Sermon Texts

May 15, 2022                                          Text:  Revelation 21:1-7

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Valerius Maximus was a Roman author/historian, perhaps best known for his work “Nine Books of Memorable Deeds and Sayings” dated around 30 A.D.  He stated, “The divine wrath is slow indeed in vengeance, but it makes up for its tardiness by the severity of the punishment.”

    Life can be very, very frustrating – isn’t it?  The reality of so many senators voting to kill the unborn, goods and services that cannot be obtained, prices that continue to climb, people in high positions who abuse their power and live in an alternate reality.  None of it is lost on us.  But then, neither are your sin crimes and my sin crimes.  Valerius Maximus’ insight is accurate:  “the divine wrath…makes up for its tardiness by the severity of the punishment.”  More importantly, God said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” (Rom. 12:9)

    What a blessing to know the love of God in Christ, right?  Especially when we face our final moments.  Jesus is the only One who can lift us beyond the dread and fear of death.  The question for this morning . . .

“WHAT IS IT WORTH TO US?”

    The religions of our world all say the same thing:  Man is either basically good enough or capable enough to deserve or earn God’s love.  Is there any truth in that?  If we could truly earn God’s love, at minimum, we would never think the things we want no one else to know…or see!  

    God is love and we cannot earn, nor do we deserve His love.  He felt sorry for you and me.  Pity.  Mercy.  It was my sins and your sins that caused Him to love us so much that would suffer and die for those horrible things we are capable of.

    One of the saddest conversations you can have with a person is when you ask them what is going to happen to them when they die?  Their answer, “nothing.”  Which is a bold answer while the heart is still beating and the lungs still breathing.  

    Why has humanity spent untold money, time, effort, and persecution of those who follow Christ to disprove Christ’s credibility?  That right there proves something.  Why fight so hard to discredit something you don’t believe in?  Because even the unbelievers know the Scripture just like the devil in the desert with Jesus.  “He will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25:41)

    We’ve been spared this.  Though we struggle daily with our sin, for the sake of Christ we have forgiveness.  That’s the promise.  “…the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 Jn. 1:7b). “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 6:23). We will go into eternal heaven – uninterrupted happiness.  All assured us now through Word and Sacrament.

    Frank Wilson wrote this, “In early times of persecution acts of spiritual heroism occurred in many communities.  Christians would see one of their own give up his life for his faith, and they would feel proud of such an example of staunch fortitude…They did not mourn their dead, but rejoiced over them because their departure out of this world was the occasion of the new birth in the world-to-come…”

    When we read these stories of Christian martyrdom we come away thinking:  “what a witness.”  The ultimate offering.  But I confess along with you that the best most of us have given up for the faith is a small percentage of coin and time.  

    Here we are then.  Sinful humans, covered in the blood of Jesus Christ.  Living with promises of Christ’s presence in Word and Sacrament, looking forward to the New Heaven and the New Earth.  The words of John always preparing us:

    “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.  He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’” (v. 1-4)

    Haven’t we all been confronted with death?  Shed tears for those we love.  Felt the pain of a broken heart or broken body?  Because of God’s love in Christ that will be taken away forever.

    Listen to this written some time ago:  “He calls us not to be deceived into thinking that the goal of our faith here is the highest degree of comfort and happiness…but to understand the people who hated his Son – marched Him to the cross for preaching the truth about human sin – crucified Him and his Apostles – and have persecuted the church through the centuries – those people and that mind-set are as much a part of our time as ever before.”

    We have been given everything in Christ.  His presence now and his eternal promise of heaven.  What a blessing to confess with the saints:  “I am going to heaven when my pilgrimage here is finished.”  It’s a fair question – What Is It Worth To Us – God’s eternal love in Christ.  What is it worth – to you?                                        Amen.   

May 8, 2022                                    Text:  Acts 20:17-35

Dear Friends in Christ,

    It’s mid-morning on September 11, 2001 and Delta Airlines Flight 15 from Frankfurt, Germany to Atlanta, Georgia has been in the air for five hours.  Then with little warning the plane was routed to land at the airport in Gander, Newfoundland.  When they land the passengers see that there are 20 other planes on the ground.  What is going on?  The captain finally gives them the scoop.  He shares the little he knows about the terrorists’ attacks.

    Life for these people is going to get challenging.  They do not know the whole situation.  They will not be let off the plane in the immediate future.  By nightfall 53 planes would be on the tarmac in Gander.  Wait.  Patience.  Very little information.  What to do?

    The Apostle Paul in our text this morning is also on a journey.  He has made his way to Ephesus.  He is going to address the elders of this early church.  Paul is traveling and where the Spirit is leading him and in what way is on his mind.  

“WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO ME THERE?”

    Do you ever utter those words?  What will happen to me there?  “Yes, we have the result of your scan, can you come to our office tomorrow?”  “Hello this is Barnes from the IRS there is a discrepancy in your tax return.  I’d like to set up an appointment.”  “Good morning, Mrs. Newman, this is Principal Fike, would it be possible to get together later this week, to discuss something about Cassandra?”  Paul in verse 22, “I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there.”  Will it be imprisonment?  Will it be affliction?  Will he receive pressure from all sides?  What is going to happen?

    The passengers in Gander had to be thinking the same thing, wouldn’t you?  They have been assured of medical attention, water, and bathroom service.  Which is a positive because one of the passengers is 33 weeks into her pregnancy.  Finally, some concrete news.  They will start deplaning all 53 jets.  Delta 15 is scheduled for 11 a.m. the next morning.  You can imagine the grumbling.  A night on a plane.  

    Paul is not just concerned about his trip to Jerusalem he is also building up the brethren in Ephesus.  They too will face grumbling.  We cherish the success of the early church, but it was not so rosy most of the time.  Paul knows that when he leaves there will be wolves ready to pounce on the flock.  There will be men who will twist words and confuse the people.  This church needs to be on alert.  What is going to happen next?

    How do you approach your “what is going to happen next” situations?  Fear?  Anxiety?  Trust in the Lord?  Paul I am sure had these range of emotions.  But Paul knew wholeheartedly what He had received from the Lord Jesus.  He had received the Gospel and through it the grace of God.  This was a changed man.  

    We too are changed men and women.  When we face the unknown, when we get worked up about “what will happen there?” we have a Savior who empathizes.  He cares.  He loves.  He directs.  God directed His Son to a cross on Calvary, a journey if you will with many uncomfortable and painful situations along the way.  Everywhere he went in that time period was directed by someone else.  He was pushed and shoved and made to carry a cross.  He finally landed on a hill and was raised to the sky.  His death was a forgiveness for our fears and anxieties about the unknown.  His resurrection assured us that while life may take our plane down in a strange town, our final destination is an eternal city where “they shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore…the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

    While the Delta 15 flight crew disembarked to a local hotel, the passengers were sent to Lewisporte about 40 miles away.  Schools and gathering halls and churches set up accommodations.  Elderly went to private homes.  Families were kept together.  Remember the pregnant lady?  She was put up in a private home across the street from a 24-hour urgent care.  The local high schoolers took care of their guests.  Phone and e-mail were available.  Local excursions were planned.  Food and laundry and all their other needs were met.  Paul concludes our text with these words, “we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”  The Gospel Paul preached centered on giving.  God gives forgiveness and eternal life through Jesus.  God’s heirs, you and I, give to others based on what God has given to us.

    When finally allowed to go home, the plane was one big party.  The passengers had bonded.  Then this happened.  A passenger was allowed to speak over the PA.  He reminded them of the hospitality they had received from strangers.  He said he was going to set up a trust fund for the high school students of Lewisporte.  By the time the paper got back to the crew $14,000 had been promised.  That fund today has $1.5 million and has helped around 135 students.  “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”

    What “what is going to happen to me there” moment awaits you?  Trust in the Lord Jesus because He is watching out for you.

                        Amen.   

May 1, 2022                                    Text:  Acts 9:1-22

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Question for you.  If you wanted to select someone to be a character witness for you, would you choose someone who didn’t like you?  If you had the opportunity to make someone your strongest advocate, would you go with a person who goes out of their way to make sure the world knows you are no good?

    Those choices defy human reason.  In our text this morning from Acts this is what our Lord Jesus does.  He chooses a persecutor of His name to carry the message of the Gospel to all the nations.  

    Saul of Tarsus, was an opponent of Christ.  He imprisoned Christians in Jerusalem.  His energy was used to try to destroy the Christian Church.  If at that time he was allowed to twitter his thoughts, facebook his musings, or youtube his rantings you all would have had utter contempt for this man.  Now he is on the way to Damascus to arrest the Christians there and bring them back to Jerusalem.  Man, how we despise this guy. 

    Jesus has another perspective.  Christ is going to meet him on the road to set him free.  

“SAUL SET OUT IN MALICE, BUT JESUS MET HIM IN MERCY”

    Jesus begins by confronting Saul with his sin.  “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” (v. 4)  Jesus is no longer a faceless name.  In his blindness he calls out, “who are you, Lord?”  The answer.  “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” (v. 5)

    Things start to come into focus for Saul.  In persecuting the Church he was persecuting Christ Himself.  The story is getting more interesting.  It is time to send Saul to Damascus.

    With three days of prayer and fasting he is sent to Ananias.  Ananias was a disciple of Christ who Saul would have brought “bound to Jerusalem.”  The Lord brings together these two separate men, these two guys who think differently, into fellowship together through the Gospel.  It all happens on Straight Street!  “Straighten up.”  “Walk straight.”  “Get on the straight and narrow.”  This is all going to happen for Saul.  

    Ananias is reluctant.  Wouldn’t you be?  Do you get up each day and think, “I believe I will go down to Main Street and meet with those who hate Christ and His Church?”  The beauty of this man’s faith is evident.  The Lord explains Saul’s mission and Ananias lays hands on him and baptizes him in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  The names that Saul hated with a passion.

    By God’s grace in Christ, Saul had been reconciled to God.  He had been the enemy of Christ, but through His gracious work he was now a friend of Jesus.  Saul would be the ambassador of this same gift of reconciliation to the world.  Jesus met Him in mercy.

    Some treat Saul’s conversion as a model for all Christian conversion.  They think a crisis must occur for a conversion to take place.  This is misleading.  The Lord may work through heartaches and valleys, but conversion is always the work of the Holy Spirit through the mans of grace.  Saul’s conversion takes place as he receives Word and Sacrament.  It doesn’t take a dramatic experience.  You may have come to faith quietly.  What matters is trust in Christ as Savior and Lord.

    How many Saul’s do you see in our world today?  Spouting their theories about Christianity.  Defending evolution.  Desecrating marriage.  Blasting parents.  Killing the baby.  Saying the church is not “vital or essential.”  When you let your mind become clouded with these thoughts what starts to happen?  You stand on the verge of hating the person and not the message.  For many of us we would have done the same with Saul.  His malice would have gotten in the way of our Christian love.

    Isn’t it wonderful our Lord is different?  He sees the soul in front of Him.  He sees the misguided rhetoric that is spouted.  Saul is the perfect choice to spread the message because he has been on the side that needs to be converted.  What a beautiful, beautiful plan.  The best elder in a church can be the man who was once on the outside looking in.  The best LCMS Pastor can be the one who once pranced and danced in the pews of a non-liturgical confessional Church.  They’ve seen the other side and the view is not great.

    We are dependent on God’s saving grace.  When we want to step out on the ledge because the voices of the day have gotten us so upset, the Lord pulls back in.  “My child,” He says.  “I love you.  I forgive you for your thoughts toward others.  Let it go.  I am in control.  Look at what I did for Saul.  No one is beyond hope.”  

    Christ transforms.  He does it in His time and in His way.  We are blessed to receive that mercy again today.  It is showered on us in this Word we hear and in the Sacrament we will enjoy in fellowship together.  What Saul do you need to be praying for?  Whose heart needs a transplant?  You too are a “chosen instrument” of the Lord.  God reached out to Saul.  You’ve witnessed it firsthand.  Saul set out in malice, but Jesus met him in mercy.  

                                            Amen.                   

April 24, 2022                                    Text:  Revelation 1:4-18

Dear Friends in Christ,

    We just finished last Sunday our Lenten themed sermons, services and Bible studies on “Witnesses For Christ.”  I heard many positive comments on the series.  A recurring theme came from many of your comments.  “I never knew that.”  “I did not know it occurred that way.”  “That was fresh insight into what I had always thought.”  That is the beauty of God’s Word.  This side of heaven we are always learning.  

    Today we pray that continues.  You are here because you believe in the resurrection.  You don’t need all the reminders of the proofs but how about a little review?  Jesus’ death was not private.  It could not have been faked.  Hundreds of eyewitnesses saw his death.  If the story were “made up” women would not have been the first at the tomb.  This didn’t fit the culture of the time.  Others then saw him, ate with him, walked with him.  Would all the disciples doubt just to “fool people?”  What changed these men from fright to bold confessors in a matter of days?  None of the disciples ever changed their testimony even in the face of death.  The explosive growth of Christianity in the face of opposition.  The sudden switch by Jewish believers to worship on Sunday instead of Saturday.  

    Those are all things you have maybe heard over the years, but what about this question?  What happened to the guards at the grave?  Humm.  Run away?  Disappear?  Join the witness protection program?  Matthew tells us in chapter 28, verse 11, something we quite often forget.  “While they were going, behold, some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.”  They too had witnessed the resurrection!  But they were paid, told to lie that the body had been stolen and the lie continues to this day.

    How do you see it?  What shall we do and . . .

“IS EASTER OVER?”

    Let’s be honest, Easter worship is different from most Sundays.  But that happens everywhere where emotion comes in.  I’ve played in thousands of ball games, but some are remembered more than others.  I’ve been to numerous concerts but only a few stand out.  I’ve heard hundreds of speeches and lectures, but I can only quote from a handful.  Isn’t it the same for you?  That is what emotion does.  Easter Sunday worship has a different rhythm.

    Is Easter Over?  Of course not.  Our worship today is just as important even if we don’t “feel the same.”  Let’s take a look at our text.  “John to the seven churches that are in Asia:  Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come…”. . . “I am the Alpha and Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” (vs. 4 & 8)

    Does that sound like a dead Savior?  These words are spoken 60 years after He rose from the dead.  Christ is the beginning and end of all things.  The Lord Himself is present and active in all human events, especially in the lives of His people – His church.  Remember the promise?  “And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20b)

    Easter is never over.  It never will be.  The last chapter of Revelation says that Christ “will reign for ever and ever.” (Rev. 22:5b)

    How about these words in our text?  “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.” (v. 7)  “Even those who pierced him.”  I do believe we struggle to see that part.

    We struggle with what one Pastor calls “Look-Aroundism.”  We watch the news, open the paper, scan the internet and we swear the world is crumbling.  The Look-Aroundist concludes the devil is loose and reigning while Christ is just sitting on His throne.  We see darkness and death and trouble and think the devil has the controls of the ship.  Not true.  Listen the last words of our text, “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one.  I died and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

    Don’t doubt these words.  Don’t twist yourself into a pretzel of your own making.  Christ has the keys which means He is steering the world.  Easter is never over because our Savior cannot stop loving us.  Love is who He is.  We are freed from our sins by His blood.  The eternal salvation of our soul is not a maybe but a promise.  He is alive forevermore.

    Martin Franzmann wrote this, “He sits enthroned over all the future of men, and in His hand is the book wherein the destinies of men are written.  He knows those who are His own…and the prospect of their imperiled future need hold no endless terrors for them”

    We can’t say those words enough, the prospect of (our) imperiled future (in this world) need hold no endless terrors for (us).  None of us like what is happening in our culture.  We are tired of “good” and “evil” being mixed up.  The animosity toward the church is disturbing.  But Easter is our sure and certain victory – over this world, and death, and hell itself.  The familiar words are just as meaningful this morning:  “But thanks be to God!  He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:57).  Is Easter Over?  Not on your life.

                                            Amen. 

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.