Sermon Texts

December 26, 2021                            Text:  Isaiah 9:2

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Ever asked an older person what they want for Christmas and they tell you that they don’t need anything, they have everything they want.  I get that sentiment as I get older.  I would not have understood it as a child.  But you and I look around at all the blessings the Lord provides and we really do have everything that we need.

    Almost everything.  We need the Lord.  You light up every room in your house like the 4th of July but it is not the same as being in the sunshine.  You can live places that get over 300 days of sunshine like Toni and I did in Littlefield, Texas and a person can still be in spiritual darkness.

    Without God’s sunrise in our lives, without God’s Light of day, Jesus Christ, the darkness can be frightening and oppressive.  It’s the day after Christmas and we continue to celebrate . . .

“THE GREAT LIGHT OF JESUS”

    Our text once again, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.”  Israel is in darkness at the time Isaiah wrote this.  The Assyrians have invaded and destroyed the land.  A few survivors struggle to hang on in desolation.  When all hope seems lost, God’s promise comes.  A Light will dawn on them.  It is so certain it is even described in past tense.  “They have seen a great light,” and “on them has light shined.”

    This light is not just for those people despairing in Israel.  It is for all people, Jew and Gentile.  That means when we see our nation growing morally and spiritually weak, when we see so many signs of the last times and when we deal with the upheavals in our own lives, the Light shines for us.  The light shining from Jesus shows He is the way to the kingdom of God.  He keeps us safe through faith no matter what darkness we walk through.  When we have faith in Jesus as our Light, guess what happens to our fears of death and darkness?  They melt away.  They are replaced with joy.

    Seven hundred years after this promise from Isaiah, the Light, dawned.  That’s the message of Christmas.  A few shepherds first receive him.  Later a few Wise Men receive the Light of the world.  While the world is filled with those who received the Christ child in faith the last few days, the doubters and rejecters are all around.

    Herod rejected him.  The priests, Pharisees and Sadducees, for the most part, reject Jesus.  Not many people welcomed Jesus as the Light.  Most people liked the way things were.  After three years of Jesus’ ministry, how many were there in the Upper Room on the Day of Pentecost?  Only about 120.  John says in his Gospel that Jesus “the true light, which gives light to everyone . . . came to his own and his own people did not receive him.” (John 1:9, 11)  The people who needed Him the most rejected Him.

    A Pastor once called on a woman who was very ill.  She was not going to get better.  She was so afraid that she kept her light on all the time figuring if she were awake she wouldn’t die.  It couldn’t possibly work.  She got exhausted.  Sooner or later she was going to die.  On a spiritual level, she didn’t understand, she was right.  If she could just see the Light, Light with a capital L, she wouldn’t die.  She didn’t need a light bulb.  She needed the light of Christ.  Living by this Light when she took her last breath she would live.  That is the message for us that shines in the Gospel.  Jesus the Light shines in the darkness of death.  He receives us into the eternal light of His heaven.

    There is another story the complete opposite of the lady who was afraid to die.  This woman was in her 80’s and in and out of the hospital.  Her world was shrinking but she still exhibited her faith and generosity.

    Another trip to the hospital came and the Pastor rushed to visit.  She was barely conscious.  The Pastor read Scripture and said a prayer.  He prayed for healing.  He left things in God’s hands and returned a few days later.  His parishioner was now sitting up and talking.  She scolded her Pastor, “I was ready to go and be with Jesus.  But you prayed for me and I got better.”  That woman did not need electric light bulbs to keep her awake.  She’d seen the light in Jesus and could go to sleep in his arms anytime.  

    We don’t stumble in the dark to find Jesus.  On Christmas, the day after Christmas and all the other days we have, Jesus the Light is God’s gift to us through His Word.  Hear the Word with faith, and the Light will dawn.

                                    Amen.

December 25, 2021 – Christmas                    Text:  Luke 2:1-20

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Have you ever thought of the birth of Christ in terms of technology?  We live in a technological world that is such a part of our every day that we hardly notice it.  But the world has always used technology.   Back in the time of Jesus the technology used was mostly different than what we use today.

Let’s take a few moments this special day to see what it looked like . . .

“A TECHNOLOGICAL CHRISTMAS”

    The first use of technology that got Jesus to Bethlehem was the census.  Joseph and Mary had to go there to be registered.  It was the government at work.  Caesar Augustus was God’s instrument.  His call for a worldwide census unwittingly set into motion the events of Jesus’ birth, thereby fulfilling the prophecy from the book of Micah that he would be born in Bethlehem.

    How did you get to your birth?  Technology.  Your mom had to find out she was pregnant.  Many of you popped up on an ultrasound and they could even predict a boy or a girl.  Almost all of us or maybe all of us were born in a hospital.  Technology was all around us.  Monitors and machines and people who were skilled.  After your birth technology was used to find out about movement and hearing and eyesight and reflexes.  You were coming into a new world.

    Joseph and Mary had none of that.  No ultrasound but it didn’t matter God had told them they would have a Son and he would be the Savior of the world.  They had no hospital to go to but they used the technology of the day and were able to travel on the modern roads.  They had a donkey.  They used technology to get to Bethlehem and then Jesus was born.  He was wrapped in swaddling cloths (technology) and laid in a manger (technology).  

    The birth was not announced on Facebook or Twittered out to the world.  It was announced.  Oh, how it was announced.  To shepherds by angels.  “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

    Why did a Savior need to be born?  Because we are breaking down and altering the way we are relating to one another and God.  Technology can have many negative sides to it.  John Barclay, a New Testament scholar at the University of Durham gave a lecture at Concordia Seminary on the age of the Internet, he said this:

    “In an age when people fear the judgment of their peers far more than they fear the judgment of God, we have become increasingly petulant, critical, even cruel, and it’s proving hard to take…Our contemporaries are not primarily trying to win the favor of God; they are trying to win the favor of one another.  The judgment they fear is not the last judgment, but humiliating comments on social media.”

    We have shifted away from God and toward one another.  Instead of worrying if some faceless person in Uzbekistan likes your puppy shouldn’t we be thinking of our choices according to God’s Word?  Instead of tweeting out some inane comment you have to apologize for, maybe you need to hold your tongue because the world doesn’t really care.  A few years back people were eating laundry detergent pods and putting it on social media.  Others saw it and thought that was a good idea and followed suit.  We chase desires because of some twisted envy.  We then start to lose who God made us to be.  We live in a world of mirages and mirrors, screens and shadows.

    Jesus is no shadow.  Promised by God in the beginning, heralded by the prophets, and announced by the heavenly host, Jesus is God Incarnate.  Jesus is fully human – God in the flesh with bone and muscle and blood and skin and sweat and hair and fingernails.  Jesus is as real as it gets. 

    His birth, like all births, involved blood and pain.  He walked real, dusty streets in real places such as Nazareth and Galilee and Jerusalem.  Then touched the ulcerous skin of lepers.  He wept tears at the tomb of Lazarus.  Jesus permitted the technology of the day to put him on a Roman Cross and have his skin pierced and his warm, crimson blood to flow.  Jesus, the incarnate Son of God is reality.

    Step out of your fantasy world this day and hear the words you’ve known since childhood.  Christ came for you.  Christ died for you.  Christ loves you.  Christ forgives your indiscretions and your listening to the voices of our day.  They are transient.  Do you think they really care about you?  Step away from the screen and into your Bible.  Hear the good news of great joy that Jesus brings.  Down deep, don’t you really want that in your life?  May the Holy Spirit move your heart and mind to what you have always known and been taught.

    Technology.  A blessing when used rightly and as God intended.  It brought Him to Bethlehem and into our lives.  Rejoice in that.  He died and rose for you so that you might live . . . because you are important to Him.

                                    Amen.   

December 24, 2021 – Christmas Eve                Text:  Isaiah 62:1-5

Dear Friends in Christ,

    The Spin Doctors had a catchy tune 28 years ago – “One, two princes kneel before you.”  Is it a fairy tale, pursued by two princes?

    The Bible likes weddings.  From Genesis, “man should not be alone,” to Jesus’ first miracle at the Wedding in Cana.  The mystery is profound like Christ and the Church.  Our text for tonight.  “You shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.  As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”  It’s Christmas Eve and wonderful to hear . . .

“GOD CHOSE YOU”

    The gospel of Jesus Christ tells a love story.  It is THE love story.  And one, two princes kneel before you.  One has eyes for you.  He struts by and leans in.  He has charisma and confidence.  He makes your knees weak.  He has smooth moves and slick lines.  A tailored suit and stylish shades.

    He is going to buy you an expensive drink or two or six.  He has a fast car and faster hands and he swerves in and out of traffic.  He turns heads at every club and the women wink.  They have a history but no interest in a future.

    This one gets around.  This one gets you alone in a corner or in a hallway.  How about his place or a hotel?  This one specializes in no-strings attached, casual, and non-committal.  He excels in one-night stands.  He likes the darkness.  He delivers the danger.  He slips off those clothes and slides his hands over.  You feel his heat and sweat.  He can’t speak your name because he doesn’t know it and he doesn’t care.  It’s nothing like love, just lust enough to get lost in.  Who needs delight when you can indulge?  

    When he has had enough of fooling around with you he throws a few dollars your way to catch a cab.  He didn’t come to take care, only to take advantage.  You can’t decide whether he defiled you or you failed yourself.  When you lack somebody who sees you as precious, you’ll let anybody treat you this way.

    Ask around.  Many know his name, but few speak it out of shame.  Prince?  Prince of demons.  Prince of darkness.  He masquerades as sexual preference and sexual promiscuity.  He has a hundred other aliases:  greed, gossip, envy, anger, idolatry, apathy.

    His given name is Sin.  But he goes by self-expression and personal choice and rights and equality.  Hell himself disguised as death dressed up in freedom and promising heaven to have you in bed.  Sinfulness doesn’t love you.  Sexual choice and immorality don’t love you.  Look at how he leaves you.  Sin doesn’t rescue humankind.  Selfishness doesn’t create.  It consumes.  Death doesn’t redeem.  It discards.  It doesn’t choose you; it uses you and discards you and abandons you.

    But one, two princes kneel before you.  The other has a heart for you.  This one doesn’t need you, yet He wants you.  This one has character and compassion.  He humbles Himself in servanthood.  He bends low not to sweep you off your feet but to sit beside you in the gutter.  He comes near to take you in His arms to strengthen you and stand with you and walk with you.  He takes the blame for indiscretions and idolatries and gluttonies.  He pays the price for your hostilities and apathies and blasphemies.  He leads you to a castle, lifts you up to a kingdom and a mansion, yes, a palace and a paradise, making you His own.

    His scarred hands protect.  His stricken side and stinging scalp preserve.  No pretty pick-up lines, but presence and promises.  No fancy booze, but daily bread.  He doesn’t entice or seduce but embraces, absolves, accepts.  He doesn’t turn away from your wounds but He tends them.  He won’t rip off your clothes.  He will robe you in his majesty.    He’ll outfit you in attire of dignity.  He doesn’t pour sweat over you but for you, yes, He sheds His blood and spends His last breath to cleanse you from guilt.  He advocates and sacrifices for you.  

    This one gives you a new name.  He calls you by name.  He doesn’t ravage your body.  He asks for your hand.  He creates you special and calls you priceless.  In sickness and in health, to love and to cherish all the way to eternity.  Welcome, bride of the Heir, daughter and Son of the King Himself.  Welcome to new life and family and security and home!  Welcome not returning to work but with a purpose.

    Know Him as grace.  Call Him Savior.  Know Him as forgiveness and faithfulness and patience.  Greet Him this night as Jesus, Son of God, and Lord of all.  You chose sin, but God chose you.  Life chose you.  Baptism chose you.  Communion chose you.  Heaven chose you.  Kneel before Him.  Kneel beside Him as prince and princess now yourself.  Each one selected by God.  Each one a gift no matter age, appearance or abilities.  No matter how many princes pass by, you were created for this because God chose you.  A Blessed Christmas in his love.

                                    Amen.     

December 19, 2021                                  Text:  Micah 5:2-5a

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Why Bethlehem?  In less than seven weeks Beijing, China will host the 2022 Winter Olympics.  The result of cities all over the world submitting bids to the International Olympic Committee.  It is quite a convoluted process.  It began in 2012 and by 2014 the field was down to three finalists:  Oslo, Norway; Almaty, Kazakhstan and Beijing.  Along the way Oslo withdrew citing the massive expense – especially the self-serving stipulations of the IOC members.  Eventually Beijing won over Almaty 44-40, but controversy reigns because of the human rights abuses of the Chinese government.  Let’s be honest, it is a messy scene of political shenanigans that picks an Olympic city.

    And why Bethlehem?  What was the selection process by which God located the event that climaxes not just four years of anticipation and ten years of preparation, but an eternity of planning that changed the world forever?  We have no idea.

    But God in his eternal wisdom always had this little town circled on his map.  While Nineveh and Babylon and Rome battled it over the centuries for world supremacy – each thinking they were the center of the universe – God always knew “the hopes and fears of all the years” would meet in little Bethlehem.  

    As we study our text from Micah it is reminder of how God sees each of us – personally, individually circled on His world map, in our towns, in our homes.  As we stand on the cusp of Christmas isn’t it nice to know that we . . .

“DWELL SECURELY”

    While it is hard to get an exact population on Bethlehem at the time of Jesus’ birth, most scholars have it in the 300-500 range.  Today the city has about 25,000 citizens.  We all have a birthplace and for Jesus it is Bethlehem.  

    In the days of Micah the people were not dwelling securely in their homes or in their town.  Judah and Israel were in a constant state of war.  Nearby Jerusalem is besieged.  The rulers are shamed and exiled.  Citizens are dispersed and famished and at the point of despair.  Nobody wants to hear any more news because it is all bad.  They stop their newspaper subscriptions.  They want to be safe and live in peace and dwell securely in their homes.  

    That is a universal theme of men and women living in the world.  We want to be safe.  We want peace.  We want the sanctity of our homes to be where we can dwell in both of these places.  How is that going for you?

    Violence does reign all around us.  In the killing of 62 million babies.  In the streets of big towns and small towns.  Maybe within our homes where people don’t get along.  

    Do we have peace in our hearts when our country endorses same-sex marriage, degrades marriage, and limits religious freedom, and we struggle to speak God’s Word to such wickedness?  

    We can’t just blame all these problems on things outside of ourselves.  The claim that men and women can achieve security, peace, and righteousness in their hearts has proven false in generation after generation.

    Anthony Esolen has written:  “Here is our situation, as I see it.  We are called to bring the love of God to what has largely ceased to be a human culture.  We preach not to the old idolaters who were seeking God but got him wrong.  We preach to people who have sunk beneath idolatry; who have strangled liberty with liberty, acknowledging no laws but those they make themselves…who have, as Solzhenitsyn’s peasant said, ‘forgotten God,’ and who have as a consequence forgotten man.” 

    Where do we find peace and security?  It’s back to Bethlehem!  “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah…from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel…he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.  And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth.  And he shall be their peace.”

    What great love God has expressed in sending his very own Son to that little town, to be born to such an insignificant young girl into such a fallen and violent world.  Born to die such a violent death for us his war makers that we might be redeemed.  

    From Bethlehem He creates in us new hearts.  Our evil hearts are reborn and renewed in God’s free gift of a Savior.  As Christians we enjoy this peace and security.  We dwell in safety because Christ dwells with us and in us.  “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  

    Why Bethlehem?  God’s wisdom, He always does the unexpected.  The town is important on the world map.  You are important on God’s map.  He has placed you there as a forgiven child of God.  He shepherds your direction.  He grants you heavenly peace.  You dwell secure all because of a birth in Bethlehem.  I enjoyed the visit.  I pray you did too.                 Amen.  

December 12, 2021                        Text:  Zephaniah 3:14-20

Dear Friends in Christ,

    “A Wish For Christmas.”  “A Very Merry Mix-Up.”  “The Sweetest Christmas.”  “Heart of the Holidays.”  “Christmas In Tahoe.”  “An Unexpected Christmas.”  “Next Stop Christmas.”

    Those titles are a day in the life of the Hallmark Channel.  All having something to do with Christmas.  But if you read the bio of the website of each of these selections there is not much of Christ or His birth or why we have Christmas in the first place.  Now I am not pooh poohing movies like these.  They are better than a lot of television.  In fact, when they started showing these movies in October, I told Toni that Hallmark figured in our disagreeable, one side of the fence or the other culture we live in, everyone could use the good feeling of Christmas.  Something most of the world still celebrates.

    What gets missed is Jesus.  Oh a family may go to church or sing a hymn or two but the salvation story of the Babe in Bethlehem is nowhere to be seen.  In our text from Zephaniah the people were also missing the message.  The book is a whole lot of judgment.  We also though have the reminder that God did come down here . . . 

“THE LORD IS IN YOUR MIDST”

    The Lord wants us to have a reason to celebrate.  The people of Zephaniah’s day had a lot of sinful rebellion – the reason for God’s judgment.  The Lord was angry and He let them know it.

    Does God ever get angry with you?  When we fail to live up to His expectations do we think He is happy about it?  When we tear His name asunder in our speech does it tear His heart?  When we stay away from his house where He offers the greatest of gifts does He shed a tear?  When we shun our prayer life and don’t talk to Him is He offended?  It is hard to imagine.  Can the Lord be like us?

    We shouldn’t even be talking this way.  The Lord is far superior to man and our emotions that we almost can’t believe it.  God does not treat our sins as they deserve.  He cares for us as His own.  God is not against us.  We offend Him but He doesn’t take offense.  Look at our text, “The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies.  The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil.” (v. 15)

    This is what happened when the sin-atoning Jesus came to our world.  God in the flesh went from Babe in Bethlehem to crucified Savior.  From a cherry cheeked infant to skin being torn while beaten.  From sucking at his mother’s breasts to a few drops of wine vinegar to quench his thirst.  From active young boy to “It is finished.”  Zephaniah said of him in verse 17, “The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.”  He saved us from the words we say.  He saved us from shunning Him in our worship.  He saved us from ignoring him in our prayers.  He has forgiven all of these faults and many others.  The Lord is in our midst and what joy that brings.

    Being in our midst means that when we hear the Scriptures the Word is here.  The Word that became flesh to dwell among us.  Being in our midst means that the resurrected Christ is here in body and blood to pardon our failings.  We get a glimpse of heaven at the Communion rail.  Our full restoration will come at Christ’s Second Coming but we can celebrate now in anticipation of what we know is already ours.

    When we have baby showers and wedding showers we are celebrating before the celebration.  We await the birth with gifts.  As the married couple looks forward to their vows before God we give them gifts in anticipation of their new life together.

    Zephaniah talks about a celebration before the actual event.  He uses words like “sing aloud,” and “rejoice” and “exult.”  He is writing that the Lord is taking away his judgments against the people.  Why?  Because even during those centuries of the “first Advent,” Zephaniah was certain that the baby, the Messiah, was coming.

    We have assurances that are firm.  We are called to celebrate not only what God is doing right now, but also what we know with the certainty of faith He promises yet to accomplish at the end.  Even at a funeral, the death of a loved one, there is an anticipatory celebration for the Christian.  We come to that service knowing that like those at a baby or wedding shower something good is still ahead.  We know that those who die in Christ have gone to be with Him – which is far better.  More than this, they will also rise again on the Last Day.

    Celebrate this Advent/Christmas season as Zephaniah reminds us to do because the Lord is “rejoicing over you with gladness and he is quieting you with His love.”  The Lord is in our midst and the celebration goes on.

                                    Amen.    

December 5, 2021                                  Text:  Malachi 3:1-7b

Dear Friends in Christ,

    Here’s a story for you:  “An optimist said to a pessimist, ‘isn’t this a bright, sunny day?’  The pessimist replied, ‘Yes, but if this heat doesn’t stop soon, all the grass will burn up.’  Two days later, the optimist said to the pessimist, ‘Isn’t this rain wonderful?’  The pessimist replied, ‘Well, if it doesn’t stop soon, my garden will wash away.’  Later the optimist invited the pessimist to go duck hunting.  The optimist wanted to show the pessimist what his hunting dog could do.  The pessimist looked at the dog and said, ‘Looks like a mutt to me.’

    “At that moment, some ducks flew over.  The optimist shot one of the ducks and it fell in the lake.  The dog ran out on the water, picked up the duck, and ran back on the water.  The optimist took the duck from the dog and said to the pessimist, ‘What do you think of my dog now?’  The pessimist replied, ‘Dumb dog – can’t even swim!’”

    Are you the optimist or the pessimist?  How do you see God’s love for you in Christ Jesus?  How do you view God working in your life?  Do you ever wonder . . . 

“WHERE IS THE GOD OF JUSTICE?”

    That is a question posed by the people of Malachi’s time.  It comes in chapter 2 right before our text.  Israel was not ushering in the glorious and prosperous reign they had hoped for.  Israel had internal problems and external problems.  Pagan people were prospering because of their wickedness.  The people questioned God and thought he delighted in all this.  The believers were burdened, the wicked rejoiced.  Things were upside down.  People began to think that God was unlike His promises.  Had He forgotten His people?

    Our text is God’s answer to these wearying accusations.  God will act and soon.  Yet God’s coming will not be as the people expect and hope.  The pagan will not be the first focus of God’s judgment.  Rather, god’s coming will be in the purification of his own people.  They must be upright before God judges the outsider and brings in the everlasting victory.

    The Lord expects better of His people.  As silver gets tarnished in the open air, we easily adopt the ways of the world.  We are influenced by what we see and hear.  We buy into the babble and as we do the image of God starts to be hidden in our lives.  We sing with the world:  “Where is the God of justice?”  We start believing that God doesn’t care.  We start believing that God will no longer intervene with his justice.  We think God has become like certain big city cops who are told to let bad behavior go.  Our world like Malachi’s is turned upside down.

    God could have destroyed Israel for not paying attention.  But He didn’t.  God has every right to destroy our society for not paying attention.  But He doesn’t.  He rebuked them.  He rebukes us.  He warned them and us of God’s imminent coming with purifying fire.  They needed to repent and so do we.  If we do we can endure the coming of the Lord.  He promised the people they would once again be “pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old.” (v. 4)

    Luke announced the “way of the Lord” was the coming of Jesus.  Jesus’ sufferings, going to the cross, were the purifying fire and the fullers’ soap.  Jesus endured the day of His coming and He stood under the judgment of God.  Jesus obedient passion was the offering “pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old.”  Being united in Christ by His death, we return to God, as He returns to us.

    Where is the God of justice?  He is right here with us.  He never left.  Our text, “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.” (v. 6)  He’s consistent, we are inconsistent.  He’s a rock, we are sand.  The Lord has control, we spin out of control.  God is the same, we blow like the wind with whatever news we hear that day.  God smiles.  “Dear child, there you go again.”

    In our world God is very near.  This God of justice is fair and righteous.  He has purified us in Baptism.  He has given us endurance to stand in the strength of His body and blood.  He has re-created us in his image so that we can shine clear and bright in the darkness of the world.  

    Like in the time of Malachi the Lord is refining us.  He is making us stronger for the upcoming journey.  He wants us to have a healthy fear of who He is and what He can do.  He reminds us again today that a primary aspect of His constancy is his desire to save.  His willingness to forgive.  His gift of hope.  

    Where is the God of justice?  He is never far away.  He draws near to your heart and mind.  I’m so glad I know that, aren’t you?

                                Amen.