Sermons 2024

Video

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!
 

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the First Reading from the book of Acts chapter four verses one through twelve.

Boys and Girls, I pray that you are doing well. Have you ever seen really small animals? In the ocean there are small microscopic vegetable life of the sea who provides food for many of the ocean's smallest creatures. These little vegetable plants drift thousands of miles, wherever the current takes them. They have no power or will of their own to direct their destiny. They are called "plankton," a word that means wandering or drifting. How are we often like Plankton in our lives? How does God stop our drifting? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
Plankton is an accurate term to describe the aimless life of many people of our century, people who have lost a sense of direction, who are powerless to direct their own destiny, and wander through life without a purpose.
These are the people who are subject to the shifting wind of every fad. They struggle to find a purpose in their lives either in some sort of pleasure or in one of the new religious movements or mind control efforts. In our text today, Peter is saying that there is one way of escape; one way of finding meaning and purpose in life; one way to a new kind of life with God and that way is through the name of Jesus.
One of the exciting things about knowing that way through the name is that we can share it with others. Have you ever tried to share the name? Polls have indicated that about half of all Lutherans never do it, 40 percent do it once in a while, and 10 regularly. Yet, look at the power of the name that we share!
 

A. The Name Healed the Lame Man
 

The background of the text is that Peter and John had gone to the temple to pray as was their custom. As recorded in Acts 3, which was the First Reading last Sunday, they were confronted by a cripple at the gate of the temple, and Peter said, "I don't have any silver or gold, but what I've got I'll give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth walk" (Acts 3:7). Immediately the man got up, leaped and jumped, and praised God. A great crowd gathered around to listen, so Peter began to preach as he usually did when a crowd gathered. He told the crowd that it was by this name of the servant Jesus that the man was healed and able to walk. It was not long until the temple guards, the riot control squad, arrived and dragged Peter and John off to prison for the night. The next day they were brought before the court, and there the question was asked, "By what power or by what name do you do this?" (Acts 4:7). In response Peter spoke those words of our text that it was by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and he explained what Jesus did as he adds, "whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. By Him this man is standing before you well."
 

B. God Chose the Name
 

The way is the name. The name is "Jesus," the name that God the Father chose to give His Son. It is not a name that the Old Testament prophets attributed to the coming Messiah. The name is in the Old Testament but in different forms, in words like Joshua and Hosea. It was God who chose the name for His Son. When it was time for the Messiah to come, God sent His messenger, the Angel Gabriel, to say to Mary, "His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins." That is what the name really means, "one who saves." In His sermon to the crowd in the temple, Peter connected that name "Jesus" to the "holy and righteous one," and to the "author of life whom God raised from the dead" (Acts 3:14, 15), making it clear that this "one who saves" is none other than the Son of God Himself.
 

C. The Name Saves
 

In some cultures, it has been common to give the name of Jesus to sons as a way to honor them. That is why some professional ballplayers have names that are variations of the name Jesus, as Jesu, or Jose. Some years ago, a group of mothers sent a protest and request to the archbishop of Mexico. They wanted him to ban the use of the name Jesus and refuse any christening by that name. The reason they gave was that it was sacrilegious to have so many crimes committed by Jesus—and then written on the police record. 
Jesus is the Son of God, the one who is holy and righteous. To live a holy life for us was part of His work on earth. Then He took our sins upon Himself, suffered and died and rose again, making atonement for all sins for all people. That was how He "saved His people from their sins" and became the "author of life."
 

D. The Name Is the Only Way
 

Peter says that it is through this name that we have life with God—and there is no other way. "Saved" in the New Testament means that we are rescued. By nature, you and I and all people are in a state of sinfulness, which the Bible calls death. It is a spiritual death, a life without God. This is the basic cause of the restless search for meaning in life. People are separated from the God who created them and who wants them to be in fellowship with Him. Unless they find the way to God, they will keep on searching and finally die in their sins. 
The way to have that life is through the name of Jesus. It is the only way. Jesus said, "I am come that you may have life, life in all of its fullness." That is His very purpose for dying and rising from the dead, to give us the fullness of eternal life.

E. There Is None Other
 

Only one name, only one way. But the way is for everyone in all of the world.
Yet, many in the world try a wide variety of different ways. There was once a survey of Lutherans which says that 70 percent of young people would agree to this statement: "God is satisfied if I live the best life I can." This is a subtle form of universalism that is, if our neighbor is a good person and lives a good life, he is going to make it. He is going to be all right somehow. Or as I think about my Jewish friends, I would like to believe that they can be saved through the Old Testament, and then I do not have to share Jesus Christ with them. There are many other forms of this kind of subtle universalism which takes away the need for me to share Jesus Christ with them. But we must share Jesus with theme. They need it just as much as we do.
 

F. The Name Must Be Shared
 

It is our privilege and our commission to share that name with other people. Peter gives us the example in our text. He is before the Sanhedrin, that august body, the Jewish high court consisting of 71 members. The high priest is the ex-officio president. There are the wealthy Sadducees, the religious Pharisees, the learned Scribes, the respected elders, and our text even mentions that the priestly family was present. The high priest was supposed to have been a hereditary office and one for life. But under the Roman rule the office was filed with intrigue, bribery, and corruption. Between 37 B.C. and A.D. 67 there were 28 high priests. All but six of them came from four families. Many of those former high priests were here at this court.

So Peter and John were standing before the wealthiest, most intellectual, most powerful men in the country. There Peter, an uneducated, humble fisherman, makes his witness. A number of weeks earlier Jesus went before this same court, and they sent Him to the Romans recommending crucifixion. Peter was then in the courtyard denying that he even knew Jesus. And now Peter stands before this same group of men and says, "You crucified Jesus of Nazareth, but God raised Him from the dead. Now this name is the only name under heaven, the only name in all the world, by which you can be saved." The difference in Peter, of course, is that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. This was after Pentecost, and the Spirit empowered him for his bold witness.
 

That same Spirit is still active today though you. You received the forgiveness of your sins and new life in your baptism. The Holy Spirit came into your life and has been nurturing your faith so that you can trust in the name of Jesus and live a life with meaning and purpose. Just as Peter witnessed to the Sanhedrin, the Holy Spirit can help you be a witness to others, to your friend, your neighbors, and even your own relatives who do not know the way to peace with God through the name of Jesus. 
 

Think of it like sharing the cure of cancer. Someone is dying of cancer. He has taken every known treatment for it, and some of the treatments almost killed him, but he is still dying, and it won't be long now. What if I knew the cure for his cancer? Should I let him die or share the cure so he can live? Do you have friends, neighbors, relatives, who are dying because of the cancer of sin in them? They are separated from God and destined to an eternal death. There is one way to be saved. That is through the name of Jesus. Sharing that name really puts meaning and purpose into life.

Some people can witness better than others. The Bible talks about some having the "gift of evangelism," which means that they can communicate the Good News of the way and help lead a person to trust in the name of Jesus. Of course, it is the Holy Spirit that creates faith, but we are the instruments He uses, His mouthpiece. Some people think about 10 percent of all Christians have this special gift of evangelism. What about the other 90 percent? We also are witnesses, Jesus said, even though we can't do as well as the person with the special gift. Each one of us needs to share as we are able. We share in the daily contacts that we have with people, we show by our words, deeds, and example the wonderous news that Jesus is the only way to salvation, that there is no other name by which we must be saved.

Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed! Alleluia!

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Video

Text: Isaiah 25:6-9
Theme: A Defeat of death itself

1.    A feast greater than we can imagine we are invited to
2.    Why? JC conquered death
3.    Feast still join in today.

Alleluia Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed Alleluia!

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Old Testament lesson of Isaiah twenty-five verses six through nine.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well this joyous Easter. What is the best food that you can think of? Candy, chocolate, cake, veggies? Well maybe not them…many times, when we gather together to celebrate an event, food is involved. When you get married, there is a fancy cake and other food at the reception. When there is a funeral, there is usually a light luncheon. Today the Lord says that He is preparing a feast that everyone in the world is invited to. Why is the Lord doing this? How do we join in that feast today? Ponder those questions as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you. 

1.    A feast greater than we can imagine we are invited to

What is the best feast that you could ever imagine? The most expensive banquet in history was in 1821 at the coronation of King George IV. He was famous for his extravagant lifestyle and racking up eyewatering debts, his coronation costing the equivalent of more than £20,000,000 in today's money. In Westminster Hall, now the oldest remaining part of the original Houses of Parliament, the king and 300 of the most important guests dined under the gaze of thousands of spectators sitting on specially constructed platforms. Dining elsewhere in the palace were 1,300 other guests. French-style cuisine was served from temporary kitchens constructed to cope with the quantity of food, and the king's table alone had more than 70 dishes over three courses. In total, the guests ate 7.3 tons of beef, veal and lamb, more than 1,600 chickens and 8,400 eggs. You want to talk about a grand feast. I do not think that any of us would leave the table hungry if we had attended that one

Yet as grand as that feast was, Isaiah declares that i the Lord will “prepare a feast,” “destroy the shroud,” “swallow up death,” “wipe away the tears,” and “remove the disgrace.  The Lord is making a feast greater than anything King George IV could have dreamed up. The Lord prepares a great feast. It is a feast not just for anyone but for all nations, everyone in the entirety of the world.  

A great feast for anyone who suffers from the horrors of death. For anyone who has ever mourned over loved ones no longer with them. For anyone who is missing the touch, kiss, caress of a spouse now no longer here. All of us have faced the specter of death. We have seen loved ones slowly dying as they get older and older. We have mourned those taken too soon, taken from of in the youth and vitality of life. Even we ourselves are not immune. We face the reality of death ourselves every day. When we wake up with more grey hairs, more aches, and pains then yesterday, we are reminded that we too will eventually die and be buried. 

2.    Why? JC conquered death

Yet, there is hope and joy even in the face of death itself. How can we be joyful? Because of the work of the Lord.  The Lord prepares this feast purely because of His great love and mercy towards everyone across all of time and space. He prepares a feast to give us hope, to give us comfort as we mourn, to wipe away every tear from our eyes. How does He do all this? Look at why He is throwing this great feast. Because Jesus has swallowed up death forever. Jesus risen from the dead. Because He has destroyed the power of death forever. He has won the victory over sin, death, and the power of the devil! See, where He was laid. The Tomb is empty! He is no longer there! By dying, Jesus has destroyed the power of death. He has taken away our sins from us, paid the price for all of them, and buried them with Him in the tomb. By rising again, He gives to us new life with Him forever, leaving our sins dead and buried. Jesus has taken away the veil of death from us forever. Because of His great love towards us, we get to join in this feast with Jesus forever. He wipes away our tears, even as we mourn, by reminding us that there will come a day when death itself will be ended and crushed beneath His nail scarred feet because He is alive forever more. 

3.    Feast still join in today.

This is a future reality that we celebrate today. Jesus gives us a foretaste of the feast to come. That we today, even while we wait, even while we mourn, get to join in the feast for the comfort and salvation of our souls! We join with angels, archangels, and all the company of heaven in the great marriage feast of the Lamb in His Kingdom forever. A feast for all nations, purified by the blood of Jesus Christ, because of His sacrifice upon the cross, and alive forevermore. We join in a foretaste of this feast every time we gather at this altar. We feast on Jesus’ body and blood, in, with, and under, the bread and the wine, given and shed for us. We join with all of the redeemed, all of the host of heaven, as we look forward to the day when we will get see our Crucified, Risen, and Ascended Lord face to face, and join Him, and everyone, physically forever and ever.
Be of good cheer my beloved flock, the Lord has taken away your veil. He has swallowed up death forever because of His great love for you.

Alleluia Christ is Risen!
He is Risen indeed Alleluia!

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
 

Video

Text: Isaiah 52:11-53:12

Theme: Gilded words of a Sin bearing Sufferer

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

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation tonight is the Old Testament lesson from the book of Isaiah the fifty-second and fifty-third chapters.

The pounding of hammer and nails. A constant cry of agony and pain…. a quick intake of breath before it is ripped away as his body slumps down with effort. The victim’s full weight borne by his wrists and feet and the points at which the spikes had been driven through them and into the wood. To breath in and out, Jesus would have to move up and down on the sipes. He would have to lift Himself up by pulling on His writs and pushing up on His feet. With any movement the spikes driven through His feet would have sent sheering pain up both legs. Likewise, with the movement upward to exhale, His arms would have rotated around the spikes causing excruciating pain to shoot through His upper body and arms. It is difficult to imagine the agonizing pain. Each breath forcing Jesus to push up on His feet, pushing His back against the cross. Shredded flesh and muscle grating against the trough timber. Every breath, exhaustion soon followed then death. Truly, crucifixion is a horrible and brutal process. One that the Romans perfected and made efficient and deadly use of, killing thousands of people. Many of those crucified were for their own sins that the criminals and murderers had brought upon themselves, harsh examples of what would happen to you if you tried to break the law against the might of Rome. A very effective deterrent to not commit a crime.

Yet, one crucifixion was different. That of Jesus our Lord. Still horrible in its agony, pain, and torment. Still brutal in its method and mockery.  Jesus ”had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.  ” He had nothing that we should adore him. He was not strong. He was not handsome. He appeared just the same as any other human upon the earth. In fact, He was marred to the point of no longer looking like a human being. Why does this horrible pain and death happen to Him? Not because of anything sinful or wrong that He Himself has done. He is the spotless, perfect, Lamb of God. Yet, He dies. 

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;    yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.5But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. 6All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”   

Did you catch it? As Luther writes, these are indeed words gilded in gold. Why does Jesus die such a horrible and painful death? Why is there a split within the Holy Trinity as the only begotten Son is estranged from His Father? Why has the Father forsaken the Son? Because of us, because of our transgressions, Our griefs, our sorrows, our transgressions, our iniquities, our chastisement, the iniquity of us all is laid upon Him to give us peace. Our sins demanded payment in blood. Those vile deeds that we do. Our lies, our slander, our murder, our adultery, our covetousness, our stealing, our putting other gods in the place of the true God, and much more that I could name. All of this demand’s payment in blood, who pays? Because of us the Creator of the Universe is mocked, beaten, scorned, bleeds, and dies.

God established from before the foundation of the earth were laid, that He would have mercy upon us. He sends us His own Son. There, at the cross, Jesus takes our pain, our scorn, our shame, our guilt, every single one of our transgressions, our iniquities, everything is laid upon Christ. He bears it all on our behalf so that we, as sinful humans, are reconciled to a Holy and Just God now and forever. The price has been paid; Jesus’ gruesome death in place of ours.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard, and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

Amen.
 

A sacrifice beyond our thought
Why God’s own Son should now be brought
Before a judge whose only care
Is washing ‘way the guilt he bears

O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in Your Sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.

In Shakespeare’s McBeth, he illustrates a scene that mirrors the one that Pilate enacted many years ago. Lady McBeth is walking and talking in her sleep about the assassination of King Duncan, in which she is implicated. Both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth have been unable to sleep since they murdered Duncan, but when she does manage to fall asleep she is plagued with a nightmare about the murder and the blood they have shed.  In this episode she is observed by a serving woman and a doctor who are overhearing her confession of the regicide she has committed.
As she walks she rubs her hands as though washing them, trying to get rid of the blood. The spot she’s referring to is a spot of blood on her hand. She’s rubbing it, trying to erase it, but cannot. “Here’s yet a spot,” she cries, desperately rubbing. “Here’s the small of blood still.”

Shakespear is drawing on a historical event for his scene. That of Pilate at the trial of our Lord. The people are clamoring for Jesus’ blood. They are so bloodthirsty for Jesus’ blood that they ask for Barabbas, a known murderer, criminal, and rioter to be freed instead of Jesus. Pilate needs to think of something to do, and quick.

Pilate cannot allow a riot to happen. Pilate needs to maintain the good graces of the Emperor, lest he lose his job, or worse, his head. Pilate is already close to losing the Emperor’s favor. He has multiple opponents already bringing two serious grievances against him for what is often called the standards affair. 

When Pilate first became governor of Judea. He did what most Romans would have done. He had a pair of gilded shields inscribed with the name of the Roman Emperor Tiberius into King Herod’s former palace in Jerusalem, in violation of Jewish customs. The Jewish historian Flavius Josephus told a similar tale that Pilate permitted troops carrying military standards bearing the likeness of the emperor into Jerusalem, although Jewish law forbade images in the city. A great crowd traveled to the Judean capital of Caesarea in protest and lay prostrate around Pilate’s palace for five days until he relented. since in their view, Pilate was breaking the second commandment by not only making a graven image but also putting them up where temple worshipers could see them, as well as having coins minted with the Emperor’s image on them. The Samaritans also accused Pilate before Vitellius, legate of Syria, after he attacked them on Mount Gerizim (36 ce) killing hundreds.

One, two, three strikes you are out. Now Pilate is in dangerous waters. The religious leaders have brough him Jesus, claiming that he is calling Himself a King, committing treason under Roman law, a crime punishable by death. Pilate is close to having a riot on his hands. He needs to do something to calm the crowds. His own wife has told him to have nothing to do with this man because of a dream she had. So Pilate literally washes his hands of the matter. He has a bowl brought out, washes his hands, and says he is innocent of Jesus’ death. He basically says, Fine, I am innocent. Jesus is your problem now.’ The crowd takes responsibility, replying His blood be upon us and our children.

So Pilate delivers Jesus over to be crucified. He is mocked, beaten, and dies a painful and agonizing death. Thus the plan of God is fulfilled. His own Son is offered up as a grand sacrifice on our behalf. Upon Jesus all the wrath of God is laid that we might not have to bear it because of our sins. He bears our sins and punishment on our behalf.

Thanks be to God, that He does not wash His hands of us because of our sins. Rather He washes us clean in the waters of Holy Baptism for the forgiveness of our sins and the salvation of our souls. God used Pilate to accomplish His plan of salvation. 

In Jesus’ name. Amen.
 

Video

Text: Exodus 20:1-17

Outline
I.    Covenant
II.    Expectations
III.    Freedom
 

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

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Old Testament Lesson of Exodus chapter twenty verses one through seventeen.
Introduction: Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Are you wondering why I have two chairs up here with me today? Well, they help to illustrate what God is talking about in our Old Testament lesson today. Think you can jump from one chair to another. Yep, that seems easy. Move chairs far apart what about now? Now, it seems impossible. There is no way that you could make that jump. What if you had help? Help one of them make the jump, yep that was easier was it not? Because you had me helping you make the jump. How does Jesus help us when it comes to the Law of God? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.
 

I.    Covenant
 

Often we as Christians take the Ten Commandments out of their original context. This is very easy to do because we so often encounter the Commandments as excerpted material in our church bulletins or on a plaque on the wall. While the Ten Commandments are representative of the timeless standards of God’s moral law, we nevertheless increase the risk of misinterpreting them when we strip them from their covenantal and redemptive-historical context.
 

The Law was shared with Moses and Israel at a time when they were fatigued from their wilderness wanderings. They were between the great victory of the Red Sea and the borders of the land of promise. They wanted to enter the land that God had promised them, but they were not ready. God had not finished his preparatory work. The people of Israel needed to understand what it meant to live in covenant with the God who had brought them out of Egypt. They needed to understand God’s love and his expectations. This is the context in which the law was given. It was given to immature believers who had to learn how to respond to God’s grace and to live a life pleasing to him. 
 

This is what we see in Exodus 20, God was making his covenant with the people whom he had freed from slavery in Egypt. He had claimed them, giving them this gift apart from anything they had done to earn this freedom. With God’s gift came His expectations. These expectations were also a good gift, a plan for enjoying their identity as his creatures and his children. They show the relationship between God as the One who has redeemed them from slavery in Egypt, and them as His people. They show how God’s people are to act within the relationship that they have with Him. God expected that the Israelites were going to live different from the people around them. Thus, the Ten Commandments are given as their guide, curb, and mirror. Not as a means of earning redemption by their works, but rather as a means of expressing gratitude for that redemption. 
 

II.    Expectations
 

We have a similar covenant. A covenant made and signed in blood. We have been freed from our slavery, not a physical slavery but a spiritual one. We have been freed from the dark slavery of our sins. All of the times we have broken the law of God, when we try to make the perfect jump ourselves. What happens? We fall flat on our faces. God has rescued us through Christ’s sin-abolishing death and his righteousness-bestowing resurrection (Rom 4:25). It is important for us to remember that our redemption was secured not only through Jesus’ death on the cross, but also through the righteous life that he lived upon this earth. Jesus lived for our salvation as much as he died for it. Without the life and death of Jesus, the law that came through Moses could only bring condemnation and death to us. But by Jesus’ perfect obedience imputed to us and by his perfect sacrificial death on our behalf, Jesus accomplished what the law never could—he made his people righteous and holy:   Through His perfect life, death, and resurrection from the dead Jesus picks us up and makes the jump on our behalf. He clears the distance by the forgiveness of our sins between sinful humanity and a just and righteous God. 
 

We have been given new birth without any conditions fulfilled on our part. We have received the gift of identity as God’s children through the waters of Holy Baptism where He calls us His very own as He seals us with the sign of the holy cross both upon our foreheads and hearts, as He places His very name upon us. As parents who give life to a child have expectations for the child’s performance, so God has expectations for us. Our fulfilling them does not determine whether we are his children but does reflect our faith in his word that gives us our new identity. It guides us as Christians, it shows that because we are God’s people, we live different than those around us. We do our best, living in the forgiveness that Christ gives to us, to obey His commands.

III.    Freedom
 

God’s law comes with the label “handle with care.” Our sinfulness has turned this good gift of God’s design for good human living into a killer that strangles the sinner. It says, “you must make the jump on your own no matter how large it is.” It turns that good gift that Christ has done everything on our behalf, that He has made that jump to reconcile us forever, into death. Seeking the guidance of the law for fulfilling our desire to be God’s faithful children can end up in shame or guilt when we focus on our sinfulness rather than recognize that Christ has claimed our sins for his tomb and placed us in his own kingdom, freed from defending ourselves with our sinful exploitation of others and our rebellious rejection of his love.
 

Conclusion: Thanks be to God that we do not have to keep the Law perfectly on our own. Christ has taken on our flesh, borne our sins in His holy flesh, lived a perfect live in our place and gives us His perfection through His suffering, death, and resurrection from the dead. May we always, with the help of the Holy Spirit, strive to keep the Commandments, not as a means of our salvation, but as a way of thanksgiving to God for everything He has done for us for our salvation.
 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Video

We sit with Jesus and partake
A meal as one and celebrate;
But one among us will betray
The Son of God on the very next day.

O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.

Imagine you are sitting with Jesus, gathered around His Word, dipping bread in the same bowl, listening to every word that comes from His mouth. That is something that all of us would enjoy, it is something that we look forward to in some sense every day, or every week. Every time we read the Bible, we are sitting with Jesus, gathered around His Word, and feasting on the good gifts that He gives. 

Jesus is gathered with His disciples for one final meal, one He has long desired to eat with them. One final time to talk, to pass on His last will and testament, to give one last command. That command, to love one another as I have loved you. That is why we remember this night as Manday, from the Latin Mandatum, Command Thursday

Yet, even as they gather in the upper room, not everything is sunshine and roses. Sitting at meal with our Lord is the one that will betray Him. Judas Iscariot. As Matthew records in chapter twenty-six, “When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve.[b] 21 And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.” Judas is going to betray Jesus, yet Jesus still shows mercy. He sits with all His disciples, including the betrayer, for one final meal. Jesus shows that one last act of service as He washes their feet.

Similar with us, we do not deserve to sit with Jesus at table. We do not deserve to gather around His Word and Sacraments. We often ask, ‘Is it I Lord?’ realizing that we are undeserving of feasting with our Lord. If we are being honest with ourselves, as beautiful and as joyous as gathering for this meal is, we are not very good at this. Our lives get busy, the pressures of the world, family, and various activities fight for our attention. Whether they be sports, entertainment, or a wide variety of other things. We give into the various temptations, putting them above the Word of God. Our sinful nature despises worship and gathering around the Word of God. There are thousands of other things it would rather do in the time that we have. The temptation of the world and Satan is clear,  saying things like, ‘Surely, it is better to sleep in. You have to get the housework done, when else are you going to do it? The roads are a bit snowy, are you sure you want to go out? If you do not go to your son or daughters’ game, that will wreck them forever. ‘It is too early, go ahead and sleep in.’ ‘it is too late. It is too dark outside; you still have to make dinner. You still have to put the kids down for bedtime, wait until next week’ All these excuses. What do they do? We allow our devotional life to suffer, feasting on the things of this world rather than on the living Word of God. We avoid being in worship on Wednesday Evenings or on Sunday mornings. It means that we are no longer sitting with Jesus. We are sitting off by ourselves eating ice rather than the bounty of the feast. 

Yet, Jesus shows us continual mercy. He goes as is foretold of Him. He is betrayed into the hands of sinful men. He suffers, bleeds, and dies to forgive every single one of your sins, including those of disregarding His Word. He reconciles you to God forever that where He is, you may be also. He gives you of His Holy Spirit so that by His power working in you, you can join Him in this great feast. You can join in the great celebration as we gather with all the host of heaven to celebrate a foretaste of the marriage feast of the Lamb as we take eat, take drink, this is my body, this is my blood. We do so to your souls benefit rather than harm. You read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest His Word. You hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it. You rejoice in the fellowship of believers, gathered around Word and Sacrament for the mutual strengthening of one another.
 

In Jesus’ name. Amen.
 

Video:

Text: Genesis 17”1-6,15-17

Outline
2. Abram’s shortcut
1. God’s response to Abram and Us

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

My dear beloved flock, the text for our meditation today is the Old Testament lesson of Genesis Chapter seventeen verses one through seven, fifteen through sixteen. 

Boys and girls, have you ever been with mom or dad when they have taken a shortcut on a trip thinking that it will save time? Has it ever worked in cutting time off of the trip? Usually more time is added. Too often, shortcuts end in bad ways. There is the dead-end road or the two-lane road with heavy traffic so it is no shortcut at all and takes you longer to travel. What about a shortcut when mom or dad is trying to fix something at home or on the car? They think they have an “aha” experience, and then it breaks again and costs more to fix the second time! Shortcuts do not usually work.  We see Abram try to take a short cut in our text for today. How does God respond to it? Ponder this question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

2. Abram’s shortcut

        What we see in Abram today is a desire to take a manmade shortcut. He wants to do things his way under his own terms and power. He has figured out a way to have an heir using Hagar, Sarai’s slave woman. After all, he is ninety-nine years old. He and Sarai are not going to be having children. It is just too late. So, Abram has a plan for an heir that is done in such a way that God can save face. Abram wants Ishmael to be his heir. Ishmael is already born. Abram loves Ishmael. He practically begs for Ishmael to inherit everything, praying to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before you!” He knows he and Sarai are too old to have a son, so just make Ishmael heir of the promises, make him the one through whom the Messiah will come. This is Abram’s fervent wish and his answer to his problem.

        We see here the weak faith in Abram and Sarai. Abram doubts that God can keep his promise and provide him an heir. This would be impossible—too much to ask! Abram takes matters into his own hands. He wants to fix the problem. He thinks he has the perfect solution: “God, let’s do things my way this time.”

        How often do we find ourselves operating the same way? We have problems in life. Everyone does. We, as the people of God, go to Him in prayer. You pour out your heart to Him. You tell Him you believe in His promises. As soon as you pray “Amen,” you start looking for your own solutions, your own answers, the way you think the problem should be solved. Just like that, there’s worry, fear, anxiety. Give it to God and then take it right back just as fast as you can. The real problem here is that you don’t trust God and His ability to answer as is best for you. You want to do it. After all, you might not like God’s answer and his solution. Just like Abram!

1. God’s response to Abram

        So God comes to Abram face-to-face. God does not come to chastise or to condemn. God comes to Abram to strengthen his faith by speaking to him the promises of the covenant. If Abram thought it was impossible, unbelievable, that he and his wife could have a child in their old age, he must have been astonished at the unbelievable promises that God made to him.

        He changed Abram’s name to Abraham. Why? To signal to Abram the assuredness of the promises. The “Exalted Father” would become the “father of a multitude of nations.” Sarai was changed to Sarah because she would be the mother of many nations. God would not work this promise through Ishmael, but He would keep His original promise by giving Abraham and Sarah a son of their very own even in their old age. God was going to work two miracles. First, Abraham would have his own son. Second, he would make him very fruitful and make him literally into many nations.

        God was going to bless Abraham with descendants, generation after generation. In fact, God would bless him so that this would be an everlasting covenant. The covenant would be everlasting because of one of those descendants. Human beings each have their own life expectancy, beginning and ending. To be an everlasting covenant would take a special descendant who would be like Abraham, a human descendant, but also like God, who has no end, everlasting. One of Abraham’s descendants would be the Savior, Jesus Christ. 

        Finally, God would give to Abraham the land of Canaan, literally the Promised Land for his future descendants. This Promised Land would be an everlasting possession. Again, it would be everlasting because there would be a land far beyond anything on earth. There would be a Promised Land that would last forever.

        God fulfilled his promises to Abraham and Sarah, and, in doing so, he has kept his promises to you and to me. Jesus Christ, the descendant of Abraham, has come. He has come for all people, all nations, all generations. He came to bring the promises of God to ultimate fulfillment. He did so to remove the sins of our weak faith, our doubts, our constant desire to do things our way, to solve problems without regard to God’s will. He did so by his own suffering, his own shed blood to cover our sins, his own death to pay our wage of sin, and his glorious resurrection to conquer death itself. Through Jesus Christ, the promises of God to Abraham and to us are fulfilled. By faith in Jesus, we, too, are now descendants of Abraham.

        He has changed your name too. At the day of your Baptism, the day you received the Holy Spirit, the day your sins were forgiven, the day you became an heir of eternal life, God gave you a new name: Christian. God applied His very name to you. He keeps his promises to you. He gives you “a new covenant in his blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.” His covenant, sealed in his holy, precious blood, strengthens your faith and keeps you in faith to life everlasting in the everlasting Promised Land.

        Conclusion: God made promises to Abraham. The promises seemed impossible, unbelievable, to an old man and his wife. But God Kept His Unbelievable Promises
to Abraham and to Us!
All the promises were fulfilled in Jesus Christ when he came for you and me. Now we have new names, forgiveness of sins, an everlasting covenant, and a promised land. These are indeed unbelievable promises. 

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding, guard and keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.