St. Mark, Evangelist
April 25, 2010
How God Used a Quitter
Acts 15:36-41
Mark was a quitter, from a long ling of quitters in the Bible.
There was Moses who was desparate to quit before he even began... the work God commanded him to do. When the Lord spoke to Moses from the burning bush, Moses tried to excuse himself from leading the Hebrews slaves out of Egypt. For example Moses' fourth excuse, which was quite clever, went like this: “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since You have spoken to Your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” (Exodus 4:10)
We read about the prophet Elijah who was on the run from Queen Jezebel who was trying to kill him. Elijah ended up in the desert under a broom tree and said, ”I have had enough, Lord” (see 1 Kings 19:4).
And who can forget Peter quitting Jesus not once, not twice, but three times? Peter pretended that he didn't know Jesus while Jesus was been introgated by the Jewish leaders. [Peter called] down curses on himself, and he swore to them, “I don't know this man you're talking about” (Mark 14:71).
Moses, Elijah, Peter, and Mark. Mark abandoned Paul just before Paul headed off to southern Turkey to tell people about Jesus there. Instead of going with Paul, Mark (also known as John) went home: From Paphos, Paul and his companions sailed to Perga in Pamphylia, where John left them to return to Jerusalem (Acts 13:13). Mark quit.
We know a few things about Mark. His family in Jerusalem must have been rather well-to-do because their home was used as a church, a place for early Christians to gather and pray. We learn of this house church when an angel of God broke Peter out of prison. (Peter had been thrown in jail because he was telling people about Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection.) When Peter finally realized this jail break was real and not a dream, he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying (Acts 12:12).
So we're pretty sure that Mark was a rich young man. Dr. Peter Scaer thinks that perhaps Mark was the infamous rich young man in Mark 10. Here's what happened:
As Jesus started on His way, a man ran up to Him and fell on his knees before Him. "Good teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"
"Why do you call Me good?" Jesus answered. "No one is good—except God alone. You know the commandments: 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'"
"Teacher," he declared, "all these I have kept since I was a boy."
Jesus looked at him and loved him. "One thing you lack," he said. "Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me."
At this the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. (Mark 10:17-22)
Dr. Scaer also thinks that Mark is the young man who ran away from Jesus after Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized Him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind. (Mark 14:51-52)
Bottom line is that we don't know if Mark really was the rich young man or the young man in Gethsemane. But we do know that Mark quit on Paul when Paul was counting on him.
Mark reminds us of ourselves. He is a man who lived a comfortable life. If he was the rich young man, he wasn't a dilettante. He didn't dabble in religion. He took it seriously. But his involvement was at his own pace and leisure. As long as he decided what commandments he wanted to follow, he did well. When Christ asked him to take all of God's Word seriously, then he walked away.
As long as I ask you to do things I already know you are doing, everything's fine. As long as I encourage you to do things that are easy, no problem. We can go about our business of “church” and everybody's happy.
The devil is delighted when the sermon never probes too deeply into the Ten Commandments. As people set free by Christ's blood, are you being faithful to God and putting Him as the priority above everything and everyone else? Is one hour and 10 minutes the limit of our time in God's Word every week? The question needs to be asked, and only you can answer that question. But please be honest with yourself when you answer it.
If Mark is the rich young man and the young man in Gethsemane, then Mark abandoning Paul was the third time that Mark had bailed on Jesus. Mark kept quitting when he was asked the hard questions.
Jesus said, not to Mark in particular, but to all who follow Him: “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me and for the Gospel will save it. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?” (Mark 8:34-36)
Mark was a quitter. But here's the thing that's really amazing. God used this quitter to double the spread of the Gospel. What happened? Paul and Barnabas were planning another trip to tell people about Jesus.
Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing." Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the brothers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches. (Acts 15:36-41)
Instead of just going to the island of Cyprus or just to Syria and Cilicia, they split up and did missionary work in both places! This wouldn't have happened without Mark's history of quitting. Time and time again God uses quitters to serve His purpose of telling people about the Savior from sin. Moses, Elijah, Peter, and Mark—quitters who served God's purpose.
Moses took God's people to the Promised Land. Elijah stood up to evil pagan kings and queens. Peter confessed Christ to the Jews and Gentiles. And Mark wrote one of the Gospels, one of the historical accounts of the life of Christ.
And later in life, Mark left his quitting ways behind, and was a faithful helper to Paul and to Peter.
Paul wrote:
My fellow prisoner Aristarchus sends you his greetings, as does Mark, the cousin of Barnabas. (Colossians 4:10)
Only Luke is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, because he is helpful to me in my ministry. (2 Timothy 4:11)
And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers. (Philemon 1:24)
And Peter wrote:
She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark. (1 Peter 5:13)
Mark gave up. So do we. To our great shame, we all quit, we all run away from our crosses when it suits us. But Jesus never quits. Remember the hidden glory of the cross? Jesus walked to His cross and never ran away from it. He didn't quit so that He might wash your sins away in Baptism, Communion, and Absolution. Through these Means of Grace, He sends His Holy Spirit to bring us into and keep us in His family, along with Moses, Elijah, Peter, and Mark.
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Third Sunday of Easter
Third Sunday of Easter
April 18, 2010
Why Is Everybody Singing?
Revelation 5:1-14
John is crying.
In this vision that Jesus reveals to him, John, the last remaining apostle, sees a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals (Revelation 5:1). (These seals made out of wax served to keep out unwanted readers, like a lock on your diary or a password to your email.) John is crying because no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it (Revelation 5:3).
What does scroll represent? It represents the future. And that is why John is crying. He is crying because no human can predict the future.
No one can see the future. But many try. There are harmless meteorologists and Vulcanologists who use science to guess when the volcanic ash over Europe is going to settle down. Their guess: no idea. Then there are palm readers who crop up in every town, making money off of desperate people and people who think it's harmless fun. Then there are daily horoscopes, whose vague guesses can be “correct” most of the time—you will meet someone new on Tuesday.
On the Galilean seashore the disciples tried to predict the future: Peter turned and saw that [John] the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them... When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow Me." Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; He only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?" (John 21:20-23) The disciples were trying to predict the future by saying the John was immortal. While John lived longer than any of them (since almost of them were killed for following Jesus), John eventually died. Yet another failed prediction.
But we try to predict the future, too. We do this by assuming that everything is going to stay the same or get better. So when a business plan that we thought couldn't fail, fails, we cry. When we retirement fund goes in the tank, we cry. When we attend the funeral of someone we cared about, we cry. When our congregation always seems to be shrinking, we cry.
When we predict the future today, we'll only hurt ourselves tomorrow. Why? Well, why was John crying? No one could open the seals and read the scroll. That is to say, no human being can predict the future. This made John sad.
But then what happened? Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." (Revelation 5:5)
Who is this Lion? Aside from the immediate context, we also have other clues from the Scripture. Moses recorded Jacob's words to one of his sons: “You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.” (Genesis 49:9-10) And in Hebrews 7:14 we read, “For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah.” The Lion is Jesus.
Who is the Root of David? Isaiah recorded it first and later Paul quoted Isaiah's prediction: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit... In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. (Isaiah 11:1,10 qtd. by Paul in Romans 15) This prediction helps us when we note that Jesse is David's dad. Jesse, then David, skipping down to Josiah, then Hezekiah, down to Mary and Joseph. The Root of David is Jesus.
And Jesus is able to open the scroll. He is able to predict the future because the future has been given to Him by His Father: He came and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne (Revelation 5:7).
The future is in Jesus' hands. Remember how Jesus sums up our Easter joy: Don't be afraid! (Matthew 28:10) Though we still will cry when a believer we care about dies, our tears are not hopeless ones. We can predict the future because Christ has predicted the future for that dearly departed believer. He told Nicodemus that whoever believes in Him is not condemned (John 3:18).
When a business plan or retirement fund goes bust, we may cry. But our hope in the future will help us to not be afraid because we know that even if we end up living in a shack down by the river eating a diet of government cheese, Jesus has died for you. His Holy Spirit has washed your sins away.
We trust in Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb in this vision. This is imagery with which we are familiar. Isaiah described Jesus in this prophecy: He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. And who can speak of His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was stricken. (Isaiah 53:7-8)
God's Lamb was sacrificed to save us. This is the good news that washes our sins away. So instead of crying that never ends, we cry and then we join in the song of praise to our Savior.
This song that sings of what Jesus has done for us gets bigger all the time. Every time a new believer is baptized, we thank Jesus. Whenever we hear a young believer confess their trust in Jesus, we rejoice in Christ. Whenever a believer dies in the Lord, we cry out our praise to the Lamb of God.
The chorus started small. Just the repentant Adam and Eve and the faithful angels. But throughout the course of history, which belongs to Jesus, the chorus is a little louder. With every re-birth, with every birth into eternity, it get louder. And it'll keep getting louder and louder until at the end of history, every creature will bow down before God's Lamb and sing:
"To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!" (Revelation 5:13)
Amen.
April 18, 2010
Why Is Everybody Singing?
Revelation 5:1-14
John is crying.
In this vision that Jesus reveals to him, John, the last remaining apostle, sees a scroll with writing on both sides and sealed with seven seals (Revelation 5:1). (These seals made out of wax served to keep out unwanted readers, like a lock on your diary or a password to your email.) John is crying because no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth could open the scroll or even look inside it (Revelation 5:3).
What does scroll represent? It represents the future. And that is why John is crying. He is crying because no human can predict the future.
No one can see the future. But many try. There are harmless meteorologists and Vulcanologists who use science to guess when the volcanic ash over Europe is going to settle down. Their guess: no idea. Then there are palm readers who crop up in every town, making money off of desperate people and people who think it's harmless fun. Then there are daily horoscopes, whose vague guesses can be “correct” most of the time—you will meet someone new on Tuesday.
On the Galilean seashore the disciples tried to predict the future: Peter turned and saw that [John] the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them... When Peter saw him, he asked, "Lord, what about him?" Jesus answered, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? You must follow Me." Because of this, the rumor spread among the brothers that this disciple would not die. But Jesus did not say that he would not die; He only said, "If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you?" (John 21:20-23) The disciples were trying to predict the future by saying the John was immortal. While John lived longer than any of them (since almost of them were killed for following Jesus), John eventually died. Yet another failed prediction.
But we try to predict the future, too. We do this by assuming that everything is going to stay the same or get better. So when a business plan that we thought couldn't fail, fails, we cry. When we retirement fund goes in the tank, we cry. When we attend the funeral of someone we cared about, we cry. When our congregation always seems to be shrinking, we cry.
When we predict the future today, we'll only hurt ourselves tomorrow. Why? Well, why was John crying? No one could open the seals and read the scroll. That is to say, no human being can predict the future. This made John sad.
But then what happened? Then one of the elders said to me, "Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed. He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals." (Revelation 5:5)
Who is this Lion? Aside from the immediate context, we also have other clues from the Scripture. Moses recorded Jacob's words to one of his sons: “You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.” (Genesis 49:9-10) And in Hebrews 7:14 we read, “For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah.” The Lion is Jesus.
Who is the Root of David? Isaiah recorded it first and later Paul quoted Isaiah's prediction: A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit... In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. (Isaiah 11:1,10 qtd. by Paul in Romans 15) This prediction helps us when we note that Jesse is David's dad. Jesse, then David, skipping down to Josiah, then Hezekiah, down to Mary and Joseph. The Root of David is Jesus.
And Jesus is able to open the scroll. He is able to predict the future because the future has been given to Him by His Father: He came and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who sat on the throne (Revelation 5:7).
The future is in Jesus' hands. Remember how Jesus sums up our Easter joy: Don't be afraid! (Matthew 28:10) Though we still will cry when a believer we care about dies, our tears are not hopeless ones. We can predict the future because Christ has predicted the future for that dearly departed believer. He told Nicodemus that whoever believes in Him is not condemned (John 3:18).
When a business plan or retirement fund goes bust, we may cry. But our hope in the future will help us to not be afraid because we know that even if we end up living in a shack down by the river eating a diet of government cheese, Jesus has died for you. His Holy Spirit has washed your sins away.
We trust in Jesus. Jesus is the Lamb in this vision. This is imagery with which we are familiar. Isaiah described Jesus in this prophecy: He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away. And who can speak of His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people He was stricken. (Isaiah 53:7-8)
God's Lamb was sacrificed to save us. This is the good news that washes our sins away. So instead of crying that never ends, we cry and then we join in the song of praise to our Savior.
This song that sings of what Jesus has done for us gets bigger all the time. Every time a new believer is baptized, we thank Jesus. Whenever we hear a young believer confess their trust in Jesus, we rejoice in Christ. Whenever a believer dies in the Lord, we cry out our praise to the Lamb of God.
The chorus started small. Just the repentant Adam and Eve and the faithful angels. But throughout the course of history, which belongs to Jesus, the chorus is a little louder. With every re-birth, with every birth into eternity, it get louder. And it'll keep getting louder and louder until at the end of history, every creature will bow down before God's Lamb and sing:
"To Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb
be praise and honor and glory and power,
for ever and ever!" (Revelation 5:13)
Amen.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Second Sunday of Easter
Second Sunday of Easter
April 11, 2010
To Forgive Or Not To Forgive
John 20:23
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear friends of Jesus,
On the first Easter evening Jesus appeared to His friends to assure them that He indeed was alive. Because He died and rose, all of His friends have the guarantee that their sins are forgiven. His death is actual payment to God that pays for our sins; His resurrection is the confirmation that the payment was accepted.
In addition to this joyful news, He gave this command to all of His friends:
If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. (John 20:23)
Is Jesus talking to you? Are you His friend? Absolutely! He made you His friend through your Baptism, which washed away your sins. And as Jesus' friends, you belong to a church that takes Jesus' words seriously. Jesus gave His church some special jobs to do. One of them has to do with the forgiveness of sins. Sometimes we'll forgive someone's sin. Other times we won't be able to forgive them. How do we know when to do which?
Derek is 25 years old. (Please note that Derek could be 55 or 85 or 15.) He was confirmed here when he was 14. During his confirmation he promised to take God's Word seriously, including God's Third Commandment to honor God by coming to church regularly to hear about Jesus. For several years no one has seen Derek in church. So we know that Derek is sinning against God by not taking His Word seriously.
As a church we have three options:
(1)out of indifference or fear, ignore Derek's sin;
(2)out of spite, talk about Derek's sin, but do nothing;
(3)or out of love, find Derek and rebuke him.
Too often we ignore sin or gossip about it. Not so often do we do the hard thing and rebuke sin wherever it shows up.
We are pretty good at rebuking our children's mischief. Our motive for warning our children is love. They need boundaries and lines that they can't cross. This is for their own good.
But why is mischief against God so different? I think we are mostly terrified that when we rebuke clear cases of sin by others, they will rage out at us and accuse us of being judgmental. (Being judgmental is the only dirty word left in our culture.) They will claim that their outrage is based on the Bible and they'll probably quote the one verse of Scripture they know, namely Matthew 7:1.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
But when you keep reading what Jesus is saying and you see this verse in context, you'll realize that to use this verse as some sort of get-out-of-jail-free card is ridiculous.
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you... first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:2,5)
What is Jesus doing here? He's rebuking sinners!! He's judging them! He's telling them to stop being smug self-righteous lovers of sin. And Jesus is clear that we are to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Here the word “speck” means sin and the word “brother” means the people in your life.)
The devil's trick is make everyone think that any sort of judging is automatically judgmental. That is a lie, and a very good one. Jesus commands us to judge out of love and that is what we do. Rebuking sin does not make you a hypocrite, because even though you are indeed a terrible sinner, Jesus has forgiven you with His death on the cross and confirmed this forgiveness with His empty tomb!
Back to Derek. We want him to cling to the forgiveness that Jesus won for us on the cross. So out of love we find him and listen to him. He tells us that he still wants to be a member, but he doesn't have any interest in church. Although he doesn't work on Sundays, he tells us that he isn't going to gather around God's Word and Sacraments on Sunday morning.
In this made-up example, we absolutely positively cannot forgive him because we care about him. If we tell him that what he is doing is okay, then we've stamped his ticket to hell. By refusing to call sin what it is is the devil's job. Our job is to call sin what it is. If we don't, we are doing the work of the devil.
In the months and years ahead, your elders and I will continue to do God's work. When someone hasn't been to God's house for a long time, we'll try to find them and ask them what's wrong. Perhaps there is a legitimate reason for their situation. We will help them.
But if there is no good reason for them to stay away from church, then in a respectful tone I have to tell them that they are sinning and they are not forgiven as long as they refuse to repent and continue in their sin. If they continue to despise God's Word and worshiping Him, we must discipline that person and in the end we may have to end their membership in our church.
All of these steps are meant to wake them up. We want them to see how seriously we take their sin, so that they will wake up and take their sin seriously and repent and then we will joyfully forgive them and no longer remember their sin. We want them to turn away from the hell's road and return to the narrow road to heaven, as Jesus says:
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
This is the road to life that Jesus earned for us on the cross. Often our cross is suffering the hate of those we rebuke and sometime the hatred of their friends and families. But we suffer for Jesus out of love for Him and for them, for we want them to be with us in the presence of Jesus, not for 40 days, not for 3 years, but for ever and ever.
Peace be with you!
Amen.
April 11, 2010
To Forgive Or Not To Forgive
John 20:23
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear friends of Jesus,
On the first Easter evening Jesus appeared to His friends to assure them that He indeed was alive. Because He died and rose, all of His friends have the guarantee that their sins are forgiven. His death is actual payment to God that pays for our sins; His resurrection is the confirmation that the payment was accepted.
In addition to this joyful news, He gave this command to all of His friends:
If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven. (John 20:23)
Is Jesus talking to you? Are you His friend? Absolutely! He made you His friend through your Baptism, which washed away your sins. And as Jesus' friends, you belong to a church that takes Jesus' words seriously. Jesus gave His church some special jobs to do. One of them has to do with the forgiveness of sins. Sometimes we'll forgive someone's sin. Other times we won't be able to forgive them. How do we know when to do which?
Derek is 25 years old. (Please note that Derek could be 55 or 85 or 15.) He was confirmed here when he was 14. During his confirmation he promised to take God's Word seriously, including God's Third Commandment to honor God by coming to church regularly to hear about Jesus. For several years no one has seen Derek in church. So we know that Derek is sinning against God by not taking His Word seriously.
As a church we have three options:
(1)out of indifference or fear, ignore Derek's sin;
(2)out of spite, talk about Derek's sin, but do nothing;
(3)or out of love, find Derek and rebuke him.
Too often we ignore sin or gossip about it. Not so often do we do the hard thing and rebuke sin wherever it shows up.
We are pretty good at rebuking our children's mischief. Our motive for warning our children is love. They need boundaries and lines that they can't cross. This is for their own good.
But why is mischief against God so different? I think we are mostly terrified that when we rebuke clear cases of sin by others, they will rage out at us and accuse us of being judgmental. (Being judgmental is the only dirty word left in our culture.) They will claim that their outrage is based on the Bible and they'll probably quote the one verse of Scripture they know, namely Matthew 7:1.
Do not judge, or you too will be judged.
But when you keep reading what Jesus is saying and you see this verse in context, you'll realize that to use this verse as some sort of get-out-of-jail-free card is ridiculous.
For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you... first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Matthew 7:2,5)
What is Jesus doing here? He's rebuking sinners!! He's judging them! He's telling them to stop being smug self-righteous lovers of sin. And Jesus is clear that we are to remove the speck from your brother's eye. (Here the word “speck” means sin and the word “brother” means the people in your life.)
The devil's trick is make everyone think that any sort of judging is automatically judgmental. That is a lie, and a very good one. Jesus commands us to judge out of love and that is what we do. Rebuking sin does not make you a hypocrite, because even though you are indeed a terrible sinner, Jesus has forgiven you with His death on the cross and confirmed this forgiveness with His empty tomb!
Back to Derek. We want him to cling to the forgiveness that Jesus won for us on the cross. So out of love we find him and listen to him. He tells us that he still wants to be a member, but he doesn't have any interest in church. Although he doesn't work on Sundays, he tells us that he isn't going to gather around God's Word and Sacraments on Sunday morning.
In this made-up example, we absolutely positively cannot forgive him because we care about him. If we tell him that what he is doing is okay, then we've stamped his ticket to hell. By refusing to call sin what it is is the devil's job. Our job is to call sin what it is. If we don't, we are doing the work of the devil.
In the months and years ahead, your elders and I will continue to do God's work. When someone hasn't been to God's house for a long time, we'll try to find them and ask them what's wrong. Perhaps there is a legitimate reason for their situation. We will help them.
But if there is no good reason for them to stay away from church, then in a respectful tone I have to tell them that they are sinning and they are not forgiven as long as they refuse to repent and continue in their sin. If they continue to despise God's Word and worshiping Him, we must discipline that person and in the end we may have to end their membership in our church.
All of these steps are meant to wake them up. We want them to see how seriously we take their sin, so that they will wake up and take their sin seriously and repent and then we will joyfully forgive them and no longer remember their sin. We want them to turn away from the hell's road and return to the narrow road to heaven, as Jesus says:
Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7:13-14)
This is the road to life that Jesus earned for us on the cross. Often our cross is suffering the hate of those we rebuke and sometime the hatred of their friends and families. But we suffer for Jesus out of love for Him and for them, for we want them to be with us in the presence of Jesus, not for 40 days, not for 3 years, but for ever and ever.
Peace be with you!
Amen.
Monday, April 5, 2010
The Festival of the Resurrection of our Lord
Resurrection Sunday
April 4, 2010
Behold the Hidden Glory of the Cross!
It Is Hidden Even in the Savior's Triumph
He's risen! He's risen indeed! Listen to the report of the resurrection and let your heart be filled with undiluted joy and unmixed gladness:
Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.
But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
All throughout Lent we have been looking for the hidden glory of the cross. Today that glory reaches it climax. But, as we noticed throughout Lent, the glory is hidden. It is hidden even now.
Do we see Jesus shining in glory at the tomb? No. It's two of His angels. Jesus' glorious moment of resurrection is hidden from sight. No one sees it. Even when Jesus does appear to His followers He graciously doesn't appear in His glory. The reason is why is Jesus' love for His friends.
See how the women reacted to the angels at the tomb. Remember how the Peter, James, and John were scared out of their wits on Transfiguration Mountain. If Jesus had appeared to them in His glory, they would have died of fright. So again Jesus displays His love by hiding His glory.
And see how Jesus sums up the joy of Easter with a few simple words: “Don't be afraid.” Because Jesus paid for our sin on Friday and the Father acknowledges that payment today, we never have to be afraid again.
See how gentle Jesus is with us. Instead of blasting into the disciples' hide out without warning, He has the women report what they saw and heard at the garden tomb. He has the two men who were on their way to Emmaus return to Jerusalem after He speaks with them on the road.
Jesus wants all His followers to depend on His Word. That is where you uncover the glory of Easter. You find it in the Word. You find it in the Sacraments. Jesus' Words tell us that He forgives us and Jesus' and Sacraments forgive us.
So don't be afraid, dear brothers and sisters of Jesus, for HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! AMEN!
April 4, 2010
Behold the Hidden Glory of the Cross!
It Is Hidden Even in the Savior's Triumph
He's risen! He's risen indeed! Listen to the report of the resurrection and let your heart be filled with undiluted joy and unmixed gladness:
Luke 24:1-12
On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.
While they were wondering about this, suddenly two men in clothes that gleamed like lightning stood beside them. In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, "Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.' " Then they remembered his words.
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the others with them who told this to the apostles.
But they did not believe the women, because their words seemed to them like nonsense. Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. Bending over, he saw the strips of linen lying by themselves, and he went away, wondering to himself what had happened.
All throughout Lent we have been looking for the hidden glory of the cross. Today that glory reaches it climax. But, as we noticed throughout Lent, the glory is hidden. It is hidden even now.
Do we see Jesus shining in glory at the tomb? No. It's two of His angels. Jesus' glorious moment of resurrection is hidden from sight. No one sees it. Even when Jesus does appear to His followers He graciously doesn't appear in His glory. The reason is why is Jesus' love for His friends.
See how the women reacted to the angels at the tomb. Remember how the Peter, James, and John were scared out of their wits on Transfiguration Mountain. If Jesus had appeared to them in His glory, they would have died of fright. So again Jesus displays His love by hiding His glory.
And see how Jesus sums up the joy of Easter with a few simple words: “Don't be afraid.” Because Jesus paid for our sin on Friday and the Father acknowledges that payment today, we never have to be afraid again.
See how gentle Jesus is with us. Instead of blasting into the disciples' hide out without warning, He has the women report what they saw and heard at the garden tomb. He has the two men who were on their way to Emmaus return to Jerusalem after He speaks with them on the road.
Jesus wants all His followers to depend on His Word. That is where you uncover the glory of Easter. You find it in the Word. You find it in the Sacraments. Jesus' Words tell us that He forgives us and Jesus' and Sacraments forgive us.
So don't be afraid, dear brothers and sisters of Jesus, for HE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! ALLELUIA! AMEN!
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Good Friday
Good Friday
April 2, 2010
Behold the Hidden Glory of the Cross!
It Is Hidden in the Savior's Promises
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear fellow cross-bearers,
It's over. Our Lenten journey is done. 40 days ago we listened to Jesus' call, “We are going up to Jerusalem.” Along the way we looked for His glory that was hidden in the cross.
John 19:31-37
Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of His bones will be broken," and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the One they have pierced."
During His three years of preaching and teaching, Jesus had often said that everything He was doing, and especially His death, fulfilled the promises of the Old Testament. 1,000 years earlier King David was inspired to write Psalm 22. There he wrote that His Savior would be so thin and stretched out that passers-by could count His bones. His clothes would divided up. Isaiah 53 looked ahead to this day and declared that it would be a day without visible glory. The Savior would be rejected and despised.
Try to wrap your mind around it! From Adam to Moses to Zechariah, one of the Old Testament's last prophets, God predicted only misery for His Son. Who has ever heard of someone promising misery for themselves and then making sure that every last bit of that misery is suffered? This is very strange, yet special, promise indeed!
In this promised and fulfilled pain we see our hope, hope that we never need doubt. Here's why: if Jesus did fulfill His promise to suffer for us, then He will certainly fulfill His promise to give eternal life to those who trust in Him alone for their salvation.
And that's not all. Jesus makes many other promises to you. Some are promises that help you in your life right now; others will help you in the life to come. When it is your turn to suffer and all those around you abandon you, He won't leave you. When sorrow shadows your every move, either because of your sin or because of the sin of others, He won't run away.
He also promised that your Baptism washes away your sin and that we have the right to forgive sins and that His body and blood are really present in His Supper. He also promises that those who confess forgiveness in His name now will be recognized by Him on the first day of eternity. And He promised that if your body dies before that youngest day, He will put your body back together and better than before and breathe life back into you.
It is Good Friday. On this day the sun in the sky refused to look at its Creator and shine its light. Our churches and our hearts are dark as well. But at the same time our hearts are filled with joy because we have seen the hidden glory of the cross. We have seen the glory that is His promises kept. We have seen the glory so that we can certain that He will always keep all His promises.
Go home with the quiet confidence in the joy of forgiveness and wait three days for the cry to go out: “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” For all of this has happened that the Scriptures should be fulfilled.
Amen.
April 2, 2010
Behold the Hidden Glory of the Cross!
It Is Hidden in the Savior's Promises
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear fellow cross-bearers,
It's over. Our Lenten journey is done. 40 days ago we listened to Jesus' call, “We are going up to Jerusalem.” Along the way we looked for His glory that was hidden in the cross.
John 19:31-37
Now it was the day of Preparation, and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jews did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other. But when they came to Jesus and found that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus' side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: "Not one of His bones will be broken," and, as another scripture says, "They will look on the One they have pierced."
During His three years of preaching and teaching, Jesus had often said that everything He was doing, and especially His death, fulfilled the promises of the Old Testament. 1,000 years earlier King David was inspired to write Psalm 22. There he wrote that His Savior would be so thin and stretched out that passers-by could count His bones. His clothes would divided up. Isaiah 53 looked ahead to this day and declared that it would be a day without visible glory. The Savior would be rejected and despised.
Try to wrap your mind around it! From Adam to Moses to Zechariah, one of the Old Testament's last prophets, God predicted only misery for His Son. Who has ever heard of someone promising misery for themselves and then making sure that every last bit of that misery is suffered? This is very strange, yet special, promise indeed!
In this promised and fulfilled pain we see our hope, hope that we never need doubt. Here's why: if Jesus did fulfill His promise to suffer for us, then He will certainly fulfill His promise to give eternal life to those who trust in Him alone for their salvation.
And that's not all. Jesus makes many other promises to you. Some are promises that help you in your life right now; others will help you in the life to come. When it is your turn to suffer and all those around you abandon you, He won't leave you. When sorrow shadows your every move, either because of your sin or because of the sin of others, He won't run away.
He also promised that your Baptism washes away your sin and that we have the right to forgive sins and that His body and blood are really present in His Supper. He also promises that those who confess forgiveness in His name now will be recognized by Him on the first day of eternity. And He promised that if your body dies before that youngest day, He will put your body back together and better than before and breathe life back into you.
It is Good Friday. On this day the sun in the sky refused to look at its Creator and shine its light. Our churches and our hearts are dark as well. But at the same time our hearts are filled with joy because we have seen the hidden glory of the cross. We have seen the glory that is His promises kept. We have seen the glory so that we can certain that He will always keep all His promises.
Go home with the quiet confidence in the joy of forgiveness and wait three days for the cry to go out: “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” For all of this has happened that the Scriptures should be fulfilled.
Amen.
Maundy Thursday
Maundy Thursday
April 1, 2010
Behold the Hidden Glory of the Cross!
It Is Hidden in the Savior's Feast
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear fellow redeemed,
This Lent and Holy Week we have learned of glory that is hidden. When it comes to Jesus' glory, what is striking is that His most lowly words and works are the most glorious and most powerful!
This is very true of Jesus' words as He commanded us to celebrate His Holy Supper, which you've heard hundreds of times and no doubt know by heart. Let's hear them again and marvel at how simple they are:
Matthew 26:26-30
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is My body."
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Father's kingdom."
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Every year Jesus and His disciples looked forward to celebrating the Passover. Passover was the most important day on the Jewish calendar. They commemorated the final plague that God brought upon the Egyptians 1,500 year earlier (for us 3,500 years ago): every firstborn son, human and livestock, would be killed by the angel of death unless... unless they were in a house that had blood on its door frame.
But during this Passover feast Jesus institutes a new feast—what some today call variously Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist, or the Sacrament of the Altar. And since Jesus started this new celebration without any fuss or fanfare, we wonder if His disciples even realized how big this was. Probably not, since they were busy trying to decide who among them was the most important.
To hide the glory of this new feast even more, Jesus uses plain old bread. Plain ordinary bread which He states matter-of-factly: “This is My body.” He didn't explain it. On the one hand, He didn't say that this bread was a symbol of His body. No, His words were plain and simple: “This is My body.”
On the other hand, He didn't tell them to save it up or parade it around or worship it either. All this applies to the wine. A cup with some ordinary wine. Not a magic potion. Not some health drink. Just wine, which He declares is His blood.
All so ordinary. His disciples missed the glory. But so often so do we. A common conversation in Lutheran homes before a Communion service goes something like this: “Are we going to Communion today?” Well, let's see. Did we go last time?” No, well then, I suppose we should go today.” Or before you came tonight: “Well, it's Maundy Thursday: that means that we have to go to Communion. Everybody goes to Communion on Maundy Thursday.”
Yes, it's all so simple that we often treat it like an empty ceremony whose purpose we have long ago forgotten. But the purpose is clear. In this last will and testament of Jesus, He doesn't promise gold or stock or bonds or property or cash. Just Himself. Think of it—He gives us Himself!
Just hours before His Passion began, He was thinking about you. As He hung from the cross and people told Him to come down, He didn't. He chose to stay on the cross... for you.
The world passes by the Lord's Supper with disdain. Many Christians dismiss it as unimportant, not really worth bothering with. But we are looking for the glory hidden in the cross. And here it is! In simple bread and in simple wine, we have the medicine of immortality!
So come to the Lord's Table with hearts that broken with sin and guilt and shame. Come for the food that will give you strength in your ongoing struggle with the devil, the world, and yourself.
And then go. Go and hold on to Jesus who when He faced pain and death wasn't thinking about Himself—He was thinking about you. Go with the gift of His body and blood which strengthens and preserves you in the true faith unto life everlasting.
Amen.
(Note: This sermon is taken from The Theology of the Cross by Prof. Daniel Deutschlander. It has been modified from the original sermon written by Prof. Deutschlander.)
April 1, 2010
Behold the Hidden Glory of the Cross!
It Is Hidden in the Savior's Feast
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Dear fellow redeemed,
This Lent and Holy Week we have learned of glory that is hidden. When it comes to Jesus' glory, what is striking is that His most lowly words and works are the most glorious and most powerful!
This is very true of Jesus' words as He commanded us to celebrate His Holy Supper, which you've heard hundreds of times and no doubt know by heart. Let's hear them again and marvel at how simple they are:
Matthew 26:26-30
While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to His disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is My body."
Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in My Father's kingdom."
When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Every year Jesus and His disciples looked forward to celebrating the Passover. Passover was the most important day on the Jewish calendar. They commemorated the final plague that God brought upon the Egyptians 1,500 year earlier (for us 3,500 years ago): every firstborn son, human and livestock, would be killed by the angel of death unless... unless they were in a house that had blood on its door frame.
But during this Passover feast Jesus institutes a new feast—what some today call variously Holy Communion, the Lord's Supper, the Eucharist, or the Sacrament of the Altar. And since Jesus started this new celebration without any fuss or fanfare, we wonder if His disciples even realized how big this was. Probably not, since they were busy trying to decide who among them was the most important.
To hide the glory of this new feast even more, Jesus uses plain old bread. Plain ordinary bread which He states matter-of-factly: “This is My body.” He didn't explain it. On the one hand, He didn't say that this bread was a symbol of His body. No, His words were plain and simple: “This is My body.”
On the other hand, He didn't tell them to save it up or parade it around or worship it either. All this applies to the wine. A cup with some ordinary wine. Not a magic potion. Not some health drink. Just wine, which He declares is His blood.
All so ordinary. His disciples missed the glory. But so often so do we. A common conversation in Lutheran homes before a Communion service goes something like this: “Are we going to Communion today?” Well, let's see. Did we go last time?” No, well then, I suppose we should go today.” Or before you came tonight: “Well, it's Maundy Thursday: that means that we have to go to Communion. Everybody goes to Communion on Maundy Thursday.”
Yes, it's all so simple that we often treat it like an empty ceremony whose purpose we have long ago forgotten. But the purpose is clear. In this last will and testament of Jesus, He doesn't promise gold or stock or bonds or property or cash. Just Himself. Think of it—He gives us Himself!
Just hours before His Passion began, He was thinking about you. As He hung from the cross and people told Him to come down, He didn't. He chose to stay on the cross... for you.
The world passes by the Lord's Supper with disdain. Many Christians dismiss it as unimportant, not really worth bothering with. But we are looking for the glory hidden in the cross. And here it is! In simple bread and in simple wine, we have the medicine of immortality!
So come to the Lord's Table with hearts that broken with sin and guilt and shame. Come for the food that will give you strength in your ongoing struggle with the devil, the world, and yourself.
And then go. Go and hold on to Jesus who when He faced pain and death wasn't thinking about Himself—He was thinking about you. Go with the gift of His body and blood which strengthens and preserves you in the true faith unto life everlasting.
Amen.
(Note: This sermon is taken from The Theology of the Cross by Prof. Daniel Deutschlander. It has been modified from the original sermon written by Prof. Deutschlander.)
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