Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Unmasking Jesus”

Text: John 3:1-17

 

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

Have you ever been in a conversation where you’re just not communicating? You’re trying! You’re talking about the same thing, you’re using the same words, and yet, somehow, you’re not connecting. You’re talking past each other.

That’s what’s happening with Jesus and Nicodemus in the account we heard today. Except they’re not talking past each other like this [hands moving past each other horizontally], they’re talking past each other like this [hands moving past each other vertically]. 

For, you see, and as we heard, Nicodemus was a Pharisee. And the Pharisees were all about the Law - studying and knowing the Law, keeping and explaining the Law, and doing all the Law. They were dedicated and sincere and wanted to please God - not working on the Sabbath, paying a tithe of everything, memorizing Scripture, and more. And they were admired for it. People looked up to them. They were the good guys! Except their thinking wasn’t quite right. For they thought that keeping the Law and doing all the right things would make them good, and good with God. For the Pharisees, it was all about what they did. 

And many people think that way still today. That all religion, whether it be Christianity or something else, is all about being good - whatever good means. It’s about what we do.

But notice that’s not how Jesus talks. So, Nicodemus comes to Jesus one night and this is what he wants to learn. He wants to learn what more he could be doing, or doing better, to reach the kingdom of God. He calls Jesus Rabbi, an honorable title, someone he can learn from. He says, you are a teacher come from God - we all know that - for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him. Nicodemus isn’t stupid. And yet, he can’t understand what Jesus tells him. Because Nicodemus is thinking this way [hand moving up] while Jesus is speaking this way [hand moving down]. So what Nicodemus needs what we all need: not just facts or information or a checklist of what to do or do better - what Nicodemus needs, and what we all need, is a new way of thinking. Not an us doing for God way of thinking, but a God doing for us way of thinking.

So that’s what Jesus does with His words that we heard today. And He does it three times, in three ways, with three examples: with birth, with the wind, and with the bronze serpent episode from the Old Testament.

So first, with birth. Jesus says: you cannot see, you cannot enter the kingdom of God unless you are born again, (or born from above, that could also be translated); born of water and the Spirit. But the key word here is born. And the thing about being born is that you had nothing to do with it. You don’t choose your parents, you didn’t choose to be conceived, and, in fact, when it came time for you to be born and come out of your mother and into the world, you didn’t want to do that! You wanted to stay in your nice cozy place but your Mom pushed you out! Being born is something that happens to you, not something that you can do.

Now, Nicodemus doesn’t get it, because he’s thinking this [hand moving up], right? So, befuddled, he blabbers something about climbing back up inside your mother. So Jesus tells him: No, Nicodemus. This isn’t a physical rebirth, but a spiritual one. Just as you were born physically, so you need to be born spiritually. You need a new life that comes only from above, only by water and the Spirit. You need a new life that comes not from you moving up but by God coming down.

We’re not told if Nicodemus said anything in response to that. But the next words are from Jesus, who says: Do not marvel . . . So I imagine Nicodemus just sitting there with his mouth open! He’s expecting Jesus to tell him what more he needs to do and Jesus is telling him the complete opposite. He doesn’t get it.

So Jesus goes to His second example: the wind. Everybody knows about the wind. You can see it, you can feel it, but you can’t cause it or control it. I’d like to! If I could, I’d stop the wind from blowing my neighbor’s leaves into my yard in the Fall! And wouldn’t it be nice to be able to stop tornados and hurricanes. But like the wind, spiritual life and the work of the Spirit don’t happen because of what we do; the kingdom of God and the work of the Spirit are not our work. The Spirit comes down to us and works when and where He wills, not when and where we will. We’re not the doers, we’re not the ones in control, He is. Again, it’s all about God coming to us, not us going to God.

Poor Nicodemus! He’s used to being the teacher but he’s the one getting schooled! At this point, all he can utter is simple What? How? . . . How can these things be?

Which leads Jesus to His third example: the bronze serpent. This is a story Nicodemus would have known well, perhaps even taught to others. That when the people of Israel were getting what they deserved, being bitten by fiery serpents for grumbling against God and accusing Him of wronging them (when it was really them sinning against God all along!), God - in His mercy - provided a way out for them: the bronze serpent on a pole. But it wasn’t really the image that did anything (how could it?) - but God attached His Word and promise to that image, that whoever was bitten and looked at that image, would live. They could try to save themselves, by what they could do, but life comes only from God and where He puts it. What He does. 

And I think Nicodemus would have agreed with that. I kind of picture him nodding his head when Jesus is talking about the bronze serpent - he gets that. So that’s when Jesus tells him what that really means . . . Jesus pulls the mask off the bronze serpent.

Now, I’ve never see this TV show - maybe you have - but I’ve seen ads for it: The Masked Singer. Have you seen it? From what I can tell, there’s a celebrity in a costume with a mask on. They sing, and the contestants have to try to figure out who it is. I don’t know if they ever get it right - but the ads always show them as being surprised. That’s what Jesus does now, here, for Nicodemus. He pulls the mask off the serpent and says: this is really a picture of how God will save the world. It is the Son of Man, it is God’s own Son who will be lifted up on a pole of sorts, on the cross, that whoever believes in Him, whoever looks to Him there in faith, will not perish but have eternal life. You can try to save yourself, by what you do, but eternal life comes only from God and where He puts it. What He does.

So that bronze serpent was a little salvation, a little saving. The Son of God would come to do the big salvation, the big saving, of the whole world. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Saved by what God does. Saved by the God who comes down to us. 

For the truth is that we’ve all been bitten. The fiery serpent has sunk his teeth into us and injected us with the poison of sin and death. But God, in His mercy, has provided us a way out of death to life. And it’s 100% Him. His doing. All you can do is die. And that’s what we do, right? We sin and mess up. We hurt and get hurt. We kill friendships, marriages, families, some kill babies, old people they don’t want around anymore, and even themselves. Wars kill, drugs kill, drunk drivers kills. We want to live, but we look around and all we see is death. Which is what God said in the beginning, to Adam and Eve, of that one tree: the day you eat of it, you will surely die (Genesis 2:17). They did eat of it, and we’ve been dying ever since.

But that same day that death came into the world - which is what we did, trying to [hand moving up] be like God and become God - that same day life also came back into the world, because God came. He came to Adam and Eve. They didn’t go to Him, they ran away from Him, in fact, as we heard last week. But He came to them [hand moving down], and gave them His Word and promise to give them life again. To provide a way. It wouldn’t easy, for them or for Him. It would involve death. Death to defeat death. But He would do it. For them. 

And part of this struggle would be to overcome the poison of sin that has been injected into us, the poison that keeps making us think we can do it. Or that we must do something. I think this is what the words of the Collect of the Day were talking about. First we said that of ourselves we have no strength. We can’t do what need to be done. We don’t have it in us. So, we went on, By Your mighty power - YOUR mighty power, not ours - defend us from all adversities that may happen to the body and - and here’s the key phrase - all evil thoughts that may assault and hurt the soul. And what are those? Thoughts of anger and hatred, impure thoughts, sure. But the chief evil thought that assaults and hurts the soul is that the kingdom of God, that religion, that spirituality, is somehow what we do. That’s an evil thought that assaults and hurts the soul because it takes our focus OFF what God has done and is doing for us, and puts our attention on what we are doing.

Now, as with all false teaching, there’s a kernel of truth here. We do good works. We do live new lives. Or at least, we should. But they are derivative. That is, they are secondary. That is, what God does comes first and can never be forgotten or taken for granted. Before we can live a new life we have to receive that new life. Before we can ascend, the Son of God must descend to us.

And He has. Which is what this season of Lent is all about. Not what we do for God, but what He has done for us. Not our love for God, but that God so loved the world. Not that we clean ourselves up, but that He has washed us in Baptism and given us that new birth of water and the Spirit. Not that we feed ourselves and become strong, but that He feeds us with Jesus’ Body and Blood and we receive His strength. Pull the mask off Baptism and Communion and that’s what’s there - Jesus and His life and salvation. God for you. God coming to you. Of ourselves we have no strength, but here, with these, of Him, in Him, we have His strength. And we have His life. Which is a life that death can no longer end. Even though we will die, yet shall we live (John 11:25). 

We need a season like Lent to re-orient us again, to be like Nicodemus and listen to Jesus again. To focus us again on God for us, God coming to us, God giving us life and new life. To repent of the thoughts that have made their homes in our minds again, that by being good we can somehow make God love us more, when God has already so loved the world that He gave His only Son! He can’t love you more than He already does. So He came for you and died for you and rose for you, and now comes for you to work that in you. That you be one of the whoever - the whoever who believe in him and do not perish (from your snake bite) but have eternal life. 

How can these things be? Nicodemus asked. Maybe you have the same question. Especially, how can it be that God loves me? After all I’ve done, after all I’ve messed up, after all my sin and all that I still do wrong and fail to do right! How can this be? When we fix our eyes on ourselves, we’ll question and doubt because of our sin, and rightly so. But that’s why Lent calls us to fix our eyes on Jesus (Gradual). And while we still may not know how this can be, we’ll know that it is. Because when we fix our eyes on Jesus, we see that love, we see His life, and what could we say that but thanks be to God!

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

Lent 1 Midweek Vespers Meditation

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Jesu Juva

“What Will You Give Me?”

 

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

What will you give me?

That just might be the question of our age. What’s in it for me? What will I get out of this? What we do not have we want, and when we have we want more. This question cares not about the giver, only what is given. To me. For me. This is a question born of selfishness, of self-centeredness. This is what sin has done to us. Curved us in on ourselves. 

This is a question that never would have been asked in Eden. Not only because God had given them everything, but because as children of God, they knew there was someone giving to them and taking care of them. They didn’t have to worry about themselves - someone else was doing that. So they were free to worry about others, and care for them, and give to them. The focus was on the who, not the what. On God, on others. That’s what mattered.

Until satan put the focus on the what, and everything changed. Now the who was me. Giving to others became giving to me. What will you give me? 

This is, of course, the question Judas asked. What will you give me to betray him to you? The who didn’t matter to Judas; the what did. The Jewish leaders and Judas agreed on the price for Jesus: thirty pieces of silver. I wonder how long the negotiation went on, if Judas wanted more, if they wanted to pay less. That’s how those things usually go. But that thirty was the price is no surprise - the prophet Zechariah (chapter 11) had written that some 550 years earlier. 

So Judas got what he wanted. And while he fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah, he also fulfilled the words of Jesus, who said: For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul (Matthew 16:26)? For when the focus becomes the what and not the who, no longer do others not matter, neither do you. For later, when Judas later regretted what he had done and tried to give the money back, the priests didn’t care a whit about him - their what was their power and position, and who Judas was, or what he needed, was of little importance to them. They got what they wanted. 

How different Jesus. For Jesus’ reality is not the sinful reality we inhabit, but of Eden. And if What will you give me? would never have been asked in Eden, never would it be asked by Jesus. He doesn’t want from you, He wants you. He doesn’t want from you, He wants only to give to you. 

And so, ironically, the same night that Judas would betray - or hand over - Jesus’ Body and Blood to the Jewish leaders, Jesus would also hand over His Body and Blood - to His disciples. His Body given for them on the cross is first given to them in the Supper. His Blood shed for them is first given to them. Jesus gives Himself to them. It is who to who, as the focus should be. And with that, receiving Jesus, they receive everything with Him - His forgiveness, His life, and His kingdom. 

With Judas, What will you give me? resulted in him losing everything.

With Jesus, What does He give me? results in me gaining everything.

The disciples don’t get that, of course. Not yet anyway. Their thinking is like our thinking, is post-Eden thinking, and so talk of a kingdom launches them into an argument about which of them is the greatest. What they will get. So in response to this, what they get is Jesus on His hands and knees, serving them, washing their feet. That is Eden thinking, Eden living. Who, not what. Who, even if that meant doing this lowliest of low tasks. 

And then Jesus tells them this is what they will be doing, too. They will love one another as He has loved them. They will focus on the who, not the what. And how they will love is by doing the new commandment He gives them. A new commandment, not the old ones. The Gospel commandment He gave them to teach, to preach, to baptize, to absolve, to feed. And, He says, by this all men will know that you are my disciples, because they will be doing as He does, thinking as He does, and loving as He does. They, and the Church, will be all about the who, not the what. Which is putting things back to the way things were; back to the way things should be.

Our challenge this Lenten season is to think this way. This way of thinking so different from how our world thinks, from how we’ve been trained to think. But while challenging, not impossible. For nothing is impossible with God and His Spirit. And we see this with the disciples. There is a great change in them after they receive the Spirit, as they go out and do what Jesus commanded them, as they go out and give Jesus. Not perfectly, of course. But as Jesus and His Spirit live in them and work in them. 

And in you. For while you were not there that night, Jesus has washed you in the waters of baptism and in the cleansing of absolution. Jesus has fed you with His Body and Blood. Jesus has served you and taught you and given you Himself and His kingdom. We need not ask Him What will you give me? for He has given us everything - not the everything of this world - that’s post-Eden thinking! - but the everything of the world to come. The everything of Eden. The everything for life everlasting. 

Which is what you want, really. For Jesus could give you the everything of this world, and with Judas you could lose everything. Or Jesus could give you the everything of the world to come, and with Him you gain everything. That’s what Jesus has done, and He bids us think that way. A new way. 

So tonight we heard of the way of man and the ways of God. We heard of the giving of betrayal and the giving of the Supper. We heard of the desire for greatness and the serving of footwashing. We heard of selfishness and self-giving. We heard the way things were, the way things are, and the way things are again in Jesus. And in Lent, repenting of who we are and do, and receiving who Jesus is and has, we are restored, forgiven, and changed.

So while in His Passion, Jesus told His disciples, Where I am going you cannot come, for He had to go to the cross alone. But when He comes again in glory, then will come true what He then said: Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but afterwards you will follow me. We will follow Him through death and the grave to life everlasting. 

So What will you give me?

That is what He has come to give you.

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

Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent

There is no sermon to post today as we were privileged to have Rev. Robert Kieselowsky of Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries to proclaim the Word of God to us. CLICK HERE to go to our YouTube channel and watch the video of the service and hear Pastor Kieselowsky's preachment. (Pastor Kieselowsky and Philadelphia Lutheran Ministries is one of the missions our congregation supports.)

Sermon for Ash Wednesday

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Jesu Juva

“Repent. Receive. Rejoice!”

Text: Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21; Joel 2:12-19; 2 Cor. 5:20b-6:10

 

Yup. That sin that you confessed tonight, I took that sin, Jesus says. And that one . . . and that one . . . and that one, too. Yup, all of them. There is no sin you confessed tonight that I did not take and die for on the cross. There is no sin you confessed tonight that surprised me. There is no sin you confessed tonight that I did not already know. Because I know you. I know you better than you know yourself. I know your sin more than you do. Which is good. Because if you know that I know every sin, that there is no sin I do not know of, then you can be sure I died for every one. If there were sins I did not know about, did I die for them? But I know them all, and died for them all. For every sin of every person. For you and all your sins. That the cost be paid, the punishment be taken, and you be set free in forgiveness. That’s what I want you to know, Jesus says. Not just all your sins, but even more, all my forgiveness.

So Ash Wednesday. It’s about sin, it’s about confession, it’s about death, it’s about dust you are and to dust you will return. All of that. It’s because we have practiced our righteousness before men, because we love the admiration and praise of men. It’s because we have let our left hand know what our right hand is doing, and how often we want everyone else to know as well. It’s because we have been hypocrites, condemning others for the very sins we do. It’s because we want others to think we’re holy, or at least not so bad, while we look inside ourselves, in our hearts and minds, and know the reality of our sin is far worse than anyone knows. Evil and wicked thoughts and desires that even if they don’t make it out of us in our words and deeds nonetheless live in us. And maybe have deep roots in us. And it’s because we have laid up treasures for ourselves on earth. And because we have and continue to pursue what does not and will not last, and think these things more important than the things of God. And we know they’re not! But we act like that, live like that, anyway.

It’s ugly, isn’t it? What’s in us. Our sin. What it has made of us. 

But it’s not just us. This is why the prophet Joel called the people of Israel to repentance. And not just some of them - all of them. The whole congregation, the elders, the children, even the nursing infants! The bridegroom and the bride, and all the priests and ministers. No one excluded. Everyone desperately sinful, like us. And Joel says to do this, repent, not just on the outside but on the inside. Not just rending, tearing, your garments, but your hearts. Not just weeping, but mourning. Because . . . because the Lord, your God, is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. Because the Lord your God doesn’t want to condemn, but save. He doesn’t want to accuse, but forgive. He wants to bless, you, with His mercy and love. But if we’re too busy hanging onto our sins and living in our sins and pursuing the things of this world, we miss the gifts. Our hearts and minds captured by the things of this world and life until they are captured by satan at the end of our life. The end of our life that may be closer than we all think. None of us knows. 

So return, Joel pleads. Now. We don’t know if things will get better in this life, here and now. But we do know this, because we have the promise of God: that our sins will be forgiven, that our Father will not reject us, and that from Him we have the gift of eternal life. Because of Jesus. The Saviour the people of the Old Testament were waiting for in faith, and the Saviour that we, by faith, know has come. The Saviour who has taken upon Himself ALL our sins, from the least to the greatest, none too small, none too large, none done too often. All sins, on Him. All sins, atoned for by Him. All sins, buried with Him. To set you free.

Because for your sake, as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, God the Father made him, His Son, Jesus, to be sin - He who knew no sin! - so that in him, in Jesus, we might become the righteousness of God. We be right with God again.

That means - Jesus being made sin for us - that means - in a sense - that Jesus was Adam and Eve, hanging on the cross with their sin. Jesus was Cain, hanging on the cross with his sin. Jesus was Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hanging on the cross with their sin. Jesus was Saul, David, and Solomon, hanging on the cross with all their sin. Jesus was Peter, hanging on the cross with his sin. Jesus was YOU, hanging on the cross with your sin. Hanging there in your place, so that you wouldn’t. So that you have His place, at the Father’s side, in heaven. Is that not amazing? 

So from depths of woe we cry to Him (LSB #607), and to depths of woe He comes to us. And yes, as rebels, Lord, we foolishly have wandered (LSB #612), but as we will sing in just a moment, Jesus sinners doth receive (LSB #609). And receiving us, He does not leave us in our sin or to our sin, but creates in us clean hearts, and renews a right spirit within us (Psalm 51). That we not be who we were, but live new lives, as new creations - as His children. We fix our eyes on Jesus (Gradual), because He has fixed His eyes on us. And we are raised to life again.

So in the Old Testament, just as the Mercy Seat sat atop of and covered the Law, the Ten Commandments, which were kept inside the Ark, so too tonight, the Body and Blood of our Lord sits atop the black paraments on our altar. And eating and drinking the Body and Blood of Jesus, all our breaking of the Law, all our sin and unrighteousness is covered. Forgiven. By His blood. And we come into the presence of our Lord, and He welcomes us. He is delighted that you are here. Because He is here, for you.

So what have you done? How have you lived? How awful your sins? How perverse your ways? How wrong your thinking? How selfish your life? How unloving your words? How twisted your desires? How unworthy are you of Him? 

Yup, Jesus says. You are unworthy. This is true. But I knew all that, all your sin and unworthiness, before I came. That’s why I came. And that’s why this is all gift. From me, to you. 

Behold, now is the favorable time. So repent of your sins. 

Behold, now is the day of salvation. So receive His forgiveness. 

And rejoice and be glad! For as Jesus said, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Well you are His treasure, so His heart, His love, His forgiveness, is here, for you.

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

Sermon for the Transfiguration of Our Lord

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Jesu Juva

“Increasing or Decreasing?”

Text: Matthew 17:1-9

 

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

Not long after John the Baptist baptized Jesus, some of John’s disciples came to him and told him that Jesus - or, at least, some of Jesus’ disciples - were baptizing and all the people were going to Him! To which John said: Good! They should. He’s the man, not me. He’s the Christ, not me. He must increase and I must decrease (John 3:30). 

We would all agree with that. And maybe it seems as if that’s what the Transfiguration is all about. The guy born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth, is increasing. More and more people are hearing of Him. More and more people were following Him. He’s moving up in the world - figuratively, and now literally! Now, He’s on top of the mountain. Now, He is shining in His glory. Moses and Elijah are speaking to Him. Yes! He’s moving up. He is increasing.

But not so. The reality is actually the very opposite of that. What Jesus is doing, what we see testified in the Transfiguration, is not a man increasing but the Son of God decreasing. This glory Jesus shows today is the glory that was always His as the Son of God, His glory from eternity. This is who He is. But He came down from heaven, from His glory, for you. He hides His glory in human flesh and blood for you. He doesn’t use all His God powers, but becomes hungry, tired, thirsty, for you. He decreases, for you. And He will decrease all the way down to becoming a common criminal executed on a cross. All this, for you.

For the Transfiguration is this: that HE must decrease so that I may increase.

Peter, on the other hand, is like us - he’s an increaser. That’s how he thinks. That’s how we think. So here, on this mountain, is Jesus increasing. Here He is in glory! So let’s stay here - this is progress! No, Peter. But it’s not that Peter’s wrong in wanting to build three tents and stay. It’s just that he’s too soon. He will be there, with Jesus in His glory, with Moses and Elijah and all the saints. This is what Jesus came for. But not yet. Jesus isn’t done decreasing yet. He must still decrease more. He must still go to the cross. 

So while Peter wanted to build three tents there, to stay in the glory, it is the tent Jesus was already dwelling in, the tent of His flesh and blood, that would enable Peter - and us - to be in His glory. So again, it’s not that Peter’s wrong . . . he just hasn’t quite connected all the dots yet. He hasn’t quite grasped this Jesus-must-decrease-so-that-I-may-increase thinking yet.

We have trouble with this, too. Our world is all about increasing. Climb the ladder, achieve, get to the top, have it all, be the best. There is no end of books, videos, advisors, and plans to help us accomplish that. But Jesus goes against the grain. He is the guy at the top who went to the bottom, and bids us do the same. The glory is coming. In fact, it is yours! Jesus has provided that for you, and promised it to you. He has come to give you His kingdom. But not yet. That day is coming, but not yet. Now is the time of decreasing, of serving.

Moses and Elijah, Luke tells us in his account of the Transfiguration, were talking to Jesus about His serving, about His exodus. Everybody knows about Moses and his exodus, how he led the people of Israel out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and to the Promised Land. But Moses fell short. He couldn’t get them into the Promised Land. That would be left for another. Elijah, too, fell short. He had a famous battle with 450 prophets of the false god Baal on Mount Carmel and won a resounding victory, but he could not win the full victory over all the hordes of hell. That would left for another, too. The one coming after Moses and Elijah. The one Moses and Elijah preached about and pointed ahead to. The one Moses and Elijah believed in. The one they now stood with in His Transfiguration. He had finally come. 

But the victory He would win wouldn’t come from the top, sending lightning bolts down from heaven, but from the bottom. He wouldn’t do it as a military commander, but as a shepherd. He wouldn’t do it by killing His foes, but by laying down His life. For you, and for all people. To save you and all people. He must decrease so that you might increase. He must descend all the way to the cross and grave, to defeat hell and its hordes, to lead us into His Promised Land, to raise us who die out of our graves to life again. That is what the all-glorious Son of God came to do, and will do. 

So Peter, James, and John, when you see Him hanging on the cross, bloodied and beaten, this is who is hanging there, and not another. It is the same all-glorious Son of God hanging there, for you. 

I think it’s good that Peter didn’t get all this right away . . . that gives me hope! Because even after all the years I’ve heard this story and preached this story and heard the old, old story of Jesus and His love, how often do I still not get it? And maybe you, too. How often do I still think of increasing, not decreasing? Of being served, not serving? Of wanting glory now, not later? Of expecting praise and recognition and position, and if I get them, thinking, Yes, it’s good Lord to be here! And if I don’t, wondering why I’m not getting what I so obviously deserve? And don’t think the disciples didn’t fall into this - they were arguing about which of them was the greatest even right after Jesus instituted and gave them the Lord’s Supper and told them He was going to be betrayed by one of them! I mean, really?

But that’s our way of thinking in this fallen and sinful world. So when Jesus comes and teaches and lives so completely different, so completely upside-down . . . it’s hard for us to grasp. It’s hard for us to get our minds around. But if we can . . . if we can believe that the very Son of God came to serve me, that He didn’t just sit up in heaven and demand I become worthy, like all the other gods in this world, that He decreased for me, that He took not just all my sin, but all my filth, all my disgusting thoughts and desires, all my failures, all my screw-ups, and He took all the mocking and shame that I deserve for them, that He got kicked to the curb and thrown under the bus for me, that the lightning from heaven that should come down and strike me struck Him instead . . . that instead of staying on that mountain, in that glory, Jesus came down to go to the cross, to decrease so that I might increase . . . that changes everything. 

And suddenly, seeing Jesus in the Transfiguration, and then seeing Jesus on the cross, doesn’t make the cross look worse, but more glorious than ever. That Jesus decreased . . . like that! From Transfiguration to cross . . . that I might increase, from cross to glory.

That, then, it seems to me, is the defining moment of your life. You are not defined by your sins, you are not defined by your successes, you are not defined by what you do, or who you think you are or want to become. That’s what the world focuses on, and tells you to focus on, and that that’s what matters. To chase after that. And people do. Maybe you. They listen. And it doesn’t work. Because when you’re an increaser, there’s always more. Another step, another rung, another achievement. You’re never there, you’re never good enough. And the world moves on. Keep up or get left behind. 

But in the Transfiguration, the voice of the Father said: Listen to Him. Listen to Jesus. Because you’re going to hear something very different. Not more rules. Not more that you have to do. Not more that you have to be. Not keep up or get left behind. Not achieve and be a success. Not be good enough. When you listen to Jesus you hear: You are My beloved son, My beloved daughter. You became that when I baptized you. I forgive you all your sins. I came to do what you could not do and could never do. I will decrease so that you can increase. I will die that you can live. Eat My Body and Drink My Blood that My forgiveness, My glory, My life live in you. And when this world ends, or when this world collapses on itself, blows itself up, or implodes from all the other crazy things going on . . . when you die, it will be you standing there, with Me, in glory. 

That, it seems to me, is a word worth listening to. A word the devil says not to listen to, not to believe. A word the world says is just a fairy tale, a word for the weak and stupid. But a word which the empty tomb says is true. 

And when you look around this world, there are a lot of graves that are full, and only one grave that is empty. Maybe we should listen to Him. 

When you look around this world, there are a lot of increasers, and they’ll gladly step on you! But how about the one who decreased so that you might increase? Maybe we should listen to Him.

When you look around this world, there are a lot of different truths all trying to convince you to believe them, and follow them, and say they’ll get you to your promised land - whatever that means for you. But then you find out they’re lying, and where you wound up isn’t that great and no different from where you came from. Or maybe even worse. Maybe we shouldn’t listen to them . . .

So we’re going to enter the season of Lent on Wednesday. Ash Wednesday. And we’re going to repent. We’re going to repent of listening to wrong truth and believing it, of following the world, or thinking like and being an increaser, of all the times and ways we thought and we tried to make a go of it without Jesus and apart from Jesus and even against Jesus. And we’re going to confess that we are dust and to dust we will return. Rightfully. Justly. 

But we’re going to do all that for this reason, and this reason only: not to earn anything, not to prove anything, but to listen to Him. To listen to Jesus. To listen to Him say: I forgive you. To listen to Him say: I love you. And to see Him decrease so that I might increase. To descend all the way down to me, to lift me up to Him; all the way down to hell, to lift me up to heaven. 

And we’re going to learn - hopefully we’re going to learn! - that maybe it’s better to be a decreaser than an increaser. To serve rather than be served. That if Jesus did that for me, then maybe I could for others. Because I have all I need. Forgiveness, life, glory - it’s all mine, it’s all yours, now, in Jesus. But others are still in need. Maybe instead of trying to climb over them, I should decease so they may increase, too. 

And learning that - hopefully learning that! - we can say with Peter: Lord, it is good to be here. Here, in the trenches, with You. Here, where You and Your gifts are for me. Here, under Your cross of love and forgiveness. Here, where You have, in Your love, put me. Until one day Jesus will take us to see Him in His glory, with Moses and Elijah, with Peter, James, and John, with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. And it will be good to be there, too. 

We got a glimpse of that today. A glorious glimpse. But for now, we look up and see Jesus only. Flesh and blood Jesus. Decreasing Jesus. Serving Jesus. Dying Jesus. And we know: ’Tis good, Lord, to be here. 

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

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

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Jesu Juva

“A “Choose Life” Life”

Text: Deuteronomy 30:15-20; Matthew 5:21-37; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

 

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

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. . . . Choose life, that you and your offspring may live.

You make choices all the time. Should I do this or that? Should I go there or stay home? Should I do what I’m supposed to do, what I need to do, or what I want to do? Now most of the time, those are probably not life and death decisions, though they may have a negative impact on your life if you do not choose wisely. But sometimes there may be life and death involved. Getting behind the wheel after drinking too much. The news is filled with reports of people dying from fentanyl, not knowing that was in the drug they thought was only going to make them feel good. Those are bad decisions. Decisions those people probably knew were bad, but they did them anyway. Risking, gambling that everything would be okay. And maybe it was the first time, or the second time. They evaded the police. The drug wore off. Until it didn’t. Until they got caught. 

The people of Israel thought they were making a good decision, thought they were choosing life when those chose not to go into the Promised Land the first time they got to the border. Yes, God had just brought them out of their slavery, overcoming the Egyptians with His awesome and powerful plagues. Yes, He had divided the Red Sea for them to walk through on dry ground, while drowning Pharaoh and his army. Yes, He had fed them with Manna and gave them water from a rock to drink. Yes, God was with them and leading them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. They had no reason to think that God could not or would not do as He had promised and give them this land. But the people in the land looked so big and powerful, and their fears got the better of them. They would not go in. And while they thought they were choosing life and good, in reality, they were choosing death and evil. For they were turning away from God and His Word.

You see, life isn’t something that just happens. Life isn’t an accident. Life is a gift from God. We confess that in the Creed every week - you confessed that you believe that. For you just confessed: I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life. So to turn away from Him, to turn away from God, to turn away from His Word, is to turn away from life. And while maybe nothing bad seemed to happen the first time you did that, or the second time, is that true? Or did something happen in your heart? A little hardening? A little emboldening for the next time? Making sin a little easier. Making what I want more important than what God wants. Thinking sin the way to get life or improve my life, rather than seeing and seeking my life in God.

This is who we are, the nature we inherited from our first parents. For these words of Moses that we heard today could have been spoken to Adam and Eve in the Garden. For God had set before them two trees: one of life and good, and one of death and evil. And they made a bad choice. They turned away from God, away from His Word, and they brought sin and death into the world. And to us. And we’ve been making similar bad choices ever since.

Bad choices like what we heard from Jesus today as we heard more of His teaching from the Sermon on the Mount. Anger, hatred, belittling, lusting, sexual sins of all sorts, divorce, lying, cheating . . . things we do, why? Why? Because we think we need to for life. To have the life I want. To get ahead in life. To protect my life. To have pleasure in my life. But what Jesus is saying here is that with these things you are not choosing life and good, but death and evil. Oh, maybe you got away with it, or you think you did at least, the first time, or the second time . . . but did you? Or is your heart a little harder? And God’s Word and wisdom a little weaker, a little less, a little less of an influence in your life? Did you drink a little too much of the world’s foolishness and what it thinks good and right? Was there spiritual fentanyl in that sin you thought was just going to make you feel good?

You make choices all the time. But what are you choosing?

Those words of Jesus we heard today seem pretty descriptive of our world which is becoming more and more a stinking cesspool of sin. But it’s not the first time. When this happened before, God would not put up with it; He destroyed the world with a flood. All but eight people - Noah and his family. Eight people who weren’t perfect, but who believed what they confessed; who believed in the Lord and giver of life. And by grace through faith their life was spared. The God who gave them life, also protected and preserved their life, even though the rest of the world said they were dumb and foolish. The rest of the world which sought life in sin, but got only evil and death.

So where’s a good flood when you need one? I’m mean, where’s the flood to wipe out the stinking cesspool of sin which our world is today? Well, it’s right here. In the Font. This is the water of God to deal with the sin in the world - not all at once! - but one person at a time. Not to destroy our life but to give us life. To give us new hearts and new spirits to choose life and good, not death and evil. Not to continue in our sins, but to repent of our sin and receive forgiveness. To make us one of the eight, one of the saved. That’s why our Font has eight sides. That’s what this water, combined with God’s word and promise does. It saves us. It raises us from the death of sin to a new life in Christ because by the power of God’s Word it joins us to Jesus in His death and resurrection. So here is where the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, gives life. Because here is where the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, gives us Jesus and puts us in Jesus as an ark of flesh and blood who saves us from sin and death. And in Him, we are safe and live.

Until, that is, until we choose to take a swan dive - or maybe a cannonball! - off the ark and back into sin, with our anger, hatred, belittling, lusting, sexual sins of all sorts, divorce, lying, cheating . . . But there’s no life there, in those things. Only drowning in sin. Those things that don’t give life, but take life.

So Jesus calls us back. He sends pastors to call us back, friends to call us back. And He absolves us, forgives us, and pulls us back into the boat. He gives us our life back, and He feeds us with His life, with His own Body and Blood. We hear of the cross, that that is not just a man dying, but the Son of God dying, for me, for you, that we might live, to give us life. That He plunged into death with our sin and rose to life again, that we might, too. That sin and death not be the end of us. That His death be our death, and His life our life.

See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. . . . Choose life, that you and your offspring may live.

Choose life. That is, don’t plunge back into sin.

Choose life. That is, don’t make decisions in your life based on the foolishness of the world and what it thinks is good and right, but on the true and sure Word of God.

Choose life. That is, repent, and receive the life-giving forgiveness of Jesus.

Choose life. That is, come eat and drink the body and blood given and shed for you, to give you life. And come often! Don’t eat and drink only once in a while. 

Choose life. Not only when you’re inside these four walls, but when you’re not. When you’re out in this world that’s a stinking cesspool of sin. Take the life you are given here back out into the world. Don’t leave it here! You need it out there. More than ever. And the world need you out there. More than ever.For as you take your life given here back out into the world, as you live differently and not like everyone else, you are - as we’ve been thinking about these past two weeks - living a Beatitude life, and being salt and light in the world. Showing the world there’s another way. A way of life.

Now, you may not think you matter, that you’re not really making a difference. After all, the world is a stinking cesspool of sin and you’re just one person! And maybe not a very influential one at that! But here’s where what Paul said today can help us, when he talked about planting seeds and watering them. Seeds don’t grow right away. Sometimes seeds get blown in the wind very far from where they began. Sometimes someone else will water the seeds you planted. Sometimes it will be an Apollos or a Paul, or maybe it will be you. Paul says: it doesn’t matter. The seed is God’s and the growth is God’s for life is God’s. That’s up to Him. It is for us to be who we are. To live a Beatitude life, to be salt and light where God puts us. 

And you just might be surprised. God often times does His best work in ways we cannot imagine or figure out. Examples I mentioned last week were of a Saviour that came from a manger, and the life of the world from a cross. Today, how about a great missionary from a persecutor of the church, and an evangelist from a tax collector. Luther was a desperately sinful and scared little monk. And you? Who are you? You are a blessing. You are salt and light. Because of Jesus. 

So next time you are tempted to take the plunge into sin, drink a little too much of the world’s kool-aid, or seek some pleasure in the spiritually-laced fentanyl of sin, choose life. Remember who you are. 

Or as we just sang:

Grant us grace to see Thee, Lord, Present in Thy holy Word -

Grace to imitate Thee now And be pure, as pure art Thou;

That we might become like Thee At Thy great epiphany

And may praise Thee, ever blest, God in man made manifest. (LSB #394)

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

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

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Jesu Juva

“A Salt and Light Life”

Text: Matthew 5:13-20; 1 Corinthians 2:1-12; Isaiah 58:3-9a

 

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

Last week we heard the Beatitudes, the beginning of Jesus’ teaching called the Sermon on the Mount. The Beatitudes come at the beginning of Jesus’ teaching because they set the stage for His life and the rest of what He will say. They come at the beginning because, as we considered last week, sometimes it’s good to start at the end. It’s good to know who you are, where you’re going, and how it’s all going to turn out in the end. For knowing where we’re going enables us to live where we are. So the Beatitudes teach us not what to do in order to be blessed, but that blessed by Jesus and His life, who He is and all that He has done for us, knowing who we are in Him, where we’re going in Him, and how it’s all going to turn out in Him, that enables us to live a Beatitude life now.

And so it is with that foundation that we move onto the teaching of Jesus that we heard today. It’s important that we keep this all together, that we build on this foundation laid last week, as we hear Jesus say, first of all, that you are the salt of the earth . . . you are the light of the world.

So notice this, first of all - Jesus does not say here that this is what you are supposed to be. He is not saying: go be this. He says: this is who you are. These are not imperatives, commands; they are indicatives, statements of reality. As His children, blessed by Him, as you live a Beatitude life, you are being salt and light for the world. You are helping to preserve a world bent on destroying itself in sin, and bringing the light of God’s truth, mercy, love, and forgiveness to a world in the deep darkness of falsehood, selfishness, lust, and revenge. And as we see the craziness in our world today, how people live, and what passes for truth, it’s probably not a stretch to say that this salt and light is needed now more than ever.

The salt and light, as Paul said, of proclaiming Christ crucified as the center of who we are and of all we say and do. 

The salt and light, as we heard Micah say last week, of doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with our God.

And the salt and light, as Jesus said last week, of mourning and repenting of the sin in us and in the world, of being meek and relying not on our own strength but on God’s strength, of hungering and thirsting for righteousness, of being merciful, of being pure in heart, of being peacemakers, and of enduring persecution and reviling not with anger, bitterness, and vengeful hearts, but with gladness, joy, and loving hearts. 

To do this, to be this, is not easy, but what we can do - or, at least, begin to do - because of all Jesus has done for us; because He has blessed us and made us His own. Because we know who we are, where we are going, and how it’s all going to turn out in the end. With that confidence, we can be who we are, who Jesus has made us, and be His salt and light in the world. 

So then, if who you are is His doing, then where you are is His doing as well. He will shake out His salt where there is need of it, of preserving; and He will shine His light where there is need of it, of enlightening. Which means you are where you are for a reason. Your life is not by chance, by accident, or by fate. The hand of God is working, for you and for others. So you are His salt and light for your families, your neighbors, those you work with, those you go to school with, those you social media with, those folks you run into only now and then. You may not even know the impact you’re having - you’re just being who you are in Christ! But who you are in Christ is extraordinary. Who you are in Christ is different than the norm. And though maybe sometimes you know, often times you may never know when what you say or how you say it, or how you live and react to things, is going to make an impression on others, is going to help them in their need, is going to bring a little salt and light into their lives. 

Now, sometimes, when we think about living as a Christian in this world - this world which seems more and more opposed to the truth of God and His Word - it can fill us with fear and trembling. It’s easier to blend in than to stand out, right? To be sugar, not salt, and a light that’s not tooooo bright! But guess what? That was true for the apostle Paul, too! We heard him say today that he was with the people of Corinth in weakness and in much fear and trembling. Paul! His speech and message, he says, were not impressive according to worldly standards; weren’t going to win him any prizes or acclaim. But through him the Spirit and power of God worked and did extraordinary things.

And sometimes maybe we think that being salt and light means having to do big and impressive things. But as we heard from Isaiah today, we don’t have to out-holy one another, pick fights, and make a show of our sanctity. In fact, Isaiah says, that’s not what God wants at all, for us to be focused on ourselves and try to make others admire us and our life of holiness. No, he says. Instead, help others with the burdens they bear, share your bread with the hungry, bring the homeless into your house, cover the naked man. Things that perhaps seem little to us and maybe go unnoticed, but with these you are being salt and light in the world. Being who you are, where God has put you.

So how ya’ doing with that? Are you more salt or sugar? Are you a bright light or a dim bulb? Are you living a Beatitude life, knowing who you are, where you’re going, and how it’s all going to turn out? Confidently focused on Christ? Or more focused on the people and things of this world, which make us uncertain, fearful, and timid? If you’re like me, it’s a mixed bag. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Sometimes confident, sometimes not so much. Which is why we have confession and absolution at the beginning of the Divine Service every week, so I can repent of my mixed-bag-edness. Which is why we pray forgive us our trespasses in the Lord’s Prayer every day, to repent every day. We know who we are, but we don’t always live that way. We know where we’re going, but sometimes we go the wrong way. And while maybe it’s all going to turn out alright in the end . . . we still worry about now! Next week, next month, next year . . . I’m not always so sure about that!

A mixed bag. That’s a pretty good description of us and our world. We are both saint and sinner. Our world is both good and infected with evil. We have good days and moments that make us cringe and wish we could have a do-over. Sound about right? 

Maybe that’s the best we can do, the most that can be expected of us. And that’s all God can expect, isn’t it? Just do your best! 

Sorry, that’s not what Jesus said today. If you’re not salty salt, you are no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. And unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Just do your best is not in the Bible. Anywhere. Jesus is not going to abolish the Law or the Prophets. He is not going to water them down, tone them down, relax them, or let you get away with your sin. Until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished, He says. 

Now, did you hear the good new there? It sounds like really bad news for us who are mixed bags . . . but there is hidden in those words a promise . . . that all will one day be accomplished. By Jesus. The one who did not come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but fulfill them. Fulfill them, fill them up, 100 percent, for you. To do what mixed-bag-you cannot and could never do. He will fulfill their demands and fulfill the punishment and condemnation they demand. He will love perfectly, fulfilling all the Law and the Prophets, and then despite that - and because of that! - be thrown out with the garbage on the cross, trampled under the feet of both sacred and secular authorities, and the light of His life snuffed out - not put under a basket, but laid in a tomb. 

Because, you see, while you are a mixed bag, Jesus is not. He is, as we confessed again today, God of God, Light of Light, very God or very God. And He is also true man, 100% man, just like you and me, except without our mixed-bag-edness. Conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. And when He rose again on the third day, your salvation was accomplished. Your salvation for the Last Day, but also your salvation now.

Because, you see, when we repent of our mixed-bag-edness, when we repent of our unsaltiness and our dim-bulb-edness, His absolution makes us salty and bright again. We can’t do that, the world can’t do that, but He can. His Strong Word (LSB #578). The one who died and rose can. The one who fulfilled all can. Baptism does that, the Gospel proclaimed to us and growing in us does that, His absolution does that, and His Body and Blood fed to us do that. He is what we’re not, and He gives what we’re not, what we need, to us. To be what He has created us to be. To accomplish His will not just in the world, but in us. Because Jesus is your salt, to protect and preserve you, and He is your light, to shine the light of His love and forgiveness on you. So that living in you, and His Spirit living in you, you are salt and light, too. 

Which means when Jesus shakes you out as His salt where there is need of it, of preserving; and when He shines you as His light where there is need of it, of enlightening, you are not alone or on your own there. He is with you. And the salt you are is Him. And the light you are is Him. And the Beatitude life you live is His Beatitude life. And all that He is accomplishing for you, and in you, and through you . . . well, as St. Paul put it today: 

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined,
  what God has prepared for those who love him.”

What we see and hear now, in this world and life, looks like the cross. But this, too: what we see and hear now, in the church, in the Word, in Jesus, we cannot even begin to imagine. That from a manger could come a Saviour. That by a cross could come the life of the world. That from water could come new birth. That from bread and wine could come heavenly food. And that from sinners like us could come saints; could come those Jesus uses as His salt and light in the world. But that is exactly who He is, what these are, and what you are. And when you know who you are, where you are going, and how it is all going to come out in the end, you can live now. A Beatitude life. A blessed life. A Jesus life. An everlasting life. A salt and light life. Not because you have to, but because that’s who you are.

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