The Lutheran Livingroom

Biblical Text: Matthew 18:1-20 (but also Ezekiel 33:7-9 and Romans 13:1-10)

This Sunday was our “invite a friend” Sunday. So the bulletin had more pointers and explanations about the service than normal. And this sermon is intended as something of an introduction to the Lutheran House. As the sermon discusses C.S.Lewis’ Mere Christianity you can think of using Jesus’ metaphor of a house – “in my father’s house are many mansions.” That Mere Christianity – the things we all believe and practice – is like the hallway of the foyer. Great things, but not where anyone lives. At least not comfortably. The sermon is an invitation to see the Lutheran Living Room. And that Living Room deals with what is called Law and Gospel. God speaks to us in two ways – the Law and the Gospel. What the sermon does – from the texts of the day above – is hopefully familiarize anyone with how a Lutheran hears, lives and practices Law and Gospel.

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Invite a Friend – Liturgy Isn’t Scary

I’d like to welcome any friends and neighbors who have joined us today. And I want to use this space, along with some of the space in the bulletin, to guide you through our Worship service. Which may or may not be familiar to you.

The first word I’d introduce to you would be liturgy. Now every church or denomination has a liturgy even if they don’t call it that. A liturgy is simply the normal order of how the worship proceeds. Things don’t even have to be overtly religious to have a liturgy. Pregame sporting events have a liturgy from low church simple singing of the anthem followed by kindly applause to high church presentation of the colors by fully uniformed officers, a soloist singing of the anthem, followed by a low altitude fly-over of the stadium by an American bomber. After which the appropriate reply is a full-throated cheer and chanting of USA USA. Life is full of liturgies.

Low church liturgies these days are modeled after the 18^th and 19^th century revival tents. Congregants gather. A band warms people up steadily increasing the volume and emotional pitch. The band then turns it down a notch for one last song. The Preacher comes out, reads a verse or a passage which will be the text of his preaching. He then proceeds to preach. There may or may not be an altar call. At the end the band comes back out for one wrap-up song. And then there is a dismissal. High Church liturgies – or what might today be called High Church but not long ago would have simply been church – all stem from a 2000 tradition that probably goes back to the Jewish Synagogue. You can get a bit of that flavor in the gospel of Luke when Jesus goes to his hometown Nazareth synagogue (Luke 4:16). The liturgy you will experience today in this Lutheran church would have been quite low church mid-century. It would have been called a simple service of the Word as we are not celebrating the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper today. This congregation follows a rhythm of the Sacrament on 2^nd, 4^th, any 5^th Sundays or any specific Holy Days. 1^st and 3^rd Sundays are for the Word alone. All of that following a church year calendar.

The service opens with a Hymn of Invocation. An invocation should tell you both what God is being worshipped here in this service and is the opening prayer of the gathered believers. Today that invocation is both specifically to the LORD Jesus Christ and a Trinitarian invocation. And the request is for His presence to move our hearts to continued faith. Immediately after the invocation is the Corporate Confession and Absolution. For most of church history, confession and absolution would have been private and would have been expected in the week prior if you wanted to receive communion. I’m just old enough to remember my parents having to declare for communion. Within the Lutheran Church corporate confession has become the standard.

The Lutheran Liturgy – today our simple Service of the Word – proceeds in three large steps: Scripture, Preaching and Prayer. The first step are the various readings of the Word of God and congregational responses. From the entrance Psalm (the Introit) with its response of the Gloria, to the assigned readings with the response of the public confession of the creed and the Hymn of the Day. The rhythm of the liturgy is often Call and Response in big ways and in small. You will see that Call and Response in a small way after each reading. This is the Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

We are gathered to hear God’s Word and we first do that in the Words of Scripture which are for all peoples of all times. Our specific readings are assigned. We follow something called a lectionary. That lectionary each week has a specific Old Testament, Epistle and Gospel reading. The use of a lectionary ensures that I the preacher don’t harp on the same thing every week but preach “the whole counsel of God.” The sermon or preaching is to be the Word of God for this people gathered today. And then in the simple service we turn to prayer and blessing. Other weeks we would celebrate the Sacrament before the sending.

That is a quick overview of how a Lutheran service flows. We hear the Word, we interpret and apply the Word for our lives, and we ask God for his care and blessing. It might seem a little formal, but not everything – maybe especially the things of God – has to be in an informal register. The vestments I wear are not meant to mark me personally out, but are the dress of the office. The colors of the various hangings that make the sanctuary beautiful follow the colors of the church year. Right now, being in the Season of Pentecost which is the season of the growth and mission of the church, they are green. Come back in Advent they are blue. Christmas is white. Festivals an audacious Red. What the liturgy and everything around it does is attempt to create a sacred time and place. A place to withdraw from the world and encounter God. To hear God in his word and his promise.

Thank you for worshipping with us today.

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Right Answer, Now What’s it Mean?

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Biblical Text: Matthew 16:21-28

In some ways this is a continuation of last week. There really is no break in the text. Upon getting the answer right – Peter confessed “the Christ, the son of God” – the Keys of the Kingdom are granted. But what the second part does – like the Sunday School teacher asking “why?” to the child who has just answered “Jesus” – is ask what does The Christ mean? And then it defines it. In this old world The Christ means the cross. The Christ means choosing to walk in the ways that God has laid out in advance. And until one can receive that Christ, one cannot proclaim the Christ.

Part of this is pondering what it means to pick up the cross. And the simple answer is the cross is giving yourself away in love. Our culture has a terrible definition and understanding of love. At its root we tend to think about love as something that completes us – to quote Jerry Meguire. Where biblical love is denial of the self. It is an expenditure of the self for God and the neighbor. The call of Christ and the cross is to live you life in that love, having the faith that Christ has overcome. That only those who do so will find eternal life.

It’s a tough teaching. One that only The Christ – the One – has lived perfectly. But it’s true.

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Marriage Allegory

had the occasion recently to review the Wedding liturgy. I was once again reminded of what might be the best short sermon ever written. And also reminded of just how clever Satan can be. That best short sermon is what is typically labeled The Wedding Address. In reality that address is both deathly serious and full of deep kindness. Which brings up Satan’s cleverness. You know this address because of Hollywood’s various representations of absolutely silly Bishops in their bling stating either “Dearly beloved” or “Marriage” with full lisp. Usually in front of two people who absolutely should not be getting married.

That last bit – two people who should not be getting married – had me reflecting. Is Hollywood making fun of this because of the hypocrisy of the clergyman? Pronouncing the address while knowing he should not be doing the wedding. Every minister has at least one wedding that they look back on and grimace. And because we remember the mistakes, and not the much larger number of happy occasions, they are the ones that haunt. Or is Hollywood, and Satan, merely trying to cover up with farce the clarity of Thomas Cranmer’s statement on the purpose.

The first thing Cranmer’s address does is establish where marriage comes from. “This is an honorable estate instituted and blessed by God in paradise before humanity’s fall into sin.” This is the way God made the material world to be. Before anything messed it up. Before our sin. This institution was present. That leaves the question why? Why would God create this? What meaning does it have? And Cranmer’s address immediately tells us. In the material reality of marriage, “we see a picture of the communion between Christ and His bride, the church.” Marriage is a living allegory. The physical reality is the base, but Christological, Moral and Eschatological carry the meaning. The fundamental institution that most of us live our lives within is a reflection of Christ and His people. It is an expression of the love of God for his creation “proclaimed by his presence and first miracle at Cana in Galilee.”

The Address then moves on to the moral dimension. What does this institution require of us? And it includes four things that build on each other. The base of any marriage is the “union in heart, body and mind intended for the mutual companionship, help and support that each person ought to receive from the other, both in prosperity and adversity.” Marriage is hopefully more than a long-term contract, but it is never less than a long-term contract. Maybe contract is the wrong word, say alliance. That alliance has its physical dimension. “Marriage was ordained so that man and woman may find delight in one another.” As with all things planted by God – good trees – they are fruitful. “God established marriage for the procreation of children.” This often gets overlooked in our day, but be fruitful and multiply is a law that was never repealed. The last bit of the moral dimension is what to do with those kids. “Who are to be brought up in the fear and instruction of the Lord.” Marriage as an institution was created that our greatest heritage – The Word of God – might be preserved to generations’ generation.

And that leaves the eschatological. Where does this all go? “That they may offer Him [Christ] their praise.” Marriage – the image of Christ and the Church – is the institution that functions as the ark in this world. It is the institution that puts us in the boat, trusts the love of God to see that boat to shore, and populates that heavenly number that no one can count.

“For these reasons God has established the holy estate.” Marriage is a living allegory of our hope. Some particular marriages are better representations than others. There are those who absolutely should not be getting married. And sin makes all kinds of things eminently mockable. But as with all things of God, the reality – the love and the hope – are not erased. If we live into the faith that it requires. If we have the faith that Christ has blessed and honored this estate.

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Valley Lutheran Chapel Sermon

Text: Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. (Rom. 6:16 NLT)

Trouble in the World

Everyone has a god.

Sure, there are those who would say there is no god. There are those who might not go so far as that, but they simply say there is no way that we can know god – if there is one. The Bible even tells a story of those who say to Jesus “Lord, Lord.” They thought they had a god. They continue, “we ate and drink in your presence and you taught in our street.” Or Matthew goes so far as to have them say, “did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ (Matt. 7:22 ESV)” And Jesus responds, “Go away. I never knew you.” You might even think you have the one true god. But we often fool ourselves.

Because this is what it means to have a god. Whatever you fear, love and trust above all things. That is your god. This is one of Martin Luther’s deepest insights. And it is right there is the small catechism. He expands on it the larger catechism. You are a creature. You are made. You are made with a purpose. The fancy greek word is telos – end. You are pointed somewhere. There are good works laid out in advance for you to walk in. But unlike the grass or the lilies of the field whose purpose is simple and they will obey it – to come up in the morning, look beautiful and fade – God gave you a will. And we often choose new gods. We often choose something else – something lessor – to fear, love and trust above all things. We often choose to obey a different purpose than the one we were created for.

And everyone has such a God. But few actually understand what they worship. Who they obey.

There are some default gods. The world likes power. There are untold numbers of people and institutions that are dedicated solely to accruing power. They will promise you access. You’ll be in the room where it happens. You’ll be in the inner ring.

Some like a specific form of power – money. Which is always funny. Because most of us think money is a life of ease and luxury. But if you listen carefully to people like Elon Musk or Palmer Lucky they sound an awful lot like the teacher of Ecclesiastes. When goods increase, the ones who eat them increase. Riches and the ability to enjoy them are separate gifts. And they rarely come together. The one who is given the task of piling up, usually leaves it all to a bunch of idiots. If you want such a wry story go look up who Henry Ford served, and who the Ford Foundation – his money – now servers. This too is meaningless a chasing after the wind.

And then there are all kinds of minor deities: Pleasure…that one will eat you up fast. As this generation’s greatest poet – Dana Gioia wrote – pity the beautiful. Pity the looksmaxxers who are already withering.

Even things we would normally put on the good side of the ledger: knowledge, wisdom. If you fear, love or trust any of these things above everything else, you have put a weight on them that they cannot bear. You’ve built your house on the sand…and the storm is coming.

Christology

But here is the good news. Christ has set you free. Once we were all bound to one of those vicious gods. It didn’t really matter whether it was because of Satan, the World or our own Flesh. We were bound. The apostle Paul would call it bound to the elementary principles of the world. You are going to serve someone. You are going to obey something’s law. We all came into this world slaves of something. And none of us had a choice. In sin my mother conceived me the psalmist would say. We would go along to get along right up until the grave. It is easier conforming yourself to the shape of the world. Be water the Taoist would say.

But Christ has freed you. He exposed those gods for what they are – frauds. They will eat you alive and never give you what your heart truly desires.

He exposed Satan’s lies. You will not be like God.

He exposed the world’s lies. You do not get what you deserve. The world will crucify the innocent if it is the easiest path. If they get in way of lunch.

He exposed our own hearts. It is not what goes into you that makes you unclean. It is what comes out of our natural hearts.

Christ exposed all those gods that we served for what they were – grasping and vain attempts at immortality. Desperate cries for love from things that would not love us back. What did it benefit Alexander or Caesar to rule the world? They are still dead. And we all sell out for much less than Caesar.

But Christ did not consider equality with god something to be held onto, but freely gave it away. Taking on the form of a servant. So that he could be the slave of all. The slave of all…who freed us all. Freed us from our illusions of grandeur. Freed us from whatever fears of death drove us into the promises those petty gods. Freed us from all the elementary principles of the world. Freed us from all the laws that bound us. He took that all to the cross. Christ paid for it all. The sins of cosmos.

And Christ gives us – gives you – your first real choice. You have been freed. You are still not God. You are never going to be God. You are a creature. You are going to serve something. But Christ gave you a choice. Who are your going to obey. Who are you going to fear, love and trust above all things.

Moral

You can present yourself back to you favorite petty god. They will certainly take you back. And there are plenty of people who are more than glad to slip back into that comfortable servitude.

Or you can present yourselves to Christ. You can present yourselves to the God who calls you brother. You can present yourself to the God who loved you, when you were anything but lovely. You can present yourselves to Christ whose promise is to sanctify and keep you. Unlike all those other gods who chew you up and leave you a shade. Christ welcomes you into eternal dwellings. Christ gives you a house on the rock.

You have been freed in hope. In the hope that you would use this freedom to freely serve. That you would choose righteousness. That you would choose the hard obedience that leads to life.

Christ has freed you for this choice. Choose your prince carefully.

Eschatological

Because there is eternal weight behind this choice.

It is life or death.

You are going to serve something. You are going to be obedient to someone, even if it is just your gut.

Everyone has a god.

Be sure you know who you are serving. And what they are promising.

May you so pass through things temporal, that you do not lose the things eternal.

May you choose wisely who to serve.

The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.

Know who you are being obedient to. It has eternal weight.

The Keys of the Kingdom

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Biblical Text: Matthew 16:13-20

The text is Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Christ. And the response is the bestowing of “the keys.” The keys are defined as the authority to bind and to loose sins. This sermon leans to the teaching side. It is about the Office of the Keys. It surveys what different traditions teach in regards to this and then it does the Lutheran thing and turns to Confessions (Small Catechism and Smalcald Articles) and the Scriptures. In the second half it returns to my proclamation roots. How is one to use these Keys.

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Your Hair is On Fire

I’ve used it enough that I think our council is probably tired of it. But I call August around churches the annual Hair on Fire month. Why? There are a number of reasons. Attendance is often a bit depressed as people get in the last summer trips before school starts – the actual New Years Day. Leadership teams are usually turning to budget season. And they are turning to budget season usually at the lowest point. And this year is probably no different. If you haven’t looked, through the month of July we are reporting offerings of $118K against expenses of $163K for a deficit of -$45K. That is why I call it Hair on Fire. Almost every August in my experience you look at bad numbers at exactly the time you are thinking about next year.

Now I do want to call attention to something just under the covers of those top-line numbers. The first is that on the expense line, year to year comparison, we are running roughly -1.5% less. Our expenses are less than we said they would be. And that will continue for the foreseeable future. The iPad Organist is cheaper. I hate to say that. And it might not be good long term because I tend to think live music is important. But right now it is true. The live portion is going to be your voices and the person pressing play. And the iPad in my judgement is a lot better than it has any right to be. But, that reduction still would not solve that deficit. Not completely.

The real problem is the top line. Offerings year to year are down almost 18%. I can’t really blame attendance as it has been solid year to year. Collectively we managed to close in the black last year. Although that came late. In August our hair was on fire. Maybe the same thing happens. Maybe it doesn’t. The main point here is that you can’t make up an almost 20% decline in the top-line with stuff below it. Not really. Unless you want something that looks dramatically different.

And I think this really is the time of trial. Of course the answer is more people sharing the burden. Most people when they say that mean something like “we need more people in here.” And I’m not saying that is false, just that is not how God tends to work. Saying to God “you need to send more people because I don’t want to bear the cost of this church” is rarely a compelling argument with God. What He tends to say is something like Haggai. “These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD…Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruin?…Consider your ways, Go up to the hills and bring wood to build the house (Haggai 1:2-11).” Or God says something like Malachi. “Bring in the full tithe…and thereby put me to the test, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no need (Malachi 3:6-12).” Or if you want the New Testament and Jesus, he has no problem saying something like “give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you. (Luke. 6:38).” Or “Make friends for yourselves by means of the mammon of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings (Luke 16:9).” Or, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:19-21).”

Stewardship is always the acid test of are you on mission with God. God wants people who are on mission with him. Budget problems are almost always spiritual mission problems. Do you believe the promises? Do you want to see the Kingdom grow? Prove it. Put God to the test.

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God’s Crumbs

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Biblical Text: Matthew 15:21-28

The text is the that of the confrontation between Jesus and the Canaanite woman. As I mention at the start, this lesson is probably the source of more terrible 20th century theology than any other. Stuff so ridiculous that it barely deserves mention beyond signifying that these people can’t read the scriptures. But I do think that the text has a deep challenge that goes without mention these days. The first and very surface meaning is the easiest. The Jewish messiah – the son of David – is also the messiah of even the Canaanites – the all time enemy of the Jews. It is right there on the surface that any of the worldly divisions that we live with are not part of the Kingdom of God. But there is a much deeper second lesson about the character and providence of God. It is more about what type of God do you believe in? Is your God a god of scarcity or is he a God of abundance? Is he a God who always provides what his people need? And Jesus’ back and forth with the Canaanite woman establish just what she believed. And what we should believe. It also establishes how hard this faith is. The sermon develops these themes.

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The Law and the Promise

In the Young Adult group that meets on Wednesday evenings, in between silly movies, we’ve been reading Galatians. And to Lutherans in the know Galatians is probably the most Lutheran book of the bible. It is a book about the proper distinction of law and gospel. And distinction is the right word. They are two separate covenants – Abraham and Moses. But the covenant with Abraham – “he believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Genesis 15:6, Galatians 3:6)” – is both prior to that with Moses and more direct. God speaks directly with Abraham. The covenant of Sinai with Israel is mediated by Moses. Exodus has Moses going up the mountain and down the mountain and up and down each time relaying parts of a negotiation. Down, I’ve met the LORD. Up, the people of Israel say you are scary. Down, tell them they are right and to back away from the mountain. Up, they’ve agreed and backed away. Let me bring down your word. You should go down first. Down, witnesses the golden calf. Breaks the law. Cleans up Israel. Up, yes, God, I’m sorry, I dropped the tablets. I’ll make a copy. Down, here is the law again, will you keep it? Up, they said they’d keep it. Down, we need to assemble the elders for a meal on the mountain. Up, a meal with the Elder and the LORD to celebrate the covenant of Moses. The covenant with Abraham is the promise – the gospel. Believe, God will do it, God has done it. The covenant with Moses is the law.

Isaiah 56, our Old Testament lesson for this Sunday, is an interesting mixture of the promise and the law. But I can’t help but hear the gospel predominate. “Thus says the LORD: Keep justice, and do righteousness, for soon my salvation will come, and my righteousness be revealed (Isaiah 56:1).” Paul would say something like the law was given to us as guardian (Galatians 3:24). And there is nothing wrong with the law. The law is good and wise. It is justice. It is righteousness. It’s problem is that the law cannot make us righteous. It instead exposes that we are far from righteous and injustice is what sow. Often injustice is what we sow exactly when we think we are meeting it out. And so what we need is the promise. “My salvation will come, my righteousness be revealed.” God will act. And in the act of God we shall find our salvation, even victory over our sinful selves.

And this is the superiority of the Gospel – of the direct promise. It is available to all. It is available not to the offsprings of Abraham, the pure physical descent. It is available through the offspring – Christ (Galatians 3:16). Isaiah puts this in a different key. He calls out the foreigner, that is the gentile, and the eunuch, that one literally cut off. Our lesson cuts this line out. Probably because of squeamishness over eunuch. “Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say ‘The LORD will surely separate me from his people’; and let not the eunuch say ‘behold, I am a dry tree. (Isaiah 56:3)’” Isaiah implores both to “hold fast to my covenant.”

Which covenant? He mentions the Sabbath and the sacrifices. The sacrifices are clearly part of the law. But the Sabbath goes back to the beginning. On the seventh day, God rested. The toil of the law – the guardian – is felt. But he Sabbath rest comes. And yes, the necessities of the sacrifices of the law once filled the temple. And Christ cleared it saying “my house shall be a house of prayer for all peoples (Luke 19:46).” For Christ is the salvation of God. And Christ is the righteousness of God. It is not that the law is useless or contrary. It is that the promise is stronger. The law kills us, but God is the God of life.

And he gathers us all into his house of prayer. He promises the eunuch “I will give you a house within my walls, and a name that shall not be cut off.” He promises the foreigner, “I will gather others to him, besides those already gathered.” These I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in prayer. Paul would say in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female. In Christ we are heirs of the promise. And we have seen his deliverance revealed.

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The Wind and the Waves

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Biblical Text: Matthew 14:22-33

The episode is Jesus walking on the water. I probably burn too much time reflecting on how this story is told – or not told – across the gospels, but it is interesting how each of the evangelists uses is – or uses its absence – in unique ways. And Matthew’s way focuses on Peter. And by focusing on Peter he is focusing on what type of God we have. Just having a God, at least in the biblical way, means having a God who is sovereign. He can do what he wants. And Jesus walking on water is a miraculous confirmation of that. That somehow this is God in the flesh. God is doing a new thing. And Peter jumping out of the boat and walking is an extension of that. But the real revelation comes when Peter’s gaze leaves his Lord and sees the wind and the waves. When he does this, he starts sinking. And his immediate call is “Lord, save me.” And this is where we learn what type of God we have. The sermon proclaims this nicely.

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