Sermon January 27-28, 2024

Title: God’s Steward’s: Singular yet Plural!

Text: Romans 12:1–8; 1 Peter 4:8–11; John 17:14–24

Facebook live: God’s Steward’s: Singular yet Plural!

“each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” 1 Pet 4:10

Today as we hear God’s Word regarding the fourth stewardship principle in our series, we want to keep in our hearts and minds the three principles we’ve already covered.

The first is “God’s stewards are God’s stewards,”
The second is “God’s stewards are managers, not owners,”
The third, is “God’s stewards are saints and sinners.

And that brings us to our fourth stewardship principle:

God’s Stewards Are Uniquely Singular, yet Profoundly Plural

“God’s stewards recognize that their lives are not solo performances but are personal responses to God, lived out within the community of faith to benefit the whole world.”

We’ve all heard the Church called a family. And we’re all aware that the Bible speaks of us as God’s children, and therefore as brothers and sisters in Christ.

Even though the family analogy is a good and helpful one, God also describes our unique relationship in terms of each of us being a member of one Body (the Body of Christ).

Can you imagine if members of, say, Pistons, the Tigers, the Lions, or the Red Wings didn’t work  purposefully, using their individual, unique skills and talents for common goals … well the Lions, Wings and Tigers seem to get it but not so much the Pistons!

We thank the Lions for this great season and their work and look forward to this game today!

But the body of Christ needs is a bit different.

It’s the creation of God. It’s the Holy Christian Church—the communion of saints as we confess in the Apostles’ Creed. And according to Scripture, the Church, which is the sum of all believers, is the Body of Christ, and the Lord Jesus is its Head.

As humans are composed of body and soul together, our bodies are made up of different members, and each has special characteristics, different looks, and unique functions that are all cohesively part of one body. Each of our body parts is valuable.

So, it is with us as individual members of the Body of Christ.

By the power of his Spirit, through his Gospel Word and Baptism, God creates the members of his Body—the Church—and he gifts each of those members with special talents and privileges to use with the other members. That’s so that that the whole Body may function as God has designed it to do, so the Body will be healthy and able to carry out its individual and collective purposes.

Last Sunday when we explored the third stewardship principle, God’s stewards are saints and sinners, and learned that our flesh is still completely infected by sin, that its nature is self-serving, and because of this we naturally wish to operate more autonomously. That’s why many people think that stewardship is really a personal matter between themselves and the Lord that concerns no one else. However, that understanding is not from God.

In our first reading this morning, the apostle Paul writes, “so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another” (Rom 12:5).

There is no doubt that we are individuals, each gifted in special and unique ways, and that stewardship  a very personal response to God’s grace and love. Yet at the same time, stewardship serves the community—the common unity—the one Body, of which we are members.

In Romans 14, Paul explains,

“For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” Rom 14:7–8

And in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul teaches further with a question:

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” 1 Cor 6:19–20

Your own body is one unit even though it’s made up of many parts.

That’s the way it is with Christ’s Body, the Church. Paul reminds us that we were all baptized by one Spirit (the Holy Spirit) into one body—whether Jew or Gentile, whether we’re black, white, Latino, or Asian,

“each has received a gift, to use and to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace” 1 Pet 4:10

God has gifted each of you individually.

Not so that we can keep them to ourselves, and use them exclusively for our own benefit. Rather, we have those gifts so they would be responsibly used to God’s glory. God has gifted you with time, talents, and treasure so you may serve yourself, your family, your community and the needs of our common society.

But he’s also gifted you so you may serve the Body of Christ Jesus.

And the Body of which he made you a member [the church] is eternal, so that it will go on living, functioning, and serving after all the other things you serve with your time, talents, and treasure have passed away.

In 2 Corinthians 8, St. Paul teaches that part of the idea of giving and serving the Body of Christ is so everyone will get along well.

At some time, you may be the one who is physically or spiritually in need, and those who are healthy or who have more of life’s resources at the time should provide for your needs.

Then, when you’re healthy or your resources are more, you can be of help to someone else in the Body of Christ.

All members and their contributions of time, talents, and treasure are important, especially the things that aren’t so visible or those that appear less important. And all functions of the body are important, whether Sunday School, VBS, Bible studies, the youth, Parish and Altar Guild, Trustees, or volunteer service of any kind as a disciple and follower of Jesus.

Your very presence in church and in Bible study is of spiritual help and encouragement to others; just being there is important.

We don’t do what we do as Christians, as brothers and sisters in Christ, as members of the Body of Christ, to earn God’s favor or to achieve his being pleased with us, do we?

No. Because God is already perfectly pleased with us on account of Christ Jesus’ obedient life, sacrificial death to sin, and new life, which are ours through faith.

We love because he first loved us.
Because his love is in us.

In addition to serving this Body in ways like those I’ve just mentioned, the Body of Christ also turns its attention to the lost and dying of this world so they, too, may know the Good News of God’s grace in Christ Jesus and be saved.

The Body of Christ consists of eyes, ears, and all its members … and you are each one of those members.

“God’s stewards are uniquely singular, yet profoundly plural.” Again, that means that “God’s stewards recognize that their lives are not solo performances but are personal responses to God, lived out within the community of faith to benefit the whole world.”

And just like all the stewardship principles we’ve learned so far are, this one is quite profound when you consider it carefully. We are each fearfully and wonderfully made by God as unique and valuable people individually, but we have also been given a new life in Christ that isn’t a solo performance.

Rather, it’s part of an ever-living and everlasting Body—a Body whose members will benefit from God’s love and grace together, forever.

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

Amen

Sermon Rev. Rexford E. Umbenhaur III, pastor, Our Savior Lutheran Church, Los Angeles, California Modified

Sermon January 20-21, 2024

Title: God’s Stewards: Saints and Sinners!
Text: Ephesians 4:17–24; Romans 7:21–25; Luke 18:9–14

Facebook live: God’s Stewards: Saints and Sinners!

22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Eph. 4:22-24

You’ve all heard the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

It’s the story of a man who is really two people: an ingenious scientist and a menacing monster that constantly lurks inside.

At one moment, the world sees the good doctor; the next, the murderer. As the plot thickens, Jekyll becomes more and more desperate in his struggle to suppress the wicked Hyde. But the point of the story is that the one man is truly both men—at the same time good and evil. It’s not the chemicals that cause the evil; it’s the man’s very nature.

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde might be a graphic way of representing the third stewardship principle of our series, which we explore today:

God’s Stewards: Are Saints and Sinners.

Our synod’s stewardship task force elaborates on this principle like this:

“God’s stewards rejoice in and live out what God has declared them to be through the cross. At the same time, his stewards recognize they are sinners who fight sin and its consequences each day.”

When Adam and Eve first sinned, an integral part of them died immediately; that is, they died spiritually to God. And that death left them with a very different nature. Ever since, all their descendants are born no longer in the likeness of God—the likeness in which Adam and Eve were originally created—but rather in the likeness of Adam and Eve after their sin and spiritual transformation.

That’s death to God and his ways. And not only are all of Adam and Eve’s descendants conceived in sin and born with that nature infecting then spiritually, but it also lives in their bodies. All of this includes you and me.

That’s the problem Jesus revealed to a Pharisee named Nicodemus when he once came to Jesus under the cover of darkness:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the [Holy] Spirit is spirit”

John 3:3, 5–6

The truth is, man’s situation is impossible for him to change—or even influence in any real manner. How can any creature change its inborn character or its flesh by itself? That’s why Jesus told his disciples, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” Mt 19:26

God did do the impossible when he became one of us. Not only the miracle of the incarnation but God actually dying—on a cross. And perhaps those “impossible” seem less unlikely than the fact that he would do this for his sinful creatures—we who had so squandered the blessedness he’d given us.

We know from the Book of Genesis that God spoke creation into existence from nothing. Ps 33:9 says, “For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.”

Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome, saying, “God . . . gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist” Rom 4:17

Through the prophet Isaiah, God said, “my word . . . that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” Is 55:11

Through those means, people are given faith that apprehends God in Jesus.

Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” 2 Cor 5:17

And the new spiritually reborn person, which includes you and me, is re-created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

But while God regenerates us spiritually through Baptism and his Gospel Word, our flesh remains utterly infected with sin. We are saint and sinner simultaneously.

St. Paul writes again, “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” Rom 7:18

And in our second reading this morning, Paul goes on to say, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin” Rom 7:21–25

You and I and all Christians are saints and sinners simultaneously.

We are both bound in sin and forgiven in Christ.

That’s why Paul exhorts us “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” Eph 4:22–24

As Christians, we live a daily life of struggle and warfare, just as Paul says of himself in the seventh chapter of his Letter to the Romans.

[Do, do Verses]

It’s our flesh that’s selfish and self-centered.

The Spirit fights against that.

Thanks be to God, then, that we are fully and completely forgiven in Christ Jesus. Christ and the Holy Spirit working through God’s Law and Gospel do that for us. Fortunately, we aren’t alone in this struggle. In Galatians chap. 5, Paul speaks to us as stewards of God saying:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control; against such things there is no law. Gal 5:19–23

The fact that you experience a constant struggle between your two natures doesn’t indicate that you’ve fallen from grace, but rather the opposite, for it is proof that you’re living in a state of grace.

If you desire to live a more Godly life that is proof that God is working in you!

It’s crucial that we continue to fight this battle, putting to death the desires of our sinful flesh, for to stop, to no longer care or feel the struggle, means we’re sliding down a slippery slope back toward spiritual death.

Fortunately, we don’t face our life as God’s stewards alone, by our own power. For God’s Gospel Word, his Holy Absolution, and the Sacraments strengthen our faith and assure us that the victory Jesus won by his cross.

For Jesus says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing”

John 15:4–5

Similarly, in the sixth chapter of Ephesians, Paul encourages us by writing,

“In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication” Eph 6:16–18

And in the eighth chapter of Romans, the apostle assures us:

“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 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 8:37–39

Christian stewardship includes our whole life as saints who are simultaneously sinners.

It means being in God’s Word regularly through church and Bible study attendance so that you can be equipped to meet your day’s challenges.

It means walking according to the Holy Spirit with the truth in your mind, in your heart, and on your lips as Jesus did when in battle with Satan in the desert.

And good stewardship means having an active and prayer life.

As St. Paul says, “We do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” 2 Cor 4:16

“God’s stewards are saints and sinners,” At the same time, his stewards recognize they are sinners who fight sin and its consequences each day.”

“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” 1 Cor 15:57

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

Amen

Sermon Rev. Rexford E. Umbenhaur III, pastor, Our Savior Lutheran Church, Los Angeles, California Modified

Sermon January 13-14, 2024

Title: God’s Stewards: Managers, Not Owners!

Text: 1 Chronicles 29:1–3, 6, 9–18; 2 Corinthians 8:1–7; 9:7–8; Luke 12:41–48

Facebook live: Stewardship 2

“Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” Luke 12:48

This morning’s message is the second in our overall stewardship series. The important principle we’re exploring today is:

God’s Stewards Are Managers, Not Owners.

This means, as our synod has said, that “God’s stewards have been entrusted by God with life and life’s resources and given the privilege of responsibly and joyfully managing them for him.”

When the word stewardship is mentioned among Christians, many of us immediately turn our thoughts toward the subject of money. However, that’s only one aspect or one piece of the topic, and we are the poorer if we think of stewardship only in terms of money.

As I mentioned in our sermon last week, St. Francis of Assisi astutely said,

“Stewardship is everything I do after, ‘I believe.’”

That is, we have been made God’s own not simply by means of our fleshly birth but also through our rebirth by his Word and Baptism, and as his stewards, each of us has been:

“Entrusted by God with life and life’s resources and given the privilege and responsibly of joyfully managing them for him.”

Have you ever given much thought to the truth that God has entrusted you with very precious things? To begin, you have been entrusted with life. Not only are you alive today but Jesus’ death on the cross has given you, life in heaven that will never end. In other words, you have been blessed with infinite resources and blessings beyond your wildest imagination.

Then, have you ever thought that our house, car, furniture, appliances, clothes, computers, televisions - all of our wealth - really aren’t ours but rather belong to God, who has entrusted all of them and more to you and me?

For most of us, that’s a totally foreign concept because in our sinful nature we naturally think that all we have is ours, or, for some, yours and your spouse’s. We believe we’re the owners. After all, we bought it, made it, or were given all we have. For much of it, we did do the labor to earn the money. We saved, invested, took risks, worried, sweated, and sacrificed for all we have. So even to entertain the idea that it all was just entrusted to us as stewards is something many don’t want to believe.

We can understand; accepting that it’s all been entrusted to us would mean there are implications.

It would mean a drastic change in our viewpoint on many things.

It would mean a change in the perspective from which we operate our life and use our resources.

And yet as much as it goes against our self-centered natures, the truth is that all we have or will have has been entrusted to us. It’s been given over to us for our care, our protection, our use, our performance with, and our enjoyment, and that includes our life and all of life’s resources.

We are managers, accountable to God, who is the Creator-owner.

If you think carefully about all that you have and trace it back, you really can see how everything goes back to its Creator-owner, God.

Ps 24:1 states this truth beautifully:

“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.”

In the meaning of our second stewardship principle, “God’s stewards are managers, not owners,” we learn not only that we’ve been “entrusted by God with life and life’s resources,” but that we’ve also been given the “privilege of responsibly and joyfully managing them for him.”

I’ve noticed that in today’s culture the word privilege seems to have been overcome by the word right.

Perhaps that’s due to an increase in entitlement thinking. It seems the word privilege may be fading into antiquity. But no matter how entitled our cultural thinking becomes, there are still those who are more privileged and those who are less privileged.

You don’t have to travel to Latin America or Africa to find people who are poor or don’t have much food or enough money to pay rent or other bills. In our own community, in our own neighborhoods, or even travel to St. Paul’s in Pontiac, to see that there are those who aren’t as privileged as others.

In our Gospel, we heard Jesus saying,

“Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more” Luke 12:48

We all have been entrusted and privileged with a differing variety of tangible and intangible items in life - life’s resources , and we each will have to give an account to the Lord of how we managed the things he’s entrusted to us, as the apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Christians in Rome:

“For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” Rom 14:7–8

And St. Paul further writes,

“So then each of us will give an account of himself to God” 14:12

We have been richly privileged by God in many and diverse ways. But who are we or what have we done to be so blessed? Again, Paul writes,

“Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’ ‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’” Rom 11:33–35

God graciously entrusts and privileges us with all we have—including our intellect, education, talents, and experiences—in order that we may joyfully manage those resources for him. And even though we manage life and life’s resources for the owner, we are also beneficiaries of them.

Even though all our money is the Lord’s, yet a portion of it is for us—for our needs, such as food, clothing, shelter, and the other necessities of life.

Additionally, the Lord privileges us with luxuries—all the things through or with which we experience joy and that we could otherwise live without. It’s part of the privilege God’s given us, and it’s a witness of our stewardship.

But the Lord does also expect us to manage the money and other resources he has entrusted to us to help the truly needy in our midst—those who can’t work, those who do work but get paid so little they can’t afford the necessities of life, and those who fall into a crisis period that puts them under great financial stress. All these we should be prepared and ready to help.

Additionally, the Lord blesses us with more than our needs require so that we can support his ministry and mission, which are really to our benefit as well as to our neighbor’s.

The reason this building is here, the reason we have the pavilion and all the land our church sits on is to use them and their contents to carry out Christ’s ministry in this place and in this neighborhood. The building, pavilion and property are working facilities, not monuments, and the Lord has privileged each of us in such a way that we can joyfully support all of this. If we aren’t managing what the Lord entrusts to us and blesses us with personally and collectively then no one will.

In our country, there are many programs to help people get money, get fed, have a place to sleep, and get medical help—inadequate and abused as those programs are—but there is no one to build and support Christ’s ministry and mission except the Lord’s children.

What’s more, our work here is but one small part of Christ’s ministry. An important reason our church body, The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, exists is to pool a portion of the resources the Lord provides to each of us so we can do much more mission and ministry work together than we can on our own as an individual congregation.

The Old Testament Reading this morning was written and preserved for us, the Church, by the Lord and serves as a witness and example for us. In it, we heard about how Israel provided for the building of the temple. Everyone made his or her freewill offering gladly and abundantly, including the king. Literally hundreds of tons of gold and silver were given, along with bronze, iron, wood, stones, marble, colored stones, and precious stones.

The text says they willingly and freely offered it to the Lord. And in v 14, after the Lord was praised by David and everyone, King David put what happened into proper perspective, pointing out that his people were only giving back a portion of what had come to them from the Lord, saying,

“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you” 1 Chr 29:14

Our Epistle from 2 Corinthians speaks of the marvelous example of faith and gratitude that the Macedonian Christians were. The text points out that they were in extreme poverty, yet out of the abundance of joy they had on account of their being saved by God’s grace through Christ, their poverty overflowed into a wealth of generosity. They actually begged Paul and Titus to let them support the relief efforts for the saints in Jerusalem, and they joyfully gave beyond their means.

Remember the old widow who put a penny in the temple offering box? Remember what Jesus said when he saw what she did? He said,

“Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on” (Luke 21:3–4)

In faith and gratitude, there are those who strive to give to the church while still giving to charity, and then there are people and families who are happy to give much more. We have been “entrusted by God with life and life’s resources and given the privilege of responsibly and joyfully managing them for him,”

And here’s an important something else to remember: you are the object and beneficiary of God’s love! He will only ask, command, or encourage you to do and to think in ways that will bless you and your neighbor and that will enhance both of your lives. You know that with absolute certainty because on the cross Jesus has already graciously taken and suffered all of our punishment and in exchange has given us everlasting life and the promised hope of benefiting from his love forever.

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

Amen

Sermon Rev. Rexford E. Umbenhaur III, pastor, Our Savior Lutheran Church, Los Angeles, California Modified

Sermon January 7, 2024

Title: God’s Stewards: God’s Stewards!
Text: Isaiah 43:1–3a; 2 Corinthians 5:14–21; Luke 19:1–10

Facebook live: Stewardship 1

17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” 2 Cor. 5:17

This morning is the beginning of a series of Sundays that will focus on the important topic of Christian stewardship. It’s a subject that is little understood, misunderstood, or not understood by many, and yet stewardship is part of the very fabric of our lives as people, especially as people of God, as people who’ve been reborn by the power of the Holy Spirit though Water and the Word (our Baptism) and given a new life to live, a new life that’s lived with purpose, to the glory of God.

The support, care, and management of God’s ministry here in this place, as well as the care and management of all the other aspects of our lives, is the outward expression of our being children of God.

Our church body after much study and discussion defines Christian stewardship as “the free and joyous activity of the child of God and God’s family, the church, in managing all of life and life’s resources for God’s purposes.”

Today we speak about:

1. God’s Stewards: Are God’s Stewards.

This sounds a bit repetitive. But this foundational principle makes an important point. And that is: that we are the Lord’s, since he is the Creator of all things.

We are his creation, originally formed out of the very substance of this earth, knit together by him in our mother’s womb, as Psalm 139 informs us.

And not only that, but as believers, as baptized people, we are a new creation, people personally redeemed by God, people given a new life to live.

And so, stewardship is, as St. Francis of Assisi said long ago:

“Everything I do after I say, I believe.”

Because of our inherited sinful nature, most often the characteristic we naturally display is self-centeredness.

Martin Luther called it “the heart turned in on itself.”

St. Augustine, an Early Church Father, called sin being curved in on oneself, which is really quite descriptive because that is the most prevalent characteristic of sin. [The looking inward]

All people, including you and me, naturally think of our bodies, our lives, this world, our personal resources, and the resources of this world in relation to us at the center. Even what we do or don’t do for others is covered or affected by sin.

We’re like a husband working in his garage, where his hands are soiled with dirt and grease from his project, who’s told by his wife that she’s going out shopping for a while. He gets the idea to do something nice for her while she’s away. So, he goes inside the house and straightens up the lamp shades, the pillows on the couch, folds some laundry, and replaces the towels in the bathroom. When his wife comes home, she’s astounded, and she’s angry. For you see, he didn’t wash his hands. They were soiled, and all his loving work, everything he’d touched, was tainted with dirt and grease.

Sin touches everything we do.

And so, it’s true more often than we realize, our old nature doesn’t think or operate in terms of being in an intimate, dependent relationship with God, let alone as being God’s very own stewards, trustees, or caretakers.

Gen 1:1, reminds us, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,”

This helps us put ourselves, our lives, and this whole world into the proper perspective, underscoring the basic truth that God created all things and therefore he’s the rightful owner of all things.

For without this truth providing the right perspective and foundation to our faith and lives, the only thing left is the idea that all the things we surround ourselves with are ours to use or abuse as we please, as if it all hasn’t been put into our care, or entrusted to us by God.

The Old Testament Reading this morning supports and confirms God’s love for us and his relationship to us as Creator and Redeemer as he spoke through the prophet Isaiah:

“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine … For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior’ ” (Is 43:1, 3).

And the apostle Paul confirms this truth, writing to the Christians in Corinth, saying,

“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19–20).

God through Christ, in his grace and mercy, by Jesus’ death on the cross, saved us from the eternal condemnation of our self-centered, self-fulfilling ways, and so St. Paul in the sixth chapter of Romans enlightens us, saying,

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom 6:4).

That is, having been given a new life, we live that new life with a different perspective on the whole of our life and on all the things of this life.

And in our Epistle this morning from 2 Corinthians, Paul informs us,

“the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. . . . Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:14–15, 17).

Everyone is seeking fulfillment and purpose in their lives, and they pursue those in any number of ways, but the truth is, we are the Lord’s.

We are his creatures, the offspring of the one man he formed from the very dust of the ground.

So, when we live as if we aren’t his and aren’t stewards of his, when we don’t live in accord with all that that means, life is out of sync, and life will then, on the larger scale, seem meaningless, purposeless, and unfulfilled.

Paul says in the second chapter of Ephesians:

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:8–10).

Due to God’s undeserved kindness and love, you and I are saved from the just condemnation and eternal punishment our inherited sin and actual sin deserves, and we can and should rejoice in that reality, always expressing our gratitude.

See, the Lord didn’t save us so we would continue living as if we aren’t in a restored intimate relationship with him. Rather, he became one of us, who then willingly suffered, was crucified, and rose again to save each of us for his good pleasure and a life filled with purpose—the purpose of doing good works, which God has prepared for us to do.

This means, that we get to managing all of life for God’s good purpose.

So, whether you’re in church, at work, at school, at home with your family, out in the community, or traveling about, whatever you’re doing and wherever you are, remember, God’s stewards are God’s stewards, and you are to be so to his glory, according to his revealed will as we find it in Holy Scripture and as explained in the catechism.

In other words, it’s a witness to the truth of who you really are through Baptism and faith: a redeemed child of God, a steward of the one and only God.

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

Amen

Sermon Rev. Rexford E. Umbenhaur III, pastor, Our Savior Lutheran Church, Los Angeles, California - Modified

Sermon January 6 2024 Circuit Epiphany Service Christ Milford

Circuit Epiphany Service Christ Milford

President Davis Preaching

Rev. Tkac, Rev. Moyer, Rev. Dr.. Johnson, President Rev. Davis, Rev. Moldenhauer

Circuit Epiphany Service

Sermon December 30-31, 2023

Title: Christ, fulfills all things!
Text: Luke 2:22-40

Facebook live: Christ, fulfills all things!

29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”

“This past year, this year of years, how shall it tell upon my whole life! All has gone well in a worldly point of view, how is it in a spiritual? My God how? I fear I have lost ground. I fear I have had less of the spirit of piety this year than during the last; yet God’s goodness has been given more than usually to me this year. How ungrateful! What a poor return!

One year ago I had myself under a tolerable discipline [and yet] the many secret determinations to pursue a straightforward course of industry, diligence, virtue … how few of them have I kept. I am almost weary of making resolutions and feel more like giving myself to circumstances.”

Those words written on December 31, 1843 are excerpted from the book, Forgotten Valor – the Memoirs, Journals, & Civil War Letters of Orlando B. Willcox, which was edited by my friend and fellow classmate Rev. Bob Scott.

While General Willcox’s sentiments still sound very contemporary for a journal entry written 180 years ago; the tone seems to reflect the wisdom of a veteran of many New Year’s Eves rather than the 20 year old officer fresh out of West Pointe, that Willcox was at the time of the writing.

His thoughts and his concerns mirror our own as we enter a New Year, with new resolutions and new uncertainty in the times we live.

Mary and Joseph had their own uncertainty.

22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, [Mary and Joseph] brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord

So Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple to make a sacrifice to the Lord of “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” And while there, to do as the Law required, they run into a man named Simeon who we are told was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, or the comfort and peace of God and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
You may get a feel for this as we here at Peace do when a baby is brought into the Lord’s house and all the people come and gather around wanting to hold the baby with smiles of joy on their faces. But this brings a bit of a different reaction:

27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”

The joy of seeing this child, this Jesus, brought to fulfillment for Simeon what the Lord by the Holy Spirit had promised, that he would not die until he had seen the Christ.

The joy in Simeon’s song is, and will be once again sung by this congregation following the reception of the Lord’s Supper, as we too will sing in joy with Simeon what the Lord has given for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. The forgiveness we receive is the forgiveness Simeon held!

New Year’s Eve is a day of both joy and dread for most of us. You know we joy in the celebrating of the end of the old year and all its failings with the hope for the New Year to come, and with it, a better outcome for our lives in all that we say and do.

I look to this New Year, like you, with the added hope of continuing my new life’s work and all that the Lord has called me to do, here at Peace as I celebrate 5 years as Pastor here on January 6th and the joys and trials that await me in this New Year.

In Forgotten Valor, General Willcox continues:

“Oh how can I but feel that God has been with me! How can I but determine again & again that I will begin the New Year with a renewed heart, and lead a new and better life. But how weak am I, how incapable of carrying out such plans! Help, oh Thou who hast hitherto sustained me, that I may make a good improvement of the New Year. Not by living entirely to myself, but by preparing both mind & body for serving Thee as circumstances require.”

The truth is resolutions we make are resolutions we break. It seems that no matter how many or how few we always fall short. So also with our spiritual life as the Law is concerned; our ability is unable to keep the Law and it continues to point to that reality. And too, just like you, I will fall short of the mark I set for myself with this year, this ministry, and this church. But, I am blessed to serve and rejoice in the Lord’s calling.

Our Old Testament lesson sings the same praise:

10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10

Sin and its brokenness, brings death.
That is what sin does.
We who are born in sin will die.

It is at that time when many of us get older that we contemplate our life. Things we’ve done and things we wish we would have done; and we look at our finite lives and the eternity that continues after death wondering what will be.

If you think about measuring up and being good enough, how good will you need to be?

But, it’s bigger than that. It’s who we are. As those born in sin we come to this life separated from God. Hard as it may seem to us we are born God’s enemies and apart from God’s work we are condemned.

Simeon had, 26 [it] revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

He had great joy in the Good News that a savior – this baby - would be the reconciliation and the peace of Israel. But this child would be Simeon’s peace and het is your peace and my peace too. We too can joy in the child that Simeon held because he has brought peace between God and man.

Christ has given you peace and life eternal!

Death’s sting has been swallowed up in victory by Jesus Christ and we can all have comfort in His blessed work and this blessed Good News. As we lose loved ones and think about this frail broken existence we inhabit here in this world - we can have peace. Not on our feelings … but on God’s word of promise.

Luther in his poem, The Unchanging word says:

“Feelings come and feelings go,
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God–
Naught else is worth believing.
Though all my heart should feel condemned
For want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart
Whose Word cannot be broken.
I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word
Till soul and body sever,
For, though all things shall pass away,
HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER!”

― Martin Luther

Comfort and peace is in Christ, the Word of God, who has come to rescue you. Comfort and peace, knows the joy of Christ Jesus in your life. Comfort and peace is being called to follow Christ by God’s Holy Spirit who indwells all believers and is called the comforter by Jesus himself,

“[Who is] the way, and the truth, and the life as our Advent midweek theme proclaimed.

No one comes to the Father except through [him].

Dear friends, you have access to the father through Christ Jesus our Lord who came to live, suffer, die and rise again for each one of you and will give you true peace - perfect peace - found only in His saving arms that were outstretched upon the cross as He gave His life for you.

That child, that babe that brought Simeon great joy is your joy as well. In him true peace is found.

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

Amen