Sermons

July 17, 2016 Text: Genesis 18:1-10a

Dear Friends in Christ,

“Wined and dined.” What an appealing concept. It’s quite enjoyable when it is happening to you. A company wants your services, and the job interview includes dinner at a restaurant you’d rather not pay for yourself. A five-star high school basketball player visits the University of Illinois and gets the full red-carpet treatment – seats behind the bench, name on the scoreboard, university employees showing some love and as we found out with Karson during his recruitment, a meal on a less elaborate scale. Dined but not wined.
It all feels great, but lets not be naïve. Your host isn’t doing all of this because of some goodness in their heart. They want you to take the job. They want you to except the scholarship to play for their school. It is all fair. You know what is going on and often it works.
On the other hand, if we try to play this game with God, that is not so good. It is unnecessary. We don’t serve God to get him to serve us. We don’t buy His services. We do serve the Lord in ways that He calls us to do, but in faith we remember who is actually serving whom, who is actually doing . . .
“THE GREATER SERVICE”
As these three men stand before Abraham he realizes that one of the visitors is the Lord himself, the preincarnate Christ, and he rolls out the red carpet. He falls before them; he shows old-world hospitality by offering water for their feet and rest in the shade. He offers a “morsel” but it is really a huge meal. These heavenly being eat the food. Does Abraham now have them where he wants them?
Such dining, along with the wining served with the milk, could have been just that, Abraham setting up the Lord to do something for Abraham. In the next verses – the Old Testament reading for next week – Abraham is going to ask the Lord for a huge favor: sparing Sodom and Gomorrah for the sake of his nephew Lot. In Washington and Springfield they call it lobbying.
We know how to lobby God. When shells are all around, the soldier pleads: “Get me out of this, Lord, and I will worship every Sunday.” “If I operate my business on Christian principals, you’ll help with the rest, eh, Lord?” “If I pray hard enough, my husband will get well, right, Lord?” “I don’t get to heave on my works, but they have to be worth something?”
God doesn’t need our wining and dining. Our service to Him is almost surely not as good as we think because it is corrupted by sin. Sometimes our wonderful service isn’t so wise after all.
The Lord provides the greater service. When Abraham hosted the Lord, the Lord had already done something for him. He had been given the covenant of circumcision and God had told his wife, Sarai, that they would have a son Isaac in their old age. Now the preincarnate Christ comes to tell them how imminent that message is. Sarah will have a baby this time next year! It is as laughable as a virgin conceiving and giving birth. But both will happen.
Here is the miracle of the Gospel. This Greater Servant will serve us by living the perfect life that was required of us. He will serve us by going to the cross to secure our forgiveness – including our sorry efforts to manipulate God. He will sere us by coming out of the tomb alive, securing for us a heavenly wining and dining fit for a king. The food Abraham served could only satisfy for a little while. The banquet food and wine the Lord provides satisfies for eternity.
Our serving then comes about because He continues to serve us in His Word. For Abraham the Lord served with word of a son. This made him bold to plead for Sodom.
For us the Lord serves us with His Word in Baptism, “You are my child.” Then we know we can pray to him for loved ones who are sick or in need. The Lord serves with the word of Absolution, “I forgive you all your sins.” Then we can encourage those who are afraid. The Lord serves with words from the pulpit, “Christ died so you might live.” Then we can worship in thanks and joy because of our eternal future. The Lord serves us with the word of Holy Communion, “Given and shed for you.” Then we can give without getting anything in return, because the Lord has already given us everything.
Wining and dining. I’ve been through it a few times and it feels good. As a good Lutheran I have usually felt a little guilty about the fuss being made, but I understand. Our Lord Jesus provides the greater service as we saw with Abraham and Sarah, and through Baptism, for us too. Now, it is a privilege to be His vessel, and to share His grace with those the Lord places in our lives. Through our serving, we are sharing with the world that Christ Jesus is providing the greater service.
Amen.

July 10, 2016 Text: Luke 10:25-37

Dear Friends in Christ,

If you have ever tried to learn the game of tennis you know that learning to serve is one of the hardest parts of the game to master. It can be a difficult and trying task. Not only is this true in tennis it can also be this way in life.
Life in Christ involves service. It means serving others, which can be a difficult and trying task. It is part of our everyday living – encountering our neighbors and serving them. How are you doing? We have to admit there are times that we fail. Times when servant hood is not at the top of our list. Why? I can think of a few excuses. Let’s tackle them today . . .
“TOO MESSY AND TOO BUSY!”
A man is traveling the winding road through the rocky desert. He is accosted by thugs who attack, assault, rob, and beat him. They leave him as road kill. Later two men approach him:
A priest, fresh from leading worship at the temple, saw the bloodied fellow. If he were dead, to touch him would be taboo. The priest would experience ceremonial defilement and so lose his priestly prerogatives. This was too messy!
A Sunday School teacher asks her students: “What would you do if you were that priest?” One answers: “I think I’d throw up.” Indeed, it’s messy! So the priest doesn’t get involved.
Next comes a Levite – a religious worker who has been busy with his religious activities. He cleaned the temple and the synagogue. He maintained the holy furniture and the vessels. He directed the choirs and the musicians. He organized the sacred library. But when he saw the beaten man, he passed by. He was too busy!
Christian discipleship happens in our everyday life, where opportunities arise to serve. But for us, to get involved is oftentimes:
Too messy: We hesitate to get involved with people’s problems: a coworker divorcing, a neighbor whose kids are unruly, a teen who looks odd, an old person with a house run down, a sick friend.
Too busy: To help and serve others takes time. We’ve got life scheduled to the minute. So we can’t fit the needs of others into our schedules. We have got other obligations and deadlines.
Samaritans were the hated enemy of Jews. They were considered half-breeds, traitors, and heretics. So when Jesus introduces this character, quite likely the audience expected him to be a villain since this is how Samaritans were commonly portrayed – “Boo! Hiss!” Perhaps they were expecting the Samaritan to finish off this injured fellow.
Instead, the Samaritan “had compassion” (v. 33). He rescues the Jewish victim, serves him, and sacrifices for him so that he is cared for. Having completed the story, Jesus asks the clinching question: “Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor?” The lawyer responded: “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus then directs, “You go, and do likewise.” (vs. 36-37)
To us Jesus also says, “You go, and do likewise.” The problem is we often don’t. The lives of others are too messy! Ours are too busy! We fail to serve and love our neighbors as ourselves.
But there is one in this account who does, the real-life narrator. Jesus came into this messy world and connected himself to messy people – prostitutes, publicans, lepers. More than that, He connected with sinners. He served them – healed, forgave, and released them from the mess of sin and the peril of death.
He serves us sinners. He heals and forgives when we think things are too messy or we are too busy. He releases us from our sins and its deadly consequences. This was His mission: to see that we were dying in sin, so He loved us, and took on himself the mess of our sin. He was beaten and bloodied so that we might be rescued, so that we might live.
Now in response we join Christ’s mission, and serve in His name. We serve in the messiness and busyness of life. We serve because He first served us.
It was a bitterly cold day. A boy stood shivering on a sidewalk. His clothes were thin and tattered; he was a child of the street. A woman, dressed for the weather, stopped and engaged the boy in conversation. The compassionate woman took him to a nearby clothing store and outfitted him from head to toe. He was filled with gratitude and couldn’t thank her enough. As they said goodbye the boy turned back to ask, “Are you God’s mother?” The gentle woman answered, “Oh, no. I’m just a child of God.” The smiling lad remarked, “I knew you were related.”
We know the Lord loves us. We are related because of what He has done. In that relation we help our neighbor, bind the injured, give time to the downtrodden. When we extend our hands it is in fact Christ who is extending Himself.
Christ has rescued us. He gave His all that we might live. Thus we serve others in the messiness and busyness of life. Amen.

May 1, 2016 – Confirmation Texts: Hab. 2:2-4; Acts 14:19-23; Luke 18:1-8

Dear Friends in Christ,

The good folks at Oxford Dictionaries are always updating our words because as they say, “language matters.” Here are just some of the new words that they have added in the last year: empty-netting, optogenetics, cyberwarrior, selfie stick, wine o-clock, nuff said, mic drop, and awesomesauce. These are just some of the 1,000 or so words that were new this past year.
As commentators have noted our updated language is being borne of juvenile culture and communication shorthand and is being adopted as culturally normative. Another trend in language is that language was once concrete has become culturally threadbare and empty. This includes much of the language of the Christian faith.
Take, for instance, faith itself. It was once clearly known that faith has an object. Such knowledge shaped how we thought, talked, and even wrote about faith. Yet in recent years it is more and more common to hear faith talk employed in language in ways that suggest that it need not have an object. It is its own commodity. For example, there is a Faith Hospice in which they pitch their services for “people of faith.” Okay, but faith in what?
Today is Confirmation Sunday. Many of us have been confirmed, have watched our kids and grandkids get confirmed, and we are blessed with another group giving a public confession today. They are being confirmed in the faith. Okay, but . . .
“FAITH IN WHAT?”
We would agree with the folks at Oxford Dictionaries that “language matters.” We also know that words matter. We have an epidemic in society of stupidity with words. The hashtag should be “I never should have said that.” We have reduced our language to abbreviations and banality, now there is a good word to look up in your dictionary. On top of that we have the word police who decide which words are the worst. A Chicago Blackhawk was recently suspended for a word he used against homosexuals. I’m waiting for a suspension of an athlete who damns God’s name, which happens quite frequently, because that offends me. Oh right, I must be out of my mind!
So the word of the day is faith. Habakkuk in our Old Testament says, “the righteous shall live by his faith.” Confirmation is a confirming of the Christian faith. But even that has obstacles. I read this week about the new Religious freedom laws in Alabama, the ones meant to protect churches and Christian businesses. Who was out protesting? 30 Methodist ministers! Last time I checked, Methodists are Christians. Even Christians get mixed up what being a Christian is.
A Christian is “a follower of Christ.” We then believe his words as recorded in Scripture. Christ is love. He loves sinners. He loves all people. But He also knows the hearts of people. Look what he did in the temple when people were not following his commands. Tables and lives were turned upside down. He loved those in sin, but he always told them to go “and sin no more.” Some how certain groups of Christians seem to forget that part.
As a Christians “the righteous shall live by his faith.” Is Habakkuk talking about the fact that through faith and faith alone we are reckoned as righteous (that is, for the sake of Jesus, God sees us as His sinless people though we still have sin in us), or is He talking about the fact that the righteous live out their lives in faith; that is trusting in God for all things? I would say it is both.
Here we are. Still sinful. Still struggling. Making our share of mistakes. Bearing our burdens of guilt. Yet, for the sake of Jesus, God forgives us. Through the faith He has given us in Christ He sees us as His forgiven, righteous people. We are going to heaven. Not because we’ve earned it, but because Jesus earned it for us. “The righteous shall live by his faith.”
Words matter. This confirmation is taking place in a Lutheran Christian Church. Many of us have said things over the years like, “I was confirmed a Lutheran, I was confirmed a Catholic etc.” Luke writes in our Gospel, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Will Rogers once quipped, “God made man a little lower than the angels, and he’s been getting lower and lower ever since.” Just to say we are Lutheran does not mean what it meant for hundreds of years. The feminists, and pro-abortionists and gay sympathizers have hijacked some Lutheran church bodies. They have desecrated the Scripture and the Confessions. Like I like to say, “they are so far off the reservation you cannot see them anymore.”
Many of us are proud to be Lutheran but that doesn’t save us. The living God has a deep and abiding love for His people. Time and again, the Gospel impresses upon us that Christ died for sinners – that God so loved the world. Listen to these words of Jesus, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John in 10:14-15) Faith in what? Faith in the Good Shepherd who has given us life. Life that will never end.
Words matter. From our Epistle, “When they had preached the Gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God.”
This confirmation in taking place in a congregation of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (LCMS). You should feel good about that. We have a church leadership speaking out on the issues of the day. We have a church body that knows the challenges before us. We walk together in life being created by God, marriage between a man and a woman, all blessings coming from God, and saving faith through grace and Christ alone.
Those of us who have been confirmed were encouraged at our confirmation but we were also told of the scoffers who dismiss our faith. I am not going to be melodramatic and say that you have it worse than my generation had it, or your grandparent’s generation. I know history and ever since the Garden of Eden living in a sinful world has been a challenge. But shortly you are going to make the good confession that you will suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from the Lutheran Christian faith.
The strength to do this is not your own. God called you in the waters of Holy Baptism. You sang, “Jesus Loves Me” and heard and believed the story of Daniel in the Lions Den because the Holy Spirit was upon you. You all are blessed to be in families that know the importance of being here in worship so that your faith may grow. Today begins a new power in your life as you partake of Holy Communion. This body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine continues to make your faith stronger and stronger. The gates of hell cannot overcome when we have faith in what?
Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior. He loves you. He lives for you. He died for you. He rose for you. He sits at the right hand of God for you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. He cares for you. Faith has an object. “Christ has triumphed, HE is living, Alleluia!
Amen.

May 8, 2016 Text: John 17:20-26

Dear Friends in Christ,

When I was a junior in high school I was in a one-act play that was performed before the whole school. The play was Neil Simon’s The Seduction. The interesting thing was that there were two other people in this play. One of my best friends played the husband, my old girlfriend played the wife, and as I was the friend trying to seduce the wife away from the husband. Anyway, in this play I had a lengthy speaking part where I was addressing the audience and telling them what I was about to do. When I first saw it written out, I didn’t think I would ever get it memorized. Thankfully God gave me a good memory and through my nervousness I was able to deliver this soliloquy to the audience. A soliloquy happens when the other characters are on stage and one character steps forward and delivers a message directly to the audience. The audience is invited in to hear the main plot point of the play.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if God stepped up to the front stage of our lives and spoke like that? People often seek after a direct word from God. What would you want God to tell you? Career advice? Parenting wisdom? How to get along better with others? Who to vote for? Is this the year for the Cubs? We should be asking the heavenly Father for things we need, including wisdom to make good decisions. But God has already spoken to us through His holy, inspired Scriptures. Will we take time to listen?
Some of the most memorable scenes in a play or a movie are right before a character dies. Think Brian’s Song, Terms of Endearment, or Charlotte’s Web. They sometimes tell key information for the plot of the rest of the show. In the Gospel of John, there is an extended speech, a sermon if you will, that Jesus speaks right before he is betrayed and eventually crucified. On Maundy Thursday night, after His institution of the Lord’s Supper and before He is arrested, Jesus encourages the disciples to love one another, warns them of persecution to come, and promises them the Holy Spirit and a place he will go to prepare for them.
The climax to the sermon comes right at the end and is the Gospel lesson for today. In John 17:20 Jesus “steps to the front of the stage” and lets us listen in on a prayer directly for us. Lean in and listen to . . .
“JESUS’ SOLILOQUY”
Jesus begins by asking the Father that we might believe in the apostolic Word. (v. 20) He’s speaking to the Father but is looking right at us. What He is about to do is to save you and me. He enables the disciples to hear and witness his words, ministry, and death and resurrection so they can preach and write them down for us. We are saved by faith in His Holy Word.
Jesus asks the Father that we might be one, united in time and place. (v. 21) This prayer is for the historical unity of the one Church. What we confess in the creed is we believe in the one catholic or universal Church. Our confession is a bold confirmation of faith that we belong to the One Church through the centuries and eternity. Jesus is also praying for those who do not believe that they would come to the Christian faith and believe in Him as Savior and Lord.
Jesus asks the Father that we might be united with Him and therefore with the Father. (v. 23) Our unity with one another can happen only when we are first united with Him, for his love and truth are the love and truth we give to others. Being united with God only happens after the sin that separates us has been removed. Our sin was removed at the cross by the death of Jesus.
Jesus asks the Father that we might look upon His crucifixion as His most glorious moment. (v. 24) It’s not the glory the disciples or we picture. We all have false dreams of glory. Some of the disciples wanted to be first in the kingdom of God. We want the glory of winning a contract at work or being first in some endeavor at school or having our “15 minutes of fame” in the public eye. But none of those things matches the glory of God, who has made us His. He owns all things and He gives his all for sinful human beings like you and me.
In the one act play I was able to get the wife away from the husband. I was able to get her alone and I went in for the kiss and . . . There is one thing I can tell you this morning. To know the Father and make him known (vs. 25-26) – that is Jesus’ mission, and in His prayer He makes it our mission as well. That was Jesus’ grand soliloquy, the prayer He let us overhear the night of his betrayal, and He still prays the same prayer for you today.
Amen.

May 15, 2016 – Pentecost Text: Genesis 11:1-9

Dear Friends in Christ,

Do you remember the first word or words you ever spoke? Did your parents tell you or write it down in a baby book? Ever since that day you have been adding words to your vocabulary. Today as you sit here most of you know thousands upon thousands of words. Language is an intimate part of our daily lives. Since the beginning man has been talking. But do we understand what is being said? Most surveys would say no. Miscommunication is always listed when people talk about the problems in their life.
Today is Pentecost and we are looking at the Biblical account of the “Tower of Babel.” The problem of proper communication has always been part of our sinful world. With the leading of the Holy Spirit . . .
“LET’S TALK”
Have you ever wondered where language came from? From the very beginning the Spirit and Word of God were living and active. Holy Scripture is the story of language. It begins when God speaks in Genesis 1:3. God then passes this on to Adam by breathing his Spirit into him. Adam is then invited to name the animals. Adam then names Eve a woman. Eve first words were to the serpent in Genesis 3. Have you ever wondered about their small talk in between those two events? “Do you come here often?” “It’s you and me babe, let’s make the best of it.” One thing we know they didn’t communicate was how nice their clothing looked!
By Genesis 11, and because of the fall into sin, people were using this great gift of God, words, in a tragic way. Verse 1 says they “had one language and the same words.” But they use this gift in the wrong way. On the surface there is nothing wrong with making bricks and building a tower. But look at why they wanted to build it – to make a name for themselves and not be scattered. This is a clear violation of God’s command to fill the earth and call on His name.
There is great power in language. Look at how the media has reshaped people’s views on social issues. The language they use is all part of the manipulation. Anti-abortion instead of pro-life. The rights of the homosexual but rarely the rights of the Christian. Internet bullying by words can lead to suicides. But language can also be positive. A gentle word from dad or mom after a rough day at school. Words that lift up when you doubt your faith.
God recognizes this power of language. People had given up calling on the name of the Lord and were breaking what would be the 2nd Commandment. God has invited us to call on His name by the power of the Spirit living in us. God’s name was sprinkled on us in the waters of Holy Baptism. That day the assurance was given that you belong to the Lord. You can talk directly to your living Lord.
The problem with these builders of Babel is that they thought they were so clever that they could make a name for themselves. We do this in a variety of ways – the idolatry of self. Places named after donors. Stretches of roads named after politicians. Ballplayers prostrating in front of crowds. We too lift ourselves up if we feel we are not getting proper recognition. Listen to your words carefully and see how many times you use the word “I.” In our language it is an epidemic.
So God came down. Astounding! This tower was suppose to reach the heavens but is so small that God had to leave the heights of heaven to inspect this tiny structure of men. God came down. The early Christians understood this verse to refer to the preincarnate Jesus. God appears to the Old Testament people the same way He does to the New Testament people – through His Son. The Son of God, after all, is himself the Eternal Word later to become flesh. The punishment that the Word of God inflicts is to confuse the word of man. We talk big, but God’s Word always has the final answer. Like the story of the fall, the story of Babel shows that rebellion against God ultimately leads to divisions among people. People are driven away from paradise and from one another. Improper words and language can do that. Most of us have seen it in our own lives.
Thankfully, this wasn’t the last time in the story of language God came down to earth. He came down through the words of prophets like Moses, Elijah, and Ezekiel. But ultimately, God came down in the person of the Word to live, die, rise, before going back up. Jesus’ word from the cross, “It is finished,” declared that all our sins of self are forgiven. When we lift ourselves up or continually use the word “I” the Lord has washed that away in the blood of the Savior. The Word in Baptism and Holy Communion powerfully remind us of how God changed the world through His words. “You are mine.” “You are forgiven.”
The Lord humbled the people by confusing their language and dividing and dispersing them. That dispersal was reversed on Pentecost Day, when God caused the one Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to be preached in a multitude of languages. So now the Church takes up the call to get the words of Christ out to languages of the world. So Let’s talk – the Lord’s words. Amen.