Author: TechCommittee

April 17, 2022 – Easter                            Text:  John 20:1-18

    When you hear the word orchestra, what do you think of?  Woodwinds, brass, and strings?  There is one orchestra made up of kids who play instruments made out of trash.  It’s called the “Recycled Orchestra of Cateura” in Paraguay.  But Cateura is not a town.  It’s a slum built on a landfill.

    Every day, 3 million pounds of waste is dumped in Cateura.  Many families survive by scavenging the landfill and reselling.  Violinist Noelia, age 16, has an instrument. Made from cans, wooden spoons, and bent forks.  A cello is made of an oil drum.  Another teenager plays a saxophone assembled from a drainpipe, melted copper, coins, spoon handles, cans, and bottle caps.

    A few years back they made a video that went viral, and they raised enough money that they perform all over the world.  They play Mozart, folk music and Frank Sinatra.

    God makes music with misfits.  That’s what Easter is all about.

“GOD LOVES TO MAKE MUSIC WITH MISFITS”

    I’m a misfit.  You are a misfit.  We all fall short of God’s will and ways.  But fellow misfits, it’s time to make music!  What do I mean?  This orchestra is made up unlikely musicians.  Peter is a first chair trumpeter.  He denied Christ – three times.  Paul plays the violin.  He used to play a religious thug who persecuted Christians.  And on the harp?  David.  Womanizer, bloodthirsty – yet repentant David.  Today, we add another misfit to make music.  Her name is Mary – Mary Magdalene.

    Mary begins as a mess.  “Mary, called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out.” (Luke 8:2). There are five Mary’s mentioned in the New Testament her name of Magdalene refers to her hometown of Magdala.  Demons?  She is messed up.  Can you imagine being that messed up?

    Here’s how it happens.  Compulsion to prove.  We begin a task or job or class with high hopes.  We arrive early and stay late.  We are going to prove to these people.  To keep at it, we stop exercising or getting enough sleep.  We start to skip Bible Class and worship.  Our eating habits clog our bodies.  We neglect our family.  “I’ll return to them after the project or the business trip or the dissertation.”  People begin to see less joy in us that we can’t see ourselves.  We are tired and fed up and everyone suffers.

    Or it occurs like this.  Life becomes a checklist.  One thing after another.  We live for vacation, but vacation is never long enough.  People again see what we can’t see.  We survive with more internet, more time on the phone, more time binging TV shows, more shopping.  We go through the motions.  We smile occasionally but we have nothing left in the tank.  We hit rock bottom.  We talk to no one.  We feel like we have at least seven demons.

    We are a mess.  20% of people on disability in the US of A are there because of severe depression.  We are the most depressed nation on the earth.  Depression amongst teenagers has skyrocketed 200% in the last decade.

    Remember the Chevy Nova?  My first car in fact.  In Mexico it didn’t sell.  It was because no va in Spanish is “no go.”  That can happen to us we have “no go.”  We can be as messed up as Mary Magdalene.  Music?  We have no song to sing.

    Mary was down, but her Messiah lifted her up.  He lifted her from the pit of her demons.  That is why she follows Him to the cross.  Mary’s Messiah is your Messiah.  His faced is caked with spit and blood.  His throat is so dry he cannot swallow.  The Savior has no song.

    This is how things stand before dawn on Sunday.  There had been so much hope and promise and now nothing.  The famous Rabbi?  Dead.  The disciples?  Hiding.  Other followers of Jesus?  Scattered.  One – Judas Iscariot – has even killed himself.

    Mary Magdalene gets up early to anoint Christ’s body.  But the body is not there.  She weeps and then goes to tell the disciples.  She sees a man she thinks is the gardener.  “Please tell me where Jesus is?”  

    “Mary.”  The voice is unmistakable.  It is instant recognition, “Rabboni.”  It’s Jesus.  It’s Jesus.  He is not dead.  He has risen from the grave.  He is alive.  Christ is alive.

    Emotions flood Mary’s heart.  From the depths of grief to the heights of joy.  To the shock of everyone – the Father raised Jesus bodily from the dead.  Mary’s song – her symphony of celebration – commences with great joy.

    Her music is a five-word song, “I have seen the Lord.” (v. 18).  She has seen the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  What does it all mean?  There is more to our lives than we think.  Christ’s resurrection means that, like Mary Magdalene, we have a song to sing.

    Remember?  God loves to make music with misfits.  It’s time, for us misfits to make music.  I’ll take the snare drum.  You take the tuba.  You take the trombone.  And you?  What instrument will you play today?  One thing we know today.  We have a song to sing.  We sing it with our lips and our lives.  What is the song called?  The song that has six words . . . and what are they?  I Know That My Redeemer Lives!

                        Amen.  

April 14, 2022 – Maundy Thursday                                  Text:  John 13:21-30

Dear Friends in Christ,

    It took three years to complete and is one of the most recognized paintings in the world.  The 15 x 29-foot painting became an instant masterpiece.  We are talking about The Last Supper by the great master Leonardo da Vinci.  

    When he was 43 years old, the Duke of Milan asked him to paint the dramatic scene.  He worked from 1495-1498 though not constantly on the assignment.  He grouped the disciples into threes – two groups on either side of the central figure Jesus.

    When he finished, da Vinci asked a friend to look at it and give his honest opinion.  “It’s wonderful,” exclaimed the friend.  “Christ’s chalice is so real I can’t take my eyes off of it.”  Immediately, da Vinci took a brush and painted over the chalice, exclaiming, “Nothing shall detract from Jesus.”

    Nothing shall detract from Jesus.  Why is that?  Because Jesus was betrayed.  Let that sink in.  Tonight in our Witnesses for Christ sermon series we meet Judas Iscariot.  We meet him in the Upper Room the night Jesus was betrayed.

    Betrayed by a disciple.  Betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.  Betrayed with a kiss of all things.  Betrayed in a garden.  Jesus was betrayed for us and why da Vinci exclaimed . . .

“NOTHING SHALL DETRACT FROM JESUS”

    According to Matthew 26:25 Judas was seated close to Jesus.  Close enough to carry on a private conversation.  Jesus gave him some bread, and this is when satan entered him.  

    Da Vinci depicts the disciples eating herring.  In da Vinci’s northern Italian dialect, the word for herring is renga.  Renga – in that dialect – also describes someone who denies religion.  Judas isn’t the only sinner at the table.  Peter denied Jesus in the courtyard.  The disciples denied Jesus in Gethsemane.  Renga.  All of them.  Renga.  All of us.

    Why did Jesus allow all this to happen?  It was for you.  Those are powerful Gospel words.  God is not against you.  God is not your enemy.  God is for you.  His love is intensely personal.  It is for you.

    Martin Luther wrote, “This is something more than the sermon; for although the same thing is present in the sermon as in the sacrament, here there is the advantage that it is directed at definite individuals.”  Even if you give up on yourself, Jesus never gives up on you.  When soldiers spit in his face, He doesn’t give up.  When a whip ripped his back, He didn’t give up.  When nails crushed his nerves, He didn’t give up.  Jesus will never give up on you.

    Since its completion The Last Supper has been falling apart.  Da Vinci – always the inventor – tried using new materials for this painting.  He used dry plaster instead of wet plaster.  It was good artistically but not for sustainability.  Experts continue to work on restoring the original even to this day.

    Fitting isn’t it?  The Lord’s Supper is for people whose lives, like the painting, are always falling apart.  In this life, we never get it right.  Thank God for the Gospel words, “for you.”  God acts for you – right now.  Holy Communion is a meal with a man who lives.

    A middle-aged and slightly overweight Scottish woman walked out from behind a theater curtain.  Her hair was going in all different directions and she was wearing a dress that wasn’t flattering.  People rolled their eyes and didn’t expect much.  That is the way it was on April 11, 2009, when Susan Boyle began to sing.

    After her song, people exploded with applause.  The video clip of Susan Boyle became the most-watched YouTube video at the time.  Her first recording broke many sales records.  Susan Boyle wasn’t what people expected.  Susan Boyle was much more.

    Here’s the point.  What may look ordinary can be completely extraordinary.  The Lord’s Supper is like that.  When Christ’s words – “Take, eat; this is my body; and take, drink; this is my blood” – are spoken over bread and wine, it’s not what we expect.  It is so much more.  What may look ordinary is completely extraordinary.

    Da Vinci’s The Last Supper includes a view of heaven.  The Lord’s Supper is a foretaste of the feast to come.  Jesus coming to restore all things.  At the heavenly banquet, we will no longer have to look at our sin.  We will be perfect, wearing white robes washed in the blood of Jesus.  At the heavenly banquet, we will not have to deal with broken hearts and broken lives.  In heaven we are gathered with the angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven.  At the heavenly banquet, we will no longer need Jesus to come to us in the Sacrament.  We will see Jesus face-to-face, and He will fill us with unspeakable joy that will never end.

    Some of the most important words about Communion are two short words, with three letters each – “for you.”  For you – in the past.  For you – right now, Christ is present.  For you  – in the future, you will partake of the marriage feast of the Lamb that will have no end.

                                                Amen    

April 6, 2022 – Midweek Lent                                      Text:  John 19:1-16

Dear Friends in Christ,

    “I saw a woman today who finally became hard as wood all over.”  A French doctor named Guy Patin wrote these words in 1692.  This is the first clinical description of fibrodysplasia ossificans progressive, or FOP, a disease that slowly and irreversibly turns people into solid bone.  The disease imprisons the whole body.  Ligaments, tendons, and muscles solidify as the body becomes as hard as cement.  The rogue gene of FOP has one goal – slowly harden the body until it’s dead.

    We are in a sermon series called Witnesses to Christ.  Tonight, we meet Pontius Pilate one of the more notorious names in history.  Pontius Pilate had an acute case of FOP.  In Pilate’s case the gene went straight to his heart – back to front, top to bottom.  Spiritual FOP has one goal . . .

“SLOWLY HARDEN OUR HEARTS”

    If spiritual FOP can harden our hearts then we are on the way to being spiritually dead.  But at first we don’t notice, do we?  Our priorities start getting mixed up.  Slowly, we stop praying and stop repenting, and then we stop trusting Jesus.  Then a day comes when words such as Christ and salvation and Baptism and worship and Holy Communion mean nothing.  Spiritual FOP has one goal – slowly harden our hearts until we are spiritually dead.  Pilate knows.

    Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea for ten years – AD 26 to 36.  Pilate was from a middle-class family and that tidbit is huge as you will see.  Pilate served the Roman army in Germany and then met an upper-class Roman woman in Rome named Claudia Procula.  Guess who her grandfather was?  Caesar Augustus – the Roman emperor.  Pilate was in.  He got a position he never would have gotten any other way.  The position?  Governor of Judea.

    That is his background.  But hang on…we got a Thursday night posse led by Judas Iscariot who have come to arrest Jesus.  He will stand before Annas, Caiaphas, and finally the Sanhedrin – the Jewish Supreme Court.  They accuse him of blasphemy which is punishable by death.  One slight problem here.  They can sentence a man to death but can’t carry it out.  They need the consent of Pilate.  This is what got his name in the creeds and made him famous.

    It was early morning when Jesus was led to Pilate around 6:00 a.m.  All the accusers are there – chief priests, scribes, Pharisees.  They have Jesus right where they want him.  Soon they will have Pilate right where they want him.  

    He starts with some basic questions like, “What has this man done wrong?”  The Jews can’t give a direct answer.  Pilate was not fond of the Jews and he didn’t understand them or their religion.  He wasn’t going to get into a religious debate.  His heart is becoming harder.

    Pilate questions Jesus.  “Are you the King of the Jews?”  Jesus answers, “You say that I am a king.”  This means, “Yes, I am a king, but not the kind you are thinking of.”

    The chief priests want to confuse Pilate into thinking Jesus is some kind of revolutionary and a threat to Rome.  Jesus tells Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.”  The Pilate heart is getting as firm as cement.  Jesus is scourged.  But they want more.  They want Christ killed.  They play the card they have been hanging on to all this time.  They say to Pilate, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend.” (v.12).  Well played.  The Caesar, the king, named Tiberius was sick at the time.  He was a suspicious and violent man.  Tiberius wouldn’t like getting news about a riot in Judea, especially when this governor was appointed only because of family connections.  And Pilate was, after all, just middle class.

    The Jews blackmail Pilate and it works.  It is a choice between Jesus and Rome.  This is Pilate’s conscience.  What is it going to be?  People will do many things to save their job and status and reputation.  They will even crucify an innocent man.

    Pilate asks, “Shall I crucify your King?”  This isn’t a military king looking for battle.  This King is a suffering and bleeding type – looking for us.  This is the King who cleanses sin-stained hearts.  This King heals deep brokenness.  This King calls us out of darkness into His marvelous light.  He knows the time and place for His execution and still goes there – all for us.

    The chief priests give an answer, “We have no king but Caesar.”  There cannot be a riot.  We can’t have the town taken over.  So Pontius Pilate caves.  Let the mob do their thing.  Nailed to a cross. Suspended between heaven and earth.  Pilate now has a heart as hard as Mt. Rushmore.

    Notice the pattern of Pilate.  John 18 – 19 is “what’s in it for me?”  It is only about him and don’t get in the way.  We know that pattern.  It is a recipe for a hard heart.  It mangles marriages, kills kids, and finishes off family and friends.  Spiritual FOP is killing us.

    Is your heart hard or calloused or indifferent or dead?  It is not too late.  The Lord can create a new heart.  Ezekiel 11:19:  “I will give them one heart…I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh.”  God will take away our stubborn heart and give us a tender, responsive heart.  It means our heart will beat again.      Amen.     

April 3, 2022                                          Text:  Philippians 3:8-14

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Track season is underway.  St. Paul illustrated where the Lord is calling us with the oldest of athletic competitions, the foot race.  We all know the coach speak: “keep your eye on the finish line or rim or ball or goal.”

    Chariots of Fire won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1982.  I wonder if it could win today?  It was the true account of a man who, like St. Paul, ran toward the life above.

    The movie chronicled Eric Liddell’s refusal to run on a Sunday in the 1924 Olympics and his subsequent victory in the 400 meters.  For Liddell, Sunday was the Lord’s Day, a day to honor God.  It was not a day to run – even in the Olympics.  The movie was very good, Toni and I actually just saw it a few years back, but even Hollywood couldn’t communicate the whole inspiring story.  

    Sally Magnusson wrote a book entitled The Flying Scotsman.  She admitted that she approached the Liddell story as a subject too good to be true attitude.  She thought such a strong-minded man would have a “holier-than-thou” attitude.  In many of her interviews with those who knew him they described Liddell as “Christlike.”  He was open to people of all races and befriended competitors no one else would talk to.

    Eric Liddell gave up running to become a missionary to China.  He died of a brain tumor at age 43.  He had a quiet serenity from early morning sessions of prayer, meditation, and Bible study.  On the day he died in 1945, one his companions wrote in their journal: “He wasn’t a great leader or an inspired thinker, but he knew what he ought to do, and he did it.”

    Liddell lived his life like he ran the 400, with his . . . .

“EYE ON THE FINISH LINE”

    In our Epistle, St. Paul reminds us that righteousness does not come to the Christian by obeying the Law – it is the gift of God through faith in Jesus Christ.  Neither guilt over the past nor worry about the future produces the Christ-life in the present.  Nobody is perfect in this life – not St. Paul, not Eric Liddell, not you and not me – but in faith the perfect righteousness of Christ is already ours.  Christ has set us free to run through life without the need to look back over our shoulders, without prejudice for those who run alongside, without jealousy for those who are out front, and with our eye on the finish line.

    Ever heard this line?  “Watch where you’re going.”  Parents says it to kids.  Bump into someone you might hear it.  Coaches say it to runners.  St. Paul says it to us.

    Where are you going?  Life has many distractions.  We want our words to reflect Christ, but profanity is so prevalent it is hard to go out in public.  We want our minds on the things of Christ while we watch media that stacks sin upon sin with no remorse or counter opinion.  We want our eyes looking heavenward but pride, greed, envy, lust and laziness stand up in front of us.  We want hearts filled with Christ but we clog our arteries with apathy, indifference, and selfishness.  We want to be loving to others, but self gets in the way.  A psychiatrist had this sign on his door: “Specializing in people who have no idea who they are.”  When we are wrapped up in ourselves we make a very small parcel.

    Where was St. Paul’s focus?  Look at his deeds and life and writings and we get the picture.  St. Paul knew the Scriptures.  Eric Liddell knew the Scriptures.  Do we know the Scriptures?  As the Holy Spirit helps us study and learn He will empower and run alongside us.  The Word of God is much better than Wheaties.

    St. Paul focused on telling the Good News.  With his eye on the finish line, He worked to proclaim the Gospel to large audiences and individuals.  When we repent of our distractions with our words and minds and eyes and hearts and actions, the Lord can forgive and keep us moving toward the finish line.  He won that for you too on a Sunday when a tomb was empty.  With this new outlook and heaven on the horizon we can share the news of Jesus on the track where the Lord has us running.

    Back in 8th grade I ran competitive track for the first time.  The Lord blessed me with speed, and I was able to cross the finish line first numerous times.  On the 4 x 100 Relay I ran the anchor or last leg.  My buddies and I won at the District level on a cinder track.  Remember those?  We then went to the Sectional and it was on an all-weather track.  The race began and by the time the baton got to me, well, I would have had to have been Usain Bolt to even place.  This is what I remember:  I never glided on a track so effortlessly, no cinder just pure comfort.  But all I could see were the backs of the other runners.  So peaceful but 6th out of 8 teams wouldn’t cut it this day.  I finished but we were disappointed.

    That can be a picture of life.  You feel you are behind from the start.  But as Christians we keep going with the peace of Christ.  He leads the effort.  He makes the path.  He has already won the race.  We see the finish line.  On your run, get set to tell the Good News about Jesus to everyone you know, and go . . . why?  Because the Lord has focused your eye on the finish line.

        Amen.

March 30, 2022 – Lent                                     Text:  John 18:33-40

Dear Friends in Christ,

    William Jefferson was a congressman from Louisiana.  In 2002, he used resources of an organization that would encourage a vote for his daughter to the Statehouse.  He used this same organization to help get his sister elected as a city official in New Orleans.

    During Hurricane Katrina he used the National Guard to recover belongings from his home.  When their truck got stuck in mud he used one of their helicopters to get them out.  All the while this manpower was needed elsewhere.

    In March 2005 a company called iGate sent Representative Jefferson $400,000 so he would persuade the army to use their technology.  When the FBI raided his home they found $90,000 in the freezer.

    Innocent?  Hardly.  In 2007 he was found guilty and sentenced to the largest sentence ever given a congressman for bribery.  He was released a few years back for time served.

    The Witness for Christ series finds us looking tonight at Barabbas.  We have a trial going on.  There are three outcomes:  innocent, guilty, and free.  Here we go . . .

“INNOCENT, GUILTY, AND FREE”

    Innocent – that’s Jesus.  Pilate says so.  “I find no guilt in Him.” (v. 38). Pilate didn’t think Jesus deserved the cross.  Maybe a lecture or a lashing, but no cross.  Pilate is “the governor” which means he decides death-penalty cases.  You live or die according to him.  So Pilate declares Jesus innocent and does it again in John 19:4, 6.

    Guilty – that’s Barabbas.  Barabbas is a violent outlaw.  Our text says robber but he was so much more.  He plunders and steals and he may not just rob you, but kill you.

    So Pilate, the man with all the power, relinquishes the power, and instead goes to the court of public opinion.  “”Do you want me to release the King of the Jews?’  They cried out again, ‘Not this man, but Barabbas!’” (vs. 39, 40)

    Innocent – Jesus.  Guilty – Barabbas.  Guilty – you and me.  We are all born “dead in trespasses and sins.” (Eph. 2:1). We are blinded by the god of this world.  We are hopeless.  Our good works are unclean rags.  Just call you and I “Barabbas.”  Paul called himself a “wretch” and that is what we are – right now…this moment – we are wretches.

    The biblical word is sin.  This isn’t a momentary stumble and lapse in judgment.  This sin we all have is rebellion against God’s rule.  Our sin lays claims to God’s throne.  Our sin defies God’s authority.  Our sin let’s God know we are in charge.

    “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned – every one – to his own way.” (Isa. 53:6). We all have a way.  Her way may be flirtation and promiscuity.  His way may be intoxication and bad language.  Her way pride.  His way gossip.  What’s your way?  God has declared us all guilty and the sentence is death.

    Innocent – that’s Jesus.  Guilty – that’s Barabbas.  Guilty – that’s us.  Free – that’s Barabbas.  Listen.  Can you hear it?  The Roman guard with a key.  He unlocks the prison door and shouts, “Barabbas.  You are free.  They have chosen to let you go.”  Barabbas had to be shocked, right?  Shackles gone, crimes pardoned and he walks to the light of day.  Free!

    Free – we see it with Barabbas.  Free – you and I.  How so?  Christ endured not just the Roman nails, the mockery, and the spear, but also the gears of God’s grinding justice.  God doesn’t overlook sin.  He doesn’t poo-poo it as no big deal.  That is not how it works.  God must punish sin.  

    That is why all of sin was placed on Jesus.  My sin.  Your sin.  Barabbas’ sin.  Christ was in our place.  Our sins are many but Christ’s mercy is even more.  We are free.  Psalm 146:7 says, “The Lord sets the prisoners free.”  Galatians 5:1 says, “For freedom Christ has set us free.”  Think of all the way you could become a prisoner.  But there is only way to be free.  Jesus.

    He liberates us from the condemnation of sin.  He frees us from our past.  He opens doors to our worry.  This freedom cannot be taken away.  No power on earth or hell can destroy it.

    Innocent, guilty, and free.  Three important words in any trial.  Which one is the most life-changing?  Innocent?  Guilty?  Free?  Do you have it right?  Free!  “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36).  By faith, forever free.

                                    Amen.