Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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The Christmas story that we are all most familiar with is the one about a man whose name is Joseph and his bride-to-be whose name is Mary. It would be a pretty uninteresting story without much excitement except for the fact that Mary happens to be pregnant, and Joseph is not the father. In fact, no man is the father. Now, this is interesting.

As the story goes, rather late in her pregnancy, Joseph and Mary must travel to the village of Bethlehem in Judea because Caesar wanted to have a census taken so he could collect more taxes and everyone had to register in his and her ‘home town,’ which for both of them, was Bethlehem.

We’re not told how long they were there before the time came for the child to be born. The baby was wrapped in the clothes that babies in those days were wrapped in, but there being no crib or bed to lie the baby in, they laid him in a manger.

When it comes time to name the child, which didn’t happen until the child was eight days old, He was given the name Jesus. In the introduction to this story, we were told that an angel, whose name was Gabriel, visited both Joseph and Mary with specific instructions on what they must name the child. “You shall name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins.” The name “Yeshua,” or “Yeasou” or “Jesus” depending on the language literally means, “one who saves.”

Just that much, all by itself, would be enough to make a great story. But there’s more. In fact, much more. As soon as the baby is born, some angels in the sky appear to some shepherds who are in the fields keeping watch over their flocks. It’s night time. But suddenly the sky is filled with the most unnatural light. One of the angels speaks directly to them. “Today, in the city of David, a Savior (“one who saves,” a “Yeshua,” a “Yeasou”, a “Jesus”) is born, who is Christ the Lord.”

And the reaction of the shepherds is the only normal thing that happens in this story. They are filled with ‘great fear,’ “mega fobos.” And they do what they are told. They leave their flocks, go into the town, and there they find the baby Jesus, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger, just as the angel said.

That’s the Christmas story that we are all most familiar with. Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus, Bethlehem, angels, shepherds and some really good singing. We usually throw in a donkey, a barn and add our own little adventure that every door in Bethlehem was slammed in poor Joseph and Mary’s face, although none of that is in the text at all. Continue reading →

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I. Dayspring From On High.
This past Friday, December 21st marked the first day of the winter. We call it the shortest day of the year, but really, it lasted 24 hours, the same as any other day. What we mean of course is that on December 21st the earth is at it’s furthest distance from the sun. It’s the shortest day of daylight and the longest day of darkness of all the days in the year. Here in Waterville, sunrise was at 7:12am. and sunset was at 4:01pm. which means that the there was only 8 hours and 51 minutes of day light and 15 hours and 9 minutes of darkness.

The fact that this Friday, December 21st was also scheduled to be ‘doomsday’ on the Mayan calendar has nothing to do with anything we’re going to talk about this morning, so don’t try to guess where I’m headed with this.

This is hard time of year for us because there is so much darkness and so little light. I have never actually gotten used to the fact that it’s pitch dark out by 4:00pm.

It was just two Friday’s ago, December 14th, that another kind of darkness descended upon Newtown, Ct. And the darkness covered the entire nation. This is the ‘darkness’ that Job, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos called “deep darkness.”

“Deep darkness” has nothing to do with the distance of the sun from the earth. Throughout the Scriptures, ‘darkness’ is the symbol for ‘evil.’ ‘Evil’ operates in the darkness. And “deep darkness” is that terrible time and place when “evil” predominates over ‘good’ and ‘right’ and ‘salutary.’ “Deep darkness” is when the night comes early and stays late and it’s dark for a long, long time.

Certainly the parents and families of those children and staff at Sandy Hook Elementary school know what “deep darkness” is all about. And so do those ‘first responders,’ policemen, EMT’s, doctors, investigators, counselors, pastors. And so do we.

So who can appreciate the words of the prophet Isaiah more than we can, both for our own sake who live in the shadow of darkness, and for the sake of those who are engulfed in the darkness? “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish… The people who WALKED IN DARKNESS have seen a GREAT LIGHT; those who dwelt in a LAND OF DEEP DARKNESS, on them A LIGHT HAS SHINED.” (Is.9:1-2). Continue reading →

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I. Root of Jesse
I have good news and bad news. First the bad news. The nation will be destroyed. Because the people have turned away from God and His Law and God has had enough. It’s been going on for a long time and there is no sign of repentance. So God is going to destroy the nation, not with a cataclysmic flood as He did in the days of Noah, but through a foreign power that He will use to punish and destroy the nation.

It is still not too late however. If you will yet repent, God will yet relent and turn aside His fierce anger and in His great mercy, forgive you all of your sins and give you a fresh start and a new beginning.

But the really bad news is, you will not repent. And you will not repent because you will not listen to His word of warning. You turn a deaf ear to the preaching of His preachers and imagine that nothing bad will happen to you because you are God’s chosen nation. You imagine that you do not need to repent because God will work all things for good, even if you continue in your willful ignorance and disobedience of His Law.

And now for the good news. After the destruction of the nation is complete and after there is nothing left of the nation’s former glory and former power and influence, God will raise up a new nation out of the ashes of the old.

The good news is that just as in the days of Noah, when God destroyed “everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life,” “He preserved believing Noah and his family, eight souls in all.” (Gen.7:23). And He will do the same with you. Out of death, He will bring life. Out of destruction, He will bring reconstruction. Out of a wicked nation, God will raise up “a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of the darkness and into His marvelous light.” (1Ptr.2:9).

This, in summary is the preaching of the prophet Isaiah to the nation of Israel. The book of Isaiah has some of the worst bad news and the best good news in the bible. The bad news is that the nation of Assyria, Israel’s enemy to the East, will attack the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, and destroy it. God will use Assyria to carry out His discipline upon His people because of their refusal to listen to His Word.

Isaiah pictures Israel as a great forest that has been completely ‘clear-cut,’ nothing but stumps remain. Assyria will reduce Israel to nothing. All who see it will laugh and shake their head and wag their tongues. “How pathetic!”

But then comes the good news. “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” What looked like total destruction is not so total. What looked hopeless is actually hopeful. What looked like the end is actually a new beginning. One tree that bears all the marks of death will actually become the tree of life.

Isaiah is using a mixed metaphor to preach the gospel. Shoots and stumps, branches and roots are all about trees. But “Jesse” is the name of a human being, and human beings don’t have shoots or stumps, branches and roots.

Isaiah is referring to a ‘family tree.’ Of all of the other family trees in the forest, this is the tree that you want to watch closely. Follow the offspring that ‘comes forth’ from this man named Jesse because “the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” Continue reading →

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I. “O Wisdom from on High”

In the beginning, God said, “Let us create man in our image, in our likeness.” And it was so, because the Word of God always does just what it says. But what does it mean that man was ‘created in the image and likeness of God?’

It means that the man was the reflection, the image, the likeness of God. Seeing the man was like seeing God. Hearing the man was like hearing God.
• God is almighty, and His power was ‘imaged’ in the man. The man must have been very mighty.
• God is kind, and His kindness was ‘imaged’ in the man. The man must have been very kind.
• God is all-wise, and His wisdom was ‘imaged’ in the man. The man must have been very wise.

In His wisdom, God brought order out of the chaos that was “without form and void” by His all-wise Word – “Let there be.” And everything worked together in perfect harmony – ‘tov meoth’ – “very good.” Because God’s Word always does what it says.

That in a nutshell is what it means that God made man in His image, in His likeness. God so loved the world that He made a man in His image, in His likeness to “work it and care for it.” Nothing but the best.

It was as though God and man were one, one in thought, one in word, one in deed. The man worked and cared for God’s creation with the wisdom of God, and everything worked in perfect harmony, “tov meoth,” “very good.”

But then we read, “Now the serpent was MORE CRAFTY than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.” (Gen.3:1). “CRAFTY” is not the same as “WISE.” “CRAFTY” is to “wise” as “wise” is to “wise-guy” or “wisenheimer.” It’s devious, not good.

The CRAFTY serpent said, “You can be LIKE God.” But THEY WERE ALREADY ‘LIKE’ GOD! God made them IN HIS IMAGE, IN HIS LIKENESS. How “crafty.”

But they were convinced that “craftiness” was better than “wisdom.” And they exchanged the ‘wisdom’ of God for the ‘craftiness’ of the serpent.

It’s important to understand what really happened in the Fall because there’s a lot of misunderstanding out there. There’s a reason it’s called “THE FALL” and not “THE STUMBLE,” or the “THE INNOCENT LITTLE MISTAKE.”

They lost the image and likeness of God. Not just, “lost” as in, ‘boy, I wish I get it back again.’ But ‘lost it,’ as in ‘good riddance, glad to be rid of it.’ From the ‘wisdom of God’ to ‘God is a fool.’ From God’s thoughts to my thoughts and God’s ways to my ways.

So, how’s that working for you? Isn’t this world the picture of perfect order where everything works together in perfect harmony – always just the right amount of rain, never a lack of food, healthy bodies and balanced minds. Social security, perfect peace among the nations, “tov meoth,” “very good”?

What world are you living in? Continue reading →

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“Stay awake.” Four times this morning we heard Jesus repeated this command to His listeners. “Stay awake!” “Stay awake!” “Stay awake!” “Stay awake!” What a perfect introduction for a sermon.

To “stay awake” means, ‘do not be led astray,’ ‘do not be alarmed,’ ‘be on guard,’ ‘endure to the end.’
• How easy it is to fall asleep.
• How easy to become distracted by things that ‘lead you astray’ from ‘the goal of your faith, the salvation of your soul.’
• How easy to become so absorbed by the ways of the world that you are ‘alarmed’ that God’s ways could be so incredibly contrary to your ways.
• How easy to ‘drop your guard’ and before you know it certain activities and responsibilities have taken over your Sabbath day so that you no longer honor it as holy.
• How easy to become so distracted, so absorbed, so caught up in other things that we do not ‘endure to the end.’

“Stay awake.”

One of the disciples made a seemingly innocent remark about the wonderful stones that the Temple was built with, and the wonderful buildings that were built upon the wonderful stones. But Jesus is not nearly as impressed with these things. “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

He’s not so impressed with magnificent stones cut from the mountains because after all, He made the mountains that these stone were cut from. He’s not so impressed with the architectural and engineering abilities of men because after all, He made the men and wired their minds.

“Stay awake!” It’s always better to be more impressed with Creator than with the creation. One is the object of true faith and the other is the object of true idolatry. One endures forever, the other ends in a pile of rocks.

“Be on your guard!” Or you’ll miss the fact that these things only point to something much greater, much more wonderful. John was one of the disciples who was impressed with the stones and the buildings of the Temple. But in his Revelation of heaven, John writes, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, the Lamb.”

Why are you so impressed with those things that do not even exist in heaven and miss whom them point to, the One who fills all of heaven? Continue reading →

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It is easy to believe when everything is going well.
• It is easy to believe that God loves you when the lines that trace out your life fall in pleasant places.
• It is easy to have the peace of God that surpasses all human understanding when everything is peaceful and calm and everyone is getting along with each other.
• It is easy to be content with your situation in life when your financial situation is sound and your portfolio is secure.
• It is easy to pray when your body is healthy and your mind is clear.
• It’s easy to say, ‘I am a Christian’ when you are in a Christian community and most of those present say the same.
• It’s easy to take a stand on the moral issues of the day when to do so poses no real risk to your job or your friendships.
It is easy to believe when things are going well.

“One of His disciples said to Him, ‘Look Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!”

But what happens when things are not going well?
• What happens to your belief that God loves you and cares for you when things go wrong; and not just one thing, but one thing after another?
• What happens to that ‘peace of God’ when the office and the classroom and the home are like three pots of boiling tensions and emotions and you jump from one into the another?
• What happens to that ‘contentment with your situation in life’ when there’s not enough money to pay the bills and the credit card is maxed out and now the car won’t run and the water heater just busted?
• What happens to your praying when you’re sick and it’s all you can do to get through this hour or this day or the next test or next treatment?
• What happens to your bold confession of faith when you’re outnumbered by those who are hostile to Christians because they are so arrogant as to insist that there is only one true religion?
• What happens to your bravery to take a stand on certain moral issues when to do so will surely mean rejection?
What happens to your faith when things are not going well?

“Jesus said to him, ‘Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.” Continue reading →

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This morning, we have a number of guests with us in worship this morning who have come to us by way of our Scripture readings.

First of all there are two women. Both are poor, both are widows, and both are in a desperate situation. And both stand as shining examples of the life of faith.

You’ve heard their story already in the Scripture readings just read and so we won’t repeat it. Suffice it to say that both of these women make a sacrifice in faith that is truly impressive. And it both cases, it is not the size of the gift that they give that is impressive, but the size of the sacrifice that they make.

For the one it was just a “little cake of bread. If we could visit her in her house in Zarephath like Elijah did, we would find bare cupboards and an empty fridge, and only just enough ingredients to make one loaf of bread. And she’s got a child to feed. No husband to support her, no pension to live on. And the economy has totally crashed because of a draught. This is all that she has.

So when a stranger shows up at her door and asks for something to drink and eat, and she says, “I don’t have anything to spare,” it means something much different that when we say “we have nothing to spare.” For here there really is nothing else. There are no leftovers.

But then when the stranger identifies himself as a prophet who speaks for the “Lord God of Israel” and he says, “Do not fear,” the Lord will provide, what does she do? What would you do?

“And she went and did as Elijah said.” How incredible is that? She gave out of her poverty all she had to live on.

For the other woman, it was just “two small copper coins which make a penny.” If we tried to visit this woman in her home, we would probably find that she didn’t have one. The Greek word for “poor” here, “ptokos,” is used particularly for beggars. Even back in those days, there were religious leaders who would abuse their authority and con a poor, grieving widow into turning her possessions and even her home over to them in return for their prayers and spiritual care. Whatever the reason, she was a beggar who depended on others to drop a coin or two into her hand for her survival.

But when she comes into the Temple to worship and passes the offering box, what does she do? What would you do?

“Out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all that she had to live on.” Continue reading →

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The text that I would like to use as the basis for our sermon this morning is from John’s gospel, chapter 5:24-29. It is printed in your worship folder on page 11. Can we read this aloud together.

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.”

This morning we gather around the cross of Jesus Christ and His holy Word and holy Supper as we do every Sunday. But today, on this “Commemoration of All Saints,” we do something that we do not normally do. We name the names of the faithful departed.

Some of these we never knew. Some we knew quite well. Some were husbands, some were wives. Some were fathers, some were mothers. Some were sons, some were friends. For some, enough time has passed and the anguish of the grave has faded and death has lost its sting. And we give thanks to God for that. For others, the grief and pain are still fresh and much more time will be needed before the stench of death dissipates and the dark clouds lift and joy returns.

But why do we do this? Why do we remember those who died in the Lord? Why do we name our dead before the Lord?

It’s not unusual for us name names before the Lord. Very often, we name the LIVING before the Lord, those who are ill or injured or who have a particular need, and we ask the Lord to come to their aid and help them with the help that they need in either body or soul.

But that’s certainly not why we name our DEAD before the Lord. Their souls are in heaven and they are at perfect peace and lack nothing. Their bodies are in the grave, in a restful sleep, awaiting the resurrection of all flesh on the Last Day.

So why do we do this? The answer is, we are COUNTING THE SPOILS OF VICTORY. For Christ our Lord has gone to war for these souls. He has done battle with the devil who held them in captivity to sin and death. And Jesus has won the victory. “He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them.” (Col.2:15) “He has set the prisoners free.” (Psalm 146:7)

Jesus described the strategy for the battle for their life like this. “When a strong man fully armed, guards his own palace, his possessions are safe. But when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil.” (Luke 11:21-22).

The devil is the strong man. As we sang last Sunday, “No strength of ours can match his might. We would be lost, rejected. But now a champion comes to fight, whom God himself elected. You ask who this may be. The Lord of Hosts is He – Christ Jesus, mighty Lord, God’s only Son adored. He holds the field victorious.” The strong man has been overpowered by a stronger man, the God/Man, Jesus Christ.

So we name our dead before the Lord to mock the devil and to praise our mighty Lord, the God of Sabbaoth. These whom we have named are the holy plunder of God. Continue reading →

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Anugerah dan damai kepada, dari Allah Bapa kita dan Tuhan kita dan Juruselamat Yesus Kristus. (Indonesian)
Grace and peace, from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Salam dari saudara dan saudari dalam Kristus dari Indonesia.
Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Indonesia.

The title for the Conferences that we led in Indonesia was “The Lutheran Reformation and It’s Impact.” What a smooth transition to come home to Reformation Sunday.

The official beginning of the Lutheran Reformation is pegged to October 31st 1517. That was the day that Luther presented his 95 Thesis for discussion and debate in Wittenberg, Germany.

Actually, it would be more accurate to say that the Lutheran Reformation really began four years before that with what is called “Luther’s Tower Discovery” which was most likely in the year 1513.

Luther was a monk in a monastery in Wittenberg. The monastery had a high tower in it. Luther would go up into the tower at times to study the Scriptures. It was on one such occasion while Luther was in this tower that the big breakthrough happened.

Luther had long struggled to find peace with God. The more he read the Scriptures, the more he heard God’s demand, “You shall be holy as I the Lord your God am holy.” Over and over he heard the Word declare righteous demands of God’s Law. “The righteous shall live by faith.” Luther agonized, ‘How do I attain to the righteousness of God and live by faith?’ The harder he tried, the more restless he became. No matter what he did, he always knew he could have done more. No matter how hard he tried, he knew he could have tried harder.

Luther writes, ‘every time I read in the Scriptures about the righteousness of God, it struck my conscience like lightning. It was like a thunderbolt in my heart.’ Over the course of 400 years before Luther, the Church had developed its interpretation of the ‘righteousness of God’ as an ‘active righteousness,’ which means that the righteousness of God which is required for salvation must be actively worked out in good works of love. The church said that the most effective work that a man or woman could do was to devote himself / herself to the Church as a monk or a nun. Luther did just that in the hopes that might find in the monastery the peace of God that he longed for. But he was terribly disappointed.

Luther said that he could not bring himself to love a God who made demands on people that He knew they cannot fulfill. He wrote, “I did not love God. I hated the God who punishes sinners.”

The breakthrough came as Luther learned to understand the word ‘faith.’ In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul quotes the prophet Habakkuk, “The righteous shall live by faith.” St. Paul, throughout his letters, talks about faith as something that is passive, not active. To the Romans, Paul writes, “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” (Rom.4:4-5). Faith then, does nothing. It only believes in the Word of God. Continue reading →