06182017 - 1st Sunday After Trinity - “God is love, we who abide in love, abide in Him (1 John 4:16)”

June 18, 2017
“God is love, we who abide in love, abide in Him (1 John 4:16)”

Audio

Recently in Minnesota, a clergy friend of mine was presented with the most divine and honorable privilege and challenge.  On December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, numerous ships were damaged or destroyed and many lives were lost.  For those who have visited Pearl Harbor’s National Park monument it is a clear reminder of the scope of loss and how some individuals’ remains were not recovered and how some individuals upon their passing wish to return to be with their shipmates as a final resting place.

Now decades later, a young man killed that day whose remains were found, but never identified, finally with today’s technology was identified.  He was from Minnesota and his name was Glaydon Iverson.  He was killed on that faithful day aboard the USS Oklahoma.  And only last month was finally able to be returned to his family.  After years of uncertainty for the family he was finally able to be laid to rest back home at Emmons Lutheran church in Minnesota.  He was honored and given the burial in his hometown with full military honors that his family desired surrounded by his community and especially his church.

Some would ask, why does God allow things like Pearl Harbor to occur?  Others would immediately ‘get angry’ and ‘blame God’ for everything that is happening in life.  Whether the tragic loss of life during war, the weather that causes roofs, windows and siding to be replaced, like last fall here in Goodland, hail storms that mow crops to the ground or moisture that comes at the wrong time and causes not just Plan B, but even Plan C.

Easily, we could blame God for everything, because He is the one Who created the World.  Yet, what we at times forget is that we who live today cannot ‘buy and sell’ God like a possession or commodity, nor can we gain His favor nor get what we want all the time.  We like the VBS theme for the pre-school a few years ago, need to Fully Rely On God.

How can we do this?  It takes our exercising our muscles of faith given in Holy Baptism and listening to and leaning fully on the words from John the evangelist this morning.  John wrote this eternal truth we need to remember and hold onto dearly and clearly, “God is love, we who abide in love, abide in Him (1 John 4:16)”. When we understand “God is love”, we can clearly understand that God as love has our best interest in mind in all situations even though it may not seem that way at the time.

Daily we encounter situations where it seems the world is against us, we are lost and we are easily angered at our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and even at God.  But God’s love not only can sustain us, but enable us to understand, when the world seems to be crashing down around us, God is still there, loving us, walking with us and holding us clearly and dearly in the palm of His Holy hands.

Abram, from our Old Testament lesson this morning, shows and demonstrates clearly this faith and the exercising of this faith in God and God’s love for him.  What occurred in Abram’s exercising his faith?  God when Abram exhibited and put his faith in God, God “reckoned it to him as righteousness”.  So if we like Abram believe in God with our whole heart, we to not only will be embraced by God’s love, but “we who abide in love, abide in Him”.  And with our ‘abiding in love’ and ‘abiding in Him’ God will not only embrace us, but when it is our time to enter the church triumphant, we will be welcomed into eternity and fully embraced by the love of God that we find in what His Son, Jesus Christ willingly did on the Cross of Calvary for each and every one of us.

Today on this Father’s Day, there is for us a final example and demonstration of love for one’s fellow man from that faithful day in December when so many lost their lives.  The Chaplain on the USS Oklahoma Father Aloysius H. Schmitt was also tragically killed, but during the recovery after, they found him and his chalice and Latin Prayer book.

Father Schmitt unlike most individuals was alive and tried to escape.  Father Schmitt demonstrated the love of God for us by his willingness to when he could not escape from the ship, he out of his love for his fellow man helped at a bare minimum 12 men to get to safety with his blessing before succumbing to the watery grave.  It is clear his faith in the love of God and His Savior, Jesus Christ sustained him and is a beneficial and clear example for each and every one us of faith active in love.  For the page in his prayer book from that faithful morning was a final word through him to us today from Psalm 8:1.  David wrote, “O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Thy name in all the earth.”  Hence why today on this Father’s Day, when we celebrate Father’s who willingly sacrifice themselves for their families,  we clearly declare, not only that God’s name is majestic, but with a firm faith that “God is love, [and] we who abide in love, abide in Him.”  AMEN.

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06142015 2nd Sunday After Trinity - Let us love in deed and truth!

Sermon Audio

June 14, 2015

Let us love in deed and truth!

One of the favorite past times of some in the congregation is to go target shooting.  Matter of fact, two of our members compete in target competitions.  I enjoy target shooting as well with both handguns, rifles and shotguns.  While in college my best friend whose Dad reloaded both shotgun and rifle would invite me over and we would shoot for hours and our sore shoulders would be proof of a good time.  When shooting there would always be a target, whether pie tins, pencils or if we wanted proof the paper targets.  When we would use paper targets they were meant as a means for focus, both for the shooter to concentrate on and for after one was done shooting to see if we could hit what we were aiming at, whether clays with shotgun or orange targets for rifle.  When we would go and get the target it was very clear if we had ‘hit the mark’ or missed.  This was before I wore glasses full-time and I was a pretty good shot.

Unlike target practice, Christians who want to tell what Jesus Christ has done, don’t have a clear ‘target’ when it comes to the opportunity we have to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the main message of love.  Last week we heard clearly three important words, and I repeat them today, because as I said last week, we need to daily hear them.  “God is love”!  Since God is love we have the opportunity to love one another.  But this is a challenge no matter if you are retired mechanic, school teacher, husband or housewife, a farmer, someone who works in an office, a parent or a child.  Loving others is hard work.  So hard of work is ‘love’ that some people don’t even try.  They relegate relationships to things they will do later or only with select people, because it requires ‘work’.

In the church at-large, we are not immune to not wanting to have the ‘talk’.  There have been many times and situations in the history of the church at large and Emmanuel that a ‘talk’ or simple phone call or conversation would have resolved the issue and changed the direction of not only the chat, but ultimately the direction of the church. 

Because of the belief that God is love and doesn’t give us a ‘cognitive recalibration’, Christians at times chose the path of least resistance of not engaging when someone either gossips or spreads a falsehood.  And we the church have paid for this, from the time of Constantine when he legalized Christianity to today.  When we take the path of least resistance or say things in a tone, but are hurtful, we destroy the potential and possibility of having the trust needed between brother’s and sisters in Christ.

What occurs is that the society we live in, therefore says, ‘I want nothing to do with being a Christian’, because Christians are hypocrites, gossips and what occurs is that Christians lose credibility.  Society says, ‘they talk about God and forgiveness, but don’t treat people decently, I want nothing to do with organized religion’.  A recent Barna poll stated that “51% of North American Christians…possess attitudes and actions that are more like the Pharisees than they are like Christ.” [Carey Niewhof “The Top 10 Things Pharisees Say Today”, July 1, 2014]  We cannot dispute polls, but how can we Christians and especially the church respond?  How can we respond and emulate the love of Christ for all of mankind?

First, we can even though the world hates us as John says, still love in deed and truth.  We are called to love as God first loved us and gave His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.  When we love unconditionally and without spreading gossip or heresay we then can place our head on the pillow at night knowing we have loved not just in thought, but clearly in word and deed.

Second, we can tell the truth in love, but without the attitude and tone.  Just as when sworn in at the court when we are called to testify, we can make the pledge to in love for God and our fellow man.  We can keep tone out of our voice.  So easy do we lapse into a tone, that all of us need to talk to the person next to us as if we are talking to Jesus, the author of our faith.  When we do this our conversations, attitudes and tones will be transformed.  And our conversations will be joyous and loving and emulate God’s desire for us to tell the truth in love. 

And finally, we can firmly believe we are following what God is calling us to accomplish for His Glory.  Loving our neighbors as ourselves, loving by leading lives of honor and integrity we honor God more fully and honor Him and the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ on the Cross of Calvary.  We then both in deed and truth and by our tone can be clearly heard, understood and feel love from and for each other.

When we love each other we then change not only the trajectory of our conversations, we change our relationship and clearly emulate what Jesus Christ showed us on the Cross of Calvary.  In today’s world we need more of this, not just here in Goodland, Kansas, but all around the world.  One example of loving in spite of circumstance was related recently in an article I read.

With recent events in the Middle East and the continued threat of ISIS a story was shared by Jim Denison of the true impact of love by a Christian.  Denison tells of an ISIS fighter who enjoyed killing Christians.  This isn’t any ordinary story, but one that shows how the love of Christians can and does pay eternal dividends.  Denison writes:

“An ISIS fighter who says he "enjoyed killing Christians" has told missionaries that he has been having dreams of a man in white.  The man told him, "You are killing my people."  Before the fighter murdered one Christian, the believer said, "I know you will kill me, but I give to you my Bible."  He killed the Christian, then took his Bible and began to read it.  Jesus appeared to him again, calling him to become a Christian.  Now the man is asking missionaries how he can become a follower of Christ and be discipled.

Muslims the world over are having such dreams of Jesus.  God is miraculously at work around the world”.  [“ISIS Fighter  Who Enjoyed Killing Christians Dreams of Jesus” Jim Denison, June 9, 2015]

God is at work in our world today.  God is at work right here in Goodland and especially here at Emmanuel.  When we ‘love in deed and truth’, God uses us to change people.  God can use each and every one of us to change the world.  Let’s be the agents of change and allow God to use us as His missionaries to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  For Jesus Christ message is simple that He came lived among us, died on the Cross and rose from the dead in order that all could have eternal life out of His great love for all of mankind.  Including all of us gathered here today who believe God loves us and we can ‘love in deed and truth.’  AMEN.

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06072015 - First Sunday After Trinity - God is Love!

Gospel Audio (Will be posted soon!)
Sermon Audio (Will be posted soon!)

June 7, 2015

God is love!

When was the first time you heard, “I Love you!”  Was it from your elementary, middle or high school sweetheart?  Was it from your Father or Mother?  Was it from your child?  No matter where or from whom you heard first, “I love you” it affected you.  Whether your pulse began to race, your palms started to sweat or your face turned either pale or a bright red.  When you heard those words, “I love you”, you reacted.

On the polar opposite, when was the last time you heard or said, “I love you”?  Was it on the phone with your child, grandchild or spouse.  Were those the last words that were spoken and clearly heard from your child, spouse or parent?  Were those the last words you heard as they went out the door?  Or entered the church triumphant?

Undoubtedly when we hear those three short words, totaling 8 letters and 2 spaces, the meaning can and is vastly different and profound no matter the situation.  It is clear those words not only can quicken our heart beat, but also fill us with regret, because we didn’t say those three words often enough.  Or we would do almost anything to hear or say those words just one more time.

The first time I took the opportunity to say those words to Sarah was when I first held her in my arms after her birth.  Michele was still in recovery from surgery and I was able to go up into the nursery in the Neonatal ICU at Duke University and hold her for the first time.  Surrounded by the sounds of monitors and many baby bassinettes holding small little miracles, I was able for the first time as I held her say as a Father “I love you”.  Those words changed me and daily, I try and tell both Sarah and Michele, “I love you.”  But I didn’t learn this from just my parents, nor my spouse, but from none other than God Himself.

You see, simply, “God is love!”  And we daily need to hear those three simple words from God Himself.  Helen Musil in our Mark bible study one day gave me a very good and gracious gift, it was a cognitive recalibration.  Out of her great love for God and I hope and pray her love of me as her pastor she reoriented me to the reality that we need to hear daily and every Sunday the message from God to us His children, “I love you”.  God loves us clearly and unmistakably.  John, the Son of Zebedee, one of the 12 disciples and Apostle’s of Jesus in his letter of 1^st John clearly relates this fact and truth for his readers and for us today.

Hence, why John said, “God is love”!  Hear that clearly, “God is love!”  Let’s let that sink in a minute.  “God is love!”  Remember John continues, “and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”  Simply we, Jesus followers are called to love.  I know there are individuals who call Emmanuel Lutheran their home church, because they grew up here, have been members here their entire life and expect to be buried from here.  As members of the Body of Christ, we are “Called to love”.  We don’t have to agree all the time, but we are called to love one another.  Jesus said it clearly, we are called to love one another and be willing to die for each other in order to save our brother or sister in Christ.  This is sometimes a hard pill to swallow.  But if we are to ‘abide in love’ and we want to ‘abide in God’, and the truth that “God is love”, then it is clear, we are then called to love no matter the circumstance and no matter the disagreement nor the person.

When we accept this challenge and opportunity of ‘loving one another, as Christ loved us’ God offers us a gift.  The gift we receive from God when ‘God abides in us’, is our “love is perfected with us”.  God makes our love that flows from Him through each of us perfect.  As part of the gift from God, God makes our love perfect.  Though we are weak and cannot by our own reason or strength do what we want, God makes us and our love for others perfect.  Hence we are ‘perfected in love’.  And this love is perfected, not when we reach heaven, but when “we are in this world”.  Though we are in this world as Christians, we are not ‘of’ this world, because our home is heaven and we are preparing for our entrance to be with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  And our love is perfected by God as the greatest gift to us to share with others.

And Jesus Christ makes it very clear for each of us that we are “commanded to love”.  Jesus command isn’t to strike fear into our lives, but to help us to walk in faith in Him and His love for us and we then can love one another.  We are commanded to love, because sometimes we have a problem doing what we should and love one another.  We let our worries crowd out God’s command.  We turn from God and don’t trust God and we even sometimes think we know better than God Himself.

In most families, children at a young age are not only learning from their loved ones the ‘ropes’ of the family, but clearly what to do and not do.  When children start to do something they shouldn’t most parents immediately respond with either a stern look, a harsh word or a command ‘not to do’ what they are doing.  Jesus in similar fashion is issuing a command to us Christians.  Jesus is clearly telling us what we need to do.  We are commanded to love our brothers and sisters in Christ!  Love everyone no matter the cost, no matter the pain, no matter even if you are right or wrong.  We are called to love as Christians and disciples of Jesus Christ.

For when we heed the call to love as Christians and God’s love is perfected in each of us because of His command, we receive the greatest blessing.  And this blessing is not only found in what we receive from the Altar of our Lord’s precious Body and Blood, but what we receive from God Himself.  We receive the love of God, from God and are showered with the love that surpasses all human understanding.  A love so deep and profound that it overcomes all things and connects us intimately with Him.  When we make this connection of God’s love for us like the power lines that give us electricity that ‘runs our lives’, we are offered the greatest opportunity to make a deeper and more profound connection not only with Him but with one another, our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

There is no better place that the love for our fellow man is emulated than a place that I visited while on vacation.  In Pueblo, Colorado, the Center on Values borders the river walk.  At first when I heard about it, I thought it would be a great place to possibly visit, but wasn’t sure if we would be able to on our vacation, so I put it out of my mind.  As we walked down by the river we happen to pass by and saw it was open.  When I walked into the building I was shaken to my core.

The Center on Values tells stories, but not just any stories.  Encapsulated on the walls that surround the entire room are pictures of all the Medal of Honor heroes from any action.  Unlike most monuments to heroes of our time each of the pictures showing the individual were taken by one photographer and tell and portray the individual and their story in the most unique and poignant way.  Each story is one of love, for their fellow soldiers and their country they served with honor and distinction.

As I gazed upon each photograph and statement under each picture, it was clear that each individual who wore the Medal of Honor was an individual who loved, not only their family, but especially their brothers and sisters in arms and their country.  I left the Center on Values in awe of the heroes honored there, but also with a clearer picture of Who I believe in and Whose I am.

Upon further reflection, I have two simple, but profound questions that I would like for we the members of Emmanuel to consider in the coming week.  Clearly, we the members of Emmanuel call Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, Who died for all of mankind and love Him.  What if we loved our neighbors, friends and even our God as much as the heroes who earned the Medal of Honor?  What would we be capable of here in Goodland, Kansas?  AMEN.

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06222014 First Sunday After Trinity

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May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

“Greater love hath no man than he lay down his life for his brother.”  This was epitomized so clearly from the movie “Lone Survivor” how the main character Marcus Luttrell was willing to fight to the very end to save and protect not only his Seal Team Unit, but the very village that protected him.  This act, not only of bravery, but also love is exactly what we have heard this morning from our epistle reading.

The love that one has for his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ is something that God calls us to be.  God has this love for us which is clearly manifest through what His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary.  Jesus Christ loves us so much that He gave Himself up so we might live.  John wrote, “God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

God is in each of us daily, sometimes we choose not to show our love, we hide it, not only from our family, our spouse, children and even our parents, but even our church and community.  Yet God is still present in us and through us, He still loves us and daily impacts each of us.  We are the result of the love of our parents and God honors us with His sacrifice.  John goes on to explain that “We love, because He first loved us.”  The love God has for us is manifest not only in the world we live in that is provided oxygen for us to breathe, food to eat, a government that protects us by soldiers like Luttrell, but also here in the church that we are a part of and worship with weekly.

Today we the people of Emmanuel show our love for our community by welcoming Sky Ranch into our midst and providing them not only a place to lay their heads, the means to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but also the opportunity to have a kingdom impact here at Emmanuel and in Goodland.  By our congregation stepping up and bringing water, snacks, meals, a place to minister, and coming to the program on Thursday night, we show our love for one another.  All because God first loved us and died for each of us.

There are times when we cower in fear of saying something to our brothers and sisters in Christ, because we are fearful of the ramifications upon our relationship with them and the history we have had from raising kids, watching sporting events together or even spending the evening or weekend together or in Denver, but what we harm is our relationship with Jesus Christ.  John says, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.”  But God offers us daily the opportunity to become perfected in love.  God wants us to ‘abide in love’ and overcome evil with love.  God sees the love in each of us.  I don’t say it often enough, but I love each of you sitting here in the pew and our brother’s and sisters that are not here this morning.  You are my brothers and sisters in Christ and I not only love you as your Pastor, but especially your brother.

We need reminded that the love we have for one another can overcome and has overcome evil in our world through Jesus Christ.  And this is what we the church of Emmanuel can do through God working through us, in us and enabling us to stand together in love.  In recent months we have had numerous deaths within our congregation.  Yet, as a congregation we have stood together loving each other hugging each other and holding each other up in prayer, serving the funeral dinners that minister to the family and even attending the funerals of our friends, neighbors and brothers and sisters in Christ.

Just as in the Old Testament before Jesus came into Bethlehem, God inspired people to show the love and grace He was offering for the Israelite people.  We are not just their ancestors, but we have Jesus Christ among us and we remember His coming and sacrificing for us here at Emmanuel and we can show the love.

Recently at one funeral, I saw a long-time member of our church, instrumental in many behind the scenes ways, who does not currently attend regularly, but they felt it was important to come and not only pay respect, but love and support the family during their time of loss.  This is huge as a congregation.  We are showing our love and our true nature by being the body of the CHURCH, being the Body of Christ, being ‘perfected in love’ as we are in this world that we live in as God’s Children of Emmanuel.

Not only have we supported each other when death knocks at our door, but we also support one another in life.  Specifically I was witness of someone here at Emmanuel not well known for compassion, showing or revealing themselves when faced with a most difficult situation.  A very intimate part of a members life was shared and they not only did pastoral ministry and I was proud of them, but they showed their love for this person and their family.  This is the beauty of we the body of Christ here at Emmanuel.

There was once a little girl who lived in an orphanage.  She wasn’t liked by anybody and even the administrators wanted to get rid of her, because she wasn’t from the local area.  One day she was seen by another little girl writing a note and leaving it outside of the premises, which was against the rules.  The administrator immediately ran to where the note had been hidden and found the ‘illegal note’.  What the little girl had written in fact wasn’t what the administrator imagined.  It was a simple note with the following:  “To whoever finds this….I love you.”  That little girl epitomized what we as a congregation are doing this week, spreading the love we have from our Savior Jesus Christ for all of Goodland.

Just as Paul and John both wrote in Holy Scriptures, this is a commandment from God to love.  John ends saying, “And this commandment we have from Him [Jesus Christ], that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”  And this is exactly what we do as a congregation here at Emmanuel.  We are living this out, not just individually, but collectively this week with our Vacation Bible School, supporting each other in our troubles and being the church of God for all mankind.  Including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning preparing for a fun filled week of Vacation Bible School, loving our community and showing the love of God that resides in each of us.  AMEN.

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