Category Archives: semons
Were you Talking to Me? Yes! You Were! A sermon about God’s relationship with us!
Were You Talking To Me?
Yes, You Were Talking to Me
Isaiah 62:1-5
† IHS †
May the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ continue to astound you, as you realize that means God really loves YOU, He really loves You!
A More than a Bit Uncomfortable
One of the odd pleasures in my life happens on Monday Evening, as I hear the guys that I study worth gripe and complain about a term we use, to describe what we have as believers. It is almost funny to watch their discomfort as we talk about relationships.
They struggle with the idea that God calls us into an intimate relationship with Him. They will complain that guys don’t like to talk about relationships in general and that using the word “intimate” will shut almost every man down.
They will admit that there is no better phrase to describe what God calls us into. But they will still struggle with the phrase, and I don’t think it is just because of the words involved.
I think there is something deeper that bothers us, something that unnerves us.
Yes, it unnerves me as well! Please don’t tell the Monday night guys this, as much as I love talking about the intimate relationship God desires to have with his people, when it comes to talking about the God desiring that kind of relationship with me, my reaction is like Al Pacino’s.
Are you talking to me? Are you talking to… ME?
Yes, the Old Testament is talking to us, about God and us, and a relationship deeper than anything we’ve ever known!
Why had the discomfort?
Hear some of the phrases from our Old Testament reading this morning,
Because I love (insert your name), I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for (insert your name again), I cannot remain silent.
How about this one,
2 The nations will see (insert your name) righteousness. World leaders will be blinded by (insert your name) glory!
It keeps going
(insert your name), new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,” for the LORD delights in you and will claim (Insert your name) as his bride.
And finally
Then God will rejoice over (insert your name one last time) as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.
Yes, God is talking to us, these incredible words are
How comfortable are you with this?
Have to admit, it is a bit awkward for me to hear these words. I mean I love God, I love to hear about His love for me and all of His people, but it is a challenge to work through God not only loving us but desiring us, yearning for us, delighting in us. And it only gets worse when we take our us, and put in our individual names. It is awkward, but once we get past that awkwardness, it is amazing!
I think the key is that second phrase up there, the one about the nations seeing our righteousness, about the world leaders being blinding by our glory.
It would make sense if we were that righteous, that holy, that glorious. But I have to admit I am not. A person who is righteous, who is holy, yes, they would certainly deserve the love of God. They would be the kind of person God would like, that he would delight in, that makes sense.
But you and I?
How righteous are we? How much would God delight in what I did on Wednesday, or what you over there were thinking on Thursday, or on what you said to that irritating person last Monday? What about the musicians, would God delight in everything you thought, said or did on Friday?
Really?
I think far more than the word relationship or the word intimate is our knowledge that God yearns, loves, and delights in us who do not deserve that kind of attention. Someone else surely might, but not us.
We sin. In our thoughts, in our words, and in what we do, and did not do.
That is why we are uncomfortable with this. We don’t deserve this kind of attention.
What if God, after all of this, realized that who He loved would struggle with faithfulness. For that is what sin is, it is our not being faithful to God. When we sin, it is as if we were cheating on God. No, not as if we were cheating on God, we do cheat on God when we sin.
Unfaithful in a deep, intimate relationship with the God who loves us.
Yeah, that makes us uncomfortable.
This is Your God…
But hear God again,
1 Because I love Zion, I will not keep still. Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem, I cannot remain silent. I will not stop praying for her until her righteousness shines like the dawn, and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.
It may seem odd for God to pray for us, you should insert the word “interceding”. He promises He isn’t going to stay passive, He says that twice! He isn’t going to stop interceding in our lives until we are as righteous until the fact of our salvation is so glorious that no one can deny it.
That’s the love of God for you. That is the work on the cross, and the work of the Holy Spirit every day.
God determines that He guarantees that no one can ever call us forsaken, for He will not forsake us. We will have hope, for God ensures no one can call us desolate. Instead, God tells us He will delight in us, That we are the Bride of Christ, that He has made a covenant, a promise to us that we will always be His as He marks us with His name.
Here God is giving us a new name again, this time from the Book of Revelation.
Rev 3:12 — All who are victorious will become pillars in the Temple of my God, and they will never have to leave it. And I will write on them the name of my God, and they will be citizens in the city of my God—the new Jerusalem that comes down from heaven from my God. And I will also write on them my new name.
And God won’t stop working in our lives until we are victorious.
This is our God, this is the God who yearns for us, who loves us, who delights in us, Who shows that love in the work He does, making us His own. In the work, He accomplishes in us, and through us.
That is the relationship He creates in our Baptism, that He restores through our hearing of His love and hearing that we are forgiven, that we celebrate with a foretaste of the wedding feast, that we call communion and the Lord’s Supper.
For this is our God, who works in us deeper than we even are aware of, this is the God, who yearns for His people, so much that Christ would die to make our new name a reality.
So let us celebrate! He knows our name when making these promises, Yes, He is really talking to you when He talks of His love and delight. (and me!)
AMEN!
The Kingdom of God is Like Nuclear Physics
The Kingdom of God is Like Nuclear Physics…
It’s all about Fission and Fusion
Romans 6:1-11
† In Jesus Name †
May you be encouraged by the grace of God, which powerfully is at work in your life, separating you from your sin in His death, and uniting you to Christ, and the glory of His resurrection to life!
The Power of a Word…
A Pastor Parker Parable.
Remember these locations. Fukushima, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Nagasaki, Hiroshima.
The fear and anxiety associated with them is still felt, and their identity will forever be united with the release of incredible power. Nuclear Power.
There is a great power at work in our lives, and the way in which it work can be illustrated by the basic concepts of nuclear power. For there are two actions that take place when the power of God is unleashed.
The first is like nuclear fission, the power released when that which isn’t supposed to be separated is. The second is like fusion, where separate elements are bonded together by incredible power so completely, you cannot tell one from the other.
And so, on this day when we celebrate Christ’s baptism, and our own, we are going to take a glance at Romans 6, and the description of God’s glorious power, at work in our lives.
Like nuclear power, the power of God’s glory at work is amazing, a power so incredible that we are left in awe of it, as we consider it’s work.
And so we shall…
Fission –
When we consider fission, the basic concept is the core, the central part splits at the atomic level. The destructive force release is incredible as that which was supposed to be one is forced apart by the introduction of another force.
The element is forever changed by the release of such force. Enough so that a small pellet of uranium, about the size of a pencil eraser, is equal to three 55 gallon barrels of oil. No wonder the uncontrolled release of that energy causes death.
And that power is incomparable to the power that brought into the world, that separates us from our sin.
Hear it again from the words of Paul to the church in Rome.
We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. 7 For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.
As Christ entered into this world, so did the power it takes to separate from us a nature that is sinful. For each of us has sinned, and that sin we can see the damage, the destruction it does. The lives that are broken, the relationships shattered; the force that wreaks havoc in this world, a force we call evil. It doesn’t matter the sin, whether it is idolatry, dishonoring God’s name, or those He places in positions of great responsibility, like parents, lawmakers, rulers. It doesn’t matter if the sin is murder, adultery, theft, gossip or simply being un-content with our lives, and desiring that of others.
Sin is that force that was at work in each of us, a force that still tries to wield its power over us.
Christ’s entrance into the world, and his death on the cross releases the power that severs the power of sin that binds us, and we are free as the neutrons freed in the reaction. Such is the power of Christ’s death, which captures the radical sin which so easily ensnared us.
The power of sin is shattered, as a greater power overwhelms it….
Fusion
If you think the power that would remove from you all sins in thought, word and deed is awe-inspiring, the power at work does something more incredible than that.
For while the power of sin leads to death, the power of God at work brings life, as it works like nuclear fusion, binding us to Christ Jesus.
8 And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. 9 We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. 10 When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.
What takes more energy that division is melding something, repairing it.
If you break a window – it takes a lot of force, but how can you replace that which is shattered?
It is a lot easier to spend money, that it is to reconcile the checkbook.
It is easy to damage a relationship, but it is very difficult to restore one.
Yet the power of Christ’s death and resurrection does that, it unites us to Him, it fuses us into Him,
It is the power of God that David’s psalm testifies to, His voice that powerfully resonates like thunder, majestic and able to make the mountains quake, as it rules over us. Look at the power of His voice, look at the fission it creates, and yet at the end, almost an after statement, these is what takes the greatest power.
Look especially at the last verse, verse 11,
11 The Lord gives his people strength! The Lord blesses them with peace!
That is the power, the glorious incredible power that joins us to Jesus in death, and yet in the resurrection, in the quickening, in the very life given to us, the voice of God speaks.
That is the glorious message that is the gospel. That God raises us in Christ, unleashing that power to separate us from sin, and binding us to Himself. That is His word, His promise.
Hear it again from other places
Php 3:10-11 — I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!
Col 2:12 — For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.
Col 3:1 — Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand.
This God at work, in you. It is all of His mighty power at work.
A power that goes beyond nuclear, it is the power of life itself.
Which is why Paul encourages us to stop living in sin, its power has broken over us.
And so I leave you with the last of his words. Know them, and the power of God at work in you. And rejoice as His power is unleashed. He are the words…
11 So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
Live life my friends, for it is your gift in Christ Jesus.
AMEN!
Christmas Sunday Sermon: “I Have Seen!” (Growing past weariness)
I Have Seen!
Luke 2:22-40
† Jesus, Son, Savior †
I pray for you this, on this third day of Christmas. That you would know the awe, the joy, the wonder on the 8th day of Christmas, that Simeon and Anna knew… and that you would never forget this joy of seeing God’s salvation for all people!
How tired, how weary, and this strange man
It was a cold day when they woke up, and Joseph packed up all they had. We think he had a donkey, but who can be sure? We do know that they were among the poorest of the poor, so it is possible they had to carry all they had.
Even so, the mother of the Messiah, seven days after giving birth picked him up, and with her husband set out on a six to seven-mile hike. A hike that would climb 2000 feet in elevation, as they went through olive groves and past military outposts.
Al, how many of us could walk from here to your house? That would be a little farther, but not as strenuous of a climb! Seven days after giving birth. They were still weary from the long trek from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Deacon Bob asked a question in our preparation that I couldn’t answer. Would it be easier for Mary to hike that distance, or ride a donkey, considering she just gave birth. I have no idea…..neither sounds like an easy trip!
They had no choice to take either journey. The first was mandated by the laws of men. The journey on this day mandated by the laws of God.
The good thing was that they were in Bethlehem, and not Jericho.
As they finally climb the temple mount, weary and tired from the three to four-hour journey, a very old man wanders over to them, with a huge smile, mumbling praise God! Praise God! He looks down at Jesus and gently takes Him from Mary, crying out to someone(?), I see! I see!
I wonder what they thought when he broke into song????
How would you feel, if you someone handed to you Jesus, the Messiah?
What would it be like to hold Jesus, the one who would die for your sin? Not sure of that perhaps, but knowing the hope for all humanity was there… in your hands?
That is what Simeon experienced…
How tired and weary are we?
Do we manage the things God desires?
What if Mary and Joseph didn’t?
The apostle Paul once wrote,
9 So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. Galatians 6:9-10 (NLT)
Somehow, Mary and Joseph found the strength to make it to Jerusalem, to have Jesus circumcised, to offer the sacrifices that it took, for Him to be considered righteous. I mean, what would have happened if they had said – well the roads will be too rough, Mary needs another week in bed, we can go to the temple any time? Or the temple opens too early, or tool late, or we don’t like the long lines. I could even imagine Joseph saying, Mary, if you don’t stop trying to give me directions we are just going to head home! If they didn’t complete the journey, if the offerings and circumcision hadn’t happened, then he would not be righteous, and he couldn’t have died for us.
My friends weariness is not a valid reason for you or I to sin. To fail to do the good that God commissioned fro us to do. To say a mean word because we are tired and irritable is as much a sin as the lies and gossip we know are forbidden. Failing to help someone because they drain what energy we have left is just like stealing from them, or even murdering them. Sin is sin, whether we feel like we are Abraham’s age, or William’s.
That’s why Paul encourages us not to grow weary, not to stop doing what God has prepared for us.
it’s hard you say. I agree.
But so was a virgin and her husband, who had given birth a week before – making the trek to the temple.
I have seen!
As they come to the temple, they meet two people have known weariness. They have spent their lives in prayer, and in ministering to others. We hear of their devotion, their faithfulness, their righteousness, Both are guided by the Holy Spirit, even as we are. And despite their age, they serve God with willingness and great desire. And both are older, much older.
Simeon, the one guided by the Holy Spirit that day, who was told that this baby, this newborn, was the one who would make us born again.
He had seen it, what he had been waiting for all of His life, why he spent that life eagerly awaiting for the Messiah to appear. So assured by the Holy Spirit that all he had to see was the baby, to hold him.
The nunc dimitis. Our completion, there in his hands.
This baby would reveal God to every nation, it was the reason God had chosen this small nation of Israel and protected and guided it. This child who would be a great joy to many, the One, who would reveal all our deepest thoughts, and cleanse us anyway.
As God had promised, our salvation revealed!
Our salvation, there in Simeon’s hands.
The other person, whose weariness would fade was a 84-year-old woman who had spent 64 years waiting for that day. For sixty-four years and more, she would fast and pray, that God would save His people. As Simeon noted, not just Israel, but all of His people. And so He did! She told everyone there, everyone who was waiting for the Messiah.
He’s here! Simeon is holding Him!
How much the weariness would disappear from their old bones. How much the joy of knowing God had kept His promise.
As we gather at the rail this morning, as we are given the Body and Blood of Christ, Take a moment…and think about what you have been given. For we too see our salvation, we see God revealed to us, we are brought into His glory.
Find the peace that chases away the weariness, the love which embraces you, the joy of Christ’s gathering us to Himself…and sharing Himself with us.
And rejoice, for He is with you!
The Only Right That Matters
The Only Right that Really Matters
John 1:1-14
† I.H.S. †
I pray for you my friends that you would grow to realize even deeper this truth. Because Jesus was born, lived, died and rose from the dead, you are the children of God!
It seems we are always talking about our rights. In the Constitution, it talks about inalienable rights, and its first ten amendments were the Bill of rights. People talk about human rights; there have been numerous civil rights movements. We talk about water rights, mineral rights, the right to assemble, the right to education, the right to medical care, the right to arm bears, o wait, bear arms. Theologians and philosophers talk about the right to basic human dignity. Heck, I even remember one old rock song from 30 years ago that encouraged us to fight for the right…to party! (yeah 30 years ago!)
But what if all but one right were taken away.
What if every right people claimed and demanded were stripped of them, but they could choose one….
I would hope we take the one that we heard a moment ago in the gospel.
It is the only right that really matters.
And to receive it, to trust that we have that right, means that all other rights are diminished, that all other rights are revealed to be something less. They become like idols of wood or stone; that lose their luster and their importance.
Rights, or Self-idolatry?
While I am one who often speaks about making sure others are treated well, I think that we often make what we demand the right to, into an idol, a God that serves us. We can’t think of life without that “right”, and we will fight to protect that right.
I’ve even heard of some people who indicate they will fight for that right, even to the point of death.
I am not talking about trying to serve others, and ensure they have what most would consider basic things in their life. I am talking about when those things or things not so basic or necessary become idols, where we think life must have them, or it isn’t really living.
It is then we have taken something good and turned it into something bad. It is like the Israelites, taking Gideon’s armor and worshipping it, rather than the God who directed Gideon. Or the staff with the snake, that God had Moses fashion, to heal people of the snake bites they received when they were unfaithful. We do it to, when we take the things that remind us of Jesus, from buildings to people, from crosses to music, and say that’s what matters.
Or even when we take a day like Christmas, and make it more about the presents and food than about the Lord, who came to us.
The Lord, who laid aside his rights as God, to come and live among us, to serve, even to the point of death, and that death on a cross.
The Right
So what right do we cling to? What right is the one that makes the difference in our lives?
This one…
12 But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. 13 They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.
You have been given the right to be a child of God. His son, His daughter. The child whom He loves.
So has everyone else on the planet. Everyone in history,
This is why we are here.
It is not just for the brunch; it is not because of the music, or my eloquence. It’s not because of tradition, or because someone forced you to wake up and be here. (although they might have!)
It is because God drew you here, to remind you of the right He gave you.
That He purchased for you by sending Jesus here, to be born and laid in a feeding trough, to wander around as an itinerant prophet without a home, to be mocked and brutally beaten and hung on a tree to bear every curse your sin earned.
So you would have the right to be a child of God.
To share in His love, His mercy, His glory, His peace……
AMEN.
4th Week of Adven: He Will Lead – Micah 5 –
He Will Do All the Good Things He Promised!
He Will Lead
Micah 5:2-5a
† Jesus, Son, Savior †
May God’s mercy sustain you throughout your life, as you realize that He is the Prince of Peace! Your Prince of Peace!
Looking for Leadership
It doesn’t take a prophet to predict that the next year will be full of conflict, full of verbal abuse, full of people trying to manipulate most of the people of the United States, and often using fear and greed to do so.
As a relatively cynical man, I dread election years. I fear them because I fear that the result will be division, conflict, fear, and in my case apathy, occasionally mixed with sarcasm.
You all know that sarcasm is a major temptation of mine, right?
Apathy is even a worse temptation.
But I do fear the relationships that will be damaged, as people’s fear will dominate the reason they vote, fears that find some basis in self-centeredness. What this means is that we won’t have discussions with each other. We will attack each other’s candidates, and more than an argument will occur. A great division will occur because our fears cause us to invest in our candidates as much with our hearts as our minds, we will see someone supporting an opponent as a threat. They in turn, will get defensive. We will not comprehend how someone in their right mind could support candidate Q, because we see them as a threat. We will forget that we are family, neighbors, a community.
The reaction may take years to heal.
That is why I dread such years, and why I become so apathetic.
For it is hard to see good come from such times.
Why Do We Want to Trust in Princes
I wonder why we struggle to understand the wisdom of God when it comes to leadership, whether that is in national leadership, or local leadership. Hear God’s wisdom again,
3 Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no salvation. Psalm 146:3 (ESV)
We might even quote that about the opposition, see- they’ve put their trust in those people, how could they! While we do the same – hoping that our candidate will save us. Without thinking, we begin to believe, to have hope, in the work of men.
How about these two
8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in people. 9 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes. Psalm 118:8-9 (NLT)
22 Don’t put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they? Isaiah 2:22 (NLT)
and this cry for mercy,
11 Oh, please help us against our enemies, for all human help is useless. Psalm 60:11 (NLT)
Finally, there is this one… which is terrifying,
5 This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD. Jeremiah 17:5 (NLT)
That might be the nicer of the translations, others use the word condemned.
Like I said, this isn’t just about politics. It can be that this job will save us, or that if we can only make it to retirement, then everything will be okay. Or meeting the right star, or seeing out children or grandchildren succeed, as the world measures success. We create many idols, convinced that life will be alright, if only they…
It is clear, there is no one we should put our trust in, no one we must depend on, except for God. No one else we should count on or hope in, even those who claim to be good Christians.
Otherwise, we have created an idol.
And those idols will be out in force.
And they can lead us into lives that are cursed.
The Good He Has promised
Advent reminds us of the failure of idols in the past, and that we need some One more solid to place our hope, our expectations in.
We need a God, not an idol. We need a leader who restores us, who heals us, who makes us whole. Hear Micah’s prophecy again,
4 And he will stand to lead his flock with the LORD’s strength, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. Then his people will live there undisturbed, for he will be highly honored around the world. 5 And he will be the source of peace
If we want a leader, we have but to look at the cross. We see there a leader whose life isn’t centered in himself, or an agenda that promotes his party’s preferences. We see a leader who wants the best for us, a leader who brings us into a place of peace, a leader who is willing to die to comfort us and heal us in our brokenness. We see a leader that gathers his people, who helps them grow by refining them, we need a leader who will keep the Good He has promised.
This is Jesus, our Lord. Immanuel, the proof that God is with us.
And yes He leads us. The world will say they cannot see Him, but neither have I seen a president, premier, or king personally. They are somewhere out there, whereas God is here, His Spirit within every believer in this place. So I see him when I look into Chris’s eyes, or Esther’s, or Manny’s, or Cyndee’s.
Even more I see God when we see the body and blood of Christ, which He gives us, shed for the forgiveness of our sin. When I see His people kneel at the altar, ready for Christ to come to them. We hear Him as we hear our sins being forgiven, for it is by His authority and it is His desire to show mercy and bring us to the Father. We hear it when He claims His people, when He claims us as His own.
This is a leader who will bring us into peace, both then, and now. For that is His called, to guard our hearts and minds in the peace of God our father, a peace we dwell in, right now, because of Jesus, the Lord who leads us and helps us see all the good God has promised, He has delivered.
AMEN?
Travelling Companions of the Cross Lesson 6: Will We Be Companions to Whom He Was?
Travelling Companions of the Cross
Lesson 6: Will We Be Companions to Whom He Was?
Matthew 11:12-19
† I.H.S. †
But Wisdom is shown to be right by its results
That last line of the gospel reading is interesting to me.
“Wisdom is shown to be right by its results.”
It sounds at first, like an intellectual version of faith without works is dead. And the more I think about it, the more I realize it is not the intellectual version of faith without works is dead, it simply is the same statement.
Not the normal phrase to preach on, as we celebrate the 498th anniversary of Martin Luther insisting that we aren’t saved by works, but simply by having faith in God.
Having faith in God =Trusting in God = Depending on God = Wisdom.
And that trust, that wisdom, is seen as our lives, and our hearts and minds, are transformed into the likeness of Christ.
We aren’t saved by our works, or our results, or even our knowledge. Wisdom knows this!
But all of those are evidence of our relationship with God.
That is the reason He saves us. To have a relationship with us!
So let us see how that is recognized in our lives.
The set-up
When I hear Jesus describe the generation of the apostles, I realize our generation doesn’t get it any more than they did back then.
They got everything backward, they didn’t repent when they should, and they didn’t celebrate when God brought together what should be together. Heck, they didn’t even know how to play, to pretend, to imagine what the future held.
That is why they criticized John the Baptist for calling for people to be united to God, and why they criticized Jesus for celebrating that fact that God dwelt among His people.
Would we welcome them? If so, their sin?
Which brings about an interesting question.
Would we be companions to the people Jesus was a companion too? Would we be worried if people thought we were drunkards, I mean, the glutton thing is hard to deny. What would people say if they knew the pastor of this church enjoyed hanging out with politicians, or drunks, or people whose morals were loose, heck if they were non-existent? Would there be a scandal, if the world knew the leaders of this church hung out with a bunch of dirty rotten sinners?
I mean – wait – would it be really any different than any other week around here?
This place is a place for broken people to celebrate that God has given up on them. To find in God, the Lord, who would heal them, and love them. Who would draw them back to Him? That is what the church is supposed to be, a place where a sinner haunted by his sin like Luther was could find respite in the cross.
Where the church was supposed to share God’s mercy, they didn’t. They didn’t offer comfort to those who were broken by sin, by the loneliness that sins can often result in, for sin divides.
Would we welcome the broken? Would we celebrate their being here?Would we help them realize he healing, comforting presence of God in their lives? Would we celebrate with them as God makes them His own?
That calls for a feast – and so we shall!
That may make us different from the world, and even from other churches.
But it isn’t just the comforting of those broken by sin… it is calling people who need to, to repent.
Not the ones already broken by sin, but those who play God, or who hide their brokenness, or ignore and deny it. For Jesus called people to repentance as much as He comforted the broken.
The difference is he called to repentance those who others believed were holy and perfect. Those who pretended they were good and faithful. We need to repent, allow Jesus to heal our brokenness and forgive our sins.
We need to mourn, and we need to dance, we need to repent, and we need to celebrate the love of the Lord who draws us to Him.
Not crush the sinners and applaud the self-righteous….
But to let the Holy Spirit draw the self-righteous to repentance, and lift the prodigal, broken and desperate to the throne of God, to be welcomed home to a feast.
The Reformation – these can be saved.. and so can we…
You see, that was what the Reformation was about.
The theology was important, but more important was helping the church realize that our lives are to be like Jesus Christ’s. We’ve been anointed in our baptism, united to Him, not only because God wants us to be holy, but because He wants the world to be Holy, and He will use us to draw people to Jesus.
To bring sinners into grace, to help the self-righteous to realize that they are sinners, so they too can know the grace, the love and mercy of God.
That was Luther’s issue…it drove him crazy thinking he couldn’t be forgiven. It didn’t just bother him; he was driven nuts, screaming late into the night, trying to find some hope, some sense of love.
The goal of the reformation then was to help people know the peace He found, the peace we each need to find… the peace of Christ given to us because God loved us enough for Jesus to come and die on the cross.
The results of God’s wisdom was our being saved, sinners being comforted. Broken folks being healed…
I said earlier in the sermon, one of the problems of the self-righteous was that they wouldn’t play because they don’t have the ability to imagine that which they can’t see, especially the future.
The humble, the broken, simply struggle and hear the hope of God’s love, of a life of peace, and they can’t think of everything else.
There is a time to mourn our sin, to mourn the brokenness and death….
And there is a time to feast, to celebrate the love of a God who dwells in our midst…
Because He is here… AMEN
