Advent 1 - Isaiah 64:1-9

Text: Isaiah 64:1-9 This past March the cities and towns on the eastern coastline of Japan were wiped out as a 30 foot wall of war tore across the coast and dismantled entire towns, reducing them instantly from thriving communities to piles of rubble. Peoples’ entire lives were undone in an instant. A relentless wall of water broke apart homes and businesses, carried away livelihoods and reduced a lifetime of effort and planning and work to nothing. One woman was in the stairwell of her apartment building when suddenly it started to fill with water. She rushed up the stairs to the roof and as the water completely engulfed the building and she was able to climb up onto a raised platform and hold on for dear life so that she was spared from being washed out to sea. Likewise a man was driving along in his car that was suddenly picked up and carried away by the surge. He was able to climb out his window and onto the roof of his car as it floated along. His car was on its way out to sea but passed beneath an overpass where he then was able to jump to safety before his car floated out to the ocean. Out of hundreds of thousands who died, these two survived. A man driving along in his car… Where do you suppose he was going on that day in his car? To work? To the Doctor? To the bank to take out a loan? Perhaps he was on his way to do something he thought was going to change his life. How do you suppose that day undid those plans and changed the direction of his entire world. Or that woman. What do you suppose she had on her agenda for that day? How do you suppose her agenda has changed since that day? The projects she was hoping to complete have all washed away and her current project involves simply starting over. And they were the lucky ones. Isn’t it strange how important we think our lives and our plans to be? Isn’t it ironic how we consider ourselves to have the power and the ability to manipulate and control the direction of our lives? Yet something as small as the shifting of some dirt in the ocean can have a dramatic impact on our small little lives in our small little corner of a small little world hung in space in a vast universe. Our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah: Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to the adversaries and that the nations might tremble at your presence! The presence of the Lord is to the mountains and the oceans as a fire is to a pot of water. He causes the world to shake and to tremble like tectonic plates that cause (what appear to us) as massive shifts in the earth and create waves and phenomenon that we cannot control, that we cannot stop, that we can only hope to withstand. We can barely comprehend the power of the ocean yet we think we can comprehend the power of God. There is none like him. There is no power that can define him, let alone tame him and control him. But we think we do. We think we have. “The Lord has blessed me because I have deserved it. Because he couldn’t do anything else. He had to acknowledge my goodness and skill and cleverness with the blessings I have received. What a good job I have done.” In our pride we minimize and reduce God, we shrink him down to a size we can fit in our pocket and take along with us like a rabbit’s foot or good luck charm. How proud we can be of our plans and our schemes. Yet in a moment God can undo even the best laid plans of men. Tremble Oh nations. Tremble before the Lord, see how things more powerful and longer-established than you tremble at his presence and bow before him. Empty yourself, humble yourself, prostrate yourself before the Lord. Acknowledge your lowliness in his presence and pray that he does not deal with you as you deserve. Pray not that he spare your plans and your schemes, not even that he spare your life. Pray that he spare your soul. Behold you were angry and we sinned, in our sins we have been a long time and shall we be saved? We have become as one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like an polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind (or perhaps like a 30 foot wave) take us away. When we are puffed up and prideful, when we are “entitled” and “too good for words” the Lord has no use for us. We are our own gods; self-righteous and self-made. It is when we are wholly undone that the Lord can use us. It is when we are fully aware of our guilt and our sin and when we are fully aware of God’s power and might, it is when we are completely poured out and empty that He can fill us full and make use of us. It is when we have been softened and malleable that the Lord can make something out of us. But now O Lord you are our Father; we are the clay, you are our potter; we are the work of your hand. Be not so terribly anger O Lord and remember not our iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people. What goes beyond hope or expectation is that God our God, the true God, the great and exalted God who is above all gods and above all names, who is the Lord Enthroned in Heavenly splendor, who tears open the heavens and makes the earth tremble, who is the Lord of armies and who turns the hearts of kings and dignitaries like a child playing with a toy, that this God hears and acknowledges our prayers. Paganism, false worship of false gods, offers only a false hope, but these gods who are less than and lowly, gods only of the sun or the rain or the sea or the seasons, these gods are capricious and cold. They are far below in the scope of their power and their authority. And in terms of their character, they are more like people than gods. They are callous and aloof. They don’t care for men, they don’t care for your life, they don’t care for your happiness or your well-being. Likewise with your gods – your materialistic gods, your money, your power, your wealth, your youth, your independence, your intelligence and ingenuity. These are gods that cannot save you. On the day of calamity, let alone on the day of wrath. They can’t save you when the tsunami hits so how are they going to save when the Lord comes to judge the living and the dead! But the true God, the real god, the God who speaks his word over the wind and the waves so that they obey. The god who speaks and light and land and life all spring into being, this God hears. This God listens. And this God cares. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. Can it be any better? Can there be any more important truth. There is a god. And this God is not just a small god, not just a helper on the occasion of small life events. He isn’t just around to help you find a job or a spouse or a home or a rainstorm in the middle of a drought. He guides cosmic forces of time and space. He holds all the world and the cosmos on a string. And this God knows you. He knows your name. He has solved the mysteries of the universe, the things that are unsearchable to human wisdom and he knows every detail of your life. Every fear you have hidden in your heart. Every cry that you muffle before it reaches your lips. Every worry. He knows them all. And before a prayer has formed in your heart and a word has passed to your lips he has already determined what to do about it. Before you even know you have an issue to be concerned about he has it solved and has moved on to the next thing. But what is better and the truth that is even greater and more wonderful is realized when we remember that we have offended this God. This almighty and all powerful God has been offended by us. The things we have done, the attitudes that we have held in our hearts, we have set ourselves against him and worked our plans contrary to his. He has had every right and every opportunity to destroy us, yet he has not! He has been merciful. He has seen us inside and out and he has seen our sin. It has caused him injury and grief and even anger, but he hasn’t responded according to His anger; instead he has restrained his judgment he has permitted us to go on in our sin. And what is even more remarkable… our sin results in suffering. When we disobey God’s law there are consequences. Immediate results of bad decisions. Yet God sees us suffering in the misery of our own making, afflicted by our own error and he has compassion for us. We have gotten only what we have deserved, yet he is distressed for us. He is in anguish because of our injury. He is in agony because of our pain. And so he has come to help. That is simply unbelievable, inexpressible and beyond words. The Lord God, the God of gods and the Light of light, has been justifiably angered and injured by our sin; yet he has not punished us for that sin, instead he has be felt sorrow for our plight. And in his sorrow he has set about constructing our salvation. And if our sin has caused him pain and injury, our salvation has caused him double. Our salvation has meant satisfaction – justice and righteous anger and judgment had to be satisfied. Payment had to be made for sin. No one is righteous, not even one. Even our righteous deeds are as a polluted garment. And he paid for every one. Every last sin. Every last offense. Every last wicked word and self-interested thought. Ever last bit of pride and arrogance and every last instance of that I-don’t-need-you attitude that we have passed off against the God who made us and gives us all that we have and all that we are. He has forgiven us completely, washed us clean from the inside out. Dipped us in his blood so that we are completely restored and new. The way of the world can seem so reckless and untamed and random; but God gives it purpose. God gives you purpose. He has bent his will toward your specific situation; to help you, to restore you, to win forgiveness for you and to earn salvation for you, and now he has made you his own. He watches you, every step of the way and guards and protects your every move. Random people in random corners of the world meet with random situations and random circumstances, yet the Lord controls each one. None is as important as it seems to us at the time, yet likewise not one is as inconsequential as we might assume. The Lord gives us purpose and the Lord gives us meaning and the Lord gives us importance. We are His people, involved in His mission, doing His Work because he has called us and made us His own. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Thanksgiving Sermon

Harvest Classic Liturgical Date: Thanksgiving Date: November 23, 2011 Rev. Paul Schlueter Grace mercy and peace be to your from our Lord and Savior Jesus. An almost universal favorite out of all the thanksgiving hymns is the hymn Come You Thankful People Come. It is a thanksgiving classic. From its harvest theme to its familiar tune, it is well loved and enjoyed especially this time of year. While this hymn is thoughtful and meaningful in it presentation of the harvest of earthly goods that we celebrate on Thanksgiving, there is a more profound message in this hymn. We will explore those themes this evening as our meditation is guided by the text of the hymn. We will sing the first stanza now: Come you thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home All be safely gathered in ere the winter storms begin God our maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied Come to Gods own temple come raise the song of harvest home Come You Thankful People Come is a harvest hymn. And harvest is a time of celebration. You who are farmers know just how much planning and preparation went in to those fields. There is the plowing and planting, pre-planting prep work that is done in the fields before the seeds can be sewn. The seed is purchased and then planted in the soil for what you hope will be an abundant year. But you never know. You do the best you can to buy the best seed, make the fields the most hospitable for that seed, you put it in the ground, pray that the weather doesn’t too anything too extreme and then hope for the best. Some might say farming is a gamble. Others might say it’s an exercise of faith. But then, when the work is done, the crops have grown and ripened, all the work of harvest is complete and the grain is in the barn, there is joy and relief. There is money in the bank and bread on the table for another year. It’s a time to thanks God for his goodness and to be glad for the blessings of the year. All of this is evident in the first stanza of our hymn. Come you thankful people. Raise the song of harvest! It’s done. And It’s time to celebrate. God has provided for our needs, he has supplied our wants. He has given us reason to sing. All the world is God’s own field, fruit onto his praise to yield wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown first the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear Lord of harvest grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be There is a solidarity that the farmer shares with the Lord; both after all are farmers. Both have gone out into the world to sew seeds hoping for a fruitful harvest but all the while fully acknowledging that where the seeds have been sewn there are also weeds that will grow. While you sew your seed into the ground, our Lord sews the seeds of his Word of life into the hearts of men, so that the seeds will produce a yield of faith – so that Christians will grow up from these seeds who will mature and ripen and produce fruit. Some seeds will produce a yield. But some will not. Jesus tells us that Satan sews weeds in the Lord’s field. Fruitless stalks that mimic the wheat, but that have no faith and produce no fruit. Lord may we be those stalks that carry the grain! May we be counted among the faithful and the fruitful. May we hear your Word, take it to heart, believe it and live it so that on the last day we might be considered wholesome and pure. For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take his harvest home, From his field shall in that day all offenses purge away, Give his angels charge at last, in the fire the tares to cast But the fruitful ears to store, in his garner evermore These past weeks you have been out in the fields. And to your joy, from what I have been told ,the Lord has blessed you with an abundant harvest. In spite of the wet spring and the late planting, God provided the conditions that were just right for your crops to grow and be fruitful. God knows what he is doing. The days are coming when our Lord will go out into his harvest field. Jesus even said to his disciples that the harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. Who will go out into the fields? Just like the Lord has provided heat and light and moisture for the corn and soybeans to grow, the Lord has provided just the right amounts of the necessary things for faith to mature and grow. Luther taught that faith matures from meditation, prayer and testing (or temptation). Just like the plants require moisture and sunshine for their growth, Christians require the Word of God and prayer for their refreshing and growth. Christians receive the Word as it is given by God just like the soil soaks up the rain. But then, after the crops have received that refreshing, they require heat, some nice warm days to really get those seed to germinate and to push those seedlings into mature corn or wheat or beans. And so do we. We need just the right amount of heat, we need our faith to be tested through temptations and trials. To accomplish this our Lord turns up the heat, he sends trials and temptations to us that make us grow, that help us to mature in faith by teaching us just how desperate we are for Jesus, so that we receive his gifts and are thirsty for more. And then, when the Lord sends out his angels on the last day to bring in his harvest he will find you mature and ready and fruitful. Even so Lord quickly come to your final harvest home. Gather now your people in, free from sorrow free from sin There forever purified, in your garner to abide Come with all your angels comes raise the glorious harvest home. Driving around earlier today I could see a good number of fields that have been harvested. The crops have been brought in, the grain has been stored away or sold and the field is lying there waiting for the winter to come. But not all. There are a few still to be harvested before the winter comes. Until that time there is work to be done. Likewise with our Lord’s fields. He has brought in his harvest from the seeds that have been planted, but not all. There are still fields with crops standing waiting to be brought in out of the cold of the world and in protection from the winter to come. The cold winter of the Lord’s judgment is coming. It will be here soon. May we work while there is still time so that no one is lost and no grain is wasted. Thanksgiving is a harvest celebration. Tomorrow as we are gathered around our tables we will be giving thanks to God for all that he has provided throughout the year, he has blessed us greatly and abundantly. Our thanksgiving feast, as good and rich as it will be, is only a poor comparison to the feast that we will enjoy on the last day, when the Lord of the harvest has brought in his harvest from his fields, where we will celebrate with him forever. Amen. And now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Last Sunday of the Church Year

Text: Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24 The Old Testament book of Proverbs is a collection of words of wisdom, sayings that were for the most part written by King Solomon, the son of David. In 1 Kings and it 2 Chronicles it is recorded that the Lord appeared to Solomon to offer him any gift that he would wish. Solomon asked that the Lord would give him wisdom. The Lord granted Solomon this gift and we are told that he spoke more than 3,000 proverbs. About 800 of them are recorded for us in the book of Proverbs. Solomon was a king and he applied much of his wisdom to his rule. He recognized that earthly authority is a gift from God that he gives to establish peace and justice in the nation. When the king rules with wisdom, but also with justice and equity, when he cares for the needs of the poor, and when sticks up for the rights of the weak and protects them from being taken advantage of, then people feel safe and secure and the land prospers. But when kings are unjust, when they are wicked, when they accept bribes and take advantage of the poor and the weak, when they use their authority to make themselves rich, the people suffer and the nation as whole becomes weak. Here are only a few of the things that He wrote: “By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts tears it down. (Proverbs 29:4 ESV) “If a king faithfully judges the poor, his throne will be established forever.” (Proverbs 29:14 ESV) When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan. (Proverbs 29:2 ESV) Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king, and by steadfast love his throne is upheld. (Proverbs 20:28 ESV) “When it goes well with the righteous the city rejoices, and when the wicked perish there are shouts of gladness.” (Proverbs 11:10) These things were true in Solomon’s day. They are just as true today. Think of the hatred and scorn people felt for Saddam Hussein, or Momar Gadhafi. Think of the frustration and unrest that we feel every time we consider the corruption and hunger for power in our own government. Both the “Tea Partiers” and the “Occupiers” are evidence that things are not right in our government. People see the rich getting richer and the powerful getting more powerful and out democratic ideal of rule by the people seems to be slipping away in the interest of the powerful few. We cannot tolerate injustice. And while our sense of justice is perverted because of sin, this sense of right and wrong and this intolerance for inequity remains in us as an imprint left over from the image of our creator. We were created in the image of God. God loves justice and mercy, he hates injustice. We don’t have it just right because of the fall into sin and our problem of original sin but we still know corruption when we see it. Favoritism, nepotism, the good ol’ boy network, we can’t stand it. If we can’t stand it, neither can God. Our Old Testament text was written at a time in the history of the nation of Israel when the rulers of the nation had been unjust. The high rollers and the fat cats were using their position and their wealth to take advantage of the weak and the poor. Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them. So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them. (Ezekiel 34:2-6 ESV) God was angry. He would not bless these people. He would not bless this nation. He would take it away and from them because they had been unfaithful. Our text, the portion of this text that was selected for our reading this morning has to do with God’s promise for the sheep. Those who were hounded and harmed by the faithless and worthless shepherds. They hadn’t done their job, the Lord was angry with them, but the sheep, those who were injured and scattered, the Lord was still faithful, he would gather them, he would heal them, he would feed them, he would protect them. And he himself would send his own Son, his servant, the Son of David, to be their shepherd. I, I myself will go look for them, those lost sheep and I will seek them. . As a shepherd searches for his flock that have been scattered so will I seek out my sheep and I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. Our Lutheran Catechism tells us that there are two kingdoms. There is a kingdom of the left hand. God is concerned about keeping order in the world and so he raises up governments; kings and presidents. He gives them armies and policemen and judges and mayors all to help keep the world in good working order. There needs to be somebody to protect law abiding citizens. There needs to be somebody to punish those who break the laws and so God gives out authority in this left hand kingdom. But there is a second kingdom. There is a right hand kingdom. A heavenly kingdom where God reigns in heaven, but that also exists on earth. We pray for this kingdom every day, every time we pray the Lord’s Prayer we pray Thy Kingdom come. Lord send us this heavenly, right-hand kingdom. Kings and kingdoms and presidents and governments all pass away. They rise for a season and then fall. Jesus has more important things to discuss, things that involve his heavenly kingdom. The metaphor that God uses to describe this kingdom is that of a Shepherd. A good Shepherd who goes out after his sheep to find them as they have wandered off. Sheep wander for lots of reasons. Certainly sometimes it is their own foolishness, but here in this text our Lord is telling us that there are times when the sheep wander because they are chased away. Just like in the Left Hand Kingdom, sometimes in Christ’s Church, where the only agenda should be Christ’s agenda, the leaders lose sight of their God given duty. The Church is supposed to be a place where Christ’s Word is the focus of the entire ministry and work of the congregation. Teaching and preaching that word, filling the trough full of only the good and nutritious food that is provided by God himself, pure and true, full strength without being watered down. Sometimes those man made agenda not only water down that Word of God, sometimes the man made agendas take it away all together. And that is when the sheep are abused hurt and injured and so they wander. But it is the work of Jesus, the Good Shepherd to go out and find them. To go to them where they have wandered to discover their injuries. To see where they have been abused. To bind up those injuries and heal those wounds. There are a lot of things that cause those wounds. Many causes of those injuries; sometimes it’s sin. A cruel word, a criticism, an injustice can really do injury to the word of God. Sometimes it’s bad doctrine, false teaching that does it. False teaching always does the same thing. It takes away Jesus. It gives less of Jesus and requires more from you. It takes away the comfort of the gospel that Jesus offers and gives to heal and restore sinners. And when the leaders of the church, the under-shepherds, fill the trough with watered down food the sheep leave on Sunday morning with their sins still in their hearts with no comfort to ease their troubled conscience. They get tired and burned out and they leave. But Jesus brings comfort. He brings his gospel. He speaks his true word. He speaks forgiveness and love to that broken sinner, to that wounded sheep. Whatever wounds there might be, and no matter who inflicted those wounds Jesus heals them. Jesus binds us the broken hearted. And he restores the captives. He enables love and forgiveness even between enemies. And then when consciences are wounded because of sin he forgives those sins and washes away all those wrongs. No matter how bad those sins might have been Jesus takes them all and dips them all in his blood so that we are made new, restored and whole and clean and forgiven. His kingdom, his right hand kingdom has come to us. In the Gospel of John Jesus says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. (John 10:1-15 ESV) Jesus is the Good Shepherd. He calls his sheep. He gathers them. He cares for them. He protects them. He feeds them. He shelters them. When they are injured he binds them up. When they are sick or hurt he heals them. When they are broken he restores them. He gives, he provides, he helps, he defends, he protects, he in short does everything. There are false shepherds. They have no agenda but their own. They have no truth, they preach only the lies that they have made up that fit their own agenda. The false shepherds injure the sheep. Don’t listen to them. Instead listen to Jesus. Hear his voice and know his voice. Run to his voice and he will care for you. Amen.

Pentecost 22

"For [the Kingdom of Heaven] will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away." Dear friends in Christ, We serve a generous God. He gives us all we have. He gives us the freedom to use it for our pleasure and our joy. And he gives to us the privilege of using it for him in his kingdom. This is message our Lord would have us to take away from our Gospel text today. Jesus tells us a parable about a man who, going away on a journey, divides up his estate to be managed by his servants. He doesn’t give every one the same amount, to some he gives more, to some he gives less. He divides the property up and assigns the responsibility for it according to each one’s ability. And then he goes away. Dear friends, I am sure you know this, but Jesus is that master. He has divided up his kingdom and has left us to manage it. He has given out the responsibility for it to each one of us. And then he went away. Jesus ascended into heaven, where he is right now watching over us, guarding us and protecting us. He is planning his return. He will come back on the last day, even as the master of the house returned in the parable to see what his servants had been up to while he was gone. As we can see from the parable, he expects us to be hard at work in his absence. To refuse to work is, spiritually speaking, quite catastrophic. The question is, what to do… I mean, with all that the Lord has given to us, with all the responsibility he has entrusted to us, the decision of what to do with it is quite an important one, don’t you think? What we do and how we do it? Won’t the Lord judge us for our performance when he returns? We are inclined to think that he will. We are inclined to think that the standard Christ will use to judge us on the last day has to do with how well we have managed, our process and procedure. Our level of effort and dedication. We think that will determine how big our prize will be or won’t be on the last day. Is that what our text says? I think the first thing to notice when reading our text and the first question to answer is that we determine just what Jesus has in mind when he says that the man of the house divided up talents. In our use of the word a talent is something you are good at; we might say that Lebron James is a talented basket ball player, or our Chuckery ladies are talented turkey chefs and pie bakers. Our biblical text uses the word as a monetary unit. It represents a large sum of money – about 20 years wages for your typical day laborer. That said, each of the servants was richly blessed and given a large sum to manage. Certainly one received the greater share. 5 times that of the third servant. But even then, that third servant had a lot to work with. But still the question remains, what do these talents represent? Is it purely a parable about money? Managing the financial resources that God has given? Well, yes, that is involved. But it is more than that. Looking to the Apostle Paul as he writes in Romans we receive some insights into what Jesus might have in mind. He writes: 3 For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Paul has an important principal in mind here. He echoes the teaching of Jesus, teaching that everyone receives a different proportion and then he teaches us these gifts are given to us so that we might build up the greater body of Christ! They are ours for service, for work in the kingdom, for the benefit of each other. And they are not just monetary or material gifts. Those are there, but so are many other gifts. Again he says, Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; 7 if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; 8 the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes,(that’s the financial, material gift) in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. Now this is not intended to be a complete of an exhaustive list. But it gets us started. Prophecy, serving, teaching, exhorting, contributing to the material needs, taking leadership roles in the congregation, serving in mercy. These are all gifts that God gives out, things that he enables each of you to do. These are jobs that need to be done in the church, not everyone has the ability to do each job to the level that everyone else performs. Yet each of you can do something. Typically, when we read this parable, we read it in terms of the financial and material piece. I think that probably says more about us and about what’s important to us, than what is actually contained in the parable. That is to say, we hear it in terms of what is most important to us. Case in point: take a drive around the city of Columbus and the largest and busiest buildings are the shopping malls. It used to be that if you wanted a pair of shoes you would go to a shoe store. These days, it depends on what kind of shoes you need; do you need dress shoes? work shoes? casual shoes? beach shoes? Golf shoes? Basketball shoes? Court shoes? Running Shoes? You'd better know ahead of time because that will determine where you go to buy your shoes. After you have figured that out, you go to the mall as you one stop shop for all these different types of shoes and you go to buy them and in the mean time come home with new bedding, new wallet, new underwear, a two year commitment for satellite tv and a puppy. Ours is a consumer based, materialistic society. That dominates every aspect of our lives. I can’t help but observe that a good percentage of the new churches being built today look a lot less like churches and a lot more like shopping malls. Makes one wonder what people are going to church for? Makes one wonder what people are hoping their god will do for them. Materialistic gods can only offer materialistic salvation. Your shoes will wear out, your satellite tv will break, your new wallet will get heavy with debt and lite with money. Then what will you do? We don’t go to church to get rich. We don’t pray to get more stuff. We pray to receive what God want to give, and that is salvation, that is forgiveness of sins, that is baptism, absolution, his own body and blood, his word of life. There was a police officer who stopped by for a k-9 demonstration and he poked his head here in to the sanctuary. He remarked that it looks a lot bigger on the inside that what it appears from the out. That’s kind of the way it works, isn’t it? That is really what we are hoping for, don’t you think? On the outside it’s a brick building with a steep roof line. On the inside this is where heaven and earth come together so that God can make dead sinners into vibrant Christians, so that God can make detached and self serving individuals, into people united together into one body. And then, that body, those formerly singular work together, some preaching, some teaching, some serving, some mercy-ing, some chipping in the material needs, everyone working together to make it go. Is one more necessary or important than the other? Is a hand more important than an elbow? Can either one do its job without the other? We all need each other. We all work together. We all are Christ’s body. But we are mixing our metaphors… Jesus, the man of this house has gone off, ascended into heaven and he has richly blessed you, some with talents of mercy, others with talents of money, everyone with talents to serve. He is coming back. He will be interested to see how we have done. Now here is the important point. We always get distracted by the what and the how. What are we going to do and how are we going to do it. We spend long hours with meetings and discussions. That is fine, to a point. But notice that Jesus doesn’t even give that a mention. Those who served faithfully just went out and got to work. The master gave them their portion, and immediately they got going. What they did, how they did it, isn’t mentioned at all. What is mentioned is the return on investment. They brought in 100%! I wish I could do that! I can’t. you can’t. But God can and that is the point. We do our work. God gives the return on our investment. And then He blesses us and rewards us for being faithful. The point is, God gives you freedom. Freedom to make your plans and set your goals according to whatever criteria you choose to define. Do the best job you can with the gifts God has given you, with the resources God has provided to you, and other than that, have fun! Work together, work with joy, work with love, work with grateful and loving service. Notice the character of this master, this man of the house, this Jesus. He is good. He gives us work to do and the tools to do it. He equips us for any and every task that he lays before us. As I look out over this congregation I see it, I see a people well resourced to tackle all the projects we determine to accomplish for the good of Christ’s kingdom. Right now, we open our hands to receive forgiveness. In a few hours we turn those hand to serve turkey. Tomorrow, we will use those hands to serve somewhere else. God has given us what we need. Let’s get to work. Amen.

All Saints - Matthew 5:1-12

Have you been following the ongoing saga taking place in Denver Colorado? The Denver Broncos, the local NFL football franchise has identified Tim Tebow as their starting quarterback. Mr. Tebow was an outstanding college football player, won the Heisman trophy as a sophomore, played through his senior year, and then was drafted in the first round to play for the Broncos. As a professional quarterback, he has struggled, (as most young quarterbacks do - it takes time to become acclimated to high level of competition). Since the move to the starting lineup, Mr. Tebow has been under heightened scrutiny and therefore criticism. And while much of it is aimed at his level of play, a significant amount of it focuses on something else; Tim Tebow is a Christian. And while his professional performance is examined, his faith is out and out ridiculed. Sports writers mock him, opposing players taunt him, all because he just simply allows his Christian faith to personally define him. And so Tim Tebow (and his faith) have become an object of ridicule. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. F or theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So I don’t know about you, but I am sure not a quarterback in the NFL. I haven’t really made any public statements of faith or been ridiculed by any nationally syndicated columnists. For the most part, other than a small contingent here in the south end of Union County Ohio, nobody really knows who I am. Be that as it may, this passage is for me. And if it’s for me, then it is also for you. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. You see, by worldly standards, the Christianity angle isn’t the going to win anyone (you) a lot of friends or make you a lot of money. Sure there are wealthy Christians. There are even popular and successful Christians. But it isn’t the Christian faith or the Christian way of life that has made anyone’s fortune. No one gets rich simply by being righteous. Wealth is earned by selling some sort of commodity. The faith as described here by Jesus sounds decidedly un sellable. Poor in Spirit, mournful, humble and meek. Pure. Peaceful. That doesn’t sell. That doesn’t attract anybody’s attention. Sex sells. Violence sells. Controversy sells. Glitz and Glamor sells. The Church doesn’t preach any of those things. The Church doesn’t sell any of those things. The Church doesn’t sell anything at all. The Church preaches… Jesus, dead on the cross for sinners, alive on the third day to give life to the faith-filled and the faithful. The Church shows mercy, just as she has received mercy. The church gives hope to the hopeless, comfort to those who mourn, healing for the broken, food for the hungry, care for the body as well as the soul. The big shots of this world are turned off by us, held back by confession and self examination, disgusted by eating and drinking the body and blood of Jesus, annoyed by the insistence of mercy and love. We have nothing to offer them and so we are overlooked, trampled, forgotten, and when we do get attention, most of the time it’s because someone is looking to get in their licks – taking pot shots. Like what you see with Tim Tebow. So dear Christians, members of Jesus’ community of believers, these passages, these words, they are for you. And they are for me. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. So how about you? Have you devoted yourself to the kingdom of heaven? To meekness? to mercy? To peace and purity? Do you ever wonder why you bother? Does it ever seem like it’s not worth the effort? Like for all your hard work you aren’t getting anywhere? Maybe even like you are taking steps backward instead of forward? It can sure go that way from time to time. Our text offers profound words of comfort. We have learned to identify with the struggle, let’s also learn to identify with the hope and the comfort and the joy of our text. There is much that is offers. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs in the kingdom of heaven. Understand from this the character of our God and the gifts that he offers. When you and I give gifts, we save the best for last. It makes sense for us. It builds excitement, provides motivation when we withhold the better of the rewards until the end. Not for Jesus however. He gives the best gift first. The kingdom of heaven, the reign of God, the continual and continuous interaction of Heaven’s King and Heaven’s Lord into his creation to care for the citizens of heaven. Jesus makes you His own and then promises to intervene for you directly in this world with all its difficulties and struggles. The best gift God has to offer isn’t withheld until the end of your life to see if you have done a good enough job to deserve it. It is given and guaranteed right up front and all its gifts and benefits that go along with it are yours. Not piecemeal, not one at a time, not incremental, the whole thing up front all at once. This is God’s promise to you. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. In other words, as one broken and discarded by the world, humble and in full recognition of your sin, empty and poured out come to Jesus and be filled. Not just with worldly power, not just with worldly wealth, but with heaven’s wealth, with heaven’s power, with God’s comfort and with God’s mercy. You are God’s own child. Baptized into His name. He walks with you every step of the way through your life. Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Mourn for what? Why? It doesn’t matter. It does not matter what you mourn and why you are hurt, who has hurt you, what you have lost and why or how you have lost it. You shall receive comfort. You will be comforted. This happens in two ways. Christians comfort each other. The Christian faith is not a “me and my God” sort of a religion as many religions tend to be, as people often want Christianity to be – I like Jesus I just don’t like the church. The church is people and Jesus puts his people together with other people, so that we can love each other, and take care of each other, and comfort each other, and pray for each other, and listen to each other, and provide for each other. You, be in tune with the needs of your neighbor. Comfort them when they mourn. That’s God charge to you. Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. You can be a comforter. But the comfort is not just other Christians. It is first and foremost God’s comfort. Parakaleo. That’s the word the text uses – it means comfort. It means literally to be called alongside, to come beside someone who is mourning to walk with them and care for them. It is a word the New Testament uses to name the Holy Spirit. God is the true comforter. A friend of mine who has been experiencing a time of distress has mentioned with great joy how he has been ministered to by the Spirit of God. God has sent fellow Christians to him to minister to him, but better than that God’s Spirit has opened passages of scripture to him that deliver to him exactly the Word he needs for that moment to lift him up and build him up and encourage and support and sustain him. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. He has been comforted. In the midst of his suffering he has been sustained by God himself. That is likewise God’s promise for you. Blessed are those who are meek for they shall inherit the earth. Today is All Saints. We remember those Christians who have died in the faith, our own friends and loved ones. Can there be anyone more impoverished in spirit, than those who are dead? Any greater humility than to have your life taken from you? And greater grief than to be lost to the world? For those who have died, (even for those who have died!) they shall inherit the earth. You shall inherit the earth. Now that doesn’t mean this earth. After all who would want it – it’s trashy and polluted and broken. Sinners fight for it and fight over it, who gets to be the king in this rotten stinking festering sin heap. Let them have it. Our kingdom is in the next earth. That’s the one that you will inherit. That’s the one that will be yours without subtraction, nothing to take away from its beauty, its joy, its perfection, its fullness, its satisfaction. No hunger or thirst or suffering or pain. You shall inherit that earth. Not the broken one, but the good one. So dear Christians, in this life and in this world there will be poverty and grief and sadness and mourning and suffering and pain. Take heart. You will be comforted, you will be sustained and built up as you comfort and sustain and build each other up, as you reach out to show mercy even as you have received mercy, and the God of all peace and comfort will extend his loving care and support to you, to show you love and mercy, to give you the word and the comfort that you need exactly when you need it. And he will keep you safe as you finish your course in this earth because the day of rejoicing is coming, the new heaven and the new earth are on their way and that is your inheritance. Take heart. Don’t lose hope. Amen.