Author: TechCommittee

June 11, 2023 Text:  Matthew 9:9-13

Dear Friends in Christ,

What do you do around your table?  We all eat at a table.  How many family discussions happen there?  At the Lueck house we’ve discussed college decisions, family vacations, finances, funeral arrangements and what color to paint a room.  What is on the agenda at your family table?

Today you are invited to join a table.  You can even recline.  Kick back, relax, you are eating with Jesus today.  Sounds good, but we still wonder . . .

“WHO’S AT THE TABLE?”

This table in the house of a man called Matthew.  Matthew has a nice job.  He probably bid for his job with Herod and since money talks, he was assigned as a tax collector.  This meant he could levy a high tax and pocket some of the money.  He is not well-liked because everyone knows what is going on.  Do you want to enter his house and still sit at the table?

Jesus does.  The people are not sitting.  We might call it lounging.  The table is short, and the people are gathered and reclining on their left side.  If you have ever eaten with someone from the Middle East, then you know that the meal is communal and laid back.  The food might just be dumped in a big pile, and you eat with your fingers.  There is a lot of fellowship and visiting.  Their customs have not changed in thousands of years.  Pull up a pillow and enjoy.

But can you enjoy a meal with a tax collector?  These people are greedy.  Pocketing money, buying stuff, dishonest.  But you join.  Inflation, especially the cost of groceries, is cutting into your income.  You are concerned about your investments.  Are taxes going up again?  You get anxious.  So, when the Lord calls for giving and generosity, you think mostly of yourself.  Open the tightened fist, because it’s really not your money.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom. 3:23). Who shouldn’t be reclining with Jesus?  We shouldn’t be.

Another group at the table are the “sinners.”  Let’s narrow that down to prostitutes.  They sell their body for money or drugs.  The sanctity of sexuality is lost.  Sex sells instead of being a sacred gift for husband and wife.  Are we under this umbrella?  Things are exploited, exposed, explicit.  It is difficult to turn away.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Who shouldn’t be eating with Jesus?  We shouldn’t be.

What other sinners are at the table?  Those who can’t control their mouths.  Filthy words.  Coarse talk.  Do we ever find this at our table?  Lashing out with hateful words.  Posting something about someone that isn’t true.  Not calling out the profanity you hear.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Who shouldn’t be in the same room with Jesus?  We shouldn’t be.

Standing off to the side are the Pharisees with their questions.  Condescending as they compare themselves with those at the table.  We too stand off to the side and make judgments.  We get things wrong because we are lazy and don’t take the time to know the truth.  We compare ourselves with others to feel better.  “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Waiter, get me out of here, I shouldn’t be eating with Jesus.

And yet there is a welcome from this Jesus.  He has invited me?  Really?  This meal brought people together.  No reservations.  No prime spots around the table.  When Jesus welcomes sinners, everything changes.  This table is a time of warm fellowship, and the invitation includes everyone.

It may be the house of Matthew, but the host is Jesus.  He speaks and everyone listens.  The Pharisees go after Jesus, not Matthew.  Why is Jesus doing this?  Why be so hospitable to these sinful people?  Because they need Jesus.  They need his mercy.  His mercy flows from the sacrifice of himself.  Let’s finish the sentence I’ve been repeating from Romans, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Jesus left a table the night he was betrayed.  He heads to the table of the cross.  He leaves the Holy City and on the cross he shows his mercy.  He shows mercy by sacrificing himself.  All the greed, all the lust, all the worry, all the condescension – all of it, he has taken on himself.  His sacrifice brings his mercy of forgiveness.  Jesus welcomes us with this forgiveness.

He would rise three days later from the dead.  Not long after he would be at another meal.  This one at the shoreline.  With the disciples.  Jesus provides the meal with 153 fish.  After finishing the meal, at a literal table where things get solved, Jesus restores Peter who had denied him.  He welcomed him back into the family, back to the table of Christ’s mercy for all eternity.

You are welcomed at a table.  We call it an altar.  Jesus is the host.  Jesus welcomes us with his body and blood given and shed on the cross for our forgiveness, life, and salvation.  We receive mercy.  We receive sacrifice.  We fellowship.  We leave the table, following him.  Our greed is transformed to generosity.  We use the gift of sexuality rightly within marriage.  We use our words to encourage not tear down.  We respect others and lift them up.  We show mercy.

The table is ready.  The host, Jesus our Savior, welcomes you.

Amen.    

June 4, 2023 – Trinity Sunday         Text:  Genesis 1:1-2:4a

Dear Friends in Christ,

Where do you see the beauty of God’s creation?  For us flatlanders sometimes we don’t always see it.  We see it in the mountains.  Last summer for the Lueck’s the Rockies were beautiful, love the mountains.  How about standing on a beach staring at the vast ocean?  The only place that ever felt different when I arrived was Hawaii.  When Toni and I got off the plane on our honeymoon, the place had a feel I had never experienced.  What a wonderful place to view what the Lord crafted for us.

The Old Testament Reading for this Trinity Sunday is how the true God, the Holy Trinity, created everything.  And it tells us a lot more than how this beautiful creation came about.

“IN THE CREATION, WE LEARN THE TRUE ESSENCE OF THE TRIUNE GOD”

We should love God’s creation as it is laid out in Genesis.  But we can’t make creation our god.  We can’t say we are worshipping God on a golf course, in a boat or hiking a mountain.  He comes to us in His Word and Sacrament in this sanctuary.

We are here because we believe the creation account.  Many do not and this leads to a myriad of problems.  If everything got here by a series of random events, what’s the point?  What are we living for?  Somebody has to be behind all of this, and it is not a middleman using evolution.  God has all the power and wisdom.  Just listen to this.

“Let there be light!” – there is!  Day 2 brings the atmosphere around the earth, to prepare for what follows.  Day 3:  dry land and the basics of food everyone needs.  Day 4 we get sun, moon, stars.  Think of this:  Evolution could never set plants before the sun by billions of years, because the plants then couldn’t conduct photosynthesis.  On the other hand, for one day, God did just that – and He provided the light and warmth.  The next day come the birds and fish.  Food. And the following day more food for our bodies as the other animals are created.  Each day “God saw that it was good.  This is the essence of God.  “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”

Now verse 26:  “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’” Today is Trinity Sunday, when we consider the incomprehensible reality of one God in three persons.  You heard the hints of the Trinity in those verses, didn’t you?  God said, “Let us make man in our image.” – plural.  Already at creation we see the Holy Spirit moving on the waters.  The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were all working together in the creation, even talking it over.

We learn the most about the true essence of God when He created man.  “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’  So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him; male and female he created them…And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (v. 26-27, 31)

Why did God create man and do all the work of creating?  Did He want to show off his brilliant engineering skill and create a world that didn’t collapse in on itself?  Did He want to show off His artistic genius?  No, He created this beautiful engineering marvel for us, you and I, to live in.

Why create us?  God is all about loving.  From all eternity, before anyone or anything existed, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were in a relationship.  The Father loves the Son.  The Son receives the Father’s love.  The Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son to deliver and share that love.  That tells why “he created them male and female.”  He loves us and He wants His creation to continue in that love.  God is our Father and our Brother.  That is the best part of the true essence of God.

We top it off with this.  God created us even though He knew it would cost his own life.  This all-wise God was not caught by surprise when we sinned.  He knew all along we’d sin; He knew from eternity.  He knew that when we sinned, we would have to be cut off from Him forever in hell unless He took our sin upon himself.  And He knew that taking our sin upon himself meant Jesus, the Son, would have to die for it on the cross.  The Father knew if He created us he’d have to give up His Son to death and hell.  And He did it anyway.

None of us would do that.  If I have a child, another child of mine will have to die?  Our hearts don’t think that way.  Here is the essence of the triune God:  He did!  The Father says, “I’ll give up my Son.”  The Son says, “Most willingly, I’ll do it.”  And the Holy Spirit is telling the world so that we receive the eternal life it brings.

Never miss what God has done even in flatland central Illinois.  We help to feed the world.  We are blessed beyond compare when you look at what the Lord has provided us.  The Triune God has been so good.  The whole universe is His.  Look what He did to provide you an eternal future.  That’s the true essence of the triune, the one true God.

Amen.        

May 28, 2023 – Pentecost Text:  John 16:5-11

Dear Friends in Christ,

We all know what it is like to speak with a counselor.  Oh, maybe you’ve never gone to see your Pastor or a counselor in an office, but you have been counseled by a parent, a teacher, a coach, a trusted friend.  I have the privilege to do a lot of counseling.  One of the keys is to be a good listener but then to speak words of guidance and wisdom.  Now, sometimes the counselee doesn’t want to hear what they need to do.  That shouldn’t stop the counselor.  The truth needs to be spoken.

This is what the Holy Spirit does.  He speaks the truth that needs to be spoken – both to the believer and to the unbeliever.  This is what Jesus is describing in our text, how the Holy Spirit will speak.

“COUNSELING WITH CONVICTION”

The text says, “When he (the Holy Spirit) comes he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgement.” (v. 8). He will counsel the world with conviction.  If a person is “convicted” of wrongdoing, do they believe they have done wrong or not?  That depends on the sense of the word.  To be “convicted” of something may mean exactly that they do believe, and powerfully.  Many people, we say, have “strong convictions.”  But many criminals are also “convicted,” found guilty of crimes they never admit, crimes they refuse to take responsibility for.  Their “conviction” is not their own solid belief, but rather the solid belief of the jury.  The Holy Spirit will convict the world.  He may give us strong convictions, but He certainly declares us guilty of sin.

Jesus had to go away for the Counselor, the Holy Spirit to come.  We just celebrated that a week ago Thursday on Ascension Day.  Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Father where he rules.  Counselor can also be translated here as “Helper.”  In the time of Jesus, it was a legal term that referred to any person who helped someone in trouble with the law.  The Holy Spirit will always stand by Christ’s people. 

The Counselor convicts us in regard to  sin and judgment.  That is the Law.  He wants us to see that we can be pretty awful people at times.  You know the feeling down in the pit of your stomach when you have messed up.  We are the prisoner that stands there hearing the guilty verdict.  Are we off to prison?  Will we be locked up forever?

No.  Because our Counselor stands with us.  He convicts us in regard to righteousness.  What is righteousness?  It is what we enjoy because of Christ’s sacrificial death.  We are saved from prison.  We are not locked up forever.  We have freedom because of the cross.  We have free will because of the empty tomb.  We have a forever home in heaven where Christ has ascended to.  The prince of the world now stands condemned – we are free! 

No one but the Holy Spirit can reveal to a person that a righteous status before God does not depend on good works but on Christ’s death on the cross.  Our Counselor speaks words of guidance, and truth, and wisdom.  He is a helper and a comforter. 

Counselors use words.  The Counselor uses the Word.  On Pentecost Sunday, the Church is empowered to use the Word.  We are to go into all the world.  Through water and the Word we all have been made “counselors” for the Lord Jesus.  Every time that we speak faithfully God’s Word we are counseling.  Every time we share God’s Word with a hurting person we are counseling.  Even if are words are done in a halting manner, the Holy Spirit can still use for His purpose.  We can counsel with comfort and with conviction.  People need to hear the truth not only of their sin but of the saving work of Christ in their lives.  

This Helper, this Holy Spirit, this Counselor is such a blessing to us.  He is counseling through us.  The Counselor comes to you. 

Amen.  

May 14, 2023               Text:  Acts 17:16-31

Dear Friends in Christ,

With the advent of online banking, bill paying, and credit card payments a problem arises people get their identity stolen.  And to think in college we got our grades by our social security number.  It was hanging in Schroeder and Stevenson Hall for all to see.  A few years back I knew someone who did have their identity stolen.  It was a mess.  Bank accounts opened, purchases made, and phone call after phone call trying to get things back to normal.  It took them well over a year to finally have their identity back.

What is your identity?  Is who you are a self-construction, or are you instead a creation of someone else, namely God?  The people in Athens have a problem with who they are.  They are not the product of the one, true God, but the product of many gods.  Paul, not shy about confrontation, addresses them in our text.  We are reminded that we have . . .

“OUR IDENTITY IN JESUS CHRIST”

Athens was a city of many idol statues and temples.  The most prominent was Athena, patron goddess of the city.  Whose temple was the Parthenon.  Because of Paul’s location in the Areopagus, when he spoke to the Athenians, he could see the Parthenon.  He spoke to two philosophies – Epicureanism and Stoicism.

The Epicureans were seeking a pleasurable life, but not in a sensual way.  The Stoics stressed the natural order of nature, and they urged people to accept their fate within it.  We don’t talk much today about being Epicurean, but we still call people stoic – without emotion.

These people were so confused about who they worshipped that Paul found “an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown God.” (v. 23).  Because they had so many gods, they didn’t want to miss one.  They built “temples made by man” so that their gods had a place to live.  Isn’t that nice?  Their identity was all confused.

I chuckle at people who say the Bible is outdated or doesn’t address the problems of today.  They miss what is right in front of them.  Man and woman have no idea who they are today.  They become a symbol or a letter in a jumble of letters.  Why are people killing themselves or others at an alarming rate?  Because they have no idea who they are.  They don’t fit in.  Isn’t it amazing that the people who don’t believe in God, are the ones telling everyone else what to do?  These were the people in Athens. 

Paul had a gift.  When he addressed the men of Athens, he called them “religious.”  He uses the term in a neutral manner, neither insulting nor condoning.  By doing it this way, these men were more likely to listen to what he had to say.  Here is what he says, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.  And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward him and find him.  Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, for ‘In him we live and move and have our being.’” (vs. 24-28a)

There is our identity.  We are God’s creation.  He gave us life and breath.  He determined we will live on earth at this time in her history.  We live and move and have our being in God.  We know God because he became human, flesh and blood.  Jesus was precious but his sacrifice was needed on the cross so that we didn’t just identify with our sin.  We have our identity in Baptism, “God’s own child, I gladly say it.”  We have our identity in being living saints awaiting our glorious transport to heaven.  Christ says these words in our Gospel, “Because I live, you also will live.” (Jn. 14:19)

Paul ends with these words so appropriate for the world’s folly, “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.” (vs. 30-31)

How do you take those words?  Scared?  Happy? Content?  For the identity of the believer, they are the assurance of what we have in Christ.  As repentant believers, we need not fear judgment.  We know who we are.  This is another reminder to you hanging on the ledge of your house, that God knows what He is doing.  Trust him.  Believe his words.  We live in “times of ignorance” that you might feel God is overlooking.  But he has patience.  He has a plan.  He wants every man and man come to a knowledge of the truth in Christ Jesus.  That is where our identity comes in.  This is the purpose we have.  We share the message like Paul.  Maybe we can’t get an audience like the leaders of Athens, but don’t we know someone worshipping “an unknown god” who is misguided?  

If you read the verses just past the text, you will see some mocked Paul, but some believed.  Your witness can make a difference.  When you know who you are in Christ, people see that.  Christian believer.  That is an identity that cannot be stolen from you.

Amen.      

May 7, 2023               Text:  John 14:1-14

Dear Friends in Christ,

While I still like my Rand McNally Atlas when traveling I have gotten used to the directions that are pulled up on Toni’s phone.  But the system is not foolproof.  Last year when we were searching for our house in Savannah, Georgia, the directions took us over the large bridge there and into an area with just a hotel, golf course, and Department of Transportation.  No house.  We recalibrated and found our destination.  When we, or mostly I, want to go a different route than the one prescribed you get that annoying, “make a U-turn in 100 feet.”

Like the directions on the phone can send us the wrong way, so many people in our world are headed the wrong way in seeking God.  There is only one right way and Jesus clearly spells it out in our text, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.” (v. 6)

In today’s Gospel Jesus makes statements like that that are very bold.  For starters, He thinks He is the Son of his Father, the Son of God.  Jesus backs up this claim throughout the book of John.  All that the Father is and does is equally embodied and personified in the Son.

“LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON”

Too often we take for granted the way Jesus lets the words “my Father” slip so naturally from his lips as in “my Father’s house” (v. 2) and “known my Father.” (v. 7). These words were shocking and brazen.  As Leon Morris comments:  “The expression ‘My Father’ is noteworthy.  It was not the way Jews usually referred to God.  Usually they spoke of ‘our Father,’ and while they might use ‘My Father’ in prayer they would qualify it with ‘in heaven’ or some other expression to remove the suggestion of familiarity.  Jesus did no such thing, here or elsewhere.  He habitually thought of God as in the closest relationship to Himself.  The expression implies a claim which the Jews did not miss.”  Like Father, Like Son.

Jesus speaks the very words of God.  They are the “words of eternal life.” (John 6:63). They are spoken by the one who is “the truth.” (v. 6). 

Jesus does the very works of God.  Jesus has the power to bestow life as we see in His miracles of raising the dead.  Jesus is Creator.  “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1-3). Jesus is the world’s Judge.  John 5:22 says, “The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.”  Jesus is Savior.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son. That whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17)  Like Father, Like Son.

Jesus reveals the very character of God.  Jesus is truth and faithfulness together.  True to his word, Jesus faithfully carried out the mission he was sent to do by his Father.  His mission was to save you and I from our damning sin.  His mission was to save us from hell.  His mission was to save us from the devil.  His mission took Him to a cross and to a tomb that was found empty.  And true to his word, this same Jesus will “come again and take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (v. 3). We will be with Him in His Father’s house.  Like Father, Like Son.

Jesus works and words confront every human with the question “Who is this man?”  When we have grasped the “who”, the “what he came to do” falls in place.  The Gospel today shows that Jesus is God incarnate.  To know Jesus is to know God.  To see Jesus is to see God.  No one short of God could do the things he said and do the things he did.  When Jesus made statements like “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), he was identifying himself not just with the Father’s works and ways but with his very being.  Like Father, Like Son.

C.S. Lewis the former agnostic from Cambridge turned Christian wrote:  “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about (Jesus):  ‘I’m ready to (believe) Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’  That is the one thing we must not say.  A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher.  He would either be a lunatic – on level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell.  You must make your choice.  Either this man was, and is, the Son of God:  or else a madman or something worse.”

Because he is who he is and did what he did, he will also make good on his promise to do what he said.  It is a promise we hold dear:  “In my Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3)

Like Father, Like Son . . . for us.

Amen.  

April 30, 2023         Text:  Psalm 23

Dear Friends in Christ,

One of the most famous one-hit wonder songs of the 1970’s was “Seasons In The Sun.”  Sung by Terry Jacks its words were about a man who was dying.  Here is one verse, “Goodbye, papa, please pray for me, I was the black sheep of the family, You tried to teach me right from wrong, Too much wine and too much song, Wonder how I got along.”

The black sheep of the family?  What does that mean?  We define it as someone different from the rest, a family member who doesn’t fit in.  In the song the young man has some “prodigal son” in him and that makes him the “black sheep of the family.”

A black sheep has a recessive gene that makes their wool black.  Their wool is less valuable because the wool cannot be dyed.  Many languages of our world have some form of “black sheep” in their vernacular.

Do we have any amongst us today who were the “black sheep of the family?”  Or were all of you the nice, white sheep that always followed the voice of your dad and mom?  I am going this way in the sermon today – we are all black sheep.  Before throwing your hymnal my way, listen up and let’s see if this is not true.  We are going to find out together why . . .

 “BLACK SHEEP NEED A GOOD SHEPHERD”

Let’s start with a series of questions to get to the answer.  Do you ever wander from the flock?  Do you ever listen to voices that are not the best for you?  Ever push your way past someone else to get to the front of the pen or the buffet line?  Are you ever told what to do in God’s Word and you do the opposite?  If you still consider yourself a white sheep, one more question?  Does your pristine exterior ever get dirty because your interior is so rotten – in thoughts, in actions, in gestures?  Hello, black sheep!

OK, now that we are all in the pen together this morning, we are going to need an intervention.  We need a helper, a leader . . . a Good Shepherd.  King David has just what we need in the beginning of Psalm 23.  “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.  He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters.  He restores my soul.  He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” (v. 1-3). 

Notice in this psalm that all the important actions happen by the Shepherd’s work, not yours.  He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads; He restores; He leads.  

As we heard in our Gospel for today, He leads us by His voice.  The Good Shepherd rose from the dead to lead you.  One positive of sheep is they have impeccable hearing.  You can merge them together quite easily.  We are to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd.  

He first taught you to recognize His voice at your Baptism; through the Word and the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar, He continues to teach you and lead you through this sinful world with His voice.  We are sent the Holy Spirit to help distinguish His voice and the black sheep voices we sometimes follow in this world.  He calls you and I – the black sheep of His family to repentance, to the anointing of your head with the oil of Holy Baptism, to feed on the lush pastures of His Word and at the Table of His life-giving flesh and blood spread before you.

“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.  You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.  Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (v. 4-6)

There are times you might feel abandoned.  Why would a caring shepherd lead me through the valley of the shadow of death?  Why does the death of loved ones cast a shadow over us?  Does your own death loom like a dark cloud?  Has the Good Shepherd left us black sheep because of our sin and failure?  No, He is not punishing us.  No, He has not failed to care for you.  He comforts us.  Jesus is with us in death.  He went through it first for you to open the way to life.  He is with you when you mourn.  He wept at Lazarus’ tomb.  Jesus is your Good Shepherd who gives you goodness and mercy.  He leads you to His house today and He will keep you in that house until you make the crossover to eternal dwellings.

As the Good Shepherd does His work in our lives, a transformation takes place.  That black wool gets whiter and whiter.  Washed in the blood of our Savior we enter His eternal House as white and as bright as we can be.  Feeling good, shining.  What a glorious day that will be to stand before the Good Shepherd.  

Can you see now why the black sheep need the Good Shepherd?

Amen.