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I Corinthians 9:16-27
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them…..To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” Dear Friends in Christ, • Mike Malloy who really really hates Republicans, calls them liars, cheats, and sneaks. About the Bush family, “I hate you to the depths of my soul. I will hate you when I’m dead. I will hate you a million years after I’m dead. My hate will be a star in the firmament that will shine down on your Republican “rear ends” forever. That’s how deep my hatred is, because of what you’re doing to this country.” • Paul, in Romans 9, “I am speaking the truth in Christ – I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit – that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. They are Israelites….ch. 10 – Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved…. • Passion for basketball success / RCLS story/ N Mankato story / • Passion for daughter in prison / passion for those in drug court • Passion in this place for students in confirmation class / school / passion begins with an appreciation of grace First lesson today is to consider how God worked in Paul this deep desire and passion for lost souls. Few could appreciate the grace of God like Paul. He was the ISIS or the AlQaida terrorist of his day. When he wrote that he was the (Worst) of the sinners, few could argue the point. He was a Pharisee and a son of a Pharisee. As a young and ambitious man, he was intoxicated with hatred for the Gospel. He breathed threats and murder against the disciples of Jesus. Although we don’t have specific reports that he killed Christians, he went before the high priest and saw to it that they were imprisoned and executed. It should tell you something about God that he would take the very chief of first century sinners and turn him into the very Best of the missionaries. How did God do that? He started the process with a bright light from heaven as Saul approached Damascus. With a question, “why are you persecuting me?” With a man of God named Ananias who prayed for and laid hands on and instructed and then baptized Saul. That’s how God got his attention and as the years went on God molded and shaped Paul into a preacher who wanted nothing more in life than to preach the Gospel at no charge. Into a free man who was subject to nobody who made himself into a servant to all. God did that by making sure that Paul was whipped by Jews five times, 39 lashes each time. By making sure he was thrown into prison far more times and beaten far more than just about anybody else. God worked in him a servant heart by making sure he was beaten three times with rods, stoned once, shipwrecked three times, by making sure he was often in danger from rivers and in danger from robbers and in danger from his own people and in danger from Gentiles and in danger in the city and in danger in the wilderness and in danger at sea and in danger from false brothers, and on and on through fiery trials and the furnace of affliction, God’s Spirit produces a preacher absolutely on fire for His Savior. Who wants nothing more from life than that he might preach to the Jews in such a way that they would listen and to the Gentiles in such a way that they would listen to and believe and be saved and spend their eternities mounting up with wings like eagles and soaring. • Lack of passion / my story is soft and easy / in the good times God is teaching me gratitude, cheerfulness, contentment. But in the worst of times, God is helping me develop a sense of passion. To be all things to all people 1) Death of brother moved me towards being a pastor and has helped me to cry with those who are weeping at the loss of a love done. 2) New Year’s Eve 1971 moved me to have a passion for broken teenage hearts 3) Failure of a family member’s marriage helps me to cry with those whose marriages are failing. • Jenna Giassen / survivor of abortion / thinks of her cerebral palsy as a gift to be used for God’s glory. All things to all people • When we hear of miscarriage, we connect them to those who have experienced it. • When we hear of second marriages and families trying to blend, we direct them to someone who has experienced it. • Men Who Need Help – we’re studying The Momentary Marriage / marriage first of all about being a picture of Christ keeping His covenant promises to His bride the Church. We leave with a renewed desire to go home and be a better husband. First lesson today that in fact the worst of times are often those God will turn into the best of times for the sake of the Gospel / best of times are when we are encouraging another person along the road to heaven. Second lesson is to ask how it can be that we sustain this passion, this desire to be all things to all people. I do not run like a man running aimlessly. I do not fight like a man beating the air. No I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. • Conversation with Adam Roessler about wrestlers and the discipline it takes to be successful. • Aaron Sheehan, grammy for best opera recording / obviously developed a passion and disciplined himself on the way to success • Three habits of maturing disciples 1) To receive gratefully God’s good gifts in Divine service 2) To eagerly search Holy Scripture 3) To humbly confess sins to God and others Discipleship 101 language: First, it means that every Christian a (disciple). To be a disciple is to be a follower of Christ. It is to spend your days knowing that you have been given a place within God’s story, that you have an active role to play, that not a one of you is unimportant, and that no vocation is insignificant. What we do in our own little corners of the world matters here and now, and beyond. Every Christian a (missionary). The Holy Spirit doesn’t just call and gather and enlighten us with His gifts. He keeps on sending us back into this world not just to wander around aimlessly but to love as you have been loved / forgive as you have been forgiven / serve as you have been served. • Husband (knowing his sins are forgiven) listening to his wife who has got the blues / asking how may I serve you today? • Wife (knowing that God has been patient with her )appreciating what her husband is doing right / commending and encouraging • Parents (remembering how their parents loved their church) bringing and offering and their children into the house of God and being engaged in the mission • Confirmation parents (remembering how Christ lived the perfect life they could never live) reviewing / learning alongside of sons and daughters • Families (knowing how Christ fixed His eyes on Jerusalem) fixed on what is primary / secondary • Youth worker (thinking of Jesus weeping over the city of Jerusalem) speaking with tears in her eyes about teens and their troubles • Teachers at school (thinking of Jesus going off into a quiet place to pray) doing daily lesson plans / staying positive / • Kingdom of God is like Pastor Muther (impressed by Paul’s willingness to give up his own eternal life if it meant that the Jews could be saved) teaching 7th and 8th grade students • The kingdom of God is like a large church in a small town where the people of God are 1) More and more on their knees admitting that they have fallen short of the glory of God and reveling in the forgiveness of sins. 2) Standing up straight and tall and going about their business day after day with an absolute desire to put first things first and second things second. In Jesus Name and for His sake. Amen.
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I Corinthians 9:16-27
“For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them…..To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” Dear Friends in Christ, “On To Immortality!” That was the headline on the front cover of Sports Illustrated, in reference to Super Bowl #49. The rest of the headline said this, “After a Super Bowl win for the ages, the Patriots chiseled their place on the Rushmore of NFL Franchises, and their quarterback staked his claim as the greatest ever.” The sportswriter is no doubt a student of NFL football and is reflecting the conventional wisdom that Quarterback Tom Brady is a shoe in for the NFL immortality, along with two other quarterbacks Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana who have also led their teams to four Super Bowl victories. Students of Scripture will be uneasy with any talk of immortality that isn’t focused on Jesus Christ, of Whom Paul writes to young pastor Timothy, “he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light….and any of you who have stood at the gravesite service of a loved one in recent months and years are looking forward to that day when the trumpet will sound and the perishable bodies will be putting on the imperishable and the mortal bodies will be putting on true immortality. Students of the Gospel will remember that the truly great ones in the eyes of God are those who have been molded and shaped by God into being servants of others. The ones who will be commended by Jesus on the Last Day aren’t the quarterbacks who have thrown the winning touchdowns, but rather the ones who have spent their days letting their lights shine in such a way that others would see their good works and give glory to God. The ones who have understood what it means to be all things to all people on behalf of the Gospel. Or to say it this way, what it means to live out our little part in God’s grand and glorious plan to have mercy on sinners. First, what that meant for Paul. Secondly, what it means for a preacher. And third, what it means for those listening to and believing the Gospel. Paul’s Role in God’s Story – Few could appreciate the grace of God like Paul. He was the ISIS or the AlQaida terrorist of his day. When he wrote that he was the (Worst) of the sinners, few could argue the point. He was a Pharisee and a son of a Pharisee. As a young and ambitious man, he was intoxicated with hatred for the Gospel. He breathed threats and murder against the disciples of Jesus. Although we don’t have specific reports that he killed Christians, he went before the high priest and saw to it that they were imprisoned and executed. It should tell you something about God that he would take the very chief of first century sinners and turn him into the very Best of the missionaries. How did God do that? He started the process with a bright light from heaven as Saul approached Damascus. With a question, “why are you persecuting me?” With a man of God named Ananias who prayed for and laid hands on and instructed and then baptized Saul. That’s how God got his attention and as the years went on God molded and shaped Paul into a preacher who wanted nothing more in life than to preach the Gospel at no charge. Into a free man who was subject to nobody who made himself into a servant to all. God did that by making sure that Paul was whipped by Jews five times, 39 lashes each time. By making sure he was thrown into prison far more times and beaten far more than just about anybody else. God worked in him a servant heart by making sure he was beaten three times with rods, stoned once, shipwrecked three times, by making sure he was often in danger from rivers and in danger from robbers and in danger from his own people and in danger from Gentiles and in danger in the city and in danger in the wilderness and in danger at sea and in danger from false brothers, and on and on through fiery trials and the furnace of affliction, God’s Spirit produces a preacher absolutely on fire for His Savior. Who wants nothing more from life than that he might preach to the Jews in such a way that they would listen and to the Gentiles in such a way that they would listen to and believe and be saved and spend their eternities mounting up with wings like eagles and soaring. “It was the best of times and it was the worst of times.” Those were the opening words of “Tale of Two Cities”, written by Charles Dickens at the time of the French Revolution. That saying came to mind as I reflected a bit this past week on how God called and gathered and enlightened and sanctified Paul into being a preacher who had a passion for being all things to all people. Which led me to look into my own life story to see how I might measure up against Paul. Not well, I had to answer. My journey of faith is quite the opposite of Paul’s. It began quietly, at the age of 19 days, in the waters of Baptism. Almost without exception, my days and years have been easy and soft. And yet the more I thought about it, the worst of my days have turned out to be the best of my days, at least in terms of serving as a pastor to the people of God. A Pastor’s Role in God’s Story – This past Wednesday morning, for Release Class time, we watch with our youth the testimony of Gianna Jessen, the young lady who survived abortion and considers her cerebral palsy to be a gift to be used for God’s glory. Which led me to share with our youth three of the worst days of my life and how God has used them to shape me up into the kind of servant He wants me to be. In the (worst) of times / In the (best of times) September 5, 1968 was the day God began to teach me what it meant to be a pastor. It was the day my 20 year old brother was killed in a car accident, three days before he was to leave for basic training for the Army. It was also the day when our old and faithful Pastor Dierks gathered my extended family around the Word of God in our living room and showed us the way through tragedy. He recited Psalm 23 to us and explained how to make it through the valley of the shadow of death. He invited us to recite the Apostles Creed and explained what it meant to believe in the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. He pointed us to the words of Job, “Naked came I into this world and naked I will leave. The Lord gives and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.” Before the day was over, I was thinking seriously about wanting to be a pastor, and to this very day, every time I make my way to the funeral home or to the nursing home to make arrangements, my desire is simple – that I could be what this grieving family needs me to be, for the sake of the Gospel. New Years Eve, 1971 was the night God began to teach me what it was like to have your heart broken. That night my first ever girl friend dumped me like a rock and took up with a friend of mine. The next few days I jumped high every time the phone rang, sure that she would come to her senses. She didn’t. As the weeks went on, I obviously survived, and about 10 months later, God arranged life in such a way that Debi and I would meet and get to know in a puppy love sort of a way, and 40 years later, here we are, going through the grandparent chapter, hand in hand. To this day, whenever I read on Facebook or hear in person of marriages that are struggling or have an opportunity to serve a person with a broken heart, my one desire is this – that this pastor could be what that wounded soul needs him or her to be, for the sake of the Gospel. Our second lesson today, as we consider a pastor’s role in God’s story – that in fact the worst of times are often those God will turn into the best of times for the sake of the Gospel. Your Role in God’s Story. Everybody has a story, of course. Stories with all manner of brokenness and healing, with every kind of twists and turns, with lessons learned and then forgotten and learned again. This morning, in closing, I want to point out the obvious. Not a one of us lives our story in isolation. We live in a vertical relationship, with God, by faith – and in all kinds of horizontal relationships, with others, in love. By nature, we live as if life is mainly about me, myself, and I. But in the waters of Holy Baptism, we are moved to life as if life is all about Jesus Christ. In this Epiphany season, we do well one more time to ask what it means to let our Gospel lights shine…..what it means to serve Christ by serving others…..what it means to be all things to all people. First, it means that every Christian a (disciple). To be a disciple is to be a follower of Christ. It is to spend your days knowing that you have been given a place within God’s story, that you have an active role to play, that not a one of you is unimportant, and that no vocation is insignificant. What we do in our own little corners of the world matters here and now, and beyond. Closely related to the fact that every Christian is a disciple, by definition, is that Every Christian a (missionary). The Holy Spirit doesn’t just call and gather and enlighten us with His gifts. He keeps on sending us back into this world to feed the hungry family that needs to be fed and pour a cup of coffee for a friend that really needs that coffee and to listen to that neighbor who needs to be listened to. Every morning His mercies are brand new and meant to move us towards changing those diapers that need to be changed and giving a ride to that elderly person who doesn’t drive anymore and visiting that friend in the hospital who is there through no fault of his own as well as the one who is in prison because of mistakes made and repeated. Called out of this sinful world by grace and then sent back into it day after day with the greatest story ever told. The story of a Father who has loved us with an everlasting love and of a Son who offered up a once and for all sacrifice to end all required sacrifices and of a Spirit who proceeds from that Father and Son guiding and teaching and molding and making us into a body of believers who have a passion for saving souls into eternity. On To Immortality! The kingdom of God is like a large church in a small town where more and more of her members are understanding more and more what it means to be all things to all people for the sake of the Gospel. Where they are appreciating more and more how God can bless their simple acts of kindness, where they are seeing more and more the potential of every conversation, every circumstance, and every routine. They know that the worst of their days can turn out to be the best of their days, and so they wake up in many of their days eager to see what good works God has prepared for them to do. IN Jesus’ Name. Amen. Mark 1:21-28 – And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. Ickey Woods has a celebratory shuffle like no other! You may remember him as a rookie sensation running back for the Cincinnati Bengals. He ran for over1000 yards that year and became famous for doing the Ickey Woods shuffle after every one of his15 touchdowns. In recent days, Geiko Insurance has come out with a commercial where his dentist asks Ickey if he knew that you could save a certain percentage on Geiko insurance. With a mouthful of the dentist’s hands, he says, “everybody knows that.” Well did you know that Ickey Woods will celebrate just about anything? At which point we see Ickey standing in a grocery isle waiting for his number to be called to get his cold cuts. When his number is called, he dances up and down the isle singing, gonna get me some cold cuts.” I laugh out loud every time I see it and often when just think about it! He’s amazing! Far more amazing, of course was and is and ever shall be Jesus Christ. In our Gospel lesson for today, we focus on Jesus as He enters into a synagogue in his adopted home town of Capernauum / a lake shore town about the size of Janesville. All eyes and ears were on him, as he taught in a way that was in stark contrast to the scribes and teachers of that day. The first lesson we want to learn today is that Christ’s authority was and is like (no other). When Jesus invited Peter and his brother Andrew to and ten other rather ordinary men to follow Him into unknown directions, they followed. When he commanded unclean spirits to be gone, they were gone. When He told a fever to leave Simon’s mother in law, it left and when He told a leper to be clean he was clean. When Jesus told a paralyzed man to walk, he walked, and when told the dead daughter of Jairus to live, she lived. When Jesus commanded raging storms to be still, they were still, and when He invited Peter to walk on water, Peter walked on water. When Jesus forgave the sins of a woman caught in adultery, they were forgiven, and when He cried out on the cross that the salvation of mankind was finished, it was finished. Jesus Christ was and is and ever shall be amazing. In each in every one of our days, we have reason to be left speechless, or to do the Ickey Woods shuffle, or to break out in praise and thanksgiving, or to spend our days serving and obeying. In fact, all of the above! Two reactions we find in our Gospel lesson for today – 1) The demons were and are (trembling). It is the devil who caused the man in that synagogue to cry out against Jesus. Satan knew then and he knows today who Jesus of Nazareth was and what His purpose was. With these words, Satan revealed himself wiser than many modern theologians. James writes it this way, “You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe, and they tremble/shudder.” A second reaction is that of the people who were listening and watching closely Jesus that day in Capernaum. The saints who are listening were and are (speechless). Mark writes in v. 22 that they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one exuding authority….v. 27, all became thunderstruck….v. 28 and the report about him went immediately everywhere. I asked Debi yesterday what it is about Christ that amazes her. She thought about it and pretty quickly answered, that He is omnipresent……and then she added omnipotent. How would you answer that question? Does it happen very often that God’s Word strikes you as a thunderbolt? Or have you and I stumbled into a lukewarm kind of Lutheranism that rarely finds itself amazed at the grace and the mercy of the Triune God? Lesson #1 today is that Christ’s authority was and is like no other. He’s amazing! A second lesson we learn again today is How surprising it was and is that He would give the keys of His Kingdom to His (Church!). When Jesus said to Peter and the early disciples that He was handing over the keys of the kingdom, He wasn’t at all stretching the truth. These keys may be exercised privately in every one of your relationships here and now, and they are exercised publicly in every local Christian congregation in and through the means of grace. When Christian friends and family assure you that God in heaven above loves you and is not punishing you and that in fact He took out all of His anger on His own Son, they speak with authority. Believe them. When they warn you with tears in their eyes that you’re stumbling off the narrow and straight road of salvation, pay attention to them. As a dying of thirst traveler would pay attention to a friend pointing them in the direction of the nearest oasis. As a homeless man would pay attention to a friend directing him to the nearest soup kitchen and shelter. When called and ordained servants of Christ announce to you that all your sins of crabbiness and orneriness and laziness and self-centeredness have been washed away, they are. On the other hand, when a pastor warns you that your sins of pride and stubbornness will damn your marriage to failure, believe him. When the Triune God claims child after child with the sign of the cross in Holy Baptism, forgiveness of sins is delivered directly into the heart and soul of that child, as promised. (Story of Pastor Muther flailing his arms and doing what I call the Muther shuffle and getting as excited as he can be when teaching Baptism). And then there is the Lord’s Supper, dear friends. Oh my, that meal where your pastors say again and again to you that you are loved and forgiven and precious in the sight of your God. That meal where your debt is cancelled, your value is affirmed, your salvation is delivered, and the gates of heaven thrown open by Him Who is sitting at the very right hand of His Father and ruling all of heaven and earth with authority. (Story of one celebration of the Supper where as we were returning to the chancil and the people of God were singing with joy and Pastor Muther whispers into my ear, “Larry, Holy Communion is great.” It kind of leaves you speechless, or maybe you want to do the Ickey Woods shuffle, or perhaps you just want to break out in praise and thanksgiving, or to spend our days serving and obeying. Or how about all of the above. In closing today, two important reminders about this amazing authority that Jesus has handed over to His Church. This Great Commission which is to go into all of Janesville and into all of Waseca and Blue Earth Counties and into all of Minnesota and into Sicachique, Mexico and into Zhlehtown,Liberia,and into the far corners of the world and make disciples for Jesus Christ by baptizing and teaching with authority. First, this authority has been bought at a (steep price). Not with gold and silver, but with holy and precious blood and with innocent suffering and death have we been purchased. We are not our own, we have been at a price, that we may be His own, and live under…….Jesus made it clear in John 10 that He lay down His life that He might take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. Secondly, on this Lutheran Hour Ministries weekend, we learn again that with this authority comes amazing obligations and (opportunity). Your bulletin insert will remind you that four out of ten people in this world have never heard of Jesus Christ, nearly 2/3 of the seven billion people on this planet are not followers of Christ, and that growing numbers of our younger generation are concluding that the Church is not relevant. Lutheran Hour Ministries shares the Gospel about (one million) times a week in the United States. The Gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t just good advice. It’s good news that has the power to lift hearts and save souls. It is a word that never returns void and always accomplishes God’s purposes when it is in fact planted and received. It’s a message like no other. As often as this Good Gospel goes forth in its truth and purity, as often as hearts are receiving and believing, that often there will be a harvest. That often there will celebratory shuffles, that often there will be singing like you’ve never heard before, that often there will be servants serving just for the fun of it, that often there will be checks written for missions near and far, and that often there will be obedience not only out of a sense of duty but mainly with a spirit that says in one breath “He’s amazing” and in the next, “Here am I, send me.” Amen. |
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October 2022
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