Author: TechCommittee

June 6, 2021                                                                                   Text:  Genesis 3:8-15

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Naked.  Do I have your attention?  I figure there are two reactions when I say naked.  Naked, all right this sermon is going to be good.  Naked.  Should Pastor be talking about that from the pulpit? 

            If you are familiar with the early chapters of Genesis, you realize nakedness existed in the Garden of Eden.  Before the fall, Adam and Eve lived naked.  Because of their innocence, lack of shame, and freedom from sin, nakedness did not affect them.  They stood naked before God in Paradise.  This topic is Biblical, so if you are little nervous, relax.  Let’s step into the Garden and talk about being . . .

“NAKED”

            Recall life in the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve were made to live in a loving relationship with God and reflect for them their own relationship and in their stewardship of creation.  God said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Gen. 1:28)  They were defined by the love of God that brought them into being and the honor of being stewards of God’s earth.

            Then sin crept into God’s creation.  The serpent promised they could be like God.  Adam and Eve abandoned their privileged position among God’s creatures.  By coveting godhood, they separated themselves from the life-giving love of God that had made them and defined them.  They thought if they had the knowledge of good and evil, they wouldn’t owe anything to anyone.  But this knowledge didn’t make them more divine.  It only opened their eyes to how evil their abuse of God’s love had been.  It exposed their nakedness. They were now free to define themselves, create their own godhood.  But this freedom proved to be an endless struggle to cover their shame – a struggle filled with pain, doubt, and death.

            Isn’t their naked shame quite amazing?  We understand this if we have ever been naked in front of someone or many some ones.  But their shame was before God, not necessarily each other.  This is why they played hide and seek.  They weren’t hiding from each other, they were hiding from God.  “Who told you that you were naked?”  They would cover themselves with fig leaves but Adam still complained to Eve that she had put his pants in the salad again!

            Ever since the fall, we mark our lives by self-definition.  We are judged by how much we have achieved in life, how much education we have or how much we earn.  We make a statement:  “This is what I’ve made myself to be.”  We dress ourselves up in our achievements for everyone to see.

            There is nothing wrong with all of this unless they become our gods.  “This is what I made myself to be” can never be our creed.  When what we accomplish turns into a means of self-creation, we fall into the same sin as Adam and Eve.  This deceives us into thinking we are naked unless we clothe ourselves with our successes.  This blinds us to the fact that all we are and all we have comes from the hand of God, the only and true Creator. 

            God didn’t just leave Adam and Eve naked.  He cursed them yes for their disobedience but He then promised a covering for sin – a Savior who would bridge a right relationship with God.  He would bring them back.

            We also are not left naked.  We can never do enough to cover ourselves up.  Thanks be to God, by the resurrected, ascended, and glorified body of Jesus Christ, we do indeed become clothed.  All sinners who repent and are washed in the cleansing flood of Baptism receive a robe of righteousness.  The Spirit recreates us as members of Christ’s holy, glorified body in union with our Savior.  He makes us, the Bride of Christ, one with our eternal Husband.  Our Lord and Savior covers us in His holiness and righteousness.  So when the Father looks at us, He sees the clothing of His beloved Son.  Those glorious fashions are bestowed by grace as part of our dowry and inheritance.  Clothed with the robes of Christ, we can enter the divine and holy presence of God with boldness and confidence.  Because we partake of Christ, we presently stand in God’s heavenly presence in this flesh.  We abide in Him; He dwells in us.  And when He returns to bring us into His eternal home, we will receive the radiant clothing of His majesty and glory forever.

            Talking about naked wasn’t so bad now, was it?  What happened to Adam and Eve happens to us daily.  The world tries to clothe us with their constant drivel and their “look at me” mentality.   Through the Holy Spirit we know better.  The love of our Savior, Christ’s love covers us now and into eternity. 

            You can lift your head now . . . it’s time to say . . .    Amen.  

May 30, 2021 – Holy Trinity Sunday                                              Text:  John 3:1-17

Dear Friends in Christ,

            It’s Holy Trinity Sunday.  A day to take a deep breath and confess the  incomprehensible – God as one divine being in three divine persons, A Unity in Trinity and a Trinity in Unity.  Or as we say tri-une.  “Neither confusing the persons nor dividing the substance.”  But it’s sure confusing, isn’t it?  We were baptized in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  We invoke Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in our worship.  But are we any closer to wrapping our minds around it on this side of the resurrection?  Now we know only in part.  You can’t rationalize it – you can only believe and confess it.

            Analogies can be tricky.  Some compare the tri-unity of God to three phases of water – solid ice, liquid water, gaseous steam.  Three forms of H2O – water.  Sounds good, but it doesn’t hold water for long.  You can have ice without steam and steam without liquid water, and in the end they are three different forms of the same thing. 

            The best we can offer is the triangle or the tricycle.  Take away any leg and you no longer have a triangle.  Take away any wheel and you no longer have a tricycle and you aren’t going anywhere.  Before we put our theology to rest let’s just say this today . . .

“IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER AND OF THE SON AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT”

            Today is a reminder we can’t fit God in a box or fit Him neatly inside our heads.  We dust off the venerable 5^th century creed named after St. Athanasius (though he didn’t write it) and we recite all the undivideds and incomprehensibles and when you get to the Amen, you feel as though you haven’t quite said it all, or maybe you’ve said too much.  And that’s good.  St. Paul reminds us we see dimly through smoky glass.  We are only given what God revealed to us, no more or less.

            And that’s the point.  God tells us who He is.  We don’t make God in our image – that’s an idol.  God revealed Himself, and we try our best to say what God revealed.  And at the end of this Holy Trinity Sunday, we won’t be any closer to understanding God or explaining Him.  But we will have confessed Him and worshipped Him.

            God reveals Himself as Father.  Our Father.  This is where it all begins – the head, the source, provider, protector, defender.  Fatherly goodness and mercy.  The Father begets the Son who sends the Spirit who proclaims the Son who brings us to the Father. 

            The Father loves the world so He sends the Son.  The Son is lifted up.  Lifted up with our sin, lifted up on a cross, lifted up from the grave, lifted up to the right hand of the Father.  Jesus is the antidote for our sin.  Imagine having a cure for every disease known to man?  We have that vial and it is labeled “Jesus Christ crucified for your sins and raised for your justification.”  It’s free.  You don’t need an appointment or physician approval.  No call to the insurance company because there is no cost to you.  It’s all-gratis in the Word that forgives you, the Baptism that makes you His child, the bread of Christ’s body and the wine of His blood.

            The Holy Spirit delivers the medicine.  He is the breath of God, blowing over the dry, dead bones of this world and making them alive in Jesus. 

            In our text, Nicodemus has a Holy Trinity encounter with Jesus.  He doesn’t get it.  He can’t grasp it.  He keeps asking these questions.  Similar to many of us.  “Pastor but what about this?  Pastor what about that?  How can this be?”  Early in my ministry I stopped being the Shell answer man.  I tried faking a good answer but people see through that.  Sometimes, I have to tell you, “I don’t know.”  I believe.  I confess.  Even if it is not fully understood. 

            “How can a man be born again?”  Jesus replies with a double Amen.  “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.  That which is born of flesh is flesh, that which is born of Spirit is spirit.”  He goes on to tell Nicodemus not to rationalize it.  You can no more box up the Spirit than you can capture the wind.  Listen to the voice preaching to you and believe.

            Water and Spirit.  Wind and water.  That’s the creative womb for the Word to conceive and bear.  Water and Spirit were at creation.  Water and Spirit at Jesus’ baptism.  Water and Spirit at Pentecost.  You must be born anew but that doesn’t mean you get to decide.  Did you decide to be born the first time?  No one consulted you about that.  If you were baptized as an infant, no one had a mealtime discussion with you.  For many of the important decisions in your life, no one ever asked you.  It is all of God’s doing, not ours.

            You may have topped the Apgar charts as a baby.  You may have been the smartest, most beautiful baby in the nursery, but you were born into the death of your father Adam.  You inherited his sin.  You can’t fix that.  You must die and rise.  You must be born anew.  And you are.  Born from above.  A new, heavenly birth through the Holy Spirit.  Your new birth in Jesus makes you a child of God.

            Nicodemus still struggled.  Somewhere along the way he got it.  He helped to bury Jesus.  Wherever there is water and Spirit there is new creation in Christ the Word.  Trust his Word.  Have faith in your new creation.  Through your doubting’s and questions you are loved by the Father, through His Son Jesus, in the Holy Spirit.  And in the triune love of God, you will live forever.         Amen.

May 23, 2021 – Pentecost                                                                Text:  Acts 2:1-21

Dear Friends in Christ,

            A medical technician was asked about his most unusual emergency experience.  He chose to tell about a call from an usher at the Lutheran Church.  The usher said, “We have a man who slumped over in his pew during the sermon and we think he has expired.”  He relates, “When we got to the church, the preacher just kept preaching, so we carried the man out as quickly as we could.”  “What makes that so unusual,” he was asked.  He replied, “We carried out four other men before we found the one who had died.”  Welcome back Pastor.

            Today is Pentecost and we pray we have your attention just like the Apostle Peter had when the Spirit enabled him to preach on Pentecost.  No one fell asleep when He was speaking.  Today …

“THE HOLY SPIRIT IS POURED OUT ON JESUS AND US”

            As Peter preached he reminded the people of all the things that God, the heavenly Father, had put on Jesus, his Son.  Heaviest of all was the weight of the cross the Father placed on His Son’ shoulders.  While evil men played a part in the passion of Jesus, it was the divine plan of the Father to sacrifice His Son for the sins of the world, just like Isaiah had written in prophecy, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Is. 53:6)

            The Father also put new life into Jesus when He raised Him from the grave.  Following this Jesus was called home to heaven where He was exalted to the highest degree. 

            The Spirit of the Lord was upon Jesus and He could pour it out upon all people.  Isaiah foretold it this way, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.” (Is. 42:1)

            Because the heavenly Father put all those things on Jesus, our Father now puts His blessings on us, His children by faith.  “And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh . . . even on my male servants and female servants, in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” (vs. 17a, 18a)

            We are God’s children and He blesses us by putting things on us.  Think of all the things you have put on your children.  I was privileged to put water and the Word through the Holy Spirit on the boys at their baptism.  I put on diapers and their first helmet.  I put on shaving cream for their first shaving experience and numerous times I got to tie their tie around my neck and put it on theirs.  I put on skates and bicycle helmets.  I was privileged and blessed to place a confirmation stole on them and then to put my hand on their head as they were confirmed.  I put on silly outfits to make them laugh and some times I put on the face of comfort and faith when they had worry or anxiety.

            The Lord has done the same for us.  When dead in original sin the waters and Word of the Triune God put us on a path of Christian faith.  The Lord put on the Word in our hearts as we attended Sunday School and worship.  We sang songs and hymns and heard bible stories and the Holy Spirit was pouring all of this onto us.  We needed the Spirit’s help to memorize the catechism and make our public confession of the faith.  And the Lord has provided us with comfort and peace when life doesn’t go the way we think it should or how we had it planned.  He puts on the robe of righteousness, which we will wear into eternity.  “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

            Another experience many of us parents have had or will have is when we drop off our son or daughter at college or we leave their first apartment as they start in a new job in a different town.  We will no longer be there to put on everything they are going to need.  But we trust, don’t we?  We trust that the Lord is watching over them.  We trust that the Holy Spirit will keep them in the faith.  We trust that what the Lord allowed us to do will carry them the rest of their days.  We drive away confident that we have given them everything they need to make it on their own.

            Our heavenly Father has done the same.  Because of everything that His Son Jesus handled for us – the burden of our sin, His presence in turmoil, the joy of salvation that is on us – we are confident of our place in His family.  He put His Spirit in us to be with us . . . always.

                                                            Amen.        

May 13, 2021 – Ascension                                                               Text:  Acts 1:1-11

Dear Friends in Christ,

            “You don’t know about me without having read a book by the name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer…That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly.  There were things which he stretched, but mainly he told the truth…Aunt Polly – Tom’s Aunt Polly, she is – and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before.”  Page 1 of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

            “In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach until the day He was taken up to heaven.” (v. 1)  Our text this evening is the 2^nd book Luke wrote to a man named Theophilus.  The first book is the gospel of Luke.  In it, Luke described in detail the life of Jesus.  It only began to tell what Jesus did.  Like all good authors Luke left the door open for a sequel.

            Luke’s Book II is the Book of Acts.  Book I is what Jesus did for us.  Book II is how He continued to act through us.  Book I the story of the Gospel.  Book II what God’s people have done with the Gospel.

“THE STORY OF JESUS CONTINUES WITH US”

            To understand this Book I is an absolute prerequisite.  Luke wants us to see the two books as a unit.  If we didn’t have the basic facts of what Jesus did and taught in the Gospel of Luke then Book II would make no sense.  When Mark Twain wrote Huckleberry Finn, he assumed we knew Huck and Tom Sawyer and Becky Thatcher.  Without the Gospel, we wouldn’t know the characters in Acts – Jesus, Peter, and the rest.  More important, without the Gospel, there would be no Book II.  Jesus’ death means forgiveness.  Jesus resurrection assures eternal life.  Jesus’ teaching about the grace of God rules our hearts.  In Book II Luke assumes we know and believe this:  “After His suffering, He showed Himself to the apostles and gave many convincing proofs He was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.” (v. 3) 

            Luke’s gospel is required reading in order to move to Book II.  Without Jesus’ teachings, there would be no Word to proclaim.  Without Jesus’ suffering and death, there’d be no reason to speak.  Without Jesus’ resurrection, there’d be no hope; no story to tell.

            The ascension ends Jesus’ earthly ministry, yet our text is not an ending.  Jesus’ resurrection continues in Book II.  For forty days He appeared frequently to the disciples and other men and women.  Easter wasn’t just one chapter in an ancient book.  Jesus is alive and this is the hope.  Why else would they share His Word? 

            “While He was eating with them, He gave them this command:  ‘Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift My Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.  For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’” (v. 4-5)  Pentecost.  The disciples would proclaim Jesus boldly in a whole United Nations of languages.  Where the Holy Spirit is at work, Jesus’ story continues.

            The same story continues with us.  The Holy Spirit has baptized us.  This is not an isolated event in our scrapbooks.  It is a continuous writing of our life story.  In the faith, forgiven, sharing the Good News of Christ.  We are the witnesses to Judea and Samaria and the ends of the earth.  The Book of Acts is a book of acts.

            Book II continues with us.  We are the characters in Book II.  We have our Jerusalems and Judeas and Samarias.  They are our children and the people we work with and golf with.  They are the millions in the state and billions in the world who need the saving message of Jesus. 

            Jesus ascended to God’s right hand.  This is no distant place.  It’s really no place at all.  He is still exercising God’s power on our behalf.  Not only His divine nature with us but his human nature as well.  True God and true man are right here with us.  The Lord is praying for us, guiding us, protecting us.  Jesus is continuing to write the story of our lives, our Book II’s.

            Book II will continue until the end of time.  The Greek forms Luke uses in v. 1 of our text might suggest a third book – a trilogy.  We don’t have this third book but it might complete the story of Jesus forever.  “They were looking intently into the sky as He was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.  ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand here looking into the sky?  This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.’” (vs. 10-11)  If there would  be a Book III, it would begin when this same Jesus returns as we have seen Him go.  Christ has ascended into heaven as our forerunner, with the promise to return and take us there.  That . . . Book III. . . will never end.

            But that’s another story.

                                                            Amen.    

May 9, 2021                                                                                         Text:  Acts 10:34-38

Dear Friends in Christ,

            About 10 years ago we had the opportunity to tour the George Bush (Sr) Presidential Library on the campus of Texas A & M University.  One of the highlights was seeing a part of the Berlin Wall.  This was the wall erected in 1961 to separate free West Berlin with Communist East Berlin.  It eventually came down in 1989 during the administration of President Bush.  The surprising part of seeing the wall in person was its size – both in height and in depth.  It helped to understand the barrier it posed.

            Humanity struggles to break down walls, only to find others being built.  The resurrection of Jesus, however, has forever changed this world.  Jesus’ cross holds out the victory that pulls down one wall after another.  In place of walls, God’s love…

“BINDS US TOGETHER IN CHRIST”

            Our text begins with these comforting words, “God shows no partiality.”  What are you partial to?  I like long hot showers and soft toilet paper.  Have you struggled with partiality?  A parent who you felt loved a brother or sister more?  A coach who favored a fellow player?  A teacher who liked a friend a little more?  God is different.  As the Creator of us all He binds us together in His Word around one salvation. 

            The partiality question came up as it relates to Jew and Gentile.  The idea that God favored or had fondness for one over the other.  There was no wall of separation in the eyes of the Lord.  They had cultural differences but the Word given to Israel is God’s love for the Gentiles:  “Good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all)” (v. 36) 

            The love the Father has for all people is without exception.  He is a wall breaker.  Are we guilty of building walls?  Sure.  We may shun those with whom we disagree.  We might belittle those we think are below us.  We don’t always understand other cultures and their practices.  God’s Word of love means peace.  He binds people together because His salvation is for all who believe.

            God’s Son Jesus is the Word made flesh.  He was always “doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil.” (v. 38)  Jesus’ death was the ultimate act of love to save sinners.  His enemies “put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day.” (vs. 39-40)  Christ saw the cross to be the cure binding all to him.  Now Jesus is to be the “judge of the living and the dead” (v. 42), but for all who believe in Him, the judgment will be forgiveness of sins. (v. 43)

            Jesus is our wall breaker.  He has a fondness for all men and women because He died for all.  His love has no bounds.  He is a binding force.  His forgiveness and gift of salvation binds all people to Him for eternity.

            This binding love was then shown in action.  The Holy Spirit showed Peter the love he was to have for the Gentiles.  The Spirit made audible the love he has for all people.  It goes beyond the walls built by man, for “the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word.” (v. 44) 

            Love meant Peter was not to get in the way of God’s work in the Gospel.  The miracle of his hearers’ speaking in tongues confirmed the greater miracle.  “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” (v. 47)

            We see the same love of the Holy Spirit shared around Word and Sacraments.  These are the means that create our faith.  These are the means that build our faith.  These are the means that lead us to share our faith.  These are the means that tear down walls and bind us together as One.  Our confession of Jesus arises.  Men will still build walls real and imagined, but a right belief in Jesus entrusts us to His Commandments, His forgiveness, and His faithfulness for everyone.

            God loves to bind our lives together by the Word of Christ.  The risen Christ breaks down the walls we put up and replaces them with salvation for everyone.  Lord, help us to live this now and forever.

                                                                                    Amen.        

May 2, 2021 – Confirmation                                                                        Text:  Daniel 12:12

Dear Friends in Christ,

            This year’s Confirmation class has many unique characteristics.  They are all young men.  3 of the 4 were baptized within two months of each other.  I was privileged to perform all four baptisms and they have all been lifelong members of Good Shepherd.  The other unique characteristic that is important for today is that they all have an older brother, brothers, or sister.  3 of the 4 are the youngest in their family.  Which means they have all had to wait.  They watched siblings start school.  They saw a brother or sister get into organized sports before them.  Scouting membership was something they waited on.  They set through the questioning and confirmation of their beloved brother and sister.  They’ve waited and here they are.

            The prophet Daniel says in our text that waiting is a blessing.  How do you see it?  Today is a future oriented day but not just for these young men.  It is also important for all in the Christian Church.  What does the future look like and what place do I play in it?  Hang on to your patience as we delve into . . .

“WAITING. . . WAITING . . .”

            In the United States, the holy, Christian Church is facing a fork in the road.  Since the days of Emperor Theodosius I in AD 379 Christianity has enjoyed privileged status in Western European culture.  The Church has had freedom to wield political, legal, intellectual, and cultural power, according to its mission and purpose.  But it looks more and more like the Church’s privileged status is coming to an end.  The Church has been fragmented and secularism has pushed the Church to the fringe of society.  In all the areas I mentioned earlier the voice of orthodox Christianity is diminishing. 

            The two most popular paths to follow in the past have been zealotry and despair.  Zealotry seeks to regain power at all costs.  You then turn your renewed status against your oppressor.  Despair is surrendering.  Withdraw from the conflicts that seem insurmountable, repudiate the world and start a nirvana somewhere else.  Both paths have been followed in the past and failed.

            As with the pandemic there is nothing new.  History repeats and repeats.  The first three centuries of the Christian Church faced wave after wave of hostility.  Political exclusion.  Legal persecution.  Cultural contempt.  Roman rulers identified the Christian Church as a dangerous “contagion” that needed to be quarantined for the good of society.

            The ancient Church rejected both paths in favor of a third – the path of patience, or, better, long-suffering.  Does that make you squirm in the pew a bit?  In American culture patience is met with skepticism.  We live in an impatient society.  I see more people who think stop signs are just a suggestion.  “Seize the day!”  “Just do it.”  The politics of the day feed this activism with crisis after crisis, which leads to immediate action.  To be patient is equated with doing nothing. 

            The early Church Father Cyprian who advocated waiting said this, “We do not speak great things, we live them.”  Patience is the Christian form of life and it is active.  We don’t eliminate or evade suffering, we bear it, we endure, and we outlast it.  God is the author of supreme patience.  We see it with Abraham and Isaac, Jacob, Joseph who makes peace with his brothers, Moses, David, and all the righteous.  Yet it is only in Christ that a full and perfect patience is finally consummated. 

            The true Son, Jesus, gives form to the perfect patience of the Father.  Although righteous, He bears the sins of the whole world; though immortal, He suffers death; though guiltless, He is reckoned with sinners.  Patience does not look to rule the world or reject the world.  It seeks fulfillment in the redemption of the world, in the repentance of sinners, in the resurrection and manifestation of Christ in the glory of His Father.  The resurrection and the life of the world to come gives Christians the freedom to be patient, turn the cheek, to love the enemy and bear one another’s burdens in Christ.  Patience is freedom because it has no boundaries.  Its beginning and end reside in God, and so patience and waiting is the path for Christians.

            As people of faith we await the Lord’s deliverance.  King David wrote in Psalm 130, “I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.” (v. 4)  It was a wonderful blessing to talk with these young men about their future as husbands and fathers.  They wait to be spiritual heads of their families.  They wait for the Christian spouse God has for them.  They wait to prayerfully be blessed with children.  Christian patience.  Make a God-ordained difference in your little part of the world.  Men who will lead their families are so needed.

            For all of us we wait for our eternal home.  May our patience be a sign of God’s enduring mercy and a testimony to the hope of the resurrection.  On that day, the beatitude will be fulfilled:  “Blessed is the man who waits.”

                                                                                                            Amen.