Getting Ready for Sunday: Romans 11 for August 20th, 2023

Getting Ready for Sunday: Romans 11

Pastor James Huenink

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for August 20, comes from Romans chapter 11, verses one through to a 13 through 15. And then 28 through 32. Here we go. I asked then has God rejected his people and by no means for I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin, God has not rejected his people whom He foreknew so then it skips down to verse 13. Now I am speaking to you Gentiles in as much as then I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world. What will their acceptance mean, but life from the dead? Then it skips down to verse 28. As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers, for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you were at one time, disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience. So they too, have now been disobedient, in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy for God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. Here ends the reading. What an interesting reading this is, and our lectionary doesn't do us any favors by dividing it up. It really is trying to give us a flavor of the whole thing by cutting out all sorts of pieces, but we lose quite a bit. So it begins with St. Paul writing. I asked them has God rejected his people, by no means for I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. Now in Romans, chapter nine and 10, St. Paul has been raising the question, What about Israel? What about God's chosen people now that the word of God has gone gone out to the Gentiles? So he says, obvious question, Has God rejected His people. And he points to himself, he a believer in Christ is also an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, and a member of the tribe of Benjamin. And then he says in verse two, God who has not rejected his people whom he for knew what he happened, what he says, then is that in the rest of the text, there is a, a sort of jealousy that is being given for the Jews, and a fall so that the Gentiles can be saved. And he goes to verse 13, now I am speaking to you Gentiles in as much as then I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world. What will their acceptance mean, but life from the dead? So it's interesting, when St. Paul went out and did his ministry, every place he would go, he would begin by teaching in the synagogue, he would go there, as a as a guy, Rabbi, teacher, he would often give sermons that would point out that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior. And then he would get rejected. And so he would go from synagogue to the Gentiles. And he sees a sort of pattern of the Jews, God's chosen people, Israelites reject their God. And then it is that message then moves out to the Gentiles. So it's almost like the the rejection of Israel leads to the bringing in of the Gentiles into the church. And so here he says, Well, if God's promises are going out to the Gentiles, maybe that will make them jealous, the Israelites so that they become Christians, too. So let's move on to the next section of text. As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but as regard to election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers, for the gifts in the calling of God are irrevocable. So it is interesting here that At St. Paul is threading this line where he says, with the Gospel, the people who reject Christ are persecuting you. That's what they did with Paul, they would persecute him from town to town. But yet we can't say that there is no connection. They are beloved, because of the forefathers. That is because of the the patriarchs of the Old Testament. Because the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable, God's call still goes out to all of Israel to be saved, come to be with Christ. He continues, for just as you were at one time, disobedient to God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience. So they too, have now been disobedient, in order that by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy. So what it's saying is, their disobedience means that the message of the gospel went out to the Gentiles. And now he is praying that the disobedience would lead to mercy to the Gentiles that would then lead to Mercy to Israel. When he goes in verse 32, for God is consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. This is just pointing back to the basic theme that all are sinners, and the only thing that can save us is God's mercy. What are our reading skips over is a really interesting metaphor for understanding what is going on in the relationship between Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church. He uses the metaphor of an olive branch broken off and onto a tree. The the olive tree is Old Testament Israel that God planted, it's a it's a good tree that produces good fruit. And what God does then in the church as he takes Gentiles, and he grasps the Gentiles onto the branch of the good tree, and so all who believe in Jesus Christ are grafted into the promise of Israel, the promise of Abraham, the Jews, the people of Israel, who reject the promise of Abraham and reject Jesus Christ are cut off like branches that are cut off from the tree. And so St. Paul is showing how the promise of Israel is still continued through the church and the church is inheriting the promise given to Abraham now that we are the true Israel through Jesus Christ. What he's hoping is that by bringing this message to the Gentiles, that the branches that were cut off, might be grafted back on again. St. Paul is hoping and praying that his brothers and sisters of descent in Israel might come back to Christ and be brought into him. That's the end of our reading today. Hopefully, we'll see you on Sunday.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Psalm 67 for August 20th, 2023

Getting Ready for Sunday: Psalm 67

Pastor James Huenink

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week, I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation.

The Psalm For August 20th 2023, is Psalm 67. May God be gracious to us and bless us, and make his face to shine upon us. That your way may be known on Earth, you're saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, oh, God, let all the peoples praise you. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nation's upon the earth. Let the peoples praise you, oh, God, let all the peoples praise you. The Earth has yielded its increase. God, our God shall bless us. God shall bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him here into the reading. This psalm begins with a prayer of asking God's blessing on Israel. It says, may God be gracious to us and bless us and to make his face shine upon us that your way may be known on Earth you're saving power among all nations. It's interesting that the request for God to be gracious and to bless us has a purpose, that your way may be known on Earth, you're saving power among all nations. They're saying bless us. So the rest of the world may see how glorious you are. That all the peoples might know you. And then it goes on to say, let the peoples praise you, oh, God, let all the peoples praise you. This is kind of the conception of spreading the message of God throughout the Old Testament, that the people of Israel would be so different. So unlike the rest of the world, that all the nations would look at them and say, Whoa, who has a God like their God, he is greater than any god. We see that in the way that Moses and Egypt worked that the plagues were combat with the gods of, of Egypt. We saw that in the book of Daniel, where there was a constant sort of fighting between Nebuchadnezzar and the gods of Persia, and the true God and he always came out on top. The idea is, is that God would bless the people, and then the people would see how powerful God is. So they moved to that verse three, let the peoples praise you let all the peoples praise you. It continues, let the nations be glad and sing for joy for you judge the peoples with equity, and guide the nations upon the earth. Let the peoples praise you, oh God, let all the peoples praise you. So the next move in the Psalm is to say that God is not just the God of Israel, but over all of the nations and He judges everyone equally, not as in putting Israel first. But all the peoples of the earth are judged equally. Finally, it moves on to the last section. The Earth has yielded its increase God our God shall bless us, God shall bless us let all the ends of the earth fear him. This is the Earth has yielded its increased. This is the blessing that people expected from God, that the Earth would produce the fruits of of labor and provide for God's people, that God would bless them through the land that he had given them.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Isaiah 56 Old Testament Reading for August 20th

Getting Ready for Sunday: Isaiah 56:1,6-8

Pastor James Huenink

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The reading for Sunday, August 20, comes from Isaiah chapter 56, verse one, and verses six through eight. I'm actually going to read the whole thing verses one through eight because I think it's very interesting. So here we go. Thus says the Lord, keep justice and do righteousness for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness will be revealed. Bless it is the man who does this and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath not profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil. But not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, The Lord will surely separate me from his people. And let not the UNIQ say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath's who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters, I will give them an everlasting name shall that shall not be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord and to be His servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and hold fast my covenant. These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered, Here ends the reading. This passage is all about gathering together outcasts. And I read part of it that is not part of the lectionary reading, that's verses three through five. But I think they're an important piece of what Isaiah is trying to say. So it begins with these words, Thus says the Lord keep justice and do righteousness. For soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness will be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the Son of Man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil. So Isaiah begins by talking about keeping justice and doing righteousness. When the kings were being judged in the Book of Kings, their job was always justice, and righteousness. And I've always looked at them as saying justice is the work of law enforcement that a king is supposed to do, not favoring the poor or the rich and making sure justice is happening. And righteousness was the Kings job of making sure everybody worshipped the true God at the temple. Now, Isaiah then is saying, our job is to keep justice and do righteousness. And it's connected in verse two, to following the worship of the true God, that is, keep the Sabbath, not profaning it and keeping your hands from doing any evil, that is doing the things that Mark God's people as being separate. Well, we no longer do the Sabbath, the way the ancient Israel did it by resting, we still gather together for rest in God's word, and to receive his sacraments. Now, the next part, verses three through five is all about the eunuch and the foreigner. What this is doing is it's talking about people who would normally not be allowed in the temple. And so Unix, someone who's a male who's been castrated, wasn't allowed to actually go into temple worship. They simply were considered unclean. Generally, the same would be said for a foreigner. And so God is saying through Isaiah, I am going to gather together the most outcast, not just the foreigner, but also the unic who is will not have children who ends up being a dry tree, he is gathered into my fold. So it says, To the Unix who keep my Sabbath su choose the things that please me and hold fast to my covenant. I will give in my house and with my within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. Now our scheduled reading begins with verse six then it says, And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, and to love the name of the Lord and to be His servants. Everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast to my covenant. These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for My house shall be called called a house of prayer for all peoples, the Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered. This is really an interesting thing, because it says that the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord will be allowed to enter into the temple and offer acceptable sacrifices, which is really not the way it's supposed to be. Old Testament sacrifices you had to be take up the covenant by circumcision, to be able to go into the temple and offer a sacrifice. If you were a foreigner or an outcast, a Gentile, you simply wouldn't be allowed to do that. What that what we see then is that something is going to change. And that change is Jesus Christ is that Jesus will be the true Israel that the Gentiles join into. And that because his acceptable sacrifice is offered, the Gentiles now are gathered into God's people. This is something that Isaiah couldn't have been understood at that time. And so he puts it out as, as Gentiles, the foreigners, being allowed to offer acceptable sacrifices. An interesting thing about verse seven is that it says, For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. This is something that Jesus quotes when he goes and he clears out the temple. He does the money changers with the whip and all of that and casts out all the animals. And he says, My house is to be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. And so one of the the thinking behind this is that they set up this marketplace in the place where foreigners Gentiles could come where they could come and offer prayer at the temple. And what these these money changers were doing was disrupting this place as a house of prayer for all nations. Whatever that thinking is, is this this definitely points us to what Jesus was saying when he cleared out the temple. That's it for Isaiah chapter 56. Hopefully, we'll see you on Sunday.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Faith Comes From Hearing: Sermon for August 13th, 2023

Faith Comes From Hearing: Sermon for August 13th, 2023

Pastor James Huenink

Romans 10:5-17

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Through Jesus Christ means that we are justified, given eternal life freely by the death and resurrection of Jesus. He then went into a series of questions about what does that mean for our action? Like, if we are justified freely as a gift? Why would we behave ourselves? And the answer was, is that when were baptized into Christ, the sinner in US was killed with Christ, and a new person was raised from the dead, that God raised you with Christ to make you like him. So our behavior follows just as Jesus Christ was perfect. We have a new person inside of us who wants to live that same one. Paul ended that section, by proclaiming the amazing power of the promises of God, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, no power on earth, not even life and death itself. These promises are certain and true. Last week, we looked at Romans chapter nine, where St. Paul expressed his anguish over the fact that the promise of God that went out to the nation of Israel was rejected by them. That many people who are part of God's chosen people turned away from the Savior when they heard about him. And so St. Paul comes into Romans 10. And he raises the solution for that problem. It's preaching. He talks about the preaching of the gospel of the proclamation of Jesus Christ, going out into the world, as the solution for unbelief. That both for Israel, God's chosen people, and for the Gentiles, the rest of the world, it's the proclamation of Jesus Christ, that will gather all of the last into the faith so that they can hear and be saved. And I think today, that gives me a good opportunity to talk about why Lutheran preaching is a little different from preaching in other denominations. And very specifically, Romans 10, helps to explain it. A Lutheran sermon, you may have noticed, if you listen to other other kinds of preachers is quite different. That's because one, a Lutheran sermon is designed to be proclamation and not just teaching. That's a very specific use of that word, proclamation. The difference between proclamation and teaching is a very simple phrase, it's the word for you. Now, that doesn't explain a whole lot. You're looking at me like, wait a second pastor. I'm building suspense here, right? What does it mean? When we use the words for you, rather than just teaching? Perhaps I can explain it best by looking at a wedding. When you go to a wedding. One in the Lutheran church, at least we spend a lot of time talking about marriage, I have this rather lengthy introductory reading that I have to do that as part of the service will sometimes read Bible readings from from different sections of Scripture that have to do with marriage. I'll stand up there and I'll give a eight minute sermon that includes talking about what marriage is supposed to be and how Christ can come into a marriage and, and be part of it and strengthen it. But you know, what makes a wedding none of that. Right? Because you can talk about marriage a whole lot, and still not actually get married. There is a moment in a wedding ceremony when the pastor says, I now pronounce you husband and wife. And at that very moment, they are all the sudden married. Right? The words going out, accomplish the thing that is being said. That is the difference between proclamation and teaching. When I say I pronounce you husband and wife all the sudden the thing that is happening is deliberate. It is not teaching it is doing proclamation in the Lutheran church is like that when we're talking about Jesus as well. You can have A pastor who stands up and says all sorts of abstract things about the Bible. We could go through and do all sorts of word studies, help you see all the themes that are going on in Scripture, talk about doctrines, talk about anything under the sun. And that is good teaching. But what you really need is the for you, don't you? I can talk about how Jesus died on a cross. I can talk about how God offers the forgiveness of sins. But what you need is the word of God in your mouth and in your heart, delivered to you. And so what a pastor does, is we say, Jesus died for you. Jesus gives you salvation, He gives you life by faith in Him. And that actually accomplishes the thing that is spoken. It is not an abstract thing where I talk about if you believe, or if you do the right thing, what simply God loves you. And I think that's what St. Paul is talking about when he's talking about the word being present, and delivered to you through the proclamation. He says, but the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. What he's saying is, we don't have to climb up into heaven to grab Jesus and make him ours. We don't have to descend into the depths, to make Jesus our Savior. The Word of God is here, proclaim to you and for you. And through that proclamation, you receive eternal life, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through the word given to you. One of my professors at the seminary wrote this about preaching. He says, The preacher at some point in the sermon speaks to those whom God has gathered this day, and proclaims God, sure, and certain work even now forgiving their sin. It is also personal. This is the for you language of the sermon. It creates within the sermon a moment when God intervene, taking from you your last dying breath, and giving to you the first breath of eternal life. That is the gift of the word being here. And now. You don't have to grab it. You don't have to climb. You don't have to work. You simply here. As the preacher proclaims that it is not just something Jesus has done. It is something he has done for you. We also the Lutheran preacher, focus on proclaiming both God's law and his gospel. And they both come together. St. Paul writes, Moses writes about a righteousness that is based on the law, that a person who does the commandments shall live by. And very often, we all have to be reminded that we really like the law in our heart of hearts, because we want to think that we can do things right. I know I do. I constantly have to be reminded that I don't do things right all the time. I think we all do too, right? We constantly have to be reminded that we are sinners. And so there is always the need to hear. We make mistakes. And so often the law is pointing that out and saying you are a sinner. You need salvation. But sometimes when you hear a sermon like this, the law is not pointing out the mistakes that you've made, but the pain that we feel because of the laws work in the world. That's what the law was in last Sunday sermon. Last Sunday, I didn't point out that you're terrible, horrible people. I just pointed out that we all feel pain because our loved ones have often left the faith. And that's a law isn't it? When people leave the faith, we feel that pain and we need comfort. Today

the law is about missing understandings of the purpose of preaching. If we misunderstand why we're here, you might not know what to expect. You might think that this is all about me teaching you knowledge. But that's not what it's about. The law for today's sermon is Lutheran preaching isn't about teaching. And the gospel salts that Lutheran preaching is actually about delivering Jesus to you here in this moment. The gift of the gospel is always the gift of Jesus himself, and the salvation that He has won for us. And if I'm doing it, right, if I'm preaching correctly, and I've done my preparation, the gospel is not some throwaway line that says, oh, yeah, and Jesus died for you. It is the antidote to the law that you feel the pain that has been proclaimed in the sermon. So last week, the the law was all about the pain we feel when our loved ones leave the faith. And the gospel is being reminded that even in that Christ's promises are still sure and true. There is no reason to doubt them. Today, if the law is a misunderstanding of what preaching is supposed to be, the gospel is how much better it is that the preaching is not about teaching, but about giving you Jesus himself. Because knowledge goes away, doesn't it? The things that you learn about the ideas that Matthew is trying to bring across, or the factoids about St. Paul's life, they may fall out of your head. But you know what doesn't go away. The gift of eternal life received by the power of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the word that you get every time you hear it. And that's what we're here to receive. Now, you might think to yourself, Wait a second, how is it possible that some guy can deliver salvation through the Word? I'm so glad you asked. St. Paul tells us exactly that. He says, faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Right. In fact, he goes into a long questions, a series of questions about how are people going to be able to be saved? He says in verse 14, but how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? This whole passage, all of what we've read from Romans, chapter 10, is a call for the proclamation of the gospel, to go out through the preachers so that everyone who can hear about Jesus and call on Him so that the word of God can go out into their ears, and into their hearts. And deliver fake is because God promises that through his word, he delivers salvation, not just to the world, but to you. That the work of Jesus Christ for you on the cross isn't something that just happened 2000 years ago, but it's delivered to you today. When you hear it. When the Holy Spirit works on and through this word, it is strengthen your faith. So you don't have to climb up into heaven to pull Jesus down. You don't have to grasp and cling and, and work to make Jesus urine. All you have to do is sit there and listen. Because God has sent some a preacher, a proclaimer. To deliver this word of salvation to you. Lutheran preaching is a little different. Because we see it almost as a sacramental act sacramental, as in a delivery of grace, right into you to give you the salvation you need. Lutheran preachers are not guides. We're not simply teachers to tell you about what God has done. It's a time of delivery, a gift for you so that you can be safe Because the word of God that God has given us is not something that is is waiting or passes. It is an active thing a gift of grace through Jesus Christ. In his name, amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Matthew 14

Getting Ready for Sunday: Matthew 14 for August 13th

Pastor James Huenink

Matthew 14:22-33

Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat by this time was a long way from the land, beaten by the waves, for the wind was against them. And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, and said, “It is a ghost!” and they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them, saying, “Take heart; it is I. Do not be afraid.”

And Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried out, “Lord, save me.” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday. This is a podcast of first Lutheran Church that looks at the readings for the upcoming Sunday. So you can be familiar with them. When you come to church. I examine the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. So let's get started. The Epistle reading for August 13, is from Romans chapter 10, verses five through 17. It reads, For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteous based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches and all who call on him. For everyone who calls them the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him, of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Here ends the reading. Romans 10 comes in the middle of a difficult section of Romans. In Romans nine, we talked about Paul's sadness and his grief over the loss of Israel, all the number of Israelites who have turned away from the Savior, Jesus Christ. And he explains how the Word of God has not failed because of this, that God's promises are certain and true. Here we turn and look at some more positive sections about talking about how the righteousness based on faith is different from the righteousness of the law. And so let's begin. It reads, For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, and the person who does the commandments shall live by them. So the Old Testament, the righteousness that is based on the law is very simple. Do God's commandments, and live. Now, of course, in Romans one through three, St. Paul tells us that, that we just can't do that, that whether you are Jewish, and have tried to follow the law your whole life, or Gentile and didn't know about the law, everyone falls short of God's demand, and cannot be righteous by the law. So he continues, but the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. This is a little confusing, but I think we can we can see it in the idea of trying to lay hold of God's promises and drag them down something by our own efforts. And I think a modern way of doing this is the the language around your personal relationship with Jesus. One of the ideas behind this is it turns prayer into something that we do to build our relationship as if it's a work that we can do to make us closer to Jesus. Almost like we have to climb up into heaven and grab Jesus and force him into our lives. This is a kind of works righteousness. And St. Paul counters that with but what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. So instead of needing to climb up into heaven to to forge a relationship with Jesus, it's very simple. The Word of God works on the person by the power of the Holy Spirit to deliver faith and bring about salvation. There's no climbing into heaven. There is no descending into the depths of the earth. We don't have to force God to deliver anything to us. He simply give sit through the preaching of the word in the gospel. He continues, For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses, as and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So with the heart, we believe, and are justified by the gift of faith that God gives us, and we confess, he's used as the word with the mouth. You don't actually need to be able to speak to believe in Jesus, but he uses that phrase, We confess, and we are saved. So whether you are a Jew or Greek, no matter who you are, when we call him the name of the Lord, we are saved. Then he continues, how then will they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? St. Paul is giving us a simple question series of questions. The points is to everyone needs to have some missionary come into their life, and give them the gospel. Now for many Christians, that began with parents, who shared the gospel in baptism, who brought their children to church. But it also happens as pastors and other church workers are sent out into the world. And what happens is, as Christians go out into the world, it's the proclamation of the gospel, the giving of the gospel to the world that calls people to this faith so that they can believe that is why he says, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. Paul continues, but they have not obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says, Lord who is believed what he has heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Now, sadly, not everyone who hears the gospel believes, but that doesn't change the fact that faith comes from hearing and hearing comes from the proclamation of the Word of Christ.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Romans 10

Getting Ready for Sunday: Romans 10 for August 13th

Pastor James Huenink

Romans 10:5-17

For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteousness based on faith says, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’” (that is, to bring Christ down) “or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday. This is a podcast of first Lutheran Church that looks at the readings for the upcoming Sunday. So you can be familiar with them. When you come to church. I examine the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. So let's get started. The Epistle reading for August 13, is from Romans chapter 10, verses five through 17. It reads, For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, that the person who does the commandments shall live by them. But the righteous based on faith says, Do not say in your heart, who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. But what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth, that Jesus is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches and all who call on him. For everyone who calls them the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him, of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Here ends the reading. Romans 10 comes in the middle of a difficult section of Romans. In Romans nine, we talked about Paul's sadness and his grief over the loss of Israel, all the number of Israelites who have turned away from the Savior, Jesus Christ. And he explains how the Word of God has not failed because of this, that God's promises are certain and true. Here we turn and look at some more positive sections about talking about how the righteousness based on faith is different from the righteousness of the law. And so let's begin. It reads, For Moses writes about the righteousness that is based on the law, and the person who does the commandments shall live by them. So the Old Testament, the righteousness that is based on the law is very simple. Do God's commandments, and live. Now, of course, in Romans one through three, St. Paul tells us that, that we just can't do that, that whether you are Jewish, and have tried to follow the law your whole life, or Gentile and didn't know about the law, everyone falls short of God's demand, and cannot be righteous by the law. So he continues, but the righteousness based on faith says, Do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring Christ up from the dead. This is a little confusing, but I think we can we can see it in the idea of trying to lay hold of God's promises and drag them down something by our own efforts. And I think a modern way of doing this is the the language around your personal relationship with Jesus. One of the ideas behind this is it turns prayer into something that we do to build our relationship as if it's a work that we can do to make us closer to Jesus. Almost like we have to climb up into heaven and grab Jesus and force him into our lives. This is a kind of works righteousness. And St. Paul counters that with but what does it say? The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart. That is the word of faith that we proclaim. Because if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. So instead of needing to climb up into heaven to to forge a relationship with Jesus, it's very simple. The Word of God works on the person by the power of the Holy Spirit to deliver faith and bring about salvation. There's no climbing into heaven. There is no descending into the depths of the earth. We don't have to force God to deliver anything to us. He simply give sit through the preaching of the word in the gospel. He continues, For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses, as and is saved. For the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek. For the same Lord is Lord of all bestowing his riches on all who call on him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. So with the heart, we believe, and are justified by the gift of faith that God gives us, and we confess, he's used as the word with the mouth. You don't actually need to be able to speak to believe in Jesus, but he uses that phrase, We confess, and we are saved. So whether you are a Jew or Greek, no matter who you are, when we call him the name of the Lord, we are saved. Then he continues, how then will they call on Him whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? St. Paul is giving us a simple question series of questions. The points is to everyone needs to have some missionary come into their life, and give them the gospel. Now for many Christians, that began with parents, who shared the gospel in baptism, who brought their children to church. But it also happens as pastors and other church workers are sent out into the world. And what happens is, as Christians go out into the world, it's the proclamation of the gospel, the giving of the gospel to the world that calls people to this faith so that they can believe that is why he says, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. Paul continues, but they have not obeyed the gospel for Isaiah says, Lord who is believed what he has heard from us. So faith comes from hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. Now, sadly, not everyone who hears the gospel believes, but that doesn't change the fact that faith comes from hearing and hearing comes from the proclamation of the Word of Christ.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Job 38

Getting Ready for Sunday: Job 38 for August 13th

Pastor James Huenink

Job 38:4-18

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
    Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
    Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
    or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together
    and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

“Or who shut in the sea with doors
    when it burst out from the womb,
when I made clouds its garment
    and thick darkness its swaddling band,
and prescribed limits for it
    and set bars and doors,
and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
    and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
    and caused the dawn to know its place,
that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
    and the wicked be shaken out of it?
It is changed like clay under the seal,
    and its features stand out like a garment.
From the wicked their light is withheld,
    and their uplifted arm is broken.

“Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
    or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
    or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
    Declare, if you know all this.

Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday. This is a podcast of first Lutheran Church that looks at the readings for the upcoming Sunday. So you can be familiar with them. When you come to church, I examine the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. So let's begin. The Old Testament reading for August 13. Is from Job chapter 38, verses four through 18. Let's read it. Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding? Who determined its measurements? Surely, you know, or who stretched the line upon it On what were its basis sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who shot in the sea with its doors when it burst out from the womb, when I made clouds, its garments and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it, and set bars and doors and said, thus far shall you come, and no farther. And here shall your proud waves be stayed? Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and cause the dawn to know its place, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it? It is changed like clay under the seal, and its features stand out like a garment. From the wicked, that light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of its deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this, here ends the reading. This is a tough one. The Book of Job is a challenging book to read, especially as you dive into the depths of some of these conversations. In the book. The book of Job begins with a famous story. Satan and God are up in heaven. And God says look at my servant Job, Isn't he awesome? Satan says he only is great because you're so nice to him. And so they make kind of a deal. Satan's allowed to go and terrorize job to test job to see if he's going to curse God. And so eventually God, Job goes through all these horrible things, loses everything, and his health is taken away. And yet he still doesn't curse God. And he turns to God, and ask a whole bunch of questions. And these questions are like, basically it comes down to what in the world are you doing? Why are you doing this to me? God's response is what we see in job 38. God basically says, You got all of these questions, who were you to question me, and what I do in creation. And so that's where we get to this. He got asked the questions. Where were you? When I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding, who determines its measurement? Surely, you know, are who stretched the line upon it On what were its basis sunk or who laid its cornerstone. When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. Now, you'll see all of these are building metaphors. God is saying, Where were you? When I built the world? Did you watch me when I laid it out? When I measured it when I put it together when I built it foundations? And the answer is obviously, Job didn't exist. He wasn't there. He has no idea the height and depth of creation. And he makes a similar question about the the sea when he goes, or who shot in the sea with its doors when it burst out of the womb, and I made the clouds it's garment and thick darkness it's swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it and set bars and doors and said thus far shall you come and no farther. And here shall your proud waves be stayed? This isn't actually upping the ante. God is saying, are you able to lock the sea into its place? Because that's what I did. Do you know how all of this happened? Were you there? When I fixed the sea and said the most dangerous thing in the world, you stop, you can't progress anywhere. And that's what he's saying to job like the sea was the most dangerous place in all of creation. It was scary. And so God is saying to job, I control this scary thing. The most terrifying thing in all of creation. I put a limit on it. And, and then later it's I commanded the most Burning since your day is began and cause the dawn to know its place. Basically, what God is saying, you're this little human being job. You don't know creation, you don't know why I do the things that I do. You don't understand. And so you need to understand what your place is in creation. Basically, it's God is God, and you are not. And I think it's a good reminder for us Christians, as we consider what God does in the world, is that it's, we're not God. We don't understand his reasoning. We don't know why he allows the things that he allows or does the things that he does. We don't understand why one person gets sick and another is healthy, or one gets rich and another is poor. We don't understand why some are in church and others are not. We can't know any of these things because we are far more limited than God who made heaven and earth and created everything. But what we do have is a Savior who was there, a Savior who came and died for us as a human being, and took our place on the cross. And so while we can never be the ones who were there when the foundations of the earth were laid, or the sea was was, was limited. Jesus Christ was and he came and took our place on the cross.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Has the Word of God Failed? Sermon for August 6th, 2023

Has the Word of God Failed? Romans 9:1-13

Pastor James Huenink

Romans 9:1-13

I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls— she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

My lord and savior Jesus Christ, amen. We're continuing the series on Romans that we've been working through since June. We have gone all the way starting with Romans four and worked our way up to here, we saw that St. Paul has worked, pulled us that everyone is a sinner, falling short of what God demands, and given a free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ, they cannot be earned. He then brought up a series of objections to that asking mostly about what if Salvation is a free gift? What do we do about our behavior. And he linked that to our baptisms, that by being baptized into Christ, we die and rise to new life, to live as Christ would have us. Finally, we made it all the way up to chapter eight, where St. Paul ends with this amazing declaration of God's love, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. He says, No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved him. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the president, nor the future, nor any powers, neither height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. I have to say, if I were writing a letter to a group of people, I'd be tempted to put a period there and right, sincerely, Paul, and ended right. What he does, and what he has been doing is he's been saying something, and then thinking, what's a question that might come after this state? Right. So Paul has been saying, how revocable the promises of God are, how the love of God cannot be taken away? How there is nothing that's can separate us from Christ. And then there's a question. You say, if God's promises are irrevocable, what about the people of Israel? St. Paul has been going out to the to the Gentiles for a long time now. And turning away from the Jews that have rejected this promise, and it is almost like the promise of God has been turned away from Israel, and is now going out to the Gentiles. And so it raises a doubt. You've got this, this great declaration, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. And the Jews in the background are going but wait a second. Didn't God choose Israel? Didn't he make this promise to them? As he turned away from that, and that is why St. Paul begins with with this discussion of Israel. He talks about the pain that he has, as he looks at his people who are rejecting the promise of Christ, and turning away from God. He says, I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed, and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brother's, my kinsmen according to the flesh. St. Paul is looking out at all of the people of Israel, all of the Jews who spend their time in the synagogues who have gone to temple worship who have offered the sacrifices, and he is going out about them. My brothers and my sisters, the people I sat next to as they read the scrolls, as we prayed the song as we sang the songs as we heard the word. What about them? There's so much anguish. It's the pastor's heart that looks out at a people and says they're turning away from the salvation that God has given them. And it hurts. He goes so far, to wish that Jesus Christ I would cut him off. And in exchange, save them all. Can you imagine? It actually echoes something that Moses said in Exodus chapter 32, when God's people had come to the base of Mount Sinai, Moses went up. And while he was up there, they built the golden calf and started to worship it. Moses says, alas, this people have sinned, the great sin, they've made for themselves gods of gold. But now if you will forgive their sin, but if not, please block me out of your book that you have written. In other words, he's saying, Take me, condemn me and save them. Just like all I'm sure, Paul would have would have loved it, if it could have worked that way. Save them, punished me. But it's not how it works. We have seen similar situations, in congregations all across America. People look out at the friends and neighbors and the people who used to sit next to them in their pew. And there are spots that are empty. Your brothers and sisters in Christ who are no longer here. One of those things that do cause this is this COVID pandemic, right? We saw a great resignation, as it came out as people during the pandemic left their jobs. But it also turned out that they also left their churches that many of the people that you know and love, use the pandemic as a reason not to come back. churches across America lost 2030 or even 40% of their attendance. And we look around and we say, where did they go? The pain we can feel. I know as a pastor, during the pandemic, it greatly affected me. I certainly can understand Paul's pain as he cries out about his brothers and sisters in the Jewish family. As I looked out and saw people I loved and cared about, who just disappeared, and stopped returning phone calls, just out of the blue. Not just the pandemic, of course, as we look at those who have disappeared. There are many in here who would love to say, who look at their families, and save, where have they gone? I bet there's many a parent who would gladly trade places with their children. Take me, save them. As they who have been raised in the church, who heard the promises of God and simply don't care. A lot of pain isn't. And I'm willing to bet that you can can feel the kind of anguish that St. Paul does, at least in some way. And so the question, I think that St. Paul is raising about Israel, is the question that we can raise about all of these people who seemed to be missing from our pews. Why didn't the Word of God work? Or has the word of God failed? We have all these promises. We have these shore and true promises of Jesus Christ, we have the sacraments, baptism and communion. Did they work? Or did they fail? St. Paul result recites all of the advantages that the Israelites had, and they had a few right listen to this. He says they are the Israelites. And to them belongs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God overall blessed forever.

These Israelites, they had the word of God passed down to them through the scrolls that they read in the synagogues. They had the worship offered at the temple, the presence So God in their myths, they had the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all of the prophets, all of the people that God had sent to gather them together, and bind them to him so that they would be ready so that when Christ came, they would receive him with joy. And yet, they don't. We can say the same in many of our friends. And we ask, what happened? St. Paul's answer for that is not something that can take the pain of the grief away. But simply to say, this is how it has always worked. But the faith of Israel, the faith in the church is not genetic. Or passed down from parent to child. But something that happens in effort that even the best and greatest of the ancient church, going all the way back through the prophets did not always gather together, everyone that was called for the problem. So what he does is he says, We're not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all children of Abraham, are children of Abraham, because they are offspring. But through Isaac, shall your offspring be named. This means that is not the children of the flesh who are children of God. But the children of the promise are counted as offspring. What he's pointing to is that it is it is not a genetic relationship to Abraham, that makes you a part of the promise. Just as the promise of Jesus Christ is not passed down by genetics, but be by being connected to this promise through faith. Abraham had many children, but only Isaac received the promise. Isaac had Jacob and Esau, but only Jacob was the one through whom it was passed down. And if you look at the history of, of Israel, the church in the Old Testament, it has always worked this way to one of the great judges, the prophet Samuel, raised in the temple, one of the great men of God who was who spoke to God who received visions who did everything amazingly well. When he was old, he appointed his sons to be judges to follow in his place. And it didn't work out very well. First Samuel, chapter eight, when Samuel became old, he made his sons judges over Israel, the name of the firstborn son was Joelle and the name of his second Elijah, they were judges in Beersheba. Yet his son did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after game. They took bribes and perverted justice. I don't know about you, but I don't think I could ever claim to be nearly as good as Samuel the prophet, nearly have the wisdom and power of his visions. I've never been able to say Thus says the Lord and actually convey the words that God spoke to me. And yet Samuel to face the same problem. The same thing is true for Elijah, though he didn't look out at his son's and see this problem. Elijah was so upset by the way his ministry was going, that he ended up running into the wilderness and asking God to kill him. By the time he climbs up into the mountain and hears the voice of God, God tells him that he had reserved 7000 in the entire nation. Only 7000 And yet, he is the greatest prophet of the Old Testament, Elijah who stood next to Christ with Moses on the top of the Mount of Transfiguration. We cannot say that the word of God failed. Only that this is how it's always worked. Even Jesus, I don't know if you know this. I'm not as good as Jesus. Even Jesus, His word was rejected. In the passages that we've been looking at in our guide School readings, they come right after in the Gospel of Matthew, a turning point, up until before this, everything has been great. But in chapters 12, Chapter 12, all of a sudden Jesus is being confronted by the Pharisees and the officials, and things are starting to go to not go well. And Jesus is receiving some pushback. And what he does with the parables that come right after that is he explains why this happens. He explains why people are pushing back against the greatest prophet who has ever lived, the Son of God Himself. And one of those is the parable of the sower, where the word of God goes out. And in some places it grows. And some places it doesn't. We just say, this is how the Word of God has always worked. And some people hear they believe, and some people don't. So we're the app, when we ask ourself, has the word of God failed? The answer is no. The promises of God are sure and true. And we know that, because those promises were the same promises that raised Jesus from the dead, the man God, who said, who was who said to his disciples, that he would be rejected, killed, and after three days rise, he did. And the promise that all who believe in Him will rise with him. So that the promises that St. Paul read to us at the end of Romans chapter eight, that nothing can separate us from the love of God, are certain and true as Jesus is alive. And we can cling to those, knowing that Christ will raise us on the last day and give us victory over death. Even as we still think about the grief that we have, but some don't believe that the people that we looked out at the people, we've served the people, we've given God's Word, the people that I've given Holy Communion to may have turned away. We still have the glorious promises of Jesus Christ, knowing that we will be raised from the dead. This gospel is always true. This message is always power. But it doesn't mean that it always takes root and grow. And it doesn't mean that some people won't turn away. And so as we bear this, we still cling to the comfort that Jesus gives us. That nothing can separate us from that neither death nor life, nor powers, nor angels, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, even as we mourn those who have left in Jesus name, Amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Matthew 14:13-21

Getting Ready for Sunday: Matthew 14:13-21

Pastor James Huenink

Hey, everyone, this is Pastor James Huenink Over at first Lutheran Church, we're starting a new series on our podcast feed called Getting ready for Sunday. It's a look at the upcoming readings for Sunday morning so you can be familiar with them. When you come to church, I examined the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. The Gospel reading for August 6 comes from Matthew chapter 14, verses 13 through 21. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But When the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went to shore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. Now, when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over, send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. But Jesus said, they need not go away, you'll give them something to eat. They said to Him, we have only five loaves here, and two fish. And he said, bring them here to me. Then he ordered the crowns to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven instead of blessing. Then he broke the loaves, and he gave them to his disciples and the disciples gave them to the crowd. And they all ate, and we're satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full of the broken pieces leftover, and those who ate were about 5000 Men, besides women and children. Here is the reading or reading begins with this. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. So you have to ask, what does this say? What is this referring to? Now when Jesus heard this, the story immediately before this passage is the story of John the Baptist being killed by King Herod the tetrarch. It's a sad story about the daughter of her Rhodius dancing before the king and he makes a promise that he ends up regretting and John's head ends up on a platter. So Jesus hears this, and he is mourning his cousin. So he withdraws to a desolate place by himself, presumably to pray. But the Gospels continue. But when the crowds hurted, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, and healed their sick. So Jesus sees the crowd, he's off by himself. And instead of getting a chance to mourn his lost loved one, he gets to take care of the crowd. He heals, they're sick, and they're all gathered together. And it continues. Now, when it was evening disciples came to him and said, This is a desolate place, and the day is now over, send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves. It seems like it's covering up some of the things that happened or not quite covering them up, but doesn't say, Jesus probably taught, he healed, the sick, all sorts of things going on, and it finally becomes night. They send them away, verse 16. But Jesus said, they need not go away, you give them something to eat. They said to Him, we have only five loaves here and two fish. And he said, bring them here to me. We know what's about to happen. But the disciples certainly don't. Jesus turns to them and says, You give them food to eat. And they're like, What? We've got nothing here. What are you talking about Jesus, we have only five loaves and two fish. So Jesus, knowing what he's going to do, calms them down. Verse 19. Then he orders the crowd to sit down on the grass and taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said, a blessing. Then he broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. On they all ate, and we're satisfied. And they took up 12 baskets full on the broken pieces leftover, and those who ate are about 5000 men besides women and children. Can you imagine what this would be like? You're one of the 12 disciples, Jesus has got the five loaves and the two fish and he breaks them. And then he hands them to the disciples. And the disciples start distributing the loaves and every time they tear a bit of the loaf, the it comes back and they're handing it out. And they keep handing it out. I mean, they probably were a little bit like this little love Jesus what's gonna happen here and the look it out the crowd and it's getting smaller and they think, oh, no, but about halfway through, they still have for their torn piece of loaf left as they continue to pass it out. And by the time they're all the way through, they end up having so much more leftover than what they started with. What an amazing miracle and an amazing experience. The Gospel of Matthew has a theme of Jesus being the new Israel. And we see it over and over and over again that Jesus does the things that the great figures of the history of Israel did. And here we can see Jesus doing a new Moses thing. The crowds are the people out in the wilderness, just like Israel was wandering in the wilderness, and God fed them manna from heaven, bread that they did not know. And here Jesus does something similar. He feeds them bread and meat, just like God in the wilderness. And it shows us that Jesus is fulfilling everything that God had promised in the Old Testament. He is a new Israel, providing for God's people by His might and power.

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Getting Ready for Sunday: Romans 9:1-13

Getting Ready for Sunday: Romans 9:1-13

Pastor James Huenink

Hey, everyone, this is Pastor James Huenink over at first Lutheran Church, we're starting a new series on our podcast feed called Getting ready for Sunday. It's a look at the upcoming readings for Sunday morning so you can be familiar with them. When you come to church. I examined the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. The Epistle reading for Sunday, August 6 is from Romans chapter nine verses one through 13. Here's the reading. I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh, they are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race, according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God overall, blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham, because they are his offspring. But, quote, through Isaac shall your offspring be named, and quote, this means that is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children that promise are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, quote, about this time next year, I will return and Sarah shall have a son, and quote, and not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born, and had done nothing, either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, quote, the older will serve the younger, end quote, As it is written, quote, Jacob I loved, BUT ESAU I hate it, and quote, The word of the Lord. Thanks, Peter, God. What a different chapter. This is compared to Romans chapter eight. It ends with such joy and such power and amazing promise that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. And all the sudden we come from this this great high to Well, it's kind of a low. Paul is morning. What does he say? He says, I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying. My conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. I think St. Paul is thinking about his brothers of, of Israel, his people, the people who are rejecting the gospel. By this time, St. Paul has traveled around doing his missionary journeys, and he's looked around and he's seen all of these synagogues where he's gone, and he preaches there first, and then he goes to the Gentiles. And everywhere he goes, it seems like the Jews are rejecting Jesus. They're kicking him out. And not only that, but the church is becoming more and more Gentile and less and less Jewish. This is disrupting him this is hurting his heart. He says, For I could wish that I myself were accursed, and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. St. Paul even wishes that he could trade places. He could look at Israel and say, You're rejecting Jesus, God will cut me off so that you can be saved. So many parents think about that with their kids. I think they see their kids go off into unfaithfulness and I bet they'd gladly make the trade. God send me to hell send my kids to heaven. St. Paul writes, they are Israelites, and to them belong, the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs and from their race, according to the flesh is the Christ, who is God overall, blessed forever. St. Paul recalls all the glories of ancient Israel through the Old Testament, the promises the law, the patriarchs, and everything else, and finally leading up to Jesus who comes from their descendants. Verse six, but it is not as though as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel. And not all are children of Abraham because they are an offspring. But through Isaac, shall your offspring be named. St. Paul was raising a question as the word of God failed the promise to ancient Israel. And he says, No, it's not by genetics. To the children become offspring of Abraham. But by the promise, Abraham had several children, only Isaac had the promise. He continues. This means that is not the children the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise that are counted as offspring. For this is what the promise said, about this time next year I shall return and Sarah shall have a son. And not only so but also Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, though they were not yet born, and had done nothing either good or bad, in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works, but because of him who calls, she was told, the older will serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob I loved, BUT ESAU I hated St. Paul's looking back through these words at the Old Testament story and saying, Isaac was one of many, and yet he was the only one who received the promise, the cert covenant of circumcision, and all the promises that given to Abraham. Similarly, Jacob was also given the promise, but Esau was not an ISA would serve his younger brother Jacob, showing that God chooses not based on genetics or on normal inheritance or on belonging to a particular people. God chooses by his choice. And so we say that the pattern of choosing the Gentiles and Israel turning away is similar to what God has done in the Old Testament. He has always done choosing based on his choice, and never based on the things that we would expect

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Getting Ready for Sunday: Isaiah 55:1-5

Getting Ready for Sunday: Isaiah 55:1-5

Pastor James Huenink

Hey, everyone, this is Pastor James Huenink. Over at first Lutheran Church, we're starting a new series on our podcast feed called Getting ready for Sunday. It's a look at the upcoming readings for Sunday morning so you can be familiar with them. When you come to church. I examined the Old Testament, epistle reading and Gospel reading for each week with a few notes and a simple explanation. The Old Testament reading for Sunday, August 6 comes from Isaiah chapter 55, verses one through five. Let's take a look. Come, everyone who thirsts come to the waters, and he who has no money, come by and eat, come buy wine and milk, without money, and without price? Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread? And why do you labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligent ly to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourself enrich food, incline your ear and come to me, hear that your soul may live and I will make with you and everlasting covenant my steadfast sure love for David. Behold, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and a commander for the peoples. Behold, you shall call a nation that you do not know. And a nation that did not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, and of the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified You. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Isaiah, the prophet is talking in chapter 55, I think towards the people who are in exile in Babylon. He's thinking about the people who are lost and far away. And he asked them, Why are you going to work for things that do not satisfy? And he offers them a promise, God will give all of his people only what satisfies. And he offers that through the steadfast love that he shows for David. We can see this in our own lives as we work for all sorts of things that don't satisfy. It's a consumeristic culture. It's like the treadmill of content that I see on YouTube or Netflix, I'm always looking for more, there's always a new thing that I have to want, that I want to see. And yet it doesn't last it doesn't satisfy. The thing that only satisfies is the Lord God of Israel, who offers us salvation. And Isaiah talks about gathering together a nation through David, through Jesus, Israel boiled down to one, David, our King, Jesus, our Savior, and He will gather us together and make us into a nation of people who are saved by Him. This is why he offers to give us things without money, wine and milk Without money and without price. Because Jesus paid the ultimate price and the cross to save us

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All Things Work For Good: Sermon for July 30th, 2023

All Things Work For Good

Pastor James Huenink

Romans 8:28-39

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
    we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We've been working our way through the book of Romans over the last several Sundays. And this is heading towards the close of Romans chapter eight, which we've also been focusing on for quite some time. The Book of Romans begins by talking about our sin, and God's salvation. Now, no human being can live up to God's standard, whether we are religious or not, no matter how good we think we are, the only way towards salvation is to be saved by grace through Christ. After that, I talked about what it means to live as a Christian, knowing that we're not saved by our works, but by grace and how we have this new life by being baptized into Jesus Christ, and raised from the dead with him to walk in this newness of life. In Romans chapter eight begins with a great conclusion for all of that where it says, There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Last time, we talked about how what that means for us, as we deal with the deficiencies of our lives, as we grown under the weight of the decay of creation, and all creation waits for that day when Jesus will return and reveal the new heavens and the new earth. And so now, St. Paul begins with perhaps one of the most misunderstood passages of Romans, where he says, We know that for those who love God, all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose. I say that this is one of the most misunderstood passages because most people will shorten that up to something like this. We know that for all those who love God, all things work together for good or even shorter. All things work together for good. I remember watching a TV shows called scrubs. This is a show that was on a while back, where it was in a set in a hospital. And one of the religious characters on the show was having a really depressing day. And there was a tragedy, a kid had gotten stabbed, real sad. And one of the atheist doctors went up to her and said, Where is your God in this? And she said, Well, all things work together for good. She had confidence, she knew something was going to get fixed. And so they go back and forth in the sitcom way until the she goes into the MRI. And they find that the knife went right next to cancer, wish they could operate. And the lesson was that the Bible says all things work to make something better in your life. And that's what a lot of people think, Romans 828 sets. For those who love God, things will generally work out well for you. If there is a bad thing, it will lead to something better. If there is something hard in your life, it's going to generate something good. Often, we in the in America, think of that something good as health, or happiness or money. If you're a little less crass about that it's God is doing this to you to teach you a lesson to make you a better person. Of course, what that does, is it means that we are trying to defend God, as if the bad thing in our life isn't bad. It's really good. It means we end up having to call tragedies, good things. We have to say, Oh, it was really good that that girl got stabbed on that sitcom, because they found this cancer instead of saying, You know what, sometimes bad things are bad. Right? And that's what we should be able to do. We shouldn't have to say bad things are good in order to defend God. And that's not what St. Paul is doing here. What St. Paul is saying when he says all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose is something different. Because he actually explains What he means in the following verses. He says, for those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers, and those whom He predestined, he also called, and those whom He called, he also justified and those whom He justified, he also glorify that word for at the beginning of verse 29, is doing a lot of work here. It might seem small, but it's the word that tells us that he's explaining here. He says, All things work for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose, for this is what he means. So let's take a look. He says, those whom He foreknew, He also predestined. St. Paul saying, the people of God that he knew He also predestined. They're kind of the same similar ideas, your God knows you and predestined you, before the foundation of the world. We have a couple of places where St. Paul writes something similar. In Ephesians, chapter one, verses four and five, he writes, in love, He predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of His will. And a little bit later, in Ephesians, chapter one, verse 11, he says, In Him, we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him, who works all things according to the counsel of his whip. St. Paul is telling us that God has known you, and predestined you, before the foundation of the world, to be called by Christ. He chose you. Now, when we hear this word predestined, I think just about everybody I know, gets gets a little panicky about that word, right? You start to hear things like wait, wait, if God predestined people before the foundation of the world, what does he do if he didn't predestined me? What about all of these other questions? And you start to go into like a theoretical spiral where you're asking, how does this predestination work? What I'd like to point out to you, is that whenever St. Paul uses this language of predestination, he uses it as a comfort for God's people. This isn't peering into the mystery of God's will, and looking to see how does God's will work and how does his his salvation work? As a theory, it is always God has chosen you. God is predestined you as is, as he says, in Ephesians, He predestined us for adoption, we have obtained and inherit. Predestination language is not about terrifying you. It's a comfort. And it's should be comfortable. Because if God waited to respond to you, to see if you should be saved, what would he see? If he said to himself, I will see if you have good enough faith. If your conversion to my Christianity was sincere enough, then I will choose you. All that means is he's waiting on you to be good, good enough for God, which is exactly what St. Paul talked about in the beginning of Romans, you can't do it. But that's predestination means God chose you. Simply because he wanted because of His grace, without anything about you. He chose you in Christ to be saved. And it's all by his own will. But He predestined us it continues to be conformed to the image of His Son.

What this makes me think of is the way that they they used stamps, to make coins in the ancient world. In the ancient world, when they would make coins they would take cold metal, and they would take the stamp had an image on it, and they would put it down on the metal and they whack it and it would leave behind an impression. When Jesus was asked about Whether it was okay to pay taxes to Caesar, he pulls it ask them to pull it a coin. And he says, whose image is that? And they go Caesars. That's exactly that kind of image language to be conformed to the image of the sun. And so what does it mean to be conformed to that image to be molded to be like Jesus Christ? Well, what is Jesus's story like? begins by being filled with the Holy Spirit and His baptism by going out into the world, and dealing with all sorts of people. And then it moves into being rejected by the priests and the scribes, suffering, dying, and then rising. That sounds like a Christian life, doesn't it? Beginning with baptism, we receive the Holy Spirit, just like Jesus Christ did. We were born into him to follow in the pattern, as it says in Romans chapter six. And we live a life that can include suffering, and pain, sometimes even rejection and in many places, even death, because of our Savior. With the promise, that on the last day, we will rise just as Jesus. That is what we are predestined to be conformed to the image of the sun, not for good things now, but perfection in the future, for glory in Christ, to follow in the footsteps of our Savior.

And what it means then, is that by being conformed to this image by following this pattern, we become one of many who follow those footsteps of Jesus Christ, as St. Paul says, in order that he might be the firstborn among many. So that, just as Jesus was raised, we to rise with him. Verse 30, continues, it says, and those whom He predestined, he also called. So for the people that God shows before the creation of the world, you he also call. How did God call you? Well, he calls us all the same way that he calls everyone. By the power of the gospel, the message of Jesus Christ goes out into the world and he calls you into the church. And how do you know that you are called to the church? It's actually pretty easy. You're here, right? I mean, this is this is not hard. The gospel is gathered you here. You receive the sacraments. You receive forgiveness of sin. You've been adopted in baptism. God has called you. He has chosen you. He's predestined you he's gathered you what it says next, those who he called he also justified. Romans chapter eight begins, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, for the law of the Spirit of Life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death, for God has done what the law we can by the flesh could not do by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walked not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Jesus fulfilled, did everything that God needed from us, accomplished it for you. You have been called into Christ, to be justified by him. Which means, as Paul says, and those whom He justified, he also glorify. What I'd like you to notice about that one, is the tense of the verb. All of these verbs the that he he for knew He predestined, he called he justified. They're all in the past tense, and so is glorified. He didn't say those whom He justified He will glorify He glorified is the word. And what that means is, is that this is already accomplished, for those who are in print is that there is glory by being in Christ. Now. Am I much of the time when we sit here in the church, and we talk about the glory of Christ and the resurrection of the dead, we think about it as a thing that is in the future. Eternal life is far off on the day that Jesus returns. But Paul wants to remind us that there is glory already, by being in Christ, it might be hidden under our flesh. It might not be easy to see. But it's there. Because we are already in Christ. Now. We are already raised from the dead, we are already living eternal life, just in a hidden way. So God has already gone even as we wait for the day when that will be fully revealed, and Jesus Christ return. And so when we talk about what it means that all things work together for good for those who love God, and are called according to His purpose, what it means is that everything that happens around us whatever's going on in your life, the good, the bad, the tragic. We're all moving on a path to resurrection. The salvation that God has provided. What this comfort does for us is it doesn't mean that maybe this bad thing happens. So a good thing can happen two days from now. But that everything God does in all of creation, is pushing us towards the day of salvation, pushing us towards the resurrection of the dead. That the good that God wants for you is not solving a small problem in your daily life or make things 2% better. But the change all of creation, and make you heard, and new on the day of the resurrection. This is why Paul then goes into this amazing story about not being able to separate be separated from Christ's love. Because what he does is he lists all of the things that might bring up an objection, right? It's persecution, danger, nakedness, sword, famine. None of that matter, right. None of the problems that you face can take us away from Jesus. Because all of that is part of God's plan. All of that is part of God's push towards the end towards the resurrection and eternal life. So we can trust that whatever God is doing in your life now. It's not out of control. It's not going contrary to God's will. It's pushing you to resurrection and eternal life in him. Which is why St. Paul can say that. In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. In his name, amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The Christian Struggle: Sermon for July 9th, 2023

The Christian Struggle: Romans 7

James Huenink

Romans 7:14-25

For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.

So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. As you know, we've been working through the book of Romans, section by section, over the over the time Romans has come together to lead through a couple of ideas. It begins stressing the idea that everyone is a sinner, that you can do nothing good. That no matter how awesome you are, and how obedient you try to be, nothing can truly measure up to God's law. But salvation comes through grace, by faith, on account of Christ as a free gift of God. Once Paul comes to that, at the end of chapter three, he begins to answer ask a number of questions that come up from it. Things like, well, if we don't have to obey God to be saved, what do we do? Can we sin? Do we reject the law? What do we do with all of this obedience stuff. And so he goes through a number of concepts, things like being baptized into Christ means that we die with Christ, and we rise with him. So we live a new life is the resurrected person, perfect and holy. He talks about our relationship with the law, how the Old Testament law, we died to it. And yet now we rise to this new obedience to a moral law, not as someone who is afraid of violating it, but someone who strives to serve in the Spirit. And that's kind of where we ended last week. What comes next is the natural result. If we have been freed from the old law, or now serving in the spirit, how does that work? In our hearts? Well, we get is a struggle. Paul was dealing with the Christian struggle that I think any honest Christian has, is the pain of what happens when you look at your own life. And say, Why did I do that? I know you've done it, right. You've had a moment in your life where you go, I didn't want to do that bad thing that I just did. I was cranky. I took it out on someone who loves me. I forgot something I was supposed to do. And you do this internal like, what? That is the struggle of a Christian who is trying to obey God, but finds that sin inside of us tries to take over and we lose control. That's what Paul is writing about in Romans chapter seven, today. And so what I'd like to do is go through this section by section piece by piece, to really explore what he says so we can understand it. He begins with this. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am under the flesh sold under sin. Here God is talking or Paul is talking about God's moral to moral law being spiritual is the the requirements that God has on each and every one of us. They did not disappear with the Old Testament law. They are good and holy, because they come as part of God's creation, we're all called to follow this law. And so we know that it is spiritual. The law that St. Paul referred to just a little while ago was there to help remind us how good it truly is that it is actually a demand and a call to be perfect. Luther tells us about this as he explains his 10 commandments, and he helps us to see how good and wonderful God's law truly is. And I pulled out an example from the Eighth Commandment, you shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor. And I want you to imagine what it would be like in a church if we could do this according to Luthers explanation, where he says, We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him slander him or hurt his reputation, but defend him speak well of him and explain everything in the kindest way. Can you imagine what it'd be like to live in a community like that. Where anytime someone had bad news, like the gossip we all love, we decided not to share it. How amazing would that be? Right? Or if a politician said something stupid, we all explained it in the kindest way. I know you laugh, right? Because we go the opposite. Can you imagine how good that would be. But it's the sin in us. That breaks that, that violates it. And no matter how much we know that this is what we should do, we find ourselves gossiping away. And the law is spiritual. He says, but I am of the flesh sold under sin. He continues, I do not understand my own actions, where I do not do what I want. But I do the very thing I hate. I know I've seen this in myself. And I bet you have to. We all have failings that we wish we could fix. Otherwise, we would not have New Year's resolutions. We would not have all these books about becoming a new you science about breaking bad habits. This is part of the human condition. And even St. Paul, one of the greatest men of the Christian faith, looks at himself and says, I do not do what I want. But I do the very thing I hate. We've all been there. I recognize the pain that is likely in Paul's voice as he thinks these words in his head, when we do the stuff. They're our own weakness that we hate. This is what it means to be a Christian is called by God sanctified by Christ. But knowing that we still can't live up to the good that we want to do. Each and every one of us. If you have the Holy Spirit in you, you know, you can't live it up the way you're supposed to. And sometimes it just doesn't it. Sometimes the struggle leads to pain. And it's and even St. Paul goes through it. He continues. Now, if I do what I do not want I agree with the law, that it is good. Very simply, what this means is that he's setting up this thing where he's got this, the his body, his flesh is doing what he doesn't want. But his mind agrees with God's law. And what I think is, is this helps us to see that this internal struggle that every Christian has the pain that you feel when you do something that's wrong, and you don't know why is actually a good sign. What it means is that you haven't given up it what it means is that you're a Christian. But the Holy Spirit is at work inside you, helping you to recognize that you need a savior. That the sin in you is not something to celebrate, or to love. But something to turn from repent, something that drives us to our Savior. The struggle that a Christian faces as they go out every day and we have to fight against the temptations of our sinful flesh is the struggle that is there only because the Holy Spirit has called you to something new. It's a reminder that you have the call of God and the gift of Christ, that Jesus died for you and raise you from death. It's a reminder that the battle you face every single day is part of the battle that leads towards everlasting life. And that conflict is fueled by the Holy Spirit. Without that conflict, you would just be a sinner Right,

you would just be one of the last. But it's because you're saying, because Christ has called you that every day is a battle. Every day is a struggle against the sinful flesh that moves within. St. Paul continues, he says, so now it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in in me that is in my flesh, for I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. Or I do not do the good I want but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within. Here, St. Paul is relying on some of the ideas that he has talked about prior to this. In Romans chapter six, he begins by telling us that we died with Christ, and we are raised with Him. And what that means is that we are now a new creation in Jesus Christ, the real you has been raised from the dead. And yet, at the same time, there is the flesh that remains. And so we have this dual identity. The real you is raised from the dead with Jesus Christ in baptism. And yet at the same time, there is a sinner trying to hijack your body. This sinner is not you. The real you has been raised with Christ. And yet we constantly have this battle. And St. Paul can goes on to say how he wants to do this good, but he finds himself controlled by the flash and ends up doing evil instead.

What should this do for us? As we see this struggle in our own lives, we set a goal for the day you wake up, you go out there and say today I'm going to be good and then you get out of bed. What should this do for us? It should drive us back to the source of our life. The place that supports this true identity that God has given us the Word and Sacrament because in this ongoing battle, there is only one place to fuel us and beat us and strengthen us as we fight against the temptations of the flesh. That is God's word. That's the sacrament, Holy Communion, absolution, remembering our baptism. Because this is where we are strengthened for this battle and encouraged and driven out to try again. At the end of the Small Catechism, there's this section called Christian questions and their answers. And what it does is it rolls through a bunch of different questions in preparation for coming to Communion. And one of my favorite is the final question. Question number 20. Where it says, But what should you do if you are not aware of this need, and have no hunger or thirst for the sacrament? Lose the rights to such a person no better advice can be given than this. First, he should touch his body and see if he still has flesh and blood. And then he should believe what Scriptures say of it in Galatians five, and in Romans seven. Right. If you still have flesh, you still need the sacrum. And this battle that we face every day should just drive us to the place where we can take in Christ's Body and Blood and be strengthened once again.

Paul continues, he says so I find it to be a law that when I do wants to do right, evil lies close at hand for a delight in the law of God in my interviewing, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwell In my memory. St. Paul really likes using the word law in a lot of different ways, right? So what he's saying is that there's an ongoing battle. There's a law that says, God, that follows God. And then there's another one that follows sin, and they're constantly at war in him. And it's this thing that he sees going over and over, on and on his life. Now, here's the point in the sermon where you might expect your pastor to come forward and tell you here are five different ways that you too can defeat the laws in your in your life. Or where you might say, how here, get a sermon about how to have the victory over temptation in your daily life. But you're not going to get that from me. Because Paul, doesn't give that either. St. Paul, perhaps one of the greatest men of the Christian faith, guy who wrote more books of the Bible than anyone else, who traveled the globe as a missionary. He still struggles with sin, and struggled with sin, till the day he died, as did the other apostles, as have all the saints of the Christian Church throughout all the history of the world. Now you might think, great pastor, way to make me depressed leaving here today, I'm looking forward to battling against sin. But I want you to remember that that makes you no different than St. Paul. Right. St. Peter, chief of the apostles struggled with sin the same way you do. You are no different. You are no worse than the greatest of the Christians who's ever lived. When you face your daily battle, it is the same daily battle as the best of them. And God is still with you. And while we fight this battle every day, all the way until the day of our deaths, we know that it has always already been won by Jesus Christ. And that is how St. Paul finishes it out. He says, wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death. Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Because we know that Jesus Christ will deliver us from this body of death. Because the day he returns, we will no longer be the real OS raised from the dead and the flesh. The flesh that is sold, the sin will be gone. And all that will remain is our resurrected bodies with Jesus Christ, to live in perfect perfection forever. This is the victory that we have in Jesus Christ. Knowing that this battle that we face will only go on so long. And then eternity come with perfection in him. In Jesus name, Amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Whom Do You Obey? Sermon for June 25th

Whom Do You Obey?

James Huenink

Romans 6:15-19

15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We are working through the book of Romans right now, over the course of the book, we have seen a number of points that St. Paul has made. The first three chapters were spent telling all of us that everyone is a sinner. Jews were sinners. Gentiles were sinners, which meant that all of us are sinners, religious and non religious people like none of us can live up to God's standard. And it closes with the explanation of the three gifts of grace that God delivers us through Jesus Christ, that despite our sin, He offers salvation by the death and resurrection of our Savior. Next, Paul pointed out that this has always been the way that God works, that he has done this since the very beginning, when he came to Abraham, who believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. We continued on through Romans, to the point where Paul continues to talk about this grace that God has given us until we get to a question which asks, now that we live in grace, how should we live? It's an important question, isn't it? Because the first thing you do is when you say, you can never follow the rules, and God forgives you anyway. People will say, then sweet. I don't have to follow the rules. Which of course, is not true. That is what Paul asks here. He says, What then? Are we to sin? Because we are not under law, but under grace? That's the Pauline version of that. Sweet, no rules, right? No, is of course, when he said St. Paul then sets up a two options for the human being. What he says is when human beings live, we either obey sin, He calls us slaves to sin, or we obey righteousness. He says, being slaves to righteousness. And the question was, who do you obey? Now I have to tell you, after I submitted this title, I thought to myself, am I being a good obedient? grammarian? Here? Isn't this supposed to be whom do you obey? I actually don't know. Maybe maybe the English teachers in the congregation can help me out afterwards. Right? But we all have to obey, right? At least something. And in the Christian church, we recognize that there are really only two sides. There is sin, death, and Satan, or there is God and righteousness. And you obey one or the other. Now, as Americans, when you hear the word obey, I bet you don't like it. I bet you react relatively negatively. We are in fact, the most individualistic nation and culture on the planet. We, our ancestors came here because they don't like obey. And yet, the pastor is up here saying, Who do you obey? You have to choose. And we know this is the case because even independent people follow in a pack. Have you ever noticed that the independence groups in the history of America have kind of a uniform? Right? You look back at all the different rebel groups, rebel cultures in the United States, and they all dress the same. Think about the beatniks remember the beatniks slam poetry, cafes. They'll dress the same right. Black black with the Baray. The rebels felt the need to have a uniform. What about the Greasers? You know what they look like? Because of Greece, right? They've got the hair the pompadour, the white t shirt, cigarettes in the sleeve. And you know, what about the hippies? They've got a look. They were the rebels have their day. Even the hipsters, the ones who are ironic about everything, somehow you can spot a hipster from a mile away, which I could do in my old neighborhood in Chicago, they always had the giant bushy beards, and they wore super tight pants. And yet they were supposed to be the rebel. Because human beings are not independent, it doesn't matter how much you wish you were, we always follow. We always need a tribe, a group, a story, a belonging. And in the spiritual world, no matter how independent you want to be, you are either following sin, death, and the devil or God leading towards righteous. And St. Paul asks, Which one do you want to present your your body to? Do you want to follow righteousness? Or sin? When you put it that way, Pastor, that sounds like an easy choice, right? But it's less so when we hit our day to day activity. Because sin often is the one that our bodies want to do. It's the choice that we want to make when we're tired, when our will is worn down. And well, it would just feel nice this one time. And so what St. Paul is suggesting to us is that a life, a disciplined Christian life, following righteousness is the aim that all of us should have. We should turn away from following sin, discipline ourselves, so that we can lead towards righteous. This is all because of the grace that God has given us. What St. Paul says is that God has set the Romans free from the sinful ways that they once walked in. You see, they were once trapped in sin, because they didn't know who God was. They didn't know anything about their savior, Jesus Christ, and couldn't possibly know the holiness that he gives them. And when the message of the gospel came to them, they were set free. And the same is true for all of us. Before the gospel came, no matter how young you were, you couldn't have followed righteousness, because you need the Holy Spirit, do it. You need to know about Jesus, but you have been set free from that. Which means it's time to keep going in that direction to live a disciplined Christian life. So St. Paul says, present yourselves as slaves to righteousness and not slaves to sin. Well, when you present yourselves as obedient slaves to God, you do things that are good for you. And holy. And isn't that a good thing? One of the things that is challenging for Christians is that when we face a decision that our we're tempted to do we often think wouldn't it be so much more fun to do the tempting thing? Right? I know I've been in that position. I often happens to me when I when I have food that I'm not supposed to eat. In fact, Kathleen's office is the source of most of my temptation with all the candy in it. And I break my will. But what I know is that if I continue to eat all of her candy, my running and my health will suffer. Right? If I don't live a disciplined life, I won't reach my goals

and it's Same in the Christian life. Every time we turn towards temptation, what we end up doing is marking a path and taking an extra step towards the things we don't want. And away from the holiness that we do. Every time we take a discipline life and focus on following God. We are in graining habits, and the good things that God wants for us in our life. St. Paul talks about this when he says, What were you getting when you were following this, this slavery to sin, things that you were ashamed of? Right. But when you follow righteousness, what do you get? Sanctification that leads to eternal life. And the worry here is the more we turn towards sin, the more we ingrain the habit of walking away from righteous. And you do it a couple of times. You know, there's always forgiveness. But the question is, for how long? How long can you walk away from God? before it begins to affect your faith. This is why we live a disciplined life. Why we keep saying, Turn to God ingrain these habits of receiving God's grace through his sacraments and hearing His word and coming to church, because it is all about developing the habits of being a faithful Christian. And habit. One good habit leads to another good habit. God wants us to have this so that instead of drifting into sin, we can march towards the holiness, the gift of God that He gives them. And it's all because of the great end, the Paul has in mind, both for the Romans and for us. He says, but now that you've been set free from sin and become slaves of God, the fruit to get leads to sanctification, and to its end, eternal life. And that's the goal. That's why we live a disciplined Christian life is because we want to stay focused on the free gift of God, so that we don't turn away from it. We want to stay focused on the amazing gift of Jesus Christ. And we know that on the last day, he will come back and raise us from the dead and this outstanding gift, the Christ one for us on the cross and rose from the grave to give us we'll be there for you. And so we keep our eyes focused on that. What we don't want is the other way. A saint paul says For the wages of sin is death. We don't want to take our steps down the path of sin to continue to follow that. Because we know that eventually that path and eternal death and damnation, eternity in hell. What is glorious about God's promised that is available for all who comes with the gift of the Holy Spirit that you get here is a gift that can sustain you in your disciplined life in. We just have to know that while the gift of God is free, following Him takes work. It takes discipline it takes gathering here to receive and turning away from sin so that the joy that we can have on the last day will be full in God's grace. In Jesus name, Amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Reconciled with God: Sermon for June 18th

Reconciled with God

James Huenink

Romans 5:6-11

6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today in our readings, we are back in the book of Romans. Now, if you think, a long time back, we went through the book of Romans for a little bit, had a sort of a mini series on it. And now that Easter and all of the holidays are over, we're back in it again, which means we need to look at what Paul has been up to talking in Romans to get to where we are.

So a reminder about what Romans is. Romans is kind of an introductory letter from the Apostle Paul to the church in Rome, he had not really been there, they didn't really know him all that much. And so he is, we think, getting ready to make a base out of Rome. So you can do more missionary journeys built out of there. And this is why Romans is sort of like a doctrinal letter. It's his introduction to the church to say, This is who I am, and this is what I teach.

Over the course of Romans, we get to see a number of things he builds slowly. In the first three chapters, St. Paul points out that everyone's a sinner. He starts out and says, those Gentiles, those Roman pagans, they're sinners. And you can tell because they do some crazy stuff.

But Jews in the church, you guys are sinners, too, because you had the law and you failed to do it.

And then finally, he gets to a place where he says, Guess what that makes everyone a thinner.

In fact, it's worse than that. We're not just people who make mistakes.

Maybe there's even nothing good in us at all. But nothing we can do lives up to God's standard of perfection. And he closes out that section by saying, but there's something amazing, a gift that God has revealed to us through Jesus Christ, that we are saved not by our actions, but by grace, the righteousness of faith given to the church.

In Romans four, and he points out that this is how God has always worked. The God saved Abraham by faith. When he said, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness, a quote from Genesis.

Later on in Romans, chapter five, he points out this famous passage, that because we are saved, we can rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that these things do something for us. He says, Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that our suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, character produces hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

And so now we continue with a passage about being reconciled to God.

St. Paul writes things like this, For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.

Later on, God shows His love for us in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He also says, More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus through whom we have now received reconciliation.

And so what St. Paul does now is he points out that for all of us who are sinners, we now have reconciliation to God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Jesus's death and resurrection means that God offers the whole world reconciliation. We were sinners, and now we're part of the family of God. We used to be ungodly, and now we are God.

We have reconciliation.

Jesus Christ brings us in all of us who have failed to live up to the standard of our father and makes us one with Him.

This is a powerful message in a world that is filled with guilt. And our world is filled with guilt.

There is so much guilt out in our culture. We don't even know what to do with it.

People feel guilty about everything.

There's parent guilt, isn't there? If you've ever been a parent, you know what it's like, right?

Was I too harsh? Was I not strict enough? Did I not do the right thing here? Did I sign them up for the right activity? Are they ready for the right school? Did I do everything wrong?

No parents ever felt that way? Right?

There's environmental guilt. Right? We have that, don't we?

Am I putting out too much carbon in the world?

Am I recycling enough?

Have I done enough to save the world from the impending problem?

We live in a world that wants us to feel racial guilt.

That tells us that there are problems with everything that we do, and everything is problematic.

There's interpersonal guilt.

The more day to day stuff. You just when you screw up, and you hurt the people around you. And you go, wow, I didn't think that was that kind of a jerk.

There's guilt everywhere. And we know that because famous people are always apologizing for something that they didn't know was wrong until they did it. Right.

Every single day, it seems like someone is standing up and reading a an apology prepared by a PR consultant that reads something like mistakes were made. Right?

We live in a world that is so filled with guilt, because

the rules are not clear.

We're told

to follow our dreams, the rules and institutions that used to be there are no longer there. Which means that the rules are secretly scattered across our lives, like landmines hidden underground. And you only know when you need to be guilty when you step.

Sounds pretty terrible, right? That's because it is. And there is so much guilt out there.

And in here, right.

Which is why it is so wonderful, that God has sent someone to get rid of

Jesus Christ, who died on a cross to take all of your guilt on himself,

who paid the penalty for every sin, so that you can be reconciled to God.

And because of that, all of your guilt can go away.

Very simply, when you hear the words, I forgive your sin, in the name of the Father, and the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

It's easy, right?

God sends His messengers, like me to take away that guilt by forgiving.

And you might say to yourself, Wait a second Pastor, I can't be that easy. I have all of these things that I feel guilty for. They pile up and they're they're just building up in my life until they reach the top of my head. And all you have to do is say I forgive you.

Isn't that a little cheap? Shouldn't I have to go out and fix the problem? Shouldn't I have to strive or do something?

Nope.

Because the forgiveness that the church delivered, the reconciliation that we have for you is not cheap. In fact, it cost something very, very precious.

The holy precious blood of Jesus Christ and His innocent suffering and

the your sin is not a light thing.

Your guilt is there for a reason. You're a terrible person.

Right? And so am I.

All of that guilt that piles up in you is there because you deserve it? You are guilty

and the only way to get rid of it is to have something even greater. Come to you

and eliminate.

And that's Jesus.

He paid the ultimate penalty for you. The infinite God died, to give you forgiveness and reconcile you with our Father in heaven. So that guilt need not hang on you anymore.

The funny thing about me saying that though is that actually can be something that you feel guilty about, right?

That's because when I go online, and I search, how do I forgive myself, you get articles like 10 steps to forgive yourself.

Right?

And that means all you have to do is get really good at forgiving yourself.

Which doesn't work, right? Because you can say, Oh, I forgive me.

And then 30 seconds later, you feel guilty again?

Right?

Isn't that how it works?

In fact, we hold on to some things that we know are ridiculous.

When I was in high school, yeah, you're getting a high school story. When I was in high school, I was an umpire at a baseball game, I was the home plate umpire. And I made a mistake. And I got so upset at myself. When I made a mistake. I turned around and berated myself while someone was sliding into home and they were making a play.

Good umpire, right? Yep, I'm going to place here, I'm here and I go, I don't know safe.

Very mad at me, you can imagine right?

I still think about that. About once a week.

Really?

I still think about that. And how can you believe I have no idea why.

I have no idea why I still feel guilty about that.

And it's ridiculous, isn't it?

Stupid. And I know it, and I can't get rid of it.

Because self forgiveness is no forgiveness at all.

What you need is not your own forgiveness. But God.

You need someone to come to you and say, I forgive your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Why do you need that? Because something that comes from outside of you is different from hearing a voice in your own head.

Someone who stands in front of you and says, Jesus died for you. He rose for you. And you are forgiven.

If is

and you can say it out loud. Say your sins me. Right? You can speak it and think, Well, Pastor would never leave. Let me be in the church. If I told him that one. Nope, that's not true.

So your shame and your guilt wants you to think that you're the only sinner who's really bad.

And when you come to me,

you sit in front of me to say this is what I did. And I just say very simply, I forgive your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. You'll be amazed and how it works.

You can get rid of your guilt.

Because that's the gift that God gives to His church.

That any sin, no matter how big, or whether it's screwing up a baseball call,

is forgiven by the same death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, washed away by the waters of baptism, and forgiven with the forgiveness that God gives His Church to deliver to you.

This is a powerful message.

And I think this is really the key for us not just here in the church, but as a gift to the world.

We are all feel guilty here because everybody out there feels guilty too because we're all Americans in this crazy culture. That is all about guilt.

They need that freedom to

see the reason everything is so crazy and people are shouting so much and so hostile and angry is they are trying to prove to themselves that they're actually good that their guilt is not there and that the louder they shout the less they think about their own pain.

We can actually solve it.

We can take away that guilt and that pain.

All we have to

do is bring it to them.

Not shouts, not react in anger, but just say, there is a way to get rid of your gift.

There is a way to be reconciled to God

and it's through Jesus Christ.

This is a great gift that we have as an author,

not just for ourselves, but the reconciliation between humanity and God that we can speak to a world who needs it just as much as you do

is the most powerful thing we have in a world filled with guilt and pain,

that Jesus Christ came to die for sinners,

for the ungodly,

as he says,

But God shows His love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The Importance of Relationship

The Importance of Relationships

James Huenink

Acts 11:19-30

Now those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he came and saw the grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast purpose, for he was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.

Now in these days prophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. And one of them named Agabus stood up and foretold by the Spirit that there would be a great famine over all the world (this took place in the days of Claudius). So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, to send relief to the brothers living in Judea. And they did so, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

Today we are celebrating St. Barnabas apostle. Now this might surprise you being called an apostle. Most of the time we reserve that to the names of the 12 or to St. Paul. But if you read closely, the Bible actually calls St. Barnabas an apostle. In Acts chapter 14, it says the apostles Paul and Barnabas. So I guess if x calls him an apostle, maybe we should, too, right? I'm thinking somewhere in there, there's a disagreement between the big A apostles, right, the 12 that Jesus had chosen, and the use of the word apostle in in the early church, it seems like we have made it a specialized office that just the 12 can hold, whereas in the early church, they use the word apostle for any number of different kinds of people. Even though there was still just the 12 as a separate group. St. Barnabas, the apostle, shows up in for the very first time in the book of Acts, in Acts chapter four. But he shows up as Joseph, a Levite, and native of Tsipras. It says, That's Joseph, who was also called by the apostles, Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Tsipras, sold a field that belonged to him, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet. This was in those early days right after the great speech at Pentecost, when many, many people came into the church. Barnabas was one of them. And as the church gathered together to make sure that all of the people who are part of the body of Christ had everything they needed. Barnabas was one of those one of the first to sell his extra property and bring the money and give it to the church to make sure all of the people had enough food to eat. Barnabas shows up throughout the early story of the book of Acts. When Saul is first converted on his way to Damascus, he sees the vision of Jesus and he joins the church. Barnabas is the one who brings him to Jerusalem, who vouches for him who presents him to the apostles and says he is really converted. This is not a plan to infiltrate the church. Barnabas is also the guy who accompanies Paul on many of the other things we read in Acts chapter 11, that when the first people go to Antioch, and they preach to the Gentiles for the very first time, Barnabas decides that this would be a good job for Paul. And so he leaves, goes all the way over to Tarsus grabs Paul and says, Come on over with me, you've got a job to do. And there he and Paul work together for a year. After that, Paul and Barnabas are chosen by the Holy Spirit to go out on this missionary journey that begin Paul's missionary journeys as we see them in the book of Acts. Except Paul isn't the one who's leading it. Barnabas is he's the guy in charge. He's the senior pastor, and Paul is the assistant. It isn't until later that when Paul and Barnabas split up, that Paul becomes the head of that missionary journeys that he goes out on and becomes the apostle that we know today, the author of so much of the New Testament, and the leader of these amazing missionary journeys that happened. What I think is fascinating about this is the importance of Barnabas in the life of St. Paul, in raising up a leader in the church. Now this doesn't, doesn't end Barnabas his story. Part of the rest of his import for the church is that he is supposed to be the author of the letter of Barnabas a very important early church book. And then he goes out and is stoned to death according to the church histories somewhere in Syria. What we know about Barnabus from Holy Scripture, though, points out the importance of relationships within the Christian church. The Christian Church is not a collection of individuals who come together for a program who come here just to get what they need. and go home. The Christian Church is a community of believers. Barnabas whose name means son of encouragement is the perfect example of how this works, that when God gathers people together, he binds us together not just as, like I said, a collection of individuals, but as a series of relationships that are designed to support and nurture each other. In Acts chapter four, when we're introduced to Barnabas, were introduced to him in the context where he takes his money, and offers his up as a way to provide for those in the church who have any kind of need. Now, as this grows, this becomes an organized effort. And we see the very first deacons, the first officers of the church, who begin to do a organized distribution of food. But all of it comes out of the mutual love and care that the church has for each other, building on the individual relationships, and the unity that Christ bring. We see this unity chiefly, in the amazing gift that we get in Holy Communion. As you and I take in Christ's Body and Blood, we no longer are individuals separated from each other. We are no longer just me and you. We are bound together mystically in the body of Christ. As you eat Christ's body, as you eat, drink his blood, we all become one in him. We all are joined together, inseparably. And it makes us one people. This is why the unit of the church is not the individual, but the congregation is that we together are bound in Jesus Christ. And it's from this unity, that the individual relationships between people are designed to encourage, and help and love each other into further faithfulness in the church. We are here to help each other grow in the faith, to encourage each other to serve, and to guide each other in the faithfulness that Christ calls us to be. And we can see that in the beautiful relationship between Barnabas and St. Paul, and how Barnabas works within this, this relationship mentoring structure to help launch one of the greatest leaders of the Christian church. So Barnabas is a wonderful example of how a senior in the faith can pass on the faith to a new Christian. For many of us, I think it's difficult to imagine St. Paul the Apostle as a new Christian, right? It's kind of like, wait a second, Paul saw Jesus on the road to Damascus, like there was his vision, he had this amazing thing and he goes to to Damascus, and then He's baptized and then he's the apostle right? Magic. That's not how it works. If you if you read the actual text of Acts, St. Paul goes through a time of learning and growing and becoming the person that he is by the time he writes the letters of the New Testament. It begins with his time in Damascus. But we also see Barnabas doing it as well. Barnabas is the key for this brand new Christians entry into the wider church. You can imagine what it would have been like for all of the Christians who saw Stephen stone, when they looked at the people laying down their cloaks at the foot of this guy named Saul who was having Christians killed. They might not have accepted that Saul was becoming a Christian. They may have been just a little suspicious. For good reason, right? Barnabas, who took an interest in Saul brought him to the church and introduced him into the fellowship of the believers and said, you can trust this guy. He's one of us. Can you imagine what would have happened? If somebody hadn't done that? Could the Apostle Paul have broken into this organization this tight knit close knit group Or

maybe not. Is the church a little bit like that? Even the most open churches, everywhere across the country, the most welcoming groups of people is a tight knit community. We know each other, we're used to each other. We know the people who volunteer, we know the people who are involved on boards. And well, we're kind of happy with that, aren't we? I mean, we stand up in front, and we say, we would love to have volunteers. But we always go to the same group, the same people. It's tough to break into a church, to get to know the key players to understand the pulse of things. And we don't realize it. Why? Because we're in the middle of it. We know everybody we know what's going on. We know how things work. We always have to remember that to welcome someone into our congregation takes a Barnaba. Someone who can go and say, oh, yeah, we can trust this guy. Or, oh, yeah, come on with me to this event, it's gonna be great, you'll love it, I will go with you. That's what Barnabas did. And bringing someone into a community, it's great to have someone who can say, I will go with you. I'll bring you them. And it's a very simple way to draw someone further into this relationship where we can share God's Word with each other, and encourage each other. Barnabas also was the one who saw an opportunity for Paul to get involved and grow in his ability to be a preacher of the gospel. In Acts chapter 11, there's just this little bit that we that you might miss, right? Barnabas is sent to Antioch. And when he gets there, he's like, Oh, this is amazing. Isn't this great? But then he leaves. And he goes all the way to Tarsus. And he finds this guy saw the Apostle Paul and says, I've got a job for you come with, and they go together. And he brings up Paul in the church, about preaching the gospel. We in the church are always looking for people to do this sort of thing, aren't we? We're always looking for another volunteer to help out someone who can, oh, I don't know, help the kids at VBS. Kathleen knows me five bucks. We're always looking for people to do the sorts of things that we need to get done, right. And when we get together in meetings, we say to ourselves, why aren't we getting more volunteers, it's always the same people, isn't it? We stand up in front, we offer an announcement which you need to do. But the thing that always works way better than announcements, or things in the bulletin is walking up to someone and saying, I think you'd be good at this job. Come with me. And let's do. And that's the way to use the relationships that we have to help encourage people into the church, to help encourage people do the kinds of service and love and care that Christ has called us to do. And not only that, what happens then, is you build an individual relationship that you can use to show that kind of love to someone else. Isn't that the important thing about the church is not so much that we get an activity done, but that when someone needs you, you can be there for them. You can be the one who says Jesus died for you. He rose for you. He is here for you. Or when you need something that person can be there to you to encourage you by giving you the Word of God. That is what Barnabas did with Paul. He brought him into the church. Barnabas also helped Paul by equipping him to be a missionary and a leader on his own. When Barnabas said Hey, come on with me Paul Hebrews beginning to teach him so that he would grow and in their very first missionary journey Barnabas is the one who is leading the way and Paul is the one who goes with it's only after they return and Barnabas and Paul have a disagreement that Paul goes off and does his own thing. And that is part of the work that we are called to do as well. As as we gather people into our congregation, we're there to help equip them not to just be followers, but to be leaders in the next step. And what we need to do then, is helped help guide and learn and teach with God's word. So that we all can grow in our ability and our faithfulness, and eventually lead things on our own. So how does this work in a congregation? Well, one of the ways that this works is that each of us should be interested in investing in the lives of others. This is simply part of the love and care that a congregation has to each other. And try to find opportunities where we can show that kindness to each other. One of the examples that I I often come to is when someone needs a ride to church, every once in a while there will be a need for rides and people say, I know what we need is we need to get a bus, right? Then we can have a series of volunteers. And then we can get the bus and they'll go out and one person every week, and they'll rotate. What if we did it this way? Someone needs a ride to a church and we say, I know someone who lives on the way they drive past your house every single Sunday, maybe they can pick you up. And then there's a relationship. And then there's a connection. And when you need something, you call up your friend, who you've been riding with for the last three years, and you say, hey, I need some help, and they're there for you. Maybe they'll pray for you. Maybe they'll love you. That's how it works, right. That's how the love of God goes from person to person. And we connect in the congregation. Things happen Similarly, when we are trying to bring up youth in the church. Our relationships are designed to be person to person not program to person. youth, especially teenagers, they're becoming adults aren't you guys, right? They need to not have relationships with just a program. But with the congregation at a certain point. We need to address them as individuals and not the children of someone else. So when we need ushers, maybe we say to the youth, we say why don't you join our program. Rather than contacting their parents, we say you can be part of this and schedule them and make it regular. And all of a sudden they've got a responsibility, right? We're treating them like adults, giving them the capacity that they have. What a great way to grow in the church, to develop relationships with adults who will love them and care for them, and help them grow as Christians. We want the children. I think the key way to do that is to see them in church. Right? If you don't see children, can you have a relationship with them? If they don't see you, can you have a relationship with them? We want to love them, right? I know you guys I know you do. And the best way to do that is to see them in here on Sunday morning, to hear their screams and love it because it means our churches a lot to see them run around in the aisles and maybe Oh, it'll be a little distracting. But it means our church is aligned. And we can care for them and show them that they are not separate annoyances but part of God's people. And every Sunday, there's a little more connection, a little more love, and we can raise them up in the church. Barnabas helps us to see how important these relationships are. The people don't fall in love with programs. They don't fall in love and get raised up. By being connected to ideas. We connect with each other. And that's what the church is about. Using these relationships to point everyone to our Savior, Jesus Christ, so that the Holy Spirit can bind us together by His grace. In Jesus name, Amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

The Power of the Holy Spirit: Confidence in God's Word May 28th

The Power of the Holy Spirit

James Huenink

Acts 2:1-21

When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language.And they were amazed and astonished, saying, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians—we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.” And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But others mocking said, “They are filled with new wine.”

Peter's Sermon at Pentecost

But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:

“‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
    and your young men shall see visions,
    and your old men shall dream dreams;
even on my male servants and female servants
    in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
And I will show wonders in the heavens above
    and signs on the earth below,
    blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
the sun shall be turned to darkness
    and the moon to blood,
    before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

Grace, mercy and peace deal from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

What a day, the day of Pentecost must have been.

Can you imagine?

At this time the multitude of believers was at maximum of about 120. That's what the book of Acts tells us. They had been gathered in prayer,

hearing the apostles.

And then on this day, they are all together in one place.

And suddenly, the amazing happened.

There is that sound of rushing wind that filled the entire house where they were, and then tons of fire divide

and rest upon the disciples,

doesn't give us exactly where many artists will depict it, floating above their heads.

A theologian that I listened to said, maybe it would have been right in front of their mouths,

because of what would come next.

They were filled with the Holy Spirit, the wind, and the fire signified the amazing thing that was happening. And the Spirit empowers them to go out and speak.

Can you imagine being in that room?

And all of a sudden these things happen? And you're carried along by the Spirit? Most of us imagine it as an observer.

But can you imagine being one of the apostles?

Like what would that have been like? You're You're filled with the Spirit. And all of a sudden, the power of the Spirit pushes you out into the crowd.

And suddenly, you can speak Chinese.

I can't speak Chinese. But I think that would be pretty cool. I wonder if you're thinking like, they're like, What is going on? This is amazing. Right?

The people outside were just as amazed by the power of the experience. Some of them were confused. They thought the disciples were drunk. But Peter lets them know it was too early for that. Besides, I don't know of a single beer that can teach you a new language.

Wouldn't that be nice?

They go out, and they explain it's far too early. What is happening is what was predicted by the prophet Joel,

that on the last days, the Holy Spirit would be poured out upon God's people.

And you might be thinking, Oh, those are the last days, what are you talking about before the day of the Lord?

For them that might have been pretty clear, says, The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes that great and magnificent day.

When know that the sun was turned to darkness not too long ago, on the day that Jesus was crucified.

And I've heard that smart people say that right about that time there would have been illuminated a lunar eclipse,

which is what sometimes we call a blood moon.

Which meant all of these signs could have come to pass. Right before the Holy Spirit was placed on the apostles.

Meaning the great and glorious day of the Lord

was the day that Jesus was crucified.

And now we are in the last days, with the disciples filled by the Holy Spirit, sent out into the world to proclaim the Word of God, to all people.

This isn't the only time the Holy Spirit does his thing. In the book of Acts, the apostles are empowered by the Holy Spirit throughout.

It begins with Jesus, the book of Acts with Jesus saying you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

And it's the Holy Spirit from this moment that empowers the disciples, to be those witnesses and carry the message of Jesus Christ out into the world.

After this amazing day of Pentecost,

Ask. Peter preaches a powerful sermon to all who are listening and they are cut to the heart by his words, and they cry, Oh, what should we do?

And he says, Believe in Jesus and be baptized, and you will be saved.

3000 people become Christians that day, and are baptized. Now, if you are doing the math in your head, if you take 12 apostles, baptizing 3000 people for eight hours, that is one baptism every two minutes, eight hours a day.

Can you imagine that service? Are you excited, be pretty great, right?

The message of the gospel was empowered by the Spirit to go out into the world,

to bring all of God's people together,

to gather together the people from every place on Earth, so that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

And it's the same today.

The Holy Spirit that filled the apostles, that put the fire above their heads, still fills the church today, and empowers us in mission.

And that power wasn't in the wind.

The power wasn't in the fire.

The power was in the Word of God.

Because that's what went out to the people and cut them to the heart. That's what went out and change them and gathered them together into the Christian church.

It would cause them to have faith so that he could be baptized.

And it works the same way. Today. Whenever you hear God's word, preached, spoken, told, whenever you hear the words, talking about Jesus, His death and resurrection for you, the Holy Spirit is at work in you.

He strengthens you.

He calls you, He changes your heart.

It is the promise that we have through the word of God. But the Spirit is at work every time the word is proclaimed.

Whether it happened back in the day of Pentecost,

or happens here,

or when you to go out and speak it to your neighbors, and your friends.

And I think that's a key promise that we need to hold on to

is that every time you speak the Word of God to people, they also received the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is at work. In your words, when you talk about Jesus, no matter what happens, no matter the outcome.

Every time you speak, the Spirit is at work.

Which means the power of God is there. When you talk about Jesus. When you share God's Word with someone else, the power of God is working through you

to gather people into the church.

And what we do is we trust the Holy Spirit to do what he sees is right.

One of the things that I think we in the church have done is lost confidence in the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word.

We've lost confidence that it's the Spirit's job, to change people's hearts

through the ways that he promises to do it. And instead we focus in on other things,

on the experience on everything around God's word, rather than sharing it.

This summer, this past year, I started looking through a our curriculum or VBS curriculum. We've gotten questions about why we weren't using group anymore. So I went up to our old VBS curricula. And I just grabbed a couple of random ones. And one of the ones that I found was this high seas curriculum, which was focused in on the Word of God and I thought Great, maybe this will be awesome. How can you screw

up the Word of God, right?

They did

say over the five days, they said that the word of God was true, comforting, surprising, life changing and for everyone. And those things are right.

Good descriptions of the Bible. But when you look at the lessons, something odd was missing.

When they said the Bible is surprising,

they focused in on things like Peter, escaping prison and surprising the people.

When it was comforting, they focused on just some words of comfort.

But what was missing through all of the lessons, was a very important person.

Jesus,

he wasn't there.

The Bible is not true because it's true. The Bible is true in that it shows us Jesus. Right? If you don't see Jesus in the Bible, you're not reading it correctly.

The Bible is not comforting, without Christ, comforting you by His death and resurrection. In fact, without Christ, the Bible is quite threatening,

even scary.

The Bible is not life changing. Without the Holy Spirit, delivering faith into your heart and showing you Jesus.

Without Jesus, the Bible, well, it's just a book.

What this curriculum wanted us to do was get really excited about a book,

but not excited about Jesus, and not focus in on the words and the promises. He tells us.

It focused on the emotions you're supposed to experience, and not on the promises of God, that give us the Holy Spirit.

It's not the experience that changes hearts,

or the emotions about a program.

It's the word of God that delivers the Holy Spirit.

That's the pattern throughout the book of Acts.

When you follow the disciples along through their preaching and teaching, there is always something amazing that going on, but it is there to point us to Christ,

and the Holy Spirit does his work.

We see that in the day of Pentecost, the wind and the fire and the languages and it all points to a sermon.

Or how about when Peter and John they go to the temple and they seem they see a beggar. And he asked for gold and instead of gold, he gives him healing. And the people gather around and they go this is amazing.

And Peter preaches about Jesus.

And it's not the healing that changes minds. But the word. The same thing happens when Philip goes to Samaria. He proclaims Jesus Christ and the people believe.

Or how about when Peter, for the first time goes and preaches to the Gentiles where Cornelius is, they are sent by a vision, he goes there. And he speaks about Jesus. And it's not the vision, but the word. And all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit descends on the Gentiles who are there, and they speak in tongues and praise God.

Or how about when Paul and Barnabas are sent out on their very first missionary journey, and they go to a town and they are preaching and teaching and a beggar comes up? Another man who is unable to walk?

He heals the man. And the Greeks there are like, Zeus and Hermes are here.

Paul and Barnabas had to say, whoa, whoa, ah,

the miracle actually distracted them.

And he had to say, No, this is all about Jesus.

And the Holy Spirit went out through their words.

And over and over and over again. The mission of God was not through the miracles.

But it was the word that the Holy Spirit gave to the people around them. That was the power that changed hearts.

Not the experience.

What does that mean for us?

It means that no matter what we do

No matter how great or poor, the experience is around us.

The power of God is only shared. When the Holy Spirit goes out through the means that he is prone.

It's the word of God that gathers people into the church, by the power of the Holy Spirit.

So whether it's here in this place, the Holy Spirit is at work with the word

or whether you share it with your neighbors.

The Holy Spirit only works through the Word. So have competence in that. It's the same thing that the apostle Peter used to convert 3000 people on the day of Pentecost. It's the same thing that St. Paul use when he went throughout the whole world to gather together people into the church, the exact same power is given to you and to me when we speak God's word to others.

It doesn't have to be amazing.

It doesn't have to be accompanied by miracles, or wisdom.

All it needs is God's promise.

Coming through the Holy Spirit,

which means that when you speak,

the Holy Spirit goes out to call by the power of the gospel. When you speak, the Holy Spirit goes out to strengthen people in their faith or turn them to Christ.

When you speak, the Holy Spirit makes people firm in God's promises.

We can trust

the God the Holy Spirit works every time the word is preached, every time the word is spoken.

In Jesus name, Amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Beware! A Sermon About The Devil

1 Peter 5:8-11

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.

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Beware! A sermon about the Devil

James Huenink

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. We are coming to the end of our series on Peter's first epistle, we've been working through it through the whole Easter season. And we've we've sort of slowly seen what St. Peter had to say to the church in the ancient world, as well as to our church today. He began by telling us that how in baptism, we receive an inheritance from Jesus Christ that is imperishable, undefiled unfading and kept in heaven for you, given to you by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Next week found out that because we are made separate given this amazing inheritance, we are called to be holy, like God is holy, to obey our Savior, Jesus Christ and follow in his footsteps. After that, St. Peter tells us that as God's church we are gathered together into a holy priesthood. He uses also the image of a church building that is founded on the cornerstone that is Jesus Christ. We talked about how Christians suffer, and that very often we suffer not because we're doing evil, but because we do good. And that's not something to flee. Peter reframed that suffering as a participation in Jesus Christ's own suffering. Last week, we talked about what it means to share our faith and give a good defense of what we believe, and how that involves not not being angry, and shouting as far as being part of any kind of cultural battle, but to focus on our vocations, and love and serve others while we share the message of Jesus Christ. And today, St. Peter returns to a theme that he has hit over and over and over again, suffering. But this time, he hits the angle, where he warns us about what Satan tries to do with that suffering. How Satan comes after us, in an attempt to pull us away from Jesus Christ. He says, Be sober minded, be watchful, your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. St. Peter is reminding the church of his day as well as us is that the devil, Satan, whoever you want to call him, he's got lots of names throughout history is real and active in the world. Satan does stuff. He's not a figment of the ancient imagination. He is not just a force that we sort of personify. He is a real, true spiritual being who is always on the hunt, to get you. St. Peter calls him a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. I kind of get that. I have cats, and they are always looking for a bug to devour. And you see them, They stalk and they move they think they're really sneaky, but I see it. And they leap and they get it. And unlike Satan, they don't know what to do once they finally catch it.

He was really there. He was really hunting. And he knows what to do if he catches you. And we need to be aware. Fortunately, if we are aware, as St. Peter tells us, we can be just like me with my cats. They don't surprise us. We can see his work if we truly are alert. How does Satan work in our world? He's constantly there, and constantly tempting. But before we dive into that, I think it's a good idea to remind ourselves that he actually has no power to really and truly get us. Satan works as a tempter. Because the only way he can get us is if we leave Jesus's power. Jesus Christ defeated him, by going to the cross, by dying there. And by rising from the dead and ascending into heaven, he has now seated at the right hand of God, and He rules over all powers that exist. He is more powerful than any government, more powerful than any angel or demon, more powerful than death itself, he reigns over all of creation. And he's in short, which means that the devil has been defeated. When I think of this image, I often go to Psalm 23, where it talks about the shepherd with the sheep. And I think of the passage where it says, Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me, an African once explained how this image works for them in Africa. He says that shepherds in Africa have a rod, which is a giant club, and a staff, which is used to guide the sheep. And one of them is for the lion, that when the lion comes, they take the giant club and they whack him. That's what Jesus did. As long as we're in the power of Jesus, Satan can't snatch us out of Christ's hands. He's got the big club, he knows how to use it, and he protects you. The only way Satan can get us is if we leave of our own accord. If we say no to Jesus, and we turn away. And so Satan uses temptation. He uses these things to try to trick us to leave behind Jesus. Peter knew this well. In the Gospels, Peter was constantly tempted by Satan. And we see a few moments where the key of it comes. There's a time where Jesus asked the disciples, Who do people say that I am, and they run through the list. And then Peter says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. It's a big moment, an important moment in the Gospels. And then Jesus immediately goes to say, I am going to go and die on the cross. And after three days rise, and then Peter, fresh off the big moment to saying, You are the Christ, the Son of the living, God says, No, that will never happen to you. And Peter says, Get behind me Satan. He was tempted. Peter, fresh off this power of a confession of Jesus Christ had the wrong idea of who Jesus was. And Satan pulled him in that direction. We saw it again. When Jesus was with the disciples in the upper room, sharing the Last Supper, and he says, One of you will betray Me and and he tells them all that they're going to fall away. And Peter says, No way, Jesus, even if I have to die with you, I will never betray. Peter thought he was strong. But only a little while later, when the situation had changed. Someone asked him, Do you know that guy? Peter says, I don't even know what three times he was tempted when he faced a challenging situation. Moments after he proclaimed his confidence. Satan's tempt to temptations caused him to leave Jesus behind. And Satan is constantly at work around us trying to do the same thing with you trying to do the same thing with me. And the question is, how can we defend against him? What can we do as we watch for this Rory? A lion who is looking for someone to to devour. I think, for the church, there are two important aspects for defending against Satan. One is the spiritual battle that is being done with God's grace and His power to defend us and our faith. And the other is a mental battle, trying to understand and decide and interpret what is happening in the world. The spiritual battle is the easy one. That's the one that Jesus has already won. And God defends you by Jesus's almighty power through His Holy Sacrament. And this is where Christianity actually gets very, very simple. The grace of God defends you from Satan, through the Word and the sacraments. When you hear the proclaimed word of Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit comes to you and strengthens your faith. When you receive Christ, body, and blood, he comes to you and fills you with Jesus Himself. And He strengthens you, in this fight against Satan. When Holy Baptism came to you, he united you with Jesus Christ, and gave you the amazing gift of grace. When you repent of your sins, and hear the words, I forgive your sins, in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit comes to you, and you're forgiven. And very often, these things seem really small. But there's a spiritual element to them that goes beyond what our minds can understand, deep down into that, that gift of faith that God has given you. And it is their strengthening buttressing making it firm. And when St. Peter says, Be firm in your faith, it is the faith that God gives you, that is the foundation of that through the gifts of the church that you receive. The other aspect of this is being firm in God's word. Because we can't just live as human beings on this mysterious grace. Our brains really like to make us run on one astray. Because we think a lot, you know, if we were unable to think it would actually be a whole lot easier to be faithful, right? Just let the Holy Spirit do the thing, and then your brain wouldn't get in the way. But very often, it's that that anxiety, our mind puzzling about things, that we have to rein under control, and understand the world through God's promises to make sure that we remain firm. And the key one that St. Peter hits over and over and over again, is the problem of suffering. Right? How many times in the last Easter season? Have I talked about suffering a lot? I'm kind of getting bored of it, or, you know, maybe not. And there's a reason why he puts this in so close to the Satan's temptations. Because every generation of the church has thought, Well, if God is on my side, my life should be better. Right? Our minds just do that. That's what the pagan Romans thought if you sacrifice the right sacrifices and do the right rituals, then you too, will have a good life. You can bribe God to love you. And St. Peter knows this, he says, You're going through the same thing as everyone else.

And he constantly has to reframe their sufferings not as a bad things are examples that Jesus has abandoned them, but his participation in the suffering of Christ. And we have to reframe, and understand our suffering as well. Sometime in the past, I don't know how many years the Christian church in America started saying things like if God is on your side, you're alive. If you get better, God's grace will solve your problems. And you've probably heard that right? That there is something about God that makes your life better. Satan loves that kind of thing. Because what St. Peter is actually helping us see that the devil doesn't go after non Christian. He's already got them. The world doesn't attack non Christians. They don't care. The world comes after us. We should expect our lives to be maybe a little worse. We should expect to face problems that other people don't face. I honestly don't understand how one can read the Bible and see what Jesus went through and see what St. Peter writes and think God's grace is going to make your life better. God's favor on Jesus meant suffering and dying. God's favor in the book of Acts meant being stoned and beaten and hurt and killed. God's favor with St. Peter here means that the Christian church was suffering everywhere. Being firm in understanding these things, means that when that happens to us, we don't say, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a second. My life's not supposed to be like this. It means we can say, Oh, yeah. This is what Jesus promised. What a surprise. And when we understand God's promises, when we really focus in on what Jesus has to say, we can be ready for what Satan throws out. When he tries to tempt us, we can say no, no, this is what God says. When he tries to throw up contradictions, we can say, no, no, no. This is what God says. And we can rest firm and true in his promise.

This is why I'm so picky. You may have noticed about doctrine,

about our teaching, why I want to be so clear about what the actual Bible says about our actual law. Because what Satan really likes, is when a false idea creeps into the church, and it doesn't match reality. And then what he does is he goes, this doesn't match. And he lets it work in your mind. And not you and tug at you. Until you go, Oh, yeah. God's promises must not be true. It's why I focus so hard on making sure we understand exactly what the Bible says. And think about exactly what the teachings of the Church so that we can truly understand what God is telling us about our lives. We need to be able to interpret reality, the way God does, to be able to understand what happens and say, Yes, I was expecting. The joy of this is that even though we, we ended up suffering a little in the church, even though we ended up having to work hard to understand these teaching, is the promise that St. Peter tells the people of his day, right after this where he says, and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, comfort, strengthen, and establish. You see, as we face down the devil and all his Wiles and temptations and all the problems. We know that God of grace has a problem. This restoration, conformation, strengthening and establishing. We know that he is coming and He will raise us on the last day and that there is nothing that we face now. Whether suffering or Satan, that can diminish and that is the piece that we cling to, with the hope of Jesus Christ. In his name amen

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Should Christians Fight The Culture War? Sermon for May 14th

Two antelope lock horns in battle

Should Christians Fight The Culture War?

Rev. James Huenink

1 Peter 3:13-22

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Transcribed by AI. Please forgive any errors.

This Easter season, we've been working our way through First Peter Peters epistle to all sorts of Christians scattered throughout the Roman world at the time. It opened with a message about the inheritance that we have been given in baptism, that when you were baptized, you were united with Jesus Christ, and given an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled unfading kept in heaven for you. The next section in the first chapter was about how this inheritance makes us different from the world, that we are called to be holy in Christ, set apart from the rest of the world, to be different, to act as Christ would have us act. After that, we talked about how we are then gathered together in Christ into the holy Christian church, he used the metaphor of a building, built on the foundation of Christ, the cornerstone, that we all gathered to be one, the priesthood of all believers. Then we went on to talk about suffering for doing good, that maybe Christians should expect since we are different from the rest of the world, to suffer for being different, that when we do good, sometimes people will respond negatively. And we reframed that suffering from something we should flee from, instead to being something that shows our participation in Christ, that He suffered for us. And today, we're taking a look at this next passage. And I want to focus in on another a further response to what happens when we suffer for doing good. St. Peter says, when these things happen, and if you should suffer for righteousness sake, he says, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will than doing evil. When I read that, I thought, this is a perfect time to talk about the culture war. Because very often, the culture war in America is framed as at least amongst Christian circles, how should Christians respond to an evil world? Should we fight the culture war or not? And I think this addresses that question. So the question, Should Christians fight the culture war? To ask that question, we first need to talk about what the culture war is. It has been one said that puritanism puritanism was the haunting fear that someone, somewhere may be having a good time. I think we can base a definition of the culture war as something similar. It is the haunting fear that someone somewhere may live differently than me.

When we look at the culture war, and we see signs of it everywhere, it is a battle between different people on different sides for how people should live their lives. It is not about the right level of taxation or laws like that. It is a question of what should our culture look like? And people use legal or cultural social pressure to try to force a particular worldview and way of living on someone else. And I think that is the culture war. Is that when we try to push and force people to believe or speak something and by I mean, everybody, not just we hear in this place. We see culture war battles happening about all sorts of things. There are issues about how we think about gender, or sexuality. There are problems about what how many people we think should be entering our country or not, and what they will do to our culture. There are questions about race and racism. But in the end, I think the culture war is what happens when we get really angry about something that doesn't affect us at all. Right? Isn't that the way it works? The culture war if you if you turn on the news, and there is something that is designed to generate outrage, about a decision that a school board made in Florida. And you think, Oh, I'm so mad. That's the culture war? Why would you care about what they're doing in Florida? Does that affect you? Or your children? Probably not. The culture war is designed to ramp up your anger, so that you choose a side in politics. It's designed to get you to make allies with people who don't care about Christianity in any way, who just want power. By now, you can probably guess what my answer to the question is, Should Christians fight the culture war? No. But I'm actually going to give you biblical reasons why, instead of just ranting from the pulpit. The first reason is very simple. When we fight the culture war, it shows that we don't actually trust in the hope of the victory of Jesus Christ. Why the culture war is almost always shown as an existential battle for the soul of America. We have to make sure that America is exactly the moral superior country, we want it to be. Whether you fighting for Red team, or blue team. The culture war is framed as a way that says if the bad guys win, everything is lost. And said St. Peters simply assumes that we have a hope that cannot be lost. As he says, We've been given an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled unfading, kept in heaven for you. He also describes this hope as a Jesus Christ, the resurrection of Jesus Christ who has gone into heaven, and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities and powers having been subjected to him. Which means Jesus is in charge of everything. Governments, culture, spiritual forces, everything in the world is under his power. And our hope is that he will come back one day, and raise us from the dead. And on that day, it doesn't matter what victories and small little things the enemy has won. It only matters that he returns and he wins. Jesus has won. Why would we be afraid about what the future has in store? Why would we worry about what might happen in politics and culture? Beyond that? When we, when we give into this kind of existential fear about the culture war, it ends up forcing us to take sides with people who don't care about us. It ends up having us turn away from the love and care that Christ gives us to anger and fighting. And it betrays the hope that we have. If we truly trust in Jesus, if we truly know that he has won the Vic Three, there is no room for fear at all. We can enter every situation confident that our victory is assured in Jesus Christ. Sure, we may run into places where we suffer. Yeah. But it's no different than any other Christian who's ever gone before us, certainly no different from the Christians in Rome, or the Christians in Iran, or North Korea. Just like them, we can have confidence that Jesus has one. Finding the culture war also gives us ammunition to our enemies, to say, oh, yeah, you see, all of those things we said about those Christians. We were right. They are jerks. They're mean. Can you see what they say online? St. Peter tells us when we when we defend our faith, and we share the hope that is in us. He says, you do it with gentleness and respect having a good conscience. So that when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. The key to that is what he's saying is, when people accuse us of being evil, they're supposed to look at us and say, they're actually really nice people. They're not evil, you're an idiot. But if they accuse us for being evil, and we actually are evil, they're not going to be slandered. They're going to be telling the truth. And when we let our fear drive us to being angry, and hostile, and fight in the world, their slander no longer becomes slander. If we go out and attack people, for living differently than we think they should we actually become the people they accuse us of being. Now, one of the things that I think is, is interesting about the way the cultural war works from a Christian perspective, that we actually expect non Christians to live like Christians. And the key part of the culture war is to say, You people who don't believe in Jesus, who don't think he was raised from the dead, who don't believe that God created the earth and order it according to His good and gracious will, should believe and live the way I say you should, because I said, so. Now, if someone came to you, and did that, how would you react? You're supposed to live the way I believe, because I said, so. I bet you'd be pretty mad. And if they then they try to make the laws force you to do it. You'd get even matter. Right? The culture war is often like that, isn't it? When Christians go out to a world and we say you should live the way Christians live, because we said so. It's not just weird. Expecting non Christians to behave like Christians. And so when we go out, and we try to use the law, when we try to fight and hurt and, and force people to live, like what we're doing, all we do is give ammunition to our enemy. What we should do as Christians instead is love the people that we run into, right?

We should take care of the people who are near us. We should expect non Christians to act like I don't know non Christians. Because they're gonna No matter how much we shout and yell. But the key then, is for us to say, no matter how crazy you are, I love you. And when you're done being crazy, we're here to welcome you into the church. Pretty simple, right? We're here to love you and take care of you. And when you need Jesus, we will give him to you so that you can be saved. Does that mean we compromise our beliefs? No. Does that mean we change who we are? No. We just teach ourselves. We make sure we stand where we stand. And we share love with those who are near us. So that when people say, look at those Christians, they are jerks. They're always shouting about what other people should do. They'll say, Wait a second, they feed the hungry. They welcome people into their church. And they give love, just like Jesus did. Because that's what Jesus did, isn't it? He loved the people who should have been rejected the people who deserved to be punished, like you, and me. And that's our job. Finally, fighting the culture war, is not sharing our hope, with gentleness, and respect. And that should be relatively clear. When we look at the way the metaphor of the culture war. See, when you fight a war, you are not trying to convert the other side to your faith, right? In a war, you launch airstrikes at the other side to totally destroy them. That doesn't sound like gentleness, and respect. The St. Peter says, in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for the reason to hope that is in you. Yet do it with gentleness and respect. Our job is not to destroy people, to make them humiliated or feel bad about themselves. But to love them, and tell them the faith, help them see Jesus. One of the challenges behind this is because we get upset, we often have a difficult time discussing with people who are different and believe differently than us in a calm and kind way. Our job is to help people who are struggling with things with temptation with with pain, with hurts with the all the problems that we see in our culture, and love them through it. Because if we don't, what they're going to do is they're going to see that the church hates me, and run off and find guidance somewhere else. One thing that I think is better than looking at the culture war, as a battle is actually more like a dance. In a dance, you're not trying to destroy the other person. But you work together here, one person might lead and another person might lead and then you learn from each other about each other's perspective. And you sort of walk away with a little bit changed. An example of that might be something that I did at a dinner conversation not too long ago, I eat dinner with the with the women of 2911. Every Tuesday night, so one house or the other. And most of the time, we just chat about whatever. But one night, we did, something happened. And we spent about an hour and a half, they just sort of went around the table asking me theological questions. It was pretty awesome. And most of the time, what I did was say, Lutheranism is so amazing, you should give it a shot. Like it was like, and this is why we do the sacraments because you don't have to worry about works righteousness, Jesus just gives it to you was basically the thing I said over and over and over again. And we got to a point where they said, Pastor, we expected you to be more like debating and correcting. And I said, well think about our conversation. I have just spent about an hour and a half telling you why all your churches are wrong, and why you shouldn't be a Lutheran instead. But it didn't feel like it. I listened to them. I heard what they said. And I said, Well, here's how we approach this. And instead of saying, This is why your pastor is wrong, why your way of thinking is wrong. I said, this is why what we do is beautiful. And true. St. Paul did that. In Athens. He took what they believed. And he said, I have something even better. Look, you've got all of these gods and you worship them in all of these ways. But here is a hook. Or I can say no, no. I have something even greater than what you have. more beautiful, more wonderful, more amazing. And that's how the church wins. Not by launching airstrikes at the enemy. But by helping to show the world that what we have is beautiful that the resurrection of Jesus Christ provides salvation and a way of being pure and holy, eternal life. And that the joy we can have in Christ doesn't depend on which color of person is in charge of the United States, red, or blue, or who is winning a culture war? What it depends on is the fact that we have a Savior, who died on a cross, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. And we can show the world the beauty and power of our golf. If we have confidence in that, if we truly have confidence that Jesus is coming again, and we know that we are right. All we have to do is wait for the world to recognize it. Because eventually their insanity will make them insane. And we can be here saying, when you're done, we're ready. We will welcome you. We will love you, and we will give you Jesus in His name, amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Imperishable, Undefiled, Unfading Sermon for April 16th

Imperishable, Undefiled, Unfading

James Huenink

1 Peter 1:3-9

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.