Month: October 2015

Let us pray: Dear Savior, amid a world of deceit and confusion it’s hard to know who to trust and what to believe in. So today we thank You for being Godly truth, for leading us into Godly truth, and for putting the Truth of Your life on the line to save our souls. And although the world may shun You for Your gift of truth, we welcome and embrace You—because You first embraced us. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, WHO IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE!

TEXT: John 8: 31-32: “If you believe in My teachings then you truly are my disciples; and then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”

Dearly Beloved Inheritors of the Lutheran Reformation:

Are some Sundays more important than others? No, and yes. No, in that each Sunday is a wonderful day of thanksgiving and praise to God where He leads us in His paths of rightness and bestows upon us amazing grace as a free gift through faith. Yes, in that some Sundays have more of an emotional commitment on our part—think Easter and Pentecost and yes, Reformation.

When I was a child, Reformation rivaled Easter as to excitement and attendance. It was the day we celebrated our liberation from being chained in spirit by the Law, a lot of do’s and don’ts, and we were free to soar heavenward on the grace of Christ’s forgiving love. It was the day we recalled that “one man, armed with God’s Word, could stand up to all the powers of his day and overcome them”—because God’s Word is that awesomely powerful and effective. And of course, that man was Dr. Martin Luther who did exactly that on October 31st, 1517. Our lesson was one of Dr. Luther’s favorites. And so it is fitting that we take Christ’s words to heart today and consider how:

GOD’S TRUTH WILL SET US FREE!

I

Pontius Pilate asked Jesus: “What is truth?” He asked because he didn’t know and believed that no one could know the truth. Pilate was a fool, and so are the masses today. Many years ago the Bethany Library was cleaning out a lot of old books that they had multiple copies of. Since I worked at the library, I was given the task of overseeing this “dumping” to make more room on the shelves. I purposefully took various old history books for myself, and I still have them. I did so thinking: “Someday these books will be invaluable because they are based on historical facts and not written from the vantage point of the current “recasting of history” agenda that was coming to the fore. Someday history will become so corrupted by political agendas that people will need to know the truth.” Anyone under 40, or maybe 50, who has been to college and had to swallow the modern agenda of falsehoods being promoted knows exactly what I’m talking about.

Today the Reformation is taught from the viewpoint of economic upheaval or the nobility vs. the peasants. It is taught as a power struggle between the haves and the have nots. But it is never taught on a secular level as a struggle between Divine truth vs. human error. That’s because the world doesn’t believe in the Divine and they don’t believe that real truth is attainable.–Nothing is objectively true and everything is merely subjective opinion. And so nothing is right and nothing is wrong—in our modern culture. It’s all just “your opinion.”

Folks, that’s a crock. Dr. Luther wasn’t motivated by theories of: wealth re-distribution. He wasn’t motivated by human power and overthrowing the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. He wasn’t delusional or mentally off-balance either—all of which are thrown around today. No, Luther was deeply concerned about one question: “How can I be saved?” He had been taught the party line: “You save yourself by earning God’s favor and you earn it by being moral in everything you do.” The problem was: Luther knew he was a sinner and he knew he failed on this score literally every day. But still it was pounded into him that God demanded rightness from him. But again, Luther knew he and every other human being could never measure up to this demand. So, this poor man was heartsick and anguished in his soul.

But then, when reading the Bible, Romans, Luther was given an insight by the Spirit. Yes, the Spirit works through God’s Word and opens eyes to Godly truth! When he read that passage: “The righteous will live by his faith” Luther began to understand that the righteousness of God wasn’t something God demanded from us, but that He freely gave to us in Jesus Christ. It was a truth outside of us, given us by a loving, forgiving God. So, Christ would make Luther right with God, not the other way around. Christ had won that eternal freedom for all people on the cross and Christ now sought to hand it to all through His gift of saving faith. That’s what the Bible meant when Jesus said: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.”

II

This truth shook the known world of the time! It changed people’s attitudes 180 degrees when it came to how they viewed God and how they would live their lives. Now we could live in thanksgiving instead of in guilt. Now we could worship in the freedom of joy instead of under a sense of obligation. Now we could embrace the 10 commandments knowing that our mistakes and failures in keeping them were completely forgiven, and even our pitiful attempts at trying to keep them gave God joy because Christ had already kept them for us and that’s what God saw when He cast His gaze upon us. Yes, the newly righteous in Christ were free! God’s truth had set us free! And faith alone in Jesus made His gift of that freedom our possession!

The world today is desperately searching for happiness and fulfillment. Politicians pass countless laws in order to make people happier. But they don’t. Merchants hawk countless products to help people buy their version of happiness. But, they don’t. Schools cater to the unhappy discontents by re-writing history so that their feelings won’t be hurt. But they still are. We live in an age when no one wants to take responsibility for their actions. We live in a time when people think that their feelings should dictate what is true and what is not. And since we have 7 billion people in the world we’re left with 7 billion versions of truth. And yet for all this “diversity of thought” people are still searching for the truth and still want, yearn, to be set free.

Well, you, dear children of the Lutheran Reformation possess the truth! Christ won it for you on the cross and gives it to you through faith. God’s truth is that HE SAVED US! THAT HE MADE US RIGHT WITH HIM! AND WHEN WE HUMBLY ACCEPT THIS BLESSED GIFT OF UNDESERVED LOVE, OUR YEARNING WILL BE CHANGED TO CONTENTED JOY!

That’s the reason why Reformation is so important. Celebrate it accordingly. Amen

Let us pray: Dear Savior, Your way of truth is all about stripping away our arrogance and foolish pride and humbling us so that we trust only in Your grace instead of our own righteousness. And when that happens, the glorious breeze of appreciation over a gift not earned by us, but by You in our place, wafts into our hearts and uplifts us. Make that happen anew this morning. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, THE GIVER OF UNDESERVED LOVE

TEXT: Mark 10: 17-27

Dearly Beloved By Christ:

Most of modern life is all about marketing. But, then, you can say it’s always been that way. How you package a product, or yourself, determines how others receive it. Ancient warriors dressed up in scary clothing and armor to promote themselves. Business people “dress for success.” I won’t ask how many of you have padded, or perhaps “massaged” your resume. And as to the products we buy, well, if you believe everything the commercials tell you I’ve got some real nice swamp land in Louisiana you might be interested in! Technology is the current buzz word used to sell products. I shake my head over those financial commercials that promise huge gains via their technological insights. I’ll let you in on a secret: if you want to save money—spend less than you take in! Live within your means and don’t ring up the credit card.–Common sense.

Today Christ takes on this lie of personal marketing. And in the process, He shows us that the only way to heaven and a blessed life with Him is BASIC CHRISTIANITY not self-marketing.

I

Go to any funeral and you’ll hear a lot of stories and flowery language about how wonderful the departed was in life. Sometimes it’s laid on so thick you don’t even recognize exactly who they are talking about. And it eventually boils down to something like this: “Well, St. Peter will certainly welcome so and so into heaven because they were kind of children, tried to be a good person, and generally helped others in need.” We all reinforce that same mindset in our own lives. We hold up our external good deeds to God and believe that those good deeds are the chief reason He should accept us as His children and bless us. But, if that were true, there would be no need for a Savior, no need for Jesus to suffer and die on a cross for our sins in order to save our souls. Basic Christianity is this: We’re all sinners who are rebellious and unholy before God. He’s perfect and we’re not. We sin every day via sins of commission (actively doing bad things) and also those pesky sins of omission (ignoring those hurting around us); because we don’t want to be bothered. But, basic Christianity teaches us that God, in pure love sent His Son to save us. It teaches that He gives us His totally undeserved love, His grace, and makes it ours through faith. It teaches us that life is about living in gratefulness and appreciation of that blessing and not glorying-in our own personal marketing strategy. That’s the meaning behind Christ’s words when He says: “God humbles the proud and exalts the humble.”

II

Today we come across Christ and a rich young man who tried to market himself and his lifestyle to Christ and failed miserably. This conceited young man asked Jesus: “Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” The key words there are: “What must I Do?” Basically, this fellow thought he could save himself through his own deeds. Christ responds with a recitation of a few of the 10 commandments: “You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.” This arrogant young man now seeks to justify himself (self-marketing) with an extremely superficial answer: “Teacher, all these I have kept since I was a boy.” What a crock! Even if he were able to outwardly not engage in such behavior, inwardly he had done so. Sin isn’t just doing external “bad stuff” it’s also thinking about it and playing with it and plotting it. Eve’s original sin wasn’t just eating the forbidden fruit and violating God’s directive, it was in deciding to do so after much temptation.

“Jesus looked at him and loved him.” Not because the fellow was correct, but because he desperately needed Christ’s help—just like all of us. It was a look of loving pity over his self-delusions of personal grandeur. We see that played out by Christ’s answer: “One thing you lack. Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then, come, follow me. At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.”

III

Basically, Jesus plays along with him and his superficial understanding of a Godly life and then nails him with this answer. By telling him to sell everything and follow him, Christ was revealing the man’s cold heart while dealing with those pesky sins of omission. True acts of love are to be ever-present in our lives. They are to be a lifestyle, done when no one but God sees them. By being not willing to share and give His all in helping others, omitting countless good deeds, this man shows his sin. He shows that personal marketing (pride) doesn’t cut it with God and never will.

Although Christ uses this man as an example of the corruption that comes via greed and money, the greater truth is: if we’re rich in our egos we’ll never gain heaven. Again, “God humbles the proud and exalts the humble.” Or, as He says in the sermon on the mount: “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” So, what, or who, should we be rich in? Or, as the disciples ask: “Who then can be saved?” And the answer is terribly simple. It’s basic Christianity. “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”

All things. Did you hear that? All things. Little Julia was baptized earlier this morning. She had really nothing to offer God for His gift of salvation. In fact, like the rest of us, all she could offer Him were her sins and her failures to be a perfect baby every minute of every day. And yet, in pure love God sent the Holy Spirit into her heart, worked faith within her, and made her His eternal child through baptism. God did all the giving and she and we did all the receiving. Why does God act like this? Why is He so diametrically opposite our thoughts about how to be saved and blest? The answer is: because that’s the nature of undeserved love, or grace. None of us asked or deserved to have God’s Son die to save our souls. Certainly Julia didn’t. But in pure love, Jesus has done exactly that! It’s His gift to her and to each of you. Basic Christianity teaches us to always rely on Christ alone and never on our own personal marketing strategies or our supposed good deeds when it comes to God’s favor. In pride we ask: “Is that all there is to it?” And in profound wisdom, God answers back: “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Indeed! Amen

Let us pray: Dear Savior, one of the greatest blessings You have given us in this life is: Christian marriage. How wonderful it is to have a companion for a lifetime with whom we can share everything and grow in ways that formerly seemed beyond reach. Today, teach us to value and uphold marriage and to never take it lightly. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, WHO IS THE HEAD OF EVERY CHRISTIAN MARRIAGE!

TEXT: Mark 10: 7-9: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and two will become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Dearly Beloved By Christ:

My father was an only child. He had an older brother who was stillborn, but a couple of years later my father burst on the scene. Obviously this meant he was doted on a bit. His parents were protective of him. (Yes, helicopter parents existed even 90 years ago!) When my dad and mother were married, they went north, about 40 miles, to a lakeside town for their honeymoon. My mother used to recall, not so fondly, that the very next day dad’s parents showed up to visit them! She could still remember what she made for them to eat! Talk about bad timing, or what!? I use this as an illustration of what MARRIAGE MATHEMATICS isn’t! While our lesson clearly teaches us what Marriage Mathematics is all about.

I

God, not human beings, instituted marriage way back in the Garden of Eden. That’s when God made an appropriate counterpart for Adam, Eve, out of his own flesh. Note well that God didn’t make another man from Adam. He didn’t create a “buddy” for him. He created something new, unique, different, and yet one having the qualities that Adam lacked. Linked together in a lifelong union, these two, man and woman, would become a strong, organic bond of togetherness. One would be inseparable without the other. That’s what marriage was meant to be. And out of that union children could come and truly be a blessing for all. A same-sex buddy would not and could not fulfill this inner need for total oneness that both were made with.

In Ephesians and elsewhere in Scripture God describes marriage in amazing terms—in terms of Jesus Christ His Son. Christ’s relationship with us, His Church, His believers, is likened unto marriage. He is the Bridegroom and we are His Bride. And through faith those two literally become: “one flesh.”—The Church is the Body of Christ. There’s one example of marriage mathematics. Likewise, think of Jesus Himself. At Christmas we celebrate His incarnation, God taking on human flesh and becoming a man to save us. Two disparate things: Divinity and humanity are forever joined together. All this to save our souls. And although Pontius Pilate and others tried to separate this mystical union by killing Christ on a cross, God basically said: “No way!” and raised Him to life on Easter. Again, we could term this Marriage Mathematics—Divinity married humanity in Christ and that personal union lasts forever. With that in mind, those words of Jesus here: “Let no one separate” ring O so true.

II

Throughout the centuries people have always played around with God’s definition of marriage and tried to circumvent it in various ways. Part of marriage, a small but important part is: sex. The much greater part is: caring, sharing, togetherness held together by total trust. Since we’re sexual creatures, we want the sex part without the commitment part. I guess it’s all about “hedging your bets” as it were. So, many folks choose to live together as man and wife without being married. This upends marriage as God created it to be. It is a lack of total commitment to each other. Sex should be about such commitment, but without formal marriage it isn’t. Without formal marriage either party can walk away if something goes awry. It’s like eating frosting without taking the time together to carefully build the cake, bake it, and then contentedly savor each morsel. In a “live-in” arrangement, when things get tough, and they always do, the uncommitted walk. And in the process both parties miss out on the internal growth that always comes through working together to fix the problem. Basically, it’s psychological self-preservation—whereas in marriage preserving God’s perfect union becomes more important than mere self. In Christian marriage “Us” becomes more important than “Me.” And as a result both parties grow together in ways that the unmarried cannot even imagine.

III

Christ says in our lesson that “the two will become one flesh.” That’s especially poignant coming from our Lord and Savior. Just think: in Him the two—Divinity and humanity—became one flesh. And the result was our salvation. He wants to give us a small taste of this while still on earth—so He instituted marriage. Just as Jesus was enlarged as a person by pulling us into our faith union with Him and made blissfully happy by it all, so it can and will be for a man and a woman united under His blessing.

When I was a little boy I grew up with the King James translation of the Bible. I learned the passage: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife” in these words: “A man will leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife.” “Leave and cleave.” That’s the old adage for marriage. And it’s true. When two folks are married they leave behind their parents and cleave to each other instead. The old order has moved along and a new order now takes over. And no one and nothing should be allowed to come between the husband and wife. Not friends, neighbors, parents, siblings, or even children. Not money or possessions or job or home. Just as St. Paul says that nothing in all creation should separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, so nothing in all creation should separate us from our spouse. That again is some applied Marriage Mathematics.

All of this begins with a formal marriage ceremony. That is, a formal commitment that is legal and binding done before witnesses. It doesn’t have to be done in a church, or even by clergy. But it does have to be done. And once it is, marriage is born. For the Christian, you, a double blessing is reaped by this. You not only possess the togetherness of being “one” but you also have Christ Himself as the new head of your household! And what better way is there to live than having God with you—guiding and protecting you—every moment of your lives together on this earth? Yes, Marriage Mathematics is nothing short of amazing! Amen

Let us pray: Dear Savior, just as police are here to: serve, preserve, and protect the helpless and downtrodden, so You come through Your almighty Word of truth to do likewise in our lives. But such service and protection doesn’t take place in a spiritual vacuum. No, you use people like us, fellow Christians, to apply the salt of Your Word to preserve hurting souls from Satan’s attacks and to protect tender souls from being infected with deadly strains of sin. Remind us today not to shy away from such life-giving Christian service. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, THE SALT OF OUR SOULS

TEXT: Mark 9: 50

Dearly Beloved By Christ:

A few weeks ago I made my first batch of home-make sauerkraut. Before you say: “Yuck!” hear me out. First, sauerkraut is fermented cabbage. It is made by slicing cabbage very thin, adding some canning salt or sea salt, covering it with water and letting it sit for a few weeks. Those three little ingredients work together and the cabbage ferments under bacterial action. Bad bacteria are destroyed by the salt and good bacteria—probiotics—are created. In fact, a serving of kraut has as many or more probiotics in it than yogurt with very little caloric intake and no fat! After skimming off the foam that forms you can refrigerate it for weeks or even months for use. Old Germans used it as a way to preserve food for the long winter. I use it for my mother’s sauerkraut salad and for her apple, pork, sauerkraut coupled with allspice, meal—along with some brown sugar. It’s delicious. And salt makes it all happen.

I’ve been learning more about salt over this past year in my cooking. I seldom use iodized salt because it has no trace minerals and a bland taste. I use sea salt, sometimes gray salt with its unique tanginess, and occasionally pink salt which comes from glacial runoff in the Himalayan Mountains. You don’t need as much of these to enhance flavor and thus it helps your blood pressure.

In ancient times salt was literally worth its weight in gold. This is because without it life was unsustainable—we call this electrolyte imbalances today. Cells need some salt to maintain their balance and integrity. Also, they could only create salt from evaporating sea water and gathering up the leftovers. It was long, slow, and costly. Most of the ancient camel caravans transported salt to desert climates because it was so life-sustaining.

In more than one section of Scripture Christ talks about salt in positive terms. Recall: “You are the salt of the earth.” That is, Christians are the active source of preserving those around them. Our faith literally “rubs off” on others and God spares some punishments for the sake of those few, salty, elect believers. I truly believe America still exists as a country today because of the salty Christians who still inhabit our land—not because of a strong military or an advanced economic engine that is hiccupping as I speak. So, here Christ says this: “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.”

I

In the verses preceding this, Jesus zeroes in on sloppy believers who employ their faith, their peace with God born of Christ’s forgiveness for all sins, as a license to say or do whatever they want without limitations. Some believers raise barriers to Godliness by gossiping about others, slandering them, or being thoughtless in their speech. Simple people hear that talk and conclude: “If that’s how a Christian talks, I don’t want to be a Christian. They’re no better than anyone else.” Kids especially pick up on this. They learn from adults. My old friend who teaches 1st graders says that he’s amazed every year at the nasty words children say and use. They learn from their parents. It’s sad. But, Christ says: “If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them if a large millstone were hung around their neck and they were thrown into the sea.”

Jesus then goes on to talk about how sloppy believers or thoughtless unbelievers can get themselves into trouble with God. Hands can do things which hurt others and yourself. Feet can lead us all into situations which destroy faith, reputations, and health. Eyes can focus on people or things which are shameful and/or as tempting as Eve’s forbidden fruit. In any case, His point is: get rid of the problem before it consumes you—yes even leading to the fires of hell.—Where “Everyone there will be salted with fire.” That’s a reference to salt’s destructive nature not its preserving one. Kind of like when you use rock salt on concrete and it eats it up or on your lawn and it kills all the grass.

II

Salt can be good or bad. It can be used positively or negatively. So it is with each of you. Your life as a Christian can be an uplifting experience for you, your family, and all you meet; or it can be used to turn people off to Christ’s love. How is that possible? Again our text tells us: “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness how can you make it salty again?” In cooking, salt can lose its punch through watering it down. Every ingredient sucks up some salt, potatoes more than others. So eventually even if salt were there to begin with, the food is tasteless. That’s the challenge for your Christianity. Living a sloppy faith and being diluted by the evil influences around us eventually cancels out your saltiness. Good Christian habits like praying before meals, having devotions every day, Sunday worship, encouraging the other faithful during the week, and keeping the commandments in mind as you wrestle with business decisions—those good habits can begin to drift and slack off and soon you find yourself unsalty and tasteless! And then the question is: “How can you make it salty again?”

Well, Christ tells us: “Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other.” First, you get salt from its source. God’s salt is sourced from God’s Word, His Sacraments, and His service to you on Sunday morning. He has mined it in and through Christ and now Jesus gives you His life-sustaining salt through faith. Second, believers naturally share such salt with each other. So, hang out especially with fellow Christians and get salty.—Do so in peace and thanksgiving. Yes, “Be at peace with each other” instead of engaging clan warfare.

Today, Christ has provided and I have written down for you a little letter which could well be entitled: ALL ABOUT GODLY SALT. It’s really all about how to live a blessed life and avoid self-destruction. And if you take nothing else away from today, just recall how vital Godly Salt is to everything next time you reach for the shaker. Amen