Called to be Stewards, of What? Sermon for the Second Sunday of Easter, 2021 Custer and Hill City, SD

Second Sunday of Easter, April 11, Year of Our + Lord 2021

Called to be Stewards, of What?                                                  

John 20:19-31 and Acts 4:32-35

Our Redeemer and Our Savior Lutheran Churches

Custer and Hill City, South Dakota

 

Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! 

Christ is risen, so let’s talk about stewardship.

    You might think I’m suggesting we consider stewardship this morning because of our 1^st reading, from Acts 4, when the believers said that all the wealth and material blessing they had was common property of all the Church.  Those who owned properties were even selling them and laying all the proceeds at the Apostles’ feet, for the care of less fortunate brothers and sisters.   Seems like an obvious stewardship text.  But that’s not what I’m thinking about.   

    Because Christian stewardship isn’t about giving money to the Church, at least not primarily.  No question, it takes financial and other human resources to do the work of the Church.  But that is a secondary issue, important, but not really the heart of Christian stewardship. 

    A month or two ago, when I was meeting with one of our newest communicant members, David Hill, the topic of Christian Stewardship came up.  I asked David what he understood stewardship to be about.  I expected to hear him say something about members giving financially to the Church, or perhaps he would think more broadly and speak of giving of our time, our talents and our treasure to support the ministry of the Church.  But not David.  He thought for just a moment, then said “stewardship has to do with how we get the message of Christ out to the world.”  Bingo!  Nailed it! 

    First and foremost, stewardship is about what we are doing with the one true treasure we have as Church, which is the Gospel.  The only pure and lasting treasure we have is the Good News of the free forgiveness of sins, won and revealed for all sinners by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s Son made man.  If all our members gave 10% or more of all their income, and the Church was rolling in cash, and yet we did not proclaim Christ Crucified for the forgiveness of sinners, then our stewardship would be terrible, totally worthless.  Consider an extreme example: our Mormon friends and neighbors give tons of money, and time and talent, to the Church of the Latter Day Saints, as they call themselves.  But instead of proclaiming the free forgiveness for sinners, the Mormon’s teach a straightforward works righteous salvation.  They say salvation isn’t a free gift, but rather it is must be earned by our good works. 

    This contradicts the Bible.  Even more, it robs Christ of glory, and it robs us sinners of hope.  So, despite the fact that financially, the LDS Church is a powerhouse, there is no Christian stewardship going on there.  Christian stewardship involves Christ and His Gospel, first and always.      

    Our Collect of the Day is a prayer for good Christian stewardship.  It goes like this:  Almighty God, grant that we who have celebrated the Lord’s resurrection may by Your grace confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, Amen.   

    Amen indeed, that’s Christian stewardship, in line with David Hill’s excellent definition:  Christian stewardship is to seek, as a congregation, as families, and as individuals, to organize our life around showing forth in word and deed the risen Lord Jesus.  This prayer helps us see that the main stewardship text in our readings today is not the 1^st reading from Acts concerning the amazing financial gifts the earliest Christians made to the infant Church.  That’s great, and it is a necessary part of stewardship.  But the main stewardship text comes from our Gospel, when Jesus says to the Apostles, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you." ²² And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,  "Receive the Holy Spirit. ²³ If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld.”  Jesus sent His Apostles to be stewards of the Gospel.  Think of the many parables Jesus taught His disciples about stewardship.  You will discover that almost always, if not every time, Jesus wasn’t teaching them how to handle money, but rather what they will do with the Gospel that Jesus was fulfilling before their eyes. 

    Consider the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.  Jesus says the Kingdom of Heaven will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. ¹⁵ To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 

    What’s a talent?  A “talent” in first century Israel was about 80 pounds of silver, an incredible amount of money, perhaps 16 years’ worth of daily wages.  Read through the Bible carefully, no where will you find that Jesus left the Apostles with any sum of money. Rather, Jesus is using a story about money to teach how the Church is to use the treasure He did leave us, which is the Good News of His forgiving love.  If we invest the Gospel, then, as happened with the first two stewards, who invested their silver, then the Holy Spirit will generate a return.  His Word does not return to Him void. 

   If we put the Word of Law and Gospel to work in the world, God will do great things.  But to bury it in a hole in the ground, as the third steward in this parable did, that is, to keep the Gospel bound up in a book that never gets spoken out loud so people can hear it, well that is a sign of unbelief.  It would be like someone having a pill that prevents cancer, or the coronavirus, but they kept it locked up in a lab, unwilling to share it with anyone.  Except being selfish with the Gospel is far worse.  Cancer and corona might end your earthly life, but not having the Gospel will lead to eternal suffering and separation from God, and every good thing. 

    So, the first and primary stewardship concern of the Apostles, and so also of the one Holy, Christian and Apostolic Church, is the stewardship of the Gospel, proclaiming, to each other and to all the world the clear and pure teaching of salvation in Christ alone, given to sinners by God’s grace alone, received when sinners repent of their sinfulness and believe the Good News of free forgiveness.  

   Now, to be able to give something away, first you must have it.  To share mercy, you must receive mercy.  To be a steward of the Gospel, first you must possess the Gospel.  Thomas had to be rescued from his doubt and convinced of the Resurrection before he could be a good steward of the Gospel.  So, how can you be a better steward?  Get more Gospel, and the Holy Spirit will make you a better steward.  Thomas needed a face to face, “put your hand in my side” encounter with the Risen Lord to be broken out of his unbelief.  Blessed are you, who have not seen, and yet have believed.  It is faith in the risen Savior that sets us free to share the Gospel, because He makes us realize that no matter how much we give it away, there is always more for us.  There is no running out of the Gospel, because the Son of God and His limitless forgiveness is the source.       

   What does being a steward of the Gospel actually entail?  Well, first, it isn’t a burden.  Your salvation doesn’t depend on your stewardship, for your salvation depends on Christ alone.  But God does want to work through each of you to grow His Kingdom.

   Each Christian has a different role in God’s Church.  All of us are called to grow in faith, and so be prepared to confess Christ to others in our daily lives.  But not all of us have the exact same role in the Church, and no particular role has more or less honor.  We all gather to hear of Christ and receive His gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation.  I am called to serve you, you are called to serve each other and your neighbors.  Here in the congregation, some provide music, pass out bulletins, take care of the altar, or run projection slides.  Some maintain the building we use, the list goes on. 

   We all share the responsibility to make sure the Gospel that goes out from this place is the true Gospel.  There isn’t any Christian stewardship if we aren’t teaching and preaching the Truth of Christ.  And of course there’s the question we all face, again and again in our day to day lives: Can I speak the Gospel?  Dare I?  What if I don’t speak well?  What if I’m rejected? 

   Well, remember that Jesus was rejected, too, and yet in the end He won the victory for you.  Don’t be concerned that you will confess Christ imperfectly, I can assure you that you will make mistakes.  But the Holy Spirit can overcome your mistakes. 

   Above all, remember, the Master who will return to see how our stewardship has gone is the same one who went to the Cross for us.  He loves you, He forgives you, and He goes with you.  So yes, with the help of His Spirit, all of us can show forth Christ by word and deed.  To get ready, we might start by praying for His help, perhaps even using the collect for today:  Almighty God, grant that we who have celebrated the Lord’s resurrection may by Your grace confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God, Amen.  Confessing in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God.  That’s Christian stewardship in it’s essence. 

   But then, what about those early Christians, selling valuable property and giving it all to the Apostles?  Well, let me say two things about that.  

   First, their context required such extraordinary generosity.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t make extraordinary gifts to the Church, if you are able and if the Lord has put the desire in your heart.  Go for it.  But we also see that making such tremendous financial gifts was never made into a law.  We don’t hear of it in the rest of the New Testament.  It’s helpful to remember that the earliest Christians were converted Jews.  By their confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, they cut themselves off from their Jewish families, culture and the Jewish economy.  They were a small, persecuted band of believers who had to stick together to survive.  And so they did, including some people of means who made extraordinary gifts.  Praise be to God. 

   We are called to share the same love with each other.  But sharing the same love one for another amongst us today does not necessarily mean we must have all our material wealth in common.  What does our context require?  No one among us is starving, or being persecuted for confessing Christ as God and Lord.  No one is in prison, yet. 

   This doesn’t mean our stewardship is any less critical, including the part of stewardship that does have to do with contributing your time, talent and treasure to support the preaching of Jesus as God and Lord. What we need to always do is focus on our common treasure of Christ and His Gospel, and the Spirit will lead us to just the right financial stewardship.   

   Second, a word of caution.  If we read on in the book of Acts, right after our reading, in chapter five we will hear about Ananias and Sapphira.  Do you remember Ananias and Sapphira?  They wanted the prestige and honor they thought was gained by those who sold properties and gave all the proceeds to the Apostles.  But they didn’t want to actually give all the money.  So they lied about their donation. Sadly, they lied to the Church and to God, giving a portion of the proceeds of a sale, while claiming that they were giving all of it.  They were seeking to purchase favor and honor, as if God had not already given them eternal and infinite favor in Christ.  Ananias and Sapphira died for their scheming and lying. 

   So, never lie to God about your generosity.  Don’t turn financial stewardship into an idol. Never seek the praise of men by your gifts, and never think that you are earning favor or special status by making large gifts.  Simply reflect on what God in Christ has done for you, and give as you are able and your heart desires.  Give what you desire in your heart to give, and rejoice, for God loves cheerful givers.

   God has given you life, both your earthly life, and His eternal life.  He will not abandon you or let you go.  So you are free to be a good steward of the Gospel, in your daily life.  You are also free to be a good steward of your material blessings, time and abilities, in support of the Gospel ministry, here, and around the world.  When you struggle to be a Christian steward, come confessing your struggle and your sins, and receive more Gospel.  Get more of God’s Word.  Come to His Table, dig in and drink deeply from the Word of forgiveness and life, the Word of Jesus, who has won the Kingdom of Heaven for you.  Your sins are forgiven, including your sins of doubt and resistance.  Rejoice, and pray again with me: 

   Almighty God, grant that we who have celebrated the Lord’s resurrection may by Your grace confess in our life and conversation that Jesus is Lord and God; through the same Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever, Amen. 

 

Overcoming our Fear - Sermon for Resurrection Day, April 4th, A+D 2021

 

The Resurrection of Our Lord, April 4^th Year of Our + Lord 2021

Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches

Custer and Hill City, South Dakota

Overcoming Our Fear - Mark 16:1-8

Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed, Alleluia! 

   The strife is over, the battle is won!  Jesus is risen, so we too shall arise!  Because He shares His victory with us!  Nothing can defeat us, for we are more than conquerors in Him who has loved us through death, and unto new life!  Alleluia! 

   So why we still afraid?  Why do fear and doubt and hesitation so often fill our hearts and minds, close our mouths and bind our hands and feet? 

   There’s been plenty of fear this past year.  Some of it very legitimate, some of it unfounded, some of it overblown and manipulative.  I doubt that any of us have proved immune. 

   I remember clearly the first time I drove out of our basement garage during the Covid19 lockdown that Shelee and I experienced in Spain, (a lockdown that was bonkers, btw).  I had no legal reason to leave our house in Cartagena for weeks, except to walk one block to put our household trash in the receptacle.  I didn’t like it.  But I wasn’t fearful.  I didn’t think the general panic that gripped the world was affecting me.  Then, when finally I did have a reason and a need to leave the house in our car, well, as I started the car and shifted into drive, a strange sensation came over me.  I don’t want to call it fear, but...   Let’s just say I had to overcome my emotions and tell myself to get a grip. 

   What’s scared you in the past 12 months?  Maybe night after night of riots in so many American cities... Or maybe rioters forcing their way into the capitol building...  Or maybe you’re scared right now?  Maybe your fears arise closer to home.  Is your retirement income lasting like you hoped it would?  Is your job as secure as you wished it was?  Do you have a disease that frightens you?  Or maybe a loved one is sick?  Is there tension and strife with your closest family and friends?  Everyday struggles and worries can morph into fear.  Truth is, fears are all around, some understandable, some overblown.  Fear that comes from the world, and fear that rises in our own hearts. 

   The women running away from the empty tomb of Jesus had what most of us would consider good reason to be afraid.  Mary, Mary and Salome had seen their Lord crucified.  They saw Him give up His Spirit and then slump, dead on the cross.  They had seen Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus wrap His lifeless corpse in cloth and spices and place it tearfully in a new tomb, just near Golgotha.  But early in the morning on the first day of the week, when they went to honor their beloved Jesus by properly preparing His body for the grave, the body was gone.  Even more, a young man, dressed in white, a messenger from heaven, told them that Jesus was no longer dead, that He was risen, alive again, and would meet His disciples in Galilee.  Mary, Mary and Salome had good reason to be astonished, and afraid, so afraid that they couldn’t speak.  A holy fear, but fear that left them speechless, nonetheless.    

   So why didn’t they stay frightened and silent?  How did the news of Jesus’ Resurrection spread, from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the earth, even to the Black Hills of South Dakota, 20 centuries later? 

   Mary, Mary and Salome left fear behind, because Jesus came to them.  That’s the only way the biography of Jesus won’t frighten you, only if the Lord Himself comes to you, speaking peace:  “Fear not.  Fear not, it is I, death could not hold me, and it will not hold you, because I have risen to share my new life with you.  Fear not, and go and tell my brothers, those frightened 11, hiding in a locked room.  Go and tell them that I am coming to them as well.”     

   The biography of Jesus, the story of His life and death, is frightening because of what it reveals about God.  The Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, who created us and provides for us, was serious when He declared that He hates sin.  Deadly serious.  When Mary’s Son cries out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, the unbearable weight of God’s moral expectations are most fully revealed. 

   Now, it is true that many people, far too many people, do not believe that Jesus’ biography is true.  Maybe they are too wise and sophisticated to accept a 2,000 year old story, first written on sheep skins.  Maybe they prefer to believe a different religion’s story.  Or maybe they have never heard.  Whatever the case, it is the Church’s task to share the story of Jesus as broadly and as clearly as we can. 

   Because while far too many people disbelieve or ignore it today, one day soon everyone will come to understand that it’s true.  And then they will fear, as they gaze upon the One who was pierced, coming on the clouds, to usher in the new heavens and the new earth.  Then they will see and believe and fear the truth of God’s anger against sin, and sinners, revealed in the Cross of Jesus.  But if their enlightenment doesn’t come before they see Jesus coming on the clouds in glory, it will then be too late to be followed by peace and joy.  The time for faith and salvation is today.  So we work to share this story now. 

   But it’s challenging, because Jesus’ return in glory, and His death, and even His resurrection are terribly fearful things.  They are frightening, unless Jesus comes to you today, to take away your fear, by taking away all your sins.  Jesus came to Mary, Mary and Salome, and to the Eleven, to convert their confusion and fear into faith and joy.  Only the loving voice of the Risen Savior can drive out all fear.  So, Jesus comes to you today to say, “Peace to you, it is I, Jesus.  Do not fear my Father’s anger against your sin, for it is no more.  I have taken it all, for you.  You are forgiven.  You have perfect peace with God, in Me.”     

    Christ is Risen.  He is Risen indeed, Alleluia!  What joy to be gathered with you all here, today, to celebrate the victory, the perfect peace that we have in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, crucified and resurrected, for us.  Nothing can hurt us, not even death itself.  Everything is perfect, even for sinners like us, perfect in Christ Jesus. 

So why do we still fear so much? 

   Precisely because we are still sinners.  We should not fear, for Jesus has won the victory for us, just as He said He would.  We should understand this, because Jesus has told us.  But, our understanding, our confidence, our joy are not yet perfect.  We still struggle against doubt, and sin, and fear.  Every day.  We should not, but we do.  Our faith is not perfected, not yet, and so fear still plagues us. 

   Don’t beat yourself up about your fears, even though they are caused by your sin.  Neither should you just accept your fear, nor should you accept anything else imperfect in your life.  God wants you to have the fullness of joy that comes from holiness.  Don’t accept your fears, nor beat yourself up about them.  Instead, confess them.  Pray to the Holy Spirit that He strengthen your faith and take away your fear. 

And I can even tell you how He will do that:  He will use the biography of Jesus. 

   The world will tell you to conquer your fear by trying harder, by digging deep in your heart and staying positive and disciplining yourself to be brave.  That won’t work.  You can’t drive out fear, nor the imperfections and sins that cause it. 

   The Holy Spirit will not point you to yourself.  Instead, He will take you deeper into the biography of Jesus, into His story, recorded in the Word.  The biography of Jesus, that is to say, the Word of God, is the Spirit’s tool for revealing and delivering the peace of God to you.  He uses the Word of Jesus to calm your fear and relieve your guilt and shame.  For Jesus alone, in His Life, Death, and Resurrection, has faced all our fears, and the evil that causes them.  And He has won that battle, once and for all. 

   This why Jesus Himself is the Peace of God which passes all understanding.  Listen to Him.  Know His love.  Rejoice, for He has claimed you in the water of Holy Baptism, where His Cross and His Resurrection became yours.  Taste and see that He is good.  Christ Jesus will keep you safe, through all the fears of this life, unto life everlasting, life in glory and perfect joy.   

Christ is Risen. He is Risen indeed, Alleluia. 

Fear not, Jesus is your Savior, today, and forever and ever, Amen.  

 

 

Know His Love - Sermon for Palm and Passion Sunday, March 28th, A+D 2021

 Palm and Passion Sunday, March 28, Year of Our + Lord 2021
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches, Custer and Hill City, SD
Know His Love 

(This sermon references Samuel Crossman's hymn "My Song is Love Unknown, " especially stanza 6.  You can read the text of the hymn here:  https://hymnary.org/hymn/LSB2006/430) 

   What may I say?  Heaven was His home, but mine the tomb wherein He lay. 
 
   My tomb.  He didn’t deserve to die, but I do.  As we head into Holy Week, and truly every day, we need to hear and confess this truth.  Jesus died and was placed in a tomb because I am a sinner. 
 
   Hear and confess your sinfulness, and your sins.  Repent.  And then hear again.  Mine was the tomb wherein He lay.  The Holy One of God lay in the tomb for me.  And for you.  By His sinless presence in another man’s grave, Jesus made the graves of all believers holy ground.  He sanctified what had always been a cavern of death and decay.  Now you do not need to fear death.  Now, by faith in Jesus, your grave is but a temporary resting place for your body, until the Last Day when all the dead in Christ will be raised to join the glorious body and soul reunion of all the saints, gathered forever around the throne of the Lamb.
 
   This is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and gave His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Samuel Crossman, our hymnwriter, called this “Love Unknown.”  It’s a beautiful hymn, and outside of Jesus Christ, it is true that such love is not known.  But my prayer for you, and for all people, is that you know the love that has been proclaimed to you this morning. 
 
   When you feel like nobody really loves you, remember that God has loved you perfectly in Jesus. 
 
   When you are in conflict with those you love, know that in Jesus forgiveness and reconciliation are possible. 
 
   When Satan points to your sins, and whispers that you are unlovable, tell that liar to shut his mouth, for God declares His love, His forgiving love, for you, in His Son, your Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.     

The Way of the New Covenant - Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent

 Fifth Sunday in Lent, March 21^st, A+D 2021

Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches

Custer and Hill City, S.D.

The Way of the New Covenant     Jeremiah 31:31-34 and Mark 10:35-45

    Are you tired of all the politics?  Hard to imagine that you aren’t, unless you are blessed to be able to ignore it.  At Our Redeemer Men’s Breakfast on Wednesdays, talking politics is prohibido, verboten, not allowed.  But it tries to sneak its way into the conversation, because politics these days are so maddening.  If you pay attention, or just pay taxes, you may feel like pulling your hair out.  Polarization dominates.  Both sides seem to take their positions farther and farther to the extreme.  Every day one can observe a shocking lack of integrity, blatant dishonesty, and the constant mischaracterization of opponents.  Attacks on institutions and values that we have long held dear are now routine.  Civil discourse is unknown.  Perhaps you fear for our prosperity.  Or for public safety.    

    If you are tired of all the politics, I have good news for you today:  In the Church of Christ, there are no politics.  That’s what Jesus says: “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all.”

   What we rightly hate about politics is the naked struggle for power, the
perversion of truth for the pursuit of prestige and wealth.  Leaders promoting themselves, instead of serving others, and the good of the whole.  But when petty political rivalry breaks out among the Twelve, Jesus declares it will not be so amongst His Apostles.  By extension, it will not so in His Church, which the Apostles would build.  So, Good News, there are no politics in the Church!  

    Some of you are looking at me funny...  Perhaps this has not been your experience?  Whether you have dabbled in church affairs at a high level, or only within your local congregation, perhaps you remember times when brothers or sisters or pastors in Christ seemed to be pursuing their own glory, to the detriment of others, seeking power, and to be served, rather than seeking to be the servant of all.  Maybe you’ve seen examples of behavior similar to that of James and John in our Gospel reading today.  Certainly the sons of Zebedee seem to be playing politics.  Instead of seeking the good their brothers and of God’s people, they are only interested in their own personal glory.  It’s true, they were trying to play politics with Christ’s Church.  But Jesus shuts them down, because in the true Church of Jesus Christ, there are no politics.  That isn’t what it’s all about.

    Politics belong to the Way of the Law.  Or at least playing dirty politics is the way we respond to the Way of the Law.  The Old Covenant, proposed by God through Moses at Mt. Sinai, and enthusiastically accepted by the people of Israel, was a straightforward two-way covenant of the Law, a system of rules voluntarily and mutually established between God and Israel.  God said:  Israel, you do these things, and then in return I, the Lord God Almighty, will do this and this and this.  And Israel responded:  Yes, we promise to live by this Law.  Now, in theory this arrangement didn’t need to descend into dirty politics, full of lies and hypocrisy, full of rivalry and dishonesty and self-promotion.  But nasty politics always arise when we commit to a law based system, because we can’t make the law work.  Certainly not to the letter.  Not even to our own satisfaction. 

    The deal the LORD struck with Israel after rescuing them from slavery in Egypt was more than reasonable.  I’ll be your God, you be my people.  Honor your parents.  Do not murder, do not steal, keep sex between you and your spouse, no sleeping around.  Watch your tongue, don’t be a gossip.  And set aside a day each week to rest, to hear my word, share in my gifts, and give thanks.  Not unreasonable. 

   But Israel, God’s chosen people, couldn’t keep their end of the deal.  Not even for a few days.  Moses went back up on the mountain to get some more details about the Covenant, and in no time, the Israelites abandoned God’s instructions and forgot their promises, demanding that Aaron build for them a Golden Calf to worship, instead of the LORD.  The Law of God always reveals the evil that lurks in the heart of every man, woman and child.  God was more than patient, and gave Israel another chance, again, and again, and again.  But Israel always resisted God’s way, and tried to invent their own plan to make it through life.  They pretended to obey the Covenant, but were really reducing it to politics. 

   In order to gain and keep power, Israel’s appointed leaders again and again twisted God’s good covenant, ignoring some parts, adding their own new requirements, setting up a system to favor and glorify themselves.  And the people mostly went along, because God’s true way seemed too hard.  The Old Covenant became so distorted that almost everyone became desperate to play politics, in order to survive.  And of course to get ahead of other people, to appear to be holier than others.  Worst of all, many if not most Israelites came to believe that the perverted covenant they were living under was actually the will of God.  The faith of most Jews was reduced to believing that God’s favor must be earned, by us doing good works.  Good works which were always being redefined and adjusted by the powerful, to maintain control.  If you read the Old Testament with a focus on the behavior of God’s people and their leaders, it reads like the saddest tragedy ever. 

   But God wants no politics in His Church.  So He declared through His prophet Jeremiah, “Behold, the days are coming, ... when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”  A New Covenant, established and fulfilled entirely by God.  A covenant not based on the performance of God’s people, but rather based on the Lord’s forgiveness.  This was God’s ultimate plan, all along.   The Old Covenant was a necessary step in the process of getting to the New Covenant.  But God was always working towards the New. 

   And so when James and John pull Jesus aside privately and try to play politics, when they try to strike a deal with Him to assure their own glory, Jesus rejects their political ambition.  But in a big, New Covenant surprise, Jesus doesn’t rebuke them for their selfishness.  Instead, while gently explaining that their request is not possible, surprisingly, Jesus still promises them great blessings.  Yes, you will drink my Cup and share in my Baptism.

   The New Covenant is like that.  Our selfishness and fear reveal our attitude, our false faith, that we believe we must bargain with God and win His favor.  But Jesus doesn’t respond with anger and punishment, but rather with His Baptism and His Cup.  Now, let’s be clear, at first they were only for one Man.  At first, His Baptism and Cup were only for Jesus.  James and John promise they could handle them, but they are ignorant fools.  

Jesus’ Baptism and Jesus’ Cup, in their original form, fulfill all the Old Covenant requirements of sacrifice and payment for sin.  Jesus was speaking of His Baptism by fire on the Cross, where all the flames of Hell were extinguished in His own flesh.  Jesus’ Cup was the cup of God’s wrath, the Lord’s entirely justified anger against our sin.  Neither James nor John, nor any of us, could endure them.  Only Jesus.  Which He did, in humble service to the whole world.  Giving His life as a ransom for many, for all sinners, this is how Jesus our Suffering Servant instituted the New Covenant, the Way of Forgiveness. 

   Now, James and John and all of us can receive Jesus’ Baptism and Cup, because He has transformed them, from wrath and anger and suffering, to forgiveness and blessing and new life.  Praise the Lord, what Good News!  Good News which also teaches us something about life in the Church.     

   There is no need to play politics in the Church, because none of us have anything to earn.  We have already been given all the riches of God’s eternal kingdom.  We don’t need to fight to get ahead, because each of us has been lavishly favored in the same way.  We are all undeserving recipients of God’s remarkable grace and love.   There is more depth to the Gospel than we can fully comprehend.  But it’s also simple.  If you know your sin, and yet you know and trust that Jesus on His Cross has taken it all away, in order to forgive you and share His glory with you, then you know what is essentially important.  Then you know the Lord.  And you also know that serving others is the highest honor you could possibly receive, because it is the heart and soul of who Jesus is and what He has done. 

   There ought not be any politics in Christ’s Church.  But there will be problems to overcome, because Christians are still sinners, and we are always seeking to invite more sinners to come and join us in the way of the New Covenant.  Old, inborn habits die hard.  Like James and John, we will slide back into playing politics.  But the New Covenant Truth, to which the Holy Spirit is always calling us, is the Good News that we have been perfectly served, by God’s only begotten Son.  His forgiveness is our treasure.  We have been adopted by God the Father, through the Water with the Word.  We don’t need to “win,” because we are already more than victors, in Christ who loved us.   

   The Truth matters, most especially the Truth of the New Covenant.  So, sometimes we will need to struggle and even fight to reject lies and maintain the Truth.  But even when we must fight, we can still be kind and loving, even toward our enemies.  Because winning the argument and coming out ahead isn’t our goal.  We maintain the Truth in service to ourselves and others, that all may be saved.  But we don’t have to fear losing, because we have already won.  Our place at God’s heavenly banquet is secure.  So even when we encounter conflict, we can approach it in the Way of the New Covenant, the Way of Grace.  Upholding the truth, rejecting errors, but not trying to defeat anyone, certainly not defending our personal prestige.  Because Christ has won the victory for all, and He is our honor and glory.  So, even in conflict, I can seek to serve.  I can seek the good of my neighbor, even my enemy, like Jesus did for me. 

   Sounds like a fantasy.  But living in the Way of the New Covenant, the way of grace and love, is truly possible, because the New Covenant of Jesus’ blood bought forgiveness is your truth, your reality.  Glory has already been delivered to you in your Baptism.  You drink the finest wine possible, the Cup of the New Covenant established by Jesus, that washes you clean of all your sins.  So you have no need to get ahead; God has already seated you on high, in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.   

Chrisitanity 101 - But God, ... Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Lent

Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 14^th, Year of Our + Lord 2021

Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches

Custer and Hill City, South Dakota

Christianity 101 - But God, ...  (Numbers 21, Ephesians 2 and John 3)

    Did you get all that?  Our readings today are amazing, and fundamentally important to the Christian faith.  They are also hard to understand, especially at first glance, after just hearing them one time.  With the help of Rev. Deacon and Pastor Emeritus Bob Bohlmann, I have dared to adjust the epistle reading from Ephesians 2, shortening up the sentences of the ESV translation, trying to make it easier to follow.  And yet we still have to wrestle with phrases like “sons of disobedience,” “the prince of the power of the air,” and “by nature children of wrath.” Unpleasant words, and confusing.  And of course, we have these two sentences: “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.”  There is not a more beautiful and important passage in the Bible, but it’s a mouthful. 

    And then of course, from the Old Testament, Numbers 21, we heard the episode of the
fiery serpents, a terrible judgment on God’s people that was resolved by, wait for it, another fiery serpent, made of bronze, and mounted on a pole for all to see.  To which Jesus makes reference in John 3, just before He utters that most well-known verse, the Gospel in a Nutshell, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”  We are very familiar with this verse, and that’s great.  But how well do we understand it? 

    Well, we have a few minutes this morning, so let’s try to make some progress.  Because I want to fully understand these texts, and I want you to understand them as well.  Reaching the end of this Biblical walk may take us a lifetime; but with the Holy Spirit’s help, we’ll make it a ways down the road today.

    Let’s start in the middle, with Paul’s famous passage from Ephesians 2.  The first thing we must learn about is death, the true meaning of death.  Paul smacks us in the face with death, right at the start.  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins  in which you once walked, following the course of this world.  You and I, like everyone else, used to be the walking dead.  Yes, kind of like zombies, only backwards, and worse.  T.V and movie zombies start out good people, who get infected by a zombie bite, to become one of those horrible, braindead cannibals that we call zombies. 

    That’s entertainment.  Being what Paul describes, a dead man walking, or a dead woman or dead child walking, that is much worse.  The death we first think of when we hear the word, that tragic moment when the bodily functions shut down, we stop breathing and our heart stops beating, that death is bad, an enemy to be sure. And physical death is related to real death; it is an inevitable side effect and warning about real death.  Paul is talking about this worse death, spiritual death, which threatens us both before and after our physical death. 

    The first key to understanding Paul today is to know that the end of this earthly life, while bad, is not the worst thing.  Far worse is the spiritual death caused by our sin, because sin separates us from God, both during this earthly life, and after.  Forever and ever after.  Sons of disobedience, children of wrath, these are what we are naturally, since our conception, because we are trapped under the cruel rule of the prince of the power of the air, that is to say, Satan, the Devil.  The Devil enslaved us all, through our first parents, putting up a wall of separation between us and God, a wall that is our sin.  Our natural path travels in and through death.  What’s worse, Satan is so cunning, and we are so blind to reality, that we can even be convinced that the deadly path of disobedience is the good life.  “If it feels good, do it.”  That’s the slogan of this age.  And if what feels good in the moment turns out badly, as it so often does, well, let’s just seek out another passion of the flesh.  Satan offers us another distraction, one after the other, fleeting pleasures which end up hurting us and the people around us.  Satan distracts us to keep us from realizing how bad off we really are, the walking dead. 

    You see, the bad news is terrible, much worse than we could have imagined.  We naturally walk the path towards misery and eternal death, like zombies.  Without some hero to come and rescue us, our future is utterly dark. 

    But.  But God.  After such a bleak beginning, some of the starkest law in all of the Bible, Paul needed a big old Gospel “but.”   We need a radical change of direction, a new way forward.  But God.  But God, who is rich in mercy, loved us with a great love,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, our sin, even when we were happily walking the path of death, God loved us.  Because that’s how He is.       

    In love, God made us alive together with Christ.  As strange and horrible as our natural condition is, physically alive but spiritually dead, walking toward an eternity of death and sorrow,

yet even more mysterious and wonderful is our rescue, our salvation.

    The same Lord God who got down into the dirt to form our first father, breathing life into Adam, and who did the first surgery to take Adam’s rib and then used it to create Adam’s one-flesh wife, Eve, this same Lord God involved Himself even more intimately in our rescue, the re-creation of humanity.  What the Lord did with His hands and breath in the beginning, He now has done within Himself, in the person of Christ Jesus.  God made us alive together with Christ.  His new life is our new life.  In Christ we are a new creation, the old has gone, the new has come.     

    God made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved.  This means we neither deserved, nor earned, nor contributed in any positive way to the miraculous rescue that God has achieved for us.  Grace is the outpouring of God’s love, His favor revealed in His work of mercy, by which He snatched us off the pathway of death that we were walking, and placed us into the way of life that Christ Jesus has already walked for us.  Your rescue from Satan, and from yourself, is pure gift.  It had to be.  Because you were dead.  What do physically dead people do?  Nothing.  Dead bodies don’t do anything.  But God, in love, made you alive together with Christ, even when you were dead in your sins.  That’s what “by grace you have been saved” means.  You were made alive in Jesus, and even now, because your life is “in Him,” even now you are with Him, seated with Him in glory, in heaven.  Wow, what great news.   

    Satan is defeated, his plan is undone.  Now He can only try to keep this Good News from reaching the walking dead.  Oh, and he also is always trying to trip us up on our way, with a sneaky lie.  Even as the evil one distracts unbelievers with the pleasures and passions of the flesh, he also whispers to the Christian, “Oh yes, God is your Savior, but you still have to do your part.”  “A small part,” hisses the Evil One, “but important.”  “You must really believe, you must really commit, you must prove your faith and do many good works, in order to be sure you are saved.”  This is a lie.  But Satan knows this lie is appealing, because it seems logical to us.  We want salvation to fit our logic, and we want to feel like we’ve contributed.  I mean, who wants to be totally dependent on God, like a little child? 

 

   But God.  It should be enough that we understand we were walking dead in our trespasses and sins.  But we struggle to remember, and God wants to have you as His beloved child, totally dependent on Him.  So the Holy Spirit led Paul to break it down, even further.  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. 

    Humility is the baseline characteristic of the Christian.  Boasting, thinking too highly of ourselves, is how we got into trouble in the first place.  In foolish pride, we imagined we could somehow live independently from the God who alone creates and sustains life.  We didn’t trust and believe that God’s way was the good way, and so we chose the way of death.  

But God, ... 

    But God loved us and saved us, by grace, and He delivers this new life to each sinner through faith.  That is, all that God has done in Christ, His new life, our salvation, all this is received when we stop believing the lies of Satan, and instead believe the truth, that the Father has re-created us, given us new life, in Christ Jesus.  And even this faith, this childlike trust of the heart, is a gift, created in us by the Holy Spirit, who uses the telling of this Good News to create faith in us.  The preaching of the Gospel is the power of God for salvation. 

    Satan’s lie that you can and must contribute something to be saved is just that, a lie.  It’s a lie whether it comes from the mouth of a famous and impressive preacher, or whether it rises up from your own confused heart.  When you hear someone or something that makes you feel like you must do something to earn your salvation or make it secure, you should shout out, “Get behind me Satan,” and then turn and run to the Gospel.  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. 

   Now, you do have things to do, a new path to walk.  Good works are an important part of Christianity, but each part needs to be in its proper place.  So Paul closes this passage by teaching us where good works fit in.  For we are God´s workmanship, God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.  Adam and Eve were given good work to do in the Garden, before they rebelled, and so also, re-created in Christ Jesus, we have good works to do, to walk in, in the pathway of true life.  We were walking in the way of sin, like zombies, but now in Christ we walk in the living way of good works.  These are not good works to gain or guarantee our salvation.  That can’t be, because your salvation, your rescue, is 100% complete, finished once and for all in Christ Jesus.  But God has prepared a path of good works for you to walk in, ways for you to serve your neighbors and bring glory to God, by being who you are in Christ Jesus, an obedient and beloved child of God, who finds joy in doing what the Father has given you to do. 

   Did you get all that?  Some days, it’s almost perfectly clear for me.  And then other days, not so much.  This Law and Gospel is truly hard to keep straight, and also truly and eternally important.  So what say we keep reviewing it, as we walk together, in the months and years to come? 

   Maybe there’s still something confusing you.  How was this achieved?  Our Ephesians 2 passage lays out a systematic and detailed explanation of our natural state, our natural way of walking as sons of disobedience, and then reveals God’s new way of life that He gives us freely, received through faith, when we trust His promises.  Through faith we are washed clean and born again to the new way of life as sons and daughters of God, walking in His grace and love.  But there’s a lot of sin and death and disobedience in the world, and in me.  Did God just let that go, like it didn’t matter?  Did God just forget and ignore all the sins we’ve done, and how utterly sinful we are? 

   No, He didn’t.  God didn’t overlook and let our sin go, as if it didn’t matter.  Our Old Testament and Gospel readings fill in the blank between the way of death and God’s new way of life.  The “But God” that Paul used to make the radical change of direction from death to life contains a lot.  Within that “But God” is the lifting up of the Son of Man, like the bronze serpent Moses lifted up on a pole to save Israel from the fiery serpents of death that were biting them in their disobedience.  The phrase “God made us alive together with Christ” contains the whole story of the life, suffering, death and resurrection of God’s Son become man, Jesus Christ.  The serpent Moses lifted up in the wilderness was a foreshadowing of God’s gracious act of salvation.  But instead of an inanimate bronze sculpture, Jesus was lifted up in His own body, to take responsibility for all the evil and sin that the ancient serpent Satan unleashed in the world.  By looking to the bronze snake on a pole, God protected the Israelites from the physical death the fiery serpents inflicted.  By causing us to look in faith to the Son of Man, lifted up on a pole with a crossbar, dying for the sins of the whole world, God rescues all people from the death that never ends, eternal separation from the Lord of life.   

   For by grace you have been saved through faith, not by your works, but by believing in Son of God, given to be lifted up on the Cross, given by His Father to this great work of self-sacrifice, a work done freely, for you.  This is how God has loved you.  And the whole world.  This is Christianity 101, a class that we all must return to, again and again, the Gospel which sets you free from the fear of death, free to walk in good works, and free to rejoice.   Because you have been and you are loved, in Christ Jesus your Savior, Amen. 

 

The Whip of God – In Christ Alone, Sermon for the 3rd Sunday in Lent

 Third Sunday in Lent, March 7^th, Year of Our + Lord 2021

Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches

Custer and Hill City, South Dakota

The Whip of God – In Christ Alone  

Exodus 20:1-17, 1^st Corinthians 1:18-31, St. John 2:13-22

    Christus solus, in Christ alone.  Of the Five Solas, the Five “Alones” of the Lutheran Reformation, the truth that our salvation is in Christ alone is the key, the most central point of all.  By Grace alone, through Faith alone, according the teaching of Scripture alone, these three wonderful Solas all flow from, and carry us to, Jesus Christ.  And we discover that only through Christ can we rightly give glory to God alone. 

     The Word of God before us today drives home the uniqueness, the aloneness, of the Man from Nazareth, in many and various ways. 

     Jesus alone thought it was a good plan to make a whip from cords in order to drive out those selling animals and exchanging money in the Temple courtyard.  To everyone else, it seemed foolish.  Jesus was only one man, just an itinerant preacher from the sticks, with only a rabble of uneducated disciples to back Him up, a bunch of fishermen, misfits, and women.  On the other hand, the merchants and money changers in the Temple courts were connected to the most powerful people in Jerusalem.  They made a good living by providing a needed service to Jewish pilgrims coming to celebrate the Passover.  You see, the festivals of YHWH required various sacrificial animals, which would have been very difficult for pilgrims coming from far away to bring with them.  Much better to sell them to the pilgrims on site.  And of course we’ll need money changers to deal with foreign currency.  And, oh by the way, a nice profit can be had while we are at it. 

     Nothing necessarily wrong with any of that, really, except the where.  The only for sure problem was the place they chose to do it: inside the Temple grounds, that holy space set aside by God, where He promised to be present to bless His people and receive their offerings, prayers and thanksgiving.  Most likely, this animal market was set up in the Court of the Gentiles, that outermost part of the Temple grounds, set aside for foreign believers in YHWH.  But is it really so important that all the nations, all those pesky foreigners who come and crowd our home town during tourist season, do they really need to have a place to pray in our Temple?  Besides, it’s so convenient to set up the market here, we’re really helping everyone.  Everybody agrees. 

   Everybody, except One.  Only Jesus burned with zeal for His Father’s House, a righteous indignation that what God had given for holiness had been profaned, made dirty, and stolen from the gentile believers.  

    Only Jesus thought it was a good plan.  One can imagine the looks on the faces of His disciples, as their Master sat in a corner of the Temple, weaving His whip of cords.  What is He up to now?  Our Lord cleansing the Temple seems foolish to us, ultimately ineffective, a powerless gesture, and oh by the way, not very nice.  Is this really the image that God wants to portray?  Wouldn’t it be wiser and more effective to be reasonable, to work within the system to make improvements?  Won’t Jesus, fighting all by himself be overpowered by the Jewish authorities, in the end? 

    We always want to make such modifications to God’s plan, whenever we find that His way bumps up against the way of the world, and makes us uncomfortable.  The Lord says “You shall have no other gods.”  But some of our neighbors are offended by such exclusive claims.  If God is love, we reason, shouldn’t we be tolerant and respectful of all religions?  Can’t we find some good in them also?  Don’t all roads lead to the same God?  Christ alone has the nerve to say, “No, I am the only true Way to the Father.” 

    The Lord says, “Set aside a day each week to rest, and hear my Word, and receive my blessings!”  But our bank accounts tell us that giving up 1/7 of our potential earning power could really cut into our retirement savings, and that seems unwise, no?  Christ alone says, “Earthly wealth is fleeting, but you, you store up your treasure in heaven.” 

    The Lord gives us His Holy Name to call upon in prayer, praise and thanksgiving.  But we don’t want to stand out like some religious nut, talking about God in public as if we actually believe in Him.  Not when the whole world peppers their speech with meaningless babble that sullies the Name of God:  Oh my God.  Jesus.  Christ.  Oh Good Lord.  These and many more exclamations can be spoken in a holy, Christian way, or in a vulgar, thoughtless way.  Which do we choose?         

    We could go on through the other seven commandments, and maybe we should.  But we already know that we fail to keep all of them, as we are commanded and have promised to do.  In fact, only One person, Jesus alone, among all the people of all time and place, only Jesus has kept the Ten Commandments perfectly, without blemish.  We all fall short.   

     Which is no excuse.  Take no comfort from being just like everyone else.  Instead, we should marvel at the active righteousness of Jesus alone.  Repent.  Turn from your sin and look to Jesus.  See that even His anger, even His indignation at the selfish pride of mankind, was righteous and sinless.  His violence against the merchants and money changers in the Temple was entirely justified, because the Holiness of the Father’s house demanded the unleashed zeal of the Son.

    The Son of God came into this world in order to cleanse the Temple.  That’s the sum and total of His plan.  Not only to drive out the merchants and money changers who were defiling the Court of the Gentiles that day in Jerusalem, but even more to cleanse and purify the sinful flesh of humanity, so that your body could be made a Temple of the Holy Spirit.  The whole mystery of His suffering, death and resurrection is foreshadowed in His foolish outburst, when He made a whip, and used it to drive out the buyers and sellers contaminating the Lord’s House in Jerusalem. 

    Think about that whip.  Imagine, if you will, the unique quality of the whip made by God’s Son.  I could imagine a Roman soldier picking up that piece of divine craftsmanship the next day, when it had been thrown out by the merchants, as they reorganized their market.  Such a good whip, unique, perfect for a Roman executioner to add some nails on the ends of the cords, all the better to torture some poor fool sentenced to suffer the wrath of the governor, Pontius Pilate. 

    This would fit with God’s foolish plan to sanctify fallen humanity by tearing down the Temple that was the human body of the Christ.  Through the weakness of Jesus’ foolish challenge to the Jewish authorities, through the absurdity of His boast that He would rebuild this torn down Temple in three days, through His bitter suffering and death at the hands of both the Jews and the Romans, who ruled over the Greek speaking world, through this foolish plan, Christ alone would make holy again the flesh of fallen humanity.  For this he took up our flesh into His divinity, in His Incarnation, when He became a man, the Son of Mary, in order to be the Savior of all people.   

    Only Christ, and Christ alone, could and would use violence to bring peace, suffering to deliver joy, and weakness to reveal the power of God unto Salvation.  Jesus, who gave the Law to Moses, and who alone kept that Law perfectly, went alone to the Cross, tortured by His enemies, deserted by His friends, finally enduring the utter solitude of that eternal moment of abandonment, when He alone accepted the wrath of God against all our sin. 

    The blessed exchange is complete, the time for violence is past.  It is finished.  In Christ alone there is peace between God and humanity, peace which we are uniquely empowered to share with the world. 

    And so, you are set free to love, because you have been loved perfectly by the One True God. 

    You are emboldened to call on God’s Name in every circumstance, to honor the Lord’s Name by praying, praising and giving thanks, even in public.  Because you have been given life in that Holy Name. 

    You can endure the misguided scorn and even the persecution of the world, because you have been eternally honored and granted a place in glory, by Christ alone.  And through the foolish lives of His faithful people, God will draw more sinners to Christ alone, for their salvation, and His glory. 

    The foolishness of the preaching of the Cross gives you life, and joy, because in the Resurrection the weakness and folly of God are revealed to be stronger and wiser than anything we humans have to offer.  And, grace upon grace, in Christ alone we find that we poor sinners are now declared by the Father to be righteous, holy, redeemed and restored.  Our lowly bodies have been transformed, through the washing of Water and the Word, to now be temples of the Holy Spirit, the very dwelling place of God.  Forgiven and called beloved by the Father, we give glory to God alone by boasting in Christ alone, in whom we have life, true life, abundant life, today, and forever and ever, Amen.