Sermon April 22-23, 2023 – 3rd Sunday of Easter

Title: God has opened the eyes of faith!
Text: Luke 24:13-35

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32 They said to each other, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem.

It is interesting to me how life has changed.

Years ago, when I was young spending time with cousins and aunts that lived in other states was limited to a week or two vacation with the family and a trip to visit. There was then the longing and wishing that we could see each other more often. I tried writing letters and being a pen pal with a few cousins, but it didn’t work for very long.

Today though, I’ve reconnected with cousins, and other relatives that live out of state.

We do it through email but more and more frequently now through text, Facebook and messenger.

That can be a very wonderful medium.

It is nice to have instant connectivity with friends and loved ones. Much of what we do is to share memories, pictures and events in our lives and remember good times and celebrate special events like, graduations, weddings and retirements.

Facebook provides a place to connect, reconnect and stay in touch. We even use this technology now to connect ourselves and services so we can stay in touch.

In the Gospel today we read of two followers of Jesus on the Emmaus Road.

15 As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself … came up and walked along with them; 16 but they were kept from recognizing him.

Remember this:

Now what they were discussing was the very hope they had … that this Jesus … was the promised Messiah.

But he had just been tried, and was crucified, dead and buried, and they heard something about being raised from the dead? They were distraught as they walked away from Jerusalem towards village of Emmaus, all hope seemed lost.

If they had Facebook you can image, they might post of a sad death.
But they were kept from recognizing the resurrected Lord.
We all are kept from recognizing our Lord and savior too.

It is only by a gift of God’s grace, through faith, that we can see … who Jesus is and what he has done. It doesn’t come from our own reason and understanding, so that is why our children are taught from little children to hear God’s word and learn about Jesus and to be in worship … so they, like we, can recognize HIM!

It is also why the responsibility for their continued involvement in church is so important and is the responsibility of their … parents and grandparents, guardians and friends.

So, they too can know Jesus.
John’s gospel tells us so.

3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. John 17:3

This Gospel truth gives faith to those who hear by the working of the Holy Spirit.

This faith points back to Jesus, and tells us who he is as both God and man and what He came to do – for you and me.

So that our eyes are opened and so we see and recognize Christ!
As the disciples continued walking:

25 Jesus said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.

Much like Jesus, those who bring God’s word to those who need to be taught, do the very same thing. They explain in the scriptures the work of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ and how through the entire word of God, both Old and New Testaments, all that Jesus came to do.

Social media also, is a way for the message to be shared both individually as Christians and by our church as we share our faith and proclaim God’s blessings in Christ.

It is a way for the cloud of unbelief to be lifted by God’s word and working.

10 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 1 Cor. 10:1-4

The reality of Jesus as both God and man is not one way of many ways to the Father, but he is THE only way. He is the way the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through Jesus, scripture teaches.

Social media is one place to shine the light of Christ in your life.

When I worked in the piano business, I had my Confirmation cross on my wall behind me as a silent witness to who I am and what I believe for all to see. It is important that we don’t hide who we are in Christ but share that truth in the way the Lord has given us. These live services on Facebook give us also a way to proclaim who we are in Christ.

28 As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus continued on as if he were going farther. 29 But they urged him strongly, “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So, he went in to stay with them.

Now pay close attention to this:

30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight.

In communion we are fed in a miraculous way the same body and blood of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ when we receive the bread and wine for the forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus and his forgiveness come to each of us through this same blessed gift and though we are confined at this time, we look to the joy of gathering and receiving - once again - this bread and wine along with the very body and blood of Jesus, for the forgiveness of our sins, and the strengthening of their faith.

32 They asked each other; “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”

It is so wonderful that God, by his grace, has given this sacrament to us all and that we partake in this gift weekly and by it we grow in faith through the word proclaimed and the knowledge of being marked as his child in the waters of Holy Baptism, one faith, one hope, one Lord, one God and father of all. Eph 4:4-6

33 They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together 34 and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” 35 Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.

This is the good news that we too can tell!

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

Amen

Sermon April 15-16, 2023 – 2nd Sunday of Easter

Title: In Christ’s wounds, peace is revealed!
Text: John 20:19-31

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26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.” 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.” 28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

People refuse to believe that which they don't want to believe, in spite of evidence. 

Apologetics, is the work of a Christian to defend what seems to some - especially those who don’t believe - as silly and not something one can prove in a reasonable way …

… that the evidence of a God who took on human form, died for the sins of the world by crucifixion and then rose from the dead three days later is just not believable.

Apologetics cannot prove that Jesus rose from the dead but it can help to show that what we as Christians believe as truth - is reasonable and trustworthy - and that a God who created a wonderful world and a humanity in his image … can also in love redeem those who have fallen into sin and have broken what God created perfect.

Richard Dawkins, an atheist, in a letter to his 10 year old daughter writes:

"And, how do we know that Earth is a small ball whirling round one of those stars, the sun?

The answer to these questions is "evidence." Sometimes evidence means actually seeing (or hearing, feeling, smelling ....) that something is true. Astronauts have traveled far enough from earth to see with their own eyes that it is round."

What I find interesting with this is that scripture knew and had made known what Dawkins needed astronauts to tell him.

In Isaiah 40:22 the prophet writes speaking of God:

22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; Isa 40:22

The word here proclaims what astronauts later confirmed by seeing. What I think Dawkins misses is that science has made wrong observations over the years that have had to be changed as new evidence became available.

Thomas in the Gospel reading too needed proof. He demanded evidence.

Many times doubt conflicts us all. We hear the word but find our own reason at war with God’s word. We hear about Easter and the resurrection and unbelief clouds our own understanding.

How can a dead man rise?
How does God take on flesh and become man … and why?
Some believe the flesh is bad and is the cause of all our problems?

Even Luther thought that if he beat into submission his own sinful flesh … hiding as it were in a monastery, that his sinful thoughts and actions could be controlled but he quickly found that his own sin went in to the monastery with him.

Many of those who come to church occasionally or only on the High Holy Days of Christmas and Easter … wrestle with unbelief.

They may say that their lack of attendance is not unbelief really, but only other pressing things in life that get in the way.

Some never come at all and are absent altogether … choosing to do something else or nothing at all rather than to come and hear God’s word which gives full acknowledgment that the path from the cross is downhill and quickly getting farther away from the truth of the resurrection.

How about you? Have you doubted God and His word?

That question needs to be answered by us all … me included.

Our Gospel today gives one account:

24 Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came.

The Bible is silent on why Thomas wasn’t with them and if you remember the words of the angel that rolled the stone away from the tomb Easter morning when he said:

7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples, (I’m assuming that this included Thomas too?) that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.”

So, it might have been just old-fashioned unbelief and distress in this Jesus who Thomas had placed his trust and hope … who was given over to Pilate, crucified and killed … dead and buried that now when the other:

25 … disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” … he said to them, “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.”
Full unbelief there; No wavering on his part; this disciple of Jesus’ now cries out:

SHOW ME THE EVIDENCE!

That is what Thomas wants, nothing more nothing less. So many in our day too just want the evidence, unless Jesus comes down to me and I can see, feel and taste … I won’t believe.

We all at times want to see the evidence. Those we love want to see it too.

We want to touch the holes in His hands and put our hand in his side or we won’t believe. Some unfortunately die in their sin never coming to faith or back to faith in the one who died in their place and then rose from the dead so that they too would rise.

But in spite and because of our sins:
In Christ’s wounds, peace is revealed!

Easter is a place and time for hope. I heard hope in a number of ways from children and adults alike. Some desiring to acolyte and some desiring to be confirmed. Hope is in Jesus and in his time and way all is made new.

26 Eight days later, his disciples were inside again, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”

Now, the irony here is amazing. Thomas, the one with unbelief, is now with those who have seen the risen Lord. They are all together and the doors are still locked! The other disciples have seen Jesus resurrected yet they also remember, very vividly the crucifixion, and all that may still come upon them. But in spite of the fear and unbelief, Jesus comes to them … in to this locked room of unbelief … and brings … peace.

Our Lord, through His word and sacraments, also comes to those who still live locked in unbelief.

Thomas, though locked in unbelief, is there with the others.

He is there when the Lord comes.
He is there where the Lord speaks.
He is there where the Spirit works.

“Peace be with you.”

By His Holy Spirit the lock of unbelief is opened and faith is given.

27 Then Jesus said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”

The evidence is there but it is the word and the Spirit that work.

28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29 Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Christ, promises that His word will achieve all that he intends, as also was proclaimed by Peter in the book of Acts in chapter 2 verse 39:
39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

Invite them to church.
Bring them to church.
Feed them at church, both physically and spiritually.
Thank them for coming.

God can work and does to enliven faith and bring peace!

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

Amen

Sermon April 8-9, 2023 – Easter Sunday

Title: Christ is raised … so you too will rise!

Text: Matt. 28:1-10

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5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen

The tomb is empty! The stone rolled away! Death conquered!
and Christ is raised from the dead!

2 And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. 3 His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. 4 And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.

God’s word here gives a very wonderful description of what happened very early on that first day of the week, Sunday morning, as an angel of the Lord rolls away the stone … not as an aid to the resurrection but as a sign to the empty tomb and the reality that Jesus had risen from the dead.

This angel rolled the stone away and used it for his own seat and such was in his appearance as lightening and as white as snow.

Can you imagine the look on the guard’s faces that were placed there to make sure that the disciples didn’t come to steal the body of the Lord.

At the sight of this angel, they trembled and became as dead men out of fear.

The evidence that Jesus had been crucified, dead and buried and was now raised from the dead - was no longer in doubt - and there was no more concern for those who were placed to guard the tomb.

As the women … those faithful who came to contend with the Lord’s body the angle says:

“Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

For this is now a place where He, Jesus, had been laid in death and He is not there;

No longer in the tomb … no longer dead … but risen and alive!

Death … a part of life that we all have had some experience with … connects us too with the death of Christ.

Even as little children we know death as a sign of fallen humanity.

We see death in nature and with the loss of family pets, and we know the reality of death in our lives with the loss of beloved relatives, siblings or parents and high-profile people in the world and that reality becomes clearer as we get older.

Our own families become the evidence of this as we see those who sustained us through life leave us, showing the reality of sin in their life and ours as they fall victim to the wages of sin and these wages bring death, a death that is assured just as our crucified Lord who breathed His last was dead as He gave up the Spirit, commending his Spirit into the Father’s hands.

I have seen this reality with fellow believers and members of Christ’s body the church as well as they too breathed their last and gave up their spirit in this life over the last few months.

The Rich’s, the Rappuhn’s, the Carlson’s and Mark Bunerak, all morning the loss of loved ones called away from the joys of this life and the ones that they loved.

How quickly it is that even one day can change our whole lives.

Those first disciples, those first followers of Jesus too felt loss.

The one in whom they had placed their hope as the Messiah and Lord had been taken from them … and this loss brought grief and confusion.

Was he too just a man?

Did he deceive all those who had placed their trust in him?

Did their hope too … die with him?

And what about our own hope?

As a pastor I get to preach at funerals and it is always a joy to remind those who are grieving and suffering loss that in Christ, death is not the end for we who cling to the blessed hope of Christ’s resurrection.

But, it is only a time of parting … for a while.

St Paul gives us the joyful hope in his epistle to the Romans in chapter 8 where he says:

38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:38-39)

7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples.

Earlier I said,

“How quickly it is that even one day can change our whole lives.”

St Luke tells us in a parallel account:

24 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. 2 And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, 3 but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. (Luke 24: 1-3)

… one day can change our whole lives …

“Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but has risen!” (Luke 24:5b)

Those blessed loved ones who just a few short weeks ago were here and struggling with their illnesses and consequences of sin are now resting in the arms of Jesus and the promise of an eternity with him.

You too, who trust in Christ, have this home waiting for you.

The blessed Good News that Jesus died for your sins - is the wonderful Gospel message you can trust.

He has forgiven your sin and has called you to faith by the Gospel and through the power of the Holy Spirit, and has given you faith to believe in Christ’s saving work.

9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Because:

Christ is raised … so you too will rise!

The good news of Easter is our present reality and hope until Christ Jesus returns in glory to gather us to himself!

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

Amen

Sermon April 7, 2023 – Good Friday

Title: Christ has been lifted up!
Text: Isaiah 52:13-53:12

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13 Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
he shall be high and lifted up,
and shall be exalted.
14 As many were astonished at you—
his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
15 so shall he sprinkle many nations.
Kings shall shut their mouths because of him,
for that which has not been told them they see,
and that which they have not heard they understand.

A few weeks ago, as I was getting ready for Bible Study on Sunday morning, Kim Deckard came in with tears running down her face. She said, “I just passed a house on Scott Lake, road and it burned to the ground over night! I’m so sad.”

When confronted with the whys of life, we in many cases turn to despair and grief. So many in our church live with grief and the knowledge of continued suffering.
Some lose loving parents and find it hard to go on without them daily in their lives;

Some deal with their own suffering and the daily pain that endures;
Some just wish to depart this life and have the suffering they endure … end.
It is with Good Friday and the suffering of Jesus that we too can call out with persistent cries, “why?”
Jesus’ life was service and healing not crime.
He turned no one away.
He gave sight to those who were blind, raised the dead and told the woman caught in adultery;

“Neither do I condemn you … Go and sin no more.” John 8:1-11

As Isaiah says:

… he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows
… was afflicted, pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities;
He was oppressed, he opened not his mouth, he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people and they made his grave with the wicked
Though he had done no violence and no deceit was in his mouth.

Through suffering God declares his love.

Isaiah called the Suffering Servant oppressed, and like a sheep being led to the slaughter he was silent.

Yet, there was a purpose for his suffering. It was for the transgressions the sins of the people. For sin, he would die, he would be cut off and make his grave with the wicked.

11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities. [sins]

Through suffering God will bring peace to Israel through His servant. God promises good news, peace, happiness and salvation to His people Israel.

It is also made known that God chooses to be the God of all people and that the way he will accomplish this is through his servant.

The Lord will be the one who brings salvation to all the earth.

Paul speaks of this in Philippians 2 when he says:

… though [Jesus] was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Jesus was lifted up though many were appalled at his appearance.

He was disfigured almost to the point of not being recognized as human.

Sin needed an atoning sacrifice that was without blemish and acceptable to appease God’s wrath.

God provided the sacrifice himself in His Son – God in the flesh - who was the spotless Lamb of God. The price of the servant’s sinless life and death brought peace for you and for me.

Through suffering we have peace and healing.

he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.

When you suffer you are connected to Christ Jesus the Suffering Servant.

By being connected to him, when we too suffer, we can know God’s true love for us as he endured all for you and for me … even death.

Christ’s model is our victory.

14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. Heb. 4:14

Because of Christ’s death we know that death has been conquered by him once and for all.

Death has been swallowed up in victory.

15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Heb. 4:15

Because of Christ’s sinless life and death in our place we have received what he earned for us by faith in him - namely our forgiveness and salvation.

Remember though, he didn’t do it for himself … he did it for you!

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Heb. 4:16

Because Jesus suffered, we can understand suffering as it pertains to sin and the brokenness in this world. Not as something from God but as a result of the corrupted world broken by sin.

Christ’s victory is you victory!

Christ’s forgiveness is your forgiveness!

By his death you receive eternal life in his name!

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

Sermon April 6, 2023 – Maundy Thursday

Title: The fruit of forgiveness for you!
Text: Exodus 24:3-11, Heb 9:11-22, Matt 26:17-30

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18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” 19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

There are things in this life that we can teach our children and there are things in this life that we can give to them.

Some things are left as an inheritance from parent to child and may bring temporal blessings for a time. But the true joy we hope to leave them is faith in Christ, and this can only be given through the proclamation of the gospel and the bestowing of faith by the working of the Holy Spirit. We continue to pray that the Lord in his time and in his way will accomplish this salvation.

17 Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?”
A few times in the past we’ve hosted Jews for Jesus and their presentation, Christ in the Passover.

If you were able to come you saw and heard about a Passover Seder, this Feast of Unleavened Bread  is a seven–day feast that coincides with Passover, during which no leaven is to be eaten.

Now today we celebrate the institution of the Lord’s Supper and begin the culmination of Jesus coming and his work as we walk to the cross with him. At the cross he will finish his work and free the world from sin, death and the power of the devil for you and for me.

It had been the custom for Jesus and the Jewish people to celebrate the Feast of the Passover in remembrance of their delivery out of slavery and bondage in Egypt and Jesus gives them specific instructions:

18 He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, my time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’”19 And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

Two of the disciples, Peter and John, were commissioned to attend to this work, Jesus giving them another bit of evidence as to His omniscient (all knowing) power. They were to go to a certain place, which Christ designated very exactly, to a man whom He also described to them, and give him a message.

The Lord's time was near, even at hand, the time when He would be taken up into glory through suffering and death. With him, in this certain man's house, He would celebrate the Passover with His disciples. It is likely, as has been suggested, that this man was a disciple of Jesus in secret, just as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were. The disciples carried out the wishes of Jesus, acting as his representatives to the householder in making all arrangements for the evening.

18 [Jesus] said, “Go!”

The Lord gave instructions and they were followed by the disciples. We though, as Christ’s followers, fall short of what he expects by not doing what God calls us to do because of our sinful flesh. We are not strong in faith, or evangelism, or outreach, or prayer, or devotion or love toward neighbor. It is who we are as sinners … but that is no excuse. We also know what God demands of us and in repentance we turn from sin.

C.S. Lewis put it this way:

Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition, when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.

C.S. Lewis.

Far too easily pleased; are you?

Do you seek in prayer what are the desires of your heart, believing that God too desires to give them to you? And what is the desire of your heart? That, in of itself, says quite a bit about you and me.

Do we seek things temporal or things eternal?

Is it selfish gain or blessings for those who are truly in need?

The Lord knows your true need and mine … and it is this that He desires to give you.

21 And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

We understand Judas’ betrayal. Jesus says it would be better that he had not been born. That says something about life, death and eternal punishment. But do you and do I betray the Lord? Do we not do what He has called us to do in giving others what has been given to us? Namely, the Good News; is there a time that you remember an opportunity presented that you missed in sharing the gospel?

I do.

Ill.

As a pastor who does hospital visitation, I can think of one time in particular where I missed an opportunity. Leaving a visit at St. Joes, as I waited for the elevator door to open, a lady chaplain walked by, as we looked at each other, she saw my collar and I saw someone of Indian descent. It was a quick and very brief, “Hello.” I was thinking of my next call or business to attend to. She said, “How are you?” I answered, “Very well, thank you and how are you?”

As she answered the door opened and as is habit, I got on the elevator smiling as we parted. As I descended to the lobby, I thought to myself … Why didn’t I remember to ask a few questions?

Could I have asked how long she had been a Chaplin, what was the hardest part of her job?

Does the hospital use volunteer Chaplains?

What comfort does she offer patients? Anything … but I didn’t.

Instantly I fell short and it was brought to my attention by the Holy Spirit.

Sure, I’ve done the opposite many times where I’ve shared my faith … I just don’t remember those as vividly as I do the times I fall short … and that is good. It is the Lord’s work.

But Jesus’ work was coming to a close - like the Passover - and soon He would go to the cross. Giving us this new gift – the Lord’s Supper - that he left for us until his glorious return that we celebrate tonight.

26 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” 27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom.”

Jesus gave His body and blood as a gift for his disciples. He continues to give this same gift for we who, as his followers, continue to need to have our faith strengthened as we struggle with our own sinfulness in this life.

"We Christians confess and believe that the Sacrament of the Altar is the true body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, under the bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink, instituted by Christ Himself.

We cannot understand how Jesus at that time, while standing in visible form before His disciples, could give them His body, His blood to eat and to drink, nor how the risen Christ, though in heaven, can be present everywhere on earth with His body and blood, wherever this meal is celebrated according to His institution.

But the word of Christ is clear and true, and we also know from the scriptures that the body of Christ, had a higher, form of being, even in the days of His humility, in addition the risen Christ is not locked up in heaven.

As Luther said, we take our reason captive to the word of God and thank him for the great blessing of this Blessed Sacrament. From it we gain the knowledge and certainty of our forgiveness of our sins.

In guaranteeing to us his grace this sacrament points forward, just like the Passover meal, to the end of the journey, to the meal of eternity, when the Lord will drink it with us in His Father's kingdom."

Kretzmann NT Vol 1 pg146

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

Amen

Sermon April 1-2, 2023 - Palm Sunday

Title: At the name of Jesus … death is overcome!
Text: Phil. 2:5-11

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9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 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.

When I first served here at Peace many years ago as President of the congregation, I use to have to lead meetings. Some were congregational, council and Voters meeting and some were smaller board meetings. At times we dealt with issues that could be a bit contentious and there would be people on both sides of the issue.

When I put the agenda for the meetings together, I always added a scripture verse at the bottom of the page. It was there for all to see but it was mostly there for me … as a reminder.

The scripture was Philippians 2 verses 3 and 4 of our Epistle today. It read:

3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. 4 Each of you should look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. NIV 1984

It was there to remind me to be humble in how I served the church and how I need to deal with others who also serve the church.

It is what Paul, in writing the church at Philippi, wanted them and us to know.

After the introduction to his letter Paul says and I paraphrase:

2 If you have any encouragement from being brothers and sisters in Christ, if you can bring comfort to those who might be hurting, or be a bit more loving as we share our common faith, be tender and show compassion …

then you make my joy complete, Paul says; being like-minded, and having the same love - being of one spirit and of one mind.

We are often anything but … of one mind.

We are like the Philippians who needed of a reminder from Paul, the apostle and from God’s word - what humility looks like. In servanthood and obedience to Jesus

Humility comes to us in our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. He took on our humanity and became man humbling himself in the form of a servant to serve you and me.
I’m reminded of that TV show that I’ve seen a few times Undercover Boss.

The show’s format features the experiences of senior executives [or business owners] working undercover in their own companies to investigate how their business really works and to identify how they can improve it and help their hard-working employees.

The workers don’t know that the new employee working with them is actually … the boss.

He investigates what is going on with the people, the workers.

At times he has to tell someone in charge that they are not doing a good job – as Jesus did with the Pharisees - who were keeping the letter of the Law and not the Spirit of the Law and reminding them when they accused him of not keeping the Sabbath – that it was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

Also, at times an employee on the show needs help and the boss gives that help to one in need.

This analogy only goes so far as we can all fall victim to our own self-righteousness and work righteousness thinking that if we only do enough good, we are acceptable to God.

This is not true.

But what we do see in the show is that the people only know the boss’s true identity after it has been revealed to them.

For you and me and for all born in the natural way, the truth, is revealed by the Holy Spirit through the word.

At time the word points to our failings – which condemn us, and at time it is the comfort of the Gospel that points to Jesus and his work on our behalf.

We and those in Philippi, whom Paul is writing to, know Christ. They have been brought to faith by the Holy Spirit and now Paul is pointing them and you and me to the humility of Jesus and how as followers of his … we all need this same humble attitude.

Paul says:

5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.

Though Jesus is God in the flesh, he made himself nothing – for you.

Though Jesus is God in the flesh, he was humble and obedient – for you.

Though Jesus was God in the flesh, he went to and died on the cross – for you.

His ride into Jerusalem, on Palm Sunday, veiled the agony on what lay ahead – for him.
In the week to come Jesus would be deceived, accused, tried, condemned, denied, mocked, and forsaken – crying from the cross:

46 … “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Having completed his course Jesus yielded up his spirit. He died.
The Earth shook and those dead saints who were raised came out of their tombs just like Lazarus from our reading last week. They appeared to many. So much for guarding the tomb of Jesus ... we might think. But still they come because it is Jesus’ resurrection that changes everything.

It is Jesus … who changes everything – for you!

No longer are you dead in sin but now in Christ you are raised to newness of life.

No longer are you lost in a broken and corrupted world but because of Christ and his death there is for you - because of the humble Lamb of God - a life eternal.

9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,

Jesus’ true identity which had been veiled at his coming in the flesh will be revealed by his glorious resurrection and his rising from the grave. And just as he has conquered sin, death and the devil by his active obedience, we who receive this gift in a passive way through word and sacrament, have all that Jesus won for us and promised to us.
That where he is - we will be also!

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.

In humility Jesus came to be your king!

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

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

Sermon March 29, 2023 - Lent 6

Title: Small Catechism’s Six Chief Parts 6. The Lord’s Supper
Text: Hebrews 5:1-10

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8 Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. 9 And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, 10 being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

The final part in our Six Chief parts of Luther’s Small Catechism is The Lord’s Supper or Holy Communion. This follows the Ten Commandments – God’s Law – how God desires us to live, the Apostles Creed – the Good News of who God is and what he has done for us and continues to do in us, and the Lord’s Prayer which leads us in to prayer and communication with God and how he sustains us.

We then follow this with Baptism and the means that God uses to bring us into his family, and how we repent and confess our sin and receive the comfort of the Lord’s forgiveness from the mouth of his under shepherds.

For Luther the sacraments were a unique gift of God. It was both commanded by Christ, conveyed the forgiveness of sins, and had a visible element attached to it.

In baptism Christ commands us to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The water and word united and by the working of the Holy Spirit faith brings we who are born in sin to faith in Christ washes away our sin and marks us as one redeemed by Christ.

In the Lord’s Supper Jesus takes bread and wine saying,

26 … “Take, eat; this is my body.”27 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matt 26:26-28

The supper is a real meal and real nourishment for the soul. It feeds us, it reminds us of Christ’s sacrifice for us, it comforts us with the forgiveness that he won at the cross and it strengthens our faith as we depart in the Lord’s peace.

Luther’s teaching was always very practical. Take God at his word. Don’t say more than God has said – or speculate how this can be and don’t understand less than the clear meaning the words indicate.

Some Christian denominations do just that. They believe less than what the teachings of Christ indicate or the say more in explanation than what the word of God allows.

Lutherans allow for tension in the word of God.
How can God be one and yet distinct in three persons?
How can Christ be fully God and fully man?
How can God be eternal and born of a virgin?
How can bread and wine be the body and blood of Christ?

Lutheran’s believe that the bread and wine are and truly remain bread and wine. The words of our Lord also say, “This is my body and this is my blood” indicating the real presence of Jesus body and blood – in with and under the bread and wine.

Real Presence and in with and under are words Lutheran’s use to say that in the sacramental action we receive bread and wine in our eating and drinking but also in a mysterious way receive also the body and blood of the Lord by our mouths. It is not a Spiritual reception only. It is not only bread and wine. It is not only body and blood appearing as bread and wine.

It is truly bread and wine and body and blood – for you - and it is a mystery.

We remember daily all that the Lord has done for us. We can remember all that the Lord has done for us without ever receiving the Lord’s Supper. So why has God instituted this gift? There must be a reason that the Lord commands us to do this in remembrance of me?

Pastor Ron Moritz in my class on the Lord’s Supper some 25 years ago talked about a vacuum cleaner. He drew a picture of the vacuum on the black board and asked what else do we need to get power to the vacuum? A cord! He then drew a cross at the other end of the black board and connected the cord from the vacuum to the cross saying - when we receive the Lord’s Supper we are connected to the work of Jesus at the cross. It is not a re-sacrifice and it is not only a remembrance. We are connected to the once and for all sacrifice for sins and receive that same body and blood given and shed for you each time you do this in remembrance of me.

16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever should believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16 KJV

The message of forgiveness in the wonderful proclamation of John’s gospel in John 3:16 is the Good News of what God has done for us in Christ. This gospel proclamation is also the Good News that you receive in the sacrament of the altar. That same forgiveness won at the cross by Jesus is the same Good News received by you.

As Luther explains in the Small Catechism:

What is the benefit of such eating and drinking?

That is shown us in these words: Given, and shed for you, for the remission of sins; namely, that in the Sacrament forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation are given us through these words. For where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.

In the Lord’s Supper or Lord’s Table it is also called Holy Communion or just Communion.

By Definition of Communion Webster says: It is an act or instance of sharing.

There is both a connection between God and neighbor. As we gather in communion to receive the Lord’s Supper, we receive from the Lord his gift of bread and wine, and body and blood for the forgiveness of our sin. We also gather with others showing a communion one with another that we believe, teach and confess these truths one with another. This communion, or fellowship, or Koinonía - meaning life together, is seen most beautifully as we together gather in common fellowship to receive the Lord’s forgiveness together.

As Luther says in the Catechism’s explanation:

How can bodily eating and drinking do such great things?

It is not the eating and drinking indeed that does them, but the words which stand here, namely: Given, and shed for you, for the remission of sins; and he that believes these words has what they say and express, namely, the forgiveness of sins.

Faith receives the blessing and benefit given in the Lord’s Supper but it does not require faith to make Christ’s body and blood present with the bread and wine – it is God’s word, this is my body and this is my blood that does that - and is why those who are not baptized and part of the Communion of Saints or believe differently are asked to not communion.

As Luther also says:

But he that does not believe these words or doubts is unworthy and unfit; for the words for you require altogether believing hearts.

One of my classes at the seminary was Heaven and Earth the gifts of Christ in the divine service and as part of this the Lord’s Supper was of great importance.

It is where Heaven and Earth meet.

It is where we gather to receive the Lord’s gifts and where God feeds and sustains us in Christ.

It is a foretaste of Heaven on Earth until the Lord returns to gather us all unto himself and why we should receive the Lord’s Supper often.

Do this often … in remembrance of me.

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

Amen