Sermon - Christian Education Sunday - Deuteronomy 6:4-15

Christian Education Sunday- August 26, 2018

Deuteronomy 6:4-15

“Christian Teaching; Christian Learning”

Our Lord Jesus Christ loves children. He says “let the little children come to me and do not hinder them”. He uses children as an example, a paragon of faith. And there is much we could say about this. But on this Christian Education Sunday, we're going to focus especially on these words of Moses from Deuteronomy 6:

“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 when you lie down, and when you rise”

This passage comes as part of Moses' farewell to the Israelites. You know the story of the Exodus, how God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt with a mighty hand, parted the Red Sea and drowned Pharaoh's armies. How he brought them to Mount Sinai, met with Moses there, and gave them the 10 commandments, and established a covenant with them. He had them construct a tabernacle, and the ark and all its appointments. He gave them a system of sacrifice to deal with sin. He promised to be their God, and they would be his people. And he was bringing them to a good land – flowing with milk and honey.

They grumbled and rebelled. It would take 40 years, an entire generation, before God decided they were ready to take possession of their inheritance. Through it all, he sustained them with daily bread from heaven. And he would also go before them to conquer the Canaanites and deliver the promised land to them. This story would be repeated by the prophets and the people throughout their history, and even we gentiles repeat and rehearse it today – for through this little nation he was working out his plan of salvation for the whole world. From this nation would come the Savior Jesus Christ.

Moses wasn't going with them into Canaan. He would die on Mt. Nebo – just overlooking the border into that land. But before he died he wrote them (by the Spirit's inspiration) a farewell sermon – Deuteronomy. That name actually means, “second law”. It reiterates the words and promises of God, as well as his commands. In fact the 10 commandments are found in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. So when Moses teaches them the word of God here, it isn't the fist time they heard it; it was a repetition.

And Moses is encouraging the people to keep repeating these words of God, in various ways, as they also teach them to their children. Morning, noon and night. Rising and sleeping. Sitting and walking. In and out of the house. Anywhere and everywhere. Anytime. The word, the word, the word. We do well to heed his advice.

Christian Education is nothing other than receiving the very Word of God. So in some ways, it seems superfluous to have a “Christian Education” emphasis – as every Sunday we gather – Christian Education is going on. Of course this happens first and foremost in the Divine Service. When we gather around God's word. We read it, hear it, learn it and inwardly digest it. In fact Jesus Christ, as the living embodiment of that word is central to it all. When we receive the Word of God, we receive Jesus, and vice versa.

Oh, and it's not just an intellectual “learning”, by the way. Though surely there is a head-knowledge component. But Christian Education is a training of the heart in God's word more than anything. It is a spiritual matter, an exercise of faith. The sermon is less a classroom lesson and more a proclamation. So if you didn't “learn anything” on a given Sunday in church, that's ok. You're still hearing the word – and faith comes by hearing. And the central gathering of Christians for this endeavor is in our weekly worship.

But just as Moses implored the Israelites to eat, sleep and drink the Word in various ways, so we modern Christians have our own ways of fulfilling these commands. For about 100 years we've had something called “Sunday School”, in which we intentionally teach the Bible to our children at age-appropriate levels. Sure there's arts and crafts and fun and games, and if you're lucky some flannel-graph visual aids, but that's not what it's all about. It's about Jesus. It's about God's word. It's about teaching our children this precious heritage of faith that we have received, and which they will not receive in a world that has grown increasingly hostile. Thanks be to God for those who teach, and those who learn in our Sunday School classes.

We have for years hosted a Vacation Bible School – and engaged the wider community with an invitation to come hear and learn about Christ.

So also, we've established here, a Christian school. Like many Lutheran Churches, we recognize the value of providing this service to our own members and the larger community. What a blessing to learn not only the 3 r's, Latin and History, music and art – but to do it all alongside of daily training in the Word. And as a classical school, the children in our care also learn by great emphasis on repetition – and certainly by repeating and memorizing the Word of God. Thanks be to God for the blessings of Lutheran Schools, and of the School we are blessed to operate at Messiah. Apart from the ministry of Word and Sacrament, our school is our greatest mission and our primary cooperative undertaking as a congregation. Let us continue to support it through our prayers, our gifts, and our encouragement.

Ah, but what of the adults? Does Christian Education exclude those of us who have graduated from school, been confirmed in the faith, who've been Christians our whole lives and perhaps even have a Master of Divinity degree? By no means! Aren't we beyond all that? Are we past it all? Haven't we heard all this before?

Moses wouldn't have any of that. These words of God – his commandment and promises – ought to be on our hearts and minds as children, and on our lips also as adults. We are never to stop teaching them and rehearsing them and cherishing them. Nor ought we ever think we've mastered them. We are all disciples of Christ, that is to say, students. Or to use a more modern buzz-word, life-long-learners of the faith.

For our sinful nature is stubborn. Our Old Adam does not go gently into the night. He is hard-hearted and hard-headed. He needs the Law of God to continually expose his sin. He needs to be knocked off his perpetual pedestal of self-righteousness. If we could only just stop sinning – maybe it would be different. But as long as the flesh is with us, as long as sin clings to us, the law must teach us our true need for Christ.

But likewise the Gospel – it's not a one-time deal. Jesus sacrificial death for your sins, and his rising from the dead to destroy death for you – this isn't just the introduction to our faith, it's the meat-and-potatoes of our faith. It is the everyday joy and blessing, the living water of refreshment and the daily nourishment for our soul. The grace of God, the forgiveness of sins, the promises of peace and hope and life in Christ – Christians should be steeped in the good news. It is a daily blessing. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is our constant and sure stronghold against all storms of the world, assaults of the devil, and doubts of the flesh. Repeat, repeat, repeat the good news of Jesus. Hear it again and again and again. It's so good, this news never gets old.

(Catechesis) Hear from Dr. Luther about learning the catechism:

But this I say for myself: I am also a doctor and a preacher, just as

learned and experienced as all of them who are so high and

mighty. Nevertheless, each morning, and whenever else I have

time, I do as a child who is being taught the catechism and I read

and recite word for word the Lord’s Prayer, the Ten

Commandments, the Creed, the Psalms, etc. I must still read and

study the catechism daily, and yet I cannot master it as I wish, but

must remain a child and pupil of the catechism—and I also do so

gladly.(Preface to the Large Catechism)

If the great reformer can so humbly remain committed to his own Christian Education, and even in the simplest terms. If your own pastors remain students of the word. And your fellow Christians continue to join you as disciples and students of the Great Teacher, Jesus Christ. Then surely you also do well to abide in his word every day.

There's always more poking and prodding the law will do to you, exposing sins you didn't even know you had. Showing you the way of holiness God expects. And there's ever more grace to be seen in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Ever more mercy to be found in him, ever more blood to cover your sins. And so we teach the children. And so we learn, ourselves. And so we grow in knowledge and faith and fear of the Lord. To our last day, when the pastor at our bedside speaks those same precious words and prepares us to enter his courts forever. God's word is our great heritage, and shall be ours forever. In Jesus Christ. Amen.

Sermon - Pentecost 12 - 1 Kings 19:1-8

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1 Kings 19:1-8

“Food for the Journey”

Elijah was having a rough go of it. Sure he'd had his moment of glory. Actually, it was to the glory of God that the prophets of Baal were defeated in that famous contest on Mt. Carmel. You build your altar, I'll build mine to Yahweh, and we'll see which god is real. Yahweh sent fire down to consume Elijah's sacrifice, and the altar of stone as well – but Baal was silent, well, because he doesn't exist. And Elijah even had the 450 prophets of Baal put to death by the sword. For Elijah it was a great victory. A triumph, even.

But not when wicked queen Jezebel heard of it. She put a contract out on Elijah's life. And she meant business. She'd put many other faithful prophets of Yahweh to death already. Elijah would be just one more. But this once bold confessor who stood up to his opponents on Mt. Carmel and prayed for fire to come from heaven – and had faith to believe that it would – now turns into a coward and flees from the northern kingdom, flees even from the southern kingdom, flees all the way into the southern wilderness. Quite a contrast. Almost unbelievable.

Unless you read your bible. And you see the many other people of faith with their shocking ups and downs. Abraham's faith to sacrifice his son Issac, but his fear that the Pharaoh would kill him and take his wife. Moses' faith to stand before another Pharaoh but his self-glorifying fall when he struck the rock to get water. David's faith to fell the giant Goliath, remain faithful to a wicked king Saul, and fight the Philistines by their thousands, but his fall into sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. Even in the New Testament – the disciples of Jesus, especially Peter, are commendable in faith one minute, and faltering in fear and failure the next. They confess him, then they deny him. They believe him, then they doubt him. And so it goes. The Bible is full of these sinners and saints.

And the contrast is also observable in your life. You can seem to fight the good fight for a while, but then temptations come and you fold like a house of cards. One day your faith feels strong like a fortress, the next you feel the sand shifting beneath you. You're confident of grace and God's love in Christ over here, and right over there you forget it all, and despair and doubt. Like St. Paul who struggled between his flesh and the new creation, every Christian goes through it. Wretched man that I am! Who will save me from this body of death? Thanks be to God – for he does it – in Jesus Christ.

And so God is continually pointing us outside ourselves. He's continually surprising us with the Gospel, with his love, grace, mercy, and providence. He's continually speaking to you, sustaining you, providing for you, even feeding you.

Take Elijah again. He's out in the wilderness. Threatened by enemies, but now also hungry. Despair is getting the best of him. “O Lord, take away my life...” he prays. But God's not having it. He has work for him to do. He has plans for his servant Elijah. He will go to Horeb. God will speak to him there. And Elijah will return and face his foes again, to pronounce God's word of judgment.

And so God strengthens him for the journey. In the middle of this wilderness, he lets him rest, and he gives him bread. Not just once, mind you, but twice, he feeds the prophet. He sends an angel, a messenger, with food for strength and words of encouragement. Food that Elijah didn't prepare or even ask for, but God knew he needed. “The journey is too great for you”. But nothing is too great for our God, in him all things are possible. In him, and in Jesus Christ – we have food for the journey.

Jesus Christ is the living bread from heaven who sustains and feeds us with his very self. He gives us strength for the journey of this life, indeed he gives us this life, sustains us in this world of enemies and this wilderness of sin. He speaks to us through faithful messengers who set his word before us, for the journey is too great for us. He feeds us with his own body and blood, not just once, but as often as we do this in his remembrance.

He's not a point-you-in-that-direction and see-you-at-the-finish-line kind of Savior. He's a with-you-every-step-of-the-way Savior. An ever-present help in trouble. A constant friend. A faithful shepherd. He will not leave you alone, wandering. He promises to be with you always, not just when it seems like fun. And if that were not enough: He even sends you his Spirit, who guides, comforts, enlightens, encourages and even prays for you along the way.

If you are tempted to despair, or give up, if you have had enough of sin, death, and of their wake of destruction and the mess they bring into your world. If you are longing for death, or just to check out and not be bothered with your vocations. If you even question God's goodness and mercy, or think that maybe he's forgotten or forsaken you. Consider this.

The God who went to the great care of sending his own son, even giving him into death, he will not leave you to your journey without his aid. He's gone to far too much trouble for your salvation.

For Jesus' part, he, too was a prophet who made his share of enemies. He, like Elijah, made a journey into the wilderness of his own. Only Jesus wasn't running away, he was driven by the Spirit there, to face the ultimate enemy, and to prevail. There, in his hunger, the Tempter said, “turn these stones into bread”, but the Living Bread answered, “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”. There, in his 40 day journey, Jesus didn't despair, but he kept the fast and stood firm against temptation. And like Elijah, angels came and ministered to him.

Elijah sat under the small comfort of a broom tree, but Jesus labored under the shadow of another tree – a cross - a tree of suffering that had his name on it, that he would endure to end all suffering. A tree of curse, to reverse Adam's curse. A tree of judgment for the forbidden fruit of sin, by which he would win for us the fruits of righteousness again.

Elijah's journey wouldn't end in death, like he suggested. But Jesus' journey to the cross could only be to die. Yet he never turned away, never flinched, never failed to drink the cup appointed, or to bear the sentence that was pronounced. Mocked by men and forsaken by God, he truly was the only one left to bear that awful load.

How will God, who spared not his own son – how will he not also graciously give you all good things? How will Jesus, who endured all that suffering and such a bitter death – how will he not, also, graciously sustain you? He didn't do all this for nothing. He did it for you.

He did it because he knows the journey is hard. He knows you couldn't make it on your own – it's too great for you. But you, traveller, have a path and course marked out for you. You, wilderness wanderer, have a forerunner who's already stormed the gates of death and hell, and marked out the way back to paradise. Better than that, he doesn't just show you the way, he brings you with him. And he's with you all along the way, sustaining you come what may.

Enemies abound. The Devil rages and schemes for your demise. But what of that? You have shelter in the arms of Jesus. Death looms, and it may come for you. But what of that? For in Christ, death is but the gate to eternal life. The wilderness of the world is a wasteland of sin, violence, pain and sorrow. No matter. Jesus has the journey covered. He's with you every step. He'll even feed you along the way, over and over. And your destination is beyond comparing to this vale of tears.

The journey's too great for you. But not for Jesus. Come to his table today. Be fed once again. Remain in him, and your journey will be blessed.

Sermon - Pentecost 9 - Mark 6:30-44

July 22^nd 2018

“The God Who Feeds”
Mark 6:30-44

God loves to feed his people. From the very beginning, in the Garden, and planted trees with all kinds of fruit. God made sure to provide food for his people. He fed his people in the wilderness with a daily supply of manna – bread from heaven. He brought them to a land flowing with milk and honey. The Psalmist writes, “The eyes of all wait upon you, O Lord, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing” and in that beloved Psalm 23 “You prepare a table before me.”

And Jesus is the same, of course. Like Father, like Son. He loves to feed his people. So after a long day of teaching and preaching, he sees a hungry crowd. And he makes sure that they are fed. Miraculously so – he provides food for 5000 men, not counting women and children. And this wasn't the only time he fed a large crowd, either!

Our Savior teaches here, as he commands he disciples to gather the leftovers – he teaches his children not to waste his gifts. The crowd also teaches us, in that there was more than enough and they didn't hoard it. They gave back to Jesus from the abundance he gave them. And 12 baskets were leftover. How we, living in America today would do well to learn these lessons – don't waste, and don't hoard our physical blessings.

To be sure, passages such as this show us that God does care for our bodily needs. Even in the Lord's Prayer we are taught to pray for daily bread – those things we need to support this body and life. And God gives us way more than we need – just as there were many leftovers at the miraculous feeding of 5,000. As the Psalmist writes, “you prepare a table before me... my cup overflows”. And as we can see in our own lives – even in tough economic times, uncertain times - God provides for us more than we need.

He also provides more than we deserve. Adam and Eve didn't plant the garden or create the trees from which they ate. The Children of Israel didn't do anything but collect the bread God sent from heaven. The 5000 hungry hearers of Jesus simply sat down and received the gifts he gave that day. But none of them deserved it. Especially as sinners, we deserve nothing from God but sin, death and hell. We don't deserve a job, a family, a house, a car, nice clothes, shoes or toys. We don't even deserve the food that God graciously provides.

Notice, however, that food wasn't all Jesus gave that day. It wasn't even the most important gift. He had spent the day putting first things first – he fed the people with his Word. And here we see the spiritual sustenance that comes from the Good News of Jesus Christ is the real thing. Jesus says it himself, “Let's go over there so I can preach.... for that is why I came”. He didn't come just to fill people's stomachs. He didn't come only to heal and cast out demons, raise the dead, and give people what they felt they needed. He came to give us what we all need the most – whether we know it or not.

And that, is himself. He gives himself to us, and for us. He gives his very life – a body broken and precious blood shed for our greatest need... forgiveness. A renewed and restored relationship with God. And all the blessings that go with it.

You may feel your needs are different. How would you finish the sentence, “If I could ask God for just one thing right now, it would be.... _____”? But our greatest need is always Christ, and God has already said yes to that prayer. All other needs and wants and desires pale in comparison to the nourishment of our souls, the living bread from heaven, Jesus Christ.

But that doesn't mean we ought not pray to God for every earthly need. In fact, he's taught us to do so – to pray, “give us this day our daily bread”. And so we do. We pray for the needs of the body, the physical, the earthly, the everyday. We recognize that all of this also comes to us from the hand of a gracious God who loves to feed his people.

But this doesn't give us the right to be lazy. For the ability to work for our daily bread is itself a gift that God gives us. Work is one of the means through which he provides us what we need. And Paul warns the lazy man, “he who does not work, shall not eat!” Expecting God's provision as some sort of right or entitlement is just as wrong as expecting nothing from him at all, and thinking you are the giver of all good things. Rather, we recognize and give thanks for his gifts – also – by putting them to use faithfully. And that includes the ability to work.

Now, some of our hungers are ungodly. Some of our desires are for things sinful. These, God is not interested in granting. Instead these cravings are forbidden fruits. For these sinful desires we need, instead, to repent. Greed and lust, pride, and over-indulgence of our own creaturely comforts.... It can even be the need to be liked and loved, especially at the cost of our integrity. We have many sinful “hungers” and we must weigh carefully – to see whether what we want lines up with what God's word requires of us.

And Satan would love to fill our bellies with all sorts of garbage. Whether you call it “spiritual junk food” or see it as the dangerous poison it is.... he would deceive us into swallowing his lies and falling for his temptations. But these false foods bring death, not life. They leave us malnourished and sickly, or bloated with a false sense of fullness.

But there is a spiritual hunger that is good and godly. It is what happens when the sinner falls on his knees before Holy God and admits what we truly deserve, and what we truly need! Like when Peter preached his first sermon, and the people were “cut to the heart” and asked, “what shall we do?”

Believe and be baptized, he told them. And thousands of years later sinners who hunger and thirst for righteousness are doing the same. When the law cuts us to the heart, we are ready – we hunger to hear that sweet message of good news in Jesus Christ. We are ready to be fed. And God still provides.

And what good Lutheran can think of God feeding us without considering the Lord's Supper? The same Jesus who fed the crowd of 5000 with bread after feeding them with his word, is the same Jesus who by his powerful word feeds us and then feeds us again with his word attached to bread and wine. He feeds you bread and wine that is his own true body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. He feeds you often and freely. He feeds you with what you need the most – himself. He feeds you and this food gives life, and works salvation. He feeds you with a food just as miraculous as the fish and loaves. A food shared by all Christians, a table of angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. In this Holy Communion, he feeds well more than 5000 – indeed, he offers his heavenly bread to all.

One more gift Christ gives in connection to this meal. Just as he told the disciples to distribute the food to the crowd, so does he call pastors today, to minister, to serve, to distribute his gifts. “You give them something to eat”. The pastor feeds (and is fed) with the word. The pastor feeds the flock with the food he has received. It is a food only Christ can offer, but he offers it through simple, humble men, just as he gives it in simple words, and water, and bread and wine. It takes faith to see and believe that all this can and does happen. But such faith is also a gift from the provider of all good things.

So come to the table today. But don't come because it's just something to do. Don't come because everyone else is doing it. Don't even come because you should. Come because you feel the hunger. Come because you believe the promise – that this little wafer, and this bit of wine are what Jesus says they are. Come because he is present for you, here with forgiveness. Come because here, in this place, we find the one thing we need most. And our God loves to feed his people. O taste and see that the Lord is good, in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon - Pentecost 8 - Mark 6:14-29

“The Death of a Prophet”

Mark 6:14-29

We've heard what the people of Nazareth thought of Jesus. They weren't too impressed. They rejected him, to Jesus' own amazement. Now Mark tells us what Herod thinks about Jesus. This is the Herod Antipas, who is the son of Herod the Great – and it was Herod the Great who tried to kill Jesus when he slaughtered the children of Bethlehem. It was also the same Herod here, Antipas, who was in Jerusalem and before whom Jesus stood on trial. So the mention of the Herod name gets us thinking both backward and forward in the New Testament witness.

Herod has heard of Jesus. Word of Jesus must have been all the talk. The miracles that Jesus performed – well, Herod reasoned in his superstition that Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead to haunt him. And the message of Jesus was similar to the message of John the Baptist – repent, and believe! And so Mark gives us a flashback scene – and tells us what led up to this when it comes to John and Herod.

The story is kind of disturbing, isn't it? Especially when you have to teach it to children. It's kind of grizzly. But if you can get past that part of it, you might still wonder why Mark, inspired by the Holy Spirit, would tell us such a story.

It would make a pretty depressing movie, I think. There's no happy ending in which the little guy is vindicated. John, this nobody from nowhere, who had given up the creature comforts of life to live in the wilderness – John, a voice crying in that wilderness – whose message was growing and commanding attention. People were responding in droves, as the Pharisees commented, “all of Judea is going to him!” And John, the voice of accusation toward Herod – learns that calling out the king's sin is dangerous business. I guess oday some would call it, “speaking truth to power”.

“Herod you married your brother's sister! Repent!” And if it bothered Herod, it REALLY burned his adulterous wife, Herodias. She wanted this voice silenced. She wanted John out of the picture. And so she has Herod arrest him. Oh, she wanted him dead, too... but Herod feared to go that far. For he knew, somehow, that John was a righteous man.

The conscience is a funny thing, isn't it? You see it in action here with both Herod and Herodias. Both of them were sinners, just like the rest of us. Their sin just happened to be more public. But that didn't stop John from speaking the law to them, from calling a sin a sin. But who likes their dirty laundry aired out for all to see?

Imagine a modern day parallel scenario in which a pastor has to call out someone's sin. Perhaps a couple wants to get married, but has been living in sin together, and everyone knows it. And the faithful pastor tells them this is wrong, this breaks the sixth commandment, this dishonors God's gift of marriage. Ah, but this couple - they're ok with the pastor addressing sin in general but not getting too specific. They're ok when it's someone else's sin. When the pastor rails on the sins of the secular, godless world. But don't point to my sin. Don't shine the light on me! If you've been around churches long enough you know this sort of thing happens, and it doesn't always end with repentance and restoration as we hope.

Or the older person who needs a word of correction about their habit of gossip. Or the person who's attendance or giving hasn't been what it should. Or the person who's ok with most of what the Bible teaches, but still wants to hold this or that teaching at arm's length.

But don't kill the messenger! When a prophet, or now a pastor, speaks and warns you of sin, calls you to repentance, it's not to be a self-righteous so-and-so or an old-fashioned meanie-pants. This is for your own good. It's the fate of your soul that hangs in the balance. We want you to turn from sin, be forgiven, and live! We want your conscience to be clear and clean, and your spirit renewed. And we pastors need to continually hear these same words of law and gospel that we preach!

Herodias had probably already silenced her own conscience, but she couldn't quite silence John's mouth. Herod seemed to be going back and forth, caught between Herodias and his own conscience. So he compromised and locked John in the dungeon. But this wasn't good enough for Herodias. She wanted full and complete victory over the voice of the law. So she waited for her chance, and she used her own daughter in part of her scheme. And she tricked the king, and got what she wanted. John's head on a platter.

And look how this story also shows us, that sin often ensares other people into its nasty web. And here, adulterous Herodias even puts her daughter on shameless display to get her way. She uses her to commit murder, and drags her down with her. Sin is contagious and infectious, and it always has been, ever since Eve said, “I gave some also to my husband, and he ate”. You may think your sin is your own business, but you may not see how it affects others. And Jesus warns us harshly about those who cause little ones to sin – it would be better to have a millstone around your neck and be thrown into the sea.

You can kill the messenger, Herodias, but the message remains. The word of the Lord endures forever. You can quiet and muffle your conscience, you can surround yourself with people who will either mind their own business or even celebrate your sinful ways. But it doesn't change the verdict. Just has Herod was afraid Jesus was John come back to haunt him – our sins can still haunt us, even from years and years ago.

I remember one older gentleman who was dying, and made a special point to confess to his pastor what he called, “the sins of his youth”, things he had done some 60 years ago. It was ancient history. But not to him. They say time heals all wounds, but the wounded and stricken conscience is another story. David spoke similarly, “I know my iniquity, and my sin is always before me.” Paul wrestled with the evil he hated, but found himself doing anyway. “What a wretched man!” he called himself.

No, there's only one way to a truly clean and clear conscience, and it's not by killing the messenger. It's not by twisting or re-writing the law. It's not by ignoring it. The only way is forgiveness, and that forgiveness is only through Christ.

John was the fore-runner of Christ. The last of the prophets who got what prophets so often did for their work – death. Jesus called it “a prophet's reward”. From an earthly view, John's story wasn't a happy ending at all. But the spiritual reality is greater. John was the fore-runner of Christ, both in preaching repentance and faith, both in bringing a baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and also in suffering and even dying at the hands of the wicked and powerful. But while John was the greatest man ever born among men, he wasn't worthy to untie Jesus' sandal. While John died in faith, for faithfully preaching the word of God, Jesus died for much more.

You see, in the cross, Jesus accomplishes the forgiveness of all sins. And yes, that includes your deep, dark sins. It includes the sins of your youth and the sins of this minute. It includes the sins that would shame you before men, and the sins that only your conscience knows. It even includes those sins that God only knows. While John's head was brought as a trophy on a platter for Herod, Jesus' cross stands as a symbol of God's love and mercy for the world.

And while Herod superstitiously feared that John had risen from the dead and appeared again as Jesus – we know that Jesus really DID rise from the dead, and appeared to his disciples. But Jesus doesn't come back to haunt us, or to throw sin back in our face. He conquers death for us. To show us his word is true. To vindicate his sacrifice as acceptable to God. And to give us a preview of the resurrection that awaits us – life beyond death for all his people. When he appears to his disciples the first words out of his mouth are not, “Why did you leave me when I needed you the most?” or, “Peter, how could you betray me?”. The first words are, “Peace be with you.”

Jesus brings peace to the troubled, sore and weary conscience. He brings rest to those who would labor to earn their own way to God. He brings hope to those in the despair of a life that is a trail of sin's destruction.

And so, yes, John the Baptist lives, even though he died. And one day John will rise bodily with all the other believers, and with you, dear Christian, in the real ending of the story. For though you die, yet shall you live. Though your sins were as black as death, Jesus makes them white as snow. Though you face death all day long, Jesus wins you the crown of life. For Jesus is a live, and because he lives, we live. Because he declared “it is finished!”, sin really is finished, and death has no future.

Go in his peace. Amen.

Sermon - Pentecost 7 - Mark 6:1-13

Mark 6:1-13

Pentecost 7

“The Wow Factor”

You know, I'm not a math guy, I'm a word guy. I like to keep up with language, and observe how it changes and mutates. Not because I'm cool at all, but I think language is fun, and I like using new expressions. One newer expression you might have heard or used is when something is said to have a “wow factor”. It's a very descriptive way of saying it – that something is astonishing or amazing, even unbelievable.

The Grand Canyon has a wow-factor. A gourmet meal might have a wow-factor. An amazing basketball shot from half-court at the buzzer – there's a wow-factor. But the wow-factors in the Bible are way more wow-ish.

Today's reading from Mark has a couple of wow-factor moments. Jesus goes back to his home town, Nazareth. And with Jesus, there comes a wow-factor. He was doing amazing things. Healing, casting out demons. Astonishing, so far out of the box... and even moreso, he was teaching like no one else, with a wisdom and authority that brought astonishment to his hearers – another wow-factor. But that's when things turn....

They did not react the way you'd expect. They did not greet him joyfully, and turn to him in faith. They didn't even show him respect. Those people from the Nazareth synagogue were astonished by Jesus, but in a very different way. Their reaction: to take offense.

“Who does this guy think he is? Come in here, doing all these miracles, teaching all these things.... where does he get all this? He's no better than we are – we know his family, he grew up right here. We know what they whisper about how Mary was already pregnant before Jospeh married her. Sure, he's always been a little different, but he's one of us, and no one special. Who does he think he is, anyway?”

They are indignant. No doubt because Jesus was clearly calling sinners to repentance, like he so often did. No doubt these old “friends and neighbors” of his didn't take kindly to him calling them out for their sin. Jesus – along with his miracles, preached a message of repentance. He was calling them to repent!

Now, no one likes it, really, to have our sins pointed out. People often take offense at that. They might react with excuses or rationalization. They might try to deflect the blame to another “Hey it was the woman You gave me – hey it was that nasty serpent”. They might try to take the spotlight off of their own sins and say look at so-and-so who does the same thing, only worse. Or they may try to turn it all back on the accuser. “You're no angel, either, you know. What about YOUR sins, you hypocrite. Who are you to judge? Who do you think you are?”

Indignance. But the law offends. In fact, it kills. And it kills us, too. What really astonishes me is when a sinner is called to repentance – and turns from his sin! Like David, whom Nathan confronted, “You are the man! You slept with Bathsheba. You killed Uriah. You deserve to die by your own words of judgment!” But David responds, not in anger or blame or deflection or indignance. He repents. He confesses. “I have sinned” he humbly speaks. This is the wow-factor of a humble faith. This is not normal for a sinful human. It is a gift of the Spirit. When a sinner repents, we ought to say, “wow”! And rejoice with the angels in heaven.

But that's not the only astonishment in our reading. The next wow-factor is even more astonishing – because now it is Jesus who is amazed. He “marveled because of their unbelief”. I, for one, find it pretty amazing that even Jesus is amazed.

But it is amazing that people would reject what Jesus brings. Yes, he must have showed them their sin. But surely he also held out the promise, the invitation to come to him for mercy. Like he offered living water to the woman at the well. Like he offered new birth by water and spirit to Nicodemus. Like he called his own disciples, and prostitutes and tax collectors to trust in him and follow him. Like he had compassion on so many other sinners in their weaknesses and frailties and sins.

And yet, amazingly, some would reject such a gift. Some would, and some do, even today, turn a blind eye to his salvation, and a deaf ear to his word. I'm sure Jesus is still amazed at the lack of belief in our world. At the growing godlessness of a nation too wrapped up in everything but Christ. At the number of Christians who fall away and neglect the Sabbath day. At the bibles dusty from lack of use. At the churches that sit empty, while the bars and sports stadiums expand and multiply. This world is a mess. Sin, death, and the devil are having a field day. It's really rather amazing.

Now maybe you are, like I am at times, a bit jaded by all this. In a nation which permits the slaughter of the unborn, which invents and lauds same-sex marriage and undermines the marriage that God created, where school shootings seem to happen more and more, where poverty persists and diseases continue to wreak havoc. A world where people seem to invent new ways of sinning. Is anything surprising anymore? Is anything shocking? Maybe we ought not be so desensitized to the evil around us. Maybe we ought to continue reacting in shock to the brokenness of the world and the wickedness of our neighbors, and of ourselves. We were created good, even very good. But we seem to become every more evil. Does it shock you? Should it?

But here's some more wow-factor for ya. Look at the lengths to which Jesus will go to bring his salvation. Not just being rejected by his hometown synagogue, but much more. He will go to the cross. He willingly, of his own accord, lays down his life. He drinks the cup of God's wrath – for sinners – for all sins of all times – wow – even your sins. And God turns his back on Jesus. Wow. How does that even happen? And then, wonder of all, God, in the person of Jesus Christ, dies. The creator dies for the creature. He dies for you. What should wow you about that is his great love, that would go so far to save you, to forgive you.

We are wow'ed by a hero who lays down his life to save another. We award medals and bestow honors, we write songs about such heroes. Seldom will someone lay down his life for another, but maybe for a “good man” someone would bother. But wonder at this – Jesus did this for us when we were still enemies of God. Greater love has no one than he, for us.

Pile on some more wow-factor with the resurrection. And the Ascension. And the promise of our own resurrection, and our own joyful life with God forever. Wow. Think of what's in store for us, and be truly amazed.

Yes, with Jesus, there's constant amazement. And while some of it is unbelief, some of it is faith. While many will reject him, thanks be to God that by the power of the Spirit, we believers receive his amazing gifts with wonder.

There are many amazing things about this faith we have received. How can God be three and one? How can Jesus be God and Man? How can we be sinners, and yet saints? How can water do such great things in Baptism? How can Jesus' body and blood be truly here in the meal for each of us? And how can he forgive even sinners like me? Who is this guy?

We know, from the word, by the Spirit, that this wisdom comes from his Father in heaven. For he is the only-begotten son. And through him, all our offenses before God are nullified. By his cross, he does amazing things. And in his gifts, we are constantly wowed.

And it's also worth nothing the last section of our reading, where Jesus sends out the 12. Who are they, of all people, but a rag tag band of fishermen and ne'er do-wells? Amazing, astonishing that he should give them authority to preach and do miracles in his name. But he does much the same today, as he sends pastors to preach and administer the sacraments in his name, and as he sends all of us in our vocations to bear his name as witnesses to the world – witnesses of the amazing, wonderful, astonishing, marvelous things we have seen and heard and received, from Jesus Christ our Lord. Wow. He calls us, but he also sends us. Just, wow.

When it comes to Jesus, our words fail. But the Gospel never does. Even if some reject it, the wow-factor of his love and mercy remain. Thanks be to God for all of this, in Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Sermon - Pentecost 4 - Mark 4:26-34

Seeds!

Mark 4:26-34

So the city of Fort Worth needed to fix a leak right where the water comes in to the meter in front of my house. Of course they didn't tell me anything about it, just started digging up the little area of grass surrounding the meter – right out there by my mailbox. When they were all finished I had a brand new, non-leaking water meter. But where there was once some grass, now there was just dirt. I thought they might fix it – but I got tired of looking at it and decided to replant the grass myself.

I don't know much about horticulture or agriculture or even what the difference between those two really is. But I know that grass grows from seeds. And if you put the seeds down in some nice soil, and give it water, that those seeds ought to grow. And sure enough, a couple of weeks later, I've got some new grass peeking out from where I put the seed.

So it is with the kingdom of God. Jesus uses two seed parables today to illustrate different aspects of the kingdom. Or we might also say, of God's kingly activity in the world. For so often we have a tendency to make the kingdom of God all about us, or even about our work. But it's really always about him, what he does, how he acts, how he saves. Especially in Christ. Let's consider Mark's 2 seed parables this morning.

First, the Parable of the Growing Seed. A short parable, with a couple of points of comparison. Often in these parables we think of the seed as the word of God and the sower as God himself. But here, it seems more that the sower is not God himself, but a messenger – maybe a preacher or pastor. For the key is that the seed does what it does – mysteriously. It works according to its design and purpose, and the sower “knows not how”.

It also happens over time. I don't think there's any species of plant, in which you can plant the seed and watch the mature plant just pop right up before your eyes. It takes time. There's a process. First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear. All in good time. All in God's time.

There are some implicit accusations here for us, Christians. For one, we aren't always so content to live under the mystery of the kingdom's working. Sinners want control and information. We don't want to just blindly trust, but we want to know the how's and the why's of God's activity, or seeming lack thereof. We want to taste the fruit that is forbidden, and know good and evil, know what it's like to be like God.

But imagine a gardener who tried cutting open seeds to figure out their workings. Imagine him dissecting and examining and poking and prodding around in the seed, and then expecting the seed to grow. Or trying to tinker with the seeds and make corn grow cantaloupe or beans produce broccoli.

No, he plants that seed and goes about his other business. He rises and sleeps, day and night, blah blah blah. And lo, and behold, when the time is right – the growth comes. He knows not how.

And by way of a brief tangent - Perhaps here's also a small word of warning to our scientists who would seek to unlock the mysteries of life, the genetic code, the functions of the cell. While on the one hand God has given us the ability to study and understand much of the world he's created and put in our care – and we are even commanded to manage and rule it well. On the other hand, the astonishing design of life ought to bring us to humility as not only the heavens but also the microscopic world declares the glory of God, the creator. We know much more about how seeds grow, for instance, than we did hundreds of years ago. But the more we've learned, the more mysteries surface. And we're still far from being able to bring about life in the first place. All of this ought to humble us in our studies, and elicit a sense of awe at God's marvelous work of creation.

And finally, we ought to proceed with special care when it comes to tinkering with human beings in particular. Breeding plants or dogs or even creating new hybrids may bring stewardship questions, but when it comes to human beings we're in a different ethical ballpark, for humans are made in the image of God. And there is such a thing as “playing God”.

This first seed parable also indicts our sinful lack of patience with God's kingdom. I check the progress of my patch of grass every day- but it doesn't make it grow faster. The plants God designed come forth according to his design. So also his kingdom – as its word has effects that may take weeks, months, years to come to fruition. You may live to see those fruits or not, but no matter. Faith trusts the promise. God's word never returns void. It accomplishes his purpose. But on his timetable, and not necessarily on yours. How long, oh Lord? As long as it takes. In his good time.

Jesus also reminds us that there is a harvest time. Here is both a warning, and a promise. God's plan has an endgame, history has an expiration date, Christ will come again to judge the living and the dead. He'll separate the sheep from the goats, the wheat from the tares, and bring his harvest, his people, into his garner forever. This fallen world of suffering won't go on forever. Such is the kingdom of God.

And then take this second parable, perhaps more familiar, the parable of the mustard seed. One of the smallest seeds, but it grows one of the biggest plants – a huge bush with branches enough to accommodate all kinds of critters – nesting birds and whatnot.

Here the point is simple: the working of the kingdom starts small, but has great effects. It may begin with simple water and a few words, but it ends with a child of God living a life of faith and inheriting eternal blessings in the kingdom to come. It may begin with a simple preacher sent to proclaim Christ, and it may end with a church or churches where many believers continue to gather long after he's gone. It may start with one sinner who repents and is forgiven, and end with a multitude of those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

Or even better, that by one man, salvation comes to the entire world. It started small – with a promise of a seed of the woman that would crush the head of the serpent. God preserved his promise through the ages, and the ups and downs of Noah and Abraham, and the tribes of Israel, and the kingdoms of David and Solomon, through exile and back, under Greek and Roman conquest. They would sleep and rise night and day, through the centuries, as God nurtured his promise. And then Gabriel announced to Mary, that she would bear that offspring. And you'll call him Jesus.

Those who looked forward to him in faith are saved, and those who have not seen and yet have believed are greatly blessed. The good news of this God in the flesh would start with a small band of about 120 disciples, and go forth from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, and even to the ends of the earth. That believers from every nation would flock to this church like the birds nesting in the safety of the mustard bush.

And he, Jesus, also compared himself to a seed:

And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  John 12:23-24

Yes, the seed of the woman so long promised would indeed crush the serpent's head, but by the bruising of his own heel: The seed had to die. Just as the wheat falls into the earth and dies – so Jesus suffered, died, and was buried. But death could not hold him, and he sprouted from the grave with new life – not just for himself – but the fruits of his resurrection bring a resurrection to all who are in him. We haven't seen the complete fruition yet. But we will at the final harvest.

Until then, we live in our baptism, dying and rising daily in Christ. Until then, we are nurtured at his table, toward the fruits of faith in God and fervent love for one another. Until then, we too cast seeds as we are able, according to our own stations and vocations, and sleep and rise night and day – in the peace that knows not how God works, but trusts him to do it nonetheless. Thanks be to God in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Sermon - Pentecost 3 - Mark 3:20-35

Spiritual Reality:  The Household of Satan and the Family of Christ.
Mark 3:20-35

The real battle we Christians face is not against flesh and blood.  Our enemies are not the people of a nation, or a political party, or some earthly organization.  Paul teaches clearly in Ephesians 6:12

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

As with so many ways in which Christians see the world differently, we realize the real problems in life are not lack of education, lack of empowerment, faulty tax policies or anything like that.  Our real struggle, our real problem is a spiritual one.  We struggle against spiritual enemies – Sin, Death and the Devil.  And these three really go together.

Sin is the spiritual corruption that separates us from God.  It began when we despised his word and acted against it.  It continues when we do the same.  But it is first and foremost a spiritual thing.  You can see sin's effects in the sinful actions that we commit.  But even before you see it sin is there.  It's inherited.  It corrupts our nature.  It's our default mode.  It shapes our deeds, but also our words and our very thoughts.

And sin and death go together.  The wages of sin is death.  Death is what sin deserves.  But death, too, is also a spiritual thing first and foremost.  We die, physically, when our spirit separates from our body.  We died, spiritually, when our spirit separated from God.  For Adam this happened in the garden.  For us, we are conceived and born under the cloud of death, already under its reign because of sin.  Death is physical, too, to be sure – just as sins can be physical.  But death is first and foremost a spiritual thing.

And then there's the Devil.  Our great spiritual foe.  The one who slithered into the garden and fathered all lies (that's what Beelzebul means- “father of lies”) with his original lie, “you will not die”.  Since then his venomous poison has been pumping through the veins of all of Adam and Eve's children.  Since then he's been warring against God and his people at every turn.  He is a spiritual foe.  He wants nothing more than the spiritual victory. 

And he will use any means to achieve it.  If it means stripping you of physical life and limb, goods, fame, child and wife – he will try it.  If it means making you fat and sassy, living in the lap of this world's luxury so that you are blind and numb to the spiritual realities – he will try it.  If he can lie and tell you your sins are too great to be saved, that'll work for him.  Or if he can lie and tell you that you don't sin, or sin much, or that your sins aren't that bad at all.  Well, he'd be happy with that too.  If he can convince you to despise God's word just as he convinced your first parents – then he will do so happily and gladly.  Our struggle is not against flesh and blood.  It's a spiritual struggle.  And the chief opponent is the ancient serpent who works through sin and revels in death.

In Mark 3, here comes Jesus.  And he's created somewhat of a dust-up.  He's been away for a while – baptized by John, performing miraculous healings, casting out demons, gathering a great crowd of followers, and appointing 12 apostles.  And now he's come home to Nazareth.  And there's a stir.  The crowd is so great and there's such a fuss, he can't even find some peace to sit down for a bite to eat.

But his family wasn't pleased.  This was conduct unbecoming of a carpenter, and of this quiet and pious Jewish family.  Jesus is the firstborn son!  He's got work to do.  He's got responsibilities.  He's not supposed to be wandering around and causing all this hub-bub.  So they  reasoned, he must be out of his mind.  Mentally ill.  Let's go bring him home and hopefully he'll snap out of this soon.

But he's not crazy.  He's the Messiah.  He's not out of his mind.  He's the Holy One of God.  If there were no spiritual aspect to all this, if it was only what the eyes could see and the ears could hear, then maybe his family would be right.  In fact if Jesus were doing some of the same things in today's day and age, they might put him in a mental health facility and prescribe psychotropic medication.   But his family - they've got him all wrong.

So do his opponents – the scribes.  They came all the way from Jerusalem to see what the Jesus business was about. Surely they'd heard the stories and accounts of miracles and wonders.  But their answer was different.  Rather than deny the miracles and or paint Jesus as a lunatic, their suggestion was perhaps worse.  That he's of the devil.  That he's casting out demons by the power of the devil.  That he himself is possessed by Beelzebul!

And what a twisted view of Jesus this is.  It can only arise from a deep spiritual problem.  A deep-down, tooth-and-nail, stubborn-as-a-mule refusal to believe in Jesus.  And so they end up calling good evil, and accusing the Son of God of being possessed by the devil.

This is not too different from the opponents of Christ today – who would cast the Christian faith as some backward, intolerant, even wicked worldview.  They effectively call us “of the devil”, though many don't even believe in a devil.  They reject Christ and therefore conclude he, and his people are either crazy or evil.  And maybe even you, Christian, have been on the receiving end of this, one way or another.

As you would expect, Jesus cuts through the lies.  “How can Satan cast out Satan?  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand!”

His case is this:  it's not true, and it makes no sense that Satan is behind all this.  Because look how through Jesus, Beelzebul's work is coming undone.  But in fact his house and kingdom of Satan are falling.  They are coming to an end. And this is only a glimpse of it.  There's much more to come.  One way to describe the work of Jesus is just that – to destroy the devil's kingdom.  To bring down the house of Satan and leave it in shambles.  To conquer him, destroy him, stomp him like a bug.

That's the picture painted for us in Genesis.  In the very first promise of a savior, a promise God makes to us while cursing the ancient Serpent himself – we know that the seed, the offspring, the one singular descendant of the woman would crush the head of the serpent, though the serpent would bruise his heel.  This is Jesus!  Jesus is the seed of the woman.  The Son of Man.  The one offspring who stands as champion for all of the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve.  The one descendant of the promise of God who would fulfill this and every promise of salvation. 

Jesus crushes Satan.  Not just by casting out demons and healing diseases.  Not just by standing up under three-fold temptation in the wilderness.  But by perfectly obeying the law of God his entire life, and obediently laying down his life as a sacrifice for sin.  These are all spiritual things.

Jesus doesn't throttle the demons with his own bare hands, he casts them out by the word.  He doesn't wrestle with the devil physically, but defeats him spiritually, also through the word.  And on the cross, to outward eyes it certainly appears Jesus is a loser, a victim, powerless and hopeless.  He's physically bound, beaten, and nailed to the tree.

But by that very cross Jesus fulfills the words of God, the promises of salvation for the world, and that shameful cross becomes the very weapon of Satan's undoing.  It may has well have been driven like a nail through the serpent's head.  So complete is Jesus' victory and the devil's defeat.

Jesus uses a mini-parable here to drive home the point.   “No one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man.  Then indeed he may plunder his house.”  Jesus affirms that Satan is a “strongman”.  He is a force to be reckoned with – and certainly far stronger than we poor humans.  But Jesus is the stronger man.  There's really no comparison.  It's not like it's even close.  And he has come to take and plunder the devil's goods, his kingdom, his prisoners. 

Yes, you, Christian, are the plunder.  Jesus steals you away from the clutches of the devil even as he freed the people who were plagued by possession.  He breaks the chains of sin and death – those bonds in which the devil had you all wrapped up tight.  He leads you out in an exodus of your own, passing through the waters of baptism, onto the shores of his own promised land, his own kingdom, his own household.

And having won you, he will also keep you.  For no one - not sin, not devil, not even death - can snatch you out of his hand.  No one can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  He's that strong.  He's that good.

Though it may seem otherwise to you.  To physical eyes and ears you may still appear imprisoned by sin, death, and devil.  You still do wrong things, think wrong thoughts, say wrong words.  You're still tempted and perhaps even oppressed by the prince of this world and the father of lies.  And one day, you will physically die.  To all outward appearances, even Jesus couldn't stop it.  But don't be deceived.  See the spiritual reality.

Jesus' next move shows that he understands what the battle is all about. This spiritual struggle is all about sin – and the forgiveness of sin.  If the children of man want freedom from the strongman's power, that freedom comes only by the forgiveness of sins.  If you want to be out from under the devil, then your sins must be forgiven.  If you want to fear death no more – then let's ake the sting out of death by the forgiveness of sins.  And that, of course, is just what Jesus does. 

Not all would receive such a gift, mind you, and despising his forgiveness by blaspheming his Spirit is still possible.  But it's the only sin he won't forgive.  Only rejecting Christ, his Spirit, his forgiveness is unforgivable.  Every other sin is forgiven.  So receive his forgiveness with joy.

And finally, Jesus mother and brothers – perhaps those same family members who tried to seize him before – the same ones who thought he was crazy – the come and call him, they seek him out.  Now he's not denying they are who they are, the physical reality of family.  Nor is he teaching us to do so.  But he's getting at the deeper, the spiritual reality.

“Who are my mother and my brothers?  Here are my mother and my brothers.... whoever does the will of God”  That is to say, the family of faith. For the will of God is that sinners come to repentance and faith in Christ.

You've heard the saying that blood is thicker than water.  Family relationships run deeper, last longer than any friendship.  Or so the saying goes.  And in an earthly sense that's mostly true. But here Jesus goes deeper than blood to the connection of the family of faith.  Those who believe and trust in him are united in a bond thicker than blood.  They are his true family, his true mother and brothers.  They are his forever.  They are part of his spiritual family, and the spiritual counts for more than that which is of this world.

This also means that you are part of that family.  For you who are baptized and believe in Christ are his brothers and sisters.  You are united with him.  Being saved from the devil – but not just to aimlessly wander.  Rather, Jesus gives you a place in his house – even a place forever.

The Christian church is a foretaste of this.  One day we will be united with Christ and all believers in the kingdom that is to come, the kingdom of glory.  For now, we are part of the kingdom of grace that sees physical expression here in the church, on this earth.  Here, we find the other brothers and sisters of the family – even in this little corner of the church. 

So the spiritual reality ought to inform how we act, so our convictions of faith ought to direct what we do.  Love one another, Christians, Messiah family, for you are united with Christ and one another.  Don't be divided from your fellow Christian – there ought to be no “us and them” in the church – for a house divided cannot stand! Together we are forgiven and freed from the Devil's kingdom.  Together let us continue to love and serve and work together, doing the will of God.

Being a Christian means faith in Christ. But that also means we will see the spiritual realities that others can't, and won't.  Sin, death and devil seek to destroy us but the reality is they are defeated by Christ and his cross.  Rejoice in this spiritual reality with your spiritual brothers and sisters of the faith.  Freed from the Devil's house, and living forever in the family of Christ. 

Amen.

Sermon - Trinity Sunday - John 3:1-17

The Mystery of the Trinity

Mystery movies, mystery books, novels, short stories.  They're a popular genre of entertainment.  Whether you like Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew or Agatha Christie or a police drama like Law and Order.  There's something about the plot of a mystery story that appeals to many people.  You try to figure out, as it all unfolds, whodunnit.  But you don't know for sure, until the payoff at the end, and the mystery is solved or revealed and all the questions fall into place.  Of course, there's often a twist and sometimes questions left unanswered, or even a cliffhanger to get you interested for the next story or episode.  But so it goes.

The Christian faith claims a number of mysteries of its own.  The English word “mystery” is rooted in the Greek word “mysterion”, which appears about 27 times in the New Testament.  But it doesn't mean the same thing as a modern mystery novel.  In scripture, a mystery is truth that can't be understood by human reason, but instead must be apprehended by faith.

For instance, when Paul talks about the resurrection of the dead on the last day, he begins, “Behold, I tell you a mystery – we will not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet”.  He speaks of marriage as a mystery, in Ephesians 5, in that it is a earthly picture of the blessed union between Christ and his bride, the church.

And then there are those doctrines that the church draws from scripture that have the same quality of mystery.  The incarnation:  How can God become man?  The nature of the sacrament of the altar:  how can Christ be truly present in the bread and wine?  And perhaps one of the greatest scriptural mysteries of all – the doctrine of the Trinity.  God is three.  God is one.  It defies reason.  It is a mystery.  It is hidden from the eyes of reason and logic – but revealed to the eyes of faith.

Nicodemus came to Jesus by night – presumably to hide himself in the cloak of darkness and not be seen by his peers.  Perhaps if he didn't like what Jesus had to say, he could slip away just as quietly.  But Nicodemus was also under a fog of heart and mind.  God seemed to be with Jesus, but he wasn't too sure.  Like so many, even as a teacher of Israel, he couldn't penetrate the mystery of Jesus.

Your sinful nature is much the same as his.  Nicodemus is an everyman in a sense, bringing his questions, doubts, opinions and ideas to Jesus.  We come in the fog of sin and unbelief.  We labor under the darkness of doubts.

If God is good, why does he allow evil?  If God loves me, why is he letting me suffer?  How can I know for certain that all this is true?  What if we really did evolve from monkeys, and what if death is really the end, and what if Jesus didn't rise from the dead, and so on, and so on. 

And what does it matter that God is three, or one, or 53 or 2 trillion?  How can Jesus be begotten of the Father but not created?  And how can the Spirit be sent, but not begotten and what difference does that make? 

What do you mean, be born again, Jesus?  How can a man be born when he's already old? You mean I should enter the womb again?  But the mystery is this – you must be born of water and the spirit to see the kingdom.  Baptism is also not to be understood, but received by faith. 

Baptism isn't your work or doing, any more than you engineered your own birth.  It happened to you.  It defined you, and still does.  It's not your testimony or promise to God, but rather his testimony about and promise to you – to make you his child, born of the Spirit, born under grace and no longer the law.  Buried with Christ, and raised with Christ so never to die again.  All of this in simple water and word – it takes faith to receive and apprehend.  It's a mystery to be received, not explained.

But don't just gape and marvel at this mystery, Nicodemus.  For the mysteries continue – take the Spirit.  He moves when and where he wills.  You can't see him, you can't contain or comprehend him.  But like the wind – you can see his effects.  You know he's moving, affecting things, in his time, in his way.  This takes faith to see.  This is a mystery.  It is a heavenly thing.

Anywhere the Word of God is proclaimed, the Spirit is at work – convicting the world of sin and righteousness and judgment.  Anywhere the seed of the Gospel goes forth, the Spirit brings the effects and purposes he desires.  Often hidden to us, even for years, or never to be seen – faith trusts the word and the Spirit who works through it. 

The Father is also mysterious – in that no one has ascended to see him.  No one can speak first hand about what the Father is like, except for the Son, who came from heaven.  And that the Father would love the world, such that he would send his only Son – is a mystery.  Why would a holy and just God act in love toward wicked and rebellious people?  Why would he send this Son to save the world, rather than to condemn it?  It's surely not what the world deserves.

But the Son is sent.  And the Son is born.  And the Son is lifted up – in another great mystery.  Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, and all who looked to it lived – so is Jesus lifted up on the cross, lifted up before the world, so that all who look to him in faith live.  All who receive the mystery need not fear the venom of the great serpent.  All who trust in his promise have eternal life. 

And so the church confesses the doctrine of the Holy Trinity, and notice how we say it – we don't “understand” the Trinity.  We don't “explain” it.  We can't take it apart and put it back together.  Rather, like all the mysteries of God, we receive it – and we confess it.

This is why we have these creeds – the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian.  To summarize what scripture teaches about God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  And to set forth and confess – that is, to echo and re-tell – what God has said about himself.  He is Father, he is Son, he is Holy Spirit.  But each person distinct, and yet one God united.

In fact we go wrong if we try to explain beyond what scripture teaches.  We go astray if we overanalyze the mystery or subject God to our rules of logic.  It is an exercise in humility, for us to recognize he is so far above and beyond our limited and corrupted natures.  It is an exercise in faith to say, “I don't understand it, but if God said it, I believe it”.

So it is with his Triune nature, so it is also with his works and his promises.  His work of creation – we can seek to understand to an extent, but we can easily go wrong if we think we know better than he does how it happened.  Rather, we receive the mystery that the world was made in six days and he rested on the 7th. 
His work of redemption – how can we explain or comprehend the love that Christ has for us, that he would endure the cross, scorning its shame, for the joy set before him – the joy of accomplishing our salvation!  This gift is simply to be received. 

And likewise the gifts of his Spirit, many and varied as they are – sanctifying us even though reason and observation say we're not so holy.  But faith trusts the word, that faith a gift of the spirit.  And faith says, though I'm a sinner, God says I'm a saint.  I don't get it.  But I believe it.  I confess the mystery.

No, when it comes to mysteries, Agatha Christie has nothing on the Triune God.  He's not a riddle to be solved or a puzzle to be mastered – but his nature is a mystery to be confessed.  And his work his a whodunnit of a different sort – for he has accomplished salvation for us, in Jesus Christ.  And you are baptized into his name – Father, Son, and Spirit.  God grant us the continued grace to receive it, and believe it.  Amen.

Sermon - Easter 7 - John 17:11b-19

John 17:11b-19
“Jesus Prays”

I'm a pastor, as you know.  And partly because I often wear the uniform in public, I will have people occasionally stop me and want to talk.  It leads to some interesting conversations.  But often times those people will ask me to pray for them.  I think many times, they must reason (mistakenly) that a pastor is more holy than the average person, or that my prayers have some special conduit to God.  Or maybe, they simply assume that I will actually be inclined to pray and follow through on it.  Whatever the reason I'm happy to do it.

I've said it before, that one of the pastor's jobs and greatest privileges is to pray for his people.  Your pastors do pray for you, the members of our congregation.  And we do it far more than you know.  We do it both collectively and individually.  We pray intentionally and as occasions come up.  We don't always tell you.  Perhaps we should tell you more often.  But it is one way the under-shepherd cares for the sheep.  And we're glad to do it.

By the way, on this mothers day, we might also mention that one of the best and greatest works a mother does for her children is to pray for them.  Even when they are grown and gone, and there seems nothing much left she can do for them in their busy lives, a Christian mother still prays for her children, her family. 

But here today is something far better than having another Christian, or even a pastor pray for you.  It's better than having all the pastors pray for you all the time.  In our Gospel reading, Jesus prays.  And he prays not only for his disciples, he prays for you, too.  What prayer could be better than his prayer?  What petitions could be more appropriate or necessary?  Who has your best interest in mind as much as Jesus?  Who can be more certain to be heard, than the beloved Son of the Father from eternity?

In John 17, Jesus prays – we call it his “great high priestly prayer”.  Because one job of the priest is to pray, to intercede, to serve as a go-between, representing the people before God.  Jesus, the greatest such advocate, the highest high priest that ever was – prays.  John 17 records this prayer, which Jesus would have prayed on Maundy Thursday as part of his “Farewell Discourse” in John 14-17.  Let's consider exactly what Jesus prays for, when it comes to his prayer for his disciples, and for you:

First, he prays to his Father, “Keep them in your name”. To be “kept” and guarded in the name of the Father is no small thing.  God's name itself is a great treasure and privilege to know, but even more so that he places his name upon us.  And though Jesus doesn't say it here, it's also true – that we receive the name of the Father, Son AND Holy Spirit.  That triune name is placed upon us in baptism.  And it comes with promises.  Forgiveness, life, salvation – all belong to us in his name.

The name of the Father is a prominent concern for Jesus.  It's the first petition in the other famous prayer of Christ – the Lord's Prayer.  “Hallowed be thy name”.  Luther explains the meaning – that God's name, which is certainly holy in itself, would also be kept holy among us.

All of this ought to teach us many things.  That the name of God is kept holy, placed first and foremost.  That our regard for God, who he is and what he does, should be of highest priority.  That no other gods ought to come before him.  That nothing false should be taught about him, or in his name.  That we regard his name as holy, along with everything that bears it.  And that we, who bear that name, live up to it – keeping ourselves from sin, and trusting in his grace when we fail.

But Jesus prays that God will do the keeping.  Which only makes sense.  Just as God alone does the saving, so does God alone do the keeping of us in the faith. 

Jesus' second request is tangential to that.  He prays that his disciples would be kept, in order that, or with the effect being this:  that they may be one.  Unity.  Oneness.  It is something to be desired for Christians.

Of course, it's something that is often lacking.  Not just with the disciples who argued which one was the greatest, or who competed for thrones at Jesus' left and right hand.  But also with all his people who suffer from the divisions that sin causes.  “I follow Paul, I follow Apollos, I follow Cephas”, the Corinthians argued.  And even today, we see the sad divisions of Christianity on the macro and micro scales.  From the divisions of denomination – down to the fractured relations of individual Christians.  Jesus wants none of it.  He prays against it all.  He desires “that they may be one”. 

Outwardly, we don't see Jesus' prayer being answered.  It seems that as time goes on, there's ever more and more division in the Church.  There's less oneness and more scattering and breaking apart.  But let's remember a few things.  One, the church is not truly divided.  All who have true faith in Christ are members of the body, one, holy, Christian and apostolic church.  The universal, the invisible church, the whole number of believers in Christ from all tribes, nations, places and times.  There is a oneness, a unity that supersedes even the outward divisions that set us against each other.  There will be, on the last day, only sheep and goats – not Lutheran sheep, Baptist sheep, Anglican sheep, and non-denominational sheep.

But on the other hand, we must acknowledge, here in these last days, that these divisions are caused by sin and false belief.  And we ought to strive to avoid them when we can.  We ought to be reconciled with our brothers when one sins against another.  And we ought to seek the truth as best we can find it, and attach ourselves to that confession of faith that gets God's word right.  It's not as though the differences are indifferent.  God's word matters.  Unity is based on the truth.  And to the extent that we can, we ought to purse it here – in fulfillment of Christ's own prayer, “sanctify them in truth – your word is truth.”

Satan would divide us over things that don't matter, and teach us false unity where true divisions exist.  He will tell you God's word doesn't matter, but how you look does, or where you come from.  Don't be fooled.  Unity is found in the truth.  And Jesus desires it for all his people.

Next Jesus prays for us to have joy.  Not just any joy, but his joy fulfilled in ourselves.  We Christians often distinguish between happiness and joy.  Happiness, a fleeting emotion that comes and goes based on the happenstance of the moment.  But joy – a deep and abiding cheer based on the promises of God in Christ – a delight of heart that knows all these passing troubles are not the end of the story.  Jesus has joy.  His greatest joy, the greatest joy of the Father and the angels in heaven, is when the sinner repents and believes and is saved.  Nothing pleases him more.  And so also our joy must follow.  For our joy is derived from his. 

Our joy, first of all, is in the salvation Christ has accomplished at the cross.  It's in the resurrection, by which he destroyed death.  It's in the promise of our own resurrection and the life of the world to come, paradise restored, all things made new.  No matter how bad life gets, no matter how dark the night of sin, we know that a better day will dawn.  Our joy will be fulfilled and completed in the kingdom that is to come.  There, God himself will wipe every tear from our eyes. 

The joy that he has, the joy that is fulfilled in us, we wish to see fulfilled in others.  This is why he sends us into the world.  This is the mission impulse of the Christian church.  Joy abounds, overflows, it goes forth into the world.

But the world is a dangerous place.  The world hates Christ, that is, the unbelieving world.  And those who hate Christ hate also his disciples.  We are not of the world any more than he is.  But we are in it.  We are subject to all the venom the world spits at us, all the seething rage of those who hate Jesus but can't get to him, but they can get to us.

Moreover, there is the evil one.  The roaring lion always on the prowl.  Jesus knows the opposition we face.  He knows the pitfalls and perils of persecution.  In praying this way, he also warns us of it, just as he often warned the disciples.  But he also shows his desire to keep us, and have the father keep us, in the midst of so many dangers. 

Being kept from the devil and the evil world doesn't mean you won't have problems.  Look at all the problems the devil was allowed to create for poor Job.  No, being kept from the devil means being kept from the only real harm the devil can do to you.  And it is what he wants most of all – to destroy your faith.  To lead you away from Christ.  To bring you, in misery, into his company – and to share in his final judgment and punishment.  Sure the devil and the world delight in seeing the faithful suffer – but all the more if they can turn that suffering into despair and unbelief.  If they can convince you that God hates you, has forgotten you, or is himself just a big lie.

Jesus prays for you, but he doesn't just pray.  He goes a long way toward answering his own prayer.  He dies and rises to accomplish salvation so that you are kept in the name of the Father.  He teaches his disciples his word, and sends them to all corners of the world with the Gospel.  That message of Christ crucified is the power of God for salvation, and the root and source of the deepest joy – his joy, fulfilled in you.  And Jesus sends his Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the Helper, to enlighten you with his gifts, and to lead you into all truth. 

That's his last request in this prayer, his final petition, “sanctify them in your truth”.  Make them holy by your word.  Set them apart from the world, even apart from their own sinful flesh – by the power of your promise.  So Jesus prays, and so God the Father does, by the working of the Spirit.  So the Triune God does through the blessings of baptism, and in the absolution of every repentant sinner. 

Jesus prays, and he prays for you.  He prayed his high priestly prayer on that Holy Thursday, and he continues to intercede for you with the Father even now – from his high throne in heaven.  And if the prayer of a righteous man has great power in its effects, how much more, how much comfort is there in knowing that the Son of God and Son of Man, the God of Gods who is one of us, the Ruler of all things – is on your side, has your benefit in mind, and wants every good blessing for you?  Jesus prays.  And we say, Amen.

Sermon - Easter 6 - 1 John 5:1-8

Water, Blood and Spirit crying, by their witness testifying to the one whose death defying life has come, with life for all.

Water, Blood, Spirit. The three that testify of Christ, John writes in this epistle. They are in agreement. There is unity of voice. But what does each entail? And how are they connected? Let us ponder this morning, Water, Blood and Spirit.

The water is the water of Baptism. Jesus' own baptism, first of all, where the Spirit made an appearance as a dove. There, the Spirit descended on him, anointing him, setting him apart publicly as the Messiah. It was Jesus' ordination, as it were. And the Spirit testified at the Jordan along with the voice from heaven that this man, Jesus, is the Son of God.

But the water is not without the blood. Jesus was baptized not for his sins, but to fulfill all righteousness. Jesus was baptized, not for his sins, but for your sins – to take them upon himself. Jesus was baptized to identify with sinners, and even eventually that he who had no sin would be made to become sin for us. And there's only one place those sins could end up – at the cross.

The water is not without blood. Luther called the Baptism of Christ “blood-stained water”. Baptism means death. Can you undergo the baptism I am to undergo? He asked James and John.

And then there's our baptism. Usually a cute little baby dressed in a pretty white gown. A happy occasion. A time for rejoicing. But it is also a death. The Old Adam in us is drowned in those waters. The flesh is crucified with Christ, buried with Christ. Baptism is an end – even as it is a beginning. It is our new birth, our second birth. There we die, but we also rise with Christ. The water testifies – that is, the water combined with God's word of command and promise – the water testifies that the Christ who was baptized for us, the Christ who faced the baptism of the cross for us – is now united with us, and we with him.

The blood. The second witness in this passage. The blood of Christ which testifies to him, of him. It is like unto the blood of the passover lamb, which stood as a witness on the door posts “death, do not come to this house”. The blood of Christ testifies that the wages of sin have already been paid by him.

The blood of Christ – speaking a better word than the blood of Abel, which cried for vengeance. But the blood of Jesus, for our pardon cries.

The blood of Christ, the blood of the lamb, by which the heavenly multitudes was their robes and make them white and clean. There was blood on their hands, on your hands. It shows, testifies of our guilt. It makes us unclean. But the blood of Christ washes away the bloodguilt of man. It testifies of forgiveness.

The blood of Christ, sprinkled over the nations – a better blood than all the blood of beasts on Jewish altars slain. None of that animal blood could ultimately wash away sin's stain. But the blood of Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God, flows through time and space to cover the sins of all people. It is a rich, saving flood.

That same blood, shed on the cross, now comes to you in the chalice. It comes with his body in the bread, and for your forgiveness, life and salvation. It is not the blood and the body of a dead man, but the blood and the body of the living Christ. It is not the blood and body of a judgment upon you, but by faith, it is the very medicine of immortality, and foretaste of the feast to come. The fruits of his cross, given and shed for you. And every time you eat this bread and drink of this cup – you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. That is to say, you witness, you testify. Water, Blood and Spirit – all testify. And now you, along with them.

Finally the Spirit. The Spirit is always testifying of Christ. He is the Holy Spirit, but also the Spirit of Christ. He shows Christ, points to Christ, leads to Christ, creates faith in Christ. I cannot believe in Christ on my own, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel. The Spirit leads the church into all truth. He “parakletes”, encourages the church militant on the field of battle. Always directing our eyes to Jesus, the champion of the fight.

And he shows us the cross – where from the Body of Jesus poured forth blood and water when they pierced his side. Where Jesus gave up his spirit into the hands of the Father.

The cross. The only place the sinner can look for hope, forgiveness, life. The Spirit points us there. But the blessings of the cross are poured forth in the water of baptism. They are served in the blood and body given in wine and bread. They are shown forth by the Spirit who works through the word of God.

The word. The Spirit and the word also go together. Where there is the word of God, the Spirit is working. And we ought not look for the Spirit's testimony apart from the word. When John tells the church to test the spirits, he means us to test them against the Word. Generally, the confession of Jesus – who came in the flesh. But more specifically, the Spirits are tested against the prophets, against Moses, and now even against the Evangelists and Apostles – who have written their testimony of Christ in the words of the scriptures. Any Spirit that contradicts these is not the Holy Spirit. Any testimony that is against these, is against Christ. For the Spirit is truth. Christ's word is truth, even as he is the way, the truth, and the life.

What about this “spirit of antichrist?” John says it's coming into the world, and yet, it's already arrived. It is any Spirit that confesses contrary to, against Christ. Any Spirit, for instance, that would tell you Christ isn't the only savior. Any Spirit that tries to tell you your sins aren't that bad. Any spirit who tries to convince you that you can save yourself. Any spirit that says you can cooperate with God in salvation. Any Spirit that points you away from the grace given in baptism, any spirit that denies the gifts of Christ set forth in the Lord's Supper. Any spirit that makes man-made rules the standard of Christian living, and twists or changes God-made commandments.

The Spirit of the antichrist is particularly and most shockingly found, even in the church – as false spirits try to lead away the faithful, if they could. This is one reason the Lutheran Reformers identified the office of the pope as “antichrist”. The pope who claims divine authority, the vicar – or substitute- of Christ on earth. The one who makes false claims about Christ and denies salvation by God's grace alone, even to this day. The true testimony of the Spirit says otherwise.

The spirit of the antichrist is a spirit of the world. And, little children, you are different from the world that is set against Christ. You have Christ within you. And he has overcome the world, therefore, so have you. It may seem that the world overcomes you with its lies and wickedness. It may feel like the antichrists are getting away with murder, and in a way they do. But the final judgment, the end of the story is already written. He who is in you is greater than they. He who is in you has overcome even death – for he lives! He who is in you speaks a different testimony than the world, a better testimony, an eternal word. Heaven and earth will pass away. But the word of the Lord endures forever.

Let all who would live in this world only and be of the world and listen to the worldly ways of error, all who abide in the spirit of the antichrist – let them be.

But as for you, dear children of God, listen to the testimony of the Spirit, the testimony of the Water and of the Blood. For these three agree. Listen to the truth of Christ, and the word of his apostles. Know Christ, know the truth, and believe.

Water, Blood, Spirit. Three which agree on the testimony of Christ. Listen to these, and believe and live!

Spirit, water, blood, entreating, working faith and its completing in the One whose death defeating Life has come with life for all.