Luke 17:11-19; Thanksgiving Eve; November 21, 2018;

Luke 17:11-19; Thanksgiving Eve; November 21, 2018;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marias, MN

On the way to Jerusalem he was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”” (Luke 17:11–19, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

“As [Jesus] was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance…”  they were unclean, it was all they could do… stand at a distance. No one would tolerate their presence any other way. The disease that plagued them, leprosy, was plain for all to see. You could only cover up so much… but, hands showed, and faces… you couldn’t hide the white glossy skin or the black rotting spots, you couldn’t hide the missing fingers and swollen feet. Leprosy was obvious, and it made them unclean. All they could do was stand at a distance and shout hoping that Jesus would hear them. All they could do was believe that if he heard them he would do what he had done for others. “Jesus, Master, have pity on us! Heal us. Take away these awful spots… remove this uncleanness.” Jesus had done it before. He could do it again.

Annabelle felt dirty, and nothing seemed to take it away. She showered five or six times a day, but nothing helped. In her mind she knew that it wasn’t her fault, she had been careful, she had followed all the rules… she never walked at night alone, she avoided dark places, she was always alert to the danger, but it caught her by surprise. It was a public place, but still no one seemed to notice. No one came to help her. The rape made her feel dirty. And even now, months later it made here feel sick. She just couldn’t get over the shameful feelings that overwhelmed her. Her attacker had been caught, he was convicted, he was guilty not her. She knew it. “So why do I feel guilty?” she asked herself. “Other people must feel it, too.” She saw how friends avoided her. Somehow she was ‘tainted.’ They never knew what to say, it was easier to just keep a distance. It just felt better that way. Annabelle felt abandoned, outcast and alone. And she called out to God too, from a distance. How could he love her? How could she come into his presence? She was dirty. She was unclean.

We know what it means to be unclean. It is a violation of what should be. We are repulsed by rotten food, blood, and skin diseases. All we want to do is turn away from it and put as much distance as possible between ourselves and the ‘unclean’ thing.

These feelings are only a small window into the uncleanness that all people have in God’s sight.

You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48, ESV)

“Be perfectly clean, without spot or blemish!” It’s a demand we can’t abide. We know the uncleanness that plagues all people. We know dirt, and filth. We know we are tainted, unclean, and polluted; we’ve seen it in others… “He sure got his hands dirty on that deal.” We say about a shady business. We see it in ourselves. It is there just below the surface; lurking about… thoughts of selfishness, greed, and desire. We know ‘unclean’ and we know we are it.

God is holy and perfect. If we are not perfectly perfect, completely clean, we are offensive to him. If we are unclean He cannot tolerate our presence. We cannot have access to him; he will not come near us, as long as we remain contaminated. We cannot scrub ourselves clean.

Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord GOD.” (Jeremiah 2:22, ESV)

Our uncleanness leaves us abandoned, outcast and alone.

But, God has come near to us. "Jesus, Master, have pity on us!" the Lepers shouted. Jesus saw them, and he healed them. He made them clean. He removed their disease and he sent them to the priests to have them declared ‘clean.’ They would offer a sacrifice to God. A blood offering, to announce that they were free from the disease, they were clean. Jesus drew near to them by healing them.

Jesus drew near to us when He entered our contaminated world. He came to us, perfectly clean, perfectly holy, perfectly human, perfectly God. And he came to wash us clean. He didn’t come only to clean diseases of the skin he came to clean the disease of the heart. The inner uncleanness that lies just below the surface. The dirt that we can’t clean, he washes clean by shedding his holy and precious blood, and his innocent suffering and death. His blood does what we cannot.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:2, ESV)

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.” (Psalm 51:7, ESV)

We cry for mercy. “Oh Lord, have pity… I am unclean… I have sinned against you, in thought word and deed.” He answers our prayers. “I forgive you. I make you clean.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7, ESV)

God no longer recoils from us. He comes near to us. Where two or three are gathered in my name, I promise you my presence.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13, ESV)

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,” (Ephesians 5:25–26, ESV)

This was the verse Annabelle clung to. “… washing with water through the word.” Whenever, she felt dirty and defiled, she turned to what God had done for her in Baptism. God had cleaned her, he had accepted her, and he had drawn near to her. “…wash me and I will be clean.” She would say to herself as she made the sign of the cross. She remembered that she had been saved by the blood of Christ, and washed clean, even if she didn’t always feel clean. She knew it was true because God had promised it. “Thank you Jesus for making me clean.” She prayed. “Rise and go, your faith has made you clean.” God says to her.

As the ten men walked down the road toward the temple the suddenly began to realize that each one of them had been healed. Gone were the sores. Gone were the dark rotting spots… they were clean, totally, utterly clean. The looked at one another in amazement, and they began to run… to the temple… to the presence of God. But one of them stopped, “to the presence of God?!?” He said. He knew were God was. He knew who had cleansed him. He knew where he had to go. He turned around and ran even faster. “Praise God! Praise God! Praise God!” he said with each step louder and louder as he approached the presence of Jesus. He threw himself at Jesus feet, wrapped his arms around him. “Thank you! Jesus. Praise God!” he shouted. “I’m clean!” “Arise and go, your faith has made you clean.” Jesus said to him.

The leper was made clean. Annabelle was made clean. We have been made clean. No longer are we abandoned, outcast and alone. No longer do we shrink from God’s presence, nor does he recoil at ours. He came to us in Jesus Christ to cleanse us from our sins. He comes to us with his presence as we gather here in this place. “Thank you Jesus for making us clean.” We say.

And there is just one more thing. Just as Jesus is present with us now, he is present with us always… just as he promised. But, he will be present with us in an even greater and more mysterious way in just a few moments. He will come to us again with his blood to cleanse us again… “This is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” for your cleansing. Jesus says. “Take and eat, take and drink, you have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus.” We approach his presence at this rail and kneel at his feet. And we eat and drink and his blood purifies. We draw near to him because he has drawn near to us.

Did you know that often the Lord’s Supper is called the “Eucharist.” It’s a Greek word that means “Thanksgiving.” Because of Jesus, because of the shedding of his blood, because of his death, because of his resurrection, we are no longer ‘at a distance’ from God; we are in his very presence. We are clean. “He recalls his promises and leads his people forth in joy, with shouts of thanksgiving. Alleluia.” Thank you Jesus for making us clean.

We give thanks to you, almighty God, that you have refreshed us thorough this salutary gift, and we implore you that of your mercy you would strengthen us through the same in faith toward you and in fervent love toward one another; through Jesus Christ, you Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen.

Hebrews 10:11-18; Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity; November 18, 2018

Hebrews 10:11-18; Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity; November 18, 2018

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN

¹¹And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹²But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. ¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, ¹⁶“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds,” ¹⁷then he adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” ¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Hebrews 10:11-18 (ESV)

Grace and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Hope looked at the dirty pile of clothes lying on the floor by the washing machine. It was a mountain that never seemed to go away. Every time she attacked the hill, every time she rallied her forces to conquer it; the hill sprouted anew. Instead of getting smaller it grew taller or wider or someone would dump a basket from the upstairs bathroom onto it. It was a hopeless task. It would never be done. Nothing she could do would ever end the job. It was “laundry everlasting”; dirty shirts, shorts and socks that multiplied. And yet, Hope persisted. The job was there to be done; she was the one to do it.

That’s a picture we can understand, “laundry everlasting.” We know it because it’s in all of our houses, maybe not so much for those whose children are grown and gone, but it was true for you, just as it is for those of us whose children are helping to build that mountain of never-ending work. But it’s a job that has to be done.

In a way, that’s what the writer of Hebrews is talking about here in this text. ¹¹And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. He’s talking about the priest offering sacrifices for the Jews every day in the temple. There were sacrifices for every type of sin. There were burnt offerings made for general sins, there were offerings for unintended sins and mistakes, there were offerings for sins that required restitution. The blood of bulls, lambs, rams, sheep, goats and turtle doves spilled every day over and over again to take care of the never ending mountain of sins that God’s people committed. And these offerings were made repeatedly, many times a day, and yet the people’s sins were always before them. Each offering wasn’t an answer to sin because each sin required a new sacrifice. Before one sacrifice was finished a new one was required. The mountain of sin couldn’t be assaulted by sacrifice because no amount of them would ever make a dent in it. Every time a sin was removed by sacrifice a new batch was added to the festering pile. “Sacrifice everlasting.” A task that had to be done yet was never finished. That’s exactly why the priests stood, they were to be attentive to the task, and to sit was to say the job was done. An endless stream of blood from bulls and goats could never get the job done. They could never take away sins. 

Do you see your sins this way? I think the mountain of dirty laundry might help us to see it. Every time we wear our cloths we leave them dirty. It’s not just dirt on the outside, but sweat and oil from on the inside. If they lie around the house they begin to smell. We can’t help it, it’s the way our bodies work.

Sin is kind of the same for us. It’s the way our bodies work now. Every time we do anything sin is a part of it. When we do good for someone, we hope someone sees us so we get the credit. When we are sitting alone we think about things we shouldn’t think about. Men think thoughts about women. Women think thoughts about men. We want what isn’t ours to have. And we take by deceitfulness what we can’t get legally. We cheat when it really doesn’t even matter. And we lie when lying isn’t even necessary. If we had to make sacrifices for each and every sin, the mountain of dead animals would stack to the top of the building for each one of us. “Sacrifice Everlasting” is what would be required. Your mountain of sin; my mountain of sin can’t be reduced by blood. Even your own blood spilled wouldn’t be enough to pay the price.

And that is really the point. That’s why God commanded the sacrifices. He wanted His people to see the effect of sin in a very graphic way. He wanted them to see that blood was necessary; lots of blood. He wanted them to see that death was necessary; lots of death. And He wanted them to see that nothing they could do would take away their sin. Not the blood of thousands, not anything they could do with their own hands. The mountain of sin grows every moment, and it requires death and blood.

¹²But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. It says. Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice. It was one sacrifice that stood in the place of the thousands. One time for all sins, one man, one God, crucified, dead and buried. God wanted the people to know that the sacrifice of His Son was greater than all the blood ever spilled in the temple. His one single sacrifice for sins was not just one sacrifice is was “Sacrifice Everlasting.” It is the complete sacrifice for sin. The life of God given for the sins of the world. The life of a bull or a goat or a lamb has value. The life of a human being has great value. But none of them can pay the price for the sins of even one person. But the life of God is priceless. The life of God is eternal. The life of God is immeasurably high. That’s the life that Jesus Christ gave on the cross. That’s the life that is enough to pay for sin. In fact, the life of Jesus Christ is more than enough to pay for all the sins of the whole world no matter how long the world goes on, no matter how many people live and sin. The life and death and resurrection of Jesus is a price that is so great, no mountain of sin will ever be as tall. Jesus assaults the mountain of human sin with such force that it evaporates in to nothingness. And he sat down at the right hand of God. The job was done, and Jesus sits down. The text says ¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. It’s talking about you and me, perfected by Jesus’ sacrifice, for all time. Job done, once and for all.

And as usual that’s not all the text has to say to us. Holy Spirit also bears witness to us. The fact that we even see this mountain of sin, this every growing dirty laundry is God’s work in us through the Holy Spirit. I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds. As we live and work and play every day God has given us His law. That law is like a mirror that shows us that every time we turn around that we’re adding to our pile of sin. The law says don’t commit adultery, which we may not do physically, but even the thoughts in our minds condemn us. The law says don’t steal, we may not actually get around to taking things that don’t belong to us, but the desire condemns us also. We don’t like it but actually that condemning law is really the gift of God, it is the working of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds. Jesus himself said that he came to help the sick. And the law that God has placed in our hearts shows us every day that we are very sick. And just like that ever growing mountain of laundry no matter how good we try to be we can’t remove our own mountain of sin. That’s really what the law is all about. It’s not there to tell us how to clean up our own act. It’s not there to tell us how to get right with God again, its primary purpose is to show us the mountain.

Now if that were all, we’d have a pretty terrible life, never living up to what we can’t live up to. Helpless and hopeless, we have nowhere to turn. But we can turn to God. And the Spirit is at work there, too. “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” It’s not that God is forgetful. He doesn’t remember our sins because He has taken care of them. He has paid the price that we can’t pay. He has done the work necessary to remove the mountain of sin. It’s not because of a thousand sacrifices made in the temple; it’s because of the One Sacrifice. It’s not because we’ve done it right and gotten our act together, it’s because God Himself, made it right, in Jesus Christ. That One Sacrifice brought to us more forgiveness than we’ll ever need. ¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. There is nothing more that needs to be done. No more blood spilled on stone altars. No more good works to set us in good standing. There is no longer anything to do, because Jesus Christ has done it all for us.

Here is where Jesus gives that wonderful gift to us; forgiveness for that mountain that we can’t handle. Every day we add to it and every day Jesus removes it. He does it here in His Word and Sacraments. Over and over again, it never ends. One Sunday is just like the last. We say: “For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us, renew us and forgive us, and lead us….” And your Pastor says: “in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” And it is so because of that Jesus promise. And the next Sunday we say it again: “For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us, renew us and forgive us, and lead us….” And your Pastor says: “in the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” But we don’t do this over and over because it doesn’t work. We do this over and over because it does. We do it over and over again because Jesus has already removed the sin by His blood. We do it over and over again because we need to be reminded over and over again. We need to hear it to receive it. We need to hear it to believe it. It’s done! I’m forgiven because of Jesus. “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” That’s what it’s about really its “Forgiveness Everlasting.” Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

Psalm 126; TWENTY–FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, November 11, 2018;

Psalm 126; TWENTY–FOURTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, November 11, 2018;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

When the LORD restored the fortunes of | Zion,*

we were like | those who dream.

Then our mouth was filled with | laughter,*

and our tongue with | shouts of joy;

then they said among the nations,

“The LORD has done great | things for them.”*

The LORD has done great things for us; |we are glad.

Restore our fortunes, | O LORD,*

like streams in the | Negeb!

Those who | sow in tears*

shall reap with | shouts of joy!

He who goes out weeping,

bearing the seed for | sowing,*

shall come home with shouts of joy,

bringing his | sheaves with him.

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

This Psalm is one of the Songs of Ascent. When the people approached the holy city, Jerusalem on festivals they chanted these psalms together. They are Songs of Ascent because when you come to Jerusalem you have to go up the hill to the city, up mount Zion.

This particular psalm has another approach in view. Some six hundred years before Jesus, God’s people were conquered and sent into exile in Babylon. It was God’s discipline for their sin of rejecting him. After a great many years, God finally acted on their prayers for return and

allowed a small band of them to come home. You can imagine this psalm being spoken by them as they climbed the holy hill once again. It was like a dream. They had waited so long. God had finally begun to fulfill his promise. Their mouths were filled with joy. God had done a great thing for them, they were glad.

And yet, not all was well. The land and the city were in rubble. There had been no crops sown for many years. The vast majority of the people were still back in Babylon. The psalm is a not only a prayer of joy for what God has done, but a plea for him to continue to do more. Bring the rest home! In this way it’s another one of the complaint Psalms, a lament. Those who were there had much hard work ahead of them. There would be sowing in tears. There was weeping for now, but great joy in the future with God’s promise.

This is the perfect song as we approach Advent. It’s a reminder that we are not just preparing for a quaint family holiday, the reason for the season isn’t that we gather together and exchange love and presents. The baby in the manger is the beginning of our return from exile. We huddle around the crèche because it is the beginning. The angels sang, “God and sinners reconciled” because God was present among sinful people to do away with sin and death and the power of Satan. Christmas is God becoming flesh in Jesus Christ. God, in Jesus, born in a manger. God, in Jesus, feeding at his mother’s breast. God, in Jesus, growing in wisdom and stature to be a full grown man. God, in Jesus, living and working with his family. God, in Jesus, preaching and teaching. God, in Jesus, arrested and beaten. God, in Jesus, crucified dead and buried, under Pontius Pilate. God, in Jesus, paying the eternal punishment for all human sin on the cross. God, in Jesus, dead and buried. God, in Jesus, raised from the dead on the third day. All of that, God, in Jesus, reconciling sinners, bringing them home to God himself from their exile to sin.  

So the laughter we experience as we gather with our families is part of the joy we rightly feel because of God and Sinners Reconciled. Joy to the World. Oh, Come Let Us Adore Him, Gloria in Excelsis Deo! All that we will sing in a bit more than a month. It fits well with the first part of the Psalm. In some ways it is like a dream for us also, too good to be true. When we see the depth of our sin, when we know what sin does to us and to those we love, and we realize the rescue God has made for us. We sing for joy!

And yet, not all is well. Death, the wages of sin, still haunts us, breaking our joy. There is more of Jesus to come, even though he has totally captured the victory and yet there is more to do. In the psalm we call on God to finish it. The crucified, baby in the manger has risen from the dead has done great thing for us, and he promises to do even more. We weep now, but we will renew our shouts of joy even louder when the sky is filled with Jesus and his holy angels returning. We lament our sin and suffering. We long for a time when human beings can really live together in peace on earth. St. Paul says it:

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” (1 Corinthians 15:20–26, ESV)

Tears turned to joy. Weeping turned to shouts of joy. Jesus “making all things new” (Rev 21:5, ESV). And so we repeat or Advent Prayer. Come, Lord Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

John 8.31-36; Festival of the Reformation; October 28, 2018;

John 8.31-36; Festival of the Reformation; October 28, 2018;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?” Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:31–36, ESV) 

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Every text comes with a context.  I've told you many times that you can't just take a text plop it out on the table and say what it means.  You have to read it in its context.  Today's text is a great example.  When you look at the part we have here it looks quite simple.  Jesus is encouraging believers to remain in his Word.  It's true.  That's exactly what he's doing.  But the text is so much more complicated than that.  What we don't read before and after this text is Jesus' conflict with these believers.  In fact, just prior to this the same crowd (of believers) tries to kill him but he escapes because, John says, it was not yet his time.  And following this text he tells these believers that they are doing the works of their father, the devil.  They are plotting to kill him.  It just seems a bit out of sorts.  Why would believers do these things?  But I think this conflict is pushing toward the very point of what the Evangelist is saying.  Jesus is talking about being set free from sin, and not being slaves to it.  And this struggle against sin isn't easy.  In fact, it is the most difficult struggle in which a believer will ever engage.    

It happens for these Jews, who believe in Jesus.  They are here listening to Jesus, and believing in him.  They have been hanging around and they like Jesus and they have begun to believe in what he does and says.  They are starting to think that he is who he says he is.  But Jesus won't leave it at that.  He pushes their buttons.  It's like he's saying,  "Listen to what I'm saying.  It is the truth.  Cling to my words and set aside the things that conflict with the truth I tell you.  Then you will be set free. "  These believers do just what you and I do.  We hear Jesus' words and we push them aside and say they don't apply to us.  They answered Jesus, "We've never been slaves to anyone.  We are perfectly free already.  We don't need this."  They are proving Jesus' exact point.  They want to be easy believers.  They want to be disciples and keep their previous assumptions.  They want to work and live just like the rest of the world and still hold on to Jesus.  "We are the seed of Abraham!"  They are not talking about their blood line.  They are talking about their place before God.  We are free because we are who we are.  We don't need to saved because we are God's people already.   If we put it in terms of Jesus' words (Mark 2:17), "We are not sick, so we don't need a doctor.  We are not slaves, we don't need to be liberated."  They push back hard against Jesus and what he says.  It's an echo of what they are going to do.  They are going to kill Jesus.  They want to believe but they want to believe on their own terms.   

Now that sounds like us.  Jesus is ok for Sunday morning, but I'm not going to take what he says out there.  After all what he says makes me look foolish, out there.  He says God created the world in six days.  If I agree with that, out there, my friends will laugh at me because, out there, science says that it took millions of years.  He says homosexuality is an abomination.  If I agree with that, out there, I'll be called a bigot and homophobe.  He says sex is for marriage.  If I agree with that, out there, I'll never get married, because out there, they say you have to have sex to see if you're compatible, then you get married.  He says women can't be pastors... he says the table of his supper is closed to those who don't believe the same things...  And on and on the list goes of the things that we hold in reserve, and still want to believe in Jesus.

And there's more.  It's not just morality.  It's economics.  Out there, self-fulfillment comes with stuff.  The marketplace teases us with the latest bit of technology that claims it will make us smarter, better and more popular.  And we buy in, literally.  The new car, the new computer, the latest gadget have more meaning to me and you than Jesus warning, Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind.  We want to be believers because we think that if we believe, if we trust in God, he'll make us healthy, wealthy and wise.  We believe in Jesus because we believe that God's greatest desire is to make us happy.  We want to believe just in case cancer strikes and we need a miracle.  God is like our great concierge.  We believe in him and he gets us what we want.  Jesus says Love your neighbor as yourself.  We love ourselves over our neighbor.  Our belief in God is just the means to loving ourselves.  Out there, after all, you have to take care of yourself because no one else will.  

And even with all this we think that we are free.  Jesus pushes our buttons.  

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

It's easy to believe, until belief lays its demands on us.  Being a disciple doesn't mean a life of ease.  It means to hold what Jesus says is the truth through cross and suffering.  And make no mistake, if you hold to what Jesus says, you will have cross and suffering.

But let's be very clear.  I'm not saying that doing any of these things will save you.  I'm saying that we place these things, the things out there, the way they think out there in the place of Christ.  We think that doing or saying those things, and following those people, out there, will make us free.  Free from trouble and pain and persecution and worry.  Free to be ourselves.  But in reality, the truth is (as Jesus says), these things enslave us.  These things are sin.  And anyone who sins is a slave to sin.  And not only that but the doing of sin actively enslaves.  Human beings are slaves to moral failure.  All of it is an active rebellion against the God who created us, in favor of the god of ourselves.   That which we think would set us free doesn't The Scottish preacher, George McDonald said,

A man is in bondage to whatever he cannot part with that is less than himself.

Martin Luther says it like this:

For anything that is not God’s Son will not make me free.

That is exactly what Jesus is telling the Jews in this text.  He is the way to freedom.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to freedom (to the Father, into a relationship with God) except through him.  Jesus offers the only way to be free people.  Know the truth, that is know Jesus, and the truth will set you free.

What does the freedom that Jesus gives look like.   Well, it starts with the freedom from the punishment that we deserve.  Sin, rebellion from God, selfishness and self worship, deserves punishment.  Like the murderer waiting on death row for the guards to carry him to the hangman.  The death sentence hangs over us.  We are guilty.  We deserve to die.  But Jesus Christ brings freedom:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” (Romans 8:1–4, ESV) 

To be in Christ is to be free.  Jesus hangs on the cross as punishment for your sin, for my sin.  Again Luther makes this very personal.  He says the most important words in the bible are "for you."  Jesus does this for you.  He dies for you.  He dies for your sin.  You have no punishment due.  The Chaplin has come to the prison cell and let the murderer go, he has received a pardon, he is free.  You are forgiven in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  You receive the pardon you are free.

This freedom also means, not only are we free from sin and its punishment, but we are free NOT to sin.

“If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

The problem with sin is its effects.  The spiritual effects of sin are our broken relationship with God that deserves hell.  Jesus mends that.  The worldly effects of sin are the things we see it do to us every day.  It damages our relationships.  It muddles our thinking.  It breaks our hearts.  It separates people.  It hurts the helpless.  Those damages will continue until our Savior returns and sets all things right.  But free people, people in Christ, have opportunities that slaves to sin do not have.   They are free to serve.  St. Paul says in his letter to the Galatians:

For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1, ESV) 

 and a bit later in the same letter:

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”” (Galatians 5:13–14, ESV) 

We have freedom to serve.  Just as Jesus served us and gave us what we need, the forgiveness of our sins that means freedom from punishment, we are free to serve the people around us and give them what they need.  Instead of being selfish we are free to be unselfish.  When our neighbor is suffering we are free to comfort him.  When our neighbor is hit with the effects of sin we are free to tell him the Good News about the One who sets us all free from slavery to sin.  When our relationships are breaking we are free to do what is necessary to restore them.  When the world professes lies, we are free to proclaim the truth.

This is the Reformation.  

that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting [our] trespasses against [us], and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2 Corinthians 5:19–21, ESV) 

Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Isaiah 55:6-8; THE TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY; October 14, 2018;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marias, MN;

NIV Isaiah 55:6 Seek the LORD while he may be found; call on him while he is near. 7 Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. 8 "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Seek the Lord… It’s a great idea. This is a great text. It’s hard to read this one and think that God is far away, isn’t it? It’s hard to read this text and think that God isn’t ready to be found! It falls right on the heels of another great one. Only a few verses before this one is that great invitation… “Come all who are thirsty, come to the waters; you who have no money, come buy and eat…” What an invitation. To come and get what you need without money. Com to God, he has what you need. “Seek the Lord…” That’s a pretty sweet invitation.

But, wait a second. Is it really that sweet? Do we really want to seek this Lord? … This God? After all, the last thing this text says is that his ways aren’t like ours. It says that he thinks differently than we do.

For example…  we like things to be easy. We like things to go smoothly. When the car breaks down, or the house isn’t quite clean enough we get pretty difficult to live with.  We are impatient, and crabby, when things get tough, we’re not happy. I don’t think “this God” thinks that way. The way God thinks was made pretty clear to me one day when I visited the nursing home.

 

“Linda,” is said quietly, really hoping not to disturb the fragile looking woman lying in front of me. “I’m awake,” she said without opening her eyes. It was and odd scene… I was standing beside the bed, which looked freshly made. Her tiny body was hardly even visible… it didn’t even seem to make a lump in the blankets… almost as if she wasn’t there at all. Her eyes were sunken and dark, her skin was pink, paper thin, and her hair practically non-existent. She lay there still and quiet, waiting for me to speak again. “How are you?” I asked timidly. “Tired.” She stated, as I knew she would. “I’m patient,” she added, “I only wish I knew how much longer I will have to wait. But, right now… I have to wait. His way is best.” These were the same words she spoke, every time we met. … the same words of hope and faith.

 

She opened her eyes, even though they almost seemed clear they were still full of life. No amount of wishing would wish that away. “What shall we pray for today?” I asked, already knowing what she would say. It would be the same as last time, and the time before that. Her strongest desire was that the waiting would be over, that she would finally be “with Jesus.” “I don’t know why I’m still here,” she would say, “I keep telling myself that his ways are better than mine. I just have to wait.”

 

I’m not sure I could wait as long as Linda did. Her husband died twenty years before. Her friends were gone. Before she was at the home, she sat alone in her house. Her children were far away… old, weak and tired. Hadn’t she lived long enough? Hadn’t she seen enough? What was God waiting for? It wasn’t like she wanted to be rich or healthy or beautiful or anything like that… She just wanted to be with here Lord. Yet that’s the way this God thinks. We want it easy. He allows us to develop patience through hardship. We want things to go smoothly. He gives us strength in trouble. We want it all to go well, right now. He wants us to go his way. Do we want to see a God like this?

 

Yet, here we are, gathered together, seeking the Lord. Why? Because we know he’ll have problems. We know will not always have it easy. So we seek his strength, his patience, his way, even when we don’t always like his way.

 

But that’s not the only reason we ‘seek the Lord.’ Remember the text, right there in the middle of it. It says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. It says turn to God and he will have mercy. That isn’t the way we think either! We know how we feel when people sin against us. Think about when your children delay, or forget to visit you. Or when a friend stabs you in the back or people deliberately hurt you. You become angry. That’s what we expect from God, too. That he won’t forgive those who disobey him. That he will punish them somehow.

 

Thank God, he doesn’t think the way we do. Thank God, his ways aren’t our ways. Remember the text, it says, “He will abundantly pardon.” It isn’t that he just forgets about sin. He’s deadly serious about it. It’s just that his way isn’t ours. Thankfully when it comes to sin, he took care of it. That abundant pardon comes to us because of Jesus. He didn’t think like we do either. He went to the cross so we could be pardoned. He was treated as a wicked and unrighteous man deserves, even though he was perfect. He was punished instead of the ones who are wicked and unrighteous… hey! That was us! But that’s why we can turn to God, and like the text says, “He pardons us for Jesus sake, even though we didn’t deserve it. That’s what makes this invitation so great. That’s why we seek him.

 

You know what? That’s not all that it means to seek the Lord. It says to seek him while he may be found. What’s that all about? When can he be found? Where can he be found? Mary and the other women were asking those same questions when they went to Jesus tomb. Instead of finding him in it, it was empty. An angel told them, “why do you seek the living among the dead?” He was alive! Again God’s ways aren’t our ways. We expect dead people to stay dead. That’s what those women expected. We don’t visit the graves of our friend and family expecting to find them empty. God’s way… is that graves are empty. God’s way of raising people begins with raising Jesus. God’s way is a promise that our graves will be empty.

 

When can Jesus be found? … This Jesus who now lives? Where can Jesus be found? Right now! Right here! He has made it easy to find him.

 

Look He’s here in this house. We are gathered together in His name, brothers and sisters in Christ. Together we speak and sing about what He has done for us. We have been given his name in Baptism. Our lives together reflect the love He has given us. Think about all the things we do for one another from prayer to visits during illness.

 

Look, he’s here in his word. His word is where we find out about who he is, and what he has done. We hear about his life, death and resurrection. We hear about what he said, and learn about who he is. And we learn that he did it all for us, and we respond in faith.

 

Look he’s here in His Supper. Really, truly present… in, with and under the bread and wine, offering us forgiveness, life and salvation. Here he comes to us to touch us and strengthen our faith. Isn’t it just like our Lord, to know what we need and make it easy to find him? But, that’s just the way he thinks.

 

So… seek the Lord, while he may be found… right now, right here. Don’t worry that it seems strange, don’t worry that it isn’t what you expect. Remember He doesn’t think the way we do. Amen.

 

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

 

 

Mark.8.27-36; The 17th Sunday after Trinity; September 16, 2018;

Mark.8.27-36; The 17^th Sunday after Pentecost; September 16, 2018;

And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” And he called to him the crowd with his disciples and said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? (Mark 8:28-36, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Jesus says those very important words, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”  I know how we most often think about what Jesus means here.  We think he’s talking in general the bad stuff that happens in our lives, on a regular basis.  Like when a friend is troubled by a part of their life they can’t seem to resolve we try to give them comfort by saying, “Well, we all have our crosses to bear.”  Or we say it to try to be of help a Christian who is suffering from a long term illness.  Well, Jesus isn’t talking about the regular every day troubles that we go through here.  He’s not even talking about the things that happen to us because we’ve screwed up and have to suffer the consequences.  The cross he’s talking about here it the cross of being a theologian.  Now I know you don’t usually think of yourselves theologians, but you are, in fact everybody is a theologian.  All a theologian is, is a person who talks (Logos) or thinks about who god (Theos) is or isn’t, or what he is like.  It’s like the psalm says:

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” (Psalm 14:1, ESV)

Everyone is a theologian, and Jesus is here saying that there are two kinds of theologians in the world, those who carry a cross and those who don’t.  Our name sake, Martin Luther made a fine point on this.  He says people are either Theologians of the Cross (good theologians) or Theologians of Glory (bad theologians).  And as it turns out this difference helps us to understand very well the difference between Christianity and every other religion in the world.  And it also helps us to focus on what is really important in our lives.  And it all comes very clear in this text.

Peter begins by making the wonderful confession of faith.  “You are the Christ.”  Jesus asks about what people are saying about him.  The disciples have a list.  All of them are very complementary of Jesus, placing him in a very high category.  If Jesus had been a sinful man like you and me he would have gotten swelled up with pride, to be considered on par with the prophets that were mentioned.  But of course Jesus doesn’t sin.  In fact, we see him doing something that sounds very strange.  He says, “Don’t tell anyone about this.”  We might wonder why he doesn’t want the word spread, but we don’t get to think about it very long.  Right away he gathers his disciples together and begins to tell them about nothing less than the cross.  Do you see it there?  

And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. (Mark 8:31, ESV)

And now Peter who made the great and true confession of Jesus shows his true colors.  He shows he doesn’t really understand what Jesus is all about.  He shows he doesn’t know what it means to be a Theologian of the Cross.  He rebukes Jesus.  Now that’s a word we don’t use too much anymore.  But to rebuke means to put in place.  Think of it in terms of the way you and I think.  Someone says something that we don’t agree with and we use our tongue to take them down a peg.  Put them in their place.  That’s what Peter is thinking he’s doing.  “Jesus you don’t know what you are talking about!”  This is you and me.  Peter is doing only what people do naturally.  He’s being a theologian without a cross.  After all that’s what he doesn’t like about what Jesus is saying.  (Mark makes sure we know it’s not just a misunderstanding about what Jesus said. He adds that important detail, “And he said this plainly”).  Peter is perfectly happy with Jesus being “the Christ” unless it means Jesus’ suffering and death.  “Not on my watch!” He says.

It’s hard to blame him either.  Things were just starting to look up.  Lot’s of people were gathering around the numbers looked good.  He was pretty well set as the top of the twelve.  Jesus new kingdom was going to have Peter as a pretty important person in it.  People were going to be looking up to him.  That’s exactly what a Theologian of Glory is.  It’s not God’s glory that’s in focus. It’s self glory.  That is how you and I think, too.  We put ourselves at the center of our god-thinking, our theology.  We think we can figure out stuff about God by how our life is going.  If stuff is going good, if we have all the money we need and even extra for stuff we don’t need, we think that God is blessing us because he’s happy with the way we are behaving.  What we are doing is bringing God down to our level.  We think he works the way everything else in life works.  You know; the American work ethic.  If you work hard you’ll have nice things.  The football hero gets the prom queen.  The good student gets good grades, goes to a good school, and gets a good job (that’s no where near Northrup), a beautiful wife, a SUV, 2.5 kids and a weekend house by the lake and one to live in every other day. All this, we think, shows God smiling down on us.  Or maybe this is a little closer to home.  If the church is working the way we want it to work, if there’s no conflict, if the budget is balanced, if there’s a bunch of new members looking to come in, if everyone feels good about what’s going on here, then God is blessing our congregation.  

All of this thinking, this Theology of Glory gets us thinking about faith in the wrong way.  We go to church to gain God’s favor.  As if sitting our butts in on the pew pad earns us brownie points.  If I pray hard enough and have enough faith, God will take away my cancer.  Conflict in the church means God isn’t happy with us.  If the church isn’t full like it used to be, just isn’t church anymore.  Well, none of that stuff has anything to do with the cross that Jesus says we have to bear, if we “would come after him.”  It’s thinking like Peter.  It’s a Theology of Glory.  It’s putting our thinking, our interests, our sinful hopes and dreams, and our sin stained attitudes at the center instead of Jesus and the cross that he bled and died on.  The definition of sin is man turning in on himself.

If that strikes a little too close to your heart… so did Jesus words to Peter.  “Get behind me Satan!” He said.  You are not setting your hearts on the things of God but on the things of man.  In Martin Luther’s words, “You are being a Theologian of Glory not at Theologian of the Cross.”

As I said before, all human religion is based on a Theology of Glory.  A very basic way to think if that is this:  “do good things for your god and he will do good things for you.”  It doesn’t matter if you’re talking about Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, or any other religion you can name.  They are all the same.  It even affects Christian churches and preachers like Joel Osteen, Rick Warren.  Only true Christianity is different.  

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.” Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (1 Corinthians 1:18-25, ESV)

The foolishness of God is the cross of Jesus Christ; the Theology of the Cross.  What exactly is that theology, that god-talk, all about?  Well, instead of thinking that we can change God’s attitude about us by what we do, we, that is the Theologians of the Cross, see that there’s nothing we can do that changes God’s attitude toward us.  Everything we do is polluted by sin.  Yes, I did say everything.  Remember, “We are by nature sinful and unclean.”  Sinful trees produce sinful fruit.  It’s our sinful nature that only deserves God’s present and eternal punishment, and nothing else.  We can’t work our way into God’s good graces.  He doesn’t work that way.  And more importantly we can’t tell if God is happy with us by the way things look in our lives.  It’s like St. Paul says, God hides himself in weakness and foolishness.  One pastor I know says it like this:

God, Who is all-powerful, hides Himself in weakness. God, Who is all wise, hides Himself in foolishness. God, Who is living, hides Himself in death.  (Rev. Todd Wilken, the new Issues, Etc. Journal - Vol. 2, No. 1; The Theology of the Cross: Cross-Shaped Theology) 

Well, that’s just not the way our nature wants God to be.  We’d have had Jesus born in a mansion.  We’d have had him march on Hell’s Doors with his multitudes of armies.  We’d have had him crush Satan’s head in an obvious, glorious way.

Ah, but we are followers of Christ.  We do bear the cross.  Jesus told the disciples not to tell anyone because they hadn’t seen the cross yet.  Peter missed it even when Jesus spoke about it plainly.   We Lift High the Cross of Jesus Christ.  Our Savior is the one who showed us who God is by His death on the cross.   We don’t have to look at how the world is treating us to see what God thinks about us.  We haven’t and can’t please God by the things we do, but Jesus did please God once and for all.  That’s the foolishness that is so difficult for us to see and understand.  That God would send His only Son, in the flesh to suffer and die and rise again, for me… for you.  God isn’t pleased with us because of anything we do, but because of what Jesus did.  If we want to see God’s favor we look the cross.  If you want to know about your relationship to God, you don’t look at your “blessings,” instead you look at God’s promises through the cross of Jesus.

So what does the Theology of the Cross look like in your life?  Not like we’d expect.  And sometimes not even like we want.  Sometimes it looks like suffering.  We get sidetracked from our hopes and dreams by some unforeseen problem.  We have to depend on other people for help.  We have to trust that God knows what He’s doing and put our lives in His hands.  God’s Word points out our sin, and we know we can’t change our lives for the better.  At the foot of Jesus’ cross we drop the burden of it.  Life is hard and we wonder where God is when we need Him.  We cling to God’s promises made by an adoption of water on our head and His Name received upon our forehead and upon our heart.  We drag our sinful nature to the Lord’s Table and God pours forgiveness into us with Jesus’ body and blood.  People want us to tell them about our faith and we don’t talk about our faith, our experiences, or our testimony, instead we tell them about Jesus.  

“I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit…”

It’s really a matter of getting ourselves out of the picture and putting Christ Crucified at the center.  When I came here I had that passage from 1 Corinthians read at my installation.  That was no idle threat.  This is who we are going to be.  Christians who know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified.  That’s who we are as Theologians of the Cross.  Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.