191223 Funeral Sermon for Butch Schroeder, December 23, 2019

191223 Funeral Sermon for Butch Schroeder, December 23, 2019

Christmas can be a hard time for people who have lost a loved one. Christmas is, bar none, the most nostalgic of all holidays. When a person is missing from the Christmas get-together, there is a hole. With Butch’s death coming so close to Christmas, and this funeral service coming even closer to Christmas, it’s on our minds. There are a lot of people here who are sad when they think of those difficult moments in the couple days ahead for Butch’s family.

Because we do not want to remain sad, and we don’t want others to be sad either, there is a tendency to chop some logic to make it seem better. There is some truth in the gentle arguments that get made at such times. Butch lived to be 72. We’d all like it if he had lived longer, but 72 years is nothing to sneeze at. He had fairly good health despite his very serious disease until not long before he died. Regardless of whatever else gets said, we might also add that the memories of him will live on even though he has died.

Some more specifically Christian logic can be chopped at such a time as this too. Biblical truths are taken in hand. The goal is the same. We’d like to feel better—not feel so sad.

There is something that I’d like us to consider this afternoon, though, that might surprise you. It has to do with what happened to a friend of Jesus’s. What we find is that sadness is not taken away, even for Jesus, who obviously knew all the truths of God’s saving will towards us, for he himself is God.

The friend’s name was Lazarus. His sisters were Mary and Martha. One day Lazarus fell sick, and his family sent word to Jesus in the hopes that he could come and heal him like he had healed many others. Jesus, however, didn’t come right away. He stayed where he was for a couple more days. In the meantime Lazarus died, was prepared for burial, and by the time Jesus got to where they lived, he was already in the tomb. This was not by accident. Jesus knew what he was going to do.

When Jesus came near to the house word of this came to Martha. She ran out to meet Jesus on the road, and she tells him what undoubtedly had been on her mind the last few days. She said, “Jesus, if you had been here, my brother wouldn’t have died.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” “That’s true,” Martha replied through the tears, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”

Martha knew her Bible. She also knew that Lazarus believed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. She knew that through this faith in Jesus, her brother Lazarus had received salvation from sin, death, and hell, and that he was destined, therefore, to eternal life. Here are some of those Christian truths I referred to before which are looked to to take away sadness.

Jesus responded to Martha with some words that you will hear as part of our service in a few minutes. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even though he dies. Whoever lives and believes in me will never die.” Jesus powerfully confirms everything that Martha has just said. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in him will live, even though he dies. With faith in him, death hardly even deserves to be called death anymore, for Jesus has defeated it. Here’s some more truth we can chew on.

Martha then sends somebody back to the house to get her sister Mary. Mary comes, weeping. Everybody else is weeping too. Now here’s why I bring this up. When Jesus saw Mary it says that he was deeply moved in his spirit and troubled. There was a tightness in his chest and a lump in his throat he had a hard time choking down. He asked, “Where have you laid him?” They said, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus could hold back the tears no longer. He wept. And when he got to the tomb, it says that he was deeply moved yet again.

If there were ever anybody who knew the saving truths of God’s will, it would be Jesus. Indeed, Jesus even knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead twice. He was going to do it that day, and then he is going to do it again on the Last Day. Even though Jesus knew all these truths—and they are such fine and good truths—he was still deeply grieved and sad. To be sure, when Lazarus was raised to life that sadness was erased utterly and replaced with a joy that we cannot even comprehend. Until that time, however, Jesus was full of sorrow even though he knew all truth.

And so we should not have the expectation that our sadness and sorrow should be taken away by what gets said. If that is the thing that we are striving after, then it’s likely that vain philosophy will provide more comfort than Christian truth. These are the kinds of things that I mentioned at the beginning, where we kind of argue our way out of feeling sad: “Soandso lived a long life.” “Everybody has to go sometime.” “Death is just a part of life.” “Treasure the memories.”

These sentiments might very well work better at relieving grief than Christian truths do, precisely because these are easier to believe. The reason why Martha and Mary were so sad is that they thought the time for their brother to get better had passed. Maybe if Jesus had been there earlier, then he could have done something, but it’s too late now. They had to wait for the resurrection before they felt better. The same is true, surprisingly, even with Jesus. But the truths of God won out in the end. All vain philosophy, on the other hand, will prove to be worthless, or even to be lies, when Christ comes to raise the dead.

In the days ahead, therefore, I want to encourage all of you who have loved Butch to take to heart the truths communicated to us about our God. Do this, not with the expectation that it will take away your sadness, but with the conviction that you, most certainly, will not be disappointed in the end, even if, for a season and time, you have sadness. The glorious promises that God has made to us have not yet come to pass. These truths—the greatest of which is resurrection—are waiting in the wings. One day they will come into action and our joy will be full.

So what, exactly, are the truths about our God that are communicated to us at Christmas? All three readings that I chose for today are Christmas readings. The most direct is the reading from Luke chapter 2. God sent his angel to the shepherds who were keeping watch over their flocks by night. When the angel appeared, the shepherds were terrified—and understandably so. Whenever God shows up, even through one of his messengers, our thoughts immediately turn to our uncleanness, our sin. But the angel says those golden words that sinners love to hear from their God: “Do not be afraid.” I’m not here to harm you. Quite the opposite, in fact. “I bring you good news of great joy that is for all people: Today in the town of David a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord.”

Now wouldn’t it be nice to have someone like Jesus in our corner? Some great friend who could do the kinds of things that he did even for Lazarus, Martha and Mary?  Well, there’s no need for supposing. That is what the angel says explicitly. A Savior was born. For whom? Not just for the guy in the Bible. Not just the guy down the street. Not just for the guy who seems to have earned it by coming to Church. Are you a sinner? Then Jesus is for you. He has been born to redeem you by his holy precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. He has been born to defeat death for you, so that when you are laid into the grave, it may not be the end of the story. Nor will we have to be satisfied with mere memories and other ghostly things like that. You will be raised from the dead like Lazarus was, but it will be a better resurrection, for you will not be resurrected only to die again, but you will be resurrected to a life where death is no more.

Today we lay the body of Butch into the grave. Wouldn’t our moods change in an instant if he were raised to life—and even a better life than the only one that we have ever known? Our sadness would be turned to wonder and to joy, just like that. Well, this is true. We only have to wait for it.

In the meantime, take to heart what God is saying to you this Christmas. That Savior has been born for you.

191215 Sermon on Isaiah 40:1-11 (Advent 3) December 15, 2019

191215 Sermon on Isaiah 40:1-11 (Advent 3) December 15, 2019

We are in the season for “Dear Santa” letters. “Dear Santa, I’d like this and this and this and this. Be careful that it’s this one and not that one. Make it just so.” Everybody knows that Santa is the giver of good gifts. Christians know that God is the giver or all good things. James, in his letter, says, “Every good act of giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the lights, who does not change or shift like a shadow.” God alone is good, as Jesus says. If anything is good, then, it comes from him. And so might we write our own “Dear God” letters? “Dear God, I’d like this and this and this and this.” What might we put on that list? Better health? More money? More glory? Less sadness? There are a lot of things that boys and girls of all ages want. There are also a lot of things that folks don’t want, too, but that might be what they get. Are these things like coal in the stocking?

Even those we know God approves of, get from him things to which we might say, “Yuck! Keep that away from me.” Do you suppose that John the Baptist wrote a letter that said, “Dear God, I’d like to be put in prison. I’d like to be afflicted with doubt. I’d like to have my head chopped off because of a stupid dare that some girl made at a drinking party”? Sounds weird doesn’t it?

Or consider the author of our epistle reading, Paul. Do you suppose that he wrote a letter that said, “Dear God, I’d like to be stoned and left for dead. I’d like to be chased and harassed from one city to the next. I’d like to be shipwrecked. I’d like to be given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, which you refuse to remove. Oh, and after all this, I’d like my head to be chopped off too.”

This can all sound ridiculous because of a principle that we are hardwired to accept. The principle is that this life is everything. If this life is everything, then you better hold on to every possibility for pleasure that comes your way and don’t let a single one escape. Fight for what is yours. Don’t make trouble for yourself. If trouble or suffering or hardship come your way, then you better figure out a way to get rid of it, otherwise your life will not be worth living.

From a perspective such as this, the Christian life that is filled with suffering looks like the stupidest thing anybody could ever do. Paul would agree with you. In 1 Cor. 15 he addresses the resurrection from the dead. Some of the people in Corinth were saying that there was no such thing as the resurrection from the dead. When Paul responds to them he says that if there is no such thing as the resurrection from the dead, then Christians are to be pitied above all people. All that sacrificing and suffering would be to no purpose. If this life is everything, then it only makes sense to try to suck everything out of it that you possibly can. Those who don’t are fools!

Paul kind of embraced this label as being a fool. Several times in his letters he calls himself a fool. If people wanted to think that he was a fool, then there wasn’t much that he could do about that. He wasn’t bothered by it because the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisdom of men. The weakness of God is stronger than the strength of men. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. In Christ Paul has redemption from the devil and the adoption of being a child of God. In Christ Paul has the resurrection from the dead to live an infinitely better life than the one that we have in this sinful flesh. That was why Paul was free to love and thereby also suffer as a Christian. There was nothing that he gave up or sacrificed that would not be given back to him a hundred fold in the life to come. He aspired to live for love—for the good of others—rather than for himself. So if people think he is foolish for living the way he did, then they would also have to think that Christ is foolish and that God is foolish, for God is love.

It is not foolish, though, to live for love. Quite the opposite, actually. In our reading from Isaiah it said, “A voice is saying, ‘Cry out!’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry out?’” By speaking in this way, by “crying out” you can see God’s urgency for what he has to say. What he has to say is something that has to be forcefully impressed upon those who hear. They won’t otherwise hear it. And so God gives the message that is to be cried out: “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like a flower in the field. Grass withers, flowers fade, when the breath of the Lord blows upon them. Surely the people are grass. Grass withers, flowers fade, but the Word of our God endures forever.”

This is a striking message about our mortality. Grass grows up in the spring. By November it is dead and brown. The flower blooms, but if you get a stiff breeze it is all tattered or gone altogether. So why do you work for what cannot endure? What difference does it make if you have a mountain of money? It cannot prolong your life for even a single hour. The works that are done in a Christian life of love, however, live on. Several weeks ago we heard about how we would be judged. God will not judge you favorably for having this and this and this and this. He will not be impressed by even a whole mountain range of money. Insofar as you did it to the least of Jesus’s brothers, you did it unto him. Insofar as you didn’t do it to the least of Jesus’s brothers you did not do it unto him. It is not our money that lives on after us, but the deeds that we have done in the flesh. He will bring to light whatever is hidden in darkness and also reveal the intentions of hearts.

In contrast to the fleeting nature of our earthly life where we are alive one minute and dead the next, we are told, “The Word of our God endures forever.” The Word of God is given to us to make us wise. It tells us what’s what. It interprets our lives and diagnoses us and tells us what is in store for us and all people. It therefore gives us a different perspective than what we would otherwise have. This different perspective might make some people call us fools, but time will tell with that. If there is no resurrection from the dead, then they are right. But if there is a resurrection from the dead, then they are wrong. Believing and unbelieving will no longer be applicable. Faith will then be replaced by knowledge.

Until that time there will remain believers and unbelievers. They will remain opposed to one another because practically every facet of life looks different from God’s perspective, from the perspective of eternity. Suffering and sacrifice will be shunned by the one side; praised by the other. Riches will be prized by the one side and be neither here nor there for the other. God’s Word will be embraced by the one side and scoffed at by the other.

Ultimately the difference between believers and unbelievers comes down to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. How is this regarded? Believers will cherish it as God’s great message of love, forgiveness, and salvation. On my heart imprint Thine image, blessed Jesus King of grace, that life’s riches, cares, and pleasures, have no power Thee to efface. This the superscription be: Jesus crucified for me. Is my life, my hope’s foundation, and my glory and salvation. Believers say, “On my heart imprint Thine image.” I don’t know how unbelievers look at the cross of Christ. Probably in many different ways, but certainly not as their source of everlasting life, and the pattern of love by which we are to live as God’s creatures.

Because of these two very different outlooks on life that has as its center the cross of Christ, there will always be enmity of unbelievers towards believers. Paul, in 2 Cor. 2, says that Christians are a sweet smelling sacrifice to God. It’s the fragrance of Christ. Those who are being saved recognize it as a fragrance of life that is a prelude to life everlasting. Those who do not believe regard it as an odor of death that is a prelude to eternal death. something of our eternal destinies is already revealed with the presence of Christians.

It is not actually that great of a surprise, therefore, that we find Christians being persecuted. Herod hated John the Baptist because John convicted him of a sin whereby he would be judged. Both Jews and Gentiles hated Paul because the Jews refused to believe in the Savior and the Gentiles wanted to believe that this life is everything.

Persecution does not need to be so dramatic as having one’s head chopped off though. There are subtler and arguably more effective ways to frighten Christians from testifying to their neighbor. Christian teenagers are regarded as being “not cool.” It seems that we hardly ever outgrow high school, for the embarrassment remains. Friends, young and old, turn cold if talk should turn to the life of the world to come. People might roll their eyes or refuse to look you in the eye if the topic turns hot, but that is unusual. Perhaps the commonest and also deadliest of all reactions to the proclamation of the Gospel is that polite silence. They wait patiently until you’ve done your spiel. Then we can get back to things that are less divisive, more socially acceptable.

One of the very important reasons for Christians to congregate is so that we can help and support one another when we have been rejected. This is not something for the pastor alone to do, but you should do this for one another. Help from a fellow Christian who is not a pastor is often more effective than the encouragement that a pastor can give, because people assume that the pastor has to say what he says because that’s his job. And there’s some truth in that. Talk with one another—not just about the weather—but about your problems. You are all fully equipped as Christians. There is nothing that I have as a pastor that you don’t also have. Let’s help one another. Let’s bear one another’s burdens.

Another reason to congregate is to hear God’s Word. Our Old Testament reading is helpful for what we have been talking about today. It says that all flesh is grass and its beauty is like the flowers of the field. It does not skimp on this truth. But it also says, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” God’s will toward us is not an unhappy message.

Now, just a second: Mark one of the devil’s lies here. Immediately he will rise up and say, “Oh yeah? What about all this all flesh is grass stuff? That’s not very comforting. I can tell you a tale that is a whole lot safer and more comforting than that!” But what is always the essence of this tale? Is it not the same thing he said to Eve: “You won’t surely die. Just ignore that nasty frightening talk.” But you know what this is. It’s a lie. It’s the deadliest lie ever told, because all people would rather believe that, than believe the truth. People would rather remain in darkness than have their sins exposed. But coming into the light is not evil, but good.

When God says, “Comfort, comfort my people,” it is with full knowledge of your mortality. It is with full knowledge of your sin. And yet there is comfort and goodness for the sinner. In order to fight and defeat death, to fight and defeat sin, God, in love, sacrificed his Son, his dearest treasure. God suffered and sacrificed to secure for everyone everlasting life. We don’t have to believe in lies for our comfort. Believe in Jesus. Through faith in him all your enemies are defeated—even if they seem to triumph in this life. Your guilt is fully paid for. For each one of your sins, God gives you double goodness. With this last statement we are close to contradicting Paul when he rhetorically asks, “Should we then sin, that grace may abound?” That is not what God is saying here, but he wants you to know and to believe that your sins do not prevent him from having a good relationship with you, from being gracious to you. The basis of your relationship with God is not what you have done and left undone. The basis of your relationship is Jesus Christ and him crucified.

Let us not be ashamed, then, of the Gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe. Let us resolve to sacrifice and suffer all—even our head, if need be—rather than deny our Lord Jesus Christ. May God grant it.

191211 Sermon on Council of Jerusalem Part 2 (Advent 2 Midweek) December 11, 2019

191211 Sermon on Council of Jerusalem Part 2 (Advent 2 Midweek) December 11, 2019

191208 Sermon on Luke 21:25-36 (Advent 2) December 8, 2019

191208 Sermon on Luke 21:25-36 (Advent 2) December 8, 2019

The day of the Lord is an important thing you hear about in the Scriptures in many different places. At its most basic meaning, the day of the Lord is the day when the Lord intervenes and acts. He has held his peace until that day. Now waiting is over. Now he is going to do something. So let’s consider a couple examples of God intervening and altering the normal course of events.

First, think of God’s redemption of Israel from Egypt. God had been tolerant of the enslavement of his people. Their cries of lament finally moved him to put a stop to it. God gave Pharaoh the opportunity to repent, but soon God hardened his heart in judgment. Although Pharaoh was asked to change his mind, God made it so that Pharaoh couldn’t. God was going to make an example out of Pharaoh’s hard head. He slammed his hammer upon this anvil and the news of it flew like sparks into all the surrounding countries. People learned of the mighty deeds that God did to the most powerful nation on earth at that time.

We won’t go into the details of all of God’s actions against Pharaoh and Egypt. You are familiar with the ten plagues, the redemption of Passover, the rescuing of the people of Israel when God held back the walls of water. These were good days for the Israelites.  That’s an understatement. This is the high point of Israel’s history. What more could they ask for than that they should dwell together with God, seeing his glory at Mt. Sinai, or Mt. Horeb, and knowing that all was well. God loved them and would fight for them. The day of the Lord is always a good thing for God’s people. It is when they see him act with power and glory.

But note that this same day is not good for those who are not God’s people. The plagues tortured the Egyptians until they were finally glad to see the Israelites go. The waters of the Red Sea did not harm the Israelites, but those same waters crushed and killed Pharaoh and all his soldiers. God is good to his people and takes vengeance upon his enemies.

With this first example of a day of the Lord, a day of God’s acting, we see God saving all the descendants of Israel because he loved them and had made a covenant with their ancestor Abraham. With my second example of the day of the Lord we will see that the matter wasn’t so black and white.

After God’s people entered the Promised Land they grew fat and rich. For their standing before God they relied upon the fact that they were blood-descendants of Abraham. Although they honored God with their lips, their hearts were far from him. They did not fear love and trust in the Lord their God. They did not call upon him in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks. They did not gladly hear and learn preaching and his Word. Instead they lived like all their neighbors. Their hearts went after other sources for blessing and success.

God was patient with these shenanigans for a long time. But finally he had had enough. He destroyed the northern kingdom and largely took away his Word from them. He also destroyed the southern Kingdom. Jerusalem with her temple was razed to the ground. But God did not entirely take away his Word from the survivors. The Jewish leaders would eventually come back from Babylon and do the tremendously hard work of rebuilding what had been torn down.

With this second example of the day of the Lord, the day of God’s action, you see that he even discarded those who had once been his people. They lost their faith even though they went to Church every week. God is not a respecter of persons. He would have liked to have gathered them under his wings like a hen does with her chicks, but they would not. Therefore he said those awful words: “Depart from me you workers of lawlessness. I do not know you.”

With this second example of the day of the Lord things aren’t as black and white as they were in the first example. God takes vengeance upon his enemies, and the people of God can’t rejoice with all their heart, because these enemies of God were their own countrymen. God saved those whom he chose—just as he saved these people’s ancestors at the Red Sea—but they are severely chastised. They are saved as of by fire.

Those whom God had saved were led off to Babylon as captive slaves. They must have had heavy hearts as they trudged along that road. Jerusalem was destroyed together with the temple. Many of the people whom they loved had been killed. This was God’s doing—a fearful thing. And yet they also lifted up their eyes to the hills from whence cometh their help. This ultimately served for their good. They quit relying upon the idols. They turned to the Lord. Without the discipline that the Lord laid upon them, they would have only gone further and further astray.

With my first example of God triumphing over the Egyptians the good guys and the bad guys are clear. The good guys are the Israelites. The bad guys are the Egyptians. It’s no skin off my back if all the Egyptians drown in the sea. I never liked them anyway. It’s quite different with the second example. The bad guys and the good guys are all the same people. It’s like the wheat and the weeds are all in the same field and you can’t hardly tell the difference. The difference is entirely internal—who has faith? Who trusts in God enough to ask for mercy from him, even while he is slashing and burning everything to the ground?

We are given the opportunity today to consider the day of the Lord that will impact each one of us. That day is burning like a furnace, Malachi says. That day will come upon the whole earth suddenly, like a trap, Jesus says. If it would have been impressive to watch the sea swallow up an entire army, what is that compared to the sun, moon, and stars going wobbly, the sea roaring—the whole earth coming apart at the seams? You will see greater things than any of the Israelites ever saw.

And how do you feel about it? I don’t think we can help ourselves. There is at least some part of us that does not want to hear these things. What about kids or grandkids that have quit believing? What about my friends and my neighbors? Perhaps most important to each of us: what about myself? Will I live through that day? Will it be as of by fire? The one who decides who is a good guy and who is a bad guy is God and he is not a respecter of persons. He judges justly and impartially.

It’s okay to feel this way from time to time, so long as you do not remain in it. It is far better to be afraid than to feel as though God has to save everyone because that’s what the philosophers say, or that he has to save you because of your lineage or church affiliation. Jesus brings this up with a note of fear. He says “Watch yourselves or else your hearts will be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the worries of this life. … Stay alert all the time, praying that you may be able to escape all these things that are going to happen and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.” If Jesus did not want us to reflect on our lives and turn away from evil, then he wouldn’t speak this way. He is not playing mind games with us. The danger is real. Therefore, also, the warning is real.

So will we greet that day with fear and trepidation? I don’t think that we will so long as we remain Christians. Fear and trepidation is for this life. The reason why we have fear and trepidation is because we can’t help but have divided loyalties. If we could enter into God’s will with our whole heart, soul and mind, then we would already look to that day with happy hearts regardless of who might be damned—even if that included ourselves. But we are not capable of saying, “Thy will be done” with undivided hearts. We don’t mind if God’s will is done so long as it doesn’t contradict my will. What is my will? I want those people whom I love who have apostatized to be saved from hell even though they don’t believe in Jesus. I want to continue being weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and the worries of this life. I only want to think about tomorrow. I don’t want to think about whether I am able to stand before the Son of Man.

Here we see confirmed what we say in corporate confession and absolution: “But when we examine our hearts and consciences, we find nothing in us but sin and death, from which we are incapable of delivering ourselves.” If I look at my will, I see hostility towards God and indulgence toward myself. That is why it is so important to carefully hear what God’s will is, which we pray for when we say, “Thy will be done.”

God’s will is that all should be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. For this reason he has not waited to act until Judgment Day—otherwise all would be damned. It is not just that final day of the Lord when the Lord acts. The day of the Lord also is Good Friday. Judgment, terrible judgment was rendered on that day justly and impartially. He who knew no sin became sin for us. God’s beloved Son cried out in agony, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” The God-forsakenness of Jesus is the God-forsakenness of all the people of the whole world. The way that everybody would feel when being judged by God, put all together, was put on Jesus’s shoulders. And it crushed him. It killed him. For what? So that, having been atoned for, we could stand before the Son of Man without fear. We should believe in Jesus, receive the Holy Spirit, and live a new life in him. As St. Paul says, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives within me.” This is God’s will. It is his good and gracious will.

Those who believe enter into this will of God for themselves, even if it be with great weakness. Those who believe say, “Thank you, God, for saving me by the blood of your Son from the hell that I deserve.” To enter into this will is to want to glorify God in the way that he has saved the whole world in Jesus. It is not right, then, for us to want to hold onto all kinds of other hopes beside him. It is terrible that Jesus should be scorned by anyone—even if it is our own flesh and blood. Our will pulls in many different directions—whichever way we think will benefit ourselves most. It should be pulling in God’s direction, following his will.

Thy will—not my will—be done. It is vital that we set before our eyes God’s will and be strengthened in the faith that God has accomplished our salvation without any cooperation on our part. Jesus’s redemption for our salvation was complete. It is not in need of supplement by anyone. God gives this to us as a gift. That is his will. When we are strengthened in that will, then we take his side against all nay-sayers—including the nay-sayer that is even in our own heart.

Because we have not yet finished the race, because we have not yet safely made it home, we can’t help but have fear and trepidation at the coming day of the Lord. But our strength as Christians is not in fear. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, and peace. When we take this will of God towards us in hand we can lift up our heads when our world is coming apart at the seams. The world coming apart at the seams is nothing other than seeing all the old gods failing. They were never worthy of our trust. They can never last. When you see all the old Gods failing then you know that the true God is on his way. He’s coming for you to take you home—your real home.

191204 Advent Midweek Sermon on Council of Jerusalem Part 1 (Acts 15) December 4, 2019

191204 Advent Midweek Sermon on Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) December 4, 2019

Today and next week we will be considering the same event with the same text. The topic is the council of Jerusalem. The leaders of the Christian Church gathered together, perhaps about 20 years after Christ’s ascension into heaven. They needed to discuss whether people who were from Gentile rather than Jewish backgrounds needed to observe the regulations that God gave in the Old Testament. This was the most important controversy Christians had in the early part of their history. This issue is in the background of much of the New Testament, especially St. Paul’s epistles. It is good for you to understand it, so that you can read the Bible more easily and profitably.

Since we have two weeks to look at the council of Jerusalem, tonight I’d like to introduce the controversy by, first of all, looking at the big picture. The essential element behind the question of whether the Old Testament Law must be kept is faith. What God is being believed in?

This is a question that goes all the way back to the beginning. Adam and Eve started out believing in God. They soon switched their allegiance to a different god—the devil. They were obedient to him and his Word rather than the God who had given them the command not to eat from this certain tree. God restored faith in Adam and Eve by coming to them again with his Word and promise, but ever since then mankind has been changed. We are more prone to believe in all kinds of things besides the true God.

This happened with the first generations after Adam and Eve. The descendants of Seth called upon the name of the Lord. They believed in him and his word and his promises. The descendants of Cain, however, tried to make a paradise out of this world. In so far as they made advancements and progress, to that extent their heart grew cold towards God. They came to believe in themselves and what they could accomplish with their smarts and technological advancements. They believed that they would be better blessed by these things rather than being blessed according to the Word spoken to Adam and Eve about the Messiah.

This was a kind of idolatry that is similar to the idolatry of today. Moses does not tell us any names of gods or goddesses that the descendants of Cain believed in. He only speaks of their many and great accomplishments. So it is also today. People do not think that they are worshipping gods, but indeed they are. Whatever a person trusts in for blessing or power or success—whatever that thing might be—that is a god for the person who thusly believes. When we believe that we are going to be happy and successful because of money or education or technological progress or any other thing, then we are worshipping idols. It doesn’t matter that it is not formal. Worship is more a matter of the heart than it is of particular services or labels.

Eventually the idol worship among the descendants of Cain developed these religious rites and ceremonies. The things that the people trusted in came to receive names. Temples were built. Priests and priestesses were inducted into them. Those who wished to have a good crop were thought to be wise to go to the temple of Baal, just as today people believe that a successful harvest is dependent upon the blessings of professors and universities. The use of temples and priests had a lot of various practices that came along with it. Depending on the god or goddess involved there would be certain foods that were eaten or prostitutes visited or the sacrifice of animals or even children.

In the midst of all this unbelief in the true God and belief in idols, God chose a certain man and woman named Abram and Sarai. They would eventually be given the names Abraham and Sarah. God said to Abraham that he was his special, chosen one. He would be good to Abraham and give him happiness and success. Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars. Princes would be born of his descendants. All the nations of the world would be blessed through his seed. In the fullness of time this would be fulfilled through Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Messiah. As a sign of being God’s people he instructed Abraham to be circumcised. All his male descendants were to be circumcised too. This set them apart from all the other people of the world who engaged in all kinds of other religious practices. It defined them as separate. They worshipped the true God. Everybody else worshipped idols.

This separateness was further amplified about 500 years later with Moses. When God led the descendants of Abraham out of Egypt, where they had been slaves, he greatly increased the number of commandments and statutes that his people were to observe. If you’d like to hear what these are, you can easily find them by reading the second half of the book of Exodus and the entirety of the book of Leviticus. In addition to circumcision, the people of God were also to abstain from certain foods. They were to observe the Sabbath day and several other festival days. They were to have a tabernacle and priests. There was a morning and evening sacrifice. All of this was according to God’s own instruction.

These regulations served for the descendants of Abraham in several good ways. I’ll only mention a couple. First of all, these regulations were a continuation of God’s prophesies that would finally be fulfilled in Jesus. Jesus is the Passover Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one and only atonement, that the day of atonement points toward. He is the true temple—the true dwelling place of God—who cleanses and gives us access to God’s presence in a way where we will not be burned and destroyed, but rather blessed. This was an important reason for God giving the Law. It served as a teacher to the Israelites.

Another important reason why God gave the Law was to keep them separate from the other nations. The Israelites were to believe in and worship the only true God. They were not to go visit the temples of other gods. They were not to seek the blessing of these other things. They were not to visit their prostitutes or eat their food or in any other way deviate from their allegiance to God. This was to keep the people from whom the Messiah was to be born pure. But as you know from the Old Testament, the Israelites had a devil of a time living up to this. They were always believing in other things besides God. Nonetheless, this was something that the Law was supposed to do. It served as a marker. Those who observed the Law believed in God. Those who believed in other things for their blessing didn’t keep the Law. The one believed in God. The other believed in demons.

Now let’s consider how things were at the time of Christ and the apostles. The first Christians were all Jews. They were all descendants of Abraham. The men were all circumcised. They all tried to observe the regulations God gave to Moses. Their belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, did not change these other things for them. Luke tells us that even after Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples still would visit the Temple.

Something strange started to happen, though, as time went on. The thing that was strange was that non-Jews, that is, Gentiles, started to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. All the Jewish Christians who heard this were very glad to hear that this was the case. It was very good that these people who otherwise did not know or worship the true God, but worshipped demons instead, should be turned away from their futile idols to the living God. The question, though, was “Now what?” Do these Gentiles, who want to be God’s people, now have to be circumcised and follow the laws that were given to Moses?

I hope that by the way that I’ve introduced this question tonight that you can see how difficult it had to have been to see clearly. The Law was something good. It marked God’s people as being separate from unbelievers. God himself gave it and told his people that if they wanted to remain his people, they would have to observe it. Those Jewish Christians who assumed that the Gentiles would have to follow the Law were not foolish or unbelieving. It was just not possible for them to see how anybody could claim to be a follower of God, but then not follow what God had commanded.

The one who had the clearest vision in these matters was St. Paul. He was blessed by God to be able to see that what is important is faith, not the Law. Faith in the true God and in his Son Jesus is the only decisive factor for whether a person is a child of God or not. Furthermore, this is the way that it has always been—all the way back to Abraham. Outward markers, such as the Law provided, never saved anyone. It is Jesus Crucified who saves. Believe in him and you are forgiven and righteous before God.

And so at the council of Jerusalem you have two groups of Christians. One group says that the Law must be followed in addition to faith in Christ. The other group says that faith in Christ is sufficient. The Law can either be observed or not observed. This was a difficult question that caused much discussion and debate. The outcome of the council of Jerusalem is that the Christians determined that faith in Christ is sufficient for salvation.

This is enough for tonight. Next week we will look more closely at the particular history that leads up to the council, Peter’s argument, the letter that is sent to Antioch, and how this relates to the rest of the New Testament.

191201 Sermon on Romans 13:8-14 (Advent 1) December 1, 2019

191201 Sermon on Romans 13:8-14 (Advent 1) December 1, 2019

I’d like to introduce a term to you that I’m sure some of you know, but perhaps not all of you. The term is “short timer.” A short timer is someone who is on their way out. I think the term might have originated in the military, but now it is commonly used in the work place. A short timer is someone who has turned in their two week notice. They are leaving for another job. Short timers have certain characteristics. That is probably how they got the name. Short timers are not likely to take on new and hard projects. They are not likely to put in extra time pro bono. They are not as good of workers as they used to be. Their mind is elsewhere. They are planning for the next job that is coming. They do not enter into their current job with their whole body, soul, and spirit, because that is passing away. Out with the old, in with the new.

I’d like to apply this short timer mentality to our lives as Christians. As Christians we are short timers. We were born into this old world and this old life—this life where it is typical that a person might live 70, 80, or 90 years. We’ve been offered a promotion, though. There is a new life that has been given to us and awaits us. We have received the upward call in Christ Jesus for a life together with God. You well know how this came about—that you, a sinner, should be called a child of God. It is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That, you might say, is the job offer. You have it in hand. What I’d like to speak about today is now what do you do? What I contend is that you should see yourself as a short timer.

The short timer still has ties to the old job. He still shows up. But his hope is somewhere else. His mind is in the thing that is coming up. So it is also for Christians. It doesn’t matter if the Christian is a newly baptized baby or very elderly. We are still in this world, but we know that it is temporary. Our hope is not in anything earthly, but in the power of God to raise the dead. This sets Christians apart from those who still have hope in this old world. These people do not see themselves as short timers, but as lifers who are going to stay forever.

So that we can see more clearly the difference between Christians and non-Christians and the way that they look at this old world, let’s consider how the non-Christian looks at life according to the old rules. The unbeliever thinks that this is the only life that we have to live and so we have to make the most of it. What does it mean to make the most of it? We have to take in as much as we possibly can that is pleasurable, and hold off all that we possibly can that is unpleasurable. The love of one’s self is the goal.

There are a lot of different strategies for attaining that goal. Some take the high road, some take the low road. Some search for honor and glory, scaling the heights, hoping to be found worthy in their own eyes and the eyes of others. These people on the high road are often industrious and careful to avoid anything that might hurt their reputation.

Some take the low road. They despair of gaining approval of themselves in their own eyes or in the eyes of others. The people on the low road seek out pleasure. They have a harder time, though, in keeping this stuff hidden (like people on the high road) and so they don’t have as good of reputations. They might let their love of intoxicants, for example, hamper their ability to work. The people on the high road live life just as much for themselves as the people on the low road, but the people on the high road like to look down at the people on the low road as being altogether different from them.

It doesn’t really matter whether the road is high or low, people live in a remarkably similar way. All are equally interested in their own welfare and don’t give a rip about anybody else (unless they are a friend or relative). Those on the high road might think that they are not guilty of the sins that the people on the low road commit, but is that actually the case? They believe that they are not drunks, even though they, too, drink too much, but they are better at hiding it. They do not think that they are perverts, even though they, too, watch things and think things that they know are wrong. What seems good about the people on the high road is not actually good. It is just hypocrisy.

They refuse to own the label of “sinner,” something that those who are on the low road are more likely to believe, because that is what everybody tells them. This is why it normally happens that the lowly people are the ones who are closer to the Kingdom of God. God despises the proud, but gives grace to the humble. This is how it comes to pass that prostitutes and tax collectors enter into the kingdom before the respectable middle class. Those on the high road refuse to take even the first step. They will not own the label of “sinner.”

This is what really makes people into lifers instead of short timers. Those who are lifers believe that if they only try hard enough, they will throw off whatever has been keeping them in shackles. They’ll solve whatever is bothering them. They will finally make it. This keeps them enslaved. They never arrive at sonship. They remain addicted to sin. They are not at all set free from the devil.

The way that someone becomes a Christian is that God comes to them with his word and he says to them, “Doesn’t this old job stink? You work your fingers to the bone, trying to better yourself, and you end up being just as much of a jerk as when you started out! And here’s another little secret: the boss is planning on firing you. After all these years of faithful service to the devil, he’s going to cut you off from his narcotics. You’ll get stuck in the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

And so God offers this advice, “Go tell your boss, ‘Take this job and shove it. I ain’t working here no more.’ Then come work for me. Come work in my vineyard. You won’t be a slave anymore. You will be my son. A slave does not remain in the house forever. A son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, then you will be free indeed. Abide in my word and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

This is how we become short timers in this old world, ruled by the devil, where everybody is just looking out for himself. We used to be full time employees—working overtime even. Now we have a better job offer. We’re still stuck here for a little while. Instead of just giving a two week notice, we have already even died to this world by the waters of Holy Baptism. But our sinful flesh is still hanging on. We haven’t yet put it off completely. Although that is the case, we, by no means, have to enter into the flesh’s way of life, our old job, with our body, soul, and spirit. No. Embrace your role as a short timer. Be a crappy worker in the devil’s kingdom. Show up late and go home early. Keep that inbox nice and full when the devil gives you orders to do this and not do that. What’s the worst that the devil can do? Fire you? Good. Let him fire you. You already have a new job, and that job’s better anyways.

Now this kind of talking that I’ve shared with you this morning—I didn’t make all this up wholesale. What I was trying to do was mimic, in today’s language, the way that the apostles speak about our sanctification—the way that we should live as Christians. It is surprising how gentle the apostles are, and that is easy to miss. We are prone to hear them as making demand after demand like an overbearing supervisor. It can get wrongly translated into our heads that all that matters about being a Christian is our behavior. But that’s not how they go about it.

Consider the way that St. Paul speaks in our Epistle reading today. I think there was a little bit of a twinkle in his eye when he wrote, “Owe no one anything, except that you love one another.” It’s rather fun language. He’s saying that we should not hitch our wagons to any man or any spirit, being indebted to them. We’re already hitched do a different horse. But by loving one another, it means that we are under obligation to whoever crosses our path. That is a large obligation, a large debt. So owe no one anything, except to be obligated to everyone because love is the fulfillment of the Law. It’s almost a pun, that he gives there.

Love is the new way of life that is given to us in the upward call in Christ Jesus. Therefore he says that we should not slave away for the devil by adultery, stealing, coveting, or seeking out some other way to love ourselves instead of the other. This is the old. Out with the old, in with the new, or, as St. Paul says, “Put off these things.” It’s like how you would take off some clothes that have gotten dirty and itchy. They’re infested with insulation. Why do you want to wear something so uncomfortable? Instead, says St. Paul, “Clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ.” Here’s a clean shirt for you, after taking a bath. Isn’t that better?

We are not accustomed to talking this way. This can make some people get frustrated at the Bible. They want to be able to understand it on their own terms. But surely St. Paul has a point in talking this way. St. Paul was certainly capable of making lists for acceptable behavior. Talking that way would perhaps even be more natural. But these to-do lists don’t have the power to actually get stuff done. If we were able to shape up by just trying harder, then certainly the Lord Jesus died for no purpose whatsoever. A list a mile long won’t make anybody any better. The best that it can do is to make people into hypocrites.

What is needed is divine strength—gifts—and that is what St. Paul is getting at with this language. Being clothed with the Lord Jesus Christ is not something that we can do if only we try hard enough. God’s working in us by his Word and Holy Spirit—God’s giving more and more to us—is the way that progress is made in sanctification. We have to be renewed in our bodies, souls, and spirits in a way that this old world isn’t capable of doing. Spiritual, supernatural gifts are necessary, and this is what Jesus gives to those whom he has called.

To want to ignore this kind of talking because it is unusual and incomprehensible to our flesh, is to want to ignore the Gospel itself. We do not believe in salvation by the accomplishment of certain tasks. We believe in the Son of God becoming one of us, flesh of our flesh, and making us fit before God through his working and giving. This is a gentle, giving message. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son, will make you complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The day of our Lord Jesus Christ is when the day dawns. That is St. Paul’s picture that I’ve tried to translated over to being a short timer. He says, “It is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost over, and the day is drawing near. So let us put away the deeds of darkness and put on the weapons of light.” This is an encouraging picture. The night of sin is almost over. The day of righteousness is almost here. Hold on for just a little bit longer. You are closer to your salvation now than when you first believed. You’re a short timer who has already put in your week and a half.

Jesus is coming soon. A new life is just around the corner. Set your mind on that—on the things that are above, on the things that are to come. Let the devil have to try to manage without you.

191127 Sermon on Thanksgiving, November 27, 2019

191127 Sermon on Thanksgiving, November 27, 2019

The Thanksgiving holiday gives us an opportunity to consider what giving thanks is. The first thing that might come to mind is a tradition that some people have for this holiday. It’s where each person at the table, in turn, mentions the things they are thankful for. Because of this tradition and others like it that have been attached to this holiday, some people might think that giving thanks is kind of stuffy and formal and artificially pious. Invariably, the stock answers are given, like “family” or “good health” or the memories that have been enjoyed the past year. Some people answer these questions sincerely and whole-heartedly—and God bless them. Other people find it rather burdensome to go through the whole rigmarole. It can kind of be like having to thank your grandma for the socks she gave you instead of getting the toy that you actually wanted. Here the mouth is not in agreement with the heart. The mouth is saying what is social acceptable. The heart may very well be saying the opposite. This is not giving thanks. It is just hypocrisy.

Genuine thanksgiving, rather than hypocrisy, is not burdensome and forced. It is a natural response to good things that make the heart glad. Happiness and contentment are the driving force behind it. If this mindset should be translated into words that others can hear, then that’s all well and good, but giving thanks doesn’t need to be spoken. The attitude of the heart is what is important.

We, however, aren’t really in control of our heart. Telling someone to be more thankful is like telling someone to smile more. Such demands are likely to have the opposite effect of what the words are asking for. But if the right, happy attitude is in the heart, then thanksgiving is something that is very pleasurable. It is not stuffy at all. It is jubilant and boisterous.

This kind of thanksgiving is a rare guest. With our cold hearts it often takes a surprise to squeeze it out of us. When someone does something unexpectedly, or gives us something unexpectedly, and that thing is something that we really wanted—then we can get that good feeling. It rushes upon us, but, have you noticed: it dissipates very quickly. In a matter of minutes we are basically back to our normal equilibrium.

Note, here, though, that I’m not even thinking about thanksgiving towards God, but rather thanksgiving for the stuff that has been given. Those two things are not the same thing, even though both have to do with thanksgiving. The difference is in what is being worshipped.

In order to conjure up some kind of thankfulness you will sometimes hear people say that we should count our blessings. This might produce some kind of thanksgiving, but thanksgiving to whom? It is entirely possible—in fact, it is natural for us—to take delight in counting and enjoying our wealth. Like Scrooge McDuck, we’d like to dive off a diving board into a swimming pool of our own money and swim around in it. Desperate, usually poor, people spend hundreds or thousands of their hard earned dollars on lottery tickets, hoping to have a swimming pool of money of their own. I don’t care who a person is, if money rolls in, then we can’t help but be a little happy, a little joyful, a little thankful. It’s mine! It’s all mine!

But what is being worshipped here? It isn’t the Lord God. The thing that’s worshipped is the mountain of money. Look what we have here. We are hardly able to give thanks to idols, to say nothing about God!

Our sinful hearts are dreadfully diseased. When it comes to giving thanks to the true God, it only becomes harder for us. In fact, we are so bad that genuine thanksgiving towards God can only happen by the almighty power of the Holy Spirit.

Here’s a little thought experiment for you, that I think will prove my point to you. Think of when you are stepping away from the communion rail. The true body and very blood of God, the creator of the universe, has just been given to you as a gift. How are you feeling? Compare that feeling to the feeling you would have if a thousand dollars were slipped into your pocket. Over which would you be happier, more thankful: Communion or a thousand dollars?

This thought experiment, which I’ve taken from Martin Luther, by the way, who understood the depth of the evil in our sinful nature—this thought experiment shows that if there is to be even an ounce of proper thanksgiving towards God it is going to have to come from the Holy Spirit. We have the ability to give thanks to idols. That is when we look at that thousand dollars or whatever other stuff we have and our hearts are gladdened. We are capable of that, but even here, strangely, our hearts are quite cold. But when it comes to thanksgiving to God himself—that requires a miracle. It requires us to be converted from believing that our blessing is found in our wealth to believing that our blessing comes only from God. The eyes must be raised above the stuff to God as our only hope.

This is a struggle. The Bible has many examples of God’s people losing heart when their wealth or other resources are taken away. The good things that they can see are gone. The good One, who is not seen, is still there, but they’d rather have the stuff that God gives rather than God himself. The forty years that the Israelites spent in the wilderness between Egypt and the promised land was a veritable pressure cooker of tribulation. They were always lacking. They didn’t have food one moment; another, they didn’t have water. Now they are without strength; then, they have powerful enemies bearing down on them.

Without faith, the only possible reaction that anybody could have in such desperate situations is that they were in a bad spot—that it stunk to be them. And that is how they so often felt too. Their unbelieving flesh caused them to hate Moses who spoke God’s Word to them and they wanted to go back to Egypt. The promises that God had given them of their own land, but more importantly, the special relationship of them being his nation and he being their God was worthless in their eyes. They wanted cucumbers and garlic and leeks instead. They wanted to count their blessings. As they were, stuck in the wilderness, they didn’t think they had very many blessings to count.

But that is a delusion that the god of this world, the devil, is always trying to foist upon us. Instead of being thankful, he wants everyone to be envious. Instead of people sighing to God, he wants them grumbling. With our envy and greed we become blind to the daily bread God gives day in and day out. Daily bread is more than just food. It is also our clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like. Our souls have been so terribly poisoned by the fall into sin. This is perhaps nowhere as pronounced as in the way that we are blind to God’s generosity and do not give him thanks. The only thing we are capable of by nature is a half-hearted thanks to idols when our envy has been satisfied by getting more stuff. Soon, we turn envious towards something else. We are never satisfied for long. Those who become rich only want to become richer still.

This poor, miserable condition of ours should cause us to turn away from any hope in ourselves, lift our eyes to God, and ask him to open our eyes and open our mouths, so that they may show forth his praise. It is not possible for our old selves to praise God. A new heart is required. But that is what God gives us when he creates faith in his Gospel. No amount of hounding and demanding can ever make anybody thankful towards God. And so, instead of beating a dead horse, God steps towards us with even more goodness than he already supplies with our daily bread. He tells us that he has reconciled us to himself through the sacrifice of Jesus. We are his people now. He is our God. Come what may, God will bring us to the promised land.

Like the Israelites of old, we will continue to have to be urged to lift up our eyes beyond what we have or don’t have to the God who determines everything. We still have our flesh. Our flesh would rather sing praises about cucumbers, garlic, and leeks than to sing praises to the true God. But that is foolish. We can see that better than the Israelites could at the time, because we have a better perspective. We know that God brought the Israelites into the land that he promised them when the time was right. In the midst of their tribulations, however, it was difficult for the Israelites to see that.

The same thing is true for us. Perhaps not everything is perfect this Thanksgiving. Perhaps your hearts are weighed down with worries or sorrows. Does that mean that you can’t give thanks? No. Put your trust in God. St. Paul says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.” The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, blessed be the Name of the Lord. We just don’t have the proper perspective yet to see where we are, and that the promised land is just around the corner for us. From the perspective of heaven, we would see that these difficulties that God gives us are just part of the story of his salvation. Our thanksgiving is not dependent upon our comfort or discomfort, our wealth or poverty, our sickness or health, or any other earthly thing that can be here today and gone tomorrow. Our thanksgiving is dependent upon our God whose promises never fail. His mercies are new every morning. Great is his faithfulness. The Lord is good, and his steadfast love endures forever.

So here’s a thought that I’d like you to take with you into the observance of this holiday: It is possible to give thanks to the gifts rather than to the Giver. It is possible to count your blessings, but still have a heart that is a million miles away from God because the stuff you are counting is regarded as the source of your blessing rather than God. Not only is this possible, but it is likely, because of the way that we are. Don’t give thanks to stuff. Lift up your hearts unto the Lord. Lift them up. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is meet and right so to do. God is no stranger to you. He has come to you, baptized you, made you his own. Your future is not tied up with whatever stuff you have or don’t have, but with this God who has chosen you. When you are aware of that, then you can give thanks in sunshine and rain, in good times and bad, in life and in death. The time is coming and is now here when the renewal of our sinful hearts will be complete. Then we will know the splendor of giving thanks to God with our whole heart. Our sinful flesh won’t be able to get in the way anymore.