Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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St. Matthew tells us that during one of Jesus’ visits to Jerusalem, one of the Scribes, an expert in the Law of God, tested Jesus with this question, “Teacher which is the great commandment in the Law?” At first that may sound as if the lawyer is asking Jesus to say which of the 10 Commandments is the most important one? Like, if you could concentrate on just one and work on getting just one right, which one would you pick?

Actually, what the Scribe was asking Jesus was this, what is the great commandment that runs through the whole law and that binds it all together into one, consistent, unified expression of God’s will for our life?

Listen to Jesus’ answer. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Mat.22:35-39)

The ‘great commandment’ that runs through, not just the 10 Commandments, but through the “Law and the Prophets,” which is just another way of saying, “The Old Testament,” and when Jesus says this, that’s all there is, so He really means to say that the ‘great commandment’ that runs through the whole Bible and holds it all together in one, consistent expression of God’s will for our life is, LOVE. And that LOVE moves in two directions: love God and love one another.

Now, ‘love’ is something that just about everyone is in favor of, but that everyone defines a bit differently. “Love means never having to say you’re sorry” or something silly like that. So when Jesus identifies LOVE as the ‘great commandment,’ what we really need is His definition of what LOVE is. What does it look like, how does love act and behave?

And that is what the 10 Commandments are. The 10 Commandments define the abstract word ‘love’ in 10, very concrete words. Continue reading →

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I’d like to begin this morning’s look into the 3rd Commandment the same way that we began last Sunday’s look into the 2nd Commandment. Would you take out your bible and turn to Exodus 20:8-11 (page 61 in your pew bible.) Let’s read the text of the 3rd Commandment together – verses 8-11. “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

We notice here that the 3rd Commandment is anchored in creation. “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day.”

Notice that the first six days of creation are set apart from the seventh day. In six days God does all of His work of creating and then His work is finished and the seventh day is not for working but for resting.

Interestingly, of all of the seven days of creation, it’s only the 7th day that we are told to ‘remember.’ “REMEMBER the Sabbath day.” We’re not told to “remember” the day that God made the earth and the sky, or even the day that God made the man.

Only the “Sabbath day,” are we told to “remember.” To “remember” it is to ‘honor’ it, like you ‘honor’ your birthday or your anniversary. You pay special attention to it. When it comes to the Sabbath day, we are to “remember” it by “keeping it holy.” The word “holy” literally means, “something that is set apart.” To keep it ‘holy’ is to keep it ‘set apart’ from the other six days of the week. Continue reading →

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I’d like to begin this morning by asking you to take out your bible and open to Exodus 20 (page 61 in your pew bible). It occurred to me this week that by asking you to memorize the 10 Commandments and explanation from Luther’s Small Catechism, it might be a good idea to set the anchor of this ship in the Scriptures where it belongs. Long before the 10 Commandments were recorded in the Luther’s Small Catechism, they were recorded in the bible.

Take a look at Exodus chapter 20. There we read, “And God spoke all these words saying ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.” And then what follows is the rest of the ‘Decalogue’ through verse 17. This is where the 10 Commandments come from – not the Small Catechism. Just wanted to be sure we understood that.

The 10 Commandments are anchored in the Scriptures, and the Scriptures are anchored in human history. The Commandments are give to Israel shortly after the Exodus from Egypt. The people of Israel are making their way through the desert to the Promised Land when they come to a mountain called ‘Sinai.’ This is where God gives the 10 Commandments to Moses.

The 10 Commandments are also recorded in one other place in the Scripture. Turn to Deuteronomy 5:6-22 (page 150 in your pew bible). Exodus is Moses’ account of the travels of Israel through the desert as they make their way to the Promised Land. Deuteronomy comes at the end of the 40 year journey. Moses looks back on the experience and preaches a series of sermons to the people to remind them of what they have learned so that they won’t forget it. Skip to verse 22. “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.”

I think that it’s important to understand that although these may be the two places where the 10 Commandments are recorded in the Scriptures; these are not the first place that they were written. Long, long before they were written on two stone tablets, they were written on the human heart. In His letter to the Romans, Paul says that everyone, believer or unbeliever, shows by their behavior and their conscience that there is a law that is written on our heart. (Romans 2:15). How do you just know that certain things are wrong? Your conscience tells you. That’s law written on the heart. The 10 Commandments simply writes that law down on stone, or paper.

And the only reason that God eventually wrote the law on stone tablets is because sin so corrupted the human heart that the Law became totally distorted. Laws that were written on the heart by the finger of God were covered over by our sin, and others that were not from God were added, and after awhile, no one was able to recite the 10 Commandments from memory any more. Do you? Continue reading →

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Introduction to Summer Series:
In the Preface to his Large Catechism, Luther writes that there is “a minimum of knowledge that every Christian should have.” The ‘minimum knowledge’ includes the 10 Commandments, Apostles Creed, Lord’s Prayer, Holy Baptism, Confession and Lord’s Supper. Luther writes, “Whoever lacks this knowledge cannot be counted among Christians nor be admitted to the sacraments.” He compares someone who calls himself a Christian but doesn’t know ‘the minimum,’ to someone who calls himself a craftsman but doesn’t know the rules and techniques of his craft; a carpenter who doesn’t know what a hammer or saw are or how to use them?

The proper place for instruction in the ‘minimums’ is in the home – your home. Luther wrote his Small Catechism to help the head of the house instruct his family in the ‘minimums’ of the Christian faith.

Whoever the head of YOUR family in these matters might be, we would like to use the summer Sundays for instruction in the 10 Commandments here, with the intent that you would continue the discussion in your own family during the week – even if that’s just you. The insert in the bulletin each Sunday is to help you bring what we do here into your home during the week.

Luther writes, “It is the duty of every family head to examine his children and household members at least once a week to see what they have learned of the Catechism.” So, as the head of the family in this house, I’m going to ask you to memorize the particular ‘Commandment of the week’ and the explanation from Luther’s Small Catechism and recite it from memory on the following Sunday.

Luther says that if a household member will not do this, they should not be given supper. This does not apply to the Lord’s Supper. But I will leave it up to your own conscience as to whether or not you deserve to eat the goodies served during Fellowship after worship. Continue reading →

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On Trinity Sunday, we recite the Athanasian Creed and say things like, ‘the catholic faith is this, that we worship one God, in three persons and three persons in one God, neither confusing the the persons nor dividing the substance.’ But really now, how relevant is that to the war in Afghanistan and the economic collapse of Greece?

Today, the goal is simply to declare that, ‘the Godhead of the Father, of the Son and of the Holy Spirit is all one; the glory equal, the majesty co-eternal.’ Seems kind of out of touch with the problem of unemployment and the price gas doesn’t it?

Today, we talk about the fact that ‘the Father is made of none, neither created nor begotten; the Son is of the Father alone, not made nor created but begotten, the Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, neither made nor crated nor begotten but proceeding. But how does that address the big issues of our day like affordable health care and same-sex marriage and my problems and my goals in life?

We are surrounded with gods of our own making, god’s whom we have created. Everyone wants a god who is practical, a god that we can use, use to fix the economy, use to fix the marriage, use to win the election, use to solve my problems. We even think that if we believe in the Triune God that the Athanasian Creed spells out in it’s incredible detail that then we won’t have such great problems and we’ll make it through this troubled world unscathed. How’s that for practical? Continue reading →

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When the day of Pentecost arrived.
It may surprise you to learn that the day of Pentecost has been a part of the Church’s celebration a lot longer than either Christmas or Easter. The festival of Pentecost was first established way back when Israel was in the desert making its way to the Promised Land. God told Moses and Moses told the people that when they entered the Promised Land, it would flow with milk and honey. That is, it would be a very fertile land. Lot’s of crops and abundant harvests and plenty of food.

Pentecost is a celebration of the harvest, a harvest festival. Initially, it was called the “Feast of Weeks.” From the day that the first grain was cut, they were to count a ‘week of weeks,’ seven weeks. The time that it would take for them to bring in the harvest. The day after the week of weeks had past, on the 50th day from when the harvest began, they were to bring baskets of the grain to the temple as a thank offering to God for the harvest. “Pentecost” literally means “50th.” “The 50th day” after the first grain was cut.

So the day of Pentecost was originally something like our “Thanksgiving.” A day to give thanks to God for the harvest. Throughout Israel’s history, Pentecost was the celebration of the harvest of grain.

But what kind of harvest are we talking about here in the 2nd chapter of Acts? Everyone who was there for the “Day of Pentecost” was there for the ‘harvest festival’ – to celebrate the harvest of grain.

Little did they know that on this particular Pentecost, there would be another kind of harvest to celebrate. Not a harvest of grain, but harvest of souls. As with all of the Old Testament festivals, the old Pentecost pointed to the new Pentecost that can only be understood through the life of Jesus Christ. Continue reading →

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Today marks the final Sunday in our seven-week celebration of Easter. Every year, the church sets aside 50 days to remember and reminisce about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. A 50 day celebration may seem a bit extravagant, but for those who are ‘in Christ,’ Easter is the most significant day in our lives. More significant than birthdays, anniversaries, even graduation from school. For neither our birth nor marriage nor education would mean very much if in the end, if Christ had not conquered our sin, our death and the devil.

But now because of Easter, our whole life has real meaning and purpose and hope and life attached to it. For all who are “in Christ,” everything from our worship together to our daily vocations in life are a joyful participation in the “new creation” that Christ our Lord initiated when He stepped out of the grave.

This connection of our entire life to what Christ as done is what St. John is talking about when he says that all that is written in the scriptures is for the purpose that “you might believe and by believing have LIFE IN HIS NAME.” Apart from faith formed by the Word, there is no LIFE IN HIS NAME. Apart from Christ and His Good Friday and Easter Sunday we are completely defeated and without hope in this world.

And so, how appropriate that as we come to the conclusion of this Easter season, we hear the Son pray to the Father. “Holy Father, keep them in your name.”

This should be a great comfort to us to hear Jesus, our Savior, praying to the Father for us. On Thursday evening we celebrated the Ascension of our Lord. “He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father almighty.” And what is He doing there right now? Paul writes that Jesus, “who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”(Romans 8:34) Showing His Father His nail scared hands from which He hung from the cross as the purchase price for YOU.

Jesus prays that the Father would “KEEP” His disciples. “While I was with them, I kept them in your name. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.” Continue reading →

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Introduction
Sounds a bit cliché I know, but life is a journey. As with all journeys, it’s always nice to know where you’re going. Knowing the destination makes all the difference in how you travel.

The life of Christ is a journey. If the dating is correct, which it probably isn’t, Christ came down from heaven on March 25th when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Nine months later He was born of the Virgin Mary. 33 years later He ascended into heaven. His journey was full circle.

Jesus describes the course of His life to His disciples like this, “I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father.” (John 16:28). He knows the path that His Father has sent Him to follow. And He knows what He will encounter along the way – trials, troubles, suffering and the cross. He knows that the journey will not end in a tomb, which is what everyone else thought. The tomb was only a three day rest before the journey resumed.

He came into this world to overcome death, which would be the end of the road for all of us if He hadn’t come into this world and conquered it. He could have taken a path that bypassed death. We can’t but He could have because He is God. But He took the path that led directly to death so that He might pull the stinger out of it and render it harmless. Now, when the path of our own life comes to death, we no longer think for a second that its the end of the journey. Because of Jesus we know that death is just a final, brief stop before we come to the final destination which is heaven. Continue reading →

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“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.”

Our celebration of Easter picks up right where it left off last Sunday. Jesus is leading His disciples from the Upper Room in Jerusalem to the Garden of Gethsemane where He will be handed over and led to His execution.

I. Love to the end.
John introduces that night that began in the Upper Room like this, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

“To the end.” The word here is “telos.” It’s the same word that Christ cried out from the cross, “It is finished.” “Ended.” It’s got nothing to do with the thought that all of the humiliation and suffering and pain are finally over, which it is.

“Telos” means, “it is totally complete, fully accomplished.” You can’t improve on it no matter what you do or how hard you try, and to try to improve on it means that you screw the whole thing up and lose it all.” “He loved them to the end.” “Totally complete, fully accomplished” love.

II. Love and Commandments
“Love” is the dominant word in our Gospel reading this morning. It’s the same sermon as last Sunday, where Jesus said, “I am the vine and you are the branches.” But last week we didn’t hear the word “love” once from Jesus. The focus was on “abide in ME” and “abide in my WORD.” Today however, nine times in eight verses, it’s “love” and “abide in my LOVE.” Four more times in our Epistle reading from 1 John and we’ve heard “abide in my LOVE”13 times this morning.

And as long as we’re counting, we should also point out that the word “command” and “commandment” is repeated five times in the gospel reading plus three more times in the Epistle reading. “Abide in my love” and “keep my commandments” are closely connected.

If ever there were a pair of words in search of a biblical clarity in our day, “love” and “obedience” and how they relate to each other would certainly be right at the top of the list. I’m a child of the 60’s and the ‘age of Aquarius.” We were told that ‘love’ is ‘free.’ ‘Free,’ as in, ‘no rules,’ ‘no boundaries,’ especially God’s boundaries. Well, what was ‘free’ back then we paying for big time, now.

The Greeks avoided some of the confusion that we have with this ‘crazy thing called love’ by distinguishing four different kinds of ‘love’ with four separate words. Continue reading →