Sundays of Pentecost 2020 Messages Part 2 From Pastor Staker Bethel Lutheran Church (ELCA) Russell, Kentucky

Eighth Sunday After – July 25 – “God Is For Us” Ninth Sunday After – August 2 – “The Bottomless Basket” Tenth Sunday After – August 9 – “And Then Came” Eleventh Sunday After – August 16– “Walk The Talk” Twelfth Sunday After (Message from Sylvia Gardner) – August 23 – “Come Holy Spirit, Come” Thirteenth Sunday After – August 30 – “Being A 24/7 Christian” Fourteenth Sunday After – September 6 – “Why Can’t We Just Get Along?” Fifteenth Sunday After – September 13 – “Me? Forgive You? Ha!!” “God Is For Us” Message for the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost from Pastor Norman Staker July 26,2020 I Kings 3: 5-12 – Romans 8: 26-39 – : 31-33, 44-52

GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!

Have you ever decided to end a friendship? Here’s one person’s version: Dear Abby, “I became engaged to a man and just found out he had a wooden leg. Do you think I should break it off?”

Today, in a very real way, we reach the pinnacle of the book of Romans. Paul reveals the end game–essentially what everything is working toward. He’s taken us through a long journey to get here–a journey that was sometimes difficult to understand; a journey that was sometimes tedious in its working out; a journey that oftentimes was and is very confusing for those of us living in this day and age. But it is a journey that had to be taken in this manner, not because it was required by our philosophical thought, but because it was the journey revealed by God that went through Jesus.

Paul has laid out the workings of God starting with humankind’s rebellion from God. Paul showed how everyone has failed to live up to God’s purpose and command and how no matter how hard we try to accomplish that purpose and command, we will always fall short. Therefore, we stand condemned by God and under His wrath. Yet, in a stunning turn of events, God Himself takes on human flesh and pays the debt of our sin and makes us right with God. “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. They are now justified by grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God set forward as a sacrifice of atonement effective through faith.” God makes us right with Him through no action of our own–it is completely and totally by God’s grace. Nothing else. And this becomes effective when we trust in Christ’s actions and not our own. There is nothing we have to do: no law to follow; no act of charity to perform; no prayer to pray. There is just a heart that has been captured by God’s marvelous grace. And when that heart is captured by God’s marvelous grace, it falls in love with God. It falls in love with Jesus and our allegiance is changed. Where once we sought the things of this world, we now seek God. We live for God. We desire God and His will and rule. We find ourselves in Christ and we find Christ in us. Furthermore, the Spirit of Christ; the Holy Spirit, establishes a base of operations in our hearts where He works to put to death the desires of our flesh to help us focus on God. And, we found out last week, this same Holy Spirit intercedes for us by taking our selfish, misguided prayers as well as those prayers that have no words and transforming those prayers into holy and acceptable words.

All of this, Paul has set forward to show us what God is up to in our lives–in the lives of those who love Him. God is conforming us into the image and likeness of Jesus. I want you to just consider that for a moment. Think about just how spectacular a claim that is. God is conforming you; molding you; refining you; so that you become like Jesus. This is God’s end game. He wants you to be like Jesus beginning now and then brought to perfection in the life to come. When our hearts are captured by the ; when we trust in Jesus and love Him; God molds us to be like Him. Wow.

Now, in a sense, this is true. I mean, we proclaim as Christians that ultimately, God will have the last word in all events, and that word will be good. We proclaim that all the evil that was ever committed will be unmade. We proclaim that the blind will see, the lame will walk, the dead will be raised, and so on and so forth when God comes to make everything new. When we take the long view, we can easily say, “Everything will work out for my good.” But if we do not keep this view in mind, there are at least three problems that arise.

No, Paul chooses his words carefully to convey this thought: if your heart has been captured by the grace of God; if you are desiring God deep within the depths of your being; if you are in Christ and Christ is in you; if the Spirit of Christ dwells within you because you trust in what Jesus has done on the cross instead of in your own actions, then God will take every circumstance in your life, everything that happens to you, every good thing, and every bad thing; every moment of triumph and every moment of tragedy, and He will use them for your benefit. He will use them for your good.

We must be very, very careful as we approach our biblical text today from the eighth chapter of the book of Romans. Verse 28 is a much beloved text oft quoted by many, many Christians today. In fact, I still remember it as one of the verses I was required to memorize when I was in confirmation many, many years ago. “All things work together toward good for those who love God; those whom He has called according to His purpose.” If we do not read this verse carefully, we can interpret it to say, “If I love God, then everything will work out for my good.”

The message of salvation is the most important thing that we will ever hear in our lives. It is also something that we are called to share as well. If you had to summarize the Gospel message in one sentence, how would you do it? What words or phrases might you use? What things would you mention? Think about it for a few seconds. How would you summarize the Gospel message? Got an idea of what you might say? Many of us would go straight to -16, For God so loved the world…Powerful words, important words for all of us, right?

Now let me throw a wrench in it. Shorten what you came up with. Use the least amount of words as possible. What would you say then? Have a few seconds to do that too. Could you do it? Possibly, For God so loved that he gave. Shorter, sweeter, just 7 words, sounds good to me! Paul does it one, actually 3 better. He finishes Romans 8, he summarizes the Gospel message in just four small, simple words. He chose “God…is…for…us!” While it is just four small words, it is a loaded phrase. For it is not only the summary of the Gospel, but also the summary of the first eight chapters of Romans. It is also the title of my message this morning. Paul tells us what the summary “God is for us” means for our lives.

Paul writes, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” What are these things? These things are everything that he was written about in Romans so far. He has written that God declares us righteous through faith in Jesus. He has told us that we are saved by faith and not by works. He said we can rejoice in our sufferings and that we have been baptized into Jesus. He tells us that we are no longer slaves to sin and that we have God’s Spirit. He told us that we are God’s children. All of these things show and prove that God is for us. If He wasn’t, He would not have done any of these things. Since God is for us, who can be against us? The answer to that question is no one, nobody, nothing! Paul then explains why that is.

He says, “He Who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God Who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the One Who died-more than that, Who was raised-Who is at the right hand of God, Who indeed is interceding for us.” No one can accuse or condemn us because God is for us! Paul uses a court room image here to prove His point. Imagine you are on trial. The prosecutor walks up to you, points his finger at you, and begins to list the charges against you. He says, “This person has been caught red handed breaking Your laws God. They have not always trusted You. They misuse your name. Their hearts have lusted over others. They are not content with what You have given them. The list goes on and on. They’re as guilty as sin, God, and that’s one of the laws they’ve broken. I even have many witnesses, God, who can prove these things. What is your verdict, O God?” God pounds His gavel and declares over the thud, “Not guilty! They are innocent. They are free to go.”

Because of Jesus, and our baptism into His death and resurrection, we have been given His work, righteousness, and merits. God truly declares us not guilty of those sins that we have committed. This is not pretend. Those sins that we are too ashamed to speak about. Those sins that we stumble and struggle with. Those sins that have messed up relationships and opportunities in our lives. Those sins that we hate that we do. All of these are not counted against us and we are seen as innocent before Him. No one, and I mean, no one, can condemn or accuse God’s people because of Jesus. We even have our resurrected and ascended Lord pleading and interceding for us. Nothing can change His verdict. God is for us! No one can accuse or condemn us.

But that is not all that this phrase means for our lives. The fact that God is for us means that we cannot be separated from His love! In sports, when you have a young and upcoming team, an old veteran player is often signed who has won it all and seen it all. This veteran player helps the young team and players get through the slumps, the highs, the lows, and all of the pressures that come during a season. They are a reassuring presence and a source of encouragement. Paul serves as the old veteran player here with what he writes. He has endured the highs, and he certainly has endured the lows. For as Paul tells us that we cannot be separated from God’s love, He speaks from experience! All of these things have happened to him!

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” He writes, “Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For Your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us.” Nothing will separate us from God’s love. All of these things happened to Paul throughout His life, but these things never separated him from God’s love in Jesus. They could not and are not able to. The same was and is true for the Roman Christians who first heard this letter. The same applies to us some 2,000 years later. God is for us! In fact, Paul says that we prevail, triumph, and conquer these things in Jesus. This victory over them is accomplished by Jesus’ death and resurrection, and it is given through Him. These things will never, ever, separate us from God’s love.

But Paul is not done on this point just yet. He is “sure that neither death nor life, nor nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Nothing in this world, whether it be cancer, divorce, depression, death, the minute things of life, loneliness, losing a job, a natural disaster, people, poverty, hunger, or thirst will be able to lessen God’s love on and for us. These things will try, but they will not prevail. They will make things challenging, but they will never sever us from God’s love. God is for us! These things will never separate us from His immense love.

Paul then finishes with one more point that is found at the beginning of our text. He says, “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.” Since God is for us, He is able to work all things for our good in His Son, whom He is making us to be like. We all have witnessed hardships and tragic events from the result of sin and creation’s enslavement that seem contrary to God’s will. We don’t always know why these things have happened to us, but Scripture affirms that God is able to claim these events for His purposes, and to work through them.

Take Joseph for example. Joseph was sold into slavery by his own brothers. As a slave, he worked hard and served his master Potiphar faithfully. He resisted the advances and allure of adultery with Potiphar’s wife only for her to lie and accuse him of doing it. This lie sent him to prison where he helped out two of Pharaoh’s servants. The servant who was released from prison, the cup bearer, forgot about Joseph, and Joseph languished in prison for an extra two years. His life seemed to be a hopeless mess swirled with chaos, destruction, and pain. But Joseph was remembered and was summoned to interpret Pharaoh’s dream. This led Joseph to being appointed Pharaoh’s right hand for the upcoming famine and years of plenty. Sometime after the famine, when his father Jacob died, he told his brothers these words: “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today.” Although Joseph went through many years of pain and hardship, he saw that God worked through it. God is able to work through the same things and events in our lives. God is for us, and will work all things for our good in Jesus. Nothing can alter our salvation in Him. The phrase “God is for us” is a short phrase but it is a loaded one. Who knew such a short phrase meant that we can never be separated from His love, or be condemned because of our sin? Who knew it meant that God works all things for our ultimate good? Who knew it was the perfect summary of the Gospel; Paul did. I love how he concluded chapter 8; it was good for him then and it’s still good for us today, and it bears repeating: For convinced (persuaded, influenced, swayed, converted, won over) that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. To that I can only add one thing:

AMEN!!!------“THE BOTTOMLESS BASKET” Message for the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost from Pastor Norman Staker August 2,2020 Isaiah 55: 1-5 – Romans 9: 1-5 – : 13-21

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!

Every time I hear the story of the feeding of the five thousand, I am reminded of reading about a man packing a shipment of food for the poor people of Appalachia. He was separating beans from powdered milk, and canned vegetables from canned meats. Reaching into a box filled with various cans, he pulled out a little brown paper sack. Apparently one of the pupils had brought something different from the items on the suggested list. Out of the paper bag fell a peanut butter sandwich, an apple, and a cookie. Crayoned in large letters was a little girl’s name, ‘Christy — Room 104.’ She had given up her lunch for some hungry person.”

Christy sounds like a neat little girl. I suspect that young lad who offered the five loaves and two fish was a pretty neat youngster too, willing to give up his meal as he did.

There is much to talk about in this text. Since the story is the only to be recorded in all four , the writers must have thought it tremendously important. We could discuss in general. We could talk about why such crowds would want to traipse around the countryside after Jesus. We could talk about Jesus’ compassion – willing to give up his much-needed quiet time after the murder of his cousin John. We could talk about our role in God’s work – Jesus gave the food to the disciples who then distributed it to the crowd (“Go, thou, and do likewise.”) Or we could simply focus on the generosity and unselfishness of that one little boy. There are any number of sermons here. What I would rather focus on this morning is the menu, and precisely how little there was. Five loaves and two fish. Not enough, not for hungry people.

Listen again to the disciples: “Lord, it is late; send the crowds away to get some supper.” Jesus says, “Naw, they can stay; YOU feed them.”

“What? Lord, we have nothing here but five loaves and two fish. And that is not enough for anything!”

Lord, we have nothing here but five loaves and two fish. Lord, we have nothing here but five loaves and two fish. That is the response of the ages when people feel overwhelmed by the world around them.

The miracle of the loaves and fishes is a tale we have heard over and over since childhood. It is the only miracle recorded in all four gospels. Yet despite its familiarity, its full meaning often escapes our understanding.

Was this miracle merely a crowd pleaser? Did Jesus just throw in a free meal for the multitudes… sort of a biblical version of free-hot-dog-day at the ballpark? Or was it simply a huge parlor trick meant to wow the faithful and confound the skeptics? Doubtless the miracle served both purposes. But in all of Christ’s words and actions, there is a single, much deeper message: God loves us. And Jesus is literally the embodiment of that love.

Where we see scraps, he can create abundance. Where we see emptiness and depression, he can create profound fulfillment and boundless joy. He is the bread of life. And in Christ, that life is abundant. The crowd did not need to come back for seconds. They were filled to satisfaction and there was enough left over for doggy bags… twelve baskets worth. What a perfect analogy for God’s love. Out of scarcity comes the endless buffet, the bottomless basket.

This is a very different kind of miracle, but a very familiar kind of gospel… while it is comforting, it is also challenging. In other miracles, Jesus is presented with a problem. He acts miraculously to resolve it… publicly calling on the Father, laying on hands, commanding spirits… and then the miracle happens. But in this gospel the miracle takes place off-stage. And it comes not directly from Jesus, but through the hands of the disciples, which is a minor miracle in itself. As the gospel begins the disciples are ready to shoo the crowd away: Go home folks. The show’s over. But Jesus transforms them from would-be bouncers into sacramental servants; he says, you give them something to eat. He instructs them to share their meager provisions with the people. It is a teaching moment for the disciples and for us. We are not meant to be passive recipients of God’s grace, but to be active channels of his love. We do not come to Christ merely to be fed, but to feed others. That is a condition of our discipleship. That does not mean occasionally making a painless contribution or going through the motions of community service. Charity is not mindless, mechanical giving. It is sharing the love on which we are nourished. It’s not dispensing empty, loveless calories. It is sacrificially giving of ourselves as Christ has given of himself to us. Like the disciples when they fed the hungry crowd that had over-stayed their leave, Jesus expects us to be loving, to be nurturing, especially to those who are inconvenient… the poor, the aged, the infirmed, the addicted or the unloved.

While the gospel speaks of “crowds,” each one on that hillside was a beloved child of God. Like us, each had primitive survival instincts that ask: “Where’s my share? Why didn’t I get that piece?” Yet everyone was fed and each went away satisfied. God does not love us as crowds, or as a species… a mere category of his creation. He knows and loves each one of us in our own personal failings and foolishness. He has a plan for each one of us and more than enough love to fill your basket and mine to overflowing. In that blessed assurance, let us taste and see the goodness of the Lord. And like the disciples, let us have the faith to dig into our own scarcity and share in abundance from the bottomless basket of God’s love.

Hmm. What is a youngster to do these days? “Lord, we have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” Perhaps not even that. Our diet might be the one the Psalmist complained of: “my tears have been my food day and night.” It might be the response any of us offer when life seems overwhelming and we just KNOW our resources are not enough to deal with it. “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” What are we to do?

Certainly that was the response of the disciples when five thousand men (plus women and children) followed Jesus into the wilderness. “Five thousand-plus.” They had come to listen to Christ’s words, to feel his healing touch, to be near something…someone…special. And now the story says the hour had grown late, it was time for supper, and they were hungry. There was no way to buy food for so large a crowd. It would have taken two hundred denarii to have done so. That was the equivalent of six month’s pay or eight month’s pay (depending upon which commentator you believe) – at any rate, it was a bundle and surely more cash than the disciples ever had on them at one time. Anyway, the Food Lions and the Krogers and the Walmarts were closed, and there were no McDonald’s or Hardee’s in . So Jesus said to the Twelve: “You give them something to eat.” Hmm. Jesus always seems to be asking more of us than we have to give – as spouses and parents and students and workers and on and on. He calls us to love, even when loving is difficult; to forgive, even when we have been wronged; to stand fast and firm on our principles, even when it means standing alone. And those things are not easy to do. After all, we are not Jesus, our powers are not unlimited, as his were. “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.”

Fortunately for the Twelve, and for us, the story does not end with Jesus asking the seemingly impossible of the disciples, then wandering off into the desert leaving them stranded. “You give them something to eat,” he said. And the disciples answered, “How?” We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ Then Jesus said softly: ‘Bring them here to me.’ He looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. All ate and were filled.” And there were twelve baskets of food left over.”

Amen!------“AND THEN JESUS CAME” Message for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost from Pastor Norman Staker August 9,2020 1Kings 19: 9-18 – Romans 10: 5-15 – Matthew 14: 22-33

GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!

The story of Jesus walking on water is a familiar story to most of us. I first heard the story in Sunday School and I remember thinking to myself how neat it would be to be able to walk on water, and I found out you can if the temperature is low enough!! And you couldn’t if it was too high!! I hate to say it but I wasn’t very interested in feeding a lot of people or healing the sick, but walking on water was impressive.

As I have gotten older, I have found myself wondering about this odd, little story. Why did Jesus do what he did? Why did the gospel writers include this story in their accounts of Jesus’ life and ministry? Did Jesus walk on water because he saw that the disciples were in trouble and there was no boat nearby? Was he trying to demonstrate to the disciples that he truly was the Messiah—God’s Son—because only God could walk on water?

The disciples certainly understood that what Jesus did was only something that God could do. At the end of this short story they worship him. There is more to this story, though, than a demonstration of Jesus’ divinity. It is a story that tells us how God moves in our lives and how God wants to move in our lives as Christians. This is both a comforting and a challenging story.

No incident in the life of our Lord is more widely known than this one. Its notoriety does not rest on the miracle of Jesus’ walk on the water. What boggles the mind of us and even more those disciples is that someone like themselves could also be given the power to do so. But somehow, during the fourth watch, sometime between 3 and 6 a.m. on a windy night, Jesus invites Peter to join him on the water. And Peter begins to do so!! Was it really a miracle or were the disciples seeing things? That word, ‘miracle,’ and the experience of the miraculous is not confined to Biblical times and the first century; but it is present throughout our modern lives. We use the word “miracle” all the time.

You open the refrigerator door and you pull out a jar of Miracle Whip, and you spread the mayonnaise across your bread. Or you pull out a small, flat bag and put it into the microwave, and it puffs up and you have instant popcorn, and you say, “What a miracle!” You go out to the garden and you pour Miracle Grow onto your plants and they flourish. Fifty years ago, a man steps on to the surface of the moon for the first time and people called it a miracle.

Many years ago penicillin was discovered and everyone called it a miracle drug. The smallpox vaccine was given to children throughout the whole earth and there is not one case of smallpox anywhere on the globe and everybody would agree that is a miracle. And when a vaccination or a cure is discovered for cancer, and hopefully even sooner for the Corona Virus, the headlines will shout for joy: “Miracle drug found for cancer; for Covid!!”

In our gospel reading, the disciples were alone and afraid in the darkness of the night adrift on a bottomless sea, being tossed about by the wind and rough waves... and then Jesus came. Let that thought sink in for a moment. Everything was wrong... and then Jesus came. Do you hear these four words? These four words divide all time and eternity. With these words God draws a line in the sand of every soul... and then Jesus came. The lepers gathered on the side of the road. They had been cast out by their families, abandoned by their friends. Alone they cried out in their pain... and then Jesus came. The blind man staggered down the road groping in his world of darkness begging for a morsel to sustain his life... and then Jesus came. The demoniac, a man with a demon-possessed mental illness that raged out of control causing great agony in his tortured mind... and then Jesus came. The woman taken in adultery cringed on the ground hiding her face. The people in the crowd picked up stones to put her to death... and then Jesus came. The disciples gathered in the upper room hiding behind locked doors for fear that the Jews would kill them too and then Jesus came.

Do you hear those four words? Do you hear the power of those four words? Do you hear the story of life being told in those four words? He was sick, frightened, alone, a victim of aids... and then Jesus came. She was strung out on drugs; her life was going down the tube... and then Jesus came. The cancer had done its worst; the end was near; fear gripped his heart... and then Jesus came. The operation failed; her husband died. Her life was crumbling before her eyes... and then Jesus came. The burdens were too heavy. The pain was too great. The pills were already in her hand... and then Jesus came.

Do you hear? Do you understand what’s being said? The story of your life is being told. Maybe the details are not the same but the essentials are there. It’s the story of your life, your struggle, your hurt, your fear, your anxiety, your pain. It’s all there.

Imagine the millions and millions of lives across the centuries which tell the story of pain that suddenly went away, of wrong that was suddenly made right, of the blind that could suddenly see, of the deaf who could hear, of the lame who could walk, of the lepers who were cleansed, of the poor who had good news preached to them. Hear the story and know that the bottom line of every single one is spoken in the four words...and then Jesus came.

There are those who dismiss the story. They say it has no meaning and it lacks credibility because Jesus came to the disciples walking on water. Of course he did. Why not? Jesus walked across time and eternity. He walked through the muck and mire of our sins. He walked through the closed doors of our hardened hearts. He walked through the crumbling walls of our broken lives. He walked through the burning pain of Golgotha and beyond the closed and barred doors of death. Surely, he can walk on water. The incredible part of the story is this; so can you. Jesus invites you to walk on the water with him.

Simon Peter said, "Lord, if it is you, let me come to you." Jesus said, "Come, walk to me." Do you have the courage? Do you? You have to do something. Are you going to sit in that boat and ride the waves of fear and doubt and wonder for the rest of your life what would have happened if you only had the courage to step out and walk on the water?

Did you read about the retired man in California? One day he sat in his lawn chair and began to tie helium filled balloons to his lawn chair. He wanted to take a ride. After he tied a few balloons to his chair it started to lift off the ground. So he called his neighbors to hold the chair down. He tied on more, forty, fifty, sixty helium filled balloons. While the neighbors were still holding the chair the man strapped himself in and told them, "Let go."

He expected to float up in the air about l0 feet. He had a sharp pointed stick to pop the balloons so that he would come gently back down. They let go and the chair soared up with the man ~ 30 feet, 40 feet, 50 feet ... right on above the house and trees and out of sight. About that time over at the Los Angeles Airport, the air traffic controller received a report. "This is Captain Jones flight 411. I’d like to report that I’ve just passed a man in a lawn chair at 3,000 feet."

Now the man eventually came down safely. Reporters asked, "Why did you do such a thing?" He gave a great answer. He said, "You have to do something." Friend, you have to do something. You can’t sit there in the boat forever. Why? Because the safe place is not in the boat. The safe place is on the sea. Why? Because that’s where Jesus is and where Jesus is, life is.

The principle for life; remember it. Where Jesus is, life is. The right place for you in life is wherever you are, if Jesus is there.

Paul, the apostle on the road to Damascus, was knocked from his horse and left blind. Poor Paul, wrong place, wrong time. No. Right place, right time. Jesus was there. Lazarus grew sick and died and was buried. Poor Lazarus, wrong place, wrong time. No. Right place, right time. Jesus was there. The thief on the cross had committed every crime and now he was dying for what he had done. Poor thief, wrong place, wrong time. No. Right place, right time. Jesus was there.

Remember that the next time you are in the boat and the wind is howling and the waves are crashing. When you are caught in confusion and anxiety, and you’re afraid of the darkness, and the uncertainty of that next step, remember, Jesus said, "I am with you always...come to me."

The disciples had had a long, hard day. They had worked with Jesus as he healed the sick and taught. They had been a part of feeding over 5,000 people. They were tired, and probably longed to relax around a campfire and get a good night’s sleep. They head off to the East side of the lake in order to make their camp.

Their trip across the lake should have only taken a few hours. Instead they battled the wind and the waves all night long—so much for a good night’s sleep. Not only were they tired, but their whole world seemed to be collapsing around them and their lives appeared to be in danger. Have you ever had one of those days?

There are those times when we are either hanging on to the rails of the boat, being tossed by the wind and waves of life. Or, we’re rowing hard against the wind expending a lot of energy, but feeling like we are getting nowhere. We wonder what we have done to deserve what we are experiencing, and we wonder where Jesus is.

Jesus comes to us in those situations, like he did to the disciples. He saw their need. Jesus acted to meet their need. He stilled the storm and brought them safely to the shore. The lesson is there for both the disciples and for us--Jesus doesn’t forsake us, but rescues us and sees us safely to the shore.

Don’t worry that faith may fail. It did for Peter. He walked for a moment on the water and then he looked down and he began to sink but Jesus was there. He reached out to Peter and took his hand and together side by side they walked across the water to the boat.

No matter where you are, no matter how wide the sea, Jesus will come to you. Whether you are adrift in a storm, or locked in the closed room of your worst fear, Jesus will come to you. Even if you’re walking in the valley of the shadow of some great loss, Jesus will come to you.

Today Jesus walks on the sea of your greatest pain, your deepest need; His hand out stretched. He calls you. Do you hear? Do you see? Do you understand?

Will you do it? Will you? Will you step out of the boat? Will you test the ocean of His love? Will you take His hand? And then Jesus came.

Amen.------“WALK THE TALK” Message for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost from Pastor Norman Staker August 16,2020 Isaiah 56: 1, 6-8 – Romans 11: 1-2a, 29-32 – : 10-28

GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!

I really hate that we didn’t have services the past two Sundays. Our gospel readings were two of my most favorite stories in the Bible, Jesus’ walking on water, how the disciples thought they were seeing a in the wee hours of the morning, it made sense, how Peter said, ‘Lord, bid me come to you’ and he got out of the boat and started walking, on the water, to Jesus. Some say Peter should not have asked to walk on water. I think what he did was admirable. One man said, ‘Expect great things of God and attempt great things for God.’ Peter did just that. Most of us are satisfied with little things from God. There are people who say Peter failed to walk on the water but my Bible reads differently. My Bible says that Peter walked on the water to go to Jesus. This is not failure. Peter asked a great thing of God. Peter took his eyes off Jesus while he was walking on the water and he began to sink. When he began to sink, he prayed the shortest prayer in the Bible, ‘Lord save me!’ and Jesus reached down and pulled him out of the churning sea. If Peter had prayed the prayer like some of us pastors pray, ‘Lord, you who are omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, blah, blah, blah,’ he would have been 29 feet under water before he got to those three words, ‘Lord save me.’ Peter got right down to business and you and I need to pray like that more!

Two weeks ago, the story we read was where Jesus took 5000 loaves and 2000 fish and fed 5 people and had several baskets left over. It’s a story written about in all 4 gospels so it must be important. 5000 loaves and 2000 fish! Let me explain why I said what I did…

Today in a story that fits with our present day Covid-19 crisis and the ways to prevent it: social distancing, wearing a face mask, taking a temp regularly, sanitizing surfaces, washing your hands to kill germs. Let me say this; in a couple of the bathrooms at the Whitney Hendrickson building where Joyce goes, they have signs posted about washing your hands with the words to the UK fight song posted on the mirror to sing while washing those hands!

In the first 2 verses of chapter 15 we read: Then the scribes and who were from came to Jesus, saying, “Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”

Now if you’ve read through the Gospels, then you know that the Pharisees were an ultra-religious group of Jews, who were the enemies of Jesus. Jesus was patient with everyone except for the Pharisees. When sinners would approach Him, He would often show them kindness, forgive them, and even eat with them. But the Pharisees were a different story. He called them a brood of vipers like John did too, evil, hypocrites, and sons of their father the devil, white washed tombs, and here in our text, He calls them blind leaders of blind people. And there are several occasions where Jesus implies that the Pharisees aren’t going to make it to heaven. He says they have no part in the Kingdom.

So what I want to do this morning is look at the Pharisees and examine how they got it so wrong. Now you might be sitting here and thinking to yourself, “Why? Why should we care about the Pharisees?” Well for one reason they are important to the context of the , and for another reason… they help us understand ourselves. We all have a little bit of Pharisee in us. We all can have some of the same problems that they did. The purpose of the Bible in telling us about them is to help us identify it in ourselves and then-stop it!

The scribes and Pharisees quibbled with Jesus over the issue of His disciples eating with unwashed hands. The Pharisees were great men in the Jewish church, but they were enemies of the Gospel of Christ. They were very enthusiastic about the Law of , and they used that to hide their oppression of the Jewish people. They were, for the most part, well-educated business men. These particular scribes and Pharisees were upset when Jesus answered their question, and defended His disciples in the process. His answer was an accusation against them for doing what they accused the disciples of doing. He told them that they had disobeyed the traditions of the elders, and the commandments of God.

These great men charge the disciples with breaking the rules of the elders. They point out that they don’t wash their hands before they eat bread. This was only a misdemeanor, but it was the worst thing that they could charge them with. It shows how innocently the disciples conducted themselves. The tradition of the elders was that people should wash their hands often, and always before they eat. They believed that any food that was touched with unwashed hands caused them to be dishonored. The Pharisees made this washing a part of their religion, and they practiced it; they forced it on others, making it a sin to not do so. The offense of the disciples was that they didn’t wash their hands before eating bread. They knew the Pharisees were watching them, but they chose not to wash, because they had already learned the lesson that Paul taught later, “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. The Pharisees believed that Christ led them to break the law by His own example, so they asked why He allowed them to do it.

After the encounter with the Pharisees, we move to the unbracketed part of our Gospel lesson this morning that gives us a glimpse into the life of some unknown Gentile woman from Canaan. Just like the unnamed boy in our Gospel two weeks ago, we don’t know this woman’s name; it is not mentioned in either Matthew or Mark, where this episode in the life of Jesus is recorded. And yet, her story is not unlike yours and mine, as we seek to know the grace of God thru Jesus Christ. So let us step into this story, with boldness of imagination.

Matthew tells us that after Jesus had finished teaching a large crowd, and then, having to explain his teachings to his disciples, Jesus left that place and went to the district of Tyre and Sidon. If we were to read the pages of Matthew’s Gospel, we would see an increasing effort on Jesus’ part to get some rest and time for meditation and renewal. Since this was a gentile, or non-Jewish region, we can assume that Jesus was hoping that at last he could gain some time alone.

But as Jesus and his disciples were walking through a village marketplace, the streets seemed to come alive with talk about him, and his reputation as a man of God, who could not only teach with authority, but also that he forgave sins, and healed the sick. Word of Jesus had spread beyond the Jewish settlements of , even to this small Gentile village.

Folks, people are genuinely hungry to hear the Word of God. We, like children, not only need to know the expectations of human behavior that identify us as members of God’s family, but we need to know that we are loved, and can be forgiven when we err. Jesus embodied this message and word spread.

We might assume, then, that this Canaanite mother had heard stories about Jesus, especially about his ability to heal the sick and cast out demons. Her daughter suffered from what she believed to be a demon. Oh, some days her daughter would be well, playing with her dolls, making believe that she was a good mother. But every so often, she would get a glazed look in her eyes, fall to the floor, and thrash her arms and legs in a violent rage. It was as if something took hold of her body and simply tormented her.

Most of us today with the advancements in medical science and technology that we have experienced over the past century, don’t give much credence to demons. Today, we would say that this woman’s daughter suffered from epilepsy.

This woman from Canaan had watched her daughter, who was so bubbly and full of life, suffer far too often, from the torment that this demon inflicted upon her. And hearing that this stranger in town was Jesus, this Jewish rabbi, whom she had heard so many reports about his ability to cast out demons, couldn’t restrain herself. Out of love for her daughter, she, though a gentile, though a woman, dared to speak up and plead for Jesus to heal her daughter. Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.

As a Gentile, she had no claim on him as the Son of David. Now she calls him Lord and asks for help. And she gets it. It takes courage to embrace the Word of God. The Jewish people of that day usually ignored the gentiles, and especially the women, who had little status, even among their own religious family. But this woman, this mother of a daughter who was possessed by a demon, would not be silenced. She had the courage to seek the healing power of God’s living Word.

Perhaps she didn’t understand the total significance of who Jesus was, and from whom she was seeking help. It could be that she didn’t even care. All she knew was her need of the saving and redeeming grace of God, whom Jesus was reported to represent. And so, trusting in his ability to heal her daughter, she persisted in shouting out to Jesus, as he and his disciples walked through the street. “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; for my daughter is tormented by a demon.”

But Jesus ignored her plea. After all, even though he was God’s Son, Jesus was truly human. He needed rest so maybe it was because he didn’t want to ruin his opportunity to finally get some rest. Or maybe it was because, as a human being, raised in the Jewish culture, he was conditioned to ignore the gentiles, especially the women. I’ll admit that I offer these comments as a means of trying to understand and put into perspective, the rather harsh rejection that Jesus and his disciples first took toward this pleading mother. Yet, there is a strange sequence of sentences that is puzzling, in this story. Jesus’ disciples, after putting up with this woman’s screams for mercy to their limit, say to Jesus, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” But according to Matthew, Jesus doesn’t turn and say to this persistent woman, “Enough is enough! Go away!” This would have been what we would have expected Jesus to do, given all of the circumstances that led up to this event. But, Jesus says, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

As I think about this statement, I am convinced that Jesus, in spite of his humanity, came to realize, that although his mission was to redeem Israel, the gift of God’s redeeming grace that came to this earth through his incarnation, reaches across political and religious borders.

So as this woman knelt before Jesus in desperation, pleading for the healing of her daughter, she pleads just for a crumb, a morsel from God’s table of grace that Jesus has been proclaiming. And as a result of this woman’s plea, and Jesus’ healing of her daughter, the Good News of the Gospel has come to be realized by all who come to faith in Jesus as the Christ.

Throughout our lives, even when we go on vacation, we might meet people who want to hear the Word of God. And even though we might be less than willing to share our faith with others, not only when we are on vacation but at any given moment, that is what we are called to do as Jesus’ disciples.

In our story, Jesus’ disciples would have had him dismiss this woman, and have her sent away to stop the nagging interference into their rest. But Jesus could not deny this Canaanite woman, who came to him, trusting that he could heal her daughter with the redeeming grace of God. And so Jesus again gave witness to the grace of God, through healing this woman’s daughter, whom the religious community of his day, considered to be less than human.

The lesson of this story is that we should always be willing to share the story of God’s living word in Jesus who gives us, not only the standards by which we are to live our lives as members of God’s heavenly kingdom, but also, through the power of God’s Spirit, the healing power of his love and forgiveness.

So many people today portray Jesus as weak, the out-of-date artifact hanging on a church wall or in a stained-glass window hoping for a brighter day. But Jesus was the non-conformist of all time. He took the conventions of religion, tradition, law and love and turned them upside down. He faced the political and religious leaders of His day and spoke truths they had never heard before. He walked in our world as the human voice of God

Yes, Jesus broke the law…for God’s sake. He stood in that gap and blocked the way of a twisted and misunderstood religion and relationship with God. Jesus was speaking the truth that day…and he speaks the truth to us this day. And it is a truth that we must pass on…even if it possibly means …going against tradition. Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish. And her daughter was healed instantly. Like our Savior, don’t just talk the talk; walk the talk!!

Amen.------On this 12th Sunday after Pentecost, let us thank Jim, Virginia, Georgia and Debbie for making our Pentecost banner become a reality. ––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

“Come Holy Spirit, Come” Message for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost from Sylvia Gardner August 23,2020 Isaiah 51:1-6 – Romans 12:1-8 – :13-20

An old black preacher said: “Whenever trouble comes knockin’, I send Jesus to the door”. Well, trouble in the guise of a virus has come knocking on our doors.

Coronavirus has brought much of the world to a standstill.

It arrived from a city in China that most of us had never heard of. A worldwide pandemic soon followed. Not the first pandemic but the first that was covered by the news media 24/7; scorecards are kept of the number of people sick and lives lost with daily updates as if only the numbers mattered.

We had been assured that we lived in a secure and prosperous country, the greatest ever. And then the virus spread! Our fragile material world collapsed. The society we have known all our lives stopped. Stores closed, factories stopped working, schools and churches closed, travel was restricted. Each of us has a tale of how we or our family have been affected. Jim and I have a grand daughter who contracted Covid-19 in early March, in an airport or on a plane. She still suffers with residuals of the disease.

Without a cure or a vaccine, we have had to resort to masks, social distancing, hand washing, disinfectants and quarantine. A strange new norm has appeared. We know that our lives will never be the same.

We had forgotten where we must lay up our treasure. These days of silence and solitude can help us downshift and refocus on the things that matter most and in our silence and in our solitude we can find the astounding presence of Christ and the still small voice of God. For many faith is the foundation on which they deal with crisis. However, for some, the pandemic has provoked a crisis in faith. It is not a question of if you have a faith. It is not a question of if the storms of life will come. The question is, will your anchor of faith hold through the storms?

It is easy to live out your faith when everything is going well, but how does your faith hold up when the Dr. gives you a bad report, or the kids are having trouble with school and how does your faith hold up when you lose your job in the middle of a pandemic. The true test of faith is during difficult times.

The anchor of our community of faith, Bethel Lutheran Church, is being sorely tested during these difficult times. The practice of our faith that we were so accustomed to and took for granted had to change; no singing of hymns, a new method of communion and empty pews for starters.

What a difference faith can make in our lives. What a difference faith can make when we are in hard times and difficult situations.

Thank God our’s is a faith which has stood the test of time, and our’s is the faith which holds in the storms of life. We anchor our hope and our faith to Christ. Faith will lead us on.

Henri Nouwen wrote in a book, "Finding our way Home in an Age of anxiety, that the spiritual life is a life in which we are more and more able to be led, to be guided to hard places, to places we would rather not go. For Jesus it was the cross. For Peter it was the cross. For Paul and all the disciples, it meant a lot of suffering. But the spiritual life is being in love.

It is being so fully and totally in love that we go to places we would rather not go.

Living in this time of Covid-19, we are all being led to places we would rather not go. We are being asked to do things that we would rather not do, things that cut across the grain of our desire to be up close and personal with each other.

Things we have taken for granted about work, school and church, have all been uprooted. We are called to live with the caution of closed Churches, schools without walls, and more and more digital and virtual reality.

But, we are going to this place that we would rather not go because we are in love. We are in love with each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Out of that self sacrificial Christ like love, we are willing to go to hard places. We do so in the hope that no one of us gives or receives this virus.

We cannot say with certainty when we can lay down this cross that Covid 19 has given us, but as people, living in a Good Friday world, we carry this cross with love. At the , Jesus said to his disciples, I give you a . That you love one another just as I have loved you.

When we hear the word love, it may sound simplistic or sentimental, but in 1st John it says let us love one another because love is of God. God is love. The kind of love that seeks the welfare of others. The kind of love that is contagious with help, with healing and with Prayer. The kind of love that Jesus taught. Maybe, just maybe, love will lead the way.

With the uncertainty surrounding the outbreak of Covid-19, one of my favorite childhood hymns is worth contemplating …..

My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus' blood and righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.

When darkness veils His lovely face, I rest on His unchanging grace; In every high and stormy gale My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.

Amen “BEING A 24/7 CHRISTIAN” Message for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost from Pastor Norman Staker August 30,2020 15:15-21 – Romans 12:9-21 – Matthew 16:21-28

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!

A young woman was quoted as saying: “When I walked out of my parent’s church, I never thought I’d walk back in. For me church was all about rules, uncomfortable clothes, and trying to stay awake. It was watching my parents act like saints on Sunday and sinners the other six days. If that was church, you can have it. I had moved on in my life – I didn’t need church.”

What does it mean to be a Christian? Does it mean coming to church every Sunday? Is it just a “going through the motions”, saying the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed, singing some inspiring hymns, hearing some texts from the Bible, and then trying to stay awake during the sermon? Is that what being a Christian means to you? Is it just a one day a week commitment?

The prophet Jeremiah tells us that God’s mercies, his compassion for undeserving sinners, is new every morning. Every day, 24/7, God grants us clothing and food, house and home. Every day, 24/7, God covers us with the warm blanket of forgiveness and salvation.

Last Sunday in our Gospel lesson Peter boldly confessed that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But Peter didn’t fully understand what that meant. Jesus went on to explain that it was necessary for Him to suffer, die, and rise again. Peter, like so many people before and after him, could not conceive of the suffering like that. The Son, he thought, should be crushing His enemies, not being crushed by them. But Jesus was only fulfilling the plan that God had in mind from the foundation of the world. In the very first promise of the Messiah, God told Satan, “You will crush His heel, but He will crush your head.” Jesus would suffer and die at the hands of God’s enemies. But in the end He would rise from the dead, and His victory would mean forgiveness and salvation for those who trust in God. In our gospel today, Peter presumes to instruct the Lord about his future. Like his comrades, Peter has entertained wrong ideas about God’s promised Messiah. Instead of the victorious warrior they’ve hoped for, Jesus speaks of His suffering and imminent death. He also predicts His return from the dead, but the stunned disciples failed to hear him. When he prophesies death, they turn a deaf ear to him and hear no more.

‘Never, Lord!’ Peter will not accept such an insult to God’s anointed Son. ‘Get behind me, Satan!’ Strong words for a strong man who means well. Peter is not being disrespectful. His is the voice of common sense. A good soldier, he is determined to protect his commanding officer from harm. Jesus needs to convince him that his selfless efforts to keep Jesus alive, while well intentioned, are contrary to God’s purposes. Peter resisted Jesus’ death talk for the obvious reason that he can conceive of nothing to be gained by the death of his master.

Our second reading from Romans that ( ) read is an awe-inspiring list of some 30, let’s call them encouragements but not commandments. “Let love be genuine. Hate what is evil. Hold fast to what is good. Love one another…rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Starting today, take a different one each day like taking one a day vitamins and make it your practice for that day and a month from now, you’ll be done and hopefully your life will be 100% better.

Thru out the gospels, we read of how many thousands of people followed Jesus. They came to hear him speak, to see him perform miracles and drive out demons, and perhaps to get some benefits out of the meeting. And they got what they were looking for. Jesus performs a miracle, when he turns five loaves of barley bread and two little fish into enough food to fill the stomachs of more than 5,000 people. But Jesus is tired; he needs a rest. He escapes the crowds when evening comes and disappears to .

The following day, the crowds trace his steps and appear on the scene, ready for more. This time, he offers them no miracles, no food—only some very tough and challenging teaching. And what happens then is so typical. The people simply disappear. They go home, because they don’t like what Jesus is offering them this time. They say: “This is hard teaching!” And Jesus asks: “Does this offend you?” Obviously, it does, because not only the crowds leave him. John says that “from that time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” Not just the crowds, but even his disciples! And not just a few, but many. Of the more than five thousand who followed Jesus in the plains of Galilee, only eleven were left in the Garden of Gethsemane, and less than a handful followed him to the cross on Golgotha’s hill.

One preacher described what he felt were the three kinds of followers that Jesus didn’t want around. Let me explain:

First, there were the “Familiars.” In and Capernaum, people knew Jesus all too well. They were his relatives and townsmen and women. Some of them had known him while he was still wearing diapers, others knew him as a neighbor or a carpenter. They liked him, but they felt he should not think too much of himself. They wanted him to behave like the normal Jesus they had known for so long.

Familiarity is a challenge for us particularly if we grew up in a Christian family and a Christian church. For us, being a follower of Jesus is not so much a matter of going somewhere. It is more a matter of being and staying where we have always been. There is a sense of security in the intimacy of the Christian home. There is a sense of comfort in the unchanging life and tradition of the church. We want to sing those same old hymns that we sang back then. We want the same liturgy, the same prayers and even the same sermons. The worst that can befall Familiars is the unsettling threat of uncertainty, change and transformation. But that is exactly what Jesus offers his followers.

Secondly, there were the “Fakes.” Jesus called them hypocrites—pretenders. They were people who went a long way to impress others with their outward signs of faith and devotion. But deep inside they could care less. For them rules and appearances were more important than their relationship with God and with others. They constantly pretended to be something they were not. And what is worse, many of them were blind to their own deception. They actually thought they were righteous and sincere believers.

Jesus doesn’t want models like the ones you find on the pages of fashion magazines—thoroughly photoshopped to look perfect. He doesn’t want Hollywood stars, surrendering themselves to whatever roles they are asked to play. He wants people who look the same outside and inside; the same at home and in public; the same at work and in church. It is not enough to show up in church every Sunday, constantly volunteer for different duties, and pray impressive prayers for others to admire. It is what is inside our hearts and minds that matters. Not our appearance but our commitment. Third, there were the “Fans.” In the plains of Galilee there were many thousands of them. They looked for entertainment, for excitement, for the privilege of being on the side of the winner.

Jesus had everything it takes to be a winner. So there were always crowds around him, trying to benefit from his power to heal, his power over evil spirits, and his intellectual and spiritual superiority over the religious elite. Everybody wanted to be a part of the Jesus Fan Club.

But… who wants to cheer when the team starts losing? Losers do not have fan clubs. And when Jesus’ career started showing signs of decline, and when Jesus predicted a very unhappy ending in Jerusalem, his fans were in a hurry to get out.

Jesus doesn’t want to offer us glory and entertainment—at least not here and now. I am sure we will have enough of that in heaven. But here and now he calls on us to follow when the going gets tough. He calls us to associate not with the bold and beautiful, with the popular and successful. He calls us to join the band of losers. He says: “Give up everything for my sake, and you will get a great reward in heaven.”

“Whoever wants to be my must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.”

First, Jesus demands self-denial. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines self- denial as “the act of not taking or having something that you would like because you think it is good for you not to have it.” When Jesus speaks about self-denial, he means a lot more.

It means, first of all, that we don’t consider ourselves anything. We have no value, no worth, apart from Christ and apart from our calling as his followers. Paul said that he will not boast about himself; only about Christ, about his death and resurrection. Jesus Christ needed to suffer and die the most shameful, ugly and painful death imaginable, not because he deserved it, but because we deserve it.

Secondly, Jesus tells us to take up our cross. For the disciples, the cross meant nothing more or less than an instrument that the Romans used to execute criminals and political rebels. And even if they had never seen an actual crucifixion, they must have known that it was an extremely shameful, cruel and painful process, unparalleled by anything they had ever heard of. We know that Jesus was beaten and tortured, before the heavy beam of the cross was lifted on his shoulder and he was forced to carry it up the hill to the place of execution. Jesus did not have enough strength left to carry the cross till the end. He collapsed halfway, and an African Jew from Libya, , was forced to take it over from him.

One of Jesus’ closest friends and followers was Simon Peter. When Jesus challenged him, he boldly proclaimed that he would do anything for Jesus. He would stand by him at all times and under all conditions, fight at his side to defend him, even if it meant laying down his life. But what do we see next? When Jesus is arrested, Peter runs off into the safe darkness. When Jesus is standing trial before the High Priest, Peter denies three times in a row that he even knows Jesus.

But Jesus did not deny Peter. After his resurrection, he challenged Peter once more. He made Peter face his own failures and weaknesses. But he did not reject him. He still kept Peter on board, and even made him captain on his ship. The ultimate test was not whether Peter had been faithful. The ultimate test was: “Peter, do you love me?”

If we would all be honest with ourselves, we would have to admit that this makes no sense at all. We can understand Peter’s confusion. Jesus says something very shocking about the cross. He says that those who follow Him must take up their cross as well. Remember, in Jesus’ day the cross represented the worst punishment for evil that anyone could think of. Today He might have said, “Take up your electric chair or lethal injection.” This was serious. As He defeated sin and Satan through death, so must we. What are our crosses to bear?

The first cross, and the most difficult of all, is the cross of repentance. Only the Holy Spirit can bring about that change in our hearts that causes us to quit making excuses and to quit blaming others or even God for our failure to live according to God’s commands.

The second cross is that which the world puts upon us for being Christians. In chapter ten of Matthew Jesus said, “You will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.”

The third cross is that which Satan and all the powers of darkness put upon us. Cancer is not necessarily a cross. Sickness is unfortunately part of the curse that God has put on this world for turning away from Him in sin. Here, Jesus is specifically speaking to those who suffer because they follow Him. In the days and weeks to come, let us each ask ourselves this question: “Am I willing to deny myself and take up the cross—both in the rather undemanding situations in life, when our reputation, our position or our relationships are at stake, and if someday the ultimate self-sacrifice will be demanded from me?” Will I follow Jesus whatever the cost?

Amen. ------“WHY CAN’T WE JUST GET ALONG?” Message for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost from Pastor Norman Staker September 6,2020 EZEKIEL 33: 7-11 – ROMANS 13: 8-14 – : 15-20

GRACE MERCY AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!

Have you ever heard someone, perhaps another pastor or one of your Sunday School teachers or maybe me, after today you can say yes to that question; but have you ever heard anyone talk about the Mysteries of the Church? Usually when we think of the Mysteries of the Church, we think about things like: the Immaculate Conception – How could Jesus really be born of the Virgin Mary through the power of the Holy Spirit; the Sacrament of the Altar – How does that bread and wine truly become the body and blood of Jesus Christ; the Sacrament of Holy Baptism – How, with only water and the Word, can faith be given, even to a tiny infant; the Resurrection – How could Jesus die, be buried, and yet be alive three days later, be risen from the dead?

There are many other unknowns throughout the Bible that might be called mysteries: how did Noah get all those animals on the Ark; how did the water of the Nile become blood; how did the Red Sea part allowing the Israelites to cross on dry land; how did the millions of people and animals survive for 40 years wandering in the desert on their way to the Promised Land; how did Shadrach, Meschach and Abednego survive in that fiery furnace; how did Balaam’s donkey talk; how did the shadow of the sun go backwards ten steps? (That’s from the story of Hezekiah in the Book of 2 Kings if you want to look it up.) That list could go on and on.

These mysteries, these unknowns, these profoundly non-intellectually understood stories, which reveal the power, the might, the awesomeness of our Creator God.

Then there are the accounts of the : healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, making the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, feeding over 5000 people with just five loaves of bread and two small fish; driving out demons; walking on water, raising people from the dead. These mysteries of the Church, these mysteries of the Bible, these mysteries of the life of Christ are innumerable.

Today, I want to talk about a different mystery. It’s probably the mystery that confuses me more than any other, perhaps because it’s a mystery that affects me more personally than any of the others. It’s the mystery of forgiveness.

15 "If a brother or sister sins, go and point out the fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. 16 But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ’every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ 17 If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

Those were pretty stern words of guidance by Jesus this morning, about the seriousness of sin in the church. Paul in his epistle to the Romans says: Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Well I have good news for this morning, Jesus knew we would do this and that is why he gave us today’s readings; not to make us feel worse, but to show us the way on how to overcome some of the problems of sin within the church.

In our gospel readings the past several Sundays, we have been seeing examples of great faith and discussing how such faith applies to our lives today. In the story of Jesus beckoning Peter to walk on water, we learned that great faith involves getting out of the boat. John Ortberg wrote a book, ‘If You Want to Walk on Water, You’ve Got to Get Out of the Boat.’ It’s a good book and I encourage you to read it. Then the story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman with the demon possessed daughter demonstrated the necessity of persistence in a life of faith. Just last week we read what Jesus taught his followers concerning discipleship. Jesus calls his disciples to live in faith by denying themselves, taking up their crosses, and following him—even if we do this in a far from perfect manner.

It should be of no surprise to us that the God whom we worship is a God of relationships. Humankind was created in God’s image. Our likeness to God allows us to be in relationship with God. Even when we broke our relationship with God through sin, God moved to restore that relationship. John 3:16, the gospel in a nutshell, tells us that God so loved the world that he gave his only son…

Our journey is imperfect, as we walk with God. We are still sinful beings; at our core we seek to be lord of our lives and rebel against God. Our sinfulness is exhibited by our sins against God in thought, word and deed, by what we have done and left undone, as we just confessed. The Holy Spirit moves in our lives to convict us of our sin and to move us to change our behavior. The Spirit may speak to us through our conscience, through Scripture, or through the voice of a friend.

We frequently confess our sinfulness and our sins either in the privacy of our prayer closet, or in our community worship. We seek God’s forgiveness that is always freely given, and we avail ourselves of the Spirit’s power to turn from our sin and walk the path that Jesus walked.

God’s movement in our lives is never vengeful, never meant to cause us harm. God’s purpose is to move in our lives and restore our relationship with him. God created us for a relationship with him.

In the OT text for this morning, the prophet Ezekiel is picking up on a theme that was established early on in his days as a prophet. That is, that he has been appointed by God to be a watchman, ‘so you, mortal, I have made a sentinel for the house of Israel.’

He has been given a gift by the Lord to talk to the people of Israel. The people that he is addressing are his fellow captives in Babylonia. You have to understand that Ezekiel is a lot like the prophet Jeremiah. What he had to say to the people was not what they necessarily wanted to hear. But that’s where his title of watchman or sentinel comes into play.

In Jesus’ day and before, prior to things such as “early warning radar” and satellites, the way that cities would protect themselves was by erecting a wall around the outside of the city. That was great, but they still needed to have someone to keep an eye out just in case the enemy decided to attack. That job of course was given to the watchman. It was the most important job in town. This watchman had in his control the life and death of the people of the city. If he did his job, the people would be prepared to fight, to put up resistance.

But, if he were to decide to take a little nap, if he decided to sneak away and take a day off, or if he decided that the threats were probably more perceived than real so that he would ignore the movements in the bushes….well, then the city could be overrun and the people could all be killed.

Now, Ezekiel the prophet wasn’t posted up on a wall looking down on the Israelites warning of the enemies that were coming from the outside, although there were real, live, threats from invading forces. Ezekiel had an even tougher assignment. He was to warn the people of Israel of the enemies attacking from within. He was God’s own messenger to the people and he was commanded to tell the people that what they were doing was not pleasing in the eyes of the Lord!

In today’s first reading, we hear of an added bonus for Ezekiel. He is told, in no uncertain terms, that if he fails to warn the people adequately, he will be held responsible, ‘their blood I will require at your hand.’ Ezekiel gets to inform the people that if he tells them of their sin and they do not repent, they are going to die, but he will be saved.

Why do we have to bother with this? What does all this have to do with me? I mean, if the guy is out there sinning against me by thought, word, or deed….he probably deserves whatever punishment he’s going to get anyway, right?! What’s more, if he’s out there sinning against me, maybe I ought to be doing some confronting! Maybe the guy needs to hear a few words from me. And I’m just the guy who can do it!!!!! See, in our sinful world, this often becomes our attitude.

We love to, once again, be selective listeners or selective readers or hearers of the Words of Holy Scripture. This is the way most of us would like to read the opening lines of this text: Jesus said, “If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault. Period.”

People enjoy feeling superior and enjoy pointing out the faults and the sins of others. People love to use the Bible to try and make a point and to try to beat someone into submission. How hypocritical is it for me to use Jesus’ words if I don’t read all of what he says? Because if you continue on in the Gospel text it says: “go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over.” See, the whole point of this confrontation is not to belittle. It’s not to judge. It’s not to castigate. It’s not to turn away. It’s to turn the person back to God. It’s to bring the person back into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Do you think it’s easy to confront someone these days with their sins? One of the most vocal complaints about the Lutheran Church is the, “I’m a poor miserable

sinner” dialogue that we have in our liturgy. People don’t like to admit that, let alone be confronted with it on a one-on-one basis. But people need to hear about sin; even more, people need to hear about their sin. This is not to say that you follow along behind them and continually point out every mistake they make and say, “just wanted to let you know you’re a sinner.”

When Jesus died on the cross he carried on his shoulders the sins of all humanity. Yours, mine, theirs. ALL of the sins, of all the world were ransomed in that one sacrifice. They were paid for, in full.

Do people need to know, do people need to hear that they are sinners? Yes; you’re al sinners; that felt good! But people also need to hear the loving words of forgiveness. They need to know that no matter how bad society thinks they are, no matter how bad they think they are, God loves them. And He’s already proven it by sending His Son to die for them.

At the beginning of the message I talked about the mysteries of God. The biggest mystery in my life is understanding how this God who reigns in the heavens above, this God who created life, this God who formed the mountains and the rivers and the oceans and the stars and the planets, this God who has His hand in everything that happens in this entire universe, on this planet, in this country, and in this state, also has me. He holds me in the palms of His great and wonderful hands and promises me that I am forgiven. He promises me that I am His child. And not just me but all of you as well.

I don’t understand it. I can’t rationally figure it out. All I can do is relish it. All I can do is fall on my knees and be grateful for it. All I can do is love and give thanks and praise to Him who loved me first.

Martin Luther put it like this in his explanation to the Fifth petition of the Lord’s Prayer, where we are taught to say, “forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” He explains it this way: We ask that our heavenly father would not regard our sins nor deny those petitions on their account, for we are worthy of nothing for which we ask, nor have we earned it. We ask that God would give us all things by grace, for we sin daily and indeed deserve only punishment. On the other hand, we too truly want to forgive heartily and to do good gladly to those who sin against us. When we forgive others as Christ has forgiven us, we show the love of God and strengthen our faith. Live in His forgiveness.

Amen.------“ME? FORGIVE YOU? HA!!” Message for the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost From Pastor Norman Staker September 13,2020 GENESIS 50: 15-21 – ROMANS 14: 1-12 – MATTHEW 18: 21-35

GRACE, MERCY, AND PEACE FROM GOD OUR FATHER AND FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. AMEN. HE IS RISEN!!

Exactly how much is your forgiveness worth to you? Last Sunday I related to you how I felt about the mystery of forgiveness, how the God who created our universe, all the stars and planets, the animals and plants that grow and produce on them, the seas and the creatures in them and the skies and the birds that fly…and you and me, how that same God could forgive imperfect creatures like you and me! And since we are all sinners, for all have sinned, how many times he has to forgive us, you mean you want me to forgive you again? What would you pay for permanent forgiveness? $100, $1000, a million dollars; what about 10 million dollars; would you even consider in excess of a billion dollars? How many of us could even afford a bill like that; for forgiveness of sin, 1 billion dollars!! Would you pay a billion dollars if you could to have your sins forgiven? Every Sunday I pronounce the entire forgiveness of all your sins and I try to emphasize that word ‘all,’ All means all and yet I haven’t seen a check from Jim or anyone else for $1million let alone 1 billion dollars! That was supposed to be funny! Today we find out how often we should forgive and the cost; is it really worth the cost? Did Jesus literally mean what he said when he taught us that famous prayer and the 5th petition that says, ‘Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us?’ And we’ll find out just how dangerous it is to all of us to pray that to the One who knows our hearts better than we know our hearts, and isn’t that a scary thought!!

The Lord’s Prayer as Jesus taught us is prayed to God alone; in reverence and awe. We know that God’s will is the highest priority in our lives just like it is in heaven; we know that God provides for our daily sustenance and our daily spiritual sustenance thru his word and thru prayer; but then we get to that part, the part where we pray for forgiveness, ‘forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us’ but it doesn’t stop there. It continues in , 14-15, ‘For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

OUCH!!!!! That’s harsh!!! Does He REALLY mean that? I could never forgive them. Can you imagine praying like this: “My Heavenly Father … please forgive my sins in the same way and to the same amount that I forgive others who sin against me and I fully understand and realize that if I refuse to forgive others you will not forgive me.” Would we ever be brazen and bold enough to pray that prayer?

What is our natural instinct? “God, You know what they did to me. Please make them regret it!” Now, we probably wouldn’t actually say that but we sure might think it, right? But, really! How serious is the Lord about this forgiveness thing? Is He REALLY going to base my forgiveness on how I forgive others?

Our Gospel today opens with Peter asking Jesus, ‘Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ Peter was being overly generous; Jewish law only required 3 times, just 3 times; Peter doubles that and adds to it! Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but I tell you, seventy-seven times.’ Whether Jesus’ answer is 77 times or seventy times seven as some versions of scripture say, His meaning is clear. You are not to limit your willingness to forgive to any preset number of times. Peter thought he was capturing the spirit of Jesus when he extravagantly offered seven as the limit. Jesus multiplies the seven many times over, to teach the disciples what a really forgiving heart is prepared to do. Forgiveness is an essential ingredient in peacemaking. Forgiveness is not always easy but unforgivingness is harder!

Peter had been taught to do so three times. Afterward, the person could be treated as a tax-collector or pagan as we learned last week. This came from Jewish interpretation. The number 7 is very significant in Hebrew thought. It is the number of perfection. It is also the number for Sabbath or rest. Both of these could apply here. The idea of forgiveness is to restore a relationship to what it was before the offense. As it pertains to our offense against God, this would mean being restored to the relationship Adam and Eve enjoyed with God before the fall. The idea of Sabbath also indicates rest from conflict.

Or the “seven” here could be taken literally, as Peter’s asking the question seems to imply. Jesus replies not seven times, but seventy seven times. Jesus is clearly telling Peter, that he should have understood “seven” differently through use of hyperbole or exaggerated speech. The entire goal of discipline is to restore and not separate. As the Apostle John tells us, if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness. The very purpose of discipleship, that is a person under discipline, is to become like the master. If Jesus asks something of us, even if it seems hard or impossible, He is not demanding something that He will not do. We need to think our thoughts after His thoughts. We know how willing God has been in forgiving our sin. The challenge is to apply it to the other brethren.

Peter has a good question. “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?” Peter thinks he’s being pretty generous here. Once, yeah, sure. Twice, okay. Most of us though would usually go with the three strikes, you’re out policy. What does Jesus say? “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy seven times.” What about how other texts put it, not seven times but 70x7, Let’s see…do the math…and that comes to 490 times! You can just picture the look on Peter’s face when Jesus says that. “490 times! Even if he does the same thing to me over and over and over again? Jesus, you can’t be serious? Okay, 490 is a lot, but just wait until he crosses me for the 491st time, then I can cut him off!”

Which brings us to part two of our gospel today. Jesus offers a story, a parable. We know he did this frequently. We also know that a parable is a story which makes a point. It is the Hebrew way of establishing a proposition. What point is he illustrating? For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him, and as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made.

The debtor in this story was not in debt to some other person. An appeal to the king might have had the claims to that debt canceled. He owed the debt to the king himself. This servant was called in to give account. People have tried to evaluate how much ten thousand talents would be in today’s money. It certainly was a lot. The point here is that ten thousand talents represents an impossibly large amount of money; using minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, a 40 hour work week, 52 weeks; that adds up to over $15,000; multiply that by the fact that a talent is worth up to 15 years wages, some sources I saw even said 20 but we’ll go easy on our slave. That makes $22,6000 plus and that’s just one talent; he owed 10000 talents, that means he owed the king some $2 billion 260 million dollars! How could a slave owe anyone over 2 billion dollars? Think about the astronomical amount involved. No matter how much the man earned, and you know he didn’t make that kind of money, he would not even make a dent on the debt. So, this servant was about to have everything taken from him, and he and his family sold into slavery to satisfy a debt that could not be satisfied. They would die in bondage. Now when we again realize that the King in this parable is God Himself, we realize that we faced eternal slavery for our debt.

The servant knew the trouble He was in. If only the people in the world realized how much trouble they were in. But the church for the most part does not preach that part of the Gospel any longer. Instead, we lull people to sleep by telling them how much God loves them. This is a tragic mistake, and many souls have perished as a result. People need to know how much trouble they are really in, then they can be told of God’s redeeming love. A SS teacher was trying to teach her class of young children about confession asked them what they had to do before they could obtain forgiveness of sin. One bright young 6 year old answered her question correctly when he said, ‘sin.’ Sin is never to be swept under the rug. It is to be confronted.

This man does the only thing he knows to do. He prostrates himself and asks for patience. “Give me time and I will repay all.” How is he going to do that when the debt is infinite? “Give me forever, and I will repay what I owe” is what he is saying. He thinks that the power is within himself to repay the debt. This is the way we try to deal with God about our sins and trespasses against Him. This was delusional on the slave’s part, and it is on ours as well.

Then the impossible happens. The king saw the pitifulness of the servant’s situation and had mercy on him. The servant deserved no mercy at all. He had lost, probably most corruptly, an incalculable amount of the kings wealth. The loss was now the king’s loss. The king was the only one in the kingdom who could pay the loss. When we realize that our incalculable debt before God was freely forgiven by His Son who paid the price of our redemption with His priceless blood. A priceless debt can only be forgiven by a priceless payment. This is what Jesus has done. It is an astonishing act of God’s grace. So we must not only realize how great a debt we owed God for our sins; we must always keep in mind how great a gift our redemption is.

If the parable ended here, we could all go home relieved for our great reprieve. But the parable does not end here anymore than our recitation of the Lord’s Prayer ends with Amen. We now have to apply this infinite gift we have been given in a quite finite world. The servant who had received infinite forgiveness now goes on to shake down a fellow servant who owed the rather pathetic sum of 100 denarii, a denarius being a day’s wage, so using our same minimum wage of $7.25 and an 8 hour day and I’d say slaves probably worked double that if not more, and since this slave owed about 100 denarii, his bill was less than $6000, again a large sum for a slave.

The problem with the unforgiving servant is that even though he had been forgiven a great debt, he had not repented of it. His view of the world had not been changed. He grabbed the other slave by the throat and threatened him to pay in full or else. The enraged king found out what the servant had done in selling his fellow servant into slavery for a comparatively small debt and was so enraged that he cancelled the great forgiveness the king had shown and sold him into eternal slavery. This is frightening to think about and causes us to think. This is what defines our relationship within the body of the church.

Folks, we know that Jesus died for the sin of the entire world. He paid the price in full. When we pray “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us” as we will very shortly, remember it is a dangerous prayer to pray. If the Lord would answer it in the form we ask, we’d be in a bad way. Ironically, Jesus taught us this kind of prayer. That’s why it’s a “dangerous prayer!” We are asking God to be as forgiving to us as we are to others. Yet some who pray those same words still say to offenders, “Me? Forgive you? Hah! I’d swallow a live toad before I’d forgive you!”

We need to be more forgiving. See, the bottom line with the readings for today is this: God’s forgiveness is not like our forgiveness. God’s forgiveness is free. It’s not a forgiveness based on what we do. It’s not a forgiveness that’s conditional. When God says to you through His called servant of the Word “I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”, he means it. It’s forgiven. Never to be brought up again. Where we would keep score, like Peter was at the beginning of the text, God doesn’t. His forgiveness is a never ending supply. He even forgives us for our sin of failing to forgive those who come to us and ask for our forgiveness for their small debt of sin toward us in comparison with our great debt of sin that has been paid by Jesus Christ. Forgiveness isn’t always easy. Thanks be to God that His forgiveness isn’t like our forgiveness. And thanks be to God that He has set us free through Christ to pronounce and share that forgiveness with others for Jesus’ sake.

Amen.------