Sermon Texts

May 6, 2018 – Confirmation                                     Texts:  Romans 3:19, 1 John 5:4

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

It was January of 1996 and 4,000 baseball coaches descended upon the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tennessee.  It would be three days of seminars and clinics and exhibits.  But this one would be a little different from all the rest.  There was a buzz in the hallways about one of the main speakers – John Scolinos.

John Scolinos was 78 and retired as a coach of Cal Poly Pomona where he won 3 national championships at the Division II School.  He also had been the pitching coach for the 1984 Olympic Baseball team.  Why all the excitement?

If you have ever been to a convention you know it is a lot of chitchat in various locations with people solving the world’s problems.  Attentions spans can be limited, seats normally readily available.  Not for John Scolinos.  The convention hall was full 30 minutes before his talk.  Why all the excitement?

Finally, it was time.  Coach John Scolinos shuffled to the stage to an impressive standing ovation.  He was dressed normally, except he had a full-sized stark-white home plate hung around his neck.  He talked for 25 minutes with no mention of the home plate.  Had he forgotten?  Was it a new form of jewelry he was promoting for baseball players?

Then…”You are all wondering why I am wearing home plate around my neck.  I’m old but not crazy.  I want to share with you what I’ve learned about home plate in my 78 years.  How many Little League coaches here?  How wide is home plate?”  Someone answered hesitantly, “17 inches.”  “That’s right,” he said.  “How about in Pony baseball?”  Another reluctant coach, “17 inches.”  “How wide is home plate in high school baseball?”  More hands and voices chimed in, “17 inches.”  “How about in the minor leagues?”  Same answer – 17 inches.  “The major leagues?”  Everyone in unison said it, “17 inches.”  “Seventeen inches,” he confirmed.  “What do they do with a Big League pitcher who can’t throw the ball over seventeen inches?  They send him to Pocatello!”

“What they don’t do is this:  they don’t say, ‘It’s ok Jimmy.  You can’t hit a 17-inch target, we’ll make it 18 or 19.  We’ll make it 20 so you have a better chance of hitting it.  If you can’t hit that, let us know so we can make it wider still, say 25 inches.”

“Coaches…(and he paused) what do we do when our best player shows up late to practice?  What if he gets caught drinking?  Do we hold him accountable?  Or do we change the rules to fit him, do we widen home plate?”

Today is Confirmation Sunday.  Another step on the road of faith.  Another milestone of accountability.  A good day to take a few moments for . . .

“ACCOUNTABILITY BY FAITH”

We are the ones that Paul talks about in our Romans verse as being “under the law.”  Scriptures proves our guilt over and over.  Where have we been less than accountable to God?  In our relationship with Him?  In our prayer life?  In our relationships with others?  Where do we widen home plate?  What’s one Sunday away from His House?  Why can’t two people live together without a piece of paper from the county clerk?  We need to help her die because she is suffering so.

John Scolinos drew a house on home plate.  “This is the problem in our homes today.  We don’t teach accountability to our kids, and there is no consequence for failing to meet standards.  We widen the plate!”

To the top of the house he added an American flag.  “This is the problem in our schools today.  Teachers have been stripped of the tools needed to educate and discipline our young people.  We are allowing others to widen home plate!  Where is that getting us?”

He replaced the flag with a cross.  “This is the problem in the church.  Our church leaders are widening home plate with their misleading teachings of Scripture.  If our homes and schools and churches and government fail to hold themselves accountable to those they serve, there is but one thing to look forward to…”  With that he held home plate in front of his chest, turned it around, and revealed its dark backside “…dark days ahead.”

These young people and all of us are living in those days.  Accountability is going out the window.  “You can’t tell me what to do!”  Social media is all about unaccountability.  Home plate is being obliterated.  Oh Lord, we need your help.

“Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.”  Do you feel like a conquering world hero?  Of course not.  Thankfully overcoming the world has nothing to do with our feelings and experiences but on our faith.

Martin Luther wrote, “This must happen through faith in Christ, which is the victory.  For what could this fragile vessel accomplish against Satan, the god of the world?  But God is greater.  To be born of God is to believe in Jesus Christ.  He who believes in Christ is now a warrior…For we are still engaged in the battle itself and are about to be victorious…The Word of God is required – the Word which promises and extends grace to the believers, so that when they have been hurled into so many great trials and weighed down under such crafty spirits, they nevertheless triumph.”

Accountability by faith.  Law and Gospel.  Sin and grace.  Confession and forgiveness.  Born again in Baptism.  Strengthened in Word and Sacrament.  Trial and cross.  A Savior being accountable to the Father.  A world saved.  Your faith life important now and into eternity.  Through the Holy Spirit we can stand up and be counted.  Accountable to the Lord and to each other.  A society staying within the bounds of 17 inches.  May the Lord grant it for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.

April 22, 2018                                                                        Text:  John 10:11-18

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Let’s delve into a subject I know nothing about.  Do you know in our world there is voice recognition technology?  It’s true.  You can talk to your phone or tablet or speaker.  You can communicate with someone named Siri or Alexa and they talk back.  They even answer your questions.  Do you realize this is going on around us?

Ok.  I’m not as foolish as I let on.  I just don’t use the technology.  By the end of 2019 it is to be a $600 million industry.  By 2022, $40 billion.  40% of adults use voice search everyday and smart speakers are showing up in many homes.

There are a lot of voices competing for our attention.  Not just the wife and the kids and the boss.  Machines want to be your friend and give you advice and help you find the nearest Subway.  But how many voices care about your soul?  How many are concerned with your faith?  What is the one voice we should be listening to?   With ears opened let’s ask . . .

“ARE YOU LISTENING TO THE SHEPHERD’S VOICE?”

Sometimes lost in our competing voices world we forget or fail to listen to the Good Shepherd.  And who is He?  Jesus.  He says so in our text.  “I am the good shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (v. 11)  No other “shepherd” in any religion does such a thing.  We are the sheep.  Those that listen to the wrong voices.  Those that follow the path of destruction.  Those that lie down with wolves and get comfortable with the hired hands.

The cry of the wolf, the devil, can lead to destruction.  Many listen to his howls and cannot turn away.  He twists and alters God’s word until it is unrecognizable by the sheep.  The hired hand is no better.  He is the Pastor who is “pastoring” simply for his own advantage and will never confront or oppose error.  The sheep then scatter.  We see this today as people skip from church to church looking for a church standing on the truth of God’s Word or they leave such a church to satisfy their itching ears and their own personal agendas.  In the end they will be devoured and the wolf smiles with blood on his face.

The wolf and the hired hand can be overcome by the Good Shepherd – Jesus the Christ.  Christ is not a chameleon savior.  He is the One who stands before all human history with it’s rising and fallings – its here today and gone tomorrow cycles – and declares:  “I the Lord do not change.” (Mal. 3:6)  What a blessing for the sheep, befuddled and slammed around by the storms of life.  This is the Jesus I know.

One of the things that voice technology proponents are working on is to make it more natural.  They even accept the notion that listening is important.  How are you as a listener?  Your spouse?  Your kids?  Your boss?  Your phone company or internet provider?  It can get frustrating, can’t it?  Who always listens?  Our Lord.  Through prayer there is never a time that He doesn’t listen.  He hears your confession and forgives.  He sympathizes with your heartaches and challenges.  He went to great lengths for your salvation.  He heard our cry for mercy and sacrificed His Son on a cross.  The world didn’t need voice recognition to hear that.  It is the loudest announcement ever made.

We as the sheep do not come to the Good Shepherd.  He comes to us.  We become part of the fold by hearing His voice.  We remain safe and secure in the care of the Shepherd by hearing His Word.

As we rely more and more on technology, human interaction is becoming less and less.  But understand this.  On average you can only type 40 words a minute.  When you speak you average 150 words a minute.  As sheep of the Good Shepherd who listen to His voice, we have plenty to say.  Who can the Holy Spirit help you reach?  Who needs to hear your Christian voice?  Who needs the comfort of the Good Shepherd?  Who recognizes your voice as a helper from the Lord?

Aah, I hear the Good Shepherd.  Do you?  What a great voice to recognize!

Amen.

 

April 1, 2018 – Easter                                                           Text:  Romans 6:1-9

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

“The Gospel in Seven Words.”  That has been our theme this Lenten season.  If you have been with us on Wednesday evenings, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday you know that each week we try to get the Gospel down to seven words.  Brevity is something needed in our attention span starved world.  People who don’t know the Gospel, or who have walked away from the church, especially friends and family of yours, need to hear the Good News about what this day is all about.

We have talked these last seven weeks about confessing, captivity and freedom, death and life, isolation and community.  In Holy Week we have focused on Jesus feeding our hungry soul and how His death has overcome our death.  Today, our goal is once again to witness to the Gospel in seven words.

When this journey began on Ash Wednesday, one of our congregation members came out of church and mentioned to me that I was already proclaiming the gospel in brief.  I do it each time I step in this pulpit.  I have been doing it for 26 ½ years, the length of my ministry.  You heard it again today.  Do you know what it is?  . . . “Jesus died, so we might live.”  I know that’s six words; so to keep with our target of seven words, let’s make it this on Easter morning . . .

“JESUS DIED AND ROSE, SO WE LIVE”

The first part states that Jesus died.  He did.  I was there.  You were there.  Not physically mind you, but a part of us was there.  Our bad language was there.  Our worrying was there.  Our questionable choices were there.  Our idols of success and money and “look what I have done world” before our relationship with God were there.  Our Sunday morning decisions about being in God’s House were there.  Our horrible thoughts about others were there.  Our lack of trust in our Savior was there.  It was all piled on Him.  He was crushed for our iniquities.  He went through hell to save us from hell.  “Surely He was the Son of God.”

The second part of our seven word gospel we celebrate today.  Jesus rose.  What a glorious declaration.  Jesus’ resurrection was the fulfillment of God’s Word throughout the ages.  It was the core of God’s meticulously crafted plan of salvation.  Jesus had promised he would rise from the dead, and when he did, he proved his divinity.  He vindicated everything he had ever said or done.  Because Jesus rose we can trust everything he said throughout his life and ministry.

Because Jesus died and because Jesus rose, we can declare with confidence that “we live.”  None of us can outwit or outsmart or outlast death.  The slow and steady march of life is always leading us another step closer to the grave.

And yet, the resurrection of Jesus shows that death is no longer in charge.  Because of Jesus, death is no longer our master.  We will still die, unless Jesus returns, but death is no longer the end of our story.  Through faith in Christ, and through the promise God makes to us in our baptism, we will live even after death.

Do you get it?  Because of Easter, we need not live in shame.  Because of Easter we need not work so hard to serve ourselves.  Because of Easter we can forgive those who have sinned against us, for Christ has forgiven our sin against him.  It’s called new life, and it’s what God gives you and me here again this day.

Her father was an atheist who concluded God did not exist.  In college weighed down with her parent’s divorce and an absentee father she tried to cope with one-night stands, binge drinking, and recreational drugs.  But at night, when the lights were out, she asked the question that every human being asks at one time, “Is there something more to life?”

During her sophomore year, her father read the Bible to see if Jesus professed positive things and through this he came to faith.  His newfound faith threatened her.  Outwardly, she mocked him.  Inwardly, it launched her on a quest to discover the meaning of life.

She took a class on non-Western religions and then interviewed classmates about their belief systems around a keg smoking joints.  One day she passed a bookstore and saw a book by Billy Graham.  She tucked it into her beach bag, grabbed a six-pack and went to the dunes of Lake Michigan to party with friends.  As she read on the beach and looked around at God’s creation she thought, “maybe God does exist and created me for a purpose.”

She then read the Bible and she couldn’t get enough.  It introduced her to God’s love through Christ and His ability to provide each of us an abundant life full of significance.  She was transformed from tending bar on the weekends to marrying a Pastor who tells people every Sunday about the living water, the life we have because of Jesus’ death and resurrection.

Who do you know who is lying in bed thinking, “Is there something more to life?”  Maybe you found yourself in this true story.  Whatever brought you to worship this day, I want you to find the peace and joy that God offers in light of Jesus’ resurrection.  I want you to believe, and to confess, this incredibly good news of the gospel.  This morning, we again make it simple.  Just seven words that change our lives forever.

Jesus died and rose, so we live.                Amen.

March 25, 2018 – Palm Sunday                                           Text:  Zechariah 9:9-12

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Legend tells us that once upon a time there was a city named Troy.  Troy was located on the coast of Asia, across the sea from the Greek city-state Sparta.  Walls were built around cities back then to protect the people.  Gates were built into the walls to allow people to enter the city.  During times of war, the gates were closed and people could not enter.

For years the people of Troy and the Greeks fought.  The Greeks had been trying to get over the walls of Troy and couldn’t.  Year after year, neither side won.

One day, a Greek general, Odysseus, had an idea.  “Let’s pretend to sail away,” he suggested.  “We’ll leave a gift for Troy, a gift to announce the end of the war, a large wooden horse.”  That is how things were done back then, when you admitted defeat you supplied a gift.

Could this really trick the Trojans?  The Greeks thought it was a brilliant idea.  Their best artists built a magnificent horse.  When it was ready, the Greeks brought it as close to the gates of Troy as they could without it being shot full of arrows.  Then the Greeks pretended to sail away while playing the music of Styx!

Anyway, the Trojan archers could not believe that the Greeks were sailing away.  Had the Greeks finally given up?  Had the Trojans won?  It appeared that way.  The Trojans dragged the horse inside the city gates, closed the gates and celebrated.

But this horse had a little surprise for the Trojans.  Hidden inside were thirty Greek soldiers.  Later that night, as sugarplums danced in the heads of the Trojans, the thirty Greeks snuck out of the horse, opened the gates of Troy, and let the Greek army inside.  That was the end of Troy.

Palm Sunday is the Trojan horse of the Church Year.

“YOUR KING COMES (TO TROY?)”

Like the Greeks and the Trojans we have all been engaged in a prolong battle.  People we don’t care for.  Situations we make worse with our tongue.  Misjudgments in tweets and Facebook postings.  The battle in our mind that plays out with the devil.  Sin is a force that controls our lives.  We may be thousands of years removed from “the chariot of Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem” (v. 10) but we know the consequences of sin and the brokenness of our lives.  We’d like to hide in the wooden horse because of our shame.

As with the Greeks – and God’s people of Zechariah’s time – it seemed as if our battle was lost.  Like the exiles in Babylon who could not free themselves, we are unable to defeat our enemy of sin.  “The wages of sin is death” and we are trapped in the grave of despair.

But the Lord has a plan and oh what a brilliant plan.  His humble King rides a donkey into Jerusalem and the crowd goes wild.  But then, the city and all it stands for is besieged from within as the King does battle with sin.  Jerusalem will fight back, and by the end of the week, the humble King will hang in shame on a cross.  For a short period of time it will look like evil has won.  The gift of a wooden horse given to the Trojans, but this is also part of the plan.  What could be next?

Satan is duped.  He is asleep in supposed victory and the Trojan horse arrives.  Before He knows it, the King will appear in power – alive! – in Satan’s own fortress.  The King only appears weak and helpless.  His humility is actually His most powerful weapon.  Jesus never exalts Himself.  His weapon in war against sin is his own active righteousness – His perfect obedience to God’s plan.

He takes our punishment on Himself.  He sheds his blood and died.  And then He rises again and presents himself in hell as the victor over Satan.  Like the Trojans, Satan had to be quite surprised.  “It can’t be, He is supposed to be dead.”  Not so fast, you wily and perverted prince of darkness.

This was God’s plan all along.  This was the covenant he made with his people long ago.  He does cut off the power of Satan and He does set us free.  We rejoice at the victory we could never win for ourselves.  We jump out of the horse and sing to Satan, “Na, Na, Na, Hey, Hey, Goodbye!”  That is our chant in the victory waters of baptism and the continued joyful celebration of Holy Communion.

It is enough to warrant a parade.  The hero selflessly rides into Jerusalem to become the victim.  Hero and victim?  We don’t think in those terms but God the Father did and Jesus achieved it.  He is our hero because he is the victim!

“Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”

Amen.

March 18, 2018                                                                     Text:  Mark 10:35-45

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Do our perceptions always line up with reality?  Do we ever mistake a person’s identity?  If I say General George S. Patton and General Omar Bradley you have certain thoughts about both men.  Or maybe you know one better than another and that is part of your perception.

In the movie Patton, George C. Scott who played Patton was vain, brash, a brilliant general, bold tactician, leader of men.  Throughout World War II the Germans viewed him as the most dangerous American opponent.  But he was also willing to gamble the lives of his troops to make a name for himself, as when he was try to beat his ally and rival, British Field Marshal Montgomery, to capture the city of Messina.

On the other hand, General Bradley played by Karl Malden, was a skilled officer who didn’t seek the headlines.  He just wanted to win the war and go home.  During the very same drive to Messina, Bradley asked to be with his troops, dodging shrapnel, risking his own life, because he cared about the boys.  Patton would always be the star.  But in the end – and in the judgment of history – Bradley was the greater American hero.  Bradley’s nickname?  “The Soldier’s General.”

Today it is Jesus and the disciples and a teaching moment.  How do they want to be identified?  How will Jesus answer in this . . .

“CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY”

James and John badly mistake their identity.  They want Jesus to grant them whatever they ask.  At times we feel that way.  Think of your birthday or Christmas list.  Maybe we should consider the cumulative results of a world full of people all trying to get they want while ignoring what God’s will is.  Further, us getting “our way” are short-lived.  The world is forever telling us we are behind or out-of-step.

The disciples selfishly want a place of power that was earned selflessly by another.  Can they really have the glory when they are just thinking of themselves?

Can they really drink the cup?  Of course not.  Only Jesus could drink down all that life requires of a person; perfect obedience to divine Law and absolute condemnation for failure.  James and John don’t really want that cup.  They have mistaken their identities!

How about the other ten disciples?  They are just as mistaken about their identity.  They have not learned from James and John’s mistake.  Are we making the same mistake?  Are you ever incensed at the selfish behavior of others while unaware of your own?  All twelve disciples are taking their lead from the world rather than from Jesus.  Man’s selfish orientation has been inherited from Adam.

Here is the sad truth of humanity since the fall:  the harder people try to make a life for themselves at the expense of others, the less they experience the real life they are seeking.  How rewarding is it to buy things for yourself that you don’t really need?  What lasting pleasure does a person have for taking affection selfishly from another?  Do children have a better life because they disobey curfew set by their parents?  Do we want to sit next to Jesus in glory or at least in your own house?

Thank God that Jesus’ identity restores us to our identity in Him.  Jesus’ matter-of-fact explanation to James and John is remarkable, but consistent with his love for his disciples since that love requires patience in order to reach its goal.  The cup and baptism were more than the disciples understood Jesus would take.  Jesus would be completely awash in the burden of our condemnation and the weight of restoring our lives.  This love is his glory and what he properly affects from the right hand of the Father.  Jesus is submitting to the Father and he explains that to the disciples.  He trusts his Father absolutely and is obedient all the way to the cross.

Jesus’ word to the twelve likewise shows the love that is always his identity.  Jesus inverts the pyramid.  Since ancient times, people have recognized that the more people you have supporting you, the less you have to do for yourself.  However, Jesus inverts the pyramid, teaching us that real authority and power are demonstrated in putting oneself at the bottom of the heap.  Jesus is our foundation both for our identity and for our life.  Into this, Christ’s identity, we are baptized.  His identity has become our identity.

Our selfish ways are many.  The disciples wanted the glory, which is only one letter away from gory – which is how many of them died.  Beheadings, torture, jailed and beaten for preaching Christ crucified.  What about our future?  Is your identity secure?  Through the Holy Spirit let go of living for self only.  Focus on the selfless giver.  The One who thought of you from the foundation of the world.  The One who came to serve and give his life as a ransom for many.  Live in self-sacrifice through the sacrificial Lamb and their will be no case of mistaken identity.

Amen.

DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES, THERE IS A DELAY IN POSTING BOTH THE COMPLETE SERVICE AND SERMON IN VISUAL FORM.  WE WILL BE ATTEMPTING TO REPAIR THE PROBLEM.

March 11, 2018                                                                     Text:  Numbers 21:4-9

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

What does the word snakebitten mean to you?  Literally it can mean someone bitten by a snake, but more times than not that is not how we use it.  We use for it someone who has a run of bad fortune.

The washing machine springs a leak, a child is suspended at school and the flu hits the day you have a presentation at work.  That person is snakebitten.  In sports, the basketball shot is not falling, the hard hit balls in baseball are caught and the hockey puck is just missing the net – snakebitten.

Let’s journey with our Old Testament ancestors and see how this word affected them and how it affects us . . .

“SNAKEBITTEN”

The Israelites described in our text were snakebitten in both ways.  Literally and figuratively.  Egypt?  Come on God.  Moses, we have no food or water, what are you doing to us?  This then led to one of the great sins of all time when the Lord does not do things in a timely manner – impatience.  Impatience then turned to complaining and complaining turned to self-pity and self-pity turned to rebellion.

If you know Scripture, you know that God will not tolerate rebellion.  So he sends poisonous snakes to punish their open rebellion and these snake bites cause the death of many.  He also sends these snakes to show them their sin and lead them to repentance.

As we examine our forefathers this is where we enter the story.  We often become impatient with God’s timing, don’t we?  Marriage challenges, job upheaval, children decisions, chronic pain, recovery from surgery, political expediency and church building challenges.  We want to take all these matters into our own hands without first seeking God’s direction through His Word and prayer.

The British/American rock band Fleetwood Mac sang it so well in the 1970’s with “Go Your Own Way.”  We are our own mapmakers.  We are the cartographer for our life.  “Where’s Waldo?”  Where are we?  Taking a path right into the den of snakes?  Rebelling against God and complaining about His directions and accommodations along the way.

God sent those snakes to induce repentance and bring them back to faith in Him.  The incredible part of this story and most of the Old Testament is how the Lord continued to love them in spite of their open rebellion!

To this very day, God continues to use adversity and the various problems that we have to draw us back to Him or keep us by His side.  And, by the way, many, not all, but many of those problems we actually bring upon ourselves – just as did the Israelites.  But God will see us through them.

God had a solution for the rebellious Israelites.  Those dying of snake bites were to look at the bronze snake that He had directed Moses to lift up on a pole.  Those who looked at the bronze snake, not as a god, but as a symbol of God’s promise and protection, were saved.  Those who were dying were given life.  Their faith in God – that He still loved them in spite of their rebellion – healed them and saved their lives.

Out of that same love, God also provided a solution for our rebellion and us.  The words of Jesus in our Gospel:  “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.”

Jesus was lifted up on a cross to suffer the punishment, the condemnation, the eternal death that each of us should have received for our own rebellion.  We, who were snakebitten with sin – and were dying from those wounds, are now saved from an eternal death in hell just as surely as the Israelites were saved from death in the desert.

Two things we’ve discussed today go beyond human reason:  the bronze serpent lifted up in the desert and Jesus’ being lifted up on His blessed cross.  Neither action makes sense.  But that’s the whole point.  Jesus forgives your sin of impatience and going your own way and gives you eternal life solely by grace through faith in the unlikely, improbable, but totally true fact of his death on the cross in your place.  God would have us look at him alone for life and salvation.  Therefore, by his grace in the cross of Christ, God saves his snakebitten people.

We’ve talked about things being raised in today’s sermon, but there is another thing yet to be “raised up.”  We should say there is another person yet to be “raised up.”  You and I and all believers in Christ are that person.

Paul describes it in our Epistle lesson.  “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

Fellow snakebitten believers, by God’s grace through faith in his one and only Son, you and I will be “raised up” from the dead on the Last Day.  We will not only be raised from the dead, but as God promises, we will be raised up to heaven, where we will live with him forever.  Thanks be to God!

Amen.