Sermon for 4th Sunday of Easter

 

May 11, 2025

Mothers' Day

21When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. 22So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”

 

Normally, it is awkward, to say the least, to hear a man describe what it’s like for a woman to go through childbirth. But this is no ordinary man. Jesus our Lord, knows all, understands all, and shares all with His people, men and women. He understands the and sympathizes even with the pains of a mother giving birth.

Birth pains are one part of the curse on creation because of sin. Adam began calling his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all the living – a play on words because in that ancient language, “Eve” sound like the word “living”. She is our universal mother. Jesus too, who took on human existence, had Eve as his mother. But He is also her savior, taking her sins, and her sorrows.

In Isaiah 53, Jesus is called the Man of Sorrows. It says, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows”.  Jesus died for you. On the cross, He knew exactly what He was dying for:  your sins of thought, word, and deed – your actual sins and your original sin, that you are by nature sinful and unclean, by nature, by birth, by your lineage that goes back to Eve. Jesus forgave that, by taking it away from you and taking it on Himself, bearing all your guilt, all your punishment, all your sorrows and all your curses.

By baptism and by faith a Christian mother is united with Christ. In the pains of child birth, He is there, with her, in union with her. Not as a coach, but as the suffering Servant of God, serving Mothers.

When a women desires to be a parent, but it is not to be, the Lord bears the grief and carries the sorrow.

At the bedside of a sick child, Christ is with the Christian mother, sharing in the grief and the fear.

When a mother has a child that is failing, falling short of the marks for development, or the grades at school, and Mom and Dad wonder what will be the future for this daughter, this son? It’s not like we planned, what we hoped for. The Lord Jesus participates in that grief.

We are all failing children. By what we’ve done, and by what we have left undone, we’ve let our mothers down. We have all been disappointments, delinquents, and derelict in our duties. And when there is grievous sins, it can shame the whole family and mothers feel that shame the most. Jesus Christ has borne our mothers’ shame and sadness.

Jesus is the Savior of Mothers. Jesus is the Savior of us sinful children.

But hear Jesus Gospel promise in the 16^th chapter of John:  “You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy”.

Here on the night before He would be betrayed, arrested, and crucified, Jesus told His disciples they would no longer see Him. There’d be sorrow for a time. But then, in a little while, they would see Him and there would be joy. Our life is just like that, grief and sorrow, but in Christ, there is joy. And joy wins out.

He takes our griefs and sorrows and replaces them with His joy.  Here is Christ’s joy, as spelled out in Hebrews 12: “for the joy that was set before him [Jesus] endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Jesus went through His sorrow and suffering, with joy set before Him. His joy was that He would ascend and sit at the right hand of God the Father almighty. His joy is continually increased every time one of His loved ones believes and is saved. That’s His greatest joy, not in His own glory but in bringing you His dear ones into His life and glory. His joy is complete and perfect when we are with Him and love Him and share His blessings of peace and love and joy.

Have you noticed, That’s a Mother’s true joy, also. When her children are happy and healthy, loved and loving.

As some of you know, I’m part of the Camping World. It’s interesting how the camping culture is a microcosm, an example of the world in general. When campers get together they talk about  their equipment. They compare the size and even the expense of their campers, how many feet, how many pullouts. They brag about the gadgets and the toys that go with it. They strive to have more, cooking better meals, more amenities, as if more frills equals more fun and more joy. That’s the way of the world – pretending that money can buy happiness and seeking joy in the accumulation and exploitation of earthly, material things

Last night I got to watch a mother’s joy at the campground. She exuded true joy as her children and grandchildren had fun, laughed and played. Lasting joy is when you love others, more than yourself. Eternal joy is when you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

Mother’s Day is not a church holiday. You don’t come to church to idolize Mom, but to worship the Lord. Today Mother’s Day aligns with Jesus words about a mother’s sorrow turning to joy. We need to listen to Him, because we live in world with messed up ideas about who we are as men and women, male and female. There are so many with messed up ideas about what is a woman. There are confused men who try to pretend to be women, but only focus on the outward and exaggerated shape and mannerisms, while despising the true beauty of women, seen in our mothers’ love and joy.  There are many who despise motherhood, because they despise babies, considering them a burden on their pursuit to selfish joys.

But hear how our Lord honors mothers, using their joy to describe our life in him:

“Your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you”.

Amen.

 

Sermon for Palm Sunday

 Let everyone confess.

Philippians 2:5-11

10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).

 Let every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!

Aubree, Cashton and Jax intend to do jut that on this day of their confirmation. Those of us who have been confirmed in years past, had this opportunity to confess our belief that Jesus Christ is Lord. That becomes one of the most important memories of our youth.

But the way it sounds in Philippians 2, this is not a one day, one time thing. This is life of faith, a life of confessing that Jesus Christ is Lord. It says in Philippians “Have this mind among yourselves” – This is a daily thing; it is a constant state of mind.

Jesus Christ is Lord! This is our statement of faith.

Jesus Christ is Lord! To a lot of people this sounds burdensome, oppressive even. “We’re Americans. We don’t have lords, or dukes, or kings.” So many picture this statement “Jesus is Lord” like he’s got all the power, and that he forces us to bow the knee to his law. He, as Lord, demands our obedience.

But this is a Lutheran Confirmation. So let’s have our clear Lutheran confession of the beautiful Gospel of Jesus Christ. One of the jewels of the Lutheran Confession of the faith is the distinction of the Law and the Gospel, and the Gospel is always prominent. A good example of the value and truth of our Lutheran Confession is here in the way we confess Jesus Christ is Lord, as we have it in the catechism’s explanation of the 2^nd Article of the Creed. “Jesus Christ is my Lord, who has redeemed me, purchased and won me from all sins, from death and from the power of the devil.” We say that he has done this with “his holy precious blood and innocent suffering and death.” He rescued us out of the dominion of sin, the dominion of death, and the power of the devil. He took us out of sin and brought us into His Kingdom of forgiveness, righteousness and goodness. He took us away from death and placed us into His kingdom of resurrection and life. He took us out of the devil’s control and brought us into His Father’s love. We say Jesus Christ is my Lord, because he is my Savior, my Redeemer, my Friend who died for me.

On Palm Sunday the crowd of pilgrims sang “Hosana to the Son of David” and shouted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Prophet Zechariah foretold this: 9Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!
            Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem!
behold, your king is coming to you;
            righteous and having salvation is he,
humble and mounted on a donkey,
            on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Rejoice! Shout aloud!

When Christians confess Jesus Christ is Lord, it is the natural response of their faith and salvation. It is a function of honesty and integrity – integrity meaning that oneness of head and heart and mouth and life.

It comes from a confidence that outweighs fears and the apprehension of what other people might think. It comes from the joy of salvation that outweighs laziness and apathy and the distraction of this world’s cares.

We confess Jesus Christ is Lord with our words. And we confess with our actions, when we do what shows our Love for God with all our heart and our love for our neighbor as ourselves. We confess with our lives, with our “walk” as the Bible often calls the manner of our doing things at work or at play. We confess with our posture, our body language: “Every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

A person’s posture and body language show what’s on their mind and what’s in their hearts. Experienced investigators can get a hint if someone’s telling the truth or lying, if they’ve got something to hide by the shift of their posture and the movement of their head and eyes. They can’t prove anything in a court of law by it, but it lets them know what questions to ask next and where to look next in the investigation. Even subconsciously we get hints from others about what they’re thinking and what they’re feeling by their position and movements.

Examples of bad body language could be turning a cold shoulder to someone who needs you, versus extending a helping hand.

Every knee should bow. We do so in our worship in the presence of Jesus Christ, especially at the altar where we confess that He is really present in the body and blood of His Communion.

It’s a posture of prayer. Jax, Aubree, Cashton, aspire to be God’s people of prayer. You might from time to time feel guilty for wasting time with screens, or other bad habits or laziness. But there is no guilt for moments spent in prayer. You have time every day.

Philippians 2:5 “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus. . .“ Our mind and our heart is in Christ Jesus. We find the mind of Christ in the words He says, words of grace, like “Come to me” and “I forgive you all your sins”; words of salvation like “whoever believes will not perish but will have eternal life.”

But consider also His body language: , though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2).

For us and for our salvation Christ our Lord came down from heaven and was made man. As such he had a body and so He used posture and body language. He had hands that reached out to touch the untouchable leper and heal him. He had arms that stretch out on the cross, as he was obedient unto death, even death on a cross.

His words and actions show what is on His mind: His love for you, his care for your salvation.

The mind of Christ is in the sacraments. He commanded Baptism where he forgave you your sins and made you His own.  And Holy Communion where you will receive that true body broken for you and the life-giving blood shed for you. This communion, we now invite you to. Amen.

Sermon for Lent Service

Mark 14:43–65

THE SECOND ARTICLE

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

 

What does this mean?

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Mary, is my Lord,

 

who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death,

 

that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.

 

This is most certainly true.

 

We confess in the creed that we believe that Jesus Christ is true God and also true man. These two natures in the one person Jesus Christ is the key to understanding the interrogation by the high priest in the Passion reading tonight from Mark 14.  “Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” ⁶² And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.”

The Jews were very careful, you might say hypervigilant, about the 2^nd Commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord.” So the high priest doesn’t ask if Jesus is the Son of God, but refraining from using the word “God” says, Son of the Blessed.

These antagonists see Jesus standing in front of them, with his hands bound. He’s powerless, so it seems to escape the armed guards. He doesn’t look like the Son of the Blessed, His only Son our Lord, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity. They only see his humanity, He who was about to suffer under Pontius Pilate, be crucified and then do that very human thing, that mortal thing, die.

But this One person, has these two natures, divine and human. these two natures are joined in Him such that, it will be the human being, the Son of Man whom these his enemies will see when He is glorified, exalted, seated at the right hand of Power, coming to judge the living and the dead.

For those of us who believe, this is beautiful to hear, our Savior Jesus, crucified and killed by evil men will come again in glory. We love to hear it. We love to confess it, to tell the old, old story of Jesus and His love.

But those chief priests, elders, and scribes, who didn’t believe, when they hear what Jesus says, their hatred is irrational and intense. Our Lord’s words are powerful, no denying. To us who believe, powerful to give life and salvation. To those who refuse to believe, the words of Jesus are powerful to produce hatred, violence, and eternal damnation.

Notice that this Jewish counsel is building their whole case against Jesus around the accusation of Blasphemy – what Jesus said, His words. Blasphemy is saying something against God, something contrary to the Hallowed name of God, something that would hurt His reputation.  They hated Jesus because they hated what He said. They condemned Jesus because they chose to believe that His words were lies.

C.S. Lewis was a Christian writer in the 1940s. In his book Mere Christianity, he wrote:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

Such a big distinction between those who hear what Jesus, the Son of the Blessed says, and believe it, and those who hear what Jesus says and think He’s lying.

Today the words of Jesus are still heard. And by the blessing of the Holy Spirit, still believed. Words like, “Come to me.” And “leave behind your sins, follow me and live.” For the believer these words are joy and peace. But we can’t be surprised when unbelievers in our world hear what Jesus says and respond with anger. They don’t want a Lord, they want to be their own lords. They don’t want to leave their sins. They don’t want to follow Jesus. They want Him to leave them alone. Sometimes we Christians can get caught in that hatred and the hatred gets turned toward us. It’s like the young man in the Passion reading tonight who was following Jesus  and the mob grabbed his robe and he had to leave it behind and flee naked (Mark 14:51-52). The anger towards Jesus, caused this young follower to suffer.

So let us keep hearing Jesus Words and confessing Who He is, True God, True Man until He comes again. Amen.

Sermon for February 23

Sufficient Grace

2 Corinthians 5:9

 

2 Corinthians 5

7So to keep me from being too elated by the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being too elated. 8Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

 

“My grace is sufficient for you.” That’s what the Lord said to Paul, and what He says to you.

Paul had this thorn in the flesh. He doesn’t say exactly what type of ailment it is, but you can easily imagine it, can’t you. It’s a very visual turn of phrase. Most of us know what it’s like to get a thorn in the flesh. The smallest thing, a speck, can be so debilitating. Paul prays for relief. He prays that it be taken away, repeatedly he prays, three times. But the Lord is working on Paul, to keep him from being too elated, too proud, too self-sufficient. So He answered Paul’s prayer with a “no”, saying instead, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

There are other things that could be said about God’s grace.

·         We say it’s amazing, “Amazing Grace. . . that saved a wretch like me.” When we grow in it, the more we learn of it the more we appreciate it, the more we are amazed by God’s grace, His amazing love of sending His only Son to die for us to save us.

·         We could say it’s extravagant. More than I deserve.

·         We could say it’s surprising grace. Surprising that God would be kind to us, human beings and not just condemn us all out, as justice should demand.

·         It’s refreshing grace, life-changing grace, giving us new birth and renewed hope.

There is so much to say about grace that it might seem underwhelming to just hear “My grace is sufficient for you.”

Well, sufficient is a very useful word. “That’s sufficient” – is what you tell someone who wants something more or something else and that something would be too much for them or wrong for them. It’s what you should tell a rebellious child who despises the healthy food that’s set before him. “I don’t want this, I want . . . “ No, this is sufficient.”

Sufficient, it means, just right, just enough.

Consider how God made you. Your body is sufficient. Sufficient enough for you to still be alive today: Not too strong – to crush everything you touch; Not too weak as to be unable to lift the fork to your mouth.  Just sufficient.  When you think, oh, I wish I were different, better, stronger, prettier, something else, Stop and remember: you are sufficient.

Consider the world the Lord has made for us. It is sufficient for our lives. There are other planets around. Some are too hot. Some are too cold too cold – our earth is sufficient.

Mars has no atmosphere. There’s no air to breathe there, no cool breeze to cool you on a hot day. Jupiter on the other hand is too windy. You couldn’t even stand up. Well, there’s nothing to stand on anyway, it’s just a ball of blowing hydrogen and helium.

Earth is sufficient, tilted on the axis just so, sufficient for seasons.  with a ratio of land and sea, that’s just right allowing for weather: evaporation, condensation. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater”  (Isaiah 55)

I suppose, We could complain about the weather, but we also ought to remember that it’s sufficient, just right.

Sufficient: that’s a word that should be spoken to a husband tempted to lust someone who has not been given to him. “Love your wife. She is sufficient. Now he’s gotta work on saying other things about her – She’s beautiful inside and out; she’s helpful; she’s probably the best thing he’s got going for him. But at that moment of temptation, he needs to say to himself that the wife of his youth whom the Lord provided for him, is sufficient.

Likewise a wife, who gets to feeling “I wish my husband were more communicative, more aware, more successful, smarter.” That stuff is probably all true. But can you also say, he is sufficient.

The Lord says to you,“My Grace is sufficient for you.”  Not too little  -- not too much.

Too little grace and God comes off as constantly angered by our failings and flaws.

Too much and we have this picture of God as the white bearded permissive Grandpa, who just overlooks all that’s wrong with us.

“My grace is sufficient” – just enough, just right.

Paul prayed for a life that’s easy, free from pain, free from trouble, free from thorns. He wanted something other than grace, something more than grace.

That’s the thinking one has who says, “Yes, I have God’s grace, someday He will take me to heaven. But in the meantime, there’s bigger fish to fry. There are some other favors I need from heaven.” – and these other favors are ultimately less than grace.

“My grace is sufficient for you.” You hear that sentence differently at different stages of you life. A person on their death bed hears their Lord say this and they find peace and rest.  But a young person full of dreams and ambition and self-sufficiency hears this and pays only minimal attention. Be careful. Don’t be too self-sufficient.

Jesus tells a parable today in the Gospel reading, of a sower who goes out to cast his seed (Luke 8:4-15). In this parable, He explains His evaluation of your abilities and potential. There are a number of items in the extended symbolism of this parable. First there’s the sower. As you can usually expect in the Lord’s parables, the subject of the story stands for the Lord Himself. Then he explicitly says, “The seed is the Word of God” (vs. 11). Then all that’s left to decipher the symbolism. What part do you play? The seed is cast into various types and conditions of soil. That’s you. You are the dirt. The Lord Jesus just called you dirt. Not the most flattering comment you’ve ever gotten, is it? What potential does dirt have? If left to itself dirt produces weeds, thistles and thorns. But if tended, if planted with good seed, then it has great potential. Unlike what the environmentalists may believe, dirt is not sufficient in itself. It must find its sufficiency from somewhere else. So you, on your own are not sufficient. You need grace from outside of yourself and that grace comes from the holy life and innocent death of our Savior Jesus Christ.

He plants His invigorating word into you where it sprouts faith and grows to produce fruit a hundredfold, now and forever. Amen.

Sermon for St. Michael and All Angels

Psalm 91:11-12

¹¹ For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways.
¹² On their hands they will bear you up,
    lest you strike your foot against a stone.

 

We believe in angels. Unseen to us for the most part, nevertheless we believe in them. As we say in the Nicene Creed, “I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible.” God made all that we see. God also made much that we cannot see, including the host of heaven, armies of angels.

Now the skeptics will think it’s silly to believe in what is unseen, invisible and cannot be proven scientifically. But it’s not good to be a skeptic all the time. It’s not silly to trust what someone tells you, to take someone at their word. Imagine if a mother were to tell her child, “I love you.” What an impudent child it would be who would answer, “I’ll believe it when I see it. Prove it to me, and then I’ll believe that you love me.” No! that’s not how children of a loving mother think. A child hears his mother say, “I love you,” and he trusts his mom, he takes her at her word and goes about the day with the certainty that he is loved and cared for.

How much more so can you take the Lord at His word! He who loved you, chose you, died for you, lives for you and is even now thinking about you and making room for you in the heavenly kingdom. You trust Him that He won’t lie. In fact, our Lord has shown that all His promises come true, when He rose from the dead on the first day of the week.

Don’t ever let anyone make you feel silly for believing in angels or anything else that God says, because your Lord and God is trustworthy, reliable, and it’s important to hear what He says and take it as true.

So the Lord, in His word tells us about angels:

·        They serve God around His throne in heaven.

·        They praise the Lord for Holiness and His goodness toward creation.

·        They guard and protect believers here on earth, especially children.

·        There are many angels, in the order of tens of thousands, at least.

·        They are various kinds of angels, and they hold various positions, Michael for example is said to be archangel, that is a ruler of angels.

All these are pleasant notions to think about. But the Lord also gives warning at this point, that we should also hear. Apart from the angels, there are also evil forces at work in the unseen realms. The Devil and his demons are working:

·        To tempt you to sin

·        To sow doubts in your hearts

·        To lead people to despair

But the word of God defeats each of these attacks.

·        Against temptations, The word of God promises forgiveness and righteousness

·        Against doubts, the word of God is the means the Holy Spirit uses to build and maintain faith

·        Against all despair, the word of God brings hope and peace.

In Luke chapter 10, Jesus had sent out 72 men, two by two, to go ahead to the towns and villages where Jesus would be going next. These 72 went preaching about the Kingdom of God and healing people. The spiritual turmoil in those years Jesus’ bodily presence on earth, was so great that the manifestations of the work of demons became unusually noticeable, visible. These 72, by preaching the name of Jesus, were able to cast the demons out. They return to Jesus all excited by they had seen and experienced.

Then Jesus tells them something interesting, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.” The 72 preachers participated in action on earth that had heavenly results. Their preaching and their healing and their casting out of demons had good results on earth, and alongside the work of angels in heaven, there was spiritual victory in the invisible realms.

So for us even now. When the word of God is preached, Satan falls, his armies of demons are disarmed. When you hear and believe the Gospel of Jesus, it is as though you are putting on armor to defend against the demonic attacks aimed at you – temptations, doubt, despair.

·        So, have you any temptations? Recognize that it’s not just flesh and blood, not just some physical phenomenon, it is spiritual, and remember you have spiritual help.

·        Have you any doubts? That’s coming from Satan’s teams, but you have spiritual help. Hear the Lord’s word again and believe it. And the angels are on your side, and rejoice in heaven every time you repent and believe.

·        Are the troubles of this earthly life enough to make you feel like giving up, in despair? The Lord invites you to trust that there is more than what you see and experience in this world. There are angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, with you to laud and magnify the Lord and God.

That’s one of the most comforting doctrines that the Bible has to tell us about angels. They are worshipping in heaven, while we are worshipping here on earth. Angels and those believers who have gone to heaven before us are sharing with us now in heavenly praise and worship. It’s why we sing so much in our worship, because we are told that’s what the worship in heaven is like, they’re singing things like “Holy, holy, holy.” That’s why are worship service is designed to be reverent and holy, different than our ordinary daily activities. We are getting in practice for our eternity with all the saints and angels.

Amen. 

Sermon for Trinity 16

Grace, mercy and peace are yours from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.

From Luke 7 “Jesus said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” 15And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother.”

After I get finished here with 1000 words or so, you’re going to join with me and all the people of God and confess the Christian faith out loud and say “[We] look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”

We say this regularly, joyfully, confidently.

We say this in agreement with God and in disagreement with those who don’t believe the Christian faith or the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

I know it goes against our comfort level to disagree with anyone, but sometimes we must. God calls us to do so. We are to confess His truth and when there are other ideas presented as truth we are to say, “No. That’s wrong. Here’s how it is.”

There have always been those who by their words and attitudes, operate with the assumption that, “This is all there is. When we die, there’s nothing. Better enjoy it now, because eternity is not for us.”

Jesus gives a real lesson in the Gospel reading for today. He says to a dead man, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”

When He Who is Lord of life and the only hope at death, says “Arise”, the dead rise.

Jesus declares: “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40).

That little show at Nain is for us to know that in Jesus Christ there is life. Life now! Life after death for those who are with Him.

You’ve heard this before, sure. But you kinda have to imagine what it sounded like to the crowd that day. There were two parts to that crowd: Those who are following along with Jesus, to listen to Him, to see a miracle, perhaps. And then the crowd that was part of the funeral procession for this young dead man.

With this great crowd on all sides, Jesus motions to those pall bearers to stop. That must have seemed unusual. The He says to the grieving mother, “Stop crying.” Don’t say that to someone who’s crushed by the pain of death. Don’t tell them to stop crying. . . . Unless you can fix their problem. And surprisingly, Jesus does. He addresses the corpse – speaks directly to the dead body. Weird. He says, “Arise”. And the dead man sits up and begins to speak.

And that crowd on all sides, responded. And the response was so cool. “16Fear seized them all, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has arisen among us!” and “God has visited his people!” They confessed the Christian faith. God had indeed visited His people. He came to His people that day and brought them good gifts. Gifts of life and joy and a happy surprise from the word and power of His Son Jesus Christ.

We will have something similar on the last day, similar but much better. Revelation 21, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

And we will have our moment to confess the truth of the Christian faith. Better to say, we will have eternity to confess that truth.

When life’s brief course on earth is run

    And I this world am leaving,

Grant me to say, “Your will be done,”

    Your faithful Word believing.

        My dearest Friend,        I now commend

My soul into Your keeping;

        From sin and hell,        And death as well,

By You the vict’ry reaping.

 

So with this confidence, look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. We as a congregation are going to buck the trend of the world, which is more and more skipping out on funerals, having instead celebrations of life in their backyards or at a beer hall as if God has nothing to with life or death or anything beyond.

 Let your family know that you want a funeral in God’s house where those of us who are left after you go will hear the life giving word of Christ, will confess the Christian faith in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting, and we will pray and worship Him who has brought us out of death to life.

 Amen.

 

Sermon for Trinity 15

 

Grace, Mercy and Peace are yours from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

Matthew 6:24 [Jesus said:] “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

 

The Lord has said, “You shall have no other gods.” This is the first of 10 Commandments.

There are many people, perhaps some among you today, who say, “Ah, that’s the easiest commandment. I’m not even tempted to believe in or worship any other god than the one true God.”

But this is the First Commandment, and it is the first to be broken. All other sins against any of the other commandments come from sins against the first commandment.

There are three ways in which you could break the First Commandment.

1.      When you don’t fear God above all things.

2.      When you don’t love God above all things.

3.      When you don’t trust God above all things.

It’s important to understand the meaning of the First Commandment: We should fear love and trust in God above all things.

First of all, Trust. A person must think of this, must study themselves, “Why do I make the choices I do? What am I trying to get? What am I hoping for? Am I trying to find security in earthly things? Am I trying to form my identity based on material things? What will it take for me to have joy, happiness, or peace of mind?” All this is to say, “What does my heart completely trust in?” Martin Luther says in the Large Catechism: “To have a god is to have something in which the heart entirely trusts.”

Secondly, Examine yourself as to what do I love most? Be especially careful of this in the good times in your life. When you are experiencing success; able to get all the pleasures and all the recreation that money can buy; when you are enjoying the respect of others which success brings, then carefully ask, “What od I love the most?” The love of money, success, and earthly pleasure competes against the love of God. Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters. . . . he will hate the one and love the other.”

Now some might say, “Fortunately for me, I don’t have a problem with the love of money. I ain’t got any! What’s there to love?” Well then, here’s the third way you need to examine yourself: What do you fear more than God?”

It’s very common, isn’t it? That when money is lacking, the worry kicks in and doubts and depression, as if there is no God.

This all requires personal examination of the heart and attitude. It is also for the Christian Church to examine herself as to how we are doing together as a body. Galatians 5: 6 says: “One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches.”

The Christian Church ought to be asking why is it that we are having trouble providing for the livelihood of the preachers and teachers of the word? Do members love their money and possessions so much that they want to horde it all and will not be generous? Do members trust money for everything, such that there is no need or care for God and for God’s house? Do members fear money so much that they fret saying, “What if we don’t have enough? We can’t share or it will run out?

This last question Jesus addresses in this Gospel reading, Matthew 6:

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

The Lily can teach us how to grow, how to live and how to die.

This world we live in is a mess. From our perspective as believers, we recognize that the mess is caused by sin. When people don’t fear God above all things, and don’t love God above all things and don’t trust in God above all things, the result is a mess. You ought to expect nothing but death and hell.

Then God decides, “I’m not going to give up on this world that I have created.” He chooses to save it, to wash away sin, to destroy death. Jesus Christ our Lord is the fix for sin and the death of death. In this messy world of sin and death our only hope is in Jesus. Our destiny is tied to His. Our existence is dependent on Him. If he dies, we’re lost. And then He died.

But again, God didn’t give up, but raised Him from the dead.

Your sins – even the worst sin of loving stuff more than God – are forgiven; your punishment is abolished, because God said so.

And there’s a little sign that God is sure of this, and meant what He said: Lillies blooming in the side ditches. Amidst grass that fades and turns brown, fit only for fire, lilies bloom. Lillies teach us not to worry. The lily’s days are short and few. Bu it are not despondent, because of what it doesn’t have. It doesn’t let its few short days be filled with anxiety about its short life and all the problems of the world. Its beauty is not marred by anxiety for the fire or mower that is coming. No. the Lily just blooms and so glorifies God. Lilies serve God by being a beautiful thing in their day.

Learn from the lilies how to live. You have enough to glorify God.

Learn from the lilies how to die. These symbolic decorations of Easter point us to Christ who rose from the dead and who brings us into His eternal life.

Gracious God, You send great blessings

    New each morning all our days.

For Your mercies never ending,

    For Your love we offer praise. Refrain

Lord, we pray that we, Your people

    Who Your gifts unnumbered claim,

Through the sharing of Your blessings

    May bring glory to Your name.