Sermon 03312013 Easter Sunday

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!  O God, You gave Your only begotten Son Jesus Christ to suffer at the hands of man and be nailed to the Cross for our redemption, but today we find the tomb empty where His body had been laid.  By His resurrection You have delivered us from our sins and overcome the power of death for us.  May we die every day to sin so we may live with You forever in Your Kingdom in the great joy of the resurrection and proudly answer doubter’s question of ‘So What?’  For Your resurrection was to free all of mankind from our sins, but especially including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel who proclaim, “Jesus Christ as Lord”.  AMEN.

Jesus Christ is risen from the dead!  He is risen indeed!!!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!  Alleluia!

This truth so accurately spoken as we celebrate this morning is doubted.  The doubt manifests itself in very strange and out of the ordinary ways.  This morning we come together as the Body of Christ to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ on this Easter Sunday.  On Maundy Thursday we celebrated the institution of the Lord’s Supper, Good Friday we mourned His being nailed to the Cross, His death and His being placed in the tomb and this morning we look to the empty tomb and say, ‘So What?’

This Lent we have journeyed and heard about different people and places of Lent.  For those of you who have not been with us at our Mid-Week and Sunday services during this Lent we have seen the Cross journey from entrance to the church, the rear of the church to the front to the chancel and now to the pulpit.  We probably ask the question, ‘So What?’, but the significance is not in its mere presence, but for us this morning it is a reminder that the answer to the question, “So What?” is that it is upon the Cross that Jesus Christ set us free from sin, death, the devil, hell and damnation.

But there are still doubters here among us this morning.  Our doubt is manifest clearly by our not being here for the entire journey.  We come on Easter in our new clothes, fed with the great breakfast put on by the men and attending Easter Sunday, the one service that promises the greatest gift of mercy by our Lord and Savior Who no longer is in the grave.  And we expect that our taking one hour out of our busy life schedule is enough to ‘satisfy’ God or our parents, our peers or even our pastor that we were here to celebrate Easter.

But I again pose the question, ‘So What?’  For what reason do we believe that this one hour overcomes all of our sleeping in on Sunday morning, or going to the lake or mountains or Hays or Denver to shop, not being involved in the worship or ministry of the church or seeking to understand the entire plan of salvation by daily praying the Lord’s Prayer, daily reading the Holy Scriptures or daily seeking God’s will in our lives?

The answer to the question, ‘So What?’ isn’t our assuaging our conscience with our sitting in the pew for one Sunday, even if it is Easter or Christmas.  The answer to the question is that no matter what we do or have done, it is not what we do that matters.  What really matters is what God has done for us!

God has answered this question, “So What” so clearly for us today with His Son Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection.  Our actions and inactions are inconsequential.  We bring sin and death into the relationship with Jesus Christ through our sins of both omissions where we do not do the things we should and commission where we do what we know we should not do.  Our roles in this life have become to bring death because we were born and conceived in sin and are by nature an enemy against God.  But Jesus Christ in His life, death and especially His resurrection offers us eternal life freely and without question by and through our baptism.

So when the question is asked ‘So What’, we are imperfect creatures and cannot answer, but God has answered this question for each and every one of us.  By Jesus Christ offering Himself on the Cross of Calvary for you and for me God answers the question, “So What” with grace, mercy and forgiveness that is found and made manifest in our baptism into the promise of forgiveness found in Jesus Christ.  God reveals the greatest love for all of mankind with the empty tomb and now His Son, Jesus Christ risen from the dead offers all of us life and salvation and the forgiveness of sins by His innocent death on Calvary for you and for me.

But even though God has answered the question, ‘So What’, what is our response?  How do we respond to the question, ‘So What’?  Has this offer of life and salvation that we cannot earn or merit on our own with our actions and life bind us to indifference and no response?  Will you who sit in the pew today respond as you have in the past by only attending Christmas and Easter services?  Or has a miracle occurred?  Has God penetrated our hard hearts with His Gospel message?  Will you who sit in the pew this morning in honor of God’s greatest sacrifice of His Son, offer yourselves in His service for His message of salvation to be spread to the ends of the earth?  Will all of us no longer make our attendance and involvement be about us or who may see us or which person feels they have the power of control, whether over worship, the business of the church, the money the church spends or the impact we as Emmanuel Lutheran Church has in Goodland, KS?  Are you willing to stand before the judgment seat and say God’s gift of His Son, Jesus Christ was given for me and I am here to serve for Him and not myself?

These are the questions that strike nerves within us.  They cause us to respond with ‘how dare you pastor’ preach like you don’t know my life and the things I struggle with?  How dare you today of all days, on Easter Sunday question my motives, my commitment to God or my life?  But you see, I understand and I do sympathize with you.  As Pastor, I am the mouth piece of God to speak His Word in its truth and purity in all of our lives, but the message of salvation that I proclaim today of Jesus Christ for you and for me has come at a deep cost.  The cost of our salvation was Jesus Christ death on Calvary where on His journey to the Cross He suffered in body, soul and spirit.  The guards beat Him, they spit on Him, they scourged Him with metal whips, they tortured Him to such an extreme that when portrayed in the movie, “The Passion of the Christ”, even some of us out in the pews cringe and cannot and even refuse to watch.  We don’t want to admit that His suffering was as a result of our sins, what we do and even what we do not do.  But this is the depth and the amount of love God has for each and every one of us.

God suffered all of this in order to offer us eternal life.  Yet what is or has been our response?  One young lady named Morgan Doppelheuer heard all of the stories, attended church when she was younger, knew the Bible songs and considered herself a Christian.  When she was older she professed being a Christian, but lived a life and talked a language not of loving like Christ, but lying.  It was not until someone confronted her as the mouthpiece of God with the truth of her lies and lifeless Christianity that God broke her heart and enabled her to understand His love for her and rebuild the relationship God had with her and had promised her in her baptism.  This new found relationship wasn’t built on lies, but was built on the firm foundation of Jesus Christ and His death on Calvary for her.

This same relationship God is calling us to have this morning.  God clearly with His resurrection is offering us the opportunity to have the greatest relationship with Him and with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ here at Emmanuel.  God’s greatest desire is for us to respond in faith and not only believe in the resurrection, but respond to the doubters and those who are lost that we encounter who ask the question, ‘So What’ with the firm belief in God’s plan of salvation.  A truer statement has never been said, ‘Today is and can be the first day of the rest of your life.’  How are you going to respond to God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ offered for all of mankind including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this Easter morning?  We can change our lives and show our love for God by how we answer the question, ‘So What’ with our lives as a living sacrifice in honor of God’s sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ for you and for me that we celebrate with all of us saints here at Emmanuel this Easter Morning.  AMEN.

Sermon 03292013 Good Friday

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!  Almighty God, Your Son Jesus Christ graciously suffered and died on the Cross of Calvary for we His family through our baptism into His life and death.  Enable us to see the Cross not as an end, but the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and the sins of all of mankind, for Jesus offered Himself freely and was watched by the Centurion in order for the plan of salvation to be complete.  Enable us to embrace the Cross of Christ as the ultimate payment for our sins and the sins of all mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this Good Friday.  AMEN.

There is an old hymn which asks a poignant question as we gather here this Good Friday evening.  Matter of fact it was the last hymn yesterday and one of the preludes that Marla played earlier.  It asks a simple question, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?”  As an African American Spiritual the words as simple as they are clearly ask a question that all of us have to respond with ‘No’, but tonight we will hear about the Centurion in our series of People and Places of Lent that can respond, “Yes, I was there.”

Hear the story of the Centurion from Matthew 27 (Matthew 27:48-54)

⁴⁸ Immediately one of them ran, and taking a sponge, he filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink. ⁴⁹ But the rest of them said, “Let us see whether Elijah will come to save Him.” ⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. ⁵¹ And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth shook and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised;⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after His resurrection they entered the holy city and appeared to many. ⁵⁴ Now the centurion, and those who were with him keeping guard over Jesus, when they saw the earthquake and the things that were happening, became very frightened and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

It is clear from our vantage point two thousand years after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ that this Centurion and his friends were one moment doubters and the next moment, the Centurion showed mercy to Jesus Christ as He hung on the Cross by trying to quench His thirst.  And the next moment the Centurion spoke the most profound words of the entire Passion narrative.  The Centurion confessed, “Truly this was the Son of God!”  The Centurion had probably heard the stories about Jesus, seen with His own eyes His suffering at the hands of his comrades and possibly even his own blows or spit, but then after witnessing His final gasps for air, provided the most profound witness of confession in all the Passion Narratives.

Was it the Centurions fortune to be on duty that day?  Or was it God’s plan?  With Jesus Christ breathing His last and yielding His Spirit, the events of the last 16 hours were quite dramatic and traumatic and had taken their toll on Jesus.  Not only had Jesus eaten with His disciples in the Upper Room, He had prayed into the late hours of the night, been captured in the Garden, tried by the Jewish High Council, brought before Pilate and Herod, condemned, beaten and scourged to the brink of death and had hung on a cross during the noon day.  And now after all the torture, Jesus Christ was thirsty and this Centurion moved with compassion brought sour wine to quench His thirst.

Once Jesus breathed His last and yielded His Spirit the plan of salvation was now complete.  Jesus Christ had died on the Cross of Golgotha, bearing the sins of the entire World.  The ransom for all of mankind had been paid.  In the eyes of Satan, the victory was his, he was doing a victory dance.  Jesus Christ was dead.

But is the story complete?  For Satan it is, for the Centurion with Jesus life, death and Jesus story as he knew and understood it was complete, for the disciples who witnessed His suffering and death, it appears the story is complete, but for we who sit here tonight/today it isn’t complete.  The story has only begun.  With Jesus Christ being nailed to the Cross, suffering and dying for our sins the story is incomplete.

For from the Old Testament prophets and even Jesus own words, the story is not complete, because the story ends not with death, but with eternal life.  Jesus Christ promised His disciples and we who gather here today eternal life.  And we find eternal life through His death on the Cross for all of mankind.  We also find eternal life when we confess like the Centurion the truth that “Truly this was the Son of God”.  We find eternal life when we look to the Cross of Christ and understand that we are not only baptized into Jesus Christ life, but also His death for us and ultimately the completion of the story of salvation.  But the rest of the story is still three days away.  Tonight/today we with the Centurion confess the truth of Jesus divinity and await the rest of the Gospel story of salvation that will be revealed in three days for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel to mourn Jesus death on Calvary this Good Friday.  AMEN.

Sermon 03282013 Maundy Thursday

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!  O Lord, through this Sacrament of Your precious Body and Blood You have left us with a clear remembrance of Your Passion.  For it was in the upper room where You instituted this Holy Meal full of great mystery and redemption for all of mankind, but without the owner of the house offering his house we would not fully understand the great gift You offer.  May this gift of Your Body and Blood made manifest for us tonight/today remind us of Your sacrifice for each of us that we receive in, with and under the Bread and Wine of Your Body and Blood for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here around the Lord’s Supper tonight.  AMEN.

For our 21^st Century Culture we understand clearly and easily the concept of ‘ownership’.  Whether it is kids and their favorite toys or games, the cars, trucks and tractors we adults drive, the houses we build and live in, the land that we own and farm or the livestock we raise for food and a living, we clearly understand this concept of ownership.  When Jesus disciples were preparing for the Passover feast, the place that was chosen was owned by a ‘certain man’.  Let’s hear again this account for this morning/evenings installment of the series of People and Places of Lent.  Hear the story from Matthew 26 (Matthew 26:17-19)

¹⁷ Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” ¹⁸ And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is near; I am to keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’” ¹⁹ The disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.

If you have ever held or attended a party, whether it was birthday, anniversary or card party, there was a certain amount of preparation that is required of both the food for those attending as well as the preparation of the house.  As the owner of the house this probably made preparation easier, because you knew what you had and what you needed to get from the store.  From our Gospel we have heard that a ‘certain man’, owner of the house where the Lord’s Supper was instituted is not identified, nor is any indication that he has any further preparations to make to get ready for the Passover, the disciples on the other hand have to do a lot of gathering.

Yet, this meal is of extreme importance for the Jews.  The Passover meal remembers the people of Israel living in Egypt living through the night when the Angel of Death came through the land and took the first born son of the family if blood of the lamb was not on the doorpost of the house.  This was prior to their departure from Egypt to return to the land of Promise and was the last of the signs sent by God to Pharaoh to set His people free.

But why would this Passover feast be important for Jesus Christ?  Why would the Upper Room be of importance?  Why does this owner of the house have the most important role for us tonight/today?

You see, on this day over two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ on the journey to fulfill the plan of salvation instituted the meal we know as the Lord’s Supper.  Without this Upper Room to provide the safety, security and solemnity the plan of salvation would have been incomplete.  On this night Jesus not only instituted the Meal that provides us life and salvation today, Jesus Christ also washed the disciples feet, prophesied about His betrayal and death, but heralded in the fullness of God being Glorified through His sacrificial actions.  All of this occurs in the Upper Room of the house ‘owned by a certain man’.

Without the owner of the house having the room prepared, having the place prepared for the foot washing, the breaking of bread and the mutual consolation of the brethren, the fulfillment of the scriptures would be incomplete.  The owner of the house, like the owner of the colt and the other people and places of Lent we have heard about would only be considered bystanders in this journey to the Cross.  But the message and its meaning is clear, without each of these people and places of Lent, our journey would be mired and bogged down, but each of these people and places of Lent are stepping stones to the fulfillment of the plan of salvation.

For the plan of salvation has one goal, Jesus Christ death on Calvary in order to pay for the sins of mankind.  Jesus Christ in His instituting the Lord’s Supper is one step closer and offers mankind the greatest mystery, His Body and Blood for the salvation of all mankind, in, with and under this simple Bread and Wine.  As we receive His sacrifice tonight/today, may we be reminded that without the owner of the house, scripture would not have been fulfilled and mankind would not be offered life and salvation through Jesus Christ.  Nor would all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel understand completely, “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins” as the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus Christ for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here this Maundy Thursday night.  AMEN.