Sermon-Thanksgiving Eve

For much of this I borrowed from Norman Nagel's sermon on Philippians 4:5 from "Selected Sermons from Norman Nagel"

Deuteronomy 8:1-10 , Philippians 4:6-20, Luke 17: 11-19

Brothers and sisters,

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Paul praises the virtues of letting our reasonableness be known to everyone. This seems like an odd behavior to commend to Christians right after exhorting us to rejoice in the Lord always. Chances are if you saw someone who seemed to constantly be in a state of rejoicing; reasonable would not be the first word you would use to describe the scene. I believe we can get some insight into this type of joy measured by reasonableness that Paul is referring to, by looking at the concepts of “new money” and “old money”.  

    To clarify what I mean: according to the Urban Dictionary the expression “new money” refers to Someone who is rich but does not come from a weathly background or family history.  Examples would be celebrities, or people who won the lottery, or someone who invented a product that became a national or international phenomenon. On the other hand “Old Money” refers to people who have managed their money carefully over many generations and increased the value of their holdings by careful financial management. It also says of “Old Money” They do not follow the popular fashion fads and wear good quality clothing that has a timeless look. Everything about them may be summed up in a few words GOOD TASTE and QUALITY.

   So what does this have to do with joy that is tempered by reasonableness? Well Paul is sort of saying that when it comes to the riches we receive in Christ we should look more like those who come from Old Money. You see something that separates Old Money from New Money, in addition to having had wealth for a longer period of time is that with those from New Money there can often be a tendency to want to show others and themselves that they have money. It has been suggested that this excess of demonstration comes from an uncertainty that they are not equally accepted by those who have always had great wealth.

     Consequently those from Old Money would likely consider such displays of excess as being in pretty bad taste and not dignified; thus the assertion that those from Old Money are considered to reflect good taste and quality. And so with those from Old Money there is an ease and a carefree attitude. They don’t feel the necessity to parade their wealth to convince themselves and others of their worthiness.

       When people have a confidence of possessing something they have no need to convince themselves and others with a lot of over-the-top assertions. They don’t need to do anything to earn recognition and assurance. And so, reasonableness, as it is used in Philippians refers to a quiet confidence of being God’s child who possesses God’s riches and truth and lives in this confidence awaiting the promised fulfillment.

    And because of what Christ Jesus has done for you, you have what Christ possesses. What Christ possesses He possesses for you. And so chief among these possessions is that you have a Savior in Christ Jesus Himself. Christ Jesus lived the faithfulness and obedience that God demands of you, though you are incapable of it. But in Christ Jesus that faithfulness is given to you as if you did accomplish it. In Christ Jesus you have the forgiveness of sins. In Christ Jesus taking your sins upon Himself for you, becoming sin on your behalf and laying down His life for you, you have the atonement of your sins. In Christ Jesus you have the righteousness in which you will be clothed on the day of the Lord when you stand before God.

   You also have the Holy Spirit through whom you have the inspired scriptures that speak the life-giving Gospel into your hearts. You have the Holy Spirit as your guide and comforter. He empowers the Word of truth in you so it transforms you and your lives. And you know yourselves to be God’s people and that your lives have their achievement and meaning in being lived toward the fulfillment of Christ’s promised return.

   These are great possessions indeed, but are you sure that you have them? If you look to yourself then you will find only doubt. Within yourself is not where you will find certainty. Your certainty is in Christ alone. In Christ Jesus you have the unshakable confidence of possessing the riches of the children of God and you are called to live in the confidence of possessing these riches. This is the reasonableness that Paul speaks of.

   Now don’t confuse this with a lukewarm attitude. We see this same certainty in the one leper who came back to Jesus after having been healed from leprosy in the Gospel lesson. Luke writes Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan.  There he is rejoicing in the Lord as Paul commends to us. We don’t know why the nine other lepers did not return to Jesus but we know that the one did. And we know that he did immediately upon seeing that he had been healed. So in other words he is certain that Jesus is the One who healed him. He is certain that there is something truly remarkable and infinitely humbling about Jesus.

    And we do not really know why it is that the other nine lepers did not come back but we do know that Jesus wondered why they did not return. Maybe the idea of simply receiving the healing from Jesus in faith just seemed too simple for them. Maybe they  found themselves explaining it away; believing that there had to be some sort of rational explanation; that it couldn’t have been as simple as being healed by the healing touch of Jesus. 

   In 2 Kings Naaman was in need of healing and was told by the prophet Elisha to wash himself in the Jordan seven times and he would be healed. But he resisted. He thought it should perhaps be in a different river. He thought Elisha would call on the name of the Lord and Naaman would be healed, perhaps in a grand display. God delivered the healing that Naaman wanted but it didn’t come in the way Naaman wanted or expected and so Naaman resisted. And perhaps that is what happened with the nine lepers who did not return. Or perhaps they simply figured what they had gotten what they needed from Jesus so there was no need to go back.

       Faith is always simply receiving what God bestows to us through what He has done for us. But the call to faith is not simply a call for immediate and instant gratification. It is not just a call to go to Jesus when you need Him, but otherwise leave Him alone. The call to faith is a call to be close to Jesus. It’s a call to be daily renewed, strengthened and restored in Christ Jesus. It is a call to be daily renewed in the reconciliation with God that comes only through the forgiveness of your sins that comes in Christ Jesus.

   Christ Jesus has brought you close to Him by His healing and forgiveness and by laying down His life for you and rising for your justification. He gives the full richness of all of these gifts to you in Word and sacrament, what a shame when instead you choose to go on with your business; by forgetting to worship, by not reading scripture, by not making prayer a regular practice, by not returning to Him even one dollar out of every ten that He blesses you with.

   But still the distance between you and Jesus is closed in the forgiveness of your sins that He pours out to you in Word and sacrament. When you receive His forgiveness in faith you receive the forgiveness of all of your sins; even the sin of neglecting His promises to you. When you receive the promises of Christ Jesus in faith you can be absolutely confident and joyful that He is with you always. You can have that certainty that brings forth joy tempered by reasonableness.

   And this certainty of the riches you have in Christ enables you to live a life truly in thanksgiving through generous service to your neighbors. You don’t have to strive for the recognition of your place in God’s Kingdom. All that is secure in Christ Jesus and is beyond question. You are free to act as servants, confident in Christ.

   In quietness and confidence you have been freed to serve your neighbors, for your confidence and strength are in Christ. There is no need for over-the-top displays or strutting. There is no need to constantly be looking for pity or sympathy, you have reasonableness toward everyone; the reasonableness of those who are confident in being God’s people for the sake of Christ. You have the patience and generosity of those who live from God’s resources. You have the cheerful acceptance of whatever Christ puts you through now because you know the meaning and purpose.

   In Christ Jesus you have the eternal sonship. You have the victory because Christ’s resurrection guarantees the victory of His brothers and sisters. When Christ returns He will bring final fulfillment. But even now, Christ our Lord, is at hand.

Amen

Sermon-Sunday Nov, 17 2013

Malachi 4:1-6 ,  2 Thessalonians 3:1-13 , Luke 21: 5-36

Brothers and sisters,

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

You have just heard what may very well be the most offensive thing that Jesus ever said. He and the disciples are walking past the temple. As the disciples marvel at the temple and everything that it was adorned with Jesus says that the days will come when the temple will be destroyed; that not one stone will be left upon another. He was pointing forward to the destruction of the temple that would come in 70 AD. Today that would be akin to someone predicting something even worse than 9-11;  9-11 as if it had taken out the White House.

   But Jesus’ words about more than simply the destruction of the temple. You see these prophetic words of Jesus are not just words of warning for the disciples. The destruction of the temple is a foreshadowing of the coming destruction of all earthly material. It’s not just the temple in Jerusalem that God promises to destroy but all of the earthly things that you turn into your personal little temples; whether it’s your job, or your house, or your business, your farm, or your sports teams, whatever. Even the US constitution will be no more. They are all temporary.

     And praise God for that. For they will all be part of the old that will be done away with so that all things will be made new in Christ Jesus. The day will come when all of these things that the devil uses to take your focus off of Christ Jesus will be no more.

   But still it may be hard to hear these words of destruction  from Jesus as good news. Well if you didn’t like that then you’re really not going to like what else Jesus says about your future. For Jesus promises that there will be a time of intense persecution for you for the church.

    Jesus says before His return nation will rise against nation and kingdom will rise against kingdom, there will be earthquakes and famine and pestilence and there will be terrors and great signs from Heaven. But before this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake.  This persecution is not coming, it is here and now.

     It took me less than a minute to find several examples of this sort of persecution of Christians going on all over the world. In the country of Eritrea this week 185 Christians were arrested for praying. They were not praying in public. They were not making a public display. They were holding a prayer meeting and the meeting was raided. When 83 of those arrested were released they were warned against meeting with other believers in the future. The “offense” was not just praying but even gathering with other Christians.

    In another incident in Egypt, 4 people were killed and 18 were injured when they were shot by two masked gunmen when they opened fire on the crowd of people at a wedding held at the Virgin Mary Coptic Church.  These are just two incidents. But this is happening all over the world and often in ways that are even more disturbing than either of those incidents.

    And so maybe you think, “Well that’s sad and I’ll certainly pray for those Christians enduring those oppressive conditions, but we don’t have to worry about anything like that here.”  And granted we might not see anything as extreme as people being gunned down at weddings here in the US but don’t fool yourself, persecution of the church is already here.

   I recently heard about a Mennonite couple in Grimes that owns a business which serves as a gallery, bistro, and a wedding facility. They are being sued by a male homosexual couple because the Mennonite couple would not allow the two men to hold their “wedding” at their facility due to their religious convictions. The Iowa Civil Rights Commission is supporting the two men and trying to force the Mennonite couple to plan, facilitate and host same-sex wedding ceremonies at their facility. And this is just one of many incidents like this all over the country.

   But there need not be violence or legal proceedings for you to see where Jesus’ prophetic words of  His church being hated for His name are being fulfilled. You see it in the way Christians are negatively portrayed in movies and television. You see it in the fact that publically confessing your belief in Jesus as the only way to salvation is seen by and large in our culture as narrow-minded, unenlightened and even hateful. You have all experienced this. If this weren’t the case then you would share the Gospel with others with more enthusiasm than you would have when telling others about a new car or a new house or a new job or your own child getting straight A’s or even if you had found out that you had been saved from a deadly disease.

    If the Gospel was not offensive to sinful ears than you would not be able to stop sharing it with others. But what does Jesus say of the inevitable rejection of the Gospel that you are confronted with? How are you to respond to those who hate you because of the name of Christ? Jesus says that it is your opportunity to bear witness. And He promises to give you a mouth and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. 

     And so what is it about the Gospel that people reject and scorn so much? Well listen to what Malachi says For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The Gospel is offensive because there is nobody who does not need the Gospel. All have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God and so all need the Gospel. And that means that all need to hear that they are sinners in rebellion against God. That is offensive; true but offensive.

     You see without Christ Jesus all you would have is this sinful world. This broken and sinful world would be all there is for you. Without the abundant and radical graciousness of Christ Jesus giving Himself for you as the atoning sacrifice for your sin then you would be among the arrogant and evildoers whom Malachi alludes to because you would be left in a state of rebellion and you would be subject to God’s wrath.

     And so when you are hated because of the name of Christ-no matter how subtle or extreme it might be-just know that it is not you who is being hated and rejected but Christ Jesus. And so those who scorn, ridicule, reject, persecute and hate you because of the name of Christ are to be thought of as prisoners who have been taken captive by sin and the devil, and you as a believer in Christ, as one who has been claimed by Christ in the waters of baptism have the very means, in the Gospel to free them, for the Gospel is the very power of God unto salvation.

    Of course so often you might feel scornful toward them; you might want to give non-believers the same scorn and rejection that they give to you. You might want to look down on them feeling smugly satisfied that you will be among the righteous who will be wrapped in the healing wings of Christ Jesus, and that non-believers will be among the wicked who will be set ablaze. But were it not for Christ, among the wicked is exactly where you would be.

     And when you scorn non-believers, and look down on them you exalt yourself above them. You become as one of the idle whom Paul spoke of. Failing to share and proclaim the Gospel is to walk in idleness for it is withholding the very Word of Christ from those who need it. It is hoarding the peace that surpasses all understanding to yourself. I know sharing the Gospel with your neighbors is not easy, but Paul says “Do not grow weary in doing good”.

      If you had a cure for cancer you would most certainly share it with those who needed it. Well you have more than that. You have the means by which death is swallowed up. Yes, it is offensive. Yes people reject it. But it’s not you they are rejecting. Jesus tells you to love your enemies because He died for them just as He died for you and so He sends you to them that they would hear what Jesus has done for them.

    And Jesus promises that He is faithful to you in the face of the opposition you will face; that He will establish you and guard you against the evil one; and that even though some will even be delivered to death in defense of the Gospel not a hair of your head will perish.  The signs of the end are all around but you belong to Christ in Whom the victory is already won. Look at the example that Paul set and do not become idle; pray for those things that Paul prayed for; that the Word of the Lord would be honored and received well by those whom the Lord Jesus calls you to bear witness to. And answer the call yourself.

    As baptized Christians claimed by Christ and saved from God’s wrath you should ask yourself every day what you are doing as you wait for Jesus’ return. Once Christ has claimed you as His own you can no longer ask “What do I matter?” for you know that in Christ you are infinitely loved by your Creator. You have a place, value and meaning and Christ Jesus has given you eternal rest for your soul. You can heed Jesus’ words to straighten up and raise your heads because your redemption is drawing near. May you grow in His Word and promises so that you will be encouraged not to grow weary in doing good.

Amen

Sermon- Sunday November 10, 2013

Exodus 3:1-15 , 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17, Luke 20:27-40

Brothers and sisters,

Grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

There is of course a great deal of mystery relating to God, even for Christians. There are some things that we can be certain of with God. We know that in Christ Jesus we see, as Hebrews 1 says the exact representation of God’s being. Jesus is the essence of who God is. So in Christ we know that God loves us more than we can imagine; so much so that He gave all of Himself on your behalf by becoming incarnate in human flesh in the form of His Son Christ Jesus.

    And in Christ Jesus we see that God is so merciful toward you that He would even become sin on your behalf and suffer and lay down His life as a propitiation for your sins, redeeming you from bondage to sin, death and the devil, delivering you from the horror of God’s wrath which you deserve because of your sin. And directly connected to that is something God reveals about Himself in His Word; and that is that He makes promises and keeps those promises. It’s the time in-between when God makes a promise and keeps a promise that He can be so unpredictable.

    For instance, in the Old Testament lesson God confirms to Moses, His intention to keep the promise that He made to Abraham that He would bring judgment on Egypt for enslaving God’s chosen people for 400 years and that He would deliver His people out of Egypt with great possessions. And God has chosen Moses as the instrument through which He will accomplish this.

    And understandably Moses is quite humbled and perplexed by this. In the light of God’s holiness Moses’ impiety and sinfulness is revealed to him and he is driven to ask God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” Moses is given this impossible task and he is understandably shocked and confused.

     Of course he is, it is an impossible task. Moses has absolutely no hope to accomplish this except for a promise from God that He will be with Moses. Moses was right in recognizing his own short-comings in the face of such a daunting mission, but God promises Moses that he can be assured not in himself but in God’s promise to be with Moses.

    And God gives Moses His name which is a means to call on God in prayer, in the same way that the people of Israel had called on God during their captivity in Egypt. God also reinforces Moses’ authority with the Israelites by sending him to tell them “The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” God gives Moses His name through which Moses can call on God in prayer and praise and then promises Moses that He will always be with Him and be there to hear his prayers.

   But of course, though they had the assurance of God’s promise it was not long before the Israelites were griping and wanting to go back to Egypt, convinced that they had it better in slavery. They wanted immediate gratification. They wanted something now. God had promised them something more in the future but they wanted something now and when it didn’t happen they turned to a false god of their own making.

    You see, the promise of something more is at the heart of the promise of the Gospel. Just as God promised something more beyond the wilderness to the Israelites so God in Christ promises you something more beyond this sinful world. He is not the God of the dead but the God of the living, the eternally living. Being in Christ means death has lost it’s sting and no longer has a grip on you.

    This is the promise our Lord fills you with. It is a promise that can sustain you and uphold you in the midst of all that this sinful world throws at you. But so often you are like those Israelites in the desert, who had been in bondage so long that at any inconvenience they yearned to go back to slavery. In December 2011 a USA Today article reported on a surge of spiritually apathetic Americans. According to the article there was a survey that indicated that 44 percent of the people surveyed said that they spend no time seeking “eternal wisdom” and 46 percent said that they never wonder whether they will go to heaven. These are people who have tacitally said that unless God reveals Himself to them on their own terms then they are not really going to spend any time thinking about God. But spiritual apathy is hardly a new phenomenon.

    I would argue we see a foreshadowing of this in what Jesus ran into with the Saducees in the Gospel lesson for this morning. The Saducees didn’t like Jesus because they didn’t believe in life after death. To the Saducees claim of “This is all there is” Jesus answered back with “There is more! Much, much more!”

    Jesus promises eternal life for all who believe in Him. But it’s even more than simply our souls going to heaven. He also promises the Day of the Lord.  Jesus promises eternal life at the end of time; when our bodies will rise out of the graves-whatever that grave may be, a casket, an urn, the ocean, or simply bones turned to dust. Jesus looks into the chaos and emptiness of  death and the end of time and promises you His beloved that there is more, much, much more.

    But the spirit of the Saducees is still around. Oh you may not go to such spiritually apathetic extremes as denying the resurrection but this Saducee Spirit is still in your hearts and minds, always whispering in your ears “Did God really say?” The doubts are there filling your mind with the lie that this life and this broken and sinful world is all there is. You go to a funeral, look at a body in the casket and you notice how lifeless it appears. You notice that the grave looks so final and you can’t help but wonder “Is this all there is? How can there possibly be more when this body before me appears so bereft of any life?”

     But then the service starts and into this valley of the shadow of death the Lord Jesus sends a preacher through whom He promises “Let not your hearts be troubled, there is still more. Much, much, more!”  And this is the promise that can sustain you in the midst of the devil’s attacks that comes with this veil of tears.

     As we come closer and closer to the Day of the Lord, sin and the devil will continue to tempt and deceive you away from the eternal promises of Christ even tempting to fool you that he-the devil cannot harm you.  The Thessalonians, whom Paul wrote to in the second lesson, believed that the new-age had already come, and that they were living in a time when there would be no problems for Christians; that there was no more. We see this sort of teaching today in so-called preachers who deny the reality of sin and act as if there is no need for repentance even in the midst of a culture that seemingly rejects God more and more with each passing day. They are simply heretics trying to pass their self-help teaching off as preaching by dove-tailing a scripture passage ripped horribly out of context onto the latest thing they are trying to pass off as a sermon. But all it is a satanic lie that makes you a sitting-duck for the man of lawlessness that Paul warns the Thessalonians about.  

     To see the threat that these false-teachings pose you need only hear the words of our Lord Jesus from Mathew 7 speaking of the fate that awaits those who put their faith in a false-gospel Jesus says  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

    These are the words that the man of lawlessness, whom we also call the anti-Christ, wants you to hear of the day of judgement.  He is currently being restrained but he will be fully unleashed. In the face of whatever he hurls at you, whether he is restrained or fully unleashed, you have the Lord Jesus Whom you can go to in prayer praying that His kingdom come, that His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

   And He makes His Kingdom come and His will be done but not in power and glory but in Word and sacrament. The opposition to the Gospel you see now is a shadow of what it will look like when the man of lawlessness is no longer restrained. Persecution of the church will be widespread;  the Gospel will be reviled. But Christ Jesus has already overcome this.

    God’s promise in Christ assures you of God’s eternal grace in Christ to save you. In the face of all the attacks of the devil, you have the cross of Christ, you can say to the devil that you know that you are nothing but a sinner and that your good works get you nothing, but Christ endured God’s wrath for you. The devil has no claim on you. God has chosen you in Christ Jesus before the world was created. Christ Jesus is with you always, just as God promised Moses. Before you we even conceived God planned your conversion to everlasting life; He planned your salvation and nothing can separate you from His love in Christ Jesus.

   There is life, life after death. Abide in the promises of Christ. Trust Him and cling to His promises because no matter what happens-there is more, much more for you.

Amen