Month: August 2017

Let us pray: Dear Savior, it is truly awful to live in fear and uncertainty—thinking the worst when life throws us a curveball. For fear breeds doubt and doubt breeds unbelief. So, today we thank You in advance for taking our fears away by fixing our gaze upon You and Your love for us, alone. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST IN WHOM THERE IS NO FEAR!

TEXT: Matthew 14: 22-33

Dearly Beloved By Christ:

The mark of a healthy person is laughter, specifically the ability to laugh at yourself. Dr. Luther was especially good at this. For example, the English version of his dog’s name was: Klutz! On one occasion, Luther was talking about prayer. He said: “Look at how attentive Klutz is when there a piece of meat on the table! O that we could be so attentive when it comes to focusing our prayers to God!” Yes, laughter is the mark of a healthy soul and a healthy church.

In today’s lesson we don’t find laughter, but fear, faith, and then more fear followed by deliverance and relief. In this miracle of Peter walking on the water, there are basically three key phrases. They are: “Don’t be afraid. You of little faith, why did you doubt? And, Truly you are the Son of God.” So, let’s key in on them and while doing so learn to:

EVALUATE THE HEALTH OF YOUR FAITH

I

After feeding the 5000+ with a miniscule amount of food and sending them away for the night, Jesus retreats by himself to a hillside to pray while the disciples are sent by boat to the other side of the lake. One of those violent squalls that the Sea of Galilee is famous for arose. The disciples rowed and rowed and by 3 a.m. were only about 3 ½ miles out from the shore. Obviously Jesus knew they were worried and fearful for their safety, so He decides to walk out to meet up with them. He walks on the water—3 ½ miles! The disciples suddenly make out this figure approaching them over the waves. What is it? Who is it? How is this possible? They are terrified. “It’s a ghost,’ they said and cried out in fear.” And then come the most comforting words in all Scripture: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Whenever God says, either through Christ or an angelic messenger: “Don’t be afraid” it is pure Gospel. God is in charge of all things—even the wind and waves. If He says it will be o.k. then it will be o.k. His words always work confidence and trust and dispel doubt. They did so when Mary was confronted by Gabriel. They did so when angels announced the resurrection to the disciples at the empty tomb. They do so here, too.

Let’s evaluate our faith for a minute. Whenever something happens which is unexpected in life, what’s your first response? Is it to think: “Oh, I wonder how God will use this for a blessing?” Or, it is: “Oh, no, bad things await me?” If your answer immediate answer is the former, it means your focus is on the Gospel. If it is the latter, your focus is on the Law. And focusing on God’s Law brings with it doubt and negativity to our lives. BTW, don’t feel bad if you flunked this test. I flunk it all the time. Time and again, whenever something upsets my comfort zone I immediately seize on the worst case scenario, whip myself up emotionally, expend all kinds of energy examining alternatives, and 98% of the time I’m dead wrong and it’s all a big waste of time!

II

By fixing his gaze on Jesus, Peter started out the right way. But, he needed to be sure. So, he said: “Lord, if it’s you, tell me to come to you on the water.’ ‘Come,’ he said.” And then Peter climbed out of the boat and walked on the water out to meet his Lord. Focusing on blessings is always a positive. Good things always happen when we do so. They certainly did for the Apostle Peter, didn’t they? So, I guess Peter passed the original evaluation test of his faith.

Unfortunately, it didn’t last. He shifted his gaze away from Jesus and blessing to the big waves and howling wind and started to go down. He’s afraid again. “Lord, save me!” Since He’s our loving Lord Who is all about saving people, Jesus does exactly that. He reaches out His hand, catches Peter and gently pulls him into the boat. And then the storm subsides.

Think of how much emotional stress Peter could have avoided if he had not focused on the negative scenarios to all this? Think of how much stress you can avoid if you would only do the same? If you think about it, Lutherans should be able to laugh at sin and its allies because God’s love for us in Christ knows no bounds. As Paul said last week in our epistle: “We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us!”

III

As we go through life and learn to evaluate our faith’s reaction to it, there is only one true response to living under the Gospel and focusing on blessing instead of pain. It is the reaction of the disciples to this miracle: “Then those who were in the boat worshipped him saying: ‘Truly you are the Son of God.'”

This little miracle scenario is played out again and again in our lives. It will continue to play itself out until the day we leave this world. We get sick, we have an accident, financial troubles hit us, family troubles erupt, world events make our heads spin. And as long as we fix our attention on our solutions to those problems, doubt will always follow and second guess our fixes—over and over again. But when we focus on Jesus and His forgiving love; when we say with confidence: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” Well, honoring Him for His goodness will always calm our stormy hearts.

I can well imagine the disciples sitting around the table a few days after all this and Peter being ribbed a bit for his doubting. I can also imagine him being a bit chagrined by it all and laughing at himself in retrospect. Yes, the blessings of the Gospel will always breed joy, happiness, relief and yes: laughter to the human heart. So, work at putting all that to good use when it comes to your faith. And: Don’t be afraid any more! Amen

Let us pray: Dear Savior, although we live in a world of continuous confusion, we have one thing to rely upon which is constant: You and Your timeless love for us. Thank You for such a profound gift! And since we possess such timeless wisdom, move us to exercise it and put it to good use, both in our own lives and in the lives of the people we touch. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, THE SOURCE OF ETERNAL LOVE!

TEXT: Romans 8: 35-39

Dearly Beloved By Christ:

Recently my lovely wife and I have pondered the ages of the pre-flood patriarchs and what their longevity meant to the people of that time period. Adam lived 930 years. His son, Seth, lived 912 years. His son, Enosh, lived 905 years. Various other progeny of this line lived around 900 years, too. And to cap it off, the oldest human being, Methuselah, lived 969 years! From the Genesis record, these people were basically robust and “with it” for almost all of those years. Their minds remained sharp, their bodies remained fairly strong. So, can you imagine the wisdom, knowledge, and perspective on life they possessed and were able to pass down to their progeny? You see a lot in 900 years! You learn even more. So, what cancer cures, what medical wisdom, what insights into human psychology, what mistakes and failures and subsequent “fixes” did they know about and share? To say that these great patriarchs were the smartest people to ever walk the planet is not a stretch, at all…

Certainly we need such wisdom and perspective today. Some older folks possess a bit of it, but alas, we’re a youth-oriented culture in which seasoned citizens are ignored, thought of as “out-of-date” and basically shunted off to rest homes to die in order to make way for the younger generation. Those of us still breathing can recall WWII and even the Great Depression where horrible evil and desperate need were endured and gotten past. We can recall the out-of-control ’60’s and early ’70’s when the Boomers thought they knew it all, reacted against the past and found out they weren’t so smart after all. America was torn apart by the Vietnam war. But the country survived and those “old, white, colonialist founding fathers who penned the Constitution were proved wise beyond modern measure. Today it seems that every generation or two has to learn the hard lessons of life all over again. Oh for the generations of those Biblical patriarchs in which wisdom in handling problems was passed down and emotional catastrophes were often averted because of it!

I

Our modern world is a mess. The older generation got us into it via neglect, apathy, laziness and hubris. Our younger generations have made it worse by building on those sins and adding their own dose of pride and arrogance to the mix. We need a timeless touchstone to anchor our approach to life and our understanding and handling of it all. We need something to anchor us amid all the human insecurities we see floating around. And that brings us to The Bible and specifically today’s lesson. For there we find both timeless truths and timeless comfort in a world gone mad.

II

St. Paul’s words and the situation they describe are timeless. They resonate in every epoch and each generation of human history. If you doubt that what he faced is exactly the same thing as what we face, then you need to listen anew: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” And then Paul goes on by quoting from Psalm 44 written 1000 years before his time when he adds: “As it is written, ‘For your (God’s) sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.'” In this catalogue of troubles listed by Paul you can insert any amount of modern problems and subsequent evils known to human beings. In short, Christians suffering in the world of sin is nothing new and never will be.

But then Paul also gives us God’s timeless answer, His solution, to such evil. He gives us the cure for a sinner’s insecurities which serve as a fertile breeding ground for fostering evil. It is this: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

Christ conquered all evil on the cross. Christ conquered death, despair, and doubt by His death and resurrection from our graves. Yes, Christ’s timeless love spans the ages and is always there like a monolith to save us from the floodwaters of human sin. It is timeless both in human terms and in eternal terms because it is our Creator’s very nature. As the Apostle John writes: “God is love.”

IV

As I preach, America is again fighting the Civil War, the Revolution, and all the other traumatic events in our history. As I preach, the world is re-fighting ancient hatreds and national disputes long put to rest. It almost seems like the 4 horsemen of the Apocalypse are running rampant, doesn’t it? Evil has broken lose and promises to only get more voracious as it seeks to consume people and their souls.

And yet, amid all this evil and discord, the timelessness of St. Paul’s words ring out and summon hurting souls to the Lord Almighty. “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

When I read those words I’m calmed. Sanity is restored. Thanks be to God! Amen

Let us pray: Dear Savior, as the only God Who exists, the only God Who invested His entire life in our eternal future, we owe You everything. We owe You our every breath, every heartbeat, every blink of the eye, absolutely everything. Today we ask You to fix our gaze even more upon You and not to be shy about investing our hearts and souls with You, alone. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, OUR ALL-INCOMPASSING SAVIOR!

TEXT: Matthew 13: 44-52

Dearly Beloved By Christ:

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket!” How often have you heard that expression and acted upon its wisdom—even if your eggs come in modern shock-proof cartons! The financial management people have their own variation of that phrase. It is: Diversify your investments so that if one goes down the others will hopefully cushion the impact on your portfolio. Advisors helping you plot out your academic career have a similar dictum: “Don’t pursue too narrow a major, as diverse classes should make you more employable.” It’s why you send out multiple resumes when looking for a job. And it’s also why people usually don’t give themselves totally over to another in relationships right away even if they are in love. “Once burned, twice smart” is another way of saying: “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

I

Such life truths are ingrained in us due to the lessons taught by the school of hard knocks. And that is why our lesson is so jarring. For right here, Jesus tells us to do the exact opposite when it comes to Him and His kingdom! Listen to these two “all or nothing” parables: “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it.”

The “field/treasure” parable’s imagery doesn’t need any explanation. We all get it. The pearl of great price parable does, so let me add these few words. Since about 1900 pearls have been relatively cheap. That’s when Mikimoto figured out how to farm them, hence the “cultured pearl.” But before that, pearls were the most expensive and sought after gem in the entire world. Diamonds and rubies are not the centerpiece in many ancient crowns, pearls were! That’s because they could only be obtained by divers holding their breath, free diving, groping around the sea floor, grabbing whatever they saw in terms of oysters, and then speeding to the surface. After that they would cut them open and see if a pearl was inside. More often than not, no pearl. Sometimes it was a small or misshapen pearl. And very, very rarely a big one. BTW, this is where baroque pearls come from.—It was extremely rare to find a round, flawless one under such conditions.

The point Christ is making is this: God’s kingdom of grace is worth literally everything you possess and more. What exactly is your soul worth? Well, we know that to God it is worth the blood, the life, of His Son Jesus Christ. Certainly the life of God’s Son is more precious than anything on planet earth. And so, when you find His grace, when He comes and offers total forgiveness and a heavenly home to you, why would you hedge your bets and not go all in? And yet, many people do.

Prof. Otto in my seminary days once told us: “Don’t ever sit back and try to figure out who among your congregation is truly one of the elect and who is just putting on a good show like Ananias and Sapphira. Your job isn’t to read hearts, it is to preach God’s Word to everyone and let God worry about their hearts.” That’s really good advice. To do otherwise would emotionally crush any minister. That being said, I fear for believers who hedge their bets when it comes to their faith in God. I fear for those who are not willing to give their entire being over to God, not in fear or second-guessing, but in unbridled gratitude. The point of the Gospel is that Christ gave everything He had in total love for us when He died on the cross. To give Him back only a third, or only half our heart is a slap in the face. It is really saying: “Lord, I don’t trust you.” And a lack of trust means a lack of faith.

II

The totality of human life—all science, all finance, all technology, all medicine, all human building and manufacturing—literally everything is grouped together and contained in the next little parable. “Once again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was let down into the lake and caught all kinds of fish. When it was full, the fishermen pulled it up on the shore. Then they sat down and collected the good fish in baskets but threw the bad away. This is how it will be at the end of the age.”

Right now the net has been let down. Right now human souls and everything they hold so dear are being gathered into that net. And when that gathering task has been completed, the judgement process, the culling of the good from the bad will occur.

So, what differentiates a carp from a trout or a bullhead from a haddock? One is considered a “good fish” and another a “trash fish.” Both swim in water. Both have flesh. Both can be eaten and are therefore useful. But one is superior to another and more highly prized. Well, these fish stand for people. And the one thing that differentiates people is faith in God or a lack thereof. Faith appreciates God’s blessings. Faith recognizes what He has done and is doing to save our souls. Faith looks at Christ and sees a depth of Godly love that goes beyond what our words can describe. Faith wants God to really BE God for that particular soul and is happy to give everything over to Him because it knows that: “In Him we live, move, and have our very being.”

My friends, we live in a world in which hedging one’s bets is the norm and going “all in” is considered the motto of a fool. Yet, when we put all our eggs in Christ’s basket, it really is supreme wisdom. In fact, it’s exactly what Jesus did when He came to earth, suffered and died to redeem our souls, isn’t it? Heaven is Christ’s home. If we want to end up there, we need to follow Him in all things. We need to sign our power of attorney over to Him and then bask in the joy of knowing that unlike us, He’ll never drop the basket or break even a single egg! And even if we inadvertently crack a shell while engaging in that transfer to His mighty arm, He’s still our loving Lord who “in all things works for the good of those who love him.” Adopt such an attitude and cultivate such a faith. You’ll be amazed at how well you sleep when you do……Amen

Let us pray: Dear Savior, every day we either see or hear about some awful disaster or accident. They are terrible to behold. But, such death and carnage often pales in comparison to the evil that a single human being can inflict upon another. Lord, deliver us from the clutches of human violence, human greed, human hatred, and human-inflicted pain. Keep us from hatching such evil and violence within our own hearts. And make us all into the loving, kind, and considerate people that You originally created us to be. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, THE PRINCE OF LASTING PEACE!

TEXT: Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43

Dearly Beloved By Christ:

Only a complete fool would deny the existence of evil. And yet, when you ask: “Where does evil come from?” only the Christian actually has an answer. The unbeliever accepts the fact that evil exists, but mocks the reality of Satan. There are weak-kneed Christians as well who will say they don’t believe in the devil or hell, but they do accept that “bad people” do “bad things.” But, why do bad people do bad things? Our lesson tells us why.—The devil, a personal being, a fallen angel who has great power, Satan, sows evil into people’s hearts and unfortunately, more often than not, that evil takes root. In the Lord’s Prayer we recite this petition: “Deliver us from evil.” Some understand that to mean deliver us from some generic, nonspecific “bad” force. But in actuality, Christ really said:

DELIVER US FROM THE EVIL ONE….

I

Satan is real. And his chief goal is to “sow weeds among the wheat” as Christ says in our text. When does the devil do this dastardly deed? “While everyone is sleeping.” There are a couple of important points to note in this lesson. #1 is: when the immature wheat plants and immature weed plants sprout, both look exactly the same. The technical term Jesus uses for “weed” or “tare” as the old King James version has it, was a weed that appeared identical to wheat when immature. But later on, when it became firmly entrenched, its obnoxious character is revealed. #2 is that God’s ultimate enemy does this sowing in secret.—”When everyone is sleeping.” That’s almost always the case with evil. It works under the cover of darkness, or when people are lulled into complacency. Put these two factors together and it’s impossible to eradicate. You must simply wait until evil grows up a bit to actually see it and do something about it.—Just as Jesus foretells in His reference to the harvest on judgment day.

II

So, let’s put these concepts into more modern terms. Example One: I recall a story from my youth. Two rival towns were meeting for a homecoming football game. Early in the week before it occurred, some away team supporters snuck onto the field in the dead of night. They carefully etched the initials of that rival team into the turf with a potent fertilizer. A few days later, when the game was played, that fertilizer had done its work and burned the grass to the chagrin of the hometown team! Yes, evil was done in darkness and it only became apparent later on.

Example two is something everyone is familiar with: computer viruses. Hackers don’t advertise their labors. They work in “darkness” or behind-the-scenes to covertly infect hapless internet travelers. And once you get a virus, it’s too late to do anything other than hope not too many files are lost. Complete virus protection such as anti-virus software, must be installed before the fact. That’s because it’s always on duty. It never sleeps. But even it can be defeated by a new virus that springs up literally by-the-minute!

Example three: you get sucked into sin. It starts out innocently. Maybe it’s buying some lottery tickets. Maybe it’s an extra drink after work with the crowd. Maybe it’s dabbling with pornography. Maybe you’re just jealous over another’s marriage and their obvious blessings. But slowly you start to hang out with people who feed that particular sin. Then it begins to grow. You appear exactly the same as before. You still go to church and say that God is important in your life. But slowly that sin begins to be more important. And finally it takes over and bears its evil fruit of: a gambling addiction, an alcohol addiction, a sex addiction, a jealousy/hatred addiction, or any other addiction. The result? Shattered lives, broken heart, lost souls. Yes, your lost soul! Lord, deliver us from the evil one!

III

Christ tells us that someday, at the end of time, He will send His angels to do two things. First, they will pull out these evil weeds of Satan and toss them into the fires of hell to be eternally destroyed—that’s the “weeping and gnashing of teeth” reference. And second, the angels will gather together the good seed, the wheat plants that bring forth Godly fruit, into the heavenly storehouse. “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

The question is: Where do you want to end up? If the answer is heaven, then you need to get busy right now! Inoculate yourself from Satan by recognizing the evil seeds he has sown in your own heart and repent of them now! Get help with your sins. Confess them and receive the power of God’s forgiveness—His anti-virus software upgrade! Jesus died on the cross for each and every evil thought, desire, word and work you’ve ever done. Embrace His death for what it is: the death of your particular sin! And then embrace His resurrection, too. He arose to a new life. Through faith that same new life can be yours. You have God’s power at your disposal. You receive it every Sunday at church, every time you read and contemplate His Word of truth. If you’re busy thinking about God’s blessings it’s a lot harder for Satan to sow evil within you. If you hand out with fellow believers, it’s a lot harder for him to drag you down. If you live in God’s light, not being ashamed of what you do or say, then the devil will be deprived of the darkness needed to do his nasty work.

This whole issue of: Deliver us from the evil one, is really another example of the Proverbs passage which says: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” None of us can fight evil alone. Our brains and willpower just aren’t that strong. But when God is with us, we can resist and eventually come out as winners. Christ has already proved that truth. So, listen to Him and learn. Yes, he who has ears, let him hear…..Amen