Sermon Texts

March 24, 2019                                                                             Text:  Ezekiel 33:7-20

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Do you realize what you just sang?  I hope and pray when we sing we also concentrate on the words.  You just sang in stanza 3 “Assist my soul, too apt to stray, A stricter watch to keep.”  You just asked God to help keep watch over your spiritual condition.  If you were God, how would you answer that prayer?  Send a memo?  Weekly e-mails?  Have a drone deliver a warning?  Why the warnings?  Because you just confessed you would rather have it your way than God’s way.

            Because you are also a baptized child of God, your new nature desires to live a God-pleasing life.  You want to be told when you’ve wandered from the truth.  So, you’ve asked God to help you.  I am standing here to tell you that God has answered your prayer.  I, as your Pastor, have been . . .

“CALLED TO BE A WATCHMAN”

            God called Ezekiel to be a watchman.  Not a watchman perched on the city walls looking for an invader.  Ezekiel was called to be a watchman over the spiritual condition of God’s people.  “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel.  Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me.  If I say to the wicked, O wicked One, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand.” (v. 7-8)

            I, like every Pastor you have ever had, also have a call to speak God’s warning.  I have been called to pull you back when you turn sports or patriotism or money into idols.  If I see you steal or live unfaithfully.  If your words or posts go beyond the 8^th commandment or when you despair and see no way out of the mess you have made.  I remind you that God gets no pleasure seeing you in this condition.

            I have also been called to remind you that you can’t do enough good or procure enough credit on the good deeds side of your ledger to get out of your mess.  You can’t make up for the wrong you did to a neighbor or a friend or a family member.  If you listen to my words of admonition and repent and receive Christ’s forgiveness and then live His words then my job as a watchman can be an answer to prayer.

            But that is not always easy in this moral cesspool we live in.  When we are shown our faults, even by the Pastor and God’s words, our sinful nature thinks, “Does Pastor think he’s better than me!”  Then some leave the church because they make it personal.  God addressed Ezekiel as “son of man.”  I’m mortal too.  A few years back I said from this pulpit that I had done and am capable of doing some horrible things.  Someone who was there that day said that bothered them.  They just couldn’t believe that about me.  Believe it.  I don’t stand up here Sunday after Sunday as the Holier-Than-Thou guy.  I don’t preach law to put you in your place.  The warnings I preach are not my own, they are God’s.  I’m the messenger.  Furthermore, if I don’t call you out when you need it, then the Lord is holding me accountable for your fate.

            I am also called to point you to a way out of your predicament.  “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live,” says the Lord in our text (v. 11).  I am called not just to have you turn from bad behavior but to turn to someone.  Another “son of man” and that is Jesus. 

            Jesus came in mortal flesh and He too was tempted by the same things that capture us.  They did not capture Him.  He overcame them and through His obedience to the Father He kept the Law perfectly for us.  That righteousness has been credited to you.  As we make our way to Calvary we know what we will find at the top of the hill – A Savior dying for us.  As a baptized child of God you have the power through the Holy Spirit to walk away from your bad behavior and bad choices and bad attitude and I am here to help.  I know you fail.  I fail.  But each week we gather here to be picked up again through God’s Word and God’s Sacrament.  This is why we don’t walk away from the church.  The watchman cannot do his job if the subjects are sitting at home, or having brunch, or at a ball field. 

            The American Heart Association in their materials and commercials would like us all to know the warning signs of a heart attack.  Why do they do this?  So if we see these signs we can do something about them.  In a similar way, then, I serve as a watchman, called to be alert to the signs of spiritual danger in this congregation.  To sound the warning from this pulpit or in my office or at your home.  Then to let you know that something can be done about it through Jesus, the Great Physician of our soul. 

            I pray that with God’s power, I will continue to be that blessing to you.  Called to be a watchman.

                                                Amen.     

March 17, 2019                                                                                 Text:  Luke 13:31-35

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Have you ever had someone tell you “where to go?”  I don’t mean the directions you get from the local gas station or the GPS that keeps telling you to turn around so it can recompute your route.  I mean someone telling you “where to go” as in a not so friendly manner.  Maybe it was a co-worker telling you “where to go” when you felt they weren’t doing their part of a project.  Could it be a son or daughter who didn’t appreciate your advice and they told you “where to go.”  How about a spouse who didn’t like your tone of voice and they suggested “where to go” which ended up being the couch or the basement for the night.

            Don’t take this the wrong way but I am going to tell you “where to go” this morning.  I pray I do it in a Law/Gospel way and if this makes you feel any better, I am using the words of Jesus in our text to get the point across.   Lord and Savior please tell us this morning . . .

“WHERE TO GO”

            Our text seems to begin with some care and concern.  Can it be?  Pharisees?  “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” (v. 1)  They are telling Jesus “where to go” and it is not Jerusalem.  Let’s not be duped this morning.  The Pharisees weren’t concerned about Jesus’ welfare as much as they were tired of Jesus’ being there.  Jesus was gathering a large following on their turf…and they didn’t like it, so they are going to tell Him where to go.

            It is just like the world to not want Jesus around.  Herod even wants to end His life.  Amazing how someone so perfect can stir such hatred.  But we see it around us.  Jesus please leave the school and the marketplace and the courts and the government and we, the worldly wise will tell you and your followers “where to go.”  Where do they want us?  In our homes, with our mouths shut.  Or gathered in our churches with a social gospel.  They don’t want God’s Word or to hear what Jesus the Savior has to say.

            Jesus is going to speak in spite of this as He does in our text.  “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.” (v. 2)  Let’s not degrade the Savior into some wimp who is just all about acceptance.  He calls out Herod for who he is – deceitful, sly, tricky, a psychopath.  Herod will be one of the engineers telling Jesus where to go.

            The thing is Jesus knows where He is going.  In our text He must be on His way because He still has miraculous work to do.  But He will return.  He must die in Jerusalem.  Jesus knows where He has to go to get us to where we need to go.  The Pharisees took Jesus’ talk of a “third day” seriously because you may remember they posted a guard at Jesus’ tomb until the 3^rd day.

            Where to go?  Where to go?  Everyone is always looking where to go for answers.  They are right here.  In our sin, the devil would like to escort us down the path of “where to go.”  That is someone we don’t want to follow…it might get a little hot.  Jesus instead would like to have us go to quiet waters and golden streets.  He made it possible when He returned to Jerusalem.  He knew He was in a long line of prophets that had been killed and would be killed in Jerusalem.   His death and resurrection would open up for us the “New Jerusalem.” 

            Out of the billions of people on this planet Jesus gathered you and me together as a hen gathers her brood.  We are His.  And somehow, regardless of what’s going on in your life this morning – somehow, if you’re really thinking about it – His gathering you under His wings has to make a difference as you live in world that doesn’t want Jesus.

            As those saved by the cross do we just stand there admiring it as a work of art?  No.  We depart because the Lord wants to tell us “where to go.”  “Go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  (Mt. 28:19)  “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” (Mark 16:15)  Christianity is not a stagnant faith.  It is a moving faith.  A faith on the move in our actions and words.  The next time you want to tell someone “where to go” point him or her to the cross or to the Bible or to Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. 

            See, I told you it would not be so bad.  Where to go?  You know and I know now let’s tell the unbelieving world “where to go”.   Then when we get there let’s look for them on the path laid down by Jesus our Savior.

                                                                                                            Amen.        

March 10, 2019                                                                               Text:  Psalm 91:1-13

Dear Friends in Christ,

            In 2012, Jamie Coots, a “snake-handling” Pastor in Kentucky, died of you – you guessed it – a snakebite!  Coots was the star of a National Geographic TV reality show called Snake Salvation.  He believed he had a special anointing from God that protected him from any harm from the snakes that he handled.  Why not?  Doesn’t God promise that in today’s psalm?  In verse 13, “You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.”  Isn’t God telling us in this psalm that He is our refuge and fortress?  Yes, but that doesn’t mean we become reckless.  In fact, I just saw this week a man who was mauled to death by a lion he kept as a pet.  

            Were the snake-handler and lion pet owner showing faith or were they testing the unpredictability of animals?  Did this Pastor misunderstand the promise of God?  Psalm 91 is not an invitation to “test” the Lord by seeking out danger at every opportunity.  Satan uses the words of this Psalm to test Jesus in our Gospel.  He is using them for evil as he foolishly tried to ensnare Jesus.  That is his game plan for you and I too.  We need the Word of God as he attacks us. 

“THE LORD . . . IS MY REFUGE”

            Yes, the Lord indeed promises protection in the midst of dangers.  He promises us that nothing can separate us from his love in Christ Jesus.  But nowhere in these verses do we find an invitation to put him to the test.  Jesus outsmarted Satan with a right understanding of Scripture:  “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” (Luke 4:12)

            Examine yourself.  In what ways have you tested God with your reckless behavior, rather than trusting him with a confident faith?  Let’s use our winter weather as an example.  Did you get out on the roads when it was not safe to do so?  Yes, you trusted the Lord for safe travel, but was it the smart thing to do?  Experience has taught me to stay home, the exception being Sunday mornings.  Where else do we test God?  Our behaviors can be reckless figuring we have forgiveness.  Why not spout off or not listen to our parents or twist God’s Word to fit our lifestyle.  Faith doesn’t work that way.  There would be no reason for Christ and Christianity if we all just lived the way we wanted.  Satan would be the victor and we would have no hope.

            Repent.  Recognize the satanic ploys that so easily ensnare you.  Confess your sins of weakness.  Admit defeat.  But don’t walk away defeated.

            We don’t always walk away the victor.  We suffer defeats in life but we are not defeated.  In baptism we were baptized into the death and resurrection of our Lord.  We share in his victory no matter how many times our sinful behavior has ensnared us.  Living in daily repentance and faith, we can enjoy the refuge of his victory as we receive his gifts of Word and Sacrament.

            Satan and the words of this psalm tempted the Son of God for real.  But Jesus took refuge in the promise of His Heavenly Father.  He held fast to God’s promise and did not fall prey to the roaring lion and slithering snake.

            But that wasn’t the ultimate victory.  The devil left Jesus “until an opportune time.” (Lk. 4:13b)  Wasn’t the most opportune time when your Savior hung on the pinnacle of the cross?  Remember the shouting, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” (Lk. 23:37)  Oh, that would have been so easy to do.  Why die for these knuckleheads who are shouting at me?  Why die for us who make Satan-inspired decisions in our life?  Thankfully, the Savior knew He wasn’t there for himself.  He was on that cross to save you.  To save you from bad winter weather decisions.  To save you from opening your mouth when you shouldn’t have.  To save you from not listening to the God-ordained authorities who are there to guide and love you.  To save you from forming an opinion not based on the words of Jesus you have learned your whole life but on a friend or a show or some knucklehead at an awards show.  The Lord knows Satan’s tricks.  He understands the deception.  He trusted, even then on the cross, even giving up the shelter of his Heavenly Father, so that you would dwell in the shelter of the Most High forever.

            Enter this season of Lent with confidence, dear Christian, the confidence of a God who grants you refuge in the victory of His Son.  Isn’t it fitting to begin the Sundays in Lent with this glorious psalm?  The psalms are prayers.  Pray them as God’s people have always prayed them.  Pray them with confidence that through the work of Jesus you have a refuge and a fortress and a shelter.  You live in Christ’s victory.  Call upon Him in temptation and daily defeats.  His salvation is your salvation.  The refuge we all need.

                                                            Amen.    

March 3, 2019 – Transfiguration                                     Text:  Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Dear Friends in Christ,

            There is some thought that near the moment of your death your entire life will flash before your eyes.  We don’t have much to back this up, obviously, but what if this happened to Moses?

            He floats in the Nile River.  Pharaoh’s daughter rescues him.  He lives as a prince in Egypt.  He murders a man and goes into hiding.  For forty years, he is in the wilderness.  He marries and starts a family.  At age 80 he sees a burning bush and the Lord tells Moses he is going to lead his people, the Israelites.

            He utters the famous line to the Egyptian Pharaoh, “Let my people go.”  He watches the ten plagues and the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart.  He oversees the instructions for the Passover and he leads 2 million Israelites through the Red Sea with the Egyptian army drowning behind them.  This fascinating life is only getting started.

            The Lord speaks on a mountain in a cloud and a fire and gives to Moses the Ten Commandments.  He brings God’s written Word down to the people.

            We have the golden calf and Moses restraining the wrath of God.  The construction of the tabernacle, the anointing of Aaron and his sons to serve as priests and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.

            He sent spies into the Promised Land.  The people listened to those filled with fear so the Lord gave them forty years of wandering in the wilderness.  Forty years of people whining.  Forty years of people complaining to Moses.  Forty years of protection and food and water.  Forty years for Moses to write Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.  There were also forty years of funerals.  None of the men who came out of Egypt would make it to the Promised Land, only their children.  Now we come to the end, the edge of the Jordan River, only one left to die – Moses at 120 years of age but “his eye was undimmed and his vigor unabated.” (v. 7)

            Other than Jesus and King David, we know more about Moses than any other person in Scripture.  His life was stunning.  They should make movies about him!  He is a picture of Law and Gospel.  He stands on the precipice of the Promised Land but realizes that . . .

“THE BEST IS YET TO COME”

            Don’t we all at times do what we just did with Moses – look back over our life.  We are probably not going to make 120 or lead 2 million people or be given God’s Law but as we contemplate our past don’t we see what Moses sees – the Lord’s Blessings.  In our wanderings, don’t we see His leading?  In our complaining, don’t we see His providing?  In our times of need, doesn’t the Lord speak to us?  When we ponder the past, live the present and face the future, do we agree with Moses, the best is yet to come?

            Look at Moses.  120 and full of life, standing on Mount Nebo across the Jordan.  The Lord puts before him the land of promise – because Moses is a Christian and because the Lord intends for Moses to die as he lived, with faith and hope.

            Moses is not looking behind, he is looking ahead.  He looks across and sees the mountains of Judah.  There is Bethlehem where Jesus is born.  Flowing below him is the Jordan River where Jesus will be baptized.  There is the wilderness of Judea where the devil will tempt Jesus for forty days and nights.  To the north is Galilee where Jesus will teach, preach, call his disciples.  Further north is the mountain where Moses will stand with Jesus and Elijah and the disciples and he will finally be in the Promised Land. 

            There in the hills directly in front of Moses is Jerusalem.  Jesus will suffer and die here.  He will be lifted on a cross, taking God’s wrath in our place, in Moses’ place, in the place of all sinners.  There, too, is the grave that will be empty.  Look the Mount of Olives where Jesus will ascend to the Father to rule and reign for all eternity.  Yes, Moses, the best is yet to come.  Jesus will return and there will be the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting for those who believe.

            Moses doesn’t relish in his past, the victory over Pharaoh, the dry land miracle, the glory of the mountain, being the leader of so many for so long.  As Moses dies he is looking to the promises God has set before him.

            Is the best yet to come?  The Lord drew us out of the waters of Holy Baptism.  He rescued us with the blood of His Son.  He is with us in joys and sorrows according to his kindness and mercy.  When we come to the end, He points us to his unwavering promises.  We look to Jesus who was crucified and raised for us and who will return to take us to be where He is in heaven.

            As you stand on the mountain today and see what is in front of you – the best is yet to come.  The resurrection of the body and life everlasting await.  The Lord’s promises will carry us forward.  Hello Moses.  Hello Abraham.  Hello St. Paul.  Hello loved ones.  Then we see Jesus at last…face-to-face.

                                                                                                Amen.        

February 24, 2019                                                                              Text:  Luke 6:27-38

Dear Friends in Christ,

            A man was informed by his doctor that he had rabies.  The man had waited so long to go to the doctor that nothing could be done about his condition.  After telling him the sad news, the doctor left.  Later, he came back to check on the man.  Instead of finding him upset, the patient was writing on a piece of paper.  “Are you writing a will?” the doctor asked.  “No,” said the man, “I’m making a list of all the people I am going to bite!”

            Oh how we love to live for revenge, armed with ammunition, ready and equipped to pay back those who have hurt us.  Jesus knew about this sinful nature in all of us, this spiteful bitterness that builds up so easily.  That is why He went to great lengths to give us a better way to live.  Don’t live for revenge . . .

“LIVE TO FORGIVE”

            That is the sum of the message Jesus shares in Gospel reading from Luke.  Listen again to our Savior’s words:  “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.  To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either.  Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.  And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.” (v. 27-31)

            Now, this type of forgiveness is easier said than done, isn’t it?  It is not easy to forgive someone who has hurt you, or embarrassed you or caused you pain.  Forgiving then can be one of the hardest things in life to do.  Our nature is to strike back or make them pay or stop loving them or cut off all communication.  We can’t just let them off the hook, can we?

            Sin is never free.  There is always a price.  The price has been paid.  It was not paid with gold or silver but with the precious and innocent blood shed by Jesus Christ on the cross. 

            The price for all the sins that will ever be committed against you was paid that day when God’s own Son gave up His life at Calvary.  That same day the price was paid for all the sins you commit against others.  There is a price for sin.  We don’t pay it.  Jesus Christ, God himself, paid the ultimate price with His life.  Is it right for us to try to make others pay for their sins, when God doesn’t make us pay the price for ours?

            Jesus didn’t live for revenge.  When He rose from the grave He didn’t go off in some Stallone-Schwarzenegger rage to track down those who wronged Him.  We may love that in our hearts and minds, but that is not God’s way.  He lives to forgive and He enables us to live that kind of life also.

            Jesus says in verse 36, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”  Alex lives in Columbia.  One day he was on his way to work at a banana plantation when armed guerrillas boarded his bus, ordered everyone off and shot them.  In the shooting, Alex lost an eye.  He later joined a prison ministry where he ran into Ismael, the very man who shot him years before.  Through his sharing of the Gospel in the prison, Ismael came to the Christian faith.

            Alex is now on his way to law school to help those improperly imprisoned.  Thanks to the peace process in Columbia, many former guerrillas, including Ismael, were pardoned and released from prison.  Ismael needed a place to live, so Alex asked him to move into his place.  The former guerrilla and his victim are now roommates.

            Alex, through the work of Christ on his heart, was able to let go of the grudge against the man who had wronged him.  He was following the Lord’s plan and there is another Christian believer on earth.  “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.  For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Rom. 5:8-10)

            Live to forgive.  Live to love others.  When we share the forgiveness God has given us, it will have an effect in the lives of those we forgive.  We may not see the effect right away.  We may never see it.  But when we share the forgiveness of Jesus Christ, we can rest in His promise that He will touch the lives of those we forgive, just as He has touched our lives through the forgiveness He’s given us.

            There it is.  God’s plan for your life.  Live to forgive.  That is the kind of life God lives.  And that’s the life He empowers you to live also.  Live to forgive . . through Jesus Christ.

                                                Amen.

February 20, 2019                                                        Text:  1 Corinthians 15:12-20

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Years ago George A. Buttrick wrote:  “When he does die, the undertaker strives to make it appear that he has not died:  he dresses him in a (suit), and lays him in a narrow box as if he were asleep, even though a man does not usually sleep in a (suit) in a narrow box.  There is a funeral, for, unfortunately for our evasions, the man has died:  ‘Too bad about So-and-so.  But let’s not think about it!’  So we run to our familiar hiding place in the sensate world.  And the cynic calls religion an ‘escape!’” . . .

            That is our starting point for this morning.  We are going to die.  The fact is we are dying.  A sportscaster on ESPN used to say of an injured player, “He is day-to-day but aren’t we all.”  We are.  We don’t know when it’s coming just that it is coming and we can’t escape it.  That we would be a fearful statement if it weren’t for what Christ has done for us.  He is resurrected.  He has been raised.  He is alive.  He has given us who will fall asleep in Christ . . .

“THE GREATEST VICTORY”

            What is your greatest victory?  What makes your top 5?  Family?  Work?  A game?  I’ve been blessed to make game winning free throws with no time on the clock, a game-winning shot that got us into the district championship against Greg Sheley and his Lincoln Jr. High teammates; I’ve had the pleasure of watching victories by Karson and Holden, but “The Greatest Victory” is not a movie title or TV show it is what Christ Jesus has done for you and for me.  Why do we need “The Greatest Victory?”  Listen carefully to this:

            “The world today is trying to get into the Church in a way different from that of former times.  The radio is a most wonderful invention, and by it the pure Gospel is brought to thousands who otherwise would not hear it; but by the same means false teachers are admitted into the homes of many who otherwise would not hear them.  The automobile and good roads have shortened distances and made travel more convenient; however, the automobile is not only used to bring people to churches, but also to take them away from it.  The moving picture is a most valuable educational means; but it is largely used in the service of sin…The rapid growth of our cities is making it possible for our Church to reach more people than ever…but at the same time it is, for various reasons making the work of the church more difficult and is destroying home life.  The elimination of much hard work by labor-saving devices is not conducive towards emphasizing the dignity of toil and has a tendency to make people think that hard work in unworthy of a gentleman or lady.

            “We are living in a restless and restive age.  Life today is much more strenuous and nerve-wracking.  People, especially the young, are impatient of control and hard to keep in check.”

            Those words were penned by Lutheran Professor Dr. John H.C. Fritz and penned in 1932.  Eighty-seven years ago!  So, what’s new?  Nothing.  Your parents and grandparents lived in a restless and nerve-wracking time.  Everyone does this side of the grave.  O death, where is your victory?

            Everything hinges on the resurrection.  That is Paul’s argument in our text.  People can argue and debate Jesus and His words all they want but the Resurrection confronts the world with the greatest, most colossal event ever.  Complete victory over the grave.  Your eternal life rests on it!  My eternal life rests on it!

            If He was not raised from the dead we are to be pitied.  But we are here because we are resurrection people.  We proclaim the greatest victory every Lord’s Day.  We celebrate the greatest event that ever came to this earth:  Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection to overcome sin, death, and hell for those who believe.  And Paul instantly drags us from the roots we drive into this world, drags us past the headstones and states the case without question:  “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (v. 20)

            I still like the words of Alexander MacLaren here:  “I believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, (among) other reasons, because I do not understand how it was possible for the Church to exist for a week after the crucifixion, unless Jesus Christ rose again.  Why was it that they did not all scatter?  Why was it the spirit of despondency and the tendency to separation, which were beginning to creep over them…did not happen?  How came it that these people, with their Master taken away from the midst of them, and the bond of union between them removed, and all their hopes crushed did not say:  ‘We have made a mistake, let us go back to…our fishing again, and try and forget our bright allusions’?  That is what John the Baptist’s followers did when he died.  Why did not Christ’s followers do the same?  Because Christ rose again and re-knit them together.”

            Christ has done that for us – re-knit us together.  The broken pieces of our life re-assembled.  The defeats conquered.  “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.  But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15:56-57)  Because He lives we will live.  Enjoy . . .  The Greatest Victory!

                        Amen.