10262014 Reformation Sunday (Observed)

Sermon Audio

October 26, 2014

What is our legacy?

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

            Last Sunday as I sat in the Sherman Theater, our Film of Faith entitled, The Ultimate Life challenged me.  It wasn’t the connection to The Ultimate Gift and the twelve gifts that Jason Stevens learned about.  It wasn’t learning the back story of how Red Stevens had built an oil empire with an express goal of being a billionaire.  It wasn’t the love story of Hannah and Red because of a chance encounter on a street in rural Texas.  What impacted me most was the statement that Hamilton, the man who was clinging to life itself after being hit on the 205 on his way to eat Christmas dinner with his mother challenged Red Stevens with as he lay in the hospital bed after receiving the donation of Red’s kidney.

  

          Hamilton said after acknowledging Red had accomplished his goal and dream of being a ‘billionaire’, “your legacy, your legacy is your family”.  Up to that point in Red’s life, money and being a billionaire was the only thing that mattered.  Red had sacrificed his family, relationship with his wife and children and the clearest impact he could have in the world after he was gone all on the altar of the almighty dollar.  The question that I asked myself thinking about myself and Emmanuel Lutheran church was, “What is our legacy?”

Today we stand at a crossroads in history here at Emmanuel.  We need to ask ourselves this question that will have lasting effects, not only upon our church, but our relationship with one another, with our community and even with our world.  We need to ask ourselves today “What is our legacy?”

Martin Luther stood up on October 31, 1517 and clearly spoke the words that changed history and the world when he uttered, “Here I Stand, I can do no other”!  This was the legacy that not only sent shock waves around the world, but clearly changed the landscape of the church and set in motion the Protestant Reformation.  The protest that Luther had was over the abuses that were occurring in the Catholic Church.  The Legacy impact he had we feel even today.  Because of Martin Luther standing up to the Pope, the Cardinals and the Catholic Church we gather here today.  Outside of our church on our front lawn is not a monument, but the legacy that Luther stood up for, our sign that calls us Emmanuel Lutheran Church.

The legacy we live does not begin with Luther, but connects us through Martin Luther to Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ stood in the temple and cleansed it because of the abuses that were occurring in His Father’s house.  Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice of dying on the Cross in order that we might live and have eternal life.  Jesus Christ legacy was to enter into the world in a lowly manger, live as a lowly carpenter’s son, teach the truth about His Father and die on the Cross of Calvary to set us free.  We are Jesus Christ’s legacy, passed down by the Gospel writers, inspiring Martin Luther to return to the Gospel of Salvation and which we here today gather to celebrate with our remembering the Reformation.

But the question still remains, “what is our legacy?”  What will Emmanuel Lutheran Church be remembered for?  Will it be our being a church that was built by the founders blood sweat and tears only to fall in ruin?  Will Emmanuel be known in our community as a closed group of people?  Or will our legacy be different?

Jesus Christ wants our legacy to be measurable, meaningful and to matter for us and for our community.  This was why Jesus Christ was born in a manger, walked the desert of the Middle East, ministered to the people He met along the way and made His way to Jerusalem to die for you and for me on the Cross of Calvary.

What is Jesus calling us to?  To measure our legacy, not by how much money we give or have at the end, but the impact we have with the money God has entrusted to each of us.  As Jim Stovall wrote in the Ultimate Gift, “In the end, a person is only known by the impact he or she has on others.”

Our lives have meaning, not only to the parents that brought us into this world, but especially to our God Who redeems us.  Stovall said, “If we can learn how to live one day to its fullest, our lives will be rich and meaningful.”  We are each given every day of our lives to live to its fullest and “be the church” and fulfill our legacy.

For in our fulfilling our legacy, our lives will matter.  Do you think Martin Luther from the day he began his studies to be a lawyer knew he would ultimately leave law school, enter a monastery and end up saying, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”  Probably not, but our legacy like Martin Luther’s is extremely important for the people that we meet, it will matter in the eternal scheme of things.  All because God is working through each and every one of us in order that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be shared, here in these four walls, when we pass through the doors of the church and each and every time we tell what Jesus Christ has done each of us and for all of mankind.

So I want each of you to ask yourself today, as a child of the Reformation, a saint of Emmanuel, redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.  “What is your legacy going to be?”  AMEN.

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10272013 22nd Sunday After Trinity

Sermon Audio

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.

Today is Reformation Sunday!  October 31, 1517 we as a congregation and as Lutherans celebrate because Martin Luther, pounded the 95 Thesis on the door at Wittenberg.  On that day, Martin Luther stood up to the Roman Catholic Church and said, in essence, we have a problem, we need a solution and we need to talk about it.  The faith that Martin Luther had learned about as a young boy, studied in the monastery, been challenged by his own thoughts, his contemporaries and even the people he held dear had led him to this juncture in his life.  Plagued by questions of scripture, doctrine and simple faith and its application to life, Martin Luther stood before the authorities of the church and stated the immortal words, ‘here I stand, I can do no other.’  It was upon the Word of God that Martin Luther took his stand.  The main issue of contention was about indulgences and whether one could earn salvation.  This came as a result of Luther watching the sale of indulgences by the church in order to build a cathedral, instead teaching people the scriptural truth of relying upon the grace of God found in Jesus Christ.  In essence, Martin Luther placed his faith on the one thing that would not change, would not pass away, that moth, fire and fear could not rob anybody of, the truth found in the Word of God manifest in Jesus Christ and His death on Calvary.  And Luther standing on this truth found in scripture began the Protestant Reformation that we celebrate today.

But what does Martin Luther have to do with a ‘fire safe’ and how does that relate to our series on the Ten Commandments, specifically the Ninth Commandment?  Let’s pull out our bulletin insert and join together as descendants of Luther’s and read together in unison the “What does this mean?” section as a congregation.  “The Ninth Commandment, You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. What does this mean?  We should fear and love God so that we do not scheme to get our neighbor’s inheritance or house, or get it in a way which only appears right, but help and be of service to him in keeping it.”  Let’s ask God in prayer to bless our time together and enable us to answer the question, ‘what do we hold dear?’

Let us pray, Lord God heavenly Father, just as You inspired Martin Luther to take a stand for honoring You and Your sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary for all of mankind, enable us look at the gift of Your Son You offer freely unto us as the grace intended.  Help us to not covet what our neighbors have, but hold safe and dear this free gift of grace offered by You of our salvation offered by Your life, death and resurrection.  For this only occurs because of Jesus Christ innocent death on Calvary for all mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning in celebration of Reformation Sunday.  AMEN.

The question, ‘what do we hold dear’ is very personal for each and every one of us.  For some, it is items that will fit into a box like the fire safe before us.  Others of us hold very dear items like books, memento’s, heirlooms or even the farm ground that our ancestors worked or our houses that we were raised in, that clearly will not fit into a fire safe box.  For some it may be what we hide in our pillows, mattresses or in the mason jars buried in the back yard, or even in the secret compartment in our bed room, house or shop where we hide our family’s jewels or in our cell phones or on our computer where the dirty little secret is kept or hidden from plain view that no one knows about.  All of us have certain items that we hold very dear.  There is nothing wrong with this, but there is something we need to understand, these items, whether jewels, books or heirlooms, pictures or magazines will pass away, no matter if we keep them in a fire safe for safe keeping or hide them away in our phone, in a jar, mattress or secret compartment.

What we need reminded of is that the human condition of sin that we live in and with daily clearly draws us away from God and the free grace He offers us through Jesus Christ.  We are drawn away not only because of the things that separate us from God, but also those things that are a burden or mill stone around our necks.  All of these items whether large, small, that will fit in a fire safe, Sim card on our phone or computer or that encompass acres of ground or barns of machinery or items that bring us pleasure like guns, books and even our televisions and DVD players are not in and of themselves bad or evil, but what these items draw us away from is a grace filled gift from God brought to us by His Son Jesus Christ.

This fire safe can protect paper, jewels, documents and many items from the most intense fire.  It is certified by an organization that tests boxes like this for a living, but the one thing this box nor any other box like it whether for guns, or fire suppression in the shop or the fire detectors in our houses can protect us from is our seeing our neighbor and wanting what they have.

It is not only our looking at their possessions, of car, truck, tractor, home, farm ground, recreational vehicle, grades, relationships, spouse or children, but our not only thinking about it but acting upon it.  Martin Luther in this explanation of the commandment implores us to not scheme, nor try and get anything of our neighbors in any dishonest way.  And most of us would immediately chime right back at me and say, well Pastor, I haven’t made a pass at my friends wife or his kids nor tried to swindle my neighbor out of the best cows, the best ground or the best crop.  And my response would be, good, but have you thought about it?

That is the sticky point of this commandment.  We sin, not only in deed and word, but also in our thoughts.  And this is where we are truly guilty of breaking the Ninth Commandment.  Ladies if you wish your husband spent more time with you than hunting or fishing, or on the tractor or at the farm, even outside of harvest and then you spend more money that you don’t have and cause them to have to earn more money, instead of telling them what you need and desire in your relationship, you have broken the Ninth Commandment.  Men, if you make your farm your idol and believe that you are the only one who can make the farm work or produce a crop and solely carry the burden of success, you break the Ninth Commandment.  Young people if you look for fulfillment of your self-worth in what others say about you and you feel compelled by your friends to do something that you know in your heart is wrong, you have broken the Ninth Commandment.  All of mankind is guilty of breaking the Ninth Commandment, the proof is staring us in the face from society.  What hope do we Christians have then?  Of ourselves, there is no hope, but we can find hope in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ came and not only fulfilled the commandments, but serves as our role model when we encounter evil and are drawn away from God whether in thought, word or deed to break the Commandments, including the Ninth Commandment.  Jesus Christ through His innocent death on Calvary came to live a perfect life and set us free from the bondage to sin, death and the devil.  By and through Jesus Christ, we are set free from lives of sin to lives of freedom found in and through our baptism into His life, death and resurrection.  Jesus Christ offers all of us daily not only the opportunity, but the ultimate fire safe that not only protects us, but insures we will be with Him in His Kingdom for all eternity.  But the fire box Jesus offers isn’t about stuff or possessions nor is it about earthly things or matters.  Jesus Christ offers us the gift of grace that fire, rust, moth nor any other destructive agent can take away from us.  Jesus Christ offers us the identity as His children made in His image and freed through our baptism to be children of God.

Martin Luther on October 31, 1517 not only was reminding us of this gift, he was begging the church to pick back up the truth found in scripture of the grace freely offered by Jesus Christ without merit, nor without price that could not be paid in coins or indulgences.  The treasure that Martin Luther points to and that we recall today that is protected, is the truth of Holy Scripture and our remembering the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Today as we gather around the table of our Lord, the offer of free grace offered to and for us is not only a reminder, but a practice and faith passed down to us today.  It began from the creation of mankind, through the prophets looking for Jesus coming, to His death on Calvary for all mankind, through Martin Luther nailing the 95 Thesis to us today as we partake of His Body and Blood for all of mankind.  This sacrifice and grace is offered for all the world, but especially for and including all of us gathered here at Emmanuel this morning celebrating Reformation Sunday.  AMEN.