“It’s All about Cleansing,” John 13.1–15, Maundy Thursday, Holy Week ‘14

1.             In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  When it comes to giving out gifts, we usually like to be on the receiving end. Our hearts delight to receive gifts at Christmas, on birthdays, and on anniversaries—or on no particular occasion at all.  But, God is the ultimate giver, and Jesus delivers God’s gifts. On this day, Maundy Thursday, Jesus washes his disciples’ feet, an act that points to a deeper cleansing, a cleansing that goes all the way to the heart. Tonight each of us can say with gladness, “It’s Jesus, Peter, and me; and it’s all about cleansing.” This is God’s gift.  Jesus gifts us with cleansing from all our sin!

2.              But, tonight, we see a different reality. Peter says to Jesus, in effect, “I don’t want your gift.” It was the Passover feast. The traditional foot washing was usually done by a servant, and when no servant was present, it was done by the humblest person in the group. But, not one of the Twelve rises to perform this humble task. Instead, Jesus does. Strangely, the disciples allow the master to wash their feet. Until Peter. We don’t know exactly what was in the mind of Peter. Maybe it was a mixture of reverence for Jesus and an element of self-will. This isn’t how Peter thought it should be. “You shall never wash my feet” (v 8).

3.              Do we say no to God’s gifts? Of course, when our sinful self is in control. We pray, “Thy will be done.” But a part of us wants to say, “My will, not thine, be done.” God promises strength and patience to help us when we’re sick or when we’re bearing some heavy burden. But that’s not what we want. We want immediate healing or deliverance. We feel at home with some of our sins—how we speak, what we say about others, our goals that center on material things, the lusts and sinful desires of our heart. We don’t like to hear God say, “Repent!” That’s not what we want. We may pray only now and then. Our devotional life may be on again, off again. We may keep ourselves away from worship and the Sacrament and think nothing of it. Something is more important right now. We don’t need God’s gifts of Word and Sacrament right now. We don’t need it that much—these are all polite ways of saying, “God, I don’t want your gifts.”

4.            Notice how Jesus answers Peter here in John 13, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (v 8). To say no to God’s gifts is death. It’s having no share with Jesus, no share in his sacrifice for our sins, no share in his forgiveness. Nothing, nothing, nothing at all with God. Only the death of being apart from God. 

5.            Jesus says, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me” (v 8). Those words of Jesus now go all the way to Peter’s heart. And here is Peter’s response: “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” (v 9). Peter, the impetuous one, needs to be reigned in. “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean” (v 10). I believe that Peter now sees his total need for cleansing in the deepest core of his being, cleansing not merely of dirt from the body but of the filth of sin from the heart and soul. The foot washing was a symbol, only a picture of Jesus’ ultimate humility, his ultimate gift. Jesus humbles himself to the death of the cross for Peter, for all the disciples, for us, to make us clean from all our sin.

6.            The Twelve are eating the Passover with Jesus. But, only Peter and Judas are mentioned by name. The contrast is great, between the disciple who is saved and the disciple who is lost. Judas, too, received the foot washing, but was cleansed only of the dust from his feet, not the soil on his soul. “The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him” (v 2). He was untouched by Jesus’ deeper cleansing. 

7.            Here’s the lesson for us. Don’t let the devil put into your heart a hardened attitude toward sin. How does the thinking go? My sin is everywhere. I’m only one of many. There’s no harm in it. It’s only now and then. Nobody’s getting hurt. Judas started out with a little dishonesty. He dipped into the treasury. But his sin grew and grew—into betrayal, despair, and finally suicide. The thoughts, desires, words, and deeds of sin will form a callus over our heart. The progression of sin takes us farther and farther from God. Until we no longer hear Jesus’ words: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” When that happens, we’re untouched by Jesus’ deeper cleansing. 

8.            But we do have a share with Jesus—now.  John 13 begins saying, “When Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (v 1). The end is the cross, where he died for our sins. We’re included in that. How? Through his gifts of Word and Sacrament. Our Baptism, that divine washing, put us in union with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God continuously gives, and that means we continually receive. Baptism’s washing never stops. It embodies the divine detergent of our Savior’s blood, which makes us clean from all our sins.  We have a share with Jesus now. The love that brought us to our Baptism keeps coming through his Word. What a great message we hear in his Word! “Look at Jesus. See your sins on him. See him on that cross for you. You are cleansed, forgiven, free from the guilt of your sin.” So Christ speaks to your heart through the gift of his Word.

9.             This night, during the Passover meal, Jesus instituted the Sacrament of his body and blood. Jesus is the Lamb foreshadowed in the Old Testament Passover. They ate the Passover lamb and painted the blood on their doorposts, and the angel of death passed over, leaving them untouched. So too, we eat and drink the body and blood of Christ in the Sacrament, and the angel of death passes over us, leaving us untouched. We receive Christ’s true body and blood as a pledge from God that our sins are forgiven. To eat and drink the Lord’s Supper is to have a share with Jesus now. A most precious gift!

10.        We have a share also in giving Christ’s gifts of love. Listen to Jesus: “When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, ‘Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you’ ” (vv 12–15). The foot washing is an example of Jesus’ humble and loving service to his disciples. It’s a call for us to a love that never stops, a love that doesn’t quit when it’s hard to love, a love that includes all—spouse, children, parents, brothers and sisters, neighbors, friends, enemies, fellow Christians, and the lost. It’s compassionate, giving love that gives time, effort, and money. It’s tough love when saying no is the most loving thing you can do. 

11.        What motivates us? Where do we get the strength? “We love because he first loved us” (1 Jn 4:19). His gift of love calls us to repentance, forgives us, and draws us to follow him and love others as he did, to the end.  This is the story of Jesus, Peter, and each of us.  Amen.

“Opening Our Ears to Hear Jesus” (Isaiah 50:4-51:8) Sermon notes for Isaiah 50.4-9, Palm Sunday, Confirmation Day ‘14

1.      Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Well, today is the day confirmands you will confirm your faith you received at your Baptism.  You’ve had three years of instruction and now you’re ready!  But, I want you to know that this isn’t your graduation day.  It’s not the day you graduate from Church like you do from school.  No.  Your learning and growing in the Christian faith isn’t finished.  It’s my prayer, the prayer of your families, and of this congregation that you will continue to hear the words of our Lord Jesus all the years of your life, until Christ calls you to His heavenly home.  That you would remember the catechism that you’ve been taught and continue to put your faith in Jesus as your Lord and Savior from sin, death, and the power of the devil.  The message from God’s Word this morning is taken from Isaiah 50:4-9 and is entitled, “Opening Our Ears to Hear Jesus,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.      Why do we have ears on the outside of our heads? Why not on the inside? Because we’re not supposed to listen to ourselves. I wonder how much of our misery stems from our almost religious devotion to our own thoughts and feelings. We spend every moment of our lives within a mental universe. The quality of that environment matters. Are our ears open to the Word of God? Do we understand what it means to listen to God?

3.      Confirmands, do you remember studying your memory work these past few years?  Do you remember how you worked so hard to memorize those verses of Scripture?  To learn the 6 chief parts of the catechism?  Why did you do that?  So that your ears, your heart, and your mind were focused on the Word of God and on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.  You may not think that your memory work means a whole lot now, but you’ll be surprised at how it will reappear in your minds later in life when you’re faced with a difficult situation, where the words of the Lord will instruct you on how to act and live.  I’m still amazed at how the 80 and 90 year old homebound members I visit are still able to recite the catechism to me and the verses of Holy Scripture they learned so many years ago.

4.      In the New Testament we are told, “He who has ears, let him hear.” If the Bible urges us to use our ears, they must be important. Think of the words of the prophet: “Hear the word of the Lord” (e.g., Jeremiah 2:4). Go all the way back to the foundation of Israel’s faith: “Hear, O Israel” from Deuteronomy 6. At least 394 times the Old Testament refers to the word of God coming to us.

5.      The Christian faith has come to us in words, not images that we see on the computer or TV screen.  If God’s way of getting through to us is the Word, then we need to learn what it means to listen.  Isaiah brings us to the third of his four Servant Songs in Isaiah 50. It’s about listening. The nation of Israel had a hearing problem, and it was their undoing (48:8). But the Servant of the Lord was a good listener. He had an ear constantly open to God (50:4, 5). The one who fears the Lord also listens obediently to the servant (50:10). All who seek righteousness are good listeners (51:1, 4, 7). Dr. Isaiah is calling us in for a hearing check. He wants to retune our ears so we can hear the word of God again.

6.      The Lord’s servant appears first in Isaiah 50:4–9.  Here Isaiah writes, “⁴The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary.  Morning by morning he awakens; he awakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.  ⁵The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious; I turned not backward.  ⁶I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.  ⁷But the Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.  ⁸He who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together.  Who is my adversary?  Let him come near to me.  ⁹Behold, the Lord God helps me;  who will declare me guilty?  Behold, all of them will wear out like a garment; the moth will eat them up.”  Only Jesus can open our ears so that we may believe in Him and His Word and gladly hear and learn it.

7.      The truth is we’re disobedient servants.  We often despise preaching and God’s Word.  Being a Christian is hard work.  We’re constantly at war against our Old Adam, our old sinful nature.  Because of our sin we will often find other more entertaining things to do rather than hearing and receiving the life giving Word of God.  Our sinful nature wants us to despise the faith that was given to us in our Baptisms, to think that the Lord’s Supper is merely bread and wine and not also the very body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.

8.      Like hired servants, we rebel against God’s Law.  We don’t want to learn and listen to our master’s teaching.  Confirmands how hard was it to come to class week after week for the past three years?  We rebel against our master in sinful disobedience.  We run away from our Lord Jesus if we feel that our lives are threatened like the disciples did when they abandoned him in his hour of need.  Our disobedience and unwillingness to listen to God’s Word has made us servants of sin.  Those who sin are servants of sin (Jn 8:34).  And, because we’re servants of sin, we don’t serve our neighbors in love.

9.      But, thanks be to God that Jesus is the true Servant.  Jesus is obedient to his Father’s teaching.  He’s given the tongue of those who are taught (v 4), and he speaks the Father’s Word.  He’s given the ear of those who are taught (v 4), and he listens to the pleas of his people.  Jesus is obedient to his Father’s will (v 5).  He actively obeys by serving God and his neighbor.  He passively obeys by giving his back to those who strike, his cheeks to those who pull out his beard. He didn’t hide his face from disgrace and spitting (v 6).  And what’s more?  Jesus is even obedient unto death all for you.  When he was accused and tortured, he “set [his] face like a flint” (v 7).  Jesus remained in faithful service to his Father, even though it ended in his death on the cross.

10.  Christ, the true Servant, serves us with his perfect obedience.  Baptism connects us to the obedience of Jesus.  Baptism gives us obedient ears to hear Christ’s Word rightly.  Baptism gives us obedient tongues to confess Christ’s Word to a disobedient world that surrounds us.  The true Servant serves us his body and blood to forgive all of our disobedience.  Christ’s Divine Service to us moves us to serve him and our neighbors in love.  As Christ’s perfect obedience was vindicated, so will we who are in Jesus be vindicated (vv 8–9a).  Christ was vindicated when he was raised to life at the end of this holy week.  We will be vindicated when, in the resurrection, all will see that God has declared us perfectly obedient by our incorporation into Jesus.

11.  The true Servant is the one we see on Palm Sunday, riding into Jerusalem in humbleness on the colt of a donkey. He’s the Suffering Servant, who goes forward to the cross in obedience to his Father’s plan of redemption. The hymns proclaim, “A Lamb goes uncomplaining forth” (LSB 438:1) and “Ride on, ride on in majesty! In lowly pomp ride on to die” (LSB 441:2). It’s for us sinful servants that Jesus obediently goes forth to die. The faithful Servant will die for us sinful servants, an exchange of sorts.  But, the true Servant is also the risen Servant, who is present here to serve us with his perfect obedience. Because of his Divine Service, we’re no longer servants of ourselves and servants of sin listening to our own sinful nature, but we’re transformed into servants in his likeness. We’re freed from listening to and serving our sin in order to serve God and our neighbor.  Amen.

“Blest Be the Tie That Binds” (Genesis 2:18-24; 1 Cor. 13:1-13; Colossians 3:12-17), Sermon for Jacob Eckart & Samantha Buch’s Wedding, April 12th, 2014…

1.            In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  Dear Jacob and Samantha.  Well, this is it! You’re getting married. You’ve gathered together your family and friends for this special occasion. You’ve asked them to join you as you make these solemn vows of marriage with one with another.  As you’re probably aware, there are some here this day, probably your grandparents and maybe your baptismal godparents, in addition to your own parents, who are seeing this as an answer to their prayers. They may have prayed on the day of your birth and at your baptism that someday, someplace, you would stand before the altar of the Lord and pledge your love to another and receive the public commitment of another without doubt. This is that day. Their prayers are being answered.  But, this isn’t the end of their prayers for you, of course. This day their prayer becomes that in this marriage you may each always be a source for each other of God’s blessings, and that through the two of you, God may bless many. In just a couple of minutes you’ll be making such a public promise, and for such purpose we’ll be making prayer.  In this wedding ceremony we remember that is our Lord Jesus Christ who binds you together as husband and wife.

2.            Did you notice how Genesis 2 reveals to us that God the Father is very sensitive to us humans and personally involved with his creation. It portrays a God who not only gives us the world, the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creatures in the water, but who gives us one another as well.  If you asked me to summarize in one word the purpose for which God gives a woman to a man and a man to a woman, the word I would choose is the word LOVE. God gives people to people in order that they may love one another.  Colossians 3:14 reminds us, “¹⁴And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” But, there’s another word that, for all practical purposes, means the same as love. That is the word serve. God gives people to people so that they may serve one another.

3.            On a day such as today, I doubt that the word I chose to describe God’s intention for you surprises you. Love is in the air in this building. The two of you look at each other lovingly. The music is lovely, the flowers are beautiful, your families are supportive, and your friends don’t look bad either. The setting is almost like being in the Garden of Eden. You are surrounded by symbols and feelings of love. It’s enough to make you think that loving each other for the rest of your lives will be very easy.

4.            But, the Scriptures, don’t speak of sentimental love or emotional love but of a love that’s intentional and self-giving. In 1 Cor. 13, Paul admonished the Corinthians to practice self-sacrificing love. He wrote of a love that’s patient and kind, not jealous or boastful, not arrogant or rude. “[Love] does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Cor 13:5–6). Paul urges us to love one another with a strong love that “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (v 7).

5.            But, Jacob and Samantha as you begin to live together with one another as husband and wife you must remember that you are a sinner living with another sinner. In spite of all your efforts, there will be lapses in your Christian living and in your duties to one another as husband and wife. Failures and faults will show.  Jacob, one morning you’re going to roll over in bed and remember the disagreement you had with Samantha the day before. You’ll risk opening just one eye as you look at your wife lying next to you, and you’ll ask, “Lord, is this the woman you gave to me on the day of my marriage? Is this the woman you want me to spend the rest of my life with? Do I really have to love her as Christ loved me and his Bride, the Church, and gave himself up for her on the cross? Do I really have to sacrifice myself for her?” It’s not going to be as easy to love her that morning as it is this afternoon.  And Samantha, Jacob also isn’t going to be as easy to love each day of your marriage as he is today. One morning you’re going to wake up and see the pile of laundry Jacob has left lying on the floor instead of in the hamper, you’re going to see the cap to the toothpaste left off of the tube, and you’re going to say, “Lord, in all of your mixing and matching of husbands and wives, are you certain this is not more of a mix than a match? Are you certain that this is the man that you want me to spend the rest of my life with? Do I really have to follow those words of St. Paul from Colossians 3:14,“¹⁴And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony?”  In your marriage Jacob and Samantha I pray that you will remember that it’s our Lord Jesus who binds you together as husband and wife with the love that he gives to you.

6.             Remember that there will be occasions when you’ll hurt one another and complaints against one another will arise. But, with the help of our Lord Jesus the two of you will learn to “bear with each other” and help one another, lovingly overlooking slights and injuries. You will help one another grow, and you’ll strengthen one another rather than tearing one another down. And you will cheerfully “forgive whatever grievances … against one another,” just as Jesus has forgiven you through his death on the cross.  It’s the love of Jesus that binds you together as husband and wife, for when your love fails, his unconditional love will endure for the both of you.

7.            Jacob and Samantha, Your marriage makes you one flesh with each other; Jesus became flesh not only to dwell among us, but also to give his flesh for our lives, and to live in us in such fashion that we’re never alone. As husband and wife, you are not in your marriage relationship alone. You are one, not only with each other, but with your Savior Jesus.  When emotional love fails you and sentimental love isn’t enough to sustain you, then cling to your Baptism, through which you’ve put on Jesus and have received the blessings of his life, death, and resurrection. Because of your Baptism, sin is not your master; Jesus is. You can affirm in words and actions the love of Christ, which is the will of God for your life together as husband and wife.

8.            If you live together in Christ’s love and stay connected to him, his promise to you is that your marriage will bear fruit. You will continue to be bound together as husband and wife in Christ’s love.  Jesus is the most important guest attending your wedding today.   And, I’m confident that Jesus will remain a welcomed person in your marriage. Together as you remain connected to Jesus, you will not only be one forever, you will also be one for good. Amen.

“It’s All about Denial” Luke 22.54–62, Lenten Midweek # 6, 2014

1.      Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Sin is a slippery slope. In our Lenten midweek series these past few weeks  we’ve seen the extent of Peter’s slide—all the way from pride to complacency to misunderstanding to distancing his discipleship to bad company. Now tonight each of us must say, “It’s Jesus, Peter, and me; and it’s all about denial.” Tonight, Peter denies Jesus, and so have we. Is there any hope for Peter and for us who’ve found ourselves somewhere along that same slippery slope? Yes, there is.  The Jesus Whom We Deny Died to Forgive and Restore Us.

2.      Our Lord was denied by Peter on the night before his death. Review the story in your mind. Peter had first boldly declared his loyalty to Christ, even unto death. But suddenly Jesus is taken captive, and Peter is overwhelmed by fear. It drives him to panic. But not for long. Soon he’s following at a safe distance. He wants “to see the end” (Mt 26:58). He even risks going into the court of the high priest’s palace, where Jesus is on trial. The night is cold. The warmth of the fire kindled in the courtyard is so inviting, and Peter sits at the fire with the servants. But, this is his undoing. The light of the fire shines on him, and a servant girl says that he was with Jesus. Now he finds himself in a desperate situation. A lie leaps to his lips, “Woman, I do not know him” (v 57).

3.      That lie saved Peter, but only for a moment. Peter stays on. Then someone else saw him and said, “You also are one of them.” But Peter denies it. “Man, I am not.” About an hour later, “still another insisted, saying, ‘Certainly this man also was with him, for he too is a Galilean.’ ” Again Peter denies it. “Man, I do not know what you are talking about” (vv 58–60). By now Peter had made his point, maybe more clearly than he realized. He’s denied his Lord three times.

4.      You and I know something of Peter’s experience. Like Peter, we’re not always alert to spiritual danger. A sudden temptation catches us off guard, and we embrace the sin. We know better, but we’re afraid to say no or we don’t want to say no. The sinful pressure of the moment turns us away from Christ. That’s denial.  A situation calls for us to confess our sin, and we fail to make it. Something should be said, and we’re silent. Our talk is vulgar and dirty, and we laugh. The conversation is unkind, and we join in. The whole thing is wrong, and we become a part of it. And when the first realization of what we’ve done dawns on us, instead of fleeing the sin, we plunge in deeper. And the last state is worse than the first. We deny Jesus by speaking or by not speaking, by doing or by not doing. It’s a reflection of our heart, where we say yes to our fears or to sin’s siren call or to the devil’s deception, and we say no to Christ. The result is bitter—in fact, it should be absolutely terrifying!—because the judgment of Christ rests upon it: “Whoever denies me before men,” Jesus said, “I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 10:33).

5.      But Jesus turned and looked at Peter. And whatever else there may have been in that look, there was surely love and compassion. That look was Peter’s call to repentance and restoration. Because Jesus died for our sins and rose again, because God laid on him the sins of us all, because Christ gave his life to ransom us, because his blood cleanses us from all sin, there is forgiveness and a new beginning for those who look to him in repentance and faith. Peter is witness to the fact that the lost can be restored, that sins are forgiven, that the fallen are raised, and that life begins again. He who said, “Whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven,” also said, “Whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (Jn 6:37).

6.      Jesus had warned Peter, “The rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me” (Lk 22:34). When the rooster crowed, Peter remembered and wept bitterly the tears of repentance.  Many churches in Europe and some in America have a rooster on top of the steeple or on a high point of the building. The rooster is a symbol of repentance and a wake-up call to spiritual watchfulness.  The rooster’s crow is heard today in our family devotions, in our worship services, in the mutual admonition and encouragement of one Christian to another. We hear it in the Word read, preached, and studied. The Word of God rouses us, like a rooster’s crowing; it warns and admonishes us and calls for our repentance.  But even more, the rooster’s crow announces the dawn. The message is that we can leave behind the night and the darkness of sin and denial to greet the dawn and the sunlight of God’s mercy and grace in Christ.

7.      The rooster crowed. Jesus turned and looked at Peter. And Peter went out and wept bitterly. This was the prelude to that unforgettable moment beside the sea, after Jesus’ resurrection, when Jesus, in effect, said to Peter, “I still want you as my disciple, Peter. Three times you denied me. Now I call you to deny yourself and follow me. Feed my lambs. Feed my sheep” (see Jn 21:15–19).

8.      What happened to Peter happens also to us. Not that all temptation is over, not that all failure is past, not that sin no longer blots the record. But this is our hope. We live by our Lord’s forgiving grace. Every day can be put to rest in this forgiving word from God: “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool” (Is 1:18). The new day can begin like a beautiful winter morning, when you look out on the wonder of new-fallen snow that has covered completely the grime and grit of the day before. When our hearts weep over our sins, the forgiveness of Jesus heals our souls. And life is new again.  This is the story of Jesus, Peter, and each of us.  Amen.

“It’s All about the Company You Keep,” John 18.18, Lenten Midweek # 5, 2014

1.      In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  Bad company leads to sin. See it in Peter’s association with the enemies of Christ. Peter followed Jesus from a distance to the high priest’s palace. Now inside of the palace, Peter finds himself in a situation highly charged with danger.  John 18:18 says, “Now the servants and officers had made a charcoal fire, because it was cold, and they were standing and warming themselves. Peter also was with them, standing and warming himself.”

2.      Meanwhile, Jesus is being subjected to accusation, false witness, abuse, and trial. Outside, no doubt, are assembled some of those who had taken part in his capture in the garden. Listen in and imagine what you might be hearing. They’re discussing the events of Jesus’ capture. Listen to their ridicule and mockery of Jesus. Hear them boast of how easily they’d captured him. The blasphemy may already have begun here: “He saved others; he cannot save himself” (Mt 27:42). And there’s Peter in the midst of the enemies of Jesus, Peter who had fled, Peter who had followed from a distance, as we spoke about last week. It’s not that he’s chosen to hang with them, become part of their crowd. He’s even there for the right reason—to see Jesus. But he’s put himself in a dangerous situation. His presence among the enemies of Jesus eventually led to his denial of Jesus.

3.      Peter’s situation isn’t unique. We, too, find ourselves in bad company, among evil associates. They’re around us without our seeking them. We have these contacts where we live, work, go to school, and seek our pleasure and recreation. It’s true simply because we’re part of human society. The problem is that we naturally desire the approval of people around us, whether their influence is good or bad.

4.      We live among people who are a bad influence, and they pressure us to conform to their style of life. They tempt us to be like them—to be dishonest in our work, cheat on our spouses, or imitate them in a worldly, materialistic outlook on life. You find yourselves attracted by a crowd that tries to draw you into the abuse of alcohol, drugs, or sex. The approval of such people may give you a warm, fuzzy feeling, but it’s full of danger.

5.      Sometimes we go asking for trouble. The books and magazines we read, the movies we see, the radio and TV programs we hear and watch, the Internet we explore—these things become daily companions that we choose, and often they’re very bad company. Our lives are greatly influenced by these companions of our leisure hours.  We are warming ourselves at the fire of the enemy. The fire will consume us. It is the fire of hell. Friendship with the world is death as James the Apostle reminds us.

6.      But friendship with God is life. Jesus is the friend of sinners. “I have called you friends,” Jesus said (Jn 15:15). When Judas placed the betraying kiss on Jesus’ cheek, he said, “Friend, do what you came to do” (Mt 26:50). “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13). Jesus said that. Jesus did that, for you and for me. “[He] made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant. . . . And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Phil 2:7–8). He was obedient where you and I are disobedient. He died for our sins, so we need not die in our sins. We’re forgiven. We’re at peace with God.

7.      This was Jesus’ whole purpose in coming to earth—to reestablish our relationship with God, which our sin had broken, to bring us back into God’s company. Jesus has drawn us back into the circle of God’s friendship—even more, into the circle of God’s family. We have a bond with God that means we’re free from the sin- and death-riddled friendship of the world. What a friend we have in Jesus!

8.      Now you can live in the world and yet not be of the world. How do you do that? By not deliberately seeking employment, company, or fellowship with people who are manifestly godless or who are open enemies of Christ. And since you live in the world and must deal with enemies of Jesus every day, be a witness for God and for good.

9.      There’s a time to flee from the presence of evil associates. St. Paul brings us this counsel from God: “Go out from their midst, and be separate from them” (2 Cor 6:17). The Scriptures are full of examples and exhortations to flee from the presence of evil. We have the example of Joseph in Egypt, who fled from the presence of the temptress, Potiphar’s wife (Gen 39:12). St. Paul advises young Timothy to “flee youthful passions” (2 Tim 2:22). When he speaks to Timothy about materialism and covetousness, he advises, “But as for you, O man of God, flee these things” (1 Tim 6:11). There’s nothing cowardly in such flight. Sometimes the bravest thing you can do is to get out and run for your life. The decision to stay or run must be immersed in earnest prayer for divine guidance.

10.  Peter made the mistake of failing to identify himself as belonging to Jesus. His presence in bad company soon led to his denial of Jesus as his Savior & Lord. It can also happen to us. Traveling in bad company can cause us to lose our greatest friend, Jesus, the friend of sinners. What a loss!

11.  Jesus saves us from all that. The agony of the garden, the pain and death of the cross were all for you. When you are weak, when you stumble, when you fall, there’s a way up; there’s a way back. There is confession. “O God, I have sinned.” There is absolution. “God has put away your sin.” Then follow, by God’s grace, the growing desire to live and walk in the company of God.  This is the story of Jesus, Peter, and each of us.  Amen. 

“Jesus Turns the Darkness into Light” Isaiah 42.14-21, sermon notes Lent 4A, March ‘14

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 on this 4^th Sunday in Lent is taken from the readings for today from Isaiah 42:14-21, Eph. 5:8-14, and John 9:1-41.  The message is entitled, “Jesus Turns the Darkness into Light,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                        Isaiah preached to a people that were deaf and blind.  Deaf to God’s Word that is.  Blind to His will to be their God and to save them.  Israel turned her back on God.  And when you do that — you plunge yourself into darkness.  The deep, deep darkness of unbelief and death!  Israel got used to living in the darkness and death of her sin.  Very comfortable with the darkness and her sin!  Loved the darkness!  Relished her sin.  Used the darkness of unbelief and death as a cover to shield her from God the Light. 

3.                        Israel went her own stubborn way.  Self-centered. Self-absorbed.  Looked after her self-interests.  And when trouble came she ran after false gods – idols. Israel became like the idols she worshiped – eyes that couldn’t see.  Ears that couldn’t hear.  Mouths that couldn’t speak. 

4.                        We’re really no different than Israel of old.  If we’re not completely deaf to God’s own voice that speaks to us in His most holy Word, we’re bored to death with it.  We put up every sort of excuse not to hear or study God’s Word. We listen to ourselves with religious fervor.  When ultimate issues confront us do we turn to God’s Word?  Instead, we look deep inside ourselves for answers!  Whatever idols we have built for ourselves we fanatically obey!  And then we wonder why hardly anyone is attracted to Christ and His church!  And why we’re all so strung out and have so many nervous breakdowns.    

5.                        We’ve become quite comfortable and cozy with the darkness!  A deep spiritual darkness has overtaken us!  It is the separation from God because of our sin.  Cold hearts.  Darkened minds.  Adam’s sin and our sin blind our eyes.  We can’t see.  We don’t know where we’re going.  We’re helpless.  We can only grope in the darkness of death.  Eternal death.

6.                        Enter Jesus.  Light of the World Jesus as we see Him in our Gospel lesson today from John 9!  Pay attention everyone!  He’s going to use a man born blind as an object lesson.  The blind man’s eyes don’t work because of some horrible sin he or his parents committed.  Instead, it’s so “the work of God might be displayed in his life.”  After all, the time for repentance won’t last forever.  God won’t tolerate the apathy, the boredom, the indifference and the blindness of unbelief forever.  “As long as it is day,” Jesus says, “we must do the work of him who sent me.  Night is coming when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

7.                        So it’s time to listen up everyone!  Now, not later, is the time to fix your eyes on Jesus!  Why?  Because He’s the author and perfecter of our faith!  Because He’s the Light of the world!  He comes to bring the spiritually dead back to life!  He comes to give light to those spiritually blind.  Jesus comes to turn our darkness into light! 

8.                        And Jesus will use a man blind from birth to illustrate this truth.  “That the work of God might be displayed in his life.” So Jesus goes to work on the always been blind man.  Spits on the ground.  Makes some mud.  Puts the mudpack on the man’s eyes.  After shoving greasy mud into the man’s eyes, Jesus commands:  “Wash off all that mud I just poked into your eyes at the pool called Siloam.”   Good thing the blind man has ears to hear!  He’s not deaf to Christ’s Word.  He does what Jesus says and behold:  “He returns home!  And he can see perfectly!”   Physical sight that is!  The eyes work!  For the first time in his life!  Jesus turns the darkness into light. 

9.                        And then comes spiritual sight. Jesus asks him:  “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” And the seeing eyes for the first time ever man asks:  “Who is he that I may believe in him?”  Jesus responds with an astounding fact:  “You have now seen him.  In fact, he is the one speaking with you!” Incredible!  The healed man standed before the eternal Son of God!  And so he cries out:  “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped Jesus!  Jesus turns the darkness into light!

10.                    Jesus has come to you too.  You that were born blind.  Spiritually blind.  Spiritually dead.  Spiritually in the dark.  Jesus poked the mud of His Law into your eyes to show you your sin and your helpless condition.  Then He took you in His nail-scarred hands and washed you in the cleansing and renewing water of Holy Baptism.  Rescued you from the darkness of damnation and brought you into His marvelous kingdom of light! In Holy Baptism you were enlightened with the Spirit’s gift of saving faith. Seeing Him for who He truly is:  your Savior!  Jesus turned your darkness into light!     

11.                    “Once you were darkness,” the apostle says in today’s Epistle (Ephesians 5:8).  “But now you are light in the Lord” so that you “live as children of light.”  Life was never the same for the blind man Jesus healed! Jesus called him to faith.  Life is never the same for you that are baptized into Christ, washed, cleansed, and called to faith in Christ by the Holy Spirit through Baptism.  You’ve been brought from death to life in the wounds of Jesus.  Jesus has turned your darkness into light!

12.                    And so you live your lives differently.  What does that mean?  It means living a life of forgiveness.  Who has hurt you?  Who has sinned against you?  Someone at school?  At work?  In your family?  In our congregation?  What was it that person said?  Or did to you?  What are you going to do?  Go back to living in darkness and death?  Hold grudges?  Plot revenge? Make threats under your breath?  Strike back?  That’s not the way of life.  That’s all in the way of deep darkness and death.  “It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret,” Paul says in the Epistle (Ephesians 5:12). 

13.                    Because of Jesus and the faith He’s given you, you are given to live as children of light!  Forgive.  Let all the sin committed against you go.  Christ died for you.  All your sin is forgiven in Him.  One of the highest and holiest divine callings in your life then is forgive those who have sinned against you just as Christ has forgiven you.  Let the light of Christ’s forgiveness melt your hearts and those that have hurt you.  Let Christ and His blood mediate between you and those who have hurt you. Otherwise you will destroy each other, your family, your society, our congregation. Darkness! Death!   

14.                    We who have been brought into the light of Jesus are called to live differently in another way too.  We no longer cover our sin with fashionable fig leaves of every variety. We no longer scurry like cockroaches into every dark corner when the light comes on.  Instead, we let the bright beams of Christ’s death shine brightly into every dark corner of our lives. 

15.                    Do you get what I’m saying here?  It means this. Children of the Light of Jesus, with the Holy Spirit’s help, fight against themselves.  Daily using God’s holy Word to go to war against your own sinful flesh and all your pet sins.  God’s Word is the sword of the Spirit that slays you and then raises you up to faith in Jesus! And so each day you engage in a life or death struggle with your old Adam, you old sinful nature.  In such a tussle, sin will never be as much fun again.  Exposed in the Light of Jesus’ death on the cross, sin is now seen for what it really is.  It is a horrible, wicked, deep dark monster.  And so you are given to die to your sin!  And live to God through faith in Jesus!  Every day!    

16.                    Can you imagine being given the gift of sight and then going back to being blind?  Can you imagine being given the gift of spiritual sight in Jesus but then going back to darkness and death? May it never be! You belong to Jesus!  He has interrupted your existence.  Died on a Friday called “Good.”  Rose from the grave!  Buried you with Him into His death and resurrection that counts for you in Baptism.  He saved you through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit whom He poured out on you generously.   Called you by the Gospel.  Enlightened you with faith in Him!

17.                    What is there left to do?  I would suggest exactly what the man Jesus healed said and did:  “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped Jesus.  That’s “fixing our eyes on Jesus” as the Gradual for Lent teaches us.  And, so we worship Jesus all our lives and we thank Him for turning our darkness into light!  Amen.

“It’s All about Distant Discipleship” Matt. 26.57–58, Lenten Midweek # 4, 2014

1.                        In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  One of the great problems we face in life is fear. We’ve fought wars so we can live in our country without fear. We maintain a strong defense posture, we’ve devised nuclear weapons to deter any nation from attacking us. With our nuclear arsenal, we should have nothing to fear. But now, suddenly, we face simple explosives strapped to a suicide bomber. And we’re afraid. No matter how we try to be safe and secure, there’s always something to fear.

2.                        We are fearful also in our lives as Christians. Tonight we can say, “It’s Jesus, Peter, and me; and it’s all about fearful, and thus distant, discipleship.” We’re going to look at our fears, which make us distant disciples. But more than that, we’re going to look at Jesus.  The Fear That Makes Us Distant Disciples Is Forgiven and Overcome in Christ.

3.                        Jesus’ disciples were, for a time, fearless in their discipleship. They were inspired by the success of his preaching, his popularity, and his demonstrations of power and authority. How quickly all this changes during that last visit to Gethsemane! We see Jesus taken, bound, and led away as a common criminal. Confidence and optimism change to fear. Tonight we see Peter, the fearful follower, the disciple who follows Jesus from afar.

4.                        The enemies of Jesus had long planned to do away with him. And now, at last, their opportunity had come. “Then those who had seized Jesus led him to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and elders had gathered” (v 57). Jesus must face them alone. But as we see him led away, we find he is not entirely alone. “Peter was following him at a distance, as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and going inside he sat with the guards to see the end” (v 58). Peter kept his distance, a far-off disciple.

5.                        Sometimes we, too, are distant, far-off disciples. What is that distance like? Often, it’s being a halfhearted disciple. It’s following Jesus only when it’s convenient, when it requires no sacrifice. In other parts of the world, loyalty to Christ still costs Christians their lives. In comfortable America, what are we willing to do or not do for the sake of Christ? You’re in class, discussing great books—the Bible, the Qur’an, the Upanishads—and everyone, including the professor or teacher, is affirming that “all roads lead to the same place.” You know Christ is the only way to heaven. But what do you do? Do you politely, humbly, testify to your faith in Jesus as the only Savior, or do you distance yourself from the whole conversation, keep quiet, hide out? Over 3,000 infants are being killed every day in the United States by abortion. You have an opportunity to join in a walk-for-life in  your community, but, of course, somebody might see you. You might even wind up on the local news. What do you do? Stand up tall for the sanctity of God’s gift of human life, or decide that, “Well, actually there’s a lot of yard work I need to get done on Saturday”? These questions have to do with discipleship.

6.                        Fear kept Peter at a distance in his discipleship. Fear is at the heart of our faulty discipleship. We don’t always have the courage of our convictions. We’re afraid to live our faith because we’re afraid of the consequences. We’re afraid we might be ridiculed, we might lose our popularity, we might be considered odd or different. We may not get ahead in life as fast if we put what’s right, what’s honest, what’s unselfish above everything else. All this is a sign of spiritual distance from God. We’re afraid, so we follow from a distance. The distant disciple may soon not be a disciple at all.

7.                        What should we do? When you’re afraid of what it means to be a follower of Christ, think on him. In his suffering and death you find the answer to the fear of being too close to Jesus. His life, death, and resurrection count for you. He bore your sins in his body on the cross. He lives again, having disarmed the powers that frighten you and keep you from faithfully following him. God’s “Fear not” echoes throughout Scripture to reassure you. “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Is 41:10). “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Is 43:1). Fear has to bow before our Lord’s “Fear not.” Jesus draws us close to the heart of God as his redeemed, restored, forgiven people. The fear of being a disciple has to let go.

8.                        So the call comes from Jesus, “Follow me.” His path leads to his cross and his empty tomb, where your sins of distant discipleship have been put away forever. His path leads to the death of your sinful self, because he’s alive in you. His path leads to love, compassion, and service to your fellow man; we call it the Christian life. This is not uncharted territory. Jesus is ahead of you. You follow him. He’s been to the cross, to death and back. He went to forgive you and to fill you with the heart, will, and strength to be his loyal disciple. 

9.                        Peter followed at a distance to see the end. No doubt he expected the worst. But the end turned out to be the best, for Peter and for us. The end turned out to be the cross and then the resurrection. It was the end of sin’s guilt, sin’s power, the devil’s might, and the fear of death. The end is the beginning for us, the beginning of the forgiven life, the new life in Christ, the life of discipleship, with the ongoing grace to grow in following Jesus.  This is the story of Jesus, Peter, and each of us.  Amen.