Luke 14.1,7-14

Pentecost 15

Hymns: 419, 376, 524

Some well-known politicians, wanting to improve their chances for being elected, have been known to boast about their achievements in life, only to exposed as, shall we say, stretching the truth a bit. One of these politicians, you might remember, claimed to have invented the Internet; another boldly claimed, "I am not a crook!" Yet another politician, while speaking to a group of war veterans, claimed to have served in the military when he did not. Yet another claimed he mispoke himself when he denied using campaign funds to purchase property for himself only to have it revealed later that he created blind trusts to hide his illegal, unethical purchases.

We can understand the strong desire of politicians to want to be elected and therefore "toot their own horn" as a way of convincing people that they are worthy of their vote. However, when an attit-tude of humility is lacking, people sometimes say things that turn against them so that when the truth is discovered their lack of hu-mility results in their being humiliated.

This is not true only of politicians; it’s also true of you and me when we boast of our accomplishments because we want people to have a high opinion of us, only to have those boasts exposed as being untrue. Our lack of humility, our perceived need to make false claims about ourselves in order to have people like us or re-spect us, can lead to our humiliation when we are confronted with the truth and have to admit to "stretching" that truth a bit.

Which leads us to our sermon theme for this morning: AVOID BEING HUMILIATED: BE HUMBLE!

Luke sets the stage (v 1,7). A prominent rabbi invited Jesus to have dinner in his home, along with some of his associates. This was another setup where the Pharisees thought they could catch Jesus saying something for which they could accuse him of violating the laws of God, and their own additional set of laws, and then punish him in some way to get rid of him. As we know they finally settled on the charge of blasphemy because Jesus "claimed" to be God (who he was) and punished him by put-ting him to death on a cross. But that didn’t happen until Jesus was ready to be put to death, not for blasphemy but for our sins!

See what was happening here. Before the sadistic observers had the opportunity to observe Jesus, he was observing them as they scrambled to take a seat a seat of honor close to the host rabbi And before these rabbis had the opportunity to catch him in saying something for which they could accuse him of breaking one of their laws, Jesus turned the tables on them!

He told them a story and very pointedly said, "Don’t be like the person I’m going to tell you about." He then told them about someone who attended a wedding banquet and, wanting to give the impression to the other wedding guests that he was someone of importance, he chose a seat close to the bride and groom. But when the bride and groom arrived they invited him to leave that seat of honor because there was someone else who was truly their dear friend whom they wanted to honor with a special place to sit close to them. The man in this story was humiliated because of his lack of humility. He was dishonored because he acted dishonorably due to a lack of humility and because he was too full of himself.

Keep in mind, Jesus told this story to men who knew why they were there but thought that Jesus didn’t have a clue as to why they were there. They were there to dishonor Jesus by asking him quest-ions and getting him to say something for which they could accuse him of violating their religion. But before they had the opportunity to do that he exposed their hypocrisy after they had just pushed and shoved each other out of the way to get to sit close to their host in what was thought to be a seat of honor. They who thought them-selves be better than each other and more honorable than Jesus were exposed by him for their arrogance and lack of humility as he told them the simple story of the arrogant wedding guest who him-self was humiliated because of his lack of humility.

Having an inflated opinion of one’s own importance or position in life is not unlike the inflated opinion that these Pharisees had of themselves. An inflated opinion of self is quick to correct and judge others, perhaps even waiting and watching for someone to say or do something that doesn’t "measure up" and then pointing out their lack of intellect or making fun of their, shall we say, "ob-vious" lack of popularity or ability or personality.

Have you seen the TV commercial of the high school girl who sits at a table in the school cafeteria with several other girls? When she joins this group of teens, they look at her as if to say, "Who are you to sit with us?" And they get up and leave. Another girl, sitting at a nearby table, sees what happened. She picks up her tray, moves to the table where the student is sitting, alone, and with a smile, intro-duces herself. The point of the commercial is that friendliness, not arrogance, makes everyone happy and makes life good. There is a lesson in that for all of us. Young people and adults who lack hu-mility can be very cruel toward others with their judgmental, criti-cal and cliquish ways. An attitude of self-importance leaves no room for loving others, being kind and friendly toward others, giv-ing one’s time and energies for the good of others, and also sets such a person up for being humiliated when he/she meets someone who has an even larger attitude of self-importance.

But there is a deeper, more important spiritual application that we need to take note of as well (v 12-14). Jesus is saying more than just "don’t be cliquish!" He is saying, "Don’t forget who you are as a sinful, imperfect human being." If you are willing to associate only with people whom you think can elevate your level of self-importance and want nothing to do with people who need your kindness and love and generosity and help, then what are you going to with Jesus who doesn’t need you, who should have noth-ing to do with you because of your sins but whom you need as the only Savior from sin, as the one who alone can invite you into his heaven and, without his love, have no chance of entering heaven?" Without the humility of repentance and faith and the recognition that you deserve nothing from God, you will be humiliated when Jesus says, "I don’t know you; depart from you cursed into ever-lasting punishment prepared for the devil and his angels."

To avoid the humiliation of being rejected by Christ, be humble in seeing yourself as a lost and condemned creature because of the sin that is in your nature, but rejoice in the forgiveness of sin that Jesus won for you in his willingness to die on the cross in payment for your sins. An attitude of humility and love and thanks to Jesus the Savior avoids the humiliation of being rejected by him for all eternity and provides the motivation for giving yourself to others in love so that they may see Jesus’ love and forgiveness and join you in heaven as forgiven sinners in Christ.

Luke 13.22-30

Pentecost 14

Hymns:339, 288, 399, 381�@

What I am about to say is in no way intended to have political im-plications. At the same time what I am about to say IS intended to demonstrate the need to keep religion and politics separate in this respect that the church is not to be advisor to the state regarding the establishment and enforcement of the rule of law, nor is the state to be advisor to the church in carrying out the preaching and promo-tion of religion. There is one proviso: the church must speak out against any government regulation that would seek to overthrow some clear Word of God revealed to us in Scripture ala the Roe v. Wade decision that legalizes abortion.

What I do want to say that is not intended to be political is this: A recent survey asks: Do you believe that Pres Barak Obama is a Christian or Muslim? We, as individuals, can have a personal opin-ion as to the president’s religious beliefs based on what we have seen him do and have heard him say. But our opinion may be dead wrong! No one can see into his heart anymore than anyone can see into your heart or mine. We would not want someone deciding whether we are a Christian based on what they see hear us say or see us do. People hear you and see you do and say things that are not Christian but that doesn’t mean you aren’t a Christian; you daily repent of your sins and are forgiven through faith in Jesus. Sinners are Christians and Christians are sinners.

By the same token a person may be doing all kinds of good and kind and wonderful things, including praying every day...things that one would describe as "Christian" (he acts like a Christian) but faith in Jesus is not in that person’s heart. Doing things that are good and right, even praying to God, is not what makes a person a Christian. Pagans also pray to God and do good things but they aren’t Christians.

In response to the survey as to whether or not Pres Obama is a Christian, White house officials are quoted as saying that he is a Christian because he prays to God every day. He may very well be a Christian. But if being a Christian is defined solely on the basis of praying to God, pagans pray to God, too but they aren’t Christ-ians. Let’s be clear that JESUS, NOT POLITICS, DEFINES WHO IS A CHRISTIAN.

We are told in our text that someone asked Jesus (v 23). Jesus did not give an answer. Instead he said (v 24). This person asked the wrong question, "How many people are going to heaven when they die." He should have asked, "What do I need to do so that I can be sure to go to heaven when I die?"

We don’t know what might have prompted the question as to how many people would be going to heaven. Nor do we want to specu-late as to why some person asked the question in the first place. But a Christian, by definition, is not someone who is motivated by how many people will be going to heaven when they die.

That doesn’t mean that Christians don’t use that line of thinking when making choices from time to time. You remember as a child when you wanted your parents to buy you a certain piece of cloth-ing or let you go someplace with your friends but your parents were not inclined to give you what you wanted. And what did you say? "All my friends dress like that; all my friends are going to that concert!" So your parents were supposed to let you do what the majority of your friends were doing. But it didn’t work.

That line of reasoning doesn’t always work with parents, nor does it work with God when trying to use the "everybody’s doing it" argument when attempting to justify sin. "Everybody cheats on their income tax...everyone cheats on the tests our teachers give us and they know it...all my friends watch the porno movies on cable TV...no one is a virgin these days before they get married...every-body skips church once in a while...I don’t know of any of my friends who hasn’t cheated on his/her spouse...divorce isn’t a big deal these days; over 50% of married couples end of getting a di-vorce and it’s okay as long as you make it a friendly divorce...ev-eryone talks about other people behind their back; it’s not gossip... we’re just comparing notes about people...I’m a 21^st century kind of person; I’m too busy to think about other peoples; I’ve got my own problems and don’t have time to listen to anyone else’s... everyone has his own idea about who God is; most people say that it doesn’t make any difference whether you believe in Jesus or not because all people are going to heaven anyhow. Christians do not use the "most people think this way/live this way/do these things to justify sin. "Most people sin" does not rule the Christian heart.

Jesus defines who a Christian is and it’s not based on how many people chose to sin or how many people will be going to heaven some day. Rather a Christian is defined as someone who "makes every effort to enter through the narrow door" of heaven. What does Jesus mean by defining a Christian as someone who "makes every effort, strives to" enter heaven?

If you students want to earn a college scholarship or make the football or volleyball or soccer team, you’re going to make every effort to be in shape and do your level best to make the team. If you want to work your way up the corporate ladder you’re going to make every effort to do more than is expected of you and showcase your talents and abilities through faithful work habits. If you want to have a happy marriage you’re going to make every effort to be a loving husband/wife. If you want to go to heaven when you die you’re going to make every effort not only to keep your faith in Je-sus but strive to use your faith and make it stronger through the regular and faithful use of the power of God’s Word.

And that begins with daily repenting of your sins. Make every ef-fort to enter the narrow door of heaven by leaving garbage bag full of sins behind. You can’t squeeze through the narrow door of hea-ven while carrying a garbage bag full of sins that you think you can’t live without. Make every effort to remember who you are...a lost and condemned creature because of your sins, not deserving of heaven but deserving of being rejected by God, ignored by God, condemned by him. And make every effort to remember every day what God has done for you by sending Jesus his Son to take your load of sins on himself, to pay for those sins by dying on a cross and by rising again from the dead as proof that he is the Son of God who has freed you from being controlled by sin as well as freed you from being condemned by sin.

Jesus defines who a Christian is: "If you love me, obey my com-mands," he says. "Whoever lives and believes in me will never die," Jesus says. "No one comes to the Father except through me," Jesus tells us. A Christian, by definition, is someone who believes in Jesus, the world’s only Savior from sin, repents daily of his sins and makes every effort to put away sin and live in a way that reflects love and thanks to Jesus. Faith in Jesus leads to heaven.

Hymns: 472, 405, 375, 422

"Keep the light on for me." Are you familiar with that expression? That’s what someone says to you when they’re coming to your house at an unknown time during the night. "Keep the light on for me because I’m coming to your house but I don’t know when I’ll get there." So you turn the light on and keep it on when you go to bed. One of the last thoughts you might have before going to sleep, beside your bedtime prayers, is that this person is coming to see you and you’re excited about his/her coming. That would be true especially if you hadn’t seen this person for a long time.

And when this person gets to your house late at night, what is it that he/she will be looking for? They will be looking for that light to be burning. It means that you turned on the light because you care, because you are anxious to see the person and want him/her to feel welcome. If you had failed to turn on the light, what might this person be thinking when he sees your house but the light isn’t turn on? Will he think, "The lightbulb must be burned out?" Or would he think, "She must have forgotten to turn on the light...no, she wouldn’t forget that. She’s anxious to see me." Or will he think, " I guess he doesn’t care that I’m coming and didn’t make the effort to turn on the light. Maybe I should just keep going on my travels and not bother stopping in."

Jesus told his disciples, (v 35, 36). "Keep the light on for me," Je-sus said, "I’m coming to your house. I’m not going to tell you when but I’ll be coming. Keep the light on for me."

The light Jesus is talking about is not the kitchen light or light on front porch or next to the main entrance. It’s the light of faith that’s in your heart. Jesus says, KEEP THE LIGHT OF FAITH BURNING IN YOUR HEART because I’m coming and I want you to be ready for me...to welcome me...to be glad to see me, and I want to be glad to see you when I come. What is it that Jesus wants us to do when he tells us, KEEP THE LIGHT OF FAITH BURNING IN YOUR HEART?

When Jesus ascended back into heaven, a few of his disciples saw him rise into the clouds and disappear. As he disappeared from their view an angel said to them (Acts 1:11) Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. Jesus left this earth because he finished what he came to do...to pay the debt of sin for all humanity by living a life of absolute perfect obedience to God’s will, by dying on a cross as penalty for the sins of all people, and by coming back to life on the third day after his crucifixion as proof that he is not only a true human being but his also a true divine person, the Son of God and Savior of all. He had no reason to remain on earth after that.

But he will return some day to this earth. Jesus said to the high priest who presided over the tribunal that found him guilty of blas-phemy for claiming to be the Son of God (Mt 26:64) ...I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven. And since Jesus finished the work of salvation when he came the first time, what will he be doing when he comes the second time? Peter said in a sermon he preached on Pentecost (Acts 10:39-43) "...They killed [Jesus] by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day...he was seen by us by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to ...testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead...everyone who believes in him receives for-giveness of sins through his name. Paul, when speaking to a crowd of religious sceptics in Athens said, (Acts 17:31) For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead. We read in the book of Jude (1:14-15,20,21) ...the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones to judge everyone, and to convict all the ungodly...But you, dear friends, build your-selves up in your most holy faith...Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life. When Jesus returns to visit our planet in person some day he will issue the first and final ver-dict that will either invite Christians to spend eternity with him in heaven, or condemn non-Christians to eternity in hell with Satan and his evil angels. He doesn’t tell us when he will do this, only THAT he will do it and that we need to be prepared for him.

That’s why Jesus tells us to "Keep the light on;" Keep Your Lamp of Faith Burning. In our text Jesus uses the picture of ser-vants who keep light on for their master who will be returning from a wedding banquet at an unknown time. If they do that, if they keep the light on (the lamps burning) (v 37, 38). The master will become a servant to his servants. He will provide a wonderful banquet for them for being faithful.

This is a picture of heaven. When you keep the lamp of faith burn-ing in your heart until Jesus returns to this earth or for as long as you live on this earth, Jesus will provide for you a wonderful banquet in heaven...not a banquet of food but of something better than food: eternal life, eternal sinlessness, eternal happiness unlike any kind of happiness you’ve experienced on earth, being eternally with your Christian loved ones, an eternal smile on your face and never a tear, never a disappointment, never a harsh word, never a problem, never anything ever to be sad about. If you keep your lamp of faith burning until Jesus comes again, or until you die, whichever comes first, this is what Jesus will give you.

However, for those who are not ready either for death or for Jesus’ return, he will not serve those who do not believe in him but will condemn them, sadly, for all eternity in hell.

Don’t let your lamp of faith go out; don’t let your faith die. What keeps your lamp of faith burning is the oil of God’s Word. That oil supplies you with the conviction that you are a sinner who can neither save yourself, nor do you deserve to be saved. That oil sup-plies you also with the conviction that Jesus himself paid for your sins when he died for you and rose again after having lived a per-fect and sinless life on earth.

How is the lamp of your faith doing? Is it flickering because it’s weak? Pour in more of the oil of God’s Word. Use the Word of God in your everyday life; study it with fellow members here at Atonement; read it together with your family and in your private time. Is the lamp of your faith burning brightly? Thank God for the oil of his Word, for the Lord’s Supper which gives you the forgiv-ness of sins, for your baptism which washed away your sins. As a servant of Jesus, serve him with your time and talents as a way to put your faith into practice...and keep the lamp of faith burning.

Luke 12.13-21  Pentecost 11  Hymns: 221, 484, 477, 458

The Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Collosae, Put to death... whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, im-purity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. There’s no mistaking what Paul has in mind.: Put to death, kill, get rid of the sin, all sins, that are a part of your life while living on earth. Don’t participate in them. Live without allowing them to control your life. Obviously this doesn’t mean that we could actually succeed in killing every sinful idea and action from here on out until we die. Our sinful nature just won’t allow us to do that.

What Paul is telling us is that every day of our earthly life sins of immorality, addiction to impure things in both body and mind, lust, and greed which is a passion for doing things to satisfy sinful cravings...we are to strive to get rid of those things, something we have to do every day of our live because all kinds of sins are pre-sented to us every day and if we allow them to control our thinking faith will be driven out our heart.

What happens if moisture is allowed to gather between the tile in the shower and the outside wall of your house? That moisture turns into mold and that mold continues to accumulate and grow to the point that your health is adversely affected and, if it is allowed to continue to grow (and if it’s black mold) the only recourse left is to destroy the entire home. The sin of covetousness, that is, the insatiable desire to engage in those things that are impure and immoral and sinful...that sin of covetousness cannot live in your heart along with faith because faith will be destroyed. You cannot devote your life to God and devote your life to engaging in earthly, sinful things at the same time. Get a grip...get a spiritual grip on what is important and essential to faith, which is the Word of God which reveals to you his love and forgiveness and promise of eternal life in heaven through the saving work of Jesus your Savior.

It’s amazing how little times have changed. Paul wrote to the Col-ossian Christians 2000 years ago about the sins that were prevalent in that society, sins which are no less prevalent in our society today and which Satan uses century after century, millennia after millen-nia to destroy the faith and lives of Christians and unbelievers alike. This morning we look at one of those sins as we CON-SIDER THE FOOLISHNESS OF MATERIALISM.

Webster defines ‘materialism’ in this way: the tendency to be more concerned with material than with spiritual goals or values. When possessions take possession of your heart instead of Jesus, that’s materialism. Would that define you? You may be thinking, "No, that doesn’t define me. I believe in Jesus and I pray and trust in him. But I know that ‘you can’t take it with you’ and I would nev-er put material things ahead of Jesus my Savior."

Let’s first understand the conversation Jesus had with a man as re-lated to us in our text as we consider the foolishness of material-ism. A man asked Jesus to tell his brother to divide their father’s inheritance with him. If you had the opportunity to speak with Je-sus face to face, would you say to him, "Jesus, tell my brothers

and sisters to settle our parents’ estate so I can have my share?" Would that be the most important thing on your mind to ask Jesus? Since Jesus came to this earth to pay for our sins so we can have an eternal inheritance in heaven, would you not ask him something like, "Jesus, what should I tell my children to that they keep be-lieving in you and don’t fall away from their faith when they go away to college or get their first job and having money in their pocket is all they can think about? Help me to be the kind of parent that will model your love." Or perhaps, "Jesus, give me a deeper understanding of your Word so that I stop wondering if you really love me and forgive me." You would ask spiritual questions of him, wouldn’t you? "Jesus, what is heaven like?" and questions like that. But not questions that had something to do only with your future life on earth because you know that your life on earth isn’t going to last forever. And Jesus came to this earth to give you eternal life, not a secure financial future or success in business or sports or being able to hang out and party and not worry how you’re going to pay for that stuff.

Jesus then told a parable to the man who wanted his inheritance. Here’s the point of the parable: a wealthy farmer thought he wasn’t wealthy enough, spent more money on planting more crops and built bigger barns...and then he died! He never planned on that. Jesus is not discouraging hard work and success and working toward financial security. But this man was ready to retire but he wasn’t ready to die because he spent his time and energy on working and building and saving money to live on earth but never prepared himself for life on the other side of the grave. Now that’s the FOOLISHNESS OF MATERIALISM. If you plan to take care of your body but neglect the care of your soul, nothing is more foolish or short-sighted than that.

When success is the ultimate goal in life, when the importance of heaven and your faith are not as important as earth and your bank account or the kind of car you drive or being able to use your credit card whenever you want to...when trust in God and being content with what he gives you and satisfied with what he continues to give you is no longer good enough so that you need to live your life in a way that focuses on a vision and goal as to where you want to be 10, 20, 40 years from now but have no spiritual vision that looks beyond the grave...if you achieve your earthly goal at the expense of a heavenly goal, that’s materialism and you will have nothing to show for it because you will be eternally spiritually bankrupt.

How do you do that? Invest your life and faith in Jesus because he is the only way to heaven; he invested his life in you by paying for your sins with his life. He alone can give you heaven and he alone determines how heaven can be attained...by believing in him as the Son of God and accepting his free gift of salvation. That’s what his death on the cross is all about...paying for your sins so you can retire eternally in heaven in the riches of a perfect life and love with God and will all believers.

Consider the foolishness of materialism. It amounts to nothing in the end. The only thing worth saving is your faith in Jesus and the inheritance of heaven. Jesus became poor so you and I might be rich. We are rich! Jesus gives us what money can’t buy: the forgiveness of sins and a place in heaven! Free! If you are rich toward God, building up your faith for heaven, you will keep your earthly planning for the future in perspective and not neglect your faith in your pursuit of heaven and eternal life through faith in Jesus.

Luke 11.1-13

Pentecost 10

Hymns: 583, 410.1-4, 410.5-8, 410.9

Our text for this morning gives us the prayer Jesus taught to his disciples, "The Lord’s Prayer." The focus of the sermon, however, will not be on the content of this prayer but on what Jesus also taught his disciples about prayer...and that is that we are to BE CONFIDENT IN OUR PRAYING.

James shared this thought about prayer, (4.2 - 3), ...You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. In other words, when you pray you need to keep a couple of things in mind: 1) Keep your motives pure. Don’t pray selfishly; don’t ask something of God and then, forget to thank God for the answer he gave you whether it was a ‘yes’ or a ‘no,’ that is, whether he gave you what you wanted or indicated that he wasn’t going to give you what you wanted...in either case, his decision is always in your best interests. And the other thing to keep in mind is that whenever you pray, do it with confidence; pray because you know God invites you to pray to him with your wants and your needs, as well as with your wants for others or for what others might need.

For example, in the Old Testament Hannah prayed that God would give her a son...and he did! It took a while (Hannah prayed "year by year," the Bible tells us) but he answered her prayer and gave her a son. Does that still work today for husbands and wives who have a difficult time becoming pregnant and want a child? Yes...and no. Sometimes God blesses married couples with a child of their own, sometimes he doesn’t. Sometimes instead of giving parents a biological child he blesses them with an adoptive child. And, yes, sometimes it is his will not to give a child to par-ents who are praying for one...but he still blesses them in other ways or provides opportunities for them to be a blessing to others in a variety of ways. But learn from Hannah to be confident in praying and let God decide what he will do; then look for the bless-ings he provides no matter what his answer is.

Or consider Daniel of Daniel in the lions’ den fame. He prayed that God would spare his life and he did! He was in a hopeless situation with those hungry lions. Are you, have you ever been in what seemed to be a hopeless situation? Did you pray with confidence that God would deliver you or did you decide that the situation was so hopeless that there was no point in praying? That’s not for you to decide; nothing for God is hopeless. Pray with confidence and let him decide what he will do.

Pray with confidence: Oh God, make my cancer go away! Spare my child from harm! Help me to find a new/better job; keep my children faithful; show me what you want me to do; make my headaches go away; get me out of the mess I’m in; give me peace in my life. The list is endless. Can you pray with confidence for such things as the people of Bible times prayed with and confidence and were answered by God? Yes because Jesus tells us to BE CONFIDENT IN OUR PRAYING! And whatever his answer is, be just as confident that his ‘yes’ or ‘no’ is what is best for you because he loves you.

Think of it this way: you depend on God for everything. The world wouldn’t be here if God had not created it. It is God’s world. We have no claim on anything in this world as though it belongs to us. It is as Pastor Arno Wolgram describes it in The People’s Bible: Stewardship, "...like two fleas arguing over who owns the dog" (p.13). It isn’t their dog so neither flea can argue for territorial rights and tell the other flea to get his own dog. This world isn’t ours; none of us can claim that we have rights to anything that we find in it: not health, not wealth, not our children, not our home, not an education, not the car we drive, not the toys we play with, not the air we breath...nothing.

Owning a credit card has made it easy for many people to get whatever their heart desires...just charge it, then complain about being poor because you can’t afford to pay off the huge credit card debt you got into. Living within our means is becoming a foreign concept. Going without is unthinkable. Being depressed because of what other people have but what you can’t afford is common place. Feeling deprived of what we want but can’t have is not because of an unloving God who refuses to take care of us the way we think he ought to be taking care of us. It is because of the refusal to be content and thankful with what God does provide every day rather than being dissatisfied because we don’t have what we see others have. And it’s because of something else.

Listen to the illustration Jesus uses in our text (vs 5-6). This person keeps banging on the door until his neighbor gets out of bed and gives him some bread. Never mind that it’s late at night; this neighbor won’t stop being a pest until he gets what he wants.

This is not the kind of bold attitude God wants us to have when we pray to him for something. We are to be bold, yes, but not selfishly bold as if to say: "God you owe it to me to give me what I want.

Have you ever stopped praying for something because God didn’t give you what you were asking for in the time frame in which you thought he ought to give it? Or have you just lost hope and given up on God because he didn’t answer your prayer the way you wanted? Then remind yourself of this: You can go into a bank and tell the teller to give you some or all of your money that you have placed on deposit. That is not the bank’s money; it is yours. But God is not a bank teller and the world is not our bank. Nothing is ours. The only thing we can rightly lay claim to is our sinful human nature. And being sinful disqualifies us from making any claim on anything we could want from God.

But, having said that, God invites and encourages us to BE CON-FIDENT IN OUR PRAYING and not to give up on him but to trust in his promise to hear us and give us what we need.

When Jesus’ disciples saw him go off by himself to pray they later asked him to teach them how to pray, that is, what they should pray for. The prayer Jesus taught them, the Lord’s Prayer, shows us how we can pray to God for everything and anything.

The most striking part of this prayer, however, is the very first word: Father. We said that God doesn’t owe us anything. Yet we can call him our Father and go to him for everything as a child goes to his/her father and asks for whatever is on his heart. Is it not a contradiction? Not at all. Faith in Jesus our Savior removes the problem. Paul ( 2 Cor 5.19). And John:(Jn 1.12).

So here it is: you have been given the right to call God your Father because he made you his child by having Jesus remove your sin and guilt and open the line of communication to him through prayer. Does your earthly father who loves you know what’s good for you and give you what you need? Indeed. Your heavenly Father loves you and gave you what you need most: forgiveness of sins and eternal life with him in heaven by having Jesus, his own Son, pay the debt of your sin by his dying on a cross. No amount of money in the world, no amount of this world’s possessions could you use to buy from God or trade with God for the forgiveness of sins and a place in heaven. It’s already yours because Jesus paid for your sins with his life and death and resurrection..

So believe him when he invites you to pray. BE CONFIDENT IN YOUR PRAYING. God your heavenly Father will give you what you need and what is best for you. His love in Jesus your Savior guarantees it!

"¹⁹that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. 2 Cor 5.19

"¹²Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" Jn 1.12

Luke 10.1-12,16-20

Pentecost 7

Hymns: 582, 570, 576, 571

For 30 years Jesus kept his identity secret as the Son of God. People knew him only as Jesus, son of Mary and Joseph. Then, at 30 years of age, he told people he was the long-promised Messiah, the Savior from the curse and punishment of sin. How did he do that...reveal his identity to people? Did he first tell his neighbors and close family friends that he was the Son of God? The Bible doesn’t tell us the details.

What we do know is that Jesus chose 12 disciples to "follow him," and for three years before his crucifixion and resurrection they traveled with him, observed him, listened to him and were eye-witnesses to his miracles. And they went from village to village telling people that Jesus was the Son of God...the Savior from sin and death.

Why did they do that...travel around telling people who Jesus was? Today we would call it "advertising," getting the word out. One of our Atonement members was involved several years ago in the development of a new Frito Lay product. After months of preparation the product was ready to be marketed. It was advertised on TV, people were made aware of this new product, and it’s been a huge success ever since.

Recently our synod’s COP and SC put together a long range plan. One component of this plan is to invest money on adver-tising to get the WELS identity out into the public arena so peo-ple know who we are. Our Evangelism Committee has adopted two goals for the next year. One is ‘Assimilation,’ to bring the members of Atonement closer together and provide opportuni-ties to get involved in the life of the congregation. The other goal is to get the word out about Atonement...advertise to bring more people into our family of believers.

Jesus and his disciples got the word out into the communities of Judea and Samaria; they reached out to the lost so people would know that Jesus had come to save them from sin and death. And after 2000 years nothing has changed. JESUS PARTNERS WITH US TO REACH THE LOST.

I recently spoke with a few people who are part of the new mis-sion congregation, Christ Alone, north of Fort Worth. They are excited about the 200 plus neighborhood kids who signed up for their soccer camp, an outreach effort to get to know people in the community, especially those who don’t belong to a church, and invite them to worship with them and learn about Jesus their Savior. This is a 21^st century version of reaching out to people with the gospel, to other Christians who might have drifted away from the church, and to the lost...to people who do not believe in Jesus but are searching to make a connection with God because they know there is something of spiritual impor-tance that is missing in their lives.

While methods used to reach the lost are different today than they were in Jesus’ day, the purpose is the same: to bring peo-ple into the family of believers so they come to know and believe in Jesus as their Savior from sin and death.

In our text for this morning we read (v 1,2,8,9). Jesus sent 72 of his followers to reach the lost in the villages around Jerusalem. As they went from house to house there were some who wel-comed these disciples and what they had to say about Jesus. Their message was, "The kingdom of God is near you." That is to say, the Messiah has come, the one who will pay for your sins. This was a message of forgiveness and peace that many people were eager to hear...people who understood that they needed a Savior from sin.

This is the same message you are eager to hear, "The kingdom of God is near you." You are members of the kingdom of God; your heart belongs to Jesus your Savior; he rules your Christian heart. Daily you repent of your sins because Jesus gave his life on the cross to pay for your sins. Daily you use his word to guide you in the choices you make, in the way you relate to others, in making decisions that refuse to allow sin and Satan to rule in your heart. You are a citizen of the kingdom of God; his Word rules in your heart...

...but not always. You are a citizen of Plano or Allen or McKinney or Frisco. There are laws that govern how fast you can drive legally and you obey them...most of the time? some-times? As a citizen of the kingdom of God you obey his law to be truthful...always? most of the time? depends on what the cir-cumstances are? As a citizen of the kingdom of God who for-gives you, you forgive others...all of the time? most of the time? depends on who it is? As a citizen of the kingdom of God you despise the immorality that is corrupting our society...except when it invades your mind, much to your enjoyment?

As a citizen of the kingdom of God we don’t always follow the will of God. We are saints, but we are also sinners. And we be-lieve that Jesus paid for our sins so that God does not hold them against us but forgives us and for that we thank him and ask him daily to keep us in the faith and to strengthen our faith in our endeavor to live for Christ as a members of his kingdom.

As members of the kingdom of God Jesus partners with us to reach the lost...those who don’t believe in him as their Savior. How do we do that? The 72 went into the villages to "adver-tise," to tell people that Jesus had come. Some Christians have soccer camps to meet people with whom to share the message of Christ, some go door-to-door canvassing, others advertise by word of mouth... you personally reaching out to people with God’s Word. Jesus partners with you to reach the lost.

Not all are receptive to that Word of God (v 10-15). This is a difficult but necessary part of partnering with Jesus to reach the lost...telling them that if they have nothing to do with Jesus in this life, he will have nothing to do with them in the next life. They need to hear this clear Word of God so they understand that they need a Savior from their sins so you can tell them that Jesus is their Savior who died and paid for their sins.

The harvest is plentiful. There are people, chosen by God, wait-ing to hear about Jesus who partners with you to reach the lost. Pray for workers, for pastors and teachers who go into the harvest field to reach the lost. Pray for yourself and for the op-portunities you have when Jesus partners with you to reach the lost by word of mouth advertising, that is, telling people that the kingdom of God is near, Jesus the Savior has come, repent and believe in him who died for them to pay for their sins.

Luke 9.51-56

Pentecost 6

Hymns: 471, 348, 312, 455

There is a sense of urgency we detect in our text for this morn-ing. The shadow of the cross is approaching; Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem with his disciples. He is described as "resolutely" setting out for Jerusalem. Jesus’ disciples might have even seen a look of determination on his face. It’s the kind of look Todd Beamer might have had on his face on 9/11 on United Airlines flight 93 when he is quoted as saying, "Let’s roll," and took on the terrorists who had control of the plane and kept them from crashing into the White House (or whatever building) knowing that he himself would probably die. Jesus resolutely set his face toward Jerusalem knowing that his crucifixion was waiting for him so that he could die for the human race to save us from the guilt of our sins and eternal damnation in hell.

Jesus and his entourage were passing through Samaria on their way to Jerusalem. We’re told (v 52,53). The Samaritans and Jews had "issues" going back to time of the end of the Babylo-nian captivity of the Jews and rebuilding of Solomon’s temple. They hated each other but, for the most part, were civil toward each other. But when the Samaritans were told that Jesus was just passing through on his way to Jerusalem and would not be going to their temple at Mt. Gerizim to do miracles or to teach... the Samaritans were resentful of Jesus and would not provide overnight lodging for him and his disciples. That angered the brothers, James and John, who suggested to Jesus that they de-stroy the whole village with a fireball from heaven. They were ready to show those Samaritans who’s God is the real thing and who’s isn’t and send them to a premature death. They took it personally when the Samaritans would not accommodate them with a bed and roof over their heads.

The NIV doesn’t include Jesus’ response but there is good evi-dence that Jesus said to them, "You do not know what kind of spirit you are of, for the Son of Man did not come to destroy lives but to save them!" Jesus’ purpose was to save people, not destroy them, that is, SHARING JESUS: TAKE IT PER-SONALLY BUT...DON’T TAKE IT PERSONALLY.

Sharing Jesus, that is, telling people about Jesus, talking to peo-ple about Jesus whether they are Christian or not, but especially if they aren’t, is something we do need to take personally. And here’s why (Jn 3.16 - 18). God wants all people to be saved. Je-sus died for the sins of everyone. He tells us this in the Bible. Some people may stumble on that by themselves and read it, and the Holy Spirit can and does work faith in their hearts and they become Christians and are saved. But you are also the source of this truth; you are to share the truth about Jesus with people as you have opportunity and you need to take this per-sonally, and for good reason: you know that salvation is avail-able to everyone who believes but if they die without faith in Jesus they will be eternally condemned in hell and will never know the perfect bliss of heaven. You know that and that’s why you need to take sharing Jesus personally.

Our youngest son bought a pre-owned Honda Accord years ago ... the very first car he owned. The Honda uses a timing belt, not gears, that’s driven by the crankshaft to keep the internal engine components, valves and piston, in sync with other. Timing belts need to be changed every 60K to 100K miles, depending on the owner’s manual. If the timing belt isn’t changed soon enough and breaks, the results are catastrophic: severe damage is done to the engine and pistons and the engine has to be replaced...a very expensive repair.

Steve’s pre-owned Honda had over 100K miles on it when he bought it. And the owner took it personally on himself to tell Steve that he would have to change the timing belt very soon or run the risk of having to replace the engine. And he even de-ducted the $700 cost of a new timing belt from what he was asking for the car! The owner knew what would happen and he didn’t want Steve to blind-sided with a huge expense to repair his car, which would have happened if that owner hadn’t told Steve what he needed to do.

And that was just a car...a timing belt! You know what will hap-pen to someone who dies without faith in Jesus...that he will face eternal damnation in hell. You do need to take it personally to make every effort to share that bit of information with some-one who doesn’t know that they need to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus who is the only one who could and did pay for their sins. Take it personally; share Jesus with someone as you have opportunity. Pray for opportunities.

But don’t do what James and John did. They took the Samari-tans’ rejection of Jesus personally and wanted to destroy them! That’s not the way to reach people, whether trying to share your faith in Jesus with someone or trying to get someone to see your point about anything. Just because someone disagrees with your line of thinking or doing, your response is not to take that pers-onally and want to hurt them in some way...to get revenge on someone because they don’t see things your way...to get back at someone who hurts your feelings or doesn’t share your faith in Jesus. Don’t take their unbelief personally as though it is a sin against you and wish them to be damned to hell! (Jas 1:19-20) Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

Don’t take it personally that someone could spend a life of com-mitting horrible crimes and become a Christian while sitting on death row and think to yourself, "That’s not right, not fair that a murderer can be forgiven and go to heaven." Did Jesus not pay for the sins of all, even your sins of anger or hatred or pride? Any sinner who is truly repentant of his sins and truly believes that Jesus paid for his sins will be saved. Rejoice in that truth. Take it personally that you want to be able to share your faith in Jesus that could lead an unbeliever to Christ and to heaven, but don’t take it personally, as James and John did, that you would want to condemn someone for not believing in Jesus and have them die in some tragic way before they can come to faith.

Jesus came to save sinners and the only time that anyone can come to faith is while they are still alive. Don’t wish on anyone that they die before coming to faith because they hurt you in some way and you are taking it personally. Rather take it per-sonally to share Jesus’ love with them so they can be saved.

Luke 9.18-24

Pentecost 5

Hymns: 580, 288, 362, 373?

Why did Jesus ask his disciples (v.18b)? Jesus knew what people were saying about him. That question led him to what he really wanted his disciples to say, "But what about you? Who do you say I am." It was Peter who answered, "The Christ of God." "You are the one whom God anointed to be the Messiah-Savior from sin and death and hell, that’s who you are," was Peter’s answer. After Peter gave that answer Jesus warned his disciples, "Don’t go telling people I’m the Messiah. Don’t use the word ‘Messiah;’ if you do it will backfire on you." I’ll explain why Jesus said that in a few minutes.

It’s what Jesus said after that about saving/losing life that we want to focus on in the sermon. It’s all about "having it both ways." You know, you can’t have something go one way in life and have it go in another way at the same time. "You can’t have it both ways," as the saying goes.

Here’s an illustration. Recently Detroit Tigers pitcher Armando Galarrago had perfect game going; no opposing batter reached 1^st base. With two outs in the 9^th inning, Cleveland Indians batter Jason Donald hit a ground ball to first forcing the pitcher to cover first base. It was a close play and first base umpire, Jim Joyce, called the batter safe. When the replay was shown the batter clearly was out. The umpire’s mistake cost Galarrago from going into the record books as having pitched a perfect game...27 batters up, 27 batters down.

Some people are saying that Major League Baseball should have instant replay, like the NFL, to correct human error, like the bad call that cost Galarraga a perfect game. Others say that the human element in baseball, the umpire who calls balls and strikes, safe and out, is a part of the game that makes it more interesting. If you want the human element you can’t have instant replay; you can’t have it both ways.

That’s what Jesus is saying in our text, YOU CAN’T HAVE (LIFE) BOTH WAYS. Let’s explore that idea together.

First, why did Jesus tell his disciples not to use the word ‘Mes-siah’ when telling people who Jesus was? Jesus never referred to himself as the Messiah. The only time we know of from NT Scripture when Jesus acknowledged that he was the Messiah was when a Samaritan woman told Jesus that she knew that the Messiah was coming and Jesus said to you, "I am he." So why didn’t he use that name more often?

When the Jews thought of a messiah, they had in mind someone who would be a political figure, a military man who would raise an army and lead the Jews in a war against the Roman govern-ment, a war that would lead to their becoming an independent nation, as the Jews in 1948 in a war against the Arab states and for which they continue to do battle against enemies like Iran which threatens to pound Israel into oblivion. Jesus was not that kind of Messiah; he didn’t want people to get the wrong idea about him if the disciples referred to him as ‘Messiah.’

What kind of Messiah was Jesus? He told his disciples (v 22) Adam and Eve led a perfect life because God made them per-fect, sinless human beings. He told them that if they would sin they would die, they would lose eternal life, they would no longer be perfect and they would suffer eternally in hell because of their sin. They chose to sin; they chose death and hell. They lost life because they chose death. They couldn’t have life both ways, as sinless and as sinful human beings.

So when the disciples told people, when you tell people that God demands that we live a perfect, sinless life in order to go to heaven when we die, many of them will say, "It’s not my fault; it’s not fair that God wouldn’t take me to heaven just because I’m not perfect. He has to change or he will have to take me as I am; I’m trying my best not to be too sinful and that should be good enough. I can believe in a God who loves me and will overlook my sins but I can’t believe in a God who would hold me accountable for my sin and send me to hell when I die be-cause I deserve better treatment from God than that."

And what do you say? "My friend, you’re wrong. You’ll never get to heaven with that unbelieving attitude." You could lose a friend or family member for telling them that, for telling them, "You can’t have life in heaven both ways, either as a sinful person or as God demands, as a sinless person.

When Jesus’ disciples told people that, they were all eventually killed, except for John. Jesus told them (v 23,24). The disciples took up their cross on account of Jesus every day. Every day Satan tried to discourage them in their work of telling people that Jesus and only Jesus paid for their sins by dying on a cross and that if they didn’t believe in Jesus as their Savior they would not go to heaven when they died. Every day they had to struggle against their own sinful weakness that would have led them to stop believing in Jesus, as their fellow disciple Judas did by giving in to greed which led him to take his own life after he betrayed Jesus and saw that his greed led to the death of Jesus. They couldn’t have life both ways, life in heaven by be-lieving in Jesus or life in heaven by not believing in Jesus.

Nor can you or I have life in heaven both ways, either by be-lieving or not believing in Jesus. How many ways are there that the world tempts you to let go of Jesus, not to be feeding your faith through the Word of God, through worship? How many ways are you tempted not to repent of your sins and look to Je-sus alone who paid for your sins, died for you so that you can be forgiven and have eternal life? How many ways? Countless. And sadly some Christians do abandon their faith, abandon Jesus and still think they will go to heaven when they die and that God isn’t fair if he doesn’t honor their unbelief.

You can’t have life in heaven both ways...by allowing selfish-ness or immorality, greed or jealousy, hatred or lying, or any sin that controls your life to drive faith from your heart, or by daily repenting of your sin and cherishing the Word of God that tells you that Jesus has forgiven all your sin by his death and resur-rection. If you want to save an unbelieving, worldly way of life you will lose your soul because of unbelief. If you refuse to al-low the sinful ways of life to rule your heart, you will save your soul for heaven through faith in Jesus.

You can’t have life both ways, with or without Jesus. Satan wants you to think so but Satan’s not your friend. Jesus is and he died for you to prove that.

Luke 7.36-50

Pentecost 4

Hymns: 405, 393, 311, 250

Where is your ‘comfort zone,’ that place in your mind where you’re comfortable with wherever you are in life? It’s that place where you’re confident of your abilities, content with where your life is going if you’re a student preparing for a career, or a young person holding down a job so you can keep gas in the tank, food in the frig and a roof over your head. There are pressures in your life. But are you able to pay the bills, on a career path that has the potential for moving up the ladder, or perhaps you’ve achieved your goals and you can sit back and take each day as it comes.

What about your spiritual comfort zone...what would that be for you? Many people are living with a false sense of comfort, spiritually. They live with the idea that as long as they try to be a good person, avoid committing any really major sins, do whatever they can to offset all of their sins by doing more good things than bad things...well, they’re comfortable with that; they are of the opinion that God will take people to heaven who basically good and will condemn to hell the people who are really, really bad. So as long as they’re not really, really bad but basically good, they are comfortable with that and have it in mind that they will go to heaven when they die.

That was the opinion of a Pharisee named Simon who invited Jesus into his home. But he was in for a rude awakening because Jesus taught him that the only safe comfort zone, spiritually-speaking, is when a person understands the full extent of Jesus’ love and what it means that he is the Savior of all people. We will learn from Jesus, and from this Pharisee, that SINNERS LOVE JESUS BECAUSE OF JESUS LOVE FOR SINNERS. That, I trust, is the comfort zone in which you find yourselves.

The long and the short of it is: The better you understand what it means that Jesus loves you, the more you will love Jesus. Jesus was invited for dinner to the home of a Pharisee when an obviously uninvited woman showed up and did something very much out of the ordinary, which we’ll discuss in a few minutes. This woman was known in the community to be a prostitute.

First, see the irony here. Simon invited Jesus into his home not because he wanted to get to know Jesus better...not so that he could have a one-on-one discussion with Jesus so he could explain to him about the forgiveness of sins Jesus had been talking about, but to try to expose Jesus as a false prophet/teacher. Simon was in his comfort zone as far as his sins were concerned. He didn’t need someone to pay for his sins. Whatever sins he had committed in life he could take care of himself by balancing those off with the doing good things. That’s the comfort zone most people settle into: Do more good things in your life than bad things and God can’t hold your sins against you; he has to take you to heaven because you are more of a good person than you are a bad person.

Anyone who believes that is going to have a difficult time understanding why he should love Jesus. If you can save yourself by being a good person more often than you are a bad person, by not sinning more often than you do sin, "God has to take you to heaven when you die. God will ignore your sins and see only your good. You don’t need Jesus." That’s where Simon was coming from.

But that’s not what where the prostitute was coming from...and there is the irony. Somehow she had come to know that God demands that all people live a perfect and sinless life if we expect to go to heaven. She knew that her choice of lifestyle eliminated that possibility. But she also had come to know that Jesus came into the world to live a perfect life for all people, even for her, and to take the guilt of everyone’s sin on himself, even her guilt, and pay for sin’s guilt by dying on a cross...even her’s.

She had no comfort zone, spiritually-speaking. She had been convinced she was too immoral, too corrupt, too sinful, too far gone in her sinful ways to make up for the things she had done in her life. There was no hope for her in her estimation; the sinful she had dug for herself was too deep to escape the horror of hell.

But Jesus changed that for her. Somehow she came to know who Jesus was and what he was going to do for her because of his love for her and for all sinners. She came to know that all was not lost because Jesus was going to take away her guilt by paying for her sins on her behalf. She came to know that Jesus loved her so much that he would die for her sins and take away her guilt so she could go to heaven, not because of anything she would have to do but because of what Jesus would do for her! Unbelievable! Jesus would take away her guilt so she could go to heaven. That’s what brought her to Simon’s house. She had come to love Jesus because of Jesus’ love for you.

Simon was disgusted that this woman would come into his home, uninvited, pour expensive oil on Jesus’ feet and dry her feet with her hair. Oil was poured on the head of kings and priests, people of honor and royalty. But she poured oil on Jesus’ feet as an act of humility and love. What could this woman do to repay Jesus who forgave her sins when she thought that all was lost? Simon didn’t love Jesus because he didn’t think he needed Jesus’ forgiveness. This woman loved Jesus because she knew she needed Jesus’ love and forgiveness and that he did love her even though she didn’t deserve that (vs 44-48).

I trust that you wouldn’t identity yourself with Simon; you know you can’t save yourself from the guilt of sin. On the other hand, would you identify yourself to this immoral woman who showed a great love for Jesus by pouring expensive oil on Jesus’ feet, and not caring what others thought when she dried Jesus’ feet with her hair? She loved Jesus with a great love because she knew that Jesus loves sinners with an even greater love.

Why do you love Jesus? Because you know that your sins make you as despicable as this woman of ill repute and you know there is nothing you can do to remove the guilt of your sins. But through faith in Jesus you are in your spiritual comfort zone because you know that Jesus loves you and paid for your sins when he died on Calvary’s cross and rose again from his grave. Forgiveness and heaven are yours. You love Jesus because of his love for you.

How do you love Jesus? Don’t be stingy with your time and money in supporting ways to reach others with the message of Jesus’ love and forgiveness. Strive to reach new goals in strengthening and living your faith. Give Jesus your heart and your repentance; show your love for Jesus by loving him and other.

Your spiritual comfort zone is being convinced that it’s never too late to come to Jesus for his forgiveness and knowing that you have it. His love for you is found on the cross of Calvary where he poured out his love for you so that you can enjoy the comfort of heaven. In faith you have to love him because of his love for you.

Luke 7.11-17

Pentecost 3

Hymns: 404, 413, 142, 426

What was Jesus’ greatest challenge after he began telling people that he was the Son of God? Proving it! People didn’t believe him, especially the people who knew him as a child and watched him grow up. They knew him as the son of Mary and Joseph. So when he said that he was the Son of God they were quite sure that something snapped in his brain.

You and I know that where a person spends eternity, in heaven or hell, depends on whether or not he/she believes that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world. But the religious beliefs that people hold are not easily changed by anything you or I can say to them...not even anything Jesus said to the people of his day.

For example, if you think that someone needs to change their life-style because whatever they’re doing, or not doing, is harming their health and will shorten their life, and tell them so, they often become very defensive. And they might say something like, "Ev-eryone is going to die of something some day." True. Death is THE ultimate change in lifestyle, isn’t it?

So what lifestyle change would you suggest to someone who is not prepared to die? There is only one: Believe in Jesus. Why? Be-cause it will make the difference of where you spend eternity...in heaven with Jesus or in hell with Satan. And, like a person’s lifestyle, a religious belief is a hard thing to change, until it’s too late and the person finds himself or herself in hell. Which leads us to the point we want to make in the sermon this morning, which is that FAITH IN JESUS IS ESSENTIAL FOR SALVATION, for going to heaven.

How did Jesus try to get people to believe in him as the Savior? He told them that he was the Savior. He taught with authority and some people recognized that about him. (Mk 1.22) The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Because of that, some people did come to believe in him as the Savior.

And then there were the miracles Jesus did. That convinced many people that he was the Son of God and Savior of the world. No one was able to do the miracles he was doing. For example after Jesus turned water to wine at a wedding his disciples believed in him.

Wouldn’t you have believed in Jesus? Let’s say that you lived in the village of Nain, where the miracle recorded in today’s Gospel lesson took place, and you were a friend of the widow whose son died and you were in the funeral procession that was walking to the cemetery to bury her only child, and you were filled with sorrow because of her loss...and out of the blue Jesus appeared, walked up to your friend the widow and heard Jesus say, "Don’t cry; Young man, I say to you, get up...", and you’re thinking, "Who are you? You don’t know what this woman has been through and now you tell her to stop crying!" Then, out of the corner of your eye (be-cause your eyes of bewilderment were fastened on this "man" telling your friend not to cry) you saw some movement from that young boy. You turned to look more closely and saw his eyes flutter, then open...then you saw him get up...alive!! You would have believed in Jesus, that he was someone special...God...when you saw that young man get up and give his mother a hug and a kiss? You would have stood there speechless, amazed and so full of emotion and joy that you thought you would burst? You would have said, "Surely this is the Son of God; no one except God do such a miracle." Or as we are told about the friends of this widow (v 16,17).

If Jesus had, at that moment, said that faith in him was essential for salvation, you would have believed him, wouldn’t you, especially after being an eye witness to bringing this young man back to life? And you would have told other people what you witnessed, wouldn’t you? How could you not have told others? If you or I see a tornado or a serious car accident as it happens, we have to tell people because not everyone sees an actual tornado or wants to see an accident in progress. Some things just have to be shared with people and the raising of a dead person is one of those things.

Have you ever told anyone about this miracle of Jesus when he brought the young man back to life? Have you? I know that you believe that FAITH IN JESUS IS ESSENTIAL FOR SALVA-TION. You want other people to be saved. Are you unsure of yourself as to what to say to people who don’t believe in Jesus to get them to believe in Jesus? Do what Jesus did; show them one of Jesus’ miracles, this one or any of the others he did. Help people to see that they have to deal with a living, historical person not just some mythical deity who’s off in his own ethereal world someplace and was never here on this earth.

People want to ask questions about God and Jesus and religion when horrible things take place in society. Questions like: "Why would a mother kill her children (postpartum depression); how could God let something like that happen?" or "How could a young man (van der Sloot) kill a young woman, maybe two and God not prevent that from happening?" or "Why would God let a young mother die of cancer when she has little children who need her?" or "Why does God let my life go in circles when all I want from him is that he would give me a little direction as to where I should go and what I should do?" or "Why would God let our child drift away from us and get involved with friends who do drugs and cause me to worry myself sick about his getting AIDS and never growing up to be a loving husband and father himself some day?" or "Where did we go wrong with..." or "Gulf oil spill" or...

There are a ‘ton’ of questions we want to ask when we see all the horrible things going on in life and in our own life. Don’t you suppose the widow woman in Nain, and her friends, asked the question, "Why, God, would you take this woman’s husband from her and now her son, too? Who will take care of her? How will she survive?"

Questions, questions, questions. We have a lot of them. There is a lot of sadness in life, a lot of things we don’t understand yet we have to deal with them. As long as no one in your life is dying of cancer or rebelling against your family or getting in trouble, have you noticed that you don’t agonize over those questions? Oh, sure, you see the horrible things that happen in the lives of other people and ask ‘Why’ but if they’re not happening in your family, not happening to you personally, you don’t have so many questions. Have you noticed that?

Well, here are some answers. All of the horrible things that happen in life are the result of sin. God doesn’t always stop sin from hurt-ing us. Often he does, but not always. But Jesus paid for sin with his own life, when he himself died on a cross for us and three days later came alive again, just like he did for the widow’s son. Why do you suppose did Jesus do the miracles he did? He didn’t raise everyone back to life, just some people. Why did he do that? Because THEME. He did miracles so people would be convinced that he is the Son of God and Savior of all people and believe in him because faith in Jesus is essential for salvation.

If you know someone who doesn’t believe in Jesus and haven’t told them about the son of the widow of Nain..., tell them! Let them see Jesus.

Pentecost 2

Hymns: 391, 395, 310, 185

Most of us tend to be private people. We don’t want to be the center of attention; we don’t want everyone to look at us when we walk into a room full of people. We just want to go about our lives, doing what we have to do, facing the challenges as they come along, sharing our personal problems only with our dearest friends because we need their unconditional love and support and we know they will give that to us. The only people who want to be the center of attention are people running for office or who have a book to sell or movie to promote.

But there are others whose calling in life puts them into the public eye, who are the center of attention by default. I recall so vividly when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and how that thrust his widow, Jackie, and their children Caroline and John, Jr.

into the limelight and center of attention. Any time they were in the public eye the cameras were on them, watching their every move and TV reporters were commenting on their every move and ex-pression. Jackie and the children showed great strength and cour-age in the face of that horrible tragedy. Everyone knew Jackie was grieving deeply in private. But on the day of the televised funeral she was a picture of courage. She showed strength outwardly while suffering inwardly. She was a role model of courage and strength under very difficult circumstances. She was a role model not by choice but by default; it goes with being the wife of a president. But that doesn’t make it any easier.

And you, dear Christian, though you may be a private person and not want your life history, both your skeletons and your accomp-lishments to be displayed openly, yet because of your calling in life are a role model for the people who know you...a role model by default as a Christian. When you say, "I believe that Jesus is my Savior," you identify yourself with him and everything he stands for. That makes you a role model. So BE AWARE THAT YOU ARE A SPIRITUAL ROLE MODEL FOR OTHERS.
 

Jesus did not hesitate to point to people whom he thought to be role models of faith. For example, Jesus points us to a child and says, I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it (Mk 10.15). A trusting child is a role model of faith for all of us! Emulate that kind of trust in Jesus and stop your adult doubting and worrying.

And who can forget the story of sisters Mary and Martha. When Jesus was in their home in Bethany one time Martha was preparing food in the kitchen to feed Jesus while Mary was feeding her soul by talking with Jesus about spiritual matters. Jesus scolded Martha held up Mary as a role model of faith. He said, Martha, Martha... you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better (Lk 10.41,42).

How do you think it made Martha feel to have Mary held up to her as her spiritual role model? We aren’t told of any conversation they might have shared. But what is your reaction if someone calls it to your attention that you could improve on the choices you make in life if only you were more like so-and-so? Do you perhaps bristle at the very idea that you could, in fact, improve on your life of sanctification? Do you welcome the opportunity to look at your-self as others see you and do whatever necessary to improve on your day-to-day life of faith?

And how did Mary feel about being held up as the role model for her sister? Did she puff up with sinful pride and say to Martha, "See, I told you Jesus likes me more than he likes you!" A humble Christian faith would not become so arrogant.

(Also the widow who gave all she had as an offering to God).

We have another of Jesus’ role models of faith in our text...a Rom-an soldier. Jesus said of him, "I have not found such a great faith even in Israel?" Jesus told tell his fellow Jews to look to a Gentile, Roman soldier as a role model of faith. Why?

This soldier had learned about Jesus from someone and through that contact, and through the work of the Holy Spirit, he had come to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, the Savior. He had faith in Jesus, and he showed that faith in his public life.

What does the faith of a role model look like? What does your faith look like? You are a role model of Christian faith by default; it goes with the territory. Your faith includes the conviction that be-cause you are a sinful human being you have no business thinking that God has the slightest bit of interest whether you live or die or spend eternity in heaven or hell. And you prove that to yourself every day, don’t you? Why should God care if you make a mess of your life because of bad choices you make, bad decisions, selfish decisions that get you into trouble? He tells you how you are to live but you don’t want to. He tells you that you need to think about other people and not just yourself...and sometimes you do, sometimes you don’t. He tells you to organize your life in such a way that always puts him first, and does it seem that the only time you think about putting God first in your priorities is when you want or need something from him...or feel that you "owe" him something? As a Christian you know these things...how you hurt and disappoint and sin against your Savior.

But because you are a Christian your faith in Jesus also knows that he does love you and cares for you and forgives you. You know that he took away the guilt of your sin when he died on a cross, not because you deserve it but because he loves you and wants you to have eternal life with him in heaven...something you wouldn’t have without his love and forgiveness and paying for the guilt of your sins. Your parents gave you your life, a rich uncle may give you his fortune, a surgeon may restore you to health, but only Jesus could pay for your sins and make a place for you in heaven.

This was the sum of the faith of the Roman centurion. He was a humble Christian man who was sick at heart because one of his servants was dying...a servant! He was a religious man who helped the Jews build their place of worship. He was a man of authority who did not doubt for one minute that if Jesus could pay for sin he could also heal his servant. He did not feel worthy to have Jesus come into his home yet he knew that Jesus would one day take him to his home, in heaven. That was his faith. That is why Jesus said of this Roman soldier, "I have not found such a faith as this even in Israel, even among the Jews who have known for over 1000 years that I would be coming to save the world from sin."

And all the man was doing was putting his faith into practice, doing what faith does...believes implicitly, trusts completely in Jesus for all things.

The people who know you, and those who don’t, do they see you as a humble, caring, spiritually motivated, kind, compassionate believer in Jesus? Do your words and your attitude reflect the trust that’s in your heart? Do others know that you love Jesus because of the way you live your life? Do your family and friends know that your Christian activities are not confined to your church life but to that this is who you are by default...the real you? Do they know you pray for them and for the terrorists and for your grouchy nei-ghbor? Do they know you know that Jesus knows how to take care of you so that you don’t have to worry?

You are "the salt of the earth," Jesus says. "Don’t hide your light of faith under a bushel basket," Jesus encourages us. You are a role model of Christian faith. You can’t say you don’t want to be a role model; you are one by default. Is that a burden to you? I trust not. Live what you profess to be: a believer in Jesus your Savior. Live your faith. Be the role model that you are.

John 16.12-15

Trinity Sunday

Hymns: 241, 193, 195, 326

Nowhere in Scripture does God make an attempt to prove that he exists. If you were in conversation with someone who claims that there is no God, you could not point to some reference in the Bible and say, "Here, read this passage; that proves that there is a God." God did something better than to put a passage in the Bible that verifies his existence. He put himself into everyone’s heart. It’s not necessary to prove that God exists; everyone knows that by nature (natural knowledge of God).

It’s like the involuntary muscles in your body. You don’t have to remind yourself to blink your eyes or inhale or exhale. Invol-untary muscles do this without having to think about it... auto-matically. Believing that God exists is automatic; it’s involun-tary. Everyone knows it. That should make it easy for everyone to have a personal relationship with God.

Unfortunately because of the sinful nature of the human race no one knows, by nature, who God is. That’s why there are so many different gods...thousands of them. Since everyone knows there is a God, everyone wants to come up with his/her idea of who God is. (Acts 17:27) God did this (gave us the inborn knowledge that he exists) so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. All the pagan religions in the world are the result of people having to create an idea about who God might be and what he’s like and what he thinks of us and what we need to do for him.

But the identity of God is not an invention of a searching mind. God has revealed himself to us in the Bible. That’s where we get to know him, know about him, know what he thinks about us and wants for us. And here’s the wonderful thing we know about God from the Bible: Our Salvation Is #1 On God’s Priority List Of What He Wants For Us.

And just who is this God? The God of the Bible is one God. Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one (Dt 6.4). At the same time that the Bible tells us that there is only one true God, the Bible, that is God, also tells us that Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three separate persons in this one Godhead (Mt 28). And just as the Bible doesn’t attempt to prove the existence of God, so the Bible doesn’t attempt to prove how there can be one God while at the same time three separate persons in this one Godhead. Thus the word Trinity or Triune God has been coined by the church fathers, that is to say, God is three-in-one, three divine persons who are God in one divine godhead. We understand what that means but we don’t understand to the degree that we could explain scientifically to one’s satisfaction in the same way that NASA can explain scientifically how we can launch a space shuttle into earth’s or bring and bring it back safely. That an engineer can explain intellectually; the trinity no one can explain intellectually. But we do believe it; we have been given the faith to believe it.

And this is what we believe: Your salvation is #1 on God’s pri-ority list of what he wants for you. Look at the history. God created Adam and Eve as perfect, sinless human beings. We don’t know what God had intended for them had they not sinned. Would they still be alive somewhere on earth if neither they or any of their descendants had sinned? Would this world be heaven...a world without sin or death, sickness or sorrow? We don’t know. We do know that sin is the cause of death and sickness and sorrow. You get sick because are a sinful human being. There is sorrow and pain in your life because of sin. You will die because of sin. You deserve eternal damnation in hell because of sin. God wanted Adam and Eve and all of their descendants to be perfect and happy and have eternal life with him. That was God’s #1 priority for the human race. That’s why he created Adam and Eve and told them that he wanted the earth to be filled, teeming with living, sinless, perfect human beings who would enjoy an eternity with him.

But that plan of God was ruined by man, with Satan’s help. But now think: did God abandon that plan? Not at all. He created a "Plan B." Why? Because his #1 priority is our eternal happi-ness, our salvation. If sin was the cause of death and the loss of salvation, then the guilt of sin had to be removed somehow so that life and salvation could be restored. But Adam and Eve couldn’t restore the sinful world to its former sinless state. God had to do that himself...which he did by sending Jesus his Son to pay for sin through his death on the cross and now make salvation available to everyone who believes that God did what he did in Jesus.

And here is the work of the Triune God as Jesus explained it to his disciples: (13) The work of the Holy Spirit to give lead peo-ple to know and believe the truth. The Holy Spirit, the third per-son of the Trinity, does not say anything different from what the Father or Son says. (14). Jesus said the Holy Spirit would ex-plain to the disciples what they needed to know for salvation, that is, give glory to Jesus for restoring the reality of salvation by paying the debt of sin so that everyone who believes in him according to the faith given by the Holy Spirit, will have eternal life. (15) This is what Jesus accomplished through his death and resurrection, salvation to all who believe, and this is what he gives us...salvation. Jesus died because the Triune God’s #1 priority is our salvation.

No, you can’t earn it. God will accept only perfect and sinless people into heaven. Even though you do good things in your life God will not overlook the sins you commit in your life. What kind of heaven would that be if sinful people were let in because they happened to do a lot of things in life that weren’t sinful? It wouldn’t be perfect; it would be just like what we know now.

But our salvation is God’s #1 priority for us...a perfect salvation like that which Adam and Eve could have enjoyed. God has given that back to us through Jesus...through his life and death and resurrection. This is the God of the Bible, your God, who has made salvation for you and all of humanity his #1 priority. And he has done that. Thank God the Holy Spirit for giving you the faith to believe this, God the Father who planned out the way for you to have it, and God the Son for carrying out that plan by his death and resurrection. This is your loving God who is like none other. Salvation is yours through faith. View everything else in life through that window of salvation.

Acts 2.1-13

Pentecost/Confirmation

Hymns: 181, 375, 436, 332

Many times Jesus told his disciples that he had to go to Jerusa-lem where he would be beaten and abused by people who hated him and crucified on a cross where he would suffer and die. He also told them he would come back to life after three days to fulfill God’s promise to save the people of this planet from their sins. But they didn’t understood what Jesus told them..not until the Day of Pentecost 50 days after Jesus death and resurrection from the dead. Jesus also said to his disciples, (Jn 14:26) But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of every-thing I have said to you. While the disciples understood the words Jesus spoke to them, it was the Holy Spirit who had to work faith in their hearts to understand it. And they showed that they understood God’s plan of salvation in a most unusual and astounding way, which we will discuss shortly.

But first, I would like to draw a parallel to what we might call a "learning curve" for the disciples and for you, the four young people who are presenting yourselves here this morning on this day of your Confirmation. Fourteen years ago your parents had you baptized. This marvelous miracle of God is what he used to give you the blessing of faith and the forgiveness of sins. You became a child of God when you were baptized. It is the Holy Spirit who placed that faith into your hearts. During the course of your relatively short lives your faith has grown; you have been taught the Word of God...learned about your sinful nature that condemns you and about Jesus who has made you holy by paying for your sins which now saves you. A few minutes ago you answered questions about God’s plan of salvation for you demonstrating that the Holy Spirit had worked faith in your heart in much the same way that Jesus’ disciples demonstrated the faith that the Holy Spirit worked in their hearts when they answered questions people had on the day of Pentecost. And so we consider this morning: CONFIRMATION: THE PUBLIC CONFESSION OF WHAT THE HOLY SPIRIT ACCOM-PLISHES IN THE HEARTS OF CHRISTIANS.

Today we are celebrating two important events in the history of the church: the Day of Pentecost and the Day of Confirmation. Let’s review the significance of Pentecost and draw some com-parisons to the significance of Confirmation.

Just before he ascended back into heaven Jesus told his disciples to go to Jerusalem and wait because he was going to send the Holy Spirit to them; they would be "baptized in the Holy Spi-rit." And so they were. Thousands of people had come to Jeru-salem to celebrate the Festival of the Harvest...people from all over the Roman Empire and who spoke many different lang-uages and dialects. And the Holy Spirit capitalized on that op-portunity to give 120 of Jesus’ followers the ability to speak in those different languages. And what a great "discussion starter" the Holy Spirit provided with the sound of a mighty wind and flames of fired that appeared above the heads of the disciples. This opened the door for the disciples to share with others the "wonders of God."

Clearly this was a miracle. It’s impossible to fake speaking in a language you’ve never learned yet we are told (v 4). And what did they talk about (v 11)? The Holy Spirit took advantage of the opportunity to use new Christians to tell the visitors to Jeru-salem about God’s wonders...his plan of salvation.

Before we go any farther, let’s establish what is of greater importance here. It was a miracle for these followers of Jesus to speak in a language they had never learned. True enough. But the greater miracle was in what they said when they told people about the "wonders of God." These disciples who had not un-derstood that God fulfilled his plan of salvation through Jesus’ death on the cross now understood because the Holy Spirit brought that all together for them, he accomplished that in their hearts through the gift of faith. They publicly confessed the wonders of God...that Jesus, the Son of God, became also the Son of Man, born of Mary, lived a perfect life for 33 years, met every temptation Satan threw at him without sin, and then crushed Satan’s head when he died on the cross of Calvary, the altar of God where Jesus paid fully for the sins of all.

Look beyond the miracle of speaking in unknown languages. See the miracle in what the disciples publicly confessed which showed what the Holy Spirit accomplished in their heart: the gift of faith and belief in Jesus as Savior from sin.

And something else (v. 7). Galileans were not known for having a higher education that would have included learning more than one language to speak. Telling people about Jesus has nothing to do with higher education; it has everything to do with faith, faith that the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of believers, faith that shows itself in the life and words that Christians live and confess every day of their lives. This is the greater miracle.

And that miracle is also a miracle that took place in your heart, dear members of this 2010 Confirmation class. You sat before this congregation as hundreds of thousands of young people your age have done before you...answering questions about God, about his anger and punishment of sin, about Jesus the Savior from sin, and about the Holy Spirit who made you a Christian by giving you the faith to believe what you’ve been taught out of the Bible. You know what took place in your bap-tism; you know what you will receive in the Lord’s Supper...the very body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. I trust that those who are here this morning see that the greater miracle is not that you have the ability to answer these questions but that you believe the answers you gave. Confirmation is the pub-lic confession of what the Holy Spirit accomplished in your heart when he gave you the gift of faith.

Now what you do with that faith in the future is also the contin-uing work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit gave you faith through the power of God’s Word and he will keep you in faith, keep you professing your faith also and only through your con-tinued use of this power of God’s Word.

Jesus told his disciples many things but two things I want to stick with you: 1) share your faith, share what you’ve learned with others as the Galileans shared their faith. Sharing your faith has nothing to do with IQ or where you are on the scale of human intellect. It has everything to do with having a heart that loves Christ and loves people enough to want them to know what Jesus did for them. And 2) keep living in faith, keep nur-turing your faith, keep building up your faith, keep growing in love for Jesus by loving his Word, hearing and obeying him. Satan’s power has been stripped from him when Jesus died on the cross for you. But that does not mean that he is totally without power. You are still very much on his radar screen and will be for as long as you live. His goal is to use your sinful weaknesses and the sinful world in which you live to rob you of your faith and of the salvation Jesus won for you.

"One little word can fell him," Luther wrote in his famous hymn. And that name is Jesus who died for you, who paid for your sins, who has ascended back into heaven to prepare a place for you there, and who is with you always in Word and Sacrament to strengthen you and protect you and keep you safely in his family of believers. Use that Word of Jesus to build up your faith daily and to share that word of salvation with others who come into your lives, for the rest of your life.

Make your confirmation passage a part of your daily prayers. And trust that Jesus will guide you lead you throughout your life until you are safely with him in heaven.

Luke 24.50-53

The Ascension

Read passages where the glory of God is revealed in a cloud:

Ex 13.21,22; 14.23-25; 16.10; 19.9; 24.15,16; 33.8,9; 40.34-38; Lev 16.2; Mt 17.5; Lk 21.27-28; Acts 1.8-11

Many times the Lord revealed himself to his Old Testament people in the form of a cloud. That was a welcoming and comforting sight to the people of God. No doubt you’ve seen on TV when soldiers return home from a tour of duty in Afghanistan or Iraq, their family members are searching for their loved ones with there eyes focused on the soldiers as, one-by-one, they appear at the door of the airplane and walk down the passenger boarding stairs. And then, finally, they see the one they’re looking for and their eyes light up, often tears come to their eyes as a huge smile together with a look of relief fills their face. Have you seen that? That’s a look of peace and joy, the kind of look God’s people would have had on their faces when they saw that cloud appear in which their loving God came to them and assured them of his presence and power, his protection and love.

At other times that cloud, that visible appearance of God, gave the people of Israel reason to turn away in fear. They were in the presence of God when he appeared on Mt. Sinai and gave his law to Moses. There was thunder and lightening and the people were afraid. (Ex 19:16-19;20.18-21) On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. ¹⁷Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the LORD descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, the whole mountain trembled vio-lently, ¹⁹and the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder. Then Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him...When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance ¹⁹and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die." ²⁰Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning." ²¹The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

To see the visible presence of God in the cloud, the "glory of God," it was both a sight of peace and a sight of fear and great awe and dread. It was the sight of God who loved them and at the same time the sight of God who had put a great demand on their life...to be holy and perfect as he was, to walk in his ways and not to sin, which was a demand they could not keep, they could not obey. They could not take away God’s anger against them by their own efforts, and for that they were terrified. But they knew that God had taken away his own anger by promising to send the Messiah who would himself pay for the guilt of the sins of all people. To be in the presence of God whenever he appeared in the form of a cloud was an experience of both fear and love at the same time.

When Jesus ascended back into heaven, it was a cloud that em-braced him as though Jesus was being welcomed home by his Father who was in that cloud. Thirty-three years earlier Jesus had left his place in heaven to come to this earth, born of a virgin woman so he could live as the God-Man on this earth, live a perfect and sinless and life, take on every temptation that Satan would throw at him yet never sin, give himself up on the cross at Calvary as the debt-payment for the sins of the world, and rise again in triumph over sin and death and Satan. His work was complete; there was no longer any need for him to remain on earth. He ascended back into heaven and his Father, visibly present in that familiar form of a cloud, welcomed him home and placed him at his right hand, a position of power and auth-ority from which he now rules all things on this earth.

If anyone should ask you, "What’s so special about Jesus’ Ascension into heaven," you can tell them...

...you can tell them that Jesus’ ascension is special because you know he finished what he came to do and that is to cover the debt of your sins. You fear God and his wrath because you are a sinner and always will be for as long as you live on this earth. But you are a forgiven sinner because of Jesus. The cloud into which Jesus ascended brings a smile of comfort and relief to your face. God anger against you is removed.

You can tell them Jesus’ ascension tells you that he has now gone to prepare a place for you in heaven, a place that’s being held in reserve until the day you die and will then occupy that place yourself. You will die; everyone will; that’s no secret. It can bring fear and terror to the face of some, but not to your face. Jesus’ ascension tells you that he is waiting for you to join him there. He made that possible by paying for your sins and taking away your guilt.

And Jesus’ ascension to the right hand of God tells you that Jesus is ruling all things on this earth by his power and authority. Does this world seem to be out of control because of all the evil you see and hear about, because of all the suffering and pain you and others go through? Yes, sin is the cause of those things. And as long as you live on this sinful earth you can’t escape sin’s curse. You live with it day after day after day.

But Jesus is not controlled by sin; he controlled sin by taking away its curse when he died on Calvary. He decides how far sin's evil will affect this earth, our neighborhoods, countries of the world, diseases of the body. And he decides whether sin's affects will touch your life or not. And even if it does, Jesus sees to it that any suffering and pain will serve for your eternal good. "When I am weak, then I am strong," Paul wrote (2 Cor 12.10). When you experience how weak and helpless you are and cannot remove the evil in the world then remember how strong Jesus is because he removed the power and evil of sin which cannot destroy you; Jesus destroyed it.

Jesus’ ascension into heaven is special because we know that sin and death cannot harm us. Jesus removed sin's curse and death’s power when he suffered and died and rose again. He now rules the world from heaven where we will join him some day.

Easter 6

Hymns: 377.1-5, 146, 377.6-10, 162

There is a vital connection between your heart and the rest of your body. As long as your heart keeps pumping oxygen-enriched blood through the network of veins and arteries throughout your body, you’re alive. If your heart stops, your feet won’t walk, your eyes won’t blink, words will not come out of your mouth and food won’t be going into your mouth. A beating heart is vital to being alive. If any of your internal organs stop working properly that is a sign that you need to pay a visit to your doctor to find out what’s going on...or, what’s NOT going on!

We can apply a similar principle to our Christian faith and an active Christian life: Faith in Jesus that lives in your heart produces evidence of that faith in your life. Where there is no faith in Jesus in the heart there will be no evidence of faith in a persons’s life. So we can say this in brief: The person who believes in Jesus will live his/her life for Jesus; the person who does not believe in Jesus will not life his/her life for Jesus.

I don’t mean to state the obvious in the relationship of faith in one’s heart and evidence of faith in one’s life. But do you always think of your relationship with Jesus in these terms that because you believe in Jesus it is self-evident that you always, in one way or another, show that in your life? Or must you confess that even though you believe in Jesus there are too many times when you live and act in ways that appear as though you didn’t believe in Jesus and in what he means to you? We all feel that shame! We still have our sinful nature clinging to us even though we also have faith in Jesus implanted in us. We aren’t perfect, yet. That day is still to come...in heaven.

Let’s give our attention to the thought that OBEYING JESUS IS AN ACT OF LOVE, NOT OBLIGATION.

In the verse before our text begins one of Jesus’ disciples asked him a most interesting question (v 22). What Judas (not Iscariot) had in mind was this: If Jesus would show the world how powerful he was everyone would have to believe that he was the Son of God.

In today’s world Judas might have said to Jesus, "If you would show your power by killing all terrorists, destroying all godless countries and their rulers, leveling all abortion clinics and TV stations that show sinful programs, and putting all people in jail who exploit the poor and elderly...show the world who’s boss, then everyone would have to believe that you are the Son of God."

Have you ever thought something like that? If only Jesus would get rid of all the corruption and immorality by using his almighty power then the world would change for the good, wouldn’t it? Everyone would have to believe or be destroyed: the adulterers and the immoral, the criminals and the dishonest. Jesus should show his power to convert the world from unbelief to faith. People would have to believe in him or else! That would really bring about a wonderful improvement in our society, wouldn’t it?

But listen to Jesus’ answer (v 23,24). The Father did not send Jesus into the world to beat people into submission through a show of power. Jesus’ display of power would not produce faith in people any more than a father’s display of anger and the threat of a spanking will make his children love him. A display of power produces fear, not faith. You can’t threaten or scare people into believing in Jesus.

Power has its purpose. Its threats produce the fear of punishment, an awareness of the need for help. Paul writes, Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was in-tended to bring life actually brought death.

It’s true; the world is dead in its trespasses and sins. And so were you spiritually dead when you were conceived and born into this world. But take a look at history. What changed the hearts of the people of Nineveh? Yes, Jonah warned them that they would feel the power of God’s justice because of their unbelief; he showed them the need to have a change of heart. But when the people of Nineveh repented of their sins (Jonah 3) God had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened. God worked repentance and faith in the hearts of the people of Nineveh through the Word preached by Jonah.

Or think of the Roman Empire at the time of Christ. Christians were being fed to the lions, the Roman Empire was known for its orgies, pagan worship, killing unborn children and the breakdown of the family, human sacrifices and much more. But by the beginning of the 4^th century the Emperor Constantine became a Christian and religious freedom allowed Christianity to spread throughout the Empire. What brought about that change from the persecution of Christians to the spread of Christianity? It was not an earth-quake or some display of violent power from God. It was the Word that was preached, the message of sin and grace, the truth of God’s Word that all people are sinful and fall short of God’s glory but that all people are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that comes through Jesus. His perfect life was to benefit all sinners and his death on the cross was to pay for the guilt of the sins of all sinners...yours and mine included (cf 1 Kgs 19).

And you know, our society today is no more, or less, corrupt than any society in the past. And you and I contribute our sinful and corrupt natures along with all the horrible people who do the horri-ble kinds of things that land them in jail. If Jesus were to use power against the sinners of society in the attempt to make believers out of all people, not only would that not work because only the gospel works faith in people’s hearts, but you and I would also be on the receiving end of God’s anger and power because we are no less guilty of sin than the worst terrorist or criminal in the history of the world.

But you and all people have been made free from the guilt of sin because of what Jesus did for you and on behalf of you: he paid your debt and removed your punishment. Therefore obeying Jesus is not something you do out of a sense of obligation but love. You use your faith in your life to show what it means that you love Je-sus and want to obey him, not because you feel obliged to do that but you want to. That’s what love does.

So because you love Jesus you will forgive others because he for-gives you. Because you love Jesus you will look for ways to serve others because Jesus serves you. "If you love me, obey my commandments," Jesus tells us. Love for Jesus does not look for ways to make excuses for sin or to blame others for your sins. Love for Jesus does not avoid using the gifts he gave you to be a help to others. Love for Jesus, faith in Jesus, does what is the nature of love and faith to do, that is, to obey Jesus and strive to do his will because you are thankful for his love and forgiveness and the promise of heaven.

Above all, obeying Jesus out of love results in wanting to worship him. Worship, hearing the Word and "being in the Word," is as vital to faith as having a beating heart is vital to life. If you’re not in the Word, you don’t know all that God reveals to you in that word...and then you have to make something up about what you "think" God expects from you or wants from you. If you’re not in the Word you will end up turning your relationship with God into an act of obligation to try to make up for ignoring his word in which he communicates with us; you will invent things you have to do for God to try to keep him happy with you for ignoring his Word and placing so little importance on worshiping him with fellow Christians.

Instead, being in the Word, both worship and reading for personal growth, reveals the heart of God...his love and forgiveness, his promises to be with you and protect you and take care of you forever all because he loves you in Jesus. That gives meaning and life to you faith, along with the correct reason/motivation for obeying God as an act of love and not obligation... because you want to, not because you have to. You can’t do anything to "make" God love you anyhow. His love is offered freely because he, in his mercy, knows that we need it even though we don’t deserve it.

So use your faith to think about things the way God wants you to think about him and how you live your day-to-day Christian life. Give God your heart because he gave you his Son, your Savior, and obey him, not out of a sense of obligation but out of love and thanks.

Jesus won heaven for you and loves you with all his heart and life. Let others see that love of Jesus in your life, not out of a sense of duty or obligation but out of love and thanks to him for his free gift of salvation.

Easter 5

Hymns: 141, 219, 358, 490

I’ve heard the word ‘trivialize’ used more in the past couple of years than at any other time in recent memory. ‘Trivialize’ means: to treat something as if it were unimportant or of little worth. For example, I read in the news the other day that Cana-ada has decided not to provide funds for abortions. Leaders in some countries are upset by that, including our own Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton who is quoted as saying, "You cannot have maternal health without reproductive health and reproduc-tive health includes contraception and family planning and access to legal, safe abortions" The fact that a human life is put to death is trivialized, of little worth, unimportant. The term "Maternal and Reproductive Health" takes center stage; the fetus that is killed and disposed of is trivialized.

One more example: Matt Stone and Trey Parker are the creators of the TV show, South Park. I’ve never watched it; I’ve head about it. Stone and Parker were recently threatened by Younus Abdullah Muhammad on his website, RevolutionMuslim because they portrayed the Muslim prophet, Mohammad, in a cos-tume bear suit. It is a violation of Islam to portray or make fun of their prophet. All they were doing, they claim, is poking fun at Islam in the same way they poke fun at all religions when, for example, Jesus was recently portrayed as reading a pornographic magazine and Buddha was portrayed as snorting cocaine. Christians and Buddhists didn’t get all that upset but saw it is good-natured funny, humor. Muslims need to lighten up and learn to laugh at themselves. But Stone and Parker were clearly threatened and were afraid enough to delete the idea of Moham-med in a bear suit. This immoral and perverted humor of Stone and Parker trivializes the religious beliefs that people hold dear, as wrong as some of them are, all in the name of a few laughs and a few million dollars in their pocket. What others believe is trivialized by Stone/Parker...of little worth or importance.

People who don’t believe in Jesus do that too...trivialize what he did to save the world from sin. But FAITH DOES NOT TRIVIALIZE THE SACRIFICIAL LOVE OF JESUS.

Our sermon text begins with the words, "When he was gone." The ‘he’ is Judas. After Jesus revealed to his disciples that one of them would betray him, Judas, the betrayer, left the group to put the plan into action to arrest Jesus later that night, followed the next day by his crucifixion on the cross. Everything that God knew was going to happen was close to coming to completion for the salvation of the human race. Key to the events of completing God’s salvation plan was Jesus’ death on a cross, which Jesus referred to in this way (v 33). Jesus was going to the cross, a place where they could not go.

Why not? The cross was the place where Jesus died to pay for the sins of all people. Only he could go there; only he could do that. Many people, criminals, murderers, died on a cross as punishment for their crimes. They died and they stayed dead. Their death was punishment for no one’s crimes but their own.

But Jesus’ death paid not for his crimes because he committed none, but for the sins of you and me and all people. 1 Cor 15.3; 1 Pet 3.18 Only Jesus could do that because only Jesus is not only human but also divine, God himself who took our place in life and death to make us holy, to remove the guilt of sin from our hearts by taking them onto his own. That’s where Jesus was going...to the cross, a place where no one else could go to pay for the sins of the world, yours and mine and everyone’s.

Anyone who thinks he can pay for his own sins to get into hea-ven trivializes Jesus’ death...makes Jesus’ death to be of little value, of no importance to anyone, unnecessary. If you feel little need for Jesus, if Jesus does not hold the chief place in your heart you trivialize what he did for you as though his payment for your sins, his rescuing you from death and hell is not worth much to you. If worshiping Jesus with your whole life is too much to ask of you, more than you are willing to do, if the worship of your Savior is something you do when it’s convenient, you trivialize Jesus’ death, a lack of understanding what he has, in fact done for you: saved you from yourself, from your sins, from the eternal punishment in hell that you deserve. Faith in Jesus does not trivialize his death.

Nor does faith in Jesus trivialize his sacrificial love for you. Jesus said to his disciples (v 34, 35). As Jesus loved us so we must love each other. What exactly is the love of Jesus? How does he show it, live it, give it to us?

Of course, his sacrificial love is seen most vividly in his death on the cross. We hear of men and women in the military or police or fire departments paying the ultimate price when they die in the line of duty while protecting the lives of our citizens. They sacrifice their lives so we can go on living. So Jesus sacrificed his life so that we can live with him in heaven.

But what is the practical application of Jesus’ sacrificial love? It is a forgiving love...a love that doesn’t hurt or offend anyone...a love that doesn’t justify anger or bearing a grudge against some-one...a love that puts the best construction on what others do or say and doesn’t talk about someone behind their back in a way that hurts their reputation or gets people to think badly about that person. Jesus’ love for you put what you need ahead of his own welfare when he suffered for you so that you can avoid the suffering of hell and enjoy the bliss of heaven. Jesus’ sacrificial love is that he wants you to be with him for all eternity and was willing to die to make that happen.

In love Jesus reached out to Judas and gave him the opportunity to bring a halt to his plan of betrayal. "Yes, it is you," Jesus told Judas. "I know what you’re up to." That should have brought Judas to his knees in repentance, but it didn’t.

Jesus reach out to Zachaeus. "I must speak with you today in your house," Jesus told him. He saved Zachaeus from the "legal" greed and thievery he engaged in as a tax collector. And Zachaeus repented and changed his way of life.

So did the woman who was brought to Jesus because of her adulterous life. "Whoever is without sin, cast the first stone," Jesus told the Jewish clergy. And to the woman he said, "Go and sin no more." Jesus’ forgiveness moved her to change her way of life.

Love one another...reach out to those whose life is destructive of faith that will result in eternal damnation. Reach out to those whose way of life you condemn because it is sinful, but in a way that gets them to admit their sin and cherish the forgiveness that is offered to them by Jesus, before it’s too late for them. Do what Jesus’ love does for you; love as Jesus loves you, forgives you, cares for you, provides for you, comforts you...the list is endless. This is how people know you are a disciple of Jesus when you love as he loves you.

Faith does not trivialize this sacrificial love of Jesus as though it is of little worth or importance to you. Your faith does not try to justify your anger or refusal to forgive and forget... your bad attitude or selfish disposition...your excuses for sin or weakness of faith for resisting sin. Though we can’t be perfect at it, your faith will strive to emulate the kind of sacrificial love you know Jesus gives to you. This is a love that works for the good of others, shows itself in a gentle and kind spirit, a thoughtful consideration of the feelings of others and, above all, a love that hates what happened to Jesus and hates the sin that nailed him to the cross, your sin and the sins of this world.

In faith you know that Jesus’ sacrificial love cannot be trivialized as though it is of little value. His love for you means eternal life for you. It was his passion to save you from sin and death. Make it your passion to llove others for the same reason.

John 21.1-14

Easter 3

Hymns: 149, 159, 311, 162

It was now perhaps three weeks or more since Jesus had risen from the grave and first appeared to his disciples. Let’s try to get into the minds of the disciples at this point, based on what we know about them from Holy Scripture. First, they refused to believe that Jesus was alive even though he told them on a cou-ple of occasions that the spiritual leaders of the Jews would have him beaten and crucified, but that he would rise again after three days. Second, they refused to believe that Jesus was alive initially even though some women and the two Emmaus disci-ples told them they had seen Jesus alive. Jesus did appear to them on Easter Sunday night so they did see him, they did have proof that Jesus was alive, although they were still quite unsure of what was going on.

Jesus was not traveling with them as he had before his crucifix-ion. He was, in fact, invisible to the human eye because, having completed the work of salvation, he was no longer in the state of humiliation but in the state of exaltation, that is, he was mak-ing full use of his divine powers. So he would come and go, ap-pear and disappear, which was the case in our text.

Jesus had told the disciples to go to Galilee and wait for him. While they were waiting for Jesus Peter told the other disciples that he was going fishing and they said they would join him. They were fishermen by trade; life goes on and they did have to provide for themselves by catching and selling fish. Fishing had been their livelihood before Jesus called them to follow him. During the three years they were with Jesus before his crucifix-ion they were supported with gifts of money and food that peo-ple would give them and, perhaps, went fishing from time to time and sold what they caught.

After fishing all night without catching anything they were about to come in when Jesus appeared on shore. They didn’t recognize him. The disciples were about to learn yet another im-portant lesson as we consider how JESUS’ MIRACLE OF FISH AND FOOD ENCOURAGED THE DISCIPLES TO "FISH FOR SOULS."

First consider the question asked the disciples (v 5). Jesus knew the answer...that they had caught nothing. In fact, he would have had something to do with that; he didn’t want them to catch anything because he wanted to teach them something that would be useful for them in the work they would be doing in the very near future, fishing for souls, not fish. They told him that they had not caught anything.

Have you ever wondered why God wants you to pray to him, to ask something of him and tell you what you need him to do when he already knows what he’s going to do whether you ask him or not? I suspect that some people use that as an excuse of unbelief for not praying at all. Have you ever done that? You know God tells you to pray but decide not to because God is going to do what he’s going to do and he already knows what that is so...save the effort! That is not "faith at work;" it is lack of trust in God's Word; it is unbelief.

Remember when you were a child (and you children, listen to this) and you asked your mother or dad, "Will you tell my sister to let me play with the puzzle pieces," and you knew from ex-perience what they were going to say: "Just be patient; you can play with them later." Or you might have asked, "Will you tie my shoes for me?" and your mother said, "Here, let me show you how to tie your shoes" (she didn’t just tie them for you). Or, "Dad, come quick, get Johnny; he ran out into the street." And that is a request your dad did answer immediately.

The point is whether you children/as a child know how your parents are going to answer your requests you ask anyhow be-cause you depend on them to take care of you and by asking questions you recognize that fact.

So it is in your relationship with God. When you ask him for things, pray to him, that is an action done in faith and trust that you recognize that you depend on him for everything in life and will accept whatever answer he gives you as being an answer that is in your best interests.

The disciples tried to catch fish but failed. Jesus wanted them to express that to him. He then told them what to do (v 6). They did what he said and were they ever surprised...153!

It was John who made the connection (v 7a). The disciples had not recognized Jesus standing on the shore, perhaps 100 or so yards away. But John immediately understood both the direc-tive, "throw the net on the right side of the boat," and the mira-cle of catching so many fish with Jesus. Jesus made that happen because he was teaching them something they would need to rely on in the months and years ahead, namely, Jesus would provide for them. But in what way?

Do you remember that on another occasion the disciples had been fishing all night and didn’t catch anything and Jesus told them to go out into deeper water and throw out their nets (Lk 5). They caught so many fish that the nets were breaking and they needed help bringing in all the fish. After the excitement settled down Jesus told them, "From now on you will catch men," that is, you will use the net of the gospel and throw that out into the community and bring in people who would repent of their sins and believe in Jesus as their Savior.

And that was the lesson Jesus was teaching them with this mira-cle of catching 153 fish as well. Soon Jesus would leave them and they would be on their own, telling people about Jesus, preaching and teaching the gospel of Christ, telling people that their sins condemn them but Jesus the Savior paid for their sins to save them. And that message, that net of the gospel would bring in many who would believe, just as they brought in 153 fish with their fishing nets. And Jesus is the one who would make that happen. The miracle of fish would be a memory to encourage the disciples to fish for souls and trust that Jesus would bless their ministry.

One other miracle (v 9). Jesus had not brought fish or bread. It was a miracle that he provided, a miracle of food in addition to the miracle of fish. Jesus would provide for them, for their ma-terial needs in their ministry of fishing for souls. He would bless their ministry. They could trust him to do that.

Jesus provides for you and me. Share the gospel; he will bless that word and bring souls to faith; that’s why we know about this miracle of 153 fish. And he will provide for all of your material needs as well, as the miracle of food on the shore also assures you. We are Jesus’ 21^st century disciples. While we have our families or just ourselves to take care of, Jesus wants us to know that he will provide. But he also wants us to know that throwing out the net of the gospel, that is, sharing your faith, telling people about Jesus...his life and death and resurrection... this is how you and I fish for souls so that Jesus will fill the net with people who come to faith and the knowledge of their salvation through Jesus, the risen Christ.

John 20.19-31

Easter 2

Hymns: 165.1-4, 165.5-8, 143, 165.9

Jesus’ work of salvation was finished when he said it was... while still hanging on the cross in agony when he cried out, in a loud voice, "It is finished!" Immediately after that he, in full control of his life, ended his earthly life, committed his soul into the care of his Father, and, as Scripture records it, "breathed his last," that is, he died. His work of salvation had successfully come to an end. And there was no reason for him, as far as our salvation is concerned, to show himself in person to anyone af-ter he died, not even to his disciples.

However, in order to remove any doubt about his coming back to life, his resurrection, Jesus did show himself alive, first to some women, then to his disciples on several occasions, and also to over 500 people who were all together at one place. Je-sus proved to hundreds of eye-witnesses that he was alive, the death had not kept him in the grave, that what he told people was true about who he was and what he had come to do, that is, to save the world from sin and death as the divine and human substitute for the entire human race.

But it took a while for people, even his closest friends, to be-lieve that he was alive. Some women had seen Jesus alive and told his disciples that he was. The two disciples from Emmaus had seen Jesus, walked with him for a couple of miles as he explained why the Messiah had to die and then return to life... they told Jesus’ disciples that they had seen him. In both cases the disciples didn’t believe what they were told. Then Jesus appeared to his disciples who were huddled together in a room with the door locked. Finally they believed, although they were puzzled by what they were seeing.

Then we have the well-known story about Thomas..."Doubting Thomas," as he is best known. He, too, did not believe Jesus was alive and would not believe unless he saw Jesus with his own eyes and touched his physical body with his own hands. And Jesus obliged him. JESUS REMOVES ALL DOUBT AS TO WHO HE WAS AND WHAT HE HAD DONE by appearing to the disciples expressly for Thomas’ sake.

And for our sake, too, really. The Greek text shows us a very stubborn Thomas. A literal translation would be something like this, "I will not, in no way, will I believe that Jesus is alive again unless I can see and touch the marks on his body left by the nails driven into his hands and feet, and the spear that had been thrust into his side."

From our human perspective, can we really blame Thomas for doubting? Humanly speaking, no one dies and returns to life. Humanly speaking, Jesus had gone through hell, literally, by being beaten to within an inch of his life, then tortured to death on the cross. He did not somehow survive that, as British author and so-call biblical scholar Hugh J. Schonfield contends in his 1965 book, The Passover Plot. A quote from Mr. Schonfield reveals his line of thinking: The modern dilemma of Christ-ianity ...stems from a creed which...has so insisted on seeing God in Jesus Christ that it is in danger...of being unable to apprehend the existence of God without him. Far too many Christians do not know God in any other way than through Jesus. Take away the deity of Jesus and their faith in God is... destroyed...The major fault lies with those who have pandered to the ignorance and superstition of the people in giving them a God created in the image of man.

Other "scholars" agree with Schonfield...other doubters, let’s call them. "One of the strongest arguments against the auth-enticity of the virgin birth is that apart from Matthew and Luke the New Testament never refers to it." (Porter, 2004). Or, "...the empty tomb is a later legend, introduced by Mark for the first time into the narrative." (Fuller, 1971). Or, There is no evidence that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Or, "From the evidence of the Gospels it appears most likely that Jesus married." (Phipps, 1970,). Biblical "scholar" N. T. Wright (1999) says "…was not so much a wandering preacher giving sermons or a wandering philosopher offering maxims as like a radical politician gath-ering support for a new and highly risky movement." These are some major doubters!

What do we say about such doubt...denial, really. Schonfield contends that it is man who invented the idea or theory that Jesus had to be God in order to do what Christians claim he did, which is to redeem the human race from the guilt of sin. He says that if Jesus is not thought of as being divine, a God, the Christ-ian faith is destroyed, empty, worthless. He’s right!

The truth is, I know of no man-made religion that has invented a god who himself stepped into our skin and into our place as a human being, took on the guilt of sin for us and paid for it him-self so that we are now forgiven, redeemed, saved. The prophet Isaiah (64.4) writes...The apostle Paul quotes this verse in this way (1 Cor 2.9,10). The human mind does not invent a God who would himself take on the guilt of mankind; only the true and living God would do such a thing; only Jesus did such a thing by dying on a cross. And because he is divine, because he had to be divine, he rose again from the death. It was not an after-thought, a human invention of a desperate mind. It was God’s way of demonstrating his love and absolute forgiveness because we are damned to hell without it. 1 Cor 15

Jesus removed all doubt as to who he was and what he had done when he appeared to Thomas, showed him his hands and his side where the marks were, showed himself to be alive.

What doubts do you have about your God, your living God and Savior Jesus Christ? Does your human mind need to invent things about God to satisfy your doubting heart...that surely you are good enough to gain heaven yourself, or that you are too evil and sinful to hope that you can somehow gain heaven? Do you doubt that God can make things better in your life just be-cause you’ve tried and failed?

I find it interesting that modern doubters on the one hand reject what the Bible says, but on the other hand deny something like the virgin birth because the Bible doesn’t refer to it often enough (only twice). Jesus removed all doubt about who he is and what he did. He is the Son of God who paid for our sins. He showed himself alive to many people, alive and well. And we see him today through the eyes of faith. Christ is risen; we are saved. Faith removes all doubt for us, as it did for Thomas!

Luke 24.1-12

Easter Sunday

There is one message and one message only in the celebration of Easter: Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man who died on the cross to pay for the sins of all people has come back to life! He is risen from the dead!

I found a pocket watch recently in some of my stuff that I put into a box a long time ago. It looks like an ordinary pocket watch, although many of you I suspect don’t know what a poc-ket watch is. Pocket watches were used at a time when men wore vests; the pocket watch was kept in the pocket of a vest. The pocket watch I found belonged to my grandfather. He drove a city bus in Milwaukee and his pocket watch kept perfect time which helped to keep him on schedule. My grandfather’s pocket watch was given to me when I was four years old, soon after he died. Before I was old enough to tell time I would take that poc-ket watch out of my grandfather’s pocket and ask him to tell me what time it was. It’s not an ordinary pocket watch. It has senti-mental value to me; there’s a story behind it...a person...my grandfather. It’s not an ordinary pocket watch to me.

Christians are known by a symbol, the cross. A cross is not an ordinary piece of jewelry although people today wear it as if it is. There’s a story behind the cross and it can’t be changed any more than the story behind my grandfather’s pocket watch can be changed. The story behind the cross assures me that I will see my grandfather again some day after these 64 years since he died. I never got to know him very well since I was four years old when he died. But I will get to know him some day because of the meaning and message of Easter. And THE MEANING OF EASTER IS FOUND IN THE ANGEL’S QUESTION, "WHY DO YOU LOOK FOR THE LIVING AMONG THE DEAD?"
 

The cross is the reason why Jesus was dead, which is the reason why some women who were dear friends of Jesus went to the place where he was buried. They were going to prepare his body for burial by washing his corpse, putting sweet-smelling spices on his body and wrapping it is cloth. Jesus died on a cross.

But when they got to the tomb in which Jesus was buried, they found that they stone, which covered the opening to the tomb, had been rolled away. Jesus’ tomb was open! And when they went into the tomb they discovered that Jesus’ body was not there. They expected to find Jesus’ corpse but found nothing other than some cloths that were used to wrap his body after it was taken down from the cross.

As they stood there they wondered what might have happened to Jesus’ body. Then the angels appeared and asked what, to them, was a very ordinary question (v 5b,6-7a). "Why are you wasting your time looking for Jesus here where he was buried after he died since he told you, before he died, that he would die and return to life again. Didn’t you believe him?" (v 7b,8,9)!

There is one message and one message only in the celebration of Easter: Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man who died on the cross to pay for the sins of all people has come back to life! He is risen from the dead!

The Christian celebration of Easter is not just one of many different religious celebrations that people of many different religions observe during the course of a year. The Christian symbol, the cross, impacts the life of all people because it rep-resents the real cross of Calvary, outside the city of Jerusalem, where God’s justice was carried out 2,000 years ago when Jesus was punished and died on behalf of the entire human race as payment for the sins of the entire human race. (Col 1:19-20) For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him (Jesus), and through him to reconcile to himself all things...by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. You are at peace with God because Jesus paid for your sins when he died on the cross. You are at peace with God because God does not hold you accountable for the sins you commit. You are at peace with God because he is not angry with you nor will he condemn you for the guilt of your sin because Jesus took away your guilt, paid for your guilt by dying on a cross...not only for you and for me but for all people on the face of this earth!

Jesus died...and he rose again from the dead; he came back to life. He wasn’t in the tomb where the women were looking for him. This is the meaning, the only meaning of Easter, the only meaning of the cross, the only story behind the cross. But what a story it is!

It is the story of our salvation and how God himself brought this about through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus his Son and our Savior. The story behind the cross is that there is only one who has paid for sin, and that is Jesus. There is only one took your sins and mine on himself and paid for them, and that is Jesus when he died on a cross. There is only one way, then, that we human beings are able to go to heaven when we die and that is through faith in Jesus.

Some people say that all religions lead to heaven, all are on the same road only in different lanes. That’s not the story behind the cross and you and I must not accept a different version of that story anymore than you would tell someone who is lost that he can take any highway or street to arrive at his destination, or anymore than I would accept a different story behind the pocket watch what was my grandfather’s. If someone tells you that all roads lead to heaven...Christian, Muslim, Sikh, Buddhist, Jeho-vah’s Witness, Mormon, and more, you must say, "No, no, a thousand times no!" The wrong message is being sent by well-meaning, kind, caring people who don’t want to offend anyone or hurt their feelings by telling them that all roads lead to hea-ven. There is only one way that leads to heaven, only one mes-sage in Easter, one story behind the cross, only one Savior from sin and he is Jesus who died on a cross to pay for everyone’s sins. (Rom 10:9) ...if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
 

Easter takes away the sorrow and tears and fear of death. Because of Easter I will see my grandfather in heaven and you will see and be seen by all who die in faith, believing in Jesus who took away the sins of the world. The story behind Easter is that God gives heaven to you, his free gift of love. That’s God’s story behind the cross and he’s sticking to it...thankfully!

Luke 19.28-40

Palm Sunday

Hymns: 130 131, 56 (LAPPY), 133

Palm Sunday was the beginning of the end. Palm Sunday is the day Jesus went to Jerusalem, was welcomed as the Messiah-Savior to the shouts of the crowd of people: Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest. The promise God gave to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to save the people of the world from eter-nal damnation in hell, the promise of a Messiah that was preach-ed by the Old Testament prophets generation after generation for four thousand years, the promise was fulfilled when Jesus, the Son of God, was born of the virgin Mary, lived a perfect life was now going to find its fulfillment at a place called Calvary where Jesus would die in payment for all sin. And when Jesus entered the city of Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday, he knew exactly how the week was going to unfold...that five days later his work of saving the world would be finished.

Some people in the crowd that lined the streets on that Palm Sunday didn’t believe Jesus was the promised Savior. The spiritual leaders known as Pharisees were angry that people were calling Jesus the Son of David, meaning the promised Messiah. They told Jesus v 39. They wanted to bury the idea that Jesus was the Messiah by demanding that he make his disciples stop promoting that idea. Little did they know, THE TRUTH ABOUT JESUS CANNOT BE BURIED, which is what we will celebrate next Sunday, Easter.

The truth about Jesus could not be buried and Jesus was not going to be intimidated into silencing his disciples or the crowd for calling him "Son of David." The Pharisees should have known Jesus was the promised Messiah. They were supposed to be authorities in understanding and explaining the Old Testa-ment Scriptures to the people of God. When the Apostle Paul tried to convince fellow Jews that Jesus was the Savior he showed them Old Testament prophecy which foretold that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem, his mother would be a virgin, he would give his life in death as payment for the sins of all people and rise again from the dead. All these things were true about Jesus, especially his resurrection from the dead.

Where do you go in order to find the truth about God? about your sins? about death and hell and heaven? Where do you go to learn the truth about Jesus? We go to the Bible, the living Word of God. Jesus said, If you continue in my Word, then are you my disciples; you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. The Word of God is the source of truth...it is the truth because God is the author of the Bible, the book in which he caused his word to be written over a period of a couple thousand years.

I heard a discussion the other night on Night Line between two men, one an agnostic, the other a religious person. The debate centered on the question, Does God Have a Future? The religi-ous debater tried to prove from science that God exists; the agnostic tried to prove from human reason that belief in a god was not necessary. If a person hoped to spend eternity in a place of happiness after death he needed only to be a good person who tried to get along with others and loved peace. That state-ment got loud applause from the audience. He chided the reli-gious debater for getting his information not only from science but also from a mysterious book written by mortals, all of whom are dead. That book is the Bible.

Two things should be noted: 1) no one can prove the existence of God either from science or from reason. Nor is it necessary to try to do so. The knowledge that God exists is something that everyone is born with. 2) Yes, the information we have about God and the truth about Jesus is found in the Bible. No one can prove that either. Either you believe it or you don’t.

What then are you left with? You’re left with faith, nothing more. And what is it that your faith tells you? Your faith tells you that God created the world; the Bible is the source of this truth. Your faith tells you that you are going to die; living in this world convinces you of that every day. Your faith tells you that the reason you will die is because you are a sinful person; you don’t have to convince yourself that you’re a sinner; you know what’s in your heart and mind. Your faith tells you that you can’t get rid of your sinful side; practical experience tells you that, too; you’ve tried to stop sinning but can’t. Faith tells you that God does not accept your sinful behavior. Faith tells you that because you’re a sinner you have no reason to hope to go to heaven when you die...there’s nothing you can do about it.

Up to this point human reason would agree with a lot of what I’ve just said...it can go either way about the idea of a Creator, the reality of sin and reason to be afraid of death.

But, and here’s what sets you apart, faith also tells you how the Creator created the world, why it is that you are sinful, and what God himself did to save you from your sins so that you can have eternal life in heaven instead of eternal damnation in hell. Faith gives you the answers to the questions human reason only thinks about because for you who has faith the source of truth is the Bible, that mysterious book that almighty God wrote by giv-ing the words to sinful human beings to put down on paper.

And the truth is that Jesus, his Son, himself paid for the sins of the world and has freed us from sin’s guilt. His death on the cross on Calvary took away that which should condemn us, our sins. As a Christian, you have faith, you have the answers to the questions that human reason asks without having answers.

And the truth about Jesus cannot be buried. The religious lead-ers tried to bury the truth. Jesus told them (v 40). There is a play on words here. The Jews referred to Gentiles as "stones," that is, that they were like stones spiritually...lifeless and dead. But Jesus is saying, "If I tell my disciples to be quiet, the truth of who I am, the Savior Son of God, will be told by Gentiles who are not spiritually lifeless stones but are spiritually alive and believe in me.

You are the "stones" Jesus spoke about...Gentile believers who are alive with faith. Don’t allow anyone to intimidate you into silence; tell people about Jesus your Savior. Don’t allow your lack of biblical knowledge keep you from sharing the truth about Jesus; open your Bible, open your heart and mind and let God speak to you and educate you so you can tell others. The truth about Jesus cannot be buried.

Luke 20.9-19

Lent 5

Hymns: 536, 110, 369, 281

The context of the parable Jesus told Jewish clergy is this: It was Tuesday of Passover Week (Holy Week to us), three days before his crucifixion. There is urgency in Jesus’ heart; he had only three days to reach out to people with the message that he was the Messiah, the Christ of God, the Savior from sin. He had only three days to convince the Jews they were making a mis-take in not believing what he was telling him: they were sinners in need of a Savior and he, Jesus, was that Savior from sin.

This was Tuesday when (read 20.1,2). The Jewish clergy were challenging Jesus’ authority to be teaching in the temple. They wanted to silence him. He was supposed to prove that he had the authority to teach the gospel, the good news that he was the Savior for whom the nation of Israel had been waiting for 4,000 years. He was the virgin-born son of Mary! He was the divine Son of God! He was the only way that leads to heaven! The bib-lically ignorant Jewish clergy were challenging the Author of Scripture to prove who he was!

Jesus had run out of patience with the Jewish clergy. He kept on trying to convince them that they were wrong about him, wrong about the idea that they could get to heaven by their own efforts. To get that point across Jesus told them yet another parable in an effort to open their hearts before it was too late. The message Jesus was sending to the Jews was, DON’T CONFUSE GOD’S PATIENCE WITH GOD’S JUSTICE.

First let’s identify the symbolism in the parable with the people they represent, then I’ll read the parable again.

God established the Jewish nation when he made Abraham the ‘father of the Jews.’ The vineyard is the Jewish nation. In his Gospel, Matthew (21.33) records this same parable and adds that there was a wall around the vineyard and a tower. These were to protect the vineyard, the Jews. The servants were the prophets who revealed God’s will and promise, his law and gospel which served a couple of purposes: the Word of God which the prophets preached was like the wall around the Jews that forbade them from associating with their pagan neighbors lest they be influenced by their immorality and pagan worship and lose their faith. The tower was the place from which the Jews were able to see an enemy to their faith approached so they would be ready and not allow them to enter the vineyard, not allow immorality and unbelief to destroy the vineyard.

The servants who came to collect rent were the prophets who came to receive some of the fruit of the vineyard, that is, fruits of repentance and faith. The Jews, the vineyard, were to give the prophets a portion of the harvest, that is, their confession of sin along with the thankful expression of faith in the promise of God that one day his Messiah would come through one of their Jewish descendants who would redeem them from their sin and guilt. But the Jews resented the word of the prophets, the call to repentance and the condemnation of their immorality and un-belief. So they beat the prophets and turned them away.

The son of the owner of the vineyard is Jesus the Son of God who personally came to the Jews, telling them to repent of their sins and give him the fruit of faith, hearts that were sorry for sin and thankful to Jesus for taking away the guilt of their sins and forgiving them of that guilt. But they killed the Son, exactly what they would do in three days after Jesus told them this parable.

( v 17-19). Jesus was reaching out to the Jewish clergy but they resented it because they understood that he was comparing their rejection of him, the Son of God, to their ancestors in the para-ble who rejected the son of the owner of the vineyard. And the consequence of their rejection of Jesus would be that God re-jected them because of their unbelief. Eternal damnation would be their fate.

The point Jesus wanted them to understand, and the point that anyone today who rejects Christ must understand is this: Don’t confuse God’s patience with God’s justice. The owner of the vineyard, that is, God who established the Jewish people, showed patience by sending his prophets to them again and again, calling on them to repent of their sins and cling to his promise of forgiveness through the Messiah. And the Jews had been abusing that patience. But a day would come when God would administer his justice, that is, condemn everyone who dies in unbelief but save all who die in faith, believing in Jesus as the Savior from sin.

Do you sin? Of course; we all do. No Christian claims to be per-fect and never sin. When you violate the will of God, when you sinfully judge someone or gossip, when you violate the law of God in any way, God doesn’t strike you dead on the spot.

When you decide that listening to God’s Word is no longer of prime importance to you and doing what the Word of God says is optional, God doesn’t punish you on the spot. When you make excuses for sin and defend the immoral and hedonistic attitude of society and choose to make fun of what God’s Word says because it’s out-of-date, out-of-touch, not 21^st century enough for your way of thinking, God doesn’t make you pay the price on the spot for rejecting him. He’s patient.

But don’t mistake God’s patience for God’s justice. Again and again Jesus tried to reach the Jewish people with the call to re-pentance and again and again they refused to listen. If your faith, your family, your Christian friends remind you to repent of your sins and not embrace them, but again and again you let them know that they can mind their own business, know that in time faith will not survive and what God patiently endured from you will become what God in his justice must condemn... un-belief. Let no one make the horrible and costly mistake of re-fusing to repent, assuming that God is so patient that will ignore our sinful rejection of him. God is just; he must and he will punish unbelief.

But at the same time God in his justice will forgive everyone because it is Jesus who was punished for our sins. And every-one who calls on the name of the Lord, who believes that Jesus, his Son, has freed us from the guilt of sin and its condemnation,

will not confuse God’s patience for his justice. Being thankful for his forgiveness of sin through the death of Jesus, you will daily repent of your sins, claim his forgiveness as your own, and show by your life what it means eternal life in heaven is yours.

Luke 15.1-3,11-32     Lent 4     Hymns: 303, 306, 304, 715

Jesus told the parable of the lost son (or, prodigal son) to a group of his detractors...the Jewish clergy. Why did Jesus tell this particular to this particular august group of supposedly spiritual leaders? What point did Jesus want to make?

Jesus was being criticized by the "pillars of the church" because he was associating with people who were not "pillars of the church," i.e. tax collectors and prostitutes...people who were openly deceitful, greedy, openly perverted and immoral. Could you them for accusing Jesus of giving the church a bad name? If I openly associated with those kinds of people wouldn’t you have something to say to me? Wouldn’t you want to know ask why I was hanging out with people like that?

Or would you give me the benefit of the doubt that I was, in fact, trying to bring those kinds of people into the church, trying to get them to have a change of heart by repenting of their sins and believing in Jesus? Perhaps you would even offer to join me in reaching out to those kinds of people, ask if there was something you could do help me to reach the lost? After all, where would you be today if Jesus had not reached out to you? if Jesus had not brought you to faith by giving you Christian parents or by bringing a Christian into your life who brought you into the family of Christian believers? Or have you forgotten what it means that JESUS REACHES OUT TO THE LOST WITH UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.

The sad irony here is that the Pharisees and law teachers didn’t think they were spiritually lost; they knew the tax collectors and prostitutes were. How do you see yourself? People who are spiritually lost fall into one of two categories: 1] those who believe God owes them a life in heaven no matter how lacking in spirituality their life is, and 2] those who believe God owes them a life in heaven because of how full of spirituality their life is. The truth is, God owes nothing to any of us other than his utter contempt and punishment in the horrible confines of hell! If you don’t understand that, you aren’t going to understand what it means that THEME.

Jesus told two parables before the parable of the two sons. In the first, Jesus described a shepherd who went looking for a sheep that had wandered off. If he hadn’t done that, the sheep would have died; it wouldn’t have found its way back home to the flock. In the second parable Jesus told about a woman who dropped a coin onto the dirt floor of her home. That’s a dirt floor, not hardwood or tile. She had to sift through the dirt until she found it. And so it is with people who are spiritually lost... Jesus has to look for us if we are to be saved.

Now look at these two sons and see how their father sought them out with his unconditional love as Jesus sought us out. The youngest son did not share the values his father taught him. He didn’t want to wait for the day he would receive his portion of his father’s inheritance. There was no time to wait. He was hell-bent on sinful living. He asked for his inheritance, left home and spent all of his money on wild living: booze and drugs, sex and parties, credit card debts, dish TV, and whatever else his heart desired.

Not until he lost everything did he stop to think about how he had ruined his life. It finally dawned on him to go home to his father, admit his sins and ask his father to forgive him. When he arrived home, even before he got a word out of his mouth, his father ran to him, kissed him and planned a party in his honor because his lost son had returned. That’s unconditional love, isn’t it? No lecture! No, "What are you coming home to me for?" The son abused his father’s love, threw away his in-heritance, and only at that point did he realize how precious his father’s love was...more precious than the money he spent. With unconditional love his father forgave him of his sin and welcome him back into the family.

The older son resented his father’s unconditional love. He didn’t throw away his inheritance on wild living. He stayed with his father and worked for him without any reward. He did all the right things and got nothing, his brother did all the wrong things and was given a party!

Now the parable gets particularly interesting. The oldest son thought he had earned his father’s love because of his hard work...like the Jewish clergy thought they had earned God’s love, and ultimately heaven, because of their pious way of life. How wrong this son was. He didn’t have to earn his father’s love; his father already loved him with unconditional love; all his father had was his but he didn’t know it. He worked for his father because he felt that he had to, not because he wanted to. He believed that if he was going to get his father’s inheritance he was obligated to work for it...to earn it. What kind of rela-tionship is that when you feel obligated to be kind and helpful to someone? This is a description of someone who thinks he has to earn God’s love in order to be saved because he doesn’t understand the unconditional love of Jesus.

Jesus sought you out because of his unconditional love for you? Do you see yourself in both of these ungrateful sons? In how many ways do you abuse the unconditional love that Jesus has for you? You sin with the thought that it doesn’t make any dif-ference because Jesus will forgive you. Or you go to church or do something good not because you want to but because you think that you can make Jesus happy as long as you do nice things for him every so often because then he’ll do nice things for you. You can’t food Jesus! He knows your heart and understands what motivates you. It’s possible to pull the wool over the eyes of people, but not of Jesus.

But why would you want to? If you were the young son who had just been welcomed home with a hug and kiss from your father after living a pathetically immoral life, what would you have said to him? Would it not have reduced you to tears of relief because your father forgave you and would that love not have motivated you never to show a lack of love for your father again? And if you had been the older son and had heard your father tell you that you didn’t have to earn his love because you already had it, wouldn’t you have felt as though you betrayed him with an ungrateful heart and that you would never do that to him again? If so, then you do understand the unconditional love of Jesus. Show him your love.

Luke 13.1-9     Lent 3     Hymns: 383, 302, 313, 394

You may know someone who has ruined his/her life, or someone who is dealing with a horrible tragedy...the kinds of tragedies you read about in the newspaper every day: someone is killed in a car wreck on the LBJ Freeway, someone’s house burns down, a child is hit with a rare, life-ending disease. You identity with the tragedy you’re reading about and think to yourself, "There, but for the grace of God, go I?" What you mean by that is, "The same thing could happen to me. It’s only by the grace of God that it hasn’t; he’s been protecting me from. No one knows for certain where that expression comes from. A pious preacher, John Bradford, supposedly said it back in the mid 1500s.

But that meaning of the phrase sounds very similar to something the Apostle Paul said (1 Cor 15.9,10), For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. God rescued Saul from being a hater of Christ and persecutor of Christians and changed him into an apostle of Christ and the voice of Christianity. This was a good thing.

But not everyone’s life story turns out the way Paul’s did. I get emails and phone calls from people asking for money to pay utility bills or buy food or pay rent or mortgage...they need help because they are sick or dying or they are about to lose their home or have lost their home because they have no income, no job, no one to help. So they turn to God! Well, not really to God but to the church, to people who are connected with God. If things had turned out differently in life, any one of us could be one of those poor people begging for help...if it were not for the grace of God, for giving you a good work ethic, a good upbringing, a good education, a good and faithful spouse...all kinds of good things that helped to shape you and support you in these difficult times.

And there’s something else. BY THE GRACE OF GOD YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO REPENT.
 

The word ‘repent’ means to acknowledge that you have done something wrong. It’s saying, "I’m sorry," to God. Jesus tells some people in our text (v 5). This is very serious. If you do not repent, if you are not say you’re sorry to God, and mean it, you will perish in hell and not go to heaven. Unless you acknowledge to God that you know are a sinful human being and need him to forgive you, unless you acknowledge to God the specific sins that you are aware of and need him to forgive, you will not go to heaven when you die because where there is no repent-ance, there is no forgiveness of sins.

By the grace of God you know what it means to repent. Peter preached in a sermon (Read Acts 3:19). To repent means to turn away from sin, to say ‘no’ to sin and to turn to God both for his forgiveness and as your expression of determination not to allow sin to rule your heart. Speaking about unbelievers, John writes (read Rev 9:21). You are an unbeliever if you hate someone and don’t repent, if you take what isn’t yours and don’t repent, if you engage in sexual sins, be they heterosexual or homosexual...and don’t repent, you are an unbeliever. If you refuse to acknowledge those sins, ask God to forgive and help you to put away those sins. They are sins for which Jesus died. If you refuse to repent of them, it means that Jesus’ death means nothing to you, you have no sorrow in your heart because Jesus died for you. Where there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness of sins because it means there is no faith. By the grace of God you know that...you know what it means to repent.

The people to whom Jesus was speaking in our text knew that Pilate had sent his soldiers into a temple where priests were preparing animals for sacrifice, and the soldiers killed them for no apparent reason. They just killed them because Pilate told them to. Jesus asked the question (v 2).

Jesus also reminded them of a tragic accident where a tower fell on a crowd of people and killed 18 of them. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Jesus asked (v4b).

Remember Hurricane Katrina that hit New Orleans and some people said that God was punishing the city, Sin City, because of the immorality and corruption that goes on there. Might someone have said that of the earthquake that hit Haiti...God punished them because of the witchcraft and voodoo worship there, or the earthquake that hit Chile...God punished the people because of great sins that are going on in that city.

Have you ever thought that about someone you know? Do you know someone who is not a good person and their home burned down or they had an accident or something bad happened to their family and you thought, "God is punishing that person because he/she deserves it...he’s not a kind person, she’s not a person you can trust, so God is punishing him/her.

Or have you thought that about yourself...that God is punishing you when something bad happens to you: a loved one dies, you’re stuck in a job you don’t like, you wish you had a job you don’t like. Is God punishing you? The answer Jesus gave in our text is the same for you (v 3). No, just because something bad happens that does not mean that God is punishing. It can but we don’t know that unless God tells us specifically as when he took the life of King David’s son as punishment for David’s adultery and murder, or when God punished the Jews for their unbelief by sending them into the Babylonian captivity for 70 years. And in the year 70 when God punished the Jews again for their unbelief by using the Roman General Titus to destroy the city of Jerusalem. We know when something bad is sent by God to punish someone only when God clearly tells us in Scripture. Other-wise we cannot say that.

What Jesus does tell us is this: if you see something bad happen-ing to someone, count your blessings, remind yourself, "There but for the grace of God, go I," and thank God for keeping harm from coming your way. And then, like a healthy fig tree, let there be evidence, let there be fruits of faith in your life that show that you know what it means to repent. You know that Jesus paid for your sins when he died on a cross; he took away your guilt, he suffered your pain and your punishment so that you are forgiven. To repent means to say you’re sorry to Jesus for your sins and for his suffering and that you want his help to show him your love and your thanks in your life.

I know that many of you have heard the story about how I got my first bike when I was young boy in the fourth grade. But I want to tell that story again because I can’t think of a better way to illustrate the point Jesus is making...a very sad and poignant point... is describing how he tried to get the Jews, the citizens of Jerusalem to believe in him as their Savior, but they were unwilling to let him do that.

This morning we consider this wonderful truth: JESUS LOVES YOU WITH ALL OF HIS HEART.

I got my first bike in this way: I had gone to the grocery store for my mother. I had a list of things to get that filled two grocery bags, which I put into my red, Flyer coaster wagon, as we used to call them. My house was on 7^th street; Ray’s grocery story was on 6^th street. To get to the store I walked through the alley to Burleigh Street, east a half a block, then around the corner to Ray’s grocery store, next to Lustig’s Tap, the corner bar.

I was on the way home with the groceries and when I walked back down Burleigh Street and entered the alley, my friend Kar-en was riding toward me on bike. It wasn’t the full-size 26 inch tire on the bike; it the next size down. She rode up to me and said, "Do you want to ride it?" Sure, I wanted to ride it; I didn’t have my own bike so it was pretty cool that she was willing to let me ride "her" bike.

When I got on the bike, she said, "It’s your bike." I didn’t under-stand what she meant. How could it be my bike? I didn’t have a bike. Then she said, "Look down the alley." Our house was way down at the other end of the alley. But I could make out the fig-ure of my Dad, waving at me. It really was my bike. I didn’t be-lieve Karen when she told me it was my bike; I believed it was my bike when I saw my Dad waving. My Dad gave me the faith to take possession of my bike when he waved. My Dad gave me the faith to receive the gift of a bike.

Can you imagine how my Dad would have felt if I had given the bike back to Karen and pulled my coaster wagon with its cargo of groceries down the alley, and then, when I had come to where my Dad was standing I would have said to him, "I don’t want the bike; you can keep it or give it to somebody else." My Dad worked two jobs to make ends meet for our family. He and my Mother saved up for a long time to buy that bike for me.

Listen again to what Jesus said to the Jew people who lived in Jerusalem (v 34). The Jews needed a Savior from sin more than I needed a bike. And Jesus wanted to give them what they needed to save them from sin more than my Dad wanted to give me a bike...and my Mom and my Dad really wanted me to have a bike and were very happy and proud when they actually saved enough money over a period of almost a year to buy that bike...which cost them $15!!

What did it cost Jesus to save the citizens of Jerusalem, that is the Jewish nation...that is, the entire world’s population! It cost Jesus his life...his perfect life which he lived here on this earth, and the loss of his life when he died on the cross. He wanted the Jews to believe that he was their Savior from sin and death and hell. Jesus loved the people of Jerusalem with all his heart and they said ‘no’ to his love, ‘no’ to his forgiveness, ‘no’ to eternal life in heaven. How did that make him feel? Listen again to the words, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem." These are words of lament and deep sadness...and love as when he said to his friend, "Martha, Martha," and then told her that her sister Mary knew that the one thing needful was to listen to his word of salvation, or when Je-sus said to Saul, "Saul, Saul, why do you keep resisting the truth and persecuting those who believe in me. I think also of the words of David when he found out that his son Absalom had been killed, "Absalom my son, my son; Absalom my son." These were words of deep sorrow and love even for the son who tried to take David’s kingdom away from him by turning the people against him.

So the words of Jesus, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem," are words of deep sorrow and love because he came to give salvation to the Jews and they refused to receive it...refused to believe. Can you imagine anyone not wanting to be loved by Jesus? not wanting his forgiveness? not wanting salvation in heaven?

What can we say about the Jews of Jesus’ day...about the Jews or any other unbelievers of today’s world? They are independent thinkers, they don’t need anything from God, they don’t need God’s forgiveness, God’s love, God’s salvation so they get along in life without a need to confess their sins, without any interest in getting to know why Jesus says that he loves them and died for them and offers them the forgiveness of sins.

How do these people live and face each day and the reality of death without faith in Jesus, without loving Jesus, without any appreciation for who Jesus and what he did for them?

Or let me ask this: When you choose to ignore God’s Word and go your own way in life, choose to think you are so independent that you don’t need to rely on God in your life, choose to believe that you can choose to sin in way...when you do these things are you, and I, any less acting in unbelief than the most pagan of pagans? You don’t love Jesus with all your heart, but you count on him to love you with all his heart. You don’t expect Jesus to turn away from you even though you turn away from him. You don’t want Jesus ignore what’s going on in your life...you want him to hear your prayers and answer them...you want him to take care of you and not neglect you even though you choose to neg-lect him and not take care of your faith. You and I...we are no different than the Jews who would not allow him to gather them together under his protective arms as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings. We push Jesus away, we run away, we tell him, "I don’t want the bike...don’t want your love" when we set our-selves above his will for our lives.

But there is a difference between you and me and those who do not want Jesus’ love: because he has given us faith...the belief and conviction that he loves us and died for us...we come to our spiritual senses and ask him to forgive us, ask him to keep loving us and protecting us and providing for us and keeping us on the path to eternal life in heaven, keeping us thankful to him for being our Savior and for loving us with all his heart.

How often do you do this? Every day! Several times a day! Be at peace with God; Jesus loves you with all his heart. Love him because of his love for you

Luke 4.1-13   Lent 1   Hymns: 403, 121, 541, 422

Doesn’t it astound you when you read how cruel some people can be to others? A couple of weeks ago in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico, a group of drug dealers invaded a home where teenage kids were celebrating a birthday and shot 10 or 15 of these kids to death. One of these kids was a member of our mission church in Mexico! How could anyone be so cruel? The news is full of these kinds of horrible stories of shear cruelty that destroys the lives of the innocent.

Worse than that is the work of the devil whose hatred of God, and you, compels him to kill, not your body but your soul. Satan’s intent is to deprive you and all people from living your eternal life in heaven..to keep people who are not Christians from becoming Christians, and to tear the faith in Jesus out of the hearts of people, like yourselves, who are Christians.

Satan rebelled against God because he wanted to rule the world with his evil ways. He destroyed what was good, beginning with Adam and Eve. He lied to them and said that they would be like God if they ate from the Tree of Knowledge...they would not die, as God said . You and I should be outraged because of what Satan did to Adam and Eve and to us today who live in a world than can be cruel...a world that is full of evil and death. We should be outraged. Because of Satan, and Adam and Eve, we are sinful...we suffer the affects of sin in our lives. We are lost and condemned creatures and we cannot pay for our sins to work ourselves back into God’s good graces and earn our way into his heaven. But we are not without hope...hope that is found in God and in his Messiah, Jesus our Savior.

This morning let us LEARN FROM HISTORY OF SATAN’S POWER...AND SATAN’S DEFEAT! Before we look at the way Satan tempted Jesus, let’s take a brief look at the history of the world to see what Satan has done to many people in addition to what he did to Adam and Eve.

Satan understood what God said in Eden...that he would send a descendant of Eve who would crush and destroy him. And Satan did everything in his power to keep that from happening. He somehow tore the faith out of Cain’s heart, the oldest son of Adam and Eve, and turned him into a murderer, killing his own brother. Don’t underestimate how vicious Satan is. After 2000 years of life on this planet Satan had turned everyone against God except for Noah and his family. God sent a global flood and started over in populating the earth with people. Satan tore the faith out of the heart of Saul, the first king of Israel, who tried to kill David, through whose family line the Savior was to come. And Saul took his own life in despair.

Satan used sex to lure David, an ancestor of Jesus, into committing adultery with Bathsheba, and then to engineer the murder of her husband Uriah in an attempt to cover his sin. If it had not been for God David would have lost his faith...Satan would have succeeded in keeping the Messiah from coming.

Satan turned most of the kings of Israel into pagans who no longer looked for the promised Messiah but embraced the gods of Baal, like King Ahab, wife of Jezebel. Satan turned the people of Israel against the prophets who condemned the immorality and unbelief of the Jews and were themselves beaten and killed. And God punished the Jews with 70 years of captivity in Babylon, brought them back to Jerusalem to restore their temple wor-ship and dependence on God for his forgiveness, only to have Satan turn the hearts of God’s people against him even during the earthly life of Jesus.

Throughout the Old Testament era Satan was doing everything in his power to destroy the people of God in order to keep the Messiah from coming into the world who would destroy him and save the human race from sin and unbelief.

Which is why we find Satan tempting Jesus to sin, trying to keep Jesus from doing what he came to do for us: pay for our sins with his life so we can have the eternal life God intended for Adam and Eve in the first place, and destroy the power and life of Satan. Satan actually thought that since he was successful in leading men of history against God, men like Saul and David and the kings of Israel, he could do the same to Jesus the Son of God and Son of Men.

Three temptations...and they were very cunning and calculated: 1^st : Jesus, you can’t be sure if you are divine or not. After all, you’re starving; humans feel hunger pangs, not God. Turn the stones to bread just to make sure of your identity, to ease your mind that you really are God and can save the world from sin as you THINK you can do.

2^nd: You seem to be confident that you are the Son of God. Just to make sure that God is behind your idea of saving the world, jump off from a high pinnacle. If God really wants you to be the Savior, he won’t allow any harm to come to you.

3^rd: You know that if you’re going to pay for the sins of the world you’re going to have to suffer horribly by the crucifixion route on the cross. Let me spare you. Bow down to me and I will give you power the likes of which you have never known. I’ll give you the authority and splendor over all the kingdoms on earth, as far as the eye can see. Let me do this for you.

Dear Christian, learn from history how vicious Satan is. He tried to keep Jesus from saving you and all of humanity as he sucessfully turned many of God’s people against him. And his goal is to tear your faith out of your heart. Indulge yourself into the world’s pleasures; you owe it to yourself. Prove it to yourself that you’re a Christian; sin all you please; it’s not going to hurt you. Take charge of your life; be an independent thinker. The world is passing you by. Money, sex, power, your job. Jump right in. If you’re really a Christian God will protect you. And if he doesn’t, it’s his fault, not yours. God says, "Don’t do this," and "Don’t do that." Forget him. He doesn’t understand what makes you tick. Listen to me! Satan has power, the power of persuasion through lies. Paul (2 Cor 4:4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

But learn also of Satan’s defeat. Listen to what the writer to the Hebrews wrote about Jesus, (2:14-18), Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Again, (Col 1:13-14 For he (Jesus) has rescued us from... dark-ness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

And again, Jesus said to Paul Acts 26:17-18, ...I am sending you to (Gentiles) to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.

Again Paul wrote to the Galatian believers what every Christian already knows, (5:19-21, The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry... hatred...jealousy...selfish ambition...and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But Paul goes on to say (5:22-24 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self–control...Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.

Learn from history that Satan has power and has torn saving faith from the heart of many who allowed him to do that. Jesus’ own disciple, Judas, was one of those. But Satan has been destroyed by Jesus. He did not allow Satan to lead him to sin. With every lie Satan told him, Jesus used the power of God’s Word to blow him off. And you and I can do the same with that same powerful Word of God. Satan has been defeated; sin has been paid for. Use the power of God’s Word, trust in Jesus your Savior; turn from Satan who wants to destroy you to Jesus who destroyed him.

Luke 9.28-36     Transfiguration    Hymns: 95, 97, 96, 331

I saw Aaron Copland once. Beth and I attended the Milwaukee symphony years ago. It was an "All Copland" concert. The composer himself, Aaron Copland, was in attendance. As we were leaving the concert hall I saw him getting off an elevator.

I met Leo Durocher one time. I got onto an elevator in Methodist Hospital at the Houston Medical Center years ago and he was already on the elevator. I looked at him and thought to myself, "Is he Leo Durocher?" So I asked him and it was he! If you’re interested I’ll tell you some time what he said to me.

Beth and I were out for dinner at one of Milwaukee’s finer restaurants (it must have been some special occasion). And not ten feet from our table, having dinner, was none other than the actor Ernest Borgnine. He was in town to discuss plans for the 4^th of July parade. He was the parade marshal for many years.

Our son Mark met Ryan Nolan. Mark was an usher at Milwaukee County Stadium. His assigned area was in the visiting team dugout. The Brewers were playing the Texas Rangers. That day Nolan Ryan pitched his 3,000 strike out. When he came into the dugout after the inning was over, Mark congratulated him for his achievement. "Thanks, son," he said to Mark. Special!

I even held down the gallery ropes for Arnie Palmer once at the Shell Houston Open at Champions CC. He hooked his ball off the fairway onto some pine needles right under the gallery rope, which I had to hold down for him so he was able to have a clear path to hit the ball. We had a brief humorous back-and-forth chat; I’ll tell you about it some time, if you’re interested.

If you’re interested! If you’re interested in golf you might ask me about Arnie Palmer; baseball...Nolan Ryan or Leo Durocher; music...Copland. If you’re not interested in these people you won’t bother asking me about my experience. "I SAW JESUS...JESUS THE SON OF GOD!" That’s what Jesus’ diciples told people. Was anyone interested in their experience? Did anyone ask them about Jesus? Some, perhaps.

Jesus went up on a mountain to pray and took Peter, James and John with him. Jesus prayed; the disciples slept! While the disciples were sleeping Jesus revealed his divine nature. A brilliant light, like the white flash of lightening came off his body. The light was so bright that it caused the disciples to wake up out of a deep sleep. They saw that brilliant light and they saw Moses and Elijah standing with Jesus and talking to him about his departure. Before we go any farther, let’s look at some of the details of what is called "The Transfiguration of Jesus."

There was a meeting of church leaders in the year 451 A.D. That meeting is called the Council of Chalcedon. At that meeting the Christian doctrine of the Communication (sharing) of Attributes was established. What that doctrine, the Communication of At-tributes says is this: The characteristics of Jesus, the Son of God and the characteristics of Jesus, the Son of Mary, are joined together in Jesus, the divine and human Savior of the world. That is to say, Jesus is both true God and he is truly human, as we confess in the Nicene Creed. The moment Jesus was conceived in Mary’s womb, he was both human and divine. Throughout his earthly life Jesus was human and divine. When Jesus died on the cross, it was true God and true man who died. So also when he rose from the dead; so also now as he "sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty," Jesus is still true man and true God. He had to be both human and divine in order to take our place and be the Savior of all people. 1 Tim 2:5-6 For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men.

During his earthly life, Jesus humbled himself, that is, most of the time he did not reveal himself as God but only as a man, a human being. However, when Jesus caused the storm on the Sea of Galilee to come to an immediate halt, his disciples said, "Surely you are the Son of God." Jesus revealed that he is God by doing the miracle. "Surely you are the Son of God," the disciples said when Jesus walked on water. Jesus revealed that he is God by that miracle. Every time he did a miracle people could see his glory, see that he is God.

On the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus’ disciples, Peter, James and John saw the glory of Jesus as a brilliant light shone from his body. Each one of them could say, "I saw Jesus...Jesus the Son of God." They saw Jesus the man. They ate with him and spoke with him. They saw his emotions, even his tears when he cried for the people who mourned the death of Lazarus. And they saw him die; they buried his body in a grave and they saw the nail marks in his hands and side. For the most part they saw Jesus the man; on the Mt. of Transfiguration they saw Jesus who is God. He allowed his disciples to see his glory.

And they saw and heard Jesus speaking with Moses and Elijah about his "departure," that is, they were talking about the day he would die on a cross and complete his work of salvation and depart from the earth. And they would have been talking about his Ascension, the day when, again, Peter, James and John would see Jesus ascend before their eyes and return to heaven because he had completed his work of salvation. The disciples saw the glory of Jesus, the Son of God, and heard about the conversation about how Jesus would save the world from sin.

Both John and Peter wrote about this experience (Jn 1.14; 2 Pet 1.16-18). Can you imagine how this would have put an exclamation point on their preaching and teaching? They could say, "I saw Jesus...Jesus the Son of God! I saw his glory on the mount-ain when he revealed himself as God. This is the Savior from sin and death. I can tell you this from my own experience. I was an eye witness!" They would have told stories about him and his miracles as evidence that he was the Son of God.

This is your Savior of whom you can say, "I see Jesus...Jesus the Son of God!" Open your eyes of faith! Don’t take Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross for granted? Open your eyes; he paid for your sins! Don’t just go through the routine of receiving the Lord’s Supper? Open your eyes! You see Jesus’ love and receive his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. And use this sacrament to deal with sin...to give it a harsh blow of Chrisitan reality by sending it away!  Do you see an uncertain future for you, for your children...a scary world out there that doesn’t care whether you live or die. Open your eyes! See Jesus who prepared a place in the mansions of heaven for you, not a comfortable suite in a nursing home. Talk to people about what you see...Jesus the Son of God who loves you, and them.

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

2 Peter 1:16 - 18 We did not follow cleverly invented stories when we told you about the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to him from the Majestic Glory, saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." We ourselves heard this voice that came from heaven when we were with him on the sacred mountain.

Lk 5.1-11 Epiphany 5   Hymns: 567, 564, 557, 562

The Apostle Paul writes, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith...it is a gift of God..." (Eph.2.8,9). You are a Christ-ian by the grace of God...only because God chose you to receive the gift of faith to believe in Jesus as your Savior from sin.

Just what does this mean for you personally...to believe in Jesus? You believe you are a sinner, condemned by God, but also you believe you are forgiven...loved by God. You believe that you are forgiven because Jesus died on a cross for you where he paid the debt of your sin on your behalf. You owe him nothing; his love and forgiveness are free! Simply believe.

You believe that while he was on this earth Jesus lived a perfect life. He never had a sinful thought, never spoke a sinful word, never did something that was sinful. And his perfect life is credited to you. It’s as though you lived a perfect life and that’s how God looks at you...you are perfect and holy, as if you never sinned in any way in your life!

You believe that you will die some day because it is a sinful world in which you live and you are still a sinful person. But you also be-lieve that because Jesus died and rose again from his grave, you will also rise from your grave, you will come back to life just as Jesus did and he will take you to heaven, body and soul, to live with him there in a perfect and sinless place forever and forever and forever. This is what it means to be a Christian.

And there’s more. Being a Christian also means living your life with a Christian attitude and wanting to share what you know about Jesus with other people. That’s what Jesus expects us to do, to live with a Christian attitude and to share what we know about him with others. And he made this clear in a very dramatic way when he was with his disciples. Even though we haven’t experi-enced the kind of miracle Jesus did for his disciples that we read about in our text, nonetheless what Jesus said to his disciples after that miracle he still says to us today and to Christians of every generation. And that is: CATCH MEN.

Jesus used the occupation of his disciples to make the point that he wanted them to be telling people about him...Jesus. The disciples had been fishing all night without catching any fish. They were cleaning their fishing nets. And Jesus was nearby, speaking the Word of God to a crowd of people. We don’t have to guess what that Word of God was that Jesus was telling them. He was telling them that he was Messiah sent from God to save the world from sin and damnation. It must have been a large crowd because Jesus got into one of the fishing boats, pushed out into the water a short distance where it was easier for the people to see and hear him.

After he finished speaking he told the disciples to go fishing again. Peter put up a mild protest. "We’ve been fishing all night and didn’t catch anything. But if that’s what you want us to do, we’ll do it. But I don’t expect we’ll have any different results especially because the time to go fishing is at night and not during the day... which all of us who make our living in fishing understand! But if that’s what YOU want us to do, we’ll do it."

It was all about trust, wasn’t it? It was all about going against the odds (fishing during the day and not at night). And Peter didn’t be-lieve that Jesus could succeed where the "odds" were against him. You know the outcome.

The men caught so many fish that they needed help from another fishing boat to drag in the nets, which were breaking. And even at that, there were so many fish that both of the boats came close to sinking because of the weight. Peter was devastated. "Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man" he said. He dared to question the wisdom and the command of Jesus to go fishing because Jesus didn’t "know" what he was telling him to do. Jesus wasn’t a fisherman! Jesus didn’t understand the fishing business. He was only the Christ, the Messiah, the Creator of the world, the one who came to pay for sin and conquer death and the devil. What did Jesus know about fishing!?"

Jesus is the Son of God who knows all things and has power over all things. He wanted to impress on Peter and the other disciples that their days of fishing for fish were going to be expanded to fishing for men, to Catch Men, people, young and old, male and female...people who didn’t know and believe in Jesus.

It’s all about trust, isn’t it, still for you and me today. Where do you work...in your home moping floors and changing diapers, cleaning the garage and repairing a leaky faucet? Do you work in an office...writing computer programs or using programs written by other people? managing people or making phone calls? Do you work with machines making stuff or fixing things, or moving ob-jects from here to there? Whatever it is that you do and wherever you do it Jesus says, Catch men.

If Jesus had used your occupation to make a point about catching men as he did with his fishermen disciples (catch fish/catch men), he might say something like, "From now on you will change hearts and not only diapers," or "From now on you will repair hearts and not only leaky faucets," or "From now on you will help people re-format their lives and not just their hard drives." It’s all the same meaning: Catch men at whatever you in life do and wherever you do it. There are lost souls that need to be found and rescued and saved and brought to faith in Jesus.

Will you like Peter doubt that you will succeed in catching men as he doubted he would catch fish? Don’t doubt the power of Jesus who works miracles through the power of his Word. Peter threw out the net and the net is what caught the fish, not Peter. How much skill is there in that? Throw out the net of the gospel to peo-ple who are in your network of family and co-workers, neighbors and friends. The power of the Gospel changes hearts from unbelief to faith, repairs hearts that are broken by the guilt of sin, reformats hearts that are infected with the virus of despair and doubt.

You catch men. Wherever you are, whatever you do create oppor-tunities to live your faith and share your faith. Jesus loves you and died for you and for everyone. Tell people what that means for you. The impure and unholy thoughts you entertain...forgiven! The angry words and foul language that come out of your mouth...for-given! The greed and selfishness that keep you from being gener-ous and compassionate toward others...forgiven.

Catch men! Tell people who Jesus is and what he has done for you and for them. Give them a Forward in Christ and point out an ar-ticle that was especially helpful to you. Invite them to attend the Live A Moral Life presentations or tell them that you’ll go to a BIC with them. What’s your occupation? God will use that, as he used the fishermen/disciples, to catch men with the power of the Word.

Luke 4.20-31

Epiphany 4

Hymns: 281, 83, 86, 356

Let’s review a few things about our relationship with God, yours and mine. First, we are alive. We didn’t choose to be a-live; God and no other gave us the precious gift of life. He didn’t owe that to us. We didn’t exist until he brought us into existence. Nor does he owe anything else to us. He doesn’t owe it to us to take care of us every day, to protect us every day, to get us through difficult times, to make us happy or keep us healthy. Nor does God owe it to us to give us a happy life after we die. As sinful beings we have no claim on God for anything, not for anything in this life on earth and certainly no claim to be with him after this life in heaven. Sin separates us from God; our sin requires that our holy God condemn us forever in the place where sinners belong ...in hell, together with Satan the architect of sin.

Second , we were born of sinful parents. We inherited their genes, we resemble them physically, we share some of their gifts and abilities and we inherited their sinful nature. If your parents were Christians when you were born (mine were not), you did not inherit their faith in Jesus but you did inherit their need for a Savior. We are born sinners, we didn’t become sinners as we grew older.

Third, God loves us...he loves the world, all people. We know this because he tells us so in the Bible. He loves us; I don’t know why, do you? He does love us. Because of his mercy; be-cause he wants us to share heaven with him he loves us so much that he gave his own Son, Jesus, to pay for our sins by dying on a cross. And God asks absolutely nothing of us in any way, shape or form in order to be forgiven of sin and share heaven with him. Simply believe that Jesus is God’s Son, your Savior and you are forgiven and have eternal life.

You know these things. Do you also know the greatest danger you and I face as Christians? It’s spiritual apathy or what we might refer to as GOD-OWES-IT-TO-ME-ITIS!

What is GOD-OWES-IT-TO-ME-ITIS? It sounds like a disease, and it is. It’s the disease of spiritual apathy, of taking God’s love and forgiveness for granted. It’s having the idea that God takes care of us and provides for us and loves us and will take us to heaven because he owes that to us, we deserve that from him, when just the opposite is true.

The Jews where Jesus grew up, Nazareth, had GOD-OWES-IT-TO-ME-ITIS. Here’s the situation: Jesus had begun his public ministry when he was 30 years old and was telling people that he was not only Mary’s son but God’s Son...the Messiah whom God promised he would send to save the world from sin and damnation. Jesus’ friends and neighbors who had known him for 30 years, who watched him grow up and mature were dumb-founded and incredulous. One Saturday he led temple worship and read from the prophet Isaiah (61.1,2). After reading that he told the worshipers that he had spoken those words 600 years earlier, that he is the one who had come to free the world from the poverty and slavery of sin, to give faith to the spiritually blind and salvation to everyone who believes.

The worshipers in that temple didn’t believe Jesus. "Prove it to us that you are the Messiah," they demanded. "We don’t need to be saved from anything. We are descendants of Abraham. God will take us to heaven because we are Jews; we live by the laws of God and God owes heaven to us." They had GOD-OWES-IT-TO-ME-ITIS," although they didn’t call it that. They wanted Jesus to prove he was the Messiah by doing miracle for them as he had done in the city of Capernaum.

This is key to understanding what they were saying. In Caper-naum Jesus had healed the servant of a Roman soldier...non-Jews. Their demand was this: "You healed Gentiles in Caperna-um. You owe it to us, fellow Jews, to do miracles here in Naz-areth. Then we’ll listen to your claim to be the Messiah." They had GOD-OWES-IT-TO-ME-ITIS. They didn’t need to repent of their sins and ask for forgiveness. God owed that to them.

Then Jesus told them something that made them very angry

(read vs 23-30). This was a lesson out of the pages of the Old Testament that involved their Jewish ancestors. During the time of the prophet Elijah there was a famine that lasted 3 years. Eli-jah condemned the Jews for their unbelief. They had been wors-hiping the pagan god Baal and not the God of Israel, the God who promised to send a Messiah. Because of their unbelief God sent Elijah to help, not the Jews but a Gentile woman from the city of Zarephath. God performed a miracle through Elijah and supplied this pagan woman with oil and food that lasted through the duration of the famine. Elijah performed a miracle for a pag-an woman but not for the Jews because they refused to repent of their unbelief; God withheld his blessing from them.

A similar thing happened during the time of the prophet Elisha. Because of the unbelief of his fellow Jews Elisha did not heal any of them but he did heal a Gentile...Naaman. God showed mercy to a pagan through the miracle for which he was thank-ful but withheld miracles from the Jews because of they had turned their backs on God in unbelief...exactly what the Jews of Nazareth were doing to Jesus. They did not repent; they did not believe they needed a Messiah to pay for and forgive them of their sins. They had the spiritual disease GOD-OWES-IT-TO-ME-ITIS. They were angry because Jesus was telling them that just as their Jewish ancestors did not receive miracles because of their unbelief, so he would not do miracles for them because of their unbelief, their GOD-OWES-IT-TO-ME-ITIS.

You are a Christian...you attend worship...your bring your offer-ings...you say your prayers...you are a good person...you know where your Bible is and you could read it every day if you wanted to but don’t have the time...you try your best to what God wants you to do. And what you get for it? Nothing! You need a miracle from God and it’s not happening. You need a lit-tle consideration from God, you need things to go better in your life...less stress and irritation, a better mental outlook, some-thing positive as you see other people have who are less deserv-ing than you are! Why is it that people can be dishonest, selfish, immoral, uncaring and all kinds of great things are happening to them! That’s classic GOD-OWES-IT-TO-ME-ITIS!

You and I have the peace of Christ...his love and his forgive-ness. You and I have the certain knowledge that eternal life is our, not because God owes it to us but because God freely gives it to us because Jesus took away our guilt of sin, freed us from the debt of sin and made us holy and righteous and forgiven. And he who gives us heaven also gives us what we need, even struggles in life, to draw us to himself in repentance and faith for his forgiveness.

God owes us nothing but gives us everything. There’s no room for GOD-OWES-IT-TO-ME-ITIS in the heart of the Christian... in your heart and mine. There’s only room for, "Thank you dear Jesus for your undeserved love and forgiveness and salvation. Keep me close to you as I daily dig into your Word to keep my faith strong and my thankful heart trusting in you for giving me your life and your love and all that I need to survive this life and to be carried to heaven some day to be with your forever."

Epiphany 3

Luke 4.14-21

Hymns: 79, 168, 313, 318

When Jesus performed his first public miracle and turned water to wine at a wedding in Cana, that miracle reinforced the disciples’ belief that he really was the Son of God. Mary, Jesus’ mother, had been convinced of that for 30 years. When she told Jesus that there was no more wine, and some servants to do whatever Jesus told them to do, it was with the personal conviction that Jesus, the Son of God, would do something to spare the bridal couple from em-barrassment and replenish the supply of wine. And he did...by turning water to wine.

Can you imagine the reaction of the guests at that wedding when word spread where this new supply of wine came from? Jesus had the opportunity to tell people that he was the long-promised Savior who had come to pay for the sins of the world and offer free salvation to everyone who believed in him.

The people of Nazareth whom we meet in our text this morning would have had a similar reaction. They knew Jesus as a boy and watched him grow up. To them he was Joseph’s son, an ordinary man. But he was more than an ordinary man; he was extraordinary; he was/is not Joseph’s son but God’s Son!

One Saturday after Jesus returned to Nazareth from Palestine he was asked to participate in the synagogue worship. He was given the opportunity to "make his case" that he was the Messiah, God’s promised Savior from sin. The people of Nazareth wanted to know more about his claim to be that Messiah and Jesus gladly seized the opportunity to oblige them.

And we today, 2000 years later, want to learn more about Jesus our Savior, too, from this extraordinary incident when JESUS RE-VEALED THE PURPOSE OF HIS MINISTRY: PROCLAIM SALVATION FROM SIN.

Visualize what was happening. Jesus, at the age of 30, was now for the first time telling people that he was the Messiah. And we are told (v 14,15). Jesus was gaining a reputation. Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah, and the power of his teaching and preaching, was enough to make the leaders of the synagogue ask him to lead the Sabbath worship. He read the Old Testament lesson appointed for that day, Isaiah, chapter 61...the same lesson I ready a few minutes ago (read Is 61.1,2). Listen again to this portion of Isaiah (v 18-21). Who is speaking these words...did you get it? It is the second person of the Trinity speaking...the Son of God...Jesus himself who, spoke those words penned by the prophet Isaiah and who would himself become the incarnate son of Mary. This is Joseph’s son speaking and he told them v 21b! "I am the one who spoke those words 600 years ago; I am the Messiah describing the work I would be doing as the world’s Savior...and here I am!

Can you see the members of that synagogue looking at each other and saying, "Did I hear what I thought I heard?" Then v 22
 

Let’s relate this incident to the ministry today. The people of Nazareth saw Joseph’s son standing in front of them leading the worship. Whom do you see standing in front of you? You see "Pastor Gabb." During my seminary years I preached in the con-gregation where I grew up in Milwaukee. When the members of Bethesda Lutheran Church looked at me in the pulpit they saw Ray and LaVerne’s son (my parents). To the people who saw me grow up in that congregation, the teachers in the Christian day school, my classmates and their parents, I was then and I still am Billy Gabb. In April when we celebrate our 25^th anniversary, Pastor Kevin Draper, Sleepy Eye, MN will preach in the morning service. To some of you he is "Kevin," a son of Atonement who used to work for IBM but now is a second-career pastor. He’s Jack and Judy’s son. To others of you he is Pastor Draper, a trained and or-dained pastor in our church body.

It is the sons and daughters of the members of our churches that serve in the ministry as pastors in our pulpits and teachers in the classrooms of our Christian day schools. I want to say to you sons and daughters of the members of Atonement, sons and daughters of Joseph and Mary or whatever the names of your parents are, as you think about what you’re going to do in your adult life, think about preparing yourselves to become a pastor or teacher having the privilege of sharing with others the message Jesus, proclaiming from pulpit and in the classroom the salvation from sin and death through faith in Jesus the Savior.

Jesus was more than a regular person...more than Joseph’s son. He is God’s Son. He created the world and made the rainbow...he made ants and elephants...he faced the temptations of Satan in the desert and drove him away with the power of the Word of God. He suffered the devil’s hate and his Father’s punishment while on the cross where he paid for your sins and mine. He descended to the devil’s domain in hell where he showed himself to be the victori-ous Messiah/Savior of the world who conquered death and hell itself by rising again from his grave. After his resurrection from the dead he appeared to his family and friends and to hundreds of people to prove that he is God’s Son and our Savior. Jesus is not an ordinary man; he is God, Redeemer of the world who proclaimed the message of salvation from sin.

And here is that message: (vs 18,19). You and I are poor. We are deep in debt due to the poverty of sin. We can’t bail ourselves out of this debt by working overtime to earn God’s forgiveness or by putting our good deeds/efforts into some kind of spiritual bank account where they can earn interest to pay for our sins. You and I are prisoners of our sinful nature; we are locked up in who and what we are by nature: sinful, lost and condemned souls.

We are spiritually blind. If someone drove their car through a stop sign and hit your car you would ask them, "Didn’t you see the stop sign?" When you are tempted to sin, you see Jesus standing before you with his hand up: STOP; don’t sin! What do you do? Plow right over him; run him down. Don’t you, with the eyes of faith, see Jesus? When you sin you don’t just disappoint Jesus, you run right over him!

Jesus brought you and me out of the debt of sin, freed from the poverty of sin because he paid the debt of sin for you. Jesus has freed you from being a prisoner to sin; you are free to say ‘no’ to sin because of the love and forgiveness of Jesus, the power of the Word of God itself that has been given us to use in our daily life. Use your faith and stop living as though you were a prisoner of war in Satan’s concentration camp. Jesus has removed your spiritual blindness so that you can see him as your Savior...his death on the cross...his empty grave enables you to see your salvation that lays before you in heaven.

The purpose of Jesus’ ministry was to pay for sin, to proclaim salvation to everyone who believes...the ministry of the church.

John 2.1-11

Epiphany 2

Hymns: 79 - 82 - 94 

There is a prayer that I have used as a benediction at the end of a wedding service that has this sentence: "May the Lord watch over your life and be the unseen guest at every meal." That’s a pleasant thought, isn’t it? May Jesus be the guest in every Christian marriage, every Christian home, really, whether married or not.

But it needs to go farther, doesn’t it? If Jesus is only a guest in our home, that implies that he is a visitor, someone who comes and goes but doesn’t stay. But JESUS IS MORE THAN A GUEST IN THE CHRISTIAN HOME, he is a part of the family...a family member.

If Jesus is a member of your family that will make a difference in how you act. For example, when you invite guests for dinner you aren’t 100% yourself...relaxed? You’re on your best behavior, you’re not sloppy, you don’t lounge around or take a nap on the couch and let your guest sit there all alone. If it’s just family, you would do that. If the house is a little messy, that’s alright.. But you would be embarrassed if your dinner guests came to a house with clothes lying around…a mess.

Is Jesus a guest in your home or a family member, MORE THAN A GUEST? Let’s set up a hypothetical situation. Let’s say that you’re sitting at home one evening. Suddenly you see Jesus sitting at one end of the couch. You would be startled, as you are when the doorbell or telephone rings. That would make a difference in what went on in your home after that. You would act differently if you could actually see Jesus there. You would be more careful in how you spoke with each other? You would be selective in the TV programs or movie you were watching, or turn off the TV is the program you were watching is something you know would offend Jesus. If Jesus looked around, would he see religious paintings hanging on the wall, a Bible sitting on a table next to your bed or easy chair…with a bookmark in it where you left off reading? torn pages scotchtaped together because of all the use it gets? If he appeared just as you sat down at the table to eat would you automatically fold your hands because you always pray before meals? And if, after you finished eating, Jesus offered to read the devotion book that you use for family devotions, would you know where it is and what you had read last for your family devotion?

Would Jesus’ sudden presence in your home make you feel uncomfortable, embarrassed, guilty because you would have to pretend to be the kind of family you know he wants you to be? Or would you wish he would hurry up and leave so that you could go back to being the family you really are...more comfortable when Jesus isn’t there?

Make Jesus a member of your family. He’s more than a guest and, actually, he is always there with your family even though you don’t see him or aren’t aware of it.

You have an advantage over the young couple in the Gospel lesson for today. They invited Jesus to their wedding without knowing who he really is; you know he is the Son of God, your Savior. He was just a friend of the family to them; he is Savior to you. Where were you married or where do you plan to be married? It is natural for Christians to be married in a church, in God’s house. You are making a statement when you do that. A marriage service is a worship service, not just a ceremony. It provides the opportunity for bride and groom, family and friends, to thank God for bringing the husband and wife together, to hear what God says in his Word about marriage, about loving and forgiving each other just as Jesus loves and forgives everyone who believes in him, and it provides the opportunity to ask God to bless a new marriage and to be MORE THAN A GUEST IN THAT NEW CHRISTIAN HOME, to be a member of that new Christian home, and in every Christian home whether someone is married or not.

One of the saddest things to me is when a young couple has a church wedding and then leaves Jesus at the altar because they don’t take him into their family. He is a guest at the wedding but is not a member of the family.

At the wedding at Cana Jesus caused a miracle to happen and replenished the supply of wine that had run out. Did you see anything else that he provided or did you only see the wine? Look again. Yes, he had the servants fill the water jars with water that turned into wine. And, yes, it was better wine that what had been served first.

But take a closer look. Jesus is not just someone to provide us with material things when we run out of them…you run out of gas so Jesus fills your tank; you run out of health, Jesus makes you better; you run out of happiness...Jesus isn’t supposed to let that happen! He’s supposed to keep us supplied with whatever we run out of and he’s not supposed to let us go through bad and difficult times of struggling and doctors and hospitals and bank loans. People who have the opinion that Jesus is just here to make sure that we have whatever we need and want for this life are going to be deeply troubled and distressed and disillusioned when things go sour in life.

Take a look again at what happened after Jesus made wine out of water (read v 11). The disciples got it right; the miracle proved to them that Jesus was the Son of God. And the reason why he came into our world as a human being was to save us from our sin and from hell. What could be more vital than that? At this wedding Jesus wanted the guests to ask, "Where did this good wine come from?" so that the steward could point to Jesus and say, "He provided it with a miracle; he made it out of water." Next question: "How could he do that? Who is he?" And you know the answer: Jesus the Son of God, the Savior who came to give his life to pay for the sins of all people so that we can have eternal life with him in heaven. Jesus is the Savior from sin, not the Savior from embarrassment or poor health or debt or hard work or the surgeon’s table. Because we are sinful, we will experience the effects of sin in our life.

Make no mistake, Jesus did provide wine; he did want the wedding celebration to be a success; he did provide for the physical, material needs of those at the wedding just as Jesus still provides us with food and clothes, our house and our job, our health and our family…everything comes from God. Take away all these things and what do we have left? Nothing? Not true. We still have eternal life in heaven because Jesus took away the guilt of our sin by paying for sin with his own life.

JESUS IS MORE THAN A GUEST IN THE CHRISTIAN HOME

; he is a family member who made us members of his family, he adopted us into his family so that we can call him our Brother. When we have a clear understanding of who Jesus is and why he came and what he did for us, well, that makes all the difference in the world as we live our life and make our choices and put our trust into Jesus’ care. Jesus is your family member. Live in the assurance of his love and your salvation.

The Baptism of Jesus

Luke 3.15-17,21,22

Hymns: 79, 89, 294

During the Advent season we spoke of the ministry of John the Baptist. He is known as the "forerunner" of Christ. He was in a way like the advance person of a politician. That advance per-son schedules events in a city where that politician is planning to visit so that people know ahead of time that the politician is coming to their town and to make sure that there will be a crowd of people to greet him/her at the airport and at the con-vention hall or wherever that politician plans to deliver a speech and try to garner some votes.

John the Baptist was such an advance person. He began his ministry before Jesus began his ministry. John let people know that Jesus the Messiah had come, that they should now be look-ing for him to meet him and listen to him because the time to wait and watch for him had come to an end after 4000 years when God first told Adam and Eve that some day a Messiah would arrive in the world to pay the sin they had committed and which ruined the human race, condemning us all to death and eternal damnation in hell.

John the Baptism prepared the people by calling on them to re-pent of their sins in order to be forgiven of their sins. That is, he called on the people to admit, to confess to God that as sinful and imperfect human beings they deserved his disdain and dis-gust and his damnation. But that is not all of John’s message. He also offered baptism to those who would repent of their sins and that baptism, that is, having water poured over their heads, they were to know that their sins were forgiven. This is how God communicated with the people in a very personal way... with the water and with the Word. And it is the power of his Word, connected with that water, that assured repentant sinners that they were indeed forgiven and that God would not hold their sins against them and condemn them.

Several months later Jesus began his ministry and came to John to be baptized. Jesus did not need to be baptized. He had no sin. Why was he baptized? To give you and me reason to MAKE US OF YOUR BAPTISM EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE.

Matthew gives us some information about Jesus’ baptism that Luke does not (3.13-15). When the people went to John to be baptized by him they wondered if he himself was the Christ, the promised Messiah. He clearly said that he was not the Messiah and that, in fact, he didn’t qualify to untie the sandals of the Messiah. In other words, he as a sinful human being was unwor-thy to perform even the most menial task for him who is the sinless Savior of the world. By comparison it would be like saying that you or I are not worthy to shine the shoes of some great human being, or to say, "I would honored to shine the shoes of some great humanitarian or hero who made a major contribution to the world for the good of all mankind.

Is that how you feel about Jesus...unworthy to serve him in some menial or minor way? Or when you pray to him do you think that you deserve to be heard? And not only heard but do you think that God should give you what you ask simply be-cause you ask it and want it? If you get impatient with God or even upset with him because he doesn’t do for you what you want him to do, you fail to see the sin in your heart and in your life and just how unworthy you are. When John said he was un-worth to untie Jesus’ sandals, would you have volunteered as if to say, "Oh, I am; I’m worthy."

Jesus was baptized by John and insisted on being baptized not because he needed to be baptized to wash away his sin; he is without sin. But Jesus was baptized because he needed to be baptized for us, in our place, as the one who took our sins on himself and needed to have them washed away.

Think of it this way: You and a friend go out for dinner. When the bill comes you pick it up and say, "I’ll take care of it." Out of the kindness of your heart you pay for your friend’s meal ev-en though you didn’t eat the food you’re paying for. Because of his love for the world Jesus pick-ed up the debt of our sin and said, "I’ll take care of it." Our sin needs to be paid for and Jesus offered to do that even though he himself did not sin. So he had to be baptized to wash away OUR sin, not his. And we are forgiven; our debt is paid. 2 Cor 5.21.

The people who happened to be there when Jesus was baptized were given the privilege of seeing a miracle of God...of the Triune God, that is. We are told that the windows of heaven opened, a dove descended and landed on Jesus and the voice of God the Father could be heard saying, "You are my beloved Son; in you I am well pleased." The people saw and heard the voice and appearance of God...the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (the dove).

What are we to make of it? During the next three years of Jesus’ life on earth he went to many places preaching to the people, proclaiming that he is the Savior from sin, and doing miracles that proved that he was the Savior from sin. Jesus showed him-self to be the human Son of Mary and Divine Son of God. He is the Stand-in for the human race, the Substitute Payer for sin. He is the God of our salvation who is the source of the forgiveness of sins that is offered through baptism as vehicle that brings us in a personal way what Jesus did on the cross in paying for the sins of the world. (Rom 6:3-5 , read).

You are a Christian; you confess your sins, repent of them and know that you are forgiven because Jesus paid for them when he lived a perfect life and died on the cross. Your sins no longer condemn you as they should because Jesus was condemned in your place. However, as long as we live in this world we face the danger of losing the faith given to us if we fail to repent and fail to cherish the forgiveness we have in Christ.

But remember your Baptism every day of your life. Therein lies the power we have to survive this sinful world so that we can one day live with Jesus in heaven. Make no mistake. When you chose to sin you are putting your faith at risk because choosing to sin is like slapping your Savior in the face and saying, "I don’t care that you died for me. I love to sin more than I love you!" Only repentance corrects the ugliness of sin by looking to Jesus the Savior from sin. And by remembering your baptism every day of your life you are drawing on the power of Jesus’ love and forgiveness to refuse to allow sin to control your heart. Live each day in the forgiveness of your Baptism.

Luke 2.41-52

Christmas 1

Hymns:34, 41, 54

We know very little about the life of Jesus following his birth in Bethlehem. What we do know is this: When the Jewish King Herod was told by the Wise Men from the Babylon area that they had come to worship a king who had recently been born, he was instantly outraged and issued a horrible edict, a heartless command that all baby boys two years of age and under should be killed. His reasons for doing so are obvious. Jesus was per-haps two years old at the time; Mary and Joseph were in no hur-ry to get back home 70 miles to the north in Nazareth.

The Lord revealed to Mary and Joseph that because of the kil-ling of the babies, the so-called, "killing of the innocents," they should go down to Egypt until the killing had stopped. Herod died about a year after that; Mary and Joseph went home.

One other thing we know about Jesus’ early life. When he was 8 days old, Mary and Joseph took him to the temple to be circum-cised, which was a covenant or type of sacrament that God had established with Abraham requiring all infant boys to have this minor operation as a sign that the Messiah would come to the world as a male child. Other than that we don’t know anything about Jesus until he was 12 years old when his parents took him to the temple in Jerusalem for the Passover Festival.

You know the story. Mary and Joseph traveled to Jerusalem with other families from Nazareth. It was safer since they had to walk through a dangerous wilderness area where highway rob-bers were known to ambush people. And it was just more fun to travel with family and friends, not unlike some trips you may have taken with family and friends of yours.

We assume that Mary and Joseph had arranged with Jesus that they were going to leave at a certain time to walk back to Naza-reth. And since Jesus was the perfect child...he never went through a "terrible twos" period...it was assumed that he was with some of his friends when the group left town. But he wasn’t; Mary and Joseph had to walk back to Jerusalem to find their mission Son. I put this question to you: WHERE WOULD YOU HAVE LOOKED FOR JESUS?

Think of one of your children today...where would you have gone looking for them if their whereabouts was unknown? What questions would you be asking yourself in respect to the inter-ests of a child of yours that would perhaps give you a clue as to where he/she was? Does your child like to play video games? Then you’d go to a video game store you might have seen while you were in Jerusalem for the Passover. Does your child like sports? Then you’d go to the baseball diamond or soccer field or gym where a basketball game was going on. Is your child a reader? Then you’d go to the library.

Jesus said to his parents (v 49). If Jesus had loved baseball he would have said, "Why did you waste time looking for me; you know I love baseball. Why didn’t you come here to the baseball diamond? or gym (for basketball) or library (for books).

Based on what they had come to know about Jesus for 12 years, Jesus question was a good one. You know who I am and why I’m here. I’m on a mission for you and for my heavenly Father; I have a vital and important job to do that all about my heavenly Father’s business. (V 5). They didn’t get it/understand. How could that be? Jesus didn’t attempt to explain. He simply obeyed his earthly parents and, in perfect obedience, did as they said and went home with them to Nazareth.

Let’s you and I look at what Jesus meant when he said that he had to be involved in his Father’s business so we can answer the question, "Where would you have looked for Jesus?"

What was the Father’s business? Let the 30 year old Jesus an-swer this question for us as we look at a number of quotes of Jesus in the Bible. Mark 1.38. Jesus had a message to share with people and he had to be at places where people would be able to listen to him. Jn 10.10. Jesus came to give life, eternal life to the people of this planet by laying down his own life as a sacrifice for our sins. Mt 5.17. Jesus came to do for the human race what we humans cannot do for ourselves: obey the Law of God perfectly...for us...so that we can have the forgiveness of sins and the hope of heaven. Mt 10.34,35. You have heard me say before that there is no way to talk to people about Jesus who don’t want to talk about Jesus without offending them or even making them angry. Jesus couldn’t either. Jesus stirred the pot when he told people that they were not good enough to pay for their sins and earn their way to heaven. He told parents to tell their children, "As long as you do not repent of your sins you will die in unbelief and I will not see you in heaven!" Such a statement can drive a wedge between parents and children so that some parents don’t want to say that to their children...even though Christian parents know that there is not a wedge but a chasm, a wide unsurpassable gully that divides heaven and hell and will forever separate believing parents from their unbeliev-ing children. Was it painful for Jesus to tell people that as he did his Father’s business? Yes. Was it true and necessary? Yes again. The Father’s business to awaken in people the need for a Savior by telling them that their sins condemn them. And that business was to awaken in people the promise that he had come to save them from their sins by paying for sin himself, on their behalf, so that they can be forgiven. Only, believe in him! The Father’s business was to save the world...first to tell people who he was and then show people who he was...the divine and human Son of God and Savior from sin and death and hell.

Mary and Joseph should have known Jesus well enough after 12 years that they would not have gone to a soccer field or library but to the temple where he was gaining insight and explaining to the religion teachers that his business was to be the Savior from sin and death and hell.

Where would you have looked for Jesus? The focus of this story in here (v 46,47). Jesus, the human Son of Man was preparing himself to do the Father’s business by studying the Word of God , by learning what the Father’s will is, by taking to heart what he was to do to save you and me. JESUS WAS IN THE WORD SO HE COULD DO THE FATHER’S BUSINESS AND SAVE YOU FROM SIN AND DEATH AND HELL! Think about it. Would you have gone to the temple to look for Jesus because you know him so well? Isn’t that why you come here, to find Jesus and this answer Jn 6.37-40

Advent 4

Luke 1.39-55

Hymns: 752, 24, 274, 27

English poet William Cowper (1731-1800) wrote the hymn (CW 420), God Moves in a Mysterious Way." It is surmised that he perhaps based this hymn on the words of the Prophet Isaiah (55.8,9), For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. You’ve very likely said that a time or two in your life, "God moves in mysterious ways," when you’ve marveled at the ways God does things... ways that you would never done things yourself if God had asked you for your opinion.

For example, you would not plan to have a major catastrophe come in to your life in you had the choice: sickness, death, loss of income, have your house burn down. You wouldn’t even plan to run out of gas or have a flat tire because it’s not a good thing to run out of gas or have a flat tire.

In the Old Testament Joseph, son of Jacob, was hated by his brothers. They sold him into slavery and...you know the story. He became second in command behind the Pharaoh of Egypt. Joseph ended up in prison for something he didn’t do because God wanted him there to interpret the dreams of the Pharaoh’s baker and butler so he could become known to the Pharaoh and interpret his dream and save that part of the world from a seven year famine. When Joseph’s brothers asked him if he was going to kill them because of what they had done to him, Joseph said to them (Gen 50.19-21). God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform, ways that you and I would never plan for ourselves.

And so it is that in his mysterious ways God saved the world, not be exacting punishment and payment for sin from us. But by sending his own Son to pay for the sins of the world...God’s mysterious ways! And the way Jesus came into the world was also a mystery. Born of a virgin as the human/divine Son of God and Son of Man! GOD WORKS IN MYSTERIOUS WAYS HIS WONDERS TO PERFORM!

Take, for example, what happened when Mary went to the home of her cousin, Elizabeth (v 39-41). Six months earlier Elizabeth found out that her son, John, would be the one to announce to the world that the Messiah had finally arrived; the Savior of the world had come. Even from the time before he was born John was designated by God to have this uncommon role in the hist-ory of the world. Even in his mother’s womb John was filled by the Holy Spirit. So when Mary walked through the door of the house where Elizabeth lived to tell her that she was going to give birth to that Messiah, John, still in the womb, reacted to Mary’s presence by kicking and getting excited. In your mind’s eye can you see Elizabeth grab her stomach and say to Mary, "Wow! Your being here is causing a stir in my tummy!"

Why did John kick in the womb? It wasn’t because Mary slam-med the door so loudly that John "woke up" and reacted to that. It was the Holy Spirit caused that to happen because God works in mysterious ways his wonders to perform.

We are to know that the Holy Spirit is able to work even in the life of an unborn child, John, as he does when he gives faith to a newborn infant through the Sacrament of Holy Baptism. In Bap-tism, it is not a prerequisite for an infant to be able to speak or even to understand the spoken word in order for the Holy Spirit to work faith in that child’s heart. An infant is a sinful human being who needs the forgiveness of sins and the faith to receive that forgiveness. And the Holy Spirit gives that faith to an in-fant through the power and promise of the Word of God itself (Jn 3.5,6; Acts 2.38,39; Titus 3.5).

Is it not wonder that you and I are here? If given the choice you and I would not have chosen to believe in Jesus as the world’s Savior from sin. Given the choice you and I would be of the opinion that as long as we try to be good, try to avoid the really big sins that make headline news, we can expect that God will forgive us and take us to heaven when we die. But that is not how salvation has come to us. It is not something in us that saves but only faith in what Jesus has done for us, paid for our sins and freely forgives. THEME

The Holy Spirit also used Elizabeth to establish they mystery of the virgin birth (v 41-45). As far as we know May had not told Elizabeth that she was the mother of the Messiah. Instead, Eliz-abeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, knew that this was the case. And John’s kicking in her womb was also a sign to Elizabeth that this was the case. Was Elizabeth, perhaps, still amazed that she was going to give birth to the son who would announce to the world that the Messiah had come? The Holy Spirit filled her heart with the assurance, and her prophecy established it, that she was indeed the mother of the Messiah-Proclaimer, and that Mary her cousin was indeed the mother of the one whom John would proclaim to be the world’s Savior. Theme!

Mary also, with a prophecy of her own, reveals how God works in mysterious ways (v 46-55). Mary understood her role in God’s plan of salvation. We still today talk about Mary, the virgin woman of 2000 years ago who gave birth to the world’s Savior from sin and death. We call her blessed, not because she was without sin but in spite of the fact that she who was a sinner was used by God to accomplish his purpose in bringing the Savior from sin into this sinful world.

Luke 3.7-14

Hymns: 19, 26, 16, 15

Finish this statement: "Christmas is the time to... pray for peace on earth? help poor people? bring smiles to kids’ faces by giving them gifts of toys and clothing? be together as a family to share love and fond memories of days gone by?" When you see how Christmas is marketed on TV and in the malls of America, it is all of the things I just mentioned.

How about, "Christmas is a time of repentance?" That word, ‘re-pentance,’ doesn’t go over too well in our secular world, does it? "Get ready for Christmas by repenting of your sins," sounds like something the Grinch or Ebenezer Scrooge would say just to spoil the Christmas spirit.

When was the world first put on notice that Christmas had arrived? It was 2000 years ago when angels told the shepherds that Jesus the Savior had been born in a stable in Bethlehem. That had zero impact on the world. It was 30 years after Jesus’ birth that John the Baptist, God’s messenger, pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sins of the world. And the operative word that John used in calling on people to welcome Jesus into the world was ‘repent!’

Is the call to repent like being hit in the face with a bucket of ice water? Does it ruin your Christmas spirit to think about your sins and repent fo them? No, the call to repent does not dampen the Christmas spirit, although it can make you feel as though you’ve been hit in the face with a bucket of ice water...as it should.

When the world speaks of celebrating an "old fashioned" Christ-mas it means: make your own cut-out Christmas cookies and ging-er bread house, go into the woods and cut down your own Christ-mas tree instead of going to a corner lot where you can buy a tree that was cut down in Michigan a month ago and shipped here (don’t even think ‘artificial tree!’). An old fashioned Christmas: make your own Christmas cards and gifts, have the family together for Christmas dinner. That is an old fashioned Christmas.

But there’s something missing. If you want to celebrate Christmas the old fashioned way, you need to go back to the days of John the Baptist. CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS THE OLD FASHIONED WAY: REPENT!

We see that the people who went out to see and hear John fell into at two categories: hypocrites and those who truly repented and were prepared to meet Jesus. We’ll begin with the hypocrites, the people whom John spoke to first in our text (vs 7-9).

John was speaking to the religious leaders of the Jews when he called them a brood of vipers, the offspring of Satan who deceived the Jews in the same way Satan deceived Adam and Eve. It was a deadly lie Satan told Adam and Eve: "You will not die just because you don’t do what God wants," said Satan. "You will not die just because you repent of sin," said the priests and rabbis. "You are the descendants of Abraham; you are ‘good people.’" It was not in their vocabulary to say, as did the publican, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." The teachers of the law did not teach the people that they were not keeping the law, nor were they capable of it as God requires, and were therefore destined for hell when they died. Ra-ther their sermon/homilies contained the message: Keep on being a good person...keep away from pork and shell fish and other unclean foods...keep away from Gentiles...keep saying your pray-ers...keep on being a Jew and you will having nothing to worry about when you die."

There was no repentance...no admission of the guilt of sin and therefore deserving God’s wrath and eternal punishment. They were willing to be baptized by John not because they understood the need to repent and have their sins washed away but because they were willing to go through the motions...because it was the pious and religious thing to do. This is hypocrisy. This is pre-tending to need God’s forgiveness but, in the heart, not believing that God’s forgiveness was needed.

If you watch TV programs like Law and Order you’ve seen the detectives interrogating people who are under suspicion for com-mitting a crime. The people lie and lie and lie until the detectives nail them to the wall with overwhelming evidence and only then do they admit to the crime and plead for understanding. That’s not repentance at work, it’s fear of being punished...jail time but no genuine remorse with a change of heart to confess to the crime, accept their punishment and turn their life around...change their attitude about doing what is right, not doing what is wrong.

Do you have to be nailed to the wall under the interrogation of God’s law before pleading for mercy, for forgiveness? True re-pentance is not superficial. It is not just regret for disappointing God by not being as good as he wants you to be. Repentance does not make excuses for sin, blame the world or someone else for being a bad influence on you and then moving on with your life without making any changes.

Are you the kind of person who blames everything and everyone under the sun for your failings and is unwilling to take responsi-bility for your own sinfulness? When you are brought face to face with your failings, do you claim that no one loves you, no one cares, no one understands what you’re going through? That’s not repentance. Do you come to church or say your prayers and ask God to help you just so you can say that you’ve gone through the motions but have no intention of looking at yourself and changing your attitude, doing something about getting sin under control?

Look at the others who came out to see John (vs 10-14). Here is genuine repentance: it is the clear admission of the guilt of sin and the desire to change their attitude and life in order to show both the understanding of what it means to be forgiven of that guilt of sin and the desire to demonstrate that in their lives.

True repentance is the willingness to give of yourself for the good of others. If you are truly sorry for saying hurtful words, you will say kind words. If you are truly sorry for being selfish you will show generosity. If you are truly sorry for being insensitive you will show kindness and caring. Repentance will be evident.

Listen to the message John had for the people who saw their need for mercy, need for forgiveness because of their sins (v 15-18). These people were prepared for good news, they longed to hear that their sins would not condemn them because Jesus the Messiah came to fill their need of forgiveness by paying for their sins with his life, by removing the guilt of their sin through his death and resurrection. They were forgiven through faith in Jesus the Christ and their thankfulness was seen in their changed lives.

This is how to celebrate Christmas the old fashioned way. Repent of your sins, trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, rejoice in that forgiveness and show your love to Jesus by loving others.

Advent 2

Luke 3.1-6

Hymns: 14, 274, 13, 16

This is a happy time of the year. Isn’t amazing how you never get tired of breaking out the Christmas tree and decorations, blowing last year’s flour off the Christmas cookie recipes (if you need to use a recipe at all), penning the Christmas letter and telling your-self that it WILL be shorter this year, buying and wrapping (and sending) the Christmas presents. And behind all of this Christmas spirit is the reason why you get excited year after year: to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Savior of the world.

Think about that title: Jesus, the Savior of the world. Savior from what? The Savior from sin and death and hell. Give that some thought, too. Christmas is about sin and death and hell and the birth of the one who came to save us from such horrendous reali-ties of life. Is that what you get excited about at Christmas time... being saved from sin and death and hell? Yes, of course it is. But that’s not quite how we express our joy with our Christmas greet-ings, "Merry Christmas! Isn’t it wonderful that you won’t go to hell when you die!"

Several years ago Beth and I were shopping for a Christmas tree at Garden Ridge. A lady with a clip board was taking a survey; she asked if we wanted to receive a 10% discount on our shopping items. We said, "Sure!." All we had to do was to sign up for a Garden Ridge credit card. We politely declined and we exchanged a "Merry Christmas" as we went on our way.

What kind of reaction would you get, do you suppose, if you sur-veyed people at one of the malls and asked the question, "Do you celebrate Christmas because Jesus came to pay for your sins?" If you spoke to knowledgeable Christians they would give you a re-luctant, "Yes, but that’s not what I emphasize anymore than when I say ‘Happy birthday’ to someone I’m reminding them that they’re one year closer to their grave...even though they are."

True. "Happy birthday" means ‘Celebrate life,’ not ‘Get ready to die.’ And "Merry Christmas" means "Jesus the Savior is born." But he was born so that he could die and pay for our sins. So the way to keep the meaning of Christmas in our hearts is to remember that THE MESSAGE OF CHRISTMAS: REPENT AND RECEIVE THE GIFT OF THE OF FORGIVENESS SINS.

The ministry of John the Baptist was no different than that of all of the Old Testament prophets. The prophets like Elijah and Elisha, Jeremiah and Ezekiel and all the rest called on the people of God to repent of their sins and to keep on looking for one who would pay for their sins and make it possible for God to forgive them of their sins. This call to repentance was necessary for two reasons.

First, people tend to forget how serious sin is. It took away from Adam and Eve the eternal life that God intended for them. It so corrupted their son Cain that he killed his brother Able because he was jealous of him and resented that he was a spiritual man. Sin is behind the hatred that destroys marriages and families. Sin is the greed that would steal from someone, would lie and deceive though innocent people are hurt. The sin imbedded in the heart of a man has no difficulty shooting and killing a store clerk just to get at the money in cash drawer, or getting angry at someone and let-ting your anger agitate in your mind. Sin in the heart of a child convinces that child that sometimes it’s okay to lie or to start an argument or talk disrespectfully to a parent. Sin has infected us all and we engage in it wilfully at times, reluctantly at other times, even unknowingly some of the time. And because it is so much a part of our day-to-day life we can forget just how serious it is: be-cause of sin we are born enemies of God and deserve only his pun-ishment and condemnation in hell. So the prophets of the Old Test-ament had to remind people of the need to repent of their sins and acknowledge them before God.

Secondly a call to repentance demands that sinners recognize the need for God’s help. The Bible tells us that John (read v 3). And our text goes on to tell us that this work of John was foretold by the prophet Isaiah who described what this repentance involved (read 5,6). A lot of preparation is involved in building a road: mak-ing the roadway level, filling holes, knocking down hills, blasting through mountains where possible so the road can be straight and not winding around the outside of a mountain. With this prepara-tion it’s easier to drive on the road when it is finished.

Repentance is needed to prepare one’s heart to welcome the Christ and celebrate his birth at Christmas. Think of filling in holes and straightening out curves and leveling of hills as the process in-volved to rid the heart of sin and the things that separate us from Christ...the things that warrant that Christ separate himself from us. What are you to do with the sins that want to control your life and your mind? Making excuses for them, driving around them or through them won’t do; choosing to hold on to those sins, like failing to fill holes in a road, make for a bumpy ride through life. Sin is all of the things that need to be eliminated or corrected in order to have a smooth ride in life and beyond.

So what John the Baptist is calling on everyone to do is to recog-nize that before you can have a smooth ride you have to prepare the roadway. In order to travel through life and enjoy the ride you have to deal with sin, get rid of it in some way.

How do you do that? By repenting. A person will be driven to repent for at least three reasons: 1) guilt, 2) fear, or 3) remorse. Some people confess to doing wrong only after they have been dis-covered. A person addicted to Internet porn will continue in that downward moral corruption only until someone discovers the porn on his computer. Then he is overwhelmed with guilt; he’s caught; can’t deny it; he’s sorry. Does that mean he has a change of heart and will not get involved in Internet porn ever again? Not neces-sarily. The rate of recidivism for sex offenders is very high.

Second, fear. Some people stop doing what’s wrong only because they fear what will happen if they don’t. Do you bite your tongue when angry words come to mind for one reason or another because you fear an argument will follow if you don’t? That still doesn’t mean you have a change of heart. The sin of anger is still there and one of these times you won’t bother biting your tongue.

Third, remorse. Jesus is your Savior from sin. He came to this earth, born of Mary to die on the cross so that you can be forgiven of all sin and go to heaven when you die. To repent is to have a change of heart about sin and to ask God to help you get rid of it, stop doing it as best as you are able, out of love for Jesus your Savior. That’s the message of Christmas. Repent of your sins be-cause they will keep you out of heaven when you die. Repent of your sins because Jesus gave his life for you so you can be forgiv-en. Repent and receive the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven...God’s gift to you...the Christmas gift of his Son, Jesus.

The First Sunday in Advent

John 11.38-54;12.9-11

Hymns: 1, 14, 356

There are a lot of remarkable stories written about Jesus in the New Testament that clearly identify him as an extraordinary, one-of-a-kind human being. Begin with the way he became a human being...born of a virgin woman. Humanly impossible! Did not happen before Jesus’ birth, has not happened since Jesus’ birth and will never happen again. If you are looking for a way to convince someone you know to look into the Christian religion, tell him/her about the virgin birth of Jesus.

Or tell that person the story of Jesus’ life, especially the part about his death on a cross and his coming back to life...his res-urrection from the dead. No one ever did that before Jesus and no one has repeated it. The Bible tells us that thousands of peo-ple knew Jesus and believed in his teachings before he was cru-cified and the Bible tells us that there were hundreds of people who saw and heardd Jesus after his resurrection from the dead. The Apostle Paul puts it this way (1 Cor 15.3-8).

You know about Chesley Sullenberger, the US Airways pilot who safely landed a plane in the Hudson River last January and saved the lives of more than 150 people...you know about the "Rock Star" treatment he received, the press coverage and media attention. Can you imagine what it would have been like for Jesus if CNN and Fox News and the global press corps had been around 2000 years ago when Jesus did all the things the Bible tells us about, including all of his miracles...turning water to wine, healing people who were blind and crippled, feeding thousands of people with a small about of food? Can you im-agine how many more people would have come to faith in him? A lot of people did back then.

If you are trying to reach out to someone who is not a Christian, someone who does not believe in Jesus, tell them the stories about Jesus and hat he did while he was here on earth. Help them get to know Jesus. This is A SERMON FOR PEOPLE WHO ADMIRE THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF OTH-ERS BUT ARE NOT PARTICULARLY IMPRESSED WITH JESUS.

The true story of Jesus restoring life to Lazarus was perhaps the capstone of his earthly ministry. Jesus had told his disciples that Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, had died. They walk-ed from Jerusalem to Bethany, about two miles, and got there four days after Lazarus had been buried. When Jesus saw the friends and neighbors of Lazarus and how they were still over-come with grief four days after his death, Jesus himself was overcome with grief...and he cried. Jesus cried, not because of the death of Lazarus but because death brings such pain and sor-row to those who survive. Jesus cried because of the sadness that sin and death put us through when a loved one dies.

But there was something else on Jesus’ mind. He had told his disciples that he MUST go to Jerusalem because the time had come "for all things to be fulfilled." Everything was now ready and "in Jesus’ control." It was time for him to make his final trip to Jerusalem where he would finish his work of saving the human race from sin and eternal damnation.

Take a close look at this Jesus. He is the human Son of Mary who spent 30 years of his life with his boyhood friends and neighbors in Nazareth. He ate and slept, ran and played... he studied and learned and outgrew his sandals and needed a longer robe as he grew taller and taller each year and into adulthood.

And during all this time he knew he was not only the Son of Mary but also the Son of God. He knew that the time would come for him to do what no mortal human being could do but what he would have to do as a mortal human being: die on a cross in payment for the sins of all humankind. As Jesus saw the crowds of people crying in Bethany because of the death of Lazarus, was he also thinking of the tears he would see on the face of his mother, Mary, as she stood at the foot of his cross less than two weeks later? He knew that she would. He knows all things. He is not only human; he is God.

Take a close look at this Jesus. He is the divine Son of God who spent 30 years of his life blending in with society and no one knew, other than Mary and Joseph and a few others, that he was not only the human child of Mary but also the divine Son of God. For 3 years Jesus tried to convince the people of the Mid-dle East, modern day Jerusalem and surrounding areas, that he was the long-awaited Messiah who willingly would dedicate his human and divine life to saving the human race from death and hell by living a perfect life, paying the debt of sin with his own life and then rising again from the grave and showing himself alive to many witnesses so there would be no doubt to anyone that he finished what he came to do...remove the guilt of sin from our heads so that we can live with in heaven.

This is the Jesus who stood before the tomb of Lazarus on that day and called him out of his grave, called Lazarus back to life to show the people of Bethany, and everyone who would read this story including us today, that death is not the end of life on this earth...not for people who believe that Jesus is both the Son of Mary and the Son of God, the Savior from sin who will raise all people from the grave when he comes again and take to hea-ven all who are Christians, who believe in him.

Tell this story to your friends. The people of Bethany believed in Jesus after they saw what he did. The temple officials also believed what Jesus did but would not believe who he was. They were so blinded by their selfish ambition that they doubled their efforts both to kill Jesus and to send Lazarus back to his grave, to remove the evidence of Jesus’ power over death by killing Lazarus, too.

Your friend whom you want to reach with the gospel...I’ll just bet that he or she admires people who accomplish great things in life like walking in space, writing computer software, throw-ing a 55 yard touchdown pass, designing home interiors or making children’s clothes...or inventing the twist-off cap of a beer bottle! Are some of these same friends not the least bit impressed with Jesus, Son of Mary and Son of God?

Tell them the story about Jesus who raised Lazarus from the dead...and himself! He is the one who paid for their sins, who will raise all people from their grave and take to heaven all who believe in him. Let them be impressed with Jesus...and live.

Hymns: 216, 361, 341, 153

The Bible tells us that "The foolishness of God is wiser than men" (1 Cor 1.25). To human logic it is foolish even to suggest that the God of the Bible or any god would himself step into the world to save mankind from sin and the damnation that follows this life as the eternal punishment for sin. It is foolishness to promote the idea that a divine God would become a human being, born into this world of a virgin mother, live an absolutely perfect life and then credit a corrupt human race for having lived that perfect life, die on a cross 2000 years ago and make the claim that the death of this Jesus, Son of Mary and Son of God paid for the sins of every human being. It is foolishness to think that after spending three days of being dead and in a grave this Jesus restored life to himself, made appearances to his fol-lowers for 40 days following his resurrection from the grave and then went back into heaven from where he rules and controls all things on this earth. Foolishness! Nonsense! Human logic and wisdom consider it to be complete rubbish that such ideas are being taught and that intelligent people are being told that they must believe these things or they will experience a very unpleasant and horrible life in hell after they die, a life of misery and pain that will last forever.

Some wise people deny that God even exists and prefer to be-lieve that there is no life of any kind after death...once you’re dead you’re dead. There is neither a happy life or a sad life that follows earthly life. Other wise people admit that they realize that some kind of spirit being created the world, expects that we human beings live up to his high expectations during our lifetime and will decide the eternal fate of everyone after they/we die. But they make no effort to discover for themselves who this God might be. When you invite them to meet your God in the Bible they "blow you off" and say, "Maybe...some time...not now...I’ll think about it." This is a SERMON FOR PEOPLE WHO SEEM TO THINK THEY WILL NEVER DIE and can put off any attempt to discover who God is before it’s too late, that is, before they die.

This was the case with a man in a story Jesus told...a rich man who had anything and everything money could buy but had no use for God. Nor was he at all sympathetic toward a beggar named Lazarus who sat near the gate to his home, starving to death little by little, day after day. He was too weak to stop dogs from licking the open sores on his body. The rich man saw this and ignored the agony of Lazarus. There was no compassion in him, no feeling for a man whose life he could have spared if only he had instructed his servants to give him the leftovers, the food which was perhaps thrown into the garbage at the end of the day. More importantly, this rich man not only had no compassion for a fellow human being; he had no faith in the true God and made no effort during his lifetime to discover who the true God is.

My oh my! How he changed after he died. He who had no time for the beggar Lazarus before he died was in such pain after he died that he shamelessly pleaded with Abraham that Lazarus make time for him to relieve him of just some of his pain as he suffered the torment of hell.

Having to face reality and the painful consequences of our mis-takes drives all of us to the point of honesty. Have you ever lied about something you did, and kept on lying until it became obvious to you that others knew you were lying...and only then did you speak the truth and ask forgiveness? Have you ever or are you now choosing to cling to a sin, thinking that you can get away with it as long as you tell God you’re sorry each time after you’ve committed it...but you know that you are only lying to yourself? Have you ever or are you now engaged in something you know is harmful, something that is hurting yourself, ignoring the people who love you who are warning you to stop doing what you’re doing before it’s too late, before you damage yourself to a point of no return...but you keep on making yourself believe that whatever it is that you’re doing will not backfire on you even though you know it probably will? Being addicted to drugs or alcohol or any sin brings out the liar in us, the foolishness of believing that we won’t regret our sinful choices.

Do you have a friend or loved one who is like this in his or her spiritual life? They keep putting of doing anything about discovering what God has to say about their unbelief even though they know that a day is coming when they will have to face God himself and answer for their unbelief...they seem to think they will never die and can put God off forever. But you, and they, know that isn’t true.

Just like the man in our text. After he died it was too late for him to make any changes in his heart and life and attitude toward God. The Bible tells us (Heb 9.27). If want to reach someone who’s putting off the opportunity to get to know God while he or she is still alive, that is, if this person seems to think that he/she will never die, then learn this from what Abra-ham told the rich man (v 25-31). The rich man had brothers who did not believe in the true God and he thought that if someone who had died could be allowed to come back to life, perhaps some dead friend of his brothers, then those brothers would have a change of heart before it was too late for them as it was now too late for him. Abraham’s answer was, "They have Moses and the prophets, they have the Old Testament scriptures to tell them what happens to people who die without faith in the true God. Even if someone returned from the dead they would find a reason to ignore whatever he had to say."

There is no greater authority on earth than the Word of our living God. The rich man should have believed what was said of Job (22.5), Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless? He should have read the book of Psalms (25.11,12), For the sake of your name, O LORD, forgive my iniquity, though it is great. He should have discovered the word of Isaiah the prophet (53.5,6), But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. These are the words of God that lead to repentance and faith and forgiveness in Jesus.

And this is how you reach your friend who seems to think that he/she will never die. You remind him/her that death is on its way; no one escapes death. You remind him/her that death is the result of sin and damnation in hell is sin’s curse...an eternal curse that will never end. You remind him/her that God does not desire to condemn anyone to hell but must and will do so to those who do not repent of his/her sins. But tell your friend also that God has provided the way to escape hell by sending Jesus to pay for all sin and to offer eternal life in heaven to all who believe that his death on the cross paid for sin and his resurrection from the dead proves that forgiveness is our through faith in Jesus.

You really don’t have to convince your friend that death is inevitable; he/she knows that already. You do need to convince your friend that the greatest mistake he/she can make in life is to pretend that death will never come and to avoid doing something about that before it’s too late...before death comes. Lead your friend to see and confess his/her sins, to acknowledge that God’s judgment on sin is eternal death in hell. Lead your friend to see Jesus who suffered hell for all of us, who died and rose again so that salvation and heaven can be ours by coming to faith in Jesus before we die because after we die, it’s too late. Bring your friend to the joy of Christ so he/she can live the rest of his/her earthly days with the assurance that eternal life is his/hers on the other side of death. That is why Jesus came to be the world’s Savior from sin...and death...and hell.

Matthew 13.1-9,18-23

Saints Triumphant

Hymns: 255, 568, 310, 324 

READ Mt 13.1-9

Some people are really into football, as in Dallas Cowboy or Green Bay Packer fans, others fail to see what the excitement is all about. Some people are so well disciplined that they train on their own to run in marathons or half marathons, others wonder why ordinarily sane people put themselves through such cruel and unusual punishment.

Then there are people who are really into religion and those who aren’t. You may know people who think that you’re a bit of a religious fanatic or, if they wouldn’t go quite that far, think that you’re in-volment with religion is quite unnecessary but if that’s your thing, let it be your thing but its’ not their thing.

Nonetheless the people whom you know who aren’t into religi-on to the extent that you are doesn’t mean that they don’t think about religion and even wonder why they don’t have a greater interest. They may have even tried getting into religion... pray-ing to whoever might be listening in the spirit world, attending worship service at a church to see if some inner spark would ignite or inner light would go on. As they observe you and see how you react to personal and unpleasant issues going on in your life...hear you express your undying trust in God in spite of all the rotten and evil things going on in the world...see you confidently living your faith by taking the high road of morality and honesty and goodness instead of joining in with the immor-al and greedy and selfish attitude of many of your friends and neighbors...when you display an inner strength and peace that makes them wish they had what you had, that’s what gets them to wondering why they aren’t into religion as you are and why they can’t seem get into it even though they’ve make some ef-fort to figure out why it works for you but not for them.

This sermon may help you reach them. It’s A Sermon For People Who Are Like A Seed That Dies, But Don’t Understand Why. READ Mt 13.18-23

Have you ever seen a picture of a tree growing out from the middle of a huge rock? It makes you wonder how a tree can be growing out of a boulder? Or have you ever seen a 6 inch pine tree growing in the forest that, a year earlier, had been consum-ed in a forest fire? or have you driven through the Arizona de-sert when it’s completely barren and then driven through that same desert in early spring when it’s full of blooming flowers? How can seed grow into a tree or flowers through a rock, through blackened soil or through desert sand? It’s because the soil beneath the surface is conducive for the seed to grow. Both the seed and the soil are alive. But a living seed can’t grow if the soil in which it lays is dead. And this describes people in whom there is no spiritual life...people who are like a seed that dies...but don’t understand why.

November 8, 2009   Judgment   Genesis 2.9,16,17;3.1-7,14a,15,21-24

Hymns: 208, 209, 382, 562

Honor the past...prepare for the future

This is the theme on which we are building our preparations to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of our congregation, which we will do in April of 2010. We honor the past by remembering the dedication and faithful commitment to the Lord Jesus of those families who were charter members of Atonement...who were willing to invest the time and energy to establish our congregation, not only so they would have a place to worship on the north side of Dallas but also to reach out to others in the area with the saving gospel of sins forgiven through faith in Jesus.

With this theme, Honor the past...prepare for the future we also want to recommit ourselves to the task of supporting our conggregation and, as did the founders, reach out to others by sharing the message of salvation through faith in Jesus. Preparing for the future not only means seeing to it that Atonement Lutheran Church is still around 25 years from now, and more, to celebrate more anniversaries. Preparing for the future also means making the effort to share God’s plan of salvation with others, for the sake of their eternal future, and not only keep this good news to ourselves for our own comfort and peace of mind.

For the next several weeks I will be preaching sermons that are intended to help you do just that, share the good news of Jesus with others. That’s not something that comes easy or naturally to a lot of people, even though every Christian agrees that we should be doing this. But what do you say? How deeply into doctrine to you have to get involved? How do you talk to people about Jesus who don’t want to talk about Jesus? How do you get through to people who have the wrong idea about Jesus and about Christianity?

My plan, based on an idea set forth by Pastor Mark Paustian, is to use Bible stories and parables and events that are familiar to you and easy to tell to reach people you know who have a personal issue that is keeping them away from Jesus. Today I will preach A SERMON FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT FAVORABLY DISPOSED TOWARD GOD.
 

Read Text

Perhaps the most difficult thing about talking to people about Jesus, who don’t understand Jesus, is getting the conversation started. But you really can’t start talking to someone about Jesus until you know what they need to hear and what they are thinking about Jesus. This takes time...asking questions, listening to people’s hurts and ideas, doubts and fears, wrong ideas and misperceptions. And then, for example, if you learn that someone just doesn’t like God, they are not favorably disposed toward God because of things they’ve heard or been told about God which are not true, or because of sad experiences they’ve had in their life, then you can try telling them how it all began and perhaps the Holy Spirit will be able to bring about a change in their heart because 1) If you tell them the story of how it all began, they can’t blame God for anything that’s not going well in their life. In fact, when you tell them the story of how it all began, and they believe it, 2) They will thank God.

And it all began in the beginning, in the Garden of Eden, when life was perfect and sinless and happy and peaceful and loving and wonderful and... Adam and Eve never used words like ‘un-happy’ or ‘sad,’ ‘angry’ or ‘disappointed.’ They didn’t know what fear was, or frustration, or stress or impatience. Why? Be-cause God made them to be perfect in every way...in their thought process, in their desires, in the attitude toward God and each other. They loved God with all their heart and mind and strength, and the loved each other as themselves.

Until they chose to sin...to pollute the holy mind and heart God had given them by eating of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil...until they chose death. But they couldn’t blame God for that. This was a choice they made; God didn’t make them sin, he didn’t want them to sin and he gave them the ability to remain sinless. So when you tell someone the story of how Adam and Eve fell into sin, tell them that they can be angry at Adam and Eve but not God. They can’t blame God for sin then or for anything now that is giving them heartburn about him trying to warm up to God. They don’t like him; they aren’t favorably disposed toward God so they refuse to have anything to do with him...as if that’s a wise or reasonable thing to do.

Perhaps you get yourself in a spiritual bind from time to time and blame God when things aren’t going so well in your life. Confess that to your friend who is not favorable disposed to-ward God. Be honest. Aren’t there times when you think God should be taking better care of you...providing for you better than he is...showing a bit more understanding and just general good will? Acknowledge that to your friend.

But then also point out that you understand clearly that God should have and could have destroyed Adam and Eve right on the spot because they chose to sin. He warned them. He could have held them accountable even as God should and could hold you and all people today and of every generation accountable for our sins. He doesn’t "owe" us anything. He is God. He is the Creator. He sets the rules. If your friend knows the story he/she can’t blame God, can’t be unfavorably disposed toward God for anything...for being God. But, if your friend believes the story he/she can be led to be thankful to God.

READ 3.15 and Gal 3.16

Here is the rest of the story. Instead of punishing Adam and Eve for their sin and unbelief, God sent his own Son, Jesus, to be punished for their sin and unbelief. That punishment Jesus accepted when he died on the cross on Calva-ry and then rose again as proof that he paid the punishment of sin. Jesus did this is our substitute, our stand-in, our Mediator. What this means now is that even though Adam and Eve ruined any possibility of enjoying eternal life in heaven, Jesus restored that possibility that paying the debt of sin, not only for Adam and Eve but for everyone. Memorize 2 Cor 5.19,21: God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them...God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. And Jn 3.16.

Without faith in Jesus your friend will never know heaven and eternal life. Through faith in Jesus who paid for all sin, your friend will one day be in heaven. Blame God? No. Believe God.
 

Reformation - 11/01/09 -- Romans 3.21-28

Hymns: 201, 280, 441, 199

Old sayings are never old because each generation keeps them new by quoting them and explaining why those old sayings need to be remembered. One such old saying is: Whoever does not learn from history is doomed to repeat it. History is everything that has preceded us. What have we learned from past ex-perience about how to avoid war or what it takes to win a war? how to avoid economic depression or how to overcome it? Or what have you learned from the experiences in your life? what would you do differently to avoid mistakes and what would you do the same to accomplish the good things you enjoy?

In the history of religion/Christianity we also want to learn from the past so that we both avoid the mistakes made by those who have gone before us and learn what they did right so that we don’t lose what has been handed down to us.

Every year confessional Lutherans make a point of remember-ing our history which dates back to the 16^th century and the heroic efforts of church leaders who brought about the Reformation of the church. We don’t comment much on the work of 13^th and 14^th century church leaders Jan Hus or Girolama Savonarola, or 16^th century contenders for the faith John Calvin or Ulrich Zwingli. We do, however, make mention of Dr. Martin Luther for two, I suppose, obvious reasons: 1) those who followed his leadership became known as Lutherans, not because they chose that name for themselves but because those opposed them gave them that name, and they liked it. And 2) we recall Luther specifically because we, to this day, agree with the doctrine that he brought back into the church, whereas we don’t agree with what the other men taught. Nonetheless, Luther was not the only man who saw the need for the church to make major changes in what was being taught in the 16^th century because the salvation of souls was at stake. People were not being taught what the Bible reveals regarding God’s plan of salvation for sinners. We do this so that we do not repeat the mistakes made in the early centuries after Christ and plunge people back into the darkness of despair and so that we reaffirm the truth of God’s love and bring that assurance to the people of this 21^st century.

And so this morning, as we conclude our study of First Century Biblical Doctrines for Twenty-First Century Biblical Christians we do with this statement that was forged at the time of the 16^th Reformation of the Church after rediscovering the biblical truth that WE ARE JUSTIFIED, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS.

One of the things we need to learn from history lest we are doomed to repeat it is that the Bible words need to be accurately defined and everyone needs to agree on that definition.

What I mean is this: in the year 1999 an organization of liberal, unbiblical Lutherans, The Lutheran World Federation, signed a document with representatives of the Catholic Church, with the title, Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. This document claims that there is no longer any reason for our two church bodies to remain separate. Whatever differences there were at the time of the 16^th century Reformation, they said, no longer existed at the beginning of the 21^st century.

We can understand the desire to erase the memory of the con-flict that divided Germany into two religious camps and brought about the birth of a new Christian denomination, Lutheranism. But let the lesson of history be retained that intolerance toward what is biblically false is not a negative but a loving and positive attitude that must be retained (cf Forward In Christ. "From the President’s Desk." November 2009).

Let’s look at three important Bible words and their definitions and take note of the fact that what these words mean, what Luther discovered that these words mean, and the way that the Catholic Church of 1517 and of 2009 claim that they mean, do not agree. And it is precisely because of the lack of agreement of these Bible words that our two church bodies are still separate today, not because of loveless intolerance of anyone who doesn’t agree with us but because of a loving intolerance of those who empty the Bible of God’s love and deprive souls of the certainty of that love. The words we will define are: Justified, Grace, and Faith.

(V 21-24). The word ‘justify’ means to declare someone inno-cent, not guilty. You are justified, not guilty of sin (Rom 8.33; 2 Cor 5.19). WE ARE JUSTIFIED means there is no charge of sin against us. When someone is accused of a crime and the judge declares that person to be justified, the accused is free to leave the judge’s courtroom, free to walk out the door and the judge will not stop that person and say, "I’m not done with you yet; your trial isn’t over yet." No, the judge is done; the trial is over; there is no crime, no offense. And so it is with God. There is no trial awaiting us because there is no sin that can or should condemn us. We are justified, free to walk out of this life through the door into eternal life in heaven.

The next word is ‘grace’ (v 24). Grace is defined as the unde-served love of God. We did not do anything that moved God to declare us to be innocent of sin. Nor is there anything that we must still do in order for our innocence to be affirmed (v 27,28). There is no unpaid debt, no penalty, no "time off from punishment" for good behavior and good works. God was disposed to forgive the debt of sin because of his undeserved love, because he wants us to be in heaven with him and there is no way that could happen without his forgiveness.

The final word is ‘faith’ (v 22). Faith is the belief, the conviction, the trust that what God has revealed in the Bible is true. "Trust me," the surgeon says before putting you to sleep on the operating table. "I am willing to put my life into your hands," you respond in faith. Faith in Jesus believes that the perfect life he lived as the divine Son of God and human Son of Mary was credited to you as though you lived that perfect life. Faith in Jesus believes that his death on the cross made full payment for sin on your behalf and in your place (2 Cor 5.19,21. YOU ARE JUSTIFIED, BY THE GRACE OF GOD, THROUGH FAITH IN JESUS. This is the promise of the Bible, the message of the Reformation. Any definition that contradicts what the Bible says leads away from Christ and the certainty of forgiveness. Learn from history; learn the Scriptures so that history is not re-peated, so that you are certain of God’s love and salvation.

Romans 6.1-4

October 25, 2009

Hymns: 294, 306, 299, 297 10/23/09

When discussing the doctrine of Baptism it is more common to do so in reference to the Baptism of infants. Baptism is some-times referred to as a ‘christening,’ that is, the giving of a name to a child. A christening or baptism is viewed as a custom and family tradition. A beautifully made christening dress worn by infant boys and girls is handed down from generation to genera-tion and it is a thing of pride to say, "I was christened in the same dress that my great grandmother wore."

Baptizing babies was not questioned to a great extent until after the Reformation by a radical group of people known as Anabap-tists. These folks did not believe that faith was given to an in-fant at the time of baptism and required Christians to be rebap-tized (thus, anabaptist, baptized again or twice) when they were older. However the church fathers wrote about infants being baptized or reborn; men like Irenaeus, Polycarp and Origen wrote that infant baptism was handed down by the apostles. And inscriptions were found written on the walls of caves where the name, date of birth and death of infants were noted.

Suffice it to say that the church has baptized infants from the time of Jesus’ ascension back into heaven up to the present time, and for solid biblical reasons: 1) infants inherit the sinful nature of their parents, 2) but they do no inherit the Christian faith of their parents. 3) Infants therefore need to be saved from sin as do people of all ages. 4) Baptism is a miracle of God in which, through water and God’s Word, faith and the forgiveness of sins is given, 5) which provides great relief to Christian par-ents who know that their infants are forgiven and have been given a saving faith in Jesus.

This morning we will focus our attention on an area that doesn’t often get much attention: the value and use of baptism for older children, teens and adults. I want to encourage you to USE YOUR BAPTISM IN YOUR DAILY ROUTINE, in your day-to-day life.

You all have a daily routine: get up, make the coffee, take a shower, shave, brush your teeth, do your hair and makeup and head out the door for school or work or car pooling or get going on your chores at home. As you go about your routine there are things that can throw you off your routine: car has a flat tire on the way to work or school, lose your keys or child gets sick. There may be unexpected things that happen that you have to deal with, NOW. You can’t ignore them even though they throw you off your routine and come at an inconvenient time.

Another part of who we are that surprises us every day belongs to our old Adam, our sinful nature. It throws tempting, sinful curve balls at us all day long. We are faced with the opportunity to sin or to stop that temptation in its tracks and refuse to sin. If that sin came at us out of left field and we were already sinning by the time we became aware of it, at which point it’s too late to undo it, because we’ve done it, we have the option of continu-ing to sin or put a stop to it. This is the time to use your baptism when sin interrupts your daily routine.

What do you do when you get a flat tire? You stop what you were doing to get it fixed or replace the flat tire with the spare tire. What do you do if you lose your keys? Your life comes to a momentary halt as you search high and low for them because you’re not going anywhere until you find them. And if your child gets sick you become the medical caregiver and may even have to take your child to see the doctor. Your daily routine suddenly changes; you can’t delay taking care of the matter. Nor can you delay taking care of sin as it intrudes itself into your heart and mind, not just once a day but many times during the day, during your daily routine.

READ TEXT Baptism and sin are linked together. Our Baptism connects us to what Jesus did about sin 2000 years ago. Jesus came to this earth and claimed our sin to be his own sin, took the guilt of our sin on himself as though he were the one who committed every sin ever committed by anyone. Jesus was put to death on a cross an punishment for our sins (1 Jn 2.2). There is no mistake that Jesus died because he was buried. And there is no mistake that our sins were paid for because they were buried with Jesus.

So when the urge to sin comes over you, or if sin came at you so fast that you were already in the middle of it by the time you realized what you were doing...when your routine to think and act as a Christian is put to the test, what do you do?

What do you do as you scan the TV for something to watch and you come across a program that has immoral, sexual content? Or when you have a test coming up at school and you’re not sure you can do well on it unless you cheat? Or when you’re hanging around the coffee pot at work and hear people swap-ping dirty jokes or gossip? Or when you get with friends, or that special friend, who believe it’s normal to engage in sex (homo or heter) without being married? Or when you’re at a party and drinking to excess or doing drugs is part of that routine?

We face limitless sinful situations every day of our lives. Some of those sins are of our own making, in our own sinful mind, others come out of the blue without warning, others come at us in a more subtle way, through friends.

USE YOUR BAPTISM IN YOUR DAILY ROUTINE. Recall that Jesus loves you and died for you to pay for your sins so that you can be free from sin’s control. 2 Cor 5.14,15 Your baptism gave you the gift of faith and the forgiveness of sins. Put your faith to work. If you don’t love Jesus you’re going to put your faith aside, make excuses for sin, embrace the sins that can de-stroy you..and they will over time if you allow it.

But with love for Jesus, love because of his forgiveness, be-cause of his suffering and death for your sins, and because of his rising from the dead, remember your baptism, repent of your sins, ask Jesus to forgive you and for his help to turn away from sin. This is how you attack your old Adam, your sinful nature. Repentance is a direct attack on that old Adam; it tells the old Adam to cease and desist trying to control your heart and life. It uses the power of Jesus’ love and forgiveness to turn Satan aside, to rid yourself of the sin that is tempting and to get a grip on "living a new life" in Christ...free from guilt, free from the old Adam’s efforts to turn you away from your Savior, free to show your thanks and love for Jesus by using your baptism.

Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost  1 Corinthians 11.23-30  Hymns: 315, 312, 311, 318

In our current series of sermons, "First Century Biblical Doctrines for Twenty-First Biblical Christians," we have made the point again and again that what was true, doctrinally, in the first century of the Christian Church is still true for us today who are members of the twenty-first century Christian Church. That’s not true of the New York Stock Exchange that what was true last year is still true today. It’s not even the case that what was true an hour ago on the NYSE is true even as I speak. It’s a "good news-bad news" kind of thing when it comes to the market...good if the market is up, bad if it’s down.

What a dilemma it would be for us if that were the case with the Bible...with the doctrine of the church...what was true in the past is no longer true in the present. You wouldn’t know what to believe that you read in the Bible. If culture and current attitudes are supposed to determine what the church teaches and believes, should we be changing our teaching in the WELS because other Christian church bodies claim that even though the church of the 19^th century believed that Jesus was born of a virgin, that’s no longer true, and even though the church of the 20^th century believed that it was a sin to engage in homosexual activity that’s no longer true, and even though the church throughout history believed that Jesus is the only Savior from sin that’s no longer true. And you do understand, don’t you, that this is what some Christian church bodies claim today. So they tell their members that they are free to believe whatever they want to believe because there is no such thing as "truth." Oh, there is such a thing as truth when the police officer clocks you at 45 mph in a 25 mph speed zone and he/she will insist on the truth by writing out a $150 speeding ticket. But God is not capable of communicating the truth to us in the Bible???

Today we look at the Doctrine of the Lord’s Supper and the truth it conveys to us. And that truth is this: THE LORD’S SUPPER IS GOD’S VISIBLE WORD OF FORGIVENESS. If this isn’t true because it’s the 21^st (and not the 19^th) century you and I will be in trouble whenever Jesus comes again!

Allow me to read to you from the Apology of the Augsburg Confession (April 1531): Ap XIII.5). When you see that the Communion ware is set up on the altar, your eyes tell you what you mind already knows by faith: "I today am going to receive the Savior’s body and blood, which is given to me in the elements of bread and wine, for the forgiveness of my sins. This is the same body and blood that Jesus gave when he died on the cross to pay for my sins. I am forgiven!" It’s as though you can see the cross, or at least what happened on that cross 2000 years ago. And it is for this reason that we say, The Lord’s Supper is God’s visible word of forgiveness and, in a supernatural way, you receive the very body and blodd of Jesus, together with the bread and wine.

Listen to the words Jesus spoke to his disciples on that Thursday night before his crucifixion (Mt 26.26-28). Jesus used the bread and wine that was on the table as part of the Passover meal they had eaten. Passover was a celebration of God’s rescue of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt at the time of Moses. They were freed from slavery, free to go back to the promised land where the Savior would one day be born.

This was a fitting time for Jesus to institute a new celebration, the celebration of the Lord’s Supper/Holy Communion/the Eucharist. In the Lord’s Supper we celebrate Jesus’ death on the cross which freed us from the slavery of sin so that we can one day journey to the Promised Land of heaven when we die or whenever it is that Jesus will come again.

Why did Jesus institute this Lord’s Supper? Why did he tell us to keep on celebrating until he comes again? What is the value, the benefit for us 2000 years later? The value is that we are made certain that our sins are forgiven because Jesus paid for them when he died on the cross and rose again. We are able to participate in that life-saving event in a most personal way. When we receive the bread and wine in the Lord’s Supper we are also receiving the very body and blood of Jesus in that bread and wine. Is this a miracle? Of course. Why do we believe it? Because that’s what Jesus said (and Paul)...in the Bible. Jesus said, "this IS my body/blood," not represents/symbolizes, for the forgiveness of your sins."

This miracle does not trouble the mind of anyone who believes that everything in the Bible is true. With a word God said, "Let there be light...the universe/sun/moon/planets...microbes... mountains. With a word God parted the waters of the Red Sea, caused Mary, a virgin, to conceive Jesus. With word Jesus told the storm to stop on the Sea of Galilee, called the Lazarus, the three-day-old corpse, back to life, and said "finished," when he died on the cross and completed his work of saving the world from the guilt of sin. With a word Jesus says that when we receive the bread and wine in this sacramental way we are receiving his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. It is the visible word of forgiveness which we see and hear.

This is not only a visible link that connects us to the cross of 2000 years ago; it is also a visible link that connects us to eternal life in heaven at some point in the future. We are to be certain, beyond any doubt, that there is no sin that Jesus did not pay for, no sin that can ruin us eternally in hell, no sin left unpaid for which we must ourselves pay in order to go to heaven when we die. This is God’s visible word of forgiveness for the strength of our faith and certainty of heaven.

Therefore, let no one come to receive this sacrament who does not believe it is the true body and blood of Jesus (vs 27,29, 30 explain). Let no one come to receive this sacrament who is not truly repentant of sin, does not thrist, spiritually, for the forgiveness of sin, is refusing to forgive someone who may have sinned against you or who is choosing to continue to en-gage in sinful behavior (v 28 explain). Receiving the Lord’s Supper does not result in a blessing and forgiveness for anyone who does not believe it is the Lord’s body and blood he receives with the bread and wine, or is not sorry for sins nor is making the effort not to sin, or is not willing to forgive others.

But for those who are biblically qualified to receive the Lord’s Supper (believes it is the body and blood of Jesus, is able to examine him/herself and is repentant, is forgiving) then come every time the Supper is offered. Celebrate the cross and empty grave of Jesus which takes away the guilt of your sin. Celebrate your eternal life in heaven that awaits you because Jesus gave his body and blood for you. See the cross of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper, the visible Word of God’s forgiveness and be strengthened in your faith and love and life for Jesus.

Genesis 2.18-25

Hymns: 506, 505, 492, 504

In order to understand our relationship with God, we need to speak about life in idealistic terms. We need to do that because life on earth once was what we wish it were now...sinless and perfect. And life one day will once again return to what it was when Jesus returns to create a "new heaven and new earth, wherein dwells righteousness." God created the ideal world; two human beings destroyed that ideal world; God will restore the ideal world, or at least, an ideal place which we call heaven where there will once again be no sin, sorrow or death.

We now find ourselves living in between these two idealistic worlds, the world God created and the world God will restore. And this world is anything but idealistic. But God tells us, yes, demands of us that we live in a way that can make this world as idealistic as possible, as sinless and perfect as possible. "Love your enemies," Jesus tells us. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart...and love your neighbor as yourself," God’s law de-mands. "Be honest...don’t steal...don’t be selfish or immoral... be generous...be kind and caring...do everything I want you to do because I am the Lord your God." Just because we are now sinful human beings is no excuse for sinning and incapable of being perfect and living perfect lives and having perfect thoughts. It’s the reason why we sin but it’s no excuse. Nor do we as Christians use our having been conceived and born in sin as an excuse for being sinners. We don’t like it; we wish we were sinless. We are thankful that Jesus paid for our sins and doesn’t hold us accountable for the guilt of sin and for that reason want to try to live sinlessly even though we know we won’t succeed on this side of heaven. (Rom 7.15-17).

So we are going to speak in idealistic terms this morning about living in such a way that we are a reflection of life, perfect life as God created it and as God will restore it. LEARN FROM ADAM AND EVE ABOUT MARRIAGE.

Our text takes us to the day when God established marriage. It was a perfect world. God had already created everything there is including man, Adam. One thing was missing; a corresponding helper for Adam...as God planned. God had already told Adam that he was to spend time taking care of the plants and animals, that he was to be planet’s caretaker and custodian (rule over the fish of the sea and birds of the air). God gave Adam the opportunity to put his human authority and intelligence to work; he gave him the task of giving names to all the animals, which he did. The animals did not choose what names they wanted for themselves; they did not submit suggestions to Adam, nor did Adam provide a few choices for them to pick which name each species liked the best. These were dumb animals; Adam was an intelligent human being. Neither Adam nor any other intelligent human being evolved from a dumb animal.

Perhaps during the task of animal-naming Adam realized that there was no corresponding human being to whom to give a name. He knew there was rooster/hen, cow/bull, male/ female in the animal kingdom. But...no female counter-part for him...

Until God said, (v 18). And after God made a woman from Adam’s rib, and Adam awoke out of an unconscious state, he saw what God had made and gave her a name, "Woman; a part of me; a class of person that was given life from my body." And God brought her to the man and the first marriage was established: man and woman, leader and partner.

This was a perfect marriage. They got along with God because they never sinned. They got along with each other because they never sinned. Their only desire was to please God and show him how thankful they were for life, for each other, for the world he gave them. Their only desire was to make each other happy and show each other how thankful they were that God brought them together in marriage. How do you do that when you’re perfect... make each other happy all the time? Wouldn’t you like to know husbands...wives? They never got on each other’s nerves, never had to apologize for being critical or impatient or unloving, never had to bite their tongue to keep from saying what they were sinfully thinking, never used the word ‘divorce.’

But then that changed. When Satan engaged Eve in casual con-versation about how God was keeping something from them, and wouldn’t it be nice if they were as wise as God and knew good and evil, and all they had to do was eat from the tree God jealously didn’t want them to eat from, everything changed. In my mind, I imagine Eve and Satan in eye contact when he directed her attention to the Tree of Knowledge. In my mind I see Eve turn to Adam to make eye contact as if to say, "What do you think? Should we...?" In my mind I see them both walking to the Tree and eating that fruit before an overwhelming feeling of guilt rushed through their bodies, their face tingled with a blush of guilt...and in horror they turned and ran and hid...until God found them...and questioned them...and they squirmed and lied as their minds raced in disbelief because they both knew what they had done and what God said he would do and they desperately tried to escape God’s punishment as their own guilty mind was punishing them with fear and terror.

God promised he would rescue them from their guilt. He promised that one who would crush Satan’s head would also be crushed under the guilt and punishment of sin...Jesus died on a cross, crushed in his heel in pain for us to forgive us and at the same time to destroy sin and Satan and death.

And now we live on this planet 6000 years after the perfect world was ruined by sin, 2000 years after the sinful world was saved from sin by Jesus’ death and resurrection. Now we live in marriage and families trying to be ideal husbands and wives and parents and children. How is it working?

Husbands, Adam failed Eve; when their eyes met as if to say, "Should we?" Adam consented to sin by his silence, failed his leadership role, failed to give the love and security to Eve that God expected of him. Husbands, don’t fail your wives (I say this to myself). Be the loving leader God expects you to be; give her the spiritual and emotional and physical presence she needs from you as Adam had been giving to Eve before sin. Strive to be an ideal husband, strive to be the kind of man you will be when you are in heaven, perfect, unselfish, a servant leader (though no longer in a husband’s role).

Wives, Eve failed Adam; when their eyes met as if to say, "Should we?" Eve suggested that they should sin against God; she failed to be guided by what God said, failed to support Adam in the leadership role he was to carry out. Wives, don’t fail your husbands; support them in their servant-leader role. Remind them if need be of what God expects of them as the spiritual, emotional and physical head of your family. Support them as their corresponding helpers by trusting in them as you love and trust in Jesus your Savior (Eph 5).

Above all, strive for idealism...use your faith and love in Jesus to motivate you to be the kind of husband and wife Adam and Eve were before they Fall, strive to be what you will be when you are in heaven...strive to live and be as God would have you fill your identity as husband and wife, as members of Christian families who love Jesus because of his love and forgiveness.

The Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost

Acts 2.42

Hymns: 538, 279, 541, 494

The biblical teaching of the Doctrine of Fellowship is easy enough to understand. The difficulty comes in applying its prin-ciple in our relationship with other Christian denominations. Perhaps you’ve read or heard about Christian denominations meeting together for joint worship, working together in mission projects, belonging to ecumenical organizations like the World or National Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, Lutheran Social Services, or others. But the Wisconsin Synod (WELS), does not participate. Neither does the Evangelical Lu-theran Synod (ELS) with whom we are in fellowship, and sever-al other smaller groups of Christians. Why not? Because of the Doctrine of Fellowship and related doctrines which, we are con-vinced prevent us from doing so.

If we are going to be guided by the Word of God in our religi-ous life then we must be guided by the Word of God. We can’t claim to follow what we read in the Bible and then not follow it by picking and choosing which principles or doctrines or ideas we like and ignoring those which we don’t. The Doctrine of Fel-lowship is a doctrine that some wish that we would ignore be-cause it keeps us from joining in with other Christian denomin-ations in the areas of prayer and worship and some other joint activities. And we come across as being aloof, arrogant, elitist, separatistic, stand-offish or any other adjective that comes to mind that describes us as being against everyone and every-thing that doesn’t agree with our narrow way of thinking. And that can be embarrassing and seemingly indefensible.

But it is neither. We are not against anything that the Word of God is not against; we don’t oppose anything that the Bible does not oppose. We are for everything that we read in the Bible and that is where the line is drawn when applying the Doctrine of Fellowship. The Bible informs us that there is no Savior other than Jesus; he alone paid for the sins of the world (John 3.16; 14.6). We are all for that. But we oppose anyone who teaches otherwise because we are for the trutth. The Bible informs us that God gave every word to the writers of Scripture (1 Corinthians 2.13) because God breathed those words into their mind which they wrote down (2 Timothy 3.16). We are for the belief that the Bible is therefore the infallible and inerrant Word of God which contains no mistakes or errors in word or context. But we oppose anyone who teaches otherwise because they are not for truth. So we oppose what needs to be opposed for the sake of the truth which the Word of God witnesses to us. We are all for this approach. 

What is fellowship? It’s not just having a meal together with a group of people or going on a fellowship outing together. The Doctrine of Fellowship: The Standard-Bearer for Unity. And unity means just what it implies: oneness, which will have its basis in the unity of conviction regarding the truthfulness of God's Word and the reality that Jesus is the only Savior from sin.

Scripture defines the word ‘fellowship’ for us by putting it into context in the sermon text. Let’s take a close look at what the words mean. "They devoted themselves." The first members of the first Christian church in Jerusalem persevered, continued to remain faithful by devoting themselves to something: "to the apostles’ teaching." This teaching was not a single topic like "who is Jesus," or "what did Jesus do." The Greek word here refers to a body of material. Everything the apostles taught they learned from Jesus; he was their teacher, they were his disciples and these first Christians had the privilege of sitting at the feet of those who sat at the feet of Jesus. Jesus was the authority be-hind what the apostles taught and these first Christians under-stood that. That’s why they continued to persevere in listening and believing what they heard.

"And to the fellowship." The word ‘fellowship’ means ‘to have in common, to share." The same Greek word is used by Paul in describing the relationship between the bread and body of Christ in the Lord’s Supper: Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation/a communion/a sharing of the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation/a communion/sharing of the body of Christ? Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf (1 Cor 10.16,17)?

We are driven to conclude that the word ‘fellowship’ implies a unity, a oneness, a sharing of information, in this case, doctrine, with which they all agreed. And when you agree on something there is unity, oneness.

Scripture consistently assumes that Christians share a unity of what they believe (cf 1 Cor 1.10). Literally Paul is saying that he expects the members of the congregation in Corinth to be of the same mind, united in what they believed, and that there not be divisions, disunity or, literally, schisms among them. What can that mean other than that there was unity. Not that they get to be pretty close to agreement; they agreed. If the finance committee that is working on a health care bill in Washington re-ports that there is agreement, that’s unity. If they are close to agreement, that means there isn’t unity yet but they are hoping to get to that point.

Look again at what Scripture says (Rom 16.17). What is to hap-pen when someone teaches doctrine that is in conflict with what the Bible says? That false doctrine is to identified, marked as disruptive of unity and that doctrine and those who hold to it are to be avoided, that is, there is not to be an activity like worshiping or praying together if there is no unity. How is the absence of unity identified? By comparing what a false teacher teaches with what the Bible says; simple enough. And if someone teaches false doctrine, there is no unity, no fellowship.

Or (1 Jn 4.1). Once again we are called upon to preserve unity in the church, fellowship. And one way to do that is by not listening to false teachers but by identifying their false doctrine and rejecting it, certainly not embracing it or allowing it to stand along side of the truth.

Why? Because, as Paul tells us elsewhere (Gal 5.9,10). At first there was a little bit of false doctrine being taught among the congregations in Galatia. But, like a batch of dough, that little bit of false doctrine grew into more false doctrine. The unity that group once had no longer existed and guess what happening as a result: the full and complete forgiveness of sins through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus was being denied. That means that peoples’ faith was under attack because the truth of the gospel was mixed with false doctrine which led to the disunity which led to the absence of fellowship which led to the loss of faith and salvation for anyone who believed what was falsely taught about Jesus and his free gift of salvation!

Christian denominations that get together to worship say they are united, that they do so "as one," but they are not really in favor of unity. While they worship together, they will never sit down together to discuss any area of Scripture where they do agree with the goal of coming to a unity of idea as to what the Bible says. There is, instead, an agreement not to disagree on anything and not to get into any deep discussion in areas where they already know there is no unity.

They are like a cowboy who sets down on a bull while still in the shute at a rodeo. As long as the cowboy and the bull are in the shute together there is union (cowboy on bull/singing hymns together in public worship) but as soon as they come out of the shute it doesn't take long to observe that there is no unity between the cowboy and the bull...they are not in fellowship with each other!  THEME Union in the church, without unity, is not biblical fellowship. Biblical fellowship, unity, preserves gospel truth, which is the truth that Jesus alone saves...Jesus alone paid for sin...Jesus alone is the Son of God and Savior of the world.

Matthew 22.15-22

Hymns: 620, 617, 618, 619

The setting of our sermon text is this: The Pharisees were trying to get Jesus to say something to use against him to find him guilty of an offense that could be punishable by death. They took some "Herodians" with them when they asked Jesus whe-ther he thought it was right to pay taxes to the Roman govern-ment or not. They wanted a simple "yes" or "no" answer. If Jesus had said, "Yes, it’s right to pay taxes to the Roman government," the Pharisees would have accused him of being an unpatriotic Jew and they would have played that for all it’s worth to turn the Jews against him.

On the other hand, if Jesus had said, "No, it’s not right to pay taxes to the government," the Herodians, Jews who were loyal to Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Jerusalem, would have accused Jesus of treason against the state, a crime punishable by death. So whether Jesus had answered ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ the Pharisees thought they would trap him with his own words.

Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man, could not be trapped. With his answer he established the principle of separation of church and government. He asked for a coin. One of the Pharisees took one out of his own pocket. He asked them whose pic-ture was stamped on that coin. "Ceasar’s," someone said. "So," Jesus might have said, "you use this coin to buy groceries and pay debts and even covert into temple money when you bring offerings? By using this coin you place yourself under the Ro-man government in your day-to-day life. Obviously you don’t have a problem with that. And you enjoy the safety that the Roman army provides, highway maintenance and repair, water supply from the aqueduct. You have no problem using the things your tax money provides for you. So, keep using Rome’s money to pay your taxes and buy your groceries. But using Rome’s money does not mean you are worshiping Ceasar who thinks he’s a god. He’s not. Give to God what is God’s...faith, love and trust and worship him. There’s no conflict here." With his answer, JESUS ESTABLISHED THE DOCTRINE OF THE TWO KINGDOMS: CHURCH AND STATE.

The expression, "Separation of church and state," is not found in Scripture. It was, in fact, used by Thomas Jefferson in a letter he wrote to the Danbury, CT Baptists in 1802 in response to a letter he had received from them. The Danbury Baptists wanted assurance from Pres. Jefferson that religious freedom would not be denied them. And in his letter, Jefferson quoted the First Ammendment to the Constitution which says that the govern-ment would "make no law respecting an establishment of reli-gion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." Thus the principle of the separation of church and state is expressed, not only by Jesus but also in the Constitution of our country.

Two things we need to understand: God established both the church and the state for our well-being. Each has its own unique purpose and each uses its own tools to carry out that purpose. Paul writes (Eph 1.22,23). Christ is the head of the church; he is the spiritual head of the body of believers. As the body of Christ we carry out the purpose of the church which Jesus, our head, has set out for us. And the purpose of the church, or Kingdom of Grace, is this: Therefore go and make disciples of all nations (Mt 28.19). The church, the Kingdom of Grace, exists for the express purpose of spreading the good news that our sins do not condemn us, though they should, because Jesus, the Son of God and Savior of the world has him-self paid the debt of sin by living a perfect life here on earth, dy-ing a death on the cross to satisfy the debt-payment of sin, and rose again from the grave which in evidence that he is God and Savior of all.

The Kingdom of Grace, the church, clearly needs to spread the message that God tells us in his Word that the sinful nature we inherit from our parents makes it impossible to earn our own way to heaven and that all people need to believe that so they turn to God in repentance and forgiveness. And those who be-lieve that forgiveness is not something we can earn for our-selves but which God freely offers to all who believe in Jesus, are saved for all eternity. This is the purpose of the Kingdom of Grace, the church. There is no other.

On the other hand, the Kingdom of Power, the state, was also established by God. Paul writes (Rom 13.1). People need to be governed in some way. We’ll never know if Adam and Eve would not have needed some form of government if they had not sinned. But that is a moot point. We are sinful people; we need to live with some form of governance, not all of which are desirable. We are governed in the U.S. by a constitution and laws. Others are governed by a monarchy, some with a dictatorship, yet others under Islamic rule. We like our way of dem-ocracy where we get to elect those who govern and choose not to voter for those whom we don’t want to govern us.

The purpose of the kingdom of power, the state, is to protect the lives of the people, to defend our country with a standing military, to provide for the well-being of citizens with such things as parks and police and fire protection. The state uses human reason and not Scripture as its guide, which means that some things that human reason allows, like abortion and same-sex marriage, will violate what God’s Word requires. In those cases we "ought to obey God rather than man." We will not do what civil law allows if it violates the will of God.

There is not enough time to examine instances where the separation of church and state is violated or, at least, blurred. I will cite two practical examples: teaching or promoting religion in the public schools and promoting a specific political candidate in the church. In the September 6, 2009 Dallas News there is a report that the state of Texas is telling schools to teach literature using the Bible as its text. Since the government uses human reason and not faith in God’s Word as its tool, we are not sur-prised that one teacher plans to compare the story of Snow White’s fall from grace by eating an apple with Adam and Eve’s falling from grace when they took a bite into an "apple." First, we don’t know what fruit Adam and Eve took a bite into. And second what Adam and Eve had implications that involve both our sinful nature and how God promised to fix the problem of sin by sending Jesus to save the world...something the public school cannot get into.

Nor can the church involve itself in politics in any shape or form. We will speak out on moral issues like abortion and homosexuality because they violate the will of God. But the purpose of the church is the salvation of souls by changing un-believing hearts to faith in Jesus by using the power of the gospel of Jesus and not the reformation of society by telling politicians how to govern. In his book, Civil Government: God’s Other Kingdom, Prof Daniel Deutschlander writes, "The church does not tell the plumber how to do plumbing. She does not tell the carpenter how to build a house. That’s not the mission of the church. She does not tell the ruler how to rule either. That’s also not her mission. She proclaims the law and the gos-pel, nothing more and nothing less" (p.195f).

If the state gets involved in the work of the church it will turn Christianity into a godless religion. If the church gets involved in the work of the state, it will turn religion into a moralizing, Christless enforcer of laws. In either case what is lost is Jesus as Savior and God’s only plan of salvation through the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. There is much in society that is godless and needs to be changed. Change the hearts of people through the gospel of Jesus and society will change as people are prepared for eternity through the love and life of Christ.

James 1.16-18,22-27

Hymns: 532, 530, 308, 380

Some people, many hundreds of thousands of people, believe in Jesus; they are Christians. Many more hundreds of thousands of people are not. Why not? I don’t know.

We read in the Bible, (1 Tim 2:4,5) There is only one God and that God wants all people to be saved by believing in him. But not all people believe him. Why not? I don’t know.

We also read in the Bible, (2 Peter 3:9), God does not want anyone to die without faith in Jesus and perish eternally in hell. But many will. Why? I don’t know. God doesn't answer the question, "Why are some people Christians and others not?" We do know from the Bible that it is not God's fault but the fault of any individual that he or she is not a Christian (cf Mt 23.37).

What we do know from the Bible is that the reason why you and I are Christians and believe in Jesus is not because we decided to believe in Jesus but because God choose us to be Christians. It was his will, not ours, to believe in Jesus. Which leads us to say, FAITH IN JESUS IS A GIFT FROM GOD; TAKE CARE OF IT! This is what James is telling us in our text (v 18). James is not referring to physical birth but spiritual birth that is given to us through "the word of truth," that is, through the gospel. A spiritual birth results in faith and it is the word of God, the gospel, that this faith is given to us. More later.

First we need to be clear that believing in Jesus is not something you or I decide for ourselves. To say it another way, becoming a Christian is not a decision that you or I can make or did make. It is, in fact, impossible for someone who is not a Christian to become a Christian by choice. So if someone who is not a Christian would ask you how to become a Christian, you would not say, "Pray about it; think about; invite Jesus into your heart; just tell God that you are choosing to believe in Jesus.

It’s not possible to choose to become a believer in Jesus for sev-eral reasons: 1) The Bible tells us that by nature we are spiritu-ally dead (Eph 2.1), "dead in your transgressions and sins." If someone is dead physically or spiritually he/she can’t do any-thing. Because we inherit a sinful nature from our parents there is no spiritual life in us. We are as dead as a statue. A statue of someone may have a head and eyes and ears and a mouth. But a statue cannot think or see or hear or speak; it’s dead. You are I are as dead as a statue, spiritually.

2) By nature we can only think of God as our enemy. The Bible tells us that at birth "the sinful mind is hostile to God" and "cannot please God" (Rom 8.7,8). Do you know someone who is not a Christian? Do you hesitate to bring up the subject about Jesus? Could it be that you are afraid that the person would be offended or argue with you or tell you to mind your own busi-ness? Why is that? It’s because an unbeliever feels threatened by "Jesus talk," or resents the idea that he or she needs to "get religion," is afraid of God and views God as an enemy.

3) By nature people are spiritually blind and do not see a need for God. (1 Cor 2:14) The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. An unbeliever doesn’t see any need to become a Christian. Tell an unbeliever that no one is perfect and he will agree with you. Tell an unbeliever that ev-ery one is a sinner and she will agree with you. Tell an unbe-liever Jesus is the Savior from sin and he/she will tell you that they don’t need a Savior from sin because they try to live a good life, try not to hurt anyone, try to be honest and faithful and caring and generous, and that these acts of kindness and goodness will count for something and get them into heaven when they die. They don’t see that their sins condemn them and that there is nothing they can do to rid themselves of the guilt and punishment of sin. They are spiritually blind.

Anyone who is by nature, by birth, spiritually dead and a blind enemy of God cannot choose to become a Christian!

We must conclude, on the basis of Scripture, that faith is a gift from God. He gave it to you or you wouldn’t have it. Let’s look at several Bible passages before we proceed (scroll down to the end of the sermon). The fact that faith in Jesus is a gift of God and not something we decide for ourselves is obviously not an isolated truth found in the Bible. It is a truth that is stated over and over again.

And that is James’ point (v 16-18). Every gift you have is from God. You didn’t give yourself the mental abilities you have, your I.Q., God gave you those abilities. God made you to be who and what you are. You didn’t choose to be alive; God gave you life. And he gave you faith in Jesus, spiritual life.

What does this faith believe? You believe that you are a sinner, just as everyone does, including unbelievers. You believe that God has reason to punish you eternally because you violate his will and his word. Unbelievers know that, too. But what sepa-rates you from an unbeliever is that you believe that Jesus, the Son of God, did for you what you can’t do and that is that he took away the guilt of your sin by paying for it when he died on a cross and rose again. You believe that God does not hold you guilty of your sins because Jesus took that guilt away when he took your sins on himself and paid sins’ debt on the cross. You believe that God will spare you from the hell you deserve and give you the heaven he wants you to have, not because you’ve earned that but because he loves you and will give it to you. Faith in Jesus, given to you by God, sets you apart from the people who don’t have faith in Jesus. And God is the one who did that for you; he gave you faith in Jesus.

Now, take care of it (v 22-27)! You see yourself...your sins...in God’s Commandments. Take care of your faith; keep doing so you don’t forget that you need a Savior. And don’t forget that Jesus is your Savior who paid for your sins. Show your faith and love for Jesus by showing love and caring for people who need that, like widows and orphans and others in need. And don’t allow the pollution of sin in the world draw you into its sordid mess and turn you away from Jesus who gave you your faith. You are among the elite. I don’t play the lottery. But when someone wins the lottery and millions of dollars don’t they say that their worries are over...no more financial struggles or worry about paying bills or for kiddos’ college education or whether they will survive retirement? Their worries are over, except for one: death, for an unbeliever...and eternity in hell. This is a major issue that can’t be ignored and no amount of lottery winnings can buy an unbeliever out of hell.

But you have the gift of faith in Jesus; he bought you back from sin and death and hell. Your worries truly are over. He chose you to know and believe that. You are among the elite.

So, take care of your faith. Feed and nurture it, don’t neglect it. Take care of your faith; put it to work in ways that show your love and thanks to Jesus. Help the poor and needy, be generous and kind and honest and happy. God gave you the gift of faith in Jesus. No, that doesn’t qualify you for a trip to Disney. But it does quality you to go to heaven because Jesus paid for your sins and you believe that!

PASSAGES THAT ARE REFERENCED IN THE SERMON FOLLOW HERE　

(God our Savior)...wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2

.4,5)

The Lord is...patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance (2 Peter 3.9)

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FAITH IN JESUS IS A GIFT FROM GOD; TAKE CARE OF IT!

James 1.16-18,22-27

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. ¹⁷ Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. ¹⁸ He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. ²² Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. ²³ Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror ²⁴ and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. ²⁵ But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does. ²⁶ If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

The Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed

I believe that I cannot by my own thinking or choosing believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him. But the Holy Spirit has called me by the gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith. In this Christian church he daily and fully forgives all sins to me and all believers. On the Last Day he will raise me and all the dead; and he will give eternal life to me and all believers in Christ. This is most certainly true.

Support Passages

Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God’s elect, strangers in the world, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia,

1 Peter 2.9,10

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God...Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall,

Ephesians 1:4,5

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

Titus 1:1

Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ for the faith of God’s elect and the knowledge of the truth that leads to godliness—

John 6:44

"No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.

1 Corinthians 12:3

Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, "Jesus be cursed," and no one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

2 Corinthians 4:6

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

Romans 10:17

Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ.

Philippians 1:29

For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him,

Colossians 1:12-14

giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Pentecost 12

Hymns: 471, 472, 469, 467

What Paul is describing here in our text is the change of attitude in the heart of someone who was once did not have faith in Christ and then received the gift of faith in Christ. The phrase, "If anyone is in Christ," means, "Whoever believes in Christ." Believes what? Believes that Christ...Jesus...is that person who lived on his earth 2000 years ago, who was the human-born son of the virgin, Mary, and at the same time, was the divine Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who was given the task to be that person to pay the debt of sin for all of humanity. This is what you believe.

Further, the phrase, "If anyone is in Christ," refers to a Christian, to you who believe, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that be-cause you are sinful people, totally incapable of being perfect and sinless as God expects you to be, are deserving of eternal damnation in hell because of your sinful condition. You under-stand clearly what you deserve from God...not his love but his wrath...not heaven but hell...not his blessings but his curse...not his forgiveness but his punishment. This is what you believe.

Further, the phrase, "If anyone is in Christ," is a lead in as to what makes a Christian different from someone who is not. You, Christian, believe that what you deserve from God is his eternal punishment in hell. But you also believe that instead God gives you his forgiveness and has reserved a place reserved in heaven for you. Faith in God gives you an attitude that is completely different from the attitude of someone who is not a Christian.. You are "a new creation" (read text again).

Because Jesus paid for your sins when he died on a cross, and because God the Father accepted his payment for sin and gives you the credit for that payment, you believe that the fear and terror of hell and the punishment of God has been forever removed. Jesus rescued you from hell. This is what makes you a new creation, gives you an attitude about God that a nonChristian does not have. YOUR LIFE IS A REFLECTION OF YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARD GOD (SANCTIFICATION). Your love for God is on display every day of your life.

Last week we spoke about the Doctrine of Justification. That is, God has declared you to be innocent of the guilt of sin, free from the debt of sin because Jesus paid that debt by living a perfect life for you and paying the debt of sin by dying on a cross. As a result the sins of all people have been paid for; heaven and not hell is now possible for all people.

However, heaven will be in the future only for people who believe that Jesus is the world’s Savior from sin...people like your-selves...Christians. And because you believe this about Jesus you will show that in your attitude toward God and in the way you life your day-to-day life. This is the Doctrine of Sanctifica-tion. You want to live a holy life that is pleasing to God (sanctification) because God has declared you to be not guilty of sin (Justification). Or, to express it in the words of John (1 Jn 4.19), We love (God) because he first loved us.

Let me give you some examples of how people changed their attitude toward God and identify what it was that gave them that change of attitude: After Adam and Eve sinned against God they ran in fear because he told them that if they sinned, they would die. They knew what they deserved, damnation, so they ran away and wanted nothing to do with God. Their attitude toward God was an attitude of rebellion and fear and even hate. Then God promised that he would send someone who would pay for their sins so that they could still go to heaven when they died and not be punished in hell. How did their attitude change and what changed it? It changed from fear to thanks because God said he would save them from their sin and not condemn them because of their sin.

And they reflected that attitude toward God in their life. They stopped running away from God. They worshiped God; they named their first child Cain, which means, "God has given me a son." In this name we can see Adam and Eve’s attitude and faith in God’s promise that he would one day send a Savior from sin and death. They loved and trusted God; they were thankful be-cause he did not condemn them but forgave them.

Look at Peter. He was a wonderful man...a faithful and loving disciple of Jesus. But he was full of himself. He was so confident of his own spiritual inner strength that even though Jesus himself warned him that he would deny even knowing him, Peter vowed that he would never do such a thing...and then he did, three times on the night Jesus was arrested. He wept bitterly and was consumed with guilt that he could not forget what he had done. Then Jesus got Peter to talk about his sin. "Peter, do you love me?" Jesus asked him three times. And three times Jesus said, "Feed my sheep/lambs." "Peter, I forgive you and I have work for you...to tell others. Peter’s attitude toward Jesus was an attitude of trust and love and he showed that as he spent his life...even going to his martyr’s death as a missionary.

And think of Judas, Jesus’ disciples who stole money from their treasury and betrayed Jesus to his enemies for money. Judas’ guilt overwhelmed him and he took his own life. His attitude was that it was too late to do anything about his sin so he ended his life in despair. What if...what if Judas had really understood who Jesus was, if he had gone to Jesus to confess his sin and heard Jesus tell him that his sin was forgiven...what would have been Judas’ attitude then? One of thankfulness and relief. He would have returned the money to the Pharisees and would have made his love for Jesus evident in his life. But he didn’t.

Your life is a reflection of your attitude toward God...your whole life...everything you do out of love and thanks to God for forgiving your sins and sparing you from eternal damnation is your life of sanctification. The Christian life is all about attitude and motivation. You are motivated to love God because of his love for you. You will not love your family and forgive others, be diligent at work, say your prayers, bring your offerings and worship God in church because you have to as though you were under some obligation, but because you want to...because love wants to. Nothing the Christian does for God is out of compulsion but only out of love. No, not everything we do is perfect; we still sin. But then in love we ask God to forgive and get back to letting our attitude of thanks be reflected in our life of love toward God because of his love for us in Jesus our Savior.

Romans 3.23-28

Pentecost 11

Hymns: 376, 399, 377, 402

The Doctrine of Justification has been called the chief doctrine of the Christian church, the doctrine by which the church either stands or falls. "If this Doctrine of Justification is lost, then the Christian faith is lost" (God So Loved the World. L. Lange. P.335). Would you agree with what I’ve just said? I trust that you would. It is, of course, helpful if you fully understand what the Doctrine of Justification is so that you can understand and agree why, if it is lost, so is the Christian faith lost.

Under the umbrella theme of First Century Biblical Doctrines for Twenty-first Century Biblical Christians, let us consider this morning this timeless truth: THE DOCTRINE OF JUSTIFI-CATION: COMPLETE AND UNIVERSAL What this theme is conveying is that there are some folks, some Christians, who don’t have a correct understanding of the Doctrine of Justifica-tion and, as a result, teach something that is incorrect and there-fore deprives people of the comfort and strength that this doc-trine has been providing for as long as this planet has been in existence.

This Doctrine of Justification was first established in the Garden of Eden when God promised to Adam and Eve that even though they had brought sin and death into existence by disobeying his command not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he himself would do something about sin and death and their guilt. They couldn’t do anything to change what they had done. They couldn’t talk God into giving them another chance by pretending they had not sinned. You and I can count on God to mean what he says and when he says that they would die if they sinned, he meant that. But when he said that he would fix the problem of sin, we can count on God that he means that, too.

Imagine what would happen at a major league baseball game if a batter let a pitch go by and the umpire called it a strike. The batter steps out of the batter's box and says to the umpire, "I really didn't mean to let that pitch go by; may I have that pitch over again?" Would you say that the umpire is a kind, understanding person if he said, "Okay; I'll give you a new pitch to look at?" Or would say that the umpire is a heartless tyrant, if he said, "A new pitch? You've got to be kidding. You know what the rules are. Neither the pitcher or any other batter could trust any pitch I called in the future if I allowed you to have another pitch. Play ball!" Nor would God be God if he failed to carry out his threat to Adam and Eve that disobedience would lead to death. Nor would we be able to count on God's promise of free forgiveness if he failed to condemn Adam and Eve as he said he would.

The Doctrine of Justification is this that God did something about the guilt of sin and about the death in hell that all of us deserve. And what he did is what this sermon is all about. Forgiveness is free to all people, not to just a few. Forgiveness is complete; there’s nothing we have to do obtain it. But not everyone will go to heaven. Let’s explore these thoughts together.

Paul writes in our text what Scripture teaches us from beginning to end (v 23). Ps 14:3 All have turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Adam and Eve could not change what they had become, guilty of sin, nor can anyone else who has descended from them make that change. This is reality. The only way that anyone could die and go to heaven is never to have had anything to do with sin. And that’s impossible. As impossible as it is for you to live on a diet of stones and cardboard and used engine oil, so it is impos-posible for you to go to heaven when you die by being nice to people, by donating your time and money for worthy causes, or by saying your prayers every day and going to church on a fairly regular basis. Even though these are all good things that I’ve mentioned, they cannot change your nature from being guilty of sin to being not guilty of sin, anymore eating a card-board box with a picture of Cheerios on the side, or eating stones even though they came from a vegetable garden, or drinking used engine oil just because it is a liquid like milk... you get the picture.

Yet the Doctrine of Justification teaches that you will go to hea-ven when you die. How is that possible? Because God fixed the problem of sin; he took care of the reason why you and I should not be going to heaven when we die. (V 23,24). The word jus-tified means "to be acquitted of guilt," to be "declared not guilty of sin." How can God do that since we’ve just reminded our-selves that we are guilty of sin? And the answer is because Je-sus paid for the guilt of sin with his life and applied that pay-ment of sin to our life (v 24).

And this justification is complete. There is nothing we have to do to make forgiveness complete. Some Christians teach that the forgiveness of sins isn’t complete until you decide to believe that Jesus paid for your sins. Whether someone believes that Jesus paid for sin or not doesn’t change what he did.

For example, if I told you that I put $25,000 into your bank account, I wouldn’t say, "If you believe I put $25,000 into your bank account, then it’s there. But if you don’t believe it, then it’s not there." Whether the money is in your bank or not is not based on whether you choose to believe it or not. I’ve complet-ed the transaction without your cooperation.

And so Jesus completed the work of salvation without our co-operation. Jesus said to more than one person whom we read about in the Bible, "Your sins are forgiven" (Mt 9.2). He didn’t say to those people, "If you believe that I paid for your sins then I paid for your sins." Justification is complete. You don’t have do anything to complete what Jesus started or cooperate with Jesus in some way to be forgiven.

On the other hand, it’s also true that we are "justified by faith," that is, the forgiveness is yours through faith in Jesus but does not benefit someone who does not believe in Jesus.

Paul writes (v 27,28). Jesus paid for the sins of all people. "God so loved the world," Jesus said, "that God gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life" (Jn 3.16). Jesus paid for the sins of the world. Jesus died for all. "Jesus is the atoning sacrifice...not only for our sins but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 Jn 2.2). The Doc-trine of Justification teaches that Jesus paid for everyone’s sins, whether they believe it or not. So you don’t have to wonder or worry about whether Jesus paid for your sins; he did. And there may be times when you do wonder because of your sinful be-havior, sinful choices, sinful weaknesses...you wonder if those sins have really been paid for. The Doctrine of Justification says that he did.

In order to benefit that forgiveness it is necessary to believe that Jesus paid for your sins, of course. And we will deal with that in a later sermon. But it is not true, as some Christians believe, that everyone will go to heaven whether they believe in Jesus or not (Jn 3.18, 14.6; Acts 4.12). Justification applies to all people uni-versally. No one was excluded from being forgiven when Jesus died on the cross and rose again. And this is what you can tell people as fact: all sin has been paid for by Jesus; there is noth-ing you can do or must do to be saved; Jesus did everything. Believe that; you are at peace with God and will be forever. Amen

____________________________

Jn 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Jn 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Acts 4:12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.

2 Cor 5:19-21 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

1 Kings 8.22ff

Pentecost 10

Hymns: 453, 427, 436, 367

The Children of Israel wandered in the desert for 40 years be-fore God they entered the promised land, Jerusalem and areas north and south. During those 40 years the Jews did not have a place in which to worship God. They did have a temporary temple made out of canvass which they would put up and take down, like a tent, during their travels (cf Exodus 26).

950 years B.C. E. Solomon was the king of Israel and was given the task of building the first permanent temple or tabernacle in which the people could worship God (1 Kings 5 & 6). When the construction of the temple was finished Solomon led the people in a worship service to dedicate the use of that building to the praise and honor and glory of the LORD. In fact, the LORD made himself known to the people in the form of a cloud that filled the temple and the people could see his glory...could see that he was present at that dedication service.

This was a solemn but joyful occasion. This was the first per-manent building in which the people could worship God their Savior. People brought their offerings to this temple where they would see and smell the sacrifices that were offered to God as signs of one who would come to sacrifice himself as Savior of the world, that is, Jesus. In this temple the people of God would celebrate the Day of Atonement and see the picture of God’s forgiveness as the scape goat was led into the desert until it was out of sight, the sign that God does not see or hold our sins against us because Jesus the Messiah paid for all sins.

At this dedication service Solomon led the people in a solemn prayer of repentance and hope (read sermon text). On the basis of this prayer may we clearly see the meaning and the purpose of REPENTANCE: THE SINNER’S PLEDGE TO BE THANKFUL FOR GOD’S FORGIVENESS.

Throughout the prayer Solomon was asking God for forgive-ness: When a man wrongs his neighbor...when the Jews had sinned and God allowed their enemies to defeat them or when caused it to stop raining sent plagues of locusts and blight on the crops..."when the people turn back to you and repent of their sins," Solomon prayed, "then, O God...(vs 49-52).

What is the doctrine of repentance? It is the same doctrine which Solomon used in his dedication prayer, it is the same doctrine that John the Baptist applied when he called on the people to repent and pointed them to Jesus, the Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world; it is the same doctrine of repentance that Jesus taught (Mt 4.17) when he called on people to repent because the kingdom of God was near. And it is the same doctrine that Peter taught when he said, (Acts 3:19,20), Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out...and that (the Lord) may send the Christ who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.

What is repentance? What does it mean to repent? The act and attitude of repentance is this: when you agree in your heart that you have sinned against God, you have violated his will and therefore stand cursed by God as being guilty of sin and deserving of his eternal judgment and damnation in hell, and you confess that to him with firm conviction and with terror in your heart because of the punishment you deserve, this is the meaning of repentance.

Repentance is more than feeling badly about something you did or feeling guilty because you let someone down or regret that you hurt someone’s feelings or did something foolish that makes you feel bad. True repentance is the keen awareness that you and I deserve the anger and punishment of God because we fail every day of our lives to do what he requires of us, and that is, never to sin, never to do anything that violates his command that we live a perfect and sinless life in everything we think and say and do. True repentance is the keen awareness that we stand condemned by God because we are sinners and there is nothing we can do to undo our sin or get him to change his mind.

But there is more to repentance. Repentance is the awareness that we need God’s help to escape his eternal judgment in the same way that a condemned criminal throws himself on the mercy of the court by admitting his guilt hoping that the judge will be merciful and not punish him with time in prison. The judge stands between freedom and prison for the guilty criminal as God stands between heaven and hell for the guilty sinner...for all of us. Repentance includes the faith in Jesus who makes the forgiveness of sin both possible and real. After Peter convinced the Jews that they had participated in the crucifixion of Jesus, they were cut to the heart with guilt and asked Peter what they could do, he told them (Acts 2.38). Jesus paid for your sins by dying on a cross and rising again. Jesus paid the debt of sin so that God would not hold you and me accountable for them but so that the debt could be paid in full. Repentance is the attitude that I am guilty of sin and deserving of hell but I am thankful dear Jesus that you have paid for my sins so that I will not be punished but one day have eternal life in heaven.

What does repentance look like? Jesus did not pay for our sins so that we can choose to be controlled by our sins Paul said (Acts 26:20). After Peter denied knowing Jesus he repented and cried uncontrollably in his anguish. Zachaeus repented for hav-ing cheated people in his collection of taxes and returned their money, with interest. Jesus told a woman who admitted being a prostitute that she had to stop prostituting herself. Repentance is the sinner’s pledge to be thankful for God’s forgiveness by changing your way of life and attitude about sin.

Daily you repent of your sins...some you are aware of and oth-ers you aren’t. When you repent it is not so that you can keep on sinning. Sometimes a husband or wife will admit to each other, "I’m sorry but you knew that I had a temper or that I was this way or that way before you married me. That’s who I am." That’s not repentance. Saying something like that is a selfish way of saying, "You may not like the way I am and I admit I could be different but I’m not going to change whether you like it or not." When sin is repented of it means that it is your desire to change, to stop falling into that sin. It is the sinner’s pledge to be thankful for God’s forgiveness by eliminating that sin from our character. If it’s not found among the gifts of the Holy Spirit it needs to be eliminated (Gal 5.16-25). THEME Jesus removed our punishment for sin. Repent and thank him daily.

Jeremiah 23.9-31

Pentecost 9

Hymns: 478, 362, 313, 366

How could the prophets of God tell the people of God things that God had not said? How could the Old Testament priests led the people of God in prayers and sacrifices to the Baals, the pagan gods of the Canaanites, told the people to offer their children as human sacrifices to the gods, told the people that en-gaging in group sex was a way to worship God and that God did not have an opinion one way or the other about selfishness or adultery or divorce, about stealing or greed or about whom they worshiped as God as long as they worshiped someone or some-thing whom they called god? How could the prophets make up ideas about life after death, deny the existence of hell and tell people that as long as they put forth some effort they would go to heaven after they died because God was a softy and would never keep anyone from going to heaven as long as there was a spark of goodness somewhere in their heart.

As I read the verses from the prophet Jeremiah it had to become clear to you that God condemned the prophets who did not preach his Word but instead preached their own twisted, immoral and pagan ideas that approved of unbelief, immorality and claimed that everyone would go to heaven no matter what they believed, how they lived or whether they repented of their sins. Because of the false preaching and false doctrine of many of the prophets of the Old Testament, the souls of millions who believed their pagan ideas are not now in heaven but are suffering eternally in hell. And whether it is the false preaching of the Old Testament prophets or New Testament ministers, let there be no doubt that GOD DOES NOT TOLERATE THE IDEAS OF FALSE PROPHETS.

In this series of sermons based on the theme: First Century Bib-lical Doctrines for Twenty-First Century Biblical Christians, we have already established sever key truths: 1) Every word in the Bible is true and without error because God the Holy Spirit gave those words to the men whom he chose to write the Bible, 2) The doctrine that we confessed in the church today is no dif-ferent from the doctrine that was confessed in the church in the first century because the truth of God does not change, and 3) A denial that every word in the Bible is true will ultimately lead to the denial that Jesus is the world’s only Savior from sin, the only way to eternal life in heaven.

This morning we want to be clear that God will not tolerate any prophet or preacher who changes the truth of God’s Word by substituting it for his own brand of religious ideas.

That should not surprise us. How much untruth about something you said or did would you tolerate? If you knew that word was circulating among your family and friends that claimed that you had been unfaithful to your spouse, that you were addicted to Internet pornography or that you were delighted that over a mil-lion unborn babies are aborted every year, would you tolerate that? Would you want people thinking that of you? Yet that is exactly what some leaders of the Christian church, that is, some pastors and professors at theological seminaries say about God ...that he understands why people have adulterous affairs, that such affairs are not immoral, that any kind of sexual intimacy, gay or straight, outside of marriage, is part of our social recrea-tion, and that if someone doesn’t want to deal with the mistake of getting pregnant it’s alright to get rid of the mistake by get-ting an abortion because God is delighted with that idea.

And understand this: it is a sin to commit adultery and, in the eyes of God, adultery includes the physical act of intimacy with someone who is not your spouse, or even the thought of doing so...lust! Abortion is the killing of the unborn. But God defines murder also as hatred and sinful anger we hold in our heart. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him (1 Jn 3.15). And again, If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen (1 Jn 4.20). We reject the sins society accepts, but that does not mean that we are not guilty of them. And unless we repent heaven will be lost to us.

Jesus says, For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean’ (Mt 15.19,20a).

It should not surprise us that God has zero tolerance for any amount of error in the preaching and teaching of his word. And he clearly does not tolerate when people who claim to be minis-ters of the gospel invent their own ideas about what people are to believe about God. He opposes them, our text says. He is against them because they are false teachers and because their false claims will lead those who listen to them, not to heaven but to hell through the path of unbelief.

We have been conditioned to hear reports from "experts" and not be surprised if those same experts change their mind at some point in the future. When the experts tell us one day that caffeine is harmful to us, but then, after further review, tell us that caffeine is good for us, we end up believing that the experts don’t know what they’re talking about...there are no real experts who can tell us what’s good for us and what isn’t.

When religious experts preach from their pulpits and teach in their classrooms that what the Bible points out as being sinful is no longer sinful...that even though the Bible says that Jesus rose from the dead new biblical scholarship shows that he didn’t... when the Bible says that it is necessary to believe that Jesus alone paid for the sins of the world if you expect to go to hea-ven, but now it is evident that there is nothing in the Bible that clearly states what a person must believe or what is necessary to be saved...God opposes these "experts" because they are invent-ing their own ideas which will condemn those who believe it!

God gave us his Word because we need to know that our sins condemn us, actual sins and sins of the heart, sins of adultery and abortion and lust and hatred and anger. We need to know this so that we acknowledge and repent of our sins. But God also gave us his Word so we can know that Jesus is the perfect Savior, both God and man, who himself paid for our sin and makes us perfect who believe in him. Only through faith in Je-sus are we forgiven...but we ARE forgiven! There is no room for error, no toleration for anything less than the truth. Our forgiveness and salvation depends on it.

Pentecost 5

Hymns: 289, 282, 285, 286

The church that I served in Wisconsin before coming here to Plano ten years ago was a very large, massive, cathedral-design church building. It has a 75 foot aisle with six 3X3 foot wide columns on each side. In the basement there are concrete pillars and beams running the length and breadth of the building. In one corner of the basement there was a small room in which was kept a large safe...so large that you can’t pick it up and walk off with it. The people who counted the weekly offering put the money in this safe after the Sunday services to keep it safe until it was deposited in the bank on Monday morning. Above the safe was one of these massive, concrete beams and if you didn’t duck your head down far enough to open the safe door you would hit your head on that beam.

The combination to open the safe had 5 numbers. You had to enter the numbers this way: turn the dial six times to the right and stop at zero, then 5 times to the left to the first number, then four times to the right to the second number, three times to the left to the third number, and right, left to the last number. You had to get the numbers and the numbers of turns exactly right or the door to the safe wouldn’t open. If you would add or subtract just one number, or one turn, the door to the safe wouldn’t open.

By the way, when I began serving that congregation in 1984 someone showed me the safe and how to open it. He also warn-ed me about the low concrete beam so I wouldn’t hit my head. He also said, "In case you ever forget the combination to the safe, it’s written right here on the beam." Sure enough; there it was for anyone to see. We erased it!

Safes have combinations that have to be followed exactly for our own protection so no one can steal things that are valuable to us. We also need protection from people who would steal from us the valuable truth about God. How can we do that? PROTECT YOURSELF IN THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD.

How can you protect yourself from getting lost? These days you buy a Garmin GPS, enter the address to where you want to go and listen to the voice that tells you where to turn and which road to follow. Believe that voice and you will be protected from getting lost. Don’t disagree with it or change it...just do what it tells you and you won’t get lost. The same would be true if you printed out a map from the Internet or bought a road map and figured out on your own which roads to take. But you don’t change anything...for your own protection you believe exactly what the map or GPS tell you.

Solomon writes in our text (v 5). Everything you read in the Bi-ble is, like pure gold, of the highest and purest value. If you want to protect yourself from going in the wrong direction as you live your life, from believing something that isn’t true as you figure out how you’re going to get to heaven, from trusting in some false god or wrong ideas about how to be saved or about how to get through difficult times or how to deal with temptation or your own sinful weaknesses or doubts or fears or depression or...you name it...trust in God’s Word; that’s how you protect yourself. It is your shield. And (v 6). God’s Word is true; why would anyone want to change it or add something to it or take something away from it?

Yet people do that! God tells us clearly what sin is; yet you and I choose to sin anyhow and then make excuses for ourselves and expect that God will accept our excuses. Or people say that what the Bible says can’t be true because sinful men wrote it, even though God tells us that he wrote and used sinful to record his words.

Example: the Bible tells us about the 10 plagues God sent on the Egyptians that finally got them to release the people of Isra-el so they could return to the land God gave them...modern day Jerusalem. But some say that the Nile River did not actually turn to blood as the Bible says. The red color came from an organism or from the erosion of red soil. And Moses didn’t really part the waters of the Red Sea so the Israelites could walk safely across and escape the Pharaoh’s army. Actually, Moses knew the way through a swampy area and Pharaoh’s army was caught in quicksand and died. And God did not feed 600,000 men plus women and children with a sweet food called manna that appeared on the ground every morning for 40 years. That was some kind of plant lice that grows for a short time even today in the Sinaitic Peninsula and it fed only 6000 men. Mod-ern day scholarship doesn’t agree with the embarrassing version of the Bible that says that God actually performed miracles to get Israel out of Egypt.

Modern-day Bible scholars say the same thing about Jesus when the Bible tells us that he fed 5000 men, plus women and child-ren, with a young boy’s 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. What actu-ally happened is that some people brought a lunch but didn’t want to share it with those who didn’t bring a lunch. So Jesus used the boy as an object lesson. And when the boy showed his willingness to share his lunch of a few loaves of bread and two fish, other people who had brought a lunch were so embarrassed by their selfishness that they shared their lunches and there was enough to go around for everyone. What is the point of this ver-sion of modern scholarship? Jesus was such an influential man that he could get people to share their lunch. So let us all sup-port the United Nations and provide food for the people who are starving in third-world countries.

These are just two examples of adding to or subtracting from the truth of God’s Word that is going on the religious community today and is viewed as the intellectual and desirable way to go. But you know what’s missing. Without the truth of God’s Word you are not protected against the guilt of sin or the power of Satan. not protected against the curse of sin and the punishment of hell. not protected against the fear of death and the shame of despair. The truth is that only Jesus' perfect life and his death on the cross has removed from us the curse of sin and fear of death. Only Jesus' physical resurrection from the grave protects us from the punishment of hell and eternal separation from God.

Protect yourself in the truth of God's Word. And that truth is that every word in Scripture is true because it is God's Word which he gave to the sinful, human men who wrote down his word. Do not believe those who would add to God's Word, or subtract anything from it or tell you that the Word of God contains mistakes and other information which intelligent, scientific, twenty-first century people just cannot accept. If God could not rescue his people Israel from Egypt in the way he tells us, then, perhaps, neither could he rescue us from the slavery of sin and death, as he tells us. If Jesus could not feed 5,000 people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish, then perhaps neither can he rescue us from the poverty of sin and grip of the grave. Where does the questioning and denial of God's Word of truth stop? It has no limitation and you and I are without protection.

Protect yourself in the truth of God's Word. Believe every word and be at peace during your life now and for eternity in the power of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Only if you follow exact directions and don’t add to or subtract from the numbers of the combination of a safe do you have pro-tection from anyone take your valuable possessions from you as long as they are in the safe. And only if you do not add to or subtract from any of God’s Word do you have protection from the fear of death and the guilt of sin. Only if you believe all of God’s Word will you be protected from denying any of it.

Pentecost 4

Hymns:284, 290, 291, 293

The Bible (which comes from the Latin and Greek word ‘biblia’ which means ‘books’ and which is the revealed word of God), The New Testament, The Old Testament (the two sections that comprise the Christian Bible), The Talmud (a compilation of Jewish, rabbinical oral laws and teachings that are in addition to the Old Testament), The Koran (the holy book of Islam which claims to hold the exact words of Allah which were given to Mohamad by the angel Gabriel), The Veda (the sacred writings of Hinduism)...how confusing! All of these books claim to be truthful and accurate and that what is contained in them must be believed if a happy life after death is going to be a possibility. How confusing. Which of these books can we trust? Which of these books contains the truth? Which is these books really leads to eternal life in heaven?

For you and me that book is the Bible and none other. Can we prove that the Bible is the only book that reveals the truth about God and about salvation? No we can’t. It’s a matter of faith. Either you believe it or you don’t. But in order to believe it is essential to look into these books, read them, study them, com-pare them, and it is the conviction of Christians that the Holy Spirit will guide you into all truth and lead you to believe that the Bible is the Word of God and none other.

In our summer/fall sermon series this year we are using the gen-eral theme: First Century Biblical Doctrines for Twenty-first Century Biblical Christians. One of the objectives of this series is for us to deepen our faith and conviction that the doctrines of the first century have not changed because truth doesn’t change. That means that the doctrines, or what the church teaches today, are the same doctrines that were taught and believed by our fel-low Christians 2000 + years ago! And one of the foundational doctrines of the first century, and the twenty-first century is THE DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE, THE WORD OF GOD. How can we make this claim and what happens if we do not make this claim and faithfully apply it? This is what we will look at this morning.

One of the most important passages in the Bible from which we learn that it is the word of God is our text for this morning (read). Literally verse 16 reads, "All scripture is breathed out by God." Two other passages that help us to understand what the Bible is are these: 1 Cor 2:13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. 2 Pet 1:20 - 21 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scrip-ture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

What do all of these passages tell us? They tell us that the Holy Spirit breathed into the writers of the Bible, and that would be Moses and the prophets in the Old Testament, and the evangel-ists and the apostles in the New Testament...the Holy Spirit gave the very words that he wanted these men to write down in the Bible. And this is what the Christians had in the first cent-ury, this is what we have in the 21^st century...the very words of God, word for word and without error or mistake in anything that is written in the Bible. This is why we call it the Word of God because even though sinful men wrote the wrote the words it was God who gave them the words to write. The Bible is nev-er referred to as the word of men but the Word of God. He used them to communicate his will, his mind and his heart to us in the same way that you and I would write our last will and testa-ment and have that read to those who survive us. I might tell my son-in-law attorney what to write in my will, and he might be the one to read my last will and testament to my family after I’m dead and gone. But those are my words conveying my will and my heart. In the same way the Bible is God’s will and testament to us, God’s Word which he gave to various men over a period of 1500 years.

When you read the Bible for yourself, when you hear sections of the Bible being read here in worship or in Bible study, your mind tells you that you are listening to God’s words and not just the words of men written by men.

Listen to the Word of God: The Lord said to Moses, Write this on a scroll (Ex 17.14). The Lord said to the prophet Jeremiah (36.2), Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you. The Lord said to the prophet Ezekiel (3.10,11), Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says.’" Jesus said to John (Rev 1.19), Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. God himself gave the words to the writers of the Bible. The doctrine of the Bible, that is, the teaching of what the Bible is, is that it is the Word of God, word for word, without error or mistake. God doesn’t make errors or mistakes. All Scripture is breathed out by God...

Jesus spoke about Adam and Eve (Mt 19.4-6) as real people. Jesus spoke about Jonah (Mt 12.39,40) as a real person and the large fish that held him in his stomach for 3 days as a real fish. Jesus spoke about Noah and the flood (Mt 24.37-39) as a real person and a real flood (story about J & G).

This is what the Bible tells us about itself; this is what we be-lieve, teach and confess. Why is this an important doctrine? For several reasons which we will look at for the next two weeks. But the most important reason is this: If Adam and Eve did not exist, if Jonah and the fish and Noah and the Flood are stories that did not happen, then we cannot be certain of anything writ-ten in the Bible which claims that these people and events are true. And if we can’t believe that everything in the Bible is true, neither can be believe anything Jesus said is true either, includ-ing what he tells us about salvation and forgivness!

Jesus the Son of God who became our human brother to pay for our sins. He is the Savior whose coming was promised from the time of Adam and Eve when they brought sin and death into the world so that sin and death would be defeated by him. Jesus did pay for our sins, remove the curse of sin and the fear of death when he died on a cross and rose again. These things are true and we can trust them because everything in the Bible is true, whether in the first century or the 21^st century.

Acts 2.42

Pentecost 3

Hymns: 279, 280, 283, 281

As we prepare to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of our congrega-tion in April of 2010, we have adopted the name BRIDGES as our theme. We want to honor the past even as we prepare for the future. With this theme we are saying that in order to move into the future we need to appreciate what has been given to us. The families that started this congregation 25 years ago were willing to make sacrifices to expand the ministry of Calvary Lutheran Church, their home church, by establishing Atonement Lutheran Church in order to reach more people with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. They were willing to leave the comfort of Calvary and start all over, worshiping in rented facilities (school, funeral home, dance studio), hold worship services in the afternoons or evenings, worship with only a handful of people, canvass the neighborhoods to uncover people who did not have a church home and invite them to become a part of this new venture. There were countless hours spent in meetings and in making plans and decisions that were not always easy to make. There were times of frustration and discouragement and wondering if a new congregation would ever become a reality.

What you and I have today in this worship facility and in the fellowship of a little over 200 baptized members of this congre-gation did not come without perseverance and diligence and a willingness to step forward and do whatever was necessary to start this congregation. No one had the luxury of sitting back and letting others spend the time and energy needed.

Why were these pioneer Lutherans willing to put forth all this effort and dedication? The 1960s and 70s and 80s were a time of turmoil for Lutheranism in our country. There was a battle going on...a battle for doctrinal truth and biblical authority. I plan to cover some of that history in the future. But for now it is enough to know that the people who started Atonement and many other WELS congregations in Texas did so in order to preserve the teaching and preaching of true doctrine. These were people who held the conviction that THERE IS NO SUBSTI-TUTE FOR TRUTH...EVER!

In order to honor the past we need to go way beyond the found-ing of Atonement Lutheran Church in April of 1985. We need to go back to the very beginning of the Christian Church, back to the first century and to the Christians who were members of the very first Christian congregation. Our text speaks about them when it says (text).

The apostles were Jesus’ disciples. The word ‘apostle’ means ‘one who is sent.’ There are only 14 men in the entire history of the world who qualify for the name apostle: Jesus’ twelve di-sciples (Mk 3.13-19); Paul and Matthias who replaced Judas Is-cariot. For three years the original 12 disciples were with Jesus. During that time he trained them to be the teachers of Christians after he would finish the work of salvation and go back into heaven. He taught them God’s truth, doctrine...the doctrine of sin, forgiveness, love, salvation, heaven and hell, faith, unbelief, the devil and everything there is to know about God and how to have eternal life after death. Jesus taught them truth and to value truth because there is no substitute for truth...ever. And Jesus told his disciples (Mt 28.19,20). It was vital that the disciples taught people exactly what Jesus taught them about the forgive-ness of sins, life and salvation, and everything else there was to know about God. They were not to change what Jesus taught them because whatever they changed it to would not have been the truth but a lie. Where people would spend eternity, heaven or hell, depended on the disciples’ teaching the truth, people believing the truth, and they in turn passing that truth along to the next generation down to this very point in time today.

At no point in the history of the world has it been the preroga-tive of man to change what God gave us as his word of truth. He tells us in Genesis that he created the world in six days; no one can change that truth into the myth of evolution or some other false idea. God tells us how sin came into the world and infects us all; no one can change that truth. God tells us how he would pay for sin through Jesus his Son; no one can change that truth. No one can change any of God’s Word without changing truth and there is no substitute for truth...ever!

These first Christians knew that. Listen again (text). These first Christians who formed the first Christian congregation in Jeru-salem believed what they were taught by the apostles, believed the doctrine or body of material about God. And they continued to hold on to what they were taught, to preserve what they were taught because it was the truth, and there is no substitute for truth...ever. And these first Christians taught their children what they were taught and on and on through the generations until this very point in time. There still is no substitute for truth... ever. Not even today. Our salvation depends on believing the truth, true doctrine that has been handed down to us through the history of the church and written down for us by God himself in the Bible. We have an authoritative body of truth that God has given us through the apostles and through faithful ministers of the gospel through the ages.

But it has not been without controversy. False doctrine that con-tradicted what the apostles taught soon entered the church. Most of Paul’s writings in the Bible were written to correct false doc-trine, to condemn false doctrine, to appeal to his readers to pre-serve true doctrine because their salvation from sin and going to heaven depended on their knowing and believing the truth be-cause there is no substitute for the truth...ever!

The heart of that truth is that Jesus is the true and only Son of God who came into the world to pay for the sins of the world by living a perfect life, dying on a cross to pay the debt of sin and rising from the dead in victory over the curse of sin, over the permanence of death and over the horror of hell. There is no substitute for that truth. There is not even a little bit of our goodness that is needed for our forgiveness. There is not even a little bit of our goodness that is possible to gain forgiveness. A little bit of anything we might think we can contribute for our forgiveness fails to acknowledge that our sinful nature make any amount of personal goodness impossible...even just a little bit of it. Jesus is the heart of every doctrine and teaching we know...his perfect life and death and resurrection that has paid for the sins of all. Nothing else could accomplish that.

Deny any part of God’s truth and the truth about Jesus as the world’s only Savior from sin is also in some way rejected, to the peril of people’s souls.

In the coming weeks we will look at various true and unchang-ing doctrines of the Bible under the theme: First Century Bibli-cal Truths for 21^st Century Biblical Christians. We will rein-force this truth that there is no substitute for truth...ever and that we can know the truth of salvation and need to preserve it.

Acts 2.42

Pentecost 3

Hymns: 279, 280, 283, 281

As we prepare to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of our congrega-tion in April of 2010, we have adopted the name BRIDGES as our theme. We want to honor the past even as we prepare for the future. With this theme we are saying that in order to move into the future we need to appreciate what has been given to us. The families that started this congregation 25 years ago were willing to make sacrifices to expand the ministry of Calvary Lutheran Church, their home church, by establishing Atonement Lutheran Church in order to reach more people with the saving gospel of Jesus Christ. They were willing to leave the comfort of Calvary and start all over, worshiping in rented facilities (school, funeral home, dance studio), hold worship services in the afternoons or evenings, worship with only a handful of people, canvass the neighborhoods to uncover people who did not have a church home and invite them to become a part of this new venture. There were countless hours spent in meetings and in making plans and decisions that were not always easy to make. There were times of frustration and discouragement and wondering if a new congregation would ever become a reality.

What you and I have today in this worship facility and in the fellowship of a little over 200 baptized members of this congre-gation did not come without perseverance and diligence and a willingness to step forward and do whatever was necessary to start this congregation. No one had the luxury of sitting back and letting others spend the time and energy needed.

Why were these pioneer Lutherans willing to put forth all this effort and dedication? The 1960s and 70s and 80s were a time of turmoil for Lutheranism in our country. There was a battle going on...a battle for doctrinal truth and biblical authority. I plan to cover some of that history in the future. But for now it is enough to know that the people who started Atonement and many other WELS congregations in Texas did so in order to preserve the teaching and preaching of true doctrine. These were people who held the conviction that THERE IS NO SUBSTI-TUTE FOR TRUTH...EVER!

In order to honor the past we need to go way beyond the found-ing of Atonement Lutheran Church in April of 1985. We need to go back to the very beginning of the Christian Church, back to the first century and to the Christians who were members of the very first Christian congregation. Our text speaks about them when it says (text).

The apostles were Jesus’ disciples. The word ‘apostle’ means ‘one who is sent.’ There are only 14 men in the entire history of the world who qualify for the name apostle: Jesus’ twelve di-sciples (Mk 3.13-19); Paul and Matthias who replaced Judas Is-cariot. For three years the original 12 disciples were with Jesus. During that time he trained them to be the teachers of Christians after he would finish the work of salvation and go back into heaven. He taught them God’s truth, doctrine...the doctrine of sin, forgiveness, love, salvation, heaven and hell, faith, unbelief, the devil and everything there is to know about God and how to have eternal life after death. Jesus taught them truth and to value truth because there is no substitute for truth...ever. And Jesus told his disciples (Mt 28.19,20). It was vital that the disciples taught people exactly what Jesus taught them about the forgive-ness of sins, life and salvation, and everything else there was to know about God. They were not to change what Jesus taught them because whatever they changed it to would not have been the truth but a lie. Where people would spend eternity, heaven or hell, depended on the disciples’ teaching the truth, people believing the truth, and they in turn passing that truth along to the next generation down to this very point in time today.

At no point in the history of the world has it been the preroga-tive of man to change what God gave us as his word of truth. He tells us in Genesis that he created the world in six days; no one can change that truth into the myth of evolution or some other false idea. God tells us how sin came into the world and infects us all; no one can change that truth. God tells us how he would pay for sin through Jesus his Son; no one can change that truth. No one can change any of God’s Word without changing truth and there is no substitute for truth...ever!

These first Christians knew that. Listen again (text). These first Christians who formed the first Christian congregation in Jeru-salem believed what they were taught by the apostles, believed the doctrine or body of material about God. And they continued to hold on to what they were taught, to preserve what they were taught because it was the truth, and there is no substitute for truth...ever. And these first Christians taught their children what they were taught and on and on through the generations until this very point in time. There still is no substitute for truth... ever. Not even today. Our salvation depends on believing the truth, true doctrine that has been handed down to us through the history of the church and written down for us by God himself in the Bible. We have an authoritative body of truth that God has given us through the apostles and through faithful ministers of the gospel through the ages.

But it has not been without controversy. False doctrine that con-tradicted what the apostles taught soon entered the church. Most of Paul’s writings in the Bible were written to correct false doc-trine, to condemn false doctrine, to appeal to his readers to pre-serve true doctrine because their salvation from sin and going to heaven depended on their knowing and believing the truth be-cause there is no substitute for the truth...ever!

The heart of that truth is that Jesus is the true and only Son of God who came into the world to pay for the sins of the world by living a perfect life, dying on a cross to pay the debt of sin and rising from the dead in victory over the curse of sin, over the permanence of death and over the horror of hell. There is no substitute for that truth. There is not even a little bit of our goodness that is needed for our forgiveness. There is not even a little bit of our goodness that is possible to gain forgiveness. A little bit of anything we might think we can contribute for our forgiveness fails to acknowledge that our sinful nature make any amount of personal goodness impossible...even just a little bit of it. Jesus is the heart of every doctrine and teaching we know...his perfect life and death and resurrection that has paid for the sins of all. Nothing else could accomplish that.

Deny any part of God’s truth and the truth about Jesus as the world’s only Savior from sin is also in some way rejected, to the peril of people’s souls.

In the coming weeks we will look at various true and unchang-ing doctrines of the Bible under the theme: First Century Bibli-cal Truths for 21^st Century Biblical Christians. We will rein-force this truth that there is no substitute for truth...ever and that we can know the truth of salvation and need to preserve it.

Trinity Sunday

Romans 8.14-17

Hymns:193, 195, 315, 194

There are any number of things in life where "getting it right" is absolutely essential in order to avoid a serious mistake or, at least, in order to accomplish whatever it is that you want to do. For example, we’ve learned from NASA that the coordinates for reentry of the space shuttle have to be exactly precise or the shuttle will burn up and the astronauts will not survive. Accura-acy is vital. "Any coordinates will do" is not acceptable.

Other examples: "any key will do" (to open a door or start your vehicle); "any letters will do," when you enter an email address; "any liquid will do," when you need to fill your gas tank. It just doesn’t work that way. You need the right key to open a door, you need to enter the correct combination of letters to send an email, you need gasoline, not any liquid, to run your vehicle. Everyone understands these things.

Yet when it comes to the worship of God many people will say, and the number of people who say it is growing, "any god will do." You know that this has to be the work of Satan. Satan is the father of the lie, the master of confusion. It was Satan’s lie, "You will not die," that convinced Adam and Eve to worship him and not the God who created them. As we now live in a world that suffers the consequence of sin in the form of wars and disease, terrorism and materialism, Satan would have us believe that these evils are the result of God’s negligence and indifference to our plight in order to make us believe that we don’t need a personal Savior from sin. And Satan, throughout the history of the world, promotes the greatest lie that going to heaven when we die is up to our own goodness and effort, and that it doesn’t make any difference which god we worship as long as it’s not the God of the Bible, the Triune God.

On this Trinity Sunday when we annually make a special point of identifying who the only true God is, let us say with clarity once again that THE TRIUNE GOD WORKS AS ONE FOR OUR SALVATION. That is to say, there is no other God be-side the triune God...no other God who has saved us because he loves us and wants us to be with him in heaven.

We must confess that there is no way that we can understand, in a logical way, that the God of the Bible is whom we refer to as the Triune God. The word ‘triune’ is not found in the Bible. It was the church father, Tertullian ( 230 A.D.) who first used that word to describe what logic cannot comprehend but what the Bible clearly teaches. The word ‘triune’ means "three-in-one" and expresses the idea, which we can understand, that there is only one God but that there are three unique and different per-sons who make up the identity of God.

In order to examine everything in the Bible that expresses the identity of God it would take one or two hours of a Bible study class to do that. However we can look at a few passages that reveal the trinity, the three-in-oneness of God. Isaiah 61.1; Mt 28.19; 2 Cor 13.14. And we have the trinity identified in our sermon text (read and identify each person).

What is that Paul is telling us about the triune God in this section? He is telling us that the Triune God works as one for our salvation. First vs 14-16. It is the work of the Holy Spirit who made you a child of God ("sons of God") by giving you the faith to believe in Jesus who took away your fear of death by paying for your sins. Again and again the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit calls us to faith, brings us to faith, enables us to say with conviction that we believe in Jesus.

Secondly, the Holy Spirit is described here as the "Spirit of God," that is, of God the Father. So the two are working togeth-er, the Father and the Holy Spirit. We confess in the Nicene Creed (325 A.D.) that the Holy Spirit goes out from or proceeds from the Father (and the Son) to do the work of bringing people to faith. This is based on what we read in the Bible about the Father and the Son sending out the Holy Spirit.

Thirdly, in our text, v. 17. Having been made children of God through the gift of faith in Jesus, we are then heirs, that is, we inherit from God what he gives us through Jesus his Son, and that is the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven. When Jesus suffered on the cross for our sins, it is as though we suf-fered with him. Our sin, all if it, is paid for by Jesus.

And so we say that the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit works as one for our salvation. The three persons of the Trinity all work in harmony, yet individually, to save the human race from the condemnation in hell that we deserve because of the eternal joys of heaven that God wants us to have. This is the God of the Bible; there is no other who created the world, who paid for the sins of the world or who brings the people of the world to believe these wonderful truths. Therefore any god other than the Triune God is a false god, a god that does not exist and certainly a god who cannot save. It is not correct to say that "any god will do" when it pertains to matters of re-ligion and the worship of the divine.

Which brings us to important purpose of the three ecumenical creeds of the Christian Church. Let’s look at the history of the church: Adam and Eve knew and believed in the Triune God. Their son Cain didn’t; he worshiped the god, ‘money.’ From the time of Adam and Eve to the time of Noah, billions of people came to believe in many gods but not the Triune God and for that reason he destroyed the world with a flood. Obviously it was not true then that "any god will do."

The Children of Israel believed in the Triune God...during some parts of their Old Testament history. At times they worshiped the true God, at other times they worshiped Baal and Ashteroth, false gods. And God caused Israel to be led into captivity in Babylon because of their unbelief. Obviously it was not true then that "any god will do."

Jesus’ disciples believed in the Triune God. But soon after Je-sus ascension, members of the Christian congregations in Ephe-sus and elsewhere came up with different ideas, false ideas about who God is. By the 4^th century it became necessary for the church to identify and condemn false teachers. Creeds were written, which we still use today, for the church to confess as to the identity of the Triune God and what he has done for our sal-vation...which is why we still recite these creeds to this day, creeds that are timeless, as truth is timeless, as we confess our faith in the Triune God who works as one for our salvation.

Acts 2.1-21

Pentecost

Hymns:263, 176, 188, 184

You’ve heard of the mythical fountain of youth. Those who drink of its water are supposed to be eternally young. The only problem is that no one can find it. But that hasn’t stopped any number of people to keep looking for it in search of being youthful and alive and energetic and forever happy.

Realists know that there is no such fountain of youth. Realists spend their money elsewhere in search of youth: plastic surgeons, botox, fitness programs, diets, elixirs and creams, some in search of better health, which is good, but many in search of eternal youth, which is but a fleeting dream! There will be wrinkles! There will be birthdays! There will be an elevated blood pressure! There will be a funeral!

People tend to be drawn to miracle cures and miracle programs, and will spend millions of dollars in an effort to attain the unattainable.

Peter said at the end of the message he delivered to a crowd of people on Pentecost (v 21). Now here is a miracle! Peter has the answer to eternal youthfulness and it does not promise a longer life on earth but eternal life in heaven. His program is not a temporary stop-gap measure to slow down or cover up the aging process. He is promising an eternal life that is absent of sin or death in a place where there is no aging process...in heaven. Many millions of Christians throughout the world believe what Peter said about believing in Jesus, "calling on the name of the Lord," and being saved. But the vast majority of people in the world don’t believe in Jesus but are hoping to find the mythical fountain of youth or will rely on surgery or elixirs or some other program to have a temporary youthful appearance, followed by an eternity of suffering in hell. What a tragedy!

Today, on Pentecost Sunday, we observe a miracle that took place in Jerusalem 2000 years ago...the miracle of speaking in tongues. But we don’t focus on that miracle. ON PENTECOST WE FOCUS ON A MESSAGE RATHER THAN ON A MIRACLE, Peter’s message.

And what was his message? The message is referred to in at least three ways. First we are told that "all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them (v. 4). We aren’t told what the Spirit en-abled them to say. Then we read that the people heard what they describe as "the wonders of God." (v 11) but again we aren’t told what those "wonders of God" were. And thirdly we have Peter’s concluding words to his sermon, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." (v. 21). We aren’t given the words of Peter’s sermon but it isn’t difficult to figure out what the content of his message was.

It had been ten days since Jesus ascended back into heaven. His work of salvation was complete. And that work involved his living his entire 33 years of life as a human being without having committed any sin. Jesus was the perfect son of Mary. That is impossible for us to imagine.

You who have children would never even suggest that they are perfect. They may not be aggressive as some people’s child-ren are; they may not be difficult to handle as some people’s children are...disrespectful, disobedient, challenging, selfish...in how many ways does sin show itself in a child? Yet you would not describe your children as perfect.

You who once were a child, you may have been quiet and pleasant, thoughtful and caring, helpful and respectful. Yet you would not describe yourself as a perfect child. There is no such person...no such child. Pretty good? Yes. Do children outgrow their terrible twos? Did you? Most children do. But no one is perfect except Jesus. He was a perfect child, a perfect teen, young adult and adult. This is what the Spirit would have enabled the disciples to say. This is truly one of God’s wonders that Jesus, his Son, came into the world and lived a perfect life.

No only that, but he did that as our substitute. Why would he do that? 1) Because you and I are sinful we can’t go to heaven when we die and there’s nothing we can do to change that, absolutely nothing because we can’t change what we are. 2) Because Jesus loves us and wants us to be in heaven with him he became a human being and lived a perfect life in our place and gives us the credit for being perfect. Who can understand that? I can’t. Some things would not hold up in a court of law. If you were stopped for speeding and the passenger in your car said, "But officer, I wasn’t speeding; can’t you give my friend credit for not breaking the law since I wasn’t breaking the law?" That argument wouldn’t go very far. What your passenger could do is pay the fine for speeding; the money would be credited to you. But it would still go on your record.

Jesus not only paid the fine for sin by dying on a cross. He was also charged with "speeding" even though you and I are driving our sinful self around through life and our sin never goes on our record! Such is the wonder of God.

And 3) Jesus lived a perfect life and paid the debt of our sin when he died on the cross not only a human being but also as being truly God. He had to be God because no fellow sinful human being can pay for the sins of other sinful human beings. If I can’t pay for my sins, I certainly can’t pay for anyone else’s sins either. But Jesus did.

This is the message that the Spirit enabled the disciples to tell people. This is the wonder of God that they shared so that Peter could say, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." To call on the name of the Lord means to ask him to take away your sins, to forgive your sins, not to hold you responsible for your sins! And he does that! This is why it has to be called a wonder of God because in no court of law is someone else going to be charged with your crime after you have been found guilty of committing that crime. Paul said all these things in a unique way (2 Cor 5.19,21).

The miracle of Pentecost is that Jesus’ disciples were able to share the message by speaking a language they never knew before. That is an amazing miracle. But we have focused on the message because there is nothing more amazing nor miraculous than the miracle that the message conveys. Jesus. The Son of God and Son of man paid for your sins. You are free to go to heaven when you die. Call on him and you are saved.

Easter 6/Confirmation Sunday

Hymns:452, 367, 392, 332, 504, 531, 599

The rite of ‘confirmation,’ is not a religious ceremony that the church is required to do because the Bible tells us to do it (like the Sacrament of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper). The rite of confirmation came about as a way of determining when a child was ready to receive the Lord’s Supper. The Sacrament of Bap-tism brings a child into the family of believers and makes that child a Christian. Because of the Word of God connected with water, Baptism washes away sins and gives faith to an infant so that a sinful child, conceived and born of sinful parents, be-comes a saved child of God. The Apostle Paul puts it this way (Titus 3.5-7), (God) saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but...saved us through the washing of rebirth...by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us...through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs...of eternal life. The rite of confirmation is not the rite of passage by which a child becomes a Christian and therefore a member of the Christian Church. Becoming a Christ-ian takes place when a child is baptized...when an infant is giv-en the gift of faith whose sins are washed away.

But at what point is a child ready to participate in the other/ second sacrament that God commands to observe, the Lord’s Supper? Participation in the Lord’s Supper requires that a person have a mature faith...a faith that understands what the Bible says about the Lord’s Supper. It tells us that we "eat bread and drink wine." It tells us that the bread and wine is also the body and blood of Jesus when we eat and drink it. The Bible tells us that we are to examine ourselves, that is, realize that we are sinners in need of the forgiveness of sins and out of love for Jesus want to live a life that is not controlled by sin. The rite of Confirmation establishes that a child has been taught these truths and has a mature faith that understands these things and is prepared to receive the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. But this period of instruction is not over (for Alex or for any Christian). THE RITE OF CONFIRMATION: AN ONGOING EXAMINATION OF THE TRUTH.
 

The Internet has become an indispensable resource of informa-tion. I Googled the letter ‘A’ and in .08 seconds there were 31,700,000,000 results...just for the letter ‘A!’ Then I Googled the letter ‘Z’ and in .08 seconds I got 2,130,000,000 results just for the letter ‘Z!’ What a resource of information. I must add that not all the information is always accurate but it’s out there for you to evaluate.

Now let’s say that you want information about why people die or what the word ‘sin’ means or about life after death or who is God...what is God like...what does he think about us...what does he expect from us...what can we expect from him...what is the primary resource you would turn to for that information? Not Google; the Bible. The Internet is obligated to tell you that there are thousands of different names that refer to God and that there are hundreds if not thousands of different religions that teach different ideas about God and death and heaven and hell and sin and on and on. Confusion reigns! Yet it is essential to where we will spend eternity that we get it right...the right God, the right belief we have of God and what he will do for us.

Here we have the words of Jesus’ disciple John warning us 2000 years before the Internet was invented (v 1). There are all kinds of ideas about religion and God and salvation and how to get to heaven and avoid when you die. A recent Barna research poll indicates that over 60% of people who claim to be Christian don’t believe that the devil actually exists. That means that they don’t believe what the Bible says about Satan and about the Garden of Eden and how sin came into the world and, perhaps, even about what God did about sin now that it is in the world. John is warning us, 2000 years ago, that we need to get it right when it comes to God and sin and heaven and hell because there are all kinds of wrong ideas about these important truths. There is a difference between truth and error, what is true and what is false. And we need to get it right!

Here is John’s specific benchmark for being able to differentiate truth from error (v 2-3,6c). The truth, the only truth about God and all the questions connected with God about heaven and hell and how to live our life here on earth and why we die and what’s going to happen after we die and about baptism and the Lord’s Supper and forgiveness and salvation...it’s all to be learned in Jesus, the Son of God who came into this world as a flesh and blood human being. Anyone who denies this is ‘antiChrist,’ that is, against Jesus as the world’s only Savior from sin and through whom we can know the truth about sin and death and heaven and hell.

John is more specific about Jesus when he writes (v 9,10). The only reason we know that God loves us is because the Bible tells us that he does. But this is not just an empty statement; it has power and substance. God loves us and showed that love by sending Jesus to be the one who would pay for our sins and make things right with God by dying on a cross and coming back to life again.

And this, Alex, is the sum and substance of everything you have been taught throughout your life. This is what you learned from your Christian parents and Christian teachers at Calvary and here at Atonement in Sunday School and VBS classes and in the hundreds of sermons you’ve listened to. Every teaching of the Bible is connected to this truth about Jesus in some way...your baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the forgiveness of your sins, what will happen to you and your family and fellow Christians when we all die, how we will be together again in heaven and, in the mean time, how you want to live your life on earth.

Satan will use the world in an effort to undermine your faith, Alex...and all of us. He will try to convince you that the Bible is not an important book, that it’s not necessary to keep your faith strong...not possible to say ‘no’ to sin all the time. The devil will try to use friends whom you haven’t even met yet to get you to forget Jesus’ love and what he did to save you. Alex, the rite of Confirmation does not mean you have finished with the Bible. It means that you will continue to examine the truth God’s Word and make choices in your life that keep you in God’s truth until the day that you will join all believers in heaven. And the truth of God's Word, the "power of God" (Romans 1.16) will both empower you to resist the evil influence of the world that seeks to harm and destroy your relationship faith in Jesus, and preserve the faith which you today confessed. Continue to examine and test everything in life over against the truth of God's Word and you will be able to retain the joy and happiness and strength and power of being a child of God all the days of your life.

Easter 5

Hymns: 146, 348, 385, 249

On the night when Jesus was betrayed, the night we call Maun-dy Thursday, Jesus was focused on one thing: the time had come for him to finish the work he came to do, that is, to pay the debt of sin for the human race. But he would not pay that debt of sin in the way we pay our debts...with money. Nor did he pay the debt of sin the way a criminal pays his debt to socie-ty...by going to prison. But he did pay the debt of sin the way a murderer pays for his crime...by execution.

But there are a couple of striking differences between Jesus’ ex-ecution and the execution of a murderer today. 1) Jesus was in-nocent of any crime or any sin that called for the death penalty. And 2) his death was not relatively painless nor quick. It was not death by injecting lethal drugs into his vein but by slowly and agonizingly draining his life from him. And because he is both true man and true God, Jesus knew exactly what he was in for which is why he prayed to his Father on that Thursday night that if it were possible to pay the debt of sin for the human race other than by his crucifixion, he pleaded that his Father would allow him to do that...if it was his will.

There was no other way and Jesus accepted that. At the same time he knew that the time left for him to spend with his disci-ples was limited so he used that time wisely by telling them things that were of greatest importance. It’s what you would do if you knew you were close to death. You would weigh your words carefully and everything you said would have deep mean-ing because you knew they would be your final words.

And what important thing did Jesus want his disciples to know? Our text embodies one of the things Jesus shared with his disci-ples that he felt was of utmost importance. And for that reason you and I also need to pay attention to it...which is this: LIKE BRANCHES, CHRISTIANS REVEAL THE FRUIT OF THE VINE. This may not sound all that profound...branches on apple trees reveal apples, branches on grape bushes reveal grapes. But it is profound when we understand what Jesus had in mind with this imagery.

(v 5) Jesus is the vine, he is main stem of a bush or tree...the tap root that provides for and sustains life for that bush or tree. As life-supplying sap moves up the main vine into the branches, this is what provides life for those branches and makes it possi-ble for the fruit of that tree or bush to grow on those branches. You’ve seen a dead branch on a tree...no leaves, no flowers, no fruit. What do you do? You break off that dead branch and throw it away. It doesn’t mean that the tree or bush is dead but just that branch. Something cut off the supply of sap, the supply of life so that the branch died, which means that there was no longer any fruit on that branch either.

You and I are branches. We receive our life, our spiritual life from Jesus himself. And that spiritual life is revealed in the way we conduct ourselves, the way we live our life. We call our con-duct and way of life fruits of faith or fruit of the Vine.

For example: Galatians 5.22,23. If you were to suggest to some-one to rent a porno movie from Blockbuster would they, would that action reveal that you love Jesus? No. That would not be a fruit of faith. Or if you lost your temper, said something nasty to someone, or acted selfishly, would that reveal love for Jesus in your heart? How about if you complained that God doesn’t care what happens to you when bad things happen to you, or you stopped praying to God because you decided that he wasn’t listening to you anyhow and maybe told someone that it was a waste of time going to church or expecting God to help you through a difficult time...would this reveal a heart of love and faith in Jesus? Hardly. Anyone who would act like this, who would not reveal fruits of faith would indicate that they are like a dead branch, that there is no life in them because they have become detached from the life-giving vine. They would be cut off and burned in a fireplace or on a burning pile.

You know what this is describing (v 6). A branch that reveals no fruit is a branch that is without life. Someone who once was a Christian and showed his/her faith in the way he/she lived life but was cut off from Jesus and his supply of spiritual life is a person who lost faith and Mt 25.41.

Jesus describes something else that may be puzzling to some (v 1- 4). There is a difference between pruning and cutting off even though the procedure looks the same. If you have a tent caterpillar on the branch of a tree you cut that branch off and burn it. Or if you scrape the bark on a branch and discover that there is no green covering under the bark, the branch is dead and you cut it off burn it.

However when a branch reveals buds and fruit and green life beneath the bark, you will cut it back a bit but not cut it off at the trunk. You’re pruning it and by definition "to remove dead or living parts from a branch to improve the production of fruit or flowers." Pruning a branch doesn’t kill it but makes it stronger and increases the production of fruit.

When painful things happen in life to the Christian (and what is the most painful thing that could happen to you?), when painful things happen it is not because God is cutting you off from him-self destroying your faith. It is because he is pruning you to make you stronger and increase the fruit of faith, to reveal the fruit of the vine, Jesus, in your life.

What is the most painful thing that could happen to you? That you would lose your job or your health? That you would have to cut back from two cars to one, or sell your home, or walk away from your home? It is painful to have to struggle to survive or struggle with personal issues in your family. The list of painful items is longer than you or I care to think about.

But when all of the things in life seem to slip away or when things get worse in your life just when you had come to think that things couldn’t get worse, does that not drive you to the source of spiritual life and eternal life and heavenly life...to Jesus who paid for your sin and kept you from suffering the most painful thing that could happen to you which is to die without faith and without heaven and face eternal suffering in the fires of hell?

You are a branch connected to Jesus through faith. As long as you are connected to him you have his love and salvation. Let your love for Jesus be revealed in your life, the fruit of faith.

John 10.11-18

Easter 4

Hymns: 143, 166, 375, 144

One of the most popular and comforting passages in all of Scripture is Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want..." David expresses for us the confidence we can have that Jesus provides for us, protects us and has prepared a place for us in heaven where we will "...dwell in the house of the Lord forever." I’ve used this Psalm many times to comfort people who are worried or afraid or facing death. These words assure us that when our life or future seems to be out of control we can take comfort in the fact that God is in control and will see to it that nothing but good comes to us even out of death or other bad things we have to deal with in life.

Tragically you or I can quote this Psalm to some Christians who are weak in their faith and resent the very idea that you or I think they are in need of hearing the words of this Psalm. When Christians give the outward impression that listening to the Good Shepherd’s voice in church is not high on their priority list of things that must be done, or fail to come to the Lord’s Table to receive his body and blood for the forgiveness of sins for an extended period of time, other Christians become con-cerned and will express that concern. "I haven’t seen you in church for a while; is everything alright?" Or, "You haven’t been to the Lord’s Supper for a while; is there a problem that you’re having to deal with?" Christians who are weak in faith resent having to respond to such questions and want you to feel as though you’re meddling when in fact all you want is to direct them to Jesus, their Good Shepherd. Jesus warned Peter that he would be in danger from Satan’s attacks on his faith. But Peter would not listen even to Jesus. He said (Mt 26.33), Even if all fall away on account of you, I never will.

Let’s take a closer look at what it means that JESUS IS OUR GOOD SHEPHERD. This relationship we have with Jesus... shepherd and sheep, will give great comfort to some but it will also increase resistence with others.

It is, of course, an allegorical statement when Jesus compares himself to being a shepherd and compares us to being sheep. We are not to think of him as a literal shepherd, nor of ourselves as literal sheep. However, the principle or rule that Jesus wants us to understand is of vital importance to our faith and life.

(V 11 - 13). We are like sheep in the sense that we are inclined to wander into dangerous situations as far as our spiritual life is concerned and allow ourselves to be disconnected from Jesus our Good Shepherd. Sometimes we are aware of what we are doing, as when we choose to ignore what God tells us in the Bi-ble or when we simply choose not to worship regularly in church when, in fact, that may be the only time you hear or read anything that’s in the Bible. That is going to have a negative influence on your faith and the longer you fail to have anything to do with God’s Word, the less you will care and the greater there is of losing your faith altogether.

For example, the Bible tells us of several people who had been Christians, both loving Jesus and believing in him, and wanting to be close to him, but they allowed the "wolf," who represents the dangers to our faith that Satan uses against us, to attack them and died spiritually, they became completely disconnected from Jesus. The Apostle Paul speaks of a man named Demas who, he writes (2 Tim 4.10), "...because he loved this world has deserted me." Paul also writes about two men, Hymenaeus and Alexander, who "have shipwreck their faith" and whom "...I have handed over to Satan to be taught not to blaspheme" (1 Tim 1.19-20). Paul was even concerned about losing his own faith and that he would not just preach to others against sin and the dangers of wandering away from faith but he had that con-cern about himself. He wrote, "1 Cor 9.27), No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. When the Apostle Paul expresses concern about getting disconnected from Jesus, his Good Shepherd, and losing his faith, let none of us think so highly of our personal spiritual integrity that we can neglect our faith and not end up paying an eternal price. Paul also wrote (1 Co 10.12, So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!

What is it that Jesus wants us to know about him by referring to himself as our "Good Shepherd?" Jesus is our excellent shep-herd, the absolutely best there ever was. He is attentive to ev-erything that goes on in our life, watching over us and is alert to any attempt by the wolf to attack us, that is, alert to any spiritual danger that could destroy our faith and our soul.

He says "I lay down my life for the sheep," and again, "The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again." A better translation would be "I risk" my life for the sheep. Here’s the picture. If Jesus, our Good Shepherd, had come to protect us from the wolf but died in the process, that is, was killed by the wolf who survived, then he would be dead but the wolf would still be alive to attack and destroy us. But Jesus says that he risked his life, that is, he died protecting us from the wolf. However, the wolf died but he survived.

When? When Jesus our Good Shepherd died on the cross, that is when he defeated Satan, that is when we were delivered from the snares of the wolf to destroy us, that is, our faith, and cause us to lose eternal life in heaven.

So what are you and I going to do? Are you going to choose to wander away from Jesus your Good Shepherd? Do you want to get away from him, so far away that he can’t protect you be-cause you don’t want or need his protection? Do you think you have little or no need to hear and listen to God’s Word, no need to worship, no hunger and no need to receive the Lord’s body and blood in the Sacrament of Holy Communion for the for-giveness of your sins? Does that even make sense? If it does, it should tell you that there’s a serious flaw in your faith and that you are a prime candidate for losing it.

On the other hand (v 14, 15). You are sheep...helpless against the attacks of a wolf because you don’t have the strength or the claws or fangs or the will to fight against Satan. But you have Jesus your Good Shepherd who watches over you and protects you and who has destroyed Satan for you so that you always remain a member of his flock of believers. Listen to the voice of your Good Shepherd, be drawn to it and be saved for eternity.

Easter 3

Luke 24.36-49

Hymns:142, 353, 167, 162

If anyone would want to take the heart out of Easter he would have to deny that Jesus really and physically rose from the dead. Without Jesus’ resurrection there is no Easter... and there is no forgiveness of sins and salvation for your and me either...no heaven. Paul is very pointed when he writes (1 Cor 15.17), "If Christ is not raised your faith is futile and you are still in your sins". The disciples didn’t know Jesus was alive. There was no Easter for them. As they were huddled together in some room, behind locked doors, they, perhaps reminisced about "the good life" when Jesus was still with them and when they traveled with him. All they had left of their days together were find memories.

However the message of Easter is that JESUS IS ALIVE; HE’S NOT JUST A FOND MEMORY. He is alive; our sins are forgiven; our future is in heaven with him. This is what we celebrated on Easter Sunday and this is what we celebrate every day of our lives.

How did J react to the disciples disbelief that he was alive (v 38, 39). Was Jesus just a little bit frustrated with his disciples for not believing he was alive? Perhaps. It’s not that Jesus didn’t tell them that he would die and rise again. They should have known (v. 44). Does Jesus get a bit frustrated with you/me when we fail to believe and take to heart the promises he has made about watching over us and taking care of us...and we don’t be-lieve him, or we want to believe but have our doubts? Perhaps. So let us all be reminded what it means that JESUS IS ALIVE, HE’S NOT JUST A FOND MEMORY.

Let’s get into the context. There was some degree of chaos in Jerusalem after Jesus’ resurrection. The Roman guards told Jew leaders what they experienced...a bright flash of light, an earth-quake and the stone having been rolled away from the opening to the tomb. The Jewish leaders gave them money and bought their silence. On the other hand the disciples were in hiding a told no one! See the irony: the people who were nervous about the possibility of Jesus coming alive, the pagan Roman soldiers, didn’t even know him and never spent a single day with him. On the other hand, the disciples who should have expected Jesus to come alive and had spent three years with him, didn’t!

So you have the soldiers who went and told the Pharisees that Jesus was alive, or at least gone from the tomb, and the disciples went and hid and told no one.

How does Jesus resurrection affect you. That fact that JESUS IS ALIVE AND IS NOT JUST A FOND MEMORY...how do you react to that?

How? You are here to worship him. You are worshiping a risen Savior; we are not here just to reminisce about him and to share fond memories.

Let’s look at some reasons why people worship Jesus. What is it that motivate you to worship Jesus? Two possible reasons why some worship Jesus is 1) because you want something from him, or 2) because you think you owe him something. And if either of these ideas is the reason why you worship Jesus, you are either an infrequent worshiper or a sporadic worshiper. Which are you (we’ll talk about ‘regular worship’ in a few minutes)?

Do you worship when you need something from God...need a job, a different car, a better life, or perhaps you want something good to happen or want God to take away something bad. We all need things from God on a daily basis. But if your thought process is that God isn’t giving you what you want or has given you something you don’t want because of something lacking in your behavior, you very likely will connect the dots and con-clude that if you go to church, things will get better because of your improved spiritual behavior. Does that make sense? Un-fortunately it does to a lot of people.

On the other hand, do you worship when you think it’s time to do that again because you owe it to God to give him some of your Sunday morning time? You miss worship for a few weeks or more and feel a little guilty and conclude that it’s time to go to church once again because you owe it to God to do that every so often. So you go to church, you worship and then you don’t fee guilty anymore. You’ve bought God off because of your good behavior. Does that make sense? Unfortunately it does to a lot of people.

If you want something from God and think that by worshiping him he will be obligated to give it to you, or if you feel guilty and worship God because you feel that you owe it to him to do that and when you do, the guilt goes away, then you don’t un-derstand the meaning of Easter. Jesus is just a fond memory to you and nothing more. Flip side of this coin is that when things are going well you don’t need God and when you don’t feel guilty for not going to church you won’t...G is someone you do something for or are nice to only when need something. Other-wise you can get along with out him. You don’t understand the meaning of Easter. Jesus is only a find memory.

Here is meaning of Easter (v. 45-47). The meaning of Easter is that Jesus opened the door to heaven by paying for your sins and taking away your guilt. That would not have happened if Jesus had not paid for your sins; you and I should not have hea-ven to look forward to some day. We owe Jesus our life and our thanks for giving us salvation without any cost or obligation to us. Let me tell you about Robert’s ranch.

Robert is a member of Holy Word LC in Austin, TX. He is also a member of the SC and attends all of our district meetings. He lives about an hour from Georgetown where we had a pastors’ conference last Monday and Tuesday. He invited all of us out to his ranch to have a social get-together on Monday night. He went out early to unlock gate so we could open a go in; he went ahead and did that for us. If we ignored what he did; if we had used wire cutters to cut fence next to the gate to get ourselves in that wouldn’t have worked. After pushing the fence over we had a line of trees in the way, plus a steep embankment that was im-passalbe even for a truck.

But that wasn’t necessary. We confessed, "Robert, we have no key to open your gate." And he said, "I forgive you; I’ll open the gate with my key and you come right in when you get here. I’ll be waiting for you." And he was.

Here is the blessing of knowing Jesus in faith. Jesus became our human brother so he could live a perfect life for us and so he could accept the guilt and blame for our sins. That meant that he was willing to die on a cross to pay or our sins, the very thing that should keep us out of heaven. And Jesus not only died but rose again, came back to life. Jesus is not just a fond memory; he lives. And because he rose again that means that all of our sins are paid for by Jesus, that is, by God himself. We cannot open the door to heaven by doing something for God whether it’s out of guilt or obligation. Going to church when we want something from God or doing so to get rid of our guilty feelings does not get rid of the guilt of sin.

Jesus paid for our sin. Jesus unlocked the door to heaven. It’s already open. When you die Jesus is waiting for you to enter and it is faith alone that gets you in. Will it do any good to con-fess your sin? Fortunately it does. Be honest. Confess your sins to God, not just specific sins but your sinful state. Being sinful is like our not having a key to open the gate to Robert’s ranch. Confessing that and being forgiven is like Robert opening the gate for us or, better, it is Jesus opening the door to heaven for us where he invites us to spend eternity with him.

(V. 48). I wish you could have seen Robert’s ranch...the rolling hills, warm night, clear sky with millions of stars, the cattle quietly mooing under the moonlit night. It’s a little bit of heaven at Robert’s ranch.

But it’s not heaven. Heaven is even more wonderful. Worship Jesus because you love him and thank him for giving you hea-ven, not because you owe him or think you can do something to get him to do something for you. Easter is all about the rising of Jesus from the dead and the forgiveness of sins he freely offers to you. Worship your Savior and be a witness to his love and act the part of a Christian because JESUS IS ALIVE; HE’S NOT JUST A FOND MEMORY.

John 20.19-29

Easter Two

Hymns: 226, 145, 165, 159

Last Sunday, Easter Sunday, I asked the question, "What is the message of Easter?" We greeted each other by saying, "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!" So, is that the message of Easter... Christ is risen? Of course it is.

However, that’s not the entire message. In fact, I would hope that you would see that there is another underlying message that is inseparable tied to the "Christ is risen" message.

To say that Christ is reason means that he is no longer dead... that he is alive. And so we would say, "Good for Jesus that he’s alive." Good for him. But there is more. "Good for us that Jesus is alive because Jesus’ resurrection was not only good for him but also good for the entire human race, people from every nation and tribe and language, people who live in countries that are on the leading edge of technology and people who live in third world countries. The underlying message of Easter is that because Christ rose from the dead, we are forgiven, our sins no longer condemn us or keep us out of heaven when we die. The message of Easter is all about the forgiveness of sins and the promise of heaven to all who believe that.

And this is the message Jesus conveyed to his disciples one week after his resurrection. But it was more than a message; it was an assignment. Our text tells us that Jesus breathed on his disciples and said (v 23). Keep in mind what was going on here: Jesus was telling his disciples what they would be doing now that he had completed the work of salvation. Jesus was telling them that they, who were the first leaders of the Christian Church, were going to be in the "forgiving and not forgiving" business. This is the message of Easter...forgiveness. And the meaning of Easter is that THE CHURCH IS IN THE FOR-GIVING AND THE NOT FORGIVING BUSINESS.
 

First, the context. It was one week after Jesus’ resurrection when he appeared in the middle of a room where Jesus’ disci-ples huddled together, "for fear of the Jews," we are told. They assumed that some of their fellow Jews, the ones who wanted Jesus dead, were going to hunt them down and kill them, too. So they went into hiding and were so paralyzed with fear that they dropped out of circulation. They knew Jesus’ body was missing from the tomb but they didn’t believe it was because he was alive, risen from the dead. They didn’t believe the women who told the disciples that they had seen Jesus alive. They weren’t ready yet to get out among the people to spread the message of Jesus’ resurrection and what that meant. So Jesus showed up...just appeared in the middle of the room, not by walking through the door...he just appeared. Can’t you see the scene unfold? The disciples had been talking about...who knows what, maybe strategizing about what they would tell Caiaphas if they were brought before his court or how to explain to people who had come to believe in Jesus that he who raised people from the dead was now dead, and then Jesus was standing in front of them! They looked at Jesus...then at each other...than at Jesus again. No one said anything, not even Peter!

When Jesus showed them the nail marks in his hands and feet they believed it was he...that Jesus was truly alive. That’s when he said (v 21-23). Jesus had completed what his Father sent him to do, that is, he died on a cross and rose again to pay for the sins of all people. It was sin that caused Adam and Eve to die. It is our sins that causes our death. "The wages of sin is death," that is, eternal death. The wages of sin is the punishment of hell. That is what every human being is facing after death...eternal damnation in hell. Jesus died on a cross and rose again because his Father sent him to pay for sin so that all of the human race can be forgiven and go to heaven and not hell after we die. That’s why we would say that Easter is all about forgiveness, that Jesus rose from the dead so that all can be forgiven. Easter is all about the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. And now that he finished that work, Jesus’ disciples would be the first Christians to spread the message of Easter by telling people that their sins are forgiven.

There’s one catch. While Jesus paid for everyone’s sins only the people who believe that are forgiven and go to heaven.

That’s what the disciples would tell people and that’s what I tell people and that’s what you tell people. "Whoever believes is saved," the Bible says, and "whoever does not believe is damned." So we say that the church is in the forgiving and the not forgiving business (v 22,23).

It’s quite simple, actually...how it works, that is. We could com-pare it to a doctor by saying that doctors are in the "getting better" and in the "not getting better" business. If your doctor prescribes a certain course of protocol for you to get healthy, and you follow his/her advice, you will get better. However, if you don’t follow what your doctor suggests, you won’t get better (but it’s your fault, not the doctor’s fault). And that’s what you doctor will tell you, too. Follow my prescription and you will get better; if you choose not to follow it, you won’t get better. So we say that doctors are in the "getting better" and in the "not getting better" business.

So it is with the church. When Jesus told his disciples (v. 22, 23), he means this: when his disciples (and today, that includes you and me) tell someone about Jesus...that he is the world’s Savior who paid for everyone’s sins when he died on the cross and rose again, and that everyone who believes this has the for-giveness of sins and everyone who does not believe it does not have the forgiveness of sins. And that’s what you are to tell people. You need to be honest with them, as your doctor would be honest with you. You tell people: Believe in Jesus who paid for your sins and you are forgiven; if you chose not to believe in Jesus, your sins are not forgiven. That’s just being honest when the church, you and I, tell people what will happen whether they believe or don’t believe in Jesus. The church is in the forgiving and the not forgiving business.

The hope is that when you tell people that by not believing in Jesus they are not forgiven, they will ask for more information so they can be forgiven. And that’s your goal. You don’t want to tell someone who’s not a Christian that it’s OK if they don’t believe in Jesus because they will not go to heaven when they die. Be honest. Tell them they will not go to heaven when they die so they want more information. Then you can tell them that Jesus paid for their sins and if they believe, you can tell them they are forgiven. The church is in the business to get people into heaven by telling them what will happen if they don’t believe in Jesus. Thus the church is in the forgiving and the not forgiving business. Both are necessary but the forgiving side of the business is more fun.

Easter Sunday

Luke 24.44-47

What is the message of Easter? "Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!" This was the message shared by his family and friends on that third day following his horrible death on the cross. "Je-sus is alive! Indeed, he is not dead but is alive!"

Is there any way anyone could have possibly misunderstood these statements? Have you experienced the death of someone close to you? What is so tragic is that death is final. What is so sad is that you won’t see the person, speak with the person, go out for dinner with the person, go on a vacation together with the person who died. That person is no longer, in any way a part of your life. He or she lives on only in your memory. You can see that person only in the pictures you might have of him or her. The death of someone close to you is horrible.

But if someone told you that this person was no longer dead but was alive again...that this person had risen from the dead, you would have only one question, "Do you mean to tell me that life actually came back into this person’s body?" That’s the only way you could understand such a claim...he is risen...life came back into his body...he is alive!

You are aware, I suspect, that opponents of Christianity want to debunk the idea that life actually came back into Jesus’ body. There are some who claim that the resurrection of Christ was not the "resuscitation" of the body, that is, he did not become a living, breathing human being after he died. But when the Bible says that Jesus was alive it means to say that Jesus’ memory lived on in the hearts and minds of his disciples and family, and that Jesus’ memory lives on in the minds of Christians today, but not that he actually came alive again.

The angel said to the women who came to prepare Jesus’ body for burial, (Lk 24:7) The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again. Paul wrote, (Rom 4:25), He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification. Jesus is alive, which means, THE FATHER HAS FORGIVEN US! The message of Easter is about forgiveness from God.

The message of Easter is older than Easter; its source actually goes back to time David and the prophet Isaiah many centuries before Jesus even came to this earth. Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross is something David spoke about in the 22^nd Psalm (v15 - 18). And the prophet Isaiah spoke about what this death of Jesus would bring to you and me and all people of the world (Is 53. 5,6b). These words were given to David and Isaiah by the Holy Spirit, words that foretold what would happen to the chosen one of God, the Messiah in his role as Savior of the human race.

The essential thing to understand about Jesus and his crucifixi-on is very basic: God made a perfect world with sinless people. There was no death, nor would there have every been death. God had it in mind that all people who would inhabit the earth, including us, would be sinless and would know only a perfect and happy life on this planet that would have lasted forever. Nothing would have caused us to be unhappy or sad, angry or frustrated. There would be no need for Social Security or mortgages or foreclosures, stem cell research or cancer treatment, no bypass surgery or hip replacement or abductions and killing of children or chiropractors or pirates on the high seas or Internet crooks who get into your bank account.

What God wanted for us and had in mind for us Adam and Eve took away from us when they sinned. And now you and I sin a daily continue to reinforce the hard truth that God owes us nothing good but only his justice and his punishment of our sins. That’s all we should expect from God...punishment because of our sins. When you use your credit card you go into debt and the VISA folks or MasterCard people expect you to pay that debt. If you don’t all you can expect from them is some kind of penalty. They don’t owe you anything, you owe them.

That’s how it is between God and us. We owe him the debt of sin. We can’t pay it back so all we can expect from, like the credit card people, is some kind of penalty. Only it’s much more severe that any credit card company would apply. God’s penalty for the debt of sin that we owe him is the punishment of eternal death and damnation in hell.

God made a perfect world with perfect people who turned it into an imperfect world subject to death and damnation. How then could this sad state of affairs be changed back to what God had in mind for us humans? He would have to do something to re-pair the damage caused by sin. And that’s what he did. That’s what David and Isaiah wrote about. God would send his own Son, the Messiah, who would take the punishment for sin on himself. He would pay for sin by dying on a cross because God would lay the sins of the world on him...like someone else pay-ing off a credit card debt on our behalf.

This is what Jesus was explaining to his disciples after he rose from the dead and appeared to them (45). It shouldn’t surprise us that so many people still don’t understand the meaning and message of Easter. After spending three years with his disciples Jesus still had to explain to them why he had to die and what he would accomplish with his death (v 46 - 47). Through his death and resurrection Jesus made it possible for us to confess our sins to him, asking him to forgive our debt of sin, and he does just that. THE FATHER HAS FORGIVEN US, has forgiven our sins because Jesus paid for them through his death and his resurrection from the dead. That’s the message of Easter.

If you are desperate and have to beg someone to loan you some money, you are very thankful when someone does give you that loan. And if they tell you that the loan is no longer a loan but a gift...you don’t have to repay the loan...you would be out of your mind with appreciation and you would show it in many ways; you would make your appreciation very evident by the way you treated this kind person who canceled your debt.

God has canceled your debt of sin; he has forgiven you. That’s the message of Easter and the risen Christ...the physically risen from the dead, Christ. How do you show him your appreciation? He has given you life, eternal life when you believe in Jesus as your Savior. You need never fear death. If you some day lay on your death bed you and your family can talk about the message of Easter...how Jesus rose from the dead and you will, too! How do you thank him for that? Think about it...and to it!

Lent 5

John 12.20-33

Hymns: 110, 406, 402

Jesus came into contact with a lot of people during the three years of public ministry. That’s to be expected considering that he traveled a distance of 70 miles between Galilee and Jerusalem and preached to a lot of people between those two points. People were drawn to Jesus wherever he went not only because of what he was saying (that he was promised Messiah) but also because of the miracles of healing and rasing the dead. The Bible tells us about several instances where hundreds and even thousands of people who wanted to SEE JESUS.

The incident in our text took place on Tuesday of Holy Week...two days after Palm Sunday, and three days before Jesus’ crucifixion. There were some Gentiles who had converted to Judaism and they were in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. Whey they heard that Jesus was there they went to Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples, and asked to see him. Philip told Andrew and they went together to tell Jesus about this request.

How fortunate; they were able to see Jesus face-to-face. We have to settle for reading what Jesus said, or listening to what he said and did in a sermon or Bible class. It’s not quite the same. But you did come here this morning to SEE JESUS, didn’t you? There is no other reason for us to be here if not to SEE JESUS. It is my prayer every day that in my preaching and teaching you clearly SEE JESUS. If not, I am failing you and you need to tell me.

People have always wanted to see Jesus, but not the same reason... not even for the right reason. That was true in Jesus’ day and it’s still true today. Some people want to see Jesus because they want him to fix something...their health, a troubled home life or marriage. Some people are carrying a lot of guilt because of something they did whether recently or a long time ago and they thing that if they could only see Jesus everything will get better; he will fix whatever is wrong.

Jesus does fix things; it is good for people to search for Jesus because they want him to fix whatever is wrong. However if people start going to church or reading the Bible but their problems aren’t fixed, and if they assume that wanting to see Jesus was a waste of time, they unfortunately didn’t really SEE JESUS.

Why do you want to see Jesus when you come to church or Bible class or read your Bible? Why do I want to make sure that you see Jesus through my preaching and teaching? When you come into church, sit down, collect your thoughts, do you prepare yourself for seeing Jesus? Do you read the Scripture lessons for the day (on the back of the bulletin) and look for something in those readings that speak to you, say something to you, challenge you, comfort you, console you? On a Sunday when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper do you read through the Q & A on page 156 to prepare yourself for the Lord’s Supper, or read through the prayers on page 10, or read through some of the hymns?

If you want to see Jesus then you need to look for him and listen to him in his Word., and do this not only when we have a problem that needs fixing but every day because we still have the problem of sin to live with every day.

One of the threats of being a Christian is that our life can become so very comfortable that we don’t have a strong sense of needing to see Jesus. We live a fairly comfortable life, even in these bad economic times we can find ways to cut back with the full expectation that the economy will recover eventually...we’ll get through it. We go to church and we want Jesus to see if we’re going through a rough time and we want him to fix things. But at the same time going to church can be just a habit...a going through the motions. If someone offered you $1M to summarize what the Scripture lessons were about, could you tell him and in addition tell him how you applied those words to yourself? or tell him how the sermon applied to you in a special way...how it comforted you and encouraged you and motivated you because you were looking to see Jesus, and you saw him?

If you come to worship without the desire to see Jesus chances are you will go home with an empty heart because you didn’t see him, because the Word had nothing to say to you...because you’re life is too comfortable and you don’t see a need to see Jesus.

Did you hear how Jesus answered Philip and Andrew whey they told him that some Gentiles wanted to see him (v 23,24)? "I am ready to do what I came to do so that I may be glorified as the Sav-ior of all people, Jew and Gentiles alike. I must be the kernel, the seed that dies when it is planted so that life can come from it."

When a seed is put into the ground first it dies, then a sprout or bud begins to grow into a stalk of corn or some other living plant. So it is with Jesus. He died on a cross to pay for the sins of all human-kind and we are the sprout, the new plant, new life that comes from him. He died so that we can live with him in heaven.

This is the Jesus you want to see, the one who has given you life and fixed the problem of sin. If it is his will he also fixes other problems that we face. The greatest problem is sin. When you want to see this Jesus then you can deal with other problems whether he fixes those or not. When you see the Jesus who has given you eternal life, the larger picture of what is in your future, then you can deal with the sort-term issues and trust that Jesus, who works all things in life to be for your good, will also bring good out of those things that everyone would agree are not so good...health issues, family issues, economic issues. See Jesus who cured the disease of death and you can face any disease that causes death. See Jesus who became poor that you can be rich, who charges you nothing for his love, nothing to go to heaven when you die, and you can deal with a poor economy where you have to redo your budget in order to live within your means. See Jesus who made you a member of his family and included you in his will...you will inherit eternal life...and family issues can be resolved when all members of the family first cherish the love of Jesus and then make it a priority to give that same love to each other.

Several years ago I sat next to a man on an airplane who had a lot of questions about whether I ever doubted my faith. It was his opinion that all religions are pretty much the same. He said he didn’t know what was going to happen to him after he died. I told him that believing that Jesus paid for his sins was the only way to gain heaven. That sadly ended our conversation. I wanted him to see Jesus; he didn’t want to face his sins.

Ironically on the shuttle that took me to my car college senior told me that he had been trying to figure out who God is and wanted to know what happens after death and if Jesus was like Buddha. When we parted company I gave him Pastor Schleicher’s phone number in Flower Mound which he gladly accepted. I helped him to see Jesus and he said, "It really makes me feel good to hear that my sins have already been paid for and that God doesn’t hold them against me." He wanted to learn more.

You see Jesus through the eyes of faith...you see his perfect life, his death and his resurrection, all evidence he has fixed the problem of sin and death, a problem you and I can’t fix. May you have the desire to see Jesus every day of your life. That will get you into his Word, into worship and Bible study. And being equipped to see Jesus the Savior and his love, you will, by your life and witness, help others to see Jesus, too!

Lent 4

John 3.14-21

Hymns: 532, 714, 391, 260

Have you ever heard of "dark energy?" I hadn’t either until this past week. Dark energy is a force of power that is expanding the universe and is causing the stars in the sky to move away from planet earth at increasing speeds. Astronomers don’t know what is causing this to happen or what this will also lead to. They label this as a ‘profound mystery,’ something which they can’t explain. However, even though they can’t explain it, or, perhaps because they can’t explain it, this profound mystery is all the more intriguing which motives astronomers to want to spend countless hours and untold dollars on trying to figure it out. Dealing with an unknown, profound mystery compels people to try to figure out the mystery.

That makes sense, really. Have you every watched an illusionist on TV, like David Copperfield, make an elephant disappear or saw an assistant in half and then put her back together again? This trick, or illusion, is billed as a ‘profound mystery.’ Recent-ly I saw on TV an explanation of how these profound mysteries are done. Now that I know, I’m not interested anymore. The illusion is no longer profound, or a mystery, so there’s no rea-son to watch David Copperfield do his magic.

The same is true, I would suspect, of dark energy. If astrono-mers every figure out what it is, it will no longer be a profound mystery and the interest in researching what it is will no longer be very high.

Jesus presents us with a profound mystery in our gospel lesson for today. It is really more profound than dark energy, and cer-tainly more profound than making an elephant disappear. But I don’t know of anyone who is spending countless hours or un-told amounts of money trying to figure it out. You would think there would be, based on what this profound mystery is offering to people who believe it, that is, eternal life, the end of death. Wouldn’t you think that attaining eternal life would peak some-one’s interest in THIS (IS A) PROFOUND MYSTERY: GOD LOVES THE WORLD? Let’s first understand just how profound this mystery is.

In order to understand this profound mystery we have to be very, very clear on one thing...just one thing: going to heaven when you die is predicated on God’s requirement that you are equal to God in being holy and perfect and sinless in every way. God said to his Old Testament people (Lev 11:45-46), I am the LORD who brought you up out of Egypt to be your God; there-fore be holy, because I am holy. In the New Testament (1 Peter 1:15-16) But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy. If this isn’t clear enough here’s what Jesus said (Mt 5. 48), Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Going to heaven is predicated on God’s requirement that you are perfect...have always been perfect...have never sinned in what you’ve thought or done or said. And that is an impossibility because you and I have never been without sin from the time we were conceived in our mother’s womb (Ps 51.5). That being the case, what are the chances of going to heaven when you die? Zero! None!

Let me use a couple of illustrations to make this abundantly clear: what are the chances of getting back into an airplane at 10,000 feet if you jump out of that plane and than remember that you forgot to strap on a parachute? Zero! None!

Or...about two weeks ago I got into my truck and when I turned the key to start the engine all I heard was a clicking sound. I did this several times. Then I noticed that the clock in my truck had stopped running. I had a dead battery. What are the odds that if I had kept trying to start the engine by turning on the key that the engine would have actually started...with a dead battery? Zero! Absolutely none!

Get the picture? Take one step out of an airplane = going down, not up...for sure; a dead battery = not starting the engine...for sure. Sin = no heaven...for sure. Because that’s what God says and he sets the standard...for sure.

In light of this standard of the need to be perfect, holy and sin-less, what can you expect will happen to you when you die? It is hell where you will be...for sure...not heaven.

This is not very profound but it is clear: (Is 13:9-11), See, the day of the LORD is coming —a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger— to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins.

Now, what is profound is what Jesus said about God his Father and ours (v16 - 18). It is not a mystery that you will die. Nor is it a mystery that you sin and can expect to be eternally damned in hell after you die. But it is a mystery that Jesus says you will be saved and not damned. And it is a profound mystery that such a thing is even possible. Wouldn’t you think that people who research profound mysteries like "dark energy" or who are befuddled by the mystery of someone like David Copperfied would research the profound mystery of life after death and want an answer to the question, "What will happen to me after I die?" Have you ever asked someone that question? Some say that it’s not possible to know what happens after death. Jesus clears that up for us.

The profound mystery is that instead of hating the world God loves the world! God loves this world with its greed and corrup-tion and hate and murder and abortion and war. God loves this world, loves you and me, in spite of our sinful ways, our ingra-titude and selfishness, our complaining and lack of trust in him, our unwillingness to put personal spiritual growth as a number one priority in our life.

This is a profound mystery: God loves the world. He wants to save every person in this world from the punishment we de-serve. So he gave Jesus, his own Son, to cover our guilt of sin with his own life...to pay for everyone’s sin by dying on a cross so that God can give eternal life in heaven to everyone who be-lieves this profound mystery: Jesus is my Savior from sin and damnation and hell. Make no mistake; there is no other way... there is no one else who has paid for our sins except Jesus. But also know that by believing this profound mystery, God loves the world, you can know now already: you have eternal life.

03/01/09

Mark 1.12-15

Hymns: 446.1-4, 455, 315, 556

When you have a problem that needs to be resolved and have to go through a number of hoops before that problem is settled, it can take a long time. For example, I have been trying to work with TXU, who provides electricity for the church and parson-age, for going on two months to stop charging us tax. We are a tax-exempt organization and TXU is willing to reimburse us for four years of taxes we’ve paid in. But trying to talk to the right person and jump through all of the necessary hoops is taking a lot of time and explaining. But I think I’m making progress. I think I can say that I’ve completed Round Number One in this boxing match with TXU; eventually we’ll get through the whole match and we, the congregation, will be the winner.

In our sermon text for this morning we find Jesus in a head-to-head confrontation with Satan himself. This is the second time we are told in the Bible of a direct attack against Jesus by Sa-tan. The first came soon after Jesus was born when Satan put it into the mind of King Herod to have all baby boys up to the age of two years to be killed. Mull that over in your mind! Jewish police come to your home and tear your baby boy from your arms and put him to death in front of your eyes. Talk about a heartless terrorist! Sadam had nothing over the vicious Herod. And Satan was behind it all because he knew why Jesus had been born...it was to destroy him and he made a vicious attempt to keep Jesus from doing that very thing.

But Jesus survived. He got through Round Number One in his battle against the devil. We are not told in the Bible of any other attempt on Satan’s part to kill Jesus. But we are told in our text about ROUND NUMBER "TWO" when Satan tried to get Je-sus to sin. But he failed again. Round Number One and Round Number Two ended in Jesus’ favor over his opponent, the evil and vicious Satan who was doing his utmost to keep Jesus from carrying out his purpose on earth of destroying him and saving the human race.

If you read the fourth chapter of Matthew and Luke you find the details about the specific temptations that Satan threw at Jesus. Here in Mark’s gospel we are simply told that the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan without telling us what those temptations were specifically. And we won’t go into them this morning, either. We have enough infor-mation to occupy our time and attention in one sermon.

First we note this (v 12). This tells us who was in control of this main event...and it was not Satan. The Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness where he fasted for 40 days and nights and was basically sticking his chin out and telling Satan, "Give it your best shot, Satan; you’re going down!" Satan is powerful but he’s not all that bright. He actually thought that he could trick Jesus into sinning against God just as he tricked Adam and Eve. He actually thought he could get Jesus to believe his lies and keep him from doing what he came to. He was dealing with the Son of God, not just the Son of Man.

(V 13). Literally Mark is telling us that Jesus was "among" the wild animals. Adam and Eve lived "among" the wild animals before they sinned and destroyed this perfect world where hu-man and animal lived in perfect harmony. These animals were not a threat to Jesus anymore than the animals, before sin, were a threat to Adam and Eve. Before sin there was no death, no "law of the jungle/survival of the fittest;" both humans and ani-mals were vegetarians before sin. We are told in Genesis (1.29,30). Mark’s telling us that "he was among or with the wild animals" is his way of telling us that Jesus is God himself who had a relationship with wild animals that was like the relation-ship Adam and Eve had with them in Eden before sin, before death or fear of death that now exists between the human race and certain wild animals.

At the same time the angels "attended" Jesus. After Jesus had neither eaten nor had he drink anything for 40 days and nights, he was tired and exhausted. And after Satan had attacked Jesus with temptations to get him to sin, without success, Jesus was attend-ed by angels who came to comfort and encourage him. As a human being Jesus needed that encouragement. What he had just gone through was real, not fake. Let no one think that be-cause Jesus is God, Satan’s attacks were something he could just blow off. He is also true man, truly human, truly open to temptation as we are. But with this exception (Heb 4.15). As true God Jesus was able to resist Satan’s temptations. He made it through Round Number Two without falling into Satan’s trap, without sinning. But as a man this temptation was as fierce as anything you and I would experience. Jesus welcomed the an-gels who perhaps reminded him that his mission was to defeat Satan and that he would indeed accomplish that. When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, in great anguish because of the suffering of the cross that was his destiny in a matter of hours, we are told that after he prayed that if it was possible his Father would find another way to save the world from sin without his having to die on the cross, (Lk 22.43), An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him.
 

Round Number Two ended in Jesus’ favor. He did not give in to Satan. Then, we are told (v 14b,15). The Jews of Jesus’ day were being told that sin was not problem. As long as they tried to obey God’s commandments they could earn their way into heaven. Jesus came with a new message: repent; sin is a huge problem. Being sinful is like having invested your money in Enron or with Mr. Madoff; it’s all gone and there’s no way to get it back; you're bankrupt; your net worth is zero! Sin makes your net worth to God at zero. You have nothing to offer God; you have no hope of retiring to heaven. None.

But there’s good news! Jesus, who is God and man, has restored your net worth. Talk about being bailed out, a buy out! Jesus has bought you back from the debt of sin by paying for sin with his life, by restoring you, making you whole by canceling the debt of sin. So repent, acknowledge your debt of sin but look to Jesus who canceled your debt and bought you back from death and hell. That’s the good news.

And that’s what Jesus came to do; that’s what Satan was trying to keep Jesus from doing...from going to Calvary and to the cross to buy us back from sin and eternal death. Jesus won round number two in the wilderness, and every round after that right up to Calvary. And he won that round, too. In his death on the cross Jesus destroyed Satan; his power is gone; he can harm you and me no more.

But know this: Satan lost round number two, and every round he battled with Jesus. But he’s not done with you and me, yet. Make no mistake; Satan is going to keep on trying to get you to sin, to listen to him and not to Jesus. But as a Christian, you have power over him. Use the power of the good news. Use your faith and the Word of God to knock Satan senseless and down for the count. You and I are in this fight and will be ‘til the day we die and go to heaven. So keep on training, stay in the Word, and don’t be afraid to take him on. As Luther wrote, "One little name can fell him," and that name is Jesus.