St. Matthew - 2014 - G - Jesus Comes Only For Sinners

The Festival of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist

September 21, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline

Ezekiel 2:8-3:11          Ephesians 4:7-16         Matthew 9:9-13

Hymns LSB 611, 518, 730   Communion Hymns LSB 743, 617, 596, 594
Sermon Audio Found Here

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Today is St. Matthew the apostle day, the day we remember that great tax collector turned saint.  And yet today, as we remember St. Matthew, we remember more the many great things that Jesus did for him than we do him at all.  We think of Jesus, not the sinner, not the martyr, not the tax collector at all.  Just Jesus. 

St. Matthew the Tax collector.  What do you think of when you hear the words, “Tax collector?”  I’m guessing that there are few words that you despise more, except maybe “Audit” and “IRS” and taxes due.  We do not love the taxman’s excessive need to take our money from us at ever increasing rates.  We are fine when someone else pays taxes, but we hate our own. 

The same thing was true back in Jesus day.  Tax collectors were thought of as thieves, as liars, and what’s worse, they worked for the occupying Roman army, sending their money on to the Caesar’s.  What’s more, these tax collectors made their living by collecting extra taxes which went right into their own pockets.  They were hated by the average person, thought of as “less than human” and more sinful than the average person. 

And so they were avoided by people.  They were treated badly.  They were sinners, and all knew it.  Tax collectors like Matthew had few friends, and were some of the outcasts of their time.  And it is to this tax collector Matthew that Jesus calls today, “Follow me.”  All the others in town ask questions?  How can Jesus eat with Sinners or tax collectors like Matthew?  How can Jesus interact with such a terrible person as Matthew, who betrayed his own people for a bit of money?

Dear friends, Jesus answers that question in our lesson.  He comes for sinners.  Jesus comes only for sinners, not for the healthy.  Just a doctor does, he comes only for those who are sick and weak and do what is wrong.  Not for those who are healthy. 

So dear friends, what are you?  What do you think about yourself?  Do you have everything together.  Do you always do what is right?  Are you a healthy normal, human being, or are you a sinner?  Are you upright, or are you down right sinful? 

Be honest, dear friends.  Look at your life, you are sinful.  There is no way around it.  You don’t do what’s right.  You sin in thought word and deed.  You hate, you murder, you lie.  You even sin the same way Matthew did.  In fact, we love money more than a tax collector, don’t we?  Which is why you are so afraid to give it up to taxes or to the offering plate, or to help a person on the street.  You love the power that we feel when we use money to benefit ourselves.  We love money itself – it becomes an idol for us. 

And what’s more, dear friend, we also are guilty in the same way as the Pharisees in our text.  We judge people as worse then us, as more sinful than us, as terrible horrible no good very bad people.  And we take great pride in these judgments, because they mean we can sleep a little easier at night knowing at least there’s someone sicker than us. 

Dear friends, repent of your sin.  Turn aside from you idolatry and your pride.  Admit how sick you are, sick enough that you will one day die from your sin.  And in your illness, heed the call of the great physician Jesus, just as Matthew did. 

Jesus came for the sick.  Jesus came for the weak.  So be weak, be sick, and receive his mercy and his care.  Jesus came for those who are dying, and in sin you are dying, so let him be your Hospice doctor, caring for you in your final days.  Because dear friends, as you die from sin, there is no better doctor than Jesus. 

For Jesus has already been through death.  Yes, all the way through, he suffered as we suffer, he bled, as we bleed, and he died, nailed to a cross, so that when we die, it shall not be our end.  For Jesus went through death, all the way through.  He rose again on the third day, promising eternal life to all those for whom he’d care.  He rose, promising to take with him, all who died with him.  That promise was made to all the sick, all the sinners, all the liars, the murderers and the cheat.  That promise was made, dear friends, even to you. 

Yes, your sin, your pride, your guilt and all the rest of your sickness is healed by Jesus crucified and risen.  Just as he saved poor sinful tax collector Matthew, so too will he save you.  It is his promise, it is the hope that we have in his name.  It is the truth in which we believe. 

Dear friends, Jesus came for the sick.  Admit your sin, admit the sickness is causes you, and be saved by the grace offered in his Holy and precious name.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  

Advent 2 Midweek - 2013 - Psalm 24

Psalm 24

Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
    And who shall stand in his holy place?
⁴ He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not lift up his soul to what is false
    and does not swear deceitfully.
⁵ He will receive blessing from the Lord
    and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
⁶ Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek the face of the God of Jacob.^[a] Selah

⁷ Lift up your heads, O gates!
    And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
⁸ Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord, strong and mighty,
    the Lord, mighty in battle!
⁹ Lift up your heads, O gates!
    And lift them up, O ancient doors,
    that the King of glory may come in.
¹⁰ Who is this King of glory?
    The Lord of hosts,
    he is the King of glory! 

Revelation 5:6-10

⁶ And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, with seven horns and with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. ⁷ And he went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne. ⁸ And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. ⁹ And they sang a new song, saying,

“Worthy are you to take the scroll
    and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
    from every tribe and language and people and nation,
¹⁰ and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
    and they shall reign on the earth.”

¹¹ Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, ¹² saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!”

¹³ And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying, “To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

¹⁴ And the four living creatures said, “Amen!” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from the readings just read, along with the words of hymn 339, Lift up your heads, you everlasting doors. 

Christmas is coming, God is coming to be more clear.  And as he comes, who is worthy?  “Who is it that shall ascend to the hill of the Lord?” asks our psalm.  In other words, who is that is worthy to enter the temple, to be in the presence of God?  Who is deserving and praiseworthy enough for God?

Its not you, and its not me.  The psalm tells us what requirements there are to stand in the “holy place of God.”  You must have “clean hands and a pure heart.”  You must not “lift up your soul to what is false, or swear deceitfully.”  And your life does not match up with what this text says.  You are not clean by hand or action, and you are certainly not pure of heart.  This list in our psalm is not a long list, but still we’ve failed at these few commands. 

Your hands are not clean.  What sins have they committed.  Have they committed adultery?  Have they stolen, have they hurt or harmed your neighbor?  They have.  In fact you hands of done things that would make your family blush if they knew of them.  You’ve committed sin by your deeds.  The guilt is yours.  And in addition your heart is not clean, for the sins of your heart are really what made your hands unclean themselves.  You desire sin at every turn.  You seek to serve not God, but to serve yourself.  To make yourself happy in this life by the works of your hand.  Your heart desires not the things of God, but only the things of this world.  For you, dear friend, are a sinner. 

No, you are not worthy to ascend to God’s holy mountain.  You are not worthy to receive blessings from the Lord, nor righteousness from the God of salvation.  Instead, all you and I desire is condemnation, death, punishment and hell – forever. 

And yet there is one who is worthy, there is one who can ascend the mountain of God, one who is perfect both in action and in heart.  One whose righteousness passes all our understanding.  And it is for this one that we wait with anticipation.  It’s for this one that we sang the words of our hymn today.  “Who is this King of great and glorious fame?  What is His name?  Lord God of Sabaoth!  Of whom the prophets wrote, whose chosen humble steed declares him king indeed!  Hosana Lord!  Messiah come and save from sin and grave!” 

It’s Jesus, the coming one, who is worthy.  For it is He who is perfect in purity of heart and in cleanness of hand.  It is he who may ascend God’s holy mountain, to enter into his presence, for he has first ascended the mountain of God’s wrath.  It’s He who taking your sins, bore them to Golgotha, where all the judgment and wrath of God was poured out upon him.  It is there that your death became his, and his life became yours.  It’s on the cross that God punished your guilt.  It’s there that the worthy Christ suffered and died in your place. 

“Worthy is Christ!  The lamb who once was slain!”  And he gives that worthiness to you, in water and the word.  You now belong to God.  You now inherit heaven.  In Jesus your identity is not that of a sinner with unclean hands and un pure heart.  But instead in Jesus your identity is a holy child of God, who is fully forgiven and holy forever in God’s sight.  You are ransomed by the blood of God’s Son.

Rejoice!  O Zion’s daughter sing!  The gates of heaven lift up their heads to Christ who enters in.  And you follow in his train.  Hosana!  Blessed is He and all who come with him and in him.  Blessed are you, who belong to Christ, even forevermore.  For He is the King of glory!  The Lord of hosts!  Forevermore!  Amen.  

Easter 2 - G - 2012 - Confess and be Forgiven

The Second Sunday of Easter

April 15, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

Acts 4:32-35             1 John 1:1-2:2             John 20:19-31

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  Amen.  Our text today comes from the second reading, especially these words, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Thus far our text. 

There once was a man, who lived with his wife and his children, and worked hard every day.  One particularly cold day, he was out shoveling snow, when suddenly he felt a pain in his arm.  The man ignored it and kept on shoveling.  Soon, he felt slightly out of breath, and went inside for a few minutes.  While he was telling his wife what was going on, she looked at him and said point blank, “That sounds serious, perhaps we should go to the doctor.  The man told her right back, “Only sissies go to the doctor, I’ll be fine.” 

The next day the same thing happened, and the next and the next, and still he ignored the pain and shortness of breath, even as they got worse.  Finally one day, the man fell collapsed while he was out working, and died from a heart attack that could have been prevented had the man paid attention to the symptoms.  If he would have simply admitted something was wrong and gone to see the doctor, he could have been healed and lived for many more happy years with his wife and family.  But instead he deceived himself saying, “I’m fine, I don’t need any help.”

Dear friends, I hope that none of you ever face that particular situation, and yet the truth is, you face it every day.  No, not with heart problems, but with sin.  Daily we are confronted by the fact that we are sinners, that we are guilty, that we deserve punishment, and yet, so often we ignore it like it doesn’t exist, deceiving ourselves.  The signs are there, the symptoms are ever present, and you deny the truth of the matter.  And yes, I am talking about you all. 

This past week we celebrated Easter, the joyous resurrection of the dead, the hope of life through the Risen Lord and Savior of the entire world, Jesus.  We came, we saw our lilies, we said the Easter greeting, ate our hams and then went on like nothing had happened the rest of the week.  We heard the truth, the wonderful Gospel of Easter, and then we returned to our sin, as scripture says, “like a dog returns to its vomit.”  You did it, and dear friends, I too have done it. 

Our text says, “If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth.”  When we continue in our life of sin, we deny that Christ has risen, we deny that we are sick and that we need his help.  We fail to live in the truth, and worst of all, we don’t confess it to those who are around us. 

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  We become like that man, who ignored the symptoms of heart troubles, and who died because of it.  We are that person, we who so joyously celebrated a week ago, have deceived ourselves much since then.  We have worshiped false gods and idols, mostly ourselves.  We have cursed, sworn, we have committed murder and adultery in thought word and deed, we have stolen, coveted, cheated, and more.  And all of these are the symptom of the greater problem.  All these are the shortness of breath caused by a heart attack.  All of these things show that we live like Christ is still dead, like he is still in the tomb.  And if Christ is dead in the tomb, that is all the further you will get yourself.  If Christ is dead, you are dead as well.

If you live in darkness, if you live in sin, you do not have fellowship with Christ, you are not in the light.  Don’t deceive yourself.  You are in sin.  You are guilty.  You do deserve punishment and wrath from God.  Each of you.  Each and every one of you.  Jesus said so, that’s why he came, to rescue you.  To die for your sin. 

So confess your sin.  Confess your sin and walk in it no longer.  Christ is risen from the dead, so don’t live a life of death any longer.  Confess your sin, so that God who is faithful and just will forgive it, so that he will cleanse you from unrighteousness.  Confess your sin, so that the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world will take yours as well.  Tell him your deepest darkest sin, and be forgiven.  Confess all that you have done wrong, Before God plead guilty of all sins, even those you do not know, as we do in the Lord’s Prayer.  And before the Pastor, we confess those sins that we know and feel in our hearts, that bother you.  Confess and be forgiven.    

If anyone does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.  He went to the cross for sins, both the confessed and the unconfessed.  He went to the cross so that you would not have to make the difficult choices your sin brings about, so that you would not have to deal with the difficult situations your sin puts you in.  So that you can be free from them forever without end. 

And now, Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed.  He who killed your sin now lives sin free with you.  He who was bloodied now bloodies you in his own holiness of life.  You cannot live anymore in your sin, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.”  Confess, be forgiven, live in the holiness that Christ gives to you by His grace. 

Christ is risen, be risen with him, and leave your sin behind.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen. 

Lent 3 - G - 2012 - The Temple of Bloody Sacrifice

The Third Sunday of Lent
March 11, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

Exodus 20:1-17           1 Corinthians 1:18-31             John 2:13-25

This weeks sermon written was extremely different than sermon preached - just was in the preaching mood I guess, but here is the written sermon:

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 just read, especially these words, ¹⁹ Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  The Jewish temple was the place forgiveness of sins happened, because that is the place where God dwelt.  There, animals were slaughtered.  There, blood was spilled – gallons of it.  There the priests daily offered countless sacrifices, burning them on a giant altar.  It was a huge 34 acre complex, covered with gold and jewels and a vast market place.  In that market place, animals that were to be sacrificed were bought and sold. 

It is there, that you bought and paid for your forgiveness of sins.  You bought the sacrifice necessary for your guilt before God.  You paid for the coins to give the priest for the temple tax.  It is there, you used your own hard earned money, to get forgiveness from God – all of it through the blood of countless animals killed every day. 

The forgiveness of sins was not cheap in the Jerusalem temple.  And what made it even worse was the way you got it.  For through the hundreds of years that Jewish people went to the temple to get forgiveness of sins, inflation ruled supreme.  The temple had its own currency, its own coins you had to buy.  It was almost like Chucky Cheese, you went to the temple, and used the real money to buy the temple coins, or tokens which you used to buy the other sacrifices.  And as if buying forgiveness wasn’t bad enough the cost rose and rose and rose, for the priests in the temple were taking advantage of the people. 

The dwelling place of God had become a den of robbers.  The holiest place in Israel was no longer a place of forgiveness, but a house of trade to barter for forgiveness.  How very like us.  For we too try to bargain with God to get the things we want in the way we want.  “God if you will heal my uncle, I swear I will come to church more often.  Lord, I am going to sin just this one time, you’ll forgive me anyways, right?  I mean, I do believe in you, so just let me sneak by this time – it will only happen once I swear!”

We ourselves become the thieves and robbers.  We ourselves steal from God in this way, and in so doing lose sight of the blood that must be slain for our forgiveness – the true cost, the true price. 

In our text, Jesus walks right into the midst of this situation, and gets righteously angry.  “How dare you make my house a place of trade?  How dare you spend so much time and effort worrying about the price that you must pay for forgiveness?  How dare you defame the place where God chooses to dwell?”  So Jesus makes a whip, and runs through the temple whipping and driving out sin from the Jewish temple. 

For Jesus knows the truth, as we have mentioned, that blood must be shed.  For in blood is the life of a creature.  And since we sinners deserve death, lifeblood must be poured out on our behalf.  And it must be done before God to count for our guilt, for our bargaining, for our downright shamefulness. 

For that is why Jesus came.  In our text today, there are two temples.  The Jewish temple, the majestic building built by mere man for God to live, and the Jesus of Nazereth, where God chose to dwell.  Jesus would be the temple where the ultimate sacrifice would occur.  He would be the temple where all sin would be forgiven now and forever – all yours, all mine, the entire worlds.  It is there that not you at all, but God would purchase your forgiveness. 

Jesus tells the Jews in the temple as much in our text.  “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”  No, not the buildings built by man, not the place in Jerusalem.  But the created human flesh where the uncreated God dwells.  For as Jesus drove sin out of the temple building in Jerusalem with whips in our text, so too would Jesus drive the sin out of the world as whips struck his own flesh.  In the temple of his own flesh, Jesus would spill the blood necessary for your forgiveness.  The very temple of God, the place where the second person of the Trinity dwelt among his own people, would be destroyed.

It’s on the cross that this all happens.  This season of Lent that is where we look, to a cross, where all our guilt, all our shame, all our lust and hate and angriness is covered with blood from a sacrifice.  The life of Christ pours out from his hands and side for you so that no longer do you need to bicker and steal, but instead that you might receive freely from God and share with those who are around you. 

You are washed in the blood of Christ. You are covered with his righteousness.  You belong to him, as you freely receive the gifts from Christ – baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and his holy word. 

The cross also means a promise for you.  For as the temple of Jesus’s body was destroyed, so too did it raise again.  On the third day following the crucifixion, the tomb of Christ was empty.  And this is the promise.  Covered in Christ’s blood through baptism we have already died to our sin, and we are raised into eternity with him, raised into the place where there no longer will need to be atonement – where there will be no sin, not hurt, not pain.  Raised to be with God – with Jesus forever and ever. 

Amen.

Transfiguration - G - 2012 - The Hidden God Revealed

The Transfiguration of Our Lord

February 19, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

Exodus 34:29-35         2 Corinthians 3:12-18; 4:1-6        Mark 9:2-9

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, “And Jesus was transfigured before them.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  God hides himself.  He does it for our benefit.  He does it to protect us sinners from his holiness, his almightiness, he righteous justice.  God hides himself from us, for He is righteously angry at our terrible sin and disregard for the many gifts that He gives to us.  For sinners cannot stand before God.  God will not tolerate the sinner being in his presence with his sin unfurled for all to see.  He will not stand for those who brazenly declare “yes I have sinned, and will do it again, and who are you God to stop me?” 

But God does love you, and God does desire you to be saved.  So God hides himself from your sin, so that he can continue to proclaim his word to you. 

In the very beginning when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit they were not to eat, immediately they were afraid of a holy and righteous God – so they hid in the bushes.  God upon finding them, gives them a more suitable hiding place – animal skins.  To hide sinful man, blood had to be shed, animals had to die.  Only then could mankind be hidden from God’s wrath because of sin.  Only then could our world go on. 

Nine generations later, Noah was hidden away on the ark, hidden from the just judgment of God on a sinful world.  Safe in the ark, God was hidden from Noah as the world of sin was washed away outside of the ark.  Through water, Noah was safely brought through the terrible alien wrath of God’s judgment of sin. 

God hides himself away over and over throughout the pages of scripture.  He is hidden from Moses behind a burning bush.  He is hidden from the people of Israel in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  The people of Israel however want to see God, they want to know who he is.  So God comes down, hidden in cloud and thunder, and the people again are afraid.  Before God reveals himself, they change their mind, knowing their sin is too great to see God for who he really is – a Good and Loving God, who is angry over sin. 

So instead, they send Moses, who is the only man to look upon God face to face.  In our Old Testament lesson today, we see the result.  “Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him.”  God’s glory shone from Moses’ face, and was again graciously hidden from the fearful Israelites by a veil. 

God continues to hide throughout the pages of the Old Testament.  He is hidden on the Ark of the Covenant between the Wings of the Cherubim.  He hides in the Tabernacle in the Holy of Holies, where again the priest had to pour blood out to hide man’s sin before God.  God hides in the Temple of Solomon, and God hides himself from Elijah, only allowing him to see the back of his cloak as he heard the very word of God. 

God hates sin.  God hides sin from his presence, and thus he hides himself away from sinful people.  He hides away to protect them, to keep them away from his just judgment on sin – that the sinner should die.  That the sinner does not deserve to be in the presence of God.  That the sinner is guilty, and God the great and powerful judge delivers the judgment.  God hides, to keep you safe. 

You can imagine then John, James and Peter’s reaction on the mount of Transfiguration then.  They get to see God revealed.  They get to see God as we all will one day see him when he returns again.  They see hidden God revealed.  For God has hidden himself from them as well, hidden in our own human flesh.  The man that Peter James and John had been following was really God hidden amongst them.  The God who spoke to Moses hidden in the burning bush spoke to Peter, James and John hidden in the body of a man.  The God who hid himself away from sinners now is hidden in their very midst. 

And now only that, in our text today, God reveals himself for who he really is.  Jesus was transfigured before them, revealing his glory, glowing white.  Elijah and Moses appeared and spoke with Jesus – with God no longer hidden in a man, but revealed – about why God had come. 

You see God doesn’t want to hide from you forever.  He doesn’t always want to be separated from you.  He doesn’t want to have to hide to keep you safe from his holiness.  Instead he wants you to be holy like the very Lord your God is holy.  And there is only one way for that to happen.  God hid himself in Jesus, in a man, to reveal himself to all – not through a burning bush.  Not through a pillar of cloud and fire, not through the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant, but revealed for who he truly is – love – hanging on a cross dying for your sin, dying for your guilt, paying the price you owe. 

That’s why Jesus is revealed on transfiguration to show who he is – God.  And being revealed he will reveal himself again on a Friday we call Good, on an old rugged cross, with his own blood, not the blood of animals hiding your sin away forever.  Now, in him you have life.  Now in him you have forgiveness.  Now, in him you belong to God. 

Friends, Jesus comes to you today as well, again hidden.  For while we are forgiven, we still are in this world of sin, so God still hides, he hides in bread and wine, for forgiveness life and salvation.  He hides in water and word where he washes away your sin, and takes them upon himself.  He hides in preaching to create and sustain faith in your lives.  He hides here today, so that he can one day reveal himself to you as he did to Peter, James and John.  Not as a God angry at sin, but a holy God who forgives.  A holy God who loves.  A holy God, who through the death and resurrection of Jesus can be himself again, no longer hiding away.

It is all through Jesus. It is all through his grace, and through his mercy.  For in him God is hidden, and in him, God will reveal himself to the world, outstretched upon a cross – all because he loves you.  Amen.  

Epiphany 5 - G - 2012 - The Gift Greater than Earthly Healing

The Fifth Sunday After Epiphany

February 5, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

Isaiah 40:21-31           1 Corinthians 9:16-27         Mark 1:29-39

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.  Our text today comes from the Gospel lesson just read especially these words, “Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else-- to the nearby villages-- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come."  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ.  He did it for Peter’s mother in law, he’ll do it for me too right?  In our Gospel lesson today we see Jesus coming into a town, much like our town.  A town full of people who were sick, people who struggled people who hurt.  Jesus comes to Peter’s house.  His mother in law is sick with a fever, too sick to get up and meet Jesus., too sick to help prepare the meal and the food.   Immediately Jesus takes her by the hand, lifts her up, and she is healed. 

Immediately, she begins to help cook the food, immediately she helps the part – the celebration – to get underway.  As the news spreads throughout the town, countless other people bring in their sick people.  After all, he did it for Peter’s Mother-in-law, so of course he will do it for them as well.  It is a late night of celebration as Jesus heals countless people, from various diseases.  As Jesus, casts out demons, but prevents them from speaking a single word. 

Finally, Jesus goes out to a solitary place, sneaking out to take a break from healing, and he prays.  Finally Jesus tries to catch a rest from the work of healing people, for just like you and I, the God man needs some rest.  As Jesus is praying, Peter hunts him down – “Jesus there are more people coming!  Jesus they need to be healed too  Jesus, you did it for my mother in law, you healed her.  It’s only fair if you will heal these other people too.”

Dear friends in Christ, isn’t that our cry as well.  Dear Lord, we know that you healed all sorts of people in the New Testament.  You gave the blind their sight, you gave the lame to walk, the deaf to hear.  You did all these wonderful powerful things, so won’t you just do the same thing for me?  Won’t you take away my ailment too, its only fair. 

We make these deals with God all the time, and we do it because we believe it is the most important thing.  Heal my father’s cancer.  Heal my uncles kidneys or livers.  Take away my grandfathers weakness.  That’s all I need!  That’s all I want.  Just do that, then I will believe in you, then I will trust in you.  Dear God, can’t you take away my suffering, can’t you raise my friend?  Do for me as you did in Capernaum.  That’s all I need.

Sometimes we even get angry – Dear God, how could you let that happen, when I know that you could have stopped it if you wanted.  I know you could have prevented this event!  Why didn’t you?  You did it for some, why not for others.  All I need is your help in this situation, all I need is your healing.  Give it to me!  Give it to me now!

That’s the same thing Peter says to Jesus in our text.  “Everyone is looking for you Jesus, they want you to heal their sick as well.  It’s all they need.  But Jesus stop’s Peter cold in his tracks.  And dear friends, he stops you in your tracks.  Healing from your earthly maladies is not what you need from Jesus.  It isn’t the most important thing that Jesus came for.  Hear what Jesus says to Peter in our text today. 

“Let us go somewhere else-- to the nearby villages-- so I can preach there also. That is why I have come.”  Don’t you care Jesus?  Aren’t you concerned with suffering?  Don’t you want everyone to be healed and happy, and to live forever here on this earth?  Can’t you save those people, or are you showing favoritism?  Are you compassionate to some, and not to others? 

Dear friends, the problem is not with Jesus, it is completely and totally with you and with me.  Jesus does care.  Jesus will heal if it is His holy perfect will.  But Jesus has a more important, a more necessary reason that he has come for first, and he tells it to Peter in our text.  I need to preach there also.  I need to go to the next place and preach – that’s why I have come. 

Friends Jesus didn’t come for the reason you wanted him to come!  He didn’t come to be your magic healer, to take away the pain and suffering and sickness of this world through magic tricks.  Jesus came to preach – “Repent for the Kingdom of God is near.”  Jesus came to preach “I will be lifted up, and will draw all people to myself.”  And that message of Jesus preaching is more important than any miracle of healing, more important that any miraculous feeding.  Because in that word the whole ball of wax is included. 

That message Repent for I am going to die for your sins.  I will rescue you from your illness, not by healing you just to die again later, but by taking death away forever with my own death.  Repent, turn to me, and I will lead you out of death into eternity, I will spill my blood over you, cover you in it.  Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it forever and ever without end. 

Faith in those words, faith in Jesus will lead you from sickness into life, from death to heaven.  That’s what is most important.  That’s why Jesus came.  Not to put off your death.  Not to leave you alive for a little longer, but to take you away from death in his own cross. 

Friends, each one of us has loved ones who are sick.  Each one of us have people we know who hurt, who are in danger, and we want them to be better.  We want them not to hurt, not to suffer.  We want a perfect world.  We want God to take away their illness so we can have them to ourselves a little longer. 

But friends, Jesus came to give you something greater, something more wonderful.  He came to give you something, as difficult as it is to hear and to believe, more wonderful that the healing of your mother in law or brother.  He came to give you eternity, and to give it to you through preaching and his word.  He came to give you eternity with them before the throne of God.

God gives this to you through preaching.  He gives it to you through the words of a sinful man, who says, “In the stead, and by the command of Christ, I forgive you all your sins.”  He gives it to through the preaching of a man who says, Christ’s own words, “Take and eat, this is Christ’s body.  Take and drink, this is his blood.”  He gives you his word that says, “Christ suffered and died on a cross, and he did it for you, not as a temporary from the sicknesses of this world, but as a permanent rescue.”  Yes it may hurt for awhile.  Yes it is difficult to struggle through on this sinful earth.  But what God gives to you is something more amazing than you can imagine. 

Christ may heal your loved ones, he may not.  He may heal you, he may not.  But he has give you his word either way.  He has given you a gift of eternity, of peace of comfort beyond all understanding – all through the preaching of his word.  Come, hear God’s word.  Come believe His preaching – for that is why he came.  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. 

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

Christmas - G - 2011 - God Breathing, God Eating, God as Man on Christmas

Isaiah 62:10-12           Titus 3:4-7       Luke 2:1-20

Grace Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today will be the Gospel Lesson just read, especially these words, “And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, I think my favorite Christmas Hymn is “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.”  It is a hymn that pictures that glorious moment that we are celebrating today.  The birth of Jesus.  A little baby is born, not in a hospital, not in a home, not even in the inn, but in a stable.  And yet, even with such a lowly birth, with such little human fanfare, the angels sing, “Glory to the newborn king!”

The angels sing for a good reason, for even while people did not notice anything special, the babe lying in the manger is special.  He is a human, just like you and me, and yet, he is also the creator of Humans.  He is the only begotten Son of God, begotten before all the world existed, and he is also created human flesh.  When Mary nurses her child, she nurses the God who formed her in her own mother’s womb. 

That’s why the angels are singing, they know who the baby is – the word made flesh who dwells among us.  “Christ the everlasting Lord” and now “Pleased as Man with Man to Dwell, Jesus our Immanuel.”  God with us.  God with us in human flesh.  From heaven above to Earth he has come!  Christmas is here.

That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown.  Jesus coming to us, to be with us, to live in our crummy world.  He witnessed and experienced first hand all our struggles.  God was hungry.  God got tired.  God was thirsty, he breathed the very air he had made in the very beginning.  He wept, he skinned his knees, he even went to the bathroom.  Mary and Joseph had to potty train God!  When he grew up, he personally knew people who were sick, who died, who struggled with sin.  Scripture records 12 that he was personally friends with, even as they doubted who he was, as they questioned him, and as they misunderstood why he had come. 

For God came and dwelt in our flesh for a reason.  This wasn’t just a field trip for God to experience His world.  He came for a specific reason, to give us something we need.  He came into flesh, so that flesh could suffer.  He came to breathe our air so that he could stop breathe his last breath, “Eloi, Eloi, Lemma Sabachthani!”  He took on our flesh that thirsts, that feels pain, and that has blood coursing through its veins, so that he could go to the cross and die. 

Don’t you see, Jesus came to die for you?  To give you forgiveness.  To take away your sin.  To give you hope.  He took on your flesh so that he could pay the payment your sin required.  Your guilt required your death.  Your sin meant you must die.  And God would have none of it, so he came here to take your place. 

So God laid his wonderful Glory aside, “Born that man no more may die, born to raise the sons of earth,” Born to give you second birth in flowing living waters of baptism.  For as the living body of God died on the cross, it rose again on the third day, meaning all human flesh will live, all human flesh will be raised, all human flesh that has died will rise again on the last day.  Some will go to everlasting condemnation, but you dear friends, in Jesus, will raise to everlasting life. 

That’s why the angels were excited.  God was saving you.  God was accomplishing his most glorious work, dying on a cross. Its Christmas!  Today you have good news of great joy that will be for all the people.   For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace, good will to those on whom his favor rest.   Peace to you, peace to me, peace to the whole world.  Jesus is born.  He lays in a manger in Bethlehem.  He comes for you.  He comes to set you free from sin.  “Hark the herald Angels Sing!  Glory to the New Born King!”

Christmas Eve - G - 2011 - Oh By the Way, Jesus Was Born On Christmas Day

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 of Matthew just read, especially these words, “She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ, on a dark night, nearly 2000 years ago, a little baby rested in a barn outside an inn.  We all know the Christmas story, or in so far as the nativities in our living rooms tell it.  Jesus was born, there were cows lowing and sheep quietly sitting there, while wise men arrived and shepherds gawked.  As we imagine this scene, we are hit with its sentimental theme.  We like to think about baby Jesus, we like to picture him wrapped in swaddling clothes and laying in a manger.  It makes us feel good to picture.  And it should, that little baby has come because of you.

But in our text today, Matthew doesn’t spend time on angels and shepherds, or even sheep or great tidings of joy.  St. Matthew almost mentions the birth of Jesus as if saying, “Oh, by the way, he was born.”  You see, in the Gospel of Matthew, the focus is on all the other things going on at the time.  Joseph thought Mary was cheating on him before they were married.  He was trying to call the whole thing off in a holy and upright way.  You can only imagine the scandal that was going on!  Mary claimed God gave her a baby, and Joseph had his doubts. 

And so in the midst of this scandal, a young woman pregnant and a fiancé in doubt, Jesus is born.  In the midst of chaos, in the midst of doubts, in the midst of struggles in regular people’s lives, the only begotten Son of God was born, and born for a reason.  In fact, dear friends in Christ, it is good that Matthew writes his Gospel in this particular way, because it reflects our own lives, doesn’t it?

Christmas time is here, and family is in town, we want to try and spend some time with them before they head home again.  We have had a busy month of preparation, and now it is crunch time: get the food cooked, get the dishes cleaned, rush, rush, rush, until we get to January – then we can work, work, work so that we can pay off all our Christmas bills.  We are always busy.  Our lives are always chaotic.  We have our own problems and issues that come up, just like Joseph and Mary. 

In the midst of it all, it is easy to lose track of what is actually going on in our text.  It is easy to lose track of the reason we are gathered here tonight.  Jesus is born.  And He is born for a purpose.  Jesus enters our busy lives, and he comes to save us from them.  He comes to rescue us.

The little babe is born to die for you, as we sing, He is “Born that man no more may die.  Born to raise the sons of earth.”  That babe is born, so that “now the foe, sin and woe, death and hell are broken.”  He’s born for you.  He lays in a manger for you.  He lives for you.  And most importantly he will die for you.  For thirty years, Jesus lived here on this earth.  He interacted with countless people in the midst of their busy sinful lives.  He helped those who struggled as his own parents had.  He cared for the broken hearted, he cared for the sick and he healed those who needed him.  And most importantly, he set his eyes on Golgotha, and suffered on an old rugged cross, on a Friday we call Good. 

That is who this baby is, and friends, today he enters into your own busy lives as well.  You don’t need do anything, you don’t need to invite him in.  He comes!  He comes on his own for you.  He is with you in your struggles and promises something better for you.  He is as our text says, Immanuel, God with us, with us at all times and in all places.  With us for calm and peace. 

Dear friends, it’s Christmas, and tonight we have sung countless Christmas hymns all describing the joy and wonder of angels and shepherds – good hymns that we love and cherish.  But tonight, in just a few minutes, we will turn down the lights, and have a minute of silence.  Silence in the midst of our busy lives, silence in the midst of suffering and struggles.  Silence to reflect on the meaning of this day.  And as we sit in the dark, a warm glow will build from our candles, as we celebrate the coming of Jesus, the light of the world. 

For with Jesus, it truly is a silent night, a holy night.  All is calm, and all is bright.  He has come.  He has come for you.  He will die for you.  All so that you may have his chickens.  Merry Christmas dear friends in Christ.  Merry Christmas.  Amen.  

Advent Midweek 1 - 2011 - From Heaven Above To Earth I Come

1 "From heav'n above to earth I come

to bear good news to ev'ry home:

Glad tidings of great joy I bring,

Whereof I now will say and sing:

2 "To you this night is born a child

Of Mary chosen virgin mild;

This little child of lowly birth

Shall be the joy of all the earth.

3 "This is the Christ, our God Most High,

Who hears your sad and bitter cry;

He will Himself your Savior be

From all your sins to set you free.

4 "He will on you the gifts bestow

Prepared by God for all below,

That in His kingdom, bright and fair,

You may with us His glory share.

5 "These are the signs that you shall mark:

The swaddling clothes and manger dark.

There you will find the infant laid

By whom the heav'ns and earth were made." 

^{Ephesians 4}

¹I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,³eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism,⁶ one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. ⁷But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸Therefore it says,

    "When he ascended on high he led a host of captives,
   and he gave gifts to men."

 ⁹( In saying, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?^[a] 10He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.) 

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the hymn verses read, along with these words, “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ, “From heaven above, to Earth I come!” Jesus declares in our hymn for today.  And what good news this is for us dear friends, what a blessing that Jesus is coming to Earth.  In fact that is what the very word Advent means, that Jesus is coming.  He’s on his way, and he comes with healing in his wings.  He hears our “sad and bitter cry,” and comes “from all our sins to set us free.” 

It is a gift we greatly need and desire that Jesus brings with him.  Freedom from sins.  For we are slaves to sin, captured and mistreated by a cruel master.  Freedom because we are greedy, we are hurtful, we are jerks at times.  We fail to do what we know is right, and we pay the price for that sinfulness. 

Do you doubt that you are in need of a savior?  Do you doubt that you need to be rescued?  Look at your life.  Are you ever overwhelmed by the things that happen in your life.  Do you yourself hurt, and feel pain and sorrow?  Do you feel lonely, do you hurt?  These things are all from your sin, and they show how greatly you need a savior, how you need someone who would come down to save you.  Oh that a savior would come, O that God would rend open the heavens and come down, for here we toil and suffer, and we want rescue.

And that is what Christmas is all about.  As it grows nearer and nearer every week, know the reason for Christmas is that we might be rescued.  That, “To you this night is born a child; Of Mary chosen virgin mild; This little child of lowly birth; Shall be the joy of all the earth.”  He will on you gifts bestow, gifts of Life and Salvation, gifts that bring you to his own cross, where He hung and died for you sin, where he suffered because you are guilty, where he died to take away all your guilt and give you life. 

Our epistle lesson says “grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift.”  Therefore, Jesus “descended into the lower regions, the earth.”  From heaven  he came with gifts of baptism, that wash you in his blood for sin payment.  From heaven he came with gifts of his own sacrificed body and blood for forgiveness of sins.  From heaven above to bring good news to ev'ry home, good news that you are forgiven, that your sin is gone. 

For unto you this day is born in the city of david, a savior, which is Jesus Christ the Lord.  He is coming.  He will come down.  He will bring saving powers for you.  Come Lord Jesus, come quickly.  Amen.  

Proper 28 - O - 2011 - The Great Day of the Lord is Drawing Near

Pentecost 22/Proper 28           Zepheniah 1:7-16        1 Thess 5:1-11             Matthew 25:14-30

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 just read.  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, “the great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast;  the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.  A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.”  The day is coming, and our text today paints a grim picture of what will happen. 

We are now in the last few weeks of the church year, and as we draw near to the end of the church year, we remember the coming end to our world.  St. Peter tells us that the end of the world will come with fire (I Peter 3:7) for the judgment of ungodly people.  We see all sorts of movies and televisions shows depicting the end of the world, and even they cannot depict the gruesomeness of it.  It is a scary prospect, that all we know, all we have ever experienced, all we have ever seen will be destroyed in one day. 

So often we are afraid of the end of the world.  So often we are afraid of the judgment that will one day befall us.  And dear friends in Christ, there is a good reason for that.  For we truly deserve and have earned the promise of destruction.  We deserve what our text today describes, “At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, The LORD will not do good, nor will he do ill.'  Their goods shall be plundered, and their houses laid waste.  Though they build houses, they shall not inhabit them; though they plant vineyards, they shall not drink wine from them.”  In other words, the worldly will not be able to enjoy the wonderful things they have prepared for themselves.

Why do we deserve this?  Why must we face this promise of destruction and punishment?  Why must we face the thought of all we love and know being destroyed.  Friends, you know the answer.  You have not loved God with your whole heart.  You have not loved your neighbor as yourself.  You have not perfectly fulfilled God’s will, you have not pleased him with your thoughts.  Instead, you, just like me, just like every other person, has filled your life with filth and sin.  We have made ourselves the judge of the world, and we boldly cry out to the vices of this world, “I will make you mine!”

Sex and violence fill our televisions and our computer screens, and we keep watching.  Anger and hate fill our hearts, and we smile as we spread it around some more to those who surround us.  We disobey our parents, we disobey the government.  We cheat, we steal, we do all sorts of horrible things.  In other words dear friends in Christ, we are sinners.  There is no escaping it, just as there is no escaping the punishment for that sin, death and destruction.  We are the reason that this world will come to an end.  We are the reason that fire will destroy all we know.  Its because of you and because of me. 

So what can we do?  How can we escape the destruction of sin?  How do we save ourselves.  In countless movies we watch those who are facing the end of the world miraculously save it.  In the movie Armageddon, they prevent the asteroid from destroying earth.  In I am Legend, Will Smith invents a vaccine to save humanity.  In the War of the Worlds, a virus stops the aliens, and in 2012 they miraculously drive, fly, and run away before devastating destruction only to be saved at the last minute.  Can’t we in a similar fashion save ourselves from sin and death? 

Friends, you cannot.  The situation is too dire.  Your sin is too great.  You are lost in your sin, and you cannot save yourself.  To put it bluntly – THERE IS NOT ONE LITTLE THING YOU CAN DO ABOUT YOUR SIN!  Our text says, “Be silent before the LORD God!”  You cannot make an excuse.  Be silent!  You cannot talk your way out of it.  Be silent!  You cannot tell God a lie about why you are in sin.  He knows the truth, and he knows what it will cost.  It requires death.  It requires the shedding of blood, for without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin. (Hebrews 9:22). 

But hear what our text today says, “For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.”  He has prepared a sacrifice for you.  He has prepared the necessary blood atonement to avert your destruction.  He sent Jesus to the cross to keep you safe from destruction and to give you eternal life.  He sent Jesus to shed his blood on behalf of all those sins that infect your life.  He sent his one and only begotten son, that all who believe in him shall not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

And having sent Jesus to a bloody death, and having resurrected him from the dead, Jesus now consecrates his guests.  The word consecrated means to wash and make clean and holy, to set it apart for holy usage.  Dear friends, our text says that he has consecrated you, that in the sacrifice of Jesus you were made holy.  How?  Or don’t you know, that when you were baptized, you were baptized into the death of Jesus.  You were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  (Romans 6:3)  A new life consecrated to God. A new life forgiven in the blood of Jesus. 

I tell you the truth dear friends in Christ, because of what Jesus has done, when God looks at you he does not see your sin, not even what you believe is your most glaring fault.  When God looks at you, he sees only Jesus blood, he sees only a baptized forgiven child, he sees only the holiness that Jesus gives to you in baptism. 

And now forgiven by Jesus, we need not fear the destruction at the end of times.  We need to fear even our own death, for death has been swallowed up forever in Jesus.  On that great and dreadful day the end of the world finally arrives, those who trust in Jesus will but enter into eternal life, not death.  Peace, not destruction.  Joy, not terror.  Our faith, the great gift of God that receives God’s gifts, will save us and bring us into something more wonderful than we can understand.  As our epistle lesson says, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him.”  Be silent before the Lord GOD!   For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests.  As a baptized child of God, you will be ushered into eternity in peace and comfort.  Fear not, the Lord is with you.  Amen.