February 13, 2022                            Text:  Jeremiah 17:5-8

Dear Friends in Christ,

    If you are married think of the spouse sitting next to you.  What attracted you to them?  Certainly what we had in common but also what is different about us.  In marriage our differences complement one another.  Toni is a morning person.  I’m a night person.  This opposite attraction worked well when the boys were young.  On our recent trip our opposites were in full bloom.  I’ve studied the atlas since I was old enough to read.  That doesn’t interest my wife.  We’ve learned we are at our best when she drives and I navigate.  Opposites attract.

    If you are not married think of your friends.  The same hypothesis is at work.  A lot in common but there are things they do differently that you admire or appreciate.  Opposites attract.

    In our text for this morning opposites attract.  Our relationship with God is severed by our sin.  We are cursed.  But we are blessed because of what the Lord has done for us.  Let’s take a look.

“OPPOSITES ATTRACT”

    We have before us in the prophet Jeremiah the opposites in which we might trust.  He is often called the prophet of doom.  And yes he is clearly proclaiming God’s judgment against misplaced trust in our text.

    “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.” (v. 5)  We have seen a world trust in the knowledge of man these last two years and it is starting to look like men and women have had enough.  People are marching in the streets and going to the courts.  What has brought this about?  Quite clearly it is because people in high places are telling us what to do and yet they do the opposite.  They are not walking the walk or living their mandates.  We have all been led down the rat hole long enough and the trust is lost.  

    But more than this is how so much of this has had people turn away from their faith or cocoon themselves away.  Believe me I have tried and you cannot insulate yourself from the world.  Man is depraved.  Man is idolatrous.  The more control we seek the more it slips through our fingers.  We trust in ourselves and this is just as bad because then we are only concerned about me, moi, mine.  That doesn’t work in marriage, that doesn’t work in friendships and it doesn’t work spiritually either.  Verse 6 shows that it just brings loneliness and blindness and doom.

    Our text invites us to direct our trust to the one who is truly in control and who graciously chose us – the Lord.  “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.” (v. 7)

    The object of proper trust is the Lord, who became opposites.  Opposites attracted in the Lord.  The Word became flesh.  “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jn. 1:14)  God became man.  “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” (Col. 2:9)  The Lord became seeable and knowable in Christ.  

    The Lord is the opposite of our sinful nature.  In Adam we are defined by sin and death.  Our nature in Christ is defined by His righteousness and life.  The Lord became opposite for our sake.  “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Cor. 5:21)

    Opposites attract in us.  We are at the same time saint and sinner.  Kind to a stranger, raising our voice to a family member.  Praying to our Lord for rescue and then forgetting to thank Him.  We must daily make confession and then trust in the Lord’s opposite word:  absolution.  Having been forgiven we can then be more consistent in our trust.  Trust in man will always fall short.  It will always disappoint.  Think of the people you love the most.  Haven’t they at some point fallen short when you have trusted them to say something, do something, and act a certain way?  Sure we have.  It leaves us like a parched shrub in the desert.

    When has trusting in the Lord let you down?  I know you have what you think are examples swirling in your head.  Can’t you look back and see that this trust was rewarded.  This trust was warranted.  This trust brought salvation.  This trust watered the roots of your soul and took your anxiousness away.  As you exhibit this trust then you bear fruit for the Lord’s Kingdom.  “He never gets rattled.”  “She always seems at peace.”  “How do they always handle things so well.”  This is what trust in a never disappointing Savior looks like.  

    Recognize how all the opposites attracted in Christ to overcome our own opposition to God.  In so doing, we can now head in the opposite direction of our natural inclinations and trust in the Lord and abide in His blessings.

                                        Amen.    

January 30, 2022                                    Text:  Luke 4:31-44

Dear Friends in Christ,

    In the mid to late 1960’s when I was navigating my toddler years some of you were burning your bras and draft cards and taking over college campuses.  People were defying authority.  The World War II generation parents expected respect and discipline and what they got were tie-dyed shirts and Woodstock.

    That questioning of authority, which was prevalent in the 1960’s has increased and continued into our present generation.  Not only are people rejecting authority but they are rejecting the authority of God’s Word.  The devil promises freedom if there is no authority but all it really leads to is insecurity and uncertainty.  

    Today as Jesus steps into the picture through our text He is proclaiming Good News.  The Good News that He is sharing is that He does have authority and that His Word has authority.  Thank the Lord this morning that He is . . .

“SPEAKING WITH AUTHORITY”

    This idea that Jesus would speak with authority astonishes the people.  They are shocked.  They have never heard anyone speak like this.  They are used to a bunch of mumbo jumbo of conflicting sources from the rabbis.

    It is no different in our time.  People are astonished and even shocked when the church through the Word of Jesus speaks with authority.  We deal with a bunch of mumbo jumbo of competing voices and conflicting words and phrases.  We are expected to be our own gatekeeper of the truth.  Bernard Bailey wrote, “When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.”  Do we want to rely on God or man?

    In Finland a trial is going on that involves a Lutheran Pastor and a female member of their government.  In the early 2000’s they wrote a book in which they said that homosexuality was a sin.  It was a book from these two Lutherans about what the Bible states and what the church should be teaching.  After many years they have been brought up on charges.  It won’t surprise you that the first day of the trial was filled with misrepresentations from the prosecutor.  Like Pilate they think they have authority but as Jesus reminded Pilate the only authority he had came from God.  Please pray for this brother and sister.  Jesus’ absolute authority is offensive to many.

    But Jesus speaking with authority is good news.  The only reason people get shocked at Jesus’ authority is because they don’t want it.  They think it is oppressive or takes away their freedom of expression.  All Pastors have had people leave their churches because they wouldn’t marry a living together couple or people took offense to some other Word of God.  If we pick and choose where the authority is then we can begin to question salvation.  Is that part of God’s Word true?

    Do you follow authority?  Many do.  Many of us pick and choose.  God’s Word and parents – yes.  Government and talking heads – no.  You probably have your own list.  The thing is we need authority.  My mom always told me you need a chief.  As a teacher she was on the bargaining committee and she said it wouldn’t work getting the teachers together if everybody was an Indian.  Someone had to have authority.  It provides security and direction and freedom.

    We see that from Jesus in our text.  Jesus had authority over a demon and had him become silent and then released him from the man.  Jesus’ healed the mother-in-law of Peter by rebuking her fever.  Diseases are healed and spirits are rebuked because they knew he was the Christ.

    This Christ Jesus spoke with great authority on the cross.  He announced “it” – the work of saving mankind – “is finished.”  Jesus’ authority over sin, death, and hell was confirmed when he rose from the dead.  He gives us freedom from guilt and death.

    Jesus speaks with authority to us.  He proclaims from our pulpits that we have eternal life.  He has authority to forgive sins and he passes that authority onto you and me.  He speaks heaven to us in Holy Communion.  His words of authority give peace and security.  Isn’t it nice to know that Jesus has authority over evil?  We can have that confidence, because of Jesus’ authority, that what we believe is certain and true.

    If children don’t have authority they grow up with insecurity and anxiety and emotional scarring.  We have so many people in our world with nothing certain they can rely on in their lives – especially how they might face death.  We don’t reject the authority of Christ in our lives because we understand the comfort and certainty that it brings.  May the Holy Spirit allow us to share that with others.

    We are blessed to have Good News preached to us and a Savior who is speaking with authority.

                Amen.