January 26, 2020                                                                  Text:  Matthew 4:12-25

Dear Friends in Christ,

            What’s in a kingdom?  That is a question we are going to answer today.  Christians may have a little different distinction on what a kingdom is, especially if they know their Bible, but the word kingdom does not always bring forth good thoughts.

            Go back to the Dark Ages, when kings ruled many kingdoms.  The common man and woman had no voice in their government and many times no freedom.  They lived at the whim of their rulers.  It was like living in a dictatorship.  Wouldn’t that be bad news?

            For us, with Jesus as our King, and living in the kingdom of heaven that can’t really be bad news, can it?  This morning, let’s consider . . .

“WHAT’S IN A KINGDOM?”

            When Jesus begins preaching and says in our text, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” this is good news.  The Jews had a hard time with His words because they were living under an awful kingdom led by King Herod.  Herod had just put John the Baptist in prison and soon would have his head.

            This is typical of many kingdoms.  Power corrupts.  Kings take advantage of their subjects.  Kings can use and abuse and even execute their victims just to derive some sick pleasure.

            On top of that, even in the best of circumstances, kings can restrict the freedom of their people.  Israel’s kings would levy taxes and make laws when they felt like it.  A king’s word is final.  There may be advisors but that is all they are.  People must be willing to do what the king asks.  Absolute loyalty is required.

            We rebel against that.  We all want to be our own kings.  We all have our little fiefdoms, places and people we want to control.  We don’t even want the best King – God Himself – to rule over us.  His royal law describes life at its happiest and most harmonious, but we would rather go our sinful way and latch on to what looks good and what feels good.  We want control of our destiny.  We live in a democracy politically and we want that in our spiritual lives.

            What’s In A Kingdom?  In the kingdom of heaven something that is very, very good.  The kingdom of heaven is set apart in every way from the bad kingdoms.  Jesus didn’t reign for the glory or pleasure.  He didn’t come to sit on a cushy throne in Jerusalem or Rome.  He came to the backwaters of Galilee.

            Jesus came to bring light to those in darkness.  During the European Dark Ages, those people were literally in the dark with the feudal system.  Everyone was serving for the benefit of a higher lord.  At the top of the pyramid was the king.  Unlike those kings, Jesus came that the lowest of people, like those in Galilee, might see God in His true light, as a loving Father.

            Jesus does call us to service, like he did the disciples in our text, but serving Him is an honor that leads to eternal glory.  Behind the “Follow me” was Gospel, Good News, because Christ was saying, “I have chosen you to be with me, to be mine.”  Jesus uses His almighty, kingly power not to subdue us, but to conquer our enemies – diseases, demons, and death.

            Isn’t this better than being our own kings?  The kingdom of heaven is ruled by grace – God gives that which we don’t deserve.  Let’s be honest, we stink at being our own kings.  Our self-rule just leads to empty lives of broken relationships, climbing and not reaching, exacerbating our problems.  We reach a dead end when we control our own eternity.  Thankfully we don’t need to.  Jesus fulfilled the law for us His followers and He purchased for us real freedom by His death on the cross.

            What’s In A Kingdom?  A lot more than you thought.  But what a blessing this kingdom is.  This kingdom, we now live in, is truly heaven!

                                                                                                            Amen.

January 19, 2020 – Sanctity of Life Sunday                                               Text:  Isaiah 49:1-7

Dear Friends in Christ,

            It is hard to hear with fruit stuck in your ears.  “How does Pastor know that?  Has he had fruit stuck in his ears?  How did it get stuck in his ears?  Why did he have fruit near his ears?”  All good questions, but we have all had fruit stuck in our ears.  It’s in there, and it’s stuck.  And it’s hard to hear with fruit stuck in your ears.

            Humans have had fruit in there for a long time.  The serpent said to Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?” (Gen. 3:1)  Well, she ate that fruit that God forbid her to and it stopped up her ears and she couldn’t hear the Lord’s Word anymore.  In her disobedience she gave some to her husband, and his ears got stuffed with fruit.  The serpent got in like an earworm out of an apple and he settled in to take command.  That is why to this very day, the offspring of Adam and Eve, you and me still ask one another . . .

“DID GOD REALLY SAY?”

            We see it in the book of Isaiah and our text for this morning.  The Israelites had fruit stuck in their ears.  Vines and branches coming out of their heads.  Why else would the prophet repeat himself for sixty-six chapters?  Fifteen other prophets brought the same message for hundreds of years but the Israelites loved the fruit stuck in their ears. 

            The conversation is not over.  How many still have fruit stuck in their ears?  Did God really say, “called me from the womb?” (v. 1)  Did God really say that He “knitted me together in my mother’s womb?” (Ps. 139:13)  Did God really say that we are “created…in his own image?” (Gen. 1:27)  He probably meant “we are a clump of cells or a blob of tissue.”  He probably meant “my body, my choice, my medical decision.”  He probably meant as “soon as the baby has a memory and is viable.”  He probably meant, “as long as they planned for the child, as long as they can afford the child.”  Because we sure do like the fruit of self-expression.  The fruit of comfort and control sure tastes sweet.

            Did God really say, “a light for the nations?”  “I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.”  Perhaps He means “a light for most nations or some of the nations.”  Perhaps He means “for the pretty ones and the productive ones and the powerful ones.”  Perhaps He means “for the politically comfortable and the culturally acceptable and the emotionally uncontroversial and the publicly approved.”  Perhaps He means “a light for those who can communicate or those who don’t cost us too much or those who can take care of themselves.”  Perhaps He means it “doesn’t include those terminal or in a vegetative state.”  This fruit of vanity and convenience has been shoved in our ears for years and we accommodate it with our uniformity.

            Even with fruit in our ears, we can hear hearts breaking.  Our eyes still see the grief and guilt.  Abortion access hasn’t solved any problems.  Instead it has multiplied suffering.  Assisted suicide hasn’t made pain go away.  Embryo engineering has incarcerated thousands in frozen prisons.  The violence has increased infertility, miscarriages, and breast cancer.  The trauma has raised rates of depression, chemical dependency, domestic violence, suicide.  It’s left dead over 1.5 billion human beings worldwide.  Untold others walk around us haunted and hurting.  Isn’t it time to take the fruit out, and listen?

            The Lord God almighty has the perfect implement for doing just that – getting the forbidden fruit out.  You see it in Isaiah.  He comes as an arrow of sorts – a sword to take the fruit out.  Jesus is God’s implement to take the bad fruit away and turn up the volume of God’s love. 

            He put on embryo and peasant, manger and stable, hamlet and laborer.  He means God’s work of creating proclaims every genetic member of our world special.  He means the least of these and the lowly.

            He humbled Himself for us and died on the cross.  Jesus means replaced, fulfilled, forgiven, beginning to end.  Jesus means atoned for, suffered for, punished for, biggest to littlest.  He means bled for, died for, paid for, best to worst.  He means crucified, resurrected, redeemed, embryo to elderly.  He means Lord of death and life, every circumstance of life under control.  He means Savior of not only your soul but also of your situation.

            The Gospel puts the good fruit where it belongs.  Fruit doesn’t belong in your ears or even bottled in your heart.  Truth tastes sweetest when ingested and then exhaled.  Drink deeply and fill your identity with how God loves and saves his sinful human creatures.  Rinse your ears with Baptism’s assurances and irrigate your very being with Holy Communion’s affirmations.  Swallow and savor this comfort.

            The Lord of harvest includes you in the fruit-removal crew.  Having heard the Word, you can speak clearly to others.  Jesus Christ has made you Lutherans For Life.  Give voice to this truth that Jesus creates, redeems, and calls every human being to this everlasting treasure.  You have the resources of Lutherans For Life and their nationwide network at your disposal and by your side.  What a privilege we have and what a delight – to partake with God in the fruit that moves the children of men from deaf to life!

                                                Amen.