Month: March 2006

Let us pray: Dear Savior, although all of us have been bitten by the deadly bite of Satan, You have not left us without hope or help. For You survived that bite in our place and now seek to give us the anti-venom of Your forgiveness through faith. May we always look to Your cross when confronted by sin and seek Your healing help. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, THE ULTIMATE SURVIVOR!

TEXT: Numbers 21: 4-9

Fellow Redeemed Sinners:

I agree with Indiana Jones. “I hate snakes,” too! I know it is an irrational fear. I know that snakes do a lot of good—such as eating insects in the garden and keeping the mouse population down. In fact, as a kid I got used to snakes (kind of) when we had our large rural garden. But, I still don’t like them. I’ve never seen a rattlesnake in the wild and hope I never do. That being said, I recall two snake stories from my youth. One was the 7 foot long black racer that quickly slid across our garden one day. Black racers get their name from their coal black color and also from the fact that they slither with about 2/3’s of their bodies raised up like a cobra. That particular snake’s head was about 4 feet above the ground that day and the image still gives me the willies. The other snake encounter totally freaked me out when I was about 8 years old. I was playing along the creek that bordered our large garden and suddenly came upon an 8 foot long, 6 or 7 inch thick, snake. I don’t think I’ve ever run faster—in the opposite direction. Later research showed it to be a hog-nose snake, which is harmless, a great mouse catcher, but totally intimidating.

Our fear of snakes, most people have it, stems from Adam and Eve’s encounter with the devil using the form of a serpent in Eden. That snake had a deadly bite—the bite of sin—which still afflicts each of us today. Yes, we’ve all been bitten by it—we call it original sin in the church, and we confessed its deadly presence within our being this morning in the confession of sins with the words: “I’m by nature a poor sinful being.” Satan’s bite has brought death—both physical and spiritual to this world. Even those who reject Christianity still try to outrun his bite—but they are all doomed to failure in the end. For death stalks everyone. Depression and the fear of death afflict everyone. However, our gracious God has given us an antidote. It is faith in Christ. And so today we consider:

THE SURVIVAL OF THE FAITH-FILLED

I

The people of God, the children of Israel, had been surviving in the Sinai desert for many years after their exodus from Egypt. God had graciously provided for them along the way—leading them with a cloud pillar of fire, giving them victory over countless enemies, providing water when there wasn’t any and giving them food each day in the form of manna and quail to eat. Today I suppose we’d call them a “kept people.” But, like us, this hurt their pride a bit. Like us, they grew impatient with God’s goodness. (People always think they know more than God and have a better idea on how to order their lives than He does, don’t they?) So, they begin to grumble and murmur on the side against both God and His leader, Moses. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” Obviously those were gross distortions of the truth. They had water and food—manna that they didn’t even have to work for! Yes, right here we see that they, too, had been bitten by the venom of ungratefulness; one of Satan’s most useful tools.

God never lets people get away with spitting in His face. And He didn’t permit it here, either. He sent a plague of serpents whose bite was fiery pain to afflict them. Yes, the bite of sin causes people to die. It caused many of them to die. Isn’t it sad that we seek God’s help only when we cannot handle life on our own? Isn’t it sad that we turn to the Lord and grow as people only through tough times?

Well, they knew the reason for this plague—their unfaithfulness. And so they ask Moses to ask God to help them. “Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.’ So Moses prayed for the people.”—Here Moses was kind of like Christ, asking God to help snake-bitten sinners.

And just as God provided an antidote in Christ to Satan’s bite, so He did here, too, via Moses. “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’ So Moses made a bronze snake (copper pits abounded in Sinai) and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.”

What’s the point of this lesson? It is that faith saves! Faith in God’s promise. Faith in God’s ultimate promise of a Savior Who would be lifted up on the pole of the cross. Jesus makes that very clear in John 3 when He says: “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” Did you get that?—Eternal life! Not just freedom from the rent collector or the tax man or cancer or depression, but freedom from eternal death and hell. Yes, God has much bigger plans for us than simply our 80 odd years here on planet earth.

II

There are those who attend church for freedom from physical pain and affliction. They come when life gets tough, view God as the last resort instead of the first, and then when God helps them through the problem they drift away until the devil comes calling again. I call these “crises Christians.” To them God is much like a rabbit’s foot, an idol, that they pay homage to only when the bite of the snake gets too fiery to bear alone. Unfortunately they fail to comprehend that they need constant treatment for their sins in the form of Christ’s forgiveness. It’s kind of like not taking the full prescription of antibiotics and so the illness returns and returns and returns.

This bronze serpent had a name. The Israelites called it: Nehushtan which means: “copper snake.”  It was kept around as a memento of their trials for another 700 years and was even placed in the temple court in Jerusalem where people continued the “rabbit’s foot” veneration of it, turning it into an idol and offering incense offerings to it! Then when the reformer king, Hezekiah, took over it was broken apart and melted down. It reminds me a lot of something I saw in the paper this week. That is, the statue of the Virgin Mary from Fatima in Spain is currently in New England. In fact, it can be viewed in upcoming days in both Billerica and Wilmington at Roman Catholic churches. People think praying to it and worshipping it will heal them of the devil’s fiery bite. What tripe. Only Christ can do that! Yes, there is survival, eternal survival only of the faith-filled! Where is Hezekiah when you need him!?

Well, he’s long dead. The brass serpent is long gone. Moses is in heaven. But Christ is here! He’s here with you today in His Word and in His sacrament. He’s here to feed your souls with His anti-venom of forgiveness for all your sins. He’s here to take your spiritual pain away by reminding you that He’s insured a place in heaven for you—at the cost of His life and His blood.

Many preach today that life is all about the survival of the fittest. But God says otherwise. He says that it is really about survival of the faith-filled! So, don’t be afraid or bamboozled by the idol-makers of today. For then as now, only faith in Christ saves! Amen

Let us pray: Dear Savior, thank You for giving us Godly truth! Thank You for providing Godly guidance for good in our lives. But most importantly, thank You for giving us clear consciences through the forgiveness for our sins that You won for each of us on the cross. Amen GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, OUR WISE LORD AND SAVIOR! TEXT: Exodus 20: 1-17 Fellow Redeemed Sinners: Do you view God as a fool? I’m serious. Do you believe that He is out of touch with our reality and that His Biblical truths don’t really apply to you? Do you think that you’re wiser, smarter and more up-to-date than God? Does Dr. Phil seem more current to you than God’s Word? Do the various Harvard think-tanks seem more relevant? Every generation believes they are wiser than the stodgy God portrayed in the Bible. And they show it in how they live and what they hold dear. So, let’s take a test today and see where we come out when it comes to: GOD’S FOOLISHNESS VS. MAN’S WISDOM I Our lesson outlines the giving of the 10 commandments upon Mt. Sinai. They are very familiar to all of us. But, let’s begin examining His “foolish wisdom” backwards, as it were. Turn on talk radio and you’ll hear the phrase: “Greed is good.” Really? Since greed is basically being dissatisfied with our job, possessions, and co-workers and also thinking that any such blessings have no real value—where does that leave you? I’ll tell you where.—Discontented. So, I guess greedy folks will never experience true happiness. What a way to live! Likewise, with the booming house valuations, greed has taken over. And where has that gotten the average American? Do they own their house, or does their home own them? Gossip has become the American pastime. You cannot walk by a grocery check-out without some juicy celebrity tidbit hitting you between the eyes. Fat starlet pictures, Hollywood affairs, and celebrity embarrassing moments seem the most common. Do they make you feel better about yourself? Do they lift you above the mundane? Is that how you would like to be remembered? All of us work hard for our private property. Those of you who have a business know that when someone steals from you it takes bread (literally) from your family’s mouth. So, was a God a fool when He said that was wrong? Likewise, is He wrong when He provides blessings via hard work and the sense of accomplishment that comes with it? Do you want your wife, or husband, to have multiple sex partners? Will that make you feel better about your marriage? Do you want your kids to have free access to every kind of pornographic web site available? Do you think that will make them better people? Is physical violence o.k.? Is it alright to take out a gun and shoot the person who cuts you off in traffic? Should we all live like cave-men and work out a lot so that we’ll be able to carry the biggest club? Should parents raise children, or should children raise parents? Is it appropriate to sass your mother and dad? Should you be rewarded for such disrespect? After all, you’re just expressing your feelings, aren’t you? And aren’t we told that we should never repress our emotions? Now come the commandments dealing with our relationship with God. Is working 24/7 a good thing? Could it be that you’re depressed during the week because you’ve forgotten about God on Sunday? Is putting soccer practice, the baby shower, extra sleep, or that neighborhood birthday party first on Sunday morning but another way of saying: “God’s a fool, I don’t need Him this week?” How do you think God feels when people use His name as an afterthought, such as: “God, it’s hot today. Or, Jesus Christ, why did you forget to gas up the car?” If people were to use your name as a throw-away word, how would that make you feel? Do you view God kind of like the weather—some amorphous “thing” that has no reality? Does it matter to you that if God isn’t real than people are answerable to no one and the one with the biggest club wins? Do you thrive in the chaos of a God-free society, or do you long for something both kindler, gentler, and more stable? II As a Christian you know that evil exists in this world. You know that humans create their own problems. That’s not foolish talk, that’s reality. But, you also know that our wise God has found a way of sorting it all out. He has given us His commandments to order our lives and keep us safe. He has shown us a better way, a wiser way to live than everyone doing whatever they think is right in their own sight. And in the process, those commandments show us our own foolishness, not God’s. They reveal the chasm that exists between Him and each of us. For try as we might, we fail to keep them perfectly. Additionally, our wise God did something even more profound. God Almighty, the Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, not Allah, Vishnu, or the Great Spirit of the American Indians has provided an eternal solution to human chaos. He restored equilibrium, harmony and balance in His creation, by sending us a Savior from sin. He sent Jesus Christ to experience the ultimate horror of death in our place. In love for us He sent Jesus to give His life for ours on a cross and through His sacrifice to forgive us. God’s blood for human blood. God’s pain for human pain. No other religion teaches such a “foolish” truth. All the rest seek to look inside humans for answers to life’s problems. All the rest seek to placate your conscience by patting you on the back for your own achievements. Even though those achievements never seem to be enough. No, only Christianity teaches that God has done everything necessary to make us right with Him including giving us the gift of faith necessary to hold onto His eternal blessings. Only Christianity teaches true love and not coercion make the world go round. Is God a fool for loving you? Is He a fool for dying in your place? Is He a fool for providing guidance for good in the form of the commandments? Well, before you answer that question recall St. Paul’s blessed words: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” I know that outside these walls your faith is mocked all week long—directly or indirectly. But, really, who’s the real fool—God or unbelieving man? Amen

Let us pray: Dear Savior, although all of us are by nature competitive and view life in terms of what we attain, human success and human “things” really don’t buy happiness. Likewise, they don’t buy eternal life, either. Today teach us to value our lives in spiritual terms. Teach us that when we lose our definition of human success, and embrace Your definition of eternal success—only then will we find true peace. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, OUR SACRIFICIAL SAVIOR!

TEXT: Mark 8: 31-38

Fellow Redeemed Sinners:

It runs directly counter to the human definition of success. It runs directly opposite to what is taught in our schools, our businesses, and most of our homes today. It is the truth of our lesson: You win by losing. Let me explain.

America is sports crazy. From grade school on kids are involved and enrolled in sports programs. And although they pay lip service to “character building” by losing, they really preach: win, win, win, for no one likes to be labeled “a loser.” American business ethics are basically: win at all costs. Otherwise you’ll be out of a job. Today there is even a buzz word for that attitude. It is: competitiveness. Likewise, we define and characterize people we meet as either “winners” or “losers” depending on their income and wealth.

The Las Vegas gambler goes with one thing in mind: win! Some do, more don’t. The winners are held in high esteem, the losers aren’t even talked about for fear of transferring their “bad luck.” Lest you think I’m picking only on Americans, be reminded that such a simplistic view of life is native to all humans. The bottom line is that our sinful nature always causes pride shown by a competitive streak to reveal itself in all we do. We just cannot get our head around the concept that anything good can come from losing.

I suppose that’s why our lesson is so jarring. Indeed, it is a paradox. A mystery to mortal man. And yet, we all know, down deep, that it is true. For we’ve all been “losers” in our lives, and learned from it for the better. Yes, for the Christian:

YOU WIN BY LOSING

I

Jesus has just elicited a wonderful confession of faith from Peter. Just prior to this lesson, Peter said of Him: “You are the Christ, the Son of living God.” Now, to prepare the disciples for the heart-wrenching sacrifice that would soon come in Jerusalem, “He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.” Up until now it appeared to the disciples that they had backed a winner. The crowds adored Christ. His miracles astounded them. But now, Jesus talks about losing it all. He talks of impending death and yes, resurrection, but they do not key in on that fact for they cannot get beyond their loss with His death. None of them like this kind of talk. It seems like defeatism measured in human terms. And so Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him. You can almost hear his words: “Don’t talk that way. Everything will work out. You have almighty power. They’ll never lay a hand on You.”

By this response we see that Peter doesn’t understand the truth that You win by losing. He doesn’t understand that true love and true joy stem from self-sacrifice. From giving up the worldly attitude of success. Satan only understands pride-filled competitiveness. In fact, he’s the source of such an earth-bound attitude. But Christ is God. Christ understands that life is really about those Godly intangibles such as: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.—All born of losing. All born of knowing that life is more than winning a football game, winning a big contract, or winning a lot of money playing roulette. Life is really about character-building through handling loss and rising above the pettiness of this life. Life is eternal and therefore must be played by God’s eternal rules. That’s why Jesus says: “Get behind me, Satan, for you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

II

How do you run your life? What rules do you play by? What defines how you live?—The things of God, or the things of men?

Well, the paradox continues. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.” Then to put it even more bluntly, Christ continues: “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”

You win by losing. That is a paradoxical truth of Christianity. It is also a truth that, like you, I’m still struggling with. When I was a fresh-faced pastor I really thought that my ministry could be defined by the worldly definition of success or failure. That is, the more people you bring in, the more money the church has, the more grandiose the building, the more humanly beautiful it is—the more I was “winning.” However, I still recall Bill Stark, our elder chairman at the time, reminding me: “Pastor it’s not about numbers, it’s about faithfulness to God’s Word.” That is, my ministry is really about being honest and truthful in applying God’s truths to hurting souls. Some take them to heart. Others walk away. But, in the end, only Christ gives the increase, and only Christ is glorified—not my flesh.

By human definitions of success, I’m a loser. I’m not rich. I don’t have a “big” church. Our building is adequate not wowie-zowie. And I’ve had to learn that in the end none of that matters. That’s because I’m happy! I’ve got a clear conscience, through God’s grace. I’m able to serve God by attending to your spiritual needs. I’m able to make a difference in people’s lives. What more to life is there?

Along the way I’ve had to learn the hard way that the true meaning to life is embracing and living those fruits of the Spirit I mentioned earlier. And the only way to possess them is to deny my flesh, get rid of the “winner vs. loser mentality,” take up my cross of reliance on God’s ways instead of my own, and follow Jesus wherever He leads. True happiness is found by faithfully embracing God’s Word: “to live is Christ, to die is gain.” It is found by embracing His truth: “My strength is made perfect in your weakness.” It is in acknowledging our “loser” status and clinging to His victory on the cross instead of trumpeting our own minor achievements.

You Win By Losing. I’ve had to learn and re-learn that truth the hard way. And all of you are in the same boat.—That’s life. But, instead of complaining about it and turning into whiners, give all your crosses to Christ. After all, He’s ready to carry them and already has! All of life’s “winners” will eventually lose it all in death. But not you, dear Christian. For Jesus won the ultimate victory over death just for you. Yes, in the end it is the “losers” who will become “winners.” That is the Christian hope that does not disappoint! Amen

Let us pray: Dear Savior, thank You for not leaving us alone in this evil world! Thank You for surrounding us with the Spirit’s power and Your mighty shield of victory when sin comes calling to trip us up! Yes, in our moments of weakness and failure may we always look to and cling to Your strength. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, OUR BLESSED BROTHER!

TEXT: Mark 1: 12-15

Fellow Redeemed Sinners:

I remember. I remember the lady who had been raped by her brother over the years and how that inner “demon” controlled her life. I remember the woman who had lived with her “demon” since aborting her child 10 years earlier. I remember the young woman who lived with the “demon” of sexual promiscuity and justified it by saying: “God made me this way!”  I remember the man haunted by the inner demon of wanton drug abuse and alcoholism. Yes, we all face inner demons. But where do they come from? Well, we possess sin-tainted flesh, while living in a evil-plagued world, which is corrupted by Satan and his hellish allies at every turn.—So, ultimately all our inner “demons” really come from Satan.  And on this first Sunday of Lent, God’s message to you is:

YOU DON’T HAVE TO FIGHT YOUR DEMONS ALONE

I

Let me make some general observations. 1) All people possess a morbid curiosity. Even those who don’t really believe in a personal God or a real devil, nonetheless are intrigued by evil. If you don’t believe me, than you had better never read a mystery novel or slow down for a car accident on the other side of the road. 2) Once real evil touches a person’s life they are forever changed by it. Some get sucked down even further—depression, repression, or lashing out come to mind. Others, by God’s grace learn to rise above it and turn an evil event into good outcome. And 3) The nature of any “demon” is to first blame God for your problems, for all “demons” are professional blame-shifters.

I know of various people who identify themselves as Christians and who go to church on a fairly regular basis. However, these same folks who confess God’s reality and espouse belief in a personal Savior also downplay and/or reject the reality of a personal demon called: Satan. To me that is a huge disconnect. For it denigrates Christ’s mission of saving souls from evil. It calls into question all of the Bible since Scripture clearly speaks of a real devil and real demons. And it begs the question: “Than just why do you need a Savior at all?” I guess a whole lot of people live in la-la land today.

II

Just as there is a personal God Who is kind, loving, and good; so there is also a personal demon who is filled with hatred, pride, and arrogance. And unlike many world religions which teach that we humans are caught in a tug-of-war between these two forces with no true resolution, Christianity resolves the battle. Good wins! Forgiveness and love triumph over evil! There is help! There is hope! Life truly is worth living! And in our lesson our Savior proves all that to be true.

“At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him.” St. Matthew and St. Luke give us more indepth account of Christ’s temptation. Yet, Mark outlines its profound meaning, too. After Jesus’ baptism the Holy Spirit “led” or literally “drove” Christ out into the desert to be tempted. Jesus knew it was coming. Satan could never even enter His presence if not allowed. But, Jesus allowed it. He went willingly. He went not to save Himself, but to earn a victory over evil for you and me. Would you allow a serial killer into your home? Would you embrace the “Butcher of Baghdad” and give him free reign of your life for 40 days? Would you trade places with another in a similar predicament? Well, Jesus did. He walked in our shoes in love to win a victory for us.

When you read just Matthew’s account you often get the idea that Satan came to Christ at the end of those days and only tempted Him three times. Mark and Luke make clear that wasn’t the case. No, Satan was with Him each moment of each day. The temptations were continuous, much like in our lives. Also, unlike today when Satan usually employs proxies to drag us down, here he comes directly. He used his full power against Christ, for he knew this was the ultimate life and death struggle between good and evil.

We’re told Christ prepared for this by fasting. Some would view going 40 days without food as fool-hardy. To us well-fed Americans who think of every contest only in physical terms, it seems ludicrous. And yet, in fasting Christ focused on the spiritual contest which occurred. This was an eternal struggle between darkness and light, between good and evil, and it transcended mere physical wants and/or needs. Of course, Christ was still fully human when this happened. His stomach was empty when Satan told Him to turn stones into bread. He was alone and seemingly forgotten in the desert when the devil told Him that the world’s glory could be His life He would bow down and worship the devil. Yes, Jesus was alone when Satan tried to get Him to show-off and test His Godly powers for selfish reasons by hurling Himself from the pinnacle of the temple.Note that in each case, Jesus never gives in to His flesh. He never takes the easy way out. Yes, your Savior battled for you so that You don’t have to fight your demons all alone!

III

Satan always seeks to attack us at our weakest point. He looks for an in and then seeks to exploit it. He did it to Christ and he does it to us. And his attacks always hurt. They suck nonbelievers into more doubt, despair, fear, and pain. They draw believers into questioning any idea of Divine hope and help. In both cases people feel they are all alone with such demons.

But, we’re not alone! That has always been my message to incest victims, closet homosexuals, thieves, substance abusers and all other struggling sinners. We have God on our side. We have a Savior Who has walked in our shoes, felt every one of our temptations and pains, and Who rose above it all. He went from suffering and death to life and eternal victory! Moreover, when we look to Him for help, He gives it by sending angels to attend us!

St. John the Baptist prepared people for such hope when he announced: “Repent and believe the good news!” My version of that message today is never forget, never forget that You Don’t Have to Fight Your Demons Alone! Amen