March 21, 2021                                                                                 Text:  Mark 10:35-45

Dear Friends in Christ,

            We are currently in basketball nirvana with the NCAA tournament going on.  Which I find interesting because I have always thought of Jesus’ disciples like a basketball team.  The lead players are Peter, James, and John.  The first called and then present at the Transfiguration.  The next tier being the role players.  Mentioned in Scripture but not prominently.  Guys like Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas.  Then a few disciples we know very little about – James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean.  Then at the end of the bench sulking because of a lack of playing time and always mentioned last in a list of disciples – Judas Iscariot.

            So who should be asking for a more prominent spot on the team?  Judas, of course.  That is not the way the text unfolds.  It’s two of the lead dogs.  A couple of guys who have been near the head coach the last three years.  Don’t they have the power already?  You two want more playing time?  That’s sure what it looks like from here. 

            Huddle up team it is time for another teaching lesson.  I can’t believe I have to keep repeating myself.  Haven’t you men being paying attention? 

“ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT THIS CUP?”

            Jesus is getting closer and closer to Calvary.  He has told his team of disciples three times now what is going to happen there.  This isn’t what they want.  Glory doesn’t look like a dead guy on a cross.

            They were worried about their future careers and earthly glory.  The other apostles were indignant.  More than likely they were annoyed that they hadn’t asked first.  They craved the recognition and the attention and their accomplishments.  “Hey, coach look at me.”

            We are not immune to this.  I’ve lived this.  I was in their shoes during my basketball career.  The point guard with the ball in his hands and the game on the line.  The one willing to take the game winning shot.  The captain and leader of the team.  And I absolutely loved it.  Couldn’t get enough of it.  Have you been there?  Large and in charge?  The one everybody looks to.  Like the apostles, we get caught up in ourselves.  It always about “I.”  This causes fractured friendships and husband and wife divorcing and children and parents who stop talking to one another

            That’s not how God created us to be.  “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve.” (v. 45)  Jesus dismissed their request.  It was not His to grant but the Father’s.  They will all suffer for proclaiming Christ crucified for the forgiveness of sins.  None of them had the life of a celebrity.  James was the first to go – beheaded by Herod Agrippa I in Acts 12.  John died in exile daring to preach Jesus.

            “You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them.  “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” (v. 38)  They said yes.  Did they understand the hostility that would follow?  Did they know the torture and drowning and beheading and burning they would face for taking up their cross?

            When you were baptized and confirmed and confessed that you would rather die than fall away from the faith, did you really understand it?  Did you know your confession of faith would exclude you from a world of fleshly delight, unbridled sex and fun and sleeping in on Sundays, your conscience unburdened of any guilty thoughts?

            It’s not easy when the tide of world opinion turns against you, when the shouts of “Hosanna!” change to “Crucify!”  It’s not easy when those around you pit you against “science” or “nature” or “fairness.”  We certainly have our own bitter cups to drink from.  But we have something else – a covenant promise.

            The world has its gods of fairness and being nice and living life to the fullest.  But all that leads to death.  All the fairness and equality in the world can’t forgive your sins or take away your guilt.  You still suffer and you still die.

            Jesus is different.  Jesus is life.  Jesus offers you the cup of salvation.  Jesus baptizes you into His household.  Jesus marches to the cross to save you, in order to serve you.  Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. 

            Our song is love unknown because we cannot fathom that kind of sacrifice.  One poor, frail, broken human body.  Mocked, spit upon, flogged, nailed to a cross and gasping for breath.  Unfairly, undeservedly, willingly.

            You have been baptized into His death.  His resurrection from the dead gives you a new bodily life in heaven.  You drink the cup at this altar for forgiveness and life and salvation.

            You have been brought to faith not to lord it over others but to share it with the other teams.  To serve those who look to you and your faith.  Pass me the ball coach; I’m ready to make a difference for You.

                                                                                    Amen.  

March 14, 2021                                                                          Text:  Ephesians 2:1-10

Dear Friends in Christ,

            A teacher was explaining to her class how a thermos works.  “You can bring hot soup to school for lunch, and the thermos will keep it hot.  The next day you can bring a cold drink to school, and the same thermos will keep it cold.”  One doubting but clever little boy asked, “But how does it know?”

            Good question.  “How does it know?”  It also a good question for this morning.  How does the community around us know we are Christians?  How do you know I am a Christian?  Maybe I am in this job for the attention and money! 

“HOW DOES IT KNOW?”

            If we want to know where we are going, we need to know from where we came.  “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked. . . were by nature children of wrath.” (vs. 1-3)  That sounds pretty bad…and it is.  Under the rule of the world and the devil and alienated from God.

            There are no exceptions.  Verse 3 says “we all.”  Everyone is the same condition by virtue of our human nature.  Not a use-friendly introduction to a conversation when on an evangelism call.

            Have you ever had a life threatening experience where someone else had to rescue you?  You could do nothing to save yourself.  That is what God does for us because He is “rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us.” (v. 4) 

            We had a terrible fate in front of us if the Lord did not intervene.  He rescued us from a terrible death.  He made us alive when were dead in trespasses (v. 5).  At our birth He breathed new life in us and He continues to do the same as He makes us new people in Christ Jesus.

            St. Augustine, one of the great church fathers, was once a cultured, civilized, wicked man.  One day he was greeted by a former mistress who said, “Hey, Augustine, It is I.”  He replied, “But it is no longer I, It is Christ.”  After his conversion he was a great Christian theologian.  An Aborigine tribe in Australia translates conversion as “given a new heart by God.”  Right on target.

            It gets even better.  “Raised up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  Wow.  We are part of the resurrection story.  God does this for you and I through the cross and the appearance of Jesus three days later.

            What prompts you and I to do nice things for others?  Why do others do nice things for us?  Are our motives always pure?  What prompted God?  It is important as troubled sinners, and doubting sinners and sinners with guilt and a bad conscience to be reassured that the new life in Christ has nothing to do with us.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (v. 8)

            When did God do this for many of us?  Before we were old enough to know about it.  He acted in us with His grace at our Baptism and He still keeps us in that covenant. 

            Society wants us to believe that there essential requirements for success – degrees, certificates, natural talent etc.  Our going to heaven doesn’t depend on our goodness.  It is God’ gift.  It is God’s grace.  Grace is more than God’s undeserved love for us.  It is His undeserved love in action.

            How does the world around us know that God has done all these incredible things for and in us?  If you were wondering when I would get to our sermon theme, here it is.  We are God’s workmanship who have been created in Christ Jesus for good works, and we walk in them. (v. 10)

            Through our sanctified life, the things we do and say, the world will know we are His children.  The message of salvation by grace stands by itself.  God did not save us to sit back and relax, basking in the sunshine of salvation by grace.  Spiritual atrophy would quickly result.  A long time ago He planned that others should see Christ in us.

            Our Christian life is part of God’s purpose.  Christ within us.  Why are we God’s children?  To let the world see and know what the grace of God can do.  During this pandemic I have said Christians must be above the fray.  The great masterpieces of our Christian faith are not stored away in vaults.  They are on display at all times so that people will “see your good works, and glorify your Father in heaven.”

            You know about product placement.  Companies work to have their products seen in movies, TV, sporting events, everywhere.  We are the sanctified products of God’s gracious plan of salvation, which He puts on display all over the world.  Through the Holy Spirit be the best product you can be for Him.  St. Paul never forgot the sheer joy and astonishment of his conversion when God surprised him.  He was never the same as His life showed what the grace of God truly is.  In the same way and through Christ, let the world know what God has done for you.        Amen.