Feeding His Sheep

Warning: Humble Yourself!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:10:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 9/5/10 for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost. Sermon text: Luke 14:1,7-14

Wow! It's you! I can't believe you're all here! I mean, I've seen some great people in my life, but none of them compare to you. You're literally the smartest, most skilled, strongest, most beautiful group of people that I've ever seen in my life. You can do absolutely anything you want to do, and you came here! I mean, wow. It's amazing. I'm so honored!

Ok. You're probably starting to think, "What does this guy want?" My goal really wasn't to butter you up; I wanted to make a point. It's probably pretty unusual for someone to give you compliments like that. Not just to tell you you're pretty good at something, but the best -- the best at everything! It's enough to make you suspicious or make you think the person saying it has gone a little bit nuts.

But imagine that nobody's telling you that you're the best and great at everything. Imagine that's what you think about yourself. Everywhere you go, you know you're the best. Everyone you meet, you know you're better. No one could have an idea more intelligent than yours. No one can do anything that you couldn't outperform them. You really are the best, and you know it.

Maybe you know a few people who act like that. They're arrogant, they think they know everything, and they're usually not too fun to be around. Thankfully, very few people as arrogant as I've described. But, even if we don't have that kind of arrogance, do we have true humility?

Humility is a very important trait to have. It means you don't think of yourself too highly. It means you put the needs of others ahead of your own. It means you don't rely on your skills and abilities. You don't assume they're better. Instead you look for something better to come outside of yourself.

We need to be humble spiritually. Jesus warns us of that in our text. We need to be spiritually humble enough to realize there is nothing in us that should make God love us. We have done nothing to deserve God's love, his gifts, his eternal salvation. In fact, we deserve the opposite. But being spiritually humble also means we recognize the great things that Jesus Christ has done for us. He paid for our sins. He was perfect in our place. He has given us his forgiveness, his life, his salvation. And he didn't give those things to us because we were so great, but because he is. Realizing that makes you spiritually humble. That's the point that Jesus makes in the events of our text.

He's kind of in a potentially awkward social situation here in Luke's Gospel. One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched. (Lk. 14:1) The Pharisees, you might remember, were highly respected people in Jewish society at this time. People listened to them and revered them. And they loved it. For the most part, though, they did not love Jesus. He was a challenge to them. He often spoke against them. And they were looking for a way to take him down.

But here in our text, Jesus turns the tables on them a bit. They're watching him to trap him in something, but he ends up watching them. He noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table. (Lk. 14:7) It's hard to put ourselves in this exact social situation. But apparently where someone sat at a dinner party showed what status they had. Jesus saw that most of the Pharisees he was eating with wanted the best spots. Like little kids rushing to be first in line for snacks, these grown men tried to get the places of honor. They were not being humble.

So Jesus called them on it and told a parable. When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, 'Give this man your seat.' Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. (Lk. 14:8-9)

Again, it's a little hard for us to imagine this exact situation in our culture today. But this might help: imagine that you're at a wedding reception. You want the best spot available to eat the dinner when you get there. So you go to a really nice looking table and sit down. Imagine your embarrassment when the groom taps you on the shoulder and says, "Um, this is the head table. The wedding party needs to sit here. You have to move."

The not-so-humble attitude of wanting to sit in the best place can lead to embarrassment and trouble. Jesus is warning us to have a humble attitude. He warns us that bad things tend to happen with an arrogant attitude, but blessings come with humility. As he put it, Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. (Lk. 14:11)

I want you all to understand something here. Jesus did not speak this parable so that we could learn better wedding reception etiquette. His main goal was not that we act in a humble way to avoid social embarrassment. Like so many of his parables, Jesus was using common stories to illustrate spiritual truths. He wasn't warning us to make sure we stay humble at parties. He was warning us to make sure we stay humble before our God.

We tend to think that it's good to be at least a little bit proud. We want people to have high self-esteem, right? We don't want people moping around feeling sorry for themselves, like they're no good at anything. A little bit of self-confidence can help people in life, whereas constant humility can be self-defeating.

In the same way, we like to be self-sufficient, don't we? Many of us don't like the idea of accepting charity from others. We want to do it ourselves! We're in the USA, after all; we can do anything we put our minds to. Why bother being humble when we know how good we really are.

Those things are all true to a certain extent. But make no mistake: you've got nothing to be proud of before God. He has commanded perfection of you, 100% of the time. Have you delivered? God demands that you not only don't do anything wrong, but that you do everything right. Every temptation you need to avoid, every person in need you need to help, or you have fallen short of God's demands. Falling short of God's demands doesn't bring rewards; it brings punishment.

In the same way, if you're so proud that you won't accept any charity from anyone, not even from God himself, what are you left with? You're left with your own record. Your own sins. Your own mistakes that only bring death and hell forever. Jesus is telling you: take this warning! Humble yourselves! Recognize that you can't be proud before your heavenly Father!

Instead, humble yourself. The book of Philippians puts it best. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8)

Jesus is the only human being to truly live up to these standards. He obeyed his heavenly Father perfectly -- even though he himself is true God. He came to us in humility. And what grace that his humility is what rescues us from our arrogance! What undeserved love of God that Jesus' perfection is what rescues us from our sins!

Our sins condemned us, but Jesus rescued us. Our sins humble us, but Jesus lifts us up. He doesn't do this because there is anything good in us; he does it only because he loves us! Do you see what a Savior we have? He didn't come to teach us party rules; he came to save us. And he did. He gave us more than we could ever ask or imagine.

That's why we can put aside our pride. That's why, by the faith God has given us, we want to live in humility before God. That's why we want to humbly serve God in everything we do in our lives. The humble attitude our God works in us by the love of his Son is bound to show itself in humble actions in our lives.

Of course, in this sinful world, we'll be tempted to be arrogant and proud even in the actions and good things we do. Jesus warned about this too. He said that if you throw a dinner-party, Do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. (Lk. 14:12-14)

Again, Jesus' main point here isn't telling us that we should all throw parties and invite poor and crippled people, or that having a dinner with your family is bad. No, again, he's making a spiritual application for us with a real world example. He's telling us that our actions aren't supposed to be looking for earthly gain.

Don't do people favors so that they'll do one for you in return. Don't help someone so that you will be recognized as some great person. Don't give your time, your talents, or your treasures so that you will get some recognition for it. Give out of love for what God has done for you. Serve, because Jesus served you with his life, death, and resurrection. That's what matters. Not the stuff of this world, but the glory of eternity that Jesus won for us.

When we continue to grow in God's Word and Sacrament, God is going to strengthen us to live like this. Focusing on our Savior's humble self-giving love for us moves us to love him and serve those around us! Jesus saw our humble state. He knew that our sins would shut us out of eternal life forever. So he fixed it. In humility, he saved us. He won us blessings now and heaven forever. Focus on that. Live for him.

Warning: Narrow Door!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 02:04:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior for the 14th Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday, August 29, 2010. Sermon text: Luke 13:22-30

The city of Quito, Ecuador is very big, it is very old, and it is filled with big, old churches. I got the opportunity to tour some of them, but none of them were as impressive as the basilica. This huge, neogothic cathedral took nearly 100 years to build. It's filled with sculptures and gargoyles, and two huge clock-towers reach a height of nearly 400 feet in the air.

But none of that is really the best part of the basilica. The best part is found when you go deep inside and start climbing the stairs. There are so many stairs. And as you go up and up, the stairs get smaller and smaller. The doorways and passages that you go through get pretty tight, and it can be a struggle to fit yourself through. But when you finally do, when you finally find yourself going outside, it's all worth it. Because you go outside right near the top of one of the clock towers. And from there you don't just get a good look at the basilica, you can see the entire city and the mountains surrounding it. It's one of the most beautiful views in the entire city. It took some work to go through those narrow spaces, but it was all worth when I got to that view.

But that view pales in comparison to what we will see in heaven, in the eternal life that Jesus our Savior won for us. That won't be just a view, that'll be the end of all troubles, all pain. There God will wipe every tear from our eyes as he gives us all the good things that his Son won for us. There we will have perfect joy and peace forever.

But here's the thing. We're not there yet. For now, we are still living in this sinful, painful, trouble-filled world. And Jesus, our Savior, gives us a warning. He says that there is a narrow door to get to heaven. Many people will want to get through this door, but not everybody will. But those who do will sit at the feast in God's heavenly kingdom forever. So let's listen to Jesus' warning. And let's make every effort to go through the narrow door.

Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. Someone asked him, "Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?" (Lk. 13:22-23) Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem, where he would be arrested, tortured, and crucified. But as you know, he didn't just get on a plane or a greyhound bus to get there. It was a long journey, and Jesus didn't spend his time just traveling. He taught. He preached his good news in every little village and town he came to. And he took every opportunity to answer questions that people gave him.

This was one of them. "Are only a few people going to be saved?" It's a question quite a few people have today. Many today would probably prefer to answer that everyone will be saved no matter what. But that's not what the Bible says. And it's not what Jesus says in our text, either. He doesn't directly answer the question this person asked, but he does give us all a warning about entering eternal life.

He said to them, "Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to." (Lk. 13:24) Jesus makes it clear to us. Not everyone will make it through the narrow door to heaven. In fact many will try and fail. So make every effort to enter through the narrow door.

This is a scary thought, isn't it? And if this little text we're using today from Luke was the only part we had of the entire Bible, we might get the wrong idea from it. We might think, "Well, we've got to make every effort to go through the narrow door. That means we have to try really hard to get to heaven. We've got to do lots of good works, lots of good things, to get God to accept us, and then and only then will he let us into heaven."

But that's not how it works. The rest of the Bible makes it pretty clear. The Apostle Paul said that all our works and accomplishments were like garbage compared to knowing Jesus. He said he considered everything worthless that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ -- the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. (Philippians 3:8-9) Paul knew that you don't get into heaven because you were so good. You get there because Jesus was so good for you, by faith!

Think about it this way. I mentioned earlier how I climbed to the top of a clock tower in a big cathedral. What if I tried to do that wearing a huge backpack, dragging a couple of suitcases, and trying to balance a stack of books in my arms? It'd be hard to walk down the street like that, but it'd be impossible to fit through the narrow stairways and passages to get to the top of that tower.

Well, it's impossible to get to heaven with your good deeds, your accomplishments, with all the things you've done in your life. You can't do it! You'll never get through the narrow door with what you've done -- I mean the worst stuff you've done and the best stuff. None of it! Only Jesus can get you through. He alone is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. (John 14:6) As we read in the book of Titus, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:5)

We get to heaven because of Jesus Christ, not because of us. That's how we get through the narrow door! But still, many will not get through. So it's good for us to remind ourselves why many won't get through so we can really take Jesus' warning to heart.

Listen to the vivid story Jesus told to the people in our text. Make every effort to enter through the narrow door...Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' "But he will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' (Lk. 13:24-25)

It makes sense when you remember how we get into the door. By faith! By trusting in Jesus for our salvation -- the faith that God gives us by his Holy Spirit by Word and Sacrament. The people who don't get in the door don't know Jesus. They don't believe in him.

They might think they know Jesus. Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' But he will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!' (Lk. 13:26-27) Thinking Jesus is a great teacher isn't enough. Believing in Jesus for a while and then falling away isn't going to cut it. If the end of the world comes, and you don't have faith in Jesus as your one and only way to heaven you will be lost forever.

Jesus' description of hell is sad. There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. (Lk. 13:28) How sad to be stuck outside the door, to be locked out of eternal life. How sad to finally know the truth, that Jesus is the one and only Savior, but to know it too late. That's how it will be for many people, Jesus tells us.

There's a name for the time we have in our lives: it's called our time of grace. It's the time that God gives us to be brought to faith in his Son our Savior. Listen to Jesus' warning. Use your time of grace. Make every effort to go through the narrow door!

How do you do that? By staying connected to God's power for you, by staying connected to the means of grace. Continue to remember your baptism, where the Triune God put his name on you and made you his own. That baptism is still powerful for you today!

Continue to grow in God's Word! It's not just an interesting collection of stories; it gives us life! The Holy Spirit uses the message of Jesus to create and maintain saving faith in our hearts. Grow in that Word! Study it! Read it! Hear it! Live it out in everything you do in your lives! Come to the Lord's table when we have the Lord's Supper, not because the people around you are doing it, but because Jesus is there! He's there to give you his body and blood! He's there to give you forgiveness, life, and salvation!

Yes, friends, your time of grace is now! Don't get distracted by the things of this world, by the temptations and stuff and doubts that want to pull us away from our Savior. Stay in the Word and sacraments! Jesus said, People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God. Jesus came so you would be one of those people! So look to him! Go to the narrow door! You don't need anything of your own. You just need your Savior.

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Warning: Division Ahead!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 14:45:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior for the 13th Sunday after Pentecost on August 22, 2010. Sermon text: Luke 12:49-53

We're coming to the time of year where great struggles happen every week. Where two groups of people divide themselves against each other for a few hours. You probably know it as football season. The pre-season has started in the NFL, and people are getting geared up for another year, everyone hoping that their team has the best year possible.

Around here, of course, most people are Bills fans. When you've got a lot of Bills fans together, and then a Dolphins fan walks in, what happens? Division. Anger at the rival. I know a dolphin fan who went to a Bills game and did not get a very good reception.

In Minnesota where I'm from, though, we're Vikings fans. At least, a lot of us are. You see, the Vikings biggest rival is pretty close by, just over in Green Bay, the Packers. Because they're so close, it's common for there to be lots of Packers fans around all the time -- lots of chances for division to occur. I used to go to a church where the pastor was a Vikings fan and the pastor's wife was a Packers fan. So you have division even within a family.

Of course, this kind of division is usually just in good fun. But division can be a lot more serious than football. In our text for today, Jesus warns about the serious divisions that can happen -- even within families -- between those those who believe in and follow Jesus, and those who don't. As Jesus began his warning from Luke's gospel, we might be a bit surprised at what he had to say.

He said, I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! (Lk. 12:47) What could this fire be, and why did Jesus want it to happen? We usually think of fire as a destructive and painful force. Of course, when someone is really on a roll and things are going well, sometimes we say that they're "on fire." So it could be a good thing, too.

So, was Jesus' fire going to be a good thing or a bad thing? Well, that depends. For some, Jesus' fire is a good thing, for others, it's not good at all. We'll look at that more later. But notice here in our text that Jesus said the fire he came to bring couldn't really happen until he did something else. So before we figure out what the fire was, let's see what Jesus needed to do to start it.

He said, But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! (Lk. 12:50) So, Jesus couldn't kindle his fire until he went through a baptism. This seems strange. Jesus had already been baptized by John the Baptist. (Lk. 3:21) So what baptism is he talking about now? And why would he be distressed about it?

We get a clue about this in the gospel of Mark. There, a couple of Jesus' disciples approached him and said they wanted to have places of honor in Jesus' kingdom; they wanted to sit and Jesus' left and right. (Mk. 10:37) They didn't know what they were asking. They thought Jesus would have an earthly kingdom; they didn't realize he had a heavenly kingdom and that there was still a lot of suffering and difficulty to come. Listen to how Jesus answered them. Can you drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with? (Mk. 10:38)

In a similar way, when Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he kept praying so hard that his sweat was like drops of blood. (Lk. 22:44) He kept asking his heavenly Father, Take this cup from me. (Lk. 22:42) He was worried and anxious about his upcoming suffering and death.

That's what Jesus was talking about in our text by his "baptism." He knew the cross was coming! He knew he'd be arrested, beaten, mocked, whipped, and nailed to a cross. He knew that far greater than the physical pain he was going to undergo would be the spiritual pain of hell itself, of being separated from his heavenly Father as he paid the full price for the sins of all mankind. We can't imagine the torment and pain of body, mind, and soul that Jesus would be facing! But he knew! He is true God and true man. He knew perfectly well what was going to happen. He knew it would not be pleasant. No wonder he was distressed about it!

But he knew all the pain and suffering was necessary so that he could light his fire in this world. His fire was going to have a huge impact on absolutely every person in this world. Think about it this way: you're at a crowded movie theater and someone yells, "Fire!" But you look around, and you don't see fire or smell fire. Do you believe the person? The people who believe him will probably be thankful that he warned everyone of the fire. The people who don't believe him will probably hate him for ruining their movie.

That's kind of like Jesus' fire. His death on the cross is a proclamation to the world. His death says, this punishment should've been yours, but Jesus took it for you! He has rescued you from the fire that will one day destroy this world! Look to Jesus alone for eternal life! Trust him, and you will live! The people who believe in Jesus love him! They treasure him as their only hope; they look to him for all they need. But those who don't believe in him think he's worthless, a waste of time, and that everyone who believes in him couldn't be very smart.

Either you are with Jesus, or you are against him. Either you trust him and him alone for your salvation, or you're planning on taking your chances on your own. When you realize this, it makes sense that there would be division in our world because of Jesus.

He said, Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. (Lk. 12:51) Yes, Jesus did come to bring peace, but it wasn't peace between every person here on earth. No, on earth the people who don't believe in Jesus will be divided against those who do.

Jesus is giving us a warning! There is division ahead for you in your lives! If you are a Christian, you will face division! So, are you ready?

Sure, we know that division is out there, that there are some people who hate us because we're Christians. We know that in some countries far, far, away, people still get killed simply because they confess Jesus as their Savior. We're aware of that, but at the same time, we're probably not too worried about it. Unless we travel to one of those far away countries, the odds aren't too good that we'll be attacked.

But that's not the kind of division Jesus warns us about! Listen to Jesus' specific warning to you and me about the division in our lives. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law against mother-in law. (Lk. 12:52-53)

The division and anger over Jesus Christ is not just from people we'll never meet in countries we'll never visit. It's in your family. Your mom or dad or sons or daughters or sisters or brothers. Jesus didn't mean that every single family would be like this. There may be some families in which every member has and keeps a strong Christian faith for life.

But as you look at your families, you probably won't have to go too far to find examples of this division. You see it in your families and people close to you. The question is, what are you going to do about it? Do you ignore the difference? Pretend the problem doesn't exist? Change the subject whenever religion comes up? Finally that's just not going to cut it. At the end of the day it's a sinful way to act, for a couple of reasons.

First of all, it's not showing love to those family members. If you never engage those closest to you about the most important relationship in your life, the one with your Savior, what are you communicating to them? You're saying Jesus doesn't matter. You're saying religious preference is just a preference and the important thing is just to get along. You're missing opportunities to lay before them the love of your Savior who died for them and wants them to come to a knowledge of the truth. If you won't talk to them about their Savior, who will?

Secondly, ignoring the problem is not showing love to your God. When you don't speak up about what your Lord has done, you're essentially communicating that you're ashamed of him. You're showing that the true and holy God is not number one in your heart, but you are, just because you don't want to have an uncomfortable conversation. Doesn't God hate sins like that? Doesn't he have every right to?

And don't think that you yourself are not in danger as you ignore the problem. You can become so comfortable with not talking about it, so comfortable not offending your loved ones, that before you know it Jesus has become offensive to you. Without realizing it you can forfeit your faith and throw it all away. And then, when the real fire at the end of the world comes, what refuge will you have left?

We must confess that at times we've been ashamed of our Savior. But we must rejoice that Jesus was never ashamed of us. He stood up for us, took the punishment we owed, died the eternal death we should've died, paid the price we could never afford. Jesus Christ lived and died and rose again to throw away your sin. He went through the baptism of suffering and death for you. And in your baptism he connected you to his suffering and death forever.

Give thanks! Jesus came into a world that was divided against him, and he draws us to himself in love. He gives us full and free forgiveness. Believe it! Trust him! Look to him now and forever for life and salvation!

Yes, division will come. It will be in your own family. That doesn't mean you should push your family away and shun them. No, show them the highest form of love you can. Tell them about the Savior who loved you so much. Show them the cross where Jesus died for them, too. Point to the waters of your baptism (or their baptism) where God put his name on you. Remind them of all the blessings in Christ. Invite them to trust him. You never know what God can do; it's more than you could ever ask or imagine.

Jesus laid out the warning sign for you. Division is ahead! Be ready for it! When you see division in your life, in your family, don't take that to mean that God doesn't love you. Take that as your chance to rejoice in Christ's love. Rejoice in the cross. Drink in the bread of life in Word and Sacrament and grow in the faith the Holy Spirit has given you! And don't be afraid to point your loved ones divided against you to that same Triune God. He loves them, too. People may change, families may fight, troubles may come. But we have a God and Savior who has overcome this world and has given us the next.

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Wake Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 17:59:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior on August 15, 2010 for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost. Sermon text: Revelation 3:1-6

American author Mark Twain is famous for having a lot of memorable quotes. One of my favorites goes something like this: "The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Mark Twain was usually pretty funny, and when he said the reports of his death had been exaggerated, that was his own unique way of saying that he was alive. Maybe there were people out there who thought he had died, but they were wrong. At the time he made that quote, he was very much alive.

Unfortunately, that quote can be changed around a little bit and applied to the people right here in this church today. This version of the quote is a little less funny: "The reports of your life have been greatly exaggerated." You all look alive. Your smiling faces. Your attendance here at church today. The movements you make. The words you spoke before the service and whispered during it. The signs all point to your being alive. But you're not.

There is death here today at Our Savior Lutheran Church. I don't mean physical death; I can see that you're really all physically alive. I mean something far more deadly, far more dangerous. You have been infected with a spiritual plague, a spiritual disease: spiritual death. You can't see it with your eyes. For all intents and purposes everyone here, myself included, look like there is nothing wrong. Just a group of the faithful attending a church service. But things are not as they appear. There is death in this room.

Normally, death means the end. It means the battle's over. It means there's no more hope. But that's not how it is with Jesus. With our Savior Jesus Christ, death is never the end. There is always hope. Because he is the life.

In the book of Revelation we see letters that Jesus himself wrote to seven churches. Jesus dictated the letters to the Apostle John in John's vision that takes up the entire book of Revelation. The letter we're looking at today was written to the Christian church in the city of Sardis in the modern country of Turkey.

The book of Revelation can be kind of intimidating. There is lots of figurative language and strange imagery all over the place. It's very easy to read a little bit of Revelation only to say: "I just don't get it." The beginning of our text might make you feel that way. To the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. (Rev. 3:1)

It doesn't need to be confusing, though. The angel of the church is another way of talking about the church's pastor. Jesus wrote a message to the pastors of seven churches in Revelation, and he explained elsewhere that the seven stars are also the pastors of those churches. The seven spirits of God is another way of saying the Holy Spirit. Jesus just meant that he is closely connected to the Holy Spirit, which makes sense because they are both persons in the Triune God. The point is clear: God had a special message for these churches.

Jesus didn't mince words in this message. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Rev. 3:1) Jesus was telling this church in Sardis, "You think you're alive, huh? Other people seem to think you're alive, too. Well, I've got news for you. You're not." And then Jesus went on: Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. (Rev. 3:2)

It might sound like Jesus gave some mixed signals here. First he says, "You're dead." Then he says, "Wake up!" Dead people aren't supposed to be able to wake up. But remember, this is Jesus we're talking about. He didn't stay dead. He rose. He's the one who said, I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. (Jn. 5:25) In him, death isn't the end.

But what did he mean when he said the people of that church in Sardis were dead? What did I mean when I said that death was here in this church this morning? Sure, Jesus wasn't talking about our church specifically, but as I look at myself, I know it's true. As you look at yourself, chances are you will see the same thing.

You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. (Rev. 3:1) What's it take for a church to look like it's alive? Well, there have to be people going there. Here you all are today! There have to be things going on and meetings and activities and budgets and offerings, and sure, we've got all of those things.

But all those activities, the meetings, the budgets, the church services, the hymns, the prayers, they are worth absolutely nothing if they don't flow from a living faith. "But wait," you say. "Church services are good! Helping out the church is good! How can you say they're worthless?" It doesn't matter what you do, how great it looks, how faithful it seems, if it does not flow from a living faith it is worthless and dead.

Is coming to church just a habit you got into? Is it something that you feel you should probably do, because God likes it? Do you want to live a good life and do good things, because that's what you're supposed to do? Or are you just going through the motions? You say the prayers and the creed. You sing the hymns. You might even say church is important, maybe that God, that Jesus, is important. But you have to think twice when asked why it's important. You forget what you heard in church just as soon as the service is done. You go through the motions, and it doesn't even bother you all that much.

We all might feel this way to a different degree at different times in our lives, but I'd be surprised if you never felt this way. And it's a dangerous way to be. Jesus gave a stern warning about this apathetic attitude that we can all to easily have. He said, Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. (Rev. 3:3)

Wake up! Are you just going through the motions in your faith? That's a sin. That's a real sin that brings death! Wake up! Continuing in that sin means that your faith will eventually be snuffed out. You can't just keep on going like everything is okay. It's not. And if it continues, Jesus says, when he comes again like a thief in the night, when all of a sudden your time of grace is over and you are caught faithless, asleep, dead in sins -- it will be too late. You will be lost. Wake up!

Wake up, because it's not too late now. Wake up, because your Savior is still calling out to you in love today. He said, Remember...what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. (Rev. 3:3) Wake up and remember that even though your sins are real, your Savior is just as real! Put your sins behind you. Confess to your Savior your careless attitude toward him. Confess the times you just haven't cared. And guess what? His forgiveness is free and full!

Jesus lived in this world, not half-heartedly, not going-through-motions. He did everything to obey his heavenly Father's will. He did everything to win your salvation. And that's what he did. All the way to his death, even death on a cross. He conquered death forever. He has conquered the spiritual death that might even have its grips on you.

So what do you have to do to wake up? What do you have to do to make sure that spiritual death doesn't keep its grip on you? That's just it. It's not about what you do; it never was. It's about what Jesus has done for you. He is the one who makes the dead alive; they don't do it themselves.

Jesus gives us life in the means of grace that he has given us. God's Word is not a book that gets read once in a while at church and nothing else. No! It's a source of life! God comes to you in his Word to fill you up and convince you that Jesus paid for your sins unconditionally, that your salvation has been guaranteed free of charge, your eternity in heaven has been bought and paid for.

So wake up! Run to God's Word. Don't listen to it in church as if it were like something in a museum: you know, something really old that a few people find interesting. No! It's your source of life. It's the life preserver that God has thrown to a whole world drowning in sin. Take comfort in it! Hear it! Keep it as the most important thing, something you want to study, something that you can't get enough of.

Wake up! Remember your baptism! Remember that it's not just some event that happened a long time ago where your family took a few pictures. It was so much more. The Bible says that all of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. (Gal. 3:27) In your baptism Jesus clothed you with himself, with his perfection, with his life; he made it yours! Take comfort in your baptism. Wake up! When the devil tells you you're no good, when you fall into sin, when you wonder how you can go on, remember that you have been baptized, so you have been saved.

Wake up! Look to the Lord's Supper. Don't think of the days we take it as the Sundays where church lasts a little longer. Look at it for what it is: another chance for Jesus to come to us with his sweet, free, forgiveness, a chance to taste and see that the Lord is good. And if you're not confirmed yet or you're not a member who can take communion with us, look forward to the time when you can! Take every opportunity to grow in your faith and hunger and thirst for your Savior's love. Wake up!

Jesus' picture in our text is talking about you: He who overcomes will...be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. (Rev. 3:5) Those aren't things that you can do; they're what Jesus has done. He has clothed you in white and given you his perfection. He has acknowledged your name. His love has bought and redeemed you. Wake up and rejoice in his love.

It is not too late. It is not over. In Christ, even the dead can live. So wake up! Repent of your sins. Hold onto the Word and Sacraments. And live in his love. Then all that's left to do is look forward to Jesus' final command. When Jesus returns like a thief and commands all to "wake up!" We and all believers can awake in joy through the life he has won us.

Get Rich! (toward God)

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:16:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior for the 11th Sunday after Pentecost on August 8, 2010. Sermon text: Luke 12:13-21

Have you ever seen the commercials that talk about working from home? "I made over $100,000 last year working from home, and it was so easy!" "I made $20,000 last month! Working from home was the best choice I ever made! "I was skeptical at first, but since I've started working from home, the money has been pouring in!"

I'm not saying these work-at-home jobs are good or bad. I don't know a thing about them. But I get what the appeal is. Anyone watching that commercial is supposed to think, I want as much money (and the stuff I can buy with money) as possible, this work-from-my-home job gets me money quickly and easily, and so I'll call the number and see if I can get some of that money for myself.

Money isn't a bad thing; we need it. We use it to buy things we need: food, clothing, and shelter. We use it to buy things we want: whatever we can think of, most of it could be ours...for a price. And that stuff, those possessions we have or that we want, they're not bad, either. In fact, they are gifts from God that he has given us to enjoy. We should give thanks for them and not feel bad about having them and enjoying them.

But how quickly those good things can take over our minds and hearts. All it takes is a split-second thought, the slightest desire, and those good things can turn into poison for our relationship with our God. Those possessions, that stuff, that money -- or the desire to get more stuff or more money -- can take over our minds to such a degree that they become more important than almost anything else in our lives, including the God who created us, loved us, and bought us with his blood.

Jesus makes some strong statements about greed and possessions in our text from Luke's gospel. He gives us all a warning about how greed and the love of "stuff" in our lives can push God -- and our faith -- right out of our hearts. Instead, Jesus encourages us to focus not on our possessions and the greediness of our sinful hearts, but on the God who loved us and sent his one and only Son. So, go ahead, get rich! But not with possessions and money and "stuff." Get rich toward God.

In his ministry, Jesus took every opportunity he could to teach us something. That's what happened in our text. Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." (Lk. 12:13)

Inheritances are all about money and possessions, and fights about inheritances are still common today. We don't have any background as to what happened between this man and his brother to cause him to bring this question to Jesus. But we can see the attitude of his heart based on Jesus' answer. Of course, Jesus is speaking to our hearts, too. Jesus replied, "Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?" And here comes the part for us to focus on: "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." (Lk. 12:14-15)

Watch out for greed, Jesus says. A man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. It's amazing how much Jesus' words challenge us in our culture today. Often our world says, "Greed is good." It says, "Get rich quick!" Anything that motivates you to make more, to get more, to keep more, well, that must be a good thing.

It's worth saying one more time: possessions aren't bad in and of themselves. They're gifts from God. But the greed, the sinful desire for more and more and more, that's the problem. Possessions aren't bad, but thinking that life is all about possessions is.

I remember as a kid one thing that proved that Christmas must be near: the Sears Christmas catalog. I don't think they make it anymore, but I remember this catalog filled with toys and games and all sorts of things I might want. I would go through it page by page looking for things I wanted, often circling the ones I wanted most so that I could pass on my wishes to whoever I could.

Think of how often we see things we want. In catalogs. On the internet. On the non-stop barrage of ads on TV. Seeing things we want isn't bad. Wanting things isn't bad. But who of us hasn't seen something we wanted, and then we couldn't stop thinking about it? We thought about getting it, we thought about when we might get it, we thought about how we might get it. If it's something we were going to get, we anxiously awaited the time until we got it. If we couldn't get it, we got angry and thought how unfair it was that that precious object couldn't be ours, and why couldn't it be ours right now?

That's greed. And that's the dangerous greed that can take over our minds and hearts -- and eventually our lives -- to the point that our "stuff" is all that really matters to us.

This is exactly what Jesus' parable was talking about in our text. He said, The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' (Lk. 12:16-17)

Jesus introduced a problem here that is probably familiar to anyone who has ever moved. When you move and you have to pack up all your stuff and take it to another house, you realize just how much really have. Well, this particular rich man realized it, too. In fact, he saw that his stuff was getting too much for the space he had. So, he came up with a pretty simple plan: tear down his older, smaller barns, and build newer, bigger barns to store all that grain and "stuff" he kept bringing in. (Lk. 12:18) And he even envisioned his own retirement and the pleasure all this stuff would bring him. He said, I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink, and be merry." (Lk. 12:19)

The good life. That's what this man thought he was getting. That's what we're all supposed to be aiming for, isn't it? We want the good life. We want to work just enough to get to the point where we can finally enjoy it. We want to be able to sit back, relax, and just take in all the happiness and joy that "stuff" can bring.

But Jesus turned this whole idea on its head in his story of the rich man. The rich man's dreams would not work out how he had planned. But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' (Lk. 12:20)

All that work, all that preparation, all that enjoyment that was going to happen from all his "stuff"...it didn't happen. The rich man died. He's spent his life to enjoy his "stuff," but he died before he could. His life wasn't worth anything, because he didn't accomplish his final goal. He lived for his stuff, but he died without it.

You see the problem here? It reminds me of a couple of joke t-shirts that used to be popular. One of them said, "He who dies with the most toys wins." This is the idea that life is a competition, and we all just want to get as much as we possibly can to win. But the other shirt said, "He who dies with the most toys, still dies." In other words, the amount of "stuff" you accumulate in this life means absolutely nothing when you die, because you can't take it with you.

The ancient Egyptians were famous for how they buried their Pharaohs and other noble people. The Pharaoh wouldn't just be in a grave with a coffin. Oh, no. He'd have his servants, his animals, and all his riches buried with him. The hope was that, in the next life, he'd get to still have all his "stuff" for all eternity.

But it doesn't work that way. If you spend your life obsessed with "stuff," obsessed with getting the fleeting enjoyment that riches and possessions offer, that's all you'll end up getting: fleeting enjoyment. Enjoyment that doesn't really provide happiness. Enjoyment that leaves you a little bit emptier each time. A mind focused on stuff and consumed with greed has no room for God, for Jesus, for faith, for eternal life.

Jesus' warning is a strong one for us. This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God. (Lk. 20:21) Don't let that be you, Jesus says. Don't get caught up with the greed and the constant pursuit of stuff that this world encourages. Because it's all liable to tear your faith right out from under you, leaving you with nothing but sin, death, and hell. Because finally, What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? (Mk. 8:36)

The solution that Jesus gave is for us to get rich, not in possessions, but to get rich toward God. To really get rich toward God means you have to store up the kind of treasure that doesn't fade or get destroyed, but the treasure that lasts. And what treasure is that? God tells us.

Jesus said, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Lk. 21:33) The Bible tells us that the Word of the Lord stands forever (1 Peter 1:25), and that in Christ you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. (1 Peter 1:23) God's Word is our treasure, our great heritage. And why is it so great? Because it tells us what Jesus did!

It tells us Jesus lived, not for "stuff", not for the greediness of this world, not for what he could get for himself, he lived so that he could die to give you everything he had. He died and paid for your sins, not to get you more stuff, but to win you the heavenly kingdom that you were hopelessly unable to get by yourself. Jesus won each one of you the lasting treasure of heaven. He's given it to you by faith. He's proven it by rising from the dead, ascending into heaven, and being with us every step of our lives.

So get rich toward God! That doesn't mean you throw all your possessions away; it means you don't hold onto them too tightly. You use your possessions, remembering that they are God's gifts of love to you. You use them and look for ways to use them for your Lord, you look for ways to use them to get the good news of Jesus to those who need to hear it.

That's what we do with our offerings. That's what we do with our service. That's what we do as a congregation. We don't exist so that people have a place to go on Sunday mornings. We exist to proclaim Jesus Christ and him crucified for our salvation. We proclaim it to ourselves, to keep reminding our sinfully forgetful selves of Jesus'

love. And we proclaim it so that others may hear it and believe it, too.

That is the point of all of our lives, whether you're a pastor or not. We live for our Savior because he died for us. So get rich! Get rich toward God as you put your possessions into his service. Get rich toward God as you realize that your "stuff" isn't the destination, it's a tool God gives you to use on the way to the eternal life that he won for you. Get rich toward God, as you study his Word, not as a source of trivia for really religious people, but as a source of truth and salvation for all people.

Lots of places might advertise ways to get rich quick. But only our Savior can give true riches. And you won't believe how easy it is. With no effort of yours, with none of your works, he has bought you, he has saved you, he has given you life now and forever. Rejoice, then, and live in the great riches of his grace that are already yours.

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God’s Grace Is No Laughing Matter

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 19:02:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior for the 10th Sunday after Pentecost on Sunday, August 1, 2010. Sermon text: Genesis 18:1-14

They say laughter is the best medicine. Do you think that's true? Laughter can definitely be a good. It's hard to think of many sounds better than the laughter of children. When you laugh, it just makes you feel better. The troubles and worries pressing on your mind seem a little bit lighter. Everything seems little bit better, a little more joyful, when you're laughing.

The Bible mentions that laughing will be a common occurrence in our lives. In Ecclesiastes it says there's a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance. (Ecc. 3:4) Even though there aren't any Bible verses that mention Jesus laughing, I'm sure he did. I like it when you see paintings of Jesus laughing; it's nice to see him with joy and a smile on his face and not always looking extra serious.

But I'm sure you all know that it's not always the right time for laughing. Kids, if you're being disciplined by a parent or teacher, do not start laughing. They will get very angry. Everyone else, if you're in court, and the prosecuting attorney is asking you very serious questions about where you were when a crime occurred, don't start laughing. It won't look good. And when God makes you a promise, when he comes to you with all his undeserved love for you, don't laugh it off. Don't treat it like it's not important. Don't refuse to believe it.

You might be thinking, "No! It wouldn't happen; I would never laugh in God's face!" But it happens. It happened in our text from Genesis today when Sarah laughed at God. And it could happen in your life, too. God has so many gifts of his grace that he constantly wants to give us. And when we don't think those gifts are important, or when we don't believe God could really give them to us, we might as well be laughing in his face. But God's grace is real! It's for you! He has done everything you need! You can always count on that. Because of that, God's grace is no laughing matter. He comes to visit us, and he keeps his promises.

Our text starts with God himself coming to visit Abraham. The Lord appeared to Abraham near the great trees of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance to his tent in the heat of the day. (Gen. 18:1) Usually when we hear about God appearing to someone in the Bible, we picture something really spectacular. Remember, God appeared to Moses in the burning bush. Several other times God would appear to people in a dream or a vision of some sort. It was either impressive, or mysterious, or at least out of the ordinary.

But this appearance to Abraham was different. Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he hurried from the entrance of his tent to meet them. (Gen. 18:2) This appearance of God was so different because it didn't really look like God. From what we can tell, Abraham at first had no idea that these three men were God himself along with two angels. They didn't look spectacular; they weren't glowing. These were three plain-looking men.

We're not sure when exactly Abraham figured out who these men were. But any confusion he might have had didn't stop him from serving them quickly. As soon as he saw them, Abraham said to them, If I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, do not pass your servant by. Let a little water be brought, and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree. Let me get you something to eat, so you can be refreshed and then go on your way -- now that you have come to your servant. (Gen. 18:3-5)

And he's not all talk, either. After he said this, Abraham jumped into action. Sarah made some bread, while Abraham picked out a nice veal dinner for his guests, added a little milk, and voilà, the perfect meal was ready! (Gen. 18:6-8) You might be wondering why Abraham and his wife Sarah went to all this trouble for three strangers. Well, the ancient world usually took hospitality very seriously. Treating a guest poorly was considered shameful, and people would commonly do all they could to welcome anyone who came to visit.

Of course, this was God himself, plus two angels, visiting Abraham. We don't know when Abraham figured out who they were, but if he knew it was God, you can imagine he'd want to do as good a job as he could in preparing the meal. Martha certainly got worked up over the meal for Jesus in today's Gospel. (Lk. 10:38-42)

You'd definitely want to give God your best if he came to visit you, right? You'd do anything you could for him! But here's the thing: God does come to visit us. And kind of like with Abraham, God doesn't visit us in a way that looks spectacular. There's no bolts of lightning, no bright angelic visions. God doesn't require us to climb some high mountain or make a pilgrimage to some holy place for him to visit us. No, as the book of Deuteronomy puts it, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart. (Dt. 30:14)

God comes to us and visits us in his Word! What grace, what undeserved love for us that God would speak to us in the Bible! And that's exactly what he does. This whole service has been talking about how important God's Word is, and now we start to see very clearly why it's so important. In the Bible God is visiting us and giving us his grace.

And God's grace is no laughing matter. The Bible, even if it is the "best-selling book of all time," probably doesn't impress us all that much. We're used to it. Some parts might even seem kind of boring to us. So we think, "what's the big deal!" We practically laugh at it. But God's grace is no laughing matter.

How we treat God's Word says something about how we treat God. If we treasure it, read it, study it, come to a worship service to hear it, if we obey it...it all shows our relationship to God. When we don't find any of those things important, well, maybe we don't think God or any of the things he does for us are all that important either.

The more we think about that, the more we realize that God's grace really is his undeserved love for us. We don't deserve any good thing from him! We deserve eternal death! But, instead, he gives us his grace. He comes to visit us.

That's really what is going on when we have a worship service. We might think of a worship service as something we do for God. And sure, we do some things for God in a worship service. We praise him, we pray to him, we pay attention, we drag our lazy selves out of bed and to church. Those things are all well and good, and we should do those things. But those things are not the center and main point of a worship service.

No, the main point of a worship service is God coming to us, visiting us in his Word. His Word of grace comes to us in the parts of the liturgy, in the songs and hymns we sing, in the scripture readings, in the sermon. And the main point of all of those things is the message of God's Word that God loved us so much that he sent his one and only Son Jesus, who came and rescued us from sin, death, and hell forever. That's the center of a worship service. Then, if you add water to God's Word, you get baptism, where God washes our sins away and makes us his own and gives the Holy Spirit to kindle faith in our hearts. If you add bread and wine to God's Word, you get the Lord's Supper, where, again, God comes to us with the body and blood of Jesus, where he forgives us, where he strengthens our faith.

Yes, God's grace to us, God's visiting us with his grace, God's Word, is the center of our worship service. And that's appropriate when we remember that the Word incarnate, Jesus God's Son our Savior himself, is the center of all things in our world. It was he that God sent to save us. It was he who accomplished our salvation once and for all when he cried "it is finished" (Jn. 19:30) from the cross. In Jesus we find the true grace and love of God.

And it is the promise of that Savior that our text ends with. The three men, who were really God and two angels, had just finished their meal, when God said to Abraham. I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife will have a son. (Gen. 18:10)

Now, if you're really paying attention, you might say, "Wait a minute pastor, God was talking about Isaac in this passage, not Jesus." And you're right. This passage does promise that Isaac would be born. But God had already promised Abraham that the Savior would come through his line, that all nations would be blessed through him. (Gen. 12:3, 18:18, 22:18, 26:4) So this promise to Abraham that Isaac would be born was really a promise that Jesus would be born.

But there was a problem. Abraham and Sarah were already old and well advanced in years, and Sarah was past the age of childbearing. So Sarah laughed to herself as she thought, "After I am worn out and my master is old, will I now have this pleasure?" (Gen. 18:11-12) Abraham and Sarah were old! Sarah could not physically have kids anymore! These were not the days of surgery and fertility treatments and surrogate mothers. Sarah was about 90 years old at this time!

So she laughed. She laughed at God's promise of a son, and, by extension, his promise of a Savior. God's grace is no laughing matter. He is God himself, who made all things, couldn't he do something like this? As he says in our text, Is anything too hard for the Lord? (Gen. 18:14) I find it interesting that God used another "impossible" birth, the virgin birth, when he finally did send his one and only Son.

Now, Sarah did eventually believe God. (She didn't have much choice once the baby was born!) But we wonder why she didn't believe it here. After all, she wanted a baby more than anything. She wanted one so much she had Abraham have a kid with her servant Hagar because she figured that was the next best thing. But a child of her own? She had given up on that. So she laughed at God's promise.

Friends, don't laugh at God's promises; he keeps every one of them. But that's the problem with sinful people like you and me: we forget God's promises so easily. God promises to be with us; we worry endlessly and complain that God doesn't love us when things go wrong. God tells us to pray to him and promises he will hear and answer us; we treat prayer as a last resort and even then doubt it will work. God promises he will use our troubles for our good; we look on our troubles as a curse and use them as a reason to be angry at God.

God's grace is no laughing matter. He keeps all his promises. But we have often laughed at them, shrugged them off, or flat out not believed them. But you know what the neat thing is? God's promises don't depend on us! His promises don't become null and void just because we sin. It's because we sin that we need God's promises!

So look to his promises, friends. Look at his promises and trust them. When you go through troubles, run to God's promise to be with you, and then rejoice that he is with you! When you are in need, remember God has promised to hear your prayers, so pray to him! When you feel the weight of your sins, run to God's promise that your sins are forgiven in Christ! When you are dying, run to God's promise that death is not the end, that because Jesus lives we will live with him forever!

God's grace is no laughing matter. But not all laughter is bad, remember. Someday we will laugh at all of God's promises, but not a laughter of unbelief or laughter of making fun of him. No, we won't be able to stop ourselves from laughing in pure joy that our God has rescued us, that he gave us life forever! We will laugh in joy for all time because of God's undeserved love, his grace, for us.

Jesus Says, “Go!”

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:35:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior for the 7th Sunday after Pentecost on July 11, 2010. Sermon text: Luke 10:1-12,16

"On your marks! Get set! Go!" I'd imagine all of you know exactly what those words mean. A race is about to start! When you hear "On your marks!", the racers find the starting line. At "Get set!" the racers get down into their racing stance. Finally, all the energy and training those racers had is used as they start running the course, not stopping until they hit the finish-line.

That's kind of how it works on Sunday mornings, right? In the announcements after the service, I might announce some sort of project that the church has going on or some need we have at the moment. I won't say "On your marks! Get Set! Go!," but I might say words almost as energizing: "sign-up sheet." Then, when an usher is excusing the different rows it's like a race has begun; people practically sprint to that sign-up sheet. Sometimes you can hear them, "I want to clean the church next month!" "VBS?! Make sure to sign me and the whole family up for the entire week!" "No! The snack schedule is all filled up again!" Yes, it can be quite the sight. And when it's all over and the dust has settled, I quietly go and pick up all the full sign-up sheets and try to make sense of it all.

Maybe you're starting to sense that I'm telling a pretend story here. I'm not saying that sign-up sheets are the greatest thing ever; they're not. Usually, I'm more surprised when anyone has signed up for something than when no one does. Do we treat opportunities to serve our Savior -- not Our Savior the congregation, but our Savior Jesus Christ -- do we see those as opportunities? Do we see them as a great way to show our thanks? Or do we see them as a burden? Do we just hope someone else does it so we don't have to? Do we just ignore it and not give it a second thought?

Jesus gives a very simple command in our text for this morning: "Go!" (Lk. 10:3) He's not commanding the start of a race; he's sending people out to serve. And if the call to serve our Savior isn't appealing, or if we can always think of something better, it's time for us to reevaluate our priorities and change what we're doing. Fortunately, we have our Lord to help us with that. He leads us with his love. He motivates us with his forgiveness. And he sends us out with his message. So, the time for getting on your marks and getting set is over. Because Jesus says, "Go!"

Our text starts with Jesus laying out the mission for his followers. After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go. (Lk. 10:1) Jesus was essentially sending out these 72 people to canvass the neighborhoods that he would be visiting next. In case you're wondering how Jesus found seventy-two people, you have to look back into the previous chapter of Luke.

There, Jesus was trying to get people to follow him; it was sort of his version of a sign-up sheet. But things didn't go well. Wouldn't you know it -- people had all sorts of excuses! They had this and that other thing to do. So finally Jesus gives them the bottom line. No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. (Lk. 9:62)

As a Christian, serving your Savior is not an option. Jesus doesn't mince words here. When we refuse to serve him, no matter how long our list of excuses, that's a sin. That's a sin that cannot stand before God. And that's a sin that can only find forgiveness in Jesus himself, his blood, his death, and his resurrection. There, in the joy of his forgiveness, in the shadow of his cross, there we have the reason to serve, the motivation. We love because he first loved us. (1 Jn. 4:19)
So you think, OK, I want to serve, but what do I do? Where do I go? The story of our text shows us some good things to remember. Listen to Jesus' words to those who would be serving him. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. (Lk. 10:2) When Jesus says, "Go!" you pray.

You pray because look at all the work there is to do! Think of this world we live in; think of how many people don't know their Savior. Think about how those who don't believe in him have rejected the salvation he won for all. It's overwhelming when you think about it. I don't care how motivated you are, you aren't going to be able to travel all over the world and reach everyone with the gospel.

And it's not much better when you look in our immediate area. Sure, there are a lot of churches here in Springville, or in the greater Buffalo area, but does that mean everyone's a Christian? How many people still don't believe in Jesus? How many people had believed but have fallen away, or are straying from their Savior and in grave spiritual danger? I don't think you have to look very far around you to find people like that. It's overwhelming. How could we ever reach them all? And then we look around at our congregation... It's a small group. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

So, what do we do? We pray. Our heavenly Father knows the need around us. He knows it better than we do. He's the one in charge of this all. We pray to him. In fact, this is the way that everyone can listen to Jesus' call to "Go!" I don't care how old you are, what your physical abilities are, you can pray. And what a powerful thing that is! We get to approach God's own throne with our requests, and he's promised to hear us! So go! Pray!

Most of us will have lots of opportunities beyond our prayers, too. Jesus showed us this as he sent out the workers. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves. Do not take a purse or bag or sandals; and do not greet anyone on the road. (Lk. 10:3-4)

Jesus isn't shy in telling us that serving him can be dangerous. "Like lambs among wolves." Wolves eat lambs; it's dangerous to be a lamb. And we've seen time and again in God's Word the dangers and troubles we face as Christians. Our lives will not be easier because we are Christians; they may in fact be much more difficult.

So doesn't it strike you a bit odd that Jesus sends his sheep among the wolves, he sends his soldiers into the battle, with nothing! He tells them to bring nothing with them. Shouldn't they pack up everything they can think of? Shouldn't they be packing weapons, maps, strategies, psychological profiles of those wolves? Why would Jesus send them into danger completely defenseless and powerless?

He doesn't. And this is the second thing you need to remember. When Jesus says, "Go!", you go in his strength alone. When you know there's an opportunity to serve your Savior, what stops you? Think of some of the excuses that might come to your mind. "No one will listen to me." "They'll laugh at me." "I don't want people thinking I'm some sort of nut." "I won't know what to say." "I'll say something wrong and make everything worse."

To those excuses, Jesus says, "Go!" Go out and serve him, but don't worry, it won't be your strength, it will be his. His strength at work in you by the Holy Spirit through God's Word. One of the reasons we study the Bible is because there Jesus strengthens us, he prepares us and equips us to serve him. That's why we continue to go to the strength found at the Lord's Supper time and time again. Jesus wants to give us his strength to go!

When you go up to someone and tell them about Jesus, I'll tell you right now, you have absolutely no chance of convincing them to believe. No chance! But with Jesus' power, with the Holy Spirit working through the Word, people are brought to faith. Miracles do happen! The responsibility to do those miracles doesn't rest on you. It's Jesus' strength.

And when you come with Jesus' strength, remember what the message you speak really is. Jesus said in our text, When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him; if not, it will return to you. (Lk. 10:5-6) Of course, in this specific case, Jesus was having his workers go out and stay in people's homes. That's probably not going to be our goal most of the time as we serve our Savior. But there's still a principle here for us. When Jesus says, "Go!" you go with a message of peace.

That's what the gospel is. It's peace. Peace between us and God. The book of Romans tells us, Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (Rom. 5:1) It's tempting when you talk with someone to get into an argument or to talk about what our church is against and all sorts of things like that. The most important message you have is peace. Jesus won us peace. He won us eternal life and forgiveness and salvation. That is your message.

And don't think you don't have the right to share it. You do. Jesus said it in our text. He who listens to you listens to me; he who rejects you rejects me; but he who rejects me rejects him who sent me. (Lk. 10:16) We might not think it's any of our business to tell someone about their Savior. We might think they'll say, "Who gave you the right to tell me what to believe?" But remember, when Jesus says, "Go!" You go with his authority.

Spreading Jesus' message is spreading good news! It's news of peace, news of salvation! It's not your ideas; it wasn't your plan to share this. Jesus commanded it. He has sent you. And if someone doesn't like it, their problem is with Jesus, not with you. Remember that. Take comfort that you have the Savior and God of all behind you when you tell others about him.

So when you put it all together, it's clear. We need to go. We need to go and share our Savior's love. Now, that's going to look differently for different people. It doesn't mean you have to sign up on every sign-up sheet at church. Yes, there will be opportunities for you to serve here. But there will be many more opportunities in your everyday lives outside of this building.

You work with people. You have people in your family. You see people when you're out and about. That's your mission field. That's where God has placed you. And if God has placed you in a place where you can't go anywhere or talk to anyone, you can still pray. Yes, this is a mission for all of us.

So let's go! Let's go into this world with the good news of our Savior's love. Let's stop with the excuses and fears and the paralysis of sin. Instead, let's hear Jesus' command and go! Go in prayer to your heavenly Father. Go with Jesus' power alone. Go with a message of peace. Go with the authority of Jesus himself. There's a big world out there. There's a lot of people who need to hear about their Savior. On your marks! Get set! Your mission field starts when you leave this church today. Go!

I Pledge Allegiance...

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:01:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior on July 4, 2010 for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost. Sermon text: Jonah 3:3-4:4

"I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America." Doesn't that just make you want to stand up and put your hand on your heart? We live in a country that, by anyone's definition, has been richly blessed by our God. We have an abundance of pretty much everything, despite what the news might tell you about a recession. We have freedom. We are free to be here today to worship our God and Savior in peace! No wonder we celebrate our Independence Day.

But wait. Before you start waving flags and celebrating your independence today, it's important for us to see what this all really means for us as Christians following our Savior. Saying the pledge of allegiance, flying the flag, and celebrating on the 4th of July are not wrong; it's right for us to give thanks for the blessings God has given us in this nation. But how do we live when when heaven is our true home, not this country? How do we live in this nation when our true citizenship is in the kingdom of heaven and when our true, full allegiance is to God alone?

The prophet Jonah struggled with this. I realize that Jonah did not live here in the USA. But if anyone had a reason to be patriotic, it'd be someone like Jonah. He was a prophet in Israel, a nation that God himself had chosen and set apart for himself, a nation through which God would send the Savior of all the world. Jonah had a reason to be proud to be an Israelite, because God had chosen the Israelites for something special. But it was Jonah's patriotism -- it was his love for his nation -- that ended up getting him in trouble.

When I say the name Jonah, what's the first thing that comes to your mind? The whale, right? Jonah is best known, by far, for being swallowed by a "large fish" -- probably a whale -- and surviving there for three days before getting out. (Jnh. 1:17, Jnh. 2:10) The Bible even uses Jonah in the whale as a picture for Jesus in the tomb. Jonah was in the whale for three days, but came out. After dying on the cross, Jesus was buried and in the tomb for three days before he rose from the dead. (Matt. 12:40)

But how many of you know why Jonah was swallowed by the whale? Well, let's just say he loved his country too much. The first two verses of Jonah set the scene for us: The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me." (Jnh. 1:1-2)

As a prophet of God, Jonah's job was to say what God told him to say and go where God told him to go. In this case, Jonah was supposed to go to the city of Nineveh, which was the capital of the nation of Assyria. Assyria was Israel's greatest enemy. There had been wars between the nations. And Assyria's capital city of Nineveh was well-known to be one of the most wicked, violent places on earth. In fact, the entire book of Nahum is about how bad Nineveh was. (see Nahum 3) So you'd think that when God told Jonah to go preach against them for their wickedness, Jonah would've gone happily.

But he didn't. He ran away and went in the opposite direction. (Jnh. 1:3) That's why God sent the whale to swallow him. He wouldn't let Jonah get away from his mission. So why didn't Jonah want to go? He didn't want to go anywhere near the nation that was Israel's biggest enemy. He didn't think God should send a prophet to such an awful place as Nineveh in such an awful nation of Assyria. He thought his country was more important than his God.

This could never happen to us, though. Right? Well, I don't think many of us are tempted to think or say, "The United States of America is better or more important than God himself." But we might tend to wear blinders when we look around us in our nation. We might almost think our country can do no wrong. We might even think of the USA as God's chosen nation for today, like Israel was in the Old Testament.

The USA, for all its blessings, is not God's chosen nation. As part of this country, living in this nation, in this state, in our particular place in it, we will see sin all around us. We do not simply go along with the sins of this nation because everybody else does. The vast majority of people in this nation believe that a couple living together outside of marriage is ok, that homosexuality is just an alternate lifestyle, that every faith or even the lack of faith is just another way to the same god...these are all lies that people are trying to sell us right here in our nation.

Yes, the freedom we rightly celebrate in our country shouldn't be celebrated when it's a freedom to sin. You can probably think of someone doing something to you that you don't like, you ask them to stop, and what is the answer? "It's a free country." That free country mindset we have in this nation often makes us think that nobody better tell us what to do, ever.

For many, that extends to church and to God himself. "The church has "rules" that I need to follow? Please." "God says "thou shalt not..." to so many different things, but what really matters is what's important to me." "Listen to God, read the Bible, go to church? No thanks. It's a free country."

Do any of those ideas of our nation have a hold on you? God blessed the prophet Jonah by having a whale swallow him when he went off track. We have God's Word reminding us that these attitudes are sinful, that they are the fruits of unbelief, and that they can and will eventually destroy our faith.

And when we recognize those sins in our lives, the best thing we can do is act like the people of Nineveh in our text. You see, Jonah had been afraid the mission God sent him on would be a success! And it was! Our text tells the story. Jonah started into the city. He proclaimed: "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. (Jnh. 3:4-5)

God had decided that Nineveh's sins were too great. He was going to take action and destroy in 40 short days. But the people turned around! They recognized their sins. They repented. Our text even mentions that Assyria's king got involved to urge his people to repent so that God wouldn't destroy them all. (Jnh. 3:6-9)

And you know what? God listened. When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. (Jnh. 3:10) The people of Nineveh deserved to die. Their sins made death and hell their destiny. But God didn't destroy. He didn't kill. He healed. He forgave them in love.

He does the same for us. God's Word tells us, Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning. (Lam. 3:22-23) God has compassion for us purely because of Christ our Savior. Jesus' perfect life satisfies God's demands, not anything we have done. Jesus' bloody suffering and death satisfies the punishment due for our sins so that we wouldn't have to pay it. Jesus' resurrection guarantees our resurrection, our salvation, our life forever through faith in him.

Jesus gives us true freedom, true independence. While we might pledge our allegiance to the flag, isn't it even more important to pledge our allegiance to our Lord and Savior? Don't our hearts burn within to serve him after he has shown us such love? Let's live out our thanks for him. Let's put aside the sinful ways of this nation (which are the sinful ways of our heart), and instead let's serve our Savior. Let's drink deeply of the water of life in his Word. Let's taste and see that he is good in holy Communion. Let's rejoice to hear those words time after time: "God, our heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has given his only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Therefore...I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

And just as we rejoice in that forgiveness that God gives us, let's also rejoice to see that forgiveness spread to others. That was Jonah's problem. He didn't want to see his enemies, the people of Nineveh and Assyria, get the benefits of God's love. Listen to the sad story of Jonah's heart. Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the Lord, "O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live." (Jnh. 4:1-3) Jonah would rather die than see God forgive his enemies.

Don't let that attitude come into your heart. Look around you and see all the people that Jesus died for, the people he has forgiven! To get the benefit of what Christ has done, they need to hear the message! They need to believe it! Maybe you can be the one to tell them!

Maybe you've thought that you can't share the good news of Jesus because you might say something wrong. This news is too important; it has to be shared. Jesus has forgiven the mistakes you'll make; just reach out with him to others. Maybe you don't want to talk to people who haven't been around church for awhile because it's "none of your business" or you "don't want to step on any toes." Aren't their souls more important than that? Doesn't Jesus' love for them compel you to talk to them, to ask them what's wrong, to invite them back to their Savior and his forgiving love?

Make today the day you say, "I pledge allegiance..." Maybe you pledge allegiance to our nation's flag, but I want you to pledge allegiance to your Savior! Don't go along with the sinful ways of this nation, look to your Savior and rejoice in his forgiveness. Then put the sinful ways aside. Live for your Lord. Make sure everyone you know knows about his love too. In Jesus we have salvation; we have freedom. Because of our Savior, we look forward to a better country than this one -- a heavenly one. (Heb. 11:16)

Is Living Your Faith Really Worth It?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 15:50:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior on June 27, 2010 for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost. Sermon text: Genesis 39:6b-12,16-23

"No good deed goes unpunished." That's a phrase that's often used to explain the strange way that this sinful world often works. Good deeds, of course, are supposed to be rewarded. When you do something good, when you do what's right, things are supposed to go your way.

But sin came into this world and sure made a mess of things. Sin, going against God's commands, has turned everything we would expect to happen upside-down. No, good deeds are not a guarantee of a good outcome or reward. Sometimes, that good deed done with the best of intentions, ends up costing you -- and hurting you -- big time.

Think of a time when you did something nice for someone. A little favor here, a little help there. And instead of getting thanked for it, the person got mad at you. And now, when you started out trying to be nice, trying to do something good for someone -- this is the thanks you get! It turned into a big fight. And it's enough to make you think that maybe doing nice things for others isn't really worth it.

No good deed goes unpunished. That phrase sometimes rings true even as we look at our life of faith, even as we look at our relationship with our God. As Christians who rejoice in having a Savior, we try to withstand temptation. We try not to sin. And sometimes when we stand up to temptations in that way it works out really well. Maybe you were tempted to drive too fast on the 219, but you resisted, knowing that it's right to obey the law. And as you rounded the next curve, there was a police officer who would've pulled you over for speeding. But you weren't speeding, and because you resisted temptation, things went better for you.

That's not how it always works, though. Quite often, it works in the opposite way. You live out your faith, you let your light shine, and your life just gets miserable because of it. That's what happened to Joseph in our text from Genesis. Joseph's case is going to remind us of the problems we encounter. We'll be reminded of the crosses we are called on to bear as Christians. It makes us ask ourselves the question I'm asking you all today: Is living your faith really worth it?

Our text is right in the middle of the story of Joseph, which in my opinion is one of the best, most compelling stories of the entire Bible. And a lot had already happened by the time we get to our text. Joseph, son of Jacob, had 10 older brothers and one younger brother. And when he was young, Joseph was kind of a brat to his older brothers. He kept telling them about all these dreams he'd been having where he ruled over them. And it didn't help that Joseph was clearly dad's favorite. The older brothers couldn't stand him.

So they did something about it. At first their plan was to kill him, but one brother, Judah, convinced the others that killing wouldn't be the best idea. Instead, they could sell him! The slave-trade was big business in those days, so when the opportunity came along, they sold their brother as a slave. (Gen. 37:26-27)

Slavery was never easy back then. It's hard to imagine what it must have been like for Joseph to go from the favored young son to just another slave made to work. But, lo and behold, he was good at it. He worked hard and God blessed everything he did. He got noticed for all the good work he did, and ended up being promoted to the top position working for one of the most important men in Egypt, the captain of the guard, Potiphar.

That's where our text picks up, as Joseph runs into a big problem. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, and after a while his master's wife took notice of Joseph and said, "Come to bed with me!" (Gen. 39:6-7) Joseph was faced with temptation here, and it wasn't just the temptation to commit adultery. He may very well have been tempted by that, but he was also smart: he knew that Potiphar would be angry if he was caught. But he also knew that Potiphar's wife was powerful in her own right. And if he said no to her, it could be trouble.

The idea must have at least come to Joseph's mind. If he just gave into her, he probably wouldn't get caught, it would keep her happy, and no one would ever have to know. But Joseph knew that even if Potiphar never found out, someone else would know. He said, How...could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God? Joseph knew the adultery wasn't just a sin against Potiphar, but against God himself.

But Potiphar's wife didn't give up. She kept putting the pressure on Joseph, day after day, even making sure that they were all alone. One day she went too far. She grabbed at the clothes he was wearing, and basically tore the outer clothing off. All Joseph could do was run away. (Gen. 39:12)

Of course, Potiphar's wife didn't like being rejected. So she used that piece of clothing to her advantage. When Potiphar got home, she told him a story. That Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me. But as soon as I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house. (Gen. 39:17-18) And just like that, a temptation has turned into an accusation for Joseph. Now, he's a suspected for attempted rape, and "innocent until proven guilty" was not the way things went in Egypt. Potiphar blew up, and it was all over. Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined. (Gen. 39:20)

Don't you wish you could know what Joseph was thinking at that moment? I'd like to ask him a few questions. Was it worth it, Joseph? Was it worth it being so pure and living your faith and doing what was right before God? Look where it got you! Sure, you were a slave, but you were in a good place! You had it made! But because you were so pure, you lost it. Was it really worth it?

And is it worth it in your life? Now, I know, Joseph and Potiphar and Egypt is all quite the story and none of us will ever be in the exact same position as he was. But we are often in the situation when showing our faith, doing what's right, leads to bad stuff happening to us.

Think about being in school. (I know all you students out there are probably happy to be done with school for the summer.) But in school, when your friends are doing something wrong, do you want to be the one to tell them it's wrong? You might not keep them as friends. Is living your faith really worth it?

Or, you picture that ultimate situation: there's a big test and somehow you get a hold of the answers. Do you use them and cheat? If you do, you'll get a really good grade. If you don't, you'll be doing the right thing, but the class is really hard and you might not get such a good grade. So, is living your faith really worth it?

Those temptations don't end when you get out of school either. Sometimes it's your boss at work who cheats a bit. Maybe he can get away with not reporting some money for taxes. Maybe he's involved in some sort of business practice that's "technically" illegal, but it really just works out better for everyone this way. So, do you want to be the one to tell him it's wrong, to tell him you won't work in a situation like that? You might not keep that job. Is living your faith really worth it?

Or what about this politically correct age we live in. Simply stating what you believe to be the truth from God's Word has become terribly offensive to many people. Adultery, like Joseph was tempted to, is a sin. Homosexuality is a sin. Abortion is a sin. Jesus Christ is the only Savior. He is the only way to get to heaven, period. Saying those things are going to make some people very unhappy. Depending on the situation, you could get hurt, lose friends, lose your job... So is it worth it? Is living your faith really worth it?

We're tempted, of course, to think we can have it both ways. We think, "I can give in a little bit here, I don't really have to live my faith this time, but it's okay because I'm still a believer." It makes so much sense, doesn't it? "Yes, I know this is wrong, that my faith needs to stand out here, but that's just going to make things worse... At least I know I'm forgiven!" And so we use our faith as an excuse. We use it as a reason for sin.

Make no mistake: sin against better knowledge and saving faith in Jesus Christ, cannot both survive for long in one person. Those sins, when you know better, won't take your faith away instantly. Instead, it happens slowly but surely. It erodes. And before you know it, you're left with nothing but hell itself.

It makes us want to scream! Why does God put me into these situations? Why does he force me to withstand temptations, only to give me sadness and misery afterward? Why does he tell me I have to carry a cross and then make that cross so heavy, so difficult to bear? Why does God do this to me?

Sin has made a mess of this world, hasn't it? It's turned everything upside-down. Good seems evil and evil seems good. Satan seems to want us to be happy and God seems to want us to be miserable. Where does it end? How do we make sense of it all?

It only makes sense in one place: the cross of Christ. There God turned sin and death upside-down. There on the cross, Jesus died. Jesus, who had been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. (Heb. 4:15) There on the cross, God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor. 5:21)

Jesus had done everything right. He was perfect! And what did he get? Pain, suffering, bleeding, death, and the pain and loss of hell. Was this just another case of good deeds being punished? No! Jesus was punished for our bad deeds, for our sins. And by faith, he's given us his good deeds. He's taken our sins away and given us his perfection so that we can stand before God confident and sure and heirs of eternal life itself.

So is living your faith really worth it to live your faith even when it hurts, even when pain and misery come after? You bet it's worth it. It's worth it because Jesus Christ thought we were worth it, thought we were worth the pain and shame of the cross, plus the sting of death itself. We were worth it to him, and that's why living our faith is worth it to us.

So, friends, take up your crosses. For you're going to be carrying crosses in your Christian lives. You will have pain and troubles and struggles because of your faith, because you did what was right. But as you do, Jesus will be drawing you closer to himself. He'll be comforting you with his Word. He'll feeding you with the bread of life, reminding you of your forgiveness, filling you with the sure hope of eternal life.

God ended up blessing Joseph despite his hardships in our text. He's promised to bless us, too. So take whatever crosses you are given with joy. Yes, joy! Joy that you are privileged to love a Savior who loved you more than you could imagine. Joy that you no longer are a slave to sin, that you no longer live for yourself but for him who died for you and was raised again! (2 Cor. 5:15) What good is it to gain the whole world yet forfeit your soul? (Lk. 9:25) No, in the shadow of Jesus' cross, take up your cross every day, deny yourself, and follow where he leads. He won't lead you wrong.

The Perfect Gift

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 18:51:00 +0000

Sermon preached on June 20, 2010 for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost at Our Savior. Sermon text: 2 Chronicles 33:1-6,10-18 Note: the sermon was preached on Father’s Day.

The Perfect Gift

In case you hadn't realized it, today is Father's Day. Now, you don't need to give your dad a gift to show your love and appreciation for him, but some families have that tradition. Those that give gifts their to dads on this day run into a common problem: what do you get him?

Sure, there's always the cliché gift of a new tie. But some people like to try a little harder. They want to get dad "the perfect gift." I suppose this might be an easy thing to do for some dads. Everyone might know what your dad wants, so getting him the perfect gift is no trouble at all.

But for others, it's not so easy. Your dad might be one of those notoriously hard people to buy a gift for. For a gift to be "the perfect gift" it needs to be something that dad really wants. It needs to be something that he'll actually use and not leave sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. And of course, to really be "the perfect gift," your gift has to show in a meaningful way the love you have for your dad. That's not always easy to do.

I can't help you with picking out the perfect gift for your dad, but I would like to help you see the perfect gift that every one of us has already received on this Father's Day whether you're a dad or not. I'm talking about the perfect gift from our heavenly Father to all of us: the forgiveness of sins. This is a gift that our heavenly Father has given us in the person and work of his one and only Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.

This morning I want to remind you why this is the perfect gift for all of us. I want you to remember how much you need this gift. I want you to give thanks for how this gift has become yours. And I want you to see how this gift changes your life. You see, this is no necktie. The forgiveness of our sins is the most precious gift that has ever been given in the history of time. And this gift, the perfect gift, is yours.

Our text from 2 Chronicles takes us to the time of King Manasseh of Judah. In the spirit of Father's Day, though, I think it's worth looking a little bit at Manasseh's dad, King Hezekiah. When you think of great kings from the Old Testament, it's not a very long list. You've got David, Solomon, maybe Josiah, and very few others. But one of those others has to be King Hezekiah.

Hezekiah's father had worshiped false gods and had practically shut down the temple. But Hezekiah changed things. He reopened the temple. He got rid of false gods and their altars all through the land. He restarted the celebration of the Passover again, which had basically stopped happening for years. Hezekiah did everything he could to turn an entire nation back to the true God. The Bible has high praise for him. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him. (2 Kings 18:5-6)

And we think, wow! With such a great dad, his son Manasseh is bound to be great, too! But that's not how it went. Actually, Manasseh couldn't have been less like his dad. The things that he did during his 55-year reign as king are enough to make you sick to your stomach. He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites. He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever.” In both courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts. He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger. (2 Chron. 33:2-6)

You can see why King Manasseh needed the perfect gift, can't you? He did some awful things, even sacrificing his own sons to false gods. And he was leading an entire nation away from the true God. Manasseh couldn't make up for this. He needed the forgiveness that only God can give.

But now think about your life. Do you need the perfect gift of God's forgiveness like King Manasseh did? Maybe you're thinking, "Yes, I need forgiveness. I'm not perfect. But I don't need it like King Manasseh needed it. I haven't been as bad as him." And you might just have a point. There's a lot of things that Manasseh has done that you have never done. I don't think any of you have sacrificed any sons to a false god. I don't think any of you have ever led an entire nation away from the true God. That's a good thing!

But what have you done? Sure, you've never sacrificed any children, but have you ever been unkind to a family member? Ever said hateful words to someone who is supposed to be important to you, to someone that God has given you for your good? I'm sure you have. Maybe you've never bowed down before an actual idol. But have you put something, anything, as first place in your heart instead of God? Have you ever, even for a moment, put God and what he wants aside so you could focus on yourself and what you want? The answer is yes. So God's answer is guilty.

Yes, you are guilty of sin. Maybe they're different sins than King Manasseh committed, but your sins make you no less guilty than he was. You are no less deserving of eternal death than he was. See, it's easy to agree that Manasseh was evil and deserved eternal punishment, but you and me? Yes. We were conceived and born in sin, we are by nature sinful and unclean, and we sin every day in thought, word, and deed. We are guilty, just like Manasseh.

And just like Manasseh, we have a heavenly Father who does not treat us as we deserve. Rather, the most loving Father of all gave his Son, his only Son, so that rebellious, guilty sinners could live. To give them forgiveness. To give them eternal life. That's what God the Father did for us by sending his Son. That's what Jesus did for us by living perfectly and dying in my place and yours, to turn our guilty into not-guilty. So that our sins would be forgiven, covered, gone forever.

There was a problem in King Manasseh's case, though. God had all those blessings in mind for him, but he wasn't interested. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they paid no attention. (2 Chron. 33:10) The forgiveness was there, but Manasseh rejected it.

That's a problem you can run into when buying a gift, too. Getting the perfect gift that someone really needs doesn't really matter in the end if that person doesn't use it. I don't care how nice the tie is; if dad doesn't wear it, he misses out on that gift.

Our God gave the whole world the perfect gift when Jesus came and won us forgiveness of sins. But if we don't use that gift, we lose the benefit. How do we use the gift, you ask? We believe it! The forgiveness is ours by faith. And our faith grows as we continue in the Word and Sacrament as the Holy Spirit continues to feed and strengthen that faith.

But sometimes we wander away from that. Maybe going to church becomes less important, or maybe we go but we don't really listen. Maybe we don't get to take the Lord's Supper very often. Maybe we haven't cracked open our Bible for a long time. Slowly but surely, we walk the path of rejecting the perfect gift that Jesus won for us.

So sometimes our heavenly Father does the most loving thing he can do: he calls us back to him. That's what he did to Manasseh in our text. After Manasseh had rejected God and his forgiveness, God showed his love for him. The Lord brought against them the commanders of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh prisoner, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon. (2 Chron. 33:11)

Yikes! This does not seem loving at all! But it was. It was the most loving thing that God could have done. It was a wake up call that brought Manasseh back to God. His horrible situation helped him realize his sin. It helped him to turn to the Lord in repentance. He prayed to God for forgiveness. Then our text tells us, When he prayed to him, the Lord was moved by his entreaty and listened to his plea; so he brought him back to Jerusalem and to his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is God. (2 Chron. 33:13)

Sometimes God does the same thing to us. No, he probably won't send you to prison in ancient Babylon. But he might allow some very unpleasant things to come into your life. We might not always know why God does this. But the next time he does, ask yourself: Is God trying to wake me up? Is he trying to remind me that I've neglected him. Is he calling me back to him in love to recognize the perfect gift that he's already given me?

Because yes, that gift is yours! Forgiveness is yours! Eternal life is yours! Jesus did it all! Believe it. Trust it. And then live it. When you get a gift that you love, you use that gift, it's always with you. It doesn't sit on the shelf. And we want to be living in thanks for the perfect gift that we've received as God's forgiven children.

Manasseh used his gift. He was so thrilled that he was forgiven, that he had come back to the one true God, that he showed it. He got rid of the idols. He broke down the false altars. He restored the true temple again, and he told the people of Judah to turn back to the Lord. (2 Chron. 33:15-16)

You'll show that forgiveness in your life, too. It will be different for everyone, but you will show it. You'll show it in your relationships with others, as you reflect the forgiveness Christ won for you, as you show and tell of God's amazing love that forgave you when you were unforgivable. You'll show it as you forgive others as in Christ God forgave you. (Eph. 4:32)

So, today, on Father's day. Give thanks for your dad. Give thanks that God gave you that gift. But even more importantly, today and every day after, give thanks for the perfect gift that your heavenly Father gave you. Rejoice in your forgiveness. Believe it in faith and joy for what Jesus has done. Then live that forgiveness as you show your faith in everything. Your forgiveness is real! It's the one gift you need! It's the gift that's yours in Christ alone.

We Have Peace with the Triune God

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Sun, 30 May 2010 14:30:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior on May 30, 2010 for the 1st Sunday after Pentecost – the Holy Trinity. Sermon text: Romans 5:1-5

Peace: everyone wants it. Look at the political scene in our country and our world. The governments of this world want peace, right? The police want peace on the streets and in our homes. We want peace in our families and jobs and schools. There's only one problem: this peace seems hard to come by.

Look at the nations of the world. There's conflict! There's hatred! Wars and rumors of war are all around, many done in the name of peace. The government and police and other agencies locally are plenty busy keeping up with crime and problems -- and overall lack of peace -- around here. And how is the peace in your lives? Are you happy with everyone and is everyone happy with you? It's possible, just not likely.

Then there's the peace that you want inside yourselves. Are you at peace with your life in every way? Again, it's possible, I suppose. But what about your relationship with God himself, the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Are you at peace with him?

The quick answer is "yes, of course!" And if you've taken a look at the sermon theme you might feel at ease and think, "Yes, at least I'm at peace with God." The only problem with that is that you're not acting in a peaceful way towards God. Did you know that? None of you are. I guarantee it. That's because none of us are free from sin.

What are our sins but acts of war and rebellion against our holy God? Jesus said, "Be perfect...as your Heavenly Father is perfect." (Matt. 5:48) But we're not perfect. And you think, "Sure, I'm not perfect, but I'm not that bad, either! I've never murdered anyone or robbed a bank. There are a lot worse people than me!" But that doesn't really matter. The Bible reminds us that if you even break one of the commandments, you're really guilty of breaking all of them. (Jas. 2:10)

But we still probably want to object. "God is love! (1 Jn. 4:8) He loves me no matter what! You can't say that I'm doing something wrong." But your sins are wrong, and they're a problem. They have real consequences. The Bible tells us, "Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear." (Is. 59:2) Your sins put a barrier between you and God. One sin is enough for God to never listen to your prayers again.

But if only that was the worst of it! The worst of it, of course, is that the wages of sin is death. (Rom. 6:23) God told it to Adam, and it is just as true for us today: you sin; you die. Death comes with sin, and God does not hold back eternal death as the punishment for every sin. And with eternal death, not only do we not have peace now, but we have no peace, no hope for all eternity.

Thinking about that is enough to create a lack of peace in our mind. That's our conscience that can take away our peace. It reminds us that we haven't lived up to God's standards. It accuses us of our sins -- and it's right. And all we want is peace.

And if that's what we want, Trinity Sunday is a great day to celebrate. Celebrating Trinity Sunday is not meant to be an academic exercise. It's not meant to talk about God as an interesting concept. It's meant to talk about the God without whom we would be lost, without whom we would be condemned, without whom we would have no peace whatsoever. But because we do have our Triune God, we have hope, we have a rescue for the seemingly inescapable problem that our sins have given us. Because of the Triune God, we have peace.

We have peace, because God the Father justified us. He justified us. That's one of those big church words that we hear a lot, but it might be hard for us to remember what it means. God justified us means that God declared us not guilty. He banged the gavel down, and instead of saying, "guilty of all sins, condemned to hell," God said, "You are not guilty. You are perfect. Your reward is eternal life in heaven." The fact that we are justified means that God treats each one of us "just as if I'd" never sinned at all.

How can God do this? Because he sent his one and only Son. As our text tells us. "Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand." (Rom. 5:1-2) Our Heavenly Father could declare us not guilty because he sent Jesus to save us.

That's exactly what Jesus did. Jesus, God the Son, redeemed us. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 6:23) Jesus redeemed us by becoming one of us, being a human being like us in every way -- except he was without sin. (Heb. 4:15) Then this sinless, son of God went to the cross, and he took the full brunt of God's anger and punishment for sin -- for our sins -- onto himself. He bought us back from the punishment our sins deserved. He redeemed us. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of God's grace. (Eph. 1:7)

He has won us peace with God; he has given us hope of eternal life. We live in a world that's not peaceful. We have lives that aren't always peaceful. Our consciences aren't peaceful as they condemn us for our sins. But God shows us his Son. And what his Son has done gives peace to all those things. We don't have to worry about the lack of peace in this world, because God has given us peace in heaven. Our consciences are put at peace with remembering Jesus' love and forgiveness, since his blood covers all our sins.

Does this mean that everyone's going to heaven? Unfortunately no. Many reject God's free gift in Christ. But God has another free gift to make sure we hold on to what Jesus has won for us forever. He gives us faith by the Holy Spirit.

Our text tells us, "Hope" that is, our hope of eternal life, "does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us." (Rom. 5:5) The Holy Spirit gives us faith, as God gives him to us. He does that through our baptism, through his Word, through the Lord's Supper. Through it all, the Spirit is there to work that faith in us and strengthen it.

It's all a part of the peace we have. We can never completely understand the Trinity, but we can give thanks that each Person in the Triune God contributes to our salvation, our rescue from sin, death, and hell. The young people who will confess their faith in a couple minutes (in the confirmation oral examination) will not just do so in order to have an academic exercise or show that they can remember a few lines. They will do it to show their faith in the Triune God, their saving faith.

On this Trinity Sunday, that's the faith and salvation that we all give thanks for. So rejoice today and always that God the Father has justified you, that God the Son has redeemed you, and that God the Holy Spirit has given you faith. You don't have to be afraid again. Peace is yours! We have peace with the Triune God!

The Spirit Speaks / We Speak

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:30:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior for the festival of Pentecost on May 23, 2010. Sermon text: John 15:26-27

Some businesses have a "silent partner." This is the person who has a stake in the business, but never speaks or makes decisions for the company. He simply provides his part of the money for it, shares in the profits, and no more. He's a silent partner.

That's how we might think of the Holy Spirit: God's silent partner. We can think of all sorts of things that God the Father and God the Son say and do. Our text for today consists of the words of Jesus. We've heard the words that God the Father spoke as he created the world: "Let there be light!" (Gen. 1:3) But the Holy Spirit? It's probably a little harder to think of what he does, let alone to think of anything he says.

Think about Jesus' baptism. Jesus was the one baptized, and he speaks to John the Baptist beforehand. (Matt. 3:15) God the Father speaks afterward, from the sky, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." (Matt. 3:17) The Holy Spirit was there, too, but he was silent. We just hear that he descended on Jesus "like a dove." (Matt. 3:16) All in all, it's pretty easy to think of the Holy Spirit as the "silent partner" of God. It might even be easy for to think the Holy Spirit doesn't really do that much at all.

But he does! The Holy Spirit is vitally important for our life, for our faith, and for our eternity. And don't think for a second that he's silent. Far from it! The Holy Spirit speaks to us, he tells us things that are essential for our faith. He comforts us and gives us insight to God's truth. And once he speaks, we'll speak too. We won't be able to help speaking with joy as we tell others what God has done for us.

Our text takes us back before the first Pentecost, before the first Easter, to Maundy Thursday night. That's the night Jesus had a lot of time with his disciples for the last time before his death on the cross. Jesus didn't sugarcoat anything on that night. "Life as a Christian means you'll always be happy, everything will go your way, and everyone will always like you." That's not what Jesus said, to his disciples or to us.

Actually, Jesus spoke just before our text about the grim reality that living in a sinful world is for us. "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." (Jn. 15:18) And later on, "If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also." (Jn. 15:20) Sure, even non-Christians might respect Jesus; they might call him a "great teacher." But when you believe that Jesus is the Savior, true God and only way to heaven, and you show that you believe that with how you live, you can expect trouble in your life.

Some of that trouble might be from persecution or hate from the world around us. But chances are, that's not the biggest source of trouble in your faith. The biggest trouble for us tends comes from the devil himself. He's the one that Peter describes as prowling "around like a roaring lion, waiting for someone to devour." (1 Pet. 5:8) How does the devil try to devour us? There are probably too many ways to mention, but a lot of them take place in our minds.

When something bad happens, when the troubles of this world come at us, the devil puts the temptation in our heads: "This is God's fault. If he really loved you, he wouldn't have let his happen. Why do you bother to stay with a God like that? What good is he doing for you?" Sometimes those kinds of temptations won't pull us in. Other times, they sound so right.

The devil also comes into our minds after we sin. Yes, not only does he tempt us to sin, he tempts us after we sin. And those kinds of temptations come in one of two forms. The first one is, "Who cares that you just did this thing wrong, this "sin." Isn't that why you believe in Jesus? He'll forgive you anyway, so keep on sinning!" We love to rationalize our sins. We talk so much about forgiveness that we can use it as an excuse. It makes so much sense, but it causes the destruction of faith.

The other type of temptation after sin is this: "You call yourself a Christian? You think God really loves you after you did that? Please, you're so pathetic no one could love you. God certainly wants nothing to do with you. You're going to hell anyway; why not enjoy life while you're at it." The devil, if he can't make us not care about sin, will try to drive us to despair over it.

So what can we do when these temptations hit us? That's where the Holy Spirit comes in. Jesus said, "When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me." (Jn. 15:26) The Holy Spirit comes and testifies to us -- speaks to us -- during these times in our lives. Who is this Holy Spirit? Jesus calls him the Counselor.

The word Counselor here is sometimes translated as Comforter or Helper. It means someone who brings you the help you need. That's what the Holy Spirit does for us. In the midst of the troubles and temptations of our lives, the Holy Spirit brings us the help we need.

And what do we need? Jesus! Jesus said that the Spirit "will testify about me." Think of what a blessing that is! When we think that are sins aren't a big deal, the Holy Spirit speaks to us. "Your sins are a big deal, because look what Jesus did. Your sins were such a big deal that Jesus came to this world and lived and died for those sins. Your sins -- even one of your sins -- was enough to cast you into hell forever. But that's not happening because of Jesus! Look at what he did for you! Look how he took your sins away! You don't want to keep sinning! You want to live in thanks for what Christ has done for you!"

The Holy Spirit can tell us those things because the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts by faith. (1 Cor. 6:19) He's the one who brought us to faith. He comes to us in the Bible and reminds us of these things. He comes to us with the comfort of knowing what Jesus did for us.

And the same holds true when our sins bring us to despair. When the devil tells us that no one can love us, the Holy Spirit comes with the truth: "Look at what Jesus did for you! He suffered death and hell for you, for all your sins! Nothing you have done is too great for his forgiveness. Trust in Christ; he will never leave you or forsake you!"

And unlike the devil, who lies and twists the truth to deceive us, the Holy Spirit only gives us the truth. That's why Jesus calls him the Spirit of truth. So when we look and see what the Bible says, we don't have to wonder about it, or have to decide which parts are true. The Holy Spirit has inspired all the words of God's Word, and his Word is truth! (Jn. 17:17)

And the ultimate truth comes from the Spirit, too. Because of Christ alone, because of his life, death, and resurrection, not only do we have forgiveness now, we have life forever in heaven. It's ours, through Christ alone. That's good news! That's the truth that only the Holy Spirit can tell us and convince us of.

Some of you might know that tonight the final episode of the television show "Lost" will air. I haven't been a watcher of this show. I've seen maybe one episode. I won't be watching the finale. But I understand why a lot of people will be. The show is about a group of people who's plane crashes on a mysterious island. They are "lost." Well, after tonight, how it all ends will finally be revealed.

A lot of people will watch this because they just have to know how it ends. And once they do know, they'll talk about it. Although I don't watch the show, I will probably end up hearing something about the show's last episode after tonight. People will be talking about it. They'll want to share the big news.

Friends, we are in the middle of a much more amazing story than the writers of Lost could have ever dreamed up. We are in the story of our own salvation. The story of how we were born sinful creatures condemned to hell and were saved by Jesus' love and life. This is the most amazing story there is! We were "lost!" Forget a mysterious island; we were lost and dead in our sins! (Eph. 2:1) But we know how the story ends! Jesus rescues us! By faith he forgives us, watches over us, and will finally take us to eternal glory!

Since we know how this amazing story ends, shouldn't we share it? Shouldn't we be telling this to anyone who will listen? We should! And with Jesus' strength, and the Holy Spirit's encouragement, we will! The Holy Spirit has spoken in our hearts by faith. Now, we speak that good news, too.

After Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would testify about him, he said, "And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning." (Jn. 15:27) Jesus was saying this to his disciples, who really had been with him and been eyewitness to everything he said and did. You might argue that we weren't there, we weren't eyewitnesses; so it's a little harder for us to speak about Jesus. But that's just not true.

We can speak of Jesus, because of the Holy Spirit. He has brought us to faith. He has made us "faith-witnesses" of everything Jesus did. The Bible reminds us that "No one can say 'Jesus is Lord' except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Cor. 12:3) We can speak of Jesus to others, because the Holy Spirit is with us to help us speak.

That doesn't mean that we have to memorize the Bible, or that we are all pastors. I'm the only one here today who is a pastor, but all of us can speak about Jesus. We can point people to him. We can share God's Word with them. We can tell them about what Jesus did for us.

And if you think you're not up to it, that you just can't do that, well, you're right. You can't do that on your own. But with the Holy Spirit, you can. Actually, with the Holy Spirit's power, and the love of Jesus Christ, you will do that. You won't be able to stop yourself from talking about what God has done for you. So speak it; tell of Jesus' love for you to anyone who will listen. You know the end of the story; make sure no one else misses it.

You see, the Holy Spirit is no silent partner in God. He is powerful, working powerfully in our hearts by faith. He is there to comfort us in temptation and in the troubles of this sinful world. He is there to bring us the truth of God's Word about Christ in the midst of a world of lies and half-truths. The Holy Spirit is there to strengthen us to speak about Jesus, to be a witness for him in this world. How will the Holy Spirit help you today? I don't know how it will work in your case, but the Holy Spirit will be there in your heart. He's speaking in your heart. He's speaking through the Word. Listen to him. Then go. Speak of Jesus' love wherever you can.

Where Is Jesus?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Sun, 16 May 2010 16:33:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior on May 16th, 2010 for Ascension (observed). Sermon text: Luke 24:44-53

There are few things more frustrating than being stuck waiting for someone. It's happened to you before. You're with a group of people, but one person is still missing. And it's not just any person, it's the one person you really need to be there. So there you are, with a group of people, waiting, checking your watch, wondering how long this will take.

I remember being at a restaurant with a large group of family. The restaurant was packed that night; the waiting area was so full there was barely room to stand. Thankfully, we'd made reservations. No waiting for us; we'd get right to our table, right? Wrong. This restaurant had a policy: no party could be seated until every person in that party had arrived. Of course, someone was late. So we waited.

This kind of problem can come to our minds when we think of the day we celebrate today: Ascension. Jesus ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God, it sounds so powerful and important -- and it is! But still, it might just leave us wondering: where is Jesus? Isn't he the guy we need around the most? Wouldn't the message of Jesus be more effective, wouldn't we have more hope and joy in our lives, if Jesus was actually here with his church? Sure, Jesus will return one day; we know that. But what are we supposed to do until then? Do we just sit here waiting?

Friends, take comfort. Ascension is not the day where we despair that Jesus is gone. Ascension is the day we celebrate how Jesus is with us, we give thanks for his power among us -- not in the past, not just in biblical times, but today, right now. Ascension is the day we remember how Jesus is with us, and we remember what good news that is for us as Christians, as a congregation, as sinful human beings who rejoice in their Savior. Where is Jesus? Because of Ascension, we never have to wonder about that. Because of Ascension, we know Jesus is always with us.

Our text from Luke's gospel doesn't start out on Ascension day. It starts 40 days earlier on Easter Sunday. The disciples were still amazed and bewildered by what was going on at this point. They hadn't understood that Jesus was going to die, let alone rise from the dead. Just moments before our text starts, they'd seen him again for the first time. He even amazed them by eating a piece of fish in front of them. (Lk. 24:43)
But now in our text it was time for Jesus to put his disciples amazement and confusion to rest. "He said to them, "This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms." (Lk. 24:44)

You may have heard of the vegetable drink called "V8." Whether you like V8 or not, it had some advertisements on tv in the past that were pretty good. These ads would feature someone getting something very unhealthy to eat, like ordering a big, fatty meal from a fast-food restaurant. As the person is about to get the food, someone would lean forward and smack him right on the head. It wouldn't be a smack that would really hurt the person; it was just trying to snap them out of it. After getting smacked in the head, the person looks surprised, and then you hear the main line of the ad: "Should've had a V8." The point of the commercial is that these people should've known! They should've understood it wasn't smart to eat all that fatty food but instead they should have had something much more healthy -- like a V8.

That's kind of what I picture Jesus doing to the disciples in our text. It's like he was saying, "Come on guys! Get with it! You should've known all this was going to happen! I told you about this, and besides, it was all right there in the Bible!" And it was. Jesus had told how he would die and rise again. And even more than that, the Bible had told how he would die and rise again. Seriously, read Psalm 22. Read Isaiah 53. At times chapters like that seem like eyewitness accounts from the cross, instead of prophecies written hundreds of years before. The disciples knew their Bibles, but they still didn't get it. So Jesus helped them out. Our text tells us, "Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures." (Lk. 24:45)

Sounds nice, doesn't it? After all, the Bible can be confusing sometimes, and it'd be nice to have Jesus himself around to make everything clear for us, like he did for the disciples. But wait a minute. Didn't you hear what Jesus just said? This part of our text should be like someone reaching out and smacking us on the head. Snap out of it! Don't think, "I wish Jesus were around so he could explain the Bible." He is around. Where is Jesus? He's in his Word!
Don't ever think Jesus has left us alone. His words and actions in his Word still speak and work powerfully for us today. The story of Jesus perfect life, sacrificial death, and triumph over the grave is not something in the Bible that's just an interesting story. It's the good news, the gospel, "the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes." (Rom. 1:16) Just by reading or hearing about what Jesus said and did is powerful, because the Holy Spirit uses it to work or strengthen faith in our hearts.

Reading about Jesus' forgiveness, how his blood covers the sins of all people isn't just words on a page. They are powerful words that give the forgiveness of which they speak. Yes, friends, Jesus forgives you today. How do I know this? The Bible tells me. It proclaims and seals Jesus' forgiveness to you.

See, sometimes we get the idea that reading and studying the Bible is a nice little hobby that some people have. Some people collect stamps. Others like to study about the Civil War. Still others like to study the Bible. Those hobbies are fine for them, we think, but they might not be my thing. Study the Bible, well, I'm glad some people like that, but it's just not for me.

But it is, because Jesus is there in his Word. Jesus himself said that the Bible testifies about him. (Jn. 5:39) The whole Bible is Jesus' story. And whether you read and study it for the first time or the thousandth time in your life, Jesus is there. He reminds you that you are saved by him alone. He comforts you with his forgiveness. He assures you that heaven is your home through him. So as we celebrate Ascension today -- and every day after -- "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Pet. 3:18) Find Jesus in his Word!

And when you do, you'll realize that's not the only place to find him. Listen to Jesus' words to his disciples about the Bible. "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning in Jerusalem." (Lk. 24:46-47)

Did you hear yourself in that verse? You're in there. "Repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations." You are a part of that "all nations." And where did you hear about Jesus? Where did you hear about repenting of your sins because Jesus has forgiven you? Did Jesus himself appear to you in the flesh face to face and tell you about it? No. Did you just happen to pick up a Bible and read about all of it yourself? It's possible, I guess, but not likely. No, you most likely heard of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and the forgiveness, life, and salvation that you get because of it through someone else. And that's another way Jesus is still with us today.

Jesus could've carried out all his work himself, personally, in the flesh. But he decided not to. Jesus could've decided to let angels do all his work in this world. But he didn't. Jesus chose sinful human beings to carry out his work in the world, like the disciples, like you and me.

And when we carry out Jesus' work, Jesus is there. When I told you today your sins are forgiven, I wasn't speaking for myself, I was speaking in Jesus' place. You can trust when I say those words it's just as good as if Jesus were here in the flesh speaking them. When I baptize someone, like I had the privilege to do a couple days ago, it's not really something I do. The Holy Spirit works in that water and Word to connect that baptized person to Jesus. When we have the Lord's Supper here, we're not getting some bread and wine to help tide us over until lunch. We're getting Jesus. He's truly present there in his body and blood to build up our faith and assure us again of our forgiveness and salvation.

And when you tell someone about who Jesus is, when you explain something from the Bible, when you invite someone to church or to Bible class, Jesus is there working through you, too. We are his witnesses, and he has called on us to witness to him and his life, love, and forgiveness with our whole lives. Where is Jesus? He's in his church, he's with me and with you as we carry out his mission in this world.

But that's still not the only place we find our Savior. Listen to Luke's brief account of the Ascension. "He lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven." It was so simple. Jesus simply lifts up into the air, he ascends to heaven, and he vanishes from their sight.

This is where the disciples should be sad, right? This is where they should be weeping and thinking, "Now what do we do?" But that's not what they did. Our text tells us, "Then [the disciples] worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God." (Lk. 24:52-53)

The disciples seem even happier once Jesus leaves. They praise him, they go back to Jerusalem with great joy. They didn't go with their heads down grumbling. They didn't say, "What's this world coming to?" They went with joy, praising God.

We can live the same way. We're tempted to do the opposite, of course. We're tempted to watch the news and say, "What a mess. There's no hope left in this world." We're tempted to look around at our church and say, "I don't know, there's less attendance, people don't seem interested in us anymore. Maybe we're dying." We're tempted to look at our lives and say, "Wow, do I have problems. Bills, fights in relationships, difficulty at work and school, sickness and death...maybe God really isn't with me no matter what."

When those temptations hit you, remember Ascension! Remember that the disciples went with joy praising God when Jesus ascended, and you can live with joy praising God, too. Why? Because Jesus' ascension means he's the one in control. Our reading from Ephesians spells it out. There we hear that when Jesus ascended, "God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way." (Eph. 1:22-23)

Where is Jesus? He's right here with us! He's wherever we are! He rules the whole world. He makes sure that everything that happens, happens for your good, for the good of his church, for the good of his mission in the world. And if Jesus rules all things, we don't have to worry. We don't have to grumble and complain. No, we can praise him. We can give thanks that he takes care of it all. And we can rejoice that he gives us a role in his mission.

You know what it's like to be missing someone important. But remember, because of the Ascension, we never have to miss Jesus. Where is he? He's in his Word, with his power for our forgiveness and salvation. He's speaking through his church as we live in his Word and Sacraments. He's there in everything that happens in this world, working out all things for the good of those who love him. (Rom. 8:28) Don't despair! Don't lose hope! Jesus is here! He's forgiven you! He's given you life now and forever. And yes, he has ascended, but he's not going anywhere.

Witness the Power of the Word

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Sun, 09 May 2010 12:40:00 +0000

Sermon preached on 5/9/10 at Our Savior. Sermon text: Acts 14:8-18

Sometimes someone's words have the power to change everything. One such person is mom. Let's face it, what your mother says means a lot. If you're hurt, or down, or discouraged, sometimes some words of comfort from your mom might be one of the few things that will make you feel better. Of course, no criticism will get your attention more than words of disappointment from mom.

Yes, moms' words really have power for us. You can probably all think of words from your mom that have meant a lot to you throughout your life. And I hope you take the time today to give thanks for the gifts from God that moms really are.

Our text for this morning doesn't focus on moms, but it does focus on powerful words. The most powerful Word comes from God himself. God's Word, the Bible, is God's power, working for our good. We talk about that a lot here, how important the Bible is, how we always want to be reading and studying it, how powerful it is. If you've been coming to this church for any length of time, you're probably used to hearing how powerful God's Word is.

But sometimes we're tempted to think of the power of God's Word only as an abstract concept. We know the Bible is supposed to be powerful. We know God did a lot of powerful things in the past in biblical times. But sometimes we let it end there. The assumption, whether we think of it that way or not, is that God's Word isn't really all that powerful for us, right now, today.

So I'll tell you right now: get that idea out of your head. God's Word is as powerful as it has ever been, and God has shown that power in your lives. He's used his Word to do miracles for you, personally. In fact, he's doing that right now. So let's focus on God's Word and really see the power that's there right before our eyes. Witness the power of the Word.

Our text finds the Apostle Paul back on his first missionary journey. Last week we heard how Paul had run into some opposition in the synagogue in Pisidian Antioch. (Acts 13:44-52) After the Jews there rejected the message of Jesus, Paul announced that he was going to speak to the non-Jews, instead. In our text today, Paul and Barnabas have moved on a couple of cities to Lystra. There, Paul was taking his message to the Gentiles. As he was doing that, something amazing happened.

"In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk." (Acts 14:8-10)

Did you catch powerful Word at work there? Well, it's hard to miss the power in the crippled man walking. Think about it, this man had been crippled for life. He'd never walked. Then God's Apostle Paul speaks to him, and the man walks! Not some shaky, tentative first steps. He jumped up and began to walk! That's real power!

"Well, that's all very interesting," the skeptical part of our mind whispers to us, "but when was the last time we've really seen miracles like that?" We see a few of these miracles in the Bible. Besides Paul in our text, both Jesus and Peter healed people who had been crippled. But even if this was almost common in the Bible, it's anything but now. People who can't use their legs face surgery, therapy, and a lot of time to have any chance to walk. And even when this is successful, there's no jumping up and immediate walking. It's a long and usually painful process.

Then there are those "faith healers" that you hear about sometimes. They're usually traveling preachers who go from town to town. At their shows, there might be someone brought up in a wheelchair. Then, with some yelling and fancy movements, the preacher announces that the person has been healed. Lo and behold, the person gets out of the wheelchair as the crowd goes wild.

Now, I'm not saying this couldn't happen. God and his Word are powerful; he could heal anything like this if he wanted to. God used miracles like this in biblical times to advance the gospel message of Jesus the Savior of the world. God hasn't promised those kind of miracles today. The fact that a lot of those faith healers have been proven to be scamming people out of money with fake healings doesn't help, either. To make a long story short, I'd be more willing to pray for God to heal someone than hope for a faith healer to do it. So, here we have an example of God's Word being powerful, but it doesn't seem to happen much today.

But maybe there's an even better example of God's powerful Word in this text. There were definitely some interesting developments after Paul healed this man. When the crowd saw the healing, they started shouting. "The gods have come down to us in human form!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes." (Acts 14:11-12)

This was a problem. There was a story that probably everyone there in Lystra had heard before. In the story, the Greek gods Zeus and Hermes appeared in human form, but no one recognized them or greeted them. Then a couple of people welcomed them, and the gods honored those people, but they destroyed the rest of the town. The people in Lystra in our text probably took that old myth seriously and wanted to make sure they honored any gods who showed up in their towns. We even hear that they started bringing bulls to sacrifice to them into the city. (Acts 14:13)

Obviously, Paul and Barnabas didn't want this. So they told the people that there was only one true God, and they were not gods at all. "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and everything in them." (Acts 14:14-15) Paul couldn't quote the Old Testament like he did for the Jews who knew it so well, so he used the message of God's Word to explain the truth about who God is.

This is the part where God's powerful Word instantly convinces everyone, right? Everyone understands, they stop worshiping Paul and Barnabas, and they turn to faith in Jesus. Well, not exactly. Our text says "they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them." (Acts 14:18) The people ignored what Paul was saying and were ready to worship them anyway!

Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, after our text, a group of Jews shows up -- the same ones from Antioch from our text from last week -- and they somehow turn this crowd against Paul. By the time this whole event was over, Paul had been stoned by the crowd and left for dead. He ended up surviving and went to a different city the next day.

So, not only did the powerful Word of God not convince the crowd, it almost got Paul killed. You probably can't wait to talk to people about your Savior now, right? Well, even if we recognize we probably won't get killed for talking about Jesus in our country today, we might still be scared. We think, "it's never going to work. No one is going to believe me. I'm going to say something wrong. I'm going to mess it all up." Maybe God's Word is powerful, we might think, except when I'm the one using it.

Yes, many people do reject God's Word. But should that really surprise us? Many rejected Jesus himself! But sometimes when we're afraid the Word will get rejected, when we just expected that it'll never work and no one will believe it, we're refusing to trust God's Word. We're refusing to take God at his Word and use his powerful Word like he has commanded us too.

And if that's the attitude we have in our minds, maybe it's not so surprising that we sometimes don't think studying the Bible is worth it. Maybe it shouldn't shock us when people don't come study the Bible or send their kids to Sunday school. After all, it sure doesn't seem like God's work really works that well, anyway.

Look at your own mind and attitude. Do you think God's Word is really powerful? Do you think it's always been powerful for you? Those attitudes of doubting God's Word -- attitudes we've all had -- are sinful. And finally, what is unbelief but refusing to take God at his Word?

God's Word is powerful! It's more powerful than dynamite and nuclear weapons put together. God's Word is powerful and it has worked its power on you personally!

There's a verse in our text where we see this kind of power. It goes by so fast that you might have missed it. The crippled man "listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, [and] saw that he had faith to be healed." (Acts 14:9) What had this crippled man been doing? Listening to Paul. What had Paul been talking about? The same thing he always talked about! Jesus! The Savior who so loved the world that he gave his life to save us from our sins!

And after Paul had spoken this message, he saw the man had faith to be healed. Where our text says "faith to be healed," the original language says, "faith to be saved." The man may have faith that Paul could heal him, but only because he had faith that Jesus had saved him. The greatest miracle from the powerful Word of God in this text is that this man went from being an unbeliever, condemned to death and hell forever, to a believer, God's forgiven child, and heir of eternal life through faith in Christ. That is how God's powerful Word worked on that man, and that's not even mentioning that his legs worked again.

Do you see that God's Word worked the same for you? Maybe you think you're a Christian because your family was when you were growing up. Maybe you think you're a Christian because you've just always loved God or maybe you just liked the first church you ever belonged to. Well, those things are all fine, but none of them are the reason you are a Christian. You're a Christian because God's Word worked a miracle on you.

No matter who you are, you were born dead in sin, condemned to eternal death in hell. But God's Word worked on you. Maybe it was God's Word with water in your baptism. What a miracle it was when God made you his own child, connected you to Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, and washed your sins away! That's a miracle that only God's Word could do.

Maybe it was when you heard the message of what Jesus had done, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Jesus paid the price of hell that you and I deserved, and by faith he gives us the reward of heaven that he won in his resurrection. God uses that message in his Word to give faith. And he even uses it to strengthen faith. Every time we hear again about our Savior who lived, died, and rose for us, God's powerful Word strengthens our faith. Every time we receive Jesus' body and blood with the bread and wine connected with God's Word in the Lord's Supper, our faith is strengthened and our sins are forgiven. The miracle of God's powerful Word continues to work on you.

And because it has, let's never doubt that it can work on others. Yes, many still reject Jesus and reject his Word. But the Holy Spirit also uses that Word to draw others to believe it, just like it did for you. Never hesitate to share his Word with others. Don't neglect to go back to his Word and fill up on the Good News that strengthens your faith still today. Be bold and confident whether you're reading or sharing God's Word that it will work; God will accomplish what he wants to through his Word.

As you give thanks for mothers on this day, don't forget to also give thanks for God's Word. His Word is what made the biggest impact in our lives as it worked the miracle of faith in our hearts. Grow in that Word every day. Share that Word with whomever God puts in front of you. Live that Word in your lives, because you are witnesses. You have seen God's works. Keep doing that. Witness the power of the Word.

I Have Made You a Light

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Fri, 07 May 2010 19:42:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 5/2/10 for the 5th Sunday of Easter. Sermon text: Acts 13:44-52

It was a very dark time in the history of our world. The most important, most precious message ever heard wasn't treated as something precious, but as something to suppress, something to silence. The message of Jesus Christ as the only Savior of the world, the one who died and rose for the sins of world -- that message should have been greeted with shouts of joy, but it wasn't. Many hated the message, and they wanted it to disappear forever.

This dark time that I'm talking about is from the time of our text from the book of Acts, but really it could have been referring to our time today. Make no mistake: there are enemies of the Gospel. People are out there who want to extinguish the light of the world forever. It might not seem like that here this morning. We're here worshiping safely in a beautiful building. But the opposition is there. Maybe it's in the little remarks that someone makes to you like, "why do you bother going to church?" Maybe it's the fact that it's easier to find anti-Christian ideas on tv or on the internet or on the radio than it is to find the truth. Maybe it's the opposition that comes from our own hearts: the part of us that doesn't think Jesus and his Word are really that big of deal at the end of the day. The part of us that reacts with apathy and a shrug to that precious message.

But look again. Look at the treasure we have! Despite how it's treated, by people around the world, or even by ourselves at times, the message of Jesus our Savior shines as a light in this dark world. The message is that Jesus didn't just die for the world, but he died for you. The message is that Jesus rose and someday all believers will rise, but you will rise to eternal life through faith in him. When we see how precious the message of Jesus is to us, we'll want to share it. Not because we have to. Not because it's what everybody else is doing. No, sharing the good news of sins forgiven in Jesus' name is a joy! And it's what God has made us for. He has empowered us and given us a mission in this world. He lets us reflect the brightness of Jesus in a sin-darkened world. He tells us, "I have made you a light."

Our text started out at a pretty positive time for the Apostle Paul. He was on his first missionary journey with Barnabas in the city of Pisidian Antioch. As usual, Paul went to the synagogue first. And on the Sabbath, he got a chance to preach. And did he ever preach! He took that group of Jews back to the Old Testament Scriptures they knew and showed how they all pointed to Jesus! And he summed up his message like this: "My brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is justified." (Acts 13:38-39)

And the Word did what God promised it would. It did not return empty. (Is. 55:11) People were believing the message. They wanted to hear more! So they invited Paul to speak again the next Sabbath day. That's where our text picks up. Things look great at first. We hear that "almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord." (Acts 13:44) The synagogue was packed! Looks like we're set for a great day!

But it didn't work out that way. The Jews who normally ran the synagogue looked at the crowd, and they weren't happy about it. "How come we never bring in crowds like this?" Have you ever worked on something, worked really hard, but never had much success with it? That can be frustrating enough. But then, when someone just shows up and starts doing that thing you were trying to do, but doing it better, immediately...well, it doesn't take long before jealousy has reared its ugly head.

With that jealousy in their hearts, this group of Jews "talked abusively against what Paul was saying." (Acts 13:45) Imagine someone standing up and yelling at the preacher during the sermon! This huge crowd was turning into an angry mob. But Paul and Barnabas didn't back down. If anything, they got even bolder. They said, "We had to speak the word of God to you first. Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord has commanded us: "I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth." (Acts 13:46-47)

The Jews' jealousy had clouded their thinking. They were so busy being angry about people like Gentiles being interested in Paul and Barnabas's message, that they didn't realize they were throwing their salvation away. Paul knew that a message this precious couldn't just disappear because someone wanted it to. They had to share it. They had to bring it to those Gentiles. Because God had made them a light. He wanted them to shine in this dark world with the message of forgiveness of sins and life out of death.

That's exactly what Paul and Barnabas did that day. And God made sure that their light had its effect. "When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed." (Acts 13:48) No matter what those Jews thought of the Gentiles in the crowd, God had chosen many of those Gentiles to be saved before the world began. He brought that salvation to them through the light of the gospel message that Paul and Barnabas brought.

Now, I've never had someone stand up and shout at me during the middle of a sermon, like Paul did here. I'd be pretty shocked to have that happen. I also don't think that any of you would get jealous and enraged to see a large crowd show up here to hear about Jesus. I think you'd be happy about it. But remember. We live in a dark world. Don't think any of us are immune from temptation to act like those jealous Jews there in that synagogue.

It's just that our temptations are much more subtle. We're not tempted to stand up and shout during a sermon; we're more likely tempted to have our minds drift away from it. None of you would probably get violently jealous of new people joining the church and hearing God's Word. Instead, we're tempted to just never invite people to come to church. Maybe they won't want to come. Maybe they won't like it. Inviting them would be too embarrassing. I don't want to offend them in any way. And with that and a thousand other excuses in our minds, we cover up the light God has given us.

That light, that message of Jesus as our Savior of free forgiveness is the most precious thing we have! But how easily we lose focus on it. How easy it is for us to focus on aspects of the personalities of different people in the congregation, instead of the Savior that we share. How easy for us to get lost in the details of things we don't like or disagree with in this or that part of being a congregation, all while failing to give thanks for the unity of believing God's Word that we share. Those temptations that pull us away from God's Word are real. They can lead people to stop coming to church. They can lead people to lose even their faith itself.

But that doesn't need to happen! We have in God's Word the only light in this dark world that can change people, that can win hearts for their Savior. It is the most precious thing we have. And God has given us a mission with that Word: he says, "I have made you a light."

Yes, like Paul and Barnabas were a light for the Gentiles to bring them God's Word in our text, we are a light in our lives right now. I'm not saying you're all full-time missionaries or pastors and that you should all quit your jobs to preach full time. No! You have plenty of opportunities to be the light that God has made you right where you are.

But it helps to know why we're a light and why we'd want to share that light. Imagine this. You're on death row. You've been convicted of your crimes and sentenced to die. For me, it's hard to imagine a more horrible position to be in. Stuck in prison and you know your future holds death. Talk about hopeless! But then, the phone rings! It's the governor! You've received a pardon. Instead of hopelessness and death, you now have new life. Think you'd be excited about it? Do you think you'd just shrug your shoulders and not tell anybody about what happened?

No! You'd be so thrilled that no one could stop you from telling people about your good news. That's how it is with us. We were stuck guilty of sin and sentenced to eternal death in hell. But Jesus pardoned us. His blood washed our sins away. His resurrection guaranteed us our life. That's a big deal. We want to talk about it! Because, you see, there are plenty of people out there who are also under this death sentence, who would also be lost forever...but Jesus' pardon is for them, too! Don't you want to tell them? How lucky we are that we get to tell them!

I'm sure you know people in your life like this, people you can talk to, people with whom you can share the hope that you have from our Savior. I'm not saying that you need to memorize the entire Bible or feel like you have to convince someone about Jesus. You can't convince anyone! Remember what our text told us! "All who were appointed for eternal life believed." (Acts 13:48) It's not up to us to make someone believe; it's God the Holy Spirit who works faith in their heart. But we can help bring that Gospel message that the Holy Spirit uses to work that faith.

It can be as simple as inviting someone to church. You can invite them to talk to me. You can ask them if it's okay if I contact them, and if they say yes, give me a call and tell me how to contact them. Or maybe it's just encouraging someone who hasn't been in church a while to come back. Or maybe it's helping someone get back to Bible class or encouraging them to bring their kids to Sunday school. Or maybe it's that person at work or school who is open to hearing about what you believe. You have a chance to tell them! Remember what God said, "I have made you a light!"

And we might not always see the results, or even know what they are. After this incident in our text we hear that, "The word of the Lord spread through the whole region." (Acts 13:49) Paul and Barnabas ended up getting kicked out of that city! (Acts 13:50) But still, the Word of the Lord spread. When you share the message of Jesus your Savior, or when you invite someone to church, they might refuse! They might say no! But maybe the word of the Lord will spread. Maybe God will use that seed you planted, that light that you shined, to do his work at another time or in another place.

We live in a dark world, friends. All around us are sin and death. But we've been given the light of Christ! We have been rescued from our death sentence by his death! We've been given eternal life by his life! And now, God has a command for us. He tells us, "I have made you a light." So go! Be the light that God has made you! Shine with the good news of your Savior wherever you are in your life. God will use you. He will use his power and his love in ways you might not expect or imagine. Shine for him as the light he has made you.

Believing Is Seeing

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 15:48:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 4/11/10 for the 2nd Sunday of Easter. Sermon text: John 20:19-29

"I'll believe it when I see it." That's something that we say when we're very skeptical about something, when we think that something probably isn't true, and most likely won't ever be true. Will they ever build hotels on the planet Mars and make it a vacation destination? Well, I'll believe it when I see it. That doesn't seem very likely to me. Will the Sabres win the Stanley Cup and the Bills win the Super Bowl in the same year? I suppose it's possible, but...I'll believe it when I see it. Will the 219 expressway ever be completed to stretch from I-90 all the way to I-86? I'll believe it when I see it.

Of course, there have been many things that people never believed would happen, but then they did see them. I'm sure many people in the past would've never believed that human beings would walk on the moon. But when it finally happened and millions got to see it live on TV in 1969, suddenly people believed.

Some things we don't have the luxury of seeing, though. Who would ever believe that a man would be killed and then would come back to life? And not only that, who'd ever believe that that man's death and life would mean that we get eternal life in heaven? It's pretty incredible -- almost unbelievable -- when you think about it.

But we believe it. As Christians, that's exactly what we believe. That's exactly what Easter is all about. Christ has died. Christ is risen! Christ will come again and take us to be in heaven with him forever. We've never seen these things. But we believe them. The Holy Spirit has worked through God's Word to give us faith to trust that Jesus is alive and that we are forgiven. For us, as Christians, believing is seeing. Our faith is the sight God gives us to see his love, to see our Risen Savior.

The disciples on that first Easter were given an opportunity that we don't have today: they saw the Risen Jesus with their own eyes. "On the evening of the first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" (Jn. 20:19)

Now, I mentioned this last week, but that first Easter Sunday wasn't this day of unbridled joy for the disciples that we'd think it would've been. Our text mentions they were afraid of the Jewish leaders who had arrested Jesus and eventually had him executed by the Romans. The disciples didn't understand Jesus was going to rise. Sure, he'd told them. Sure, they should have known and understood it from Scripture. But they didn't. And despite reports from several women that Jesus had risen, they didn't believe it. Instead, on the evening of Easter, the disciples were afraid and locked in a room together.

But then Jesus is there. And suddenly their fears are gone. Suddenly Jesus' words give them what they need: "Peace be with you!" And then they have the peace of knowing their teacher and Savior was alive, that their sins were forgiven, that all of Jesus' promises would come true. And Jesus even comforted them by giving them even more proof. "After [Jesus] said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord." (Jn. 20:20)

Jesus' wounds on his hands and side -- the very things that would've inspired horror in the disciples earlier -- were now a source of comfort. The nail marks in his hands and the cut in his side proved that Jesus had died, but that death had lost its power over him. No wonder the disciples were overjoyed. Death would have no power over them either, because of what Jesus had done.

They were all overjoyed, of course, except for Thomas. Our text tells us that for whatever reason, Thomas wasn't there on that Easter evening. (Jn. 20:24) The disciples told him that they'd seen Jesus, that he was alive. But listen to Thomas's response: "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it." (Jn. 20:25) In other words, Thomas said: I'll believe it when I see it.

Doubting Thomas, we hear him called today. He refused to believe not only Jesus' own words that he would rise, but he wouldn't even believe his fellow disciples when they saw Jesus for themselves. That's worse than doubting; that's the sin of unbelief.

But then Jesus appeared again. He showed Thomas his hands and side just like he'd asked. And he said to him, "Stop doubting and believe." (Jn. 20:27) And just as quick as that, Thomas did believe. He goes on to confess that Jesus isn't just alive, but he's also God himself. "Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" (Jn. 20:28) Then Jesus gives us the point of this story with his last words to Thomas in our text. "Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (Jn. 20:29)

And we hear that whole story, and we hear what Jesus says at the end, and we think, "Yes! Blessed are they who have not seen and yet have believed! That's us! We haven't seen Jesus, yet we believe in him. We must be pretty great. We're better than all the disciples, nothing could ever shake our faith."

Be careful. Don't look at Thomas as an example of a sin that other people fall into but you never could. Doubts are things that creep into our minds and our hearts when we don't expect it. And if we think we're somehow immune from ever having doubts, then those doubts are going to be even more destructive to our faith.

Think about the situation the disciples were in. It was high stress. They'd just seen their master killed. They were afraid of the Jews arresting them. At first, none of the disciples believed that Jesus had risen. They only believed when they actually saw him. Thomas was the same way. The other disciples doubted, too, we just don't usually think of it that way.

What about your doubts? Are you ever the one acting like Thomas? Maybe you're thinking, "no, I have no doubts. I believe in Jesus and that has never changed in the least." Well, that's great that you think that.

But what about when things aren't going well for you? What about when you're scared like the disciples were. Our fears might have to do with uncertainty about our life or our job. Our fears might center on our thinking that we just can't succeed, that we're bound to fail in what we're doing. Our fears might center on sickness that is affecting ourselves, or affecting our loved ones. When those fears hit us, the doubts aren't far behind.

Does God really love me? Does God really hear my prayers? Think about the problems and fear you've had in your life recently. When those fears hit, did you go to God in prayer? Did you trust that he would take care of it? Did you open the Bible and see what God might have to say about your problem? Or, did you just worry about it? Maybe you just got angry about it, angry at yourself or people close to you.

Yes, those doubts are never far from any of us. Maybe you've even doubted whether anything God says is really true. Maybe you've even doubted whether Jesus rose from the dead or not. Make no mistake about it, these doubts -- all of these doubts -- are sins. They're a bit of unbelief creeping into our hearts. And we all have these doubts at times in one form or another. The question is, what can we do about it? Where can we turn?

Jesus told us where to turn. Did you catch it in our text? Jesus was talking about it. When he appeared to his disciples the first time, he said to them, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." (Jn. 20:21) Even when Jesus was no longer visible in this world, his disciples would carry on his mission. And what was his mission? He tells that to his disciples, too.

"If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven, if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven." (Jn. 20:23) Jesus told his disciples that they could announce his forgiveness. And how would they announce his forgiveness By announcing that Jesus had died and risen! By telling the good news of the gospel message. And the disciples did tell their message in writing down Jesus' story in the words of the Bible.

And when we read that message in the Bible of our forgiveness, we actually get that forgiveness. The Holy Spirit works through that gospel message to give faith and strengthen faith in that forgiveness. The same thing happens here on Sunday mornings. You confess your sins, and what do I say? "God, our heavenly Father, has been merciful to us and has given his only Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Therefore, as a called servant of Christ and by his authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."

Those words aren't a sham. They're real. And they're not real because I said them. They're real because Jesus died and rose again. They're real because Jesus appeared to his disciples and gave them the authority to forgive sins. And when our sins are forgiven like this, it strengthens our faith. It builds up our confidence in what our Risen Savior has done. It reminds us that God does keep his promises, that our sins are forgiven.

Yes, we haven't seen Jesus alive with our own eyes. But we don't need to. For us, believing is seeing. We see the Risen Jesus by faith. Our faith is strengthened in his Word. Our faith grows when we hear that our sins -- even our doubts -- are forgiven. Our faith grows in the Savior who was dead but is alive forever and ever. And we look forward to seeing him in heaven, to see and touch his hands and side. To see, not just by faith, but also by sight, just exactly what God's love has done for us.

A Living Hope

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:07:00 +0000

Sermon for Easter Sunday – the Resurrection of our Lord – April 4, 2010. Based on 1 Peter 1:3-9.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! Because this day happened -- because of Easter -- we never have to be afraid again. Because of Easter, we don't have to wonder what will happen to us when we die. Because of Easter, we know all God's promises will come true and we'll have all eternity to thank him for it. Because of Easter, we have hope.

But what is "hope" exactly? You hear the word all the time, from movies to political campaigns. We say the word ourselves. But what does the word actually mean?

It's a word that's used in different ways, with slightly different meanings. You could be talking about something that you have no expectation of actually happening. For example, you might say, "I hope I win the lottery." That's nice that you hope that, but I think we all know it's not going to happen. The odds are stacked against you. Hope all you want; you're probably not going to win the lottery anytime soon.

Sometimes we use the word for something that is a bit more likely to actually happen. "I hope we keep this nice weather up outside" or, "I hope it doesn't rain today." That might really happen. The weather might be great. But it also might not happen. Rain clouds could come, the weather could turn, and your hope would be wrong.

But there's another kind of hope. There's a hope for something that hasn't happened yet, but that we know will happen. It's something we're confident will happen. It's something we trust will happen. That's the "hope" that Easter gives us. Because of Easter, we have the sure hope that everything is going to work out for our good, because of what our Savior has done. He gives us that sure hope -- a living hope.

That's what our text is talking about. Peter wrote our text, and even though it was probably 30 years or so after the first Easter he's still just gushing with emotion as he writes, "Praise to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." (1 Pet. 1:3) It sounds like Peter is still filled with the same excitement that he must have had when Jesus first rose.

And even though we weren't there when Jesus rose, even though we didn't get to see him and the nail marks in his hands and feet, just maybe we can feel that excitement a little bit, too. If there's any day where we'd feel it, it'd be today. The Easter lilies, the feeling of an Easter Sunday morning, the hymns and songs we sing, it might fill your heart with that excitement, that living hope, that Peter is writing about. It might remind you that we do have a God who loves us, and a Savior who died and lives for us.

But it's hard to keep that excitement, that feeling going. How can you keep hope in your heart when the more you see of life all around you, the more things seem hopeless? There's so much talk about a recession and unemployment and "tough times" in our world today. You call that hopeful?

Our individual lives have their own problems, too. It could be not enough money to pay the bills. It could be fighting and turmoil in our relationships in our families, with our spouse, with our friends. It could be our work or school that just isn't going how we thought it would. It could be our plans that just never seem to amount to much of anything. And we wonder if God even loves us at all. You call that hopeful?

Peter, who wrote our text, would've understood these feelings. Sure, he'd been there on the first Easter. We heard about him in today's Gospel running to the tomb and seeing the burial cloths laying there. But was he overjoyed? Was the excitement just pouring out of him then? No. The Gospel of Luke tells us that when the women told the disciples about the empty tomb, "they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense." (Lk. 24:11) Then after Peter gets to the tomb himself, we hear that "he went away, wondering to himself what had happened." (Lk. 24:12)

That first Easter didn't start out full of happy excitement, not for Peter. He and the other disciples, though Jesus had told them about it several times, still didn't understand or believe that he would rise from the dead. Peter himself had extra reason to feel bad. He had denied Jesus. He had abandoned his teacher, his Lord, and he had denied even knowing who he was. Who knows? Maybe Peter could have stopped this horrible tragedy from happening. Maybe he have done something. But he didn't. And he felt the guilt. How could God love someone like him?

Our mistakes and sins can bring that feeling to us. You might have that one sin that you know is wrong, but you keep doing it anyway. And every time you think...I failed again. And I really call myself a Christian? God must really hate me at this point. What's the point of even trying anymore? And that guilt of our sin robs us of our joy and takes away our hope, leaving us empty.

But look! There at the tomb! It's empty, too! Friends, Peter might not have understood what that meant at first, but we do. An empty tomb means a living Jesus! A living Jesus means that our sins have been forgiven! Sins forgiven mean that we, too, will live forever in heaven. No matter what happens to us now, eternal life is the reward Jesus won for us! His empty tomb gives us a living hope!

And our hope is not just for heaven. Our living hope also means everything in our lives now. Peter recognizes the struggles we face. "Now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials." (1 Pet. 1:6) Yes, life in this sinful world won't be easy. But since that tomb is empty, we won't be going it alone.

Think of it this way. Imagine you needed a ride from here to the airport. That's a bit of a drive, about an hour. But imagine that someone not only agreed to drive you to the airport, he also said he'd give you a ride whenever you need it. So later on, if you need a ride again, even if it's just a few blocks here in Springville, would you hesitate to ask that person? Of course not! He already drove you to the airport, of course he'll drive you a few blocks.

Now think of Jesus. He went to the grave. He went to hell and back -- for you! He died and rose -- for you! If Jesus did that much for you, won't he also be willing to be with you in the struggles of this life? If he fulfilled his promise of dying and rising, won't he also fulfill his promise of hearing your prayers and taking your burdens? Of course he will! Because the tomb is empty, because Jesus rose, we have comfort in our trials. We have a living hope!

In fact, our troubles actually benefit us now. Peter reminds us of this. "These [trials] have come so that your faith -- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire -- may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Pet. 1:7)

Think of it, as you go through problems and struggles in your life. Because Jesus rose, he promises not only to be with you through those problems, he promises to use those problems to strengthen your faith. He uses your problems to drive you back to his Word, to rejoice again in how he died and rose for you. He uses your problems to remind you of your baptism, where God made you his own dear child forever. He uses your problems to drive you back to the altar to receive his true body and blood for your forgiveness! He blesses you, even through your problems -- all the way to eternal life. That's the living hope that only Jesus can give us.

And he gives that living hope to us freely. I hope you're excited today, and you have that Easter frame of mind. I hope it's a day that you're excited to be a child of God and believer in Jesus. But if you don't have that excitement, or if the excitement fades, don't worry. Jesus' love doesn't depend on your excitement. It depends on what he has done. And he has left his tomb empty. And he's promised that your tomb will be empty, too. He has solved the problem of your sin and promised to be with you through all your problems in life. He is your Savior, and he's given you a living hope.

We close with Peter's words, just as true today as they were when he wrote them. "Though you have not seen [Jesus], you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." (1 Pet. 3:9)

God Takes Us Back!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:25:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 3/14/10 for the 4th Sunday in Lent. Sermon text: Judges 10:6-16

God Takes Us Back!

If there's one thing we have a lot of here in Springville, it's pizza places. They're everywhere here! But I want you to imagine this morning that, against all odds, another pizza place is opening. The owner of this new place is a nice man who is looking forward to serving the best pizza possible to the community.

Of course he has to hire all new workers to staff the restaurant. And there's one worker in particular that the owner really works with. This worker didn't really have any experience, but the owner hired him anyway, taught him the ins and outs of the job, and gave him a position of trust at the latest and greatest pizza joint in town.

Then the problems started coming. First, the worker was late. Then, he was caught stealing money out of the register. The owner, understandably, is angry. "How could you do this?! You're fired!" But the worker begs him to let him keep his job. And the owner listens; he takes him back.

But it's not too long until it happens again. The worker steals from the register again, and this time it's even more money. But he begs for mercy, and again, the owner takes him back. Later on the worker steals food and supplies from the store. Again he's fired. Again he begs. Again the owner takes him back. Then finally he is caught taking the secret pizza sauce recipe from his pizza place and selling it to the pizza place across the street. You better believe the owner is angry; he not only fires the worker but picks up the phone to call the police. But the worker begs him. He pleads for his job again. And the owner takes him back.

What do you think of the worker and the owner in this little story? The worker -- well, of course, he's a thief. He's not trustworthy. He got caught all those times, and it's pretty obvious he's never going to stop. He's obviously taking advantage of the owner's kindness, and he intends to keep on getting whatever he can out of the arrangement. This guy definitely doesn't deserve to be working in the restaurant; if anything, he should be in jail.

Then there's the owner. Doesn't he just seem more sad than anything else? He's taken advantage of again and again, but he keeps coming back for more. Maybe you've heard this phrase: "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Well, shame on this owner! At this point, it's his fault the guy keeps stealing, right? He's basically enabling the behavior by taking the worker back so many times. How does he expect to run a business this way? Sure, he seems like a nice guy -- nice to a fault. How could he be so foolish?

But be careful who you're calling foolish. Because that nice (but perhaps naive) owner in that story sounds an awful lot like God himself in our text from the book of Judges. And instead of one thieving employee, the entire nation of Israel is guilty of crime after crime.

We hear that "Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord." (Jud. 10:6) They started serving and worshiping other gods -- that is, false gods. And they didn't just do this for a few false gods, they worshiped all sorts of them from everywhere. (Jud. 10:6) As you might expect, God is beyond angry. So he does something about it. We read that God "sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites...Israel was in great distress." (Jud. 10:7-9)

Things didn't go well for the Israelites. And that helped them realize they'd been wrong. "The Israelites cried out to the Lord, "We have sinned against you, forsaking our God and serving the Baals." (Jud. 10:10) At first, this doesn't seem to affect God at all. He still seems very angry. God tells the people, "Go and cry out to the gods you have chosen. Let them save you when you are in trouble!" (Jud. 10:14)

But the Israelites didn't stop there. They said to God, "We have sinned. Do with us whatever you think is best, but please rescue us now." (Jud. 10:15) Not only did they say that, they also got rid of their false gods and served only the true God again. And then we're told that God "could bear Israel's misery no longer." He sent them one of the Judges -- in this case a man named Jephthah -- to rescue them. God took his people back and saved them.

Now, if this were an isolated incident in the book of Judges, it wouldn't seem so bad. But it's not. This is just one of many nearly identical incidents that happen again and again throughout Judges. The people sin greatly. God is angry and lets them get into some trouble. The people cry out for help and turn back to God. God rescues them and takes them back.

This isn't God giving the people a second chance, or a third chance. This is dozens, hundreds of chances. Really, it happens all throughout Old Testament history in one form or another. It happens all throughout the Bible. People sin. God is angry. People repent. God takes them back.

When you look at that objectively, it really seems pretty foolish. God, at least according to our reason, shouldn't have taken his people back. They would only turn away again. They couldn't deserve his forgiveness less. But he forgives. He takes them back.

Jesus makes the same point in his stories of the lost sheep and prodigal son from today's Gospel. It might seem irresponsible for a shepherd to leave the 99 sheep behind to go off looking for the one sheep who couldn't stick with the group. Leave the sheep behind! Cut your losses! It might seem foolish and naive of that father to take his good-for-nothing, wild-oat-sowing son back into his home. Maybe take him back as your slave, but as your son? How could he be so foolish!

I hope you're getting the point of all this. I hope you get the point of the owner of the pizza shop and his worker. I hope you get the point of Israel and God in the time of the Judges. I hope you get the point of that wandering sheep and the shepherd. I hope you get the point of the loving father and his prodigal son. It's your story! It's the story of you and God.

Every single day, you sin against God in thought, word, and deed. Sometimes, you sin so much and so awfully that your very faith is weakened, if it doesn't disappear altogether. And God hates that! That's why he fills his Word with all sorts of things about that sin. How it brings his wrath. How it brings death and hell. And God lets your sins and the sins of people around you cause all sorts of problems. He brings you pains and troubles. And he keeps speaking against your sin in his Word.

And when we hear those words, they cut us deep. God hates me when I sin. God hates these sins, and he has promised to punish me for it. Please, Lord, don't leave me! Please, Lord, give me another chance! I won't keep hurting you; I won't keep sinning. Just, please, have mercy on me! Hear my prayer! Help me and forgive me!

And he does. God listens to us. God takes us back. And he doesn't just do it for us once, he doesn't just give us a second chance. He gives us dozens. Hundreds. He does it again and again. God takes us back.

And again, according to our own reason, when we really think about it, that's just really foolish of God. He should never take us back. He should know we're just going to sin again. He should know we're going to disappoint him. It's unbelievably foolish; it's downright unfair on God's part that he should show us mercy, that he should forgive us and take us back, when that's exactly what we don't deserve.

But you know why he can take us back, right? The answer is found at the cross. The answer is found in the one hanging, hurting, dying on that cross. The one person who never deserved an ounce of his heavenly Father's anger got the full brunt of it on that cross. The one person who truly didn't deserve death got it anyway on that cross. That anger should have been yours and mine. That death belonged to us. It was so unfair. So foolish.

And thank God for it! Thank and praise him for his unfair love! Rejoice in his foolish forgiveness! God takes us back! In Christ, we have God's grace, his love, his forgivenes! We didn't earn or deserve it, but it's ours. In Christ, we have life and salvation. We earned the exact opposite, but it's ours anyway. Because God so loved the world. Because he loved us.

Friends, don't forget that for a second! Don't let a day go by without marveling at God's unlikely, undeserved, downright unfair forgiveness and love for you! When you experience the difficulties of this sinful world, when troubles come your way, give thanks that you're not getting the real trouble you deserve. Thank God that he is giving you an eternity in heaven where there will be no problems, no tears, no worries, only joy and happiness and love. And he did it all through Jesus his Son our Savior!

And when you sin, when you fall -- and you will -- take God's Word seriously. See his anger and wrath against sin. See his punishment of hell. He wasn't joking around! See God's anger against sin at the cross! So when you sin, beg for God's mercy. Ask his forgiveness for Jesus's sake. Turn from your sin and serve your heavenly Father again. Repent! And don't doubt for a second that God will take you back. Never fear that he won't forgive you. He always forgives. He always loves! You can be sure of that when you look at Jesus. You can see his love, his forgiveness for your sin, when you look at the cross! Keep your eyes on him and rejoice! God takes us back.

It Could Happen to You

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:45:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 3/7/10 for the 3rd Sunday in Lent. Sermon text: Numbers 16:23-40

It Could Happen to You

"Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you, if you're young at heart." We live in a time and place here in our nation where we think anything is possible. Any success, any reward, any blessing, can be ours if we just try hard enough or are fortunate enough or just keep at it.

We know the lottery has astronomical odds. Yet people keep playing. Why? Well, maybe they'll win! The New York lottery's slogan is "Hey, you never know." And people spend millions on something with almost impossible odds. The same goes for being a professional athlete or professional musician. It's very long odds to actually be able to make a good living doing those things. But so many dream, and so many keep after their goal. Maybe it could happen!

I'm not sure why, but it seems that many people have the opposite thought when it comes to bad or undesirable things happening to them. All the blessings we enjoy in our lives probably contribute to this idea. A horrible, incurable disease? It could never happen to me! After all, we have doctors who know so much advanced medicine all around us. Getting in a car accident? It could never happen to me! I've been driving for years without so much as a scratch! Having my money stolen in some sort of scam? It could never happen to me! I'm very smart about such things; I'm too careful about what I do with my money.

Famous last words, right? So many people think it could never happen to them. But these things do happen. And sometimes we need to prepare for these things to happen, or take steps to make sure they don't.

And the same danger is there for us spiritually. Look at the blessings we have! We are Christians! We believe in the one true God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We believe that the Bible is the true, inerrant and infallible Word of God. We belong to a church and church body that believes these things. We've got our names on the membership registry. What blessings we have! How good God has been to us! So the idea of falling away from our faith? It could never happen to me!

Ah, but it could! It could happen to you. We live in a world that's dangerous to our faith, a world where the devil prowls around like a roaring lion just waiting for someone to devour. (1 Pet. 5:8) We walk in danger all the way. Satan and all his evil, sinful forces have flaming arrows aimed directly for us. (Eph. 6:16) The odds, if you want to think of it that way, probably aren't in our favor. Our faith is in constant danger. If you think you're standing firm, be careful that you don't fall. (1 Cor. 10:12) Yes, it could happen to you.

Just look at our text. It picks up right in the middle of the action: "The Lord said to Moses, "Say to the assembly, 'Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.'" (Num. 16:23) This is the dramatic end to an event in Israel's history known as Korah's rebellion. It all happened during the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness that the people had to do because of their disobedience to God.

As you can imagine, pointless wandering for 40 years can get people in a bad mood. That's probably what had happened here. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, along with about 250 others, rebelled against Moses and his brother Aaron. They thought Moses and Aaron were lording it over all the other people in the nation (Num. 16:3), and they blamed Moses for the problems the nation was having wandering in the desert. (Num. 16:13-14)

So to solve this fight, Moses suggested letting God pick the winner. He told Korah to get a bunch of his men to light censers (which were incense burners) and burn them before the Lord at the tabernacle. God would then decide who was right. (Num. 16:5-7)

Now, it doesn't seem that Korah and the rest of these men had always been constant troublemakers. They were well known leaders in their community. (Num. 16:2) People liked and respected them. They probably hadn't been planning a rebellion all their lives.

In fact, look how God had blessed them! God had chosen these people to be his own nation as Israelites. He had rescued them from slavery in Egypt. He had brought them through the waters of the Red Sea. He had fed them with manna on the ground and quail from the sky. He had allowed them to be respected community leaders with positions of importance in the nation. They probably would have never guessed that they'd be rebelling against their God-given leaders, against God himself. But that's what they did. It happened.

And it could happen to you. As I mentioned earlier, you have been greatly blessed. We live in a prosperous, safe country, where we can worship God freely. We have his Word widely available; we can read it, we can listen to it on cd, we can access it on the computer or even on our phone. We belong to a church and church body that takes God at his Word. We have the sacraments of baptism and the Lord's supper being administered right here. We have a beautiful church building and still relatively new addition. We have many different members with many different gifts helping each other and working together. We have our Lord's forgiveness for our sins and the comfort of salvation in heaven.

We've got it made! So we have nothing to worry about, right? Drifting away from the Bible? Falling away from the faith? Nah. Couldn't happen!

But it could. It could happen to you. Our lives feel like wandering in the wilderness sometimes. We wonder what the point of our lives is supposed to be. We get frustrated at the problems that come up. We struggle in relationships with others. We get angry when we don't get what we want. We sin and don't think it's a big deal at all.

You see how easy it is? We're in a good situation! God has chosen us! What could possibly happen? So we let our guard down. Reading the Bible becomes less important. The Lord's Supper becomes more about routine, or more about our preparation, and less about Jesus' gift. Church services become just something you do, just because, when you get a chance. Prayer becomes just something you talk about. And Jesus' forgiveness? Instead of our comfort and only hope, it becomes an excuse to do what we want.

Falling from faith happens to people. You probably know some of them. And no matter what you might think, it could happen to you. And the results are disastrous.

Look what happened in our text. God picked who was right, and it wasn't Korah and the others who rebelled. We read that "the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed th, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. (Num. 16:31-33) How horrific! How awful! It's like a scene from some horror movie. And those people offering the incense to the Lord who had rebelled didn't escape either. "Fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense." (Num. 16:35) I don't think anyone who saw those scenes would've forgotten them anytime soon. Blessed people, people who had it all going for them -- they rebelled, and they lost it all.

Of course, when people lose their faith today, it's a lot less dramatic. No earthquakes. No fiery attacks from the Lord. People look normal. They go about their everyday lives. But really, what is happening is no less horrific, no less destructive. Loss of faith -- because that is the final result of these sins that go too far -- loss of faith means loss of salvation. Loss of eternal life. No horror movie can come close to that scene.

And I'm not trying to scare people here, but it could happen to you! That's the exact point that God made in our text, too. When those people offering incense had been burned up in the fire, it seems that all that was left of them was a pile of ashes and their bronze censers. So God commanded that the bronze from those censers be hammered and put on top of the altar in the tabernacle. (Num. 16:39) Why would he do this? "This was to remind the Israelites that no one except a descendant of Aaron should come to burn incense before the Lord." (Num. 16:40) Or, to put it another way, "It could happen to you."

Funny that the reminder was put right on the altar, though. Because that altar was meant to be a reminder of something else. Usually, it was blood that went on the altar, the blood of sacrifices. The message there was similar -- this blood could have been yours, but God is taking the blood of an animal in place of yours. God used his altar to teach his people how he forgave sins.

God uses that altar to remind us of another sacrifice. Jesus' blood was poured out on the altar of the cross. His life met the full force of God's wrath. And you know what, it could have been you meeting that wrath, paying with your life -- but it was Jesus. It could have been you paying the consequence of all your sins, but it was Jesus. It could have been you, suffering and dying. But it was Jesus.

If you think your sins are too great, if you think you will fall away because of all the wrong you've done, because of the rebellion you have committed, if you think, "God's love and forgiveness could never happen to me!" Look at Jesus. Look at that cross. Look at that empty tomb. It has happened to you. God's love happened to you in Christ.

He is your hope. He is your forgiveness. He is your not-guilty verdict when your rebellion should've made you guilty. Jesus is the life when you should have death. Fix your eyes on him! Run to his Word for the comfort of his forgiveness. Fall to your knees for his free mercy. Hunger and thirst for the comfort of his body and blood in the sacrament. He has heard you! No one who takes refuge in him is ever put to shame.

Will it happen to you? Can it happen to you? We might think we know the odds to lots of things in our lives. And we might be right and we might be wrong. But here are odds we can be sure of. On our own, we will fall away from our Savior. On our own, the devil, the world, and our sinful flesh, will be too much for us. So let's never try it on our own. Let's stay with our Savior. Let's stay with Jesus and his Word. With him, forgiveness, life, and salvation aren't something that could happen to you. With Jesus, they're already yours.

Faith Stands Out

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 16:50:00 +0000

Sermon preached on 2/28/10 at Our Savior for the 3rd Sunday in Lent. Sermon text: Jeremiah 26:8-15

Faith Stands Out

Have you ever stuck out like a sore thumb? Have you ever had attention put on yourself because you were different from those around you? Sometimes people crave that attention. Sometimes people can't stand it. Sometimes it can even put you in danger. But whatever the case, it can certainly be an uncomfortable feeling to stand out from the crowd and have everyone notice you.

Let me give you an example from my own life. Several years ago I went to the country of Ecuador for a little over a month to learn Spanish better. Now, bear in mind, here in the US, I'm no minority. I can blend in to the crowd if I really want to; I don't look all that different than everybody else. Not so in Ecuador. There was no hiding the big, tall, blond white guy. I looked different than most people. I talked different. Because of this, I'd occasionally get looks from people. I could tell that I was getting a different kind of attention than I was used to. I was standing out.

Really, that's a feeling that we should all be able to relate to, no matter what we look like. That's because we're all Christians. We all have faith in Jesus as our Savior from sin. And faith stands out. It makes us act differently than other people. It makes us speak differently too. That's because we live out our faith. We don't want to follow the sinful ways and words and attitudes of this world; we want to follow our Savior.

And when we live and act and talk differently, it's bound to bring some attention. And that attention won't always be positive. In fact, sometimes it will be downright hostile. We shouldn't be surprised if most people hate us because we're Christians. But at the same time, as Christians we have good news. We're saved! We have a God who loves us personally and immeasurably! Yes, whether we always like it or not, faith stands out. Our faith brings opposition, but it comes with the best news there is.

Standing out like a sore thumb because you're a believer in the one true God is definitely not a new thing. It's been going on since the beginning. (You might remember that Abel's faith stood out from Cain's. Let's just say Cain didn't react well to that.) But in our text, it's Jeremiah the prophet. He definitely stood out for his faith.

If you picture the Old Testament prophets like Jeremiah as always having big crowds of polite, adoring followers, think again. They often had very hostile audiences, probably because they often had very bad news to bring. Prophets spoke for God to the people.

Jeremiah was no different. Just before our text, God told Jeremiah the message he wanted to get to the people, and he specifically told Jeremiah to "tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word." (Jer. 26:2) He wanted to make sure they got the message.

What was the message? The people had to start listening. They had to start following God's laws, obeying the commandments, and listening to the prophets. And if they didn't, God said, they were going down hard. The people, along with their precious city of Jerusalem, would be wiped out. (Jer. 26:4-6)

How do you think they took that message? Not well. Our text tells us that as soon as he'd told them, they shouted at him, "You must die! Why do you prophesy in the Lord's name...?" (Jer. 26:8-9) Jeremiah simply speaks God's message, and a mob scene develops. Jeremiah was living his faith by obeying God and speaking his message, and his faith definitely stood out.

Faith stands out. Your faith is no exception. Like Jeremiah, the words you speak will be guided by your faith. Your faith tells you that you don't go around gossiping about others, you don't tell lies, you don't join in with the offensive language and dirty jokes of others. No, you are a believer and you want your words to reflect that. Besides not saying all those bad things, you'll also show your faith by the good things you speak: your words of encouragement and forgiveness, and the times you specifically share your faith and tell others about Jesus. Your faith stands out with your words.

Your actions are no different. The way you treat others, the way you do your job faithfully, the way you live out your role as husband or wife or parent or child or worker or boss all serve as a testimony of your faith. When you take the time to read the Bible or come to church, people see that. When you help someone else not because of what you'll get in return, but selflessly -- people will see your faith. When you refuse to go along with the sins of this world -- even ones the world doesn't think are wrong -- living together outside of marriage, homosexuality, abortion, your opposition to those things makes your faith stand out. In fact, everything you do is meant to be an expression of your faith in Christ. (1 Cor. 10:31)

Because your faith stands out in your words and actions, that is going to cause a reaction from the people around you. And if you expect that reaction to always be positive, if you expect people to say, "way to go!" when they see your faith...then you're in for a surprise. Our lesson from Philippians today reminded us that there are a lot of enemies of the cross. (Philip. 3:18) A lot of people not only won't agree with your faith; it will make them angry. And they could turn that anger on you.

It might be as small as some eye-rolling over the things you say. It might be calling you a prude or "goody two-shoes" for doing what's right. Of course, it can go farther than that. Speaking out against abortion or homosexuality, for example, can get you labeled an intolerant bigot, or worse. Saying that Christ alone is the only way to heaven might make people think of you as some sort of close-minded religious extremist. In some places, faith in Christ will get you killed.

Friends, we can all be so thankful to our merciful God that we are not under the constant threat of death or imprisonment because of our faith in this country today. God has been very good to us. But the conditions of this sinful world might not always stay so good. And even though we don't face death or imprisonment, we do face attacks on our faith. We have crosses to bear. In fact, when our faith stands out, it is bound to cause a negative reaction to some.

And it hurts. It hurts to be rejected because you believe the truth of the Bible. It hurts to be called names for sticking with what God's Word actually says. It hurts to have friends, or even members of our family shake their heads as they walk away from us and refuse to listen to the truth. It hurts.

You see the temptation we face, right? If showing our faith hurts, we're tempted to hide it. If doing what's right can bring pain and rejection, well then why not do what's wrong? If speaking up for what we believe will cause us problems with those we care about, we're tempted to shut our mouths. We're tempted to cover the light of our faith with a bowl, to try to blend in to that sinful world around us so that, if we're lucky, no one even knows we're a Christian.

The only problem is that hiding our faith is a sin. Living in step with the sinful world only destroys faith and brings God's wrath. Using words that hurt God and others only, in the end, hurts yourself, because it eats away at your faith. That and all sins slowly destroys your faith and throws away your salvation.

I'm sure you can think of examples when you hid your faith, when you tried to blend in to the world. I'm sure you remember taking the easy way out, when speaking the truth of God's Word would've brought pain. I'm sure you remember times when you did not follow your Savior's example, but lived like you were ashamed of him.

Those are serious sins. But we have a God who is seriously merciful. When we see the dirt of those sins on our conscience, and smell their stench on our soul, we look to God for mercy. And you know what, he gives us that mercy!

Jeremiah mentioned God's mercy to the people in our text. He told them, "Reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you." (Jer. 26:13) God did not want to destroy his chosen people like he had threatened. He wanted to save them. Like Jesus in our gospel mentioned he wanted to take the people of Jerusalem and hold onto them like a mother hen with her chicks. (Lk. 13:34) God loves us! He doesn't want us to die in our sins!

That's why Jesus came. Jesus stood out from the crowd of all people of all time, because he was sinless. Jesus' life faced great opposition, as he was hated, arrested, tortured, and killed on a cross. But what mercy of God that he would use the horrible punishment on Jesus to bring wonderful blessings to us. What a merciful God who would trade our sins for Jesus perfection. What a merciful God who would use his Son's death to give us life forever!

And that's what he's done! And that also makes our faith stand out: the good news! The fact that people oppose us and persecute us because we're Christians shouldn't leave us moping around. No! We have reason to rejoice! Let the world rage at us all it wants; it can't touch us! Jesus has wrapped his loving arms around us.

Our sins, our slip-ups, our failure to let our faith stand out -- Jesus and his loving arms and pierced hands and feet are there, ready to forgive. Those times we struggle with temptations -- Jesus' strength was poured out on us in our baptism to stand up against them. Our death, which is the worst thing that any enemy of the cross could ever do to us -- even death means nothing to us, because Jesus rose and gives us eternal life!

Don't you see what great news we have as Christians? Isn't a message you want to share?! God loves you! He's been merciful to you! He's given you life forever! That's why our faith stands out. Our faith reflects God's love for us to those around us. Think about the people in your life, maybe even the people who have opposed you because of your faith. Do they need God's love any less than you do? Of course not! So show it to them! Let your life be a witness. Let your words and actions and all you do point to Christ who has forgiven all your sinful words and actions. Let your life reflect Christ who has rescued you from death.

Your faith stands out. Like it or not, people will not always take kindly to your Christianity. But you've got a Savior who makes every trouble worth it. You've got Jesus who took those troubles onto himself. You've got a Lord who took sin and death away forever. He alone has given you true life. Live it for him.

The High Price of Sin

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:14:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior for the First Sunday in Lent, February 21, 2010. Text: Joshua 7:16-26

The High Price of Sin

There's a serious condition that afflicts millions of people, and more fall prey to it every day. You could be next, if it hasn't gotten you already. You know what I'm talking about: sticker shock. This condition typically presents itself with an eyes-wide stare, a mouth that drops open, and words being repeated again and again -- usually a variation of, "I can't believe they'd charge that much!" This condition can be caught almost anywhere, from commercials on tv, to car dealerships, to opening your phone bill. There is no known cure for this condition.

Yes, many things in our lives cost a ridiculous amount of money. We're shocked at the prices...though we usually keep paying. In fact, when prices stay high, it gets to the point that we're not that shocked anymore. You just eventually get used to paying that much.

I think that's how we tend to think with the high price of sin. Sin is missing the mark, crossing the line, breaking God's laws, his commandments -- any one of them, even just a little bit. Have you ever stopped to consider what the actual price of even one of those sins really is? It's astronomical. It's eternal. It's something not one of us can afford.

Yet we spend anyway. We spend and spend; we sin and sin. Maybe we think it's not that big a deal. Maybe we think, well, I already sinned once, just one more isn't going to make much difference. Or -- scariest of all -- we think, "That's what Jesus is for! So it doesn't matter, I can sin all I want! God will always forgive me..." And we use our Savior's love as an excuse to sin more.

Friends, the high price of sin is eternal punishment. The high price of sin is owed by everyone, and it must be paid. During this season of Lent, keep in mind what Jesus did to pay that price for you. Look to Jesus, not as an excuse, not as your license to sin more, but as your Savior from that sin. The price of sin is frighteningly high. But Jesus paid it in full for you.

Our text takes shows us an example of the high price of sin in this world from the book of Joshua. When the Israelites had left Egypt, walked through the Red Sea, and then wandered for 40 years in the wilderness, they finally entered the promised land. Once there, God commanded them to wipe out all the people who were living in the land. It was God's way of punishing those people for their unbelief and his way of rewarding the Israelite's with their own land.

The first military victory they had was a big one: Jericho. This is the city where the walls came tumbling down after the people had marched around it for seven days. God showed his power in giving his people the victory. But he had a command for this victory: after the people defeated Jericho, all the gold, silver, and bronze was supposed to go to the treasury of the Lord, and everything else was to be completely destroyed.

So after they defeated Jericho, they went on to the next city, Ai. This place should've been easy. It was tiny. The Israelites didn't even think they needed their whole army to beat it, just a few thousand soldiers. But when they attacked, they got defeated -- bad. Thirty-six soldiers died and the rest had to retreat in what should've been an easy victory. Why? What had happened? God finally revealed to Joshua what it was: someone had taken some things from Jericho that they shouldn't have. They needed to find those things, and the person who took them would have a high price to pay.

That's where our text begins. "Early the next morning Joshua had Israel come forward." (Jos. 7:16) This must've been some scene. The whole nation had to assemble before Joshua, and then they probably did some form of casting lots. (Of course, God was in control of the lots and made sure that they revealed the right answer.) They started with the tribes, and the lot came up Judah. Then they went to clans, then to families, then man by man, until the guilty man was found: a man named Achan.

Can you imagine how sick to his stomach Achan must've been this whole time? Did he really think he could get away with this? He must've, or he would've turned himself in before this. But his heart must have sank more and more with each lot that was cast. First his tribe, then clan, then family. Then the chance for escape was gone. His sin had been discovered. Now it was time to pay the price.

I wonder how many of you are acting like Achan right now. Is there a sin in your life that you think no one knows about, that you think you won't get caught for? Is there something you think you're getting away with? Because you're not.

Sure, maybe no one in your life will find out. True, maybe your sin didn't lead to the death of 36 people like Achan's did. Maybe your sins wouldn't lead to you having a press-conference to apologize. Maybe most people wouldn't think your sin is a big deal.

But God thinks it's a big deal. God says it is. God says one sin is enough for death. He says, "the soul who sins is the one who will die." (Ezek. 18:4) But maybe you think you haven't done anything deserving death. God disagrees. The book of Romans lays out our sinful state: "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." (Rom. 3:10-12)

You are guilty of those sins. There's no denying it. And just like Achan's heart must have beat faster and his stomach must have been twisting itself in knots knowing he would be caught, we too are already caught. God knows everything! He knows your sins before you commit them! He knows your sins in thought, word, and deed. And what does he say about all these sins? "Those who do such things deserve death." (Rom. 1:32) Death, physical and eternal, is the high price of sin.

It seems so harsh, that price. It was certainly a harsh price for Achan. All he did was take one robe and some silver and gold, and because of it, he had to die. In fact, not only Achan, but his wife and children and everything he owned had to be destroyed. Joshua gave him the harsh sentence when he said, "Why have you brought this trouble on us? The Lord will bring trouble on you today." (Jos. 7:25)

It was so harsh. But that's just physical death that Achan had to face. Eternal death, eternal separation from God and all his blessings, that's much, much worse. And that is the high price of sin that is due from all of us.

But did you hear our gospel reading today? Did you hear about Jesus and the devil, dueling it out in the wilderness? (Lk. 4:1-13) The devil came at Jesus with all the temptations he could think of. You'd think he would have known better, trying to tempt the Son of God. But he didn't. He tried. And he failed. Jesus stood up to every temptation.

That might seem like just an interesting story in the life of Jesus, but it's way, way more than that. Because in that story, you can start to see the high price of sin being paid in full. Jesus never sinned! He never gave in, like we do. He had no secret sins, like we do. He never tried to hide, like we do; he had nothing to hide about. No, instead, he faced the temptation and won!

And then, as we will be thinking about this Lenten season, Jesus went to the cross. He didn't hide, but he went to pay for sins he didn't commit. He paid for your sins, and he paid for mine. The high price for sin was paid in full.

Does this mean your sins don't matter? No. It means your sins matter so much that Jesus gave his life for them. Like Achan, none of us can be sure how long our life, our time of grace in this world, will be. But as of right now, we all still have time in this world. We can still put those sins behind us. We can still look to God's mercy. By the grace of God, we can still trust that Jesus has paid those sins in full.

It's easy if you think of this little rhyme: in Lent, remember to repent. In Lent, remember to repent. Remember your sins. Remember how Jesus paid their price. Trust in his forgiveness, and then get rid of those sins in your life. Those secret sins that you hope no one finds out about -- God already knows, and he's forgiven you. Now turn to his forgiveness and live! Those sins you've committed already today? God knows them, and in Christ he's forgiven them. Repent and believe the good news! In Lent, remember to repent!

I hope that this season of Lent will give you lots of opportunity to reflect on what Jesus did for you. But remember, Lent isn't about feeling sorry for Jesus. It's about feeling sorry for your sins, and rejoicing that Jesus did something about it. No sin is too big for him. Jesus took the high price of sin -- your sin and mine -- and he paid it in full. Live in the assurance of that forgiveness now and forever.

It Is Good for Us to Be Here!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:32:00 +0000

Sermon preached at Our Savior for the Last Sunday after Epiphany, the Transfiguration of our Lord. Text: Luke 9:28-36

It Is Good for Us to Be Here!

I don't know how many people watched the opening ceremony of the Olympics a couple of nights ago, but it was quite a spectacle. Thousands of people were there in the stands. Amazing visuals and music were happening on stage. But the part that stood out most from what I saw was all the different countries' teams walking into the stadium. The crowds would cheer, and the athletes would walk and wave.

This part of the ceremony was for more than just entertainment. I've heard that walking into the stadium like they do is actually important for the athletes. After all, they are about to embark on quite a struggle. The Olympics are about competitions, competitions for which these athletes have trained years. But as they walk into the stadium to the roar of the crowd, the athletes get moments of glory. And it energizes them. It gets them ready for the struggle ahead. They've been to a lot of competitions, but now, as they walk and wave to the crowd, the athletes know they're ready to compete in the Olympics.

This is also important for those of us just watching the games. We could watch most of these sports at other times, but most of us don't. Why? Because it's not the Olympics! It doesn't have the same excitement for us. But when we see those opening ceremonies, when we see those athletes waving in all their glory, we realize that these are Olympic athletes. We realize that they're worth our time and attention over the next two weeks.

You might struggle to see what the opening ceremonies of the Olympics could possibly have to do with Jesus' transfiguration. But really, they have some striking similarities. The transfiguration was an amazing spectacle filled with light and glory. Jesus, too, was about to start on an incredible struggle. He would not compete in a sporting events; he would do battle with the devil himself as Jesus walked the road to the cross. Yes, right after the transfiguration, Jesus made his way to Jerusalem where he would be arrested, tortured, and put to death. The transfiguration is the opening ceremonies to Jesus' struggle against sin, death, and the devil.

Jesus didn't need the transfiguration for himself. But there was a great benefit for his disciples and for us. Because there we see exactly who our Savior really is. He's not some man going off on a fool's mission to die in Jerusalem. He is the true God of power and glory who was going to defeat sin, death, and the devil for us once and for all. And because of his victory, the glory he showed on that mountain is the glory we will share with him in heaven. And until that day, he's the same Savior of power who is with us no matter what. So as we look to our Savior, we can say along with Peter in our text, "It is good for us to be here!"

It probably didn't start out as anything unusual when Jesus "took Peter, John, and James with him and went up onto a mountain to pray." (Lk. 9:28) That was probably routine. But the routine changed pretty quickly. "As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning." (Lk. 9:29) This is pretty hard for us to imagine. We've all seen flashes of lightning before, but they're just that: flashes. They don't last long. Jesus and his clothes changed and stayed that way. Imagine looking at a bright light bulb for a long time and it might give you an idea.

But Jesus was just showing who he really was: God. He'd always been God. The Bible reminds us that he had been there at the beginning (Jn. 1:1), in fact, everything was created through him! (Jn. 1:3) Of course he has all kinds of glory and power; he always has! But then, as the Nicene creed reminds us, "For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and became fully human."

When Jesus became human and was born, he did not become any less God. He just hid his true glory as God, and he didn't always make use of his full power as God. But there, on the mountain of transfiguration, Jesus showed his true glory.

How amazing it must have been! How comforting! Think about those disciples. Sure, they knew who Jesus was, at least they thought they did. Just before our text Peter had made a great confession that Jesus was the Christ. (Lk. 9:20) They'd seen his amazing miracles that pointed to him being true God. But still, there might have been doubts. Was Jesus really who he said he was? But now on that mountain, they had proof!

He is what he says! He really did have power! And then there's Moses and Elijah there talking with him all of a sudden! (Lk. 9:30-31) How incredible that would have been to see. Imagine how safe they must have felt, how loved. This is the true God! He's here with Moses and Elijah! Suddenly their worries and problems melted away. They had no more doubts, no more fears. No wonder Peter in a happy stupor says, "It is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters -- one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." (Lk. 9:33) Peter wanted this moment to last forever.

Did you ever wish you could have a moment like that? I realize none of us were on that mountain with Jesus. None of us have seen our Savior in full glory. But we may have had our own mountain-top experience. Maybe something happened once that left you no doubt that God had just done something amazing. Maybe there was someone who was sick who just got better, despite doctors saying it was impossible. Maybe you were close to a car accident, but somehow you escaped it. You know God protected you. Maybe you had a moment in your life when you suddenly realized the amazing ways God had blessed you, and at that moment you could almost see his glory.

It's a great feeling to have. You don't doubt; you're not afraid. You just want it to last forever! But here's the thing: it doesn't. The moment passes. Life goes on. Your problems come back; so do those fears and doubts. And pretty soon you're wondering if that moment ever really happened. You're wondering if you'd ever really been sure of Jesus' glory.

And that's if you've ever had a moment like that. Lots of people haven't. Maybe you don't recall any sort of miracle or special feeling that you've ever had. Does that mean that you missed something? Does it mean that God doesn't use his glory for you? Does it mean you're just not that special to him? And then when the troubles come, when the fears and doubts come (and they always do), you wonder. Why is God letting this happen? Is he really in control? Is he really there for me?

It's good for us to be here. That's what Peter said on the mountain, but it's true in our lives now. It's good for us to be here! We're not in heaven yet! We're in the midst of a world that is full of trouble and sin. There is temptation all around us. The devil tempts us, and all too often we give in. We fail and we fall.

Why is it good for us to be here? Because this is where God has put us. This is where God wants us to live for him. And how can we live for him when we are in a world of sin, so full of our sin? We can because of the truth we learn at Jesus' transfiguration.

When Moses and Elijah were there with Jesus, did you ever wonder what they talked about? Our text tells us! It says, "They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem." (Lk. 9:31) Jesus' "departure" was his death. You'd think that was the last thing they'd want to talk about! You'd think Jesus would say, "Can we change the subject here? I don't want to think about that!" But he doesn't! In this brief time of his glory, Jesus talks about his death.

Think about that. Jesus' death is where his real glory is for us. If it wasn't for his death on that cross, Jesus' glory would be terrifying to us. It would be the true God who would wipe us out because of our sins. But no! After his transfiguration, Jesus went to Jerusalem. He was arrested, he suffered, and he died for you.

Instead of wiping us out because of our sins, Jesus died for them. He paid for them. Jesus' glory at his transfiguration reminds us that Jesus is God, that he is the one who had the power to die to save us. It reminds us that his resurrection means eternal life for us! It reminds us that because he lives, we will live with him in the glory of heaven where all our troubles will be gone forever!

But remember, we're not in heaven yet! And Jesus' transfiguration is a comfort for us now. Think of how it must have comforted someone like Peter. After this event, he went with Jesus to Jerusalem. He ran away when Jesus was arrested. He denied even knowing him. How horrible! How guilty he must have felt! But then he remembered: this man who died is the true God who was doing this to save me! Jesus did this to forgive me!

That's our comfort too. It's good for us to be here, it's good for us to live our real lives with all the ups and downs and pains and fears that come with us. Because those problems are meant to drive us back to God's Word to hear again and again what Jesus did for us. There in the Word we're reminded what God has done. We're comforted that our sins are gone. We're comforted that Jesus will never leave us, but will be with us always.

Remember what God the Father said after all this happened. "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." (Lk. 9:35) Let's listen to him. Let's go to his Word and hear his life and death that was for us. Let's listen to him at the altar as we receive that body and blood given for you, for your forgiveness. Let's listen to Jesus in his Word even when we're afraid, even when we're doubting, because in his Word he'll come our fears, and replace our doubts with faith. Yes, it's good for us to be here and to be in God's Word.

The Olympic opening ceremonies were quite a spectacle, and they cost millions to produce. But for the people who watched or participated, it was worth it. Jesus put on a spectacle at his transfiguration. And as we watch that spectacle through God's Word, we're reminded that the price Jesus paid was worth it, the blood shed was worth it, because he did it for our glory. He did it for our life. He did it for our salvation. May his glory be and abide with you through this life to the next.

Who Are You Following?

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:20:00 +0000

Note: I’m trying to catch up on posting a few weeks’ worth of sermons on here. Sorry for the delay.

Another note: The grammar nut in me realizes that the title of this post and sermon should have been “Whom Are You Following?” That just didn’t flow right when spoken out loud, though. So, the grammar rules were intentionally broken! *gasp!*

Sermon preached at Our Savior on 2/7/10 for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany. Text: Luke 5:1-11

Who Are You Following?

Conventional wisdom tells us that there are two kinds of people in the world: leaders and followers. Either you have the kind of personality where you take command of the situation and people just want to fall in behind you, or you have the personality that leads you to want to fall in behind and follow someone else. Many leadership books have been written covering every field you can think of, telling you how you can be a leader, or be a better leader, in your particular place in life.

And that's all well and good. Leadership skills can be a nice thing. But let's not kid ourselves. We're all followers. We all follow somebody else. The greatest leaders in our world's history, whether it was kings or presidents or generals, they had to follow someone. They had to learn their job and gain experience. Even as they led, the goals they were trying to reach show them following something, whether it's the will of the voting public, or the desire for fame and honor, or even following God.

Which causes us to look at ourselves. Whether your personality type is to be a leader or a follower in the end doesn't really matter. Because all of us are following someone. You could say that we follow a lot of people. We follow our teachers in school. We follow our boss at work. We follow our parents. We might follow our friends. We might follow our hearts, or our wallets. But spiritually speaking, we can only be following one of two people: our Savior or the devil. Either we're living for God and serving him with all we do, or we're living for our sinful self and we're falling for the devil's temptations. So today I want you to look at your life and at your heart. Who are you following?

In our text from Luke's gospel, plenty of people were following Jesus. In fact, in some ways it was too many people. You see, we heard last week about Jesus being rejected by the people in his hometown of Nazareth. But the other towns around Galilee loved him. They couldn't get enough of him. So much so, that Jesus found it hard to even teach them because the crowds were so huge. That's the situation in our text.

"One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water's edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets." (Lk. 5:1-2) If you've ever been in a crowd that's all trying to see and listen to one person, you know how hard it can be. You can just picture the scene here. People are so close they're bumping into each other, crowding around to see and hear Jesus teach. He was standing on the shore of the lake which here is called Gennesaret, but that we probably know better as the sea of Galilee. A huge crowd is gathered there on the shore, all trying to elbow their way to hear God's Word that Jesus is teaching better.

So Jesus has an idea. Fishing was a major industry in this part of Galilee, what with the large, fish-filled lake so close. Jesus noticed a couple of fishing boats just sitting nearby, while their owners were cleaning the nets from a night of fishing. Taking the opportunity the boats presented, Jesus puts his idea into action. "He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat." (Lk. 5:3)

I guess we shouldn't be surprised that the Son of God had an ingenious idea. With the boat out in the water a bit, no one could crowd him. His voice probably carried quite well across the open water to the crowd at the shore. Jesus turned this shoreline into his own personal lecture hall, with a fishing boat as his pulpit! Now Jesus was able to teach God's Word to this huge group of people in a more effective way.

But there's one person in this crowd I want us to focus on more closely. It's the fisherman, Simon -- or, as we know him better, Peter. This wasn't Peter's first meeting with Jesus. In the gospel of John we see how Peter's brother Andrew first introduced him to Jesus. (Jn. 1:40-42) And just in the previous chapter of Luke, we hear that Jesus went into Peter's house in Capernaum and actually healed Peter's mother-in-law. (Lk. 4:38-40) Peter knew Jesus, and he had heard Jesus' teaching for a while now.

But Peter gives us a great example of how to follow Jesus already here at the beginning of our text. Peter was a fisherman by trade, and he was there cleaning his nets as the text began. That's when Jesus asked him to take the boat out onto the water a bit. At the point Jesus asked this, Peter must've been awfully tired. We hear later that he'd been fishing all night. (Lk. 5:5) He was also in the middle of the long, tiring task of cleaning his nets. You'd almost understand if Peter had said, "Thanks, but no thanks, Jesus. I'm tired. I just gotta get this done and go get some rest. Can you use one of the other boats?"

But he doesn't! He follows Jesus, despite his fatigue. He follows Jesus into the boat. He's willing to take the time to hear Jesus teach God's Word again as he sits there in the boat with him. It's not that he thinks his job isn't important -- the fact that he'd been working all night shows that -- but he shows how important following Jesus is, he shows that following Jesus doesn't become impossible because of his job. He still follows Jesus and hears his Word.

Are you following Jesus that way? All of you have things that you need to do and like to do outside of church, and that's not a bad thing. We need to work, we need to spend time with our families, those are responsibilities that God gives us. Of course, we also need time to rest from those responsibilities, time to sleep or just time to be doing something that's not work. But Peter shows us that we don't want to let our responsibilities and our fatigue keep us from continuing to follow Jesus. Of course we want that close relationship with our Savior in our lives. Of course we never want to stop hearing his Word.

Right? The truth is, sometimes we stop following Jesus, even just for a little bit. We're tired. We're busy. There's so much to do. Fitting Jesus in isn't always on the list. You know, you work hard all week, you run here and there, and then Sunday is your one day to rest. Is that really so wrong? You know, as long as I go once in a while, that's good enough, right? Or, when we're here in church, we might tell ourselves that we're doing pretty good. But being here physically doesn't mean our minds are here. So we don't pay attention. Our minds wander. And suddenly the service is done and we don't remember any of it.

Then there's studying and hearing God's Word. Sure, we all probably own Bibles, we could read them, but there's so much to do. We have opportunities to attend Bible studies. And I realize that no one can be reading the Bible constantly or make it to every Bible study. But when we look and see that months or years have gone by and we've never cracked our dusty Bible once... Who are you following?

Because when you're not following Jesus, you're following yourself. Your own desires and thoughts have become more important. And when that happens, even for a moment, that's a sin. That's following the devil and his temptations. That's not following Jesus with your whole heart. And that's something we are all guilty of every day.

But here what Jesus has left to teach Peter -- and us -- in our text. "He said to Simon, "Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch." Simon answered, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets." (Lk. 5:4-5) Once the teaching session is over, it seems like Jesus is up for a bit of fishing.

Everything must've been screaming inside Peter that this was a bad idea. He'd been fishing all night and caught nothing. Night was generally thought to be a better time to catch fish, and if they caught nothing then, it certainly didn't seem like they'd get a lot now. Plus, again, they'd been up all night. Peter was tired. He probably wasn't looking forward to fishing more right now. But since Peter had been following Jesus all along, since he'd been listening to his teaching, he's willing to at least humor Jesus' request.

Turns out the Son of God also knows the best fishing places. Because they got a lot. "They caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break." (Lk. 5:6) Peter even had to call his partners over to help him haul it all in. Jesus did not have a lucky guess at this fishing spot. This was not beginner's luck. This was Jesus, the Savior, the true God himself, showing his power over all things by catching a lot of fish for Peter and his partners.

Jesus is just as powerful today. He's still the true son of God. He still has power over all things. And yet we don't always follow him! Yet we often have better things to do! Yet we sometimes doubt that things will really work out the way he says they will! Yet we find his Word boring or out of touch! When we realize that, it's scary! We've been unfaithful, not to some great teaching man, but to a great teaching man who is also the all-powerful true and only God. Is he really going to put up with us? With our sins?

Peter was afraid, too. We hear that when he saw all the fish "he fell on his knees and said, "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!" (Lk. 5:8) Peter recognized he wasn't perfect. He knew he was sinful. He knew he didn't deserve Jesus to be anywhere near him, and neither do we!

But Jesus' words to Peter are also for us: "Don't be afraid." (Lk. 5:10) Don't be afraid; because Jesus has forgiven you. Don't be afraid, because Jesus was perfect when you couldn't be. Don't be afraid; Jesus knows the awful price of sin, because he paid it when he suffered and died for us on the cross. Don't be afraid; death will never catch you, because Jesus destroyed it when he rose again. The Savior that we have followed imperfectly not only forgives us, but he comes to us. He reaches out to us in his Word. He comforts us with his words of love and mercy.

And he tells Peter, "from now on you will catch men." (Lk. 5:10) Now that Jesus has revealed who he really is -- the true powerful God -- and what he really does -- forgive sins -- he now calls Peter into service. He's calling you, too.

Sure, you probably won't drop everything to follow him like Peter and James and John did. Not everyone is called into full-time ministry. But you can still follow Jesus and be a fisher of men in your life now! Being a fisher of men means telling others what Jesus has done. It means testifying to the truth of what God says. It means pointing others to the truth of your Savior.

I know that can be a scary thought. Will someone really listen to me? Will they laugh at me? And while people very well might reject that message of the Savior when it comes from us, let's never doubt what God can do through us. He taught Peter that he can pull a big catch out of nothing. Can't he do the same thing with the people we talk about Jesus to? Those people who you think will never come around, will never turn to God, Jesus can do amazing things with them. The same Savior that pulled a net-load of fishes out of a bad fishing spot can turn sin-hardened hearts into believing hearts. I know that because that's exactly what he's done for all of us.

So, friends, let's follow him. Follow Jesus in his Word and Sacrament, as you fill yourself up again and again with the good news of how he's rescued you. Let's follow him in the mission he's given us. Let's cast our nets into the waters of this sinful world and be amazed and what our Lord can find. Let's put our sins and selfish thoughts behind us, and let's follow the one who didn't let us go, who didn't drive us away, but followed the road to the cross so that we could follow him to eternal life. Trust him. Thank him. Work for him. Follow him.

Rejected!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:47:00 +0000

This sermon was preached on 1/31/10 at Our Savior for the 4th Sunday after Epiphany. The sermon text is Luke 4:20-32.

Rejected!

The fear of rejection drives a lot of action and inaction in our world today. Nobody wants to be rejected. Nobody wants to have their feelings or something they want or something they have done thrown back into their face. But that's what rejection feels like. It makes you feel like you're not good enough, like you can't do anything right, like you're worth nothing more than the garbage that gets thrown away.

We probably all have painful memories of rejection in our own lives. Maybe it was that assignment that you worked so hard on in school -- that took so much of your time and energy -- but ended up getting a bad grade anyway. Rejected. Maybe it was a job interview or the chance to get a promotion at work. You thought you were qualified. You thought you were a shoe in. But they went with someone else. Sorry. Rejected. Maybe it was someone you loved, someone you thought loved you or used to love you. But now for whatever reason that love is not being returned. And it hurts. Rejected.

Yes, it hurts a lot. Of all the things that cause us physical pain in our lives, could they really hurt worse than the emotional pain of rejection? That's probably why people would do anything (or not do anything) to prevent rejection from happening. So many people want others to like them at all costs to avoid rejection. Parents get afraid of the rejection of their kids, so they spoil them with whatever they want and refuse to discipline them. True feelings are often never revealed for fear of the rejection those feelings might bring. Chances for a new job or a new promotion are often never taken, just so there's no chance of rejection. Yes, most people avoid rejection at all costs.

And that makes the profound rejection Jesus received in our text all the more shocking. We talked about the setting last week. This was Nazareth, Jesus' hometown. He grew up here. People knew him. He was the local boy who was starting to get more and more famous. He had gathered some disciples. He had been teaching and performing miracles all around the area. And now he'd made it to his hometown synagogue. What could possibly go wrong?

When we look at the events from Luke's gospel, we see everything started well enough. His sermon started strong. "He began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Lk. 4:21) Here he was, the Savior of the world, the true Word of God himself reading the Word of God to the people -- and fulfilling it! Incredible!

And, at first, the people were eating it up. "All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his lips. "Isn't this Joseph's son?" they asked." (Lk. 4:22) As Jesus was speaking, you can just picture the crowd whispering to each other, "Listen to him! He's fantastic! And he grew up right here in Nazareth! Wasn't his dad Joseph a carpenter, and didn't he work as one, too? Where'd he learn to do this kind of teaching?" It was the excitement of meeting a real, live celebrity, and realizing that the celebrity came from your own town. Jesus had put Nazareth on the map, and now he's here! Isn't it great!

But then Jesus started saying things that didn't sit right with the crowd. "Jesus said to them, "Surely you will quote this proverb to me: 'Physician, heal yourself! Do here in your hometown what we have heard that you did in Capernaum.'" (Lk. 4:23) Hmm. What was Jesus saying here? The people of Nazareth had heard of Jesus' teaching, and they'd heard that he was also able to do some miracles and healings. His home base during his ministry in Galilee was the city of Capernaum. He had done great healings and amazing things there. So, the people thought, just think what a neat show he'd put on for us, here in his hometown!

But his words were telling them that they were going to be disappointed. He would not be doing the kind of healings that he did in Capernaum. He knew he wouldn't be doing them because he knew the people were going to reject him.

And he tells them so. "I tell you the truth," he continued, "no prophet is accepted in his hometown. I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon." (Lk. 4:24-26)

Jesus was talking about the story we heard in our first lesson today. (1 Ki. 17:7-16) Elijah had gone to a widow in Zarephath and kept her and her son alive through a miracle of food that didn't run out. But Jesus calls attention not so much to the miracle as to the fact that Elijah didn't go to Israel to help a widow; he went to a foreigner. And why did he go there? Because the people of Israel had rejected the true God. So the true God rejected them. He sent a famine on their land -- and not just a famine of food, but a famine of hearing God's Word. (Amos 8:11)

They had rejected God, so God rejected them and sent his prophet to help a foreigner. The same thing happened in the time of Elisha. Jesus said, "There were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed -- only Naaman the Syrian." (Lk. 4:27) The people of Israel were notoriously evil at this time, rejecting the true God for serving the false god Baal. So God rejected them and sent Elisha to heal a foreign general.

What Jesus was saying was clear: the people of Nazareth were going to reject him. They weren't going to listen and treat him as true God. He was more like a circus sideshow to them -- someone to gawk at and maybe entertain them with a trick or two. But God? Savior? Redeemer? No way. This was the carpenter's son -- no more, no less. So Jesus was telling them, 'When you reject me -- which you will -- I will go to people who will appreciate me more."

And what do you know? Jesus was right. Everyone hated what he was saying now. "All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him down the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way." (Lk. 4:28-30) Their hatred of Jesus was so strong, their rejection of him so complete, that they wanted him dead. But it wasn't Jesus' time to die just yet.

Dear friends, there's a lesson here for us. Here the people of Nazareth had Jesus, the Son of God and the Savior himself, right there! He taught them God's Word! But instead of taking his Word to heart, instead of accepting it in faith, they rejected him. They rejected him completely.

And we think, "I would've never done that. I wouldn't have rejected Jesus to his face and tried to kill him." That's good! I hope you wouldn't have. But still. Still as we look at the crowd in the Nazareth synagogue, we're reminded that Satan might not get us to stand and reject Jesus to his face anytime soon, but he has other tricks up his sleeve.

Yes, in our world of today we're much more tempted to reject Jesus passively, in a much more subtle way than the people in Nazareth did. Have you ever rejected Jesus? Don't say "no" too quickly. You reject him when your sins are something you laugh at and laugh off. You reject him when the idea of carefully following all of his teaching seems like pointless nitpicking. You reject him when studying his Word sounds like drudgery, when listening to his Word seems so unappealing. You reject him when he and his Word have dropped to anywhere on the list of your heart other than number one.

You're not the only one who has ever rejected him that way, of course. Many see Jesus and reject him with a shrug of the shoulder. He's just not interesting enough. Not exciting enough to motivate me to get out of bed on a Sunday morning or to blow the dust off of the family Bible. So, while Jesus is still there in his Word, while his message is just as powerful now, while he still longs to take all to heaven through his life and death, many people are still yawning their way to hell.

Watch out! Don't let it happen to you! Don't get that "it would never happen to me" kind of idea. The people in Nazareth didn't think it could happen to them either, but then they tried to push Jesus off a cliff. We don't think we'd ever reject Jesus, but the time is coming when it looks like more and more in our country already have. And rejecting Jesus eventually leads to him rejecting you forever.

Watch out! Don't let it happen to you! Take an honest look at your life, look at the times you have rejected him, and repent. Ask him for forgiveness and mercy, because he is happy to give it! In fact he guaranteed our forgiveness and mercy through everything he has done for us. Jesus' perfect life means that God our Father has rejected our sins and now sees us as holy by faith. Jesus' suffering and death means that God our Father has rejected the punishment of hell for us, because Jesus paid it in our place. Jesus' rising from the tomb on the first Easter means that God our Father has rejected death for us forever and instead by faith gives us eternal life in heaven. He rejects our sins and accepts us as his holy children!

There could be no more amazing message than that! It's the message we need to hear constantly. We need to know about our forgiveness, about God's love for us, not just once, but all the time. Think of how much we hate rejection and the things people will do to avoid rejection. How great is it then when we have been guaranteed the opposite of rejection from God because of Jesus! We should be running to his Word to hear and see what he has done for us again and again!

We want to treat Jesus less like they did in Nazareth and more like they did in Capernaum. Our text ends by telling us, "He went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority." (Lk. 4:31-32).

His teaching still has that authority for us. So listen to him. Reject every temptation to brush Jesus off or yawn him out of your life. Instead, look to how Jesus was rejected by a sinful world so that he could win us a perfect eternity. Look at how God rejected our punishment but gives us all his good gifts by faith. Look at how God didn't reject us in our sins, but sent his Word into our hearts. Reject your fears, your sins, your doubts, and cling to the cross. There sin, death, and hell were rejected forever. There Satan himself was rejected. There your hope is found. There God's love flows for you. There you've found a Savior's arms outstretched to accept you in love forever. Listen to him! Trust him!

Fulfilled!

noreply@blogger.com (Dan Walters) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 18:39:00 +0000

This sermon was preached at Our Savior on 1/24/10 for the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost. The sermon text is Luke 4:14-21.

Fulfilled!

Will the prediction come true? Will the prophecy be fulfilled? Though we might not normally think of them this way, we hear predictions and prophecies almost every day. I'm not talking about horoscopes or anything like that, either. I'm talking about something most of us listen to and trust every day: the weather forecast. Call it a forecast or a prophecy, the point is the same. Weather forecasts attempt to tell the future, at least in a way. They don't use magic or any supernatural power to tell the future. Instead, their scientific instruments observe the weather all around us and use that data to make an educated guess about the weather in the future.

But how often are these weather prophecies fulfilled? How often is the forecast exactly right? I suppose they get it right once in a while, but usually it's just a bit off. Sometimes they're off a few degrees; sometimes they completely miss it. You've had those days when the forecast said bright and sunny and we got a foot and a half of snow dumped on us. The forecasts are not always correct. Those prophecies are not always fulfilled.

Our sermon text for today also includes prophecies. These prophecies are no educated guesses, and they did not use the latest in modern scientific equipment. No, they are prophecies from God's Word. God isn't off a little here or there; his prophecies don't come close. They are fulfilled, perfectly, every time.

Sounds great, until you get out a mirror and see what the prophecy says about us. It does not paint us as basically good people who just need a push in the right direction. It does not tell us we are deserving of God's love because of how nice we are. No, the prophecy shows us as weak, poor prisoners. Locked up, blind, and beaten, we sit helpless, and we're doomed to continue that way forever.

But instead of rejecting that prophecy, we need to look at the one who reads it in our text. It's Jesus. He shows us that despite our pitiful, pathetic condition, he's the Savior who came to rescue us. He's the one that is the fulfillment of all of God's promises. So we can trust him. We don't have to guess, we don't have to hope, we can be sure and certain that when God makes a promise -- in Christ it is fulfilled!

In our text from Luke's Gospel, Jesus' ministry is just beginning. Maybe a few people had heard that this carpenter's son had gathered some disciples, maybe even some had heard rumors about a lot of extra wine turning up at a wedding in Cana, but still, most people hadn't seen Jesus in action. In our text, though, that all changed.

Jesus' hometown was Nazareth in the region of Galilee in the northern part of Israel. Our text shows quite a homecoming that Jesus made. "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about him spread through the whole countryside. He taught in their synagogues, and everyone praised him." (Lk. 4:14-15)

Jesus took the whole area by storm. In the power of the Holy Spirit, he went on a preaching tour of the local synagogues. And let's just say people liked what they heard. We hear that "everyone praised him." It seems that no one could say a bad word about Jesus. But the best was yet to come.

That's because Jesus was about to go to his hometown synagogue in Nazareth. This was probably the synagogue that Jesus had attended since he was a child. I'm sure there were lots of people in the crowd who knew him, who could remember him as a child. And now here he was, starting to get a reputation as an amazing teacher. So it's not surprising that they'd want him to teach here, too.

Synagogue services in New Testament times were very similar to our church services today. There were scripture readings and psalms, and the rabbi would stand up and give a commentary on one of the readings -- basically a sermon. On this day in our text, that job went to Jesus. "He stood up to read. The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written: "The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Lk. 4:16-19)

It's quite the text, but then Jesus follows it up with what I consider to be the best opening line of a sermon ever. "Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." (Lk. 4:20-21)

Fulfilled! Think of it! Jesus didn't say that this text reminded him of something going on at the time. He came right out and said that these words that had been written by a prophet some 800 years before were being fulfilled as he preached them! It's incredible! You can see why people were so impressed with him.

But think about this: by the time Jesus finished his little sermon, he had gotten the crowd there in Nazareth so angry at him that they stormed up to him, and tried to take him outside and kill him. This is his hometown synagogue! But we'll look at that part of it more with the rest of this story next week.

For now, though, we ourselves can look at Jesus' sermon text and the beginning of his sermon, and we can see that there just might be something there that makes us a bit uncomfortable. Jesus said his text from the book of Isaiah was fulfilled when he read it. But look what that text from Isaiah said was happening. It said the Messiah would be helping people who were not in a very good position, they were "the poor...the prisoners...the blind...the oppressed." (Lk. 4:18) That crowd in Nazareth might not have thought those words described them very well.

But do they describe you? Are you like a poor, miserable prisoner stuck in a cell so dark that you can't even see? Are you blind and beaten, unable to do anything for yourself, lost and alone? Maybe you feel that way, maybe you don't. But it's a disturbingly accurate picture of who we are spiritually.

God calls sinners "poor" and that prophecy is fulfilled in us. We are poor, because we're born sinful. We do things God doesn't want us to do. We have nothing in our hands that can make up for our sins to God, no bribe we can give him. We are poor, destitute sinners. We're like spiritual beggars praying for some sort of handout.

But are you a prisoner? Of course you are! Don't you see, your life has fulfilled that word! You're trapped. You're locked up. Did you commit any sins today? Did you have a thought that wasn't one hundred percent good and perfect? Did you speak any words that were less than what God would've had you say? Have your actions (even already today) shown the taint and stain of sin in them? Let me answer for you: yes! You've sinned, already today, probably in all these ways. Don't tell me you're not a prisoner.

Sometimes it's hard to see what a prisoner we really are because we're blind. Yes, that word is fulfilled in us, too. You can't even see what a sinner you are; you don't even notice half of your sins. You're too beaten down by them, too lost, too far gone.

And the worst of it is, God has promised -- he's prophesied -- the harshest of punishments for all these sins of yours. One little sin? It's enough for hell. That's no slap on the wrist. And that punishment is exactly what your sins have deserved.

But look back at that synagogue in our text. Picture the man (who is also God) giving his sermon, saying that the Scripture is fulfilled in him. He has given good news to us poor, miserable sinners. He has set us free from the prison. He has given sight to our blind eyes. He has put an end to our oppression. He has declared now to be the time of God's favor on us!

How can Jesus say this to us? How can he do this for us? Because he fulfilled everything his heavenly Father required. God demands perfection from all people. Jesus fulfilled that perfection for us! He lived in our place. He gives us his righteousness by faith.

God said that sins deserve death and hell. Jesus fulfilled that for us on the cross. He suffered. He died. He paid for hell itself. He did it for you and me. That's our punishment that he paid. That's our eternal life that he won. That's our life that he watches over now. That's our problems and troubles that he cares for. That's our tears he will wipe away forever in eternal life.

Jesus was a popular speaker in our text. Let's let him still be popular with us today. Let's stay in his Word. Let's hear his Good News. Let's rejoice that he has done everything even when we could do nothing to save ourselves. Let's give thanks that Jesus loved us enough to be your Savior, to pay for your sins, to earn you a place in heaven, to fulfill all of God's promises for you.

Not every promise or prediction or prophecy in this world gets fulfilled. According to our local weather people, it's supposed to get to 46 degrees today. Will it? Maybe. But God's prophecies and promises are never "maybe." They're yes! They're fulfilled in Jesus Christ. As the book of 2 Corinthians tells us, "No matter how many promises God has made, they are "yes" in Christ." (2 Cor. 1:20) Yes! Trust in him! Never doubt his love for you. In our Savior, all God's promises of good news are fulfilled!