Author: TechCommittee

October 13, 2019                                                                  Text:  2 Timothy 2:8-13

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Do you remember the story about the roly-poly pigs?  If you’ve never heard it, here it is:  “A farmer had a herd of swine that was highly admired by other farmers.  They were sleek and roly-poly.  When it came time for feeding, the farmer would go to the edge of the pasture and knock sharply with a stick on the trough that was filled with grain.  Scattered throughout the pasture the pigs, hearing the farmer’s knock, would lift their snouts and then run in the direction of the sound, squealing all the way.  This went on for some time.  All was well until some woodpeckers began to make their homes in the dead trees scattered all over the pasture.  The pigs mistook the pecking on the dead trees for the farmer’s knock on the trough.  They would run, squealing all the way, from one dead tree to another.  Soon, the roly-poly pigs became weak and scrawny.”

            You are wondering, where is he going with this?  He’s not calling us pigs, is he?  No, but we can act like the pigs.  Our spiritual lives can be weak and scrawny as we chase after things or deal with things.  A serious illness, the death of a loved one, a threatening national or international catastrophe, a marriage upheaval, and family dysfunction can all test our spiritual health.  This morning then . . .

“ALL SQUEALING ASIDE”

            The text begins, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel.” (v. 8)  Paul says, “Remember Jesus Christ.”  Some might say, “How could we forget?”  Friends, there is along line of people who have become or are becoming, so distracted that Jesus and what He gives fades. 

            The only people who can fall away from the faith are those who were in the faith in the first place.  Many who identify as atheist or agnostic today were people who at one time were part of the Christian faith.  Oh, how the devil works.  Remember Jesus.  We need this each and every day.  We need constantly the reminder that God did and does everything for us in Christ while we were and still are sinners.

            We spend a lot of time squealing for our wants and desires.  We have our moments as weak and scrawny Christians.  “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.”  It needs to be a constant in our lives.  A reminder of guilt removed, love that died for us and the promise of eternal life.

            Look where Paul is writing this from, “I am suffering, bound with chains as a criminal.  But the word of God is not bound!” (v. 9)  Paul is not under house arrest like he was in the Book of Acts.  He is in a dungeon, shackled, movement restricted.

            Paul suffered for the gospel.  How far will you go in your suffering?  American Christians will suffer up to a point.  We read the books and see the movies but we can’t really relate to the martyred Christians in other nations.  We may be heading to being homeless in our home sweet home.  Could it happen to us?  History says it could be coming. 

            The streets were lined with crowds, cheering the marching troops about to leave for overseas.  A recruit, who had watched the crowd for some time, asked, “Why are all these people cheering?”  A veteran standing next to him replied, “They are the people who are not going.”

            We are not cheerleaders for Jesus, brothers and sisters.  We are part of His army.  You know, “Like a mighty army, moves the church of God.”  Not an army to spill blood, but the army proclaiming the love of God in Christ to a world headed for eternal darkness.  The moment is now.  Paul goes on to say . . .

            “The saying is trustworthy, for:  If we have died with him, we will also love with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; if we are faithless, he remains faithful – for he cannot deny himself.” (v. 11-13)

            Biblical commentator P.E. Kretzmann wrote this:  “If we are faithful to the Lord, even unto death…then we shall also become partakers of the reward of mercy which he has reserved for us in heaven…if we are faithless, if we are not true to him…if we lose the faith of our hearts by neglecting the Word and Sacraments, God will be faithful to His threat of punishment, for He cannot be untrue to His essence; He is the Eternal, Immutable (that is, without change).”

            Salvation is ours.  We suffer the consequences of bad decisions, hasty words and actions with little thought of the outcome and a lot of squealing about nothing of importance.  Yet, Jesus has paid for our debt of sin on the Cross.  Removes our guilt.  Forgives and loves us.  Quells our squealing and shepherds us to eternity.

            As God’s forgiven children, the Holy Spirit lets us love others regardless of how they see us or understand us – regardless of their hatred of God’s Word.  We’ve spent much of our lives running and squealing for this world’s trough of grain.  It’s passing away.  God help us.  All squealing aside!

                                                                                    Amen.

October 6, 2019                                                                                       Text:  Luke 17:6

Dear Friends in Christ,

            We hear a lot of talk these days how difficult it is to be a Christian, but is it?  Many in our world would laugh at our idea of difficult.  Was it hard to come to worship?  To pray?  To do devotions?  It may be a little harder to share the faith, but that is always a challenge.  I still see respect for the office of Pastor in our community.  Why do people say it is harder today to be a follower of Christ?

            Much of it comes from biblical principles that are being challenged in all walks of life.  Values and practices that we hold sacred because “thus saith the Lord” are not held on to as tightly as they once were.

            This was happening with Jesus and His disciples in Luke 17.  Jesus was always teaching about everyday values and practices.  Here He is telling the disciples they need to forgive others even up to seven times a day.  If they were wronged they need to confront another with the sin and voice forgiveness.  This is the stuff of everyday relationships.

            But oh it can be hard to forgive at times, can’t it?  Bitter feelings run deep like the roots of the mulberry tree – stubborn, strong.  We can understand the disciples reaction to this challenge of Jesus – “Increase our faith.”  Jesus the great teacher doesn’t say, “Uh, ok . . . you have greater faith.”  He does say, “If you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you.” (v. 6)  On this LWML Sunday let’s see what can be done about . . .

“MOVING MULBERRY TREES”

            Now Jesus doesn’t really explain what He says, but you have to admit it is quite the image.  With just a little faith – faith you have right now – Jesus is saying you can uproot a twenty-five foot mulberry tree and plant it at the bottom of the sea.  Have you ever tried that?  Well, let’s go take a stab at it, anyone ready to follow?  Maybe we need a little more teaching from the Savior.

            One thing Jesus is saying is that it is not helpful to quantify our faith.  This was what the disciples were asking.  Give us heroic faith.  We want a faith that will stand up to hard things and hard times.  But quantifying that does not help us.  Yet we still do it, don’t we?  “If I only believed enough.”  “If my faith were stronger I wouldn’t be curled up in my pity.”  The weight of these statements is upon us.  Do we believe enough?  Do we trust enough?

            So if we don’t quantify faith, then how do we understand the words of Jesus?  How can faith send mulberry trees flying into the sea?  “Faith like a grain of mustard seed” is simply trust in Him.  A faith that trusts and abides in Him.  A faith that lives every day in Him.  It is only in Christ that we move mulberry trees, even the deep ones like bitterness or a lack of forgiveness.  It is possible only as Christ lives in us.

            Latin has two words for faith.  The first is fides, a faith that says certain things are true like “I believe…that God created the world…that Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead…that the Holy Spirit keeps me in the true faith.”  Our creeds are examples of fides.  The other Latin word for faith is fiducia.  This is relational faith.  It is trust in the Lord, being rooted in the power of God.  This was Luther’s preferred word for faith.  Fiducia is at work in Paul’s words of Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through him (Christ) who strengthens me.

            So this faith says that I can forgive not so much because I have enough faith to do it but rather because I live and make decisions inside a strong relationship with Jesus Christ.  I have Christ or better, Christ has me!  The One who came and died for me.  The One who broke through death and came to life for me.  The One who called me in Baptism and made me His own.  I can move mulberry trees because of this One – Jesus my Savior.

            In Christ, then, we can confront the person who has wronged us and offer forgiveness.  When can share our faith when it is not easy or convenient.  We can drop our coins and dollars in our mite boxes because we know they make a difference.  We can hold the hand of someone in the hospital we might not be that warm with.  We can reach out to that friend who has drifted from our life.

            Our community is not the enemy, it is our mission field.  You hear mulberry trees moving – hard things, impossible things, happening because Christ lives within me, because Christ lives within us!

            Since 1942 the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League has lived mustard seed faith.  Little gifts, small coins and dollar bills put in mite boxes, combined across our synod, make things happen.  Big things.  Mulberry trees are being moved

            Don’t believe the hype that we have such a difficult road in front of us.  What appears to be hard may just be what we each need as we live with Christ day-in-day-out.  Because Christ abides in us, the difficult thing can be done with joy.  May it be said of us, “Those were the days when Christians moved mulberry trees!”

                                                                                                                                    Amen.