Text: John 21:1-14(15-19)

“It is the Lord”

    Grace,
mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the
sermon this morning comes from the Gospel which was read earlier.

    Just before Lent began a couple
months back, we heard the account of a miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5. Jesus was teaching along the shoreline in Galilee,
and the crowds were pressing Him right into the water; so He asked Peter, the
conveniently nearby fisherman, to take Him out in the boat. Peter was weary from a night of not catching
fish, but he consented anyway. Jesus
taught for a while, and then instructed Peter to row back out into the deep
water and throw the nets in again. Despite the illogic of the instruction, Peter did so-and ended up with a
net-full of fish.

    Do you remember Peter’s reaction
when he saw the nets were filled?  He
turned to Jesus, terrified, and declared, “Depart
from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” Peter wanted to be far away from Jesus: He had a glimpse of how sinful
he was and how holy Jesus was, and the glimpse of it was terrifying.  Peter knew he was a sinner who deserved
judgment, and he was fearful that Christ had come to judge.

    Once again
this morning, our text in this season of Easter focuses not on Christ’s death,
but on His resurrected appearances to His disciples and other followers. Blessed assurance was one result of our
Lord’s resurrection appearance to His followers. Christ’s appearances assured His followers
that death is not a closed door but an open door leading to a life far greater
than we could possibly imagine in this life. Even St. Paul proclaimed that “no eye has seen, nor ear
heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love
him.” The resurrection appearances of
Christ gave His followers the wonderful assurance that in the moment we die, in
that very moment, we begin to truly live. Death frees us so that we experience the fulfillment of life in and with
Christ.

    It has been
three weeks since the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. To date, Jesus has appeared
before His disciples twice. Both times
He appeared, we find the disciples cowering in a locked room for fear of what
happened to Jesus might indeed happen to them as well. It seems that the heat is off of the
disciples. Now, they have gone their
ways and returned to their former occupation: fishermen.

    Simon
Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, the sons of Zebedee and two other disciples were all
together. Where the others were, John
doesn’t tell us. Of the seven disciples
who are present, two stand out the most: Thomas and Peter. The last time we saw Thomas, he refused to
believe that Christ was raised unless he saw Him and touched His wounds. Simon Peter, the spokesmen for the disciples,
was also present. And lest we forget
about Simon Peter, he denied Christ not once, not twice, but three times; a
prime leader and spokesmen.

    As the seven are prone to do, they
go fishing. Maybe after all that has
gone recently, fishing might help to take the mind off of everything. After being on the water all night, they come
back ashore with nothing to show for it. Imagine James and John, the sons of Zebedee. Just over three years prior to this, they
were in their boats catching fish. Had
three years made them that rusty? Were
the fish just not biting? When Jesus
called to them from the shore, “Children,
do you have any fish?”, you could sense the disappointment in their
voice. You never wanted to come back to
land and say that you caught nothing, especially after being out all
night. But again, the net is full – big
fish this time, but even so the net doesn’t burst.  It’s another miracle; and it’s not because
they fished on the other side of the boat.  It’s because the One on the shore spoke His Word and declared to them that they would find fish there. Immediately after the disciples listened to
words of Jesus and followed His instruction, the boat became full of fish. The life of a Christian is no different. Once the Holy Spirit works faith in you, the
miracle happens – salvation.

    This
incident of Jesus and the disciples shows to us the importance of being in
Christ.

    Apart from
Christ’s command to cast their nets into the sea again, they caught
nothing. Try as they might, they could
not catch any fish. But when Christ
spoke to them, they were not able to bring in all the fish which they had
caught. Apart from Christ, we are unable
to achieve eternal life. There is
nothing that we can say or do to earn eternal life. Only when we are in Christ are we able to
receive eternal life; not because of what we have done, but because of what
Christ has done to us and for us.

    What does
all of this have to do with us? This
just sounds like a story of a bunch of fishermen who couldn’t catch
anything. On the contrary, this has
quite a bit to do with us.

    Our lives
outside of Christ are nothing, for there is no life outside of Christ. One might try to argue that they have a very
good life outside of Christ. They have a
nice home, several nice cars; in short, the works. Jesus didn’t help them get all of this, they
did it themselves.

    The
psalmist writes: “I lift up my eyes to
the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.” All good things come from the Lord. All of our earthly blessings come from the
hand of God, not from our own doing. The
disciples found this to be true when they went fishing.

    In order to
experience success on the water, the disciples had to rely on the Lord instead
of relying on themselves. They had to
subject their will to the will of the Savior. Instead of being self-directed, they heeded the words of Christ. It was then that Christ resurrected them from
their failures.

    We too are
resurrected from death and into life when we focus not on what it is that we
can do for ourselves, but what Christ did for us – became death for us. He became death for us when He came into this
world in the form of a baby. He grew up
so that He could die for your sins. His
death gave to you and to I the keys to heaven in the form of forgiveness of
sins, life and salvation.

    Where does God give forgiveness?  In His means of grace.  Wherever His Gospel is preached and His Sacraments
administered accordingly, Jesus is there to forgive. The hymn, “Salvation unto Us Has Come” tells
us quite a bit in just the first two lines: “Salvation unto us has come by
God’s free grace and favor.” It has
nothing to do with us. It can’t have
anything to do with us. If it had
anything to do with us, then it would mean nothing.

    In the resurrected Savior’s
appearance by the shore, we see Him bringing the resurrection to a broken
relationship. The result was
reconciliation. Peter had denied Christ. Yet when Peter heard that it was Christ,
without hesitation Peter leaped for the shore, for forgiveness came from
Christ.

    The resurrected Christ brings about
healing to our broken relationship, broken when death entered into
creation. Christ’s death purged death from
creation and His resurrection bridges the gap between death and the new
creation that is in Him.

    Through the resurrection, Christ
brings new life – new life to Himself, but also new life to those that are in
Him. This life is passing away. From it shall come a new heaven and a new
earth. We too will pass from a life of
sin and death to a life where sin and death have been defeated by Christ’s
death and resurrection. All of this is
evident by Christ’s resurrection appearances. These resurrection appearances give us the blessed assurance that death
is swallowed up by eternal life. If that
were not the case, Christ would still be dead, death would have overcome us and
we would spend many years lying in a box in the ground.

    You see, Christ is risen from the
dead.  And He who died to restore us to
Himself didn’t rise again to abandon us.  Despite our sinful reluctance to come into His
presence for forgiveness, He still comes anyway.  Thus we give thanks to the Lord for His
coming, for His patience, and for His most persistent mercy.  And thankful for His persistence, we rejoice
to confess our sins and draw near to Him.  For here, by His means of grace, the present,
risen Lord declares that you are forgiven for all of your sins in the name of
the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

    Now the peace of God which passes
all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ
Jesus. Amen.

Text: John 20:1-18

Christ Is Risen

    Christ is
risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our risen
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The
text for this morning comes from the Gospel reading, which was read earlier.

    It’s been
an agonizing week. First, Jesus rides
into Jerusalem where He hears the cries of the people: “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the
Lord, even the King of Israel!” On Thursday, Jesus met with His disciples for
the last time and instituted His Supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” Friday brought with it a day of shear
hell. Jesus was brought before his
enemies and was beaten and scourged. Starting at 6am, Jesus was brought before the elders, the scribes, and
the whole Council. At the third hour,
9am, they crucified Him, but death didn’t come quickly. Starting from the sixth hour until the ninth
hour, from noon until 3pm, darkness covered the entire land. Then the shout of Jesus rang across the land:
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken
me?” and Jesus died. There He hung
until evening had come, 6pm, until Joseph of Arimathea went before them to
remove the body of Jesus.

    For three
days, Christ laid dead in a tomb. On
that Sunday morning which we call Easter, something happened. “Now on
the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was
still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.” After the last week’s events, it brings us to
this morning. Early hasten to the
tomb/Where they laid His breathless clay;/All is solitude and gloom./Who has
taken Him away?/Christ is ris’n! He
meets our eyes./Savior, teach us so to rise.

    This hymn
doesn’t end with the empty tomb. It
doesn’t end with a missing Jesus. It
ends with a risen Jesus and our plea for our Savior to teach us to rise. The focus wasn’t on the fact that the tomb
was empty; the focus was on why the
tomb was empty: because Christ rose from the dead to give us everlasting
life. It is because Christ defeated
death by His death and resurrection for you and for me.

    And when
Mary Magdalene found that the stone was rolled away, she was troubled, just as
anyone would be if we went to the cemetery and found that our loved one was
missing from their gravesite. Mary of
Magdalene and her companions could see the stone was gone. What could they assume but the worst? After all, they were coming for a dead Jesus,
not a living Savior. The stone away from
the tomb, out of its groove, suggested violence. Mary Magdalene’s focus: “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb.” She still refers to Jesus as “the Lord.” Although Mary Magdalene cannot see the body
of Jesus, she cannot do otherwise than still call Him “the Lord.”

    When Peter
and the other disciple arrive at the tomb, they find it just as Mary Magdalene
had described: the stone was rolled away. When they entered the tomb, they found the lines they had wrapped Jesus
in. The sight riveted John to the spot
as he hesitated at the entrance and peered in. Peter didn’t stop but went right inside and studied the scene
intently. Both must have had an awe-struck
expression on their faces when they arrived. A large stone, only moveable by several strong men, has been moved. The body of Jesus, a mere man to some, the
Son of God to others, has been taken. They
must have been dumbfounded by the scene, because John says that “for as yet they did not understand the
Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.”

    After the
last three years, being with Jesus, seeing all that Jesus had done, hearing all
that Jesus had spoken, how could they not understand that He had to rise from
the dead? Even for us at times, we fail
to understand that He had to rise from the dead. “By His dying He has destroyed death, and by
His rising again He has restored to us everlasting life.” The Scriptures point us to His
resurrection. They spell out the meaning
of Christ’s resurrection for us, as well as the event. It provided a forceful demonstration of
Christ’s deity. It announced our
justification. We know that we shall
follow Jesus in rising from the dead. Our faith is sure since we have a living Savior.

    After
finding the tomb empty, Peter and John left and returned home. As far as our text for today reads, that’s
the last we see of Peter and John until later that evening. Our text continues with Mary Magdalene, who
never left the tomb. Mary Magdalene
couldn’t bring herself to leave the tomb. If ever there was a time for Christ to be present, now would be it. She was in a state of mourning because her
Savior had been killed. Sitting outside
of the tomb where He laid would help to bring comfort to her, knowing that He
was inside. But now seeing the stone
rolled away, the empty tomb brought only fear and uncertainty.

    It is so
unfortunate in our lives that we too, like Peter and John, abandon the empty
tomb. Jesus is no longer present, so we
leave and forget all about Him. We tend
to do things on our own. In our society
today, it’s “out of sight, out of mind.” If Jesus isn’t right here, right now, then we overlook Him. However, that is not the way it should
be. Jesus is right here, right now. He
is present in our lives every day. He is
present in the world in which we live in. We know that because as Luther writes regarding the First Article of the
Creed, “He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home,
wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that
I need to support this body and life.” We know that He is present in our lives because of today! By His death on Good Friday, by His
resurrection from the dead today, we know that He is present in our lives
because He died for you and He rose
from the dead for you.

    Dear, sweet
Mary had physically seen Jesus on a day-to-day basis. She had witnessed His many miracles of
healing, feeding, and raising the dead. Yet even in her more enlightened status as one very close to our Lord, he
sinful human nature blinded her from seeing her Lord. It was when her gracious Shepherd called her
by name that she recognized Him in His glorified body. It was the voice of her Lord that called her
forth from the tomb of despair and doubt.

    Remember
this little hymn you learned as a child? “I am Jesus’ little lamb/Ever glad at heart I am;/For my Shepherd gently
guides me,/Knows my need and well provides me,/Loves me ev’ry day the
same,/Even calls me by my name.” We too have been called by name by our
Shepherd. Our Risen Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ, called us by name to Him at the font, when we were baptized into
His name, made a part of His family for all eternity. You have been made alive again this morning,
for your resurrected Lord has called you from the death of sin to the
life-giving and certain proclamation of your adoption by grace.

    Christ’s
words to Mary Magdalene, “I am ascending
to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” tell us that His
relationship to us will be different. He
is no longer here performing miracles and healing the sick. He is no longer teaching the people. Instead, He has sacrificed Himself for us
all, “to prepare a place for you,” so
that He will come again and will take you to Himself, that where He is you may
be also.

    Where is
Jesus? He is no longer dead. He is no longer in the tomb. He has risen, just as Scripture has foretold
of long ago. He descended into hell,
just as the Creed says, where He showed His pierced hands and feet to Satan and
told him that he no longer had any hold over God’s creation. More importantly, He ascended into heaven,
where He reigns with God forever, waiting for the time where all of His
brothers and sisters in the faith are joined with Him for all eternity.

    He is risen! He is risen indeed! Hallelujah! Amen.

    Now the
peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus until the day of resurrection. Amen.

Philippians 3: (4b-7) 8-14

The Prize for All

            Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.  Our text for this morning comes from the Epistle, which was read earlier.

            Do you know what you want?  I mean, do you know what you want most of all?  Is there something about which you really can say, “I’d give anything…?”  Until we know what we want most, we can’t really get our lives together.  Until then, we are likely to go off in many directions, many of which will be pleasurable but not necessarily satisfying.  Until then, we’re likely to spin our wheels quite a bit and waste a lot of energy as well as a lot of life.  Detours, dead ends and despair can get to be the order of the day.  We want so many things, but what should we want most?  What desire is fit to measure all other desires, to draw them together and to give them their proper place?

            Looking at Paul before his conversion, the best that his former state could yield was righteousness on the basis of human achievement.  He had been circumcised on the eighth day just as the Old Testament law required, which many of the Judaizers and Jewish proselytes could not claim for themselves.  He was of pure Jewish stock from the tribe of Benjamin.  As a member of the Pharisees he had strictly and faultlessly kept the law.  He had even persecuted the Christians, which every Pharisee considered to be a most God-pleasing thing.  He had far outclassed even the best of the Judaizers.  If salvation were by works, Paul would have been guaranteed clear entrance to heaven.  And at one time Paul considered all that to his profit; they were all advantages that would have helped him gain an eternal reward.

            But since that blinding experience on the road to Damascus, Paul’s eyes of faith were opened, and he now realized that all those things were to his disadvantage.  They stood in the way of his having a right relationship with the Lord and kept the gates of heaven shut up tight for him.  They did not gain any righteousness for him but only led him away from the true righteousness in Christ.  They were now all to his “loss.”  Those old ideas needed to be abandoned as totally useless and worthless.  We, however, cannot always say the same about ourselves. 

            Wouldn’t it be nice to say with Paul, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.”  Wouldn’t it be nice to say with Paul that regardless of what I have, it means nothing because I have Jesus Christ.  Our culture today puts everything before church.  Our jobs require more and more work out of us, often requiring us to work more and more hours.  Working Sundays is not unheard of; in fact, it is probably the norm.  Athletics require practice after practice, regardless of the day of the week.  Tournaments are scheduled from Friday through Sunday.  We put thing after thing ahead of God, just as Paul did.  We take our eyes off of the prize: of Christ Jesus and His life, death, and resurrection, and put them on the things of this world.  But on that Damascus Road, he saw that these were nothing but rubbish.

            Everything he had formally put his confidence in—his heritage, his zealous keeping of the law, his persecution of the church—Paul now considered as nothing more than rubbish.  Not only were they not for his profit, they stood to cost him everything; they were a loss.  Jesus Christ and the righteousness that comes through faith in His life, His cross and His empty grave was far superior and the only thing worth keeping.  That was the real profit.  That was where his salvation would come from.

            It is important to realize that some of the things that we often regard as a real advantage and to our “profit” can actually be to our disadvantage if we regard them as a meritorious work.  Boasting over the fact that one has been baptized and confirmed, that one has received a Christian education through a Lutheran elementary or high school, taking pride in one’s church attendance and “all that I’ve done” for the church—this stands in the way of relying on Jesus Christ alone for salvation.  The sad thing is: it’s very easy to do.  It’s so easy, most of the time, we don’t even think about it.  By our thoughtless actions like that, we distort what Christianity is.  We take the focus off of what Christ did for us and put the focus on what it is that we did for ourselves.  That was exactly what Paul was trying to end: “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.”

            During this Lenten season, everything revolves around Christ and knowing who Christ is, according to the Scriptures.  It is not about whom authors say that Christ is.  It’s not about who other denominations say that Christ is.  It is about who the Scriptures say that Christ is.  For Paul, knowing who Christ is was more important than anything.

            That should be our focus as well, especially during this penitential season.  In just a matter of weeks, we will celebrate the death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  We focus not on the things of this world, the things which we have done or have not done, but instead focus on what it is that we have received: forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

            Through the persecutions that Paul had endured, Paul shared in Christ’s sufferings.  Time and again Jesus’ enemies directed their hate for the Lord at Paul because he was connected with Jesus.  Death was always at Paul’s side; even as he wrote these words, he was in prison and could have been condemned and executed.  While all these things did not earn Paul his forgiveness and righteousness, they did show that Paul was connected with Christ and that Christ was being formed in him.

            Even today, we share in Christ’s sufferings.  Christians suffer and are persecuted for their beliefs.  As we put up with the ridicule and persecutions the world hurls our way and as we daily put to death our sinful nature with all its desires, we share in the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings and become more like Him in His death.  The final goal is our own resurrection to glory. 

            Our death is not, nor could it be, like that of Christ.  Paul means that as Christ died unto sin, having no more to do with it, so likewise is his will.  He doesn’t want to be captive to his sins anymore.  He realized that the only way that he could be free from his sins is because Jesus Christ died for his sins.

            One might think that Paul was the outstanding, perfect, model Christian.  However, he was the first to say that he was not.  The Christian’s maturing and growth is never complete.  It is a constant, ongoing process while we live here in this world.  The Christian can never say, “I’m done; I’ve got it made.”  The Christian’s life is the constant struggle of the new man against the Old Adam and its sinful desires.  Everyday is a struggle, but because of Christ, we have won the battle.  Everyday we, like Paul, “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” 

            We are far from perfect, no matter how close to being perfect we say we are.  But Christ took our imperfect being into His perfect being and the result was forgiveness.  He has brought us into Him and we receive life everlasting.  God has set before every Christian that prize of eternal life and the perfect glory of heaven, won through Christ’s perfect life of righteousness, paid for with His blood and guaranteed by His empty tomb.  This is the prize which God has given to you.  In Jesus’ name, amen.

            Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

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Text: Luke 4:31-44

By Whose Authority

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Gospel which was read earlier.

In today’s society, authority is something which can be taken advantage of or something which can be given up. A perfect example is the show Super Nanny. It centers around a family who has problems with their children. The parents’ authority is missing or not taken seriously. That’s where Super Nanny comes in. Her job is to try to restore order to the household and to help the parents regain their authority.

In our lives, it’s not always easy to keep or properly exercise ones authority. Anyone who has ever “borrowed” their parent’s car without asking knows this lesson. Who said you could borrow the car? Who gave you the authority to make that decision? Even in the Church, there is constant discussion about who has the authority to do this or that, and discussions can at times become quite contentious.

In our liturgy on Sunday mornings, the absolution has been clarified with what the pastor says: “As a called and ordained servant of Christ, and by His authority….” Note that it is not on my authority that I forgive you your sins; it is the authority of Christ. God has called me to be a pastor and to distribute His means of grace. Trinity Lutheran Church in Gillette, Wyoming has called me to be their Assistant Pastor to distribute God’s means of grace. I am not acting on my own. I’m under the authority of Christ and called by the congregation.

The question was even asked about Jesus. By whose authority did He say and do things He said and did? What was His authority all about? He was frequently challenged about both the things He said the things He did. But by His Word, Jesus showed His divine authority to heal all men.

In our text for today, there are three instances where Jesus exercises His authority. The first instance was in the synagogue. Jesus did what He normally did on the Sabbath; He preached. Notice what Luke records for us. “And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority.” The people listened to Jesus’ Words, even though they may not have fully understood what He was saying. They didn’t need to know everything that Jesus was saying because they knew that what Jesus was saying had authority behind it. He wasn’t like any other teacher in the synagogue. No other teacher could stand before them and tell them what He did: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” He just quoted the prophet Isaiah, just like any other teacher did. But what Jesus added could only be said by Him, one who has authority: “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Where did this authority come from? When the man with the unclean demon came before Jesus, he knew exactly where that authority came from: “I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” The people stood in amazement, not because the demon left the man, but because how the demon left the man: by Jesus telling the demon to leave. It was by Jesus’ authority that the demon left. Had anyone else tried to tell or force the demon to leave, the demon would have probably just laughed in their face. But with Jesus, the demon couldn’t laugh because it was the Holy One of God who spoke.

The second instance of Jesus’ authority was in Simon’s house. Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever. With a simple request of Jesus, the fever left her and she began to serve those in her house, probably as she normally would. The people saw what Jesus had done and other people with illnesses began to show up desiring to be healed. Jesus exercised His healing authority to heal those who were infirmed. By His powerful Word, He rebuked the fever and by His personal loving care with His hand of compassion, He healed them.

Jesus heals us still today, just as He did then. He heals us by His Word. “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” He heals us still with His body and blood, given and shed for us, for the forgiveness of all of our sins. Why does He do this? What did you do to earn this gracious act of Christ? “All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me…that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom…” You didn’t do anything to deserve Christ’s forgiveness. On the contrary, you only deserve His eternal damnation. Thanks be to God, you do not receive eternal damnation. You receive forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. You receive full membership in the family of God.

Finally, Jesus showed authority in His message. Jesus’ authority over demons and illnesses of all kinds is only part of His broader authority: His message, His teaching, and His mission for coming to earth.

What is this message that Jesus gives to us? “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” The message is forgiveness. The message is the cross. The message is that you are a sinner. You are filthy. You are disgusting. You have no part of God. Jesus comes to us and He tells us that while you are a sinner, you are a saint. While you are filthy, your Heavenly Father sees nothing but the righteousness won for you on the cross by Christ’s bloody sacrifice for you. While you are disgusting, you are made new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” That is Christ’s message, for you and for me.

What is Christ’s teaching that Jesus gives to us? It was Jesus’ authoritative teaching that first caught the attention of those in Capernaum. It is the very Word of God which leads you to forgiveness in His name. The teaching is of God and what He has done for you, namely forgiven you of all your sins. His teaching is not of anything that you have done because whatever it is that you do, it will never equal the atoning sacrifice which was made on your behalf.

What is Christ’s mission for coming to earth? It is simple: to bring all of mankind to Him, for all of mankind to recognize that without Christ, there is only death. Without Christ, there is nothing. When you die outside of Christ, you die. But when you fall asleep in Christ Jesus, you have eternal life. You have forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Christ’s mission is to restore creation to God the Father. Christ’s mission is to restore you as a child of God.

Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, came into our broken world to help us. He came into our sin-filled world that the Holy One of God might bear the iniquity of us all on the cross. He gives us the Good News of personal forgiveness and new life forever with Him in heaven. By whose authority does He does this? It is God’s authority. Thanks be to God for what we have been given, not by our authority, but by God’s: forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ. Amen.

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Text: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a

The Body of Christ

            Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen.  The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Epistle which was read earlier.

            Growing up, Sesame Street was a favorite show of mine.  One of the things I learned from Sesame Street was the parts of body.  There was a song that taught me that the hip bone is connected to the leg bone; the leg bone is connected to the knee bone; the knee bone is connected to the foot bone and so on.  The point of the song is to teach you that the body is made up of various parts and that you need all the parts of the body for the body to function.  The same is held true for the body of Christ, as Paul writes to the church at Corinth.

            “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ….  For the body does not consist of one member but of many.”  The human body has many different parts, but they all fit together perfectly and function together perfectly.  Every part of the body is useful.  Just as the human body is united, so is Christ’s body, the church.

            God uses many pictures to describe how the kingdom of God works.  Several of them present the shape, the form the kingdom of God takes when it becomes visible among people here on this earth.  We call it “the church” or we think of it as a congregation.  Scriptures speak of it as a building, a body, or a family.  All these pictures show us to be in a relationship with one another, related in such a way that if any one of us is missing, the body, the building, the family would be incomplete.

            That’s why we confess in the Nicene Creed, “I believe in one holy Christian and Apostolic Church.”  That’s why in the communion liturgy we stretch ourselves to the far reaches of all time and all places saying, “Therefore with angels and archangels and with all the company of heaven we laud and magnify Your glorious name.”

            Paul introduces one of the most brilliant and memorable images of the entire Bible, the church as the body of Christ, a body in which the members, though many, are indeed one.  His language is vivid and concrete.  But the clarity of Paul’s words might tempt us to think of this passage as just simple words and a beautiful picture.  However, that’s the opposite of what Paul is telling the Corinthian church. 

            We are made members of one body, the body of Christ.  How did that happen?  Did I sign up to be a member of the body of Christ?  Was I drafted for this?  It was nothing that we did.  It was something that was done to us and for us.  This occurred for us at our baptism. 

            Just recently, two of our members have joined the Church Triumphant.  In each of those sermons, we have been reminded that we have been brought into the body of Christ through our baptism.  It is in our baptism that we are made holy, that we are made heirs of the forgiveness which comes through Christ’s death and resurrection.  It is also in holy baptism that we are made members of the body of Christ.

            We are the body of Christ, Trinity Lutheran Church, Gillette, Wyoming.  We are the body of Christ as various boards and committees, Midweek School classes, Bible study groups.  It is in these forms that the body of Christ, the kingdom of God, becomes visible, touchable, as people reach out to one another, relate to one another in grace and mercy and forgiveness.  In our baptism God has washed us clean and brought us into the body of Christ.

            The church at Corinth was a motley crew to say the least.  Paul talks about Jews and Greeks, about slaves and free people.  There were rich people and there were poor people; people from the inner city and from the suburbs.  There were people having trouble with their marriages; people going to court to sue one another; quarreling and bickering was common.  The point which Paul is making in our text for today is though we are all members of the body of Christ, we are all different members of that body.  “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

            Take a moment and look at the various parts of your body.  You have hands which function in various ways.  They are used for working, for playing, for drawing, for countless functions.  You have your legs.  They help you get from Point A to Point B.  Legs can function to help you work, for playing.  There are other functions that legs serve, but they can’t perform the functions that hands can perform.  The same is true of the parts of the face.  We have eyes, ears, a nose and a mouth.  Each performs certain functions which the others cannot.  No part of the church can cut itself off from the whole.  Each part of the church serves its own function and is needed.  Paul tried to convey that message to the Corinthian church but they didn’t fully understand what it was that Paul was saying.  When we read Paul’s words, we don’t necessarily fully understand what it is that Paul is saying.

            If you look at those people here this morning, you will see different professions.  Some are teachers while some are students.  Some are doctors and nurses, while some are police officers.  You have some who stay at home while some travel so much, they don’t really call any one place home.  Regardless, each of these people makes up the body of Christ.  Each has their own vocation.  Each performs a different role in the body of Christ.  Paul reminds us that “God has appointed” them all, no matter what their gift or office might be.

            To think that we can get along without one another is really rather ridiculous.  We each make up the body of Christ, each with our various vocations and abilities.  This reinforces what Paul tells us.  “Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.”

            Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.  Today we take a moment and place a special value on human life.  We remember those unborn children who have been killed by abortion.  We remember the elderly who are no longer able to care for themselves.  Regardless of one’s age or whether or not they are inside or outside of the womb, every person is a child of God and belongs to His family.  Each is an integral part of the body of Christ and Paul makes this point rather clear with his descriptions of the various parts of the body.

      No Christian is an island.  We need Jesus.  We are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  We make up the body of Christ and in turn, Christ is reflected in us and by our actions.  We need the Church.  The Church is made up of the body of Christ.  As Paul says, “God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.”  We each have various gifts and talents which make up the body of Christ, the Church.  The Church needs all kinds of people in order to function properly, just as the body needs the various body parts in order to function properly.  We need each other.  “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”  The body of Christ—the Christian church—is to work that same way, spiritually.  When one Christian suffers, all Christians suffer.  When one Christian rejoices, all Christians rejoice.  We are all in this together, all part of Christ’s church.

      We are all united in the body Christ through our baptism.  We remain united through Christ’s body and blood, given for us for the forgiveness of sins.  It is by His Word and Sacraments that we become, we are, and we ever more shall be, the body of Christ.  Amen.

      Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus until life everlasting, amen.

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Text: Romans 8:31-39

If God Is For Us

            Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.  The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Epistle, which was read earlier.

            As of tomorrow, this year will be but a fleeting memory.  Radio stations are counting down the biggest songs of the year.  MTV is no doubt playing the biggest video hits of the year.  Everyone is looking at what the best of the year was.

            But with all of the good that has come, bad has come as well.  We have seen war come and go.  We’ve seen destruction, changes in the world, death of loved ones, and the list goes on and on.  For some, this is a year that we are more than ready to get behind us.  People are quick to say, “Where is God during all this?” when things go bad.  Paul says clearly where God is: for us.

            It’s funny how we try to help others.  Some give because they have more than ample.  Others give what seems like a little to us, but it represents a very large portion for those who give. 

            God too gave graciously and without hesitation or second thought.  He gave His Son, His one and only Son, over to the world so that He would die. But this death was no ordinary death – it was for us life, not death.  In our communion liturgy on the Sundays after Pentecost, we hear these words: “…through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who on this day overcame death and the grave and by his glorious resurrection opened to us the way of everlasting life.”  Through the giving of His Son, we have received “all things” as Paul says.

            It is because of the death of Christ that we can be brought into the kingdom of God through His body and blood.  We are now a “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God.”  Whatever charges anyone, whether it be death, devil or the world, make against us, they must now go through the Father who has chosen us.

            Through His Son, we now have a shield protecting us.  God stands before us with a shield to protect us.  Does that mean that no one will ever be against us?  Does it mean that no one will ever bring a charge against us?  Of course not.  What that does mean is that no one will ever be successfully against us; no one will ever successfully accuse us.  Even Satan himself, with all of his crafty ways, can try to accuse us, but because of Christ’s death and glorious resurrection, we now stand holy and blameless before God, our heavenly Father.  In order for anything to reach us, it must first go through God and it is God alone who justifies, to declare free of blame. 

            Not only do we have God the Father as our shield, we also have Christ, our advocate, who died the death for all of creation.

            To condemn a person as Paul says here, means to inform them that God condemns them and that God has sentenced the person.  Christ intercedes on our behalf.  No one has ever been accused and condemned as Christ was.  God willingly sacrificed His one and only begotten Son, so that you and I may not die, but have everlasting life.

            Christ went before God, the only one who is able to judge us and pleaded that we have already been acquitted of all charges because He has paid for them with His body and blood.  No one else could do that for us.  Christ intercedes on behalf of all of creation.  His intercession gave us life.  His body and blood, beaten and pierced, opened for us the gates of heaven.  His resurrection and ascension brought with it a permanent advocate that will say, “Sorry, I paid for this person.  You can’t have them.”

            Though the world will try its best to accuse us and beat us up, we cannot be separated from the love of Christ.  Seven different possible choices are listed as a means to separate us.  The enemies of our salvation attempt to separate us from Christ and His love, and so they press hard with all might and power to throw away faith and trust in Christ.  Life is very real and can be very cruel.  But as cruel as trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger and sword can be, Paul reiterates that they do not have the power to pull us away from the love of Christ.

            These seven items are not the only thing that can separate us from God.  Separation from God can also come from ourselves, which manifests itself in various ways.  One such way is by seeking salvation in the things that we do.  This is contrary to what Scripture says.  Salvation is not found in ourselves, but in what God has done for us, namely sending His Son to be payment for our sins.  We also choose to separate us from God when we despise His Word and His Sacraments, by not coming to church to be fed with the means of grace which give to us salvation.

            It is true as the psalmist writes, “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”  We suffer and we face death because Christ suffered and faced death.  We are in Christ and therefore we suffer.  It does not mean that Christ withdraws His love; no, it is the opposite.  He suffered for our lives and therefore we suffer for His life because we are in Him.

            Through these tribulations, we become conquerors through Christ who loved us.  We have strength, not only equal and sufficient, but far more than enough to overcome the preceding evils.

            If the list of seven things to separate us from the love of Christ wasn’t enough, now we have a new list of ten things to separate us.  None of these can stop God’s love from reaching and holding us.

            It’s funny that Paul lists the present and the future, but he doesn’t say anything about the things of the past.  None of that is mentioned, not even our sins, because they have all passed away.  They passed away when the water hit our forehead and when the blood of Christ hit the ground as He hung from the cross.

            What Paul tells the church of Rome is also spoken to us: we are fully assured that no condition of our existence, whether death or life; no beings, whether they be angels or principalities among men; nothing in time, whether in the present or in the future; nothing in the way of powers or forces; nothing in space, whether in the heights or the in the depths; in fact, nothing in all creation, no matter what it may be called, not only shall not, but cannot separate us and our fellow Christians from God’s saving love, His Son, by placing a barrier between us and that love so that it cannot reach us.

            It’s easy to think that we’re alone through all this.  But we know that we are not alone, for Christ has gone before us to prepare the way for us.  He, along with God the Father, stands before us to protect us, to ensure that nothing separates us from Christ.  On this New Year’s Eve, as we look for the passing away of 2006 and the ushering in of the 2007, know that God the Father, with the Son, has given us life everlasting.  Regardless of what may happen in the coming year, know that if God is for us, who can be against us?  The answer is no one and nothing, because we cannot be separated from God because of Jesus Christ and His death and resurrection.  Amen.

            And now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

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