2011 Vacation Bible School at St. John Lutheran Church in Baldwin, IL

Vacation Bible School coming soon to St. John!  Our upcoming Vacation Bible School this year will be from Sunday July 10^th – Thursday July 14^th.  On Sunday July 10^th we will meet at 5:30pm and we will go until 8:30pm.  On July 11^th-14^th we will meet from 6pm-8:30pm.   Snacks will be provided on Sunday July 10th and a small meal for the children will be provided on the evenings of July 11^th through the 14^th.  Parents, grandparents and friends are invited to join us especially on Thursday July 14^th at 7:30pm, because that’s when we’ll be having our finale, a celebration of God’s love for us in Christ Jesus that you won’t want to miss.  

                The theme this year is “Pandamania: Where God is Wild About You” based on Psalm 139.  The Bible stories that the children will be learning about will all focus on the fact that God has a purpose and a plan for everyone and that he crafted each of us with his own loving hands.  So we will be studying Genesis chapter 1 and God’s creation of the world, 1 Kings 18, with Elijah and the Prophets of Baal, Jonah chapters 1-3, The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus from Luke’s Gospel, and finally the story of Hannah & Samuel in 1 Samuel chapters 1 & 2.  

                The kids will also participate in a mission project.  Registration forms are available if you contact Pastor Taggatz at the St. John church office at:  618-785-2344.   

Sermon for Trinity Sunday--June 19th, 2011

“Making Disciples of the Trinity” (Matthew 28:16-20)

1.                  Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.   Amen.  The message from God’s Word this Father’s Day weekend, but also the time in the Church year that we recognize that we worship God as Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, comes to us from Matthew’s Gospel in chapter 28 beginning at the 16^th verse.  It’s entitled, “Making Disciples of the Trinity,” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. 

2.                  What does it mean to worship God as our Father?  On this Trinity Sunday we recognize how God the Father has called us to be His children through His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. God the Father has made His Son Jesus known to us through the power of His Holy Spirit as He works through the means of grace in His Word and Sacraments to create saving faith within us and keep us in that faith.  In John 1:12-13, John the Apostle writes, “To all who did receive [Jesus], who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  Here from John’s Gospel we learn that all of us who have received Jesus Christ as our Savior have been made children of God.  And where can we as Christians look to when God has made us His children?  Through the waters of Holy Baptism. 

3.                  That’s why we learn of what our Lord Jesus told His disciples about baptism and teaching people the Christian faith in Matthew 28:16–20 says,  ¹⁶Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

4.                  Notice here how Jesus says we become His disciples.  It’s through being baptized into the name of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit and being taught the very teachings of our Lord Jesus through His Word.  When our Lord uses all nations he is implying that all people are to be baptized into the name of God, not just adults, but infants as well.  After all, when you are born into a specific country you become a citizen of that country.  And since we’ve been baptized into God’s name, it’s a privilege that we can call God our Father.  You may not know this, but many passages in the Muslim holy book the Qu’ran, explicitly deny the fact that God can be Father to those who follow Him. To be Father, many of these passages say, would imply some kind of sexual and physical fatherhood, and thus this idea is rejected in Islam. Muslims consider it blasphemous to call God “Father” and can have difficulty relating to the Christian meaning behind this subject.

5.                  The fact that we as Christians can call God our Father and ourselves His children through the waters of Holy Baptism teaches us many things. First, we must understand that Muslims are right to say that having God as our Father in a sexual sense is blasphemous. But of course that’s not what the Christian doctrine of the fatherhood of God teaches. In John 8:39–47, Jesus tells the Pharisees that their actions reveal who their true father is.  The devil. The fatherhood of God is to be understood in an ethical sense — those who obey God are those who have Him as Father.  Secondly, in understanding God as Father, the New Testament emphasizes the special love God has for His children. As 1 John 3:1 teaches, “see what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”  Finally, when the Bible calls God Father, it’s not teaching that He loves all people without any kind of distinction. As John 1:12-13 teaches us it is those who believe in Jesus who have the right to become children of God.  And the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew 28 teach us that we come to be His disciples and believe in God as our Father through the waters of Holy Baptism. 

6.                  The German scholar Joachim Jeremias has argued that in almost every prayer that Jesus utters in the New Testament, He addresses God as Father.  In fact, here in Matthew 28 He tells His disciples to make disciples by baptizing in the Father’s name. Jeremias notes that this represents a departure from Jewish custom and tradition. Though Jewish people were given a great number of names for God in prayer, significantly absent from the approved list was the title “Father.” To be sure, the Jews would use the term “Father” indirectly by addressing God as the Father of people, but never by way of a direct address, in which the person praying addressed God in personal terms as “Father.” Jeremias also notes that the serious reaction against Jesus by His contemporaries indicated that they heard in His addressing God as Father a blasphemous statement by which Jesus was presuming, by this address, an equality that He enjoyed with God the Father. Jeremias goes on to argue that there is no record of any Jew addressing God directly as Father until the 10^th century AD in Italy, with the notable exception of Jesus. Though Jeremias’ findings have been challenged in some quarters, it remains a matter of record that Jesus’ use of the term “Father” in personal prayer is an extraordinary use.

7.                  It is true that God has only one child, His only-begotten Son Jesus.  We don’t have the natural right to call God “Father.” That right is bestowed upon us only through God’s gracious work of adoption through the waters of Holy Baptism. This is an extraordinary privilege, that those who are in Christ now have the right to address God in such a personal way as “Father.” It’s because of this that we ought never to take for granted this unspeakable privilege bestowed upon us by God’s grace. We note in the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus instructs us that now when we pray, we are to refer to God as “Our Father.”   And this relationship is grounded in the unique ministry of Jesus by which, through adoption, He is our elder brother and He gives to us those privileges that by nature belong only to Him. Now, by adopting us as His children through waters of Holy Baptism, Jesus says that we may regard God, not only as His Father, but as our Father.

8.                  Notice how Jesus says to His disciples in Matthew 28 that they are to “Teach them to observe all that I have commanded you.”  This implies that making disciples of Jesus is more than believing that He is our Savior. We’re not to be content with the basic and elementary truths of God’s Word, but are to grow in depth of understanding and application of the Word as it undergirds our faith and stimulates our Christian living. The Church’s task is to make every Christian a “theologian” who can correctly apply Law and Gospel in his or her own life and in the lives of those around him or her.  Jesus backed up His command with the promise that He would be with His disciples always.

9.                  Did you notice here in Matthew 28 that we can’t make Disciples of the Trinity unless we go to people?  As we apply these words to ourselves, we certainly will want to include supporting mission work at home and overseas.  But, at the same time, especially this Father’s Day, let us not overlook how this work begins at home in our families.  The responsibility that God gives to mothers and fathers is to bring up their children in the fear of the Lord.  We do this by bringing them to church to be baptized, by teaching them God’s Word at home, bringing them to Sunday School, maybe involving them in a Christian Day school or High School and taking part in family devotions.  It also involves bringing them to confirmation class where they can learn what it means to be baptized into the family of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

10.              On this Fathers’ Day it’s unfortunate that many people will remember that the term Father isn’t held with much high regard in our society. In many commercials and TV shows the father is the bumbling irresponsible fool. Watch an episode of Family Guy or even Everybody Loves Raymond. Society does not value fathers and honestly many fathers do not value their role as father and treat their children as afterthoughts. This has become the case even in church. It seems that a major factor of children not attending church into adulthood is that many fathers do not attend church with their families.  In 1994 the Swiss carried out a survey that asked several questions to determine whether a person’s religion carried through to the next generation. The result was dynamite. There was one critical factor. It’s the religious practice of the father of the family that, above all, determines the future attendance at or absence from church of the children. Basically, the gist of the study was if fathers go to church with their children, then chances are that their children will when they grow up. If fathers don’t, even if the mothers do, the children won’t go to church.  It may be that the Lord has made it easy for fathers to carry out their calling to bring their children up in the instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). All you’ve got to do, dads, is take your kids to church.  For it’s in church that your children will learn about how they have become children of God through the waters of Holy Baptism and have been given the privilege to call God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

“Is the Young Man Safe?” (2 Samuel 18:31–33) Easter 7, June 5th, 2011

1.                  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.   The message from God’s Word comes to us from the Old Testament book of 2 Samuel 18:31-33 (read the text)  He who has ears to hear, let Him hear.  It’s entitled, “Is the Young Man Safe?”  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                  Graduation season has come. At one Christian college, the president had a standard line written into the script for commencement exercises every spring. He would thank the graduates for letting that college be a part of their quest of their educational goals. He was acknowledging what the students had given the college, yet he didn’t mention what the college had given to the students. I think that this would be a pretty weak statement to make to the graduating class at any school. At a Christian college, the statement stands out as horribly weak. Something is missing.

3.                  Speaking of something missing, look at Absalom in our text from 2 Samuel 18. He was one of King David’s many sons. Absalom was handsome, capable, smart, a charismatic type of guy, a born leader, the kind who could easily get people to follow him. Absalom had a lot going for him. Yet something was horribly missing. When his half-brother Amnon raped his sister, Absalom was so filled with rage that he started plotting revenge on Amnon. Coldly and calculatingly, Absalom let things brew for 2 years before he killed Amnon. Later, he schemed for 4 years before he launched a carefully-planned rebellion against David, who was both his father and his king. There was something sadly missing from Absalom, all right.

4.                  One high school religion teacher used to ask his classes whether they thought an assault by one person against another person—a sexual assault, for example—could bring about something as big as a full-scale war. Usually the pupils would say no. They found it possible to imagine that a single case of assault might lead to hurt feelings or anger, even violence on a small scale. But they didn’t think it would start a whole war. The teacher would then point them to this story, and show them how the seeds of Absalom’s huge rebellion were sown in one act of assault. Even secular history tells us that the massive battles of World War I had been lit by a one-on-one attack. If secular history is all we have to go on, though, something is missing.

5.                  Look at King David, against whom Absalom launched his rebellion. Remember David’s adultery and murder? The Lord forgave David, but still David had to bear the consequences of his sin. Absalom’s rebellion was exactly the kind of consequence the Lord had predicted. There would be evil for David from out of his own house, as someone close to the king would make a claim to kingship. (See 2 Samuel 12:10–12.) David had brought this rebellion upon himself, not only indirectly but also quite directly. After Absalom had killed Amnon and went away to lay low for 3 years, David finally brought Absalom back to Jerusalem . . . but then refused to see him for another 2 years. There had been something missing from David during that time. A Lutheran pastor once preached this story as a Father’s Day message, but with all the names removed so people would not catch on right away this Bible story. He pointed out how badly David had turned his back on Absalom, and what consequences took place when fathers don’t extend themselves to their children in love, compassion, and mercy. Because it was while David was keeping his distance that Absalom’s thoughts turned to staging a rebellion against his father.

6.                  What’s missing when a father who has himself been forgiven for murder won’t turn around and share the Lord’s forgiveness with his own son? What’s missing from a son who takes it upon himself to get revenge, not once but twice, a son who finds it essential to get what he wants—no matter who stands in his way? Or what’s missing when we go to school and get an education for our purposes, to fulfill our own educational goals? In all these cases the answer can be the same. What’s missing can be faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and love resulting from that faith.

7.                  Why do we go to school? Why do parents tell their children that they should go to school? To learn enough to get a good job? Why? To make lots of money. Why? To have nice things? If this is as far as it goes, something is missing.

8.                  When was the last time any of us considered the thought that we go to school so we can learn something that will enable us to glorify God and serve our neighbor? Maybe it will be in church work, but Christians can glorify God and serve their neighbors in any honorable calling in life. Why don’t Christian parents put it this way to their kids?

9.                  Something is missing in our views on education.  What’s missing is the Lord himself.  Proverbs 3:6 says, “In all your ways acknowledge him and he will make straight your paths.” That’s what we’re really talking about here, lives that acknowledge the Lord instead of focusing on ourselves. It might surprise some people to hear this, but the Bible never tells people to fulfill their dreams. Instead, the Bible tells us to acknowledge the Lord and to serve him where He’s put us. Our resistance to this fact shows how deep idolatry goes within us, and our need to repent.

10.              David was calling upon the Lord, too, and the Lord didn’t forsake David when Absalom rebelled. Instead, God got David through. The rebellion of Absalom wasn’t the only crisis that came upon Israel while David was king. It wasn’t even the only rebellion. (See 2 Samuel 20.) But, this crisis weighed more heavily on David than any of the others. The king was worried about his family. He was concerned about the kingdom, of course. But I’m sure he couldn’t help think about the line of descent for the Messiah, which by God’s promise was to go through his household. Yet the Lord’s faithfulness came through. In this way also, David was saved by Christ.

11.              David hit rock-bottom when he had to flee from his son Absalom. He went up the Mount of Olives, barefoot and weeping, praying that the Lord would stop Absalom’s plans. (See 2 Samuel 15:30–31.) Bear in mind that our Lord Jesus ascended on the Mount of Olives. In fact, Jesus ascended clear off that mountain. When Jesus did this he wasn’t weeping, but victorious. Our ascended Lord Christ intercedes for us before the throne of God, praying that all his enemies—and ours—be finally destroyed.

12.              That’s not all. While David was still trying to get away from his Absalom, he came upon an angry relative of the previous king, Saul. This man threw rocks at David, and he hurled a few insults and curses at him too. One of David’s army commanders volunteered to take the guy’s head off, but David said no. This was the worst humiliation of his life, but David accepted it as discipline from God himself. David realized that he had to go through this humiliation if he was to be exalted again as king. He had to go through it.

13.              Think of what Jesus went through in his humiliation. He had all kinds of insults and curses heaped upon him. The worst of those curses came from God himself. Christ endured it all because he knew that for the sake of our salvation he couldn’t go around his humiliation unto death, even death on a cross. He had to go through it. And at the end of that humiliation he was exalted. He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven to sit at God’s right hand as our King.

14.              This point in David’s life, when he was struggling against his son Absalom, is when he looked the most like Christ. Like Christ, David loved the unlovable. Despite everything Absalom had done, David didn’t want him harmed on the field of battle. David loved his rebellious son. But, his soldiers disobeyed the David’s order and killed Absalom. When the reports came to David he urgently wanted to know whether his son was safe. And when David learned that Absalom had died, he broke down in bitter weeping and said, “Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom my son, my son.”

15.              What David wanted to do for his rebellious son is what Christ did by dying for sinners like you and me.  Because he loved us with a love much more intense than the love that moved David to say, “Absalom, my son, my son,” Christ the eternal Son of God was willing to be cut off from his Father and to cry out to him, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Such was his love for the unlovable. Such is his love for you and me.

16.              Is the young man or the young woman safe? We might question about those young men and women now graduating from high school or college. Are they safe? There’s safety only with the crucified, risen, and ascended Christ. The story of Absalom shows that all the ambition and learning in this world can’t keep us safe. In fact, intelligence can be put to terrible uses apart from God. The pursuit of the wrong goals can be catastrophic.  We can be safe only with Christ. He died for us and rose. He ascended and intercedes for us before the throne of grace and he will someday take us to be with him in heaven. And when we’re preparing for his coming again by remaining in his Word all through our lives, never graduating, then we’re safe.  Amen.

Thoughts for Ascension Day: CPH Chapel Homily from June 1st, 2011 by Rev. Baker

Ascension 2011

Year A, Luke 24:36-53 (expanded)
Rev. Robert C. Baker
Concordia Publishing House Chapel, June 1, 2011

In a remarkable display of divine forbearance, the rapture came and went May 21, 2011, and you were left behind.

Thank God, because in Scripture those who are swept away—think of everyone in the Flood besides Noah and his family, or Pharaoh’s huge army in the midst of the Red Sea—those who are swept away are those who are damned.

But being caught up bodily to meet the Lord in the air—which is a Scriptural promise, let’s not mock that—will occur, on the Last Day, when the trump will sound (1 Cor. 15:52), when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will appear (1 Tim. 6:14-16; Rev. 17:14; 19:16), returning in the same manner as His apostles and disciples saw Him depart this very earth (Acts 1:11).

And here we come to the Ascension.

St. Luke is a good and careful author, and where others of lesser skill might have run-on sentences, Luke has chunks of run-on history, detailing the life of our Lord in rapid pace, particularly at the end of his Gospel. It’s almost as if he’s excited to tell you about a lot of things that are very important.

And he does. In his twenty-fourth chapter, Luke has Jesus rising, walking, questioning, chiding, and explaining; then sitting, breaking, revealing and disappearing; then appearing, then peace-ing, then eating, then opening, then teaching, then leading, then blessing, then ascending. All in 50 verses.

Perhaps Luke can’t wait to get to Acts chapter 1!

But notice how Luke describes Jesus’ body. Jesus’ crucified and resurrected body does things bodies normally do but, then again, Jesus’ body does things bodies don’t normally do. Topping it all off, Jesus ascends bodily into heaven. A real human body, Jesus’ crucified and resurrected body, really rising—not just rising above the clouds, but above all things.

Wrap your noodle around that.

Jesus—crucified, risen and ascended—ruling and reigning—sitting “at the right hand of the Father… will come again with glory to judge both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end” (Nicene Creed).

Until that day, the day when the Lord returns, ponder the real Great Commission of St. Luke, not the one in St. Matthew (28:18-20), which pertains to Baptism and the Holy Office, but the Great Commission of St. Luke, in which Jesus says: “The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luke 24:46-47).

Damned are they who reject this Messiah and who refuse to repent of their sins. Blessed are you who repent, trusting in the forgiveness this Messiah brings through the shedding of His blood. Happy are you, on that day known by no man (Matt. 24:26), when your risen and ascended Lord returns, when you shall rise bodily from the earth to meet Him and all the departed saints in the air, and “so we will always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:17).

Think about these things October 21, 2011.

Sermon for Ascension Day--June 2, 2011

“Why Are You Standing Here?” (Acts 1:10-11) 

1.       Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Tonight, in observing Ascension Day, we’re joining with the saints of centuries past in observing one of the 4 great festivals of the church year. Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost have been maintained by the church as special days of celebration. But Ascension Day, probably because it always comes 40 days after Easter, and it falls on a Thursday, has either been dropped as a festival day, or, is observed on the Sunday following the Ascension.

2.       I suppose some of you may be wondering why Ascension Day is considered a festival day?  What’s a festival day? What is it about that makes it so important to the church that a special day is set aside for it? And why is it important to you and me?   Well, a festival day is a day of commemoration of one of the great salvation acts of God in Christ Jesus. The church observes a festival day with joy and thanksgiving and in response to God in worship of joyful celebration.

3.       It’s well that we remind ourselves that the ascension of our Lord is a historical fact well attested to by the sacred scriptures of the New Testament. There are 3 major sources of testimony to the fact of the Ascension. The Apostles through their teaching and preaching as found in their epistles or letters to the churches of the Apostolic Age, and finally the angels of God testify to the fact of the Ascension. St. Mark alludes briefly to the Ascension where he says: “After talking with them he was taken up into heaven and sat down on the right hand of God.”

4.       In the Apostles’ Creed we all confess, “He ascended into heaven and sits on the right hand of God the Father Almighty to judge the quick (or living) and the dead.” In a sense these 2 statements are inseparable for in the wider sense, the Ascension of Christ marks not only His ascension to heaven, but also to the Right Hand of God. The Hand of God isn’t a definite place, but it is His omnipotent power. Maybe the simplest way of putting this is the way it’s taught to children in confirmation instruction. “Jesus sitting at God’s right hand, means that a man right now is also judging and ruling the whole universe in the best interests of His people, the church.”

5.       St. Luke says in his gospel: “He raised His hand to bless them and while He was blessing them He was taken up into heaven.” Then in his account in the book of Acts, part of the first lesson this evening, “And while they were watching Him, He was lifted up and cloud took Him away and they could not see Him anymore.”  It’s interesting that unbelievers have a real field day in their attempts to debunk the clear historical record. Ever since man has successfully set for on the moon the age we’re now living in has been called the “space age.” Therefore the contention is that if Christ Jesus was “taken up,” which way is up? For, is not any way up in space? If a cloud hid Him, where did He go?

6.       It’s obvious that unbelief bases its attack upon a misconception of the Scripture, and an ignorance of the person of Christ. The report of the Ascension in the book of Acts tells us that a cloud hid Jesus from the sight of the disciples as they looked at Him rising into the heavens. It would’ve made little difference whether or not such a cloud had hidden him from their sight a 100 feet from the ground or 10,000 feet from the ground. For, although the Ascension did involve the removal of His physical presence from their eyesight at that time, it didn’t involve the removal of His spiritual presence from them. The disciples of Jesus see Him ascend physically to take His place invisibly at the right hand of God. The plain fact of Scripture is that He is present in heaven and everywhere at one and the same time.                

7.       The Apostles not only give us testimony of the time, place, and manner of His Ascension, but they also attest to His promise to return. Our text in Acts chapter 1 it tells us they heard, “He will return in the same manner in which you saw Him go into heaven.” St. Paul confirms this in that beautiful section of his first letter to the Thessalonians were he says,   “when the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” Yes, there is a lot of comfort in those words.

8.       And we have the evidence of those whom our Lord left behind him. So also, we have the evidence of those to whom he came. I’m referring to the angels. Since the apostles couldn’t tell where Jesus had gone because of the clouds, the angels came to testify of His reception into heaven.  Here we find the angels doing what they were created to do. The Greek word for angel is “angelos” and means messenger. They’re ministering spirits sent to aid us. Although angels aren’t spoken about much today, they were being constantly spoken about by Christ himself. To Him they were very real and so they were very real to the early Church.

9.       Angels have a very interesting function in the Scriptures. When we look at where angels appear it’s always were God’s plan of salvation for us in Christ takes another major step forward.  Let’s look at some of the high points of salvation history to see the part that angels play.  At the time of the Exodus, who was it who struck dead the oldest son in Egyptian families and passed over the homes of the Jews marked with lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their homes? The Angel of the Lord. When he passed over it was the signal to the Jews to get up and start moving, the Exodus was on!  It was like God saying in the words of our theme, “Why are you standing here?  Men of God, get up and start moving toward a new life!”  And it was the angel Gabriel who appeared to Zacharias telling of the impending birth of John the Baptist. And again it’s Gabriel who appears to Mary telling her that she will conceive by the Holy Ghost and become the mother of the promised Messiah.

10.    God sent angles to minister to Jesus curing his 40 days of fasting in the desert. There Jesus resisted the devil and proved He could keep the law perfectly and be the perfect Lamb of God sacrificed for the cleansing of our sins and making us acceptable to God our Father. It’s an angel again who ministered to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane as He prepared to offer Himself up for us as our substitute. And we’re all familiar with the two angels who announced the Lord’s Resurrection to the women in the Garden.

11.    And what do we find in our text from Acts chapter 1 on the Ascension of our Lord? Acts tells us, “As he was going, and they were gazing up into the sky, two men in white cloths were standing right beside them. “Men of Galilee, why are you standing here?” they asked. “This Jesus who was taken away from you into heaven will come back the same way you saw Him go to heaven.”

12.    Now, the fact that these men were angels isn’t mentioned here. But they do meet the qualifications of angels, don’t they?  They have knowledge of what has just happened and give an immediate answer to the question on the disciples’ minds of where Jesus has gone?  They inform the disciples, and us,…that Jesus was received into heaven. Then they mention what else the disciples needed to know… and what you and I need to know, too. “He will come back the same way you saw Him go into heaven.” And when that time comes, - it will be announced by the archangel.

13.    Now then, do you know why the Church of Jesus Christ has gone through the ages observing Ascension Day? Do you understand why this has always been a festival day of celebration?  Well then, people of St. John Lutheran, “Why are you standing here?” Let’s go and tell everyone the good news of Jesus, our Lord, our Savior’s Ascension and what it means! Let’s celebrate!  In Jesus’ holy, - ascended Name, - Amen! 

(Special thanks to Rev. William Wurm (LCMS) for the inspiration and resources in writing this sermon)…

Sermon for 6th Sunday of Easter--May 29, 2011

“The Unknown God” (Acts 17:16-31)

1.                  Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this morning comes to us from Acts 17:16-31 and it’s entitled, “The Unknown God,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                  Scientist Carl Sagan hosted the first TV program dedicated to the great unknowns of space. The show was a hit, viewed by half a billion people. Of the show's success, Sagan remarked: "I was positive from my own experience that an enormous global interest exists in space and in many kindred scientific topics—the origin of life, the Earth, and the Cosmos, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, our connection with the universe." (Footnote 1: Carl Sagan, Cosmos (New York: Ballantine, 1985), pp. xvii.)

3.                  Sagan names things that are globally sought after. We find throughout each generation this hunger for the unknown. The mysteries of our universe can fascinate us, compel us, and give us hope. But, they can also become a stumbling block on the road to truth.  In the mind of a skeptic, no matter how many of his or her questions are answered, the elementary ones still escape them. The great unknown becomes the obsession. The great unknown, no matter how great, can’t fill the holes in our heads and hearts until it’s known.

4.                  The Apostle Paul spoke to the Athenian thinkers many years ago words quite fitting for present times. As his eyes observed that culture, he saw their fascination with knowing—so strong they even sought to know what was unknown to them, placing a sign over one of their altars for the "Unknown God." And this is what Paul says to them in Acts 17:23: "What you worship as unknown, I proclaim to you as known." 

5.                  The Apostle Paul knew the audience that he was speaking to.  There were the Epicureans, who believed that the gods didn't care about them; who believed that right now, right here was all that life has to offer. These people denied God, and dedicated themselves to the task of grabbing all the gusto they could. But, there were also the Stoics who were convinced that the gods resided in everything, and occupied themselves with managing the universe. Although the Stoics also rejected the idea of an afterlife, they thought that since the here and now is all we're going to get, we ought to be totally responsible. Responsible is a good word for the stoics. And the Stoics are still with us today.  They are the people who take a stand against cruelty to animals and protecting the environment.

6.                  Right now there are people who are wondering how a good God could allow such suffering to take place in the town of Joplin, MO.  How could an all-powerful God allow something like that to happen?  Over 140 people dead and so many people still missing.  A great number of people have lost their homes.  A God that would allow something like this to happen seems unknowable to me.  Rabbi Kushner wrote a book, which you’ve probably heard of, “Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People,” well that title is wrong according to the Bible.  A better title would be, “Why do Good things Happen to Bad People.”  See, according to God’s Word none of us are good.  The Bible tells us that, “there is no one is righteous, no one who does good.  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  As Christians we can rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that when we suffer we’re reminded of the consequences of our sins and our need for a Savior.  We remember that it was our Savior who suffered on our behalf to set us free from sin, death and the power of the devil.

7.                  The ideas of the Stoics and Epicureans that were in Athens 2000 years ago are still with us today, even when it comes to our understanding of suffering.  Our culture has embraced the epicurean view of suffering. This way of thinking seeks to reduce pain and acquire pleasure. To dull physical and emotional pain, men and women turn to sexual infidelity, illegal drugs, gluttony, and other sinful behaviors believing that “if it feels nice, don’t think twice.”  The stoic view of suffering says that we have no control over what happens to us. All we can do is choose how we will respond to it; the goal here is to let nothing bother us. We should do our best “to keep a stiff upper lip” and to “let nothing get us down.”

8.                  Christians have probably been most affected by the stoic view. Unfortunately, we’re often prone to minimize the reality of our grief. But this isn’t the approach of Jesus. The Apostle John recorded that He wept at the death of his friend Lazarus in John 11. It’s not sinful to mourn the death of a loved one or to admit our pain.

9.                  God isn’t obligated to give us the reason for our suffering. Still, whether He is disciplining us or not, we know He is always with us in our pain (Ps. 23:4) to use our suffering for good, redemptive ends and to bring glory to Himself (Rom. 8:28).

10.              As Paul preached to the Athenians he basically tells them, “We blew it.”  We don’t know who God is, since we have all these ridiculous idols. Paul is preaching the law here, to convict sinners of their sins, before he reveals to them the answer to their sin, namely, Jesus Christ, their Savior.  He goes on to tell them, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

11.              Paul’s basic point is this. What you people did by worshiping everything but the one true God–that was ignorance. But now I’m making known to you the God you missed, the one true God of all mankind. He’s calling you to repent, before it’s too late. Judgment Day is coming. You will be judged. Your only hope is in the one I’m about to tell you about. The one who will be your Judge, this one is also your Savior. It’s this man Jesus Christ I’ve been telling you about, the one who rose from the dead.

12.              Do you know that Judgment Day is coming? On that day you will stand before your Creator, and you will be judged. How will you fare? I can tell you that if you rely on yourself, it won’t go well.  But, if you rely on Jesus as your Savior, you will be saved. This man Jesus, whom God raised from the dead–the reason he died was to save you from your sins, to save you from the judgment and eternal condemnation. That’s why he died, in your place, as the sacrifice for your sins. He did this for all men. Your sins are forgiven, covered, paid for, by the blood of Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of the world. God raised this man Jesus from the dead, on Easter, to show that life is the result of what Christ has done. Baptized and believing in Christ, we share in His mighty victory over death. This is the good news that God has for all people everywhere.

13.              It’s true.  What we worship in this world as unknown, Christ gives us the chance to know. It is His life, death, and resurrection that proclaims to you that "The God who made the world and everything in it is Lord of heaven and earth…" (Footnote 3: Acts 17:24) He’s worth knowing, and through Jesus we understand everything. That is the answer we desperately need.  Amen.