Month: June 2021

Let us pray: Dear Savior, send forth the Spirit to give us the necessary gifts to bring forth joy in our lives! Open our hearts to His outpouring and open our minds to better understand and show just how joy enlarges and enriches Your kingdom. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST WHO GIVES US EXACTLY WHAT WE NEED AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME!

TEXT: Galatians 5: 22: “But the fruit of the Spirit is…joy.”

Dearly Beloved By Christ:

Recently a friend my mine told me I needed more joy in my life. They were right. In fact after the last couple of years, we’re all lacking in joy, aren’t we? I’ve preached on the fruits of the Spirit before, but never on joy directly. So, it’s time to rectify that.

The gifts of the Spirit are recorded in I Cor. 12 at length. They include: wisdom, knowledge, faith, miraculous powers, and healing. They are direct blessings of the Spirit. These gifts are what give birth to various fruits of the Spirit—joy being one of them. In this, the Spirit’s gifts work in tandem with our bodies and minds to bear the wondrous fruits of: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” How do I know that? Recall Christ in John 15:5: “I am the vine, you are the branches, if a man remains in me and I in him, he can bear much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” So, joy is a fruit, born in and through us with the Spirit’s power.

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What is joy? How does it manifest itself in our lives? Well, there are many aspects of joy. Can you be joyless when you’re filled with gratitude? It’s pretty hard, isn’t it? When God Almighty gives you gifts—the chief one being the forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ—you’re amazed that God would love and care for you that much! You didn’t earn it. You don’t really deserve it. Yet, God showers you with a cleansed conscience. Joy and thankfulness erupt within!

Joy also has elements of a carefree, light-hearted demeanor. When joy takes over you don’t let gloom and doom thoughts predominate. Joy puts those fires out. Joyful Christians take the 8th commandment seriously and as Luther says: “they put the best construction on the words and actions of others. They “speak the truth in love” because they know that: “there but by the grace of God go I.”

Joy puts everything in life into a proper, Godly perspective. It celebrates whatever is: ”noble, pure, excellent, and praiseworthy” and also “thinks about such things” as Paul says. This has been especially difficult for everyone over the past months. Our sinful nature naturally dwells on the negative and ignores the positive. Think back to all the times dark thoughts and bad news pulled you away from Godly joy and/or diminished it? We all blamed it on the virus, but joylessness is something we do to ourselves. As God’s vine we let those bad branches suck joy right out of the whole plant. That’s why recognizing our situation and engaging in some self-pruning is a good thing. When God decides to prune you a little, don’t fight Him—He knows best.

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I suppose this is why watching children play is so satisfying. Unlike us they don’t fret over the future. They live in the moment. They have fun. They have a zest for being care-free. They laugh a lot—far more than adults. Such laughter is medicine for both the body and the soul. Worries recede and inner peace takes hold. Stress be gone!

Scripture says “there is a season for every activity under heaven.” And then it categorizes the tough times of life and juxtaposes positive opposites to them. (Ecc. 3: 1-8) In other words, since the Gospel predominates in the Christian’s life, joy over it all should and must always win out in the end.

God’s prescription for a joyous heart is actually very simple. It starts with:”Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.” It then follows “feeding your faith” via Word and sacraments. Asking Him in prayer to take dark, yucky thoughts away is also vital. Hanging out with disease-free vines is important, too, as joyless people can engage in super-spreader activities. “Let’s not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is.” But, in the end, joy stems from a thankful heart. So, let’s begin building an even more joyful life by constantly: “Praising God from whom all blessings flow!” Amen

THE PEACE OF GOD…..

Pastor Thomas H. Fox

Let us pray: Dear Lord, we humans are trapped in our bodies and limited by our mortality. But You are not! You are limitless! So, when we get down on life and start moaning about how our bodies have let us down, remind us that You created us, know every aspect of our being, and because You love us in Christ, You’ll make sure that all things will eventually work out for our good. Lord, fill us with that good cheer and confidence. Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM OUR GREAT AND LOVING LORD!

TEXT: Job 38: 1-11

Dearly Beloved By Christ:

The entire Bible is God’s Word. Through it He speaks directly to us. That being said, certain sections are “direct” quotes from God’s lips. Job contains probably the longest sections of such quotes, including today’s text. So, listen and learn.

All of us get down on ourselves. We’re burdened with guilt over our sins. We lose loved ones and hit emotional lows. We get sick or a chronic condition grinds us down. The list is endless. And every time that occurs we ask: Why? Why me, Lord? Don’t You love me? The problem is: we’re trapped in mortality. We see only a small slice of existence, our current existence. But, God sees the entire canvas of life and He’s adding brush strokes on a daily basis.

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“Then the Lord answered Job out of the storm. He said, ‘Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched out a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone–while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?’”

God’s being rhetorical here, but He puts all of us in our place. Who are we to question God’s goodness? He’s the Creator of all—including us. He knows every intimate detail of our lives. He knows every synapse in our brain and how it fires. He has the hairs of our head all numbered. He gave us life. And yet we question His judgment and His goodness? Right here we get an insight into how much our original sin blinds us to God.

The rest of our lesson and the next couple of chapters go into even more detail. God discusses the intimate details of all creation and how He governs them and knows them. Not

one thing escapes Him. And because He is good and gracious, His intent behind ordering all creation is also good and gracious. I especially like these verses which address our morose attitude: “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.”

Sin causes people to question God’s goodness and wisdom. Sin causes people to ask God in an accusatory fashion: Why? Sin causes unbelief and brings the attendant emotional and physical pain.

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But, as Malachi says elsewhere: “The Sun of righteousness has arisen, with healing in its (His) wings!” Yes, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life!” God had a plan to alleviate our suffering—eternally. It was and is Jesus Christ. Our suffering and our rage against mortality was fixed by Christ as He died to and for all sin and then arose in all rightness with God! He did this for you and me. It’s ours through His gift of faith—to us.

From faith comes acceptance as to Who God really is. Through faith comes acceptance that we may be mortal right now, but His resurrection conveys to us immortality. Through faith comes resistance to avoid beating ourselves down with “Why me?” and to revel instead in: “Yes, me!” Yes, You love me. Yes, You have a grace filled purpose in mind for my life! Yes, I can rejoice and be glad over Your goodness—if I but open my eyes to see it! My mother used to say: “With God in the heavens, all is right with the world.” Since Christ, the Conqueror of all evil has ascended to heaven as your Forerunner, all will be right for you, too. So every time you start feeling down and asking: “Why?” think back on this sermon and banish such thoughts…..Amen

THE peace of God which….

Pastor Thomas H. Fox

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, IN WHOM WE LIVE, MOVE, AND HAVE OUR VERY BEING!

TEXT: Philippians 2:13: “For it is God who works in you to will and act accordingly to his good purpose.”

Dearly Beloved and Especially You Five Confirmands:

This has been a trying last 2 years. We’ve had the pandemic botching up our class time. We’ve had Zoom confirmation—a first for me. Yet you persisted, learned, and here we are today, despite the distractions.

In some respects you’ve all had to grow up quickly when it comes to life and to your faith. You all now know the tough issues to life a bit more personally.—Tough stuff that your parents have always tried to shield you from. Now you can directly relate to the tough times that some of the older folks here also went through—world war, the great depression, the polio epidemic, and general unease over the future of the world and your life in it. Confirmation is learning how God gets you through those scary times and the loneliness and depression that such sin brings. That’s why such religious training is invaluable—and as the years go by, you’ll learn anew just how invaluable it is!

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Humans have 2 pathways they can follow. You can live your life by ignoring, and/or walking away from God; or you can walk with Him. Today is about you choosing to walk with Him. Most people view our faith as quaint, old-fashioned, and constricting. Those commandments seem to crimp our style. Examining the heart and being truly sorry for hurting God, others, and ourselves by our head-strong behavior is something no human enjoys doing. So most ignore their guilty conscience and do whatever they can to build up their ego and thereby feel stronger and more in control of their lives. But human beings are not God. All humans get sick, some lose their homes and possessions, and eventually everyone dies. Covid proves that. And then what?

Right now all of you are a bit apprehensive of your future. You don’t know the future of your health. You don’t know what you will be when you grow up—fully. You don’t know who you will meet and someday spend your life with. You don’t know whether you’ll be rich or poor, happy or sad, or fulfilled by your future. Ah, but as a Christian you do know! You all

will have a blest life if you continue to walk in Christ’s footsteps along the pathway He has in mind for you! “For it is God who works in you to will and to act accordingly to his good purpose.”

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You’ve spent 2 years together learning what God’s good purpose is. It is learning that we cannot find true happiness apart from His love. That love is made crystal clear by Christ Who carried the burden of our yucky sins to the cross and died for them so that we could escape their eternal burden. It is about Him rising from the grave, your grave, so that you can and will experience heaven, life, joy that has no end. It is about discovering the amazing potential that He has put into each of you by the Spirit when you were baptized. Don’t you think our Maker knows far more about our lives than we do? Don’t you think He knows exactly how to make us happy and provide true meaning and purpose for our lives? Here St. Paul gives us God’s promise for a good purpose, not a bad one or an evil one, when it comes to each of us.

My confirmation class numbered 13. A few are now dead. A few are wayward, they feel lost because they gave up on God and walked away from Christ. I’m pretty sure one is in hell—so sad. But others are blest by God, by His grace act like it, and now possess the joy of knowing that they are right with God and always will be. This is the legacy, our Savior’s legacy to each of you, today. Amen

THE PEACE OF GOD….

Pastor Thomas H. Fox

Let us pray: Dear Lord, everything about us is frail and fragile except our egos. O how our ego enjoys taking credit for successes in life that rightly belong to You! Lord, forgive such sin and through the humbleness of faith enable us to give all glory and honor only to You! Amen

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE ARE YOURS FROM CHRIST, THE SOURCE OF THE MOST PERFECT OF GIFTS: THE GOSPEL!

TEXT: 2 Cor. 4: 5-12

Dearly Beloved By Christ:

When I was installed as your Pastor many years ago, the preacher wrote his sermon on this text. It was honest and forthright. It was also a bit sobering being compared to a clay pot—fragile and breakable.

It’s especially sobering considering it was penned by St. Paul, the great NT hero who all Christians adore and admire. For everything he mentions here is something he lived through and experienced directly. In fact, all Christians, if they are honest, experience such “clay pot” times. “We are hard pressed on every side”—think of how Paul was hounded across the Roman empire for simply preaching Christ crucified. Yet, it didn’t crush him. “Perplexed”—Recall his lament from Romans: “The good that I would, I don’t do, and the evil that I don’t want to do, that I keep on doing.” ”but not in despair.” Then there’s this one: “Persecuted, but not abandoned.” “Struck down”—recall him being stoned—“but not destroyed.” This is what preachers and all believers suffer, either physically and/or emotionally throughout their lives. It comes through second-guessing ourselves; from failure to visually “see” the fruits of our labors. And from Satan’s constant meddling into the affairs of God that we seek to carry out. Being a clay pot is not flattering to our ego, is it? But it is honest.

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So, why do we keep on working to save souls in God’s kingdom? Why do any of us hold on to Christ and the forgiveness wrought by His cross? It’s certainly not to build our ego, to get rich, or to amass personal power or glory. Why do any of us, in word or by our actions, preach and lead people to Christ? Well, Paul tells us why: “For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.’”

Life alone, without Christ and the light of His love, breeds dark thoughts, dark times, and a darkened soul. But knowing Him as our Savior breeds the opposite. Once you experience and taste just a small morsel of His love, you’ll brave anything to taste it some more. Why are we Christians so addicted to Him? Because He alone gives us hope that does not disappoint! Hope for the future. Hope for the present. Hope that never dies and culminates in heaven!

So, we may be “clay pots” who are fragile and seemingly worthless to human senses. But in us God conceals a hidden treasure which contradicts our outward shell. Thereby God shows the awesomeness of His love. He reveals thereby “the peace of God which surpasses all understanding.”

We know that as believers. We relate to Paul’s words: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.” Then to expand on this Godly condition we all struggle with, he is very honest but also very uplifting: “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.”

Ah, here is the paradox of Christianity. Death brings life! Sadness brings joy! Humility brings power! And clay pots like us can contain and hold the richness of His love! The human ego rejects all those truths. But the Spirit, through His gift of honesty, brings them alive within us. And thereby He fills us with the richness of God’s amazing grace. Wow! What a God! That’s exactly why we all hold our heads up and rejoice! Amen

THE PEACE OF GOD…..

Pastor Thomas H. Fox