02262017 Quinquagesima Sunday - Christ is love and He abides in us to love one another!

February 26, 2017
Christ is love and He abides in us to love one another!

Today we stand collectively at the edge of a cliff.  Unlike in the movie, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, we aren’t in Hollywood.  Unlike standing on the edge of the cliff with fog surrounding us, we as the church can see the path that is unfolding before us and we can see clearly the bottom and what will be required.  For today is as we gather the last Sunday before Lent begins, for we here like the hymn board states, we today celebrate, Quinquagesima Sunday.  But it isn’t about a long Latin name that most forget its meaning from one year to the next.  It isn’t about a hymn sing like last week.  Today we Emmanuel Lutheran stand looking with 20/20 eyesight of what is required of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

You see, only three days from now, we begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday.  We as a congregation will confess our sins, receive the forgiveness of God and lay claim to a truth that not only unites us as the Body of Christ, but points us in the direction of transformation of each and every one of us, with the sign of the Ash Cross on our foreheads.  Yesterday I found a few pictures on my phone from previous Ash Wednesday services and they spoke of a truth, we as the Body of Christ are united.

The truth we unite behind is simply this.  Jesus Christ is love and He abides in us to love one another!

The love Jesus Christ has for us is so overpowering and overwhelming that everyone who met Him, not only were radically changed by Him, but His affect upon their lives would like ripples in a pond change and impact countless others and generations to come.  The love Jesus Christ offers us today with His willingness to go the Cross radically changes we who gather here today.

That is what should happen, we should be changed.  But in our world today, we like Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel and countless other generations we make a choice to not let nor allow the truth to set us free to be the people of God.  We not only get wandering eyes of the other side of the fence where the grass is greener, but also that we can control the actions of others.  Whether we are teachers, preachers, businessmen or even farmers that make one’s living from the sweat of the brow.

What Jesus Christ is calling we His brothers and sisters in Christ to do is love as He first loved us and be willing to love one another, warts and all unconditionally.  When we love unconditionally in this way, without strings, with the truth as God sees it and not with our own perspective, nor for our own or our little groups gain, but for the gain of all of God’s children, there is nothing that can stop us and nothing will be able to prevent God’s Word from accomplishing His will and His way right here at Emmanuel and in our world.

Why you might ask, would I make such a bold assertion, that nothing can thwart God’s Plan?  It is simply this, God, Who is love and His Son, Jesus Christ have our collective best interest in mind.  From the beginning of creation, God had one destination in mind, His own Son, Jesus Christ restoring creation with His death on Calvary.  No matter the events, no matter the wars, no matter the things that happened, each time.  Every event in human history could have happened quicker if God forced it.  But God didn’t force man.  God allowed man and man’s free will to slowly move the pendulum, especially to the point that the season we are about to enter is the final act in salvation history.

We who gather here today, may not feel like players, but as I told our Lutheranism 101 this last Tuesday night, we like Paul said have but one thing we need to do and do well.  We are at the cliff and only have to Love one another.  For this is what God is calling us to daily do.  Daily love one another.  For a truer statement could not be spoken, that Christ is love and He abides in us to love one another!  AMEN.

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02072016 Quinquagesima Emmanuel Lutheran Church Goodland KS

February 7, 2016
We work and sow in faith of the promises!

We all know the stories of “Chicken Little” that always said, “The Sky Is Falling”.  In a movie adaptation, everybody doubted Chicken Little until the sky did start falling.  His reality was not seen until, the people he lived with, understood what he was seeing.  As neat as a fable as it is, the truth is, if one would have only looked with Chicken Little’s perspective, the truth would be revealed.

Today we gather only days before the church begins a penitential time of year, known as the season of Lent.  Yet, the truth is, we should not mourn this time of year or season, but look with a different perspective at what is about to begin and view it as a preparation.  Two weeks ago we heard that we are laborers in the vineyard, no matter when we began the work.  All of us are equal.  Last week, Jesus implored us to SOW the seed of the Gospel.  And today we hear Jesus telling His disciples He is headed to Jerusalem in order to die, rise again and fulfill the plan of salvation.

That may seem strange to read 2000 years later, but the reality for us today is that God isn’t calling us to just listen, God is calling us to something greater.  You see, we who gather here today, “We work and sow in faith of the promises!”  Today we are called to this task as God’s laborers and His children.

God is calling us to work in His Kingdom for His Glory.  We won’t agree with each other 100% of the time.  Each of our methods in our families, farms and futures will be different.  But when we enter into God’s house, are baptized in the Water connected with the Word of God, we are called to pull in the same direction.  We are called to Work and sow in faith of the promises that God makes of eternal life.

God’s promise of eternal life is very clear.  It is meant for us to understand our reality differently.  For God’s Work He has in store for us is to sow the seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Some of us have said, I don’t have the gifts, I don’t feel comfortable, I’ve done my time.  But have we said, if I can’t speak, maybe God can speak through me.  Have we said, I may not be comfortable being up front, but I will volunteer to support from behind and not wait until I’m asked?  Personally I said “I wasn’t called to ministry” when I graduated college.  I decided I knew better and went off to graduate school.  I thought I knew better than God.  Two years later, in August of 1993, I was headed to seminary.  God wanted me to sow His Gospel and I had to have the chip on my shoulder knocked off. 

So I walked in faith and went to seminary.  I should have been done in 4 years, and been ordained.  But God still had work to do on me.  As you know it was not until I laid prostrate on this floor, hearing and heeding your call of Emmanuel that I was ordained to Word and Sacrament ministry.  But during those 17 years, I learned to walk in faith of the promises of God.  I had to be humbled and honestly that was a really tough pill to swallow.  But once I swallowed it, God has used me in ways I could not have imagined and impacted lives I never would have thought possible.

I tell you this true story, not as some believe, to say “I’m better” than anyone sitting in the pews of Emmanuel.  I tell you my story because God had a plan for me and He definitely has a plan for each and every one of you.  What is holding us back from following God’s plan?  It isn’t faith, because we are here today.  It isn’t because we feel better or more superior to everyone else.  It isn’t that we don’t have the money.  We simply do not follow God’s plan, because it would mean we would have to put our relationship with Jesus Christ first in our lives.

Caleb Breakey wrote a book entitled, “Called to Stay”.  He stated, that in order to grow and help other believers, “Christ must be their (the believers) first relationship, first purpose, and only true source of wealth” (p. 28).  That is a crushing statement in our materialistic society.  Yet, Caleb is right on the mark.

You see if we want Emmanuel to succeed, we need to work tirelessly for God’s Glory.  We need to sow the Word of God in our daily lives and the lives of everyone we meet and we need to have faith in the promises of God of eternal life.  Can we do this on our own?  No way, no how, will never happen.  But God can and does reach down into our lives and offer us the grace we need to be a blessing for each of us.

The meal we are about to receive is proof of God’s reaching down into our lives.  Just as a rancher reaches down into a pit to pull out a calf that has fallen into the deep mud.  God daily reaches down into our lives to wash each of us off and offer us the grace He so freely gives.  When we come and receive Jesus Christ precious Body and Blood, we receive life and salvation, freely offered for us on the cross of Calvary, remembered in the Upper Room and personally prepared for us by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for us today at our altar.  We receive God’s gift given to us, because of His great love for us.  This is the promise that was sowed in the Garden of Eden, spoken of by the prophets for generations before Jesus birth and fulfilled in the faith we have as we gather here today.

May we today join Jesus and put our individual and personal relationship with Him first in our lives, work in His kingdom for Kingdom results, sow the seed of His offer of grace for all of mankind and trust in His promise that we will have eternal life.  For when we do this, God will take our humble efforts and grant us the greatest blessing, entrance into His Kingdom that He not only prepared for us, but promised us when He uttered these words, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”  AMEN.

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02152015 Quinquagesima Esto Mihi Sunday

Gospel Audio
Sermon Audio

February 15, 2015
God’s anointed, it is not Who we expect!

Lord of Heaven and Earth, You look not with the eyes of man that You created, but into the very heart of our existence.  Look beyond our outward appearance as You did with David and change our heart to be like David’s, engaged in Your work in Your Kingdom to spread the Gospel.  For Jesus came to seek and save all of mankind no matter how we look nor how we dress.  Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ sacrifice for each and every one of us.  AMEN.

            When doctors first tried to determine how the human body worked, they at times were perplexed and didn’t understand.  What malady was on the outside of the body seemed easy to treat, but sickness inside the body was a different story.  As time passed and the time of the enlightenment began medicine men learned that inside the human body was a vast wilderness of what became known as organs, blood vessels and at the core, the human heart.  Not only did the doctors learn that the human heart pumped the blood throughout the body, they learned that without it man was dead.

            In our Old Testament lesson this morning we hear one of the greatest stories of the bible that tells of God’s choosing a king for the Israelite people.  Previously, Saul the first king of a united Israel had been anointed by Samuel to rule the people who were direct descendants from those who had fled Egypt.  Though Saul was a great king, he like a lot of biblical figures beginning with Adam and Eve eventually sinned and became rejected by God for his disobedience.

            But once Saul was rejected, God was ready to choose a new king who would follow God’s own heart.  The new king was none other than David.  He when chosen was a simple shepherd boy.  David would become famous not only for the being able to defend his sheep from ravenous wild animals, but also his slaying Goliath.  David was chosen specifically by God for three reasons.  God chose David, because God could see into David’s core, his very heart, God knew his loyalties and God trusted him to do what God desired.  Let’s talk about each of these three a little bit more and how they emulated the true  King.

            First, God could see into David’s heart.  Clearly God had the attribute of omniscience, all knowing.  For God was God and all powerful and all knowing.  God clearly knew what would happen in the future with David, but God had chosen David as King, because of the need to have not only the heart of a shepherd who could care for his people, but also the heart of a warrior who would defend them when needed.  As well when the cards were down God was looking for a leader and King for His people Israel to make the decisions needed that brought the greatest glory to God.  And God knew the future and could see David’s heart and knew David was just the right shepherd for what was ahead.

           Second, not only could David shepherd the souls of the people, he could also remain loyal to God.  It was not just a loyalty of the heart, but a loyalty to the plan that God had for His people no matter the cost.  David was clearly the right person.  Not only was David to continue the legacy begun by Saul, but David would usher the Israelite people into a deeper relationship with God.  Clearly the people and leaders had previously had a personal relationship with God, but being so far removed from the Exodus from Egypt, nearly 400 years earlier, and the miracles performed, the relationship that God had with His people would have diminished in their minds and hearts.  And David chosen by God would not only be loyal to God and the plan, but return this heart relationship component with God to and for the people of Israel and their relying upon God and their relationship with Him. 

Third, the relationship between God and David also had a clear and compelling component of trust.  For God did trust David to do His bidding and follow God’s commands.  Saul towards the end of his reign turned away from God and didn’t follow God’s plan and paid the price.  Enter David as leader of the Israelite people.  He would not only lead the people but build trust in the relationship between himself and God as well as rebuild the trusting relationship between the people of Israel and God.  This would then lead to the clear continuing of David’s reign and connection with the promise that was given in the Garden of Eden.

Remember in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve before the fall were God’s chosen first family.  They lacked nothing, experienced a clear, close and comfortable relationship with God the Father.  But after the fall, the entrance of sin into the world, the relationship radically changed, and not for the the better.  No longer was there the trust, no longer was there the clear communication between God and man and no longer was there the loyalty of man to God.  So what was the only recourse for God.  God like a great coach, whether of basketball, baseball or any sport, had to make a change.  God needed a new play, a new more powerful play that would fulfill what He wanted.  God had to send in a substitute, come up with a new plan.

God with the entrance of sin put into motion the ultimate plan of salvation.  And this plan like a thread that weaves through the garment of life, clearly intersected David.  David not only was King of Israel, but he was the ancestor to none other than Jesus Christ.

Through King David, the compassion of God came clearly upon the people of Israel and the link firmly established in the Word of God connects David to Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ was David’s heir.  Jesus came not just as a prophet, but priest and like His ancestor, the true King.  But Jesus was not just King of the people of Israel, Jesus Christ was and is the King of all Creation including all of us.  As God’s Son, Who sits at the right hand of God the Father, Jesus Christ not only exhibited the characteristics of King David, but clearly followed God’s heart, was trusted by God and had the most intimate relationship with God the Father.  And we who gather here today are connected to God through our baptism into this relationship between God the Father and God the Son.

As we come and receive not a representation, but the actual true Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, we receive the gift of forgiveness offered for all of mankind.  In, with and through our receipt of Jesus gift of grace for us, God plants into each of our hearts, souls and spirits the same potential of relationship with Him, through Jesus Christ.  For when we come and as the hymn says, “Eat His Body and drink His Blood” we celebrate not just the gift of forgiveness for us, but the offer of grace freely offered for all of mankind.

It is in this meal we receive God’s Son, sent down from heaven as the Word made Flesh Who dwelt among us.  We receive forgiveness of sin, life and salvation from God through Holy Communion.  This is God’s gift for us and the fulfillment of the plan of salvation.  The plan begun in the Garden of Eden, clearly continued through Saul and with David’s being anointed King and His descendent Jesus Christ death on Calvary for all of mankind, including each and everyone of us gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

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