http://al.lunneberg.com Sermons and Rumenations Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:14:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 2005-2008 alunneberg@comcast.net (Allen Lunneberg) alunneberg@comcast.net (Allen Lunneberg) 1440 http://al.lunneberg.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://al.lunneberg.com 144 144 Sermons and more from my site. Allen Lunneberg Allen Lunneberg alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/02/05/not-faint-not-weary/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/02/05/not-faint-not-weary/#comments Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:09:49 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=932 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/02/05/not-faint-not-weary/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Isaiah 40:21-31 Date: Epiphany V + 2/5/12 According to Saint Mark, when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared, the first thing that strikes us is His ministry of healing. His power to heal extends from the most dramatic casting out of demo[...] Text: Isaiah 40:21-31 Date: Epiphany V + 2/5/12 According to Saint Mark, when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ appeared, the first thing that strikes us is His ministry of healing. His power to heal extends from the most dramatic casting out of demons to what appears to us to be the relatively minor condition of Simon Peter’s mother-in-law lying ill with a fever. Physical healing of the body is one aspect of the gospel of salvation, for, after this life, we do not turn into angels or disembodied spirits. The greatest Christ-ian hope of healing is the promised resurrection of the body, the promise of new bodies for old. We remain human beings of God’s own creation and design forever. The underlying cause of all sickness and disease is not just a medical con-dition but the spiritual condition called “sin.” “You sin, you experience separations of all kinds, you get sick, you die” says the Bible. You don’t sin, you don’t get sick, you don’t die. All have sinned. Therefore all die. God our Creator desires to save us, to deliver all men from sin and death. Unfortunately not everyone knows or believes that, and even God’s own people, in the midst of our weariness or suffering from time to time, can forget God’s compassion and loving desire for us. The coming of Jesus, His preaching, teaching and healing activity and, ultimately, His self-sacrifice on the cross that removes and takes away the power of sin and death, is ever to be our comfort, confidence and hope. As the Easter hymn joyfully proclaims, Jesus lives! The vict’ry’s won! Death no longer can appall me; Jesus lives! Death’s reign is done! From the grave will Christ recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence; This shall be my confidence. [LSB 490:1] This Easter confidence and hope of God’s love is as ancient as His first promise of salvation to Adam and Eve. And this Easter confidence and hope had no greater preacher in the Old Testament than the foremost prophet, Isaiah. Even the prophet’s name means “the Lord’s salvation.” Isaiah is appropriately placed first among the prophets in our English Bibles as he more than the others was given amazing insight into the gospel of God’s plan of salvation. Our text today is from the beginning of the second half of Isaiah, chapter 40 which begins with the reviving call, “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God” (Is 40:1). That is the comfort of salvation as he predicts the coming of John the Baptist, the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Then, especially in chapter 53, Isaiah sees both the suffering and the exaltation of the Suffering Servant, the Messiah, the Christ. He writes as if he had stood beneath the cross itself and also had seen the risen Savior! But even more, the prophet Isaiah saw the new heavens and earth of Christ’s eternal kingdom beyond even St. John’s vision in the New Testament Revelation. To this comfort, confidence and salvation Isaiah preaches the way of faith. Isaiah preached to a people that had assumed that God had forgotten them. He preached repentance, but had no success. The people wouldn’t listen, much less repent. Thinking that God had forgotten them, or worse, that this God never really existed in the first place, they fell into open idolatry. And how many are there today who are convinced that God doesn’t exist? And how many things other than the one, true God do people worship today, that is, consider to be the highest good in their lives, worthy of all their time and efforts to value and to serve? That is idolatry in any age. Our text today calls us to repentance and faith by reminding us that God is, before and after all, the exalted Creator and Ruler of the world. As Jesus would remind us, God’s kingdom is not “of” this world. Today God and His prophet call us away from entanglement in the kingdom of the world to the blessed, saving, comforting Kingdom of God. How easily we take things for granted. How easily many or most people fall for the worldview of atheistic evolution. As if we ha[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/29/a-prophet-like-moses/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/29/a-prophet-like-moses/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 17:50:40 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=929 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/29/a-prophet-like-moses/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Date: Epiphany IV + 1/29/12 Near the end of his service as prophet and leader of God’s people Moses announced, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you [...] Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20 Date: Epiphany IV + 1/29/12 Near the end of his service as prophet and leader of God’s people Moses announced, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen.” And the Lord reiterated Moses’ words. The question is, who would that prophet like Moses be? Cecil B. DeMille raised up the actor Charlton Heston to star in the memorable and award-winning 1956 movie “The Ten Commandments.” But here Moses himself and not a successor was portrayed. So that can’t be it. So also with the recent report that Warner Brothers is closing on a contract with Steven Spielberg to direct a new Moses epic titled “Gods and Kings” to start production early next year. In the absence of Charlton Heston, who of today’s actors would you cast to play Moses? That promised successor, however, would not be just one man but many. The fifth and last book of Moses commonly called Deuteronomy records the essentials of God’s covenant relationship with His people in preparation for their residence in Canaan and continuance without their leader Moses who was barred from entering the promised land. In this promise the office of the ministry was extended, the promise that God would continue to provide guidance for and protection of His people through His Word mediated through certain servants of His calling and sending. According to this promise God did raise up priests and prophets in the Old Testament and apostles in the New and those in their train as priests and ministers to this present day. Certain of those Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles and evangelists would write down God’s Word to be transmitted through the centuries as the sacred, inspired, authoritative scriptures, the Bible. Whether prophet, apostle, evangelist, pastor or teacher they are all limited and commanded to speak, prophecy, preach and teach only the words commanded by God. “The prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.” So is the warning regarding false prophets, apostles and teachers, preaching and teaching, a warning echoed also in the New Testament (Mt 7:15, Mk 13:22, Acts 20:28, Eph 4:14-15, 1 Tm 1:3, Heb 13:9, 2 Pt 2:1, 1 Jn 4:1). To this day the question is solemnly asked of those being ordained, “Do you promise… [that] all your preaching and teaching and your administration of the Sacraments will be in conformity with Holy Scripture and with these Confessions?” (LSB Agenda, 166). Besides the line of prophets and priests supplied by God to His people since Moses, this promise, of course, finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus, the Son of God and Savior of the world. We heard the apostle Philip saying to Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45). Yet Jesus is greater and more than merely a second Moses as the Letter of the Hebrews describes, saying, “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself…. Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope” (Heb 3:1-6). Jesus is greater and worthy of more glory than Moses because Jesus is the one and only promised sacrifice for the sins of the world. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). That “lifting[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/22/gods-call-to-repentance/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/22/gods-call-to-repentance/#comments Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:50:43 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=923 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/22/gods-call-to-repentance/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Date: Epiphany III + 1/22/12 “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.” The first time it was a disaster. Or, was it? For the first time the word of the Lord came to him, at the command, “Arise, go to Nineveh, t[...] Text: Jonah 3:1-5, 10 Date: Epiphany III + 1/22/12 “Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.” The first time it was a disaster. Or, was it? For the first time the word of the Lord came to him, at the command, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it,” Jonah rose but to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord (Jonah 1:1-3). Now which of the prophets of old wouldn’t respond immediately and dutifully obey the call of the Lord? Most did, albeit with various degrees of hesitation. But the Bible is no mere human work and no propaganda piece skewed to make its characters seem to have super-human strength or insight or dedication or even faith. So here we have the call of the Lord coming to one of God’s people, the great grandson of King Jehu, but he disobeys and flees from the Lord’s presence. But where, pray tell, is the Lord not present? So God followed Jonah and tracked him down, sending a great storm to intercept his getaway. You recall the drama of Jonah’s willing if desperate sacrifice to be thrown overboard into the sea ostensibly to placate the judgment of “the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land” (Jonah 1:9). It was obvious that Jonah felt the guilt and sorrow for his disobedience. But sorrow is not yet repentance without faith. Then “the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights” (Jonah 1:17). Then Jonah prayed from the belly of the fish, strangely, a prayer of thanksgiving, “and the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land” (Jonah 2:10). Though, you will agree, Jonah deserved God’s judgment and punishment of death, the Lord delivered him through a spectacular miracle. You will agree also, then, that we deserve God’s judgment and death because of our sin and disobedience. Yet the Lord has delivered us through a spectacular miracle, the vicarious death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. For, as He Himself said, “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt 12:40), thus predicting both His death and resurrection. So now, “the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time.” The “Hound of Heaven”[1] has still not lost track or hope that His servant will now hear again and trust and obey. And this time “Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord” (Jonah 3:1). He preached what He was sent and told to preach. And these otherwise ungodly, heathen Gentiles nevertheless believed God and repented of their sin. And God “relented of the disaster the he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” Quite a successful mission, don’t you think? You would think. But the drama is not over. For Jonah didn’t think the result was so pleasing, for “it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.” This time, in the face of Jonah’s rebellion, God “turned up the heat” of His word, calling, still calling Jonah to do what the otherwise despised heathen did so readily, namely, to repent and to remember and to believe that the Lord’s mercy and grace is, after all, as He first promised to Abraham, for “all the families of the earth” (Gen 12:3). This is still God’s plan and mission. Now the word of the Lord comes to those He calls to preach repentance and faith. Instead of sending a fish, however, He sent fishermen. “Follow me,” he said to men named Simon and Andrew, “and I will make you become fishers of men.” For whatever that might mean, they dropped their nets designed for catching fish and were caught in the net of God’s grace. So also men named James and John He called and they, too, were caught by God to be catchers of others. So is the Church likened to a ship, a lifeboat sent to rescue all who are drowning in the deep of the loneliness of their separation from God. We enter the Nave of the church building and s[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/15/psalm-139-and-speak-lord-your-servant-listens/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/15/psalm-139-and-speak-lord-your-servant-listens/#comments Sun, 15 Jan 2012 17:47:46 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=918 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/15/psalm-139-and-speak-lord-your-servant-listens/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 Date: Epiphany II + 1/15/12 God called Abram out of his unbelief and idolatry to be­come the father of faith for the whole world. The Bible simply says, “the Lord said to Abram.” How the Lord spoke to Abram is not said. Interes[...] Text: 1 Samuel 3:1-10 Date: Epiphany II + 1/15/12 God called Abram out of his unbelief and idolatry to be­come the father of faith for the whole world. The Bible simply says, “the Lord said to Abram.” How the Lord spoke to Abram is not said. Interestingly, Luther wrote, “did he hear this voice from God Himself? I am convinced that he was not called directly by God without the ministry, as it is related below (Gen. 18:2) that God visited him, conversed with him, and was even the guest of Abraham; but I believe that this command was brought to him either by the patriarch Shem personally or by some others who had been sent by Shem.”8[1] In addition, we’re all familiar with the miracle of how God called Moses directly “in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush” (Ex 3:2). Through the Word God called Joshua. After the time of the judges God called young Samuel, of which we heard and is our text for today. And who can for­get the spectacular call of Isaiah in the holy temple shaken to its foundations and filled with smoke and the song of angels? Today’s Gospel is about Jesus’ call of men named Philip and Nathanael. Many of the Old Testament prophets were called directly, immediately by God, some of them mediately as Luther said of Abraham. So also the apostles of the New Testament were called directly, personally by Jesus including Saul who became Paul called directly by the risen and ascended Lord Himself. Today we have no word, no promise that God calls or speaks to anyone directly or immediately. We do have the Word and promise that God calls and speaks to people through the Word, the prophetic and apostolic Word of the Bible and through its reading, study and preaching, and “doing” through the sacraments. All people are called by God to His gift of salvation and life. That saving call comes “mediately,” through the witness and ministry of the Church concerning the holy sacrifice of Jesus’ body and blood for the forgiveness of the sins of the world. That witness bears God’s own stamp and validity in the sacrament of Holy Baptism by which we are joined to Christ’s death and resurrection. Unfortunately, in those churches that do not believe and do not use Baptism as it has been commanded and promised, they are left with hav­ing to just take someone’s word for it that God has spoken with no reliable evidence or confirmation of it. In addition the Church uses the word “call” to refer to the recruitment of men into the public ministry of the Church. But that call also comes “mediately,” in the Church’s usual order. Beyond that, each Christian is encouraged to discover the particular gifts, talents, abilities and interests with which the Lord has equipped you and to consider whatever your station in life and your occupation as your “vocation” in which you serve God and others in this world. In many ways each of us can relate to some aspects of Samuel’s call. Our author says that the young man Samuel, God’s mira­culous gift to Elkanah and his mother Hannah, was engaged as a Levite in “ministering to the Lord under Eli.” Whatever else is meant by the comment “the word of the Lord was rare in those days,” and “there was no frequent vision,” we might ask if this doesn’t apply today, implying either the increasing confusion of Law and Gospel among preachers and/or ears grown dull among hear­ers as Jesus quoted from the prophet Isaiah’s call, “For this people’s heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear” (Mt 13:15). We’re told that, during the night, the Lord called to Samuel three times, speaking his name. Three times Samuel assumed it was Eli calling him from the other room. Only when “Eli perceived that the LORD was calling the young man,” he instructed Samuel how to answer the Lord in the words, “Speak, Lord, for your servant hears.” Like Samuel, we can say, we have been called by God speaking our name at our baptism, yet we need to be instructed both how to reco[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/08/and-god-said/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/08/and-god-said/#comments Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:48:16 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=911 http://al.lunneberg.com/2012/01/08/and-god-said/feed/ 0 0:00:01   Genesis 1:1-5 Psalm 29 – setting by Allen D. Lunneberg Text: Genesis 1:1-5 Date: The Baptism of Our Lord + Epiphany I + 1/8/12 “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters” (Ps 29:3). [...]   Genesis 1:1-5 Psalm 29 – setting by Allen D. Lunneberg Text: Genesis 1:1-5 Date: The Baptism of Our Lord + Epiphany I + 1/8/12 “The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters” (Ps 29:3). Another psalm says, “When you send forth your Spirit, they are created” (Ps 104:30). Today we are called to attend to the voice, the waters, the Spirit, and creation. At creation the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life, “hovered over the face of the waters” while “the earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep” (Gen 1:2-3). The creation of the universe, of “the heavens and the earth,” took place at the mere urge and will of the goodness of God. Then, at the speaking of God, “And God Said,” time was created first as, without source of a sun, light and darkness mysteriously alternated. God so loved the world that He declared it all good. So is the mystery of the creation of all things, the Spirit, the Voice and the waters. The Holy Spirit hovered over waters again, over the face of the Jordan River, and descended on Jesus of Nazareth at His baptism by John. And there again was a voice from heaven. A new creation was thus inaugurated to replace, or rather, renew the old that had become disjointed, disfigured, corrupted, sick and dying of sin, for God still so loved the world. Jesus’ baptism was to fulfill all righteousness. It was to take His place, shoulder to shoulder along side of us in this world as our substitute, as our Savior. As on the evening and the morning of Day One of creation God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, so on this day, God said, “You are my beloved Son” and the redemption, the recreation of the world was begun. The voice of the Lord is over the waters, and when He sends forth His Spirit, creation happens. How mysterious these words and beyond all scientific investigation! Every other theory, philosophy or myth concerning “the beginning,” proposes some sort of so-called eternal substance, nugget or stuff from which everything came with a bang or an extended, evolutionary whimper, without, of course, explaining where the original stuff came from. God’s Word says that God created everything “ex nihilo,” that is, out of nothing—impossible for us to imagine! And the creation of light, it’s only source the God who spoke it into being, foretells of the new creation, the city that “has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev 21:22-23). God’s act of creation was an act of pure grace reflecting His very character. Not only was the light “good,” even the darkness was good. After creating time, over six days God ordered the elements and then vegetation, sun, moon and stars, living creatures of the air and the sea and everything that creeps on the ground and finally man. And the thing is, first, it all happened by His mere speaking things into existence and, second, it all was very good. Even after the fall into sin, however, much of the goodness of God’s handiwork remains. The main difference now is rebellious, destructive, corrosive evil and sin defaces and destroys, infects and kills. There were no cemeteries before sin entered the world. Now they are piled on top of each other the world over. All have sinned therefore all die. But death was not in God’s original plan and creation of grace. Still God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mt 5:45); “God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people” (Fourth Petition). But, after all, “life is more than food, and the body more than clothing” (Lk 12:23). Because of sin now darkness is where evil hides. Because of sin we have “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator” (Rom 1:25). We confuse God with His creation, life is emptied of the Spirit and we do[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/03/06/the-beginning-of-the-end/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/03/06/the-beginning-of-the-end/#comments Sun, 06 Mar 2011 18:24:09 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=730 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/03/06/the-beginning-of-the-end/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Matthew 17:1-9 Date: Transfiguration + 3/6/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Today we celebrate the mystery of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. Six days before this, when our Lord Jesus Christ asked His disciples, “[...] Text: Matthew 17:1-9 Date: Transfiguration + 3/6/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Today we celebrate the mystery of the Transfiguration of Our Lord. Six days before this, when our Lord Jesus Christ asked His disciples, “Who do people say that I am,” and “Who do you say that I am,” He was not suffering from an identity crisis or running an opinion poll to see if His marketing techniques were proving effective. He knew very well what people were saying about Him. And to this day it is so that, apart from the divine gift of faith, no one can come up with the right answer, namely, to discover and see and believe, as the apostle Peter rightly confessed, that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God. The apostle Paul wrote, “no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except in the Holy Spirit’” (1 Cor 12:3). For it is by the Holy Spirit alone, working through the Word and sacraments, that faith is born in the heart. I always remind people not to miss the miracle, the miracle of faith in you when you say, “I believe.” Apart from faith, at best people say Jesus was a good man, an enlightened teacher, an amazing miracle worker. At worst they said and say today that He is a false teacher, even in league with the devil. It’s not enough even that we get the doctrine right on a confirmation exam, or in repeating the Creed, for even Peter, in the very next breath, at the mention of Jesus’ coming death by crucifixion—resurrection promise or not—gives the devil voice saying, “No way! This will not happen to you, Lord!” The challenge that calls forth faith is that the glorious deliverance of the world from the grip of sin, Satan and death comes only, solely and alone by way of the cross of Christ. So also Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” This is at least one reason why, six days later, “Jesus took with him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them.” Why? First, to confirm His glory as the Christ, the Son of God, and, secondly, to confirm the truth that the only way to glory, for Himself and for His disciples, is through the cross. The transfiguration confirmed His glory as the Christ, the Son of God. “His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. And behold, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him.” The glory of God appears in the scriptures as light and fire. When Moses spoke with God his face took on a shining brightness (Ex 34:29-30). Daniel described his vision of God saying, “his clothing was white as snow, and the hair of his head like pure wool; his throne was fiery flames” (Dan 7:9). The psalm says the Lord is “clothed with splendor and majesty, covering yourself with light as with a garment” (Ps 104:1-2). St. John calls Him “the true light, which enlightens everyone” (John 1:9). Words can only approximate what St. Paul heard when he was caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor 12:2) and St. John saw in the Revelation (Rev 1:12-16). Jesus is the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, who spoke of old to Moses, whom Isaiah saw with his eyes in the temple, now clothed, hidden (if you will) in human flesh. Why do Moses and Elijah appear? The tradition is to speak of them as representing the Old Testament Law and the Prophets. And, indeed, the Law and the Prophets all point to Jesus Christ. But it seems that God is transgressing His own Law here in bringing these two back from the dead as it were. In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, at the rich man’s request in hell to send Lazarus either to help him or to send him back to earth to warn his brothers, God said, “between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us” (Luke 16:26). Those who die in faith and are gathered to Christ in heaven do not have awareness of happenings on eart[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/27/relax/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/27/relax/#comments Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:28:52 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=722 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/27/relax/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Matthew 6:24-34 Date: Epiphany VIII + 2/27/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI In our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount He has been telling us who believe on Him what He is making us to be as His disciples. Quite opposite of[...] Text: Matthew 6:24-34 Date: Epiphany VIII + 2/27/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI In our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount He has been telling us who believe on Him what He is making us to be as His disciples. Quite opposite of any top-10 list of desirable traits the world would come up with He calls us “poor in spirit,” “those who mourn,” “the meek,” “those hungering and thirsting for righteousness,” “merciful,” “pure in heart,” “peacemakers,” persecuted and otherwise reviled or rejected by the world for His sake. He has ushered us through the blessed door of our new identity in Him and citizenship of heaven. Then He reveals the heart of God’s holy Law to us and with His Word creates a new heart in us, a heart cleansed and beating in rhythm with God’s will. Because we will not hear the end of the Sermon in Matthew 7 in the lectionary however, today’s selection acts as the last word we hear on this mountain as next Sunday we climb another mountain to celebrate the Transfiguration only then to descend into the blessed valley of Lent. After the challenging words of God’s Law fulfilled by and in Jesus, the last words are comforting and reassuring as He says, “do not be anxious.” The prohibition against anxiety follows our Lord’s proverbial saying, “No one can serve two masters…you cannot serve God and money.” In saying this He, at once, puts His finger on the main struggle of the Christian life and, at the same time, liberates us to the service of God. In His rather humorous illustrations of bird farms and flower factories Jesus takes the basic concerns of life—food, drink and clothing—to address any and every earthly concern that, after all, seeks only to weaken faith in God. You will recall that later, in the parable of the sower, He will warn how “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word” of God and makes faith wither (Mt 13:22). The apostle Paul likewise warns Christians, saying, “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God” (Phil 4:6). Jesus summarizes the whole issue by saying, “seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you,” “these things” being all those of this world over which you have worried and fretted and agonized so much. Of course we live in a day and in a community where “these things” are so much more than merely what fits into a grocery bag or on a closet hanger or on a shelf in the wet bar. Even in times of economic recession or even depression we have and possess and, we might as well admit, obsess over so much more material wealth than almost any other society or era. It’s hard for us to imagine what Jesus had in mind when He painted His picture of anxieties and fear among a people who every day lived closer to poverty than we possibly ever have or will. Our American society, for all the evils and negative marks it that deface it, still at least has the heart to provide food stamps, or churches or the Salvation Army with the freedom and encouragement to maintain food banks and clothing donations, and even hospitals which provide emergency surgery first asking questions later. Not only so but we even have enough generosity left over to help those in other areas of the world troubled with life-threatening situations as in Africa or Haiti or New Zealand where President Rev. Robert Erickson of the Lutheran Church of New Zealand has requested our prayers this day for those affected by last Tuesday’s 6.3-magnitude earthquake. They are calling the earthquake the most deadly disaster in New Zealand in 80 years with the death toll now rising above 100 and hundreds more possibly still trapped in collapsed buildings. Thousands are in shelters. Imagine having everything of our earthly possessions stripped away in an instant. And of course we have a pretty good imagination as anxiety builds over many lesser concerns such as the[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/20/perfect-just-perfect/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/20/perfect-just-perfect/#comments Sun, 20 Feb 2011 18:15:43 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=716 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/20/perfect-just-perfect/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Matthew 5:38-48 Date: Epiphany VII + 2/20/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI What do you say when someone asks you, “How are you”? Do you just say, “Fine,” whether you really are fine or not? An instructor in early c[...] Text: Matthew 5:38-48 Date: Epiphany VII + 2/20/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI What do you say when someone asks you, “How are you”? Do you just say, “Fine,” whether you really are fine or not? An instructor in early college days once responded to the question, “How are you,” with the words, “Perfect, Just Perfect.” That struck us as being at least a little over-the-top. So from then on (behind his back) we referred to him as “Perfect Schultz.” In today’s Gospel Jesus concludes this section of the Sermon on the Mount saying, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” To those whom our Lord Jesus Christ has called to follow Him, to be His disciples, that is, to you who have been baptized into Christ, He has given you a brand new identity. And it is “perfect.” You are as salt and light in the world as sons and daughters of the kingdom of God. Yet that identity is hidden for now in our daily life so that we do not appear to others as particularly impressive, successful or “perfect.” Rather Jesus describes what He makes of us in the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” those who know their need of God; “blessed are those who mourn,” who know that the real culprit behind our need is sin. The third Beatitude describes us, saying, “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth” (Mt 5:5). “Meek” means lowly, gentle or humble. Preaching on the Sermon on the Mount this time around, I have found myself to be more humbled than ever, taking to heart the Law Jesus addresses here. We more gladly go along with “poor in spirit.” It’s a little more difficult to understand how mourning can at all be a blessing. But today there seems an almost impossibly thin line between meekness that does not retaliate against evil and loves and prays for the evil-doer on the one hand, and just turning into an easy mark, gullible, a pushover, a patsy, a wimp on the other. A right understanding of this happens as we discover in these two examples of the law of retaliation and the law of love the echoes of our Lord’s own, ultimate work on the cross. There, after the striking and stripping and suffering, when Jesus declared the completion of the gift of salvation with the words, “It is finished,” we discover our own finishing touches as we reflect His perfect love in our world today. “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’” This was an important legal concept from even before its mention in the Bible (Ex 21:24; Lev 24:20; Deut 19:21). For one thing it enforced preventing over-doing penalties, making sure that the punishment “fit” the crime. For another thing it treated everyone the same, preventing discrimination on the basis of race or status in the community or other such issues. Beyond that, however, it also accurately describes our grudging attitude for keeping score, even though the liturgy has us often repeat the words of Psalm 130, “If you, O Lord, should keep a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand?” (v 3). It seems though the Lord doesn’t keep a record, we sure do! How many have not heard the rewording of the Golden Rule which Jesus will shortly express in the Sermon, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Mt 7:12 paraphrased), as, rather, “Do unto others before they do unto you”? This was also how some teachers in Jesus’ day were treating this subject. Jesus’ response, “But I say to you, do not resist the one who is evil” is His radical call to sacrificial faith. That call is centered in nothing else but the cross of Christ. As He describes the slapping on the cheek we recall the scene before Caiaphas when “they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who is it that struck you?’” (Mt 26:67-68). Even more pointedly we recall His remaining silent before His accusers as Isaiah’s “sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth” (Is 53:6-7). The taking o[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/13/the-law-fulfilled/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/13/the-law-fulfilled/#comments Sun, 13 Feb 2011 17:34:46 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=713 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/13/the-law-fulfilled/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Matthew 5:21-37 Date: Epiphany VI + 2/13/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI “Seeing the crowds, [Jesus] went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught the[...] Text: Matthew 5:21-37 Date: Epiphany VI + 2/13/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI “Seeing the crowds, [Jesus] went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them” (Mt. 5:1-2). “The crowds” consisted of all sorts of people “from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan” (4:25). Today those “crowds” are of every land and nation throughout the world. “His disciples” were those who were following Jesus more closely, many to become His chosen apostles. Today those “disciples” would include you and me. His first major sermon or discourse, the Sermon on the Mount, is for all who would believe on Him and become His disciples. And all who would be such must enter through this door first, the Beatitudes. It is the preaching and teaching of Jesus, after all, His Word entering your ears and eyes, your mind and heart, that has the power to draw you to true repentance and faith. “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” that is, those who have come to know and to admit and confess their desperate need of God. How many people, on the other hand, are there walking and driving and running around us every day today, and who are maybe sleeping in this morning or doing other things all because they don’t know, don’t admit their desperate need of God? But you are blessed. And now today we become, more than ever, the blessed who mourn over what sin has done and continues to do to us and to the whole world, as Jesus has us look more closely to the Law of God! Only those who have entered the Kingdom of heaven through this door of humble contrition and faith in Jesus are able now to hear and understand aright the rest of the sermon. Especially today Jesus illustrates what He meant when He said He did not come to abolish the Law of God but to fulfill it; that Law, summarized in the Ten Commandments, which, if you are to be salt and light in the world, you dare not relax, ignore or fail to teach. To illustrate what He meant when He said He came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it, Jesus immediately addresses the subjects of the 5th and 6th Commandments, the issue of marriage, divorce and remarriage, and the law of oath taking. More accurately He is addressing the current Jewish interpretations of those Laws by the scribes of the day, some of which were misleading at best. Notice the crowd’s reaction at the end of the Sermon as Matthew reports their astonishment at His teaching, “for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes” (Mt. 7:29). Therefore Jesus begins each section with the words, “You have heard that it was said to those of old.” He then contrasts what they have heard with His own authoritative teaching beginning with the words, “But I say to you.” He emphasizes His authority saying, literally translated, “But I myself say to you.” This, of course, is an important issue. For this is no mere man or charismatic teacher elevating himself over God’s Word for his own benefit. Jesus is the very God of very God who gave the Commandments in the first place, and as such is the only authority to interpret and teach them. Now so much could and should be said about each of these commandments and laws that we don’t have time for in one sermon. Before getting into the details, however, I would have you notice the shape of a heart printed on the first page of your service folder. For what Jesus is here revealing is “the heart” of God’s Law and our dark hearts. How appropriate on the day before St. Valentine’s Day! For, as we have said before, while the primary function of the Law of God is to control outbursts of sin and to accuse us and reveal our sin, at its heart the Law of God reveals God’s good and gracious will for life. So Jesus, at once, reveals the real issue or heart of sin as well as God’s gracious design. I said that today we are being addressed as those of the second Beatitude, “Blessed[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/06/the-new-righteousness/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/06/the-new-righteousness/#comments Sun, 06 Feb 2011 17:40:55 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=708 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/02/06/the-new-righteousness/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Matthew 5:13-20 Date: Epiphany V + 2/6/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Today we continue on in our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. But because not everyone is necessarily with us from the beginning, each Sunday we nee[...] Text: Matthew 5:13-20 Date: Epiphany V + 2/6/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Today we continue on in our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount. But because not everyone is necessarily with us from the beginning, each Sunday we need to back up and reiterate how these words are only for those who have already entered the Kingdom of heaven by way of the door called the Beatitudes. That is, a person can enter the Kingdom only as God’s Word has begun to work that humble attitude of true repentance of the heart and conscience over sin and true faith that looks to God alone for salvation and life. Those who approach the kingdom through the door of the blessings of the Beatitudes become the “poor in spirit,” that is, they know and confess always their need of God’s help. They “mourn” as they continually see all around them what sin has done and is doing to the world. They know they are “meek,” powerless apart from God and are constantly hungering and thirsting for righteousness, that is, forgiveness of their sins and faith in and love for God as their only salvation. Now as children and citizens of the Kingdom of heaven, today Jesus tells us how the purpose of our life in this world has changed with a new calling and new identity. Christians no longer live only for themselves in this world but to be a blessing to others. It is quite an interesting coincidence that today we should hear Jesus speak in these two metaphors of salt and light. First, because it was only this week that the nutrition know-it-alls in government said, “cut down on the fries; you shouldn’t have more than an half-teaspoon of salt a day.” Nevertheless, you are the salt of the earth. So is the wonderful coincidence that today happens to be the 100th birthday of the great 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan, who famously used Jesus’ words in Matthew 5:14 to describe our country as a “city set on a hill” that cannot be hidden. You are the light of the world. After telling us of our new calling and identity as Christians as salt and light, the second half of today’s Gospel prepares us for what follows with a very important question. Has Jesus come to do away with the Old Testament scriptures, indeed, even to contradict the age-old teaching of the Bible? So there is one more wonderful coincidence that this year we celebrate the 200th birthday of the first President of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, C. F. W. Walther. For the first lesson Jesus says that we need to learn is, as Walther famously preached, “The Proper Distinction of Law and Gospel.” Jesus declares how the Law of God and everything in the Old Testament scriptures is not thrown out, done away with, abolished, but rather “fulfilled” in the coming of the Messiah. So, for those who are blessed to be poor in spirit, in the humility of true repentance and faith, let us hear this morning of our new calling and identity and life in Christ. Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.” When He says “you,” it is true that He is speaking especially to those who are to become His apostles, His pastors, preachers, missionaries. So these words do have an important meaning for them and for pastors and preachers of every age. However, these words are also for every Christian in so far as clergy and laity are not two distinct and opposing groups but are together Jesus’ disciples in His mission each according to our own vocation or station in life. So what does He mean that we are the salt of the earth? Well, you may have heard of someone called an “old salt,” meaning usually an “old sailor,” a lover of the sea and a teller of tales of the sea. We say someone is “salty” especially when they “tell things like they are,” or at least as they see them, with no spin, no cover up, just the raw truth with little regard for whether the hearers are offended or believe everything they say. Salt burns when you put it on a bloody wound. But it also purifies. Salt seasons and makes palatable wha[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/01/30/the-new-creation/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/01/30/the-new-creation/#comments Sun, 30 Jan 2011 18:04:18 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=705 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/01/30/the-new-creation/feed/ 0 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/01/23/my-message/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/01/23/my-message/#comments Sun, 23 Jan 2011 17:40:20 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=701 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/01/23/my-message/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Matthew 4:12-25 Date: Epiphany III + 1/23/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI So far our Christmas celebration has burst forth into the floodlight of the Epiphany declaration, in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The [...] Text: Matthew 4:12-25 Date: Epiphany III + 1/23/11 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI So far our Christmas celebration has burst forth into the floodlight of the Epiphany declaration, in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined” (Is. 9:2). That Light is Christ. It is the message of salvation through the Gospel of the forgiveness of sins. The message is so bright, warm and winsome that, even though applying first and foremost to God’s ancient people, the Jews, still it immediately drew Gentile wise men from the east. So said Isaiah and Matthew, “Galilee of the Gentiles…on them a light has dawned” (v. 15-16). We have heard the beginning of the Gospel in the birth of Christ and His baptism by John in the Jordan. John the Baptist was an important link between all the Old Testament promises and the coming of the Christ. He was “the voice” in the wilderness and the Elijah predicted. But now, though John’s active ministry is completed, his witness and martyrdom has only begun, for Herod had put him in prison. That was the signal, for “when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, He withdrew into Galilee.” This, immediately following His triumph over Satan in the wilderness, is the active beginning of our Lord’s earthly ministry. And it begins in Galilee, as the prophet Isaiah had said. “From that time Jesus began to preach.” And what was His Message? It was, word-for-word, the same as the Baptist, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And this is to be the constant and consistent message of His Church to this day and to the Last Day. My Message: Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The Gospel is for people who are lost, who are going every which way but God’s way. It is true, all people are lost. We know it is the common trait of the fallen, sinful human nature that all are born into this world spiritually blind, dead and at enmity with God. Spiritually Lost. This is the fundamental condition of all who remain separated from God until they repent and believe. But it remains to a certain extent also in those who have already come to repentance and faith, that is, Christians including you and me. For the Christian life in this world is that mysterious mixture called the “already, not yet.” That is, by faith in Christ a person is already made a member of the kingdom of heaven. Yet the reality is, because the sinful nature still hangs on until the Last Day life is a continuous struggle against sin and death. Therefore the constant and consistent message, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” is not only for unbelievers but for all even who have joined the struggle as saints and sinners at the same time. To repent means to turn from sin to God’s forgiveness, from unbelief to faith…again! And again! The reason for repentance is because the kingdom, the reign of God is here already. That is, though the Last Day of judgment is not yet, today just may be your last day. And the good news is that you do not have to wait and wonder what will be your outcome, your destiny. You can know it for sure because the reign of God, the verdict of the Judge of all is already here in the Person of Jesus. And that verdict is pure grace. In Him you receive the forgiveness of sins and acquittal, the setting free from the guilt of your sin. This is the essence of the Christian faith and life, living already as citizens of heaven while yet struggling as aliens and exiles in a world still separated from God and besieged by the temptations and attacks of the devil. Now this message needs both to be continually received and believed and therefore also continually preached and taught. Last Sunday we noted the initial drawing of certain men to Jesus: Andrew, his brother Peter, and the author of the fourth Gospel, young John. They were drawn to Jesus, heard Him speak and even spent the day li[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no