July 11, 2021                                                                         Text:  Ephesians 1:3-14

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Do you all know the mystery board game Clue?  Invented by an Englishman years ago and still played today.  The object of the game was to solve a murder.  You did this by deciphering clues until you think you had the killer, the weapon and the room it occurred in.  You then announce, “I’ve solved it.”  You look at the answer:  Col. Mustard with the lead pipe in the library.  If those are the three cards then you win.  If not, you are out of the game.  If you just get part of the answer you are perplexed.  “Professor Plum, I was sure it was Col. Mustard.”

            It is fun to solve a mystery.  With 6 characters, 6 weapons, and 9 rooms there are 324 possible answers in the game of Clue.  Did you ever consider the greatest selling book of all time is a mystery?  The Bible.  The Bible tells the story of the wicked twists and turns of Satan and sinful humanity.  Meanwhile, God’s twists and turns exceed those of the evil one as He plots the devil’s destruction and carries it out on a cross.  We marvel at how the love of God is revealed.

            We know ahead of time how this mystery ends.  Ordinarily, when we know the solution, we’re done with the “who done it.”  But not this one.  This mystery captivates us even when we know how it comes out.

“SOLVING THE MYSTERY”

            Today let’s relish the mystery of God’s love in Christ.  The mystery is kept hidden from unbelievers and we cannot solve it on our own for these reasons:  We are sinners divorced from God and in disharmony with our fellow human beings, and that makes it a mystery as to how God could ever love us.  We close our eyes and minds to God.  We turn away from godly deeds.  An elementary deduction, wouldn’t you say?  We cannot comprehend the mind and will of God.

            Jesus has revealed the mystery.  He is the solution.  Verse 9 says, “making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ.”  Jesus kept his eyes on the Father and did His will.  He sacrificed for those of us who deserved only punishment.  He and the Father are One.  He didn’t purchase us with gold or silver but with his holy, precious blood and innocent suffering and death.  That is how the mystery came out – Jesus on the cross giving His life – it is a happy ending, we’ve read the clues, won the game, received the crown of life.

            This is a mystery we can tell others about.  We are not spoiling the fun.  We are proclaiming the great deeds of our Savior.  We want to spread the message of this newfound harmony with God.  The mystery of God’s will is our salvation and we want to focus others on the source of this salvation.  We have been chosen by God, predestined for adoption through Jesus Christ.  We have the riches of His grace.  We desire Christ’s blessings of Word and Sacrament.  In a profound mystery, the Holy Spirit demonstrates His work in us.  We use our gifts to tell about the gift.  No need to wait for the end of the novel or the movie. 

            In my junior year of high school I was in a drama class.  We were divided into four groups of 7 people and were given the task of writing, producing, directing and acting in a one-act play that would last 15-20 minutes.  The group I was in was assigned a mystery.  Somehow, we pulled it off.  We wrote a “Columbo” type of detective story that was interesting and funny.  That morning I had broken my finger while pitching and I spent the afternoon in the emergency room.  I made it to the production just a half hour before we were to go on.  A day I won’t forget.  We had wonderful collaboration and a great story.  The mystery was solved and we brought some joy to people’s lives.

            Do you see yourselves in this great story presented to us today?  You are part of the plot.  You come to the production with your own injuries.  Maybe you get there just in time.  This mystery isn’t about someone else.  This is our story.  Christ died for you so that you might live.  Christ lives for you that you might die to sin.  Christ removes your worries and gives you peace. 

            This is the mystery:  “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us.”  This is also the solution, for “in him,” we “become the righteousness of God.”  (2 Cor. 5:21)

                                                                                                                                    Amen. 

July 4, 2021                                                                            Text:  2 Corinthians 12:1-10

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Have you ever had to list or describe your strengths and weaknesses?  Job interview?  Entrance to college?  In conversation?  With your therapist?  As a Pastor we do a self-evaluation tool that we fill out that churches see if they want to call us. 

Which one is easier for you?  Strengths . . . or . . . weaknesses? 

            In our culture weak is bad and strength is good.  On this July 4^th we don’t shoot off fireworks because we are an inferior nation.  We celebrate because we have freedom and the strongest military in the world.  Because of who we are as Americans we try to cover our weaknesses.

            St. Paul says in our text that he can boast in weakness.  Huh?  Let’s see if that is true . . .

“IS THE POWER OF CHRIST IN OUR WEAKNESS?”

            We could give a sermon today where we kind of skirt the issue.  You know talk in generalities about strengths and weaknesses and not try to pontificate on Paul’s “thorn in the flesh.”  We could do that but that is not what you expect from your Pastor in a sermon.  Let’s actually see an example of the power of Christ in our weakness.

            One of my strengths is self-evaluation.  Like Paul I know my weaknesses and the “thorn in the flesh” that has caused me the most grief in life.  This comes as no surprise to our friends from Shawnee, Kansas here this morning or to many of you but the answer is my competitiveness.  What is interesting about this weakness is that at times it’s a strength.

            Paul knew this.  He needed no annual review.  He could be proud of what he accomplished.  Intelligent.  A way with words.  Preaching to thousands.  That can all go to your head.  But his background and “thorn the flesh” kept him humble.  In his weakness he could boast about Christ crucified.  This ailment was annoying.

            Ever had a splinter?  Bothersome.  They can get infected.  At our house Dr. Lueck would go to work with needle, tweezers and someone holding a flashlight.  The thorn in the flesh would be removed.

            Paul is talking about something a little more serious.  Was it opposition to his ministry?  A temptation he couldn’t overcome?  A physical problem?  It was a serious impediment because Paul prayed three times to God to remove it. 

            Paul felt it a distraction and he would be better off without it.  But God saw it differently.  God knows if nothing every goes wrong in our lives, why would we need Him?  We’d think we could make it on our own.

            I’ve been competitive as far as I know since birth.  It has at times been a distraction.  Turning over the Candyland game when losing to my sister.  Technical fouls in basketball.  Umpires and coaches and parents and loved ones giving me lectures.  I know how I got to this point.  It was ingrained in me when my uncle, now a District President in the LCMS, was studying to be a Pastor and he lived with us during my junior high years.  He and his seminary buddies were competitive.  I would play basketball with them and they would slap the walls and react to missed shots.  My thoughts:  these guys were going to be Pastors!  I had never seen this from my own Pastor.  It made an impression.

            These thorns in the flesh cannot be dug out with needle and tweezers.  They are there because we are weak, sinful people living in fallen world.  Can you relate?

            Jesus Christ, the Son of God, put on our weak human form to make the payment demanded for sin.  Jesus humbled Himself.  Born of woman, He became weak.  Weak enough to die.  Paul said in 1 Corinthians that the world saw the cross as weak and foolish.  Even in weakness, God is stronger than man’s strength.  Jesus accomplished what no weak man or woman could.  He made atonement, paid for our sins.  The thorns on his head and the spikes holding Him to the cross won our salvation.  In becoming weak, Christ conquered Satan and sin for all time.  On Easter, He defeated death for each of us, once and for all.

            Let’s get back to our sermon question.  Paul writes in verse 9, “But he (The Lord) said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’  Therefore I will boast more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”  Paul’s weakness in some ways helped his ministry.  He stayed humble.  He stayed focused.  He let the message of Christ dominate and He never took His blessings for granted.

            My weakness as I said can be a strength.  By making everything a competition, the Holy Spirit helps me stand strong in God’s Word.  It gives a voice when needed.  I’m not afraid to mix it up if that is what is called for.  Then two things have happened in the last few years.  People who have competed with me or seen me at games have remarked how this competitive nature has let them see this weakness and how they appreciate that I am a human being.  Things come full circle because these comments came from young men studying to become Pastor’s.

            So yes the power of Christ is in our weakness.  He can use it for His good.  Like Paul, we all want to do better in our weakness.  But our amazing Savior uses even this for His glory.  “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect – perfect – in weakness.”

                                                Amen.