“Reborn, Repent, Reform” Matt. 4.12-25 Reformation Day Sermon Oct. ‘13

1.      Sanctify us in the truth, O Lord, Your Word is truth!  The message from God’s Word for this Sunday in which we observe the Festival of the Reformation is taken from Matt. 4:12-25, but specifically from Matt. 4:17 where our Lord Jesus says, ¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  The message is entitled, “Reborn, Repent, Reform,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.      In 1973 psychiatrist Karl Menninger published a book with the title, Whatever Became of Sin?  His point was that sociology and psychology were beginning to avoid terms like “evil,” or “immorality,” and “wrongdoing.”  Menninger then detailed how the theological notion of sin became the legal idea of crime and then slid further from its true meaning and became nothing more than the psychological category of sickness.  Now, it’s gone even further.  We’re not sinners at all anymore.  As many have observed, we’re just “mistakers.”  And we’re even starting to lose that.  Lately, we don’t even want to call a sin a mistake.  We want to turn everything we do into a virtue.  So lust becomes “sensuality,” and anger just means being honest with your emotions.  Even when we apologize, we say things like, “I’m sorry you were offended at what I said or did.”  No admittance that we did anything wrong – just sorry that the other person wasn’t mature enough to handle it. The latest edition of the Oxford Junior Dictionary for children went all the way and made it official.  They removed the word completely.  They don’t even have the word “sin” in the dictionary anymore.  As a result, morals are seen as almost entirely relative.  There are no absolutes when it comes to right or wrong.  If it doesn’t hurt anybody else, and it makes you happy, then it’s okay.  Morality has become a personal choice. 

3.      With this world in which we live of moral relativism, where everyone is doing what is right in his or her own eyes, we hear our Savior Jesus say to us in Matt. 4:17, ¹⁷From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”  We also hear John the Apostle say in 1 John 1:8-10, “8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”  Living today in this 21^st century morally relativistic climate we are all the more in need of the Reformation of the Church.  We are proud of the Augustinian monk, Martin Luther, who is the namesake of our church body. Reformation Day marks the day in 1517 that Luther posted his 95 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenberg. "The eternal gospel" (Revelation 14:6) issued from the very first stroke of the pen when he wrote, "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said, 'Repent,' He willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."  So this day we celebrate the entire life of believers by proclaiming the eternal gospel of repentance of sin and faith in Jesus Christ.  Luther reminds us that we are reborn through our Lord Jesus, we repent of our sins, and we reform our lives according to His Word.

4.      Luther has taught us that repentance is the life that is lived in our baptisms.  Just as Baptism immerses us in the clothing of Christ, so repentance returns us to the blessings of the font.  It must be a way of life.  It’s a complete self-denial.  It’s even a hatred of our sinful selves.  It’s a recognition that I am nothing in God’s presence apart from God’s mercy.  Martin Luther writes in his Small Catechism on Baptism, “What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that the Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever. Where is this written? St Paul writes in Romans chapter six: “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” [Rom. 6:4]   When repentance is lived in connection with Baptism it is certainly a transformation of the self.  These are the means by which God does His work in our lives.

5.      Unfortunately, many modern churches confess a God who is not wrathful, but tolerant of everything, and teach a salvation without the cross of Christ.  We need to hear the call to repentance, along with the self-denial that it implies once again.  Our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, still says to us, “Repent!”  This is how to live in our Baptism.  St. Ambrose says, “Repentance is good.  If there were no opportunity for it, everyone would defer until they were old the grace of cleansing by Baptism.  A sufficient reason is that it is better to have a robe to mend than none to put on (Gal. 3:27)…  And the Lord has given a sufficient warning to those who put off repentance, when He said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17).  We do not know when the thief will come.  We do not know whether our soul may be required of us this night.  God cast Adam out of Paradise immediately after his fault; there was no delay.  At once the fallen were severed from all their enjoyments so that they might repent.  At once God clothed them with garments of skins, not of silk (Gen. 3:21, 24).  And what reason is there for putting off [repentance]?  Is it that you may sin yet more?  Then because God is good, you are evil and ‘you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience’ (Rom. 2:4).  But the goodness of the Lord ought rather to draw you to repentance.”  (Ambrose, On Repentance, 2.11.98-100).

6.      But, again some people may say, “I’m a good person, I don’t need to repent of my sins.  I’m not a sinner.”  It’s for this reason that no book reports more horrors of sin than the Bible. The first report of man’s activity in the Bible is of the Fall that had consequences of sin and corruption for the entire human race at all times.  It goes on to relate that the first son of the first parents murdered his brother and that people’s wickedness increased from generation to generation.  It became so great, in fact, that finally at the time of the Flood, God had to wipe out all the millions of wicked and unrepentant people who then lived on the earth.  Only 8 souls were saved in the universal flood.  Even after this divine judgment, the Bible doesn’t present an encouraging picture of the world.  Even among those who called the Scriptures as holy, there were almost none who are not reported to have fallen into one sin or another.

7.      Many people have taken offense at this.  They think that any book that dwells so much on sins, describing them so graphically, can’t possibly be the holy Word of God.  Any book that has been given by God Himself for the betterment of mankind, they believe, must concentrate solely on the lives of virtuous people whose behavior is worthy of imitation.  Such thoughts are absurd.  In great wisdom God sketched a dark picture of humanity in His Word.  All of Holy Scripture was written to bring people to faith in Christ, the Savior of the world.  Jesus even says of the Old Testament, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me” (John 5:39).  Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Tim. 3:15, “From childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:15).  Peter preached, “To Him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name” (Acts 10:43).  The Bible calls us as sinners to be reborn, repent of our sins, and reform our lives.

8.      No one needs a passage to prove that the New Testament has this same goal, but to give just one example, John reports, “These are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name” (John 20:31).   If the Holy Scriptures preached only how godly people were, would we be led to faith in Christ and to repent and lament over our sins?  Wouldn’t we conclude, instead, that people are good and that they could surely be saved by their own works, without the help of a Savior?  Without a doubt.  That’s why we should never be offended by the fact that the Bible presents even the holiest of people as sinners.  King David was an adulterer and murderer.  The Apostle Paul was a persecutor of Christians.  Lot committed incest.  Jacob was a liar and deceiver.  We must recognize God’s great wisdom in portraying them in this way.  By revealing the sins that have flourished among the people from the beginning of the world, God shows us that human righteousness and worthiness are nothing but an empty dream, that every person is a sinner, that even the most godly can’t stand before the Heavenly Father in their own righteousness, that free grace in Jesus is man’s only refuge, and that there is no salvation and no blessedness outside of Christ.  The ones whose horrible sins are related in the Bible should be a mirror for us, a mirror in which we learn to examine our own life and heart so we humble ourselves before God and flee to the cross of the Lamb of God who bears the sins of the world.  And so we who are reborn through Holy Baptism in Jesus, daily repent of our sins, and reform our lives according to the Word of God trusting in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our salvation.  Amen.  

“Leave it Behind” John 4.5-26 “The Woman at the Well” LWML Fall Workshop…

1.                  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The message from God’s Word for us today is taken from John 4:5-26.  Here in John’s Gospel we see that Jesus graciously reaches out to a Samaritan woman, leads her to recognize Him as the Messiah, and through her brings other Samaritans to receive His life-giving blessings.  We as Christians can sometimes allow social and cultural barriers to hinder our witness to Jesus and His love for all people.  But, just as Jesus forgave this woman her past and present sins, He now freely offers His forgiving love to us and calls us to spread the Good News.  The message is entitled, “Leave it Behind.”

2.                  Little Sam and his mother are off for his first day of school. She’s coping with the idea of her little boy growing up, and her head is filled with details, dreams, and dread about this day. Backing out of the driveway with papers signed, crayons packed, and an errand list in hand, she senses she’s missing something. She turns to Sam to see if he’s buckled in. She now realizes what she’s missing—Sam! Looking up, she sees in the window her precious cargo, who stares with an “aren’t you forgetting something?” fear in his eye. Have you ever been so busy with thought that you forget the main thing you are supposed to be doing? The woman at the well is someone who leaves behind her main task (gathering water) because of something greater that Christ has offered (living water).

3.                  Not long after Jesus shares “the Gospel in a nutshell” with Nicodemus in John chapter 3, he’s speaking with this woman in Samaria. How better could John the Apostle show to us that Jesus really meant what he said when he told Nicodemus that God loved “the world”? Who is it that struggles with the thought of Jesus as the Savior of all the world? In ch 3 of John’s Gospel it’s the religious establishment, in Jerusalem, Nicodemus, the Pharisee, a true Jew, and the religious uprising, John the Baptist’s disciples. In ch 4 we see quite a contrast as Jesus encourages a dialogue with the religious opposition, in Samaria, with a Samaritan, a woman and one of bad reputation! Here we see the One who comes for all people, “the light of the world,” so that all the world may know him as Abraham did, by faith.

4.                  John 4:4–8 says, “⁴And [Jesus] had to pass through Samaria.  ⁵So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.  ⁷There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸(For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)”  This account describes for us the conversation between Jesus and the woman.  At the beginning of this section it says that Jesus “had to” go through Samaria. According to the Jews, he was “supposed to” go around Samaria, but according to his Heavenly Father’s plan, he “had to” go through the region. It was necessary for Jesus to go, to do, to be lifted up on the cross, and to rise from the dead for this Samaritan woman, in whom we see ourselves.

5.                  Notice how Jn 4:27–29 says, “²⁷Just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you seek?” or, “Why are you talking with her?” ²⁸So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, ²⁹“Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?”  Did you see the fact that the water jar (main task) gets left behind?  When the joy of the Gospel and the promise of living water from Jesus come to people (like the woman at the well, the tax collectors Matthew and Zacchaeus, the fisherman Peter), those things we hold as most important (water, taxes, fish) are left behind in light of a greater hope that lies ahead.  A bucket at a well, a net by a shore, a country in the background, all remind us that God’s promises call us forward in hope. They are promises of blessing for all, of a land ahead, of living water.

6.                  The Gospel of John shows us that the promise is to “the world” (Jn 3:16). Jesus has come for all people: the religious establishment (Pharisees like Nicodemus), the religious uprising (John the Baptist’s disciples), and the religious outcast (a Samaritan woman).  In John 4:7 we see that Jesus speaks to her.  This action of Jesus was breaking the social barriers between Jews and Samarians and between men, especially a rabbi, and women. He who has been left behind by his disciples (v 8) leaves these barriers behind to tell the woman about a better “water” that she could receive.

7.                  Jesus comes for all people, even leftovers. (You may wish to hold up a container of leftovers for emphasis.) Have you ever discovered leftovers in the fridge long after you knew they were there? They’re used, old, forgotten, stale, and unwanted.  The woman at the well may have seemed like a leftover person to some. (1) She was a Samaritan, a second-class person. (2) She was a woman, considered unteachable by the rabbis. (3) She had five husbands and a live-in boyfriend. (4) She comes alone at midday to a well outside of town.  Maybe we can relate to this woman in one way or another. In her life we see ours. Do sin, sorrow, and stigma make us feel like “leftover people,” growing stale, unwanted, “left behind”?  Our Lord Jesus engages “leftover” people in conversation co that these sins, sorrows, and stigmas can be washed away by living water.

8.                  Old barriers, Jew and Samaritan, man and woman, God and man—are left behind through this one great mediator (1 Tim 2:5) who says, “I am he.” Old ways of living are left behind. Habits and humiliation are in the past when we become a new creation through water (Baptism, Rom 6:3) in Christ (2 Cor 5:17).  Old evasiveness is left behind. The woman’s elusive comments are no longer appropriate before a man who “told me everything I ever did” (4:29). Old anxieties are left behind. She said to the people, “Come, see a man.”  Old sins are left behind. She left (aphēken) her water jar. This is the same word God uses to describe leaving behind our sin. 

9.                  So how can Jesus help us to know these things are wonderfully forgotten?  Jesus, who is left behind at the well, is also looking to strike up a conversation with us. He takes us from earthly small talk to heavenly hope.  Did you see how this “living water” that Jesus talks about is one of many concepts on which He expands as he talks with the woman? She came for water; Jesus offers her living water. She refers to our father (Jacob); he speaks of the Heavenly Father. She mentions a prophet; Jesus is the Prophet (especially for Samaritans who accepted only the Pentateuch and were looking for the great prophet like Moses from Deuteronomy 18). She speaks of worship in Samaria and Judea; he speaks of worship in “spirit and truth.” She hopes for a messiah; he is the Messiah!

10.              Remember how John 4:4 tells us that just as Jesus “had to” go through Samaria, he also “had to” “be lifted up” (3:14; 12:34), do his Father’s work (9:4), bring other sheep (10:16), and “rise from the dead” (20:9). Just like Abraham in the Old Testament, Jesus had to leave behind his Heavenly Father for the promise that lies ahead for all people. He had to leave behind the joys of heaven so that all people may leave behind the sins, sorrows, and stigmas of earth.

11.              But how can we know this is for us? Because this day we are reminded by the life of one woman alone on the outside of town that a man who died alone on the outside of town leaves no one behind. He loved “the world.” Consider a kindergarten boy in a window, a woman at a well, a man leaving home, a tax collector in a tree, a Samaritan leper, a Pharisee, a prodigal son, a soldier by a cross, a thief on a cross, a lonely person, a leftover. To them Jesus says, “No one gets left behind!”  In John 4:28 we see that the very thing the woman came for (water) she leaves behind, so great is the impact of the greater thing (living water) Jesus has given. The gift and promises of God are so perfect that much will be “left behind” because they can’t compare with what lies ahead.

12.              When God forgives us we “leave behind” our sin. The woman leaves behind her bucket, but she doesn’t leave without “living water.” When Christ gives us this water through our baptisms, something must be left behind. We, like the woman, leave behind old barriers to the Savior, old guilt and sinful ways, for this woman had five husbands and a non husband, old patterns of elusiveness, old, and the old stale water of our sin for living water [v 26]).

13.              Isn’t that why we came here today, “to leave it all behind”? Reminded of the living waters of Baptism, refreshed by the voice of the Savior, renewed by the promise of what lies ahead, then leave the sins, sorrows, and stigmas here like an empty bucket forgotten on the ground. Then go like the woman with living water from a living Savior with a living message, “Come, see a man!”

“God’s People Pray Persistently” Luke 18.1-8, Pentecost 22C Oct. 20th, 2013

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 is taken from Luke 18:1-8. In this section of Scripture we learn a parable from Jesus in which he teaches us a lesson concerning prayer. An unjust judge grants the request of a widow simply because she “keeps bothering” him. Much more readily will God grant justice to us as Christians who cry out to him day and night.  Notice in this parable how, a) the widow’s action demonstrates persistence (vv. 1–5), and b) then how the Lord’s promise encourages persistence (vv. 6–8).  The message is entitled, “God’s People Pray Persistently.”  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. 

2.      There was a Church that had Sunday evening vespers, a worship service for the young only. Adults above college age were invited to come and be silent. 5 year old Ronnie attended often. Then one Sunday Ronnie was absent. The company that employed many of the workers in the town had used its plane to rush Ronnie to the big city hospital. The doctors didn’t know what was wrong with Ronnie. They just knew he was seriously ill. Nothing seemed to help. Doctors had no more prescriptions for Ronnie.  That Sunday vespers took on a new meaning for the children and young people. They prayed eagerly for the big smile to return to Ronnie’s face and for their friend to return to vespers with them. Shortly after the vespers service, the call came. Ronnie’s mother joyously shared the news: “Late this afternoon Ronnie sat up and said he was hungry.” Doctors examined all his vital signs. They were stunned. All was normal. Maybe one of their strong antibiotics had worked, although they’d given up on them. Ronnie’s mother had a better answer: “Doctor, this afternoon all his friends and the children and young people of the church were praying together for Ronnie.”  The doctor thought a moment and said, “Guess the prayers got through, too, didn’t they?” “Would you tell the children thanks for me? What time was all this praying?”  “It was 5:30 this afternoon,” Ronnie’s mother answered. “My husband and I were thinking about vespers and everyone praying there, so we began praying with them, even though we were here in the hospital.”  “That’s when Ronnie got well and sat up, isn’t it?” the doctor said. 

3.      This story about Ronnie being healed is just one of many about how God’s people pray persistently to God our Heavenly Father.  One of the last warnings Jesus gave His disciples before His death was, "Stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36).  In Luke 17, the previous chapter, Jesus spoke of the need for watchfulness.  He will return for judgment in an instant, and only those who are ready for His second coming will enter with Him into His kingdom of glory, we confess this in the creed when we say, “From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.”  The door will be closed forever to all others.  Now Jesus speaks of prayer.  His disciples were shocked by the description of conditions on earth at the time of His return.  In those days of trouble, when Christ's followers "will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it" (Luke 17:22), when people will again live as they did in the days of Noah and Lot.  We learn about the events of Noah and the Flood and Lot being saved from Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament book of Genesis. Jesus warns us that in the Last Days the danger of falling away from the faith is greater than ever.  The disciples then wonder how will people endure to the end and still be saved?  Jesus answers:  pray always and do not despair.  And to teach us, He tells the parable of the persistent widow.

4.      Luke 18:1–8 says, “1And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

5.      Note that Jesus doesn't speak this parable to tell us to pray.  All God's children pray.  God expects it of us, and so prayer might be called a Christian duty.  But it’s much more than that; you might as well call breathing a duty.  But, do we pray always without despair?  Do we persevere in prayer?  In this parable we learn that a Christian prays persistently without giving up. We as Christians pray “with all boldness and confidence as dear children ask their dear father” as Martin Luther teaches us in the Small Catechism on The Introduction to the Lord’s Prayer; cf. also Heb 4:16).  So Jesus teaches us an important lesson in this passage.

6.      If we’re easily discouraged and don’t persist in prayer until we’re heard, then our prayer is in vain.  Also, every unsuccessful prayer only discourages future efforts.  So the Lord tells this strange parable of the unjust judge and the widow who persisted in begging him for help.  Simply because she pestered him so much, he finally did what she wanted.  This is a parable of opposites.  

7.      Notice how God isn’t at all like this judge.  He’s just and merciful, and the prayers of His children are pleasing to Him.  But the comparison that Jesus wants us to make is this:  if a judge who is unjust, who has no fear of God or regard for mankind, who is altogether unwilling to help someone in need, if this judge is finally persuaded to help the petitioner, how sure would we be that our persistent prayers will finally prevail with our Father in heaven, even if or a while it appears as though He doesn’t answer?

8.      But that’s why it’s of such importance in our life that we persevere in prayer.  God doesn’t always help in the first moment of danger.  This widow in her need is Christ's depiction of the Christian's life on earth.  Jesus foretold it:  "In the world you will have trouble" (John 16:33) And our cry for help often seems to go unheard.  How many centuries of persecution have swept over the Church of Christ, how many multitudes of prayers sent up to heaven seemed as vain as though there were no God who hears when His children cry?  Haven't we had such experiences ourselves?  Haven't there been days when we felt what Mary and Martha felt when they sent their message to Jesus--"he whom You love is ill"--and Jesus "stayed two days longer in the place where He was" (John 11:3, 6).  They’d been so sure that Jesus would come at once, but He delayed until Lazarus had been dead for 4 days.  When God seems deaf to our prayers, we can become impatient.  Our faith weakens.  We cry out with the disciples in the ship who were caught in the midst of the storm on the Sea of Galilee, "Do you not care that we are perishing?" (Mark 4:38).  We are tempted to think hard thoughts about our God as though our confidence in Him were misplaced; we are tempted to say, "What’s the use of prayer?  It's only a waste of time."

9.      We can also see Jesus in this parable? We see him in the persistent widow. When Jesus relates this parable, he’s outside Jerusalem. He’s still some distance from his Passion. But, soon he would experience injustice at the hands of Caiaphas, Pilate, Herod, and crowds of people who would shout, “Crucify him!” But, still Jesus lives the kind of trust he speaks of in this parable. Jesus keeps faith with His Heavenly Father, the One he expects justice at the end. He keeps faith all the way to cross and his death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins.  He prays, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Lk 23:46).

10.  In this parable, Jesus teaches us to pray persistently and never lose heart. Why? Because his promise is that he will grant justice for his chosen ones and will do so quickly. But, the justice he grants isn’t what we would have expected. He would quickly bring about justice, but it wouldn’t be by the power of his almighty hand, but by the power of his love and grace. Jesus shows us that God’s justice isn’t rightly understood until you first understand God’s suffering love, a suffering love that has as its aim to make the sinner whole and the ungodly just. This suffering love is for people like the unjust judge, and it is for you and me as well.

11.  It’s not an exaggeration when Jesus admonishes us to pray always and not despair!  That’s exactly what He means.  No promise is given to the person who lightly taps at God's door and walks away if it does not immediately open.  But because so many do just that, Jesus says, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?" (Luke 18:8).  Will he find faith that is persistent and loyal? And the answer is yes, he will! He will find people like those mentioned just following our text. He will find faith in people like the tax collector, who humbled himself and beat his chest imploring God for mercy. He will find faith in people who, like the little children, look to Christ and trust him unreservedly. He will find faith in people like the blind beggar, who cried out to Christ for healing and mercy. He will find faith in people like you and me. For we, too, are a people who stand before God asking Christ for mercy and leaning on him for eternal hope.

12.  So can we pray persistently? Yes! Can we pray and not give up? Absolutely! For we know to whom we belong. Peter the apostle has said, “[Cast] all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you” (1 Pet 5:7). He cares for you and, unlike the judge in today’s parable, God wants to hear from you. You are his beloved child. So take heart!  Pray persistnently and Do Not Lose Heart.  Prayer--Lord God, our Heavenly Father, who by Your Son has promised to give us whatever we ask in His name, we ask that You grant us the power of Your Holy Spirit, that we may make known our requests to You in faithful prayer, desire of You that which is well pleasing to You and profitable for us, lift up holy hands without wrath or doubt, and be firmly assured that You will hear our prayer, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord.  Amen.

“You Are My Witnesses” LWML Sunday Sermon Oct. 13th, 2013, Luke 24.44-53

1.      In the Name of Jesus.  You are my witnesses, Jesus says. Christ is the faithful witness as His life is a confession of the true faith that reveals our compassionate Father’s heart. A witness to Christ confesses the true faith. By the power of the Holy Spirit, our Lord has called us His witnesses as people who share what He’s given to us so that all would know the Father’s saving love. You are my witnesses, then, is Christ’s call to our real identity for the true confession of the faith in words and actions that inspire works of mercy in our life together.

2.      I’d like to tell you a story to illustrate this point of giving a witness to our salvation in our Lord Jesus Christ.  There was an African man who had become a Christian, but he was also afflicted by the dreaded elephantiasis disease. This terrible condition hardens and enlarges the flesh of the lower legs and feet so they often appear as solid columns of flesh from the knees down, sometimes 12 to 15 inches in diameter. It’s a painful condition, making simple walking a challenge. But the man was so appreciative of the grace of God that had come into his life that he thought nothing of the pain. He went from hut to hut in his west African village, sharing the good news of the gospel, knowing that none could believe unless they heard the gospel. He hobbled on his afflicted legs day after day until all had heard the good news.

3.      Once he’d evangelized his entire village, he began a painful, daily walk to a village 2 miles distant, not being able to bear the thought that some were there who had not heard the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. He would start early in the morning and walk to the nearby village, go from hut to hut, then walk home. This process he repeated until every hut in that village had received the good news of the gospel.  With no one else to tell about Christ, he asked his pastor and the missionary about going to the next closest village, a larger village located 10 miles from his own. They discouraged him from considering the journey, given his condition. But one day, his relatives awoke to find him gone. It wasn’t until later that the full story came out, related by the inhabitants of the distant village.

4.      It took him until noon to walk the 10 mile distance to the village, and when he arrived, his legs were bloody and swollen. Not wasting time even to eat, he spent the rest of the day in the village going from hut to hut telling people about the grace of God. The sun was setting when he set out for his own village. Somehow he made it through the dark jungle, falling upon the missionary’s porch at midnight. The missionary, who was also a doctor, called for help and they lifted the poor man into the clinic. The doctor related later how his own tears mingled with the salve with which he bathed the beautiful feet of this wounded gospel messenger. Without counting the cost to himself, this man lived out the word; of the apostle Paul, “And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” (Rom. 10:14). Feet that in the eyes of the world could best be described as horrific had become the beautiful feet of one who brings the good news (Rom. 10:15).

5.      And so like that African man, Jesus our Savior speaks to us so that we are His witnesses.  In today’s Gospel, Jesus the faithful witness spoke to His disciples so that they could understand the Holy Scriptures He fulfilled. He tells them why He came into the world:  to suffer, die and rise from the dead to save us from sin, death and the devil. He sends His Holy Spirit so that His people may be witnesses as repentance and forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all nations. You are my witnesses, Christ says to His disciples.

6.      Christ Jesus our Lord speaks to us today. He raises up pastors to preach the Word in season and out of season. How are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? as the holy apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome. Pastors are sent by God to preach and teach the Law, proclaiming what God expects of His people according to His divine goodness. That Word of Law shows us our sin, our rebellious disregard for Christ’s life and teaching and our ego-driven rejection of His promises. It shows how deaf we are to Christ’s compassionate voice of forgiveness, life and salvation as we reject our identity as His witnesses.  Thankfully, though, our Lord raises up pastors who also proclaim the Gospel to us that releases us from the vale of sin and death and brings the peace of God that passes all understanding to us. The Good News that Christ came into the world as the great witness to the Father’s abounding love to suffer and die for our sin and rise again so that we may live releases us from the bondage of suffering and death. As repentance and forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in His Name, the promised Holy Spirit continues to call, gather, enlighten and sanctify people in the one true faith.  The Word—who is Christ—is shared so that God’s people may embrace their true identity in His grace. You are my witnesses, Christ says to us today.

7.      Christ not only speaks to us so that we are His witnesses; Christ leads us out so that we are His witnesses. He doesn’t send His people where He Himself hasn’t gone. In today’s Gospel, He led His disciples out to Bethany. Previously, He led them out of their previous vocations to follow Him. He led His disciples out of slavery into freedom as He leads His people out of death into life. He does this saving work as He died on the cross for our sin and rose from the dead so that we may live as His witnesses. As Christ leads out His disciples, He proclaims, You are my witnesses.

8.      Christ continues to lead His Church out so that we may be His witnesses. He does this when He brings us to the waters of Holy Baptism where we die to our sin and rise to newness of life. Buried with Him in our baptism, we are united with Him in His resurrection witness. As He gathers His people at His altar to receive His precious Body and Blood, Christ leads His people out from the altar into the world. As the Divine Service concludes inside the church building, divine service continues in the world as the people of God are sent forth as witnesses. There’s no need to fear; the resurrected Christ has gone before us to prepare the way for us. As Christ leads us out into the world, He lovingly comforts us saying, You are my witnesses.

9.      Christ has led the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League out to be Lutheran Women in Mission..  By the power of the Holy Spirit given in the Means of the Spirit, Christ has led Lutheran Women in Mission out from their individual homes and local congregations to cities and countries far away. With money collected in mites, the women of the Lutheran Women Missionary League have been led out by Christ to every continent on earth sharing His redeeming love as they have heard the voice of Christ saying, You are my witnesses.

10.  Christ speaks to us too and leads us as His witnesses and He blesses us to be His witnesses.  Jesus opened His hands and blessed His disciples in today’s Gospel as He sent them witnessing His death and resurrection. Eventually, they would share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with countless people as day by day more were added to those who were saved. Even today, Jesus opens His nail-pierced hands in love to satisfy the desire of every living thing as He blesses us for His service in the world through our various callings in life. Receiving the Blessed Sacraments, we have been blessed with forgiveness, life, and salvation to share the truth of His all-atoning love as His witnesses in the world.

11.  Today, we celebrate how Christ blesses the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League to be Lutheran Women in Mission. Our church body, the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod and many others have been blessed through the hands of women who have shared the gifts that God has given for the extension of His Kingdom. As congregations have been founded, schools have been supported, outreach centers have been funded, and lives have been transformed as Lutheran Women in Mission have confessed the truth of the Gospel by bearing witness to Christ. By His amazing and extravagant grace, human hands bring divine grace to others. As a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, a royal diadem in the hand of [our] God, as Isaiah the prophet reminded us earlier, the witness of God’s people brings hope to the nations as we are His witnesses. It begins in worship as Christ comes to us to speak to us, lead us out, and bless us, just as He did His disciples in today’s Gospel. It continues in worship as Christ speaks through us, leads through us, and blesses others through us. And it will culminate in endless worship as we look to the Day of His return when we who have been spoken to by Christ and who have been led out by Him are blessed to be raised from the dead and in our flesh to live in the joy of being His people forever. You are my witnesses, Christ our Lord says. Confessing the truth in love and serving the Lord with gladness, we rejoice that Christ speaks to us, leads us out and blesses us as He graciously entrusts us with the Gospel in our ears, eyes, hands, and mouths saying, You are my witnesses. Amen.

“Find Your Strength in the Gospel” Habakkuk 1.1-4; 2.1-4 Series C, Oct. 6th ’13 sermon

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 for us today comes from the Old Testament book of Habakkuk 1 & 2 and it’s entitled, “Find Your Strength in the Gospel.”  Habakkuk, a contemporary of the Prophet Jeremiah, was also a prophet to the kingdom of Judah during the reign of one of the last kings prior to the Babylonian exile. His prophecy begins with a conversation between himself and the Lord.  In this dialogue Habakkuk expresses two complaints. His first is revealed in the first part of the text (1:1–3). Habakkuk wants to know why evil seems to go unpunished in Judah. The Lord’s response is that he will certainly bring his judgment on Judah by enabling the Babylonians to conquer them. His second complaint is this: “Why are you silent while the wicked [the Babylonians] swallow up those more righteous than themselves [the Israelites]?” The Lord’s response is revealed in the second part of the text (2:2–4).  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.       When our favorite team is struggling, it’s hard to watch. One thing makes it even tougher: bad officiating. Put those two together, and there’s outrage. Either the officials make the wrong call, or they make no call at all, and you’ll hear something like “It’s bad enough we play lousy! Now the ref won’t give us a break!” They say the bad calls always eventually even out, but it gets worse before it gets better.  Sometimes, Christians feel that way about the calls God makes or doesn’t make when things are bad. Either God’s apparent inactivity or the course of action God does seem to choose leaves us feeling like victims of injustice. Maybe God will get it right in the end, but it gets worse before it gets better!

3.       In the 2002 film The Count of Monte Cristo, the hero, Edmond (played by Jim Caviezel), has been unjustly imprisoned in the dark Chateau d’If (pronounced deef). He enters his cell for the first time escorted by the prison warden, Dorleac. There, Edmond sees an inscription on the cell wall: “God will give me justice.”  The warden scoffs. People here often try to keep their spirits up with graffiti, sometimes by drawing calendars. But eventually they lose hope, and all he’s left with is an unsightly wall. So the warden has developed a new way to help prisoners mark time: a beating every year on the anniversary of their imprisonments. Oh, but he does also like to offer something special on the very first day of a man’s sentence. Yes, Edmond, a beating you’ll remember your entire stay!  Why Edmond, an innocent man? Why now? Where is God? As he’s being lifted off the floor by the chains on his wrists, readied for his “something special,” Edmond speaks in faith, “God is everywhere; he sees everything.”  The warden’s response is cold and blasphemous. He offers a bargain. Edmond is to ask God for help, and “I’ll stop the moment he shows up.”

4.       Edmond is right. God does see everything, and he will help. There will be a day when every Christian fully and forever experiences God’s perfect solution to all our troubles. But so often, as with Edmond, God seems absent and silent for a time, just when his people need him most. It seems to get worse before it gets better.

5.       That’s why one of the modern “Christian myths” that ought to be silenced says that when you trust Jesus Christ, you get rid of all your problems. You don’t.  It’s true that your basic spiritual problem—your relationship with God—has been solved, but with that solution comes a whole new set of problems that you didn’t face when you were an unbeliever, like: “Why do good people suffer and evil people prosper?” or “Why isn’t God answering my prayer?” or “When I’m doing my best for the Lord, why do I experience the worst from others?”  Christians who claim to be without problems are either not telling the truth or not growing and experiencing real life. Maybe they’re just not thinking at all. They’re living in a religious dream world that has blocked out reality and stifled honest feelings. Like Job’s uncomfortable comforters, they mistake shallow optimism for the peace of God and “the good life” for the blessing of God. You never hear them ask what David and Jesus asked, “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” (Ps. 22:1; Matt. 27:46).  Habakkuk wasn’t that kind of a believer. As he looked at the land of Judah, and then watched the international scene, he found himself struggling with some serious problems. But he did the right thing: he took his problems to the Lord.

6.       We do well to bring our questions directly to the Lord as the prophet Habakkuk did.  Habakkuk had more than a question; he had a lament, a complaint.  Habakkuk 1:1-4 says, “1The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.  2O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?  3Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.”  The Babylonians were threatening to swallow up Judah, a people more righ­teous than themselves (1:13). That seemed to contradict what God is—himself righteous.

7.       We may question how God is running things.  He seems to do little to stop violence in our own day: terrorists and weapons of mass destruction, violence of tornadoes and earthquakes and fires, violence of plane crashes and train wrecks and auto accidents.  People less righteous than ourselves get ahead at the office or in the classroom, while we’re passed over or laid off.  We wait patiently, do our “Christian thing,” and we don’t see any rewards coming our way. “Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence” (Ps 73:13). 

8.       We may more than question; we may get downright mad at God!  But Habakkuk doesn’t talk about God, murmuring against him.  Maybe we do that.  Muttering our prayers—or giving them up altogether—because we’re convinced they do no good.  “Taking it out on him” by staying away from God’s house (as if he needed us!).  Maybe even cursing God’s name right out loud.  But, Habakkuk brings his questions directly to the Lord (1:2a), and he will soon see that he finds his strength in the Gospel and promises of God.  This is wise, for what God would answer might surprise us.  God doesn’t reveal everything about his plans.  But he does reveal in his Word that we’re no more deserving of his help than those about whom we complain.

9.   The injustice, conflict, and wickedness Habakkuk observed (1:3–4) was also happening not just in Babylon, but it was happening in Judah.  Our “Christian thing,” our faithful labors at school and office, are also tainted by sin. And that’s just our best. Our worst—it’s Judah and Babylon all over.  Oh.  Rather than complaining against God when we don’t understand why things seem to be going badly, we’re well-advised to bring our questions directly to him.  After all, he’s the one who can help us.  And we can find our strength, as Habakkuk did, in the Gospel and promises of God.

10.   As the psalmist would lift up his eyes to the hills to see his help coming from the Lord (Ps 121:1–2), so Habakkuk would station himself on the watchtower, looking eagerly for the Lord’s help (2:1).  Habakkuk 2:1-4 says, “1I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. 2And the LORD answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 3For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. 4“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.” 

11.   Though Habakkuk would have to await God’s appointed time, the help would come (2:2–3).  Captivity at the hands of the Babylonians would prove a loving necessity—a necessary chastening to preserve a remnant in faith.  But God would eventually punish Babylon and, more important, return Judah to its homeland.  That would finally lead to the revealing of God’s ultimate purpose for all this: the whole world’s Messiah, for whose coming the Lord would preserve Judah.  It would just take a while—God’s good while.

12.   Like Habakkuk, we can also look expectantly to God for help, for he will come to us.  We can find our strength in the Gospel of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.  One day God will put a stop to the violence around us.  One day God will vindicate his people for their faithfulness to Him and His Son Jesus Christ.  Of all this we can be certain, for our help has already come in the name of the Lord, the Messiah who surely did come.  It may just take a while—God’s good while.

13.   See, when we don’t understand why God is doing things the way he’s doing them, we’re always welcome to go directly to him. He’s already answered us by sending Jesus—and while God in his perfect time is preparing to make all things right, he enables us to wait patiently, For he is the righteous one in whom we live by faith.  We really have nothing to complain about, for we ourselves aren’t righteous (2:4a).  Our works are no better than Judah’s—or that of the Babylonians.  We’re not righteous by anything we do.  But by the declaration of the righteous God, we are righteous indeed (2:4b).  “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).  That didn’t seem right, fair; that seemed to contradict everything God is, punishing for us the one more righteous than ourselves.  But the result is that in Jesus we are righteous.  God speaks this declaration of righ­teousness on us again and again—in Baptism, absolution, the preaching of the Gospel, the Lord’s Supper. 

14.   And now, by faith that this righteousness has been given to us in Christ Jesus, we do live. Forever in heaven, certainly!—at “an appointed time . . . it will certainly come and will not delay” (2:3).  But also in this life, despite the seeming delays and contradictions.  It is also most certainly true as Luther writes: “He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil. All this he does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me.”  And, yes, yes, it shall be so as we pray: “Deliver us from evil.”  With this certainty, from God’s own Word, his own direct answer to our questions, our complaints, we can live in patient faith.

15.   And one day, we will certainly be with those of whom we speak these Sundays in our Gradual: “These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.”  We find our strength in the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.