Category Archives: Sermons
All Saints’ Day Sermon – The Gathering of All Companions….
The Gathering of All Companions
Rev. 7: 9-17
† In Jesus Name! †
We’re all here….
In the epistle to the Hebrews, after describing the great heroes of the faith, there the following words,
39 All these people earned a good reputation because of their faith, yet none of them received all that God had promised. 40 For God had something better in mind for us, so that they would not reach perfection without us. Hebrews 11:39-40 (NLT)
Thhat prophesy we see in Hebrews is described in the first reading, the one from Revelation 7. When people from every continent, from every culture, from every language, from every time period in history are gathered together, and God looks out on them,
and they praise Him.
Much as God has gathered us from every corner of this world and brought to this room. To celebrate the same thing we will celebrate then, that,
“Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”
I want to hear those words, said by us all, to give us and idea of what they will sound like, in various accents, in various voices, male and female, young and old
We are here for the same reason, for the same purpose, to praise the God who comes to us and loves us.
The Tribulation
There has been much to be written and said about the answer the elder gives about the great crowd dressed in white.
Some translations talk of them coming through, or out of the tribulation. The translation we use here describes it as those who died in the great tribulation. I am not sure how it translates into Chinese, but the idea of tribulation in English has for a couple of centuries caused great fear, so much fear that theological systems have developed, not around Christ Jesus, but around when and how this tribulation occurred.
Oh, by the way, its not just any tribulation – it is the mega-tribulation. The greatest tribulation, the greatest suffering known to man, in all of history, since this passage happens at the end of time.
A tribulation that only God can bring us through, a tribulation where God brings forth all of His wrath against sin. A tribulation so great, that sin can’t withstand it, and those who are sinners are killed off by it.
All sinners, and it doesn’t matter what they have done.
For as Paul tells the church in Rome, all have sinned.
You might find it interesting, but that mega tribulation has already happened. It happened much as the Old Testament prophet claimed it would,
5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. 6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. 7 He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. 8 Unjustly condemned, he was led away. No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck done. Isaiah 53:5-11 (NLT)
That is why the passage of Revelation mentions that the blood spilt, that causes their robes to be white is not their own, but it is Christ’s.
For it is in His death that we find life, it is united to His death, that we find our sins stripped from us, and our being brought to life. Don’t take my words for it, that is what Paul writes often,
11 When you came to Christ, you were “circumcised,” but not by a physical procedure. Christ performed a spiritual circumcision—the cutting away of your sinful nature. 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. 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. 14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. Colossians 2:11-14 (NLT)
My dear, dear brothers and sisters, what makes us family, part of the family of all Saints, is simply this, that Jesus suffered and died for us….
That’s Why We Praise Him
Because He died, we died with Him, because He has risen, we have been given new life, we’ve been born again, we’ve been quickened by the Holy Spirit, and been cleansed from every sin, and can wear the white robes of God.
That is why we can gather here, people from so many different backgrounds, and yet we are one people, God’s one people. The saints He gathers in His presence, and as we realize this, our voices cry out in praise.
This is our God, who loves us, who gathers us together, as His holy people. It is time to celebrate His love, just like the people do in Revelation.
Church, and especially the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, has been described as the Feast that is a foretaste of the feast to come….. and so the church is supposed to be is a small glimpse of what heaven will be.
So as we feast, on the Lord’s Supper, may we see that moment, when millions upon millions will gather, from many more backgrounds, ethnicities, languages than here.
But this glimpse, is a small view of that peace, the peace that passes all understanding. ..
For we are His people, gathered by Him together… gathered to live with Him.
AMEN.
Hang on to God, not gods, a sermon on Mark 10:23-31
The Companions of the Cross
Hang on to GOD, not gods
Mark 10:23–31
May the grace of God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ so leave you in awe, that no idol, no other desire would distract you from their love and mercy. Amen!
Can’t get in!
I remember almost thirty years ago, standing at the desk at St joseph’s hospital in Orange. A young man was standing outside the obstetrics ward, as his girlfriend had given birth to his son. Big kid, some 13 pounds 8 ounces. He was frustrated, because it wasn’t visiting hours, he was there too early, and he wanted to see his son and his lady.
But there are rules, and at that hospital, back in those days, no one was allowed on a floor.
I remember the tiny little nun and the nurse, standing there, telling him there was no way they would let him in, never mind any of the other family standing around. He tried every argument, even suggesting a small bribe and then a bigger bribe. Well, that didn’t make things much better,
No access. No way.
I think the camel would have passed through the needle twice before he would get in past the nun and nurse prior to visiting hours. .
No access. No way.
Last week we saw the rich young man walk away because he owned too much property, and it was his idol, how he identified himself, and to give it all up to follow Jesus.
The rich man so wanted to find a way to get into heaven, and walked away realizing it would cost him more than he was willing to part with, it would cost him everything to walk with Jesus.
In today’s gospel, the story continues. The apostles are amazed that the rich man can’t get into to heaven. They were astounded that Jesus compared the difficulty of taking a camel weighing 2000 pounds and forcing it through a sewing needle.
About the same likelihood of a young father getting to see his son in a Catholic hospital thirty years ago, a son born to a woman he was not married to…
Astounded and amazed – Powerless – really
It says twice in our gospel reading that the apostles were amazed and astounded by the fact the man couldn’t be among those blessed. After all, the man they saw before Jesus had EVERYTHING they believed marked one as a blessed son of God.
He had property in the holy land, what God had promised to Israel, or so they thought.
He was able to keep the commandments and claim it before Jesus, something Jesus didn’t contest. That didn’t mean he broke them, but that when he did, he offered the appropriate sacrifices to atone for them.
Mark even records that he was greatly loved by Jesus. Either this was based on a comment or observation, but the proof was evident, so evident that the holy spirit recorded it in the scriptures.
With all of that, he wasn’t able to be given a free pass into the kingdom of God.
If anyone should have been, it should have been him.
Reminds me of paul’s words in Philippians
4 though I could have confidence in my own effort if anyone could. Indeed, if others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! 5 I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. 6 I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault. Philippians 3:4-6 (NLT)
Sounds like the young rich young man, doesn’t it.
Matter of fact, some in the early church thought it might have been. A man with all the right stuff, all the right credentials, and he couldn’t get into heaven on his own.
The barriers were still up, and the idols he clung too were too much.
Amazed he can’t, the disciples are dismayed. They wonder who can be saved, they ask the same question, what will it ake. And if the apostles and the rich man can’t impressed Jesus enough, how in the world do you and I have a chance.
I guarantee I am not able to measure up to someone like Paul, and sorry, there isn’t one of you who can either.
Let’s be serious, we have as many false gods we cling too, we have our idols, and the things that control us, our identities, our sins.
And if it is impossible for a man who was, by all accounts a saint, who desired to be in heaven, to see the fulfillment of all of God’s promises, then it is impossible for us as well.
What hope is there then Peter says, we’ve given it all up.. is there any hope/
Empowered
While Jesus says it is impossible for man, it is possible for God.
The man, impatient to see his son and lady, realized someone walked up behind him. It was his younger brother, who had a name badge identifying himself as a chaplain at another hospital. The nun and nurse greeted him warmly, noting the badge.
He asked if he could see his brother’s lady, and the nun graciously said she would immediately show the young chaplain into see her. The chaplain asked if his brother would come, and was told, ‘yes, chaplain.’ The man went in and saw his newborn son and lady.
What power and money couldn’t do, having a connection to the right person could. As we said in Boston, click “ya gotta know somebody.”
It is as Jesus said, what is impossible for man, God is able to do.
Or as Paul the apostle wrote,
7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. Philippians 3:7-9 (NLT)
That is what heaven is about. About having a relationship with the creator of the universe. It is about knowing his grace, his mercy, and his love. That we become one with Him, that we know we are the kids that God has given birth to in our baptism.
Nothing is more valuable, nothing is even comparable to knowing the love of God, love so incredible that St. Paul talked of our exploring its height, its depth, its width and breadth.
It is worth abandoning all, as peter indicated that he and the other apostles had.
And then heard Jesus remark something incredible,
I assure you that everyone who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or property, for my sake and for the Good News, 30 will receive now in return a hundred times as many houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and property—along with persecution. And in the world to come that person will have eternal life.
my brothers, sisters, we have been given each other, a gift from God as we’ve been born again. We are going to have some struggles, but together, as His family, we will one day be home with our Father, and with our Lord and the Holy Spirit.
Until that day, we are His, and will dwell, guarded in peace, a peace that passes all understanding.
AMEN!
What Can You Bring on the Journey – A sermon on Mark 10:17–22 (with Audio)
Traveling Companions of the Cross
Lesson IV – What Can You Bring on the Journey
Mark 10:17–22
† Iesou, Huios, Soter †
May the God our Father, the God of peace make you hoy in everyway, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again!
What can I bring?
It is expected.
You may be bringing the side dish, or the desert.
Or if you are going to Dr. Chris’s you may bring a box of wine.
But we are trained to bring something with us when we go to someone else’s house.
If we are going on a long trip, we may offer to pay for the gas, or grab the snacks and drinks for the trip.
We might call it having good manners, or being raised and trained well.
Certainly the man in the parable was like us, he wanted to journey with Jesus, to be guaranteed that eternal life with God.
But he didn’t expect, and he couldn’t handle Jesus telling him he couldn’t do his fair share.
He couldn’t accept that when he asked Jesus what he could bring on the journey, Jesus’ answer was,
Nothing! Matter of fact, “go, sell everything you have, give the proceeds to the poor, and without bringing anything, “come follow me.”
We, like the man in the gospel struggle when Jesus invites us to come follow Him, and adds, leave everything behind… and I mean everything!
The problem of what we cling to… our idols
For the man, a man by all accounts righteous, what he wanted to bring along the way was his possessions. That was what he clung to, actually it was what clung to him. He wouldn’t let go, and walk with Jesus.
I hope we will….
You see, some will make this passage about the money, that we should use our money well for the kingdom. That it proves that we are responsible to use our money and all we possess to praise God. It could be our golf clubs, our sewing machines, our guitars or homes. Sell it all, give it to God. NO!
Actually God didn’t want it. Use it to help those without, set it aside. Come with me!
There is a bigger issue here. The way things control us, the way count on things to identify who we are. It might be something we possess, or it might be a talent, or our intellect. Jesus isn’t just asking the man to leave stuff behind.
Think about what Jesus asks people to leave behind in scripture.
Their jobs, and Matthew and Zaccheus left their tax tables
Their families, and Andrew, Peter, James and John left their families as they left their boats
Their nations, as Abraham, Moses, Jonah, and Paul would leave those behind
Their “rights”? a disciple follows His master… abandoning all for the honor.
And amazingly, their guilt and shame, as both David and Peter took on leadership roles they didn’t think they were qualified for,
Often how we define ourselves shows us what our idols, our false gods are. What we cling to, what we think defines us. What we cling to, what defines us in the darkness of a night…..
Hear how Luther put it
What does it mean to have a god? or, what is God?
Answer: A god means that from which we are to expect all good and to which we are to take refuge in all distress, so that to have a God is nothing else than to trust and believe Him from the [whole] heart; as I have often said that the confidence and faith of the heart alone make both God and an idol.
The Large Catechism of Martin Luther.
Where does your confidence lie, when all else is falling around you?
It might even be negative – that you deserve to suffer, because your are no good.
Or it might be the idea that you are a victim. That life is the way it is because you’ve been crushed by others, or attacked, or mocked.
**Whatever it is, what we define ourselves as, hints at what our gods and idols are.
They are the things that get in the way of walking with Jesus, what get in the way of our following him.
And like the man, if we are to be Christ’s, then we have to let go of that other stuff….
and walk with Christ, letting Him provide everything we are to be, to need. Letting Him show us what gets in the way of our relationship with Him, and letting him destroy those false idols, those false gods.
Come Follow Me!
That’s what we see as Jesus responds to the man,
21 Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. “There is still one thing you haven’t done,” he told him. “Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Catch that first line –
Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him.
Jesus didn’t see the man as too proud, too conceited. He saw a man that he loved, that Jesus came to die for, to make the man’s idyllic dream of heaven and eternity true.
In His love for the man, he saw what would stop him. The things he possessed that meant more to him, at the moment.
Jesus loved him… Jesus wanted this man to join Him. Just like Jesus wants us to join Him, to accompany Him to the Father’s side.
And Jesus would die, to show this man, and each of us, how much God treasures us. To give him a glimpse of the treasure a life lived with God is. To show him the treasure that Jesus would bring him to know.
The treasure promised in the cross, given to all who would be joined to Christ’s death, burial and resurrection, that incredible mystery we proclaim in the Memorial Acclimation, that we proclaim every time we eat and drink the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ.
We don’t have to bring anything, as what we have, what we put our trust in what we depend upon doesn’t define us.
The fact that God loves us does. The fact that He loves us enough to do what it took, the cross and the grave, to make us His children.
That love defines us.
The love that says come with me. Accompany me through life unto eternity.
I love the quote that shows how we are defined, found in Paul’s words to the crowd in Athens,
as someone has said, ‘In him we live and move and exist.’ It is as some of your poets have said, ‘We too are his children.’ Acts 17:28 (TEV)
And so we understand what the man couldn’t, what the writer of Hebrews wrote so clearly,
So then, let us rid ourselves of everything that gets in the way, and of the sin which holds on to us so tightly, and let us run with determination the race that lies before us. Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God’s throne. Hebrews 12:1-2 (TEV)
That’s the point of selling the stuff, getting rid of the stuff that gets in the way, whether it is good or bad.
So because of His genuine love for us, come, let us follow Jesus, our Lord, our Savior, the One who loves us more than life. I tell you this, we won’t even remember what we’ve left behind!
AMEN!
Traveling Companions of the Cross. Lesson 3: YOU Are Created for Companionship
Travelling Companions of the Cross
Lesson 3: You Are Created for Companionship
Genesis 2:18–25
† I.H.S. †
May you become more constantly aware of the grace and peace of our Lord Jesus Christ, for they are the proof of His presence.
It’s not good…
If you read the first chapter of Genesis, you would hear God talking to Himself as He created the heavens, the earth, seas and all the creatures.
Then as He creates man and woman, He notes, this is very good!
But there is more to it than that, between the last “this is good” and the “this is very good”, there is one more phrase, the phrase that we hear in chapter two. When the Lord God notes there is something that is wrong in creation. Something that is not good.
Hear the words again,
“It is not good for the man to be alone.
Not good at all, but there is a solution
“I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
A Helper, a companion, the one who works alongside….
Remember that one, the one who works alongside.
For it is not good that we live life alone. We need to have companionship, without it, creation is screwed up.
A simple summary, everything was good, then man had no companionship and it was not good, then man did, and it was very good.
They knew no barriers… and there was no guilt/shame
As we look at the end result, what chapter 1 calls very good, we see why in chapter 2.
23 “At last!” the man exclaimed. “This one is bone from my bone, and flesh from my flesh! She will be called ‘woman,’ because she was taken from ‘man.’ ”
24 This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. 25 Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.
What an incredible blessing, the fact that there was no guilt, no shame that divided them. No embarrassment, no division, nothing that created a barrier between them. Of course, they didn’t have a toilet seat to leave up, or trash to forget taking out.
Seriously, the Hebrew word there for naked meant there were absolutely no barriers between them, there was nothing that stopped them from seeing each other the way they truly were.
Sin of course, created those barriers, and the need for something to cover, to hide, a defensive mechanism. It is there because we don’t want to see people the way they really are, and we don’t necessarily want them to see us.
You are probably thinking just in the physical sense, but it is true for most of who we really are.
They lived perfect, sinless lives for that time, and it was very good.
Exitus-Reditus
There is a old theological thought, is Exitus-Reditus – that which leaves, returns. Theologically speaking, what returns is always that which completes, and by God’s power, it is more than what left.
A rib is taken out and it returns a helper, a companion, That action made what was not good, very good. The fellowship, the communion, the companionship that was formed ws greater than the loneliness that preceded it. That is the power of reconciliation, the power of God’s mercy, forgiveness and healing, the power of God drawing back together that which is supposed to be one.
It’s more than just the couple – they were representative of all humanity
This is true more than in the sense of husband and wife, for example that same kind of language is used as men join David’s army
1 All the tribes of Israel came to David in Hebron and said: “Here we are, your bone and your flesh. 2 Samuel 5:1 (NAB)
Though it is a different bond than that between husband and wife, all od God’s creation was meant to live together, companions of God, companions formed at the cross, when Christ’s side was opened…and because of the blood that was spilt, a new relationship – the companionship of Jesus and His bride the church was formed.
At the pastor’s conference, our district president made mention of this when he was talking about the church. One of his major points was this, “Servant leaders live in Intimate Community” He was teaching pastors that in order to be effective pastors, we can’t be apart from our people, shepherds are companions, He even used the idea that we have to know each other in a way that sounds scary, Intimately.
Not intimate as in husband and wife, but intimate because there is no division, not barriers, no shame that divides us. That we work together because we realize that God has brought us back to each other.
Another speaker made mention of it this way, “The idea of the nuclear family being the cornerstone of society has become a 100 year failed experiment” What he meant is that society is more than a dad, mom and children. That prior to 100 years ago, the extended family, that included blood relations an even long term neighbors was the cornerstone of the family. Not less intimate relationships in depth, but deeper relationships and more numerous ones. That writer noted the amount of young people striving to live in micro-communities, what we in the church sometimes refer to as small groups. But groups that live like in Acts, where the group survives together. The broken world is looking for something they can’t find, yet it is what we know so well.
It is not good that man should live alone….
Followed by God saying, “I got this, you will not be”
Adam was given Eve, and humanity was born, and one day, the ultimate Companion for each of us was born, as Mary would give birth to Jesus.
So how do we get reconcile?
Not long after that, and ever since, most of us have put up barriers that frustrate our desire for companionship. We drive away those we are called to love in Christ, As we have come alive in Christ, that doesn’t have to happen anymore. Reconciliation is not just a good idea, it is how God desires we live. Reconciled to Him, reconciled as a family.
I kind of wish it could be like Adam, where God caused sleep to fall on him, and then took the bone away from him. He then woke up, and knew the person standing before him, who would stand beside him was literally, part of him.
He recognized the work of God, that what was taken was return to make him complete, but in a way far beyond anything ever expected.
Adam was complete – he had his helper, he had the one who completed Him.
When our companion died and rose on the cross, He took away the barriers, He destroyed the things we stop us from seeing each other. Not the physical barriers, not the clothes. But God destroyed the sin, and gave us a new life, made us a new creation. He forgave all sin. The sins we’ve committed against Him and each other. And He reminds us of that each time we remember our baptism, or commune at the altar as His family, or hear those words, your sins are forgiven.
Because of Christ our companion. Because of the cross, where our companionship was forged in His blood. For He reconciles us to God, and the in Christ, we are reconciled to each other.
That is why there is peace, a peace that passes all understanding, that guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN!
I love the LORD because He Listened to Me. A Sermon on Psalm 116:1–9
I love the Lord,
Because He Hears Me!
Psalm 116:1–9
† In Jesus Name †
May you always respond with love and adoration to the God revealing His grace and mercy, and the love of God shown you in Christ Jesus!
Why Do We Love?
It is the topic of thousands upon thousands of songs, of poems and novels, artists in every form have tried to paint it.
The greatest philosophers tried to explain it, the greatest psychologists have no explanation for it, and no one comes near being able to explain it, it is a mystery. Even languages can struggle to define it.
Yet, a child can express it in ways that brings tears and joy to your heart.
This word. Love
cHesed in Hebrew
agape
eros
storge
And phileo in Greek
It includes within it the words devotion, mercy, loyalty, adoration, honor and so many more in English. It is physical and spiritual, emotional and psychological.
And the psalmist dares to say…
I love the Lord….. and with the word because, explains what we need to hear today.
We love the Lord, for He hears our voice and our prayer for mercy. Because he bends down to listen……
The Despairs of Life
These words, sweetly said by a 2 year old their mother, or said during a wedding or whispered between two people in their 90’s as they look in their lives, seem more powerful than any words said by any president or king.
The truth in that second is clear, blunt, disarming, and said with everything aspect of our beings.
It doesn’t matter if the 2-year-old just opened a present, or just finished a tantrum and is near exhaustion. The same goes for a psalmist, the cries of love for God in scripture come from the times where God has blessed, but also when the blessing is harder to see.
That is the context for the Psalmist, the writer of these words,
He knows God hears, that God reaches down to him, even when life is as broken.
3 Death wrapped its ropes around me;
the terrors of the grave overtook me.
I saw only trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called on the name of the Lord:
“Please, Lord, save me!”
In the midst of the cries of love, are these pleas for mercy. It is as in the gospel story, as the father cries out in adoration and faith, there is also the desperate begging to heal, and even to given our broken faith the strength to believe, to trust, even to depend on God.
I love those words of the father,
“I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”
Been there, done that, Even as recently as yesterday.
We can know every instance of people crying out in Scripture, we can know all the prayers, but what I needed to hear, and I know we all need to hear, is that God will.
He won’t write us off because we don’t have the perfect life or enough faith.
He won’t write us off because we struggle to see His plan…
He won’t abandon us to our own wisdom, our own brokenness, We don’t have to remain condemned by our own sin,
No one is beyond hope, no one beyond God’s hearing range.
This is the testimony of the psalms, read them, over and over, as life tries to crush the writers, they find God’s peace, even if their problems aren’t alleviated the way they think is best.
They find as the psalmist describes so vividly here….something amazing.
He Leans Down.. and Hears
Hear it again…
1 I love the Lord because he hears my voice and my prayer for mercy.
2 Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!
Last week, when my friends Jon was here, his wife commented about something we take for granted perhaps. She noted that when people come over and greet Debbie, many bend down, so as to greet her at the same level. (For reader’s, she is in a wheel chair) She, a lady whose husband has played and pastored in huge churches, said the love we show each other in this church is incredible and beautiful. I’ve seen the same thing done as people get on one knee to greet a child here.
It is that action that the psalmist pictures God doing, bending down, not in condescension, nor in anger, but with a heart full of love, a love which causes Him to listen intently, to listen carefully, to hear each one of us.
God listening to each of us, not like a potentate or world leader listening to us, but listening to us, hearing us.
God bending over to talk to you, to me, his eyes making contact with us, and we have His attention. He hears us…. And we love Him for it
No wonder the psalmist responds,
Yahweh is merciful and upright, our God is tenderness. Yahweh looks after the simple, when I was brought low he gave me strength. My heart, be at peace once again, for Yahweh has treated you generously. He has rescued me from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from stumbling. I shall pass my life in the presence of Yahweh, in the land of the living. Psalm 116:5-9 (NJB)
I used a different translation here for a couple reasons, but none as good as this.
You see that word Yahweh?
A lot of translations use the term LORD there, in all capitals. LORD is a title.
But the Psalmist uses the personal name of God, the name God gave Moses to give to Israel to use when they talk or pray to them, We aren’t talking about some God distant across a galaxy. We aren’t talking about a god made of brass or wood. We’re not talking about a God is weak and tolerates evil, but Yahweh, who is patient, not willing that any person should perish, but that all have the ability to return to Him.
As Luther reminds us, it is not enough not to use God’s name in vain, but we need to
He doesn’t just tolerate our prayers; He wants us to call out to Him. God wants to hear us, listen to us, care for us.
And assure us that we will dwell forever in His presence.
And so we can say with the psalmist
My heart, is at peace once again, for Yahweh has treated you generously.
For He is our loving God, who bends down to hear us, who comes to us to care for us, to reconcile us, to heal us, to send us to others to send us to the world, to let them know He will listen to them as well, and love them even as He loves us, cleanses us from sin, and makes us hole, and holy.
This is why we adore Him, why we are devoted to Him, why we trust and depend on Him, why we honor and praise Him!
Why we love Him… Because He hears us…
And promises to give our hearts the peace and rest that comes from knowing the love of God. A love in which Christ keeps us forever. AMEN?
Matt 7 – THe Love of a Mother, the Love of THE Father
The love of a mother,
& the Love of The Father
Mark 7:24–30
† I.H.S †
As you go through life, may you be assured of the love God has for you, love that will go to extreme measure to free you from all that oppresses
What this isn’t about/What it is
As I preach about the gospel lesson this morning, I need to make something clear.
Yes, I know there are demons, and I am sure this lady’s story is exact and true. It isn’t some parable. Her daughter had a demon.
Okay, now onto what the story is really about, the love of a parent for their child.
The love of a mother,
and the love of the Father.
Understanding the depth of that love will reveal the cross, and the reason that Jesus took a side trip from his home into a spiritual no man’s land.
It will also make the difference in your life, for you are His beloved child.
You see, the demons in this passage – they aren’t relevant, they are a side note. Although in a way it would be easier to preach about fighting them.
It is the love that matters, the love that we so desperately need to know.
The Love of a Mother
I don’t even think Jesus had unpacked at the home he was staying at when she showed up. A desperate mom, looking for something to help her very young daughter.
I don’t have to have you imagine the pain, the desperation that leads her into Jesus presence the moment people realization it is a Jewish Rabbi – maybe even Messiah that has come into their presence.
But I will remind you that she is so desperate that she breaks every cultural norm, every piece of etiquette, and risks his very anger. For to be in the presence of a woman in such situation would render Jesus unfit to teach as a rabbi. As a man of God, being that close to someone outside the people of God would also render him unclean and able to serve, and to do a miracle for her?
Unthinkable.
She throws all decorum aside – she wants her daughter to be healed, to be delivered to, to be right. When I first read that she fell at Jesus’ feet, I thought the word there would be the root word for worship – to bow and lay prostrate before someone, a position of worship, adoration, honor.
It’s not, is the word we get Pepto in Pepto-Bismol from, she collapses in front on him, a withering wreck. And her only hope? A hyped up prophet from a country that hasn’t produced anything of value in 400 years….
She tosses everything aside, all pride, all loyalty to her people, everything if only there were hope.
She is so desperate she pleads, she begs, with everything she has. Heck, she even argues for table scraps from this prophet from that oddball place with the oddball religion.
Such is the love for her daughter.
Even a daughter who, obviously, wasn’t easy to care for, wasn’t easy to love.
A daughter who was more trouble than any can imagine, a daughter who would be un-lovable, even one most people would be afraid of, except for a parent. No one else would care, no one else would endure, but somehow she did.
As she collapses before Jesus, as she needed to depend on someone becomes more and more apparent, her responses grow stronger as if she intuitively knows that Jesus can help.
How could she know the love of God the Father, a God she was unfamiliar with, a love that would be revealed in Jesus coming near?
The Desperate Love of the Father
We have the benefit of hearing these stories, of knowing, even if we sometimes forget, a little bit about the depth of God’s love. Usually, I ask Chris to say the word in Hebrew, (cHesed) but I think I want to keep our guest musician dry this morning.
cHesed – the love that would go to any length for the one who is loved. That would go to any length to restore that which is broken,
it would drive a woman to the feet of a crazy prophet…
The same love that would drive a Father to send His only Son to her.
I want you to hear something in this passage again. I want you to see it, think about it.
He didn’t want anyone to know which house he was staying in, but he couldn’t keep it a secret
He couldn’t keep it a secret. He wasn’t able to another translation says, The Greek uses the word from where we get dynamic, dynamo, dynamite. He was without any power in this instance. The One through whom the universe was spoken into being, the one whose words sent demons scurrying, who calmed seas, whose words brought the dead to life, who spoke forgiveness and taught with authority.
He couldn’t keep where he went on vacation secret from anyone.
It’s as if someone was letting people know – here’s the prophet, here is your hope!
Because immediately, she found him. And right after that, Jesus leaves the area and goes back to Galilee. It is as if this wasn’t really a vacation, a chance to get away, but simply a trip to her, a divine appointment.
Think about this what stopped him, what took away his power to remain incognito? What could make Jesus the Messiah incapable, powerless, vulnerable?
Jesus couldn’t keep his presence secret because God sent Him to be there, for this lady, for this daughter who would collapse at Jesus’ feet.
Because God loved her even as He loves us. He didn’t send him just to deliver the child from the demon. Jesus obediently went where the Father sent them, to deliver them from everything that oppresses them.
Even as He delivers us.
Even as Jesus was sent to us. Even as He was sent to die on the cross for us.
Even though we weren’t clean and holy. Even though Jesus would have to dwell in our sinfulness, even as He would take on every sin we committed. Even if we acted like we were demon possessed. Even if our battle with sin is beyond belief.
Isaiah prophesied that the Father would lay every sin we’ve committed on Jesus. His suffering and death would cleanse us, make us righteous, heal us.
That is what we have to understand – God doesn’t will that any would perish, God won’t let anything separate us from His love,
God gave us this ministry as well, this ministry of reconciling everything to Him, even as we plead with people to be reconciled to God.
As we enter this new school year, as we swing into fall, we are going to see this over and over, that God wants us to be in communion with Him. That He loves us, that He will deliver us from evil. And that He sends us out, with His Spirit, to bring other broken people home to Him. To free others that are oppressed, by sharing with them His love.
It’s not about getting the scraps from the table. It isn’t about our being “not good enough”
It is about even if we are there, completely collapsed, knowing God will restore us and care for us, and comfort us. That He will heal those we bring to Him.
The Father’s love is that deep. And that love is revealed to us in the cross of Christ, in the presence of the Holy Spirit, in the promises of our baptism, and the feast that is but a small sample of the feast to come.
May you dwell in God’s peace, the peace beyond anyone’s understanding, assured that you will be kept in that peace by Jesus. For He has come to us, to deliver us from all evil. AMEN.
Fiiled with Joy – A sermon based on Isaiah 29 (manuscript)
Filled with Joy!
Is. 29:11-29
† In Jesus Name! †
May you be so filled with fresh joy from seeing and hearing the love of Christ at work in your life, that you humbly welcome His molding you into His image!
The fear of the unknown
It is that sense you have, the night before you take on a new job.
Or maybe as you sleep for the first night in a new place and have to struggle to remember where the bathroom is, and where the light switches are. You hear strange groans and creaks and noises, and your heart it trying to decide to dive under the covers or find a weapon, or both!
Or maybe it is that call from the doctor’s office, you know the one where the doctor himself calls you and asks that you come in, right now…
I don’t know what the official phobia is called, but the fear of the unknown is the greatest fear that most of us will ever face. It doesn’t matter what the unknown is, a matter of fact; that is why it is so scary! We just don’t know!
As we look at the lesson in Isaiah today, we see that problem, the unknown future, the kind of future God prophecies about, but are we willing to hear, to see what He has in mind?
The message of God’s love
At the beginning of the Old Testament reading from Isaiah, the future is compared to a sealed book. The future is explained in a message from God that reveals all that is needed to know. A message that would calm the fears, that would bring the heart peace, and give assurance that all will be good to those souls who are stressed and anxious.
But those who the message are given too, perhaps scared of the unknown, don’t bother to read the message. They say, “we can’t read it because it is sealed”, even though it was given to them to read.
It’s like getting that certified letter from the IRS, or from the Superior Court. You stand there looking at it, unable to open it, as if not reading it somehow makes things less terrifying! Every morning you see it on the table, and you don’t want to even touch it!
And the message from God goes unheard, unread, unseen.
Others will claim that they are unable to read it, that the words are beyond their comprehension, so they too leave the message unead, unseen, unheard. It’s like those people who haven’t read the book of Revelation, for they fear what they will read will scare them.
The future becomes even more concering, it terrifies us even more.
We tried to fill the gap
Which is where our hypocrisy comes in, according to this passage from Isaiah. You see, rather than face our fears, rather than dealing with God directly. The world does this by creating other gods. Gods who will give them what they want, who will allow them to chase after what is worthless.
Unwilling to hear what God says, we make up our own rules, our own traditions, and then judge others by whether they follows what we say. We will say that we are God’s, we will say and sing the right things, but do we really understand the heart of God? Do our hearts beat in time with His? Is what He desires what we desire more than anything else?
Or is our worship, and the things we do that “prove our righteousness” simply empty, going through motions without realizing that they don’t please God? The prophets called Israel out on this over and over, telling them their sacrifices meant nothing, that their gatherings were worthless. The Pharisees were accused of this as well, as they tithed everything, even down to the seeds for their gardens. But they overlooked mercy, and helping those in need.
Our attempts to fill in the gaps, to prove we are good are worthless, and when we think about it, they don’t rid us of the fear of dealing with a God who seems to perfect, so righteous, that we don’t, we can’t stand being in His presence.
If only we saw His words, if only we could read them!
We’ll even go farther, we will tell God, our creator, that He doesn’t know what he is doing. That His laws don’t make sense, that we understand and know better. That his idea of life, or right and wrong, is wrong. We are like Isaiah’s jars – telling the potter who made them that he is intellectually challenged.
Or as Chris will soon hear from some student, that he just doesn’t understand, because the sophomore knows what he is talking about! And compared to God, we often act like sophmores, a term from the greek meaning “wise fools”!
We didn’t have to, He knows what He is doing
The idea that Isaiah is trying to get across is that we don’t have to play God, we don’t have to step in and fill in the gap when we don’t see God doing what He wants to! He is far smarter, and if we try to take control, our lives will be full of sorrow.
Yet even then, God will not abandon us! He has promised to amaze us with amazing things!
For what God had planned for us causes us to disguard our own wisdom, to drop the plans, to come out from the darkness, to be able to see and hear His words,
or we are in the days of verse 18,
In that day the deaf will hear words read from a book, and the blind will see through the gloom and darkness. 19 The humble will be filled with fresh joy from the LORD. The poor will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel..
Foe we, like Israel of old, like the believers who followed Jesus and struggled, have been told what the future holds, a future that has hope, that has peace, that has glory beyond our imagination.
Paul revealed that when he wrote,
9 However, as the scripture says, “What no one ever saw or heard, what no one ever thought could happen, is the very thing God prepared for those who love him.” 1 Corinthians 2:9 (TEV)
It is seeing this plan come together, as we beging to understand that Jesus’ death and resurrection is our death and resurrection, that this was the plan, this was the gospel even back in the days of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Hosea and Paul and Peter is amazing.
To realize that as He hangs from the cross and says Father, forgive them, Jesus is thinking of Dustin, Chris, Tom, Jim, Chuck, and Al and all of Concordia,
To know that when He said said, take and eat, this is my body, given for you, He was revealing our future. And when He said this is my blood, shed for you for the forgiveness of sin, He was making our eternity possible.
This is why we can see, it is what we heard, even though we were once dead to the words of God.
So hear, see and rejoice in God’s presence
It is as we see this, we lay aside our wisdom, our plans, our self defensiveness and know the presence and love of God.
We, those who are humbled by the love of God, are filled, as Isaiah promises, with the fresh joy of the Lord, and we, who were poor, rejoice in the presence of the Holy One, the Lord God of Israel!
And our hearts and minds, finally enjoying His peace, relax and praise Him. AMEN!
Y’all Come Back Now, You Hear? A sermon on Ephesians 2 (manuscript)
Y’all Come Back Now, You Hear?
Ephesian 211-22
† In Jesus Name †
May the grace and mercy of God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ assure you of the peace that is found as the world comes back, reconciled to Him!
Concordia Hillbillies
Another Pastor Parker Parable….but one that needs a bit of a set up…
They were gathered, at the end, around a pool that reminded you of a Roman Villa.
As the credits rolled past, the cast of the sitcom would, with a hospitality that seems somewhat unknown today, invite us to watch next week with the words,
Y’all come back now, you hear?
You might call this pastor Parker parable, “The Kingdom of God is like the Beverly Hillbillies!”
Another way to put it is that if we made a television show about our church, it could be called the Concordia Hillbillies!
We certainly are a diverse group of characters, and there is no one that would walk in our doors, that wouldn’t be welcome.
If you are unfamiliar with the show, here is the basic plot, a poor family of people from somewhere in the Appalachia strikes it rich with oil on their property. They load up their truck and move to the Beverly Hills, the place of dreams and where rich people belong.
Of course, there are some things they had to get used to, As the slide says, Ma, somethings just ain’t going to be the way they used to be! Things like indoor plumbing, a pool in the backward instead of a creek and a pond, and the manners of the rich and infamous they would need o learn to deal with, and quickly. It was a study of cultural anthropology, and conflict resolution between peoples of different cultures and backgrounds done with great humor.
As we hear the words of Paul to the church in Ephesus, we see similar cultural issues, and we see a community being formed, as the people become one. There were things that the Gentiles and the Jews would need to learn, as they were brought together in Christ.
This is our goal for today. That we would begin to desire that all people would come and hear our plea, “be reconciled to God!” No matter their place of birth, their native language, their gender or economic status, that they would come, and that they would all come back to God, you hear?
Did We Worry About Fitting In? Or Did we Look Down on the newbies
The first plea to be reconciled goes to those who are new to the community. Those who were, and you have to here the “were” aliens. They weren’t part of the community, they weren’t governed by the law of the covenant, they were considered outsiders.
Some of us have experienced that feeling once or twice in our lives. We were born in a different place, some even on a different continent, like South America, or Asia. Some have come from Africa or Europe Some of us came from really strange places, like the lakes region of New Hampshire. We may have had people mock us, and California natives tell us we weren’t welcome or we felt like we would never fit in. Hear Paul’s words again, and see if the feeling sounds familiar,
- “11 Don’t forget that you – used to be outsiders.
- You were called “heathens” by the others
- In those days you were living apart.
- You were excluded from bein part of the community
- You did not know the rules and benefits of bein a part
- Therefore, you lived in this world without God and without hope”
For the Gentiles, it was just a matter of being held without the hope of fitting in,
I love Paul’s concern for these new believers that they will fit into the community of God. But part of that is helping them understand that they aren’t unbelievers anymore. These things were true – but they aren’t anymore.
It is as if he said, “Clampetts – you used to go to the bathroom out back, but Jethro, you don’t need to anymore.” Paul says, “Gentiles – remember you were like that before, but now you have hope, now you are part of the covenant, now you are in the community, no longer separated, no longer aliens!” They were now saints.. and that means something.
But they weren’t the only one’s who needed to learn!
Does anyone remember the name of Miss Hathaway’s boss? You know the rich banker who used to try and acquire the Clampett’s money? Was it Clydesdale?
Whatever his name, I think they modeled him after the older brother in the story of the prodigal son. He had trouble, serious trouble, adjusting to the fact that someone whom he didn’t think was worthy ended up with more blessings than he did. The Jews had the same struggle. Their pride in their circumcision and the other traditions they counted on caused them to lose contact with God’s vision.
It’s a problem we all struggle with at times, as our faith isn’t focused on Christ, but on something of us. I love how this translation puts it, “even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.”
Do we let our religious lives get like that at times, where they affect our body, but not our souls? Do we get to the point where we go through the motions and say the words, but don’t rejoice over the incredible mercy and love God shows us? The point when our traditions, or our preferences become more important than others coming to know God’s love?
What will it take for the new folk and the old folk, for the Jew and the Gentile, for all the cultures, all languages, all life to be at home together?
What Makes it Home
It happens when the same way it did in the Clampett household. It happens as we feast together.
It happens when we remember the life, death and resurrection of Christ includes us. We come home as we are joined together with Christ’s death and resurrection.
That’s how we know when we are home… home together. Hear Paul’s words again,
17 He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. 18 Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.
to His home together
19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family. 20 Together, we are his house, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And the cornerstone is Christ Jesus himself. 21 We are carefully joined together in him, becoming a holy temple for the Lord. 22 Through him you Gentiles are also being made part of this dwelling where God lives by his Spirit.
We belong together, we have been made one people, one holy people as we are God’s family. He is making His home out of us. People from every background imaginable, people who’ve committed every sin and been forgiven, people who are broken, who’ve come to be healed. God will work with people who’ve even come, like the apostle Paul did, to fight God, He can heal those who come to persecute God’s people, and like Paul was filled with awe, God can reach them! We can welcome, and even love them, and shown glimpses of the glory of God which we shall share in, together.
That is the power of God, seen as He makes us one….in Christ…
And y’all come back now, to His table for there will be a feast, celebrating His death and resurrection, the power of which is at work in us.
AMEN!
7/19 Sermon on Eph 2:11-22 Yall Come Back Now, Ya Hear? ( Audio/Video)
The sermon from Concordia Lutheran Church in Cerritos Ca.
The subtitle could be The Kingdom of God is Like the Beverly Hillbillies
