Sermon for October 17th (Abraham-Follow)

There is an old Far Side cartoon where a flock of sheep is pictured. In the middle of the flock, one sheep is standing up with his hands in the air and his mouth open yelling to the rest. The caption says, “Wait! Wait! Listen to me! We don’t have to be just sheep!” We don’t have to be just sheep. Nobody wants to just be a sheep. Not even a sheep! Sheep are notorious for being followers whether it is to the feeding trough, to the shearers or to the slaughterhouse. Most of us fear being labeled “a follower”, being labeled a sheep, because we want to be seen as leaders—as movers and shakers. But Jesus says, “Follow me.” Jesus says, “My sheep hear my voice.” “My sheep follow me.” What do you think about that? To be a follower. Jesus says, “Follow me.”

Perhaps another important question is to ask: Well, if I am to follow Jesus, where would he lead me? That answer is very simple: to the cross. To death. And then. To life. To follow Jesus is to follow him through suffering, even persecution, and then to be led to eternal life. Are you going to follow Jesus? Not just with your heart, not just with your words, but with your actions? Jesus loves you and he is calling you. Will you follow Him?

This morning, you witnessed what following Jesus can mean. This morning, a new child of God was redeemed. Karen was baptized this morning. Her sins were washed away in the flood of God’s forgiveness and that promise is hers to believe in, to trust in, forever. Even the very gates of hell cannot hold a candle to God’s Holy Spirit poured out upon this woman. Today is a celebration of faith. A faith that follows.

Faith means to trust. Faith means to listen. Faith also means to follow. In Acts, chapter 2, the apostle Peter said, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins.” Jesus said, “God therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” To follow Jesus by faith alone, is to stand up and confess your faith and to believe that Jesus died for your sins and was raised to give you a new life with God. Just as God called Abram to leave his old life and enter a new land, in the waters of baptism, we are called to follow Jesus from our old life to a new life.

But what if you have already been baptized? Some Christians believe that in order to follow Jesus you must wait until a certain age to be baptized. Baptism, for them, is an opportunity to show your commitment (something that a infant could not do). I would agree that baptism is wonderful way to show commitment to Christ, but it is much more than that.

In the waters of baptism, you die, the old you dies, that is. There is now a new you. One that already has one foot out of the grave and with God in heaven. A new you that, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, trusts in God for life. To follow Jesus means to follow him to death, just as he died on the cross, we die in the waters of baptism. Age isn’t the issue here—God’s promise and power is the same. But to follow Jesus also means to live, for just as he was raised from the dead, by faith in his promises we too are able to walk with a new life. The apostle Paul says in Romans, “For if we have been united with Christ in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his!”

What if you’ve already been baptized? How do you follow Jesus? How do you show your commitment if not through a “believer’s baptism” as it is sometimes called? Well, that depends on how God calls. One example, from my life, was that I had to leave my calling in music that I loved to go to seminary and be a pastor. For Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran theologian, it meant working against Hitler and the Nazis and risking his life, family and future. Following God often means trading in one thing for another. One job for a new one. One and for another. An old way of living for a new way of life. God may have called you to eternal life long ago, but listen . . . listen. How is God calling you back into your life today? I was asked multiple times to go to seminary before I ever went. It’s taken a few months of deliberation before this baptism took place today, right? And Bohoeffer didn’t face the Nazis without much soul searching and trepidation beforehand. So what has God called you to do . . . that you haven’t followed yet? Jesus says, “Follow me.”

Faith means to follow. It’s the natural action for faith to take. Over internship in Harvey, North Dakota, I heard a story that reminds me a lot about how faith involves following. There was a pastor there who asked a little girl after the service one week, “What are you going to do today. “I don’t know!” She answered, “What!?” Little children understand that faith means to follow. This girl didn’t know what was going on that day, she just knew that she could trust her parents and when they led her into the day, she would gladly follow. We cannot forget the importance of following to our faith. Do you trust God enough to follow where he leads? To follow ALL of the commandments? To follow him and forgive? Even the person you do not want to forgive? Even your enemy?

The Lord said to the man Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land that I will show you.” Abram was called to follow. He was told by God, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” Abram could have simply listened to God and trusted him, but that wouldn’t even make sense without following! Do you understand this? The only way to truly listen to God, the only way to trust God would be for Abram to follow. But in our Christian life we’ve almost made following into an extracurricular activity, rather than a necessary part of our faith lives.


As a musician in a symphony, you must follow. First, you had to be excellent at what you did. But, no matter how good you were, you had to follow the conductor. The good of the piece was more important than the virtuosity of the player. We must follow God’s commandments, yes, but the goal of the commandments is love. Without following Jesus, we become lost in our self-righteousness. In fact, it is our tendency to get lost in making ourselves look good at the expense of others. That’s why the word “follow” is so wonderful.

Faith means to follow. But God has also promised that, for him, faith means to follow. “My sheep hear my voice.” Jesus says, “I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. Nothing will snatch them out of my hand.” Or as Psalm 23 puts it, “Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life.” This morning, Karen, you followed Jesus and surrendered yourself to his mercy. He forgave your sins once and for all. But in that promise of God, there is so much more he gives. He promises that as you follow him, he will follow you. For all those of you who have been baptized, this is the same promise that you each have. Wherever you go, he will never leave you or forsake you. He is always watching over you. Faith means to follow. God knows this. And just as all of us here are called to follow God, he promises to follow us to the ends of the earth, even through death itself, so that he might bring us to be with him.

Faith means to follow. There are so many times in our lives when we are called to follow into the unknown and simply trust in God to see us through. At the birth of a child, when those labor pains become overwhelming, you are called to follow God through the pain and into the face of a screaming newborn baby. At confirmation, you stand up here at probably the most awkward stage of your life and confess our faith not knowing exactly where that faith will take us. Not knowing all the details, but trusting in God’s grace. In marriage, you promise to love and cherish another person till death do you part, trusting in God’s strength to help you keep that promise even when that other person no longer deserves your love. You find a way to follow God and keep on loving.

At death, you are called to trust in God and fall asleep in the arms of your precious Savior. We cannot know the way, we can only know Jesus who IS the way, the truth and the life. We follow Him to a place we cannot find without Him. He follows us into the grave and then into eternal life. God calls you to trust and listen and follow Him by faith alone, knowing that wherever he leads you, he will follow you there. Jesus says, “Follow me. I will follow you.” Amen.

Sermon for March 28th

“Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.” Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.

This is Passion Sunday, or Palm Sunday. It always seems to me that Passion Sunday would better belong around Valentine’s day to bring the crowds in. But do you know why we call this Passion Sunday? It’s not because I’m going to become extra intense or excited during the sermon, though that might happen, you’ll just have to wait and see, and it has nothing to do with romance as the word “passion” is commonly used nowadays.

The word passion literally means the same thing as suffering. To experience something operating on you from outside yourself—something out of your control. It has the same root in English as the word “passive”. Passion Sunday refers to how God acted toward his Son Jesus, and how he operates in our lives as well. Jesus suffered at the hands of his Father and, so, is humbled, beaten, spit on, mocked, crucified and buried. Then, on Easter day, Jesus suffers God his Father again and is raised from the dead. Jesus, the Son, is the not the actor in all of this, but the one acted upon.

Within the next week we will have heard about our Savior, Jesus, being beaten, spit on, mocked, crucified, killed and buried. We will then hear that this same Jesus was raised from the dead. This is called “the passion of our Lord”. Suffering is often looked at as something “bad” or even “evil”. To be passive is a kind of bad word in today’s language too often assuming some kind of lack of motivation or assertiveness. But the word passion means something more than this. This is the message of Passion Sunday: God is up to His elbows in all the events of life. Whether they look good or bad to us. Even in the death of His very own son Jesus Christ. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who suffered at the hands of God His Father just as you do today.

The story of Jesus’ suffering is meant not only to give us strength, but to give us faith and hope. Because this is the same experience that we will all have in our lives. There will be times when God acts in our lives and we consider it a horrible time of suffering, like when a loved one dies. There will be times when God acts in our lives and we consider it a joyous time of suffering, like when a loved one is healed. It’s good suffering, but I’m calling both these times suffering because they are both out of our control—they are in God’s hands—and we just deal with the consequences—good or bad.

The passion story of Jesus expresses the hope that everything in our lives is in fact in God’s hands whether we care to admit it or not. Whether we like it or not. And to be able to trust that God’s hands are in everything, both the good and bad, can give you a peace that passes all understanding. Jesus trusted that all things were in His Father’s hands, even though that meant he would suffer on the cross. He knew that suffering at God’s hands would always end up much better than trying to control his life by himself. “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

What is your passion story? I am suffering at God’s hands this very day. I have recently suffered the birth of a gorgeous and healthy baby boy. I don’t believe I had a lot of control over this. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t try to control the result by feeding my wife healthy food and hiring midwives that were experienced in delivering babies. But what, if any, difference that made I will never know. Many others have done the same and suffered unhealthy babies and sick mothers. We suffer the blessings of God just as we suffer the pains. It’s very much out of our hands. We suffer it. It is our passion story.

Rose has gone through a passion story here this morning as well. According to the apostle Paul, when she was baptized in Christ Jesus this morning she was baptized into death. She was buried by her baptism, into death, so that just as Christ was raised by the glory of the Father she too might walk in newness of life. Through no action of her own, Rose died this morning and through no action of her own, Rose was raised from the dead this morning to live with God forever. It’s His promise, His action, His wonderful work. Her passion story and her suffering. Like the rest of us, if little Rose can ever understand what it means for her to be the helpless beneficiary of God’s redeeming love then she’ll finally understand what it means to trust God through all those times in her life when she feels helpless. When she can’t control what’s happening, I pray that she’ll know that God is still working to love her.

Finally, our community of faith, here at Saint Peters, is going through a passion story as well. Easter Sunday will be my last Sunday here as your pastor and, a couple days later, my family will be moving across the country to a new call. Lots of things will be changing for your family and for mine. We will all suffer heartbreak and sadness for what has been lost as well as happiness and joy for what might be possible. Like many of you, sometimes I look over my two years here, and especially the last several months, and wonder what could have been done differently or said differently. What could we have controlled or changed that would have made a happier ending? The message of Passion Sunday is this: God is up to His elbows in all the events of life. Even this. Through it all. While it is tempting to second-guess his plans, we are called to be faithful to Him and trust him even now. That there will be resurrection after this death. That there is great hope in the midst of all these changes.

God has a plan in all of this. Just like he had a plan when Jesus was lying dead in a tomb. Like Jesus, in our passion stories we will all encounter death but, then again, just like Jesus, our stories will not end there. There will be joy after this sadness. There will be life after death. No matter how difficult the times, this is our passion story. God is holding each one of us in the palm of his hand. Amen.

Sermon for January 10th

Have you got the Spirit? Is one baptism enough? Have you been baptized in the Spirit? As human beings, we always want more. More glory. More power. More gifts. More assurances. Sometimes we just KNOW that we must be missing something. As Christians, we wonder—maybe God is holding out on us—with all the suffering in the world, maybe there is something more that he could give us that would make life a lot more glorious.

The part of the Trinity that always seems to get co-opted into our schemes for glory is the Holy Spirit. God the Father always seems too in accessible. Jesus the Son is just a little too much like us, so the Holy Spirit seems like a good possibility. According to scripture, the spirit is the one who hands out the gifts such as healing or miracles, speaking in tongues and prophesy. But how do you get them? How can you find the Spirit? What must you do to become “spiritual” or “sanctified”? Or is it simply beyond your control?

In the second reading today from Acts, two apostles, Peter and John, visit some newly baptized Samaritans, but, once they arrive, they find out something strange, “as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of these Samaritans; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus” the text says. So, Peter and John lay their hands on them, and they receive the Holy Spirit. You see, a baptism without the Holy Spirit is really no baptism at all, is it? Two out of three ain’t bad, as the pop star Meatloaf famously put it, but when it comes to your salvation, it seems pretty important to have all of the Trinity working on your side. The question that always comes up after reading this text from Acts is: why wasn’t that one baptism enough? Is there something else needed? Some Christian groups have maintained that, yes, something else is needed. They say that if you’ve only been baptized with water, in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, then you may have been forgiven your sins, you are still missing something.

According to R.A. Torrey, second president of the Moody Bible Institute, “The Baptism with the Holy Spirit is an experience connected with and primarily for the purpose of service . . . It is not primarily intended to make believers happy or holy, but to make them useful. It has no direct reference to cleansing from sin. It has to do with gifts for service rather than graces of character.” According to Francis MacNutt, “John the Baptist’s prophecy about the coming of Jesus indicates the primary purpose and significance of Jesus’ time on Earth: to baptize us in the Holy Spirit.”

Scripture talks about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but not all Christians have even heard of it. Why might that be? Perhaps it is because we don’t really believe anymore in miracles, or healing, or prophecy or speaking in tongues and all those things come through the power of the Holy Spirit. In the early church, these activities were commonplace. Both Peter and Paul even raised people from the dead in the name of Jesus. But now, we figure those times are past.

Being baptized in the Holy Spirit is for the purpose of God showing his power through you. If we stop talking about the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and stop expecting that powerful event to take place, we forget about the power that God has to work in our lives, we stop praying because we stop believing our prayers could ever be answered. To put it simply, we lose our faith in the power of God and in God’s promise to use us as His witnesses.

However, there is also a great danger that Christians have created in their explanations of this baptism in the Holy Spirit. By emphasizing the importance of this event it is very easy to set it up in opposition to a baptism with water. Then, rather than expecting the Holy Spirit to fill a child or an adult with spiritual gifts to be used throughout their life, we start wondering if they might be missing something. We end up trying to separate the Holy Spirit from Jesus Christ.

Have you got the Spirit? Have you been baptized in the Spirit? Saint Paul says, “Yes, you have.” In his first letter to the Corinthian church he points out that all believers in Jesus Christ have been baptized in the Spirit for spiritual gifts don't come naturally, but come only through the Holy Spirit. Paul writes, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.” You don’t need to be re-baptized in order to use your spiritual gifts, God has already empowered you to use them.

As R.A. Torrey puts its, while baptism with water is a onetime deal, the baptism of the Holy Spirit, being filled with the Holy Spirit, can happen numerous times, as many times as God has need for “each new emergency of Christian service.” In the book of Acts, the apostle Peter was filled with the Spirit three times. Baptism in the Holy Spirit is not a sacrament, it is just a description about how God works in our lives so that he might serve the needs of others through us.

In today’s reading from the gospel of Luke, the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in bodily form like a dove. Does that mean that the Holy Spirit wasn’t truly a part of Jesus before this moment? Of course not! Not if we truly believe that Jesus was born God in the flesh. God cannot be separated into divisible parts or else he is no longer one God. The Holy Spirit can never be separate from Jesus Christ just as the Holy Spirit can never be separate from God.

So what does it mean then when the text today says, “they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”? Did God suddenly separate himself so that, for these people, the first baptism didn’t take? Could the same thing have happened at your baptism? This text tends to create doubt in all of us about our baptisms. But the most important words in this little section come at the beginning of verse 17, “for as yet the Spirit had not come.” Instead of saying that the Holy Spirit DID NOT COME when they were baptized, the text says that the Holy Spirit DID NOT YET COME—in other words, it was expected to come. Why? Because where Jesus goes there goes the Holy Spirit.

The biblical scholar Andrew Das explains that, in the book of Acts, baptism with water and being baptized in the Holy Spirit, are always connected. The baptism of the Spirit usually takes place at the same time as the baptism with water as the apostle Peter points out in Acts 2:38, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” However, there are two times in Acts when the Holy Spirit surprises us.

The first is in our text today when the Samaritans have, as yet, not received the Holy Spirit after being baptized. The second is in chapter 10 when the Gentiles receive the Holy Spirit first and then are baptized. Jesus promised his disciples that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria , and to the ends of the earth. The book of Acts explains how the Holy Spirit accomplishes God’s missionary activity.

In each case where the Holy Spirit either is delayed or presumes water baptism, the spirit ends up bringing two separate groups together who were once hostile toward one another. In the first instance, the spirit reunites two separate bodies, orthodox Jews and Samaritans, and brings them together into one new Christian community. In the second instance, the Holy Spirit overcomes the human prejudice of Jews against Gentiles by having some Gentiles speak in tongues before they were ever baptized. As Peter says, “Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” Why? Because baptism in the Holy Spirit and water baptism are expected to be connected.

Have you been baptized with the Holy Spirit? Yes. It happened when you were named and claimed by God himself in the waters of baptism. In those same waters you were forgiven for your sins, even though you hear the forgiveness again each week in the absolution. So, also, you were filled with the Holy Spirit even though you can expect to be filled again with that same Spirit whenever you have need to use your spiritual gifts. You are not “missing” anything for God has given you all that He has, withholding nothing. What does this mean for you? You received the Holy Spirit once at your baptism and God has promised to fill you with that same Spirit again and again as you live out your vocations in service to others. You are free to go forth today in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for January 11th

In today’s gospel reading Jesus gets baptized. But why did he have to get baptized? It seems so, less than divine-like doesn’t it? Perhaps baptism looks more religious, but it is really no more good looking than being born, getting crucified or dying. Those are things we do, you and I, humans. Not God. But, I guess since God did became truly human in Jesus, he would have needed to eat, drink, take baths, be born and die, but baptism just seems a little, well, I don’t know, excessive? A little too religious maybe? Baptism just doesn’t seem necessary for Jesus. Why does HE need THAT?

And if it isn’t necessary for Jesus, why do you and I do it? Romans says, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.” End of story. What’s the baptism for then? To look good? To go to church? To cover your bases (just in case)? To make grandma happy? What do you think?

Several years ago I remember reading about how traditional marriage vows are changing. Instead of putting in the final, “till death do us part” section, they stick in something like, “As long as our love shall last”. The article said this was more realistic. But the problem is that sometimes people who are married don’t “feel” in love anymore. Does that mean your marriage is over? What if one partner isn’t happy anymore but the other is still head over heels? Is the marriage still “game on”? “Till death do us part” is an unconditional promise for a person who is going to die someday. “Till our love ends” is a conditional promise because everyone’s emotions change eventually. Words and promises seem to float around in space until we internalize them, until we make them our own, until we believe them and “feel” that they are true. Sometimes words are just hard to believe.

Throughout high school, my dad usually took me to a good Lutheran church where the rest of our family went. We sang with the choir and sometimes went to the adult Bible Study. I attended the youth group seldom, but we were almost always at church. When I began college, I attended about three different churches, once by myself and twice with a friend. But none of them really seemed right. It didn’t “feel” right. They didn’t inspire me. I didn’t like them.

So what do you think happened? Well, I stopped going. I attended what my pastor would later call, “Saint Mattress by the Springs” and, while I was the only attendee, I was a faithful worshipper for three months. I told people that I didn’t go to any church, but that I read my Bible at home—and that was true. I “felt” faithful. I loved God. And I knew God loved me too. I just knew it. I could “feel” it.

Lucky for me, that feeling really never changed while I was not attending church. But others are not so lucky. I remember an old movie called, “Legends of the Fall” where the character Brad Pitt was playing, named Tristan, screamed hateful things at God when his younger brother, Samuel, died during a war. Suffering seemed to follow Tristan and his family ever since. Toward the end of the movie, Tristan confided to his father than when he had gotten angry at God, he believed that God must have gotten angry right back at him. Tristan’s father argued that this was not true, but Tristan FELT that way. So who could argue, right? There was nothing his father could say. No way to prove God’s love. No way to argue that Tristan wasn’t perfectly correct. The suffering was there for everyone to see. How could Tristan have believed any differently when he felt the way he did?

You see, for many Christians, baptism is an outward sign of an inward feeling. It shows, in a physical way, something that has already happened on the inside. The baptism is just an old, traditional ritual. The inside feeling is the most important. In America, we shudder to think of marrying someone we do not already love; therefore, the concept of being loved and baptized by a God we aren’t madly in love with sounds impossible! Marriage seems to be a ceremony to reflect what has already happened—they’ve both fallen head over heels. In the same way, many people argue that baptism is a way to show others, and God, that you are serious in your relationship and are willing to go all the way with God, so to speak. That’s why, for instance, so many denominations don’t baptize infants or do so only as a preliminary dedication to be completed at confirmation. Why? Because you must be at an age to actually prove your love and confess your intentions before making promises to God—so the argument goes.

I have an overactive imagination and, throughout my life, I have often daydreamed about how I would act if confronted with various situations. You know, like saving puppies from danger and winning fights with my wife. One of these recurring daydreams involves me talking to someone over lunch about baptism. As I said before, many people maintain that in order for a baptism to “stick” or really take, a strong faithful feeling must be present beforehand. Well, at my imaginary lunch table, I always do the same thing when my conversation partner says that baptism is based primarily on a person’s feelings for God. In one fell swoop I pick up my water glass and toss it directly in the face of my conversation partner saying, “Jesus loves you.” And then, as they sit there shocked, cold and wet I smile and say, “How do you feel about that! Just TRY to give it back!”

That’s why we use water at a baptism instead of just telling people that they are washed clean of their sins in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. When I tell you that God forgives your sins even if you don’t get wet, it’s still true. But when you come back from hearing God’s promise with water behind your ears, it’s harder to wiggle out of it? Especially when your mother, father and a congregation full of witnesses can vouch that it really did happen. A question that comes up all the time is, “What if I don’t feel forgiven?” Well, what do you expect to feel? Feel the water. Or, if that’s already happened, eat the bread, drink the wine. God puts himself and his promises in THINGS so that you and I will have something to hold onto when our religious feelings are floating away out of our reach.

Why did Jesus have to be baptized? In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus says, “It is proper . . . to fulfill all righteousness”. What if Jesus had not been baptized? Well, then we would have had to trust that, indeed, he was one with God without hearing it from God’s mouth himself. Without hearing God’s pronouncement, “This is my Son, the Beloved, Listen to Him.” Without Jesus’ baptism, without seeing with their own eyes, without hearing it with their own ears, who could have believed that it was true? It would have been an internal matter. Was Jesus telling the truth? That would be up to you. But when God says it himself, it is much harder to argue about it. The same is true with your baptism. Do you feel very religious today? No? Well, God said that you are his and it’s hard to argue with that. Even if you don’t “feel” saved or forgiven or even loved.

I recently read about a scene from the television series “All in the Family” if you remember that one. When the character Michael protests at Archie’s conniving to have the baby baptized, Archie retorts, “What’s the matter, you were baptized weren’t you? Yes. Michael replies. “But I renounced my baptism.” You can’t do that, Archie says, “You can renounce your belly button, but it won’t go away!”

When Sophia was a little baby, we had to wait six weeks before she was baptized. We were going to make a seven hour trip with her to Nebraska so that our family could attend the service. I remember being really worried about what might happen if we got in a car wreck or something before we ever made it to the church. A professor of mine told me not to worry, because God’s promises are redundant. I had been singing each day that Jesus loved her when I put her to sleep. She heard the forgiveness of sins every week in church. Baptism would not be the first time she heard of God’s love and so, if anything tragic did happen, I could trust that she knew Jesus and God knew her and loved her dearly. But, he added, “Steven, go down there to Nebraska hear God’s promise and see her get all wet, and then, you won’t have to wonder ever again about God’s intentions.

That’s why you were baptized. Not to prove your faith. Not to show off your feelings. But to give you faith. To give you faith. So that you could truly believe that he is your Savior, God’s beloved Son. And, so that you could trust that he has washed you clean once and for all. No matter how you feel today. God’s love for you is forever. Amen.

Sermon for July 20th

“You did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption.” There are many reasons to be afraid of God when you think about it. Things like hurricanes, and ice storms, cancer that shows up out of nowhere and genetic diseases that no one seems to have any control over. Many people look at God and wonder why anyone would worship a God who allows these kinds of bad things to happen to good people. They are afraid of God and for good reason. God can do anything he wants at any time. In fact, we are all destined to fear God as long as we don’t know how he feels about us. Until God lets you know what he thinks of you, you live in fear of God. No matter how many good things we might do, we just can’t be sure what might happen.

In baptism, God declares his will, his purpose and his intentions. He wears his heart on his sleeve. For those of you who have been baptized, God has adopted you into his family. You are his child. He has told you that he loves you once and for all. Even if storms thunder around you, disease attacks your body or suffering of any type comes into your life, God promises that you are his and nothing will snatch you out of his hand. You are his child forever even after death. This is what baptism means for you. This is also what it means for Willa and Olivia who were baptized here this morning. God has made a promise to you and to them that they and you are part of his family now and you do ever have to be afraid of him again.

But adoption is about more than just love. There is a legal aspect to it as well. Not only does your adopting Father, God himself, love you as his very own child, but, as his child, you have the right to an inheritance. Because you were adopted by God, this inheritance is your by legal right. It is this inheritance that gives you the sure and certain hope of eternal life.

Children are sometimes adopted because their birthparents could not provide what was necessary for their life together. Christian parents can understand this predicament very well. We place our children and ourselves in God’s hands because we realize that we are unable to provide certain things by ourselves—eternal life can only be found in God. We love our children so much we ask God to adopt them. In baptism, God welcomes you into his family and takes all you have as his own—your sin, your suffering, and your death. In return, he gives you all that he has—the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation.

“For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry,’Abba! Father’ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.” Now what is going on here! What about that big fat “if” at the end! “If” we suffer, then we will be glorified? What does that mean?

It would be easy to say that suffering is inevitable, because it is, but there is more to this statement than just that. We are not talking about just the general idea of suffering here. This is more like the suffering children go through when their family suffers. The fact that only a real member of a family knows when their family is hurting and hurts along with it. When company is over you might cook steak even if every other day you only eat soup in order to save money. I remember one time when my Grandma came over and was very impressed that our house looked so tidy. I explained to her that it had better look tidy, because we had spent all week cleaning and stuffing things in closets. Only a part of the family knew how much “suffering” had been happening to make it look that way. After you are married, you know that you are really a member of the family when your in-laws find the TV more interesting than you.

I think about the little boy from Africa who was adopted by the singer Madonna. That little boy no doubt enjoys some benefits from being Madonna’s son. They are a family and so when she is successful, her son can celebrate the success with her. However, I’m sure that Madonna’s son must also endure some suffering because of Madonna’s lifestyle and the stigma of being her child. This is what happens when you are part of a family.

As Christians we live with the hope of eternal life, but for now, there are times when the stigma of being a Christian involves suffering. You are a part of Christ’s family now, so when his name suffers insult and his church is attacked, you can expect to feel some pain as well. Not just because suffering is a part of life, but because God himself has adopted you and you are a part of his large extended family. So, that big ol “if” in the passage I read, isn’t so much demanding that you suffer, but pointing out that even suffering can bring you peace once when that suffering comes on account of God’s Word. Martin Luther argued that suffering was a sign of the church, because where God’s Word is preached in its truth in purity, suffering is bound to come as well.

Despite the dangers of being a Christian, you need not fall back into fear. You have been adopted and you will be God’s child forever. He’ll never give you up. Even when there is suffering in this world, you do not have to face it alone. You are part of God’s family and so we support one another. God will never leave you to fend for yourself. You can be assured that the problems in this life are nothing compared with the glory about to be revealed for you and for them. You are God’s beloved children, God’s adopted children, and he has promised to love you, to be your Father and to be your God forever. Amen.

Sermon for June 22nd

I once led a memorial service for a guy I had met only once or twice at church but never really knew at all. It really wasn’t until his funeral preparations that I got to know this man and his family. But once I got to know him, I just couldn’t believe all the things this guy had done! The family started telling stories and memories about him and they just got worse and worse and funnier and funnier. This man was a real sinner. Everybody there knew it. He pulled some of the most horrific pranks and freaked people out constantly in his life. I just kept looking over at his wife, with this look of amazement on my face, as family members recounted event after event—any of which could have led to a divorce just based on the sheer danger recounted, or selfishness exhibited, or stress involved. How had this nice lady ever been married so long to such a crazy guy like this?

Now, at most memorial services that I have attended, people don’t often mention the dead person’s favorite sins; instead, they often try to build up their good deeds, their positive traits and their Christian attributes. But this memorial service was very different in that regard. While most people miss loved ones because of how sweet and loving they could be; it seemed that many family members and friends at this memorial service might miss this guy partly because of what a jerk he could be at times. And by the end of the service, people were saying the same things. Well, but, he’s gone now, and won’t be able to do that crazy stunt any more. Or they might say, I wish that he would just get up and start yelling at me, but, he can’t.

“Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?” These words, written by the apostle Paul in the book of Romans, reflect the same experience people had at this memorial service. Could this man, remembered at the service, a father, a husband, a friend, and a brother continue all the crazy and horrendous acts he had done in his life? “By no means!” Paul says. Put into more modern language, we might say, “Well no. Duh! He’s dead. He can’t do much of anything now can he?”

Perhaps I am stating the obvious here, but when you are dead, all your expectations and your plans, whether they are virtuous or not, come to an end. Even if you want to do something good. Even if you desire to do something bad. Tough luck. You are dead and it aint gonna happen.

There is a book called The Hammer of God. In it there is a story about a young pastor in Sweeden named Fridfeldt who goes to visit Frans, a man who is dying. The pastor, Fridfeldt knows that this man, Frans, is a godly man and a true believer. But on arrival Frans is only halfway conscious and begins relating sin after sin from his youth as well as his contemporary naughty thoughts and desires. All the while, Fran’s daughter cries beside the bed as her father relates one embarrassing detail after another. I’ll continue the story from the book:

“Friedfelt could not help thinking how alike we all are within, after all. The same jealousy, the same pride, the same unloving heart. He also thought about how it would now go for Frans. As long as he was conscious he had faith. That seemed quite evident. But beneath the thin shell of his conscious faith this evil still dwelt within the heart. ‘Just as it is with me’, mumbled Fridfeldt. The only difference was that he was still in possession of his full senses, and in the interest of his good reputation must cover tightly all the uncleanness within. As for the poor old man, his lid had fallen off, and everything lay bare.” The man later dies and his daughter asks, “Tell me Pastor, do you believe he died a blessed death?” What do you think?

“Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Could this man, who had been baptized in Christ Jesus, have somehow separated himself from God’s love long ago? Could this man, who had been baptized in Christ Jesus, have sinned a little too much in later life? Could this man, who had been baptized in Christ Jesus, have let his lid fall off a little too soon and lost his faith? “By no means!” Paul says. Again, using more modern language. “Well no. Duh! He died. He was buried into with Jesus at his baptism! He couldn’t do anything about that. He died!

Perhaps I am stating the obvious here again, but when you are dead, all your expectations and your plans, whether they are virtuous or not, come to an end. Even if you want to do something good. Even if you desire to do something bad. Tough luck. You are dead and it aint gonna work. This is true the day you die as well as sixty years after you have died. This is true when you have died with Christ at your baptism.

This last week was a week full of graduations. I feel rather knowledgable about graduations because I have done it four times if you include high school and college. This is what I know. You have to go to school until you graduate and, while you are at school, you have to go to classes and do the work and do it well or else you won’t get your diploma. That’s just how school works. But what if, on your first day of elementary school, or high school, or college, or medical school, or seminary, the president, or superintendent told you that you didn’t need to worry about graduating anymore. It was all taken care of and he, or she, handed you your diploma saying, “Congratulations!”

It didn’t matter how hard you worked in school, how many classes you went to, how much you sucked up to the teachers, you were going to fail this school miserably. This president, or superintendent, expected no more than a 0.0 grade point average from you. But, the superintendent loved you. They loved you and gives you your diploma, free of charge, as a gift, before you could ever succeed or fail. How would you feel about this? Cheated? Offended? Guilty? Unbelieving? Thankful? Free?

“Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Your baptism was your graduation. You received your diploma, your promise of eternal life, free of charge from God who loves you. Jesus understands that in this life, you will sin against him again and again. Jesus understands that in this life, you will sin against one another again and again. In the school for the salvation, you will all be given a 0.0 grade point average. He knows all this, but he loves you and he forgives you. Therefore, you may consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

When this passage from Romans, that you heard today, is read, we often think that Paul is trying to guilt trip us into becoming better people. We like to believe that the jury is still out on us and God is watching for us to succeed or fail in this Christian thing. That way, if you really wanted to, you could sin enough and thwart God’s decision that has already been made for you. We want that choice! We want that freedom! Not to choose God, no, we know what would happen then. But how far would we have to go to reject him! “Shall we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?”

The apostle Paul says, “By now means! Well no. Duh! How can you, who have already died, go on living in sin? It doesn’t work that way. Jesus Christ has already made his decision about you. When you were baptized in Christ Jesus you were baptized into his death. You didn’t just die, you were buried! Buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

Your lid has already popped off and everything was laid bare. You died. Your memorial service is over. Jesus has already handed you over a promise of eternal life. “We know that our old self was crucified with Jesus so that the body of sin might be destroyed and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin.” You have died and your life now hidden with Christ in God.

Does this mean that you’ll still make bad decisions and sin against God and one another. Yes. In this life on earth you can count on it. But. In God’s eyes you have already died. Just like his son Jesus. Everything is accomplished already. “And since we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”