever. But the one I want to talk about is this next one dispensational premillennialism, which is really fun, right? Like say that 10 times fast. This is a one that is quite popular in America today. It's the idea that the church is here, then there will be a the rapture, a period of tribulation, then Jesus will come back and establish a military rule on earth over humanity. Like a government like a normal human government, based out of Jerusalem, where they will rebuild the temple, reinstitute reinstitute animal sacrifices, He will reign there for a literal 1000 years before Satan will be set free. And they will march on Jerusalem, and Jesus will destroy them with his armies. And we will bring about the new era, the new heavens and the new earth. If it sounds complicated, it is. Why are we talking about this one is the popular version of in much of American Christianity. If you have read books, or seen books like The Late Great Planet Earth, that is what it talks about are the Left Behind series that keeps being made into movies. It seems like every 10 years or so. Or I guess more pressing, David Jeremiah, up at Shadow Mountain teaches. And I've seen his books in many of our home. So I know that his influence is here. This kind of thinking, what it does is it separates the promises of Israel, from the promises that God gives the Gentiles in Jesus. And it teaches us that God is not doing something, something that's part of the whole big plan, but that the church is sort of a pause, almost a side note. In fact, I have a quote about that from will duke from Chateau mountains website. He says in this view, the church is a sort of parenthesis within God's primary purpose or Israel. He also says in the millennium, God will focus on what has been the Heart of His earthly plan, the redemption of his chosen people Israel. He will fulfill the unfilled covenants and prophecies about the restoration and blessings of Israel, the temple in Jerusalem will reap be rebuilt. The Levitical priesthood will be reestablished with an animal sacrifices, again being offered. Does that sound weird? That sounds a little weird. That's because it is. What happens with this is that it doesn't allow the New Testament to define the Old Testament. And we get a break between the work of Jesus and the work that God did in the Old Testament. But even worse than that, is that tells Christians that we need to be thinking about about earthly thing, and not about the promises of God in heaven. If you've watched or looked at some of these things, they will say that Christians need to be worried about the politics of the world far more than I think we need to do. I remember reading an article where one of these churches was talking about how concerned they were about global currencies, because that is something that the church needs to worry about. Right. But it played into these prophecies. Another time I watched a show when I was young and sick. And it was in the middle of the day, where where Bible teachers were talking about how they found Saddam Hussein in the in the book of Revelation, fulfilling some of these prophecies. But more than that, it also forces us to to have particular opinions about the nation of Israel. From David jeremiah.org. Modern Israel's ability to maintain independence and prosperity amid constant threats highlights God's sovereignty over world affairs, nothing can disrupt his plan, meaning Christians must support the nation of Israel. According to this. I do not doubt that a fully operational temple will be present during the tribulation. Even now devout Jews are working on reproducing sacred temple vessels. According to the Old Testament requirements. A breeding program aims to produce an unblemished red heifer that meets the requirements for purification of the temple. It gives me chills to hear how the groundwork is being laid for the end time. What does this mean? The End Times depend on. Its calling on people to focus on things like breeding red heifer programs, or reproducing articles from the temple, rather than on the promises of Jesus Christ. And Romans, chapter 11, asks us to say, Wait a second. Jesus is Israel. Jesus is the one who fulfills all of those promises, the one who gives us the yes for everything that God has promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. What we have to do is focus on him, and how he fulfills those things just the same way the New Testament rather than looking at the story of the church like this. We simply look at Christ and wait for his comment, because that is what he has promised. And so when you hear these things in the church, about rapture and millennialism, and all of the promises about places invading other places and stuff like that, it's all bunk. What we are waiting for, is Christ to come and raise us from the dead. And that's it. In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for August 20, comes from Romans chapter 11, verses one through to a 13 through 15. And then 28 through 32. Here we go. I asked then has God rejected his people and by no means for I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, God has not rejected his people whom He foreknew so then it skips down to verse 13. Now I am speaking to you Gentiles in as much as then I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world. What will their acceptance mean, but life from the dead? Then it skips down to verse 28. As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time, disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience. So they too, have now been disobedient, in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy for God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. Here ends the reading. What an interesting reading this is, and our lectionary doesn't do us any favors by dividing it up. It really is trying to give us a flavor of the whole thing by cutting out all sorts of pieces, but we lose quite a bit. So it begins with St. Paul writing. I asked them has God rejected his people, by no means for I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Now in Romans, chapter nine and 10, St. Paul has been raising the question, What about Israel? What about God's chosen people now that the word of God has gone gone out to the Gentiles? So he says, obvious question, Has God rejected His people. And he points to himself, he a believer in Christ is also an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. And then he says in verse two, God who has not rejected his people whom he for knew what he happened, what he says, then is that in the rest of the text, there is a, a sort of jealousy that is being given for the Jews, and a fall so that the Gentiles can be saved. And he goes to verse 13, now I am speaking to you Gentiles in as much as then I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world. What will their acceptance mean, but life from the dead? So it's interesting, when St. Paul went out and did his ministry, every place he would go, he would begin by teaching in the synagogue, he would go there, as a as a guy, Rabbi, teacher, he would often give sermons that would point out that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior. And then he would get rejected. And so he would go from synagogue to the Gentiles. And he sees a sort of pattern of the Jews, God's chosen people, Israelites reject their God. And then it is that message then moves out to the Gentiles. So it's almost like the the rejection of Israel leads to the bringing in of the Gentiles into the church. And so here he says, Well, if God's promises are going out to the Gentiles, maybe that will make them jealous, the Israelites so that they become Christians, too. So let's move on to the next section of text. As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but as regard to election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers, for the gifts in the calling of God are irrevocable. So it is interesting here that At St. Paul is threading this line where he says, with the Gospel, the people who reject Christ are persecuting you. That's what they did with Paul, they would persecute him from town to town. But yet we can't say that there is no connection. They are beloved, because of the forefathers. That is because of the the patriarchs of the Old Testament. Because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable, God's call still goes out to all of Israel to be saved, come to be with Christ. He continues, for just as you were at one time, disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience. So they too, have now been disobedient, in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy. So what it's saying is, their disobedience means that the message of the gospel went out to the Gentiles. And now he is praying that the disobedience would lead to mercy to the Gentiles that would then lead to Mercy to Israel. When he goes in verse 32, for God is consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. This is just pointing back to the basic theme that all are sinners, and the only thing that can save us is God's mercy. What are our reading skips over is a really interesting metaphor for understanding what is going on in the relationship between Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church. He uses the metaphor of an olive branch broken off and onto a tree. The the olive tree is Old Testament Israel that God planted, it's a it's a good tree that produces good fruit. And what God does then in the church as he takes Gentiles, and he grasps the Gentiles onto the branch of the good tree, and so all who believe in Jesus Christ are grafted into the promise of Israel, the promise of Abraham, the Jews, the people of Israel, who reject the promise of Abraham and reject Jesus Christ are cut off like branches that are cut off from the tree. And so St. Paul is showing how the promise of Israel is still continued through the church and the church is inheriting the promise given to Abraham now that we are the true Israel through Jesus Christ. What he's hoping is that by bringing this message to the Gentiles, that the branches that were cut off, might be grafted back on again. St. Paul is hoping and praying that his brothers and sisters of descent in Israel might come back to Christ and be brought into him. That's the end of our reading today. Hopefully, we'll see you on Sunday.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation.
The Psalm For August 20th 2023, is Psalm 67. May God be gracious to us and bless us, and make his face to shine upon us. That your way may be known on Earth, you're saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, oh, God, let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nation's upon the earth. Let the peoples praise you, oh, God, let all the peoples praise you. The Earth has yielded its increase. God, our God shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him here into the reading. This psalm begins with a prayer of asking God's blessing on Israel. It says, may God be gracious to us and bless us and to make his face shine upon us that your way may be known on Earth you're saving power among all nations. It's interesting that the request for God to be gracious and to bless us has a purpose, that your way may be known on Earth, you're saving power among all nations. They're saying bless us. So the rest of the world may see how glorious you are. That all the peoples might know you. And then it goes on to say, let the peoples praise you, oh, God, let all the peoples praise you. This is kind of the conception of spreading the message of God throughout the Old Testament, that the people of Israel would be so different. So unlike the rest of the world, that all the nations would look at them and say, Whoa, who has a God like their God, he is greater than any god. We see that in the way that Moses and Egypt worked that the plagues were combat with the gods of, of Egypt. We saw that in the book of Daniel, where there was a constant sort of fighting between Nebuchadnezzar and the gods of Persia, and the true God and he always came out on top. The idea is, is that God would bless the people, and then the people would see how powerful God is. So they moved to that verse three, let the peoples praise you let all the peoples praise you. It continues, let the nations be glad and sing for joy for you judge the peoples with equity, and guide the nations upon the earth. Let the peoples praise you, oh God, let all the peoples praise you. So the next move in the Psalm is to say that God is not just the God of Israel, but over all of the nations and He judges everyone equally, not as in putting Israel first. But all the peoples of the earth are judged equally. Finally, it moves on to the last section. The Earth has yielded its increase God our God shall bless us, God shall bless us let all the ends of the earth fear him. This is the Earth has yielded its increased. This is the blessing that people expected from God, that the Earth would produce the fruits of of labor and provide for God's people, that God would bless them through the land that he had given them.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The reading for Sunday, August 20, comes from Isaiah chapter 56, verse one, and verses six through eight. I'm actually going to read the whole thing verses one through eight because I think it's very interesting. So here we go. Thus says the Lord, keep justice and do righteousness for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness will be revealed. Bless it is the man who does this and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath not profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil. But not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, The Lord will surely separate me from his people. And let not the UNIQ say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath's who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters, I will give them an everlasting name shall that shall not be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and hold fast my covenant. These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered, Here ends the reading. This passage is all about gathering together outcasts. And I read part of it that is not part of the lectionary reading, that's verses three through five. But I think they're an important piece of what Isaiah is trying to say. So it begins with these words, Thus says the Lord keep justice and do righteousness. For soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness will be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the Son of Man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil. So Isaiah begins by talking about keeping justice and doing righteousness. When the kings were being judged in the Book of Kings, their job was always justice, and righteousness. And I've always looked at them as saying justice is the work of law enforcement that a king is supposed to do, not favoring the poor or the rich and making sure justice is happening. And righteousness was the Kings job of making sure everybody worshipped the true God at the temple. Now, Isaiah then is saying, our job is to keep justice and do righteousness. And it's connected in verse two, to following the worship of the true God, that is, keep the Sabbath, not profaning it and keeping your hands from doing any evil, that is doing the things that Mark God's people as being separate. Well, we no longer do the Sabbath, the way the ancient Israel did it by resting, we still gather together for rest in God's word, and to receive his sacraments. Now, the next part, verses three through five is all about the eunuch and the foreigner. What this is doing is it's talking about people who would normally not be allowed in the temple. And so Unix, someone who's a male who's been castrated, wasn't allowed to actually go into temple worship. They simply were considered unclean. Generally, the same would be said for a foreigner. And so God is saying through Isaiah, I am going to gather together the most outcast, not just the foreigner, but also the unic who is will not have children who ends up being a dry tree, he is gathered into my fold. So it says, To the Unix who keep my Sabbath su choose the things that please me and hold fast to my covenant. I will give in my house and with my within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. Now our scheduled reading begins with verse six then it says, And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, and to love the name of the Lord and to be His servants. Everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast to my covenant. These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for My house shall be called called a house of prayer for all peoples, the Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered. This is really an interesting thing, because it says that the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord will be allowed to enter into the temple and offer acceptable sacrifices, which is really not the way it's supposed to be. Old Testament sacrifices you had to be take up the covenant by circumcision, to be able to go into the temple and offer a sacrifice. If you were a foreigner or an outcast, a Gentile, you simply wouldn't be allowed to do that. What that what we see then is that something is going to change. And that change is Jesus Christ is that Jesus will be the true Israel that the Gentiles join into. And that because his acceptable sacrifice is offered, the Gentiles now are gathered into God's people. This is something that Isaiah couldn't have been understood at that time. And so he puts it out as, as Gentiles, the foreigners, being allowed to offer acceptable sacrifices. An interesting thing about verse seven is that it says, For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. This is something that Jesus quotes when he goes and he clears out the temple. He does the money changers with the whip and all of that and casts out all the animals. And he says, My house is to be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. And so one of the the thinking behind this is that they set up this marketplace in the place where foreigners Gentiles could come where they could come and offer prayer at the temple. And what these these money changers were doing was disrupting this place as a house of prayer for all nations. Whatever that thinking is, is this this definitely points us to what Jesus was saying when he cleared out the temple. That's it for Isaiah chapter 56. Hopefully, we'll see you on Sunday.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Through Jesus Christ means that we are justified, given eternal life freely by the death and resurrection of Jesus. He then went into a series of questions about what does that mean for our action? Like, if we are justified freely as a gift? Why would we behave ourselves? And the answer was, is that when were baptized into Christ, the sinner in US was killed with Christ, and a new person was raised from the dead, that God raised you with Christ to make you like him. So our behavior follows just as Jesus Christ was perfect. We have a new person inside of us who wants to live that same one. Paul ended that section, by proclaiming the amazing power of the promises of God, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, no power on earth, not even life and death itself. These promises are certain and true. Last week, we looked at Romans chapter nine, where St. Paul expressed his anguish over the fact that the promise of God that went out to the nation of Israel was rejected by them. That many people who are part of God's chosen people turned away from the Savior when they heard about him. And so St. Paul comes into Romans 10. And he raises the solution for that problem. It's preaching. He talks about the preaching of the gospel of the proclamation of Jesus Christ, going out into the world, as the solution for unbelief. That both for Israel, God's chosen people, and for the Gentiles, the rest of the world, it's the proclamation of Jesus Christ, that will gather all of the last into the faith so that they can hear and be saved. And I think today, that gives me a good opportunity to talk about why Lutheran preaching is a little different from preaching in other denominations. And very specifically, Romans 10, helps to explain it. A Lutheran sermon, you may have noticed, if you listen to other other kinds of preachers is quite different. That's because one, a Lutheran sermon is designed to be proclamation and not just teaching. That's a very specific use of that word, proclamation. The difference between proclamation and teaching is a very simple phrase, it's the word for you. Now, that doesn't explain a whole lot. You're looking at me like, wait a second pastor. I'm building suspense here, right? What does it mean? When we use the words for you, rather than just teaching? Perhaps I can explain it best by looking at a wedding. When you go to a wedding. One in the Lutheran church, at least we spend a lot of time talking about marriage, I have this rather lengthy introductory reading that I have to do that as part of the service will sometimes read Bible readings from from different sections of Scripture that have to do with marriage. I'll stand up there and I'll give a eight minute sermon that includes talking about what marriage is supposed to be and how Christ can come into a marriage and, and be part of it and strengthen it. But you know, what makes a wedding none of that. Right? Because you can talk about marriage a whole lot, and still not actually get married. There is a moment in a wedding ceremony when the pastor says, I now pronounce you husband and wife. And at that very moment, they are all the sudden married. Right? The words going out, accomplish the thing that is being said. That is the difference between proclamation and teaching. When I say I pronounce you husband and wife all the sudden the thing that is happening is deliberate. It is not teaching it is doing proclamation in the Lutheran church is like that when we're talking about Jesus as well. You can have A pastor who stands up and says all sorts of abstract things about the Bible. We could go through and do all sorts of word studies, help you see all the themes that are going on in Scripture, talk about doctrines, talk about anything under the sun. And that is good teaching. But what you really need is the for you, don't you? I can talk about how Jesus died on a cross. I can talk about how God offers the forgiveness of sins. But what you need is the word of God in your mouth and in your heart, delivered to you. And so what a pastor does, is we say, Jesus died for you. Jesus gives you salvation, He gives you life by faith in Him. And that actually accomplishes the thing that is spoken. It is not an abstract thing where I talk about if you believe, or if you do the right thing, what simply God loves you. And I think that's what St. Paul is talking about when he's talking about the word being present, and delivered to you through the proclamation. He says, but the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. What he's saying is, we don't have to climb up into heaven to grab Jesus and make him ours. We don't have to descend into the depths, to make Jesus our Savior. The Word of God is here, proclaim to you and for you. And through that proclamation, you receive eternal life, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the word given to you. One of my professors at the seminary wrote this about preaching. He says, The preacher at some point in the sermon speaks to those whom God has gathered this day, and proclaims God, sure, and certain work even now forgiving their sin. It is also personal. This is the for you language of the sermon. It creates within the sermon a moment when God intervene, taking from you your last dying breath, and giving to you the first breath of eternal life. That is the gift of the word being here. And now. You don't have to grab it. You don't have to climb. You don't have to work. You simply here. As the preacher proclaims that it is not just something Jesus has done. It is something he has done for you. We also the Lutheran preacher, focus on proclaiming both God's law and his gospel. And they both come together. St. Paul writes, Moses writes about a righteousness that is based on the law, that a person who does the commandments shall live by. And very often, we all have to be reminded that we really like the law in our heart of hearts, because we want to think that we can do things right. I know I do. I constantly have to be reminded that I don't do things right all the time. I think we all do too, right? We constantly have to be reminded that we are sinners. And so there is always the need to hear. We make mistakes. And so often the law is pointing that out and saying you are a sinner. You need salvation. But sometimes when you hear a sermon like this, the law is not pointing out the mistakes that you've made, but the pain that we feel because of the laws work in the world. That's what the law was in last Sunday sermon. Last Sunday, I didn't point out that you're terrible, horrible people. I just pointed out that we all feel pain because our loved ones have often left the faith. And that's a law isn't it? When people leave the faith, we feel that pain and we need comfort. Today
the law is about missing understandings of the purpose of preaching. If we misunderstand why we're here, you might not know what to expect. You might think that this is all about me teaching you knowledge. But that's not what it's about. The law for today's sermon is Lutheran preaching isn't about teaching. And the gospel salts that Lutheran preaching is actually about delivering Jesus to you here in this moment. The gift of the gospel is always the gift of Jesus himself, and the salvation that He has won for us. And if I'm doing it, right, if I'm preaching correctly, and I've done my preparation, the gospel is not some throwaway line that says, oh, yeah, and Jesus died for you. It is the antidote to the law that you feel the pain that has been proclaimed in the sermon. So last week, the the law was all about the pain we feel when our loved ones leave the faith. And the gospel is being reminded that even in that Christ's promises are still sure and true. There is no reason to doubt them. Today, if the law is a misunderstanding of what preaching is supposed to be, the gospel is how much better it is that the preaching is not about teaching, but about giving you Jesus himself. Because knowledge goes away, doesn't it? The things that you learn about the ideas that Matthew is trying to bring across, or the factoids about St. Paul's life, they may fall out of your head. But you know what doesn't go away. The gift of eternal life received by the power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the word that you get every time you hear it. And that's what we're here to receive. Now, you might think to yourself, Wait a second, how is it possible that some guy can deliver salvation through the Word? I'm so glad you asked. St. Paul tells us exactly that. He says, faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Right. In fact, he goes into a long questions, a series of questions about how are people going to be able to be saved? He says in verse 14, but how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? This whole passage, all of what we've read from Romans, chapter 10, is a call for the proclamation of the gospel, to go out through the preachers so that everyone who can hear about Jesus and call on Him so that the word of God can go out into their ears, and into their hearts. And deliver fake is because God promises that through his word, he delivers salvation, not just to the world, but to you. That the work of Jesus Christ for you on the cross isn't something that just happened 2000 years ago, but it's delivered to you today. When you hear it. When the Holy Spirit works on and through this word, it is strengthen your faith. So you don't have to climb up into heaven to pull Jesus down. You don't have to grasp and cling and, and work to make Jesus urine. All you have to do is sit there and listen. Because God has sent some a preacher, a proclaimer. To deliver this word of salvation to you. Lutheran preaching is a little different. Because we see it almost as a sacramental act sacramental, as in a delivery of grace, right into you to give you the salvation you need. Lutheran preachers are not guides. We're not simply teachers to tell you about what God has done. It's a time of delivery, a gift for you so that you can be safe Because the word of God that God has given us is not something that is is waiting or passes. It is an active thing a gift of grace through Jesus Christ. In his name, amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday. This is a podcast of first Lutheran Church that looks at the readings for the upcoming Sunday. So you can be familiar with them. When you come to church, I examine the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. So here we go. The Gospel reading for August 13, is from Matthew chapter 14, verses 22 through 33. It says, immediately, Jesus made the disciples get into the boat, and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on a mountain by Himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone. But the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost. And they cried out in fear. But immediately, Jesus spoke to them saying, Take heart, it is I do not be afraid. And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you command me to come to you on the water. He said, Come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and he began to sink, he cried out, Lord, saved me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying to him, Oh, you will have of little faith? Why did you doubt. And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped Him saying, truly, you are the Son of God. Here is the reading. So this comes immediately after the feeding of the 5000, Jesus had just been out in the middle of a wilderness place, he was going out to mourn John the Baptist, after he had heard of the news, and the crowds follow him, and Jesus is out teaching, and he feeds 5000 people. So afterwards, he dismisses the crowds and goes by himself to pray. That says, immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. So he says, disciples, you get on a boat all dismissed the crowds. After he dismissed the crowds, who went up to the mountain by Himself to pray, Jesus removes himself. And even though he's the son of God, who spends time in prayer with his father, we continue. When evening came, he was there alone. But the boat by this time was a long way from the land beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. So in the disciples are out in the middle of the lake, the wind was against them, and it gives us image of the storm and wave. And in the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified and said, It is a ghost, and they cried out in fear. Now, I have to say, if I saw someone walking on the water, I that's probably the thing that I would think spirit, ghost Angel, anything but a human being. Because human beings don't walk on the water, right? Pretty straightforward, very simple. It continues, but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying, Take heart, it is I do not be afraid. And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you command me to come to you on the water. So Jesus cries out, he says, It's me. Don't be afraid. And Peter being Peter replies, if it is you prove it. I mean, that's really what's going on here. If it is you prove it. So he says to Peter, come. Now, Dr. David Schmidt of Concordia Seminary pointed out this to me that there's another place where someone asks questions the identity of Jesus and gets a response. And it's early in the Gospel of Matthew during the temptation, if it is you, if you are the Son of God, turn the stones to bread. Now, there's a difference here. Jesus doesn't go to Peter and say, Get away from me. He offers a miracle. He reaches out with his power, he proves himself. It's an interesting difference between how Jesus deals with Satan, the enemy and Peter, his disciple. One is fight. The other is compassion. So Peter asked for this test, and it's like tests that have happened in the past. There's a test where the sundial goes backwards. There's a test where God offers in Isaiah, choose any sign as high as the heavens are as low as the earth. And he gives the sign of a manual hear Jesus gives another sign. He says to Peter, come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and began to sink and cried out, Lord saved me. Many people looking at this passage would say, Hmm, this is an answer for what Christians are supposed to do. It's a it's a cautionary tale. Jesus wants us to call climb out of our boats, to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and walk on the waters of the troubles of our lives. This is a lesson for all of us. But it's a lesson if that's true that none of us can actually live up to because how can we, in the midst of terrible things? Can't we poor human beings, keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and do things right? Every time? There is not a single human on Earth, who could have in that moment, looked at Jesus, and ignored the wind and the waves, only Christ our Savior. So Peter, in his excitement gets out, and he steps on the water a couple of times, and then Sploosh. Lord saved me, it says, Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him saying, Oh, you have little faith? Why did you doubt? Jesus, the Lord and compassion reaches out to save the sinner, Peter, just as Jesus, the Lord reaches out to save each and every one of us when we turn our eyes from him. He comes with compassion, and says, Oh, you have little faith? Why did you doubt? It continues, and when they got into the boat, the wind ceased, and those in the boat worshipped Him saying, truly, you are the Son of God. And it ends with a word of Jesus's power. As they see him walk across the water, and he gets in the boat and the wind sees there can be only one thing. The Son of God is there. But it's tied to this action with Peter to show that the Son of God doesn't just have power, but the Son of God has compassion on poor sinners, and reaches out to save them when they fail. Just like Jesus reached out to save Peter
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday. This is a podcast of first Lutheran Church that looks at the readings for the upcoming Sunday. So you can be familiar with them. When you come to church. I examine the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. So let's get started. The Epistle reading for August 13, is from Romans chapter 10, verses five through 17. It reads, For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteous based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches and all who call on him. For everyone who calls them the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him, of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Here ends the reading. Romans 10 comes in the middle of a difficult section of Romans. In Romans nine, we talked about Paul's sadness and his grief over the loss of Israel, all the number of Israelites who have turned away from the Savior, Jesus Christ. And he explains how the Word of God has not failed because of this, that God's promises are certain and true. Here we turn and look at some more positive sections about talking about how the righteousness based on faith is different from the righteousness of the law. And so let's begin. It reads, For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, and the person who does the commandments shall live by them. So the Old Testament, the righteousness that is based on the law is very simple. Do God's commandments, and live. Now, of course, in Romans one through three, St. Paul tells us that, that we just can't do that, that whether you are Jewish, and have tried to follow the law your whole life, or Gentile and didn't know about the law, everyone falls short of God's demand, and cannot be righteous by the law. So he continues, but the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. This is a little confusing, but I think we can we can see it in the idea of trying to lay hold of God's promises and drag them down something by our own efforts. And I think a modern way of doing this is the the language around your personal relationship with Jesus. One of the ideas behind this is it turns prayer into something that we do to build our relationship as if it's a work that we can do to make us closer to Jesus. Almost like we have to climb up into heaven and grab Jesus and force him into our lives. This is a kind of works righteousness. And St. Paul counters that with but what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. So instead of needing to climb up into heaven to to forge a relationship with Jesus, it's very simple. The Word of God works on the person by the power of the Holy Spirit to deliver faith and bring about salvation. There's no climbing into heaven. There is no descending into the depths of the earth. We don't have to force God to deliver anything to us. He simply give sit through the preaching of the word in the gospel. He continues, For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses, as and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So with the heart, we believe, and are justified by the gift of faith that God gives us, and we confess, he's used as the word with the mouth. You don't actually need to be able to speak to believe in Jesus, but he uses that phrase, We confess, and we are saved. So whether you are a Jew or Greek, no matter who you are, when we call him the name of the Lord, we are saved. Then he continues, how then will they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? St. Paul is giving us a simple question series of questions. The points is to everyone needs to have some missionary come into their life, and give them the gospel. Now for many Christians, that began with parents, who shared the gospel in baptism, who brought their children to church. But it also happens as pastors and other church workers are sent out into the world. And what happens is, as Christians go out into the world, it's the proclamation of the gospel, the giving of the gospel to the world that calls people to this faith so that they can believe that is why he says, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. Paul continues, but they have not obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says, Lord who is believed what he has heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Now, sadly, not everyone who hears the gospel believes, but that doesn't change the fact that faith comes from hearing and hearing comes from the proclamation of the Word of Christ.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday. This is a podcast of first Lutheran Church that looks at the readings for the upcoming Sunday. So you can be familiar with them. When you come to church, I examine the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. So let's begin. The Old Testament reading for August 13. Is from Job chapter 38, verses four through 18. Let's read it. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding? Who determined its measurements? Surely, you know, or who stretched the line upon it On what were its basis sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shot in the sea with its doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds, its garments and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it, and set bars and doors and said, thus far shall you come, and no farther. And here shall your proud waves be stayed? Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and cause the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. From the wicked, that light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of its deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this, here ends the reading. This is a tough one. The Book of Job is a challenging book to read, especially as you dive into the depths of some of these conversations. In the book. The book of Job begins with a famous story. Satan and God are up in heaven. And God says look at my servant Job, Isn't he awesome? Satan says he only is great because you're so nice to him. And so they make kind of a deal. Satan's allowed to go and terrorize job to test job to see if he's going to curse God. And so eventually God, Job goes through all these horrible things, loses everything, and his health is taken away. And yet he still doesn't curse God. And he turns to God, and ask a whole bunch of questions. And these questions are like, basically it comes down to what in the world are you doing? Why are you doing this to me? God's response is what we see in job 38. God basically says, You got all of these questions, who were you to question me, and what I do in creation. And so that's where we get to this. He got asked the questions. Where were you? When I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding, who determines its measurement? Surely, you know, are who stretched the line upon it On what were its basis sunk or who laid its cornerstone. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Now, you'll see all of these are building metaphors. God is saying, Where were you? When I built the world? Did you watch me when I laid it out? When I measured it when I put it together when I built it foundations? And the answer is obviously, Job didn't exist. He wasn't there. He has no idea the height and depth of creation. And he makes a similar question about the the sea when he goes, or who shot in the sea with its doors when it burst out of the womb, and I made the clouds it's garment and thick darkness it's swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors and said thus far shall you come and no farther. And here shall your proud waves be stayed? This isn't actually upping the ante. God is saying, are you able to lock the sea into its place? Because that's what I did. Do you know how all of this happened? Were you there? When I fixed the sea and said the most dangerous thing in the world, you stop, you can't progress anywhere. And that's what he's saying to job like the sea was the most dangerous place in all of creation. It was scary. And so God is saying to job, I control this scary thing. The most terrifying thing in all of creation. I put a limit on it. And, and then later it's I commanded the most Burning since your day is began and cause the dawn to know its place. Basically, what God is saying, you're this little human being job. You don't know creation, you don't know why I do the things that I do. You don't understand. And so you need to understand what your place is in creation. Basically, it's God is God, and you are not. And I think it's a good reminder for us Christians, as we consider what God does in the world, is that it's, we're not God. We don't understand his reasoning. We don't know why he allows the things that he allows or does the things that he does. We don't understand why one person gets sick and another is healthy, or one gets rich and another is poor. We don't understand why some are in church and others are not. We can't know any of these things because we are far more limited than God who made heaven and earth and created everything. But what we do have is a Savior who was there, a Savior who came and died for us as a human being, and took our place on the cross. And so while we can never be the ones who were there when the foundations of the earth were laid, or the sea was was, was limited. Jesus Christ was and he came and took our place on the cross.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
We're continuing the series on Romans that we've been working through since June. We have gone all the way starting with Romans four and worked our way up to here, we saw that St. Paul has worked, pulled us that everyone is a sinner, falling short of what God demands, and given a free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, they cannot be earned. He then brought up a series of objections to that asking mostly about what if Salvation is a free gift? What do we do about our behavior. And he linked that to our baptisms, that by being baptized into Christ, we die and rise to new life, to live as Christ would have us. Finally, we made it all the way up to chapter eight, where St. Paul ends with this amazing declaration of God's love, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. He says, No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved him. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the president, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I have to say, if I were writing a letter to a group of people, I'd be tempted to put a period there and right, sincerely, Paul, and ended right. What he does, and what he has been doing is he's been saying something, and then thinking, what's a question that might come after this state? Right. So Paul has been saying, how revocable the promises of God are, how the love of God cannot be taken away? How there is nothing that's can separate us from Christ. And then there's a question. You say, if God's promises are irrevocable, what about the people of Israel? St. Paul has been going out to the to the Gentiles for a long time now. And turning away from the Jews that have rejected this promise, and it is almost like the promise of God has been turned away from Israel, and is now going out to the Gentiles. And so it raises a doubt. You've got this, this great declaration, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. And the Jews in the background are going but wait a second. Didn't God choose Israel? Didn't he make this promise to them? As he turned away from that, and that is why St. Paul begins with with this discussion of Israel. He talks about the pain that he has, as he looks at his people who are rejecting the promise of Christ, and turning away from God. He says, I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brother's, my kinsmen according to the flesh. St. Paul is looking out at all of the people of Israel, all of the Jews who spend their time in the synagogues who have gone to temple worship who have offered the sacrifices, and he is going out about them. My brothers and my sisters, the people I sat next to as they read the scrolls, as we prayed the song as we sang the songs as we heard the word. What about them? There's so much anguish. It's the pastor's heart that looks out at a people and says they're turning away from the salvation that God has given them. And it hurts. He goes so far, to wish that Jesus Christ I would cut him off. And in exchange, save them all. Can you imagine? It actually echoes something that Moses said in Exodus chapter 32, when God's people had come to the base of Mount Sinai, Moses went up. And while he was up there, they built the golden calf and started to worship it. Moses says, alas, this people have sinned, the great sin, they've made for themselves gods of gold. But now if you will forgive their sin, but if not, please block me out of your book that you have written. In other words, he's saying, Take me, condemn me and save them. Just like all I'm sure, Paul would have would have loved it, if it could have worked that way. Save them, punished me. But it's not how it works. We have seen similar situations, in congregations all across America. People look out at the friends and neighbors and the people who used to sit next to them in their pew. And there are spots that are empty. Your brothers and sisters in Christ who are no longer here. One of those things that do cause this is this COVID pandemic, right? We saw a great resignation, as it came out as people during the pandemic left their jobs. But it also turned out that they also left their churches that many of the people that you know and love, use the pandemic as a reason not to come back. churches across America lost 2030 or even 40% of their attendance. And we look around and we say, where did they go? The pain we can feel. I know as a pastor, during the pandemic, it greatly affected me. I certainly can understand Paul's pain as he cries out about his brothers and sisters in the Jewish family. As I looked out and saw people I loved and cared about, who just disappeared, and stopped returning phone calls, just out of the blue. Not just the pandemic, of course, as we look at those who have disappeared. There are many in here who would love to say, who look at their families, and save, where have they gone? I bet there's many a parent who would gladly trade places with their children. Take me, save them. As they who have been raised in the church, who heard the promises of God and simply don't care. A lot of pain isn't. And I'm willing to bet that you can can feel the kind of anguish that St. Paul does, at least in some way. And so the question, I think that St. Paul is raising about Israel, is the question that we can raise about all of these people who seemed to be missing from our pews. Why didn't the Word of God work? Or has the word of God failed? We have all these promises. We have these shore and true promises of Jesus Christ, we have the sacraments, baptism and communion. Did they work? Or did they fail? St. Paul result recites all of the advantages that the Israelites had, and they had a few right listen to this. He says they are the Israelites. And to them belongs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God overall blessed forever.
These Israelites, they had the word of God passed down to them through the scrolls that they read in the synagogues. They had the worship offered at the temple, the presence So God in their myths, they had the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of the prophets, all of the people that God had sent to gather them together, and bind them to him so that they would be ready so that when Christ came, they would receive him with joy. And yet, they don't. We can say the same in many of our friends. And we ask, what happened? St. Paul's answer for that is not something that can take the pain of the grief away. But simply to say, this is how it has always worked. But the faith of Israel, the faith in the church is not genetic. Or passed down from parent to child. But something that happens in effort that even the best and greatest of the ancient church, going all the way back through the prophets did not always gather together, everyone that was called for the problem. So what he does is he says, We're not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all children of Abraham, are children of Abraham, because they are offspring. But through Isaac, shall your offspring be named. This means that is not the children of the flesh who are children of God. But the children of the promise are counted as offspring. What he's pointing to is that it is it is not a genetic relationship to Abraham, that makes you a part of the promise. Just as the promise of Jesus Christ is not passed down by genetics, but be by being connected to this promise through faith. Abraham had many children, but only Isaac received the promise. Isaac had Jacob and Esau, but only Jacob was the one through whom it was passed down. And if you look at the history of, of Israel, the church in the Old Testament, it has always worked this way to one of the great judges, the prophet Samuel, raised in the temple, one of the great men of God who was who spoke to God who received visions who did everything amazingly well. When he was old, he appointed his sons to be judges to follow in his place. And it didn't work out very well. First Samuel, chapter eight, when Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel, the name of the firstborn son was Joelle and the name of his second Elijah, they were judges in Beersheba. Yet his son did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after game. They took bribes and perverted justice. I don't know about you, but I don't think I could ever claim to be nearly as good as Samuel the prophet, nearly have the wisdom and power of his visions. I've never been able to say Thus says the Lord and actually convey the words that God spoke to me. And yet Samuel to face the same problem. The same thing is true for Elijah, though he didn't look out at his son's and see this problem. Elijah was so upset by the way his ministry was going, that he ended up running into the wilderness and asking God to kill him. By the time he climbs up into the mountain and hears the voice of God, God tells him that he had reserved 7000 in the entire nation. Only 7000 And yet, he is the greatest prophet of the Old Testament, Elijah who stood next to Christ with Moses on the top of the Mount of Transfiguration. We cannot say that the word of God failed. Only that this is how it's always worked. Even Jesus, I don't know if you know this. I'm not as good as Jesus. Even Jesus, His word was rejected. In the passages that we've been looking at in our guide School readings, they come right after in the Gospel of Matthew, a turning point, up until before this, everything has been great. But in chapters 12, Chapter 12, all of a sudden Jesus is being confronted by the Pharisees and the officials, and things are starting to go to not go well. And Jesus is receiving some pushback. And what he does with the parables that come right after that is he explains why this happens. He explains why people are pushing back against the greatest prophet who has ever lived, the Son of God Himself. And one of those is the parable of the sower, where the word of God goes out. And in some places it grows. And some places it doesn't. We just say, this is how the Word of God has always worked. And some people hear they believe, and some people don't. So we're the app, when we ask ourself, has the word of God failed? The answer is no. The promises of God are sure and true. And we know that, because those promises were the same promises that raised Jesus from the dead, the man God, who said, who was who said to his disciples, that he would be rejected, killed, and after three days rise, he did. And the promise that all who believe in Him will rise with him. So that the promises that St. Paul read to us at the end of Romans chapter eight, that nothing can separate us from the love of God, are certain and true as Jesus is alive. And we can cling to those, knowing that Christ will raise us on the last day and give us victory over death. Even as we still think about the grief that we have, but some don't believe that the people that we looked out at the people, we've served the people, we've given God's Word, the people that I've given Holy Communion to may have turned away. We still have the glorious promises of Jesus Christ, knowing that we will be raised from the dead. This gospel is always true. This message is always power. But it doesn't mean that it always takes root and grow. And it doesn't mean that some people won't turn away. And so as we bear this, we still cling to the comfort that Jesus gives us. That nothing can separate us from that neither death nor life, nor powers, nor angels, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, even as we mourn those who have left in Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Hey, everyone, this is Pastor James Huenink. Over at first Lutheran Church, we're starting a new series on our podcast feed called Getting ready for Sunday. It's a look at the upcoming readings for Sunday morning so you can be familiar with them. When you come to church, I examined the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. The Gospel reading for August 6 comes from Matthew chapter 14, verses 13 through 21. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But When the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went to shore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. Now, when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over, send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said, they need not go away, you'll give them something to eat. They said to Him, we have only five loaves here, and two fish. And he said, bring them here to me. Then he ordered the crowns to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven instead of blessing. Then he broke the loaves, and he gave them to his disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowd. And they all ate, and we're satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full of the broken pieces leftover, and those who ate were about 5000 Men, besides women and children. Here is the reading or reading begins with this. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. So you have to ask, what does this say? What is this referring to? Now when Jesus heard this, the story immediately before this passage is the story of John the Baptist being killed by King Herod the tetrarch. It's a sad story about the daughter of her Rhodius dancing before the king and he makes a promise that he ends up regretting and John's head ends up on a platter. So Jesus hears this, and he is mourning his cousin. So he withdraws to a desolate place by himself, presumably to pray. But the Gospels continue. But when the crowds hurted, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. So Jesus sees the crowd, he's off by himself. And instead of getting a chance to mourn his lost loved one, he gets to take care of the crowd. He heals, they're sick, and they're all gathered together. And it continues. Now, when it was evening disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over, send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. It seems like it's covering up some of the things that happened or not quite covering them up, but doesn't say, Jesus probably taught, he healed, the sick, all sorts of things going on, and it finally becomes night. They send them away, verse 16. But Jesus said, they need not go away, you give them something to eat. They said to Him, we have only five loaves here and two fish. And he said, bring them here to me. We know what's about to happen. But the disciples certainly don't. Jesus turns to them and says, You give them food to eat. And they're like, What? We've got nothing here. What are you talking about Jesus, we have only five loaves and two fish. So Jesus, knowing what he's going to do, calms them down. Verse 19. Then he orders the crowd to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said, a blessing. Then he broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. On they all ate, and we're satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full on the broken pieces leftover, and those who ate are about 5000 men besides women and children. Can you imagine what this would be like? You're one of the 12 disciples, Jesus has got the five loaves and the two fish and he breaks them. And then he hands them to the disciples. And the disciples start distributing the loaves and every time they tear a bit of the loaf, the it comes back and they're handing it out. And they keep handing it out. I mean, they probably were a little bit like this little love Jesus what's gonna happen here and the look it out the crowd and it's getting smaller and they think, oh, no, but about halfway through, they still have for their torn piece of loaf left as they continue to pass it out. And by the time they're all the way through, they end up having so much more leftover than what they started with. What an amazing miracle and an amazing experience. The Gospel of Matthew has a theme of Jesus being the new Israel. And we see it over and over and over again that Jesus does the things that the great figures of the history of Israel did. And here we can see Jesus doing a new Moses thing. The crowds are the people out in the wilderness, just like Israel was wandering in the wilderness, and God fed them manna from heaven, bread that they did not know. And here Jesus does something similar. He feeds them bread and meat, just like God in the wilderness. And it shows us that Jesus is fulfilling everything that God had promised in the Old Testament. He is a new Israel, providing for God's people by His might and power.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Hey, everyone, this is Pastor James Huenink over at first Lutheran Church, we're starting a new series on our podcast feed called Getting ready for Sunday. It's a look at the upcoming readings for Sunday morning so you can be familiar with them. When you come to church. I examined the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, August 6 is from Romans chapter nine verses one through 13. Here's the reading. I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, they are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race, according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God overall, blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring. But, quote, through Isaac shall your offspring be named, and quote, this means that is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children that promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, quote, about this time next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son, and quote, and not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born, and had done nothing, either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, quote, the older will serve the younger, end quote, As it is written, quote, Jacob I loved, BUT ESAU I hate it, and quote, The word of the Lord. Thanks, Peter, God. What a different chapter. This is compared to Romans chapter eight. It ends with such joy and such power and amazing promise that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. And all the sudden we come from this this great high to Well, it's kind of a low. Paul is morning. What does he say? He says, I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. I think St. Paul is thinking about his brothers of, of Israel, his people, the people who are rejecting the gospel. By this time, St. Paul has traveled around doing his missionary journeys, and he's looked around and he's seen all of these synagogues where he's gone, and he preaches there first, and then he goes to the Gentiles. And everywhere he goes, it seems like the Jews are rejecting Jesus. They're kicking him out. And not only that, but the church is becoming more and more Gentile and less and less Jewish. This is disrupting him this is hurting his heart. He says, For I could wish that I myself were accursed, and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. St. Paul even wishes that he could trade places. He could look at Israel and say, You're rejecting Jesus, God will cut me off so that you can be saved. So many parents think about that with their kids. I think they see their kids go off into unfaithfulness and I bet they'd gladly make the trade. God send me to hell send my kids to heaven. St. Paul writes, they are Israelites, and to them belong, the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race, according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God overall, blessed forever. St. Paul recalls all the glories of ancient Israel through the Old Testament, the promises the law, the patriarchs, and everything else, and finally leading up to Jesus who comes from their descendants. Verse six, but it is not as though as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham because they are an offspring. But through Isaac, shall your offspring be named. St. Paul was raising a question as the word of God failed the promise to ancient Israel. And he says, No, it's not by genetics. To the children become offspring of Abraham. But by the promise, Abraham had several children, only Isaac had the promise. He continues. This means that is not the children the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise that are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, about this time next year I shall return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so but also Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob I loved, BUT ESAU I hated St. Paul's looking back through these words at the Old Testament story and saying, Isaac was one of many, and yet he was the only one who received the promise, the cert covenant of circumcision, and all the promises that given to Abraham. Similarly, Jacob was also given the promise, but Esau was not an ISA would serve his younger brother Jacob, showing that God chooses not based on genetics or on normal inheritance or on belonging to a particular people. God chooses by his choice. And so we say that the pattern of choosing the Gentiles and Israel turning away is similar to what God has done in the Old Testament. He has always done choosing based on his choice, and never based on the things that we would expect
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Hey, everyone, this is Pastor James CNIC over at first Lutheran Church, we're starting a new series on our podcast feed called Getting ready for Sunday. It's a look at the upcoming readings for Sunday morning so you can be familiar with them. When you come to church. I examined the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, August 6 is from Romans chapter nine verses one through 13. Here's the reading. I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, they are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race, according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God overall, blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring. But, quote, through Isaac shall your offspring be named, and quote, this means that is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children that promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, quote, about this time next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son, and quote, and not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born, and had done nothing, either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, quote, the older will serve the younger, end quote, As it is written, quote, Jacob I loved, BUT ESAU I hate it, and quote, The word of the Lord. Thanks, Peter, God. What a different chapter. This is compared to Romans chapter eight. It ends with such joy and such power and amazing promise that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. And all the sudden we come from this this great high to Well, it's kind of a low. Paul is morning. What does he say? He says, I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. I think St. Paul is thinking about his brothers of, of Israel, his people, the people who are rejecting the gospel. By this time, St. Paul has traveled around doing his missionary journeys, and he's looked around and he's seen all of these synagogues where he's gone, and he preaches there first, and then he goes to the Gentiles. And everywhere he goes, it seems like the Jews are rejecting Jesus. They're kicking him out. And not only that, but the church is becoming more and more Gentile and less and less Jewish. This is disrupting him this is hurting his heart. He says, For I could wish that I myself were accursed, and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. St. Paul even wishes that he could trade places. He could look at Israel and say, You're rejecting Jesus, God will cut me off so that you can be saved. So many parents think about that with their kids. I think they see their kids go off into unfaithfulness and I bet they'd gladly make the trade. God send me to hell send my kids to heaven. St. Paul writes, they are Israelites, and to them belong, the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race, according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God overall, blessed forever. St. Paul recalls all the glories of ancient Israel through the Old Testament, the promises the law, the patriarchs, and everything else, and finally leading up to Jesus who comes from their descendants. Verse six, but it is not as though as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham because they are an offspring. But through Isaac, shall your offspring be named. St. Paul was raising a question as the word of God failed the promise to ancient Israel. And he says, No, it's not by genetics. To the children become offspring of Abraham. But by the promise, Abraham had several children, only Isaac had the promise. He continues. This means that is not the children the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise that are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, about this time next year I shall return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so but also Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob I loved, BUT ESAU I hated St. Paul's looking back through these words at the Old Testament story and saying, Isaac was one of many, and yet he was the only one who received the promise, the cert covenant of circumcision, and all the promises that given to Abraham. Similarly, Jacob was also given the promise, but Esau was not an ISA would serve his younger brother Jacob, showing that God chooses not based on genetics or on normal inheritance or on belonging to a particular people. God chooses by his choice. And so we say that the pattern of choosing the Gentiles and Israel turning away is similar to what God has done in the Old Testament. He has always done choosing based on his choice, and never based on the things that we would expect
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
We've been working our way through the book of Romans over the last several Sundays. And this is heading towards the close of Romans chapter eight, which we've also been focusing on for quite some time. The Book of Romans begins by talking about our sin, and God's salvation. Now, no human being can live up to God's standard, whether we are religious or not, no matter how good we think we are, the only way towards salvation is to be saved by grace through Christ. After that, I talked about what it means to live as a Christian, knowing that we're not saved by our works, but by grace and how we have this new life by being baptized into Jesus Christ, and raised from the dead with him to walk in this newness of life. In Romans chapter eight begins with a great conclusion for all of that where it says, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Last time, we talked about how what that means for us, as we deal with the deficiencies of our lives, as we grown under the weight of the decay of creation, and all creation waits for that day when Jesus will return and reveal the new heavens and the new earth. And so now, St. Paul begins with perhaps one of the most misunderstood passages of Romans, where he says, We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. I say that this is one of the most misunderstood passages because most people will shorten that up to something like this. We know that for all those who love God, all things work together for good or even shorter. All things work together for good. I remember watching a TV shows called scrubs. This is a show that was on a while back, where it was in a set in a hospital. And one of the religious characters on the show was having a really depressing day. And there was a tragedy, a kid had gotten stabbed, real sad. And one of the atheist doctors went up to her and said, Where is your God in this? And she said, Well, all things work together for good. She had confidence, she knew something was going to get fixed. And so they go back and forth in the sitcom way until the she goes into the MRI. And they find that the knife went right next to cancer, wish they could operate. And the lesson was that the Bible says all things work to make something better in your life. And that's what a lot of people think, Romans 828 sets. For those who love God, things will generally work out well for you. If there is a bad thing, it will lead to something better. If there is something hard in your life, it's going to generate something good. Often, we in the in America, think of that something good as health, or happiness or money. If you're a little less crass about that it's God is doing this to you to teach you a lesson to make you a better person. Of course, what that does, is it means that we are trying to defend God, as if the bad thing in our life isn't bad. It's really good. It means we end up having to call tragedies, good things. We have to say, Oh, it was really good that that girl got stabbed on that sitcom, because they found this cancer instead of saying, You know what, sometimes bad things are bad. Right? And that's what we should be able to do. We shouldn't have to say bad things are good in order to defend God. And that's not what St. Paul is doing here. What St. Paul is saying when he says all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose is something different. Because he actually explains What he means in the following verses. He says, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, and those whom He predestined, he also called, and those whom He called, he also justified and those whom He justified, he also glorify that word for at the beginning of verse 29, is doing a lot of work here. It might seem small, but it's the word that tells us that he's explaining here. He says, All things work for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, for this is what he means. So let's take a look. He says, those whom He foreknew, He also predestined. St. Paul saying, the people of God that he knew He also predestined. They're kind of the same similar ideas, your God knows you and predestined you, before the foundation of the world. We have a couple of places where St. Paul writes something similar. In Ephesians, chapter one, verses four and five, he writes, in love, He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will. And a little bit later, in Ephesians, chapter one, verse 11, he says, In Him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his whip. St. Paul is telling us that God has known you, and predestined you, before the foundation of the world, to be called by Christ. He chose you. Now, when we hear this word predestined, I think just about everybody I know, gets gets a little panicky about that word, right? You start to hear things like wait, wait, if God predestined people before the foundation of the world, what does he do if he didn't predestined me? What about all of these other questions? And you start to go into like a theoretical spiral where you're asking, how does this predestination work? What I'd like to point out to you, is that whenever St. Paul uses this language of predestination, he uses it as a comfort for God's people. This isn't peering into the mystery of God's will, and looking to see how does God's will work and how does his his salvation work? As a theory, it is always God has chosen you. God is predestined you as is, as he says, in Ephesians, He predestined us for adoption, we have obtained and inherit. Predestination language is not about terrifying you. It's a comfort. And it's should be comfortable. Because if God waited to respond to you, to see if you should be saved, what would he see? If he said to himself, I will see if you have good enough faith. If your conversion to my Christianity was sincere enough, then I will choose you. All that means is he's waiting on you to be good, good enough for God, which is exactly what St. Paul talked about in the beginning of Romans, you can't do it. But that's predestination means God chose you. Simply because he wanted because of His grace, without anything about you. He chose you in Christ to be saved. And it's all by his own will. But He predestined us it continues to be conformed to the image of His Son.
What this makes me think of is the way that they they used stamps, to make coins in the ancient world. In the ancient world, when they would make coins they would take cold metal, and they would take the stamp had an image on it, and they would put it down on the metal and they whack it and it would leave behind an impression. When Jesus was asked about Whether it was okay to pay taxes to Caesar, he pulls it ask them to pull it a coin. And he says, whose image is that? And they go Caesars. That's exactly that kind of image language to be conformed to the image of the sun. And so what does it mean to be conformed to that image to be molded to be like Jesus Christ? Well, what is Jesus's story like? begins by being filled with the Holy Spirit and His baptism by going out into the world, and dealing with all sorts of people. And then it moves into being rejected by the priests and the scribes, suffering, dying, and then rising. That sounds like a Christian life, doesn't it? Beginning with baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus Christ did. We were born into him to follow in the pattern, as it says in Romans chapter six. And we live a life that can include suffering, and pain, sometimes even rejection and in many places, even death, because of our Savior. With the promise, that on the last day, we will rise just as Jesus. That is what we are predestined to be conformed to the image of the sun, not for good things now, but perfection in the future, for glory in Christ, to follow in the footsteps of our Savior.
And what it means then, is that by being conformed to this image by following this pattern, we become one of many who follow those footsteps of Jesus Christ, as St. Paul says, in order that he might be the firstborn among many. So that, just as Jesus was raised, we to rise with him. Verse 30, continues, it says, and those whom He predestined, he also called. So for the people that God shows before the creation of the world, you he also call. How did God call you? Well, he calls us all the same way that he calls everyone. By the power of the gospel, the message of Jesus Christ goes out into the world and he calls you into the church. And how do you know that you are called to the church? It's actually pretty easy. You're here, right? I mean, this is this is not hard. The gospel is gathered you here. You receive the sacraments. You receive forgiveness of sin. You've been adopted in baptism. God has called you. He has chosen you. He's predestined you he's gathered you what it says next, those who he called he also justified. Romans chapter eight begins, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of Life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death, for God has done what the law we can by the flesh could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walked not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Jesus fulfilled, did everything that God needed from us, accomplished it for you. You have been called into Christ, to be justified by him. Which means, as Paul says, and those whom He justified, he also glorify. What I'd like you to notice about that one, is the tense of the verb. All of these verbs the that he he for knew He predestined, he called he justified. They're all in the past tense, and so is glorified. He didn't say those whom He justified He will glorify He glorified is the word. And what that means is, is that this is already accomplished, for those who are in print is that there is glory by being in Christ. Now. Am I much of the time when we sit here in the church, and we talk about the glory of Christ and the resurrection of the dead, we think about it as a thing that is in the future. Eternal life is far off on the day that Jesus returns. But Paul wants to remind us that there is glory already, by being in Christ, it might be hidden under our flesh. It might not be easy to see. But it's there. Because we are already in Christ. Now. We are already raised from the dead, we are already living eternal life, just in a hidden way. So God has already gone even as we wait for the day when that will be fully revealed, and Jesus Christ return. And so when we talk about what it means that all things work together for good for those who love God, and are called according to His purpose, what it means is that everything that happens around us whatever's going on in your life, the good, the bad, the tragic. We're all moving on a path to resurrection. The salvation that God has provided. What this comfort does for us is it doesn't mean that maybe this bad thing happens. So a good thing can happen two days from now. But that everything God does in all of creation, is pushing us towards the day of salvation, pushing us towards the resurrection of the dead. That the good that God wants for you is not solving a small problem in your daily life or make things 2% better. But the change all of creation, and make you heard, and new on the day of the resurrection. This is why Paul then goes into this amazing story about not being able to separate be separated from Christ's love. Because what he does is he lists all of the things that might bring up an objection, right? It's persecution, danger, nakedness, sword, famine. None of that matter, right. None of the problems that you face can take us away from Jesus. Because all of that is part of God's plan. All of that is part of God's push towards the end towards the resurrection and eternal life. So we can trust that whatever God is doing in your life now. It's not out of control. It's not going contrary to God's will. It's pushing you to resurrection and eternal life in him. Which is why St. Paul can say that. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In his name, amen.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. As you know, we've been working through the book of Romans, section by section, over the over the time Romans has come together to lead through a couple of ideas. It begins stressing the idea that everyone is a sinner, that you can do nothing good. That no matter how awesome you are, and how obedient you try to be, nothing can truly measure up to God's law. But salvation comes through grace, by faith, on account of Christ as a free gift of God. Once Paul comes to that, at the end of chapter three, he begins to answer ask a number of questions that come up from it. Things like, well, if we don't have to obey God to be saved, what do we do? Can we sin? Do we reject the law? What do we do with all of this obedience stuff. And so he goes through a number of concepts, things like being baptized into Christ means that we die with Christ, and we rise with him. So we live a new life is the resurrected person, perfect and holy. He talks about our relationship with the law, how the Old Testament law, we died to it. And yet now we rise to this new obedience to a moral law, not as someone who is afraid of violating it, but someone who strives to serve in the Spirit. And that's kind of where we ended last week. What comes next is the natural result. If we have been freed from the old law, or now serving in the spirit, how does that work? In our hearts? Well, we get is a struggle. Paul was dealing with the Christian struggle that I think any honest Christian has, is the pain of what happens when you look at your own life. And say, Why did I do that? I know you've done it, right. You've had a moment in your life where you go, I didn't want to do that bad thing that I just did. I was cranky. I took it out on someone who loves me. I forgot something I was supposed to do. And you do this internal like, what? That is the struggle of a Christian who is trying to obey God, but finds that sin inside of us tries to take over and we lose control. That's what Paul is writing about in Romans chapter seven, today. And so what I'd like to do is go through this section by section piece by piece, to really explore what he says so we can understand it. He begins with this. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am under the flesh sold under sin. Here God is talking or Paul is talking about God's moral to moral law being spiritual is the the requirements that God has on each and every one of us. They did not disappear with the Old Testament law. They are good and holy, because they come as part of God's creation, we're all called to follow this law. And so we know that it is spiritual. The law that St. Paul referred to just a little while ago was there to help remind us how good it truly is that it is actually a demand and a call to be perfect. Luther tells us about this as he explains his 10 commandments, and he helps us to see how good and wonderful God's law truly is. And I pulled out an example from the Eighth Commandment, you shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor. And I want you to imagine what it would be like in a church if we could do this according to Luthers explanation, where he says, We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him slander him or hurt his reputation, but defend him speak well of him and explain everything in the kindest way. Can you imagine what it'd be like to live in a community like that. Where anytime someone had bad news, like the gossip we all love, we decided not to share it. How amazing would that be? Right? Or if a politician said something stupid, we all explained it in the kindest way. I know you laugh, right? Because we go the opposite. Can you imagine how good that would be. But it's the sin in us. That breaks that, that violates it. And no matter how much we know that this is what we should do, we find ourselves gossiping away. And the law is spiritual. He says, but I am of the flesh sold under sin. He continues, I do not understand my own actions, where I do not do what I want. But I do the very thing I hate. I know I've seen this in myself. And I bet you have to. We all have failings that we wish we could fix. Otherwise, we would not have New Year's resolutions. We would not have all these books about becoming a new you science about breaking bad habits. This is part of the human condition. And even St. Paul, one of the greatest men of the Christian faith, looks at himself and says, I do not do what I want. But I do the very thing I hate. We've all been there. I recognize the pain that is likely in Paul's voice as he thinks these words in his head, when we do the stuff. They're our own weakness that we hate. This is what it means to be a Christian is called by God sanctified by Christ. But knowing that we still can't live up to the good that we want to do. Each and every one of us. If you have the Holy Spirit in you, you know, you can't live it up the way you're supposed to. And sometimes it just doesn't it. Sometimes the struggle leads to pain. And it's and even St. Paul goes through it. He continues. Now, if I do what I do not want I agree with the law, that it is good. Very simply, what this means is that he's setting up this thing where he's got this, the his body, his flesh is doing what he doesn't want. But his mind agrees with God's law. And what I think is, is this helps us to see that this internal struggle that every Christian has the pain that you feel when you do something that's wrong, and you don't know why is actually a good sign. What it means is that you haven't given up it what it means is that you're a Christian. But the Holy Spirit is at work inside you, helping you to recognize that you need a savior. That the sin in you is not something to celebrate, or to love. But something to turn from repent, something that drives us to our Savior. The struggle that a Christian faces as they go out every day and we have to fight against the temptations of our sinful flesh is the struggle that is there only because the Holy Spirit has called you to something new. It's a reminder that you have the call of God and the gift of Christ, that Jesus died for you and raise you from death. It's a reminder that the battle you face every single day is part of the battle that leads towards everlasting life. And that conflict is fueled by the Holy Spirit. Without that conflict, you would just be a sinner Right,
you would just be one of the last. But it's because you're saying, because Christ has called you that every day is a battle. Every day is a struggle against the sinful flesh that moves within. St. Paul continues, he says, so now it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in in me that is in my flesh, for I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. Or I do not do the good I want but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within. Here, St. Paul is relying on some of the ideas that he has talked about prior to this. In Romans chapter six, he begins by telling us that we died with Christ, and we are raised with Him. And what that means is that we are now a new creation in Jesus Christ, the real you has been raised from the dead. And yet, at the same time, there is the flesh that remains. And so we have this dual identity. The real you is raised from the dead with Jesus Christ in baptism. And yet at the same time, there is a sinner trying to hijack your body. This sinner is not you. The real you has been raised with Christ. And yet we constantly have this battle. And St. Paul can goes on to say how he wants to do this good, but he finds himself controlled by the flash and ends up doing evil instead.
What should this do for us? As we see this struggle in our own lives, we set a goal for the day you wake up, you go out there and say today I'm going to be good and then you get out of bed. What should this do for us? It should drive us back to the source of our life. The place that supports this true identity that God has given us the Word and Sacrament because in this ongoing battle, there is only one place to fuel us and beat us and strengthen us as we fight against the temptations of the flesh. That is God's word. That's the sacrament, Holy Communion, absolution, remembering our baptism. Because this is where we are strengthened for this battle and encouraged and driven out to try again. At the end of the Small Catechism, there's this section called Christian questions and their answers. And what it does is it rolls through a bunch of different questions in preparation for coming to Communion. And one of my favorite is the final question. Question number 20. Where it says, But what should you do if you are not aware of this need, and have no hunger or thirst for the sacrament? Lose the rights to such a person no better advice can be given than this. First, he should touch his body and see if he still has flesh and blood. And then he should believe what Scriptures say of it in Galatians five, and in Romans seven. Right. If you still have flesh, you still need the sacrum. And this battle that we face every day should just drive us to the place where we can take in Christ's Body and Blood and be strengthened once again.
Paul continues, he says so I find it to be a law that when I do wants to do right, evil lies close at hand for a delight in the law of God in my interviewing, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwell In my memory. St. Paul really likes using the word law in a lot of different ways, right? So what he's saying is that there's an ongoing battle. There's a law that says, God, that follows God. And then there's another one that follows sin, and they're constantly at war in him. And it's this thing that he sees going over and over, on and on his life. Now, here's the point in the sermon where you might expect your pastor to come forward and tell you here are five different ways that you too can defeat the laws in your in your life. Or where you might say, how here, get a sermon about how to have the victory over temptation in your daily life. But you're not going to get that from me. Because Paul, doesn't give that either. St. Paul, perhaps one of the greatest men of the Christian faith, guy who wrote more books of the Bible than anyone else, who traveled the globe as a missionary. He still struggles with sin, and struggled with sin, till the day he died, as did the other apostles, as have all the saints of the Christian Church throughout all the history of the world. Now you might think, great pastor, way to make me depressed leaving here today, I'm looking forward to battling against sin. But I want you to remember that that makes you no different than St. Paul. Right. St. Peter, chief of the apostles struggled with sin the same way you do. You are no different. You are no worse than the greatest of the Christians who's ever lived. When you face your daily battle, it is the same daily battle as the best of them. And God is still with you. And while we fight this battle every day, all the way until the day of our deaths, we know that it has always already been won by Jesus Christ. And that is how St. Paul finishes it out. He says, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Because we know that Jesus Christ will deliver us from this body of death. Because the day he returns, we will no longer be the real OS raised from the dead and the flesh. The flesh that is sold, the sin will be gone. And all that will remain is our resurrected bodies with Jesus Christ, to live in perfect perfection forever. This is the victory that we have in Jesus Christ. Knowing that this battle that we face will only go on so long. And then eternity come with perfection in him. In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We are working through the book of Romans right now, over the course of the book, we have seen a number of points that St. Paul has made. The first three chapters were spent telling all of us that everyone is a sinner. Jews were sinners. Gentiles were sinners, which meant that all of us are sinners, religious and non religious people like none of us can live up to God's standard. And it closes with the explanation of the three gifts of grace that God delivers us through Jesus Christ, that despite our sin, He offers salvation by the death and resurrection of our Savior. Next, Paul pointed out that this has always been the way that God works, that he has done this since the very beginning, when he came to Abraham, who believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. We continued on through Romans, to the point where Paul continues to talk about this grace that God has given us until we get to a question which asks, now that we live in grace, how should we live? It's an important question, isn't it? Because the first thing you do is when you say, you can never follow the rules, and God forgives you anyway. People will say, then sweet. I don't have to follow the rules. Which of course, is not true. That is what Paul asks here. He says, What then? Are we to sin? Because we are not under law, but under grace? That's the Pauline version of that. Sweet, no rules, right? No, is of course, when he said St. Paul then sets up a two options for the human being. What he says is when human beings live, we either obey sin, He calls us slaves to sin, or we obey righteousness. He says, being slaves to righteousness. And the question was, who do you obey? Now I have to tell you, after I submitted this title, I thought to myself, am I being a good obedient? grammarian? Here? Isn't this supposed to be whom do you obey? I actually don't know. Maybe maybe the English teachers in the congregation can help me out afterwards. Right? But we all have to obey, right? At least something. And in the Christian church, we recognize that there are really only two sides. There is sin, death, and Satan, or there is God and righteousness. And you obey one or the other. Now, as Americans, when you hear the word obey, I bet you don't like it. I bet you react relatively negatively. We are in fact, the most individualistic nation and culture on the planet. We, our ancestors came here because they don't like obey. And yet, the pastor is up here saying, Who do you obey? You have to choose. And we know this is the case because even independent people follow in a pack. Have you ever noticed that the independence groups in the history of America have kind of a uniform? Right? You look back at all the different rebel groups, rebel cultures in the United States, and they all dress the same. Think about the beatniks remember the beatniks slam poetry, cafes. They'll dress the same right. Black black with the Baray. The rebels felt the need to have a uniform. What about the Greasers? You know what they look like? Because of Greece, right? They've got the hair the pompadour, the white t shirt, cigarettes in the sleeve. And you know, what about the hippies? They've got a look. They were the rebels have their day. Even the hipsters, the ones who are ironic about everything, somehow you can spot a hipster from a mile away, which I could do in my old neighborhood in Chicago, they always had the giant bushy beards, and they wore super tight pants. And yet they were supposed to be the rebel. Because human beings are not independent, it doesn't matter how much you wish you were, we always follow. We always need a tribe, a group, a story, a belonging. And in the spiritual world, no matter how independent you want to be, you are either following sin, death, and the devil or God leading towards righteous. And St. Paul asks, Which one do you want to present your your body to? Do you want to follow righteousness? Or sin? When you put it that way, Pastor, that sounds like an easy choice, right? But it's less so when we hit our day to day activity. Because sin often is the one that our bodies want to do. It's the choice that we want to make when we're tired, when our will is worn down. And well, it would just feel nice this one time. And so what St. Paul is suggesting to us is that a life, a disciplined Christian life, following righteousness is the aim that all of us should have. We should turn away from following sin, discipline ourselves, so that we can lead towards righteous. This is all because of the grace that God has given us. What St. Paul says is that God has set the Romans free from the sinful ways that they once walked in. You see, they were once trapped in sin, because they didn't know who God was. They didn't know anything about their savior, Jesus Christ, and couldn't possibly know the holiness that he gives them. And when the message of the gospel came to them, they were set free. And the same is true for all of us. Before the gospel came, no matter how young you were, you couldn't have followed righteousness, because you need the Holy Spirit, do it. You need to know about Jesus, but you have been set free from that. Which means it's time to keep going in that direction to live a disciplined Christian life. So St. Paul says, present yourselves as slaves to righteousness and not slaves to sin. Well, when you present yourselves as obedient slaves to God, you do things that are good for you. And holy. And isn't that a good thing? One of the things that is challenging for Christians is that when we face a decision that our we're tempted to do we often think wouldn't it be so much more fun to do the tempting thing? Right? I know I've been in that position. I often happens to me when I when I have food that I'm not supposed to eat. In fact, Kathleen's office is the source of most of my temptation with all the candy in it. And I break my will. But what I know is that if I continue to eat all of her candy, my running and my health will suffer. Right? If I don't live a disciplined life, I won't reach my goals
and it's Same in the Christian life. Every time we turn towards temptation, what we end up doing is marking a path and taking an extra step towards the things we don't want. And away from the holiness that we do. Every time we take a discipline life and focus on following God. We are in graining habits, and the good things that God wants for us in our life. St. Paul talks about this when he says, What were you getting when you were following this, this slavery to sin, things that you were ashamed of? Right. But when you follow righteousness, what do you get? Sanctification that leads to eternal life. And the worry here is the more we turn towards sin, the more we ingrain the habit of walking away from righteous. And you do it a couple of times. You know, there's always forgiveness. But the question is, for how long? How long can you walk away from God? before it begins to affect your faith. This is why we live a disciplined life. Why we keep saying, Turn to God ingrain these habits of receiving God's grace through his sacraments and hearing His word and coming to church, because it is all about developing the habits of being a faithful Christian. And habit. One good habit leads to another good habit. God wants us to have this so that instead of drifting into sin, we can march towards the holiness, the gift of God that He gives them. And it's all because of the great end, the Paul has in mind, both for the Romans and for us. He says, but now that you've been set free from sin and become slaves of God, the fruit to get leads to sanctification, and to its end, eternal life. And that's the goal. That's why we live a disciplined Christian life is because we want to stay focused on the free gift of God, so that we don't turn away from it. We want to stay focused on the amazing gift of Jesus Christ. And we know that on the last day, he will come back and raise us from the dead and this outstanding gift, the Christ one for us on the cross and rose from the grave to give us we'll be there for you. And so we keep our eyes focused on that. What we don't want is the other way. A saint paul says For the wages of sin is death. We don't want to take our steps down the path of sin to continue to follow that. Because we know that eventually that path and eternal death and damnation, eternity in hell. What is glorious about God's promised that is available for all who comes with the gift of the Holy Spirit that you get here is a gift that can sustain you in your disciplined life in. We just have to know that while the gift of God is free, following Him takes work. It takes discipline it takes gathering here to receive and turning away from sin so that the joy that we can have on the last day will be full in God's grace. In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today in our readings, we are back in the book of Romans. Now, if you think, a long time back, we went through the book of Romans for a little bit, had a sort of a mini series on it. And now that Easter and all of the holidays are over, we're back in it again, which means we need to look at what Paul has been up to talking in Romans to get to where we are. So
a reminder about what Romans is. Romans is kind of an introductory letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome, he had not really been there, they didn't really know him all that much. And so he is, we think, getting ready to make a base out of Rome. So you can do more missionary journeys built out of there. And this is why Romans is sort of like a doctrinal letter. It's his introduction to the church to say, This is who I am, and this is what I teach.
Over the course of Romans, we get to see a number of things he builds slowly. In the first three chapters, St. Paul points out that everyone's a sinner. He starts out and says, those Gentiles, those Roman pagans, they're sinners. And you can tell because they do some crazy stuff.
But Jews in the church, you guys are sinners, too, because you had the law and you failed to do it.
And then finally, he gets to a place where he says, Guess what that makes everyone a thinner.
In fact, it's worse than that. We're not just people who make mistakes.
Maybe there's even nothing good in us at all. But nothing we can do lives up to God's standard of perfection. And he closes out that section by saying, but there's something amazing, a gift that God has revealed to us through Jesus Christ, that we are saved not by our actions, but by grace, the righteousness of faith given to the church.
In Romans four, and he points out that this is how God has always worked. The God saved Abraham by faith. When he said, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, a quote from Genesis.
Later on in Romans, chapter five, he points out this famous passage, that because we are saved, we can rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that these things do something for us. He says, Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that our suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
And so now we continue with a passage about being reconciled to God.
St. Paul writes things like this, For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Later on, God shows His love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
He also says, More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus through whom we have now received reconciliation.
And so what St. Paul does now is he points out that for all of us who are sinners, we now have reconciliation to God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jesus's death and resurrection means that God offers the whole world reconciliation. We were sinners, and now we're part of the family of God. We used to be ungodly, and now we are God.
We have reconciliation.
Jesus Christ brings us in all of us who have failed to live up to the standard of our father and makes us one with Him.
This is a powerful message in a world that is filled with guilt. And our world is filled with guilt.
There is so much guilt out in our culture. We don't even know what to do with it.
People feel guilty about everything.
There's parent guilt, isn't there? If you've ever been a parent, you know what it's like, right?
Was I too harsh? Was I not strict enough? Did I not do the right thing here? Did I sign them up for the right activity? Are they ready for the right school? Did I do everything wrong?
No parents ever felt that way? Right?
There's environmental guilt. Right? We have that, don't we?
Am I putting out too much carbon in the world?
Am I recycling enough?
Have I done enough to save the world from the impending problem?
We live in a world that wants us to feel racial guilt.
That tells us that there are problems with everything that we do, and everything is problematic.
There's interpersonal guilt.
The more day to day stuff. You just when you screw up, and you hurt the people around you. And you go, wow, I didn't think that was that kind of a jerk.
There's guilt everywhere. And we know that because famous people are always apologizing for something that they didn't know was wrong until they did it. Right.
Every single day, it seems like someone is standing up and reading a an apology prepared by a PR consultant that reads something like mistakes were made. Right?
We live in a world that is so filled with guilt, because
the rules are not clear.
We're told
to follow our dreams, the rules and institutions that used to be there are no longer there. Which means that the rules are secretly scattered across our lives, like landmines hidden underground. And you only know when you need to be guilty when you step.
Sounds pretty terrible, right? That's because it is. And there is so much guilt out there.
And in here, right.
Which is why it is so wonderful, that God has sent someone to get rid of
Jesus Christ, who died on a cross to take all of your guilt on himself,
who paid the penalty for every sin, so that you can be reconciled to God.
And because of that, all of your guilt can go away.
Very simply, when you hear the words, I forgive your sin, in the name of the Father, and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
It's easy, right?
God sends His messengers, like me to take away that guilt by forgiving.
And you might say to yourself, Wait a second Pastor, I can't be that easy. I have all of these things that I feel guilty for. They pile up and they're they're just building up in my life until they reach the top of my head. And all you have to do is say I forgive you.
Isn't that a little cheap? Shouldn't I have to go out and fix the problem? Shouldn't I have to strive or do something?
Nope.
Because the forgiveness that the church delivered, the reconciliation that we have for you is not cheap. In fact, it cost something very, very precious.
The holy precious blood of Jesus Christ and His innocent suffering and
the your sin is not a light thing.
Your guilt is there for a reason. You're a terrible person.
Right? And so am I.
All of that guilt that piles up in you is there because you deserve it? You are guilty
and the only way to get rid of it is to have something even greater. Come to you
and eliminate.
And that's Jesus.
He paid the ultimate penalty for you. The infinite God died, to give you forgiveness and reconcile you with our Father in heaven. So that guilt need not hang on you anymore.
The funny thing about me saying that though is that actually can be something that you feel guilty about, right?
That's because when I go online, and I search, how do I forgive myself, you get articles like 10 steps to forgive yourself.
Right?
And that means all you have to do is get really good at forgiving yourself.
Which doesn't work, right? Because you can say, Oh, I forgive me.
And then 30 seconds later, you feel guilty again?
Right?
Isn't that how it works?
In fact, we hold on to some things that we know are ridiculous.
When I was in high school, yeah, you're getting a high school story. When I was in high school, I was an umpire at a baseball game, I was the home plate umpire. And I made a mistake. And I got so upset at myself. When I made a mistake. I turned around and berated myself while someone was sliding into home and they were making a play.
Good umpire, right? Yep, I'm going to place here, I'm here and I go, I don't know safe.
Very mad at me, you can imagine right?
I still think about that. About once a week.
Really?
I still think about that. And how can you believe I have no idea why.
I have no idea why I still feel guilty about that.
And it's ridiculous, isn't it?
Stupid. And I know it, and I can't get rid of it.
Because self forgiveness is no forgiveness at all.
What you need is not your own forgiveness. But God.
You need someone to come to you and say, I forgive your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Why do you need that? Because something that comes from outside of you is different from hearing a voice in your own head.
Someone who stands in front of you and says, Jesus died for you. He rose for you. And you are forgiven.
If is
and you can say it out loud. Say your sins me. Right? You can speak it and think, Well, Pastor would never leave. Let me be in the church. If I told him that one. Nope, that's not true.
So your shame and your guilt wants you to think that you're the only sinner who's really bad.
And when you come to me,
you sit in front of me to say this is what I did. And I just say very simply, I forgive your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. You'll be amazed and how it works.
You can get rid of your guilt.
Because that's the gift that God gives to His church.
That any sin, no matter how big, or whether it's screwing up a baseball call,
is forgiven by the same death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, washed away by the waters of baptism, and forgiven with the forgiveness that God gives His Church to deliver to you.
This is a powerful message.
And I think this is really the key for us not just here in the church, but as a gift to the world.
We are all feel guilty here because everybody out there feels guilty too because we're all Americans in this crazy culture. That is all about guilt.
They need that freedom to
see the reason everything is so crazy and people are shouting so much and so hostile and angry is they are trying to prove to themselves that they're actually good that their guilt is not there and that the louder they shout the less they think about their own pain.
We can actually solve it.
We can take away that guilt and that pain.
All we have to
do is bring it to them.
Not shouts, not react in anger, but just say, there is a way to get rid of your gift.
There is a way to be reconciled to God
and it's through Jesus Christ.
This is a great gift that we have as an author,
not just for ourselves, but the reconciliation between humanity and God that we can speak to a world who needs it just as much as you do
is the most powerful thing we have in a world filled with guilt and pain,
that Jesus Christ came to die for sinners,
for the ungodly,
as he says,
But God shows His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died.
In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Today we are celebrating St. Barnabas apostle. Now this might surprise you being called an apostle. Most of the time we reserve that to the names of the 12 or to St. Paul. But if you read closely, the Bible actually calls St. Barnabas an apostle. In Acts chapter 14, it says the apostles Paul and Barnabas. So I guess if x calls him an apostle, maybe we should, too, right? I'm thinking somewhere in there, there's a disagreement between the big A apostles, right, the 12 that Jesus had chosen, and the use of the word apostle in in the early church, it seems like we have made it a specialized office that just the 12 can hold, whereas in the early church, they use the word apostle for any number of different kinds of people. Even though there was still just the 12 as a separate group. St. Barnabas, the apostle, shows up in for the very first time in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter four. But he shows up as Joseph, a Levite, and native of Tsipras. It says, That's Joseph, who was also called by the apostles, Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Tsipras, sold a field that belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet. This was in those early days right after the great speech at Pentecost, when many, many people came into the church. Barnabas was one of them. And as the church gathered together to make sure that all of the people who are part of the body of Christ had everything they needed. Barnabas was one of those one of the first to sell his extra property and bring the money and give it to the church to make sure all of the people had enough food to eat. Barnabas shows up throughout the early story of the book of Acts. When Saul is first converted on his way to Damascus, he sees the vision of Jesus and he joins the church. Barnabas is the one who brings him to Jerusalem, who vouches for him who presents him to the apostles and says he is really converted. This is not a plan to infiltrate the church. Barnabas is also the guy who accompanies Paul on many of the other things we read in Acts chapter 11, that when the first people go to Antioch, and they preach to the Gentiles for the very first time, Barnabas decides that this would be a good job for Paul. And so he leaves, goes all the way over to Tarsus grabs Paul and says, Come on over with me, you've got a job to do. And there he and Paul work together for a year. After that, Paul and Barnabas are chosen by the Holy Spirit to go out on this missionary journey that begin Paul's missionary journeys as we see them in the book of Acts. Except Paul isn't the one who's leading it. Barnabas is he's the guy in charge. He's the senior pastor, and Paul is the assistant. It isn't until later that when Paul and Barnabas split up, that Paul becomes the head of that missionary journeys that he goes out on and becomes the apostle that we know today, the author of so much of the New Testament, and the leader of these amazing missionary journeys that happened. What I think is fascinating about this is the importance of Barnabas in the life of St. Paul, in raising up a leader in the church. Now this doesn't, doesn't end Barnabas his story. Part of the rest of his import for the church is that he is supposed to be the author of the letter of Barnabas a very important early church book. And then he goes out and is stoned to death according to the church histories somewhere in Syria. What we know about Barnabus from Holy Scripture, though, points out the importance of relationships within the Christian church. The Christian Church is not a collection of individuals who come together for a program who come here just to get what they need. and go home. The Christian Church is a community of believers. Barnabas whose name means son of encouragement is the perfect example of how this works, that when God gathers people together, he binds us together not just as, like I said, a collection of individuals, but as a series of relationships that are designed to support and nurture each other. In Acts chapter four, when we're introduced to Barnabas, were introduced to him in the context where he takes his money, and offers his up as a way to provide for those in the church who have any kind of need. Now, as this grows, this becomes an organized effort. And we see the very first deacons, the first officers of the church, who begin to do a organized distribution of food. But all of it comes out of the mutual love and care that the church has for each other, building on the individual relationships, and the unity that Christ bring. We see this unity chiefly, in the amazing gift that we get in Holy Communion. As you and I take in Christ's Body and Blood, we no longer are individuals separated from each other. We are no longer just me and you. We are bound together mystically in the body of Christ. As you eat Christ's body, as you eat, drink his blood, we all become one in him. We all are joined together, inseparably. And it makes us one people. This is why the unit of the church is not the individual, but the congregation is that we together are bound in Jesus Christ. And it's from this unity, that the individual relationships between people are designed to encourage, and help and love each other into further faithfulness in the church. We are here to help each other grow in the faith, to encourage each other to serve, and to guide each other in the faithfulness that Christ calls us to be. And we can see that in the beautiful relationship between Barnabas and St. Paul, and how Barnabas works within this, this relationship mentoring structure to help launch one of the greatest leaders of the Christian church. So Barnabas is a wonderful example of how a senior in the faith can pass on the faith to a new Christian. For many of us, I think it's difficult to imagine St. Paul the Apostle as a new Christian, right? It's kind of like, wait a second, Paul saw Jesus on the road to Damascus, like there was his vision, he had this amazing thing and he goes to to Damascus, and then He's baptized and then he's the apostle right? Magic. That's not how it works. If you if you read the actual text of Acts, St. Paul goes through a time of learning and growing and becoming the person that he is by the time he writes the letters of the New Testament. It begins with his time in Damascus. But we also see Barnabas doing it as well. Barnabas is the key for this brand new Christians entry into the wider church. You can imagine what it would have been like for all of the Christians who saw Stephen stone, when they looked at the people laying down their cloaks at the foot of this guy named Saul who was having Christians killed. They might not have accepted that Saul was becoming a Christian. They may have been just a little suspicious. For good reason, right? Barnabas, who took an interest in Saul brought him to the church and introduced him into the fellowship of the believers and said, you can trust this guy. He's one of us. Can you imagine what would have happened? If somebody hadn't done that? Could the Apostle Paul have broken into this organization this tight knit close knit group Or
maybe not. Is the church a little bit like that? Even the most open churches, everywhere across the country, the most welcoming groups of people is a tight knit community. We know each other, we're used to each other. We know the people who volunteer, we know the people who are involved on boards. And well, we're kind of happy with that, aren't we? I mean, we stand up in front, and we say, we would love to have volunteers. But we always go to the same group, the same people. It's tough to break into a church, to get to know the key players to understand the pulse of things. And we don't realize it. Why? Because we're in the middle of it. We know everybody we know what's going on. We know how things work. We always have to remember that to welcome someone into our congregation takes a Barnaba. Someone who can go and say, oh, yeah, we can trust this guy. Or, oh, yeah, come on with me to this event, it's gonna be great, you'll love it, I will go with you. That's what Barnabas did. And bringing someone into a community, it's great to have someone who can say, I will go with you. I'll bring you them. And it's a very simple way to draw someone further into this relationship where we can share God's Word with each other, and encourage each other. Barnabas also was the one who saw an opportunity for Paul to get involved and grow in his ability to be a preacher of the gospel. In Acts chapter 11, there's just this little bit that we that you might miss, right? Barnabas is sent to Antioch. And when he gets there, he's like, Oh, this is amazing. Isn't this great? But then he leaves. And he goes all the way to Tarsus. And he finds this guy saw the Apostle Paul and says, I've got a job for you come with, and they go together. And he brings up Paul in the church, about preaching the gospel. We in the church are always looking for people to do this sort of thing, aren't we? We're always looking for another volunteer to help out someone who can, oh, I don't know, help the kids at VBS. Kathleen knows me five bucks. We're always looking for people to do the sorts of things that we need to get done, right. And when we get together in meetings, we say to ourselves, why aren't we getting more volunteers, it's always the same people, isn't it? We stand up in front, we offer an announcement which you need to do. But the thing that always works way better than announcements, or things in the bulletin is walking up to someone and saying, I think you'd be good at this job. Come with me. And let's do. And that's the way to use the relationships that we have to help encourage people into the church, to help encourage people do the kinds of service and love and care that Christ has called us to do. And not only that, what happens then, is you build an individual relationship that you can use to show that kind of love to someone else. Isn't that the important thing about the church is not so much that we get an activity done, but that when someone needs you, you can be there for them. You can be the one who says Jesus died for you. He rose for you. He is here for you. Or when you need something that person can be there to you to encourage you by giving you the Word of God. That is what Barnabas did with Paul. He brought him into the church. Barnabas also helped Paul by equipping him to be a missionary and a leader on his own. When Barnabas said Hey, come on with me Paul Hebrews beginning to teach him so that he would grow and in their very first missionary journey Barnabas is the one who is leading the way and Paul is the one who goes with it's only after they return and Barnabas and Paul have a disagreement that Paul goes off and does his own thing. And that is part of the work that we are called to do as well. As as we gather people into our congregation, we're there to help equip them not to just be followers, but to be leaders in the next step. And what we need to do then, is helped help guide and learn and teach with God's word. So that we all can grow in our ability and our faithfulness, and eventually lead things on our own. So how does this work in a congregation? Well, one of the ways that this works is that each of us should be interested in investing in the lives of others. This is simply part of the love and care that a congregation has to each other. And try to find opportunities where we can show that kindness to each other. One of the examples that I I often come to is when someone needs a ride to church, every once in a while there will be a need for rides and people say, I know what we need is we need to get a bus, right? Then we can have a series of volunteers. And then we can get the bus and they'll go out and one person every week, and they'll rotate. What if we did it this way? Someone needs a ride to a church and we say, I know someone who lives on the way they drive past your house every single Sunday, maybe they can pick you up. And then there's a relationship. And then there's a connection. And when you need something, you call up your friend, who you've been riding with for the last three years, and you say, hey, I need some help, and they're there for you. Maybe they'll pray for you. Maybe they'll love you. That's how it works, right. That's how the love of God goes from person to person. And we connect in the congregation. Things happen Similarly, when we are trying to bring up youth in the church. Our relationships are designed to be person to person not program to person. youth, especially teenagers, they're becoming adults aren't you guys, right? They need to not have relationships with just a program. But with the congregation at a certain point. We need to address them as individuals and not the children of someone else. So when we need ushers, maybe we say to the youth, we say why don't you join our program. Rather than contacting their parents, we say you can be part of this and schedule them and make it regular. And all of a sudden they've got a responsibility, right? We're treating them like adults, giving them the capacity that they have. What a great way to grow in the church, to develop relationships with adults who will love them and care for them, and help them grow as Christians. We want the children. I think the key way to do that is to see them in church. Right? If you don't see children, can you have a relationship with them? If they don't see you, can you have a relationship with them? We want to love them, right? I know you guys I know you do. And the best way to do that is to see them in here on Sunday morning, to hear their screams and love it because it means our churches a lot to see them run around in the aisles and maybe Oh, it'll be a little distracting. But it means our church is aligned. And we can care for them and show them that they are not separate annoyances but part of God's people. And every Sunday, there's a little more connection, a little more love, and we can raise them up in the church. Barnabas helps us to see how important these relationships are. The people don't fall in love with programs. They don't fall in love and get raised up. By being connected to ideas. We connect with each other. And that's what the church is about. Using these relationships to point everyone to our Savior, Jesus Christ, so that the Holy Spirit can bind us together by His grace. In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace deal from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
What a day, the day of Pentecost must have been.
Can you imagine?
At this time the multitude of believers was at maximum of about 120. That's what the book of Acts tells us. They had been gathered in prayer,
hearing the apostles.
And then on this day, they are all together in one place.
And suddenly, the amazing happened.
There is that sound of rushing wind that filled the entire house where they were, and then tons of fire divide
and rest upon the disciples,
doesn't give us exactly where many artists will depict it, floating above their heads.
A theologian that I listened to said, maybe it would have been right in front of their mouths,
because of what would come next.
They were filled with the Holy Spirit, the wind, and the fire signified the amazing thing that was happening. And the Spirit empowers them to go out and speak.
Can you imagine being in that room?
And all of a sudden these things happen? And you're carried along by the Spirit? Most of us imagine it as an observer.
But can you imagine being one of the apostles?
Like what would that have been like? You're You're filled with the Spirit. And all of a sudden, the power of the Spirit pushes you out into the crowd.
And suddenly, you can speak Chinese.
I can't speak Chinese. But I think that would be pretty cool. I wonder if you're thinking like, they're like, What is going on? This is amazing. Right?
The people outside were just as amazed by the power of the experience. Some of them were confused. They thought the disciples were drunk. But Peter lets them know it was too early for that. Besides, I don't know of a single beer that can teach you a new language.
Wouldn't that be nice?
They go out, and they explain it's far too early. What is happening is what was predicted by the prophet Joel,
that on the last days, the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon God's people.
And you might be thinking, Oh, those are the last days, what are you talking about before the day of the Lord?
For them that might have been pretty clear, says, The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes that great and magnificent day.
When know that the sun was turned to darkness not too long ago, on the day that Jesus was crucified.
And I've heard that smart people say that right about that time there would have been illuminated a lunar eclipse,
which is what sometimes we call a blood moon.
Which meant all of these signs could have come to pass. Right before the Holy Spirit was placed on the apostles.
Meaning the great and glorious day of the Lord
was the day that Jesus was crucified.
And now we are in the last days, with the disciples filled by the Holy Spirit, sent out into the world to proclaim the Word of God, to all people.
This isn't the only time the Holy Spirit does his thing. In the book of Acts, the apostles are empowered by the Holy Spirit throughout.
It begins with Jesus, the book of Acts with Jesus saying you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.
And it's the Holy Spirit from this moment that empowers the disciples, to be those witnesses and carry the message of Jesus Christ out into the world.
After this amazing day of Pentecost,
Ask. Peter preaches a powerful sermon to all who are listening and they are cut to the heart by his words, and they cry, Oh, what should we do?
And he says, Believe in Jesus and be baptized, and you will be saved.
3000 people become Christians that day, and are baptized. Now, if you are doing the math in your head, if you take 12 apostles, baptizing 3000 people for eight hours, that is one baptism every two minutes, eight hours a day.
Can you imagine that service? Are you excited, be pretty great, right?
The message of the gospel was empowered by the Spirit to go out into the world,
to bring all of God's people together,
to gather together the people from every place on Earth, so that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And it's the same today.
The Holy Spirit that filled the apostles, that put the fire above their heads, still fills the church today, and empowers us in mission.
And that power wasn't in the wind.
The power wasn't in the fire.
The power was in the Word of God.
Because that's what went out to the people and cut them to the heart. That's what went out and change them and gathered them together into the Christian church.
It would cause them to have faith so that he could be baptized.
And it works the same way. Today. Whenever you hear God's word, preached, spoken, told, whenever you hear the words, talking about Jesus, His death and resurrection for you, the Holy Spirit is at work in you.
He strengthens you.
He calls you, He changes your heart.
It is the promise that we have through the word of God. But the Spirit is at work every time the word is proclaimed.
Whether it happened back in the day of Pentecost,
or happens here,
or when you to go out and speak it to your neighbors, and your friends.
And I think that's a key promise that we need to hold on to
is that every time you speak the Word of God to people, they also received the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is at work. In your words, when you talk about Jesus, no matter what happens, no matter the outcome.
Every time you speak, the Spirit is at work.
Which means the power of God is there. When you talk about Jesus. When you share God's Word with someone else, the power of God is working through you
to gather people into the church.
And what we do is we trust the Holy Spirit to do what he sees is right.
One of the things that I think we in the church have done is lost confidence in the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word.
We've lost confidence that it's the Spirit's job, to change people's hearts
through the ways that he promises to do it. And instead we focus in on other things,
on the experience on everything around God's word, rather than sharing it.
This summer, this past year, I started looking through a our curriculum or VBS curriculum. We've gotten questions about why we weren't using group anymore. So I went up to our old VBS curricula. And I just grabbed a couple of random ones. And one of the ones that I found was this high seas curriculum, which was focused in on the Word of God and I thought Great, maybe this will be awesome. How can you screw
up the Word of God, right?
They did
say over the five days, they said that the word of God was true, comforting, surprising, life changing and for everyone. And those things are right.
Good descriptions of the Bible. But when you look at the lessons, something odd was missing.
When they said the Bible is surprising,
they focused in on things like Peter, escaping prison and surprising the people.
When it was comforting, they focused on just some words of comfort.
But what was missing through all of the lessons, was a very important person.
Jesus,
he wasn't there.
The Bible is not true because it's true. The Bible is true in that it shows us Jesus. Right? If you don't see Jesus in the Bible, you're not reading it correctly.
The Bible is not comforting, without Christ, comforting you by His death and resurrection. In fact, without Christ, the Bible is quite threatening,
even scary.
The Bible is not life changing. Without the Holy Spirit, delivering faith into your heart and showing you Jesus.
Without Jesus, the Bible, well, it's just a book.
What this curriculum wanted us to do was get really excited about a book,
but not excited about Jesus, and not focus in on the words and the promises. He tells us.
It focused on the emotions you're supposed to experience, and not on the promises of God, that give us the Holy Spirit.
It's not the experience that changes hearts,
or the emotions about a program.
It's the word of God that delivers the Holy Spirit.
That's the pattern throughout the book of Acts.
When you follow the disciples along through their preaching and teaching, there is always something amazing that going on, but it is there to point us to Christ,
and the Holy Spirit does his work.
We see that in the day of Pentecost, the wind and the fire and the languages and it all points to a sermon.
Or how about when Peter and John they go to the temple and they seem they see a beggar. And he asked for gold and instead of gold, he gives him healing. And the people gather around and they go this is amazing.
And Peter preaches about Jesus.
And it's not the healing that changes minds. But the word. The same thing happens when Philip goes to Samaria. He proclaims Jesus Christ and the people believe.
Or how about when Peter, for the first time goes and preaches to the Gentiles where Cornelius is, they are sent by a vision, he goes there. And he speaks about Jesus. And it's not the vision, but the word. And all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit descends on the Gentiles who are there, and they speak in tongues and praise God.
Or how about when Paul and Barnabas are sent out on their very first missionary journey, and they go to a town and they are preaching and teaching and a beggar comes up? Another man who is unable to walk?
He heals the man. And the Greeks there are like, Zeus and Hermes are here.
Paul and Barnabas had to say, whoa, whoa, ah,
the miracle actually distracted them.
And he had to say, No, this is all about Jesus.
And the Holy Spirit went out through their words.
And over and over and over again. The mission of God was not through the miracles.
But it was the word that the Holy Spirit gave to the people around them. That was the power that changed hearts.
Not the experience.
What does that mean for us?
It means that no matter what we do
No matter how great or poor, the experience is around us.
The power of God is only shared. When the Holy Spirit goes out through the means that he is prone.
It's the word of God that gathers people into the church, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
So whether it's here in this place, the Holy Spirit is at work with the word
or whether you share it with your neighbors.
The Holy Spirit only works through the Word. So have competence in that. It's the same thing that the apostle Peter used to convert 3000 people on the day of Pentecost. It's the same thing that St. Paul use when he went throughout the whole world to gather together people into the church, the exact same power is given to you and to me when we speak God's word to others.
It doesn't have to be amazing.
It doesn't have to be accompanied by miracles, or wisdom.
All it needs is God's promise.
Coming through the Holy Spirit,
which means that when you speak,
the Holy Spirit goes out to call by the power of the gospel. When you speak, the Holy Spirit goes out to strengthen people in their faith or turn them to Christ.
When you speak, the Holy Spirit makes people firm in God's promises.
We can trust
the God the Holy Spirit works every time the word is preached, every time the word is spoken.
In Jesus name, Amen.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We are coming to the end of our series on Peter's first epistle, we've been working through it through the whole Easter season. And we've we've sort of slowly seen what St. Peter had to say to the church in the ancient world, as well as to our church today. He began by telling us that how in baptism, we receive an inheritance from Jesus Christ that is imperishable, undefiled unfading and kept in heaven for you, given to you by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Next week found out that because we are made separate given this amazing inheritance, we are called to be holy, like God is holy, to obey our Savior, Jesus Christ and follow in his footsteps. After that, St. Peter tells us that as God's church we are gathered together into a holy priesthood. He uses also the image of a church building that is founded on the cornerstone that is Jesus Christ. We talked about how Christians suffer, and that very often we suffer not because we're doing evil, but because we do good. And that's not something to flee. Peter reframed that suffering as a participation in Jesus Christ's own suffering. Last week, we talked about what it means to share our faith and give a good defense of what we believe, and how that involves not not being angry, and shouting as far as being part of any kind of cultural battle, but to focus on our vocations, and love and serve others while we share the message of Jesus Christ. And today, St. Peter returns to a theme that he has hit over and over and over again, suffering. But this time, he hits the angle, where he warns us about what Satan tries to do with that suffering. How Satan comes after us, in an attempt to pull us away from Jesus Christ. He says, Be sober minded, be watchful, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. St. Peter is reminding the church of his day as well as us is that the devil, Satan, whoever you want to call him, he's got lots of names throughout history is real and active in the world. Satan does stuff. He's not a figment of the ancient imagination. He is not just a force that we sort of personify. He is a real, true spiritual being who is always on the hunt, to get you. St. Peter calls him a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. I kind of get that. I have cats, and they are always looking for a bug to devour. And you see them, They stalk and they move they think they're really sneaky, but I see it. And they leap and they get it. And unlike Satan, they don't know what to do once they finally catch it.
He was really there. He was really hunting. And he knows what to do if he catches you. And we need to be aware. Fortunately, if we are aware, as St. Peter tells us, we can be just like me with my cats. They don't surprise us. We can see his work if we truly are alert. How does Satan work in our world? He's constantly there, and constantly tempting. But before we dive into that, I think it's a good idea to remind ourselves that he actually has no power to really and truly get us. Satan works as a tempter. Because the only way he can get us is if we leave Jesus's power. Jesus Christ defeated him, by going to the cross, by dying there. And by rising from the dead and ascending into heaven, he has now seated at the right hand of God, and He rules over all powers that exist. He is more powerful than any government, more powerful than any angel or demon, more powerful than death itself, he reigns over all of creation. And he's in short, which means that the devil has been defeated. When I think of this image, I often go to Psalm 23, where it talks about the shepherd with the sheep. And I think of the passage where it says, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me, an African once explained how this image works for them in Africa. He says that shepherds in Africa have a rod, which is a giant club, and a staff, which is used to guide the sheep. And one of them is for the lion, that when the lion comes, they take the giant club and they whack him. That's what Jesus did. As long as we're in the power of Jesus, Satan can't snatch us out of Christ's hands. He's got the big club, he knows how to use it, and he protects you. The only way Satan can get us is if we leave of our own accord. If we say no to Jesus, and we turn away. And so Satan uses temptation. He uses these things to try to trick us to leave behind Jesus. Peter knew this well. In the Gospels, Peter was constantly tempted by Satan. And we see a few moments where the key of it comes. There's a time where Jesus asked the disciples, Who do people say that I am, and they run through the list. And then Peter says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. It's a big moment, an important moment in the Gospels. And then Jesus immediately goes to say, I am going to go and die on the cross. And after three days rise, and then Peter, fresh off the big moment to saying, You are the Christ, the Son of the living, God says, No, that will never happen to you. And Peter says, Get behind me Satan. He was tempted. Peter, fresh off this power of a confession of Jesus Christ had the wrong idea of who Jesus was. And Satan pulled him in that direction. We saw it again. When Jesus was with the disciples in the upper room, sharing the Last Supper, and he says, One of you will betray Me and and he tells them all that they're going to fall away. And Peter says, No way, Jesus, even if I have to die with you, I will never betray. Peter thought he was strong. But only a little while later, when the situation had changed. Someone asked him, Do you know that guy? Peter says, I don't even know what three times he was tempted when he faced a challenging situation. Moments after he proclaimed his confidence. Satan's tempt to temptations caused him to leave Jesus behind. And Satan is constantly at work around us trying to do the same thing with you trying to do the same thing with me. And the question is, how can we defend against him? What can we do as we watch for this Rory? A lion who is looking for someone to to devour. I think, for the church, there are two important aspects for defending against Satan. One is the spiritual battle that is being done with God's grace and His power to defend us and our faith. And the other is a mental battle, trying to understand and decide and interpret what is happening in the world. The spiritual battle is the easy one. That's the one that Jesus has already won. And God defends you by Jesus's almighty power through His Holy Sacrament. And this is where Christianity actually gets very, very simple. The grace of God defends you from Satan, through the Word and the sacraments. When you hear the proclaimed word of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to you and strengthens your faith. When you receive Christ, body, and blood, he comes to you and fills you with Jesus Himself. And He strengthens you, in this fight against Satan. When Holy Baptism came to you, he united you with Jesus Christ, and gave you the amazing gift of grace. When you repent of your sins, and hear the words, I forgive your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit comes to you, and you're forgiven. And very often, these things seem really small. But there's a spiritual element to them that goes beyond what our minds can understand, deep down into that, that gift of faith that God has given you. And it is their strengthening buttressing making it firm. And when St. Peter says, Be firm in your faith, it is the faith that God gives you, that is the foundation of that through the gifts of the church that you receive. The other aspect of this is being firm in God's word. Because we can't just live as human beings on this mysterious grace. Our brains really like to make us run on one astray. Because we think a lot, you know, if we were unable to think it would actually be a whole lot easier to be faithful, right? Just let the Holy Spirit do the thing, and then your brain wouldn't get in the way. But very often, it's that that anxiety, our mind puzzling about things, that we have to rein under control, and understand the world through God's promises to make sure that we remain firm. And the key one that St. Peter hits over and over and over again, is the problem of suffering. Right? How many times in the last Easter season? Have I talked about suffering a lot? I'm kind of getting bored of it, or, you know, maybe not. And there's a reason why he puts this in so close to the Satan's temptations. Because every generation of the church has thought, Well, if God is on my side, my life should be better. Right? Our minds just do that. That's what the pagan Romans thought if you sacrifice the right sacrifices and do the right rituals, then you too, will have a good life. You can bribe God to love you. And St. Peter knows this, he says, You're going through the same thing as everyone else.
And he constantly has to reframe their sufferings not as a bad things are examples that Jesus has abandoned them, but his participation in the suffering of Christ. And we have to reframe, and understand our suffering as well. Sometime in the past, I don't know how many years the Christian church in America started saying things like if God is on your side, you're alive. If you get better, God's grace will solve your problems. And you've probably heard that right? That there is something about God that makes your life better. Satan loves that kind of thing. Because what St. Peter is actually helping us see that the devil doesn't go after non Christian. He's already got them. The world doesn't attack non Christians. They don't care. The world comes after us. We should expect our lives to be maybe a little worse. We should expect to face problems that other people don't face. I honestly don't understand how one can read the Bible and see what Jesus went through and see what St. Peter writes and think God's grace is going to make your life better. God's favor on Jesus meant suffering and dying. God's favor in the book of Acts meant being stoned and beaten and hurt and killed. God's favor with St. Peter here means that the Christian church was suffering everywhere. Being firm in understanding these things, means that when that happens to us, we don't say, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second. My life's not supposed to be like this. It means we can say, Oh, yeah. This is what Jesus promised. What a surprise. And when we understand God's promises, when we really focus in on what Jesus has to say, we can be ready for what Satan throws out. When he tries to tempt us, we can say no, no, this is what God says. When he tries to throw up contradictions, we can say, no, no, no. This is what God says. And we can rest firm and true in his promise.
This is why I'm so picky. You may have noticed about doctrine,
about our teaching, why I want to be so clear about what the actual Bible says about our actual law. Because what Satan really likes, is when a false idea creeps into the church, and it doesn't match reality. And then what he does is he goes, this doesn't match. And he lets it work in your mind. And not you and tug at you. Until you go, Oh, yeah. God's promises must not be true. It's why I focus so hard on making sure we understand exactly what the Bible says. And think about exactly what the teachings of the Church so that we can truly understand what God is telling us about our lives. We need to be able to interpret reality, the way God does, to be able to understand what happens and say, Yes, I was expecting. The joy of this is that even though we, we ended up suffering a little in the church, even though we ended up having to work hard to understand these teaching, is the promise that St. Peter tells the people of his day, right after this where he says, and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, comfort, strengthen, and establish. You see, as we face down the devil and all his Wiles and temptations and all the problems. We know that God of grace has a problem. This restoration, conformation, strengthening and establishing. We know that he is coming and He will raise us on the last day and that there is nothing that we face now. Whether suffering or Satan, that can diminish and that is the piece that we cling to, with the hope of Jesus Christ. In his name amen
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
This Easter season, we've been working our way through First Peter Peters epistle to all sorts of Christians scattered throughout the Roman world at the time. It opened with a message about the inheritance that we have been given in baptism, that when you were baptized, you were united with Jesus Christ, and given an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled unfading kept in heaven for you. The next section in the first chapter was about how this inheritance makes us different from the world, that we are called to be holy in Christ, set apart from the rest of the world, to be different, to act as Christ would have us act. After that, we talked about how we are then gathered together in Christ into the holy Christian church, he used the metaphor of a building, built on the foundation of Christ, the cornerstone, that we all gathered to be one, the priesthood of all believers. Then we went on to talk about suffering for doing good, that maybe Christians should expect since we are different from the rest of the world, to suffer for being different, that when we do good, sometimes people will respond negatively. And we reframed that suffering from something we should flee from, instead to being something that shows our participation in Christ, that He suffered for us. And today, we're taking a look at this next passage. And I want to focus in on another a further response to what happens when we suffer for doing good. St. Peter says, when these things happen, and if you should suffer for righteousness sake, he says, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will than doing evil. When I read that, I thought, this is a perfect time to talk about the culture war. Because very often, the culture war in America is framed as at least amongst Christian circles, how should Christians respond to an evil world? Should we fight the culture war or not? And I think this addresses that question. So the question, Should Christians fight the culture war? To ask that question, we first need to talk about what the culture war is. It has been one said that puritanism puritanism was the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be having a good time. I think we can base a definition of the culture war as something similar. It is the haunting fear that someone somewhere may live differently than me.
When we look at the culture war, and we see signs of it everywhere, it is a battle between different people on different sides for how people should live their lives. It is not about the right level of taxation or laws like that. It is a question of what should our culture look like? And people use legal or cultural social pressure to try to force a particular worldview and way of living on someone else. And I think that is the culture war. Is that when we try to push and force people to believe or speak something and by I mean, everybody, not just we hear in this place. We see culture war battles happening about all sorts of things. There are issues about how we think about gender, or sexuality. There are problems about what how many people we think should be entering our country or not, and what they will do to our culture. There are questions about race and racism. But in the end, I think the culture war is what happens when we get really angry about something that doesn't affect us at all. Right? Isn't that the way it works? The culture war if you if you turn on the news, and there is something that is designed to generate outrage, about a decision that a school board made in Florida. And you think, Oh, I'm so mad. That's the culture war? Why would you care about what they're doing in Florida? Does that affect you? Or your children? Probably not. The culture war is designed to ramp up your anger, so that you choose a side in politics. It's designed to get you to make allies with people who don't care about Christianity in any way, who just want power. By now, you can probably guess what my answer to the question is, Should Christians fight the culture war? No. But I'm actually going to give you biblical reasons why, instead of just ranting from the pulpit. The first reason is very simple. When we fight the culture war, it shows that we don't actually trust in the hope of the victory of Jesus Christ. Why the culture war is almost always shown as an existential battle for the soul of America. We have to make sure that America is exactly the moral superior country, we want it to be. Whether you fighting for Red team, or blue team. The culture war is framed as a way that says if the bad guys win, everything is lost. And said St. Peters simply assumes that we have a hope that cannot be lost. As he says, We've been given an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled unfading, kept in heaven for you. He also describes this hope as a Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities and powers having been subjected to him. Which means Jesus is in charge of everything. Governments, culture, spiritual forces, everything in the world is under his power. And our hope is that he will come back one day, and raise us from the dead. And on that day, it doesn't matter what victories and small little things the enemy has won. It only matters that he returns and he wins. Jesus has won. Why would we be afraid about what the future has in store? Why would we worry about what might happen in politics and culture? Beyond that? When we, when we give into this kind of existential fear about the culture war, it ends up forcing us to take sides with people who don't care about us. It ends up having us turn away from the love and care that Christ gives us to anger and fighting. And it betrays the hope that we have. If we truly trust in Jesus, if we truly know that he has won the Vic Three, there is no room for fear at all. We can enter every situation confident that our victory is assured in Jesus Christ. Sure, we may run into places where we suffer. Yeah. But it's no different than any other Christian who's ever gone before us, certainly no different from the Christians in Rome, or the Christians in Iran, or North Korea. Just like them, we can have confidence that Jesus has one. Finding the culture war also gives us ammunition to our enemies, to say, oh, yeah, you see, all of those things we said about those Christians. We were right. They are jerks. They're mean. Can you see what they say online? St. Peter tells us when we when we defend our faith, and we share the hope that is in us. He says, you do it with gentleness and respect having a good conscience. So that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. The key to that is what he's saying is, when people accuse us of being evil, they're supposed to look at us and say, they're actually really nice people. They're not evil, you're an idiot. But if they accuse us for being evil, and we actually are evil, they're not going to be slandered. They're going to be telling the truth. And when we let our fear drive us to being angry, and hostile, and fight in the world, their slander no longer becomes slander. If we go out and attack people, for living differently than we think they should we actually become the people they accuse us of being. Now, one of the things that I think is, is interesting about the way the cultural war works from a Christian perspective, that we actually expect non Christians to live like Christians. And the key part of the culture war is to say, You people who don't believe in Jesus, who don't think he was raised from the dead, who don't believe that God created the earth and order it according to His good and gracious will, should believe and live the way I say you should, because I said, so. Now, if someone came to you, and did that, how would you react? You're supposed to live the way I believe, because I said, so. I bet you'd be pretty mad. And if they then they try to make the laws force you to do it. You'd get even matter. Right? The culture war is often like that, isn't it? When Christians go out to a world and we say you should live the way Christians live, because we said so. It's not just weird. Expecting non Christians to behave like Christians. And so when we go out, and we try to use the law, when we try to fight and hurt and, and force people to live, like what we're doing, all we do is give ammunition to our enemy. What we should do as Christians instead is love the people that we run into, right?
We should take care of the people who are near us. We should expect non Christians to act like I don't know non Christians. Because they're gonna No matter how much we shout and yell. But the key then, is for us to say, no matter how crazy you are, I love you. And when you're done being crazy, we're here to welcome you into the church. Pretty simple, right? We're here to love you and take care of you. And when you need Jesus, we will give him to you so that you can be saved. Does that mean we compromise our beliefs? No. Does that mean we change who we are? No. We just teach ourselves. We make sure we stand where we stand. And we share love with those who are near us. So that when people say, look at those Christians, they are jerks. They're always shouting about what other people should do. They'll say, Wait a second, they feed the hungry. They welcome people into their church. And they give love, just like Jesus did. Because that's what Jesus did, isn't it? He loved the people who should have been rejected the people who deserved to be punished, like you, and me. And that's our job. Finally, fighting the culture war, is not sharing our hope, with gentleness, and respect. And that should be relatively clear. When we look at the way the metaphor of the culture war. See, when you fight a war, you are not trying to convert the other side to your faith, right? In a war, you launch airstrikes at the other side to totally destroy them. That doesn't sound like gentleness, and respect. The St. Peter says, in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason to hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. Our job is not to destroy people, to make them humiliated or feel bad about themselves. But to love them, and tell them the faith, help them see Jesus. One of the challenges behind this is because we get upset, we often have a difficult time discussing with people who are different and believe differently than us in a calm and kind way. Our job is to help people who are struggling with things with temptation with with pain, with hurts with the all the problems that we see in our culture, and love them through it. Because if we don't, what they're going to do is they're going to see that the church hates me, and run off and find guidance somewhere else. One thing that I think is better than looking at the culture war, as a battle is actually more like a dance. In a dance, you're not trying to destroy the other person. But you work together here, one person might lead and another person might lead and then you learn from each other about each other's perspective. And you sort of walk away with a little bit changed. An example of that might be something that I did at a dinner conversation not too long ago, I eat dinner with the with the women of 2911. Every Tuesday night, so one house or the other. And most of the time, we just chat about whatever. But one night, we did, something happened. And we spent about an hour and a half, they just sort of went around the table asking me theological questions. It was pretty awesome. And most of the time, what I did was say, Lutheranism is so amazing, you should give it a shot. Like it was like, and this is why we do the sacraments because you don't have to worry about works righteousness, Jesus just gives it to you was basically the thing I said over and over and over again. And we got to a point where they said, Pastor, we expected you to be more like debating and correcting. And I said, well think about our conversation. I have just spent about an hour and a half telling you why all your churches are wrong, and why you shouldn't be a Lutheran instead. But it didn't feel like it. I listened to them. I heard what they said. And I said, Well, here's how we approach this. And instead of saying, This is why your pastor is wrong, why your way of thinking is wrong. I said, this is why what we do is beautiful. And true. St. Paul did that. In Athens. He took what they believed. And he said, I have something even better. Look, you've got all of these gods and you worship them in all of these ways. But here is a hook. Or I can say no, no. I have something even greater than what you have. more beautiful, more wonderful, more amazing. And that's how the church wins. Not by launching airstrikes at the enemy. But by helping to show the world that what we have is beautiful that the resurrection of Jesus Christ provides salvation and a way of being pure and holy, eternal life. And that the joy we can have in Christ doesn't depend on which color of person is in charge of the United States, red, or blue, or who is winning a culture war? What it depends on is the fact that we have a Savior, who died on a cross, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. And we can show the world the beauty and power of our golf. If we have confidence in that, if we truly have confidence that Jesus is coming again, and we know that we are right. All we have to do is wait for the world to recognize it. Because eventually their insanity will make them insane. And we can be here saying, when you're done, we're ready. We will welcome you. We will love you, and we will give you Jesus in His name, amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. I like though Yeah, Christ is risen.
As we continue to celebrate the joy of the Easter season, it is wonderful to have you to be able to hear about Christ and His Word.
As we discuss the resurrection and the appearances of Jesus over these next few weeks, we are also going to be looking at the epistle. First, Peter, the people who put together our lectionary have us reading passages from that for the next several weeks. So we're going to get to take a look at that. One of the reasons they are they do that is because of first Peters purpose, First Peter has often been described as a baptismal address. The idea is, is that first Peter would be the kind of thing you would read to new Christians as they have been baptized.
Scholars think about it like this, because it is very closely connected to just a general understanding of what the Christian life is like. Peter also makes several references throughout to baptism with things like sprinkling, or even talking about it specifically later on, when he talks about Noah's ark and the flood. Or what we will see in our passage coming up, or he talks about being born again, references to baptism.
And so today, we're going to take a look at some of the opening passages.
Now, first, Peter is different than many of the letters that we often read in the Bible. Most of the time we read from St. Paul's letters, and all of those are written to individuals or to individual churches. So the letter to the Romans was written to the Romans. That is not terribly difficult. He sent a letter to the church in Rome. And the letter to the Corinthians is for the Corinthians. Tough stuff, indeed.
First, Peter is not directed to a group of Christians locally like St. Paul's letters are, this is who he writes it to, to those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, kappa dosha, Asia, and Bithynia.
That's a whole region of the Roman Empire surrounding what we would now call Turkey. So it's all over in that area. And it's any of the Christians. It's a little bit like writing a letter to the Christians of Texas.
Just a whole bunch of people, and not just a particular church. And so when St. Paul writes, he's often writing to people he knows about problems he knows beforehand. Peter isn't writing like this, it is much more general. In fact, we call it part of the Catholic epistles or general epistles, because it is not specific to a time or place, but more generally, to a whole group of Christians.
So let's dig in.
Starting at verse three, let's be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
This is one of the reasons scholars will think of this as a baptismal address, because right away, the first thing he says in the meat of his piece, is that he has caused us to be born again.
Now, many Christians call themselves Born Again Christians, and by that they often mean that they're on fire for Jesus. Born Again, Christians are then described as people who are just excited, they're really super committed, as opposed to those who are not born again, who are just kind of going through the motions.
But I don't think the Bible talks about it that way. Born again, is a phrase that I believe points us to baptism. We can see that in places like the Gospel of John, when John records the appearance of Nicodemus going to Jesus at night, Jesus tells Nicodemus
You must be born again. Nicodemus doesn't understand. He says, Wait a second, do I have to climb into my mother's womb. And Jesus clarifies, he says, unless you are born of water and the Spirit, you cannot enter the kingdom of God. water and the Spirit.
People puzzle about that over and over again. And you go, Wait a second, that's pretty easy. You're born of water in the spirit in baptism. Right? Isn't that what happened to Jesus, when he went into the Jordan River, he was plunged into the water. And out, he came, and the Holy Spirit came down on him, like a dove, establishing the pattern for us. So we are born of water and the Spirit, or as he says, born again.
That is when we are born again. And for us, baptism is not a one time event, but a thing that changes us for our whole lives. It actually reminds me of what happens when someone becomes a US citizen. I walk to church every day past a set of apartment complex. And very often as I walk, I meet this very nice Chaldean man, and we chat and we talk. And one day, as we were passing, he turns to me, and he says, I became a citizen today.
That's pretty awesome, right? Like, congratulations, that's such a big deal. Things have changed for him now. He's no longer here by permission. He is now here by right? Nobody can deport him. He's an American. Where would they send him? He also has duties right. Now that he's a citizen, he has to go to jury duty.
Right.But something's changed. Now he is one of us a part of our country, he has got rights and obligations and things that must happen. And it's not like you get your card. And you say, Well, enough of that. The rest of your life is different. You're a citizen. That is what happens with baptism. You are chosen by God made a citizen of his kingdom, pulled out as an elected exile in this world. So we're no longer part of the world, we're now part of God's kingdom.
This is why very often churches will put their baptismal font right out in front like this. It's an architectural reminder of this thing that baptism does for us. In many churches, what you will do is when you're coming to communion, you'll walk up past the font and get up to where there's an altar rail, and everybody kneels and all that.
The idea there is that the baptismal font marks our our citizenship in the kingdom of God, and allows us entry to take Christ's Body and Blood. And it's always our baptism that we remember that we go back to that we think about that says, we belong here. We are part of God's kingdom. He has given us a gift.
And he calls that a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. So the gift of baptism gives us a living hope. Not by delivering to us an idea, but giving us Jesus who is alive.
That's what we celebrate this Easter season, Jesus rose from the grave broke free from death. death no longer has any power over him. He will never die again. And he lives and reigns still in heaven right now. Which means our hope is not an idea or a doctrine, but Jesus himself.
This is why the resurrection candle the Pascoal candle stands next to our baptismal font. It reminds us that in baptism, we are connected mystically to Jesus Christ. We died with him. We rose with him, and this living hope is ours. Forever
Let's continue.
Verse four, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled. And unfading, kept in heaven for you. And so by being chosen in baptism, born again, brought into the kingdom of God, we now have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.
How many things do you have that are like that? imperishable, undefiled unfading.I'm willing to bet, not too many. Because it has to be all last forever. Never get dirty or break down. be permanent. Never any sin involved in it. Even the best things in our lives are not like that.
I've got a garden that I'm working on in the backyard, trying to make it nice. And it has been so wonderful this year having rain it's been like living in Chicago. Except it's not just my flowers and vegetables that get the rain. It's the weeds too. Right? And whoa, are there some weeds and I get out there and I'm pulling them up. And some of them are this tall, and I'm yanking them out. And then I go around. And by the time I get through the whole thing, I got to start over again.
Because the weeds are back. That's not imperishable. undefiled unfading. That's a lot of perishable, defiled, and fading. There's only one thing that is this gift is eternal life that we've been given in Jesus. Image imperishable. undefiled and unfading kept in heaven for you. And it's based on Jesus himself. His very body is the pattern for us. He who rose from the dead, but the disciples saw his body is the pattern for hours. St. Paul and Colossians calls Jesus, the first born of the dead.
Elsewhere, he calls him the first fruits. Which means the same kind of body that Jesus rose with is the body that you two will rise on the day that he returned, never to die again. This is the imperishable, undefiled unfading inheritance you received in baptism.
We continue,
Who by God's power are being guarded through faith, for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold, that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Your faith, then this gift that Christ has given you in baptism is guarded by God's power itself. Here by the Holy Spirit, this is why we gathered together around the means of grace, to receive God's power given to us through His Word, through the sacraments, to continually be guarded against our sinful nature.
So that when we face temptation, the Holy Spirit is here to guard us and protect us. And we certainly need it. Because we are often faced by terrible trials.
I've been doing a great deal of playing around with the AI stuff on the internet. You probably heard about it articles and things like that. I especially enjoy using chat GPT it's just an interesting thing to play with. And what I love about it is I like to ask it to do theology, because you know, that's my thing, right? So I go on, and I ask it to do all sorts of interesting things. And sometimes it does a great job. In fact, so much so that I, I use the piece of what it did and one of The Wednesday night surfaces. But sometimes it does a terrible job.
And I want to share with you a story that it created out of whole cloth today as an example of what sometimes we do with our baptismal theology. So here's the story that it made up. It says, a few years ago, I had the privilege of baptizing a young woman named Sarah. Reminder totally made up. Sarah had grown up in a broken home and had experienced a lot of pain and trauma in her life. She struggled with depression and anxiety and felt like there was no hope for her future. But one day, Sarah heard the gospel and realize there was hope for her. She put her faith in Jesus Christ, and decided to be baptized as a public declaration of her faith.
As Sarah went under the water, and then emerged, she felt a sense of peace and joy that she had never experienced before. She knew that she was a new creation in Christ, that her past no longer defined her. She had hope for her future, knowing that she was loved and accepted by God.
In the years since her baptism, Sarah's life has been transformed. She has experienced healing from her past traumas, and has grown in her relationship with Jesus Christ. She now serves in her church, and as a witness to others of the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.
That's kind of a nice story, isn't it? Like, this made up a character named Sarah gets a baptism and then everything goes great for her. That's not what St. Peter is saying. In fact, that's kind of the opposite of what St. Peter is talking about.
And Christians often tell stories like this, because we want to impress people with the power of God. But it's also stories like this, that convinced people that the Christian church is only for people who have it together. Only for people who are already strong and have their life put together. sort of the opposite of God's grace.
What St. Peter tells us, is that after we're baptized and brought into the kingdom of God, we're gonna face fiery trials, life is going to be hard, and God's grace isn't going to fix everything for you. He points us back to that inheritance that is prepared for us in heaven, imperishable, undefiled and unfading.
And not to healing from trauma, or fixing our problems now. It tells us, we're going to have to face these difficult times. And I know that you will have faced difficult times. It doesn't matter how old or how young you are. God's grace hasn't fixed everything in your life.
And it won't fix everything in your mind. Peter tells us that these things are part of the test of our faith, like gold being refined in a fire. And they help us to focus on Jesus Christ and the inheritance that he gives us. Because honestly, these trials just remind us that everything in our life is perishable, defiled, and fading. The only thing we have that lasts forever, is Jesus and the resurrection that he will bring on the day that he comes.
And holding faster. This promise leads to the joy and the glory and honor that he says were may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. This is what we cling to. When we face those challenges and those trials.
That continues, Though you have not seen him you love him. Though you do not now see him you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. This is the thing that we cling to during those trials is that we have an inexpressible joy, but doesn't make sense to the rest of the world.
You can see that in the reading from x, where Peter and John are before the council. You know, they do all the things they arrest him they almost they want to kill them, but then they just beat them and set them free.
What does it say? They rejoice that they were found worthy of dishonor for the name of Jesus. That makes sense to you. Not to me.
But what they did is they rejoice that they have this inheritance, being chosen by Jesus in baptism. Given the gift of salvation and the promise of His return, they can rejoice even in these beatings because they know they have Jesus just as we do.
In his name, amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Hallelujah, Christ is risen, is risen indeed. It's a joy to have you here as we celebrate the wonderful promise of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This week has been a big week for us here. We have told lots of stories over the past seven days, Palm Sunday began with the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, riding a donkey that has never been written, with the crowds of people waving palm branches and shouting Hosanna. Maundy Thursday, we gathered with the disciples where Jesus washed the disciples feet, instituted Holy Communion, and gave them his body and his blood to drink, how he went to the Garden of Gethsemane and prayed there, where he was arrested. On Friday, we read the story of Jesus's trial, before the High Priest and before punches Pilate, before he was finally executed by being nailed to a cross, where they took him down and placed him in a borrowed tomb, simply because it was nearby. Saturday, we waited with Jesus in the grave for the vigil of the of the resurrection. Before Finally today, we shout for joy, because Christ is raised from the dead. What that means is death has no power over Jesus, he died once and is now back, he will never die again. And the power of death is defeated by him. What a joy that this is for us. And it's not just that Jesus Himself will never die again. His resurrection means that death has no power over us, the people of Christ, who believe in Him. St. Paul helps us to understand what that means for us in our daily life. When we look at Colossians chapter three, he says, if then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above not on things that are on earth. For if you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God, when Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. Now, to understand what he's saying, you have to go back a little bit to the chapter ahead, where he talks about how we are united with Christ. Colossians chapter two says, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. What that means is, we were connected with Jesus Christ in baptism. And by baptism, he raised you from the dead, and gave you eternal life, not sometime in the future. But right now, by the amazing gift that he gave you. In that washing, a baptism. St. Paul continues, and you who were dead in your trespasses, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. And so Jesus's death and resurrection means that not only are we raised from the dead, but all the powers and forces of this world that might fight against us, have no power over us. They have been defeated by Jesus's death and resurrection. That means our greatest enemy death itself is no longer in charge. And all of the problems that come from it, no longer have a claim over our lives. Our life is safe in Christ, and nothing can stop that. Nothing can defeat us as long as we are in Him. And this is why St. Paul says to us seek the thing things that are above where Christ is, he is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above and not on things that are on earth. Despite our best efforts, the world always wants us to pull us away from the promise that we have in Christ, the things that are above and faithfulness to him, by distracting us with the things that we worry about. So we know we have an amazing promise that we are safe in Christ, our life is kept secure in him. But our daily needs, our worries, or concerns. They keep pulling us our attention away from God, and faithfulness to him and pushing it back down to earth. Paul says, Set your minds on things that are above. Remember, the most important thing is this promise that Christ has been raised from the dead, and your life is safe in him. There are a number of Bible stories of people who received amazing promises but didn't follow through in trust. I'd like you to think about Abraham, the first one to receive a great promise in the Bible. When God came to Abraham, he gave him three big promises. He would make him the father of a great nation, he would give him a promised land, and all nations would be blessed through Him. Abraham saw most of those promises come to pass. But the one he was really most worried about was having a son. And when he got to the promised land, it took a while before God would come through on this. Abraham didn't trust. And so he and his wife Sarah decided to take matters into their own hands. Abraham impregnated a servant, Hagar, as a way to get make this promise happen. Instead of being faithful and waiting, instead of just trusting that God would come through, he decided he was going to take care of things and be unfaithful. And boy, did it create some problems. You can imagine what that would be like in the family. The servant girl has the kid with the husband and the wife, what did she do? She was not very happy. There was so much conflict in that family because of it. Eventually, Isaac did come, the promise child that would come from Sarah. And Abraham learned his lesson. He learned to trust God and keep His mind set on things above so much, that when God said to him, Take your son and sacrifice him on the mountain. Abraham doesn't hesitate. Why? Because he knew that God, even if God allowed Isaac to die on top of that mountain would bring him back. Because the Isaac was the son of this promise. And God said that Abraham would be the father of many nations who finally had the peace, to trust God and turn from taking matters into his own hands.
I don't know what problems you're facing. What daily concerns you deal with? I'm sure you have a list that you can run through your mind. They're never far from us are
they? But what this promise of Jesus Christ gives us that he has raised from the dead is that none of these things are more important than him. None of these things can take you out of Christ's hand. And so we should set our minds on following Jesus, the one who holds our life, the one who returned and raise us to glory. Last night at the vigil, we read another story of people who couldn't accept the promise. It was Israel. Right after they had come out of Egypt and were brought to the Red Sea. God had sent Moses to go to Pharaoh and say Let my people go. And God sent plague after plague. He did amazing miracles that threatened the Egyptians but kept Israel safe. And finally, after the Passover, the people walked out of out of Pharaoh's Egypt and made their way to the Red Sea.
And when they got there, Pharaoh changed his mind and sent the army after them.
Israel had seen all of these amazing things heard promises from Moses. And when they saw the army coming, their minds left the promises of God. The things that are above and they turned to the things that are on earth. They said to Moses, are there no graves in Egypt? That you brought us out here? Didn't we tell you to leave us alone? It'd be so much better to be back in slavery in Egypt. But God had an answer. They just had to trust. He split the Red Sea. And the people walked through on dry ground. And when Pharaoh's army chased after them to kill them, the water came in on them and drown. They just needed to trust God would protect them. Instead, they took their things into their own hands and turned to unfaithfulness. What's amazing is right on the other side, the same thing happens. As soon as it looks like they might not have enough food, they turn to Moses, and they say, Why did you bring us out here to starve in the wilderness? It was so much better back in Egypt. Let's go back there and serve the Egyptians. God responded by coming through on his promises again. He gave them manna bread, right outside of their tents every morning. He dropped quail from the sky into their camp to give them meat every evening. It's way better than an Amazon delivery, I think. All they had to do was trust. And yet, in their fear, their minds left the things that were above and focused on the things that are below the things of earth. How much more peace would they have had if they simply focused on following God and hoping in his promises, and trusting in Him. Towards the end of the Old Testament, we have a story from the book of Daniel, that shows a group of people who were faithful. You probably know it the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are in the province of Babylon when King and Nebuchadnezzar builds a 60 cubit, tall, golden statue that's 90 feet. And he says, Every time you hear music, you have to bow down and worship this statue. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego have their mind set on the things that are above. And so they refuse. Nebuchadnezzar gets his soldiers and gathers them in and he says to them, now if you are ready, when you hear the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, Trigun, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, to fall down and worship the image that I have made, well and good. But if you do not worship, you shall immediately be cast into a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you out of my hands? Shadrach Meshach and Abednego know the answer to that question. They say, Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of your hand oh king, but if not, be it known to you, oh king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up. You imagine Nebuchadnezzar has the fiery furnace and it's going he is so mad at this point. He heats it up harder than it's ever been. And they say no. Their minds are set on things above. They know the promise of God is sure and through that even if God wouldn't save them from the fire, he would raise them from the dead on the last day, and give them glory forever. And yet, when King Nebuchadnezzar throws the three men into the fire, the fire is so hot that it kills the soldiers who throw them in. But not Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He looks in and he sees four men there, the three that he has thrown in and one he says that looks like the son of the gods. We know who that is. Christ Himself who stays with us in danger, who is with us in the worst. who's with us even in death. He got Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego through the fiery furnace. And he will get us through the most dangerous thing we face through death itself. Because he led the way through the grave, by dying and rising from the dead, and death has no power over him anymore. Your life by baptism is safe in Christ. Nothing on this earth can threaten.
Set your minds on things above. Only Christ matters. Only following him matters. Everything else is a distraction. The promises that we have in Him will always come true. Because Christ is faith and he is risen. Hallelujah Christ is risen. In his name, amen.
Easter Vigil
4/8/23
Genesis 2
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Tonight is the Easter Vigil, the night where we wait to celebrate the joy of the resurrection. Looking forward to this wonderful celebration that we've just begun. The transition from the day of rest to the day of joy. Now, we have read a number of things that deal with rest tonight. The first one begins with creation, creating a day of rest the seventh day. That is Saturday. Today, many people don't know that. Many Christians assume that the Sabbath day, the day talked about so often in the Bible, the day of rest is actually Sunday. Right? I'm sure you've heard it before. You're supposed to go to church on the Sabbath. But that's not the way it worked. The Sabbath day was the seventh day Saturday. In our reading from creation, God created all of the different things on all of the different days days, one through six, culminating with humanity.
And then he rested on the Sabbath. Saturday, the day of rest. Did you ever wonder why he rested? On the seventh day?
I bet. Do you think it was because God was tired? That's what the kids think when I tell them that story. Like, six whole days of work, I would definitely rest. But you know, of course, when you read the story, all the work that God does is just speak a few sentences. If I got wiped out from speaking a few sentences, it would be rough being a pastor. Why did God rest? Why was the seventh day the day of rest? Well, the Old Testament answer was that it was a day to set the pattern for God's people that on the Sabbath day, they would rest beginning with night, Friday, what we will call Friday and ending on Saturday. It wasn't because they needed a break. We'd like to take a break, don't we? In fact, many Christians will call Sabbath that as well. They'll say I need a Sabbath rest, which means they need to go home and take a nap. But that's not what the rest for God's people were the Sabbath. Saturday. They rested because they were supposed to look for their life and salvation in God. Resting on one day a week was a way for them to rest in God's promises. They would take a whole day. They wouldn't go out into their fields. They wouldn't go work on anything. They wouldn't light a fire or repair their work equipment. They would rest because they knew that God would keep His promises and keep them safe. It was a day for them to wait and let God come through on his word. That pattern rings over and over again throughout the Old Testament. Wait for the Lord. Psalm 27 describes a situation where the evil doer attacks. That conclusion is very simple. Wait for the Lord. Be strong and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord. Same for Psalm 25 It says to you oh Lord, I lift up my soul Oh my God in you I trust let me not be put to shame. But not my enemies exalt over me. Indeed. Nan who wait for you shall be put to shame are Psalm 62 for God alone my soul waits in silence. From him comes my salvation. Psalm 105 I wait for the Lord. My soul waits, and in His word I hope my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning. Wait for the Lord. That was the message of each one of our readings after the creation story, wasn't it? Israel is terrified by the Egyptians and what does God say? Wait. You'll see the salvation. Abraham's promises challenged Isaac the son must die. God will provide Daniel, friends Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They're commanded bow down to the idol, the mightiest King on earth will kill you throw you into the hottest furnace ever. And what do they say? Our God will protect us. We will not worship your God, oh king. They're thrown into the fire and who appears there. A man like the Son of God. They waited for the Lord, each and every one they waited for the Lord and he delivered them. And that's what the Sabbath day is about. Even the Sabbath of Christ you remember how we ended the readings? On at the end of John, Jesus sighs and says, It is finished. Then his work was done. They took down his body. They placed it in a tomb. And on the seventh day he rested. And what he did was trust for us. God Himself, Jesus Christ, waited for the Lord, to raise him from the dead. When evildoers assailed him when the host of people around him, all they wanted to do was destroyed Jesus Christ. He waited. And on the eighth day of the week, he rose. Because when Jesus rises from the dead, the pattern of creation is now over. There is a new day, it is not days one through seven anymore. Sunday morning is day eight, the beginning of the new creation, the beginning of a Savior who defeated death forever for you, and a new way of life. This is the joy of Christ's resurrection. But he waits on the Sabbath day. And when his father raises him from the dead, he brings a new pattern into being. And now you and I live in that reality. What it means is that when we to rest, like Christ in our tombs, we can wait for the Lord. We can wait like he did. Knowing that there is a Sabbath rest for all of us. That God will return and raise us and bring us into the new creation and the old pattern will be broken for ever because of our Savior in his name Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Tonight we are celebrating Good Friday. We've just read through the stories of Jesus's passion, all the way up from his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, through his many trials, to his crucifixion and execution, and then finally, his burial in a borough tomb near where they crucified Him. As we read through a story like this, and we see all the grisly details, you have to wonder what in the world is good? About Good Friday? Right? That seems like a weird name. This is this was really bad. It was insults. They slapped him up for no reason. Whipping. I mean, Pilate was just trying to make the man look miserable. So when the Jews saw him, they would go oh, that's fine. You punished him enough.
That wasn't enough. nailed Him to a cross. And He was already so tired and exhausted. He didn't take the normal amount of time to die. He actually did it pretty fast. So beaten and broken, was he? What is good about Good Friday. Here tonight, we've gathered with a very somber service. They call it the chief service, you had to enter quietly.
No announcements or greeting, shaking hands or smiling. We saying Oh, Sacred Head now wounded, over and over, over again. Kind of got a mournful to write more than full service. You could almost say that a time like this is a little bit like a funeral for Jesus, right? Sort of like Look what they did to the Savior. It was terrible beating and breaking and dying. That is the price of your sin. We should mourn and weep and cry. But that's not what Good Friday is for. That's misunderstanding what we're doing tonight. There's another way of telling the story of the crucifixion. This one is a little more of looking at from the father's perspective. I imagine God up in his office in heaven. He's sitting there reading the newspaper because he's old school like that. And an angel walks into the office and says, Did you hear the news? And he does one of those dad things like the news. What news? The news about your son? Oh about Jesus. He's been down there for like 33 years. They must love him by now. They're killing him God. Watch. And he runs out to the window and he looks down and he sees the cross. You know those videos on TV on the internet of like mom's like the most mild mannered mom turns into mama bear when her kids in danger, right? You know how that works. The nicest, kindest person is suddenly raging. Though I think I like the ones where the most unathletic dad today suddenly turns into a ninja to grab the kid out of danger.
This telling of the story, God is looking down and says, I sent you my son What have you done to him?
That's not what Good Friday is about. It's not about looking at the cross and crying. It's not about mourning, or grieving. Because the cross is the remarkable moment. When Jesus the Son of God in human flesh, tricks death into swallowing life. The cross, the amazing moment when darkness tries to engulf light. And the grave tries to grab hold of the Creator. The cross is not a time for mourning. It is the glory and triumph of Jesus. I want you to think back. There's a story in the Gospel of Matthew, and the Gospel of Mark, James and John, send their mom to Jesus and say, Jesus, we want you to do whatever we say. He goes, What do you want? Let my son's sit at your right and your left hand when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus goes, you don't know what you're asking? What is the people who will be at my right hand and my left is a position prepared for them. And then in both gospels, you get to the scene. They have Jesus with a crown of thorns on his head. And that says, And they crucified him, with two robbers, one on his right, and one on his left.
Because the cross is not a defeat, it is a victory. It is not shame. It is glory. It is the part of the work that Christ came to do. The death of Jesus Christ on the cross transforms that piece of wood that misshapen, rough cut splintery thing into the tree of life. It has no leaves, bears no fruit. You don't have to water it or figure out its root system.
But it still offers the fruit of salvation, through the water and blood that poured out of Jesus's side. It is still Jesus being lifted up and drawing all of humanity to him, to offer them a life that lasts forever. The death of Jesus Christ turns this instrument of torture into the most glorious throne. Better than gold, silver, jewels, better than anything we could look at the cross of Jesus Christ becomes the throne and power of God. It is no longer judgment. It is the grace and gift of God sent out into the whole world offered for me and for you. What is good about Good Friday. I'd say that sounds pretty good, doesn't it? And what Jesus does when he comes as our high priest who came in human flesh, who lived among us and was just like us, he comes to take our place in death, and guide us through to life that lasts forever. And that is what Hebrews tells us. And it says to us when we need it. Let us then with confidence, draw nearer to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That is why the cross that is why God came as a human. To live with us. To suffer with us to feel our weakness and pain and know what it means to be human. And then to go to the cross and turn it into the throne of grace, the source of help that we need whenever we don't measure up whenever we needed from him. The throne of grace is a place that we can go with confidence knowing our Savior will give us love no matter what.
And don't we need it? Because God's word will call us sinners. We place ourselves up against the standard of what God demands. And we know we fall short. And when we hear those words, we can only do one thing. Go to the throne of grace confidently knowing our Savior will forgive us when our hearts convict us When we look at our actions, and our consciences cry out against us, when our memory brings up that same sin over and over every day, you know exactly what I mean. We place ourselves before the throne of grace, we ask for forgiveness. When your basket isn't good enough, when you've tried everything you could, when you pulled every trick, tried every pulled out every stop, looked up every top 10 suggestion list to get it done, and you still fall short, and you just can't do it. We can come to the throne of grace, and ask for forgiveness, with the promise that Jesus Christ always gives it because you went to the cross, to win it for you, to die for you. The cross is the throne of grace, the tree of life for the broken the sinner, the needy, for the terrible for you, and for me. And we have to be careful to make sure we remember it.
One of the challenges we Christians face is not seeing God as a place for the broken and the weak. But as someone for the strong, and it's everywhere. I remember listening to a psychologist and expert in addiction. If sin isn't an addiction, I don't know what is an expert in addiction, who was talking about people who are struggling with these things. And talking about how wonderful AAA treats people who fall off the wagon. You know what they do, they fall off the wagon, and they encourage you to come back. And it's like a big moment. It's a pro social time when they say Welcome back. You're here, we love you. And then the psychologist said, it's kind of the opposite of Christianity, where God is supposed to solve all your problems. You look a little surprised by that, right? That's what the world thinks of Christianity these days. That's why we see the cross. So many, not as the throne of grace, but a terror. Why the people who are broken leave the church instead of coming to for the grace of our Savior. Why when problems crop up, they don't cry out helped me they think God rejects me. Isn't that a good thing that that's not how the cross works. That the grace of God is there. No matter how many times you fall off the wagon, to try to get rid of your sin, then you can come confidently before the throne of grace to Jesus Christ, who forgives you, who loves you, who died for you and always welcomes sinners. Our service tonight actually gives us a little practice of that. If you don't know. If you look ahead to what we're doing. There's some kind of weird stuff going on. And I want to explain it. There is the after our prayer section, we're going to do as part where we adore the cross as it enters into our sanctuary. And then there's the reproaches. This is an ancient part of what the church has done. The first recording of it is in the eight hundreds ad. But many people think it goes earlier than that. And Martin Luther put together this version for Lutherans when he published his first Good Friday service. And what it does is it actually gives us practice, hearing God call you a sinner.
And then turning to God and saying, grant me grace. Three times it takes the words of scripture that God spoke to Israel and then asks us to turn to the cross and say, give me grace. We have the chance to boldly and confidently approach the throne of grace knowing that Jesus who died there is not a threat. Not someone who demands but a king who always gives us grace when we sin In his name amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We've been talking over the last several weeks about moralistic therapeutic deism, you've heard that definition so many times you could probably repeat it back to me, it's moralistic is that it's mostly concerned about following the rules of leading a kind of good life. Therapeutic that it is about God's gift to you is about making you feel better about yourself. And deism is that God is far away, unless you need him to solve a problem. We said that there were five different teachings or tenants of this, we've covered them over the five weeks of this series. First, it was a god exists, who created an order to the world and watches over human life on Earth. And we looked at the Old Testament and the New and learned that God is not a distant God, but one who is intimately involved in everything. And that he leads all of creation towards the redemption when Jesus returned. Second, God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible, and by most world religions. And we realized that this is not what the Bible teaches. Instead, Christianity is all about not making bad people into good people, but making dead people alive. Three, the central goal of life is to be happy, and to feel good about oneself. We looked at that and said that feeling happy and feeling good about yourself as a main goal basically leaves you in a moral wasteland, unable to handle any kind of suffering, or deal with reality in any kind of way. Our mission is not to be happy, but to partner with God in creation, and to hold fast to our faith, until the day of Christ's return. For God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem. This kind of God is your your favorite uncle, combined with a divine Santa Claus. He is far away. But he's always willing to give you a little something if you need it. This, of course, is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is not one to be far off, but nearby. He's not there to resolve our problems, but to give us eternal life. Finally, we're looking at this last one. Good people go to heaven when they die. Now, if you've been coming to church here, like most of you do, you would know that I did a sermon called good people go to hell, bad people go to heaven. Right? So I'm not going to do that sermon again for you tonight. But I thought, You know what, let's try an experiment. So I went to chat GPT, the newest AI tool and I said, Write a Christian message that refutes the idea that good people go to heaven when they die. This is what it says. I would like to address the common misconception that many people hold today, namely that good people go to heaven when they die. This idea is often called moralistic therapeutic deism. I didn't tell it to say that. And it's believed that it's not supported by the teachings of the Bible. Firstly, the Bible teaches that no one is truly good. In Romans 323, it says, All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Therefore, being a good person is not enough to earn us a place in heaven. Secondly, the Bible teaches that salvation does not based on our good works, or moral character, in Ephesians, two, eight and nine, it says, four It is by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God not by works so that no one can boast. Thirdly, Jesus himself says that no one comes to the Father except through Him. This means that salvation is only possible through Jesus Christ, being a good person is not enough to gain eternal life. Thank you, Chet GPT, you're a good theologian. Well, you know what it does, it did a pretty good job, didn't we? I mean, so I did skip the chapter where it has a mini altar call for everyone. But it does a pretty good job. So instead of doing that sermon for the next 10 minutes or so, I thought we would take a look at the way we talk about debt. Death in America, and the way we practice our funerals, so that we can examine what does our culture teach us about how we do this? To say, good people go to heaven when they die. The first thing I'd like you to do is pull out that hem thingy that I printed out for you to a couple of pieces of paper, we're going to go to the second page, and look at third page and look at Amazing Grace the hymn and now that you know that it's I've mentioned funerals, you know why it's in there, right? If you have watched a funeral on TV, on any TV in any show, do you know what him they play in the background music? It's amazing grace. This is America's national anthem of funerals. Every funeral on TV, movies, and if it's especially interesting, it's got bagpipes playing it has amazing grace. Have you ever wondered why? Why Amazing Grace? The music is nice, right? I mean, it's it's emotional and generates the right kind of emotions. But I'd like you to take a look at the words and ask yourself kind of moralistic therapeutic deist sing AmaZing Grace absolutely 100% who is doing the work in Amazing Grace Amazing grace how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now I'm found was blind but now I see. Grace is there is there a God who dies on a cross? Does he call you to repentance? Let's try another one. The Lord has promised good to me his word my hope secures he will my shield and portion be as long as life indoors. Can a moralistic therapeutic deist saying that? Yep. Do this one. There are many dangers toils and snares I have already come his grace has brought me safe thus far. His grace will lead me home.
Where? What home?
What grace? God's kinda got your back on this one. That's about it right? Let's try number four. Yes, when this flashing heart shall fail and mortal life shall cease Amazing Grace shall then prevail in Heavens joy and peace. What prevails? Grace, Grace. What is grace? I don't know.
If you're reading the Bible, it is undeserved love of God. But if you're a moralistic therapeutic deist you don't know what it is. I mean, it's just the kind of grace that you like to sing when you're at a funeral. Number five, when we've been there, 10,000 years bright shining as the sun we have no less days to sing God's praise than when we first began. Sounds like a moralistic therapeutic to use could sing that one too, right? Now, don't get me wrong, amazing. Grace is not a bad hem when it's sung in a Lutheran funeral service. But when it's by itself, it is the perfect semi Christian song. Because you have to insert your knowledge of who God is and what he does into this song. So if if we're reading Bible readings, and you've got a sermon, and there's liturgy and prayers and you sing AmaZing Grace, everybody knows what that means. But when you when you sing it without those things you get everybody goes to heaven. Good people go to heaven when they die. I would like to compare this to a couple of other hands. Let's go to number 708. On the first page, Lord, the I love with all my heart. You know, I have to tell you this him I was introduced to this hymn at an English District Convention. And the first time I sang it, I hated it. hated it. It was the theme of our convention and then I sang it the next time I sang We sang it like six times over the course of three days and by the end I loved it because of this verse let's I'm coming to Lord the I love with all my heart the last verse number three yep Do you want to sing it together I just mean let's do it all together thank you
Lord, thee I love with all my heart;
I pray thee, ne'er from me depart,
with tender mercy cheer me.
Earth has no pleasure I would share;
yea, heav'n itself were void and bare
if thou, Lord, wert not near me.
And should my heart for sorrow break,
my trust in thee can nothing shake.
Thou art the portion I have sought;
thy precious blood my soul has bought.
Lord Jesus Christ, my God and Lord, my God and Lord,
forsake me not! I trust thy word.
Can't miss that one, can ya?
I had trouble with that last verse. Did you hear my voice? I was tearing up a little bit now if you want something maybe a little more emotional I mean that's that's kind of like a like an old Lutheran hymn melody right let's go to abide with me I know I know we're we're doing our best to make the pastor cry while we say this one gets me to verse six
Hold thou thy cross before my closing eyes.
Shine through the gloom and point me to the skies.
Heaven's morning breaks and earth's vain shadows flee;
in life, in death, O Lord, abide with me.
hold out I crossed before my closing eyes? right last one we're going to turn to the final song Jesus lives the victories won. now we could sing all of these and it would work out pretty well. But final verse again verse five
Jesus lives! And now is death
but the gate to life immortal;
this shall calm my trembling breath
when I pass its gloomy portal.
Faith shall cry, as fails each sense:
Jesus is my confidence!
Faith shall cry has failes each sense. This shall be my confidence.
You know what that saying?
As as your eyes shut down. As your ears are the last thing to work in your relatives are squeezing your hand. The faithful cry. Jesus is my confidence..
Let's compare the theology of those hymns to Amazing Grace.
These are specific. These are the kinds of things that tell you what you can hold on to how you are saved. And what you can do as us as you think about your death. Where is your confidence? Where is your hope? It's Jesus. The next step is to take a look at our funeral service. That's the packet right here. Now that we've looked at the National Anthem, of funerals, let's think about what the the funeral service looks like in American culture. And in churches, few of us actually realize I think how much of our church life is shaped by television. How many people when you think about a wedding, think, but um, dada.
Or dada, dada dot dot, dot, dot dot dot data,
right? You think those songs don't you? Pachabell is in there too, right? That's because they're on TV. We saw them on TV. They're from there. They're actually from an opera about a guy who leaves his wife after they get married. And then the other one is from A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is about everybody getting high and fooling around in the forest. It's not what Shakespeare says. It's really what it's about. And you go wait a second, is that what you really want it your wedding? Same thing is true for funerals, not the music, but how we do funerals. Think of the last funeral you saw on TV, what is in common in all of them? Giant photo of the dead person on an easel next to the pulpit. Right? There is a pastor sitting in the background. Usually not saying anything. And one or many, many people saying how great a person the deceased was. And it's just that is the thing. There might be a reading or a poem. The one that comes to mind is that one that I did not die. I'm not really here. You've heard that one right before I'm sure. What these are is these are moralistic, therapeutic deist funerals. There's no Jesus. And if Jesus is there, it's only in the background. It's mostly about remembering the person and talking about how good they were. And if the pastor gets a turn, he might give a sermon. Let's take a look at this. We're not going to read it all. We're going to take a look at what a Lutheran funeral service looks like. It begins with the remembrance of baptism where it quotes Romans chapter six. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Right. And this is applied to the disease. Next we do an intro it which is a reading, we pray and a prayer about the deceased and the gift of grace given to them.
You move on.
Like a like any worship service three readings with a psalm. The verse for Lent. If we have died with Christ, we shall also live with Him. If we are faithful to the end, we shall reign with him. There's the Apostles Creed summarizes the faith. Of course, you choose hymns like the ones we just saying. And then a lengthy set of prayers that describe and give thanks for the salvation God gives us through Jesus Christ that talks about the being nourished by the holy body and blood of the sun so we can be raised immortality on the last day that gives courage and faith to the bereaved in the certain knowledge of the resurrection of the dead and the expectation of eternal life. And then finally gives thanks for the faith bestowed on the deceased. We pray the Lord's Prayer And then we do the Nook Dimittis, which is on either side with Christ's words, I am the resurrection and the life says the Lord, He who believes in me will live even though he dies, and whoever believes in me will never die. We continue. I also included one of the one of the prayers at the committal service, which is a separate service. I'll read it because it's awesome. Almighty God, by the death of your Son, Jesus Christ, you destroyed death, by His rest in the tomb, you sanctified the graves of your saints. And by his bodily resurrection, you brought life and immortality to light so that all who die in him abide in peace and hope, receive our thanks for the victory over death and the grave that he won for us. Keep us in everlasting communion with all who wait for him on Earth, and with all in heaven, who are with him, for he is the resurrection and the life, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. And then that is with the blessing. Notice what's missing. There's no eulogy. There's no people coming forward. It's just all about Jesus. Every step of the way, every single thing that happens in our in our Lutheran funeral service, points to Jesus and says, This is your salvation. And that's the point. We live in a world that wants to tell everyone that they're saved. Our job is to actually point them to salvation to Jesus Christ. And part of that means we have to say there are sinners who need eternal life, and the only way to get it is through him. And so we give we give this message this peace, this hope, through the joy that we can share, as we share this message not that good people go to heaven when they die. But Jesus saves sinners. In his name, amen. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Transcribed by AI
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Over the past several weeks, we've been talking about a belief system called moralistic therapeutic deism. It's a belief system that is often a part of the preaching of the church. But it's not the same as actual true Christianity. We define it every time moralistic means that it's all about being a good person. Therapeutic is that it's there to make you feel better about yourself. And deism is that it's about a God who is far away, and not into intimately involved in your life. There are five main doctrines. Each week we've looked at one. So the first one is, a god exists, who created an orders the world and washes over human life on Earth. Second, God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible, and by most world religions. Third, the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. Forth, the one we're talking about tonight, God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem. And finally, next week is good people go to heaven when they die. With the first one, we realized that God is directly involved in everything in the world, because He is all powerful, and all mighty. And if he is not involved in everything, if God is not in charge of everything, it means he's not in charge of everything. Which is kind of a bad thing, right? The second night, we realized that Christianity is not making about making bad people into good people, but making dead people alive. It's a big difference. Last week, we talked about how making happiness, the goal of your life leads you into a moral wasteland, with no purpose, and no hope. But living a life, partnering with God in creation, to serve His created beings around you, leads you to be able to understand suffering in your life, both in your service, and as being part of the suffering that Christ Himself experienced. And tonight, we're talking about why we worship God to begin with. Does he need to be involved in our lives, unless there's a problem. The idea behind that is that this is the deist God, God who is far away. I don't think about him too much. I don't worry about him too much. unless something goes wrong. And then I need him to help. This is the idea that when you come up with a problem in life, God is there to help you solve it. In the book that we've been looking at, I have a couple of quotes that illustrate this idea. There was one from a 15 year old, conservative Protestant girl who said, quote, religion is very important. Because when you have no one else to talk to about stuff, you can just get it off your chest. You just talk to God. It's good. A 14 year old Catholic girl when asked why does religion matter said quote, because God made us and if you ask him for something, I believe he gives it to you. Yeah. He hasn't let me down yet. The interviewer said, so what is God like? Quote, God is a spirit that grants you anything you want, but not anything bad. And quote. This isn't just this book, Robert Putnam, who wrote the famous bowling alone did a survey on American understanding of, of God. And what he came up with is that God is something like a cross between your favorite uncle and a heavenly Santa Claus, in the minds of most Americans. How did we get this way? Now? I hear I heard you laughing. Right. When I said that last quote, which means that you don't think of God as some sort of heavenly Santa Claus. How did we get here? I think it's because the church made a very active decision to talk about God This way, the church has a long history of looking at the next generation and saying, oh, whoa, this younger generation, they will just not like the theology that we grew up on. They need something else. They need something that will catch their attention and bring them into the church. And then we'll do that. And then we'll make them strong Christians. This is centuries of this. Do you go far enough back, you get to Jesus, the wise teacher, which is when Thomas Jefferson cut out all the miracles from the Bible. A German named Schleiermacher was a big part of a movement like this. He said, People just don't want all that theology, we need to get rid of all of these distinctions and just talk about your feelings. There was the new methods, the tent revivals, Moody was a big guy, when he did this. He said, all of that theology, stuff that doesn't work what we need, we need to get people use these new advertising methods, and make them Christians this way. And then Rick Warren came out and said, these young people, they don't care about eternal life. What they care about is their felt needs. What we need to do is give them preaching that's relevant. preaching that will help them in their everyday life, so that when they leave this place, they have stuff they can do. And that will get them into the church. And then we'll teach them. And every single time did it change the people? No, it changed the church. And so we have for the last four decades or so focused on relevant preaching. When people ask us about who God is, and why we follow him, Have you ever said something like, when I'm in trouble, I pray to God, and he helps me. Or, you know, when I'm ever I'm feeling down, I know, God is with me. And he makes me feel better. He's there to comfort me and keep me happy. I go to God when I have troubles, and he answers my prayers. We've been told to say this, because this is something that people want, right? They want comfort, they want happiness they want they want someone there who will help them with their problems. But this is like signing up for a gym, because you want to use towels. Right? You go to a gym to exercise. And it's nice that they have towels there too. But the real thing is exercise. And if the gym decides to take the towels away, are you going to stop exercising? Of course not. The comfort that we have from Christ, that He answers our prayers, the things that we get, these are side effects of the main thing, and not the main thing. Take a look at what Jesus says. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Once upon a time, we call that the gospel in the nutshell. This is the whole message. God sent His Son to give the world eternal life. What a great message that is. People put these things on signs at sporting events, right, John 316. Notice what He does not say. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but feel better about their problems. should not perish but get the stuff they want. should not perish but receive guidance about their decisions tomorrow. The point is, Jesus came to give us eternal life. And when we focus on the side effects, some of the things that are good that God does do but are not always the promise. What we focus on are things that may disappear.
And I have to ask, if you think of God, as an instrument, something that you use to get the stuff you want And what happens when you don't get the stuff you want? Why would you go to God? In fact, people will say things like, I could never worship a God who does, as if God cares. Like, he's like, Oh, I'm sorry, I felt that non worshiper, my worship battery is now lower, because you are, are no longer worshiping. What they're doing is they're seeing God as an instrument, a tool, a method to get what they want. And that's what we've been preaching as a church, maybe not here. But generally. Let's ask what St. Paul did, in the book of Acts, when he would go to a new place and talk about Jesus, what would he say? Acts chapter 13, I cut I cut his very lengthy sermon down to just a few representative lines, just so you know. Let it be known to you, Therefore, brothers, that through this man's forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. And by him, everyone who believes is freed from everything which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. He proclaimed forgiveness, and life with God. Acts chapter 17, when Paul was talking to the people of Athens, he says, Being, then God's offspring, we ought not to think that the Divine Being is like gold, or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man, the times of ignorance God overlooked. But now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed. And of this, he has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead. What does Paul say? For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. Right? God is coming back, Jesus Christ will return. And on the last day, he will judge all the earth. His promise is that the people who believe in Him will be able to stand on the day of judgment and receive him with joy. We will be raised from the dead, our pain and hurts will be gone. He will wipe away every tear from every eye. That says promise. And that's what the church focuses on in her preaching, is getting people ready for the day of Jesus's return. Now, the hope that we have in Christ, the promise of the resurrection, I have to say, when I face a problem, and I look at whatever's going on in my life, and I think Jesus is coming back. Maybe this isn't as big a deal as I thought it was. Oh, that makes me feel a little better about that problem. But that's because I have the promise. What should I do with my life? should I should I focus on being faithful and living as Christ would have me? Well, yes, because he's coming back. And he's gonna judge me on the last day, and I want to stand and receive him with joy. So I do get guidance about what I should do. When I pray to Him, and I asked her the things that I need, it's the promise that He gives me that I says, ah, Lord, whatever you give me I know will be good for me because it's leading me to the resurrection on the last day. And this is especially important because when God's wonderful plan for you, turns out to be the cross. You need something more, then God makes me feel better when I pray. If his plan for you, leads you through death and pain and torture like it did for his Son, Jesus Christ, you need something better than just, I feel better when I pray. What you need is resurrection. Well, you need as a Savior who died on a cross, went through the grave, rose from the dead and will call you out of the grave too. And that is what the church proclaims. So when you talk about who Jesus is, when you talk about why you follow him, do what Paul Hold us say he'll raise me from the dead on the last day. He forgives my sins and gives me eternal life. And because of these things, I follow him in his name, amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Transcribed by AI
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Over the last several weeks, we have talked about a religious philosophy that often masquerades as Christianity. We call it moralistic therapeutic deism. You've heard the definition twice in a row now, but I'm not going to spare you a third one. That is moralistic means that the purpose of religion is to inculcate morals to make you a good person. Therapeutic means that it is there to make you feel better about your life. And deism is the idea that God is far off, looking down on creation from very far away. This philosophy that That Masquerades as Christianity has five core beliefs. First, a god exists to create it and orders the world and watches over human life on Earth. Second, God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. Third, the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. For God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem. And finally, five, good people go to heaven when they die. You know, I did not make these up. These came from a survey in a book called soul searching spiritual and religious life of American teenagers that came out in 2005. Now, the first night in Lent, we tackled the first one. And we we learned that God is not far off, but here amongst us and in control of everything. Last time, we talked about how God is not here to build character, but to make dead people alive, which is what he does for us through Jesus Christ. And tonight, we're going to take a look at the third goal, or the third doctrine, the central goal of life is to be happy, and to feel good about oneself. Now, the big piece of this sermon series is that these doctrines are in the church, and very often a part of the way, either Lutheran churches talk about it, or the churches around us. And so we have to say, what Christians actually say that, right? Does any Christian go out and say, the whole goal is to be happy and feel good about yourself? No, usually not. Most people aren't quite that crass. But we do so say things like, God has a wonderful plan for your life. All you need to do is find it. Have you heard that one before? I bet you have. We use Bible verses to support things like that. Perhaps the most misused one comes from Jeremiah 29, verse 11. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Which of course is not written to Christians, but to exiles in Babylon. It's not for us. Similarly, we use Romans eight, where it goes all things work for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose, which most people simply shortened to all things work for the good, right. Or even I can do all things through God who gives me strength, right. congregations will also do sermons about how God is there to tear down the obstacles in your life, so that you can get to success. Perhaps the most famous one is the story of David and Goliath. You've heard it preached this way I know it. If you just trust like David did, God will take down the Giants in your life. Or, Joseph, the story of Joseph is often preached. If you are in a tough spot. You're just like Joseph, God is getting you ready for something amazing. Which is misusing the Bible. The promise to us is not the same as the promise to David The promise to us is not the same as God's promise to Abraham. The church is not here for happiness. God is not calling you to be happy and feel good about yourself. It's not just because that's not what the Bible says. It's also because it is really bad for us, as humans. When the goal of life is to be happy, you measure your morality, based on whether it reaches happiness. And that means your day to day life has no moral significance. What do I mean by that? No moral significance. What it means is your actions are not part of a larger story. God has not placed you in the midst of the narrative of creation. You are just an amoeba chasing pleasure, and fleeing pain. Doesn't that sound bleak? When you get to it? Doesn't that sound empty? A moral wasteland? With difficulty to walk through it? In that kind of life, you ask a question, should you stay in a difficult marriage? The answer is only if it makes you happy. Should you get up in the morning and feed your kids? Only if it makes you happy? Should you go to work on time? Only if it makes you happy. And then all of a sudden, the things of this world how you serve people, is only important if it gets you something and makes you happier. difficult work hard jobs, menial labor is no longer important. In fact, it's a problem. Does that sound terrible? Sounds like it to me. The movie that just won all of the Oscars is called everything everywhere all at once. Has anybody seen it? You need to see this movie. This is the reason why I love science fiction. Because what it does, is in an action movie, it tackles the question. How do you live in a meaningless world. And it's this meaningless world that America is living in? Because we all think the goal is to be happy. So they ask how do you live in a meaningless world and they do it by looking at the multiverse. The multiverse for them is that every decision you make is a branch in reality and creates another universe where the same you made a different decision. And so every choice is happening in every instance, in an infinite number of universes. Which essentially means if everything is happening everywhere, all at once, nothing matters. And the movie asks a question, how do you live in that world? There are two characters and I'm not spoiling this. Don't worry. One character represents. Do whatever you want. Because nothing matters, burn it down. And the other character represents nothing matters, but we should love each other. You'll guess which way the movie goes. Love each other, of course. But there's no reason why. If nothing matters, and nothing's important. If everything is meaningless, who cares? What you do? Neither answer is right or wrong. But even worse, if the goal of life is to be happy, suffering is failure. There is no reason to sacrifice for others. No reason to work, no reason to do good. Any kind of suffering is failure. Which is why I think we are in such a despairing world is because we don't have a way to process the pain of existence. And people are grasping for any kind of meaning they can whether it's conservatives who are outside trying to fight a culture war.
Or liberals who are fighting social justice, and eliminating our gas stoves. What they're grasping for is some sort of meaning in their life. And they the meaning for them cannot be in giving food to your family. Because that doesn't matter. It has to be a big deal thing. That's what happens when your happiness is at the center of the Christian life, you lose it all. But that is not the Christian universe. We do not live in a morally insignificant universe. We live in one that is significant. Our daily choices are part of God's cosmic narrative. The story of all creation is being played out in your life, every day. And we know that because of what God gave Adam to do. Very simple, I actually lengthened my first reading, because it would have been too short otherwise. Here it is. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden, to work it and keep it small verse one sentence that wouldn't have made a very good reading, Right? but profound, because when God put Adam in the garden to work it, he was making Adam a partner in his creation. That means Adam was creating with God. His job was to do the god stuff on Earth. And that meant farming, taking care of the trees, doing the stuff. Unfortunately, it also means that since Adam and Eve fell into sin and the curse of sin came on creation. It means that doing the gods stuff hurts. That life is suffering, that going to work and doing the things that God has placed us in this creation to do is going to be no fun. So when you wake up early, on a Sunday morning, after daylight savings, time hits, and you say I don't want to go to church and your wife says to you, but they'll miss you, Pastor.
You still have to go, even if you're exhausted. Because it's not just you, you're a partner with God in creation, right? When you feed your kids, you're being a partner with God in his cosmic story. It's not a meaningless activity. It's part of God's central plot for all of reality. When a person goes and does a job that many people think is menial, and silly or boring. They are part of God's plan for all of creation, by serving the people that God has sent him to serve. We call that vocation, in the Lutheran church, the God has placed us in His creation, to be his creators, to partner with him in reality. The things that seems small and insignificant, have cosmic scale. And the promise that we have in Jesus Christ is that despite Adam's fall into sin, and how he ruined everything and made work hard, we have a Savior who will come back and turn it around. The death and suffering and pain came into our reality through Adam. Life comes to us through Jesus Christ. And He will come and wipe away every tear, defeat death forever when he raises us from our graves. As St. Paul says in Romans eight For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God, their creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope, that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption, and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in pains of childbirth until now. All of creation is waiting for that day when Jesus makes all things new, just like us. And the work that God has given us in creation will finally be a joy. I'll get to spring out of bed after daylight savings time, right? I'm ready for the day. Because the grace that Jesus gives us. And so our duty, it's gonna hurt. But we can process that suffering, the suffering of life, as part of God's cosmic plan. We do it because we're working with God, and it's worth the pain. But it's not just God's creation, that in which we have cosmic significance. It's also in redemption. Christians have something beyond just the work that God has given us to do every day. We're also united with the suffering of Jesus Christ. By being one with Him, we participate in the pain that he went through. It's not, it's not an accident that Luke puts Jesus is prediction that the Son of Man will be rejected. And then says, If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself take up his cross daily, and follow. It's the pattern of Jesus that God calls us to the walk to eternal life is to follow the footsteps of a Savior, who was rejected, who must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and on the third day be raised. following the footsteps of our Savior, he's following in the footsteps of his suffering. Or, as Jesus puts it, in John chapter 15. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own. Because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours. Jesus promises that life in Christ comes with suffering. We are not of the world, we are called out of the world destined for eternal life and resurrection with Jesus. And what that means right now is we become like him. Suffering, rejected, hurt, sometimes broken. But that's what Jesus went through right? For you, for me, and we've follow that path. Now, you may be saying to yourself, Well, Pastor, this is a big downer. What are you doing? This doesn't mean that every moment of every day has to be pain, or every moment, suffering. But what it does for us is it helps us see when we do face difficulty. We're now part of a cosmic scene, we have a way of processing it, of incorporating it into God's story. When we don't have that we get what happens everywhere right now. When something bad happens, people leave the church, you've seen it, right? It used to be when something bad happens, they come to the church seeking help. But now when suffering comes, they think to themselves, God has failed. He's not making me happy. We need to think through that and how we talk about Christ. How we talk about At our salvation the purpose of Christianity is not to become happy but to follow Jesus and he took a path to the cross in his name amen
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Sermon transcribed by AI.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. In this Lenten season, we are talking about moralistic therapeutic deism. We defined it as a as a doctrine that has been part of the church and incorporated into many Christian churches, but is different from the doctrine of Orthodox Christianity. Just a reminder about those words moralistic is a focus on morals as Christianity is all about good behavior. Therapeutic is a focus on the function of religion as being good for my mental health, it makes me feel better. And deism is the idea that deism is God who is far away, who looks down on humanity, but doesn't do a whole lot. This doctrine wasn't created by me this idea of moralistic therapeutic deism, it came from a book soul searching the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers that came out in 2005. They did a study that talked about the the life of teenagers, and they did hundreds of interviews where they went out and created this idea, coined this term based on what those teenagers said, they came up with five core beliefs. The first one which we covered last week is a god exists to create it in orders the world and watches over human life on Earth. To God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible, and by most world religions. Three, the central goal of life is to be happy, and to feel good about oneself. For God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem. And finally, good people go to heaven when they die. Today, we're talking about that second one. God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible, and by most world religions. Now, there is a whole lot going on in this in this belief, I think good, nice and fair, is an interesting question. Is that really what the Bible says? Good, nice and fair? Or is it something else. But tonight, I'm not actually talking about that. I want to talk about two things. First, that the primary purpose of religion is to build character, to make a person good. And second, that this is true amongst all religions, that basically all religions are the same, because their final goal is to make people better, to make bad people good, and to make good people into better people. This is what it says when it says, as taught in the Bible, and by most world religions, basically, they're all the same. Now, the book soul searching, quoted some people in talking about this, there was a 17 year old Mormon who said, I believe in well, my whole religion is where you try to be good. And if you are not good, then you should try, just try to get better. That's all. And quote, another girl said, quote, morals play a large part in religion, morals are good if they're healthy for society, like Christianity, which is all I know, the values you get from, like the 10 commandments. I think every religion is important in its own respect. You know, if you're a Muslim, then Islam is the way for you. If you're Jewish, well, that's great, too. If you're a Christian, well, good for you. It's just whatever makes you feel good about you. Even this morality is actually rather nebulous, good, nice and fair to each other ends up being an open question, depending on what you think is good, what you think is nice and what you think is fair. What does it mean? Well, sometimes it's just simply don't hurt others. But the authors actually found that there were also questions about jeopardizing your success that one The worst things you can do is to really jeopardize your future consent success by making a problem in your life by making a mistake. Now, the idea that Christianity is there and other religions, to primarily build character or build a moral foundation has been around for a very long time. Parents have often talked about what it means to send children to Sunday schools so that they can have a good moral foundation. I always found the phenomenon that parents would send their kids to Sunday school, but not come to church themselves to be rather odd. And this was kind of the reason kids need to be raised right to have a good moral foundation and going to church will teach them right from wrong. You might recognize some of those thoughts. That the idea is that God's plan and power for us is to make us good people. I've seen Sunday school curriculum that focus fully on character lessons from the Bible, where Bible stories are there to teach us to be good, right are diligent. The same thing happened when you look at VeggieTales. Very popular in my life. VeggieTales pulled the Bible and turned it into life lessons. You're supposed to be honest, good, kind, moral. But that's not what the Bible is about. I also found a Children's Bible in my search, and it was it was fully doing this. I didn't buy it. But I did look at a sample. And it was amazing how this character Bible that's what they called it turned God's Word into lessons about good works. The opening story was about diligence. It was how God created the heavens and the earth. And it briefly retold the story of creation and said something like, Isn't it amazing how diligent God was doing every detail, making sure everything was just right. And the lesson was this, you can be diligent like God, even if the work is hard, make sure you do everything just right. Many people turn the Bible into character lessons. It's about being a better person being more moral being brave. We see this if you read books about leadership lessons from Jesus, how to be a good leader and take care of people 10 life lessons from the Bible that help us be the right kind of person. Many things, many Christians think that the main purpose of the Bible is to turn us into good people. And it's true then that even that this is true across other religions. The thing that is common across all of history, is that human beings have a similar morality. And if there is an instrumental version of religion, it's to say, God wants us to be good. But does that square with the Bible? does that square with the truth claims that God makes over our lives? Well, if you look at what Paul says in Romans, you can see that he isn't talking about people being good. In fact, he tells us that all people are evil. Romans chapter three, he says, no one is righteous. No, not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together they have become worthless. No one got does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive the venom of asps is under their lips, their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood in their pads are ruin and misery and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. This doesn't sound to me like the kind of person that can be reformed. Paul tells us that everyone, even the most religious people are like this. And he sums it up. Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in His sight. Since through the law comes knowledge of sin. Because we're all sinners, there is nothing we can do that is good before God. If God wants us all to be good, nice and fair, St. Paul tell is a simply, we can't do it. Nothing that we do is good enough for God. In Ephesians chapter two, he tells us something very similar, that we were dead in the trespasses and sins that we once walked. Dead is not something that can be healed. You can't train your way out of being dead. You can't go to the gym and hope to make your spiritual muscles stronger.
Only the dead can be made alive. And he says this, But God being rich and mercy because of the great love which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, and raised us up with Him, and seeded us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages, he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us, in Christ Jesus. God didn't come to make good people better, or make bad people good. He came to make dead people alive. And that is what Jesus Christ did. He came down to earth, to become a human being to live among us and with us, and be the perfect person that we couldn't be. Because we couldn't do what God demands, because we couldn't live up to his rules. Jesus did it for us. And then he entered into our dead lives by becoming dead for us, and rising from the dead. He can give us eternal life. So that being united with Him, He raises us from death, and makes us one with Him. This gift is not about our goodness, he doesn't make us better people. In fact, I know a lot of non Christians who are very good, kind, generous, fair, wonderful people, maybe even better than me. What Jesus does is he doesn't make us good. He makes us alive. He takes dead people and gives us life. And it's a gift he gives to you. He gives it to you by hearing his word. He gives it to you by his sacraments, a grace that only comes from God. And it has nothing to do with your morality. It has nothing to do with your works. You can be as terrible a person or a good person, you can be horrible or wonderful. It's the grace of God that gives us life. So what do we need to do? When we talk about morality in the church? Well, we have to remember that it is an effect of God's grace, and not the goal. That the goal of God's grace given to us is to make us alive and give us a new life. And then when we live that new life, we naturally be more like Jesus. Our job isn't to become better, but to live the life that God has already given us. And so that means yes, sometimes we do talk about sin and morality. Sometimes we talk about what it means to be good and true, to love your neighbor as yourself. But it's not because that's the main goal of the church, is because this is part of our life as Christians living the life that God has given us. And we need to recognize our sin, repent from it and turn and live as God calls us to. So what should we do? I think we as Christians should stop talking about our faith is primarily about morality, that we're not here to be good. And Jesus doesn't make us good. We're here to be made alive, alive with Christ by His death and resurrection, and given eternal life. In his name, amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
And the Christ crucified for us. Amen. Geography Matters. I don't know if you studied geography in high school and did as poorly as I did. But I'm here to tell you that geography matters. It matters for us from Concordia University of Chicago who have traveled about 3500 miles, just to be with you here at first Lutheran Church. Geography mattered to me. It was about 30 years ago, when I was a young seminarian. And I had a I heard a rumor that I was going to be traveling to California, to vicar, that is to be a student, Pastor, an interim pastor. So I heard this rumor that I was going to be going to California and that was really good news for because I was from Minnesota. Yeah, sure. You betcha. The Land of the frozen chosen. So geography was really important to me, I thought this is going to be great. And so I remember the evening at the vicarage placement service when they announced my placement. Jeffrey Lin injure, mispronouncing My name as they always have. And then they said, first Lutheran, El Cajon. Welcome, John, I thought this is great. Where is that? And so I got a map out and the district president came and he instructed me on how to say alcohol. And then he told me that alcohol is near San Diego, and I was thinking beach ministry, this is gonna be so great. If you don't know what to do with a youth, just go to the beach, it'll be fine. And so that bit of geography, alcohol on California, San Diego area, changed my life. Because I came here and I spent a year as a pastoral intern, met the most incredible people did the most incredible work in partnership with these people. And we did drama. And we went on youth trips, and we went camping and backpacking. And we did the Word of God together. And it changed my not my life. And this is the first time I've been back here preaching in nearly 30 years. So thank you for this invitation. So you got the point that geography matters. And geography, especially is important in the Bible. Never miss a chance to look at a biblical map. When you're reading the Bible. Geography mattered to our Lord Jesus. In John chapter four of the Gospel reading for today, Jesus had been ministering in the Judean countryside. And the scriptures say that when Jesus departed, in order to return to go back up to his home area at the area of Galilee, the scriptures are specific, and they say, it was necessary for him to pass through Samaria. It was necessary, the Scriptures say. Now, you have to understand that the most direct road between Judea and the south where Jesus is ministering, and Galilee in the north, ran through this place called Samaria, that was the most direct route. But that is not why the scriptures say that it was necessary for Jesus to go there. Because we see from the reading from John for today, that it was his mission for a particular woman, and indeed, for the whole Gentile world that brought him there. Samaritans and Jews, you might know a little bit of this history. Jews did not like that direct route, right through Samaria, if they were in Judea, they liked rather to go across the Jordan River, go all the way up, around and then up into Galilee because they didn't want to come anywhere near the Samaritan region. It was great hatred between Jews and Samaritan, it rivals a lot of the conflicts that we have in our own world a little bit of a history, Samaria was originally a Jewish area. And in the Babylonian captivity, the Babylonians came, and they took many Jews out of the holy land. But they also then imported other foreign nations back into the Holy Land, especially the area of Samaria. And there was a lot of interbreeding that happened between Jews and these foreign nations. And in fact, what happened at one point is that the Samaritans even had sold Jews into slavery. So if you're Jewish, and you hear the word Samaritan, you're thinking halfbreed heretic You're thinking, lowlife, you are thinking these are the people that have betrayed us. And so it is no wonder that the purest of Jews, the best rabbis would never go directly through Samaria, they would go all the way around to get back into Galilee. In fact, so important was this, that Jews would not even touch objects that Samaritans had touched. So now, you know, a little geography and a little history. How remarkable is it then, my friends, that it was necessary for Jesus to go there. Jesus, a great rabbi, and miracle worker, he enters into this unclean territory. And he speaks with this woman at the well. And he has contact with her. And he asks her for water. It was necessary for him. She is a halfbreed, traitor, Samaritan, and heretic. And she is a woman, and she is a sinful woman. And we might even guess that she is the harlot of the town, how many husbands does she have? Really. And yet here we find the Holy Son of God, who by speaking, created the entire universe, speaking again to this lowliest of sinners. And as we see him speaking to her, we see her him re creating her. And I tell you that there was no less power at work on that day, at that Samaritan, well, then when in the very beginning, the word of God forged heaven on earth, time and space, all that is seen, and unseen. There is so much we could talk about with this passage of Jesus and the woman at the well it is, in fact, one of the most detailed conversations we have recorded of our Lord in the entire New Testament. But we don't have to go any further than we already have this morning. Just the geography in order to understand the richness of the Gospel for us. And that is that Jesus. Jesus diverts into the lives of the lowliest of sinners. And he speaks to them. And he turns their lives upside down and he transforms them, and he recreates them, and it gives them abundantly more than they could seek desire or deserve. Jesus intervenes into the lives of the lowliest of sinners. As he did so many times in his ministry, the Lord speaks of earthly things, in order that their eyes of faith would be lifted up to heavenly things. Remember that the disciples are called fishers of men. And Nicodemus we heard about last week, he's, he's told to be born again. And then this woman here Jesus is talking about water, but he's not talking about earthly water. He's talking about for her the water that is so far beyond what she knows her expects, that her whole life, from that moment on would seem like old, stale, well, in comparison to the flowing, living springfed abundance of the Messiah who is speaking to her. geography matters. It matters this morning, too. For all of us, who have come here, to first Lutheran, to hear of this Messiah. This lesson from John for is, it's more than just a historical narrative about Jewish and Samaritan conflict. It's more than just a model of effective evangelists who Jesus is here. It's not even just a powerful story about a woman's encounter with Christ. In these words of Scripture today, Jesus Himself the Word of God, detours into our lost, lonely, longing, lifeless lives and he recreates them today.
Through This account from John for the word eternal intervenes into our lives and brings living water. Can you hear Him speaking today? Can you hear his words, recreating you this morning? Whatever sins you have committed, give them to me and they will drag them to the cross. However lonely are untouchable seems your life. I will sit with you and speak with you and restore you. Whatever you think your past has proven you to be. I am the one who makes all things new. Whatever sad divisions you have created in your world, your home or your hearts, I will heal them. Whatever pile of rock and dirt which you've been worshipping, I will gather you to Myself in spirit and in truth. Whatever old well you've been drinking from I will pour onto you and into you a living water that will well up for all eternity. The same Jesus, who detoured into a Samaritan woman's life detours today through her story into our lives. This is the one for whom it was necessary to travel not 3500 miles. But across all of eternity to be born in a barn in Bethlehem. This is the one who we worship, who set his face to Jerusalem knowing how much it would cost him. This is the one we worship who passed through death on Easter Sunday and ascended to the Father and now lives and reigns to all eternity. And my friends, he will return again one day to call us back to Himself to remake and restore all things in that place of eternal living water
forever. Geography Matters, where you go, who you meet, where the journey of life takes you. It's sometimes difficult to see that and believe it, especially when you're young like I was when I came here 30 years ago,
to know what to believe. And to remember that there is one who not only travels with you, but who has traveled to you has come across the centuries and all of eternity and intervened on your behalf with life and forgiveness and salvation. This morning, he enters into our lives again through His Word and through his sacrament bringing springs of eternal life. Here, no other voice. Seek after no other water, worship at no other mountain. Whatever it takes, how much it costs, wherever He leads. Come soon, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
The Book of Romans at this point is very concerned with trying to make sure we understand the faith of God, as it works in the Old Testament. And in the New Testament, St. Paul writes his letter to a church that would have been divided between Jews and Gentiles. And he wants them to know that the faith is the same for both. And especially in this section, Romans chapter four, Paul is concerned that the Jewish Christians know that the promise is the same promise, it's always been. That the God of the Old Testament does not work differently in the New Testament, that the grace given to them before Jesus came is the same as the grace given to them, after the only difference is not how God works. But the cross, that God has now given the Son Jesus to die for us. Now, many of us we believe, or have been told or thought, that God of the Old Testament is very different from the God of the New Testament. Sometimes you will hear it summarize that the Old Testament is the God of wrath. And the New Testament is a God of love. The Old Testament is a covenant of works. The New Testament is a covenant of grace. This is kind of a Sunday School version of the Old Testament, we do that because a lot of the stories from the Old Testament sound kind of aggressive, right? When you read the stories of Moses and Egypt, God is bringing a lot of judgment on the Egyptians. When God sends Joshua into the promised land, he tells them to go out and kill everyone. That does not sound like a God of love to me, does it? Yikes. And then, when we look at the New Testament, we get that that Sunday School version of Jesus, which I think can be summarized with the paintings of Jesus with the lamb on his shoulders, right? We've got that like, sort of, oh, it's Jesus thing. He's got the lamb, it's fluffy, it's clean, it's bright, maybe his face is glowing, and he's looking down on you in love. These are not total, the total picture of Jesus and God in the Old Testament and the New Testament, of course. These are Sunday School understanding. What Paul wants us to know is that God worked exactly the same way in the Old Testament, as he does in the New Testament, that Abraham was saved by grace, through faith on account of Christ, just like we are. The difference is that between the two, Jesus came and died on the cross. So Abraham could look forward to the promise, and we look back. And so that's what he says. He says, Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Or, as David puts it, blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. This is different from the way many people tell the Sunday School version of the story of Abraham. We read it God, God went to Abram. And he called him he said, Get up and go to land I will show you and Abram got up and he left. And very often this is shown as as a way and an example for us to follow right? We preach it like this. Abram was comfortable in her on and then God broke into his life and said, leave everything behind. Leave your comfortable life and go far away to a new land and follow me. The storybooks often picture Abram and Sarai and a camel right there on their own, walking through the wilderness the 1000 miles to the new place, aren't they Brave, faithful. But that's not what the story is actually like. The story actually tells us that it wasn't as big a deal is that first they were all nomadic people. They were moving all the time. Second, they weren't alone. They brought the people they had acquired in Iran. Abram was ahead of the tribe. He brought lots of people, he had enough people in his group to actually make war against the king. But most of all, Abram didn't obey God. He said, leave your father's family and who did he take with him? Lot, his brother's son. You read a little bit earlier to you can see that this wasn't a big deal, or a change in plans for Abram. When the family moved to Iran, they were already on their way to Canaan. They just stopped there for a little bit. How do you know these things? Instead of reading the story that you you have in your mind, you actually read the words, and they will tell you. Abram wasn't chosen by God because He was awesome. He wasn't chosen by God because he was faithful. He was chosen by God because God chose him. And that's it. It was by grace. In fact, if you look at the rest of Abram story, it does not play him very well. Once he gets to the promised land, the first thing he does is he goes to Egypt, and sells his wife to the Pharaoh. That is, I think, is the example we should take from Abram, right? The moment you get in trouble, sell your wife. Kristen says, Thank you. So many times after that, Abram complains to God and says, Hey, God, where's this son? You promised me. In fact, He does it so often, that he eventually decides to take matters into his own hands. And he impregnates his wife's servant, and they have a child named Ishmael. That creates all sorts of problems. When they he finally does have the son of the promise, his wife gets so upset about Ishmael that Abram kicks Ishmael out into the wilderness with his mom, a death sentence. The story of Abraham is not the story of God choosing a good, holy, wonderful man. The story of Abram is the story of God, proving himself over and over and over and over again to a man who doesn't really trust him the way he should. And that God's grace and His promise stay with Abram, despite all of that, until he gets to the point where he realizes he can't deny it anymore. Which is what we see when Abram brings his son Isaac to the top of the mountain to sacrifice him, that he finally has to trust to know that even if he killed Isaac, God would raise him from the dead, and bring him back. That's the story, a story of God's grace to a sinful man. It's the same story that God gives us, right? You were chosen, you weren't chosen because you were faithful. You were chosen because God chose you. Because he sent his son Jesus to die for you, so that you can have life. And the promise of grace is the promise of God proving himself over and over and over again to you that every time you leave this place, you go out and you screw up. And he welcomes you back with forgiveness and love. And he says your mind, there's nothing you can do about what about the other Old Testament figures? Weren't they saved by their faithfulness? Weren't they put out there and they righteous, amazing people? Let's take a look at Jacob, great hero of the Old Testament. Do you know how he starts out his story? He tricks his dad into thinking that he's Esau pretends to get to be that guy so that he can get the blessing and then he has to flee from his brother for his life for his deceit. Good examples from the Old Testament.
What about Moses, we should be like Moses, right? He was awesome. He was a murderer, who started his life out in the palace of the Pharaoh and then killed someone because he saw him beating a Hebrew and he had to flee for his life. When Moses was called by the burning bush at 80 years old, he went up to God and God said go to my people. And Moses said, no, no thanks. anybody but me. I'm not the right guy to someone else, anyone else? But God wouldn't let him go. What about Gideon? Gideon was a mighty warrior, a hero he killed with 1000s of Midianites. When God sent an angel to him, Gideon was so afraid of the Midianite army that he was hiding in a in a a cistern threshing wheat so that nobody can see him. The angel shows up to this guy cowering in a corner and says, hail, mighty warrior, the Lord is with you. I bet he looked around like, who are even David, the great paragon of the faith, the example we're all supposed to follow. He was such a bad father. He let one of his his sons rape his daughter, and he did nothing. Those aren't stories they tell you in Sunday School Oh.
God saved them all by grace. He saved them by giving them the promise. When they trusted in him, the faith given to them by grace through faith on account of Christ is what brought them through. God was faithful to unfaithful people. But what about the rest of the church? Isn't the law, the law of Moses, the covenant? Isn't that a covenant of works? weren't the people of Israel then saved by their actions? No. It wasn't like that either. You see the Old Testament church, they also had Grace just like us. See, the covenant wasn't given as a condition for salvation. It first came to the people after they were pulled out of Egypt. The story goes, Moses goes to Egypt, the 10 plagues happen, then the Passover, they take the blood of the Lamb and they mark it on the doors. And then God calls them out of Egypt. Then they go through the Red Sea, then they get fed in the wilderness with manna quail, and they get water from the rock. And then finally there at the foot of Mount Sinai. God has already called them his people. He's already gathered them together. He's already made them his own. They've already had the salvation event of the Old Testament in the Passover. And then he says, Now this is how you live, people I have already saved. Is that not how it works for us to Jesus came and He died on a cross. He rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and he called you in baptism. And once you have been saved, then he says, Now this is how you live. But even that, that wasn't just the law. The Old Testament had ways and Sacraments just like we do. In the Old Testament, the sacrament of baptism is just like circumcision. Every boy eight years old was or eight days old, was brought into the covenant through circumcision. And we too, are brought into God's covenant of grace, by the gift of baptism, when God gave you the Holy Spirit and planted faith in your heart and called you his own. They have communion to it was called a fellowship offering. You bring an animal to the temple, you offer it as a sacrifice there, they would kill the animal put the best parts on the altar, and then they would cook the rest and everybody else would eat it. It was a meal with God called a fellowship offering. And we to have that fellowship offering to don't we, the sacrifice that was offered for us Jesus Christ on the cross comes to us in bread and wine and we eat his body and drink his blood. And we gather together in fellowship in communion with Christ. We have confession and absolution they had it to what's called a sin offering. You bring an animal to the temple, you kill it, and then you put it on the altar and you confess your sins and through it, you receive forgiveness. God worked the same way in the Old Testament as he works now. And so when we look at these figures, guys like Abraham, Isaac Jacob, Moses, David, we shouldn't look at them as, as heroes that are so high up there that we're supposed to be perfect like them. They are great examples of wicked people, that God loved anyway. That God came to save and choose, because he wanted.
In fact, I bet they were far worse than you will ever be. And yet God still loved him. He sent His Son to die for you, to give you life.
So the story of Abraham is really the story of a wicked man who needed God's love, who learned over the decades to finally trust him. Much like the story of many Christians, wicked people who receive God's grace over and over again because they need it so much like me and you. The God of the Old Testament is no different from the God of the new test. The only difference is the cross. We look back. They looked forward. And yet we're all saved by the same grace. In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
This sermon was recorded on March 2nd, the day after the original was preached.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And tonight, we're starting a new series for the season of Lent all about a theology that is different from the way Christians often think I teased you all about it on Sunday morning, I said it's a religion that doesn't have any ordained priests. It has no buildings, and it is not a dot denomination. But it does have people who preach it from the pulpit every Sunday. It's called moralistic therapeutic deism. Now, when you put those words together, they are a bit of a challenge to run through. So you have to think about them a little bit less. So let's do that. Let's start with the first one, moralistic. What this means is that one of the chief aims of religion is to produce good people, people who do good things. And the idea is it's a moralistic approach to life. You've heard people talk about religion, giving their children or other people a good moral foundation. That's what that's talking about. The second word is therapeutic. And we know therapeutic therapeutic is all about helping us through problems. When you are having a mental health crisis, you go to a therapist. And so moral therapeutic deism is about helping you through your problems. One of the chief aims is to make your life better. Deist. Or deism is the idea that God created the world and let it run on its own. The classic example is the divine watchmaker, a watchmaker, takes all of the parts, puts the watch together, sets it down and watches it run. And a deistic. God is a faraway God, who created the world, set everything in order, and then just let it go on its own. And so a moralistic therapeutic deist is someone who believes that the moralistic approach to life being a good person, and that God is there to help you make your life better. But for the most part, he is pretty far off. Now, I didn't come up with this word, or this phrase, it comes from a book called soul searching the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers, which came out in 2005. And it is a fascinating book, if you are interested in the spirituality of America, you should definitely read it. Some amazing findings that I think are important to talk about before we get into actual moralistic therapeutic, deism is just very simple. Teenagers will do what you tell them. They found that the vast majority of teenagers were more than happy to go and follow their parents religion. If the parents tell them to go to church, they'll go, and they'll generally be happy about it. Now you guys look at me, and you're like, what? You're crazy, right? Maybe they won't be happy about it in the moment. Maybe when it's early morning, and they're like, Ah, really. But otherwise, they're generally pretty happy about it. If you ask them to wait, no, not if their parents asked them. When the reacher researchers asked them. They were all basically happy just to follow along and live the life that their parents lead. And that's a fundamental thing about teenagers. It if you tell them what to do, they'll be happy about it. And that is actually what happens in our youth group. When we run into teenagers. They might complain Uh huh. I don't want to go. But when they get that they have fun, and they enjoy it. And that's just kind of how teenagers work. Now, you might think, Wait a second, I raised my children in the faith and they don't go to church. I think part of the problem is that we just assumed kids wouldn't be interested in the Orthodox faith that we would have to give them something else. And what we ended up giving them was moralistic therapeutic deism. One of the reasons is because Orthodox churches had been influenced by an American civil religion. That's the religion that politicians use when they say God Bless America, or there's a national tragedy and they read a psalm. They're not thinking about Jesus, they're thinking about their political ambitions. A god of America who loves guns, freedom, and cheeseburgers. Another reason, I think, is that we wanted to make sure that our children had something relevant and useful in their life. And so we tried to convince them that Jesus is worthwhile by giving them well, a religion that helps, that makes their life better, that has a reason in this world, rather than simply pointing them to eternal life and resurrection. Now, moralistic therapeutic deism has five different beliefs as summed up in that book. And what's amazing is that we have five Wednesdays in the season of Lent, and so it works out very well. Each Wednesday, we're going to cover a different one, the five beliefs are one, a god exists, who created and orders the world, and watches over human life on Earth, to God wants people to be good, nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible, and by most world religions. Three, the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. For God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem. And finally, five, good people go to heaven when they die. Tonight, we're going to be talking about the first one, a god exists, who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth. Now, this is the deistic part of moralistic therapeutic deism. Now, when you ask a young child about God, they will often reply using the same standard language, that God is a guy up in heaven, right? If you tell them draw God, they'll give you pretty standard image, right? It's an old man with a big, white fluffy beard, big, white poofy hair, and he's in a white robe standing on a cloud. And that's the image of God. That image matures a little bit as we grow up. And then until we get to Morgan Freeman, in a white suit, like he was in Bruce Almighty, you know, God is up in heaven, he comes down and he talks, but he's sort of not involved. And you know, in that movie, Bruce complains to God about, about how God is running things. And so God comes down to give him his almighty power. Well, God goes on vacation. The idea behind this is that a deistic God, who looks down on humanity, is someone who is rather uninvolved, and occasionally intervenes in our lives. He's sort of like the jolly old uncle who comes to visit bearing gifts every once in a while, or the divine watchmaker who only needs to repair a piece occasionally, is that what Paul and the Bible tell us about God? Just a little while ago, I read from Acts chapter 17, where it says, what you therefore worship unknown, do this, I proclaim to you, the God who made the world and everything in it being Lord of heaven, and earth does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though He needed anything since he himself gives to mankind, life and breath and everything. And he made from one man, every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward Him and find Him. Now all of that comports with with God being up and far away. But also St. Paul says this, yet he is actually not far from each one of us. For in Him we live and move and have our being, as even some of your own poets have said, quote, for we are indeed, his offspring. Now, what does that mean? So if if we are in Him, we live and move and have our being. That means the God is everywhere, and around and in everything, though he is not contained by anything. Right? God is the one who makes reality happen. You see, this God is a transcendent God, and all of reality is contained within him. Psalm 139, which I also read just a little while ago, talks about where God is the psalmist says,
Where shall I go from your spirit? Or where shall I free from your pret flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you're there. If I make my bed industrial, you're there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the most parts of this, even there, your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold. What it means is that God is not a far off God who looks down on creation. But he is intimately involved in everything. He is a God who is in charge of everything, in control of everything. If he is everywhere at all times, and all powerful and all knowing and almighty, nothing happens without his say. So instead of having a divine watchmaker, I think the best way to think about this is the analogy of computer hardware and software. If computer, if God is the hardware, creation is the software that he is running, everything is under his control. All that happens is according with God's plan. Now, what that means is that we have a bit of a challenge in our understanding of God. If everything is happening, according to God and His will, that means that the bad things are part of of his work, too. So what about the earthquake in Turkey? What about cancer? Car accidents, crazy politics? What about those things? Is God there behind it all, too. That's a tough pill to swallow. A lot of us think when we see bad things happen, we say, oh, no, God allows it to happen. But really, if God allows something, and he's all powerful, and all mighty means well, he's part of it to God is in everything around everything, sustaining everything as it happens. If God is truly all powerful, and all controlling, it means he is truly all powerful, and all controlling, which is actually kind of a good thing for us. Because it means God has the power to push everything towards the resurrection, that all things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose. It means that the all powerful Almighty God actually controls history and pushes it to toward the resurrection. Even Satan himself is God's servant. Got devil. Think about it this way. We know that it's God's plan to send His son Jesus Christ to die on the cross. And that is to say this was the plan from the very beginning after Adam and Eve sinned. But think about this. What would have happened if Satan hadn't actually brought about the temptation to put Jesus on the cross? The Bible tells us that Satan tempted Judas to betray him. And Satan was there to tempt the tempt the Pharisees, in fact, in the Gospel of Matthew, Satan, Satan's words are repeated by the Pharisees who stand at the foot of the cross and say, if you are the Son of God, come down from the cross repeating the words that Satan some something just like what Satan said, when he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. Now what would have happened if Satan hadn't tempted these people? If when Jesus went into Jerusalem, the crowds followed Him and cheered. The Pharisees had said, you go Jesus, we love it. This is great. He never would have been arrested. He never would have been tried, beaten, broken crown of thorns, no nailing to a cross and no death and resurrection, to save us. God used Satan to bring about our salvation. Isn't that nuts? But that's because he's God's devil. The real problem is that when you have a deistic God, a God who is far away and only looks down on creation, you have a God who isn't in control. Think about it this way. If God is in charge of everything, it means he's in charge of everything. If God isn't in charge of everything, it means he isn't in charge of everything. If God is in charge of everything, you can rely on him to make sure his promises are true, and will happen. If he isn't in charge of everything. It means that maybe we can escape his hand. Maybe the devil can snatch us from him. That's not the God of the Bible is it? So a deistic God, when you look at it, when you finally get down to what it really means, means that God is not in control of anything. He's got some power, some might, but the rest is up to the world. But if God is truly Almighty and all powerful, it means that he has the power to make salvation for you. And that all things are working towards our eternal life and resurrection on the last day. In Jesus name, amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
Today is the celebration of the Transfiguration. And we read this story from the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus goes up the mountain with Peter, James, and John. And while he's on the top of the mountain, his face starts to glow, his clothes glow bright white, and Moses and Elijah appear there. Peter does his Peter thing where he says something silly. And all of a sudden, the cloud shows up. And a voice says, This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. And the most important words of the whole story, listen to him. Everything else is leading up to that moment in this story.
Everything else is to show who Jesus is and what's going on, and that we are to
listen to him to his word, and to his teaching. And that is why our lectionary people chose shows the reading from Second Peter that I'm going to preach about today, where it says, For we did not follow cleverly devised myth when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from the Father, and the voice was born to him by the majestic glory. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. We ourselves heard this very voice from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.
Peter is very concerned here, that his readers understand that this is not a story they made up. Not only that, but the church was always very concerned that this story was one that was seen by many, many witnesses.
Because Jesus did not do things privately. Sure, there are some stories where he meets with his disciples, or even this one on the top of the mountain where there's only a few witnesses. But most of Jesus's life, including his death, and resurrection, happened in public. And the church always wanted people to know that when he would preach when he would teach, he would go from town to town. And it would say that many people would come, be healed, and hear His voice. And the apostles themselves, follow Jesus through this whole ministry, from the day that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River all the way up until the day he ascended into heaven in front of a crowd. And even in Scripture, they are certain to tell us that there were witnesses. St. Paul writes about this in first Corinthians chapter 15, when he says, For I delivered to you as a first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to surface, then to the 12. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some fallen asleep.
Now, St. Paul doesn't just tell us how many people were there just for the fun of it. What he's telling us is there were 500 people that saw Jesus alive after he died, and then ascend into heaven. And all you have to do is go ask them.
Most of them are still alive. They'll tell you the truth. Jesus did his thing, publicly. And there were plenty of witnesses. John says something similar. In John chapter 21. He writes about the gospel that he had just written in this book when he says, this is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things. And we know that his testimony is true. What he's saying is,
I'm the character right here. I saw all this. Listen to me, I was there.
Similarly, in Acts chapter one, when Judas leaves the apostles, they know they need to have one more. So they say, so one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John Not until the day when he was taken up from us. One of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.
So what did they do when they needed a 12? Apostle? They said, let's choose someone who saw it all. And they had enough that there was more than one of them. So they did we even have a record of when one of the disciples of John Polycarp wrote a letter to the Virgin Mary, and it goes something like this. Hey, Mary, you're John is telling me a lot of crazy stuff about your son Jesus isn't really true. And she writes back and says, yep, listen to him.
The church was always concerned about because we know that Jesus is not a mythical character. He isn't some first century version of a dee dee comics, Superman.
It truly live. It truly died. And he truly rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. And the amazing thing about this is that he did it all in public witness.
This is different from the major religions of the world. One of the growing religions in the United States are Mormon. Do you know how that religion was founded?
Joseph Smith was by himself when the Prophet Moroni appeared to him in a vision and told him where to find a whole bunch of golden tablets, buried underground. Now, fortunately, this prophet told Joseph Smith that no one was allowed to see them until after he had translated them.
So he goes, and he piles them up and puts them in a box. And he translates them by using a seer stone that he looks into. It speaks the words to someone who then writes it down.
No one was allowed to touch them or see them.
Later, after it had been translated, he obtained testimony from 11 witnesses, before he was forced to give them back to the Prophet Moroni.
Basically, you have to trust Joseph Smith. Buddha Similarily, spread his philosophy, basically, because he reflected on life and thought he did a good job. And so he shared his private reflection with the rest of the world. And other people liked it too.
Basically, you had to trust him, that he was right.
Islam is similar. The Prophet Muhammad had a vision of the supposedly Angel Gabriel, who decided to share God's words directly to Muhammad. And then he would go to the scribes and repeat them. And those words became the Koran.
Basically, you had to trust that Muhammad was just as pure as could be. That he was right. It's the opposite in Christianity. You don't have to trust Peter that he was extra specially good. Because if Peter came out and said something that was wrong, there were 500 witnesses who could say No, Peter, that wasn't right. I was there.
And that's what makes Peters speech in Pentecost, so powerful. Jesus didn't do his thing in private. Because when Peter gets up, filled with the Holy Spirit, and he talks about everything that Jesus did, he tells them, he was established by miracles in front of you, you saw him, and then you killed him. And we saw him come back from the dead. And they knew it because they were there. They heard the news. They knew that this Prophet Jesus had died. And then they heard the story of the witnesses, and it caught them straight to the heart.
So they would turn and follow Jesus. And so receive the same promise that we received, that Jesus died and rose to give us eternal life. Now, one of the challenges facing the church today is not so much the claims of other religions, but also the things that we think about Jesus and often teach within our churches. It is pretty common among our churches. To say that the beliefs that you have are your own and personal and nobody really can tell you about them. I know this, because there's a book called soul searching that came out in 2005. That includes a number of interviews of Christians, and other various religious people who go to church all the time and say that their religion is very important. Who don't think there is anything true about God? There was a girl, they witnessed a Jehovah's Witness girl who had a friend who switched religions for time in the last year. And when the interviewers asked her about this, they said, she said, Well, it's whatever floats her boat. There was another person that they interviewed. They asked about people who had a different view of God than that person. And the interviewee said, I wouldn't say anything. It's their opinion, I have my own opinion. The interviewer goes, Are you right? I don't know. I have no idea. Is there a right or wrong answer when it comes to God?
There is no right answer. Why not? There isn't a wrong answer. Because it's God, you can't prove. It's just what you believe. Basically, for many people, the idea of God is up to you. It doesn't really matter what you believe. It just matters that you believe or that you're doing something.
These statements reminds me of an exercise that I did when I was young. In elementary school, maybe you had to do that, too. I got a worksheet that was filled with statements. And my job was to decide whether they were Fact or opinion. The idea was, that fact is something that we had shared knowledge, everybody could know it. Nobody, nobody could argue with it. And the other one is opinion, which means that everybody can have a different opinion and still be right. So it gets statements like this.
Broccoli tastes good. Opinion. Water is
made up of hydrogen and oxygen. That's a fact. It is good to help people opinion, water boils at 212 degrees.
The implication of this simple exercise is that the only things that are knowable. The only things that have a real truth claim are things that you can weigh, or measure, or take apart.
Things that you can sign
everything else is up to you. In fact, everything else doesn't matter. Which is why you can believe whatever you want about God.
But the Bible tells us something very different.
The Bible tells us that the truth claims that we make based on the witnesses are life and death. That Jesus truly came that he truly die, the truly rose, he ascended into heaven, and he is really and truly coming back on the last day. And when he does that, all who believe in Him will be raised to eternal life.
And all those who do not raise to eternal punishment.
And that's a big deal. Peter wants us to know that we are making real, true claims about reality. Not something that is made up or up to you that there is really something there that Jesus was truly here that he truly died for you. He truly rose for you. And he has given you the words to follow
as he says, and we have a prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention to as the lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises.
This true prophetic word began with Jesus. And the witnesses tell us that Jesus during His ministry told the disciples and He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again.
Now it's easy to make that prediction. Lots of people have made lots of predictions that didn't come true.
But Jesus did. He went to Jerusalem, he was rejected by the chief priests, the scribes and the elders, he went to a cross and he died. And after three days, he rose from the dead. I don't know about you, but if someone does that, I'm gonna listen to him.
And that's what Peter did. Peter was so sure of this, this thing that happened of the story, he witnessed that he was a part of that he would offer up his own life, and supportive. Nobody dies for a cleverly devised myth. If Peter had come up with some nice story, to hopefully get everybody to follow him and give him money, do you think he would have been crucified upside down on a cross for it? I don't. But he went to Rome.
And he died. He died because he knows there is the truth that Jesus is coming, that he will raise you from the dead, and that it's real. If it's just up to us, then that matters. That means nothing. If it's just up to us, and whatever you believe nothing we do here makes any sense. When you come forward to the altar, you're not taking Christ's Body and Blood, you're just taken whatever. Just kind of right in line, you receive no forgiveness, you receive no salvation, but because trite Christ really and truly came. What we do here means everlasting life. That when you eat Christ's body and drink his blood, you get real forgiveness and eternal life delivered to you.
This is why we are so sure why we are so true
and why people have suffered or even death
to pay attention to this prophetic word.
In Jesus name
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
You're listening to the sermons of first Lutheran Church. I'm Pastor James unic. And I'd like to welcome you, I pray that this sermon will help you in your Christian faith. If you'd like to join us, you can come to first Lutheran Church at worship at 9am and 11am. With a Bible study in between. For more information about our congregation, or the Lutheran tradition, please go to www dot you have a place.com Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Tonight, I chose somewhat of a shocking title, good people go to hell, bad people go to heaven. Many of you who came in we're noticing it, and we're talking about it today. Now, if you have been a Lutheran for very long, you might have seen through the shock of it, Lutherans, we know, only bad people can be saved to sinners, because that's who Jesus came to die for. And that is what St. Paul is helping us to see. When he tells us that what he is saying in second Corinthians chapter five, he says, We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. Be reconciled to God, he says. What he says is that there is a distance between God and humanity. That distance is caused by our sin. From the very beginning, human beings have separated ourselves by our own sinful nature, and the things that we do. But even more than that, we don't have to look just at our actions, we can see the ever encroaching power of death in our lives. Every year, we feel it just a little bit more in our bodies, and in our bones. And every year, that phrase that I tell you, when I put that ash on your forehead, from dust to have come to dust, you shall return. Well, it feels just a little more real. And that's because of sin. That's because of death. And the distance we have between God and us. Even an infant child born yesterday, has the same distance as someone 90 years old. We are all approaching death. But St. Paul gives us a reassurance, that through Christ, we have eternal life and righteousness, reconciliation with God. He says, For our sake, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. St. Paul is telling us that for our sake, God sent Jesus Christ, the only perfect human being sinless from the moment he was conceived. He sent him to take on our sin and die in our place, so that we could have God's righteousness. Jesus Christ is a righteousness, the righteousness for sinners. So he says, We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. So the real question then is, how? How can we sinners be reconciled to God? That's the real question. The church isn't divided about our need to be reconciled. At least the Christian church isn't just about every Christian you ever talked to says yes, we do need a savior. We do need to be reconciled with God. We need someone to come and die for us. The question is always how if good people go to heaven, or bad people go to hell. For many people, that's the way we talk. We talk as if the Christian church is a place where good people go to work on their spiritual muscles. We gather together and we pick up our weights we do our leg presses, our squats, we make sure that we never skip leg day. We pull out the barbells we do our bicep curls. And if you're really excited about it, you don't do your just your exercises at church, you do them at home too. And the most buff of us the ones that can be most impressive. We make Instagram reels and show off a powerful spiritual weights that we can lift. Sometimes we say that the Christian church is a place for good people, to become better for Christians to turn to our own works and get comfort from the good things that we do. And I think it's because we Americans are a positive people. We like to think of ourselves as pick yourself up by your bootstraps and get going. And you can do it with Tim Robbins and Joel Osteen and people like that. Be reconciled to God then turns into looking at your own spiritual abilities, your prayers, your devotions, your life. Now, it might sound like I'm exaggerating just a little bit. And sometimes I do that for a fact. But I have an example of something that is supposed to be inspiring something that is supposed to tell us how great it can be to be a Christian who is a good person working on their Christianity. It's a song called Rise Up Lazarus by Kane. And the song is really great. I mean, it's it's peppy, it's exciting. It makes you feel good. And there's this chorus where it's like, rise up, rise up. It's really fun. Until you get to the words. Here they go. In the dark and all alone growing comfortable. Are you too scared to move and walk out of this tomb, buried underneath the lies that you believe safe and sound stuck in the ground to last to be found? You're just asleep. And it's time to leave? Come on, rise up, take a breath. You're alive now. Can't you hear the voice of Jesus calling us out of the grave like Lazarus, your blank, brand new. The power of death couldn't hold you? Can't you hear the voice of Jesus calling us out of the grave like Lazarus rise up, rise up, rise up out of the grave like Lazarus. You can hear it there can't you? It's this idea that we can hear the voice of Jesus and climb up. God is calling us to a brighter and better future we can be those Christians we want to be and it Jesus is just calling and you can do it. But can you? I look at those words. And if I'm honest about my life, I can't have I left behind all the lies I once believed Am I able to really pull out of the grave that I find my life in. In fact, when I look at my sin, when I look at the things that make me most frustrated, that make me most sad about my life. Sometimes the frustrating part is that I love it too much. I can't leave it behind behind. In fact, when temptation comes I don't even try to get away from it. I just dive in headfirst, I embrace it, I love it. I can't get enough of it until it's gone. And then I hit myself again. In a church where it's all about lifting our spiritual weights and showing off our spiritual muscles. Rising up is not good news. When you're frustrated like that, you say, Oh, come on. Can't you hear the voice of Jesus calling? You come out of the grave like Lazarus. You can do it Christian rise up, rise up. Can't you hear the voice of Jesus Jesus calling your brand new the power of death couldn't hold you can't you hear the voice of Jesus calling us out of the grave like Lazarus, rise up, rise up rise up. That's not good news is it? In fact, that's terrible news. You're just not good enough to come out of the grave. If only you truly heard Jesus's voice, if only truly you listened that's why we need a savior. Someone to be sin for us, so that we can have his righteousness. You see, to be reconciled to God means that you are a sinner who needs a Savior. And that's why I titled this sermon. Good people go to hell. Bad people go to heaven. It's the bad people who look at words like rise up Lazarus and think to themselves. There is no way I can do this. In fact, I have nothing that I can give God. I'm just a sinner. I don't leave behind my lies. I don't pull myself out of the grave. I've got nothing. All I can do is turn to Jesus and cry out. Save To me,
and just for people like that, that Jesus gives them, his righteousness. He came to give us his perfection. That's why his whole life was about perfectly following God for us in our place. Because we simply can't. And what St. Paul tells the Corinthians and us is that now is the time to receive that perfection, that reconciliation. God sent St. Paul to the Corinthians, as a pastor and an ambassador of Christ, telling them out saying, be reconciled to God. St. Paul says, working together with him, then we appeal to you not to receive the grace of Christ of God in vain for he says, in a favorable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you. Behold, now is the favorable time Behold, now is the day of salvation. And that message is the same for you today, now is the time to call out to Jesus, I am a sinner, I am a bad person, I need you to save me, now is the day of salvation to cry out to Him and say, Send someone to reconcile me with God. And that is why he sent Paul and why he sends pastors do you see, we don't turn people to their works, and say, Get up, you can do it. We tell people, I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. We have a pastor who says, I forgive your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And then we give out the medicine that leads to eternal life, Christ's Body and Blood in the bread and the wine. These are not things that you can claim in spiritual strength. They're not inspiring, they don't call you to be the great person that you want to be. They're just a simple gift of life, given from one center to another, with the power of God, for salvation. Jesus saves people through these things and he saves you through them. Bad people go to heaven. Now, that favorable time won't always be here. The day of salvation won't always be around. There will be a day when Jesus closes the door of grace. Maybe it'll be the day when when a person dies. Maybe it's the day when Jesus returns. On that day, good people will turn to Jesus and say, Jesus, look, I left behind the lies I left behind my sin. I heard your voice and I climbed out of my grave I trusted you. I served you I gave you I did everything right. They'll present their good works to Jesus. And He will turn to them and say, I never knew you. He will cast them out into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Because that's not how people get salvation. when good people turn to their their spiritual strength and say, Look what I did for you, Jesus. They don't get salvation. It's sinners, who are saved. Bad people who cry out to Jesus saved me. Give me life. Forgive my sin, give me your body and blood. And then Jesus welcomed them into his into His eternal life. Because Jesus didn't come to save good people. He came to save sinners like you. In his name, amen. Thank you for listening to our sermons. If you have any questions about anything that you've heard, or anything about the Lutheran tradition, I would love to answer them. Please contact me at pastor Hu e n i n k at you have a place.com
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
mercy and peace are yours through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. The lesson for meditation is St. Matthew chapter five verses 21 through 37. The Gospel lesson which is already been read, why is your pastor gone today? Well, conventional pastor our wisdom is to get us up whenever thorny topics come up in the lectionary. Indeed, today one hardly feels like saying this is the gospel, the good news of our Lord after the gospel lesson. Here we read of anger, lust, divorce, and taking an oath in court. Again, I asked why is your pastor whisked away in the trunk of an unmarked car this week? Well, for good reasons at your service, but the strength of the law today prepares you for the full constellation of the gospel. Please be joined me then to see how these four topics anger, lust, divorce, in the oath, teach you to walk in the way of the Lord, and to seek Him with your whole heart. You have heard that it was said, but I say to you, with these words, Jesus interprets the law on the basis of his own authority. San Agustin said, The New Testament is in the old concealed, the old is in the new revealed. That is to say, the Old Testament you have heard gives you a shadow of the New Testament, and the new But I say to you gives us the fulfillment of the Old Jesus, then the New Testament in the flesh, amplifies the laws of old, he turns its volume all the way up. He moves from action to contrition, from outward compliance to inward attitude, by enlarge, to simplify from keeping the law with your hands, which is what the Jews of his day did to keeping the law with the penitent heart. And so Jesus preaches the law this way, again, turning the volume way up, to drive the religious Old Adam, yes, the sinner in you to despair, and to drop dead at the foot of the cross where there is life. And so you have heard it said, Do not murder, and whoever murderers will be liable to judgment. And now you're thinking to yourself, or you might be thinking, Well, I'm off the hook on that one, Jesus. I haven't strangled, stabbed, shot or any kicked anyone in the shins? Well, at least not since sixth grade recess back in grammar school. And I'm generally kind to people and I help the old ladies cross the street. And I would never purposefully harm anyone in his body. And then Jesus comes with his New Testament fulfillment. But I say to you, yes, I say to you that everyone who is angry, angry, yes, angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. And whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council. And whoever says you fool will be liable to the hell of fire. Yes, that little altercation that you had in the parking lot. That flash of road rage of the guy who cut you off on the eighth or the five, that simmering anger that you are harboring, overwhelmed, whatever, if Jesus had not become the murderer in your place, the hell of fire would be yours for yes, we have all been unrighteous really angry with our brother. Moreover, you have heard of old that it was said do not commit adultery. And again, you might be tempted to think well, I've got that one covered. You might be thinking I'm faithful in my marriage. I have never strayed, I've always come home on time and so forth. True story. A man once bragged to his pastor, I would never cheat on my wife. And the pastor actually said you just haven't met the right woman yet. And and he's absolutely write for no one is above temptation and the pride of saying I would never comes before the fall. Almost every man in the crowd who heard Jesus that day probably thought he was in the clear after all, they stoned adult urges they stoned adulterers to death. That is to say they set the penalty so high it made it unlikely anyone would ever be actually guilty of physical adultery. But again, I say to you Yes, I say to you, what about the heart? Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Yes, that's right. Even a look with a live or online at the beach at a club. It doesn't matter. Guilty as charged for the law has no loopholes, no mercy, no easy way out Guilty as charged. And more. You have heard that it was said, Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce. The Jews of Jesus day, placed the certificate of divorce into the hands of the wife in front of three rabbis who served in witnesses. And then the man would say three times, I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you. Okay, sounds a little bit crazy. And yet we have something just as crazy, namely, no fault, divorce. Thank you, California. It's a detour around repentance for nobody is without fault and a moral failing that is divorce. But I say to you, yes, I say to you, once again, cutting through the outward justification what I have done with my hands to the heart, everyone who divorces his wife, except on the grounds of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery. And whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. Yes, in the thinking of the one who made us male and female and said, the two shall become one flesh. There is no divorce that can ever be legitimized much less sanctified by a piece of paper for divorce and adultery, go hand in hand and call us all to repent. You have heard that it was said, Do not swear falsely, but perform to the lord of what you have sworn? Well, once again, you might be thinking, Well, I do pretty well there Jesus, I tell the truth, nothing but the truth. So help me God. And when I pledge to give a certain amount of money, I do it. When I say I swear to God, I need it. And I do it. And I certainly would never ever cheat on my tax return. Thus the Old Testament, and its misunderstandings in Jesus day of thinking you could actually keep the law. But I say to you, yes. Jesus says to you, don't swear at all, by heaven, by the Earth, or by the hairs of your head. The very fact that you and I ever should place our left hand on the Bible and raise our right hand and say, so help me God reminds us that we are as senators, people of the line who could use a little legitimate fact checking now and then yes, that you have to put under oath, that sometimes we have to coerce the truth out of people says that we are by nature, liars, liars to the core and the half truth, the untruth, the big fish story and is called that comes out of the sinful mouth much more easily than the whole truth. And once again, it calls you not to say I've kept it but to read.
So there it is, anger, lust, divorce, and they taking an oath for tough topics. For guilty verdicts and date, I say not a confirmation verse to be found anywhere in today's Gospel lesson. And for good reasons for the coming 40 days of Lent. You have heard, but I say to you, so here you have a very deep diagnosis, don't you? The one that you probably don't want to hear, at least as a sinner. But sin is not superficial and topical, it is deep. And it is totally, totally an utterly corrupt. It's not just a matter of a bad word here, or a bad thought there a bad or sinful action now and then though that's part of the scheme. Sin is a deeply corrupted orientation of the heart since Adam's fall. And I dare say that no one left the sermon on the mount that day, at least this portion of it terribly happy feeling justified about himself. And anyone who left the Sermon on the Mount thinking, Well, I'm doing pretty well here. God must be pleased with me, was not listening very carefully. So Moses on Mount Sinai, about 1500 years before Jesus gave the Law in summary form, the 10 commandments that Jesus amplifies here, Jesus amplify them to make sure you understand their depth and you see the need for repentance. And let us add this morning that about 1500 years after Jesus, Martin Luther expanded on the 10 commandments, for the same reason, take a look at his explanations. In the Small Catechism, we should fear and love God so that we do not but we do again fear and love God and this is what you Do not to do. And this is what you are then equipped to do in Christ. And there's that little word, but again, we do not, but we do. So we do not hurt or harm our neighbor in his body in any way. Again, I dare say we've never murdered anyone, but you can hurt and harm your neighbor in various ways, but rather help and befriend him in every bodily need. So, for Moses in the 10 commandments, Jesus amplifying them on the Sermon on the Mount, and Luther explaining them in the Small Catechism, we see that not an iota, not a.we would say not a word or a continent would ever pass from the law until all was fulfilled. Why? Why do we Lutherans, best known for the fullness of the gospel also love the law. Because every loophole in the law, every erased Iota, or dot, every self justification takes away something from Jesus death on the cross, to chisel away at the law and say, well, this just doesn't apply to us in a modern culture or whatever the next excuse of the day may be to hate the law. Every one of those gradually chips away at the gospel as well, until the cross is no longer preached. In the fullness of the gospel then and for the sake of the fullness of the cross. Jesus came to fulfill the law completely, not just in the places where we need a little help even more. So. He came to save you from your unrighteous anger through his own righteous anger against all that is against God's word, especially in cleansing and clearing out the temple that would once again be a place where the Lord is worshipped. Jesus came to rescue you from pig and unholy lust, by making your salvation his greatest desire, the thing that he wanted the most was to save you for he does not want to live without you his own dear child, and divorce. Recall this language is used in the Epistles where we read that Jesus is faithful to you, his own bride, even when you are unfaithful to him, by your own sin, He loves you that much and he would never ever divorce you. And his work transcends any concept of taking an oath for JESUS IS TRUTH incarnate, and he simply cannot lie or deceive. I baptize you. He says, I forgive you all your sins. He says through your pastor, this is my body. This is my blood of the New Testament. Oh, this is no right hand on the Bible and take an oath but rather truthful words from the truth made flesh who stood before Pilate. And as you recall, Pilate asked, what is truth, unaware that the answer was standing right in front of him not so much in words, but in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, who is the truth made flesh. This, then, is the gospel in today's Gospel lesson. Jesus became sin for you dearly beloved, that you might become the righteousness of God. He died under the crushing weight of your sins which are many, and he rose from the dead triumphant over sin and death. And you in turn, live this out through daily repentance and faith for you, forgiven, lest and redeemed, live under Him in His kingdom, a kingdom where you are free to walk in his ways to seek Him with your whole heart. For His Word is your light and your salvation. God granted unto you this epiphany for Jesus sake, on the peace of God, which passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
We have been working our way through Paul's first letter to the Corinthians over the last few weeks, beginning right at the beginning. First Corinthians Chapter One. During this time we we saw a number of sermons the first one, in that opening sector was about how Jesus is enough that with all the things that people care about, the only thing you truly need is Jesus. When you have Christ, you have every gift that you ever need. The next section we talked about divisions in the church, whether divisions within our congregation, or divisions outside our congregation in denominations, and how the sad fact of it exists, even though Christ has made us one as a body, by baptism into him. Last time, we talked about what people expect from a Christian religion, how in America, we expect a religion that works. In other words, it makes our life better. And how that is not always the way the cross is right? Is the cross doesn't make life better. It just points us to Jesus. Today, St. Paul continues talking about the cross against the wisdom of the world, and how the wisdom of the cross is the only thing that remains when Christ returned. Let's take a look. And I when I came to you brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear and much trembling. And my speech and my message were not implausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Here St. Paul begins to set up a distinction between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of God in the cross, that He came proclaiming Christ crucified, and nothing else and he didn't want them following him, because he had a whole lot of worldly wisdom. That doesn't mean that that Paul was an anti intellectual. Paul was a learned man. And we know this because St. Paul quotes philosophers from the era in Acts chapter 17. He is speaking to the Athenians and equals two philosophers, one Epona, FM and IDEs, and a stoic philosopher auratus. You are all of course very familiar with their works. Oh, yeah, absolutely. Me to. St. Paul isn't saying that because he wants to get rid of all that book learning. No, he isn't an anti intellectual. He didn't come to Corinth, knowing Christ, and only him crucified. Because he was against learning. He became he came to them to preach Christ and Him crucified, because he wanted to make sure that their faith was not in the impressive, powerful looking worldly wisdom. But they had the message of the thing that lasted forever. Though he had an education, he didn't put that on display. Though he was wise in the ways of the world, he didn't show off. He just preached Christ, and Him crucified. And he says, that their faith might not rest in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And to get there, he demonstrated it with the Spirit and of power. When we look at x, we can see that wherever St. Paul went, when he got there, for the very first time, he was always doing miracles. He would heal the sick, he would cast out demons who do amazing things, just like the apostles did everywhere they went for the very first time. I kind of liken it to what happened when the allies invaded in D Day. You know the story right? D Day the Allies invade the beach at Normandy. Now when most of us think about that, we think about that Saving Private Ryan scene, right? They've got the guys running up to machine gunfire, there's all sorts of casualties. It's very scary, very bad. That's not actually how most of it went. In many places, the the Allies just walked on with little or no resistance. Why was that? Because they had spent a really long time with their battleships, firing artillery, at the fortifications to destroy it. So when they got there, they didn't have to do a whole lot. That's kind of how I see these miracles in the book of Acts. When St. Paul invades a new area to take that territory from Satan for Christ, he shoots off the big guns, heals the sick, cast out demons does all of those things. But it's not the healing that saves are the casting out demons that makes that makes it powerful. What he leaves with them after that is simple. The preaching of Christ, and Him crucified. And it's the preaching of Christ that remains afterwards as they go on. Because that is the power of God. The power of God to give salvation for everyone who believes it's this cross and the resurrection that delivers eternal life, both to the Corinthians and to us as well. Now, if you've been following along over the past several weeks, you've been seeing that St. Paul talks only about the cross in these things right? Here has not said anything about the resurrection, which I think is kind of weird, don't you? Because the cross doesn't make a whole lot of sense, without a Savior who rises from the dead. And of course, you can't rise from the dead without a cross. What is going on here? Why is St. Paul doing this? He's doing this because the cross is what defines the church for the Corinthians. And for us today. As we as we look at what the Corinthians were like, they wanted to be powerful and impressive. And if the resurrection defined the church and our life, we would be powerful, and impressive. All our lives would be amazing. Everything would be going really well for us, God would come down with his power and might and make the church way better than everybody else.
But that's not the life of the church is it? The life of the church is often filled with sacrifice.
life of the church is looking at sadness, and suffering through the lens of the cross. And so we see in the cross the wisdom for the church so that we can see victory in death, power in the weakness of a Savior who died on a cross and wisdom in the foolishness of what the world thinks is foolish, at least wisdom in the suffering that we see in our lives. And so it's the cross then that he preaches and proclaims. Because we need to see that as defining our lives now. So that when Christ returns, the resurrection will define us as He calls us from our graves. Let's continue. Paul says yet among the mature, we do impart wisdom. Although it is not a wisdom of this age, or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. We impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this. For if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But as it is written, what no I have seen nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagine what God has prepared for those who love Him. These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. St. Paul is reminding us something that we probably already know is that there is a division between the wisdom of the world and the wisdom of the cross, and that the cross looks nuts to people who don't get it. That if you don't have an understanding of what it means, there is no way you can truly understand God's wisdom. Because the cross reveals to us the nature of reality, through Jesus Christ. And this should make sense to us, you can only see past the physical to the spiritual, if someone reveals it to us. Western philosophy has tried to figure out ways to explain the world around us. And we know many of the things that have been passed down through them. If you if you follow the traditions of Western philosophy, you basically get two different camps, there are the rationalists, the ones who believe that you can understand the nature of reality, by thinking about it really hard. These guys go back all the way to Plato. You may have heard of names like Descartes, they are a continental rationalists, who think if I think hard enough, if I work through the logic, I can understand creation. One of the other major schools were the empiricist, often coming out of out of England, and they passed down to us through science, that you can understand the nature of reality, by looking at things and measuring them. Your senses, your evidence, can give you all of reality. These have had a great deal of a measure of success, because you can actually understand reality by measuring it, right. That's what we call science. That's how we get computers and technology, and all of the things that have made our world what it is today. But at the same time, you still can't see beneath the stuff of creation, if you're trying to do that, despite their claims. When the Soviet Union sent Yuri Gagarin out into space, he was purported to have said when he came back, I looked everywhere, and I couldn't find God. And I go what? Who suggested that you would. But they were trying to make light of the Christian claims. Or the Guardian wrote an article where it says, quote, Russia had made it to the stars. And as the saying went, and there was no bearded old god, they're only science. Of course, not. Similarily evolution, Darwin's theory was simply a way to try to explain everything, by getting rid of God, rather than including him. So we got this wisdom of the world. And even now we have that we have this idea that spiritual truths are up to the person, because you actually can't be they can't be real. They say, whatever it is, as long as you believe or as long as it works for you. Which means nothing is true. This is the opposite of what St. Paul is saying. He is saying that there is a reality, a spiritual reality that God reveals to us through the cross. It is not speculation. It is the truth. That God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to reveal to us the nature of creation. What these other ways of explaining reality are is a little bit like what it would be like if I were to explain how a car works. Every once in a while my wife and I, we would our car would break down. It's happened a couple of times. And you know what you do when the car breaks down and you're a guy is you you get off to the side of the road, and then you go and you open the hood, because that's what you're supposed to do. Why did I do it? It wasn't because I could actually fix anything. I'd go out and I look and says you're still broken. I have no idea how a car works. If there was a cap off or something like that. I could be like, Yep, the caps off. Or a belt was broken. I'd be like, Oh, yep, there's a belt. And that's about it. be even worse, if I tried to write a manual about how a car works, just by looking at it. I could probably come up with some really fancy names for the different parts of the engine, the spinning thingy, the belty thingy, the thing that vibrates, write really good names. Even if I took it apart and examined everything piece by piece, I would not have enough knowledge to explain how it works. That's because I it hasn't been taught to me hasn't been revealed. Because these things are so complicated. No single individual knows all of it. I think that's what it's like with reality. The spiritual truths can only be revealed through Jesus Christ, that God is not floating somewhere in heaven. He is the essence of existence himself. And the only way to truly know Him is through a God who reveals Himself to us. God did that by sending His Son Jesus Christ, to teach, preach, and then sacrifice himself on the cross and rise from the dead. And it's only through this death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, that we can understand the narrative of all existence that begins with the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve and ends with Christ's return and raising us from the dead. And without the cross at the center, you know nothing about what God is doing. Nothing about his power in the church. And when Jesus comes back, all the speculation about reality will disappear. All of the things in the wisdom that that people think they know, will pass on. And all that will remain is Christ and His power for us. salvation that He gives us, when we are raised from the dead, to live forever with Him. We continue for who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person which is in him. So also, no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words, not taught by human wisdom, but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. And he is not able to understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but as himself judge to be judged by no one, for who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ. St. Paul is telling us, but the only way to have this revealed to you, as the wisdom and power of God is that the Holy Spirit come to you, and do it. This should be pretty standard for you by now, because it is a a Lutheran teaching is that only the Holy Spirit can reveal Christ to us. And without his power, we can know nothing. As Luther writes, in his explanation of the third article of the Apostles Creed, he
says, I believe that I cannot find my own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ, my lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way he calls gathers and lightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. What this means is that that should be no surprise, when the world rejects the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because it doesn't make any sense. Without having the Holy Spirit. Without understanding the gifts that God gives us. It should make no sense to them. And so you need to have the spirit to be able to understand and to be able to believe it should it should make sense then, when even Christians struggle with the idea that the cross defines our reality. Because we're out there in a world that constantly tells us that it's wrong. That calls us that it's wisdom, it's truth claims, and everything it says, is better than what we have. But we need to cling to the wisdom of Christ, to the cross, because we know that it is the power of God. And we know that the only way to understand it is to get the spirit. So when we talk about it, we need to lead with Christ and Him crucified just as St. Paul did. Because that's how the spirit goes out. Not with powerful words or amazing wisdom, but the message of the cross it's what worked on us and what brought us here? That's what works on the world as well. Because it's the only wisdom that lasts all the way up through to the resurrection on the last day.
In Jesus name, amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We have been working our way through the book of First Corinthians. Lately, we began looking at the opening section of St. Paul's letter to the church in Corinth. And he talked about how Jesus is enough for the congregation in Corinth, that when they received Jesus, they had everything, all gifts, all power, all spiritual gifts, everything they needed from God. The next section was about divisions in the church. And we talked about what it means that the church is currently divided as it is, and how Christians should approach thinking about denominations in this divided Christian world. Today, we're moving on to the next section, verses 18 through 31. And it looks at the the cross. And the question of how crazy is the cross? When the world looks at it? It looks like foolishness, like nothing worse than nothing, like the worst thing that could ever happen to anyone. But to us, it is the wisdom of God, and the power of God for our salvation. St. Paul gives us some words about what it would have looked like to the people who were there at the time to the Corinthians, their congregation would have been made up of Greeks, and Jews, right. And so he tells us the kinds of things that they saw as powerful. He says, For Jews demand signs, and Greeks seek wisdom. He asked about the debaters of the age describes the powerful and amazing people. We know enough about Greek society to know what St. Paul is talking about, at this time. And through much of Greek society, it is the the scholar, the wise person, the philosopher, who is the peak of society. You know, some of their names Plato, right? You've heard that one before. I'm sure. He is the one who said that the perfect King, the ruler was supposed to be the philosopher king. Right? The wise man who knows the truth about reality. Socrates, also, Aristotle, big names even now. You might not know people like dioxygenase, who started the school of the cynics, or Zeno, who began the school of the stoics. The stoics are making a comeback right now. Many people are recommending reading the journal of Marcus Aurelius, who was a Roman Emperor 100 years after Jesus ascended into heaven. Still following this school that would have existed at the time Paul is writing to big deal, what these these different schools of philosophy were doing, and they lasted for centuries past the founder, who made them. We know that this is a big deal in the Bible, because it talks about it. Actually, when Paul goes to Athens and acts 17, it says, now all the Athenians and the foreigners who lived there would spend their time and nothing except telling or hearing something new. That's kind of the Palestinian way of coming to Athens and saying, What are they doing debating philosophy all day long. Jews also had expectations, the things that they thought were powerful. It wasn't the wisdom that the Greeks had, it was signs. We see that in the Gospel of Matthew when they come to Jesus, Matthew 16, verse one says, and the Pharisees and Sadducees came and to test him, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. happens over and over again through the Bible. Show us a sign to sell what authority you have to do these things Jesus, and he almost always replies with no, you're not going to get a sign from me. I don't dance to your tune. But you can see why if you look at the Old Testament, why they would say that Deuteronomy points back to Egypt and says You saw the signs and wonders Deuteronomy 622. And the Lord showed signs and wonders great and grievous against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household before our eyes are Joel Chapter Two with this expectation, And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions, and even on the male and female servants in those days, I will pour out my spirit. Wouldn't that be a sign? Wouldn't that be a wonder? That is what they were expecting. And so anything that is powerful, anything that is good, you would see Jews expecting the miraculous to accompany it, like it did with the prophets. That was their expectation from God. And with that, we read these words, for Jews demand signs, and Greek seeks wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to the Gentiles. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God, and the wisdom of God, for the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. And again, for the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing. but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. Sometimes I think we, we forget how strange the cross actually is, how horrifying. It is, stripped of all of our history and tradition. One of the ways that we see this is the way that Matthew chapter 20, is interpreted. This is the story where the the mother of James and John comes to Jesus and says, Jesus, I want you to give me a favor. And he's like, What do you want me to do? She says, When you come into the kingdom, put my sons one on your right and one on your left. When you come into your kingdom, Jesus says, You don't know what you're asking. He turns to them and says, Can you drink the cup that I drink? They say yes. And he says that, then he says, It is not my place to to, to give tell you, one of my right ammonia in the left, that is for those that it is prepared for. Now, most of the time, when we talk about that, and this is how I was taught when I was young, we think we don't know who will be sitting at Jesus when He comes in his glory when he's on his glorious throne, who will be in his right and his left. We have no idea it's prepared for someone. Probably someone that we don't expect. And that is absolutely wrong. And you want to know why? Because we don't read Matthew like a book, we read it Peric up right by Peric up. But if you actually read Matthew, you know, we know exactly who is that Jesus is right and left when he comes into his kingdom. It says in Matthew 27. And over his head, they put the charge against him which read, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then two robbers were crucified with Him. one on his right, one on his left. When Jesus comes in glory, and enters into His kingdom, it's already happened. His glorious throne was across his amazing crown was thorns. And his wise counselors were robbers who died next to him. Kind of weird, right? That's not a glorious throne. An amazing crown. That doesn't sound like a kingdom I want to be in. Consider what it is that we have. Right up here. Look at that thing. We've added all sorts of beautiful stuff to it right. We made it nice and smooth. This cross in front of us we added some varnish, there's a little metal and it's pretty shiny. It's big and beautiful. It fits in our architectural style so it looks really amazing. I want you to strip it of that in your mind.
Get rid of the metal That is nice and shiny and beautiful. Take off the beautiful varnish. Make it instead rough wood, cut hastily, without any thoughts of beauty, not sanded, so there's plenty of splinters on it. Now add a body right up there. Not back in Palestine right in front of you. A man with nails through his wrist, a crown of thorns on his head and blood dripping down from the arms. flowing like a river, down the center. A head bowed because he is too weak, to lift it.
Feet mangled by the nails. That's something you put up in front of a group of people. Is that beautiful?
That's the God of the Christian church. Paul says, We preach Christ crucified. You can see why it would be a stumbling block for Jews, foolishness to the Gentiles. And for us, as well. It is the same for every culture that has ever come to it. Because it looks like nothing worse than nothing. But for us, this horror, this torture and death is the power of God and the wisdom of God it is salvation itself. When we look on the pain and death of Jesus Christ, we see only glory. And it has to rework what glory actually means. In our mind, Jesus is true throne is torture. His true crown bites into his flesh. And from that cross, He reigns over his church. Until the day he returns. The church he won by this holy sacrifice the church, he marks with his holy body and blood and gathers us together to receive this death for our eternal life. And he came down to do it, so that he could enter into our life so much that even when we go down into our graves, he can be there with us in death. So we can bring us through that grave to the resurrection on the last day. And it's that cross that defines the church in the here and now until Jesus returns. I found myself in a strange confluence of events lately. All of my media consumption has randomly pointed me towards the Vikings, which is really weird. I've been playing god of war on my PlayStation. It's all about a guy who goes and fights the Norse gods pretty amazing. Lots of background about tear and Loki and Thor and all that stuff. I've been listening to podcasts, about the Viking Age, just sort of randomly came up in my normal podcast feed. And of course, the North man just came out on streaming services. I watched that too. That's interesting. Looking at their perspective on Christianity. In the north, man, they had a little scene where they had Christian slaves there. And one of the guys said, they have a corpse God. Isn't that right? We have a corpse. God don't wait. Jesus who died on a cross and when they want them to go somewhere, they say come on blood drinkers. That's what the world thinks of our craziness. Right? It's baffling because it doesn't make sense. They needed a God who would go and slay people. The high purpose of their life was to go and die in battle so they could go off to valley Halla. Foolishness is this cross where you would go and die for nothing? But what about us? What about in America? If Jews seek signs if Greeks want wisdom, if Vikings want valor, what do Americans want? We want our religion to work. I think that's it right? We're a very practical people. We don't care about highfalutin theories, and book learning, right? We want our religion to do what it's supposed to do, to function in our lives. And if it doesn't work, we jettison it, and we find something that does. Right. And I think many Christians see Christianity as an instrument, towards gaining something for life. We look at our religion as instrumental in making life better. And this isn't just me talking. This is what surveys have shown. There was a book called soul searching the religious and spiritual lives of American teenagers, it came out in 2005, which means that the people they surveyed and the interviews they did, they're no longer teenagers, their parents themselves. And one of the big findings in this was everybody they interviewed, except for a vanishingly small number of people saw that religion is there to get something done for us. A 14 year old from Massachusetts, said this. I think it's just important to have a belief system, because I think it helps you what you believe is how you live. Any belief system is good, as long as you have one. It's about fulfillment. A 16 year old Catholic from Florida said, quote, the important thing in a religion is connecting yourself to the spiritual side of yourself and fulfilling that. As long as you feel fulfilled, you have a spiritual experience, and you're good to go. Right. Another one said, talked about therapy, almost, quote, it's important that it's important. Religion is not like major important, but religion can help you get through a bad day. They summed it up with this, quote, what our interviews almost never uncovered among teens, was the view that religion summons people to embrace an obedience to truth, regardless of the personal consequences or rewards. Now, these are teenagers from 15 years ago, but where do you think they learned it? That they invent it? No, we taught it to them. The problem with this, is I want you to think about those quotations and throw it up next to a Savior who died on a cross. That horror that we saw before. To have a belief system, do you need a savior? who sacrifices his life? Now, to find spiritual fulfillment? Do you need a death on a cross? Absolutely not you can find that sitting around and meditating. To get therapy. Do you need torture and death? Of course not. You can go by that. We have to be sure that we don't have an instrumental view of our Savior Jesus Christ. Is he there to cope with your problems? Is that why Jesus came? Is Jesus here to make a better society to fight a culture war? And make sure America stays a Christian nation? Is he here to establish morality for your children? Is he here to make you feel good when you leave church on Sunday? But those thoughts next to the blood of Jesus dripping down that cross. Jesus did not come to make your life better. He did not come to give you therapy or to feel good. He did not come to bring you fulfillment. He came to die for you and raise you from the dead on the last day, and call you to the cross, like him. Bless it are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely, on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven. A while back, there was a series of shootings in churches, insurance companies emailed out all sorts of things that you could do lock your doors when the worship service darts, hire guards, develop a system with the police figure all these things out so you can stay safe. My Church discussed that. You know what they didn't discuss this, if only we could be found worthy of martyrdom, of proving to be true disciples who could die for his name, if only
that's what the pious apostles said. When they were whipped for Jesus, they rejoice that they were counted worthy of suffering for the name. This is the foolishness of the cross. This is the craziness of a God who dies for us. And it's the power of God for your salvation, to follow someone who took up suffering, who died for you who went up onto a cross and was tortured to death so we could enter your life so you can live forever our life will look like the cross and it's the power of God for you. In Jesus name, Amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Last week, we started a walk through the beginning of Paul's letter to the Corinthians, the first letter he, in the order of our, of our Bible, we looked at his opening, where he talked about some of the problems that were going on in Corinth, to let them know that Jesus was enough for them, that they didn't need all of the extra things to fight over spiritual gifts, or power or status, that having Jesus was enough. Today, we're continuing to go through this letter, and see the problems that St. Paul is addressing in the church in Corinth, and looking at how they can apply to church life here. Because the letter to the Corinthians is about our life together as Christians, whether in a congregation or relating to each other around the world. And that's what St. Paul is talking about to them. Today, he talks to them about divisions. He says that he does not want them to be divided, but that you but, āThat you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.ā
He says that there has been a report by Chloe's people, whoever they are, that they are divided into factions. Now, this isn't just a debate within the church. This is real fighting going on, that they are divided into tribal groups. What it reminds me of is the old Greek schools of philosophy. You know, what they would do is they would have, like a founder, like Zeno was a founder, or Plato or Aristotle, and they would found these institutions where they would have this school of learning, and they would go on for centuries sometimes, and he would go, Well, I am a stoic, or I am an epicurean. Sounds a little bit like that in the church. I follow Paul, I follow a Paulus. I follow Sisyphus, or I follow Christ. It's a little bit like they all had joined up in a team. And then maybe the last one were those people who are sick of it all and say, I'm an independent. Right? Now, I just follow Jesus. Come on, guys. And the thing is, is that St. Paul is urging them that having these factions in the church, divisions in the Church of God undermines the unity that Christ wants his church to have. Unity is a big deal. In the letter to the Corinthians, it goes over and over and over again, we see this theme, whether it's unity in communion, unity in the body of Christ, unity in love. Paul wants to make sure that they know the church is supposed to be united. And he tells him You are to be united in the same mind and the same judgment. Chapter 12 gives us the best image of this, the one that we know pretty well, I'm sure where it says, For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit, we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves are free. And all were made to drink of the one Spirit. So there's unity isn't just an organizational thing, but there is a spiritual unity being brought together in the body of Christ. Or as he puts it, in Ephesians four,
there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is overall and through all and in all.
We also confess the unity of the church when we confess the apostles are the Nicene Creed, where it goes I believe in one holy we use the word Christian here, but the original word is Catholic, which means universal, I believe even one holy catholic or universal church, and the communion of saints, which means we are in a whole church bound together in this spiritual unity that we have with Christ. You and I, we are united in Jesus, because He has come to us and adopted us into His family and given us this one Spirit. We are bound together deeper than any other kind of bond. And we should be committed to that kind of unity inside our congregation and with Christians outside as well. On a congregational level, it means that we should always be committed to loving one another, and solving disputes between this doesn't mean we can't debate at all. In fact, sometimes we do quite vigorously. And that's a good thing. As we discuss our future or think about life, we should disagree sometimes. But always come back together as the Body of Christ and love each other, and serve God towards his mission. When that unity breaks, when we actually have real problems we need to solve, we actually should solve them. Not just cover them up, not hide them, not pretend like they're not there. Because the mystical unity of Christ demands that we actually solve our divisions. So that we have, as St. Paul says, that one mind, and one judgment. So we can come together as a congregation and take Christ's holy body and blood and say we are truly united in him.
But of course, I think when we read this, when we say, when we see what Paul's examples where he goes, I follow Paul a policy first, or I follow Christ, the first thing that we have to think about, at least I do in my head is what are we doing in a Lutheran church? Because if there is any place where we say I follow Luther, maybe it's in a Lutheran church, right? This almost seems like a direct challenge to us does? Well, first, what we have to say is, we didn't give ourselves that name. In fact, we never wanted to be kicked out of the Catholic Church to begin with. If you look back at the history of this, Martin Luther himself said, no, no, let's not do this. He says, quote, what is Luther? After all, the teaching is not mine. Neither was I crucified for anyone. How then Should I pour stinking maggot fodder than I am? Come to have men called the children of Christ by my wretched name. He had a way with words, right. When you look at the history of our church, you can see that the first document that the Lutherans put out, the Augsburg confession was a was presented to the Catholic Church as a way of saying, Don't kick us out. We are really good Catholics. And they did anyway.
Many people assume Luther wanted to go out and was like, I will be an entrepreneur and start my own church. And it was the opposite of what he wanted to do. What he wanted was to have a debate within the Catholic Church, call a council bring out God's word and have everybody talk about it so that we could get back to the way it's supposed to be. Even at the end of his life, when he's writing the small called articles, this is what he was hoping to do. That the church would gather together a council of everyone so that they could finally have the debate he always wanted. It never happened. How did we get the name Lutheran? Well, it was because other people called us that. That happens a lot, doesn't it? People looked at at the the evangelicals. That's what they called themselves, gospel centered people, and they call them Lutherans, and eventually, we took it up as well. instead.
Yet, we still know that there are problems in the division that there is right. But when we look around, we know that there is a lot of division within the church. In fact, there are all sorts of names. There are Baptists, and Methodists, and Lutheran there are divisions within the Lutherans. It's actually kind of kind of crazy. And one of the great big problems of the church, perhaps the most tragic thing that the church has happened is this division, that we have been divided ever since the Great Schism. And ever since then, we have been cracking and breaking until now, just about every church is its own denomination, with its own mini Pope. How do we deal with this unity? How do we come together with the same mind and the same judgment? I used to talk to people who've been in the Lutheran church their whole lives who grow grew up in the 50s and 60s, and they would tell me that many of the divisions that happened in between the different groups at the time, mostly seem tribal, you know, you would never go to a Catholic church because they were Catholics, and we were Lutheran. And that was pretty much the theological division, like they do. They do weird stuff, and we do our own thing. I remember as a young child, having someone explained to me that one of the big differences about why we have an empty cross and Catholics have a crucifix in the front of their church is because we believe Jesus is risen from the dead, and they believe he's still on the cross. Ridiculous, right? Of course, they don't believe that. But it was mostly about stereotype, and, and misunderstanding. And now that most of us have moved past some of those things, that things that divide us are actually real in our different denominations, and our different groups. Because these aren't just tribal stereotypes or different practices, but there's real theological division. We can't pretend they're not there. Just like in a congregation that is fighting, you can't pretend that those divisions don't exist. We have to approach these in a faithful way. Because Paul tells us, we should be of the same mind and the same judgment. How do we do that? Perhaps the history of the church can help us out with this. If you look at the early church, they did their best to make sure that the church was united and bound together in the same judgment. And all you have to do is go to Acts chapter 15. And find when the church was rocked by the circumstances cision scandal, when Jews were going around telling the Gentiles that they had to be circumcised to be saved, what did they do? They called a meeting. They got together, they talked about it. And one guy stood up James and said, Here's what we're going to do. Gentiles don't need to be circumcised or follow the law of Moses. They talked about God's word. They had a debate, they heard what was going on, and they made a decision and the church came together. The same thing happened a few 100 years later, in the Council of Nicaea. There was this guy named Arias who was going around and teaching that Jesus was not God. That he was a created being, maybe the most powerful and first of the created beings, but still just a created being. So what did they do? They called a meeting, the gathered in all of the bishops. They talk talked about God's word, they debated they figured out what it really had to say, and they came up with the Nicene Creed to show us what a unity is. And after that, the church said this is the same mind in the same judgment. Jesus is truly God, begotten of His Father before all worlds, god of God, Light of Light, very God, a very God and begotten not made. In 431 AD, the church College Council of Ephesus there was this bishop named Nestorius, who wanted to preserve the divinity and humanity of Jesus so much, he kind of separated the two and acted as if the that marry wasn't truly the Mother of God, but only the mother of the human nature. And that the two natures didn't really interact, which is a big problem, because if the two natures don't interact, then there's no body and blood right up there in communion. So what did they do? Cyril of Alexandria, he was the patriarch of that area, who was very aggressive about dealing with this. What he did was, he split communion until they could have a meeting, which they called in for 31 ad. They got together, they made some decisions, they debated God's word. And they came together around what the true interpretation of God's word is. They were dedicated to preserving that unity. They were dedicated to making sure they understood the truth, and came together around it to preserve the unity of the Body of Christ. But they did it by being united in the word in doctrine, and not just covering up these things. And I think that's the challenge for us, as we look at the different groups and churches around us, is that it's very tempting just to say, we want to be nice to each other. So we'll act as if we're all the same. But we can't. Because we are different. Lutherans have a different way of understanding the gospel from Baptists or Methodists were Catholics or the Eastern Orthodox. In fact, we're talking about those things in our Bible study in between services right now, helping us understand what are these differences. And they're important, we can't cover them up. The Paul was pretty, pretty aggressive. When people were doing things that weren't right. When they didn't understand the gospel correctly. Listen to what he says in Galatians chapter one, he opens up the letter he writes to them, he does his intro thing. And the first thing he says is, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ, and are turning to a different gospel. pretty aggressive, right? Yikes. Or maybe Second Peter chapter three, where Peter talks about interpreting God's word.
āThere are some things in them those scriptures that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other scriptures. Therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people, and lose your own stability, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him the glory now and to the day of eternity, amen.ā
We want to be together and unite it with our brothers and sisters of Christ to understand God's word differently than we did.
And one of the great things is that we can know that on the last day when Jesus returns, and he raises us from the dead, all these labels will fall away, because we'll know face to face. And as we deal with the conflict, and the pain and the sadness of this, we can hold on to that hope. But until then, we have to use God's Word, to understand what God truly wants to help us come together. And it's the word of God. That word of the cross that St. Paul tells us is that it's supposed to bring us together, for it is the power of God for all of us. And so, that's what we do. As we deal with the differences. We use God's word to talk and debate and think and pray. But until these divisions are healed, we have to know that they're real and true. And as much as it pains me and makes me sad, as I'm sure it does. As you we can't overlook it in Jesus name amen
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
Sermon transcribed by AI. Please forgive any errors.
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We're now in the epiphany season, getting ready for this season where we find out who Jesus is. During this time, we'll look at stories like the one we saw today where John points out Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. And it will lead up to the miracles and the amazing things that Jesus does and then finally, culminate at the mountain of the Transfiguration, where we'll hear the voice from heaven say, This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him. Then we get to Ash Wednesday, and begin the march towards the cross. During this season, the lectionary assigns us the epistle readings from First Corinthians we began right at the beginning of the letter, and it's just sort of going to go section by section over the about the next month into the first couple of chapters until we get to Lent. So we're going to do that, walk through First Corinthians up until we get to this new season. So today, we're starting with the opening. It's interesting to get the beginning of a letter as a reading and church isn't it? It's like, dear James, as a reading, right. And that's interesting about what's going on that first line, it says Paul, calls by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother, sauce, the knees. This should remind us that the letters of Paul are Letters, written by Paul, I have to say this, because very often, when we read the Bible, we think that the Bible is written to me, not to me, James unik. But to me, every individual Christian. This line remembers that there was a real man named Paul, who wrote a letter with a guy named SAS Denise. And he did it at a particular time, and place. And then he sent it to a group of people, to the Church of God that is in Corinth, not to the Church of God in alcohol, or Chicago, or New York, or any other place to call it a particular group of people that met in a particular place, probably in a house owned by a guy named Gaius, just in case you were wondering, you won't be able to find him, don't worry, he's long gone. He writes these things to them to help us understand life in the church as well. Now, it's important to know this because you have to understand that there is some background to the church in Corinth, to help us understand what Paul is writing about. They were a Greek church, in a place that spoke Greek and lived in Greek culture. in Corinth, there was a great deal of competition between people, they would compete over things like status, and wealth, and wisdom. schools that were very famous in the Greek world were filled with with teachers who proclaimed great wisdom. There were people who would go around and tell you that they could teach you how to speak and convince anyone of anything. This was a problem in the church in Corinth, because it was then imported into their own church law. Something we'll talk about a little bit later, St. Paul writes to a group of people and talks about some of their moral failings as well. Later on in the book he talks about, about getting rid of believers who refuse to follow the dictates of the faith. There are questions about idols. There are divisions in the congregation. And all of these things are part of why St. Paul is writing a letter to this particular church in this particular place. So he continues, he talks about being part of the Church of God, together with all of those believers in every time and place, which is important for a congregation that sees itself as special, like the Corinthians. We're gonna get a little bit later on that when we get into the further readings. Now one of the things that I think is most important about this particular passage that I'm speaking on today is the competition inside the church. That is one of the reasons St. Paul is writing. Later on, you will see passages about the body of Christ, and how the congregation is one in Christ, there are not greater members and lesser members, there are not greater gifts and lesser gifts. St. Paul also writes this, this wonderful First Corinthians chapter 13, about the love of Christ at work in the body. Love is patient. Love is kind, you know that passage. The introduces the concept here, but there is no distinction or division within the congregation. Very simply, he tells us that Jesus is enough. Jesus gives us everything, the whole package of salvation. I want you to think back, imagine what it might be like in a congregation that worked like the Corinthians did. in Corinth, there were some people there who thought that they were amazing, outstanding Christians way better than the rest of them. And they could prove it, because they could speak in tongues. They had amazing spiritual gifts, they had a gift of prophecy. Some of them were amazing, outstanding speakers, and they held themselves up in front of the congregation as being the best. Can you imagine what it would be like in a church like that? People looking down on you all the time. People saying they had more Jesus points than you do. Right. Then of course, there will be some people who felt like they didn't get any of that. They must not be as powerful or spiritual or as wonderful as the the super prophets who stood up in front. And I want you to think about what this message would be that I'm about to read from St. Paul, if you were in those shoes. St. Paul says, I give thanks to my God always for you, because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in Him in all speech and all knowledge, even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you, that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift. As you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. So this message is a message both to those super men who thought that they were the best Christians ever, spiritually powerful way better than the rest. And also for those who thought that they were a lower level of Christian. Jesus is enough, is what it says. You don't need anything more. You were in every way enriched in him and all speech and knowledge. You are not lacking any spiritual gifts, as you are waiting for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus is enough. That's because the salvation that every Christian receives by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the whole package. There are no greater or lesser spiritual gifts. There are no higher and lower status Christians. There is only Jesus and His salvation. St. Paul writes later in First Corinthians chapter two, that and I when I came to you brothers did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. That's because Jesus Christ is all you need. His death and resurrection on the cross. The gift of faith that He gives you is what leads you to the very thing that we're all waiting for. The resurrection on the last day when he returns and reveals himself shows up. And everything that we see now is changed into the perfection that is to come. At that moment, everything else fades away. Powerful wisdom, the smart people of the world, will that be a thing anymore? No one will care. Prophecy? Well, that'd be a big deal. No, because it's all leading up to that day. Ella eloquent speech, the guy who gets to stand up in front of everybody and looks really good when they're talking. Well, that'd be a thing anymore. No. Because we will all see Jesus face to face when he raises us from the dead forever. That's why at the end of First Corinthians 13, Jesus, though St. Paul writes, faith, hope and love, these things remain, but the greatest of them is love. Because faith will disappear. On the last day, you don't need faith, when you can see Jesus hope will be gone on the last day because you hope for something you don't yet have, the only thing that will remain is love. And we who love in all things on that day. So St. Paul is writing to a divided and broken church, a church that is fighting with each other competing over power and status. And he says, You don't need any of those things. All you need is Jesus. And Jesus is enough.
It's a good reminder for us today. We don't need anything. But Jesus, Jesus is enough. Last summer, we worked on a survey to do an assessment of our congregation and talk about our organizational health. We're working on trying to figure out what to do with that coming up with plans for our congregation, working on our programming, and all of those things. And all of these things are good things for us, as a congregation, trying to be figured out how to be more effective in connecting with our community and connecting with each other, and working on all those things to make ministry better. But one of the things that I've noticed in not just our church, but church generally, is that we tend to compare ourselves with other congregations. You've seen that it happens at every pastors conference I've ever been to. They go, where do you serve? And then the next question is always how many people do worship? Which is a great way to phrase that question because I want to say just one, Jesus, but they say how many people do worship because that's actually a really big deal to a lot of us. How many people show up on a Sunday. We sort of worship that. Sometimes, as we think of status in congregations, and we compare ourselves to the people around us, especially congregations in the midst of the land of the mega church, like us. You don't have to look very far to find the really big ones. Skyline foothills, the rock Shadow Mountain, you pretty much can't pick up a stone and throw it without hitting the rock somewhere right? There everywhere around here, especially compared to where I came from in Chicago. And often we compare ourselves to them. Interestingly, a new article came out from LifeWay Research and church answers.com that talks about the demographic statistics for churches around the country. And it divides churches up into four different groups, people who are have under 50 in attendance on Sunday, that's 31% of all the churches in America, you know that? Under 100, between 51 and 99 is 37% of all churches in America, meaning that attendance under 100 is 68% of all congregations. Between 102 149 is 24% of all congregations. Do you know how many churches have over 258% We who look from our place and we look around and we go there Are all these huge churches? What are we doing wrong? Those are the outliers. And yet, we look at ourselves and we say, we must not have the spiritual power. We must not be doing something right. We've got to fix it. But that's really doing the same thing the Corinthians we're doing, comparing ourselves and saying what we really measure our spirituality by is how powerful we look to the rest of the world. And St. Paul would reply, Jesus is enough. In fact, if a new person never walked in our doors, we would still be a successful congregation. If we kept on preaching and teaching and serving the sacraments and doing everything that we do now, and it was just slowly dwindling, until the last person out lock the doors. Jesus would still be here with everything. His law, his gospel, his grace, his sacraments, his words, giving you the full package of salvation. I hope that doesn't happen. Right? The locking the doors, the walking out and the dwindling, and we're going to do our best to not have that. But that's not the point of a congregation is. It's the gospel. It's Jesus, its salvation. It's not just in churches, where we worry if having Jesus is enough. It's in our lives as well. I can see it in the way we talk about work attendance versus church attendance. When I go to someone and say, hey, you know, we'd love to have you in church, and they say, Oh, I work on Sundays. And I think, Wait a second. Is that how it's supposed to be? Now I got people need to work. And sometimes there's a time in life where that happens. But if that is a an excuse in our lives, what we are saying is, money is more important than Jesus. Right? You have to ask the question, Is Jesus enough? Well, on the last day, will that job matter? When Jesus returns up in the clouds with power in Might, and he calls us up from our graves, and he judges the living in the dead, will He say, Well done, you earned a lot of money. He will not. What matters when we stand before our judge on the last day, is whether he saves us whether the gift of God has been delivered to you. And he provides you with this amazing food for that journey and rest until that day, by gathering here and hearing about him. But we accept that excuse. Because we think work is most important in our lives. That Jesus isn't enough that Jesus is a nice extra. The same thing works when we talk about school for our kids, and church. One of the things I often hear is, I want my kids to be happy coming to church. Like they're supposed to enjoy it the whole time. And I asked myself, What happens when they wake up on Monday morning? And they don't want to go to school? Do you say oh, I want my kid to be a lifelong learner and happy about it. So I'm going to let them stay home until they feel like going to school. Right? We don't do that. Nobody would do that. That's ridiculous. Because you need to learn how to read. You need to learn how to do math, right? Like basic stuff. You need to know how to do this. But then, on Sundays, we say You know what, if they're not happy, I want them to enjoy it. But I have to ask you on the last day when Jesus returns, will it matter if you can do math? Well done. You know how to do the square root of 23?
Of course not. It will matter if you can read. What will matter is that whether Christ will raise you on it from the dead to glory, or distraction. That's what we really need. No matter what you do with your life, Jesus is enough. Nothing else matters more than that. Whether it's the people who are fighting in Corinth, or what we do with our daily lives, we need to make sure that that is what we know. The most important thing you can ever do is be connected through Jesus through His Word and Sacraments. To hear from him, and be filled by the Holy Spirit. Nothing else matters next to that, because Jesus is enough. In his name, amen.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai