November 26, 2023             Text:  1 Corinthians 15:20-28

Dear Friends in Christ,

The concentration camp at Dachau was liberated on a Sunday in April 1945.  One week later, Greek and Serbian Orthodox prisoners celebrated Easter in the camp barracks.  Priests wore makeshift vestments over their blue and white striped prison uniforms.  They sang the liturgy, read the Scriptures, and even recited a sermon by St. John Chrysostom – all without texts, all by memory.  During the long years of suffering and anguish, these prisoners had never forgotten Christ’s resurrection victory over death and that it also set them free from death.  Whatever was happening in their lives, they always knew that Easter meant something was still coming for them.  Today, a Russian Orthodox chapel at the Dachau Memorial houses an icon of the resurrected Christ leading the prisoners out of the camp gates.  

Every Sunday is a celebration of Easter, of Christ’s glorious victory over sin and death for us.  But today, the Last Sunday of the Church YearI, is especially so, because the Last Sunday, pointing us to the Last Day, shows us where Easter is headed.  What do I mean?

“WHERE IS EASTER HEADED?”

Easter brought forth the firstfruits.  Jesus raised to life again.  Yes, Jesus died on the cross, but his resurrection is an accomplished fact.  What good news.  But where is it headed?  In the Old Testament Israel would offer the first gathering of wheat as a sacrifice to God.  Still, they knew an entire harvest was still to come.  The firstfruits were just the first of many fruits.

In the same way, Jesus’ resurrection will inevitably lead to the resurrection of all flesh.  “In Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (v. 22). That’s Last Day, Judgment Day, the focus of this Sunday.  All people will be gathered before Christ, the believers through Christ will have bodies raised, reunited with their souls, the resurrection of all flesh.  What a day that will be for those, Paul says, “who belong to Christ.”

Christ was one of us.  Walked in the way of human beings.  The ancient Greek writer Callimachus once composed an epigram in which he commented:  “Being a thief myself, I know the tracks of a thief.”  Being a man himself, Jesus knew the tracks of a man.  He knew work and rest.  He experienced joys and sorrows.  He understood that we humans have a problem with sin, and we can’t solve it.  He knew sin would destroy humanity.  So, He took the destruction on Himself.  He knew the tracks of man led to death, and Jesus did, in fact, die.  But being the Son of God, His tracks did not end in death, but rather out of the tomb to life again.  He was raised up, and all those who belong to Him will also walk in tracks leading to eternal life.  

Our resurrection to life will mean that death and all its allies are destroyed under Jesus’ feet.  Death couldn’t hold Christ.  Death cannot hold us.  If death has no power, then on the Last Day, all enemies will be defeated.

Christ has defeated sin.  Christ has defeated the devil and his demonic forces.  The evil forces of the world are no more with the return of Jesus.  We have nothing to fear.

But some do.  Judgment will be horrible for those on the outside of the faith.  An eternal fire prepared for Christ’s enemies.  Their deeds will not save them.  Their accomplishments mean nothing.  They stand condemned.

For those of us belonging to Christ, death is defeated.  Death is the last fruits of sin.  Christ, the firstfruits of life, changes the end of the story.  Is that where this is headed?  Almost.

Finally, even Christ will be subjected to the Father.  For Christ, the mission will be accomplished.  Every need of God’s people in a fallen world met.  Every enemy conquered.  Christ will lay it all at His Father’s feet.  Then things will once again be like they were at the beginning.  God will be “all in all.”  Will we need food, clothing, shelter?  No, we will have God.  Will we need love, comfort, relationships?  No, we will have God.  Will we need protection and deliverance?  No, we will have God.  Verse 24, “Then comes the end, when (Christ) delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.”  

This is where Easter has been headed.  On this Last Sunday of the Church Year, a blessed fulfillment of Easter to you!

Amen.    

November 22, 2023 – Thanksgiving Eve         Text:  John 1:1-5

Dear Friends in Christ,

Well, here we are on a not liturgically required holiday.  Some would say this service is non-essential.  Some denominations don’t worship on Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Eve or they may participate in joint worship led by members of the local clergy association.  

The holiday was initiated by Abraham Lincoln during the dark days of the Civil War, so the day has this religious significance:  God is worthy of thanks even in bad times.  Every LCMS church I have ever been associated with has had a Thanksgiving Day or Thanksgiving Eve Worship service.  But we still ask the question . . .

“THANKSGIVING DAY CHURCH SERVICES:  ARE THEY REALLY NECESSARY?”

For the sake of religious freedom, the Pilgrims fled England first for Holland and then for American with a brief stopover back in England.  They landed on Cape Cod in 1620, and the following years the survivors of the brutal winter had a feast with the Native Americans to give thanks to God.  Here are the roots of our national holiday.

In the Old Testament, certain days were set apart for thanking God.  In the New Testament the word eucharist, a word sometimes used for the service of Holy Communion, means “thanksgiving” and specifically thanksgiving to God.  Do you realize how many times we “give thanks to God?”  Look at our liturgy.  At the end of a Scripture reading the elder or Pastor says, “This is the Word of the Lord.”  We Lutherans know the automatic response, “Thanks be to God.”  Let’s try another one, Pastor says, “Bless we the Lord.”  Congregation responds, “Thanks be to God.”  Thanking God is part of our religious fiber.  Crazy right, but thanking God comes close to believing in Him!

Just because people may gather around a table and give thanks for something doesn’t make it a religious awakening.  We should be thanking the Giver not the gift.  Calling it “turkey Day” or “parade/football day” takes God out of the equation.  Even though He might like a huge blown-up Woody Woodpecker or tossing the pigskin in Detroit.  So, while a parade or football might keep people from worship, at least Santa Claus is at the end of the parade.  It makes a good transition into a season named for Christ, where many don’t want to speak His name in public celebrations.

Thanksgiving Day is more than a First Article matter.  We just don’t speak of God in generic terms.  We address Him as the Father of our Lord Jesus.  Look at our text, “All things were made through him – Jesus.” (v. 3.)  In our Epistle lesson it says this about Jesus.  “’I am the Alpha and the Omega ,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’”

The Pilgrims left England because King James I was telling them how to conduct their worship services.  Planning to sail to Virginia they ended up on the uninviting New England coast.  Within a year, half the Pilgrims had died.  If you have ever seen replicas of the Mayflower, one wonders how many times it might have crossed their minds that the religion of the king wasn’t all that bad.

Government has loosened the chains, but we were told how to worship during 2020.  People tell the Pilgrims of the day to get it line with same sex marriage, cancel culture, wokeism and why would you ever worship that God?

Are Thanksgiving services necessary?  Should we associate ourselves with the Pilgrims?  Well, let’s take a look at our own story of the Missouri Synod.  The Lutherans in Saxony and Prussia fled their countries to avoid religious persecution.  Refugees from the Saxon State Church came in five ships, only four made it to the port of New Orleans – one was lost at sea.  These Lutherans even prepared a document like the Mayflower Compact, which provided rules for their community in this adopted country.  Things did not go well in Missouri.  Some wanted to go back to Germany, just like some Pilgrims who returned to England.  Most stayed and found other Lutherans in American who believed like they did.  These are the forefathers and families who established the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.

We give thanks to our Lord for bringing them to our shores.  We are a Christ-believing, Bible-believing, Confession-believing people because of what they did to get to America to establish the LCMS.  This is why we lift up our praise this day.  We have the freedom to say that Christ has paid the price for our terrible deeds.  We have the freedom to say that Christ has won our salvation as He overcame death and grave.  We have the freedom to say that as baptized men and women we are the children of God.  Thanks be to God!

Compare the Missouri Synod story to the Pilgrim story.  Change the language from English to German, add a few more ships and push the calendar ahead two centuries, and one story starts to resemble the other.  The characters have different names, lived at different times, and came from different places, but the plots are quite similar – they were fleeing religious persecution.  Persecution belongs to the Christian experience.  Read the Book of Acts.  Why then would Lutherans in America not celebrate Thanksgiving Day services?

Amen.   

November 19, 2023         Text:  Matthew 25:14-30

Dear Friends in Christ,

How about the Powerball numbers we have been seeing?  A single winner took home, after taxes of course, $2.1 billion last year.  Do you ever fantasize about what you might do if you won Powerball or even the state lottery?  After last week’s sermon, you know what Toni and I would do!

Imagine how the slaves in Jesus’ parable must have felt.  The master entrusted each of them with a fortune and left it to them to decide what to do with it.  Dreaming about such things might help pass a few minutes, but what does it do as we live our lives today?  This is really what the parable is about.  You are about to be given something, what are you going to do with it?  You need to realize that . . . 

“THE CHIEF PROPERTY IS THE GOSPEL”

Some parables of Jesus can be a little hard to understand, but not this one.  A simple story with a clear message.  

This parable is usually called “The Parable of the Talents.”  We equate talent with a gift we have.  Talent in biblical times is a monetary unit.  Three servants are given sizable amounts of money.  The master gives no instruction in its use.  He goes away.  Two of the servants make more money and are commended.  One digs a hole and does nothing with the money.  He was afraid.  Afraid of losing it.  Afraid of his master.

Quite often with this sermon the preacher will talk about using our skills, our abilities etc. in a God-pleasing way.  But that is not the point here.  You see, God gives those kinds of gifts to everyone, believers and unbelievers alike.  This text is about how we use the special treasure God has given alone to his servants, the Church, for the building of His kingdom.  The most valuable gift that God entrusts to us is the message of the Gospel.  

We have a greater treasure than a lifetime of wealth.  If you and I won millions of dollars, could we even get it all spent?  The Gospel on the other hand can always be shared.  There are always going to be those apart from Christ who need to hear the message.  We never run out of opportunities.  We never tire of hearing the Gospel message.

Christ died on the cross and paid for the sins of the whole world, mine and yours.  Christ rose from the grave, and you too will rise to eternity.  You have been given the riches of the Gospel through the work of the Holy Spirit in your lives.  God’s riches are yours today and forever.  Each day you awaken to a new life in Jesus.  You have a conscience freed from the burden of guilt.  You know that because of your Baptism, each day you are caressed by the love of your Savior.

So, if the chief property is the Gospel how will we respond and use it for God’s glory?  “Hide it under a bushel no, I’m gonna let it shine.”  We don’t dig a hole and protect the gospel.  We take God’s Word and invite others to worship.  We take God’s Word and help the less fortunate.  We take God’s Word and give encouragement to a hurting friend.  We take God’s Word and pray for a co-worker suffering with a disease.  We take God’s Word and offer childcare or a ride or we offer a ministry of presence for those who are lonely.  All of this allows the Gospel to grow.  The Church becomes larger as the love of Christ permeates from our hearts.  

One of the most underrated statistics in sports is the assist.  In basketball, soccer, and hockey a good pass is just as important as making the score.  As a former point guard and even now when I play pick-up games, I get a bigger thrill out of a good pass that leads to a basket rather than making the basket.  

We see this in our text.  The servants who returned more to the master were “assisting” him.  You and I are fellow servants who assist one another.  We give and receive help from our brothers and sisters all the time.  Isn’t it beautiful to be in a congregation of servants who encourage one another and hold one another accountable – who assist one another – so that together, we might remain faithful and, when Jesus returns, enter together into the Master’s joy.

God has promised to bless our work.  The fruit is the lives of those saved by the proclamation of the saving love of Jesus Christ.  The chief property is the Gospel – share it.

Amen.     

November 12, 2023 – Stewardship Sunday               Texts:  Readings of the Day

Dear Friends in Christ,

For a number of years, a local grocery store chain sent us a free coupon for Dawn.  Every month or so we would get our dishwashing liquid.  We had quite a build-up under our sink.  One year all of our extended family got a thing of Dawn.  With this abundance it was easy to put an extra squirt in the dishwater.  We have two left under the sink, the natural inclination is to be a little stingy going forward, because it will be free no more.

This is what faces Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.  Easier to give in abundance, but now that we have a recession and tough economy . . . well, you’ll see in the rest of the sermon.

You always get honesty from your Pastor.  I’m not crazy about giving this sermon, but since just a portion come to our voter’s meeting it is important that everyone knows what is happening.  This is the one item that stresses me and keeps me up at night.  I have never prayed more about a sermon and God’s direction than this one.  But the Lord and his disciples talked a lot about finances, it is all over the Bible and a Shepherd who knows some of you longer than I have known Holden should let the sheep know what is going on.  There will be pain, joy, laughter and probably the longest sermon I have preached in years.

Today we consider our mutual support for this congregation’s existence and the mission for our Lord Jesus Christ.

“GIVING TO THE OWNER”

I have stated at the last two voter’s meetings the biggest short-term and long-term challenge is our mortgage.  It always has been.  First, a brief history lesson.  In 1999 the church had a historic vote – a 1.4 million, a 1.8 million, or a 2.2 million dollar church.  The vote was for the 1.8 million dollar plan.  Cost overruns pushed this to 2 million.  We started the 25 year mortgage in 2000.  Should be paid off in two years.  To get lower payments, which we needed, we have refinanced twice, the last in 2010.  That pushes the loan to 2035.

We are not here to argue the wisdom of past decisions.  In our Collect of the Day, our church groundbreaking prayer, we prayed that this church would be “successfully completed to the good of your people.”  We intend, with God’s help to honor that commitment.

You hear me say all the time that Karson and Holden are God’s children.  He has allowed us to be their parents.  Our finances are the same thing.  They belong to God.  We don’t really own anything.  Somebody once said, “It is difficult to save money when your neighbors keep buying things you can’t afford.”  While parts of the economy have moderated, our homes have not because of the ridiculous prices people have been paying the last couple of years.  I get it.  But I also get this.  When you are standing next to a casket looking down at the person who was once alive and vibrant, the reality sets in that they don’t even own the ability to dress themselves or comb their hair.  So much for ownership.

God owns everything.  We are merely stewards of what he has loaned us.  He entrusts things to us to use for His glory.

Let’s remember our blessings.  A new sanctuary furnace, stained glass windows, pipe burst clean-up, elevator repair and new windows and doors just in the last two years.  But above and beyond that is the greatest blessing we possess.  God owns us.  From baptism on we are his child.  He has taken away our sin and forgives us through Christ.  He feeds us His Holy Supper that strengthens us for the tough choices and upheavals of life.  We don’t fear death and decay because we know what is on the other side of the grave.

We are set apart for work in the Lord’s Kingdom.  Through faith in Christ God owns you and me.  God owns this place we call Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and those that gather here.  He has entrusted this place and one another to us.  This is your church.

No one group is going to take care of this church, determine the heat in winter or what to give to missions.  No one else is going to determine our spiritual direction or how to pay the mortgage – nobody is going to take care of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Bloomington IL but the members of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Bloomington IL.  No outside organization or government funded agency is going to step in and do what we must do for the glory of Christ and to witness for Him.  God has placed this wonderful responsibility on to each of us sitting in the pews this morning. 

So Pastor, what’s the plan?  It is in our Scripture readings for this morning.  In our Old Testament God’s people brought forth the firstfruits and the tithe, not the leftovers, for the work of the church.  The tithe in our Adult and Junior Confirmation classes is explained this way.  We return 10% back to God.  The formula is easy.  What you make before taxes divided by 10 is the yearly tithe.  You can then divide that by 52 and that breaks it down weekly.  In the Bible, the offering is actually what is above and beyond the tithe.  In the Epistle, the Macedonians, who had affliction and poverty, gave with joy “in a wealth of generosity.”  Our motivation to do all this is in our Gospel.  Jesus breathed his last for us.  The temple curtain was torn in two which brought us back to God.  “Truly this man was the Son of God!”

Our church is pretty consistent and has been for years.  We normally meet our budget by the end of the year, but because some gifts are given at the beginning of the year, including our loan rebate, and some are given at the end of the year we struggle in the middle, usually around the end of July to Christmas.  This year has been a little worse.  I hold my checks to pay other bills, which is my choice, because I don’t add a finance charge.

The big question, what are we going to do with God’s help?  You called the right man.  Finances are a passion.  I was the bookkeeper for dad’s business, so I have experience with not always having money.  I don’t know another LCMS Pastor who is as involved as this one.  I love this church.  I love all of you.  This is my servant nature.  The other thing is I am competitive.  Toni says I am competing against our mortgage.  She’s right.  We are not going to lose.  You called me to preach and administer the Sacraments.  Along with that you got a young man who brings soft toilet paper and a gift for finance.  In the last recession, I spread every bill out on the conference table.  Recommendations were made and we cut $25,000 from the budget.  This budget is as lean as it can be.  Do you realize we pay, just as an example, $2500 a year for water, when all we do is flush a few toilets and drink a little water.  Ridiculous but true.  We have to have stormwater coverage and big pipe for our sprinkler system.

All of this effects our ministry.  I can’t tell you how many things are taken care of by members apart from the budget.  Thank you.  

God has also placed a man on the inside, again, your Pastor.  Do you see His hand in all this?  Your Shepherd is on the Church Extension Fund Board fighting for our loan and our rebate.

The math is simple.  We need $5,000-$6,000 a week to meet budget.  We have 50 giving units.  If those units give $5,000-$6,000 a year we are fine.  Luther wrote in our confession today that we shouldn’t be selfish and that we help others.  That is what a church does.  Those of us blessed help those who struggle to reach our goal.

Hang on, we are just about done.  There is a plan I want to lay out for you.  Our loan payoff right now is April 2035.  I am 58.  Lord willing, I plan to work until 67 and retire in December 2032.  The greatest gift we can give the Pastor that follows is to have this loan paid off.  The Council approved this next thing.  A thank offering for August 2025, which will be our 25th year in this wonderful church.  This gives everyone time to plan.  Like Paul writes in our Epistle, “I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you and arrange in advance for the gift.”

Everything belongs to God.  He is in charge.  Be in prayer.  He will continue to bless.  Now we know and may the Holy Spirit lead us in GIVING TO THE OWNER.

AMEN.