Sermon June 18-19, 2022

Title: Proclaim the Lord’s love always!
Text: Luke 8:26-39

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39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

In trying times, it is nice to hear good news!

The food you need is in stock here, and it’s on sale!

Gas is cheaper at this station!

I have an extra free ticket would you like to go!

When we know or hear of a good deal or have other good news, we like to share it and take advantage of it. Our gospel reading for today is one of trying times and good news!

26 Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons.

In Luke’s gospel Jesus, having calmed the storm on the Sea of Galilee, now makes land fall in the region of the Gerasenes.

Gadara was one of the cities of the Decapolis, or "Ten Cities," that were originally inhabited primarily by Greek people who settled in the region after the time of Alexander the Great's conquest.

After the Romans occupied the region from about 65 B.C., Gadara was made the capital of the Roman province of Peraea.

Gadara was located east of The Jordan River on a mountain about 6 miles / 10 kilometers south-east of The Sea of Galilee. The people of Gadara were known as Gadarenes, although the general area was also known as the "[region] of the Gerasenes" after the city of Gerasa which was about 45 miles / 73 kilometers farther south. They were still mostly Gentiles in the time of Christ, as indicated by their keeping of pigs.

Wayne Blank http://www.keyway.ca/htm2003/20030210.htm

The region Jesus traveled was opposite from Galilee, it was not Jewish but Greek, not clean but unclean. But still he came. Those who had lived there had even been living in tombs … another reference to being unclean.

Jesus encounters a man who is possessed by a demon.

28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice,

“What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most-High God? I beg you, do not torment me.”
It is not the man who speaks but the demon that controls and enslaves him.

It is so harsh a trial for the man that he is bound in chains, under guard and even breaking free is driven into the desert by the demon.

Jesus asks the demons name and is told “Legion.”
How great a possession must this have been? In Jesus day a Roman Legion may have contained 3000 to 6000 Roman foot soldiers. You can imagine how trying a time this had been and how much torment this man must have endured.

This Legion begged to not be cast into the Abyss … a place of torment but also, they recognize the power Jesus had over them and continues to have over the power of Satan in our day and they beg him to let them enter these pigs. So, he gave them permission.

33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.

The reaction of the pigs shows me the utter despondency that those afflicted by demos must have felt. How too, those dealing with mental illness must feel as times lost.

I’m reminded of dear Veretta Cheal.

40 years of mental illness and dealing with depression I wondered how I was going to deal with it as her pastor?

When I would call Veretta, she would put me off not wanting a visit. It would sound to me as though someone was speaking for her.

“No …. Today is not a good day.”

But my sales background kept me involved and I kept asking questions as to get a visit set up. On our visits we would pray, at times with her daughter Debbie and also with Kathy Zolbe who lived next door.

When Veretta would have a break from the depression the joy in her voice was so inspiring and welcoming! What had been difficult became a great joy for me!

The reaction to the casting out of the demons was quite telling:

34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35 Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

Who is this man and what has he done? The livelihood of the herdsmen is gone. The people are afraid. Who is the Jesus and why is he here?

36 And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. 37 Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.

Is the attitude simply, as long as I’m good things in life are alright?

Is there no though of those afflicted?

No caring for the plight of the lost?

No joy in seeing peace in the one who had been burdened?
Do we at times cast Jesus away, preferring the sinful world as it is?

So, Jesus got into the boat and returned.

At Pentecost we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit to indwell and possess us pointing us to the Jesus the Christ of God where hope and peace is.

Last week on Trinity Sunday we celebrated the work of our triune God, Father Son and Holy Spirit who creates, redeems and sustains us through the trying times of this life unto the life everlasting that awaits all who hold to the blessed Hope that is found only in Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today, many who have been called to faith in Christ ask Jesus to leave, preferring the slop of the world and the Stys that the pigs of disobedience inhabit.

Do we tell others of the deals that the world has to offer, or do we tell them the truly Good News that in Christ there is an eternity we can possess, freely given and freely received?

Do we crave all that the world pretends to give, or do we gather together with brothers and sisters in Christ to receive the gifts that the Lord has to give to you and me?
38 The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 39 “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”

And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.

The proclamation of the Good News continues! It is proclaimed here publicly and it is proclaimed in the lives of each one of you as you live out your Christian faith in the world.

Joy in the hope that is Jesus.

Invite those in desperation to cast all their cares on the Lord.

“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”

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

 

Sermon June 11-12, 2022 – Trinity

Title: Holy, Holy, Holy the fullness of God!
Text: John 8:48-59

Facebook live: Holy, Holy, Holy the fullness of God!

58 Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.

During the Thirty Years' War in the 17th century, German pastor Paul Gerhardt and his family were forced to flee from their home. One night as they stayed in a small village inn, homeless and afraid, his wife broke down and cried openly in despair. To comfort her, Gerhardt reminded her of Scripture promises about God's provision and keeping. Then, going out to the garden to be alone, he too broke down and wept. He felt he had come to his darkest hour.

I thought of the War in Ukraine and saw a picture from a news article:

This now-viral photo shows a father cradling his dead son head and sobbing as the teenager’s body lay on a stretcher in a Ukrainian hospital. Our loving God know the state of this broken world and he knows the loss of a son as well. His only begotten son our Lord Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for sin.

It is often in our darkest times that God makes His presence known most clearly. He uses our sufferings and troubles to show us that He is our only source of strength. And when we see this truth, we receive new hope. Are you facing a great trial? Take heart. Put yourself in God's hands. Wait for His timing. He will give you the Lord’s peace.

Our Daily Bread, May 7, 1992.

https://www.denisonforum.org/daily-article/this-now-viral-picture-makes-the-ukrainian-crisis-personal-trusting-god-when-his-timing-is-not-ours/

And on this Trinity Sunday (Weekend) we look to the hope that is our one true God who has revealed himself as one divine essence, but also as three unique and coequal persons … Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And to this divine essence Jesus claimed Sonship, for the work He came to do and was to accomplish, in only what God could do in Christ by taking on human flesh and laying down His life for the sins of the world, paying the price that you and I could never pay and to this work and revelation Jesus claimed:

Before Abraham was, “I AM”!

The question that the Jews ask Jesus and the question that is asked many times over about Him; are you God?

The Jews first say that Jesus is a Samaritan and accuse Him of having a Demon! To which Jesus replies:

49 … “I do not have a demon, but I honor my Father, and you dishonor me. 50 Yet I do not seek my own glory; there is One who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death.”

Well, this really gets under their skin because they are now convinced more than ever that Jesus has a Demon because they know that:

‘Abraham died, as did the prophets, yet you say, ‘If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.’

Unbelief really has them messed up. So, they press the issue:

53 Are you greater than our father Abraham, who died? And the prophets died! (… and here comes the big question …)

Who do you make yourself out to be?”

The question that the Jews want to know is the same question that human reason can never grasp. How can this man be God? Their reason tells them that this man Jesus is not yet fifty years old so how can he say that:

56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. (and that) He saw it and was glad.”

Then Jesus makes one more statement that really causes grief and anger among the Jews. He says:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Truly, Christ Jesus got their attention with this statement; claiming to be God and using God’s divine name!

In Genesis Chapter 15 God’s word says:
“… the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.” Gen 15:1b And then He says:

“I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” Gen 15:7b

To claim God’s name, was an offense for the Jews. For many in our day as well, the divine name of Jesus is an offense. In the gospel of John Jesus uses the divine name seven times.

1. I AM the Bread of Life (6:35, 41, 48)
2. I AM the Light of the World (8:12; cf. 9:5)
3. I AM the Gate (10:7, 9)
4. I AM the Good Shepherd (10:11, 14)
5. I AM the Resurrection and the Life (11:25)
6. I AM the Way and the Truth and the Life (14:6)
7. I AM the True Vine (15:1)

On the Feast of the Holy Trinity we understand that I AM is one God and that this one God is revealed as Father Son and Holy Spirit. The Athanasian Creed is long, has a strange name, is repetitive and may even appear confusing. We as LCMS Lutheran’s hold to the three Ecumenical Creeds but recite the Apostles Creed on non-communion midweek services and the Nicene Creed on communion weekends, but the Athanasian Creed is recited traditionally on Trinity weekend so we can be reminded of what the catholic (small “c” universal) faith is.

To know the true God is to know who he is and to know what He has done.

Our Creeds help us know God and confess what we believe.

Martin Luther thought highly of the Athanasian Creed. He said of it:

I doubt whether, since the time of the Apostles in the New Testament Church, a more important and glorious creed has been written.

(W 6:2315) JMK

So why is it important? Well, is it important to know the truth?

Is Jesus truly God, the great I AM or is He an impostor?

Is the Holy Spirit God?

Is the Father, God?

The first commandment says: You shall have no other Gods before me. So, if one claims to be what they aren’t … they are a fraud!

To claim to be what you are not can be a crime. To claim to be God, if you are not, is blasphemy.

The glory that God seeks as Father is to honor the Son. This honor is pointed to as we heard last weekend by the Holy Spirit who is coequal with the father and the Son.
54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’

The glory that Jesus has is given because He is God in the flesh and truly worthy. Not a glory that Jesus gives himself but a glory that is bestowed because he is truly God.

The Athanasian Creed declares the truth of God as Trinity and the uniqueness of God in diversity of persons. God has come to stand in your place and you see the fullness of God in Christ Jesus who takes away your sin and the sins of the world. In Christ you have the fullness of God standing in your place and taking your sin upon himself, nailing it to the cross forever.

In Christ the Father is well pleased and in Christ you are seen by the Father covered by Christ’s righteousness made possible by the working of the Holy Spirit who has created faith in you to believe

and trust in Christ’s finished work.

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

Sermon June 4-5, 2022 - The Day of Pentecost

Title: God’s Spirit points to Jesus!
Text: John 14:23-31

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

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St. Ignatius writes of the Holy Spirit:

But the Holy Spirit does not speak His own things, but those of Christ, and that not from himself, but from the Lord; even as the Lord also announced to us the things that He received from the Father. For, says He, “the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s, who sent Me.” And says He of the Holy Spirit, “He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever things He shall hear from Me.” And He says of Himself to the Father, “I have, glorified Thee upon the earth; I have finished the work which, Thou gavest Me; I have manifested Thy name to men.” And of the Holy Ghost, “He shall glorify Me, for He receives of Mine.”

The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians Chapter IX

In our Gospel reading for today Jesus says:

23 “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the fathers who sent me.

There is a unique use of the singular and plural. Jesus says his words are the Fathers who sent him. There is a connection between Son and Father. Last week it was … 22b that they may be one even as we are one,

Farther and Son are both unique and distinct but we are told also still one in a unity.

Some years ago, I went to the church in Berkley to get the organ they were giving us. Evola Music sent two drivers for the moving of the organ.

Some work could be done by one person, some two and on occasion the third man was needed. I removed the speakers in the back myself and the drivers were able to get the console on the dolly and off the Chancel steps. However, when it was found that the organ didn’t fit in the elevator it needed to go down a ramp and a third man was needed, and that helper was me. I held the balance and guided the organ down the ramp – not doing the heavy lifting but guiding and pointing and helping the instrument through the opening and into the truck.

In the same way when the organ was installed here, I served as a helper. Handing up and drill to Mike the installer so he didn’t have to come down the ladder or aiding with the raising of the speakers on to the scaffolding so they could be lowered into the speaker chambers.

As a helper, it required me to aid, point, guide, lift and to help those who were doing what they were called here to do.

In answer to the Third Article of the Creed, Martin Luther writes in the Small Catechism:

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Ghost has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church He forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.

As we celebrate Pentecost today, we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit. Not that the Holy Spirit was inactive because this is the same Spirit of God who in Genesis 1:

… was hovering over the face of the waters. 2 [Though] the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.

This is also the same Spirit of God that the disciples received when Jesus 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.” John 20:22-23

This is the same Spirit of God given in baptism that creates faith in the heart of the one being baptized, pointing to all that Jesus has done in his atoning work and bringing from death to life we who are dead in trespass and sin, making us alive in Christ and giving us the gift of faith to believe.

This is the same Spirit of God that is in you - throughout the life of the believer - that aids, points, guides, comforts, helps, and does battle against the world, the flesh and the devil keeping you and me united to Christ by faith as we daily die and rise in repentance and forgiveness – being sorry for our sin and knowing God’s true peace and comfort that we who are repentant are truly forgiven.

25 years ago I learned a song called “Some may trust in horses” It was taken from Psalm 20 Verses 6 through 8.

6 Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed;
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with the saving might of his right hand.
7 Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.
8 They collapse and fall,
but we rise and stand upright.

Today, and especially as Christians in the United States, we look for solutions to the problems we face, the breakdown of society, and granted we have a voice to speak up, to lobby our elected officials and governmental leaders, and also to vote for the freedoms we enjoy of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness granted to us in this wonderful Constitutional Republic we enjoy called the United States of America.

But, when our hope is placed in those whom we elect, and in those whom we support, we place our trust in horses and chariots and the men and women who hold that power instead of the name of our God – Jesus Christ our Lord.

In our Old Testament reading today the people had a plan:

“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” Gen. 11:4

The leaders and the people had a plan to build to the heavens to worship self to do things their way … to trust in horses and chariots if you will. But God dispersed them by confusing their language.

But, on the Day of Pentecost – as they were in one place – the Lord sent a rushing wind and tongues of fire that rested on the Apostles, and as they spoke those gathered were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language:

7 And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language?
And who were those that heard this word and understood?

Well, they were …

9 Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, 11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.”

Those of Babel who proposed to build a tower were confused and dispersed by God in a miraculous way are now united in a common understanding by a similar miraculous way. God’s Spirit now brings understanding and clarity to what God has done for me and you in Christ.

The unity of the message won’t happen by sword, or by vote, or by the philosophical worldview of the leaders. It won’t come about by capitalism, socialism or communism. It won’t come about by taking from the rich and giving to the poor – that was the philosophy of Robin Hood –not our God.

It only comes about through the word of the Gospel and by the working of the Holy Spirit.

In his letter to the Philippians Paul makes clear what we should know:

12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do all this through [Christ] who gives me strength. Phil 4:12-13 NIV

That is the work of the Holy Spirit to aid, to point, to guide, to comfort, and to help in all situations – pointing us to what Jesus has done for you and me. May that be your peace and comfort now and always.

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

Amen