Church Newsletter July 2012

Beloved in the Lord, I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. (Revelation 2:19)

Please allow me to first say that I can’t begin to tell you how thankful and overjoyed I am for all of the effort, support and leadership that I have witnessed in our congregation.  God calls forth volunteers to serve and you have answered that call in multitudes. Thank you so much for your willingness to aid Bethel when needs arise; your commitment to the spread of the Gospel and the growth of Christ’s Beloved, the Church, is apparent in your words and deeds.

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil 3:14 ESV)  As we press on toward the goal we will be in need of further volunteers.  It is my goal to increase the pool of Sunday school and Wednesday evening teachers, ushers, coffee hour volunteers, etc... to and unprecedented number.  Many hands make light work.  If, for example, we have 24-50 Sunday school teachers then the commitment to teach will not be as great and overwhelming to each individual; if we have over 52 coffee hour volunteers then a family will only have to host one week a year.  Please consider where the Lord might be able to use your particular set of gifts and talents as we go forward. 

July can be a crazy month.  In Holdrege we have baseball, softball, the fair, our First Annual Bethel Faith Fun Family Festival, vacations, Boy Scout camps, BCW Garden Tours, and other activities too numerous to name.  It is my prayer that each of us will approach these activities with a joyful heart thanking the Lord for the gifts of vocation and recreation all the while keeping your relationship to the Lord and His command for evangelism foremost in your priorities.  Please consider each event as an opportunity to reflect Christ’s love to our community as well as an opportunity to minister to our friends and relatives with the promise of hope in Jesus Christ and an invitation to “come and see” what we are up to at Bethel. 

The hour has come and the time is now for us to be a beacon of light to the lost and a Word of hope to the broken.  Every person we come into contact with in a day is an opportunity to invite someone to church or an opportunity to start a relationship through which you can invite them.  I intend to lead by example and humbly ask that you keep me accountable to my own teachingJ.

I know that I know that I know that the Holy Spirit has gone ahead of us in all of our endeavors.  It is with joyful anticipation that we look to July for the leading of the Lord within our church and community. 

May Christ bless you and bring you peace daily through scripture and prayer,

Pastor Jamie Strickler

June 2012 Church Newsletter Article

Beloved in the Lord,

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of God our Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen (Galatians 1:3-4)

At the core of Christian thought is the question, “How am I judged or accounted as righteous before God?”  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther screamed the question, “What do you want from me?!!!” to a God whom he thought was asking for the impossible from him. In His mind God asking for both faith and complete obedience to His commands. Concerning this matter of justification and the Christian life we confess five solas (Latin for alone): Sola Scriptura, Sola Deo Gloria, Solo Chirsto, Sola Gratia, and Sola Fide.  Scripture alone in our final authority, to God alone is the glory; we are saved by grace alone through faith alone. 

Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ is a faith that is given to us by grace as a gift through the power of the Holy Spirit for the Glory of God alone communicated by the scripture or proclaimed Word of God and the correct administration of the sacraments.  For Luther this was a foreign idea, the complete passivity of the human will in the eternal life giving event of Word and Sacrament puzzled him and begged the question, “Then what about God’s commandments and my works?” The church, in Luther’s time, was teaching that baptism saves you from original sin but after that it is up to you through the work of the priest in the “mass” and through confession, penance, and absolution to gain and keep your salvation.  In contrast the idea of “works” accounting as nothing and “faith” accounting as everything is what the scriptures clearly teach:        

“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.”

(Romans 3:28 ESV)

“yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”            (Galatians 2:16 ESV)

“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.”(Galatians 2:21 ESV)

A little considered fact is that most of the priests of Luther’s day and almost all of the lay people could not read and even if they could only the “cultural elite” were allowed to read and interpret scripture.  The cultural elite telling the “lower uneducated” folks how they should live is a purely Aristotelian thought resurrected by St. Thomas Aquinas in about 1000A.D.  Not the thought of the first century Christians or of the apostles at all.

When Luther discovered that we are in fact “simmul eustis et peccator” (simultaneously sinner and saint) and that God thus speaks to us through two words not one, he “broke through.”  When someone sings monotone it is almost unbearable to hear.  Thus your Lord speaks or sings to you in two tones not one.  Law and gospel; if one sings only law then they are legalists and believe that God will save them through their works, if one sings only gospel then they believe that they can continue to indulge the desires of the flesh (“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” Galatians 5:19-21 ESV) and still be saved.

The Law can be defined as those things that are required of us.  The law exists for two purposes: 1.to regulate society and 2. to make us aware that we are sinners in need of a Savior.  Works of the law do not save:

“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”(Romans 3:20 ESV)

The law of God exists to make us aware that we are in fact sinners separated from the grace of God and in desperate need of a Savior, thus sending us running from where God does not desire to be found (His wrath) to where He does desires to be found (the foot of the cross or the gospel).  God is just as present in a bar with a drunkard as He is in church on Sunday morning; the difference is that in the bar God is present against the drunkard and on Sunday morning in church God is present for that person.  Jesus Christ on the cross is God poured out FOR YOU!!!!! 

The law is NOT God’s final Word.  Jesus was put to death as consequence for the sins (lawlessness) of God’s people.  Satan, the world, and the sinful self-righteous thought that they had delivered the knockout blow to the Savior on Good Friday but the Lord was not done speaking, He had one more Word to proclaim on Easter Sunday, the gospel!!!

When a person’s conscience is in despair they are in need of hearing God’s final Word on the matter, “You are forgiven on account of Christ!”  St. Paul says that the letter kills but the Spirit gives live.  The letter of the law puts to death the sinful flesh but the promise of the gospel brings to life the new creation in Christ.  Luther says that we preach the law to secure sinners and the gospel to broken ones.  This is also how one is to approach scripture.  When encountering scripture we are to ask, “What is God requiring of me?” (law) as well as, “What is God promising to me?” (gospel) 

 You see as long as the flesh exists the law is needed to subdue it and force it to comply for the sake of the neighbor.  But as the new creation comes into being it needs to hear the gospel so that it does not despair and fall away from faith.  If you have done the reading that I asked of you this last month then you will see that law and gospel are not Luther’s terms at all, rather they are the terms used by those God called to write His Holy Scripture.

So in answer to the question, “What does God want from me?” we can now answer first and foremost, faith for the sake of salvation and then obedience to His commands for the sake of our neighbors.

On a less theological note: Zanny, the kids, and I would like to humbly and gratefully thank each of you for your welcoming hearts, thoughts, and prayers.  We are settled in and I am ready to fulfill my call to preach the Word and correctly administer the sacraments.  I challenge each of you to continue with me in reading scripture this next month asking the questions, “What is God promising me and what is God requiring of me?”

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever, Amen. (Jude 24-25)

Pastor Jamie Strickler

May Church News Letter Article

Beloved in the Lord:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  I thank God through Jesus Christ for each of you as your faith and perseverance through these recent times of disparity has not only been a witness to me but has also been a witness to all congregations and leaders in the LCMC.  Your faith and courage has allowed the building up of hope within their hearts for the preserving of the true teaching of Christ’s Church for future generations.  May God richly bless each of you as we join together to bring Christ’s Kingdom further into completion on this earth.

If there is one thing this post enlightenment society hates it is an absolute.  When human reason is elevated above the sovereignty of God all truths become relative.  Pilate asked Jesus, “What is truth?” Truth is not a collection of philosophical beliefs relevant only in the contexts in which they dwell.  On the contrary truth IS JESUS CHRIST!  For those who have a mathematical mind let me put it this way Jesus=Truth.  There is no truth outside of Jesus Christ no matter how much our human reason seeks it.  The truth is salvation is found in Christ (the Word of God) alone.  But God’s word as truth has never been enough for humans; it goes all the way back to Adam and Eve.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Genesis 2:16-17 ESV)  God said!  And that should have been enough for humankind.  In reality it was until faith in the Word of God was tested by the great deceiver.  Satan’s question to Eve was, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1 ESV)  “But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4-5 ESV)  In other words “perhaps you didn’t hear correctly or maybe God was lying and there are better words than these.”  Ever since then humans have sought to look beyond God’s Words to find some “deeper truth” or some “absconded reality” that God is keeping from us.  Let me put an end to that search; God does not lie and He has poured Himself out for you giving to you all of Himself holding back nothing.  This took place on the cross over 2000 years ago.

Adam and Eve were then removed from the garden, not as an act of punishment rather as an act of grace.  “Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” (Genesis 3:22 ESV)  If Adam and Eve would have eaten from the tree of life and become eternal they would be eternally in their sinful state and there would be no hope of redemption.  In Baptism we die to the old self and are born again of the Spirit.  This new creation reconciled to the Father through the sacrifice of the Son is what lives on forever. 

As you can see the sinful desire to look beyond the Word of God for “better” or “deeper” truths is the desire not of the new creation in its perfect obedience quite to the contrary; it is the desire of the sinful flesh seeking ways to justify its sinful desires.  A child is content eating glue and dirt however as a parent we must teach them not to indulge their desire for such things.  We give them meals consisting of the four food groups balancing their diet for the sake of their health.  This is how the Father sees us.  We are lost children seeking to gratify our every impulsive desire and then justify it by our reason and human intellect.  Human reason and intellect are wonderful gifts from God and are fantastic as long as they do not contradict His Word. 

Today the temptation of the great deceiver has reared its ugly head once again.  Satan comes to humans asking, “Did God really say?”  As well as declaring “Surely God didn’t mean…”  One of the reasons that Satan has been so successful lately is because we live in an extremely biblically illiterate society.  If one doesn’t know the scriptures than one is easily lead astray.  God is calling each of you into a relationship with Him through His Word Jesus Christ.  How many of you have relationships where you do all the talking?  Or how intimate are the relationships in which you talk to or hear from the other person once a week or once a month? 

St. Paul teaches us that we are to die to the old and become born anew daily.  This dying and rising is not something we do, it is something that is done to us through the encounter with God’s Word.  The law puts to death the old and the proclamation of the gospel raises us anew.  (Next month I will speak more in depth about law and gospel and how to approach God’s Word.)  I encourage and pray that each of you, if you don’t already, will come alongside me in a daily reading of scripture.  Don’t worry at first if you do not comprehend what you are reading.  Simply ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the scriptures to you, read your selected reading, and pray that the Lord will use what you read to make you more like Christ this day.  I look forward to hearing testimonies of how this simply concept has changed your life.

Beloved we are in a battle for our very souls and for the souls of those in our community.  Rest in the promise that salvation is the work of Christ and sanctification is the work of the Spirit but know also that God invites us to come alongside of Him in His Divine Rescue Mission.  God created man and woman and then invited them to become co-creators with Him as he commanded, “Be fruitful and multiply.”  God is still inviting us to be co-creators with Him in our modern age.  We are to be the proclaimers of the Word in our thoughts, words, and deeds; thus calling others to His mercy and grace.  Let us labor together standing on the truth of the Word of God! Amen!

Matthew 4:12-23

It has been said that every new beginning is some other beginnings end. This is the case in our gospel reading for today. In The Gospel of John 3:30, John the Baptist is quoted as saying, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The end of John the Baptist’s ministry, being arrested by King Herod, is the que for Jesus to begin His public ministry. John the Baptist decreases Jesus increases.
“Now when He heard that John had been arrested He withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth He went and lived in Capernaum by the sea.” Jesus goes from Nazareth to Capernaum which was just outside of Herod’s and Roman jurisdiction. Why? Three reasons: 1. Christ’s time had not yet come to go to the cross and he had to wait until things settled down a little after the arrest of John, 2. It fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, and 3. That is where His; yet to be chosen disciples were living. Capernaum was the home of the apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John as well as the area where scripture tells us that Matthew is collecting taxes. It is interesting that Jesus starts His ministry in a land where the majority of the population is Gentile. Gentiles are anyone who is not of the Jewish faith. You people in other words. Jesus starts His public ministry preaching and teaching to non-Jews. The fact that Matthew is the most Jewish of the gospels as it seeks to prove that Jesus is the foretold Messiah is even more interesting. Incidentally if you misspell Gentile, your Microsoft Word spell check will correct it as genitals which I found out the hard way after sending this week’s Bible study question to the entire congregation. Go ahead have a laugh at my expense I have thick skin.
When we study a scripture we seek first to distinguish the law from the gospel. The law being anything that God or the world requires of us and gospel as anything that is promised to us by God. Verse 16 from our reading in Matthew is a great BIG PROMISE FOR EACH OF YOU!!! LISTEN CAREFULLY GENTILES! “THE PEOPLE DWELLING IN DARKNESS HAVE SEEN A GREAT LIGHT, AND FOR THOSE DWELLING IN THE REGION AND SHADOW OF DEATH ON THEM A LIGHT HAS DAWNED!!!!
Darkness is Biblical langue for total and complete and utter spiritual bankruptcy!!! The shadow of death is the state that one is in until they are called by Jesus to be claimed as His own. How are we to know for sure that one is being called and chosen by Christ? Well, they are baptized of course. Baptism is the bestowal of Christ’s promise upon a child or an adult. This outward act is living proof that Jesus Christ has claimed the person being baptized as His own. The water in baptism symbolizes the death of the old sinful nature by drowning and the brining up out of the water and the anointing of the head of oil is the outward symbol of grace, the very power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, given to a person being baptized. The water alone is nothing without the presence of the Word of God Jesus Christ Himself. The water and the Word make baptism the claiming of a person for Christ, not the water alone or the technique.
At your baptism, regardless of denomination and regardless of technique, Jesus Christ makes a promise to you that He has died ONCE AND FOR ALL to destroy your sin and He has risen from the dead SO THAT YOU MAY HAVE ETERNAL LIFE. THE SECOND YOU COME UP OUT OF THE WATER YOU ARE A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST!!! THIS IS A PROMISE FROM THE LIVING GOD THROUGH HIS ONE AND ONLY SON JESUS CHRIST TO YOU! You have heard me say it before and you will hear me say it again, “When someone make you a promise they are on the hook for its fulfillment not you!!! Jesus Christ alone=salvation!
Jesus Christ, the great light, the light that has dawned, is Jesus Christ given totally and completely to you. He is given to YOU PERSONALLY!!! This is good news, this is gospel, and this is Christ’s promise to you, for you!!!
Jesus begins His public ministry to the gentiles and how does Matthew sum up Jesus’ message? “Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!” Repent, command, law, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand, promise gospel. Jesus Christ, like John before him, is declaring that the Kingdom of Heaven is here. It is now!!! It isn’t a promise of a future reward it is now and it is coming more and more into the reality of this world!!! This is why it seems like the whole world is going to Hades, Sin, death, and the Devil are trying to make their last stand and they are losing!!!! And they will lose!!
Now please don’t mishear me that I am predicting the end of the world. The Kingdom of Heaven is here but it has not come into completion quite yet. And the time that it will come into completion, is not for us to know, we are not to be concerned with SPECULATION ABOUT WHEN! We are to be, like Christ, about our Father’s work loving and serving our neighbors drawing God’s elect to Him. Know your place, or as my friend Bill Dooley says, “Don’t exceed your pay grade.”
The rest of our Gospel reading for today can be summed up simply by saying, “Jesus said FOLLOW ME AND IMMEDIATELY THEY FOLLOWED!!” Now we have talked about the meaning of several Greek words over the past few months that I have preached. And each of those Greek words had several meanings. Do you know the meaning of the Greek word “εὐθέως,d \{yoo-theh'-oce?” It has one and only meaning! It means IMMEDIATELY!!!!!
Peter, Andrew, James and John heard to very Word of God Himself Jesus Christ command them to follow him and the followed immediately. Now I ask you, “Does that sound like a God who sits around like a broken lover waiting for His beloved to make a decision to choose and love Him?” Absolutely NOT! God is not some impendent love sick being, He is the great and mighty warrior the CREATOR OF THE HEAVENS AND THE EARTH, THE ALMIGHTY AND ALL POWERFUL LORD OF ALL. And when God speaks with the authority only He has things happen. God said follow and they left everything, their families, their houses, their possessions, their iPods and iPhones, their DVD players, their sport utilities, their knitting needles. They left everything and IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED HIM! Thank the Heavenly Father that we are not all called to be apostles. We are not all called to drop everything and follow immediately however we are called out of our old life into a new existence, that existence being? Loving and serving our neighbors.
How can I be for sure that it was the power of God that caused the apostles to follow Jesus immediately? John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” God has drawn you here today right here and right now for the purpose of hearing and receiving the Holy Spirit nurturing and growing the faith given to you at your baptism, for the purpose of 1. Making you a better servant to your neighbor in this life and 2. Preparing you for life eternally.
Let us pray, Lord God all Mighty and Powerful Warrior, we thank you for your call to be your children. We ask Father that you continue the work that you started in us. Free us Father from the bondage and the consequences of short comings in this life, so that we may be the examples to the world of what you can do in a time. In the Holy, Precious and Powerful Name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen

All Saints Day Matthew 5:1-12

Today we celebrate All Saints Day. Most typically I am up here telling you about how your salvation comes into being. But today I get to answer the questions, “So I have been baptized and claimed by Christ and as a result I am one of the saints, now what?” What does the life of a saint look like in today’s world?
But before I answer those questions I need to tell you a story. I have been told by some in the congregation that the experiences that I share with you about the homeless men that helped shape me as a pastor are not relevant to this community however I am going to tell you one today because I think that you will find relevance in it.
My friend Steve was in his fifties when I had first met him. He was a resident at the Bethel Rescue Mission in Des Moines and worked there in exchange for his rent. Steve had tried several times to stop drinking. When I had first met him he was one year sober and was well on his way to turning his life around. He knew the rules at the shelter better than anyone and he actually trained me on how to work the desk which involved filling out reports, enforcing security issues, allowing people access to the building, and even deciding who would not be able to stay that night as a result of a disciplinary action.
Steve fell a month later and returned to drinking and camping along the river. Sometimes we can only ignore our pain for so long by immersing ourselves in our work. He was burned out from working 12 hour days. It seems that he had replaced working with drinking and as long as he stayed locked in the shelter he would not go out and drink. You see unless we invite Christ into and help us to deal with our past hurts and traumas we will never be free from them. The devil knows exactly where your pain buttons are and how to push them. He is a ruthless coward who doesn’t fight fair.
About 6 months later my friend Albert came to the mission and told me we had to do something about Steve. Albert is a hopeless alcoholic in his fifties on the streets of downtown Des Moines. The victim of sexual abuse and mental illness my hope for Albert’s recovery is fading. However I talk to him each week and even took him to dinner a couple of weeks ago; much to the dismay of the restaurant employees. Albert is the perfect example of saint and sinner. He knows Jesus is his savior, in his own diminished capacity, and spend his life caring for homeless people in Des Moines. If only he would use his skills to care for his own needs. But Albert understands that he is a sinner and God loves him regardless. Albert is a saint, he understands the concept of loving and caring for his neighbor more than anyone I have seen. Once he asked me why I looked so stressed and I told him that money was so tight I didn’t know how I was going to buy the baby milk. He took me to a dumpster in an alley where he was living am took out $20 form his hiding place and gave it to me. It was all the money he had. He loves Joey, Ally and Gabby and had met them several times and couldn’t stand the thought of having the money to get Gabby her milk. Let say it again, “HE WAS LIVING BEHIND A DUMPSTER WHICH HE ATE OUT OF BUT GAVE ME ALL OF HIS MONEY BECAUSE HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT MY KIDS.” Albert loves his neighbor, Albert loves my family.
Albert told me that Steve as in a camp and his feet were rotting and he could not walk out to get to the hospital. So I went with him to the camp and called an ambulance helping them carry Steve 300 yards over sand weeds and gravel to the ambulance. After he was treated at the hospital we took him back to the shelter to recover.
This time I thought Steve had the booze licked. He started to talk to me about his childhood and how he had abandoned his son because he didn’t want to do to the son what had been done to him. His heart was pure and beautiful. We prayed and prayed and asked Jesus to come into his past and heal it. Eventually we contacted his son in Ohio and attempted to start a dialogue with him. He was reluctant at first but eventually invited Steve to come out and stay with them for Thanksgiving to meet his 2 year old granddaughter for the first time.
I had lost touch with Steve as I moved to St. Paul to go to seminary. I had heard from Albert that he was back in Des Moines and not doing well. I made a mental note that I would look in on him at his camp one Friday as I was going through Des Moines. Time got away from me and I never made it to see him. Steve was found dead in a weekly rent sleazy hotel in Des Moines last Thursday morning. Steve knew the Lord and professed Jesus as His Savior but he dealt with chronic depression. He had gone to Broad Lawns Hospital in Des Moines to be treated for his depression and as usual they prescribed him lithium and kicked him out. When they found Steve he was black from the waist up which means he had a stroke and had broken every blood vessel in his upper body. He must have overdosed on lithium and alcohol. Why did my friend have to die alone? What must those final hours of his life been like? Staying a in a sleazy hotel room alone unable to call for help listening to his breath get shallower and shallower until it was no more. My heart is broken for Steve and I know that this is most likely how Albert’s story will end as well.
In today’s gospel reading Jesus tells us how we are to live as his called and claimed saints. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” The Kingdom of Heaven is not for the super spiritual that boast about and find fulfillment in their good works and try to set themselves above everyone else as special. NO! It’s for people like Albert and Steve who know that they are broken and know that they only hope they have is in the mercy of God through faith in Jesus Christ.
“Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted.” My heart is broken and I cannot tell you how much I blame myself for not being there for Steve. My rational mind knows that there is no way that I could have known that this would be the night or that this was where I was needed however my irrational feelings are tearing me apart. All I can do in my time of complete and utter turmoil thinking that I failed and lost one which God had called me to serve is to cling with all my effort to the promise that God is merciful and has ended the pain that Steve was in both emotionally and physically. I trust and cling to the promise that Jesus Christ is Holding Steve in His loving embrace was we speak.
“Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.” The meek “πραΰς,a \{prah-ooce'}” in Greek meaning: 1) mildness of disposition, gentleness of spirit, meekness. Those who are daily afflicted with the pains and traumas of the past that destroy any hope of a happy future; and know that their righteous and hope for peace and serenity comes not from anything in this world but form the hope in the one who has taken all of their pain and died with it destroying all of the punishment for due to them because of their wretched existence. Faith in JESUS CHRIST!
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they shall be satisfied.” Those who know that they do not belong to this world and daily are reminded by the devil, society, and their own sinful desires that are broken, unwanted, and unacceptable. Those who for once in their lives hunger and thirst to be acceptable to someone anyone! JESUS PROMISES HERE THAT THEIR HUNGER AND THIRST WILL BE SATISFIED!
“Blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy.” Jesus promises us that if we show mercy we will receive mercy. Mercy means: “The act of sparing, or the forbearance of a violent act expected.” If someone angers you and you feel the need to strike out against them in a violent way but rather show mercy and forgive them then your Lord will show you mercy.
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Blessed are the “kath-ar-os” in Greek. “Katharos” means: 1) clean, pure 1a) physically 1a1) purified by fire 1a2) in a similitude, like a vine cleansed by pruning and so fitted to bear fruit 1b) in a levitical sense 1b1) clean, the use of which is not forbidden, imparts no uncleanness 1c) ethically 1c1) free from corrupt desire, from sin and guilt 1c2) free from every admixture of what is false, sincere genuine 1c3) blameless, innocent 1c4) unstained with the guilt of anything. Who here claims to be katharos? The book of Romans chapter 3 tells us that not one is found pure. However this is the state that the Lord God sees you in on account of the work of Jesus Christ. You may not be pure but Jesus has made you pure in the sight of God because he gave to you His purity by the shedding of His blood.
“Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called sons of God.” Be the peaceful presence to your neighbors. Like Albert when you find someone afflicted, either physically or mentally, bring them peace by helping them or getting the help they need.
“Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” Dallas Willard, a professor of religion and philosophy at USC, wrote a book entitled, “The Divine Conspiracy.” In it he says that the divine conspiracy is the promise that since you have been made righteous through your faith in Jesus Christ all of you worldly troubles are over. Quite the contrary Willard says, now that you are counted righteous all the powers of Hell are coming after you. Jesus promises here that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are persecuted because they belong to him.
“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.” How many times are you called hypocrites or are your actions described as unloving because you profess Jesus Christ as your Savior; or because you hold fast to any type of Christian moral principle?
So in answer to the questions now that I am saved so what and what does a saintly life look like in this world? Today Jesus tells us recognize that we are poor in spirit, to look to Christ in our mourning for comfort, we should approach all situations with meekness, we are to hunger and thirst for righteousness, show mercy, be pure in heart, be peace makers, and rejoice when we are persecute on account of Christ.
But what does that have to do with Steve and Albert? Everything! Because all of these characteristics we are to have and do for one purpose, for the sake of our neighbor. These things matter to your neighbor! Confirmands this is our small catechism. Memorizing the content of this book may not seem worth wile or even entertaining. But the day you sit at the death bed of someone and have these words memorized and can recite tot them the promises of Christ bringing them comfort and peace before death; that is the day when your neighbor doesn’t have to die alone in a sleazy hotel room with no preacher to deliver Christ’s promises. These WORDS MATTER, THEY BRING COMFORT AND PEACE NIT TO MENTION ETERNAL SALVATION. THESE ARE NOT JUST WORDS ON A PAGE THEY ARE THEY POWER OF GOD, HIS COMMANDS HIS PROMISES. AND TELLING THEM TO YOURSELF AND DOING THE GOOD WORKS IN THIS BOOK MAY NOT AMOUNT TO A HILL OF BEANS TO YOU BUT THEY MEAN EVERYTHING TO YOUR NEIGHBOR. Especially in their time of suffering. YOUR ARE ALL PRIESTS, JESUS HAS GIVEN TO YOU THE KEYS TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN. WHENEVER YOU ENCOUNTE ONE WHO ASKS, CONFESSES, ORSHOWS THE LEAST BIT OF INTEREST IN JESUS CHIRST YOU TAKE OUT YOUR KEYS AND LOOSE THEM OF THEIR SIN. YOU PROCLIM TO THEM THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS ON ACCOUNT OF CHIRST. So they do not have to die alone or suffer another minute without being reminded of Jesus Christ and His promise. This is what you are to do as a saint claimed by Jesus from Himself. You belong to Him and He has given you the authority to claim others for Him. Let us pray.
Lord Jesus we thank you that you have given us the keys to your Kingdom. Lord we ask that you give us the boldness and awareness to recognize when we are in the presence of one who is in need of your promise. Lord Jesus I commend to you the soul of my friend Steve. Have mercy on him and welcome Him into your eternal Kingdom. Lord I thank you for the lives of each and every baptized saint before me today. Continue Lord to use this congregation and Your Church to further Your Mission in Jefferson County. In the name of Jesus we pray.

Reformation Sunday

“You awake us to delight in your praise; for you made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.” The Confessions of St. Augustine.
Restless hearts that find peace in God, this is one of Augustine’s most famous quotes. Rest, peace; those are such nice words. Can you imagine an eternity of rest and peace? Right now I can’t even imagine 5 minutes of it let alone all of eternity.
But this is the promise that Jesus brings to us today in our gospel reading. “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”
Abide, Jesus uses the Greek word “meinate” from the root word “meno.” Meno means: remain, dwell, continue, tarry, endure. The depth of the meaning of “meno” is to stay in one place for a extended period of time; to dwell, literally to live. If you live in my “logos,” the word. Do you remember how the Gospel of John starts out? In the beginning was the logos, the word, and the logos, was with God and the logos WAS GOD. Jesus is telling us that if we dwell in Him then we are His true disciples and therefore we will know the truth, the truth the Jesus is not only the word of God but He is God! This is THE TRUTH! Jesus says, and knowing this sets you free. Free from sin free to love the law and follow it.
This is the promise that we heard from Jeremiah in our Old Testament reading today, this is that very promise fulfilled, Jesus Christ the Savior, God Himself addressing us, as He does, with words. And not just words, not just hot air expelled for the sake of something to say. NO! Words from God do something. This proclamation from the very mouth of God Jesus Christ declares to you that if you live in His word you are His true disciples and you will know the truth and you are now free from your own efforts to live up to the law to justify yourself because there is a new way in which God is justifying you and that is through your faith in His only son Jesus Christ. Your faith in His word, not belief in your own efforts to behave yourself rather faith in the promise of eternal life and freedom proclaimed to you by God Himself.
Your heart no longer need be restless; it need no longer cling to whatever lover of God that comes along. You are free from idol worship; you are free from the search to find the truth. The truth is here and the truth is NOW! Jesus Christ is the truth He is God and He is standing right here with us today proclaiming to you through His called and your ordained preacher that you belong to Him!
You no longer have to look to Abraham and the covenant of the Old Testament to see what God expects of you, Jesus dies to end that old covenant and now there is a new one and that new covenant says there is no longer any law for you to live up to to be justified, or righteous before God. He has done it all, FOR YOU! IT IS FINISHED! IT IS DONE! SIN AND YOUR OLD FLESH ARE DEAD AND GONE FOREVER AND NOW YOU CAN SIMPLY REST YOUR RESTLESS HEART, MIND, AND CONSCIENCE IS THE PROMISE GIVEN TO YOU FROM THE MOUTH OF GOD HIMSELF!
“Truly, truly, I say to you everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever.” You have sinned and are a slave to sin. You cannot free yourself from the demands and the accusations of the law. You are in prison and it is a life sentence and the only way out is to receive a pardon from the governor. Your freedom comes not from your love of good nor your love of sinful things but through the proclamation from the one who has the authority to pardon you and set you free by simply speaking it into existence. The walls of you prison, death itself, can no longer hold you because they could not hold your Savior.
On this day we celebrate the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Here is what Luther was told by God Himself through His written word the Bible. Just in case you were wondering and were not for sure. JESUS CHRIST IS GOD! JESUS CHRIST DID EVERYTHING NECESSARY FRO YOU TO BE COUNTED AS RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD! JESUS CHRIST ROSE BODILY FROM THE DEAD! THE DISCIPLES DID SEE HIM IN THE FLESH AFTER HIS BURRIL! THIS MOST CETAINLY IS TRUE! THE BIBLE IS JESUS CHRIST THE VERY WORD OF GOD AND YOU DO NTO INTERPRET IT IT INTERPRETS YOU. IT SAYS THAT ON ACCOUNT OF YOUR BAPTISM CHRIST CLAIMING YOU AS HIS OWN YOUR SINS ARE FORGIVEN! THIS IS TRUE, THIS IS REAL! THIS IS WHAT I WOULD SACIRFICE MY LIFE FOR , THIS VERY PROCLIMATION. I WOULD STAND BEFORE DEATH ITSELF AND SAY, “I AM SCARED THIS IS TRUE BUT I WILL NOT DENY MY SAVIOR! NEVER! DO TO ME AS YOU WILL! BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY TRUTH THAT I KNOW WITHOUT A DOBUBT. I AM NO DIFFERENT THEN THE DISCIPLES BEFORE ME! THEY KNEW IT JUST AS I KNOW IT AND THEY DECLARED IT TO ME AS I HAVE DECLARED IT TO YOU AND NOW YOU KNOW IT! AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN!

Luke 18:9-24

Me church; I don’t care who you are that’s funny.
In today’s gospel reading we see this attitude of” it’s all about me” in the prayer of the Pharisee. Bothe men have gone to the temple to pray therefore both men are seeking an encounter with the divine. But which man’s prayer is heard? A better question would be which man’s prayer is not turned inward upon himself?
Our gospel passage for today starts with the setting of the parable. “He (Jesus) also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and treated others with contempt.” No I know that there are no people in this congregation who think more highly of themselves than they should because most of you come here every weekend and hear me tell you that your works count for nothing. Are you tired of hearing that yet? But let’s still see if there is anything that we can learn from this man’s self righteous dissertation on himself.
The Pharisee , STANDING BY HIMSELF, prayed, God I thank you that I am not like OTHER MEN, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.” Standing by himself, this shows his utter love for himself separating himself from everyone else. God, thank you; is this really a prayer of thanks or is it an exhortation of himself. He seeks to demonstrate this exhortation by listing his good works. It is clear that this man thinks that he is righteous before God because of these works. But similar to moral of the parable of Unworthy Servant from a couple of weeks ago; when you do what is expected of you there is no reward. This man is clearly under the delusion that he can gain righteousness before God through his own actions. In other words his relationship with God is not a proper one because his relationship hinges upon the works he has done for God and not on trust in the grace that God has given him for his short comings.
In contrast we have the tax collector. You will remember that tax collectors were social outcasts as they were viewed as betrayers of their people. They were residents of their respective community who collected money for the Romans; most were crooked and collected more than what was required keeping the difference for themselves. Keep in mind in this time in history if you could not pay your taxes all of your possessions could be seized. Let me put that in perspective, women and children were considered as possessions. So your family could literally be sold into slavery for not paying your taxes. Do you see the kind of wretchedness that tax collectors represented? Consequently, for Jesus to use a tax collector as the one who was found righteous was scandalous indeed. But in chapter Luke 5:31-32 Jesus says, “31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” And in Luke 15:17 He says, “7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
The tax collector has much different posture about himself than the Pharisee. “But the tax collector, STANDING FAR OFF, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but BEAT HIS BREAST saying, GOD, be merciful to me, a SINNER.” This is a true confession of a true sinner who has been afflicted by the law who realized that he was in desperate need of the grace of God. This prayer is not asking to be judged by the law. This man does not seek justice for if God gave him based upon justice then he would immediately be put to death and sent to hell on account of his sin. No1 this man seeks the gospel, he seeks grace and forgiveness; the tax collector’s pray is the type of prayer that brings celebration in heaven.
I realize that both prayers may seem inwardly focused however they are not. The Pharisee focuses his prayer on his works and the tax collector focuses his prayer on the work of God.
So, what does a parable about two Jewish men praying in the temple? Well let me break it down.
1. This parable shows us that through the law God is just. He doesn’t accept the prayer of the self righteous.
2. It shows us that through the true repentance of sin God is merciful.
3. It illustrates for us that God truly does desire mercy not sacrifice Jesus stated in Matthew 9 & 12 echoing the proclamation of the prophet Hosea.
4. It forces us to ask ourselves if we have the heart like the self righteous man or a heart like the humble broken sinner.
Today I will confess to you that I indeed have the heart of the humble broken sinner. You see it has been brought to my attention that I have failed to live up to the expectations of a few people in our congregation. I publically acknowledge that their expectations were both valid and reasonable and that the failure is totally and completely mine. I am learning each day what it means to be a follower of Christ just like the rest of you and there are times that I will fall short. I simply wanted to thank you for your patience with me thus far and ask for your forgiveness and mercy in the future. I am not trying to exude a false sense of humility here nor am I looking for affirmation. I have been wrestling night after night with how I could make it up to or how I should handle this situation. I am really tired of looking for solutions as it has been impossible for me to rest. While I was writing my sermon the answer to this dilemma came to me, I am not to try to fix it with righteous actions instead I am to simply ask for forgiveness and mercy and go on learning what I can from my mistakes and trying not to repeat them in the future.
Let us pray, Lord Jesus Christ, the mercy and grace of God has been shown to us through Your death and resurrection. Today Lord we acknowledge that you did in fact come to die for us so that we may have life and have it abundantly. An abundant life is one of the easy yoke, one free from worry, guilt, and anxiety. I humbly ask Lord Jesus that you send your Holy Spirit to each and each man, woman and child in this congregation with the purpose of the nurturing of faith. Faith in the promise that Your yoke is the easy on and faith in the promise of everlasting life given to each in their baptism and in the sacrament of The Lord’s Supper in which we are about to partake. I ask all of this in Your holy and precious name. Amen