Sermon Manuscript from February 28, 2016

1. [Stand on the temporary handrail. Failing that, stand on a folding chair or something.] Things like this are a bad idea. It may look impressive, but odds are that you’ll fall down if you try to stand on things like this. Even a tight rope walker has to get off of the tight rope eventually and stand on level ground that does not take all his concentration to keep him from falling. No matter how much balance you have, you will eventually fall from precarious positions such as this.
2. We need to stand on sturdy and level ground. It is just such sturdy and level ground that our God gives to us to live on when He calls us to life in His Son Jesus. This ground is the rock upon which we build our lives. We can stand on this sturdy and level ground that God puts underneath us in Christ.
3. But watch how you stand! You do not want to be like my nephew Andrew! When he was just learning to stand and walk he came crawling into the living room where my sister and I were watching television. I do not remember what we were watching, but I remember we had the television trays out. I leaned forward from my seat, put my elbows on my television tray, and started to babble at my wonderful little nephew…who is now a freshman at the U of M. He stands without incident now but not then! He comes over to me and pulls himself up on the TV tray and smiles at me and bites on the edge of the tray and it is all fun and games until someone gets hurt! Here’s how and I should have seen it coming: I grabbed my cup off the tray and went to move it out of Andrew’s reach. When I lifted my weight from the tray, Andrew fell backward like a cut tree and bonked his head hard on the floor. Since he was so young, I’m not sure he learned his lesson. I know I did: do not let your nephew hold onto a flimsy television tray to stand up. It and he will fall over.
4. Also, you do not want to be like my children. I cannot count the number of times they’ve fallen because they tried to stand in a precarious position. They stand on a rocking chair. Surprise! They fall. They stand on a wood pile. Surprise! They fall. They stand on a skateboard. Seriously, why do I even have all of these things for them to fall off of? But they stand in all these precarious positions and of course, they fall!
5. In that way, they are much like the Old Testament people of Israel that Paul writes about to the Corinthians. If I have told you metaphorically not to be like my children, do not stand in precarious positions, then Paul tells you literally not to be like the Old Testament people of Israel, do not stand in precarious positions!
6. God had put the people of Israel on solid ground, so to speak. He had delivered them from their misery of slavery by mighty deeds, namely the 10 plagues. He had saved them from slaughter by the Egyptian army by parting the Red Sea before them. He had fed them miraculously from heaven lest they starve. He had watered them miraculously from rocks lest they die of thirst. All of this Paul reminded the Corinthians and I love how he did that! Notice that Paul sees what God was up to for the Old Testament people of Israel during their Exodus from slavery to freedom through the lens of what God is up to for the New Testament people of Israel when He brings us from slavery to sin to freedom in Christ. You are baptized in the water in the name of God to free you from sin and death like Old Testament Israel passed through the water of the Red Sea to save them from sin and death. You are fed the miraculous meal of Jesus’ body and blood in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper to keep you alive in the faith like Old Testament Israel was fed miraculously the manna from heaven and drunk miraculously the water from the rocks to keep them alive in the wilderness. If ever there was a people walking closely with God on the solid ground He provided for them, it was Old Testament Israel.
7. Yet, what do we see then from Israel? We do not see a people living in righteousness and faithful worship of God. We see a people fall away from standing with God to worshipping idols and false gods in ceremonies that fulfilled their wildest desires. We see a people never minding the marriage vows they took and that supported their community but getting up to engage in whatever sexual activity enticed them. We see a people complaining that God does not have their best interests in mind. In short, we see a people living as if they knew best and that whatever they wanted the people should have. If ever you join me in worrying about our “power to the people” society, Israel is one of the reasons. They fell. They did not stand on the ground God had put them to stand on.
8. As you heard from Paul, how God made the Old Testament people of Israel His people is a foreshadowing of how God now makes you His people. God brings you through the waters of Holy Baptism in order to save you from death and free you from the bondage of sin. God then feeds you with His Son’s ever-living body and blood in the Lord’s Supper to strengthen you in the faith that will endure beyond this world and into the next. God now makes you His people in Christ.
9. But what did we see happen to God’s Old Testament people? The same thing we can see happen to us, God’s New Testament people. So, Paul shouts to us as he shouted to the Corinthians, “Take heed! Lest you think you are standing and fall as they fell!” They were tempted to false worship that seemed good to them and fulfilled their desires. We are tempted the same to ignore God’s revelations and worship gods of our own choosing in ways of our own designs. Israel was tempted to sexual immorality. Your pastor blushes about the extremes to which we are tempted to sexual immorality. It is shameful to say and think on the temptations to sexual immorality that exist among us: pornography, sex before marriage, sex outside of marriage, open marriages that encourage spouses to bring other people into the marriage bed, and leaving behind and breaking marriage vows for selfish reasons. Israel was tempted to test God and question His plans for them. We are tempted to think we know better than our maker. All that Israel was tempted to do and to fall away from standing on the solid ground God gave them to stand on; we are tempted even more to fall away from standing on the solid ground that God has given us!
10. Many times we hear the stories of the people in the Bible and think we could do better than they did. Paul is telling us that we wouldn’t. He tells us to look back at the Old Testament people of Israel. These are the ones who saw God’s might displayed in the 10 Plagues that freed them from Egyptian slavery. They saw the waters pushed to the right and the left and walked through the sea bed on dry ground. They woke up morning after morning to sweet, sweet manna all around them. They watched in wonder as water for their thirsting throats flowed into a growing torrent in the desert. If anyone was ever witness to the power and grace of God it was Israel! And they fell away when they were tempted by false worship, sexual immorality, and the like! How do you Corinthians think you will do better? How do you Manawans think you will do better? All you have to go on of witnessing God’s power and grace are the words of someone who came to you as a stranger telling you that God has raised some guy from the dead outside Jerusalem in AD 33! So of course you are more likely to fall away into temptations! That is why you must take heed of the temptations to fall away!
11. But what do you take heed of? What should you notice most? You should notice most that God is faithful to hold you up! You stand on solid ground because God gives you the solid ground of His love and mercy upon which to stand. You stand because God breathes His Holy Spirit into you in order to make you stand. You stand because God puts the strength in your legs and in your faith to stand! God is faithful to hold you up! That is first and foremost what you must notice in the midst of temptations: God holds me up and in Him I will stand at the end!
12. Also, take heed of the way out that God gives you. Notice the way of escape that God provides for you. God will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can endure. He will give you the way out. He will rescue you. And this is more profound than that burst of resistance to temptation that the Holy Spirit works in us when we are tempted to sexual immorality and the like. This way out, this way of escape is the forgiveness and mercy that God has won in Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way.” Jesus said, “I am the door.” Jesus Himself is your way out! Remember this again, He stood in your place to receive the punishment for your sin. The guilt and punishment of your sin is already paid! In the midst of temptation that Jesus has already freed you from sin is your way out! He is your way of escape!
13. Upon Him we stand and will never fall. When we stand on temptation we build our lives and houses on sand. The lives built on temptations will collapse like a house whose foundation breaks. We stand on the rock God gives us in Christ. The lives built on this Rock stand firm now and forevermore.

Sermon Manuscript from February 21, 2016

1. A child lays there on the floor and watches you as you walk around the room. Big whoop the child thinks, “I can roll or crawl wherever I want to go!” So, the child happily rolls and crawls around. But eventually the child notices you putting stuff on the table. “What is that stuff you’re putting up on the table? I guess I have to get up on my feet if I want to find out.” A child watches you walk and the desire to join you in your biped mobility starts to burn more and more in the child’s heart. As the child watches you walk, he or she thinks more and more, “No more of this sitting, rolling, and crawling business for me! Walking is the way to live!”

2. Paul wanted the Philippians to see how he lived his life. He wanted them to see him and other Christians talking the talk and walking the walk because then the Philippians would walk the walk and talk the talk of faith. He wanted them to walk together with him and so he encouraged them to watch how he walked. He encouraged them to watch how other believers in Jesus walked. He said, “Be imitators of me and watch those of us who live as believers in Jesus!” He wanted them to see that walking with Jesus is the way to live!

3. Now, before I dive into this concept of “watching how they walk” as a way that we grow up in the Christian faith like a child grows up, I want to speak some good news about Jesus. He walked the road of obedience to the Father. He did not veer to the right nor to the left but set His face to do as the Father sent Him to do. He carried the sins of the whole world straight to Golgotha when He carried His cross through the streets of Jerusalem. And finally He walked through death into the grave and out again in resurrection glory! Jesus walked this road of obedience to the Father. When He finished that faithful course, He earned salvation. And now, all who believe in Him receive that salvation and eternal life He won! When you believe in Jesus, it is as if you walked that road of obedience and finished that faithful course! When you believe in Jesus, God welcomes you into the victory circle because now Jesus' victory is counted as your victory!

4. And because Paul wants the Philippians and all people to see that walking with Jesus is the way to live, he encourages them to watch and imitate those who live as believers in Jesus. Perhaps Paul would have thought about Stephen when he wrote for us to imitate those who live as believers in Jesus. Paul got to see Stephen living as a believer in Jesus. It is recorded for us in Acts chapters 6 and 7 about Stephen, who is one we can watch and walk like him. Paul watched as Stephen was hauled before an intimidating panel of judges and grilled with questions and accusations that made him out to be a scoundrel who dishonored God in all he said. Paul also watched as Stephen steadfastly took the abuse heaped upon him. And then to Paul’s and everyone’s wonder, Stephen then spoke passionately and convincingly about God who always preserved His people even when His people did not understand how God was saving them. Paul saw how Stephen walked with Jesus and when Paul was finally converted to believe in Jesus, his mind’s eye remembered how Stephen walked boldly. Thus I suspect that Paul wanted the Philippians to watch and imitate how believers lived as perhaps Paul watched and imitated how Stephen lived.

5. But you have to know that the great thing to watch and imitate is not the moral good and upright behavior of Christians! The great thing to watch and imitate is the trust in God that Christians display! Stephen may have been upright in character, but His great example was suffering for the faith in trust and hope that final victory belongs to the Lord! Stephen was stoned to death because of his speech to that intimidating panel of judges! And yet we watch and imitate him because he believed in God even when he suffered. This is true of all great examples in the Bible of believers. They are great not because they are morally good. We watch and imitate them because they trusted in God as we must trust in God for our victory and hope.

6. Teddy Roosevelt is one of those who walked with Jesus before we did. He is not just one of our presidents; he was a Sunday School teacher. And you know what we see when we watch Teddy Roosevelt be a Sunday School teacher? We see a man trying to make a difficult decision and getting punished for it. You see, one Sunday a boy came into his Sunday School classroom with a bleeding lip and tousled hair. Teddy asked, “Johnny? Have you been in a fight on the Lord's day?” And Johnny slowly nodded his head in shame. Teddy said, “Johnny, you know it is not proper for Christians to fight.” Johnny said, “I know, but Frank was pinching my sister so I let him have it.” At this, Teddy thought for a moment then he gave Johnny a dollar and told him, “Good job, Johnny.” You know what happened when the pastor found out Teddy had rewarded a student for fighting? Teddy was no longer allowed to be a Sunday School teacher.

7. What do I want you to imitate from that episode of a fellow believer who walked with Jesus? I want you to imitate learning the whole story. I want you to imitate the struggle of choosing a good way to go in a complicated situation. I want you to imitate the boldness of following Christ even when you can make choices that will not please everyone. And most of all, I want you to imitate suffering for those God-inspired choices. Because even if Teddy Roosevelt did wrong there, which is debatable, whether he was wrong or the pastor was wrong, everyone involved is covered by God’s grace. God’s grace forgives all sins and brings us together finally in peace with Johnny, Frank, Teddy, pastor and everybody. So, watch and imitate the trust in God’s grace that leads us to make difficult decisions in complicated situations.

8. But do not watch and imitate those who live as enemies of the Cross of Christ. Paul pleads with the Philippians and now all Christians to avoid the example of those who walk apart from Christ. And this is a difficult thing to hear because it is often those who are enemies of the Cross of Christ who are living the most desirable lives. If Paul wants us to watch and imitate people like Stephen then we can rightly object that, “Hey! Stephen died! But these merchants in Philippi have a pretty great gig going and are doing good business. Why can’t we watch and imitate them?” Paul writes to the Philippians, “Because the goals they live for will lead them to destruction and the god they serve is nothing more than the desires of their bellies and they glory in things that would cause a normal person to blush. They only think about things of this earth!” And if Christ be raised from the dead then there is much more going on than just the things of this earth! So Paul pleads with us, do not imitate those who walk as enemies of Christ.

9. Perhaps Paul had in mind those merchants in Philippi who owned a slave girl. This story is recorded for us in Acts chapter 16. The slave girl owned by the merchants was possessed by a demon who would tell people’s fortunes. And you thought fortune telling isn’t really that much of a problem. This problem has been plaguing the world for millennia! So this girl is possessed by a demon, but rather than seeing this as a spiritual disaster that they should all seek help to remedy the merchants see it as an opportunity to make money! They only think about things of this earth! When Paul comes to town he notices the slave girl and after a few interactions with her he does for her what must be done for her spiritual well-being. He casts out the demon in the name of Jesus. Are the merchants happy their girl is no longer afflicted? NO! They are mad that their piggy bank has been broken! These are the kinds of people Paul pleads with you to avoid becoming imitators of: they look successful in their pursuits but greed and self-centeredness are truly the core of their being. They will be condemned and defeated by God who selflessly gives His love and victory to all people!

10. Be careful then, who you watch and who you imitate! Grandpa once shared his sorrow with me that he had not been more successful in farming because he was not going to be able to pass along much wealth to his children “like them guys up the road.” Turns out his neighbors to the north had done much better over the years financially. But you know what Grandpa did pass along to his children? Work ethic. Appreciation for what we have. And of course, faith in God. Had Grandpa been putting his heart and soul into financial success, it is not difficult to imagine the spiritual and relational success he attained would have suffered.

11. Be careful then, who you watch and imitate! Bryce was looking out the window of a bus as we travelled together on a youth group trip when he saw a yellow Corvette pass us. He hooted and hollered about what a beautiful car it was. And then he sat back down and started talking more about how badly he wanted to get a car like that and how he was going to get a good paying job to get a car like that and a life like that. I did not see Bryce much in worship after that youth trip. And you know the saddest thing? The saddest thing is that cars like that crash and burn just as easily as any other car. If Bryce keeps on down this path then he might get the car of his dreams…and then years later it will be gone.

12. Be careful then, who you watch and imitate! Be careful who you follow on Twitter and Tumblr and t’all those things! Be careful if you are following fitness gurus and fitness programs because you may end up following pornography as they show you the sculpted bodies that could be yours! Be careful if you are following business tycoons because you may end up following greed that only masquerades as savvy business sense. Be careful if you are following leadership experts because you may end up following manipulation that uses people rather than serving people. In this day and age when there are so many people to watch and imitate with the swipe of a finger, be careful who you watch!

13. Because you are going to be watched yourself. There will be times when you are the parent being watched as you go about your day. And there will be a child that watches you and will learn to walk and live as you walk and live. Be careful then that you are walking with Jesus and showing the children around you, whether they actually are children or if they are neighbors or co-workers or someone, that walking with Jesus is the way to live!

14. But always know that you are the baby in our little metaphor. You will always be watching how the people around you walk. Some will show you what it looks like to walk with Jesus. Imitate them! Others will show you what it looks like to walk without Jesus. Do not imitate them!

Sermon Manuscript from February 7, 2016

1. The Iowa Caucus happened this week so here comes election season in force. If the results of the Iowa Caucus hold, then we are down to 5 candidates for president. On the Republican side there are three: Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, and Marco Rubio. On the Democratic side of things there are two: Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. These five will be cajoling and caroling for your vote for the next weeks and months. And I’m interested to see how they portray themselves in comparison to our current Commander in Chief. I expect the Democrats to say, “If you like Obama, then you’ll love Hillary or Sanders!” And I expect the Republicans to say, “If you do not like Obama, then you’ll love Cruz! Or Trump! Or Rubio!” You are going to see this kind of stuff over and over in print, on television, and all over the internet as these candidates try to win your vote and confidence.

2. About 2000 years ago, in the days before elections, a letter went out to the Hebrew people. The author of this letter wanted the Hebrews to have confidence in Jesus of Nazareth. If Jesus would have been running for anything, you should vote for Him! By the third chapter, the book of Hebrews takes up this line of argument: “Holy brothers, my partners in a calling from heaven, consider and ponder the Messenger and Chief Priest of our confession, namely Jesus, who being trustworthy was appointed like even Moses in the whole of God’s house. For This One has been deemed greater in glory than Moses, in as much as the one who has built it has greater honor than the house, for every house has been built by someone, and the one who has built all things is God. Even on the one hand Moses was trustworthy in His whole house as a servant for the testimony of the things which were to be spoken, and on the other hand Christ as a Son of God’s house, of which we ourselves are of this house, we may hold tightly to the confidence and feel free to boast because of the hope.” The author of the letter to the Hebrews is clear, “If you liked Moses, then you will love Jesus!”

3. Now, Moses was a great leader. We often say Moses gave us the Law and then Jesus gave us the Gospel. That’s a nice way of basically understanding things, but it does not tell the full story. Moses did not simply give the Law. He carried and spoke God’s whole Word, Law and Gospel, to the people of Israel. He was a great leader for God’s people! He advocated for Israel when they were in Egyptian slavery. He led them out of the land of slavery, even parted the waters of the Red Sea to save Israel from the wrath of Egypt’s army. He brought them to Mount Sinai to worship God and there showed them God’s Law. He led them through the wilderness toward the Promised Land of freedom and when they got hungry he fed them manna, bread from heaven, and when they were thirsty he gave them water from a rock miraculously. And when they grumbled against him and God, snakes came among them to torment the grumbling people, but Moses put a bronze serpent on a pole so the people could look up at it when bitten by a snake and be healed. Through these and more adventures and misadventures, Moses led the people right up to the border of the Promised Land of freedom. But as great a leader as Moses was, he was just a servant in God’s house.

4. Jesus of Nazareth is the Son and heir of God’s house. He is greater than Moses as the builder of a house is greater than the house itself. If you liked Moses, then you will love Jesus! Where Moses was born the natural way and inherited sinfulness from his father and mother, Jesus was conceived divinely and without sin when the Holy Spirit came upon the Virgin Mary and she gave birth to the Son of the Most High. And where Moses had sinned in his anger and frustration, Jesus lived obediently to God on all points and followed God’s Law perfectly and was without sin in word and deed. Where Moses taught and led the people as an intermediary between God and the people, merely passing along what God had given him to do and teach, like the plagues on Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, giving the 10 Commandments, sending the manna, and making water flow from the rock were all God’s doing and Moses’ part in them was simply to announce their happening or be God’s agent, Jesus Himself was the doer of His miraculous deeds and teacher of His authoritative lessons. Jesus taught with authority, not as one who was only passing along what He had heard. Jesus Himself healed the sick and injured. Jesus Himself cast out demons. Jesus Himself raised the dead. Jesus Himself fed the thousands. Jesus Himself walked on water. And where Moses died and was buried and did not enter into the Land of Promise, Jesus died and was buried but rose again in victory over death and ascended into the presence of God which is where He will lead all of us who are in Him when He returns to judge the living and the dead on the last day. If you liked Moses, then you will love Jesus. He is greater than Moses as the builder of a house is greater than the house.

5. Yes, ponder on this Jesus as the letter of the Hebrews encourages you to do. Because as you ponder on Jesus, you become more and more convinced of the hope He gives you. You can trust this hope. You can rightly boast in this hope. The hope you have in Jesus begins with the hope of everlasting life in His Eternal Kingdom. He has purchased and won you with His blood to be His own and live under Him in His kingdom in everlasting innocence, righteousness, and blessedness! By His victory over death He has destroyed death’s power over you. Death and the grave cannot close you in! Jesus has opened the way to everlasting life. The hope you have in Jesus continues with hope for this temporal life. He has made you His own to live in His kingdom now as well. His reign of love and joy is ever invading this world of hate and sadness. To you and through you He gives love and acceptance by washing away the stain of sin that ruins and divides us. He heals in body and soul and heart to bring joy and health where there had been sadness and illness. As we hold to the hope Jesus gives us for eternity we gain hope and confidence that God is giving us glimpses now of what we will have in fullness in the world to come.

6. As we ponder on Jesus we see more and more how great and glorious He is and the love He has for us. But a great and common problem to all people, including Christians, is that we do not ponder Jesus as the letter to the Hebrews encourages us to do. We ponder on other things. They might be great. They might not be great. But too often Christians, and unbelievers alike, hold on to the hope given by these others things rather than to the hope Jesus gives.

7. Now, I do not want you to think I am saying that nothing else is great but Jesus. There are great things! And from young ages we have enjoyed great things! Babies, milk is great isn’t it? If you like milk and food because they taste good and make you grow, then you will love the real spiritual food that Jesus feeds you to make you strong in faith. Older kids, playing games is great isn’t it? If you like playing a game to enter into a world of imagination and adventure, then you will love the world of faith in Christ in which you meet danger and adventure and temptations and problems with confidence and a reason to boast because of the hope Jesus gives you. And all of you, phones are great aren’t they? If you like phones for all their social media connections and video streaming apps and what have you, then you will love the connection God gives you to eternity in His Son the Christ and the connection to His mind that He gives you in Scripture and in prayer! The great things of this world like food and games and phones pale in comparison to the greatness of Jesus like a house pales in comparison to the one who built it.

8. But we also must recognize that some of the things we think are great are not good for us. These things turn out to be fake and fading stuff that get in the way of knowing the great and glorious life that God has made us for and redeemed us for in Christ. Do you think the elation and mood altering of drugs and alcohol are great? Then you need to set aside that fake stuff that will damage your God-given body and mind and take a hold of the real elation that Christ gives by His victory over death and the promise of your resurrection to everlasting life! Do you think the intimacy of sexual promiscuity and/or pornography is great? Then you need to set aside that fake stuff that leaves you empty and alone and wanting more but not knowing where or who to get it from and take a hold of the real intimacy that Christ gives you by His presence in your life now and to the end of the age! Do you think the prosperity of money is great? Then you need to set aside that fake stuff that can be taken from you so easily and take a hold of the prosperity of Christ’s riches that teach you to be content in all things! Do you think the rush of power over others is great? Then you need to set aside that fake stuff that denigrates other people to mere objects to be manipulated for your own purposes and take a hold of the humility of Christ because the Lord will exalt His own and lay low those who exalt themselves. Do not settle for the fake stuff! Do not be fooled by the fake stuff! The fake stuff, even more than the great stuff in life, pales in comparison to the glories of the Crucified One just as a house pales in comparison to the greatness of its builder.

9. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus gave a glimpse of His greatness to Peter, James, and John. He took Peter, James, and John up a mountain. There He was transfigured before them. His face shone brighter than the sun and His robe was whiter than pure white. And there appeared talking with Him, Moses and Elijah. Peter saw this glory and wanted to hold this glory. So he suggested they build shelters to stay there on the mountain top like gurus. And the world could come up to them and behold the glory and be convinced of Jesus’ glory. But what Peter, James, and John saw on that mountain is not the greatest of Jesus’ glories. The greatest of Jesus’ glories is His death in the place of sinners and resurrection from that death. If you like Jesus’ face shining and His clothes gleaming white on the Mount of Transfiguration, then you will love the glory of Jesus stepping triumphantly out of the grave after dying in your place!

Sermon Manuscript from February 14, 2016

Intro - Since ancient times, the church has recognized a special season in the time leading up to Easter, namely Lent. This 40 day period is spent preparing for the joyous celebration of Victory Sunday. One of the features of Lent was and is using this time for special instruction in the Christian faith. In ancient times, Lent was the last step of instruction for converts to the Christian church to become members of the Christian church. So, this Lent, we are going to talk about growth in knowledge and ability in the Christian faith, even in those of us whose growing days are behind us. We will use the metaphor of a growing child to ponder how we grow in knowledge and ability in this Christian faith.

1. Children come out knowing how to do a bunch of things. They know how to cry. They know how to shout. They know how to be adorable. They know how to eat. They know how to make a mess. There are a bunch of things you do not need to teach children how to do because they already know how to do them. But there are a whole bunch of things that children need to be taught how to do. One of these things that children learn how to do is they learn how to talk. And how do children learn how to talk? By hearing and copying all the talking that goes on around them. Children learn to talk by listening to their parents talk.

2. Christians already know how to do a bunch of things. They know how to cry. They know how to be selfish. They know how to hurt themselves and others. They know how to ignore God’s Law. There are a bunch of things you do not need to teach Christians how to do because they already know how to do them. But there are a whole bunch of things that Christians need to be taught. And how do you teach them these things? You start by speaking the Word of God. So that is what St. Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles, did. In the 10th chapter of his letter to the Romans, Paul reminds them that the Word of God is near to the Romans. It is in their hearts and in their mouths. Namely, the Word that is near them is the word of faith that he and his companions had preached to them. The Christians in Rome began to learn the Christian faith by listening to Paul talk.

3. This is how all Christians learn, not just the Christians in Rome so long ago. Christians, you have learned and are learning the faith of Jesus by listening to the word of faith. You first hear the word of faith from your parents. They led you in prayers. They read the Bible and Bible stories to you. They talked about sermons as you rode home in the car from worship with them. You heard the most influential people in your life talking about God and thus you learned about God. You also heard the word of faith from your church. You heard the pastor preaching and praying and reading the Bible. You heard the congregation singing the songs and saying the Creeds and praying the prayers. As a baby learns to talk by listening to all the talking that goes on all around him, you have learned the faith by listening to all the words of faith that are being spoken around you.

4. We learn to talk by hearing. That means we have to start simple. My son August has been making a lot of sounds for a long time. Again, there are some things that you just come out knowing how to do. But only now is he starting to make sounds that sound like words. So, I can say to him, “Say mommy.” And he says, “Ami!” So it is close. And then I say, “Say daddy.” And he says, “Ami!” He gets stuck on mommy…go figure. I say, “Say uh-oh!” He says, “uh-oh!” I say, “Say no.” He doesn’t say anything, which I’m pretty sure is just another way of saying “no.” I kid. He says “no” all the time because that is far and away the most common word in my house! But in all this adventure of teaching August how to talk, I do not tell August to say, “refrigerator” or “multiplication” or “justification” or other complex words. That is not how you learn to talk in the first place. You learn to talk by being able to form the basic sounds.

5. Paul taught the Romans the Christian faith by talking it through for them. He progressed from the basics and built on the basics so that the Romans could learn to speak the words of faith themselves. The first 8 chapters of Paul’s letter were the message of the Christian faith. That message that Paul and his companions preached was that God had raised Jesus from the dead to prove that He was the Messiah sent to save the world from sin and that this Messiah would come back to judge the world by His righteousness. Or to sum it up basically: Jesus is Lord! The Romans began to learn the faith by hearing this basic message.

6. And so we do as the Romans do: we begin to learn the faith by hearing the basic message. Jesus is Lord. Parents speak this simple statement for their children. Then the children begin to learn the faith that will endure beyond this world and into the next! As a child first learns to talk by hearing and mimicking the simple sounds, a child first learns the faith by hearing and saying back the basic message: Jesus is Lord!

7. Do you know what basic means? It means that it is the base. It is the base that you build on top of it. It stays underneath everything to hold the whole building up, whatever the building is. A good base does not move or tip. Basic messages are the base of everything else that is said afterword. A basic message holds up other messages.

8. Jesus is Lord is a basic message. It is a message that you can rely on in all things. It is a message that you can always return to when you need to hear something true. It is a message that you can build on top of it.

9. From the basic sounds and the basic words, we can grow in knowledge and ability. And so hearing these basic sounds and basic words is so very important. There was a young boy who got to the age of three years old and he was still not saying words. His parents became more and more concerned as the boy showed no signs that he was learning how to talk. At his next check-up they shared their concerns with their doctor so he took a closer look at the boy. Some tests were run. The results came back that the inner workings of the boy’s ears had been damaged. So treatment for the damage ensued and weeks later the boy was beginning to talk! He had shown no signs of starting to talk because he could not hear! Once he began to hear his parents talking, the boy almost immediately began to mimic them!

10. Parents, take note of this: once the boy began to hear his parents talking, he almost immediately began to mimic them! A great weight of responsibility is laid on you parents that your children hear the basic message upon which faith and life can be built! The child who hears early and often that Jesus is Lord is well on his or her way to saying and believing this basic message. The child who hears early and often that Jesus loves you and so do I is well on his or her way to saying and believing this basic message. The child who hears early and often the basic message, the word of faith that is near to you, is well on his or her way to saying and believing the Christian faith that will endure beyond this world and into the world to come. As children hear, so children will speak.

11. Perhaps Paul had that in mind when he wrote to the Romans. As children hear, so children will speak. So Paul quoted Scripture for the Romans to hear, “Whoever believes on God will not be let down.” As the Romans hear this basic message that Jesus is Lord and will not let them down, they would speak this basic message that Jesus is Lord and will not let them down. And as they later suffered persecution and threats to themselves and their families they would still be speaking what they had heard: Jesus is Lord and will not let me down.

12. You must hear this basic message. If you have been hearing it from a young age, then I praise God that you have heard that early so that when the attacks of the evil one come upon you and the brokenness of the sin ravaged world cuts and wounds you and the weaknesses of our own sinful flesh betrays you, then you can say as you have heard, “Jesus is Lord and will not let me down.” If you have only recently started hearing this basic message or if this is your first time, then I praise God that He has brought you near to hear this word of faith. You are never alone. Your sin or the ones who sin against you are not in charge. Jesus is Lord! Jesus is Lord of all things. And this Jesus will not let you down! Upon this base, upon this basic message you can always stand.

13. As a child learns to speak, the child will say what the child hears. As we learn to speak the words of faith, we will say what we hear. And so St. Paul says, “The Word is near to you. It is in your mouth. It is in your heart. It is the word of faith that we have preached to you.” That message of faith is that “Jesus is Lord.” May you hear this basic message of love on this Valentines’ Day and every day and thus learn to speak with more and more knowledge and ability the words of this faith.

Sermon Manuscript from January 31, 2016

Intro - In my first class with the 7th and 8th grade students learning their catechisms, I asked them this question in order to start getting to know them. “What do you want to do when you grow up?” I heard many wonderful answers that helped me start getting to know these students. Nurse, teacher, athlete, accountant, farmer are among the answers to the question, “what do you want to do when you grow up?” Now, the reason I asked this question was because I had a lesson for the students to learn and, now, for you to learn. As many different answers as there are to this question, there is one answer that is correct for all of us: be a Christian! God is calling each of us to follow Him in Christ that we may have life. It is the same call to all of us: “I love you! I save you from your sins! Come follow Me!” It looks different in each of our lives, but it is the same call to what we should do when we grow up. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
1. To a young man named Jeremiah, the Word of the Lord was spoken. The Word of the Lord was not spoken to the king of the land. He was too worried about lining his own pockets with the riches of the kingdom and about possible war with the great empire to the east. The Word of the Lord was not spoken to the priests of the land. They had long ago stopped leading the people in worship of the one true God who had given them this Promised Land. The Word of the Lord was not even spoken to a well-respected, well-established member of the community whom everyone would listen to for sure. The Word of the Lord was spoken to a young man named Jeremiah.
2. “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart for a purpose. I set you apart to be a prophet to the nations.” The Word of the Lord informed Jeremiah that he would now be the Lord’s mouthpiece to speak to the nations. The Lord had something for Jeremiah to do. The Lord was making a prophet out of Jeremiah.
3. Maybe Jeremiah wanted to be a prophet when he grew up. Maybe he wanted to be a merchant. Maybe he wanted to be a farmer or a shepherd or vineyard owner. We are not told what exactly Jeremiah wanted to be when he grew up. But what we are told by Jeremiah himself is that when the Lord told him he would be a prophet, Jeremiah objected. “I am too young!” he said. Maybe he thought, wouldn’t it be better for the king to declare the Word of the Lord to the nations? People listen to him. Or to the priests? Or to any one of the many well-respected, well-established people of our nation? But not me! I’m too young to be respected or listened to by others. They will dismiss my words and not believe they are the Words of the Lord!
4. But the Lord did not choose the king or a priest or a well-established person. The Lord chose a young, untested man to be His mouthpiece to the nations. And the Lord replied to Jeremiah, “Do not say, ‘I am just a youth!’ Because I will send you on every road you walk and I will command every word you speak. Have no fear of their looks, no matter how sinister, for I, Myself am with you to protect and rescue you. Thus says Yahweh!” Notice that Yahweh doesn’t say, “you’ll learn how to speak.” Notice that Yahweh does not say, “Do not worry, you have it in you. You just have to believe in yourself.” Yahweh does not disagree with Jeremiah that he is just a youth. But what Yahweh does is rock solid as the Rock of Ages Himself. He says, “I will be with you. I will lead you on your journey. I will speak through your mouth. I will rescue you in danger. I will be with you.” The Lord chose a young man because through a young man God can make His Word known just as easily as if He uses a king, a priest, or a well-established person.
5. The Word of the Lord did not come to me the same way it did to Jeremiah. But the Holy Spirit did make clear to me that I could be a pastor. To a young, 19 year old man, this was an exciting possibility. But it was also confusing like Jeremiah’s call to be a prophet was confusing. Jeremiah asked, “Lord, don’t you realize how young and unable to speak I am?” I asked, on a few occasions, “Lord, don’t you realize what a low-quality person I am? I have bullied people. I have treated people in ways that a pastor must not treat people.” And the Lord answered, through the gospel of John, “The helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in the name of Jesus, will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that Jesus has said.” I objected that I am the wrong kind of person for this work, but the Lord sends His Holy Spirit to teach all things and bring to remembrance all that Jesus said and taught and gave us to know.
6. Think on what has become your answer to “what do you want to do when you grow up?” I know some of you still have not quite gotten settled on your answer even if you have put on 40 and 50 years or more of life, but in some form or another, all of us have answered this question. The thing is this: we all have reasons to object that this is not the right answer. We all have character flaws or regrets from our past or personal failings or something that we could say disqualifies us from doing this. We could all say like Jeremiah, in some form or another, “I’m too young!” But to all the things God calls us to do, God Himself leads us on those journeys and carries us on those roads.
7. The Lord had something for a young woman named Andrea to do. The Lord was making a wife out of her. Like most women, she’d expected to be a wife since she was a little girl. But now that it was imminent, she was not so sure. You see, Andrea had come to enjoy the company of men, if you get my meaning. She had come to enjoy the company of many different men. She even had been seeing different men on the side while she was dating her now fiancé. But ever since the engagement, she had been struggling with whether or not she had what it takes to be a wife faithful to her one man. She objected, “I can’t be a wife! I can’t have just one man for the rest of my life!” But the Lord had chosen her to be wife to this one man. And the Word of the Lord says, “God made us male and female so a husband and wife will join together and the two will become one.” It is not about whether Andrea has the strength to resist temptation. It is that God has made her to join together with her husband to enjoy the true and enduring blessings that God has made for us in marriage.
8. The Lord makes a spouse out of most of us. But we may object that we do not want to give up our freedom or can’t be responsible for another person like that or any other number of objections. To such objections, the Lord speaks that He has made us for marriage, and having made us for marriage, He will bless us for marriage!
9. The Lord had something for a man named Richard to do. The Lord was making a father out of him. But Richard was 30 years old and had never wanted to be a father. He did not want to be kept up at night. He did not want to have to discipline or worry about children. He like his life with his wife and did not want children to complicate things! But the Lord had chosen Richard to be a father. And the Word of the Lord says for humans to be fruitful and that children are a gift and blessing from the Lord to enrich our lives.
10. The Lord makes a parent out of most of us. But we may object that we are too selfish or too immature or too poor or some other shortcoming that should disqualify us from such monumental responsibility. To such objections, the Lord speaks that He means to make the next generation from us and that He will lead us to bless the next generation better than we were blessed by our own parents.
11. To the objections that we do not have what it takes to do what God wants us to do well, God answers with His promise of presence with us and with His promise of blessing upon us. He does not point us to the strength that lies within us. He points to the strength that lies within Him.
12. In all these vocations, no matter what the Lord is calling us to do, the Lord calls us to be Christians. Whatever kind of worker you are, whether it be on a farm, in a factory, in a shop, or in an office, the Lord calls you to follow Christ even on the clock. And if your work is inherently unrighteous and against God’s Law, like thief or smuggler or dealer, then the Lord calls you to follow Christ out of that vocation and into a vocation that serves and benefits your neighbor. And in those off the clock vocations that the Lord has given you for the sake of others, the Lord calls you to be Christian. In your love for, conversation with, and service to your neighbors, your children, and of course your spouse, God calls you to be Christian.
13. The call of the Lord to be a Christian is to do as Jeremiah was called to do. Namely, you are called with Jeremiah to uproot and throw down, to destroy and trample, to build and to plant. Christians are led by the Lord to uproot and throw down false gods like money and materialism the same way Jeremiah uprooted and threw down idols and false worship. Christians are led by the Lord to destroy and trample unrighteousness like cheating and stealing the same way Jeremiah destroyed and trampled the oppressive practices of the rich that were taking advantage of the poor. Christians are led by the Lord to build up and to plant the Gospel of Jesus’ salvation for all people the same way Jeremiah built up and planted the hope that Yahweh God would restore His people to their homes by His grace. The work of Jeremiah is now your work. To this the Lord leads you when you are being a worker, a spouse, a parent, and a neighbor.
14. And to this work of being a Christian, we object with Jeremiah, “I am too young!” We object, “But everybody has already heard the Christian Gospel!” To which the Word of the Lord says, “I send you as witnesses unto the ends of the world” and “I am with you to the end of the age.” As long as the earth endures, Christ is with us and in us to speak His Gospel. Or we object, “But people can believe whatever they want that that is fine!” To which the Word of the Lord says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved” and “There is salvation in no one other than Jesus of Nazareth.” If a person puts their faith in anyone other than Jesus, they are putting their faith in someone who will fail them. Or we may object, “But I do not know enough!” To which the Word of the Lord says, “Do not worry about what you will say for I will send My Holy Spirit to you and He will give you the words to say.” As the Lord answered Jeremiah’s objections, so the Lord answers ours, “I will be with you, protect you, and lead you on the roads you walk.”
15. We have many vocations. There are many answers to the question, “what do you want to do when you grow up.” But there is also one answer. And in all of these vocations, in all the work we do, the Lord is with us to accomplish the work and to lead us in its doing.

Sermon Manuscript from January 24, 2016

1. Last Sunday, Iran freed five Americans that they had been holding prisoner. Jason Rezaian is a journalist for the Washington Post. Amir Hekmati is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps. Saeed Abedini is a pastor. These three flew to freedom by way of Switzerland and Germany last Sunday. Nosratollah Khovari-Roodsari freely elected to remain in Iran following his release from prison. And Matthew Trevithick, a student, had left Iran by other means. The Americans had been held prisoner for unrelated reasons. Some of them had been in captivity since 2011. But their captivity came to an end last Sunday! They were free to return to their homes!

2. Can you imagine the sweetness of finally being able to come home after being held captive? I know I have a hard time imagining that because I can go home pretty much whenever I feel like it. I think that is true for most of you. But this is not true of everyone. Not everyone can go home whenever they want to go home. These captives who were released have reminded me to be thankful that God gives us an eternal home to which we will always be welcome and to which nothing can stop us from going.

3. God intends for you to belong. God made you to have a home. When God first made people, He made a home for them. He set Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, into the Garden of Eden. That was the first home God gave. That was where they belonged. They had food and drink there from orchards and streams. They had work to do there to tend the plants. They had a place to raise their family. He gave them a place to belong.

4. Into such a home God also put descendants of Adam and Eve, specifically the people of Israel. God intended for the Promised Land to be where Israel belonged. They would have fields and flocks and orchards and vineyards. They would have towns and cities. God gave them a place to raise a family and for those families to form a nation. He gave them a place to belong.

5. But what do people do when they have a place to belong? They ruin it! They wreck it! Adam and Eve, given a place to call home in the Garden of Eden, ate from the tree God commanded them not to eat from! He had told them that if they ate from that tree then they would die and they ate from it anyway! Israel, given a place to call home in the Promised Land, turned away from God, worshipped other gods, and disobeyed God’s Law. He had told them that if they worshipped other gods and disobeyed His Law then they would be exiled, kicked out, given the boot, and they worshiped other gods and disobeyed God’s Law anyway. Adam and Eve and Israel had been given homes, places to belong by God Himself, and they ruined them! They wrecked them.

6. So, what happens to these home-wreckers? What happens to these people who are no longer welcome at home? The Lord prepares the home for them again. The Lord picks up the pieces and makes anew the place where they belong.

7. The exile happened so that the Lord could regather His people by His grace. And in Isaiah 61, we hear about the Lord gathering His people again so they can come home to where they belong. Isaiah the prophet was appointed by God to deliver good news to the exiled people. They would be freed from their captivity in the land of exile to return home. They would enjoy the Year of God’s Favor in their homeland because the Day of God’s wrath against their sin had passed. They would be comforted with the joy of home after mourning its loss when they were carried off by their conquerors. They would offer praise to God for having hope and a future rather than praying their laments for their shame and loss. Their ruined and destroyed cities and towns would be rebuilt. And perhaps my favorite part of Isaiah’s good news is that foreigners would come among them again but not to destroy, conquer, and carry off but to live, work, and prosper together with them. This would be a home where all people belong! It would be a place where all worship the one True God. And in that true worship, all will lay claim to all the glories of the world because all know the glory of God who made and governs the whole world! Thus Isaiah announces to the exiled people, the people who have no place to call home, that God will bring them home again.

8. So, that is what happens to the exiled people of Israel. What about sinful humanity who have been exiled from the Garden of Eden because of Adam and Eve’s sin which we have all inherited and perpetuated? The Lord prepares the home for us again. The Lord picks up the pieces and makes anew the place where we belong.

9. When you hear the story of Jesus you hear the culmination of the story of Adam and Eve’s sin. Jesus was not welcome in His hometown so that you will be welcomed into your eternal home where the brokenness of sin has been fixed. When you hear the story of Jesus, it makes Isaiah’s prophecy make sense in a different way. It turns out that Isaiah’s prophecy is not just about Israel’s return to the Promised Land after its exile but is also about humanity’s return to God’s Kingdom after its exile. Jesus is now the one appointed by God to deliver good news. Jesus frees you from the captivity of sin by submitting Himself to sin’s captivity on the cross. Jesus gives to you the year of God’s Favor by suffering the day of God’s wrath on the cross. By His resurrection, Jesus comforts you with joy after the grief of sin and death. And in Christ, all lay claim to the glories of God. All have a place in God’s kingdom! In Christ, all belong in His eternal home! Thus, Jesus brings sinful people, who have no place to call home, to the home where we truly belong.

10. You may know the pain of not being welcomed at home. Hear then that Jesus welcomes you into your eternal home by His death and resurrection that opens wide the gates of God’s Kingdom! You may have a friend or family member who is not welcome at home. Hear then that Jesus has suffered the day of God’s wrath so that we can live together in God’s Favor! You may know the hopelessness of being held in the bondage of sin. Hear then that Jesus releases you from sin’s power and captivity to live forever in His freedom! Hear the Word of the Lord, in Christ God brings all people to the home where we all truly belong.