Pentecost 7 Sermon

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Jesu Juva

“Teaching Us to Pray”

Text: Luke 11:1-13; Genesis 18:17-33; Colossians 2:6-19

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

Surely the disciples knew how to pray. The Jews had their prayers and their times for prayer. They prayed the psalms in the Temple. They sang them as they made their way to Jerusalem for the feasts. They had table prayers to pray before and after meals. They prayed in the mornings and evenings. The disciples knew how to pray, like we know how to pray. For prayer is the breath of the Christian. We breathe in God’s Word and we breathe out that word in prayer.

Yet we could be better, do better. I don’t think I’ve ever met a Christian who didn’t wish they were better at prayer. That they would pray more. That they could pray with better words. That their prayers wouldn’t get forgotten and swallowed up by the busyness of life, as they so often seem to do. And that desire is good, right, and salutary. That desire is the work of the Holy Spirit in you. The Holy Spirit who prays for us, and teaches us to pray Abba, Father (Galatians 4:6).

So we can understand the request of the disciples that we heard today: Lord, teach us to pray. It is our request, too.

And so Jesus gives them the words you know so well. Pray these, He says. Perhaps the disciples had been praying for the wrong things. They did, after all, ask Jesus if they should call down fire from heaven upon the Samaritans who wouldn’t welcome them into their towns. They did argue about which of them was the greatest. So pray for these things, Jesus says. 

That the name of God, given to them, would be hallowed by them. Kept holy. Not profaned by our words or deeds. We need to pray for our Father to help us with that; that we honor His name given to us. That the kingdom of God would come. To them, and to all. Not just heaven, but also His kingdom here and now, His Church. That His Word and Spirit would bring others into His Church, and that His Word and Spirit would keep us in the Church. For it is the Spirit who not only gives us faith in Christ, but keeps us in that faith. Pray for this, Jesus says. 

And that we would have all that we need to support this body and life - our daily bread. We, not just me. No room for selfishness here. Me and my neighbor. My neighbor and I. United in love and concern. God using my neighbor for me and me for my neighbor. Love one another as I have loved you (John 13:14).

For lives filled with forgiveness. Pray for that, Jesus says. Forgiveness for your sins, and for help to forgive those who sin against you. No matter the sin, no matter the debt. Can you do that? Not on your own. But the Spirit helps us in our weakness. 

And lead us not into temptation. Don’t let the devil twist and distort God’s Word, God’s gifts, and God’s good and gracious work, so that we doubt God’s love and so be led into false belief or despair. Keep our faith right, and keep our faith strong.

Pray this, Jesus says. I think we often think of prayer in individual terms. Me talking to God. But this is a very churchly way of prayer, it seems to me. Me in the context of God’s gifts and God’s Church. In this way prayer is a holy thing, a sacred thing, an intimate thing. And we learn about prayer and how to pray.

But Jesus doesn’t stop there. He continues with the story about the friend in need. You see, when Jesus teaches you to pray, He doesn’t just give you the words, He sends you people to pray for. 

But don’t just think of the obvious ones here. Yes we pray for victims of floods and other natural disasters. We pray for victims of crime, hatred, injustice, and persecution. And that is all good. But how about the person who is really annoying you? Who just gets on your nerves all the time? The person in your mind right now! Do you pray for them? And not: Lord, make them better and not so annoying! But Lord, help me to love them. And forgive me for not loving them. For belittling them in my mind and despising them in my heart. Lord, teach us to pray.

And what about the person who took the parking space that you were about to pull into? What’s more likely to burst out of your mouth - a prayer or some other word that would not be appropriate for me to repeat in a sermon? Or how about that person you just had a argument with? Or who got what you wanted? The Lord sends you people to pray for all the time. Lord, teach us to pray.

And what great promises Jesus gives to induce us to pray! Just ask, He says. I’ll provide. Seek! I’ll open your eyes and not hide things from you. And knock on my door for I’ll always be there to open it for you. And you don’t have to be impudent! I want to. I’m not like the one who didn’t want to get up. I got up. I came down from heaven. With good gifts. And with the perfect gift, the Holy Spirit. For you.

God taught Abraham to pray that way. We heard that today. He gave Abraham folks to pray for - bad folks! Sinful folks! Folks who were hurting his family. And he did! God didn’t hide from Abraham what He was about to do. And He gave Abraham all He asked for. And He probably would have given him even more, if he hadn’t stopped at ten. For the mercy of God, the love of God, the forgiveness of God, is even greater than Abraham imagined. Greater than we can imagine. For in truth, God went all the way down to one. For one righteous person, Jesus, God spared the world. The fire and brimstone of His wrath falling upon Jesus on the cross instead of you. And me. 

Breathe in that Word of God, hear that love and forgiveness, eat that Body and Blood, and what prayers will come forth, then, from you? What do you think? Lord, teach us to pray. 

Do you think Jesus was annoyed when the disciples asked Him that? Or exasperated that they hadn’t learned yet? No. He loved it. It was music to His ears! It was exactly what He wanted them to ask. The hardest part of learning is learning to ask the right questions. This was the right question, the right request. Lord, teach us to pray.

So for us today? Teach us to pray, that as Paul said, we abound in thanksgiving. Teach us to pray, that we not be taken captive by philosophy and empty deceit, thinking that we know more or know better than You and what You have told us in your Word. Teach us to pray not fleshly prayers, but to pray as having put off the body of the flesh by virtue of our baptism into Christ.

Lord, teach us to pray, that we not pass judgment on one another, but lift one another up to You in prayer. Teach us to pray as part of Your Body, the Church. Your Body which has been raised from the dead, and so we are. No longer dead in our trespasses and sin, but alive in You. Your Body that has cancelled the debt we owe, and so it is. You have set us free. Your Body that has triumphed over all our enemies and put them to shame. And so our victory has been won. 

Lord, teach us to pray. Like that. With that faith. Confidently. Knowing that our Father is not going to give a serpent instead of a fish. That He’s not going to give a scorpion instead of an egg. If He seems to, the problem is not the gift, but out perception of it. Your Father, our Father, gives good gifts. And He will give You His Spirit. Gladly. Abundantly. Just ask. For He loves your prayers. And, I would venture to say, there is only one thing He loves more than your prayers, and that’s the one praying them: you. His child. The one He baptized. The one He redeemed. And feeds. Who He will never forsake. 

So breathe, dear Christians. Breathe in the Word of God, and breathe out your prayers. It’s good for you. Doctors say that these days. When you’re worried, when you’re anxious, take a deep breath. It’ll calm you, relax you. How much more, then, taking a deep breath of God’s Word. And so filled with His Word, His Spirit, His love, and His forgiveness, you’ll not just be calm, but confident. In Him. And you’ll not just be relaxed, but at peace. For He is your peace. The one who has done all for you, His children. And He’s not going to stop. 

Lord, teach us to pray . . .

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

Pentecost 6 Sermon

No sermon to post today as Pastor Douthwaite is away as a delegate to the LCMS Convention in Tampa, FL. We were privileged to have with us Chaplain Graham Glover as our guest pastor. Check back next week! Thanks!

Pentecost 5 Sermon

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Jesu Juva

“Be Different!”

Text: Leviticus 18:1-5; 19:9-18; Luke 10:25-37

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

Be different! That’s the message from God to you today. Be different. Don’t be like the people around you. Don’t do what they do. You, be different.

That’s what God told Old Testament Israel in the reading from Leviticus we heard today. They were camping at Mt. Sinai. God had just brought them out from Egypt, rescued them from their long slavery there. And He promised them their own home, their own land. A good land. Where they could live in peace. But when you get there, He tells them, be different! Don’t do what the people of Egypt did, or what the people of this new land do. Don’t worship the gods they worshiped in Egypt, or the gods the people of this new land worship. Be different.

And He says how. Specifically. Don’t reap your fields, God says, right up to the very edge, and don’t strip your vineyards clean of every last grape. Leave some. For the poor and needy. 80 percent, 90 percent, you can have. But leave some. For the poor. For those who have nothing. I am the Lord.

Then, He says, don’t idolize the almighty denarius. Don’t oppress your neighbor, lie, cheat, steal, or take him to court for a buck. And don’t become possessed with revenge if you are wronged, if he short-changed you in some way, whether that be with money or respect or some other way. Relax. I’m giving you a home and your own land. And I’m going to continue to take care of you. Don’t sin because someone sinned against you. I am the Lord.

And don’t take advantage of the deaf or the blind. Be different. Don’t be like everyone else. Don’t be like the world. Because you’re not. You’re mine. I brought you up out of Egypt. I brought you through the Red Sea. I am the Lord your God. So act like it. Like you’re special, because you are. Like you’re rich, because you are. Like this world is not all there is, because it’s not. Like you’re different, because you are. I am the Lord.

I am the Lord. Sometimes when we hear that phrase, I think we hear it like parents say it. Like when children ask their parents why they have to do something, what do parents say? Because I said so! And here, too. Why does Israel have to do these things? Because I am the Lord! Because I say so! I’m the almighty, the Sovereign, the rule maker, the boss. 

Except that not how God means it at all! I am the Lord is like the Invocation we hear at the beginning of every Divine Service here - In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Which, as I told the Bible Class again recently, is not a sentence. It’s a prepositional phrase. It’s only part of a sentence. And the rest of it is really important. For the rest of it is: I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Invocation is a reminder of who you are and what God has done for you. You are a baptized child of God. You are one whose sins are forgiven. You have been washed with the blood of the Lamb in those waters. And so here, we are children coming to our Father. To be with Him. To receive from Him. To hear from Him and speak to Him. We are special. Because of His Name given to us and put on us, we are different.

And so Israel was different. I am the Lord is only part of a sentence for them. They were to hear those words and finish them as a reminder of who they are and what God has done for them. I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. I am the Lord who brought you through the Red Sea. I am the Lord who is giving you a home. Those words are Gospel, not Law! They are what God has done and is doing for us, not do this because I said so! These words mark Israel as different. Because they are. They are the Lord’s.

So act that way.

And then the very next words we speak, here, after the Invocation in the Divine Service? I haven’t. We confess that we haven’t lived differently than the world. We’ve done what they do, say what they say, and worship what they worship. Oh, we really do. We have worshiped the almighty dollar at the expense of prayers, devotions, and families. We have been stingy with the poor and needy. We think of ourselves first. And interestingly, sports stars, politicians, the rich and powerful, the high and mighty, the famous and well-known, what do we call what happens to them? They are idolized. Because they are. Made into idols. They are what we want to be, and try to be, and . . . walk on each other to be? And child of God? Oh, yeah, well, I am that too, but . . . that’s not enough. I want more. I need more. I’m going to get more. Oh Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Israel had to confess the same as we do. That’s why when Moses was on Mt. Sinai, God didn’t just give him the commandments, but the Tabernacle, too. Which was the place of forgiveness. The place where God would dwell with His people to mercy them. That’s what made them different, too. Not only what God had done for them and was continuing to do for them, but that He was dwelling with them, and caring for them, and forgiving them. And because He was, they could care for others. The poor and needy, the deaf and blind, and love their neighbor. Because I am the Lord. Because they have a good and gracious Lord, caring for them and forgiving them.

So they were different. You are different. You are forgiven. So you get to act that way. Not because it’s the rules, it’s the Law, and you have to to please God and make up for your sins. No. It’s because you are free to be different. You’ve been freed, mercied, forgiven. So now you get to live that way.

And what would that look like? To be different, because you are? Well, it would look like the Good Samaritan. Which is a parable, I think, that is as often misunderstood as the phrase I am the Lord. Just as I am the Lord is not God saying because I said so, but rather, because of all that I have done for you, so the Good Samaritan is not just a parable telling us to be good Samaritans, but teaching us that we have one. 

You see, that lawyer who came up to Jesus to test him that day, thought he could do something to live - he just needed to know what it was, and how much it was. And even though Jesus didn’t put a lawyer in the parable, he did put a couple of his friends in it - a priest and a levite. And I wonder if the lawyer had done this on his way to see Jesus - passed by a man in a ditch, someone in need, because, well, he had to get to Jesus with his question! That would be like Jesus to do something like that. Mr. Lawyer, what you should have done is stop and help that person you saw in the ditch but passed by on the other side of the road in your hurry here to see me and ask me what you have to do to inherit eternal life when God is the one who gives you eternal life and you don’t have to do anything and so you should have stopped to help this man, because you can! The only thing Jesus could’ve added at the end but didn’t is: I am the Lord.

But if He had, with that He would have meant two things: First, I am the Lord who spoke those words to Moses on Mt. Sinai, who did all those things for Israel, and who made great and precious promises to them - I am that Lord! And second, I am the Lord who has come now to do them, fulfill them all for you, be your Good Samaritan. Because Mr. Lawyer, you can’t. You’re the guy in the ditch. You were the guy in the ditch. Beat up and robbed of life by your sins, by death, and by the devil. And what good would it do to yell at that guy in the ditch to get up and clean himself up and save himself? Not much, right? He needed something, He needed someone. He needed saving.

But what do you think the guy in the ditch did after he was saved? After he recovered and got better? What do you think he did weeks or months later . . . the next time he was walking down the road and saw a man in a ditch like he was? Do you think he stopped, looked around, and wondered: Where is that Samaritan when you need one? Or do you think he was different? Do you think he did likewise? As it had been done to him? Not because he had to, but because he could? Because he knows what its like to lie in that ditch and watch people walk by and not help? Yeah.

So every week, this church is filled with people in the ditch. The devil, the world, and your own sinful nature have attacked you and inflicted mortal wounds on you. And perhaps you have on others - intentionally or unintentionally, known or unknown. Wounds that if not treated lead to death. And we confess, and we cry out for help. And our Good Samaritan is here, and comes down in the ditch with us, just as He did some 2000 years ago, when He came down and was attacked and beaten and not just left for dead, He really was! With your death, in your grave, because of your sin. But not as a victim was He dead, but as Saviour. As the one come to rescue all in the grip of sin, death, and hell. By coming and getting us, washing us, feeding us, putting us on His own back, and saving us. And He still does. Here. To make us different. Healed. Whole. Saved. Forgiven. 

So live that. Act that way. Be different. Like you’ve been saved. Because you are. 

You see, the Christian life isn’t one of asking what must I do to inherit eternal life? Or what must I do to be saved? You have eternal life now. You’ve been saved. Jesus did that for you. You’ve been un-ditched, lifted up, lifted out, oiled and wined, healed, restored, given a new life.

So now, the Christian life is a joyous one of jumping down into the ditches of others, no matter who they are. To un-ditch them. And there are plenty of ditches. Lots of them. If we’re not too busy to see them, too pre-occupied with our own stuff. People in ditches at work, at school, your friends and neighbors, on your teams, on your social medias. Be different for them. And by being different for them, you will be the same . . . as Jesus for you. The one whose steadfast love endures forever, as we sang in the Introit. Whose love and forgiveness and grace and gifts and mercy for you will never run out. 

Last week I didn’t say anything about the Higer Things conference that Joanna and I had just returned from, and that Rachel and Kathryn will be at this week. I often do, but I waited until this week because the Chief Hymn, or Sermon Hymn we sang today, Where Charity and Love Prevail (LSB #845), was the conference hymn, or the theme hymn for the week. For the theme for the conference was Corcordia, with one heart, which is what the Good Samaritan was with the man in the ditch, and what Jesus is with us. But this, too: the motto of Higher Things is: Dare to be Lutheran. Or, if we wanted to put it this way today: Dare to be different. Dare to live as one saved by grace through faith alone, and not by what you do. Dare to live this Gospel in all your life. Dare to believe that this really is true, and that it defines us and makes us who we are. Because I am the Lord who has done everything for you. I am the Lord who rescued you from your slavery to sin and set you free. I am the Lord who brought you through the waters of baptism, where you were saved but where your sin and guilt were slain. I am the Lord who feeds you not with manna, but with bread that is the Body of Jesus, and gives you wine to drink that is His blood. I am the Lord.

So go, you are different. Go, you are mine. Go, you are un-ditched. Go, you are free.

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

Pentecost 4 Sermon

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Jesu Juva

“A Kingdom on the Move”

Text: Luke 10:1-20

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

The Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. . . . Say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ 

So you don’t go to the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God comes to you.

Sounds backwards, doesn’t it? Kingdoms are usually places. Stationary. But not with God. For Him, the kingdom is on the move. And it always is. The kingdom of God comes to sinners, finds sinners, and forgives sinners. And so the kingdom grows. Because as Jesus told Pontius Pilate, a little after the Gospel we heard today, His kingdom is not of this world. So it doesn’t operate like the kingdoms of this world. You don’t go to it, it comes to you.

And it keeps showing up in the most unexpected places. It shows up in Ur of the Chaldees, where the kingdom of God comes to a man named Abram and saves him from his idolatry. It shows up in the Sinai desert, where the kingdom of God comes to Moses in a burning bush. It later travels around in a tent, which only God would be audacious enough to call a tabernacle. But that is what it was, as the kingdom of God traveled about in the wilderness. Even when David had the great idea to build God a temple - a permanent, stationary, structure - and his son Solomon finally built the thing, God let them, but that was never His idea. Because the kingdom of God is always on the move. Coming near to sinners, finding sinners, and forgiving sinners.

So Jesus, too. He never stays very long in one place. Did you ever notice that? Just like the tabernacle. Because the tabernacle was a picture of Jesus. John tells us that. That the Word of God, the Son of God, was made flesh, and tabernacled, or tented among us. He didn’t temple among us, stay in one place. He tented. Because He was busy coming to sinners, finding sinners, and forgiving sinners. 

And He keeps showing up in the most unexpected places. You might expect to find Him in Jerusalem, but Samaria? Galilee? Tyre and Sidon? The region of the Gerasenes, as we heard last week? And who’s He hanging out with? Not the creme de la creme of society - the kingdom of God keeps showing up with lepers, prostitutes, tax collectors, Roman centurions, demoniacs, beggars, the disabled and handicapped. All throughout the Scriptures, the kingdom of God comes to sinners, finds sinners, and forgives sinners.

So as we heard today, that’s what Jesus sends His 72 disciples to do, too. He sends them. Don’t stay with Him. Go. Be on the move. Go to the towns and villages. Go to the sinners, find the sinners, and forgive the sinners. Say to them peace be with you. For that’s what the peace of God is - the forgiveness of your sins. For when the sin that separates you from God and the sin that condemns you before God is forgiven, you have peace with God again. 

Then we learn this, too: the kingdom that is always on the move not only shows up in unexpected places, but also in unexpected ways. The kingdom of God goes out like lambs in the midst of wolves. It goes out poor - no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals. In weakness and poverty it goes out, not in power and wealth. Like a tent, not a temple. But perhaps this does make sense. The kingdom of God comes in weakness and poverty because it comes for the weak and the poor. For the sick and the downtrodden. For the rejected and the outcast. The kingdom of God comes to sinners, finds sinners, and forgives sinners.

You don’t go to the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God comes to you.

Even here, to you, today. Don’t see it? Maybe you’re looking for the wrong things. Maybe you’re looking for power and wealth instead of weakness and poverty. Maybe you’re looking for something high and mighty instead of the rejected and the outcast. Maybe you’re looking for good people instead of sinners. But the kingdom of God comes to sinners, finds sinners, and forgives sinners. 

That was a stumbling block to people in Jesus’ day, and in our day, too. We want a church that is powerful and influential, that the world will look up to and pay attention to. We want a church that looks impressive and that people will want to come and see, not one that is weak and poor. We want a church filled with good people, respectable people, not beggars and sinners. That’s the kind of church people want to go to.

Maybe so. But you don’t go to the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God comes to you. And this is how it comes: a baby in a manger. A man who walks about with no place to lay His head. Who rides a donkey into His capital city. Who hangs on a cross as a criminal and dies. Who picks fishermen and a tax collector to be preachers, and who sends them out with nothing but His Word of peace; His Word of forgiveness. And then later, He sends them out with water and bread and wine. And with these His forgiveness, too. 

And for those looking for something bigger and better and brighter, this kingdom and these disciples and this message are rejected. Jesus told them it would be so. Just move on, He says. Because the kingdom is always on the move. 

But to those who reject this kingdom coming to them, who don’t want to be sinners but want to be known as good people, who don’t want their sins called out but accepted, who don’t want to repent and receive forgiveness, there is a word for them, too: not peace, but woe. Reject the kingdom of God that comes to sinners, finds sinners, and forgives sinners, and Sodom - the place that got destroyed by fire and brimstone! - is a place you’re going to wish to be! And rather than finding the exaltation you want (and maybe you’ll get in this world and life), you’ll find yourself in the end brought down to Hades. 

For the peace, the forgiveness, the disciples speak, that’s Jesus’ peace and forgiveness that He gives them to speak. For, Jesus said, the one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me. Yes, it is through the word of peace, the word of forgiveness, and that word in the water that washes away your sin, and that word that makes bread and wine much more than bread and wine, but the Body and Blood of Jesus - through these words of peace and forgiveness, the kingdom of God comes near to you. Then, and now.

And it does. The disciples find that out. They had to have been worried when they first left, didn’t they? I mean, Lambs in the midst of wolves usually doesn’t work out well for the lambs. No moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals usually means a rough and difficult time. So those first few steps they took must have been hesitant and slow. 

But after some time, they return to Jesus, how? Running back to him and filled with excitement, it seems. And they report to Him how awesome the peace of God is. They say: Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name! The demons want no part of this kingdom. It comes and they beg for mercy. It comes and they flee. Depart unclean spirit and make way for the Holy Spirit we say when a person is baptized. And it is so. The unbeliever is now believer. The captive is set free. For He who hears you hears me, Jesus says. Authority, Jesus calls it. To tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy. And how is that done? Forgiveness. Forgiveness is the heel that crushes the serpent’s head.

If the 72 are surprised at this outcome, Jesus is not. Of course the demons are subject to you. I gave you that authority. I saw satan fall like lightning from heaven, Jesus says, and now you see it, too. And he’s going to fall again and again and again. Because this mobile kingdom is coming to him and plundering him. Taking his prey, his sinners, away from him and his kingdom. Saving them and giving them life. Planting them in a new kingdom. For the kingdom of God comes to sinners, finds sinners, and forgives sinners. 

But the real reason for joy? Not that the spirits are subject to you, but that your names are written in heaven. That is, rejoice that the kingdom of God has come to you. Rejoice in the fact that you’re not a good person, but you are a forgiven one. Rejoice in the fact that you didn’t find God, He found you and came to you. Rejoice in the fact that you didn’t write your name in heaven by what you’ve done, your good works and spectacular life, but that your name was written there by Jesus in His own blood. Because of what He has done. And the kingdom of God that comes for sinners, finds sinners, and forgives sinners . . . well, He’s coming back again to do something else, too. Take sinners - repentant ones, forgiven ones - to be with Him forever. 

So repent. And know that when you hear I forgive you all your sins, that’s Him, not me; you hear not me but Him who sent me. And the kingdom of God has come near to you. 

When you hear I baptize you, that’s Him, not me; you hear not me but Him who sent me. And the kingdom of God has come near to you.

When you hear this is the Gospel of the Lord, that’s Him, not me; you hear not me but Him who sent me. And the kingdom of God has come near to you.

And when you hear this is My Body, this is My Blood, that’s Him, not me; you hear not me but Him who sent me. And the kingdom of God has come near to you.

Hear those words that way, because the demons still do. Your demons. And they are still shrieking and fleeing. For they are still subject to the Word and name of God. And that name has been put on you, and that word has been given to you. For the kingdom of God is still on the move. Coming to sinners, finding sinners, and forgiving sinners. Here. In your seat. And the seat next to you. That wherever you go this week, whatever you face, whoever you encounter, whenever you worry and doubt, and however it goes with you, that peace be with you. Because Jesus is with you. The one who casts down demons, your demons, and forgives your sins. The Jesus who tabernacles with you.

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