Proper 21 - G - 2011 - I Go Sir, For Christ Went First

Pentecost 15/Proper 21

9/25/2011

25:1-10

Ezekiel 18:1-4, 25-32

Philippians 2:1-18

Matthew 21:23-32

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, “The other son said, ‘I go sir,’ bud did not go.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  What Jesus describes here is a situation we are used to isn’t it?  Countless times when I was growing up, my father said to me, “Go and clean your room.”  My response was always the same, “FINE!” (Please note the groan).  I would go up into my room, and when my father would come to check on me a few hours later, I would be sitting and reading, or playing, and the room would be no cleaner than it was when I was sent to clean it. 

Don’t get me wrong, I had good intentions.  I really meant to clean my room.  I meant to follow through with my father’s wishes.  But for some reason, I was unable to carry out those good intentions.  I was unable to complete the task that was given to me.  How many of you parents have had similar discussions with your children.  How many of you have experienced similar situations in your own life with other things? 

The truth is, each and every one of us has done this in our relationship to our heavenly Father.  We have said, “I will do what you ask Lord.  I will serve you and you alone.  I will listen to your laws and I will help in your vineyard.”  And while these are good promises to make, while this is the righteous thing to say, we know friends they are only empty promises.  They are good intentions that we can never fulfill on our own.  For we are sinners, and sinners cannot do God’s will. 

Think about it in regards to any of the ten commandments.  “You shall remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”  Piece of cake, I can do that.  I am always at church.  Except for when I am camping, or out of town, or the Vikings are playing.  Or for me personally, when I am leaving on a two week Elk Hunting Trip.  Do you see, we make little exceptions for ourselves, and in them, we fail what our good intentions would have us do. 

What about another?  You shall not bear false testimony.  Seems simple enough.  And yet, it is so easy to let a little comment slip about someone else behind their back.  It is so easy to say, “Yes I will do something, only later to find out you cannot.  It is so easy to fail, because friends we are all sinners. 

And even in our church participation we fall short don’t we?  Today we are looking at our Stewardship of God’s gifts to us.  The way we use them to further the message of the Gospel.  It is easy for us to say, “Yes I will take time to help with that project.  Yes I will make an effort to help.”  But it is much more difficult to follow through in that regard.  It is easy to say, “Yes I will financially support the church, because it is important to me,” but as the weeks role by and the budget tightens, it is easy to fall short of our noble promises. 

This all stems from our sin, sin that constantly questions the authority of Jesus in our lives.  We question that what Jesus says is truth, really is at all.  We question that Jesus actually cares if we do follow through on our Christian promises to follow him, and to live a holy life.  “Its ok if I fudge on the rules a little isn’t it, its ok to not follow through on what I’ve promised, Jesus will understand right?” 

But ask yourself the question Jesus asks in our text today.  “Which of these two did the will of their father?”  Was it the one who said, “I go sir” but didn’t, or the one who said, “I will not” but did?  It was the one who said I will not.  You see it isn’t our promises that we trust, it isn’t our holy words and platitudes that make a difference to God.  He knows our hearts, he knows our sin.  On our own, we cannot be good stewards with God’s gifts at all, we cannot serve him in our guilt. 

So we must look to one who can, and who does, and who always will.  We must look first to Jesus, “God’s beloved Son with whom God was well pleased.”  He listened to God.  He followed God’s instruction.  He did what God desired, and it cost him his all.  Jesus told His Father, “I will save them from their sin, I will give up myself so that you may have them for yourself, a people chosen by God, holy and righteous in your sight.”  And when Jesus said these things, it wasn’t just good intentions, it wasn’t an empty promise, Jesus backed up his promise with his own blood. 

For Jesus’ obedience to God involved a cross on Golgotha.  It involved nails driven into his hands and feet, a spear piercing his side.  Jesus’ promise to rescue involved his death and burial.  But Jesus is no longer in the tomb.  He is risen indeed.  He rose and calls you all to faith in his name.  Faith that looks to his promises for you, faith that receives his gifts. 

And so friends, in your life of faith, you are not the son who says, “Yes I will go,” but doesn’t.  Rather you are the Son from our text who said, “I will not go,” but then went.  You serve your neighbor today, you serve your church today, because you have faith in a God who loves you and died for you.  You give of your time in church because Jesus gave his life up for you.  Even though in your sin you said no, you are free to work in the vineyard. To help those around the world, in Kenya, in Fargo, in other places around the world, and yes, even those here in this place.  In Jesus you may serve cheerfully, and help with projects and boards in this place.  Friends, you have been given Christ, and now may share him with the world. 

Will you go and work in the vineyard?  Friends, it doesn’t matter what you think, or what you want.  If you go, it is because Christ has first gone.  If you help, it is because Christ first helped you.  It is faith in Christ that makes all things possible.  Like the man in our text, we say “I Go sir, because Christ has gone first.”  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.  

Ashley Weiser Mike Mauch Wedding - 9/17/2011

^{John 15:9} As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.

 ¹² "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. ¹⁷These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

^{Romans 12:9} Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ¹⁰ Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. ¹¹Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. ¹² Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. ¹³Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

 ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight. ¹⁷ Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. ¹⁸If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.¹⁹Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." ²⁰To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." ²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

^{Matthew 7:24} "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. ²⁶And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. ²⁷And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today are the readings from earlier, especially the Gospel from Matthew, and these words, “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, especially Ashley and Mike.  It has been a long day in coming hasn’t it?  How many years ago did you first meet on a trip to the National Youth Gathering?  I know that there have been many ups, as well as some difficult times in your relationship.  But today you are here, today you pledge your faithfulness, your life, your love to one another.  Today the two become one flesh, and Ashley and Mike become Mr. and Mrs. Mauch, Husband and Wife,  joined together by God, and as Scripture says, “What God has joined together, let not man separate.”  God gives you to one another today and for the rest of your lives, until death do you part.

It is a happy day today isn’t it?  As you look ahead in your married life, I am sure you see wonderful times ahead.  Countless adventures will come your ways throughout your life as a married couple.  God will continue to bless your life, just as He is today.  He may give you children and grandchildren, He will always pour out his many gifts upon you. 

But just as certainly as there will be those happy times ahead, I promise you Mike and Ashley, there will also be more hard times.  There will be times where God tests you, times where you may not like each other as much as you do today.   You may face loss of loved ones, you may face sickness, times where you don’t seem to have enough money to make ends meet.  You will face frustrations and more.  This sinful world will not be easy, even for two as in love as you are.  For our sinful world doesn’t make distinctions for anyone, it tests all people the same, even those whose love for each other seems strong today. 

But none the less, you stand today before your friends and family, pledging to love one another, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer and all those other ones as well.  You are promising that you will take care of one another no matter what you face, you are promising here, now that you will stand strong as a couple, no matter what the world throws at you.  Even in the face of divorce, of hurt, or of fighting, you pledge to be faithful even to the point of death.

It seems a large promise doesn’t it?  How can you be sure?  How do you know that your marriage will be able to stand the test of time?  How do you know that your love will still be around in ten year, or twenty, or forty?  How can you be sure?

Mike, Ashley, as you and I have talked about, it is because your love is not the foundation for your marriage.  Yes, I know your love is what has brought you here today, but even your love is not the basis for your successful marriage.  Rather you have something stronger, something more powerful, something more amazing.  You have a foundation built of rock to build your marriage upon.  You have a Lord and Savior who loves you both more than you can realize.  You have a God who loved you each so much that He was willing to suffer and die for your sin, to forgive each of you.  And when you were forgiven, he rose again into life immortal. 

It is this foundation, the love of Christ for you, on which your marriage will be built.  Even as the rain falls and the flood waters gather, your marriage is strong in the promises of Jesus.  As you are angry with one another, you will be able to forgive because you were first forgiven.  There may be times where you are frustrated, perhaps Mike because Ashley wakes you up to go jogging when you want to sleep in, or perhaps Ashley because Mike is out hunting too much.  But you are forgiven in Jesus and free to forgive each other as well.  Even when someday the love you feel so strongly today is numbed by the years of your life, you can trust that in Jesus your marriage will be strong.  No not because of what you do, no not because of what you promise, but rather because of your strong foundation, Jesus crucified for your sins.  Its his love for you – FIRST and FOREMOST– that will get you through the years.  His love, the greatest love, the love that gives up itself on your behalf.  That is the foundation we remember today.  May God richly bless you in the many years of marriage that He grants you.  Amen. 

Holy Cross Sunday - OT - 2011 - Moses and the Serpent

Numbers 21:4-9          1 Corinthians 1:18-25             John 12:20-33

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today, Holy Cross Day, is the Old Testament lesson that was just read, especially these words, “So Moses made a bronze[a] serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.” Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Our Old Testament lesson seems foolish doesn’t it?  I mean, in all honesty have you ever heard of something so ridiculous as being healed from poisonous snake bites by looking up at a snake on a pole.  Sometimes when we hear things like this we automatically think they are foolish and silly.  We can’t believe that they actually happened, for it just defies our reasonable senses. 

But it did happen.  The Israelites were on there way to the promised land from Egypt.  They had passed through the Red Sea on dry land, even as Pharaoh’s army drowned in the water.  They had been led by a pillar of fire by day and a pillar of fire by night.  They had seen water come out of the rock.  They had witnessed countless miracles, and yet, they still doubted.  They still questioned who the god that led them was.  So God sent Fiery Serpents to test the Israelites, to test their faith.  These serpents bit the people, and many died. 

But as God sent these snakes, He also gave the people a way to be rescued.  He told Moses to make a bronze copy of the serpents that attacked the people.  Moses was to nail this bronze serpent to the top of a pole.  When someone was bitten by a snake, they could simply look up to the bronze serpent on the pole and they would be saved from the poison that was coursing through their veins.  They needed but keep their eyes on the serpent on the pole.  Yes it sounds silly, but that was the way the Israelites were saved. 

And when you think about it, it really isn’t only a tale about the Israelites is it?  It is also our story.  For we too are in the same situation.  No we aren’t in the literal Jordanian wilderness being attacked by poisonous serpents, but friends, we are in the wilderness of our sin, and we are constantly under the attack of that first fiery serpent, Satan.  He is the one who first said to Adam and Eve, “Did God really say?”  With these words, the poison of sin entered the veins of Adam and Eve.  And that same blood that flowed in their veins flows in your veins today.  For we still ask that same question.  We still doubt God’s word.  We still turn our backs on what God wants us to do, and how God wishes us to think. 

As we confess, with our fault, our own fault, our own most grievous fault, we have sinned against God.  We have done those things we shouldn’t do, and don’t do the things we should do.  We listen to that fiery serpent, and his poison courses through our veins.  And just like those Israelites in the wilderness, that poison would kill us if it were left to run its course.  WE would be doomed to a lonely death in the wilderness, except that God does give us a rescue. 

No we don’t have a bronze serpent on a pole.  Instead we have a man on a cross.  A man who is not only man, but also God.  This God man is nailed to the cross, just like the bronze serpent.  He is held up so that the whole world can see him, and his blood pouring out.  God says that looking to this sign will save you from you sin, looking to Jesus. 

But it seems foolish doesn’t it?  It seems silly and ridiculous that a man nailed to a cross could save us from the poison of sin.  Even St. Paul acknowledges this in our Epistle lesson,  “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”  It seem ridiculous.  How could one man’s death save us from our sin?  How could looking to this man bring us out of death into life?  The world hears this message and laughs saying, “I would rather die a death of sin than to trust in a man who dies a criminal’s death on a cross.”  They laugh at us.  They tell us we are stupid.  Countless times people have told me they don’t believe in all that “Christian Baloney”. 

But friends, the message of the cross, is the power of God for your salvation.  It is the hope that you don’t need die, but can experience something more, something wonderful, something eternal.  For the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of man.  Or in other words, the stupidest, dumbest thing that God ever did is millions of times less foolish than the wisest thing you can figure out. 

Christ on the cross does bring healing to you.  Just as those who looked to the bronze serpent were saved, those who look to Jesus will be saved.  The God Man will die for all your sins.  He will suffer nailed to a cross, a pole, so that he may draw you to himself.  He will bring you to the faith that looks to him and boldly declares to a laughing world, “There is my hope and salvation.  In Jesus alone do I trust.”  And in this faith God gives you heaven.  In this faith even though you die, yet shall you live.  For it is the message of the cross, Jesus on the cross that is the center of salvation.

Today we celebrate that hope.  Today we remember that message.  Today we tell the world, You may think we are fools, but we are fools going to eternal life.  Today is Holy Cross Day, the day we look to the cross of Jesus, just as the Israelites looked to the bronze serpent.  We look to the cross, and we lift it high in faith that trusts in the death of Jesus.

For even as Jesus dies on the cross, so too did he raise from the dead on the third day.  And as we look to the cross we also look to the empty tomb, the hope of the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.  Friends, just as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the wilderness, so too must the Son of Man be lifted up.  And as he is lifted up, he draws all people to himself, he draws you, he draws me, and gives them eternal life.  Look to the cross, in it you have hope.  Amen.  

St. John's Work Begins

Work Begins on St. John's Building Project.  

Foundations are poured

Windows that were vandalized are replaced

Work will continue!

Proper 18 - G - 2011 - Childlike Faith in Jesus

^{Ezekiel 33:7-9                Romans 13:1-10              Matthew 18:1-20}

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, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  School has started, and this week at Immanuel (Next week at St. John’s) Sunday school starts as well.  The confirmation kids are ready for another year of work, and LYF will soon as well.  How appropriate then to have a text that says, “whoever humbles himself like a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”  How great to hear how faith like that of a little child is so necessary. 

You see Jesus is saying that we need faith like a little child, faith that believes wholeheartedly, without question, without reservation.  Faith that knows and trusts that Jesus is exactly who he says he is. 

Unfortunately for so many of us we have been taught to be skeptical.  We have been taught to have our doubts about scripture and what it teaches.  For so many of us, that childlike faith that believes without questioning has been explained away through the years. 

Throughout our lives, we are told that religion is just a big pile of hooey, that it can’t possibly be true, and that everything has a natural cause.  The world was created after a mysterious big bang that exploded billions of years ago.  We are given countless “scientific” guesses that are supposed to disprove what we believe. 

We are told there is no such thing as a god, for if there were there would be no pain, no hunger, no hurt, and no sin.  Or if there is a god, that he must not be the Christian god, that any other god would be better than the one we confess.  There are even people out there who wrongly say that we all worship the same god only in different ways. 

There are so many different view points, and different ideas, that so many people now have thrown there hands up in the air and said, “I just don’t know.”  I can’t figure it out.  I feel like there should be something, but I can’t tell what it is.  And through all of these things, our childlike trust and faith becomes a healthy adult skepticism. 

All of these opinions that are floating around are the result of Satan’s work in this world.  Friends, Satan doesn’t want you to trust Jesus.  He doesn’t want you to look to him, but spends all of his time and efforts trying to get you to believe in anything else.  He wants you to trust in science.  He wants you to trust in politics, and opinions.  He wants you to trust in your money and your intelligence.  He wants you to take your eyes off of Jesus because he doesn’t want you to be saved. 

You see Satan is the epitome of sin.  He is so self-centered and selfish that he doesn’t want to spend eternity in torment alone, he wants you to come too.  He wants you to abandon your faith, and instead to give in to your own desires.  And we do give in to our desires don’t we?  Our hand causes so many of us to sin as our children hit their brothers and sister, as we steal things from places we shouldn’t.  Our hand causes us to sin as it runs the remote or the mouse going to websites we shouldn’t.  Our eye causes us to sin as it ogles the opposite sex, and as it covets the things those around us have.  In all of these things we lack childlike faith and instead have our own adult pride, pride that says, “I can decide for myself.”

But Jesus calls us today to a childlike faith, a faith that looks to him alone.  A faith that hears what Jesus has done, and firmly and unswervingly trusts that Jesus did what he did for me, and for my sins.  Friends, Jesus came, whether you believe it or not, he came and was a sacrifice for you.  Instead of giving into his own selfish desires, he did what God desired him to do.  Instead of being skeptical of God’s existence, he trusted that God would raise him from the dead.  Jesus had that childlike faith that so many of us lack, and so Jesus fulfilled this will of God completely. 

That involved a sacrifice.  It involved pain, it involved payment for sin at an old rugged cross.  And as Jesus gives up his own life, He calls you to faith.  He speaks to you, and says be mine, believe in me with all your heart and you soul and your mine.  And Jesus doesn’t just demand this faith from you expecting you to do it on your own.  He knows you can’t.  Jesus calls you, and then gives you the means to actually believe in him. 

Jesus comes to you, while you are still dead in your skepticism.  He comes to you before you can even do anything for yourself.  He comes to you in baptism.  There is no better example of childlike faith than baptism, where when you were too small to even do anything for yourself, he came to save you, and gave you all the gifts of eternity.  When Jesus came to you in baptism, he promised that you would believe and not waver.  And Jesus still comes to you in bread and wine saying, here I am for you and for your forgiveness.  Here I am.  Belive in me. 

Friends Jesus is there whether we want him to be or not.  He is there because he promised to be, and now he calls us to believe with childlike faith, faith that looks to him alone for forgiveness.  A Childlike faith looks without doubt.  A childlike faith looks and believes even if it cannot be proved or explained.  A childlike faith can only come from Jesus, and it is that faith that he gives you here today.  Jesus says, Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  You have entered heaven.  Amen.  

Rudolph Frank Pankow - 2011 - The Tough Savior

Isaiah 61:1-3, 10,   I Timothy 4:6-8,    John 3:16

Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from the epistle lesson just read, especially these words, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ, family and friends of Rudolph.  Rudy was a strong, tough man.  Over the course of 93 years he saw and did things that many of us have never, and could never have done.  The running joke was that Rudy had nine lives.  He served his country courageously, but humbly, in World War Two.  He had two heart attacks.  He fell out of a boat, and stood on the bottom of Lake Elsie holding his fishing pole in the air until he was rescued.  He cut his hand with a hatchet all by himself, when suddenly a doctor came out of the woods, sewed him up, and then left.  Rudy was tough, and it seemed like he was unbeatable. 

But today, we gather knowing that strong man too had his vulnerabilities.  Today we are here, because we have lost that tough man, we have lost a father, a grandfather, and a friend.  His earthly life has run its course over 93 years, and now Rudy can confess along with St. Paul in our text today, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race.”  And so today he wears the crown of righteousness, as he peacefully rests forever in the arms of Jesus.

And it is because of Jesus that Rudy has that crown of righteousness.  You see, no matter how tough Rudy was, no matter how many times he may have escaped death in the past, Rudy knew that death would find him in the end.  He knew that he was not tough enough to overcome all the sin in this world on his own.  He knew he was not tough enough to always escape the maladies of this world.  He could not look to himself for salvation. 

For just like each of us, Rudy was born in sin.  He was born under the power of the law, the law that still speaks to you and me that final verdict, “you are guilty.”  Guilty in disobedience.  Guilty in stubbornness.  Guilty in every way, shape, and form.  And no matter how tough you are, you can’t change that verdict.  And so we must look to someone tougher then we are, someone tougher than Rudy.  We must look to someone tough enough to pay the price for our sin. 

And so we look to Jesus, the one who was tough enough to set his eyes on Jerusalem, the place where a wooden cross was waiting for him.  He was tough enough to take up all of your sin and mine, even Rudy’s sin in the waters of baptism, and he carried it to a hill called Golgotha to kill it.  He was tough enough to suffer the punishment we deserved in our sin, tough enough to be beaten and bloodied, to have nails driven in his hands, and to die a slow death to our sin.  Jesus has done this for you.  Jesus did this for Rudy, so that all our sin might be gone forever, and that we no longer might be guilty, but forgiven.  “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Jesus was tough enough for Rudy.  Jesus was tough enough for me, and he is tough enough for you.  For that one who bore your sin rose again on the third day, promising that all who shared the faith that looked to Jesus as Lord too would rise again on that glorious blessed Day, and receive the crown of righteousness.  Jesus was tough enough for you, and he was even tough enough for one of the toughest old Germans we have known. 

And we know that Jesus was always with Rudy.  Jesus first came to Rudy in the year 1918, when at St. John’s Lutheran Church, he was baptized into Jesus name.  Jesus continued to bless and be with Rudy as he was confirmed in that faith, and for the first of many times partook in the very body and blood of Jesus Christ.  Jesus was with Rudy as he served his country, as he faced the many obstacles of his life, and was still with Rudy this past week, as his time for departure from this sinful world came. 

And friends, Jesus will always be with you.  Even as you go forward with pain and sorrow.  Jesus will be with you as you miss seeing an electric scooter driving up the street to The Nest with Rudy ready to play cards.  Jesus will be with you as you catch a bullhead and have fond memories of your father, grandfather, and great grandfather.  Jesus will be with you when you see a croquet mallet, and remember who always used to beat you.  For Jesus was there with Rudy, and friends, He will be there with you as well. 

The race for Rudy is finished.  Rudy has fought the good fight, and because of the toughness of his savior, we know today that Rudy was victorious.  Rudy has now received the crown of righteousness, and we know with certainty that we will see him again as we too are given that precious gift from our savior.  For Jesus has clothed Rudy with the garments of salvation;  he has covered him with the robe of righteousness, and one day in that faith that looks to the cross, our tough savior will do the same for you.  Amen.

Proper 17 - G - 2011 - Jesus Must Go to the Cross, Despite What We Want

Jeremiah 15:15-21       Romans 12:9-21          Matthew 16:21-28

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, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Last week, Peter got it didn’t he?  He made the good confession that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  But even while Peter knew who Jesus was, he didn’t realize what that really meant.  He didn’t think through the consequences of what the Christ would have to do.  He didn’t realize the depth of the mess he was in. 

So when in our text today, Jesus says he “must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” Peter is confused.  Isn’t Jesus supposed to be a king?  Isn’t he supposed to sit on the earthly throne of David?  Isn’t he supposed to make all the nations of the Earth subject to him?  He can’t suffer.  He can’t die.  So Peter pulls Jesus aside, “Far be it from you, Lord!  This shall never happen to you!” 

Peter doesn’t want a bloody Jesus.  He doesn’t want a King who has to die for him.  He wants a friendly, happy, peaceful Jesus.  He wants a Christ that fits his own mold, he wants to make Jesus in his own image, rather than the other way around.  Peter, as Jesus says, is setting his mind on things of man, not things of God. 

In response to Peter’s word, Jesus shouts to him, “Get thee behind me Satan!”  For anyone or anything that tries to keep Jesus off the cross is a servant of that ancient serpent, the one who first asked, “Did God really say?”  Jesus knows, that because of sin, he must get bloody.  Jesus knows that because of sin he must suffer.  He knows he has to be tortured, having nails driven in his hands and feet.  He has to suffer, and he has to die.  That is what his mission has been all along, and nothing, not even Peter, not even Satan, no friends not even you can keep him off of the cross. 

For Jesus knows your sin.  He knows the filthy little voices that are in our heads, telling us what to do and what not to do.  He knows how Satan works on each one of us trying to have us look to “things of man, not things of God.”  That is why there is hunger.  That is why there is sexual perversion.  That is why there is robbery and scandal.  That’s why families and friends can’t get along with one another.  There is sin, and it all stems from us looking not at God, but rather inwardly to our own filthy wants and desires.  And so Jesus knows that he must go to the cross, if you are to stand a chance.  He knows he must give up everything on your behalf, even his own life in to death, so that you can be saved by God’s gracious will.

But even as Jesus knows his mission, we too try to keep him from it.  We look away from dirty bloody dying Jesus, and instead say with Peter, “Far be it from you Lord, this thing shall never happen.”  We tell Jesus, “You don’t have to die for me, I can save myself – I just have to try hard enough.  You don’t have to die for me, I’m not really that bad, its those other people who are here Lord, they are the sinners.  I know for I have spoken with them, I know how much worse than me they are.  But not for me Lord, I can handle my own little tiny mess.” 

If that isn’t enough, we would rather see a picture of peaceful shepherd Jesus, with a big smile on his face, than to see bloody dirty Jesus dying for us.  We are offended at such filth!  We don’t want to see that, or even here about it, especially in this nice clean church.  No, Pastor, don’t talk about that, don’t talk about pain and suffering because of me.  Don’t talk about the stink of death.  Don’t talk about those things, please.

But Jesus says to talk like this, “Get thee behind me Satan!”  Get thee behind Jesus for he must go to the cross.  He must die, and he will, he does, because he loves you.  Because he wishes in his great mercy to forgive you and your sin, to wash away the filth of this sinful world with his holy precious blood.  He wishes to purchase you from the stink of death by paying your debt, dying the death you deserve.  Jesus goes to the cross for Peter’s sins, for my sins, and dear friends, for your sins.  You will not keep him from saving you, despite your best efforts. 

And having paid for your sin, he calls you in Baptism.  There he does wash away your sin, your filth, your sinful thoughts, your disgusting voices, there he takes it all away, and your sin becomes his.  With mere water and the word, you no longer are under the power of Satan, but the grace of Jesus.

And now as a forgiven baptized child of God, you pick up your cross, and follow Jesus, knowing that the yoke is easy, and the burden is light for Christ has already born it all for you.  Now, as a member of Christ you go to the cross with Jesus.  In your baptism you go to die with him.  As our text says, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

For as you die with Jesus, as you leave your sins behind, you also are resurrected with him.  You are given eternal life, life that cannot be destroyed, life that cannot end, life apart from the filth and disgust of this world.  You cannot keep Jesus from the cross, and as a Christian you go with him.  He dies for you, so that you might have life.  Amen. 

Proper 16 - G - 2011 - Our Confession and Peter's Confession

Isaiah 51:1-6     Romans 11:33-12:8    Matthew 16:13-20 

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 from Jesus.  “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  “Who do you say I am?” Jesus asks the disciples.  Jesus asks us this question today, who am I?  This question embodies everything that we believe as Chrsitians, and especially as Lutherans.  Everything we believe teach and confess is supposed to tell us who Jesus is, and what it is that he does for me. 

So what is the answer to this question, who is Jesus?  The world has given many answers to this question, and many of them are based upon our own understanding, our own research and our own preconceived notions.  Some say Jesus is a nice guy who was misunderstood.  Some say Jesus was a great philosopher, teaching us peace, love and harmony in our worldly relationships.  Some say Jesus was just a criminal whose followers made up stories about him.  Islam says Jesus was a prophet who came before the true prophet Mohammed.  And if none of these were bad enough, recently, in the news, I have even heard that Elton John said Jesus was just a misunderstood gay man. 

What about you dear friends in Christ.  What about you, who do you say that Jesus is?  I have spoken with people in our town who have said Jesus is a false teacher.  I have spoken with people who have denied that Jesus actually cares what we do son long as we are a “good” person.  And so what about you.  Who do you say Jesus is?  The answer to this question determines for us all of eternity, all of salvation, and all of forgiveness together. 

So what is the truth?  And how do we know?  Jesus tells Peter today in our text that he got the answer to this question right.  Who is Jesus – He is the Christ, the son of the living God.  But how did Peter know?  How could Peter have been sure?  Was he a good guesser?  Did he have some sort of secret knowledge that revealed who Jesus was?  Was he smarter than the other disciples, and smarter than we are?  Friends no, Jesus says Peter knew not because of his own flesh or blood, not because of his intellect, but rather because God the Father revealed it to him. 

God revealed Jesus to Peter as Jesus walked on water a few weeks ago.  God revealed it to Peter as Peter ate from the miraculous feast of Jesus, not once, but twice.  God revealed Jesus identity as Jesus spoke the very words of God, Blessed are the poor in spirit, the peacemakers and more.  God revealed who Jesus was to Peter in everything that Jesus did to care for those around him.  And these things revealed the truth about Jesus boldly and clearly, that Jesus was the Christ, the savior promised to Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 

And so Peter boldly confessed his faith, the faith given by God, that Jesus really is God after all.  Peter kept this confession, even despite of a few hiccups where he was confused in his life.  Peter kept this faith all the way to Rome, where he was crucified for believing that faith he had confessed, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.

It is not flesh and blood, it is not our own intellect that reveals to us who Jesus is either.  It is the very working of God.  Yes, in this world we are faced with thousands of differing interpretations of who Jesus is.  Is he a nice guy or a lunatic, did he really exist at all?  What should we think of Jesus?  God tells us clearly, revealing Jesus in the same miraculous gifts that he did for Peter. 

God reveals Jesus to us today as we eat and drink the very body and blood of Jesus.  There, in mere bread and wine we come into contact with Jesus, and miraculously know who he is.  God reveals Jesus to us as we hear the living Word of God in the scriptures, the word that tells us what Jesus did and why he came, that we might be saved.  God reveals Jesus to us as we gather together in remembrance of our baptism, where we died and were raised with Jesus forever and ever. 

And so we can confess that same faith as Peter, that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God, not because it makes sense, not because we are smarter than the average bear, not because we are holy, but rather because God has revealed it to us. 

We confess this faith every week when we gather here around the gifts of God, and as we speak the Apostles and Nicene Creed.  “I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord,” so similar to Peter’s confession, you are the Christ, the son of the Living God.  But our confession doesn’t  stop there, for we confess that this Jesus came to earth for me and for my sin.  This Jesus went before Pontius Pilate and was crucified.  That he shed his blood so we might not need shed ours.  We confess that he then raised again on the third day, just as we too will do in him.  In these words, we also confess that we believe Baptism really does work salvation, and that it is necessary for our salvation.

When Peter made this confession, just as he did in our text, he confessed all these things just as we do today.  And because the believing Peter, the faith-filled Peter made this confession through Gods grace and through God’s gifts, Jesus says, Blessed are you.  Dear friends, in this faith we share with Peter, blessed are you.  Blessed are you for death no longer has the last word for you.  Blessed are you because you are no longer held to be guilty for your sin.  Blessed are you because everything you have done wrong, everything you have failed to do that you should have, every things that is wrong with this world for you is gone forever in Jesus.  And in Him, and Him alone, you have the promise of eternal life forever and ever with Him in his kingdom.  Whatever sins are forgiven here in this place are forgiven you in heaven.  And so in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus, your sins are forgiven. 

This is the corner stone of the church, the faith that leads us to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, that he has died for me, and that in him we have eternity.  This is our faith.  This is our hope.  This is our gift of God, and this is what we confess to believe as Christians.  Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God.  Blessed are you who believe this by God’s grace.  Amen. 

Proper 15 - E - 2011 - Bound to Disobedience To Recieve His Mercy

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8           Romans 11:1-2a, 13-15, 28-32            Matthew 15:21-28

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the Epistle lesson, especially these words, “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Disobedience is our way of life isn’t it?  From the moment we are born, can walk, can talk, can do practically anything, we are learning where the rules are and where we can break them.  I can think of countless examples from my own life.  My parents would say, “Adam, clean your room.”  And I wouldn’t.  My parents would say, vacuum the floor, and I would watch TV.  My parents would say mow the yard, and I would ride my bike. 

I know each and every person here did similar things growing up.  Children are known for disobeying their parents.  Don’t touch that, and you would.  Don’t do that, but you would.  Do this, and you didn’t!  And when we were children we didn’t understand why we had rules, and why we had to obey.  But our parents were always working on keeping us safe, always working on providing the best for us.  The rules were there not just to bother us, but they were there for a purpose. 

Dear friends in Christ, our text today tells us a similar thing, only not in relation to our parents, but in relationship to our God, and creator.  The one who put us here on this earth to love us, and to give to us.  But just like a child, almost from the very beginning, we began to disobey God’s word.  Adam and Eve were the first people, and they were also the first to break a rule.  “Don’t eat from that tree” God said, “or you will die.”  Plain and simple, an easy rule right?  But before too long, Adam and Eve had broken it, and brought a life of sinfulness, of disobedience to God for all mankind. 

God consigned Adam and Eve to disobedience.  That word, consigned means he turned them over to the imprisonment of disobedience.  He allowed them to be surrounded by disobedience they wanted because that is what we wanted.  Adam and Eve disobeyed God because they wanted to be in charge in their own life.  And so God let them have what they wanted. 

But it was not as good as Adam and Eve imagined.  Their happy joyous life with God could not be replicated on their own.  They had to struggle.  They had to work hard so that they had enough food.  And worst of all they had to pay the ultimate price, the one God promised would happen for their disobedience, death.  930 years after he was born, Adam finally succumbed to his disobedience. 

Friends, you and I also disobey God.  From the moment of conception in our mothers’ wombs, we already had turned our backs on God.  Through out our entire lives, we do things that God doesn’t want us to do.  We like to gossip about people around us, even if though God says we should not slander.  We like to covet things those around us have.  We like to use language we don’t want our mom to hear.  We do all of these things, and in them all we disobey God in the exact same way that Adam and Eve did. 

Friends, you and I are consigned to disobedience.  We have been imprisoned in our sin so that all that we do is sin.  All that we are is sin.  All that we desire is sin, and on our own we cannot know anything else but sin. 

But  our text says that we were all bound into disobedience so that God might have mercy on us all.  And he has had mercy on us in his Son Jesus Christ.  For your disobedience, Jesus came to this world born of a virgin.  For your disobedience Jesus healed the sick and the suffering around him, even those who we would judge to be unworthy (as in our Gospel lesson today).  Jesus came and he submitted to mankind’s evil disobedience, allowing us to put Him to death on a cross. 

Yes, it was our disobedience that killed Jesus.  It was our disobedience that swung a hammer to pound nails through the hands and feet of Jesus.  It was us that swung the whip and tore off his flesh.  It was our disobedience that desired to put God to death. 

But through it, through our disobedience, God has shown mercy to us.  For the very death of Jesus which we desired in our sin destroyed that death forever.  IN the crucifixion of Jesus we were finally rescued from disobedience forever.  When Jesus died, he died the death Adam deserved.  He died the death Eve deserved.  And yes, he even died the death that you deserved. 

And instead of what you deserved, Jesus gave you the keys to the kingdom. He did not stay dead in our disobedience, but leaving it dead he rose again forever and ever. And you too, in Him alone, will one day rise to everlasting blessedness, righteousness and innocence forever in heaven.  God has had mercy on you poor disobedient sinners. 

So now what, St. Paul asks, For if we have died to sin, can we go on living in it?  Can we keep on doing whatever we want with out caring what God thinks about it.  No friends.  For you have died with Jesus in baptism.  And when you were dead with him, your disobedience died as well.  The old way of doing things doesn’t work any longer.  In Christian love and out of the response to knowing we have salvation in him, we are no longer bound by disobedience, but we are free to do what God would have us do.  We are free to help our neighbor.  We are free to no longer covet.  We are free to no longer disobey.  You are free to be God’s Child, and to be in perfect relationship with him foreve.r 

You once were bound over to sin.  But now in Jesus you are free.  Now through Jesus you have received mercy.  In Jesus, you have countless blessings forever.  Amen.