Category: Pentecost Sermons

Text: Luke 5:1-11
Date: Pentecost VI + 7/8/07

     Though the Almighty God is omnipotent and omnipresent, all-powerful and present everywhere, “who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see” [1 Timothy 6:16 (ESV)], yet in his grace he has located himself, that is, established a point of contact where he could draw people to himself to redeem and save them from sin, death and everlasting punishment. In the Old Testament that location, that place was the temple. With the coming of the Messiah, however, that saving presence in all his glory was transferred from the temple to the flesh of the incarnate Son of God, Jesus. As with the Old Covenant where even Moses had to veil his face in the presence of God, so in the New the glory of God is seen only by faith and only through the veil of the flesh of Jesus. Today’s Gospel recalls Isaiah’s vision of the glory of God in the temple with Simon Peter’s realization of that same glory at Jesus’ knees. The question remains, as there is no longer a temple, and as Jesus has ascended to his throne in heaven, where does God now locate himself for us and for our salvation?

     It is here, in a place like this, and among a people like us, set apart for his Name, where he has promised to be in his flesh: in his Word preached and taught, in baptismal water poured, in eucharistic bread and wine distributed in our mouths. In the vision and call of Isaiah in the temple and in the call of Simon Peter after the miraculous catch of fish, we have a picture of what is going on before us and in us today, right now, and every Lord’s Day in the Divine Service, and how worship and witness, liturgy and mission are directly related to each other. There is a proper order for both, however. Right teaching and worship, personal conversion and faith are first. This then flows into mission and outreach with the goal of coming full circle, drawing more disciples into right teaching and worship. This is the rhythm we see throughout the Bible, Old and New Testaments alike. Continue reading “Let's Go Fishing”

Text: Luke 6:36-42
Date: Pentecost V + 7/1/07

     The words of today’s Gospel are from a section of Jesus’ Sermon on the Plain, as it is called in Luke’s Gospel, where our Lord outlines what we can call the new standards of the kingdom of God. It was spoken in the hearing of a crowd of many people who were curious or at least interested in Jesus, but the words were meant primarily for that smaller group called disciples (learners or followers) and especially for the even smaller group of twelve men whom Jesus was preparing to be His special “sent ones” or apostles. St. Luke records these words as the fundamental curriculum for the Church’s ongoing task of catechesis, the initial and ongoing training and enlightenment of new Christian disciples. The goal and purpose of the Christian faith is, of course, as of first importance, the receiving of the gift of eternal life through the removal of God’s judgment by the forgiveness of sins by faith in Jesus Christ. In concert with this, however, is a new life, a new identity, becoming a brand new person, becoming a son or daughter of God as your Father, to become, more and more, like His only-begotten Son and our brother and Lord Jesus Christ. Here is described some of the qualities and nature of holy living albeit still in the midst of a fallen world.

     The new person and character in Christ follows the old saying, “Like father, like son” (or daughter). As children of the heavenly Father there is to be some sort of family resemblance. This resemblance, however, is not one of physical appearance but of character and attitude of heart and mind. Of the thirteen “attributes” of God listed in the catechism as He has revealed Himself in the Holy Scriptures and in His Son Jesus Christ (with the note added that God is each, all and more than just these thirteen!), some of them apply fully only to God but only partially to man—things like “God is spirit,” that is, God is a personal being without a body (whereas man is both spirit and physical body); God is eternal without beginning or end (all men, on the other hand, have a beginning but were created to live forever); God is uniquely a trinity of persons (The Mystery, indeed!); God is unchangeable, almighty, all-knowing and present everywhere all the time. We as creatures of our Creator, on the other hand, are always subject to change, we have limited strength, our knowledge is partial and we, like the angels, can only be in one place at a time. Nevertheless, in Christ the new man, the new Adam begins to share in the attributes of God who has become our Father in Christ, although imperfectly or only partially, attributes such as holiness, justice, faithfulness and goodness; or the list St. Paul gives us as fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” [Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV)]. In today’s Gospel Jesus highlights the attribute of mercy, saying, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” Mercy and love are to be our family attribute as Jesus said just before our text, “love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High” (Luke 6:35). St. John reported the word of Jesus, saying, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Continue reading “Even As Your Father”

Text: Luke 14:16-24
Date: Pentecost III + 6/17/07

     It is the age-old story…the tale of the native spiritual blindness of the fallen nature of all men; the account of the God of love who has done everything that needed to be done to restore, to redeem, to save his fallen creation from the devastation of sin, death and the devil—the Gospel which, when it is published and proclaimed, nevertheless is irrationally ignored, rejected, treated as something of secondary importance at best when compared to all the other details of our busy little lives, our frenetic strivings for possessions, for all those things that we have determined make for happiness, success, fame and fulfillment. It is a story Jesus told to the Pharisees. The urgency of the issue may be hidden unless and until you notice that little detail of the story, how the master who had prepared the banquet became angry when his invitation was so flippantly rejected, and precisely by those for whom it was intended as first in line. Jesus knew their blindness, their hardness of heart, even their animosity and refusal to hear, to really hear the Gospel, the good news He came to deliver. If it’s possible to be angry without sin (Ps. 4:4; Eph. 4:26) you can hear the sharp edge of Jesus’ words in telling this little story. If the Pharisees caught the connection, would they repent and turn and listen and believe and be saved? Or would they be offended the more, intent on silencing this “troubler of Israel” (1 Kings 18:17)? Well, repentance hurts. It is never easy, comfortable. For repentance means something in us has to die, as when surgery cuts or chemotherapy burns out the deadly threat lodged deeply within. Continue reading “Come, for Everything is Now Ready”

Text: Luke 16:19-31
Date: Pentecost II + 6/10/07

     The first half of Jesus’ story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is simple and should stun us as to its striking reality of our own experience, the universal contrast between the rich and the poor, selfish indulgence and neglect of those in need, especially those right on our own doorstep. But the second half of the story needs to be handled in a parabolic way since it involves communication and dialog between heaven and hell, between the saints and the damned, something denied by the rest of scripture (Isaiah 63:16) and, indeed, by Jesus’ words themselves when he speaks of the “great chasm fixed” between heaven and hell (v. 26). The main point of Jesus’ “story” is, clearly, the need of men to hear and discover the truth of our sin, to repent of our sins and to believe God’s plan of salvation through the resurrection of Jesus Christ by listening to and hearing the Holy Scriptures, the Divine Truth revealed in the Bible.

     Now it strikes me that this has been a main theme of most of my sermons in the past few years. These days I’m drawn to constant harping (as my dad used to say) on the fundamental truths not only because there are an ever-increasing number of people who haven’t heard the truth of the Bible, but it seems there is an ever-increasing number of people even in the Church who, in the words with which the Lord commanded Isaiah to preach, “Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive,” whose hearts have grown dull, their ears heavy, their eyes shut, who truly have forgotten (if they ever knew) what it means to “turn and be healed,” to hear the Word, to repent and to believe (Is. 6:9-10). Repentance, like believing, is not just a one-time thing. Repentance and faith is to be a daily thing, a life style. I’m referring to the many instances of conflict, disagreement, anger, division, holding grudges, gossip and refusal to forgive going on in the church today. It is evident in almost every parish as well as on the regional and national levels of the church. It is evident in angry words of judgment, refusal to forgive or be reconciled, or in just giving up and staying away. Continue reading “Hear, Repent, and Believe–Today!”

Text: Luke 19:1-10
Date: 125^th Anniversary of Zion, Detroit + 6/4/2007

     On any anniversary—whether it be the occasion to mark a birthday, a marriage, a high school or college reunion; the anniversary of the beginnings of a manufacturing company or the organizing of a political party or of some other association, group, school or movement; the marking of some past act in history that still has a profound effect on a growing number of people’s lives today—anniversaries review a history dotted with accomplishments and failures, names, buildings and the effect of the times surrounding that history which maybe have changed the initial vision or plan…changed by challenges or simply growing in knowledge and maturity. Whatever the occasion, on any anniversary it so much easier to look back, to remember and appreciate the past than it is to look forward, to anticipate or really know what the future holds.

      As pastor Kenneth Runge’s ministry, begun in 1938, was coming to a close in 1974, after serving Zion congregation for 36 years, and thanks to the many tape recordings made by our dear member Otto Kraske, we have Pastor Runge’s words recorded from a reception held on that occasion being introduced by the then President of the Michigan District, pastor Runge’s good friend and my predecessor at Trinity in Jackson, Rev. W. Harry Krieger. In his short 8 minute address, as he humbly recalled his many mistakes and errors from which none of us are immune, he spoke of his wish and prayer for Zion congregation in these exact words:
     “In the years that lie ahead,” he said, “I hope that this congregation is going to prosper mightily under the grace of God and be a true light of the world and a city set on a hill that cannot be hid…. I pray for this parish that it may become ever stronger even when my ministry is at an end, that it will go to greater heights, and that the influence of Zion and Christ through her will remain in this community for many years to come.”

     Well, here we are some 40 “years-to-come” later from that prayer and wish, and we’re still here. Are we still that light and city set on a hill? Here we are exactly 125 “years-to-come” later from that initial vision of a Rev. K. L. Moll and 51 laymen, ten from Immanuel Lutheran Church, and we’re still here. Are we stronger and still a blessing in this community? Continue reading “The Son of Man Came to Seek and to Save the Lost”

Text: John 3:1-15
Date: The Holy Trinity + 6/3/07

      “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” you were baptized. You were baptized “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” When we gather before God every week since then on His Day in this place set apart and made holy for this purpose, the first thing we do is present our credentials, our passport, our immigration papers, the only evidence that we have the right and can dare appear in God’s presence, the same words of our Holy Baptism, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Our entrance is immediately validated by the words of Holy Absolution, “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

     Then we use the very words of God given to us in the psalms to enter the Lord’s gates with thanksgiving. After praying the prayer of the heart, “Kyrie, Eleison,” “Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy, Lord, have mercy,” we sing the first of the eternal songs of the angels, “Gloria in Excelsis,” “Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth.” This angelic song has been expanded by the Holy Church under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to address the heavenly king, almighty God the Father; the Lord Jesus Christ, only Son of the Father, our Lord God, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, now seated at the right hand of the Father. We acknowledge Jesus to be the Most High, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. We then pray a prayer that sounds the main theme of the season and the Sunday in the Collect of the Day.

     The Lord speaks and we listen. For His word bestows what it says. Continue reading “Baptized into the Name”

Text: John 14:23-31
Date: The Day of Pentecost + 5/27/07

     This is the great and joyful Feast of Pentecost. It is not, however, the old Pentecost of Moses and the Law with its horrific condemnation of sin but the new Pentecost of Jesus Christ and the Gospel, the Good News of the forgiveness of sins, freedom, life and salvation. On this day the once fearful and timid apostles suddenly turned fearless and bold as they publicly proclaimed Jesus Christ to be the one, true God, the only way to the Father, the only name given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). The apostles finally were convinced and believed for themselves as the Holy Spirit was poured out upon and among them with the sound like a mighty rushing wind and the sign of tongues as of fire appeared resting on each one of them. Then they were moved immediately to unlock and fling wide open the doors where they were, to go out boldly approaching whoever had gathered there being attracted by the sound and speaking to each of them. These simple (some would say backward) Galilean fishermen spoke to the people who had gathered from every nation under heaven in their own languages! One of them approached a person from Greece and began, miraculously, speaking to him in Greek; they ran into one from Egypt and began miraculously speaking to him in Arabic, and one from Rome and began miraculously speaking to him in Latin, and all of this miraculously without ever having learned much more than their own stuttering Hebrew or Aramaic from childhood. And what were they telling all these people? The audience themselves report they were hearing “the mighty works of God.” What works? Well, the most important works. Not Creation or Moses or the Exodus or the giving of the Law, but T.H.E. Mighty Work to which everything in the Old Testament pointed forward, how God himself took on our flesh, being born of the Virgin Mary and given the name Jesus, how He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried, how on the third day he rose again from the dead and has ascended into heaven and now has poured out and sent the Holy Spirit from the Father as He had promised. And all this so that everyone in the world might have their sins forgiven and receive eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. What did they talk about? Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen again. They talked about Jesus.
Continue reading “The Helper Will Teach You All Things”