Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
[audio:sermon-5-4-14.mp3]

To download the mp3 file, right click the image below and “save as.”

“That very day two of them were going to village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem…”

“That very day…” is Sunday. Easter Sunday to be specific. They had come to Jerusalem for the Passover and now that it was over. They were returning home from church just like you will shortly. The 7 miles that they had come would have take them two to three hours to walk. It would have taken them about the same amount of time to return home. How long would it take you to walk 7 miles each way to come to church? Or am I asking the wrong question here?

“…And they were talking with each other about all the things that happened.”

I sometimes wonder what you talk about on your way home from church. Do you discuss ALL THE THINGS that happened? Do you talk about what was discussed in Adult Bible Study? Do you ask the children what they learned in Sunday School? What did you think of the sermon? What do think he meant when he said…” “What about that closing hymn.” “Where did that visitor with the two small children say she was from?”

Or are you already thinking about something else and discussing what’s for dinner?

It’s a proven fact that we internalize things that we hear and see when we talk about them or write about them. Have you ever noticed how hard it is to remember something we hear, especially when we think, ‘I really want to remember that.’ How long will you remember what this sermon is about?

But if you can speak those things out loud and better yet, discuss them with someone, they become much more embedded in us.

This is why the Church has historically insisted that we SPEAK the essential facts of the faith OUT LOUD, rather than just hearing them. Of all Christian denominations, Lutheran Worship is one of the most participatory worship services there is. Congregation and pastor engage in a SPOKEN or SUNG DIALOG all though the service. This helps us internalize what we hear.

I wonder if at least one of the reasons the Christian faith is loosing its hold on our culture in the U.S. is because we’ve made our faith a PRIVITE thing, not something you TALK about let alone DISCUSS with others. We may HEAR the Word. But if we don’t VERBALIZE it, TALK about it, it floats away. Like seed sown on rocky soil, it never really takes root.

So let these two be an example to you to imitate. “…They were talking with each other about all the things that happened.” Continue reading →

Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
[audio:sermon-4-27-14.mp3]

To download the mp3 file, right click the image below and “save as.”

The text is the Epistle reading from 1 Peter 1, especially these words, “Though you do not now see Him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

“Though you do not now see him you believe in him…” Blindness has its advantages Nathanael. I suspect that by now you’re getting pretty used to the idea of believing in what you cannot see. The rest of us are forced to deal with the handicap of having eyes that see. We have gotten pretty used to the idea that ‘seeing is believing.’ Our patience for trusting and waiting and persevering wears pretty thin pretty quickly if we can’t see the goal. Our 20/20 vision can be an obstacle to our life of faith. If we don’t see the goal, if we can’t see any ‘improvement,’ if we can’t see how this is going to benefit me, we are quick to say, ‘I quit.’ And turn to something else that we can ‘see.’

St. Peter commends his confirmation class for not quitting, for persevering in the faith, for sticking with it, “even though you do not now see him.”

And not only are they ‘blind’ when it comes to actually SEEING Jesus, but it hasn’t been easy to be a Christian. They’ve had to put up with lots of suffering and pain and abuse, just for saying, “Jesus is my Lord.” “Though now for awhile, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials…”

I know that we think that ‘DOING WITHOUT’ and ‘SACRIFICE’ are BAD WORDS and that we should be able to have everything we want without having to ‘sacrifice’ or ‘do without’ some things, but that’s not the way it really works. How many times have you been faced with the dilemma of having to choose between two things that you would like to do because you just can’t do both? And what did you choose to ‘do without,’ and ‘sacrifice’? Continue reading →

Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
[audio:sermon-4-20-14.mp3]

To download the mp3 file, right click the image below and “save as.”

TODAY, the Christian Church throughout the world celebrates the victory of their Lord Jesus Christ over the power of death and the devil. Believers count this day as the most important day in their life and in fact, the most important day in all of human history.

TODAY’S collective church attendance will be higher than it has been for the last 51 Sundays and as high as it will be for the next 51 Sundays. What we sometimes loose sight of and forget is that the Christian Church celebrates Easter every Sunday. And every Sunday is the celebration of Jesus Christ and His victory over those things that WE CAN NOT overcome;
 our sin and the sin of the whole world;
 the devil, whom all of the military power in the world cannot touch;
 and death, and the finality of the grave.

TODAY, everyone who has ever been baptized into Christ knows that what we celebrate on Easter is not just IMPORTANT. But as we heard St. Paul tell us in our Epistle reading, it is of “FIRST IMPORTANCE.”

It’s not that nothing else in this world is IMPORTANT. The economy is IMPORTANT, health care is IMPORTANT, your family, your job, your finances are all IMPORTANT. But compared to the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, they are all secondary; in fact, if Christ had not risen from the dead, all the rest becomes pretty meaningless really.

TODAY, the whole Christian Church on earth declares with the Psalmist, “This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” The preacher declares, “THIS IS THE DAY THAT THE LORD HAS MADE.” And the congregation replies, “Let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Ps.118:24). Continue reading →

Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
[audio:sermon-4-13-14.mp3]

To download the mp3 file, right click the image below and “save as.”

The darkness at mid-day, the earthquake, the missing body. Nothing made sense. It was like they had just run over a roadside bomb. They were dazed. Everything was spinning. And a man whom they don’t recognize is speaking to them. “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself…” “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:27,44).

In other words, it didn’t just happen the way that it happened BY CHANCE. It happened the way that it happened BY PROPHESY. The entire Old Testament points to the Christ and Him crucified for the sin of the world and the salvation of those who believe. And the entire New Testament points to the Christ and Him crucified for the sin of the world and the salvation of those who believe.

And the DEVIL is not in the details. The GLORY OF GOD is in the details. And the closer Jesus comes to the cross, the more and more the details all start to come together in Jesus like iron filings to a magnet.

Let us consider Palm Sunday from all four gospels. Continue reading →

Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
[audio:sermon-4-6-14.mp3]

To download the mp3 file, right click the image below and “save as.”

“Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha… So the sisters sent to him saying, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.’”

The village of Bethany was just outside of Jerusalem. John tells us, “about two miles off.” When Jesus was in Jerusalem, he would often go there to visit. Seems there was a family there that had opened their home to him – the two sisters Mary and Martha.

You’ll remember that on one of those visits, Martha complained that although she didn’t mind having company, she didn’t like having to do all the work of preparing meals while her sister Mary sat at Jesus’ feet. And then those wonderful words that turn the storm into calm, “Martha, Martha…”

They had a brother named Lazarus. Whether he actually lived in the same house with his sisters or not is unclear. But what is clear is this, “Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”

“So the sisters sent to him saying, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.”

Of all times for him NOT to be in Bethany. Where was he? Earlier in his gospel, John reported that when Jesus was in Jerusalem, He made the preposterous statement, Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” “So they picked up stones to throw at him…” (John 8:52) And then during another visit, He said, “I and the Father are one.” “The Jews picked up stone AGAIN to stone him.” (10:31).

Jerusalem, the center of Jewish religion and the Temple, proves to be a dangerous place for the One who is what the entire religion and the Temple pointed to. So “he went away across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing and there he remained.” (John 10:40).

“So the sisters SENT TO HIM saying, ‘Lord, he whom you love is ill.” Continue reading →

Click play to listen to the audio version of this sermon.
[audio:sermon-3-30-14.mp3]

To download the mp3 file, right click the image below and “save as.”

“As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, ‘Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?”

I. Blind man given sight to glorify God.
A. Cause and Effect
There are those who make their living out of making logical connections between EFFECT and CAUSE. Doctors do it all the time. They see the EFFECT and they deduce a probable CAUSE to treat. Electricians, plumbers and auto mechanics all do the same thing. They see the PROBLEM and then determine the CAUSE and fix it.

We all do the same thing. It’s just that what they do as an OCCUPATION, we do as a PREOCCUPATION.
 His car ran off the road at 3:00am. He must have been drinking again.
 He didn’t come home until 6:00am. He must be having an affair.
 She got called down to the principal’s office. She must be in trouble.

Knowing the EFFECT and guessing at the CAUSE makes for interesting conversation and not a little gossip. In a court of law, juries hear the evidence, weigh it and make a judgment. You and I make the judgment without ever hearing any evidence at all.

Even the people of God do it.
 Joseph was told that his fiancée was pregnant. He concluded that Mary had been unfaithful to him and must be ‘put away.’ Bad conclusion.
 The Jews found Jesus’ tomb empty. They concluded that the disciples must have stolen the body. Bad conclusion.
 The disciples of Jesus saw the man born blind. They concluded that he must be a sinner, or at least his parents were. The sins of the father are punished to the 3rd and 4th generations. Maybe this one started at the 2nd. Another bad conclusion.

“It was not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” That word that is translated here as DISPLAY is the same word that is usually translated as GLORIFY. As in, “Father, GLORIFY Your name.” “Father, let you name be DISPLAYED.” Continue reading →