Sundays of Lent 2021 Messages From Pastor Staker Bethel Lutheran Church (ELCA) Russell, Kentucky
“Ash Wednesday” – Feb. 17 – “A Place Of Resurrection” First Sunday in Lent – Feb. 21 – “Just Water!” Second Mid-Week Lenten Service – Feb. 24 – “Living With A Resurrection Heart” Second Sunday in Lent – Feb. 28 – “Be A Loser” Third Mid-Week Lenten Service – Mar. 3 – “An Illogically Logical Faith” Third Sunday in Lent – Mar. 7 – “What’s Eating Jesus” Fourth Mid-Week Lenten Service – Mar. 10 – “Cross Contamination” Fourth Sunday in Lent – Mar. 14 – “Snake Bit” Fifth Mid-Week Lenten Service – Mar. 17 – “A God’s Eye View Of Your Past and Present” Fifth Sunday in Lent – Mar. 21 – “The Beauty Of The Cross” Sixth Mid-Week Lenten Service – Mar. 24 – “What Is Reverent Submission?”
“A PLACE OF RESURRECTION” Message for “Ash Wednesday” From Pastor Norman Staker February 17,2021 JOEL 2: 1-2, 12-17 – 2 COR 5: 20b-6:10 – MATTHEW 6: 1-6, 16-21
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!
Jesus warns us to practice our piety, our devoutness, our religiosity, in secret. We are not to give alms, to pray, to fast in a way that plays to an audience of other people. Instead, we are to do these things in secret. And in each case, to this secret practice a blessing is attached. As Jesus tells it, “your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
Hearing these words this evening, if we were or actually are together, on this the first day of Lent, means that whatever we do by way of Lenten practices is not done for a human audience, whether others or ourselves. The significance of these practices appears at a different level, that place where we encounter God. This is a hidden place, concealed certainly from others, and in a real sense, a secret even from ourselves. God meets us in our depths, in places that remain beyond our conscious sight.
Yet still it is easy for us to look upon our Lenten practices as an area where we can earn rewards, the frequent flyer miles of the spiritual life. We do well at keeping our Lenten practices, and God is pleased with us that much more. If we do not do well, if we make a scramble of Lent, then God, who sees in secret, is that much less pleased with us.
It’s easy to regard our Lenten practices in this way, perhaps unavoidable, but to do this, I think, is to miss the point. What God sees in secret is something other than our achievement.
Our almsgiving, praying, fasting–these are classic practices for Lent. There are others as well. On this night, we would celebrate Holy Communion and the Imposition of Ashes, which have already been impacted or would be impacted by the Covid virus. But all of them, I have come to believe, lead us to the same place. For the sake of simplicity, let’s consider only how almsgiving, praying, and fasting take us there.
First of all, what do you know about alms? The standard definition is that alms are monies and/or goods given to the poor. Giving alms is like charitable giving, but not quite. When you give to a charity like Lutheran World Relief, your contributions are distributed in a systematic way to those in need and, of course, a small portion is used to run the organization.
Almsgiving is personal. It’s about giving directly to the poor, and, if you’ve ever given help directly to someone in need, you know that it’s a lot trickier than giving to a charitable cause. If you want to give to charity, all you have to do is write a check. But to give alms to an individual or family you have to get personally involved, and that can get complicated. Yet, this is what the Sermon on the Mount is all about – living as children of God in a covenant relationship with each other.
So you give alms to help people in need or distress. Perhaps you donate to Lutheran World Relief or the Community Kitchen or Hope’s Place or the Southern Ohio Synod to assist suffering people in this community or the world. Perhaps you write a check for Helping Hands. Maybe your almsgiving is expressed in action. You visit the sick, the lonely, people in prison. The giving of alms can take any of these forms and many more. However it’s done, almsgiving brings us that much closer than usual to the raw edge of human need.
And what happens when we go there? We find out that human suffering is not a problem to be solved like an arithmetic exercise on a blackboard. Instead, we give alms and we find ourselves keeping company, directly or indirectly, with people whose suffering we would rather not have to consider. We lose our innocence again about the state of the world; we trade satisfaction for solidarity.
Someone else is fed or housed or comforted, but we are transformed. That’s the real cost of almsgiving for us. Not only do we empty out a little bit of our treasure, but we are made a bit more compassionate, perhaps against our better judgment.
This is how the Father who sees in secret rewards us. We would have settled, say, for a framed certificate of appreciation, and instead God changes our lives.
So you pray more than usual during the forty days of Lent. Perhaps you sit in silence before God for a specified period of time in private or you say a certain prayer once a day. Keep this up, and in time you may make a discovery; it may be thrust upon you, that your prayer is something poor, just dust and ashes before the majestic reality of God.
The devotional practices we engage in may be eloquent, time-tested, even enjoyable, but the doing of them is full of distraction, characterized by uncertainty, an exercise in always starting over. We hardly know when we are praying or if we are praying, and whether or not it works.
We pray, or think we do, and what we discover is the poverty of our prayer, the emptiness of our words, the shallowness of our silence. Yet we are made a little less incapable of recognizing the generosity of God, who gladly accepts that we want to pray, or even that we want to want to pray.
Once we may have thought that prayer changes God, aligns God with our view of the world, but when our prayer falls apart in Lent, we find that through our prayer God changes us, lets us recognize ourselves for who we are. It is in this way that the Father who sees in secret rewards us.
Then there is fasting. Maybe it’s a meal regularly skipped, or certain kinds of food abstained from. There are other fasts as well. People give up alcohol, or television, or book buying, or grumpiness as part of their Lenten observance. But all the forms of fasting resemble abstinence from food. This traditional religious fasting is not done to make us trim, though it may do that; it is done to make us empty.
A fast deserving of the name will leave us hungry. We will recognize our frailty, that our lives encompass not the spiritual only, but also the biological. We are dependents of the food chain. We are based in our bodies. We cannot live on bread alone, that’s true, but without bread we cannot live at all.
The fleshly hunger that we feel as the result of our fasting reminds us of the spiritual hunger that we need to feel to be truly alive. Yet so often this spiritual hunger is sated, concealed due to the ingestion of one sort of junk food or another that lusts for our allegiance.
Hunger for God is our healthy state, yet so often our hearts are stuffed with what cannot nourish us. An empty stomach will give us hope that our hearts may become empty enough to receive the God who is our only satisfying food. Through our fasting God changes us, reminding us that we are constituted not by our achievements or even our failures, but by our need for him, our hunger not for bread alone, but for the holy.
The practices of Lent are good for us, but not if we see them as achievements. They are instead ways in which we become aware of our poverty and awake to the generosity of God. What we seek is not a successful Lent, a check list of what we have done. What we seek instead is a holy Lent, an opening up of our poor lives so that they can be a place of resurrection.
If you allow your almsgiving, prayer and fasting to put you in the spotlight, you’ve missed the point. You may get the praise of others, but that’s all you’ll get. What you won’t get are the blessings God has in store for you when you go about doing good deeds secretly.
Truth to tell, Jesus didn’t know anything about Hope’s Place or the Salvation Army or the Red Cross, or Lutheran World Relief, or any of the other charitable organizations. For that matter, he didn’t know anything about the Lutheran Church and our missions programs. But he knew a lot about widows and orphans and beggars and lepers. He had compassion for those less fortunate, and he taught his disciples to have compassion, as well.
Here’s what I’d like for you to remember as we begin Lent 2021. Be a secret friend. Give alms to the poor. Do nice things for others. Pray for them. Share the gifts of faith, hope and love anonymously to the glory of God. Don’t let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. Fast, give up something you truly don’t think you can give up and enjoy doing it. Find ways to grace the lives of others without their knowing it was you, and your heavenly Father, who sees in secret, will reward you; and, to your great surprise, you will be the one to receive the greater blessing.
Amen.------“JUST WATER!” Message for the First Sunday in Lent From Pastor Norman Staker February 21,2021 GENESIS 9: 8-17 – 1 PETER 3: 18-22 – MARK 1: 9-15
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!
Lent. A fascinating time in the church year that Lutherans and other Protestants are only beginning to appreciate. The name LENT has nothing to do with something previously loaned – it comes from an ancient word that meant “springtime,” – that period of the calendar during which the days lengthen. Because the church season always fell at that time of year, the name came to apply there as well. Even after the word “Lent” no longer referred to spring, it was still used by the church to describe the season before Easter.
As you know, the season of Lent as currently observed lasts forty days, Ash Wednesday till Easter. The early church celebrated Lent only for a few days before Easter, but, over the centuries, the season grew until it was several weeks long. In the seventh century, the church set the period of Lent at forty days to remind people of the duration of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. That being said, if you go to your calendar and actually count the number of days between Ash Wednesday and Easter, you total 46! But then you knew that, right? Why the discrepancy? If you didn’t know, the Sundays during Lent are not counted.
My own initial encounters with Lent came as a boy growing up. I was as Protestant as could be; hey, I was as Lutheran as could be. Several of my classmates were good Catholics, and come Ash Wednesday each year, I would see them in public with a smudge of gray on their forehead. I would also hear of some sacrifice or other they planned to make, something they were “giving up for Lent,” which a lot of churches still practice to this day. Are you giving up anything?
In a stubborn sort of way, that tradition of self-denial is the reason for the raucous celebrations of Mardi Gras – “Fat Tuesday” in French, something else that Covid has curtailed. The Tuesday before somber old Ash Wednesday would arrive was seen as the last chance to really eat before a month-and-a-half of bleakness. Since Lent was traditionally a time of fasting, the day before it began was always one during which people would use up eggs, butter, and other perishables that would not last through the Lenten season, and “Fat Tuesday” was celebrated with many traditional (and tasty!) baked goods. Then would come Ash Wednesday. Dunh, dunh, dunh!! No more goodies till Easter.
What does Lent mean for us today? Yes, it is still the church season in which we prepare for Easter Sunday. It is a special time of prayer and reflection, of confession and self-denial. As a newspaper columnist put it sometime back, Lent is “an excuse to be better.”
A steady stream of parishioners paraded down the aisle and paused for a priest or pastor to smudge the sign of the cross on our foreheads and warn, “Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return.” The message is: Be humble. No problem. Humility comes easily for some of us. The religion is impossible to live up to.
I vowed to dedicate Lent to a few do-able reforms–eat less (no Italian bread with butter for 40 days!), watch my language [no vulgar tantrums when agitated, such as in traffic jams), speak and think charitably of others, pray for people I envy or resent rather than criticize them. I was merely showing modest goals I’ve set for myself for years (with modest progress), but Lent concentrates mind and soul to try once again to achieve them, Lent is an excuse to be better…
· An excuse to be better. I like that. What will Lent, 2021 mean for you? The decision is yours. If I may be so bold, I will offer a few suggestions. In the tradition of “giving up” something for Lent, how about some of these (you have heard these before, but they bear repeating):
· GIVE UP grumbling! Instead, “In everything give thanks.” Constructive criticism is OK, but “moaning, groaning, and complaining” are not Christian disciplines.
· GIVE UP 10 to 15 minutes in bed! Instead, use that time in prayer.
· GIVE UP looking at other people’s worst points. Instead, concentrate on their best points for a change. We all have faults. It will be easier for people to overlook our shortcomings when we overlook theirs first.
· GIVE UP speaking unkindly. Instead, let your speech be generous and understanding. It costs so little to say something kind and uplifting. Check that sharp tongue at the door. · GIVE UP your hatred of anyone or anything! Instead, learn the discipline of love. “Love covers a multitude of sins.”
· GIVE UP your worries and anxieties! Instead, trust God with them. Anxiety is spending emotional energy on something we can do nothing about…like tomorrow! Live for today and let God’s grace be sufficient.
· GIVE UP the big screen TV one evening a week! Instead, visit someone who is lonely or sick. There are those who are isolated by illness or age. Give someone a precious gift, your time!
· GIVE UP buying anything but essentials for yourself! Instead, give the money to God. The money you would spend on the luxuries could help someone meet their basic needs. We are called to be stewards of God’s bounty, not consumers. In this corona crisis, now is the time more than ever to help others.
Not a long list. I am sure you can think of things to add. Just take Lent, 2021 as an excuse to be better. Fortunately, we are not alone in our effort. Centuries ago, someone said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens.” This is the same someone who, even as we think of those ashes that remind you of a world of sin and death, invites you to his table. “Come to me, he said, and I will give you rest.”
Our gospel today is one we’re familiar with as we’ve been in the gospel of Mark and will be but Mark starts his Gospel with these words: "This is the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, God's Son;" "This is the beginning..." The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ is the beginning of the Good News of God for you and me. It is the Good News that this dark wilderness of life is not where we have to stay forever. The Good News that death does not have the final word. The Good News that there is meaning and purpose in life. The Good News that God, the God Who created this universe is REAL, and that God is incredibly concerned with human beings.
God loves human beings; he created all of us; he loves you. He cares about the difficulties we face. He cares deeply, compassionately about those of us who hunger and thirst for something more than what this lost and sinful world has to offer. God cares about what is laying heavily on your hearts and minds. He cares deeply about those of us who are depressed, overwhelmed, underemployed, hopeless, helpless, at the end of our rope walking in the darkness, the lostness, of the lonely seemingly endless wilderness.
God sent John the Baptist into the wilderness of hopeless humanity to announce this Good News. "Look, I am sending my messenger before you. He will prepare your way, a voice shouting in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way for the Lord..." John was in the wilderness. He was in the wilderness of human despair--calling for people to be baptized "to show that they were changing their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins."
And we are told that "Everyone in Judea and all the people of Jerusalem went out to the Jordan River and were being baptized by John as they confessed their sins." That's a lot of hungry people!!! That's a lot of folks starving, searching, needing Good News in this lost and broken wilderness of the world. And we are no different than they were 2,000 years ago. Everyone in every time has needed the Good News of Jesus Christ--the Good News that God so loves the world that he gave. You know John 3:16. Where would we be without it?
I would be so lost and empty I don't even know if I would have made it this far. I need Jesus every moment of every day. I don't do well in the dark, dangerous, rocky, bumpy wilderness of life without Jesus. People die in the wilderness, when they are out there--lost and exposed--by themselves. That is why John came to the wilderness in order to prepare people for God's great entrance.
As John was baptizing folks who were desperately wanting to change their hearts and lives and wanted God to forgive their sins he announced to them: "One stronger than me is coming after me. I'm not even worthy to bend over and loosen the strap of his sandals. I don’t know why but I’ve always felt that way about Pastor Walter Boss!! Maybe I’m crazy.
I baptize you with water, he said, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit." Then we are told that "About that time Jesus came up from Nazareth of Galilee, and John baptized him in the Jordan River." We imperfect sinners need baptism to wash away our sins; this was the perfect sinless, sinless son of God and he wanted to be baptized. This is one of the most radical things ever.
Think about this for a second. The One through Whom the world came into being, God Himself, decides to come down into our wilderness as a human being. And rather than deciding to be "set apart on some pedestal way above the rest of us sinners," He takes part in the same baptism as us. Through Jesus, God decides to identify with human beings--with you and me--without a bunch of fanfare, without a parade, without CNN or FOX NEWS covering the event, without applause, bright lights and loud music, without all the trappings that go along with narcissism and ego. Jesus goes down into the muddy waters of the Jordan River along with a whole bunch of human sinners--desperate helpless folks--and is baptized with all the rest. And in doing so, God shows God's humility, God shows God's solidarity with you and me--with every human being who has ever lived. Could there be any better "news?!"
One thing we see throughout the entire New Testament is that Jesus never asks us to do anything that He is not willing to do Himself. During His time on earth, Jesus was tempted in every way that we are, but was without sin as our text tells us. During His time on earth, Jesus battled the wild beasts of the wilderness--the devil who prowls around like a roaring lion looking to devour us all--and Jesus defeated him!!
We are told that while Jesus was "coming up out of the water, He saw heaven splitting open and the Spirit, like a dove, coming down on him. And there was a voice from heaven: 'You are my Son, the Beloved, with you I am well pleased.'"
We are told that as soon as Jesus was baptized-- "immediately" it says, "the Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness" and in the wilderness He was tempted by Satan. For 40 days!
This is the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ! Jesus spends all the days and years that follow His baptism living out what it means to be God's dearly loved Son. Jesus gives everything He is and everything He has for the sake of the saving of humankind. He takes His place with hurting human people--folks like you and me and our neighbors next door--even our enemies around the globe.
In doing so, Jesus stirs up demons, and incites the authorities--those who lust for power and control--to start plotting His death. During the week before He is crucified, the leaders of the temple challenge Jesus: "By what authority are you doing these things?" they ask. Jesus answers them with a reference to His baptism: "Was the baptism of John from heaven or not?
So, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story. As we know, Jesus doesn't die of old age. He was only 33. No, Jesus dies because He takes His baptism seriously. His baptism is His commission to ministry. When Jesus cries on the Cross, "It is finished," it's His baptism that is finished. In Mark Chapter 10, when two of Jesus' disciples, James and John, ask Jesus: "Allow one of us to sit on your right and the other on your left when you enter your glory," Jesus replies, "You don't know what you are asking! Can you drink the cup I drink or receive the baptism I receive?" "We can," they answered. "You will drink the cup I drink and receive the baptism I receive," Jesus says to them.
What I'm trying to get at here is that our baptisms--remember John said that Jesus will baptize us with "the Holy Spirit"---our baptisms are not just a one-time deal, over a water basin or in a river. That is just the beginning. Our baptism is something, that, if we take it seriously--continues for our entire lives!!! It is God saying to us: "You are my child" and it is our decision to live that out. It is our decision to die to self with Christ, so that we may be raised to new life in Christ. It is our decision to give our lives for the sake of God and others. It is our decision to live for SOMETHING greater than money, something greater than power, something greater than politics, something greater than celebrity--something much, much greater!!!
It is our decision to tell the truth in a world that lies, give in a world that takes, love in a world that lusts, make peace in a world that fights, serve in a world that wants to be served, pray in a world that wants to be entertained and take chances in a world that idolizes safety. It is our decision to be saved from self, hell and the devil. It is our decision to live in the wilderness, but not to be lost in the wilderness. It is our decision to live this life in the wilderness, for our mortal bodies to die in the wilderness--but to live the immortal life forever with Jesus. It is our decision to live out the baptism of Jesus, and to drink of His cup as we will in a few minutes. Folks, it is our decision.
But Jesus didn’t need his sins washed away because he didn’t have any! So why did he insist on getting baptized? Well, when a friend grabs the check at the end of a restaurant meal and tucks it under his plate while you finish your coffee and after-dinner conversation, what does it mean? It means that he intends to pay the bill. When Jesus stepped into the water of the Jordan River, it was his way of letting the world know that he was picking up the tab for all of our sins. The payment of that bill came due on Good Friday, three years later and when it did, it cost Jesus everything.
Amen!! ------“LIVING WITH A RESURRECTION HEART” Message for the Second Mid-Week Lenten Service From Pastor Norman Staker February 24,2021 1 PETER 3: 18-22
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!
The human heart is a hard-working marvel. It can keep on beating automatically even if all other nerves are severed. In a 70 year lifetime, it will beat an average of 75 times a minute, forty million times a year, some two-and-a-half billion times. At each beat, the average adult heart discharges about four ounces of blood. This amounts to three thousand gallons a day or 650,000 gallons a year—enough to fill more than 81 tank cars of 8,000 gallons each.
The heart does enough work in one hour to lift a 150-pound man to the top of a three-story building. It exerts enough energy in twelve hours to lift a 65-ton tank car one foot off the ground, or enough power in seventy years to lift the largest battleship afloat completely out of the water.
But what happens when the heart starts slipping? The cardio-vascular system is the one system that is crucial for the support of all the others. When the heart stops, the rest of the body shuts down within minutes. Maybe that is why heart specialists are some of the most highly paid doctors and are in great demand. If a doctor mends a bone or fixes a ligament, a patient is thankful. But when a doctor fixes or replaces a heart, well, it is a life-changing event. Usually, there are lots of life- changes that need to be made, and so the surgeon will instruct a patient how to take care of their new heart.
Because of Easter, you and I have had a heart-transplant of sorts. So, through Scripture this morning, God tells us how to go about Living with a Resurrection Heart. Peter reminds us first, why we should be thankful for this new heart, because first of all, it is set in motion solely by God’s grace.
The Apostle Peter makes some important theological statements in the few verses of our sermon text. But it all centers around the first part of verse 18: Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. Our NRSV says he ‘suffered’ and he did, before he was hung on the cross, where he died! He suffered severely but he ended up dying for all of us. God was the one who gave us new hearts. It goes back to the very beginning, after Adam and Eve fell into sin. Because of their rebellion, the Bible says, we inherited a “heart” problem. Genesis describes it this way: The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain
Every man, woman, child and yes even baby is born with a wicked heart. In Matthew 15, Jesus commented on the corruption of the human heart, “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.”
In the Old Testament, the Lord said that he was the only one who could change this situation. In Ezekiel, he said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws; you will be my people, and I will be your God.”
I was reading about heart transplants and came across an interview with a mother who had recently lost her 7 year-old son. She had lost her husband a year earlier in a plane crash, now her son had died. The interview took place after she met the family of the little girl who received her son’s heart. The reporter stated, “With tears welling up in her eyes, the boy’s mother said, ‘I see that there was a purpose in my son’s death. He died so that your little girl could live.’”
That is what God says to you. “My Son had to die so that you might live,” or as verse 18 put it, ‘Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.’ But God doesn’t stop with the message of Christ’s death. No, he proves that he is responsible for setting your new heart in motion by Christ’s resurrection. He attaches this miraculous heart transplant with the Resurrection of Christ. For many of us, that started already at the baptismal font when we were a baby. In verse 21, he reminds that even there, He is the One who has graciously given new hearts to us, for, as Peter put it, “baptism… now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The Bible is very clear that the Resurrection of the Savior is the one eternal life- changing event we need. In Romans, the Apostle Paul wrote, “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” You and I have that new heart. Living with it is easy because secondly, it pumps the message of Christ.
Peter reminds us of the daily effect the Resurrection is going to have on our heart: “But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.” The reason for this is because Christ lives victoriously. Peter refers to Christ’s descent into hell and proclamation of that victory. He was put to death in the body but made alive by the Spirit, through whom also he went and preached to the spirits in prison who disobeyed, and his ascent into heaven, who has gone into heaven and is at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him.
This same Savior who defeated Satan and death, this Savior, lives and reigns over all things. You and I know him but there are many in this world who do not know him.
Stop me if you have heard this one: What is 750,000 miles long, could wrap itself around the earth 30 times and grows an additional 20 miles longer with each passing day? Give up? It is the line of people on earth who do not know Jesus. Wow!! 40% of Christians don’t know what the Gospel means, and 53% of Christians don’t know John 3:16.
Peter encourages us to always be prepared. After all, living with a Resurrection heart naturally includes a heart that pumps the message of Christ. When we share that good news about Jesus with others, Peter reminds us that we might face a negative reaction, may even be physically persecuted. But that too is part of living with a Resurrection heart. But he assures us that lastly, it takes a licking and keeps ticking for Christ. You remember the old Timex slogan, except for the ‘Christ’ part!
Because we believe in Jesus, there is a marked difference between us and the world. The Bible says that because the Holy Spirit lives in us, we are going to be different. The resurrection heart is going to shine through in nice words and kind actions. The Bible says that people are going to ask us why we are different. And the Bible says that not everyone is going to like our response. In fact, they are going to hate us for it. Jesus said it would be so. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “All men will hate you because of me.” But we are to stand on God’s Word and the certainty of our Risen Lord. We cannot persuade men, only the Holy Spirit can do that with His Almighty Word. So, Peter reminds us of the proper response to persecution, ‘It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.’
Peter reminds us that we have life with Resurrection hearts, not because of any innately good thing of our own. No, it is God and only God who has called us. Our confidence should be that persecution, suffering for the sake of Jesus and the Gospel, testifies that we are His. No matter what happens when we share God’s message of sin and the only salvation in Christ Jesus, you and I are encouraged to entrust ourselves to the Lord. Proverbs reminds us that this is the natural response of a resurrection heart. ‘Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.’
The Lord promises that he will not let us down. He will sustain and even strengthen our faith in such adversity. After all, He created these Resurrection hearts to survive.
As long as we are in this world, the physical heart will need help. You and I have been given more than a second chance at life! With Resurrection hearts, we have been given eternal life! Let us celebrate the wonder of this new life by always giving Christ the proper place in our hearts as our Lord. Let us keep living with the good news of Christ pumping forgiveness and new life into our hearts!
Amen.------“BE A LOSER” Message for the Second Sunday in Lent From Pastor Norman Staker February 28, 2021 GENESIS 17: 1-7, 15-16 – ROMANS 4: 13-25 – MARK 8: 31-38
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!
Winning fame or fortune sometimes means losing in life. Winning the lottery, for example, isn’t an assured ticket to the good life, as these previous winners can attest:
• Jack Whittaker, a West Virginia businessman, won $315 million in the Powerball lottery in 2002, the largest jackpot ever from a single ticket in American history at that time. – After being robbed of $545,000 in cash while at a strip club, Whittaker’s granddaughter and daughter were later found dead, and he was sued by Caesars Atlantic City casino for bouncing $1.5 million in checks to cover gambling losses.
• Billy Bob Harrell, a preacher who stocked shelves at Home Depot struck it rich in 1997, winning $31 million in the Texas lottery. – 20 months later, after divorcing his wife and buying a half-dozen homes for relatives, he committed suicide with a shotgun.
• In 1996 Jeffrey Dampier and his wife won $20 million in the Illinois lottery and used the money to buy relatives homes and to start a gourmet popcorn shop in Florida. – Nine years later, Dampier was kidnapped and killed by his sister-in-law and her boyfriend who targeted him for money.
In your mind, I want you to answer this question: “(___BLANK) is for losers.”
• Someone who drives a BMW might say: “Fords are for losers.”
• A burly football player might say: “Soccer is for losers.”
• A foodie might say: “Frozen pizza is for losers.” Now if you like one of those things, even if those comments were offered in jest, you might not let others know it because no one wants to be thought of as a loser. That’s why some people try to keep up with the latest fashions and technology, the latest in cell phones or even cars, or at least do their best to fake that they’re keeping up, because no one wants to be thought of as a loser.
Today’s Bible text teaches that being a loser isn’t a bad thing in the Christian life. In fact, it’s essential! That’s because God’s best life for you is for losers, and for losers only. That’s the surprising claim Jesus makes in our text this morning. But there’s much more Jesus teaches in this text too.
Notice first, a life-changing confession in vv. 27-30, prior to our text today. “Jesus and his disciples went out into the towns of Caesarea Philippi: and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’ And they answered, ‘John the Baptist, but some say, Elijah, and others, one of the prophets.’ And he said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ And Peter answered and said to him, ‘You are the Christ.’ And he warned them not to tell anyone about him.”
On the way to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus paused to ask the disciples two questions. Jesus often used questions as springboards for new teaching. His first question was general: “Who do people say that I am.”
The disciples echo the predominant views of the day. Some said he was John the Baptist. This was absurd, of course, since John the Baptist lived contemporaneously with Jesus, but it was out there on Facebook and Twitter: So it must have been true, right? Some claimed Jesus was Elijah back from the dead.” Elijah was considered the greatest of the prophets and it was believed Elijah would play a key role in the establishment of the Messiah’s kingdom, so this one might have made some sense. Finally, the disciples said, “Some say you’re one of the prophets.”
To identify Jesus with these people was to rank Him among the stellar figures in Israel’s history, which gives us an idea of how esteemed Jesus was in the popular imagination. Yet these comparisons are wholly inadequate. To compare Jesus to any of these luminaries—or as many say today that He was the greatest teacher who ever lived—sounds like an honor, but such comparisons ultimately deny Jesus’ uniqueness and puts Him on the level of mere humans. The authority and power Jesus shows throughout the gospels do not allow us to define Him in any way other than as the unique Son of God—God in human flesh. But Jesus wasn’t so much interested in who the multitudes thought Jesus was, but in what they, His disciples, thought. Jesus offered his first question to prime them, because it’s usually easier to give someone else’s opinions than to venture your own opinion.
So Jesus gets personal: ‘But who do YOU say that I am?’ I think there was a pause, as the disciples digested this more personal question. Then Peter, the big mouth of the group, spoke up, probably echoing what he had discussed with the other disciples, and thus voicing what they all thought. He said: ‘You are the Christ.’
What did Peter’s declaration mean? In calling Him the Christ, Peter was not just giving Jesus another name, but ascribing to Him a title. The term Christ is the Greek word for the Hebrew Mashiach (or as we say, Messiah,”) which in both Hebrew and Greek means “the Anointed One.” Peter was recognizing that Jesus was the long-awaited Anointed One promised throughout the Old Testament who would overthrow Israel’s enemies, regather the Jews from the four corners of the world and make Jerusalem and Palestine the center of the world, thus establishing the perfect reign of God.
Seeing that they all agreed with this assessment of Jesus, Jesus warned them not to tell anyone yet about His identity. The timing was not right. Soon enough His identity would be admitted openly and all of them would be caught up in a flurry of both tumultuous and rapturous events.
Secondly, in our text, vv 31-33, Jesus gives the disciples a new revelation about Messiah: “And he began to teach them that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders, and by the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he spoke this openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when he had turned around and saw his disciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’”
The Jews saw the Messiah as a conquering foe who would deliver them from the many tyrannies they had suffered under since the glory days of kings David and Solomon. But Jesus tells the disciples some things about God’s kingdom which they had not learned from the rabbis. He told them the Son of Man must suffer many things, that He would be rejected by the Jewish leaders, that He would be killed and rise again after three days. Of course, these things had been prophesied in Isaiah, but most Jews just could not comprehend what those scriptures meant in relation to Messiah. They wanted a conquering victor, now, not a suffering Savior—ever!
Notice that Jesus accepts Peter’s evaluation of who He is, and in fact, Jesus confirms it by referring to Himself as “the Son of Man” in verse 31, which was a recognized title in the Old Testament for the Messiah.
Notice also that Jesus said that the Son of Man must suffer these things. In John’s Gospel, Jesus told Nicodemus, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up,” speaking of His crucifixion. “Must”—a statement of necessity. Later, on the Day of Pentecost, Peter reminded the Jews that Jesus was “delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God.”
It had all been pre-arranged in heaven before time began. Jesus must suffer and die and rise again. There was no other way to provide salvation for humans.
Mark tells us in verse 32 that Jesus “spoke this openly.” In other words, He didn’t speak in code; He gave it to them straight; He completely leveled with them about what was ahead for Him, and for them. Jesus is preparing His disciples for what was to come.
As you can imagine, this was shocking news to the disciples. In fact, verse 32 says Peter pulled Jesus aside to rebuke Him for such silly talk. The Greek word translated rebuke means a sharp reproval; a clear reprimand. It is the same word used elsewhere of rebuking demons and later in the New Testament letters for rebuking false teachers. This is what Peter thought about the things Jesus was telling them: He thought Jesus was teaching false doctrine. It’s not what the rabbis had taught them, so he was going to set Jesus straight!
Verse 33 says that Jesus turned his back on Peter and rebuked the source of his misconception about His mission: ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’ But the rebuke is not really addressed to Peter himself. It was addressed to Satan, whom Peter was unwittingly being a spokesman for. Peter was parroting human values, not the plans and purposes ordained by God. The way of the Cross was God’s will and Jesus refused to turn from it.
Thirdly, Jesus gave an honest assessment of the demands of discipleship. Verse 34 says, “And when he had called the people to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘Whoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
One time a man developed a love for chocolate to help him quit smoking. It worked, but eventually he had to ration himself to 6 chocolates a day. Every year during the weeks of Lent leading up to Easter, he’d open up a box of chocolates, look inside and then tell the Lord that he would not eat any candy as a token of his love for Jesus. He called it “denying himself” and “taking up his cross.” I hate to break it to you; denying yourself of chocolates may help your weight, but that’s not what Jesus is talking about here.
To understand what Jesus was saying, you have to first see this verse in the context of this chapter and also understand the cultural context: that is, to see what the cross meant to people in that day. The point is, Jesus was laying out the realities for those who aspired to follow Him. It would involve two things: First, it would require denying self. To deny yourself means to turn from self-centeredness and every attempt to orient your life by your own self-interests. Second, it means to take up the cross of Christ. In Jesus’ day, bearing one’s cross conjured up the sight of a condemned man forced to demonstrate his submission to Rome by carrying the crossbeam through the city to his place of execution. So to “take up our cross” is to accept our submission to Jesus against whom we had previously rebelled. These two requirements of discipleship signify your total allegiance to Jesus and total relinquishment of everything you have to Him.
Jesus continues in verse 35 – “For whoever will save his life will lose it; but whoever will lose his life for my sake and the Gospel will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” Jesus is not talking about the cost of our salvation here because salvation is free. Romans 6:23 says, “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Then Jesus says in verse 38, “For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation; of him also will the Son of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Again, Jesus is not talking about salvation here.
With that in mind, verse 38 means that if you are saved but you give in to the peer pressure of this sinful generation, at the judgment seat of Christ, Jesus will be ashamed of you, and you will lose rewards that could have been yours had you lived a life of self-denial and persevering dedication to God. My heart’s desire is for you to be saved by faith in Jesus and then start down that long path of the cross-life to become a loser for Jesus and a winner in eternity.
Amen. ------“AN ILLOGICALLY LOGICAL FAITH” Message for the Third Mid-Week Lenten Service From Pastor Norman Staker March 3, 2021 Romans 4: 13-25
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!
Beyond all hope, Abraham in hope believed he would be the father of many nations, right in line with what had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be. Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded, “God is able to do what he has promised.” This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.” The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God would credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death because of our sins and was raised to life because of our justification.”
“Figures can’t lie,” said the professor earnestly. “For instance if one can build a house in 12 days, 12 men can build it in one.”
“Yes?” interrupted a student. “Then 288 will build it in one hour, 17,280 in one minute, and 1,036, 800 in one second. And I don’t believe they could lay one brick in that time.”
While the professor was still gasping, the smart “ready reckoner” went on: “If one ship can cross the Atlantic in six days, six ships can cross it in one day. I don’t believe that either, so where’s the truth in arithmetic?” Then he sat down.
You can’t always trust statistics. Apply this to religious issues, then. Science can’t disprove religion, nor can it produce faith. It concerns me when Christians feel the need to find Noah’s ark or try to prove the flood. If you have to try to prove faith, is it still faith? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things NOT seen, as Hebrews 11 says. So as we look at the story of Abraham today we will see how like Abraham – ‘We Have an Illogically Logical Faith.’ Abraham is called the “father of all believers” in the Scriptures. He is the epitome of what faith is about. The reason is plain. As Romans 4: 13-25 says: ‘Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God.’ When Abraham was 99 and Sarah was 89 old, God told them they would have a child. Now, if I told the oldest member of this congregation that he or she was going to have a baby, most people would call me cuckoo! I would imagine that most hundred year olds would also say, “I don’t want a baby now!” But not Abraham. Whereas Sarah laughed with unbelief, Abraham believed God and rejoiced with laughter when he promised Him the impossible. It took great faith to believe such a thing. That’s why Abraham is often called the father of believers.
With a visual aid, God told Abraham - go ahead and count the stars! Do you know how long that would take? The Milky Way has 100 billion or so stars in it. At one a second it would take you 33 years to count a billion. Then God gave the punch line that Paul mentioned, “so shall your offspring be!” Wow! What a promise! The father of believers then believed the Lord, that even at such an old age he would really have a son.
However, this is not the end of the story. Sarah got the idea that maybe she wasn’t included in the plan. She got the wise idea to give Abraham her slave, Hagar to sleep with, not a good idea. Abraham maybe also reasoned that God could have meant just he would be the forerunner of Christ - and not through his wife! So God had to come back to Abraham again, 13 years after this debacle with Ishmael, and set the record straight. “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” There was no room for misinterpretation left.
In the end, Abraham ultimately was able to throw off the fetters of his reason. Whereas every bit of physical evidence told him, “your body and Sarah’s body are old and well beyond child bearing years,” he said, “I believe Lord!” In laughter he proclaimed, “will God really grant us a child?” It was almost too good to be true - but he believed it anyway. That’s what faith is - the confidence that God will take care of you. It is the trust that God still loves you when all of your suffering is screaming to you the exact opposite. It is the belief that God created the universe when your science and philosophy professors are using every bit of logic and evidence to prove otherwise. It is the comfort of knowing that in spite of your sin and rebellion you will still end up in heaven. It is against the logic of this world but faith is completely in line with the logic of God’s Word.
Folks, Abraham’s faith was not what made Abraham’s faith so strong. He didn’t have a child because he just believed he could do it. The NIV translation is terrible as it says, “Abraham believed and so became the father of believers.” It makes you think that Abraham wouldn’t have been the father of believers if he hadn’t had such a great faith. And so preachers will preach that if you want to have the faith of Abraham, you have to believe and act on God’s Word as Abraham did. In the end, what happens? We are pointed to ourselves and our faith for our strength, and often end up with more doubt and a guilt trip because we don’t have babies at old age or get married like we prayed for. Instead of building our faith, it only decreases it.
It’s a shame, because that’s not what Paul was trying to do. Paul literally states that Abraham in hope believed he would be the father of many nations, right in line with what had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” He did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded, “God is able to do what he has promised.” Notice that throughout these passages that Abraham is the recipient, the one being persuaded and strengthened by the promises of God - so that he couldn’t waver through unbelief. The truth of the matter is that God made him the father of nations and believers through His promises and His miracles. Even though it was completely impossible for him and his wife to have a baby - being sexually dead and unable to reproduce - God’s promises enabled him to believe it!
The continual promises of God gave His faith a reason to believe that, “since God is almighty, then he can accomplish the impossible. God has rescued me from my mess in Egypt. He has brought me to this land of plenty, just as He promised. Therefore, He will grant me a son. He will send me a Savior.” That’s what faith is. It is a result of hearing God’s promises and God’s goodness and being led to believe in them in spite of the odds.
Like Abraham, we often let our reason get in the way of our faith. We walk with fears and sorrow that God doesn’t want us to have. But God doesn’t want us to despair because of our lack of faith. Instead, he wants to do the same thing with us as he did with Abraham. It’s in times of doubt and questioning that we need to go back to the words and promises of God and let them speak to our hearts. He was delivered over to death because of our sins and was raised to life because of our justification. God’s promise is that Jesus was delivered over to death because of our sins. That means that Jesus didn’t go to the cross because of his sins or by some chance act of injustice. He specifically was delivered over to death because of our sins - to pay for them and suffer for them. This is the only place that we can find shelter from the wrath of God’s law - which says we must go to hell for our sins. The promise of the Gospel is that Jesus went to hell for us. But the second part of the passage gets even better. He was raised to life because of our justification; in other words, God promises us that Jesus was raised to life because God declared us not guilty of our sins.
Faith, then, takes God’s promises at face value. Even though my conscience tells me that I am a sinner, and my body shows the result of filth and condemnation, the promise of the Gospel is that God regards me as holy and credits me with the holiness of Christ - through faith in Jesus. If Abraham was credited with righteousness through faith in God’s promise of a Savior, and Paul promises me the same, then I also am credited with righteousness through faith in the same Savior. Either Jesus died for all of my sins and God accepted that sacrifice and I am saved through faith, or God is a liar. God can’t be a liar. So I must be holy. It’s these promises that call to us from heaven saying, “trust in Christ! Believe in his blood and righteousness! Turn to him in faith! He paid for all your sins! He made you holy! Believe it!”
That’s what God’s Word promises us through the blood of Christ, and so we believe it. Our faith may be illogical to the world, but it is logical to God’s Word. It makes perfect sense according to God’s Word. Abraham was probably called a fool for changing his name and hoping for a child, and Noah was probably called a fool for building a big ark on dry land. But who was the fool in the end? Therefore, instead of hiding it, we’ll proclaim it all the more - that we are saved through faith in Christ. In the end, we’ll see just how illogically logical our faith is.
Amen. ------“WHAT’S EATING JESUS?” Message for the Third Sunday in Lent From Pastor Norman Staker March 7, 2021 EXODUS 20: 1-1 – 1 CORINTHIANS 1: 18-25 – JOHN 2: 13-22
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!
Trading -- outright trading -- does not happen much in our modern lives, although we still trade cars and maybe even guns. And when we do, we appreciate a fair trade, or at least one that feels like it. Trading in the market has been reduced to buying and selling. Some of us occasionally will still refer to it as trading. “I trade at this store.” Or, “I do all my trading with him.” Although trading has disappeared, the concept of fairness persists: what is a fair price and what is not. One can even buy products now that are certified “fair trade,” meaning that the farmer got a fair price for producing the crop.
In our lesson today, Jesus comes to the temple, and finds a whole lot of trading going on: the money-changers, and those selling sheep and oxen and pigeons. These were not in the Temple proper, in the temple building itself. They are in the temple courtyards, in the area surrounding the temple. Jesus is offended by them, makes a whip, overturns their tables, and chases them out. He said, “You have made My Father’s house, a house of trade.” So we ask ourselves, what were they doing there, and why did this anger Jesus? What’s eating Jesus?
When you turn into the church driveway/parking lot, what do you see; what catches your eye? Do you see our church sign with its thought-provoking words on it or do you even pay any attention to it? Do you ever notice the shingles that cover the roof of this place, whether they’re loose or looking good? What about the small cross on the very top of the church; ever take a close look at that? What do you see when you come inside? Do you see a place for your coat to go? Do you see where you’ll sit? Pay any attention to the flags, the Christian one or the American one? How about the paraments; have they changed or are they the same as they were when you last attended; are they even the right color?
Or, have you become so familiar with this building that you look at all these things without giving them a single thought? What might be going on in your mind? I do hope you feel comfortable; most of you have been here for several years. I know I have but a lot of you have been here twice as long in some cases. You’re here but there’s always the danger of becoming too comfortable. Our Gospel lesson warns against that this morning by reminding us that this is our Father’s house, not our house, to do with as we please. Since this is our Father’s house we’ll want to drive out all distractions, stop going through the motions of worship, and give ear to Jesus’ promises.
Our text describes how Jesus and his disciples had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. This was one of three festivals all Jewish males 20 years and older were to attend every year. They were to present the appropriate animal sacrifice and pay a temple tax. To serve pilgrims who traveled long distances a booming business had developed selling animals for sacrifice and changing foreign currency so pilgrims from out of country could pay the temple tax. The problem was the merchants cheated the pilgrims. Even the priests were in on the action. They regularly disqualified animals the pilgrims themselves had brought to sacrifice on some technicality forcing the pilgrims to buy one of the priests’ “approved” animals at an inflated price. To make matters even worse this shady business went on in the confines of the temple courts. The place where the sounds of worship were to be heard - priests chanting the Psalms and pilgrims lifting their prayers heavenward, was dominated by the cacophony of clinking coins and the stench of animals and greed.
When Jesus came upon the scene he grabbed some rope, fashioned it into a whip, and began lashing out at merchant and animal alike. When he came to the moneychangers he flipped their tables sending their neatly stacked coins rolling in every direction. When Jesus faced those selling doves he said: “Get these out of here! How dare you turn my Father’s house into a market!” Jesus, with whip in hand, is not usually the image that comes to mind when we think about our Savior, is it? I wonder if the disciples felt embarrassed as they watched Jesus, the way we feel when someone in our group starts to complain loudly at a restaurant about the service and food. But then one of the disciples remembered a prophecy about Jesus from Psalm 69. It said: “Zeal for your house will consume me.”
No, this was not the merchants’ house, nor did it belong to the worshippers or even to the priests. It was the Father’s house, God’s house, and it was to be a place of prayer, a place where God came to the sinner and gave freely of his love and forgiveness. The priests and merchants, however, were taking advantage of sinners who had come looking for solace. God’s house was no longer a refuge and Jesus was not going to put up with that. Folks, we may not have turned this worship space into a market but do we treat it as if it was our living room? Have we become so familiar and comfortable with it that we don’t really stop to consider why we are here – to worship God? When we settle into our pew for the service, does our mind fasten on what God has to say to us or do we spend the time making mental notes of things that need to get done at work or at home? Do we see these 60 minutes as an hour to endure or to mature? Could it be that Jesus needs to overturn our hearts and set us straight on what is really important? What is important in our Father’s house is that we glorify God in our worship and that we gain a stronger hold on God’s grace. So like a cattle drive, drive whatever distracts from your worship, whatever distorts the church’s mission, and whatever cheats God’s children around you from growing in the faith; drive those things from your heart.
Jesus had a right to be upset about the people being ripped off in the temple courts but he should have been happy that people were at least still coming to worship, right? No. Part of his concern seems to be that those who were coming to worship were just going through the motions. When Jesus cleansed the temple a second time at the end of his ministry he accused the priests and merchants of turning the temple into a den of robbers. That seems to be a reference to something God said through the prophet Jeremiah 600 years earlier. “Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, “We are safe”—safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD (Jeremiah 7:9-11).” The people of Jeremiah’s day figured that as long as they continued to come to God’s house and offer the right sacrifices they could live any way they wanted to. But the Father’s house is not a safe house for those who nonchalantly keep on sinning. Listen to what the writer to the Hebrews said about such an attitude: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:26-29)
Folks, are we guilty of trampling the blood of Jesus? Do we amble up to receive Holy Communion thinking it scotch-guards us from God’s wrath over sins we have no real intention of giving up? Do we suppose that if we give an offering that God owes us his love and protection for another month?
Don’t kid yourself. If you’re just coming to church to hedge your bets, if you think that worship attendance alone will count for something on Judgment Day, then shudder at those words from Hebrews. There is nothing but a fearful expectation of judgment and a raging fire that awaits you. This is your Father’s house. He knows what goes on here. Stop going through the motions of worship.
So far we’ve only really seen and heard what should scare us: Jesus holding a whip or the writer to Hebrews threatening eternal fire. But Jesus wasn’t all about righteous anger in our text. Did you catch his words of grace? When the priests demanded: “What miraculous sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?” Jesus should have thrown up his hands and said: “A sign. You want a sign? Alright then here’s a sign you’ll never forget!” Jesus then should have zapped them all to a crisp for questioning his authority. Instead Jesus gave them a sign of grace when he said: “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.” The leaders thought Jesus was speaking about the temple King Herod had spent 46 years refurbishing (and which was yet unfinished). But Jesus was not talking about the temple building. He was talking about his body. In a sign of grace Jesus was promising to offer his own body on the cross to pay for their sins and rise from the dead to give them eternal life!
Jesus still gives us signs of his grace when all we deserve is a sign of his judgment. When we question whether or not God is with us, or whether or not he is working everything out for our good, God should show his displeasure over our lack of faith. Instead he gives us a sign of grace. In Holy Communion, for example, Jesus gives us his body and blood with the bread and wine for forgiveness and to assure us that we are his dearly loved children. Give ear to these promises, folks. That’s what the Father’s house is for. It’s a place for us to hear about our sins, yes, but also a place to be assured of God’s forgiveness and his enduring love for us.
I don’t know what catches your eye when you come to church here. It may be the baptismal font or perhaps the cross overhead; maybe it’s the altar. If so, that’s good. Those things will remind us that this is not an ordinary building; it’s our heavenly Father’s house. Now then, let’s change it up a bit; imagine Jesus sitting next to you – holding a hymnal and participating in worship. Would you so easily give in to your daydreaming with your Savior sitting next to you? Would you mouth the confession of sins without much thought? When the offering plate comes around or you take your offering to the back as we’ve done lately, do you pull out the smallest bill in your wallet or billfold or the largest? Remember Jesus is right next to you!
Does Jesus need to overturn our hearts and set us straight on what is really important; on where our priorities lie? What are those priorities? Are we so concerned and pre-occupied with our own comforts and our own needs as a church that we fail to reach out to the community around us? Does Jesus have to come after us with a whip to get us to rethink our priorities? What sets us apart from the Lion’s Club or Kiwanis or any other social organization? We are a church! What does that mean to you?
Folks, we may not be able to see Jesus but he is here in this house, his house, his Father’s house. So drive out all those distractions; stop going through the motions of worship; give ear to Jesus’ promises for through them, He is here to bless us.
Amen. ------“CROSS CONTAMINATION” Message for the Fourth Mid-Week Lenten Service From Pastor Norman Staker March 10, 2021 1 Corinthians 1: 18-25
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!
A preacher was once approached by a troubled church member who wanted to air his concerns about the direction the church was going. When it was the preacher’s turn to speak, he began quoting scripture, the member replied, "If you’re going to start using the Bible, we’re done talking. You study and know the Bible more than I do." The preacher remarked, "This is the Church; the Bible is our handbook, our manual. If its teachings don’t match with our traditions, then our traditions are what is in need of changing."
The above preacher could have opted for tradition over scripture – for his own comfort. We often prefer being comfortable to being truthful with the word of God. We dislike confrontation and often conform just to avoid that confrontation. It’s happening with issues affecting our American history and with the gospel because the gospel is too offensive to people. Does it offend you? We have a daunting question with which to deal – why is the gospel offensive?
Our lesson from 1 Corinthians 1: 18-25 begins with these words: “The message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.” I’ve titled my message, “Cross Contamination.” What or how does that apply to the cross? By definition, cross-contamination is the process by which bacteria or other microorganisms are unintentionally transferred from one substance or object to another, with harmful effect. You might typically hear this in reference to transferring bacteria between raw and cooked food. This can also happen when someone with bacteria on their hands touches food and then someone else comes along and takes the piece of food touched by the contaminated person.
I first came into a better knowledge of cross-contamination when Joyce was diagnosed with Celiac disease, a wheat allergy. At first, I had a hard time understanding how touching a slice of regular bread then touching hers without first washing your hands could cause her to become ‘deathly’ ill. Then I saw it happen and it was scary. Needless to say, we have had so many encounters with the unknowing public when it comes to that subject that I understand and appreciate its negative effect on her and anyone else who’s had celiac disease. Please be careful with folks like that.
As I said, you can do your best to avoid cross-contamination by washing counters, correctly storing uncooked food and thorough hand-washing after touching uncooked food or glutened food or after using the bathroom. Cross-contamination has come up often since the pandemic started. Preventative measures include frequent hand-washing, as well as not touching your face; especially after touching other surfaces like door knobs, handrails or other publically used items.
When you hear cross-contamination, it's not referring to something good. But today I'd like to turn that around. Normally we would do our best to avoid cross- contamination, but when it pertains to the cross of Christ, it's best to encourage cross-contamination. As typical cross-contamination is done unintentionally, we would intentionally cross-contaminate. As normal cross-contamination has harmful effects, spiritual cross-contamination has positive effects. What can we do to help cross-contaminate others?
It works the same in the spiritual realm. The first thing we need to understand in order to be motivated to cross-contaminate is realizing that we are all contaminated by sin. The spiritual bacteria of sin has infected 100% of the population. No one is exempt from contracting this virus. Romans 3:23 says that all have sinned and fall short of God's glory. So, there needs to be a remedy for our contamination problem. The late Billy Graham once said, “The cross has become a symbol in much of the Western world, misused by rock stars and others who do not comprehend its significance.” To wear a cross is to wear a symbol of death. The cross is often misused as some kind of ornament or accent to the attire and style of some people. We all know from biblical history that the cross was an instrument of execution where Rome’s worst enemies of the state were put to death by being nailed to a cross where execution would be public, painful, and prolonged.
Imagine how you would be received if you could travel back in time with a bus tour group to first century Rome wearing a cross. How do you think people would respond to you? First, they would be very curious and amazed to see you stepping off a bus with your tour group. Secondly, once they saw you all wearing crosses they would be horrified. The cross was designed to let everyone know that crucifixion is the way that enemies of the Roman state were dealt with in the worst case scenarios. Christians today view the cross as a place where the Son of God died for our sins to set us free from the power and guilt of sin.
What does the cross mean to you? Is the meaning of the cross foolish to those who do not understand? I want to talk about wisdom and foolishness.
How does the world see wisdom? Do they see wisdom as something that they gained from academics? Or do they see wisdom as something gained by experience?
Proverbs 1: 7 tells us about the perspective of godly wisdom: ‘The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 2:6 tells us the origin of godly wisdom: ‘For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.’
What about the celebrity version gospel? Is there such a thing as a celebrity gospel, a secular gospel? A secular gospel is endorsed by all who refuse the gospel and write their own exam questions so that they are never wrong!
The true gospel according to Galatians 1:8, 9, 11 says it clearly: ‘But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man's gospel.’ Why is the cross considered foolish to the world? The Christian exam question: Those who do not believe in Jesus can write and grade their own exam questions. The cross is a reminder to all Christians that our exam question is only one question that we spend a lifetime answering as we witness for Jesus Christ. That question is this: “Who do we say that Jesus is?”
The cross of Jesus is a graphic reminder: The cross is God’s message to the world where the words of John 3:16 are demonstrated by Jesus Christ the very lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world! That is the whole message of the Gospel. In the words of the late Billy Graham, ‘The Gospel shows people their wounds and bestows on them love. It shows them their bondage and supplies the hammer to knock away the chains. It shows them their nakedness and provides them the garments of purity. It shows them their poverty and pours into their lives the wealth of heaven. It shows them their sins and points them to the Savior’.
Is there such a thing as a fool’s paradise? Sadly, the answer is yes. One example of a fool’s paradise is deception. One way to describe a fool’s paradise is to label it for what it is. A broad path that leads to destruction: Matthew 7:13 describes not only a fool’s paradise but also its consequences: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.” Satan whom Jesus calls the father of all lies, the god of this world, and a thief uses deception to blind people to the light of the Gospel.
Beware of the thief: Satan deceives to steal God’s people and lead them astray from God’s plan for their lives in the hopes that it will lead to their death.
How many are there in the world who scoff and ridicule Christians’ thinking we are foolish? How many are shunned, ridiculed or persecuted for their faith? Why is it that people will literally sell their souls for a lie that could kill them?
Whose fool are you? It is far better to be a fool in the eyes of man than a fool in the eyes of God because we rejected Jesus Christ!
Is hell a real place? Jesus preached about Hell to keep people from going there!
Again, whose fool are you? It is far better to be a fool in the eyes of man than a fool in the eyes of God because we rejected Jesus Christ!
Jesus Christ boldly died on the cross for you and everyone else in the world. Will you boldly be a fool for Jesus and witness to others about Him every day? Jesus told us to go and make disciples. How many rock stars or any celebrity for that matter wear a cross without understanding what it really means? We can’t really say because to do so would be looking into their heart. How many are there who are ashamed of the Gospel? How many of them if they were to die today could stand before the Lord and be proud of their “life review?” How many of them will be willing to forfeit their salvation for the world’s approval? How many of us are going to pick up our crosses and go witness to them about Jesus Christ? I’ll ask the question one more time; whose fool are you?
Amen. ------“SNAKE BIT” Message for the Fourth Sunday in Lent From Pastor Norman Staker March 14, 2021 NUMBERS 21: 4-9 – EPHESIANS 2: 1-10 – JOHN 3: 14-21
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!
This passage would just be one more failure passage in the Book of Numbers were it not later quoted in John 3. That’s why the two are connected as our readings this morning. Just before the famous nutshell gospel of “For God so loved the world” passage of John 3:16, Jesus had been talking to Nicodemus about the necessity of the new birth. This is the way to overcome the curse of death. Jesus tells Nicodemus he must believe on the Son of Man who had come down from heaven. He then tells Nicodemus why He had come down. He uses the narrative of the bronze serpent to explain that He was to be lifted up just like the serpent in the wilderness was lifted up.
John 3:16 is the gospel in a nutshell. And this good news tells us that God loves an ungodly world. God loves us even when we are opposed to God! God didn’t run it past the world before acting. God just did it! God’s love for the world prompts God to act. God sends the Son in love, whether the world agrees to it or not.
That gospel is summed up in John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” Wow, that one little verse says a lot! All the good news about Jesus Christ has crystalized into that one little sentence. It’s the gospel in a nutshell, so simple that we can write it on our hearts. It’s no wonder that we love it so.
If you ever thought you were confident that you know everything that you need to know about God, then I have a story for you.
My name is Nicodemus. I thought I really knew God.
I had diligently studied the writings of what many of you know as the Old Testament. In fact, I can recite not just a verse or two, but many chapters. I was pretty sure I knew what God expected and how he operated. You see, I was part of a special group of people called a Pharisee. Now we are special people, set apart to know and help others know about what God expects. We had the nick name, ‘experts in the law’ because if anyone needed to know about God and His law they would come to us. And even if they didn’t come to us, we would go to them and let them clearly know what God expected of them.
But on one dark night all this changed.
I had heard about this character Jesus. Jesus had come along out of nowhere, but His reputation was growing. He had been at a wedding that had run out of wine, and He turned the water that was supposed to be used for some ceremonial washing into wine. Who wouldn’t want to know this man?
But He had also upset the local traders at the temple, and at the same time had made some outlandish claims that he was going to destroy the temple, which by the way had been under construction for 46 years, then he had the audacity to say He would rebuild it in 3 days. Your pastor told you about Jesus and the temple last week. Then there were the many signs and wonders He performed around the country. No wonder there was a small group of people following him.
But what really intrigued me was how much He knew about God, yet he wasn’t part of any Pharisee team. In fact. He wasn’t part of any respectable group we knew about. Some of my colleagues were very suspicious of Him, they felt He could be a threat to the way we go about life, how we understand God and how much people held us in high regard, even though many of them didn’t really like us. But I was intrigued, because not only did he do all these things, every time he opened his mouth, His understanding and teaching of God was unbelievable, it was like He been sitting with God for centuries.
So, I decided I had to meet him, but I was also worried what my fellow Pharisees would think. So late one night I went looking for him. Fortunately, I found him and the conversation we had changed how I saw God and my view of all people including those questionable foreigners.
This meeting with Jesus altered my life.
I haven’t got time to tell you everything but let me tell you about some of the important things you need to know. For a start I knew Jesus knew his stuff; he could easily recall many of the old stories of God at work. For instance, He reminded me of an old story of when our ancestors were bitten by deadly snakes in the desert and were dying. God instructed Moses to make a figure of a poisonous snake and place it on a pole. And God said to Moses anyone who looks at this snake will not die. And the story goes all who followed this instruction lived. You heard about this in the lesson that Denise read from the book of Numbers.
Just so you know, the book of Numbers is a hard book to read and understand…..
But Jesus wasn’t all about the past, because then He used this story to give me an insight into the future, He talked about our eternal life. He made this unbelievable claim that just like the snake was lifted up and all who followed God’s instructions to look at it would live, He said that the Son of Man, would be lifted up and all who believed in Him would have eternal life.
Now back then, I didn’t fully understand that he was referring to himself, but I was pretty sure He was referring to the Messiah, the one God had already promised us. And when that terrible day happened, when Jesus was lifted on the cross, this conversation came back to me. I looked at Jesus and thought you are being lifted up, I pray that what is happening to you saves me.
This statement that all who believed in the Son of Man who was lifted up would be save, also rocked how I understood God and how I could obtain life forever with Him. You see I was a very knowledgeable Pharisee. We had no problems in believing that God was giving us life after death, but we were pretty sure that the only way this was possible, was to perfectly do everything God had said. And because we wanted a lot of our fellow Jews with us, it was our duty to tell everyone what was the right thing to do and remind them if they didn’t do the right thing then they had no possibility of having a good life after death.
However when Jesus said all who believe in the Son of Man who has been lifted up will be saved, my eyes were opened to see that God actually operates differently.
God wasn’t offering us eternal life because we did everything perfectly or we could be great performers, rather He was offering us eternal life if we believed in the One he sent. This was not the only radical thing Jesus said. Listen to what he said next,
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
Until I had this conversation with Jesus, I thought like many other Pharisees, that God only loved Israelites, and perfect Israelites at that.
And not only that, to be truthful I was a little scared of God, thinking that if I ever came face to face with him, then he would more than likely point out all my faults and tell me in a loud condescending voice, I wasn’t good enough for him. However what Jesus had just said reminded me that God was extremely loving. I don’t know why I had forgotten this, in Psalm 107 we are reminded that God’s love endures forever.
And there was something even more remarkable about what Jesus told me that night, that God’s love was for everyone in the world.
It is still ringing in my ears, For God so loved the world. God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world.
This was mind blowing for me at the time. You see I had been used to thinking that God was only interested in helping and saving a small group of people in the world, us Israelites. But now Jesus was saying He not only loved everyone, He would dearly like everyone to be saved….on one hand this makes sense, especially when you consider that God created the entire world, not just a part of it. So why wouldn’t He want to be reconnected with everyone He has been involved in creating. But for my little brain this is going to be a logistical nightmare. Can you imagine heaven? All those different people, with their different food, different tastes in music, different languages, different customs, different personalities. But fortunately, as Jesus highlights, for us to gain eternal life none of this stuff is to be our focus, our focus is to be the Son of Man, which I later discovered was Him.
Now this changed not only how i saw my relationship with God. No longer did I think that God was going to inspect me with a fine tooth comb, looking to reject or punish me, due to any of my flaws or inadequacies. Rather I now see God as someone who is looking to show me love constantly, and to use His love to help me connect and reconnect with Him, especially when I am struggling to do so. It also changed how I related to other people and what I needed them to know. As a Pharisee I was convinced that it was my job to tell people what they were doing wrong and how bad this is, but now after my conversation with Jesus this is no longer my focus. My focus is now to tell people that no matter what, no matter what they have done or failed to do, that God is always loving them. And that all their faults, that would otherwise separate them from God, can be dealt with simply by believing that Jesus’ death on the cross and the empty tomb is enough.
Can I encourage you to do the same? Can you help people know they are always loved by God?
Now unfortunately not everyone liked Jesus or what He revealed about God. Initially for me I was in that boat, I was so sure of myself and believed I was better than most people, and definitely was convinced that us Israelite Pharisees were the ones God truly loved above everyone else, but after spending some time with Jesus my life and understanding of God changed dramatically. I was no longer burdened by having to perform or even worse by trying to cover up anything I had done wrong because I was worried about being judged, but rather I saw that God really, really, really loved me!
And that through Jesus I got to experience His unjudging, all embracing love. And I believe everyone needs to know this truth about God; that God is everyone’s loving powerful king who uses His power to love and save.
May you know how much God loves you. Everyday spend a little time with Jesus and your understanding of God will deepen and you will gain a greater appreciation of His love for you. May you also use your understanding of God and His love to help others see the true God, a God of love, who was prepared to send His only Son Jesus into this world so they could know and benefit from His love.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. This one, simple passage summarizes the reason for the Easter celebration only a few short weeks away, about the love of a God who truly cares for us and the fact that we were blessed with a savior who sacrificed Himself on behalf of us. The message behind John 3:16 is really what we need to understand each and every day. This short passage is a message of love, a message of sacrifice, and a message of comfort for millions of Christians across the globe.
I like Nicodemus. He is a leader of the people, and a religious man, who realizes that he doesn’t have his life totally in order; he doesn’t have all of the answers. The writer of the gospel of John likes Nicodemus, also. Even though Nicodemus is a member of the Pharisees and a Jewish religious leader, the writer casts him in a positive light.
We read that Nicodemus came to Jesus in the night. He certainly did this because he didn’t want his colleagues and associates to know what he was doing. In the gospel of John, though, the darkness also represents the domain of evil. Evil likes to lurk in the darkness—we acknowledge this when we avoid dark alleys and unlit parking lots. The darkness is also a place where it is easy to become lost.
Nicodemus comes to Jesus out of the darkness. He recognizes that Jesus is a teacher and confesses that obviously God’s presence is with him. He doesn’t see that Jesus is the Messiah. Nicodemus’ knowledge is incomplete.
I think it is important for Christians to confess that we are much like Nicodemus and to imitate him. We need to realize that we don’t have all of the answers and that our destination is not to have all of the answers. The Christian life is asking questions, seeking answers and exploring possibilities. A searching spirit is important as a disciple of Jesus Christ. It enables us to grow in our life and in our faith, and it opens us up to the surprises that God has in store for us.
The light didn’t suddenly dawn on Nicodemus. There is no record of a conversion experience. Yet, we can assume that Nicodemus continued to search and he didn’t stop asking questions. Later in John’s gospel, Nicodemus stands up to his fellow Pharisees in defense of Jesus, and later he is one of the men who claim Jesus’ body after the crucifixion.
The life of faith, the walk as a disciple of Jesus Christ, is a journey. Though there is the promise that we will finally arrive at our destination, the fun, excitement and power is experienced in our everyday lives—as we live in a relationship with a loving God.
Amen. –––––––––––––––––––––––– “A GOD’S EYE VIEW OF YOUR PAST AND PRESENT” Message for the Fifth Mid-Week Lenten Service From Pastor Norman Staker March 17, 2021
GRACE. MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!
“You used to be so cute, what happened?” Has anyone ever said that when looking at your baby pictures? It’s a joke that never seems to grow old because there’s probably some truth to it. With their big eyes, chubby cheeks, and tiny little fists babies are cuter than most.
Is this what God thought when he looked at you as a baby? In a way yes, because he created you and would have been proud of his handiwork. But as look at our lesson from Ephesians we’ll see that God was also revolted by what we he saw. God saw a major mess, spiritually speaking. Thankfully God also did something about that. He has transformed us into a masterpiece. From major mess to masterpiece. Let’s find out how and why God did that as we get a God’s-eye view of our past and present.
The Apostle Paul dives right into matters when he begins our text by saying, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.” It’s easy to laugh at these make-believe creatures, but God isn’t laughing when he looks at this world because he sees spiritual zombies everywhere. God sees people who are very much alive with physical life and so they run around at recess, they drink coffee, and they cook dinners for the family. But God also sees that from the moment they are conceived, these are people not wired, but warped to follow Satan instead of him. They do so by gratifying their sinful cravings. And what’s more, says Paul, we were once one of them. In the same way we often look at our lives and think that we’re handling it pretty well. But if you are to compare our actions to God’s standards, it’s not hard to see how we are not as good as we think. For example God wants us to speak kind and encouraging words to one another, but what comes more naturally are the putdowns. God wants us to put the best construction on what others say and do, but we find it easier to jump to negative conclusions. We were and continue to show ourselves to be a major mess. Like road-kill we ought to have been scraped into God’s rubbish bin a long time ago.
But listen to what God did instead. Paul writes: “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
If you’ve been playing outside in the sprinkler on a hot summer day, Mom won’t let you back into the house until you have first hosed the dead grass and mud off the bottom of your feet. You would think that God would require us to do the same spiritually—that we would have to do our best to hose off the sins that pollute us from the bottom of our hearts. But remember the God’s-eye view of reality Paul just gave us a moment ago. He said we were dead in our sins, not just hurt or wounded by them. We weren’t like the soldier who gets shot in the leg, but can still somehow manage to crawl to safety. Sin shot us through the heart dropping us where we were, unable to move from our position as Satan’s eager followers.
So if we are going to be saved, it’s going to take a miracle just as powerful and as stunning as when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. And that’s exactly what God did when he brought you to faith in Jesus. He raised you to life. But not only did he raise you, explains Paul, he also seated you with Christ in the heavenly realms. Notice how Paul does not say that this is something that God will do for all believers some day in the future. No. Those who have faith in Jesus as their savior are seated with him right now in the heavenly realms.
But how can that be if we’re still on earth? Perhaps we could think of it like this. What difference would it make to you if on a 10-hour flight to Paris you flew first class instead of economy? You would be better fed, you would have more comfortable seating, and therefore you would arrive at your destination refreshed and relaxed, instead of frazzled and a bit grumpy. So imagine your excitement if a couple hours before boarding, you find out that you are being bumped up to first class from economy. You’re not seated in the comfortable seats yet eating the shrimp and lobster, but I bet you can’t wait to do so. You’re now looking forward to the flight a lot more than you were a few hours before. And as you wait to board, you can be sure that the gate agents will pay special attention to any requests you might have as a first class passenger.
Likewise even though we are not physically in heaven yet, through faith in Jesus we have been seated with him in the heavenly realms. We’ve been upgraded to first class and even though we’re not enjoying the glories of heaven yet, we do have much to look forward to. That truth should change your outlook on our present challenges and frustrations. They won’t last forever! And anyway, just as the gate agent is going to be more apt to help a first class passenger get settled in, so as a child of God you have your savior’s attention as you journey to heaven. He will help you through your struggles now.
But those who fly first class are often notorious for their spoiled-brat behavior. That is not how we Christians are to be obviously. Since we have been raised with Christ and are seated with him, we will now want to live for him. Paul put that thought like this in his letter to the Colossians which he wrote at the same time as his letter to the Ephesians. Paul said: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
What happened to you spiritually at your Baptism is what happened to many believers physically at Jesus’ death. When Jesus died there was a great earthquake and many dead believers came back to life. After Jesus’ resurrection three days later these recently raised believers went back into Jerusalem to resume their lives on earth. But what do you suppose those people were doing between the time they were raised to life and the time they went back into Jerusalem? Were they hitting the pubs and getting tipsy as they celebrated their resurrection? Were they plotting the best way to make life miserable for their siblings again, and planning on resuming old rivalries and feuds? Of course not! How could they spend one second entertaining such sinful thoughts when they had just been to heaven and back? No, they would have been eager to tell everyone about their experience and to glorify their Lord and savior with their words and actions. We haven’t been to heaven and back, but we have been raised to life with Jesus. Our goal now is to live for him, and we have help in the matter. Paul wrote in our text: “…we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Does anyone remember what the Greek word translated as “handiwork” is? It’s poema, from which we get the English word… poem. In other words, you are God’s poem, his masterpiece. From major mess to masterpiece that’s what God has made you to be. And no, we’re not all going to serve God in the same way. Some of you are gifted at encouraging. Others are gifted at getting things done. Others are visionaries. In that sense we’re like different verses of a hymn. The words are all slightly different, but we’re set to the same melody—the melody of God’s grace to praise Christ.
I started this sermon by talking about what others often say when looking at our baby pictures: “I can’t believe you used to be so cute!” You can answer like this: “Really? That’s when I was ugly. But then God took hold of me in baptism and has turned me into his masterpiece. He’s done this for Jesus’ sake so that I might enjoy an awesome eternity. May I tell you how he’s done this for you too?”
Amen. ––––––––––––––––––––––– “THE BEAUTY OF THE CROSS” Message for the Fifth Sunday in Lent From Pastor Norman Staker March 21, 2021 JEREMIAH 31: 31-34 – HEBREWS 5: 5-10 – JOHN 12: 20-33
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!
If you had to buy milk and eggs, would you go to a music store? If you wanted to eat a big juicy hamburger, would you stop by a sushi restaurant? No. A music store is an unlikely place to find groceries, and a sushi restaurant is an unlikely place to sink your teeth into a meaty hamburger. What about glory? Where would you go, what would you do to find glory? The world has many ideas and suggestions on where to find glory, but our text today teaches that glory is something Christians find in unlikely places. Real glory is found in death and in service.
Our text takes place just days before Jesus’ crucifixion. When word came to Jesus that a group of God-fearing Greeks wanted to see him, Jesus said: “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (John 12:23). Jesus knew that the end of his mission was at hand and that he would soon be glorified. How was it that Jesus would be glorified? Jesus would find glory in an unlikely way. Jesus explained: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds” (John 12:24). With an excellent illustration Jesus helps us see that he would find glory in death. Glory in death? Doesn’t death signal defeat? If we didn’t think death was such a bad thing, we would never bother going to the doctor when we got sick; we would never shed a tear at a funeral. How is that Jesus can say death is glorious?
We will begin to understand how Jesus’ death is glorious when we grasp the seed illustration Jesus used. Just as the purpose of a seed is to be buried in the ground where it can germinate and grow into something productive, Jesus wants us to know that the purpose of his coming to this world was to be buried. Jesus came to die to pay for our sins. But death would not be the end of Jesus. Just as a seed that is buried sprouts and grows into a seed-bearing plant or fruit-bearing tree, so Jesus would come back to life and bear fruit, eternal life for all those who believe in him. Luther Burbank took an interest in the common field daisy that was an outcast weed despised by the farmers in the East. He crossed it with the Japanese daisy and an English daisy and produced the Shasta daisy, a flower whose beautiful bloom has grown as much as two feet in diameter, and which will last up to six weeks when cut. Burbank went on to transform other despised and worthless plants into plants of beauty and usefulness. He said, "It is my theory that there are no outcasts in nature; everything has a use, and everything in nature is beautiful if we are eager to ennoble it. Every weed is a possible beautiful flower."
His theory has been demonstrated as fact in many cases. A group of women in Pasadena years ago inaugurated the first weed show in history. It was an instant hit. People were astonished at the beauty in weeds. The word weed implies ugliness and uselessness, but as someone said, "Beauty is where you find it." Queen Anne's lace, for example, is a common weed in New England, but in California it is raised as a choice flower. The Kansas Gay Feather, which is a mere weed in the Midwest, is a garden flower in New England. The same thing is both ugly and beautiful depending upon the perspective from which it is seen.
This is also the paradox of the cross. We could as easily consider the ugliness of the cross as the beauty of it. One is as real as the other. At one time in history the cross was the most gruesome object of horror that could be imagined. Cicero the Roman said, "The cross speaks of that which is so shameful, so horrible, that it should not be mentioned in polite society." It was so horrible to die on the cross that no Roman citizen was allowed to be crucified no matter how guilty they were. This fate was reserved for only the worst kinds of killers, renegades, and robbers. Even Scripture says, "Cursed is every man who is hanged on a tree."
No one could have ever dreamed that the cross would someday become a universal decoration and design for jewelry. You can buy a cross made of every precious metal and with diamonds or any other precious stone. This would have sounded as incredible to the ancients as the idea would sound to us of wearing a hangman's noose as a silver pin or hanging a picture in your living room of a gas chamber. It would be ugly and morbid. Weeds being transformed into flowers is amazing, but nothing can compare with the wonder of the cross being transformed from a symbol of horror and death to a symbol of beauty and life.
Jesus converted everything He touched, and one of the most radical conversions of all was the conversion of the cross. From Calvary on, the cross became a symbol treasured and loved, and Paul could say, "God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Christ." You have heard the phrase ‘ugly as sin.’ If sin is the ugliest thing is the world, then that which forgives it and cleanses it has to be the most beautiful thing in the world, and that is the blood of the cross. Jesus so transformed the cross that it became the central theme of Christian preaching and song. The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world is even the theme of the saints as they sing in heaven.
In our text Jesus says some things that explain why the cross became a symbol of beauty. First of all, we see in the cross-the beauty of its purpose.
When Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the whole city was in an uproar. The Pharisees were so amazed they said to one another in verse 19, "Look the whole world has gone after Him." Then to illustrate the truth of their impression John tells of some Greeks who wanted to see Jesus. They were Gentiles who had become converts to Judaism, and to the one true God, for verse 20 says that they came to Jerusalem to worship at the feast. This is the last public event in the life of Christ that John records before the cross. When Philip and Andrew told Jesus some Greeks wanted to see Him, He answered and said, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified."
All through His ministry He had been saying that the hour has not yet come. He said to His mother at the wedding of Cana, "My hour has not yet come." He said to His brethren, "My time is not yet come." And again we read, "No man laid hands on Him, because His hour had not yet come." And once more, "No man took Him, because His hour was not yet come." Now, when some Greeks want to see Him, Jesus announces that the hour has come. The countdown in God's timetable of salvation is about to be completed, and zero hour has arrived. The central hour of all history was approaching, and when it was over the most crucial act for time and eternity would be completed, and God's purpose fulfilled.
Jesus knew that His hour had come to fulfill the purpose of God for all men, both Jews and Gentiles. No longer would He be limited to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He says in verse 32, “When I am lifted up, I will draw all men to myself."
From the perspective of the divine plan and purpose the cross was the beautiful fulfillment. Jesus demonstrated the reality of the completed work by saying to the thief, "This day thou shalt be with me in paradise." The hour had come for opening the gate of paradise where man could again enter the presence of God. On the cross Jesus reconciled God and man and made it possible for man to be forgiven and cleansed of all sin. What could be more beautiful than the gate to paradise? The cross was that gate.
This was the hour of glorification for Jesus. Others were horrified at the cross, but Jesus was glorified. It was for this purpose that He came into the world, and in fulfilling that purpose in deep humiliation God exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow. The cross was the hour of man's redemption and Christ's coronation. The life of Christ is beautiful, but the death of Christ is even more beautiful when we see its purpose.
Napoleon once took a map, and pointing to the British Isles, remarked, "Were it not for that red spot I would have conquered the world." The devil can take the chart of history and point to the hour of the cross and say the same: "Were it not for that red spot I would have conquered the world." Jesus came to satisfy His Father, to redeem man, and to defeat the devil, and He did it all on the cross. That is why it is a symbol of beauty. In verse 24 Jesus gives us another basis for the beauty of the cross, for there we see-its productiveness.
Jesus says that a grain of wheat must fall into the earth and die or it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit. Death is a means to productiveness in nature. Jesus uses an illustration from nature, for the Greeks would understand this. Proof from the Old Testament would not be as valuable with them as with the Jews. Jesus was using a very contemporary and relevant illustration. Jesus is saying that abundance in nature requires death.
The cross became the most productive tree ever. It is the very tree of life, and all of the fruits of the Spirit, and all of the fruits of Christianity in history are offshoots from the cross. The beauty of the cross is the beauty of its productiveness. If a grain of wheat insists on remaining what it is, it will be a grain of wheat and nothing more. If Jesus had insisted on remaining the Jewish Messiah, He would have been that and nothing more.
Jesus does not stop with reference to His own cross, however, for He spoke of the beauty in its purpose; in its productiveness, and then goes on to speak of-the beauty of its principle.
This principle is one that Jesus repeats more than any other: Twice in Matthew, twice in Luke, and once in Mark, and here. The beauty of this principle of the cross is that it will lead to our lives being purposeful and productive, as was that of Christ. A little girl once spoke to her mother and asked, "Why are you so ugly mother?" The mother said, "Come here my darling and I will tell you." It was time for the secret to be told, and so she explained why her face had terribly disfiguring scars. She told her that a fire had broken out in the home when the girl was only a baby. The mother was at a neighbor's house, and when she rushed home she plunged into the flames to get to the child. She saved the child, but not without great cost to her own body. The scars she bore were the result. After the child heard this story she was overwhelmed with love, and in tears she cried out, "Mother, you are the most beautiful person in the world." Ugliness can become beautiful when you can see it from the right perspective. When we see the sacrifice of the cross and what it did for us as sinners, then we see the beauty of the cross.
Amen. –––––––––––––––––––––––- “WHAT IS REVERENT SUBMISSION?” Message for the Sixth Mid-Week Lenten Service From Pastor Norman Staker March 24, 2021 HEBREWS 5: 5-10
GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!
Have you ever had a time that you were praying with all your heart and it seemed like God wasn’t listening? You knew what you wanted. You were asking clearly and yet it seemed like you are not being heard. My text today is one of those key scriptures that gives us insight into the kind of prayers that God hears. For the best example of prayer, we have to start with Jesus.
The Bible tells us that Jesus raised a man named Lazarus from the dead after Lazarus had been dead for three days. Jesus calmed a storm when even the disciples thought surely, they were going to drown. Jesus healed a blind man who had been blind since birth. Jesus cast out demons. He made the lame to walk. He made the lepers clean. He fed 5,000+ people with five loaves and two fish. John 21:25 even says about the things that Jesus did, “If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” Hyperbole or fact?
How were Jesus’ prayers heard in such a powerful way? Is that how prayer works in your life? Some of us would give testimony to the fact that God has answered our prayers in the past. We also have probably heard stories of God working in the lives of others. But what about those times when we have prayed, and it seemed that all we got was silence?
Does prayer really make a difference? The One who can best answer that for us is Jesus. In Matthew 6:10, Jesus prays ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.’ How could He pray that? He could pray that prayer because He alone has been in heaven and on earth. The angels don’t have the full perspective, and neither does mankind. Only Jesus has seen prayer from both ends. He knows the purpose and the power of prayer. He understands how prayer works and how God works through it. With this in mind, what did Jesus do when He was on earth? He prayed. . . a lot. We can look in the book of Hebrews to see why Jesus’ prayers were heard so powerfully. Hebrews 5:7 says, “During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.”
This verse is primarily pointing us back to Jesus’ prayers in the Garden of Gethsemane right before His arrest and crucifixion. We first see that Jesus offered up prayers and petitions with “loud cries and tears.” I am not pointing that out to say that we all have to now pray with loud cries and tears. I am just pointing out the fact that Christ was deeply moved in prayer. Prayer for Him was not just a mental exercise or a religious ritual. The word used here for cry is not a cry that one chooses to produce, but a cry that cannot be held in. It is a cry that is wrung out of a person because of over-powering tension or suffering. We also read in scripture of other times that Jesus cried. We see it at the death of Lazarus in John 11:35 and in Luke 19:41 when Jesus cries over the unbelief of Jerusalem. It is not telling us that we always need to be super emotional when we pray. The example of Christ is calling us to be deeply vested in, moved by, broken over, the things of which we pray. That prayer will be an activity of the heart not just of the mind. Prayers that overflow from a heart of love for God and for others. Oh, that we would understand how weak we are and how desperately we need God.
Jesus not only prayed with loud cries and tears, but He also prayed, “to the one who could save him from death.” Jesus knew the ability and character of Him to whom He prayed. He prayed to God the Father, the sovereign King, the Holy One, the Almighty One, the all-loving One, the all-knowing One, the all-present One, the all-powerful One who could save Him from death. Jesus had faith that God the Father could deliver Him from death so Jesus prayed according to that faith. Jesus knew the ability and character of the One to whom He prayed. Do we? It is a great help to know the character to whom you are praying. Do we understand the power of God? The love of God? The promises of God? The discipline of God? The priorities of God? The faithfulness of God? Only then can we pray with full confidence knowing that regardless of God’s response to our prayers that the results can be trusted.
Let me give you an example of a person who does not know the character of God. “God, I pray that you will let my child get into that university because it is well respected. It will make me look good and will allow her to make a lot of money in the future and have an easy life.” That person is not aware of the character and priorities of God to whom they are praying. Instead they might pray like this. “God, first of all, I know that my daughter is not mine. She is yours. We desire that she love you with all of her heart and that she be used in this world as you will. You know that she has applied for this university. We pray that if it is your will and if it will prepare her to accomplish your purpose in her life, that you allow her to be accepted at this school. If not, we pray that you would redirect us to your will and give her peace in the process of finding where you would have her be.”
Here is an example of someone who does not know the power of God. “God, you know I sin a lot. I pray that you will endure my sin and not be too angry since I can’t help it. Please help me at least not be as bad as I used to be. Sorry.” This person does not know the power of God. They should be praying more like this. “God, I have failed again, but I know that you love me. I know that your Spirit lives in me. I know that you have promised to make me like Jesus and give me a heart that obeys your word. Based on your Word and your promises and your Spirit who lives in me I surrender my areas of sin to you, trusting that in your way and your time you will make me into the person that you want me to be. Please bring about holiness in my life.”
Even in Jesus’ most difficult moments of agony and fear in the Garden of Gethsemane His knowledge of the Father was so certain that even desperate emotion did not sway the direction of His prayers.
Hebrews 5:7 then concludes with these words. “Jesus’ prayers were heard because of His reverence.”
The idea of reverence in the Old Testament was formed by bringing two Hebrew words together, yare’ and shachah. The first word had the root idea of fear or awe.
The second Hebrew word that contributed to the idea of reverence in the Old Testament meant literally “falling down.” When combined with the idea of awe and fear, this is a bowing down or falling down at one’s feet as a sign of utter surrender and submission. It is similar to how one might bow down to a King. This is in agreement with the idea of reverence in the New Testament that had to do with realizing that one is in a position of inferiority to another. It is an attitude of worship and submission.
When Jesus prayed in reverence, He was humbling Himself before God the Father and submitting to the Father’s will. It is different than the demons who showed their fear of Christ every time they came face to face with Him, but never bowed their hearts in reverence. Reverence is us taking our rightful place of submission and inferiority and bowing our hearts before God’s will in the midst of prayer.
When Jesus prayed, He humbled Himself before the Father. That might seem confusing to some when they think about the Son and the Father being one and about the divinity of Christ, but while Christ was here on earth, He humbled Himself and submitted to the Father reverently. We see this in Philippians 2:6-7. “Though he was in the form of God, (he) did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” That is what He is doing here. His reverence in prayer is an expression of relating to the Father from a place of submission.
Jesus reverently submitted to the authority of the Father in prayer and because of that, His prayers were heard. Many times our prayers are the opposite of those of Christ’s. We start with our own ideas, our own perspective, our own desires and ask God to bless our plans when we have no idea what He is truly doing in our situation and no understanding of what is really best for our lives.
We pray in this way often. We pray that God will give us the job, give us the spouse, change our coworker, fix our health, get us our legal papers, move our neighbors, get us into a good school, and then we say amen, with no second thought if our request is really God’s plan. We must remember that God has very clear priorities in our lives. The purpose of our lives is to glorify God in all that we do. He wants to make us like Christ. He wants to grow our faith. He wants us to know Him personally. Because of this, there will be many times that He wills something totally different then we would ever choose. This also affects the way that we pray for others and pray for the world.
Jesus' prayers were heard because of his reverence. The Father’s ears were turned towards Jesus’ prayers because of His reverent submission. Our prayers being heard is not based on volume, position, or eloquence. It is based on the reverence of our hearts.
One of the clearest pictures that we have of Jesus’ reverent is in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is praying to the Father, knowing that in the next hours He will be arrested, beaten, falsely accused, and eventually crucified. We see that His struggle in prayer is overwhelming. In Matthew 26:38 Jesus says, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death.” Luke 22:43-44 tells how “An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”
But even in the midst of the struggle Jesus still chose the way of the Father. “My Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours, be done.”
Jesus was wrestling with God the Father in prayer. Do you ever do that? There is an important decision that you need to make and you really want God to agree with what you want. You pray out of emotion not wanting to let go of your plans. We see King David starting prayers in this way in Psalms. He prays out of his sincere emotions and desires for deliverance, justice, judgment, or even condemnation but eventually arrives at the place in his heart that He once again recognizes, “but you are God.” Jesus was doing the same thing. He knew that his human desire was to avoid the pain and the wrath of God that He was about to experience, but He knew that His ultimate loyalties were with the Father. “My Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will but yours, be done.”
It was not easy, but it also was not a forced or cowering submission. It was a reverent submission. He chose to submit to the Father. Even though many hours of torture and brutality were to come, the real battle was in the prayer. Once the reverent submission was in place, Jesus set his heart, soul, and mind, on the purpose of the cross, and the Father empowered Him to endure.
The reverent submission was not ultimately about the type of prayer, but the condition of the heart. God desires a heart that is fully dependent on Him. Those are the lives, hearts, and prayers that God will use to accomplish mighty things. Prayers may be said with a loud voice and a lot of emotion; they may even be with great words and ideas, but if the heart is not in a place of reverent submission, a place of ultimate surrender, the prayers will lack the power of God. Is your heart in the neutral place where you will obey whatever God directs? That is what is required.
One phrase that should characterize our prayers is this. “Your will be done.” May we give control of our lives and our prayers to the Father who knows what is best for us. Even when life is difficult and the future is unclear, may we be willing to surrender our plans and rest in the love of the God who hears our prayers.
Amen. ––––––––––––––––––––––––-