Proper 7 - G - 2012 - The Turn of Fear

Fourth Sunday After Pentecost - Proper 7

June 24, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

Job 38:1-11                 2 Corinthians 6:1-13               Mark 4:35-41

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.  Our text today comes from the Gospel lesson, especially these words, “Jesus said, ‘Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?’   And they were filled with great fear.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  It is an interesting turn of events in our text today.  The disciples think they are afraid.  They are out on a small rickety boat in a lake 8 miles wide and 13 miles long.  They have no outboard motor, perhaps a few oars and a sail, and all of a sudden a squall blows into the lake.  The waves grow and crash into the tiny boat – filled to the brim with 12 apostles and one teacher.  Water begins pouring over the sides, the boat gets lower in the water allowing even more water to come in. 

The disciples are frantically bailing water out of the boat knowing that a boat full of water doesn’t float.  If the boat sinks, they will die.  It’s a terrifying thought.  They don’t want to drown.  They don’t want to meet their end that way.  They want to live to see another day, they want to make it to shore.  They are scared for their lives.  And while they are scared, there Jesus sits, sleeping on a cushion in the back of the boat. 

It sounds like our life, so very often doesn’t it?  We are terrified of the things going on around us, yes, but mostly we are scared to die.  Sure, I know, most the time we avoid thinking about it, but it’s coming for you dear friends.  And it is coming on a day and in a way that you probably aren’t anticipating.  Just like those disciples on that boat, one day the waves will increase, the boat will fill with water, and you will know that the end must be near. 

Cancer, Alzheimer’s, emphysema, heart attack, stroke, old age, and more, these things and more will be your future.  They will come to you.  They will slowly increase in your life until at last dear friends, they will take you, each one of you.  And your life will be no more. 

The disciples when faced with this prospect, turned as many of us do to God.  “Wake up Jesus, don’t you care that we are going to drown?  Don’t you care that our lives are quickly going to come to an end?  Do something, save us!  Do it now!” 

I imagine that as the disciples said this to Jesus, they had in mind Jesus picking up a bucket and bailing water out of the boat.  But that is not what Jesus does.  Jesus stands up in the rocking boat, and speaks to the waters, “Peace! Be still”  and the waters listen.  The storms stops suddenly.  The sun shines, the boats make it safely to the other side of the lake.  Jesus turns to them and says, “Why were you afraid?  Do you still have no faith?”

And at this point dear friends is the interesting turn in our text today.  The text says, “And the disciples were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”  It is at this point they realize they had nothing to worry about from the storm, because in the boat with them is God.  The God who created them.  The God who formed them out of the dust, who controls all things, including small little storms.  The God who commands them to be perfect and a part from sin. 

This is their fear, for they, like you, have failed the God who is the boat with them. They, like you, have sinned daily.  The words of Jesus from the Gospel of Matthew strike true for the disciples in that boat “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” – the one who can stop a storm in its tracks.  They are to fear and love and trust in God, and they have failed. And that causes them true fear.

And for you, Cancer may destroy your body, but only Jesus can destroy your soul.  Alzheimer’s may destroy your memory and mind, but only Jesus can destroy your soul.  All these illness and the threat of death are always there, and yet, Jesus is the only one who can truly end you.  And dear friends, he doesn’t.

Jesus doesn’t choose to send you to hell, for you believe in him.  Jesus doesn’t destroy you in the squalor of sin, but instead stands up in the midst of it and says, “Peace, be still.”  Peace be still, for I have suffered for sin on the cross, and I will count that as sufficient payment.  Peace be still, These things that destroy your body are only temporary.  And peace and stillness will come after. 

Jesus brings peace and stillness to your lives.  You may face death, but you no longer need to fear it, for Jesus has defeated it for you.  He allowed his own body to be nailed to a cross, laid in a grave and raised, so that you might know the same thing will one day happen to you.  You have already drowned in the sea of baptismal waters, and you have already be rescued from them into peace, and stillness apart from sin.

Peace, the only one you need fear loves you, so much that he would die for you.  Peace, don’t fear the waves of this world.  They are overcome.  Peace for you – forever in Christ, Amen. 

Proper 6 - G - 2012 - The Mustard Seed Savior

Third Sunday After Pentecost - Proper 6

June 18, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

Ezekiel 17:22-24         2 Corinthians 5:1-17   Mark 4:26-34

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.  Our text today is from the gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable shall we use for it?”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, mustard seeds are small, very small.  One of the last Sundays I spoke with Iva Tischer, she brought it a necklace with a mustard seed embedded in a bead.  It amazed me that Jesus would compare his glorious heavenly kingdom with a seed so small you could barely notice it when it is even in the palm of your hand.  But that is exactly what Jesus says in our text today, “the kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth.”  It is tiny, it is insignificant, something that the average person doesn’t notice.  And yet, hidden inside that minuscule tiny seed is a plant, ready to grow, ready to branch out toward the sky so large that all sorts of critters can make their home in it.  

That’s what seeds do isn’t it?  We who live here in rural America know – seeds grow.  Its how we make our living, its what keeps us in business.  You take the seed, hide it in the ground, water it and then it grows and provide for us in all sorts of ways.  And so it is with the kingdom of God – and with Jesus himself.  For just as a seed, Jesus came and was planted on this earth – a seemingly unimportant baby born of a virgin in a tiny village suburb of Israel’s capital.  Hidden there in that seed, in that baby was the fullness of God, the only begotten son who has existed since eternity. 

That baby grew up, worked in his father’s carpentry shop, and lived an average, insignificant life until its 30^th birthday.  And then, as a seed finally after much waiting and praying pokes it head above the ground, the Son of God began to be noticed.  He healed the blind and sick.  He preached to the poor and talked to the sinners.  He turned water into wine, he raised the dead, he became anything but insignificant.  The seed had sprouted, and was growing at a furious rate. 

He grew so fast in fact that the Pharisees and Sadducees, and all others noticed.  This couldn’t happen.  He was cutting in on their business, and making them look small and weedish comparatively.  Those who had formerly respected them turned to watch this mustard seed become a great tree that cast its shadow on all who believed.  And as sinners do, in their jealousy, in their selfishness in their guilt (the same guilt you and I carry as well) they decided to take drastic action.  They cut him down by nailing him to a tree and leaving him to die.  And when he was dead they put him back in the ground, into a tomb, sealed it and tried to forget about him. 

But even a tomb could not hold him; death would not be his master.  He sprouted again, and grew faster and taller and more massive than they would ever understand.  He rose again on the third day, and now lives and reigns to all eternity.  The tiny insignificant seed now is the tallest, fullest, most beautiful tree around.  The kingdom of God – Jesus – had started small but now is huge, with room on its branches for all sorts of birds to perch, room for you and for me. 

There’s room for sinners there in the branches of the kingdom of God, there’s room for sinners in the branches of the church.  There’s room for you in the arms of Jesus.  I know, at times it may seem like you don’t belong.  At times it may seem like your sin is too great, that your guilt is too large, and that you don’t deserve to live here in the church.  You are right, and yet, Christ still has a place for you, because in his name you are forgiven. 

Here, in the church, you have a home, along with all repentant sinners.  It’s a home you didn’t create – God planted it.  It’s a home that you don’t sustain, God does with His holy word and Sacraments.  It’s a place you didn’t find, God brought you in through baptism.  And now you, a forgiven sinner, are sheltered in the arms of the church even to life everlasting.  Make nests in the arms of Jesus, dwell in his love, in his grace, in his gifts.  For here, you will be kept safe from all the dangers of this world. 

The kingdom of heaven, is like a mustard seed, small and insignificant.  And yet, it grows up to be the safety of all that live in it.  It is strong, it is a mighty bulwark against evil, and through grace earned in the death of Jesus, it is your home forever more.  Amen.  

Proper 5 - E - 2012 - Things Fall Apart and Things are Renewed

Second Sunday After Pentecost - Proper 5

June 10, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

Genesis 3:8-15            2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1            Mark 3:20-35

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.  Our text today comes from our Epistle lesson that was just read, especially these words, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.”  Thus far our text today. 

Dear friends in Christ.  It was several years ago, I remember it well.  I woke up one morning while serving on vicarage in Brookings South Dakota, and there it was staring at me in the mirror.  Well, it wasn’t in the mirror so much as attached to my head.  At 25 years old, there was my very first (of many by the way) gray hair.  It was a sign that I wasn’t the young high school kid I used to be, but was a quickly aging person.  Its something I imagine many of you have experienced as well.  Our bodies age, they begin to fall apart, they wrinkle and hurt. 

It is in the face of this great issue that Paul writes, “Do not lose heart”, even though your body is falling apart, even though your knees give way, even though cancer ravages your body.  Do not lose hope, for this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.  Or so says St. Paul in our text for today – boldly and without reservation!   For these words aren’t just wishful thinking, but they are a bold truth proclaimed in a world that doesn’t believe this to be the case.  Paul preaches eternal life in a world of death. 

It is easy for us to lose hope isn’t it?  In our own congregations we have seen people whom we love dearly whose health has deteriorated.  We have had loved ones who have passed away – 11 funerals in our parish over the last year and a half.  We ourselves know our bodies are not as good as they once were.  Our joints hurt, our limbs are weak.  Our balance is off center.  Wrinkles are creeping into our face as are gray hairs into our heads. 

The signs are there, look at your body and compare it with 5 years ago, with ten years ago.  Its dying.  Its falling apart.  Unless you are a child your body will not get any better than it is today.  It will slowly, ever so slowly get worse and worse until one day it will no longer be able to keep itself alive.  It will no longer be able to keep your heart beating, and your lungs breathing.  And it will stop, and you, yes each of you, will finally be dead. 

It is exactly what God promised would happen to sinners in the beginning, and we are ashamed of the fact that it has affected us.  In our Old Testament lesson we see that dreadful moment, right after sin entered the world.  Adam and Eve hiding in the bushes, their bodies already deteriorating.  Their fate is already certain.  Adam will die.  Eve will die.  Their children will die – even murder one another.  Their fate is certain and they are ashamed. 

We feel that same pang within our own lives.  We dread that same fate as Adam and Eve did.  We too are doomed to die, and we see that fate drawing ever nearer in our own lives as we look to our own body.  No doctor can stop it, no medical intervention can prevent it forever – yes maybe delay it, but not prevent. 

Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s, blindness, cataracts, cancer, strokes, heart attacks, pain and suffering.  These only the tip of the ice berg for us.  All of them, leading to our death, to our end, to the grave where our body will decay, our bones will collapse, until finally there is no remnant of us left on this earth except for dust.  For you are dust, and to dust you shall return!  What hope is there in the face of this?  What comfort comes to the lost sinner, to the dead, to those whose fate is sealed?

It is in the face of this question that Paul preaches in our epistle.  Do not lose hope.  Do not lose hope, though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

You are being renewed, even as your body falls apart.  Your spirit which once was dead in sin has been revived.  How?  It is connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus.  In baptism that which was dead is made alive, the blood of God means the stain of sin is removed from you forever.  Even as your body crumbles and dies, your soul is promised to live forever, renewed in the life giving blood of the lamb. 

Paul even calls the struggles of this world “light, momentary afflictions.”  As we deal with cancer and sickness, we would hardly call them light momentary afflictions, yet Paul knows the truth and preaches it faithfully.  That if Christ is risen from the dead forever, so too will those who believe in him.  If Christ lives and reigns in heaven for eternity, those who follow him shall as well.  If you have cancer, or Alzheimer’s even for 20 years, it is nothing compared to the eternal joy that awaits, for years without end in heaven. 

Your sin is forgiven.  Your death averted.  Jesus paid the price for you in his suffering and death on the cross.  For we know that if the tent that is our earthly body is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.  That is what we await.  That is where we hope.  Do not lose heart, Though our outer self is wasting away, our eternal self is just beginning.  Amen.  

Trinity Sunday - O - 2012 - Terrifyingly Beautiful Heaven

Holy Trinity Sunday

June 3, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

Isaiah 6:1-8               Acts 2:14a, 22-36                 John 3:1-17

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  Our text today comes from the Old Testament lesson today, especially these words, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  We see a terrifyingly beautiful picture of heaven in our text today.  Beautiful with angels, archangels and all the company of heaven – the throne of God, six winged seraphs and all that goes with it.  It is the perfection that our world will never be, the holiness of God is everywhere.  And dear friends, that is exactly what makes heaven such a terrifying place for Isaiah in our text. 

For when Isaiah sees heaven, the difference between his own unholiness and the Holiness of God Almighty is so stark as to be unavoidable.  When Isaiah thinks of himself compared to the Triune God, the HOLY HOLY HOLY, there is not even a comparison that fits words.  “Woe is me!” he cries, “I am ruined!  I am dead mean!  For I am a sinner, and I live among sinners!”  And God himself had told Moses that sinners could not see the face of God, or they would die forever!

It’s not exactly what we expect is it?  We have read or heard of the books about people who supposedly have gone to heaven and tell of its glories and majesties.  We have read about ninety minutes in heaven, or how heaven is for real, and not in a single one of those books does the main character react like Isaiah – with terror at their circumstances. 

Why does Isaiah react this way?  Why is he terrified for standing before the true and only God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?  Because of his sin.  And Isaiah knew his Bible, he had read time and time again how God commanded Israel to blot out sin before God.  He had read the punishments of Sodom and Gomorrah, and of hard-hearted pharaoh, and of all the nations that stood against Israel.  He knew God won’t stand for even the smallest sin.  He read how David, the man after God’s own heart had his own kingdom fall apart all for one night of adultery.  And worst of all – when he looked at himself, Isaiah realized, that he himself was the worst of all sinners – for he knew allthe secret little thoughts he had.  He knew all the little sins that no one else knew.  He knew the guilty little thoughts he had, the sin that lurked away in the recesses of his soul.  And standing before the throne of God, Isaiah was terrified, for he knew the just God knew his sin as well. 

What about you dear friends?  Ask yourself this question today:  As you are today, how would you fare before God.  Are you holy, or are you a poor miserable sinner in your thought word and deed?  When you stand before God, and all your secrets are revealed, and your sins brought into light, will you be innocent, or will you be the worst of all sinners? 

I know that for me personally it is a terrifying prospect, for all my shortcomings, for all my guilt, and all my sins to become known to the God who says, “Be holy, as I the Lord your God am holy!”  Dear friends, I have failed – failed as a christian, failed as a pastor, failed as a father and a son.  And I suspect friends that if you are honest with yourself that you have failed as well.  Your sin is ever before you, ever nagging at your conscience, ever declaring the truth – yes the TRUTH!  You are not worthy on your own before God. 

And so with Isaiah, we stand before God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, guilty.  Woe to us, for we have unclean lips, and we live among those who also are unclean.  Woe to us, for we will stand before the Holy, holy, holy as unholy people. 

And yet, see what happens in our text.  Isaiah is terrified and a dead man, but an angel comes with a burning coal from the altar of God and touches Isaiah’s unclean lips and says “Your guilt is taken away, your sins are atoned for.”  Isaiah is no longer guilty before God.  What is it with this coal?  How does this seemingly silly act make all this sin go away?  Its where this coal was taken from!  The altar of God.  The place where sin is atoned for, the place where a poor soul is bound, slaughtered, their blood poured out and then their body burned as a sacrifice for sin.  Isaiah had been to the temple in Jerusalem, he had seen countless animals killed as sin sacrifices, and now in heaven he saw the true glory of God’s atonement for sin. 

The sacrifice for Isaiah’s sin, and for your sin is the same.  God, the great King of Kings and Lord of Lords left behind the glories of holy heaven, and entered our dirty sinful world.  He lived a life in the flesh our human nature and then when the time was right he was the ultimate sacrifice for sin.  He was the one who was bound.  He was the one whose blood was poured out.  He was the one who suffered the just punishment for Isaiah’s sin and yes friends, for your sin as well.  His blood was poured out on the altar of heaven for Isaiah’s sin, for your sin, and for the sin of the whole world.

So when that burning coal touches Isaiah, it is that blood that heals him.  It is that blood that takes away his sin.  It is that sacrifice that allows him to be before the Triune God in peace.  And the same is true for you as well dear friends.  No, we are not going to touch your lips with burning coals.  But we are today going to touch your lips with the very body and blood of that sacrifice Jesus.  We will give him to you for eat.  And as you eat him, your whole body is made well, your sin is gone, you are connected to the sin sacrifice of Jesus. 

And dear friends that sacrifice is good for all your sins.  Because Jesus poured out his life on the cross for you, you can safely enter heaven.  Because Jesus died in your place, you can stand before God, and see him face to face.  For because Jesus died for your sin, because he took away every last bit of it, you are now holy, just as God is Holy, Holy, Holy.  Your sin is cleansed.  You are made well with the blood of the lamb. 

So rejoice, as you one day will stand as Isaiah does at the end of our text, in heaven.  Not afraid of God.  Not dreading judgment.  Not guilty, but innocent, at peace forever.  You will sing with the angels and the archangels, the cherubim and seraphim all without terror or fear.  You will see your loved ones who have also died in the faith.  You will live forever, and never have pain again.  For the sacrifice of God has touched your lips, you are made whole in the blood of the lamb.  You – today – are a citizen of heaven, all because of the sacrifice of Jesus.  Amen.