Epiphany 4 - O - 2012 - The Greater Prophet

The Fourth Sunday After Epiphany

January 29, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

Deuteronomy 18:15-20           1 Corinthians 8:1-13          Mark 1:21-28

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today comes from the Old Testament lesson today, especially these words, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”  Thus far our text today. 

Dear friends in Christ, we have all see the classic movie the Ten Commandments.  Charlton Heston plays Moses who leads God's people through countless plagues and trials, all to bring them to the promised land.  Moses was the greatest prophet ever to live in the Old Testament time.  He was the best of the best of the best – with honors!  God had worked through him his entire life to bring about the will of God in the world – to lead the Israeli slaves out of Egypt into a promised land, flowing with milk and honey.  Moses was the best prophet, for he had seen God face to face, (~ynIP'-la, ~ynIP) - Deut 34:10)mano y Dios.  He had spoken to God in a way that no other prophet could or would.  Moses was the best. 

God had worked through Moses’ life in all sorts of ways to use him and mold him to be a good prophet.  He was rescued from the Nile river to grow up, not as a slave, but to learn all the Egyptian customs of court and royalty.  He left Egypt after murdering an Egyptian, and learned how to raise sheep and cattle, learned how to live in the wilderness, and most importantly learned about God.  And God sent Moses back to speak his word boldly to a people who did not want to hear it, and through God’s work, to lead God’s people out of slavery.  Moses was the greatest prophet, and God worked through Moses his entire life. 

And yet today, in our text, Moses speaks of another prophet, who would be raised up from the midst of the people of Israel.  A prophet who was to come later, who would be even greater than Moses himself.  A prophet more powerful and more trustworthy, a prophet who would speak God’s word from his own mouth. 

How could there possibly be a prophet better than the greatest prophet ever?  How could there be a prophet who could exceed Moses in word and deed?  How could this thing possibly come about, for Moses was the best of the best of the best – with honors!

But even Moses fell into sin.  Even Moses wasn’t perfect, he was a guilty sinner, just like you and me.  Moses left Egypt when he was a prince, why?  For murder.  That wasn’t his last sin either.  As Moses travelled to Egypt to set God’s people free, God almost struck him down for disobeying God and not circumcising his own children.  You have to admit, Moses who saw God in the burning bush disobeying God’s command of circumcision is pretty bullheaded.  Moses sinned, as God told him to speak to the rock so water would come out, and instead he hit it with his staff – more worried about the show than about the word of God.  And finally countless times Moses, in anger and stubbornness, broke the eighth commandment saying, “God why did you put me in charge of these thick headed Israelites.” 

You see, Moses was a sinner like you.  He was stubborn like you.  He sinned everyday in his life like you.  He ignored God’s word at times, like you.  He got mad at his neighbor, he spoke ill of those around him, and he tried to weasel his way out of God’s design for his own life, just like you do.  Moses, the greatest prophet, stood before the burning bush and said, “Send someone else Lord, and leave me alone,” just as we so often do in our own lives. “Not me Lord, someone else, make someone else be an elder, a missionary, a teacher, an anything.  Not me, some other poor sap instead.”  Moses was a sinner just like you. 

But also, just like you, Moses looked to a prophet who was greater.  A prophet who would be raised up from the midst of our own people, to speak the very word of God, to lead God’s people not from Egypt to the Promised Land, but from Sin into God’s sin free promised land – heaven. 

Moses trusted God’s word to him about that Greater prophet – Jesus.  Jesus would speak God’s word better than Moses could ever do, because Jesus mouth would be the very mouth of God.  Through Jesus, the Son of God, God’s word would come directly, not through a sinful man.  Moses trusted that the prophet Jesus would speak with authority.  Authority that we see in our Gospel lesson today, as Jesus says to a sin filled lowly demon – “Be silent, Come out of him!” and the demon must obey, for it is God’s word that is spoken. 

Jesus is the greatest prophet, greater than any other even Moses.  (Greater by far than false prophets like Mohammed and Joseph Smith).  Jesus is the prophet who speaks God’s word, and than fulfills all that was spoken before.  Jesus is the prophet who says, I choose to give you life, life to the full, and will buy you through my own bloody cross and death.  And unlike Moses, unlike Isaiah, unlike Hosea and Jeremiah, unlike dear friends even you, Jesus is sin free.  Jesus is perfect.  He does no wrong, he speaks no wrong word. 

SO when the great prophet Jesus tells you something, you can trust His word.  It comes from God.  It comes from the one who died on your behalf and rose again.  It comes from the one who now lives and reigns forever in heaven. 

Hear the words then of the prophet greater than Moses.  “Take heart, your sins are forgiven.  In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  Come to my waters – baptismal waters – for whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst, but it will well up inside of him to eternal life.  Believe in me, believe also in the one who sent me.  I will wipe every tear from your eyes.” 

Jesus speaks these words to you.  Words from God.  Words of promise for you.  Words of forgiveness for you.  Words from the prophet greater than Moses.  Yes, Moses was great.  But Jesus is greater, and Jesus is for you.  Hear his word and believe.  Amen.  

Epiphany 2 - G - 2012 - Your Body Is Not Your Own

The Second Sunday After Epiphany

January 15, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

1 Samuel 3:1-20          1 Corinthians 6:12-20             John 1:43-51

1 Corinthians 6 - ¹² “All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food”—and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. ¹⁴ And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. ¹⁵Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! ¹⁶ Or do you not know that he who is joined^[a] to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, “The two will become one flesh.” ¹⁷ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. ¹⁸ Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin^[b] a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. ¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today comes from the Gospel lesson for today, especially these words, You are not your own, you were bought with a price.  So glorify God with your body.”  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ, the epistle lesson appointed for today is one that makes the hair rise on the back of our neck.  It is one that makes us uncomfortable, and to be honest, I considered trying to preach on either the Old Testament or the Gospel lesson and avoid the epistle lesson all together.  But friends, there is a reason that St. Paul wrote these words to the Corinthian church almost 2000 years ago.  And more importantly, there is a reason that these words are so important to us today. 

2000 years ago, the ancient Roman city of Corinth was similar to our modern city of Las Vegas, only on steroids.  There in Corinth’s town square and even in their religious centers, prostitution ran rampant.  If you liked girls, they were available.  If you liked boys, they too were available to you, all for a price.  What is more, this practice was one that was acceptable to the people of that day.  It was a normal every day practice in the Roman Empire for these sorts of things to go on, things that would make us squirm, things that make us blush, things that we would not want to talk about in front of our mothers. 

And into this world of vice and sin, into the world where “what happens in Corinth stays in Corinth,” the Word of God came.  The church grew, as those people sought to escape those things that infected their lives, and as they heard the message that Christ had set them free from their sin, that they no longer needed to live in the debauchery of their world.  But that they could have something more, something better, something eternal – a gift freely given to them by God through His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 

It was not easy to do.  The lure of all of those sexual sins of that day was great.  St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 5 speaks of a man, a Christian, a member of the church, sleeping with his father’s wife – something that the pagans didn’t even do.  There were people, Christians, who thought that homosexuality was ok, that sex outside of marriage was just an everyday part of life, and that everyone was doing it anyways, so why couldn’t they?  Why did God have to care?  Why did God have to make these rules?  Why did God have to stick his nose in to business that wasn’t even his? 

And so, St. Paul writes the Corinthians a letter.  St. Paul tells the Corinthians just why God was concerned about them, why he cared about what went on in the dark of the night.  And the answer was simply this – your body is not really your own for you were bought with a price.  Their body were not their own, the Holy Spirit dwelt there.  Their bodies were not their own, they belonged to God, who would raise them from the dead and give them back to the person forever apart from sin, sorrow and the world.  They were bought with a price – the blood of Jesus. 

So you see, these words are important for us to hear as well, aren’t they?  Yes, when we think about it, we do want to blush, we want to ignore it, we want to feel ashamed of the topic for conversation.  We may even want to storm out frustrated at what the text says.  But what Paul says to the Corinthians, he says to us as well. 

We too, live in a society inundated with sex.  It is on our TV’s.  It is in the news.  It is all around us.  We hear stories of the fight over whether or not homosexuality is right or wrong, and on a purely human level we wonder if it is our business or not?  We know that here in our own town, people are having sex outside of wedlock, we know what has happened and been recorded on video in our own town.  We know that pornography enters our own homes.  Yes, even the pastor is aware of many of these things happening.  And when we know what happens in our own lives it makes us ashamed and afraid.  It’s awkward.  It’s gross.  It really is shameful. 

Don’t talk about that pastor, it’s a secret.  Don’t mention that topic, we want to keep it to ourselves.  Just live and let live, right?  But Paul writes “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!  The body is not meant for sexual immorality.”   

Friends, you are bought with a price.  Who you are cost something.  You were set free from sin, so how can you let it rule your lives any longer?  God sent His own Son here in our flesh, in our body, with all the body parts you yourselves have.  He sent him to a cross to die for your sin, to take it away from you, so that you would not need to feel the need to return to it as a dog returns to his vomit. 

You belong to Christ.  He has purchased and won you, not with Gold, not with Silver, but with his holy precious blood, innocent suffering and death, that you may be his own, and live under him in his kingdom forever.  God bought your body on the cross.  That means it belongs to him, that means on the last day He will raise it forever into glory.  That means it is not a slave to sin of any kind.  That means you are free to be his possession. 

Dear friends, I’m not going to cut corners here.  I know that each person here has sinned sexually in one way or another.  Jesus himself write, “If you so much as look at a woman with lust in your heart, you have already committed adultery with her.”  You’ve done it, I’ve done it, we all have.  Today’s text is not written to just make you feel guilty, to drive you from the church or to make you angry.  Today’s text is a beautiful message of hope and promise. 

You don’t need to be burdened by your sin any longer.  You don’t need to let it weigh you down, you don’t need to let it make you feel guilty or sad.  Your free.  Here it again, and know that these words are for you dear child of God.  YOU ARE FREE!  You were bought with a price.  Jesus has taken the bullet for what you have done.  It’s gone.  That sin is behind you, and all you have ahead are God’s gracious promises of forgiveness.  It is as far from you as the east is from the west.  Jesus has given up his life in your place so that all of your sin, each and every part of it has been wiped clean.  That sin no longer belongs to you.  You were bought with a price, your body is not your own.  If God can forgive the perverted Corinthians, how can he not forgive you. 

So glorify God in your body.  Glorify God, as you keep your body free from that sin, as you shade your eyes from filth, as you become one flesh with only your spouse.  And when you fail, when you sin, don’t stubbornly continue in that sin, but repent and receive the grace of Jesus – grace that covers all guilt forever. 

Glorify God with your body, for he has given it to you clean and undefiled in the blood of Jesus.  What a blessing!  What a gift.  A fresh start in the forgiveness of Jesus.  Amen.  

Baptism of our Lord - G - 2012 - Jesus the Sponge

Genesis 1:1-5         Romans 6:1-11            Mark 1:4-11

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.  Our text today comes from the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ.  We have all seen a new sponge, sitting idly by the sink, waiting to be used.  It looks pristine.   It is clean and soft.  It isn’t missing any pieces, and it is relatively germ free.  But you know that as soon as you stick it in the dirty dishwater, that clean sponge will soak up all the grease and grime and germs of the dishes you are washing.  A clean white sponge becomes a nasty brown and crusty sponge.  It takes the dirt of the water up into itself.  It no longer is clean, but it is stained with the goop of the other things in the water. 

Friends, that is what happens in our Gospel lesson today.  Jesus Christ, the spotless, sinless Son of God gets down into the dirty water of the Jordan River, and is baptized.  The baby who was born pure and holy, the Savior who has no sin of his own soaks up all the yucky disgusting things that are in the baptismal waters in the Jordan River. 

You see, for Jesus, the baptismal waters were not clean.  They were full of filth, filth that you and I had put in the waters.  For we, just like Jesus in our text today were baptized.  We too, just like Jesus were washed in the waters of baptism.  For you and for me, those waters washed away all our bad things.  It washed away our sin. 

For our sin stains each and every one of us.  Scripture says our sin is as scarlet.  Isaiah says, “For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies; your tongue mutters wickedness.”  You are guilty.  You are dirty with sin.  It corrupts all your nature.  Your sin is so great that it is like you have been wallowing in the mire, covered in mud. 

This sin doesn’t just cover your outside, it penetrates deep into the very recesses of your soul.  It has become a very part of your nature.  You cannot help but sin, as Scripture says, you are a slave to sin.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” Jesus says.  Because of your sin, when God looks at you, he sees your filth, even the hidden filth.  When God looks at you, he sees all the wrong you have done and received.  He knows your guilt.  It stains your very being. 

But you have been baptized.  You have been washed by God.  All that disgustingness of your sin was washed, inside and out, here in a few drops of water and the Word.  There you are washed, made whiter than snow.  There you no longer are guilty, but instead forgiven.  In baptism all the sin of your body of your soul, that which you know and that which you don’t know is taken away from you.  In baptism you are clean. 

We all know what happens when you wash the dirt off of something in a tub.  The water becomes dirty.  The water takes up the filth that is washed away and stains the water.  That, friends is the water that Jesus climbs into today.  Water filled with your sin.  Water filled with your guilt.  Water that is dirty.  And Jesus, the spotless lamb of God, just like a sponge, soaks up your sin and guilt.  As Jesus goes down into the water He is clean, and as He comes out he is filthy with your sin. 

In fact, you can say, that after Jesus soaks up your sin, he is the biggest sinner ever, the greatest sinner in the whole world.  For he has all the sin of you his people.  And as he comes out of the water, God says, “This is my Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  God is pleased, because you are saved.  God is pleased because Jesus has taken your sin and given you His righteousness.  Because you have traded places.  Where once he was clean and you were dirty, now he is dirty and you are clean. 

Jesus takes your sin, and he bears it through this world.  He carries it boldly and humbly onward through his life, setting his eyes on his ultimate goal.  Destroying that sin.  Killing that sin.  Eliminating it from you forever, preventing you from taking it back to yourself.  Jesus, who has soaked up your sin, goes to the cross of his own free will, to suffer and die for all your sin. 

For it is his blood, the blood that pours out of his hands, his feet, and his side.  The blood which comes from his wounds that truly cleans away your sin that he carries.  In his death you are given life.  In his death you are rescued, because in his death your sin gets killed forever.  Your filth is destroyed, run down the drain if you will.  And you are left clean forever before God.

Dear friends in Christ, you have been baptized, just as Jesus is in our text today.  And so when God looks at you, he no longer sees your filth and sin, but he sees his Son Jesus and his righteousness.  And so he looks to you and says, “You are my child, and with you I am well pleased.”  For you are cleaned in Jesus.  You are rescued in his death.  You are set free forever.  Amen. 

Epiphany Greeting from Matthew Harrison - President of the LCMS

Happy Epiphany from Matthew Harrison, president of the LCMS.  

Paul Alan Fenske Funeral

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from our Epistle Lesson, especially these words, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, especially Eric, Jennifer, and Chelsey, Harold and Laurel, all family and friends of Paul.  “In my flesh, I shall see God”.  These words of our Old Testament lesson proclaim the faith that Job had despite all his hardships, despite all his struggles.  His children had been killed in a storm.  His possessions had been destroyed.  And as he speaks the words of our text today, he himself was suffering as a disease ravaged his body, eating away his flesh.  And yet, he still confessed, “I know my redeemer lives.  In my flesh, I shall see God!”

These words should strike a chord for us today, as we are gathered here in this place, mourning the loss of a son, mourning the loss of one whose body was ravaged by disease.  As we mourn one who will no longer be here with us in our lives.  But we know that “our redeemer lives, and with our own eyes, we shall see God.” 

These are bold words, are they not?  These are bold words to proclaim into a world of death and destruction.  A world where so much continues to go wrong every day.  A world where our loved ones lives are cut short at such a young age. 

For that is what happened to Paul.  His life was brought to its end early.  He suffered from cancer for the last few months, and in the end his body was not strong enough to overcome.  The man who helped his parents, who cared for his children, and who always stayed busy quickly became weak and suffered, unable to even catch a peaceful night of sleep.  The weakness of our sinful bodies caught up with him.

But our Epistle lesson says, “But the Spirit helps us in our weakness.”  He’s there for us at the times that we need him the most.  He is there offering up prayers for us when we don’t even know what to pray for as we ought.  He was with Paul these last few weeks, even up until this last Saturday morning when Paul left, pointing him not to his own weakness, but pointing him to his Redeemer, Jesus Christ.  And dear friends in Christ, he was with Paul as Paul entered paradise and saw his Redeemer with his own eyes, just as Job confessed. 

For he who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him give us all good things.  For if God is for us, who can be against us.  God gave his Son up into this world to live among us who are weak, and become weak for us.  He gave his Son to take our flesh upon himself and become weak, weak in our place, weak on a cross.  And in that, the crucifixion of Jesus, and his glorious resurrection, we know that we have hope.  For Jesus died for Paul, so that he might overcome, even when it appeared otherwise.  So that Paul might have eternal life.  So that Paul – who believed in Jesus might live, even though he die. 

And so here were are today, feeling that same weakness in our sorrow, that same weakness in our hurt and loneliness.  Today we mourn our own sin which causes us such agony. 

Today we really are weak, much as Paul was his last few weeks.  But for you too, just as for your Father, your Brother and your Son Paul, God is with you in your weakness.  Just as Christ came for Paul, he came for you.  He came to rescue you from your sin, to take away from you all your doubts, all your hurt and all your pain.  Hear the words of Job and believe that they are for you as well, Your Redeemer Lives, and in the last you stand before him in your own flesh, you shall see him and not another. 

This promise is for you.  Its why you come to this place, to hear that promise.  Its why we come here today, to remember what love your God has for you.  Its why the church exists, so that we might know God’s love – made known to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.  Here, God promises to be with us, to never leave us nor forsake us – to give us the gifts of heaven. 

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?...  or maybe even cancer?  “No in all these things we are more than conquerors in Him, Jesus, who loved us…   For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,³⁹ nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Dear family and friends of Paul, brothers and sisters in Christ.  Here we may face struggles.  Here we may become sick, our possessions may be gone, and our bodies may be ravaged by disease.  But know this.  Your redeemer lives.  Your Redeemer has overcome the world.  Nothing can take him away from you.  And today Paul is with him, even forevermore.  Amen.

Paul Alan Fenske Prayer Service

Dear friends in Christ, baptism is an amazing thing.  In baptism, with simple water and word, death is destroyed, swallowed up forever.  In baptism, we die with Jesus, and then are raised with him.  Every person who has been baptized has already died, and been raised into eternal life.  Because of baptism, while we mourn, we know that death is not the end for those who believe in Jesus.

Why speak of this today?  Why bring up something that happened to Paul 52 years ago when there have been so many things that have happened since then?  Why bring up baptism before cancer, and pain? 

Why?  Because Paul’s baptism is important today, when all our senses try to tell us that Paul is now gone.  It is so important today as we are gathered here with family and friends to mourn the loss of a father, a grandfather, a son and a brother.  It is important because today we hurt deeply.  Today we mourn.  Today we wonder what has happened to Paul. 

But I tell you the truth, baptism has done an amazing thing for Paul – not just baptism, but the One whom Paul was bound to in the waters of baptism.  For Paul already had died, more than 50 years ago.  He died with Jesus, was buried with Jesus, and as our text says, “if he died with Christ, we believe he also lives with him.” 

In water, in a font at Trinity Lutheran Church Great Bend, Jesus grabbed ahold of Paul, and carried him through death into life.  In Baptism, Jesus carried Paul through cancer, through suffering, through pain and agony, and brought him safely into God’s eternal kingdom.  There he will no longer thirst, nor will he hunger, for the Lamb in the midst of the throne is his shepherd.  There, Jesus wipes all tears away from his eyes with nail marked hands. 

Friends, one who dies in Christ “has been set free from sin.”  One who dies in Christ, “walks forever in newness of life.”  Baptism is that place where faithful Christians like Paul, and like you, die with Christ.  Baptism is that thing that gives us hope today, hope that cancer is not the end, that in “death no longer has dominion” over us. 

I won’t lie to you, these past few days have been difficult.  They have brought us pain, and they will not magically get better over the coming weeks and months.  Death hurts.  It makes us weep and mourn, and long to be with the one who has departed.  But it is not the end for those who believe and are baptized into Jesus.  For Christ has destroyed death and gives eternal life to all who believe in him.

Friends, because Paul was baptized let not your hearts be troubled, even as you mourn.  For Jesus has come and taken Paul unto himself, to a place where they might be together, forever.  It’s a place with many rooms, a place of peace, a place of life.  It’s a place of living water, where God’s baptized people are raised to live with Jesus forever.  Do not let your hearts be troubled, for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

In baptism, Jesus does an amazing thing.  He brings you, me, and yes our dear friend Paul through death into life.  Because of baptism, while we mourn, we know that death is not the end.  In baptism, in Jesus, death is destroyed forever.  Amen