Sermon for 4/30/23: Fourth Sunday of Easter

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No sermon video this week. Sorry.

Strength for the Weak and Weary
Isaiah 40:25-31

 ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

All too often we fail to depend on God’s power and His tender interest in the affairs of this world He created. Even we, the faithful people of Christ, are not beyond complaining that such a powerful and boundless God has forgotten us. That was Israel’s problem, too. Similar to what we heard from Ezekiel the past two Sundays, the Lord, through His prophet Isaiah, is also addressing Israel as captives in Babylon. Isaiah speaks to those captives in ways that should recall for them the love of God, and even their origin as a people. God cared for Jacob. He blessed him and protected him. As you might recall from a reading during the Lenten season, God had even wrestled with Jacob and changed his name to Israel, meaning one who has “striven with God and man and has prevailed.” And then God repeated the promise that the Savior would come through Jacob’s descendants, the same promise given to his grandfather, Abraham. All of this God did out of grace and mercy. Jacob did not deserve any of it. And when Jacob’s descendants became a great nation in captivity in Egypt, God continued to care for them. He marked every phase of their history with His gracious care.

If God had demonstrated such love for those ancestors of His people, He would continue to care for them. He had pledged Himself to His people; He had bound Himself to them by promise. No matter what difficulties they faced, He was powerful enough to care for them. He loved them too much to abandon them. This message was important for those in Babylonian captivity. In the midst of their tears and heartache, God wanted them to remember that all of life fell within His view, and He continued to love them.

And this lesson is just as important for us to remember. We are God’s people by faith in Jesus Christ. But we are no less likely to complain when things go badly. And God does not just love us when things go well; He loves us always! He has His own reasons for permitting trouble and pain and tears in our lives, reasons He may or may not make clear to us. He is almighty and all-knowing; we are not. But we can trust Him to do what is best for us. He loves us too much to do anything less.

Two important questions appear. “Have you not known? Have you not heard?” These questions are important because they direct us to what God reveals about Himself in the Scriptures, where we learn that God reveals Himself as “Lord,” the God of free grace. He is the God of promise, the true and only God, the One who is everlasting. He is beyond human ability to grasp and understand. God must reveal Himself if we are to know anything about Him. He is the Creator with unlimited power, power He uses for the benefit of His creatures. He has given us life and has provided us a wonderful world in which to live. God gives strength to the weary and the weak. In His mercy, God turns Himself toward His creatures and gives His blessing to them. He was not exhausted by creation, nor does He grow weary with the continuous care of the world He called into existence.

We human beings are as different from God as darkness is from light. We are creatures, not the Creator. We grow weary and weak. Some things we can understand, but more often than not we are ignorant and confused. God knows all things immediately and naturally; but we must learn, a process often slow and tortured. Without the Lord, the best and brightest of human beings will only stumble and fall. The young appear to be tireless and energetic, and yet they, too, will certainly grow weary and stumble. To such limited creatures as we surely are, God promises to give strength.

Isaiah tells us, “Those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength.” Such strength comes as a gift with faith in Jesus Christ. When we rely on human strength, we will stumble. But when we trust that One who was weary and weak with our sins at His cross, but whose strength was then miraculously renewed in His resurrection, He gives us of His strength. And not only that, but He promises to renew our strength when we have stumbled and fallen, so that we, too, will arise from the ashes of grief and suffering to run and walk as if youth has been forever renewed!

Isaiah here draws on a picture some of us may have seen ourselves: the picture of a majestic, soaring eagle. God promises to be the wind that sustains the wings of His people, if you will. What wonderful comfort for all who hope in the Lord! The entire life of God’s people—your life, your walking and running and soaring—is filled with the boundless grace and tireless strength of God. And even in death, you will mount as on eagle’s wings, which will take you to Him who will share with you His joy forevermore! ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.  

Sermon for 4/23/23: Third Sunday of Easter

 

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Life Under the Cross

I Peter 2:21-25

 

 

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

 

Living as God’s faithful and obedient children is no guarantee of a life free from adversity or suffering. On the contrary, those who confess as Lord the One who suffered injustice even unto death should expect nothing but the same as He experienced. But this is something we resist hearing. We have grown accustomed to quick fixes, to almost instant relief from pain, to lives that are largely carefree and unburdened when compared to previous generations. There is a gigantic gap, cultural and otherwise, between the Church of the Twenty-first Century and that of the First, when Peter wrote these words.

But there is one factor that unites Christians now with Christians then. To confess Jesus Christ as Lord means following in the footsteps which led Him to death. That shouldn’t come as a shock to you, unless you have made the mistake of divorcing the joy and victory of Easter from the pain and sorrow of Good Friday. There is only one way to the resurrection, and that is through the cross. Without fail, the life of faithfulness to God’s will is accompanied by the experience of suffering.

It could be no other way. In the eyes of those outside the Church, a God-pleasing life is seldom welcomed. Unbelievers will be quick to attribute evil motives to all that you say and do. You need only consider how the views of Christians are received these days in public discourse. We are nearly always accused of trying to force our “bigoted morality” on everyone else. Even so, Peter encourages us, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evil doers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”

This ill-treatment is to be expected, for our Lord received the same treatment. “...When [Christ] was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten…” He suffered because He was the faithful servant of God all the way to the cross. Though He was reviled as a fraud and a deceiver, He did not revile the real deceivers. And as He told His disciples: “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. …If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of His household.” From our Lord’s example, we learn that suffering is the expected result of faithfulness to the will of God. Because you do that which pleases God, you suffer. But as Peter says, “…If, when you do good and suffer for it, you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in His steps.” Persecution and ridicule of God’s holy ones is one of the ways unbelievers rebel against God. They try to get at Him by maligning you.

Experiencing suffering for doing the will of God is one of the marks of your communion with Jesus. You are “participating in the sufferings of Christ,” as Scripture puts it. He has set the pattern, and you follow in His footsteps. What He has endured, you can expect to endure also. Again, as Peter said: “In your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God...”

Ultimately, a God-pleasing life is marked by death. Death was the price our Lord paid to free us from our sin. Only by the Good Shepherd’s sacrifice of His own life have we, the sheep, been given life. This is among the great paradoxes of our Christian faith: life comes out of death. There can be no resurrection without the suffering of the cross. That is true of Jesus, but it is also true of you. You can live a life made right before God, but only when you have died. It means drowning in the waters of Holy Baptism. It means dying to those sinful desires that are at war within us. And that is where suffering comes in.

Suffering and death go hand in hand. Suffering helps us stay alert to that tempting self-delusion that we are no longer bound by death. But of even more importance, suffering and death are the twin signs of your baptism. Your baptism has drowned your sins and brought you forth to newness of life. You now have life with the One who gave His life for you, a life which gives purpose to the faithful suffering of those who would follow Christ in faith.

In Jesus Christ, faithfulness and suffering, cross and resurrection are brought together. And just as Jesus avoided none of this as He faithfully carried out His Father’s will, so we, too, need not worry about experiencing the same on the road to eternal life. It is what we are to expect as sheep who follow the Shepherd who gave Himself into suffering and death for us, that we might be His, both now and forever. “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 4/16/23: Second Sunday of Easter

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Life for Dry Bones

Ezekiel 37:1-14

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The faith of a child of God is threatened constantly by two dangers: on the one hand is the danger of overconfidence, and on the other hand, despair. It is to the second of these dangers that Ezekiel 37 speaks. In the chapter just previous to this one, God had assured His people that those who were in exile in Babylon were not gone forever. They would be delivered and return to their homeland. But those people were, understandably, so depressed by their situation that they found it difficult to believe that promise of God. “Our hope is lost; we are clean cut off,” they said. It was to reassure His people that God granted Ezekiel this remarkable vision of the valley of dry bones.

This valley was a picture of that whole community of exiles, dead and lifeless in their exile and despair. “Can these bones live?” God’s question to Ezekiel would normally be answered in the negative. After all, what can one expect from a bunch of dry bones? And that is why Ezekiel’s reply is so interesting: “O Lord God, you know.” In other words, only the One who made these bones to begin with can give them life again. Only the God who first made man from the dust of the earth could make something living out of that valley full of lifeless bones. But the Lord promised to do for these bones just what He had done for the dust of the ground formed into Adam’s body in the Garden of Eden. Remember those words from Genesis chapter 2: “Then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.”

At the Lord’s command, Ezekiel spoke to lifeless bones, and a miracle took place. There was a rattle as bone came together with bone. Suddenly, the valley seemed no longer to be full of detached bones, but of skeletons taking on something that resembled human form. And God’s miracle continued: “And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.” Tendons and flesh appeared, but the valley resembled a battlefield littered with corpses. God’s miracle was still not complete. At God’s command, Ezekiel continued to speak, and breath entered that army of corpses, and they came to life and stood upright. What did it all mean? Through this vision, Ezekiel saw how God would recreate His people, now apparently hopelessly lost in Babylon.

Compare Ezekiel’s account and today’s Gospel reading with its report of Thomas and his doubts. Thomas had not been with his fellow disciples the previous Sunday evening when Jesus had come to them, alive, in that locked room. He just couldn’t believe that Jesus could be alive. And just as God in His mercy gave Ezekiel and Israel a new hope in the vision of the valley of dry bones, so also Jesus mercifully returned for the sake of Thomas, that he might see Jesus alive, bearing the wounds of the cross, that Thomas would stop his doubting and believe.

And aren’t we often where Thomas was? One would think that, having celebrated the resurrection of our Lord just a week ago, we might have some immunity to such doubt and despair. But it isn’t long before the realities of life hit us squarely in the face, and faith often flees while doubt and despair rush in. It’s not long before we look at the financial figures and attendance numbers on the back of the bulletin and begin to worry again about our future.

Ezekiel did what God had given him to do. He spoke the life-giving Word to bring life to those dry bones. And isn’t that exactly how our lives ought to be described? We carry out what the Lord gives us to do, whatever that may be within our various callings in life, and He keeps His promises to us. The truth is, this is very liberating. Knowing that we are doing the Lord’s will is what solves the problem of boredom and drudgery. We are not just working for a paycheck; we are serving God and supporting our families as He has given us to do. We are not just studying; we are using our minds to the maximum capacity possible because the Lord has called us to be good managers of our intellect. And the Lord always keeps His promises to provide, to give hope and strength, just as He did when Ezekiel preached to those dry bones.

This vision points forward to more than just the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity. Out of death comes life. From the death of Jesus comes life!—and not only physical life, but eternal life, for the One who died for us lives, never to die again! St. Paul referred to our Lord’s resurrection as the “first fruits of those who sleep.” His resurrection is the sign that there will be more to come. That day is certainly coming. The One who died and rose from the dead says to us, “Behold, I am coming soon.”

As we repent of our sin; as we receive in faith the gift of His resurrection, the full forgiveness of our sins; as we look forward to that great Last Day, we will find ourselves in the shoes of Thomas, no longer doubting, but confessing, “My Lord, and my God!” When God asked Ezekiel, “Can these bones live?” He already knew the answer. Not only can they live, but they live even now through faith in Jesus Christ, in a life that will know no end! ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.   

Sermon for 4/2/23: Palmarum, the Sunday of the Passion

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A Servant Exalted in Humility

Philippians 2:5-11

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today we remember our Lord’s sufferings and death at the hands of the very people He came to save. There is something about the sufferings of Jesus that makes us want to look away. We love the praises of Palm Sunday, and we will eagerly come to joyfully celebrate Easter. But Maundy Thursday and especially Good Friday, the darker days of our Lord’s suffering, will not be as well attended. It’s more than just the desire to skip services held in the middle of the week. The truth is, we want to see a triumphant king, not a suffering servant or a bleeding lamb.

St. Paul wrote that Jesus chose to be a suffering servant. He could have remained as He was before the Creation of the world: the glorious Son of God who had no flesh and no sufferings. Even when He became Man, Jesus was still God, so He did not have to suffer. He could have remained in the form of God. But He chose the form of a servant. He chose weakness, pain, and death.

We are approaching the day when God died. That is the offense of the cross, where Jesus, who is God, laid down His life. God by nature cannot die because He is eternal and immortal. Nor should God die, because He is everything good and loving and beautiful. The death of Christ is the death of God, and mankind does not want to face up to that horrible reality.

Through the centuries, people have tried to lessen the offense of the cross by saying that Jesus did not truly suffer there, that He only seemed to suffer. Others have said that Jesus was truly Man, but He was not truly God, and so God did not die. Others have gone even further, saying that Jesus was not only merely a Man, but He was also a sinner like us. Sinners die every day, so there is no offense in a sinner's death. But against all those false views of Christ, St. Paul declares that Christ was “in the form of God.” He fully possessed the majesty and holiness of the true God. He had the power and knowledge and immortality of God.

But Jesus made Himself of no reputation. He took the form of a servant by ceasing to use His powers as God. This is not to say that Jesus only appeared to be a Man, as if it was an illusion. Jesus was really and truly a human being, like us in every way except sin. Jesus did not become a sinner in His life, although in His death He became sin for us. That is the purpose of this Passion of Christ. He took on the form of a servant so that He could die a servant's death, to pay for the sins of the world.

Christ never ceased to be God, not even on the cross. But before His resurrection, He did not use His full powers as God. At times, Jesus did not know certain facts, even though He could have used His unlimited knowledge as God. Sometimes, Jesus was tired or hungry or thirsty, even though God by nature is never tired or hungry or thirsty. God does not bleed; God does not suffer; God does not die. But Christ, who is true God and true Man, bled and died for you, because He took the form of a servant.

When He suffered and died, the sinless God died in human flesh. The flesh of a sinner would achieve nothing. The death of an ordinary man would mean little to the world. But Christ Jesus laid down the flesh and blood of God on the cross, and so His death is everything. The cross—the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, God incarnate—towers over every event in history. On the cross, Jesus claimed solidarity with sinful mankind. He willingly made Himself one of us, even though He was holy and sinless. He was one of us, even though His divinity was unimaginably far above us. On the cross, Jesus embraced all of mankind, so that all of our sins and the weight of our guilt fell upon Him.

He came in humility to serve us by carrying the heavy burdens that belonged to us: the burdens of our sin, our death, and our damnation. But these burdens were not His to carry. He did not need to suffer. He chose to suffer. Christ Jesus, the only Man who could choose not to die, chose the worst death possible to save us. He rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, when He could have ridden upon the backs of angels. That is the humility of Christ. That is the form of a servant. Jesus rides into Jerusalem to present Himself to God as the sacrifice to atone for the sins of the world. He lowers Himself to the level of a dumb animal whose only purpose is to be slaughtered. That is the form of a servant. The Son of Man, who looks like nothing but the pathetic son of a carpenter, is actually the great God who protects and defends the world, even when that world turns upon Him and kills Him. That is the form of a servant.

At this very moment, Christ remains a Man and also remains God. That is how He will be forever. But He is no longer in the form of a servant. Now He is highly exalted. Now saints and angels in heaven bow before the glorious Son of God, who shines before them in the unveiled form of God. Even now, we on earth mimic those above. Many saints here below bow the knee at His presence when He comes in bread and wine. Many bow our heads at the name of Jesus, for this is the name of the Lord of life who conquered sin and Satan. This is the name of the Lord, who freed you and me from our own death by dying Himself. One day, all knees will bow and all tongues will confess, whether they like it or not. Even Satan's black tongue will be forced to confess that Jesus is Lord.

So all creation praises this Lord and confesses His name, because He has suffered for you. He has died in your place. He took the form of a servant so that He who is God in human flesh could lay down His life on the cross for you. With heaven and earth, we give glory to His great name which is above every name: the name of Jesus Christ, Lord and God. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.