April 26-27, 2025 - 2nd Sunday after Easter

Title: Have no doubt … Jesus lives, and so will you!
Text: Acts 5:12-20

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14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

Over the last few months, we’ve welcomed the Christ child, born in a manger and celebrated the Epiphany of our Lord as he is revealed and made know to the world through the visit of the wise men. We watched Jesus grow in wisdom and stature and begin his ministry. He taught, cast our demons, healed the sick and raised the dead. He was celebrated as a great teacher but ultimately was rejected by the religious elite and the people. He was tried, convicted, crucified, dead and buried. It is finished.

Then … Easter came and Jesus rose from the dead. Death has been changed forever – swallowed up in victory as we proclaim. It is now the blessed hope of all who die in Christ that we too will rise and live with him free of sin, death and the power of the devil forever.

Have no doubt … Jesus lives, and so will you!

The reality of this life, broken by sin though continues and it continued for the Apostles as well.

Signs and wonders were regularly done among the people at the hands of the Apostles, and they were held in esteem by the people.

They even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats that as Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on some of them.

From the surrounding towns and villages they brought their sick and those with unclean spirits, and they were all healed!

Much had changed but much remained the same.

Those afflicted … remained so.

Those called by Jesus to follow him … followed in his footsteps in the care of souls.

Those opposed to Christ – the high priest and the party of the Sadducee's –rose up being filled with jealousy and rage … and:

18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

Much had changed but much remained the same.

When I think about growing up, I remember times of struggle. We all had times and circumstances that defined us that helped us become who we are. It is never easy going through had times but you can become better for it.

When my children were growing up, I wanted to help them through the hard times they encountered but, it wasn’t my battle. I had to let them work through it too, and in a sense I’m glad I did because I believe that it helped them in life and they are better for it.

Struggle is certainly part of this life.
Struggle is certainly part of the Christian Walk as well.
Many of you struggle with the trials of life. I do too.

Sickness and death, job loss, guidance and care issues for our spouses, children, and parents. Friends and loved ones with cancer, you name it - and it seems to go on and on.

Today those opposed to Christ seem greater than ever. Foreign and domestic opposition to Jesus is rampant.

College campuses indoctrinate free thinking and alternate lifestyles and they have for years, as long as your free thinking is not in support of traditional family values and accepted religious and public norms.

Politically correct views shout down that which was traditional accepted.

“Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”

Even if they don’t say it the world means it.

And even if they do see the nail marks and can place their hand into the side of Jesus they still don’t believe.

Because, to believe takes faith - and faith is a gift!

The vision of St. John in the book of Revelation comforts we who morn for those martyred for their faith in chapter 6.

When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been.

Rev. 6:9-11

Persecution remains part of our Christian Walk; though we hope to be hidden behind the door of God’s protection.

Not to cower but to be wise in God’s mercy.

It is easy to see that the corruption of this world continues. And though the wages of sin have been overcome by Christ in his death and resurrection, we all wait in anticipation for the glorious appearing of our great God and savior Jesus Christ and an eternity with him that he has promised. Titus 2:13

Even the Apostles, after Christ rose from the dead … and now doing his blessed work in his name - were arrested and thrown in prison for their witness.

Persecution, doubt, loss and fear continue to hound the church and those sent to serve. It will continue until Christ returns.

The joy of Easter though, is celebrated as it was last weekend, but the reality of persecution continues for Christ’s church and Christians all around the world.

In our day some who once followed Jesus, rebel in sinful disobedience to the word of God.
Others have an apathetic disdain for God’s word and all that Christ has done on their behalf.
Truthfully, we all fall short in our love of God and service to neighbor.
We confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean and that rings true again for us week after week.

The truth is that Jesus died for you and for me in a very public way, so we cannot live for him by ourselves in private.

And though it’s not a work, it is a fruit of who we are in Christ.
Fear grips us all and it gripped the disciples too.

They, for fear of the Jews, were locked in a room and Jesus came and stood before them saying, “Peace be with you.”

This peace from Christ is real.

God has made what we could never make possible a reality. Now he brings this reality to you and me through his means.

Jesus showed them his hands and his side, the reality of his death was there, the holes in his hands and feet, the mark in his side from the spear, all those remaining marks of his finished work for you and me were there, and he says and again … bringing the words of comfort …

“Peace be with you.”

But now gives the means of this gift for the world’s peace and salvation.

“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”

Christ Jesus here sends these disciples, these 10 men locked in this room - Judas having fled and taken his life in despair while Thomas was not yet there among them.

22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”

It is a true absolution and peace, true forgiveness, not because the men who stand in the place and by the command of Christ, stand of their own accord, but because we stand as servants of the word.

We do what Christ does and commands because, it is his words of peace, it is his words of forgiveness and it is his words of comfort spoken by those called to stand as under shepherds of the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ himself.

Peace is truly a gift, but it also truly had a cost. Jesus is both the gift and the price that was paid to procure your peace and your salvation.

In Baptism, we too, who are brought to the font, receive that same gift of peace by Jesus.

At times the word of God’s Law points us all to our sinful nature, so that we might be brought to repentance. But God’s forgiveness is certain for those who repent, so that we might live redeemed, in the midst of a world broken by the fall.

In the lives of the Apostles the prison they were placed in was real.

19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” Acts 5:19-20

It is God who forgives and it is God who speaks forgiveness to a broken world. The gospel always brings peace and erases doubt. Be comforted and strengthened as you stand in a world increasingly opposed to Christ for this world is dying but the gospel makes alive.

Just as Christ lives “in him we live and move and have our being … For we are indeed his offspring, (Acts 17:28)

And as his children, adopted into Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, God will change hearts and brings peace.

14 And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

Have no doubt friends … Jesus lives, and so will you!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!

Amen

April 19-20, 2025 – Easter

Title: Following our living and risen Lord!
Text: 1 Cor. 15:20-23

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20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.


You have come here to celebrate.
I am here to celebrate with you.
We celebrate the day of resurrection, Christ’s and ours.

This is the Lord's Day.

The only reason we come together and worship on Sunday throughout the year is that this is the Lord's Day. It all began on here, the first day of the week.

It all began quietly in the darkness of the dawn of the Lord's Day, when some women came inside of the tomb to take care of some duties for which there had not been time the previous Friday evening.

It was a considerate and loving thing to do.
Women have a way of doing things like that?
Where were the men?

They cowering behind locked doors for fear of what someone might do to them?

So, it was the women who first heard the good news.
Almost too good to be believed, too awesome to be grasped.
We can understand their feelings when they saw from a distance that the stone had been rolled away.
We can feel with them when they looked into the tomb and saw that his body of Jesus was not there.

5 And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, 7 that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” 8 And they remembered his words, 9 and returning from the tomb they told all these things to the eleven and to all the rest.

Jesus is alive!
He is risen.
Fear and terror were upon them.

The angel had to tell the shepherds not to be afraid, and two men in shining clothing had to tell the woman not to be afraid, and you and I have come and need to hear it again.

Good news from God in a world of bad news.
It comes straight from God’s word.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

That is the work of our heavenly father, by his great glory, God raised Jesus from the dead and declared him to be the Son of God with power.

He is Lord, he is alive.
Death makes afraid, but God makes alive!
In fact, Christ has been raised from the dead.
If you miss that then you miss everything about Easter.
It doesn't make any difference what kind of problems you bring with you to church today?
It doesn't make any difference what kind of sins rise up to trouble you?

Jesus Christ is alive, take heart. In him sins are forgiven!

The sermon hymn brings this joy to our mouth and ears right from the start.

Jesus lives! The vict'ry's won!
Death no longer can appall me;
Jesus lives! Death's reign is done!
From the grave Christ will recall me.
Brighter scenes will then commence;
This shall be my confidence.

The history of our sinful world, is described by saint Paul in our epistle today in such wonderful terms.

22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.

The resurrection story is as carefully documented by eyewitnesses as any event that ever happened in history.

People saw Jesus, talked to him and ate with him.

Those people who were afraid and despondent after his death, suddenly found a courage and enthusiasm that took them to the ends of the Earth.

In the face of all kinds of difficulties and dangers which might have invited them to forget all about him - they proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus Christ, as the hope of Mankind.

They were convinced beyond all doubt that he had risen.

Listen to the Apostle Paul, who as a a persecutor of the church had an encounter with Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road:

With unaccustomed humility he asks.

4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

He is alive.
In fact, Paul writes:
Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is a work of God.
It happened to Jesus Christ and it will also happen to you.
By faith in Christ, you have this promise.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.

The good news from God is that Jesus Christ was a man.
He was human as Adam was human and as we are human.
He was fully man, and fully God.
He was like us, having to take all the pressures of life and subject to the same temptations, yet in all his humanity, without sin.

He suffered everything we have to suffer even death itself.
We feel with him as he said that day on his cross.

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

That is a human response. Christ is fully human but also fully God.

Jesus lives! To Him the throne
High above all things is given.
I shall go where He is gone,
Live and reign with Him in heaven.
God is faithful; doubtings, hence!
This shall be my confidence.

With confidence we celebrated today but others are fearful.
Death is a hard subject.

The reality of death causes some to think about it all the time and they just can't get death off their minds.

Even their happy moments are ruined because they know that these moments can't last forever.

Death will come. Maybe a lot sooner than you might expect. How can you be happy when you know that? How can anyone expect to be happy when he knows that?

Funerals bring that to mind.
You feel the reality of death yourself.
Funerals are hard to accept so we celebrate life.

It was by a man that death came. Paul wrights, and all men die. We are all born in Adam and born is sin and the wages of sin is death.

We are human as Adam was human.

On the other side we celebrate the man who rose from the dead. On the 3rd day after his crucifixion, Jesus Christ woke up from death as death could not hold him.

Saint Paul tells us that Christ rose from the dead never to die again.
Other resurrections were only a postponement of death.
Christ victory over death is complete and permanent.
When he left the tomb and the first Easter, Jesus said Goodbye to death forever.

Jesus lives! I know full well
Nothing me from Him shall sever,
Neither death nor pow'rs of hell
Part me now from Christ forever.
God will be my sure defense;
This shall be my confidence.

With confidence we say goodbye to death forever too!
Jesus is unique. The victim became the Victor.
Not only did he overcome death, he overcame the cause of death, sin.

St. Paul writes: the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the Law, but thanks be to God, who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!

Christ accepted the punishment of sin himself.
He experienced the whole force of sin, himself.
He came out on top carrying with him the sins of the whole world.
He overcame the cause of death for you too!

All those who belong to Jesus Christ with confident faith that he is their savior of the world; God will raise from death to life.

Believe it!

Jesus lives! And now is death
But the gate of life immortal;
This shall calm my trembling breath
When I pass its gloomy portal.
Faith shall cry, as fails each sense;
Jesus is my confidence!

There are two types of death.
One is for the purpose of judgment. The others for the purpose of resurrection.
One is headed for destruction. The other is headed for life.

You plant a seed, and with great hope and expectation you wait, knowing that the time will come when it sprouts.

God brings that seed the life. Only God’s power can.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ puts power into the lives of his people.
It is what happens to people who belong to Christ Jesus.

His disciples were people like you and me, in need of forgiveness for the past and for fearfulness of the future.

Though fearful on the morning of his resurrection, these disciples went out with Great-Power and gave witness to the resurrection with great courage.

What they had was a new life empowered by the power of God who raised Jesus from the dead.

What they had was hope, not in the celebration of a life that would end, but in a hope of a life eternal that Christ promised will never end.

This hope is yours.

Jesus Christ gives life to the dead and in Christ you will rise!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!

Amen

Modified: Concordia Pulpit Rev. Oswald C. J. Hoffmann C 1976

April 18, 2025 - Good Friday

Title: Following Jesus to the cross and finish!
Text: John19:17-30

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29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. 30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Many things have been done in the name of religion.
Some have been good and some have been bad.
Some people have been helped others have been hurt.

Religion has given rise to great institutions of healing, and it is also produced some of the most vicious wars in history.

What we are talking about today is not fictitious?

It is real. The place of the skull not imaginary, it is real. In Hebrew. It has a real name, Golgotha.

Two men were crucified there that day and their crimes were real.
Whether the judgment passed upon them was just or not, the penalty was real.
One of them thought the penalty was just. He was probably right.

The third man is real too.

We know the judgment that brought him there was not just, it was just about as unjust as any judgment in the history of the world.

Nevertheless, there they nailed him to the cross. They also nailed the two other men to crosses, one on each side with Jesus between them.

This is life as it is lived in our world. Crucifixion is a very real part of life even today. It goes on all the time. People crucify other people and so doing they also crucified themselves. The world crucifies itself. It is a brutal thing to see, but our world appears to be intent on doing it.

A feature of crucifixion that is most often ignored, but was obvious to anyone who ever watched?
It was the disgrace of the crucified who became a target for popular scorn.
His very humanity was even caricatured:

It might be of interest to note that the earliest known pictorial depiction of Jesus on the cross was a cartoon. Often referred to as “The Alexamenos Graffito,” it’s a crude drawing of a human figure raising a reverent hand toward a crucified individual with the head of a mule. Discovered on the plaster wall of an ancient Roman school, this second-century parody of a certain Jewish Messianic movement includes, scrawled beneath the caricature, a taunt, perhaps best translated as “Alexamenos worships his god.”

You can see it – the crucifixion in the world - even in the 2nd century.

Beyond these childish taunts, there was torture not to mention suffering and dehydration. Fever, stretched muscles, dislocated joins, and unrelieved pain.

There was numbness and exhaustion. There was agony and finally there was death.

Bodies were not always taken down from the cross. They were allowed to decompose up there and then crumble away. They were a reminder.

Sometimes they were left for the wild animals.

A couple of men had the nerve to come forward in spite of what it might do to their reputations and positions in society, and take the body of Jesus Christ down from the cross and put it in the tomb over the weekend.

But not everybody got that kind of consideration.

The world doesn't mind seeing people torn up. If they can't be torn up in one way, there is always another way. This is the devil at work. Of course, but that's the way of the world. It invites the devil in, it encourages his worst.

The world judges but the true judgment comes from God.

The actions of our world constitute a mass challenge against God. The creator of the natural order of things is God, and the world is trying to rearrange that order.

It's action sometimes remind you of one who is deranged.

The Earth is not ours to do with it as we please. It is the Lords and he is the one who made it. We have defiled what belongs to him. It is his judgment upon us.

The cross of Jesus Christ tells us how God feels about human sin.
It is a brutal, bloody thing, that cross of Jesus Christ.
The wrath of God is for real.

The payment was real too.

But no one forget that when he looks at the cross of Christ, God is not a kindly old grandfather who winks at the mistakes of his children and their children. He is a just God and he makes it quite clear whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.

Playing God is sin.

When Martin Luther was asked to describe sin, he said it is man turned in upon himself.

It is not an irony of modern civilization that people have been deliberately educated, trained, and reared to regard this almost as a virtue in our day, the truth is finally beginning to dawn upon us.

What a man sows, that also shall he reap.
We are part of the world and we have made our own contribution to the world as it is.

There is no escape from the cross.

There is no way out of the harvest of confusion we have prepared for ourselves unless God comes to our rescue.

What we are talking about is sin. The thing people don't like to talk about if they do talk about at all.

It is usually something other people do.
There is sin in this congregation because everyone here is a sinner.

(President Harrison’s election in 2010)

The reality of what happened at the place of the skull, brings home to me again, with devastating force that there, they nailed Jesus to the cross for my sin, and also nailed two other men to crosses, one on each side and Jesus between them.

If sin is for real, so is he everything about that cross.

A notice had to be put on the cross and Pilate put it there, Jesus of Nazareth the king of the Jews is what he wrote.

Reaction to the sign, as human reactions often are, was immediate and violent.

Many Jews read this because the place where Jesus was nailed to the cross was not far from the city. The notice was written in Hebrew, Latin and Greek.

The first was the language of religious people in that city and the other two languages of commerce in the Roman Empire.

The Jewish chief priest said to Pilate,

“Do not write the king of the Jews, but the man said I am the king of the Jews!”

By this time the governor, had had his fill of their self-righteousness Scribes and Pharasees, saying,

“I have written what we have written.”

The truth must be told even if pilot has to tell it.
The soldiers beneath the cross were real.

Their - kickback - as it is called in our world for their work happened to be the personal effects of the crucified, who would have no further use for them.

The soldiers took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier.

They also took the robe which is made of one piece of woven cloth without any seams in it and threw dice to see who would get it.

Saint John reminds us that too was in fulfillment of God's plan.
This happened to make the scripture come true.
They divided my clothes among themselves.

Most poignantly real, is the little amount of people standing close:

25 but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.

One man was there. The disciple whom Jesus loved, as John described himself.
And when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing there. He said to his mother:

“Woman, behold, your son!” 27 Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!”

Here is His dying wish for the woman who gave him birth, and this was carried out by John, and from  hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Jesus knew by now that everything had been completed in order to make the scriptures come true.

28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”

He suffered as men suffer and he was thirsty.
A real man died there that day.
He really died, without a thought for self.

29 A jar full of sour wine stood there, so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth.

30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

God shows himself to be real.

This is his way of doing things.
Only God would have thought of doing it that way?
I could think of other ways and so, could you?
But this is his way.
This is how we know love. Not that we love God but that he loved us.

He gave his only son-in propitiation of his wrath as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins.
God was reconciling the world to himself not counting their sins against them.

It's hard to believe why would God do something like that?

By his own power and glory, a real man died there that day and a real man arose from the dead.
He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification.

Don't sit there in your sin, accept his forgiveness!

The salvation of God is real.

It is new life that can truly be called eternal life.
It is a new peace, as you see our loving God in Jesus Christ, as your savior.
It is a new hope, and that friends is exactly what all of us need.

The judgment of God upon our world and upon us has been shouldered by Jesus Christ, he took the disgrace, he took the rebellion, the hatred, the pride, which constantly pressed in upon us.

There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.

He took it all friends for you!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!

Amen



Modified: Concordia Pulpit Rev. Oswald C. J. Hoffmann C 1976

April 17, 2025 - Maundy Thursday

Title: Following Jesus in word and gift, Past, Present and Future!
Text: Luke 22:7-20

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13 And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

Past

Whenever the Jews gather to celebrate the annual feast and festival of the Passover, one of the youngest family members asks.

“What does this supper mean?”

The head of the household repeats for all present. The story of God's deliverance of the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt. Similarly, as we gather to commemorate the institution of the Lord Supper, we might well ask:

What does this supper mean?

Our text answers this question as it views the Lord supper from three perspectives the past, the present, and the future.

Before Jesus instituted the Lord supper, he celebrated with his disciples, the ancient feast of the Passover.

As the shadows of the evening came on that first Maundy Thursday, Jesus told Peter and John to go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat.

“Go and prepare the Passover for us, that we may eat it.” 9 They said to him, “Where will you have us prepare it?” 10 He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters 11 and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ 12 And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” 13 And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

What is amazing about all this is that Jesus saw everything that was to happen as though it had already taken place.

He is our omniscient, Lord.

When the disciples and Jesus reached the upper room, the savior said:

15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

The Passover, you will recall. Was celebrated every year to commemorate God's deliverance of Israel from the 400-year bondage in Egypt. The book of Exodus gives us the account of their wilderness journey and escape.

You remember how God sent Moses to Pharaoh with the command let my people go and when pharaoh refused to release the children of Israel from bondage, God sent 10 plagues one after another.

Among them, frogs, locus, boils, hail, flies and the rivers turned to blood. And at last God resolved to send the angel of death through Egypt to kill the first born of all the living.

To protect the houses of the Israelites, God commanded each family member to slay a lamb without blemish and to put the blood on the door post so that the angel of death would pass over their houses.

The next day God led his people safely through the parted waters of the Red Sea, while the pursuing Egyptian army perished in the waters as they came together again.

Ever since, the Jews have been celebrating the Passover each year to recall how God redeemed them from the bondage of Egypt.

The Lord’s Supper too, is a feast of remembrance too.

After instituting the Lord's Supper, Jesus:

19 … took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Christ has delivered us from a bondage far worse than that of slavery in Egypt.

For by nature, all men are the slaves of sin, death, and the devil.

As St. Paul writes in Romans:

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men[a] because all sinned—

All men by nature are subject to the cruel tyrant, the devil and to eternal death.

As little as the children of Israel could free themselves from their life of slavery, so little, can any man free himself from sin and dearth.

But Jesus Christ did deliver us.

John, the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said:

“Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

As the Passover lamb, was without blemish and without spot, so too Jesus, was wholly harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners.

He kept God's law perfect for us as our substitute.

But, more than that, he was God's great sacrificial lamb offered on the altar of the cross for the sins of the world.

He took upon himself the guilt and the punishment of our sin as a substitute.
He gave his body and his shed his blood for us.

As writer to the Hebrews 9 says:

12 he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.

And in Isaiah 53:

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.

And, 1 John 1:7:

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

So, the blood of Jesus Christ saves us from eternal death.

8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The glorious liberty and freedom of the children of God is what we ought to think of every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper. Our Exodus from sin and death.

Our hearts ought to swell with joy every time we hear the words:

“This is my body which is given for you. This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you.”

For these words assure us that we have been redeemed through the holy and precious blood of Christ. How eagerly we ought to join the grateful refrain!

Present

The Lord supper is not only a memorial to God's grace made known to you and me once for all in Christ.

It is also a gift of God for us Christians here, and now!

Christ's intention, as he instituted the Lord supper, was to give his disciples an abiding gift of grace.

He took the bread gave thanks broke it and gave it to the disciple saying, this is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me.

He took the cup of wine and said, this cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you.

In these words, Jesus assures the disciples that they were receiving bread and wine in a natural manner, but also that in, with, and under the bread and wine, in the sacramental union they were receiving his true body and blood in a supernatural manner as well.

But, more than that, Christ added the promise intended for each of the disciples.

“This is my body which is given for you. “

“This cup is the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you.”

The disciples were to know that each time they celebrated the Lord Supper, Christ was offering and giving them the forgiveness of sins.

The very words of institution carried the promise of pardon.

What a blessing the Lord supper is for us.

Our greatest need in life is for the assurance of the forgiveness of sin.

Pilgrims on our journey through life, we sin every day against God and our neighbors in thought word and deed.

And how often we neglect to do the good that we should.

How often our conscience is accuses of wrongs that we have done or good left undone.

Where shall we go with our guilt?

In the Lord supper, Jesus invites us:

28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Matt 11:28

When we hear of comfort are burdened with sin:

13 But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

Luke 18:13

Or, even the Prodigal as he contemplates his situation:

18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

Luke 15:18

Like the prodigal we come to the Lord's supper with joy and confidence to hear The Promise:

This is my body given for you.
This cup and the New Testament in my blood which is shed for you.

Here. Christ says to each penitent center. I forgive you, go in peace. And as a pledge and seal of that forgiveness, he gives us his true body and blood.

Accepting this promise in faith, we can go on our way rejoicing.

Assured that God has blotted out our sins and has cast them behind his back and drowned them in the depths of the sea of his grace.

What a precious gift the Lord Supper is!

How eagerly we ought to receive this sacrament frequently to have the assurance of God's love and forgiveness of our sins.

Future

With deep emotions, Jesus gathered his disciples in the upper room on the first Maundy Thursday evening. Jesus expressed his deep feeling in these words:

15 And he said to them, “I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. 16 For I tell you I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

The time of parting had come.

Jesus was now to suffer and he knew it well. At the same time, the disciples were to be without his gracious presence for a time.

However, Jesus sees beyond the cross to the open grave to the hill of the ascension to his own coronation at the right hand of God is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

At the same time, he sees the dawn of his Kingdom of glory. When the disciples, together with all the redeemed, would be with him forever.

So, the Lord's Supper ought to remind us of the day when we will join the company of the redeemed to be with Christ forever.

Our celebration of the Lord supper is a foretaste of the blessedness of heaven.

For as we gather at the Lord's table, we express our fellowship with the Lord and with one another in the body and blood of Christ.

Paul reminds us:

17 Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.

And with one another gathered to the Lord, our bodies shall be made like Christ's glorious body.

We shall see God face-to-face. We shall be forever with the Lord and the glory. What a day and supreme joy and glory awaits us all!

As we continue to celebrate the Lord's supper for the forgiveness of our sins and the strengthening of our faith let us fill our hearts with joy as we reflect upon Christ death for us.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!

Amen

Modified Concordia Pulpit Rev. Henry Eggold c 1976

Sermon April 12-13, 2025 – Palm Sunday

Title: Triumph in humility and power in the passion!
Text: Deut. 32:36-39, Philippians 2:5-11 Luke 23:1-56

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42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

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

There is no season in the entire church year when you and I are so focused in on the one central Biblical truth, which divides all humanity - as during this celebration of our savior's passion. It is when we stand beneath the cross. That's where the whole world belongs, too.

When we go back to those hours of Jesus’ suffering, we can't help notice, in the pages of his sacred book, that God has devoted more space to the horrible and meaningful hours of his passion - and why shouldn't he? It was his payment for our sins there in the awful hours, which determined the destiny of our lives.

My whole relationship with my creator was at stake.
My peace with God was being earned.
He was dying there that I might live forever with him.

So today I ask you then, to go with me to these most intense hours of our Lord's passion. And with God’s Spirit help each one of us to see the wonderful blessing that he brought to us in this time.

To those of us who love our savior dearly, it really tears our heart out to read the opening verses of our Gospel in Luke 23. Jesus is manipulated as if all power was prevailing over him - the one who is the power of the Almighty.

The crowd raises accusations of traitorism and subversion, and yet in the life of Jesus, there never has been, and never will be, a trace of either one.

We become further distressed when we see Pilate as the spineless politician announcing:

4 “I find no guilt in this man.”

Or:

8 When Herod saw Jesus, he was very glad, for he had long desired to see him, because he had heard about him, and he was hoping to see some sign done by him.

Or, the crowds … the fickle crowds:

18 But they all cried out together, “Away with this man, and release to us Barabbas”— 19 a man who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection started in the city and for murder.

They choose Barabbas and condemn Jesus. Many still do.

Well, I guess it really ought to tear out our hearts because everything he endured in those awful hours was for you and me.

Sure, Jesus could have brushed aside Herod, Pilate, and the crowd.
He could have rejected all the suffering abuse and humiliation.

But he came into the world not to avoid all of this, but to endure it for you and for me. This was all part of the prophetic fulfillment that he would go - as a lamb to the slaughter - as a sheep, he would not open his mouth.

Isaiah had pointed ahead to this great act of redemption, this substitutionary atonement in Isaiah 53:

He was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.

And finally, when the trials were concluded and Pilate had handed him over to be crucified, and they led him through the narrow streets of Jerusalem, up the little hill to Calvary, as he fell beneath the cross, Simon of Cyrene was compelled to carry his cross for him.

Luke tells us that a great company of people, and women, followed and the tears flowed.

28 But turning to them Jesus said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For behold, the days are coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed!’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us,’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do these things when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

I know there is a tendency for us Christians to become sentimental about this entire passion of Jesus, but our Lord isn't asking for sympathy. He says our tears ought to be shed for the people. Not him.

Weep, for the people, who in their blindness of unbelief will pass up everything which he secured for them.

Weep, for all people who live as if Calvary never happened.
Weep for these, not for Jesus, who passed through death to life.
And weep for those who will pass through death to eternal death never to see the hope of Christ!

Finally, they reached the crest of Calvary and three crosses were laid on the ground. Now begins the horrible ordeal of nailing men to them.

It's repulsive even to imagine this detestable and inhumane act, even to watch and listen to the curses and to see the struggle.

Two men whose lives have been lived in rebellion against society are there, and to see the lamb of God willingly take his place between them, as a lamb to the slaughter, ought to say something to those of us who have sometimes questioned his love for us.

33 And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.

It seems to me that there is a message which emerges from each of these three crosses.

We need to hear each message. Because they speak to that one basic eternal need, which you and I and all men have - namely pardon for a lifetime of mistakes and consequently, freedom for a life eternal with God.

The very fact that God chose to arrange three crosses there, not one, means that each has something to say to us all.

We look to the cross on the left,
The impenitent one.
We know little of him.
We know that it was spent going downhill instead of up.
We know that his disregard for God and man had reached the point where his fellow men had decided. It was neither safe nor right for him to live.

We also know that he was close enough to the savior of the world that he could almost touch him.

That he heard words of forgiveness and love spoken by the Son of God is possible, but he turned a deaf ear to it all and rejected the offer of grace.

No matter how low he had fallen, he chose to stay close to his own sin - what a terrible lesson. I can think of nothing worse which could happen to those who reject God's offer of grace and forgiveness and life.

You must know from this gospel message that God loves you anyway. May a humble spirit give you and me ears to hear his loving invitation to “Come unto me and I will give you rest.”

On the right side of Jesus, there was another cross bearing the agonizing body of another man.

Much of his life apparently had been spent following the pattern of his partner in crime. Thieves and robbers as they were.

He was dying for his crimes too. However, apparently his eyes had been opened and his ears listened to the message that came from the center cross.

Perhaps, his early years could have been spent at the feet of parents who awaited the coming savior.

Or, perhaps the past three years of our savior's messages and miracles may have reached him, through the savior’s voice or others.

Possibly, he had observed Jesus during his final hours and listened to his words of love and pardon.

At any rate. God's spirit had been working on his heart. And before he drew his final breath, he sincerely confessed with a contrite heart to his partner in crime.

“Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then turning to Jesus …

42 … he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”
43 And Jesus said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Wonderful comfort. Wonderful words!

It begs a whole world of people to come and be cleansed and made alive unto God.

That's the message of the center Cross.

34 … “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

The centurion beneath the cross got the message.

11 of the 12 disciples, Got the message.

Saul the persecutor of the church, Got the message, and today there are believers in Jesus Christ to be found on every continent of this broken world.

But the real question this morning is did you get the message?

48 And all the crowds that had assembled for this spectacle, when they saw what had taken place, returned home beating their breasts. 49 And all his acquaintances and the women who had followed him from Galilee stood at a distance watching these things.

The crowd that saw the spectacle beat their breasts, and those who were acquainted with Jesus, watched at a distance.

If we, just beat our breasts and go home, saying in a sense, isn't that too bad? Then Jesus had to suffer quite a bit for nothing.

If we just go away or stand a far off and are not changed, there something terribly wrong with our response.

The question is:

What will our response to Calvary be today?

Will we lift our eyes to the center cross?

 
Praying …

 
“God, give me a faith that never loses sight of Calvary and you.”

“Give me a faith that knows that Jesus Christ lived and died and rose again for me. Give me a faith that overcomes the world.”

“Give me a faith that hears the marvelous pronouncement to me and to a world of people that he loves them.”

“That he forgives them.”

This beautiful message of forgiveness, is so perfectly illustrated by the story of a country Doctor who had served the sick and the dying for half a century.

He answered their calls for help at all hours of the day and night and finally, his labors were finished.

After his death. They discovered that many of those who had been served by him with such faithfulness, had never paid for their services. The Doctor's ledgers, had written across many of the pages – forgiven, to pour to pay.

You see, this is precisely what Jesus wrote across the ledger of your life, from the center cross - forgiven too poor to pay.

We are too poor to pay.
We can never purchase with a lifetime of mistakes the glories of heaven.
I am too poor to pay, and so, are you?

The whole world is trapped in this spiritual poverty and we are too poor to pay.

But, today from the center Cross still comes the dual message of God's Justice and love.

Justice, which says we are all guilty and too poor to pay, but love which says Jesus has already paid the price for you!

The price for you here is God's great offer. It has been extended to the whole world whom he wants back.

My prayer is that we would hear his voice not with ears that only hear sound, but with hearts opened and filled with the spirit and that we would respond:

Just as I am, without one plea, But that Thy blood was shed for me,
And that Thou bid’st me come to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come! I come!

In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!

Amen

Modified: Concordia Pulpit Rev. Paul J Foust C 1976

Sermon April 9, 2025 – Lent 6

Title: Following Jesus, Our Greatest Giver
Text: John 19:28-30

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30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Following Jesus in self-sacrifice

When our Lord Jesus was hanging on the cross, fully conscious of the work He was accomplishing and the Scriptures that he was fulfilling, He said, “I thirst,” knowing this would initiate the fulfillment of one last prophecy before He died.

So, in response to Jesus' words, the soldiers filled a sponge with wine vinegar, put it on a hyssop stick, and held it up to His mouth. And when Jesus had received the wine vinegar in fulfillment of Psalm 69:21

for My thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. He said, “It is finished.” And He bowed His head and handed over His spirit.

Our Lord Jesus died in a manner he alone could. He actively handed over His human spirit to His heavenly Father, choosing to lay down His life when He knew the time was exactly right.

No one but the Son of God could do that – simply give His spirit to God and die as an act of His own will.

But Jesus did this, because He was deliberately giving Himself as the sacrifice that completed the payment for our sin. Just as He had said before, no one took His life from Him; He lay it down of His own accord. Jn. 10:18

So, this truly was a self-sacrifice;

Jesus voluntarily gave all He could. Yes, this was the supreme sacrifice – the willing self-giving of the Son of God into death for the salvation of the world.

Now, as Jesus completed this sacrifice, He said, “It is finished,” or “It is completed.”

Not just the drinking of the wine vinegar, but every other prophecy concerning the work of the Christ up to His death was at that point completed.

Both the types, that is, the people and objects and events that foreshadowed the Savior, and the words that spoke of Him directly, all these prophecies were fulfilled.

Jesus' crucifixion marked the completion of them all.

In dying, Jesus also completed God's Law for us.

We know God's abiding commandments; they are summarized like this:

“Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Mt. 22:37-39

But we also know we sinners don't do this; we cannot do this as God requires.

We know we have not come anywhere close to fulfilling God's holy commandments, and we deserve His punishment because of it.

Yet we thank and praise God that Jesus has completed the Law on our behalf.

As true Man, Jesus was “tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.” Heb. 4:15

He resisted all temptation perfectly in our place.

And Jesus kept all the commandments in our place, coming “in the likeness of sinful man... in order that the righteous requirements of the Law might be fully met in us.” Rom. 8:3-4

We are now made righteous by the one Man's obedience – a perfect obedience that took Him all the way to the cross in keeping with His Father's will.

So, as Jesus hung on that cross and proclaimed, “It is finished,” He declared to you and me, that God's Law is also completed for us.

So too, with the death of Jesus, His work of atonement is fully finished.

We know that because of our sinfulness, we were separated from God.

We had cut ourselves off from Him and written our own eternal death warrants.

But Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to offer Himself as the sacrifice of atonement, to reconcile the world to God.

When He handed over His spirit to His heavenly Father, Jesus knew exactly what He was doing – giving His life as a ransom in the place of the many.

And with this sacrificial payment, God's righteous wrath was appeased, and our sins were fully forgiven.

So, in declaring, “It is finished,” Jesus announced the completion of the atonement

The sin of the world is paid for.
God's Law has been kept perfectly on our behalf.
The prophecies have all been fulfilled.
Jesus Christ has finished it all!
And that, dear Christians, should fill us with complete confidence in our salvation!

Since Jesus has finished all these things in His self-sacrifice, we can be fully certain our sins are forgiven, and we have everlasting life!

And that is why we can and should follow Jesus in self-sacrifice as well.

We know that because of His finished work, our salvation is secure. We don't have to worry about doing anything to earn our salvation or make ourselves acceptable to God.

Therefore, we are free to give our attention mainly to the needs of others, and sacrifice ourselves for them in love, even as our Savior has sacrificed Himself for us.

We follow Him in offering ourselves as living sacrifices.

Obviously, we cannot sacrifice ourselves just the same way as Jesus did, in atonement for the sin of the world.

Our lives could never be a sufficient ransom, and more importantly, Jesus has already finished this.

It doesn't need to be done again! But we actually can follow Jesus in offering our lives as “living sacrifices.”

That's the language God has given us in Romans chapter twelve.

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” Rom. 12:1

We hear the same teaching in 1 Peter chapter two.

“As you come to Him, a Living Stone, rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Pet. 2:4-5

It's the very thing Malachi foretold of the Lord, that He would come and purify His priestly people, that they may offer to Him an offering in righteousness. Mal. 3:3

So, what does this mean?

In view of God's mercies, Paul said – that is, because Jesus sacrificed Himself to make us pure, giving His entire self into death – we are to sacrifice ourselves entirely to God, offering Him our whole lives.

For our Savior did not give Himself for us in part.

So, we do not give back to Him in part.
We don't offer ourselves to God just on Sunday mornings or Wednesday evenings, for example.
Rather, we give Him our whole selves, all the time.
We understand that offering ourselves to God as living sacrifices involves the giving of our time.
It requires us to be faithful stewards of the time He has given us.
Yes, it means we devote to our Savior all our time.
Otherwise, we are not sacrificing our whole lives.

You see, God, both teaches us, and has graciously qualified us, to present ourselves to Him as living sacrifices – to live as His holy priests, who offer Him acceptable sacrifices through Jesus Christ, all day, every day, in our various callings.

In the passages from Romans and 1 Peter we hear several examples of Christian self-sacrifice:

serving, teaching, encouraging, giving, leading, showing mercy, living peaceably with others, submitting to governing authorities and those over us in the workplace, wives submitting to husbands, husbands honoring wives, showing compassion, suffering patiently in doing good.

In all these things, and in all our other everyday activities, we sacrifice ourselves by using our time, talent, and treasure, not just for our own benefit, but also and especially for the wellbeing of others.

Work time, school time, exercise time, study time, mealtime, chore time, recreation and relaxation time, even sleep time – it's all God's gift to us to use for purposes that please and honor Him.

This challenges us to think about the way we spend our time, doesn't it? Whatever it is I'm doing, am I doing it “for the Lord”? Col. 3:23

Am I presenting God a living sacrifice?

Am I conducting myself as a holy priest, whose sacrifice is acceptable to God?

Because our Lord sacrificed Himself wholly for us, we offer ourselves wholly to Him as living sacrifices.

This is following Jesus in self-sacrifice.

By His saving mercy, yes, our sacrifice is acceptable to God. For the sake of Jesus' finished work, God is pleased with us.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!

Amen

Sermon April 5-6, 2025

Title: Sons and daughters of the Lamb!

Text: Luke 20:9-20

Facebook live: Sons and daughters of the Lamb!

13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’ 14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

As we begin, I’d like you to think about someone else.
Someone who you know or knew.
Someone that you maybe even love.
Someone who has fallen victim to some sin or addiction.
You’ve tried to help. You’ve talked to them, prayed for them, and probably did many things to help but … nothing seemed to work.

I know a few and I’m sure you do too.
You’ve tried to get them therapy, bring in professionals, and even engaged others to help.
Nothing’s worked.
Some have even been hurt, emotionally or physically.
Do you give up? How far do you go? When is enough?

If we look at the parable that Jesus is telling in our gospel through the lens of today, maybe in a sense, we can see a contemporary example of the vineyard and the tenants.

Last Sunday afternoon, I took a ride with my friend Bow to Midland as he did a home inspection for a friend of ours.

On the way home we talked about houses, values, maintenance and the problem of renting and renters.

He told me on a friend of his who some years ago had bought a small house to fix up and rent out. He did some work himself and hired others, painted it, put in new carpet, appliances, and fixtures and rented it out hoping to have a small income from it for his future. When he rented it, he got a small security deposit and first month’s rent.

That was the last payment the renters made.

It took him quite a long while and even through the police and courts to get the renters evicted, and when he did and got the house back after they were removed, he found the house in shambles.

There were holes in the walls.
Every fixture was broken off.
Animals had ruined the carpets.
What had been fixed up nice with hard work and money was now destroyed and unlivable.

He closed the door and left to drive home, I’m sure thinking of all he had done and lost. When they found his car, he was still in the driver’s seat parked in a lot having died of a heart attack.

The tenants having in a sense killed him.

Jesus, brings to the ears of his hearers, a similar story of a home that others were living in and caring for.

“A man planted a vineyard and let it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while.

The perfect creation had been broken, but the owner of the vineyard had gathered his children into a promised land and had planned for their rescue.

Until the proper time they were to care for this vineyard of his, that had been provided.
It could be a long while before he returns.
They seemed unconcerned and unaware.

The owner desired to see what was his and how it was cared for, and to receive, as it were, some fruit from what had been planted there.

Those whom he sent to get what was his were beat, and treated poorly, wounded, and cast out, and no fruit was found or given by those in care of the vineyard.

13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘What shall I do? I will send my beloved son; perhaps they will respect him.’

14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’

Those in the vineyard didn’t listen to the owner and what he desired.
They didn’t listen to the servants that were sent.
Or, to the prophets who spoke the words of the owner to them.
They didn’t even listen to their own conscience.
Or even to the son, whom the owner thought they might respect.
What was sent in a sense, had been destroyed.

Friends, this more than a history lesson.
Those who heard the parable from Jesus had to know the story.

In chapter 5 of the book of Isaiah, God had told a story of a vineyard that He had built and how he had taken care of it, looking for a yield of grapes.

A vineyard was on a very fertile hill.
It was dug and cleared of stones, and planted with choice vines;
a watchtower was in the midst of it, as was a wine vat
and the owner of the vineyard looked for it to yield grapes

… but it only yielded wild grapes.

What else could I do he asks?

“I gave the vineyard everything and it only yielded wild grapes!”

So He makes this statement.
“I will remove the hedge from my vineyard and let it be overrun. I will break down its wall allowing it to be trampled becoming waste. No longer will I pruned or hoe it and briers and thorns shall overtake it and rain will no longer fall on it.” Isaiah 5:1-6 paraphrased

Those hearing Jesus, knew the history.
It is good to know the past, for you, and for me too.
Many times, it is good to learn from it and at times not repeat it.
For we are tenants of the Lord’s creation as well, the past is now - and the owner expects his fruit.
Not an earthly fruit as some might expect, but an eternal fruit fitting of the Lord’s creation.
He has sent his son.

14 But when the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.’ 15 And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?

The story is a serious reminder for us all.
The story is then and the story is now.
Unfortunately, the problem remains.

16 He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” When they heard this, they said, “Surely not!” 17 But he looked directly at them and said, “What then is this that is written:

“‘The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone’?

Jesus was talking again to the Scribes and the Pharisees. They had abused the vineyard, and had not provided the fruit the owner desired or expected.

But, what about you and me?
Have we been better at caring for what we have been entrusted with?
When the owner returns what will he find?

18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”

That is the Law.

 
The Law condemns and gives no hope.
Apart from Christ you can do nothing, and only expect nothing.
So, we hear how the Pharisees responded:

19 The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people. 20 So they watched him and sent spies, who pretended to be sincere, that they might catch him in something he said, so as to deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction of the governor.

This might have worked if he were just a man.

But we too, as they, have an invitation from the Lord. To bear fruit in keeping with repentance. What has been given into our care must bear fruit.

The gift we receive is not from an ordinary man, at all.
God himself, is the one who moves in our lives.
He calls us to faith in his blessed son and through that gift we receive the kingdom.
He marks us as his in baptism.

He calls us to follow him - and to be blessed with the work that God in Christ does in each one of us by his word and through his Spirit, and through that to receive the promise he has secured, by faith.

By faith the promises of God are ours!

When we think of the natural branches, and the destroying of those tenants, and the giving of the vineyard to others - we must not be blind to the expectation of the Lord. To bear fruit!

He desires that we who have been grafted in, to bear fruit and to tend his vineyard well.

He has given us the call to follow him and the blessing of knowing that he will grow, and bear fruit in each one of us.

We should also realize how broken and unworthy we truly are to understand the price God paid for your redemption, and mine - and just how truly precious you are in his sight.

So, as we return to the opening premise.

Those we’ve tried to help. How far do you go? When is enough?

The joy is that Christ desires all to be saves and he has paid the price for all.

So, our Lord will not give up on us, and will continue to seek and save the lost. And will continue to seek those we love and witness too as well.

That is his promise.

In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit
Amen

And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and your minds in and through Christ Jesus our Lord Savior now and forever. Amen

Modified: Concordia Pulpit Francis Rossow 1976