Sermon Texts

April 5, 2020 – Palm Sunday                                                          Text:  John 12:12-19

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Do you remember when you were young, especially those teenage years when you were sure that everyone was watching your every move?  You were always concerned about your image.  What do my friends think?  What does that cute boy or girl think of me?  My hair, my clothes, my body . . . oh my!

            Then what happens to most all of us?  We grow up.  We find out that people weren’t staring at us the whole time.  Some didn’t even care what we looked like.  The bubble was burst and that teen angst blew away.

            That doesn’t mean that vainglory doesn’t still continue.  For celebrities image is everything.  Whether they are the richest or the most beautiful or have the most talent doesn’t really matter.  What does matter is what the public thinks of them.  Can they get attention on the red carpet and on magazine covers and on late night talk shows?  Glory that’s purely vain.  Vainglory.  It is empty.  Why is it considered a deadly sin?  Because it is all about . . .

“MY GLORY”

            Who doesn’t want to be #1?  Who doesn’t want a little adoration?  You?  Me?  Of course we do.  We want to be recognized as the smartest, the political smarty-pants, the one with the most Facebook friends, the greatest kids.  We want adoration for praying the most often, being the busiest, having the best looking lawn, being a whizz at crossword puzzles or always being so darn nice to people.  Please give me a trophy for the best hair, the greatest body, our wonderful house or the way my charity outdoes your charity. 

            Who are you?  If you define yourself by what others think of you then you are in the throes of vainglory.  Don’t misunderstand please.  We should receive good feedback from others – appreciative words and encouragement – we all need that.  It is especially important to give this to our children.  Our approval and verbal uplifts give to young people love and security and confidence.

            The problem is when it becomes vain.  Something we deserve.  Many of you know the Carly Simon song with this line, “You’re so vain, you probably think this song is about you.”  In an ironic twist many did think the song was about them.  She said in an interview it was a plethora of men she had known or dated.  When we start to think that everything is about us then it is a problem.  God gets pushed out of the picture or we leave Him hanging on some long forgotten wall.

            Now we come to Jesus on Palm Sunday?  A parade for Me?  Cloaks and palms and shouts of adoration – Hosanna!  Does Jesus look for the nearest camera so he can say, “Blessings you little ones, thanks for the parade, I have come here today to tell you that I am going to make Jerusalem great again.”  Is it about Him?

            If any had a reason for that line of thinking it was our precious Savior.  Gather the press I would like to tell them how I fed 5,000.  Can Time magazine do a cover story on my work with the demon-possessed man?  “Who does this guy think He is, He acts as if He can walk on water.”  “Oh, right, I do that too.  Come to the lake later and I’ll do a free demonstration.”

            Jesus didn’t do any of that.  In most of these situations, He just left.  He didn’t dance in the end zone.  He didn’t tweet about His exploits.  He didn’t even have his 12 press agents work on press releases. 

            Jesus could treat Palm Sunday like another shining moment, but He didn’t.  Why?  He knew that some of the very same people throwing a parade today would be screaming in unison for His death by Friday. 

            Jesus didn’t stop to do interviews or give some grand speech.  He rode on.  He rode on to die.  He didn’t care about vainglory.  He wasn’t about my glory – He cared about true glory.  True glory doesn’t come from a people lined street.  It comes from the Father in heaven.

            What Jesus sees ahead of Him is His heavenly Father on His throne waiting for Him.  He sees ahead of Him the giving of His life to save the world.  The glory Jesus seeks is the glory of God in heaven.  “Well done, My Son!’

            Now what about you?  Jesus paid for your sin of vainglory.  Instead of thinking about what others think of us in this world we should think on this question.   Almighty God and Father, maker of heaven and earth, “What does HE think of me?”  God has given Jesus for you and for me that we may believe in Him and be baptized into Him and may stand before our Father and hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

            Is there any greater glory than that?  Remember when you receive praise for some talent that it all comes from the hand of God.  Is that how you share it with the world?  When complimented by someone, do you point to Jesus?  Do you put the glory into the proper hands?  Brothers and sisters won’t it be wonderful when the parade ends and we step into the glory of the world to come.  There He is, our Father on His throne – smiling in all His glory.

                                                                                    Amen.      

March 29, 2020                                                                               Text:  Ezekiel 37:1-14

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Let’s talk breathing.  When we inhale our diaphragms contract and move downward so that the space in our chest cavity increases.  The lungs expand, air is pulled in, and with the assistance of hemoglobin, oxygen goes to the blood.  In the same breath, carbon dioxide moves into the lungs and then is forced out when we exhale.  God has created quite an elaborate system.  How many times on average do we do this a day?  How about 25,000 times!  It probably goes without saying in these pandemic times but it is always good to check in with our breathing now and then.

            Today in our Old Testament lesson God is showing the prophet Ezekiel how dramatic this breathing can be – it brings the whole house of Israel together.  Ezekiel saw those who were dead breathing again.  Not just physically but spiritually as well.  A good picture of what Jesus does for us . . .

“BREATHE IN RESURRECTED LIFE”

            Our breathing is broken.  It has been since sin joined the world.  People today suffer in various forms – COPD, asthma, emphysema, black lung disease and other forms that restrict good breathing.  Apart from that we all inhale things that can cause us pain and heartache – drugs, we are gluttons with our food intake, we don’t get moving around the way we need to – physically this hurts us.  We can also inhale things that hurt us spiritually – greed for the latest gadget, a new partner, reading things outside of Scripture, following the latest fad, despair and apathy.

            We are dried to the core.  Israel was dried to the core.  They had been breathing in all the wrong things and this resulted in their destruction and captivity in Babylon.  God’s gives Ezekiel a word picture of “very dry bones.”  Like God’s law does for us, Ezekiel needed to take a good look at what was happening.  They were breathing in death, verse 11:  “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.”  On our own we are all lifeless in the valley of death.  We are also experiencing what it is like to be cut off socially and spiritually.

            Don’t despair.  A breath of fresh air is on the way.  God’s Word is living and active and can breathe new life into us.  Where the Word is there is also the Spirit, “breathe on these slain that they may live.” (v. 9b)  In Hebrew Spirit and breath are the same words, because where the Spirit is, there is life.  “I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.” (v. 5b)  “I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live.” (v. 14a)  The breathing we lost during the fall into sin has been restored.  Look at what God did with Adam.  First He formed him and then He breathed into him the breath of life.

            So now the Lord says to us:  “take a breather.”  Breathe in the resurrected life.  Doesn’t that fill the lungs with something good?  Jesus breathed that life back into Lazarus in our Gospel lesson.  The breath that Jesus gives reaches even those in the grave. (v. 12-13)  We have this breath of resurrected life because Jesus gave up His breath on the cross.  “He breathed his last.”  He had to die.  He had to go without breathing for a time.  But this would not be His last breath.  He would fill the earth with new air when He came out of the tomb – breathing and talking and eating.

            The breath of resurrected life still comes to us.  It comes in the Divine Service when we hear the Absolution and are given new breath for a new day.  When we take in the Word as it is preached and heard it gives life to our dead souls.  With the breath of Christ in you God already sees you raised up with Christ in the heavenly places.  This is our comfort and hope.

            I’ve seen a Christian brother or sister struggle to breathe.  It is hard to watch, difficult to help, and the image can be carried in your mind for years.  God sees the same thing in us, when His children struggle.  Breathing is a big deal and today God calls us to receive the breath of resurrected life that comes only from Jesus.  Take a breather those who are weary.  Take a breather those who are socially isolated.  Take a breather those who are anxious.  Take a breather those who need some rest.  The Lord can come into the dryness of your body and spirit and He can revitalize you beyond your comprehension.  The breath of life in Jesus extends beyond the grave, so breathe easy, my friends.

                                                                        Amen. 

March 22, 2020                                                                                     Text:  John 9:1-41

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Are you a spotlight person?  Do you crave attention?  When the pressure is on do you perform at your best?  In my observation of the many humans here at Good Shepherd most of you are non-spotlight people.  You do your job and move on.  In the church we are not applauding for the work of the altar guild and ushers.  We don’t give medals to the acolytes and financial counters.  We don’t shower Mary Anne with roses for her beautiful work on the organ.  And we don’t pat the elder on the back just because he got that tricky Old Testament person or town pronunciation right. 

            In today’s gospel the spotlight is going to shine on many people.  But what does it reveal?

“IN THE SPOTLIGHT”

            In the spotlight to begin our text is the man blind from birth.  He has no light in his eyes.  We know light, so we can see.  This man had no concept of light.  Whether he wanted it or not this man is thrust into the spotlight because of the miracle of Jesus.  His neighbors saw him and he told the story of Jesus’ healing.

            Being in the spotlight sometimes brings things that make us uncomfortable and this happens here.  The Pharisees are brought in.  Interrogation time from these know-it-alls.  Was this healing from God?  This man who knew no light has the spotlight of investigation put on him.

            The Pharisees are now in the spotlight, and as they put the man in the spotlight, they are blind to the divinity of Jesus.  The man claims that Jesus is a prophet.  The Pharisees now turn the spotlight from the man born blind to Jesus.  They claimed that since Jesus healed on the Sabbath, he was not from God.  But the man in the spotlight in verses 35-38 comes to see Jesus in the true light – “Lord, I believe.”

            The spotlight shines on you and I.  It can be uncomfortable as are sin is revealed.  We are born spiritually blind.  We are enemies of God.  God is light but we turn away – “get me out of this spotlight.”

            Like the Pharisees, we put the spotlight on Jesus to examine him.  We do it according to our terms.  We listen to his words but only listen to the words that support our opinions.  We do not want to be enlightened by Him.  We are lost in the darkness of death.

            In the spotlight is Jesus.  But you see He is always in the spotlight even in this story.  He is the eternal spotlight because we know that God is light.  The light of Jesus is what we need to see.  It shines brightest on Him when He goes to the cross.  Jesus obeyed His Father perfectly.  He did not shy away from the task that put Him in front of the world.  In His Words they enlighten us and let us know that the sins of the whole world and our individual sins are forgiven.  Darkness wiped away – light has come.

            The brightest of lights was shone on Easter morning.  The light of the resurrection was casting out the darkness of death.  His resurrection light can now shine on the darkness and uncertainty of our world. 

            Through baptism, Jesus’ light shines in you.  Jesus says in verse 5, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  Jesus is still in the world administering baptism through his called Shepherds so that those born in darkness can see the light.  The Holy Spirit has enlightened you with Baptism, so that Christ’s light now shines through you.

            This will come as no surprise to most of you, but I am a spotlight person.  When I competed in sports I always had my best games in front of the biggest crowds.   The Lord has blessed me to not shrink when the big moment comes.  We are living in a big moment.  Some see fear and anxiety.  I see opportunity.  Some see darkness and drear.  I see light and Jesus.  What do you see?  The Lord has put a sinful world in the spotlight with a sickness that can scare us.  As His people we live in the light of Christ.  It is a prime opportunity to put Jesus in the spotlight.  His Word can calm anxiety.  He listens to our prayers and gives our heart peace.  The Holy Spirit leads us to help our neighbor, not be pushy or hoard products that we all need and for the world to see the light of Christ in us when we look outside ourselves.  Step into the spotlight because the eternal spotlight of Jesus Christ our Savior shines in you. 

                                                            Amen. 

March 8, 2020                                                                                         Text:  John 3:1-17

Dear Friends in Christ,

            The book Born Free tells of an orphaned lioness adopted by Kenyan game warden George Adamson and his wife Joy.  If they hadn’t cared for her, the cub they name Elsa would have died.  Elsa grew into a strong, healthy, active adult.  In a way, the Adamson’s gave her new birth as a huge house cat.

            Elsa’s life depended on human care; she couldn’t survive in the wild.  She never hunted or defended herself or interacted with other lions.  Her new life so countered the actual life of a lion that she could never live free.  The choice was either a zoo for Elsa or turning her loose to die – unless they gave Elsa another new birth and restored her true nature, her true “lioness.”

            George and Joy taught Elsa to stalk and strike.  They cut back on their time with her, weaned her from human dependence, and taught her to look to lions instead of humans for companionship.  Finally, they restored the domestic cat to her true nature as a free, living lioness.

            Somewhat like Elsa, we are trapped with natures unlike God created us to have.  Corrupt from birth, we can’t live with God and we can’t escape the devil.  Left alone, we would be even more helpless than the out-of-place Elsa.  However, the Lord intervened, sending down his Son to give us rebirth, replacing our fallen state with the nature He intended at creation, and restoring us to a free and natural life as God’s children.

            Christ came down from heaven so we can be  . . .

“BORN FROM ABOVE”

            What do you remember about your birth?  Nothing, right?  You had no choice in the matter.  You were conceived by your parents, carried by your mother and brought out of the womb – all without your giving consent.  We could not conceive ourselves.  The mystery of our spiritual birth is every bit as profound.  We had no more choice or opportunity to become God’s children than we did in becoming our parents’ children.

            The reason we needed to be reborn from above is because we were born spiritually dead.  This is what Jesus is telling Nicodemus.  We would not think about God.  We could not move toward God.  We had no place in our hearts for God.

            We had to be reborn from above because we could not raise ourselves up to God.  As the psalmist says, we stood helpless and confused before this world’s troubles until “the Lord, who made heaven and earth,” came to our rescue. (Ps. 121:12)  Like Abraham, we had no idea of a new and better place to live until Christ came and called us to new life.  Like the Israelites dying of snakebites in the wilderness, we were doomed until God raised up His Son to die on the cross (vs. 14-15).

            Being reborn from above means we live a new life.  Martin Luther wrote about this in the Small Catechism Baptism section.  “The Old Adam in us should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man should daily emerge and arise to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.”

            The Bible verse proof text is Romans 6:4 – “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”

            Being reborn from above sets us on the path of eternal life with God.  He loved us that He gave His only Son so that through believing in Him we would live.

            Babies in maternity wards and neonatal units wear wristbands or ankle bands to identity who they are and which family they belong to.  This is to make sure that no child goes home with the wrong family.  The band lets us know as parents that that baby is ours.

            Jesus taught the same thing to Nicodemus.  Our baptisms are an outward sign of the home and family we belong to.  Baptism is a sign that indicates, “This person belongs to the triune God.”  Our heavenly Father sees the sign of Baptism on us and says, “You are mine.”  We rejoice at the sign of our Baptism, because it gives us absolute assurance and confidence that we are truly children of God and that the day will come when He will take us Home with Him.  Our Baptism assures us there will be no eternal mix-up.  We will go to the home that is ours.   We will go home to live with our true Father because you and I have been Born From Above.

                                                                                                                        Amen.   

March 1, 2020                                                                                  Text:  Matthew 4:1-11

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Come in real close . . . I’ve got a secret . . . I can be a smart-aleck.  Shocked?  Hyperventilating over this sermonic revelation?  Take out your bulletin for today.  Look at our opening hymn.  What does it tell us to do?  We stand!  My home church in Decatur did this with many of their hymns when I was a wee little lad and I didn’t always feel like standing…but I did…believe me I did.  To express my displeasure I would write on the worship folder – We sit! – and I would hand it to the usher on the way out.  I doubt that guy thought I would be standing in a pulpit today.  There were other smart-aleck moments – playing a mannequin at my friend’s sister’s clothing store at Hickory Point Mall, getting my freshman English Class to bombard our teacher with paper wads and all the grief I gave my mom over the years. 

            The thing is that little guy has never completely left me.  Just ask my friends and family.  What is that voice in my brain that motivates such behavior?  What temptation can I not overcome? 

            Can you relate?  I am almost certain you can.  Maybe it is not being a smart-aleck but it is something from your younger days that no matter how hard you try as an adult it is shadowing you constantly.  Can we stare into the darkness and overcome it?  Negatory, good buddy.

            We need a stronger one.  We need someone outside of ourselves to step into the picture.  We need Jesus.  Let’s take a song line and make it the title . . .

“TEMPTED BUT THE TRUTH IS DISCOVERED”

            Before we venture into the desert let’s get a few things straight.  The devil has power but it is limited.  Satan knows the words of Scripture – He even quotes them.  The only way to defeat your adversary is to know His playbook.

            The temptations take place in the wilderness – Satan’s home field.  It is a place of nothingness with few points of reference and endless sand and rocks. 

            Satan was smart and subtle.  He is saying to Jesus, “grab a little glory now.  Turn stones into bread; throw yourself down and you will be protected; bow down and worship me and you can have all these things now.”  Thankfully Jesus would not play that game.  Jesus was tempted but the truth is discovered.  Jesus knew that His destiny was the cross.  Jesus fought with the only truth He had – God’s Word.  It was The Word fighting with the Word. 

            Satan would have one more attempt after this in a garden outside of Jerusalem.  Jesus sees the cup of wrath he must drink to overcome our sin.  He looks into the abyss and even asks to let the crucifixion pass from Him.  Jesus was tempted but the truth is discovered.  In the end, He asks that the Father’s will be done.  It was.  It is.  Only through suffering and death is God making right what has gone wrong – He enters the darkness and brings forth light in the resurrection of his body from the dead.  Jesus makes right what has gone wrong by taking on Satan in the wilderness, in the Garden of Gethsemane, on the cross, triumphing over every temptation thrown His way and lighting our darkness with the light of His resurrected flesh.

            Jesus’ cross is where you see both your salvation and the pattern of your life.  When your suffering becomes so intense and the darkness so deep, trace on your forehead the baptismal cross that binds you to Jesus, who continues to feed you with his very body and blood at his table and then in Jesus say, “Not my will, but thy will, be done.”  Tempted but the Truth is Discovered.

            During the troubling days of World War I, many songwriters did their best to raise the morale of the troops in the field and the folks at home.  Felix Powell penned a little ditty for those troubled with their worries.  Powell encouraged the fearful person to put their troubles behind them and smile instead.

            If we just pack up our problems and put them away that is only a temporary solution.  The true cause of our troubles is sin.  Either inflicted by giving in to the devils’ temptations or the consequences of living in a fallen world, we are unable to pack up and put away our own troubles.  Only Christ can permanently banish our problems.  No pasted-on grin will chase away the devil, but when Christ smiles on us, we know the old evil foe is vanquished and our joy is made complete.

            A quick note before this message ends.  While the teacher found the stunt quite funny, to my amazement, I do not advocate bombing your teacher with paper.  I learned a lot about grace that day.  I pray we learn about grace every day.  Jesus, the purveyor of grace looked into the eyes of Satan and won.  He showers that grace on us when we don’t deserve it.  See the Truth in a new light this morning – He was tempted but His Truth is discovered.

                                                                        Amen.  

February 23, 2020 – Transfiguration                                         Text:  Matthew 17:1-9

Dear Friends in Christ,

            David McCasland wrote about an experience that happened to him some years ago.  A woman was stalled at an intersection with her car hood up and she flagged McCasland down for help.  Here’s the account:

            “’I can’t get the car started,’ she said.  ‘But if you jiggle the wire on the battery I think it will work.’  McCasland grabbed the positive battery cable and it came off in his hand.  It was obviously too loose!  ‘The terminal needs to be tightened up,’ he told her.  ‘I can fix it if you have some tools.’  The woman replied, ‘My husband says just to jiggle the wire.  It always works.  Why don’t you just try that?’  McCasland thought to himself, ‘Then why doesn’t her husband drive around with her all the time so he can jiggle the cable.’  Finally he said, ‘Ma’am, if I jiggle the wire, you’re going to need someone else to do it every time you shut the engine off.  If you’ll give me two minutes and a wrench, we can solve the problem and forget about it.’  Reluctantly, she fumbled under the front seat and then extended a crescent wrench through the window.

            “As he repaired the terminal, McCasland thought about the many times he tried to get ‘quick fixes’ from God.  ‘I have this problem, Lord, and if You’ll just jiggle the wire, things will be ok.  I’m in a hurry, so let’s just get me going again the quickest way possible.’”

            At the Mount of Transfiguration we learn that God doesn’t simply jiggle wires.  He guides our living in this world and, through that, prepares us for the world to come.  Many will follow if only they can be spared the uncertainties and sufferings of tomorrow.  But it doesn’t work that way. 

“LIVING THE NOW BETWEEN THE HERE AND THERE”

            The text begins, “After six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.”  Six days after what?  Six days after he told them that they must deny self and take up their cross and follow Him.  Jesus is talking the here and now.  You might gain the world but you will forfeit your soul.

            They are led up a high mountain.  What a moment for these men but also getting there would be strenuous and tiring.  Like life in the here and now.  We strain and tire ourselves to get the most out of life.  We want to enjoy our creature comforts.  But no matter how we mask it, the world is still decaying away.

            Jesus is then transfigured and Moses and Elijah are with them.  What were the disciples seeing?  They were seeing the glory of Christ.  Jesus is God the Son.  Secondly, by seeing Moses and Elijah, the disciples glimpsed the glory of Heaven.  That’s why Peter wants to build the tents.  He wants to stay there forever.  Who wouldn’t want that?

            The earlier words of Jesus “take up your cross and follow me” had faded into the background.  They had traveled from the here – earthly, to the there – heavenly because they were followers of the Christ.

            We to will make that same journey.  We will go from here to there.  From earth to heaven also because of our Christ connection.  But what about the now?  How can we draw strength for the days and possibly years ahead of us?  How can this trip up the mountain help in our day-to-day living.

            “He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud over shadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.’” (v. 5)

            What an encouragement for them.  That moment impressed upon them the eternal victory in Christ is certain.  There is still suffering and cross bearing in this fallen world but Christ has made an eternal home a sure thing.  The Father is pleased that His Son would do everything necessary to secure our forgiveness and eternal life.

            God loved and loves us in spite of ourselves.  In the now we have minds riddled with hideous thoughts and words and deeds.  Yet He would give His Son to pay for that.  And to believe that is to have everlasting life.  Light!  Glory forever!

            At the Mount of Transfiguration we learn that God doesn’t just jiggle wires to make things go.  He prepared the disciples then and He is preparing you and me now to live for Him in this world.  And, in Christ, our lives here overflow with this promise:  “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (Psalm 23:6)

            Living the now between the here and there is never without the presence of Christ’s love.

                        Amen.