Preachrblog

Grace, mercy and peace.... Dear friends in Christ, do you love the parables of Jesus like I do? Who can resist these stories which illustrate great truths about the kingdom of God? Some of them are longer – like the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. And others are quite short – in fact today our Gospel reading groups four together. The “Hidden Treasure” and “Pearl of Great Value” - these two make the same point. Similar is the “Parable of the Net”, which extends the same point. Then there's the “Parable of New and Old Treasures” takes it in a different direction. Let's briefly examine these this morning. For the parables of the treasure and pearl, let's first set aside a wrong interpretation. The point of the parable is NOT simply the First Commandment – love God above all things. Nor is it that you have found God and you should therefore put him first in your life. You're not the man who finds God and gives up everything to follow him. You don...

Called and Caught by Jesus You know, I've been a pastor 15 years now. And in one sense I figure I know what I'm doing. I'm familiar with the liturgy, I can preach a passable sermon. I can give a decent off-the-cuff answer to a Bible question. I've done weddings and funerals, taught confirmation classes for years. I am certainly not perfect, but I know my trade. Just as you probably know yours. Now imagine if someone tried to tell you how to do your own job. Someone with no experience whatsoever. Someone who didn't know the first thing about doing whatever it is you do day in and day out. And imagine if their unsolicited advice was just crazy. You've learned the hard way not to do it how they're suggesting. But here they are telling you the business. As if they have a clue. So begins the scene in Luke 5 when a Carpenter tries to tell fishermen what to do. They are washing their nets – packing it in after a hard and disappointing n...

Pentecost 4 Romans 7:14-25 St. John's Lutheran Church, Beloit, WI “ Who will rescue me?” The Christian life is a life of conflict. We are at war. The battle is for the ultimate prize, your eternal soul, and so this is serious business. The Devil is out to get you. The world that hated Christ hates you too, Christian. And if all of that is not enough. You are at war with your very own self. Even St. Paul himself was. And there is only one that can rescue us from this body of death, Jesus Christ! Thanks to him for the victory! Paul sets up a contrast for us in Romans 7 that is universally instructive. Every Christian should read and mark these words carefully. On the one hand Paul speaks of his “mind”. By this he means the new man or “new Adam”. The new creation in Christ that began at Holy Baptism. The Christian, the saint, the believer, the child of God. According to this nature, our new nature, we want to please God and follow his commandments. ...