Lent 4 - G - 2013 - A Tale of Two Sons

The Fourth Sunday of Lent

March 10, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Isaiah 12:1-6               2 Corinthians 5:16-21             Luke 15:1-3, 11-32

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Our text for today is one that is well known to all of us.  The Prodigal Son desires his inheritance early, takes it, and goes off to the ancient version of Las Vegas, where he quickly gambles away all his money in what the bible very kindly calls, “loose living,” a life style our modern society is very familiar with. 

When the money is gone, the fun ends for the prodigal as well.  His posse of friends runs off when the money is gone.  The bars and clubs won’t honor his credit or let him in the door.  He has creditors filing suit against him.  He ends up working on a pig farm, a profession considered unclean for an Israelite, desiring to eat the foot that the pigs chow down on. 

Rather than wallow his life away, the son repents, the son trusts in the mercy of his father.  With his head hung low, he decides to return to be a servant for his father, knowing that he will then at least have enough food to eat.  Shamefully he returns.  But upon his arrival, his father runs out to greet him in his repentance, embracing him and forgiving him before he could even ask for mercy.  The fatted calf is killed, the Father’s feast is set, and the rejoicing begins. 

We know, and we have heard how this is exactly the way our heavenly father deals with repentant sinners.  With mercy.  With forgiveness.  With blessings and life.  The sins of those forgiven by the father are gone, not even a memory.  The prodigals are welcomed back with grace and forgiveness forever. 

But the truth is, so often we aren’t really the prodigal son are we?  So often we are the son who stays behind while our brother goes off on his sinful path.  We remain behind, certain that our brother the sinner will get what’s coming to him, while we will be the favored one who will be blessed.  After all, we’re the ones in church every week.  We’re the ones who listen to God, we’re the ones who obey.  Don’t believe it, just look at how much goes in the offering tray from me, compared to that sinner over there.  Look at how holy my life appears outwardly compared to that adulterer over there.  Look how much better I am.  I am perfect, incomparable to that poor miserable sinner.  And as we repeat these words to ourselves, we truly begin to believe them.

And then that cursed prodigal returns into our world.  Repentant, desiring mercy, but knowing he deserves none.  And as the older brother in our text today, we want justice.  We want fairness!  Yes, you can return dear prodigal, but just know you will always be less than me.  I’ve never strayed as you have.  I’ve never sinned as you have, so get in your subservient place, and bow down to the holy me.  You see, so often, in our sin, we’re not prodigal, but judgmental.

And while we are all high and mighty, we’ve failed to notice who the father has shown mercy to.  The sinner.  The repentant one.  The prodigal who has returned, with a contrite spirit, and has been forgiven.  The repentant sinner is embraced by the father, and is a son again, same as you and I.

Instead of having to earn trust, he is forgiven.  Instead of making penance he is forgiven.  Wait a second God, what gives?  Why should he receive the same treatment as me?  Why should a sinner be treated as a son?  Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command.  I’ve been a Sunday School teacher, I’ve been a trustee, I’ve cared for the church, and never have you thanked me.  I’ve been to voter’s meetings, I’ve shoveled and mowed, I’ve done all sorts of work for this church!  Don’t I deserve more than one who wandered away?  Don’t I get a bigger piece of the pie?  Don’t I get more recognition from God, won’t I be higher in heaven?

These are the same questions the son asks his father in our text today. Our text says, “he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 

And the Father, our heavenly father, answers with compassion, and with truth to us in our pride.  Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.  It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.  What’s God’s is yours.  What’s yours is God.  You are a member of the family of God, and all the blessings of heaven belong to you today, here now.  They have been given to you by Christ.  You may receive the washing in his blood.  You may eat and drink for forgiveness of sins.  You may eat the lamb who has been slain. 

But you should rejoice also in your brother’s repentance – and not in your own high and mighty attitude.  Rather, you ought to repent as well.  For you see, you’re no different than he.  Really you’re not.  Your sin is as great.  You sin is a bad, your sin is as filthy.  If you haven’t given away your inheritance with prostitutes, you have still despised your father and his mercy. 

So repent, dear friends, just as the prodigal has.  Repent of your sin, turn away from them, and despise not the mercy of your father. 

For your Father shows mercy to you as well.  Your father sent you other brother to secure it for you – no not the prodigal, but a third brother, the one called faithful and true – Jesus.  He is the fattened calf that is slaughtered for the feast.  Your father sent him to earn mercy for you, to suffer in your place, to grant forgiveness for all sins, yes, even yours.  To give you life in the face of death, and to destroy the power of Satan in your life.  And this he does for you, dear sinful brothers, by his work on the cross, by his bloodshed, by his death, by his suffering.  He does it for you, dear friends, so that you may be welcomed back by the father, in peace and in comfort.  He does it, so that your sin may be forgiven. 

You are no longer a prodigal son – in Christ you are forgiven.  And, dear friends, you are no longer a judgmental sinful son – in Christ you are forgiven.  You are set free in Jesus.  You are a true child, in Christ.  So come partake of the forgiveness earned in Christ.  Be received into your Father’s family – hear his words, “your sins are forgiven, in the blood of the lamb of God who takes them away forever.”  This is your promise.  Amen!

March Newsletter

Dear Friends,

We are in the season of Lent – which for the early church was not only a time for repentance, but also a time of instruction in the faith leading to baptism and official acceptance in to the church.  Likewise, in our own congregation, confirmation is just around the corner for five of our young people.  As we get closer and closer to the big day for them, they have asked more and more frequently, “Pastor, do we really have to memorize all this stuff?”

Their question is about the catechism.  Do we really have to memorize this whole book, and if so, why?  What’s the point?  What’s the big deal?  Why put in the time and effort, especially with so many other things going on? 

To answer this question, I’d like to share with you about a retired pastor in our circuit that many of you probably know.  Pastor Dale Young served as a pastor for many years.  A few years ago, Pastor Young had a stroke that left part of his body paralyzed, as well as taking away his ability to speak.  He communicates mostly with hand gestures and pointing. 

However, recently we held our Circuit Winkel (pastors’ meeting) at the nursing home where Pastor Young is living.  While there, he was able to sing along with a hymn we sang, as well as recite the Creed and Lord’s Prayer.  He said them just as clearly and loudly as the rest of us.  Even though he cannot have a “normal” conversation in the way we can, he still can recite his catechism faithfully.

It isn’t just Pastor Young.  Many of our shut-ins that I visit can’t remember my name, their age, their family’s names, or many other things we take for granted.  However, when we start into our Communion Service, they can remember every word of Confession and Absolution, the Creed, and Lord’s Prayer.  Some even mouth the Words of Institution along with me.  They still know what their faith is; they still know their catechism. 

The reason they remember is because of the way your brain works.  I’m not a brain doctor by any stretch of the imagination, but a quick study explains how this works.  Memorization store things in different parts of your brain through the repetition.  This is called rote learning.  Rote learning is how we learn the words to songs we often hear on the radio, and has also been used by some to play musical instruments, or memorize entire books or numeric equations.  It’s also how each one of us learned how to speak, or learned vocabulary to another language in school.

The same method can be used in our faith.  Speaking the words of the catechism over and over and over throughout your entire life permanently engrains them into your memory, allowing you to recall it far into your future.  This faith then is a part of you and your life even until your last days, when other memories become foggy.  That’s why we emphasize so many years of Christian education and catechism memorization.  We want our kids to recite the catechism dozens and dozens of times in their Sunday school and Catechism careers. 

God created our brains to work in such a way that we are able to memorize things more easily and quickly when we are very young, even before we begin school and catechism.  The same time we are learning the very basics of language skills, we ought to be receiving our first instruction in the faith.  Parents and grandparents should be teaching the catechism and reading the Bible (or a story Bible) to children as often as possible.  Scripture primarily gives this responsibility to the father as the head of the household.  It’s an enormous responsibility and task, but one that I know the fathers of our congregation are up to. 

“Train a child in the way that he should go, and he will never depart from it,” Scripture writes.  We work hard to teach the faith that looks to Christ for salvation, to engrain that faith in to our children’s minds, and pray ceaselessly that that faith will stick with them all the days of their lives.

So why do we make our children memorize the catechism?  Because their pastor wants to make sure that 70 years from now, when their future pastor visits them, that the faith will still be firmly with them.  I have the personal goal that our kids will learn the faith better than anyone –anyone – in southeast North Dakota. 

To that end, I’d like your help.  First, we need one more confirmation teacher for next year – to help teach our kids.  It’s a fairly simple job: I’ll supply you with the materials to teach, and if there ever is something that comes up you can’t answer, I’m available to help.  It’s a great way to serve the church – training future generations in the faith we have believed for thousands of years. 

Second, confirmation questioning is coming up in only a few short months.  I would invite you to come to support our confirmands as they recite the catechism and the other basics of the faith.  Our attendance at some of these events has waned a bit in the last few years – understandable with all the other events going on in our lives.  One of our confirmands from this year said to me point blank, “Can’t we just skip questioning?  The only people who come are our parents anyway.”  But wouldn’t it emphasize the importance of this event if we had most of the congregation show up as our confirmands confess their faith?   If you are planning on going, please let the confirmands know you’ll be there, to encourage them to work on their rote memorization.  Pray for them as well, as they continue their instruction.  Questioning will be April 28^th, at 7:00 p.m.  

To end this (rather long – yikes!) article, I’ll point you to the Books of the Month section for a few resources in teaching the faith.  There are CDs of the catechism set to fun kids’ music.  There are kids’ Bible books that faithfully point to Christ.  There are countless materials available to you.  Consider using some of them with your own family.  

Lent 3 - 2013 - G - Repent or Perish

The Third Sunday of Lent

March 4, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Ezekiel 33:7-20           1 Corinthians 10:1-13             Luke 13:1-9

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, “unless you repent, you too will all perish.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, It seems it is happening more and more.  Senseless tragedies where seemingly innocent people die.  162 dead as hurricane Sandy swept up the eastern seaboard, leaving a wake of destruction in its path.  26 young children murdered at Sandy Hook elementary school by a deranged murderer.  12 killed and 56 more wounded at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, bringing back memories of 15 more killed at Columbine School just a few miles away.  Earthquakes in Japan, Haiti, and Italy.  War in Afghanistan, Syria, and Lybia, protests in Egypt.  Countless fires in people’s homes, car accidents, floods, and more. 

And in it all, people who seem to have so much ahead of them, taken in an instant.  So many innocent dead, leaving us with all sorts questions.  How could God allow these terrible things to happen?  Why did one die, and another live?  What difference was there in any person?  Were any of those involved bigger sinners than others?  Were some more deserving than others?  Why did these many people die such tragic and gruesome deaths?

These questions are difficult.  These questions do not have easy answers, answers that we like to hear.  These questions are the questions that have been asked throughout the ages.  Every time there is a tragedy people turn to God with questions too big for us to answer.  And that’s exactly what happens in our text.  A tragedy had befallen Jerusalem only a little while before, when a group of Galilean Jews had been rioting in Jerusalem while offering sacrifices, Pontius Pilate, the Governor, had them brutally killed and their own blood poured on the altar at the temple.  Many died, many families were left weeping and mourning.  How could this have happened?

And so the ancient people turned to God as we did, asking Jesus bluntly about this tragedy.  And Jesus gives them a difficult to hear answer.  “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.  Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-- do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

In other words, Jesus says, you are all sinners, you’re all guilty, and unless you repent you all deserve the same death the same punishment the same horrible end.  For the punishment for sin – all sin, sin great or sin small – is death.  As St. Paul would later write, the very wages or payment for sin is death.  All who sin will die.  Some in riots.  Some in earthquakes and shootings. Some with cancer and heart problems.  But every single sinner, you and me included, will face death. 

And the death of sin isn’t just a temporal thing.  It is an eternal thing.  For sin doesn’t just bring temporal death, but eternal death and hell.  In sin, one is dead forever.  In sin, death is a permanent event, something to be dreaded and feared.  Something that destroys and hurts.  Because of sin, death is our dreaded enemy – it’s the very power of Satan. 

So what does Jesus say?  We are all sinners.  We all deserve death, and we all will face it.  But Jesus also says there is a way out.  Repent.  Admit your sin.  Admit your wrong.  Admit that on your own you have nowhere to go except to death.  That on your own, you fail time and again, and have no hope.  Repent and turn away from your sin! 

That’s what the season of Lent is all about.  Repentance!  Turning from sin.  That’s why the church is dressed in purple, its why the church dims down the glory of the its worship services.  To show our repentance, to show our sorrow over our sin, to show the sorrow that death brings to the sinner.  And to show our sincere desire to change our hearts.

But dear friends, repentance is not enough.  For no act that you can do would erase your sin, or the death that it can bring.  Not even the most outwardly “holy” person you know can repent enough to take the power of death from our lives.  We need something more.  We need a savior, we need a rescue.  We need someone to take our sin away. 

And so we turn to Jesus, or rightly speaking, he turns to us.  He declares “Repent – Yes” but realize that it is I who save you, by my own death, by my own submission to the Father’s will, by my own suffering, and bloody death.  That’s the only solution to the tragedy of this world, the only solution to sin.  The death of Jesus in your place is the only solution to our own pain and suffering, our own weakness.  Jesus takes your place in death, he suffers in your place the fullness of Hell, and he gloriously is resurrected into eternal life, promising that the same will happen to you who believe as well. 

That death and resurrection comes to you today in the promises of God’s word, the washing of rebirth in baptism, and in the reception of Christ’s crucified and risen body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.  These gifts overcome tragedy.  These gifts destroy death in all its forms.  These gifts confound the power of Satan turning him into a weak and powerless force in our world – only able to make death a temporary sting that is at the last overshadowed by the promises of eternity in heaven with Jesus. 

The blood of Christ brings life.  It brings forgiveness.  It destroys the power of death, promising for you life to the full.  Repent of your sin.  Turn from it, and receive the forgiveness of Jesus, delivered to you here today.  Repent, fear not the tragedies of this world, but trust the words and promises of Christ.  For Christ has overcome the world.  Christ had promised life.  Christ gives victory.  Amen.  

Lent 2 - 2013 - O - Drifting from God's Word

The Second Sunday of Lent

February 24, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Jeremiah 26:8-15                     Philippians 3:17-4:1                Luke 13:31-35

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, especially these words, “Now therefore mend your ways and your deeds, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you.”  Thus far our text.

Dear friends in Christ.  The people of Israel had slowly but surely been drifting away from faith in their Lord.  900 years before the words spoken in our text today, the people of Israel had finally entered the promised land, they had conquered all who lived there, they had received from God exactly what was promised them.  As Joshua, the successor of Moses died, he told the people, “If you worship other God’s, you will be punished,” and the people responded, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord.”  They promised to faithfully serve God, and God promised to keep them safe and protected in the land. 

But that was a promise they were unable to keep.  It was not long until they had fallen away, serving other Gods, so God gave them over to serve the other nations around Israel.  They were oppressed by the Moabites, the Midianites, the Amalakites, and more.  Their money was stolen, their loved ones died.  All because they had abandoned their Lord.  All because they had served false Gods.  Each time, the people of Israel repented of their sin, they turned from their evil ways when they were faced with destruction, and each time God delivered them from their captors, returning them safely to their homes and possessions. 

But over the years, the evil those Israelites committed became worse and worse, and their repentance for that sin lessened.  They had evil kings, who worshipped Bael and Ashtoreth.  Their religious cults became fertility cults, where dark deeds were done on the altar to promise the fertilization of the land.  Their people all fell away, leaving just a few prophets behind to preach God’s word of Law, God’s word of wrath against sin, God’s word that proclaims death to all who turn against him.  Again some repent and return to the Lord. 

But by the time of the Prophet Jeremiah, the people have become used to sin, they have forsaken God, and have little desire to change their lives.  And when the Prophet Jeremiah faithfully tells them the truth – that they are terrible rotten scoundrel sinners, and that if they don’t change and repent that God will destroy Jerusalem – they won’t hear it!  Instead they turn the tables on him. 

“Who do you think you are Jeremiah?  Why are you so high and mighty, telling us we’ve sinned, telling us we’ve done wrong with God.  Enough of your Law and Gospel baloney!  Enough of you, ‘God is bringing vengeance of sin!’ talk.”  Enough of your ‘thus says the Lord.’  You shall die!”  And with these words, they drag Jeremiah off to the magistrates, to try to put him to death.  Why?  Because Jeremiah proclaimed the truth, and tells the Israelites such.  “It doesn’t matter what you do to me,” Jeremiah said, “What I have said is God’s word.”

What happens is no surprise dear friends.  It happens again and again in history.  God sends prophets, and they are martyred for speaking God’s truth.  Abel is killed by Cain – Why?  For his faith in God.  John the Baptist lost his head.  St. Peter, St. Paul, St. James, and more, all killed in various ways for speaking God’s Word.  And in our world today, it happens as well.  An American pastor at this very moment is jailed in Iran only for preaching the Gospel to the people of his home nation.

And while it is easy for us to be appalled the truth is, we are just the same.  We get irritated by God’s no to our wants to our desires.  We get tired of all this repenting.  We don’t like hearing that we are in the wrong, that we have failed, that we have sinned!  No, not even me!  We despise when God tells us not to do what we want to do.  And so we ignore his word.  We do what we want instead of what God wants.  Its just one little sin here, one little sin there, what’s the big deal? 

Not only that, but we try to rationalize our sin.  “Well, its not stealing, its borrowing.  Its not cursing, its creative writing.  Its not adultery, it’s a one night stand, or its cohabitating.  Its not murder, it’s a choice.”  And through all this rationalizing all we’re doing is breaking the third commandment, despising preaching and God’s word.  Failing to hold it sacred.  Failing to hear and to learn it.  Failing time and time again, even as God keeps calling us to repentance. 

It’s lent dear friends.  A season of Repentance.  A season to turn aside from our sin and selfishness.  A time to ask God’s mercy upon us.  And that is exactly what God gives to us.  How often, Christ says, have I desired to gather you together as a hen gathers her chicks.  To show you love.  To show you mercy and forgiveness.  To take away the sin that plagues your life, so that you may finally be free, and live. 

For Christ is the good prophet.  He stands in the same place that Jeremiah had so many years before.  He proclaims the same message, repent and trust in God - in me - for forgiveness.  He too faces death - not flinching but go faithfully.  He is despised by those he preaches to them all the same.  They shout out for Christ's death, "Crucify, Crucify!  Don't preach this word, for we don't want to hear it!"

So Jesus sets his eyes to the cross.  He enters Jerusalem to a chorus of “Blessed be the name of the Lord,” and leaves to that chorus of “Crucify him.”  He spurns not the cross, but suffers and died for you.  For your sin.  For your guilt.  He blood redeems you, he Good Friday’s you, as he is nailed, pierced, hung, and killed – receiving the punishment you deserve for turning your back on God. 

And then he calls to you!  "Drift no longer, you belong to me.  Hold fast to my word, for you are mine.  I have bought you, not with Gold or Silver, but with blood, suffering and death.  You are my own.  You may serve me.  You need not fear the trials of this world, the ever constant drift of those outside the church.  Instead you will inherit a new world, a perfect world, a world free from sin by my blood."

And as he dies, you are forgiven.  As he lives, you will live.  By Christ’s blood, we may repent and turn our back on our sin.  Through Christ’s sacrifice, our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.  You, yes even you, dear friend, are forgiven in Christ.  You are set free by him.  You have life forever in his blood.  

For Sunday Bible Study - Never #1

For Sunday Bible Study we will be looking at Never #1 - Mysticism from our Broken Book.  Here is the video that helps set the stage for our discussion.

©Concordia Publishing House

Lenten Greetings from President Harrison

Lenten Greetings from President Harrison - this is also why we are praying the Litany every week in church.  

Lent 1 - G - 2013 - Temptation's Defeat

The First Sunday of Lent

February 17, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Deuteronomy 26:1-11             Romans 10:8b-13        Luke 4:1-13

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, “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness  for forty days, being tempted by the devil.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends, we all face temptation.  Every day, every hour, every waking moment of our lives, Satan or one of his minions is in our ear, trying to pull us away from our faith in Christ, tempting us with those things our sinful hearts truly want. 

It’s been that way almost since the beginning.  Adam and Eve were first tempted in the garden.  Eat this fruit, who cares that God said no, who cares that God said you’ll die, you certainly won’t die.  And Adam and Eve ate, abandoning the promise of God for the words of that ancient serpent Satan.  And so sin and death entered our world, and so our own temptation became a daily certainty, as did our own sinful failures.

And so now every person – yes even you - has faced that temptation.  Did God really say this or that?  Does God really care?  Can’t you just break the law a little bit?  It happens all the time, even for you, dear friend in Christ.  Look at your own life.  Does Satan whisper in your ear, “come on, no one will notice if you do this sin, you can get away with it.  Go ahead, break one of the commandments, there won’t be any consequences.” 

After all, who are they to tell you what to do?  Who exactly does this God guy think he is?  What makes what the Bible says any more important than your own understandings, than your own feelings and interpretation.  Ignore God’s word, and do what you want, you’ll be happier in the end listening to your own feelings instead of that God character. 

What’s that?  You want a new car, or a bigger house, even though you don’t absolutely need one.  You want it so that people are more impressed with you, and think more highly of you, and respect you more.  Go ahead!  Please yourself.  Did God really say, You shall not covet?  Just ignore that anyways. 

What’s that?  You want to live your life your own way, to care only about your own wants and desires.  Did God really say, husband and wife?  Did God really say care for the least of these?  Did God really say love your neighbor as yourself?  Ignore it, live for yourself, for your own desires, for your own emotions and cares.  That’s what this world is about – Me, Myself and I!  So live it up!  For soon it will be over. 

And so the words of Satan time and again, try to overpower the word of the Lord in our lives.  Satan tries to distract, to tempt, to destroy, to trump whatever God does or says in this world – yes even with you dear friends. 

It’s the same thing he tries in our text today.  Satan tries his same old tricks on Jesus, on the Son of God, on the Savior of the World.  But Jesus knows exactly what’s going on, for Satan isn’t smart enough to outdo Jesus.  What’s that Jesus, you’re hungry?  Here’s some bread shaped rocks, and with a little word you can eat!  You just have to care more about yourself than about the sinners of this world!  But the Word of God made flesh gives a Godly answer – Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word from the mouth of God. 

So Satan tries his same old trick another way – “What’s that Jesus, you are here to save the world?  I’ll give it to you, with only one catch.  Here’s the world, all its nations, and all its power over all time – I’ll give it to you as your kingdom, even without suffering on the cross – all you have to do is fall down and worship me!  Come on Jesus!  Give in, everyone else in this world is!”  But Christ’s response is not selfish or self serving, but with you in mind, “Worship only God alone, not you Satan.” 

What’s that Jesus, you are powerful?  Why not bring attention to yourself, why not gain some earthly popularity?  Just jump off this tower, and be rescued by angels!  Think of the positive spin the media will put on that!  Go ahead!  Scripture even says, “You won’t even hurt your foot!”  But Christ the ever faithful says, “You should not put the Lord to the test.” 

Do you see what happens?  Where you fail and give in to Satan’s temptation Jesus succeeds.  Where you fall short, Jesus excels.  Where you stumble, Jesus surpasses all expectations.  Where you sin, Jesus obeys.  He is perfect.  Satan is outmatched by Jesus time and time again.  So much so that our text Satan departs waiting for an opportune time, and Jesus continues his ministry, setting his eyes on Jerusalem, setting his eyes on the cross, - the place of your own salvation. 

And its there that Satan tempts Christ again.  Don’t save them Jesus it isn’t worth it.  Come off the cross!  Prove you’re God’s Son, jump down, show us how powerful you are.  Forget God’s command to drink the cup of his wrath, can’t you see what it’s doing to you Jesus, its killing you!  Don’t die Jesus, no, not for those sinners, not for those people – they don’t deserve it anyways! 

But Christ does die.  Christ ignores Satan’s temptation.  And its all for you.  He dies for your sins.  He gives you Good Friday forgiveness, blood bought rescue, salvation through His own suffering.  There is no temptation of Satan that will distract him.  There is no false word that can stop his care for you.  He will not care about himself, he will not put himself ahead of you.  He will die rather than give in to Satan – and so he does, in your place. 

And Christ’s holiness and obedience to his Holy Father was in your place.  Jesus overcame Satan in your place.  His work counts for you.  He gives his obedience to God to you in his Word, in his Sacraments, in his gifts to you.  He is your substitute in the battle against Satan. 

You have victory – in Christ, and in him alone.  You are victorious, not through your work, but through the great obedience of the Son of God.  Satan has no power over you, He cannot harm you, his words are lies that cannot hurt you or harm you.  Satan is utterly defeated.  Forever.  IN the blood of the cross. Amen.  

President Harrison on the New Town Shooting and Aftermath

Transfiguration of our Lord - G - 2012 - Before the Revealed Son of God - Snow Sunday

Deuteronomy 34:1-12 - Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, ² all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, ³ the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. ⁴ And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” ⁵ So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, ⁶ and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. ⁷ Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. ⁸ And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

⁹ And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. ¹⁰ And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, ¹¹ none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, ¹² and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.

Hebrews 3:1-6 - Therefore, holy brothers,^[a] you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, ² who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's^[b] house. ³ For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. ⁴ (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) ⁵ Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, ⁶ but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Luke 9:28-36 - Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. ²⁹ And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. ³⁰ And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah,³¹ who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure,^[a] which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. ³² Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. ³³ And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. ³⁴ As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. ³⁵ And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One;^[b] listen to him!” ³⁶ And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

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, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  This morning is the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany – the season of the church year when Jesus is revealed to us.  And this morning, we see the clearest picture yet of who the babe born in Bethlehem is.  We’ve seen time and again, that Jesus is the one who has come to fulfill the law on our behalf, how has come to take our sins away.  And today, we see who this person really is.  God in our human flesh. 

The historical event is well recorded.  It takes place eight days after Peter’s confession that Jesus is the “Christ the Son of God,” and Jesus replied for the first time, “the Son of man must suffer at the hands of men and die and raise.”  So Jesus takes Peter, James and John up on a mountain, and there, our text says, he was transfigured before them.  That word, transfigured means that the way Jesus looked changed.  The humble son of a carpenter suddenly looked like God himself – for that’s who he is.  His skin suddenly glowed like bronzen face of God.  His robes became so white that the disciples could not look upon him.  The Godness of Jesus which was hidden during his earthly life, was suddenly very apparent. 

And to top it all off, the only two men in scripture to see God on earth appeared.  There was Moses and Elijah, speaking with Jesus about his coming exodus, which was about to happen in Jerusalem.  It was an exodus from this world.  It was an exodus in which God’s holy people would be rescued, not from Pharaoh as with Moses, but from their guilt and death.  It was an exodus not as Elijah’s exit from this world on the Chariot of God, but an exodus on a cross, with blood, guts, suffering and death.  It was an exodus for you, for me, and for all of God’s people in this sinful world, an exodus bought with the cross.

Peter, James and John are uncertain what to think.  They suddenly and very frightfully realize who Jesus is, with absolutely no doubts or misunderstanding.  Only God would talk to Moses and Elijah.  Only God would appear in such a way.  So Jesus is very definitely God, there could be no doubting that.  But the problem was, Peter, James and John knew the truth, that God hates sin, and all who commit sin.  Sinners could not be in God’s revealed presence, without facing death and eternal destruction. 

That’s why there was a temple in Jerusalem.  A huge building with thick walls and a heavy curtain to separate God from sinners.  Only the high priest bearing the blood of a sacrifice could enter before God’s dwelling place.  Those three disciples had read what happened to sinners who came before God’s presence.  The first high priest Aaron’s two oldest sons were killed before God when offering a false sacrifice.  The men of Beth-Shemesh were killed when they opened the Ark of the Covenant where God dwelt.  Uzzah died when he bumped the Ark with his hand.  Isaiah cried out in terror in heaven “woe to me, for I am a sinner!” 

So what are Peter, James and John to do.  Not only is the great leader Moses there, and the Great Prophet Elijah, but God himself is present and revealed in Jesus before their very eyes.  Peter speaks up first, trying to offer a biblical solution.  “Lord, let us build a tabernacle here, just like Moses did so long ago.  No, not just one tabernacle tent, but three of them.  One for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah!”  For Peter loves the protection that separation brings.  Peter loves the comfort that comes when you ignore your sin, and hide the God that judges it from your sight. 

But Jesus will have nothing to do with that kind of talk, and neither will his Father.  Suddenly, a cloud appears covering them.  Peter and the disciples immediately remember the cloud that covered Sinai from view, keeping God’s righteous wrath apart from Israel.  And a loud voice comes from that cloud – This is my Son, my selected one. To him you must listen. 

Yes, listen to him.  Hear his words in regard to you and your life.  You are guilty.  You have sinned, in thought word and deed.  You have been afraid of God, you have tried your hardest to please him on your own terms, ignoring the perfection He has required.  You have done countless wrongs, time and again, and you will this afternoon, tomorrow and for the rest of your life.  You do not deserve on your own merit to stand alongside Peter, James and John before God, because they themselves do not either. 

Listen to God’s Selected one, you sinners!  Listen to the word that he told Peter – The Son of man must suffer many things.  He must die.  He must be buried.  He must shed his blood and raise again so that you may be forgiven.  He has been selected by God to be the ultimate sacrifice to sin, to destroy it forever, to make God’s people well, and to lead them in an exodus from this world into eternity apart from sin. 

Listen to God’s Son, as he says to you, through the lips of a poor miserable sinner pastor, that your sins are forgiven, not by me, not by your works, not by the act of coming to church, but by cross of Christ.  Listen to God’s Son as he says truthfully, - all who believe and are baptized will be saved.  Take and eat, this really is my body.  Take and drink this really is my blood.  IT is all for you, for your forgiveness.  To make you well, to set you free to be a people of God – holy not in yourself, but in Christ. 

This is God’s Son, Jesus.  Revealed today for who he really is, the one who comes to die to put God’s house in order.  As Hebrew’s says, “For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. ⁴ (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) ⁵ Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, ⁶ but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”

Today Jesus is revealed.  God’s Son, in human flesh to set this world right.  He is God’s beloved son, listen to him, your sins are forgiven in his blood.  Amen.  

Epiphany 4 - G - 2013 - Jesus with Authority

The Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany

February 3, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

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 especially these words from Jesus, “for I was sent for this purpose.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends.  Epiphany continues, and Jesus continues to reveal who He is.  We remember last week in his home town, Jesus was rejected by those who knew him best.  “Aren’t you Joseph and Mary’s child?”  And having ignored Jesus’ word about who he was – the fulfillment of the Old Testament – they threaten to throw him off a cliff.  So Jesus travels down the road to the next town, Capernaum.  And there, in our lesson today, Jesus comes face to face with a demon possessed man. 

This man reacts entirely different to Jesus than those of his home town.  His comments start the same way as those Nazarene’s – “I know who you are Jesus of Nazareth.”  But there the similarities change, “I know who you are, you are the Holy One of God!  Have you come to destroy us?”  That demon understands what all the people in last week’s text did not – who Jesus was.  As St. James writes, “Even the demons believe there is a God, and they tremble with fear.”  And for the demon possessing this man, it is terrifying to see God face to face. 

You see, the demons that so often frighten us in this world do not frighten Jesus.  The demons that posses and sicken and attack us in our everyday lives are no problem for Jesus.  For there is no evil that Jesus cannot deal with, there is no sickness Jesus will not take away. 

We’ve seen their effect upon us haven’t we?  Yes, demon’s exist.  And they try to ruin any and every part of our life in a terrible attempt to destroy our faith in Christ.  They try to invade our relationships with our family, telling us that the other person was wrong, that what I want is more important that our relationships, that our desires are more significant than any other things.  We’ve seen them place sicknesses and injuries in our families.  We hear words like Cancer, and “months left to live.”  We struggle with Alzheiemers and parkinsons, diabetes and more.  We struggle through the pains of this world, and through all the work of Satan and his minions as they work to make us doubt Jesus. 

It’s the same thing in our text today.  Peter’s mother was sick.  The man was possessed by a demon.  And as the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. 

These people were dealing with the same things we face in this world.  These people loved those who suffered.  They cared about those who struggled.  And Jesus comes today, and with his Holy word, and with his touch, and takes care of the evils of this world.  And he does the same for us, not as personal favors, not because we earn it, not even because we want, but because he loves us. 

He heals us today, not in the same way he healed so long ago, he heals today by a more permanent way.  He destroys Satan in a more substantial way, to finally destroy all sin forever.  He does it through his cross.  He does it through his own suffering.  Through his own taking on of sin on the cross, he heals all our wants of body and soul, destroying the power of Satan forever. 

You see, as Jesus hung on the cross, he took upon himself all our sin, all our shame, all our weakness and sickness.  He took all that and destroyed it by his own death.  He took your sickness away, and made you well.  And he destroyed the power of demons over your life.  You are no longer under their control, but under the control of Christ. 

You see, as our text says, he has authority.  He speaks as one with authority.  An authority earned on the cross, and authority that belongs only to God.  And with that authority he speaks – You are forgiven.  Your sin is gone.  My death on the cross counts for you.  My blood is shed for yours.  And now, and forevermore you will be forgiven.  Amen.