Category Archives: Sermons
499 Years Later How is YOUR Re-formation Going?
Concordia Lutheran Church – Cerritos, Ca , at dawn on Easter Sunday
499 Years Later
How is YOUR Re-formation Going?
† Jesus, Son, Savior †
May the mercy of God our Father, poured out on us as we were untied to Jesus in Baptism, be as real, as reforming our lives and God’s church.
Does History Guarantee our Reformation?
There was once a group of people who thought themselves good, who counted their spiritual heritage back across the generations, for they knew God had worked across those generations, and had often preserved His people. They did what they were told would make them holy, they regularly met and celebrated the promises of God. They ignored their sin, often while condemning the sins of others.
It sounds like the descendants of Abraham, doesn’t it?
Could it be said of Lutherans, even Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Lutherans, Even the people that gather here at Concordia Lutheran Church, even those here right now?
I think Jesus’ answer to us would be the same to those Jews who needed to be freed from sin, as He calls us all to be disciples, to remain in the truth He instills in us, to celebrate the truth that indeed sets us free!
To put it in another way, to be able to answer the question,
“499 years later, how is your re-formation going?”
Or do we know that the Holy Spirit is at work, reforming us!
Are we still enslaved to sin?
Jesus told them and told us, that if we are sin, we are enslaved to it, in bondage to it, that it set a trap and caught us in it, a trap we cannot easily escape. That’s why you can’t escape it at times, or the guilt and shame it can cause.
Ever lay awake at night, wondering why you said or did something, or have it come back to haunt you? Ever feel the suffocation of shame, as you think, if they only knew how bad I was, they would never forgive?
One article I read said that Luther had an over-active sense of guilt, a by-product of depression, and a burdened soul that created the Reformation to find comfort for his broken soul.
Would we all have souls so hungry to be found righteous, and haunted by our own unrighteousness! Would we all seek out the comfort God offers to those who are broken, and would we all point others, in need of us, to the comfort the cross offers!
For we need relief of being ensnared by sin, we need to hear that we’ve been freed from it, we need to know, in the midst of broken lives and a broken world, that there is peace!
That’s why Jesus points out that in their slavery, they may seem to be part of Abraham’s family, but they are slaves, people without rights, who aren’t part of the family. They lived in the illusion of it, while still in bondage. But if they would follow Jesus, if they would walk with Him, learn of Him, and find their place in Him, they would be free. They would be transformed.
We need to be transformed, which was the hope both the Reformation and the Restoration movements offered.
We need to see our reformation and restoration both personal, and permanent. To declared us free from the power of sin, freed to become the children of God!
We are part of that family
That was the freedom, the comfort, the relief Luther, and so many before and after found. In being a disciple, not just someone who learns by sitting in a classroom, but one who walks with Jesus in every aspect of life. Where we let God form us, even disciplining us as the Holy Spirit works to reform and transform us.
This is what happens at the Cross when we are united to Christ’s death and His resurrection, that is where our personal reformation begins, ever as Paul wrote to Titus.
3 Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled and became slaves to many lusts and pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy, and we hated each other. 4 But—
That is us, back when before this happened>0
“When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, 5 he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. 6 He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. 7 Because of his grace, he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.” 8 This is a trustworthy saying, and I want you to insist on these teachings so that all who trust in God will devote themselves to doing good. These teachings are good and beneficial for everyone. Titus 3:3-8 (NLT)
This is the teaching a disciple of Jesus remains in, the fact that He saved us, baptizing us in water and the Spirit, cleansing us from all sin.
That is where our confidence in being part of God’s family comes from! Not from anywhere else! That is where our reformation happened, even as it is revealed throughout the rest of our lives, and completed on the day of Christ.
And knowing that leaves us in a place of peace, A peace that is found as we remain in Christ Jesus. In that peace, we find the stillness needed to know He is God, and we have not only been freed, but we’ve become part of the family. AMEN!
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
Breathe on Me, Breath of God
2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
† I.H.S.†
May the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, breathed out into you as the scriptures are read, remind you that you dwell in His peace!
A Cute and False Statement about the Bible
Maybe 20 years ago I started seeing bumper stickers and tee-shirts with one of those cute Christian slogans on it. The slogan is pretty popular, and somewhat cute, but it is wrong, and spiritually, it is not just false, it is deadly.
Basic
Instructions
Before
Leaving
Earth.
It is wrong because it reduces the exhaled words of God into a rule book, a guide by which we could live the perfect life.
Yet many of us, including me, have used the inaccurate acronym a time or two, not thinking that it could lead people to frustration, and turn them into either hypocrites, or worse, causing them to give up on the church.
First – if you look at it as a rule book, a guidebook, it is anything but “basic”.
I mean the Old Covenants has over 613 commandments, – that doesn’t sound, “basic”.
And the summary found in the New Covenant – Love God with every part of you – heart, soul, mind and body, and to love your neighbor, not the one you like, but the other one, as you love yourself.
Does that sound like easy, simple instructions?
And do you think you can achieve that level of maturity prior to leaving earth?
So I think we need to understand what it means that God gave us His word, and what He makes it useful for.
What Paul sees as an urgent need
In the second paragraph, Paul urges Timothy and all who read this letter to announce, to proclaim, to teach others the word of God. To bear witness to it, because of the hope it gives to those who will hear it.
He is insistent on it, he urges us to do so because the need to hear it is urgent. We don’t urge people to do something that is common and simple. We urge them to do something that is critical, that is needed.
And he urges us to be ready, whether it is convenient or not, even when it requires us to patiently correct people, to even rebuke them, and to encourage them with our teaching.
Not easy tasks, but ones we are urged to do, because this is why we have scripture, and it will make a difference in their life, and ours,
A difference that God wants to bring about urgently.
Because He loves us, and He wants us with Him, to know His love, to share in His glory.
By “us” I mean us all!
All, no matter what language we speak, no matter where we were born, our what languages we speak, or what political candidate we support or criticize.
God would have them hear of His love, and Paul reminds us of this and urges us to do it, for these are people Jesus died to save.
What scripture does – Gives specific wisdom
This is the message of scripture, the message that Timothy learned, the lesson that made him wise, and that wisdom was for a purpose –
to be saved.
Saved from, but more importantly saved into a relationship where we can believe in, trust, and depend on Jesus Christ.
This is what scripture teaches that we are to remain faithful to, the very things that were passed on to us, and o which we pass on to the next generations, even if it means we suffer in order to do it.
This isn’t basic, and it isn’t just some instructions – as if you have to assemble it.
It is revelation, an unveiling of reality, that affects our lives here and now, and from this point forward into all of eternity. The Holy Spirit uses these God-breathed words to breath life into us, to give us faith.
This salvation is worth it, this being brought into the presence of God is that amazing.
Not just to be cleansed of all sin and shame
Not just to be freed from all guilt and resentment
To know we are loved
To know we will spend all eternity with our beloved Lord and Savior.
And that is guaranteed by the presence of the Holy Spirit, our comforter.
This is what scripture teaches us, this is what we rejoice in, this is the life which God reveals to us, as He breathed out the scriptures, and they breathed life into us.
This is where we remain faithful, depending on these promises. This is where we stand, whether it is convenient or inconvenient, whether we prosper or suffer.
For in Him, we have found a peace that is beyond all understanding, and we are guarded, our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
AMEN!
What Will It Take you To Prove
What will it take to prove…
Luke 16:19-31
† In Jesus Name †
May the Grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ sustain you, as His unsurpassable peace guards your hearts, and your mind, until He returns.
From Lazarus’s Perspective
We know his name – but we’ve never heard his thoughts, save one. Even as he stands at Abraham’s side, we hear him thought of as a servant – someone to dispatch with a message, not like an apostle, but like and errand boy.
While he is alive, suffering, unable to care for himself, the only thing we head from him is his desire to be fed by what falls from the rich’s man’s table. How he longed for a piece of bread, a morsel of lamb, even and onion.
Something, anything!
And he was so weak; he couldn’t even brash away the dogs who would lick and nibble at his open wounds.
Some scraps, please? Please?
A man who knew only hunger and pain.
And then one day, a procession of angels came, sent by God, to bring him to Abraham’s side, to wait for the day when there will be a new heaven and a new earth when God will dwell with His people, and we will see Him!
He was welcomed home, as we will be.
For like Lazarus, God knows our name!
The journey home
But what is this screaming in the distance?
As Lazarus is standing by Abraham’s side, he hears something you can’t usually hear in heaven, in fact, this may be the only time. Some un-named (and that is important) man is trying to get Abraham’s attention from across the gulf, from the place for those not welcome in God’s presence.
It’s a voice that sounds familiar, and maybe Lazarus even recognized it as the voice, that echoed through the gates, the laughed and enjoyed the fine banquets and parties.
But now the voice was one of anguish, one begging for help, begging for reliefs from the heat, crying for pity,
Because of his past, maybe we would think Lazarus was thinking Mr. No-Name was getting what he deserved. Or more likely, because of the very reasons he was escorted by angels, his heart was moved, and as Abraham was asked to send a messenger, maybe Lazarus was in tears, wanting to help.
Even so, the man’s torment would continue, his heart still not turned. And as he pleads for his brothers, Abraham’s words are haunting,
“‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
What will it take to convince us?
These words that Lazarus hears are scary when you think about them, and who is saying them. What kind of proof would convince someone about the consequences of their sin? If the words of scripture will not, if even the fact that Jesus not only raised people from death but rose from the dead himself – if that doesn’t cause people to think a little more, what will?
How do we reach people, and bring them to Jesus, If they aren’t persuaded by Jesus rising from the dead?
Or perhaps a better question – does the resurrection of Jesus make a difference in our lives?
Does it give us hope?
Does it help give us peace?
Does that hope, that peace transforms our lives in such a way we aren’t tied to stuff, but that we realize people have names, that we are to love them in the way that God does?
What difference does the resurrection of Jesus have for the way we look at life, and death?
What difference would it make if we realize that God, and all heaven, knew us by name because Jesus lived and died and rose again?
What will it take for us to realize God knows us and calls us by name?
Col. 1:28 –
The apostle Paul explains it this way.
27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.
This is the message that changes us, knowing that God loves us, and indeed loves every human being changes everything. It means everything. It means that each one of us is God’s beloved.
Knowing that means that loving others is no longer a duty, no longer a sacrifice, but it is glorious and wonderful to see them come alive in Christ, to see their lives transform, for they begin to share in God’s glory as well.
They have a name; they mean something to us. This is why Paul would go on to say,
28 So we tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their relationship to Christ. 29 That’s why I work and struggle so hard, depending on Christ’s mighty power that works within me.
Colossians 1:26-29 (NLT)
People need to hear of God’s love, while they are still alive. They need to see that love in a way that they can hear; that isn’t someone trying to persuade them, but rather share with them this glory, this love. They
But that happens best when we know His love when we realize He knows our name! It is then, as we hear Him calling us by name that we realize in awe that He has given us His peace, peace that goes beyond understanding, peace that we dwell in because Christ calls us His treasure, and keeps our hearts and minds there.
This is our life… where God calls us by name – so live it! AMEN!
Our Confident Hope of Real Life IN HIM! A Sermon on Col 1:1-11
The Simple Christian Life – Love, HOPE, Faith
Our Confident Hope of Real Life IN HIM!
† In Jesus Name †
May your eyes be opened more and more to the reality of your life in Christ, as you know the transformation found in God’s peace.
What is Real?
Paul, in the words to the Colossian Christians, gives them something to think about, something to spiritually chew on.
He tells them that they don’t know what reality is, that what they think is real, the things of earth, those things are not real. What is real is found in what we can’t see, the life we have in Christ.
You’ve heard about people who are so heavenly minded that they are no earthly good? Paul says we’ve got that wrong – we are good, when our eyes are on Christ, when we realize that our reality could be phrased as this…..
Alleluia! He is Risen! (He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!)
And therefore? ( We Are Risen Indeed!)
And since you have been raised to your new life in Christ, then it’s time to redefine what is truly reality – to understand that our life is in Christ, that it is not subject to the things of earth.
That sounds easier than it is, to live a life that is holy and as righteous as God would have us be, as God sees us.
But the struggle to be holy, can be frustrating, and if we go about it wrong, we will fail, giving up as we don’t see the growth we think God expects.
But when we understand what it means to dwell on the things of heaven, this transformation makes sense.
What needs to be stripped away
The first thing is to understand that since we have been baptized, the sin which can so easily ensnare us is has been defeated – we have been cleansed of it, the sin we commit and the unrighteousness that affects us.
That is why Paul says “since you’ve been raised to new life” Since – it has already happened. But we need to understand it, with our head, but even more with our heart and soul. Which means we aren’t looking at those sins we’ve committed, we aren’t dwelling on the unrighteousness that affects us.
I can’t see any of us arguing for the list of unrighteousness Paul notes, Let’s look at it again. Do any of you want to be affected by these things, or the consequences of them?
Sexual immorality,
impurity, or basically being unclean
Evil and what it causes us to crave
Greed? (Which Paul properly identifies as idolatry – to serve that which we can’t take our eyes or hearts off of)
uncontrolled emotions
malicious behavior – having the intent by word or deed to try and destroy someone.
Slander – that is denigrating speech – whether it is true or not, saying things which will hurt the character of another person,
Filthy language
The list isn’t exhaustive, it simply helps us understand what this world does to us, what sin causes us to do. How it breaks us, even when what starts out with good intent turns, and a desire for justice turns into a desire for revenge. Looking at something special turns into coveting, envy and a desire to get something for less. Frustration turns into gossip – and then slander, because we can’t figure out how to trust God and care for those who are difficult
It is as if these things are struggling for control of our life What a struggle that seems at times! Paul, talking of that struggle to the church in Rome declared himself a wretch.
Where is our hope? Where is this hope – our confident hope for this new life?
Remember the Since at the beginning of the readings?
Where it said, “Wince you have been raised to new life in Christ? The answer begins there.
and in verse 10, putting on the new nature – or as one translation describes it – getting dressed like Christ.
Put on New Nature = Live in Christ
Look at verse 10,
10 Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.
The renewal that happens in your life and in mine happens to us, as we come to know God our creator. Knowing God who creates and restores us, making us become like Him. As Paul urged the church,
I pray that out of the glorious richness of his resources he will enable you to know the strength of the spirit’s inner re-inforcement – that Christ may actually live in your hearts by your faith. And I pray that you, firmly fixed in love yourselves, may be able to grasp (with all Christians) how wide and deep and long and high is the love of Christ – and to know for yourselves that love so far beyond our comprehension. May you be filled though all your being with God himself!
Ephesians 3:14 (Phillips NT)
How wide, how deep and long and high is the love of Christ – and to know that love ourselves, love so far beyond comprehension, and may you be filled through all your being, with God himself
That is the same concept as setting your mind on things above –
Spend the time necessary thinking of the love shown you here – at the font when Christ died for you, and you were joined to that death.
To the place where you will kneel and again – be a participant, not just an observer and receive the Body broken for you, the blood spilled to cleanse you of your sin. Know the power of sin was shattered there, as you begin to comprehend His love, it changes you… you become like Him, as He transforms you. This is what is real, this is where our focus of life needs to be.
Being holy isn’t done by sheer will, but recognition of need, and the wonder and awe that comes from seeing that need met.
God loves you…loves you enough to unite you to His son.
The son who, alleluia is risen!
and therefore
AMEN
Hope Generated in His Promised Plans: A sermon on Psalm 138…
The Simple Christian Life – Love, HOPE, FAITH
Hope Generated in His Promised Plans
Psalm 138
† I.H.S. †
May this message about the grace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ increase your hope and expectation of God’s role in your life!
Abraham: Blinded
Even though the sermon is based on the Psalm – I want to start with the Old Testament reading about Abraham. God is talking about hiding His plans from Abraham, and there are days I wonder if the Trinity hasn’t had the same conversations about us.
Not that God is going to do something like he did through Abraham with us. I mean, having a kid at 100, or when Kay is 90? Maybe that is Al and Shirley’s task? Carol and Chuck’s?
But what about this idea that we don’t know the plans God has for us. TO be honest, I am personally struggling with that one right now. God, I don’t understand what You are doing, it doesn’t make sense!
You see that in the psalm as well – when at the end of praising God, when at that end of realizing that God has saved us while realizing that God will work out His plans for our life because His love is faithful. The psalmist then pleads…
“Don’t abandon me. (remember) you made me.”
I get that… and yet.. the entire Psalm speaks to the fact He will not.
There, we can find the truth that helps us, when we don’t have a clue about what God has planned for our lives.
The answer is profound, and it will give a profound hope, an incredible expectation of what God can and will do in our lives.
Even after the praise – Even after the climb
I am going to shift for the moment, to the end of the Gospel of Matthew, to a seen that didn’t make sense to me when I first realized what it says:
16 Then the eleven disciples left for Galilee, going to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him—but some of them doubted! 18 Jesus came and told his disciples, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Matthew 28:16-18 (NLT)
They had seen him crucified, they spent significant time with him after the resurrection, and it said that some of them still doubted.
Just like the Psalmist.
Just like me when I am at a convention, or when I am struggling with not knowing which way life will twist next. When I don’t know the plans He has for me, and to be honest; I wonder if the plans are truly good and right.
Because of the sin of the world, because of my sin, because of the brokenness of everything, trusting, expecting, depending on everything to turn out right is a challenge at times. Sometimes it isn’t even about sin; it may be that we are simply tired.
Like the 11, some of us doubt,
It’s not new; it’s not something that will result in your condemnation, or in God abandoning you, even though it seems at times like He has, or He might or He should.
Just because you don’t know his plans, doesn’t mean that what He has planned for us is horrid or evil.
So how do we cope when we don’t know his plans, and this leads to doubt?
Back to the basics – He rescued us -why would he waste us?
We go back to what we do know, what we count on.
God.
Who He is.
Seven times his name, His personal name is used in this passage. Eight more times David uses pronouns directly talking to or about Him. 2 more times he references the name of God.
We have to hear these things for ourselves. Let’s read them together
- You answer me
- Your unfailing love and faithfulness
- Your praises (backed by your name – who you are!)
- You answer me
- You encourage by giving strength
- You will protect me
- You reach out your hands
- Your right-hand saves me
- Your faithful love endures forever.
and, - You made me.
The very reason we praise Him, along with Kings from all over the earth is that we Hear His words, we understand His care for all – especially those of us who are broken and humbled by life. They need to hear Him, and they shall, for this is His desire.
This is the reason we have hope in life, why we expect that at the end of our days there is life everlasting. This is why we know that as we walk through this life – we hear Him. For we are people who are people who are His priests and kings.
Behind the plans, God has made His nature, the very same nature we see backing up the promises He made and kept in the life and death, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus.
Like Abraham, and even more closely, we walk with God, His Spirit dwells within us, His voice resonates in us because He is with you.
Which is why we do what he did,
Hear the words again,
I have singled you out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord, by doing what is right and just.
Does that sound like this?
19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.
We, those who God has made plans for, who are blind to them, and sometimes doubt, have the same call – to help all of Abraham’s children of faith, not matter Jew or Gentile, to hear His voice, including the answer to the last cry of the Psalmist
And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20 (NLT)
He won’t abandon us; He is with us… This is most certainly true. AMEN
This Same Power: A Sermon on Eph 1:15-23
This Same Power
Ephesians 1:15-23
† I.H.S. †
May the grace of God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ flood your hearts with His glorious light so that we can understand and this confident hope that He has given us, that we are His people, Christ’s rich and glorious inheritance!
The forgotten prayer or… the prayer of our very lives?
When I first started to write this message, as I considered this epistle reading, my heart began to ache a bit. Because when I think of who I am praying for, and for what, my mind goes to this prayer list insert that we have. Or my version of it a list which has a few more names on it, with prayer requests I cannot share.
But I see here a different prayer of Paul, a prayer for people that wasn’t just a prayer for peace, for strengthened faith and healing. Those prayers are needed, and I will not stop them, but how often do we pray for each other as Paul does here?
I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. 19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. Ephesians 1:16-19(NLT)
I suppose I could ask the elders and deacons this too, how often have I encouraged you to pray for our people and each other this way. It is our goal of our ministry; it is where we find the healing in Christ that enables us to help others heal, but is it the focus of our prayers as well?
And what if it were?
The early church knew that from our prayers come our faith, and from that dependence on God, comes our actions, Lex orendi, lex credendi, lex vivendi is the formal name of that. We pray, therefore we believe and therefore we have life! In this case, we know this revelation of God give us our life in Christ, yet, is it how we pray for each other?
So what would happen if this became part of our prayer life for each other, this prayer that Paul prays? (Does this fit under the imitate me as I imitate Christ?) Hear the prayer again,
I pray for you constantly, 17 asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. 18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. 19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. Ephesians 1:16-19(NLT)
Why don’t we pray this way?
While it seems obvious that this should be part of our prayer life, and it also seems obvious that God is, in fact answering that prayer, I think praying this way for each other would help us understand what God is doing in our lives.
So what stops us, what hinders us from praying this way for each other?
Is it just ignorance, and the demand of so many people in crisis and trauma? Is it that we too easily read over this passage? Why don’t we think to replicate this prayer in our own lives?
As Paul explains that He prays the power of God is at work in us, He explains what that power is,
19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 1:19-20 (NLT)
The power of God that is at work in you is the same power, the same dynamic that raised Jesus from the dead, that caused the ascension, and installed Jesus as our advocate at the Father’s right hand.
That is the power at work in you – redeeming you, reconciling you to God the Father, sanctifying you, preparing us for what Paul told the Colossian church,
26 This message was kept secret for centuries and generations past, but now it has been revealed to God’s people. 27 For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.
Colossians 1:26-27 (NLT) /
This is where our hope lies, in this incredible promise of God, that we aren’t just going to be servants cleaning the bathrooms in heaven, or cleaning the streets of Gold, but we will be sharing in His glory, we will be celebrating the glory of that love, as the entire plan of God, His desire comes true
We will be His people, and He will be our God.
This isn’t just a transition that happens when everyone stands before the throne. It is the promise that began as God worked to call you His own, as Christ died on the cross. That point you entered this covenant relationship as God moved you to trust in Him, as the Holy Spirit cleansed you in baptism; and took up residence in you, sanctifying you, transforming you.
This is the power of God at work in you, right now – even as we remember our baptism, as we hear again that our sins are forgiven, as we continually hear that the Lord is with us and that Alleluia – He is Risen!
This is what we need to know – to know God is here, with us, in our lives, working in those very lives, that we are being transformed, that God
That is what we need to pray each other realizes, this incredible, glorious life-changing fact, God is with us!
Heard the last of the passage,
22 God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. 23 And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself. Ephesians 1:21-23 (NLT)
We are made full and complete in Christ, who fill us with Himself….
Who dwells in us, who is our life, our abundant life.
AMEN!
Agnus Dei! The Reason We Sing! (a sermon based on Rev. 5)
Agnus Dei! The Reason We Sing!
Revelation 5:8-14
† In Jesus Name †
Agnus Dei
It is one of the critical moments of our service, as Chris starts to play, as everyone, having gotten back to their seats begins to sing…the Agnus Dei, or translated, “the Lamb of God” The Lamb of God praised and glorified in the words of all of the company of heaven.
Singing the Agnus Dei as we shall in a moment, we are called back to this thought. That the bread and wine are not just bread and wine, but in and under, as our Confessions tell us, it is the body and blood of Christ Jesus.
The precious Lamb of God, who was slain, who now reigns.
The Apostle Paul tells the church this,
16 When we bless the cup at the Lord’s Table, aren’t we sharing in the blood of Christ? And when we break the bread, aren’t we sharing in the body of Christ? 17 And though we are many, we all eat from one loaf of bread, showing that we are one body. 1 Corinthians 10:16-17 (NLT)
As we move from sharing the peace of Christ because we are one body, we re-focus on the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, on His giving His body and blood for us, as we are taken into that moment, as we share in His body and blood, our prayers are answered,
And we are given peace.
We are given peace!
That is why as those guitar strings are played, it is time to slow down, to contemplate, to pray, and as you come, to let Christ take away all that robs you of peace, letting you know the peace is there.
It is why we rise up from the altar, and as a whole praise God, for we have again realized His presence, and been assured that we have seen our salvation. Salvation and peace that we see only in part now, but that which the passage from the Revelation shows us occurring, in all of the glory of heaven.
The Slaughter that Ransomed US
As the four living beings and the elders and all of heaven erupt in a song of praise, there is a reason given, as to why they, why we praise this Lamb of God,
You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”
You are worthy the praises sing out, and then it describes why,
Because He was slaughtered, because he was sacrificed to provide for people. Not just any people, not specific people, but every way you define the differences in people, from within ever demographic possible, there are people God has saved. From every nationality, from every language group, from every culture and subculture, even from every political group! God has saved them.
Specifically, salvation is described in this passage as their being ransomed. We’ve seen other passage where we are delivered, passages where we are reconciled, but this passage is ransomed, or perhaps putting it simply, we were purchased.
Our debt was purchased, those of us who were enslaved to sin. That is the purchase, the process Paul describes in Romans,
6 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.
Romans 6:6-7 (NLT)
And that Jesus himself describes in John
“I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. 35 A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.” John 8:34-36 (NLT)
It may not be popular or politically correct to talk our propensity to sin with the word slavery, but it is accurate. Before Christ, sin had such a hold on us; it owned us. To get what we wanted, what we desired, we agreed and made ourselves its slave.
Yet Christ, in his sacrificial death, as He let them slaughter Him, he purchased our life with His very own.
He gave up His holy life for our lives that can’t be described as holy. He gave up His perfection, to pay for our brokenness, He ransomed us, He redeemed us.
And that was only the beginning of what His being slaughtered has done for us. It is only the beginning as to why we sing His praises.
The Slaughter that Nourishes us..
The New Living Translation picked and interesting word for what happened to Jesus, in choosing to translate the word as slaughter. It is a word used for religious sacrifice, but it is also the word used for something being sacrificed to nourish and feed another. So slaughter works good, and in describing why we worship Jesus, the first part was to ransom us, and then John tells us they sang this,
10 And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”
He causes us to be the priests of His Kingdom. All of us, those He saved, including those from every demographic description you could ever come up with!
When you are in a Kingdom, the King, the High King, is responsible for making sure His people are provided for, that those who serve and govern are taken care of, so they can focus on the task delegated to them. So it is with Jesus, who makes every one of His people a priest, and tasks them with caring for each other, on His behalf.
Not an easy job at all, for in doing that we have to love and care for people that are, we might say…. Challenging? People who antagonize us, the very enemies and adversaries Jesus tells us to love, that Paul urges us to pray for, and ask God to bless.
Not an easy job at all, for in doing that we have to love and care for people that are, we might say…. Challenging? People who antagonize us, the very enemies and adversaries Jesus tells us to love, that Paul urges us to pray for, and ask God to bless.
These are the people we are to be priests for,
And yet that is why Jesus still is our Lamb of God, He still is the one who was slaughtered for us, He is still the one who grants us peace.
For in His nourishing of our souls, in His reminding us of His love, we see His handiwork, we realize that He desires to save that enemy, to reconcile that adversary, to bring comfort and peace to all in His family.
And that too is what we share here, as we bow and kneel, as we praise as sing, as we echo the words sung by angelic choirs,
Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.” AMEN!
Witnessing Something Changes You: Sermon for the 2nd week of Easter
Witnessing Something Changes You
Acts 5:12-32
† I.H.S. †
May the grace, mercy and peace of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ change you, as you witness and bear witness to His Love. Amen!
Change?
As people, we remember critical times in our lives. For some can remember where they were on December 7, 1941, or for some others, November 22, 1963. For my generation, it was where we were when the Challenger, blew up, and all of us are marked by the date 9-11. Others have dates that are more personal, our birthdays and anniversaries, for my parents, April Fool’s Day, 1965 was pretty important as well. It was the day where they picked up an infant from and adopted him.
We remember those days, because what we witness those days changed us. IN some cases, like the birth and wedding for the better. Other days, like 9-11 change us forever, bringing us anxiety and re-calling exactly where we were, a memory we share with others who witnessed the same event, even if they were halfway around the world.
I imagine Thomas had one of those experiences, on a day, like this, just a week after the resurrection. The day that changed everything in his life, that took him from mourning into great joy, and awe, and a feeling of being overwhelmed.
We see that in the life of all the apostles in the first few chapters of Acts, as they go from men cowering in fear, to men who are willing to be jailed and beaten, to suffer and even die, because of what they witnessed,
Because when you witness something, good or bad, stunning or traumatic, it changes you….
And God promises to change us, because of what the apostles witnessed, and bore witness too. When that is revealed to us, it will change us, in the same way.
Change? I don’t need change
With all the anxiety regarding change, I think most of us don’t see the need for change. More precisely, we don’t want to see the need for change. We are willing to settle for life this way; we grow content in it.
Change might shake it up! We might lose the things we count on; we might be asked to make a sacrifice, or have some habit and sin removed from our lives. We might have to give up that resentment, or that pain that we hang on to, that gives us an identity. Change means giving up the sin that traps us, especially the sins that have such a hold on us that we try to justify, the sins that appease our insecurity, that help us avoid our anxiety, that put the blame on others. That gives us the illusion of safety, of security, and instead of choosing God’s comfort, we simply choose to be comfortable.
There is a big difference there, between being comfortable and being comforted. Being comfortable with life, often means we are comfortable in our sin.
After this week, I will take being comforted anytime, for the presence of God that brings us that comfort, that peace, a true refuge in time of troubles, that is what Thomas experienced, that is what Peter and the other apostles experienced.
A comfort that lets you get up and start moving again, sure that you are walking with God, who is in charge, who does love you.
I don’t see a change?
If we don’t see a need for change, that is a problem. It is likewise a problem when we see the change that God is making in your life. Sometimes it seems slow, ponderously slow. We wonder if God has made changes in our life if He is living up to His promises.
There are days it seems like nothing changes, we still live in the midst of trauma, many still live with their lives confused and challenged by finances or our relationships. We still might have days where we wonder where God is, and why things aren’t perfect.
Why don’t we have the faith of Peter and John, and the rest of the apostles? Why aren’t we like the giants of the faith? I mean how many of us would have the faith to continue to live our life of faith, when under great pressure?
Would you go back to the temple – to teach those who wanted to know more about God?
As a church, I’ve to see you do that, maybe not under the pressure of jail, but facing great discomfort, and caring for each other, and with those who came to mourn. We’ve gone back to the same pain, so many of us have felt, because others were there, needing the peace that we knew.
We’ve changed, we don’t hesitate, we run to that battle, even as the apostles ran to the temple. Because people need us, because people who go through this life without knowing God’s life, don’t even know what it means to be able to trust God, to depend upon His faithfulness. Everything gets set aside, to help other’s know Christ’s peace.
As I watched people caring for each other on Tuesday, I saw this. But so did a lot of our guests,
It is no less remarkable than the apostles escaping the jail and finding themselves in the courtyard of the Temple – sharing the blessing of Jesus to those who would hear, and be amazed.
So is the Holy Spirit!
So how does this happen, this transformation, this change that happens in believers? The very last verses tell us and gives us the hope of such a change continue to happen in our lives.
I say continue, because the change is occurring, or perhaps, we are becoming more comfortable with God in our midst that it is easier to see. Verse 30.
The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him by hanging him on a cross. 31 Then God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as Prince and Savior. He did this so the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven. 32 We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, who is given by God to those who obey him.”
God, the Father allows Jesus to die, He raises Jesus from the dead, and Jesus ascends to the Father, and to a place of honor and glory for one reason, so that we, the people who wrestle with God, (for that is what Israel means) will become repentant, that we would be changed, and made holy as He forgives us.
This work of God is something we talked about last week, on Thursday when Chris shared, and on Good Friday as Bernie and I shared, and on Easter Sunday. It sustained us on Tuesday, and others on Thursday, Friday and yesterday as some of us gathered with Mark and Susan.
This death and resurrection of Jesus, to pay for our sins, to call us back to God we know is true, we have witnessed its effect. But so has the Holy Spirit witnessed it, for it is this truth that the Holy Spirit joins us to Christ’s death and resurrection in our baptism, and we walk given it, each and every day.
As we become more aware of it, as we look to Jesus, as we are aware that, Alleluia! He is Risen!…. and therefore….
And what that means, what the Holy Spirit is confirming in us, is that The Lord is with you!
And that changes everything, even as it did when Thomas cried out, My Lord and My God!… AMEN!
Good Friday Sermon: A Cry of Great Faith – Into Your Hands…
Into Your Hands…
Luke 23:46
† Jesus, Son, Savior †
May you realize the depth of the love of God our Father for you, revealed in Christ’s purchase of your grace. AMEN!
Is this what we perceive?
It has been said that people hear what they want to hear. Matter of fact, I think most of us are pretty good at it.
Like for instance, if I ask my wife if I can go to Sam Ash or Guitar City, her approval also means I can come home with a new guitar or keyboard. After 28 years of marriage, she won’t let me go to Best Buy or Fry’s alone. She did, however, make the mistake of letting me go to the car dealership to get my oil changed two weeks ago…
It can work the other way as well if a professor says something critical, a student’s world collapses, or if a boss says you need to improve, you go home and tell the wife you are in danger of getting fired.
When we hear the words from the cross, we hear things through our frame of reference as well.
It’s true in the last words Jesus says, the words that he pushes out with his last breath…
Into your hands….I commit my spirit.
They are not just the final words of a man who has been betrayed by his friends, tried, beaten, forced to carry a cross out of the city, up a hill and be nailed on it.
They are a lesson in faith, an example of great dependence on God.
It would be what Paul talks about when we are told to imitate him, as He imitates Christ Jesus.
It was a cry of faith, not one of despair.
But that is not how we hear it.
The struggle of faith, and praying
There is rapid decline, or so the experts say, in the prayer life of people in America.
I can believe it because we have forgotten the joy, the comfort, the peace that comes in trusting God. In depending upon Him, in the words of Jesus, in our ability to says these words, “into your hands I commit my Spirit.”
We hear Jesus, broken physical and I think we expect Him to be broken spiritually. We hear the pain in His voice, the anguish, the trauma. There is, in my mind, no doubt of the pain and anguish, that He felt, and I struggle to imagine these cries being anything else but the despair I would feel in such a situation.
The despair and even doubt I feel when I am subjected to suffering, or when those I love and care for are.
I hear these words, when I am in pain, when I hear them said with His dying breath, and they sound like a surrender, an admission that I am defeated, that you can feel the hope draining out from Jesus,
Because that is what I feel, that is the effect of the brokenness of sin on us who are mortal.
There is nothing left, no strength of body, or mind, or will. There is only the inevitable; there is only death.
In times less trying we can’t even think of God because the weight of despair is too much. We just feel numb, lost, empty. hopeless. It is as if, for the moment, sin has won, and life has been taken from us.
We hear these words as the final admission of defeat.
He breathed His last…
But what if these words mean something more? What if they are not the words of despair, but words from the last breath that reveal hope, that reveal faith, that reveal a trust that is deeper than the pain?
What if these words, like Psalm 22’s cry, accept the pain of the moment given victory that is complete and total and joyous?
Into your hands, I commit my Spirit.
A quote from Psalm 31, a quote which continues
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
Hear it one more time…
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God. 6 I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the LORD. 7 I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul, Psalm 31:5-7 (ESV)
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God.
These last words, are not just those of a man has hit rock bottom. They are a cry of faith, a cry of wisdom that knows that the answer is found in the very steadfast love of God. A cry that celebrates that we aren’t alone in our distress, that we aren’t alone in our grief.
That though we barely have a breath left, it is a breath that is taken with God’s spirit.
It is a lesson for us, a cry for us to utter, not just when we have only one breath left, but when we are brought to life in Christ. When we are crucified with Him in our baptism when we kneel and take and eat the Body and Blood of Christ, when we share in His death… and in the promise of His life.
It is His cry, a lesson to us with our very last breath.
A lesson in trusting God through it all, a lesson that we aren’t alone in our trial, in our fight, even when it gets down to the last breath.
St. Paul said it well,
4 For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
Romans 6:4 (NLT)
So repeat these last words of Jesus with me, knowing that the Holy Spirit with strengthening you, and help you make them your own.
Into your hands, I commit my Spirit…
And in God’s hands, in the Father’s hands, you will know peace that goes beyond your understanding, even as it guards your weary hearts and minds, for as you died with Christ in His death, so you find life in Christ. AMEN!
The Repentant: King David
The Repentant
King David: Pride and the Altar
1 Chronicles 21:1-19
†In Jesus Name †
May God’s grace not only call you to repentance but give you hope and expectation as you await the joy that awaited Jesus as He journeyed to the cross!
This is not that story
As we hear the stories of the Repentant, the lives God would change so much that all heaven would rejoice, most people who know the Bible would expect me to bring up David at some point.
I won’t disappoint you.
Well, I will, because I am not going to talk about the little affair he had with Bathsheba, and killing her husband. Simply because that sin, while horrible, doesn’t measure up to the sin of counting his soldiers, of counting the people God entrusted to His care.
Wait, are you saying that counting people is a grievous, horrendous sin?
Hmmm. Dane, have you counted how many people are here tonight? If not, maybe you shouldn’t?
There are, and there are not, greater and lesser sins. In this case, the sin was directly disobeying God, which adultery and the murder of Bathsheba’s husband also are. SO in one way, the sins are equal. It is in their impact on others that these sins differ.
One affects two families and children. That is the sin we know about, the story of lust and jealousy. This one has far more serious repercussions. David chooses his punishment even, and even that stands out. His sin, this time, affects 70,000 of the people for whom he was responsible.
70,000.
For disobeying God.
He was tempted by Satan, and he sinned gravely.
Innocent people had to die because of it. Well, they were innocent of the sin David committed.
Just like every sin we commit has consequences that affect others.
Even though we might repent, even though we might ask forgiveness, the impact of our sin’s damage on others is felt. Families are divided, friendship’s shattered, lives crushed, because we chose our way, rather than listen to God’s direction, to the life He clearly describes for us to live, that we might bless others.
Disobedience, which boils down to telling God that we know better than He does, that we should be God.
Distressed by the realization of the impact
David asked forgiveness, but there are days where we ask for forgiveness, and while we want to be forgiven, we think that is enough. We don’t always want reconciliation; we just want to be free from punishment. We don’t always want to be repentant, and we just want to be sorry….
As David looks upon the innocent suffering, as David sees the Angel of Death ready to destroy his people, the reaction is different. He is distressed by his sin, he realizes the consequence, hear His words,
“I am the one who called for the census! I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? O LORD my God, let your anger fall against my family and me, but do not destroy your people.” 1 Chronicles 21:17 (NLT)
This is part of what repentance is, the distress of realizing the depth of our sin, and that sin isn’t victimless. It is what drives us to confess our sins….and beg God to spare the innocent, even as David did.
(after this first half of the sermon, we have a time of silent confession and prayer, and express our hope in God, that is described in the Creed)
The Repentant
King David: Pride and the Altar
1 Chronicles 21:1-19
†In Jesus Name †
May God’s grace not only call you to repentance but give you hope and expectation as you await the joy that awaited Jesus as He journeyed to the cross
The Altar & the Promise
Even as David and leaders are face down, praying that God’s wrath will be limited to those who are guilty, there is a strong lesson in grace, a lesson that is overlooked.
You see, that place where the angel stands, the place where God commands the angel of death to stop, where he tells him it is finished, is a special place in Jewish history.
It is the temple mount, the very place in the temp that would be called the Holy of Holies. A place of grace, a place where sin would be atoned for, with the blood, portraying the blood of Jesus, the innocent, holy Son of God, taking on the curse of sin, once and for all. The plague would stop, the power of death would be shattered, and repentance, the transformation that occurs to us because of Jesus, is made sure.
For repentance is not just the feeling of sorrow, it is not even just the distress caused as we look at the effect of our sin, repentance is not just the removal of sin crushed hearts and minds, but it is effected by the blood of Christ, the love of God being poured out upon us.
You will notice that God ordered the stoppage before the repentance was complete, and that’s because of His desire to bring us back, the joy of the father seeing his prodigal son seeing the dust from his son’s feet in the distance.
I can’t make this point enough – our repentance, our realization of how badly sin has crushed us.as that repentance becomes real, as it occurs in even just one of us, the joy of heaven is beyond belief. It is as if the entire company of heaven is looking done in wonder as God takes us and heals us.
A moment of great joy, a moment beyond our comprehension… a moment to find His peace and rest and healing… for like David, and Naaman and Josiah, we’ve become the Repentant.
AMEN!
