Proper 29 - G - 2011 - Last Sunday of the Church Year

Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24          1 Corinthians 15:20-28           Matthew 25:31-46

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson that was just read, especially these words, “Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Today is the last day of the church year.  Next Sunday we celebrate the church’s new year with the beginning of the season of Advent, but today we focus on that great and ever near last day.  It is a day that our text today describes clearly.  For on that day, Jesus will divide the holy from the unholy.  He will separate those who belong to heaven from those who belong to hell, just as a shepherd separates sheep from goats.  Sheep will go to the kingdom prepared for them, and goats will go to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 

But what is the difference between a sheep and a goat?  What is the difference from the saved and the unsaved?  And which one are you dear friends in Christ?  In our text today, Jesus tells us the difference between sheep and goats.  The sheep have faithfully served their Lord in care and compassion, while the goats have failed to serve God.  So dear friends in Christ what are you, a sheep, or a goat?

There are two ways we can answer this question, the first one is to seemingly look at what we have done in this life.  After all Jesus seems to favor the ones who work hard helping the people around them.  Those who visited the sick.  Those who visited the imprisoned.  Those who feed the hungry and give drink to the thirsty.  In other words, those who have lived a holy life of compassion and service will be saved.  Those who get heaven have earned it, right? 

But we know the truth of what that means.  On our own, not a single one of us have done enough.  Not one of us has spent enough time in doing good.  We confess every week, “that we have sinned in thought word and deed” and that we “justly deserve God’s temporal and eternal punishment.”  We have sinned, and as sinners, we deserve death. 

Sin, it’s a word we often times just quickly say without understanding what exactly it means.  Sin literally mean that you are turned inward on yourself.  In other words we put ourselves first in all situations.  We don’t serve others, we don’t help others first, but we help them if it is expedient to us.  We don’t visit people unless we ourselves feel we have the time and patience to do so.  We don’t care about others so often, solely because we are more concerned about ourselves. 

So are we all goats?  Do we all deserve hell?  Do we deserve fire?  Yes, but yet our text tells us that is not what we will get.  For in our text, it is not our works alone that judge us.  It is our works done in faith that looks to Jesus.  That faith is what saves us, not what we do, or don’t do.  Friends, it isn’t that you can save yourself by going to visit a sick friend, it is the faith which compels you to visit them.  It isn’t that you can save yourself by giving food to hungry people around you, but it is the faith that compels you to do so.

It is a faith that looks to Jesus, a faith that trusts not in our own acts, but in what Jesus has done for you on your behalf.  He lived a perfect life, he showed compassion where you have fallen short.  He loved where we have not loved.  He cared where we saw only our own desires and concerns.  He died on a cross where you deserved to be nailed, punished, and killed.  He took and did what you could not do in your selfish sin.

And having done this for you, Jesus gives you that faith that compels you to serve your neighbor.  It is Jesus’ love for you that first allows you to love those around you.  It is because Jesus has given to you, that you are now free to give to those around you.  It is because Jesus feeds you when you are hungry, because he visits you when you are sick, because he gave up his life for you in your sin that you are free to do the same to others. 

And the faith Christ gives actively does those things that Jesus did.  You love others having been loved first.  And because you love others with a faith that trusts Jesus, when God looks at you, he says, “well done, good and faithful servant, in faith you served me, and you served those around you.”  Come to the inheritance prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  Come receive peace, and comfort and care.  Come, and I will give you rest. 

Its your faith, not your work.  Its Jesus, not you.  Your trust is in him, not in man.  And so, you will enter glory.  There is no doubt.  You are a sheep, because Christ is your shepherd.  And as a sheep you deserve heaven.  Amen.  

Proper 28 - O - 2011 - The Great Day of the Lord is Drawing Near

Pentecost 22/Proper 28           Zepheniah 1:7-16        1 Thess 5:1-11             Matthew 25:14-30

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Old Testament Lesson just read.  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, “the great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast;  the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.  A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.”  The day is coming, and our text today paints a grim picture of what will happen. 

We are now in the last few weeks of the church year, and as we draw near to the end of the church year, we remember the coming end to our world.  St. Peter tells us that the end of the world will come with fire (I Peter 3:7) for the judgment of ungodly people.  We see all sorts of movies and televisions shows depicting the end of the world, and even they cannot depict the gruesomeness of it.  It is a scary prospect, that all we know, all we have ever experienced, all we have ever seen will be destroyed in one day. 

So often we are afraid of the end of the world.  So often we are afraid of the judgment that will one day befall us.  And dear friends in Christ, there is a good reason for that.  For we truly deserve and have earned the promise of destruction.  We deserve what our text today describes, “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.'  Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste.  Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.”  In other words, the worldly will not be able to enjoy the wonderful things they have prepared for themselves.

Why do we deserve this?  Why must we face this promise of destruction and punishment?  Why must we face the thought of all we love and know being destroyed.  Friends, you know the answer.  You have not loved God with your whole heart.  You have not loved your neighbor as yourself.  You have not perfectly fulfilled God’s will, you have not pleased him with your thoughts.  Instead, you, just like me, just like every other person, has filled your life with filth and sin.  We have made ourselves the judge of the world, and we boldly cry out to the vices of this world, “I will make you mine!”

Sex and violence fill our televisions and our computer screens, and we keep watching.  Anger and hate fill our hearts, and we smile as we spread it around some more to those who surround us.  We disobey our parents, we disobey the government.  We cheat, we steal, we do all sorts of horrible things.  In other words dear friends in Christ, we are sinners.  There is no escaping it, just as there is no escaping the punishment for that sin, death and destruction.  We are the reason that this world will come to an end.  We are the reason that fire will destroy all we know.  Its because of you and because of me. 

So what can we do?  How can we escape the destruction of sin?  How do we save ourselves.  In countless movies we watch those who are facing the end of the world miraculously save it.  In the movie Armageddon, they prevent the asteroid from destroying earth.  In I am Legend, Will Smith invents a vaccine to save humanity.  In the War of the Worlds, a virus stops the aliens, and in 2012 they miraculously drive, fly, and run away before devastating destruction only to be saved at the last minute.  Can’t we in a similar fashion save ourselves from sin and death? 

Friends, you cannot.  The situation is too dire.  Your sin is too great.  You are lost in your sin, and you cannot save yourself.  To put it bluntly – THERE IS NOT ONE LITTLE THING YOU CAN DO ABOUT YOUR SIN!  Our text says, “Be silent before the LORD God!”  You cannot make an excuse.  Be silent!  You cannot talk your way out of it.  Be silent!  You cannot tell God a lie about why you are in sin.  He knows the truth, and he knows what it will cost.  It requires death.  It requires the shedding of blood, for without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. (Hebrews 9:22). 

But hear what our text today says, “For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.”  He has prepared a sacrifice for you.  He has prepared the necessary blood atonement to avert your destruction.  He sent Jesus to the cross to keep you safe from destruction and to give you eternal life.  He sent Jesus to shed his blood on behalf of all those sins that infect your life.  He sent his one and only begotten son, that all who believe in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

And having sent Jesus to a bloody death, and having resurrected him from the dead, Jesus now consecrates his guests.  The word consecrated means to wash and make clean and holy, to set it apart for holy usage.  Dear friends, our text says that he has consecrated you, that in the sacrifice of Jesus you were made holy.  How?  Or don’t you know, that when you were baptized, you were baptized into the death of Jesus.  You were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  (Romans 6:3)  A new life consecrated to God. A new life forgiven in the blood of Jesus. 

I tell you the truth dear friends in Christ, because of what Jesus has done, when God looks at you he does not see your sin, not even what you believe is your most glaring fault.  When God looks at you, he sees only Jesus blood, he sees only a baptized forgiven child, he sees only the holiness that Jesus gives to you in baptism. 

And now forgiven by Jesus, we need not fear the destruction at the end of times.  We need to fear even our own death, for death has been swallowed up forever in Jesus.  On that great and dreadful day the end of the world finally arrives, those who trust in Jesus will but enter into eternal life, not death.  Peace, not destruction.  Joy, not terror.  Our faith, the great gift of God that receives God’s gifts, will save us and bring us into something more wonderful than we can understand.  As our epistle lesson says, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”  Be silent before the Lord GOD!   For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.  As a baptized child of God, you will be ushered into eternity in peace and comfort.  Fear not, the Lord is with you.  Amen. 

2011 - Funeral - Mervin John Wesley Buck

Proverbs 23:26            Revelation 7:9-17        John 5:24-30

Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.”  Thus far our text.

 Dear friends in Christ, Marcy, Family, and friends of Mervin, Mervin Buck was a hard working man.  He served in the National Guard, he farmed for many years.  And for “retirement” he spent 25 years working at Wil-rich implements.  He rose early every day for work, and he went to bed early.  He loved spending time with his grandchildren and children, and he faithfully attended this church for 71 years, always sitting in the same pew every Sunday. 

Merv was a kind, caring man, who loved his family and who loved his God.  This gives us a pretty glowing description of Merv.  And yet, we know that despite all of these things, Mervin was not perfect.  He too, just like me, and yes, just like each one of you had things that he struggled with, difficulties in his life.  Things were not always easy for him, and often Mervin fell short of God’s goals for his life.  Mervin was a sinner, and because of sin, he had struggles in his life, struggles which our text call “the great tribulation”.

Friends, we too are in this great tribulation.  We too struggle with our sin every day.  We have problems within our families.  We have fights and arguments.  We have sickness and pain.  We have death all around us.  And friends, today we feel that most pointedly.  We will miss Mervin, we will miss his smile and his care and his advice.  We will miss his hugs.  We will miss spending time with our grandpa and father.  We hurt, we mourn.

This is exactly what sin causes in our life.  Hurt and pain.  Loneliness and sorrow.  Because of sin, each and every one of us has to face death, the death of others, and yes even our own death.  And what is more, it is more than we can handle.  It is not pretty, it is not fun.  And we are left searching for answers.  Why?  Why did Merv have to die?  Why now?  Why did he have to be taken away so suddenly?

But we know that as Christians death is not the end for us.  We know that even though we no longer have Mervin with us, that we will not be apart from him forever.  For Mervin trusted in something bigger than himself, Something that was the answer to the sin of this world, Something that could overcome death and pain and suffering.  Mervin looked to Jesus Christ as his Savior and Lord.  God called Merv at his Baptism, marking him as a precious child of God.  God called Merv as he was confirmed in the faith with these words, “My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.”  And that is how Merv lived, ever living in the ways of Jesus, the ways of forgiveness of sins through the cross of Christ. 

And so, last Thursday, Mervin’s 71^st birthday, God called Mervin home.  Now he is experiencing that picture which our text describes.  He now stands before God, apart from pain, apart from suffering.  He no longer shall hunger, for he is at the feast of God.  He no longer will thirst, for he drinks the very living water of the spring of life.  He no longer will feel the pain and suffering of this world, for he is before the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.  He is with Jesus who died for his sins and yours, and will be at rest forever more. 

Friends, it will not be easy for us.  We will ask questions in the coming days and weeks and months.  We will miss Merv at Thanksgiving and Christmas.  We will have times where we just want to cry a little because we hurt.  But even in the midst of this, we do not mourn as those who have no hope.  We mourn as those who trust in Jesus, who know the promises he brings.  We mourn knowing that Merv is now in a better place, and that we will one day join him.  Merv has passed from death into life, he now lives forever with Jesus.  Praise be to our Lord and Savior.  Amen.  

2011 - Funeral Prayer Service - Mervin John Wesley Buck

Isaiah 25

Dear friends in Christ, One of the things that I have heard about Mervin the last few days, from several people, is his love for butchering and making his own sausages and meats to eat and enjoy.  Every year, he would get together with some family and friends, and they would grind sausages that they could feast upon, eating a meal fit for a king. (There is even a sign on the front door of their house that says, “Mervin Meats, and Marcy Greets.”)

But this year, there is no sausage making, this year there is no feast.  For a few short days ago, Mervin’s earthly life ended 71 years to the day from when he was born.  Our beloved friend, brother, husband, father and grandfather is suddenly no longer in our life. 

Death hurts, Death causes pain.  We hate losing friends and family, having people we love leave us behind.  It is because of sin that it happens, it is because of our guilt that this terrible thing must happen.  For the wages of sin is death.  Each and every one of us has sinned, and deserves death for what we have done against God our Father. 

How comforting then the words of our Old Testament lesson today, which speaking of Jesus Christ says “On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations.”  On the mountain of Golgotha, Jesus destroyed the shroud of death and sin that causes us pain, that causes us hurt, that takes our loved ones.  On that mountain, as he hung from a cross, Jesus “swallowed up death forever.” 

In the death of Jesus, God wipes away all tears from our eyes.  In the death of Jesus we know that even as we die, yet shall we live.  In the death of Jesus we have certain hope that we know where our loved ones are, that we know where Mervin is today – with Jesus in peace everlasting. 

And today we know that Mervin is now feasting in a far better place, for that is exactly what our text says today.  “On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples, a banquet of aged wine-- the best of meats and the finest of wines”  It’s a feast that Mervin now eats, which puts any earthly feast to shame.  It’s a feast, where one day we will join him in eating the finest of meats, and the best of wines.  It’s a feast, where we will forever enjoy the love and comfort and peace of Jesus Christ crucified and risen for all our sin. 

Friends, Mervin is still feasting, he is still enjoying sausages and food and drink.  In faith that looks to Jesus, he always will, and one day in that same faith, we will join him forever and ever.  In that day they will say, "Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is the LORD, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation."  Amen.  

All Saints Day - 2011 - See how God Loves You

All Saints Day 11/6/2011        149      Revelation 7:2-17        1 John 3:1-3    Matthew 5:1-12

Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father though our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the epistle lesson just read, especially these words, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Today is All Saints Day, the day we celebrate the lives of all our loved ones and friends who have died in the faith over the last year.  Each of us knows several people that we cared about who have been lost over the last year.  We have had friends who died from Cancer, from heart problems, from sickness and other things.  We have felt the sting of death, as it struck our hearts with hurt and sorrow and loss. 

Death seems to fill our lives, whether it is the pictures of countless people dying in wars around the world, or whether it is in our own close knit community, we are surrounded by death.  Every year more people that we love leave this vale of tears, and every year, we are left behind to mourn them and miss them. 

Death is our lot in life, one of the things that life assures us to happen.  For just as we mourn those who have gone before us, we know too that one day it will be our turn.  Death will find us, we cannot escape it.  One day our life will come to an end, and we will be the one who is mourned, just as we mourned during our life.

The reason for all of this pain and suffering is clear from scripture.  “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” St. Paul writes in last week’s text.  “And the wages of sin is death.”  From our very first father and mother, Adam and Eve, the plague of death has gone on.  Genesis recounts life after life, “Adam lived 930 years, and he died.  Seth lived 912 years, and he died.  Noah lived 950 years, and he died.  Abraham lived 175 years, and he breathed his last and died.”  They all were steeped in sin, and they all died.

Friends, we continue in that very tradition.  We live our lives, and “The length of our days is seventy years-- or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away” according to Psalm 90.  We spend our entire life trying to lengthen our life to save ourselves, and we fail.  We cannot escape death on our own, because we cannot escape its root cause.  For our sin is too great.  In sin we were conceived, and in sin we will die. 

But as our text today says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”  We are God’s children whom he cares for, whom he loves.  And what a love it is that He has for us.  For even though we deserve a world of death, of pain, and of sin, that isn’t what God promises us.  He didn’t create us and then abandon us as soon as we He gave us Christmas, the incarnation of his son in human flesh, to save us from our sin.  His Son came with one purpose in mind.  To bring the Kingdom of God to us poor dead sinners. 

This path involved suffering for Jesus, suffering he didn’t deserve.  It involved pain for Jesus, pain he didn’t deserve.  It involved sin for Jesus, sin he didn’t commit.  In fact all the worlds sins, all my sins, all your sins, every last one of them were laid upon Jesus.  The sinless Son of God became the greatest sinner ever, as your sin was washed upon him. 

And then he killed it.  He died the death of sin on a cross in Jerusalem.  He gave up his life for you, in your place, for your guilt.  Jesus died, and now you are free. 

See what kind of Love the Father has for us, that we should be called children of God, in the blood of Jesus.  You see, this is the hope of our message today.  This is the goodnews for All Saints Day, that in Jesus death is not our end.  In Jesus we have no end.  For we now get what we do not deserve, we get life forever in heaven.  We get peace of being with Jesus and God resurrected, made whole, forgiven with Jesus. 

And so our first reading pictures you and me, and all who believe in Jesus before the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  “No more shall they hunger, neither shall they thirst, the sun shall not beat down upon them.  For the lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and will lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe every tear away from their eye.”  This is the gift God gives to those who trust in his son.

And it is the same gift that he gives to you.  Today, you have a foretaste of that feast.  Today you get to taste the heavenly banquet in the very presence of Jesus Christ.  Here, with angels, and arch angels and all the company of heaven, with all those loved ones you miss, with all those people who are no longer on this earth, you eat bread and wine in which the very person of Jesus exists.  A little piece of heaven on Earth.  A promise of forgiveness.  A reminder of where you will go when you die.  A blessing beyond all understanding – all in a little piece of bread, and a little sip of wine. 

Hear our text again, and listen for the promises of heaven contained therein.  “1See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are…Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.  And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.”  Happy All Saints Day.  Amen.   

Reformation - E - 2011 - Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Christ Alone

Reformation Sunday Joint Service 9:00 am

10/30/2011

46

Revelation 14:6-7

Romans 3:19-28

Matthew 11:12-19

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.  Our text today is the Epistle lesson just read, especially these words, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Our world is a world of law.  Everywhere we turn, there are laws that govern our lives.  If we want to receive a paycheck, we had better go to work.  If we want to avoid speeding tickets, we better go the speed limit.  We spend millions of dollars every year in elections to determine who will write our laws, and who will not.  Laws make us pay taxes, help us build roads, help us stop crime and more.  Laws are everywhere. 

But these laws, are merely human laws.  They can change at almost any time.  And these laws are ones that most of us don’t worry about too terribly much.  We know we shouldn’t speed, but we do anyways.  We know it is illegal to not pay our taxes, but we only worry about that every April.  Most of the time, we just live our lives without any fear of worldly laws.

But there is another set of laws, a set of laws that we must obey, a set of laws that are always around us, a set of laws that always displays its terrible consequences.  These laws are God’s laws, laws that we are expected to keep perfectly, laws that tell us how we ought to live our lives – in love towards God and neighbor.  These laws of God are demanding and difficult, for if we disobey them, we receive the just punishment of death. 

But we don’t obey God’s law do we?  We don’t even come close, for obedience involves perfection, something none of us, not a one, can fulfill.  For, hear again the words of our Epistle lesson today, “no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law”  No one will obey God’s law, for they can’t.  No one will perfectly love God, for they are sinners.  No one will care about all their neighbors, for they are too selfish.  Yes friends, even me, EVEN YOU, “sin and fall short of the glory of God.”

Look at your life, look at your hate, your anger, your shortcomings, your selfish deeds, your pride and false piety.  You too have sinned.  You too have fallen short of God’s glory.  You have become a slave to a law that you just cannot fulfill.  And to be honest, we don’t always want to fulfill God’s law, we don’t want to always obey what God teaches, because frankly sometimes the sinners are just more fun. 

The problem is that all these laws of God we break, all these sins we commit, all this sin does lead to suffering for us.  We have friends and family who are sick and dying.  We have people who we will no longer speak to because we are angry.  People call us names behind our back and we return the favor.  We sin daily.  We are sinful to our very core, there is no good left inside of us.

And God is a just judge.  Just as if we broke the speed limit enough times or stole a car from someone we would go to trial and be found guilty, so too does God judge us.  He looks at our care for others and say, you have fallen short.  He looks at the acts we do alone in the privacy of our homes, and says you are guilty.  He tells us that we have not lived up to his perfect expectations, and so we deserve the just punishment for those sins.  We deserve death.  We deserve an end.  We deserve what we fear in our lives.  Sickness and punishment, for we have turned against the God who gave us all that we have.

And yet, we hear in our text today, that not only have all fallen short of God’s glory, but that we have also been justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ.  In other words, though you are guilty, God declares you innocent because of Jesus.  Instead of us standing before our God and Judge as guilty sinners, we stand before him in the Righteousness of Christ.  It is that righteousness that has won us away from our sin, won us away from death, and now gives us eternal life.  It is that righteousness that was given to us as Jesus hung on a cross, suffering and dying for the very sin that we committed.  And so when God looks at you he doesn’t see you sin, he sees Christ’s forgiveness, Christ’s blood, Christ’s holiness. 

For God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.  In that we are made God’s children. 

Today we celebrate that hope and good news.  Today we remember that it is our faith that looks to Jesus that saves us, that we are justified or declared innocent by his grace.  Reformation Day is all about that message, of remembering that Jesus face God’s wrath so that we might not have to.  Reformation day is about boldly declaring that I cannot by my own reason or sense come to Jesus my Lord, but that he has called me by the Gospel, the good news that he took away my sin on the cross, so that I may be his own and live under him in his kingdom.  Reformation day celebrates the fact that because of Jesus, your are free.  Because of Jesus, you may enter heaven.  Because of Jesus you are saved. 

By Grace alone, through faith alone, have you been saved.  And these through Jesus alone.  In Him, you have your salvation.  Amen.  

Proper 25 - G - 2011 - The Law of Love

Pentecost 19/Proper 25

10/23/2011

1

Leviticus 19:1-2, 15-18

1 Thess. 2:1-13

Matthew 22:34-46

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson that was just read, especially these words, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And the second is like it:  You shall love you neighbor as yourself.”  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ.  In our text today, Jesus tells us how we might fulfill the law, and the answer he gives us is love.  Love God with all your heart your soul and your mind.  Love your neighbor as you love even your own self.  If you do these things, you will fulfill God’s law, and fulfill it perfectly. 

It sounds easy doesn’t it?  And it is what we want to do in our lives too right?  I can do what God wants.  I can love the people who are around me, and I certainly can love God.  How hard could it be?  But the truth is, it is hard.  The truth is we can’t and don’t want to fulfill this law of love that Jesus speaks of in our text today.  We don’t love the people that are around us, and we don’t really love our God either.

Love is defined as a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person.  To love our neighbor we need to feel tender compassion for them, we need to have affection from them.  But instead we don’t even like being around the people we know best.  We have fighting and bickering in our families.  Neighbors yell at neighbors for silly things like the way they keep up their yard or the loud noise that is made at what I deem to be too late a time.  We scornfully talk about the problems that other people are having in their day to day lives openly, not affectionately.  We gossip about people, we tell lies about people, and worst of all we work to always put other people down, and to put ourselves in the advantaged position. 

We like putting others down don’t we?  We like to put others down, because then we feel better about ourselves.  But friends, this is not love for our neighbor.  This is not what Jesus has in mind in our text.  This is the opposite.  Instead we love our neighbors less than we love ourselves.  Much less.  And friends, according to Jesus, this is the second most important law in scripture, the most important is to love God with all our hearth, all our soul, and all our mind. 

And this first important law is even harder than the first.  It is hard for us to be affectionate towards a God that we really can’t see.  It is hard to care about a God who sometimes seems to let all sorts of trouble befall us.  We struggle with sickness and disease, and we wonder, are you there Lord?  Are you taking care of us?  We have friends and family that we actually love the most die, and we get angry at God for allowing them to leave.  We find all sorts of other things to do on a Sunday morning, during Bible Study, during voter’s meetings, during any church event. 

This is not love for God with all our heart and minds.  Once again, this is love for our self.  Imagine you were in God’s shoes, and people were telling you the excuses that we tell God.  “I have a hair appointment, and can’t make it on Sunday.  I can’t hang out with you, because I am extra tired this morning.  I have a little too much on my plate now Lord.  How about later?”  We don’t like being friends with people who always have excuses, why should God be any different?

But friends, God is different.  He does things differently than we can possibly imagine.  Instead of staying angry with us for our own self-centeredness, he forgives us and loves us the very way that he would have us love him.  He loves each one of you, more than he loves himself.  If you doubt it, look at what He did for you. 

He left heaven behind for you.  There is no better place than heaven, and Jesus gave it up to come to this crummy little sinful world because he loves you.  He lived a life here, showing care and compassion for the people who were around him.  He came for the purpose of dying on an old rugged cross for your sins, for your unlove, for your guilt.  He came and died because he loved you.  And because he loved you so much, he forgave you with his own blood.

Scripture is clear friends, “No greater love is there than this, that one give up his life for his friends.”  And that is exactly what Jesus did for you.  He bought you, because he loves you, “not with Gold or Silver, but with his holy innocent suffering and death, so that you might be his own, and live under him in his kingdom.  And in loving you, he fulfilled the most important law.  He loved his neighbors, and He loved his God. 

Now friends, we are called to love the people around us, and our God.  We show compassion on the people we run into every day.  We care about the person who is struggling, we care about the person who can’t put food on the table. We give of our time and talents to take care of people.  We do all this, because it is precisely what Christ has done for us.  He loved us, and so we too love. 

Love your neighbor as you love yourself.  Its what Jesus has done for you.  Its what we do as Christians because of Jesus.  Amen.  

LWML Sunday 2011

LWML Sunday 

Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our texts for today, LWML Sunday, are the ones just read. 

Dear friends in Christ.  The story is told of the young pastor, fresh out of the seminary, who has it all figured out.  He knows the answers to any question he is asked.  He knew the confession, he knew the bible, he knew why we do what we do.  He had it figured out.  Or at least he did until he arrived at his first parish.  There, he realized that his education hadn’t been as complete as he thought it had been.  Going to his first winkle, he asked the other pastors in the area how he the church worked, how he could actually get things done.  One of the other pastors, wise beyond his years, looked at him, and plainly said, “have you asked the LWML?”

You see, nowhere are there ladies more willing to work.  The LWML is always ready to serve, and to provide for those who are around it.  If a church needs to raise money to paint the church, the LWML can raise it.  If the LWML wants to increase bible study attendance, the pastor best order more chairs.  The LWML gets done what it needs to, all the while pointing not to themselves, but to the basis for our faith, Jesus Christ Crucified.

It is a message that needs to be spread throughout the world, it is a message that people need to hear and believe.  For this world is one that is in need of a kind word.  It is a world that is in need of a helping hand.  For this world is full of the darkest of sin.  It is a world where God is not revered, but spat upon.  It is a world that thinks the message of Jesus Christ is foolish.  It is a world where those who believe in Jesus are scorned, threatened, persecuted, and killed.  It is a world hostile to God.

It really isn’t a surprise is it?  We aren’t shocked that the world reacts that way to us, for we know how we sometimes react to the message of Christ.  How we too sometimes have our doubts, how we choose which parts of God’s word we should obey and which parts we should ignore.  We too are sinners, guilty, miserable, destined for death. 

And so this world which we so want to be wonderful, instead is difficult.  Instead of a lifetime of joys and happiness, we have pain and sorrow.  This world is corrupted by sin to the core, and so are we who live in it.

But we know that is not the end for us.  We know that there is a solution beyond all this sin.  A solution on which we keep our eyes firmly affixed.  A solution that promises life in the face of death, hope in despair, and peace in chaos.  We have a solution in the person of Jesus Christ.  He who loved us so much that he came to this sin filled world to die for that sin.  He came in human flesh to live with us in our sinful life.  The punishment that brought us peace, we upon him. 

For he went to the cross.  He had his hands and feet nailed to a tree.  He was pierced with a spear, he gave up his spirit so that you might belong to him forever and ever. 

And ever since Jesus died, and then rose again on the third day, people have faithfully witnessed this message.  It is on the shoulders of faithful witnesses that our church exists.  WE all heard about the faith from our parents, who heard it from their parents and on back thousands of years.  Our texts today speak of faithful witness, Witness by Moses, witness by John and Peter, witness that tells us the Gospel message.

That witness goes on still today.  It goes on, as the LWML faithful serves our congregations.  As they give of themselves to bring the message of life to those in a hurting world. It goes on, as they give millions of dollars every year to organizations within the church allowing them to function and serve.  The LWML faithfully witnesses to Jesus.  And friends so too do you.  You witness as you help your neighbor, as you smile at people on the street, as you care about someone besides yourself. 

In all of these things, Jesus is proclaimed, in all of these things we tell of Jesus to the world.  “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, Jesus says, “the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, ⁹but the one who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”

Dear friends, we are God’s witnesses telling any and all who would listen, the wonderful blood-bought truth which saves:  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  Amen.  

Proper 21 - G - 2011 - I Go Sir, For Christ Went First

Pentecost 15/Proper 21

9/25/2011

25:1-10

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

Philippians 2:1-18

Matthew 21:23-32

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “The other son said, ‘I go sir,’ bud did not go.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  What Jesus describes here is a situation we are used to isn’t it?  Countless times when I was growing up, my father said to me, “Go and clean your room.”  My response was always the same, “FINE!” (Please note the groan).  I would go up into my room, and when my father would come to check on me a few hours later, I would be sitting and reading, or playing, and the room would be no cleaner than it was when I was sent to clean it. 

Don’t get me wrong, I had good intentions.  I really meant to clean my room.  I meant to follow through with my father’s wishes.  But for some reason, I was unable to carry out those good intentions.  I was unable to complete the task that was given to me.  How many of you parents have had similar discussions with your children.  How many of you have experienced similar situations in your own life with other things? 

The truth is, each and every one of us has done this in our relationship to our heavenly Father.  We have said, “I will do what you ask Lord.  I will serve you and you alone.  I will listen to your laws and I will help in your vineyard.”  And while these are good promises to make, while this is the righteous thing to say, we know friends they are only empty promises.  They are good intentions that we can never fulfill on our own.  For we are sinners, and sinners cannot do God’s will. 

Think about it in regards to any of the ten commandments.  “You shall remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”  Piece of cake, I can do that.  I am always at church.  Except for when I am camping, or out of town, or the Vikings are playing.  Or for me personally, when I am leaving on a two week Elk Hunting Trip.  Do you see, we make little exceptions for ourselves, and in them, we fail what our good intentions would have us do. 

What about another?  You shall not bear false testimony.  Seems simple enough.  And yet, it is so easy to let a little comment slip about someone else behind their back.  It is so easy to say, “Yes I will do something, only later to find out you cannot.  It is so easy to fail, because friends we are all sinners. 

And even in our church participation we fall short don’t we?  Today we are looking at our Stewardship of God’s gifts to us.  The way we use them to further the message of the Gospel.  It is easy for us to say, “Yes I will take time to help with that project.  Yes I will make an effort to help.”  But it is much more difficult to follow through in that regard.  It is easy to say, “Yes I will financially support the church, because it is important to me,” but as the weeks role by and the budget tightens, it is easy to fall short of our noble promises. 

This all stems from our sin, sin that constantly questions the authority of Jesus in our lives.  We question that what Jesus says is truth, really is at all.  We question that Jesus actually cares if we do follow through on our Christian promises to follow him, and to live a holy life.  “Its ok if I fudge on the rules a little isn’t it, its ok to not follow through on what I’ve promised, Jesus will understand right?” 

But ask yourself the question Jesus asks in our text today.  “Which of these two did the will of their father?”  Was it the one who said, “I go sir” but didn’t, or the one who said, “I will not” but did?  It was the one who said I will not.  You see it isn’t our promises that we trust, it isn’t our holy words and platitudes that make a difference to God.  He knows our hearts, he knows our sin.  On our own, we cannot be good stewards with God’s gifts at all, we cannot serve him in our guilt. 

So we must look to one who can, and who does, and who always will.  We must look first to Jesus, “God’s beloved Son with whom God was well pleased.”  He listened to God.  He followed God’s instruction.  He did what God desired, and it cost him his all.  Jesus told His Father, “I will save them from their sin, I will give up myself so that you may have them for yourself, a people chosen by God, holy and righteous in your sight.”  And when Jesus said these things, it wasn’t just good intentions, it wasn’t an empty promise, Jesus backed up his promise with his own blood. 

For Jesus’ obedience to God involved a cross on Golgotha.  It involved nails driven into his hands and feet, a spear piercing his side.  Jesus’ promise to rescue involved his death and burial.  But Jesus is no longer in the tomb.  He is risen indeed.  He rose and calls you all to faith in his name.  Faith that looks to his promises for you, faith that receives his gifts. 

And so friends, in your life of faith, you are not the son who says, “Yes I will go,” but doesn’t.  Rather you are the Son from our text who said, “I will not go,” but then went.  You serve your neighbor today, you serve your church today, because you have faith in a God who loves you and died for you.  You give of your time in church because Jesus gave his life up for you.  Even though in your sin you said no, you are free to work in the vineyard. To help those around the world, in Kenya, in Fargo, in other places around the world, and yes, even those here in this place.  In Jesus you may serve cheerfully, and help with projects and boards in this place.  Friends, you have been given Christ, and now may share him with the world. 

Will you go and work in the vineyard?  Friends, it doesn’t matter what you think, or what you want.  If you go, it is because Christ has first gone.  If you help, it is because Christ first helped you.  It is faith in Christ that makes all things possible.  Like the man in our text, we say “I Go sir, because Christ has gone first.”  Amen.  

Proper 20 - G - 2011 - Your Just Reward

Isaiah 55:6-9   Phillipians 1:12-14, 19-30       Matthew 20:1-16

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words:  “So the last will be first, and the first last.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  I want my just reward.  I want what I think I deserve.  This is the attitude of the man in our parable today.  He has agreed to work for the entire day for a set wage, one denarius.  He labors, working hard at his tasks for the day.  And as he works, others come in later in the day.  Some come in a few hours later, and some others even come in at the last minute, only an hour before the end of the day.  As this man works in the vineyard, he talks with those who are around him, and learns that they too have been promised a denarius.  The man begins to think about it.  If the man working only one hour receives a denarius, then don’t I deserve 12 times more?  After all, I have worked longer then they have.  I have been here a whole day, and they have only been here a few short minutes. 

As the man watches the late comers receiving their pay, he begins to imagine what he will do with his extra income.  He begins to imagine what things he will buy, what sort of food he will eat.  He tells himself he really deserves these things, after all the early bird gets the worm, and I was here first, so I should get a bonus for what I have done.   You can imagine the man’s surprise then when he receives his wage for the day’s work, the single denarius that he was promised at the beginning. 

That’s not fair, is it?  That shouldn’t be the way it works, should it?  If someone works longer, they should get more, shouldn’t they?  They should be more richly rewarded for their faithfulness.  And yet, the man in our text received exactly what he was promised, exactly what he agreed to.  He received his just reward.

And what of you, dear friends in Christ?  What does this say to you?  What message can you pluck from this tale that Jesus tells us?  Friends, the truth is that it is for us that Jesus speaks this parable.  It is for the situations that we are in.  We know what our hope is.  We know what our promise is.  We have received the Kingdom from Jesus, we have had our sins forgiven in the precious blood that flowed from the cross.  We have life, and life to the full.  And we have been promised heaven for living a life of faith here in this world. 

What a gift!  What a blessing.  For you see that life of faith isn’t even dependent on us.  It is a free gift that Jesus gives us.  Something we don’t deserve, something we don’t earn, something that is a blessing.   And yet, like the man in the parable, we believe we have earned it, and that it is ours to determine for ourselves.  And so just like the man in the parable, we often look down on those who are around us.  We like to compare ourselves with them, saying, “I am better than he is, aren’t I?  Come on Lord, don’t I deserve something better than that sinner over there.  I mean, I have done more good things for you, haven’t I?”

We are prideful people, aren’t we?  We do like comparing ourselves with others, because we are so good at seeing the speck in someone else’s eye.  We are so good at judging someone else to be guilty while ignoring the glaring sin in our own life.  I have been a Christian longer than you, so I have a greater say in this church.  I have done more good for our community, so listen to what I want.  I have sinned less than that poor miserable person there, so I am holier, aren’t I?  In all of these things, we put ourselves into the first and most important position, the position of power.  And so we grumble to the master of the house, Jesus, and say, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”

But “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” Friends, it isn’t about being better, it isn’t about deserving more.  Christianity isn’t about any of these things.  Being a Christian is about Jesus, the one who had all glory, power, and honor, and yet gave it up on your behalf.  As St. Paul writes in Philippians, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.   And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!”  Jesus puts himself in last place so that you can receive life.  He takes your deserved punishment upon himself so that you can receive his reward.  He dies, so that you may live.

And Jesus has made all Christians equal in his eyes in that he has given to all who confess his name eternal life.  It isn’t that Jesus is cutting you out, it isn’t that Jesus is taking away what you think you deserve.  No, Friends, Jesus is giving you the whole thing, and he gives it to those others who believe in him as well.  And because all that Jesus gives is a free gift, we are to receive it with thanksgiving, and with joy.  We are to look at those others who also receive the gifts of God with joy as well.  Look how much love your God has.  Look how he has lavished forgiveness upon all people who trust in him.  Look how much he has done for you, and your sin, and the sin of the whole world.  Look how he made himself last so that you could be first. 

It’s not fair.  It’s not the way it should work, is it?  God gives to all, including you, even when we don’t deserve it.  Amen.