Sermon Texts

May 13, 2021 – Ascension                                                               Text:  Acts 1:1-11

Dear Friends in Christ,

            “You don’t know about me without having read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer…That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.  There were things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth…Aunt Polly – Tom’s Aunt Polly, she is – and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.”  Page 1 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

            “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day He was taken up to heaven.” (v. 1)  Our text this evening is the 2^nd book Luke wrote to a man named Theophilus.  The first book is the gospel of Luke.  In it, Luke described in detail the life of Jesus.  It only began to tell what Jesus did.  Like all good authors Luke left the door open for a sequel.

            Luke’s Book II is the Book of Acts.  Book I is what Jesus did for us.  Book II is how He continued to act through us.  Book I the story of the Gospel.  Book II what God’s people have done with the Gospel.

“THE STORY OF JESUS CONTINUES WITH US”

            To understand this Book I is an absolute prerequisite.  Luke wants us to see the two books as a unit.  If we didn’t have the basic facts of what Jesus did and taught in the Gospel of Luke then Book II would make no sense.  When Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn, he assumed we knew Huck and Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher.  Without the Gospel, we wouldn’t know the characters in Acts – Jesus, Peter, and the rest.  More important, without the Gospel, there would be no Book II.  Jesus’ death means forgiveness.  Jesus resurrection assures eternal life.  Jesus’ teaching about the grace of God rules our hearts.  In Book II Luke assumes we know and believe this:  “After His suffering, He showed Himself to the apostles and gave many convincing proofs He was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” (v. 3) 

            Luke’s gospel is required reading in order to move to Book II.  Without Jesus’ teachings, there would be no Word to proclaim.  Without Jesus’ suffering and death, there’d be no reason to speak.  Without Jesus’ resurrection, there’d be no hope; no story to tell.

            The ascension ends Jesus’ earthly ministry, yet our text is not an ending.  Jesus’ resurrection continues in Book II.  For forty days He appeared frequently to the disciples and other men and women.  Easter wasn’t just one chapter in an ancient book.  Jesus is alive and this is the hope.  Why else would they share His Word? 

            “While He was eating with them, He gave them this command:  ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” (v. 4-5)  Pentecost.  The disciples would proclaim Jesus boldly in a whole United Nations of languages.  Where the Holy Spirit is at work, Jesus’ story continues.

            The same story continues with us.  The Holy Spirit has baptized us.  This is not an isolated event in our scrapbooks.  It is a continuous writing of our life story.  In the faith, forgiven, sharing the Good News of Christ.  We are the witnesses to Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth.  The Book of Acts is a book of acts.

            Book II continues with us.  We are the characters in Book II.  We have our Jerusalems and Judeas and Samarias.  They are our children and the people we work with and golf with.  They are the millions in the state and billions in the world who need the saving message of Jesus. 

            Jesus ascended to God’s right hand.  This is no distant place.  It’s really no place at all.  He is still exercising God’s power on our behalf.  Not only His divine nature with us but his human nature as well.  True God and true man are right here with us.  The Lord is praying for us, guiding us, protecting us.  Jesus is continuing to write the story of our lives, our Book II’s.

            Book II will continue until the end of time.  The Greek forms Luke uses in v. 1 of our text might suggest a third book – a trilogy.  We don’t have this third book but it might complete the story of Jesus forever.  “They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.  ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.’” (vs. 10-11)  If there would  be a Book III, it would begin when this same Jesus returns as we have seen Him go.  Christ has ascended into heaven as our forerunner, with the promise to return and take us there.  That . . . Book III. . . will never end.

            But that’s another story.

                                                            Amen.    

May 9, 2021                                                                                         Text:  Acts 10:34-38

Dear Friends in Christ,

            About 10 years ago we had the opportunity to tour the George Bush (Sr) Presidential Library on the campus of Texas A & M University.  One of the highlights was seeing a part of the Berlin Wall.  This was the wall erected in 1961 to separate free West Berlin with Communist East Berlin.  It eventually came down in 1989 during the administration of President Bush.  The surprising part of seeing the wall in person was its size – both in height and in depth.  It helped to understand the barrier it posed.

            Humanity struggles to break down walls, only to find others being built.  The resurrection of Jesus, however, has forever changed this world.  Jesus’ cross holds out the victory that pulls down one wall after another.  In place of walls, God’s love…

“BINDS US TOGETHER IN CHRIST”

            Our text begins with these comforting words, “God shows no partiality.”  What are you partial to?  I like long hot showers and soft toilet paper.  Have you struggled with partiality?  A parent who you felt loved a brother or sister more?  A coach who favored a fellow player?  A teacher who liked a friend a little more?  God is different.  As the Creator of us all He binds us together in His Word around one salvation. 

            The partiality question came up as it relates to Jew and Gentile.  The idea that God favored or had fondness for one over the other.  There was no wall of separation in the eyes of the Lord.  They had cultural differences but the Word given to Israel is God’s love for the Gentiles:  “Good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)” (v. 36) 

            The love the Father has for all people is without exception.  He is a wall breaker.  Are we guilty of building walls?  Sure.  We may shun those with whom we disagree.  We might belittle those we think are below us.  We don’t always understand other cultures and their practices.  God’s Word of love means peace.  He binds people together because His salvation is for all who believe.

            God’s Son Jesus is the Word made flesh.  He was always “doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” (v. 38)  Jesus’ death was the ultimate act of love to save sinners.  His enemies “put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day.” (vs. 39-40)  Christ saw the cross to be the cure binding all to him.  Now Jesus is to be the “judge of the living and the dead” (v. 42), but for all who believe in Him, the judgment will be forgiveness of sins. (v. 43)

            Jesus is our wall breaker.  He has a fondness for all men and women because He died for all.  His love has no bounds.  He is a binding force.  His forgiveness and gift of salvation binds all people to Him for eternity.

            This binding love was then shown in action.  The Holy Spirit showed Peter the love he was to have for the Gentiles.  The Spirit made audible the love he has for all people.  It goes beyond the walls built by man, for “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.” (v. 44) 

            Love meant Peter was not to get in the way of God’s work in the Gospel.  The miracle of his hearers’ speaking in tongues confirmed the greater miracle.  “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (v. 47)

            We see the same love of the Holy Spirit shared around Word and Sacraments.  These are the means that create our faith.  These are the means that build our faith.  These are the means that lead us to share our faith.  These are the means that tear down walls and bind us together as One.  Our confession of Jesus arises.  Men will still build walls real and imagined, but a right belief in Jesus entrusts us to His Commandments, His forgiveness, and His faithfulness for everyone.

            God loves to bind our lives together by the Word of Christ.  The risen Christ breaks down the walls we put up and replaces them with salvation for everyone.  Lord, help us to live this now and forever.

                                                                                    Amen.        

May 2, 2021 – Confirmation                                                                        Text:  Daniel 12:12

Dear Friends in Christ,

            This year’s Confirmation class has many unique characteristics.  They are all young men.  3 of the 4 were baptized within two months of each other.  I was privileged to perform all four baptisms and they have all been lifelong members of Good Shepherd.  The other unique characteristic that is important for today is that they all have an older brother, brothers, or sister.  3 of the 4 are the youngest in their family.  Which means they have all had to wait.  They watched siblings start school.  They saw a brother or sister get into organized sports before them.  Scouting membership was something they waited on.  They set through the questioning and confirmation of their beloved brother and sister.  They’ve waited and here they are.

            The prophet Daniel says in our text that waiting is a blessing.  How do you see it?  Today is a future oriented day but not just for these young men.  It is also important for all in the Christian Church.  What does the future look like and what place do I play in it?  Hang on to your patience as we delve into . . .

“WAITING. . . WAITING . . .”

            In the United States, the holy, Christian Church is facing a fork in the road.  Since the days of Emperor Theodosius I in AD 379 Christianity has enjoyed privileged status in Western European culture.  The Church has had freedom to wield political, legal, intellectual, and cultural power, according to its mission and purpose.  But it looks more and more like the Church’s privileged status is coming to an end.  The Church has been fragmented and secularism has pushed the Church to the fringe of society.  In all the areas I mentioned earlier the voice of orthodox Christianity is diminishing. 

            The two most popular paths to follow in the past have been zealotry and despair.  Zealotry seeks to regain power at all costs.  You then turn your renewed status against your oppressor.  Despair is surrendering.  Withdraw from the conflicts that seem insurmountable, repudiate the world and start a nirvana somewhere else.  Both paths have been followed in the past and failed.

            As with the pandemic there is nothing new.  History repeats and repeats.  The first three centuries of the Christian Church faced wave after wave of hostility.  Political exclusion.  Legal persecution.  Cultural contempt.  Roman rulers identified the Christian Church as a dangerous “contagion” that needed to be quarantined for the good of society.

            The ancient Church rejected both paths in favor of a third – the path of patience, or, better, long-suffering.  Does that make you squirm in the pew a bit?  In American culture patience is met with skepticism.  We live in an impatient society.  I see more people who think stop signs are just a suggestion.  “Seize the day!”  “Just do it.”  The politics of the day feed this activism with crisis after crisis, which leads to immediate action.  To be patient is equated with doing nothing. 

            The early Church Father Cyprian who advocated waiting said this, “We do not speak great things, we live them.”  Patience is the Christian form of life and it is active.  We don’t eliminate or evade suffering, we bear it, we endure, and we outlast it.  God is the author of supreme patience.  We see it with Abraham and Isaac, Jacob, Joseph who makes peace with his brothers, Moses, David, and all the righteous.  Yet it is only in Christ that a full and perfect patience is finally consummated. 

            The true Son, Jesus, gives form to the perfect patience of the Father.  Although righteous, He bears the sins of the whole world; though immortal, He suffers death; though guiltless, He is reckoned with sinners.  Patience does not look to rule the world or reject the world.  It seeks fulfillment in the redemption of the world, in the repentance of sinners, in the resurrection and manifestation of Christ in the glory of His Father.  The resurrection and the life of the world to come gives Christians the freedom to be patient, turn the cheek, to love the enemy and bear one another’s burdens in Christ.  Patience is freedom because it has no boundaries.  Its beginning and end reside in God, and so patience and waiting is the path for Christians.

            As people of faith we await the Lord’s deliverance.  King David wrote in Psalm 130, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” (v. 4)  It was a wonderful blessing to talk with these young men about their future as husbands and fathers.  They wait to be spiritual heads of their families.  They wait for the Christian spouse God has for them.  They wait to prayerfully be blessed with children.  Christian patience.  Make a God-ordained difference in your little part of the world.  Men who will lead their families are so needed.

            For all of us we wait for our eternal home.  May our patience be a sign of God’s enduring mercy and a testimony to the hope of the resurrection.  On that day, the beatitude will be fulfilled:  “Blessed is the man who waits.”

                                                                                                            Amen.     

April 25, 2021                                                                                   Text:  Psalm 23:2-3

Dear Friends in Christ,

            A little shaver liked to help his dad and mom around the house.  He would dust and try to vacuum and do what he could at his tender age.  One day, his father was brushing his teeth with one of those toothbrushes with a row of blue bristles.  As the blue fades away it is time to get a new brush.  But his was not fading, it was getting bluer.  In asking his wife she knew nothing about it.  They asked their young son if he knew anything about it and he replied, “that’s my ‘ty-ty’ brush.”

            Mom was getting the picture while dad was still a little confused.  As they asked more questions of their helpful child he went into the bathroom and came out with a toilet brush in one hand and his dad’s toothbrush in the other.  Holding up the toilet brush he said, “Mommy’s ‘ty-ty’ brush is too big, so I use daddy’s ‘ty-ty’ brush!”

            Everything in this world is designed for a purpose:  a toothbrush for brushing teeth; a toilet brush, for brushing porcelain.  It is the same way with God’s creation.  The fruit tree gives fruit.  The sun gives warmth and marks time.  When it comes to man and what his purpose is, well, things start to get a bit unclear.  May the Holy Spirit help us this morning as we look at the Creator’s plan . . .

“LIVING WITH PURPOSE”

            One thing we learn about God today from Psalm 23 is that God is a real ‘He’ man.  Yes, He is almighty, but we are not talking bustling biceps here.  Listen and see if you notice.  “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.”

            Who is the one He makes lie down? Leads?  Restores?  It’s me.  It’s you.  “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.”

            God in Heaven has a longing desire to give you a purpose and He is deeply involved in the life of man.  You are the object of that purpose.  You are still breathing air because God “ain’t finished with you yet.”  He has a purpose for your life.

            Hasn’t man had these questions since God breathed into Adam?  Why am I here?  What is my purpose?  Someone went to a lot of trouble to turn a small seed into a redwood tree or to take one small cell from a man and one small cell from a woman and create a beautiful infant child.  What does it all mean?

            To get that answer we must check the Manual.  We have to go to the Source, and find out what the Creator has said about His creation, and that source is the Word.  It’s the Holy Bible.

            We find there that God had a purpose.  “He makes me lie down in green pastures.  He leads me beside still waters.” That is God’s provision.  He provides what we need to support this body and life.  He gave Adam and Eve the garden.  He sustained the Israelites in the wilderness for forty years.  God still wants us to trust Him.  He provides abundantly and daily.  He gives live purpose.  He wants to be our Shepherd.  Look at His blessings even in the past year.  Did anyone see the financial security God provided many churches and charities?  We have seen it at Good Shepherd and the Pregnancy Center Walk For Life set a record this year.  In the midst of chaos, isn’t it great our Creator leads us beside still waters?

            Then man needs his soul restored.  So many souls are lost and confused.  What’s going on?  My life has no direction.  Suicides are exploding.  When people don’t even know their sex, we know the train has jumped the tracks.  God’s people have let “worry” encompass their existence.  They have lost sight of the end goal of the Good Shepherd. 

            Christ cares for every human need.  Christ alone restores our soul as He sacrifices His life for the sheep.  Jesus did that for us so that our sin-broken souls would be restored and fixed and then He might lead us on the path to heaven.

             That word “leads” comes up again.  The Lord is leading our path.  Do you see that?  Do you see His Almighty hand in everything?  Do you see His purpose even as people turn their back on their Creator?  The Shepherd leads us on the righteous path.  As Christians the path we take must be above the fray.  The Lord grants us kindness and compassion and understanding as we feed on His Word, as we graze in his pasture. 

            Remember Deuteronomy 8:  “Man does live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”  Digest the Word.  May the Holy Spirit put the Scriptures inside you.  Too many people forget on Monday what they had to eat at the 9:00 a.m. Sunday meal.  Let the banquet last throughout the week.  Supplement it with Bible study, devotions, personal Bible reading.

            All of this helps to restore our soul – mending our broken lives, reviving hurting marriages, giving strength for life’s challenges.  We are restored back to our original purpose to know our Savior – to know our Shepherd.  He seeks to lead and guide.  Loved ones, your lives have a great purpose.  Follow Him, won’t you?    Amen.  

April 18, 2021                                                                                   Text:  Luke 24:36-49

Dear Friends in Christ,

            I think you’ll recognize the last name.  Charles Ponzi became infamous in the 1920’s.  Before he perfected his pyramid scheme he had already been in trouble with the law.  He had gone into a Montreal business with no one in the office, found their checkbook, and wrote himself a nice bonus though he didn’t work there.  He served three years and when his mother, who was living in Italy inquired about his employment he wrote home and said, “I’ve got a job as the assistant to the warden at a prison.” 

            Ponzi’s scheme promised returns of 50 and 100 percent.  He used postal coupons and he kept it going as long as he had investors.  When that house of cards fell apart his investors lost 20 million dollars about 250 million in today’s dollars.  His name is known for this type of swindle.  You know it as a “Ponzi Scheme.”

            Most people do not fall for this scheme anymore because they see it as too good to be true.  We are suspicious and distrustful . . . but people still get duped every day.

            We might think of the Gospel in the same way.  God gives up His only Son to die and come back to life.  This seems too good to be true.  People have been there before.  Look at the disciples in our text, they “disbelieved for joy.” (v. 41)  However, as we will see in our sermon for this morning, the gift of the death and resurrection of Jesus is one promise that we can absolutely take to the bank.

“DISBELIEVED FOR JOY”

            Other than reading those words in our text, I don’t believe I have ever used those words in that order.  Have you?  I disbelieved for joy when the Cubs won the World Series.  I disbelieved for joy when Illinois won the Big Ten Tournament.  I disbelieved for joy when Toni said “yes” to my marriage proposal.  We just don’t talk that way. 

            So how would we define “disbelieved for joy?”  The heart is too small to take in all the joy at once.  Maybe the reality is not real.  Luther calls this a curious statement.  Fear and fright first hold up faith, it is then held up by the very opposite, joy.  Grace is altogether too great and glorious to take it all in. 

            Let’s see what led the disciples to get to that point.  The disciples were gathering and wondering.  In steps the Savior.  Hold it – it’s a spirit.  “Guys, it’s me Jesus.  Why do you doubt?  Look at me.  Touch me.  I have flesh and bones.”  This is what prompts the “disbelieving for joy.”

            A few years back we changed banks.  The boys and I went in to make the change.  In the course of our conversation, the bank employee said I could do online banking.  I blurted out something that gave a little embarrassment to the sons.  “I told the guy I don’t do online banking.  I want to touch.  I want to feel my money and come to a branch.”  Most of you know I am that way about a lot of things.  I want to see and interact.  I would have fit in well with the disciples.

            What do you need to see to believe?  Do you need to see Jesus eat?  Many of you like meals together.  Would this have you “disbelieving for joy?”  Here, sit next to Jesus and have some fish.

            Would you “disbelieve for joy” once Jesus started telling you how the Scriptures needed to be fulfilled?  Here He is the living proof of everything the writers in the Old Testament were pointing towards.  He is sharing the peace with them.  He is sharing that peace with you. 

            The message is “that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (v. 47)  Don’t we have great joy in knowing that for the sake of the death and resurrection of Jesus our sin against God has been forgiven?  He spared no expense.  This is no Ponzi scheme.  This is flesh and blood sacrificed on a cross.  This is flesh and blood come back to life.  This is flesh and blood dining with disciples.  This is flesh and blood that appeared to many in the next 40 days.  “You are witness of these things.” (v. 48)

            The resurrection of Jesus is for your joy.  Repent of your sin before God.  Repent of your sin before one another.  Live in the joy of the Gospel.  Live in the joy of restored relationships with one another.  It is not too good to be true.  It is true.  Christ has come back to life . . . and you have “disbelieved for joy.”

                                                                                                                        Amen.   

April 4, 2021 – Easter                                                                        Text:  John 20:1-10

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Well here we are.  Almost a year removed from an Easter most had never experienced.  Locked up in homes.  Afraid to venture out.  Chilled to our soul with the news of the day.  Fear overtook our nation and our world.  What was everybody afraid of?  Certainly the unknown.  But take away all the fluff and experts and press conferences and what do you get.  The fear of death.  People were and still are afraid of dying. 

            Philip Yancey wrote a book, “I Was Just Wondering,” where it imagines a society in which no believes in life after death.  No heaven.  No hell.  No nothing.  The fictional land is called Acirema.  This was written over 20 years ago.

            “Aciremans would put great emphasis on youth.  The idea of growing old and eventually dying would be so traumatic that they would have no hope for the future.  Therefore, preserving youth would become an obsession.  Old age, and anything associated with aging, would be shunned and devalued.  In this way, the rest of society could continue the charade of denying the facts of aging.  Every kind of cosmetic and chemical treatment that can possibly slow down the aging process would be necessary. 

            “Appearances would be all that matter.  Inner beauty, characterized by such things as integrity, compassion, and decorum, would no longer matter.  People who do not look attractive, young, and healthy would face great discrimination.  Scientists would try to figure out how to eliminate death.  People would use all kinds of euphemisms to say that someone has died.  Religion for the Aciremans would consist of philosophies to help them make the most of the here and now.  Eternal rewards wouldn’t exist in their belief system, so Acireman religion would teach that one must be fully gratified and rewarded in this lifetime.  Therefore, Aciremans would be taught to ‘grab all the gusto they can get,’ to build up riches and satisfy their whims and desires as soon as they can.”

            By the way, Acirema, spelled backwards is America.  Fear. Unbelief.  Sadness.  We finish our Lenten theme this morning “The New Normal – Or Is It” and see once again that our times and biblical times are the same.  Fear. Unbelief.  Sadness.  They needed something that first Easter.  It is still a need we have today.  Where is Jesus?

“THE EMPTY TOMB OVERCOMES OUR FEAR”

            The women and disciples were early risers.  Mary Magdalene sees the stone rolled away and tells the disciples, “they have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” (v. 2)  Fear.  “We don’t know what this virus can do.  People are dying.  What should we do?”  Without Christ the unknown is there for all of us.

            Dr. James Dobson observed this, “Life itself is a fatal disease.  None of us is going to get out of it alive.  And it happens so quickly too; about the time your face clears up, your mind gets fuzzy.”  There it is the grave . . . in the distance . . . and no amount of posturing can make it go away. 

            It’s a sprint to the tomb and John gets there before Peter.  They both see the linen cloths lying there.  And the face cloth was folded by itself.  “The other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed…” (v. 8)  Believed what?  They didn’t believe in Christ victorious over the grave, they believed what Mary Magdalene told them.  They still didn’t understand He must rise from the dead.  Then look at the last verse of our text, “Then the disciples went back to their homes.”  The fear.  The sadness.  The unknown.  Where do they go? – home.  Go back again to last April.  The fear.  The sadness.  The unknown.  Where were you – in your home.

            The disciples eventually came out and realized what had happened.  They remembered the words of Jesus – “On the third day I will rise again.”  We too come out from our shelters and face the reality.  This life is hard.  We can make all the facades we want.  When we visit the empty tomb we come to terms with the tremendous victory won for us.  The empty tomb overcomes our fear.  Fear of death.  Fear of virus.  Fear of governmental control.  Fear of our sins.  Jesus said, “Because I live, you also will live.”  Have you been living?

            Mary Magdalene says in verse 18, “I have seen the Lord.”  It’s glorious news.  It is our news.  Have you see the Risen Lord?  I mean have you really seen Him?  Has His presence let you just live life.  Have His words uplifted your sagging spirit?  Has His Holy Meal provided comfort and strength?  Has seeing the Lord changed the way you see everything?  I pray it has.  Living in fear leaves you entombed.  Be reminded again – the tomb is empty . . . empty . . . empty . . . He Has Risen!

            At Christ’s tomb the One who loves us with an everlasting love directs us Heavenward!  And our last earthly dwelling – the grave – is just as temporary as the present.  A victory has been handed to us, my dear brothers and sisters.  Eternal life.  And the sign outside the tomb reads . . . VACANT.  Glory be to Jesus.

                                                                                                                        Amen.