Sermons 2025

Luke 4:1-9

Sermon Outline
    2.    Sin is why we’re here—in this wilderness.
    1.    We’re why Jesus is here in this wilderness.

CHRIST IS WITH US IN OUR WILDERNESS.

Sermon

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 Holy Gospel according to Saint Luke, the fourth chapter verse one through nine.

Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. This church year is going by fast! First Christmas, then Epiphany, now Lent, soon we will celebrate Easter. Why do you come to church?  This Christian Church, is here for one reason—for God to expose and remove your sin. That’s the only business of the Church. That’s why you’re here—or should be. The purpose of Lent, of Christ, of the Church is to take away your sin. God’s forgiveness—acting, doing everything—because of sin. How does God forgive all of your sins? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you.

2.
Unfortunately, if we don’t think our sin is so serious, so deadly. Then we do not think that our sins will eventually give you up dead, then we don’t really need the Church; we don’t need Christ. What good is a bloody Savior no one needs? 

So we end up going through the motions of religion. After all, nothing really happens here that interests us. Some people try to redefine Church as a social club or charitable organization—where you can do “nice things” for others who need it. You can gather and socialize with fellow people. The idea is that we’re all fine and good. It’s the other people who need our deliverance. Well, true. Every neighbor needs your mercy and charity.

But if we ever lose sight of the fact that we are “poor miserable sinners” (where every word of that hurts!); that of all the people in the world, we are the most guilty, the most sinful, the most unclean; that my sin (whether it’s secret or out in the open) drives me out of heaven and into hell forever! Hell is a real, bitter place: total isolation, misery, you and your terror never separated, ever—if we ever lose sight that we need deliverance from our sin, and our children need deliverance from their sin, and our co-workers and friends and classmates need deliverance from their sin—if we ever lose sight of the quiet tragedy in us (behind the easy grins and Sunday best clothes), then the Church has lost its purpose. God put this Church here, in this city, this very place, for you, so he can remove your sin. That’s why he is here now.

That is my job as your pastor—to speak truthfully about what God’s word says about us—I must stand before even all the “good” people who have come . . . and announce what is true about us. That sin has infected you with death. You can’t escape it. It’s festering in your deepest parts, working all the way down and all the way through. Of course, the world—and even we Christians—sometimes defend ourselves, say we’re mostly(!) “good” deep down. But if we mean it, then the world and we don’t understand sin at all. Sin rots you. It decays. It perverts what it touches, and it touches you. Proof? Ever been sick? Mistreated someone—friend or enemy (enemies are easier to mistreat!)? What grudge are you still holding, even here in this place? Have you ever been rejected and even once known tears? Suffered an accident? These things are not God’s judgment on you for specific sins, but they are signs of the sin that is on all people, all creation, on you. These things cannot happen to sinless people in a pure, sinless world. It’s all residue—sometimes a thick residue—of sin. I can prove you touched a hot stove by showing you your burning fingers. I can show you your sin by showing you your pain, your weakness, your anger, and your bitterness in this world.

If your marriage is perfect, your children are perfect, health is perfect, house is perfect, school is perfect, if nothing breaks down, nothing disappoints, if nothing hurts, if everything is “milk and honey,” then relax. You’re safe . . . sin has not polluted you. You will live forever, even without Christ, apparently. (“Who needs him?!”) But if your life is not perfect, your health not perfect, your family not perfect, then something deadly is causing it, all this grief and pain.

It is not God. God doesn’t break things or pollute or trouble things. God is peace and not chaos around you. Love, not hate. Life, not death in you (although sometimes—the muddled way we perceive things—we’re not too sure; we “suspect” him). If chaos and hatred and sickness and suspicion and death have invaded your life and family, then you ought best recognize it. It is this: Sin has corrupted you—and deep—after all. You are “ruined” by it and condemned by it. It’s a “wilderness” (a wasteland) out there, and you are lost in it, forever.

1.
But what happens immediately after Jesus’ baptism? Luke states “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness.”

Look beside you in this wilderness, this desert. There is Jesus. Also alone. Also starving after not eating for 40 days and nights. Also miserable. Also stalked and hunted by Satan seeking whom he may devour. This is Jesus on his way to dying too! Why is Jesus here? He has never sinned. His body—flesh and bone and heart and soul—are pure and holy (in the biggest way!). Why is he in this barren place—hungry, tempted, suffering like this? Don’t you know? Because you are here.

Jesus cannot stay in heaven’s peace and glory while you are here suffering. If you lose all things, he loses all things. If you starve and sweat and squirm, he, too, must starve and sweat and squirm. If you suffer condemnation, he suffers condemnation. If you are to die, he must die too. He loves you too much to leave you here in sin’s desert, this world—even with its bright excitements and occasional splendor and excellent advertising—all at Satan’s tempting disposal. While “this world’s prince may still Scowl fierce as he will,” Jesus is “by [y]our side upon the plain” where you are and where the fight is. And Jesus does the fighting himself—hang on a tree, rise from the dead, ascend!—he indeed “holds the field forever” (LSB 656:3, 4, 2).

So something more is happening here: wherever Jesus walks in this desert, new life springs up. Your life. Life from heaven—from God to you. Like a leafy green tree heavy with fruit in the middle of a desert where you didn’t expect it. A tree of life to eat from, and so to eat and get life—after the Garden of Eden tree is long gone. And he is a spring of life-giving water, bubbling up (Jn 7:37–38) in the middle of your desert—shouting out defiantly against Satan and his carefully cultivated drought all around you. Jesus shouts his last Word upon the cross: “Tetelestai” “It is Finished!” “Forgiven!”

Jesus suffers. Jesus starves. Jesus wanders in this bitter forty-day wilderness for one reason: you are here. But he’s not here to empathize with you—not just to throw a comforting arm over your shoulder, just to say, “This is pretty bad, isn’t it?” He’s here to finally get you out of here, to re-create you, and take you back to heaven to his Father. That’s why the Holy Spirit led him to your spot, to the desert. And so he brings life down from heaven to this spot in the desert. He brings food down from heaven, healing for you—for your hurt mind, your heart, your bruised body and soul—the whole of you. God “authored” you. Sin wrecks you. So death claims you. But Christ heals you of death, forgives, perfects you.

His water is the only water in the wilderness that will save you. So he says, “I baptize you with it . . . in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” And his food is the only food that will nourish you “to life everlasting,” so “Take and eat, this is my body . . . given . . . for you. And my blood shed . . . for you . . . forgiveness.” Here is life from heaven in this wilderness. Here is deliverance from Satan “and all his works and all his ways.” Here is cleansing from your sin!

This is why your God is in the desert, why

CHRIST IS WITH US IN OUR WILDERNESS.

Why his Body, the Church, is here, and even right here. Why you are here at this moment. This life, this deliverance, this cleansing is yours. And now your sin is deadly on you, but your God is with you . . . and has delivered you.

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

Text: John 2:1-11

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 Holy Gospel according to Saint John, chapter two verses one through eleven.

Boys and Girls, I pray that you are doing well today. I love our text for today. It shows the joy that Jesus gives to us. We find Jesus at a wedding in Cana as a guest. There does His first miracle, or sign, of changing the water into wine. Wine is a Biblical symbol of joy. Jesus comes to bring us this joy by witnessing this marriage of heaven and earth in the coming of the Son of God in flesh and blood. We are not left dead in our sins and trespasses. The Heavenly Bridegroom has come, and by the shedding of His holy blood on the cross has made His Bride, the Church, glorious. God does not leave us alone in our sins. Rather, He comes to us in Jesus and gives us A NEW BEGINNING IN CHRIST. He takes on our flesh to make us a part of His family. How does Jesus give us this new beginning? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon. You may go back to your seats and those who love you. 

Though we now may endure much tribulation in a fallen world, we have a new beginning given to us. In every Baptism, we witness this new beginning in a particularly splendid way. There at the font, the one whose very life is a gift of God now receives the gift of new birth and new life by water and the Spirit. This new life will blossom into a glorious future, one that will go far beyond the tear-marked days of this earthly life, one that will go beyond death itself, one that inaugurates us into God’s family as beloved children of the Heavenly Father. We rejoice at the “new wine” of our Baptism into Christ. For there, God has called us by name. He has promised us His presence, His help, His mercy. He has forgiven our sins, wiped clean our slate, and made us heirs of His glory.

On this day, when the Church observes this episode of the wedding at Cana, we also observe LIFE SUNDAY. How appropriate! THE LORD OF LIFE, who gives to us our very breath, is the Lord who turns water into wine, who fashions a new creation, who draws joy even from sadness, who forgives sins and brings us forth as new people in the life-giving springs of our baptismal bath.

The One who gives us our new beginning in Baptism is the same God who fashioned us and gave us our first beginning in the womb. It is God who brings forth life. It is God who created us, who “knits us together,” so that we are “intricately and wonderfully made.” Some say that the Bible never mentions abortion, and thus we should not speak against it. How far from the truth! The decisive moral truth of what Scripture teaches is this: Human beings are such from fertilization. And—it is a sin to shed innocent blood.

“You shall not murder.” That is the commandment. The commandment does not distinguish between the demonic murder of children in a school classroom, a horrific terrorist attack on innocent people, or the demonic dismemberment and destruction of babies in the womb. They are the same in God’s eyes. One cannot reasonably be appalled at the one without being just as appalled at the other. 
In our world, many loud and angry voices seek to cover up and disguise the killing of unborn babies by placing abortion under the banner of women’s reproductive freedom and health care. They call it a matter of a woman’s choice. We would never use that logic to defend a madman who slaughters innocent children at a school and then as his defense calls it his “right to choose.”
There is no right to do a wrong.
The Hebrew word for mercy is racham, which also is the word for “womb.” Perhaps the reason that the Lord chose that word to express mercy is that nothing more clearly expresses mercy than the tender love that a mother has toward her unborn baby. No place on earth should be a safer refuge for that tiny innocent child than the womb, the place of racham, the place of mercy. Abortion invades and destroys that refuge, that mercy, at its very source. Sadly, abortion has become a part of the brutalization of human life, a sad commentary on the cruelty of human nature.

Of course, there is one who feeds off this violence, this horror, this degrading of what it means to be human—and that is the old evil foe, our ancient enemy—Satan. 

But then enters Jesus into a world such as this, bringing into this realm of sorrow and this valley of death the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Won for us—how? By His suffering and death on the cross, for He so loved us that He willingly bore our punishment, covering the guilt of our sin and shame with His own holy and precious blood. 

This account of the wedding at Cana is so much more than the story of Jesus coming to a quaint country wedding. The changing of water into the very best wine is a sign of who He is and what He has come to bring. It means that God is now with us. This sign points to Christ as Messiah, Savior of the world, who alone can forgive us our sins and make us free to be who we were meant to be. Jesus Christ alone is the One who can save us from sin, death, and Satan’s power. 

Many have been devastated by the sin of abortion. Not only the babies who have lost their lives, but the women, and men also, who have carried around the guilt for what they have done and may have been haunted by nightmares, sadness, and many times depression. Post-abortion syndrome is very sad, and it is very real.

Many women are simply lied to about what happens in an abortion. It is not just a procedure. It cannot be disguised behind words such as “termination of pregnancy.” Point of fact: A termination of pregnancy means the death of a child. It’s that simple.

So what do we do? Do we just say “it’s ok? Everything will be alright?”  No, we give more than empty words. Pastors who are afraid to speak of the sin of abortion cannot offer the solution—which is the same for all sin: Repent and believe in the Gospel! In Christ’s blood, your sins and my sins, like fiery darts, are extinguished and can harm us no longer. That is what the true Church of Christ offers, dear people. Forgiveness to those who confess their sins. Mercy from the God of all mercy. Sin and guilt and shame are not taken away by self-help books, going on talk shows, or having a wolf disguised as a shepherd shrug off your sins and say, “It’s okay.” Sin and shame and guilt are taken away by one thing only—the blood of Jesus Christ—which cleanses us from all sin. Our sins have already been punished in Him, on that cross. Jesus bodily rose from the tomb so that we would know that now even death itself cannot harm those who belong to Jesus and trust in Him alone, for as He lives, so we live as well.

Here, in Christ’s Word, in Holy Baptism, in the body and blood of our Lord given out in His Communion, there are real answers to real problems. There is forgiveness for sin, help for the guilty, the loving arms of Jesus to welcome sinners and cover their shame, to bring to them a ray of hope, to give them His promise of a new beginning.

We live in such a turbulent time. In many ways, we have witnessed the destruction of much of the foundation of Western civilization. The boundaries between right and wrong, and good and evil, are blurred and even erased. Many who hold positions of power have some responsibility in this, by making and enforcing rules and laws that may be entirely opposed to God’s Law and will. But ultimately, we have often turned a blind eye to the evil we see around us and have failed to speak on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves. Of this, we must repent. 

Jesus tells us that we are to be a light in this world of darkness. He is the True Light, who shines that light into the dark places of the heart. There is only One whom we follow, one Shepherd whose voice we hear, the One who can save and defend us and teach us true right from wrong. 

As we sing in the Offertory, create in me a clean heart, O God, Remove not your Holy Spirit from me. Jesus creates is us a clean heart. He renews us by His Spirit. He gives us a new beginning in the saving bath of our Holy Baptism, where our sins are washed off onto Christ, where His righteousness and holiness are washed onto us.

Only in Jesus can we continue the battle against the devil. Only in Jesus can we fight this good fight for the lives of our babies, our children, the elderly, the handicapped, the suffering, and those who are dying. In Jesus, we can proclaim the dignity and value of human life. In Jesus, the woman who has been emotionally and even physically scarred by abortion can find peace, forgiveness, and rest. In Jesus, each of us can know what it means to have God’s approval, to know we are forgiven of our sins, to have the promise and the absolute assurance of eternal life in a better world—a world without sin, without abortion, without death—a world that you and I inherit by grace alone, through the holy blood of the Lamb who was slain and raised again.

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

Video Part 1

Video Part 2

Text: Romans 6:1-11

Outline
1.    You have died with Christ
a.    SN no longer rules
2.    You live with Christ
a.    He rules in you

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 Epistle of Saint Paul to the church in Rome the sixth chapter verses one through eleven.
Intro: Boys and girls, I pray that you are doing well today. Have you ever had tortilla chips? The delicious chips that you could dip in salsa or sour cream or make nachos or have with tacos or something like that. But where did tortilla chips come from? What were they before they became chips? Well, if you said tortillas, you’re absolutely right. Sorry, no product placement here, but prior to becoming a chip, this was just a tortilla. Now, can the chip turn back into a tortilla? No, of course not, because this is soft, this is the before stage, and this is the after. There’s nothing this delicious satisfying chip could do to go back to being a soft little tortilla. It has been transformed. The same is true of us. Saint Paul writes that we have been transformed. How did that happen? Ponder that question as you hear the rest of the sermon.

1.    You have died with Christ
In chapter five, Saint Paul has been discussing the proclivities to sin that we have all inherited from Adam compared to the grace and mercy that has come to us because of Jesus Christ, the Second Adam, and His death and resurrection from the dead. This raises an important logical question. If we get more grace, then it should follow that we should do more sins to increase the grace that we receive.
We would expect Paul to launch into a huge law-oriented diatribe against sin, railing against it with all of the passion of a fire and brimstone preacher. Yet, he does not. Rather He outright rejects this logical premise on the basis of the transformation that has happened to us because of Jesus Christ. 

Through the waters of Holy Baptism, we have undergone a change. You have been transformed. Many in our world today see their baptism as a one and done type of event that has no impact upon their daily lives. They think, “I am Baptized so what?” They fail to see that their baptism is not a one time and done event. It is a constant and daily dying and raising again. We have died. We have been buried with Jesus Christ, our sins lie dead in the grave, and we are raised with Christ to newness of life. Paul uses one of his favorite compound vbs., synthaptein, a compound of syn-, “with” (i.e., “coburied”). As a result of the coburial, the Christian lives in union with the risen Christ, a union that finds its term when the Christian will one day “be with Christ” (syn Christō) in glory. Cf. 8:32; 1 Thess 4:17; Col 2:12. 
Because you have died with Christ, that means that sin no longer rules in you. You are no longer controlled by sin. You cannot say that you had no choice to sin. You are not a beast controlled by raw emotion. You have a choice because of Christ living in you through the power of the Holy Spirit.

For a Christian, continuing to live in sin is not only impermissible, it is impossible! To be sure, Paul knows that even a believer commits acts of sin until the day of his release from this earthly existence. We wrestle with our sinful nature on a daily basis. Our sins of disrespecting those in authority over us. Putting ourselves in the place of God, being selfish with the gifts we have been given. Our sins of thoughts in the dead of night, words spoken in frustration and anger. In the apostle’s theology this circumstance does not provide a valid reason for easy living. See verse 15. Moreover, the notion that a child of God should voluntarily give sin an opportunity to operate, that he should actually encourage it, produces a revulsion in Paul’s heart. He is disgusted with the very suggestion!

2.    You live with Christ

Saint Paul says not only have you died; you have been raised to newness of life. But what is that “newness?” Surely if our old life, now dead and buried with Christ, was wholly sinful, the new, to which we rise with the risen Saviour, must be altogether a holy life; so that every time we go back to “those things whereof we are now ashamed” (Ro 6:21), we belie our resurrection with Christ to newness of life, and “forget that we have been purged from our old sins” (2 Pe 1:9)  We have been freed from our sinful nature. We are free to live to God in this new-year, this new beginning, this new life that we have been given in Christ. We are free to let Christ make Himself manifest in us. 
How does He do this? Christ manifests Himself in us through our daily actions. Daily we die to sin, rejecting and refusing to indulge our sinful nature. Christ manifests in us as we live in service to our neighbor. When we use our time in service to others, helping out with food, shelter, and caring for them. When we focus upon the Word of God rather than indulging our sin-filled thoughts. When we give monetarily for the mission work of the Church, and many more, Christ is manifesting Himself within us.

Con: Thanks be to God that He has transformed us through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, united us with Him in Holy Baptism, and daily gives us of His Holy Spirit that we may daily die to sin and rise to newness of life.

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