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 from Isaiah chapter 49, especially the last verse, “Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.” Thus far our text.
Dear friends in Christ. A husband had gone out for a work meeting, and his wife had kindly and lovingly asked him if he would do her a favor while he was out. “I’m making your favorite desert as a special surprise for you, but in order to make it, I need some more eggs. Can you pick them up on your way home from work?” “Of course dear” the husband replied, excited to get chocolate cake, with whipped cream and fudge on top. Throughout the day, the man drooled while thinking about the wonderful dessert that his wife was making. But then he got a phone call, and was distracted. Then his boss came in to ask him a question. Then he had his meeting, and it was long and stressful. Exhausted at the end of the day, the husband got in his car and drove home. As he walked in the door, the wife asked him, “Did you grab the eggs?” And that is when it hit him, he had forgotten the eggs. He had forgotten the promise he made to his wife, and now because of it, he would get no cake.
Friends, we all know people who have forgotten things. We all know people who have said they would do something, and then they haven’t. We ourselves are all guilty of this all the time. It is easy to do, and we know that everyone forgets, everyone makes mistakes. Everyone that is, except for one. God himself does not forget the promises that he has made to you.
GOD DOES NOT FOGET YOU, BECAUSE OUR TEXT SAYS YOU ARE ENGRAVED UPON HIS HANDS.
But sometimes in this world, it doesn’t seem that way. Sometimes it feels like God has forgotten us. That God hasn’t remembered the promises that he has made to us. And sometimes we get angry at God because we think that he has forgotten us.
The people in our text today felt that way. In it, Isaiah writes, “Zion said, ‘The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me.’” Isaiah was writing about the year 700 BC while he was living in the city of Jerusalem. Isaiah in his lifetime witnessed the destruction of the northern kingdom of Israel by the Assyrians, and also a failed invasion of his own home, the kingdom of Judah. As Isaiah wrote, his own home nation was growing weaker and weaker, and many people were losing their lives in these wars and battles.
To some in Isaiah’s day, it seemed like God was no longer keeping his promises to them. To some, it seemed like God had forgotten them. After all, God had promised them when they entered the land “Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates-- all the Hittite country-- to the Great Sea on the west. No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life.” And now invaders were slowly defeating the armies of Israel and Judah. Had God forgotten them? Was God too busy with other things to remember them?
But what so many people of Isaiah’s day didn’t realize was that they had forgotten God, not the other way around. They hadn’t obeyed God’s command. They hadn’t heard God’s word. They had turned from God’s holy people into adulterers, sexual deviants and blasphemers, worshiping the false gods of Baal and Ashtoreth. God had not forgotten them, but in their sin, they had forgotten God, and because of it, they were facing the earthly consequences.
Friends, do you ever feel like God has forgotten you? Do you ever feel like maybe God hasn’t kept all of his promises, and that you are alone, and ignored – with nowhere to turn? It is easy for us to do in this sinful world.
It is easy, because sometimes we have a loved one who is sick, a loved one who has cancer, or Alzhiemers, or Parkinson’s, or a loved one falls and breaks a hip or another bone. We pray, “Lord please take this affliction from me, please rescue my loved one from this disease.” And as we pray, they get worse and worse. God are you there, or have you forgotten us?
Sickness is not the only way that we feel isolated and alone in this world. There are all sorts of other sins and trials that we face. In our midst we have families torn apart by fighting and bickering, often times over silly little things. We even get in fights in our own church family, often over little things, and soon they become large and unmanageable. We daily face sin on an unimaginable scale as we deal with depression and abuse, sex, violence and mental illness. Divorce, and war, death and famine. All of these things are before the people sitting right here today, and so we ask, just as in our text, “God don’t you remember me? God, have you forgotten us?” And often times we feel like when we ask that question in our prayers, that the only answer we receive is silence.
But friends, just like the people living in Isaiah’s day, God has not forgotten you, so much as you have forgotten God, and the rescue that God put in place for you. God sent his own Son, Jesus Christ, to come and be with you in the midst of your suffering. To be with you as you deal with murder, adultery, and fighting. Christ came, because he remembered you, and remembered the promise that he has made to you, a promise of rescue and peace. Christ remembers you, because you are engraved into his own palm. Engraved with nails that pierced those palms and nailed them to the rough wood of a cross where He hung for six hours, until he finally died in your place. Those nail marks remained there on his body, as he remembered you even in death, and as he laid in the tomb for three days.
And those nail marks are still there as he rose from the dead, and the first thing he did was remember his brothers and disciples, to visit them and say, “Be not afraid, I am going to my Father and your Father.” Thomas himself could see the promise engraved in Jesus’ hands, as he put his finger in the nail marks. God remembers you, dear friends. Christ remembers you, and has died in your place.
And now, Christ still gives his promises to you, his unforgettable brothers and sisters. He has washed you in the blood that poured from that hand in baptismal waters. He created faith in your hearts so that you might always love and cherish him. In your baptism, Christ has so engrained you into himself, that you bear the name of God, for you were baptized into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Christ’s name is placed upon you, and as such, he will never leave you nor forsake you.
Friends, sometimes in this world there are struggles, struggles during which we feel like God has abandoned or forgotten us. But Christ has not forgotten, and will lead you to eternity one day, apart from pain and sufferings. As our text says, Jesus says “to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’ to those who are in darkness, ‘Appear.’ they shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall strike them, for he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.” You have peace, and have no fear of being forgotten. You are Christ’s. Amen.
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
March 2011 News and Views from the Pews
This month we are going to try to post to the Monthly Newsletter of Immanuel and St. John's Lutheran Churches online for easy access.
If you wish to see the newsltter, please try the link below.
If for some reason it doesn't work, please let me know!
Thanks!
Included this month:
Cheeseburger Soup Recipe
Ash Wednesday and Lent Information
Lutheranism 101 information
And More!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
March 2011 Newsletter Article
Dear Friends,
March 9 is the first day of Lent. It is a sorrowful season in the church year, where we examine our sin honestly and look forward to the death and resurrection of Jesus that we will shortly celebrate at Easter.
Lent is a solemn time for the church. During Lent, many people fast or give up something to remind themselves of their sin and the sacrifice Jesus paid because of that sin. Likewise, during Lent, the church will “fast” by not using the word “Alleluia” or singing the Gloria in Excelsis. We will withhold our celebration of these things until Easter morning, when Christ rises from the tomb and announces to the world that He has destroyed the power of sin, death, and the devil.
The first day of Lent is known as Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday has historically been a day of penitential self-examination. We look at our sin and our shortcomings and realize that, because of our sin, we deserve nothing but death. On Ash Wednesday, we go back to the Garden of Eden, where God told Adam that because of his sin he would eat bread by the sweat of his face “until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Friends, God is speaking these words to you and me in our sin as well as to Adam.
From these words onward throughout the pages of Scripture, ashes have been a sign of mourning sin and death. When King David’s daughter Tamar was raped by her brother, she put ashes on her head as a sign of mourning the sin that had invaded her family (2 Samuel 13). When Mordecai learns that the King Xerxes was tricked into ordering the death of all the Jews, he put ashes and sackcloth on (Esther 4). When Job lost his family and possessions, and he himself stricken with disease, he sat in ashes to mourn the effects of sin upon his family (Job 2). There are even more examples of this in Scripture. Because of sin, we are no more than dust and ashes.
This year for Ash Wednesday, we have the opportunity to continue that biblical tradition with the historical “Rite of the Imposition of Ashes” (putting ashes on ourselves). This has been historically done to signify that “I am a sinner, and because of it, I deserve death.” On your way into the service, if you would like to receive ashes as a symbol and reminder of the death that results from your sin, I will be standing in the back of the church with ashes burnt from palm branches (used to celebrate Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem the year before). Using olive oil mixed with the ashes, you may have the sign of a cross placed on your forehead or on the back of your hand. While placing the cross on you, I will say “Dust you are, to dust you will return.”
This is something that is completely and totally optional on your part. But it can be a great way to remind ourselves that we are sinners, and to help and focus our Lenten devotion upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified for our sins and the sins of the world. Last year there was nothing more humbling than to see a cross made of ashes upon Ella. She was only 2 months old, and yet, we know from scripture that she already was a sinner and in need of Jesus to redeem her from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
I know that to some, this may sound like a “Roman Catholic” practice, and yes, the Roman Church does practice the “imposition of ashes” on Ash Wednesday. However, the act carries a huge amount of symbolism that has been practiced in churches across the denominational spectrum. Lutherans, Catholics and all other Christians are sinners and in need of repentance and forgiveness.
Finally, as you go home following the service and wash off the ashes, you may be reminded of your own baptism where, in water and the word, death was washed off of you, and you were given the promise of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. In Jesus, you have life and life to the full.
On Easter morning, we are able to rise ash free with a clear conscience and declare “I am forgiven, just as Christ is risen indeed!” What a blessing. Please consider participating in Ash Wednesday services March 9th.
God's Blessings,
Pastor Adam Moline
March 9 is the first day of Lent. It is a sorrowful season in the church year, where we examine our sin honestly and look forward to the death and resurrection of Jesus that we will shortly celebrate at Easter.
Lent is a solemn time for the church. During Lent, many people fast or give up something to remind themselves of their sin and the sacrifice Jesus paid because of that sin. Likewise, during Lent, the church will “fast” by not using the word “Alleluia” or singing the Gloria in Excelsis. We will withhold our celebration of these things until Easter morning, when Christ rises from the tomb and announces to the world that He has destroyed the power of sin, death, and the devil.
The first day of Lent is known as Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday has historically been a day of penitential self-examination. We look at our sin and our shortcomings and realize that, because of our sin, we deserve nothing but death. On Ash Wednesday, we go back to the Garden of Eden, where God told Adam that because of his sin he would eat bread by the sweat of his face “until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Friends, God is speaking these words to you and me in our sin as well as to Adam.
From these words onward throughout the pages of Scripture, ashes have been a sign of mourning sin and death. When King David’s daughter Tamar was raped by her brother, she put ashes on her head as a sign of mourning the sin that had invaded her family (2 Samuel 13). When Mordecai learns that the King Xerxes was tricked into ordering the death of all the Jews, he put ashes and sackcloth on (Esther 4). When Job lost his family and possessions, and he himself stricken with disease, he sat in ashes to mourn the effects of sin upon his family (Job 2). There are even more examples of this in Scripture. Because of sin, we are no more than dust and ashes.
This year for Ash Wednesday, we have the opportunity to continue that biblical tradition with the historical “Rite of the Imposition of Ashes” (putting ashes on ourselves). This has been historically done to signify that “I am a sinner, and because of it, I deserve death.” On your way into the service, if you would like to receive ashes as a symbol and reminder of the death that results from your sin, I will be standing in the back of the church with ashes burnt from palm branches (used to celebrate Christ’s entrance into Jerusalem the year before). Using olive oil mixed with the ashes, you may have the sign of a cross placed on your forehead or on the back of your hand. While placing the cross on you, I will say “Dust you are, to dust you will return.”
This is something that is completely and totally optional on your part. But it can be a great way to remind ourselves that we are sinners, and to help and focus our Lenten devotion upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified for our sins and the sins of the world. Last year there was nothing more humbling than to see a cross made of ashes upon Ella. She was only 2 months old, and yet, we know from scripture that she already was a sinner and in need of Jesus to redeem her from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
I know that to some, this may sound like a “Roman Catholic” practice, and yes, the Roman Church does practice the “imposition of ashes” on Ash Wednesday. However, the act carries a huge amount of symbolism that has been practiced in churches across the denominational spectrum. Lutherans, Catholics and all other Christians are sinners and in need of repentance and forgiveness.
Finally, as you go home following the service and wash off the ashes, you may be reminded of your own baptism where, in water and the word, death was washed off of you, and you were given the promise of eternal life and forgiveness of sins. In Jesus, you have life and life to the full.
On Easter morning, we are able to rise ash free with a clear conscience and declare “I am forgiven, just as Christ is risen indeed!” What a blessing. Please consider participating in Ash Wednesday services March 9th.
God's Blessings,
Pastor Adam Moline
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Epiphany 7 - 2011 - Jesus Builds the House from the Foundation Up.
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father..
Dear friends in Christ. You all have heard the story of the Three Little Pigs, one who built a house of straw, one who built a house of sticks, and one who built a house of bricks. One day the Big Bad Wolf was hungry and came and blew down the first two houses and ate the pigs, but the last house has a firm foundation, the last house was built of sturdy materials and the wolf was not a welcome guest there.
Friends, in our text, St. Paul is asking the Corinthian congregation the question, “What is your foundation, and with what is your faith built? With sticks and straw, or with the Gold and Silver bricks of Christ and him Crucified, knowing that in faith,
GOD BUILDS CHRISTIANS WITH HIS MANY GIFTS.
What about you, dear friends? Do you build with sticks and straw, or with gold and silver? Do you build a flimsy house on a weak foundation, or are you built by Christ as a sturdy house on a solid foundation? From hearing the question, you can already start to see the answer. It really matters on who is doing the building, on who is the one constructing the house of your faith.
So often as people in this world, we like to trust our own building techniques. We like to think that we are in charge of our own faith and that we determine what we believe just by deciding it. And so we may say, “I have decided to follow Jesus” as if what we decide really matters. Or maybe we decide and say, “I don’t need to come to church every Sunday, after all, I could better use that hour fishing or shopping. I don’t need to come to church because I already know all that stuff. This pastor just preaches the same things as the last pastor. I don’t need Bible Study, because it’s just a waste of my time. Instead, just think of all the things that I could do. I could clean my house, or mow the yard, (or more likely shovel snow). I deserve that time, after all it is my weekend. Can’t I use it to take care of me.”
Friends, as we do this, we begin building our own faith, and we do so with sticks and straw. We begin to build like the first two of the three little pigs, without concern of what we are build. If we are the ones doing the building, we know that our faith will at some point fail. How do we know this? Because on our own we are poor miserable sinners. On our own, all our works are as dirty rags. In our sin, we like to think that we deserve things, that we ourselves are the center of what is important. And friends, if we are what is most important, if we are the center, then God takes a backseat, and we are left to build the house of our faith. In our sin, we try to be our own God.
Can’t you see how foolish that is? To give you an example, lets look at me. In the last few months at the parsonage, we have needed a new hot water heater, a new front door, and fixed the roof. If I acted the way with them that we so often do with God, I would have tried to do it myself, and the basement would be flooded from the leaky hot water heater. The front door would be hung crooked, and the roof would still be leaking. We need an expert builder, we need someone who knows what they are doing, and has the tools to do the job, just like I need the experience and expertise of the trustees… especially when I accidentally hit the bottom of the garage door with the top of my car.
We need expertise. We need someone who knows what they are doing to build our faith. And friends, that means we need Jesus. Jesus knows how to build trust and faith. Jesus knows how to forgive sinners. Jesus knows what the price is that must be paid.
Jesus himself lays the foundation of our faith, spending his life serving us and teaching us. In the pages of scripture Jesus is pointing us to himself, pointing us to his own suffering, dying and resurrection for the forgiveness of all our sins. He tells us, “I must suffer and die for you.” That is the foundation of our faith.
And on that foundation, Jesus builds with sturdy and precious materials. In baptism, he laid the first bricks of your faith, as he joined you to himself, and killed you on a cross, and resurrected you into everlasting life with him in heaven. In baptism he put his own name upon you and said, You are mine. You belong to me. Daily since, Jesus has drowned all the sin in you with those waters of baptism received so very long ago.
On those first few layers of bricks, Jesus continued building with as our text says Gold and Silver and precious stones, as you studied his word, learning the catechism, attending church and hearing the word of God preached to you. He continued working in your as you studied the bible, reading learning and inwardly digesting it. And in Christ’s building the Holy Spirit nurtured you, pointing you ever back towards your strong foundation in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
And as you were confirmed, you began receiving the Lord’s Supper, the very precious body and blood of Jesus Christ in with and under the bread and the wine for the forgiveness of sins. That gift God continually even today gives you, and that gift is more precious that all the riches of the entire world more important than everything. And Jesus will use these things to continually build you up until finally one day, the fullness of Christ’s promises are realized, and you enter glory.
Dear friends, if Jesus builds your life, if Jesus creates and sustains faith in you, if he purchases and wins you with his own blood and death as the foundation, nothing can overcome you. No big bad wolf, be that the world, or satan or death can harm you. You are safe in the house that God builds in your faith. With Jesus doing the doing, you are a temple of God, brightly and richly adorned in the blood of Jesus, with the jewels of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper shinning forth in the Son who has given his life for you.
Amen.
Dear friends in Christ. You all have heard the story of the Three Little Pigs, one who built a house of straw, one who built a house of sticks, and one who built a house of bricks. One day the Big Bad Wolf was hungry and came and blew down the first two houses and ate the pigs, but the last house has a firm foundation, the last house was built of sturdy materials and the wolf was not a welcome guest there.
Friends, in our text, St. Paul is asking the Corinthian congregation the question, “What is your foundation, and with what is your faith built? With sticks and straw, or with the Gold and Silver bricks of Christ and him Crucified, knowing that in faith,
GOD BUILDS CHRISTIANS WITH HIS MANY GIFTS.
What about you, dear friends? Do you build with sticks and straw, or with gold and silver? Do you build a flimsy house on a weak foundation, or are you built by Christ as a sturdy house on a solid foundation? From hearing the question, you can already start to see the answer. It really matters on who is doing the building, on who is the one constructing the house of your faith.
So often as people in this world, we like to trust our own building techniques. We like to think that we are in charge of our own faith and that we determine what we believe just by deciding it. And so we may say, “I have decided to follow Jesus” as if what we decide really matters. Or maybe we decide and say, “I don’t need to come to church every Sunday, after all, I could better use that hour fishing or shopping. I don’t need to come to church because I already know all that stuff. This pastor just preaches the same things as the last pastor. I don’t need Bible Study, because it’s just a waste of my time. Instead, just think of all the things that I could do. I could clean my house, or mow the yard, (or more likely shovel snow). I deserve that time, after all it is my weekend. Can’t I use it to take care of me.”
Friends, as we do this, we begin building our own faith, and we do so with sticks and straw. We begin to build like the first two of the three little pigs, without concern of what we are build. If we are the ones doing the building, we know that our faith will at some point fail. How do we know this? Because on our own we are poor miserable sinners. On our own, all our works are as dirty rags. In our sin, we like to think that we deserve things, that we ourselves are the center of what is important. And friends, if we are what is most important, if we are the center, then God takes a backseat, and we are left to build the house of our faith. In our sin, we try to be our own God.
Can’t you see how foolish that is? To give you an example, lets look at me. In the last few months at the parsonage, we have needed a new hot water heater, a new front door, and fixed the roof. If I acted the way with them that we so often do with God, I would have tried to do it myself, and the basement would be flooded from the leaky hot water heater. The front door would be hung crooked, and the roof would still be leaking. We need an expert builder, we need someone who knows what they are doing, and has the tools to do the job, just like I need the experience and expertise of the trustees… especially when I accidentally hit the bottom of the garage door with the top of my car.
We need expertise. We need someone who knows what they are doing to build our faith. And friends, that means we need Jesus. Jesus knows how to build trust and faith. Jesus knows how to forgive sinners. Jesus knows what the price is that must be paid.
Jesus himself lays the foundation of our faith, spending his life serving us and teaching us. In the pages of scripture Jesus is pointing us to himself, pointing us to his own suffering, dying and resurrection for the forgiveness of all our sins. He tells us, “I must suffer and die for you.” That is the foundation of our faith.
And on that foundation, Jesus builds with sturdy and precious materials. In baptism, he laid the first bricks of your faith, as he joined you to himself, and killed you on a cross, and resurrected you into everlasting life with him in heaven. In baptism he put his own name upon you and said, You are mine. You belong to me. Daily since, Jesus has drowned all the sin in you with those waters of baptism received so very long ago.
On those first few layers of bricks, Jesus continued building with as our text says Gold and Silver and precious stones, as you studied his word, learning the catechism, attending church and hearing the word of God preached to you. He continued working in your as you studied the bible, reading learning and inwardly digesting it. And in Christ’s building the Holy Spirit nurtured you, pointing you ever back towards your strong foundation in the death and resurrection of Jesus.
And as you were confirmed, you began receiving the Lord’s Supper, the very precious body and blood of Jesus Christ in with and under the bread and the wine for the forgiveness of sins. That gift God continually even today gives you, and that gift is more precious that all the riches of the entire world more important than everything. And Jesus will use these things to continually build you up until finally one day, the fullness of Christ’s promises are realized, and you enter glory.
Dear friends, if Jesus builds your life, if Jesus creates and sustains faith in you, if he purchases and wins you with his own blood and death as the foundation, nothing can overcome you. No big bad wolf, be that the world, or satan or death can harm you. You are safe in the house that God builds in your faith. With Jesus doing the doing, you are a temple of God, brightly and richly adorned in the blood of Jesus, with the jewels of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper shinning forth in the Son who has given his life for you.
Amen.
Monday, February 14, 2011
February 2011 Newsletter Article
Dear Friends in Christ,
To me it feels like Christmas has hardly passed, and already we see the stores full of pink and red heart-shaped boxes of candy, paper valentines, and roses to give to that very special person. It brings back childhood memories, eating boxes and boxes of tiny conversation hearts, until finally feeling sick. Valentine’s Day is now almost here.
Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love. To celebrate this love, the secular world would like us to picture flying cupids wearing togas and shooting arrows at people unawares. Those who are hit immediately fall in love with the first person that they meet. If you think about it, it is kind of a superficial way of thinking of love. We know love takes time and effort to grow and maintain. We know love is not that easy.
But in our world, the idea of love gets watered down. We say we love our families just as nonchalantly as we say we love a candy bar or chocolate chip cookies. At times it seems like we use the word love more to mean “I like something” rather than the true and much deeper meaning of the word.
For in Scripture, love is something entirely different than a simple feeling that means like. It isn’t a feeling at all. In Scripture, Love is a person. As St. John writes in his first epistle, “God is love.” (1 John 4:16). Love is the incarnate Son of God – Jesus Christ.
To see love, we look first to God, for God is the source and the substance of love. To understand how that love works and what that love means, we must look to Jesus, and the way that He showed His love to us. “No greater love is there than this, that one give up his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Jesus displays true love for you, as He enters this world of sin, taking upon Himself human flesh. He shows true love as He heals those around Him of sickness and sin. He shows love, most clearly, as He suffers, nailed to a cross, and gives up his own life as a sacrifice for all your sin. That is true love. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.” (1 John 3:16)
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9) In Jesus, you have life. In Jesus, you have forgiveness. In Jesus, you have perfect love flowing to you from God. You really can say that Jesus is Love Incarnate – Love made flesh.
The love of Jesus then flows out into our lives and into the lives of those around us. The love God gives us, the love of Jesus on the cross, fills us and overspills in mercy to those around us. Thus the love God gives us in the death of Jesus becomes the love that we share with our valentines here on earth as it pours from us to them.
That love, the Love that comes from God and flows to others, is a love that cannot be corrupted by sin. It is a love that overcomes all trials. It is patient, it is kind. It keeps no record of wrongs. It never fails. (1 Corinthians 13) That love is a deep love. Best of all, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. God’s blessings to you this Valentine’s Day, as you receive the Love of God in Christ Jesus.
God's Blessings,
Pastor Adam Moline
To me it feels like Christmas has hardly passed, and already we see the stores full of pink and red heart-shaped boxes of candy, paper valentines, and roses to give to that very special person. It brings back childhood memories, eating boxes and boxes of tiny conversation hearts, until finally feeling sick. Valentine’s Day is now almost here.
Valentine’s Day is a celebration of love. To celebrate this love, the secular world would like us to picture flying cupids wearing togas and shooting arrows at people unawares. Those who are hit immediately fall in love with the first person that they meet. If you think about it, it is kind of a superficial way of thinking of love. We know love takes time and effort to grow and maintain. We know love is not that easy.
But in our world, the idea of love gets watered down. We say we love our families just as nonchalantly as we say we love a candy bar or chocolate chip cookies. At times it seems like we use the word love more to mean “I like something” rather than the true and much deeper meaning of the word.
For in Scripture, love is something entirely different than a simple feeling that means like. It isn’t a feeling at all. In Scripture, Love is a person. As St. John writes in his first epistle, “God is love.” (1 John 4:16). Love is the incarnate Son of God – Jesus Christ.
To see love, we look first to God, for God is the source and the substance of love. To understand how that love works and what that love means, we must look to Jesus, and the way that He showed His love to us. “No greater love is there than this, that one give up his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
Jesus displays true love for you, as He enters this world of sin, taking upon Himself human flesh. He shows true love as He heals those around Him of sickness and sin. He shows love, most clearly, as He suffers, nailed to a cross, and gives up his own life as a sacrifice for all your sin. That is true love. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down His life for us.” (1 John 3:16)
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:9) In Jesus, you have life. In Jesus, you have forgiveness. In Jesus, you have perfect love flowing to you from God. You really can say that Jesus is Love Incarnate – Love made flesh.
The love of Jesus then flows out into our lives and into the lives of those around us. The love God gives us, the love of Jesus on the cross, fills us and overspills in mercy to those around us. Thus the love God gives us in the death of Jesus becomes the love that we share with our valentines here on earth as it pours from us to them.
That love, the Love that comes from God and flows to others, is a love that cannot be corrupted by sin. It is a love that overcomes all trials. It is patient, it is kind. It keeps no record of wrongs. It never fails. (1 Corinthians 13) That love is a deep love. Best of all, nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. God’s blessings to you this Valentine’s Day, as you receive the Love of God in Christ Jesus.
God's Blessings,
Pastor Adam Moline
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Epiphany 6 - 2011 - The hammer of the law on our sin, and the balm of the Gospel
Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen, our text today is the Gospel lesson that was read earlier. Thus far our text.
Dear friends in Christ. Have you ever accidentally swung a hammer down upon your finger, crushing it instead of driving the nail into the wood? It is painful. It hurts. It makes your whole body cringe. It’s not something we want to happen often. It’s not something we enjoy. Friends, sometimes the word of God acts that same way. Sometimes the law that is in God’s Word comes down upon us like a hammer, crushing us underneath its power. It too hurts. It too is unpleasant and makes our bodies cringe. But it is something that needs to happen. We need to be crushed under the law, so that we might hear and believe the Gospel that God also proclaims.
In our text today, Jesus is the one swinging the hammer. And each swing that Jesus swings hits us squarely and fully. We are crushed by the law that Jesus speaks. The words of our text are difficult to hear, aren’t they? Let’s look at our text. Jesus says, “You have heard it said, “You shall not murder.”” It is something we have all heard, it is something that we think we haven’t done. After all, I know that I have never shot anyone, or that I have never stabbed anyone. I have never murdered, I have never taken another human beings life. Let’s move on, obviously Jesus is talking to someone else, and not to me.
But friends, Jesus is not speaking of someone else. Jesus is speaking to you. For if you have been angry with your brother or sister, if you have called them a name, or said “you fool” Jesus is talking to you. God forbids us to keep anger or hatred in our hearts against our neighbor. And if you are angry or hate, Jesus says you are a murderer. What’s more, Jesus says we should do everything in our power to help our neighbors in Christians love. And failing at this also makes you a murderer. Friends, we are a congregation of murderers, each and every one of us. We are judged. The hammer of God’s law has come down upon us just like a gavel in a courtroom.
But Jesus goes on “You shall not commit adultery”. On the surface it seems like we have kept this one, doesn’t it? We’ve been faithful to our spouses, right? But here too, Jesus is swinging the hammer of God’s law down upon us. Because in our text Jesus says it is more than just coming into sexual contact with someone who is not your spouse. It is more than sleeping around a little bit. Yes, these things are wrong, but they are only the tip of the ice berg. For in our text Jesus says, “If you so much as look at a woman or a man with lust,” you are guilty.
Be honest with yourself. Have you ever thought sexually suggestive thoughts about anyone? Have you ever looked at something you shouldn’t have? This includes pornography, a huge epidemic in our world today, or even . Or dirty jokes or language. This includes marriage, and how in our world today we no longer hold it up as a sacred gift of God, but instead we abuse it with divorce and homosexual marriage. If we hear what Jesus is saying, we know that each one of us here is guilty and that we are judged. God’s judgment, the hammer of the law hits us again. We are all adulterers.
And friends, as if these things were not enough, as if these hammer blows had not struck us and bruised us deeply enough, Jesus goes on. It was said, You should not swear falsely, but Jesus says, do not swear at all. For as you cannot truly make one of the hairs on your head grow black or white, you cannot truly keep your promises. We lie, with little white lies. We act differently around different people to try and get them to like us. We avoid saying awkward things to those around us, but instead say them to our friends and family behind their backs.
And friends, all of us have broken promises. All of us have fallen short of our aspirations, and our big words. Each one of us has promised something that we just cannot do. Jesus swings the hammer down upon us a final time in our text, and tells us, we are liars.
And so we see that our sin defeats us, and beats us bloody and bruised. These hammer blows could go on and on and on. The law that Jesus preaches kills us. It destroys our own life, because we know, each one of us, that we are guilty, and in our guilt death is what we have purchased.
Friends, we cannot ignore what Jesus is saying. After all, Jesus is the son of God in human flesh. What he says is the truth. And so as Jesus speaks these words to each and every individual here today, we listen. And so we must ask Jesus, What do we do Lord? How can we change, because we know that on our own we will continue in this sin. On our own, we don’t want to change because we really like who we are. Oh Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life, and I don’t live up to their demands.
Friends, the hammer must fall, the punishment deserved by sin, the punishment brought about by our own selfishness, and our own weakness needs to be accounted for. Someone must be killed by the hammer of the law. Someone needs to die and be buried because of the things we have done. And that someone is Jesus. Jesus, the only one who has not murdered, because he cared for all, even the most foul and disgusting sinners like you and me, must die. Jesus the one who has never committed adultery, because he didn’t look at people with eyes that were full of lust, must be nailed to a cross on behalf of all adulterer who ever lived, from David and Bathsheba, to the woman at the well with seven husbands, to you and to me. Jesus, the one who never broke a promise, the one who never lied will die…to keep his biggest and his best promise to each of you. The promise of eternal life. The promise of forgiveness. The promise of rescue from the trials and tribulations of this world. Jesus has kept his promises to you, and it has cost him his life.
Dear friends, Jesus’ words today in regards to our sin are hard to hear. They are hard to hear, because we don’t like to think about our own shortcomings and sin. It is painful. It makes us cringe. It is easy for us to sit here and think, Oh Jesus is telling that person down the pew that he is guilty. Jesus isn’t really talking to me. But friends, the truth is, Jesus is talking to you, because Jesus has come for sinners, like you and like me. Jesus comes to sinners, he comes to those who are beaten down by the law, beaten down by their sin and says to them, “I love you, and I will give up my life to rescue you. I will bear the wounds you deserve. I will be crushed for your iniquity; I will be pierced for your transgressions on a cross outside of Jerusalem. The punishment you deserve will become mine. By my wounds, you are healed.”
Friends, Jesus comes to sinners, people like you and me who are beat down by the law. And upon them, and upon us, he pours out forgiveness in his blood. In him, there is forgiveness for murderers. In him there is forgiveness for adulterers and liars.
Where you have been beaten down, Jesus pours out healing upon you. He wraps your wounds, and gives you the medicine of life.
JESUS COMES, AND THE HAMMER BLOWS OF THE LAW ARE PLACED UPON HIS SHOULDERS, SO THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE PEACE IN HIS NAME.
Amen.
Dear friends in Christ. Have you ever accidentally swung a hammer down upon your finger, crushing it instead of driving the nail into the wood? It is painful. It hurts. It makes your whole body cringe. It’s not something we want to happen often. It’s not something we enjoy. Friends, sometimes the word of God acts that same way. Sometimes the law that is in God’s Word comes down upon us like a hammer, crushing us underneath its power. It too hurts. It too is unpleasant and makes our bodies cringe. But it is something that needs to happen. We need to be crushed under the law, so that we might hear and believe the Gospel that God also proclaims.
In our text today, Jesus is the one swinging the hammer. And each swing that Jesus swings hits us squarely and fully. We are crushed by the law that Jesus speaks. The words of our text are difficult to hear, aren’t they? Let’s look at our text. Jesus says, “You have heard it said, “You shall not murder.”” It is something we have all heard, it is something that we think we haven’t done. After all, I know that I have never shot anyone, or that I have never stabbed anyone. I have never murdered, I have never taken another human beings life. Let’s move on, obviously Jesus is talking to someone else, and not to me.
But friends, Jesus is not speaking of someone else. Jesus is speaking to you. For if you have been angry with your brother or sister, if you have called them a name, or said “you fool” Jesus is talking to you. God forbids us to keep anger or hatred in our hearts against our neighbor. And if you are angry or hate, Jesus says you are a murderer. What’s more, Jesus says we should do everything in our power to help our neighbors in Christians love. And failing at this also makes you a murderer. Friends, we are a congregation of murderers, each and every one of us. We are judged. The hammer of God’s law has come down upon us just like a gavel in a courtroom.
But Jesus goes on “You shall not commit adultery”. On the surface it seems like we have kept this one, doesn’t it? We’ve been faithful to our spouses, right? But here too, Jesus is swinging the hammer of God’s law down upon us. Because in our text Jesus says it is more than just coming into sexual contact with someone who is not your spouse. It is more than sleeping around a little bit. Yes, these things are wrong, but they are only the tip of the ice berg. For in our text Jesus says, “If you so much as look at a woman or a man with lust,” you are guilty.
Be honest with yourself. Have you ever thought sexually suggestive thoughts about anyone? Have you ever looked at something you shouldn’t have? This includes pornography, a huge epidemic in our world today, or even . Or dirty jokes or language. This includes marriage, and how in our world today we no longer hold it up as a sacred gift of God, but instead we abuse it with divorce and homosexual marriage. If we hear what Jesus is saying, we know that each one of us here is guilty and that we are judged. God’s judgment, the hammer of the law hits us again. We are all adulterers.
And friends, as if these things were not enough, as if these hammer blows had not struck us and bruised us deeply enough, Jesus goes on. It was said, You should not swear falsely, but Jesus says, do not swear at all. For as you cannot truly make one of the hairs on your head grow black or white, you cannot truly keep your promises. We lie, with little white lies. We act differently around different people to try and get them to like us. We avoid saying awkward things to those around us, but instead say them to our friends and family behind their backs.
And friends, all of us have broken promises. All of us have fallen short of our aspirations, and our big words. Each one of us has promised something that we just cannot do. Jesus swings the hammer down upon us a final time in our text, and tells us, we are liars.
And so we see that our sin defeats us, and beats us bloody and bruised. These hammer blows could go on and on and on. The law that Jesus preaches kills us. It destroys our own life, because we know, each one of us, that we are guilty, and in our guilt death is what we have purchased.
Friends, we cannot ignore what Jesus is saying. After all, Jesus is the son of God in human flesh. What he says is the truth. And so as Jesus speaks these words to each and every individual here today, we listen. And so we must ask Jesus, What do we do Lord? How can we change, because we know that on our own we will continue in this sin. On our own, we don’t want to change because we really like who we are. Oh Lord, to whom shall we go, you have the words of eternal life, and I don’t live up to their demands.
Friends, the hammer must fall, the punishment deserved by sin, the punishment brought about by our own selfishness, and our own weakness needs to be accounted for. Someone must be killed by the hammer of the law. Someone needs to die and be buried because of the things we have done. And that someone is Jesus. Jesus, the only one who has not murdered, because he cared for all, even the most foul and disgusting sinners like you and me, must die. Jesus the one who has never committed adultery, because he didn’t look at people with eyes that were full of lust, must be nailed to a cross on behalf of all adulterer who ever lived, from David and Bathsheba, to the woman at the well with seven husbands, to you and to me. Jesus, the one who never broke a promise, the one who never lied will die…to keep his biggest and his best promise to each of you. The promise of eternal life. The promise of forgiveness. The promise of rescue from the trials and tribulations of this world. Jesus has kept his promises to you, and it has cost him his life.
Dear friends, Jesus’ words today in regards to our sin are hard to hear. They are hard to hear, because we don’t like to think about our own shortcomings and sin. It is painful. It makes us cringe. It is easy for us to sit here and think, Oh Jesus is telling that person down the pew that he is guilty. Jesus isn’t really talking to me. But friends, the truth is, Jesus is talking to you, because Jesus has come for sinners, like you and like me. Jesus comes to sinners, he comes to those who are beaten down by the law, beaten down by their sin and says to them, “I love you, and I will give up my life to rescue you. I will bear the wounds you deserve. I will be crushed for your iniquity; I will be pierced for your transgressions on a cross outside of Jerusalem. The punishment you deserve will become mine. By my wounds, you are healed.”
Friends, Jesus comes to sinners, people like you and me who are beat down by the law. And upon them, and upon us, he pours out forgiveness in his blood. In him, there is forgiveness for murderers. In him there is forgiveness for adulterers and liars.
Where you have been beaten down, Jesus pours out healing upon you. He wraps your wounds, and gives you the medicine of life.
JESUS COMES, AND THE HAMMER BLOWS OF THE LAW ARE PLACED UPON HIS SHOULDERS, SO THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE PEACE IN HIS NAME.
Amen.
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