“Our Family, the Church” Acts 2:42–47, Easter 4A, May 2014, Mother’s Day, Good Shepherd Sunday…

1.                   Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth the and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer.  Amen.  Well, a very Happy Mother’s Day to all of you, but did you know that it’s also Good Shepherd Sunday?  Today, we recognize our mothers for all the sacrifices they made for us for our good.  But, did you know that Jesus our Good Shepherd has given to us another mother?  That’s right, He’s given to us the Church, His bride, to be our mother.  And, within the Church we receive life, nourishment, encouragement, and so much more.  The message from God’s Word today comes from Acts 2:42-47, and it’s entitled, “Our Family, the Church,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                  Do you remember your interactions with your mother growing up?  How many times did you walk up to your mom and say, “Mom I’m hungry or mom I’m cold.”  Maybe you said, “Mom can I have this or Mom where are you?”  Or you said, “Mom can you help me with this?”  “Mom he hurt me, Mom she hurt me.”  “Mom why can’t we do this?”  Mom, I want to go there…”  But, when you saw your dad you asked the question, “Dad, where’s mom.”  Oh, how we depended on our mothers growing up and still do.   We thank God for the mothers who gave birth to us, but also for those “spiritual mothers” who watched over us and taught us about Jesus our Good Shepherd, whether it was our grandmother, a next door neighbor, our babysitter, our Sunday School teacher, Lutheran School teacher, and many others.

3.                  When we think of our mothers the first thing we may think of is that’s the woman who gave birth to me, nurtured, fed, and cared for me.  Do you ever think that way about the church?  Do you see the church as the place where you were born?  Where you were reborn through water and the Word of God in the Sacrament of Holy Baptism.  That’s what we hear about in the verses before Acts 2:42-47.  In Acts 2:38-39, St. Peter preaching his Pentecost sermon says, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”  As the people heard the Gospel of Jesus their Good Shepherd preached to them, who gave His life for us His sheep, they were “cut to the heart” and wondered what they should do.  Peter calls them to repentance. Repentance is literally a “change of mind” that only the Holy Spirit can effect. Notice that Peter doesn’t point his listeners to themselves, but to God. In answer to their question, “What shall we do?”, Peter doesn’t say, “Do penance, pray the rosary, go to the priest and hope that somehow God will forgive you.” Nor does he tell them, “Make your decision for Christ. Give your life to God. Invite Jesus into your heart, and he will be your Savior.” Peter doesn’t point his listeners to their own efforts, but to the works and promises of God in Jesus our Good Shepherd.

4.                  Peter points them to Jesus in whose name they were to be baptized. In connection with their baptism they would receive the forgiveness of their sins. Baptism isn’t a symbol, but a means by which the Holy Spirit creates faith in the heart—faith that receives the blessing of forgiveness.  And, the gift of the Holy Spirit is for everyone—“for you and your children and for all who are far off.” No one is left out—not babies or adults, not Jew or Gentile. The Holy Spirit can work in the hearts of all people to create faith and bestow the blessing of forgiveness.

5.                  Acts 2:42-47 reminds us about, Our Family, the Church.  Just as it takes more than one person to make a family, so too we see that the Church is a family made up of a body of believers.  Christianity isn’t an individual thing.  We don’t turn to Christ in faith and then go on with no regard for fellow believers.  It’s not me and Jesus alone.  Staying home and listening to the Lutheran Hour or any other Christian radio program or watching some preacher on TV doesn’t replace gathering with the saints for corporate worship.  Our American individualism works against our faith at this point.  You’ve been saved into the body of Christ.  The restoration of our relationship with God must also be seen in the restoration of our relationship with one another.   Jesus, our Good Shepherd, paid the price for our sins and now we’re called to walk after Him.  It’s called sanctification.  Baptism is the beginning.  Now we must learn to walk with Jesus and build the community of our family, the church.

6.                  In our reading from Acts 2 we have a description of what the earliest Christian church looked like. Here we see the early church in a routine in which they hold fast to the instructions and practices of their Lord. What did this routine consist of?  Devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching: This is another way of saying that the pastors were teaching all the people all the teachings of their Lord Jesus.  The fellowship in the breaking of bread: This is the Lord’s Supper, being shared together as the core of the Christians’ “fellowship,” that is, their “life together,” flowing out of the teaching.  The prayers: Again, the Christians do as their Lord has instructed them and pray; that same instruction which they will continue to hear from the lips of the apostles as they teach.

7.                  The Divine Service on Sunday is the center of the Christian life. Week in and week out, we attend the “temple” together, and then return to the rest of the week.  Through worship in the church we’re refreshed by our Lord, and made ready to reach out to our neighbor. This same ebb and flow of the Christian life is what Luke describes here as well in Acts 2. Coming out of the Divine Service, “all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” Having shared in the witness of the apostles (through their preaching and teaching), and having received together the life-giving food of their Lord’s Supper, the Christians now live their life together in mercy.

8.                  These early believers, in acknowledgement that they have life together in common with their fellow believers, they shared what Christ had given them with those in need. They served their neighbor as Christ had served them. This is only possible through the gift of the Holy Spirit. Coming from the Divine Liturgy (liturgy simply means service), now they carry out the liturgy of life, the liturgy flowing from the liturgy, the liturgy where we serve others with Christ’s gifts.

9.                  This is the way that your Good Shepherd cares for you.  He gives to you a family, the church.  In the church Jesus your Good Shepherd gives you new life, feeds you, cares for you, and gives you encouragement. Jesus your Good Shepherd has called you his own, He’s taught you to hear and know His voice, and He’s opened the gate for you and led you into His sheepfold. He’s provided a pleasant pasture where you can come to rest – here in this place. He overflows your cup with His gifts of mercy, forgiveness, life, salvation. He even feeds you with His very own body and blood!

10.              The witness of the Church is that which Peter first declared, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.” This witness is now preached by pastors for your benefit. And day by day you have the opportunity to also witness. This is wrapped up in mercy, in which we all care for one another, as any have need, reflecting the love of Christ for His people and providing opportunities to speak of that love clearly as well.

11.              And we have glad hearts. Glad because Jesus rose from the dead, ascended into heaven, is present among us in his Word and Sacraments, provides for all our needs of body and soul, and eventually calls us home to be in His presence for all eternity. We have life, together, eternally.  Not only just me and Jesus, but also everyone else whom the Lord our God calls to himself.  We thank Jesus, our Good Shepherd, that He has given to us our family, the Church.  Amen.

“Jesus Sets Our Hearts on Fire” Luke 24.13-35, Sermon for 3rd Sunday of Easter May 2014

1.       Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word for this 3^rd Sunday of Easter is taken from Luke 24:13-25 and it’s entitled, “Jesus Sets Our Hearts on Fire,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.      Remember Easter just a few weeks ago and the joy of that day? Were not our hearts “burning within us” (v 32) as we celebrated the day of the resurrection? Just like the two men on the way to Emmaus, after they encountered the living Lord, had burning hearts (v 32). Hearts that burn—aren’t these the kind of hearts that we desire?  It’s so easy for our hearts to “grow cold” to the joy of the resurrection. There are “sad hearts”—hearts weighed down with sorrow, suffering, and sin. There are “troubled hearts”—hearts perplexed by the problems of life. There are “weak hearts”—hearts that struggle with the trials and temptations of life. There are “doubtful hearts”—hearts that are uncertain whether Christ really “walks with them” and works for their good. There are “lukewarm hearts”—hearts that are indifferent to the things eternal and the relevancy of God’s Word. There are “cold hearts”—hearts that aren’t burning with faith in the living Lord.  Whatever the temperature of our heart, the risen Jesus meets us on the road of life. He speaks to us and “breaks bread with us” and reveals himself again as the risen Lord. Once again he kindles our faith and brings our hearts “from hopelessness to hearts burning with abounding joy.”

3.      Emmaus was a small village outside of Jerusalem. The two men walking from Jerusalem to Emmaus were discouraged disciples who had no reason to be discouraged. They’d heard the reports of the women that the tomb was empty and that Jesus was alive, but they didn’t believe them. They’d hoped that Jesus would redeem Israel (Luke 24:21), but their hopes had been shattered. We get the impression that these men were disappointed because God didn’t do what they wanted Him to do. They saw the glory of the kingdom, but they failed to understand the suffering.

4.      Jesus graciously walked with them and listened to their conversation (Luke 24:17). No doubt they were quoting Old Testament prophecies and trying to remember what Jesus had taught, but they were unable to put it all together and come up with an explanation that made sense. Was Jesus a failure or a success? Why did He have to die? Was there a future for the nation?

5.      There’s a touch of humor in Luke 24:19 when Jesus asked them in the middle of their conversation, “What things?” Jesus had been at the heart of all that had happened in Jerusalem, and now He was asking them to tell Him what occurred! How patient our Lord is with us as He listens to us tell Him what He already knows (Rom. 8:34). But we may come “boldly” to His throne and pour out our hearts to Him, and He will help us (Ps. 62:8; Heb. 4:16).  Did you notice that the longer Cleopas talked, the more he accused himself and his friend for their unbelief. What more evidence could they want? Witnesses, including the Apostles, had seen the tomb empty. Angels had announced that Jesus was alive. Witnesses had seen Him alive and heard Him speak. The proof was there!

6.      “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17). This explains why Jesus opened the Word to these two men as the three of them walked to Emmaus. Their real problem wasn’t in their heads but in their hearts (see Luke 24:25 and 32, and v. 38). They could’ve discussed the subject for days and never arrived at a good answer. What they needed was a fresh understanding of the Word of God, and Jesus gave that understanding to them. He opened the Scriptures and then their eyes, and they realized that Jesus wasn’t only alive but right there with them!

7.      So the main point of the text here in Luke 24 is that Jesus opens the Scriptures for these two men.  That’s the turning point.  As these men begin to understand the Scripture, and more especially the life and work of Jesus in light of Scripture, their sadness departs and they return to Jerusalem rejoicing.  The deepest cause of their sadness hadn’t been Jesus’ death.  Not even His death by crucifixion.  What was crushing their hearts is expressed in their words, “We had hoped that He was the one to redeem Israel.”  “We had hoped,” they said, with so pathetic a use of the past tense.  We hope no more, they say.  Their Master, Jesus, is dead in the grave.  They believe that buried with Jesus are all their hopes that He was the promised Messiah.  That ended their dream.  But, Jesus pointed them to the Word of God, where there’s a clear account of the Messiah’s suffering and His victory.  Had they only believed, they would’ve been spared much misery and avoided that false conception of the Messiah’s work.  They would’ve realized that this work was greater than they had believed, not to deliver a small nation from Ceasar’s rule and taxes but to deliver all nations from Satan’s rule.  Then they would’ve believed Christ’s own word that He would rise again, and what they saw on Good Friday couldn’t have brought them such despair.  And on Easter morning they wouldn’t have gone to the tomb to anoint a dead body but to meet a living Christ.

8.      It’s just when we go back to the old grind we remember “Christ is risen!” It’s just when we face a HUGE problem that we believe “Christ is risen!” It’s just when we stand at the grave of a loved one that we have hope because “Christ is risen!” It’s just when we find our steps heavy, our spirits sagging, and our hearts growing cold that we “hear and taste” in the Scriptures the goodness of the Lord (cf. Ps 34:8).

9.            Once again Jesus walks with us. He speaks to us in his Word. He opens to us the Scriptures. He opens our eyes to see. And our hearts are warmed. Sad hearts are filled with joy. Troubled hearts are filled with peace. Weak hearts are filled with strength. Doubtful and despairing hearts are filled with hope. Lukewarm hearts are filled with conviction. Cold hearts are burning with faith and hope.  We know and believe that there’s no sin he doesn’t forgive, there’s no hurt he doesn’t heal, and there’s no emptiness he doesn’t fill. Jesus brings our hearts from hopelessness to hearts burning with abounding joy!

10.  What a lesson for us!  As we walk along the path of life, how much grief we would spare ourselves.  How many disappointments, fears of the future, doubts of God’s love and the Savior’s constant care, if we only had a better knowledge of and a firmer trust in the Word of God.  If we would only and always remember that in His Word, Jesus comes to us and abides with us!  How blessed the assurance that there’s no time in our live when the risen Lord isn’t with us—in war and in peace, at work and at rest, in health and in sickness, in life and in death.  And when Jesus is with us, all is well.  That’s the blessing of Easter that we share with these two disciples.

11.  Prayer:  Abide with us Lord Jesus!  Abide in our homes and in our hearts.  Open our eyes to see You, our minds to know You, our hearts to give heed to You and to Your Word.  Be our companion on the way of life, and teach us in the perils of the day and in the darkness of the night to trust in Your loving care.  Above all, when the evening of our life turns into night, abide with us in that last trial, and keep us safe until we see You face to face in our Father’s house.  Amen.

This Is It???--1 Peter 1:3-5… Sermon for Easter 2A, April ‘14

1.                  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this morning as we continue to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus from the dead 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. It’s not the legacy that Michael Jackson was looking to have. It isn’t the perfect ending to an imperfect career! Some were angry. 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 Facebook 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 yearn 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 speak about our “Life Together” as the body of Christ, the Church.  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.

“The Christian Life- Death and Life in Jesus” Colossians 3.1–4, Easter Day Sermon, April ‘14

1.      He’s risen!  He’s risen, indeed!   Alleluia!  The message from God’s Word for us this glorious day we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead is taken from Colossians 3:1–4.  Here the Apostle Paul writes, “¹If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. ³For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”  The message is entitled, “The Christian Life—Death & Life in Jesus,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.      Did you notice how two times St. Paul says we’re supposed to be heavenly minded? He says it right away, “… set your hearts on things above … Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.” Set your mind, set your heart … In other words, set your focus on heaven. Be heavenly minded.

3.      Now in our day, the whole idea of heavenly mindedness is unappealing. Almost every phrase that we use in our modern language has to do with getting down to earth… To have your feet on the ground, to be a down-to-earth person … Everybody says, “That’s a good person, a down-to-earth person, feet on the ground.”  But, what does it mean to have your feet on the ground? You’re in touch. You know about reality. You understand how things really work. What does it mean to be heavenly minded? Well, we don’t even use the term, but there is a phrase, “That group of people is so heavenly minded they’re no earthly good.” Have you not heard that?

4.      So in our modern age we think of heavenly minded as people who are out of touch. People, who because their minds are, “set up in the clouds” really aren’t able to live life as it is. But that’s not true of what Paul is talking about. That’s not true of what he calls true heavenly mindedness. Not at all.  No, for St. Paul our lives are caught up in Jesus’ death and resurrection from the dead.  Because of this the Christian life is set towards the goal of heaven, since we have died and have been given new life in Christ!

5.      If you were to read on in Colossians 3 from verse 5 and on, you will see that once he tells you to be heavenly minded in the way he describes here, “Then, you’ll be able to put off greed. You’ll be able to put off lying. You’ll be able to put off anxiety. You’ll be able to put off anger and bitterness. You’ll be able to put off worry about material things.”  In other words, St. Paul says, “Those who are most heavenly minded, those who are most heavenly minded are the most earthly good.” They’re the people who are able to live life with the most freedom. They don’t get bitter even though things happen to them. They don’t get worried even though things happen to them. They move about in the world with freedom and power.  Now, why do you suppose that is?  Well, let’s look a little closer in our text from Colossians 3…

6.      In the Apostles’ Creed we confess that Jesus Christ died and rose again. Just suppose that on a given Sunday each of us substituted the word “I” for the name of Jesus. It would go like this: “I died and was buried. I rose again from the dead.” Sounds heretical, doesn’t it? And yet this is exactly what the apostle Paul is saying in our text.  The Christ who was delivered to death for our sins was raised to life for our salvation (Rom 4:25).

7.      On Good Friday we heard how God’s Son who had no sin became sin for us. We saw him on the tree of the cross, where he took our guilt and our punishment and died for our sins. We saw from a distance as he was buried.  If that is all there is to the story, we have been taken in, our faith is useless, those believers who have died are lost, and we are to be pitied more than all men (1 Cor 15:12–39).  But there’s more to the story, much more. On that first Sunday after Good Friday, our Savior Jesus defeated death and rose from his grave. The tomb was found empty. Jesus lives. Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!

8.      This brings us great joy, for it means that God has accepted the atoning sacrifice of his Son. We’ve been forgiven. We’re all the children of God by faith in Jesus Christ (Gal 3:26).  This brings us great joy for it means that Jesus has destroyed the power of death over us (see Rom 6:23; 1 Cor 15:21, 26, 55; 2 Tim 1:10; Heb 2:14; Rev 20:6).

9.      History tells that when the battle of Waterloo was being fought, people in England were dependent on a system of signals to learn how the battle was going. One such signal was on the tower of a cathedral. Late in the day it flashed the signal “Wellington defeated!” Just at that moment fog obscured the rest of the signal. The news of disaster spread throughout the city, leaving despair. Suddenly the fog lifted, and the remainder of the signal could be seen. The completed message read “Wellington defeated the enemy!” Sorrow was turned to joy. So it was on Easter when the gloom of Good Friday was turned to joy. Jesus had defeated the last great enemy, death (adapted from Herman Gockel, My Hand in His [St. Louis: Concordia, 1961] 20).  This brings us great joy for it means we will be raised to live with Christ in glory forever, where we will at last be free of all burdens (see Jn 6:40; 10:28; 11:25–26; 14:1–3).

10.  An elderly man with many burdens often walked in the park, stopping at a bench to rest. One day he found a piece of chalk and began to list his various burdens on the back of the bench. At last, he wrote: If there be any who have no burdens, would they please remove one of mine. Each day he returned to the park and the bench only to discover that his list of burdens was still complete. One day it began to rain and soon his list was washed away. Looking up he exclaimed, “That’s right; only in heaven will my burdens be removed.”  That man learned that the Christian life is death and life in Jesus!

11.  As children of God through faith in Christ, our lives are a daily dying and rising with Jesus.  We’ve become so heavenly minded that we are of some earthly good.  In the power of the Holy Spirit, working in our Baptism, we died to sin (the old nature) and came alive to Christ (the new nature; see Rom 6:3–4; Col 2:12).

12.  This impacts our lives on a daily basis.  As people who belong to the living Christ, we say a daily no to sin, which St. Paul refers to as earthly things in Col. 3:2. In Colossians 3:5-9 Paul writes, “5Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6On account of these the wrath of God is coming. 7In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices.”   As people who belong to the living Christ, we say a daily yes to God’s will.  And what does this new life in Christ look like where we are so heavenly minded that we are of earthly good?  St. Paul says later in Col. 3, “12Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” Our motivation for such a life is the cross of Christ and His empty tomb and not a set of laws by which we hope to justify ourselves (Col 2:20–23).

13.    Although our lives are now hidden with Christ in God, we shall fully enjoy our Lord’s glory when he comes again (vv 3–4).   Within two weeks a family lost three of its four children from disease. Only a four-year-old was left. The third child had been buried two weeks before Easter. On Easter the parents and remaining child went to church. The mother told her Sunday school class about the resurrection of Christ. The father read the Easter story as he led devotions. People who knew of their loss wondered how they could do it. On the way home, a 16-year-old asked his father, “Dad, that couple must really believe everything about the Easter story, don’t they?” “Of course they believe it,” responded his father. “All Christians do.” “But not as they do,” said the boy (adapted from Donald Deffner, Seasonal Illustrations [San Jose: Resource Publications, 1992] 55).  Easter means that we’re forgiven. Easter means the assurance of God’s love and the certainty of eternal life in heaven. Oh, the joy! He is risen! He is risen, indeed!  Amen.

“It’s All about Life,” Mark 16.1–7, Easter Sunday Sunrise, ‘14

1.      Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Today each of us says it with great joy, “It’s all about Jesus and it’s all about life!” We see it in the life of the disciple Peter, with whom we’ve traveled these past weeks of Lent. We’ve seen Peter in all kinds of sins—pride, complacency, misunderstanding Jesus’ mission, distant discipleship, keeping bad company, denial, even turning down Jesus’ gift of cleansing. On Friday we saw Peter declaring the penalty of all those sins: death. But today we see Peter being welcomed back to life. We see it for ourselves as well, because that’s what Easter is all about.  Easter is about life—life after sin and life after death! 

2.      Early Easter morning, three women came to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus. Mark 16 says, “Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were alarmed” (v 5). They get a message straight from an angel: “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you” (vv 6–7). 

3.      Go tell his disciples and Peter. Why did the angel single out Peter by name—Peter who boasted he would never forsake Jesus (pride!), Peter who slept when he should have prayed (complacency!), Peter who thought he was the one to save the day by striking out with a sword at Jesus’ arrest (misunderstanding!), Peter who followed only from a distance as Jesus was condemned (distant discipleship!), Peter who lingered with Jesus’ enemies (bad company!), Peter who denied the Lord three times, Peter who didn’t think he needed Jesus’ cleansing? If the angel had excluded Peter, we would understand. 

4.      But this is the Gospel. There’s life after Peter’s sin. Go tell his disciples and Peter that he has risen. Peter, who wept bitterly after his denial of Jesus, is to hear, “He has risen.” The cross was for Peter. Jesus’ death was for Peter. The resurrection was for Peter. Now there is forgiveness for Peter. Now there is life after sin’s death for Peter. 

5.      Peter’s experiences are a mirror in which we see ourselves. Sin had caused many of Peter’s responses. Sin causes many of our responses as well. Sin tells us a great variety of lies.  Here are some examples. Sinful pride tells me I’m number one with God because I’ve sinned less or done more good than all the rest. Sin tells me that God and the spiritual side of life can wait. Work, sleep, fun, and making it in life come first. Sin tells me I know better than God what I need, what I should do, or what’s right or wrong. Sin tells me it’s all right to follow Jesus at a distance—following Jesus only when there’s no persecution or when it doesn’t cost me anything. Sin tells me I can handle bad company, I can handle the drug scene, I can handle pornography, and I won’t get hurt. Sin tells me it’s all right to turn my back on God when I’m in a tight spot, when it seems that I’m safer or better off or accepted by people if I’m an anonymous Christian. Sin tells me to blend in with the crowd, even when it’s wrong. Don’t say, for example, that you’re opposed to abortion and why. It’s not politically correct. Sin tells me all this is all right, this is the way to life that’s real. 

6.      But sin is telling me lies. This is not life. This is death to everything and everyone I touch with my sin. This is death to me. Sin is walking with death, and the destination is hell.

7.      But this day is about life. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! What a turnaround from Good Friday’s death. Take one more look at that death. Everything that sin does was done to Jesus when he hung on that cross. All that sin has done in us, with us, and to us was on him on that cross. All the sin that is lived out in our thoughts, words, and deeds was on Jesus when he hung on that cross. He was guilty with it. Jesus suffered for it. He died for it. Now Jesus is alive again! There’s been a resurrection! That validates the cross and what happened there. Look what happened to sin. Jesus absorbed it, paid for it, and overcame it in his death and resurrection. St. Paul says, “[He] was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Rom 4:25).

8.      The cross and the resurrection mean that now there’s life after sin. Life is great after sin. You are justified. That means God says you’re not guilty. You are right with God. You are at peace with God. You’re no longer hell-bound. You’re heaven-bound. You are alive in Christ, and Christ is alive in you. Your sins are no longer unto death. You can repent. “If we confess our sins,” writes St. John, “he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 Jn 1:9).

9.      Peter, who fell so deeply in so many ways, is called by name. Tell his disciples and Peter. God knows you personally, by name. Hear God speak to you through the pen of Isaiah: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine” (Is 43:1).

10.  This day is all about life. It’s very practical for life, both today and tomorrow. “Go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going before you to Galilee” (v 7). Galilee was home to the disciples. Today Galilee means home to you, where you live, where you work, where you go to school. The living Christ goes before you. He, who mastered sin and death, is your resource. You are alive in him, and he is alive in you. Is it hard to love, to forgive, to care, to give of yourself in your marriage, in your home, at school, in your work, in church? He enables you for all of that. You grow into it, because you’re alive in Christ. St. Paul put it this way for us: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20).

11.  This day is all about life—yes, also life after physical death. Christ died in his body and rose in his body.  In his appearance to his doubting disciples, he said in Luke 24, “ ‘Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.’ And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, ‘Have you anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate before them” (Lk 24:38–43).

12.  The crucified Christ is alive again. Resurrection has already begun. We who are joined to him in Baptism are next. We go through death and burial as Jesus did. Until the resurrection, we’re with Christ. But resurrection is coming. Physical death is temporary. We will live again, in our bodies, at the resurrection. Right now the clock is ticking toward that day. Listen to St. Paul: “[God] has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:31). It won’t be long. Your name is written in heaven (Lk 10:20).

13.  This day is all about life, life after sin, life after physical death, life in the risen Christ. It’s all about life now and more life to come.  Amen.

“God Justifies the Ungodly” Is. 52.13-53.12, Good Friday Sermon for St. John Chester Midday Service, April ‘14

1.                        In the name of Jesus!  Amen.  Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the message from God’s Word for us on this Friday we call GOOD is taken from Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and it’s entitled, “God Justifies the Ungodly.” 

2.                       Many people believe that God punishes bad people and rewards good people. But, the gospel says that God justifies the ungodly. What does that mean? It means that God declares guilty people innocent. It means that God treats bad people as if they were good people. That’s a scandal. Are you open to the miracle of the gospel? However you define virtue and vice, you have a sense of right and wrong because of the conscience God has given you. You form judgments. You expect God to. But, how can he justify the ungodly? 

3.                       It’s a good thing he does. Every one of us is ungodly, and we know it. We’ve failed to be the people we ought to be. A deep unease about ourselves is why we live in denial. When we discover the excuses of our politicians, for example, we demand their honesty. But do we require the same honesty of ourselves? Isn’t cover-up the self-righteous strategy of every guilty conscience? Isn’t that why we blame others? Finger-pointing is one of our favorite devices for self-justification. The next time you have a fight with your spouse, one of your other family members, a member of your congregation, your coworker, or whoever, ask yourself this: Why are you so passionate to be found right? Isn’t it because you’re not sure you really are? Isn’t it because you need to reassure yourself?

4.                       There’s a reason why we shift the blame.  Why we try to justify ourselves. There’s a reason why our problems are always someone else’s fault. There’s a reason why parents blame their children and husbands blame wives and so forth. The reason we continually pass the buck is that we know we can’t bear our own guilt. We want so desperately for others to bear it for us. So we dump it on them, without even noticing what’s happening in our thoughts. This is a major source of tension in our homes, workplaces, and churches.

5.                       Every one of us needs a scapegoat. In the gospel Jesus says to us, “I’m the willing scapegoat of the world. At my cross, it’s my business to be crushed under the unbearable guilt of others. It’s my role to bear away other people’s guilt. That’s what I do, because I love guilty people. If you’ll trust me, here’s the deal. I’ll take your sin, your guilt your shame and in exchange I’ll give to you my righteousness and holiness.  Is that arrangement acceptable to you? Or, will you continue to cope with your guilt by your own devices?”

6.                       So do you believe what Isaiah tells us on this Good Friday that God justifies the ungodly through Jesus’ death on the cross? One reason why people will always object to the Bible’s message is that it begins by telling them the truth about their sin. It’s bound to make more enemies than friends because it always humbles before it helps. It shames before it saves. Listen to some of the words Isaiah used to explain the nature of the sin for which Christ suffered punishment.  In Isaiah 53:5 the prophet writes, “He was pierced for our transgressions.” God the Father had designed our first parents, Adam & Eve, to belong to him. But, Adam & Eve, just like us, preferred to be independent instead of finding their place in life surrendering to a loving Father.  They said to God, “Not your will be done Lord, but Adam & Eve’s will be done.”  So Isaiah 53:5 continues, “He was crushed for our iniquities.” The word translated “iniquities” refers to the load of guilt our sin brought upon us. Sin isn’t only the action of breaking faith with God, it also makes us guilty before him.

7.                       In Isaiah 53:6 the prophet writes, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” Creatures designed for God have chosen instead to turn in upon themselves and attempt to live independently of God. And God considers that rebellion. It’s God’s nature to hate evil and to destroy it, not because he has a violent temper but because evil is the opposite of what God is.  A holy God, who is without a trace of wrong, punishes every sin. He’s therefore, a God who must punish you for your sin. This is the harsh message God’s law announces.

8.                       But, the message of God’s law isn’t God’s final word to us. The One who has the right to condemn us found a way to pardon us without violating his own justice. God the Father worked out a costly solution involving the principle of substitution. He asked his Son Jesus to accept as his own our ungodly status, to accept the curse that our sin had brought upon our heads.

9.                       Isaiah paints a great picture of what this exchange meant for Christ. Jesus was despised, rejected by God and man, pierced, crushed, and wounded. He endured the full punishment of the law, but not because he deserved it. No, we deserved what he endured. So from his perspective, the exchange was brutal. In exchange for our sins, we receive what we don’t deserve.  Isaiah reminds us that the cross of Jesus justifies ungodly people like us.

10.                   Here in our text Isaiah is telling us that Jesus paid a debt he didn’t owe because we owed a debt we couldn’t pay. It means that God has declared every person who ever lived to be perfectly covered with Jesus’ perfection. Martin Luther puts these words into the mouth of the Savior: “Sin has only two places where it can rest—either on your neck, or on mine. If it rests on your neck, you bear the punishment. If it rests on my neck, I bear the punishment, and you go free. Choose, therefore, which it will be.”

11.                   The cross of Jesus isn’t a dreamy religious ideal. The cross is a power. Through the cross Jesus is saving guilty and ungodly people like you and me today. He treats transgressors as his friends and shares his victory with his former enemies. He stands before the Father, making intercession for the very ones who drove him to death. His cross is a power that evil can’t conquer or even understand, but to God it’s everything. Nothing will ever rob our Lord Jesus of his hard-won right to justify the ungodly.  Who else can love you so miraculously and helpfully? Who else would willingly serve as your scapegoat?

12.                   We can respond in either of two ways to what Isaiah tells us about the cross of Christ. One response is to say, “No, that can’t be true. It can’t be that simple.” Isaiah reminds us that it wasn’t that easy or simple. On the cross Jesus did the most costly thing ever. He suffered the hell of God’s holy wrath against sinners like us, rather than we having to bear it ourselves. If there had been an easier way, God would have found it.

13.                   And, what’s the other response? We believe the gospel. We stop making excuses for our sins against God and our neighbor.  We stop trying to self-justify ourselves. That pile of garbage called our moral superiority over other sinners, which can’t offset our guilt before God but only make things worse—we admit the ugly truth of it all. We believe in Jesus crucified for sinners like us and receive his grace with the empty hands of faith through God’s Word and Sacraments.

14.                   So how should we respond to what Isaiah tells us about Jesus our Suffering Savior this Good Friday?  Isaiah reminds us that we all must admit that we’ve all gone too far to get ourselves off the hook. Let Jesus your Scapegoat bear your guilt away through his death on the cross, and God will never bring it up again.  Jesus’s cross justifies ungodly people like us.  When you feel burdened by the guilt and weight of your sins, take your sins to Christ. Tell him everything. This is his promise: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).  May the message of the cross of Christ give you comfort that your sins are forgiven through the blood that he shed for you on this Good Friday.  Amen.

“It’s All about Death,” Acts 2.22–24, 37–38, Good Friday, ‘14

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.  From the viewpoint of Pentecost, Peter helps us to understand the crime, the criminals, and all who are involved. Who is involved in this Good Friday murder scene? God the Father is involved. Jesus is involved. The Jews are involved. Pontius Pilate is involved. Anyone else? Peter addresses his hearers on Pentecost saying in Acts chapter 2, “This Jesus . . . you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” (v 23). And the well-known spiritual won’t let it go: “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” (LSB 456:1). The answer: “They crucified my Lord. Yes, they did. But, yes! You! Me!” We crucified the Lord, just as Peter said.

2.                  The physical murder weapons in this crime were the scourging, the nails, the cross. But, the weapon behind those weapons was sin, the sin of all humanity. That murder weapon accuses us all. The net of guilt reaches everywhere, all the way back to the first man who lived, and all the way forward to the last person who will yet live. That means you and I are also caught in the net of guilt.  What a terrible weapon we have with our sin. The weapon is turned on ourselves. It’s all there in our heart—malice, hatred, greed, lying, gossip, slander, pride, and self-righteousness. All these things set our lives on a course of death.

3.                  Look how we step out on that course of death with our words and deeds. Look what murders marriage and family life—lovelessness, selfishness, unfaithfulness, words and deeds that stab and wound. Look what murders life in the workplace—greed, envy, jealousy, dishonesty, making a god of material things. Look what murders life in the Church—grudges, hard feelings, neglect of Word and Sacrament, lack of participation, the attitude of “I’m not available for anything.” And we are the murderers. 

4.                  After a killing rampage across our lives, sin kills us. “The soul who sins shall die” (Ezek l8:4). “The wages of sin is death” (Rom 6:23). Sin is thorough. It’s the weapon of total death—spiritual, physical, and eternal death. Even then sin isn’t finished. Listen to Peter: “You killed the Author of life” (Acts 3:15). Has there ever been a greater crime? You killed the Son of God! We were there when they crucified our Lord. The murder weapon is our sin. 

5.                  What’s the reaction? “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ ” (v 37). Do you hear the concern, the alarm, and the panic in those words? There was no question of the verdict. They knew they’d been caught holding the smoking gun. And their desperation echoes in the hearts of each of us. 

6.                  But listen. Here’s the reason to call this Friday good. It’s here in Peter’s answer for those first hearers and for you and me. “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (v 38). Doesn’t that make you breathe a huge sigh of relief? Do you know what that means? It means sin, that lethal weapon, has been neutralized. It means there’s hope. There’s a way out of death. There’s forgiveness! 

7.                  What we see on Good Friday is sin at large—evil, injustice, pain, suffering, and death. But Peter tells us God is in control of everything. Sin is carrying out its terrible mission, but Peter tells us it all has to serve God’s purpose. Peter says in Acts chapter 2 that it all happened with God’s “definite plan and foreknowledge” (v 23). 

8.                  What’s God doing here? One of our Lenten hymns puts it well. “ ‘Go forth, My Son,’ the Father said, ‘And free My children from their dread Of guilt and condemnation’ ” (“A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth,” LSB 438:2). The Son answers, “Yes, Father, yes, most willingly . . . I’ll do what You have asked Me” (st. 3). So Jesus goes to the cross with all our sin and guilt. He “[bears] our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet 2:24). He suffers the death that follows sin, more than physical death, the death of hell. He tastes death for everyone (Heb 2:9). This is the Father’s wrath and judgment on our sins, but borne willingly by his Son, all for our salvation. Because Jesus was guilty with our sin, the Father declares us not guilty. The theological word for that is justification. The practical meaning for us is this: because God made Jesus to be sin for us, he now sees us without sin. Because Jesus suffered hell for us, we don’t have to go to hell. How do we know for sure? Acts 2 says, “God raised [Jesus] up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it” (v 24). 

9.                  Over the darkness of Good Friday we see the dawning of Easter, the rising glow of the sunrise—acquittal, new innocence, a new life with God.  This day is all about murder, death, our death, inflicted by our sin. This day is all about his death, for us, in our place. So bask the amazing verdict. Look at the cross and hear Isaiah’s “not guilty”: “He was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Is 53:5–6). Hear St. Paul: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” (Eph 1:7). Hear the “not guilty” from St. Peter: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Pet 3:18). Hear the verdict from St. John, “The blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn 1:7). This is God’s good work through that bloody, sin-scarred cross. 

10.              St. Peter said, “Repent and be baptized” (v 38). See in your repentance godly sorrow for sin and then forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus. See in your Baptism all God has to give. You are born again to be a child of God. You are reconciled to God. You have forgiveness from God. You have new life with God. See in all of this the gift of the Holy Spirit, who has worked repentance in you.  The Holy Spirit, who made you alive with God in your Baptism, who continues to keep you growing as a person who is no longer dead, but alive in Christ. 

11.              This day is all about death, our Lord’s death. But more than that, it’s about how he died. “It is finished” (Jn 19:30). “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Lk 23:46). Good Friday ends in death for Jesus, but a release for us.  This is the story of Jesus, Peter, and each of us. Amen.