Drink From the Spiritual Rock – The Shepherd’s Voice from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Vimeo.
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For many of us life is full of twists and turns.

This notice appeared in the window of a coat store in Nottingham, England: “We have been established for over 100 years and have been pleasing and displeasing customers ever since. We have made money and lost money, suffered the effects of coal nationalization, coat rationing, government control and bad payers. We have been cussed and discussed, messed about and messed with, lied to, held up, robbed and swindled. The only reason we stay in business is to see what happens next.”

Our gospel lesson is a little like this today. It talks about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. It talks about eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them. And it talks about a fig tree that needs more manure on it so it has a chance to bare fruit in the coming year. It seems like we need to stay tuned so we can see what happens next.

Are these all separate ideas or is there a thread of knowledge, a thread of wisdom, a thread of truth, or perhaps a thread of revelation about God that exists within these scriptures that we can latch onto.

In our second reading from I Corinthians 10 this morning we see Paul uses ideas or images about water, food, and drink from Hebrew stories and prophecy to show us Christ. He said, “Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did.”

So it may be fair to say that Paul used examples and Christ used examples not just to make their messages about life more interesting, but Paul and Jesus used examples so we can be enlightened, so that our minds would be opened to the possibility of God at work in our world.

Paul (1 Cor 10:2) says, “all (meaning the Jewish people fleeing Egypt) were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.” This was a baptism into God’s new way, it was a baptism into Moses’ leadership, a baptism into becoming a new people of God.

Paul (v 3 &4) again notice verse 3 he said “and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.”

Both scenarios remind me of the pep rallies we used to have on Fridays before we would play a big game with a competing rival. I went to a fairly small high school by today’s standards, but I remember those afternoons when the entire school would gather in the auditorium and drink the “cool aid,” so to speak of how our team could win.

Coach would give a short talk, a couple of players would maybe say a few things, the cheerleaders would be doing cartwheels on stage, and the marching band would be playing some rousing music. It got us excited about coming to the game and cheering.

Paul wants the church in Corinth to drink from the same spiritual rock that ancient Israel drank from and that rock was Christ. Paul’s pep talk sort of emphasizes a successful historical event and how God overcame evil.

However, some pep talks are more smoke than fire, more talk than substance. In fact, Paul says even though they drank from the spiritual rock “Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.” Are you in the wilderness?

So let’s look more carefully at the example brought to Jesus to learn a little more about imagery before us. They were talking about the Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with the sacrifices. People wanted a simple answer to this horrific event in which some Galileans had been killed by Pontius Pilate while worshiping in Jerusalem. They were greater sinners right?

As usual, Jesus turned this encounter on its head. The inquisitors were perhaps looking for self-justification in the face of unspeakable horror. They wanted a simple answer, but Jesus would have none of it. He turns the conversation into a call for repentance as the only grounds for hope. Do we at times turn the same kinds of incidents in our lives into simple theological inquires and lose the point entirely? What does it mean to stand in the face of God’s judgment today?

Jesus responds with a question that must have been on everyone’s mind, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?” Many times I’ve heard that question asked of tragedies today?

Not being dissuaded from this topic next Jesus cites the deaths of 18 people who die due to the collapse of the tower of Siloam, and asks another curious question, “Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?”

Jesus answers both questions with a resounding, “No!” Oh, the persons present surely wanted Jesus to answer “Yes,” but he didn’t. We would like to explain away death, misery, deprivation of resources, homelessness, and starvation in such easy terms, but we can’t.

We unwittingly suppose that life would be less messy if we could explain every tragedy based on a victim’s sin. From the O.T book of Job, don’t we see Job’s friends try the same approach when it comes to the suffering in Job’s life? But life isn’t that simple. God’s creation is not so mechanical that every experience is the result of an individual’s own stupidity or hard luck so to speak. We do suffer the consequences of our poor choices, but that’s obvious.

Paul said they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them and yet God was not pleased with most of them.

Knowledge of God is not knowing God! Again, back to our two examples; after Jesus said “No,” he further said, “I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”

Drinking from the spiritual rock that is Christ gives us a connection with God. A personal linkage that allows or enables us to say I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not listening to your wisdom Lord, I’m sorry for being so headstrong Lord and I’m sorry for trying to go it alone Lord, I’m sorry for being so immature in my faith that I did not see the light.

He said, “I saw the aircraft I love destroying the civilization I expected it to save. Now I understand that spiritual truth is more essential to a nation than the mortar in its’ cities’ walls. For when the actions of a people are under-girded by spiritual truths, there is safety. When spiritual truths are rejected, it is only a matter of time before civilization will collapse.”

Again, Lindbergh, “We must understand spiritual truths and apply them to our modern life. We must draw strength from the almost forgotten virtues of simplicity, humility, contemplation and prayer. It requires a dedication beyond science, beyond self, but the rewards are great and it is our only hope.”

Charles Lindbergh said when he was young science was more important to him than either man or God. He worshipped science. Its advance had surpassed man’s wildest dreams. It took many years for him to discover that science, with all its brilliance, lights only a middle chapter of creation.

Jesus final story in our gospel lesson is also a story of hope. Jesus said “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.” The man said to the gardener I’ve been coming now three years and I’ve never seen fruit on this tree. “Cut it down!” That’s right “Cut it down!” Where’s the hope here you say?

The gardener says let me dig around the roots, give it a little fertilizer and let’s see if it bears fruit next year. Now on many occasions in scripture a fig tree referred Israel, but in this case there is a broader context. The fig tree is all of us. All of us need to fertilized by the life giving power of God’s Word. If we are not we will NOT bear fruit.

With this story Jesus is showing how we have a loving, compassionate, patient creator, a God who, even when we turn away wants to give us some time to see the light. (1 Tim 2-4) God desires all people to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.

However, even in God’s time dynamic repentance is still a requirement. If the tree does not bear fruit after one year, Jesus says “you can cut it down.”

We don’t know the day nor the hour of Christ’s return. We don’t know the day or hour of the end of our life. Today, in this place God once again gives us an opportunity to drink from the spiritual rock and that rock is Christ.

Communion is one of those times to drink from the spiritual rock. God shows us grace and mercy in this banquet; isn’t that the whole purpose of the Lord’s Supper. Jesus told his disciples that the bread and the wine are his body and blood given for us.

Jesus talked about giving to his disciples (Luke 6:37b-38) “Forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”

Claim God’s promise of forgiveness and grace today, drink from the spiritual rock.

Amen

Go Tell That Fox – The Shepherd’s Voice from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Vimeo.
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Go tell that fox for me I’m busy; Jesus had a message to give to Herod Antipas, coincidentally it’s the same message Jesus has for us today. Tell that fox I’m on a mission, I’m curing people, I’m helping people, I need to finish my work.

1) Our gospel text today shows us that Jesus had a mission and that mission is also our mission.

2) Our gospel also tells us world is not kind to people of God. It’s a cautionary tale about anyone who speaks up on Christ’s behalf. Our lives do not automatically become perfect once we accept Christ.

3) When our lives are not perfect, when their in the toilet so to speak God comes to our aid. God loves us and wants the best for us, remember that.

Let’s talk about Jesus mission as it’s laid out here in Luke. Jesus said, “Go tell that fox,” in referring to Herod Antipas – I’m busy, don’t bug me, I’m on a mission.

If we look at a few of the earlier verses in Luke we see that Jesus was on a mission. (Luke 12:41-48) Jesus is talking about how to be a faithful and wise steward. He says those who are given much, much is required. It’s common sense, however, the only thing common about common sense is it seems to be uncommon today.

Most of us, if we had been born in any earlier century would think that if we have been blessed we should be a blessing to others. God taught this principle to Abraham in the beginning of the Old Testament.

Part of Jesus’ mission (Luke 12:51-59) was to tell people to deal with other people fairly in business – settle issues before they go to court, after all you know what’s right because it’s been written on your hearts. Again nothing new here, Ps 40:8 I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your instructions are written on my heart. Neh 10:29, Law given to Moses

Jesus also taught about bearing fruit – (Lk 13:6-9) – Jesus, using an example of a fig tree, warned the people that if their lives did not bear fruit than the vinedresser says “cut it down” referring to an unbarren fig tree. Are we bearing fruit in our lives today and what does it mean to bear fruit?

Bearing fruit, in the sense I’m using it here means are we sharing God’s story of love and grace with the people around us, our friends, our family, our coworkers? Are we actively multiplying God’s joy by the way we live, by the way we give, and by the way we serve others? Jesus told the people that if the fig tree did not bear fruit, the vinedresser, that would be God “cut it down.”

Finally, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue one day and he told a woman with an infirmity to be healed and she was. (Lk 13:10-18) – Jesus healed her on the Sabbath – he was accused of working on the Sabbath – Jesus called the people who he was talking to – hypocrites. Jesus said would you not unbind an ox or a donkey on the Sabbath to give them a drink of water? Back to the issue of common sense, too many rules.

“When mores are sufficient, laws are unnecessary; when mores are insufficient, laws are unenforceable.” — Émile Durkheim – a French social scientist – principle architect of social science said that. These are words to ponder, roll over in our mind.

The Pharisees had taken the original Torah, the Ten Commandments and made 613 laws that a fundamentalist Jew was to follow. It made them crazy after a while. We often do this in our own lives as we allow the law to overtake the gospel. Too much legalism – not a good thing.

In all of the stories about Jesus mission there is a sense of urgency associated with his mission. – Lk 13:22-30 – He says, Few will be saved, enter through the narrow door, enter now or you may be told “I don’t know you” – some of the first will be last and the last will be first. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. These are not trivial statements.

When the Pharisees tell Jesus, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you” Jesus is NOT dissuaded from his mission. And don’t get the wrong idea here his mission is not abolish the law, but it’s about fulfilling the law, (Mt 5:17) completing God’s plan for him.

We, the saints and sinners of Good Shepherd cannot be dissuaded from our mission. We must continue to show love for God and love for one another; we are to be God’s hands in a difficult world.

This is not something that is easy – the world is not kind to the people of God. We know that from experience, we know that from listening to Jesus. Jesus said 34Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! This saying about killing the prophets is a little cliché, but it is deeply rooted in Old Testament scripture and tradition.

Many of the references to prophets being killed come from the Old testament. Jezebel in (1 Kings 9:1-10) had the prophets persecuted and killed. Jehucal – was not a friend to Jeremiah – he urged the king to kill Jeremiah the prophet. (Jer 38:1-4)

Even in the N.T. we see references to how prophets were treated in the past, the days of old. In (Mt 23:35-36) the writer talks about Zechariah being killed between the sanctuary and the altar. Even the religious community of today, not to mention the secular world is hard on anyone who speaks with a prophetic voice.

I have a friend who was not approved for ordination in the ELCA because he was so outspoken about following scripture. Of course there is more to it than just that, however it’s very sad when political correctness trumps scripture and the message of the prophet is killed.

So where should we turn when our prophets are being killed and the secular world is being combative? Again, Jesus tells us “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.”

This image takes us back to Jesus’ mission. Having grown up on a farm, having raised chickens I have seen how a mother hen protects her chicks. I think we had maybe 100 chickens or so in our chicken coop. However, what happens when the chicks don’t want the protection? Well, on a farm there are also weasels or minks who come looking for the little ones. They take them and drink their blood.

I say this to reinforce the idea that evil is always present, evil prowls around like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. (1 Pet 5:8) Jesus wanted to provide comfort, but look what he says after giving us this image of the mother hen, he says “you were not willing!” One of the most frustrating things for me as a pastor, for many counselors, or for that matter doctors is to give out life saving advice and have it ignored, discarded.

Why aren’t we willing to listen, to be protected, to be comforted by God? Paul seems to wonder this as well. Look at our reading from Philippians, Paul v 18 says “For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things.” The little chicks don’t desire protection.

However, God has come to our aid anyway. Paul said “But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.” Are you being transformed into God’s image today or are you being humiliated?

Jacques Maritain, the great French philosopher of the last century, said there were really only three questions that had to be answered: “Who am I?” “Where am I?” and “Where ought I to be going?” Jesus knew who he was, and where he was, and where he had to go. Lincoln knew. All great leaders and great men and women of faith seem to know.

Do we know? Or is you life out of focus, are your goals fuzzy and ill-defined? Our world may seem a little crazy at times, but not any more so than the world in Jesus time. The Romans were oppressing, there was conflict in the Jewish community, most people in Jesus day, went to work every day, and came home, and were pulled this way and that. Things weren’t dramatically different, but Jesus was different!

That is such good news, that is life giving, that is life transforming news. Jesus mission was to go tell that fox that he Jesus was in the process of bringing God’s kingdom here, close by, available to all of us. It’s available to each of us today.

Can you go tell that fox, it’s not Herod, but there are people in the world who are asking you, who are you, where are you, and where are you going? So go tell that fox you are a citizen of heaven and God has taken you under his mighty wing, God has come to your aid, you are marked with the cross of Christ forever.

God tell that fox your on a mission and you belong to God.

Amen

Questions About Life – The Shepherd’s Voice from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church on Vimeo.
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What kind of questions do you have about life? Do you have questions about temptation after reading today’s gospel? Do you have questions about evil, where does it come from, why does it exist? What does it mean to test God?

Our gospel text this week is a fun text to work with because it seems limitless in terms of addressing life’s significant issues. This seems like a perfect text for the first Sunday in Lent since it has a forty day window of temptation and potential failure. Does this text replicate our Lenten journey?

I think it was the 3rd or 4th Sunday in January when I briefly referred to this text as one of hunger, holiness, and height text. Here we see Jesus, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit being led into the wilderness for forty days to be tempted by the devil.

Right away our modern minds say, tempted by the devil, there is no such thing as the devil! The devil is a figment of man’s imagination. We quantify evil or put the blame on someone else when we speak of the devil. What do you think is encompassed by the term devil here?

The specific word devil, Διάβολος (Diabolos) is found about 36 times in the NRSV NT and much of the time the word is used or it’s spoken by that rascal, that rabble rouser we refer to as Jesus. Sometimes, Paul or John use it too, but much of the time it’s used by Jesus or in conjunction to something Jesus is doing or talking about in a story or parable. Our politically correct, 20th century tongue has a hard time saying devil and even when we say it we have misconceptions about what it really means.

It’s sad to say, but in many main-line denomination churches the word has almost been outlawed because it’s so politically incorrect, kind of like the word sin. Unfortunately, this includes some ELCA Lutheran churches as well. We have become a society that is often determined to be so politically correct, so non-judgmental that we have lost our way when it comes to knowing the difference between good and evil.

The word devil in our context means slanderer, Satan, demon, wicked person according to the Greek word being used here. If we choose to not acknowledge the word devil here then it’s only logical that we are ignoring Jesus. When you ignore what he says, you ignore that he exists, because he used the term, not only here but elsewhere in scripture. Matt 4:1-11, 13:39, 25:41, John 6:70, 8:44, 13:2 – just a few instances of the word. As you are reading the gospels take note of how often the word devil or Satan appears.

If you ignore the devil, you do so at your own peril. If you disbelieve that a devil exists, at least the way it’s used here in our text, than you are also questioning whether evil exists.
So the first major question you must ask yourself today is do you believe evil exists? Jesus seems to believe it, why don’t you? Just remember evil is not a thing, it’s something that’s done, an action.

From that context we see there is a conflict between good and evil. Jesus acknowledged it. In Jesus’ wilderness experience he said no to temptation. What are we doing today in our own lives, are we saying no to temptation? For Jesus it seemed easy, but what does real life look like?
Many years ago, in 1170 C.E. a man by the name of Thomas Becket then the archbishop of Canterbury, said no to King Henry II when it came to collecting taxes from poor landowners and who worked on church lands. Becket and the King were even friends when this disagreement started. In fact it would have been an enriching experience for Becket to have just said yes, it was tempting, but he said no.

One night when Becket was saying his prayers in the cathedral he was murdered. His slayers were soldiers of King Henry II. They first demanded that Becket obey certain demands of the king, but again Becket refused, and the knights hacked Becket to death with their swords, right on the steps of the altar.

Becket refused to be a yes man, refused to live by bread alone and give in to the wishes of the king, and he paid the ultimate price. In our world when we give in to temptation it’s often more subtle and our death is more delayed. We do what’s called a slow fade.

After Becket’s death, Becket’s tomb became a place of pilgrimage for the faithful. And four years later, King Henry himself came and did penance there, to pacify both his conscience and his people. Because of Becket’s faithfulness to God in the face of opposing claims from the throne, the church later declared Becket a saint. In death there was final victory.

Isn’t this a bit like Jesus own experience. He says no to temptation, but is crucified in the end. Our second big question then is why doesn’t everything turn out perfect when we say no to temptation? Isn’t saying no supposed to lead to a life of celebration, a life of victory? Why doesn’t everything in our lives turn out for the best, economically, or in physical terms or in social terms if we are obeying God? Why?

Let’s look at our texts for some clues. Jesus first two responses were, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone’” (Dt 8:3) and , “It is written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.’” (Dt 8:19) Both come from Old testament scripture.

They come from a time when the people in the wilderness were being tested and when God was demonstrating to them that he would provide. Remember when there seemed to be no food and God provided manna on a daily basis. God did not want them to store up the manna, but God wanted them to understand their utter dependence on God.

Saying no to temptation does not mean our lives will all of a sudden be filled with great success, but what will happen is that we will learn that we are not the center of the universe, there is a higher power upon which our lives, our very existence depends.

Life is a balance between faith and forgiveness, between freedom and failure, between fear and fortitude. Unfortunately, for many of us we don’t discover that balance until we are pushed to our knees at the foot of the cross, usually by our own stupidity.

Saying no to temptation means we are saying yes to God, yes to recognizing our own humanity, our own limitations. Saying no to temptation means we recognize our need to worship God and not ourselves, we glorify God and not ourselves, we trust God and not ourselves. Taking this step says a lot about our maturity.

Jesus final answer to the third temptation was “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” So, our final question this morning is – are we putting the Lord our God to the test?

What’s going on in your life right now, this week, this month? We begin this Lenten journey together knowing that God sent Jesus into our world for a reason, a purpose. Just two months ago we celebrated the birth of Christ, the birth of a baby in a manger, now he is grown, being tempted in every way like we are and yet not sinning.

Are we putting God to the test by the way we live? Are we putting God to the test by the way we give? Are we putting God to the test by the way we love? God wants the best for us, but are we testing God because we keep living as if there were no God, no redeemer, no Savior?

Have you answered the first question I posed yet? Do you believe there is a battle going on in this world between good and evil? Paul believed it. In fact listen to what he wrote to the Ephesian church: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our/your struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Eph 6:10-12)

There’s a battle going on in this world. It’s a battle for the hearts and minds of all people and it’s a battle with evil, with the devil according to Jesus, according to Paul. Which side of that battle are you on? Put on the whole armor of God, it’s available to you today! Don’t leave home with out it.

Does everything turn out perfect when we say no to temptation? No, at least not how someone in the secular world would describe it, however through every temptation God provides a way of escape and for those who endure temptation God gives them a crown of life. (James 1:12-16) Ultimate joy, ultimate reward – the crown of life – God wants you to have it and it costs nothing because Jesus already paid the ultimate price.

So, we shouldn’t be afraid of testing or temptation. (James 1:3-4) James tells us in the first chapter of the book he wrote that because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4 and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. Remember what I said earlier about maturity, being tested, tempted, challenged is a good thing – God always provides a way of escape and you will grow in your faith – that’s a promise.

Do not test God, but love God because it’s only through God that we can live by faith. It’s only through God’s unending grace, Christ’s ultimate demonstration of love that we can claim victory over death and evil. God’s grace, Christ’s love, our hands; are we ready to follow Jesus today?

Amen

Today, is a day of new light, new enlightenment, new illumination. Last week Josh spoke about the Law and Gospel events that occurred when Jesus told Peter to put his nets once again in the water to catch fish. He had been toiling all night, caught nothing, but Jesus was to open his eyes to the restoration of God’s original plan for creation. Today, this eye opening, jaw dropping, dazzling display of God’s greatness continues.

Once again in order to better understand God’s action here we must turn back to the story of Moses receiving God’s covenant called the Torah, or book of the law on Mount Sinai. Look back at our first lesson today. (Ex 34:29-35)

Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand and his face shone. He didn’t know it, but when he came before the people they were afraid of him because his face was shining. Later he veiled his face.

To get additional perspective we need to go back still further to Ex 31 which is the initial story of Moses going up to Mount Sinai to receive the two tablets of the law. Just before he went up the mountain he spoke to the people about honoring the Sabbath day to keep it holy. He proclaimed the mercies of God and how important it is for God’s people to regularly honor God. Moses said, “It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed.” This is part of God’s pattern for refreshment. This is how we understand God’s original plan.

Apparently, this message did not take. Exodus 31 doesn’t give us a time table for how long Moses was gone, but it says when the people saw that Moses was delayed in returning they turned to Moses’ brother Aaron for a solution. Wow!

Have you every been betrayed by someone close to you, maybe really disappointed by a brother, sister, parent, child? Today is Valentine’s Day. I’m sure there will be someone disappointed today with their mate or their significant other. Maybe you didn’t get a card or flowers or the candy you wanted, that’s disappointing. People disappoint, but an awesome and loving God does NOT disappoint.

In the case of Aaron, Moses’ brother, he disappointed Moses. When Moses was delayed in returning, the people go to Aaron and say I don’t know if this guy Moses is ever coming back, were tired of waiting for him. They tell Aaron they want gods to worship so Aaron says take all your gold jewelry and we’ll make a golden calf. They do it, Aaron proclaims a festival day and the people rise up early the next day to eat, drink, and revel in perverse ways.

God sees this and is not happy telling Moses “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.” Now this, is a major law event.

Moses argues with God, not to condemn the people, now who hasn’t done that right, so eventually God spares them and Moses returns to the people. When he comes down the mountain with the two tablets of the law he sees the revelry, the partying, the perversion, and he burns hot with anger and throws the two tablets to the ground and they shatter.

This story is filled with deliverance, rejection, deliverance, rejection, deliverance, rejection. For many of us this is also our story. We are delivered from the hand of evil, our lives become one of revelry, and we forget God, reject God, but God does not reject us, does not give up on us because we have an astounding and great God.

In our Old Testament lesson today Moses goes to the mountain and returns with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand with his face shining. Later Moses veils his face because the people are afraid of his shining face. However, God, our amazing God forgives and continues to love his people and us, but our God also has set limits or boundaries for us in the process of showing us the goodness of all of creation, the natural order established in creation.

Do we like the boundaries, no, I don’t either? Our little Lulu, she’s growing up fast, she’s a little mischievous, like any puppy, well right now as we are still potty training her, she can only go into certain parts of the house without us being right there. We have a 36” high fence we use, but there have been times when she has been so determined to go beyond the boundaries that she has climbed over the fence. Sharon still loves her. Me, I’m more like Moses in becoming upset with what he saw the people doing.

Our relationship with an astounding and great God, who still loves us, no matter what varies, it changes from day to day. When Jesus took Peter, James and John up to the mountain to pray I’m sure they had no idea what was about to happen.

Look at our gospel text for today (Luke 9:29-13) it says, “And while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly they saw two men, Moses and Elijah, talking to him. They appeared in glory and were speaking of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” Departure. Plan. Accomplish.

Who would have thought, get up one morning, go to pray and you will see Moses and Elijah. Jesus appearance changes, his clothes become dazzling, much like what happened to Moses much earlier when God approached him. This must have been a fantastic moment for these three disciples. I’d call this a real mountain top experience, one that I’d never forget. Some of us have had what we call mountain top experience in our faith. We want to remember them, relish in them, return to them whenever possible.

Several years ago, Philadelphia bomb squad dogs went crazy as they sniffed frantically around a suspicious box. Police worked quickly to stop incoming airport traffic. They shut down a nearby train line. Something that intense needed to be treated with respect. The package was highly suspicious. The trained dogs were hysterical near it. Intensity built as they prepared to X-ray the contents. It turned out to be cooked crayfish. Some small, smelly, harmless creatures generated a boatload of worry for nothing.

Peter, John, and James had an intense encounter with Christ on a mountain. They were scared out of their wits. They didn’t know what that cloud contained. They only heard a voice saying, “Listen to him” (Luke 9:35). The imperative grammar of that word means “be obedient.” Do what Jesus tells you to do.
The saying “There are no atheists in foxholes” applies here. Whenever life’s intensity goes up, so does our willingness to listen obediently to God. The people of Israel experienced, Peter, James, and John experienced it, and we experience it when we encounter God in an intense way. Life’s intense encounters help us respond to Christ obediently. That cloud is no small, harmless event. The mountain top encounter was a foreshadowing of Jesus obedience, his departure, God’s plan. Just as Moses receiving the law teaches us about a redemptive and loving God this event foretold of Jesus departure, his plan to go to Jerusalem, his ultimate death and resurrection.

Of course Peter wanted to do more than just have this event as a past memory he wanted to build a tent, a monument in our terminology, to commemorate this mountain top experience. Don’t we all like to do that when we have these kinds of moments in our lives? However, it wasn’t what God wanted. It wasn’t the essence of the story.

In order to better understand this whole transfiguration event please now take a look at our second reading from Paul to the church in Corinth. Earlier, I mentioned that Moses had placed a veil on his face so the people of Israel would not see the glory of God and be afraid. This is how Paul speaks about it: (2 Cor 14-16)

Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set aside. “Indeed, to this very day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their minds; but when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

If we wish to see the significance of Christ’s transfiguration we must remove the veil from our minds and understand that our astounding and great God wants us to see the truth. The transfiguration is a foreshadowing of Jesus death and final resurrection.

The voice from above said, “This is my Son, my Chosen listen to him!” Our pattern in life is much like the people in the wilderness — deliverance, rejection, deliverance, rejection, deliverance, rejection. How can we stop this?

We can’t. Rejecting God is in our nature, we don’t like boundaries and just like Lulu we try to get around them. It’s our desire not to be bound by creation patterns, but it’s our desire to be God. We don’t want to listen to God or be controlled by God’s laws, but in reality when the veil is removed only God is in control.

For some of us there are just too many distractions in life. To paraphrase the poet Denise Levertov, we have the spiritual attention span of a minnow. Fortunately, when God heals us, just like when Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, healed the boy, and gave him back to his father we too must be astounded at the greatness of God.

The pattern of creation is clear, our proclivity to be delivered and reject God is clear, our desire to remain veiled is clear, but when God removes the veil, not only in the temple, but the veil over our eyes, our minds, and our hearts, when we put these mountain top experiences of Moses, Peter, James, and John in place we become transfigured and we see an awesome God full of love and grace. Remove the veil and be astounded at the greatness of God today.

Amen

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Good morning saints of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. As some of you know, I’m your pastor’s son. I’m also a first year seminary student and this happens to be my very first sermon. First sermons tend to be either too short or too long. But the good news is that the super bowl doesn’t start till late this afternoon, so no matter how long I talk you’ll almost certainly make it home. So in the spirit of new ventures, let’s say a word of prayer together, asking God to open our eyes and ears to the message within His Gospel lesson for today.

{Prayer}

Turn with me, if you would, to our Gospel lesson for the day, Luke 5:1-11.

Now I’ve heard it said that every good Lutheran sermon contains a little bit of law and a little bit of Gospel. And while there are various ways of understanding law and Gospel, I think it’s helpful to understand law and Gospel as events. And so in the case of “law” we might say that “law” is the event of standing under condemnation, of recognizing one’s brokenness, of seeing not just, or not even necessarily, one’s moral fallenness, but experiencing the radical and sobering truth that one is broken and cannot fix oneself or one’s world. The event of law is not the sentence of a judge, but the epiphany that the sentence of the judge is true and that one is utterly undone.

The Gospel, by contrast, is the event of reconciliation to God. Where the event of the law produces despair, because we can do nothing to fix our brokenness, the event of the Gospel declares to us that God will, and has, fixed our brokenness. He has forgiven our trespasses and created us anew, and the event of Gospel not only announces this work by God, but we experience this newness of life as we live out our lives in the event of the Gospel.

This Gospel event is so big that it doesn’t just limit itself to the crucifixion event in 33 AD. It not only declares our justification by grace through faith in Christ as a present reality guaranteed by God, but it gives us an anticipation of our resurrection in this life. As Paul might say, we already live with Christ, even though we are not yet with him.

But the Gospel event is even bigger than that. It’s not just objective, nor subjective, it permeates creation. Ever since the fall God has been working to renew the order and beauty of His creation. And as we Christians know, He had been planning this for a long time. As Romans 8 reads:

… the creation was subjected to futility … in hope 21 that athe creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (Rom 8:20-22 ESV)

So in accordance with this way of understanding law and Gospel, we can say this: all of creation, us humans, the animals, the rocks and stones and trees and stars, all of creation stands under law. It is and remains “subjected to futility”. The event of law is the event of recognizing the brokenness in all of creation. It is in our families, in our nations, and in our world. But as Romans reminds us, there’s hope. Because Christ has accomplished the event of the Gospel. And where Christ is, there the Kingdom of God is. There the renewal of all creation is. And saints, wherever two or more of you are gathered, there is Christ. The renewal of all creation began around 33 A.D. and it continues even now, with us in Buena Park, as we live out our lives in the event of Gospel.

Ok, so at this point perhaps you are wondering where we see this in our passage from Luke? Where is the law and Gospel here?

We note that throughout Luke, the author of Luke quotes the prophet Isaiah frequently. And not only does he quote Isaiah, he has the people in his narrative speak parts from Isaiah. These are woven seamlessly into the narrative. This is a common technique in ancient writing. The purpose of this kind of allusion is to enable the reader of the Gospel to appreciate the events happening in the Gospel in a way the “characters” in the Gospel couldn’t when the events actually occurred. To invert a phrase from Isaiah, the purpose of allusion in the Gospel is to make those who have ears to hear, hear. In our case, the readers of the Gospel are you. You are the ones with ears to hear. And so when, in the beginning of chapter 3, Luke quotes from Isaiah and Zechariah, saying:

5 Every valley shall be filled, band every mountain and hill shall be made low,cand the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” (Luk 3:5-6 ESV)

the purpose of the quote is to build up expectation in us for the fulfillment of this prophecy. What would such fulfillment look like?

These prophecies all have to do with God coming to his people and making a new exodus possible. When the mountains and hills are made low, they are made low so as to enable the people of God to travel out of their present slavery and darkness and back to God. The rough places becoming level is the equivalent of a heavenly Caltrans project: God is going to make it easy to come back to Him, and there will be no potholes. There is an image here of returning to Eden where God will once again dwell with all peoples. And the mark of Eden is the reestablishment of divine order within the cosmos. So if we are attentive readers, Luke 3 has prepared us to expect God to somehow, someway renew creation and reestablish the divine order. Does this happen in Luke 5? Let’s look for this in our Gospel story.

Chapter 5 begins with a crowd of people striving to hear “the word of God” from Jesus. Nowadays, the phrase “the word of God” is part of our Christian lingo. To a first century reader, however, the phrase is a novelty. It nowhere appears in the Greek Old Testament, save in the very beginning of Jeremiah, and while it’s common in Luke, it isn’t especially common in the rest of the New Testament. So when 1st century readers familiar with the Torah and the Prophets heard this Gospel, this phrase would have caused their ears to perk up.

In verses 2-3 Jesus gets in Simon Peter’s boat and asks to go out a little bit from the shore. He’s going to teach the people from the boat. And since his teaching has been referred to as the “word of God”, we could re-describe this scene as the word of God going out over the water to the people. Our 1st century reader would now be really quite shocked! This is a subtle allusion to creation in Genesis, where God’s spirit hovered over the waters and God spoke his royal edicts bringing all of creation into being. This allusion is further strengthened by Christ’s command to Simon to “Put out into the deep,” which conjures up the “deep” in reference to Genesis 1:2. So far these are only allusions. They are there to color the text and form our expectations. But they are not the events of either law or Gospel.

By verse 4, Simon challenges Christ’s command to take out the boat. Christ’s request goes against everything an expert 1st century fisherman would have done, and the very fact that Peter owns this boat (a relative luxury for a fisherman at the time) indicates that Peter is the head fisherman here.

To better understand how wild Christ’s request was, consider that 1st century fishing techniques involved the use of nets which were, much to the chagrin of the fisherman, visible to fish during the day. As such, fisherman using nets would ordinarily work at night and in the darkness. So when Jesus suggests to Simon Peter that they casually take the boat out to grab some fish in broad daylight, this suggestion flies in the face of what everybody knows about fishing.

To Simon’s astonishment, they make a great catch. Verse 8 says that “Simon Peter saw it.” This verse, verse 8, contains the first reference in Luke to Simon as Peter, a name that Jesus Himself chooses for Simon. The implication is that Simon has become Peter at this point. He has been converted. So what was so shocking to Peter about the catch?

It is in this catch that Jesus demonstrates his command over creation. The great catch isn’t just a magic trick. Luke has been using allusions from Genesis to get us to anticipate that some kind of restoration of creation’s original order is about to take place. And in the original order depicted in Genesis 1, everything was in a relation of governance towards something. For example, light governed the darkness, land was over water, and heaven over both land and water. The birds tended to the air, the fish to the sea, and the animals to the land. Even the sun “ruled”, as Genesis says, the day and the moon the night. But the highest governor in all of creation was man. Man was to tend to all things, take care of all things, and had power over all things. After the fall, all these relationships became inverted. Instead of man tending to the ground and eliciting produce, the ground resisted man and yielded only thorns. It was as if man had to serve the earth now.

The miracle Jesus accomplished demonstrated Christ’s concern to restore creation to its original order. He demonstrated that He ruled over the fish, just as in Eden. He was the New Adam. He was setting things aright, back to how they should be. When Simon sees this, when he recognizes that the one whom Isaiah had prophesied would come and restore all things has arrived and is restoring them, he at the same time recognizes his own fallen-ness. He says:

Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luk 5:8 ESV)

This is a partial quotation from Isaiah 6:5, which reads:

“Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!” (Isa 6:5 ESV)

It is not that Simon is guilty of some secret sin which the text dare not mention. Rather, Simon sees Jesus doing the very things Isaiah promised God would do. And in seeing this he recognizes the failure and brokenness of the world that he and all humans have brought about. Perhaps he remembers first generation out of Egypt. They were supposed to be mediators of God’s renewal to all of creation, but instead they rebelled against God and spent 40 years wandering the wilderness. Or maybe he remembers the failures of the two Kingdoms, and the exiles to Assyria and Babylonia. Maybe he remembers that Israel has not always been a light unto the nations, that it has not cared for the widow, the orphan and the alien, that it has not lived up to the Torah and there doesn’t seem to be any reason to think it will change. This is the event of law. It is the hopelessness of encountering God at work and realizing you are undone and helpless to fix things. But the event of the Gospel is quick at hand.

As soon as Simon alludes to Isaiah, Jesus makes a counter reference to Isaiah. Jesus says:

“Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” (Luk 5:10 ESV)

“Do not be afraid” is a watchword in Isaiah. It’s a command from God meant to comfort those who are broken and crushed. And so although Jesus simply says, “Do not be afraid,” it is short-hand for a verse from Isaiah 41 near the verses already explicitly quoted in Luke chapter 3 – the very verses that promised that God would clear the way for man’s exodus back to God. That verse, Isaiah 41, reads as follows:

10 fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with amy righteous right hand. (Isa 41:10 ESV)

That is the event of Gospel. Simon recognizes the brokenness of his world, and God is with Peter in that brokenness to heal that brokenness. God is with Peter to work to restore the order that was lost so long ago. Simon has become Peter and now confesses Jesus as “Lord.” He leaves everything behind to follow after Jesus. He is living in the event of the Gospel.

Like Peter, God sees us in our broken state and says to us, “Do not be afraid.” Like Peter, we are forgiven in Jesus. Like Peter we can live in newness of life.

Amen

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Last week we heard about the Spirit of the Lord being with Jesus. Isaiah said it; Jesus read it – when the spirit of the Lord is upon us we respond with love to those around us. We preach good news to the poor, we proclaim release to captives, we help the blind receive their sight, and proclaim the acceptable day of our Lord.

This is really stewardship; this is what we do after we say I believe. This is all part of God’s master plan to reclaim the world from sin, death, and the power of evil.

Today, we are going to talk about God’s faithfulness in contrast to our feeble attempts at being faithful. We need to understand God’s plan for this world. We need to reflect a little on God’s greatness, God’s glory, God’s goodness, and finally God’s grace.

When Jesus said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” What exactly did he mean?

First, let me say, this strong statement undoes the deists thinking that God created this world and left it to fend for itself, without further intervention or miracle. God sent Jesus into the world to continue God’s plan for humanity, but how do we know Jesus is the real thing?

The United States Secret Service, who are responsible for guarding the integrity of our nation’s currency, have a time-tested way of training its agents to recognize counterfeit bills. There are many tricks of the counterfeit-hunter’s trade, but what they all come down to is this: the Secret Service trains its agents not by teaching them how to look for counterfeits, but by teaching them how to look for the real thing. Agents who have become thoroughly familiar with every characteristic of a genuine bill have little problem spotting a counterfeit.

I know Jesus and Jesus is the real thing, his words indicate it, history supports it, and his behavior, as described by witnesses, shows he is NOT a counterfeit, not a pretender.

The people in the synagogue were surprised and amazed at the gracious words that came out of his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” Sometimes we are surprised by joy in our own lives, by noting what God has done for us, how God’s grace pours over us like melted butter on toast.

Jo-Ann earlier expounded upon ‘Blessed to be a blessing.’ When we are open to God’s greatness, God’s goodness, God’s glory and God’s grace we begin to understand God’s grand plan for humanity.

I’m not sure the people in Jesus hometown of Nazareth understood this. Jesus indicates they may be myopic in how they understand God’s plan. They have no view of the long term. They seem to be asking for miracles, like he did in Capernaum, but Jesus wants none of it. Jesus wants them to accept him without the glitz and glamor of the miracles.

Jesus says “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown.” He then goes on to tell them about healings that were done to Gentiles, non-Jews and all of a sudden the crowd becomes irritated. This statement is kind of a slap in the face to these folks.

Jesus is telling them that divine grace may be withheld from them and yet given to gentiles, non-Jews as it was told in earlier Old Testament scripture.

Remember, from the beginning when God promised to make of Abraham a great nation, the covenant was between God and the Israelite people. When God was faithful in giving Abraham a son, when God delivered his people for oppression in Egypt, when God brought the people of Israel out of the wilderness into the Promised Land it was all about a promise, a covenant between God and the Jews.

How could this hometown boy all of a sudden be talking about grace for gentiles, non-Jews? This infuriated the hometown crowd. This was not what they understood about the covenant, the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Many of us as Christians, also get our hackles up when we are told God is selective. God predestines certain people to curry God’s favor. These are statements that are very very politically incorrect today, and yet scripture supports this idea. Our text today says the same thing and this hometown crowd, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

Unfortunately, this sentiment goes all the way back to creation for many people. The universe, the world was nothing but chaos, the earth was formless and void and God said, “Let there be light.” God saw the light was good and God separated the light from darkness and it was evening and morning of the first day.

This act of creation, ‘bara’ continued and on the sixth day God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. And then God blessed them. God blessed them to have dominion over all the earth.

But as human beings, wanting to be like God, we were not satisfied. We had to eat from the tree of knowledge and even though God blessed us, we disobeyed. We fell short.

In our gospel text today Jesus is repeating the same idea. God had blessed the Jewish people to become a great nation. God was with them through the wilderness, brought them into the ‘Promised Land’ and they turned their back on God. Jesus said health, wholeness, and blessing came to the ‘widow at Zarephath in Sidon’ and ‘Naaman the Syrian.’ God was faithful and they were not and all in the synagogue were filled with rage
Life is NOT fair. Isn’t that what we all say, life is not fair. God blessed us and created us to be a blessing, but we often do not carry out God’s plan for this world. It’s by God’s grace and Christ’s love that we are to become God’s hands to the world, but we fail because of our own selfishness desires, our conceit, our pride, and envy.

Some of us think that we must be wealthy to be a blessing to others, however, I say the problem with affluence, is not that there is anything wrong with prosperity itself, but that material abundance often leads to amnesia.

Jesus said, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Of course he was talking to the people in the synagogue, the home town crowd who had a hard time believing him, but that doesn’t water down the message to us today.

The Bible over and over again insists that Jesus is how God put things in order. This is part of his original plan of creation. Paul said this is how God holds all things together. (Col 1:17, Rom 8:28) Clearly, Jesus is in some mysterious way behind it all.

Rob Bell in his book ‘Velvet Elvis’ (p83) says Jesus is the arrangement. Jesus is the design. Jesus is the intelligence. For us as Christians, Jesus’ teachings are not followed because they are a nice way to live a moral life. They are followed because they are the best possible insight into how the world really works. They teach us how things are!

I’m not a Christian because I think Christianity is the best religion. I follow Jesus because he leads me into ultimate reality. Jesus helps us stay in tune with God’s kingdom, God’s ultimate reality.

You know when someone around you sings off key, out of tune it’s like fingernails on a chalk board. Ok, I guess that’s really dating me. It’s like having a broken speaker on headphones or an iPod or your home stereo. It’s hard to listen to, hard to take.

When we are out of tune with Jesus, with God’s planned order in this world, it’s like being irregular. Some of us, as we get older know life is not fun when we struggle with normal bodily functions. Being irregular in our spiritual life gives us that same uncomfortable feeling.

In order to become regular again we need to be spiritually disciplined as I mentioned last week. Coming to church, being a blessing to others, supporting God’s kingdom with time, talent and treasure is one way of understanding Jesus is the fulfillment of scripture.

Many of us come here for many different reasons. President Franklin Roosevelt often worshiped at a Washington church. One day the rector at that church got phone call. “Tell me,” the voice said eagerly, “Do you expect the President to be in church this Sunday?” Patiently the rector said, “I can’t promise that the President will be here this Sunday. But we expect God to be here.” – Mosley

God is faithful, why aren’t we? When you expect God to be here he is here! We can sight many reasons why we come or don’t come to church. The bottom line has to do with what God is doing in our hearts and lives. If we don’t understand God’s call on our lives, if we don’t believe God brings order to this world in the form of Jesus, our lives will be without meaning, formless and void.

God knew this, God created a plan for each of us, but we must be willing to respond positively to God’s plan for salvation. Having no plan is planning to fail. Not responding is saying NO!

God created us and said it was good. God blessed us so we might be a blessing to others. It’s all a matter of faith, faith in God, faith in Jesus Christ, faith in the plan of resurrection for each of us so that we might have new life now and forever.

Amen

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What does it mean to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit? As we put this term into context we see Jesus has just completed his wilderness experience where hunger, holiness and height all played a role. Three times, Satan tempted Jesus, but failed in the process and Jesus, ‘filled with the power of the power of the Spirit returned to Galilee.’

From that context we can see that evil offsets good, there is a conflict between good and evil that exists in this world, but many of us want to turn our heads and ignore or avoid this confrontation. We often want to say to our kids, our friends, our family, our coworkers, it’s okay, it wasn’t that bad that you didn’t stand up for the truth, it’s not so bad to just listen to gossip, it’s okay to withhold honoring God on the weekend, it’s okay to hang on to your money even when you see someone else in need.

It wasn’t okay for Jesus in the wilderness, he said no to temptation and he was ‘filled with the power of the power of the Spirit.’ If you want to be filled with the power of the Spirit you must learn how to say no to evil, no to temptation, it requires discipline with God’s help.

After returned to Galilee he (Jesus) came to Nazareth and went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. Jesus filled with the power of the Spirit went to the synagogue. Luke said it was his custom, which means it was a habit or discipline.

We don’t always think of Jesus as a person of discipline, but going to the synagogue was a discipline, a habit, a custom to be followed for him. Often how we live, what we do with our time, our talent, and/or our treasure is a matter of discipline, a way of life.

Jesus made going to the synagogue a discipline, even though he was a person filled with the power of the Spirit. Or, is it that because he went to the synagogue in a disciplined way, he was filled with the power of the Spirit. Perhaps this is one of those chicken and egg situations.

In my own life I boil it down to ‘what you believe in you have time for.’ I have noticed this over the years with exercise. How many here exercise 5 times a week? Doctors recommend it. Our bodies need it in order to stay healthy and yet I can come up with at least a dozen reasons why I should skip it today.

Wendy called, it was important I talk to her, I couldn’t get to exercise today. Lulu needed some attention, for those that don’t know Sharon and I have adopted a new puppy, and yes Lulu the puppy needs attention. I have a sore foot today, it’s better I not exercise today. I needed to get to work early today to meet someone; I had to skip my exercise today.

See how easy it is to skip exercise with just a little logic and of course good reasons. If I were truly disciplined I wouldn’t continue to make excuses.

Jesus, even though he was filled with the power of the Spirit went to synagogue as a matter of discipline, custom.

This particular day when Jesus was reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah something rather surprising happened. Now before we go into that let me point out something about reading scripture.

We can also see this in our first reading from Nehemiah 8 where they told ‘Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses,’…. ‘He read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday’….. ‘all the people answered, “Amen, Amen,” lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD with their faces to the ground.’
Reading God’s Word in the synagogue (the meeting place of discussion) goes back thousands of years and honoring God’s Word as we do in this church has a rich tradition. The reason we stand when the gospel is read is because it shows a reverence, a respect for God’s Word. We could call this a spiritual discipline or tradition for us.

In our gospel Jesus, in dramatic fashion unrolls the scroll and reads:
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
He re-wraps the scroll and sits down.

Often we look at this text and highlight that Jesus was the fulfillment of scripture and it is made very clear here. That’s true, important, and substantial, but it’s not what I want you to wrap you mind around this morning.

Isaiah said it, Jesus read it, when the Spirit of the Lord is upon us it changes us. When we avoid temptation, as in Jesus did in the wilderness it changes us, we become filled with the power of the Spirit. So it would seem that becoming filled with the power of the Holy Spirit starts with spiritual discipline. The discipline of reading scripture, the discipline of going to church, the discipline of staying connected to God.

If we don’t exercise we become frail, weak, brittle, and flabby. The same is true in our own spiritual lives, our connectedness to God fades, we become flabby.

Powell recalls a story about a woman who came to him early in his life as a parish pastor and asked him ‘How can I love God more?’ They don’t really focus on answering these kinds of questions in seminary, I can attest to that, so he was at a loss.

He said he could recite all the should’s from scripture, but he found this wasn’t helpful. How can you make your heart love God? It was then that a verse came to him that seemed helpful. It was something Jesus said, which is found both in Luke and Matthew.

(Matt 6:21, Luke 12:34) For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Some people use this to mean that where your heart is that’s where you will spend your money, but that’s sort of backwards. If we take a critical look at this phrase and study the Greek it really says where you put your money, spend your time and talents your heart will follow that trail or path. Where you put your treasure, time, and talent that’s where you heart will end up. You do have control!

For some of us, this may sound like some very bad news; however, I say this is really good news. We have control over where we want our hearts to be, to go. How can I love God more – do more for God and your heart will follow.

Our secular society has turned this biblical concept on its head always talking about love this, love that, making us think that if we don’t feel like giving time or talent we shouldn’t do it. Stewardship is NOT about feeling, it’s a matter of the heart.

In fact “Mortals look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” (1 Sam 16:7) Religion that does not come “from the heart” is rejected in the Bible as mere “human doctrine.” (Mark 7:6-7)

Jesus said over and over again, what we do with our treasure, our time, talent, and energy affects our hearts – in fact it determines who we are inside. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

God loves us and wants our hearts to be turned toward Him. We can know all the should’s, we can hear all the law, we can be told that we should love God and love one another, but how can we love God more? Only through spiritual discipline, only through stepping out in faith and giving to God.

This is NOT rocket science. God made it so easy for us to understand, if we want to love God more, we need to love God more — with time, talent and treasure. Here love is a verb, an action word.

When Sharon and I went to Marriage Encounter we learned something very surprising about the word love. We learned love is NOT a feeling; it’s an action, something we do.

Maybe it could be stated this way. Love is a discipline where it is easier to act oneself into a new way of thinking than to think oneself into a new way of acting.

Isaiah said it, Jesus read it, if you want to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, help the blind receive their sight, and enable the oppressed go free.

All actions, all require discipline, all allow you to be filled with the power of the Spirit. Think about God’s call on your life today as we sing ‘Here I Am, Lord.’

Amen

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Last week we talked about getting completely wet. We were talking about allowing baptism to have its full effect in our lives, leaving nothing out. Taking this action is a matter of faith, a matter of knowing that God is in control, not just in the 1 -2 hours we spend together here on Sunday mornings, but 24/7, 365.

Faith for some of us is hard to find these days; faith in people, faith in changing laws, faith in changing policies, faith in a God without a solid scriptural base. Many people operate on an ambiguous and flexible framework of understanding where right and wrong become nebulous, hard to find or establish. This is an uncomfortable world.

We also see disasters in our world, like the earthquake in Haiti and we wonder, “where is God?” We are attacked by terrorists who wish to annihilate us, drive us back into the Stone Age and we say, “where is God?” Our spouse or a family member becomes very sick, or maybe our marriage is on the rocks, or we are in a life and death battle with our kids over drugs or sex or values and we say, “where is God?”

It seems Jesus’ mom knew the answer – she said, “Do whatever he tells you.” This context may not be in what we call a disastrous situation, a wedding without wine, however, having just gone through planning a wedding with my wife for my daughter last summer, I know weddings can seem like disasters when something is about to go wrong. Emotions run very, very high at weddings.

Here, in our story Jesus’ mom noticed “They have no wine.” She comments to her son and her son says, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?” A harsh remark.

As people not directly involved in the wedding, after all they were guests, not part of the wedding planners, they could have ignored the situation, turned their heads so to speak, but they didn’t. As Christians, living in Southern California we can turn our heads at situations that don’t involve us, like Haiti, but is that the right thing to do. I think not.

Jesus’ mom, Mary knew her son would do the right thing so she said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Mary had faith that her Son would have an answer to the disaster at the wedding. It doesn’t tell us here that she knew what he was going to do, she just said “Do whatever he tells you” indicating she had faith in her son.

In our story here who is Mary talking to? She is talking to the servants, the stewards of the wedding. Who are we in this world, we are God’s servants, the stewards of God’s creation and we are to do whatever God has told us to do.

The stewards are not the one’s creating the miracle, Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” The stewards followed Jesus’ direction and God turned the water into wine.

In our story the stewards filled the water jars, tasted the water, and called or notified the bridegroom. They did whatever Jesus told them to do. They took action, got completely wet, they ate their own cooking, and they proclaimed the good news. What a dramatic example of how God works in our world through us. We are God’s hands.

Warren Wiersbe said, “Faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted.” “Do whatever he tells you” Mary told the servants. They filled the water jars.

As stewards of this church, God’s church, we are being asked to fill the water jars. In ancient times water was used to wash people’s feet and hands because they would be dusty and dirty from their travels and they needed to be purified so upon or before entering a house they would do wash.

As people of faith, are our water jars empty and need to be filled with life giving water? Do these jars that need to be filled with God’s Word, Bible study, finding once again a connection with God? Has your life become a slow fade, a slow progression of accepting less of yourself because you are not in touch with God’s almighty power?

What are your water jars? If Mary were to say to you, God’s steward, “Do whatever he tells you,” what would it be? Remember “Stewardship is what we do after we say we believe.” Stewardship is an attitude, a concept of living generously in all areas of our life.

It’s about understanding the difference between a philosophy of abundance and a philosophy of scarcity. Our hearts determine how we look at life. Our hearts determine whether we believe there will be enough to go around or if we are afraid there will never be enough for us, in the end.

You will be receiving in the mail next week a time and talent worksheet. I would ask you to think about those water jars, think about filling them. What is God asking of you as his/her steward?

In our gospel, after the stewards filled the jars they tasted the water. They tasted God’s miracle. Stewardship, living a life as God’s steward means trusting God. It means having faith, that even in the disasters of life, God is with you. Part of filling those water jars involves making decisions.

Jesus tells us “You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt 6:24) Mammon in scripture is often referred to as things that money can buy, possessions, stuff, or a way of life. Etc. As Christians we have to make a choice, Jesus doesn’t leave it up to circumstance, or family or what we have or don’t have. “You cannot serve God and mammon.”

My mom always used to say, “The bed you make, you sleep in it.” It’s a slightly different saying than “Do whatever he tells you,” but what my mom meant was, how we live our lives unfolds based on the decisions we make, the faith we embrace.

Make sure as we fill the water jars in our lives we fill them with something we are willing to taste and something that will bring true joy into our lives. Knowing what this may be is not always easy to discern; however, as we listen to God it becomes easier. God has written his word on our hearts, we know what it is and if we don’t we know where to go for help. Being here today means God wants you to “Do whatever he tells you,”

This may be dating me, but I’ve always been a big fan of Jonny Carson. Years ago when Johnny Carson was the host of The Tonight Show he interviewed an eight year old boy. The young man was asked to appear because he had rescued two friends in a coalmine outside his hometown in West Virginia. As Johnny questioned the boy, it became apparent to him and the audience that the young man was a Christian. So Johnny asked him if he attended Sunday school.

When the boy said he did, Johnny inquired, “What are you learning in Sunday school?” “Last week,” came his reply, “our lesson was about when Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine.” The audience roared, but Johnny tried to keep a straight face.

Then Jonny said, “And what did you learn from that story?” The boy squirmed in his chair. It was apparent he hadn’t thought about this. But then he lifted up his face and said, “If you’re going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus!”

This answer is profound in so many ways. The last verse of our gospel says “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.” This wedding story is about developing the seeds of faith.

Mary told the servants, the stewards, of course that would be us, “Do whatever he tells you.” Can it be anymore clear then this?

When we invite Jesus to the weddings in our life our lives become joyful, fantastic, unbelievable!

When we fill our jars with the Word of God, with the knowledge that Christ came to baptize us NOT just with water, but with the Holy Spirit and with fire, our lives will be changed because of the good news.

When we do whatever God tells us, our understanding of God becomes radically different, we become new creatures in Christ, new creations in God’s kingdom.

Just as John says this miracle in Cana was a sign revealing God’s glory. So this coming week how can we be signs of God’s glory as we live as stewards of faith in this church, this community, this country, and this world.

“Stewardship is what we do after we say we believe.” I say lets, do whatever God tells us.

Amen

Isa 43:1-7
Psalm 29
Acts 8:14-17
Lk 3:15-17, 21-22

What is worship all about? Why do we get up on Sunday morning, sleepy eyed, get cleaned up and go to church? What motivates you to come to church, to worship?

Some might be saying it’s the right thing to do; it’s what my parents taught me. It’s what I’ve always done; it’s a pattern, a habit. It makes me a better person. It teaches me about right and wrong. I go because my wife or husband, my mom or dad wants me to go.

If these are the reasons you come than I say why bother. It’s not that these aren’t valid reasons, they may be, but they are just weak reasons; secondary reasons, not primary reason. These reasons are based on tradition, on an old understanding of how you should live or act on Sundays.

These reasons do NOT stand the test of time; they do not adequately motivate when times get tough or when schedules get impacted. If you can find a reason not to come, you will. We are all motivated by different things in life.

An elderly woman had just returned to her home from an evening of church services when she was startled by an intruder. She caught the man in the act of robbing her home of its valuables and came up behind him and yelled, “Stop! Acts 2:38!” Which of course is – (Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven.)

The burglar stopped in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done. As the officer cuffed the man to take him in, he asked the burglar, “Why did you just stand there? What’s that? Why did you stop the robbery when the old lady yelled out the scripture from Acts?

“Scripture?” replied the burglar. “She said she had an axe and two .38’s!”

Does scripture, God’s Word motivate you or do you need another reason to come?
Coming to church, coming to worship God is not about tradition, not about family pressure, not about learning the law, and it’s not about having an encounter with an axe and two .38’s.

Today, in our readings we are given many reasons why we should worship God. Before I go into them let me explain what worship is. If we break down the word, it means honoring something of worth. The word itself comes from the two words “worth-ship”, in the old English sense it had to do with the elevating of respect (worship) towards someone of elevated social status. Our liturgy in worship is called the work of the people.

So… do we value God, do you respect God, do you fear God? Do you know that God loves you? In our first reading – Isaiah said, “Thus says the Lord”….. “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” God claims ownership of us.

God has taken action on out behalf. God has called us, and come to the aid of his people. This was a very real concept to the people of Israel. Isaiah remembers when they walked through the waters, God kept them safe.

Isaiah also tells us, “For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom”, Why? – “Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life.”

These words were music to the ears of the people of Israel and they should be music to our ears as well, but do we believe them? Is God important today? Do we feel rescued by God, do we understand we are being saved by God on a daily basis?

That’s a question you need to ask and answer for yourselves. Again God wants us to bring our offspring to him and further in verse 7, Isaiah said “everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” All people are being called to God, to be part of God’s kingdom, part of a new creation.

The people of Israel knew this and they practiced it. They knew the Holy God of Israel, who brought them out of Egypt and they gave sacrifices, offerings to God to show their thankfulness. (I Cor 29:14) We know from history that worshipers brought things they valued to the altar and left them there. Sacrifice was equated with worship.(Ps 54:6, 96:8-9)

The essence of faith is worship and the essence of worship is sacrifice. Giving to God is an act of worshiping God. This giving is NOT because the church needs our money, we give because we want to worship God. This is a spiritual need we all have.

There are two components to giving. In our worship services we talk about it is our duty and delight to praise God, to worship God. We will cover this concept in more detail in a later sermon, but for now, know that there is an obligation to support our God, our church, and our community, but giving as an act of worship includes sacrifice, stemming from thankfulness, which leads to our delight as we honor God.

In our gospel text today it says “As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah.” People of Israel, at this time were waiting for a Messiah and they thought John was the fulfillment of that prophecy. John said he was not.

John said there was someone coming after him and “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” As we talk about what God has done for us we cannot forget the most important gift God has given us, the gift of His Son, the Savior. In our delight, our expectation we also need to understand the coming of Christ and our need to be baptized.

This Sunday is called the Baptism of our Lord Sunday to highlight the beginning of Jesus’ ministry into this world. Luke tells us here that, “when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven. It said, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’”

Jesus baptism, our baptism is important. Thus far we have talked about sacrifice, worship, and giving as an act of worship and now we need to talk about combining the two and getting completely wet. In his book ‘Giving to God’ the author Mark Powell tells about the baptism of the Gauls. The Gauls were a war like people who inhabited what we now call France and Belgium. They spoke a Celtic language and were Druidic by religion. By the time the Romans conquered the area they were thought to be under control in a positive sense.

The story goes that as missionaries ventured into this territory and were converted the Gauls would submit to baptism, but it had to be done in a certain way. When a converted warrior was baptized in a river or stream, just as they were dunked into the water they would hold one hand or arm high in the air so it was never submerged. Their logic so it seemed was that when the next battle or skirmish broke out, the warlike Gaul could proclaim, “This arm is not baptized!” so they could take up a club or sword or axe and ride off to destroy the enemy with that arm. This is a picture of a people who were trying to keep one part of their body, one primary aspect of their identity free from the influence of baptism.

I don’t know about you, but I can relate to this because it’s an image of how for years I never wanted to give my entire self over to God’s control. I always wanted to keep one aspect of my life in my control, not God’s control. We all want to be in self-control, but God has something else in mind, God wants us to get comfortable with getting completely wet, completely submerged in the grace and mercy of God’s kingdom.

For most of us not getting completely wet will mean different things. For some it may mean that we need to adjust our thinking in regards to how we spend our time. What do we do or what are we unwilling to do for the benefit of God’s kingdom. Is God calling us to be more involved in social ministry, in the music ministry, in Bible study, in giving of our resources to God, or maybe it’s something all together different for you. If you’ve been a Christian all your life, and many of us fall into this category this may be a threatening concept, but like the angel Gabriel said to Mary when she was confronted with being the vessel of God’s grace, for with God nothing is impossible.

God doesn’t expect that we will work miracles, we can leave that completely up to God, but what God expects is for us to be filled with hope, filled with expectation, and a desire to move forward in our lives. What are we going to do to enlarge God’s kingdom here on earth?

Please ask yourself, what can I do to get completely wet, to get completely involved in God’s work of building God’s kingdom in the coming year. What is my sacrifice, my worship as I come before God each week? Do I come out of honor and respect or is it just habit?

Our goal as people of God needs to be to raise up sacrifice and worship. We need to honor God with expectation like the people in John’s time. We need to recognize giving for what it really is an act of worship.

Worship is not about an axe and two .38’s. It’s not about coming here because it’s a habit or out of a sense of guilt. In reality worship is not about us, it’s all about God. We come to worship God because of what God has done for us. We give ourselves to God because of what Jesus has done for each of us on the cross. Get completely wet this year.

Amen.

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In the beginning, the Word was with God and the Word was God! For some of us, perhaps even many of us this statement means little or nothing because for most folks it doesn’t seem to get to connect. After all there’s lunch to be prepared and shared, there are babies to be cleaned and weaned, there’s money to be made and spent. Life goes on….

Jesus talked about this a bit in Luke 14 where he told the parable of the great dinner. Someone comments to Jesus about eating bread in God’s kingdom. Jesus responds come for everything is now ready, the invitation goes out, but people say I just bought some land, I just bought a car & must test drive it, I just got married. Life goes on, but are we missing something?

Ok, your busy. Everyone is busy, but God is giving us some wisdom, some insight here about himself and God wants us to hear it, to perceive it, to understand it. What Jesus spoke about are maintenance issues, not life, God wants us to stop and partake in the banquet of his kingdom.

So I say take time to listen to what God is telling us this morning. Sit, get comfortable as we reason together about God’s message to us.

The text started with ‘in the beginning.’ That’s a very good place to start. The Word was with God –and the Word was God – these are NOT some sort of philosophical babble! These words tell us about God. If we just take the time to dissect them and ponder them. Everything is spiritual.

This gospel text today from John is profound. Not everyone will recognize that, not everyone wants to. There are times in life when we don’t recognize significant stories.

Not all novels or books in life get immediate acclaim. Richard Hooker worked for seven years on his humorous war novel, M*A*S*H, only to have it rejected by 21 publishers before Morrow decided to publish it. It became a runaway bestseller, spawned a blockbuster movie and a highly successful television series.

What was it about this story that attracted readers, movie goers, and couch potatoes? Well, it was about relationships within the story. Relationships, can we see that idea in our text today?

The Word was with God – and the Word was God is indeed a story about relationships, our relationship with God and our relationship with one another.

If we look at God’s Word, the logos (Greek term), it’s a message about the essence of life, maybe boring to some, but for many of us, it’s all about God being with us.

Going back to my original statement ‘in the beginning,’ this statement gives us a benchmark, a starting place.

This statement is NOT here to deal with the idea of creation. There are many voices on the topic of creation today. Do you believe in intelligent design or evolution?
A little girl asked her father, “How did the human race appear or how did it get started?”
The father said, ‘God made Adam and Eve, they had children, and that’s how it all started.’
Two days later the little girl asked her mother the same question. The mother answered, ‘Well millions of years ago there were monkeys that evolved into humans.’
Now the little girl is a little confused so she goes back to her father and asks “How is it possible you told me the human race was created by God and mom says we evolved from monkeys?”
The father answered, “Well young lady, it’s very simple. I told you about my side of the family and your mother told you about hers.”

What we believe about the beginning is a matter of faith and all the science I could talk about around intelligent design or evolution would not matter. You, as a Christian, a believer have to start somewhere and faith is part of the assumption when we refer to God.

I’m not here to argue about the fossil record or the lack thereof, but you must decide what makes sense to you relative to all the claims and counterclaims of evolution versus creation science. As a past engineer who has studied a great amount of science, physics, and math the more I learn about life, DNA, and all the complexities the more I realize we can’t create life ourselves from scratch. There was a beginning and it didn’t include or involve me.

In the beginning something, someone, a higher power than us, brought order out of chaos. In this church, in this place we call that higher power God. This God, this Spirit came to man as recorded in scripture and has given us insight about life.

Our record of understanding started with the people of Israel, and developed over time into a cogent, and well defined path toward a relationship with the Father, the higher power, the Christian God of the universe. Could it be that our lack of desire to understand the phrase ‘the Word was with God and the Word was God’ comes from our lack of a developed relationship with the father? Many of us are smart, we have degrees, we are educated, but maybe we lack that relationship so our spiritual growth has been stunted.

Does our intellect or educational prowess limit our ability to think outside the box? From history we know Sir Isaac Newton did very poorly in school. Louis Pasteur was only a mediocre pupil in undergraduate studies and ranked on 15th out of 22 in chemistry. Thomas Edison’s teachers said he was too stupid to learn anything.

I would be careful in trying to intellectualize my way to a relationship with the Father. I’m not talking down intellect, but I want you to realize that raw intellect or significant education has little to do with being able to develop a relationship with God. Building a relationship with God comes from spiritual disciplines like prayer, Bible study, going to worship, and giving to God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

This phrase from John is not only a historical statement of belief, it’s also a statement of truth, and it’s a promise. The Word, the message of God has come to us and if we choose to embrace it, accept it, we will be changed in the process.

In studying physics especially Newton’s Second Law of Motion (F=ma) and his Third Law “To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction” we know that everything that occurs in nature is affected in some way by everything else.
Being called by God, hearing God’s message, recognizing God’s Word that was in the beginning, is now, and forever shall be, will influence on your life. Maybe not today or even tomorrow, but God has called you to be part of his kingdom.

Perhaps, you are saying right now, what do you mean God has called me? Well, are you here? Are you hearing God’s message today? If you are, you are being called by God to a response. How you react, whether you reject it or embrace God’s Word will make a difference in your life.

Our gospel text says, “But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.” This is the promise that God has for us. There’s no magic, no hocus pocus, it’s all about God reaching through the message, the logos, the good news of life.

The light shines into the darkness and the darkness is not able to overcome it. John the Baptist came into the world to be a witness to the light, but he was NOT the light.

Who was the light? “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.”

The manifestation of Christ in this world is like a mustard seed planted in soil in which it will sit for a time, sprout and take root. It may become a significant plant in God’s kingdom, but that depends on the water and nutrients (God’s Word, love, grace, worship) given it to grow into maturity. For some this seed will not sprout because nourishment will be kept from it.

Not all plants grow up strong and healthy, but some that start even in very modest soil have a way of flowering into God’s perfection. Mother Teresa an Albanian by birth; received her spiritual training in Dublin, Ireland and Darjeeling, India and then she became a nun in 1937, and finally a citizen of India in 1948.

After teaching for twenty years at a high school in Calcutta, India, Mother Teresa said she received another call from God to serve the poorest of the poor who lived in the streets. This call came because she said she could see Jesus in the faces of the suffering, the lonely, the outcasts. God’s Word became flesh to her and the result is history. The Missionaries of Charity feeds 500,000 families a year in Calcutta alone, treats 90,000 leprosy patients annually, and educates 20,000 children every year.

That small seed of the incarnation of Christ grew in modest soil into a magnificent plant with many branches and flowers in God’s kingdom. As you take stock, as you look at the coming year remember what the angel Gabriel told Mary (Luke 1:37-38) once she heard of Elizabeth’s conception and her own impending pregnancy. “For nothing will be impossible with God.” Can we embrace that idea together this coming year?

Can we live out the promises of God moving forward as the Word become flesh in our lives?

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God …. “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory.”

The law was given through Moses – but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Amen