Proper 17 - Gospel - Luke 14:1-14 - Jesus Humbles Himself for You.

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 (Luke 14:1-14), just read, especially verse, 11, "For Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Little Billy had his very first day of school, beginning kindergarten.  When his mom picked up, she nervously asked the five year old how his first day had gone.  Billy looked at his mom and said, "Great mom, I am the best looking person in my class."  His mom, caught off guard asked him, "How do you know that Billy?  Who told you?"  "Duh Mom," Billy replied, "I could see everyone else there; no one had to tell me." 

Pride is everywhere, and while in Little Billy's case, it may seem amusing; in reality pride is no laughing matter.  Pride is ugly, pride is hurtful.  Pride is a sinful deadly problem.  In our text today Jesus shows that those who are prideful will have no part with him in his kingdom.  "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who is humble will be exalted." The problem is that pride often times lies hidden beneath the surface, only sneaking out when we will least pay attention to it.  Often we don't even realize that we daily struggle with this sin, but it is there lurking in our lives, and in the lives of those to whom Jesus spoke in our text today. 

In our text today, Jesus addresses people who were full of pride.  Our text tells us "Jesus told a parable to those who were invited, when he noticed how they chose the places of honor."  The people in our text today were honoring themselves by making sure they were sitting in the place of honor, the head of the table.  They wanted to make sure that everyone else could see them, and that everyone else would be jealous of where they were sitting.  These people thought that they were important, and they wanted to make sure everyone else could see it and know it.  After all, there is no point in being superior if you don't get recognition for it, is there?

But is anyone of us more superior to any other?  Can we actually be better than another person?  We think so.  How often do we point at another saying, "Yes lord, I may sin, but not as badly as that person.  His sin is worse than mine"?  We all do this.  We judge others based solely on human standards.  In our pride, we like to put one sin below another, saying "The sin of premarital sex is worse than the sin of gossiping, but better than murder."  In human eyes we can justify this, but not in God's eyes.  In God's eyes a sin is a sin is a sin, and we are all guilty of them.

And that is where our pride is really strongest isn't it?  In our sin.  In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were tempted by the serpent that lied to them and told them that by eating of the forbidden fruit, their eyes would be opened, and they would be like God.  Ever since, every single human has been trying to exalt himself to the place of God.  We like to decide which things are right or wrong, rather than trusting in what God's word clearly says. We take what God's word says is wrong, and warp and twist it until we convince ourselves that it really is ok. 

In this, our sinful nature, our pride often fall victim to the very first sin again and again, asking the same question Satan asked in the Garden of Eden "Did God really say?"  Did God really say that homosexuality is a sin?  Did God really say that marital unfaithfulness is wrong?  Did God really say that I should always speak well of my neighbors rather than to slander them behind their backs?  Did God really say that apart from Him I am a poor miserable sinner?  Dear friends in Christ, the answer is yes.  You and I are horrible, foul, rotten sinners, even when we in our pride cannot see it. 

That truth is always hard to hear isn't it.  It really strikes a blow to our pride to hear that we are poor miserable sinners in our thought, our word, and our deeds, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone.  Some times the truth hurts, but that is exactly what our text says.  "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled."  In our sinful pride we have exalted ourselves.  But in response, God's word clearly and faithfully humbles us.  To Satan's question, did God really say, there is a resounding answer, yes, and you are guilty. 

But what now?  Are we left humbled in our sin by God's word?  Dear friends in Christ the answer is no.  For your humiliation is but a sharing in the humiliation of Christ.  Yes our text says, "He who exalts himself, will be humbled."  But it also goes on to say, "He who humbles himself will be exalted."  This one who humbled himself is none other than Jesus Christ.  IN the book of Philippians, St. Paul clearly tells us this saying that "Jesus Christ, 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!  Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth."

Dear friends, Jesus humbled himself, and became obedient to death on a cross for you.  Jesus took all your pride and your false self worth and killed it.  Just as we in our pride are humbled, so Jesus in his humility on the cross is exalted into everlasting life and joy. 

And that joy and exaltation is for you too.  For we who are humbled by God's word also will be brought to exaltation through that word made flesh.  In Jesus, we are brought to that everlasting wedding feast mentioned in our text.  In our sin we are left sitting alone in the lowest place, seemingly with no where to turn.  But with Jesus' humble life, death and resurrection, we are called to move up to the wedding feast.  Even here, today, we hear the Word call to us, "Dear friends, you who are humbled by your sin, do you not see Jesus has died for you, come up to the place of honor, and sit and dine with Jesus." 

The Small Catechism says it this way, that Jesus has "purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, in order that I may be [wholly] His own, and live under Him in His kingdom."  In this, the death of Jesus, you are free from sin, and exalted into the marriage feast of the lamb in His kingdom which shall have no end.  There we will be forever separated from all our sin, including selfish pride.  There will we feast in joy, boasting in our God who has saved us by humbling himself. 

While we are here on Earth, at times, our pride may still sneak out in to the open, we may still judge and condemn as if we are a god, but in the end, Christ has overcome it all. 

THOUGH OUR PRIDE LEADS TO HUMILIATION AND DEATH, HUMBLENESS IN CHRIST LEADS TO ETERNAL EXALTATION.

 And nothing that we do can separate us from this eternal joy.  May this peace be yours always, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

Proper 16 - Gospel - Luke 13:22-30 - Jesus Enters with You Through the Narrow Door.

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 (Luke 13:22-30), especially verse 24 "Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able."  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  The same thing happens every year it seems.  In a little over two months, the Day after Thanksgiving sales will be upon us.  Millions of Americans will get up at One o'clock in the morning, and stand in line outside of various stores so that they can make sure they get the best bargains on what is waiting for them inside.  Great deals are waiting for them inside the doors to the store.  At six, when the doors to the stores finally open, they will push and shove their way in, so they can get what waits for them. 

But it isn't organized, and it doesn't always go smoothly.  Not all will make it in the stores.  Someone might trip and fall.  Every year it seems that someone gets trampled to death as they try and enter the narrow doors.  And those at the end of the line, often miss out on the good deals that those who make it through the doors get to have. 

It almost sounds like what Jesus is saying in our text doesn't it?  "Strive to enter through the narrow door."  Jesus says.  We know from the very question that was asked Jesus that on the other side of that narrow door is life, and salvation.  On the other side of that narrow door is the eternal feast of the lamb and his kingdom, which will have no end.  We know we need to get through that door, for Jesus warns us, "Many will seek to enter and will not be able." And outside the door the text tells us is weeping and gnashing of teeth.  But how?  How do we enter the door of our salvation?  How can we guarantee that we are among the few who are saved, and not among those left outside knocking, and begging to enter?  The answer friends is this,

WE ENTER THE NARROW DOOR NOT THROUGH OUR WORKS, BUT THROUGH CHRIST'S WORKING OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH IN OUR LIVES.

That sounds easy enough doesn't it?  But in our sinful world, it is easier said then done.  There are all sorts of things that try to keep us from entering through the narrow door.  Just like some may not enter stores the day after thanksgiving, some will not enter the kingdom.  So how do we enter through the door of salvation?

Often times we try to enter by trusting in our own works.  All around us we are always hearing how "Those who do good will receive their reward."  If you ask someone on the street how you get into heaven, most of the people would tell you, "To get into heaven you have to do enough good things to weigh out the bad things in your life."  We feel like it is possible for us to do enough good works that we can earn a spot for ourselves in heaven. 

And it makes sense doesn't it?  As a result, we often do as the text says, we strive, we work, and we struggle to enter the narrow door.  After all that is what it means to be an American.  We work and work and work to make sure we have the best situation for ourselves.  It is the right thing to do here on Earth.  We admire those who have earned a lot for themselves.  What is not right is that this idea often leaks into our religious lives.  We get the idea that we need to work to improve things there also.

If you were to go to a Christian book store, you would see books that tell you 40 ways to fulfill God's purpose for your life.  Books written to make sure you are living our very best life now.  Books that tell you how to help yourself to what God has to offer.  We tell our selves that if we follow all of the laws that are in scripture, God will have to reward us.  We want religion under our own terms, to be what we want it to be.  We feel we are entitled to receive gifts from God.  We often pray, "Dear Lord, can't you see how good I am, how hard I try, God, you owe this to me."

Friends, this is not the way it works.  God doesn't owe us anything.  To earn our way through the narrow door would require us to be completely and totally perfect, to always, even in our sleep, be doing good and beneficial works.  But scripture tells us that we are unable to do so.  In the book of Romans, we hear that "In Adam all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."  (Romans 3:23) And psalm 51 tells us that "surely I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.  The prophet Isaiah, just a few chapters before our Old Testament lesson for today tells us that in our sin, "we have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.  We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away." 

Our iniquities take us away from the narrow door.  In our sin, instead of entering into God's paradise, we will be left outside knocking, saying, "Lord, open to us."  But the response will be as the text says, "I do not know where you come from."  We will cry to God, "Lord we ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets," but he will say, "I do not know where you come from, depart from me all you workers of evil." 

You see it is not our own works that can save us.  Nothing that we can do is enough.  Nothing we do is ever more than what God already expects from us.  In our sin, none of us is something special that deserves entrance into the heavenly kingdom.   "For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able."  The Greek word used there for the word "Be able" is rather unusual in what it means.  It emphasizes what one is able to do by oneself.  On your own, you are not able to enter the door.  On your own, you cannot do it. 

But Jesus can.  Jesus is the only one who can enter the narrow door on his own.  He is the only one who is worthy to receive God's gifts.  He has paid the price of admittance through the door with his own blood.  We ourselves are not enough, but Jesus is.  Jesus has lived a perfect life.  He never once sinned.  He always was showing compassion on his neighbors.  His life on Earth was spent giving to the poor, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, and hearing to the death.  Jesus was always giving to those around him, even when they didn't understand why.  And dear friends, he cares for you as well. 

The very first words in our text convey how much Jesus cares for you, "He went on his way through towns and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem."  This journey to Jerusalem is the journey to the cross.  He will continue on his way, teaching and preaching until he finally reaches his goal, where he will be mocked and flogged.  He will be stripped and spat upon, and finally will be killed by hanging from nails upon a cross until he is dead.  Jesus journeys to Jerusalem for you. 

And as Jesus goes to the cross you go with him.  In your baptism, you who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  Baptism has intricately connected you to Jesus.  When Jesus is beaten, you are there with him in baptism.  When Jesus is killed on the cross, you die with him in baptism.  When Jesus rises on the third day, and rolls the stone away, and walks out of the narrow door of a tomb, and into eternal life with God the Father and Holy Spirit in heaven, in your baptism, you are with him.  In baptism, you are clothed in Christ, and your faith clings to him as he passes through the narrow door into the heavenly feast. 

The last will be first, and the first will be last.  Jesus, the Sinless son of God, puts himself last, so that you in your sin might become first in the kingdom of God.  Not by your own works, not by your own designs will you enter the narrow door, but only through the precious blood of Jesus shed for you.  Jesus carries you through from death in sin, to life in Christ. 

Dear friends in Christ, you have already entered the narrow door through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Now you stand with those from the entire world who have gathered together with Jesus to celebrate life to the full.  You already have entered the narrow door.  Amen. 

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Series C - Proper 14 - Gospel - Jesus takes God's wrath upon himself on the cross.

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 which was just read, especially verses (Luke 12) 49-50, "I came to cast fire on the earth and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with." Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ, fire, wrath, division, suffering and distress. These are not often pictures we think of when we think of Jesus. Instead we might associate these things with war and famine, punishment and evil. We might even use these things to describe the work of the devil. These things cannot describe Jesus, the Prince of Peace, can they? But our text today is clear, it tells us that these are the things that Jesus has come to cast upon the earth.

"Fire I have come to cast upon the Earth, and how I wish it were already kindled," Jesus says in our text. Throughout the pages of Old Testament scripture, we see fire as God's judgment and wrath upon sin. We see this in the flaming sword brandished by the angel to keep Adam and Eve out of Eden following the fall. We see it in the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah where fire and brimstone destroy and kill. Fire is what separated the people of Israel from God on Mt. Sinai as handed down the law. We even see it in our Old Testament lesson as God says, "Is not my word like fire, like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" (Jeremiah 23:29) and "Behold the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest." (Jeremiah 23:19)

Dear friends in Christ, Jesus' coming brings this flaming wrath upon sin. We already have hear this in the message of John the Baptist which tells us clearly "Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." (Luke 3:9) The coming of Jesus brings this punishment for sin, and the punishment is fire and wrath for all who are in sin, for all who are not completely and totally perfect in every way. Those who do not bear good fruit will be cast into the fire.

What fruit do you bear? The fruit of sin, or the fruit of righteousness? If we are honest, we know that we bear the fruit of sin all too often in our lives. All too often we show that we really are poor miserable sinners in our thought word and deed by the fruit we bear. Our relationships with both God and man are broken. Our sin divides us.

This division exists, Christ speaks in our text about it in human terms, but first we must look at it in heavenly terms. When God created the world He created it faultless and holy. He created man in a perfect relationship with God. When Adam fell into sin, that relationship was ruined. Adam turned away from God and instead trusted in himself. Division came into the world. No longer was there a faultless relationship between God and man, for man said to God, "No thank you, I'll do fine on my own. I don't need your help. I will be my own God."

Dear friends, we are no different from our fore-father Adam. Even today, we say the same thing to our Heavenly Father. "I'll do fine on my own, I will be my own God." Money is tight this month, I will take care of it. I am sick, I will take this medicine to cure myself. After all, I control what happens to me. I am my own master. We too are divided from God. We break that first commandment, to fear, love and trust in God above all things, and instead trust in the great and powerful me, myself and I.

This division between God and us spreads also to relationships in our everyday lives. How often are we divided from our neighbor, from our family, from our friends by petty bickering and arguing, or maybe something someone did or said? There are families that have not spoken to one another for years. This is what Jesus says will take place. The text says, "They will be divided, father against son, and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against her mother."

Friends, Sin divides. Sin cannot bring together, but only separate. In this sinful world we on our own will never be able to overcome these divisions. Within each one of us is a heart of stone, cold and dead. Jesus tells us in this text that he has come to cast the fire of God's wrath upon us for our sin. He has come to show forth the divisions our sin brings. This message is the Word of the Lord, and our Old Testament again says, "is not my word like fire, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?"

Christ comes to cast fire, Christ comes to divide, but that is not all Christ comes to do. Christ comes to heal and to sooth. Christ comes to break our hearts of stone, and to give us living beating hearts that have life in them. How? Christ does this on the cross. On the cross, sin is forgiven and life is bestowed to you.

"I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished." Jesus says in our text. Jesus' baptism is a baptism of blood, it is a baptism of suffering and death, and he is anxious to accomplish this for you. Jesus has cast the fire of God's wrath upon the Earth, yes, but Jesus does not leave us alone to deal with this wrath. Instead, He takes your place under the wrath of God. He takes it upon himself.

The wrath of God is poured on Jesus as He suffers on the cross. There Jesus was beaten and mocked, and his blood poured out, for you. There Jesus hangs naked suffering and eventually even dying, for you. There God's wrath for sin, the fire cast in our text, was taken by Jesus and destroyed for you. And to prove that you now have life and life to the full, Jesus did not stay dead, but was raised again to life everlasting. In Jesus this the promise is now for you.

Friends, Christ's death on the cross was for you and your sin. It was to heal the divisions in your life. God's wrath for sin was taken into Jesus, so that you might be able to have a relationship with God again, faultless and pure. In Jesus, God's gifts again flow down to you through the death and resurrection of Jesus. This very morning, two souls were baptized, one here and one at ________________. Two helpless little babies were snatched out of the fire of God's wrath, and were divided from their sin by God's holy and precious Word. Two babies were washed in the blood poured out for them and for you on the cross, and put back into a relationship with God. This very gift is given to each of you who also were baptized, daily drowning you to sin, and raising you to new life.

In addition to the gift of Baptism, we also have the gift of the Lord's Supper. Here today, we as the undivided body of Christ, will partake in the very body and blood that suffered and rose for you. In that gift is forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Instead of God's wrath, you received God's life for you.

Dear friends, Christ did bring wrath, but he took that wrath upon Himself in your place. Christ did bring division, but that division divides you from your sin, and gives you peace. Peace, not as the world gives, but as Christ gives it to you in the promise of everlasting life with Him in heaven. On earth we still have to deal with wrath and divisions, but we have the eternal promise of heavenly peace, and here on earth, we have the gifts of Christ to sustain us until we realize God's peace in full. Friends,

JESUS BRINGS US HEALING THROUGH THE FIRE AND DIVISION OF HIS OWN BAPTISM ON THE CROSS.

But where the situation is most dire, there and only there does the mercy of Christ shine most clearly. There do we see God's glorious rescue of you from your sin. There do we see Jesus crucified and risen to take away all division and wrath and suffering and distress. Behind the cross of Jesus we are safe. Amen.

Now may the peace of God which far surpasses all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Series C - Proper 13 - G - 2010 - Christ's whole inheritance for you

Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text today is the Gospel (Luke 12) lesson, especially this verse, "Someone in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.'" Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ, how many of you, can remember when you were a child saying something similar to this: "Mo-om…. he has all the Lego's and he won't share them with me." Does that sound familiar? What about this: "Dad-uh, his piece of pie is bigger than mine and that's not fair." For me, I can definitely remember times when my brothers and I said those words to my parents. And now I am sure that before too long, I will be on the parental end of conversations like this.

Its not fair, I want my share, give me what I deserve. These phrases are all ones that we hear often, and also things that we often think in our hearts, and the man in our text today is no different. The man in our text comes to Jesus asking for half of an earthly inheritance, but Jesus refuses to get involved in the matter. Why? Because

JESUS DID NOT COME TO GIVE HALF AN EARTHLY INHERITANCE, BUT A WHOLE AND COMPLETE HEAVENLY INHERITANCE.

In our text today a crowd is following Jesus and listening to his teachings. A man out of the crowd comes forth and asks Jesus to settle a dispute with his brother over who gets what out of the inheritance of their father. The man wants Jesus to step in and give the man what he feels he deserves here on earth.

Jesus responds to this man by telling the entire crowd a parable about a rich man, whom God blessed with a plentiful harvest. The man harvested so much that he didn't have enough room to store all that he had. Instead of rejoicing in God's gift, and using it for God's glory, the man devises a way to use this harvest to have a cushy life. He says, "I will build a bigger barn, and I will say to my Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years, relax, eat, drink and be merry." But God says, "You fool, your soul is required of you this night, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"

The man in the parable has put his love for earthly things ahead of his love for God. He has taken the good gifts that God has given him, namely a good harvest, and turned that into his "god." He has broken the first commandment: You shall have no other Gods, what does this mean? That we should fear, love and trust in God above all things. This man instead trusts in himself and in his possessions. He wants a partial earthly inheritance. He wants what he can see now, rather than to wait and trust in something he can't see and for which he feels he has no guarantees.

What about you, dear friends? Do you have things you want? Do you desire an incomplete earthly inheritance? In our sinful nature the answer is a resounding yes. Each of us, if we examine our life sees something that we want or treasure here on earth that we put ahead of God and his gifts. It could be something we own. It could be something we do. It could be something we want to own someday. The list goes on and on.

Take me for example, my Dad owns my great grandfather's .270 caliber Winchester bolt action rifle, and has promised it to me one day as an inheritance. Every time I go to visit I go down and look at it with him, and I desire to have it and to shoot it. I want it to be mine. But Jesus says, "You Fool!! One's life does not consist of his possessions." But we try to make our lives consist of what we have or do. It is our sinful nature.

We covet all sorts of things. Our homes. Our cars and trucks. Our retirement funds and bank accounts. Even at times our life itself. Sin causes all of these things to enter into our hearts, and become our own personal idols. We watch TV and we see the newest gadget, and we have to have it. We see our neighbor's new car, and we want one that is fancier. We store up all sorts of things for ourselves that don't really matter. I remember in our neighborhood back in Fort Wayne seeing people's garages that were so full of things that they could hardly close the door and didn't even have room for their cars (the whole purpose of a garage!). As the text says we lay up earthly treasure for ourselves, and are not always rich toward God. We make what we own a god in the place of the true Lord and Savior of the world.

And if we are honest, it is not just things themselves that we treasure up. The thing that we most often covet is more serious. The thing that we most hold on to, and most desire in our heart, is sin itself. We want to hang on to our pet sins and keep them close in our care. After all they too are a part of our earthly inheritance. We still gossip and tell white lies. Hold on to those things because we feel it would be too hard to give it up. We know we can't turn away from these sins, and even if we could, we wouldn't want to. That is who we are, a covetous, sinful people.

Our Old Testament lesson for today comes from Ecclesiastes and it says, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity. After all, these things that we treasure cannot last eternally. They cannot save us. One day, dear friends, we will all die. Our sin will catch up to us. Where will those idols be then? Not one of them can stop death. The things that we desire in our hearts are really nothing more than death. The things of this world that we covet and desire are nothing more than an incomplete earthly inheritance. In response to our desire our text says "You Fool, this night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?"

But there is one who did not covet earthly things. There is one who did not have false desires in His heart. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not covet any earthly possessions. He came and was born into a poor family. He lived a poor life desiring nothing for himself, but instead always gave. He gave sight to the blind. He gave food to the hungry. And it was not only these things that he gave, he gave himself in an even more literal sense. He gave his own body to be beaten and nailed on a cross in your place. He gave his own holy and precious blood to be poured out for your sin and to cover you. He gave up his life… that your own sinful life might be forgiven, that your sinful desires and covetousness might be destroyed. In Jesus' death and resurrection He gives you a whole and complete, eternal heavenly inheritance.

He has given this inheritance to you as you were brought to the baptismal waters, just as ___________________ was brought this morning (at St. John's) and was washed in the blood of the lamb, and made a member of Christ's heavenly kingdom. It is a gift of Christ that daily drowns you in the flood of baptismal waters, and kills your sin and then raises you to your eternal inheritance with Christ. As the epistle lesson says, "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory." That is what happens to you in baptism. Sin is washed away in the blood of Christ giving you new life.

Christ is still giving to you. Here today, at this altar he is giving you His very living body and blood in with and under the bread and the wine for the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Here from this altar Christ gives you this heavenly gift that you might partake of it with your own lips. This gift is here to create and sustain faith in Him in your heart and He gives it to you.

Dear friends in Christ, if there is one thing that Jesus covets more than anything else, it is to have a relationship with you. Jesus treasures that so much that he has given up all earthly things to have and maintain that relationship with you. Yes, here on Earth you and I will sin, we will build idols in our hearts, we will turn from God and at times look to the things we desire in our heart. But in the end, Christ gives us a treasure in heaven more valuable and more wonderful than anything we can imagine. He gives us forgiveness that leads to eternal life.

The man in our parable wished to have an easy life where he could "be at ease, eat, drink and be merry." Here on earth, a life like that could never last, it is only a fleeting dream. But in heaven, Christ gives us an eternal life with God where we really will be at ease apart from our sin, where we will drink the very blood of Christ, and eat his body. He gives us a life where we will celebrate for all eternity the things that God has given to us. Our treasure is in heaven. In Christ it doesn't matter if our neighbor has more than we have here on Earth, because in Heaven, we have everything. We have the God's whole inheritance. Amen.

Borkowski-Fink Wedding Sermon July 31, 2010

Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Our text today is the lesson read earlier from 1 Corinthians, especially verses 4-8, "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away."

Dear Friends in Christ, Family and Friends, and especially Andrew and Darci.

After reading the text in preparation for today, I realized that I kept on walking around our house humming a song. After looking at the text, I am sure that you can guess the title, "All you need is love" by the Beatles. And it is no wonder, because our text today is all about love, and rightly so. Standing here, seeing your nervous smiles, and even just having gotten to know the two of you, one can easily see that you two are in love. Weddings are after all about love right? Love is the reason that you Andrew and you Darci are here today before God and this congregation to pledge love and faithfulness to one another. But the sinful world asks you a question, can you really make and keep this promise here today? Can you promise right here and now to be faithful and true to one another for a life time? Especially in this day and age, when marriage is not held in high esteem by the world, The world challenges the question from the Beatles song and instead says, "Is love really all you need?"

To answer this question we must examine where love really truly begins. We have to ask,

WHERE DOES LOVE COME FROM?

Often times we think of love as coming from within our own hearts. The dictionary defines Love as an outward expression of what I feel deep in my heart. When we think of Love we often think of Valentine's Day with its boxes of chocolate and pink candy hearts asking you to "be mine" and cupids shooting arrows. Love is that fluffy warm emotion we get when we think of that special person. We often think that the most important thing is that you Andrew feel (emphasis on feel) love for Darci, and that you Darci feel love for Andrew. That you feel some sort of attraction to one another.

Yes, I am certain that you feel that way now, but sadly, in this sinful world, you may not always feel this way. Sometimes you may get angry or frustrated at each other and it will seem like love is not present in your marriage. Sometimes you may not even want to be around one another. You may fight over little things, like what to have for supper, or big things, like how to handle money problems. You will eventually say things to hurt one another and know exactly what to do to push each other's buttons. Love may be the furthest thing from your mind as you struggle to make ends meet. Or maybe the stress of life and work will make that happy feeling of love difficult. These things and more will test and stretch and even at times break that fluffy feeling of love you have today. Their will be questions of how you will take little Andrew to Soccer practice and little Darci to Dance Lessons while still having time to say more than just good night to one another will be a difficult one. At times in your married life, you will feel tired, and worn out.

IN these lifelong struggles you may realize the truth, that if love is just a happy feeling that comes out from ourself, it will not be enough to stand the test of time. If love is just the emotion that you Andrew and Darci feel for one another today, it cannot maintain your marriage, because our own sinful natures will get in the way. You will want to selfishly look inward about what you want to do rather than what is best for you as a family. You will not be as our text says, Patient and kind, but instead may be arrogant or rude, and insisting on your own way. Love is difficult, and our own human love is sinful and incomplete.

But we know that there is another kind of love, One that can overcome all shortcomings within ourselves. Our text tells us that there is a love that really is patient and kind. A love that does not envy and does not boast. A love that is not arrogant or rude, one that does not insist upon its own way, but rejoices with truth. There is a love that bears all things, believes all things and endures all things. This love is Jesus Christ himself. He loves each of you so much that he was willing to suffer and die upon a cross for each of you. As Jesus says in the Gospel of John, Greater love has no one than this, that he give up his life for his friends. Andrew, Darci, This is the love Christ has for you. Christ first gave that love to each of you in the waters of Holy Baptism. He continued to nurture that love as you grew up hearing the word and began receiving the Lord's Supper. He will now continue you to give you that love together as you now as a married couple continue attending church to receive His sacraments and in them forgiveness, life and salvation.

The Love of Jesus is the love that can overcome all things, even the struggles with in your life as a married couple. And as Christ gives that love to you, it will overflow into each other, allowing you to forgive one another. The love of Christ will allow you to keep the vows you make here today, not because of anything you do, (or no matter how hard you try) but because of the love of Christ working with in you. Christ's love is the foundation for your life together. It is this love that will carry you through the hard times and the good times. It is this love that will overflow and be shared with any future children and grandchildren God provides. The love of Christ is the love that will sustain you.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. This is the love Jesus has for you, and as our text implies, the things we do here in life will pass away, but the Love of Jesus never ends. Andrew, Darci, there will be struggles in your lives, just as there have been in the past. Marriage will not be a magical formula that will change that. You may still become frustrated at one another, and still have arguments. Nevertheless, even through all trials in this life, Christ has and will love you. His love, not yours, is the foundation on which the two of you are here today, becoming one flesh. So Darci, when you are trying to get Andrew to take you dancing, and he says no, remember Christ loves him and has forgiven him all his sins. Andrew, when Darci shoots more pheasants than you on a hunting trip, remember Christ loves her as well. Each of you is forgiven first by Christ so that you can forgive one another in Christ's love for you. Upon this love everything that is important is built.

Love is the foundation for marriage, but this love is not our own mere emotion, but instead Love is Jesus Christ, crucified for your sins. Andrew and Darci, God will richly bless you and keep you in this love all the days of your married life. Amen.