Supper Time - Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Trinity

Second Sunday after Trinity
June 9^th, Year of Our + Lord 2024
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Supper Time – Proverbs 9:1-10, Luke 14:15-24

Sermon Audio available HERE.

   “It’s supper time.  Do you want to grab something to eat?”  How many of our best memories, our most unexpected joys, have followed this simple invitation?  God has created us in a most wonderful manner.  We need the sustenance of food, to give energy to our muscles, to keep ourselves alive.  And so we feel hunger, which drives us to eat.  But the Lord has also given us a sense of smell and taste.  So, beyond meeting our need for calories, food can also be a delight; we can be carried away to ecstasy by a delicious meal, a tasty treat. 

   In the Marines I had a commander, Lt. Colonel Showalter, who had suffered a brain injury in a car crash that took away his sense of smell and taste.  He could only get a bit of sensation from foods that were very spicy, very acidic, or sour.  Colonel Showalter was also a bit crazy.  He loved to invite his new lieutenants out to lunch, and then shock them by reaching across the table and taking anything off their plate he might be able to taste: dill pickles, hot peppers, lemons out of your water glass.  Only after stealing the food he could taste would he then explain his twisted justification for raiding your plate.  Unable to smell or taste, our C.O. missed out on much of the joy of eating.  But he still wanted to eat together with friends and colleagues, because he drew tremendous satisfaction from the conversation and bonds that eating together often creates.     

   Breaking bread together, sharing a meal, is among the most humane, most intimate, simple activities, filled with wonderful potential for joy.  A first dinner date with the girl of your dreams.  Or the 10,000^th meal with the love of your life.  A return to Grandma’s table after many holidays away.  Pizza and beer with the crew after a successful day’s work, or to celebrate a good game.  Breaking bread together can be the best.   

   But not every meal is so wonderful.  Being frail, foolish, and full of faults, we humans can turn a meal together into a time of dread.  Like going to dinner to meet your boyfriend or girlfriend’s parents, when you already know they don’t approve of you.  Or perhaps you are that hostess who so wants to impress your guests that you stress yourself out, and end up the only person who doesn’t enjoy dinner. 

   Employers often like to include a meal in their job interview process.  No pressure there.  Try not to chew with your mouth open.  And of course, there’s the first time you carry your tray into the lunchroom at your new school, in the new town your parents just moved you to, and everyone is staring at you.   

   Not everyone even enjoys the prospect of eating with others.  It takes effort to get ready to go out, or to someone else’s home to eat.  You have to clean yourself up, put on pants and a decent shirt, and find the energy and will to engage in conversation.  You were going to put down your phone and talk with your hosts, right? 

   Some people fall out of the habit of eating with others.  It’s easy to retreat into our houses, and always eat alone, all by our lonesome selves.  Maybe in our bedroom.  Or alone on the couch.  Eating micro-waved pizza rolls and scrolling on your phone.  Or maybe just staring, barely tasting your food, which is probably just as well.

   Now, I’ve eaten at potlucks with many of you.  Someone in your household seems to know how to cook, and you clearly enjoy eating together, although, to be honest, we do tend to sit with mostly the same people every time.  Getting out of our comfort zone and breaking bread with new people is usually a blessing, even more so when those people are your brothers and sisters in Christ, members together of His Body.  So I pray that many of you will host or attend a Summer Supper Club Challenge.  We’ll talk more about that later. 

   You should also sign up to help our sister church Blessed Emmanuel Lutheran in Sturgis during Rally.  They offer breakfast and dinner to the bikers, and they need helping hands.  I know some people want to avoid the bikers and the traffic altogether.  But the meals served at Blessed Emmanuel are the most wholesome event of August, and it’s great fun to be help serve.  So, go ahead, take a chance.  Trust your pastor, and sign up to help. 

   But even more, much more, I pray that we understand the true reality, the highest reality, of breaking bread together.  The importance of eating together is God’s doing, it’s part of His plan.  Through it, He is trying to point you to the heavenly banquet at which He so very much wants you to be seated.  Now, maybe you’re thinking that sounds stressful.  Dinner with God?  How could I ever behave properly at His table?  What clothes would I wear?  If the Lord knew how I really am, what I really think and say and do, He would never invite me to eat with Him. 

   The Lord does know how you are, how I am.  He knows how often we fall into sin, what we are really like.  He knows us, and He hates our sin.  Yet, God wants us at His banquet anyway.  You and I have been invited to dine with the Almighty, despite our unworthiness, despite our sin.  Our reservation is confirmed; Jesus took care of that by washing away our sins at Calvary.  Now, you are right to think you do not have appropriate clothes for the heavenly banquet.  But the Holy Spirit dresses you in the righteousness and holiness of Christ Jesus.  Believe it: all is prepared, and you are invited. 

   Indeed, because your Savior knows you better than you know yourself, because He knows the sins and doubts that still plague you, He has given you another meal, an appetizer of the feast to come.  The simple yet miraculous meal, Christ’s true Body and Blood, in, with and under the bread and the wine.  Jesus gives you Himself in the Supper, to forgive you again today, and to strengthen you for Christian living this week.

   Rejecting the Lord’s invitation is foolish.  It’s stupid.  Whatever other thing might draw you away, it’s not as good as what the Lord has for you.  It may be a good gift.  But how sad to let good gifts from God draw you away from your relationship with God.  It’s foolish to think we don’t needs God help, day by day, and for eternity.  Such thinking is either the worst ignorance, or it flows from soul-destroying pride.  And we all carry around this fallen tendency to think and do exactly these things, to wander away, to make excuses.  So, God has filled His Word with reminders of our need and His invitation. 

   Israel escaped slavery in Egypt through the Passover meal, which 1,500 years later Jesus fulfilled and transformed into Holy Communion, where our escape from slavery to Satan is celebrated and delivered.  Before instituting the Lord’s Supper, Jesus prepared the way by feeding the 5,000, and the 4,000, and by time and again sitting down to eat and talk with sinners, including prideful Pharisees, as in today’s Gospel from Luke 14.  And one of His last acts before ascending to the Father’s right hand was to cook a fish breakfast for His fishermen friends.  And the Lord’s final instruction for Peter?  “Feed my lambs.”    

   Meals are center stage in the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.  The Promised Land for Israel was flowing with milk and honey and overflowing with good food, and life with God in heaven is described as a remarkable, never-ending banquet.  Wisdom has set her table, and she calls the simple to come, to eat her bread and wine, and live.  Through His food-focused Word, the Holy Spirit wants to teach us to think of God and His eternal feast every time we sit down to eat here on earth.  Even more, He moves His Church to keep offering, keep providing, keep proclaiming the message, the bread of life, day after day, week after week, year after year, for you, and for all the hungry sinners in the world. 

   For most of human history, it was a victory, a cause for celebration, every time a family could gather around a table full of food.  Hunger was never far away.  Producing enough calories to meet the minimum needs of humanity has been, up until about one or two hundred years ago, a constant challenge for all societies, everywhere.  Joseph rose to power in Egypt managing a food shortage.  Recurring drought and famine plagued Europe and North America into the 20^th century.  Many commentators say that today famine is usually not caused by an actual lack of food.  Rather, hunger is inflicted, used as a weapon by malicious men seeking to control people and win wars.  Regardless of its cause, hunger continues to be a threat in much of the world.  Historically, the margin between a sufficient supply of food and starvation has been a very fine line.    

   Finding enough calories to eat is not so much a problem for us Americans, in our day.  Which could be related to the decline of Christianity in our nation.  God’s Word is chock-full of references to food and meals and banquets.  The fear of famine and the joy of being filled up with good food are common Biblical themes.  Feeling real physical hunger will make one understand and take these Bible stories to heart, and to thank God when we do eat well. 

   We, on the other hand, are more worried about weight gain, Type 2 diabetes, and tooth-decay driven by corn sweetened beverages.  So, we may not grasp the fear of starving, nor the true joy of a bountiful feast.  Is faith endangered by over-full stomachs?

   I will not pray for famine.  We rightly ask God to give a goodly share, on every table, everywhere.  More important is that we pray and fight against a famine of the Word.  Regardless of whether we have bountiful food or suffer want, God through His Word can and will create a right understanding of food, most importantly a right understanding of His heavenly food.  That is, He will create faith in His promises of free forgiveness and perfect righteousness, delivered by Christ, who is both the host and the meal that feeds our souls for eternal life.  Taste and see that the Lord is good! 

   It is time for the Supper.  Let’s give thanks, and break bread together, in Jesus’ Name,  Amen.      

  

True Purple Wealth - Sermon for the 1st Sunday after Trinity, and Confirmation Sunday

First Sunday after Trinity, June 2^nd, A+D 2024
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
True Purple Wealth - 
Sermon on the Occasion of a Confirmation

Audio of the Sermon available HERE.

   The Altar Guild asked me if we should change the paraments to red for today’s confirmation at Our Redeemer, and we have red flowers, too.  I think we associate red with confirmation because very often we celebrate it on Pentecost Sunday.  I said green, the appointed color for this 1^st Sunday after Trinity, would be fine.  But, I should have asked them to switch to purple.  You see, Makeda’s middle name is Lidya.  Our confirmand, Makeda Sumption, has a wonderful middle name that comes from the Book of the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 16, for those of you keeping score at home.  Lydia was a merchant, a dealer in purple dyes, the rarest, and so the richest of colors in the ancient world, the color of royalty, of wealth, of power.  

   God’s Word is living and active, so I always expect there will be connections between whatever particular part of Scripture we have before us, and whatever situation we find ourselves in.  Today is no exception.  You see, we worry, even as we rejoice to hear the good confession of Makeda.  Our worry is about whether her faithfulness will endure.  Will Makeda continue steadfast in the one true Christian faith and life?  And of course, we oldsters ask this question not just because it seems so many young Christians drift away.  We worry because this question is intensely personal for each of us.  Will I remain faithful unto death?  Only by the grace of God. 

   I’m always looking for connections, and it just so happens that Makeda’s middle namesake, Lydia of Thyatira, was a dealer in purple dyes.  And, thanks to the Holy Spirit, working through the Lectionary committee and the schedule of Makeda’s life here in South Dakota, today we have a purple background in our readings.  The tragic protagonist of our Gospel this morning, who we only know as a certain “rich man,” was clothed in purple and fine linen and … feasted sumptuously every day.  Perhaps his clothes were even dyed by Lydia.  In any case, our worries about remaining faithful could not be more starkly portrayed than in the afterlife of this rich man.  First we hear, Lord willing with shock and horror, of the rich man’s foolishness, his worship of his worldly wealth.  The rich man’s god was his money.  Lazarus, a poor beggar, lands in the lap of eternal luxury, despite his life of grinding hardship.  The rich man sits in torment.  Still, to this day, and forever and ever. 

   And yet, even from Hades, (Hades is the same as Hell, in case you were not sure), the rich man does eloquently express our worries about remaining faithful unto death, our worries for Makeda, each other and ourselves.  Resigned to eternal torment, the rich man is worried about his brothers, still living in this world.  After learning Lazarus could not bring a drop of water to cool his tongue, the rich man shifted focus.  ‘Then I beg you, father [Abraham], send him to my father's house— ²⁸ for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 

   ²⁹ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ ³⁰ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ ³¹ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’  

  As we this morning contemplate the challenge of lifelong faithfulness, we should note that this rich man and Lydia have quite a lot in common.  Both were wealthy, in worldly terms.  And they were both taught by Moses.  The rich man is a Jew, an Israelite, a descendent of Abraham.  He lived in a theocratic society, so being non-religious wasn’t really an option.  The level of participation in the religious life of synagogue and Temple surely varied from person to person; some were very observant, others not quite so much.  But almost everybody, certainly a rich, prosperous man, participated in worship, and so heard the Word of Moses and the Prophets. 

   Lydia was a God-fearer, a non-Israelite, a gentile, who had been attracted to the worship life of the Jews.  A God-fearer was a person who heard Moses and the Prophets, attended synagogue, maybe even visited the Temple, but had not yet fully converted to Judaism.  Lydia is a geographic name, as far as we can tell, for she was from Thyatira, a Greek city in the area of the ancient kingdom of Lydia, in part of what is now modern Turkey. 

   Now, Lydia lives in Philippi, an important city in Greece.  And, because she wants to hear Moses and be connected to the God of Israel, she gathers at the river, the place where faithful Jewish women went to pray on the Sabbath, since there was no synagogue in Philippi.  And having gone down by the river to pray, Lydia meets the Apostle Paul, and hears the Good News of the Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth, God’s eternal Son, who is the fulfillment of all God’s promises to Israel, and to the world.  The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. ¹⁵ And after she was baptized, and her household as well, she urged us, saying, “If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay.” Paul and his companions accepted her invitation.  

   What a difference between the rich man dressed in purple and the woman who traded in purple dye.  Her wealth must have also been significant, as her home in Philippi is large enough to take in Paul and his companions.  They then used Lydia’s home as their missionary base in Philippi, where they planted an important congregation.  The rich man’s wealth prevented him from trusting in the greater wealth of God’s promises.  But Lydia’s wealth did not conquer her heart.  Indeed, immediately after her conversion, she began to put her earthly riches to work to support the spread of the Gospel and the growth of the Church. 

   What made the difference?  Both of these rich persons heard the Word of the Lord, heard His warnings against idolatry and His promises of forgiveness, reconciliation and eternal life.  What might Makeda, and the rest of us, learn from these two very different hearers of the Word? 

   We should start by recognizing that the Lord gets all the credit for Lydia’s conversion and commitment to Christ.  Jesus did the great work that made the way for sinners like Lydia to be forgiven and saved.  And the Spirit of Jesus led Paul to Philippi, opened Lydia’s heart to believe this Good News.  Sealing her faith and her place in God’s New Israel through the waters of Holy Baptism, God gave a tremendous start to His good work in Lydia, just as He had converted and maintained the faith of Lazarus through years of poverty and struggle.  God worked through His Word and Sacrament to save Lydia, as He is always doing. 

   And yet, the rich man heard the same Word of God, but rejected it for himself.  There is a difficult mystery here, one that our minds cannot fully penetrate, why some hearers are converted, and others remain hardened against God and His plan of salvation.  We will not corrupt the Good News that God does 100% of the saving work; we will not look for the difference in Lydia.  God saved her, opening her heart to believe.  She was not saved by anything she did, but rather by God’s grace, through the gift of faith in Jesus.  But, we can discern a few more differences between her situation and that of the rich man, differences which we can be wise to copy in our lives, and in our church. 

   First of all, while both were rich, their wealth affected them differently.  The rich man was clothed in purple and fine linen and … feasted sumptuously every day.  His purpose in life, the most important thing, was to enjoy his material blessings, which was a foolish decision.  Apparently he was so busy indulging, he didn’t even think to thank the Lord who is the true source of every blessing.  Nor did he think to share his bounty with others, not even poor Lazarus, covered in sores, begging at his doorstep.  How does your money affect you?    

   Lydia, on the other hand, was so attracted by the Word of God that she went down from her fine home to join the Jewish women praying at the riverbank.  And, after she heard of and believed in Jesus, she immediately reshaped her life, ordering it around Christ, His Gospel and His Church.  She was not saved by these good works; every son or daughter of Abraham is saved by faith.  But Lydia’s works were wise, for they were good for her faith, and good for the faith of others.  By bringing Paul and his companions into her home, she insured that she would keep on hearing more about Christ and His salvation.  She and her family would have a solid connection to the ongoing gifts of grace, by which God keeps His children within the fold.  And the Church had a place to gather and grow.       

   Lydia understood that her true riches were not her purple dyes and all the wealth that trading in them brought her and her household.  Money is great, for this life, when we receive it as a gift from God.  But Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, crucified, resurrected and reigning on high today and forever, He was Lydia’s true wealth, her treasure in heaven.  In the wisdom of faith, Lydia made Christ and His Church the center of her life, not just a peripheral thing, not just a once in a while add-on. 

   Likewise for us: we are fools when we fail to prioritize our faith, fools if we are not deepening our connection to the Word of Christ and seeking to conform our lives to Him.  Such foolishness puts us at risk.  When we say we believe, but live as if we don’t, we are setting ourselves up to fail.  If we hear the Word of God for a while, but then slack off, we are not only starving our faith.  We are also giving more room to the preaching of the world, the preaching of demons, who promise to give us all that we want, right now.  But demons are liars, the world is blind, and the goal of Satan is to do whatever it takes to break your trust in Jesus.   

   In Lydia’s day, the Christian Church was tiny, surrounded by many powerful religions that promised many blessings, now and forever.  In our day the Christian Church is still very large, but we’re losing our place, at least in the western world.  It seems we are headed in the direction of Lydia’s world.  Today, simple, Biblical Christian faith is considered to be madness by all the “best and brightest people.”  According to the yardstick of the world, Christ and His teaching have been found lacking.  And we hear such voices every day, that pound our ears and hearts with a constant drumbeat of the denial of God’s Word.  So, in wisdom, and for joy, as we seek to endure, we like Lydia are called to center ourselves, our thoughts, our actions, and our lives on the Truth of Christ revealed in His Word. 

   We might even take another lesson from the work of our dealer in purple dyes.  In the ancient world, purple dye came from the bodily secretions of sea snails.  Harvesting the snails and drawing out their dye was tedious, difficult work.  There was nothing glamorous or easy about the purple dye industry.  But, the beauty of a purple dyed cloth made it all worthwhile. 

   It is similar, only more so, with Christian faith and life.  It’s not easy to endure as a Christian in our world, and never has been.  It requires an ongoing connection to the Source.  It calls for sacrificing other things, things that contradict the Way of Jesus.  But such commitment and sacrifice are entirely worth it, both in eternity, and today.  Only the grace of Jesus gives you a good conscience, free from guilt, because you are forgiven.  Nothing gives purpose like being a child of eternity, set free and called to serve others, today.  Nothing gives peace and joy like the sure and certain hope that is yours, in Christ Jesus, your Royal and Suffering Servant, who now reigns in glory, preparing a place for you, and all His believers.  

   By God’s grace, our faith will not be merely an outward acknowledgment – not like the rich man.  God grant us true faith of the heart.  God give us eyes to see past the riches of this life, to behold and focus on the true purple cloth, the riches that are only found in Christ and His Word.   

   We rejoice to be gathered here today, to hear the good confession of Makeda, and to repeat our own confession, of sin, and faith, of repentance, and trust in the goodness and love of our heavenly Father, who gave His only-begotten Son into death, so that we could be dressed in the royal purple robes of heaven, today, and forever and ever, Amen.    

The Good News of the Trinity - Sermon for the Festival of the Holy Trinity

The Feast of the Holy Trinity                                                          
May 26^th, A + D 2024
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
The Good News of the Holy Trinity

Sermon Audio available HERE.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. 

   Sometime in the late nineties, a friend of mine invited me to join him at a couple of “Promise Keepers” events.  Promise Keepers was a Christian men’s group, a big deal for a little while. 

   One of those events was a big rally on the Mall in Washington D.C.  I don’t know how big it was, but many tens of thousands, probably the biggest gathering I’ve ever attended.  Which is probably why I ended up out toward the edge; I’m not a big fan of such large groups of people, even if they are all Christian men, mostly singing hymns.  I naturally drifted out toward the fringe, out where dozens of contrary voices set up shop, not protesters really, but rather other religious groups who took issue with some aspect of Promise Keepers.  A bit like parasites hovering around a big, healthy host, these groups sought to engage some of the men, to maybe draw them away to their way of seeing things. 

   One of the groups that called out to me, I don’t remember which one, was anti-Trinitarian.  Promise
Keepers was fairly mainstream; they certainly confessed that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as revealed by Jesus Christ, most notably at the end of Matthew, as He commissioned the Eleven Disciples to go and build His Church by baptizing and teaching in the Three in One Name.  One of the men in this anti-Trinitarian group asked me if I knew that the word Trinity is not in the Bible.  He handed me a pamphlet and told me that the Trinity is a creation of the imagination of men, that the Bible doesn’t teach it.  “Look it up,” he said, “nowhere in the Bible will you find the word Trinity.”  He implied everybody who professed the Trinity was mistaken, was actually lying about God.  This man and his group promised to show me a better way, a truer way. 

    It is one thing to say that the word Trinity is not in the Bible.  It is quite another to say that it is false to teach that the One True God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that this is a misrepresentation of God.  If this were the case, it would mean that billions of Christians through 2,000 years went to their deaths with a false faith, and so are lost.  It’s a big deal, an important question. 

   I didn’t immediately believe that guy’s story.  But I was troubled.  I didn’t really know how to respond, didn’t know the history of the term Trinity, didn’t know the Bible well enough to discern whether his claims were credible, or should be dismissed out of hand.  Perhaps you assume that men go to seminary because their faith is so strong, so fervent.  This certainly happens.  But it is at least as common that the Lord pushes men into seminary and the ministry to keep them in the faith.  I used to fall into both camps, depending on the day.  I still do.  Lord have mercy.  And He does. 

   The Lord has mercy, and so now I know much better how to respond to doubts that still arise and claims that are still made against the teaching of the Holy Trinity.  I have a tremendous amount to learn, but I know the Bible better now, and I rejoice in the Holy Trinity.  So should you.       

   That man was correct, of course, about the narrow point that the word Trinity isn’t in the Bible.  Trinity is a word that was invented, likely by a 3^rd century teacher named Tertullian.  Trinity is a conjunction of Tri, meaning three, and Unity, meaning one.  Tri-Unity, Trinity, is a technical theological term that developed as the early Church responded to a whole variety of teachers who taught differently about who God is.  Some taught that God only appears to be Father, Son or Holy Spirit, shifting faces from moment to moment.  Others said Jesus was merely a man sent to speak for God.  Still others recognized all three persons as God, but said the Father was superior, that there was a hierarchy between them, and so effectively, there were three different Gods. 

   That there is only one true God, who is also three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who are co-eternal and co-equal; this is clearly taught in Scripture.  Tertullian coined and the Church eventually adopted the term Trinity as shorthand for the many long sentences required to correctly describe the nature of the God revealed in and by Jesus Christ.  And the reason they did is two-fold.  First, the doctrine of the Trinity is faithful to Scripture.  Second, without it, the Gospel, the Good News of free salvation given to sinners in Jesus, falls apart. 

   The Three-in-Oneness of the One True God starts being taught in Genesis:  In the beginning, God created, and the Spirit of God hovered over the waters, and God spoke things into existence.  God, the Spirit and the Word, as John would later note in His Gospel, are present from the start.  Then God said, “Let us make man in Our image, in Our likeness.”  This first recorded conversation is between the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 

   To be sure, the full revelation of the mystery takes the whole rest of the Bible – it is the highest of all mysteries, after all.  Surely if the man and the woman had not sinned, they and we would have understood the nature of God much more easily.  A big part of the Fall is the perversion and degradation of our reason.  Our fallen nature makes God inscrutable to us.  So, revealing the mystery of who and how God is would take time, and our learning takes even more time. 

   That God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is hinted at all over the Bible, and directly attested many times.  Paul’s final benediction at the end of 2^nd Corinthians for example: The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.  Or from last week’s Gospel, where Jesus, teaching the Eleven on the night He was betrayed, declared: “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.  These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you,” (John 14:24-26).   

   And of course, in today’s Gospel, Jesus teaches Nicodemus about the Spirit, and then of God loving the world by giving His only-begotten Son.  That is to say, God the Father gave the Son, Jesus, and in Him, God gives salvation to all who believe. 

   The nature of God is beyond our complete comprehension.  Even more, the salvation God has revealed in the death and resurrection of Jesus leaves us entirely dependent on Him.  Which is true, and good.  But, in our human pride, we may not like either of these truths.  We can rail against God being Father, Son and Holy Spirit, say it isn’t logical, that it is impossible.  Or we may protest that there is so much good in mankind, certainly we must contribute something to our own salvation.  But such protest is to kick against the goads, which more or less is like impaling yourself on a cattle prod.  Denying the Trinity is like pretending gravity isn’t real or that we don’t need air and water to live.  We can refuse to believe, and argue all day long that we know better.  But that doesn’t change reality. 

   Sadly, horribly, to reject the Holy Trinity is to cut oneself off from the true God, to cut oneself off from grace and mercy and the free gift of salvation.  If God has not won our salvation through the sending of the Son by the Father to be the once-for-all sacrifice, then we are left to make right all the injustice we have done.  We are left to conquer death on our own. 

   Without the Trinity, the only option left for us is to pursue communion with God by our efforts, by our good works, by our wisdom, by our strength.  Now, maybe we can even make it sound good: “All you have to do is follow Jesus and His example faithfully, and you will gain God’s favor.”  But in the end this is not different from submitting to Allah, and earning eternal salvation by following the 5 Pillars of Islam.  The way of human works ends up not really being that different from sacrificing virgins or children to your sky god, in the vain hope that he or she will give rain and a good harvest, or a good investment portfolio and a comfortable retirement.  In each of these schemes, the burden of achieving salvation rests on your shoulders.   

   Can we be humbled to imagine that perhaps not all the universe must bend to our understanding?  If by God’s grace, our hearts and minds are opened to mystery, then the Good News begins to flow.  Indeed, Good News for sinners is impossible if God is not Triune.  But God is the three-in-one and the one-in-three, who has claimed you, forgiven you, loves you. 

   It is good to know the Biblical basis and the history of the teaching of the Holy Trinity.  It is even better to see the Holy Trinity in action, in our day.  Like He was, on Friday, for the sake of Bud Ehrle. 

   Once God claims a sinner in the Baptismal Name, He does not give up, despite how often we scorn the gifts of Baptism.  The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are seen to be at work in John chapter 3, teaching Nicodemus, and us, about the mystery of God’s saving love.  Friday, the same Triune God was at work, to bring one of His baptized children back into the fold, even as physical death drew near. 

   We have been praying for Bud Ehrle, a friend of Neal and Brenda Larson, for some months now, as he fought a losing battle against mesothelioma.  Spurred by the Holy Spirit and the love of Jesus, Neal has been talking with me for some time, and with Bud, seeking to help reconnect Bud with the Gospel.  You see, Bud is baptized, and used to be an active Lutheran, but had drifted away from the church, for many years.  But the Holy Spirit’s spark of faith does not go cold easily.  And cancer preached the law so that Bud remembered his need for a Savior.   

   And why were Neal and I, and who knows how many other people, trying to help Bud trust in Jesus again?  Because having put on the righteousness of Jesus in our Baptisms, we have the mind of Christ, however imperfectly.  And the intention of Christ is always to reach out, always to forgive, always to rescue lost sheep who have wandered away. 

   As death drew near, Bud had let Neal know he was open to a visit by a pastor.  Through a series of texts and calls and Google searches, Neal made contact with a local LCMS pastor in Minnesota near where Bud was hospitalized.  God’s minister in that place, Pastor Baker, set aside whatever else he was doing on a Friday afternoon, and went to see Bud.  Conversation ensued.  God’s Word was spoken.  Forgiveness was delivered in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Bud received a strengthening and peace-giving foretaste of the heavenly banquet in the Body and Blood of Christ.  

   Yesterday morning, Bud passed away, reunited with His Savior in this life, and forever and ever. 

   For God has loved the world in this way, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  Bud missed out on decades of peace and fellowship and joy in the Church of Christ.  But the Triune God determined not to miss out on having Bud with Him in perfect peace and glory, forever and ever.  This is the Good News of the Trinity, the Good News of the God who works, who pursues, who forgives, you and me, and all who hear the promise of Jesus, and believe, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.             

  

Hearing and Trusting the Language of God, a Sermon for the Day of Pentecost, 2024

Day of Pentecost, May 19th, Year of Our + Lord 2024
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Hearing and Trusting the Language of God
Genesis 9:1-11, Acts 2:1-21

Audio of Sermon Available HERE.

     Do you understand what’s been said?  The Lord’s goal today, and everyday, is that you hear His voice and grasp the meaning of what He is telling you, so that it might enter your heart.  He wants you to know and trust the truth of His great love for you, shape your life accordingly, and rejoice.  So, do you understand?  Are you hearing what Jesus is saying to you?  Are you cut to the heart, but also healed, restored, and lifted up to heaven? 

   Hearing but not understanding is no fun.  One morning, sometime in 2017, I was headed downtown on Line 21 of Tussam, the Sevilla, Spain city bus system.  The big red “autobus” was lurching from stop to stop, and very full, every seat taken and a dozen or more of us standing in the aisle, swaying and grabbing a pole or a strap to keep our balance.  Spaniards are not quiet people, and less so when you jam a lot of them into a small space.  My ears were swimming in a cacophony of banter and laughter.  And I couldn’t understand a thing.  Two years in country, speaking Spanish every day, preaching on Sundays, supposedly my ‘castellano’ was pretty good.  But that morning, it was all babble to me, a startling moment.

  I tried to concentrate, to listen to just one voice.  But the most I could grasp was a word here and there. 

   I understood the recorded voice announcing the stops and warning about moving doors and taking care stepping off the bus, because I had those announcements memorized.  But, I understood almost nothing of the conversations all around me.  It was not the best Spanish ever spoken, to be sure, probably some of the worst.  Think of grade schoolers on a big yellow bus, or the rumble of conversation over coffee, after a church service.  Still, I hated it.  I should have been able to understand some of the conversations going on.  My feelings went from startled to oppressed.  I felt stupid, like a child trapped in a grown up conversation, lost and lonely.  

   It’s no fun, being lost in the midst of voices that you cannot understand.  In Sevilla, I had escape valves, Shelee and the other missionaries, and Spaniards I knew who spoke English, or were kind enough to speak Spanish slowly and carefully.  That bus ride was unpleasant, but short. 

   We might have a variety of reactions if we find ourselves dropped into a place where no one speaks English and we don’t speak the local tongue.  Anger is a not uncommon reaction.  Some people withdraw.  Others speak English, louder and LOUDER, as if volume could substitute for translation or comprehension.  It won’t feel like it at the time, but if one is blessed, there will be no escape valves. 

   If, to stay safe and dry and warm, if, to get fed you have to figure out how to communicate, well, then you will most likely learn how to communicate, fairly quickly.  An empty stomach or not knowing where you are going to sleep tonight both have a way of removing our inhibitions and opening our minds to learn to communicate in a foreign language. 

   The intense separation that language differences can cause is God’s doing, a consequence of His actions at Babel.  My unpleasant bus ride and every other language based lack of understanding are the result of the Lord confusing the language of the men in Babel who were seeking to make a name for themselves and build their own personal stairway to heaven. 

   While the confusion of languages causes discomfort, and can lead frustrated people to do bad things, in its essence, God’s confusing work at Babel was an act of grace, a painful but necessary gift.  God was preventing humanity from separating themselves from Him, forever.  By confusing their words, the Eternal Word began to prepare the way for reunion.  By causing a millennia long and ongoing separation of tongues and tribes and nations, we humans were prevented from losing ourselves in our own fallen identity, stopped from thinking we could build our own way to God’s heaven.  All this so that, at just the right time, the Lord could reunite human language around the proclamation of mercy, that God in Christ has made the Way for us sinners to rise to Him, that through faith in the blood bought forgiveness of Jesus, God has prepared a new name, a good name, for us, and for all people. 

   For centuries, English has dominated the language-scape in North America.  Indeed, many Americans are convinced they could never learn a foreign language.  The truth is, they haven’t had to learn one.  It is not impossible to learn another language.  Some people have a knack for it, especially the young.  But if you have the need, if you are somewhere that no one speaks your language, you will learn.  Hunger and other basic human needs will drive you to learn.  In an echo of the tough love of God at the Tower of Babel, folks  around you who refuse to use English or offer you a translation app will actually be helping you to learn, better and faster.  It’s not always pleasant, but you can do it.   

   As challenging as learning a new human language seems to us, it is even harder to grasp the Lord’s Gospel language.  The miracle of the disciples at Pentecost speaking in many languages that they had never learned was a foretaste of the free communication and perfect understanding that the faithful will enjoy in the new heaven and new earth.  And it is certainly easier to listen to and understand the proclamation of Christ in the language of your heart, of your childhood.  Understanding the words of God and their meaning is always important.  But that’s not the whole deal. 

   There is another, higher communication, which the Church prepares and facilitates by speaking the Truth of Christ to as many people and in as many languages as possible.  We Christians have an indispensable role in this higher communication; we get to say the words.   We get to tell others.  But the understanding that saves, this heart-piercing and soul-reviving part of evangelism is the work of the Holy Spirit.  To close the deal, He must drive home the message and create receptive faith in human hearts.  The final miracle of language belongs to God. 

   The need for this divine communication is clear to see at Babel, and continues to our day.  Those descendants of Noah didn’t struggle to comprehend God’s instruction to fill the earth, they simply refused.  God’s plan didn’t make sense to them, and it seemed like they could do great things by following their hearts, by making their own way.  So, they tried.  Let’s make a name for ourselves!  Let’s build a tower into the very heavens!  Let’s just do it!  What could go wrong? 

   The more things change, the more they stay the same.  The challenge of drawing sinners to God through the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus has never been easily fulfilled.  Jesus gave this charge to the Apostles and the Church they built: take the Gospel to every corner of the world and call every human being to repentance.  The visible results of Christ’s Mission have ebbed and flowed throughout 2,000 years.  The tide seems to be very low in our day. 

   On the other hand, nothing sounds more contemporary and familiar than “making a name for ourselves” or “achieving heaven on earth” through human selected projects.  There are so many options to choose from: Neo-Marxism to Make America Great, from day traders and corporate climbers to getting back to the land, from ultra sports fans to fitness nuts to the ultra techie, from the AI Metaverse, to Environmentalism and the Climate Crisis, Internet Influencers, Doomsday Preppers, Social Justice Warriors, or the Trads and the Based. 

   You are constantly told to find your group, which will give you a good name, a good identity, and a shot at enjoying life in the way you define as good.  This seems to be what most people spend much of their time striving towards. 

    How about you and me?  Are we turning to the wisdom of Scripture to learn how God defines a good life?  Do we find our identity, our good name, and our purpose, in that brief moment, probably before our memory, when some pastor splashed a bit of water on us, water made powerful because it was joined to God’s Holy Name?  Do we seek to know and apply the wisdom of God to every situation in our life?  Or are we chasing the same fever dreams as the world, with a few hours of Church-y stuff pasted on like a band-aid? 

    Like the folks at Babel, on our own, we tend to listen to any voice but the Holy Spirit, mostly because the Lord does not cater to our immediate and base desires.  No, He seeks to give us what we really need.  We are constantly tempted to ignore His gifts, and seek immediate and visible success, and pleasure, and pride of self. 

   God knows how we are.  See how the Spirit went to great lengths on Pentecost to break through the noise of earthly salvation schemes, to gain a hearing for the plain, jarring, difficult, but life-giving Word of Christ.  The Spirit’s elaborate efforts, rushing wind, tongues of fire, miracle of languages, and bold Scriptural preaching by St. Peter, these amazing Pentecost happenings match perfectly with the great lengths that Jesus of Nazareth went to prepare the Way. 

    He came and spoke words of promise and peace to His own people, in their own language.  But they would not hear Him.  He plainly explained His plan to save Israel, and the whole world, His commitment to reunite all people, in His own sacrificed body.  But their hearts were hard and their ears were filled with human notions of holiness and greatness.  All of this Jesus did, and more, taking our role as the Sinner, the Rebel, the Enemy of God, taking it all the way to Calvary, all the way through suffering, rejection by His Father and death for the sins of the whole world.  He lived and died the simple story that He had been teaching since the beginning, the story of God’s love for His rebellious children, despite what they deserve, despite what we deserve. 

    Alleluia, Christ is Risen!  Christ is risen, and the Holy Spirit has come, speaking peace from the Father to us, reuniting our hearts with God, through the forgiveness Jesus has won for all people, for you, for me, for everyone.  Rejoice that the Holy Spirit has brought this message to you, in language you can understand, and with holy conviction that pierces your heart and turns you back to God, seeking His mercy. 

    Such a humble life, walking with Christ and His Gospel as your first priority, following His plan for human life as your guide each day, such Christian faith and life has never been the way to popularity, fame or riches.  But in the Risen Christ who covers you with His baptismal grace every day, your Name before God is beloved, your life will be blessed with integrity and grace, and your future is to live with Him, today by faith, and one day, face to face forever. 

    All who call on the Name of the Lord will be saved.  So let us call on Him in prayer: 

O Holy Spirit, day by day grant us faith to trust Your promises, live by Your truth, and rejoice in our future glory, through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.

Waiting for the Spirit - Sermon for the 7th Sunday of Easter, Exaudi

Seventh Sunday of Easter – Exaudi
May 12^th, A+D 2024
Waiting for the Spirit
Our Redeemer and Our Savior's 
Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD

Audio of the sermon available HERE.

   What must the waiting have been like, those ten days between the Ascension of Jesus
and the coming of the Holy Spirit?  Jesus’ final instructions to the Eleven Disciples before He was received into the cloud were to wait, to wait in Jerusalem until they received power from on high, the coming of the Comforter, the Encourager, the Holy Spirit.  Even though Jesus had now declared the Eleven to be Apostles, sent ones, charged to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth, their first task is not to go, but to wait.  How long?  Jesus doesn’t say.  Not many days from now, He promised, but what does “not many” mean?  I can imagine it was excruciating, the waiting.  Will it be today?  Tomorrow?  And what will our Baptism by the Holy Spirit be like, exactly? 

   The 7^th Sunday of Easter, between the Ascension of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, is a bit of a lost Sunday.  Very often, since the Ascension falls on Thursday, churches choose to celebrate it today.  And even if we use the appointed readings, as we have, the focus is not on today, but on next Sunday, Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit.  I imagine the earliest Christians may have felt the same way.  Waiting…

   Waiting.  What are you waiting for?  Looking around the congregation, I know some of you are waiting for medical test results, or medical procedures, even surgeries.  Many young people can’t wait to grow up and be independent of your parents.  Maybe you’re waiting for your financial situation to improve, so you can finally make that big change.  Or maybe you’re waiting for someone, something, to turn around the direction of things in our beloved country.  Waiting for things over which we have no control is the worst.  Will my child get over whatever has upset them, and come back to the family?  Back to the church?  Will my loved one come back from their depression, or their anger, or whatever gets between us now? 

   Time is a gift from God, given us to receive His other gifts and use them to His glory, for the benefit of others, and for ourselves.  In theory, with all the technical marvels, material bounty and ease of living we enjoy, we should have more time than ever to read or listen to God’s Word, to pray, and to gather together for teaching, worship, fellowship and the mutual consolation of the brethren.  But most of us struggle to find time for more than the minimum.   

   We should be very relaxed about the time we have and the tasks we need to complete.  But I think we all know this isn’t true for most of us.  Most of us struggle with time.  If you have reached the zone of not feeling rushed and overscheduled, and yet you also you find lots of rewarding, valuable things with which to fill your time, well, give thanks, for you are especially blessed by God.  This isn’t normal for the rest of us.  Most of us all too often jam our schedules beyond full, rush from event to event, frazzled and irritable. 

   Childhood in America today mostly lacks the unplanned hours that used to provide kids with salutary boredom and the chance for adventure, real and imagined.    

   Electricity means we don’t have to go to bed when the sun goes down, and the TV and internet can easily distract us for hours.  So, sleep deprivation is commonplace, and we struggle to use the time we have, because we can barely stay awake.  All of which is to say that life today in America is often too busy, for most of us. 

   Until suddenly it isn’t.  Until suddenly the loss of a spouse or a degradation of health rob us of the reason or capacity to be busy.  Suddenly all we have is time, time that we don’t know how to fill.  Deadened, lonely time, for which we lack the energy to enjoy or use productively.   

   “Come, Lord Jesus!”   Many problems, including our struggle with time, rightly prompt Christians to cry out for the Lord’s return.  There is certainly a 7^th Sunday of Easter quality to all of Christian living.  For we all, like the Apostles before Pentecost, are waiting, waiting for the promised final appearing in glory of our Lord Jesus.  To react to the stresses of our days with a prayer for Jesus to “Come, now!” is good. 

   But the Biblical prayer starts with Amen.  “Amen, come Lord Jesus.”  (Revelation 22:20)  That is, we are taught to cry out “Amen, I believe, and so I ask you to come now, Jesus.”  Believing in the Amen, trusting that the final change to come is Good News, this can be hard.  Trusting that everything will work out is difficult, especially when we are tossed to and fro by the tumult of daily life.  We may even fear the End, even as we pray for it.  Which is a miserable way to wait.         

   The very earliest Christians might have something to teach us about waiting.  They too, had witnessed tremendous changes.  They had endured great suffering, intense trauma.  The disciples of Jesus did not experience the kind of technological, cultural and political changes that have made us dizzy.  No, life under the Roman Empire and the Jewish Sanhedrin hadn’t really changed much between A.D. 29 and A.D. 33.  However, without changing many things visible, Jesus had changed everything, turned everything upside down and inside out. 

   By the first century, the faith handed down by Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had been warped by the same fallen human presuppositions about religion that are always threatening.  Jesus’ teaching was radical not because it was new, but rather because it shattered the lies that had infected the faith.  Lies that had become the accepted opinion of most. 

   Then as now, chief among these lies is that God is in His heaven, far away, inaccessible, and it is our job to achieve the necessary holiness in order to make our way to Him.  To reveal and reject this lie, God showed up in flesh of Jesus of Nazareth.  God came as a baby, grew up, and declared “No, God is not far away.  I AM the Lord, come to seek and save the lost.  I AM God, present for My people, as I always promised, only now more so.” 

   Another lie was that salvation was just for the Jews, just for the circumcised, law following, kosher eating descendants of Abraham.  But Jesus came to remove divisions, and to be the Savior of the Nations.    

   The Pharisees were masters at detailing the many good works sinners had to do to make their way to God, step by step, work by work.  Jesus said no, I AM the Way, no one comes to the Father, except through Me.  “To the one who does not work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness…  ⁷ “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; ⁸ blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”  (Romans 4:5-8)

    Jesus came as the Son of David who would reign on the throne of Israel forever, but then He went and got Himself crucified.  Indeed, the Nazarene taught that to save your life, you have to lose it.  Life comes from death, the death of God’s Holy Son. 

   Jesus’ radical teachings were hard to believe.  When He breathed His last on Golgotha, it appeared to all that He was a failure, a sham, not the Savior Messiah He had claimed to be.

   But Jesus didn’t stay dead.  And that changed everything.  Suddenly, all the upside down claims of Jesus made sense, suddenly the turbulence of life was calmed by the peace that passes all understanding, the peace of knowing that Jesus died, and then rose again, never to die again.  Everything is different, because Jesus lives to share His new life with all who hear and believe. 

   Because of these changes, Jesus’ disciples began to live differently.  Peter and company hadn’t always seem to be the best students.  But now they knew the Risen and Ascended one.  And so, despite Jesus’ making them wait, for some undetermined amount of time, the Eleven acquitted themselves pretty well.  As we read in Acts chapter 1, they did three things, which could help us today. 

   1. They stuck together.  2. They prayed constantly.   3. They prepared for their future ministry by filling the roster spot Judas Iscariot abandoned. 

   How could they do all this?  They believed the promises of Jesus.  They knew the Christ had died and risen and ascended on high.  They knew their sins were forgiven, and their eternity was assured.  And so however long the wait, they were resting in Christ. 

   What can we learn from them for our lives today? 

   We should stick together.  You, and I, all of us should prioritize life in our congregation.  It’s good for you and good for your brothers and sisters in Christ.  Don’t give up gathering together.  And once you’re here, ask how you can help to make things go smoother, better.  Build up your fellow Christians, never tear them down.  Invite someone to dinner or a coffee.  Get to know a member you see at church but have never really talked to.  Stick together, for Christ is in our midst, and together with Him is where you need to be, where you want to be.

   Pray constantly.  Pray each day, for yourself, for each other, for our congregation, and sister congregations.  Pray for the Church in the whole world.  Pray for the conversion of everyone.  Pray big, and trust that the Lord will answer perfectly, even though we may not see the results right now. 

   Prepare for the future ministry of our Church.  What might this mean?  Well, certainly you could support a seminarian.  Even more, young and not so young men should consider whether they might be called to serve as pastors or other church workers.  Women too, young and not so young, should consider being a deaconess or a missionary, or somehow serving Christ’s church full time.  And each of us should work to deepen our knowledge and faith, to know Christ better, and so be better able to tell others why we rejoice to trust in Him.  For the Holy Spirit works through all His members, all the lives of every child of God.    

   Your ability to do any of this depends on your trust in the promises of Jesus.  Christ has died, and risen, and ascended on high to rule over all things.  Your sins are forgiven, and your eternity is assured, in Jesus.  However long we must wait, to our last day on earth, or until the Last Day when Jesus will return, riding the clouds, we rest in Christ. 

   We wait to celebrate Pentecost next Sunday.  But you already have the Holy Spirit.  He was gifted to you in your Baptism.  You hear Him in the voice of Scripture.  He gives you faith to trust and so rightly receive the Body and Blood of Jesus, given and shed on the Cross for the forgiveness of all your sins, given to you here at this altar.   

   Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the paraclete, that is the Helper.  Your advocate, your defender.  Also your encourager.  The one who exhorts you to grow and serve.  Whatever Word we need, the Holy Spirit is with us, speaking His powerful Word, sustaining us and moving us in the Way Jesus desires.  And so we wait with confidence, knowing that God is on our side, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, today, and forever and ever, Amen.