Proper 23 - G - 2014 - The Wedding Feast Invite

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

October 12, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline
Isaiah 25:6-9      Philippians 4:4-13    Matthew 22:1-14

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, “Many are called, but few are elect.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  How many wedding invitations have you received this summer?  Each one promising a night of fun and partying, the best of foods that catering can offer, beer poured into you mug until the tap is dry, and dancing and partying until early in the morning.  In our Gospel lesson that’s what Jesus says the Kingdom of heaven is like.  God has invited you, called you, to attend the wedding feast of his Son Jesus and his bride the church.  The biggest shindig of all.  There, is promised the finest of all meats, the best of wines.  The fatted calf has been slaughtered, the dinner is set!  “Come to the wedding feast!”  Everything is ready!  Everything is done!  And your name is on the invitation list.  Jesus has invited you to the meal.  Come to the party!  Come, eat, drink and be merry. 

No?  No you say?  You refuse to come to the party.  You have work to do, farms to tend, businesses to take care of.  People to see and places to go.  Excuses, excuses, excuses.  Saying no to God?  Is that what you do?  I don’t want to be with you, I don’t care about you, I don’t want to go to the party.  I have no time for God. 

You’re just like the people in our parable today.  At times too many things that are more important than spending time in God’s presence – no matter what joy that presence might bring.  There’s football games to watch, fish to catch, malls to visit, friends to talk to, places and times to sleep in.  And most importantly, we have jobs and activities outside of the feast that are more important. 

So we throw away the invitation.  We reject it.  We count it as foolhardy and worthless.  Because of our sin it is easy to disregard the Lord’s invitation.  Truly it is very easy to disregard the invitation.  Don’t believe me?  Look at your own life.  How easy is it to find some other activity to do than bible study?  How easy is it to get bored in church, and to decide to sleep in instead.  How easy is it to find another place to spend your money or to give your time.  After all there are business and farms, football games and naps to take care of. 

Dear friends repent!  God will bring people into his wedding feast, he will bring people in both good and bad whether its you or not.  You have the call.  You have the invitation.  And you even have the right wedding outfit.  Its there in our text.  All the people at the wedding are wearing their very best wedding clothes.  And you have been given those clothes dear friends.

Where?  In the waters of holy baptism.  There your sin was washed away.  There you were clothed with a righteousness that is not from you, but instead is from Christ.  You’ve been washed white in the blood of the lamb, even though your sins were as scarlet.  You are dressed and ready for the wedding, because it is Christ that you wear. 

For you see, in the end, the wedding feast, the invitation, the whole kitten caboodle is really not about you, your acceptance, your works at all.  Its about Jesus.  It is his party.  It is his wedding.  It is the party to celebrate the victory over sin, death and the power of the grave that Jesus won on the cross for you, and for me. 

God sent his servants out into all the corners of the globe to bring you in to the feast.  He brought you in with the power of his Holy Precious Word, proclaimed and heard by your ears.  That word is that great invitation proclaimed by pastors all over the world, and recorded for us in Holy scripture.  It calls you, and the call itself makes you a part of the feast. 

And at the feast there is the best of meat – the very body of Jesus, and the finest of wines, the very blood of Jesus.  Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of all yours sins of doubt, of avoidance and boredom in the church.  It is that feast that will sustain you throughout all of eternity, without end.  Amen. 

Dear friends, the call has come – Come to the feast – it is ready and waiting for Jesus has died and risen again.  We have victory in his name.  In this feast the vale that covered all people will be taken away, and we will rejoice with our God, even forever more.  You have been brought in by God’s working, both in the Word proclaimed, and the Sacraments administered.  You are God’s child, clothed and ready, only through Jesus. 

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  

Proper 14 - G - 2014 - The Miracle on the Sea of Galilee

The Ninth Sunday After Pentecost

August 10, 2014- Pastor Adam Moline

Job 38:4-18           Romans 10:5-17            Matthew 14:22-33

Hymns LSB 722, 715, 805 Communion LSB 637

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. 

Dear friends in Christ.  A miracle happens in our text today, and no its not Jesus walking on the surface of the water.  I mean, that would be miraculous if it were us that were doing the walking on the water, but for Jesus, the great creator of all that we know, see, feel and experience, it isn’t that big of a deal.  God can walk in His creation wherever he desires to, whether we determine it to be miraculous or not. 

No, the miracle is, as I have alluded to, that Peter walks a few steps on the water.  I know, Peter doesn’t walk very far, and he does get wet, but he still walks upon the water at the command and word of God.  Jesus says, “Come,” and in obedience to the very Son of God’s word, Peter walks out upon the water. 

A miracle!  An amazing event.  Peter, as far as I know, is the only non-divine being to have physically walked on unfrozen water without any sort of trickery.  How amazing and power is God’s word that Peter is able to do such a thing at God’s command. 

And yet, how powerful is Peter’s sin as well.  Oh yes, for the word of Jesus is still ringing in the air as Peter suddenly gets nervous.  He sees the waves and the water.  He knows there is little hope for him to survive if he were to fall in the water.  Would Jesus abandon him to the waves?  Will he fall in?  Is this all some hallucination that is occurring right before his lungs fill with water? 

And so he forgets the call of Jesus, and in his sin, begins to sink.  He stops up his ear to the command of God, and suddenly he is thrashing about in the water, sure and certain that he will drown and die. 

Dear friends, it isn’t Jesus’ fault that Peter gets wet in our text today.  It isn’t God’s fault that Peter had more doubt than faith.  Its the fault of sin.  Peter, yes even the great Saint Peter, was a poor miserable sinner, just like you.  Even in the presence of the Son of God in human flesh, Peter displayed his sin time and time again. 

You do it too.  Yes, you are guilty and wrong in God’s eyes also. Just as Peter does in our text you stop up your ears to God’s word, and you substitute you own fears and worries in their place.  You are a sinner, and it shows in the many sins you commit in your life.  You judge yourself not to God’s standards but to you own, whether they be higher or lower than what God says.  You determine your own right and wrong, substituting your own opinions for God’s ten commandments.  And most of the time you live your life as if there really is no God at all. 

Its true.  When you commit sin, most of the time you don’t even realize it – because you are indifferent to what God’s Word said.  Just as Peter ignored God’s command, “Come, walk onto the water” you ignore God’s command, “Love your God with all your heart and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.”  You ignore God’s command, “You shall have no other Gods,” and instead you create countless God’s for yourself, such as your pride, your ability to accomplish things, your bank account, your work ethic and your own false piety.  Yes, you trust in yourself more than you trust in God. 

And so, when you are confronted by the difficult things of this world, you begin to sink.  You become overwhelmed, your footing starts to falter, and it seems like your entire world is falling apart.  And when this happens, you are quick to blame God, “How could you let this happen God?”  But the truth is this, it is your own sin that is the problem, it is your own guilt that makes you sink, it is your fault that you are drowning in this world. 

As Peter doubts Jesus’ word in our Gospel lesson, he begins to sink right away.  As he watches the waves instead of Christ, he does a cannonball of unfaith, right into the water.  And yet, he doesn’t drown, and he doesn’t die.  For the second great miracle of our text happens.  Jesus reaches out his hand, and rescues poor sinful Peter.  He doesn’t not abandon Peter to the abyss, he doesn’t let him drown, but despite Peter’s lack of faith, Jesus grabs ahold of his hand and pulls him out of the water and back into the boat.  Jesus rescues Peter, despite Peter. 

And dear friends, the same is true for you as well.  Jesus will not let you drown in the sorrow and sinful troubles of this world.  Despite your sin and indifference toward him, Jesus rescues you. 

He saves you by reaching out a hand to pull you out of the water – out of the water of baptism that is. In baptism your sinful nature was drowned in water and word, and you were pulled out by the hand of Christ.  He grabs ahold of you, without any work on your part, and he drags you safely into the ark of the church. 

And the hand that he reaches out to rescue you is a hand that has been pierced with a nail, and hammered onto a cross, to bleed, and to die for your sin.  It’s the same hand that laid dead in a tomb for three days, in place of your own body dead with sin.  And it’s the same hand that rose from the grave to promise you life, forgiveness and salvation.  It’s the hand of Christ, the righteous right hand of God, that will save you from all your sin, and has rescued you from all that is wrong in this world. 

And so you see, dear friends, that the miracle of today’s text isn’t that Jesus walks on the water, as amazing as that is.  But rather, its that a sinner like Peter can be rescued from unbelief and doubt to walk with Jesus.  It’s the miracle that the same is true for you, that you are rescued to walk with Jesus, and to be with him, even forever more.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  

Proper 13 - E - 2013 - Hidden With Christ in Baptism

The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost
Baptism Sermon

August 4, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline
Ecclesiastes 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26                  Colossians 3:1-11                Luke 12:13-21

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Our text this morning is from the Epistle lesson just read, especially these words, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  You have died.  Your life is hidden with Christ.  All of you.  It happened to you just as it happens to a little baby  in baptism.  Water was poured on your head, God’s word was spoken, and you died, right there, and your life was hidden with Christ. 

You needed to die.  In fact you were required to die because of your sin.  It weighed upon you heavily, declaring you to be guilty in the eyes of our Holy and Just God.  As scripture says, you were born sinful, surely from your mother’s womb you were sinful.  Sinful to the point of death. 

Our text today describes what that sin was.  Each of us was born full of sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.  And not just those things, but also anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.  That sin infects our thoughts, our words, and our deeds.  And because of that sin, we must die.

There are two options for our death to sin.  One option is that of which God told Adam in the Garden of Eden.  “If you sin, if you disobey my command, you shall surely die.”  There were no ifs, ands, or buts.  It was a clear statement made by God.  And so when Adam fell into sin, he began to die. 

And I don’t only mean physically.  The death Adam faced for his sin was also a spiritual death.  It meant not a promise of eternity in peace with God, but rather an eternity of suffering, an eternity without the God who richly and daily provides us with all we need to support this body and life.  Sin meant Hell for Adam, and all who followed after him in sin. 

Word’s cannot describe the terror that is the spiritual death of Hell.  The best words can do is speak of weeping and gnashing of teeth in the outer darkness.  There the worm does not die, but is always consuming your dead body.  There the flames do not go out, but are always burning the sinner, destroying forever.  That is the special death God has reserved for sinners, for those apart from him. 

But there is another death, and it is the death we have all died together.  Yes we still are sinners, but we are sinners who have already died – with Christ.  We died in water and the word, as the Word in and with the water took away our sins, and clothed us not in our sin, but instead in the righteousness of Christ. 

In baptism we truly die – and we face the punishment for our sin, but we face it not alone, but with our Lord and Savior Christ.  For in baptism, our life is hidden with his.  In baptism we are joined with Christ, so that we die with him upon the cross.  We face the mighty judgment of God’s wrath with Christ, as He bleeds and dies for us.  We lay dead in a tomb, with Christ, who for three days was buried graveyard dead.  And because our life is hidden with Christ in baptism, when he is risen from the dead, we are promised to rise as well. 

And so the baptized baby has already died and risen with Jesus.  The baptized baby has already received the promise of eternal life, and not only the promise but has received eternal life itself.  The baby will never spiritually die again, but at the moment of physical death will immediately be spiritually alive with Christ until the last day when all will rise again. 

And this promise is not just for baptized babies, but is also for you dear friends, who are a touch older than babies.  For baptism isn’t just a onetime event.  It is a lifelong process.  Every day of your life, you are baptized.  As Luther says in the catechism, each day you arise and drown your sin in the waters of baptism.  You are a baptized Christian today, and you will be even forever more. 

In your baptism, your life was hidden with Christ.  In baptism you have died already.  In baptism you are alive forever more with Jesus.  For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.  You have the whole inheritance of Heaven, because your sin is gone with Jesus, and you will live for ever more because of baptism.  In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  

Sermon - Book of Concord Study Group - Genesis 18 - Saved by Righteousness

In the name of Jesus.  Amen.  Dear friends, how much righteousness is necessary to assuage God’s wrath?  How much does it take to prevent His great anger against sin?  That seems to be the question that Abraham is asking God.  “Lord if there are 50 righteous in Sodom, will you destroy them with the others?  What about 45, or 40, or 30, or 20?  Will you destroy even ten righteous ones along with all the unrighteous that fill the streets of Sodom?”

And God’s answer is an answer of grace and mercy.  “No.  If any righteous are found in Sodom, it will not be destroyed. 

FOR ALL IT TAKES IS ONE RIGHTEOUS MAN TO SAVE THE UNRIGHTEOUS.”

God, according to his conversation with Abraham, sends down two angels into Sodom, to investigate the depravity of the place.  Abraham’s nephew Lot sees them enter the city and invites them to spend the night in his own home, promising to care and protect them.  He fed them a meal, he cared for the angels.  And then the doorbell rang.  

The men of Sodom had too seen the angels enter town.  They saw their beauty, a beauty that comes only from being in the presence of God.  And they were envious of it.  And so they desired to sleep with the angels, to rape and gang-bang them all through the night, and thus defile what God had made holy.  In other words, they were sinners like us, jealous and self-concerned. 

God will not stand for this gross sin and lack of faith.  He sends Lot and his family out of the town quickly, and as they are climbing out of the valley, he rains down His judgment in the form of fire and brimstone.  Literally burning the guilt of the town away to the foundations.  God will not stand for any sin, not Sodom’s, not yours, not anyone’s; he will destroy it from before his face.  So God destroys Sodom, but Lot escapes due to righteousness, even as the Sodomites get their due reward for their unrighteousness. 

But wait a minute, isn’t this the same Lot who as they are camping on the edge of the valley over the ruins of Sodom drinks himself into a stupor?  Not once, but twice?  Isn’t this the same Lot who in his drunken state impregnates both of his daughters?  How can this man be righteous enough to avoid the condemnation of the Sodomites?  I mean if he’s an incestuous drunkard, he’s not really that different from the people of Sodom is he?  What is it that allows Lot to be saved, and all the others to be destroyed?

The answer is that the righteousness that saves Lot isn’t his own.  It’s a righteousness that comes from outside himself.  It’s not even the intercession of righteous Abraham in our text that saves Lot.  For Abraham himself wasn’t righteous based on his own work.  He lied, saying that his wife was his sister.  He failed to trust God, instead listening to his wife – impregnating Hagar instead of waiting for God’s work to bring about Israel through Sarah.  In fact, scripture tells us that Abraham’s righteousness wasn’t even from himself, but rather, that “Abraham believed in God, and God counted it as righteousness.” 

Abraham believed in a savior, he believed in a rescuer, sent by God, through whom the whole world would be blessed.  And so it wouldn’t be the righteousness of 50 that saved Abraham and Lot, or of 45, or of 40 or 30 or even of ten?  It would be the righteousness of one.  That one would be righteous, and his righteousness would count for all.  That one would take on our flesh, live perfectly, suffer and die for sin on a cross, rising again on the third day.  That One was Jesus.

So Lot was saved by faith in Christ, a faith he received by hearing the preaching of his uncle Abraham.  Lot was saved by hearing the word of God preached by those two angels, “Lot get out of here, don’t turn back.”  Hearing the words of God, and believing them, saved Lot.  He believed in a coming savior through the word of God, and by that faith, he avoided the wrath of God as it was poured out on the unrighteous of this world. 

Dear friends, that’s a faith we share as well.  It’s a faith we too have received by hearing preaching and His Word.  It’s a faith we understand even more clearly than Lot or Abraham, as we have seen the wooden cross outside Jerusalem, where our savior died.  We have been united with him through the waters of baptism, where we were clothed in the perfect and holy righteousness of Christ. 

That righteousness covers all our sin.  The sins of unbelief are gone in Jesus.  The sins of selfishness and of countless vices are covered and hidden by the righteous blood of Jesus.  God has made us alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

And so the righteousness of the one Christ, saved us, as it has saved Lot, and as it has saved Abraham and all believers in Christ.  It’s a righteousness from outside ourselves.  A righteousness that overcomes the sin of all, and promises eternal life to all who believe in the one who earned it for us.  In the Name of Jesus.

Proper 12 - G - 2013 - Thy Kingdom Come

The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

July 28,  2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Genesis 18:17-33                    Colossians 2:6-19                    Luke 11:1-13

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from the Old Testament lesson just read, along with these words from the Gospel lesson, “Your kingdom come.”  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ.  What is God’s kingdom, and how does it come?  As good Lutherans, we all think back to those good old (Or perhaps not so good) days when we were in confirmation class, where we were taught and learned in the words of the Lord’s Prayer that “God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in [heaven for] eternity.” 

And spreading that kingdom of God has been the church’s mission since its very founding during the ministry of Jesus.  A few weeks ago, we heard how Christ sent out the 72 to proclaim the “Kingdom of God” to all the towns of Judea.  After His resurrection, Jesus sent the disciples into all the world to preach and teach and baptize for the purpose of making disciples.  That mission has been going on even to today, when there are over 800 missionaries from our own synod, preaching and teaching, to proclaim the kingdom of God. 

And it is good that there are still pastors and missionaries and members of our church body proclaiming the Kingdom of God in our world, because the truth is, there are still billions of people in our world who have not heard, and do not believe in the forgiveness of sins, earned by the death and resurrection of Jesus.  There are still people who are not Christian, who are not saved, and who face the eternal consequences of their sin.  And, furthermore, there are those who are in need of both the Gospel, and of the love and compassion of those who have much.

Dear friends, I’ve been in Africa with our district’s project 24 team, and I’ve seen those who wash their clothes in the same muddy water they drink a few hours later.  I’ve seen firsthand those who’ve struggled to afford the boiled cornmeal that was their meal for the day.  I’ve seen the young girls whose only clothes are the princess Halloween constumes sent from here in America.  I’ve seen the children whose parents have been killed by AIDS or malaria, or even hunger.  These people exist in our world still to this day, and really always will, as Christ our Lord says, “The poor you will always have with you.”

And so, dear friends, what do we do?  We live here in North Dakota, thousands of miles away.  And the truth is, we often are very uncomfortable with helping those in our own communities, let alone thousands of miles away.  We are most concerned with what’s happening in my life, in my family, in my own self-contained little world.  And this concern for self in us becomes so large that we lose track of those whom God has given us to actually care for, namely the individual in need. 

Dear friends – that’s sin, our sin, our guilt, and our shame showing itself in our lives.  God cares for every person in this world.  God cares for every sick person, for every poor person, for every child in Africa or in Hankinson who is in need.  God cares for all who are in His kingdom. 

Look how he displays it in our Old Testament lesson today.  God is set to destroy the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Abraham says, Lord what if there are 50 righteous ones in the towns?  Will you destroy them with the sinners?  God answers “no.”  Abraham asks, “What about 45?”  God again responds “no.”  What about 40?  Or 30?  Or 20?  Or 10?  How many faithful people do there need to be to stop the destruction of this town?  And the Lord’s Response?  “No, I care for each and every one who has faith in me.  I love those who love me.  I care even for the one lone righteous one.” 

It’s the truth, dear friends, God cares for each person so much that he sent his Son to die for all in need.  He would have sent His Son if it was just you in need.  He would have sent His son if it was just one poor orphan in Kenya, or if it was just one sick woman in Fargo.  God cares for each, and every person so much that the bloody suffering and death of Jesus was not too much to pay to forgive them their sins.  In that death and in that resurrection you have the promise of forgiveness, life and salvation. 

You see, God sends the one righteous one to save all the sinners.  The one righteous one, Jesus, saves all who trust in him.  Including you.  Including me.  Including the poor and weak and sick.  All are saved by Christ, and by Christ alone. 

So then, how do we live?  What do we do about all the poor in this world?  We care for them.  We show compassion on those in Kenya, working through projects, like Project 24 to care for their earthly needs, while we preach to them the saving news of Jesus.  We, like Abraham intercede for those who are need.  We pray to the Lord to help and have compassion on those in the kingdom of God in far away places.  We do missions to baptize, preach and teach where the Word has not been heard.  We ask God to send His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace, those in need throughout all the world would believe his word and lead godly lives here in time, so that we may one day see them there in eternity. 

And also we pray for ourselves in the prayer we are taught today.  We pray that we may always trust in the grace earned for us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  That we too may enter eternal life, and one day be at peace forever.  And dear friends, in that we can be sure.  It is God’s promise to us.  God’s kingdom is coming to us, each day we draw closer to inheriting it.  Bring us at last dear father in heaven to be with you in your coming kingdom.  And help us to proclaim that good news to all the ends of the earth, that all may be delivered from evil in your name.  For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.  

Palm Sunday - G - 2012 - Ride On In Majesty To Die

Palm Sunday
April 1, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

Zechariah 9:9-12         Philippians 2:5-11       Processional: John 12:12-19         Gospel: John 12:20-43

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel processional lesson read earlier, along with the Old Testament Lesson, especially these words, “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!  Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!  Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he”.  Thus far our text.

Rejoice, your king is coming.  Rejoice, your salvation is riding boldly into Jerusalem today.  He goes to be lifted up.  Ride on, ride on in majesty, in lowly pomp ride on to die!  He who prepared the world for you and me, he who has given us all we have and know, even the very breath of our lives heads into Jerusalem to what we have prepared for him.  Death on a cross. 

And yet, those people cheered him on as he entered.  A large crowd, who had entered for the Passover feast, shouts to Jesus, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”   With those words, the Son of God rides towards his suffering and death.  He boldly rides on the back of a donkey.  The crowd watches, smiling and rejoicing. 

How can it be?  The people who today shout “Hosanna” will shortly shout “Crucify him, crucify him.”  The people will force the hand of their Roman governor to kill their Jewish King.  It doesn’t make sense, how could they turn so quickly?  We judge them, we criticize them for their change of tone. 

And yet, our faces are in that crowd.  We too, today shout hosannas as Jesus rides into Jerusalem.  We too stand as Jesus rides by.  Jesus, who knows all your sin, who knows all the things you’ve done wrong.  After all he is God.  As he rides by, we know that he knows, and we wonder if he will tell.  Will he share my deepest darkest secrets with those I don’t want to know them?  He’s got to die!  It’s either him or me, and I would rather it be him, wouldn’t I?  We turn on a dime, just as those people so long ago did. 

Hosanna Jesus!  Get on to that cross, before you reveal that I struggle with alcohol!  For you know, that I always have a slight buzz, that I can’t quit drinking.  You know that it has affected my entire life, my job, my family, my friends.  Go to the cross Jesus!  Go to the cross and die!

Hosanna Jesus!  You know that my family life is falling apart.  You know that there are difficulties between my wife and I, you know that my brother won’t talk to me.  You know that I have mistreated my children, you know that I despise my mother and father every day for what they told me what right and wrong.  Go die Jesus, for I have no place for you here in my life.

Blessed be he who comes in the name of the Lord!  Blessed is he, even as I am not, as I have despised God’s word.  I don’t really care for Bible Study.  I don’t really spend time in God’s Word.  I have more important things to do.  I don’t really believe in all this Christianity stuff anyways, but I have to be seen in church.  I preach sermons to myself, sermons that say I am not good enough, that I am not forgiven, that I cannot be forgiven.  Sermons that do not actually match what God’s word said.  I create my own religion on my own terms, so die Jesus for being all “holier than me”. 

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel!  Or so shout our lips, the same lips that just moments ago were putting down John Doe because of the situation in his life.  So shout the same lips that curse, swear, that lie and deceive.  Blessed be God is our shout one moment, and the foulest language imaginable is on our lips the next.  Sinful dogs that we are – so die Jesus!

We murder!  We steal!  We lie!  We covet!  And Jesus does none of it!  So go on Jesus and die!  Go to the cross, for you think you are better than we are!  You think you can control our lives here and now.  You aren’t the God I want, you aren’t the God I create for myself.  So go and die!  Suffer!  Bleed!  Thirst!  Go and do it, for I do not want to, and it is really what I deserve.  For it is I lord that am guilty, not you.  It is I who deserve punishment by my fault, my own fault, my own most grievous fault.  And you Lord Jesus go where I dare not, to die for my sin.  Ride on, ride on to die.

And Jesus does.  Today, dear friends, he rides past us, knowing our sin and guilt.  Today he rides on, knowing our pain and suffering, and still he rides boldly on.  He carries the sin of those who rides past.  He carries the sin of those who in a few days will not shout, “Hosanna!” but “Crucify him!”  He carries the sin of you, of me, even as he knows you will turn on him.  He knows it, and he will not turn aside from it.  He won’t forget it, but he will die for it.  And he does all of this in your place, for you, for your forgiveness.  The death you deserve, today Jesus rides into Jerusalem to deal with. 

This most holy week, have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,  but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.   And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.  And all of this is for you. 

Dear friends, now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.  No longer will you be slave to sin.  No longer can you give into the horrible way of the world.  Satan does not rule you today, nor will he ever again.  He is weak, he is destroyed, he is defeated forever.  For Christ has shed his blood on the cross.  And so we rightly shout, “Hosanna Jesus!  Hosanna to the king, he rides on to die for the sins of the world.  To be lifted up. To take away my sin!  Hosanna!  Blessed are you Jesus” 

Christ goes to die, and he does it for you.  He goes to forgive your sin, to take it away as far as the east is from the west.  On Friday, it is finished.  On the cross, you are forgiven.  Jesus rides in to shout, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”  Ride on, Ride on in majesty, in lowly pomp ride on to die.  O Christ, they triumphs now begin, o’er captive death and conquered sin.  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.  

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

The Second Sunday After Epiphany

January 15, 2012 - Pastor Adam Moline

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. 

Proper 20 - G - 2011 - Your Just Reward

Isaiah 55:6-9   Phillipians 1:12-14, 19-30       Matthew 20:1-16

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words:  “So the last will be first, and the first last.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  I want my just reward.  I want what I think I deserve.  This is the attitude of the man in our parable today.  He has agreed to work for the entire day for a set wage, one denarius.  He labors, working hard at his tasks for the day.  And as he works, others come in later in the day.  Some come in a few hours later, and some others even come in at the last minute, only an hour before the end of the day.  As this man works in the vineyard, he talks with those who are around him, and learns that they too have been promised a denarius.  The man begins to think about it.  If the man working only one hour receives a denarius, then don’t I deserve 12 times more?  After all, I have worked longer then they have.  I have been here a whole day, and they have only been here a few short minutes. 

As the man watches the late comers receiving their pay, he begins to imagine what he will do with his extra income.  He begins to imagine what things he will buy, what sort of food he will eat.  He tells himself he really deserves these things, after all the early bird gets the worm, and I was here first, so I should get a bonus for what I have done.   You can imagine the man’s surprise then when he receives his wage for the day’s work, the single denarius that he was promised at the beginning. 

That’s not fair, is it?  That shouldn’t be the way it works, should it?  If someone works longer, they should get more, shouldn’t they?  They should be more richly rewarded for their faithfulness.  And yet, the man in our text received exactly what he was promised, exactly what he agreed to.  He received his just reward.

And what of you, dear friends in Christ?  What does this say to you?  What message can you pluck from this tale that Jesus tells us?  Friends, the truth is that it is for us that Jesus speaks this parable.  It is for the situations that we are in.  We know what our hope is.  We know what our promise is.  We have received the Kingdom from Jesus, we have had our sins forgiven in the precious blood that flowed from the cross.  We have life, and life to the full.  And we have been promised heaven for living a life of faith here in this world. 

What a gift!  What a blessing.  For you see that life of faith isn’t even dependent on us.  It is a free gift that Jesus gives us.  Something we don’t deserve, something we don’t earn, something that is a blessing.   And yet, like the man in the parable, we believe we have earned it, and that it is ours to determine for ourselves.  And so just like the man in the parable, we often look down on those who are around us.  We like to compare ourselves with them, saying, “I am better than he is, aren’t I?  Come on Lord, don’t I deserve something better than that sinner over there.  I mean, I have done more good things for you, haven’t I?”

We are prideful people, aren’t we?  We do like comparing ourselves with others, because we are so good at seeing the speck in someone else’s eye.  We are so good at judging someone else to be guilty while ignoring the glaring sin in our own life.  I have been a Christian longer than you, so I have a greater say in this church.  I have done more good for our community, so listen to what I want.  I have sinned less than that poor miserable person there, so I am holier, aren’t I?  In all of these things, we put ourselves into the first and most important position, the position of power.  And so we grumble to the master of the house, Jesus, and say, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”

But “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” Friends, it isn’t about being better, it isn’t about deserving more.  Christianity isn’t about any of these things.  Being a Christian is about Jesus, the one who had all glory, power, and honor, and yet gave it up on your behalf.  As St. Paul writes in Philippians, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.   And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!”  Jesus puts himself in last place so that you can receive life.  He takes your deserved punishment upon himself so that you can receive his reward.  He dies, so that you may live.

And Jesus has made all Christians equal in his eyes in that he has given to all who confess his name eternal life.  It isn’t that Jesus is cutting you out, it isn’t that Jesus is taking away what you think you deserve.  No, Friends, Jesus is giving you the whole thing, and he gives it to those others who believe in him as well.  And because all that Jesus gives is a free gift, we are to receive it with thanksgiving, and with joy.  We are to look at those others who also receive the gifts of God with joy as well.  Look how much love your God has.  Look how he has lavished forgiveness upon all people who trust in him.  Look how much he has done for you, and your sin, and the sin of the whole world.  Look how he made himself last so that you could be first. 

It’s not fair.  It’s not the way it should work, is it?  God gives to all, including you, even when we don’t deserve it.  Amen.