Genesis 12:1-8 "God Speaks and Faith Responds"

Genesis 12:1-8 Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your kindred, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him, and Lot went with him. And Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Abram passed through the land to the place of Shechem, as far as the terebinth tree of Moreh. And the Canaanites were then in the land. Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” And there he built an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to him. And he moved from there to the mountain east of Bethel, and he pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east; there he built an altar to the LORD and called upon the name of the LORD. Theme: GOD SPEAKS AND FAITH RESPONDS - Cheerfully obeying His commands - Worshiping Him for His promises Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, How much do you know about Abraham? When we think of Abraham we might think of a man to whom God promised he would have a son, but that son was not born until he and his wife were well into their 90's. Or we might remember how years later God tested Abraham’s faith, by telling him to kill that only son as a burnt offering to him. Or maybe we remember how Abraham pleaded with God many different times to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, if there were enough righteous people living there. But have you ever stopped to think about how similar we are to Abraham? While we don’t expect God to give us a child when we are in our 90's nor do we expect Him to ask us to sacrifice any of our children, we are very similar to Abraham. When God first called Abraham, or Abram as his name was then, he was living in Ur of the Chaldees and later in the city of Haran - both in modern day Iraq - Abram was an idolator, just like his family was. They did not worship the one, true God of Creation. But all that changed when God called Abram. By His almighty power He took Abram from the power of darkness and unbelief to the light of faith in Him. Do you begin to see how similar we are to Abraham? While I am not aware of any of you ever openly worshiping false gods, we all were born in the same spiritual condition as Abraham. God had to call us out of the darkness and into His marvelous light. Abram’s call was a call of grace. He did not deserve to be called into the Kingdom of God, much less become a forefather of our Savior Jesus. Ours was an election of grace as well. We do not deserve to be members of the Kingdom of God. But out of His undeserved love, God has made us His children. And as God called Abraham His friend, Jesus calls us His friends. All this by the grace of God. So what binds us together with Abraham is God’s grace and our faith. Abraham had faith in the promises of God and we have faith in the promises of God. In fact, we heard the Apostle Paul write in our New Testament lesson that those who live according to faith are, in that way, children of Abraham (Rom. 4:16). So let us this morning, examine our faith and the faith of our father Abraham. Let us examine how for both of us, God speaks and faith responds. It responds in obedience to His commands and in worship for His promises. May the Holy Spirit bless our meditation on His holy word! CHEERFULLY OBEYING HIS COMMANDS None of us enjoys being told what to do. Whether we are 2, 22, 42, or 82 - we don’t like being told what to do. We may obey, but rarely do we consider it a joy to obey. We don’t like being told we can only drive so many miles per hour. We may do it, but we want to go faster. Or we don’t like being told we have to fasten our seatbelt in the car. We may do that too, but we don’t like being told it is the law and we have to buckle-up. In each one of us is a sinful old man that is selfish and wants to be its own boss. Our old man is kind of like a three year old in the grocery store who lays down on the floor kicking and screaming because mom told him to do something he doesn’t want to do. We may hide it better as we get older, but our old man feels the same way about being told what to do. That is what makes the events in our text so remarkable. Here we have a command from God that Abram seems to cheerfully obey. Listen again to what the LORD said to him, “Get out of your country, from your kindred and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.” What is the LORD telling Abram to do? He’s commanding him to leave everything he knows and is familiar with, and journey into the great unknown - to a foreign and unknown land. The LORD is asking Abram to blindly follow Him in faith and trust Him. Imagine the LORD saying this to you! Imagine if the LORD asked you to pack up all your belongings and get on an airplane to an unknown destination. Leave behind your parents, most of your relatives, your friends, your hometown, your state, and even the country that you had grown up in. What a command! Yet how did Abram respond to this command from the LORD? Did he lay down on the dirt floor, kicking and screaming, saying “I don’t wanna! I won’t! I won’t!” What do we read this 75 year old man did in verse 4? “So Abram departed as the LORD had spoken to him.” God said it, Abram did it. Abram took up his wife, his nephew lot, boxed up their possessions, gathered all his servants, and left for Canaan. Canaan, a land hundreds of miles away, a place Abram had likely never been, and a place where the people likely spoke a different language. This is faith at work, isn’t it. This is that child-like faith which takes God at His word. Abram doesn’t question, “Where will I live? Where will my livestock feed? What will I do when I get there?” Faith doesn’t question the word of God, but simply trusts it and obeys. This is what the psalmist wrote in Psalm 112, “Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments.” This is faith which is willing to leave everything behind that it knows, and cheerfully obeys the commands of God. Now the LORD hasn’t asked us to leave the Dakotas and move to a foreign country. But the LORD has given us similar commands to leave behind all that we know and follow Him. Leave behind the world and it’s empty pleasures. The world tells us that we need to take care of ourselves first, our needs, our wants, our desires, and everything else comes second. Jesus says, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” (Lk 9:23) How do we respond to denying ourselves, denying our fleshly desires, and following Jesus? Well our sinful flesh doesn’t like it, but our faith does it cheerfully! The new man of faith which the Holy Spirit has created in us DELIGHTS to do the will of God, just as Abram and the psalmist did. Likewise Jesus has promised be with us as we journey through the valley of the shadow of death. He has called us to follow Him to a land that He will show us. None of us have seen the Promised Land of heaven, yet faith cheerfully follows Jesus, trusting His Word with that child-like faith. In faith we seek to deny ourselves, and follow only Jesus. WORSHIPING HIM FOR HIS PROMISES We teach our confirmation students that throughout Scripture there are two main doctrines or teachings - Law and Gospel. Law is anything God tells us to do or not do something. The 10 Commandments are law. We would say that the LORD’s command to Abram to leave his father’s house was law. The Gospel, on the other hand, is a promise from God that He will do something. A promise to bless. A promise to save. The Gospel is the good news about Jesus doing everything necessary for us to go to heaven. So as we return to the LORD speaking to father Abram in our text, what do we find in verse 2 and 3 of our text? “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” And then again in verse 7, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So, Law or Gospel? Gospel! The LORD tells Abram I WILL do these things for you. I WILL make you a great nation. I WILL bless you and make your name great and you shall be a blessing. This is the LORD promising to do great things for Abram out of His undeserved love. The LORD did indeed make a great nation out of Abram. From Abram’s lineage would come the great nation of Israel. The LORD did indeed make Abram’s name great, didn’t He. People today of many different religions admire Abram as a great man of faith. The LORD did indeed bless Abram and make him to be a blessing - a blessing for all the people of the earth. This was the LORD promising that from Abram’s descendants Jesus would eventually come. Jesus who is the Savior of not just the physical descendants of Abram, but of all the families of the earth. Abram’s descendant, Jesus, is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Abram’s son, Jesus, would be his Savior as well - and in this way Abram would be greatly blessed! But how many of these things would Abram see in his lifetime? When Abraham died, his son Isaac had only two sons, Esau and Jacob. It wouldn’t be for many centuries after Abraham’s death that a great nation would rise from his offspring. And it would be centuries before his descendants would take possession of Canaan and form the nation of Israel. Abraham certainly did not live to see how all the families of the earth would be blessed in him. Though Abram saw very few of these things come to be, that didn’t stop him from believing they were true. And how do we know? Well we see the fruits of his faith once again, don’t we! Wherever Abram settled, there he would build an altar to worship the LORD God. When Moses writes in verse 8 that Abram, “called on the name of the LORD,” that means he worshiped and prayed to him. No longer did Abram worship false idols, but the LORD God was now his God and the only God he worshiped. In this life, like Abraham, we do not always see the blessings God promises us. So often our eyes seem to be telling us a different story than what our hearts believe. Most often what we do see with our eyes are the crosses that come with following Christ. The Apostle Paul encouraged the suffering believers in Asia-minor, "We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God." (Acts 14:22) Just as Jesus endured much shame and persecution, we should expect the same when we deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him. Our suffering is not to pay off our sins, because Jesus already completed that payment when He announced, “It is finished,” from the cross. Our crosses are the cost of discipleship. But the LORD God has made just as many precious Gospel promises to us, hasn’t He! We haven’t seen Jesus face to face, but we believe in Him and love Him as our Savior. We didn’t see Jesus die on the cross, yet we believe that He was sacrificed to purchase our forgiveness. We’ve never seen someone who was raised from the dead, yet we believe Jesus rose on the third day and we believe that we too will rise from the dead on the last day. We haven’t seen heaven, yet we know the dwelling place of God exists and because of all that our Savior Jesus did, we too will inherit and enjoy the bliss of eternal life with Him in heaven. As Paul wrote, “We walk by faith, not by sight.” (2 Cor 5:7) And though unseen, we worship the God who loved us and saved us. He has given us faith in Him, faith which exercises itself in worship. We call upon His name as we praise Him, pray to Him, and give Him thanks. And not just on Sundays and Wednesdays. Just as Abram built an altar to the LORD wherever he moved, so too wherever we go, we worship our Savior God in our daily lives. Paul writes in Romans 12:1, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.” Faith responds to the promises of God by worshiping Him. So, you see, we do have a great deal in common with Abraham. We worship the same Triune God. Though Abraham looked ahead to a Savior yet to be born and we look back at Jesus who already lived, suffered, and died for us - we both believe in the same Savior. Through the faith God gave both Abraham and us, we gladly obey the commandments which He speaks. And our faith responds to the promises of God by worshiping Him for His goodness and grace. May God ever continue to work in us, as He worked in our father Abraham, to keep us steadfast in this faith unto eternal life. Amen.

Matthew 4:1-11 "Our Lord was Tempted as We Are"

Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3 Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' " 5 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' " 7 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' " 8 Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." 10 Then Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " 11 Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him. Theme: OUR LORD WAS TEMPTED AS WE ARE I. Tempted to distrust God II. Tempted to test God III. Tempted to be disloyal to God Dear fellow wanderers through this desert, redeemed in Jesus Christ, Lent has been described as a scene of battle for men’s souls. In today’s text we find just that, don’t we. A battle for the salvation of our souls. We find two princes engaged in combat. We hear how the prince of the power of the air, the devil, tempted the Prince of life, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. As we come upon this battlefield we can rejoice because we hear that Christ was victorious. The writer to the Hebrews says of Jesus, “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Heb 4:15) Jesus was tempted in every way that we are tempted. The old evil foe regularly engages in battle with the Children of God. He tempts us just as he tempted our Savior. As we examine our text today, we not only see the weapon Jesus used to battle Satan, but we also see that Jesus was victorious in every single one of His battles. Let us examine how even as the devil tempts us, so too he tempted Jesus to distrust God, to test God, and to be disloyal to God. May God the Holy Spirit ever strengthen us by His Word as we find that the Lord is our refuge! TEMPTED TO DISTRUST GOD The setting couldn’t be more different from our Old Testament lesson (Gen 2-3) to our sermon text. In our Old Testament reading we heard just how blessed Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden. God had given them everything. They could eat from any of the trees in the Garden except for the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Yet when the devil came to the blessed man and woman, they chose to disobey God, give heed to the temptation, and eat of the forbidden fruit. But the scene we come upon in our sermon text couldn’t be more different, than the plush conditions of the Garden of Eden. Jesus had just been baptized in the Jordan. The Holy Spirit had descended and remained on Jesus. God the Father had spoken words of endorsement and encouragement to His Son. Then He was led by the Spirit to the desert. In the desert where there was nothing for Jesus to eat. For forty days and forty nights Jesus went without food. And consider how amazing it is to hear that Jesus was hungry! For us this is normal. But for true God to be hungry? Here we see the depths of humiliation the Son of God was willing to go to save us. Conditions could not be more different for the second Adam, than the first Adam. Adam in the Garden had countless trees to eat from, Jesus in the desert had nothing to eat and He was hungry. The devil tries to capitalize on those hunger pangs to tempt our Lord. As Satan so often does, he tempts with questions. “If You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” It’s as if the devil were saying: “If it’s really true, Jesus, that You are the Son of God, making these stones into bread should be no problem. We’re here alone in the middle of the desert. No one will know. You’re hungry and here’s an easy way to prove that you really are the Son of God. Surely God does not want His ‘beloved Son’ to go hungry, does He?” Seems harmless enough, doesn’t it? We can hardly see any harm in bread, can we? After all we all need to eat. Jesus was hungry. He’d done bigger miracles than changing stone into bread. But what this sly devil was doing, was tempting Jesus to not trust in God. To not trust that God would take care of Him. To convince Him that feeding His flesh was the most important thing. But Jesus replies, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' " Notice the humility of the Son of God. He does not argue back with His authority as the Alpha and Omega. Rather, Jesus points to Scripture, Deuteronomy 8:3. Earthly bread is secondary to the Bread from heaven. Jesus belly was not His first concern, living on every word that comes from the mouth of God. The devil would have Jesus use His power to serve Himself. Jesus was not about to do so. The devil comes after us with the same temptation, doesn’t he? He tempts to compromise our trust of God for the needs of our flesh. He tempts us to place our bodily needs ahead of our spiritual needs. Maybe it’s a great job offer or a scholarship at a university that is hard to pass up, but would result in you moving away from your church. Maybe it is choosing work over church. Maybe it’s spending 10 more minutes in the field rather than taking 10 minutes to have a devotion with your family. Whatever the devil’s approach or angle might be, know this, that He does tempt us to distrust God and take matters into our own hands. How have we handled such temptations? Have we always trusted God above everything else? Hardly! So often we try to make bread out of stone by taking things into our own hands. And in doing so we sin against God. We sin against the very first commandment by not TRUSTING in God above everything else. Yet what do we see with Jesus? Jesus who is our Substitute under the law? We see Jesus standing victorious on the battlefield, conquering this temptation for us and being faithful to God in our place! TO TEST GOD “Alright,” the devil would say, “You want to quote Scripture - here’s Scripture for you.” The devil takes Jesus to a high wall in Jerusalem, possibly one with a 400 foot drop into the Kidron Valley. The devil then questions Jesus again and quotes from Psalm 91, "If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: 'He shall give His angels charge over you,' and, 'In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.' " “God said it. It’s His Word. Are you afraid God won’t keep His word? Don’t you believe God will do what He says He will do?” The devil would have Jesus test God and make God prove that He means what He says in His Word. It is true that the devil quoted from Psalm 91, but he purposefully left out a very important part. In Psalm 91:11 we read, “For He shall give His angels charge over you, To keep you in all your ways.” Yes, God promises to watch over and protect all His children. He promises to provide His angels to protect us, to keep us in all our ways. To keep us in all our ways means that as we live in accordance with the way God wants to live. But the devil loves half-truths. He loves to misquote, misapply Scripture and lead into temptation and sin by twisting the Word of God. Again, notice how Jesus replies. He does not reply with a logical argument as Eve did in the Garden. He does not call upon the authority that is His as the Son of God. In humility Jesus relies on the power of the simple and clear Word of God to combat Satan."It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the LORD your God.' " Why test God when there is a perfectly fine staircase over there? To put God to the test is contrary to the simple and clear Word of God as Jesus quoted form Deuteronomy 6. He was tempted as we are, isn’t He? Aren’t we tempted to tempt the LORD our God? How many times haven’t we, knowing what God’s Word says, been tempted to either make God prove He is serious about something or tempted to push God to see what we can get away with? And how often don’t we give into those temptations! Even if it was testing God just once, that makes us guilty of all and worthy of God’s eternal wrath. But what do we see with Jesus? We see our Champion standing firm in the face of the very same temptations we fall into. Our Lord was tempted as we are, yet without sin! TO BE DISLOYAL TO GOD It seems that the devil was getting frustrated with Jesus. He had not proved such an easy target as did Adam and Eve. But the devil continues to lie and manipulate. He finally tries to appeal to greed for power. Here is the Son of God who from eternity had all authority in heaven and on earth, but now had taken on the humble form of a servant. From eternity He had all the riches of the universe at His fingertips, but now He was poor and without a place to lay His head. The devil takes Him to a high mountain and shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. Where or how this took place, our minds struggle to comprehend. But this we know by faith - it really happened. And the devil really tempted Jesus saying, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me." All the power and wealth and might of the kingdoms of the world would be a great temptation to the Son (as it were) of a carpenter. Everything anyone could ever desire, right at His fingertips - if only He would bow down and worship the devil. This is the last straw for Jesus. For the first time addressing him by name, Jesus says, "Away with you, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.' " Satan would have Jesus be disloyal to His Father. He would have Him worship Satan instead of God. And this Jesus cannot tolerate, for it goes against the 1st and greatest commandment. Someone once said that sin can kind of be like a painting. If it’s in the right frame it doesn’t look so bad. Satan loves to put idolatry in a pretty frame, doesn’t he. He shows us how fun the pleasures of the world can be on TV. He makes the women of the world look so appealing to our flesh. He makes fame and power look so wonderful. Satan would have us believe that we have to look out for number one - ourselves! He would have us be disloyal to our Father in heaven. A few weeks ago, we heard Jesus say, " No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” (Matt 6:24) But Satan would have us believe that the pursuit of happiness should be our first goal in life. It’s one of our “inalienable rights” we are told. Not so, our Savior says. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.” (6:33) We are assaulted by these temptations, too, aren’t we? How do we fare? Do we stand firm at the time of temptation? Do we always and only seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing that God will take care of us? We don’t, do we?! We covet, we lust, we seek first our own kingdom, rather than the kingdom of God. Time and again we have been disloyal to God and instead bowed to the gods of this world - pride, possessions, and power. While we have failed to fear, love, and trust in God above everything else, Jesus did not give into such temptations. Jesus was tempted just as we are, yet without sin. He was our Substitute under the law and obeyed it perfectly in our place. The devil tried to get Jesus to distrust God, just as he does with us, but Jesus did not sin and by faith God credits Jesus victory to our spiritual account! The devil tried to get Jesus to test God, just as he does with us, but Jesus did not sin in this way either, and by faith God credits Jesus’ victory to our spiritual account. And the devil tried to get Jesus to be disloyal to God, even as he tries and so often succeeds with us, but Jesus remained loyal to God unto death, and God credit’s Jesus’ victory to our spiritual account. Jesus was victorious in His all battles over sin and by His amazing grace gives His victory! Praise be to our Champion, Jesus, now and forever! With might of ours can naught be done, Soon were our loss effected; But for us fights the Valiant One, Whom God Himself elected. Ask ye, Who is this? Jesus Christ it is. Of Sabaoth Lord, And there's none other God; He holds the field forever. AMEN! (TLH 262:2)

Profiles of the Passion: Judas Iscariot - Profile of Betrayal

 Mid-Week Lenten Theme: PROFILES OF THE PASSION 1) Judas Iscariot - Profile of Betrayal Text: Matthew 26:14-16 Sweet the moments, rich in blessing, Which before the cross we spend, Life and health and peace possessing From the sinners’ dying Friend. Lord, in loving contemplation Fix our hearts and eyes on Thee Till we taste Thy full salvation And Thine unveiled glory see. Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, who gather together this night to ponder our Savior’s passion - His suffering and death to purchase our salvation, grace and peace be multiplied to you in His name! Profile - those of you who make use of the social networking tool called “Facebook” will be very familiar with that word “profile.” On Facebook you have the opportunity to tell your friends and the world something about yourself and you put that on your “profile” page. You can include such information as a picture of yourself, your birthday, your relationship status, your political views, your religious views, your hobbies, your favorite quotes, and who your Facebook friends are. But even if have never been on Facebook, you probably know what a profile is. When we are talking about a personality profile, we are talking about an informal biography of someone. A sort of sketch or outline of their life and characteristics. The Passion account of Jesus suffering and death is made up of many different people who were involved in different ways. Certainly our Lord Jesus Christ is the central figure in the Passion. It is His Passion. It is the account of His suffering and death for our salvation. But as we read the Passion account, we hear about different people. Who were these people? What role did they play? Why did they do the things they did? During our Mid-week Lenten services we want to consider just that - profiles of the Passion. We want to examine the profiles of different players in the Passion account. My plan is that by drawing on what Scripture tells us about these people, to present their profile in the first person - let them tell you their story and what we can learn from them as we examine their profiles. Tonight we begin by examining the Passion profile of Judas Iscariot, a profile of betrayal. To guide our meditation this evening, we turn to the Word of God as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 26, reading verses 14 through 16: Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?" And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. 16 So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him. So far the Word of God. Good evening. My name is Judas. I imagine you know my name pretty well and probably don’t anything good with my name. I am not speaking to you tonight to make light of or excuse the things that I did. You have every right to be disgusted and appalled at me. Let me begin tonight by telling you a little about myself. I am often referred to as Judas Iscariot. I am referred to this way so that you do not get me confused with another one of the 12 apostles, Judas, the son of James, sometimes also called Lebbaeus or Thaddaeus. I was called Judas Iscariot, because Iscariot means “man from Kerioth-herzon,” the region of Judea that I came from. Out of the many disciples that Jesus had, he chose me to be one of the 12 men to be His special students. As one of the 12 apostles I was with Jesus from the beginning of His ministry. Along with men like Peter, James, and John I followed Jesus for three years. I saw many, many miracles performed by Jesus. I was there when Jesus fed the 5,000 and then the 4,000. I helped collect the baskets of leftovers. I saw Him heal the sick and paralyzed, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, and speech to the mute. I saw Him cast out many demons. I was in the boat when Jesus calmed the seas. I saw with my own two eyes, Jesus walking on the water and then calling Peter out of the boat to walk on the water too! But more than what I saw is what I had the opportunity to hear from Jesus. From His own lips I heard Him expound on the Gospel. I was there when He delivered His Sermon on the Mount. I heard Him tell those many parables that you even teach your children about in Sunday School. I heard Him say so many things about what the Kingdom of God was and what it was not. I heard the Gospel from the mouth of Jesus. And after following Jesus and being taught by Him for a couple of years, He sent us out. Along with the other 11 apostles, He gave me power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases. Along with 11, He commissioned me to preach the kingdom of God and heal the sick among our fellow Jews. Though I saw all this, heard all this, and did all this, there was one thing I loved more than all of it combined. I loved money. I coveted it. I wanted as much as I could get my hands on. And I loved my job as one the 12 apostles. I was in charge of the group’s money bag. As Jesus would preach, teach, and heal, people would give us money - in the same as you take up an offering during your worship services here. What was so great about being the treasurer of this group? Well, the other 11 were so gullible and trusting, that no one ever audited me. I could take as much as I wanted out of the money bag for myself and no one was ever the wiser! Meanwhile I was accumulating much wealth for myself! It was my love for money that led me to eventually sell-out to the enemies of Jesus. For some time I had known that they were looking for a way to get rid of Jesus. The leaders of the Jewish church couldn’t stand Him or His teaching and wanted to kill Him. I thought this seemed like a great business opportunity for me and my bank account. After all, if Jesus was really who He said He was, He could certainly escape unharmed from the hands of these men, just as He had done before! But if Jesus did not escape, and they killed Him, He would be shown to be the fake Messiah that they thought He was. Either way, I thought, I was going to get paid! So during Holy Week, I snuck away from Jesus and the other apostles, and met with the chief priests. I proposed the following business transaction with them, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” They couldn’t have been more pleased to see me and hear my proposal! And then, right there in front of me, the counted out 30 pieces of silver. It was amazing to see that silver shine! I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. So I waited for the right opportunity to trade Jesus for those 30 pieces of silver. Those 30 pieces of silver would have been something like 70 of your U.S. dollars today. During the celebration of the Passover, I found my opportunity. Jesus was alone with the other 11 apostles. There were no big crowds that would cause trouble. And I knew where Jesus would be. Jesus had often taken us to the Garden of Gethsemane to get away from the crowds and pray. So toward the end of the Passover meal, I left the table and went to the Temple to arrange the exchange - Jesus for those 30 pieces of silver. The chief priests and elders of the Temple sent with me a detachment of well armed temple troops and officers. I had the perfect plan. I arranged to give the soldiers a sign, so that they would know who they should arrest. I would give Jesus a friendly kiss. I thought it was the perfect plan because then they could get their man and the other apostles wouldn’t suspect a thing. I would just tell them that the troops and officers must have been following me. But it didn’t go the way I had expected. That silver that once shimmered and looked so beautiful, now looked like the ugliest thing I had ever seen in my life. Jesus knew! Jesus knew exactly what I was up to! I should have known I couldn’t hide anything from him! When I kissed Him, He spoke these words that have haunted me ever since, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Lk 22:47) Then they bound Jesus and took Him away! Jesus didn’t resist, He didn’t fight. He went along with them willingly. When they spit on Him and mistreated Him, He didn’t fight back. When He was being whipped, He did not slip away from their grasp as He had before, but endured it silently. And then the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, condemned Him to die by crucifixion. I couldn’t take it. The silver that seemed so enticing before, now made me sick when I thought about how I had gotten it. I went back to the chief priests and elders and told them, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But do you know how they responded? They who had been so glad and eager to work with me before, now said coldly, “What is that to us?” (Mt 27:4) They didn’t care what I was going through! They only cared that they got Jesus and He was on His way to die. That was the last straw. Not all the money in the world could comfort my soul! I couldn’t show my face again to the apostles. I betrayed my own Master and Lord! I betrayed the Son of God! The only escape I could think of, was to kill myself. So I went out and hanged myself only to find that this was no escape but entrance into an eternity of torment in hell! So what can you learn from looking at my personal profile? There is much my wretched example can teach you. The chief lesson I have for you, is to not harden your hearts to warnings from the Word of God. Time and time again, Jesus warned me about the path I was headed on. He loved me and was trying to call me to repentance. Jesus never extended anything but love to me, even though He knew I would betray Him. In fact, just hours before I would betray Him, Jesus washed my feet. Something only the lowliest of servants usually does for their master and his guests. He washed my feet! The feet of His betrayer! At the Passover meal, Jesus came right out and told me that He knew I what I was up to. But I ignored Him and played dumb. When Jesus said that someone at the table was going to betray Him, all the other apostles asked if they were the ones that was going to betray Him. So rather than being obviously guilty, I joined in by asking, “Rabbi, is it I?” knowing full well that I was going to betray Him that night. Jesus, once again, reaching out to me in love, trying to call me back to Himself said, “You have said it.” (Mt 26:25) Jesus also warned me that night saying, “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” (Mt 26:24) Jesus was trying to get me to think about what I was doing. Not only was Jesus warning me about it, but the Old Testament prophets were warning me about what I was about to do! They prophesied that I was going to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver - the value of a dead slave! It would have been good for me if I had never been born, rather than choosing the road I chose, which continues on forever in torments of hell. My heart was cold to the words and love of Jesus. That is because something else was more important to me - money. What the Apostle Paul would later on write about money, might as well have been written on my gravestone. “Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” (1 Tim 6:9-10) I loved money more than I loved Jesus. And the devil took advantage of my desire to be rich. When faith in Jesus left my heart, the devil entered in and worked with my sinful desires to betray Jesus into death. Learn from my profile. Do not follow on my path to destruction. Nothing is more valuable than Jesus. When Jesus calls out to you in His Word warning you about the path you are on, do not ignore Him. When a follower of Jesus warns you about your sin, examine your heart to see if it is true, repent, and look to Jesus for forgiveness. The death that Jesus died was not in vain. He died to pay for all sins of betrayal. I rejected His forgiveness and redemption and am now paying the price forever in the darkness and unquenchable fires of hell. Jesus is your hope, your forgiveness, your salvation, and your life. There is no sin too great for Him to forgive. May my horrid profile cause you to examine your hearts, repent of your sins - even your sins of betrayal - when something in your life became more valuable to you than Jesus, and in faith look to that Jesus who was sold for the price of a dead slave and see your Savior. When you fall into sin, do not hopelessly despair unto death as I did, but in sorrow over your sins run to Jesus and find cleansing in His innocent blood. Please, learn from my horrid profile of betrayal! Amen.

2 Peter 1:16-21 "'Tis Good, Lord, to be Here!"

  2 Peter 1:16-21 For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. We also have the prophetic word made more sure, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Theme: “‘Tis Good, Lord, to be Here!” - Here, where we have the prophetic word - Here, where we listen to the voice which came from heaven Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, If I could be anywhere right now I would be . . . where? Sipping mai-tais on a beach in Hawaii? Playing baseball in Arizona? Anywhere that is warmer than here? Usually at this time of year, we begin to get that dreaded cabin fever. We feel like we’ve been cooped up inside for far too long and it is time to get out the short sleeve shirts and enjoy the sunshine! Then we turn on the weather to hear that another round of snow is headed our way this week. Oh, for the warmth and sunshine! No wonder so many of our members enjoy traveling to warmer climates at this time of year! But right now, at this very moment, is there somewhere else you would rather be than here in the Lord’s house, praising Him in His temple? Well I suppose that depends on what you think of coming to church. If I had you fill in the blank to the following statement, what word would you use? “Church is ____________.” Church is something my parents make me go to? Church is boring? Church is for older people? Church is redundant - that is I feel like I hear the same thing every time I go? In the last year, many of our CLC congregations and at least one of our pastoral conferences have taken up a study of why CLC congregations seem to be losing so many of their young people. Right here at Prince of Peace, this is something we have had great concern about as we consider ministering to our young people and building them up in Christ. Our West Central Pastoral Conference took up a study of this matter and asked several of those who left the CLC, why they left. Some had personal reasons, such as they had a fall out with their pastor. Others did leave because they did not agree with the teachings of our church. Still others said they left their church because they felt their congregation and the CLC at large was old, stuffy, and boring. For those who felt that the church was old, stuffy, and boring, what could have we done to keep them as members? Add a contemporary service complete with drums and guitar? What about when that got old and boring? Would a pastor in jeans and a t-shirt be more acceptable than a suit and black gown? Become more of a house of entertainment than a house of worship? But what if . . . what if we could offer something here at Prince of Peace similar to what Peter, James, and John experienced on that mountain top? On this Transfiguration Sunday we heard in our Gospel lesson the amazing account of Jesus being transfigured in front of the eyes of these three disciples. We heard how Jesus shone with His glory as the Son of God. Glory which was His from eternity, but which He laid aside when He humbled Himself and became true Man. We heard how Moses and Elijah, those heroes of the Old Testament, appeared in glory and talked with Jesus. We heard how, as Peter says in our text, “a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’” What if church was like that every Sunday? As we turn to our text for this Transfiguration Sunday we find out from the Apostle Peter that we actually have something just as good, if not better than the events that transpired on the Mount of Transfiguration. Just as Moses and Elijah appeared on the Mount to talk about Jesus death, we have the same here every Sunday in the prophetic word. Just as God the Father spoke from heaven about His Son on the mount, we have the same thing here every Sunday. So just as Peter said on the Mount of Transfiguration that it was good to be there, let us echo that sentiment about coming to church, “‘Tis Good Lord, to be Here!” I) Do you wish you had been there on the Mount of Transfiguration? Of course, who wouldn’t! To see Jesus shining in all His glory and those great patriarchs of the faith, Moses and Elijah, standing there, talking with Jesus. But what is it that they talked to Jesus about? The current political news? The weather? Whether there was going to be an NFL lockout? Luke writes that they “appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Lk 9:30) Not soon after the Mount of Transfiguration was Holy Week. And at the end of Holy Week? Good Friday - Jesus’ crucifixion. That is what these saints in glory were speaking to Jesus about! They were talking about His suffering and death. And doesn’t that make perfect sense? These two saints in glory were discussing the most important thing anyone can talk about. They were talking with Jesus about the very reason they were in heaven. Though Jesus would not be born for another 1500 years after Moses and a few hundred years after Elijah, while they walked this earth they had faith in the promises of God. They believed that God would send someone to save them from their sins. They believed in Jesus even before He was born. And wasn’t Jesus the focus of their work and writings? Moses is credited with having written the first five books of the Old Testament. And what is the focus of Genesis through Deuteronomy? A Savior. True, we often think of Moses as the giver of the Law, but by the Law is the knowledge of sin. And we need to know that we are sinners, so that we might look for a Savior. And Jesus is the promised Savior that Moses and all Old Testament believers looked for. Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. And what was the message of the Old Testament prophets? The coming of the promised one! From Samuel to Elijah to Isaiah to Malachi, all of them foretold of a coming Savior who would save us. After John the Baptist was born, Zacharias his father, filled with the Holy Spirit said, “Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited and redeemed His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of His servant David, As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, who have been since the world began.” (Lk 1:68-70) Zacharias knew that the birth of his son John, meant that the promised Savior was on His way - just as God had foretold by His holy prophets. While we were not there on the Mount of Transfiguration, we have something even better. That’s right, better than the appearance of Moses and Elijah in their glory! Peter says in our text that even though he was there on the mount and saw all this take place, we have the prophetic word made more sure. We have Moses and Elijah with us today, every time the Old Testament Scriptures are read in church. It is made more sure, because Jesus fulfilled every prophecy written of Him. We are able to hear them speak about the coming decease of Jesus in Jerusalem, written several hundred years before Jesus was even born. That is why it is good to be here! Because of the prophetic word which Jesus fulfilled by His life, death, and resurrection. Let’s listen to Moses and Elijah talk about Jesus! II) I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go into the house of the LORD." (Ps 122:1) King David said he was GLAD when people talked about going to church! Which one of us can truly say, we feel the same way as King David about going to church? Or consider what the psalmist writes in Psalm 84, For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God Than dwell in the tents of wickedness. (Ps 84:10) The psalmist says there is no place else he would rather be, than in the courts of the LORD’s house! These men of God would agree, “‘Tis good, Lord, to be here!” Or consider Jesus. Jesus who was the very Son of God. Jesus who as the Word made flesh, knew the Scriptures better than anyone else. Jesus who as true God should have been worshiped. Yet what was Jesus custom on Saturdays? We read in the Gospels that it was His custom to go to the synagogue, to church, on Saturday, their day of worship. What a remarkable thing Jesus did! He who should have been worshiped, Himself went to worship God! Why? I would suggest two reasons. One, is that He went to worship because it was the God-pleasing thing to do. And as our Substitute under the Law, He did what was right in God’s sight for the times we failed to do so. But the second reason I would suggest, is that He was showing us that it is good to worship God and to hear and learn His Word. Even at age 12, Jesus was in the temple discussing God’s Word! Often times I think we lose sight of why we go to church. We feel that we HAVE to go to church. Maybe we feel that we are doing God a favor by going to church. But we do not go to church to earn brownie points with God. Jesus has accomplished our salvation. There are no works we could do to earn our salvation, Jesus has earned it for us by His perfect life. Going to church on Sunday is not about us, it is about God! We are here to worship the Triune God who created us, the God who preserves us, the God to saved us by dying for us, and the God who rescued us from hell and adopted us as His children. We are here to pray to Him, to praise Him, and to give thanks to Him. It is so easy to lose sight of that! But when we go to church God also does something for us. He speaks to us in His Word. We come to church to hear the very thing Peter, James, and John heard on the Mount of Transfiguration. They were eyewitnesses of Jesus’ majesty. They heard the voice of God the Father from the Excellent Glory, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” We come to church to listen that same voice from heaven! Peter says of Scripture, “Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” Think of what this means! When we read a psalm responsively, or when we hear portions of Scripture used throughout our liturgy, or when the pastor reads the Scripture lessons, or when the sermon text is read, you are not hearing an award winning story from the fiction section of the library, but you are hearing the words of God Himself! The things that the holy writers wrote down are the very thoughts and word which God gave them. The Holy Spirit gave them the words to write. So when you hear the Scriptures you are hearing the voice of God! And when the pastor faithfully delivers to you the teachings of Scripture, you are hearing the teachings of God! And if we are hearing the word of God, we too can say, “‘Tis good, Lord, to be here!” What is it that God had to say about Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration? “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased!” Don’t we hear the same thing when we listen to the Scriptures? We hear that the Father is well pleased in His Son because of who His Son is and what His Son was doing. He was pleased with His Son because He was willing to do the most loving thing He could - lay down His life to save sinful man! He was pleased with His Son, because His Son obeyed Him in every respect. Even dying on the cross, because that was the Father’s will to save mankind! And so the beloved Son of God, in whom the Father was well pleased is the central message of all of His Word! When you come to church to hear the voice from heaven as recorded in the Words of Scripture, you should expect - even demand! - to hear about the beloved Son of God who came to be your Savior and give you eternal life! When this is the case, we may say with Peter, “‘Tis good, Lord, to be here!” Where else would you rather be than right here? When Peter was on the mount of Transfiguration he said it was good to be there with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. In his confusion Peter said he wanted to build tents for these three in glory. Peter didn’t want that amazing moment to end! But as amazing as that scene was, it came to an end just as quickly as it began. Jesus had work to do. He had to save us! ‘Tis good, Lord, to be here! Here where we have that prophetic word made more sure by Jesus fulfilling it through His life, His death, and His resurrection. It is good to be here to listen to Moses and Elijah speak of Jesus’ redemptive work. It is good to be here to listen to that voice from heaven, God’s Word, as recorded on the pages of Scripture. Here where God speaks to us of His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Let us give heed to this light of God’s Word that shines in a dark place, until the day of Jesus’ return dawns and the morning star rises in our hearts. ‘Tis good, Lord, to be here! Amen!

Matthew 5:17-20 "Jesus Sheds Light on the Law"

  Matthew 5:17-20 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass away from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” (ESV) Theme: JESUS SHEDS LIGHT ON THE LAW - By His teaching - By His living and dying Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, fellow believers who are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, grace and peace to you in His name! “Where in the Bible can you find the Law and where in the Bible can you find the Gospel?” This is one of those trick questions that pastors like to ask their confirmation students. We teach that the Law and the Gospel are the two main teachings of the Bible. Simply put, the Law is any commandment God tells us to do or do not do. The Gospel is the good news of God loving us and sending His Son Jesus to save us. Anytime we are told to do something in the Bible, that is Law - such as the 10 Commandments. Anytime we are promised something out of God’s grace, that is Gospel. Most confirmation students figure that since God gave His 10 Commandments in the Old Testament and Jesus lived in the New Testament, that this means that the Law is found in the Old Testament and the Gospel in the New Testament. But this cannot be true, as we see in our text for today. Jesus in the New Testament speaks about the Law of God. Actually, His entire Sermon on the Mount is basically all Law. Furthermore, the Old Testament is full of Gospel promises - from the promise of a serpent crusher who would undo the effects of sin in Genesis 3 to the Prophet Isaiah expounding on the sacrifice Jesus would make as He was wounded for our transgressions. So the Law and Gospel are contained in both Old and New Testaments. As we continue to look at portions of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we hear this morning of Jesus the great Prophet, speaking about the Law of God. Jesus came to shed light on the Law given in the Old Testament. He did so by His teaching, and also by His living and dying. May the Holy Spirit work mightily in us through His Word, that we might better understand the will of God for our lives and live according to it. BY HIS TEACHING When Jesus began His teaching ministry, there was a common misconception - namely that He had come to change things. The Jewish people thought of the Scribes and the Pharisees as the religious authority of the day. Both were very well versed in the Law. The Scribes were professional students of the law and supposed to be experts in its understanding. In a way, we might compare them to professors of the Old Testament. When the Wise Men visited King Herod looking for the new born King of the Jews, one of the groups Herod consulted was the scribes. The scribes knew their Scripture and would have known where the Messiah was to be born. If your wife burnt your dinner and you needed a certificate of divorce, you would go to the scribes to present your case to receive approval and a certificate. The Pharisees were a sect of Jews that emphasized the strictest observance of the law. They were the ones that would watch your life to see if you were obeying not only the Mosaic moral laws and ceremonial laws, but also the traditions of the Jewish elders. They were always focused on the external keeping of the law. When Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath, the Pharisees were ready to accuse Him of sinning against the Sabbath by doing work. When Jesus’ disciples picked some grain from a field to eat on the Sabbath, the Pharisees accused them of breaking the Sabbath by doing work. After all, they were harvesting the wheat, grinding it with their hands, and preparing it for food! After Jesus healed another man on the Sabbath, He told that man to pick up the mat his crippled body had been lying on, and go home. When the Pharisees saw this man carrying his mat on the Sabbath, they accused him of sin because he was doing work by moving furniture on the Sabbath. In both the scribes and the Pharisees, the people saw men that were leading outwardly very religious lives. The knew all the commandments of God and the were very zealous in living and enforcing that Law. Maybe we could compare them to the monks of today. Men who dedicate their lives to the service of God and live outwardly righteous lives. Men whom we would look at and say, “Now that is a person who is really committed to their religion!” Indeed they were very zealous in their beliefs. But when Jesus began His ministry, He seemed to bring a teaching that was different from the religious leaders of the day. Since the scribes and the Pharisees were such authorities on the Law, they thought Jesus was doing away with all of the Old Testament with His “new” teachings. Here in our text, Jesus says that this couldn’t be further from the truth. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass away from the Law until all is accomplished.” Jesus did not come to undo those 39 books of the Old Testament. Not at all. Much rather, Jesus came to expound on them. He came to shed light on them. His teaching WAS quite different from that of the Scribes and Pharisees, but not because He was teaching something new. What Jesus was teachings, was the Law and the Prophets as God had intended them to be understood. The scribes and the Pharisees had gotten away from the heart of the Law. They were focused on the externals. God is not interested in beings who simply go through the outward motions of His Law. God is interested in hearts. The Apostle Paul gets at the heart of the Law when he writes to the Romans, “Love is the fulfillment of the law.” (Rom 13:10b) Love is at the very heart of the Law. Love for God above all things, and love for neighbor as self. Jesus came to shed light on the Law by His teachings. As Jesus goes on in His Sermon on the Mount He teaches just this, that love is the very centerpiece of the Law of God. Jesus says of the 5th Commandment, that God wasn’t just addressing the act of killing someone. Rather Jesus teaches, “I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment.” (5:22) With regards to the 6th Commandment and committing adultery, Jesus teaches that God was not just addressing cheating spouses. Rather Jesus teaches, “Everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery.” (5:28) And rather than seeking revenge on those who wrong you, Jesus teaches, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (5:43-44a) So, you see, Jesus did not come to abolish the Law or the Prophets, but to teach it in all it’s fullness. To shed light on the truth of the Law that God is not interested in outward acts, but a loving heart that expresses itself in loving acts. And Jesus says that this will never change. This has always been God’s intention with the Law and it will remain so until the end of time. This is the light that Jesus shed on the Law by His teaching. BY HIS LIVING AND DYING When our confirmation students study the difference between the Law and the Gospel, they learn that the Law accuses and condemns. The Law says, “Do this, don’t do that. And if you disobey God, you will be punished eternally.” Paul writes of the Law, “Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” (Gal 3:10) How does your life measure up to God’s high standards? Jesus says in our text, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” God is looking for more than the empty, outward observance of the regulations of His law, such as the scribes and Pharisees did. God is looking to your heart. And what does He find there? Does He find a heart warmed with love toward Him and toward our neighbor? If love is to be the motivating factor in obeying the law and those who do not obey the law of God are cursed, we are left to ask with the disciples, “Who then can be saved?” (Mt 19:25) The law has done it’s job. It has shown us our sin, our failure to love our God above everything else, and our failure to love our neighbor as ourselves. “By the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Rom 3:20b) And it has condemned us for failing to live up to God’s high standards. And if our righteousness needs to exceed that of the outward righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, indeed who then can be saved? We return to Jesus. Jesus whose Epiphany sheds light on the law. But when it comes to the Law, Jesus did not just talk the talk, He walked the walk, as the saying goes. In fact, He walked the walk all the way to the cross. As the eternal Son of God, He was the author of the Law and as such He was above the Law. Yet Jesus humbled Himself and was born under the Law to redeem us who were under the curse of the Law. He came to be our Substitute under the Law. And Jesus lived His life the way God intended with the Law. Jesus fulfilled the law with His love. While Jesus never used His divine power as the Son of God for His own benefit, when He saw someone sick, paralyzed, or demon possessed He would use that power to help them in every bodily need - even when He was tired or hungry. When He saw the only son of the widow of Nain lying dead on a cot, He raise that son to life and returned him to his mother. Even when Jesus was spit upon, mocked, and beaten, He loved His enemies. He blessed them that cursed Him. He prayed for them that despitefully used Him and persecuted Him. He literally loved them to death as prayed that the Father would forgive them and laid down His life to save them. He loved us to death as well. He became our sin. He became our curse. “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’).” (Gal 3:13) And it is in Jesus that our righteousness exceeds that external righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. Paul writes to the Corinthians, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Jesus who alone had such exceeding righteousness, takes our sins on Himself and gives us His righteousness. This was the law of love seen in its greatest action as Jesus lived and died for His neighbor, because He loved them. Jesus did not change anything in the Law. He came to shed light on the true meaning and depth of the Law and Prophets. And what Jesus teaches us does not change. As His redeemed children He desires that we teach and live this way. In doing so we flavor the earth as the salt of the earth and we light of our faith shine, through the love in our hearts shown in acts of love for one another, even as Jesus has loved us, lived for us, and died for us. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:34-35) Praise be to Jesus! Amen.

Matthew 5:14-16 "You are the Light of the World"

 Matthew 5:14-16 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light at lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Theme: YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD - You cannot be hidden - You should not be hidden - You shine to give glory to the Father Dear fellow luminaries of the world, fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. (Gen 1:3-5) Light. Light is the first thing that God created in the beginning. It’s interesting, isn’t it, that while light was created on the first day of creation, the sun, moon, and stars weren’t created until day four. So the sun cannot take credit for bringing light to creation, it was God who gave light to His creation days before the sun existed! Throughout Scripture the work of God is associated with light in several different ways. Last month we heard Jesus says that He is “the light of the world.” (Jn 8:12) He brought light into this dark and dying world of sin, much like God made created light out of the dark chaos on the first day of creation. Jesus is light because He is the only source of eternal life, as opposed to the eternal darkness of hell. God’s Word, the Bible, is also spoken of as being light. The Psalmist writes, “Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.” (Ps 119:105) God’s Word guides us to our Savior Jesus and shows us that He is our only Savior from sin and hope for eternal life. Scripture also talks of believers as being “in the light” as opposed to the darkness of unbelief. Paul writes to the Ephesians, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord.” (Eph 5:8) Every light has a source. The sunlight we enjoyed so much yesterday has as its source the burning gases of the sun. The light that comes from this flashlight, comes from the electricity produced by its battery causing the bulb in this light to shine. This morning we hear from Jesus that as believers in Christ we are “The light of the world.” The source of our light is Jesus Himself. We reflect Him who is the light of the world. When the Holy Spirit created faith in our hearts, we speak of Him as having “enlightened us with His gifts.” The Holy Spirit made us the light of the world. The Christian is light in the Lord as opposed to the darkness of unbelief and sin that is in everything else in this world. We have been rescued from the darkness, brought into the light of God by the Holy Spirit, and now have ourselves become the light of the world. As the light of the world, Jesus teaches us some very special truths this morning in our text. As the light of the world we cannot be hidden, should not be hidden, but instead shine in order to give glory to our Father! May the Holy Spirit who made us the light of the world help us to shine! YOU CANNOT BE HIDDEN Who here likes to stick out? For instance, when you are walking in a crowded mall, which of you would like to stick out like a sore thumb in that crowd? Few, if any of us. There are, however, people I know who like to stick out in a crowd. So rather than wearing commonly colored clothes, they will wear bright neon colors. They want to be noticed as being different. Some of us may want to be noticed, but we do not want to be noticed for being different. Well, dear Christians, I have some news for you. As believers in Christ you are different. You are different from a majority of the world. The number of believers on earth has always been a small minority. In the days of Elijah the prophet, God said that there were only seven thousand men who were following him. (Rom 11:4) A majority of the world has rejected Jesus as their Savior from sin and are living in unbelief or worshiping a false god. Whether we are talking about the un-religious person who just tries to live a good life, or the many false religions of the world - the Buddhist, the Muslim, the spiritualist, or even most Catholics - they are all told that the only way you can get to heaven is by your good works. You have to live a good enough life, you have to obey the tenants of their particular religion, in order to impress God enough that He will let you into heaven, paradise, or nirvana. They are all based on work-righteousness. You, however, are different. Your faith, the Christian faith, is different from anything else in the world. You believe that your only hope for eternal life is Jesus. He had to earn heaven for you. He had to live a perfect life in your place. He had to suffer and die to pay off your debt of sin. He had to rise from the dead to free you from the bondage of death and sin. And only through faith in Him are you credited with righteousness. You believe that only through Him are justified in God’s sight. Even this faith you have, you believe you cannot take credit for. You believe that God the Holy Spirit has changed your heart and your life. Now you live for God and not for yourself. You believe you are His temple, His dwelling place. You are the light of the world. You are different. Jesus says in our text, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” We can understand exactly what Jesus is saying here. Because a hill is elevated above its surroundings, if someone builds a city on it, there is no way of hiding it. It cannot be hidden because of its very nature. Especially at night, when all the townspeople have their houselights and streetlights on. For miles around, that city will be aglow in the darkness of night. As the light of the world, you are that city set on a hill. You cannot be hidden. The rest of the world can see you as Christian and is watching you. They see you dressed up on Sunday mornings and they figure that you must have gone to church. You are different from the rest of the world and thank the Lord for that! I don’t mean that in a snobbish or stuck-up way. As if we are better than the world because we Christians. We are no better than anyone else on this planet. There but for the grace of God, go I. We thank the Lord that He has rescued us from the darkness of unbelief and pray that as a city set on a hill, people may see us from the darkness of unbelief and we can shine the light of Jesus on their hearts as well! So know this, as the light of the world you cannot be hidden. YOU SHOULD NOT BE HIDDEN How does it make you feel to hear that as a Christian, it means that you are different from the rest of the world? How does it feel to hear from Jesus that you cannot be hidden? That your life as a follower of Christ is out there for the world to see? Maybe we feel embarrassed. After all we spend so much of our time and energy trying to fit in. As we mentioned last week, we’re willing to go to great lengths just to fit in. We do not want people to see us as different. We want to be with the “in” and “cool” crowd. So we use the same fowl language and tell the same dirty jokes that the world tells. We join in with the under-aged drinking parties. We want to listen to the music and watch the movies that the world speaks approvingly of. Oh, the lengths we are willing to go to avoid being seen as different. But Jesus says that you are the light of the world! What is the purpose of light, but to shine! Verse 15 of our text, “Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.” Nobody does that. Nobody lights a lamp and then puts a basket over it to cover up the light it is giving. While we might not light lamps in our houses today, we get what Jesus is saying. When it gets dark outside, none of us turns on a lamp in our house and immediately covers it up with a blanket to keep the light from shining. That would defeat the purpose of light in the first place. The analogy Jesus is making here is that as the light of the world we should not hide our faith. Imagine if the sun in the sky behaved like that. Imagine if the sun thought, “Well out here in space everything is black and dark except for me. The planets in my solar system don’t give off any light of their own like me. I’d much rather fit in with my surroundings than risk being seen as different from the rest of my solar system.” With that the sun would then go black and no one would benefit from its light. You are the light of the world. A light that should not be hidden! YOU SHINE TO GIVE GLORY TO THE FATHER Rather than hiding your faith, Jesus says, “Let it shine!” “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” You are the light of the world, you were made to shine. And you shine by the way you live your life. You shine by the good works that you do. We know what works are good in God’s sight. We have a summary of what is good in the 10 Commandments. It is good to fear, love, and trust in God above everything else. It is good to not take God’s name in vain but to use it to call upon Him in every trouble, to pray to Him, to praise Him, and to give thanks to Him. It is good to remember the Sabbath day by gladly hearing and learning God’s Word. It is good to honor our father and our mother. It is good to help and be a friend to our neighbor in every bodily need. It is good to honor and love our own spouses. It is good to help our neighbor improve and protect his property and business. It is good to defend our neighbor, to speak well of him, and to put the best construction on everything. It is good to help our neighbor, be of service to him, and urge him to stay in do his duties. These are ways in which we let the light of our faith shine. Our faith in Jesus is an inward light which shines its beams in the world through our works. What makes these works good is faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. “He who abides in Me,” Jesus says, “and I in him, bears much fruit.” (Jn 15:5) In Jesus we live fruitful lives. Our faith shines through our good works. Good works which the Holy Spirit produces in us. It is faith in Jesus producing works of love for God and our neighbor. Notice who these good works benefit. “That (others) may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” This is the opposite of the world’s motivation for doing their “good” deeds. The billionaire wants his charitable giving to be published so people will praise him for his generosity. The monks and nuns think that by taking vows of celibacy and poverty they will benefit because God will reward them for doing this. All of this is selfish and self-centered. It is doing good for the sake of self. But as the light of the world, we let our light shine that our Father in heaven may get the glory for what we have done. When men see that our lives are different, when they see the love of Christ at work in our lives, when they see the fruits of faith that abound in our lives they give glory to our Father who created us, made us the light of the world, and caused such good works to abound in our lives. Some may glorify the Father in this life as from the darkness they are attracted to the light that they see shining from us. They see we are different. We are the city on a hill and they want to find out what makes us different. We then have the opportunity to bring the Word to them, whereby the Holy Spirit brings them into the light. Or it may not happen that they glorify the Father until Judgment Day, as we heard Peter write in our New Testament lesson, “They may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (1 Pt 2:10) But the purpose of letting our light shine is to give glory to God who called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light. “Let there be light!” These first creating words of God could be echoed in our lives in several different ways. God said, “Let there be light” when He sent His Son into the world to be the Savior of the world. God said, “Let there be light” in our hearts when He called us to faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. God said, “Let there be light” in our lives as we let the light of our faith shine in the world through good works. May the Father ever keep us as the light of the world, may He forgive us for the times we tried to hide our faith, and may He ever work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. To God be all the glory! Amen.

Matthew 5:13 "You are the Salt of the Earth"

 Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” Theme: YOU ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH - Flavoring and preserving it - Beware of losing your taste! Dear fellow redeemed in Christ Jesus, God did a pretty amazing thing when He combined the elements of sodium and chloride. Those of you who know your chemistry, know that sodium chloride is nothing other than salt. Whether we are talking about the salt in your kitchen or salt in the ocean, it is all as a result of the Master Chemist, God, combining sodium and chloride. While doctors may warn us that too much salt in our diet may cause high blood pressure, it is also true that without salt we could not live. While we have found many different uses for salt, such as using it to make glass and soap, or to melt the ice on our sidewalks and roads, historically salt has been used for two purposes - to flavor food and also to preserve foods. Without salt food tastes bland or even flat. But salt gives food flavor. No doubt Sarah put salt in the food she prepared for Abraham, and so too Mary when she was cooking for her Son, Jesus. And in the days long before refrigerators and freezers, people would use salt to keep their food from decaying. Whether it was meats or vegetables in the garden, salt was used to preserve the food. Salt draws the moisture out of the food by osmosis, thus preventing or at least delaying the decaying process. This brings us to our verse this morning. Jesus says to His disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.” As Christians, we provide flavor tasteless world and preserve a decaying world. But let us beware, just as salt that has lost its saltiness is worthless, so is a Christian who no longer flavors the world! May the Holy Spirit be with us that we may continue to be the salt of the earth. FLAVORING AND PRESERVING IT Our verse for today comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Last week we heard the beginning of it with the beatitudes. These are a series of statements from Jesus about the blessed state of His followers. For instance, “Blessed are those who mourn, For they shall be comforted.” (Mt 5:4) Though as Christians we mourn now over our sin and the sin in the world around us, we are blessed because we know we will be comforted eternally in Jesus. In verses 13 through 16 of Matthew 5, the focus shifts a little bit. Jesus goes from the beatitudes to talk about Christian sanctification. What we mean when we talk about Christian sanctification in this context is the sanctified or holy living of the Christian. We are talking about the good works that Christians do. As we talk about Christian sanctification it is very important that we make clear why and how we do good works. As with everything in the life of a Christian, sanctified living is the work of our gracious God. It is God who became man to save us from our sins. Because we disobeyed the law of God, He kept it perfectly as our substitute. Because we sinned and earned God’s wrath and punishment, the Son of God took that punishment on Himself and suffered God’s wrath in our place. Jesus earned our salvation and paid for our punishment. Then, when we were born dead in our trespasses and sins, it was God who made us alive together with Christ. He called us to faith. He made us His children. The same is true when we talk about the sanctified living of the Christian. This too is the work of God. When the Holy Spirit brings us to faith, He creates in us a new man. Our new man of faith is created in God’s image and desires only to do God’s will. Paul writes to the Philippians that “it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” (Phil 2:13) Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” (Jn 15:5) Believing and abiding in Jesus, the Christian leads a fruitful life, one that is full of good works. From beginning to end, from our redemption, to our faith, to our Christian lives, from beginning to end God gets all the glory. With this in mind, let us return to our text. As we mentioned earlier, God showed Himself to be a master chemist when He created salt. God also did an amazing thing when He combined His Holy Spirit in our lives. He made us believers in Jesus Christ for salvation. Now as believers in Christ, Jesus tells us, “You are the salt of the earth.” Now, what does Jesus mean in calling us “the salt of the earth.” Well, we need to remember what salt was used for in those days - flavoring and preserving. And that is the very thing that we do as Christians. First let’s consider how we flavor it. The world we live in is full of sin. Even man’s best deeds are made sour by sin. Remember what the LORD said about the earth before He sent the flood? “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Gen 6:5) Selfishness and hate abound. The world calls that which good evil, and that which is evil good. This is where we as Christians come in. We supply flavoring to this world by the good works which the Spirit works in us. Take for instance your station in life. Christian husbands and wives, think of the flavoring you bring to a world that despises and belittles sin. Husbands, as other men around you act like pigs and treat women like they are nothing more than sex objects, you bring flavor as you love your wife as your own body. You bear with her in her weaknesses. You support her, you defender, and you love her with a sacrificial love such as Christ had for the Church that caused Him to die for her. Wives, while women around you bad mouth their husbands and talk about how childish they are, as the salt of the earth you bring flavor when you willingly submit to your husband as your head, just as the Church submits to Christ as her head. While other women disrespect and talk down their husbands, you flavor the world by respecting your husbands. You reflect the attitude of Sarah who called her husband Abraham her lord out of submission and respect. You young ladies. The young girls of today act and dress pretty racy. They try to show off their bodies to get attention from boys. But as the salt of the earth, you flavor the earth by remembering that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Rather than focusing so much on your external looks, as Peter writes, “rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God.” (1 Pt 3:3) Children, as Christians you too are the salt of the earth. Just think about how your classmates and friends disrespect and despise their parents and teachers. As the salt of the earth you bring flavor to the world when you honor your parents and teachers. When your friends talk about how stupid their parents are for the rules they made, you give the world flavor when you speak lovingly and respectfully about your parents. We even bring flavor to the world in our jobs. Think of how your co-workers belittle and despise the job they have and their employers. Maybe they are only hard workers when the boss is around. They bad-mouth their boss and their fellow workers. But you are the salt of the earth. You realize the work you are doing, you are doing to the glory of God. We serve the Lord and that flavors our work ethic, how we treat our co-workers, and respect we show our employers. This is all the work of the Holy Spirit in us. He has made us the salt of the earth. If Christians were not supplying flavor to the world, God would have long ago destroyed this tasteless world. It is only the Christians who make this world palatable to God. And in this way we serve as preserving agent as the salt of the earth. A comparison of the preserving power of the Christian’s salt, might be that of Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember how the LORD revealed to Abraham that He was going to destroy these cities, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave.” (Gen 18:16) At that point Abraham began to ask the LORD that if there were 50 righteous persons in the city, would He still destroy it? Then he asked about 45, then 40, then 30, then 20, then 10. The LORD’s response for each - 50 through 10 - was that for the sake of the righteous He would not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. The salt of the earth would preserve those cities. The fact that the world is still spinning today is because of the salt of the earth. If not for the flavoring that the Christian brings by his good works, God would have long ago spit out this distasteful world of sin. In a world that is dying and decaying because of sin and death, God is preserving the world for the sake of His elect. As the salt of the earth we flavor and preserve it. BEWARE OF LOSING YOUR TASTE! How much of our daily activity and choices, do you think we make out of a desire to fit in? Think about it. The clothing we wear, the things we say, the shows we watch, the music we listen to, it seems that so much of our time and energy is spent on trying to fit in. We do not want to be seen as odd or weird. But with whom are we trying to fit in? We must confess that all too often it is with the unbelieving world. It is one thing when trying to fit in influences the brand of jeans we are going to buy, it is entirely another thing when trying to fit in with the world determines our choice of activities. This is where Jesus’ words of warning come into play. “If salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” If salt no longer supplies flavor and cannot be used for preserving foods, what good is it? It is good for nothing. In Luke we hear Jesus saying of such salt that it is not even fit for the land or for the manure pile. So to get rid of that useless salt, people would simply throw it out into the street where it would be trampled under people’s feet. Do you understand the comparison and warning Jesus is giving us here? If we are the salt of the earth, but we are not flavoring the world with our good works - what good are we? We are like saltless salt! We are good for nothing. We are no different than the unbelieving world! We are distasteful to God and are spit out. The writer to the Hebrews warns of the same thing, “For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.” (Heb 6:4-6) We must confess that we have often failed in bringing flavor to this sinful world. All too often we have tried to fit in with the bland flavor of the unbeliever. Praise be to God that He has had mercy on us! He gave His Son Jesus into death for our sins and weakness. And for Jesus’ sake God has forgiven us for our lack of saltiness. How can we keep from losing our flavor? This too is the work of God. God keeps our faith alive and active by His Means of Grace. This morning, right now, the Holy Spirit is at work in your hearts to build up your faith through His Word. Soon, our communicant members will be coming forward to receive the body and blood of Jesus for the strengthening of their faith. These are the tools that the Holy Spirit uses to keep your faith alive and active. Abiding in Jesus, you will bear good fruits. Through the Gospel, the Holy Spirit keeps us flavorful! You are salt, Jesus says, so be salt! May the Holy Spirit ever work in us and through us that we may bring flavor to this tasteless world of sin, that we may preserve this dying world to spread the Gospel to all creatures. May the Holy Spirit ever keep us salty! Amen.