June 9, 2024 Text:  Mark 3:20-35

Dear Friends in Christ,

It was about 8 years ago at my Grandma Lueck’s funeral in Wisconsin.  The family was standing around all waiting to go into the sanctuary.  The Pastor asked if someone would like to say a prayer.  I don’t remember exactly what I said but it was a little off the beaten path for the moment, because you see everyone standing there was LCMS.  It included three Pastors, a parochial school principal, two church organists and various leaders in their churches.  We were going to have to cast lots…maybe that is what I said!  Anyway, my cousins gave me that look, what is this guy thinking.  I tend to get that a lot.  But there are no secrets, everyone knows who I am.  Church family, you get that, right?

Today Jesus is going to be with his family.  In a group setting.  As family we tend to know each other the best.  Do they know Him?  Do they understand Him?  Let’s sneak ourselves into this . . . 

“FAMILY AFFAIR”

Our text begins with Jesus going home.  Crowds are huge.  These newly appointed disciples and Jesus couldn’t get anything to eat.  The family goes to seize him and say, “he is out of his mind.”  Why did they say this?  We need a little context which Mark does not give, but Matthew does.  Jesus had just healed a demon-possessed man.  His family thought he was in league with the demons.  They do not believe he is the Messiah, he must be crazy.

Does our family ever think we are “out of our mind.”  Do they ever look at you, like my cousins looked at me?  There are times we are out of our mind.  We don’t think clearly.  We do dumb things.  We say things we shouldn’t.  Our family knows most of our foibles and our weaknesses.  If they don’t, God surely does.  It is all a family affair.  Being in a family is not all happy meals and campfire songs.  It can be dark and dirty, emotional and confusing.  Who can we thank for that?  The first family.  It’s there in your Old Testament.  They disobeyed God.  They were naked.  They hid.  They blamed.  Families have been doing the same ever since.  

The accusations don’t end there.  Here’s comes his church family from Jerusalem.  The place where the cross would play an important part in this family affair.  “He’s possessed.”  Jesus’ opponents could not deny his miracles, so they question their origin.   They aren’t from God, they are from Satan.  Well, that’s a big matzoh ball hanging out there.

Time for an answer.  Satan cannot cast out Satan.  If divided, a kingdom cannot stand.  Then the family affair analogy, a house divided cannot stand.  Do you think Jesus might be telling his family something?  Quite an absurd charge, but if you don’t believe in Jesus as Messiah, you can pretty much accuse Him of anything.  

The battle Jesus had with Satan occurred in a way no one saw coming.  Jesus would bear our sin on the cross.  God would condemn Jesus for your sins against immediate family, extended family, church family, the family of God.  He suffered your eternal judgment.  He utters, “it is finished” and your sin is gone.  The resurrection proves Christ took away your sin and sets you right with God.  

Christ can declare in our text, “all sins will be forgiven the children of man.”  Christ’s promise defeats Satan.  Satan is bound by Christ.  Satan can no longer accuse you.  His power is broken.  You walk naked no longer in the garden.  You are set free from his prison.

Because of Christ’s victory, you are no longer an outsider.  When our boys were little, I would say to them, “I love you like you are my son.”  They would say, “I am your son.”  I would respond, “that’s what the blood test says.”  God completed that family joke by giving the boys and I the same exact blood type.  

God has made us family by blood and our genes.  “Who are my mother and my brothers?”  Jesus addresses those who thought he was out of his mind and who at this point do not believe in Him as Savior.  Christ is not downplaying family ties and their importance.  Earthly relations are crucial and help form who we are.  But even more important is our relationship to God and His family of faith.  This forms our eternal communion.  All believers according to Ephesians are the household of God.  We are the household of faith as Paul writes in Galatians.   To Jesus this tie is supreme.  We have to be careful to not place the earthly tie above the heavenly.  I had the opportunity recently to be interviewed about one of our sons.  It gave a chance to witness again, “He is not really my wife and I’s son, he belongs to God.”  

That is the family affair we should all want.  You and I belong to God.  You have been set free from Satan.  You are in the family of Christ the Savior.  Nice to have you home.

Amen.     

May 26, 2024 Text:  Acts 2:14a, 22-36

Dear Friends in Christ,

Roll the dice and take your chance.  When your numbers up, it’s up.  Do feel lucky?  Well, do you?  Is that how we live?  Is that how God operates?  Is life random, or . . . .

“DOES GOD HAVE A PLAN?”

It has been my experience as a Pastor that people answer this question in three different ways.  Some feel that their life has no direction.  They do not see God leading them and that things just happen randomly.  Life has just evolved and whatever happens, will happen.  They don’t have a God direction and they may have a hard time seeing heaven and hell and judgment.  A fellow by the name of Haywood Broun noted this little nugget, “Nobody talks so constantly about God as those who insist there is no God.”  And why does this happen?  The 17^th century mathematician Blaise Pascal said it correctly:  “Men despise religion; they hate it and fear it may be true.”  And this scriptural teaching that God is one God in Three Persons?  Well, it is beyond the human mind.

Does God have a plan?  The second answer from people is yes, He does but they do not have the spiritual awareness to see it.  Someone once remarked to me, “I know God has an answer, I just wish He would write it in the sky.”  These folks have a hard time understanding who God is.  We tend to fit Him into our thoughts and ideas.  When that happens, we want Him to be a skywriter and give us the plan.  Come into my office, Mr. and Mrs. Christian and I will lay everything out for you.  Is that how God works?   

The third way to answer this question is the Spirit induced way.  Yes, God does have a plan.  Yes, He does reveal it to us.  No, He does not always do it in ways that are expected.  I see my life as one God-ordained journey.  I tell my family over and over that God has put me exactly where he wants me to be.   In my socialization over the years, it has led me to see the reasons for events in my life that have taken place.  The Lord has always given me signs.  What career path to take.  Who to marry.  What call to take.  There are more big decisions in my future where He is going to lead me.  Do you see it the same way?  Which of these three ways do you find yourself?  No-direction God?  Some direction God?  All direction God?  Does God have a plan?  Or is it all random?

There was nothing random about your salvation; God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have a definite, gracious plan for you.  In God’s work, we know him and his character, and we see the three persons of the Trinity in action.  Why did God need a plan?  Sin.  It separated us from God.  We deserved death.  But God had a plan.  Peter proclaims this wonder:  God knew what was going to happen.  He knew that we would sin, and He knew what redemption would cost.  It was the price of His Son.  Yet He still went forward.  He created. He redeemed.  

The entire Trinity was involved in God’s plan.  The Father foreknew and sent His only-begotten Son.  God allowed Jesus to be crucified.  He preserved Him from corruption and raised Him from the dead.  Jesus was exalted to God’s right hand.  Jesus’ saving work was complete.  God declared His Son Jesus both Lord and Christ, Master and Savior.

The Son submitted to the Father’s will and came to earth.  He took on our flesh, assumed our nature and shared in our weakness.  He did mighty works which showed His identity.  He resisted all temptation and took our sin upon Himself.  He became obedient to death on a cross.  He faithfully carried out God’s plan.

The Holy Spirit was poured out on Pentecost.  The Spirit gathered the crowds to hear the message in their own language.  The Spirit testifies to Jesus through the Gospel.  We are born again of water and the Spirit.  He speaks to us through God’s Word.  Continually calls, gathers, enlightens, sanctifies, and keeps us in the one true faith.  

This is God’s plan.  The Father, Son, and Spirit are one God, and each person works in grace and mercy to make us His own.  What a plan!

So, if He knew you from the creation of the world and He had this wonderful plan that He made your soul a part of, doesn’t it figure that He is giving you some direction in life?  I think you know the answer to that.  No need to roll the dice or feel lucky.  You are blessed because this Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has made you a saved soul.  Now may the Trinity help you to live like one.

Amen.