Take, Eat, and Live - Sermon for the 1st Sunday in Lent

First Sunday in Lent, February 26^th, Year of Our + Lord 2023
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Take, Eat, and Live – Genesis 3:1-11, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11

   Take, and eat, said the Lord to the Man and the Woman.  Take and eat, from any and every tree in the Garden, except one.  Take and eat from the oranges and the apples, the pears and the almonds, take and eat, even, from the Tree of Life.  Just don’t eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Trust Me on this one.  Do not take and eat from that tree, for in the day that you do, you will surely die. 

   Take and eat, hissed the Serpent to the Woman, take and eat from this tree God has
forbidden.  You shall not surely die.  He is just being selfish, keeping His best from you.  Take and eat, for it is lovely, and then you and the Man, that silent preacher standing behind you, then you will be like God, knowing good and evil.  Take, and eat!  Go ahead.

   Take and eat.  Life revolves around taking and eating, and now death does, too.  The Man and the Woman learned of evil, and it destroyed them.  As nutrients from good food course through our blood, feeding every cell of our body, so also the poison of sin, the knowledge of evil, attacked them throughout their bodies, overwhelming their souls.  Eating from the Forbidden Tree changed everything, driving the Man and the Woman from the Garden of God’s favor, no longer able simply to reach out and be satisfied with an unending supply of good fruit.  No longer invited to eat from God’s Tree of Life.  Now their stomachs had to be filled with food they scratched out of the ground, bitter meals, seasoned with sweat and tears.

   Adam and Eve took and ate, and through them we also know of evil, and we struggle to resist its temptations.  Our appetites betray us, again and again.  The love and the need of good food can turn neighbors and nations against each other; wars are fought over bread and water.  There is plenty to go around, really, but spoiling and hoarding and fighting and hatred and ignorance mean that some have a bounty, and others starve.  Some nations overeat and grow soft and heavy, while others barely get by.  We still must take and eat to live; but what God created to be a constant joy is all too often a source of worry, fighting and sadness. 

   Taking and eating.  Our evil-knowing appetites drive us to gorge on more than just food.  Men and women, instead of being perfect helpmates, now spend as much time trying to rule over each other as they do trying to love and serve one another.  Worse, they can become hungry for some other person, someone other than the one they are married to.  

   Children hunger to leave their parents before they are ready.  Or, they refuse to leave childhood, and eat up the family fortune.  Employers hunger to abuse employees, and workers hunger to cheat their bosses.  We take and eat, we consume, whether it belongs to us or not.  You, and I, so readily take and eat, and eat, and eat, feeding the gods of our stomach, turning good earthly gifts into food for destruction.  We worship the created things instead of the Creator. 

   And yet, the Creator still provides for us, despite our sinfulness.  He keeps us alive for His purpose.  You see, from the beginning He has had a rescue plan to feed His people for salvation. 

   Take and eat, said the Lord to His people Israel.  The disaster that the Man and the Woman brought on us all came through eating, and so also the delivery that the Lord promised.  Salvation from sin, death and Satan, promised already as they stood in shame, covered by leaves, this salvation would also be delivered through food.  Despite how we have twisted it, ‘take and eat’ is still God’s way.  It has been, since the beginning.  

   As Moses brought God’s people out of slavery in Egypt, the people feared starvation in the wilderness, and longed to return to their Egyptian masters, who filled their bellies to keep them slaving away.  So the Lord gave them manna and quail, bread and meat for each day, miraculous food to take and eat, morning and evening.  Through the years, the people grew tired of the manna, and longed for the cucumbers and leeks of Egypt.  But despite their ingratitude, the Lord each day brought more quail, more manna, more blessing, to take and eat. 

   Take and eat.  Even more than food for their bodies, the Israelites needed forgiveness.  And reassurance, in the face of their trials, reassurance that the Lord had a plan to save them.  He met this need with the sacrificial system of the Tabernacle and Temple.  Through animal sacrifices, God forgave Israel, foreshadowing the coming of the Once for All Sacrifice, the greater Sacrifice to come, which gave power and grace to the animal sacrifices, even before it was completed. 

   Take and eat.  Some of the sacrificial food, the meat of the lambs and goats and bulls and doves, was burnt whole, completely given over to the Lord.  But from other sacrifices God instructed some be given to feed the priests and Levites and their families.  And some was returned to the families making the offerings.  The Lord returned meat to His people, in order that they also could take and eat.  Divinely appointed fellowship meals, all tied up with God’s forgiveness plan.  Meals given for the people to take, and eat, in the House of the Lord. 

   Take and eat.  God’s people all too often despised their Temple meals, as they had despised the daily manna which had sustained them throughout their time in the wilderness.  Other gods threw bigger parties, it seemed, sacrifices and rituals that met other bodily appetites.  Gods who were less demanding, false gods, happy to let people feed all their appetites, good or evil.  Following God’s special, holy way, never eating pork or shellfish, always paying attention to His details, seeking His holiness, hearing His Word, depending on His promises, all this was more than most Israelites could stomach. 

   Israel satisfying their appetite for sin caused the Lord to turn them over to their enemies, again and again, so they could from Whom the truly good bread comes.  When they repented, the Lord rescued His people, again and again.  And God always preserved a faithful remnant.  But Israel for the most part followed the god of their stomachs, and ended up exiled, enslaved, starving in the wilderness of their sin.   Israel was a people specially chosen by God to dine at His table.  But like the rest of the children of Adam and Eve, most of the children of Israel rebelled at God’s menu. 

   Take and eat.  Once again the serpent, or rather the one who had spoken through the serpent, Satan himself, tempts a Man.  But this time it is the New Man, 40 days starved in the wilderness.  Satan tempts Him to take and eat, to indulge Himself.  But this time this preacher Man, come to rescue His Bride, had the right words to reject Satan’s temptations.  This New Man, Jesus Christ, knew temptation that none of us could even have begun to face.  Yet He did not think to feed His 40 day empty stomach, nor indulge an appetite for earthly glory or pleasure.  No stones to bread, no testing God’s love and protection, no worshiping Satan for the sake of an earthly kingdom. 

   No giving in to temptation for Jesus, because He knew that the True Man lives on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.  Jesus knew this because He is this:  He is the very Word of God, made flesh, the Father’s only begotten Son, now made also to be a man.  Jesus knew that there was no limit to God’s love and protection.  He had no need to test it, for He was, and is, God’s love, given for the life of the world.  Jesus did not have an appetite for empty, earthly, false worship, for He has been face to face with the Father forever, and will be at the Father’s right hand, forever, both honoring the Father in all He does, and receiving with the Father and the Spirit the worship of angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. 

   Jesus in the wilderness showed that He is the New Man, fully relying on God’s Word, completely faithful, able to resist all the temptations that Adam and Eve, and we their children, give in to so easily. 

    There would be one more temptation for Jesus, the temptation to hold back the final meal.  The temptation to avoid the pain, to not make the final sacrifice, to not give Himself as the Bread of Life, broken for the sins of all people.  But faithful Jesus came through, giving Himself, body and soul, for you.  Now your access to the Tree of Life is opened again, through Jesus.  Now He feeds you with forgiveness, in His Word and in His meal, both given for you to take and eat. 

   So take and eat.  You know you need it.  You know your sinful appetites are still trying to starve the new man, the new woman, the new righteous person that the Spirit of Christ has created in you.  You are caught in a battle, waged in your own body and soul, over what you will eat.  Will you eat the food of sin and Satan?  It tastes good for a minute, but quickly rots, false food that will make you starve and die.  Or will you take and eat the food of Jesus, which gives life, new and everlasting? 

   Take and eat, be fed by Jesus, for life.  Hear the Bread of Life, which teaches you the truth about your earthly appetites, and creates a hunger in you for the Bread of Heaven.  Hear the testimony of Jesus, which encourages you to confess your faith in Christ before God and men.  Your baptismal faith in Jesus is your access to His altar, where Jesus is both Host and Meal.  Here sins are forgiven and strength for Christian living is given to all who believe these words:  given and shed for you, for the forgiveness of sins.  Take and eat, and live.

   Take and eat.  Simple instructions, with eternal consequences.  Ponder what it is that God offers.  To hear, but take lightly His Word is to mock the temptation and suffering of Jesus.  To receive His Body and Blood without repenting of your sins, that is, to come to the table with no intention and no desire to turn from your sin, this is to mishandle God’s Holy Things.  To take and eat without repentance is to court disaster.  This is why Paul says, some take the Supper to their own condemnation. 

    But for all who hear the Word and confess their guilt, for all who agree that the Lord could justly condemn us all, for all who want to turn from their sins, for such repenting sinners, Jesus’ Word and Jesus’ Meal are forgiveness, food for eternal life.  A foretaste of the heavenly banquet.  A satisfying meal which calms the conscience and awakens love for God and neighbor.  Know your sin.  Know your Savior.  Repent and believe.  Take and eat the Bread of Life, as often as you can.  Be satisfied with God’s foretaste, however humble it may seem, knowing that through it God will one day bring you to eat the sweet fruit of the Tree of Life in heaven, to feast with Jesus, forever and ever, Amen.  

The Best Show - Sermon for the Transfiguration of Our + Lord

Transfiguration Sunday
February 19^th, A.D. 2023,
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD
The Best Show (Is the Show That Has No Pictures)
Matthew 17:1-9, 2 Peter 1:16-21

  “And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

 In the Name of the Light who has come into the world, Amen.

   Have you seen anything good lately?  We love a good show.  We curl up on the sofa, incessantly scrolling and clicking through videos and memes and the offerings on Netflix, trying to find a good show.  We don’t care who wins the Superbowl, just that it be a good game.  Our desire for a good show will even take us into places we know we shouldn’t go.  Even though we knew someone might get hurt, and even maybe that the police could show up and get everyone in trouble, most of us at one time or another have found irresistible the chance to watch a fistfight, or a car race, or some local daredevil try a stupid stunt.  A few of us have gratified the crowd by being a protagonist in these low-brow dramas.  Most of us have a desire, some of us a great desire, to be caught up into something dramatic and spectacular, if not as participant, at least as observer. 

   Peter and James and John saw a good show.  Dramatic and spectacular beyond anything you or I can imagine.  Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. ² And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. ³ And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴ And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.”

   Now that was a show.  Jesus, this man who had been teaching and healing and leading his disciples all around Galilee, now reveals his glory, shining like the sun.  Heaven breaks into earth, and Moses and Elijah, two of the greatest figures of Israel’s history, appear.  Peter knows a good thing when he sees it.  So, he suggests they could put up some tents, and stay, to dwell in this glory.  Jesus had earlier taught them he was the Son of God.  Now His transfiguration seems to removes all doubt, and Peter hopes to stay there, to bask in the glory.  “Tis good Lord, to be here.”  It is good, but the revelation isn’t yet complete. 

   For while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” ⁶ When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.  Suddenly, the Good Show turned into more than Peter and James and John could handle.  Despite the great comfort of the message spoken, the voice of the Father terrified them. 

   You see, Jesus is their friend and teacher.  They’ve been living together, walking about Judah and Galilee for a couple years.  Now it is revealed that Jesus has heaven’s glory, inside Him, inside His body.  That’s tremendous.  But then, a bright cloud surrounds you, envelopes you, and you hear God speak to you from heaven?  Ancient Israel, gathered at the foot of Mt. Sinai, had trembled when God spoke from the top of the mountain.  They begged Moses to speak with God for them, lest they die.  Likewise, Peter, James and John fear for their lives.  As the revelation of God on the Mount of Transfiguration deepened, the sinners present trembled.  One moment Peter wants to build tents to dwell there.  The next, he and his partners in sin bury their faces in the dirt.  They want off the mountain.  They want out of God’s presence.   

   Peter, James and John couldn’t stay in God’s glorious presence, not yet.  So the merciful Father withdraws his sensible presence.   Moses and Elijah return into the unseen realms of heaven.  And Jesus, their teacher and friend, once again looks like he has always looked.  Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” ⁸ And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.    ⁹ And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” 

    This show, this revelation, is different.  The Transfiguration of Jesus is not like the spectaculars that people of all times and places have sought to see.  Heaven visibly broke into earth for a moment; all of Israel’s history and the glory of God collide in a few intense moments.  Nothing quite like it had ever happened before, anywhere on earth. 

  Often our favorite part of seeing a great show is to tell the story to others who missed it.  But no.  Jesus specifically forbids Peter, James and John to tell anyone, not until after He has been raised from the dead.  Peter and James and John had been allowed this special revelation, not in order to increase Jesus’ fame or spread His message, but rather to give them a glimpse of the future, a promise of glory, a heavenly vision to hold on to, as Jesus’ heads to the hell of the Cross. 

   We might expect that after Jesus died and rose again the Transfiguration would be front and center in the proclamation of the Church.  Surprisingly, it is rarely mentioned in the New Testament.  Peter makes reference to it in our Epistle lesson today, and there are a few other allusions to it.  But in total the story of the Transfiguration is not front and center in the Church’s preaching.  The Transfiguration is important.  But the center of Christian proclamation is the Cross.  And the glory of the Resurrection outshines even the Transfiguration.  The New Testament is filled with references to Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself for our sins, and His victorious Resurrection.  Because this is the show that really matters to God. 

   It was important for Peter and James and John to have a glimpse of the glory that is inside Jesus, for they would be front row witnesses to Jesus passing through Hell’s punishment.  They needed this vision to be sustained in the darkness that was about to descend all around them. 

   Likewise, we can and should contemplate our glorious future in heaven.  But not too much.  We who are still plagued by sin dare not dwell too long on heavenly glory in our minds.  Because it is the Cross, not visions of glory, that gains us access into this same heaven.  The New Testament gives glimpses of heaven here and there, in parts of Revelation, a little in Paul, a little here in Peter.  But even these glimpses quickly point us back to earth, back to the Cross.    

   Heavenly glory is our promise, our inheritance.  But one of the great paradoxes of Christian life is this: to know God’s glory and experience His love, we must be brought face to face with the the reality and consequence of our sin.  Our sin made it necessary that Jesus die on the Cross, a bitter pill to swallow, no matter how many times the Holy Spirit uses this truth to bring us repentance. 

   We are, in a negative way, responsible for Jesus’ suffering.  But in this bitter repentance, the Spirit draws us even closer to the Cross, so we can also see God’s love.  For while Jesus was suffering for our sin, ultimately it was love which led Jesus to do what was necessary.  Love for His Father, and love for you. 

   God wants you in heaven, to live with Him forever, in glory.  This is the story of Jesus, greatest and most important story ever told.  But, we are far too often interested in other stories, interested in seeing something spectacular, or titillating, something to distract us from the pain or dullness of life.  Something to make us feel good, right now.  Be careful with this tendency, dear friends. 

   Not every earthly show is wicked.  Many are, of course.  The Super Bowl halftime show has for a long time been unworthy of our attention.  Usually, like this year, it is soft pornography, which is more enticing, especially to young eyes.  Thank God for clickers.  Just turn it off.  Set a timer and return when the 3^rd quarter starts.    

   Not every earthly show is wicked, but even the harmless ones can distract us from the truly important, the truly valuable.  Which is this fact:  God wants you, you and your whole family and all your friends, to be in heaven, to live with Him forever, in glory.  To get you there, Jesus went to Calvary.  Also to get you there, the Spirit keeps you focused on the Cross.   Which is what Peter does today, by pointing us away from the vision of Majestic Glory, and to the humble Word. 

   Yes, Peter tells us, it was wonderful on the Mount, being “eyewitnesses of his majesty.”  But Peter doesn’t tell us to try and dwell in that majestic vision.  For one thing, that would be cruel.  Because you and I can’t get to the mount of Transfiguration.  But we do have something even more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.  

   We can’t get to the Mount to see Jesus in splendor.   But do not worry about this, you have something better.  You have the Word of the prophets made more certain in Jesus.  Peter points us to the Scripture, the Holy Bible, for it is through the Word that God comes to us.  He who hears me hears the Father, promises Jesus, and where two or three gather in my Name, there I am with you.  My sheep hear my voice, and I lead them into good pastures.  Now, and unto the end of the age.

    It is by means of the Word that God comes to us, because we, as sinners, cannot yet stand in his unveiled presence.  The Father gives us the Son, the Word made flesh, to atone for our sins.  The Spirit inspired the writers of Scripture, so that the Biblical Word, the Church’s Word, is all about Jesus and His Mission.  As Peter continues: Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation.  For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.  By God’s will and grace, in the Biblical Word, we find truth and life, as Jesus comes to us. 

   We do well to ponder the words from heaven which terrified Peter and James and John: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"  The Father tells us that we can find what it takes to please him, in his Son.  Through his Word.  You want to be closer to God?  You want to understand His plan, feel greater trust, have more peace, know what to do with you life?  Well, you have the key, in your Bible, in the Word written down, for you.  No time to read?  Then listen to it.  The saving Word of God is available, to you, every day.  It is impossible to make too big a deal out of it.  We would do well to imbibe deeply.  If you are not sure how, let me know; I’d be thrilled to help you find a way to get more Bible in your every day, the way that works for you.      

   Listen to Jesus as he says we must come down off the mountain and accompany Him to Calvary.  Listening closely to all that Jesus did to save us will strengthen your faith, and help you rightly interpret and withstand the darkness that is all around us in this world.  No matter how deep the darkness, the Word shines brighter.

   Listen to Jesus as He tells us to take, eat, take drink, for the forgiveness of sins.  Listen to Him as he tells Peter and James and John and the Church to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Listen to the Son, for this is pleasing to the Father.  

   Have you seen anything good lately?  Well yes, just this morning, you saw a miracle, as Christ drew you and your brothers and sisters all around you, to this place, to hear the voice of Jesus once again.  Once, Jesus revealed His glory on a mountain.  But normally, Jesus hides His glory in places the world would never look.  Like in a crucifixion.  And in some water, poured over a baby with some words.  In a meager looking meal, which feeds life to hungry sinners. 

   None of these things shine visibly.  They don’t look spectacular.  But looks are deceiving. For here, this morning, Christ has come into your midst once again, to wash you clean in His own blood.  The Word of the prophets, made more certain in Christ, tells us these things.  It is in this Word, spoken and joined to water, wheat and wine, that God the Father reveals that he is pleased with His Son.  And so He is also pleased with you, for Jesus’ sake.  Amen.

Planting and Watering as Jesus Designed - Sermon for the 6th Sunday after Epiphany

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany
February 12^th, Year of Our + Lord 2023
The Installation of Bryan Meadows as Lead Associate Pastor
of Zion Lutheran Church, Rapid City, South Dakota
Planting and Watering as Jesus Designed

   Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law, the Torah, the Instruction of the LORD!

    Greetings to you from all the saints at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Hill City, and Our Redeemer of Custer.  I am Pastor David Warner, and it is a great privilege to be with you today, as I serve in the place of Pastor Sailer, our South Dakota District President, to install Pastor Meadows this morning in a new role, a new call as lead associate pastor for Zion Lutheran Church, of Rapid City, South Dakota. 

   It is a relief to have the installation as backdrop for my sermon.  Because, to be frank, these are not my favorite Bible teachings to preach: 

   You have heard the Law, says Jesus, but I’m going to make it much stricter.  Anger in
your heart and a sarcastic tongue are equal to murder, and worthy of eternal fire.  Before God, impure sexual thoughts are the same as unfaithfulness in marriage.  Gouge out your eye, says Jesus, if it is causing you to sin.  Better to be missing an eye, than to be physically whole, but be cast into Hell.  For there are only two ways, the way of life, or the way of death, of good or of evil.  So choose life, so you can live, you and your children after you.  

    Oof-dah.  But blessed am I this morning, because it seems I can leave those touchy topics to the side.  Because we are installing your pastor.  And in one of our readings we heard Paul talk to us about how the Holy Ministry of Christ works: Spoiler alert, it’s all about Jesus.  Oh yes, preachers are important, but not that important.  The Apostle Paul planted the first seeds in Corinth.  Later a preacher named Apollos came along, and watered the seeds that Paul planted.  But it is God who gives the growth.  Neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.  

  So, no need for me to talk about the Law.  No need to unpack the Torah, the Instruction of the LORD, which He has given His people to keep them in the Way, the narrow path that leads to life.  No need to point out how easily and frequently we stray from Jesus’ instruction in the Sermon on the Mount.  We can just talk happily about the gift of pastors, and of Jesus, who comes to us through the Word that pastors preach and teach.  Jesus, who comes to us through the Baptisms pastors do, and the Supper they serve at His altar.  Easy- peasy, and then were on to the Installation! 

    There’s just one thing: all of this calling and installing and hearing and following your pastor is also part of the Way of the Lord.  In fact, if we try to separate choosing life, choosing the good and not evil, or the call to sexual purity, or the call to conquer anger in our life, if we separate these from the Way that Jesus has designed His Church, very soon the whole thing will fall apart.  You have heard it said that pastors are to be appointed in every place, but I say to you that the way of the LORD for His Church has a specific shape, a specific design.  If we choose to stray from God’s path, if we ignore, change or pervert the details about how the Holy Spirit has instructed us to be Church, there will be consequences. 

    Paul says as much to the Corinthians.  They were his congregation.  Paul started the work there with Aquila and Priscilla, fellow tentmakers.  Along with Silas and Timothy, they planted a church, first in the house of Titius Justus.  Over a year and a half, a congregation grew.  But now, some years later, it isn't going well.  Oh, they are still a congregation.  They are gathering; they seem to be a decent sized group.  But there are problems.  Along with frightening sexual sins, and drunkenness at the Sunday service, which Paul describes in other parts of 1^st Corinthians, today we hear that jealousy and strife, arguing and fighting, are tearing brothers and sisters apart.  Factions.  Cliques with the Body of Christ. Some people, to distinguish themselves from others, were self-identifying as followers of Cephas, that is Peter, or as followers of Paul, or of Apollos.   

   We tend to think our current madness of self-identification is a unique problem of our time.  And it is certainly horrible that 13 and 14 year old girls should be encouraged to consider whether they might really be boys, or that 4 and 5 year old boys be told they might be girls.  Social media certainly has poured gas on this demonic contagion, and the lives of young people are being permanently harmed in unheard of numbers.  But the trendy and cruel denial of biological reality being foisted on young people today, in 21^st century America, has the same root as the problems in 1^st century Corinth.  That root is the foolish and sinful myth that I get to choose my identity. 

   I get to say who I am.  This is the spirit of our age.  And of Corinth.  And, since I don’t like you, and since you were brought into the Church by Apollos, well, I’m going to identify as a follower of Paul, to spite you, and to build a wall between us.

   The life and death importance of following in the Way of the Lord is the Word that God wants to speak to us today.  And the paradoxical truth about identity is this: to identify as one who walks in the Way of the Lord is a gift, an identity given to us from above.  This good identity must be a gift, because we are incapable of choosing it. 

    This is the teaching before us, whether we want to focus on the installation of Pastor Meadows, or the choices Moses set before Israel just prior to His death, just prior to their entrance into the Promised Land.  The Law or Torah of God, His direction and His restrictions, His desperate desire to protect marriage and family, and to prevent fighting and hatred within His people, these have everything to do with planting and watering and seeing God grow His Church.  Ultimately God grows His Church only one Way:  by confronting, re-claiming and re-naming sinners, by giving forgiven sinners a new identity as children of God.  

   It is a lie of Satan that God is a stingy, mean killjoy.  The LORD does not set His Way before us in hopes of catching us in sin, so He can punish us.  Dear Christians, when we chafe under the clear teaching of Christ and resent the warnings and restrictions He puts on us, we need to recognize that this is our Old Adam talking.  This is our sinful nature rebelling.  And our sinful nature will be destroyed.

    The battle between the new creature God has made you to be in your Baptism and the sinner that you continue to be, this battle is to the death.  And this battle is connected to the way that Jesus has designed His Church.    

    The universal Church, the small ‘c’ catholic Church, to use the theological term, is simply this:  all the believers in Christ gathered around the Good Shepherd, the Good Pastor, Jesus Christ, seated at the right hand of God the Father, the Lamb who was slain and still bears those scars, as He reigns victorious in glory.  When things seem bad around you and your congregation, when you start to identify with Corinth, you can and should flee to Revelation 7, and hear again of that innumerable throng, saints from every tribe and nation and tongue, gathered around the throne, rejoicing in heavenly worship.  This is the reality of the universal church of every time and every place.  This is your future in Christ. 

   The Holy Spirit through St. John has given us this revelation, precisely because He knows how hard it is to see such a church down here.  When there is a crisis, such as the Dotsons have suffered, we often look pretty good, rising to the occasion to help one another.  God be praised.  But often, our life together is not that inspiring.  Problems arise, petty squabbles, or even bitter contentions.  It is easy for a congregation to drift apart, which makes us sad.  But do not lose heart, dear friends.  Do not doubt that the Lamb, who is also your Good Shepherd, do not doubt that He wins.  For He has already won, and He shares His glorious victory with you. 

   Remember to look to the heavenly future that is yours in Jesus.  And learn also to see this same reality, hidden beneath the design of planting and watering that Jesus has given us, in order to grow His Church on earth.  There is One Shepherd, one Pastor, Jesus Christ, and One People, that make up the universal Church.  Pastor and People together, this is Jesus’ design for His Church.  And this universal truth is reflected in the way Jesus builds local congregations:  Pastor and People together.  This is the Way that Jesus has given us to plant and water, so that He can give the growth.  This is the Way Jesus has designed, and through which He is truly present with us, today, and to the end of the Age.  And so, what a joy and privilege for me today to play a small part in your walk in that Way.

   To be sure, there are important distinctions to be made between the eternal form of the whole Church gathered around the One Good Pastor, Jesus Christ, and the details of the form of a local congregation.  One local congregation may have more than one pastor, as Zion has had and Lord willing will have again soon.  And the first need for the man or men called to serve as earthly pastors in Christ’s Church is repentance and faith in Christ’s forgiving blood.  Because only the Good Shepherd is without sin. 

   This pastor, and every earthly pastor, even Pastor Meadows, is a sinner, daily in need of Christ’s forgiveness.  Called and ordained ministers are also still sheep in need of the Good Shepherd.  They have also, in God’s mysterious wisdom, been called to serve, to minister to others, in the Name of Jesus, Pastor and People together.  In this, we see an icon of Jesus and the universal church in each local congregation. 

   Unlike Jesus, earthly pastors need grace.  In truth, pastors need more grace, more forgiveness, because Satan especially loves to throw darts of accusation at them.  At some level, “strike the shepherd and the sheep will be scattered” is still true today.  So do not be afraid to share a Word of grace and mercy with your pastor, maybe even an act of grace.  This too is part of your calling as Christians. 

   As we consider Jesus’ design, as you and Pastor Meadows think of yourselves as Pastor and People together, walking with Jesus in His Way, it will be healthy to remember our daily need for repentance from the sin that clings to us, our daily need to receive the grace of God in Christ.  This daily reality means that Pastor Meadows has some things to say. 

   Every Christian has a calling to speak God’s Truth, to be sure.  But Pastor Meadows is especially responsible to remind you, as Moses did for ancient Israel and Paul did for the Corinthians, that choosing sin is choosing death.  And, no more than Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount to ruin our fun, Pastor Meadows is not pointing out your sin to make you feel bad or make himself feel good. 

    The fact that bickering, and apathy, and sexual sin, and wandering from God’s Way will arise in every congregation, this is a sad reality in the Church on earth, which is still engaged in the battle against sin.  And that we be fully engaged in this fight, the Holy Spirit leads His pastors to preach against sin.  He must, but always with the goal that we all be prepared to receive again the marvelous Good News of free forgiveness.  The goal is always to have Jesus wash our robes and make them white in His blood, and transform us for a better walk tomorrow. 

    You see, God really does want to keep you in His Way, all the way to the End, when He will welcome you face to face into joyous and never-ending glory.  Even though the LORD would be just and right to make your successful conclusion of that journey depend on your choices, He has not done this.  You and I should choose good and shun evil, choose life, and not death.  But God so wants you to be with Him forever that the Father chose to send the Son, and the Son at the Father’s bidding chose death, for Himself.  Christ Jesus chose death, pouring out His blood in order to destroy death’s power.  And now He is risen, and rejoices to share His new life, to pour out His forgiving grace, for you, on you, into you.  This is the blameless Way of Planting and Watering that God has given us, and He will give the Growth. 

    God grant you, Pastor Meadows and the People of Zion, faithfulness, and great joy, as you walk in the planting and watering design of Jesus, the way of repentance and grace for sinners, and life forever, in the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. 

 

Salt and Light - Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany

The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany
February 5^th, Year of Our + Lord, 2023
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
Salt and Light in the World – Matthew 5:13-20, 1^st  Corinthians 2:1-5

   Salt, and light.  Jesus says you, His disciples, you Christians, are the salt of
the earth, and you are the light of the world.  And the world needs you.  The world needs your saltiness and your light, for God has not revealed another way that the world can be saved from His righteous judgement, the destruction and casting out, about which He has been warning us, since Genesis.  The world needs our salt.  It needs our light.  But how precisely are we to understand being salt and light?  

   Our Gospel picks up today right where we left off last Sunday.  Last week we heard Jesus give His famous Beatitudes, those strange statements of blessing that begin the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus begins discussing blessedness a bit abstractly: “blessed are they…” Blessed are they who are poor in spirit, the meek, the pure in heart, you remember, right?  But at the end, just before today’s Gospel, Jesus gets pointed and personal:  “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. ¹² Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

   Jesus’ very pointed “you” continues today.  Speaking to the disciples, and by extension to us who have been called into the same discipleship, Jesus says: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.”  The thing that makes disciples of Jesus salty is Jesus, His person and His work.  That is to say, the Good News that God in Christ Jesus has taken away the sin of the world, and gives to believers forgiveness and new life.  Trusting in this remarkable promise is what makes you a disciple of Jesus, and it is also what makes you valuable and useful in God’s plan.  Without this Gospel saltiness, you are of no lasting value, certainly no eternal value, neither to yourself, nor to the world. 

   Let me explain with some grammar.  I know you love it when I get all grammatical, and there is an interesting thing to note in this verse. 

A bit more literal translation is this:  You (that is, you disciples of Jesus Christ) you are the salt of the earth.  But if salt becomes tasteless, how will it be be salted? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.   

   How will it be salted?  Heard more literally, the question arises: what does the “it” refer to?  Does the “it” that needs to be salted refer to the disciples, who have lost their saltiness, or to the world?  Is Jesus asking “how can Christians who lose the Gospel be restored?” Or is He asking “how can the world be saved, made salty, if Christians lose the Gospel?”  Grammatically, the “it” could refer to the “salt,” that is, the saltiness of the disciples, or it could refer to the world, which needs to be salted to live. 

   Which is it?  Well, the Holy Spirit, working through the grammar of St. Matthew, doesn’t specify.  But that doesn’t matter so much, because both are true.  Christians who lose faith in the Gospel are no longer truly Christians, no longer disciples. And without Christians, the world has no chance to be salted, that is, to be saved.  Because God chooses to distribute His saving salt through His disciples, through His people, through His Church.  Christians who reject the Gospel, as well as those people of the world who have never believed it, are in the same predicament.  They are equally worthy of being thrown out and trampled under foot.  For without the Gospel of Jesus, without the salty Good News of His forgiving sacrifice, we are all still lost in our sin, and without hope. 

   It is the same with the light.  You Christians are the light of the world, but of course not because you generate your own saving light.  No, you are the light of the world because Christ, who is the true and foundational Light of the World, shines within you.  The first good work of the Christian and of the Church is to shine the light of Christ, that is to believe, repeat, proclaim and give praise and thanks to God for the Light of Life that shines from the Cross of Jesus.  Now, there are many more good works to come.  The commandments of God still have their place in the life of Christians, as we will see when we continue through the Sermon on the Mount next week, and hear Jesus sharpen the Law.  Jesus will equate murder with angry words.  He will say lustful thoughts are equally sinful  as physical acts of adultery.  Loving enemies, giving to the needy, fasting, trusting not in money, all these specific works to which all Christians are called, these are coming. 

   But first, you need salt within you, you need to let your light shine.  And these both connect to hearing and believing and confessing and celebrating the Good News of Christ crucified.  The Word of the Cross, despite how foolish and weak it appears to the world, and our own flesh, the Cross is revealed by the Holy Spirit to be the power and wisdom of God. 

   This is the Light that you have seen, that shines within you by faith, the Light which the world needs to see. 

   Imagine yourself lost in the dark.  It’s cold too, maybe really cold, too cold to stop moving, because if you do you could freeze to death.  You stumble along, maybe through deep snow, which penetrates your boots and starts to freeze your toes.  But you’re lost in the darkness; you don’t which way to go.  Your desperation mounts.  You long to see a light.  And why?  Because the light comes from a source, and that source is a sign of refuge.  Starlight at the top of a ridge that leads you out of the deep and deadly valley into which you’ve wandered.  A street lamp that leads you back into town.  A house in the woods, with a fireplace and a roof and warmth for your body.  If you are blessed to see such a light, your heart leaps, and your step quickens, you hurry forward, hoping to live.   

   God throughout the Bible testifies that such is the state of every person who does not have the light of Christ within them.  Now, to be sure, most people do not think they are lost in darkness.  Lucifer, the false light who seeks to lead souls away from Christ, he shines many artificial lights, to fool people into rejecting and ignoring the True Light.  And the True Light is hard to believe, shining as it does out of suffering and persecution and submission to evil that is the Cross. 

   So the world goes on, chasing false lights, like shiny gold and silver, or brightly increasing bank accounts.  Like the glimmer of worldly popularity, or the fantastical lights of escape that come from consuming, from consuming too much good food, or consuming chemicals, or taking in flickering images that distract our minds and hearts from our true darkness.  If you doubt that this darkness is real, go research the atrocities that are being committed by Russian soldiers today in Ukraine, or that have been committed by so many soldiers in every war.  In these horrors you will see the blackened truth that even the pursuit of darkness can become a guiding light for fallen men. 

   And so shining the Light of Christ comes at a cost.  Until a sinner lost in the darkness recognizes that darkness for what it is, he or she can only squint and cry out against the Light of Christ.  Unbelievers in Christ still believe.  They believe in something else, some other light is their god.  And if you tell me that the thing I believe in as god is actually nothing, and worse, it’s a tool of Satan and worthy to be trampled underfoot, well, I am likely become defensive and angry. 

   And so Christ and His Christians often suffer rejection and sometimes persecution, because the Light of Christ is exclusive.  Christ the Son of God outshines and destroys every false light.  And so we children of the Light will be made poor in spirit from time to time, as the world takes its anger at God out on us. 

   No matter.  Difficulties and even suffering for the sake of the Gospel will come.  But Christ will bring us through.  We continue to shine our light, we continue to hear, pray, confess, receive and rejoice in the Word of the Cross, first and foremost because it is our light and our life.  And, we can be sure of this: Even as the Holy Spirit keeps us in the Light, He is also drawing others to that same Light.  Here again we see that our other works, our righteous efforts in the world, our keeping of the commandments, our loving our neighbors and our enemies, these, although imperfect, are also part of the plan of attraction to the Light, the plan of salvation, that God has designed.   

   Now, as disciples of Jesus, our eyes will not stay focused on the things that
we do, or better to say, on the things that God does through us.  No, our eyes are always drawn back to the Light, the Light of the power and wisdom of the Cross, in which we see our Savior, and the unspeakable joy and beauty of our future.  For the Spirit is preparing for us to live in the Light of Christ, today, and tomorrow, and forever and ever, Amen.