LWML Convention Closing Sermon

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, especially these words, “(Jesus) set his face to go to Jerusalem.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, Jesus has come for one reason and one reason alone:  To go to Jerusalem, to get nailed to the cross and to die for all sin, shame, guilt and wrong.  That’s what he has set his mind to do in our text, he is focused on Good Friday, because that’s where your forgiveness is earned and won.  And that’s what he cares about, forgiving you your sin.  And nothing will distract him from that.  He won’t get distracted turning to the right or the left, as we so often do in this world.  He won’t make excuses, or complain.  He’s on his way to die for YOUR sin.   

Jesus can’t be like Elijah, hiding in a cave when the threat of death arrives.  No, Jesus faces it head on – rebuking those who would distract him. He must rescue those who believe in in Him, even if it’s just a small remnant, and the way he rescues is by the cross.  Jesus can’t be like Elisha, stopping to kiss his parents good-bye, and feeding some hungry people with the oxen he was recently plowing with.  No, Jesus sets his face towards Jerusalem and torture.  After all, he’s on his way to die for YOUR sin. 

And Jesus won’t be distracted by those who have no time for the cross, like those of the Samaritan village, who turn him away, our text says, because his eyes were set on Jerusalem.  Yes, there are some who want a cross-less Jesus.  One we can praise, one who always smiles, one who fits our expectations, one who is our un-bloody friend, an example and that is all.  But Christ won’t have any of it.  His eyes are set on the cross to die for YOUR sin.  So he avoids that Samaritan town all together, and goes somewhere else. 

And Jesus has no time for the self-righteous either – the disciples who want to call down fire and punish that Samaritan village, as if they were more holy than those of that town.  They aren’t, they’ve sinned just as much.  No, Christ knows the punishment for sin must be upon his own shoulders – no one else’s, because he alone is the spotless lamb of God.  He must die for YOU, and he means to, in Jerusalem when he arrives.  So he rebukes the disciples who decide it’s their job to punish sin, and continues onward.

He runs into a man who shouts out, “I’ll follow you Jesus, wherever you go.”  But Jesus has no time for those who think they can “Decide to follow him.”  He knows the truth, that the sinful hearts of humankind won’t allow them to keep that promise, that they are so sinful as to not be able to “Decide for him,” so He replies curtly, “Foxes have holes, and birds have nests, but I have no place to lay my head.”  Well, except in a tomb in Jerusalem, for that’s where he’s going, his face is set.  He goes to lay His head in a tomb for YOUR sake. 

On the other hand, Jesus calls out to another man, “Follow me.”  His call doesn’t come with earthquakes, not with fire, not with wind, but with the small still voice of His Holy Word.  The same word your pastor preaches to you.  But the man replies, “Yes, Lord, but first let me go and bury my dead family member.”  But Jesus has no time for waiting – the judgment of sin comes soon, upon the cross.  So He replies, “Leave the dead to bury their dead, my eyes are on Jerusalem where I go to die for all the dead, Go and proclaim this message.  The message of Christ crucified and risen so that YOU too will rise from death because of me.”

And finally further down the road, Jesus runs into an Elisha copycat who says, “I will follow you Lord, but first, I must say good bye to my family.”  And Jesus looking only ahead to his own fate, replies, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.  I’m not looking back,” Jesus said, “I go to my fate, to make all things new for YOU AND YOUR SIN.”

Dear friends in Christ, do you see the pattern?  Jesus is focused on the cross for your sake.  You can’t add to it, you can’t subtract from it.  You can’t change it in anyway.  You can’t distract him from his mission – to save sinners.  He has come to rescue you, and sets his face to accomplishing that goal. 

And it is good that the Lord is focused in such a way.  For your sin IS great.  And perhaps I’ll be in trouble for saying so, but even you LWML ladies have great sin.  And yes, even pastors, LWML members, leaders of the church and world sin daily, and greatly.  You sin in thought, in word and in deed.  You get angry at your husband or spouse.  You borrow without asking – or as God calls it stealing.  You find other things you need to do first – before church.  You make excuses for why you can’t be in church on Sunday.  You want Jesus to come to you on your terms your timing.  “First, let me do xyz…”  You gossip and spread rumors, breaking the 8^th commandment – in fact, let’s be clear you break all the commandments, all 10 of them.  So do I, so does everyone. 

And then we self-justify it.  We say, “Well Lord, this only happened because of life circumstances.”  “We won’t worry about that will we God?  After all, I served treats at the last LWML meeting.”  “That sin, well it’s not really my fault.”  “I didn’t mean to, after all, I’ve promised to follow you.”  But in all our excuses and our self-justifying, we lose sight of the great cost that Jesus is paying for our sin – we forget that his eyes are fixed upon our salvation in Jerusalem. 

Christ will have none of your excuses.  His face is set towards Jerusalem, towards Golgotha, towards the cross FOR YOU.  He won’t swerve away.  He won’t change his mind.  He won’t be diverted.  He is absolutely set on forgiving you all your sin.  It will be done by his beating, bleeding, suffering, nailing, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection.  All those things which he does, he does in your place, for your sin, without any excuse, without any payment due.  It’s all for you and for YOUR SIN. 

He gives that forgiveness earned by His cross and empty tomb to you in the preaching of His word.  In fact he has given each one of you a pastor whose job it is to give you that Word, not on their own terms or times, not with their own opinions or understandings, but only as Christ gives it to the church in scripture.  Jesus gives you that forgiveness through Baptism where Water and Word washed away your sins and marked you as forever belonging to Jesus Christ.  And, to top it off Jesus gives you the Sacrament of the Altar, where he gives you his own body and blood to eat and drink ON HIS TERMS, for YOUR forgiveness, life and salvation.  And by these gifts – you are saved from your excuses, complaints and sin. 

And so, dear friends in Christ, you go forth today in the forgiveness that Jesus gives.  So put away your excuses, your complaints, your terms, and your understandings, and live in the Word and promise of Jesus Christ.  For he will not be distracted from saving you.  He will not swerve from his grace.  He will be where he has promised, and do what he has come to do.  His eyes are set on Jerusalem, on your salvation.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  

Proper 7 - E - 2016 - Self Identity, or Christ Identity?

This week was the Church Picnic, held at St. John's, therefore there is no video recording.  

²³ Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. ²⁴ So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, ²⁶ for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.²⁷ For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.²⁸ There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.

4 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, ² but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. ³ In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. ⁴ But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, ⁵ to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. ⁶ And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is form the epistle lesson, especially these words, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  You’ve seen it in the news lately, the whole talk about Self-Identification.  People deciding who they are based upon who they feel they are.  The cases dealing with this have been increasing at a steady pace.  For example, a few years ago, there was Rachel Dolezal, who according to her own words “Was biologically born white to white parents, but identifies as black.” 

Then, a few months later, there was the 52 year old Canadian father of 7, who suddenly self-identified as a 6 year old girl, even going so far as to find an adoptive family to care for him.  In his picture in the news story, he is in a onsie sucking on a pacifier.  

And now, we here in the US are told by presidential mandate not to have bathrooms based upon "biological plumbing" but instead based upon how someone self-identifies their gender.  Marriage is no longer between a man and his wife, but rather by a group of people who self-identify as “in love.”  And all of these ideas of self-identification cause a big mess for us as Christians. 

You see Christians are not called to self-identify.  They are not called to determine for themselves if they are “Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female.”  Instead, we are called to be “Christ-identified.”  Hence we call ourselves “Christians.”  We are to be identified not by what we think about ourselves, but instead by who we belong to and what He has said about us.  Anything else is idolatry, putting our own words above the words of Christ – and that’s a first commandment issue.

It isn’t easy to avoid self-identification.  And I’m not talking about the ridiculous stuff on the news.  I’m talking about you.  And me.  We self-identify all the time, don’t we?  Are you a republican or a democrat?  And what would you think if someone misidentified you in that regard?  I’m not saying its bad to be in a party, but if your entire identity swirls around whether you vote one way or another instead of around Christ, you have a problem. 

Or is your self-identity found in being primarily a citizen of this country.  It is good to live here, but if we worship George Washington or Abraham Lincoln more than we worship the God who created those leaders of our nation, we have a problem. 

Or do you self-identify by your wealth.  Are you rich – and proud of it to the point where you look down on others?  Are you poor, and use that as the catalyst to worry more about being angry at the rich?  Do you self-identify as an important person, so you treat others poorly.  Do you self identify as worthless, and so are depressed. 

In the end, it doesn’t matter what it is that you self-identify as, because it’s the word “Self” that is the problem in self-identity. 

As I said earlier, we as Christians are defined not by how we self-identify, but rather by how Christ identifies us. 

Our identity in Christ begins with baptism.  In water and the word, God calls us to be his own children.  He marks us both upon our foreheads and upon our hearts as belonging to Christ the crucified.  The cross of Christ is put upon us.  And as it is, we are baptized into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  We become God’s possession for eternity, safe in his hands no matter what.  Our identity is thus found in him. 

And in case you worry that your sin could corrupt that identity, it cannot, for in baptism we also are covered with blood, the blood of Jesus, that covers all our sin and marks us as pleasing and acceptable in God’s eyes.  Jesus suffered on the cross and died so that your identity in Him might never be taken away or destroyed. 

And God also identifies you in more ways.  He gives you vocations – jobs – that you do according to his definitions.  For example, this morning is Father’s Day – did you know that is a vocation that God has given to many of you?  And he explains what it means to be a Father, he shows us by his own actions.  It doesn’t mean making your child happy, or giving them lots of gifts.  No being identified as a Christian father means teaching your family the faith.  Christian fathers are to teach the faith to their family, to make sure their family is in church, to sit themselves next to their family in church.  Why?  Because Christ has identified them as a Christian Father. 

Same with Mothers.  And God also gives you the vocation as child, as brother or sister, as a Christian citizen of this world, as a member of this church and more.  And in these vocations he teaches you not to look at your self, but to the service of those around you, much in the same way that he serves you through Jesus. 

And so, dear friends, you are not self-identified, but Christ identified.  That means you cannot be rich apart from the riches that Christ has and shares with you.  You cannot be worthless because Christ has purchased you with something more valuable that gold or silver.  You cannot be sinful, because your sin is taken away forever in the cross of Jesus.  You cannot find your identity in your self, in your feelings, in your thoughts, but only in our Lord, for he has died for you, claimed you in baptism, and made you his holy and righteous possession forever. 

In the name of Jesus. 

Amen.  

Proper 5 - 2016 - G - Jesus Ruins Funerals

VBS Closing Program

VBS Day Three

Crafts

Games

Bible Story

Snacks

Preschool

Various Other Fun