Sermon for 4/6/11 - A Great Command

Sermon "A Great Command" audio at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23575548/110406Mark12.mp3

Our Lord, of your good pleasure, you have provided all of our needs according to your riches in glory through Christ Jesus. Show us how we also fit into your plan as you continue to give daily bread to people all around us. Amen.

We have two great commandments. We are to love the Lord our God – entirely and always. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. So as we look at this Gospel reading during this penitential season, we open ourselves to see ourselves as our Lord sees us.

First, love the Lord. Do we truly "fear, love and trust in God above all things"? What do we consider as a god, something to be served, something to motivate us, to guide our lives, that we should revere and worship? Do we trust in the true God? Do we trust in our own ability? Who is providing our daily bread? Who earned that diploma? Who made the money to buy that house or that car? Who is providing for our future? Whose name is on the retirement account? And whoever has a name on it, is that the person we're trusting? Or do we trust our employer? Maybe our government? Where do we find our security? Maybe we trust that the Lord will keep us as long as we have our job, our health, our family. What do we do when all that is taken away? What do we do when our community is ravaged by a natural disaster, when an epidemic strikes and half of our neighbors die, when our country is overrun by revolutionaries who burn all the homes of Christians? What will we do then? That's when we find out who we are serving. That's when we find out whether we fear, love and trust in God above all things. That's when we find out if we are loving the Lord, entirely and always.

May the Lord grant us repentance for trusting in ourselves. May he turn our hearts that we will look to him. May he grant us forgiveness and restoration, that we will look to him in hope, rather than to ourselves in selfish ambition.

But what's that second command, which is also so great? Love your neighbor as yourself. How do we love our neighbor? We see some examples, both positive and negative examples, in our Gospel reading today.

The scribes trust in doctrinal precision. Now doctrinal precision is a good thing. We don't want to scoff at it. We are called to reason together with the Lord. We are called to study and show ourselves approved. People who labor in the Word of God are affirmed in Scripture. We are to be fair minded like the Bereans who study the Scripture to see if the preaching is true or not. We should be doctrinally precise, as much as we can be, as often as we can be. There's nothing wrong with studying a good theology book or spending time making notes and outlining the Scripture passages you read. We want to look at God's Word very carefully and very frequently.

But does it end there? The scribes do all their study to be seen by the people around them. They want greetings in the marketplaces. They want to be honored. They want to be seen as holy. Yet they want to be honored because of their precision. They pursue all this study, all their scholarly exercises as just that, an exercise. That's a terrible misuse of time and effort. It's an abuse of God's Word. Do these seem like harsh words? After all, they are coming from someone who reads New Testament Greek fairly easily, from someone with a pretty good sized reference library (though it's mostly in boxes in the garage), and who has been working intensively with the Scriptures for some thirty years. You'd think I'd appreciate people studying the Scripture just to study it.

That isn't so. The study of the Bible which results only in doctrinal precision does no good whatsoever. In fact, it does harm to Christ's kingdom. It hinders people from hearing and receiving the life-giving words of God's grace, because it is tied up in correcting every little dot of their theology. It can bind burdens on people who will think they can't possibly understand the Bible so they throw up their hands and give up. It can result in a cold, unfeeling theological accuracy which has never given a cup of water to a thirsty person, which has never fed a hungry person, has never clothed the poor, and will never cross the street and stoop down to help a crying, lost child.

Proper study of Scripture drives us to care for our neighbors. Proper love for God drives us to minister to the needs of our neighbors. After all, that's just what God in Christ has done. He saw us, considered us his neighbors, and came to serve us. He saw our deepest need and came to meet it, since he was the one who could meet our need. He came to save, heal, and forgive. He loves us, his neighbors, and comes to us in our time of need. Our God delights in giving us our daily bread. And he does it through neighbors working in their vocations. He does it through us to other people as well. And he uses us to plant the seed of the Word of God in the hearts of our friends and neighbors. He uses us to nurture that faith that he is creating. He uses us to care for one another. He uses us, in short, to do almost all the good he's doing on this planet.

How does he do that? You don't have money enough to feed, clothe, and shelter all the poor. You don't have time to help all your neighbors with everything they could use help with. Not one of us has the resources. Neither did the widow in our Gospel passage this evening. She didn't have much. Most of us would look at her and say that she didn't have anything. She was living off her savings or what people gave her. And she didn't have much. But of what she had, she gave selflessly.

In her giving, did the widow provide anything that God didn't have? Not at all. It's a little bit like your child deciding to buy you a present so asking you for money. We don't give God anything he needs. He derives no benefit from our good works. But our neighbor does. Has the Lord blessed you to be able to provide something that your neighbor can use? Has the Lord blessed you with an opportunity to love your neighbor? You taking that opportunity is God's opportunity to love your neighbor through you.

Love the Lord your God. Love your neighbor.

Our Lord, as you have preserved us, let us preserve others, providing them with what you have given us. Give us a heart to follow you. Forgive us where we have failed our neighbors. Use us in your kingdom to bring you delight. Amen.

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com

Psalm 26.1-7, Genesis 44.1-18, 32-34, Mark 12.28-44 - Lectionary for 4/6/11

Today is the day of Lucas Cranach and Albrechet Durer, artists.

Today's readings are Psalm 26.1-7, Genesis 44.1-18, 32-34, and Mark 12.28-44.

How do we walk with integrity? The Psalmist calls upon God to vindicate him because of his integrity. Look at our readings today from Genesis, where Joseph guards his brothers. It doesn't seem to me that he has a whole lot of integrity working here. Then again, he may be giving his brothers an illustration of what their lack of integrity accomplished. Of course, he may be acting in a vindictive manner. We're all pretty good at that too.  What about from the Gospel reading? How do we show integrity? We love God, we love our neighbor, we accept Jesus' words about who he is, and we do what we do out of a desire for the truth rather than a desire for acclamation. May the Lord direct our paths and make us to walk with integrity. And may we rejoice, knowing that our reward is in heaven, not on earth.

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com

Psalm 37.16-20, Genesis 43.1-28, Mark 12.13-27 - Lectionary for 4/5/11

Today's readings are Psalm 37.16-20, Genesis 43.1-28, and Mark 12.13-27.

Our Psalm reading today talks about the joy of contentment. Most of us aren't too good at this. We want more, we want it bigger, better, faster, sooner, and more permanently. Yet we can look at our other readings to see why contentment is such a good thing. What of Joseph's brothers who have the food they need and who have their family? What about our Gospel reading? Who are the people who have to pay a lot of taxes? Those are people who have something to pay. It's a very good thing. What about the promise that Jesus gives about the resurrection? Are we to be concerned about who we might be married to in the resurrection? Not at all. In the resurrection we become the bride of Christ. Now there's something to be contented about.

Thanks be to God, who gives us all we need.

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com

Psalm 3, Genesis 42.1-34, 38, Mark 12.1-12 - Lectionary for 4/4/11

Today's readings are Psalm 3, Genesis 42.1-34, 38, and Mark 12.1-12.

There's a very strong parallel between Joseph and Jesus. Both are betrayed and sold by their brothers. Both go through death, Joseph figuratively and Jesus literally. Both save God's people from evil. When we see evil come upon us and upon others we care for it's normal for us to struggle with the idea. It is difficult to see people suffer. Yet our Lord reminds us that we can look to him in times of suffering. Is there suffering which we endure that our Lord and Savior has not endured? Not at all. Let us look to the promises of our Lord as well. He is the one who is victorious even over death and who will bring God's righteous judgment upon all evil. Our God has not forgotten us.

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com

Sermon for 4/3/11 "Moving Along"

Sermon: "Moving Along" Isaiah 42.14-21  Audio link http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23575548/110403Isaiah42.mp3

Lord, take us by the hand and guide us. Let us see where we are, where we are going, and what you would reveal to us in your word, through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with ┼ You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Have you ever been lost somewhere? Maybe you thought you knew where you were going but took a wrong turn somewhere. Maybe you were looking for that street that didn't have a sign at the corner. Maybe you were planning on staying near someone who knew where to go but you managed to become separated. For a while you think everything is fine. You are under the impression that you know where you are and where you are going. But after a while you realize that you are not making the kind of progress you thought you would. You may find you see landmarks you have seen before, or maybe you have a compass and can see that you are going a direction that doesn't make any sense. The mild sense of annoyance may turn to frustration as you circle, hunt, circle some more, and realize you really don't have a point of reference to get you to your destination. You need help and you know it.

In our Christian life, as we see in the passage from Isaiah 42, God knows precisely where we are and what he wants to do with us. He takes us by the hand and moves us along. He takes our blindness and makes it see. He takes the darkness around us and makes it sight. He protects us from harm. And he does it by showing himself to us. God in Christ has revealed himself to us and will enable us to follow him, walking in the light which he casts on our path.

Like the man in John 9 we gradually see our Lord better. Did you notice the progression the man in John 9 goes through? First he talks about Jesus as the man who healed him. Then he starts talking about Jesus as "the prophet. By the end of the passage he is talking about Jesus as the one we need to worship. The more he thinks about what Jesus did for him, the more clearly he sees Jesus for who he is.

In the same way, our Lord takes us by the hand and turns on the lights. He shows us how to walk as children of the light, with our lives open to inspection and affirmation from our heavenly Father. He shows us our sin by the light of his word. He calls us to repentance and grants us forgiveness.

Can we trust in our Lord? Do we realize that he is truly the one who shows us himself? Do we realize as we walk in the light that our Lord himself is the redeemer we need? Do we realize that Jesus Christ himself is the light of the world? That's what our Lord shows us. In Isaiah we saw that the condition of this sinful world requires God to come in judgment. He comes to "lay waste" our territory (v. 15). He is not going to allow sin to rule in the land, for he is the holy God who condemns sin.

How is this good news? We see that our world is cursed by sin, and that sin brings death. But God is coming to judge sin and to put that sin to death, by receiving it in himself, in the person of Jesus Christ. He is the one who puts sin to death by dying while bearing the load of sin, the sin of the world.

Why is this death of Christ any different from anyone else's death? What does Jesus have that we don't have? In God's economy, as he has declared, the offering for sin must be perfect, and it must be a perfect sample of the same kind as the sinner. Therefore a perfect, sinless human must die to effect salvation on all the rest of the sinful people. It would not be adequate if he were not perfect, so we need a person with no sin to die. Only Jesus can do this. Only Jesus can give his life for us. Only Jesus is perfect, without sin, yet fully human. That's why we confess both the full deity and full humanity of Christ. We see that it is necessary that the Savior must be fully God and fully man. Jesus shows himself to be just that.

Jesus does not stop there, though. He is not content with showing that he is the perfect one, complete with both a divine and a human nature. He doesn't stop with our knowing who he is. He refuses to stop until he is put to death in order to bear our sins. The point of the incarnation of Christ is that he should go to the cross and bear our sins for us. If he did not complete that work, his incarnation would be for nothing.

Then our Lord and Savior, who gave his life for us, has shown his sacrifice is adequate by rising from the dead, the firstfruits of the resurrection. He points us to a future resurrection, when we will rise, our body and soul will be united, and we will live with him for eternity.

We can't see this. We can't understand it. We can talk about it all day and all night and we still won't get it. We have no idea how important it is. We have no idea how blissful that heavenly bliss will be. We have no idea of the consuming vision of God in Christ which is in store for us. We can't understand it or fully appreciate it. But we do know our Lord has promised his presence, and that he will bring us to be with him at the end of the age. We do know that our Lord has promised to take us by the hand, to show us his light, and to lead us through this world. We do know that our Lord gives eyes to the blind and ears to the deaf. We do know that our Lord will show us the glory of his word. We do know that our Lord will not allow anything to harm his chosen people, that he is entirely committed to their living in his bliss forever.

How is our Lord revealing himself to us? He has promised to reveal himself to us in Word and Sacrament, particularly being present here for us in his body and blood. He has promised to be with us always, in the flesh, just as he was with his disciples before going to the cross. He has promised that he will not leave us or forsake us.

How do we see our Lord? Do we see him as being the one who has purchased our life, our healing, our salvation through his body broken for us and his blood shed for us? Do we see him as the one who is coming soon to bring us to be with him? Do we see him as the one who moves us from this life to the next by his mercy, just as he promised in his word? Then let us rejoice as we, who were blind and deaf, unable to figure out where we were, without a hope in the world, are gathered into unity and one accord, with the angels and archangels, crying out to our holy Lord, the Savior.

Let us pray.

Our Lord, you have taken us by the hand and have shown us this world for what is is, shown up by your light. Make us walk in the light, over the level ground that you have created at the foot of your cross, where we stand, gathered into one body by the one name under heaven by which we might be saved. Receive our thanksgiving and praise as we offer ourselves to you, who have offered yourself on our behalf, in the name of ┼ the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com

Psalm 60.1, 9-12, Genesis 41.28-57, Mark 11.20-33 - Lectionary for 4/3/11

Today's readings are Psalm 60.1, 9-12, Genesis 41.28-57, and Mark 11.20-33.

Do we ever wonder why our prayers don't seem to be answered? I do. As someone with a twenty year history of migraines and other various difficulties, I pray for relief frequently. And I pray for relief from struggles for other people all the time. It often seems that our prayers aren't answered. The Psalmist does the same in today's reading. It seems that God has forsaken his people. I know it must have seemed the same way to Joseph when he was sold into slavery and later imprisoned. it must have seemed the same way to the disciples who were told that whatever they prayed for God would give them, but who then saw the Lord and teacher taken away and killed.

We need to remember in all this that God answers our prayers according to his good will and in his good timing. Some of our prayers for healing will be answered in the final day when by faith we are partakers of the resurrection of Christ. Some of our prayers for healing will be answered today. Regardless of the timing, we are told in the Scripture that our Lord is good and his favor is upon his people. No harm will come to us, no matter what kind of trials we are enduring today. Let us look to our Lord in hope.

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com

Psalm 11, Genesis 41.1-27, Mark 11.1-19 - Lectionary for 4/2/11

Today's readings are Psalm 11, Genesis 41.1-27, and Mark 11.1-19.

In our readings today we see God coming in judgment. The Psalmist reflects on the refuge the Lord provides for those who believe in him even while the Lord pours out judgment upon the evildoers. In Genesis we see God warning Pharaoh of the coming judgment. He will have seven years of plenty then seven years of famine. God again provides refuge for those who believe. Joseph is there to help make preparations for the coming troubles. Finally in Mark we see Jesus entering Jerusalem. He comes in peace but he brings judgment on sin. The symbolic cursing of the fig tree is often seen as a curing of unfaithful and unfruitful Israel, which is often depicted as a fig tree. Jesus, the true temple of God, drives out the profiteers from the temple building in Jerusalem. He is coming in judgment, judgment on sin and evil, in order to deliver his people.

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Dave Spotts
blogging at http://capnsaltyslongvoyage.blogspot.com