Sermon Texts

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.

 

March 4, 2018                                                                        Text:  John 2:13-22

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

Who likes to upset the status quo?  Who of you gets involved when an injustice is done?  When do we not follow the guidelines?

My last year at the seminary we were to have a banquet for those that would be graduating.  We were called to a meeting of the administration that was run by the interim president.  He was interim because the previous president had been let go unceremoniously and without cause.  We were told at this meeting that we could invite anyone we wanted to be our banquet speaker except the former president.  After the meeting my class gathered and took a vote.  We overwhelmingly voted for the former president of the seminary.  The administration was quite shocked.  We had literally turned over tables and they didn’t like it.  Ultimately the banquet was cancelled and the money saved was given to each man to use in the bookstore.

If you watched the recent Olympics you saw a female half-pipe skier who played by the rules but upset the Olympic powers that be by qualifying without really doing any tricks in her discipline.  She just skied down the hill and social media was up in arms.  I love things like that.

Today in our text Jesus is in the temple and things are not right.  What will our Lord do?  Will He take action or as some want to claim . . .

“IS JESUS A WIMP?”

Part of our society want to see Jesus as a wimp.  You know how it goes.  Jesus loves everyone and it doesn’t matter what kind of sick behavior you indulge in because when you die we are all going to look to the sky like you have been saved though your life never showed any kind of Christian faith.  Jesus can be portrayed as mealy-mouthed and compassionate and a little wimpy.  Let’s see if that description really fits.

In our text Jesus is going to the temple in Jerusalem and instead of worshippers He finds a flea market.  Does He just walk away?  Does he try to explain these people’s behavior away?  Does he think He has to love them even if they are doing wrong?  No, no, and no!  He creates a scene and offends.  Finding his Father’s House being misused and abused, Jesus has to burst out into action.  This is no wimpy Jesus.  This is the Son of God calling people out for their poor behavior and choices.  “Take these things away; do not make my Father’s house a house of trade.” (v. 16b)

Where might Jesus’ anger burn today?  How about with the church that built a water slide for baptisms?  How about with those who are trying to change his gift of marriage?  Or those killing babies for convenience.  Does His heart burn for those who find excuses to stay away from His House?  Would He like to overturn the tables on those who use his name as exclamation points?  How about with worshippers who long for a person-centered service of good feelings rather than a God-centered one?  Is He patient when our thoughts wander in worship or if the service goes a little longer than we like?  Like we are doing God a favor. . when really it is the other way around.

Only God’s perfect person can meet our pitiful person.  No bowing to decorum, if it means compromising God’s house.  No playing it safe, blending in, even though this sort of outburst will get him killed.  No greater love or mercy or humility could be shown us sinners than what we see in the person of Christ.

Jesus is no wimp.  He is authentic and genuine.  Unlike the money-changers and sinners like us, he offers more than a fair exchange.  He exchanges our guilt for his acquittal.  He exchanges our crosses of damnation for his cross of salvation.  He exchanges our weaknesses for the strength of his resurrection.  He exchanges the weak things of our world for the strong world of heaven.  He exchanges, on the Last Day, our vile bodies for his victorious, resurrected one.

This was no weakling Christ, no coward wielding that whip.  And the grossly offended powers-that-be in the temple weren’t seeing the half of it.  This was almighty God!  The power of Christ is unmatched and his church will prevail.  Even the gates of hell cannot overcome against this lowly yet mighty body of believers.  Christ’s zeal, though seemingly destroyed on the cross, was instead raised in power on Easter.  And because He lives, we live forever.

Christian brother and sister today is another good reminder that we come from a long line of table turners.  Jesus, Martin Luther, the early Christians in America.  What are we doing about the money-changers and Scripture changers and post-modern blowhards of our day?  Being a wimp is not an option.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit we are reminded, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation.” (Rom. 1:16)  That was written by St. Paul who was transformed from a Christian hating zealot to a servant of Christ Jesus.  That is the Lord’s power through the Holy Spirit.  Lives can be changed and transformed but not if we just sit idly by.

Come out of the temple.  The world needs to hear the Gospel message from you and I.  Do we have the zeal?  I pray that we do.

Amen.