You Must Be Born Again - May, 30, 2021 - Holy Trinity Sunday - Text: John 3:1-17

Today we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday. We celebrate that we worship a God who is a triune God, a God who has revealed Himself to us as three distinct persons in one Godhead. We do not worship three gods. We do not worship a god who comes to us in three forms or modes. We worship a God who is one God, yet three persons. There are many examples that a person can use to attempt to explain the trinity of God and although there are many examples and although all are limited in their explanations, all are valid for at least one point of illustration. Three such good examples are a tree, an apple and water. A tree has three parts, the roots, the trunk and the leaves, yet there are not three trees, but one tree. An apple has three parts, the seeds, the flesh, and the skin. Yet, again, there are not three apples but one. Water is H2O and it can be solid, as in ice, liquid, as in water, or gas, as in steam. Yet, there are not three waters, but one water. Now, certainly these illustrations only go so far. In reality we must confess that we do not, nor will we ever, this side of heaven, fully understand the trinity of God, but we know that our God is a triune God for He expresses Himself as a triune God and He tells us, specifically to Baptize in His triune name, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
 

Our text brings us to a man named Nicodemus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a ruler of the Jews. He is identified, along with Joseph of Arimathea, as being one who did not vote for the crucifixion of Jesus. Nicodemus was a Pharisee and yet he did not go along with the rest of the Pharisees in their actions. Evidently Nicodemus recognized, from the signs and wonders, from the preaching and the miracles of Jesus, that He was not just an ordinary person, but that, perhaps, maybe, just perhaps, Jesus may be the one promised from of old. He may be the promised Messiah, the Savior of the world.
 

Nicodemus approached Jesus at night. He came at night so that he might not be seen by others and in particular by others of the Pharisees. He came at night so that he might have some one on one time with Jesus, that he might be alone with Jesus without being disturbed by others. He came to Jesus and he confessed his faith. His confession was that Jesus is a prophet and he knows this because “no one can do these signs that [He] does unless God is with him.” Nicodemus understood the signs and wonders, the miracles Jesus’ performed as signs of His divinity that He was the Messiah.
 

Nicodemus came to Jesus and was concerned and questioned Jesus about eternal life. Jesus’ answer was an answer of faith. One is not saved by physical birth, by being born a Jew, nor is one not saved by being born a Gentile. One is not saved by doing enough good works, nor by doing specific good works. One cannot save oneself, no matter by how many good works one does.
 

Jesus expands His teaching by making a distinction between physical birth and spiritual birth. As for physical birth, that which is born of flesh is flesh, in other words, we are all conceived and born in sin, that is  original sin. Not only that, we all add to our inborn sin our actual sin, sins of omission, those sins of our failure to do the things God would have us to do and sins of commission, those sins we commit against God’s commands. We are born in and with sin and we daily sin much and are in need of forgiveness. Left in our sin we are doomed to eternal death and hell.
 

There is one solution and that is that one must be born again, and this is not a physical rebirth, but a spiritual rebirth, a being born again of water and spirit. Of course we understand that Jesus is speaking about Holy Baptism. Here Nicodemus does not understand what Jesus is saying, what He means about this being born again and so Jesus explains.
 

As for physical birth Jesus said that sin is born in each one of us. As for spiritual birth, each one must be born again through Holy Baptism, so that which is born of spirit is spirit, “he who believes and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16a).
 

This analogy is not so hard to understand, Jesus says. The wind is unseen, and yet we see its effect. We may not see the sin with which we are born, but we see its effect. I would suggest that if you really want to see the effect of our inborn sin, put two toddlers in a room with one toy and see if they instinctively share the toy. I would suggest that rather than share the one toy they will fight over the one toy, and I would suppose that even if you gave them two toys each one might want the toy the other one has, an effect of our inborn sin. Likewise, the spirit works through Holy Baptism. While we may bear witness of God using the hand of the pastor to put water on a person and hear God speaking through the mouth of the pastor, His name, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, we cannot see the Holy Spirit work in Baptism, but we see the result and the result is faith, forgiveness, life and salvation.
 

And, even in adults, the Holy Spirit, though unseen, is seen in His work of conversion, as He works through the means of grace, in particular through His Holy Word, to work faith, strengthen faith and to keep us in faith. An unbaptized person who comes to faith through the Word of the Lord naturally has a desire to be baptized, thus we see the effect of the Holy Spirit.
 

What does this mean? This means that there is a distinction between heavenly beings and earthly beings. And further we are told that only a heavenly being can testify of heaven. In other words, no one from earth can testify concerning heaven because no one from earth has yet been to heaven, except one and that one is Jesus. Only Jesus can testify of heavenly things because only Jesus has been to heaven, for that is from where He came in order to be born as one of us and that is where He ascended following His resurrection.
 

For what purpose did Jesus descend? Jesus explains His coming to earth using what would be a familiar illustration for Nicodemus and that is the encounter of the children of Israel and the serpents in the wilderness. When Moses led the children of Israel out of bondage of slavery in Egypt it did not take too long and they began to grumble. They grumbled against Moses and against God. As a consequence and as a punishment of their grumbling, God caused serpents to come into the camp and to bite the people. The people, then, cried out in repentance to Moses and to God.
 

Moses prayed to God and God told him to make an image of the serpent and to put it on a pole. Whenever anyone was bitten by a serpent he or she could look at the serpent on the pole and they would live. The serpent was punishment for their sins. The serpent on the pole was to be looked at in an act of repentance and faith in forgiveness. Thus, in essence, the punishment of the snake and being bitten by the snake became the cure as one who was bitten looked on the bronze snake on the pole.
 

God created a perfect world and in that perfect world He created and placed a perfect man and a perfect woman into a perfect garden. The devil came and tempted the woman with the temptation that she could be like God. The woman disobeyed God as did the man and with that disobedience, sin entered the world. The punishment for sin was death, the beginning of physical death, and unless there was a cure, the ultimate conclusion would be eternal death and hell. God immediately stepped in and promised to send a Savior, one who would take the punishment for the sin of Adam and Eve. Jesus came as the Savior. He came as one of us, one of the beings which brought sin and death into the world. He came in order to suffer the punishment for us.
 

God placed Jesus on the cross. The serpent brought death, humans brought death. The serpent on the cross was to be looked at in repentance and faith. Jesus was put on the cross to be looked at in repentance and faith. We look at Jesus and believe and we are saved. Thus, the punishment became the cure.
 

Which brings us to Jesus words, what we call “the Gospel in a nutshell,” John 3:16. The price of sin is death, physical death and ultimately left unpaid, eternal death and hell. What sin has earned, the wages of sin is death. Sin costs the shedding of blood and death, human blood and human death for human sin. Left alone in our sins we would be condemned to eternal death and hell. Nothing on our part can take care of our sins. There are not enough good things we could do, not that we could or would do them, that could add up to pay the price for our sins.
 

In His love God sent Jesus. Jesus is God Himself in human flesh. Jesus is the Creator taking on the flesh and blood of His creation in order to rescue His creation. God knew that we, His creation, His creatures, would not be able to save or rescue ourselves, thus, because of His great love for us, He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, true God in human flesh to pay the price for our sins, to rescue us from sin, death and the devil.
 

The price, the cost, what sin has earned, the wage of sin is eternal death and hell. What Jesus, God in flesh did was pay that price. On the cross, God died for us, in our place. On the cross Jesus died a physical death and an eternal death, He suffered the pain and torment of hell for us, in our place.
 

In our theology we talk about the proper distinction between the Law and the Gospel. The Law shows us our sins. The Gospel shows us our Savior. The Law shows us how we sin, it tells us what we are to do and not to do. On its own all the Law can do is lead us either to think we can gain heaven through works righteousness, or it leads us to despair. The Gospel is the good news. The Gospel points us to Jesus. The Gospel tells us all that Jesus has done, does, and continues to do for us. The Gospel motivates repentance because it proclaims that all our sins have been paid for by Jesus on the cross so that we have forgiveness of sins. The Gospel leads us to faith in Jesus who paid the price for our sins.
 

Thus, Jesus came into the world, not to condemn the world, but in order that the world though Him might be saved. Yes, to those who do not believe in Jesus they are condemned, but to all those who do believe, to all those who have faith, they are forgiven and have eternal life.
 

As we celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday we celebrate what a great and loving God we worship. We celebrate that our God is one as He has revealed Himself to us as a triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We celebrate that He is the one who created us, redeemed us, that is traded His life for ours on the cross, and sanctifies us, that is He continues to work faith in our hearts, strengthen us in faith, and keeps us in faith until Christ comes again. And when Christ comes again He will gather us with all the saints and we will stand before the Lord’s throne and say, “To God be the glory.” For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The Giving of the Helper - May 23, 2021 - The Day of Pentecost - Text: John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

Today we take the time to celebrate the third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, as we celebrate the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on that first Pentecost day. Yes, we are going to talk about that person of the Trinity of which it seems we Lutherans are most afraid. Personally, I think it is a healthy fear that we have, because we do not want to err in our understanding of the Holy Spirit, His power and His work. I say that, because we have seen too many TV evangelists and others abuse and misguide many people, even may faithful Christians, concerning the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes and does His work as He was sent to do by the Father and the Son. And He does His work the way He pleases according to His good and gracious will. For us to impose anything else on Him, namely our ideas of what He should do and how He should be is, simply put, silly.
 

Let us get into our text. Our text begins with Jesus announcing that He is going away and then we have the disciples reaction. We begin at verse five, “5But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ 6But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. ” (v.5-7). The reaction of the disciples to Jesus’ announcement is grief, sadness, and sorrow. The disciples are sad for themselves, theirs is a selfish sadness. They will miss Jesus. They have not taken the time to think things through. They do not want to understand the importance of Jesus’ going away, the importance of His sending the Holy Spirit.
 

Jesus, patient as He always is with His disciples, reassures them that this is for their own good that He is going away. Again, Jesus reminds them that unless He goes away, He cannot send the Holy Spirit to them, but when He goes away He will send the Holy Spirit who will be a Helper and even, as some translations call Him, a Counselor for them.
 

The second part of our text outlines the work of the Holy Spirit. We pick up at verse eight, “8And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer” (v.8-10). The work of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin, righteousness, and the judgment of the devil. Now let us take a moment to look at these three.
 

The Holy Spirit comes to convict the world of sin, the sin of unbelief in particular. Please understand that Jesus is not just speaking with His disciples, His “faithful,” strong in the faith, disciples. He is speaking to us here today in the year 2021. The Holy Spirit still comes to us today to convict us of our sin of unbelief. Sure, we come to church, we say we believe, but do we not have doubts, at times? Do we not, along with the disciples, misunderstand what Jesus is doing for us, becoming sad, even angry when we believe that Jesus has left us, because things are not going the way we think they should? Yes, even in our faith we have times of doubt and unbelief. We may even think to ourselves, was Jesus work on the cross enough, and was it for me?
 

The Holy Spirit comes to convict the world of righteousness, that is of self righteousness or work righteousness. Again, Jesus’ words are meant for us today. How often do we catch ourselves expressing our faith in terms of all the wonderful things we have done or are doing for the Lord. I am not saying that we should not be glad about our work for the Lord, but how often does what we are doing get in the way of what God does for and through us? We talk so much about what we have done and what we are doing that what God does is no longer important. You know, the devil is very subtle. He does not come to you and say, “All your good works are so good that you deserve to go to heaven.” Rather, he slowly gets you talking about all your good works so that your concentration shifts from your dependency on Jesus, and His death and resurrection, to your being dependent on yourself, and Jesus being dependent on you and what you are doing. He gets you to thinking that you can be a champion for the Lord. Of course, he does this so subtly that you do not notice until it is too late.
 

And the Holy Spirit comes to convict the world of the judgment of the devil and to remind us that salvation belongs to the believers. This is where the Holy Spirit gently nudges us to say, “hey, don’t you think you’re depending on yourself a little too much?” “Don’t forget that it was Jesus’ life and death on the cross that saved you, it was all that Jesus did for you, living a perfect life for you in your place that saved you, it was Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection for you personally that saved you, you did not save yourself.”
 

The Holy Spirit is alive and well in our world today. He is at work in our world and in us today. And we must understand that He works the way He wants to work, or as we say, when and where He pleases, giving the gifts He comes to give and giving them the way He wants to give them. Today He works through means, He works mediately, which is not to say that He cannot work immediately. Let me explain. The usual way the Holy Spirit has of working with us today is not to speak directly to us, not to come to us and show Himself to us; not to move in us to speak in tongues, or to babble. His usual way is to work through means, namely through the means of grace; the Word, that is the Bible, Confession and Absolution and the sacraments, that is Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The Holy Spirit comes through these ordinary earthly means, the Word, the Bible as you read it and as your hear it read. He comes through confession and absolution as we confess our sins and as we hear His word of absolution, “Your sins are forgiven.” He comes through the sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. He comes through simple water and the Word, and through the bread and wine, His body and blood, and the Word, to do His work, to show us Jesus’ life, His suffering and death, to show us Jesus’ resurrection, to give us the gifts that He has to give, namely the gifts of faith, strengthening of faith, forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.
 

Today the Holy Spirit delivers His gifts through the means of grace as they are given by our pastor. Our God is a God of good order. He knows that it would be rather chaotic for Him to just throw His gifts out at us or to us and beside, we would probably not believe it anyway. If Jesus appeared to us and then left, we would have a hard time believing it. So, God gives us the Holy Spirit and His gifts in a more orderly way, through the means of grace, delivered to us by our pastor.
 

And these gifts are delivered for us to use, not for us to take for granted, nor for us to hoard, nor for us to waste. The best illustration I can give you is the one I used a couple weeks ago and several times before, and one I am sure I will continue to use because it is a fitting illustration, it is the illustration of a pitcher of water. Please remember, as all illustrations are, do not push the point too far or you lose any meaning that might be there. God’s gifts are like water in a pitcher. We come here every week to have Him fill our glasses with the gifts that He has to give, through our hearing the Word, through our confessing our sins and hearing His words of absolution, our remembering our Baptism and our being given the Lord’s Supper. As we are filled with His gifts we get to the point that we overflow and those gifts spill over to others, and we are so excited that we share our faith with others, so they too will come to the Lord’s house, with their cups, to be given the Lord’s gifts as well. Those who do not come to be given the gifts are like the cup that stays away from the pitcher, and even what water it did have will evaporate so that it no longer has any, and that person loses their faith. Thus we see the importance of coming to the Lord’s house to be given His gifts. We come to the Lord’s house, we are filled with the Word and the Sacraments and then, excitedly we go out and tell others. Jesus’ life, Jesus’ work on the cross was enough. Jesus’ died for me and for you.
 

Last week marked our nineteenth anniversary as congregation and pastor. This morning as we begin another year together, as the Lord wills, I want to reiterate my commitment to you, the same commitment I made nineteen years ago. First, I commit to you that I will continue to pray for you, individually and personally. My usual habit is to begin my morning in prayer and scripture reading. Each morning I pray for a portion of the members of St. Matthew Lutheran Church personally, by name. I will also continue to pray for any special prayer requests you have made, including all those listed in our bulletin each week.
 

Second, I promise to continue to deliver the goods to you, that is, to continue to proclaim the good news to you, and to administer the sacraments to you, to speak God’s word of forgiveness to you. As you come here each Sunday, and on other days of worship and as you have need at other times, I promise to continue to share God’s Word of comfort and hope with you.
 

Finally, I promise to continue to be an example to you, though a sinful example and I will be an example by keeping my priorities straight. My priorities are first, my own personal relationship with God, second, my family, namely my wife, and then my children, and third, my work as your pastor. I continually pray that the Lord will give me the strength and ability to demonstrate these priorities in my life and as I demonstrate them, I pray that you will make them yours.
 

And now, as I did nineteen years ago, and as I often do, and as I am recommitting myself, I will ask you to recommit yourself. I ask two simple things from you. First, I ask that you will continue to pray for me. Pray that the Lord will continue working through me to reach you as well as others. Pray that the Lord will continue work in me to keep me faithful, and to preach faithfully even to the point of death.
 

Second, I ask that you will continue to come to be given the gifts that God has to give to you through me, making regular and diligent use of the Lord’s gifts. Come to divine service and Bible Class, come often to be given the gifts the Lord has to give to you through me.
 

Today is Pentecost Sunday. Next week we will celebrate Holy Trinity Sunday and the fact that God shows Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And the following Sunday we will begin the Pentecost Season, the Non-festival portion of our church year as we call it. The color on the altar will be green, the color of growth. Summer will be beginning meaning that many will be on vacation. Unfortunately, too often too many people have a tendency to be tempted to skip church during the Summer, because they are on vacation and away and so forth. This tendency is one of Satan’s ways of tempting you out of your usual habit to be in divine service hoping to break that habit. May I encourage you, as we have heard God’s Word, as we are given His gifts here today, as we have recommitted ourselves to one another and to Christ, that with His help we also recommit ourselves to Summer divine service attendance. God loves you so much and He has so much He wants to give to you. Come and be given the gifts, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Jesus Prays for us - May 16, 2021 - Seventh Sunday of Easter - Text: John 17:11b-19

Last week in our Gospel reading, Jesus reminded us of what it means to be the ultimate friend. He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). And that is exactly what He did. He laid down His life for us, for you and for me. He did this, because, as Paul tells us, “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23a). The price for our sins is death and that does not mean simply physical death, that means eternal death, hell. Jesus shows His great love for us in this, that He took all our sins upon Himself and suffered the eternal death penalty of hell for us, in our place. He died so that we might live.
 

Our text for this morning is sometimes referred to as Jesus “high priestly” prayer. Jesus is praying for His disciples and He is praying for us, His close friends. Jesus is praying especially that we would be protected in times of temptation. And we must admit that temptations to do evil abound in this world. We are constantly being tempted by the devil. And although we are tempted by the devil, we cannot blame our sins on the devil. He does not have that much control over us. Yes, he can tempt us, but he cannot force us to do anything. The devil tempts us in many ways. He knows our weaknesses and that is where he attacks. Usually his attacks come in the most subtle of ways. The devil does not tempt us to do the things he knows we would not normally do. He does not say, “bow down to idols,” “lust after other people,” “steal this item or that item,” “murder that person,” “don’t go to church,” because he knows that those temptations will not work. Instead, he uses more subtle ways of tempting us, such as putting other things into our life which become our gods such as money, drugs, alcohol, power, greed and the like. He tells us that “window shopping is okay” in other words, “it is okay to look lustfully at another person, just don’t touch.” He tells us “it is okay to work slow and to ‘borrow’ things from the company without worrying about returning them, especially because we are not being paid as we should.” He fills our time and our lives with so many other things to do other than go to church, so that we do not have time for church. Yes, the devil does tempt us.
 

But, not only does the devil tempt us, we are also tempted by the things of this world. Friends, or rather, those who seem to be friends often tempt us. You know how it is, they say something like, “come on, everyone else is doing it . . .” At times we want to blame our spiritual life on our parents, “they always ‘made’ me go to church, so now I am rebelling against that and not going,” or “my parents let me choose if I want to go to church or which church I want to go to, so now I am looking for a church which conforms to my human nature and urgings.” And one of my favorite temptations comes all the way from the beginning when we hear Satan ask the question of Eve, “Did God really say . . . ?” and “Did God really mean . . . ?” and you can fill in the blank, in other words when we are tempted to question God and His Word rather than question humanity and the word of man. God in His Word tells us the truth. The world and our culture tell us that truth is relative, which really means there is no truth. The temptations of the world are great indeed.
 

We are tempted by the devil; we are tempted by the world; and we are also tempted by our own sinful human nature. Our minds are constantly in battle against the sins of thought, envy, lust, greed, hatred, and the list goes on. Sin comes natural to us. Although we might deny it later and have regret, we like to sin. It is easy. It does not take any practice. And usually, at least at the time, we probably think it is fun.
 

And yet, here in our text we are told that our best friend, our true best friend, is praying for us. Jesus is praying that we might be protected and kept safe from temptation and sin. Very much like a loving parent or guardian wants protection and safety for their child, so our best friend Jesus wants only the best for us. And more often than not, while we are in the midst of sinning, we do not ever realize what we are doing, not that this not knowing what we are doing gives us an excuse, at least not before God.
 

Yet, Jesus is realistic. He knows that we will undergo temptation and that we will sin. He does not pray that we will be taken out of this world, which He knows is the only way in which we would never suffer temptation and sin, rather He prays that through the trials we may face that we will be made better. Which reminds us of the possibility of what might happen as a result of the trials and temptations we face in this life, that is that through our trials and temptations we might be strengthened in our faith. You know, when we face trials there are really only two ways to turn. Either we get mad at and turn away from God or we are drawn closer to Him knowing that He is, really, the only one who can help us. It is this being drawn closer to Him which gives us the strength to face what is ahead and this desire is Jesus’ prayer.
 

Another result of trials and temptation is that we might be moved beyond ourselves to depending on Jesus alone. Trials and temptations are intended to strengthen us in our faith, to move us to depend on Jesus alone and to give us hope (Rom. 5:1-5). It is through Jesus alone that we have deliverance from sin, death and the power of the devil. It is through Jesus alone that we can resist and overcome the temptations of the devil, the world and our own sinful human nature.
 

Yes, we will have temptations while we are in this world, but we do not have to face these temptations alone. God’s promise is that with temptation He will also give us the help we need and that help comes in one of three ways. One way the Lord helps us in time of temptation, when we come to Him and pray to Him, is that He will remove the temptation, especially if He knows that we will not be able to handle it, that we will sin.
 

If the Lord does not remove the temptation from us, another way He has of helping us to overcome is by giving us a way out. He opens a door so that we might escape the temptation. Instead of going along with the crowd and doing something wrong, maybe God gives you a different choice, a way out of the sin. God gives us the courage to walk away from the temptation to steal, to hurt or harm someone, to join in speaking evil against someone, to covet, and even to misuse His name.
 

Finally, if He does not remove the temptation and if He does not open a door out, He will give us the strength to bear up under the temptation so that through this temptation we are drawn closer to Him and strengthened in our faith. This is probably the hardest of the three ways in which God helps us in times of trial and temptation, however, we are reminded by Jesus that God knows what we can handle and He promises never to give us more than we can handle. So, if you are going through some trial or temptation and you do not think you are able to handle it, evidently God knows you better than you and He knows you can handle it and He will be there to help you.
 

Today, Jesus continues to be our best friend. Along with His being with us every day, He is seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven where He is watching over us, interceding for us, that is He is praying for us, and He is ruling over us. Everything we do, everything we say, everything we think, He knows. He knows everything there is to know about us and He loves us anyway.
 

Jesus is our best friend and He has shown that He is our best friend in the most profound way, by giving His life for ours. He is the one who is true God. As true God He was enjoying all of the glory that was His in heaven. He gave up the glory that was His in heaven in order to take on human flesh and blood, to be born as one of us except without sin. He lived for us, perfectly. What we could not do, live perfectly, He did. Everything we are supposed to do he did for us in our place. He took all our sins upon Himself, freely of His own choosing. He suffered and died the eternal death penalty of hell for us, in our place so that we might not have to die, but so that we might live and have life eternal with Him in heaven. He has made us right with God. He most certainly is our best friend.
 

And Jesus continues to be our best friend. He sends His Holy Spirit to help us “work out” our sanctification, that is, to do the good works which He has prepared in advance for us to do. Any work we do that is a good work in God’s eyes are only those good works that are motivated by God, done in and through us by the Holy Spirit, and are done to give glory to God. Which simply means that more often than not we do not actually know when we are doing a good work.
 

Very often in this life we have a hard time seeing things, at least seeing things clearly. Sometimes the reason we cannot see clearly is because we are too caught up in and involved in any given situation or relationship and we cannot see straight. True love, true friendship is something that is not blind, as some would suggest, but true love sees perfectly. The faith that we have, that has been given to us is also not a blind faith as some would suggest. Our faith is a faith based on a true, real, person, a person attested not only by time and history, but by His Holy Word. We have one best friend and yet, too often, we are so involved in this world and our life in this world that we miss Him. Sometimes we need to stop and with His help take a closer look and then we can see Him. Jesus’ words to doubting Thomas were, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Blessed are we when we have not physically seen Jesus, yet we have seen Him in faith through eyes that can see.
 

God never promised that life would be easy, as the saying goes, even beautiful roses have thorns. However God has and continues to promise that He will be with us always. He has called us to faith, through His means of grace. He has put faith in our hearts through His means of grace. He has put His name on us at Holy Baptism. He forgives us through Holy Absolution. He continues to strengthen and keep us in faith through His means of grace, His Holy Word and His body and blood in His Holy Supper. He has promised and continues to be with us always, even to the end of the world. My prayer for each one of you is that the Lord will continue His work so that when the final hour arrives we might all together stand before the Lord’s throne and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Love One Another - May 9, 2021 - Sixth Sunday of Easter/Mother’s Day - Text: John 15:9-17

Today we continue to celebrate Easter. Remember, as Christians, we worship on Sunday because for us each and every Sunday is a miniature Easter celebration. Each and every Sunday we are reminded of God’s great love for us. Each and every Sunday we have the opportunity to come to divine service in order to be given to, in order to be lavished with all the good gifts and blessings our Lord has to give to us. Why would we want to be anyplace else?
 

Today we also celebrate the social holiday of Mother’s Day. Indeed, the highest calling of God to a woman is motherhood because as was His promise, the Savior of the world was born through a mother, the Virgin Mary. So, to all our Mother’s we are glad you are here, that you brought your family and we say to you, “Happy Mother’s Day.”
 

Our text for today is a fitting Mother’s Day text as our text talks about relationships. Indeed, for each one of us our first relationship was with our mother as she was probably the one who feed us, changed our diaper and comforted us.
 

Relationships are a big thing. Usually when we hear the word “relationship,” a couple of different images come to mind, at least to my mind. One image might be that of relatives, or as we say here in Texas, “kin folks.” Another image might be of young people in love and talking about their relationship with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Too often we do not give much thought to “relationships” unless there is a strain in such relationship. To twist a phrase, “relationships happen.”
 

A friend and I were discussing relationships when he made, what I thought was, a most profound observation. He said, “What is the difference between a man and a woman who are friends and a man and a woman who are dating? At five o’clock they are “just friends,” but at six o’clock they decide they are ‘going together.’ What is the difference?” And this is the profound part, “We all have relationships with each other, it is just that our relationships are all at different levels, and our relationships with each other will grow and deepen as far and as deep as we will let them. They will grow and deepen only as far as each person in the relationship will allow. In other words, if one person in the relationship only wants to have an acquaintance relationship, then that is as deep as that relationship will go.”
 

Our text for this morning addresses this issue of relationships. There are several relationships going on in our text. I want to begin with Jesus’ relationship with His Father, God the Father. Their relationship is that they are one God, one Lord. Here we must admit that we may not completely understand this relationship, but we do know that the Father is God and that Jesus is God, that the Father is not Jesus and Jesus is not the Father, and that there is only one God. These are the facts, even if we do not completely understand them. However, there is an intimate relationship between Jesus and the Father.
 

About Jesus, we also know that along with being God, He is truly human. He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, making Him truly God. He was born of the human woman, the virgin Mary, making Him truly human. Jesus knows what it means to be God and He knows what it means to be human. As a human He understands everything there is to understand about us and what is happening in our lives.
 

Jesus and the Father have perfect love for each other. Their love is so perfect that Jesus obeys the Father in all things, even, and especially, to the point of death. Yes, God the Father sent His only Son, Jesus, to come to this earth as a human in order to put all our sins on Him, so that He might suffer the eternal death penalty, the price for our sins, hell for us in our place, so that we might have forgiveness of sins and eternal life. So that we might be brought back into a right relationship with Himself, a relationship that was broken by disobedience and sin in the Garden of Eden.
 

Jesus has a perfect relationship with His Father in heaven. He also has a relationship with us. His relationship with us is one which starts with the fact that He loves us. He initiates the love. He chose us. At our conception He created us. At our Baptism He put His name on us. He put faith in our hearts. He gave us forgiveness of sins. He wrote His name on us and put our names in the book of life.
 

Jesus loves us. He loves us to the point of death. His love for us is so great and so deep that He gave up the glory that was His, as God, in heaven in order to take on human flesh and blood and to do for us what we could not do, perfectly obey all God’s laws and commands. He came to live the perfect life demanded of us, for us, in our place. After living for us, He then, took all our sins upon Himself and suffered and died for us. He suffered the eternal death penalty, hell, the consequences of our sin, for us in our place. He died so that we might live.
 

Jesus loves us. His love brings perfect joy. He gives us faith and forgiveness. With faith and forgiveness we have joy, peace and life. Jesus’ love for us is so great that we cannot help but share that love with others.
 

Jesus and God the Father have a relationship. We have a relationship with Jesus. And we have a relationship with each other. Immediately following the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden, our relationship with God the Father was broken and so was our relationships with one another. Through Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross, we were brought back into a right relationship with God the Father. This reconciliation happened, not because of anything on our part, but purely by God’s grace we were brought back into a right relationship with God the Father. Yes, we are still sinners and we continue to put a strain on this relationship, but it is God who continues to come to us through His means of grace, His Word and sacraments in order to initiate a continued deepening of our relationship with Himself. And as I said earlier, this relationship, like all relationships, will grow and deepen only so far as we will allow it to grow and deepen. If we keep God at an arms length, if we visit Him only for an hour or two on Sundays, that will be as deep as our relationship goes. God would certainly rather have an intimate relationship with us. He would have us come to Him on a daily basis. He would have us allow Him to speak to us, as He does through His Word, on a daily basis. Again, He would like to have an intimate relationship with us.
 

We have been brought back into a right relationship with God the Father and we have been brought back into a right relationship with Jesus Himself, again through His life, suffering and death. Jesus shows His love for us in this, that He gave His life for ours. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for His friends” (John 15:13). Jesus laid down His life for us and He expects nothing in return from us and unfortunately, that is often what He gets from us, nothing. I believe there is a lot of truth in the statement which is usually addressed of young couples who are dating and are absent from one another for a period of time. The statement is also true for our relationship with Jesus whom we do not physically see. The statement is, “out of sight, out of mind.” We do not physically see Jesus and thus, unfortunately, we do not very often think about Him, or about the fact that He always sees us in everything we do, everywhere we go, He knows everything we say and everything we are thinking. Yet, He is the one who has brought us back into a right relationship with God the Father and with Himself, through His suffering and death.
 

We have a relationship with each other, whether that be a relationship of acquaintance, friendship, mother/daughter or mother/son, or a deeper more intimate relationship. Sin broke our relationship with God and with that relationship broken, so are our relationships with one another. Have you ever wondered why children fight with one another, why teenagers fight with their parents, why husbands and wives have difficulties with each other? It is because of our broken relationship with God and with each other. Jesus’ death and resurrection mended our relationship with Himself and with that relationship mended, we were also brought back into a right relationship with each other. Our relationships are not yet perfect as we can see in the fact that we still have fights among ourselves, and we will never have a perfect relationship until we reach heaven. Yet our relationships are such that with Jesus’ help, we imperfectly reflect His love for us to each other.
 

This morning Jesus reminds us. He reminds us that He created us and I would add, as I have said before, that He created us in order to love us, which He does. He reminds us that we did not choose Him, rather He chose us. He reminds us that we did not give our lives for Him, rather He gave His life for ours. He is the prime motivator. He is the one who initiates. He also reminds us that we do nothing of our own initiative. We do not love from our own desire, rather He moves us to reflect His love to each other. The question we might ask ourselves this morning is, “what is our relationship with Jesus?” Is Jesus just an acquaintance? Is He a family friend? Is He an intimate friend?
 

There is an old story about a pig and chicken. They we discussing the financial situation of the farmer and how things did not look to good at this time. They were discussing how each of them could contribute and help out. Both wanted to believe that they were the most committed to the farmer. And both wanted to help. The chicken suggested that they provide the farmer with breakfast. She would provide the eggs and the pig could provide the bacon. At which the pig pointed out the difference in their level of commitment. The chickens commitment was merely giving of some of the “fruit of her labor,” if you will pardon the pun, but the pigs gift demanded total commitment, the giving of his life. What is our relationship with Jesus? Do we merely give Him some of the fruit of our labors, or are we totally committed, giving Him our life?
 

As we continue to celebrate the Easter Resurrection, our forgiveness and salvation, and as we once again celebrate our first earthly relationship that of our mother’s love, may we be moved to rejoice in God’s great love for us. I cannot say it any better than Jesus says it in the Gospel lesson for this morning and so I would like to leave you with Jesus’ words from the Gospel lesson. “9As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” To God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Celebrating in the Vineyard - May 2, 2021 - Fifth Sunday of Easter - Text: John 15:1-8

This year, as we did last year, and as I attempt to do every year, our family, myself and my encouraging any of my children to help, we planted a small garden in our back yard. Last year the garden did not do so well, perhaps from a lack of rain, or that I am not the best gardener. But this year what we have planted so far seems to be doing pretty well. We planted some beans, peas, tomatoes and squash. Some of the things we planted are growing really well but some, not so well. I must admit, I do not understand all the why’s and how too’s of gardening, but it sure is great when all the hard work pays off and you get to sample the “fruits of your labor” and sometimes it is even more fun when you can share that fruit with others.
 

One thing you will notice about gardens, especially as you till the soil, is that it has a lot of roots. As human beings, we also have roots, or what we call our roots. We can usually trace our family tree back down the roots a few generations. However, we do not like to talk about the horse thief in the family. We would much rather talk about the Doctor or Scientist or sometimes even the pastor or church worker. We want to talk about the “good” roots. When you plant a garden you want to make sure that the soil is loose, that there is fertilizer in the ground, that you water the plants, and so forth. You want the roots to take root and run deep. You want the plants to have good roots. Likewise, in our own Christian lives we want to make sure we have good roots. We do not want our roots to be planted in heresies or incorrect Bible teachings. We do not want our roots planted in some cult. No, we want good roots. We want our roots to be firmly planted in Christ who alone is the good soil.
 

Once in a while you need to weed the garden. You get down on your knees and pull out the weeds. Sometimes you come across a plant which has already died and you usually just pull it out and throw it away. It is important that these weeds and dead plants do not take up space or precious nourishment which the other, healthy plants need. Sometimes you might come across a plant that just needs little extra help so it will make it. Maybe you need to dig it up and put it in a pot by itself, or maybe you just need to dig around it and add a little fertilizer. Likewise, from time to time we have to do a little weeding and pruning in our congregation. This is not that we are doing something out of meanness. This is something we try to do in love. There are some members on our list who have moved away and have not taken the time to transfer. There are some members who want to stay on the role just in case they might need a baptism or a confirmation or a wedding or even a funeral. There are some who have died spiritually and have just not yet been weeded out. What is being done is that we are taking care of what has already taken place, the person has absented themselves from our fellowship. Others just need a little prompting. And this is not simply the “pastor’s job.” Yes, most pastors tend to know who sits where and when they are absent, but so do you. Look around on Sunday morning. If someone who sits near you is absent, give them a call and ask how they are doing. You do not need to be mean, “why weren’t you in church today.” Maybe they are sick. Maybe they could use someone to bring them a pot of soup. Maybe they just need a word of encouragement. These days it may be that they still have some concerns about the COVID pandemic. It does not matter the reason. It is the privilege of each one of us to care for each other as members of the body of Christ and that is how we build up the body of Christ, by caring for one another.
 

When you have taken care to cultivate the garden ground well, add fertilizer, and water your plants, they begin to grow. As they get to the size of maturity they begin to bloom. With the bloom comes the fruit and when the fruit is ripe it is delicious to eat. You can then, literally, enjoy the fruit of your labor. Likewise, as Christians, having roots that are nourished by the Word of God, by confession and absolution, by our remembering our Baptism, by our being given the Lord’s gifts through His Holy Supper, then, being a part of the vine is a joy, a privilege, and it elicits from us a response of commitment. Quite frankly, unless we are filled with the Word of God and His Spirit we never will share our faith with anyone else, in other words we will never bear fruit. In order to bear fruit we must first be filled. I like to use the illustration of a pitcher and a glass and you have heard me use this illustration before. God is like a pitcher. We are like a glass. Every Sunday, and whenever we read and hear His Word, we are filled from His pitcher, which never runs out. Now, if we absent ourselves from His Word, then even what we have in our glass will evaporate. Likewise, if we come back every Sunday and then bring a bigger glass the next week we will never fill up. However, the goal is that we come and fill our glass so that it is overflowing and that is when our faith spills out on others and we share that faith with others.
 

You can tell what is planted in a garden by looking at the fruit which is growing and maturing. The same is true for Christians. We like to talk about what is important in our lives, but do we live what is important? A lot of people tell me what are their priorities, and I always answer, “you do not have to tell me, because you show me.” Too often, and I believe this might be some of the devil’s doing, we say church is our priority, that our relationship with Jesus is most important, but we live otherwise. One of the devil’s greatest victories today is our busy-ness. The devil does not tempt you to not go to church, he knows that will not work, instead he tempts you with so many things that you do not have time for divine service. “Sorry we missed divine service, after all there was our son’s soccer game, our daughter’s piano recital, dad’s softball game, mom’s Bunko club,” and the list goes on. Which begs the question, “what is important?” That which is truly most important to you is what you will make the time to do.
 

When we plant a garden, most of us do not plant it just for the fun of planting it. We plant a garden in order to enjoy the flowers, or to enjoy the fruits and vegetables. We Lutherans like to talk about Eph. 2:8,9, but we do not like to talk about verse ten. We are saved by God’s grace alone, through faith in Jesus alone, that is through faith in His death and resurrection. We are saved by grace through faith which is a gift from God. Yet, we are not saved for nothing. We are saved for a purpose. Certainly, as you have heard me say before, God created us for a purpose, to love us. God saved us because He loves us. It all starts with God, He is the prime mover. And now, here in our text, Jesus is talking about verse ten of Ephesians, that He works and stirs in us a response of faith, to do the good works which He has for us to do, “that we bear much fruit and so prove to be His disciples.” We are justified, we are made right in God’s eyes by grace through faith so He might also work in and through us what we call sanctification, that is that we might live lives of faith bearing fruit of faith.
 

We sing the old song, “They will know we are Christians by our love.” Will they? If we were accused of being a Christian would there be enough evidence against us to convict us. Do we exercise our grace, or do we sit on it? If we were a Christian plant, would our fruit be the fruits of the spirit? “But, pastor,” you say, “this is hard.” Yes, but with God all things are possible. Every Sunday we come here to hear our pastor say the most beautiful words of all, “your sins are forgiven.” And with those words, along with the Word of God which is read and preached, we go forward with another chance to start over and with His help to do what He would have us to do.
 

This is the St. Matthew Lutheran Church Vineyard. This is a vineyard whose main vine is Jesus and whose vinedresser is God the Father. This is a growing vineyard. I believe that most gardeners would tell you that if you want a healthy vineyard you will want a good deep root system. Deep roots help the plant, especially in time of little water and drought, because the roots are deep enough to have access to the deep water. Here at St. Matthew we might say that we have deep roots. We have over 120 years of roots in faith in Jesus and in the Word and Sacraments.
 

Traditions and celebrations tend to come and go and they can be wonderful things. It is great to celebrate. I spoke earlier of the garden our family has planted. We planted several types of vegetables in our garden. What a celebration we look forward to as we watch it sprout, mature and ripen and as we look forward to eating the vegetables. Every other day or so we can look out and look at our garden grow. As it grows we will celebrate. Finally, the day will come when we will celebrate the fruit on the vine and eat our vegetables. Celebrations are a good thing. Yes, some seed falls by the wayside. Some plants do not make it. Some weeds kill off some of the plants. God never promised an easy life. But we have the advantage. We are connected to the Vine. We are connected to Jesus Himself. Each day is a celebration, because each day is a gift from our Lord.
 

St. Matthew Lutheran is a church which bears fruit. Fruit that is a response of faith. We cannot help but show the faith that is in our hearts. If there is faith, it shows. James reminds us, faith without works is dead. Now, do not get me wrong, I am not preaching work righteousness, I am preaching Ephesians 2:10 which we talked about earlier. Let me put it this way, if someone gave you an unexpect gift, would you take out your wallet and offer to pay them? Certainly not, that would be an insult. Neither would we take out our wallets and try to pay God for His gift of forgiveness and eternal life, which actually costs a high price, the price of the life of His Son. We would not offer to our friend to pay for the gift, but we would offer words of thanks as well as have an attitude of response to that person. Likewise, we do not offer to God to help pay the price for our sins, instead we thank God for His good gifts and blessings and we respond with lives of thankful living.
 

God’s will is that all people are saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. God works through us imperfect vessels to show His love to others. As the moon reflects that light of the sun, so we reflect the light of the Son of God. May the Lord continue to bless your growing here in this place so that when our last hour arrives we may all together stand before the Lord’s throne and say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.