“Look Out, Look In, Look Up!” Philippians 3.17–4.1, Lent 2C, Feb. ’16

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.  Since Lent is a time of self-examination and personal preparation as we remember our Savior’s passion, with God’s help it’s a good time to take personal inventory and stock of oneself.  Today in the Epistle from Philippians Paul pointed to the “enemies of the cross of Christ,” as he urged the believers to remain steadfast in the face of the world’s hatred. We as Christians should remember our citizenship in Christ’s eternal kingdom of heaven.  Today St. Paul speaks to us from Philippians 3:17-4:1. He tells us to: look out for the world (vv. 18, 19), look into the Word (vv. 17, 20), and finally to look up to the Lord (vv. 21; 4:1).  The message from God’s Word today is entitled, “Look Out, Look In, Look Up!”  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. The preschool teachers instructed their students to fold their hands and bow their heads when they went into the church sanctuary. Such pious posture was fitting for the house of God. On one occasion, a young pietist ran into the end of a pew and fell down, skinning his elbows. The teacher and the principal took him outside to see if he needed medical attention. As the teacher held him, she asked what happened. Between sniffles the boy answered, “I was so busy being reverent, I forgot where I was headed.”
3. Here in Philippians St. Paul holds out before us our upward calling, his example, and the promise of our transformation in the resurrection. In contrast, we often focus on earthly comforts, worldly examples of success, and maintaining a youthful appearance for this life. But, while doing this, we starve our souls and forget to look out for the world, look into God’s Word, and look to where we are headed. For our citizenship is in heaven!  Just like that little boy we can get distracted from where we are headed. Our life is in Christ, who rules over all things in heaven and earth.
4. As foreigners in this world, we should never feel as though we are completely at home on this earth. We live here for now, but we don’t belong here. Our home is with our Father in his heavenly kingdom. In fact, as foreigners in this world, we should view the ways of this world as also foreign to us. This is what Paul wanted the congregation at Philippi to know as he wrote to them the words of our Epistle.
5. We are called to imitate Paul, an example of heavenly citizenship.  In Philippians 3:17 St. Paul says, “17Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.”  Not Paul who’d been a Pharisee, a legalist—zealous in behavior, but captive to the law of sin (Rom 7:23).  But Paul the new man, delivered and forgiven by Christ.  This Paul had abandoned what lay behind: the “worldly way” of trying to earn God’s favor as well as the way of gratifying one’s basest appetites (3:13).  This Paul was straining forward to the upward call of God—living each day as a momentary investment in his and others’ eternity (3:14).
6. Unfortunately, even heaven’s citizens are tempted to worldliness.  This is why we are to look out for the temptations of the world that can lead us into sin.  Paul says in Philippians 3:18-19, “18For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things.”  Their mind can become set on earthly things.  Their god is their belly; their glory is in their shame.  They can become secure in their sins.  Thus some citizens of heaven fall away.  They come to walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.  Their end will be destruction, body and soul, in hell.

7.                        We grieve with Paul for the lowness of many people in our time. Their end is destruction.  Our culture defines a “glorious body” by good looks, exercise, diet, shampoo, deodorant, cosmetics, clothing, medication. Our culture teaches people to boast without any sense of wonder, “It’s my body.”  Madness, unreal! Jesus tells us, “You can’t make one hair black or white”—though our culture defies that too, or pretends it can. It claims there is no God, but enslaves people to the gods of pleasurable desire—foods, alcohol, hallucinating drugs, sex without restraint.  Their “end is destruction.” They live under a tyrannical illusion. Their minds know nothing of God and “gift.” They explain “body” by animal “evolution,” but know nothing of the “person-self” that controls the body. “My life starts with me,” is the empty assumption, as though I am the only god there is. “It’s end is destruction,” yes—of personal self, body, family, society, everything.

8.  But, God has made us heavenly citizens who wait anxiously for our Savior’s return.  Philippians 3:20-4:1 says, “20 Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.  1Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.”  We have been made citizens of heaven!  Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, opened heaven to us by his life, death, resurrection, and ascension.  By grace, God has made us citizens of that heaven through Holy Baptism.

9   As heaven’s citizens, we anxiously await our Savior’s return, we look up to our citizenship in heaven.  We occupy our minds with heavenly thoughts through worship, personal devotions, Bible study, and prayer.  We eat heavenly food in the Lord’s Supper, where we receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life.  We walk according to those examples of citizens of Christ’s kingdom.  We stand firm to the end, anxiously awaiting the transformation of our bodies to be like his glorious body.

10. As heavenly citizens, we endure our time on earth and long for the day when our heavenly Father will take us home.  We look out for the world that seeks to call us away from our citizenship in heaven (vv. 18, 19), we look into the Word (vv. 17, 20), and finally to look up to the Lord (vv. 21; 4:1).   As foreigners who live for news and mail and word from the country we love, we count down the days to set foot in the land that will always be home.  Amen.

“Remember the Lord Who Provides” Deuteronomy 26.1–11, Lent 1C, Feb. ’16

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 1^st Sunday in Lent is taken from Deuteronomy 26:1-11, it’s entitled, “Remember the Lord Who Provides,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Come with me to the world’s most oppressive prison. Just ask the inmates, they will tell you. They are overworked and underfed. Their walls are bare and bunks are hard. No prison is so populated, no prison so oppressive, and, what’s more, no prison is so permanent. Most inmates never leave. They never escape. They never get released. They serve a life sentence in this overcrowded, under-provisioned facility. The name of the prison? You’ll see it over the entrance. Over the gate are four cast-iron letters that spell out its name: W-A-N-T, the prison of want. You’ve seen her prisoners. They are “in want.” They want something. They want something bigger. Nicer. Faster. Thinner. They want. They don’t want much, mind you. They want just one thing. One new job. One new car. One new house. One new spouse. They don’t want much. They want just one. And when they have “one,” they will be happy. And they are right—they will be happy. When they have “one,” they will leave the prison. But then it happens. The new-car smell passes. The new job gets old. The neighbors buy a larger television set. The new spouse has bad habits. The sizzle fizzles, and before you know it, another ex-con breaks parole and returns to jail. Are you in prison? You are if you feel better when you have more and worse when you have less. You are if joy is one delivery away, one transfer away, one award away, or one makeover away. If your happiness comes from something you deposit, drive, drink, or digest, then face it—you are in prison, the prison of want. . . . Are you hoping that a change in circumstances will bring a change in your attitude? If so, you are in prison. Learn this secret: What you have in Jesus your Savior is greater than what you don’t have in life.  In our text today from Deuteronomy 26 we are called to remember the Lord Who provides for us.
3. Here in Deuteronomy 26 God reminded the Israelites how he had faithfully provided for all their needs. They were also instructed to give the first portion of each harvest to God, and He would bless them in the land. God’s Word reminds us to honor Him by giving back a portion of what He has provided for us. When we are willing to give back, we show that we understand that God is the source of all that we have and that only in Him can we truly find contentment and joy. As we begin the season of Lent our Gradual for this season urges us to fix our eyes on Jesus, who focused on the joy set before him rather than the earthly joys around him. 
4. Our text from Deuteronomy 26 may seem out of place during Lent. Lent is a time we think of the dangers and perils to which we are exposed on our journey to the “promised land.” This text tells what the people of God are to do after they are safely settled in the Promised Land. But, even when we are safely in the promised land, we will still remember what it took to get us there—Jesus’ death and resurrection.  In fact, in our Gospel reading today Jesus reminds us that, “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” True contentment and happiness in life comes from God and God alone who provides for all of our needs of body and soul.  In fact, when the devil tempts into sin, he is always trying to show us what we lack and not to be content and happy with what God has given to us.
5. In Deuteronomy 26 we see that God had set apart Israel as a holy nation, and they responded.  They came from humble beginnings among the nations.  They were few in number, homeless, and oppressed.  It was only by God’s grace that they survived and became strong and numerous.  When the people of this nation were in misery, they cried to God for help.  The Egyptians mistreated them and made them suffer with hard labor. It wasn’t only physical pain, but also humiliation that made their lives miserable.  In their suffering they cried out to the God of their fathers.
6. When they cried to God for help, he brought them out and set them in their own land.  The Lord brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, and with miraculous signs and wonders.  He brought them into their own land flowing with milk and honey.  In response to this deliverance, they brought gifts to God and worshiped him.  They bowed and brought the firstfruits of the land before the Lord.  Their offerings worshiped God by serving those among them in need.
7. So too God sets apart us Christians apart as a holy nation, and we respond.  We are also of unremarkable origin among the nations of the world.  Paul notes, “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth” (1 Cor 1:26).  The same is true of Christians today and has been true throughout the history of Christianity.  All the more reason for us during this Lenten season to remember the God Who provides for us with all of our needs of both body and soul.
8. We are a people who cry to God when we need help.  Just as the devil tormented Jesus, so the devil torments us. As Luther notes in the Small Catechism, the devil attempts to lead us into “false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice” (explanation of the Fifth Petition).  On our own we cannot stand up to the devil’s schemes, so we cry to God for help.
9. The Lord’s outstretched arm, signs, and wonders set us apart from the sinful world as holy.  We are set apart as those possessing the very holiness of Jesus’ success against the devil in today’s Gospel.  We are set apart as holy by the forgiveness Jesus earned when he literally stretched out his arms on the cross to save us.  God’s mighty acts continue through his ministers: The Gospel proclaimed and carried out is powerful beyond any earthly might. Our Baptism sets us apart as holy, and the Holy Meal sustains us in Christ’s holiness.
10. In response to his deliverance, we bring him gifts and worship him.  We remember the God Who provides for us.  This is the holy purpose for which we have been set apart: we are God’s, and we live in service to him and to our neighbor.  Our lives of offerings—of all kinds—do serve God and our neighbor.
11. Though on our own we are anything but holy, our holy God has set us apart for himself, just as he did Old Testament Israel. Living as a holy nation, then, giving to God and our neighbor our lives of service, is simply being what in Christ we are.  Amen.

This Is It??? (1 Peter 1:3-5) Lenten Midweek 3, 2016

1.             In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  As we continue our sermon series on our “Life Together” as a body of believers in Christ Jesus our Lord we look to the words of the Apostle Peter in 1 Peter 1:3-5, which says, “³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, ⁵who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”  The message is entitled, “This is It???” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
   
   
2.             The time was coming when everyone would be reminded why he was the king! He was timeless, his followers were from all generations. This would be his greatest moment. The dancers were getting ready, the venue was set, tickets were sold, and the dates were confirmed. This would be it! The finale. A capstone to remind everyone why he was the king. It would be a performance of a lifetime. The concert was called the most important pop comeback in history and ironically followed the previous tour called the HIStory world tour. For Michael Jackson it would be his legacy. This Is It!
   
   
3.             What? That wasn’t it? It didn’t happen? You’re telling me that he died before HIStory could be retold and cemented? Yep, that’s what happened. The greatest performance ever ended up as a movie made up of rehearsals for the greatest performance ever. True, it was one of the highest grossing musical movies ever, but it wasn’t the legacy that Michael Jackson was looking to have. It wasn’t the perfect ending to an imperfect career! Some were angry when he died back in June of 2009. How could this happen to our idol? Some were lost in a flood of emotion: “This man meant so much to me, he touched    my life.” Some just were apathetic to the whole situation, “Go figure, another celebrity dying before his time...” But all in all he was perishable, he was defiled by the controversies in his life and his legacy will fade. This is it???
   
   
4.             Is that our story too? If you were to wrap your life up in one story, what would it be? What would be the one big story that makes sense of all the other little stories? Our lives are filled with countless little stories. We go to work in the morning and come home at night.  Each year seems to get us home a bit later. Each promotion comes with more work, a salary is great, but it also means you don’t get overtime anymore. Everyone is looking to put their little stories into the context of the big story of their lives. Some of us go big and try out for “American Idol,” others go a little smaller and just hope that we can leave a little something to our kids. Some of us just want enough stashed away so that we can go see the world and put some pictures on the Web so people can see what we’ve done. Others of us go on mission trips to do some good in the world. We all are searching for that thing that gives life meaning. We hope it will be imperishable, undefiled, and unfading for all time. This is it?
   
   
5.             Two thieves were crucified with Jesus. Each thief had his own story, just as each of us has our own stories. Your stories are not my stories. Your stories are not your neighbor’s stories. Your stories are not the stories of your spouse or the stories of your children. Each of us has our own stories and yet our individual stories overlap. That was certainly true of the thieves. The overlap in their stories was their lives of crime, their condemnation, and their execution. But in the end, each thief was defined in different ways.  Luke 23:39 says, “One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: ‘Aren’t you the Christ?’ Save yourself and us!’” That thief’s defining story is cynicism, death, and eternal death. But the other thief’s story reads this way in Luke 23:40-43, “The other criminal rebuked him. ‘Don’t you fear God,’ he said, ‘since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember when you come into your kingdom.’ Jesus answered him, ‘I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.’”
   
   
6.             What’s this thief’s story? It’s a simple one: Confession of sin, forgiveness from Jesus, and the promise of paradise. This is it, not with a question mark but with an exclamation point. This is it! This is the big story that brings all our little stories together. This is the defining story that helps us understand who we are and where we’re going. St. Peter had this story in mind when he wrote to Christians scattered in Asia Minor, what we know today as Turkey. In his first letter to these Christians, Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:3-5, “Praise be 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, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.”  Their “life together” was defined by that incredible story. So is ours. Because of the loving acts of God, you and I have a resurrected Savior who gives us hope and a heavenly inheritance. “Today you will be with me in paradise.”
   
   
7.             There’s insight in this text for living as Christians today. In the past America was an overtly Christian nation. Going to church was a social norm. Most people, whether they were churchgoers or not, knew their Bible stories. Today all kinds of stories are being told in America. Today the Christian message is no longer the privileged story. Our situation is, in some ways, similar to the situation of the Christians to whom Peter was writing. They weren’t people of privilege. They’d never been the “party in power” and had no hopes of becoming so. So how should we live? The same way they did. Amid all the stories swirling in our fractured and fragmented society, Peter encourages us to live together in the story that defines us. He would have us long to be immersed in the story of God’s mercy, his acts of loving kindness to you. “In his great mercy he has given us a new birth.” Our story is about the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Wow, doesn’t that give us hope! “…a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” Our story is about living with a purpose, a goal, “to an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you.” And what can keep you in this greatest story of all? “…through faith [you] are shielded by God’s power that is ready to be revealed in the last time.” Faith is like a fortress. As the walls of a fortress keep people safe within, so the teachings of Jesus Christ in God’s Word keep us safe. That God sent him to die for our sins, that his resurrection gives us hope, that we have a heavenly future… Surrounding ourselves with these teachings of faith is the way the Spirit of God keeps us safe for eternity.
   
   
8.             You, I, and the world are in the same position as those thieves on the cross. Michael Jackson too. Where is my imperishable, undefiled and unfading life? Should I close this sermon by quoting lyrics from “This Is It?” We know that is not where it’s at. Let me close with the lyrics that have brought us our “Life Together.”  The third verse to the hymn, “Jesus, Refuge of the Weary,” says, “Jesus, may our hearts be burning with more fervent love for You; May our eyes be ever turning to behold Your cross anew Till in glory, parted never from the blessed Savior’s side, Graven in our hearts forever, dwell the cross, the Crucified.” (Lutheran Service Book, 423, v. 3) This is truly it! Amen.

“I’m Being True to Myself!” (1 Peter 1:22-25) Lenten Midweek 2, 2016

1.       In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this evening as we continue our sermon series on our “Life Together” as a body of believers in Christ is taken from 1 Peter 1:22-25 and is entitled, “I’m Being True to Myself!”  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.       You know how it goes.  We’ve done it countless times. At the airport security checkpoint we’re required to show our identification. When you and I use a credit card, we are asked to show our ID.  We need to show our identification now to even buy cough medicine. Identification is immensely important nowadays. Think about your identity.  It’s important isn’t it?! Your identity distinguishes you from the other 7 billion people on this earth. Your identity distinguishes who you are.  It gives you a purpose and direction for your life! So the question to consider tonight is “Who are you?” Seriously, who are you! [Pause for 10-15 seconds and let people stir with that question]. People like to say, “I’m being true to myself!” How can you be true to yourself if you don’t know your true identity? How can you be true to God if you’re not sure about your identity? When Jesus was on the cross, he said in Luke 23:34, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” Oh, the ones who crucified Jesus were being true to themselves. Judas the betrayer was being true to himself. But they crucified the Son of God! It’s a soul-searching question: Who are you?
3.       Maybe you say that you know who you are: you’re a Christian! That’s what we expect, sitting here in church doing Christian things. But how many of you are still looking for a purpose for your life? You may be bold enough to say you attend worship and Bible class on a regular basis.  But how many of you are still searching for your true place in life? Those of you who are older grew up in times of less media. Maybe you got a newspaper, had a radio, and in time a TV, only one TV to be sure. Today it’s different. We’re constantly bombarded from every direction. All the media messages, the commercials, the self-help programs, the life-style magazines… They all undermine a sure sense of identity. How many of you have your own Facebook page? Is that who you really are? Talk about identity crisis! We can literally create our identity, projecting what we want people to perceive of us! How about your values and morality? Even the “best” Christians pick and choose parts of the Bible they would like to live by. And then there’s identity theft. What a terrifying experience! People can actually steal someone’s identity—social security number, banking information, personal information, and so on. Talk about an identity crisis!
4.       Maybe a good way to describe our identities might be to think of a patchwork quilt. A patchwork quilt is made of a bunch of very different, brightly colored patches, all a little different. The patches of our lives come through a variety of ways. Through relationships, occupations, and past times we make our own realities like assembling a patchwork quilt. We take a little from our parents, a little from our experiences, a little from work, a little from the media, a little from the Bible, a little here and there. “I’m being true to myself!” Our lives resemble that patchwork quilt, crafted from whatever we consider is best for us. “Father, forgive us for we know not what we do.” We don’t know who we are and we’ve lost sight of our true identity. We’ve let the ways of the world influence who we are, what we believe, and how we behave.
5.       I ask you again to consider the question, “Who are you?” But this time let’s not look at ourselves from our own perspective. Instead, consider the question from God’s perspective. “How does God see you?” To answer that question we need not look any further than God’s Word. Our true identity is found in only one place, in only one man, Jesus. 1 Peter 1:23 says, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding Word of God.”  “You have been born again.” That makes us think of baptism. Because you’re baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus your identity is changed and you’re given a new identity. Your identity as a condemned sinner is changed to an identity of forgiveness from Jesus Christ. Your identity of trusting no one but yourself is changed into an identity of trusting our heavenly Father who has given us an eternal salvation.
6.       We talked about trust last week. Your identity as a patchwork of all the influences upon your life is changed to one fact: Your life is bound to Jesus Christ. That’s true for you, me, and for us all. Our “Life Together” is about our identity as children of God! We don’t have to pay for this identity and can’t earn it through hard work. God sees you and me through His Son Jesus. By the way, this new you isn’t like that driver’s license picture you hate so much. He sees you perfectly. Of ourselves we’re unsure who we are. God gives us identity in his Son Jesus. That’s our “Life Together.”
7.       Our identity in Christ is constantly threatened. As we said, our everyday lives are bombarded with messages about who the world wants us to be. When you think about it, so much around us is changing. Think about your interests, do you change hobbies often? How about the arrangement of furniture in your house? How about your relationships? Consider movie or television stars.  They’re constantly getting married and divorced and remarried and divorced. It seems like the only constant in this world is change. Do you let the changes of life change who you are? Do you let the world’s purposes take you away from your true purpose? Peter quotes the prophet Isaiah from Isaiah 40:6 & 8 that says, “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.” Like grass, human life is temporary and fleeting, much like our personalities and desires.
8.       Peter tells us that 2 things are constant. Change, yes, and something else that’s constant for all eternity—God’s Word. 1 Peter 1:25 says, “This is the word that was preached to you.”  God’s Word never changes, but engages our changing lives so that we can live and grow into the identity to which we’ve been given in baptism. Our lives are marked with constant change, but God’s reality is marked by His Word which stands forever. You’ve been baptized into that reality. Week by week the preached Word grows and strengthens your identity. Week by week the preached Word engages our lives to keep us true to who we are in Christ. Your identity, the way in which God sees you as His perfect child, doesn’t change, just as God’s Word doesn’t change. The Father heard the Son’s words—“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”—and he’s forgiven you and through his Word continues to forgive you. As God considers you, He doesn’t see a poorly crafted patchwork quilt. Instead, he’s painted the portrait of your reality—a portrait of the cross and resurrection of Christ. That’s our identity, proclaimed by God’s Word that will stand forever. As you share in the death of Jesus through your baptism so you too will indeed share in His resurrection! “Father, restore us, for we cannot live apart from you!”
9.       In discovering your identity in Christ, God opens the door to learning about who you are, what you are called to be as His child, and to embrace the hope for your life in this world and the world to come. Now we say, “In God being true to His Word and His self, He has shown us who we are to be!” We can boldly proclaim, “We are to be true to Him” because the identity He’s given us is imperishable and everlasting. We’re His children, born again in baptism from the imperishable Word of God. We can be sure of who we are in Christ, because although all things around us wither and fade like grass, God’s Word stands forever. His promise spoken to you is forever, “I will be with you always” (Matthew 28:20). Your identity isn’t a patchwork quilt crafted by you or any other person. Instead, we’re God’s church, a community that comes together around His Word to be the body of Christ and a foreshadowing of what’s to come in the New Creation. Born again of the imperishable Word, this is our “Life Together.”  This is what God sees. This is our identity. God is being true to His Word and to you! Amen.

“Life’s Better in My Hands!” (1 Peter 2:20-25), Ash Wednesday, Lenten Midweek 2016

1.             Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message for this Ash Wednesday is from 1 Peter 2:20-25 and is entitled, “Life’s Better in My Hands!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.             A seminary student recalls his teenage years. “What a great age! You’re just beginning to figure out who you are, your hopes and dreams, and best of all, you are at that age when you’re confident that you know it all. Ah, those were the days! “When I was growing up in Iowa,” he reflects,” 14 was the year we received our driver’s permit. I can still remember the first time my father had me drive the family car. He took me to a rarely traveled, two-lane county highway. Everything was going well until we came upon a narrow bridge. Comfortably cruising along at nearly 60 miles per hour, I couldn’t understand why my dad began getting fidgety. I’d never seen him squirm like that.  Finally I asked, ‘What’s wrong?’ He fired back, ‘Are you going to move over?’ ‘Oh,’ I replied, ‘I didn’t realize.’ I didn’t realize I was about to shear off the whole right side of my parents’ car. But my father knew.” (deliver slowly) “I didn’t realize…But my father knew.” Can you identify with his experience? (pause)

3.             Thank you for coming to church. Ash Wednesday calls us together to hear again the stories of Lent, the stories of Jesus’ passion for you and for me. I’m sure that your life is busy and you don’t have the time to hear these stories in a mindless way. You don’t want to hear the stories in a routine, in-one-ear and out-the-other sort of way. You’ve come here for your spiritual growth. We want the word of the cross to go in both ears, to get into our heads and go down into our hearts. We want to leave worship with a new appreciation that, as the student said, “I didn’t realize…But my father knew.” As Jesus himself said on the cross, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” We want to leave worship knowing that life is best lived when we live it totally in the Father’s hands.

4.             We all know that life isn’t always better in the hands of other people. For example, is your life better when you leave it in the hands of the government? Surveys tell us again and again that we don’t trust the government to take care of us. Another example, is your life better when you leave it in the hands of Wall Street? A third example, is life better when we put ourselves in the hands of science and technology? Sure, we’ve been greatly blessed by science. But, to totally entrust our lives to it? If you have a car that you’ve had to take to the mechanic over and over again, you know that technology isn’t a fail-safe way to accelerate toward happiness. And then, my last example, the institutional church. A recent study shows that people between the ages of 16 and 29 believe the institutional church is judgmental, hypocritical old-fashioned, and out of touch with reality. And if you’re over 29, you can identify with some of those criticisms. We all know that life isn’t always better in the hands of other people.

5.             So what’s left? More and more people are saying, “Life’s better in my hands.” The seminary student was confident that he knew it all. He admits, “I didn’t realize that I was about to shear off the whole right side of my parents’ car.” Isn’t that an accurate picture of how many of us are living our lives? It certainly is true for me. People say we shouldn’t send a text message on our cell phones while we drive, we should think twice before we speak, we should stay true to our spouse, we should give quality time to our families, we should save some money for a rainy day, we should… Well, you get the idea. Review your own life. We’re living in a society of self-willed people and you and I often go our own stubborn ways as well. Plain old common sense makes us doubt that “Life’s better in my hands.”

6.             What’s left? Only the cross of Christ. From the cross we hear him say, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Shouldn’t Ash Wednesday repentance drive us to confess that life is better when we entrust it to our Heavenly Father? Let me say that again because it’s so important. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” Ash Wednesday repentance drives us to say, “Life is NOT better in my hands. Life can only be better when I entrust my whole being 24/7/365 into the hands of the heavenly Father.”

7.             That’s what the Apostle Peter is talking about in 1 Peter 2:20-25. Peter wrote to Christian slaves in Asia            Minor. Many of them were leading miserable lives. Peter urges them not to strike out against their masters. He tells them not to take life into their own hands. Instead Peter points them to the example of Christ our Savior.  1 Peter 2:21 & 23 says, “Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps… He entrusted himself to him who judges justly.”  Peter says, life is better when we entrust ourselves to our heavenly Father. But there’s something even more important here. As much as Jesus is our model for trusting our lives to God, the reason we’re in church is because Jesus is our Savior from sin. He’s forgiven you and me for taking life into our own hands. 1 Peter 2:24-25 says, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.”  The forgiveness he gives you and me is such a change from the world around us and the world to come, that we’re left to do one thing. Pray to the Spirit of God to lead us to put our lives into the hand of our Heavenly Father.

8.             So this Ash Wednesday we repent for the times we’ve thought, “Life is better in my hands.” Our Father forgives. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.” Then God’s Word adds, “so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness.” True repentance is confessing our sin and receiving God’s forgiveness for Jesus’ sake. Then…and here’s something we too easily forget…in thanksgiving we’ll pray God’s Spirit to help us live holier lives.

9.             How? One way is to keep doing what you’ve done today, coming together around the cross of Jesus. I’m not talking about the institutional church now, whose faults are too well known. I’m talking about the Body of Christ, about you and me coming together to ponder the stories of our salvation. The stories heard so many times.  The story about Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem.  The story of Jesus remembering God’s deliverance of ancient Israel by eating the Passover.  The story of Gethsemane.  The story of the injustices wrought by the religious establishment and the government.  The story of his death, and His glorious resurrection three days later. Oh, we can’t let these stories go in-one-ear and out-the-other! These are the stories that keep going into both ears, get into our minds and sink into our hearts. The way this happens is by coming together again and again as brothers and sisters in the Body of Christ. Our life together in this church is different than any other association you have in your life. Life together here is a way the Holy Spirit keeps putting our lives in the hand of the heavenly Father.  “I love to tell the story, for those who know it best, keep hungering and thirsting to hear it like the rest.”

10.             Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who died at the hand of the Nazis, wrote in his book, Life Together, “Beware of being alone. Into the community you were called, the call was not meant for you alone; in the community of the called you bear your cross, you struggle, you pray. If you scorn the fellowship of brothers and sisters, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you.”  Life is better in the Father’s hands. Amen.

“Focus on Jesus” Hebrews 3.1-6 Transfiguration, series C, ‘16

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 this Transfiguration Sunday is taken from Hebrews 3:1-6 and is entitled, “Focus on Jesus,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. In the 1924 Olympics Eric Liddell of Scotland refused to run in Olympic trials when the trial came on Sunday. This committed Christian, the favorite in the race, sacrificed his opportunity to win a medal. He did participate in other events when trials weren’t on Sunday and eventually won the gold medal. Returning home to Britain, he found himself a national hero, admired for winning the medal and for maintaining his convictions.  Less than a year later, Liddell went to China as a missionary. He committed himself to the demanding task of rural evangelism, traveling many miles in rugged conditions on foot or by bike.  When the Japanese invaded China during World War II, they captured Liddell and sent him to a prison camp in August 1943. One of 1,800 prisoners packed into a tiny facility, he met the physical and spiritual needs of the camp. He organized athletic meets, taught hymns, and led Bible studies. On February 21, 1945, just a month before liberation, Liddell died of a brain tumor.
3. You can see that Liddell organized his life around his commitment to serve Christ. He could’ve remained in Britain and enjoyed praise as a national hero. He could’ve enjoyed the relatively peaceful task of teaching in a Chinese college. He could’ve left China before Japan invaded. Each time he followed the priority he had set as a young man. He chose to follow the will of God.  He chose to focus on Jesus!
4. The author of Hebrews penned this chapter to warn professing believers who didn’t have their priorities straight.  He wanted Christians of his day as well as us Christians living today to keep our focus on Jesus.  Hebrews 3:1-6 says, “1Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 4(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”
5. As I said before the writer of Hebrews is addressing people who were considering things that would affect their eternal salvation. They were comparing the Gospel message of salvation through faith in Jesus with a message of Law and works-righteousness, a misunderstanding of the Law given at Mount Sinai by Moses. The writer of Hebrews is telling his hearers to focus on Jesus as the way of salvation, because the Law of Moses can never save.  We face the same challenge in our lives. We, too, are tempted to seek salvation in the Law, represented by Moses, but, as the author of Hebrews encourages us, if you’re thinking about Moses, focus instead on Jesus. 
6. Focus on Jesus as someone who is faithful.   The author of Hebrews was addressing people who felt abandoned.  The Book of Hebrews is written to Jews, Hebrews, who had become believers in Christ—people now being ousted from their own nation, their synagogues, as traitors.  People feel abandoned when they sense that someone they’ve trusted has been unfaithful to them. Unbelieving Jews thought these new Christians were being unfaithful to their heritage. As a result, Jewish Christians were now being abandoned by their own people. In turn, this made these Christians wonder if God was abandoning them, being unfaithful to them.  When I feel others are being unfaithful to me, I’m tempted to become unfaithful to the one I think has abandoned me. This was the temptation facing those early Jewish Christians—to give up on Christ as Savior and rejoin their persecutors in trying to be saved by keeping the Law of Moses.
7. We know what it’s like to feel abandoned in our Christian life as well.   Friends—even Christian friends—sometimes let us down. We suffer disappointments. We, too, can begin to wonder if God has been unfaithful to us, and that may make us think we must do something more to earn his love.
8. Therefore, focus on Jesus.  Yes, Moses was faithful in all God gave him to do—speak his Word, give the Commandments.   But Jesus was faithful unto death. He was the “high priest” who offered himself as sacrifice. He didn’t abandon us even to save his life. 
9. Focus on Jesus for your greater glory.  Moses offered a kind of glory.   He brought Israel out of slavery, gathered them as a great people, delivered God’s covenant that set them apart from all other nations.   There was glory in being people of the old covenant, and the Hebrew people took pride in this Law that set them apart.  But, pride in the Law became the proud delusion that they could keep the Law, that they were better than all other people because of their obedience, and ultimately that God owed them their special glory. 
10. Do we know that delusion too?  Are we proud of our obedience to God? That’s glorying in Moses.  When we feel God’s let us down, do we think the answer is to try harder to please him?  That’s glorying in Moses, the Law too—but it will only lead to despair. 
11. Focus on Jesus! He gives a greater glory.  On the Mount of Transfiguration, he showed the disciples his glory (Lk 9:28–29).  But the greater glory was yet to come when he humbled himself on the cross (Lk 9:30–31). By so lowering himself, he showed his true greatness: love beyond all telling.  The glory of keeping (and failing to keep!) the Law ourselves can’t compare with the glory Jesus’ cross gives us. This is why we “listen to” Christ “alone”—not Moses—for glory (Lk 9:35-36a). 
12. Focus on Jesus to enter God’s house (vv 5–6).   Moses can’t get us into God’s house in heaven.  It’s not his house; he’s only a servant.  Moses offers no way to heaven at all. Under the Law of Moses, we’re on our own to earn our way, and that’s hopeless. In Deuteronomy 34:4 we see that Moses couldn’t even enter the Promised Land himself on his own merits. 
13. But focus on Jesus! We do have confidence and the sure hope of heaven in him, the Son (v 6).  It is his house. He’s the Son.   And we are his house, his family, by faith—that is, by the confidence, the hope, that he has done all the Law of Moses demanded of us and has taken the punishment for our failures on the cross. Therefore, we get to live in the family home, the house he’s built for us in heaven.
14. There are many things that our world would tell us to focus on.  In fact, today many will be focusing on the Super Bowl and who will win it, the Denver Broncos or the Carolina Panthers. But there is One in our lives who will always be faithful. On this day, we see Jesus revealing his glory. And he is the One, the only One, who enables us to share the home we long for in heaven. Focus on Jesus!  Amen.

“The Comfort of Authority” Luke 4.31–44, Epiphany 4C, Jan. ‘16

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 this 4^th Sunday after Epiphany is taken from Luke 4:31-44 and it’s entitled, “The Comfort of Authority,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. Following a wedding service, the pastor was invited to the couple’s reception. There were family members from many different backgrounds at the reception. The pastor was sitting at a table when one distinguished looking gentleman approached him and introduced himself as “Uncle Harry.” He started talking to the pastor about his “spiritual journey.” He told the pastor about how he had been raised in The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. He went on to tell the pastor he had left the LCMS many years ago because of its teachings against lodge membership and some other things. He complained that the LCMS was too authoritarian. He told the pastor he had joined another church that didn’t make such claims to having authority, but he said that he hadn’t been to church in some months. When the pastor asked why, Uncle Harry explained that his wife had died a while ago. He said he was shocked by the sermon the pastor of his new church gave. He found out that this pastor didn’t actually believe in the resurrection of the dead.
3. Uncle Harry said he felt lost and insecure. The pastor explained to him the joy and security that come from having Jesus speak to us with authority. We don’t reject Jesus’ authority as being burdensome. Instead, we live in the joy and security that come from Jesus speaking to us with authority: “It is finished!” “This is my body, my blood, given for you.” “Because I live, you will live also.” “Lo, I am with you always.”  That’s the comfort of authority, that Jesus has the authority to forgive us our sins! 
4. In our Gospel lesson from today in Luke 4 we see that Jesus’ speaking with authority astonishes people.  The people in Jesus’ time were shocked, because he spoke with authority (vv 31–32).  The religious leaders in Jesus’ time would not have claimed to have authority on their own.  As their authority to speak, the scribes cited a mum­bo-jumbo of complicated, conflicting sources from the rabbis. What was really true? 
5. Also people today are astonished, even shocked, when Jesus speaks with authority.  There is a serious breakdown of authority in today’s world. We live in a time in which truth is a very personal thing. What is true for you may not be true for me. For instance, the turmoil of the 1960s was largely a clash over one particular issue. A man who’d grown up in the World War II generation had been taught that authority was to be respected. His own father, his drill sergeant, the President of the United States deserved his honor. Now, though, he was raising his children in a decade when young people were told authority figures should be challenged. Teachers, police officers, college administrators, anyone in authority was suspect. Rather than being honored, they were likely to face outright defiance and disrespect. And the conflict over differing views of authority boiled over, sometimes even at home. The World War II generation dad expected respect toward his authority too, and any challenge to that authority was sure to mean a fight.
6. Questioning of authority that became so pronounced in the 1960s has continued and increased in our present time. It’s even led many to reject the authority of God’s Word. You know what’s behind this—the devil and the world’s promise that sweeping away authority will give freedom. That’s a lie! Casting off authority really only leads to insecurity and uncertainty. Instead, Jesus comes to us in the midst of our world’s rejection of authority and proclaims Good News to us. It’s the Good News that he does have authority, and as we hear that Word of authority, we receive comfort.
7. People in our world are shocked when anyone claims to have authority.  An example of this today is the debate over homosexuality and gay marriage.  Many people today want to say that the Christian Church that opposes gay marriage is on the wrong side of history. Many don’t believe there is any final authority to which one can appeal.  This is ultimately reflected in people’s attitudes toward salvation. No one, they think, can claim with authority that he or she knows the way to salvation.  There are those that want to believe that all religions can lead to salvation.  This flies in the face of Christianity’s understanding of original sin, that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and are in need of a Savior.  Jesus says in John 14 that He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, that no one can come to the Father, except through Him.   
8. Obviously, then, Jesus’ claim to speak with absolute authority is offensive to many.  But Jesus’ speaking with authority is good news.  The reason people are shocked at claims of authority is that they don’t want it; they don’t see authority as something good.  It is presented as being oppressive and taking away freedom.  We see examples even in the Church. Some people become upset and will leave a church when it speaks God’s Word against what they want to do. It’s easy for people to see faithfulness to God’s Word as a burden.
9. But, this rejection of authority can cause people to become uncertain of their salvation. Is that Word of God true either?  Life without authority is often portrayed as a wonderful thing.  Examples are in the way our society presents those who reject authority. We see Jesse James and Bonnie and Clyde presented as heroes. Charlie Sheen holds himself up as a person to emulate.  But, there’s no mention of misery in the lives of those who live without Christ, no mention of broken marriages, broken families, mental instability, and addiction to drugs and alcohol, created by lives that are lived without authority. 
10. We desperately need authority in our lives.  When people see the reality of life without authority, they see their need for it.  An example of this is the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The New Orleans Superdome and large parts of the city were left with no authority. The people in these areas desperately pleaded for someone to come in and provide security. 
11. Jesus’ authority brings freedom and security.       The man possessed by an unclean spirit welcomed Jesus’ authority over evil (vv 33–36).   Peter’s mother-in-law was healed by Jesus’ authority to rebuke her fever (vv 38–39).   Above all, Jesus spoke with authority when he announced from the cross that “It”­­—the work of saving mankind—“is finished.’’ And Jesus’ authority over sin, death, and hell was confirmed when he rose from the dead. He gives us freedom from guilt and death. 
12. Jesus speaks this Good News with authority to us.   This Good News is the purpose of his coming.  Jesus says in Luke 4:43-44, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well; for I was sent for this purpose.” 44And he was preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”  As he preached in the synagogues, so he proclaims from our pulpits: we have eternal life.  Jesus has given authority on earth to forgive sins in the words of absolution, for “the one who hears you hears me” (Lk 10:16).  He says to His disciples before He ascends into heaven in Matthew 28, “All authority  in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”   Jesus speaks heaven to us in Communion: “shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”   His words of authority give peace and security.   We rejoice that Jesus has authority over evil.  When we recognize Jesus’ authority, we have the peace and security that come from knowing that what we believe is true and certain. 
13. Many people in our world today are like a child who rejects authority. Children need authority, for a lack of authority will leave them with feelings of insecurity and a lifetime of emotional scarring. A lack of authority has left many people in our world with nothing certain on which they can rely in their lives—especially about how they might face death. We don’t reject that authority of Jesus in our lives because we understand the comfort and certainty that it brings us.
14. The pulpit in Lutheran churches has traditionally been elevated. It reminds us that the Word of God that’s proclaimed there has authority. Jesus comes to us and preaches Good News to us, and he speaks that Good News with authority. He doesn’t tell us that our sins might be forgiven or that heaven might be ours. He tells us the Good News that our sins are forgiven and that death has been overcome for us.  What a comfort it is us to us that Jesus speaks with authority!  Amen.