03112012 Sunday in Lent 3

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.

Let us pray, Lord Jesus Christ, You carried to the Cross of Calvary the griefs and cares of the entire world.  As You were nailed to the cross for our sins, the innocent Blood stricken from Your head, hands, feet and side You shed to set us free from our sins.  May we be enabled to understand You chose this for all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

Recently Michele and I embarked upon a movie marathon because of the coming Avenger’s movie from Marvel Comics.  We watched, Iron Man 1 and Iron Man 2, Captain America and even Thor.  In Thor, the main character has been banished from his home world to earth, because of his disobedience of King Odin, his father, and dishonoring the family name by inciting the potential of a cosmic war.  After falling to earth through a portal, befriending a Physicist who accidently hit him with a van twice and explaining that science and mythology are one and the same, Loki, Thor’s brother sends a ‘Metal Fire Creature’ to destroy Thor and the entire town and cement his place as the next King.  But Thor, mere mortal man walks up to the creature and implores Loki to only kill him. Thor, stripped of his powers and birth right places himself in between the wrath of Loki and the destruction of the town, willing to sacrifice himself for the people he no longer can protect.  And the metal fire creature deals the final death blow and Thor suffers the fatal mortal blow of sacrifice.

Just as Thor sacrifices himself, in today’s text from Isaiah, we hear more of the suffering servant, Jesus Christ Who sacrifices Himself for me and for you.  Hear Isaiah’s prophecy:

⁴ Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. 

Bearing the entirety of the griefs and cares of the world, Jesus Christ shouldered the burden without a second thought.  For those with little knowledge of scripture, nor a personal relationship and knowledge of Jesus Christ, they wonder if Jesus Christ could actually feel grief.  Yet Holy Scripture by inspiration of the Holy Spirit upon the scripture writers are clear, Jesus Christ feels grief that is sharper than any knife that can cut or sword that could pierce.  Jesus feels our personal grief, whether it is the loss of a child, spouse, friend or loved one, whether it is a fight between friends or families or even if it is a betrayal of a trust of confidence.  The range of compassion that Jesus Christ feels for in each and every situation was magnified and endured while He was on the Cross of Calvary.

For Jesus Christ was afflicted for our sins.  Not only did He endure the grief and cares of the world for that time, but Jesus Christ endured the griefs and cares for all time and all place.  Jesus felt the pain for everyone as He hung from the Cross of Calvary.  Jesus Christ was afflicted and endured our sins because He chose to remain hung on the cross and endure the worst torture and inhumanity that could be dished out upon anyone.

Jesus Christ endured everything upon the cross for you and for me so we would not have to.  Jesus Christ in the greatest act of love, compassion and commitment carried His own Cross to Calvary and chose to die on the Cross to set us free from our sins.  Jesus Christ frees us from the bonds of sin, death and the devil that bind us and cause us to have grief beyond measure.  Jesus sets us free to see, not that which binds us, but the freedom found in and through His Cross for each and every one of us.  Jesus Christ chose to be lifted up, marred, despised and forsaken in order for us to believe the message of salvation that would quiet kings and bear for you and me our griefs and cares.  Jesus Christ chose to be afflicted to give to all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning eternal life.  That is the message of salvation and sacrifice that Jesus Christ, our suffering servant offers all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

Sermon 03072012 Wednesday of Lent 2

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.

Let us pray, Lord Jesus Christ, You were despised by the Pharisee’s and Saducee’s for revealing the true message of salvation found through You.  The disciples Whom God had placed in Your hand forsook You in the Garden and cowered behind closed doors.  Yet, the plan of salvation was completed in and through Your life, death and resurrection for all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this evening.  AMEN.

In the movie “Despicable Me”, Gru, the criminal mastermind whom every criminal wants to be, is portrayed at the beginning of the film as a person that no one likes.  For myself, I didn’t want to see this movie.  I despised the sinister characterization of criminals and felt it was a waste of my time, our family’s money and was not worth letting my daughter see this movie.  Truthfully, I thought the title said it all, “Despicable Me”.  And you know what, my ignorant attitude is what was despicable, not the movie.

For us tonight we encounter Isaiah’s reading of the suffering servant, Jesus Christ, as despised and forsaken.  Isaiah wrote:  ³ He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Isaiah in this the fourth servant song clearly prophesies that Jesus Christ will be despised and forsaken.  When Jesus Christ is arrested, the arresting officers and company of soldiers treat Him with ridicule and derision.  Jesus own disciples forsake Him in the Garden and run away in great fear of being caught up in the ‘mess’ that is about to occur.  Yet this is exactly what Jesus told them would happen and what Isaiah prophesied approximately 750 years prior to the events in the Garden of Gethsemane.  Isaiah through the Work of the Holy Spirit clearly understood that Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin Mary, True God and True Man would be despised and forsaken.  Jesus Christ would walk the path to His own crucifixion alone.

Not only would Jesus walk this path alone, but He would feel fully the grief and pains we experience today on a daily basis.  Jesus Christ alone in the Praetorium would not open His mouth to defend Himself.  Jesus Christ would not call down the legions of Angels sworn to serve Him, because He understood He had to suffer at the hands of the rulers and feel the human emotion of grief, because of His Humanity in order to suffer for all of us.  Jesus Christ in feeling the pains of grief that we have reconciles us with His Father in Heaven for the entirety of the sins of mankind, including me and you.  Jesus Christ became Human, experienced grief of epic proportions in order that we may be set free and given the gift of eternal life.  Jesus Christ chose this life for each and every one of us because of His great love for mankind.

Jesus Christ endured the inhumanity of His crucifixion and also endured our turning our face away from Him.  Just as the disciples forsook Jesus in the Garden, we today forsake Jesus enduring as the suffering servant when we say, we are sinless and perfect and do no wrong.  When we treat people shamefully and see no wrong in how we treat our brothers and sisters in Christ our actions turn us away from Jesus Christ the suffering servant and we no longer face the Cross of Calvary.  Our turning away from Jesus and not facing Him and our need of a Savior, says that His death is not necessary to save us. 

But the truth is we need Jesus Christ, because He was innocent and He chose to endure Hell here on earth to save us from our sins.  Jesus Christ chose the Cross of Calvary for the entire world, especially for each and every one of us gathered here at Emmanuel this evening because of His great love, for you and for me.  Jesus Christ chose to come down from heaven, be lifted upon the cross, be marred in appearance, to quiet kings, inspire belief in the message of salvation and be despised and forsaken in order for all of us saints here at Emmanuel to be saved.  That is the Gospel message that the suffering Servant Jesus Christ was despised and forsaken for the entire world and for all of us saints here at Emmanuel this evening.  AMEN.

03042012 Sunday in Lent 2

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.

Let us pray, heavenly Father, ‘Who has believed’ that You would send Your Son into the world?  We meet plenty of people who have not heard the message of salvation, enable us to proclaim this real message for them today.  For Your Son, Jesus Christ came to endure this humiliation for us because of His great love for the world, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

There is a movie that encapsulates in one quote of four words, the entire premise of the movie.  Yes, it is also a fable that dates back millennia and in different religions.  But if I said, “The Sky is Falling”, it is not difficult for you to say, “Chicken Little”.  This entire fable has at its root the notion of “Belief”.  Will anyone believe this chicken who says, “The Sky is falling”?

This morning as we continue our Lenten Journey with Isaiah, the Suffering Servant deals with the same concept of belief.  Hear our text from Isaiah:

 ¹ Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? ² For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 

Isaiah asks clearly, “Who has believed our message?”  It is clear, people sometimes do not believe and we do not know ‘who’ believes.  Unlike God who can see, read and know what is in every man, woman and child’s heart, we cannot discern or make that judgment.  We are not called to make the judgment of each other either.  But what is clear is that it is the message that is important.  The message we are to believe is the message of salvation for all of mankind.

What Jesus Christ has done on the cross of Calvary is the real message.  This Gospel message we hear read from the Old Testament, New Testament, Psalms and the Gospels.  The Old Testament prophesies about the coming Messiah, the Psalms explain what Jesus would endure on the cross, the Gospels tell what Jesus Christ did on this earth and the New Testament Epistles explain how the church developed after His life, death and resurrection.  Thus, the entire book of the Bible, though brought together and written at different times have the central theme and core message of the salvation brought to us through Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection for all of mankind.

For Jesus Christ endured the humiliation of the cross to give to everyone the gift of Eternal Life.  Jesus Christ through His being the suffering servant spreads and reveals the message of salvation for all mankind.  And we are attracted to Him, not by His marred appearance, not by His silencing kings and rulers, not because He has been exalted and lifted up, but because His real and true message is for all of mankind.  It is the forgiveness of sins that God offers to us through His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ.  For Jesus Christ is the suffering servant we believe in because He came down from heaven and suffered, died, was buried and raised from the dead for all of us Saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.