Sermon for 8/11/13 Luke 12

Sermon: (Luke 12:22-34) God’sGood Pleasure

What do we want? What do we care about?
life
what we will wear
food
body
Where will these things get us? What will our concern, our anxiety, gain us?
longer life?
Some manuscripts – greater height?
What does our Lord say about them?
These are small things. They are insignificant.
Seemed pretty significant to me at times!!
What do we treasure? Is that even the right question?
It is, at times.
circle of concern vs. circle of responsibility
What is Jesus' concern in this?
It is the Father's good pleasure to give us - - - the kingdom!
What will we lack?
What will we need?
What of consequence can be taken away from us?
He has purchased us to his life of forgiveness, hope, eternal life.
We are always protected by Jesus' blood and righteousness.
There is no need for fear. Our heavenly Father knows what we need. And he will provide it.

Where's our treasure? What's the Father's pleasure?
No fear
No shame
No guilt
No condemnation
Only the riches of God in Christ.

Funeral Sermon - John 6, 1 Corinthians 13 - in memoriam Don Theesfeld

Sermon for the Funeral of Don Theesfeld

Our Lord calls his servants to his side. We never know ahead of time how he will provide for them or what he will do through them.

Our brother, Don, who lies here is one of those people who always seemed surprised at how his Savior had worked in him.

Whenever we would talk he always wanted to talk about how the Lord had blessed him.

Life of farming

opportunities for service

ability to love and serve his late wife, Elizabeth, ability to love and serve his wife, Virginia.

Never blessed with children, so he worked to be God's blessing to others, both family and friends

always seemed hungry to hear from God's Word and to receive the Sacrament of communion

This is where life comes from – God's Word.

This is where we find our hope.

This is where we find love – this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son Jesus Christ for us.

This is where we end up living, in 1 Corinthians 13.

Not our love

Not our patience

Not our kindness

Christ's love on our behalf

What will Jesus do through us?

Love our neighbor

Bless those who curse us

Persevere patiently, knowing that our reward is great because our Savior is great

All those earthly things, as we read in 1 Corinthians 13, will pass away.

God's love will endure forever.

We are weak, we wither, we fade away

Might as well give of what the Lord has given us. He has blessed us, we can be a blessing to others.

We love because Christ first loved us.

We give because Jesus has given to us.

We nurture others because Jesus has nurtured us.

How has he nurtured us?

Word and Sacrament.

How do we do the works of God?

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is our eternal bread. This is food to life everlasting.

As we lay our brother to rest, we know we can see him again. He has spent many years hungering and thirsting for righteousness.

He has been a partaker of the Word of God, the food to eternal life.

He will rise again, for he knows that his Savior has risen again.

He has seen his Savior face to face. All wondering, all doubting, all fear, all the cares of this world have passed away.

We too can look to our Savior. We too, right here, right now, are partakers of the Word of God. We too do the works of God by hearing and believing the Word of the Lord. We too are nourished to eternal life. And we know that death is not final. It has been overcome in the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.

Jesus is the one who raises the dead. Jesus is the one who gives himself so that we can rise like him.

Don is not alone. Neither are we. We too can rest in the perfect love of Christ, who casts out all fear, who has defeated death on our behalf. Let us then look to him, trusting that he is our great reward, as he is the reward of our brother Don.

Throughout this day, then, as we are led by our brother to the cemetary, as we walk down the path we pursue, let us remember how our Savior went there too. Let us build one another up, reminding each other of the Word of God at work in our brother, reminding one another of the Word of God at work in each one of us. I hope the luncheon will be a place where that building up continues, as we tell stories and share memories. I hope that in the days and weeks to come we will gather around Virginia and the rest of the family and friends, building one another up together in that living hope that we have in Jesus, receiving nurture to eternal life.

That's what our Savior has given us. That's what our brother Don would rejoice in, for he always hungered for the Word of God.

Now may the peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen.

Sermon for 8/4/13 Luke 12

 Sermon: Where’s the Treasure?

Many kinds of treasure in this world

 life

 possessions

 business success

 family

 friends

 family traditions

Are these idols? Are they false gods? What is a god?

 that which you will sin to get

 that which you will sin if you don’t get

What is our treasure?

 false god?

 true God?

What’s our attitude toward those other treasures?

 very important

 not indispensable

 under God’s sovereign design

 given by God’s gracious hand

 used for His purposes

What passes away then?

 Colossians 3 passage - anger, malice, wrath, obscene talk, slander

 Can we put them away? I guarantee you that when you try to stop being angry you will find more people than ever to provoke anger.

How are these things put away?

 new creation in Christ

 bought back from the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of death

 translated into Christ’s kingdom

 more than conquerors

 God’s perfect love poured out upon us

 washed in grace

 presented in the image of Jesus

 partakers of his nature - 1 Corinthians 10 - true communion

Seek treasure! Seek true, pure, heavenly treasure! This is what our Savior has given us.

Sermon for 7/28/13 Colossians 2

Sermon: God’s Permanent Record

Discipleship - walking along with Jesus - what we need.

How are we doing? How are the Colossians doing?

 called out of the world

 redeemed

 rooted in Christ

 established

 taught

 gathered in thanksgiving

Seems it should go well. But . . .

warning - danger zone - look out!

Jesus, not a philosophy

Jesus, not a theory

Jesus, not some sort of empty idea that slips away

But what do we depend upon?

 Heard a local pastor say the church is here to serve families - wrong, that’s a by-product

 Have heard many say the church is a social organization - wrong

 We think we have a good philosophy of religion

 Are we being dangerous by having “worldview through song lyrics” meeting?

    No, because we will see the futility of all pursuits outside of Christ crucified for you and me, sinners.

We don’t depend on human tradition

 What’s up with church tradition then? It all points uniformly toward Jesus. Human tradition points to us. Very different directions.

But we depend on our upbringing

 our intuition

 “Trust the Force, Luke!”

 trust our reason

  trust our street smarts

  trust our diligence, our friends, our college degree, our government

We turn to everything except Jesus. We don’t walk in Christ. We pursue our own interests.

uprooted

unestablished

against our teaching

petty, spiteful, impatient, easily angered, distrustful

That’s where our sinful nature pulls us.

That’s the record that we have.

 haters of God

 self-righteous

 self-serving

 in love with our own glory

 dead in trespasses and uncircumcision - natural state

What will you do? What will you do?

Nothing. Flee? Despair? Give up? Lash out? Nothing we can do.

What’s the good news?

Nothing we can do - Jesus has done it.

 God made alive with Jesus - we have a friend in the resurrection business

 He buried us in baptism - the power of God to wash us clean from sin, to put the old man to death

 He raised us to newness of life

 He filled us with his spirit

 He circumcised us, cut off the deadness - it hurts

 He took our place in death and led us in life

 He took that record of evil that we had and nailed it to the cross

    How? In his flesh

    He didn’t just declare us not guilty. He became sin for us. He died for us.

What’s the result?

 disarmed this world

 triumphed over this world

Walk in Christ Jesus! Restored, forgiven, built up, established, giving thanks. Lay down the enmity. Lay down the desires to run things ourselves. Lay down the burdens. Be conformed into his image, as you remain his baptized child.

Sermon for 7/21/13 Luke 10

Sermon: The toil of sitting andlearning

Busy life, busy people, multi-tasking young and old, shifting attention frenetically

scattered

unfocused?

focused “like a hummingbird on cocaine”

Sometimes we take pride, excessive and sinful pride, in being too busy.

“Martha, Martha...” We say this in our household a lot.

Didn’t have time? Didn’t take time? What kind of a fix are we in?

 neglect family

 neglect home

 neglect community

 neglect friends

 no time to smell the roses

 didn’t notice seasons passing

Wait - isn’t there something more?

 What about our Lord?

     Bible reading - nonexistent, occasional, hasty, matter of form

     Contemplate God’s Word and the world he has created

     Join with others for Bible study, worship, prayer

     Do we really think we can lead others in the community of faith when we are not actively engaged in it ourselves?

 Outside of the weekly divine service, the most important thing our congregation can do is join in the weekly Bible studies where we dig deeply into God’s Word to ask and answer questions about how we live before God in our culture.

 Do we want the church to grow? The most important factor in growth is involvement in weekly Bible study. Churches in which most of the adults attend weekly Bible classes, including Sunday school, are almost always thriving and growing churches. When we take God’s Word seriously it shows.

What does this have to do with Martha?

 There’s always plenty to do. But Jesus says there’s always plenty to BE. As we sit at Jesus’ feet, soaking up His word, learning from him, we take the time to reflect on his goodness, his grace, his love for us, our state without him. We learn to bring that good news to others. We find ourselves telling our neighbor that Jesus sees us in our troubles and has given himself for us. We find that the message of the cross is powerful. We find that our Lord’s care for life, for learning, for families, for the whole world becomes specific to us. We deliver, we show in ourselves, the good news that Jesus loves us and has given himself for us.

Sermon for 7/14/13 Luke 10

Sermon: Who Is My Neighbor?

Today’s Gospel lesson is a very special one.

 Most Christians who have been reading their Bibles for any amount of time know the story.

 Luke set this parable among Jesus’ parables of grace, yet it’s a little hard to find the grace in it.

Let’s see ourselves in light of what Jesus and this lawyer talk about.

The question - How can I earn an inheritance?

 How can you earn an inheritance? Jesus turns the question around.

  ignore the impossible - an inheritance can’t be earned

 Love the Lord with all your...

 Love your neighbor as yourself.

How are we doing on that?

 Our lives show that we don’t love God.

 What is more enticing? The Bible or the television?

 What do we know better? Sports statistics or God’s word?

 What do we care more about? When we can hear God’s words of grace or when we can eat?

 How about God’s priorities - to seek and to save the lost? Yet one of our great fears is sharing the Gospel with our family, friends, neighbors, and associates.

Our world cries out for authenticity. And here we claim that Jesus is the only savior, the only one who will ever rescue anyone from certain doom. And we don’t tell about him. We don’t look to him in hope. We don’t love God.

Yes, lawyer, you are right. Love God with all your heart. Do that. Please.

And the lawyer thinks he’s doing well. How is it that we look into God’s Word and don’t see ourselves reflected? How do we see the speck in our neighbor’s eye and overlook the plank in our own?

But he goes on, and Jesus lets him. Love your neighbor as yourself.

NOW he sees something wrong. Who is my neighbor?

Chilling words I read this week. An acquaintance on the Internet posted a plea especially for pastors. What do you say to someone who is dealing with depression, fear, or other troubles and says, “I can’t come to church for a while. I can’t seem to put on my mask that says everything’s all right.”

What will happen to us if we come to church without our masks on?

What if our neighbors in the pews see us for who we are - people who are hurting, people for whom everything isn’t really all right, people who are crying out to the Lord to rescue us from this painful world? What if our neighbors in the pews see us as people who really are confessing real sins and really asking that the Lord would take them away because if he doesn’t we will be crushed?

Do we love our neighbor?

Wait a minute, says the lawyer. You’re thinking of someone who isn’t my neighbor.

Jesus tells him a story, and in the story, Jesus is there.

Rejected, beaten, disfigured, unable to help himself, scorned, the priest and Levite may even have wondered if he was actually alive. All this happening on his journey down from Jerusalem, the place of worship and forgiveness, to Jericho, not only a city most famous for being sacked, but also a place some 3500 feet below Jerusalem. It’s almost a thousand feet below sea level. This man is descending into the earth from the mountaintop. And he is captured, attacked, everything he has is taken away from him.

Who is this man? It is surely Jesus, your neighbor and mine, the one who seems to have nothing to offer, the one who is unloved and who, in his humiliation has nothing to give us.

last, lost, least, lonely

stricken, smitten and afflicted, ‘tis he

How do we love Jesus? How does this foreigner, the one who was at enmity with God, the Samaritan, someone called from afar, like you and like me, love the man of sorrows?

interrupts life

risks time - cares for him and puts him on his animal so the Samaritan has to walk

risks credit - gives him all he needs

risks attack - there are enemies in the area, remember?

loves his neighbor

If this is all the parable says, we leave you short. We have left you with the Law. We’ve already established that we don’t love God well enough and that we don’t love our neighbor as ourself. As we’ve described the neighbor it looks worse and worse. There are three responses we can have.

1) God didn’t really intend that high of a standard. We can decide that really we love God quite well and that we are loving our neighbor as well as he could expect.

Be perfect as I am perfect

Be conformed into the image of Christ

Seek and save the lost

Pray without ceasing

Lord give us repentance of our arrogant attitude that says we keep Your Law! Change our hearts!

2) God does have that high of a standard. I can’t keep God’s standard. Therefore I despair. There’s no hope at all.

If we confess our sins

Jesus loved us while we were yet sinners

The Father made the Son to become sin for us so we could be the righteousness of God in Christ.

He forgives us each and every sin.

Despair won’t cut it, then. Arrogance and despair are out. We need our third possible response.

3) Jesus, the man of sorrows, the one who suffered and died, did it all for you. He is the only one who has ever loved God perfectly and he is the only one who has ever loved his neighbor as himself. He has done this. He died doing it. And he rose from the dead so that all who believe his promises may have his perfect life.

Trust that Jesus is the savior of the world.

Trust that Jesus is your savior.

Come to him again and again, receiving his forgiveness, which we can never earn ourselves.

The Lord’s table is a time of repentance and restoration. It’s a time when Jesus gives himself in a very concrete way, in true body and blood for you, for your forgiveness. It’s a means of receiving the forgiveness we need. As we prepare for the Lord’s table, may he create in us a clean and new heart, filling us with repentance and pouring out his grace upon us. Jesus has loved you, his neighbor, as he loves himself. He will rescue you.

Sermon for 6/30/13 1 Kings 19

Sermon “What Are You Doing Here,Elijah?”

Elijah - time of discouragement

God asks “What are you doing here?”

Elijah’s discouraged answer - much like ours might be

 we tried, tried hard, worked hard

 God’s people departed from Word and Sacrament (covenant and altar)

 God’s people have rejected God’s servants, even to the death

 Persecution all around this world, rejection of the Lord

 Confessional, faithful, historic Christianity seems to be languishing

 feels like you’re going to die

How many of you have heard the sermon that goes on from Elijah’s discouragement to put him into the cave where he witnesses all sorts of shows of power then finally hears God in the still, small voice that tells him what to do? You are then supposed to look within, listen for God’s still, small voice, and take comfort? This isn’t that sermon.

What does God do? He tries to blow up the mountain? He doesn’t try very hard, because the mountain isn’t blown up. But he terrifies Elijah! Wind, breaking rocks, an earthquake, fire - Go through that and just tell me you aren’t scared.

I can just picture Elijah hiding behind a rock, hoping that the cave doesn’t fall in, wondering if he’ll get through this alive. Finally it becomes quiet, he hears just a small sound, and he plucks up his courage to come out.

“Why are you here?”

Elijah has the same answer. He’s like most of us. We don’t understand that the Lord who can create heaven and earth and everything in them can take care of us. We still fear. We still go to hide under a rock, thinking maybe we’ll be safe there.

So God finally tells Elijah why he is here.

 Go anoint a king of Syria. Hazael, though a Syrian, attacked and defeated the unfaithful leader of Israel.

 Go anoint a king of Israel. Jehu, who took the throne after Hazael sacked Israel, defeated many of the remaining unfaithful forces of Israel.

 Go take a follower who will take your place. Elisha had a relatively long and productive ministry as God’s prophet.

All this moved Israel down the path that Elijah desired, the path God desired. Elijah was frustrated. We also are often frustrated. It doesn’t seem that we are accomplishing anything. But God’s Word is not fruitless. Our Lord accomplishes His desire, as Word and Sacrament are being administered.

 forgiveness

 life

 salvation

 healing

 growing in  grace

 fruit of the Spirit

Where’s Jesus in all this?

 mighty one of God

 speaks peace and salvation to us

 gives us a kingdom that will never pass away, gates of hell cannot prevail

 appoints us to work as well-trained servants of the Word

 has us pass on the gifts God has given to future generations

1) Fearful about your calling in life? Feel like a failure? Jesus has called you and does not leave you alone. Remember the thousands he appointed to be faithful in Elijah’s time.

2) Wonder about your hope for the future? Jesus builds his Church and it will prevail. Persevere without fear!

3) Wonder if you are one of the Lord’s opponents? Trust that Jesus has come to suffer and die for that state of opposition. Trust that He died for you. Know that he gives you forgiveness and places you in just the right place to serve him in his kingdom.