Series A-Easter 2-2009- "Don't be afraid of Jesus."

On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you." And with that he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came.
So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe." Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!" Then Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

-John 20:19-31 NIV

Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father, through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. Our text today is from the Gospel reading, with special emphasis on the first verse. “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" Thus far our text.

He is Risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia, amen. Brothers and Sisters in Christ, today’s text is about fear. Not that fear you get in the pit of your stomach when you realize you didn’t get your homework done for your 6th grade English teacher. Its not about that fear you get every April 14th, knowing that your taxes need to be mailed in the next day. No, friends, this fear is something even more powerful than that. It is even worse than that fear you have after you watch that scarey movie at your friends house. Today’s text is about fear over life and death, and fear over the punishment of your sins. Today’s text is about the worst kind of fear, eternal fear, meeting your maker fear.

Today’s text takes place on the evening of the very first Easter. The disciples are all gathered together, but they are not celebrating. Peter and John had seen the empty tomb that morning, they had spoken with Mary Magdalene, but they weren’t excited. Instead, the disciples had locked themselves together in a room. They had the door firmly bolted, the windows pulled shut, and they were deathly afraid.

Why were they afraid?

Our text gives us one of the reasons, they were afraid for fear of the Jews. They were afraid that those same people who three days earlier had killed Jesus would come after them. After all they had been followers of Jesus of Nazereth, a man who was crucified, being accused of trying to overthrow Roman rule. A man who, when asked, “are you the King of the Jews,” responded, “yes it is as you say.” Jesus claimed to be the king of the Jews, and neither the Jews nor the Romans liked it.

Now with Jesus gone, with Jesus crucified, the Disciples are afraid that they are next on the list for crucifixion. They are afraid that they will be the next ones nailed up for the world to ridicule. They were afraid. And we can’t blame them can we? After they had seen Jesus beaten, tortured, and slowly killed, and they didn’t want to suffer the same fate, so they were lying low. They were trying to fly under the radar, they were hiding. Today they are locked up in a house, avoiding anyone who might accuse them.

But they aren’t only afraid of the Jews who killed Jesus. No, they are also afraid of the “King of the Jews”, Jesus. What? How can they be afraid of Jesus? They are afraid because of what they did as Jesus was arrested and tried and crucified. One of their number, Judas, betrayed Jesus into the hands of the Jews. Peter denied Jesus three times, and then ran away weeping. The other ten disciples didn’t even wait around long enough to deny him, instead they fled into the night. At the time when Jesus was most in need of friends, they abandoned him. They left him to die on His own, to suffer unaccompanied.

But now they have heard a new report. They have heard that the tomb is empty, they have heard that Jesus is no longer dead, that what He said about Himself was the Truth, that He must die and then raise again on the third day. Now they are afraid of Jesus, they are afraid that He will come find them and pay them back for what they did to him. They are afraid that Jesus will seek revenge on those who abandoned Him.

And they should be afraid, they had abandoned the Lord and Creator of Heaven and Earth. It doesn’t take much imagining to see that is not the kind of person you want to make angry. What punishment could God have waiting for them, it could be worse then the punishment that the Jews have waiting for them.

So here sit the disciples, locked in a small house, waiting for which ever group finds them first. They are afraid, afraid that their lives are forfeit. Afraid that they shortly die, either by the hand of the Jews who killed their master, or by the master they betrayed.

They have the doors locked, to try and keep out those who want to harm them, they have the doors locked, so that only the people they want to let in can come in. So instead of celebrating that first Easter evening, they are afraid. There they are that first Easter evening, alone, scared, locked in, waiting whatever may happen.

Those foolish disciples, don’t they know they don’t have to be afraid? Don’t they know that everything will work out? What’s the big deal, Jesus has raised from the dead? Don’t they get it? But we are guilty of the same thing. We too have fears in our lives. We too struggle to trust that God will really take care of us whatever befalls us in our Earthly lives.

What are you afraid of? What things do you run away from, hide yourself from? What things are you afraid of more than anything else. All of us have something we are afraid of. Are you afraid for your family, for their future? Are you afraid that you might not have enough money to provide for them in these difficult times? That is a very real concern in this day and age. Many of our retirement accounts have lost half their value. People are losing their jobs all over the country and we fear that it might be only a matter of time before it is our turn. Are you afraid for your loved one who is sick, and facing death? It does hurt when we see that person in pain, sometimes we would rather run away than stand up and face the problems that the world presents us with. Do you have a loved one who is struggling with a particular sin, and the pain of seeing what they are doing to themselves is almost too much to bear. Are you afraid of confessing Christ, or do you run away like the disciples?

All of us deal with these struggles, all of us deal with this sin. It is a fact of our lives here on Earth. All of us are guilty of something, some sort of sin, and as a result we live our lives in fear, fear of what the consequences will be, fear of what tomorrow may bring.


We too are often afraid of Jesus. Just like the disciples we are afraid of what will happen when Jesus returns and judges us for our sin. What secret sin do you harbor in your heart? What guilt is there that you hide away from everyone, that you don’t want anyone to know? Just like the disciples, we have abandoned God at some time or another. We know that Christ will return again on the last day, He has promised it. We even confess it in the creed when we see “from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead,” that’s you. He will come to judge you. So what do you do?

We try to hide our sin. Just like the disciples locked themselves in a room to hide because of fear, we too hide our sin away, deep down where we think no one can see it but ourselves. We try to hide the sin, and go on like it isn’t there. But it is there. It is there, and no matter how deep we try to hide it, no matter how much we try to not think about it, its there. Jesus knows our sin. We can’t hide it from him. He knows it, and He died because of it. We can’t run from him. We can’t keep him out.

Just like the disciples, we struggle with fear. We hide because of our sin. WE are a little bit afraid that Jesus will show up, and condemn us because we are not worthy to follow him.

But Jesus comes. In our text today, even though the disciples had locked themselves in, Jesus comes. So too for you, no matter where you lock yourself away, Jesus comes. He will find you no matter what. Our text says, “When the disciples were together with the door locked, Jesus appeared and stood among them and said, ‘peace be with you.’” Peace. Peace be with you. Peace is not what the disciples have been expecting. They have been expecting the judgment that comes with abandoning God, the judgment that leads to eternal death in hell, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, but instead, Jesus speaks peace, peace be with you. Jesus knows that they have abandoned him, Jesus knows they ran away from their troubles and their danger, but He still loves them, He still cares for them. He still speaks peace.

This voice that speaks “Peace be with you,” is the same voice that spoke, “let there be light, and there was.” When Jesus speaks peace, peace there will be. The disciples no longer are afraid, but instead can now rejoice, Jesus has risen and now He gives us peace.

Now He gives you peace. Now He speaks those same words, to us poor miserable sinners. Peace. Not as the world gives, does Jesus give to you, no, Jesus gives real peace. Eternal peace. He gives peace that can overcome all of those difficult situations in our life. He gives peace that can over come those deep dark secrets and sin that we hide away. He gives peace, which surpasses all our human understanding.

Just as the disciples could not keep this peace away by way of locked doors and closed window, so too, can you not keep Jesus from giving you His peace.

No, St. Paul even says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In that promise, you have peace. You don’t need to be afraid, God gives Peace. He promises it by His death and glorious resurrection. It is a promised sealed in His blood. It is a promise of peace.

Jesus is Risen, but we don’t have to be afraid, we don’t have to worry about what will happen when He gets here, because He brings peace, He brings life, He brings His love. He speaks loving words to you, “Peace be with you, for you are mine.” Amen.

Easter 2009 "The Resurrection of the Dead."

Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text today comes from the Gospel of John, chapter 11. Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. Then Jesus, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha the sister of the dead man said to him, “Lord by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?” So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me. When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Thus far our text.

He is risen, He is risen indeed, alleluia, amen. That phrase has been the greeting of the Christian Church at Easter for thousands of years. In the ancient church it was even the greeting of Christians year round. In that simple phrase, “He is risen,” our entire faith is summed up. We believe that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, and that we too will be raised from the dead.

A few days ago, we gathered together and meditated on the torture that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ suffered. We saw Him beaten, spit on, mocked, tortured and crucified. We saw as He cried out in a great voice, “It is finished, Tetelestai,” and earned our salvation as He gave up His life. This morning, we look back with certainty, knowing that when the tomb in which He was laid was found empty, our salvation and eternal life was truly earned for us. The empty tomb meant that Christ is no longer dead, and that death no longer has power over us in our sin. Instead we are now Christ’s, now we have certainty of life.

But do we have certainty? Do we really believe that Christ was raised from the dead? I have never seen anyone rise from the dead. I have never seen someone whose heart has ceased beating for more than a few minutes, who has come back to life. I have never seen a person who’s body was bloated and decaying in a tomb for three days, rise again. It is beyond what I can understand. It doesn’t make sense. It seems beyond belief. But that is what we proclaim today with loud alleluias. He is risen, he is risen indeed, even if I struggle to believe it. He is risen, because God has power over life and death.

Scripture tells us that Jesus is not the only one who rises from the dead through the power of God. We have several more examples which show us that God has the power over life and death. We have Jairus’s daughter, who dies and is raised by Christ. We have the widow’s of Nain’s Son, raised by Jesus. And we have the most famous, Lazarus, Jesus’ friend who was raised by the power of Christ.

If we look at the story of Lazarus, we see it is quite the interesting story. It takes place about a week before Good Friday. We see that a friend of Jesus is sick, and dies. They bury him in a tomb, and by the time Jesus arrives, he has been laying there for four days. 2000 years ago, in the warm spring climate of Israel, it did not take long for a body to begin to deteriorate. It didn’t take long for the stench of death to come from a body. Lazarus died, and after four days, the text makes note that his remains would already have been decaying. There is no doubt at this point that Lazarus is dead. He has passed into eternal rest, and nothing can bring him back.

The family, certain of this has begun to mourn and wail. All of Lazarus’s friends come and weep for the loss of their friend Lazarus. But he is gone, nothing can bring him back. Even Jesus mourns at the loss of Lazarus. He mourns that because of sin, mankind must die. He mourns that in our sin we must deal with death. Lazarus too was a sinner, and in that sin, he has now died. The loss assosciated with death overcomes all those around.

But Jesus had said, “I am the resurrection and the life.” And here he proves it. Jesus has the tomb opened, and standing outside calls forth Lazarus. He who was dead is returned to life. He is raised from the dead and he is returned to his family. The mourning of loss turns into joyful shouts, and accolades. By the mere speaking of His words, Jesus brings one of his believers back to life. By the speaking of His words, Christ can make death run backwards.

This is quite the magic trick isn’t it. Except that it isn’t a magic trick. Today, you can go and see this, Lazarus’s first tomb. You can walk down inside of it, and see where Jesus called Lazarus forth from death. You can walk the same steps Lazarus walked out of the tomb. This isn’t a magic trick it is the work of God. It is a miracle that God used to show that He truly is the Resurrection and the Life (John 10)

This miracle happened, because Christ is true God. It happened because shortly after raising Lazarus, Jesus was headed to his own suffering and death. Unlike Lazarus, Jesus would not die for his own sin, but instead for your sin. Jesus would suffer and die, and be laid in a tomb, just like Lazarus.

Imagine that you are one of the disciples on Easter Saturday. The man who you quit your job to follow has been brutally killed before your eyes. You thought he would be ushering in a new Israelite kingdom, but instead He was arrested tried and crucified. He died on a cross on Good Friday. What now for you? You are afraid to even go outside for fear of being arrested yourself. You are afraid of being condemned yourself. What can you do? Where will you turn?

But Christ has power over death and life. Even though He is killed, the grave cannot hold him in. Even though He was executed, His life could not be permanently ended by human means. Instead, Christ is the Ressurection and the Life. He is the one who has control over life and death.

And He has earned that right. He earned it by obeying God’s law completely and totally. He earned it by passively submitting to the will of the Father and drinking the cup of wrath prepared for sinners. Christ took our place and He suffered for us. And when our salvation was assured to us by the spilling of his holy precious blood, He announced to the world that sin and Satan were defeated by His resurrection.

On this day, almost 2000 years ago, His tomb was found empty, just like the tomb of Lazarus was found empty. Just as He called Lazarus back into life, God the Father raised Jesus back to life through His glory and power.

Bur Jesus’ resurrection was even more wonderful than Lazarus’. Lazarus would die again. Lazarus had two tombs, one in Bethany and one that church tradition holds was in the city of Larnaca on the island of Cyprus. He served as a pastor there until again he died and was reburied.

Jesus will not die again. As the prophet Isaiah says, “He has swallowed up death forever.” (Isaiah 25:8) Where O death is thy victory, Where O death is they sting? (1 Corinthians. 15:55, Hosea 13:14) It is gone forever. Death cannot defeat Jesus Christ, because by his own death, he defeated death. On that first Easter morning, when the tomb was found empty, that message has resounded throughout all the world. “Through Christ, death is defeated. Through Christ you have life.”

This is the Easter Message, Christ has risen, he has risen indeed. And this message is important to the whole world, especially to us poor miserable sinners. We hear promises in God’s word about our own selves. We hear that we have not kept God’s law. Scripture even says that “If we say we are without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” We are poor miserable sinners, and as sinners we too must die. Just as Lazarus died from his illness of sin, we too will die unless we live to see that last day. Just as Jesus laid in a tomb, we too will lay in a grave of some kind.

It is the price that we must pay for our sin. It is the consequence of our disobedience to our heavenly Father.

And we see that in our daily lives. Even when we try to obey God, we fail, we cannot keep His laws. And in our failure we feel trapped. We are uncertain which way we should turn. We are uncertain if there is a way out at all! All we can do is flounder around in our sin.
Being trapped in our sin is very much like being trapped in a grave. In our sin we are dead. In our sin we cannot climb or dig our way out. There is nothing that we can do. We are stuck, permanently. Just as a dead Lazarus could not remove himself from his own tomb, neither can we rescue our selves. We are lost in our sin. We are dead in sin.

But Christ is risen. His tomb has been opened and the message of His victory has been spread over the entire Earth. It has come to our ears as we hear that beautiful message both in song and word. Alleluia. Christ the Lord has Risen today. I know that my Redeemer lives. Alleluia. That message has come to our eyes as we see a tomb opened with angel proclaiming the victory of the Lamb. We taste that message as we this morning participate in the body and blood of the God man, Jesus Christ. And this body and blood we eat is no longer laying dead in a tomb, instead it is the body and blood of the Living Lord Jesus Christ. For Christ is Risen.
Because Christ is risen, so too are you risen. One day, we may die, but we still have the promise of eternal life. In Christ, you have life. In Christ you no longer need fear death or the power or the power of the devil. You are set free, to live and reign with hi for all eternity. In Christ’s life, you too receive life, life to the full.

How do you receive this gift? In the waters of Holy baptism we already have died with Christ and been raised with Him to everlasting life. We no longer need fear death, for Christ has overcome. The strife is over, the battle done. Now is the victor’s triumph won. Now be the song of praise begun. Alleluia.

Death has no power over you. Even if you shall die, yet shall you live. In Christ there is victory. In Christ you triumph, the enemy is destroyed. Today, you have eternal life. You are risen with Christ.

Christ is Risen, He is risen indeed. Alleluia. Amen!

Good Friday, Jonah, 2009

This year, my vicarage congregation preached through the book of Jonah for its Lenten series. This is my Good Friday sermon.

Jonah 4.

But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."

But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?" Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint.

He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."

But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"

"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."

But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, the television show Jeopardy has been a popular one for a long time. In it, three contestants must answer trivia in the form of a question. The interesting part is that when the contestants choose a question, the host does not give them something to answer. Instead, the host gives them an answer. Then, the contestant must come up with a question that corresponds to that answer. So if the answer is “This prophet of the OT was bald, they must respond “Who is Elisha.” The answer is given before the question is asked. It is a fun game to watch, and I am sure that almost every one of us has seen that show, and watched it for a time.

Friends, today is Good Friday. Today we see our answer. Just like in Jeopardy, today we have the answer to all of our questions, before we even ask them. We see God’s answer to questions like, “Are you really out there God, Do you really care for me, will you take care of me, will you be with my loved one? We see the answer as we are gathered here today, almost 2000 years exactly to when our Lord Jesus Christ hung on the cross. This was God’s answer to Sin. This was how He responded to what was going wrong in the world, and this was how He planned on setting it right. God’s answer was the death of His one and only Son.

But what was the question? What question is asked that required an answer of sacrifice, an answer of death? The question is found in today’s text as God asks the question: Should I not be concerned about that great city? This question could be asked of anyone of us. Should I not be concerned about you, O Israel. Should I not be concerned about you Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church? And we have seen His answer. God’s son hangs from a tree, suffering death in our place. Jesus is the answer.

God asks Jonah this question in today’s text, but we never hear Jonah’s answer. It is an open question. We never hear an answer, because God isn’t only asking Jonah, He is also asked to you. Because there is no answer given in the text, you have to answer. Should God be concerned about sinners? Take into account, as you answer those in the world who suffer, with earthquakes in Italy, and shootings here in Brookings, Those who suffer from cancer or hunger. It is asked about those neighbors that we don’t get along with, those politicians we don’t like. It is asked about you. Should God be concerned about the salvation of all including you, who daily live in the world? Well, should he?

We look in the world and all we see is sin. We see nations fighting against nation, because they disagree about who owes who a few million dollars. We see gangs murdering people over a few ounces of some drug. There are rapists, there are murderers, and there are terrorists out there? Do they deserve salvation? Should God be concerned with them? I mean these people are awfully sinful. Many of these people don’t ever go to church. Many of these people probably use language that we think is inappropriate, they might be stinky or dirty, they may not have a home. Do these people deserve god’s salvation? Should God be concerned about sinners?

Do you? Do you deserve God’s attention, do you deserve His grace. Should God be concerned with you? No, you are not a murderer. No you are not a druggie, as far as I know not a one of you is a terrorist. But you still sin. Each one of you is full of that very same sin. It permeates your entire being. It is that lust you have for anything else besides God. And we have that lust almost every second of the day. We are greedy for money. We lust over making our self feel important and making others feel worthless. We want to be in control of our own lives, to be our own god. We want to be the judge of what is right and wrong. And this is only the start of our sins. The list for them could go on for miles and miles. We are sinful. We have disobeyed God in everything that we have done.

Do you deserve God’s Grace? Should God be concerned about you? If we are honest with ourselves, the answer is no. We haven’t done anything to earn it. In fact, we struggle even doing the minimum required of us. Despite what the world says, being a nice person, some of the time, does not earn you eternal salvation. God demands more. God demands more than we could ever pay. We cannot earn God’s attention. Everything we do is sinful. Isaiah says “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.” Its true. We don’t deserve God’s attention.

We are the city of Nineveh in today’s text. We are sinful. We are the huge monstrous nation, set in our sin, ignoring God, concerned only with our selves. We are headed for our own destruction. In our sin, the only thing that we do earn for ourselves is death. Just as Nineveh was on the path to destruction by God, as Jonah preached, 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown. We too are on the path to death. One day, we will face death, our bodies will be placed in the ground and our life will end. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Just as Nineveh was to be destroyed, we too are to face death.

But should God concerned about us sinner? We have the answer. We have the proof that God is concerned and that He does care about sin. We have Jesus Christ hanging on a cross, bleeding, suffering, dying. That is the proof that God cares about our sin, he cares and He wants to take it away from us.

This answer has been prepared before the world even began. God in his divine foreknowledge prepared to rescue us from our sin, he prepared to save Nineveh, to save you. When God created the world, he created Iron, and that iron would later be dug up, smelted and forged into nails, nails which could pierce a man’s hands and his feet. God created trees, which could be cut down, and reburied in the ground to form a cross, a cross on which a person could hang and die. God arranged that people would be born, people who would shout, “Crucify, crucify,” and that it would be done. The answer is already there. God prepares salvation for you. God’s answer is Jesus Christ.

There is our answer, Christ crucified for the sins of the world. Is God concerned about our sin? Yes. He is so concerned, that he is willing to die for it. Death is what we deserve, but it is the price Christ pays. Now God gives life. God gives life to you through the suffering and death of his Beloved Son Jesus.

Today we gather on Good Friday. We gather and receive the gifts that were earned for us 2000 years ago on the cross. Now at this time of the day, Jesus was only half way through his time on the cross. He was being ridiculed, mocked. His bloodied back was rubbing up against rough wood. His mouth is dry, he is in great pain. Upon his head, thorns are pushing into his skull. He is spit upon. He is laughed at. Jesus hangs naked on a cross. Jesus is suffering your death. This is the death he has rescued you from. Jesus is suffering your guilt, for your sin. Jesus answers the question, Yes, God is concerned about you. So concerned that Christ will suffer this… for you. Through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, he takes it away. He takes it as far away as the east is from the west. You are set free. Now you have eternal life, now you have the promise of no more crying, or suffering, no more death. Because Christ loves you.

Now we may ask those many questions in our life. “Are you there God?” “Yes, I am with you, I promised to be with you always, and that promise is sealed in my blood.” We can ask, “Lord, do you understand what my life is like, the struggles that I go through?” and God can reply, “Yes I do, I was made man, and lived a life. I was brutally beaten and murdered, I know your struggles, and I promise to bring you through them. That promise is sealed in my blood.” “God, do you love me? Are you concerned about me, a sinner?” And the reply is “Yes, No greater love is there than this, that one give up His life for his friends. I love you that much.” And that promise too is sealed in Christ’s blood.

Friends in Christ, our answer to all of those difficult questions is before us today. Our answer hangs, suffering and dying upon a cross, his arms extended, his back beaten and bloodied. Yes, God is concerned about the great city, even as Christ is nailed to the cross, you are main concern. God is concerned about you. The Lord cries out as they crucify him, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.” Shall Christ be concerned about you? Yes, forever yes. Amen.

Series B-Lent 3-2009-G-"Zeal for your house will consume me."

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, with special emphasis on verse 17 “His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for your house will consume me.'”

Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Have you ever been really zealous for something? You all know that I am zealous for Nebraska football and Dark Chocolate. Some of my other sermons have made that pretty clear. What about you? Are you a zealous for the South Dakota State Jackrabbits? Are you zealous about a particular political cause? Do you get really zealous about cooking, or if not cooking then about eating what someone else has cooked? Most of us are zealous about something or another.

Today, in today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus too is zealous. He displays a great passion for something. So much so that The apostle John quotes psalm 69, saying that Christ’s zeal would even consume him. That it would eat him up. Christ was zealous for something, even to the point of death. This zeal causes Christ to over turn the tables in the temples courts and drive out the money changers and those selling animals for sacrifice. Jesus’s zeal causes him to cleanse the temple of all that was unholy. What is the point of this? What is Jesus’ zeal really accomplishing?

The temple in Jerusalem was the central point of Jewish worship at the time. It was a huge structure, dominating the city of Jerusalem. The actual temple itself was 150 feet tall and 150 feet wide. It was built on top of a mountain which had been built up to a 35 acre flat space which was covered with different courts and huge pillared buildings. The temple was the crown jewel of Jerusalem. Not only were the buildings impressive, but the temple itself was holy because they were the dwelling place of God. In side the Temple, in a room that was 30 feet cubed was the Holy of Holies. The place where God dwelt on Earth. In the Holy of Holies, God promised to be among his people. It was where Sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins were supposed to take place. It was the place where you went to be in the presence of God.

You would think that the place where God was supposed to live would be a place revered as holy and treated as such. But it wasn’t. In today’s text we see that the temple grounds had become filled with sin. People were selling animals for sacrifices, and charging more than they were worth. At first glance, this doesn’t seem like a big deal does it? I mean we here are Americans, we don’t mind people making a profit off of something. But these people are not making an honest profit. Instead they are making a profit off of the forgiveness of sins. To be forgiven of sins, a person

To be made right before God, one needed to sacrifice an animal. They needed blood to be shed. They needed to buy a sacrifice to be killed. And so there were booths set up in the temple for people to buy these animals. The problem was that they charged much more for these animals than they would anywhere else. These people were taking advantage of God’s holy presence to make themselves rich.

No longer was God’s house holy. NO longer was God’s house a place of prayer, instead it was now a place of market, as today’s text says. Instead of a place to freely receive the forgiveness of sins, the temple instead became a “Den of thieves”. A place of God’s holiness had now become a place of sin, of guilt. Not because God abandoned it, but instead because those who were there in it were themselves full of sin. People, even in the temple of God had lost sight of God.

Even in today’s world, churches have at times lost sight God. They preach universalism, not the Trinity. They preach wealth and prosperity, but not Chirst. They teach decision theology, not Grace.

While these things are not problems here at Mt. Calvary, we still have our own struggles. Those of us who come here are also full of sin. Those of us who come here are also guilty before God. This sin falls upon each one of us. There is not one of us who is not guilty.

Scripture tells us that our bodies themselves are temples to the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 6:9. Each and everyone of us here is a temple. But we often times lose track of God and follow our own selfish devices instead of Christ. Instead of being temples to the Holy Spirit, we often times would rather be temples to other things. We set up our own little booths, altars to our own pet sins.

Each one of us has that pet sin. That one sin we just can’t give up. Maybe it is gossiping. Maybe it is that four letter word that pops up in daily conversation. We each one of us pollute the temple of our bodies with sin. We turn away from the one true god and instead trust in those other things.

In the catechisms, Luther tells us that an idol is anything that we trust in more than God. What is your idol? Be honest with yourself. In what do you trust more than God. Your family? Your job? Your retirement account. These subtract from God. These take our eyes of Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. These turn us into unholy temples.

So we see, we are much like the temple in Jerusalem was. We are filled with the filth of sin. We are thieves who even being in the presence of God take our eyes of the cross of Jesus. We, like the temple are not holy.

Our text today quotes Psalm 69 when it says, “Zeal for his house shall consume him.” This psalm describes how the holy one of God will suffer, in fact it is the psalm that is refered to while Jesus is on the cross when he receives wine mixed with myrhh to drink and spits it out. This psalm refers to the crucified Christ.

This Christ went zealously, with out turning to the left or the right, all the way to the summit of a hill called Golgotha on a Friday we call good to suffer and die for you and for your sin. He did this willingly. He did not turn and run from this cruel death, but instead faced it knowing the pain and agony that went with it. He did this to cleanse the world of all of its sin. He did this to take the sin and remove it from you as far as the East is from the West.

This same Jesus Christ, who went to the cross, in todays text begins his work of cleansing. He went into the temple and overturned the tables of those who would make a profit off the Gospel. He kicked out those who would make God a god of human prosperity. He drove out those who would make God into a god of demands, and made God back into a God who gives grace freely. Christ drove the sin out of the temple.

So too does Christ cleanse the temples of our bodies. Christ does this by covering us with his own blood. He poured it out upon us in the waters of Baptism. He pours it out upon us here today in the hearing of His word. Christ zealously poured out his blood to forgive you of your sin.

He drove out all the sin out of the temples of our body. Don’t get me wrong, we are still sinful. The Catechism teaches of our need to daily die to sin and raise with Christ. That is what we do. Christ drives out the sin, and we immediately try to put it back again. He knocks down our altars and immediately we rebuild them. But have no fear, Christ is the one who wins this battle.

You see Christ’s himself is also the temple of God. He is the place where God dwells on earth. He is God hidden in human flesh, Deus Obscondus. In our text He says “Destroy this temple” meaning his own body, “and I will raise it again on the third day. Christ has done this. He died, and he rose, so that one day we too will die and rise with him again for eternity. Then the temples of our bodies will be free from sin forever. Then we will have all of God’s gifts. Then we will finally be pure and holy temples to God almighty. We might be zealous about things, maybe football, maybe the SDSU Jacks, but we are not as zealous as Christ is for taking away our sin. Zeal for Christ’s house will consume him. Christ’s zeal is for you, and giving you life.

Amen!

Series B-Lent 1-2009-G-"Repent and Believe"

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, with special emphasis on verse 15, “(and Jesus said) “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” Thus far our text.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Lent is here. The paraments are now purple. The crucifix on the altar is veiled. The hymns are now of a more somber note. Lent is here. But what does this mean? WE are supposed to be repentant, but how do we do that? If you are like many people, you do this during Lent by giving something up. Maybe you won’t eat any chocolate. Maybe you won’t watch your favorite T.V. Show. Maybe you won’t eat any red meat. Whatever the case, we do this to try and show that we are really repentant. But often times we fail horribly. I can remember the time that I tried to give up Dark Chocolate for Lent. I think I lasted until Elizabeth walked out of the room, then I ran to the kitchen shoved some in my mouth and turned around just into to say with a very full mouth, “Mwhut” to Elizabeth. Yes even in this time of repentance, our sin gets the best of us.

That is why today’s Gospel lesson is so important to this season. In today’s text, Christ calls us first to repentance, and then secondly to belief. Christ’s call reflects the entire purpose of Lent. We are to repent and the believe the Gospel.

In today’s text, we see the message of all of Christ’s ministry. Through out his entire ministry, he is calling for repentance and then belief. When he spoke to sick people He said, "Repent and believe in me. When He spoke with the apostles He told them to repent and believe in me. Repent and believe, repent and believe. But what does this mean?

To understand what Christ is preaching, we have to understand what true repentance is. Scripture and our confessions are clear about what Repentance is. It means that we are aware of our sin, and our inability to change our sinful life, and that we are in sorrow or terror of the consequences. We have to know that our sin is terrible and that because of it we cannot stand in God’s presence, and that we do not deserve his grace. Repentance is realizing that God is just in his dealing with sin, and that your own life is forfeit. It is knowing you are doomed.

How do you know that? It is entirely the work of the Holy Spirit. It is only through the examination of what scripture says and through the work of the Holy Spirit that we come to be truly repentant. It is through the preaching of the Law. St. Paul tells us that clearly in Romans 3, that "through the Law that we become aware of our sin."

Examine your own life. This Lent we are to examine our own lives and see our sin. How do we know what our sin is unless God first tells us, “You shall have no other Gods,” or “You honor your father and your mother”? So are we sinners? Yes, completely and totally. We cannot keep the law. God tells us things that we cannot do. Take for example our Lenten promises. Last year, I promised God that I would give up dark chocolate for the season of Lent. But almost as soon as I promise to do that, I fail. In my sin, I cannot do the things I ought to do.

Neither can you. Each and every one of us has fallen short of the glory of God. God’s word says “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But we fail at this. We get into petty squabbles about silly things. We complain about the way people do certain things. We shout at people’s driving habits, or when they don’t shovel their side walks. We sin. God’s word says “Don’t commit adultery.” But even when we think about someone lustfully we have already committed that sin in our heart. Promiscuity surrounds us. People on Television have sex with whomever they please whenever they please, and we like that Idea. Sex is used to sell us bubble gum and beverages. We sin in all of these things and more. We are guilty. God’s word says so.

And scripture teaches us that we don’t only sin against one another, but that we also sin against God. We often times struggle in our faith to believe that the scriptures are actually the word of God. Isn’t it easier to believe that the Bible isn’t God’s word, then it is to believe that we have done so many things wrong. Isn’t it easier to believe that all these things happen just by chance rather than to believe that we are guilty before God? It is. Even this displays our sin. At times we lack faith, and in this lack of faith, we sin. St. Paul says so in Romans 14, "All that doesn’t flow from faith is sin." God’s word is clear. Through the Holy Spirit’s work, we can see how we fail in all of these things. We can see how we are not worthy. God uses this to cause that terror and sorrow over our sin, because only then are we prepared to hear another word. Lent is the season where we recognize this. Lent is the season where we listen to God’s word and notice our own sinful selves. Lent is the season that prepares us for receiving God’s gifts.

Yes. God’s word does speak to us words about our sin. Yes God’s word does teach us that we fall short and that we are not holy within ourselves. But Scripture also tells us another word. A word of hope. A word of forgivness. A word of life.

God did not desire us to be lost forever. Instead he sent us His own Son as a sacrifice of atonement. That is what we are preparing for in Lent. You see, Lent is not only about being repentant, it is not only about feeling really bad and really sorry for our sin. No, it is a preparation for the gift of God. God makes us repentant so that we might believe.
And what do we believe in our repentance? Today’s text makes it clear. We believe the Good news. That good news is nothing other than Jesus Christ crucified for the sins of the world. Jesus, who “though he had no sin became sin for us,” as it says in 2 Corinthians came to earth to suffer. He came to earth do be beaten bloody and nailed upon a cross for you and for your sin. Jesus came so that you might eat his body and drink his blood, and thus receive life and salvation. Jesus came to rescue you, he came to die for you.

Christ has come, and taken our own sin upon himself. He took that sin to the cross and killed it there. He suffered the punishment that we deserved. Our sin has been atoned for by the shedding of his blood. The book of Hebrews tells us that without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sins. We are now forgiven, because we have been covered with that blood.

So this lent, we repent of our sins, because we know the price that was paid to forgive them. We repent of our sin because Christ had to suffer. We repent, because he suffered in our place. Now we no longer have the guilt associated with our sin. Instead all we have is Grace from God. Now we are given life and salvation. Now we can look ahead to that Easter Joy, knowing that just as Christ was raised from the dead, so too will we be on the last day. The Kingdom of Heaven is near, and Christ has earned us a place in it. Already we feast with him in his kingdom. Here today in repentance we will partake of the very body and blood of the Christ, the heavenly feast.
You see, repentance and forgiveness are the life cycle of the Christian. We repent of our sin at the beginning of the service, and then receive forgiveness from the lips of Pastor Naasz, when he says, “I as a called and ordained servant forgive you all your sins.” It is not from Pastor that this forgiveness comes. Instead it comes from the one who suffered and died.

This Lenten season, we remember why we are repentant. Not so we can prove that we can go with out dark chocolate, when really we can’t. Not to show off to others about how holy we are, because we aren’t. Instead we repent because Christ calls us, “The Kingdom of Heaven is near,” he says, “Repent and believe the Good news:” The good news that Christ has died for all of your sins.

Amen.

Series B-Epiphany 6-2009-OT-"Washed in Christ"

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.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ. Have you ever thought that something was impossible, only to learn latter you were wrong? It happens all the time in our world. Even when we look back on history, we see this type of thing happen. 200 years ago, people thought it was impossible to fly, but now airliners fill the sky. 600 years ago, people thought it was impossible to sail around the world, but now there are thousands of ships circling the globe. The list of the seemingly impossible things that happen all the time could go on and on, but we still struggle to believe some of these things an actually happen. We still have doubts. For example, we struggle to believe that a man could rise from the dead, because it seems impossible. We struggle to believe that pouring water on a babies head can actually distribute forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, it seems impossible.

Today’s scripture lesson is about a man who had similar doubts, a man who didn’t believe that something seemingly impossible could happen to him.

Today’s lesson is about a man named Naaman. Naaman was a great man in his day and age. He had everything that he could possibly want. He had a wife, a home, servants and he even had a good job. He was the leader of the army’s of Syria. He had even defeated Israel, and given power to Syria. Naaman’s life should have been a good one. He should have had a lot of prestige among his people and lived an easy life. But he didn’t. Instead he had another problem. He was sick with Leprosy.

Leprosy is a disease that attacks your flesh, slowly eating it down to the bone. It leaves you crippled and disfigured. Your face would have huge scars covering it. You were more likely to injure your fingers and hands, and they healed slower. Leprosy was a life changing disease, not only because of your illness, but because you became an outcast of society. You had to leave your home and family to live in a leper’s colony with other lepers. This was not the way it was supposed to be for a great man like Naaman. He was supposed to have a big house, not be forced to live on his own.

Instead, he was sick with leprosy, and waiting a slow painful death. He was separated from his family and friends. He had no where to turn to be healed. Lepers fates were sealed, there was nothing at that time that could heal him. There were no hospitals or Antibiotics. If you had leprosy, you would die. Naaman was doomed. It was impossible for him to be healed.

You and I also are suffering from a disease. Not a flesh eating bacteria, but a much more deadly disease, sin. Sin infects our entire life and body. Our disease has a 100 percent death rate. Every single person who has it will die, and every person alive on earth has it. We have all inherited it from our parents and grandparents all the way back to Adam and Eve. Sin infects us all.

And just as Naaman’s illness meant separation for him, ours means the same for us, only our separation is also from God. With our sin sick souls, we are no longer worthy to stand in the presence of a Holy God. We are unworthy to be before him. Instead, on our own, we are only worthy to be cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And this sickness shows forth its symptoms in every aspect of our lives. We are disfigured by our hate for others. We are desensitized to sexual immorality that we see on T.V. We always put ourselves ahead of others. And we, just like Naaman doubt that there is a God who loves us and will take care of us. As Lutherans we confess that God has given us “everything we need to sustain this body and life,” but we don’t always believe it. Like Naaman, we doubt God’s promises, we doubt that he is there taking care of us. Instead all we focus on is the symptoms of our illness.

Our lives are full of the pain of loved ones suffering in illness and dying. Friends get divorced and families fall apart around us. Why would God allow these things to happen to us? Why would God allow so much suffering? In these questions, we begin to doubt that God exists. We no longer trust His word. Instead we only trust our sinful selves, and trust Satan’s lies to us instead. And Satan is good at what he says. He tells us there is no hope, that we are doomed to die in our sin, and that we cannot be rescued. It is impossible.

But there are other voices speaking.

At a time in his life when he could easily fall into and wallow in his own self pity, Naaman hears a message of hope. Verse 3 tells us that an Israelite slave girl working for Naaman tells him that the prophet in Israel can heal him of his leprosy. He is told that the impossible is actually possible, that he can be healed and resume his regular life again, and he believes it. Through hearing of this promise he believes that he will be saved from his sickness.

We too hear of a different promise. We too are told of a way out of our sickness, we too are told that we can be rescued. We too can be healed.

In verse 10 of our text, Naaman finally comes to the prophet Elisha, to hear how he will be healed. He is so eager that has brought thousands of dollars in gold and silver, and the finest clothing he can find. He wants to pay to be healed. HE wants to earn it for himself, but he can’t. No, God doesn’t take payment, instead He gives free gifts. God will heal him and it won’t cost Naaman a thing. God will do the impossible. To be healed, Naaman is told something that doesn’t make sense. “wash 7 times in the Jordan river, and you will be healed.” It sounds impossible, how will washing in the dirty water of a muddy river heal leprosy? It doesn’t make sense. It doesn’t seem plausible. But it is what God says.

That is the key, it isn’t anything that Naaman is doing, it isn’t the gifts he brought, it isn’t the effort he puts forth climbing in the Jordan river, it isn’t saying some magical words like hocus pocus. It is the promise of God that heals Naaman. IT is the words that came from the mouth of God, the same voice that spoke, “Let there be light” and there was. This voice speaks things, and it spoke that Naaman would be healed from his leprosy.

It is the same promise that we also see when a tiny helpless baby is brought to the waters of baptism. God speaks through a fumbling pastor saying, “You are mine, you are healed from sin, baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.” IN those words, everyone who is baptized is connected to the bloody death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In those words, we are nailed to a cross with Christ, and our sickness dies with him. IN those words we are raised to a glorious new life, free from sin, free from pain and suffering, Free to live as God’s children.

And that promise is for each of us. Though it seems impossible that we might be saved from our sickness of sin, the blood of Christ heals us. Just as Naaman washed in the Jordan River, we are washed in the Baptismal font. We don’t earn it, we don’t pay for it, we don’t even do anything. Instead we are freely saved by God’s declaration. Through God’s word and the water, we are given life and Salvation. There, sin death and the devil no longer have power over us.

Now we are given comfort in our sickness. We are now God’s precious possession. We no longer worry about death, because washed in Christ’s blood, we are promised eternal life. We no longer worry about pain, because Washed in Christ’s blood, we have the promise of no more suffering. Yes here on Earth we will have struggles, yes here on Earth we will experience suffering, but one day that will all pass away into glorious eternity.

With God, nothing is impossible. He healed Naaman from leprosy, and he can heal us from sin and death. In his words, impossible things happen all the time.

Amen.

Series A-Reformation-2008-"Centered on Christ"

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, with special emphasis on verse 24. “For all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus”

Brothers and Sisters in Christ. 491 years ago, on October 31st, 1517, an unimportant monk in Wittenberg Germany nailed 95 theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg Germany. These theses were about 95 problems that this monk saw in the church. Now today, because of this monk’s actions, we along with thousands of others are looking back to the beginning of the protestant reformation. We are looking back to the beginning of the Lutheran Church. But in our look back, we have to ask, why is this even really that important? Why does it really matter that almost 500 years ago, a monk named Martin Luther, nailed this list of churchly problems to a door? What difference does it make for us here today?

To know the answer to that, we have to know what the Reformation was about: theology. The reformation was about how we people can stand in the presence of God. It is about how sin is atoned for and how we can know for sure that we are saved. The reformation is about Christ. Christ is the center of the holiday that we celebrate today, just as Christ is the center of all our theology.

Just because today Christ is the center of our theology doesn’t mean that is the way it always was. In fact, people throughout the ages have struggled to keep Christ as the most important part of their faith. Because of our sin, other things often take Christ’s place in our lives. Instead we focus on our own feelings, or on our own works. We trust that we can save ourselves. We don’t look at the cross; in fact we don’t look outside ourselves.

This problem was also the problem 491 years ago when young Martin Luther nailed up the 95 theses on the church door. There was a problem in that was removing Christ from being the reason for our salvation. The problem was indulgences. Another monk named John Tetzel was selling these indulgences. These indulgences were small pieces of paper which claimed that they would forgive all the sins of whoever bought them. People were buying them by the hundreds and can we blame them? Which is easier, to live your entire life trying to be holy, or to spend a few dollars to get an official document that says you are?

These indulgences came directly from the papal offices in Rome. They claimed that, under the authority of the Pope, the bearer of the indulgence would be granted full and complete pardon. The money that was raised by the selling of these indulgences was used to build St. Peter’s basilica in the Vatican City. The problem with these indulgences was that they bypassed Christ. The people were not pointed to the cross of Christ for forgiveness of sins; instead they were pointed to a piece of paper signed by the pope. They were told that each and every sin they committed would be forgiven by this piece of paper, apart from Christ. Once you bought an indulgence, you were free to commit any sin you wanted, and not worry about the consequences.

Don’t we often times try these “get forgiveness easily” schemes in our everyday lives? Don’t we try to bypass Christ in our lives? We don’t like to think about Christ on the cross, so instead we look to ourselves to get forgiveness. For example, I am sure that all of us at one time or another have read a book about how to be a really good person and to stay completely away from sin. For example, when I was in Junior High, all my “good” friends read the book, “I kissed dating goodbye,” so I did also. It is a book which has good intentions, to keep people from premarital sexual sin, but in the end it requires you to trust in yourself. You are supposed to keep yourself away from sin. Just like an indulgence, it takes our eyes from the cross of Christ, and instead focuses them upon something else. We don’t look for forgiveness of sins, but instead trust that we are sin-free in ourselves.

There are hundreds of other self help books, some about how we need to be Christian with our money, or how we need to be intentional in our faith lives. Each and every one has good intentions, but almost all of them take our eyes off of Christ on the cross. We look at ourselves instead of Christ who forgives our sins.

Even if we don’t take our eyes off of Christ in self help books, there are other ways that we can do it. For example, in this day and age, many churches require you to accept Jesus to be a member. In other words, Jesus did 90% of the work, and you have to do the other 10% to earn forgiveness. We like to trust that we can do things to earn our own salvation. Just as people in the reformation time went and earned money to buy an indulgence, so too we believe we can earn forgiveness of sin. In all of these ways we take our eyes off of Christ and put them on other things. When we do this, we show our own sin.

Today’s text tells us, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We see this clearly when look at our works. Everything we do shows our sin. We read the self help books and try to do what they say, but we fall terribly short of their ideals. We might accept Jesus into our lives, but then an hour after church we have already broken several of the Ten Commandments. This is the way everything in our life goes, sin. This sin leads to death. We are guilty before God, and we cannot stand in his presence. There is not an indulgence that we can buy or anything we can do that will put us right before God’s eyes.

Martin Luther knew this also. He had tried everything imaginable. He had become a monk to try and take away his sin. He had tried all the latest self help ideas from his day and age. He prayed to the saints, he made a pilgrimage to Rome, he even beat himself when he thought about sinning, but in all of these attempts to earn indulgence from God, he failed. There was nothing he could do to take away his own sin. He could not follow the law to earn salvation.

That is where today’s text comes in. Verses 19-20 say “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” The law does not save. There is not a way that we can buy or earn our salvation. There is not a way that we can do it on our own. The law only condemns, the law only tells us that we are guilty. We need something else to be made righteous. And when our eyes are kept on Christ, we see that other way to be made righteous.

“Now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known to you and to me. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” It is not earned by what we do. It is not bought by our money. Instead it is earned by Christ. He lived a perfect life where we couldn’t. He did not sin in anything that he did. It is earned not with gold or silver, but with Christ’s holy and precious blood, by His innocent suffering and death. That is what earns forgiveness for me and for you. Christ crucified for the sins of the entire world.

God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. That means that where we fall short, where we cannot earn anything for ourselves, Christ instead does. His blood washes over each and every one of us, and makes us holy before God. Martin Luther realized this, which is why on that fateful day 491 years ago he nailed those 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church. Not to bring attention to himself, but rather to refocus the attention upon Christ crucified.

We too have our eyes on Christ. In the waters of Holy Baptism, we were washed in the very blood the spilled from Christ’s side on the cross. That washing opens our eyes to the life giving grace which Christ freely pours out upon us. We also partake in the very body and blood that was nailed to a cross for the forgiveness of all our sin. In these sacraments, and in the hearing of God’s Word, God places our eyes upon Christ crucified. With our eyes upon the cross, we are given the gifts of forgiveness of sin, life eternal, and salvation. These gifts are not something earned, but they are given.

This is the message that the reformation is all about. Martin Luther fought against indulgences so that the message of Christ would return to the forefront. That is the main reason for the reformation. That is why we celebrate it today. Even today we have to fight to keep Christ in the forefront. All sorts of challenges present themselves, trying to make us trust things other than Christ. But the message of Christ crucified overcomes all of these challenges.

491 years ago, a lowly monk nailed 95 theses to the door of a church for the very purpose of putting the Son of God back in the forefront of people’s hearts. Today that fight is continuously being fought through the church and world. While sin tries to take our eyes off of Christ, the Holy Spirit is pointing back to Christ. But while we fight, we know what the end outcome is. Christ has risen, and the victory is won.

Amen

Series A-Proper 29-2008-"Sheep of the Shepherd"

When you were a child, did you ever pretend to be an animal? What kind of animal did you want to pretend to be? I know that we did, my brothers and I would play games and pretend to be Elephants, or talk like parrots, or maybe we would chase each other around the yard while barking at each other. Sometimes we would argue about which animal was the coolest, you know how it goes. I would say to my one brother, “You pretend to be a cat, and I will pretend to be a dog.” Woo ha ha ha. Then my brother would of course argue back, because no one wants to be one of the wimpy animals, we always wanted to be the cool animals, you know with sleek coats and fangs. Well in our Old Testament lesson today, God compares us to a group of animals. And unfortunately, the animal that God tells us we are like is not one that my brothers and I would have considered very cool to play. God compares people in our lesson to Sheep. That’s right, God compares us to sheep, not very smart, stinky, furry sheep. However, sometimes we truly are lost sheep in need of a shepherd.

Lost sheep with out a shepherd? What does this mean? I mean, first off I am not lost, am I? And I am obviously a little smarter than a sheep, at least better looking. So the question is then, how am I a lost sheep? How can God even compare me to a lost sheep?

Well, the answer to that is pretty easy if we stop and think about it, isn’t it? We all know that sheep are herd animals, they go around in flocks, right? Sheep follow other sheep around. But they don’t always stay where they are supposed to. Sometimes, sheep get separated from the flock. Perhaps they see some nice new green grass over the hill, and they pursue it. Or perhaps they stop paying attention as the rest of the flock moves ahead to new grazing ground. Sometimes, sheep get scared. Whatever the case, at times sheep can become separated from the flock.

When Ezekiel was writing our Old Testament Lesson, Israel was straying from God, and instead trusting in other Gods. At this time, Ezekiel and the rest of his country had been taken into exile in Babylon. It was easy for them to lose faith. God had given them a land flowing with Milk and Honey, and now they were forcibly taken from that land. They lost faith, because what kind of a God would allow them to suffer? What kind of God would inflict this much pain on his chosen people? The people had lost everything, including hope. They strayed because they no longer believed the words of God to be truth. They were leaving the flock of the church and being scattered throughout the world. What’s more, they began to trust in other things. They began to trust other Gods, and they began to trust in themselves.

Well, what about you and me? Do we always stick close to our flock, the Church? Unfortunately, the answer is no. At times we too lose hope in the words of God. Perhaps we too do not trust God’s Word. No, I know that we have not lost everything as those in Ezekiel’s time had. No, we are not being carried away into exile, as the people in Ezekiel’s time had. But don’t we lose hope anyway? Don’t we become complacent in our lives, and lose the hope we have in the Gospel, trusting instead in ourselves? We are a lot like one of those sheep, who see the nicer grass over the hill and wander off to eat it, because we feel like it. That is how we are, people who are so inwardly focused on ourselves, that we don’t care about others. We don’t do our best caring for the weak and sick of the church. We don’t do these things because we are sinners. In our sin, we daily stray from the one true faith, leaving behind the comfort of the flock, all because we are only concerned with ourselves.

In a way, we too act like “herd animals.” We sometimes do things, not because we want to, but because other people are. I’m sure you have heard the question asked, “If everyone was jumping off a cliff because it was cool, would you too?” Sad to say, it appears that way occasionally. We become more interested in what other people think than what the truth is. This happens in our faith when we become obsessed with fads. Whether it is the latest self help book, or the latest growth program, we get caught up in what everyone else is doing.
When this happens, we are like sheep, going astray. We are blindly wandering about, not knowing which way to turn or where to go. We call our wandering “freedom”, but in the end we are slaves to ourselves, and little more than dead men walking.

How else are we like Sheep? As we know from fables and other children’s stories, sheep have an enemy, the big bad wolf. The big bad wolf is always sneaking into the flock, trying to devour one of the sheep. Aesop’s fables tell of a wolf who even dressed as a sheep, just so he could get into the flock and have a nice tasty snack of a lamb. Sheep are always in danger of being eaten by some sort of enemy.

The people in Ezekiel’s day also had an enemy. The enemy that they faced was made manifest in the nation of Babylon. Babylon had come and oppressed the people, and then defeated them in battle and led them away into exile. Their enemy was very easy to see.

Yes, we too, just like sheep, and just like the people from Ezekiel’s day, have an enemy. Our enemy is death and the devil. And just like sheep have the enemy of a wolf waiting to devour them, St. Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5:8 that “our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” In fact our enemy has us right where he wants us. He is always lurking around us telling us one of several lies. He is either saying to us, “You haven’t done anything wrong,” or “Your sin is too great, you will never be saved.” Both of these lies he whispers into our ears. And we believe them, because we want to. We want to believe both of them, because when we believe either one of them, we are once again in charge of our own life, and able to leave the fold of the flock.

But things are not hopeless. For just as sheep have a shepherd who walks amongst them and leads them to safe pasture, so too do we. We have a shepherd who walked in our midst. We have a shepherd who comes to us when we have strayed and carries us on his shoulders back to the flock. We have a shepherd who would rather die than let enemies steal us from his flock. Ezekiel tells us about our shepherd, saying “I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.” Our shepherd is this one, the shepherd king, Jesus Christ.

Though we were scattered, and without hope, alone in the utter darkness of our sin, Christ came and rescued us. It is told here in our Old Testament Lesson, “I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness” (v. 12). Here is the promise for us, rescue from our sin. How are we rescued? The Shepherd lays down his life for us. (John 10:11) He is the one who was without sin, the one who fulfilled God’s will completely, willingly suffered, and died for you. Jesus, though He had not sinned, “became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!” as Paul says in Philippians 2:8. Jesus was crucified, dying a criminal’s death. He came to rescue his sheep from slaughter, and instead was slaughtered himself. Isaiah 53:7 tells us that Christ was led like a lamb to the slaughter. The blood of the shepherd cleansed the sheep. The blood of the shepherd cleanses you.

Where does this happen? In the waters of Holy Baptism, He puts His name upon us. In the waters of baptism, He washes away all of our sin with His very own blood, and makes us a part of the flock of God. At the font, Christ claims you for His own flock. Ezekiel said in our lesson that we will lie down in good grazing land, and there we will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. This means that the best food available will be ours. We already get a taste of that glorious food, here at the Altar where we receive Christ’s own body and blood, shed for the forgiveness of sins into our very mouths. In these gifts we receive the priceless treasures of heaven. In these holy sacraments, the Lord becomes our shepherd, as it says in Psalm 23, and he leads us beside still waters, and prepares us a feast before our enemies.

Shepherds are interesting people, because they lead their flock while standing in the middle of the sheep. They walk with sheep before them, and behind them, sheep to the right and to the left. This is how they lead them. This is how Christ leads us, from among us. As He promises in Matthew 28, “Surely I am with you, always, even unto the end of the age.” So he is. Christ, our Good Shepherd, has walked among us. Christ walks with us, through the valley of the shadow of death, and we fear no evil. Not because we are special. Not because of anything we have done. Not because we are without sin, but because we are His flock, and He is our shepherd who died and rose again. Now that we are a part of his flock, we too will rise from the dead. We too will share in eternal life, and we too, will live in heaven forever. The hymn “I am Jesus’ Little Lamb” puts it well when it says:

"Who’s so happy as I am?
Even now the Shepherd’s lamb,
And when my short life is ended,
by His angel hosts attended,
He shall fold me to His breast,
there within His arms to rest."

Revelation 7:17 says, “For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” This is our promise: Jesus our Shepherd ever leading us, and God the Father wiping all tears away from our eyes. This is our promise in Christ.

Amen.

Series A-Proper 13-2008-OT "A Free Lunch"

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Today’s text is from the Old Testament Lesson. “Come, everyone who thirsts,come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2 Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,and delight yourselves in rich food. 3 Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. 4 Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. 5 Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you.

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, Several weeks ago, we had the annual Arts Festival here in Brookings. At the festival, there were hundreds of different booths, some selling paintings, some selling wood carvings, and the ones that I really enjoyed, some selling food. There were booths selling roasted ears of corn. There were booths selling smoked turkey legs. There were booths selling… the absolute best apple crisp ever with SDSU ice cream.

At each of these booths there were people yelling out what they were selling, trying to get people to come in. Calls of “Hot onion rings, right here,” or “World’s best apple crisp” could be heard throughout the entire park. It was a wonderful place to be, but there was one problem. None of the food from any of the booths was free. All of it had a cost of some kind. Be it apple crisp and ice cream at $3 or a root beer floats for 2, all the foods had a price. Being a person on a budget, this sort of limits how many of the booths you can visit.

Today’s text is similar. God is the one who is calling out to all who hear, “Come if you’re Thirsty, and drink, come if you are hungry and eat.” And God’s invitation is not for junk food like funnel cakes or even fried cheese curds and doughnuts. Instead, He invites us to participate in the marriage feast of the Lamb. This meal comes complete with the best milk, the best bread and (my favorite) the best wine, followed by a dessert of life everlasting. Yes, the feast that God invites us to lasts for eternity, and will satisfy you beyond belief. As hard as it is to believe, it will even be better than Mount Calvary Apple Crisp and SDSU ice cream.

Once again, there is just one catch; as there is with the booths at the Arts Festival, there is a cost for admittance, and it is not a cheap price. To pay for the meal, you have to live an absolutely perfect life. That is the payment for participating in God’s feast. There is no way around it, perfection is demanded at the door. Without the required payment, entrance is denied, and you are forced to wait outside while those who can afford the price feast. The question I have for you is this, can you afford to pay the cost?

No of course not. The fact of the matter is that we cannot pay the price, it is too expensive for us to afford. We have not lived a perfect life, but instead have been infested with sin from birth. Each and every one of us is sinful, as Paul tells us in the book of Romans chapter 3 “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” There is not one who is righteous, not one.
But we don’t believe this either. The voice in our head says, “How can I be sinful if I am so nice? How can I be sinful if I do so many good things? At the very least I am better than some other people; I haven’t done as many bad things as they have. That has to count for something. That will get me in.” We trust that we can earn our own way in. That we can do enough good things to cancel out the bad things that we have done.

And that is how the sinful world tells us things work. How often have you heard the idea that if you are “good” that you will get into heaven? And we want to believe that. We want to think, “I can do it,” or “If I try hard enough, I can do whatever I want.” But we know that is not the case. We know that our works do not earn us a place in heaven. Nothing we can do can actually earn us a seat at the heavenly banquet. As St. Paul tells the Ephesians, it is not by works that you have been saved. but by faith. In fact, in a different place, Isaiah himself tells us that “all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.”

What can we afford with our good works? Today’s text tells us we spend our money on that which is not bread, and labor for that which does not satisfy. The things that we labor for with our works cannot really satisfy us. They cannot feed us the same way that the eternal feast of God can. Why not? Because they are not things that last forever. The best meal you can buy will only feed you for one day. The very best car you could afford will break someday. The things we earn for ourselves last only as long as we last. Some day we will die because of sin, some day we will be unable to take our works with us. Who then will provide for you?

We see that we cannot earn ourselves a place at the heavenly banquet. We cannot pay for an entrance into the heavenly feast. We are left outside longing to get in. If it doesn’t seem like a big deal being on the outside, we need to look at what Christ says about those not in the heavenly feast. In Matthew 22:13, Jesus says that the one not included in the feast will be bound and thrown outside where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There are two options, the feast, or the fires of hell. And we cannot pay to get into the feast.

But thankfully for us, the text tells us more about entering the kingdom. “Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money, come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk without money and without price.” The invitation is there, come with out cost. It is not that the banquet is free, the cost is still the same, but someone else has paid for it. Some one else has footed the bill for our entrance to the heavenly feast.

Several years ago, my wife and I were eating with my parents at a nice Italian restaurant called Vincenzo’s in Lincoln, NE. We had enjoyed an excellent bottle of wine, and some of the best Italian food in the City. It was a pricey meal, it was going to cost a lot. Shortly after we had finished eating, the waiter came over and pointed at a table across the room saying “Those people over there paid for your meal.” We looked, and sure enough some friends of my parents were over there. We had eaten the best food, and had the best wine, and they had paid the price, and we had done nothing to deserve it.

This is the same thing that is being described in our text today. We are invited to come and participate in the heavenly feast, and Christ pays the bill. We could not afford the bill of being perfect, we have sinned and sinned in life, but Christ had not. Christ pays for your entrance. He foots the bill which you have earned in your sin. Every little tiny thing you have done has been paid for. Perhaps the Catechism says it best when it says, “He has redeemed me, not with gold or silver, but with His precious blood, and with His holy innocent suffering and death.”

The debt of your sin, the guilt that would keep you out of the heavenly kingdom has been paid for on a bloody cross. Baptism has attached you to Christ. In baptism you share now in Christ’s perfection, not on your own, but in Christ. Now when Christ comes into the heavenly feast, he ushers you in as a dear friend. In fact, scripture describes the relationship not as just a dear friend, but as a dear brother. Now you will be able to come in, “buy and eat the finest breads, the freshest milk, and my favorite, the finest wines.

This promise is one that is not just reserved for the time when we will finally come to our heavenly rest. This very morning we will participate in the marriage feast of the Lamb. It is not a far off event that we are waiting and waiting for.


You see the meal that Isaiah invites all to come to, the heavenly feast, is the same feast that has been shared throughout history. The Israelite Passover meal was a sharing in the heavenly feast of life. The feast in the 23rd psalm is the heavenly feast of life. The Lord’s Supper is the heavenly feast of life. And you are invited, here today, you can participate in the same feast that you will participate in for all eternity.

Today, Christ himself invites you to the altar, saying “Take eat, this is my body, given for you. Take Drink, this is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. Here today we have a foretaste of the marriage feast of the lamb. The book of Revelation says “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Today’s text is that invitation, “Come and eat.”

What’s more, as today’s text says, today’s participation in the Lord’s Supper is a satisfying meal. The Lord’s Supper is not a feast where we leave and grow hungry all over again. This feast is Satisfying. It will strengthen us to life everlasting. That means we eat it, and we are filled.
We can “eat what is good, and delight ourselves in the rich food.” This rich food is Christ. In the book of John, Jesus says “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever” This is the food of the heavenly kingdom, right here before you today. This food is the free gift of God given to us, for Life and Salvation. It is a free feast of all the best you can imagine.

Christ’s voice calls now, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and he who has no money come buy and eat. Come buy wine and milk, without money and without price. Come I have paid the price. Come and I will give to you to eat. Amen.