Sermons

November 8, 2015 Text: Hebrews 9:24-28

Dear Friends in Christ,

Are you a confident person? When you were younger would you raise your hand because you knew you had the right answer? When confronted with problems do you face them head-on or hang your head? Do you have quiet confidence in the face of adversity?
Many people want to have more confidence. Amazon sells over 23,000 books on the topic of building confidence in oneself. There are over 143 million websites that deal with the subject of overcoming doubt and increasing confidence. Blogs, magazine articles and newspaper columns are written on the subject. Wouldn’t it be nice to have more confidence?
Our text from Hebrews is going to help us this morning as God’s Word always does.
“LIVING CONFIDENTLY…WAITING FOR CHRIST”
Do you wish you could live confidently? Don’t we often make promises to ourselves that we won’t get angry at the insults of others, or that we’ll keep our cool when our ideas are challenged or dismissed? Yet when things don’t go our way or our ideas get rejected, we have our confidence shaken. We might react with anger or self-doubt. It might have happened when we raised our hand in class and we gave the wrong answer and the teasing that then went on in the playground. Our ideas might be dismissed at work, on the ball field, in our homes, among our peers.
There are many things at work that tear at our confidence. Maybe those who build themselves up by tearing you down have shattered you. Maybe you don’t feel you are being heard in our frantic world. Maybe your idea of “perfectionism” makes it impossible for you to live up to your own standards. Maybe you have lost a job or a promotion, or you didn’t make a team or win a competition. A loved one has died that shakes your confidence. I have experienced that with my mom dying. She was my biggest supporter and I miss the conversations we used to have. That void has not been filled. Finally, we all are plagued by our inability to live up to God’s Law. Like Paul we are doing the things we don’t want to do and not doing the things we should. Our sin convicts and it hurts our self-confidence.
Yet our text talks about those who are confident, those who are eagerly waiting for Christ. There is a source of confidence in the face of any self-doubt or challenge in life. That source of ultimate confidence is rooted in the person and work of Jesus Christ. We can confidently live our lives in eager expectation in Christ.
You see Christ has dealt with the root cause of our lack of confidence. The writer to the Hebrews compares a sacrifice carried out by a human with the perfect sacrifice of our Savior Jesus Christ. He didn’t enter a temple made by humans, like the Old Testament priests, but heaven itself, where he appears before God on our behalf. Jesus is God himself, so only one sacrifice, rather than repeated sacrifices, was needed.
The forgiveness, life, and salvation Jesus accomplished were done for all people. Jesus died for all. No sin of yours or mine is too heinous that it hasn’t been covered by the sacrifice of Jesus. Jesus has “put away” our sin by sacrificing himself. It has been dealt with. It is no longer a factor as God looks at us. That should give us real confidence not the false bravado of the world, but the reality that all of our sins that rip at our heart and gut, have been put away.
What great confidence we have because Christ has dealt with it all. Christ has promised to give us all things, so we need not doubt ourselves. Please know this: it is not about us, it is about Jesus. That is how the widow in today’s Gospel could give her last pennies. That’s how the widow at Zarephath could trust the instructions of Elijah in the Old Testament. They knew the Lord and it made all the difference.
What is your source of self-confidence? There are certainly psychological and sociological explanations for why some people seem to lack confidence and others have confidence in abundance. But the message from our Epistle lesson today is that we can all live in confidence. We can confidently live our lives in eager expectation, because in Christ we can be confident of God’s love and forgiveness. Live confidently…Christ has done it all for you.
Amen.

November 1, 2015 – All Saints Sunday Text: 1 John 3:1-3

Dear Friends in Christ,

Think of our modern-day rockets. It is characteristic of rockets to go through multiple stages. At some point after initial lift-off, the rocket, amoeba-like, divides; one part left behind to disintegrate, another part entering a new trajectory and beginning a new phase.
Well, the Christian life, in some respects at least, resembles a multiple-phase rocket: the first phase is conception to birth; the second phase is birth to death; and the third phase is death into eternity. Like with the rocket there is a phase that needs to occur to attain our goal. Having been born, we need to be “born again” of water and the Spirit. We call this conversion. The Holy Spirit has called us to faith. If this doesn’t happen the whole process fizzles out into eternal death.
Today is All Saints Day. We are in the middle stage of the process. But there is one more process to go through.
“ANOTHER LIFE AHEAD OF US”
You and I are in the second phase of our multiple-phase existence. We have been converted. “Beloved, we are God’s children now,” our text assures us. The Holy Spirit’s application to us through the gospel of the saving work of Jesus has given us this glorious status. This is only the second phase. Another one, the final one, still lies ahead. This final phase of course is heaven. “And what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” Our goal today is to fix our sight a bit more firmly on this, the last and grandest stage in our progress.
It is common among many that they regard these years on earth as the whole meaning of life. They mistake a mere phase for the goal of the journey. Even as Christians we have our weak moments. The rhythmic lapping of water on a beach, the continuous hum of a fan on a hot summer day – and our doubts are triggered. How can a person live forever? What kind of life can it possibly be? Maybe the grave is the end and we want to face it bravely.
Perhaps we can better keep in mind the final phase of our journey, heaven, by thinking for a moment of the first phase. I refer to that nine-month existence before we were born. None of us, at this stage of our development, would regard that nine-month period, as the whole meaning of life beyond which there is nothing more. By know we know better.
But let’s say by way of illustration, that during our pre-natal life we had the capacity to think, to hope or not hope, and so on. While in our mother’s womb we get word that another life lay ahead us, that may last 70, 80, 90 years. This new world would have light and unlimited space to move around. There would be mountains and trees and skyscrapers and four-wheeled vehicles moving at shocking speeds. Someday, we were assured, we could do impossible things like walk and talk. We wouldn’t be alone in this world. There would be other creatures like us. Yet strangest of all would be the mode to enter this new world. A perilous process called birth, involving danger, pain, doctors, and hospitals, a process we would never guess could thrust us into such a beautiful life as we live at present.
If an unborn child could have reactions how would they react to this talk of another more abundant life? It would be something to look forward to and would make the nine-month existence more pleasant. Or the unborn child could be a realist and look at the dreaded process of birth and see no more after that. All of this talk about another life is just wishful thinking.
Then comes the day – the day of birth. It turns out true, after all, gloriously true! There is another life. You can live for a number of years. There is light and space and mountains and skyscrapers and fast-moving vehicles. You can walk and talk. This dreaded process called birth, in spite of appearances, turns out, after all, to be the gateway to this new and wonderful world.
I’m sure you begin to see what we’re after this morning. Our present life is not the climax to life; it is but a phase in our journey. In relation to the heavenly life, we might call it a pre-natal stage. We have it on good word – God’s Word – that there is another life, another world, ahead of us called heaven. In it we shall live forever! It is a world without space or time. Angels will share its mansions with us. We shall behold the face of God. We shall see Him as He is. In fact, we shall be like Him. All the ills and inconveniences of this present life, chief of which is sin, will have vanished because of Christ our Savior.
Strangest of all, the mode of entering this world is a dreaded and painful process called death, involving funeral homes, caskets, tombstones, and bodily decay, a process we would never guess could thrust us into such a beautiful life as the heavenly existence is. Best of all, no part is left behind to disintegrate. The capsule of the second phase, the body, is recovered and restored; there is a resurrection.
Obviously, we can’t conceive of this life, anymore than an unborn child can imagine life on earth. But we can believe in it and be confident that the hope is real. We can join the Apostle John in saying, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.” (v. 2)
Amen.

October 25, 2015 – Reformation Text: John 8:31-36

Dear Friends in Christ,

It’s only about half a mile. The monk walked from his cell in the monastery, past the university where he was a teacher, to the church at the other end of town. He there affixed a poster on the doors of the Church of All Saints. If people had any interest they soon turned away when they saw it was written in Latin.
That’s the way it may have happened on Oct. 31, 1517, in the town of Wittenberg. The publication of the Ninety-five Theses by Martin Luther. Little did people know at the time that this would change Western Christianity and the course of history. The question: How could one man do it? The answer: he couldn’t and he didn’t. The Reformation is not about Luther or even the 95 Theses. Rather it is about the one truth in Christ not the many truths around us.
“THE REFORMATION MAY NOT BE THE TRUTH YOU THINK”
Why celebrate the Reformation at all? Is it not different from the other feast days of the church: Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost? The Reformation – Luther did this, his friends did that, the papal rules were thrown off and many a king, prince, duke, or earl was delighted. Is that something to celebrate?
When Luther issued this call to the church he was challenging Christians not just the mighty pope and bishops. He was challenging all Christians in the Western Church to come back to the source of faith and hope: The Word of God, the Bible.
To be honest the Church was doing fine from a worldly point of view at this time. In Wittenberg the seven priests were conducting 9,000 masses a year – 9,000! This made for a sizable income for the clergy. People were being reassured that their loved ones were being released from purgatory. A good deal for everyone, even economically for the city. And here comes this monk and…What did he say?
Father Martin did not say: Don’t listen to the Church. He would be horrified at today’s churches who say believe anything you want. He did say: “Let’s get back to the source.” The source of faith is the Word of God. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples.” (v. 31) How did the listeners respond: “We are offspring of Abraham.” (v. 33) We don’t need Jesus’ words we have this great prophet. In Luther’s time, the church leaders told him to keep out of this, they knew best. Today? “I’m an offspring of Walther.” “I’ve been a member of the LCMS my whole life.” Dare I ask your faith in Christ or faithfulness to God’s Word?
This is what the Reformation events were all about. Not a mythical German hero named Luther, but God’s grace that helped us recover the hidden, the falsified, the changed, and glossed-over Word of God. In the Holy Bible we have God’s mercy, packed in words, and the whole Christ, crucified and risen for you, speaking to you his full message of repentance and salvation.
Look around this day. There will be Reformation services elsewhere. There will be people who claim the name “Lutheran”, people who started with the same events of the Reformation, with the same translated Bible for daily use and preaching in the Church, and yet their proclamation differs so much from ours that you might begin to wonder what “Lutheran” means these days. There are so many different views and opinions in the Church that we begin to wonder: What does the Christian Church stand for?
Our text reminds us to “abide in my word.” If we do this we are truly Christ’s disciples. The doctor has prescribed the best medicine but it is of no use if we don’t take it. How many baptisms have we had over the years? And yet, do you see all those blessed “by water and the Word” sitting in the pew with you? How many confirmands have pledged fidelity and loyalty to Christ and the Church at this altar? Where are they now, and do you care? If they moved, that is one thing, but if they have left the faith, it is a tragedy for congregations everywhere.
How do we abide? Christian education, catechism instruction, and regular worship attendance. It is a threat to your spiritual survival to disregard the Word of God. Some churches are doing that with their modern views of Scripture. In the end, they will have to give account for every lost soul. The apostle encourages us: “Contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)
Perhaps what I have said is not happy enough for you. Perhaps you wanted more praises of Luther and the other Reformers. Well this is not a course on history and this service is not about the past. Our worship service, is always a message for the here and now – and its content – Christ’s Holy Word and the blessed Sacrament of the Altar – strengthens us for the road to the Christians final goal.
“You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (v. 32) That truth says: You cannot free yourself from what you are. The sinner – you and I – is a slave, bound, loaded down. But that truth says above all: Christ Jesus, God’s truth, is the truth that frees us. Jesus death on the cross for all your sins has freed you.
This day we don’t make a list needed to reach our Christian goal. This day’s worship bids us to praise and thank Christ our Redeemer for giving us all for nothing, for taking us from captivity to self into the glorious spiritual freedom of the children and heirs of God.
Without any merit on our part, we again hear Christ freeing us from sins in the words of the absolution; we listen to the Gospel of eternal liberty worked for each of us by the sacrificial death of Jesus. We witness the power of the Savior’s words, making ordinary bread and wine the bearers of nothing less than the body and blood of our holy Lord. Out of these simple earthly elements, the creative Word of God makes a “medicine of immortality” (St. Ignatius of Antioch) for our lifelong walk to the gates of paradise. Now why would anyone want to miss that?!
Amen.

October 18, 2015 Text: Mark 10:23-31

Dear Friends in Christ,

Most of you will remember the TV program Mission: Impossible, and you young bucks in the congregation have become acquainted with it through the recent Tom Cruise movies. The TV program revolved around an agent originally named Dan Briggs and later replaced by Jim Phelps, receiving dangerous government assignments. The tagline you may remember at the beginning of each show was, “Your mission, Mr. Phelps, should you decide to accept it, is…” After listening to the rest of the message, the end of the tape would say, “This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.” The assignments, I suppose, seemed impossible. They were certainly difficult. By the end of the show the team of agents solved the cases and had done the “impossible.” Mission: Very Difficult just doesn’t have the same zing.
In our Gospel lesson Jesus talks about how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God. It is like a Mission: Impossible assignment. Not really impossible, but extremely difficult. In another scenario he uses the word impossible. So which one is it?
“IS THE MISSION DIFFICULT OR IMPOSSIBLE?”
The Holy Spirit begins our text, “Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ‘How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!’ (v. 23) This amazes the disciples. They are assuming that wealth is a sign of God’s blessing and therefore man’s relationship with God. But riches can get in the way of our devotion to God. Riches can hinder our trust in God’s provision. Many of the rich and famous in our world live apart from God.
But then it appears to get worse as Jesus continues his teaching. “Jesus said to them again, ‘Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.’ And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, ‘Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man it is impossible.’” (vs. 24b-27a) A man cannot put a camel through the eye of a needle. It’s hard enough to get a little piece of thread in there! Riches are a hindrance to the kingdom of God. It is impossible for a rich man to enter the kingdom. But not just the rich. It is impossible for anyone to enter the kingdom of heaven on their own.
It is not just riches that get in the way of heaven. Many of God’s greatest gifts can become idols – parents, children, and spouses. How many people forego church because of their family members? How many leave a church where God’s Word is properly taught to join a church that errs in some doctrine because they want their kids to have a “better” youth group?
The truth is that no one can save himself. It is impossible. There are no exceptions. No matter what race, no matter how smart, no matter how rich, no matter how poor, no matter what age, no matter what gender. Man cannot do it even with a little help from God. It isn’t that man does his part and God does His. What mans brings to the table is the impossible. Man merely brings sin.
Man needs the God of the possible to do the impossible. “’Then who can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.’” (vs. 26b-27)
Do you believe this? Can you fathom the impossible? Jesus took an impossible assignment and paid the price that was impossible for you to pay. He went to Calvary’s cross for my sin, your sin, and the sin of the whole world. In Jesus, God died for you. God can turn stony hearts of unbelief into faithful Christians. He can make a camel go through the eye of a needle. Your salvation and your conversion is all God’s doing. God doing the impossible.
Even though He has redeemed us and turned our hearts of stone into believing hearts, until we enter fully into the kingdom of God, the journey will be rough. Jesus calls us to our own Mission: Difficult as He calls us to pick up our cross and daily follow Him.
Contrary to modern day health, wealth, and prosperity preachers, your best life now might entail the cross. It might involve persecution for your faith. Our text says in the age to come we will have eternal life. In the meantime, we might lose family members over our faith. We are going to deal with temptations of wealth and security. We may be called to the public square to declare Jesus as Lord.
But hang on to this in the innermost parts of your being, no matter how difficult it might get the Mission: Impossible is Mission: Accomplished because Jesus has completed His mission for us. We are assured the victory in Christ because He did the Mission: Impossible.
Oh, by the way, this promise of God will not self-destruct in five seconds.
Amen

Oct. 4, 2015 Text: Hebrews 2:1-13

Dear Friends in Christ,

After the tragedy of September 11th, there was a camera crew that walked the streets in New York City and asked people spiritual questions at random. One man said when asked where God was when those horrible attacks took place: “I used to believe in God, but not anymore. Not now. Because if there was a God, how could something like this take place?”
On the Thursday morning after the terrorist attack, on CBS’s “The Early Show,” Jane Clayson interviewed Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of Billy Graham. According to the transcript of the broadcast, Clayson asked, “I’ve heard people say, those who are religious, those who are not, if God is good, how could God let this happen? To that, you say?”
Lotz replied, “I say God is also angry when he sees something like this, I would say also for several years now Americans in a sense have shaken their fist at God and said, God, we want you out of our schools, our government, our business, we want you out of our marketplace. And God, who is a gentleman, has just quietly backed out of our national and political life, our public life. Removing his hand of blessing and protection. We need to turn to God first of all and say, God, we’re sorry we have treated you this way and we invite you now to come into our national life. We put our trust in you. We have our trust in God on our coins, we need to practice it.”
How do you see it? When you look at the headlines of the newspaper, read the Internet or watch things on the television, it makes you want to ask, “Who’s really in control?” When chaos abounds in the streets, in government, in families, we look around and go, “Who’s really in control?” The Book of Hebrews helps us to sort some things out this morning even as we ask . . .
“IS GOD REALLY IN CONTROL?”
As we see Planned Parenthood try to sell body parts of babies for a profit we have to say, “Is God Really In Control?” As our government runs roughshod over those trying to protect their religious freedom surrounding the issue of marriage, we depressingly think, “Is God Really In Control?” As ISIS and other groups take knives and behead Christians for their beliefs, we weep for them as we mutter, “Is God Really In Control?”
God’s inspired Word says in our text, “Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.” (Heb. 2:8b)
We are living in a time when the forces of evil seem to be marching to victory. The children of disobedience are trying to silence God’s Word and churches that desire to remain faithful come under siege. Christians appear to be dropping like flies to the temptations offered by Satan and the world. The mighty wolves of Satan seem to be surrounding the Lord’s flock. “Is God Really In Control?”
Yes, He is. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.” (Rom. 8:28) Though we may not be able to know all of the specifics details of this truth, because God’s ways are impossible for us to understand, we have God’s wonderful reassurance of His gracious and watchful care that is expressed and proved in the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our text says “by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (v. 9b)
Just as nothing was allowed to prevent our Savior from reaching his goal, so nothing will be able to prevent us from reaching our goal of salvation. The Holy Spirit is there to keep us in the faith. He uses the Word to keep us anchored in what we believe. There is this warning from our text, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” People who start to believe the lies of our day and that God may not be in control do not just jump in the boat and take off. They drift slowly from the shores of their faith. They believe this lie of Satan, then they take hold of a wrong interpretation of Scripture, then they start to think “who am I hurting if I believe this way?” Before they even realize it they are in the middle of the water with no lifeboat in sight. Satan and his angels rejoice.
We need to understand that the Word of God is powerful to save and to encourage bold faith even in the face of troubles. It is a comfort for those of us who believe in Jesus Christ. We have the final victory. We cannot be defeated. Despite our weaknesses and those moments we have stumbled, God in His mercy has brought us to this very day where we are still in Him. In these days of increasing trials and tribulations, let us be encouraged by these words of Psalm 46:
“God is our refuge and strength, and ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging…Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.”
Many years ago a little boy was riding on a train that was traveling over steep cliffs and sharp curves. He was sitting by a window, enjoying the scenery and showing no sign of fear. A woman across the aisle had been observing him. Finally, she turned to him and said: “Aren’t you afraid? What if the train should run off the tracks?” The boy replied: “I’m not afraid. My father is the engineer of this train.”
Is God Really In Control? Yes! He’s driving the train. Regardless of the steep cliffs and sharp curves, we are going to reach our destination!
Amen.