Matthew 13:44; Ninth Sunday after Pentecost; July 30, 2023;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44 ESV)

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

Well, there it is in black and white… well in some bibles it’s red and white, because it is Jesus words… Jesus tells us that if we want the treasure of the kingdom of heaven, we should be willing to sell everything we have. Get out your checkbook and write the big one. You know the check that leaves the big goose egg in your account. Don’t worry you’re going to put some more in there anyway because you’ve still got your house to sell… that new car in the parking lot… the new computer you got last month with the ‘free money’ the government gave you to stimulate the economy. And you farmers get your deeds in order that farmland has to go too… all of it. Ladies your mother’s good china that dad brought back from Korea. Your knick-knacks; your quilts; Guys your tools; trucks; tractors; lawnmowers; etc. It’s all gotta go. Don’t forget your personal jewelry, wedding rings, rings you inherited from your father, and the clothes; yep, all those extra shoes in your closet; the pants that fit; and even the ones that don’t. Am I forgetting anything? Well, if I am that’s gotta go also. And then write out another check and close up the account. ‘Cause that’s what Jesus says. Isn’t it? Well, that’s what the parable says:

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. (Matthew 13:44 ESV)

When you read this parable, you read that the kingdom of heaven is like treasure in a field. “The kingdom of heaven”, isn’t that our salvation. Isn’t that all that Jesus came to bring to us? So be like the guy in the parable and sell everything you have and buy it. That’s what this guy does, isn’t it? He finds that valuable treasure in the field and he sells everything?

Well before we get out our garage sale signs maybe we should back up and talk just a minute about this short parable, so we understand it right. So, we understand it like the folks Jesus was talking to. How would they have understood it? Well, those days were not like these days in a lot of ways. First, be clear and understand that this guy in the parable isn’t doing anything illegal or underhanded. Back then when you owned a plot of land you didn’t own everything in it. Not like today with mineral rights and all that. You didn’t own anything in the field that you didn’t know about. So, the treasure doesn’t ‘belong’ to the guy who owns the field just because it’s in his field. He doesn’t own the treasure because he doesn’t know about it. And there’s another very small detail to take notice of. The story doesn’t say that the guy picked up the treasure. It says he found it and covered it up again. That’s because, if he’s a hired hand, working in the field, everything he does he does on behalf of the guy he’s working for. So, if he picks up the treasure it belongs to his boss. So, he covers it up instead. Then he goes and sells everything he must get possession of the field, and since he knows about the treasure, it’s his. Jesus’ listeners would have thought this man very wise, very smart. No one would have accused him of doing anything underhanded. It’s the way anyone there would have operated. This guy in the parable is the “good guy.”

Ok, so now back to our reading of the parable. Jesus says (doesn’t he?) that if you find the kingdom of heaven, you should be willing to sell all you have to get it. You should be as shrewd as this guy, as smart as this guy. You should be willing to sell all you have and buy treasure. Now if the treasure is God’s Kingdom, Jesus Christ, and all that He has done for you, you know exactly where to find it. You know where to find Jesus. He’s here. Right here in his Word and Sacraments. The treasure isn’t even hidden in a field. So, get crackin’; get sellin’; get moving the merchandise. Right?

Well, let’s ask a simple but important question. What if you sell everything and you don’t have enough to buy the land? What if you’ve disposed of all your wealth, all your possessions, all your worldly goods but the clothes on you back and you still don’t have enough to get the treasure? Well, that’s a real problem, isn’t it? And in fact, that is our problem. The Bible tells us that we can’t earn our salvation or purchase it in any way. Our good works aren’t good enough and our money is worthless. So maybe Jesus doesn’t mean exactly what He’s saying here. Maybe the parable isn’t about ‘getting’ the treasure but just about ‘wanting’ the treasure. Maybe he’s saying that we should be willing to sell all that we have to get the kingdom, or to get Jesus. Yea, that must be it. “I’ve Decided to Follow Jesus” as one hymn says. “I’d give up anything for Jesus.”

Hey, there’s a story about that in the bible isn’t there? Yea, it’s in Matthew 19.

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus said to his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, only with difficulty will a rich person enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” (Matthew 19:16-24, ESV)

Well, there’s a guy who just doesn’t get does he. He had the chance to do exactly what the parable says, and he tanked it. Jesus showed him the “treasure in heaven” he’s asking the right question, isn’t he? What must I do to have eternal life? But in the end, he walks away simply because he’s unwilling to sell everything he has to get it. Well, that’s rich folks for you; all they think about is their money. He could have easily spread the love a bit and made all those folks around Jesus happy, you know like the movies where the money from the stingy rich guy gets thrown in the air and everyone around gets a handful. But no, he thinks more of his money than the Kingdom of God.

Ah, but wait a second. Look at what the disciples say when Jesus says, “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” They don’t say, “those silly rich people. They think too much of their money.” They say, “Who than can be saved?” When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?” But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:24-26 ESV)

You see, the disciples see something; hear something that we don’t see at first. When Jesus talks about a camel going through the eye of a needle, he’s talking about something that doable, he’s talking about something that’s impossible. You can tell by the disciples’ reaction. All the sudden the disciples are afraid for their own salvation. And Jesus tells them they otta be. “With man this is impossible.” Jesus says. “You can’t do it, guys.” You can’t sell enough stuff to buy it. You can’t do enough good stuff to earn it. “For you it’s impossible,” Jesus says.

And now guess what? Jesus words reach right out of the pages of the book and grab you by the throat too. You can’t do it either, dear Christians, fellow members of Life in Christ Lutherna Church, Grand Marais, MN. No matter how much you sell, you can’t sell enough to buy the field the treasure is in. You can’t do enough good stuff to make God like you and save you. You are a poor miserable sinner, deserving of God’s wrath and punishment. No matter how hard you try you can’t do enough to earn the treasure. And I’m not just talking about money either. You can write checks till you’re blue in the face. You can come to church every Sunday. You can sing in the choir (if we had one). You can teach Sunday school for years. You can be better, cleaner, less arrogant than the whole town of Grand Maris, but none of that will get you one lick closer to the treasure. You can want the treasure more than anything else, but you can’t have purchase it, because you don’t have enough, and you aren’t good enough. Because for you Jesus says, “this is impossible.” It’s because the price of the field is too high. The cost of getting the treasure is too much.

If the treasure is salvation, the Kingdom of God, then the only way you could earn it is to be perfect. Jesus tells us that, too. “Be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.” Look how he pushes that rich young man to the brink of despair. Jesus keeps upping the ante until what he’s looking to get by his works is out of reach. Jesus does that in other places too. He tells people if they call people stupid, or even think it they deserve hell because it’s just the same as killing them. He says that if you look at a woman with lust in your heart it’s the same as sleeping with her, and you deserve hell. You see. To buy the field you’d have to do more than you can do. You’d have to sell more than you must sell. And just wanting to do it, just having the desire to have the treasure won’t get you the treasure either. So… what are we to think? What are we to do? What is Jesus trying to do to us here? What kind of a parable is this anyway?

You know, it occurs to me that we might just be reading this thing all wrong. Well, at least I hope we are reading it all wrong. What is it I always say about reading the bible? Jesus is at the heart and center of it all. If you want to understand what the bible is talking about you’ve got to put Jesus Christ crucified for you at the center of your thinking. You know what, when I read the parable with me as the guy who finds the treasure that puts me at the center. How would I read it, so Jesus is there instead? How about this? Jesus is the guy who finds the treasure. Jesus is the guy who sells everything he has and buys the field and then rejoices in the treasure. Then what is the treasure?

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:16-17 ESV)

Now remember that “for God so loved” in this passage isn’t talking about the amount of God’s love but rather the way that he showed his love. God loved the world in this way… Jesus Christ humbles himself to be a living breathing man. He leaves God the Father’s side, the glory of heaven to suffer the same things that all people suffer. He cried. He had sore feet from walking, and he was hungry. He was tired and weary, needing rest. He lost loved ones to death, and was hated by enemies, and betrayed by friends. And this is where Jesus is different from you and me. In all of this he didn’t sin. He didn’t give up his relationship to God, the Father. He constantly obeyed God’s will for his life. He loved people selflessly always. In fact, Jesus’ human life, was perfect in every single way. That’s where you and I fall short. We aren’t perfect. We can’t be. We can’t sell enough to buy the field. But Jesus can. And he does. On a cross, a perfectly horrible means of punishment, created by Satan himself, Jesus bore the sin of the whole world, giving his perfect life in the place of imperfect people. He suffered punishment for all sinful, imperfect people everywhere. He bought the field. He purchased it with his holy and perfect, sinless, priceless death on the cross. He bought the field with his holy and precious blood and his innocent suffering and death. St. Paul told it to our Christian brothers and sisters in Philippi like this:

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV)

Why in the world would Jesus do that? Well, to get the treasure, of course. So, what’s the treasure? What is so valuable to Jesus that he would is willing leave heaven and walk the earth as poor, humble man? What has so much worth to Jesus that he suffers a criminal’s death, a sinner’s death, the punishment of hell for all human sin? What does Jesus’ love so, that he makes sure the story of what he did is told over and over again? What is Jesus’ treasure, the thing that he joyfully sold all he had to have it for himself? You. Amen.

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

Matthew 13:1-9; Seventh Sunday after Pentecost; July 16, 2023;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. He who has ears, let him hear.” (Mt 13:1-9, ESV)

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

Wow this is such a familiar text… that makes it hard to preach about. First, we’ve all heard it so much we think we know everything there is to know about it. Second, there’s the real danger of saying something that disagrees with a long held and favorite understanding. “That’s not what pastor so-and-so said it meant!” That’s the burden of a preacher. Just like the sower my job is to sow the Word.

You’ve all got some corn this morning. We’re going to talk a little bit about that in just a moment, but I gave you corn because it’s obvious the seed that the farmer is sowing in the parable is corn. Who can tell me why? The clue is right there in the text… Well, it’s obviously corn because after the parable Jesus says, “He who has ears, let him hear.” I couldn’t give you all a whole ear… but he who has ears let him hear. Just hang on to that seed a little longer, we’ll get back to it.

Let’s talk a little about this parable. It’s been called the parable of the sower, or the parable of the soils. Now both have their merits. The seed lands on the soil and it grows according to what kind of conditions it finds there. Jesus is telling us that he casts his word out upon human beings, and they react differently depending on their soil type. Originally, I was going to stick the corn onto different colored pieces of paper, so that each of you would get different colors. But it didn’t seem quite right. After all I’m assuming that if you hear in church, you’re here to hear God’s Word, and have it sown on you. So, you must in some sense be “good soil.” We could go into a detailed description of all the kinds of soil there are. Accusing those who aren’t here of being the path or rocky or weed infested. “Shame on you!” we could say about them. But the truth is that we all have those same kinds of problems. We reject God’s Word that we hear, it just bounces off us especially when it tells us of sinful behavior we don’t want to change. Satan comes and snatches it away, “you don’t need to worry about that little sin. God isn’t really talking to you. There are so many people who are so much worse than you are, that one little weakness doesn’t matter.” We all at times don’t have God’s Word deeply rooted. Trouble and hardship in our lives, that should push us to Christ, instead our faith withers. Instead of looking to Christ and saying that without Him we are lost, we look inside ourselves to find the strength to go on. And we all have those weed that threaten to choke out God’s Word, too. It’s so easy to get out of the habit of coming to church. Life is busy all year round not to mention our “summer schedule.” And there’s even the temptation to think that we come to church to be entertained. It’s easy to think that God’s Word by itself isn’t enough to do the job, we’ve got to make it more acceptable, by doing something flashy. All of it serves to distract us from hearing the simple message of God’s love for us in Jesus. Those weeds seem to grow up before we know it and choke out our interest in worship, and bible study, and prayer, and even a five-minute devotion from Portals of Prayer. And then there’s the good soil… we’ll talk about that later. You see how it really doesn’t matter what type of soil we are. We’re really all kinds of soil. Jesus is describing where the seed of His Word falls. He’s describing human beings, just like you and me. Without faith in Jesus, we’d all reject His Word. Satan’s word to us would always sound like the truth. Without faith in Jesus, we’d all get scorched by persecution and trouble. Without faith in Jesus, His Word would always be choked out of our lives.

Well, I think there’s different point being made by this parable. When we are looking at the soil, we are looking at us. Whenever we look at ourselves as the answer to any problem, we’re looking in the wrong place. God doesn’t promise that you’ll have the strength to do whatever you want or need to do. He promises that He’ll give you whatever you need. When we look at ourselves, considering the soil the best we can do is say, “Let’s be good soil!”

In my previous congregations there were lots of farmers. That’s not the case here, but I wonder can any one of you tell me what the dirt does to be good dirt? Can the rocky soil get rid of the rocks? Can the earth beneath the bean field zap its own weeds? Can the soil that lacks nitrogen get it on its own? Of course, it can’t. But a farmer can do something about it. I served in Frankentrost, MI, the farmland there was all swamp. In order for it to be arable, the farmers hand dug tiles that drained the water. But the land couldn’t do it by itself.

On the other hand, I don’t think this parable is so much about the soil as it is about the Sower. In fact, one way of interpreting parables is to look for the thing that’s out of place, look for the thing that people would never do. When you find that crazy thing, you’ll usually find what Jesus is saying about himself. So, what’s the thing out of place here? What’s the thing that someone would never do? Let me ask you this question. What’s up with this Sower? What farmer is going to run his planter over the road? What farmer is going to through his best seed corn in the fence row? What farmer isn’t going to do something about the weeds that are growing up among the plants he planted? You see, this isn’t a proper Sower. He’s very reckless with His seed. He seems to throw it all over and He doesn’t care where it lands.

What Jesus is saying is that He, as the Sower, is very generous with the gift of His Word. He spreads it all over, without regard to where it’s going to land. His Word is for all people, those who out right reject it, those who let the concerns of the world choke it out, people who don’t take is seriously, and even those who don’t hold on to it and treasure it. You see, that’s God’s great love for all people. He wants all people to know what He has done for them in Christ. He spreads His Word high and low to all people. That’s the God we have. He loves to give and give in amounts and ways that are more than we can fathom. We see the generosity of God in Jesus. Not just that He feed people who needed food. Not just that He healed people who needed healing. But mostly that He gave His very life on the cross for sinful people. There were those who were there at the cross who mocked Him. His death was even for them. You and I are sinful people who need the generosity of Christ. Our sins and failures keep us from a relationship with God. But God tells us in the seed of His Word that Jesus blood covers our sins. And that even though we aren’t “good soil” in the sense that we can earn His love, He gives us the forgiveness we need as a free gift for the sake of Jesus.

How about a concrete example? At the very beginning of the service, we confessed our sins to God. Well, He knew them all already. He knows even the ones we don’t know and the ones we keep hidden very deep in our hearts. But have you ever noticed that God’s forgiveness isn’t conditional? The Word of God that I speak to you from Christ’s lips isn’t “I forgive you some of your sins.” Or “I forgive you only the sins you know about.” Or “I forgive the sins of those of you who were in church last week.” No Jesus says through me, “I forgive you all your sins…” I’m not offering you my forgiveness. That wouldn’t mean a thing. I’m offering you Jesus forgiveness, in His own Words. You see that’s the Sower sowing the seed. It’s as if it took that corn and threw it over all of you. Not caring where it lands. Not being specific to throw it at anyone. But to everyone. That’s the reason God has given you a pastor. He wants you to hear and see God forgiving you of all your sins. He wants you to be sure that the forgiveness that Jesus accomplished on the cross covers the 2000 years of history and gets to you right here and now. So, look at that corn in your hand. If you didn’t get any raise your hand now and the usher will give you some. Think of that corn there like God’s Word given to you, God’s forgiveness, just as if I’d thrown it out and hit you in the head.

I think that’s what the OT lesson is talking about too. Did you remember that phrase, “seed to the sower and bread to the eater?” (Isa 55:11) When you are hungry for forgiveness, when you are starving to hear God’s Word, when you know that you are doomed without God, He gives you the Bread that you need. He offers you forgiveness in Christ. He offers you comfort in the promises found in His Word. That’s bread to the eater. Eat the gifts of God here and be satisfied! God loves to give bread to the eater.

And there’s another thing. It’s in that “seed to the sower.” You know what God offers to you. You’ve received it today through God’s Word. Think about the Sower again. He sows all over without regard to the reaction, without regard to the reception, without regard to the fruitfulness of the soil. You see that corn in your hand, that’s for you, and it’s for you to spread around. You see, there’s plenty where that came from. God sows His seed Himself; He doesn’t need you to do it. But He gives you another gift in that Word that He gives. He gives you the gift of sharing that Word with other people. He gives you the seed to sow right where you are. Now your first thought it that you’re supposed to find people to share the Word with that don’t know Jesus. But that wouldn’t be like the Sower in the parable, would it? The person right next to you needs to hear about Jesus too. They already know about the forgiveness of Jesus. But they need to hear about it again. I need to hear it again. So, take one of those kernels of corn in your hand and give it to a person sitting next to you. And when you give it say, “Jesus died for you, you are forgiven.” Now take a kernel to someone across the room, and say “Jesus died for you, you are forgiven.” Wasn’t that easy? What a privilege to give the Word of God to someone who needed to hear it! Now this week you take that little pile of corn with you. Find just one person (it doesn’t matter who!) to give it to and say, “Jesus died for you, you are forgiven.” When you are helping your neighbor, given them one of those kernels. They’ll look at you funny, but you can blame it on me. Tell them that your pastor made you do it. Don’t forget to say, “He wants me to tell you, Jesus died for you, you are forgiven.” And when you are making out your offering envelope you can put one of those kernels in with your check. That’s to help you remember that the money you give to the church here is for the sowing of God’s Seed. And the money that you give to support missionaries and mission projects is God’s gift to you to sow God’s Seed. And just think, Jesus doesn’t tell you to worry about the reception of the Seed. That’s His department, that’s His worry. Some of that Seed will produce fruit and some won’t. But God promises that it won’t return “empty” but will do what God wants it to do.

Well, even if you don’t give any away… remember, “Jesus died for you, you are forgiven.” Amen.

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

Romans 7:15-25a; The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost; July 9, 2023;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:15–25a, ESV)

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

It is a persistent problem in the Christian church. Christians don’t seem to be any different from anyone else. We have the same temptations, same problems, and especially, the same sins. You hear people say, “You Christians are no different than anyone else. You are just hypocrites.” Well in one way it is true, we are no different from anyone else. We are sinners. Luther has it right in his explanation of the Lord’s Prayer, the Fifth Petition.

… we daily sin much and surely deserve nothing but punishment. (http://sites.cph.org/catechism/lords-prayer.asp)

St. Paul has it right doesn’t he?
• “I do the very thing I hate.”
• “I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.”
• “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want I keep on doing.”

You and I, as Christians, understand these statements. We live them every day.

And what’s worse, we who believe the Bible to be God’s very word, must hold sin is very serious.

For the wages of sin is death. (Romans 6:23a, ESV)

The soul who sins shall die. (Ezekiel 18:20b, ESV)

And so our struggle with sin is a serious one, with serious consequences. Sinners, the Bible says, deserved death and hell. And that means you and me. We seem we deserve to die and go to hell. So why is it that we have this struggle? If we were truly Christians, wouldn’t we be passed sinning? If Christians sin, then what good is it to be a Christian?

Paul is explaining the issue. He says there is a struggle between “mind” and “flesh.” He says, in his mind, he wants to do what is right. But, in his flesh, he continues to do what is wrong. It’s almost as if it’s a struggle between two people, a good person and a bad person. And they’re both living in the same body. It is the reality of what life is like as a Christian. We want to do what God wants, but we continually sin and follow our own sinful desires.

As I’ve told you before, in the church when something is important, we give it a Latin name. The Christian church long recognized this struggle. It is called Simul Justus et Peccator. The word simul is where we get our word simultaneous. It means “at the same time” Justus you can see looks like the word justice. It means “righteous.” Et means “and.” And peccator is the Latin word for sinner. In other words, Simul Justus et Peccator means “at the same time saint and sinner.”

It means that Christians are two things, both sinful and forgiven. It’s not a contradiction but a paradox. These two things are simultaneously true. It’s not a half-and-half, as if we are half sinner and half saint. We are completely saved and made righteous through the life death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and we are still the same old sinner we have always been.

Let’s try it this way. We sin so we are sinners. But through faith in Jesus Christ God imputes, that is transfers to us, Jesus’ perfect life. God sees us now as completely righteous. St. Paul says in Colossians that through Holy Baptism (the declaration of your connection to Christ) …

you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3, ESV)

and in Galatians:

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, ESV)

Or another way to think of it is to ask this question: Will I be judged in order to get into heaven by my righteousness or by the righteousness of Christ? If I am judged by my own righteousness, everything is lost and I will spend eternity in hell. Because it is clear that, my life is filled with sin. But if I am judged by Jesus’ righteousness, everything good has been done for me. The righteousness that is mine is the perfect righteousness of Jesus. And can you see what good news that is? I am reconciled to God, which is forgiven of all my sin, not because of anything that I have done or will do or can do, but solely on what has been accomplished by Christ.

Punishment for my sin, and my sin itself, is imputed or transferred to Christ. And on the cross, Jesus Christ paid the punishment in full for my sin. God does not negotiate sin. He doesn’t compromise his integrity. My sin is fully punished. I am saved by this double transaction. And it is all the work of God through Jesus Christ. And it is yours and mine through faith that what God has done is done for me and for you.

So even though I am forgiven in God’s sight my sinful flesh remains. So as God’s child, I want to do right but struggle to do it. I know what God has done for me, in Jesus Christ, and I want to please him by doing good, but my heart is full of sin and leads me astray and away from God.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV)

It’s not the old saying where if you teach a man to fish you feed him forever. We Christians realize that we need a new fish to be given to us every day. That’s what God does for us. Every day our old sinful nature, Martin Luther called it the Old Adam, is drowned to death. That’s what holy baptism is, a drowning of the old sinful nature. But we don’t believe baptism is a single event that happened in our past. It is an ongoing life lived. Luther again from Small Catechism

What does such baptizing with water indicate? It indicates that 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.

Or as he said, the old Adam needs to be drowned every day because he’s a good swimmer. There is no trying to live a better life that will accomplish anything. There is only living in Holy Baptism. Living in forgiveness won by Jesus Christ on the cross, and nothing else.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20, ESV)

We don’t focus on our doing good, we focus on the good that Jesus has done for us. By faith, we look to the God-man Jesus Christ who gave his life for us on the cross. We don’t go out looking for good works to do; we do the good works that God has placed before us. And when we find sin in the good works we do, and we always will, we drowned them in repentance and receive forgiveness and the good work stands.

The struggle is there. It will exist in you until the day you die when you’re Old Adam is finally put to death permanently. Then your new creation will stand before God in righteousness and purity forever. The struggle will be over. Sin will be gone. And you rejoice in the salvation given to you as a free gift by God in Jesus Christ. Amen.

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

Matthew 10:34-42; The Fifth Sunday after Pentecost; July 2, 2023;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

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

Coming back from vacation is always a shock to the system. You know how it feels. You always feel more exhausted than when you left. You have a mountain of work to do to catch up on (I had over 700 eMails to dig through… so much for AntiSpam software!). I must admit it would have been nice to have an easy week, something light weight to think about, but no… I sat down on Tuesday morning to study the lessons for today and look what I found…

34"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. 35For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. 36And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. 37Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

You know, life would be much easier if Jesus hadn’t said things like, “I have not come to bring peace but a sword.” It really doesn’t sound much like “good news” does it? To you and me and our everyday lives “good news” would be an end to conflict, and an end to trouble. And just try to explain words like this to those skeptical relatives that we all have. You know; those people who would just love to point a verse like this and ask you to explain what Jesus means. What are you going to say?

After all, when I read it, it sure sounds like Jesus, the “prince of peace,” says that he’s come to bring strife and trouble into our lives and not only that but to break up our families… Listen again; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. …to set children against their parents, parents against their children. He’s come to make enemies inside of families. It’s a difficult verse for us to swallow. Jesus can’t mean what he’s saying, can he? Does Jesus, the baby in the manger sleeping in “heavenly peace” surrounded by angels singing about peace on earth, bring peace or strife?

Well, many people believe that Jesus comes to bring peace. In fact, in general people, even those who don’t call themselves Christian think highly of Jesus. They love Jesus when He tells stories about how to get along with each other, and to care for those who are less fortunate than we are. They love Jesus when He says, “love your enemies.” They love Jesus when He tells a good story about how we should care for other people, like the “Good Samaritan.” But they don’t want to hear from Jesus when He says that without Him, without His death on the cross, they are lost. They don’t want to hear Jesus when He says that without Him, they face an eternity of God’s punishment in hell. People don’t what to hear Jesus when he says stuff that causes conflict and trouble.

Think about the family that peacefully co-exists with one another, until one of them becomes a Christian. Suddenly the family is in conflict. Those who don’t know Jesus don’t want to hear about Him as their only Savior. They don’t want to hear about sin and repentance. They don’t want to hear about changing their lives to conform to God’s will. From the outside, from the world’s point of view this family was better off before the “good news” came to them. The members of the family will push the new believer to compromise and leave them alone, “for the sake of peace.” “You keep your Jesus to yourself.” The problem is, Jesus calls us all to be witnesses of what He has done. He calls us all to bring the life saving Word of Jesus to those who don’t know Him. He never promises that it will be easy. He does call us to be faithful.

There was an event that happened over 500 years ago, on June 25. The reformers faced the Holy Roman Emporer Charles. He demanded they give up the Gospel they had discovered. They stood in the face of certain death to testify about the truth of Jesus. It would have been easier, more peaceful, to compromise their faith. Instead they confessed what the bible teaches about Jesus clearly and strongly. Some of the most important words confessed that day were these:

Our Churches teach that people cannot be justified before God by there own strength, merits, or works. People are freely justified for Christ’s sake, through faith, when they believe that they are received into favor and that their sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake. By His death, Christ made satisfaction for our sins. God counts this faith for righteousness in His sight. (Romans 3:21-26; 4:5);

But don’t think that they were successful because they had the power in themselves to confess Jesus to kings. They were clinging to the promise of Jesus. A promise that He also makes to us today in this text. After all, if all Jesus said to us today was that there would be conflict that wouldn’t be very much good news. Listen again to what Jesus says:

40"Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. 42And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” (Matt 10:34-42, ESV)

At first you might miss the promise here. But look carefully at what He says. Whoever receives you receives me. You see, Jesus doesn’t expect you to go out there and speak about Him by yourself. In fact, He knows exactly how difficult it is. He knows how you’d rather keep silent at work when people speak about Jesus, because you don’t want to cause problems. He knows how you’d rather “keep your Jesus to yourself” during family discussions to keep the peace. He knows you’d rather not speak about the errors in other denominations for the sake of community togetherness. But Jesus promises to be with you at all the time. He promises that when you speak the truth about Him and what His Word teaches, He’s right there with you. It’s the same promise He gives at the end of St. Matthews Gospel:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, ESV)

If Jesus says He’s always with you that means always. That’s Jesus right there with you during the discussions in the break room at work. That’s Jesus right there with you around the family table. That’s Jesus right there with you at the community coffee table.

The real good news is this. Jesus is with you… always. And even though Jesus wants us to speak up, He’s not going to skip out on you because you get cold feet. He’s not going to punish you because you get weak kneed and fail to proclaim Him in public. You and I are sinful people we fail all the time. That’s why we need a Savior. That’s why Jesus lived a life that was always headed for the cross. He didn’t just die on the cross; He died on the cross on purpose. When He was pinned up there on the wood, He had you in His heart and your failures and sins on His shoulders. He died to take your sins away and give you a new life free from sin. That’s what St. Paul was talking about. Through faith in Jesus Baptism makes you dead to sin. Dead as Jesus was in the tomb. Dead as all sin deserves. That’s how you were with Jesus on the cross, dying to sin. That’s how He is with you now living a life that isn’t controlled by sin. You are alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Rom 6:1-11) Not alone, ever.

So, you know what? You’re going to see some conflict when you talk about Jesus, when you dare to confess the truth about Him. That’s ok, that’s to be expected. In a way it means that you’re on the right track. Martin Luther once said that when everything was going smoothly in his life, he worried that he wasn’t doing anything to get Satan’s notice. The thing to remember is that Jesus is with you, He has given you a new life through baptism into His life and death and resurrection. Amen.

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

Hosea 6:1; The Second Sunday after Pentecost; June 11, 2023;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. Hosea 6:1 (ESV)

Grace and Peace to you from Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen

So what does this text have to do with waiting for the Lord? I wonder what kind of waiting this passage is telling us about. I not sure I want to know. Just look at it again: He has torn; He has struck us down. That doesn’t sound like anything that is anywhere near the top of my priority list. And in fact, it’s worse than it seems because the English translation really wimps out. The word torn that the prophet is using is what a lion does when it captures its prey. It tears the meat from the bones of the carcass. In fact, other places in the bible the same word is translated as “to feed.” And as far as struck down the old King James Version gets closer; it uses the word “smite” and most of the time it means to “smite dead.” Well, like I said, I might be willing to grudgingly wait for God, but this isn’t the kind of waiting I had in mind. You have heard me say before, I didn’t want to wait. Worse-yet, I don’t think I want to be torn and struck down. And yet, what Hosea is saying isn’t outside of what I should expect.

In fact, Martin Luther talks about this very thing when he talks about Jesus saying that he is the vine, and we are the branches. God, the Father, Jesus says, is the vine dresser. It’s the branches dresser’s job to take care of the branches. Sometimes that includes suffering on the part of the branches. The vine dresser comes and prunes the branches. “Hey, the branches complain. You’re cutting off too much! You’re going to kill me. I’ll never bear fruit if you do that.” “No, the vinedresser answers. “I’m just pruning away the dead wood. If I do this, you’ll produce more fruit.” The vinedresser returns later and begins aerating around the vine’s roots, poking at it with a sharp tool. “Hey,” the branches complain again, “be careful, you’re going to cut me off at the roots. You’ll kill me for sure. If you do that, I’ll never bear fruit.” “No, the vine dresser answers, I’m just making the soil soft for your roots to expand, I’m not cutting you off. If I do this, you’ll bear more fruit.” Some time later the vinedresser returns with a wheelbarrow of manure, and sure enough he plops it down on the ground all around the roots of the vine. “Hey, that smells. How come I must put up with that muck in my life? I don’t think that’s necessary. The smell alone will kill me.” “No,” answers the vinedresser again, “you’ll survive. In fact, you’ll thrive here, since I’ve taken care to prune, aerate, and fertilize you.” The suffering we must go through now has a purpose; it is there to make us grow.

Now, it’s only natural for us to want not to suffer, especially here in the US. Prosperity is the American way. It’s the American dream. We tend to believe that we are in control of our own destiny, and we can pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps. I think where this comes most into play is the fact that we believe that people who are poor, and don’t have much, (don’t have as much as we have), must deserve it somehow. They must be lazy, and unwilling to work. If you have trouble in your life, it must be your own fault, you must not be pleasing to God. And in fact, it goes much further than that. We want to make a deal with God. I heard that a Professional Football player was asked what the key to a playoff victory for his team was. “If you are faithful and obedient to God, God will be faithful and obedient to you,” was his answer. It is only natural to think what when something is going wrong, when we are suffering, that God must be punishing us. And when things are going well, we must be doing things right and God is rewarding us. It’s a little like the movie “Sound of Music.” When everything is working out for Maria she sings, “I must have done something good.” That’s a theology that fits well into our thinking. Doesn’t it? 12 steps to prosperity. Do what is pleasing to God and God will give you rewards. This is the way we think life in these United States should work, and so we’ve built a theology around it. Another way to sum it all up is to say things like, “God wants us to be victorious. Claim the victorious life and God will provide you with whatever you want. If you are suffering, if you have pain, then your faith must not be strong enough. Claim the victorious life and God will give it to you. Besides, if other people see you living the victorious life, they will be drawn to God.” And to a certain extent the world certainly seems to work that way. Except if you consider the millions in poverty around the world, men, women, and children, starving to death for no fault of their own, and no way to escape. And among those people are plenty of faithful Christians, also starving to death, every day.

I think it would be difficult to look St. Peter in the eye and tell him to claim the victorious life, as he was hanging on his cross upside down, because he wasn’t worthy to be crucified like Jesus. Or to tell Paul that it was obvious his faith wasn’t strong enough to overcome the evil in his life as the blade was falling to remove his head. These men of God suffered in their lives. These men suffered for their faith. The book of Acts is a litany of Paul’s suffering. And he didn’t hesitate to place the blame where it belongs either. “In him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28, ESV) He was saying “This is God’s doing. He is intimately involved in every aspect of my life.”

“Ok pastor, now you’ve done it, now you’ve said that God is responsible for suffering and evil in my life. Now you are blaming God.” Well, I’m not alone. One of Job’s friends told him, “If you stretch out your hand to God, without any sin in it, you will be secure, and you will be blessed by God.” “No,” was Job’s answer. (Job 11:13ff) “All my suffering is from God! He is the cause.”

Do we really want a God who isn’t in control of all things? Do we want a God who can’t do anything about evil in the world? Doesn’t the real comfort in our faith come in realizing that God is in control of all things and that even the suffering in our lives has a purpose? 28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, ESV) Notice that it doesn’t say that all things that happen to us will be good (from our perspective), but that God uses all things for our good.

Now, Peter wasn’t always willing to suffer for Jesus. He is probably even known best for his greatest sin, denying Jesus to save his own skin. When Jesus was on trial, he denied even knowing him. And don’t forget about another time, too. Jesus asked him who people said that he was. “You are the Christ, the son of the Living God!” “Blessed are you, Peter.” Jesus complimented. But as soon as Jesus began to talk about his suffering and death to come, Peter piped up again. “No sir. There’ll be no bad stuff in my messiah’s life, no suffering, only victory!” And Jesus puts Peter’s second confession right in its place. “Get behind me Satan!”

We see and understand God best, not through victory in our lives but through suffering. In fact, we understand God best in the suffering of Jesus. Ours is a cross shaped faith. That is how God chooses to work. The truth of it grates against us and our human nature. We have a mathematical formula figured out. If I do a good deed God will reward me in this life and in eternity. And even we God’s faithful people believe it, and practice it. Of course, what do we expect? The wisdom of the cross is foolishness to men. Christ Crucified is a stumbling block. (1 Corinthians 1:20-25) No reasonable human being would believe that an all-powerful god of the universe would work through suffering, let alone the willing suffering of his only son.

The problem with us is that we always want to make ourselves the center of everything. If I have 12 steps to make God smile on me, or if I can open my heart to God, everything will be fine. I’m at the center. I’m the actor, I’m the savior, and I’m my own god. If I can just get a handle on my relationships with other people, I’ll be ok. If I don’t kill or swear or covet, then I’ll be worthy of God’s love. We think that the big sins in our lives are on the outside. But really the biggest sins are on the inside. You shall have no other gods. But we do. We put other things first. We put ourselves first. We worship what we earn.

It’s the cross of Jesus that makes it truly clear that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves. God acts at the cross. He reaches out to save me and you. Our thinking is like the Boy Scout who is lost in the woods. The scout master goes out to look for him. When he finds him, he tells the scout to follow him. “It’s going to be a tough walk, but you can do it,” he says. God tells us that we are the lost scout who is unconscious because he has fallen out of a tree. The scout master goes to find him and saves him by carrying him to safety. Our thinking is that we are the titanic passenger who has fallen into the water, and our rescuer throws us a life preserver to aid our swimming to the rescue ship. God’s word tells us that we have fallen in the water and have passed out due to the cold. Our rescuer dives in the water and lifts us to safety, and in the process freezes to death himself.

The way the God really works in the world is through suffering. He acts through an instrument of punishment that must have been dragged straight from the pit of hell itself, the cross. God works right there as Jesus suffers and dies a horrible death. Jesus’ life was not a victorious life, by any human standards. He did everything perfectly, everything according to God’s perfect will. And yet he ended up on the cross. Right there we see and understand God more fully than anywhere else. Right there at the cross we see ultimate evil and ultimate good. Jesus suffered and died because of sin. It was our sin that brought him to that suffering place. When we look at the cross, we see a great evil, and yet we also see that all of it was God’s plan for working out good for the whole human race. The suffering and death of Jesus on the cross is God doing everything necessary for good your good and mine.

But there is more to Jesus than just a perfect life and an innocent death. We know about the ultimate good in Jesus’ suffering because we know about the resurrection. It is the ultimate way that God uses all things, even evil and suffering for our good. It is because we are intimately connected to Jesus’ suffering and death, that our faith is meaningful. His suffering and death are the suffering and death for our sin. And even more importantly his resurrection, his victory over death and suffering is our victory. No matter how much suffering we go through we already have the ultimate victory promised to us in Jesus’ resurrection. Our suffering is temporary. Our death is temporary. Our lives look just like Jesus’ life, they are shaped like the cross. And our death is just like Jesus’ death, it ends in life again. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Romans 6:4 (ESV) We have suffering in our lives, not to help us to earn our salvation, but to drive us to the cross. Suffering comes to our lives to strengthen our faith. And it’s not as we often want to think, that when our faith is strong, we stand better on our own. Our faith is strongest when we see Jesus as strong and ourselves as helpless. We suffer in our life to show us exactly how helpless we really are. In our suffering we see that we are nothing and Christ is everything.

When suffering comes, we turn to Jesus and say, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner!” Picture it this way: Death will come to you. It may come in many years, or it may come soon. When you face it in faith you won’t call out, “I’ve lived the victorious life!” instead you’ll cry out “Jesus Christ, have mercy on me a sinner.” That is the difference between life and death, heaven, and hell. For us who are nothing, Jesus is everything.

That is Amazing Grace. Undeserved Grace. Nothing in my hand I bring but only to the cross I cling. That’s what the text is telling us about waiting for God. He has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. Amen.

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

Matthew 28:16-20; Trinity Sunday, May 4, 2023;

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20 ESV)

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

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

Well, there it is, “The Great Commission” Go and make disciples. It couldn’t be plainer than that. Jesus commands us to get out there and witness. Jesus wants us to go beat on doors. Jesus wants us to quit our jobs, move to China and be missionaries. “Go… and do it.” Jesus says. Right? Maybe the JWs and the Mormons have the right idea. Ok gentlemen, time to get out your white shirt and black tie and name tag…

But wait… before we get all in a tizzy maybe we should look at what Jesus says again. In fact, let’s look at the whole passage again. It says the disciples had gathered on the mountain to wait for Jesus. When he showed up, they worshipped him… but some doubted. That “some doubted” is an interesting phrase. There’s lots of discussion among scholars about exactly what it means and who it refers to… but I think it’s just begging a question. By the way, you’ve asked the same question yourself.

Here they are standing on the mountain in the presence of Jesus. After all they’ve seen and heard, Jesus healing people, Jesus preaching sermons that they’ll never forget, Jesus feeding the multitudes with 5 loaves and 2 fish, and 12 baskets left over. Jesus arguing down the religious leaders. Jesus arrested. Jesus crucified dead and buried. Jesus alive again despite their disbelief. Here they are standing in front of Jesus waiting for what he’s going to do next. The question they must be asking is, “Now what?”

You’ve asked it too. “Now what?” Something big happens in the church and when it’s over, “Now what?” Every time you get a new pastor, “Now what?” New children are born, baptized, and confirmed “Now what?” Sunday after Sunday you sit in the very same spot and listen to the God’s Word and sing hymns about Jesus and when it’s over you say, “Now what?” Just like those eleven frightened men on the mountain, we say, “Well God, we see what you’ve done in the past but… Now what?” What Jesus says here next is an answer to that question.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Now what? Well Jesus is going to tell us, and what’s more what he says carries some weight. After all he has authority; in fact, he has all authority. That means what he says goes. That means what he says happens. That means it’s not an idle wish, or vain hope Jesus is talking about here. Jesus has authority. You want proof. Just look at what he did. He healed the sick with just his words and his touch. He stopped storms on the sea. He multiplied bread and fish. He rose from death alive again. When Jesus says he has authority, all authority, you can be sure that it’s true. The next two words are important but as important as the first is I think the next is even more so. The text says, “go therefore.” But we might understand it a bit better if we change the order around. “Because I have all authority, therefore... go...” do it because I’m telling you to do it. Do it because I have authority and I promise to make it work. Therefore, just do it... as the commercial says.

What are we to do? Now what? That’s exactly what’s next. Make disciples. You know we very often get caught up on that word “go.” But it’s not really the most important part. Making disciples is the main point. You might even say it like this, while you are going… make disciples. While you are living… make disciples… while you are doing what you do every day… make disciples. It’s not the going that’s important it’s the making disciples that’s important. Jesus’ command to his disciples was to make disciples. Now those guys aren’t standing on that mountain by themselves. St. Matthew wants you to see yourself standing with them. When Jesus gives the command to them, he’s giving it to you too. We as the church are to be about the task, the commission, of making disciples. That’s the answer to the question, “now what?” Now what? Make disciples.

Well, that’s all fine and good. But we are poor stewards of that task. We haven’t donned a black tie and white shirt in decades. We don’t even have an evangelism committee. The favorite phrase around here (and by the way most churches) is… let the pastor do it. We are afraid. We don’t want to be seen as religious zealots. We don’t want to be accused of “sheep stealing.” But I’m afraid that as much as it is the pastor’s job to do carry out this task, Jesus doesn’t leave you out. Every day you don’t follow his command to “make disciples” is a day you sin. Every time you skip the opportunity to speak about Jesus is a day you fall short of God’s desire for your life. Every day you don’t put Jesus first in your heart and on your lips is a day you deserve only God’s wrath and punishment. It’s sinful not to do it, and we are all guilty of this sin. And don’t forget, the wages of sin. What we earn for disobeying God’s command is death and hell. So welcome to the club. I deserve it too. I am no less a sinner than you. It’s enough to make you think that you’re not really a disciple after all. ‘cause what Jesus says happens and it sure doesn’t seem to be happing around here, through me, or through you either.

But Jesus doesn’t just leave us hanging with his command. He says make disciples because he has authority. He’s going to make sure it happens, that’s what authority is. Next in the text he tells us how to do it. And at first it sounds obvious but then it sounds a little bit surprising. How are we to make disciples? Now what? By baptizing. That’s God’s evangelism program, baptism. He doesn’t talk about knocking on doors, he doesn’t talk about white shirts and ties; he talks about Baptism. And not just any baptism either; baptism into God’s name. Martin Luther puts it clearly:

What benefits does Baptism give? It works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the words and promises of God declare.

And here’s the good news for you, you are a disciple of Jesus Christ. The proof is in the water. Your sins have been forgiven by Jesus’ death on the cross. Jesus made sure that you know it is yours because you’re the one who got his head wet. You’ve been connected to the Triune God through God’s promise to you in his Word and water. Your sin is washed away. You are made clean. It is nothing short of a miracle. Hey, I guess your parents were doing what Jesus said to do. In fact, the church has been doing what Jesus said to do ever since that mountain in Galilee. And God is faithful. We are all living proof of that. But there’s more. Jesus continues his instruction. He also says to teach. The word “disciple” means (in part) “learner.” I love that definition. It is a great way to think about it. Baptized children of God continue to learn about God’s love for them in Jesus. As a disciple of Jesus, you never stop learning about Jesus. That’s what the gift of the Holy Spirit is all about. He takes the Word you hear in your ear and plunges it into your heart. He helps you to understand in your head the faith you hold onto in your heart. God does all that with teaching. Christians, disciples, learners, learn every time they hear God’s Word about Jesus. The church is to teach. Martin Luther called it “God’s mouth house,” the place where God speaks. When God speaks, his people listen and learn. Our task in fulfilling the commission, the task we’ve been given to do is to make sure what’s being spoken agrees with what Jesus said, “all I have commanded you.”

It’s going on here all the time. The Great Commission. Baptizing an

d teaching. Jesus promised it. Jesus makes it happen through his Word. Hey, I just realized something. Jesus also promises he’s going to be with us forever. That’s no idle promise either. What he promises is true. And he is not just promising some vague invisible presence either. That wouldn’t mean a thing. His presence with us is as real as my voice, as real as water, as real as bread and wine. Jesus keeps is promises.

Now what? Well, it’s a good question. Got family? Got friends? Got neighbors? Got milk? Jesus isn’t asking you to quit your job and go to Africa. He’s asking you to listen and learn right here. He’s given you a pastor to teach you. He’s asking you to support the churches work here. He’s asking you to point your family, friends, and neighbors to Jesus right here. You don’t have to say the right thing, you just have to point. You don’t have to give a witness of Jesus in your heart you just have to speak God’s promises in Jesus. Jesus has authority. He makes it happen. He is present here with us forever. Amen.

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

Joel 2:28-29; May 28, 2023; Festival of Pentecost;

Life in Christ Lutheran Church, Grand Marais, MN;

“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.” (Joel 2:28–29, ESV)

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

Are you parched and dry this morning? I’m not really talking about the weather; we aren’t experiencing a drought this spring, yet. And up here in the Arrowhead we’ve got all the water we need. Although we could always use a bit of rain. This year, for right now, the ground seems to have just about the right amount of moisture. But you do know what I mean when I talk about being parched and dry. You’ve seen drought, with the dust floating in the air, where moisture should be. Great dry cracks in the ground made by the evaporating of surface moisture. Brownish-Green plants with shriveled leaves, clenching the dry dusty earth, steadily shrinking into nothing as they vainly suck the ground for water, smoke from forest fires that chokes out everything.

Human beings can be dry, too. Working in the sun can quickly dehydrate a person; as it beats down on you; the heat causes you to sweat in great drops that are soaked into your clothing. Your tongue seems to swell and fill your mouth with dryness, instead of saliva. Weakness comes to your joints; even movement emphasizes the need for some moisture. Your mind aches for a small drop of water on the tip of your tongue. The land can be parched and dry; people can be parched and dry, you’ve all been there, and you know what it means.

Our text today comes from the book of the Prophet Joel. We don’t hear much from him in our regular Sunday readings, but he pops up in Pentecost. He does because; the Holy Spirit inspired him to write the text that St. Peter used to preach the first Sermon in the Christian Church; he did that on the first Pentecost. We heard a part of it in our reading of Acts a few moments ago. It might seem kind of strange but Joel, that important Pentecost book, mostly speaks about being parched and dry. In fact, almost two thirds of the book talk about and invasion of locusts, and the ensuing drought. Listen to the prophet Joel describe what’s going on:

The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up. How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer. To you, O LORD, I call. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field. Even the beasts of the field pant for you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.” (Joel 1:17–20, ESV)

It is quite a vivid picture of a drought that the prophet paints. It almost makes you want to get up and go get a drink, doesn’t it? We really don’t know exactly when Joel penned those words, or when that drought took place. It really doesn’t make that much difference, the dryness of the land that Joel talks about was something that happened in that part of the country occasionally. The people living there suffered because of it. But Joel wasn’t only talking about dry ground; he was talking about dry people, too. Over and over again in their history, the People of God became spiritually dry. They forgot about what God had done for them, by giving them the land he promised. They forgot what he had done for them, supporting them in the desert when they escaped from Egypt. They forgot what he had done by delivering them from slavery to Pharaoh in the first place. The parched land was only a sign of their parched lives; lives without the God who was their God; lives spiritually dry and empty. Their tongues no longer sang the praises of God; they lacked the moisture that was needed. They no longer made the thank offerings and the drink offerings that God had command them to do; they lacked the moisture that was needed. They had turned instead to false gods, made of dry stone, or cut wood. These gods sucked the life from them, instead of refreshing them, and giving them what they needed. Through the prophet Joel, God calls them to repentance. “Return to me!” he called out to them. I will end the drought; I am the one who provides what you need to live. I will give you the moisture your soil and your soul need. “Return to the LORD your God,” say the well-known words of the book of Joel, “for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.”

God always responds to repentance: “in those days I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” Like the water poured out on a thirsty land, that runs into the cracks in the ground and refreshes dry withered plants; my Spirit, says God, will be poured out on my people. They will drink up the moisture of my care and compassion; I will take care of their physical and spiritual needs. I will give them abundant water, more than a drop to cool the tongue, but overflowing to fill up their whole lives, to refresh and replenish them… “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved!” That was God wanted, for the people to be saved, not only from the drought of the land, but from their spiritual dryness, too.

It isn’t difficult to see that people today are also parched and dry. There is clamoring for spirituality, those sections in the bookstore are busier than ever. Titles like “10 ways to use God to make your life better.” “Basic life principals-Use the bible to fix whatever is wrong in your life.” “God wants you to be healthy and happy, use this prayer to make it so.” People today are dry as the ground in a drought, sucking at the dust for spiritual direction, panting for moisture in the dryness of misleading (if not well intentioned) texts. Laying their offerings at the feet of false gods who promise and end to the drought but can’t deliver, because the moisture that people need in their lives can only come from the God who created them. The moisture they need can only come from being in a relationship with the Only True God.

Do you sometimes feel dry, too? Even though you are in a relationship with One True God. Do the pressures of life, the busyness of life, the demands of life, seem to suck the life out of you? Life can be that way. It’s nice to be able to work, but when the demands of your job overwhelm you, when the workload increases, it can dry up your opportunities to do anything else. And your family relationships are affected, too. You struggle to keep them alive, but the pressure leads to arguments and misunderstanding that just drain the life away from them. Painful memories from the past suck the good from current relationships and leave you gasping for moisture.

Even your relationship with your Savior is, at times, affected. There are Sundays when you may wonder why you are sitting here, because God feels so far away… so far that it seems as if He doesn’t care what happens in your dry and dusty life, so far away that you feel parched and dry.

“In those days,” says the Lord to you, “I will pour out my Spirit on all people.” God provides the moisture you need in your life. Just as he sends rain on dry parched ground, just as he gives due every morning to thirsty plants; he gives you the moisture you need to live on this dry planet. It isn’t a coincidence that he speaks of the ‘pouring out’ of the Spirit. It’s the language of liquid refreshment, water is poured out, wine is poured out, and thirsty lives have what they need.

On the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ”” (John 7:37–38, ESV)

Those are the words of Jesus. He knows how dry and parched life can be, and he knows that people need spiritual moisture, but more than that he knows why life can be that way. It isn’t a coincidence that the dryness of life shows up first in our relationships with other people. That’s because it’s caused by dryness in another relationship, our relationship with God himself. It’s sin that comes between Your Heavenly Father and you, straining the relationship, just like an argument keeps your friends or even your parents away. Sin causes the moisture of life to trickle away. But Jesus says, “come to me and drink.” I have overpowered the dryness of sin. When it drains your life of meaning by drying up your relationships, remember what I have done for you. I lay in the dry dusty tomb that should have been yours. I died the death and suffered the punishment that your sin should have brought to you. I made permanent the relationship between Our Father and you. It will never dry up again!

And that brings us to Pentecost. Pentecost is above all things about the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul wrote to a Pastor under his instruction

For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:3–7, ESV)

You see, Pentecost is exactly about the pouring out of spiritual moisture on dry lifeless people. It is about the giving of the gifts of spiritual moisture to Christ’s church. It is the Holy Spirit at work here in this place as we hear the Good News of what Jesus Christ has done. He renews and restores; he works to pour living water into dry and parched people. He is at work, reviving the dry dusty soul at the baptismal font. Where he creates living faith through water connected to the words of God. There is moisture there for you. When we say, “remember your baptism,” we mean remember what God did there for you there. Pouring the water life into your life, washing away the sin that made you parched and dry. Whenever you remember it, the spiritual moisture flows again and revives you. The Holy Spirit is also at work whenever we approach this rail to drink the spiritual moisture, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sin, the very blood of Christ.

God knows about your dryness, about the drought that sometimes affects your life. He does more than offer you a drop to cool your tongue. He offers abundant overflowing “…living waters that flow from within.” as Jesus said. He gives spiritual moisture to quench your thirst, moisture to end the drought, moisture to mend the dryness in your family relationships, and bring meaning to the work you do every day. That spiritual moisture, that living water, flows from within you to everyone around you. Just as you are forgiven so you also forgive. The moisture you have been given, you give to others, and just as the ending of a drought begins with a single drop of rain, dry and parched people, the dry and parched land, are revived. Amen.

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