Doing Good Works: Sermon for Sunday, September 3rd

Romans 12:9-21

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

mercy and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Back in June, we began a sermon series on the book of Romans. And Paul has been, we've been walking through what Paul has to say over this time. It begins with a message about the grace of God, that we are saved not by following God's law. We're saved by grace, through faith on account of Christ, and that no human being can ever please God by doing anything. Then it moves to the question that obviously follows that, if we're saved by grace, what do we do with our behavior? Right? Can we do whatever we feel like? Paul says, No. He tells us that in our baptisms, we died with Christ and rose with him, so that we have a new life, a new nature in Christ, so that we can walk in, in love forever. That section ends in Romans chapter eight, where St. Paul declares the amazing promises of God, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not even death itself. So it leads to another question. If nothing can separate us from God's promises through Jesus, what do we do with God's chosen people from the Old Testament? The Jews? Paul's answer for that is that the faith has always been passed down by the word of God, that people have always taken it up of their own, that there is no genetic relationship to the faith, even in Judaism. And so, we get to Romans chapter 12, where St. Paul calls the Christian church, a body, bound together by the body and blood of Jesus, bound together in love created by him, both here in this place, with this union that we have, and with all Christians all over the world. And so he says, Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast, to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. outdo one another in showing honor. His words go on. As he sort of mentioned, it's kind of like a grab bag of good things that Christians should be doing. There's a whole lot there. And if we wanted to be here all day, I could talk about each and every one of them. Good thing we have all day, right? You don't mind a four or five hour sermon. Someone out there wanted I like it. Now, instead of nailing down each and every one of these, what I like to do is talk about the love of God at work. Because I see the love of God at work in lots of different people. I don't think I as a pastor have to point my finger at you and say, be loving. Why? Because the love of God comes to you through Christ. And the power of the Holy Spirit makes you want to love. That is simply how God's grace works. It is not something I have to threaten you for. It's not something I have to shake my fist and pound on the podium, like some old school German preacher. This is what happens when Jesus Christ comes to his people. He puts love in your hearts and makes you like him. And it's what I see all around us. Paul explains it in Romans six. When he says we were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. Being connected to Christ by baptism, united with Him in His death and resurrection means that you have his love. Second Corinthians chapter five that says something similar. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died. And he died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him, who for their sake, died and was raised To make it short, we could say what John says, We love because he first loved us. And so today, what I'd like to do is encourage you to live out that love by talking about the many stories of God's love in action that I've seen in this congregation over the last. What is it 19 months that I've been here now, still pretty new. So I probably have missed a few. The first I'd like to talk about is the love that Kristin and I feel here. I have to admit, I have never felt loved and supported, like I do in this congregation. You might I might be struggling here. It began, the moment we got here, Christian and I spent three or I forget how many days driving across country from Chicago all the way to California. We went along the southern route, so we got to see a whole lot of flat. My parents drove the giant U haul truck. Kristin and I drove our itty bitty car with a bike on the back. And we got here and 20 or so people were standing in our driveway. We were here ready to unload that giant truck. And we're like, okay, it's gonna take a few hours, we can do it. Sweaty, hot. Here we go. And it took 20 minutes. In fact, it was they unloaded so fast that I didn't get a chance to tell them where all the stuff went. They were it was too much. You didn't do that? Because you knew us. You didn't do that. Because you thought Kristen was so amazing. You did it because you love God. Because you love his word. Because you were happy to have a pastor. Even more importantly for us, was what Warren Did you remember Warren Goodrich? Well, maybe you do. Maybe you don't some of you knew him well. I live in his house, or what was his house. And when he died, he donated a whole ton of money to the congregation that allowed us to continue living in California. Without him, that would have been a big question mark. And without you putting up just a little extra money to make that happen. That would have been a question mark for us. And the love and support that we felt. And the investment that you made in us is overwhelming. And you did it not because you think I'm amazing. You didn't do it. Because Kristen is an awesome triathlon coach. You did it because you love Jesus. Because you care about his word, and you want it to be proclaimed to you. That's what the Holy Spirit does. And a group of people in a congregation. I see it also in the many people who make our congregation function. Like I said, I've only been here just short, just shy of two years. So I might not know all of the amazing things that people do. And I'm, I'm going to do some listing here, which means I'm going to miss someone. But know that there's a lot of people who work behind the scenes to make our congregation function. A lot of people who show up during the week. Nobody knows they're here. And they do a number of things. The gardeners who trim away every Wednesday morning and I go up and I try to distract them by talking about all sorts of other things. And they hand me their their grass clippings and their stuff to go in my compost pile. There's our sound people who sit in the back and you don't see them. But make sure that you can hear every Sunday. The people who come in on Wednesdays to put together the slideshows that you see are people who change the lightbulbs. Count the offerings rehearse in our ensembles. People who write notes and answer emails, or even just the prayer list. The Board of Directors the board of elders are quilters. We never see them. When we put out our prayer quilts. They're not standing behind the table going look at me, right

There are so many people who make our congregation function who work without thanks. And we can only gather here together today because they are all behind the scenes making it happen. sharing the love of Jesus. And it's joyful, and wonderful. And here's what happens when Christ comes with His Holy Spirit, to work in the hearts of God's people. So that they do it with joy. Not out of compulsion. Another story, we had a funeral here not too long ago. As sad as it was, I looked and I saw something joyful in that. I've done many funerals back in Chicago for elderly people. Usually what happens is you get just this small group of family, you know, the kids and a couple of grandkids, about 20 people in the pews. Often quite sad, actually. Pretty rare where I come from, for congregation members to come to funerals like that. Which is why it's so amazing when I came here, and I saw a pretty packed house. I saw people who hadn't seen him in a while, but loved him nonetheless, who came here to remember our dearly departed loved one, and support the family. This is what happens when Jesus Christ binds his people together as a body when they come together in love, when the body of blood of Jesus Christ that we take together makes us one. We show that kind of love and support. And it's joyful. And it's wonderful. And I give thanks to God, but you're a congregation that does that. One of the reasons that I decided to come here is another example of the joy and the love of God at work. It's the moms at 2911. But those of you who might not know or need a reminder, 2911 is a maternity home that welcomes in moms who need housing, and all sorts of help during it through their pregnancy and beyond. And this congregation offered up the house that's on our property as a place for them. It was the Blue House and then the White House and now it's the maternity home. Right. One of the reasons that convinced me that this was the place to be was that you had done that, that you had offered up that house for almost nothing as a place to care for women, so that they can make the choice to keep their babies alive. So that they could raise their babies in the faith. And even better was what happens on these Wednesday nights when all those moms come in for our soup and suffer our soup and supper worship services. You know, we all have during Advent and Lent, soup and supper and we do a worship service. And the moms come in with all their babies and the noise and it's just great. It's it's so wonderful. And all of a sudden, there are 20 different grandmas who want to pass around baby Asher. Right? You remember baby Asher? cutest little baby on the planet. Right? There was one story one night when Asher was getting passed around, Mom was off eating pass around and one of the other kids little Jason was running around interacting with everybody. And he saw baby Asher in the wrong person's hands. Like this wasn't his mom, and he goes, he's not yours.

But there's so much joy and love welcoming strangers into that congregation. There's so much joy in seeing people passing around babies, welcoming children into our congregation, welcoming the noise and the buzz and all the things that come with it. Because they too, are part of the body of Christ. Because they too are one with us. And you did it with strangers. What a joy. These are the things that Christ does by the power of His Holy Spirit. What he does when he gathers His people around his body and blood, what he does when he he fills us with the spirit and gives us His love. And I think these are the things that can encourage us as we continue to keep going following this path of love St. Paul says Let love be genuine. outdo one another in showing honor. Love one another with brotherly affection. In Jesus name, Amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Perspective: Sermon for Sunday, September 24th, 2023

Matthew 20:1-16

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Grace, mercy and peace be yours this morning from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

So our sermon title is all about perspective. And a little personal story is that perspective matters, especially when you're in church. When I was growing up, I only ever saw the church from down there. And I remember sitting in the pews, listening to our pastors, one of them was very exuberant. In fact, when I would start falling asleep, he always seemed to know when he needed to scream, and scare me away. But sitting down there is very different than coming up here. And the perspective is very different, because of how I'm seeing everything. Because I'm so used to looking at things from one viewpoint. When I was at my congregation, when I was still, in the civilian side of the house, I actually made my congregation do this, I'm not gonna make you do this. But it was to help people be a little bit uncomfortable and to shift their perspective by asking everyone to stand up and switch sides of the church. I already heard some Oh, noes. I'm not gonna make you do that. But it's uncomfortable because we have where we sit, we have what we do. We have where we go on a weekly, daily hourly basis, we have our routines. And so when I made them stand up and switch sides, one of the very first things I heard the moment they sat down was I don't like this. Well, yeah, it's uncomfortable. It's not what you're used to. But the thing about perspective is that perspective is actually shaped by the habits we do, but more specifically, by how we think. There's a term in psychology, and I'm not formally trained in psychology, I'm trained as a pastor. But I've done a lot of reading on psychology, how the brain works, talked with a lot of different counselors, and interesting thing that has come out in recent years in the world of counseling, is that the words we use impact the reality around us. It's called neuroplasticity. And what it focuses on is that our brains, actually based off of the way we interact with the world, the language we use, our brain gets wired to react a certain way. Because as smart as our brains are, it has so much information that it has to try and process that it's looking for shortcuts. So when we use language in the interpretation of reality around us, it creates Oh, danger, I need to react in this way. So, Lion sitting there, or maybe just I'm nervous and scared. My brain reacts the same way, because it's created this pathway that ties the words we use with the action we do. So when I say the language we use creates the reality around us. I don't mean like God, when He says, Let there be if only let there be a million dollars, let there be no war let there be. And it would be nice to know, this use of language, actually, is to help shape shape, our perspective and how we interact in this reality. The cool thing about neuroplasticity is that you can change that pathway. And you do so by changing the language you use. So if I think I'm worthless, I'm no good. How am I going to interact in this world? It's like I'm worthless. Like I can't do anything, right? If I think and use the language of I am loved, I am worthy. From a Christian side, I am forgiven. And how does that shape how we interact in this world? I asked you this morning to think about the language you use to describe yourself. I dare say in many of my interactions with people, the language we use to describe ourself is very, very bad.

And that we kind of fall in that I'm not good enough.

I'm worthless. I I'm just not up to par, I can't do anything, right. There's nothing ever good. That's important that we address that. Because from a Christian side, that's not how God views us. And I often ask people, if you were to hear someone saying those things out loud to another person, those very thoughts that you're having in your own head, if you were to hear someone say that to someone else, what would your reaction be? And they'd be, I'd be upset. Because how dare they say that to another person? To which I always reply, so why are you saying that to yourself? From a Christian side, I say it like this. That's not how God views you. That is not the story of Christianity at all. It's the story of Christianity of Christ is the one that comes into the broken world into the people who are hurting and struggling, who think they have absolutely nothing to offer. And he says, I am making you my own, you are now my child you are loved and cared for. And the whole point of the cross is to shift our perspective. To shift first and foremost, how we view ourselves. That's the thing of love, that we've been going over these last three weeks, is that love isn't about me. First and foremost. It's about the love of Christ for you, to help shift who you are. And then what that does, is it shifts the perspective to what we talked about last week, is that it's no longer about me. It's about others. So the language you use in describing yourself is very, very important in this journey we have in the Christian faith, because how you view yourself is also going to impact how you view other people. How do I view people in this building? First and foremost? How do I view people when I step outside these doors? How do I view people? When I'm driving on the five?

For me, it's usually with anger. But how do I view people that are not me? If I don't think I'm very good, I very well may not think other people are either.

But what if that perspective, perspective shifts? What if we see ourselves the way Christ sees us the way God the Father sees us through Christ as one who is worthy of dignity, respect, love, care, all of these things are no merit of our own. We know that it's a free free gift given to us by Christ. How does that shift our perspective to those outside the store? I'm going to say it shifts dramatically. When we come to today's text, that's the shift that Jesus is trying to highlight in how the Kingdom of Heaven functions completely differently. In my world, and many of you are from the military as well, military backgrounds, but in my world, a lot of it has to do with how do we get promoted? How do I make myself look good? How do I keep progressing more and more and more and more and more? And it gets all about me? That's what these workers were thinking. It's a very rational thought, right? So the story is, this master goes out at six in the morning, and he hire some workers and he goes, Hey, I need some people to go out of my field and do some work. I'm going to give you all a denarius. We're going to work a 12 hour day, normal, excuse me, normal pay, you get a full day's wage. You go work and they say, sounds good. I want to eat today. So they go out and they work for him. And then the master goes back to those town yard and it's now nine o'clock, 12 o'clock, three o'clock, and he does this over and over and says hey, I need more people to work. And finally it's five o'clock in the evening. Almost time you Know the bell is about to ring time to go home, get your wages go enjoy time with your family. And so he goes out into the square one more. And there's these guys still standing there. And he goes, Why are you just being here? Why haven't you done anything all day and goes, nobody wants to hire us. We have nowhere to go. And it looks like we're not going to have our day's wage. So we can't go get food, we can't do these things for our family. And he goes, Listen, go out there to I'm hiring you. So the rational thought process, when he starts paying these workers that only worked an hour, the denarius is that oh, my gosh, I finally get more. Because they work there all day. And the perspective that these workers have, is that they deserve more because they've done more, because they've endured more. What's their reaction? When they get paid the exact same wage? As the people that worked one hour? You gotta be kidding me. You made me equal with them. I've been out here, I've got a sunburn now. I'm dehydrated. And I don't, this is totally unfair. But the whole point was, their perspective was that I need more. What the master brings forward is that I am generous. That's the perspective shift, are we who are Christians here, who have this message. It's not about us in this very kind of consumer mindset about getting more getting more getting more. It's about who the master is, and what he gives freely to everyone. That He is Generous, to the point where everything that he gives is more than enough. And that highlights a danger or a caution that Jesus wants to highlight, which is don't make it about you shortly after this part, and it closes with. The first will be last and the last will be first. Well, shortly after this just a few more verses, it talks about James and John and the request that was made to Jesus that was said, Hey, can we be on your left and right hand we want to be in positions of authority and power. And the disciples get irritated at them and start yelling at them not because what they asked was wrong, but because they didn't think of it first. That's why they get upset. And Jesus says, You don't know what you're asking. It's not about being first. It's about what is given to others. Our perspective, and the language we use shows how we view this. How do we view this message of Christ? Do we view it as one that is for me? Or do we view it as one? That's for us? For you? That's the beauty of this message. Is that the language that is shifted, as we start to be shown more and more of who we are in Christ, that this love is first and foremost for you. And then for others that are not me. It shifts how we interact with people. So as you go forward looking at this, where is our perspective? What is our orientation?

What are we looking for? Where are we oriented as an individual? And as a group? Where do we want to go? And then the big fun stuff comes? How do we get there.

But in all of this, what Jesus is highlighting is the kingdom of heaven does not work like the rest of the world. It's not about being the greatest not being about being the strongest, not about being the most popular with whatever. It's about the message of forgiveness, and maybe even some suffering for the sake of that. But what has he done for us? And so our perspective is always oriented on the cross, and how we view ourselves and others. Amen.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Matthew 20:1-16

Matthew 20:1-16

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”

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 Gospel reading for Sunday, September 24, is from Matthew chapter 20. verses one through 16. For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard, and going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And to them, he said, You go into the vineyard too. And whatever is right, I will give you so they went going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the 11th hour he went out and found other standing. And he said to them, Why do you stand here idle all day? They said to Him, because no one has hired us. He said to them, Go, you go into the vineyard to and when evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first and when those hired about the 11th hour came, and each of them received a denarius. Now, when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house saying these last own worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day in the scorching heat. But he replied to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong. Do you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go, I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity so the last will be first. And the first last hearings, the reading. This is quite the story that runs contrary to everything that human beings generally believe in about fairness, in in life. The Master goes out and he hires people. And he says, I will pay you one denarius a day that's a pretty standard wage for a worker, one denarius. And then he hires several people throughout the day. This is right away in the morning, and then at the sixth hour, and the ninth hour and the 11th hour and the 11th hour would have been right about at the end of the workday, just before the end. And so people are working various amounts of time. And he doesn't hire them hourly, he hires them by the day. When they line up to get paid, which is how you would do it. At the end of the day, if you hired day laborers, you hire them for the day, and then you pay them for the day. In fact, the Old Testament talks a lot about withholding the wages of workers and not paying them on time as a terrible thing. So you pay them out at the end of the day, and we get this variation. It says and when those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received in a denarius. I think we can understand those workers frustration, right? They work the whole day, and they get paid a denarius and someone who shows up and does just a couple of hours works also gets paid a denarius Come on. That's not how it's supposed to work. We are supposed to get paid at the appropriate sum for the right amount of work. We who got here first should have been paid more. When they grumble, the master says, I am doing the you know wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go, am I not allowed to choose to do what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity that's really a reminder that what we perceive as fairness is not always actually fair. They contracted to work for one denarius a day and they got what they contracted for. The people also, it doesn't really reflect on their contract what others get, right. So there really is no reason to complain. They agreed to work for a denarius. They got to denarius doesn't matter what God decides to do or the master decides to do with others. Now, what we see here is that Jesus compares this to the kingdom of heaven and When he does parables like this, the master is always God of some way. And so God is gathering workers into his vineyard. vineyard is often image for Israel or for the world. He says he's got people in the vineyard, and they're working. Some people work various amounts, but they all get the same reward. And this is true for us in the kingdom of God. People who've been Christians their entire life who've been devoted, who've been baptized as children and stayed in the church and have always done what is right, we receive the same reward, the same gift of God, as people who are dying on their deathbed and are baptized and converted. We're all in Christ, everything is the same. When we see that, sometimes we get well, we get a little upset, right? That someone in our congregation is treated with the same amount of, of respect, and honor. No matter how often they've been to church, no matter how, how long they've served the gospel. It's all the same. And sometimes we're like, wait a second, I have been in this congregation for years and years and years, and this person is new. Or I have been on this served in this committee, I have done all of these things. And these new people are trying to do whatever we have to remember, all of us are equal in the body of Christ, all of us received the same reward, because none of us have actually deserved it. It's given to us by grace in Jesus Christ. And so Jesus here is reminding us that there is no first or last in Christ, but all are the same. And we all receive the same reward. That's it for this reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30

Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30

I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ.And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.

for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

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 Sunday, September 24, comes from Philippians chapter one, verses 12 through 14. And then verses 19 through 30. It reads, I want you to no brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard, and to all the rest, that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. And then it skipped ahead. For I know that through your prayers, and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, this will turn out from my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always, Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me, yet, which I shall choose, I cannot tell, I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith. So that in me, you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again, only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So that whether I come and see you, or am absent, I may hear a view that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God, for it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had, and now here that I still have Here ends the reading. St. Paul is writing this in a time when he is imprisoned. He is we're not exactly sure what portion of this life part of his life it is. St. Paul was likely imprisoned twice, once is recorded in the story of Acts when he is put in jail and then set in the prison for three years. And then he appeals to Caesar and he goes to Rome. And it's likely that he made it their appeal to Caesar and was released. And then again later on when he was murdered, he would have been imprisoned and arrested. We don't know exactly which one this is, if I were to guess it is likely to me that this is the the first imprisonment, because he talks about that it's likely he will get out and head off and visit the Philippians again. So Paul is in prison, in chains for the gospel because of his proclamation. And he starts like this. I want you to know brothers, that what has happened to me has really to serve to advance the gospel. So it has become known throughout the whole Imperial Guard, and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. So he is saying much like Joseph, that this imprisonment, this bad thing that has happened, has brought about some kind of good. The guards know that this imprisonment is because of Christ. And so they hear about it as he is in prison. He also continues, and most of the brothers having become confident and Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. This is something that the church has always focused on is we tell the stories of the martyrs. They've always encouraged us by their example, to be bold in the face of persecution. So stories like St. Paul's, but also stories of the martyrs throughout the history of the church are good reminders to encourage us that as we face similar or even less difficult circumstances, we can be bold just like they were. He continues, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. This will turn out for my deliverance, for it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now, as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by my life or death. This follows the way the early church often talked about what would happen when they were imprisoned and headed on their way to trial, that they didn't want to be ashamed. But they wanted to prove to be a Christian. And by that they meant that when they stood on trial, they would remain faithful, deliver in faith, the message of the gospel, and suffer the consequences, whatever it would be. Now, it's likely if this is this first imprisonment, the Paul would be let go. But here he still is assured or wants to be assured that he will remain faithful when he stands on trial. Then he says, For me to live is Christ and today's game, if I am to live in the flesh, that will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose, I cannot tell. I'm hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. So he's saying there's a division, it would be wonderful to be with Christ, and to be out of this veil of tears and to suffer no more and not have to deal with the the persecutions and imprisonments. And Paul's lists of suffering goes on and on beatings, stoning, and eventually death. But he says that while we are here, we have a purpose. And that purpose is to serve Paul's purpose particularly, is to preach the gospel to the Philippians, and others, and helps us to see that our purpose is service for our neighbor. Because the good works that we do, the things that God calls us to do, aren't because God needs our service and our works, but because our neighbor does. St. Paul knows the same thing that the proclamation of the gospel doesn't make God any more powerful or any stronger. But it does bring the message of Jesus Christ to people who need to hear it. And then we'll skip ahead just a little bit. He says, Only let your man or of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ. So whether I come and see you or an absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, and not frightened in anything by your opponents. St. Paul is doing two things here, one, he is saying that they need to be as one body, one mind, standing side by side with each other. This is an image of the congregation working together in unity, for the good of the gospel against the opponents who would persecute them. That's the other part is that this side by side, this togetherness is a united front against the persecutors. And we always have to remember that there is this. There's unity that we have in Christ that guides us. And this unity makes it possible for us to stand together against a sinful world and share the message of Jesus Christ skips ahead, and he says, For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ, you should not only believe in him, but also suffer for his sake, engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had. And now here that I still have it's interesting success word has been granted to you almost like a gift. One of the things that the church often talks about in his history is the gift of suffering with Jesus, that we are counted worthy to be like Christ and share in His suffering and this is part of the gift. And I think St. Paul is talking about, it's granted to us to participate with Christ in his sufferings. That's the end of our reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Psalm 27:1-9

Psalm 27:1-9

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
    whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
    of whom shall I be afraid?

When evildoers assail me
    to eat up my flesh,
my adversaries and foes,
    it is they who stumble and fall.

Though an army encamp against me,
    my heart shall not fear;
though war arise against me,
    yet I will be confident.

One thing have I asked of the Lord,
    that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
    all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
    and to inquire in his temple.

For he will hide me in his shelter
    in the day of trouble;
he will conceal me under the cover of his tent;
    he will lift me high upon a rock.

And now my head shall be lifted up
    above my enemies all around me,
and I will offer in his tent
    sacrifices with shouts of joy;
I will sing and make melody to the Lord.

Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud;
    be gracious to me and answer me!
You have said, “Seek my face.”
My heart says to you,
    “Your face, Lord, do I seek.”
    Hide not your face from me.
Turn not your servant away in anger,
    O you who have been my help.
Cast me not off; forsake me not,
    O God of my salvation!

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 Sunday, September 24, is Psalm 27, verses one through nine. This is a Psalm of David. The Lord is my light and my salvation whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes It is day who stumble and fall, though in army and camp against me, my heart shall not fear, the war arise against me yet I will be confident. One thing have I asked of the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple, for he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble, he will conceal me under the cover of his tent, he will lift me high upon a rock, and now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me. And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Here, oh, Lord, when I cry aloud, Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, seek My face. My heart says to you, your face Lord, do I seek I not your face from me? Turn not your servant away in anger, Oh, you who have been my help. Cast me not off. forsake me not, oh God of my salvation. Here ends the reading. This is a pretty famous Psalm, The Lord is my light. And my salvation reminds me of a song that I would sing with with kids in in the chapel. You're my light and my salvation, I won't be afraid. You're the stronghold of my life by you all things were made, I'm not gonna sing the whole thing. Don't worry. It big begins with a note of competence. You are my salvation, you are my stronghold. There is nothing that I can fear. And it continues, listing a number of things when evildoers assail me. adverset adversaries when an army wore all of these things, I will be confident. David is saying that no matter what is going against him, he can be confident in God's promise. And David had it in a very specific way. When Samuel came to David and anointed him as the next king. That was sort of like, David, you're immortal until you become king. Like if David really, truly believed that promise. When he went up against Goliath, he didn't have to worry because God had promised that he would become king. When David went out to battle, he went out into war, all the time before he became king. He had no fear because God was the stronghold of his life. This also can be true for us, though it's not quite in the same way. We don't have the promise that we're going to be king so that we can't die until that happens. But we do know that our life is safe in the stronghold of our Savior, because he lived and died for us and then rose from the dead to give us eternal life. So our life is safe with Christ in heaven. And St. Paul tells us that in Ephesians, that we are our life is in Christ who is seated at the right hand of God, it continues. One thing I've asked the Lord that I will seek after that I may dwell on the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple. Now, David is writing this before that temple is actually built, though he did write psalms in preparation for when that temple was being built. He says that he wants to be in the house of the Lord. We have to remember that the temple was a special place where God put His presence in a way that he didn't place His presence elsewhere. same thing was true for the tabernacle, which is where were the moveable temple before they built the permanent one, right? God placed his presence there. And so if you're going into the house of the Lord, you're going to where God's presence is in a special way. This isn't a metaphorical entering into His presence, or a ritual that he did to make him feel the presence of God. He was literally walking into the temple, literally going to the tabernacle where God promised his presence would be. And we have to remember that that when we're applying this, it is different for us because we don't have a physical building where God says His presence is, but we do have where God promises to be present in a similar way, through the holy body and blood of Jesus Christ. Right? God comes down and places himself Jesus Christ places himself in the bread and the line in a way that he does not anywhere else. So when we gather for the divine service, we hear Christ's word, we receive His Body and Blood, we are in the house of the Lord, in a way that is different from the rest of our time. David continues with with more confidence that God he will hide me in a shelter, he enemies are taken out. And then we get this last section it says, Here, oh, Lord, when I cry aloud, Be gracious to me and answer me. You have said seek My face. My heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek hide not your face from me, turn out your servant away and anger, Oh, you who have been my help, Cast me not off. forsake me not, Oh, God of my salvation. This is the sincere desire of David, to seek God's face. Not Not literally, but his face meant his presence, right. Which is again, for David, going to the temple, offering appropriate worship and sacrifice and prayer. We have to remember, the temple was a special place of God's presence. This is not a spiritual discipline, to feel the presence of God. And many Christians today, when they see this, they say, Ah, I have to seek the face of God. And to do that I have to do all sorts of particular things. I have to pray in a certain way I have to devote certain amounts of time I have to do all of this stuff, to show that I am seeking God's face. And it's not really true. That's not how it works. God's face God's presence is located where he promises it to be. And for us, when we gather together on Sunday, around his word, and Sacraments, God says I am, there were two or three are gathered in my name, there I am among them, or when we have Holy Communion, the body of Christ is there and then the angels and archangels, and all the company of Heaven gathered together to be in that place in Christ. We don't have to, we don't have to do anything to seek God's face. God is where he promises to be. And that is there in the divine service. And all of the confidence that we have can come from this amazing gift of just being where Christ says, I am here. This is my body. This is my blood. So we don't have to struggle. We don't have to work hard to seek God's face. It's just be there and receive from God, his amazing blessings. That's all I have for the reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Isaiah 55:6-9

Isaiah 55:6-9

“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

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 Old Testament reading for Sunday, September 24, comes from Isaiah chapter 55, verses six through nine. Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. He runs the reading.

Over the last several Sundays, we've been dancing around Isaiah quite a bit, and not the ones immediately before it. But you know, about a month or so ago, and it's all in this section. We're this section of Isaiah is talking about a dance back and forth between the judgment that God has brought on Israel. Well, Isaiah is predicting it, the judgment of the Babylonians coming in and destroying everything, but also the promise of restoration. There is a constant back and forth in Isaiah as ministry during the section. And so here he is saying, turn to the Lord, while he may be found. It's, it's a call to say, Look to God, while he is available to give you mercy, right. It says, Seek the Lord while He may be found call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.

This is Isaiah calling out to the people of Israel in those days, return to God well, before the Judgment has happened. ask for his forgiveness, forsake your evil ways, and return to the covenant that God established with Israel. And so while God before God has brought about this judgment, returned to him. Now for us, we're not in the same position. We're not Israel trapped in a covenant. We are not facing down a Babylonian invasion in several 100 years. But it's still true that we need to seek the Lord while He may be found. For each and every one of us a day is coming, when the forgiveness of God is no longer on offer. That day is either the day of our death, or the day that Jesus Christ returned. After that day, there is no chance to turn from our evil ways, there is no chance for repentance. Once we die, we stand before God and we wait the judgment. Once Christ returns, there is no turning to him for grace. And so we call on God while he is near. And to do that, we go to the divine service, where Jesus Christ comes down from heaven, and marks his place among us amongst the people of God in a special and wonderful way, where he offers us the forgiveness of sins, and his holy body and blood for our salvation. What a great time to turn to the Lord and ask for his forgiveness and receive that abundant pardon in ways that he offers to us without question, we don't have to guess we don't have to wonder, we eat his body and drink his blood. And we know that it's certain and true.

Isaiah continues, for my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

We can see in God's plan for Israel, that his plan was unknowable.

He had, he had plans to send that of a invasion. No one knows why or where it happened, why he did it the way he did it, or what the plan was, until after it happened. We also see this happening when God includes the Gentiles into the promises of Israel. St. Paul is just astounded at what God has planned to do and is amazed that this amazing gift that God had promised Abraham now goes out to not just the promised people, but to everyone in the whole world. And I think we see in our own life that God's plans are things that we cannot know. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. We don't know when we will live or die.

We don't know how long our life will be. All we know is that now is the time to turn to God for forgiveness. We also don't know why God chose bread and wine to be the things that communicate his grace, or why he chose individuals to offer the confession and absolution of the pastor's often to the church. We don't know why God chose baptism, water and not other things. But he did. And so as we prepare for the day when when our sudden death comes, and we know that we will stand before the judgment seat, let us turn towards the means of grace to the word to remembering our baptism, to Holy Communion to confession and absolution to leave behind our evil ways and receive God's grace.

That's the end of our reading today. Hopefully, we'll see you on Sunday. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Matthew 18:21-35

Matthew 18:21-35

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’ And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’ So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’ He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”

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 Gospel reading for September 17, is Matthew chapter 18, verses 21 through 35. Then Peter came up and said to him, Lord, how often will my brother's sinned against me, and I forgive him, as many as seven times. Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times, therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants. When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him 10,000 talents. And since he could not pay, his Master ordered him to be sold with his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. So the servant fell on his knees, imploring Him, have patience with me, and I will pay you everything. And out of pity for him, the master of the servant released him and forgave him the debt. But when the servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him 100, denarii. And seizing him, he began to choke him saying, pay what you owe. So this fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, have patience with me, and I will pay you. He refused, and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt. When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed. And they went and reported to their master all that had taken place. Then his master summoned him and said to him, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt, because you pleaded with me, and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you. And in anger, his master delivered him to the jailers until he should pay all his debt. So also, my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother, from your heart, coherence, the reading. This reading follows immediately, the section in Matthew chapter 18, where Jesus talks about what we do when a brother sins against us, it's first go tell him his fault, just the two of you. If that works, you've gained a brother next, bring one or two witnesses. And if that doesn't work, bring it to the congregation. And if that doesn't work, treat him as he would a Gentile and a tax collector. And he says, Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven, talking about forgiving and retaining sin. So the natural question then is what Peter says, how often? He says, Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times? Jesus said to him, I do not say to you seven times, but 77 times. So the question is, like, makes sense. How often should we forgive? Peter's like, Oh, I've got this huge number seven times. And Jesus says, No, not seven, but 77. Okay, so that means when I have my my sin against me book, I have to have 77 checkmarks. And then I stopped forgiving, right? Of course not. This is not an accounting problem about sin. Jesus is saying, no, no, no, seven is not enough. You have to multiply it so much that we always forgive. And that's the thing. Jesus is telling him, You must always forgive. So he tells a parable. I won't read it all. But it's a parable about a servant who owes a bajillion dollars to a king. That's about what 10,000 talents is way more than anyone could ever have. The king forgives it when he begs. And then that same servant goes to another servant, who owes him just a pittance. He says, pay me what you owe. The servant can't. He begs for forgiveness, and that first servant refuses. This is a parallel for our relationship with God is that the sin that we owe against God, our debt to God is so vast that there is no way we could ever pay for it. Every day we sin every day our hearts turn away from God, and our lives are filled with horribleness. And in fact, even all our best deeds, all our good works. They're all tinged with the stain of sin so that even they are filthy rags. We have nothing that we can present to God to pay him back. But he forgives us for the sake of Jesus Christ because Jesus gave up his holy Precious Blood by his innocent suffering and death, so that His infinite value of his infinitely valuable life can be poured into our bank account to pay back what we owe. Now, when someone sins against us, even if it's a huge deal, not a pittance, but a really big deal, it can still never live up to the debt that we owe God. An interesting thing about this is every once in a while I get the chance to counsel someone, they'll come into my office, and we'll talk about forgiveness like this, that when someone sins against you, we are required to forgive. And sometimes every once in a while, someone will say something like this, but pastor, it's just too easy. It's just, I'm just saying the words, and it lets them off the hook. And I always have to remind you that when someone confesses their sin to you and says, Please forgive me. And we offer forgiveness, it is actually not easy. We're saying your sin is so bad, that Jesus needed to die for it, that the Son of God, the Eternal savior, gave up his life to pay this debt. It actually takes in very, very seriously, it is not just papering it over say, ah, that's okay. Don't worry about it. It's saying Jesus died to take care of this sin. That's a big deal. So, when the fellow servant, when the King found out what the servant had done, he goes, and I'll read this, he says, You wicked servant, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me, and should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant as I had mercy on you. This is where God's law comes in to remind us that when God forgives us an infinite amount of our sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, we are required, as God's loving people to forgive the same way that God has forgiven us. In this story, the master throws the servant in jail until he should pay all his debt. And Jesus says, so also, my heavenly Father will do to every one of you if you do not forgive your brother from your heart. We're required to bring about forgiveness. And I think this helps to put in context, what pastors do when they do the office of the keys, not just what individual Christians do, they also are required to forgive. But pastors don't get to choose who to forgive. It's kind of a misconception. They often say, Well, who are you to judge? Who are you to choose who gets forgiveness and who doesn't? It's actually really simple. There's no choice. Pastors, forgive people who repent. That's it. Not complicated, not hard. Pastors forgive people who repent. Because of this rule. Whenever someone comes to me to ask for forgiveness, it's my job to give it straight up. That's all there is. And it's true for us, as well as individual Christians. When someone comes to us and ask for forgiveness. We must, we are required by the blood of Jesus Christ to give it and what a joy it is to be able to offer up this kind of forgiveness, knowing that our savior has forgiven us as well. That's all we have for this reading. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Romans 14:1-12

Romans 14:1-12

As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
    and every tongue shall confess to God.”

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

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 Sunday September 17, comes from Romans chapter 14 verses one through 12. It reads, as for the one who has weakened faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he meat may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstained. And let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats. For God has welcomed him, Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another, it is before his own master that he stands or falls, and he will be upheld, For the Lord is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day is better than another, while another esteems all days alike, each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day observes it in honor of the Lord, the one who eats eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God, for none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we will live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live, or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be both Lord of the Dead End of the living. Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you? Why do you despise your brother, for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, for it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Here is the reading. This reading requires some background information. It begins with talking about quarreling over opinions. And it says one person may he believes he may eat anything, well, the weak person eats only vegetables. Wait a second, is it the strong people are meat eaters, and the weak people are vegans? Not so much. So what's going on here is that in pagan cultures, every time you would eat meat, that meat would have a portion sacrificed to an idol. And so you take an animal and you kill it, and the butcher or other person or the person providing the meal would offer a portion of it as sacrificed. And so what you get then is that there's a group of people who might be considered the strong, who would say, idols don't exist, they're false, so I can eat the meat. And there are other people who are might be considered weak who would say to themselves, Oh, no, this, this meat has been sacrificed to an idol and I can't participate without wounding my conscience. And either one is kind of equivalent, right? And so you say to, to them, St. Paul is saying to them, one shouldn't judge the other as if one is a better Christian than the other? Sure. If you are, if you are theologically astute, you can say, oh, yeah, idols don't actually exist. So then you're sacrificing the sacrifices not to a true being. Let's not worry about it. But for the other, they're like, oh, no, I am horrified. Similarly, there are people who believe that one day is is more important than another. And he's saying, when you when you do that, we don't need to, to pass judgment on each other about the ways that we esteem particular days, whether it's feast days, or sad days, or whatever it is. These things are not commands of God, but they are the kinds of things that we we do for ourselves. Let's not pass judgment over it. And so in the meat versus vegetables thing, it's all about making sure that the person who is doing it is doing it for a good reason. And we don't need to make judgments about it. It's difficult to think about something that might have an equivalent here, but it could be something like people who are struggling with alcohol. Often people who struggle with alcohol, believe that it is is untouchable or maybe even evil. And so if they've been through a 12 step program, they approach alcohol as if it is this thing that is, has a power, whereas other people will approach alcohol is a thing that can be abused, or a thing that can be used correctly. And you just say, yeah, I, if I use it, well, it's just fine. Nobody really should be judging the other about how, how they deal with it. Because both of these opinions are sort of equally valid. One person approaches are one way for their own good. Other person can handle alcohol, so it's fine. It's not not a great, equivalent, but similar. In the second section, it talks about steaming different days and observing them in honor of the Lord. I think this is a good time to talk about what it means to have like a church worship schedule, like the church here, we have different days that we esteem as higher than others, like we go to church on Sunday, following the tradition of the Christian church since the very beginning to celebrate the day of the resurrection. We also have other days that we celebrate December 25, is Christmas, we celebrate Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday as days of celebration. But we don't do it as days that are required. These are just things that we do out of out of tradition as teaching tools to mold our lives around telling the story of Jesus. Nobody said that it's required to do it this way. You don't have to. And so there is no real judgment about who's a better Christian for, say, celebrating Christmas or not. We just simply do it as part of our teaching tools. So it's not something required by God, but something that we do. I think, the question that is great to consider, and this is what St. Paul says, Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another, it is before his own master that he stands or falls. And so whether we are whatever we do with these things that are neither commanded nor forbidden by God, what we do is we say, These things are matters that can be decided differently for different Christians. We're not going to make judgments about it. Fall, Paul finishes up when he says, Why do you pass judgment on your brother, or you why you despise your brother, for we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, for it is written, as I live says, The Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. And this reminds us that in the very end, we're not here to judge each other. We are here to stand before God, and that God will on the last day, each of us will have to give an account to him. And there will be a judgment seat. And that is the one whom we serve. And so our judgments passing, saying you're doing it wrong, you're doing it right about these things that are indifferent. But that's not what we're supposed to do. What we're supposed to do is look and say, whose heart is in the right place? How do we how are we doing this in faithfulness? Eventually, we end up standing before God and all of us will be equal on that day, begging mercy for the sake of Jesus Christ. That's it for our reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Psalm 103:1-12

Psalm 103:1-12

Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and all that is within me,
    bless his holy name!
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits,
who forgives all your iniquity,
    who heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit,
    who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
who satisfies you with good
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Lord works righteousness
    and justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known his ways to Moses,
    his acts to the people of Israel.
The Lord is merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
He will not always chide,
    nor will he keep his anger forever.
He does not deal with us according to our sins,
    nor repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

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 Sunday, September 17, is Psalm 103 verses one through 12. Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. The Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us? Here into the reading zone begins with praises, Bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that it was in me, bless His holy name, Bless the Lord, oh, my soul and forget not all His benefits. So it's beginning with Let's praise God. That's what it means to bless the Lord. Like we think of blessing is giving of gifts or maybe the holy presence of God. When we bless the Lord, it's not those things. It's praise, we praise the Lord and give thanks for what he does. And so the next piece of the psalm explains why. And I think that's an important piece of what what we focus on when we praise God is that it's not just praising him because he's praiseworthy. We always connect our praises of God for what he does. And that's what the psalm does here. It lists a number of things, forget not all His benefits, it says, He forgives iniquity. He heals diseases, he redeems your life from the pit. He crowns you with steadfast love and mercy satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed. God certainly forgives our iniquity right now, through the blood of Jesus Christ by a confession and absolution. he redeems our life from the pit. And he crowns us with all of these things. And we see the the promise of God delivered to us now through the work of the church in the means of grace. And we look forward even more towards the day of the resurrection, when all disease will be taken away when our bodies are pulled out of the pit and raised to new life. And our youth is renewed like an Eagles forever. And continues, the Lord works righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. That's an important phrase there justice and righteousness is kind of the two code words for the work of the king in Israel is that they are supposed to do righteousness that is doing things that are the righteous towards God, and justice that is bringing about justice for the poor, as well as the rich equally for everyone. Then it continues, he made known his ways to Moses his acts of to the people of Israel. This is again looking at prays with a mind to what God has already done. God brought Israel out of Egypt and freed them from slavery and gave them to a prompt a promised land. And Moses recalling this and saying that we're praising him not just because he's praiseworthy, but because of how He has revealed Himself to us, that He is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding and steadfast love. It continues on where it's not always chiding or judging, but he forgives because God does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. That is, God does not punish us for our sin, at least not like in the typical way that people think of it. Like God doesn't sit up in heaven and say, Ah, you James Huenink Your sin is particular bad today. I will press the smite key on my keyboard and zap you know, that's not really how it works. God does not respond to our sin with all of the judgment that we deserve. He forgives us actually. And so he removes our transgression from us as far as the east is from the west and he provides his steadfast love to us by sending Jesus to die for us and rise for us so that he can be with us in our lives that's the end of our reading for today we'll see you on Sunday bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Genesis 50:15-21

Genesis 50:15-21

When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many peopleshould be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

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 Old Testament reading for Sunday, September 17, comes from Genesis chapter 50, verses 15 through 21. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, it may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. So they send a message to Joseph saying, Your father gave us this command before he died. Say to Joseph, please forgive the transgressions of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you. And now, please forgive the transgressions of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are Your servants. But Joseph said to them, Do not fear for a mind the place of God. As for you, you meant evil against me. But God meant it for good to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear I will provide for you and your little ones. Thus, he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. Here ends the reading. There's a lot of story that is going on in the background behind this this particular passage. You know, the story of Joseph Joseph was one of the youngest of 12 brothers of Jacob. He got the amazing coat, and then the brothers got jealous they beat him up, threw him in a well sold him as a slave. He made it all the way to Egypt, where he was working in the house of PATA far when he was made the highest official, the part of his wife accused him of trying to rape her, so he went to jail. While in jail, he interpreted some dreams for Pharaoh's cup bearer and Baker. And then interpreting these dreams meant that eventually Josef's power to interpret dreams was brought to Pharaoh when Pharaoh had a dream. Joseph successfully interprets the stream, and Pharaoh raises him up to become the highest official in all of Egypt. When Joseph's family has troubled during the famine, they come to Egypt to buy food, and they go before Joseph to get that food. After all sorts of back and forth, Joseph tests them and tricks them and then eventually he reveals themselves to him. And they say, oh, no, Joseph is going to kill us. It'll be terrible. Joseph weeps, forgives his brothers and welcomes them back into Egypt. And Joseph's father Jacob travels all the way down and moves there. And Joseph cares to them grants them land, all sorts of cool stuff. This story begins when Josef's father dies, the brothers think Joseph has been kind to us, only out of love for the Father for Jacob. Now he's going to finally take his revenge. I have to say, can you imagine taking keeping a grudge for that amount of time holding on to that amount of anger all that long? Yikes. How much would that be a burden. So they say, when when the father dies, they say, Dad asked you to forgive us. Joseph had already done that. He already said that he couldn't, he had forgiven them. But he says this. He says, Am I in the place of God. That's really where the key for this is, is God is the one who judges God is the one who brings about justice. He is the only one who can condemn. What we see in Joseph is a mirror for Jesus a type for him, that Joseph went down into Egypt, he suffered, went into a prison, and then rose up to prominence so that he could save all of Israel, to bring Jacob down to Egypt. And from there, they grew into a mighty people. And he saved not just Jacob and the family from this terrible famine, but all of Egypt and everyone else. And so we see in in Jesus, something very similar, that he was beat up by his people. He suffered, He went into the prison of the tomb, came out and on the other end saves everyone who believes in Him. And it's because of Jesus that we can have the forgiveness that Joseph has and say, all of the evil of this world is part of God's plan. And God brings about good in it Our job is not to bring about vengeance or judge or anything like that, but to love as Christ has loved us. And so we follow the pattern of Jesus who forgave us, and so we forgive others as well. And so it ends up with Joseph comforting the family and saying, Don't do not fear, I will provide for you and your little ones. And that's what he does. And there the family grows until eventually it gets to be so large that the new pharaoh imprison them. And we get the whole story of the Exodus And Moses. That's the end of our reading for today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Matthew 18:1-20

Matthew 18:1-20

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

“Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

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 Gospel reading for Sunday, September 10, is from Matthew chapter 18, verses one through 20. At that time, the disciples came to Jesus saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck, to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world for Temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes. And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet, to be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire. See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven, their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. What do you think? If a man has 100 sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray. And if he finds it truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the 99 that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. If your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth, about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven, For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them, here since the reading. This is a lot there is so much going on in this reading, I'm going to do just a little snippet of every little piece in here. So we begin with a question of the disciples who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus points to a child. Now, one of the things that you have to know when Jesus says this, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven, is it's not the way that we normally think of it. We often think, Oh, they're so cute and trusting and wonderful and innocent, and you just have to be trusting like a child. It's not really the way people thought of children, we have a very different understanding of the value of children in our society. Back then children were just the lowest of the low, you might see them, you certainly wouldn't want to hear them. Because you have to remember little children, they died. The death rate between birth and five years old was something like 50% kids died all over the place. And they were basically worthless. They were the bottom rung of society, outcasts. And they only really mattered once they got up into into adulthood, so they could finally contribute to the family and to the rest of the world. So when Jesus pulls out a child, he isn't saying all become precious and innocent. He's saying, Look, you all think this is the least important person in the entire village, you need to be like this. Similarly, he goes on to say whoever receives one such child, one such despised and lowly person receives me, but Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would it be better to have him have a great millstone around his neck and be thrown in the depths of the sea. So again, it's not just the important people we have to deal with even the lowliest of the low. And now even we as Christians having generations of this and our different view of children, we often want children to sort of be tucked off and off to the side. especially when it comes to worship. They we act like they're a distraction or like there's something that we need to keep out so we can do the really serious business of the church. But we're supposed to welcome them, welcome them, even though they are sometimes considered the loneliest and least important, they're not going to get out, they're going to be loud, they're going to be rustling. Jesus says, welcome them. Jesus continues, Woe to the world for Temptations to sin. He says, If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. And he goes on. Of course, I don't see anyone who is actually physically doing that. In fact, if anybody took this seriously, all of us would be without arms and legs and knees, and feet, and eyes and mouths, and well, we'd kind of be dead. But most of all, what we'd have to do is we'd have to cut out our hearts. Because sin doesn't come from our hands or our eyes or our mouth. But it comes from our tendency of our heart to want what it shouldn't have. Jesus is instead telling us that we are supposed to cut out the things that cause us to sin in our lives, cut out all of those things that are, are tempting us and try to stay true and focused on the Christian life. Jesus goes back to the little ones and next one, he says, See that you do not despise one of these little ones. Again, he's, he's talking about the lowliest, right? We're not supposed to despise the people who were despised in that society. They are important. Now he goes, If a man has 100 sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the 99 on the mountains and go search for the one that went astray? We hear that so often we go of course, of course, if a sheep leaves, you're gonna go out and find it. But that's crazy. If you have 99 sheep on a mountain, and one goes away, what do you do? Do you leave the 99 and let them hang out on their own that nuts. Jesus is showing that he's kind of crazy, that every shape is so important, even the lowliest children, that he leaves and goes to get them. The last piece of this is the order of a, a way of talking about how we deal with sin in the Christian church. It's if your brother sins against you, first, go and talk to him on your own. And if he repents, you've gained a brother back. Second, take some witnesses on with you. Third, if that doesn't work, take it to the church. And if that doesn't work, treat them like a Gentile and a tax collector. We call that the process of excommunication. And then he gives it a spiritual thing. He says, Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. This is an interesting thing, where he says in connection with sin and dealing with it, if you forgive a person, their sins, that it is forgiven, but if you hold on to it, if the church says you are unrepentant, it actually is retained. Now this isn't there to kick the terrible sinners out or to be judgmental and cruel. This is there to try to bring about repentance. And it matches up well with what is the keel says about if we give a word to the sinner, and we don't say it. It's on us. God calls us to speak to the sinners and call them back to repentance in Christ so that they can have forgiveness and be one with us. That's the end of our reading. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Romans 13:1-10

Romans 13:1-10

Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

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 Sunday, September 10, is from Romans chapter 13, verses one through 10. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exists have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resist what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but too bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority, then do what is good, and you will receive His approval, for He is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God and Avenger, who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore, one must be in subjection not only to avoid God's wrath, but also for the sake of conscience. For because of this, you also pay taxes. For the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing, pay to all what is owed to them, taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue, to whom revenue is owned, respect, to whom respect is owed, honor, to whom honor is owed, Owe no one anything except to love each other. For the one who loves another has fulfilled the law for the commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, you shall not covet. And any other commandments are summed up in this word, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Therefore Love is the fulfilling of the law. He runs the reading. So the beginning piece of this reading is interesting about the perspective Paul has about the Roman authorities. Now, as we consider this, I think many of us have, in our background, this idea of the separation of church and state, and it seems obvious to us that Christians should be like we have our thing in religion, and on the other side is the state. And that's a totally different sphere of influence. Now, that's not quite what Romans chapter 13 is saying. What it's saying is, is that God is in charge of everything. And God has appointed certain people for the public good. That is the leaders. These leaders are God's ministers to bring about order in society. They are there to punish evil, and carry out God's wrath on the evil door, as it says, quote, for he is the servant of God and Avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Now, this is easy when you have good leaders, and even easier for Christians to imagine when we have Christian leaders. But I think it's also important to remember Paul is saying this about the Roman rulers who were persecuting Christians who would very soon kill Christians and throw them into the arena. This is not so much the situation that we have in the United States. It's more like what's going on in Iran, or North Korea. We have leaders who are well, they're those leaders are kind of crazy. And they do some really mean things, but they're still they're appointed by God for good. This doesn't mean they do a great job. In fact, many of them violate the rules that God has set up for them and don't do justice. But it makes them no less God's servants for the good of the people. In the end, Paul is just telling the Roman Christians, not to rebel against these appointed leaders, the servants of God, but to live life in humility and peacefulness. The next section, he says, Oh, no one anything except to love one another. For the for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. This points back to what he was talking about at the end of 12, where he's talking about gives you a grab bag of love ideas, that begins with Let love be genuine. and love your neighbor as yourself is the kind of thing that should run a Christian's life. We love each other, the way we ought to love ourselves. And that means that we care for each other. We correct each other when we're going wrong. We help each other and we hold each other up. This is the summary of God's law. And we see it especially in Jesus Christ, who loved to us so much that He gave up his life for us and spoke to us to reveal the will of his Father to us so that all of us can be saved that's the end of Romans chapter 13 We'll see you on Sunday bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Psalm 32:1-7

Psalm 32:1-7

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
    whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
    and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
    through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
    my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

I acknowledged my sin to you,
    and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
    and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah

Therefore let everyone who is godly
    offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found;
surely in the rush of great waters,
    they shall not reach him.
You are a hiding place for me;
    you preserve me from trouble;
    you surround me with shouts of deliverance.

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 Sunday, September 10, is Psalm 32 verses one through seven. It reads, bless it is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, blesses us with a man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up from the heat of the summer, I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the great rush in the Russia of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me, you preserve me from trouble, you surround me with shouts of deliverance, Here ends the reading. The song begins with blessing it is the one who's transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. And what a great blessing it is to be a forgiven sinner in Christ, whose sacrifice on the Cross paid the penalty for our sins and gives us eternal life. We are all blessed when he turned to Christ for forgiveness, and he delivers it to us. David continues, he says, For When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me, my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I think for anyone who's got guilt weighing heavily on them, you can identify with this. For When I kept silent, my bones wasted away. I think David is talking about having a sin that is, is weighing heavily on him, almost as if a disease is taking him. But then he continues, I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity, I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Now, I think as we look at this, we should put this in contact company in the context of what it means to, to turn to God for forgiveness in the Old Testament. This was something you actually did at the temple, there was a thing called a sin offering. And if you committed a sin, you would go bring an animal to the temple where you would offer a sacrifice, confess your sin on the animal, and they would kill it. And that was a way of obtaining forgiveness from God. We have something somewhat similar, though the sacrifice has been done once and for all through Jesus Christ, we offer the gift of confession and absolution, where you can come confess your sins to God and receive the absolution from the pastor as from God Himself. And that's a way to rid yourself of this guilt. This is a gift that the church offers to her people, not as a threat to say, Ah, you must confess. But when your guilt is laying heavy upon you, and your bones are wasting away, and you're groaning and you you're just struggling with your own sin. Confession is a way to deal with that. When you come before the person that God says, Forgive my people, and you can receive forgiveness face to face. David continues, therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him, for you are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble you surround me from with shouts of deliverance. For someone who is in Christ and has confessed their sin and receive forgiveness. We can offer our prayers to God and be protected by him in the rush of a flood or the great waters are all that God is a hiding place a protector who saves us. That's all we have for today. See you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Ezekiel 33:7-9

Ezekiel 33:7-9

“So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. If I say to the wicked, O wicked one, you shall surely die, and you do not speak to warn the wicked to turn from his way, that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul.

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 Old Testament reading for September 10, is from Ezekiel chapter 33, verses seven through nine. So you son of man, I've made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them morning for me. If I say to the wicked, wicked one, you shall surely die. And you do not speak to one the wicked to turn from his way that wicked person shall die in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. But if you want the wicked to turn from his way, and he does not turn from his way, that person shall die in his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul here into the reading. So God is speaking to Ezekiel and saying that he has made them a watchman for the house of Israel, someone who guards and protects. And there's the role. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. So the idea here is that if there is an incoming army, the watchman is supposed to warn the city so they can prepare. Now this is, of course, a figurative thing for a prophet. Ezekiel isn't out there saying, you're all going to prepare for an invading army. But he is telling God's word to the people who need to repent. And so God gives Ezekiel a bit of a threat. He says, if I give you a word, and you don't say it, that's on you, Ezekiel. But if I give you a word, and you do say it, then whatever happens isn't on you. If the person repent, yay, wonderful. And if they don't, you will have delivered your soul. Now, in the Lutheran church, we say that the pastor's are often the the inheritors of this office of preaching, an office of the watchman in the church. In fact, one of our ordination hymns is called God of the prophets. Bless the Prophet, son. And it's all about bringing in a new pastor and saying he's taking on this role of, of Prophet in the congregation that is speaking God's word to the people. What it means then is it actually gives me a little quake in my heart as a pastor to say, Oh, God sends us a word. And we must speak it, whether we want to or not, because I have to tell you, it is much easier not to send the Word of God out to those who always need to hear it. It's much easier just to say, You know what, that's on them. But does he he'll says, No, if you have God's word, and you don't speak it to those who need to repent and turn from their ways, then their blood is on you. Oh, Pastor. Yikes. It reminds me a bit of what James says in chapter three, verse one, he writes, not many of you should become teachers, my brother's for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. So, God is warning all the pastors and teachers of the church that when he sends a word to us, we must speak it, the word of Scripture, and all of its content, everything. It's our job, to tell sinners about God's will and call them to return to his grace. That's it for our reading. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Matthew 16:21-26

Matthew 16:21-26

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his lifewill lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

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 Gospel reading for Sunday, September 3 is from Matthew chapter 16, verses 21 through 28. It reads, from that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed. And on the third day, he raised and Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan, you are a hindrance to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake, we'll find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul, for the Son of Man is going to come with His angels to the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here, who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. So this passage is an interesting contrast with what we read last week. Last week, we saw Jesus go to the disciples and and say, Who do you say the Son of Man, or people say, and they give all sorts of answers, and Jesus asked, But who do you think I am? And Peter says, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus heaps praises on this and says, on this rock, I will build my church. Now, immediately after this, Jesus begins to tell the disciples what he's going to do, that he will suffer, die, and on the third day be raised, this is the mission. This is what Jesus was sent for. And Peter responds, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall never happen to you. And Jesus goes, Get behind Me, Satan, you are a hindrance to me, for you're not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man. Can you imagine? You go from this Hi, amazing moment where Peter is, is saying, the height of the confession of faith, you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And then Jesus calls Peter Satan, Get behind Me, Satan. Yikes, Jesus, can't you be a little more Christ like and a little less judgmental. It's almost like you can hear that in your mind, right? But what Peter's trying to do is prevent Jesus from suffering and dying so that we can be saved. Peter is actually setting his mind on the things of man, kind of a theology of glory, saying that successful things are the things that human beings find glorious. Whereas the theology of the cross shows that the successful things are the things that have the power of God, which, to us is a suffering and dying Savior, who then rises three days later. And we see it again, in some of the most difficult words that Jesus says to any Christian, when he says, If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. Now, does that sound like a glorious life? Is that the perfect plan that God has laid out for everyone with this glorious future? deny himself take up his cross and follow me? That's the theology of the cross, where Christians look to see the power of God in the hidden in the suffering, in self sacrifice, and not in the glorious and the powerful and the rich and the wealthy. Jesus continues, for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with the angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. So now, here we go. And we look ahead and we see the glory. Right now the life of a Christian is denying yourself taking up our cross and following Jesus in the future, when Jesus returned, that is when Christians see the glory when he comes with the angels and judges, the living and the dead, and repays each one person according to what he has done. Now, you might hear that and go whoa, whoa, whoa, Jesus. I thought we believed in salvation by grace and that That's what it is. He's repaying each person according to faith in Christ, those who are with him and those who are not. And so we rejoice in looking forward to the day that Jesus comes and gives salvation to his people and saves them and makes them glorious. That's the end of our gospel reading. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Romans 12:9-21

Romans 12:9-21

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

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 September 3 is from Romans chapter 12. verses nine through 21. It reads, let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal. Be fervent in spirit. Serve the Lord. rejoice in hope Be patient and tribulation be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you. Bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all, if possible, so far as it depends on you live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God for it is written, VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good here hence the reading. This reading seems a little bit like a grab bag of different suggestions. But what it does is it flows directly from the image of the Body of Christ that we had just before this in Romans chapter 12. Where St. Paul says that we the church are members of the Body of Christ and members of one another, that we should not think of ourselves higher than we ought to think. And that binding together in the body of Christ leads us to this list, a wonderful list that I wish I could touch on every single one and say, and talk about it in depth. But it begins with Let love be genuine. Now this list that we see, let love be genuine. And all of these other things, though, all the different ways that it talks about loving each other inside the church. You could look at these and say, St. Paul is giving us command, we absolutely have to do it. But I think there's another way to look at it. We can say to that this is what we already want to do. We Christians want to love one another. And I think we should think about the all of the ways that our churches care about each other the members of the congregation, you can think of stories in your own life the prayers that we offer up for each other the the ways that we care for each other the the rides that we might give to each other when we show up together and have lunch together or celebrate or or pray or you know, there are just so many different stories. And especially for a pastor who's still relatively new, it's hard to come up with them all. But the idea here is not so much that St. Paul is wagging a finger at the Romans or us but that there's this thing that God has planted in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, to give us genuine love for each other. And that is what really makes a congregation genuine love that we live out with joy. Now there's another side of this as well. There's there's the side of how do we deal with those who are outside of the church who are against us, the those who persecute and the still, the thing that it that Romans tells us is that there's still this love, a genuine love for those who persecute us. So verse 14, Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse them. Or later on and 19 it says beloved, never avenge yourselves but leave it to the wrath of God forbids written, Vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For by doing so you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good. This reflects the kind of love that Jesus showed for his enemies, the people who were there who were trying to kill him, even said, Father forgive them. They don't know what they're doing. He came to us while we were still enemies of God and made us People in baptism and brought us together into the body of Christ. And so when we face people who persecute us or hurt us, or, you know any kind of of terrible difficulty, we have to say, Let's be like Christ, who loved us while we were outsiders. And so we overcome evil with good. We respond to hate with love. And what that does is that makes enemies into friends. And then we win, right? That's the standard that God sets for us and the love that he shows for us in Jesus. Well, that's it for Romans chapter 12. Hopefully, we'll see you on Sunday. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Psalm 26

Psalm 26

Vindicate me, O Lord,
    for I have walked in my integrity,
    and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering.
Prove me, O Lord, and try me;
    test my heart and my mind.
For your steadfast love is before my eyes,
    and I walk in your faithfulness.

I do not sit with men of falsehood,
    nor do I consort with hypocrites.
I hate the assembly of evildoers,
    and I will not sit with the wicked.

I wash my hands in innocence
    and go around your altar, O Lord,
proclaiming thanksgiving aloud,
    and telling all your wondrous deeds.

O Lord, I love the habitation of your house
    and the place where your glory dwells.
Do not sweep my soul away with sinners,
    nor my life with bloodthirsty men,
in whose hands are evil devices,
    and whose right hands are full of bribes.

But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity;
    redeem me, and be gracious to me.
My foot stands on level ground;
    in the great assembly I will bless the Lord.

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 September 3 is Psalm 26. vindicate me, oh, Lord, for I have walked in my integrity and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Prove me, oh Lord, and try me test my heart and my mind for your steadfast love is before my eyes, and I walk in your faithfulness. I do not sit with men of falsehood, nor do I consult with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of evildoers and I will not sit with the wicked. I wish wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, oh, Lord, proclaiming Thanksgiving aloud and telling all your wondrous deeds. Oh, Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where your glory dwells. Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, Nor my life with bloodthirsty men, in whose hands are evil devices and whose right hand are full of bribes. But as for me, I shall walk in and take my integrity, redeem me and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground in the great assembly, I will bless the Lord. Now, if you listened to the reading from the Old Testament, in Jeremiah, you might see something very similar in this psalm reading. It's a Psalm of David where he cries out to vindicate him. That first phrase vindicate me, oh, Lord, gives you a clue as to the situation that might be going on behind the song. You see, throughout the Psalm, David is saying, look at all of my qualities and how faithful I am I, I don't consort with evildoers. I'm not with hypocrites. I hate the assembly of the wicked. I trust in You, I follow your word. I love the habitation of the house, and the place where your glory dwells. This phrase vindicate me suggests that there is a problem that David is facing. And he feels like he needs to be vindicated from God, that God should come down and save him from whatever's going on. And that is, is added to when you look at the end, in verses 11 and 12, where it says, But as for me, I shall walk in my integrity, redeem me and be gracious to me. My foot stands on level ground in the great assembly, I will bless the Lord. So we've got this idea of redeem, save me, pull me out. And similarly, in verses in verse nine, it goes, Do not sweep my soul away with sinners, Nor my life with bloodthirsty men. There's something going on in the background of this. This is almost like a complaint. David is looking at God and what's going on around him and saying, This doesn't make sense to me, God, I, I serve you. I'm faithful to you. I do all of these things. I don't, I'm not a blatant sinner, I don't go out and do all the bad things. And yet, I need to be vindicated. What I think this does is a couple of things. First, it shows us that it is okay to complain to God when things aren't going the way that we think we should be. When bad stuff happens to us, we can say wait a second God. This is not the thing that you promised for me like you didn't I serve you and stuff is terrible. Fix this. But it also shows us that the pattern of life for God's chosen people often includes being in a situation where we need to call on God to vindicate us. It's especially true for Jesus who is David's son, and I guess the ultimate and perfect king of Israel, who was perfect. He didn't sit with men of falsehood or consult with hypocrites. He hated the assembly of the evildoers and did not sit with the wicked. He loved the habitation of God's house and the place where his glory dwells, and yet, the evildoers all around him seemed to succeed. And so he needed to wait for the Lord his God in ours to vindicate him. And that is the same thing for us. Now that Jesus is risen from the dead. We wait for God to vindicate us, even as we suffer in this world and we face terrible things. We can complain to God and say, Hey, God, this is terrible. This is awful. send Jesus to save us, raise us from the dead so that we can be like him. That's it for today for the psalm fourth Sunday, September 3, we'll see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Jeremiah 15:15-21

Jeremiah 15:15-21

O Lord, you know;
    remember me and visit me,
    and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
    know that for your sake I bear reproach.
Your words were found, and I ate them,
    and your words became to me a joy
    and the delight of my heart,
for I am called by your name,
    O Lord, God of hosts.
I did not sit in the company of revelers,
    nor did I rejoice;
I sat alone, because your hand was upon me,
    for you had filled me with indignation.
Why is my pain unceasing,
    my wound incurable,
    refusing to be healed?
Will you be to me like a deceitful brook,
    like waters that fail?

Therefore thus says the Lord:
“If you return, I will restore you,
    and you shall stand before me.
If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless,
    you shall be as my mouth.
They shall turn to you,
    but you shall not turn to them.
And I will make you to this people
    a fortified wall of bronze;
they will fight against you,
    but they shall not prevail over you,
for I am with you
    to save you and deliver you,
declares the Lord.
I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked,
    and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless.”

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 Old Testament reading for Sunday, September 3 is Jeremiah chapter 15, verses 15 through 21. It reads, oh Lord, you know me, remember me and visit me and take vengeance for me on my persecutors in your forbearance take me not away, know that for your sake, I bear reproach your words were found, and I ate them. And your words became to me a joy, and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, oh, Lord, God of hosts. I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice, I sat alone because your hand was upon me. For you. It filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful Brook like waters that fail? Therefore, Thus says the Lord, if you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth, they shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them. And I will make you to this people, a fortified wall of bronze, they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you, to save you, and deliver you declares the Lord, I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless here and the reading. This is such a difficult reading, I think, for us to just read out of the middle of nowhere, because Jeremiah situation is difficult. Jeremiah is a prophet, letting everybody know that God is about to send Babylon into Jerusalem to destroy them. And right ahead of this though, section right before that, God is speaking through Jeremiah to, to the people to tell them that they are going to be delivered off to the enemy. There's a section where it talks about the people who are assigned to the sword will be killed by the sword to pestilence, pestilence and to spoil, and it's really very gross and sort of like, God is giving the people into exile. And after all of that, we sort of get this, this prayer to God from Jeremiah. And it goes, Oh, Lord, you know me, remember me and visit me and take vengeance on me. For for me on my persecutors in your forbearance take me not away, know that for your sake, I bear reproach. And so Jeremiah is using something very similar to what many of the chosen of God have used. It's this idea that I have been serving you, God, and all of these bad things have been happening to me, come and save me take vengeance on those who are persecuting me, because I'm serving you. He continues, your words were found and I ate them. And your words became to me a joy and a delight for your for my heart, for I am called by your name, oh Lord, God of hosts. So Jeremiah is talking like he's this prophet, who took the Word of God and made it a part of him not just like eating but deep into his heart. One of our prayers about the Word of God talks about it, taking it in and inwardly digesting it, so that it becomes a part of us. I think he's talking about that. He continues in his defense 17 Verse 17. I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice. I sat alone because your hand was upon me for you. It filled me with indignation. Why is my pain unceasing my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me a deceitful Brook like waters that fail? He's continuing his complaint to God saying what's going on? I've served you. The word is deep in my heart, and yet, I'm alone. People are against me. My pain is unceasing. Will you fail me God? And God replies, if you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious and not what is worthless you shall be as my mouth they shall turn to you but you shall not turn to them. And I will make you to this people have fortified wall of bronze. They will fight against you but they shall not prevail over you. For I am with you to save you and deliver you declares the Lord. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless. So here Jeremiah is seen as if you turn to God, He will make you firm, make you like a wall of bronze so that when people attack the Prophet, that he will not be destroyed. He is a fortified city, a wall, they will turn against him and he will be saved. We are not quite like Jeremiah called to the same work that he is called. But through Christ, we see something very similar. We have a Savior whose the indignation of the people was on him. The they fought against him, they worked against him and yet he uttered only the precious Word of God and was made a fortress for us a mighty fortress that we can stand in and be saved. That's it for today for today. I'll see you on Sunday.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

What Is A Congregation? A Sermon for August 28th, 2023

Romans 12:3-7

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads,with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.

Ever since June, we've been going through the book of Romans talking about all the things that the apostle Paul has to say to the church in Rome, the early chapters talked about the amazing gift of God that we are given grace to save us freely and truly, without works of the law. In chapters six and six through eight, St. Paul covers the question, if we're saved by grace, what do we do with our works? Are we free to do whatever we want? He said, No, of course. Because by being united with Christ in our baptisms, the sinful self is killed, and we are made alive with Christ to live like Him in a new life. The end is chapter eight, with amazing declaration of the promises of God, that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, not even death itself. Chapters nine through 11 Talk about the question of if that's the case, God's promises are certain and true. What do we do with the promises of Old Testament Israel? And we say, the answer was, the faith for Israel was the same as it is for us. It is passed down through the word of God, and those who believe receive it, and those who do not, do not. And so we end chapter 11. With this declaration of praise that St. Paul gives to God, it's really interesting how our lectionary has divided up this reading. So if you look, it's the end of 11, and the beginning of 12. And so it ends this section, in the beginning of our reading today, with that, oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God. So then, in chapter 12, we get a lot of stuff. There is a whole lot in our reading that I can talk about. And I truly wish that I could hold you here for the next three hours while I explained it all. Actually, no, I'm sure you'd get a little fidgety, wouldn't you? Probably. So instead of talking about everything, the living sacrifice, the transforming of our mind, all of these other things, we're going to talk about what St. Paul talks about last in this reading, the idea of the church being the body of Christ. He says, For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than we ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body, we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. So we though many are one body in Christ, and individually members, one of another, having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophesy in proportion to our faith, if service in our serving, the one who teaches in his teaching, the one who exhorts, in his exhortation, the one who contributes, in generosity, the one who leads with zeal, the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness. St. Paul gives a model of what the Christian church is, I think both in the congregational sense and in the broad sense of all of the Christians all over the world, is that we are bound together in Christ's body. It's a mystical union with Jesus Christ. It begins with our baptisms, that by being baptized into Christ, we are united with Him. We become ONE with Him. him, killed and then made alive to live a new life with Jesus. It continues in our mutual sharing of Christ's Body and Blood, that he gathers us together and binds us as one when we eat his body, and drink his blood. And so not only are we coming together to receive grace, but he makes us one, as we share this mystical gift, the Christian church, and each individual congregation is one body, bound together into this mysterious thing, the body of Jesus. And so while we look like we might be a collection of individuals, a bunch of people from all sorts of places, we are really and truly just Jesus gathered together as his body. Throughout the history of the church, many people have tried other models, other analogies to talk about the organization of the church. And often when we do that, it sort of throws us off a little bit. Back in the Roman Empire, and in the Middle Ages, they had a sort of a feudal system for understanding the church, that everything flowed down from the King, which they called the Pope, down to the bishops, down to the people. And it ended up creating almost a monarchy within the church, which eventually led to selling indulgences that started the Reformation. In other eras, we've used other models. Dwight moody, created the model where we use kind of advertising to be the main part of the church, where the goal of the church was to gather a bunch of people together and give them an emotional experience that would manipulate them into the faith. I think Billy Graham represents the kind of the radio star version of the church. But the one that we have today, unsurprisingly uses what I think is probably the most powerful model of success in American culture, is the tech guru entrepreneur, model of Christianity. And we know how this works. When we look at the the mega churches that often pop up, because they follow that model. Mark Driscoll founded Mars Hill out of Seattle. And he followed this kind of model. He was the the the visionary leader, the Steve Jobs of the church. Very quickly, he gathered together a really big church, and they were doing really big things. Their goal was to break stuff and fix things, and he had the vision for the church. And well, that doesn't define how we live our lives together. I think this model of the entrepreneurial church defines much of how we think about it. And so today, what I like to do is compare and contrast those two models, the idea of church, like a business with the pastor as the CEO, versus what it looks like to be a body. These I think these two models compete in our minds because of the culture that we live in. So let's dig in. The question with that then is who runs the church in each of these models? With the tech guru, innovator, entrepreneur idea, the goal is to get someone who has a visionary new idea, something that will shake up the church environment. They come up with a plan, a great idea that will gather together all of the people around them and make a big difference in the life of their city. Well, that sounds exciting. What that means is that every new startup, the goal is innovation. something new, something different. We saw that in places like Mars Hill, Mark Driscoll started a church that was all about being extra manly. He was a leader Are brash, strong. He talks about if people didn't get on board, we throw them under the bus, really. And, and ended up blowing up the church. This isn't the only place where that sort of thing happens every five 810 years, there's a new a new trend in the church as we get along another theological fad. As someone goes out and leads the way in innovation. Before that becomes passe, and a new innovator has to pop up. In a body, it's a little different. We're not always chasing something new. We're not trying to disrupt everything. We are listening to the head, Jesus.

We're not innovators. We are bearing the Word of God from one generation to the next. And we hear in the church where I live, now we have no better access to that than the people who've gone before us. We can't look back and say, all those people that had no idea what they were talking about, we know the way now I have the vision. All we can do is turn to those who've gone before us glean wisdom from them, and hear the Word of God as it speaks to us today. And I think the key for that is we listen to Christ, and base our decisions all on his word. Innovation, trying something new has to be done very carefully. Because we consider what Christ we also have to examine what the nature of the church is. When we look at these two ideas. In the entrepreneurial idea of the church, the church is the staff. It begins with the founding pastor who has a vision who has a plan, he knows what's going to happen. And they gather together like minded individuals who will do it just right. And if you're not on board, you get left behind. You can also look at as the church grows, primarily, what happens is that the staff does ministry, right? You say you guys are the ministers, we are the spiritual consumers. And it develops a rather unfortunate relationship where you become the audience, and we become the providers. And the goal of the church is to make sure that the customer is happy to make sure that you get what you feel like you need and to gather in more people and build up the business. Now there's something different in a body. In the body of Christ ministry isn't about what the staff does only. We are all responsible for the entirety of the ministry of the church. Every single one of us gathers together to make it all happen. Now, of course, that doesn't mean that everybody gets to stand up in front. Because public speaking is terrifying, just as the people who come up and make announcements every Sunday, right? St. Paul gives us a whole definition of what that means. Each according to our abilities. And he lets several those you have ability and administration, you administer communication, you communicate. If you'd like to make quilts, you make prayer quiz. If you're good at counting money, you can do that too. If you teach, then teach. And we take all of these things, all of these different talents and abilities, and we gather them together. And we say we are all responsible for this work that we do. We all care for each other. We all work together for the good of our congregation. And everyone comes together around the work and ministry of the church. And what that means then is that we're not pitting people against each other. We're not saying Oh, you guys got to do this. We're saying we do that. And it makes everyone just as important and as everyone else. As we consider what we are doing as a congregation. bound together as a body connected to Jesus Christ. That is why I like this program we're doing serving in God's mission. The idea was for us is to think about our strategic plan, not as a staff led idea, but as a congregation lead plan. Because I tell you, I will not live forever. I don't know if you know this, right? I will not live forever. And the pastor after me will not live forever. Staff may change the congregation, you are a big piece of staff come and go. But the culture of the congregation is ongoing. And what we don't want in a congregation is for new staff to come in and change everything every time. Because that happens, right? What we want is the body of Christ to come together and choose together to make decisions. So think about who we are, what are our talents? What are our abilities? And where can we go from here. That's why serving in God's mission is about strategic planning, based on you, not on me why when we go to this meeting, I sit in the back and I don't talk. Because we want the body of Christ to speak for herself.

Another difference, as we consider the two models of what a church is, is the difference about how we have as a relationship to each other. In a business, when you're running a business that is focused on getting stuff done and doing things right. You either get on board or you get out. When a new CEO comes into a company, what do they do? They clean house, right? They get there, they get old people out, and there are people in that's not how the church works, right. With a body, you don't cut fingers off. You don't gouge out different parts. You're committed to each other. And we're committed to each other in the body of Christ. Because we know that Jesus Christ has come to die for each and every one of us. The by the power of his body and blood, he binds us together in a way that is far more important than then simply gathering together here in a space, far more important than membership in a club. We are a body. We are committed to each other. We want love for each other. Not our own love, not our own feelings, but the power of the love of Jesus Christ working in us. And what St. Paul says right after this is all about that when he talks about letting love be genuine, which we'll read next week, because we get into that sermon, and all the all the kinds of good that we do for each other. That's what it means to be in a body. We're not expendable. We don't cast each other aside. We don't we don't wish each other away. We love each other in everything that we do. Jesus Christ has gathered together at church, not to follow the model of the world, the innovation, innovative entrepreneur, but to follow the of the Mystical Body. We are all bound together as one. We're all bound together as Christ people in him which means that we are part of each other members, one another.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

Getting Ready for Sunday: Matthew 16:13-20

Matthew 16:13-20

Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ.

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 Gospel reading for Sunday, August 27 2023, is from Matthew chapter 16. It reads, now, when Jesus came into the district of Cezary, Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who do people say that the Son of Man is, and they said, Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, are one of the prophets. He said to them. But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered, Blessed are you, Simon bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven, and I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it, I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. Here ends the reading. So this is an important piece passage in the Gospel of Matthew, as it talks about the identity of Jesus, it begins with a question Jesus says, Who do people say that the Son of Man is? Now the Son of Man itself is a bit of a of a strange sort of way of talking about yourself. Many of times, in the Old Testament, God would speak to a human being and say, Son of man, justice mean, hey, you, guy. But we also can look to Daniel, where it talks about one like the Son of man, coming on the clouds in might and power. And I think that's really what Jesus is referencing here. So they reply, some say John the Baptist, other sage, Elia, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. So the disciples reply with the various answers that people gave, and it was all these different kinds of profits. And we have to ask ourselves, when we ask the question, maybe of ourselves or others, who do we think Jesus is? What are the various answers that the world gives? Is he just a teacher? Is he some heavenly Santa Claus? Is he a figment of our imagination? Is he just a nice guy who just tells us to love ourselves? Who does the world say is? Is he just nothing? Is he's someone you don't even think about? What an interesting way of thinking of the question, Who do people say that I am? But then he moves on, he said to them, But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are the Christ, that's the Messiah, the chosen one, the one who was chosen by Israel, and the Son of the living God, the One who only one who knows the father, who was sent into the world to declare the Father's Will for the world? What a faithful answer what a joy that we could give that answer to. And Jesus responds, blessed are you Simon bar Jonah. Now that's kind of a weird thing to do in a translation, Simon bar Jonah. That just means Simon, son of Jonah, I don't know why they didn't translate it that way. So it says, Blessed are you, Simon, son of Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my father who was in heaven. We know that we can only proclaim Jesus Christ is Lord, by the power of the Holy Spirit. St. Paul tells us that it continues, and I tell you, that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Now, lots of Protestants and Lutherans get kind of upset about this one when Jesus says, You are Peter and on this rock, and he's obviously making a play on words on Peters name. Peter did become the rock of the church, the cornerstone of the I guess, Jesus is the cornerstone, but he is the chief stone of the apostles. And he the church then gets the keys to the kingdom of heaven and it says, I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. This reflects other language in Matthew from Matthew chapter 18, where Jesus talks about forgiving sin, the church and especially lead pastors as the officers of the church, the public ministry has the keys to the kingdom of heaven to bind sin and lucid to forgive sin. What a great gift. You can come to your pastor. And you can confess something, haven't put his hand on your head and say, I forgive you in the name of the Father, Son in the Holy Spirit, and there's a promise that it actually happened. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. What a joy it is to be able to be released from your burdens like that. The reading ends with that he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. What a crazy thing, right? Jesus says, don't tell anyone. But we know that this is because Jesus is heading to the cross, that the message doesn't go out until after he has died and rose from the dead. Because we can only understand what it means that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, if we see it through that his death on the cross, and know that Christ did not come to be a king like David with a sword in his fist, and spear in his hand, but a one with nails through his wrists and feet, to suffer and die for us. And so we know that this message doesn't make sense until Jesus has died and risen. Now we tell the whole world. That's the end of the reading. Hope to see you on Sunday. Bye

Transcribed by https://otter.ai