October 16, 2016                                                      Text:  2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

It was quiet in the Ardennes on Sunday, Dec. 16, 1944. People were preparing for their first free Christmas since the Nazis had been driven out.  That’s when hundreds of German artillery pieces opened up on American positions.  By Dec. 20, American troops under the command of General A.C. McAuliffe were surrounded.  Two days later, the Germans called for his surrender.  History famously records his reply:  “Nuts.”

Meanwhile, history has ignored the words of a private from the South.  He was incredibly calm even as the Germans had them surrounded.  His sergeant asked, “You do realize the Krauts have us surrounded?”  “Yup,” the private answered.  “How do you feel about that?” asked the sergeant.  The private drawled, “Well, Sarge, I feel sorry for them dirty dawgs.”  The sergeant interrupted, “What do you mean them dirty dogs, we are the ones surrounded.”  The private explained, “True enough, Sarge, but if’n I understand kirrectly, this is the first time in this war we kin attack the enemy any direction we want.”

Today, in a different war, a spiritual war, Christians find themselves agreeing with that private.  As Jesus’ followers we are able to say:  “If we understand correctly, we can attack the enemy in any direction we want.”  Saddened to make such a statement, we are not surprised.  St. Paul said this day would come when the Savior’s people and the message of salvation would be under attack.  Knowing we will be attacked for our faith, we learn from this Epistle that we are really also on the attack, that we . . .

“SHARE GOD’S WORD IN EVERY DIRECTION”

The Holy Spirit described what this day would look like.  People will not endure sound teaching but will look to teachers who teach what they want.  People will not listen to truth but will be taken in by myths.  Paul seems pretty accurate.  What do you think?  Unbelief in our generation is larger, stronger, better organized than it has been in the past.  But the thinking that man can do better than God has never gone out of style.

Adam and Eve thought they could do better.  The builders of Babel challenged God’s authority.  The children of Israel complained and criticized as they wandered.  Other civilizations have taken shots against God, but they usually do so with some degree of hesitation.

Our age is different.  People gladly denigrate God’s grace and His hand in the affairs of men.  Today it’s fashionable and trendy to say there’s no God.  They spout their lies with a smirk and a boast.  Colleges founded by Christians no longer feel shackled by the old-time Bible “myths.”

Countries founded by Christians and whose stability, success, and legal system were based on the Holy Bible now find it politically correct to keep their distance from the Redeemer and His Word.  TV shows, books, movies, and magazines make big money by disrespecting the Deity.  With itching ears, the general public awaits the newest chapter in the Lord’s denunciation.  Enthusiastically, they repeat the most recent criticism of the Christ that has, thanks to the devil’s hand, been moved from fiction to reality.

Today, bold revisers of history break out their erasers to remove all references to the Savior and the positive things the Church has done.  The denials make the front page of the paper or scientific journal or the History Channel.  Gullible souls, intrigued by the lies, “turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” (4:4)

We have people called “Reverend” who don’t preach Christ and Him crucified.  They hesitate to tell the truth that only Christian believers are saved.  “Is Jesus the only way,” they question from the stage and in their books.

The time Paul spoke about in our text has arrived.  People want teachers who tell them what they want…and what they want is not God’s inspired, inerrant Word.  Or put another way, “If I understand correctly this is the first time in this war we can attack the enemy any direction we want.”

Still, I wonder, is attacking the enemy what the Lord wants his people to do?  Why not just coexist, know what we believe, even if nobody else agrees?  A few years ago was a cartoon with a rough-looking fellow walking the streets of Sodom and Gomorrah.  He carried a sign, “Repent, the end is near.”  A man asked him why he had carried the sign for twenty years and it hadn’t made a difference.  The last panel showed his reply, “For the first nineteen years, I carried the sign in hopes that I would change them; now I carry it in hopes they won’t change me.”

That cartoon explains what we Christians are to do.  This church, this pulpit, is here so we can tell the sinful world just how much God cares for them.  We exist so the Holy Spirit can use us to reach them with the good news and great joy that has come into the world in the person of Jesus Christ.  We come together so we can go out together and tell people that no matter their sin, their itching ears, their turning from the truth of God’s Word, if they turn from these myths, the Risen Redeemer will forgive and save and strengthen them.  We have been rescued from punishment and given new life.  Satan, or sin, or death no longer controls us.

Attack in any direction?  No, our job is to share the Good News of salvation in every direction.  We hear:  “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus…preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove; rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”  Share God’s Word so the world might be changed.  Share God’s Word so the world doesn’t change you.

We need to stand fast as those deserting continue to gain in number.  We share God’s truth to counter the devil’s lies.  It is who we are.  It is what we do.  By God’s grace, may it always be so.

Amen.

October 9, 2016                                                                     Text:  Luke 17:11-19

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

How do you feel about your place in society as you sit in the pew this morning?  Is your voice and actions making a difference?  Are you being swept over by the opinions and loudness of those seeking changes – and not for the better?

Today in our text we have mass groupthink.  A problem many of us deal with on a daily basis.  How can we break away?  Where is the answer?  Majorities impress us too much.  It is still true that God and one make a majority.  Let that sink in.  God and one make a majority.  The Samaritan comes back with thanks.  The other nine are comfortable together in not returning thanks.  What to make of the Samaritan is he . . .

“A LOUD MINORITY – OR MAJORITY?”

Let’s first get at what these men were suffering from –leprosy.  It starts with discoloration of a patch of skin white or pink and it spreads to others parts of the body.  Spongy, tumor-like swellings grow on the face and body.  The disease starts to affect the internal organs along with the skin.  Marked deformity of hands and feet occur.  Sensory nerve endings no longer respond to heat or injury.  Remember biting your lip before the Novocain wore off and then regretting it later?  Leprosy would last from ten to twenty years before death.  The disease was emotionally and spiritually devastating.  These men were isolated – they were in the minority.

Yet, they do have some belief in Jesus.  “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.”  Were they aware of previous healings?  Was Jesus the conduit to leaving their miserable existence?  Was He a miracle worker and nothing more?

Jesus heals – but not in an instant.  He allows some time to pass.  He wants their faith to grow.  What about your infirmities?  Ever get anxious, impatient?  “This too shall pass” make take years.  God wants our faith to blossom and strengthen in might.

After the healing, they do something as a majority.  All ten go to the priests to show them that they are healed.  Jesus healed in different ways according to the condition of the sick person.  These men only believed in His healing power.  Jesus desired to advance their faith to something better.  Jesus feeds their faith with His Word.  They would have been fools not to act on his word, to stand around and debate about it.

Now comes the defining moment in the text.  Who will turn back to give thanks to the Healer for the healing?  Nine are happy for the return to health.  In the heart of one, out of faith, he shouts his praise and falls at Jesus’ feet.  He looks like the minority but remember – God and one are always the majority.  For this foreigner, his faith has made him well.

The nine lepers who didn’t return were spiritual, calling Jesus “Master” and looking for him to dispense a favor; it was all about them.  American remains highly spiritual, it’s just that more and more are practicing their spirituality apart from the institutional church.  You can’t miss it in our pews on Sunday morning.  Like the nine, people claim to have faith but it is self-centered and self-determined, not the obedience of faith.  Jesus’ praise for the Samaritan, “your faith has made you well” has a double meaning – health and salvation.  “Your faith” is not the hearer’s subjective feeling but outwardly directed trust in Jesus.

Like the nine, many spiritual Americans see faith as a means to a better place in earthly life, with Jesus the master dispenser.  Yes, faith does improve our earthly lot but the deeper meaning is the eternal salvation that Jesus gives to those who trust in Him.  Many spiritual Americans acknowledge Jesus as “Master” seeking a better life in this world, but do not bow their broken lives and empty hearts before Him.  “Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

You too have been healed.  Sin has invaded and made a mess of your body and your mind and your actions.  It eats at you little by little by little until you stand deformed before a Holy God.  You need to call to the Master, “have mercy on me.”  And He responds.  He heals.  He forgives.  He cleanses you from your disease.  The weight of your transgressions is released from your body.  Now, what will your reaction to this good news be?

What would you have done if you had stood alone against nine?  Through the Holy Spirit you can turn against the self-serving spirituality of many Americans to the true Church’s outspoken witness to Jesus Christ.  Then we will be the loud majority, not because we shout it over others, but because with God on our side we are always in the majority.  The few will be the exalted.  The narrow door has our Lord.

I completely understand the Samaritan.  Being in the minority does not bother me.  I can go into a crowded room and sit on the other side and I am comfortable.  I know who I am, the Lord made me left-handed for a reason.  Peer pressure is no problem – a different uniform as a 6^th grade baseball player because I made the 8^th grade team, passing on the marijuana cigarette as it is passed around a room at my fraternity, not communing at a visiting church because I didn’t talk with the LCMS Pastor.  I know the Samaritan.  But I also understand that for many of you, looking my way right now, don’t know if you could do what this foreigner did?  You’re comfortable not rocking the boat, not offending; you want to live in your little PC world.  In today’s world, for the Christian, that just doesn’t fly.  Now you speak volumes by being here in worship.  You have come to worship your Healing Creator.  Now we take that message to “spiritual” America, the ones who are healed but want to keep walking to their eternal doom.  They are walking by or driving by the Healer, the One who can eternally heal.  Never feel like the minority.  God and you are always the majority.  “Rise and go on your way; your faith has made you well.”

Amen.

October 2, 2016 – LWML Sunday                            Text:  John 1:43-46

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

Have you been surprised or been part of a surprise?  You as a congregation surprised me when I turned 40.  “Toni, why are all these cars at church on a Saturday morning?”  Toni and I surprised my parents, when Toni became pregnant with Karson.  We set “baby things” around our condo until they figured it out.  I still remember the excitement of my mom.  I got to surprise a friend who I hadn’t seen in a few years.  Toni surprised me with a golf outing with friends.  Surprises can be quite enjoyable.

Surprises can also be heart wrenching.  Being blindsided by a divorce.  Hearing news from your child about a lifestyle choice.  A doctor with news that will completely change your life or mortality.  Being sure you are getting a job after a great interview and then being crushed again.

All surprises by definition are unexpected.  People can have different reactions to the same surprise.  How will you react the morning of November 9 after the election?  Surprise?  Depression?  Apathy?  Same surprise.  Different responses.

This is what we encounter with Philip and Nathanael in our text and they see and hear of Jesus for the first time.  Same surprise.  Different responses.

“COME AND SEE”

After calling Andrew and Peter, Jesus found Philip and called him to be His disciple too.  “Follow me!”  Philip learned about this man from Galilee and shared his good news with Nathanael.  He was surprised and excited.

How does Nathanael react?  He is not excited at all.  In fact, he has suspicions about this Galilean Jesus:  “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Nathanael does not have a joyful attitude but a guarded posture.  Cautious and doubtful.

Can anything good come out of Nazareth in Galilee?  It’s too close to unclean Gentiles and too far from holy Jerusalem.  These people speak with strange accents and they are not very learned people.  Can God work out His plan of salvation for a place such as this?

God surprises us as He always does.  We look for His power and wisdom in all the wrong places.  We usually look to ourselves, our holiness, and purity, and righteousness.  I’ve got a handle on this God, but you know I may need an assist from you.  We need to turn away from our inward selves and our perceived holiness and look to the holiness of Jesus.  You and I are not the light; Jesus is the Light of the world.

Jesus invites the surprised and perplexed, the cautious and the guarded, the unbelieving and doubting:  “Come and you will see.”  If you follow this story beyond the words of our text we see that Jesus knew things about Nathanael that even surprised Nathanael.  Nathanael made his confession:  “Rabbi, you are the Son of God!  You are the King of Israel!”  Good things do come out of Nazareth.

God works out His plan of salvation in the most unexpected place.  In Galilee with the Galileans.  Who are the Galileans of today?  Who are people in our neighborhoods who speak differently from us?  Who do we know that doubts so much about Christ and His work that they could never come to faith?  If we think like this we live in the darkness.  We only see with the eyes of the flesh.  We close our hearts to the surprisingly gracious ways in which God reveals His great love for all people, near and far through His Son.

God surprises us again and again to see with the eyes of the Holy Spirit what mighty deeds He can do in the most unlikely places and among the most unlikely characters.  Our invitation to those around us is the same as Philip, “Come and see.”

We are Galileans.  Marginal people called out of darkness into the light of the Son.  A people once dead raised to new life through faith in God’s Son.  Through strangers in our midst, God reminds us that the church is a bunch of strangers in a foreign land.  To the world, we are complete strangers, speaking with strange accents, walking and living our lives to a strange beat.  We speak the language of Holy Scripture.  We initiate people into the church by sprinkling them with water at our fonts.  We eat the body and drink the blood of God’s Son at our altars.  Our Pastors forgive us our sins.  We even love our enemies.  How odd!  How surprising!

On this LWML Sunday, we rejoice in Jesus’ calling and invitation to come and see once again what He has graciously done in our lives.  We extend God’s Kingdom to the strange Galilean neighbors in our midst.  We ask the Lord to open our eyes to more opportunities with brothers and sisters in Christ from different ethnic and language groups in the United States and abroad, so that together we might invite even more neighbors to meet Jesus, the man from Galilee, our Light and Life.

Hey Philip!  Can anything good really come out of Nazareth in Galilee?  Yes indeed, Nathanael, Jesus, God’s greatest gift has surprisingly come out of Galilee for our salvation.   Hey Philip!  Can God work out His salvation in lowly places and among strangers today?  Yes, indeed, Nathanael.  “Come and See!”

Amen.