250126 Sermon on Jesus being believed or rejected (Epiphany 3) January 26, 2025

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript;

I’d like to begin today by setting the scene for our Gospel reading. It is from Luke chapter 4, so this is towards the beginning of the story of Jesus. Not long before our reading Jesus was anointed with water and the Holy Spirit when he was baptized. Then he went out into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. With our reading today he has come back to Galilee and Nazareth, which is his hometown.

Thus our reading today is a report of what was happening early on. People were just beginning to hear and know about Jesus. This was because of what Jesus himself was saying and doing. However, Jesus is not always believed in and accepted. At the end of our reading, the people of Nazareth wanted to throw him off a cliff.

In the sermon today I’d like to look more closely at Jesus’s sermon, which was based on a section of Isaiah. We will see how Jesus’s sermon was applicable to the people at Jesus’s time as well as being applicable to ourselves. Then I’d like to consider how and why Jesus was rejected. This, also, I think you will see, is applicable to us.

So, let’s take up the main point of Jesus’s sermon. Here is a portion of what he read from Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” When Jesus was finished reading he said, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus was saying that this prophecy was about him.

Let’s look more closely at this prophecy. It says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.” We know that the Holy Spirit came down upon Jesus in the form of a dove at his baptism. It says, “Because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” This is a good, general statement about what Jesus does. The word “anointed” is the meaning of the word “Christ.” Jesus is the anointed one. The reason why he has been anointed is “to proclaim good news to the poor.” “Good news” is the meaning of the word “Gospel.” Thus we have a couple short statements that well describe Jesus: He is the anointed one, the Christ. He proclaims the Gospel, good news, to the poor.

Good news is always welcome to the poor. Poverty is a major hindrance to the enjoyment of life. It prevents people from doing what they would otherwise like to do. People might not be able to buy what they want because they are poor. People might be able to go to the doctor because they are poor. If it gets really bad, people might not be able to buy food. Poverty is the lack of power to do what you want.

Throughout the Gospels you can read about how Jesus helped people who didn’t have the resources to help themselves. People came to him who were in the grips of evil spirits. The evil spirits made them miserable, but they lacked the power to get them out. People came to Jesus who were sick with various diseases. If any of you have had diseases that don’t go away, you know how tiring and frustrating that can be. Helplessness in the face of a disease that is stronger than you can be very frightening. It might mean the death of you. Jesus helped people like that.

Let me pause for a moment to point out that Jesus continues to have good news for the poor. This has not stopped, nor has it been lessened from the reports of Jesus’s miracles that we hear about in the Gospels. A lot of people assume that since miracles like that aren’t very common, Jesus must no longer be at work, or that his work is strictly spiritual and therefore somewhat unreal. The truth is that Jesus’s work after the resurrection is stronger and more profound than anything he did before. The works Jesus does and will do are greater.

Let me give you a few examples. Jesus forgives sins. Maybe you have grown cold to that idea, but maybe I can refresh it for you by a simple question: What are you able to do to make up for the evil you have done? There’s nothing. You are powerless. You are poor. The good news that is proclaimed to the poor is that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

Or how about those diseases? How about that progressive onset of death that we call getting old? How about death itself? What can you do in the face of these things? Our options are severely limited, even with all our medical advances. The good news is that by his death Jesus defeated the power of death, and by his resurrection he opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Let me give you one more healing that I am especially looking forward to. What can be done with our evil minds and souls? What can be done with our anger? What can be done with our dirty minds, our coveting, meanness, sadness, apathy, coldness towards life, and a host of other evils? We are bombarded with commercials for various drugs, some of which might help somewhat, but they can’t ever get to the core. The resurrection means healing not only for our bodies, but also our minds and souls. Believing in Jesus is trusting him to do things that otherwise seem impossible.

So, to get back to our text: After he finished reading from Isaiah Jesus said, “I’m the fulfillment of what you heard. I preach good news to the poor. I set people free from unbreakable chains.” And, as it turns out, the people were quite receptive. “How interesting!” they said. “He speaks so well! Maybe I’ll sign up for his newsletter. It’s especially surprising since one of our own. He’s Joseph’s son, is he not?”

This is the point at which everything changed in the story. The change is so abrupt that it’s easy to miss. Everything was going fine, the people were enjoying Jesus, but then Jesus said some more stuff and they were no longer pleased. They started to push and shove him towards the brow of a cliff. What happened?

It's Jesus’s fault really. Jesus turned on them. After they started talking about him as the mere son of Joseph, Jesus knew that they would eventually be dissatisfied with him, and he told them so. Others—foreigners—would believe in him, but they would be left out in the cold. He brought up a couple Old Testament examples with the prophets Elijah and Elisha through whom God did miracles to foreigners, but not to his own people. This was what upset his hearers in his hometown. If he would have just left them be with their lukewarm admiration, they wouldn’t have had such a violent reaction—at least not at that point. Jesus got pushy, and they didn’t like that.

This is not uncommon. There are several examples in the Bible where people responded to the Gospel by saying, “How interesting. I would not be opposed to hearing more about that in the future.” However, the message that Jesus preaches is not just a pleasant way to pass the time or to be part of a community. Jesus’s message is “Repent, and believe the Gospel.” Another way of saying the same thing is: “Change your ways, change your mind, believe the good news that Jesus preaches to the powerless poor.” That is an all or nothing proposition. Either you will change your mind or you won’t. Either Jesus will have all of you, or you will reject him.

Jesus speaks this way in other places as well. It always make us nervous, because we are afraid to commit completely and totally. So, for example, Jesus says: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” That is being “all in” on Jesus. It is difficult and scary, but it makes sense if you think about it.

Jesus is the difference between total bliss and freedom on the one hand or total sadness and imprisonment on the other. Either Jesus sets you from all your enemies—even those that you thought were impossible to overcome. Or you are still stuck—powerless and impoverished—in the face of things much mightier than you. It makes sense that this must be an all or nothing kind of thing.

Jesus is not like an insurance policy that you stick in the filing cabinet until you have to use it. Jesus is Christ the king who is at work with the Gospel and sacraments. He is converting one soul at a time by the power of the Holy Spirit. The purpose of his kingdom is to destroy all the evil works of the devil. You don’t fight wars with insurance policies. Wars involve total commitment.

The people at Nazareth refused to be completely serious about Jesus. They thought he was interesting. They thought he was a good speaker. They would have told you that they were on his side! But they quit being on his side when he told them that their lukewarm approval wouldn’t cut it. Eventually their lukewarm approval would turn to criticism, because then it is only a matter of time before Jesus says or does something that doesn’t meet their complete approval.

It is easy to apply this to ourselves. We are not unlike those Nazarenes! None of us, including myself, are comfortable “losing our lives” as Jesus puts it. None of us are as eager as we should be to take up our cross and follow him. It is much easier to believe that merely being a fan of Jesus is good enough. And, if you think about it, how convenient! We can feel good about being a fan without having to live as a soldier of the cross, denying ourselves.

But this fakery only makes sense if there is no real war going on. There is a war. Jesus is our king. He is fighting against the devil and all evil, including the evil that is found in us, his Christians. The nature of the situation requires us always to repent and believe the Gospel. Repent and go “all in” with Jesus. You will not be disappointed!

250112 Sermon against cynicism for Christ's kingdom (The Baptism of our Lord) January 12, 2025

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

Donald J. Trump will begin his term as president at noon, January 20^th. Have you been planning for what will happen January 21^st? Have you been making lists, getting everything ready, rehearsing what you will do for the day after the inauguration? Probably not. I haven’t either. I don’t think a lot will change with our new president. It isn’t really about him. I’m cynical about what elected officials can do in general. The people who hold the reins of power—the people who are massively wealthy, who can write the checks—won’t let too much change, unless it is to their own benefit. Things will probably keep going on like they have for a long time. I am not expecting any massive changes.

What about Christ’s kingdom? Is our attitude the same there as well? Our festival today is somewhat like Jesus’s inauguration as the Christ. Jesus’s baptism marks the beginning of his great words and deeds that are recorded in the Gospels. Immediately after his baptism Jesus was very busy. He was tempted by the devil, swamped by sick and demon possessed people, teaching in the synagogues, doing one miracle after another. Things looked like they were changing for the better, but then Jesus was arrested, crucified and died. That was when the cynicism began in earnest. Folks had wondered whether Jesus might have been the Christ, but he couldn’t have been since he died.

That was the end of the road for the vast number of people who had once believed in Jesus. At one point there had been many thousands who were interested in Jesus being made king by force, but any hope of that was gone when everyone could see him hanging dead on the cross.

Even after Easter the picture didn’t improve very much as far as the disciples were concerned. John chapter 21 seems to indicate that the disciples went back to their old livelihood of fishing. Acts chapter 1 tells us that the number of believers in Jerusalem was only about 120. That is a far cry from many thousands. Even with the great day of Pentecost, when 3,000 repented and were baptized—that was less than the feeding of the 5,000, or the feeding of the 4,000.

Cynicism is a way to protect yourself from being disappointed. Cynicism is when you don’t get your hopes up. Having your hopes dashed is painful. The higher the hopes, the more intense the desire, the worse the pain. To prevent getting hurt you can check yourself out. Things will stay the same. Why bother? Just go gentle into that good night.

This is a way to insulate yourself from pain. Disappointments will not hit you as sharply. But there is a terrible cost. With cynicism things will, at best, stay the same, but more likely get worse. If you won’t get involved, if you won’t change your ways, if you won’t hope for change, then nothing is going to change. It is forfeiting to the powers that be.

This defeatist attitude is disastrous in all areas of life, but it is especially devastating for faith in Christ’s kingdom. If we would not have hope in Christ, then we are left with how things are. Paul calls these the elementary principles of this world, to which we are enslaved. We are enslaved to the devil. We are enslaved to our desires. We are enslaved to pursuing mere self-interest. Our chains have been put on by ourselves, which are our fears and insecurities, our dread of pain and suffering.

How differently the bible speaks about Christ’s kingdom! Paul says: “For freedom Christ has set you free!” The Gospels speak of Christ “proclaiming liberty to the prisoners!” And indeed, Jesus set people free from all kinds of disabilities and ailments in the Gospels. The people loved that! We slaves love to get a little taste of freedom. But a lot of people thought that that kind of thing was over and done with when Jesus died, and even when he rose. The risen and ascended Christ remains at work in his kingdom, but a lot of people would like it better if he would do those old sorts of things that helped people along in their pursuit of their own self-interest.

But here is what we should realize: the work of Christ in his kingdom is not less after his death and resurrection, it is more. The work of Christ with his death and his resurrection, the baptism with which he baptizes, and the body and blood that he distributes is more. It’s deeper. It gets to the root. The root is evil itself, and Jesus reverses it. The seemingly invincible powers of sin, death, profit, power, and all the rest are not invincible. Jesus promises a reckoning for the powers that be who so often oppress and steal and murder and seemingly get away with it. They will be burned with an unquenchable fire. Everything will be turned upside down. The first will be last and the last will be first. John baptized with water; Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire.

Whatever hopes we might have about Christ’s kingdom, they are inevitably inadequate. You want to be healed of an ailment, a defect, old age, and son. You want to be the man that you should be. You want to be the woman that you should be. “For freedom Christ has set you free!” These things and more are yours. If they are not already fixed somewhat in this life by the healing work of the Holy Spirit, then they will be completely fixed by the resurrection. The goodness of the resurrection is more than we can imagine. Paul says, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the imagination of the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him.” Even if you try to imagine what Jesus’s kingdom will be like, you’re going to fall short. What comes to pass will be greater.

Cynicism, therefore, is incompatible with Christianity. Cynicism is managing your hopes so that you won’t get hurt when they inevitably don’t come to pass. If you are managing your hopes for Christ’s kingdom, you are simply being an unbeliever. If you believe that Jesus can’t or won’t help you, then you are an unbeliever.

Unbelief is by no means uncommon, even among those who would like to consider themselves to be Jesus’s disciples. We see that all the time in the Bible. We see that in particular with the Gospels’ accounts of the resurrection. Even the closest of Jesus’s disciples lost their faith when Jesus died, and they were slow to believe after the resurrection. They were flesh and blood, just like us, with all our hiccups and insecurities. However, we cannot let our doubts and insecurities interfere with what is plainly testified. Jesus’s kingdom is glorious, even if we lack the faith to believe.

Jesus’s kingdom is glorious among us. Let us not doubt that either. Whenever anyone comes to believe that the seemingly invincible powers are not invincible because Jesus is greater—that is a miracle worked by the Holy Spirit. Whenever anyone remains in the faith—that is an ongoing miracle of the Holy Spirit. These believers will one day be caught up together with the Lord in the clouds for an adventure that is too great for words to describe.

It does not please me, therefore, when I hear something that is quite common among us. It is quite common for people to comment on how large or small a gathering is—and usually it is how much smaller the gathering is these days. This strikes me as largely missing the point. It would like the people in Jesus’s day who could have scoffed at the smaller number who gathered after the resurrection. I could imagine that some of them must have said: “Do you remember how many people there were at the feeding of the five thousand or the four thousand? The attendance these days is greatly reduced.”

Christ’s kingdom is not about crowds or impressing those who have the ability to count. Christ’s kingdom is about setting people free and changing hearts and minds. This is always an individual affair. Each individual either remains enslaved in their unbelief or they are set free through faith in Jesus. Whenever a sinner repents, the angels rejoice, and we should too. The kingdom of God remains at work. It is glorious, but the glory is only apparent to those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

So as we consider the inauguration, so to speak, of Christ’s kingdom with Jesus’s baptism, we should cast away cynical thoughts. Cynicism is not very attractive or useful in general, but it is particularly inappropriate when it comes to Christ’s kingdom. Our problem is not that we have too low of thoughts and hopes and dreams. Our problem is that we do not think as grandly as we must if we are beginning to understand Christ’s kingdom. We are too earthly minded.

Therefore, I’d like to close with a passage that speaks to this. In Colossians chapter three Paul says: “If you have been raised with Christ, then seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”

When Christ appears, you will appear with him in glory. That is more than enough for anyone who is hungry for that which is good.

241231 Sermon for New Year's Eve

 Audio recording

Sermon manuscript:

I have been a pastor for many years now, but this is the first New Year’s Eve service I have ever preached for. In Iowa neither of my congregations had services on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day. If memory serves, I attended a New Year’s Eve service when I was a kid. However, my childhood congregation more often had New Year’s Day services. New Year’s Day is eight days after Christmas, which means that the focus is on the circumcision and naming of Jesus.

So tonight is the first time I’ve every preached for a New Year’s Eve service. As I considered the texts that you heard tonight, I was struck by how differently the Bible teaches compared to what is customary with the New Year. For example, New Year’s Eve is a well-known party night. A lot of people get drunk on New Year’s Eve.

Jesus says in our Gospel reading: “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks.” Imagine Jesus coming to find people soddenly drunk. How can they open the door when he knocks? Losing yourself in food, drink, drugs, and other pleasures is an agreeable way to pass the time. It’s not nonsensical. It’s a way to cope, to forget the troubles of life, and to receive some comfort. It’s understandable, but how differently our Lord Jesus speaks in our reading tonight!

Another thing we associate with the New Year are New Year’s resolutions. It’s a time to set goals, make plans, and fix what we don’t like. If we believe in ourselves and don’t give up, we can achieve our dreams.

Compare this to our Old Testament reading. God says to his people: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” We do not naturally believe that returning and resting will do anything good for us. We do not believe that quietness and trust are our strength. We believe in ourselves. All that’s needed is to be sufficiently motivated. If only we could stay sufficiently motivated, then all our New Year’s dreams would come true, and we would be outstanding.

All of our readings tonight would have us look to someone else besides what we customarily look to for betterment. How can 2025 be better than 2024? Our readings encourage us to believe more firmly in God.

This has to do with the first table of the Law, the first three of the Ten Commandments. You should have no other gods. You should fear, love, and trust in God above all other things. You should not believe in other things, no matter how useful those other things might appear to be.

The second commandment is that you should not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Instead of misusing God’s name, you should use it well. God’s name is used well by calling upon it in every trouble, praying, praising, and giving thanks. But in order for anyone to use God’s name rightly, that person must believe that it will work. The reason why we do not pray like we should is because we do not believe like we should. We do not worship God the way we should is because we do not believe in him the way we should. Unfortunately, we believe that we can be better blessed spending our time and energy pursuing other things.

So how can we believe in God more firmly? There is only one way to do that. We must hear the Word of God that tells us about him. The Word of God is inspired by the Holy Spirit. It is living and active. It produces faith. Therefore, as the catechism teaches about the third commandment, we should not despise God’s Word, or assume that we already know it sufficiently well. If that were true—if you knew it well enough already—then your prayers would be much more fervent than they are currently. We should gladly hear and learn God’s Word so that we know God better, so that we believe in him more confidently, and so that we can better speak to him with our prayers and praises.

The first three of the Ten Commandments have to do with our spiritual health. God spoke these commandments for our good, for our benefit. It is good for us to believe in God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, because he is the only God. The other things that we treat like gods will disappoint us in the end, even if, in the meantime, we manage to get some pleasure or comfort from them.

We should be prepared, not just for 2025, not just for some small, momentary, change in our fortunes, but for meeting our Maker. We’ve made it to the end of 2024. What if 2025 is the last year in which we will live? What if 2025 is the year that gets chiseled onto our gravestone? What if 2025 is the year that Jesus comes back? Jesus said in our reading: “The Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” We must be prepared to meet to God.

To meet God well there is no substitute for believing what he has said. If you managed to climb all the mountains of the world, accumulated all the wealth, all the knowledge—whatever you could possibly accomplish—none of that can ever do what taking to heart what God has said will do.

And the good news is that what God has said is good. He has revealed that he is for us, and not against us. Paul says in our epistle reading, “If God is for us, then who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?”

Paul is using sound logic. God is for you. How do you know that? Because you are so awesome, cool, healthy, and what not? No. You know that because he gave his Son, Jesus, to be your Savior. God’s good will towards you doesn’t depend on you. He is the one who acts. He is the one who saves. God’s Word teaches that your confidence should be completely in him. Even if you should end up with troubles, poverty, shame, or danger, Jesus remains the Savior. Even if you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, your Good Shepherd is with you. He will take you where you need to go.

In conclusion, God’s Word gives us the opportunity to reorient ourselves. Instead of looking for happiness in any number of things, look to God instead. There is nothing like God. There is no help like God’s help. Listen to what his Word says. Believe in him. Call upon his name with your prayers and praises.

Then you are dressed for action, ready for your master to come home from the wedding feast.