Rev's Ramblings

“I Am Willing” - February 12, 2012 - Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: Mark 1:40-45

2012-02-12T07:55:00.001-06:00

Again this morning we continue in the season of Epiphany. Epiphany is the season in which we celebrate God appearing to us by His taking on human flesh and blood. This morning we also continue in our reading through the Gospel of Mark. You might remember that two weeks ago we were in the synagogue with Jesus when He was confronted by a man who was possessed by a demon and He cast the demon out of the man. Last week brought us to the conclusion of the synagogue service and we went with Jesus to the home of Simon where He healed Simon’s mother-in-law. Also, last week, we saw the wonderful example of how Jesus began the day in prayer. Finally, last week we concluded with Jesus’ words, “‘Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.’ And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons” (Mark 1:38-39). This morning we continue to walk with Jesus as He leaves to go out and preach and teach to others and He is met by a man who has leprosy. Leprosy, you might remember was a dreaded skin disease that was incurable and would literally eat a person’s flesh to the point of death. Because there was not a lot known about leprosy and because there was no cure, it was a feared disease. And so, lepers were banned from the city and had to live by themselves outside the city limits. Lepers had to shout, “unclean,” when anyone would approach as a warning for them to stay away. It was a rather lonely life that the leper lead.

Our text for this morning continues to show us the Epiphany of Jesus, that is that He is truly human. We are told that when He was approached by this man with leprosy that Jesus “was moved with pity.” Jesus had an emotional feeling of mercy and pity toward this man. He was moved. He demonstrated a human feeling, a feeling of pity.

Mark says that Jesus touched the man. Jesus had a physical hand. He was physically present. Contrary to those who teach that Jesus was only a spiritual being, even while on this earth, here Mark tells us that He actually, physically, touched the man with leprosy. Of course, according to ceremonial law, this touching of an unclean leper would have made Jesus Himself unclean, but Jesus was not so much concerned about that ceremonial law as he was about the man with leprosy.

And Jesus spoke. He first listened to the man, then He spoke to the man. Jesus used His human senses of touch, sight, hearing and speaking. He showed Himself in every way to be a human being. Not just here, but in other places in the Gospels we are reminded of Jesus’ humanness. He was thirsty, He cried, He was hungry, He was tired, He slept, He exemplified all the traits which make us human. Our celebration of Epiphany is a celebration of the humanness of Jesus.

Jesus is also truly God. Jesus shows Himself to be God. When Jesus spoke to the man with leprosy He said, “Be clean!” and the man was at once cleansed of his leprosy. Jesus shows that He is God because only God can do miracles. Jesus shows that He had all power, the power to make whole, the power to cleanse, the power to heal. Most importantly, the power to forgive sins.

Jesus shows that He is true God. When He spoke He spoke with authority. His Word did what He said. Jesus said “Be clean!” and the man was clean. Just as we see that Jesus is human from this text and from other places in the Gospels, so here and in other places in the Gospels we are reminded of Jesus’ divinity, that He is truly God. He healed people of various diseases, He raised people from the dead, He forgave sins, He cast out demons, He exemplified all the traits which show Him to be God. Our celebration of Epiphany is a celebration of the divinity, the God-ness of Jesus.

Someone may have wondered about Jesus’ previous casting out of the demon of two weeks ago, “Why did Jesus not let the demon tell who He was?” Again, we might also wonder why this week Jesus told the man not to tell anyone. There are several suggestions why this might have happened. One suggestion is that Jess did not want to be just a “miracle worker.” In other words, He did not want people just to come to Him to be healed. A second suggestion is that Jesus did not want to bring attention on Himself, which He knew would end His public ministry prematurely. Another suggestion is that Jesus did not want to bring on Himself the attention of the authorities which would bring on His death, again, prematurely. And one last suggestion is that Jesus knew the psyche of people and He knew if He said “do not tell anyone” then the natural response would be to go out and tell everyone. What is the right answer? I cannot give you a definitive answer, all I can say is that it is probably some combination of all of these. I do not know about you, but I am adding this question to the list of questions I already have for when I get to heaven. —Anyway, I hope you noticed the man does not listen to Jesus and the result is that He, Jesus, “could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places,” and yet people were still looking for Him and coming to Him.

Jesus came to this earth for a purpose, to fulfill all of Holy Scripture, perfectly, concerning His life, death and resurrection. Jesus came to do for us what we are unable to do. He came to live perfectly for us in our place. It is something like what happened in the civil war years ago. I am told that during the civil war, a person with enough wherewith all, cash, might hire someone to take their place, to go to war for them. The actual person who goes to war is not credited with being in the war, instead the one who was supposed to go gets the credit. Jesus came to live for us in our place. Thus, we are credited with living perfect lives and He is credited with our sin when in fact, we are the ones who are sinners and He is sinless.

Jesus came to this earth on a mission. Unfortunately, not everyone understood who Jesus was or why He came. This misunderstanding by the people brought about the fact that for a while Jesus became popular, but for many of the wrong reasons. People were coming to Jesus, not to be saved by Him, but to be healed by Him, to be fed, uplifted, and the like, by Him. Some were even looking to Him as a political savior.

Jesus came to preach the Good News of salvation. He came to call the people to repentance. He came to show Himself as the Messiah, as the one promised from the Garden of Eden. He showed Himself to be God through the signs and wonders, the miracles He performed, but too many did not understand.

And so, as the word about Jesus went out, as His popularity grew, He was put out to the lonely places. And still, as Mark tells us, “people were coming to him from every quarter.” Perhaps many of these came for reasons such as healing and being fed, but there were those who had a right understanding of who Jesus was and why He came. There were those who were looking for a spiritual savior. There were those who believed He was the true Messiah.

As we progress through this season of Epiphany we continue to celebrate what a great and loving God we do have. I heard, what I think is an excellent explanation about Jesus becoming flesh. It is a story about a farmer who in the middle of the winter would put out seed for the birds to eat. One day during one winter it was just too stormy for the birds to find and eat the seed he would scatter in the yard, so he opened the barn door and tried to get the birds to go into the barn. The birds, however, would not go into the barn. The man thought and had an idea, “if only I could become like them, a bird, then they would trust me and I could lead them into the barn where there is food and shelter.” Jesus came as one of us, a human being, in order to lead us, in order to teach us, in order to be an example to us, but most importantly, in order to take our place, to die the eternal spiritual death penalty of hell for us in our place.

And although Jesus was a human being, He was also God. He was God so that He could fulfill the Law perfectly and the prophecies perfectly and so that He could rise from the dead. Because He was God He could forgive sins. He could drive out demons. He could heal people. He could raise people from the dead.

Jesus came to give His all for us. When the leper approached Jesus he said, “If you will, you can make me clean.” Notice that the leper did not rest his faith on himself but on Jesus. He rested his faith in Jesus alone. I read a church sign once that said, “miracles happen to those who believe.” I wanted to stop and correct the sign to make it read, “miracles happen (Period).” Miracles happen, whether we believe or not. Miracles happen, because God makes them happen. It was not the lepers faith that healed him, it was Jesus who was truly God who healed him.

This morning we come before our Lord’s throne and we speak. Our words are, “Lord, if you are willing, you can save me.” Our words to Jesus are the words of the man who was begging Jesus to heal his son who was possessed by an evil spirit. He suggested that “if” Jesus could do anything that He would help Him. “‘If you can’? said Jesus. ‘Everything is possible for him who believes.’ Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, ‘I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’” (Mark 9:23,24). We come before the Lord’s throne praying that the Lord will continue to help us in our own weakness of faith and unbelief, that He would help us to grow in our faith and life. Our Lord’s response to us is that He comes to us through the means of His Word and His sacraments in order to do just that, to give us forgiveness of sins, faith, strengthening of faith, life and salvation, and to keep us in faith even unto eternal life. Our response is to rejoice and say to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

God’s Hands and Feet? Or Satan’s?

2012-02-08T09:19:00.000-06:00

Perhaps you have heard the adage, “We are God’s hands and feet.” If this is true, that we are God’s hands and feet, what does this mean and what does this say about our God?

In the first article of the Apostles’ Creed we are reminded that God created all things out of nothing. And God continues to direct and preserve all that He has made. It all begins and ends with God.

In the second article of the Apostles’ Creed we are reminded that Jesus is God in flesh who came to live for us, take our sins upon Himself, suffer and die for us. He did this freely because of His love for us, because He created us to love us. He traded His perfect life for our imperfect life. And He rose from the dead, victorious over sin, death and the power of the devil. It all beings and ends with God. This article reminds us of our justification and that we are made just and right in God’s eyes by God Himself.

In the third article of the Apostles’ Creed we are reminded that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to gives us faith, to strengthen and keep us in faith. We call this work sanctification. The Holy Spirit works to sanctify or make us holy through the very means of God’s Word, enlightening us with His gifts, Confession and Absolution, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and giving us faith, strengthening of faith, forgiveness of sins, life in the world and even eternal life. This article remind us that our sanctification, that our being made holy has its beginning with God. God does and gives, and we are done to and given to.

So, if God gives life, forgiveness and new life, what does He need from us? Does God need for us to be His hands and feet? What does it say about God if we say He needs us to be His hands and His feet? An idol, a stone statue or image needs its worshiper to feed it, water it, move it, and in total to do for it because after all, it has no hands or feet and cannot do for itself.

God does not need us to be His hands and feet, but Satan does and unfortunately too often we are his will, if unconscious, hands and feet. How often it is that instead of keeping God first we put something or someone ahead of Him. Or instead of keeping His name holy we curse and swear. Or instead of being in divine service we have something more important to do. Of course, we would never admit that we have anything more important to do than be in divine service on Sunday, yet our very actions betray us, because we do choose to do what is most important to us. We cannot fool our hearts even with our lips. Yes, we may say that church attendance is most important, but what we do shows what is actually in our hearts as to being most important.

How often do we fail to give proper respect to our parents and others in authority, obeying the law? Or do we simply excuse our behavior from time to time? How often do we hurt and harm others with our words and actions? How often do we sit and lust after what we see on television, in movies, in commercial advertisements and even in the world? How often do we fail to take care of what we have borrowed or even failed to return it? How often have we failed to speak up for the absent party in any conversation as their name is “drug through the mud”? How often do we find ourselves begrudging others of what they have worked for and earned as if we deserve a share simply because we do not have it, even though we failed to work for it ourselves?

Yes, we daily step in and use our hands and feet for Satan, and more often than not we do it without even realizing it. We speak out against God, against His servant, our pastor, against His church, our congregation. We speak words of cursing and swearing unthoughtfully using His name. We have something more important to do than be in divine service and invite others to join with us. Anytime we break any one of the commandments we are the hands and feet of Satan.

Now, what does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we let God be God. Fortunately for us, God does not need for us to do any of His work, because thanks be to Him, He has done it all and He gives it all to us. God gives us life at conception. God gives us new life through His Word and Holy Baptism. God gives us forgiveness and strengthening through Confession and Absolution and through His Holy Supper. God gives it all and, we are given to. We need to be God’s hands and feet, as it were. We need to be able to do for God, to respond to Him for all He has done, does and will do for us. And even though we may do imperfectly, God does allow us to do for Him, in particular, He allows us to do the good works He has prepared in advance of us to do (Eph. 2:10), and He makes it right when we mess up what He allows us to do. This doing what He has prepared in advance for us to do is what we call vocation, and in our various vocations we live our lives in such a way that they bear witness of our faith in Jesus and give glory to Him, but again, this is as a response of faith, not because Jesus needs us to be His hands and feet.

Notice, as always, again and again, we get it right when we get right who is doing what, who is running the show, who is running the verbs. When we are running the show, we cannot be sure of what we are doing, and we get it wrong. When God is running the show, we know He always gets it right. Thanks be to God.

Jesus Prayed - February 5, 2012 - Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: Mark 1:29-39

2012-02-05T07:41:00.001-06:00

This morning we continue celebrating the season of the Epiphany. Epiphany, you might remember, means “God in man made manifest” or “the revealing of God becoming human”. It is during the season of Epiphany that we continue to celebrate the birth of Jesus and the fact that He was born to save all people, Jew and Gentile alike. We continue to celebrate the fact that Jesus was born for us.

This morning we continue our reading through the Gospel of Mark and we are brought to another day in the life of Jesus. Our text for last week ended at verse twenty-eight and our text for this week picks up at verse twenty-nine. Last week, you might remember, we were with Jesus in the synagogue where He was immediately confronted by a man who was demon possessed. This morning Mark brings us out of the synagogue as he says, “and immediately he left the synagogue and entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John” (v. 29). Again we see how Mark likes that word “immediately” as he tells us that immediately after worship, Jesus went with James, John, and their cousins, Simon and Andrew to Simon and Andrew’s home, perhaps for the Sabbath lunch. It was probably like when we go for our Sunday lunch, after church we like to go to our cousins house for lunch. Concerning Simon or Peter as he is called, Andrew, James and John; remember that these were the first four disciples Jesus called to follow Him and they were the one’s who were His inner circle of disciples, His closest friends. So, again, church is over and it is time to go home for lunch.

In our text for this morning Mark writes to more clearly show us the Epiphany of Jesus, that is that Jesus is true God in human flesh, that He is true God and true man. We see that Jesus is truly human as He spent the morning preaching and now He has gone to Simon’s home. Jesus is truly human. He was in need of some rest and He was in need of food. So, He went to Simon’s house to visit and have lunch. Later, after the evening sun had set, which brought us out of the Sabbath day and into the next day, which is Sunday, people again began bringing family members and friends to be touched by and to be healed by Him. Our day begins at midnight. For the people of Jesus’ day the day began at sunset. Thus, at about 6 pm in the evening Saturday was over and it was now Sunday, thus the Sabbath was over and the people could again work. One of the works of the people we see here is that they are working to bring their sick and broken family and friends to Jesus to have Him heal them. And Jesus continued to work, doing the signs, wonders, and miracles, even casting out demons, which showed that He is truly God.

Mark skips past the night to bring us to the rising of the sun in the morning, but we might presume that Jesus, being truly human, needed and got a good night rest and sleep. Then, Mark says, “And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed” (v. 35). Jesus shows us how human He is in His need to be in prayer and in His example of going out to pray. This was the first thing Jesus did, He went out to pray. He recognized His own need to be in prayer with His Father in heaven. He knew the importance of beginning the day in prayer and in fellowship with His Father, God the Father. His example reminds us of our even more pressing need to begin each and every day in prayer with God the Father. Martin Luther said that the more that he had to do in a day the more time he needed to spend in prayer at the beginning of the day. As busy as our lives often are, I would imagine that we would need to spend more time in prayer as well. I know this does not make sense to us, normally speaking, that is that the more we have to do, the more time we need to spend in prayer. We would, humanly calculate that the more we had to do, the less time we could spend in prayer, but our God is a God who blesses us, especially in our returning to Him from what He has given to us in the first place. It is amazing that as we are good stewards of the time He gives to us, so He gives even more to us in the end. Try it sometimes. If you have so much to do that you do not believe you have time to do it, begin with prayer and see if the Lord does not bless you with the time you need.

Moving on in our text. Again, Mark shows us the Epiphany of Jesus, that He is truly human and that He is truly God. When Jesus arrived at Simon’s house, after worship, He found his mother-in-law in bed with a fever. “And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and the fever left her, and she began to serve them” (v. 31). Notice that Jesus’ healing is complete healing. Jesus healed her so completely that there were no lingering side affects of her sickness. You know how it is, as you are getting better you continue to feel a little weak from your sickness. Peter’s mother-in-law was so completely healed and restored of her strength that she got up and waited on them.

Jesus continued to show that He was true God in that He healed many others who were sick, had various diseases, and were demon possessed. The Gospel writer John also writes about these signs, wonders, and miracles which Jesus performed as “proof” that He was true God.

But that was not enough for Jesus because He still saw the need to tell others the good news. He said, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out” (v. 38). Jesus came to preach the good news of salvation. He came to live for us in our place and He came to give His life for ours.

Jesus is still working in, with and among us today. No, I do not mean that He actually physically comes to us, although I would never rule that out, after all, He is God and He can do whatever He wants. What I mean is that He does come to us to heal us of various diseases as well as bring us emotional and spiritual healing. He does this, that is He heals us through means, namely through the means of doctors and medicines. Yes, I do believe that sometimes He heals us immediately, because in some cases there really is no other explanation for someone’s healing, but His usual way of dealing with us is through means.

Today, Jesus continues to heal us physically and most importantly spiritually and He continues to proclaim His Gospel message to us through His Holy Word and through His sacraments, Holy Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, and even confession and absolution. Yes, as I said, I believe that Jesus can come to us immediately and proclaim His Word to us and to heal us, but His usual way of working with us today continues to be through means, namely through the means of grace, the Word, the Bible and the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and through confession and absolution.

We live in a sin filled world and we are not immune to suffering. All one needs to do is read the newspaper, watch the TV news, or listen to the radio news and we can see the suffering that is present in our world today. We can look at our prayer list and see that people do continue to suffer and get sick in our world today. Yes, we are living in a world that has been infected by the fall into sin. And we can add to that, our own sin. Yet, how comforting it is to know that Jesus is always there for us. Even if we do not feel that He is with us or feel His presence we can rest assured that He is always with us. As we continue to see in His word, He has already suffered everything we suffer and more and now He is ready to be with us when we suffer. How comforting to know that we can go to Him in prayer and to know that He will come to us through His Word and Sacraments to give us the strength we need to face the struggles we have in life.

God never promised that life would be easy. As a matter of fact we find many places in His Word which remind us that life is often difficult. That does not mean that God is not with us nor that He has abandoned us. And we find comfort, not in the fact that others are suffering with us, but in this, that Jesus is with us in our own suffering. So, we are again reminded of our need to be in the Word. To daily follow Jesus’ example, that is that Jesus began each day in prayer with His Father in heaven. What better way do we have of beginning our own day than by reading God’s Word, having Him speak to us, and praying, speaking to Him.

Our reading from Mark reminds us of our need to recognize Jesus as the Christ, that is, as true God and true man. Jesus is the one promised in the Old Testament. He is the one who came and did fulfill all the Old Testament promises, completely, and perfectly. Jesus is who He says He is. He is the One who came to live for us, perfectly for us, in our place. He came to do what we are unable to do. Ultimately, He is the one who gave His life, literally traded His perfect life for our imperfect sin filled life. He suffered the eternal death penalty for us, in our place. He died that we might have life. His love for us is so great, as He Himself reminds us, “What greater love can anyone have than this that they would give their lives for another.” He loves us so much that He took the eternal suffering, the eternal death penalty and suffered it for us in our place.

Mark reminds us that we are given gifts, all of God’s many good gifts and blessings. Yes, we have struggles in this life, but we also have Jesus who is with us every step of the way. We are born in sin, steeped in sin, and live in a sin filled world. We know what it is like to toss and turn through the night, waiting for some relief when morning breaks. We know suffering, mental, physical, spiritual. We live in a troubled world, yet, we remember that Jesus came to overcome the world.

Jesus came to this earth. True God, giving up all the glory that was His. He came, lowly, born in a barn and laid in a manger. He grew up the son of a carpenter. He suffered temptation by the devil himself. He suffered physical pain, mental and emotional pain, and the greatest suffering of eternal spiritual death, hell. He did this because of His great love for us. And He won. He won the victory over sin, death and the devil. And now He continues to be with us, to come to us through His Word and sacraments to give us all His good gifts and blessings, to give us forgiveness of sins, faith, strengthening of faith and life, even eternal life. Our response is simply to say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

A Call for a Presuppositional Change

2012-02-01T07:27:00.000-06:00

What would happen if, instead of researchers beginning with the presupposition of evolution, they begin with the presupposition of creation? Let me explain. If your car breaks down, your first thought is to repair the car according to the manufacturer’s specifications. Your first thought is not to wonder how the car came about by chance and then to seek to discover how those chance-melding of parts might be repaired. And a car is rather a simple machine compared to the human body. On a molecular level the human body is quite a “machine” with each part integral with the next, each part uniquely made to serve its unique function, and each part necessary. For the whole to work all the parts must be in tact and work in unison. To believe that the complexity of the human body could have come together by chance through millions of mutations is more unbelievable than to believe that a house was built by a tornado winding through a lumber yard, or an automobile was created by a hurricane winding through a junk yard. The point is, no one would begin repairing an automobile or a house by thinking about its randomness, rather one begins repairing an automobile or a house by thinking about its designer and builder. And interestingly enough, most automobiles and houses get repaired quite easily from this approach.

Now, to apply this thinking to the human body. Would it not be more efficient and logical that when researchers are seeking ways to help repair, mend, or heal the human body, rather than begin by asking how the parts of this more complex instrument came to be and then seek some formula for repair, would it not make more sense to ask, “What did the Designer have in mind when He put these parts together in the way He put them together?” Perhaps we might have better results as well as more and more timely results if we began to think in these terms of designer and builder rather than random and chance mishaps.

Amazing - January 29, 2012 - Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: Mark 1:21-28

2012-01-29T07:42:00.001-06:00

There once was a dare devil tightrope walker who went to Niagara Falls to demonstrate his skills. He had a cable stretched across the falls and announced the day of his demonstration. After a large crowd had gathered he asked the crowd, “How many of you believe I can walk across this cable without falling.” The crowd went wild with cheers of faith. And so the dare devil tightrope walker walked across and back again to the cheers of the anxious crowd. Now, the show was not over yet, but I want to leave you at this point for a moment.

This morning the Gospel writer Mark brings us to Capernaum and he brings us there on a Sabbath day. You might remember that the Sabbath day was the seventh day of the week, the day in which the Lord rested from all His work of creation and the day which He gave as a day of rest. If you have been following along each Sunday, our reading for today follows “immediately” after our reading from last Sunday. You may also notice that Mark likes to use the word, “immediately.” This morning we continue to follow along in Mark’s account as he tells us about another day in the life of Jesus. He tells us that Jesus was going about His everyday life, doing the things that He usually did. In other words, Jesus was in the usual “habit” of attending worship. It was the Sabbath day and Jesus went into the synagogue to worship.

It was the custom, in those days, to allow visiting pastors (rabbis as they are called) to participate in the worship service by invitation of the synagogue leaders and so they ask and Jesus takes advantage of being asked to preach. So, at the Sabbath morning worship service Jesus gets up to read from the Old Testament scroll and then He sat down to proclaim the Word to the people. Mark tells us that the people were “astonished at His teaching.” They were astonished because He simply proclaimed the truth to them. This should not surprise us, after all, Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” Jesus does not teach as the other teachers of the law. Their usual way of teaching, that is, the way the other teachers taught was to quote other experts and the traditions of the elders. In other words, the authority of the other teachers was the authority of other experts and the traditions of the elders. When Jesus spoke, He did not quote anyone as “proof” of what He was saying, He simply proclaimed to them the Word of God, which is the truth.

“And immediately,” our text says, as He is in the middle of His “sermon,” Jesus is confronted by a man who is possessed by an evil spirit. The evil spirit recognizes and acknowledges Jesus as God, however, this is not faith, that is true saving faith. This is simply an acknowledgment of a fact. In His Epistle, James puts it this way, “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder” (James 2:19). There is a difference between acknowledging a fact and having faith in someone or something. The evil spirit does not have faith in Jesus, he simply acknowledges the truth that He is God. The evil spirit proclaims the truth about who Jesus is. He says, “I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” Jesus rebukes the devil, sternly and He casts him out of the man. As an aside, I think it is interesting that the evil spirits know who Jesus is, yet the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law will not acknowledge who He is.

Mark then tells us, “[The people] were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him’” (Mark 1:27). The lay people did not have any difficulty in recognizing Jesus’ and that His teaching is with authority. They understood the signs and wonders they were seeing. They understood and acknowledged who Jesus is. And as a result, the people spread out everywhere to share this good news with others.

Getting back to our dare devil tightrope walker. After walking across the cable and back he again addresses the crowd. This time he puts a wheelbarrow on the cable and he asks the crowd, “Do you believe I can walk across this cable and back pushing this wheelbarrow?” And the crowd goes wild with cheers of faith. So, again, the dare devil tightrope walker walks across the cable and back, this time pushing the wheelbarrow, and the anxious crowd cheers. But again, I want to leave you at this point for a moment.

Mark shares with us one day in the life of Jesus. How does that compare to one day in our life? I would pray that our usual “habit” is to attend divine service and by “usual habit” I do mean every Sunday. I do understand that in our world today we have to define such things as “regular divine service” attendance. For some that means twice a year (usually Christmas and Easter, but that is regular in a sort of way). For some, “regular attendance at divine service” means once a month or twice a month. However, I believe that the Third Commandment defines “regular divine service” attendance to mean every opportunity we have. And of course, I understand that we no longer attend divine service on the seventh day of the week, but in participation of Jesus resurrection we now attend divine service on the first day of the week, on Sunday. Each Sunday is, for us Christians, our Sabbath, our day of rest and a mini Easter celebration.

The reason we come to divine service, and notice I call it divine service and not worship, because to call it worship implies that we are there to do something for God because He needs something from us. No, we come to divine service because of our need so the reason we come to divine service is first and foremost to be given the good gifts and blessing which our Lord has ready to give to us. At divine service we are reminded of our Baptism through the invocation, and through the Benediction; we confess our sins and hear God’s Word of absolution, “Your sins are forgiven.” At divine service we hear the Word of God through which we are given His good gifts and blessings. We are given the opportunity to respond to all that He has done with our prayers, our hymns of praise, our first fruits, our tithes and our offerings. Through the Word of God and His Sacraments we are given the most important thing we need, forgiveness of sin. Through the Word of God and His Sacraments we are strengthened in our faith and we are kept in faith until Christ comes again. When we absent ourselves from these means of grace, that is gift refusal, just like the illustration with the crayons a few weeks ago. When we absent ourselves from these means, we take ourselves away from the means of grace so that we are unable to be given all God’s good gifts and blessings. Which eventually could lead to a loss of faith, even a loss of eternal life.

Not just on Sundays, but every day we are confronted with sin and temptation. Not necessarily are we confronted with someone who is demon possessed, but we are confronted with the temptations of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh. Daily we are tempted to deny Christ. Daily we are tempted to shun God’s good gifts and blessings.

In one sense we might be thankful that we are tempted by the devil. That shows that we do not yet belong to him. You see, the devil recognizes that we belong to Christ and that is why He tempts us as he does. If you are not suffering from temptation, then I would encourage you to be wary, because the devil might already have you.

We must also confess that sometimes we do fall for the lies of the devil and we do sin. Sometimes we may even waiver and have doubts about our faith. We may even question our faith. Is our faith saving faith, or is our faith like the faith of the devil? Do we simply acknowledge Jesus, or do we actually believe in Jesus. Do we put our complete trust in Jesus for our forgiveness and salvation?

Someone shared this nice illustration with me: Imagine calling a plumber to repair a leak. The plumber arrives. You describe the problem. He explains what needs to be done and that his rate is $80 an hour. “Fine, go ahead and repair the leak,” you say. To your shock, the plumber says, “I don’t actually do the repair work. I simply tell how it can be done. I’m a believer in the pure science of plumbing, not in its practical application. That will be $80.” Ridiculous you think? How much more tragic it is to claim to be a Christian who knows about Jesus, but does not believe in His sacrifice of His life on the cross for us. How tragic to claim to know Jesus and yet to not believe in His giving His life for ours.

Which brings us back to our dare devil tightrope walker. A third time he addresses the crowd. This time he asks the crowd, “How many of you believe that I can walk across this cable and back while pushing someone in this wheelbarrow?” Again, the crowd goes wild with faith and anticipation that the man can do it. But this time, after quieting the crowd the man asks the question, “Who will ride in the wheelbarrow?” The silence is deafening as no one volunteers, because no one has that amount of faith. You see, saving faith is God’s gift to us of putting us into Jesus’ wheelbarrow. It is complete trust in Him and His work for us on the cross, alone.

Very much like the Capernaums, we are amazed as we recognize the authority of Jesus and very much like the Capernaums, that is why we cling to Him. We show our faith in this, that we do live lives of faith, we do live as priests in the priesthood of all believers, we do live as Christians in our vocations so that others see our faith and give glory to God. We show our faith in our desire and in our attendance as often as offered in divine service and Bible class, in our having personal and family devotions, in our being where the gifts of God are distributed and in our being given the gifts God has to give. We show our faith in our doing the good works which God has for us to do, with His motivation and help, of course, and especially as we share this good news with others. We share the good news as we invite others to “come and see” our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

It is rather amazing that in our world, so many people acknowledge the fact that there is a god. Some even acknowledge that there was a person, Jesus. But even more amazing is the fact that too many people fail to believe, that is they fail to put their complete trust in Jesus, alone, for their salvation, instead, opting to put their trust in the god or gods they have created, thinking all gods to be the same and putting their trust in their own good works. My prayer for each one of you is that the Holy Spirit will continue to work through His Word to strengthen and keep you in faith in Jesus alone for your salvation. My prayer for each one of you is that the Holy Spirit would then continue to stir in you a desire to have the usual habit of divine service attendance until until Christ comes again. And when Christ comes again my prayer is that He will gather you and me with all the saints so that together we might stand before the Lord and say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Wheat and Weeds

2012-01-26T08:11:00.001-06:00

The elders have been discussing how to work with members of St. Matthew who continually absent themselves from the gifts of God, thus refusing and rejecting those gifts. The difficulty is that in working with those who refuse and reject the gifts of God, because of close connections with other members of the congregation, hard feelings begin to abound. Thus, we have looked to God and His Word, especially to Jesus’ words in Matthew for guidance.

“24He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. 26So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn’” (Matthew 13:24-30).

In his commentary on Matthew 11:2-20:34, Dr. Jeffrey A. Gibbs suggests that Jesus is telling us it may be that instead of working to “write off” members of a congregation who continually absent themselves, refusing and rejecting the gifts God gives, it might be better to continually invite and encourage them to return before it is too late, because in the end, God will sort it all out.

A corollary of the Wheat and the Weeds is what we have been studying in Leviticus in Bible Class. From our study we have this question and answer. Leviticus Chapter 15 “shows us that while holiness can’t be transferred by touch, uncleanness can. How does understanding this truth affect our actions as parents? as members of a congregation? Holiness before God isn’t genetic. Many parents think that if they are faithful members while their children drift, the children will still be okay with God. Delinquents think that if they have their name on the membership list, somehow that covers them with purity before God. But read Ezekiel 18:20! How important it is for parents to see that their children remain in contact with the Word and sacraments, which alone can cleanse from sin. How important it is to seek the lost and lead them back to the Word, which alone can purify by creating faith in the Son of God.”

So, if our excuse for refusing and rejecting God’s gifts include any of the following: “I am mad at the pastor” (to which it was noted there are many other congregations to which God has called faithful pastors); “I am mad at some other member of the congregation;” “My children live in another town, but have always been members of this church;” or even, “My parents made me go to church as a child and I did not like it.” Please consider what God actually tells us in His Word, that is that He will ultimately hold each and everyone of us accountable for our own actions, either absenting ourselves, refusing and rejecting the gifts He has to give through His means of grace and the one He has called to distribute those means, or making regular and diligent use of those means, meaning being in Divine Service and Bible Class as often as offered.

My prayer as your pastor and our prayer as a Board of Elders is that God would stir in your heart to be the later.

Doctrine and Practice in Divine Service Serve to Unite and Divide

2012-01-23T21:56:00.001-06:00

While unity in worship serves to unit in doctrine, diversity (which has in the very word the word divide) in worship service to divide in doctrine. As “proof” of this statement, I offer the following extensive quote from the book, Gathered Guests.

The history of North American hymnbooks is beyond the purview of this book, but needless to say, it is varied and interesting. About the middle of the twentieth century a new interest in liturgy arose throughout Christendom. Liturgical movements flourished among Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians, as well as among several nonliturgical denominations. Man^of these movements quickly recognized the close ties between worship and doctrine. Believing that worship could move groups together, the ecumenically minded leaders in some denominations were especially cognizant of the impact that worship forms could have on the church.

Two branches of Lutheran hymnals grew in somewhat parallel fashion in the latter half of the twentieth century. In 1941, the LCMS published The Lutheran Hymnal, prepared by all six member denominations of the Inter-Synodical Committee of Hymnology and Liturgies of the Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference of North America. This joint project of six synods (Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and the Norwegian) employed the Common Service of the previous century, which exhibited the best English-language liturgy of the time. Two years later, several Lutheran groups proposed a Joint Commission on the Liturgy Because the LCMS had just completed its hymnal, President John Behnken declined the invitation; however, “bodies, representing about two-thirds of Lutherans in North America, did respond positively.” As a result of these efforts, the Service Book and Hymnal of the Lutheran Church in America was produced in 1958. As expected, joint worship practices led to corporate mergers among several Lutheran groups. Of the eight Lutheran bodies that had worked on this hymnal project, four formed the ALC and the other four became the LCA. In 1959, the LCMS initiated discussions with these same Lutheran churches to develop a joint hymnal for all North American Lutherans. Again, because the Service Book and Hymnal had just been published, there was no great desire on the part of the other Lutheran groups for such a project. Instead, the LCMS developed its Worship Supplement, which was published in 1969.

Meanwhile, Pope John XXIII (1881-1963) called the Roman Catholic Church together for the Second Vatican Council, which opened on October 11, 1962, and concluded on December 8, 1965. One major emphasis of this council was the introduction of worship variations through the “Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy.” Lay participation in worship (including the possibility of receiving Communion in both kinds), liturgy in the language of the people, and a greater emphasis on Scripture readings (along with sermons) were a few of the momentous changes. Protestants took note of and were invited to consider these changes in light of their own traditions, particularly the use of a common liturgical calendar.

In early 1966, as a result of synodical convention resolutions in the summer of 1965, Oliver Harms (1901-1980), president of the LCMS, invited the ALC and the LCA to form a joint worship commission. This group became the Inter-Lutheran Commission on Worship (ILCW). Beginning in 1969, the ILCW produced several study documents, which were to be reviewed by local Lutheran congregations and national synods. Regrettably, because theological controversy erupted nationally within the LCMS during the early 1970s, most LCMS congregations paid little attention to these liturgical studies. However, throughout this period of upheaval in the LCMS, plans continued simultaneously among other North American Lutherans for a joint hymnal.

In 1977, the LCMS rejected the proposed Lutheran Book of Worship on theological grounds, though church politics were also involved as an underlying cause of the rejection. The ALC and the LCA, along with the new AELC (a group that broke away from the LCMS shortly before this hymnal was rejected), adopted Lutheran Book of Worship. Ten years later, in 1988, these three Lutheran bodies formed the ELCA. (Gathered Guest, Concordia Publishing House, p. 43-49)

Come, Follow Me - January 22, 2012 - Third Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: Mark 1:14-20

2012-01-22T07:11:00.001-06:00

When you were a little child and you were given your first big present for Christmas, you did not keep it a big secret, did you? You did not hide it or pretend you did not get anything. No, you could hardly wait to tell everyone what present you had been given. You could not wait for someone to ask or you would ask them to ask you what you got. When you were a little older, say confirmation age, you did not keep it to yourself what you were given as gifts for confirmation (well, unless everyone else got something bigger or better, perhaps). No, you could not wait to “brag” to all the other confirmands of the wonderful gifts you had been given for confirmation. As you got even older, when you got your first new car, or at least your first “new to you” car, you did not park it in your garage so that no one would see it. No, you could not wait to drive it around so that everyone would see it and see you in it. It is just that way with things in life. Things that are big and important to us we just cannot help ourselves, we just cannot wait to share them with others.

This morning we pick up in the continuing Gospel reading of Mark. Our text begins with Mark bringing us to Jesus and showing us that Jesus’ message is a lot like the message of John the Baptists. John came proclaiming that the time had come, that the Kingdom of God was near, that it was time to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. Mark tells us that John was arrested and now it is Jesus’ turn. Jesus comes proclaiming. He also says that the time has come. All the events of human history are at the specific place that they needed to be. The time has come for the fulfillment of the law and the promises of the Old Testament. It is time to repent and believe in the Gospel.

Jesus says that the Kingdom of God is near, which might be an understatement. The Kingdom of God is right there in the person of Jesus Christ Himself. He is ushering it in. Jesus is true God in human flesh. He is heaven come down to earth. He is the beginning of the end.

And, again, much like John’s message, Jesus also says to repent and believe the good news. We have talked about that word, repent before. To repent means to turn one hundred and eighty degrees. To turn away from going in the direction of sin and unbelief and instead, go in the direction away from sin and into the direction of believing. We are to believe, that is we are to have faith in the one who has come into the world to give His life. Our faith is not to be a blind faith. To make sure our faith is not a blind faith, not only did Jesus say to believe, He continually showed the people through the signs and wonders, the miracles, He performed, that He was the Messiah. Jesus gives us a reason to believe.

Moving on in our text, this morning Mark brings us to the call of the first four disciples. Notice right off that it is not an elaborate call. Jesus does not ask them to have an “inner burning.” He does not ask them to “feel” anything, to have an emotional experience. He does not work them into a frenzy. He does not ask them to raise their hands. He simply comes and says, “Come, follow me.” “Come, follow me,” simple enough. We are told by the Gospel writer John that Andrew and one of the other disciples, probably John, were at first disciples of John the Baptist. Remember, John the Baptist continually said that Jesus must increase and he must decrease. John the Baptist came only to get the world ready for Jesus and thus came only to point to Christ. And he did such a wonderful job that two of his own disciples left to be called by and to follow Jesus.

Jesus call was simple, “Come, follow me.” But His call did not come without a promise. The promise that Jesus gave was that, “I will make you fishers of men.” Jesus called the disciples for a purpose, to do the work that He had for them to do. Jesus did not just call and leave them alone. He called them to be His disciples, to be trained by Him, to be given all the gifts that they needed to do the work that He would be giving them to do. And the disciples response was that “at once they left their nets” and “without delay they left their father.” There was no hesitation. There was no question. There was no burning desire or great and grand feeling either, there was simply the calling and the following.

That is the Gospel lesson, but the Gospel lesson does not end there, for you see, not only did Jesus call His first disciples, He also calls each one of us to be His disciples. He calls us to faith and He calls us to be set apart to do the good works which He would have us to do. Yes, we are to do good works, not in order to earn salvation, but as a response of salvation.

Jesus’ call to us is that now is the time. We are living in the Kingdom of God. At our conception He called us to life. At our Baptism He called us to faith. Through His Word He continues to call us to be strengthened in our faith. Through confession and absolution He calls us to be given forgiveness of sins. Through His Holy Supper He continues to give us His good gifts and blessings.

Unfortunately, too often we tend to be like Jonah in our Old Testament reading. God called Jonah and his response was to run away. Interestingly enough, if you follow through the book of Jonah, one thing you will notice is that everything was going downhill until Jonah repented and agreed to obey God. Jonah went down to Joppa. He got down in the boat. He even went down into the bottom of the boat. He was thrown down into the sea and was swallowed down in the belly of the whale. It was while he was in the belly of the whale that he repented and things began to improve.

In our Epistle reading Paul urges us to take seriously our part in being members of the priesthood of all believers. We are to realize that the time of this world is short. Paul actually believed that Jesus was going to return during his lifetime, and he lived that way. Would that we would all believe that Jesus will return during our own life and live that way. The fact is, our own time on this earth is short, especially when compared to eternity. Thus, we are to live life in such a way that our whole lives show forth the faith that is in our hearts. We are to be ready, at all times, to give an answer for the hope that is in us. We are, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to do the work which God has for us to do.

Just as Jesus called His disciples, so He calls us. As we just said, through His Word and through the waters of Holy Baptism He calls us to faith. Yet, not only has He called us, He has also already redeemed us. He is the one who gave His life for ours. He is the one who lived for us in our place. I once read an illustration that made this point pretty well. It said that one Sunday a visitor came to church and when he drove into a certain parking spot he was told, “you are in my place.” When he went in to the church and went to sit down for worship he was told by someone else, “you are in my place.” When he went to Bible class, again he went to sit down and he was told, “you are in my place.” Finally, when Bible class was over someone looked at him and when they did they noticed that he was rather scared, that he had scars on his hands and feet (he was wearing sandals) and when they asked him who he was he answered, “I am the one who took your place.” The reference being to the cross. The Gospel is that Jesus took our place in all aspects of our life.

And so, Jesus comes calling us. He comes calling us to repent and believe. He calls us to make a one hundred and eighty degree turn in our lives. He calls us to turn away from sin to not sinning. And yet, He does not call without promising that He will help us to turn.

He comes to call us to “come and follow Him.” Jesus’ invitation is simple. His invitation is to us and is a wonderful example for us. When we are faced with the question of how are we to tell others about Jesus, we can follow His example. We can call others to “come.” We can call others to “come and follow Him.” Remember last weeks Gospel lesson. Last week we saw Philip using Jesus example in his witnessing to others. Last week, after Philip was called to discipleship by Jesus, he went out and called Nathanael and to Nathanael’s question of Jesus Messiahship, Philip simply says, “come and see.”

Jesus’ call is to us and His call is through the means of grace, the Word and the Sacrament. He comes to us through these means to give us faith, to give us forgiveness, to strengthen us in faith and to keep us in faith until He comes again.

Jesus call is to us and like His call to His first disciples, His call comes with a promise. He calls us and promises us that He will make us fishers of people. He will give us the training we need. He will give us all the gifts that we will need to do the work that He gives us to do. His promise is that He will be with us, even to the ends of the earth. Yes, His call is complete.

Today is Life Sunday, the Sunday we set aside especially to remind ourselves of and to lament the legalization of abortion and of all the innocent children who have been legally murdered since its passage. The Greek dualist philosophy taught that it is what is inside that affects the soul not what the body does, so, logically, self-indulgence is okay, because it does not affect the soul. We can easily compare this to today’s “if it feels good do it,” society. But it does not stop there. Since abortion has been legalized and to some extent accepted as being okay, does that mean it is okay? Do we realize that there are young adults today who have never known anything except that abortion was legal? Because we have become complacent about abortion, in a sense even we Christians have accepted it or are at least seen as having accepted it as okay. That is what our apathy toward this issue is, a low level of acceptance. Now we see our society moving to the next step, euthanasia, that is killing those society deems not fit to live, those with handicaps, those with mental disorders and the like. And let us not forget the right to die cases of people who want their doctor to help them to die. The next step in this parade will be to kill old people, especially those in a nursing home, and the mentally and even emotionally disturbed people. If we remain apathetic, where will this lead? Our response on this Life Sunday is to know that God gives life, all life, and life is precious to Him. He tells us that before we were in the womb He has known us. Each of us at conception receives a soul from God and from that time on are indeed precious in His sight.

Our response is to boldly profess to others how precious life is to God. We are precious to Jesus as He is the one who comes and finds us and calls us to faith. As we have seen and heard in our Gospel reading for this morning, we have been called to faith by Jesus, through the Gospel, through the sacraments, and through others sharing the Gospel with us, so we are to go out and find others, especially those who do not know Jesus, others who are suffering and in need, others who are pregnant and for whatever reason are struggling with that pregnancy, and share with them the invitation to come and follow Jesus and to help them in whatever way we can. For some of us our help may be simply to refer them to a Christian counselor. For some we may offer assistance to drive them to the hospital. For some our assistance may be just to offer a listening ear. But whatever our part may be we do issue to them Philip’s invitation to come and see Jesus and Jesus’ invitation to follow Him. And lest we forget, there may be those among us, or someone you know who has had an abortion, we must acknowledge that this too is a forgivable sin. We are not judgmental, and we do not forget that there is forgiveness for those who have had abortions and have repented.

Jesus has given us life. He has given us life at conception. He has given us faith, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, even eternal life. He calls us through His Gospel. He enlightens us with His gifts of Holy Baptism, confession and absolution, and His Holy Supper. He sanctifies us which means that He continually works in us to make us holy. He keeps us in the one true faith. He does all this, not because we are deserving, but because of His great love for us. And because of this great and grand thing, because this is such a big deal in our lives, we can hardly keep it to ourselves. We do not hide our faith and show it only in church on Sunday. No, we just cannot wait to go out and tell others how they too need to have a share in our Savior, that is how we follow Him without delay. And we rejoice and say, to Him be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . An Easter Thing.

2012-01-18T07:13:00.001-06:00

I know a man who exemplified what being a good witness is all about. This man lived his life as a witness of God’s great love. Wherever he went, whatever he did, you could see the love of God the Father through him. So often I would see him stop to help (those who seem to us to be) the helpless. He never thought of himself, what dangers he might be in if he stopped to help, or if he would be late if he stopped, or even what other people would think if they saw him. He made a difference in the lives of so many people, and he did so without expecting anything in return. However, in return for his goodness, he did get what he expected. He was ridiculed, called names, and there were even plots to kill him because in his sincerity, he made the establishment look bad. He was not synodically trained; he did not even have a college education, but he did not use that as an excuse or let it stop him from witnessing. Because so many people loved him, so many more hated him. He never made excuses and never gave a second thought about a person’s past.

Today, although we all should, no one can compare his/her feeble attempts of witnessing with this man’s, but instead we compare ourselves to those we see as worse witnesses.

During the Easter season each year, we should think that we are good witnesses, that it would be easy to be a good witness. After all, this time of the year is that Christians celebrate the resurrection of our God, Jesus rising from the dead. How about if we exemplify Jesus, the man about whom I was speaking above, in our daily lives?

As you read about Jesus, true God and true man, I pray that you will not feel guilty but will be inspired to rededicate your life, with his help, to Jesus. I pray that you will recommit your life to be a living example of Jesus, your brother and your God.

52 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Come and See - Jan. 15, 2012 - Second Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: John 1:43-51

2012-01-15T07:59:00.001-06:00

Less than one month ago we celebrated Jesus birth. Last Sunday we were brought to some thirty years later as we celebrated Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River. We also witnessed the fact that our God has revealed Himself to us as a God who is one God yet three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This week we see Jesus as He begins His earthly ministry by choosing His disciples. As we look at our text for this morning, hearing both Jesus’ invitation and Philip’s invitation, we need to keep in mind that Jesus’ invitation is still extended to us today, and that Philip’s invitation is an excellent example of how we are to do evangelism even today that is by inviting others to Christ and the Church.

Our text begins, “The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, ‘Follow me’” (v. 43). Unfortunately our English does not do justice to the Greek. In our text, Jesus’ imperative to “Follow me” was meant as a kindly expression of continuous course of action, in other words, Jesus’ imperative to Philip was to “Keep following me.” Philip’s immediate response to Jesus’ call was to follow Him. A part of that following Jesus was that Philip went to find Nathanael. Picking up in our text, “Philip found Nathanael and said to him, ‘We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph’” (v. 45). Notice how important the word “find” is in this text. Jesus found Philip. This suggests that He went out of His way to look for him and to find him. We might be reminded of the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, and that Jesus our good shepherd always goes out of His way to find us. This, in turn, serves to remind us that it is God who takes the initiative in finding and calling us. He finds us, calling us through the Gospel even today. We do not find Him, and actually, because of our sinful nature, and contrary to what some people will tell you about those who are “seekers” or who are “seeking for Jesus,” we do not go looking for Him, we do not seek Jesus, we do not chose Him, but it is Jesus who comes looking for us, He finds us, He chooses us, He calls us to follow Him and His call to us is meant as an expression of continuous action as well, that is that we continue to follow Him.

Jesus’ words to Philip are an imperative, not a harsh imperative, but a kind imperative. But Jesus’ words are not just an imperative issued to Philip, they are an imperative issued to us today. Jesus seeks, finds and calls us to faith through the means of His Holy Word as well as through the means of the sacraments, that is Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Through these means, the Word and the Sacraments we are called by Jesus to “follow Him” that is to “keep following Him.” Philip’s going out, then, exemplifies the way we are to keep following Jesus, that is the way we are to go out and find others who do not know Jesus and call them to follow and to keep following Jesus as well.

Philip’s message to Nathanael was a simple message, he says, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Philip’s message is clear. He believes he has found the unmistakable fulfillment of the prophecies of the Christ pictured in the Old Testament in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. We know that without Jesus, the Old Testament books, the writings of Moses and the prophets would be nothing, but here Jesus is, the fulfiller of these prophecies. He is the One promised, having come in the flesh.

Nathanael’s response was, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Surely Nathanael knew the prophecies that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem and he probably figured that since Jesus was known as coming from Nazareth, that would leave Him out as being a candidate for Messiahship. Philip’s answer to Nathanael is a true witness, even a true evangelistic example to us today. We know that no one can be argued into religion, let alone faith, and Philip knows it too. So, he makes no attempt to argue him into belief, but simply offers the invitation, again as an imperative, to “Come and see.” What a powerful evangelist Philip is. What a powerful witness he makes with just three little words. Certainly we are aware of the fact that we cannot argue, convince, or talk anyone into believing in Jesus. Most of us probably feel like we are not evangelists and that we cannot share our faith with others. But we can follow Philip’s witnessing technique. We can offer the invitation, by a kind imperative, to “Come and see,” as Philip did. What a powerful evangelist we are and what a powerful witness we make when we simply offer the invitation to come and see Jesus. Come and see Jesus in divine service with us. Come and see Jesus in His Word, the Bible, knowing that the Holy Spirit works through that Word to bring them to faith and trusting that He will do so.

Nathanael takes Philip up on his invitation and comes to meet Jesus. Our text continues, “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, ‘Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!’” (v. 47). My first question and probably yours is “What is a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit?” Nathanael was a part of the remnant of the children of Israel who were not looking for an earthly savior and king, but were looking for a heavenly king. The promise to send a Savior, a Messiah that was given way back in the Garden of Eden, which was reiterated to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, and so on down through history had by this time come to be just a “promise,” an unfulfilled promise, to a lot of Israelites. For some, like the scribes and Pharisees, the promise had been twisted and made a forgery. It had been made to be a promise for earthly salvation from their oppressors, namely the Romans at this time. There was, however, a remnant that clung to the promises of a spiritual, or heavenly Savior and Messiah and Nathanael was a part of this remnant. This is a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit.

Our text continues, “48Nathanael said to him, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ 49Nathanael answered him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’” (v. 48-49). Nathanael, whose name means “given by God,” is convinced of Jesus identity simply (I say simply) by Jesus word that He had seen him before he was approached by Philip. This is one of the signs and wonders Jesus used to show that He was the Messiah. Nathanael then makes a confession that he believes that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus truly is the Lord Himself. He also confesses that he believes that Jesus is the King of Israel, not as an earthly king, but as a heavenly king, in other words, the Messiah, the Savior of the world.

Jesus response: “50Jesus answered him, ‘Because I said to you, “I saw you under the fig tree,” do you believe? You will see greater things than these.’ 51And he said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’” (v. 50-51). Nathanael seems easily convinced. Would that all people would be so easily convinced. Jesus here calls Himself the Son of man. In so doing He identifies Himself as one of us, that is He is a true human being. When He came down to earth, He humbled Himself giving up all the glory that was His as true God in heaven, being born of a woman, and became a man so that He could offer Himself as a sacrifice for us on the cross. The picture He paints here might remind us of the angels descending and ascending on the ladder in Jacob’s dream. We remember that Jacob named the place “Bethel,” meaning “the house of the God.” Jesus is God here on earth, therefore wherever Jesus went, there was the house of God.

Our text for this morning is a wonderful reminder of what you have been hearing from me over the past number of years, especially concerning God’s call to faith and our response of faith. Contrary to what some preachers preach suggesting that we need to find God, John tells us that it is God who finds us. It is God who is the prime mover. It is God who initiates. It is God who calls us to life at conception. It is God who calls us to faith through Holy Baptism as well as through His Holy Word. It is God who calls, gathers and enlightens us and the whole Christian Church on earth. It is God who gives faith, forgiveness and life.

It is also God who calls us to our vocations. It is through our vocations that we respond to the faith our Lord has given to us by serving Him through our service to others. In other words, it is through our vocations such as that of mother or father, brother or sister, aunt or uncle, teacher or learner, employer or employee; our vocations such as salesman or engineer, baker or doctor, nurse or lawyer, laborer or plumber, electrician or carpenter, farmer or architect, truck driver or fisherman, beautician or waiter, whatever our vocation, as we are serving others we are serving the Lord. God calls us to be priest in the priesthood of all believers. Remember, the role of the priest is to offer sacrifices. Our pastor does not offer sacrifices. As priest we do offer sacrifices, that is we offer our lives as living sacrifices to the Lord. The way we live our lives shows forth the faith that is in our hearts. As others see our lives as living sacrifices, then we are to be always ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in the Lord. Of course we are ready as the Holy Spirit gets us ready through our regular and diligent use of the means of grace, being in divine service and Bible class as well as reading our Bible on our own and having personal and family devotions. Thus, to follow Phillip’s example in our text, as the Lord has found us and made us His through the waters of Holy Baptism, so we are moved to live lives of faith so that when we are asked concerning our faith our response might well be, “Come and see.” Come and see Jesus in divine service with me. Come and see Jesus in Bible Class with me. Come and see Jesus in His Word with me. It is not we who are giving faith or calling to faith, rather it is God who initiates. It is God who calls and His call is through His Word, either spoken by us, read by our friend or spoken by our pastor in divine service and Bible Class. We are merely the conduit through which God works through His means of grace.

It is God’s will that all people come to faith and are saved. Jesus invites us through His word with the kind imperative to follow Him and to keep on following Him. Through the Holy Spirit working in our hearts we do come to faith and we do follow Him. By the power of the Holy Spirit working through the means of grace we respond to His great love for us by following Philip’s example of inviting others with the imperative to “come and see” our Savior, also in His Word. We do not convince, argue, or talk anyone into faith, but simply invite them to come and see and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. May the Holy Spirit work through your daily devotions, Bible reading, Divine Service, and Bible class attendance to continue to strengthen you in your faith making you always ready to give an answer for the hope that you have in Jesus, and move you to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Following the Golden Rule.

2012-01-12T09:21:00.001-06:00

“I’m but a stranger here, heaven is my home.” This song so well describes the Christian state of being. We are living in this world, but we are not of this world. The Lord tells us to separate ourselves from the heathen. This Lifestyle Evangelism tip is one way in which we separate ourselves from the unchurched and non-Christians.

Two Bible passages help us focus on this separation. “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12). And “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (emphasis added) (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

Our world today is a “step on or be stepped on world.” We are quick to show criticism or to put someone down in order to build ourselves up. How easily we, too, as Christians can slip into this negative mind set. We even read the Golden rule, Matthew 7:12, in a negative way. We think “If I do not hurt someone, then they should not hurt me.” But, Jesus gave us the Golden Rule in a very positive way and in a way which does separate us from the world. Jesus tells us to first take it upon ourselves to go out and do something unto (for) others, something we would want others to do for us. One such something is what Paul says in Thessalonians, that is, to encourage and build up one another. However, Jesus is saying more. He is saying that we are to go about doing good and building up others and not expect anything in return. It is when we go about doing good and expecting good in return that we get messed up because we are not doing good for the right reason.

Your Lifestyle Evangelism tip is to go about encouraging and building others up. Try giving five compliments to everyone before giving one criticism. In doing so, you will be separate. Others will see your powerful positive witness of Jesus Christ’s love for all.

51 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Life in Perspective.

2012-01-10T07:53:00.000-06:00

This month I have a message of urgency I need to relate to you. I would like to start by asking you to think about your life. You will live a long life of 70, 80, 90, or even 100 years. To each of us, that span seems like a long time. Now, I would like for you to think about that length of time in respect to how old the earth is. If we take the Bible as it is, the earth is somewhere between four to six thousand years old. Now, I want you to go one step further. Think about how long you will live in respect to eternity. If you have been following what I have been saying, you will see that our long, long life time on this earth is merely a twinkling of an eye in comparison to eternity. To get a different view on this time length, think about it this way: if a football field were the timeline of the age of the earth (100 yards) there would be an infinite line extending in both directions for eternity and our lifetime here on this earth would fit as a one and one-half inch segment of that line.

So why is it so urgent that I tell you this? Because I do not think that we think about or realize the urgency of which we must tell others about Jesus Christ our Savior and only hope for eternal life in heaven. We feel like we are here on this earth for a long time, and we forget that there are people “out there,” even some of our own friends and family members, who, when they die, are going to go to hell for eternity. Jesus does not say they will go to hell for just a while and then He will bring them to heaven. He does not say that earth is hell. No, He says that at death, we are judged to go to heaven or hell for eternity. It cause me great pain me to know that some of my own family and friends are not going to heaven but will be in hell for eternity.

The sad part, however, is that some prize being accepted and “normal” here on earth more than they prize their friends being in heaven for eternity. Of course, I may not say so to others, but the truth is that, what they say by their actions and by the way they live their life is that life in this world matters more than eternity.

What can we do? We can make a commitment to invite our unchurched friends and family to church and church activities where they can meet and see Christ in others and hear of Him through the preaching and teaching that takes place. And we can be an example in our own lives by our regular church, Bible class, Bible study attendance, family and private prayer and devotion times and in this way be ready to give an answer to those who must hear to be saved for the faith that is in us.

50 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Baptized for Forgiveness - January 8, 2012 - The Baptism of Our Lord/First Sunday after the Epiphany - Text: Mark 1:4-11

2012-01-08T07:52:00.001-06:00

Two days ago we celebrated Epiphany and the end of our Christmas season (remember, Advent ends on Christmas Day and the twelve days of Christmas begins with Christmas and lasts until Epiphany). So, what is epiphany? Epiphany is the celebration of the coming of the Wise men or Magi or Kings to see the Baby Jesus who is in a house where they were staying. Epiphany is the revealing of the Savior of the world to the non-Jews, the Gentiles which is why it is often referred to as the Gentile Christmas. Unfortunately, this day is rarely celebrated because it seldom falls on a Sunday, because it is always on January 6. Actually, I would rather crassly say that it is not celebrated because it is not as saleable of a celebration as Christmas and Easter (what would you sell to celebrate Epiphany?). And so, this year, like many other years, we skip our Epiphany celebration and go straight to our celebration of the Baptism of Our Lord, which brings us to our text for today.

We, you and I, are or have been brought into the Holy Christian Church with these words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” With these words we become members of the communion of Saints. We are given faith, forgiveness of sins, abundant life in this world, life in the world to come, eternal life, salvation. God’s name is put on us. He claims us as His own, we are His. My question to you is, how often do you take the time to remember your baptism? What a wonderful gift we have in our baptism as well as in remembering our baptism. Every morning we can wake up and remember, “I have been baptized. I am forgiven. I can start over.” And after a few hours, by about nine or ten in the morning, after we have been frustrated from driving to work, being yelled at by our parents, our spouse, our boss, and so forth, and after cursing them in our own minds, we can again remember, “Oh, yeah, I have been baptized. I am forgiven. I can start over.” What a great thing we Christians have in our baptism. This morning we are reminded of our own baptism as we come to bear witness of Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River.

You might notice, right off, that John’s Baptism is different from our Holy Baptism today. Not a lot different, but some different. John’s Baptism was a “Baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” John’s baptism was a baptism of repentance. Repentance is somewhat like our New Year’s Resolutions, it is the attempt to “turn over a new leaf.” Notice I said an “attempt.” It is an attempt, because by ourselves we are not able to do the good that we want to do (as Paul reminds us in his letter - the good that I would do I do not do, the evil I do not want to do is what I do). Repentance, however, goes beyond a resolution. Repentance means first to acknowledge and confess our sins, the wrong and bad things we do, or the good things we have failed to do, but it goes on to mean that we attempt to not sin again. Let me say that again, it means that we attempt, with God’s help, to not sin again. To repent means to turn 180 degrees, from sinning, from going in the direction of sinning, to not sinning, to turn away and go in the other direction away from sinning. And again, this is not something we are able to do by ourselves. This is something we can do, only with the help of the Lord.

John’s Baptism is a Baptism of repentance for a purpose, “for the forgiveness of sins.” Just about every Sunday morning we confess, “if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgives us all our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God is faithful. We see His faithfulness standing before John ready to be Baptized. God is faithful, He sent His one and only Son, Jesus to pay the penalty for our sins, to give His life, to suffer the eternal spiritual death for us, in our place. If we do not confess our sins, if we do not acknowledge that we have sins that need to be confessed, then we are refusing forgiveness. It is only as we confess our sins (and this we do because of our own need to confess) that forgiveness, won for us by Jesus on the cross, becomes ours.

Repentance can be seen in this illustration which I have used before, there was a teacher who passed out new crayons to the entire class. She told all her students to be careful and not break them. One child pushed a little too hard and broke one of his crayons. The teacher then asked for the children to put any broken crayons on the top of their desk. In order to “stay out of trouble,” the one child hid the broken crayon in the box, putting the bottom part in the box and the broken off top part on top. The teacher then went around the room and instead of “yelling” at the students, she exchanged new crayons for broken ones. Unfortunately, the child with the hidden crayon did not receive a new crayon. In much the same way, our sins that are unconfessed, although the price has been paid for those sins, to us they are not forgiven. We have refused that forgiveness. And our sins that are confessed are forgiven, not because of our confession, but because Jesus paid for them.

John came Baptizing and proclaiming. His proclamation was that the One coming after me is more powerful than I am, so much so that I am unworthy even to untie His shoes. John knew his place. He knew his role. He was content with being the Lord’s servant and so he proclaimed boldly concerning Jesus, who He is and what He will do.

John proclaimed that he baptized with water, but Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit. On Pentecost we see this Baptism by the Holy Spirit. When each one of us was Baptized, we were Baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. We were Baptized in the name of the Holy Spirit. We are filled with the Holy Spirit, each one of us, and I might add, whether we act like it or not. I do not mean that we are each filled with the Holy Spirit so that we jump up and down, whoop and holler or anything like that, but I do mean that we act like we are filled with the Holy Spirit by boldly living our lives in such a way that we do stand out in a crowd, that others do see us as being different, acting like we are a members of the body of Christ.

What is there to life except to live life “on the edge” as the saying goes? And as a Christian I would suggest that living life on the edge is living life with a complete awareness of what life is all about. Life is about being on this earth for a very short period of time. Life is about acknowledging that each day is a gift from God and that each day might actually be our last day on this earth. Life is about living each day to its fullest and I do not mean that in any decadent way, I mean that in a way which says, I am a Christian and I believe in a God who is so great that you ought to believe in Him too and that is living life on the edge, because in our world and in our society, to live life in such a way will surely bring criticism from others.

Getting back to our text, by God’s grace, through Mark’s Gospel we are privileged to witness Jesus’ baptism by John. As we witness Jesus’ Baptism we are allowed to witness what we call the trinity of our God. First, we witness God the Son in the person of Jesus Himself. God the Son is true God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, as we confess and as Matthew, Luke and John also tell us in their Gospels, and He is true man, born of the Virgin Mary, again, as we confess and as Matthew, Luke and John also tell us in their Gospels.

Second, we witness God the Father in the voice from heaven. God the Father speaks and says, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” God the Father attests to the fact that Jesus is true God, the Son of the Father. He also attests to the fact of Jesus’ sinless nature, being truly God and being pleasing to the Father.

And third, we witness God the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove. Thus, we are privileged to witness our God as a triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

This morning we are privileged to be witnesses of Jesus’ Baptism. And as we witness Jesus’ Baptism I pray that we are each reminded of our own Baptism. Our witness of Jesus’ Baptism is important because through this account we are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt of who Jesus is and what is His mission. John attests that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. God the Father attests that Jesus is the Messiah as we hear His words from heaven. Jesus attests to Himself that He is the Messiah as He is there present fulfilling all the Law and the prophets completely, even subjecting Himself to be Baptized by John in the Jordan.

As we venture through the Gospels this year we will see Jesus time and again doing signs and wonders which will attest that He is the Messiah. You will notice that the Gospel writers write in order to assure us that Jesus is the Messiah. The Holy Spirit works through these words of the Bible in order to bring us to faith, strengthen us in faith and to keep us in faith until Christ comes again.

Thus, we believe that Jesus is the Messiah and through His means of grace; confession and absolution; the Word, the Bible; and the Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, we are given His gifts; faith, forgiveness, life and salvation, which is why divine service is so important. Sure, we can stay at home and read our Bibles, but here in divine service is the time to come to the Lord’s Spiritual grocery store to be given His good gifts and blessings. Each of us must eat in order to survive. If we do not go to the grocery store to buy food, then we do not have any food to prepare and no food to eat which would mean that eventually we would starve. Likewise, each of us must have spiritual food in order to survive. When we do not come to the Lord’s house for divine service, to be given His spiritual gifts, we can eventually starve spiritually, that, too, is gift refusal.

This morning we rejoice to be given God’s good gifts and blessings. We rejoice in the forgiveness of sins, earned for us by Jesus on the cross. We rejoice at being able to witness Jesus’ baptism and His acceptance by God the Father. We rejoice in the reminder that through our Baptism we too have a part in God’s Kingdom. We rejoice in our opportunity to be in divine service where we are reminded of our Baptism through the invocation and benediction, we are given forgiveness through confession and absolution, as well as through the Word and the Lord’s Supper, we are strengthened in our faith through the proclamation of the Word of God, and we are encouraged in our vocations as Christians, to live our lives as living sacrifices to the Lord always being ready to give an answer for the hope that we have in our faith in Jesus. And finally, we are moved by the power of the Holy Spirit to rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Inviting to “Come and See.”

2012-01-05T09:34:00.000-06:00

“The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida. Philip found Nathanael and told him, ‘We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.’ ‘Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?’ Nathanael asked. ‘Come and see,’ said Philip” (John 1:43-46).

“Come and see” is the answer we can give to the questions from friends and strangers alike. How do I know what you say is true? “Come and see.” How do I know that what you live is true? “Come and see.” We are conscious of our lives’ being a witness for Christ. We live so others can see Christ through us. We even tell others about Jesus, but what do we say when asked, “Is it true?” We say as Philip did, “Come and see.” Come to worship and Bible class, come to fun and fellowship, come and see that Jesus is the Christ and the way to heaven.

Philip was not sure what to do about feeding the multitudes, as John relates in John 6:5-7. He was not sure what to do with the Greeks (Gentiles) that came to see Jesus, as told in John 12:20-21. Maybe Philip was a bit shy or timid; maybe he just did not know what to say, but he did watch and see, and he invited others to come and see.

Today, we do not always have all the answers. We have our own little doubts. We are shy and timid at times. Don’t we also watch and see, watch and believe? At times our response to the questions and excuses of our circle of influence should be, “Come and see.” For when our questioners do come and see, the Holy Spirit works growth through the seeds that are planted, and the Word of the Lord will not return void. Bring your unchurched family and friends to “come and see” and to believe in Jesus. Come and see Christ do great things.

49 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . An Unconfused Witness.

2012-01-03T09:45:00.001-06:00

Every year as we approach Christmas Day, it becomes more and more evident that we are living in a vastly confused world. For example, if you listen closely, you might hear, “I can’t believe it; those Christians are now trying to take our Christmas fun, too, and make it a religious holiday.” Did you stop and explain to that person just what the Christ-mass is all about?

To add to the confusion we have our Federal Government, which we whole-heartedly support as being placed over us by God (cf. St. Paul, Romans 13), trying to pass more and more legislation to keep religion out of government. It is my understanding that the United States of America wrote its Constitution for just the opposite reason, to keep government out of religion.

As Americans we have religious freedom. We have the freedom to be a member of whatever religious organization we wish and to worship in whatever manner we desire. Unfortunately, as Americans, we have come to take our freedom of religion to mean freedom from religion. We are not mocked, ridiculed, or tortured for our faith as many Christians are in many countries of our world. As a matter of fact, our faith is a mere luxury if anything, so we sometimes ask ourselves, “since I do not have to, why go to church?”

The Christmas season and the Easter season are the two seasons of the year, especially when we see our great worship of creation rather than the Creator. Our thinking is that life on earth will be for a very long time and eternity is some vague concept a long time away. Our surprise will come when at the end of our brief life here on earth, we will face eternity, either in heaven or in hell. Have we confused our focus of what is really important here on earth?

We have also confused our focus in our witnessing efforts. We tend to focus on the differences between believers and unbelievers, not wanting to associate with those non-Christians—afraid it will rub off. Instead, we should be focusing on the difference faith makes. We focus on ourselves as witnesses instead of on the Holy Spirit, who gives us the power to speak and who does the converting of the heart.

Time is linear; it is heading someplace-to eternity. There is an overarching purpose to all that happens. You do not have to look very closely to see Satan’s game plan at work in corrupting our world today. God is not the author of confusion; Satan is, as he is the father of lies. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can refocus our love, trust, and guidance.

As we redirect our focus, the witness opportunities become even more clear. As the Psalmist says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding” (Psalm 3:5).

48 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Jesus Is the Christ - January 1, 2012 - First Sunday after Christmas - Text: Luke 2:22-40

2012-01-01T07:32:00.000-06:00

Seven days ago we celebrated the birth of Jesus. Today we fast forward forty days to what is called the presentation of Jesus in the temple. The purification rites after the birth of a son required the mother to wait for forty days before going to the temple to offer her sacrifice for purification. The sacrifice was to be a lamb and a pigeon or dove. If the person could not afford this sacrifice, then the sacrifice could be two pigeons or doves. This morning we journey with Mary and Joseph as they present Jesus in the temple, in accordance with the Law, to fulfill the Law.

Our text begins by introducing us to Simeon. Simeon was a righteous man and he was devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel. In other words, he was waiting to see the one promised from God, the Messiah, the Savior. Luke tells us that it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the “Lord’s Christ,” the Savior. By the way Luke recounts these events we would believe that Simeon is now rather old and is waiting to see the Savior so that he might die in peace. And so, not by any coincidence, but by the action of God moving in Simeon, he went to the temple at the same time that Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus and for Mary to make her sacrifice for purification. Have you ever wondered about what we call coincidences? I believe there is no such thing as a coincidence, instead what we are seeing is God’s, usually, unseen hand acting in our time to make something happen to His glory. Such is the case with the events of our text. Simeon, moved by the Holy Spirit, came into the temple to see the consolation of Israel.

As Mary and Joseph enter the temple Simeon is there to receive the child. He takes the child and by inspiration of the Holy Spirit he gives to us the words which we sing in the Nunc Dimmitus, or in English, the Now Dismiss. Simeon praises the Lord because He has allowed him to see the Savior of the world. Simeon’s words are words of faith. He is now ready to be dismissed. Literally, He is ready to die and be taken to heaven because he has seen the one who was promised and who was to come to save the world. Notice that Simeon’s words are not just focused on God’s chosen people, the children of Israel, but are words which reveal that Jesus came to save all people, Jew and Gentile alike as he says that Jesus is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel.” Here we are reminded, once again, that God has always had one covenant with the people of the world, never two covenants. Jesus came to save all people, even and especially us, you and me.

Luke tells us that “the child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.” I think that might have been an understatement. Yes, God had revealed to both Mary and Joseph that Jesus was God born in human flesh, but still, for Mary and Joseph, these events would all be quite “marvelous,” unexpected and maybe somewhat dumbfounding.

But Simeon does not stop with the Nunc Dimmitus, he continues by speaking to Mary and Joseph. He tells Mary in particular that Jesus is “appointed (or as some translations put it, “destined”) for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Jesus is destined to be the one who will save many people and at the same time, to those who do not believe, He will be their fall, they will be doomed to eternal spiritual death, hell in other words. Jesus is a sign. He is the one who came speaking about His Father and His relationship with His Father. Many would not believe that He was God, that He and the Father were one. The hearts of the unbelievers was shown through their speaking out against Him. And this continues to be the way it is in our world today. Many people do not believe in Jesus. Many do not believe He is God in flesh, as He shows and tells us in His Word. Many do not believe and instead are destined to eternal spiritual death in hell and this is not God’s fault nor Jesus’ fault as some attempt to blame Him. Those who fall, those who are destined to hell are destined because of their own fault, their own refusal and rejection of Jesus as the Savior.

Probably the hardest words that Simeon speaks, however, are the words to Mary that a sword will pierce her own soul too. Mary, who pondered all these things and kept them in her heart is, after all, the mother of this child whose destiny is a cross. She will watch her own child be cursed by others, be hated by others, be deserted by all His friends and be hung on a cross. She will watch her own Son die, for the sins of all people. Certainly a sword of pain will pierce through her own heart.

Luke, the faithful Doctor and Historian shows us that Jesus is the Messiah, but if Simeon’s words are not enough “proof” if you will, he also introduces us to Anna, who is also in the temple. About Anna we are told that she was “very old” and that she was a widow since the time of her husband’s death which occurred after only their seventh anniversary and that now she was eighty-four years old. She now lived her life in the temple. Luke tells us “she did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and praying night and day.” And again, like Simeon, she did not come into the temple at this time by accident or coincidence, but by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Anna came up to Mary and Joseph and said a prayer of thanks to God and spoke about this child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem, that is to all those who were still looking for the coming of the promised Messiah, those who had not given up hope. Like Simeon, her words confirm the fact that Jesus is the one who was sent from God to save, not only the children of Israel, but all people, of all places of all times, you and me included and I would say, especially.

Finally, our text tells us of one final fulfillment of Holy Scripture, it says that Mary and Joseph returned to Nazareth. Luke writes with a purpose. His purpose is to give proof of Jesus and who he is. He shows us that Jesus came to fulfill the Law and that He fulfilled the Law perfectly. His parents did what was required. Again, we are reminded that the fulness of the Gospel is seen in the fact that what Jesus did He did for us, in our place, everything that we are unable to do. He fulfilled the Law perfectly, for us, in our place, because we cannot. Even more, Jesus came to fulfill the Law perfectly for the whole nation of Israel, again, because they could not, even as God’s chosen people.

We are told by Luke that Jesus moved to Nazareth, thus was fulfilled the promise that He would be a Nazarene. And we are told that the child grew and became strong. He was filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him. And as we know, as we have seen, as we continue to rehearse in our story of the life of Jesus, after this event we do not hear of the events of Jesus’ life until we hear the account of Him in the temple at the age of twelve, but that is for another time.

This morning we have Luke’s accurate account of these events as an assurance of our faith in Jesus. Luke’s words assure us that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the one promised by God. He is the one who fulfilled all the law perfectly, for us, in our place, because we are unable to.

Luke’s words assure us that Jesus came to give His life. How comforting to know that we will not be held accountable for our sin and their punishment. The wages of sin is death and Jesus paid that price for us.

Luke’s words assure us that we have forgiveness of sins. Because of what Jesus did, because He lived perfectly for us in our place, because He took all our sins upon Himself, because He suffered the eternal spiritual punishment for our sins, because He gave His life for ours, because He paid the price for sin, by faith in Him, which He gives to us as well, we have forgiveness, which means that when God looks at us He sees Christ’s perfection.

Which means that Luke’s words also assure us that we have life, eternal life. By faith in Jesus, His death has become our death, His life has become our life. By faith in Jesus we have forgiveness of sins and life, life in this world and eternal life in the world to come, heaven. By faith in Jesus, when we pass on from this world, we will be robed with His robes of righteousness as we are gathered together will all the saints in heaven.

This morning we come to worship our Lord. We come to rehearse the events of old. We come to hear the good news of salvation. We come to see, once again, as an assurance of our salvation, that Jesus is the One promised of old. This morning we come to be strengthened in our faith and being strengthened in our faith we are moved to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Presents - New Year’s Eve - Eve of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus - December 31, 2011 - Text: Matt. 2:10-11

2011-12-31T17:52:00.001-06:00

This evening we present the last of our Advent to Christmas and New Year’s Eve symbols of Christmas, the presents, pun intended. Again, as I have said many times, it is good to look at the traditions and customs we use to make sure that the tradition or custom has not and does not overpower the thing for which it is done. Likewise we might ask, does the particular symbol of Christmas we are looking at serve its purpose as a symbol. This evening we want to take a look at the custom of giving presents for Christmas.

Although no one knows for sure, because there are many theories, I would believe that a part of the custom or tradition of exchanging presents and gift giving goes back to the giving of the gifts of the Magi to the baby Jesus. So, this evening I want to begin by looking at the actual gifts, as we read in our text, “10When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:10, 11). And personally, I believe the reason many people believe there were three wise men is because there were three gifts, at least there are only three gifts mentioned.

One gift given by the Magi was the gift of gold. Gold is the gift meant for a King and Jesus is our King. Jesus was born from the kingly line of King David, thought to be Israel’s greatest king. The genealogies of both Joseph and Mary trace Jesus’ lineage back to King David. Jesus is the son of David and even Greater, He is David’s God and Lord. As King, Jesus watches over us and rules us from heaven, but even more His kingdom is not of this world, but is of the eternal kingdom of heaven where He will rule over us forever.

Another gift mentioned is the gift of Myrrh. Myrrh is an oil often used for the purposes of anointing. Myrrh is a gift especially appropriate for a prophet. Jesus is indeed a prophet and the greatest prophet. And although Jesus did speak prophetic sayings while He was on this earth, He was a prophet in that He was a proclaimer of God’s Word. And interestingly enough, as some had suggested, I have a Bible that has the words of Jesus in red and the response is, then why are not all the words in red. Jesus is the great prophet in that He is the one who has given us His Word in the first place. Jesus continues to be a prophet for us today as He continues to speak to us through His very Word as it is read and proclaimed.

Another gift mentioned is the gift of frankincense, or simply incense. Incense is meant to be a gift for a priest. Incense is the fragrant aroma burnt in the temple as a sweet smelling offering rising up to the Lord. Jesus is our priest and our great High Priest. One of the roles of the priest was to offer sacrifices in the temple. As our great High Priest Jesus does not simply offer any sacrifices, but He offers Himself as the ultimate, the once and for all sacrifice for us. And as our great High Priest Jesus continues, even today, to intercede for us before His Father in heaven.

Today, we continue to see this gift giving reminding us of the gifts of the Magi or the Wisemen. Yet, today this tradition is expressed as a tradition of emulating St. Nicholas who was said to have begun the tradition of gift giving by leaving coins in shoes for those who left them out. He truly took to heart Jesus’ words to sell all you have and give to the poor.

On the down side, if you will, and I believe I am not alone, but the tradition of gift giving, of exchanging presents in our world today has reached a point that, as the saying goes, “We have over commercialized Christmas.” Satan has moved our attention to the things of this world away from the main thing, the gift of God in flesh in Christ. What God has done is that He has given us the greatest gift of His Son, even Himself. What we do every year is exchange presents. So, this evening I do want us to make note of the difference between exchanging presents and true gift giving. Very often we use these terms interchangeably as if they mean the same thing, but I contend that they are two separate and distinct things.

What we do today, our tradition and custom, for the most part is an exchange of presents. I will give you a present if you give me a present. Now certainly there are some exceptions to this tradition, mostly because someone did not get the message that there was to be a “gift exchange,” and so they may have received without giving, but, again, for the most part it is simply an exchange. And please understand and do not misquote me, I believe this is a worthwhile tradition and there is nothing wrong with this tradition. I am not against this exchanging of presents, but my point is that this is not true gift giving.

My contention is that true gift giving is not a present or gift exchange. And further, my contention is that true gift giving is what Jesus does and what only Jesus can do. True gift giving is giving without getting in return and truly without even expecting in return. True gift giving flows out of true love which, as sinful human beings does not originate within us, but must first come from outside of us, namely from Jesus. We love because He first loves us and therefore we give because He first gives to us. It always begins with and flows from Jesus to us.

God is the prime mover. God gives and we are given to. God gives gifts. He gives first and truly expects nothing from us as if there is anything we would have to give to Him, especially to give to Him that He did not in the first place give to us. God gives life. He gives life to all at creation. God gives life personally, to each one of us at our conception. God gives us new life through the waters of Holy Baptism. God gives forgiveness especially through His means of confession and absolution. God gives strengthening of faith through His Word and through His Holy Supper. God in Jesus has given His life for ours, living perfectly for us, taking our sins and giving us His righteousness, suffering and dying for our sins, rising and ascending to heaven to watch over us, rule over us and intercede for us. God gives gifts. God gives faith, forgiveness and life.

This evening as we continue celebrating the twelve days of Christmas, we do so looking forward to our Epiphany celebration and our acknowledgment of the gifts of the Magi. As we end this year which has been a gift from God, remember, each day is indeed a gift from God, we look forward to many more gifts from God in the new year knowing and believing that our God is the great and even the greatest gift giving God. Our God, the one true God is God who needs nothing from us, as if we would have anything to give to Him, except to return to Him a portion of what He has first given to us. Our God is the great gift giving God who created us to love us and to give to us. And He gives to us, all that we need, all our physical needs as well as all our spiritual needs. And He has taken care of our greatest need, forgiveness of sins. He gives and we are given to and we rejoice in His giving. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Doing the Work.

2011-12-28T07:24:00.000-06:00

“Attitude check!” “Praise the Lord!” It does not get any better than this! This month I want to address our attitudes, why they might be where they are and how we might change them for the glory of the Lord. To give you an idea of what I am talking about, let me reintroduce this month’s tip this way: This month we want to look at the joy of using our gift(s) to God’s glory, the frustration of doing a job for which you are not gifted, and the joy that is possible when playing the role of an evangelist.

When talking about witnessing or evangelism we often hear the phrase, “That’s the Pastor’s job,” or “That’s the job of the board of evangelism.” If you read your Bible, Paul tells us that the pastor’s job is to teach the members to work in God’s service (Eph. 4:11,12). For that reason, here at St. Matthew, you make yourself available to be taught by God’s Word, which is taught by the pastor. At times we still have the attitude “That’s a job no one will take,” “I can’t do that,” “I’d never do that,” etc. Why is it this way, and how can we change?

I honestly believe a negative attitude comes from misunderstanding the gifts God gives to His Church. What I mean is that for too many years, we were taught that we needed to find out what our spiritual gift was so that we might be able to serve in one capacity (as we were gifted) or another. This idea of making a choice brought many excuses for declining work with the words, “That is not my spiritual gift.”

How do we change our attitude? We understand that the Lord gives His Church all the gifts it needs, which means that, if you are needed to do some work or service, the Lord will help you accomplish the task that is before you.

This fact does not take away from the fact that we may have to serve, from time to time, in a role in which we do not feel comfortable. In writing to Timothy, in 2 Timothy 4:5, Paul tells us, “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardships, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry” (emphasis added). Evidently Timothy was not “gifted” as an “evangelist,” but it did not remove that responsibility from him.

Remember, we are all witnesses but sometimes we are called on to be evangelists (people who share the good message). Otherwise, we are simply to use the gifts God has given us to His glory. If we do not, we are neglecting our duty (privilege). May the Lord bless you as you use your gifts to His glory.

47 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

The Baby - Christmas Day - December 25, 2011 - Text: John 1:1-14

2011-12-25T07:35:00.000-06:00

This morning we continue examining the various symbols, even the customs and traditions surrounding the season of Advent and Christmas. Certainly, as we have being saying, it is important that we look at the customs and traditions we have to make sure they are always complimentary with what we believe, teach and confess, in other words, to make sure our customs and traditions have not taken over as the main thing, but always point to the main thing. And this morning the main thing is the baby. And just as a reminder, today we begin our Christmas celebration and our celebration lasts for twelve days, beginning today and ending at Epiphany on January 6.

This morning our symbol of Christmas is the Baby, yet, as we heard in our text, I want to focus on the Word, which our text says, became flesh, became the Baby. John tells us, in the beginning was the Word and of course we know this Word is Jesus Himself. Jesus was in the beginning with the Father and the Spirit at the creation of the world. And as we know the story, while God was running the show in Genesis one and two, everything was perfect. When we get to Genesis chapter three and Adam and Eve begin running the show we read of how they disobeyed God and how sin infects the world. Because of their disobedience the world was cursed. And yet, in His great love, God stepped in and made a promise, a promise to right the wrongs of sin, a promise to reconcile us to Himself. This Word spoken by God was the promise or prophecy that a Savior for all people, of all places, of all times would be born. In the beginning was the Word, the spoken Word of God, the Word of the Promise.

This Word of God, this spoken promise of God was passed on from generation to generation until we get to Moses. A part of Moses calling from God was that he began writing down the Words of God. So God’s spoken promise of a Savior became God’s written promise of a Savior. And even today we can read these promises of God as they permeate the whole Old Testament. And we know that this Word, this spoken and written Word were to have their fulfillment in the promised Savior Jesus and indeed that is what happened.

As John tells us in his Gospel, this spoken and written Word became incarnate, that is it became in carnal, in flesh, which is what we are celebrating today, the birth of the Savior, Jesus, God in flesh, “God with us,” God taking on human flesh and blood in order to live for us, suffer and die for us and to rise for us, in our place.

While He was alive, Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples and out of the Passover He gave us a new celebration, even a new sacrament, He gave us Himself to eat and to drink in His Holy Supper. In the Old Testament a lamb, a spotless lamb was sacrificed, its blood was shed as a reminder of sin, then the lamb was offered as a burnt offering, barbequed if you will, and the family sat and ate the lamb thus participating in the sacrifice. The lamb’s life, the lamb’s sacrifice was for their life and their sacrifice. Thus, the spoken and written Word, the Word made flesh has become a tangible Word for us in Lord’s Supper, where Jesus, the Lamb of God was offered as a once and for all sacrifice for us so that now when we come to the Lord’s Table we taste and know that the Lord is good. We participate in Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, which is what it means to “do this in remembrance of me”, that is to participate in His life, death and resurrection so that they become our perfect life, death and resurrection.

And so, we understand and we believe God’s Word, His spoken Word, His Written Word, His Word made flesh and His Word given to us in Holy Supper, that His Word is indeed Jesus, and in particular His Word is this Jesus whose birth we celebrate today. So, let us talk a little about this baby.

When a baby is born there is indeed much rejoicing and likewise with the birth of this baby, the Baby of Bethlehem. This is the One who was promised in the Garden of Eden. This is the One who was promised to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to King David, to Zechariah and to Mary and Joseph. Certainly there is rejoicing at the birth of this child.

Even more, for us today, we rejoice because we know that this Child was not born for Himself, but He was born for us. He was born because of our broken relationship with God the Father. He was born in perfection because we are born in sin.

This Child was born for us and He was born for us so that He could live for us. All that we cannot do, obey God’s commandments perfectly, He did, for us, in our place. Not only did He obey all God’s commands perfectly, He also fulfilled all of God’s promises concerning the coming Savior, perfectly for us, in our place. The reason Jesus was born as a human was so that He could live for us a perfect life the perfect life we cannot live so that He might be our substitute. The reason Jesus was born as God was so that He would be perfect for us in our place.

Jesus was born for us. He lived for us and then He took our sins upon Himself for us. The price for sin, the cost for sin, which was set in the Garden of Eden, eternal spiritual death, hell, had to be paid and Jesus came to pay that price. As we said earlier, when a baby is born there is much rejoicing. When Jesus was born there was much rejoicing, yet for Jesus, when He was born He had the cross always before Him. The very reason He was born was to die.

And He did die, for us. Jesus suffered physical pain and torment but more importantly was the fact that He suffered the eternal spiritual death penalty for us, in our place. Jesus suffered hell for us in our place. He paid the price for our sins. He reconciled our account with God the Father, making the balance we owe zero.

But Jesus did not stay dead. Death and the grave had no power over Him. On the third day He rose and He rose for us. He rose defeating sin, death and the devil. He rose so that we know that we too will rise again.

After He rose, He showed Himself to be alive and before He ascended into heaven, back to the place from which He descended, He promised that He would come again to take us from this valley of tears to be with Himself in heaven for eternity. Thus, we wait with eager anticipation, either for His return, or our passing on and going to Him, because when we do meet Him, He will robe us with His robes of righteousness and gather us and all His saints and take us to the place which He has prepared for us, our place of eternity in heaven.

Listen again to the word of our text and as you hear John speak these words think about this baby, and think about this Word. “1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. 10He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1-14).

Perhaps, as we see the baby in the manger, as we hear the Word of God, we might remember that the two are one and the same. And as we come to our Lord’s Holy Supper to eat His body and drink His blood we might be reminded that this is a participation in Him so that His life is our life, His suffering is our suffering, His death is our death and His resurrection is our resurrection. Yes, we have forgiveness, life and salvation. And so we are moved to rejoice and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Star - Christmas Eve - December 24, 2011 - Text: Matthew 1:18-25

2011-12-24T17:37:00.001-06:00

This evening we continue to look at the various customs, traditions and symbols of Christmas. As we have been saying, it is important that we do take the time to look at the customs, traditions and symbols we use to make sure they are being done the way they were intended when they were first initiated and to make sure they continue to carry the same meaning as when they were first begun. If our custom or tradition takes away from or interferes with its intended meaning then it is no longer an adiaphor nor is it wise or advisable to continue its usage. With this understanding in mind we turn our attention this evening to look at the symbol of Christmas of the star.

Interestingly enough, outside the Biblical account of the star leading the wisemen, the Magi or the kings as they have been designated, to the toddler Jesus, there is not really any other accounting for the star of Christmas. In other words, unlike the Christmas Tree and Candles and Christmas Light which may have pagan or other roots and which have taken on much more secular meaning in our world today, the same cannot be said of the Christmas star. The star is what it is and certainly that is a good thing.

As for any secular meaning in the Star of Christmas today, certainly the star is considered a light of heaven. When we look up into the sky, at night, and perhaps away from the city and the city lights, we can see the star amongst a plethora of stars in the heavens. So again, secularly speaking, the star is a nice pretty sight at night and makes for a nice addition to the Christmas scene.

Unfortunately, for many the star is simply another Christmas decoration, like the creche, the candy cane, an angel, or the Santa and reindeer. For some the star makes for a nice tree topper, that or an angel. For others the star may be encapsulated in the lights that are often hung on one’s house. Again, secularly speaking, the star is simply a nice piece of Christmas decoration.

For some, the star continues to be the symbol of Christmas in that it was the guide for the wisemen. Of course, as we have discussed before, the wisemen did not show up at the barn or cave where Jesus was born and they did not present their gifts to the child while He was still in the manger. The star lead the wisemen so that they showed up to the house where the child was and this was probably about a year or a year and a half after the child was born.

To those who would deny Christmas and the miraculous star of Christmas, there are many explanations to explain away any divine phenomena. Of course, this explaining away is what the secularist, the agnostics and the atheists continue attempt to do and must do in order to deny God and their own accountability to God. Anyway, some have explained the star as a nova, or a comet. Some have explained the star as a convergence of planets. But the main point in explaining away the star is to deny God’s hand in creation, in Christmas, and in the miraculous appearance of a star to lead the Magi from the east to the baby Jesus. Interestingly enough, any attempt at any explanation is a subtle admission that a wondrous star did appear.

So, what is so special about the star today? Why do we continue to have the star as a symbol of Christmas when actually it is more a symbol of Epiphany? It is my hope that the star of Christmas brings to mind several important truths which we learn from God’s Word and which should permeate our Christian faith and lives.

First and foremost the star reminds us of creation. And let me remind you, God did not create the Sun, the moon and the stars until the fourth day of creation. Yes, on the first day the first thing God created was light, but we do not know what type of light that was that He created, only that it was light. On the fourth day of creation God created the Sun, moon and stars and placed them into His creation in order to mark time, days, weeks, months and years, time which He created for us as we read in Genesis, “14And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.’ And it was so. 16And God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good” (Gen. 1:14-18). When we see the stars of heaven, certainly we are reminded that God created all things out of nothing.

Second, the star reminds us of Christ’s birth. As we read in Matthew’s Gospel, “9After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. 10When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh” (Matthew 2:9-11). Very often we see the star placed over the manger or the stable reminding us that it was the star that led the wisemen, the first non-Jews, the first Gentiles to visit the baby Jesus, although as we have noted, their visit was not in the stable, but in the house where they were at this time.

And third, the star reminds us of Christ the light of the world. In his Gospel, John says, “1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5). Although we live in a sin darkened world, although as sinners we like the darkness, because it hides our sins, or so we believe, Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness to expose our sin and the sin of the world, but not simply for the sake of exposing sin, but in order to bring confession and forgiveness for our sin and for the sin of the world, for the sin of all people of all places of all times.

As we have outlined this evening, the star is indeed a most fitting symbol of Christmas and the custom and tradition of using stars for decorations and referencing the star is highly appropriate. This evening as we begin our Christmas celebration we too look at the star and we are reminded of the words of our text, “18Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.’ 22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel’ (which means, God with us). 24When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus” (Matt. 1:18-25). My prayer is that the star of Jesus, the star of Bethlehem, even all the stars in heaven might always remind you of God’s love for you and the sending of His Son for you. Even more, my prayer is that the star might remind you that Jesus is the Light of the world who draws all people to Himself so that He might give them the gifts He has to give, faith, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, and even at the last, robing us with His robes of righteousness. And finally, my prayer is that the star of Christmas might guide you so that you are strengthened and kept in faith, so that you are better prepared to give an answer for your faith in Jesus, and so that when your last hour is at hand or when the Lord returns you might be ready, with all the saints, to stand before the Lord’s throne and say, to God be the glory for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Not Politically Correct.

2011-12-23T07:38:00.001-06:00

The media tells me I am to be politically correct, which translates into being tolerant of alternative lifestyles, religions, beliefs, and so forth. Pushed to its ultimate conclusion, being politically correct means being anti-Christian. Even the religious community tells me that I am to be all inclusive, which is another way of saying to be politically correct (read, anti-Christian). As a pastor and member of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (not any of the other synods), I am reminded that I need to be true to God’s Word and to the confessions (to which I have pledged to be faithful and with which I have no problem); yet, this practice is offensive to many, even in the religious and Christian world, and even to some in our own church denomination. So what is a person to do?

As I write these Lifestyle Evangelism tips I strive to make them unoffensive, non-threatening, and as little work as possible (for you) because that way makes everyone the happiest. Unfortunately, making everyone happy is also beyond my ability. No matter what I write, I will offend some, and I will be a threat to others. By some, I will be accused of mixing and commingling law and Gospel as I talk in terms of sanctification, that is, living out our faith and doing the good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do. For many, these excuses will justify not reading these tips and ultimately will justify one’s sitting on one’s grace. I guess we are people who understand that “any excuse is a good excuse” to keep from having to live our faith.

For others, it is my prayer that these Lifestyle Evangelism tips will be an inspiration which will encourage them in doing the good works which God intends for them to do. Above all, I ask you to remember that it is God who gives you faith, so it is also God who stirs in you and motivates you to do the good works He has for you to do. It is also God who does the good work in and through you. And it is to God that we give the glory, thus making it a good work in His eyes.

46 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Complete Commitment.

2011-12-20T13:41:00.002-06:00

I would like to share with you a fiction article from a fictional Marxist newspaper that I came across a few years back:

The Gospel is a much more powerful weapon for the renewal of society than is our Marxist philosophy. All the same, it is we who will finally beat you. We are only a handful, and you Christians are numbered by the millions. But if you remember the story of Gideon and his three hundred companions, you will understand why I am right. We Communists do not play with words. We are realists, and seeing that we are determined to achieve our object, we know how to handle the means. Of our salaries and wages we keep only what is strictly necessary; we give up the rest for propaganda purposes; to this propaganda we also consecrate “all our free time and part of our holidays.”

You, however, give only a little time and hardly any money for the spreading of the Gospel of Christ. How can anyone believe in the supreme value of this Gospel if you do not practice it, if you do not spread it, and if you sacrifice neither time nor money for it?

Believe me, it is we who will win, for we believe in our Communist message and we are ready to sacrifice everything, even our life, in order that the social justice shall triumph. But you people are afraid to soil your hands.

From Paiz Et Liberte

A French Communist Publication
(taken from Why No Revival? - Chick Publication)

Although I do not agree with (or like) completely what the article says, I do believe it says some pretty powerful things to us as Christians. What do we give for the spreading of the Gospel? Do we give dollars for missions . . . so we do not have to tell anyone because we have paid for someone to do it for us? Do we realize that our unbelieving friends are damned to hell for eternity? Are we more afraid of man or God?

My Lifestyle Evangelism tip is simply take advantage of the training available here at St. Matthew, Adult Bible Class, other Bible Studies, Worship, resource people as well as personal training through personal devotions and Bible study. Then, put your training into practice. Show with your life that your relationship with Jesus is the first priority in your life.

45 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Impossible - December 18, 2011 - Fourth Sunday in Advent - Text: Luke 1:26-38

2011-12-18T07:14:00.000-06:00

Excitement is in the air. Can you feel it? We have lighted our fourth, and last, candle on the Advent wreath. There are only seven days left until our celebration of the birth of God in human flesh, Emmanuel, Christ the Lord. It is only seven days till Christmas. To anyone hearing the news which is being proclaimed for the first time this news must certainly sound unbelievable, even impossible. Think about it, angels announcing the births of children, John the Baptist and Jesus. An old man and an old woman, well past child bearing years, giving birth to a child. A virgin giving birth to a child and to a child who is to be God in flesh, no less. If this were the first time we were hearing this news we might say, “impossible.” But, as the angel told Mary, “nothing will be impossible with God” (v. 37).

This morning we are back in the Gospel of Luke. Luke you might remember is our faithful Doctor and Historian. Luke is very specific and precise in his account, wanting to make sure that we have the facts and the historic setting right. Luke wants us to know that this is not just a story, a made up fable, a myth or just pretend. He wants us to know that these events actually happened in human history.

What Luke says about Mary is that she was chosen by God. The angels greeting was, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” (v.28). Notice, it was not Mary who greeted the angel, but the angel who greeted Mary. It was not that Mary had chosen God, but that God had chosen her. It was not because of some innate goodness that God chose her, but simply that she is the one He chose. Again, Luke is precise in his words, he tells us about Mary, “She was greatly troubled at [the angels] saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be” (v. 29). Mary was a sinner that is why she was afraid to be in the presence of an angel of the Lord. And it was the angel, again, who assured Mary, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (v. 30). I must confess, I get pretty perturbed when I see any kind of depiction, written or art work, depicting the angel in submission to Mary, down on bended knee, even kissing Mary’s hand. Or when I hear of Mary’s, supposed perfection or of her perpetual virginity. Notice, again, the words of our text, Mary was frightened. Certainly the Apostle Paul reminds us that perfection and perfect love casts out all fear, but in our text we read that Mary was afraid. She was afraid because she knew she was not perfect, but that she, too, was a sinful human being standing in the presence of this messenger of God, this angel. It was not Mary who was the catalyst in these events, but God who chose Mary. But, I am carrying on.

Luke continues telling us about these events, the angels words to Mary continue, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus” (v. 31). Now Mary is pretty young, anywhere from thirteen to sixteen years old. She has reached puberty and she does know how babies are conceived and born. She also knows that she is betrothed and that she and her fiancee, literally her betrothed husband, have never had relations. She knows that she is a virgin and that it is physically impossible for her to have a baby, so she naively asks, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Unlike Zechariah’s question of doubt concerning the birth of John the Baptist, Mary was not questioning God’s ability, she was merely questioning the procedure of the events. And so, the angel explains what will happen, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; Therefore the child to be born will be called holy–the Son of God” (v. 35). And to emphasis his point, the angel adds, “Your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren” (v. 36). Again, what Luke is telling us might, to the first time hearer, sound rather impossible and humanly speaking, it is impossible, but not so with God.

Luke goes on, he tells us more about Jesus. He tells us that about Jesus, “The Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (v. 32b-33). This baby, Jesus, will be truly human. He will be from the human line of David, the once mighty King of Israel. He will be truly human as He will be born of a woman, Mary. Jesus will be one hundred percent a human being, but He will be different from us because He will be born without sin. This fact will be accomplished because, not only is He human, but He is also one hundred percent God.

Again, Luke tells us about Jesus that He will be conceived in Mary by the power of the Holy Spirit, thus He will be true God. Jesus is, as Matthew tells us, “Immanuel, which means, God with us” (Mt.1:23).

This morning we continue to rejoice with the news that Luke brings to us. Luke tells us the facts. He puts them in their historic context. Luke tells us who Jesus is (v.32) and what He will do (v.33). He tells us who Jesus is and as he is telling us who Jesus is, he is also showing how this Jesus is the Jesus who was promised throughout the Old Testament. He tells us what Jesus will do and, again, as he tells us what Jesus will do, he is also showing how this Jesus is the Jesus who was promised throughout the Old Testament. Just check out the last verse from our Old Testament reading for today. God’s promise to David continues in Jesus. “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). Jesus, the human descendant of David, will reign and rule on His throne in heaven forever.

As I have said, someone who is hearing this story for the first time might exclaim, “impossible.” And, yes, we must admit that this story does sound a bit far fetched. Let me review. An angel comes to a young teenager who has never had any sexual relations with any man or boy and the angel says that she will become pregnant by the power of God and the child she will bear will be both God and human. That does not sound very scientific or realistic especially in our world today. Or, let us explain it this way, suppose Mary were to try to explain this to her parents. “Well, you see, mom and dad, there was this angel. And this angel came to me and said that I would become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit. Really, I have never had sexual relations with anyone. Oh, yeah, the angel also said that this baby would be both human and divine.” I think you are getting the idea, this sounds impossible, at least, humanly impossible.

Let me add one more bit of discomfort. In Mary’s day, the penalty for sexual promiscuity, for adultery, that is, for sexual relations outside of marriage, was stoning, to death. Now, Mary needs to come up with an explanation, not only for her fiancee, and for her parents, but also for the general public. Again, who would believe such a story? It all sounds impossible.

But there is that one verse which we read earlier, the one where the angel reminds Mary and us, “For nothing will be impossible with God” (v. 37). Mary’s response to those words are words of faith, “‘I am the servant of the Lord,’ Mary answered. ‘Let it be to me according to your word’” (v. 38). The angels words are words which reminds us that the God we worship is not a wimpy God, but a great and all powerful God, a God with whom nothing is impossible. And Mary’s words remind us of what our attitude should be as she graciously submitted to the will of the Lord.

We live in a world in which many things happen, and in which many things that happen do seem rather unbelievable. As Christians, as believers in Jesus, we worship a God who is almighty, all knowing, everywhere present, and so on. We worship a God who is the one who gave us this world in the first place. He is the one who gives us life at conception and new life through Holy Baptism and faith. He is the one who gives us the faith to believe His Word and what He tells us in His Word. He is the one who made the first promise to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden to send a Savior to bring us back into a right relationship with Himself, a relationship which was broken because of the sin of Adam and Eve. We worship a God who gives us His Word which tells us of the many times in which He reiterated His promise to send a Savior. God’s Word is so full of many of the great deeds which our God has done for us. And our Bible does not have all of Jesus’ deeds recorded as John tells us, “Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John 21:25).

Our response is the response of Mary, to be the servants of the Lord, to spread the News of Salvation. The world says, “impossible,” we say, “with God, all things are possible.” Day in and day out we bear witness of the “impossible” things our Lord does. He gives faith, He strengthens faith, He keeps us in faith. He gives forgiveness of sins. He protects from sin, death and the power of the devil. What a great and almighty God we do have. We do not have a God who is powerless, but a God who can do all things. We worship a God for whom nothing is “impossible.”

It is so important that each year we rehear this “impossible” event. The same God who created all things, and the same all things which were created perfect and yet gave up that perfection through disobedience and sin, this same God promised to reconcile the world to Himself. Yes, we are, today, sinners living in an imperfect, sinful world. Left to ourselves it would be impossible for us to be saved. Left to ourselves we would follow after false gods and idols. Left to ourselves we would worship the creation instead of the Creator, we would worship the mother instead of the child. Thanks be to God that we are not left to ourselves. Thanks be to God that in order to save us He became one of us, He took on human flesh and blood. He humbled Himself and was born of a woman, Mary. He lived perfectly, for us, in our place. He took all our sins upon Himself and suffered and died so that we might have forgiveness of sins and so that we might be brought back into a right relationship with Himself. What is truly impossible for us is not impossible for God. For with God, all things are possible. Which leaves us simply to stand in awe of our great God and to say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Being Hot.

2011-12-17T08:51:00.001-06:00

I want to begin by asking you to ask yourself several questions. Answer them as honestly as you can, not the way you think I would want them answered, not as honestly as you feel comfortable with, because if we are really honest, we may not feel too comfortable with the answers we have to give. This survey does not intend to point only to a certain group of people, so some of the questions might not refer to you. If not, you may want to re-word them to fit your life.

As you attend your children’s or siblings’ sports events this year, what do your actions say to those other fans in the stands? As you sit at home with friends and neighbors viewing your favorite sport (or any show, for that matter), what do your actions say to your friends? Your family schedule and your relationships with your spouse, children, and siblings what do these say about your life, priorities, and self? Your attitudes and actions at work, home, and school are telling people what? Does your life give it away that you are (or for that matter, are not) a Christian?

“I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth” (Revelation 3:15-16). These are the words our Lord states to the church at Laodicea, and they are just as valid for us today. Are you hot or cold for the Lord? Are you turned on or turned off? Do you turn on or turn off others to Jesus Christ? The Lord does not want lukewarm Christians. He wants turned on, “hot” Christians.

It is always the right time to rededicate your life, committing yourself, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to being “hot” for the Lord. It is always the time to invite your circle of influence, those acquaintances, family, or friends you know who are not presently Christian or churched, to get into the habit of attending church. Watch the bulletin, the newsletter, and calendar for upcoming worship, study, and service opportunities.

44 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

The Candles - Advent Mid-week 3 - December 14, 2011 - Text: Matthew 5:14-15

2011-12-14T18:15:00.001-06:00

Again this evening we continue to look at some of the traditions, customs and symbols of Christmas. Our purpose is somewhat to review what we do and why we do what we do. Does what we do enhance, take away from, or is neutral to our celebration? This evening we want to talk about our custom of lighting candles.

We should realize that lighting candles is a custom of many religions for many different reasons. The lighting of candles among other things, signifies love, prayer, passion and hope. One source I read said that Christians see candles as ‘Christ’s Light’ and suggested that the lighting of candles on Christmas Eve comes from the Jewish ‘Feast of Lights’ or Hanukkah. Of course this fact should neither surprise us nor discourage our usage of candles, after all, as Christians, as believers in Jesus we are the true children of Abraham and thus the true Israel.

Another source I read said that since earliest times, candles have symbolized the triumph of light over darkness, warmth over cold, community over isolation. It went on to say that Ancient Romans lit candles as a defense against evil and to entreat the sun to shine. During Victorian times candles represented goodwill to folks who were down on their luck during the holiday season. In many cultures throughout history people placed candles in their windows to welcome passing strangers into their homes where they could find food and a roof over their heads for the night.

On the negatives side, I read that some cultures have bestowed supernatural powers upon candles, believing that they could predict tragic events. In England, instead of a Yule log, families would burn large candles on Christmas Day. If the candle went out before the day’s end, it was believed that those who lived in the household would have misfortune for the coming year, I would suppose a larger candle might be in the plans for the next year. In Scotland, people believed that the Christmas candle dying before Midnight meant the coming of a great disaster. Danish families often lit a candle to symbolize the wife of the household and another to symbolize the husband; the first candle to burn out would foretell which one of them would be the first to die. In Scandinavian countries, families would leave candles on the graves of their ancestors, most likely because of the old Viking belief that during the winter solstice the dead rose to haunt the living. Certainly we know that there is no scientific evidence, nor any other evidence proving the ability of candles to tell the future. We do know that they bring a touch of warmth, light, and beauty into what might otherwise be a cold, dreary season.

As for the symbolism of candles around the world, we know that to Christians, candles symbolize Jesus, who brought light into the world, or rather, who is the Light of the world. I read that during the Middle Ages, people put candles in their windows to guide the Christ child, whom they believed wandered through the world in search of a place to stay; on that night no wayfarer was turned away. Candles also came to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem, which guided the wise men to Jesus’ birthplace. During the Middle Ages people would light a large candle both at home and in church, and families during Victorian times used pins or melted wax to attach candles to Christmas tree branches. Candle holders didn’t come into use until 1890. In Spain, families light a candle above the door on Christmas Eve. In China, Christians adorn their Christmas trees with lanterns, and Christians in some parts of India use clay oil-burning lamps.

As for our modern world, last week we talked about the significance of the candles on the Advent Wreath and week before last we talked a little about the lights on the Christmas tree. Today we see, not only candles, but our modern equivalent, the light bulb, burning brightly at Christmas time. We do still see candles burning, but we see lights on houses, in windows, on trees, in the yard, on the roofs of house and so forth.

Might I suggests that just as in days past and just as in other cultures, much of the reason for the lighting of candles has remained the same for as many years. And even today, the reason for our modern electric candle, the decorating with lights is probably not all from altruistic reasons.

On the negative side, too often I see more houses today decorated with Halloween decorations or Easter bunny and Santa decorations than actual Christmas decorations. Our world has turned so inward that instead of looking outside ourselves to find our joy and peace, we look inward and seek to find joy and peace from this world and the things of this world, and then we wonder why we are so not at peace and not full of joy and happiness.

On the positive side, we do have Christians who decorate their houses for the purpose of drawing attention to the coming celebration of the birth of the Savior of the world. We see houses with a manger scene prominently displayed. We see houses with a star on top. We see Christmas trees with an angel or star on top. And periodically we see a Christmas tree with a nail hidden in the center near the trunk as a reminder of the reason for the Christmas tree. We may even see houses with a cross prominently displayed in the front.

The question we must always and continually ask ourselves is this, “Why do we do what we do?” and at this time of year, more specifically, “Why do we light candles?” Do we light candles as a part of our preparation, focusing our attention on the reason for the season, or do we simply light candles, put up lights and the like because that is what everyone is supposed to do this time of year?

Our modern world has made such advances in candles that now, not only do candles offer light, they also offer smell, thus scented candles might bring the scent of the pine or fir tree, or perhaps the scent of apple pie, cookies, cinnamon, or whatever other smell might remind one of their own Christmas as a child. Thus, for many the symbolism of the candle has all but vanished so that it is simply an esthetically pleasing sight and smell. And please do not misunderstand, I am not saying that any of this estheticism is bad, in and of itself, it is simply that for too many any symbolic meaning of the candles has been lost. Yet, even though much, if not all of the symbolism has been lost, so candles as well as modern lights can still serve the function of drawing one’s attention to meaning of the season, which perhaps is the goal in the first place.

Personally, we put up lights as a witness to our community of our Christian faith and our hope in the birth of the Messiah and in His second coming. We put up lights so as to draw attention to the fact of the coming celebration of the birth of the Christ at Christmas. As our Scripture reading reminds us, “14You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house” (Matt. 5:14, 15). Now, certainly, not everything we do is for altruistic reasons, and I am sure God knows that, but I am also certain that God can and does work through our witness, our decorations, our lighting candles, not to give a false impression or lead others astray, but to be a light to the world and as an opportunity to give a witness of the hope that we have. My prayer is that our lighting candles might say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Gospel Dissemination.

2011-12-13T09:21:00.001-06:00

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander” (1 Peter 3:15-16 ).

Christ’s command is that we are always ready to give an account, a reason, for the hope that is in us. Are you ready to tell someone about your hope for eternal life in heaven given to you by faith in Christ Jesus? Notice that Peter does not say, “If your gift is evangelism, be ready to give a reason . . . .” He simply says, “Be ready,” and “Do this with gentleness and respect . . . .” Some people think they are too quiet or shy to be evangelists. Peter indicates that they, the quiet and shy people, are the ones who make the best evangelists.

On the other hand, Matthew 10:19-20 tells us that we are not to worry about what we will say, “Do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” This Scripture adds to what Peter says in that, not only are we to be ready to give a reason, but we are not to worry because the Holy Spirit will speak the reason through us. For most Lutherans, that expectation sounds scary, but actually it is a great feeling for the Holy Spirit to speak through one. Through our daily devotions and Bible study, worship, and Sunday School classes, we fill our minds with the words the Holy Spirit uses to speak through us. Therefore, these things are very important.

And one more thing. We do not have to worry about messing up or thinking we might mess up, because we know that it is the Holy Spirit, not we, who is doing the work. God’s strength is shown in our weakness. To quote Stephen C. Stohlmann from Concordia, St. Paul, Minnesota; “God’s grace is so wonderful that He takes our imperfections, our stuttering tongues, or poor, bad, and negative witnesses, our blunders and more through our mistakes than through our success does He communicate the Gospel to our sin filled world. It does not matter how bad WE mess up God can and does use it for good. We are to never be ashamed of the Gospel, nor of our poor witness, because we know that God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness.”

Be a part of Bible Class so that you might fill up with all the good “stuff” the Holy Spirit will use to speak the Gospel through you. To God always be the glory.

43 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Getting Ready - December 11, 2011 - Third Sunday in Advent - Text: John 1:6-8, 19-28

2011-12-11T07:35:00.001-06:00

This morning our count down to Christmas continues. We have lighted the third Advent Candle and we have only fourteen days left until we once again celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world, Christ the Lord. Are we ready for Christmas? How do we get ready for Christmas? How do we prepare? And how do we get ready and how do we know we are ready for Jesus’ second coming? Those are the questions we have been asking over the past couple of weeks and the questions we continue to ask, and prayerfully answer today.

John the Baptist came to get the people ready for the work of the Messiah. John began his work some thirty years after Jesus’ birth on that first Christmas. John came to testify concerning the Messiah, the Christened One or the Christ, the Savior. Our text puts it these terms, “[John] came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light” (John 1:7-8). Our Lord wanted to make sure that the world did not miss the coming of His Son, so He sent a messenger, John the Baptist, to prepare the people for His coming. John came, not to call attention to himself, but to point the people to the Messiah, or as he calls Him in our text, to the Light.

Jesus is the Light. He is the Light that shines bright in the darkness. He is the Light who draws all people to Himself. In much the same way as a very small light will brighten up a very dark room, so Jesus is a very bright light who came to brighten up the universe. In much the same way that we are drawn to a light in order to be able to see better, so we are drawn to Jesus who helps us to see clearly.

So John came to testify concerning the coming of the Light of the world. He came to call all people to faith so that all people might believe in the Messiah. John never speaks about himself, he only talks about the Light. He only points to Jesus.

When he was questioned by the priest and Levites John made his confession concerning Jesus. “He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ’” (John 1:20). John knew that he was not the one who came to give his life for the people. He knew that he was not the Christened or anointed one. He knew that he was not the Messiah and so he freely confessed that he was not the Savior.

Rather, John did confess that he came to prepare the way for the Messiah. John’s work and calling were simply to call the people to be ready for the coming Messiah. His work was to point, not to himself, but to Jesus. Notice how, when they asked him pointedly, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” (John 1:22b). John’s reply was to point to Christ. In the words of Isaiah the prophet John says, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord’” (John 1:23b).

And John knew his limitations. He tells the people, I baptize with water for the remission of sins. I am here to call you to turn from your ways of sin and unbelief, to forgiveness and faith. I am here to call you from following the gods and idols of this world, to believe the words of Holy Scripture concerning the coming of the Savior.

Again, he was questioned by the Pharisees who asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” (John 1:25b). Although we are told elsewhere that John came in the spirit of Elijah, he confesses that he himself is not Elijah. Many among the Jewish people expected the return of Elijah, whom you might remember did not die, but was bodily assumed into heaven, or they were expecting the return of a variety of persons in association with the coming of the Messiah, thus, the barrage of questions to John. John confesses, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even He who comes after me, the strap of of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie” (John 1:26-27). Again, John knows his place. He knows his role. He came, not pointing to himself, but pointing to the coming of the Messiah.

In much the same way as John came to get the people of his day ready for Jesus’ first coming, so we read and hear his words still today to help us get ready to celebrate Jesus’ birth. At the same time, our getting ready for Christmas today is also much different than that of John’s day. Please bear with me as I bring to mind some of our customs today of getting ready for Christmas and especially as we have been talking about some of these customs at our Wednesday evening services, and as I attempt to put them into a Christian perspective. Today our getting ready for Christmas often includes putting up a Christmas tree. Our custom of putting up a Christmas tree, either real or artificial, reminds us of life. The green of the tree reminds us that we worship a living God. Very often our green tree is decorated with lights and with ornaments. The lights reminds us of the stars shining through the trees and in particular they might remind us of the star which lead the wise men to the house to see the newborn King. The tree is often topped with either a star or an angel. The star, again, reminding us of the star which lead the wise men to the house of the newborn King or the angel reminding us of all the work of the angels at this time of the year, making announcements to Zechariah and Mary, and to Joseph and the Shepherds.

Our Christmas preparations often include putting lights on the outside of our houses. Just as Jesus is the light of the world, so we would share our faith, not by hiding it under a bushel, but by letting our light shine before the world so that they might bear witness to the faith that is in our hearts.

A more recent custom is that of hanging a nail toward the center of the Christmas tree. This nail is quietly placed in remembrance of the reason for Christmas, that is that the reason the Child was born was to die, nailed to a cross. Most of the time we do not like to talk about death and dying, and especially during this season of celebrating the birth of a child death and dying talk seem so out of place. But for us Christians that is the reason for the season, the birth of this Child, God in flesh, who came to give His life, to die on the cross, to pay the price for our sins, for your sins and mine, so that we might have forgiveness and eternal life.

Our Christmas preparations often include putting a nativity set, either under the tree or out in the yard, or both. The nativity reminds us of that night on which Jesus was born. It reminds us of the fact that there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn and so they had to spend the night in a barn. The barn was probably not a vacant barn, but was most likely filled with barn animals, cows, sheep, a donkey, some chickens and the like. The aroma of hay filled the barn. And very often, the manger, the feeding trough for the animals, is left empty until Christmas Eve or Christmas morning when the birth of the Christ child is celebrated at which time the baby is placed in the manger.

Most of us include the custom of exchanging presents during the time of Christmas. Certainly this would remind us of the season of epiphany when the wise men came and brought gifts of gold, incense and myrrh to the baby Jesus.

For many the season of Christmas brings an anticipation of “getting” gifts. Children and adults alike anticipate “what they are going to get for Christmas.” In keeping with the eight commandment and in putting the best construction on everything, I pray this anticipation is also an anticipation of “getting” or begin given the greatest gift of all, the gift of God’s grace through His Son, Jesus.

For some there is the custom of baking a cake to celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world. Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of the Savior, Jesus Himself. Just as we have a custom of baking and eating cake for our own birthdays, why not celebrate Jesus birthday with a birthday cake.

My intent this morning is not to exhaust all the customs that we Christians have or all the traditions each and every family has during the season of Christmas. I simply wanted to name a few in comparison and contrast to the preparation which happened at Jesus’ first coming. Sometimes it is good to take a look at the traditions we have in order to understand why we do what we do and that we are doing what we are doing not just for the sake of doing something. Some of you may have heard this story before. There was a young mother who cut off the ends of the ham before putting it into a pan and into the oven. When her child asked her why she did this, she did not know why. All she could say was, “that is the way my mother always did it.” So, she called her mother to ask her way she cut off the ends of the ham before cooking it and her mother did not know either, she simply said, “that is the way my mother always did it.” So, she called her mother (who happened to still be living) to ask her why she cut off the ends of the ham before cooking it and her mother told her, “because we did not have a pan large enough for the whole ham.” Why do we do the things we do? I can think of some positive reasons for many of the customs and traditions we have at this time of the year. If I cannot, then maybe it is time I think of a different custom or tradition.

Most important in getting ready for Christmas is the getting ready, not of the physical things of our lives, but of the preparing our hearts, minds and souls for our celebration of the newborn King. We prepare ourselves by making use of the means that God has of getting us ready, His means of grace, His Word, the Bible, as well as we do every Sunday morning, confession and absolution, and His sacraments, the Lord’s Supper and Holy Baptism. As we even quietly and unassumingly prepare our own lives for our celebration of Jesus’ birth we may also be a light for others, pointing them, through our actions and words, to Jesus whose birth we celebrate. And we may also reap the benefit of continuing to get ourselves ready for Jesus’ second coming.

Hindsight is twenty-twenty as the saying goes. What we are preparing to celebrate is a done deal, and yet at the same time we continue to prepare ourselves for Jesus; second coming, on the day of judgement. We are prepared, then, when we have our hearts, minds, and soul firmly secured in Jesus, who was born, who did live a perfect life, who did take our sins upon Himself, who did suffer and die, paying the price for our sins, eternal spiritual death, who did rise from the dead, who has ascended into heaven where He is watching over us, ruling over us and interceding for us, and who is awaiting the day when He will return to robe us with His robes us righteousness and take us to be with Himself and all the saints who have gone on before us, to heaven to be with Himself for eternity.

As I have said from time to time, we do not know what might lay ahead of us in life, how much time our Lord will give us in this present world and so it is so important to always be ready. It is important to be ready for when Jesus comes again, and it is important to be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in us. May the Lord work through the means that He has given us, as we make uses of those means, in order to get us ready, so that when He does come again we might stand with all the saints and say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Gospel Distribution.

2011-12-09T08:08:00.000-06:00

What would happen to a company that spent all its time, effort, and money on maintenance? What if this company spent little energy, time, or money on distribution of its product? What if this company spent all its energy on resolving inner conflicts and tension as if those were the most important issues of the company? What if this company, so intent on keeping down its overhead, especially when its overhead was spent mostly on distribution instead of internal maintenance, vetoed any type of increase in funds for such product distribution reduced such funds? What would eventually happen to this company? I think we all would agree, that in today’s world, without its spending monies on product research and development and product sales and distribution, this company would eventually fail, collapse, go bankrupt.

I personally do not like to compare a church to a business because we do not concern ourselves with profits and losses. We are not here for the purpose of making a profit. However, there are some good analogies that can be made. What kind of company are we here at St. Matthew? Is our priority the giving and distributing of the Gospel? Or is our priority maintenance of our company? Or both? How would St. Matthew fair in the business world today?

A company’s reputation is a witness and does advertise for that company. What does St. Matthew witness and advertise to our community? As firm believers in the Gospel, we will want to give a testimony of it. We will want to give it away. How can we make sure we are advertising (witnessing) the Good News?

We can start with ourselves. We individually ask the Holy Spirit to change our attitude to one that is intent on witnessing, through our lives, the Good News that Jesus is our Savior. We pray that the Lord would help us to make giving and distributing the Good News our number one priority, and we put that priority to work in our church. Also, with witnessing as a priority, the natural flow of events causes us to want to be better equipped ourselves to share the Good News. God equips us through our own personal, as well as, group study of God’s Word. Thus, as we set our priorities to those of the Great Commission, we build a stronger church for our Lord, based on the firm foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

42 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

The Advent Wreath - Advent Mid-week 2 - December 7, 2011 - Text: John 3:19-21

2011-12-07T13:30:00.000-06:00

This evening we continue looking at some of the symbols of Christmas. As we noted last week, it is good, at times, to take a look at the traditions and customs we have in order to find their root and to ascertain if they are still relevant, even good, mete, right and salutary for us to use today. This evening we want to take some time to talk about the Christmas Symbol of the Advent Wreath.

The custom of the Advent Wreath has been around for many years and has changed somewhat over the years and remember, this is an adiaphora, something neither commanded nor forbidden, yet this is a custom as are all customs which is to be celebrated with proper respect and decorum for the Lord’s house. Although some would suggest that the candles should be white, for many years the candles were purple with one Rose candle. Recently, the color has been changed to blue, to distinguish the season of Advent from the season of Lent which makes use of the color purple as a symbol of passion. Blue is the color of hope and reminds us not only of our hope in Christ as we look to celebrating Jesus’ birth, but also as we hope for His return on the last day, or our returning to Him at our passing.

By now you know, every year I like to take the time on Sunday mornings to walk the children through the various parts of the Advent wreath, the fact that the foundation is round which reminds us that God is our foundation and God is eternal, without beginning and without end. Also, the foundation is wrapped in green reminding us that God is alive. Three of the four candles on the outside are blue, which is the color of hope and reminds us of our expectant hope of our celebration of the Messiah’s first coming which we celebrate each Christmas, but also our continued hope of His second coming when He will gather us, robe us in His robes of righteousness, and take us to be with Himself and all the saints in heaven. And by now, you know how every year, each week during advent, I talk about each specific candle, what it is called and what is its significance, well, this evening I want to walk through the five candles all at once.

The first candle is the Prophecy Candle or the Promise Candle as I like to call it because I believe it is easier to say and to remember and that is what the Advent Wreath is for, a nice way to remember, explain, and prepare ourselves for our Christmas celebration. The Prophecy Candle serves to remind us of the prophets throughout the Old Testament, which God sent, to announce the coming of the promised Savior. One such prophecy is Isaiah 9:6-7a, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” This prophecy was given to Isaiah as he spoke to the people of his day.

The second candle is the Bethlehem Candle and reminds us that the place where God promised to fulfill His Promise or Prophecy to send the Messiah was the town of Bethlehem. The prophet Micah tells us, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2). Bethlehem was the birthplace and the city of David. Jesus was an ancestor of David and truly our King of Kings.

The third candle is the Shepherd’s Candle. The Shepherd’s Candle is the rose colored candle which signifies joy and reminds us of the joy of the shepherds as they were told by the angels of the birth of the Son of God, the Messiah. When the shepherds heard the good news from the angles they left their flocks in the fields and went with haste to find the newborn child, the One who was to be the Savior of the world. After seeing Him they returned to their flocks telling others along the way of what they had heard and seen.

The fourth candle is the Angels Candle. The Angels Candle reminds us of the angels who worked so diligently during that first advent season. It was the angel who announced to Zechariah that he and Elizabeth would give birth to a son, John, who would prepare the way for the Messiah. It was an angel who announced to Mary that she was highly favored and selected by God to be the mother of God, even the Savior. It was an angel who told Joseph in a dream that it was okay to take Mary as his wife. And now, it was an angel and a multitude of angels who announced to the shepherds that God was fulfilling His promise to send a Savior.

So, as we “read” the advent wreath, if you will, we are reminded that the God promised to send a Savior, that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem, that the shepherds were the first to hear of the birth of the Savior and that the angels were the ones to announce the birth of the Savior.

Which brings us to the last candle, the fifth candle, the center candle. The center candle is the Christ Candle and reminds us of Christ, the Messiah. It is to this center candle that all the other candles lead and about which the other candles speak. We light the Christ candle reminding us of the birth of the Christ, the Messiah on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This Christ Candle is the same candle that remains after the advent wreath is removed and we continue to light this Christ Candle until the day of His ascension. We light this Christ Candle reminding us that Jesus is the Light of the World. Even our text for this evening reminds us, “19And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. 20For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. 21But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God” (John 3:19-21).

The advent wreath is one wonderful tradition of Christmas. It is indeed the story of Christmas wrapped up in one easy to see symbol which tells the story quite succinctly. Not only does it tell us the story, but each week it helps us visually heighten our anticipation as one candle after the other is lit as we get closer and closer to our celebration. And lest we forget, Christmas, as in the Twelve Days of Christmas, does not begin until Christmas Day and lasts for twelve days, until January 6 which is Epiphany and our celebration of the coming of the Magi to see the baby Jesus. Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise made first in the Garden of Eden and reiterated to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, King David and so on through Israelite history. Jesus is the much anticipated, hoped for and longed for Messiah. Jesus is the Son of David, truly King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Jesus is the One who came for all people, from the greatest of kings to the lowliest of shepherds. Jesus is the One who deserves the announcement of His birth by the angels from on high. Each week as you look at the Advent Wreath may it remind you of the truths of God’s Word and even more fill you with hope and anticipation, not only for our celebration of His first coming, His birth in Bethlehem, but also for His second coming when Christ will come with the shout and will take us from this vale of tears to be with Himself in heaven for eternity. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Unconditional Caring and Love.

2011-12-06T09:08:00.001-06:00

One of the important principles in lifestyle evangelism is that of unconditional caring and love. The Bible says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13).

In his book, Who Cares About Love, Dr. Win Arn does an excellent job of explaining the three principles of unconditional love. Principle number one is Always Act First. Do not wait for others to approach you, but approach them first. Some people are naturally shy and not taking the initiative could mean you may never meet this person again and that you will have lost the opportunity to make a friend.

Principle number two is Accept People As They Are. This principle is for those who think they are not good enough to associate with others as well as for those who think they are too good. Sorry, but to put it simply and bluntly, we are all equal sinners and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb in God’s eyes. Just think; if God loved that person enough to die for him/her, who are we to love him/her any less? You know, we can always find someone “worse” or “better” than we, but we must ultimately compare ourselves with Jesus.

Principle number three is Be Available. If you want your yard to look good, you have to spend time keeping it up. If you want your car to run right, you have to spend time in maintaining. If you want your marriage and family to grow and prosper, you have to spend time with your spouse and children. If you want to develop, keep, and strengthen your friendship, you have to make time to be available.

In the second half of his book, Dr. Arn talks about eight steps to loving. Let me summarize what he says: We love only as the Lord loves us and as that love flows from Him, through us, to others. God first loves us. We love others. With the Lord’s help, we “first” love others (see the Golden Rule). We communicate our love through active listening to the wants, needs and praise of others. We respond with caring gifts, not necessarily a material gift, but a gift such as forgiveness, praise, or an uplifting word. We care by sharing ourselves.

We love because Christ first loved us. God so loves us that He gave His only Son for us. How much more is it possible for us to love one another.

41 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Prepare - December 4, 2011 - Second Sunday in Advent - Text: Mark 1:1-8

2011-12-04T08:04:00.001-06:00

Only twenty-one more days until Christmas. Are you ready? Someone once suggested that instead of our going through time, it is more like time is rushing toward us, maybe even like a freight train. Have you ever noticed how, when you are getting ready for something that, time does not stand still and wait on you, rather it just keeps coming at you, whether you are ready or not. Well, Christmas is coming, again, already and it will be here on December 25 whether we are ready or not.

This morning we focus our attention on the getting ready of the world for Jesus’ first coming. Interestingly enough, the world of Jesus’ day, that was waiting for His first coming, was probably a lot like our world today. The people of Jesus’ day were going about their lives not worrying about getting ready for anything, just living as if this world was all there was. As Jesus Himself said, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days of the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt. 24:37-39). So, today, as we get ready for Jesus’ second coming, and as we get ready to celebrate His first coming, we live in a world which is pretty much oblivious to Jesus and His coming again and will be oblivious until He does come again, at which time it will be too late. Just look around you at the people in our world. How often do you hear anyone express any interest in getting ready for Jesus’ coming. I am not talking about those who have a fanatical fascination about the end of this world and are looking for whatever god they have created in their own minds to appear. I am talking about how often do you hear your friends concerned about being ready either for their own death, at which time they will see God, or about getting ready for Jesus to come to take us to heaven. It is not something we dwell on. Let me assure you, it will happen. Either Christ will come again, during our own life, or we will go to Him. Either way, the question remains, are we ready? And if we are not ready, I think we need to be getting ready?

Getting to our text, I want you to keep in mind, that as we hear about the preparation and the first coming of Jesus, this all parallels with our preparation to celebrate Jesus’ first coming and our getting ready for His second coming. The people of Jesus day did have and we today do have the promise, God’s promise to send a Savior. In Jesus’ day the people had the Word of God which foretold that a messenger would come to prepare the way for the Messiah. In our Old Testament reading for this morning we heard the same words the people of Jesus’ day were hearing, that one would come calling to prepare the way for the Messiah.

And what would the messenger come calling. He would come to call all people to repentance. Repentance is defined as turning. Repentance is turning 180 degrees, that is to turn away from sin to go the opposite direction, the direction of not sinning. When we say we are sorry it means nothing unless we are determined, with the help of God, to turn from what we are doing wrong to do something different, what is right. Too often it happens in our world that we think that if we just say, “I’m sorry,” then we can go on and do whatever it is we have been doing, because we can always say, “I’m sorry,” again. Repentance means turning from the direction you were going and instead, going in the right direction.

In our text for this morning Mark begins by reminding us of the promises which were made and now he is laying out the fulfillment of those promises. John the Baptist is the one who came calling in the wilderness to prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. John came calling the people to repentance. He came calling them to turn from their ways of sin to a way of not sinning.

John came calling the people to be baptized. His baptism was a baptism for repentance. What you need to know and understand about John and the people of John’s day, and really, about many religious groups and organizations even today, as well as our own Christian church, is that baptism, that is religious washings were and are pretty important parts of religious activity. For John to call the people to be washed, to be baptized, was not an unusual calling for the people. They were used to such religious callings.

However, John’s calling was different in this respect, he came pointing not to himself and his own thoughts, feelings and ideas, but he came pointing to the Messiah, the One who was to come to be the Savior of the world. The One who was promised from of old. The One who would come to give His life for the lives of all people.

About the Messiah, John tells us that He will come baptizing with the Holy Spirit. You might recall that on the day of Pentecost Jesus sent the Holy Spirit, the counselor, to give the people the strength and the courage, even His authority and promise, to spread the news of Jesus to the rest of the World. Still, today, we are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes into us at our Baptism in order to give us faith, forgiveness and life, even to strengthen us and give us the courage not only to live our lives to the glory of the Lord, but to share our faith with others.

About the Messiah, John tells us that He will come giving forgiveness. John refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God. In the same way that a lamb was sacrificed, that a lamb’s blood was shed, to remind the people that the cost of sin is death (someone’s life), so Jesus, God’s Son, came to give His life. Jesus came to shed His blood, to offer His life for ours. It is through His death that our sins are forgiven and that we have the promise of eternal life.

Again, John tells us that Jesus comes giving the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who gives faith, strengthens faith and keeps us in faith until Christ comes again. Notice John’s focus. Notice Mark’s focus. Their focus in not on themselves, it is not on us. Their focus and our focus is always a focus on the one who saves, Jesus Christ alone.

Which brings us to our preparation. Are we ready to celebrate Jesus’ first coming, that is Christmas? And are we ready for Jesus’ second coming? If we are not ready, then, now, more than ever, is the time to get ready. So how do we prepare our hearts, minds and souls for Jesus?

We prepare ourselves by recognizing that our time on this earth is short and is fading fast. Have you ever taken the time to look at the obituaries in the newspaper? The listings are sometimes two, three and four pages long. And the list includes people of any and all ages, any and all ethnic backgrounds, any and all religious persuasions. The list includes people who are a few days old all the way to people who are eighty, ninety and even a hundred years old. When will the Lord return? We do not know. When will we die? That we do not know either. How much time do we have on this earth? Again, we do not know. All we know is that we need to be ready at any time and at all times, because we will meet the Lord, either at His return or at our going to Him. It will happen, thus, we prepare ourselves by having an urgency about being ready.

We prepare ourselves by making use of the means that God has given us to get ready, His means of Grace, His Word, the Bible, confession and absolution, and His Sacraments, Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These are the means that God uses to come to us to give us His good gifts and blessings. We go to Him in prayer. He comes to us through His means of grace. When we absent ourselves from these means we remove His usual means of coming to us to give us His gifts. It is very much like failing to go to the grocery story to purchase food for our bodies. When we do not go to the grocery store we have no food in the pantry and we starve physically. When we fail to go to God’s Word store, when we absent ourselves from divine service and Bible Class, when we fail to read His Word, we starve spiritually. To use an analogy appropriate for the season of Christmas, failing to make use of the means of grace is like waking up on Christmas morning and refusing the presents that have been purchased especially for you. It is like saying to God, “No gifts for me today Lord, I have plenty, maybe next week.”

We prepare ourselves by being on guard against the enemies that constantly attack; the devil, the world, and our own sinful nature. We live in a world which is trying to tear down your Christian faith. The world attacks you on every side. It brings false conclusions and expects that you accept them as truth. Such false conclusions as, “everyone else is doing it,” meaning that majority rule equals truth. But we know it does not. We hear such false conclusions as “it’s the twenty-first century,” as if newness equals truth, and that is not necessarily so. We hear false proclaimers misuse God’s name suggesting that there are things we need and must do in order to gain salvation. As I continually remind my confirmands and those in Bible class, watch who is doing what. You know what a verb is and you know what a noun is. Watch who is running the verbs. If someone is suggesting that you run the verbs, that there is something you need to do to be saved, then be wary. But if someone is telling you what Jesus is doing, how He is running the verbs, then you know that they are on the right track. Do not let the devil con you into believing anything except the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Most importantly we prepare ourselves by letting God run the verbs, the show, by letting God prepare us. Remember, everything is a done deal. Jesus has already lived perfectly for us, in our place. Jesus has already suffered and died, paying the price for our sins. Jesus has already risen and ascended into heaven where He is seated at the right hand of the Father, watching over us, ruling over us and interceding for us. Jesus is getting ready to return when He will gather us and all the saints, robe us with His robes of righteousness and take us to be with Himself in heaven for eternity. Until that day we continue to get ready and be ready. We continue to be where the gifts are given out. We continue to revel in the gifts, rejoicing in being given to. My prayer for you is that the Lord will fill you with His Holy Spirit. That the Holy Spirit will guide you and prepare you so that you are ready, so that when Jesus comes again we might stand together with all the saints and proclaim, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . life in action.

2011-12-03T08:00:00.000-06:00

“So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31 NIV). Paul’s words, originally sent to the Christians at Corinth, are meant for us today. As the Corinthian Christians slipped into the habit of resting on their grace, so we fall into that same habit today. Paul’s message is that we are indeed free as Christians, but with freedom comes the responsibility not to abuse our freedom. We have the privilege (responsibility, or as Luther would say, duty) to live our lives to God’s glory.

What makes this profound news a lifestyle evangelism tip? Simply this: Jesus did not give us the command to go out and convert people. He gave us the command to go out and make disciples. He gave us the command always to be ready to give an answer for the hope we have in our faith in Him. One way we make disciples is by our actions. You know the old saying, “Actions speak louder than words.” Add to this wisdom the fact that Paul says to do all things to the glory of God, and you have a super witness.

Apply this adage to your daily life, at home, at play, at work. Have you ever thought, “What would Jesus do if He were to make the decision I have to make?” (Understanding that it is only with His help that we can ask or make such a decision and carry it out.) The reality of this is that, because of our living in such a pluralistic society, we may not want to use the above question as a criteria for our decisions; it just is not practical, we often think. Try it.

Being a good witness is not converting a lot of people. You may never even see any fruits of your labor (converts). Being a witness simply means letting Christ live in you in such a way that whatever you do, you do to God’s glory. To God always be the glory.

40 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

The Tree - Advent Mid-week 1 - November 30, 2011 - Text: Gal. 3:10-14

2011-11-30T18:21:00.000-06:00

Over the years there have been many symbols and icons that have come to remind us of Christmas. Some symbols have been brought over, borrowed, even stolen, if you will, from pagan rituals and customs. At times the reason for this borrowing was in order to give Christians a way to compete with the pagan culture, other times it was intended to take back something that was Christian in the first place. When it comes to the traditions we have as well as the customs we observe, it is good to go back and look at the roots of our customs and traditions to make sure that these are customs and traditions we should continue to celebrate today. For this reason, this year during the season of Advent we will take the time to look at some of the symbols of Christmas that are important to us today. We will attempt to find their history and explain them in the light of our modern world. This evening we begin with the custom of “The Christmas Tree.”

First, let us look at some of the “not so Christian” reasons for the use of a Christmas tree. The tree was a pagan symbol of life following winter solstice, something like a tree began to bud in the Spring, celebrating life after the winter time of death. The Egyptians brought green date palms into their homes as a symbol of “life triumphant over death.” When the Romans observed the feast of Saturn, part of the ceremony was the raising of an evergreen bough and the early Scandinavians were said to have paid homage to the fir tree. To the Druids, sprigs of evergreen holly in the house meant eternal life; while to the Norsemen, they symbolized the revival of the sun god Balder. To those inclined toward superstition, branches of evergreens placed over the door kept out witches, ghosts, evil spirits and the like. This use does not mean that our Christmas tree custom evolved solely from paganism, any more than did some of the present-day use of signs in various religious rituals.

Trees and branches can be made purposeful as well as symbolic. The Christmas tree is a symbol of a living Christmas spirit and brings into our lives a pleasant aroma of the forest. The fact that balsam fir twigs, more than any other evergreen twigs, resemble crosses may have had much to do with the early popularity of balsam fir used as Christmas trees. Other Christian symbols found in the tree include the fact that the tree has a Triangular shape reminding us of the trinity; Father, Son, Holy Spirit. The tree is green reminding us that God is alive and eternal. And the needles point up to heaven.

For us Lutherans, legend has it that Martin Luther began the tradition of decorating trees to celebrate Christmas. As the story is told, one crisp Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, he was walking through snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moonlight. When he got home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share this story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ’s birth.

The ultimate Christian symbol of the tree is that it becomes the cross of Christ. Perhaps you have heard the old story of the Three Trees (uncertain as to the author).

Once upon a mountain top, three little trees stood and dreamed of what they wanted to become when they grew up. The first little tree looked up at the stars and said: “I want to hold treasure. I want to be covered with gold and filled with precious stones. I’ll be the most beautiful treasure chest in the world!” The second little tree looked out at the small stream trickling by on it’s way to the ocean. “I want to be traveling mighty waters and carrying powerful kings. I’ll be the strongest ship in the world!” The third little tree looked down into the valley below where busy men and women worked in a busy town. “I don’t want to leave the mountain top at all. I want to grow so tall that when people stop to look at me they’ll raise their eyes to heaven and think of God. I will be the tallest tree in the world.”

Years, passed. The rain came, the sun shone and the little trees grew tall. One day three wood cutters climbed the mountain. The first wood cutter looked at the first tree and said, “This tree is beautiful. It is perfect for me.” With a swoop of his shining ax, the first tree fell. “Now I shall make a beautiful chest, I shall hold wonderful treasure!” the first tree said.

The second wood cutter looked at the second tree and said, “This tree is strong. It’s perfect for me.” With a swoop of his shining ax, the second tree fell. “Now I shall sail mighty waters!” thought the second tree. “I shall be a strong ship for mighty kings!”

The third tree felt her heart sink when the last wood cutter looked her way. She stood straight and tall and pointed bravely to heaven. But the wood cutter never even looked up. “Any kind of tree will do for me.” He muttered. With a swoop of his shining ax, the third tree fell.

The first tree rejoiced when the wood cutter brought her to a carpenter’s shop. But the carpenter fashioned the tree into a feed box for animals. The once beautiful tree was not covered with gold, or treasure. She was coated with saw dust and filled with hay for hungry farm animals. The second tree smiled when the wood cutter took her to a shipyard, but no mighty sailing ship was made that day. Instead the once strong tree was hammered and awed into a simple fishing boat. She was too small and too weak to sail to an ocean, or even a river, instead she was taken to a little lake. The third tree was confused when the wood cutter cut her into strong beams and left her in a lumberyard. “What happened?” The once tall tree wondered. “All I ever wanted was to stay on the mountain top and point to God.”

Many days and nights passed. The three trees nearly forgot their dreams. But one night, golden starlight poured over the first tree as a young woman placed her newborn baby in the feed box. “I wish I could make a cradle for him.” Her husband whispered. The mother squeezed his hand and smiled as the starlight shone on the smooth and sturdy wood. “This manger is beautiful.” She said. And suddenly the first tree knew he was holding the greatest treasure in the world.

One evening a tired traveler and his friends crowded into the old fishing boat. The traveler fell asleep as the second tree quietly sailed out into the lake. Soon a thundering and a thrashing storm arose. The little tree shuddered. She new she did not have the strength to carry so many passengers safely through the wind and the rain. The tired man awoke. He stood up, stretched out his hand, and said, “Peace.” The storm stopped as quickly as it had begun. And suddenly the second tree knew he was carrying the king of heaven and earth.

One Friday morning, the third tree was startled when her beams were yanked from the forgotten wood pile. She flinched as she was carried through an angry jeering crowd. She shuddered when soldiers nailed a man’s hand to her. She felt ugly and harsh and cruel. But on Sunday morning, when the sun rose and the earth trembled with joy beneath her, the third tree knew that God’s love had changed everything. It had made the third tree strong. And every time people thought of the third tree, they would think of God. That was better than being the tallest tree in the world.

Now, the story usually ends like this, The next time you feel down because you didn’t get what you wanted, sit tight and be happy because God is thinking of something better to give you. But this evening let me give you a better ending.

In times past, the Christmas tree was allowed to dry, then the branches were lopped off except that one branch was used to make the tree into a cross which was used on Good Friday and Easter. In this way, the Christmas tree brought us full circle, from the birth of our promised Messiah to His death and resurrection. As a simple reminder, some families hang a nail in the middle of their Christmas tree, you might check it out and see. So, let me leave you with the words of our text: “10For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’ 11Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’ 12But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them.’ 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’— 14so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” May your Christmas tree be a joyous reminder of God’s love for you. To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . loving first.

2011-11-29T07:13:00.000-06:00

Unconditional love and caring is one of the keys to help you to witness to your circle of influence (family, friends and loved ones). In the book, Who Cares About Love? Win Arn, Caroll Nyquist and Charles Arn define love in this way; “Love is intentionally doing something caring or helpful for another person, in Jesus’ name, regardless of the cost of consequence to oneself.”

In His sermon on the mount (Matt. 5:43-48), Jesus says that we should love our enemies. If we love only those who love us, what good is it? Do not even non-Christians show love to those who love them? Jesus says we are to take the initiative and show love, especially when we are not shown love. The Golden Rule (Luke 6:31) is a very positive statement telling us to take the initiative and treat others in the same manner in which we would like to be treated.

The authors of Who Cares About Love? have found that the happiest people are loving and caring people. This loving nature translates into a congregation in which parishioners show love and feel loved and cared for by one another. Sunday morning guests feel loved by the parishioners. It makes the church a place that reflects Christ’s love.

How are we doing as individuals and as members of St. Matthew Lutheran Church? I believe we are above average in being warm, open, loving and caring, to each other and to the guests who grace our presence. Of course, we can always do better, and being conscious of our efforts helps us to do better.

Have you gone out of your way to say “Hi” to someone lately? Even if it meant that the person may not acknowledge your greeting? Have you spoken a good word lately, complimented someone? With the Lord’s help, we can make a conscious effort to love our neighbor unconditionally, those people who need love and care. With the Lord’s help we can intentionally act first to show care and concern for others as Jesus showed for us.

39 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Be On Guard! Be Alert! - November 27, 2011 - First Sunday in Advent - Text: Mark 13:24-37

2011-11-27T07:44:00.000-06:00

If I had known you were coming I would have baked a cake! How often have we heard that expression. More often than not, the meaning behind that expression is that if we had announced our coming our host would have been able to prepare something special for our arrival and visit. Today is the first Sunday in a brand new church year. I might as well have begun by saying, “Happy New Year!” As we begin this new Church year our Scripture readings are concerned with getting us ready to celebrate Jesus’ first coming, as a baby, in a manger, in Bethlehem. At the same time, our concern continues to be in getting ourselves ready for Jesus’ Second coming. Jesus gives us fair warning that He is coming again, because He does not want us to be left saying, “If I had known You were coming I would have baked a cake.”

“Be on guard, keep awake.” is the warning Jesus has for us. “For you do not know when the time will come.” We do know Jesus will return. We do know the time will come. A quick review of history will refresh our confidence in God and His promises and especially in Jesus’ promise that He will return. Way back in the beginning, and I do mean in the beginning, in the book of Genesis, we are told that God created. With mere words God created. God created all things, out of nothing. God spoke or breathed them into existence. God said, and it was. On the sixth day, God crowned His creation with the creation of the man and the woman, Adam and Eve. After each day of creation God said that “it was good.” After all was created, about all His creation God said, “It is very good.”

God created Adam and Eve in a special way, different from the rest of His creation. He did not simply speak or breath Adam and Eve into existence, instead, God formed Adam from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life and Eve He formed from Adam’s side. God created Adm and Eve and especially for them He created a Garden. He placed them in this beautiful garden and in His infinite wisdom He gave them a way to respond to Him, that is a way to show their love and gratitude to Him for all that He had done for them. He told them that they were to care for the garden, you see, work is not a result of the curse of sin. They could eat from all the vegetation of the garden, except the tree in the middle, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Of this tree, God warned, that if they disobeyed and ate of it they would surely die.

Soon after creation the devil, a fallen angel who thought himself equal with God, Satan, came into the garden in the form of a serpent. He tempted Eve and Adam with the lie and the desire that they could be come like God, if only they ate of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Up until this time Adam and Eve only knew good, not evil. So the woman and the man disobeyed God and ate of the fruit. That one act of disobedience brought sin into a once perfect world and with sin came death, spiritual death, eternal death and physical death. Now Adam and Eve knew evil as well as good. What was once perfect, even very good, is now tainted.

However, God, being a God of love, immediately stepped in so that He might reconcile the broken relationship of His creation to Himself. God had to do this because His creation could not reconcile itself with the Creator. God’s plan was to send a Savior. The Savior God promised to send would be His one and only Son. The Savior God promised to send would be God in flesh. Truly human in order to give His life for ours. Truly God in order to live perfectly and in order to raise Himself from the dead.

However, God did not immediately fulfill His promise. It was only after some 4000 years that God fulfilled His promise. During this season of Advent, the beginning of our current church year, not only are we getting ourselves ready to celebrate Jesus’ first coming at His birth in Bethlehem, we are also getting ourselves ready for Jesus’ second coming. In the days of Jesus’ first coming, in fulfillment of God’s first promise, the people were waiting, expectantly for Jesus to come, at least that was the case with some of the people.

Jesus did come to earth. In a few weeks we will celebrate that coming on Christmas morning. Jesus gave up the glory that was His as true God in heaven in order to come to earth and while He was here on earth He did for us what we are unable to do. He lived for us, perfectly. He overcame all temptation for us, perfectly, including temptation above any we may ever suffer. After living a perfect life He took our sins upon Himself and suffered and died in order to pay the cost, the price, the wage that our sins had earned. And after He rose from the dead, before He ascended into heaven Jesus said He would return.

Before Jesus left this earth, before His ascension, He left us with His great commission. He gave us His command and authority and a promise to share the good news of Jesus to all nations through baptizing and teaching. We have His command and we have His authority and promise. We are to proclaim His name with His authority and we have the promise that He will be with us to help us in carrying out His work.

But there is more, Jesus gives us gifts, talents and abilities in His Church to do the good works He has for us to do. We are not left to our own devices, we are to work as our Lord gives us to work. He also will hold us accountable for doing the work He has for us to do as well as making use of the gifts, talents, and abilities, and here we would include the gifts of time, talents, and treasures that He has given to us and we are to use these in service to Him in His kingdom.

So far Jesus has waited some 2000 years and He has not yet returned. God took some four thousand years to fulfill His first promise to send a Savior. That does not necessarily mean that He will wait another two thousand years, for a total of 4000 years before He fulfills this second promise to come. He may wait another 1000 years. He may wait only 100 years. He may not wait even one more year. What we do know from his keeping his first promise is that just as He fulfilled His first promise, so He will fulfill His second promise. And so we wait. And as we wait we keep watch.

Jesus says, “Be on guard, keep awake.” We do not know when Jesus will return, neither does He, only the Father knows. We have an indication when He will return, as Jesus tells us, “just as in the days of Noah, so will it be in the last days.” In the days of Noah people were eating and drinking and marrying and being given into marriage so that they were oblivious to the fact that the flood was coming soon and they perished in the flood. So it is today that so many people are eating and drinking and marrying and being given into marriage and living their lives as if this world is all there is and are oblivious to the fact that Jesus will come again soon.

Our focus again today is on getting ready. How do we get ourselves ready? Or how do we know if we are ready? We get ourselves ready and we know we are ready when we believe that Jesus is God’s Son. That Jesus came in fulfillment to God’s first promise. That Jesus suffered and died in order to pay the price for my sins. We are ready when we believe that just as Jesus came the first time, so He will keep His promise and will come again, soon.

We know we are ready when we speak about being ready. It is interesting how our psyche, if you will, works. Have you ever noticed how it is when you get really excited about something? You can not keep it to yourself. You have to share it with someone. Faith works in a similar fashion. When God gives us faith it wells up inside of us so much so that we can not keep it to ourselves, we have to tell someone.

We know we are ready when we act like we are ready. Here again, following the analogy of getting excited about things. When we get excited we talk about it, we even get kind of antsy. Our body language tells others that we are excited. Even more so, as we get ready and as we are ready for Jesus second coming we know it and believe it in our hearts. We speak about it in our conversations. Our whole body language, our lives show it in our actions. We do those things which reflect our getting ready for something wonderful.

This morning then, just as Jesus says, Be on guard, keep awake, so I say to you, “Be on guard!” - “Keep awake!” Do not fall into the trap of thinking that Jesus will not come during our lifetime. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that the things of this world are more important than the things of the world to come. Do not get sidetracked by the temptations of the devil as he tries to pull you away from Christ and His church through filling you life with so many unimportant and trivial matters other than getting yourself ready for Jesus’ return.

When will Jesus return? We do not know, but we do know that He will return. I believe that God intentionally does not tell us when Jesus will return, because He knows we have a short attention span. He knows that if we knew when Jesus would return then we would waste our lives up until the last minute. By not telling us when He will return He is assuring that we live our lives in such a way that we are ready at any time and at all times. And if we are ready at any time and at all times, then we will work at getting others ready as well so that when He does return He will be able to gather even more into His kingdom.

God gives. God gave life at creation. He gives each of us life at conception. He gives us faith and new life through Holy Baptism. He has given His life for our forgiveness. He gives us gifts, talents and abilities to use in our vocations, to use in service to Him through our service to others. He gives His promise to return to take us from this valley of tears to be with Himself in heaven where He will robe us with His robes of righteousness. How can we not be excited? How can we not yearn and desire His return? How can we not yearn and desire to continually come into His presence, to come to His house to be given more and more of His gifts, forgiveness and strengthening of faith? How can we not live lives of faith showing that we believe His Word that He will return, soon and showing that we are indeed, ready?!

Finally, as you are ready for Jesus’ return, my prayer for you is that of Paul’s words in our Epistle lesson, “4I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, 5that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—6even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—7so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . unconditional love at work (2).

2011-11-25T08:50:00.001-06:00

How do we witness in the challenging setting of our work environment? First, we look to Christ and follow His example. We begin in prayer. We pray for the people with whom we work, asking the Holy Spirit to open their hearts to Christ and His message of salvation. We also pray for the courage to witness silently, and when He gives us the opportunity, we pray for the courage and for the words to verbally witness. Remember, if you pray for the opportunity to witness, be ready, because He will give it to you, often before you really are ready.

Second, do not condemn the people with whom you work. We may not always agree with what they do, but we want to remember that, Christ died for them, too. If they are good enough for Christ, they are good enough for us. Not condemning them does not mean that we agree with them, nor that we must be like them. In turning down their invitation to do what they do, we must let them know that we still unconditionally care about them. Remember, people will respect you if you can make your own decisions and not simply follow the crowd.

Third, remember that, we are in this world, but not of this world. We are here for only a short time—eternal life (in heaven or hell) is forever. The Lord has put us here to plant as many seeds as possible, even though the hard part of that is that we may not see any fruits of our labors. He even promises us that it will not be easy and that we may even suffer persecution. He also promises, that if we do acknowledge Him before others, so He will acknowledge us before His Father in heaven and that the sufferings of this present time are nothing to be compared to the glory which will be ours in heaven.

Lastly, the best witness we can make is to live every day to the glory of God. Seek His guidance, strength, and power in all relationships. Perfect love casts out all fear; with that truth in mind, may the Lord help us to have that kind of love for our fellow workers.

38 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Where Are You? - November 23, 2011 - Thanksgiving Eve - Text: Luke 17:11-19

2011-11-23T12:47:00.001-06:00

This evening we come to say “thank you,” which is something I pray we do every day. This evening we take the time to come, and with special emphases, we say “thank you,” as we celebrate a national day of giving thanks. “Thank you,” is not naturally in our vocabulary. I remember as a child and now that I have I children I am again reminded of that constant reminder, “what do you say?” “Thank you.” Our text for this evening is the Gospel lesson and the all familiar story of the ten lepers, but before you drift off into thinking about who will win the football game, or how much still needs to be done before the guests arrive, let us keep our ears and minds open to what really happened in the story of the ten lepers.

One day Jesus was on His way from Samaria to Galilee. On His way ten men who had leprosy met Him. At this point in the story we are not told of their nationality we are simply told of their disease, leprosy. Leprosy was a disease that had no cultural or national boundaries and if leprosy did anything it united those who would have otherwise been divided. A leper was a person who had a skin disease that was so bad and so infectious that they had to live outside of town. The person with leprosy was literally rotting to death and for the safety of others they must yell “unclean, unclean,” when anyone came near, in order to warn them to stay away lest they might get this dreaded, fatal disease. Not much was known about the disease, how it was communicated from one person to another so lepers were not allowed contact with the rest of the world. Certainly these lepers lead very lonely, deary lives. Their only companions would be other lepers.

What is evident from the response of the lepers to Jesus coming is that they must have at least heard of Him, even if they did not necessarily believe that He was the Messiah. It is evident that they had heard of His ability to cure and heal so that when He did come into town they cried out to Him for healing. Well, even if one did not believe, the rest did and besides, what could it hurt to try? Notice that their felt need was to be healed. They believed they needed physical healing and that is what they asked, for physical healing from leprosy.

Although their desire was for physical healing their cry was a cry for mercy, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” Now notice what Jesus does on His part. He does not wave His hands around or up in the air. He does not put His hand on their head and push them over. He does not say, “Be healed” (said in a deep “faith healing” voice). Instead, He simply asks them to demonstrate their faith. He says, “Go show yourselves to the priest.” They were to show themselves to the priest because he was the one who could announce that they were clean and no longer infected with leprosy. He was the one who could give them back their lives. But they were leprous. Perhaps the question on their mind was, should they go? Did they believe that Jesus healed them?

Now, we may want to pause here in this story and make sure that we understand it was not their own personal faith that healed them. Many times Jesus healed people and although, as here, He alludes to faith making them well, it is not one’s faith in Jesus that brings healing. Certainly that would limit God’s power. Their healing was effected by God. And actually, it was their healing that effected faith in their hearts. In other words, Jesus’ healing the lepers is what confirmed Jesus as God and is what confirmed their faith.

Getting back to the story, on their way to show themselves to the priest they are healed, all ten of them, but only one man notices. Or at least only one man notices and returns to Jesus to give Him thanks. When he gets to Jesus, he throws himself at Jesus’ feet, a sign of unworthiness and our text adds that “he was a Samaritan,” that is, he was a foreigner. Now we get to this social, national distinction. Again, as a leper this social/national barrier was knocked down, but now that they are healed it comes back into play. Actually, Jesus uses this social/national distinction to strike at His fellow Israelites for their thinking more highly of themselves. Jesus asks (rhetorically) “where are the other nine?” And He tells the man that his faith has saved him, saved him as in healing him and saved him for eternal life. We might suggest that this man had faith, saving faith. The other nine believed more in the healing than in the healer.

Now, that is a nice story and a nice story for this day of Thanksgiving, a nice story to remind us to be thankful. Yes, we know that Thanksgiving is not necessarily a religious holiday, rather it is a secular holiday. Yet, we might compare this secular holiday to the Old Testament festival of Pentecost which was a harvest festival. And as Christians, certainly we should be on the forefront of thankfulness and demonstrating that thankfulness. But, we might ask, how does it relate to our story?

In a very real way we are like the ten lepers. We are sick, spiritually sick. We are full of sin, enemies of God, we are outcasts, leading lonely, dreary lives. We know we are in need of healing, especially in need of spiritual healing.

And we know Jesus. We know even more than the lepers knew about Jesus. We have hind sight. We can look back and know that Jesus is the Messiah, the Savior. We know that He did live perfectly, that He did take all our sins upon Himself, that He did suffer and die the eternal death penalty for us in our place, that He did rise and ascend into heaven, that He did send His Holy Spirit to be with us to guide and lead us in life. We are continually reminded of all that Jesus did for us; all that He still continues to do for us; and all the He will do for us especially as He comes to us through the means of grace. As we read His Word we meet Him. As we make regular and diligent use of reading our Bibles we meet Him. As we come to Bible class and divine service we meet Him. As we read our Bibles we meet Him. As we remember our Baptism, as we partake of the Lord’s body and blood in His holy supper, as we confess our sins and hear His most beautiful words of absolution He gives us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation.

Jesus comes to us daily and weekly through His means of grace. Daily we are confronted with the question, do we believe? The temptations of the world are to put our trust in the creation rather than the Creator. Do we see Jesus’ hand in all things in life? Do we notice His good gifts and blessings? Each new day, the rain, the ability to work, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the roof over our heads and so on. Do we believe these are from our good and gracious God or that somehow we may have earned them, even a little?

Are we the one about whom Jesus asks “where are the others to whom I have given life?” Do we forget, or maybe we should ask, how often do we forget to give our Lord the thanks and praise He deserves. Or are we the one who came, throwing ourselves at Jesus’ feet in unworthiness and thanking Him for all His good gifts and blessings? Do we live for the creation or for the Creator? My prayer is that we are all like the foreigner.

Yet, whether we are like the foreigner or one of the nine, the fact remains that even for us, Jesus has given us healing, perfect healing through the forgiveness of sins which He earned for us and which He gives to us through His means of grace. He gives us perfect healing with forgiveness, He gives us faith and we know that we are saved. Thanks be to God.

Thanksgiving is a time to be like the leper who returned to give thanks, but not just at Thanksgiving, but all year long. As God has given to us, we respond, with His help in giving thanks to Him. We respond by speaking and singing words of thanks and praise. We respond by giving of our time, talents and treasure, as we are moved by the Lord to do so. We respond by simply offering ourselves and our lives to the Lord and living our life to His glory. I thank the Lord that you have come and began your Thanksgiving by coming here first and recognizing and giving thanks to the Lord for all His good gifts and blessings. My pray is that the Lord will continue to work through His means of grace to strengthen and keep you in faith and that He will continue to bless you as you give yourself back to Him. To Him be the glory. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . unconditional love at work (1).

2011-11-22T07:10:00.000-06:00

Have you ever thought how you are a witness, especially how you are a witness at work? We are witnesses whether we say anything or not. We are witnesses simply by our actions. What a bit of a scary thought! Why? Most of us do not give thought to what our actions say. Maybe we need to make a conscious effort at witnessing, especially at our work, our place of employment.

Being a witness is hard enough. Being a witness at work may be even harder. How, then, do we meet this challenge? We meet it in various ways, from simply keeping our mouths shut and minding our own business; at least in this way no one will ridicule us. Or we can take the other extreme of being very vocal about our faith, condemning everyone, and having no one listen to us, but simply ignore us and/or even hate us; at least this way we can justify ourselves for trying and being martyrs for the Lord. We can simply be a part of the group, knowing God will forgive us when we go to church on Sunday because He knows how hard it is to go against the group. (Adult peer pressure is oftentimes as great as teenage peer pressure or worse.)

We can change our beliefs and value system and do almost anything else to justify the way we deal with our working environment, like compartmentalizing our lives. We can compare ourselves to other people and see that we are still better than they. But, if we look close enough we could also find some that are better than we. Ultimately, though, we must compare ourselves with Christ. We all wind up the same, missing the mark. If you have not done so, take a good hard look at the people with whom you work. Can you tell what role they are playing? Without being judgmental, are there any of your fellow workers witnessing Christ? Have you noticed?

This week, think about ways you might be more conscientious of the witness you are making. Then, work on being more conscious about making a positive witness of Christ’s love for all.

37 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Separated - November 20, 2011 - Last Sunday in the Church Year (Proper 29) - Text: Matthew 25:31-46

2011-11-20T07:31:00.001-06:00

As I said last Sunday concerning our readings for last Sunday and this Sunday, you may notice how the Scripture readings point to the end times, the second coming of Christ, the day of judgement. Very much like the people of Jesus’ day who were watching, waiting, hoping and praying for the first coming of the Messiah, so too, today we are waiting, watching, hoping and praying for Jesus’ second coming. Today is what we call the Last Sunday in the Church Year and as it is every year as we reach the end of a church year our emphasis is on being watchful for Jesus to come again. I remember back as we approached the end of the year of 1999 and looked to beginning the year 2000, so many people were set on the possibility that Jesus would be coming, that the end of the world was near. And today as we look to the end of 2012 next year with the Mayan Calender ending in December, some people think that will be the end of the world. Fortunately, or unfortunately, God is not on our time schedule, nor does He measure time according to our measurement of time. As a matter of fact, God is outside of time. God lives in the eternal present, which means for God there is no yesterday or tomorrow, only now. God created time for us. And remember, He waited four thousand years to fulfill His first promise to send Jesus. So far, He has only waited two thousand years since Jesus’ promise to return. We do not know how much longer, or shorter He will wait. We know that He will come in His time and according to the good pleasure of His Father who alone knows the time of His coming. Yes, He could come at this time or He may continue to wait, or He may come even sooner. Until He comes, we continue to prepare ourselves for His coming.

Our text for this morning comes immediately after Jesus tells the parable of the talents, our reading from last week. The parable of the talents, you might remember, from last week, reminds us of our duty, privilege and responsibility to use the gifts, talents and abilities that God gives to us in this world in service to Him and His kingdom, which we do, we serve Him by serving others, and that He will hold us accountable for how we use the gifts, talents and abilities He has given to us. The order of Judgement, as we pointed out last week and as will see this morning is first, faith, then works. Both are important, but one, works, naturally follows the other, faith.

What will the day of Jesus second coming be like. I do not know. I can only tell you what Jesus Himself tells us in His Word. It will be a day when the Son of Man will gather all nations to Himself. How that will occur, I do not know, all I do know is that I believe it will be a very magnificent event. All people of all nations will be drawn to the Lord and everyone will come. I do not know how it will happen, but God will come so that all people will be able to see Him at the same time, and He will not need television, or Facebook or twitter, to make it happen. So, obviously it will be the biggest event of all times, a mass of humanity, of billions of people, coming before Jesus all at once, recognizing and acknowledging Him as the Lord and Savior of all. And I do mean everyone, believers and unbelievers alike. No one will have to tell us who Jesus is. No one will deny Him. Everyone, believer and unbeliever alike will confess that it is Jesus. Unfortunately for the unbeliever, as this fact is revealed to them by Jesus Himself, it will be too late. But mark God’s Word, they will bow before Him and recognize Him as the Lord of all. And as we read in the book of Revelation, they will then proceed to blame Jesus for their unbelief. They will act like the lazy servant in last weeks parable and they will act like a lot of people in our world today. We are not necessarily sorry for our sins, just sorry we got caught. And then they will want to blame someone else, in this instance, Jesus.

Our text lays out somewhat of a courtroom scene of judgement. To the Sheep, that is, to the believers, Jesus will say, “34bCome, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.” (v.34b-36).

In their humility the believers will ask, “37bLord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?” (v. 37b-39). And the King’s answer will be, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” (v. 40).

Notice that Jesus begins by speaking to the believers, those who have faith in Him alone for their salvation. They are credited with doing works of service, that is, good works, the good works God has prepared in advance for us to do. Notice, too, that they are credited with doing good works only because of their faith. It is our faith which drives us to do works of service. Without faith we would not do works of service. We might do some things that look good to our world, but our motivation will not be to give God glory. Notice, again, that the believers will humbly deny any recognition for doing works of service, giving credit where credit is due, to the Lord who motivates and works good works in and through us.

Now the questions we might have is, “What are our works of service?” Our works of service are anything that we do as a response to our faith, as motivated by the Holy Spirit working in us through the Word of God. Jesus lists our works of service as giving food and drink to those in need, clothing those who need clothes, and visiting the sick and those in prison. Our works of service also include living our faith, giving ourselves to the Lord, giving our first fruits and tithes to the Lord, serving on boards and committees, anything we do that is motivated, not from a selfish motivation of wanting to earn something, but from the motivation of wanting to respond to all the Lord has given us, faith, forgiveness and eternal life. As I have said before, our works of service are the fact that through our vocations we serve God by serving others. And Jesus tells us that the result of our faith is eternal life.

After addressing the sheep, the believers, Jesus continues by addressing the goats, that is the unbelievers. He tells them, “41bDepart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.” (v.41b-43).

The self justifying response, or excuse, of the unbeliever will be similar to the humble response of the believers, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?” (v.44). And Jesus response will be, “Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.” (v.45).

Yes, these are people who have done some good things in their life. They may even have a sincere faith in something or in someone. Their problem is that they do not have faith in Jesus alone. Their problem is that their good deeds are only social good deeds and are deeds which have been motivated for self recognition and not done to the glory of God. Their good deeds and good works are discounted because they have no faith in Jesus alone. No faith in Jesus alone means no good works in God’s eyes.

The difference between the Christian and the unbeliever is faith which is our motivation for doing what we do. Think about it. How often are we motivated to do something because it makes us feel good, or because it is the “right” thing to do, or because of any number of selfish reasons, self recognition and the like. Or think about how often we do something without gaining any recognition, but because we know that it is something that will bring glory to God. Do we believe that we are deserving of heaven or do we believe that we are undeserving? As Christians we humbly acknowledge that there is nothing that we have done to gain eternal life in heaven, but that it is given to us freely by God, through faith in Jesus, which He gives to us as well, and through His work for us of giving His life for our forgiveness. Which brings us to the noticeably different result. The result of faith is life. The result of unbelief is eternal death.

Jesus makes a clear distinction concerning what will happen on judgement day. We will be judged, first and foremost according to our faith. Those who have faith in Jesus He will separate to His right and those He calls His sheep. His sheep are His sheep because they believe in Him alone. Those who do not have faith in Jesus alone, including those who have faith, no matter how sincere, or those who are religious or very religious, no matter how religious, yet their faith or their religion is not faith or religion in Jesus, He will separate to His left and those He calls goats. Because our God is a just God, there are many who will not inherit eternal life in heaven. Thanks be to God, that He is also a gracious and merciful God so that there are many who also believe in Jesus and will be saved, by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus alone.

As we listen to these words of Jesus we can understand why we Christians are so hated by the rest of the world and even some in the Christian church who cannot deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow Jesus. Contrary to what is taught by some, that there are many ways to enlightenment, or that we are to grow to be more and more Christlike, as Christians, and as Lutheran Christians, we understand that the more we grow in our Christian faith and life, the more we realize how sinful we are, how unworthy we are, and how helpless before God we are and thus we understand our need to continually confess our sins and hear God’s message of forgiveness and grace. Like a child, a helpless child, I have to cling to Jesus and Jesus alone for salvation. All other ways lead to perdition.

Christmas time is usually known as the time for giving. When we are the recipients of many gifts from others we begin to feel good about ourselves, we begin to get built up. If we are given what we would perceive as particularly thoughtful gifts from one person our attitude toward that person begins to change to being an attitude of gratitude. We may even begin to think about what we could do in return for all they have given to us. Not that we would be trying to repay them for the gifts which they have given to us and not that we would be trying to earn more gifts from them, but simply that we would be motivated by their generosity to be generous back to them. The same thing happens with our relationship with Jesus. Jesus gave up heaven. He took on human flesh and blood. He became one of us. He took our sins upon Himself, not because He had to, but because He wanted to. He suffered the eternal death penalty for us in our place. He gave His life for ours. And He continues to lavish us with His gifts of forgiveness of sins, faith and strengthening of faith and eternal life. On the last day He will invite us into His heavenly Kingdom and robe us with His robes of righteousness. Our response is not one of trying to pay Jesus back, not one of trying to earn His gifts from Him, rather our response to His generosity is a response of gratitude and thanks. Our response is one of giving ourselves to Him. Our response is a humble attitude of gratitude. Our response is one which says, to God be the glory. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Unconditional Love.

2011-11-19T08:34:00.001-06:00

One important principle in being mission-minded is that of having unconditional love. Your circle of friends and family may at times be suspect of your caring for them. To the non-Christian, caring is usually done with strings attached as almost every other gimmick in the secular world. You may find your family, friends and loved ones making a statement like, “Even if I do not accept your religion, will you still love me?” That statement cuts deep into the heart, but for the non-Christian, it is a fair statement. In our own way we need to let them know that, yes, we will still love them without making them feel guilty about accepting our “religion.” Only in not attaching strings to our love and not trying to make them feel guilty do we show true, unconditional love. This principle is extremely difficult to follow, and do need God’s continued guidance and strength to exercise this type of unconditional love.

Another important principle in being witness-minded is that of patience. We cannot force a decision, conversion, or faith on anyone. We can talk until we are blue in the face and it could make great sense to us, but we are not the ones doing the converting, putting the faith in their hearts. The Holy Spirit is the one who gives/works faith in hearts when and where He pleases.

As we patiently wait on the Holy Spirit to do His work, we continue to pray for our family, friends and loved ones. We continue to live our lives as a witness to the faith we have in us. And we continue to introduce our circle of friends and family to other members of our congregation and involve them in church-related activities.

As we can see, being witness-minded can be a tough, taxing experience, but it can also be very rewarding as the Holy Spirit works through us to bring His Word to His people. And we do God’s will, giving glory to the Lord for the souls He saves.

36 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . An Honest Assessment.

2011-11-17T07:12:00.000-06:00

We often wonder who we should include as people to whom we should actively witness. Our neighbors do not go to church, but they say they are Christians. They say they believe in God and go to church occasionally (Christmas and Easter). What about my cousin who is a Lutheran? I guess if you are Lutheran then you must be a Christian. Sure, he is not participating in church activities, but he attends at least once a month. My boss and his wife do not go to church, but they are good people. To whom should I witness?

Too often we think, “We are living in a Christian country. Everyone in the good ole U.S. of A. is saved.” Everyone except the atheists, Communists, Muslims and Buddhists. Well, that thought is nice, but what does God say? In James 2:14-26, we hear that there is not such thing as an apathetic Christian. There is no such thing as a good intentioned Christian. He also tells us that being a Christian is not just not doing a bunch of “noes.” Being a Christian is a yes, an action, a doing, a living for Christ. Being a Christian negates “cheap grace,” that is, I am saved so I can just sit around and enjoy life for myself.

Now, before you accuse me of teaching work righteousness, please understand that I am not advocating, nor teaching work righteousness, rather I am advocating a Gospel action moved by the Holy Spirit, based on saving faith. True saving faith is not believing there is a god. Even Satan believes that (James 2:19); besides, that belief would be a different heresy, universalism. True saving faith is not a spare tire God to bring out when you need Him. True saving faith is complete trust in Christ’s life, suffering, death, and resurrection for salvation.

Where, then, do these “works” come in? Because of what Christ has done for us, we cannot help but live our lives according to His will. We cannot help but let our faith show forth in our lives. We cannot help but do the things God has prepared for us to do (Eph. 2:10), using the gifts, time, and treasure He has given us to do them.

What, then, does this reassessment mean for us? We do include many people on our mission list, all those who do not show by their lives that Jesus Christ is their Savior. The harsh reality is that the list may include your mother, father, sister, brother, son, daughter, wife, husband, neighbor, fellow church member, etc.

Remember to start with prayer. Pray for these people specifically. Then, with the help of the Holy Spirit working through you, work to get our apathetic “Christian” friends involved, so that they, too, may be a part of the excitement of living for the Lord.

35 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . A Right Attitude.

2011-11-15T07:17:00.000-06:00

There is a story, an illustration, that will help us to see how the devil does his work. The story tells how an elder went to visit all of the members on his responsibility list. He took a note pad and asked each member, “Do you have any complaints about the church, or the pastor?” Of course, upon completion of his visits, he had several pages of complaints.

When you are visiting with your circle of influence, family members, unchurched family or friends (or even your church friends for that matter), what do you say about your church? What does your body language or your actions say about your church, or for that matter, about your faith? Do you continually share with your circle of friends how disgruntled you are with your church, school, pastor, workers, etc? “I think the pastor should stop preaching about my sin.” “I think old so and so is a real . . . (hypocrite); I do not know why he even comes to church.” Then, do you follow this grumbling up with, “Hey, how would you like to come and visit with us next Sunday?” and wonder why you get an “I don’t think so” response?

We live in a sin-filled world. Because of sin, we are all, at times, susceptible to hopping on the “things are so bad” bandwagon. But we are God’s church, God’s people in this place, to do His work. With His working through us, we can do great things. A great proof of that is to look at the diversity of the disciples and see how Jesus’ love held them together.

If the elder in our story had asked each member, “What do you like about our church, school, pastor, etc?” or “What do think we are doing right?” He would have helped the members to refocus away from the distractions of this world and on to the work that the Lord would have us to do.

When you are with your circle of influence, think about and talk about those things you like about your church and share that with them. As you sow, so shall you reap. You will be amazed at just how much better things will look when you start out with a positive (God-given) attitude, worked in you by Christ!

34 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Settling Accounts - November 13, 2011 - Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 28) - Text: Matthew 24:14-30

2011-11-13T07:53:00.001-06:00

This morning, as we do every year at this time of the year, the Church year that is, we begin to set our eyes on the things to come, we look to the day of judgement when the Lord will return to gather us and all His saints to take us to be with Himself in heaven for eternity. Our Scripture lessons for this week and for next week move our focus from this world and our lives in this world to focus our attention on the now and the not yet, our future in heaven. This morning, in our text, Jesus tells the parable of the talents in order to remind us that all that we have is a gift from Him, that He gives gifts according to our abilities, that His desire is that we use the gifts He gives in service to Him by serving others, and that ultimately He will hold us accountable for our own faith and response of faith, in our use of the gifts He gives.

Our text is the parable of the giving of the talents (v. 14-18). Jesus begins the parable with a bit of imagery. In this parable Jesus speaks of a man going on a journey. Certainly we may understand that Jesus is the man going on a journey, because Jesus will be going to the cross, suffering, dying, rising and then ascending to glory in heaven where He will wait until His return on the last day. Now, the disciples may not have understood the completeness of this imagery, as Jesus has not yet suffered, died and ascended, but because we are looking back we can see how these events have played out and how we too wait for Jesus’ return.

Before the man goes on his journey we are told in the parable, that he gives to each of his servants talents. He gives to one servant five talents, to another servant two talents and to a third servant one talent. The man gives to each servant according to his assessment of the servants abilities. In the same way we know that God gives to us gifts and talents and He does so according to our abilities.

The man’s desire was that while he was away on his journey that each of his servants would use the talents he entrusted to them to make a profit. His desire is that they would use what he gave them for their own good and for the good of the whole. In like manner, God’s desire is that we use the gifts and talents He has given to us in service to Him by serving others. In other words, God’s desire is that we use our gifts and talents for our own good as well as for His good which comes about through the good we do for others.

The two faithful servants wasted no time in showing their faithfulness in that we are told that they immediately, or as our text says, “at once” began to put their talents to work. In like manner, God’s desire is that our response of faith is to use our gifts and talents in service to Him and we do that, we serve Him by serving others.

Our text quickly moves forward to some time in the future as it states, “after a long time” the master returned home and his return brought the day of judgement (v. 19-30) for the servants. We are told that the servants came forward in the same order that they were first presented and given gifts. So, the first servant who was given five talents came forward first and joyously returned not only the five talents the master gave him, but five talents more. Also, the second servant returned to the master not only the two talents, but two talents more. To these faithful servants the master gave them each a reward for their faithfulness.

Lastly we are told that the lazy servant is summoned. As he approaches, he simply returns to the master the one talent that was given and entrusted to him. His explanation which is more an excuse for his laziness is that he blames the master because he is a hard man. This servant does not truly know the master and the gifts the master gives, instead he focuses his attention on himself and his own inabilities and laziness.

And so, the master shows the folly of the lazy servant. The master points out that what the servant has is a gift from him, thus discounting this accusation of the master being a hard man. The master gave the servant the talent to use and invest and was simply concerned that the servant use what was given to him for the good of all and instead what the servant did was reject the gift because of his wickedness and laziness.

Finally, the master punishes the lazy servant according to his own misunderstanding. He takes the one talent and gives it to the faithful servant who has ten talents, thus fulfilling what the lazy servant has said, “Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed” (v. 24). And then the lazy servant is thrown out into the outer darkness as warning to all those who refuse and reject the gifts God gives.

So, what does this mean? Again, we are approaching the end of our current church year. Every year as we approach the end of our church year the topic of the end times is put before us. The topic of the end times is an important topic, because we are living in the last days of this world. We have been living in the last days since Jesus’ birth ushered in the last days. Certainly there are many in our world and I might surmise even here in our own midst who do not believe that Jesus will return during our life times. And perhaps He may not. However, even if He dose not physically return to earth during our own life time, we will pass on and return to Him. Either way, at His return, or at our own passing, we will stand before the Lord and we will have to give account for our response of faith, our use of the gifts, talents and abilities with which He has entrusted to each one of us. And that day of accounting I believe will come soon, sooner than we know and sooner that we might imagine, thus the encouragement to always be ready.

Our text for this morning, then, serves, once again, to remind us that God is the prime mover. God gives and we are given to. God gives, faith, forgiveness, and life. And His usual way of giving is through means, in particular the means of grace; Holy Baptism, confession and absolution, His Word and the Lord’s Supper. God gives these gifts and because we have no free will, because our will has been tainted by sin, in and of ourselves our only ability is to be like the lazy servant, to refuse and reject the gifts God gives and we do reject and refuse His gifts every time we absent ourselves from being in the place where His gifts are disturbed and given out, especially divine service and Bible class.

But, not only does God give these spiritual gifts of faith, forgiveness and eternal life, He also gives, gifts, talents and abilities to use in service to Him and His Kingdom. The main reason God gives such spiritual gifts as we call them is so that we might do the good works which He has prepared in advance for us to do, the good works of spreading His news of salvation to others so that they too might be a part of His kingdom. Our failure not only to use our gifts, but even to recognize our gifts brings condemnation like the lazy servant in the parable.

How do we know what gifts talents and abilities God gives and how do we use them? Normally our gifts, talents and abilities are those things we do that come naturally and that we enjoy doing. God does not give gifts and talents as a way of punishment, doing something we do not like or cannot do, but He gives gifts and talents so that we will use them. God also gives to each of us a vocation or more than one vocation. Our vocation is that service in which we use His gifts to serve Him through our serving others. Again, this is an enjoyable service.

At some point, a point I believe to be sooner than we might know or expect, God will return to judge the living and the dead as we confess in the creed. Now, please understand, we are not judged to eternal life or eternal death by our deeds, by what we do or do not do, by our good works. First and foremost God will judge according to our faith, the faith He has given to us. Remember, God is the prime mover, it all begins, continues and ends with Him. He gives faith and the faith He gives He gives through the means He gives as well, either through the means of Holy Baptism or the means of His Holy Word.

Only after we have been judge to eternal life will God judge us according to our faithful response of faith. In other words, the degrees of glory expressed in God’s word are given according to one’s response of faith and how we have faithfully used the gifts He has given to us.

Thus, to use the language of Martin Luther in the explanations to the articles of the Apostles’ Creed, our “duty” is, first and foremost to be given the gifts God gives without refusal, then to use the gifts He gives to His glory, which we do by serving Him through our service to others, through our vocations, and finally to always be ready for His return.

Next week is the last Sunday in our present church year calendar. Should the Lord tarry, that is, should the Lord allow, on Sunday, November 27 we will begin another church year. And we will continue our journey through life so long as the Lord should allow. While we journey here in this world, it is imperative that we continually be reminded that this world is transient, that this world is not permanent, that this world will soon end, or at least our time in this world will soon end, thus it is important at all times to be ready to stand before the Lord for our own day of judgement. Our day of judgement will come and we will be called before Him. His call to judgement is irresistible, as it was even for the unfaithful servant. And there will be those who will stand on the day of judgement and attempt to blame God for their refusal of the gifts He has to give, just like the lazy servant. And there will be those who will be cast into the outer darkness. As for those of us who are given and joyfully and thankfully are given the gifts God has to give to us the Lord will rejoice in our faithfulness. He will robe us in His robes of righteousness. He will invite us into His heavenly kingdom. He will say to us as He said to His faithful servants, “Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master” (v. 23). My prayer for each of us is that we are ready and that we will be ready so that when we reach our Lord’s kingdom we might rejoice with all the saints and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . A Right Focus.

2011-11-12T13:31:00.000-06:00

Have you ever noticed how, at the end of one church year and at the beginning of the next church year (3rd Last, 2nd Last, Last Sunday of the Church Year and Advent Sundays), the Scripture readings all point to Christ first coming and to His second coming. These messages also remind us of what is important in our lives, that is, that our lives on this earth are not permanent; after all, what is a hundred years of life on this earth compared to millions of billions of years of eternity? What is important is focusing our attention on the world to come.

However, there is a “bug” in this mixture. That “bug” is the devil. He would like nothing more than to take our focus off the important things in life and instead, be concerned about all the meaningless, minor details, you know, the things that really will not matter tomorrow. But the devil gets us so involved in these meaningless things that we forget about what is important.

The devil does not tempt us to do things he knows we will not do. He does not tempt us not to go to church; instead he fills our lives with so many things that we no longer have time for worship. Our focus is taken off getting ourselves ready for eternity and is placed on all the things of this world. Now I am not saying that the things of this world are not important. There are some important things we need to be doing while we are in this world, but the most important thing is getting ready for the world to come.

When it comes to our circle of influence, what do our actions tell them about what is important in our lives? The old saying is true; “Actions speak louder than words.” Do our actions say that this life or that eternal life is more important?

When the devil tempts us, it is time to take stock, regroup and, at times, refocus.

33 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Reflecting.

2011-11-10T07:05:00.000-06:00

Have you ever looked up in the sky at evening and seen the moon, but on another night you do not see it, even if it really is there all the time? Because the moon has no light of its own, we only see the moon when it is in the right position to reflect the light of the sun shining on it. If the moon is not in the right position, it cannot reflect the light of the sun, or it may only be able to reflect some of the light, which gives us the smaller portions or phases of the moon.

In a very similar manner, we may compare ourselves as moons to the Son of God. We have no love of our own. God, the Son, is complete love. When we love others, it is only because He first loved us. When we are in the right position, when we are living lives of faith, then the Son of God is able to shine on us, and we are then able to reflect that love and shine so that others might see our love for them.

Likewise, when we are not in the right position, when we are living lives of sin, then we are not in the right position, and although we may be able to reflect some of the love of God the Son, that reflection is rather imperfect. For us sinful human beings, we do reflect God’s love, though imperfectly.

It might even be true that we have phases in our own lives. Maybe there are times we are up, happy and glad because things are going great. There may be other times when things are not going so well because some disappointments have occurred. Believe it or not, through both these times we may reflect God’s love, and as always, imperfectly. There may be “up” times when we may reflect God’s love as well as “down” times, because, at all times, our Lord loves us and continues to shine His love in our hearts and lives so that we may be able to reflect that love to others.

No, we do not always shine as full moons; however, by the grace and power of God, we do always shine. May the Lord help us let our lights shine so that He may be glorified.

32 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Worship Helps.

2011-11-08T08:19:00.000-06:00

God works through means, in particular, the means of Grace, the Word (the Bible) and the Sacraments (Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper). Our worship is liturgical because the liturgy is the Word of God. We do so because we worship best when we say back to God what He has given us to say; after all, how much better can we speak to God than to speak back the very words which He has given us in the first place. Again, our worship is liturgical, which means that our worship is permeated with the Word of God.

During worship we speak back to God with His Word as He speaks to us through His Word. Some, especially for those who do not have a background in liturgical or Lutheran liturgical worship, may need a little help in the actual practice of worship or in understanding our liturgical worship. Thus, lifestyle evangelism is helping those unaccustomed to liturgical worship, not only in their practice of worship, but also in an understanding of why we worship the way we worship.

Our worship is not a “here today and gone tomorrow” worship (set in and with time), but because our worship is liturgical and Biblical, it transcends time. When we worship the way we worship, our worship is with the saints who have gone on before and with those yet to come (thus, it transcends time). When we take the time to explain the why and how of liturgical worship, we open doors for others so they, too, may share in the richness and appreciation of our worship experience.

What a wonderful witness we can make in helping others in worship and what a wonderful witness our Lord makes through His means of grace as these means permeate our worship service. It is through these means that God first works faith and continues to strengthen and keep us in faith until Christ comes again. What a wonderful witness we make as we hear these means give the answer for the hope that we have in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

31 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Blessed - November 6, 2011 - Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost /All Saints’ Day Observed - Text: Matthew 5:1-12

2011-11-06T07:35:00.001-06:00

Today we celebrate All Saints’ Day. This does not mean that we give undue credit or glory to those faithful family members and friends who have fallen asleep in faith, but it does mean that we place their lives before us as an example of how we are to live the Christian faith. As we remember the saints who have gone on before us we remember that they too were at the same time sinner and saint, just like us. We also take the time to be reminded that by faith in Jesus Christ we are all saints. As we go around the room we might call each other by our sainted name, Saint Shirley, Saint Pat, Saint Jon, Saint (place your name here) and that would continue for each one of us. As saints, then, heaven is not just something we look forward to, it is a present reality. By faith in Jesus and His work on the cross we have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. Heaven is ours now, it is just that we will wait until we fall asleep in faith from this life until we will awaken in our heavenly home.

This morning our text is what we call the Beatitudes, or the statements of blessing from Jesus. Before we get to these statements of Jesus let us take a few minutes to remind ourselves what is the world’s idea of being blessed. We have talked about these various items from time to time. Being blessed according to the standards of this world means having riches. Wealth and money is a worldly sign of success. The more money one has, the more successful they appear to be, at least in the eyes of the world.

Another indicator of success in our world is power. Power is a sign of worldly success. The more powerful one is, or the more powerful they seem to the world, the more successful they appear to be, again, at least in they eyes of the world.

A third indicator of success in our world is fame. Being famous is a sign of worldly success. The more famous one is, the more successful they appear to be, again, at least in the eyes of the world.

Yet, as we have been reminded time and again, these worldly signs of success are not necessarily indicative that a person is successful, because, as we know, as we have heard stated and read about, some of the most wealthy, most powerful and most famous people are also some of the most depressed. Jesus has a different idea and understanding of being successful and that is where we now turn our attention.

Beginning at verse three, Jesus’ idea of being blessed begins with admitting our weak faith. In His own words Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (v. 3). Jesus is not talking about simply being poor in spirit, or weak in faith, but admitting that we are in a constant need of having our faith strengthened. Here we might remind ourselves that confirmation was not graduation and that there is always more that we do not know about God than we do know about Him and so we have a constant need to be in His Word, to read our Bible, to be not only in divine service, but also in Bible Class so that we might be strengthened in our faith.

Continuing on at verse four, Jesus’ idea of being blessed includes being ashamed of and mourning our weak faith. In His own words Jesus say, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (v. 4). Jesus is not talking simply about some outward speaking of our weak faith, you know the line, “I know I should be in Bible Class, I know I should read my Bible every day, I know I should be in church every Sunday,” and so forth. No, Jesus is talking about a yearning which comes from the heart, a yearning so deep that it moves us to do something about our weak faith. In other words, we simply cannot help but be where the gifts are given and distributed.

In verse five, Jesus’ idea of being blessed includes meekly acknowledging one’s part in Jesus’ crucifixion. In His own words Jesus say, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth” (v. 5). Blessed are those who are not arrogant, but who bow their heads in grief because of their sin and their part in Jesus’ death, that Jesus had to die for their sins. This means that each one of us confesses, for ourselves, that it was because of my sins that Jesus had to shed His blood and die on the cross. For if we cannot and do not acknowledge our part in Jesus’ death on the cross, then we have no part in Jesus’ resurrection and eternal life. It is this acknowledgment, when it is a faithful and true acknowledgment which gains for us an inheritance in heaven and which leads us into action as we read in verse six.

In verse six, Jesus’ idea of being blessed includes craving, hungering and thirsting after doing the right thing. In His own words Jesus say, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (v. 6). Those who are blessed are those who hunger and thirst after the Word of God, those who truly hunger and thirst after the Lord’s righteousness, and those who strive, with the Lord’s help, for an eternal righteousness and a piety of life. Again, this is something that is so powerful we simply cannot help but want to be where God’s gifts are distributed and given out.

So far Jesus has been pointing to us as individuals. We are blessed when we confess and grieve our sins, confess our need to be in His Word, and when hunger and thirst for His word and righteousness. Our confession brings forgiveness, but even more. Here we are reminded that our faith does, or at least should, make a difference in our lives, the way we live, how we speak, what we do and so forth. There is more to our Christian lives than just showing up for church and Bible Class on Sunday morning.

In verse seven our attention focuses on our outlook toward others. Jesus’ idea of being blessed includes showing mercy to others even if that mercy is not show back. In His own words Jesus say, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (v. 7). Blessed are those who have a deep and sincere concern for the temporal and spiritual needs of their neighbor. Here we might be reminded of the opportunities which the Lord gives to us to be merciful to others, specifically to our guest who come to divine service with us and also to the families of our mother’s day out, and especially those who have no home church.

In verse eight, Jesus’ idea of being blessed includes being pure in heart, thinking pure thoughts. In His own words Jesus say, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God” (v. 8). This is the opposite of hypocrisy which is acting like a Christian, but not believing. Are our thoughts on ourselves or on those who have not yet heard the message of Jesus and salvation? Are our thoughts continually on this world and our lives in this world, or on the world to come and our being ready for the world to come and getting others ready?

In verse nine, Jesus’ idea of being blessed includes seeking to bring peace among ourselves and others. In His own words Jesus say, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God” (v. 9). This is not a peace which comes from compromising one’s faith and beliefs, but a peace which has at its center Jesus Christ. Maybe you have seen the sign or the bumper sticker, “No (N-O) Jesus, No (N-O)Peace, Know (K-N-O-W) Jesus, Know (K-N-O-W) Peace.” Apart from Jesus and apart from faith in Him we cannot know or have true peace. Remember, true peace comes only from sins forgiven so without Jesus there is no forgiveness and no true peace.

In verse ten, Jesus’ idea of being blessed includes suffering persecution because of our faith. In His own words Jesus say, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (v. 10). It is our spiritual righteousness, our moral character, our exclusive claim that there is one way and only one way to eternal life, which makes us Christians stand out and “look” aloof to the world and thus that is why we are hated by the world. When we make the Lord’s righteousness ours and when we adopt our Lord’s intolerant attitude toward sin then we can no longer be accepted by our unrighteous and, ironically enough by our, so called, tolerant society. Do you want to know if you are really a Christian or not? Check to see if you are loved or hated by the world.

Finally in verse eleven, Jesus’ idea of being blessed includes suffering, being insulted, falsely accused and spoken against. In His own words Jesus say, “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me” (v. 11). Here Jesus names a few forms of hatred which will be bestowed on “practicing” Christians. It is our honor and distinction to suffer in His interest and because of His name. As Jesus says, “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (v. 12). As Christians we still have an irrepressible joy, because no matter how much the world might hate us, no matter how much the world might persecute us, this is nothing compared to the glory which is ours in heaven.

This morning we see a stark difference in our focus and in the focus of the world. The world’s focus is on the here and now. For those who are in the world and of the world, this is all there is and so life must be lived for the here and now. “You have to grab for all the gusto you can.”

Whereas God’s focus is on the now and the not yet, the future, eternity. Our life on this earth is short, from conception and birth to a hundred years or so and then it is over, compared to our life in heaven which is forever and ever and ever. As Christians our focus is not so much on the here and now as on the now and the hereafter. That is why we see the importance of confessing our sins and being given forgiveness, that we confess our weak faith, that we hunger and thirst after the Word of the Lord and His righteousness, that we show mercy and seek ways to share the love of Jesus and His Gospel message with others, so they too might be a part of His kingdom.

As we celebrate All Saints Day we celebrate that by God’s grace, through faith in Jesus Christ alone, we are a part of God’s Kingdom and that we have a hope and a certainty for now and for the future. We celebrate the example of all the saints who have gone on before us because they showed their faith in Jesus alone for their salvation, because they hungered and thirsted after righteousness and because their lives are an example to us to be about the business of Jesus in spreading His love and Gospel message to all the world.

I like the words of one of the songs we used to sing when I was serving with a group that did weekends for church youth groups while in college, it went, “Heaven is a wonderful place, filled with glory and grace, I want to see my Savior’s face, heaven is a wonderful place, I want to go there.” I pray that this is your song as well so that when our last hour on this earth has come we might all together with all the saints stand before the Lord’s throne and proclaim, “to Him be the glory,” for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Shown in Expressions.

2011-11-05T09:08:00.001-05:00

What is that look on your face? Is that a look of pleasant surprise? Is that a look of disgust? Is that a look that implies, “you’re invading my turf”? Just what is that look? How often it is that our expressions negate our words? Too often.

When you greet someone on Sunday morning, someone who is not a member of our congregation, but someone who is a guest worshiping with us, what “look” do you give them? Perhaps your words are words of welcome, but what is your expression? Is your expression an expression of welcome as well?

And what about your body language? Does your body language betray your words? Does your body language express joy and excitement? Do you lean in and listen? Or are you looking around for a friend? Are you antsy and cannot wait until your “little ‘hello’” is completed so you can say you greeted a guest at worship?

The Lord knows we struggle with these expressions. He knows we need all the help we can get. And He is there ready to help us. As we come to worship, as we ask Him for help, so He is there to help us in greeting our guests with sincerity and love. He is there to help us to meet and greet as well as to show forth our expressions of care and concern.

If you are not sure about your expressions, try looking in the mirror, or even asking a good (honest) friend what your expressions are saying, aside and apart from your words.

Perhaps you have heard the expression, “If you are happy, let your face know.” How true it is that what is in our hearts and minds does show through our words as well as our expressions. May the Lord help our thoughts be thoughts of love, care and concern, and may He work those thoughts through our words as well as our expressions so that our guests may truly know they are welcome and wanted.

30 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Shown in Words.

2011-11-03T07:14:00.000-05:00

Is evangelism a part of your lifestyle? How do you know? One way to tell is how you speak. For example: When you attend worship and Bible class on Sunday mornings, how do you refer to those people who are in worship who are not members of the congregation? Do you refer to them as strangers? If you do, it means that you believe them to be unwelcome and invading “your” territory. Perhaps you refer to them as visitors. Although this term is better than strangers, there is still the subtle implication that these visitors are welcome so long as they leave.

Have you ever thought about those people who worship who are not members as guests? The difference between a guest and a visitor is that guests are always welcome, and we want guests to return. We cannot wait until a guest comes back to visit us again. Do our words reflect this type of hope and love to those who worship with us who are not a part of our worshiping community?

Of course, such is the language we may use with one another. What is the language we use in speaking to those who worship with us who are (not yet) a part of membership? When we speak with them, are our words welcoming, inclusive words, or are our words harsh and standoffish?

It is interesting to think, and who knows, when we take the time, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to reach out our hand, to greet and visit with others, we may even meet a new friend. We may even meet the person who will become a close friend. And we may even be the person to offer some word or words of encouragement to someone who is in need of encouragement.

With the Lord’s help, we can develop a lifestyle evangelism mind set which will show forth in our words to each other as well as to others so that we welcome others as guests whom we want and expect to become a part of our fellowship here on earth and ultimately in heaven.

29 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Being Faithful.

2011-11-01T07:23:00.000-05:00

Success in our world today, and especially in our capitalistic society, is measured by dollars and cents, or by other numbers. Although this is denied within the church, there is truth to the fact that even in the church the success or failure of a congregation is measured by its number of those in attendance, baptisms, adult converts, and so forth. Even as individual Christians we may, at times, feel a little pressure suggesting that we are not as good of Christians as we could be because we are not, individually, bringing in the numbers we should to church, either as guests or visitors, or the like.

Fortunately, God does not measure success the way we do. Fortunately God never has commended that we be successful. And simply to ask that we be successful would be to ask to define the term success. Do we use this word to mean numbers, dollars and cents, or what? No, God never asks that we be successful about anything. He does ask that we be faithful. “Be faithful unto death and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10).

“Be faithful.” What does that mean? That means holding on and clinging to Jesus, believing in Him with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength until the end, your physical end on this earth. We are not to be running after (as Moses says, a whoring after) other gods. We are not to concern ourselves with counting how many “notches” we have on our belts from bringing others to Jesus. As a matter of fact, in the Old Testament, David sinned when he counted the people. It is only with God’s bidding that we attempt such counting.

One of our greatest concerns in Lifestyle Evangelism is to life faithful lives. As we live faithful lives, we will be showing the faith that is in our hearts. Others will see our faith and we will have the opportunity to give an answer for the hope that we have in Christ our Savior, which is what motivates our living lives of faith. And we pray that the Lord would help us to live such faithful lives even unto our own physical death.

28 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Sometimes, Burning Coals.

2011-10-29T07:37:00.000-05:00

Paul talks about the difference between giving from the heart and giving out of fairness by telling us that there is a difference between inviting your friends over to eat, when you know that they will invite you over to eat with them the next time. This reciprocation is simply taking turns in feeding each other. Now, in and of itself, such action is not a bad thing. The problem is when we think we are being generous when we are really only trading with each other. Paul suggests that true giving in this sense is to invite those to eat whom you know will not be able to invite you back in order to repay you for your kindness.

Wise King Solomon, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, takes this idea one step further. He suggests, “If you enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat, and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink, for you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you” (Proverbs 25:21-22). The first lesson we learn is the way to rid yourself of your enemies, by making them your friends. Not only are we to make them our friends, but we are to feed them as well.

The second lesson we learn is how to be truly mean to those who are mean to us. We spoke before about speaking a kind word to those who have spoken rudely to us. Here we are told that the best way to “get back” at someone who has hurt you and is your enemy is by being kind to him/her, even treating him/her to a meal. The result is that you will indeed inflict great amounts of shameful pain on them, and your reward will be a Godly reward given in heaven.

There is much truth in Solomon’s Word (of course, you say, he is speaking God’s Word); therefore, if you have never tried overwhelming your enemies with kindness, I would encourage you to do so. Being mean by being so nice is the best way to witness the love that Jesus Christ has taught us. It is also a most excellent way of doing something which will make you “feel” good and know that your reward is in heaven. Here again, we might paraphrase this lesson in Lifestyle Evangelism as, “Kill them with kindness.”

27 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . A Kind Word.

2011-10-27T08:21:00.000-05:00

Have you ever noticed how angry some people are in our world? Angry words are often exchanged instead of nice pleasantries. One person says something which is misunderstood by another and then there are words of retaliation. The idea is to speak harsher words in order to inflict further hurt and perhaps more pain on the other person. As words of anger escalate, sometimes it even gets to the point of fists swinging and, as we have seen or heard, even to people being killed.

Therefore, how does one respond to another when there is a misunderstanding or when harsh words are spoken? The once wise King Solomon, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, tells us, “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1). Some have paraphrased these words by saying, “Kill them with kindness.” The fact of the matter is, it works. When someone speaks harshly or rudely, they are usually taken aback and perhaps even ashamed, when those words are met with words of kindness, that is with sincere words of kindness.

We could meet the world head on, which it probably deserves. We would be justified in speaking meanly to others as we have been spoken meanly to; yet, here I would remind you of our lesson on the Golden Rule. However, we are not of this world. We are of our Father’s world, and we represent our Father as ambassadors. As ambassadors for Christ, we want to represent Him and live as He would live, move and have His being, in other words, and we can only do so with His help; then, we will speak kind words in order to turn away any wrath which is directed toward us. We will also understand that, very often, harsh words of wrath which are spoken to us as Christians are really being spoken to Christ who lives in us. Unfortunately, that is the way of the world.

How easy to respond in kind. How difficult to turn the other cheek. Only with Christ’s help are we able to do the right thing which, in turn, shows the faith that is in our hearts and reflects Christ’s love to others.

26 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Knowing Who Chose Who.

2011-10-25T07:47:00.000-05:00

Do you remember as a child being on the playground at recess and all gathering to pick teams to play some sport? Do you remember that it seemed as if it was always your best friend who was one of those who always got to pick? Do your remember how you always chose to be on her team? Do you also remember that it really did not matter if you chose to be on her team or not? What mattered was whether or not she chose you to be on her team.

There are some people who can tell you the day, date, and time that they “chose” Jesus to be their personal Savior. There are some that will tell you that not only have they chosen Jesus to be their Savior, they have “dedicated” their lives to Him. They have made Him the Lord of their life. Perhaps they are trying to say that they believe in Jesus as their Savior.

As Lutheran Christians, we know who chose who. We know that, similar to its not being important as to whose side we choose to be on in a sporting event, it is not important that we “choose” Jesus. As a matter of fact, we even confess, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him” (cf. 1 Cor. 2:14; 12:3; Rom. 8:7; Eph. 2:8,9). What is important is that He chose us. We confidently confess, “But the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”

What great comfort we can find in the thought that it was not we who chose God, but God who chose us. This truth is of great comfort because we know that God keeps His Word. If God says it, we can believe it. If God says it, it will happen. When God chooses us, we know that we are His, and we can rest assured that He will do everything He can to strengthen and keep us in faith until Jesus comes to take us from this earth to be with Himself in heaven for eternity.

What great joy to share with others that God chose us and that He has already chosen them, too.

25 of 52 © Rev. Ronald A. Bogs

You Shall Love - October 23, 2011 - Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 25) - Text: Matthew 22:34-46

2011-10-23T07:40:00.000-05:00

Last week we watched as the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law sent their underlings to attempt to trick Jesus into saying something that would turn either the government or His own people away from Him. But, as we saw, their plans were foiled again. This week we continue in our saga of the Life and Times of Jesus. This week our text begins by telling us that the Sadducees have failed again and now it is the Pharisees turn, again to attempt to waylay Jesus.

We actually have two parts to our text for this morning. In the first part of our text are told that a questions is asked of Jesus in order to test Him, as was the usual reason the Pharisees and teachers of the law would ask Jesus questions. And in the second half of our text we are told that after Jesus answers their question, He asks them a question, perhaps not so much as a test, but in order to help those who were gathered and listening to understand who Jesus truly is. First, the test, “34But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?’ 37And he said to him, 38This is the great and first commandment. 39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets’” (v. 34-40).

It has been said that one way to defeat your enemy is to divide and conquer. In this question the lawyer is attempting to divide Jesus by dividing His emphasis, placing one part of God’s Word over another part. Now, we know that there are Ten Commandments, because that is what we are told that God gave Moses and the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. So, out of these Ten Commandments, the lawyer asks, “What is the greatest commandment?” Again the test is an attempt to get Jesus to give greater emphasis to one commandment over all the others.

Jesus, being Jesus, being truly God, knows all and knows what is at the heart of the question, thus He does not answer according to how they might have thought He would answer. His answer is a twofold answer. First Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” As we have been taught and hopefully have learned in confirmation, the summary of the commandments is love. It is true, if we could love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind, we would never disobey any of the commandments. The problem is that we cannot do this one thing. Because we are conceived and born in sin, it is against our nature to love God above all else. Jesus says to love God and this love for God is a love which flows out of love, God’s first love for us.

But Jesus does not stop, He continues, “39And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Here again, if we could love our neighbor as our own self, we would never break the last seven commandments which deal with our relationships with each other, we would not steal, kill, commit adultery, bear false witness nor covet. But, again, the problem is that we are conceived and born in sin and so not only can we not love God above all else, we cannot love our neighbor as ourselves. Interestingly enough, when we do love our neighbor it is only as we have been first loved by God, thus loving our neighbor shows our love for God, and His love for us.

Jesus even goes so far as to conclude that “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” All the Law and the prophets depend on love, love for God and love for neighbor, which is the summary of the commandments. How is this the case? We will answer that question after we look at the next words of Jesus.

Just as the lawyer asked a question to test Jesus, these last words of our text might be considered a test of Jesus. Our text continues, “41Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42saying, ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ 43He said to them, ‘How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 44“The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet”? 45If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?’ 46And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions” (v. 41-46).

Notice that unlike the questions of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and even the Sadducees, who asked questions to trap Jesus, Jesus asks a question which is at the heart of the matter, the heart of the controversy, “Who is the Christ? Is He the Messiah?” Now, understand, the Pharisees do not believe that Jesus is the Christ or the Messiah. They believe Jesus is simply asking a theological question concerning the promised Messiah, the one promised back in the Garden of Eden and reiterated to Abraham, Isaac, Moses and so forth. The theological question is this, “Is the promised Messiah truly God?”

The Pharisees answer Jesus question saying that the promised Messiah is the son of David, in other words He is truly human. We would agree, Jesus is truly human, but Jesus is even more than simply being truly human as He will instruct the Pharisees.

In response to their answer, Jesus agrees, but furthers the answer by declaring that He is also truly God, as David calls Him Lord. Now, if you have been paying attention to the news of late, concerning the Mormon church, the question has been asked if the Mormon church is a cult or a part of the Christian church. For the Mormons, who consider themselves to be Christians, they view the Christ as a man who became a god and so they speak of the divinity of Jesus in such a way, also suggesting that we humans may also become gods. In other words, they believe they are a part of the Christian church because they do believe that Jesus is God, but not in the same way we believe that Jesus is God. Here again we are reminded that very often when speaking to others concerning our Christian faith and beliefs we must begin by defining our words. Concerning Jesus being God, He Himself answers otherwise and so does the Christian Church. As we profess and confess in our creeds, Jesus is truly God who was born as a human, taking on human flesh and blood. So now Jesus is both God and man at the same time and thus is the divinity of Jesus. And so according to the traditional Christian church, the Mormon church is a cult.

So, what does this mean? We answer this question by getting back to Jesus’ statement, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” All The fulfillment of the commandments today, that is the fulfillment of God’s demand of perfection, and all of the fulfillment of the law and the prophets, flow out of love, not our love for God and love for neighbor, but out of God’s love for us.

Who is the Christ? He is God. He is truly divine, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and He is truly human, born of the human woman, the virgin Mary. Jesus is God who gave up the glory that was His in heaven in order to take on human flesh and blood and to do for us what we are unable to do.

After Adam and Eve sinned, the world was cursed. No longer do we have free will. Our will has been tainted by sin so our will is always to not do what God would have us to do. Again, our will is simply to sin, to live in sin, to sin daily and constantly. Since our will has been tainted so that we no longer have free will, we cannot meet God’s demand of perfection.

Because we cannot rescue or save ourselves, God provided a Savior. Jesus came to earth, God in flesh in order, first and foremost to live in perfection for us. God’s demand is perfection and we cannot be perfect. The fulness of the Gospel is the fact that Jesus lived for us. Jesus obeyed all of God’s laws perfectly, thus fulfilling the demands of the law of the commandments and Jesus fulfilled all the promises, all of the prophecies concerning the coming Messiah, thus fulfilling the demands of the Prophets. If Jesus had not obeyed all the laws perfectly and fulfilled all the Prophets perfectly, He would not be the Messiah.

After fulfilling all the law and the Prophets perfectly, after living a perfect life, Jesus then traded His righteousness for our sins. He who was without sin, He who knew no sin became sin for us. Jesus suffered and died to pay the price for our sins, but not just our sins, He paid the price for all sin, for all those sins committed before His incarnation and all those sins we have yet to commit. He paid the price for all sins, for all people, of all places, of all times. He paid the price for sin which was set in the Garden of Eden, death, physical death and apart from Him, eternal spiritual death which is hell. He suffered hell for us in our place so that by faith in Him we will never have to suffer hell.

In His fulfilling of the law and the prophets, in His fulfilling of all of Holy Scripture, in His living, taking our sins, suffering and dying, Jesus showed and shows His great love for us. He loves us. He shows His love for us by creating us, even though He knew we would bring a curse on His creation. He shows His love in His promise to send a Savior. He shows His love in His giving up the glory that was His in heaven as true God, in His taking on human fleshing, being born of a human woman, in His living perfectly for us in our place because we cannot, in His taking our sins upon Himself, in His suffering and dying to pay the price for our sins, in His rising from the dead, in His giving us faith, forgiveness and life, in His robing us with His robes of righteousness for eternity.

God loves us. God first loves us. Jesus is God who shines His love on us even through us so that we might love others. We love because He first loves us. Because God loves us, because He gives us faith, forgiveness and eternal life, He also works in and through us to do the good works which He has prepared in advance for us to do and we do those good works as we are motivated by Him, as He works them in and through us and as they are done to His glory. Yes, after we are given faith we do have some free will but only with His help are we able to exercise our free will for good.

The two great commandments, the summary of the ten commandments is love. And as always we get love right when we start with God. God is love. God loves us and God moves and stirs in us to love one another. We love because He first loves us. And in so loving others we do show forth the faith that is in our hearts and we do say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Do (ing) Unto Others.

2011-10-22T08:55:00.000-05:00

When asked “What is the Golden Rule?” too often it is quoted as, “We are to treat others like they treat us.” Or, “We are not to be mean to people who are not mean to us.” Very often, even too often, the Golden Rule is quoted and interpreted in a negative way.

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12), is the Golden Rule. Notice that this “rule” is given in a positive, even proactive way. The emphasis is not a reactive emphasis, but a proactive emphasis. In other words, we are not to wait and see how someone will treat us before we decide how we will treat them. Instead, we are to treat them first in the manner in which we would like them to treat us. We are to begin the treatment of others with love.

This statement does not mean that, if we do good first and that good is met with evil, then we can reciprocate with evil. Even then, we are to continue to follow the way of doing good.

Because this approach to life is so different from the self-centered, self-absorbed world in which we live, our actions will be noticed. Our way of Lifestyle Evangelism will demonstrate what it means to live a life thinking and caring about others besides ourselves. Especially in the cases where our good is met with evil, our kindness will shine even greater. In much the same way, that Jesus met adversity with love, so with His help, we are to do the same.

The Golden Rule is not outdated. As a matter of fact, if you follow the Golden Rule, you may notice how even those who have treated you with unkind intent before may begin treating you as you treat them. Although such a change may not happen immediately, as new behaviors sometimes take time to develop, all we have to do is watch and see if it does happen. Then, we can rejoice that others have seen our witness and as always, be ready, when asked, to give the reason for your actions, namely, that we love others because God loved us first.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . C & E and More.

2011-10-20T07:11:00.000-05:00

Most of us have heard of “C & E” Christians. “C & E” Christians are those people who attend worship twice a year - on Christmas and Easter (thus the name C & E). Of course, Paul reminds us that it does not matter the motive for going to worship does not matter, simply that it is important to be in worship so that one might hear the Word (the means of grace) so that the Holy Spirit might work through that means in order to give faith.

For us Christians, our Lifestyle Evangelism will most certainly include celebration at Christmas and Easter as well as at the many other festivals and celebrations during the church year and especially during the festival portion of our church year. Our church year begins with Advent and the time we take to prepare ourselves for our celebration of the birth of Jesus. We will want to hold off on our Christmas celebration until Christmas Eve/Day. Then, for twelve days we celebrate Christmas, culminating in our Epiphany celebration on Jan. 6. Epiphany leads into Transfiguration Sunday, which is immediately followed by Ash Wednesday and the season of Lent. Lent concludes during Holy Week which begins on Palm Sunday and includes Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday and concludes on Easter morning. The Easter Season continues until we celebrate Christ’s Ascension and then the sending of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. The following Sunday we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday and the we move into the non-festival portion of our Church Year.

How important these celebrations are and what a great witness we make of our Christians faith and our worship life as we bring these celebrations into our own homes. Our worship life is not just a secondary part of our lives. Our worship life is the main focus of our lives as all our life has as its center and focus our relationship with our Savior, Jesus Christ. As we are seen celebrating these great events in the life of our Savior, so we will be asked and we will have the opportunity to give an answer for the hope and joy that we celebrate because we have our Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . The Lord’s Supper.

2011-10-18T07:11:00.000-05:00

As noted before, the Lord uses the means of grace, namely, the Word of God (the Bible), and the Sacraments (Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper), to come to us. It is through these means that our Lord comes to us to give us His good gifts and blessings (faith, forgiveness, life and salvation). This week we concentrate on the Lord’s Supper.

Another big part of our lives is the Lord’s Supper. The Lord’s Supper is that meal wherein our Lord invites us to come to His table to partake of His body and blood, in, with and under the bread and wine and through which we remember, that is, participate, in His death and resurrection. As we partake of the Lord’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper, we participate in His death. His death, that is His eternal death, becomes our death. He died the eternal death penalty, paying the price, the cost, the wages of our sins. We participate first in His death and second in His resurrection. His rising from the dead becomes our rising from the dead. As He rose to new life, we know that we too will rise to new life, even eternal life. And His life becomes our life. We have life, life more abundantly in this world and life in the world to come, known as eternal life in heaven with Him. We also are given strength to face the world as we live in it but are not of it.

Because the Lord’s Supper is very important, we demonstrate that fact in our lives of Lifestyle Evangelism. We demonstrate the importance of the Lord’s Supper through a proper understanding of the importance of the Supper and its sanctity, respecting it as His Supper and partaking of it as He has given it and as the Word of institution say. We demonstrate the importance of the Lord’s Supper through our proper preparation as we approach His Supper, examining ourselves and approaching in faith and partaking only with those who believe in Christ as we do (thus it is called Communion - being on with God and our fellow believers).

What a great witness we can make to others as we give due respect to our Lord’s Supper by partaking often and explaining its importance to our faith and hope in Christ Jesus.

Give to God What Is God’s - October 16, 2011 - Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24) - Text: Matthew 22:15-22

2011-10-16T07:17:00.001-05:00

If you have been following along through the Gospel of Matthew you will see how our drama continues to unfold this morning. Previously the Pharisees and teachers of the Law had questioned Jesus concerning His authority to do the things He was doing, after which Jesus “put them in their place” by showing that they are the ones who are not doing as God would have them to do (remember the parable of the two sons, the one son who said he would go out and work but did not go and work and the second son who refused to go and work, but later repented and did go and work). Jesus, then, showed them that they are guilty of killing the prophets and will be guilty of killing God’s Son (remember the parable of the vineyard and the tenants and the killing of the servants who went to collect the rent, and the killing of the son with the intent of gaining the vineyard). Jesus then showed them how they are not a part of God’s wedding banquet as they think they are (remember last week’s Gospel lesson, the parable of the wedding banquet). As we approach our text for this morning we see the Pharisees and the Sadducees licking their wounds trying to find a way to get back at Jesus. They are bent out of shape about Jesus’ accusations and now they are really out to get Him again.

This time, instead of approaching Jesus themselves, they decide to send some undercover spies, some people that Jesus does not know or recognize, at least that is what they are attempting. They know that they will get no where if they try to trick Him, so they recruit some of their disciples to approach Jesus to trick Him. But, of course, Jesus is on to them. (Hey, He is Jesus. He is all knowing.) Their idea is to present Jesus with a question of such a nature that if He answers one way He will set Himself at odds with the government officials and make them suspicious of Him, and if He answers another way He will offend another, His own people. In their own opinion, either way, Jesus is trapped into getting Himself in trouble and that will take care of Him for them.

These recruited disciples begin with flattery, certainly an attempt to build up Jesus’ ego so that He might be caught off guard and trapped. They begin with, “Teacher, we know you are true and teach the way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances. Tell us, then, what you think” (v. 16). Notice several things about this flattery. First they call Him “Teacher” because He does teach others, yet, notice their sarcasm as they do not like what He is teaching. It is rather ironic that the words they use are words of truth, yet they are not words which they believe. “We know that you are true” and we know that you “teach the way of God truthfully.” Neither of these might be said of those who are asking the question. Second, there is irony in the words “you do not care about anyone’s opinion” and here I would emphasis the word opinion. I would suggest that there may have been a note of sarcasm in their expression when saying these words, especially since they believed that Jesus did not care about their “opinion,” which really bugged them. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law expected others to give them certain privileges and respect because of who they are and they do not like the fact that Jesus does not understand that He is supposed to do this too. Finally, notice that they do not ask Him to tell them the truth in the matter they are going to present, but they are only asking for His “opinion.” As if this matters to them as we will see.

And now comes the loaded question. The question they ask is this, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” (V. 17). It is almost as if they are asking, “have you ever been caught cheating on your taxes?” “Have you ever been caught beating your children?” “Have you ever been caught beating your spouse?” The thought behind their question is this: If Jesus answers that they should not be paying taxes to Caesar, the people will love Him, but they can then turn Him over to the Romans as a traitor. If He answers that, yes, they should be paying taxes to Caesar, then the Romans will have no problems with Him, but the people will turn against Him because they do not like paying taxes to Caesar. What a dilemma they believe they have set for Him.

Jesus, being God, being all knowing, sees right through their plan. “Why put me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin for the tax” (v. 18b, 19a). “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” (v. 20). Jesus calls them what they are, hypocrites. The word means “actor.” They are acting like they want Jesus “opinion.” But Jesus, rather than run from their question, and their trap, meets them head on. Show me a coin He says.

They find a coin and they answer His questions. On the coin is the image of Caesar and the inscription is also an inscription giving evidence that it is a coin of Caesar and the Roman empire. There is no mistake, it is a coin belonging to the Roman government. We could look at one of our own coins. We have images of past presidents as well as buildings, memorials, and the like on our own monies. The inscriptions we have are also inscriptions having to do with the things of our country.

Jesus’ answer to their question then is this, “Therefor render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (v. 21). Simple enough. If it has Caesar’s name on it, it must be his, give it to him. If it has God’s name on it, give it to God, it must be His.

Our parable this morning reminds us of several important facts. One fact of which we are reminded is that we should never underestimate God or in this case, His Son, Jesus. He is all knowing and all seeing. He knows what is in our hearts and on our minds, even before we speak or ask.

More implied than directly stated in this parable is the fact that God gives. He gives all things. He gives faith, forgiveness, life, and salvation. He gives families. He gives food and drink. He gives house and home, monies and goods. He gives good governments. He gives all things and we are the ones to whom He gives. And He gives without expecting anything in return. As a matter of fact, He even goes so far as to give us His son and the life of His Son for ours.

Here and in other places in the Bible we are reminded that God gives government. Certainly we would agree that not all governments are Christian governments, but all governments are from God because the main purpose of all governments is to bring order to the land, which brings peace to the people. Without governments there would be only anarchy and chaos, thus no peace. Thus, governments are given for the sake of law and order and peace in the land.

Here and in other places in the Bible we are reminded that we are to support our government. We are to pay our taxes to keep our government going. Again, government is a gift from God for the keeping of good order and peace in the land. Yes, we are to pay our taxes. We are still to give to the government the things that belong to the government (just look on a coin) and we are to give to God the things that are God’s.

I do not want to sound like a broken record, or should I say, CD, but God gives to us all that we need. Here I would refer you to the Apostles’ Creed and the explanations to the articles of the Creed. In the explanation to the first article we list God’s gifts as “clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have.” In the second article we list the fact that we believe that it is Jesus “who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.” And finally, in the third article we confess that we believe that “the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.” And all this He does because of His great love for us.

No, today is not “Stewardship Sunday,” and I am not one for preaching stewardship sermons. I believe that if I preach the Gospel, you will be motivated, by that Gospel, to give. I also believe in preaching the text and this text does speak about stewardship, that is it speaks about how we are to be good stewards of all that God gives to us. With this text it is only fitting and proper that we should come to some understanding from this parable that we will want to return our first fruits to the Lord according to what He has first given to us. That is what is meant by “giving to God the things that are God’s.”

Have you ever been caught stealing from God? That is not the type of question we like to hear. And we might think that this questions is a loaded question and we would rather not answer it. The task that is before us, according to this parable is this: Do we recognize the gifts that God gives? And if we do, how do we respond? Do we respond begrudgingly? Do we respond joyfully? Do we respond according to whether or not we like the pastor and what he is preaching or doing? Do we respond to how we are treated in church or in the world? Do we respond just by giving our leftovers, our change, or our collection? Or, do we respond with our lives, living lives of faith, as priests serving God by serving others?

We get it right when we start with God. God gives and we are given to. God gives faith, forgiveness and eternal life. And God motivates in us a response of faith. Because we are conceived and born in sin, our first response to what God gives is usually a response of sin, to sin in thought, word and deed, to sin sins of commission, doing what we should not be doing and sins of omission, failing to do what we should be doing, like living lives as priest, serving God by serving others. And so, God’s response to our sin was to give the life of His Son. Jesus came to live perfectly for us in our place because we cannot be perfect. Jesus came to take our sins and pay the price of our sin because we cannot. Jesus died and rose for our forgiveness and eternal life. So now, moved by God, our response to God’s gifts, moved by God, is to give our lives and I do not necessarily mean in death, but that we give ourselves while we live to Him. Only as we give ourselves to Him will we be able to share with Him anything else of which He has first given to us. Again, it all begins with God, He first gives to us and stirs in us. Yet, once we have given ourselves to Him, which we do only with His help, then we will be able to joyfully give of our first fruits, our tithes and our offerings, while at the same time, giving to the government the taxes that we owe. Thus, as we fail to joyfully give of our first fruits, tithes and offerings, it shows that we have failed to give ourselves to the Lord and that we are instead refusing and rejecting the gifts God has to give.

God is the prime mover and He continues weekly and daily to give to us, to stir in us, to move us to be the people He would have us to be. And He does this, stirs and works in us through the very means He has given us to do this work, His means of grace. As we make regular and diligent us of His means of grace, as we do every Sunday at divine service, He gives to us, pours out on us and lavishes us with all His good gifts and blessings and stirs in us to do the good works He has prepared in advance for us to do. And in so doing we will be witnessing our faith and we will be saying, to God be the glory. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Holy Baptism.

2011-10-15T13:04:00.000-05:00

As noted before, the Lord uses the means of grace, namely, the Word of God (the Bible), and the Sacraments (Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper), to come to us. It is through these means that our Lord comes to us to give us His good gifts and blessings (faith, forgiveness, life and salvation). This week we concentrate on Holy Baptism.

As Christians, a big part of our lives is our Baptism. It is through our Baptism that the Lord puts His name on us (as water and His name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, were put on us). He puts faith in our hearts. He gives us forgiveness of sins. He claims us. He writes our names in the book of Life. He gives us a part of His Kingdom.

This putting on us of God’s name is very important, because what God puts His name on He claims as His; it belongs to Him. Thus, when God puts His name on us, we are His. We do not choose Him, He chose us.

Because our Baptism is so very important, it is a big part of our Lifestyle Evangelism. As we live each day, we face trials and tribulations, we struggle with the difficulties of each day, and we daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness; what a great witness we can make when we are reminded that when we “mess up” (when we sin) we have been baptized and we can start over, no matter what time of day or what time of life. And what a great opportunity to witness as we share this good news with others as they ask us how we do it.

We show how important our Baptism is when we do things like celebrating Baptismal birthdays along with regular birthdays. We show how important our Baptism is when we talk about the difference our Baptism makes; when we share what Baptism really is because of, what God works through Baptism, and when we live its importance in our own lives. We are adopted as children of God, our Heavenly Father and so we are a part of His family.

What great joy we have knowing that God has chosen us and has put His name on us - Christians. We are His. How important to live in this joy!

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . the Word.

2011-10-13T07:49:00.000-05:00

As Lutheran Christians, one of the things that sets us apart from other Christians is that we believe and understand that the usual way our Lord has of coming to us is through means. This word does not mean that He can not come directly, but His usual way of working with us is through means. More in particularly, we believe that the means He has of coming to us is the means of grace, which are the Word of God (the Bible) and the Sacraments (Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper). It is through these means that our Lord comes to us to give us His good gifts and blessings (faith, forgiveness, life and salvation).

With those definitions in mind, it is important that a big part of our lives and our lives of Lifestyle Evangelism include the Word. The Word is what is at the heart and center of our life. Not only do we know and understand the importance of the Word (reading our Bibles), but we demonstrate its importance through our actions. There might be a Bible always within sight. The Bible is the first book we consult for important matters and decisions. We may even read the entire Bible - chapter by chapter- during the year.

Certainly, the Word is a big part of our own lives, but it is also a great tool in our exercise of Lifestyle Evangelism. Because we understand that God works, not through people, but through His Word, we understand how important it is to help our unchurched family and friends hear that Word. Thus, we understand the importance of encouraging them in their own lives to read the Word (maybe even giving them a Bible if they do not have one) and of inviting them to come to worship and Bible class where they will have opportunity to hear the Word directly and to hear it explained and proved.

As our Lord comes into contact with our unchurch family and friends through His Word, the Holy Spirit will give faith through that Word. He will then continue to work through that Word to strengthen and keep them in faith. Thus, we see the importance and the power of the Word even the Word made flesh, Jesus Himself (as John witnesses to us).

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Pain and Joy.

2011-10-11T07:19:00.001-05:00

Too often, Christians are believed to be people who never experience the pain of life; rather, they are “entitled” to experience only joy. Certainly, we Christians understand the fallacy of this perception. We know from our own personal experience that we, too, suffer from times of pain and sadness. We experience the death of a loved one. We experience the loss of a job. We experience the pains of physical, mental and emotional illnesses. Yes, we Christians suffer the ills of this world in the same way as our non-Christian counterparts.

Unfortunately, there are too many Christians who think they need to keep up appearances, especially during difficult times. What we fail to realize is that when we work so hard at keeping up appearances during difficult times, we are making a witness to our non-Christian friends which, they may either not understand may think too difficult for them to follow, which would keep them from wanting to be a Christian.

Think about this: If you were not a Christian, and you knew someone who was and this person always “seemed” cheerful, even during times that you knew they were having difficulties, would that not make you stop and think? You might think that your Christian friend is either really strong in his/her faith, or more than likely, that s/he has no emotions; otherwise, s/he would not be so happy at a time when you know s/he should be sad.

We witness best when we witness that we, too, are human beings living in a sin-filled world and that we suffer the same difficulties of our non-Christian counterparts. The exception is that we have Someone to cling to and we have Someone who holds us up during our difficult times. We have God, Who is always there with us to give us comfort and encouragement during difficult days, as He has demonstrated numerous times. We also have a family of Christian brothers and sisters who work to encourage and build us up as well.

What a great witness, especially during difficult times, to let our unchurched family and friends know that we are affected by the trials and tribulations of this world, but, we also have a faith that sustains us during these difficult times. Thus, we witness what a great God we have.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . To Speak Law & Gospel (Part4).

2011-10-09T16:33:00.000-05:00

Too often, when one speaks about the Gospel, it is said that the Gospel is the fact that Jesus died for our sins. And of course, even though not stated, it is implied that Jesus did not stay dead. We do not worship a dead God, but a living God. Jesus died and rose from the dead. And that fact is the Gospel, the “Good News,” but if we stop there, then we miss proclaiming all the Gospel in all its sweetness and in all its truth and purity.

The fullness of the Gospel can only be appreciated when we understand its completeness. The completeness of the Gospel goes way beyond the matter of Jesus’ death. Yes, the purpose for Jesus’ coming into the world was to give His life for ours, but not only did He come to die, He also came to live.

The Law requires certain things from us. We can do none of the things required by the Law. The fullness of the Gospel is seen in the Truth, that Jesus did everything for us that we are unable to do. Because we are unable to keep the Law perfectly, Jesus obeyed the Law perfectly, for us. Because we are unable to keep from doing the things we are not supposed to be doing, Jesus resisted all temptations to commit the sins of commission. Because we are unable to do the things which we should be doing, Jesus did all them for us, thereby removing our sins of omission.

The fullness of the Gospel is that Jesus is our substitute. He lived, and then by faith, He gave His life for ours. When we are judged, God will look at us and see Jesus’ life of perfection, and by faith, it will be counted as ours. At the same time, when God looked at Jesus, instead of seeing His perfection, He saw our sins, which Jesus freely took upon Himself in order to pay the price for those sins on the cross.

It is by faith, which is also a gift from God, that we are able to take hold of all God’s good gifts and blessings and make them ours. The fullness of the Gospel is understood only as we understand that by faith Jesus’ life is my life.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . To Speak Law & Gospel (Part3).

2011-10-05T23:07:00.000-05:00

We have spoken the word of the Law. We have explained what sin is, rebellion against God, by occurring when we do the things we should not be doing and do not do the things we should be doing. We have explained how we sin in thought, word and deed (actions). We have acknowledged and confessed our sins. Now what?

Now comes the part of joy and celebration because, as sins are confessed, so sins are forgiven. When someone sins against us and says, “I’m sorry,” what great joy and what a great privilege we have in that we may announce to them, “Your sins are forgiven.” And instantly, as the words are spoken, because they are words which do what they say, we forgive sins. Is it true because we speak those words? No, but it is true because Jesus has already paid the price for the sins which were committed, and because He has paid the price; therefore, as the words of forgiveness are announced, there is forgiveness and life through Jesus Christ.

The Law might be summed up in Exodus 20, where the Ten Commandments are stated. Jesus summarized the Law of the Commandments with the words, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39b). Love is the summary of these commandments. If we could love God with all our heart, soul and mind, we could keep the rest of the commandments. If we loved our neighbor as ourselves, we would not sin against them.

The Gospel might be summed up in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” God is love, and in His love, He gave the life of His Son who paid the price, the cost, the wages of sin, for us in our place.

As the Law must be proclaimed in all its severity, lest the Gospel mean nothing, so the Gospel must be proclaimed in all its sweetness lest one be led to despair.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . To Speak Law & Gospel (Part2).

2011-10-03T22:17:00.000-05:00

It is unfortunate that we live in a society which has such a high disregard for intolerance of sin, so much so that we do not even like to use the term sin. Yet, unless we recognize and confess our sins, there can be no forgiveness and absolution.

We have a problem in that we confuse a recognition of sin with a condemnation or judgement. Such is the case when we suggest that what someone did was wrong, even a sin, and we hear a response such as, “You’re not supposed to judge people,” as if quoted from the Bible. Our response is that to recognize sin is not the same as judging and that if a person continues in his/her sin, not only has s/he judged her/himself, but we, as a Christian congregation, may judge her/him as well. Excommunication means, that a congregation has studied that situation on the basis of God’s Word and determined that a person has sinned and refused to confess and repent that sin. The Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven are to be exercised in that way..

However, we must understand that the judgement of excommunication is not, in any way, to be a mean-spirited plot, but rather is a call to the one who remains in his/her sin to see the seriousness of his/her sin so that s/he may repent and be restored to the fold.

Accordingly, for us to practice true Lifestyle Evangelism means that we must be prepared to call sin what it is, sin. We must be prepared to have accusations brought against us (fair and unfair). And we must stand firm and thus, in love, explain the devastating results of unrepentant, sinful living versus the rewards of repentance, contrition and forgiveness, and absolution.

Again, how can one take seriously the need for a Savior unless one is shown his/her need? The Law must be proclaimed in its severity, especially to unrepentant sinners so that the Gospel may be taken seriously, may be proclaimed and may be believed. And once the Law has been taken seriously, then the Gospel must be proclaimed in all its sweetness, giving the assurance of forgiveness of sins and the certainty of eternal life in heaven. Such is God’s Way as shown in His Word.

Tenant or Son? - October 2, 2011 - Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost 16 (Proper 22) - Text: Matthew 21:33-46

2011-10-02T07:42:00.001-05:00

I want first to remind you that the events of Jesus’ life are not random, haphazard events, but are events which happened for a purpose. Through the events of Jesus’ life as given to us through the accounts of the Gospels we have a better understanding of Jesus, who He is and what is His mission. So, this morning, the mission continues. Our text for this morning comes after Jesus has ridden triumphantly into Jerusalem, that is after what we call Palm Sunday. The crowds cheered. They threw down their coats or palm branches, or whatever they had available, as a “red” carpet. So, Jesus was seen to be very popular, especially by those trying to kill Him, which upset them. He then proceeded to cleanse the temple, casting out the money changers and making the statement that the temple was His Father’s house and was to be a house of prayer, not a “den of robbers.” Then comes that thing, that account about the fig tree, which we do not know what to do with, so we skip past it. If you want to talk about it in Bible Class, we can do that. Anyway, next, as we read at the beginning of our Gospel reading for last week, Jesus is questioned as to His authority, which He does not answer, but instead directs their attention to the authority of John the Baptist. And last week we also heard as Jesus told the parable of the two sons to get across the idea of who is a part of God’s Kingdom. Finally, this week and the parable following this parable, next week’s Gospel reading, the parable of the Wedding Banquet, are more “accusations” against the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. So, let us look at our text for today.

If you listened really close to the Old Testament reading and to the Gospel reading you may have noticed that they sounded a lot alike. God, through the prophets in the Old Testament and Jesus here in the New Testament, uses the imagery of the vineyard and the vineyard owner to help the people understand the relationship of God to His people. We are told that the landowner planted a vineyard and built a wall around it. This wall is the wall of the Law. The children of Israel were different from all the other nations and peoples around them. They had a God who was a personal God, who cared for them, who was personally involved with them and their lives. Their God was one who gave them the Ten Commandments, a set of Laws to help them to be better people in this world. Actually, God gave them three types of law, the civil law, or what we might call the law of government; the moral law, which is the Ten Commandments; and the ceremonial law, which were the law governing sacrifices and temple worship. Now to those who today would suggest that we are no longer under the Old Testament laws, that statement is only partially true. We are no longer under the ceremonial law, but we continue to live under the moral law of the Ten Commandments and in this country we continue to be under the civil law which protects us as citizens in this country.

Now, as we look at this parable I would ask that you put yourselves in the shoes of the children of Israel, which is right to do, especially as we understand that the Children of Israel were Old Testament Christians, people saved by faith in the promised Christ, promised back in the Garden of Eden, just as we are New Testament Christians, saved by faith in the Christ, namely Jesus who is our Savior. If you want to put yourselves in the shoes of the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, that is up to you, but at least put yourself in the shoes of the Children of Israel. Today we can see ourselves as being set apart. As Christians we are different from the people of the rest of the world. We are different from the people around us. Or at least we should be. The comments of the media and our society in general remind us of our differences. Above all is the difference that we have the Word of God. We have God’s Word which is our handbook and our guide to life. Like the Children of Israel, we are different. And please understand that the reason God gives us His Word, His Law and His Gospel is because we need it. Just as children need rules to set boundaries, and let me tell you that although they may test those boundaries, they are glad they are there, because those boundaries make them feel safe. In much the same way, we like God’s Word which sets boundaries for us which make us feel safe. And it gives us the comfort of knowing our sins are forgiven when we trespass those boundaries.

Getting back to our text, we are told that the landowner even went so far as to put a vine-press in his vineyard. A vine-press is what is used only after the fruit is ripe and harvested. If there is no fruit, the vine-press is useless. In other words, the landowner is expecting that there will be a harvest of fruit. God, speaking through the prophets, expected that the Children of Israel would be different than those around them. He expected that they would bear the fruit of faith, that they would show themselves to be different. What about us? God expects fruits from us as well. He gives us His Word. He gives us His Holy Spirit. He works through the Word to give us faith, forgiveness and life and He expects that we will show forth the faith that is in our hearts. It is kind of like that old “campfire” song, They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love. They will know we are Christians because we are different.

And to insure that there is a crop, the landowner builds a watchtower over his vineyard. The wall and the watchtower are ways of protecting the vineyard from stray animals that might trample over it as well as from stray people who might try to come in and rob the vineyard. The watchtower was often manned by the prophets and priests of the Children of Israel. They watched over the people, bringing God’s words of justice and judgement as well as His words of grace and mercy. In the same way God watches over us. He gives us His Word, the Bible, as well as Pastors to instruct us in the ways in which He would have us to go. He gives us His sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He gives us confession and absolution. Through these means He gives us forgiveness of sins and eternal life. He gave His Son and the life of His Son so that we might have forgiveness of sins and eternal life.

Notice that there is no statement on production, on how much fruit was raised, rather there is simply the statement of the coming to collect the rent. God did expect a harvest. He did expect His people, the Children of Israel to be different and to live differently than those around them, instead of blending in and being like the idol worshipers who were there. Likewise, God expects fruits from us. He expects us to be different. He expects that we act differently, that we speak differently, that we stand out and be different in this world.

When it was harvest time, the landowner sent his servants to collect the rent. Unfortunately, the servants who went to collect the rent were killed. This is the killing of the prophets and priests of old. As I have said before, if you do not like what is being said, kill the messenger. At least we are a little more refined in our “killing the servants” today. If you do not like what the Bible says, either rewrite the Bible, or discount it as not being applicable to today. Sure, the Bible tells us the world was created in six literal days. Sure, the Bible tells us of the first man and the first woman and their fall into sin which corrupted the rest of the world. Sure, the Bible says we should not kill, even the unborn. Sure, the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin. Sure, the Bible says that women should not be pastors. Sure, the Bible tells us that there is only one way to heaven and that is through faith in Jesus, alone. Sure, the Bible says that the Lord’s Supper is His meal and should be administered with special care. Sure, the Bible says a lot of politically incorrect things. But what do we do. If we do not like what the Bible says, we change it or discount it as being not applicable or we call it a cultural thing and ignore it. Perhaps we try to fit the culture of today into the Bible and give it a new interpretation. In these ways we continue to kill the servants even today.

Ultimately the vineyard owner sent his son and the renters killed him as well. Of course, we know the rest of this story. We know that the vineyard owner is the Lord. We know that the Son is Jesus Himself. We know that the Pharisees and teachers of the Law plotted and brought about the killing of the Son of God. But, lest we put all the blame on them, we might remind ourselves that we too are involved in the death of the Son of God. We are conceived and born in sin and we daily add to that sin through our own sins of thought, word and deed, as we confessed at that beginning of this service. The renters in the parable are judged by the members of the Sanhedrin to eternal judgement and in their judgement they had judged themselves. Thanks be to God that there is a difference for us and that difference is what we just said, that we do confess our sins and are given God’s forgiveness earned for us by the death of His Son.

Yes, very often in life we are just as guilty as the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. We are even guilty as the Children of Israel for their lack of faith. But again, thanks be to God that He has given His Son and the life of His Son for our forgiveness.

Jesus continues by telling us the words of Holy Scripture. “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes.” The rejected stone, the killed Son is be the foundation on which the Church is built. Our hope and our faith is built on the crucified Son, because He did not stay dead, but He rose from the dead. Death and the grave have no hold on Him. But, how do we reject the Son, You ask? We reject Him every time we try to rely on ourselves for salvation. Every time we think we are good enough by ourselves to get to heaven. Every time we think that we have not sinned enough to earn hell. This is how we reject the Son.

Salvation is for all who believe. Salvation is for us. It is ours and although it is ours without a cost to us, it is not without a cost to Christ. Our salvation cost the life of the Son, God’s Son. Because of His great love for us, He freely gave His life that we might have life.

I suppose that if Jesus told this parable today He might remind us of all that God has done for us. He might remind us of the fact that we live in a very wealthy country and that we have all that we need as well as more than we need. Very often we have all that we want as well. He might remind us that we have the freedom, not from worship or from religion as seems to be the case in our country, but we have freedom to worship as we wish. He might also remind us that He has given us the means of grace through which He has given us faith and forgiveness of sins and through which He comes to strengthen us in our faith. Through these means of grace He will also remind us of the gift of His Son and the life of His Son, the shedding of Jesus’ blood for our sins. And finally, He may remind us that He expects fruits of faith from us as well. He did not give us faith and salvation for nothing, but so that we might do the good works which He has for us to do even today. And finally, He might remind us that He also stirs in our hearts and gives us the ability to do the good works which He would have us to do, to the praise and glory of His Holy Name. Yes, He would also point us to Jesus, just Jesus. To Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . To speak Law & Gospel (Part1).

2011-10-01T08:41:00.000-05:00

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). How true, how important, and how fitting are these words from John. These are the words we speak on Sunday mornings before we confess our sins, all our sins, our sins of thought, word and deed. These words remind us of the importance of confessing our sins so that we might be given forgiveness of sins, because, if we do not recognize and confess our sins, we are refusing God’s gift of forgiveness.

What does this confession have to do with Lifestyle Evangelism? Confession has much to do with Lifestyle Evangelism because, too often Christians are perceived to be either hypocrites or people who think they are better than others. Thus, it is important that we begin by recognizing our own sins and the fact that we are “by nature sinful and unclean.” It is important that we do not put on airs, that is, that we do not present ourselves as being better than non-Christians because the fact of the matter is that we sin just as much as anyone else, and often even more, because we know God’s commandments and still disobey them.

In his explanations to the Ten Commandments, Dr. Martin Luther reminds us that we sin against the commandments, not simply by doing something we should not be doing, but by not doing some things we should be doing. Or to say it another way, we sin more sins of omission than sins of commission; yet, these sins are just as damnable as the others.

Therefore, it is important that we recognize and confess our own sins first; then, so that we might be able to recognize and lovingly call attention to the grave sins of our unchurched family and friends (who may not know or understand what sin is nor its grave implications). Remember, the Law must be proclaimed in its severity if the Gospel is to be taken seriously. For, as many people believe, if I am not so bad, then why would I need a Savior? Yet, we speak the words of the Law with love, care and concern for the one to whom we are speaking.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Speaking the Truth in Love.

2011-09-29T07:26:00.001-05:00

Many people remember Jack Nicholson’s line from A Few Good Men, “You want the truth? You can’t handle the truth.” Too often we think that of others in our world today cannot handle the truth. No one can handle the truth anymore. Perhaps that is one of the reasons we have moved not to know what the truth is in our world today.

As Christians, we know the truth. Jesus is the truth. As Christians, we can and must speak the truth, God’s Word. However, we must speak the truth in love. As Christians we are to build each other up in the body of Christ (1 Thess. 5:11). We are to do the good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10). Yet, we are not to do these tasks while compromising the truth.

And the truth is that there is sin, and there is forgiveness. There is sin in the world because we live in a fallen world. Bad things happen to good people because of sin. Good things happen to sinful people because our Lord is gracious, compassionate and merciful. There is forgiveness, but not without repentance. There is forgiveness, but not without a cost. Certainly the cost for sin has been paid. The cost for sin is death, eternal death and that price has been paid by Jesus’ death on the cross.

The eternal punishment (price) for sin has been paid, and much of the temporal punishment (consequences) has been paid as well. However, there may be times when we will have to suffer some of the temporal punishment for our sin. And there may be times that we as Christians may need to explain this reality to our unchurched family members and friends who have a hard time understanding how we may speak of a loving God who they believe, has brought suffering upon them instead of admitting that they bring suffering on themselves by sin.

When we speak of, about, and even for God, we must always do so truthfully, and at the same time, lovingly. Doing so may be difficult, but, as always, at the right time, God will give you the words you will need to give an answer for the hope that you have in Jesus as your Savior.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Prayerful Evangelism.

2011-09-27T07:19:00.000-05:00

With the lord begin your task;
Jesus will direct it.
For his aid and counsel ask;
Jesus will perfect it.
Ev’ry morn with Jesus rise,
And when day is ended,
In his name then close your eyes;
Be to him commended.

(Lutheran Worship, Hymn #483)

This song serves well to remind us of the importance of prayer in living a Lifestyle of Evangelism.

Prayer is one of the most important parts of our own lives and should be the beginning of our giving witness of the evangel (good news). When we pray, we are often reminded always to pray, “Thy will be done.” The fascinating part about praying for God to bring to faith an unchurched family member or friend is that this is God’s will. Thus, when it comes to praying for someone to be brought to faith, we do not need to ask if it is God’s will because it has always been.

When we pray, we are setting the foundation for our being able to have an opportunity to give an answer for the hope we have in Christ our Savior. When we pray for our unchurched family members and friends, we pray that God would show Himself to them through the signs He gives of Himself in the world, through their conscience, and through His Word. We also pray that the Lord would give us the opportunity as well as the words to speak (when He gives us that opportunity) to give an answer for the hope that we have.

Until the time that we have such an opportunity to share our hope, we continue to pray for God’s protection of and blessings upon those who do not know Jesus as their Savior. We also pray for our witness, that our words and actions might give a good, positive witness for Christ’s sake.

Doing the Father’s Will - September 25, 2011 - Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 21) - Text: Matthew 21:23-27 (28-32)

2011-09-25T07:24:00.001-05:00

Last week we were reminded by Jesus Himself that He came to save all people of all places and especially at all times, even up to the point of death. What follows our reading from the Gospel last week and the events that come before our reading this week is this: Jesus again predicts His suffering and death and immediately after Salome, the mother of James and John, requests that her sons be allowed to sit at Jesus left and right in His kingdom, in other words, she is seeking places of honor for her sons. Jesus then heals two blind men on his way Jerusalem. Continuing on His way to Jerusalem, at Bethphage, Jesus arranges for his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and after His triumphal entry He cleanses the temple, throwing out the money changers. Now, in the first part of our text for this morning we have Jesus’ authority being questioned and His response that He will reveal from where He gets His authority if the Pharisees and teacher of the Law will tell from whom they believe John the Baptist got his authority. I know that is a long way to go to get to the second part of our text for this morning and the part on which I would like to focus our attention, but I believe these events are not random events, but that they fit together to help us get a better understanding of what is happening.

All during His time of public ministry Jesus has had to deal with the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law. The second half of our text, where I want to focus our attention this morning is the parable of the two sons, and Jesus tells this parable right after His authority is questioned. I believe it is significant that this parable comes at this point because of the fact that the Pharisees would not answer Jesus’ question concerning John’s authority, because they did not want to admit that Jesus’ authority might be from the same place as John’s authority that is from God. If John and Jesus had the same authority, if their authority came from the same place, from God, then that would mean that they would be left without authority and that did not fit their paradigm of life.

The parable is this, Jesus begins by asking the question of the Sanhedrin, picking up at verse twenty-eight, “28‘What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” 29And he answered, “I will not,” but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, “I go, sir,” but did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him’” (v. 28-32).

Jesus begins by asking their objective opinion. What do they think? He gives two different scenarios. In the first scenario we have the father asking his son to go and work and his son rudely answers that he will not go, but later he repents and does go. Is this son doing what his father asked? In the second scenario we have the father asking his other son to go and work and his other son kindly answers that he will, but you does not go. Is this son doing what his father asked?

Again, the question Jesus asked is this, “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” Notice that the father wanted the same thing of both his sons. He wanted both of his sons to go out and work in his vineyard. Which son did what his father wanted? The answer given by the Sanhedrin is that the first one did what his father asked. Now, before we go on to Jesus explanation, I would ask you to think about this, which son are we?

Jesus’ answer to the Sanhedrin is this, “‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him’”

The objective answer is that the first son, even though he refused at first to go and work, did do what his father asked, because he repented and went out to work. The subjective application of this parable is this, those who are considered to be the outcasts of the Jewish society, mostly by the Pharisees and teachers of the law, and those who repent will be included in the kingdom of heaven. They are the ones who appear to refuse at first and yet repent and believe in the end. Those who refuse to repent, because they believe they are doing the “father’s” will and are not, namely the Pharisees and teachers of the law will miss out. A mere head and mouth Christianity is really no Christianity at all. To confess Christ with your lips and yet to refuse Him with your heart is actually denying Christ.

God the Father’s will is that we all believe and respond living lives of faith. His will is that we say what we mean and we mean what we say. We come across this constantly in our world today. When I speak with someone who has decided to absent themselves from divine service, at times I get the “right” answer. “Yes, pastor, I know I have not been in church lately. I have every good intention to go. I promise I will be there next week.” And then they fail to show up. How often do we volunteer to help serve on a board or a committee, or to serve in some other way and then fail to do what we have said we will do. Unfortunately, if we do this often enough then people will begin to know us as a person who does not keep our word. I believe there is a saying that goes something like, “the road to hell is paved with good intentions.”

God calls all people to Himself. His will is that all people are saved. He keeps His Word. He kept His word in that He sent His only Son Jesus to give His life for all people. He kept His Word because His Son gave His life for ours, so that we might have forgiveness of sin, so that we might have eternal life. There are some who do not have a part in God’s kingdom and it is not because it is someone else’s fault or even God’s fault, rather it is because they refuse and reject the gifts God gives, only paying lip service to Him. Have you ever thought about how your excuse for missing divine service sounds before God?

“Not everyone who says, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.” And just because someone goes to church does not necessarily mean they will go to heaven. Being religious does not save a person. It does matter, not only that you have faith, but in whom you have faith. The object of faith is important. The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law were a very religious bunch. They did a lot of religious things. They said, “yes, father we will work in your vineyard,” and yet, their hearts were far from the Lord. They did not go and work instead they did their own thing. Their faith really was a faith in themselves, not in God. They had become their own gods.

The “tax collectors and prostitutes,” on the other hand were not very religious. Why should they be religious? They were chased out of the temple as being unworthy. They felt and believed themselves to be shunned and looked down upon, even judged by the likes of the Pharisees and teachers of the law. They said, “no, father we will not go and work in your vineyard.” Yet, they repented for their sins. They believed in Jesus. He was the object of their faith and the reason for their repentance and Jesus says, they will enter the kingdom of heaven ahead of the religious leaders.

Jesus continues to remind these religious leaders that they had a chance. They saw John the Baptist, the one about whom they were not sure of from where he received authority and yet they did not believe and repent.

Again, the question, “who are we in the parable?” Are we the son who says that we will go and work? Do we say that church is a priority, that our faith in Jesus is the number one priority in our lives and yet, live otherwise, letting the things of this world get in the way of our regular divine service and Bible Class attendance? Do we wear the name Christian, and act like a Christian, yet have our hearts far from the Lord? Do we tell others we are members of a church, but fail to attend? Do we make excuses and blame others for our lack of attendance? Do we say “Yes Lord,” with our lips, but live “No Lord,” with our actions?

Or are we the son who, at first seems rather rebellious, saying “no” we will not go and work and then repent and do what is asked? Do we quietly live our faith and show through our lives, our actions and our words that our faith in Jesus is what is most important to us? Do we strive, with God’s help, to live lives of faith, attending divine service and Bible Class as often as we can, not making a big deal about it, but simply living our faith?

The Old Testament reading for this morning reminds us that we will be held accountable for ourselves, if we do not repent or if we do repent and God’s desire is that we do repent. In the Epistle reading Paul reminds us of from where our forgiveness comes, it comes from Jesus “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”

Forgiveness is ours. Jesus came to pay the price for sin, for all sin, for your sin and my sin, for the sins of all people, of all places, of all times. Jesus even paid the price for those sins we have yet to commit, those sins we will commit as soon as we walk out those doors. Yes, Jesus forgives our sins even when we act like the second son, even when we fail to live according to our faith. All sin, all our sins, the price for all our sins has already been completely paid, not that this fact gives us a license to sin, but that gives us the motivation to repent. Our only option is that we might refuse and reject the forgiveness He has earned and paid for and we do that, we reject forgiveness when we fail to repent and confess our sins, when we refuse and reject the gifts He gives through the means of grace He gives especially in divine service. To fail to repent is to reject Jesus’ forgiveness, which has already been paid for and given to us. Yet, as the Holy Spirit works in us and comes to us through the very means He has given to come to us, namely as we have been given this morning, through our remembrance of our baptism, through confession and absolution, through His Holy Word, and in a little bit through His body and blood in, with and under the bread and wine in His Holy Supper, through these very means the Holy Spirit works in us to be given all the gifts and blessings our Lord has purchase and won for us, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

Last week Jesus reminded us that salvation is a free gift, neither earned, nor deserved, but certainly a gift we might refuse by thinking we have somehow earned or deserved it, or are somehow entitled to it. This week Jesus continues to remind us that salvation is a heart issue which shows forth in our lives through our thoughts, words and actions. Thus, we are once again pointed to Jesus, just Jesus. Jesus has earned forgiveness and through the Holy Spirit working through the means of grace He gives forgiveness, faith and eternal life. Our only response to the gifts God gives is gift refusal, or rejoicing in the gifts He gives. My prayer is that as the Lord calls, He will stir in our hearts to answer, “here am I, send me, send me,” and then also stir in our hearts to do the work that He gives us to do. Finally, may the Lord also stir in our hearts to do His work to the praise and glory of His holy name. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Truthful (Part 4).

2011-09-24T07:02:00.000-05:00

Because we live in a society where truth has become relative (for some), we have had to devise ways to get others to believe us and even to trust us. As children, to our explanation of truth, we added, “I promise,” or “Cross my heart and hope to die (and we may even add, ‘stick a needle in my eye’).” As adults we get a bit more sophisticated and say something like, “Well, to be honest with you,” or “To be totally honest with you.” Our hope is that, by adding these words, we will emphasize our honesty and make others believe the words we are saying. Yet, “To be honest with you,” when I hear such explanations to what one has to say, I think to myself, “Has this person not been honest with me before?”

Speaking to the crowds during the sermon on the mountain, Jesus said, “Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one” (Matthew 5:37). As is often the case, Jesus’ Words come crashing down on our own words and lives even accusing and convicting us.

The point is that our Lifestyle Evangelism shows itself in letting our “Yes” be “Yes,” and our “No,” “No,” and not giving any further explanation except to live our “Yes” and “No” so that it shows forth in our lives. As we let our “Yes” be “Yes,” and our “No,” “No,” others will see and understand what it means to be a Christian, what it means to live lives of truthfulness and honesty. Ultimately, we may be able to point them back to the One who is the Truth, Jesus Himself, as we will have opportunity to give an answer which states that, because of our faith in Jesus, we must speak with truthfulness. Thus, there is no doubt that, when we speak (without adding any explanation concerning the truthfulness or honesty of which we are about to speak), the one hearing and listening can know for certain that our words are true because our Lord and Savior is Truth, and He expects nothing less from each one of us, His dear children.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Truthful (Part 3).

2011-09-22T07:07:00.001-05:00

When Jesus was on trial before Pilate, He said, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me” (John 19:37b). Pilate asked, “What is truth?” (John 19:38). As we discuss truth in our society today, it is important to go back to the Truth. Earlier, during His earthly walk, Jesus, speaking to Thomas and His disciples said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6a) (emphasis added). If we ever wonder what happened to truth, the fact of the matter is that, apart from Jesus, there is and can be no truth.

Truth, Jesus Himself, was standing before Pilate, and Pilate did not recognize Him. Jesus is Truth (the Truth). Apart from Jesus, we cannot recognize truth. Truth has become relative (for some) in our society; yet, if you see who it is who is having trouble with truth, you may recognize that those who are having trouble with truth are those who have set themselves apart from the truth. Thus, if one does not know or believe in Jesus, then s/he will not know nor believe in truth; thus, truth, for that person, will be relative. Truth will be what they “feel” it to be.

Even earlier in the Gospel of John, when speaking to the Jews, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31b-32) (emphasis added). Here again we see the importance of faith in Jesus, especially when it comes to knowing, understanding and believing the truth. Apart from Jesus, there is no truth, only relativity. But, if we hold to His teachings, we are His disciples, and we do know the truth, and that truth frees us from uncertainty.

The freedom of the truth is freedom from sin and its eternal judgement. The freedom of the truth is freedom to trust and believe. The freedom of the truth is a peace which passes all understanding. Yes, we know the truth because we know Jesus. What a joy and privilege to be able to give an answer of that truth to others who do not know Jesus, the Truth.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Truthful (Part 2).

2011-09-20T07:13:00.000-05:00

Although we might lament the fact that we do not base our beliefs on empirical data, this lack may not completely be a bad thing. Our difficulty with science is that science is not always correct. As Christians, we have the same empirical data as science has, and yet we may come up with completely different conclusions.

The theory of evolution is one such example. The theory of evolution is an unproven theory which states, among other things, that human beings have evolved from lesser beings. Now, if you follow science, you may have noticed that this theory has changed from time to time, from textbook to textbook. As new research disproves parts of the theory, new parts are added. The one question to ask someone who understands and believes this theory would be, “Were you there?” If not, then how can you know?

As Christians, we have the Bible. Now, the Bible is not a science book, but it is God’s Word to us. God was there at creation. He had all the events recorded for us. His version of creation has never changed. All the rest of His writings are true and the facts and data of science fit very easily and well into this explanation of the beginning of the world.

As we understand that the Bible is true and is God’s Word, then we understand why things are the way they are in our world today. We live in a sin-filled world. Sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden. Because of sin, there is death and dying. But God immediately stepped in and promised to send a Savior, a Messiah.

When we get to the New Testament, we can believe it as well because, just as God was faithful in telling us the truth in the Old Testament, He continues to be faithful and to tell us the truth in the New Testament. The only other option would be that God is a liar, we are still in our sin, and we are doomed to eternal death.

Thanks be to God that He has given us faith through and in His Word (and through the waters of Holy Baptism) and that He continues to keep us and strengthen us in His Word.

Generosity - September 18, 2011 - Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20) - Text: Matthew 20:1-16

2011-09-18T07:45:00.001-05:00

We pick up our Gospel reading from Matthew a few verses after last weeks’ reading. In our text, Jesus ends his previous words, from chapter nineteen, with the statement: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” His words come in connection with His discussion of salvation and in particular with His words with the rich young man. The rich young man had asked the question, “what good thing must I do to get eternal life?” Jesus’ answer to him was to keep the commandments, which he believed he had done. Jesus then suggested to him that he sell everything, give the money to the poor and follow Him. After which we are told, “when the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possession.” The disciples then became concerned for their own eternal life and after reassuring His disciples Jesus ends His words with the statement: “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” At the same time with these words He continues His discussion of salvation and moves us into the next parable which is today’s text.

The parable in our text is often called the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard and, although this parable convicted the Pharisees and teachers of the law in their thinking, it also, very often convicts us in our thinking even today.

The parable begins at the first hour of the day, probably between six and seven in the morning. The landowner went out into the marketplace and hired some workers. Now, right off at the start, there is something different about the hiring of this first bunch of workers and the hiring of the rest of the workers through the day. Verse two of our text says, “After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” There was an agreed upon contract for these hired first. It was a verbal contract, but it was a contract nonetheless. The agreement was that the workers would work for a set wage, a denarius for the day.

The parable continues at the third hour of the day, about nine in the morning. The landowner went back to the market place and found some others standing around not hired. These also he hired to go and work in his vineyard. This time, notice what is their agreement. They agree to work for “whatever is right.” Their contract is open ended as far as how much they would be paid.

The parable continues at the sixth hour of the day, that is about noon and again at the ninth hour of the day, that is about three in the afternoon. Both times the landowner finds those who have not yet been hired and again, notice the contract, the verbal agreement which he makes with these later workers. They agree to work for “whatever is right.” Their contract is a verbal agreement based on an unspecified amount of payment.

The parable tells us that even up to the eleventh hour, about five in the afternoon, about an hour before quitting time, more were hired for “whatever is right.” Now, so we get the picture of what is going on, remember that the very first ones hired were hired for a specific amount, an agreed upon contract of one denarius for the day, that is for their work from between six and seven in the morning until six in the evening, about a twelve hour day. And remember, even though theirs was a verbal contract, it was still a contract. The rest of the group, those hired from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon, those who worked anywhere from nine hours to one hour, were hired for an unspecified amount, namely, “whatever is right.” Their’s too was a verbal contract which was a contract.

The work is done, the day is over. The second part of the parable is the part of making compensation, that is the part of paying the workers. The paying part begins at evening, about six o’clock. Rather than pay those who were hired first, the landowner instructs that those who were hired last be paid first. Interestingly enough, if those who were hired first would have been paid first and had gone on their way they may never have seen that those hired last received the same pay. It almost seems like a slap in the face the way they had to watch as the others were paid as much as they were paid and for a lot less work. But let us look at the parable.

Those who were hired last were paid first and they received a denarius for their one hour of work. In other words, they received a day’s wage for their one hour of work and I am sure that they were quite pleased with their pay. Would we not like to be paid a days wage for working only one hour. Those hired second to last received a denarius for their three hours work and down the line the paying goes. Here again, if we were one of the ones hired later in the day we would appreciate the wage of “whatever is right,” because that would mean we would be getting more per hour than those hired before us. And even for those being paid a little less per hour than the ones hired last, those paid first, they had no beef, no hard feeling toward those being paid a little more per hour. As a matter of fact, everyone hired, except those hired first, were very pleased at their pay, no matter how much per hour it was.

But, those who were hired first, those who were hired and contracted with the agreement to be paid a specified amount, a denarius for the days work, when they were given only a denarius, they expected more. And why should they not expect more? They worked the longest and in the heat of the day. The ones who worked less hours were given a denarius. If we were one of those hired first we would certainly expect more, but they received the same as everyone else, a denarius. They grumble because they believed that they were being treated unfairly.

The question of those hired first is a question of fairness, at least it was a question of fairness in their own eyes. Yet, the answer they get is one of generosity and inclusion. According to the account of the events of this parable, they do not realize that they are not included in the grace and generosity of the landowner. As a matter of fact, they exclude themselves from the grace and generosity of the landowner because they believe that they are entitled to what the have earned. And they believe the others should not have been given that to which they were not entitled. Here is where we see that this is a parable of grace and generosity. The others are included by the grace and generosity of the landowner. Those who were hired first for an agreed upon contract are not included but are really the outsiders.

The last statement at verse sixteen brings us back to these words, “So the last will be first, and the first last” (v. 16). The question I will now ask is this, “where do you and I fit in this parable?” Are we a part of those who were hired first, second, third, or last? To help you decide, I want to introduce you to several people.

Grandma Schmidt has been a member of the same Lutheran Church for all of her life. She has been a Sunday School teacher for many of those years. She has been a member of the LWML and served in various positions of the LWML. She has always been available to help and serve in any and almost every way possible. According to our calculations, if anyone deserves to be acknowledged and rewarded, she is greatly deserving.

Harry has been a Christian only for about ten years. He has served on a couple of boards and committees. He helps out around the church as much as he can. Sometimes he is unable to be a part of what is going on, but again, if anyone deserves some recognition, everyone would agree that it would be Harry.

Mr. Evashephski is sixty and he became a Christian just last year. He likes to attend divine service and some of the social functions as well as carry in dinners, but he feels he is not sure of himself enough to serve on any board or committee. Everyone agrees that he is a nice person. Certainly everyone agrees that he is a deserving person.

Carla became a Christian on her deathbed. She came from what some describe as a pretty well to do family, but no one ever told her about Jesus or her need for forgiveness. Last fall, when she was taken into the hospital she met a pastor while he was visiting one of his members there. The pastor visited Carla and after a while she asked if she could be baptized. Not too much later she died. While not everyone agreed that she should have a church funeral, the pastor assured everyone of her faith and of God’s gift of eternal life for her.

Now, what do these people have to do with our parable, everything. In His parable Jesus reminds us that just as the landowner went out to hire workers for the vineyard and especially as he went out several times in the day and even up to the last hour of the day, so it is that God calls all people at all places and at all times to be a part of His kingdom. Yes, there are some who feel that they have contracted with God to be a part of His kingdom, that they have earned their spot, but they are unaware of the fact that they are the ones who have excluded themselves because of their refusal of God’s free grace and favor. God’s gifts are free and are freely given. To believe that one is entitled to what God is giving, that is to expect to earn what God is giving is to refuse His gifts.

Most important of all is the fact that God has given His Son for all. Jesus came. He humbled Himself. He put Himself last so that others might be first. He gave His life for ours. He gave His life so that we might have forgiveness of sins and life, eternal life. God is the great gift giver. He gives and we are given to. He calls all people to Himself and as we said, at any time in life and at any place in life. His call has nothing to do with our being deserving or undeserving. As a matter of fact, we are the ones who are undeserving and yet He calls us anyway.

The difficulty in the parable is the question I asked earlier, where are we in the parable? Are we those hired first and think we are deserving of heaven, is this something to which we believe we are entitled, or are we those hired after those hired first and appreciate God’s grace? Do we begrudge anyone who comes into the church at a later time in life thinking that they are not as deserving of God’s gifts as we are, or do we rejoice, as the angels in heaven, when anyone is brought to faith? My prayer is that we are the second, that is that we rejoice in those who are brought to faith at anytime in life. My prayer continues with the prayer that we are also the ones who are out and about sharing the Word of God with others so that they too might be a part of His kingdom.

Although God might allow us to be witnesses of all His good gifts and blessings, we are in no way entitled to nor deserving of any of them. It is only by His grace, through faith, which He has given to us, that we have forgiveness and have a part in His Kingdom. He is the one who earned everything for us, through His life, suffering, death and resurrection and He is the one who freely gives everything to us.

God is gracious and giving of all His good gifts and blessings and we are thankful for all He does and gives. When the landowner comes to give us what is actually Jesus’ reward I pray that we might all together stand and rejoice as He counts us worthy, by His grace, through faith in His Son, to be given a share in His kingdom and that we might respond and say, to Him be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Truthful (Part 1).

2011-09-17T07:27:00.000-05:00

What may be true for you may not be true for me and what may be true for me may not be true for you. However, how do you and I know what is true? We know what is true because we feel something is right for us. What I feel must be true for me and what you feel must be true for you; after all, feelings are not wrong, are they?

Many people think this way in our world today. Gone are the days of thinking and knowing. Gone are the days of empirical data. Today our feelings validate our reality. Then, how does one share the truth of evangel, that is the good news, in such an environment?

Sometimes, and probably more and more today, in order to share the good news of the Bible with someone, we will need to take the time to understand his/her definitions and understanding of what certain words mean. The second step will be to set some ground work, especially in the area of how we understand the Bible, that is that it is God’s Word. Even more, we may need to go back and explain how the Bible has its foundation in Genesis 1-11, that these chapters are important and how they must be true in order to understand what sin is, why God needed to send a Savior, and how that Savior saved us from sin.

We may need to take the time to explain how God does not contradict Himself. If He has made a certain pronouncement (even promise) in His Word, we know that His Word is true. If we have a feeling that is contrary to His Word, then it is not His Word which is false, but it is our feeling which is wrong because it is not in alignment with God’s Word. Thus, we see that it is imperative that, when we believe we have been given some message from God, that we test the spirits to see if the message is from God or not. And we will know, because God does not contradict Himself, that if the message we think we have has been given from God is contradictory to the rest of God’s Word, then the message is not from God. And how do we test the spirits? We check them against the rest of God’s Word and we might even ask them to reveal themselves to us.

Lifestyle Evangelism is . . . Being Friendly.

2011-09-15T07:17:00.000-05:00

There are basically two extremes in evangelism. The one extreme is to isolate yourself from society so that you never have contact with anyone, especially with anyone who is not a Christian. Leaning near this extreme would be to seek to isolate yourself so that your only friends are those who are fellow Christians, thus defending yourself from any contact with non-Christians or unbelievers so that you do not have to “deal” with “those sort of people.”

A second extreme in evangelism would be the confrontational extreme. This extreme looks at sharing the evangel, that is the good news, with others whether they want to hear it or not. This extreme is one which prides itself on confrontation, argumentation and winning theological arguments at all costs.

Certainly there must be a better way. The better way is to develop friendships and relationships with all sorts and kinds of people, to realize that God calls all people to faith and to look for opportunities to issue God’s call to others.

Because no one can be argued into faith and because no one can be convinced to believe, it is best to cultivate friendships and let it be known that you are a Christian as you live as a Christian. Let your speech and actions show for the faith that is in your heart and then be ready to give the reason you believe the way you do.

And the opportunity to give an answer will come. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the opportunity will usually come during a time of crisis, either for you or for your friend. As you friend sees how you handle any given crisis situation, s/he will recognize a Christian response to such a crisis. When s/he is confronted with a crisis situation, s/he may call on you to give an answer as to how you responded to such a crisis situation, at which time you will have the opportunity to give an answer for the hope that you have, especially in your Savior, Jesus Christ.