Ash Wednesday

Greetings in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I would love to write a huge long post and fill you all in on everything going on around here, but I simply do not have time.  The past two days have been stressful but still rewarding.  Tuesday, Pastor got very sick with the stomach flu.  So I went out and made his shut in calls which I was happy to do because I love going on calls like that, but it meant over half my day was filled up.  Then we had a prayer service at the visitation Tuesday night, but pastor was still sick so I ended up doing that by myself.  It was a good experience and felt good to be there for the family.  However, then I was worried pastor would still be sick on Wednesday and I would end up having to do the funeral by myself too.  We also got 8 inches of snow Tuesday night.  So yesterday I got up early to runt he snow blower over the church side walks because I figured the guy who we hire to do it wouldn't get it done before the funeral.  However, he had already been there by six and done it. So I did my own driveway and sidewalks.  As I was taking the snow blower back, pastor was out scooping his driveway.  I was glad to see he felt better.  We had the funeral and the luncheon.  Then Pastor Naazs who was the pastor here before Pastor Wurm came back for the funeral.  I got to spend a week with him last July before he had his retirement service and moved away. So we visited with him for quite awhile which was nice.  Then I burnt the palm branches from last year for the ashes for Ash Wednesday.
    Luckily it was test day for my confirmation class so that was easy enough.  Then I spent a couple hours finalizing my sermon before we had church.  Church was packed with 170 people. It was awesome to see the church that full and hear so many voices sing so loud.  My sermon went pretty well I think.  The crazy thing is, this is just the start to an extremely busy Lent season.  Good thing Christ is the Lord of all and the one actually in charge of making everything go round and all I am doing is just serving Him.

Here is my sermon from last night, first one in my series on the penitential psalms.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Our text for tonight is from Psalm 6 which we read responsively, specifically verses 4 and 5 which read, “Turn, O Lord, deliver my life; save me for the sake of your steadfast love. For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?”

        I think there are Christians out there that think just because we are Christians means death is supposed to be no big deal. They think we shouldn’t cry at funerals, be sad at the loss of a loved one, or worry about our own death. In my mind, this is a misunderstanding. Death exists in our world and sooner or later we all must face it and deal with it. “Death respects no one!” Death doesn’t care if you are Christian or not, if you are wealthy or poor, healthy or sick, death comes to everyone no matter who you are. Death respects no one! Death is an ever present reality that is just part of our world.
          Death was not part of God’s original creation and it was not part of His plan. He did not want it to be a part of our lives. However, when we fell into sin, we brought death into this world. St. Paul says in Romans 6 that “the wages of sin is death.” So because we live in a sinful world, we live in a world that includes death. And death is an enemy. It is an enemy of God, and it is an enemy to us. Death causes us pain and grieving. We had a funeral here this very morning and the tears running down the faces of the family showed the pain and grief. We see at the death of Moses the Israelites mourn for thirty days. Even Jesus weeps at the death of His friend Lazarus. Death causes pain and it is OK to cry, it is OK to mourn at death. Death also causes us fear. In Hebrews 2, the author states that “all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” We are captive to slavery because of our fear of death. We know it is out there lurking around every corner, just waiting to strike. Because we do not know how or when death will come to us, it is out of our control, and that’s what scares us. We live in fear of death because it is an enemy. Unless Christ comes back first, we will continue to deal with the death.
            Now the reason the reason these Christians think we are not supposed to be sad is because they know the Gospel truth. They know death is not the end. They know that in God’s plan of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, we have life after death. In Romans 6 where St. Paul says the wages of sin is death, he continues that same sentence by adding, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” In Hebrews 2, the author adds, “that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” We have been set free from this slavery of the fear of death, because we have the free gift of eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ. Death no longer has dominion over us. And yet, the death of loved ones still is a cause of pain and mourning. It still hurts to lose a loved one. That is because death has been defeated, but not abolished. And yet part of that Gospel truth that we know there is life after death, we also know death will one day be abolished. We know that on that Final day, when Christ comes back, there will be no more death. Jesus Himself tells us in the Beatitudes, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” In 1 Corinthians 15, St. Paul says that when the mortal puts on the immortal, then shall come to pass the saying, “Death is swallowed up in victory, O death, where is thy victory, O death where is thy sting?” And in Revelation we see John describing powerful image of God with His people in chapter 21 “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” Death will be no more, and every tear will be wiped from their eyes. Death has been defeated, there is life after death, and death will be abolished, death shall be no more.
          The problem with taking this attitude of thinking death is supposed to be no big deal, is that it ignores the fact that death is an enemy. If death is no big deal, if death is not an enemy to God’s plan, then it makes it seem like it is a good thing, like it is supposed to be part of God’s plan. If death is what gets us to Heaven, then we should want our death to come so we can get to heaven sooner right? If death leads to the perfection of the presence of our Lord, then death come to me now? Well, when we look at our text for this evening, we see that is not what David is saying. In Psalm 6, specifically verse 5, David says, “For in death there is no remembrance of you; in Sheol who will give you praise?” David is languishing and troubled; his foes surround him and have heard his weeping. He fears his death is upon him as his enemies get closer and closer. He is in such distress that he floods his bed with tears and drenches his couch with weeping. Now he might be exaggerating a little here, but I do think that of the many times David had to flee from either King Saul, or his son Absalom, or any of the others; that as he literally fled for the safety of his own life, he probably cried. David is staring death in the face; he is confronted by the fact that because he is a sinful human being, death will come to him. Did David not know the Gospel truth of eternal life? I mean Christ comes after David is already dead, so how could He know that Christ would say, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” Was David afraid of death because he didn’t understand the salvation includes eternal life?
            No, David knew the Gospel message very well. We can see that in the numerous ways he explain his salvation in all the psalms he writes. He states that the Lord is his refuge, the one who fills his cup, the one who anoints his head and so on. David knew his salvation was in his God, and the promise of the Savior who was to come. David is not flooding his bed and drenching his couch because he is scared there is no life after death, he is weeping and languished because he knows death is an enemy and that he still has more to do in this life on this earth. David knows every day in this world is a gift, an opportunity to serve his God. That is what he is saying in verse 5. If I die, I am not here to remind the people of Israel all that you have done for them. If I am delivered to Sheol, which is where all the souls of the dead were believed to go in the Old Testament, how can I continue to praise you? He is not scared of the afterlife; he is scared of not having the chance to continue to serve God in this life on earth. It is the same dilemma we see Paul struggle with in Philippians 1, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me….. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.” David and Paul both know that yes, death means they get to be in the presence of God, no more pain, no more suffering, no more tears; however, that also means they no longer have the ability to serve God, to remind others of the Gospel truth they know is certain. To die is to gain the perfection of heaven in the presence of our Lord with no more pain, tears, or sin, but to live is to still have the opportunity to serve and praise God in this life.
            So if both King David and St. Paul struggled with this, what are we supposed to do with it? Well, we do the same thing David does in verse 4. We ask God to deliver our lives, and to save us for the sake of His steadfast love. We ask God to bless us with as many days as possible on this earth. We ask God to continue to give us more time here in the flesh, knowing that each and every day truly is a gift. We long to be here serving our neighbor, serving God, and praising Him who continues to give us this life. As Christians we have the Gospel truth that we do indeed have life after death. The perfection of the presence of our Lord is guaranteed, it is there waiting for us, and we will certainly have that eternal life with no more pain, no more tears, no more sin one day. However, we still have this life here on this earth as a gift; we still have work to do here. Each and every day we life on this earth is a gift and an opportunity to serve our neighbor. It is a gift to be able to serve and praise Him who gives us this life. We pray death is a long ways off, appreciating the chance to continue to live this life sharing that Gospel message we know it true. And then when death does come to us, we gain that Gospel truth we already knew. We live life being steadfast, immovable knowing our labor is not in vain. We go make disciples of all nations teaching and sharing the Word of God, sharing that Gospel truth we already know. So as we journey through this Lenten season, knowing that we are sinners who are not worthy, we remember that God has given us the gift of life! Both this life here on this earth, and the life that is to come for all eternity. 

 In the name of the one who gives us this gift of life, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Psalm 8

          Greetings in the name of our Lord.  I am in one of those times in my life where I should be just freaking out, panicking, stressed to the max!!! However, I am not.  I am actually pretty calm and relaxed.  See my goal was to have all seven Lent sermons wrote by Ash Wednesday so I would know exactly how the entire series fit together.  It is less than a week away and I do not even have my Ash Wednesday sermon wrote yet.  I am behind on visits, and have two big events in March that are going to require a lot of work as well.  In my mind, I think I have every right to be freaking out.  However, after six and a half years of constantly feeling behind and buried under a giant to do list, I think I am finally starting to realize everything always gets done.  Now I am not saying everything always gets done to the very best ability it could, but nonetheless, it always works out.  I spent my entire college career writing papers, studying for tests, and finishing projects at the very last possible second.  Instead of staying home and doing homework, I would go out with friends and then spend all night finishing homework instead of sleeping.  At the seminary, I just plan on being in the cafeteria until three or four in the morning every night of finals week.  No matter how hard I try to work ahead and get stuff done ahead of time, there is always something that gets pushed back until the last possible minute.  So like I said, after six years of this, with great grades in both college and the seminary, I am learning maybe this feeling in not worth freaking out about.  I mean honestly, I think I get less work done when I am worried about how much I have to do, instead of just getting busy and working on part of it.  I will get Ash Wednesday sermon done tomorrow.  My "day off" is really just a day to catch up.  Then hopefully Saturday I can get Lent 2 sermon done.  I also have a sermon for Sunday March 9th.  So if I can get three sermons done in the next week, then I should be able to stay at least two weeks ahead of the game.  If I write two sermons a week, I will be done with them by the third week of Lent.  Now in reality, most likely in six weeks I will be writing about how I still don't have my Maundy Thursday sermon wrote, but we will see.  As long as I can keep up with all of my normal weekly duties, and stay at least one week ahead of schedule, I will survive Lent.
          Things around here are pretty normal.  I am still doing two Bible Studies a week, although I have an additional one today because Pastor is even farther behind than I am so I offered to cover for him.  He is stressed and freaking out a little bit, but after the week he has had, I don't blame him.  I am teaching confirmation and high school Sunday school every week.  I am helping with Bible Bowl every week, and actually led the entire thing last week.  I have had Movie nights the past two weeks for the high schoolers and the college students.  The students and myself went to SkyZone last Saturday.  It is an indoor trampoline complex.  There is a dodge ball court with trampolines as the floor, dunk lanes with trampolines, foam pits to jump into, and then a giant trampoline floor for free jumping.  It was pretty awesome, but an extremely good workout.  We have also had three funeral this month.  Two that we attended and one that we were in charge of.  We have had about ten meetings this month and then several other church activities as well.  I love how active this church is, but it certainly does require much more time than a small country church that has services on Sunday and maybe a Bible study once a week.  Being busy is good though.
          I had to laugh that I had to go all the way back to November to find the last Psalm devotion I had posted.  I have started writing more again so I am ahead on those!  Small victories in life are still victories.  Here is the one I wrote one Psalm 8 most likely back in November.  I hope to remind myself no matter how busy I get, posting on here is actually a good break for me and another way to remind myself everyday is a gift from the Good Lord.

Psalm 8 verses 3 and 4

            In verses three and four, King David is comparing humans to the rest of creation. He specifically uses the stars and the moon. He is looking at the heavens and has a realization. Basically King David is staring up and he sees millions of twinkling stars contrast against the back splash of the dark night sky. This is one of the reasons I love to go camping out in the middle of nowhere. Out in the pitch black wilderness, where there are no other lights is the best place to truly see this wonderment that David is describing. I remember when we went to Canyonlands National Park, we drove out on this back road path far away from any campgrounds or buildings. Then we got out of the van, hiked about ten minutes away from the road and found a really neat little “cave”. I don’t even know how to describe it, but you walk into a rock formation that is basically a four walled rock room, except it has no ceiling. You walk in through a hole in the front and then we all just laid on our backs in the cool sand of the southwest desert and looked up. It was so dark in there you could barely see your own hands right in front of your face. However, since there was no top to the rock formation, when you looked up all you could see were stars. I had never seen so many stars in my life. It looked like they were stacked on top of each other they were so close together. They filled the sky and it was truly beautiful. After seeing such an amazing sight, I understand what David is really going through in this psalm. When you see such a huge, powerful, bewildering part of creation, you feel pretty small. Even I, standing over six feet tall and well over two hundred pounds, felt tiny. I was no bigger than the specs of sand I was laying on. In the relativity of the entire expanse of the sky that surrounds all of creation including the humongous earth we live on, I am nothing of importance. When looking at those uncountable stars in the sky, if one all of a sudden disappeared, I would have never noticed. Ten of them could have all just gone away and from where I was looking up at them, it wouldn’t have even caught my attention. So as I lay there feeling as small as a grain of sand, I realized in the whole scheme of things I am like a single star. In my mind God sitting in heaven looking down at His creation sees billions of people covering the face of the earth He created. So if as I am looking up, I cannot see a single star disappear because the rest of them still have my attention, doesn’t that mean as He is looking down, He cannot see a single individual disappear because the rest of them would still have His attention? What is man that you are mindful of him? This is what David asks and it makes sense. Compared to the greatness of the stars what does one little man have to offer? Then to make it even more worrisome, just as you lose sight of a single star because you are looking at the whole sky, how can one single man matter in the scheme of all humanity? If our God was just any old god, who sat on His throne in heaven looking down with human eyes at humanity we could most likely feel this way. However, we do not just have any old god, we have the one true God, God Almighty, All-Powerful, All-Present, All-Knowing God! He does not look down from heaven with human eyes, looking at humanity not seeing the individual. No, He is all present, always with us, knows our troubles, our fears, our worries, our joys. He knows everything about us even the number of hairs on our head. Additionally, He sent His Son to die for us to cleanse us of our sins. But again, when you see the sky and how vast it is completely filled with stars, you have to wonder why would he do such a thing for something so little and unimportant as me? The answer is because He loves you as His dear son or daughter. He cares about you, and sent His Son to redeem you so you would always be His precious child in His tender care. So no matter how little or unimportant you feel, or if you feel like you are just one in a crowd, not special or unique, remember that Your God who created the stars, created you too. He knitted you together in your mother’s womb before you were born. He made you special and unique and then to make it even more special He made you His through the water and Word of baptism. When you think about all of this it makes sense that David would end this psalm by proudly and boldly stating, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” Amen.

God's Law is Good? Sermon

Greetings to you in the name of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  I will try to post an update about things going on in my life with a psalm devotion later this week, but for tonight I just want to post my sermon I preached yesterday.  I got told by several people it was a very powerful sermon.  I was even told the member who has been most critical of my preaching that I am getting better as the year goes on, so thanks be to God for that.  So here is my sermon on the Matthew 5:21-37 text.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
           Our text for today comes from the Gospel reading of Matthew. We get a look into these 17 verses which are taken from the Sermon on the Mount. Now the Sermon on the Mount is a beautiful sermon that comes directly from the mouth of our Savior. That is what you heard last week from Pastor Wurm; that Christ says these words, so believe them. However, when you take these specific 17 verses out of the sermon and separate them from the rest of the sermon, they do not seem like very comforting words by themselves. Pastor Wurm just read these verses and then concluded with, “This is the Gospel of our Lord.” However, in my mind it seems much more fitting if he would have said, “This is the Law of our Lord.” That’s what these words are, they are purely law. There is hardly any Gospel in them, if any at all. There are four sections in these verses coving Anger, Lust, Divorce, and Oaths. However, all four start with Jesus saying, “You have heard that it was said, like this.” But I say to you, it is this also”. Christ is clarifying these four laws for His disciples and everyone else listening. “You have heard it said you shall not murder and whoever murders will be liable to judgment, but I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to judgment.” He is saying just because you have never physically killed another human being, does not mean you have kept this commandment. Oh no, let me tell you, it’s not just murder, but anger and insult make you guilty of failing to keep this law too. Christ is clarifying these laws for us.
             Now I assume if Pastor would have said, “This is the Law of our Lord,” not very many of you would have responded with “Praise to you, O Christ.” Not very many of us like the law. We as a people in general do not like authority and rules. However, we especially do not like the law that reminds us we have failed in the eyes of God. There are two extremes on the spectrum of how people deal with the law. Because again, we do not like the law, so we have to find some way to deal with it.
           The first extreme way on this side is to just dismiss the law all together. To say that Christ has fulfilled the law, He has forgiven me of my sins so the law does not apply to me. People on this side have the attitude that they can do whatever they want. I can keep living the life same sinful life I have been living, I can keep speeding, cheating on my taxes, getting drunk, being a jerk to people, etc. Even though I know this is wrong, God forgives me. As long as I say I am sorry to God after I do it, I’m covered by His forgiveness. Why would I not have some fun in life when there is free forgiveness? The law no longer applies to me because even when I break it, God still loves me and forgives me. I don’t have to worry about this law thing.
              The other side of the spectrum is to think that God gave us the law that means we had better keep it. He wouldn’t have given us this law, if He didn’t expect us to keep it perfectly and live by it. He is a just God who can only judge me by my actions, so I had better make sure my actions are good enough. That way when I meet Him on judgment day, I know I can get into heaven because I have kept His demands and His laws. now with this I can never be quite sure when I have been good enough, so I will just always try to be the best person I can be to make sure I am safe. I have to be a perfect person, a saint that lives by God’s law or else I might not get into heaven. I have to have this law to know when I have been good enough.
We as good LCMS Lutherans do not side with either one of these extremes on the spectrum. No, we land right in the middle. We know that the law does apply to us, that even though Christ fulfilled it, we still strive to keep it; however, we also know it is not our deeds and actions but Christ’s actions on the cross and out of the grave that our salvation depends upon. So how does this work?
             For those of you who were there Wednesday night for Greg’s presentation, this will hit a little closer to home maybe. However, even if you weren’t there it should still make sense. What a powerful presentation he gave, heart-retching and eye-opening all at the same time. If you do not know what presentation I am speaking about, Greg Stern who owns the powershop here in town, went to India with Crisis Rescue International. He and the other guys who went on the trip posed as clients and met with the local guys who are involved with human sex trafficking. These Indian men buy and sell young girls and even a few boys to be used in brothels and as sex slaves. Greg and his team from Crisis Rescue International were able to buy over forty young children and this organization has saved I believed over three hundred children from the human sex trafficking realm that exists very prominently in India. Like I said it was a very powerful presentation.
As I listened to Greg’s presentation with this text in the back of my mind already working on this sermon, there were two parts of his presentation that really stuck with me. First, was the part where he was speaking about not feeling anger towards the guys who are in charge of selling these little girls. He is standing in front of one of the main bosses who runs this human sex trafficking ring, and he said everyone always asks, “Didn’t you want to strangle him, beat him up, or kill him?” Greg admitted that through the events that led up to meeting the boss, he was scared for his life, not sure what would happen or how he would react. However, he said once he stood in front of the boss with the children in the background, a peace came over him and he didn’t feel anger or the urge to kill this guy. Greg understood by the grace of God that this man is no different than himself in the eyes of God. As hard as it is to fathom, this boss is just a sinner like Greg, like you, and like me. Now in our minds, this guy is the worst of the worst, buying and selling young children for unspeakable things, how could you even compare him to any of us? But Greg was right, in God’s eyes, all have fallen short of the glory and all are sinners. He may be running one of the most evil organizations we could dream of and his sins are heinous and hideous, but in the eyes of God, our sins are just as heinous and hideous. You see the law condemns us all. We are all sinners and none of us can get to heaven by our own actions. The law condemns us all, and that is the reason it makes us so uncomfortable and we dislike it so much and don’t know what to do with it. Why would we ever say, “Praise to you, O Christ”, when we just heard these words of the law that condemns us to hell?
              The second part of Greg’s presentation that really stuck with me me was the transformation these girls were able to make. Girls as young as three years old had been soiled or used, some girls in their early teens were pulling 10 to 12 “tricks” a day. They had been chained, locked in cages, and broken into submission and then used and abused over and over again. These girls are sex slaves; they are in a slavery we can never imagine. However, Greg and his team left their homes and families here in America, travel overseas to a strange and foreign land. They used their own money to buy these children out of slavery, and getting them into the safety of these safe houses. Now these girls who are shown love maybe for the first time in their life begin to smile and love back. They were trapped in an unimaginable slavery, but after they are rescued they become loving, sweet little children again who are just happy to be alive and free. They cling to the Word of God learning Scripture, memorizing the books of the Bible, singing praise songs to Jesus. These girls know better than any of us what it means to be trapped in slavery, but then also rescued from that slavery. You see this is what Jesus did for all of us. We were all trapped in a slavery we could never hope to get out of. We were all trapped in the slavery of sin, heinous and hideous sin and by our own efforts and works we would be trapped in that slavery forever. However, Christ saw us chained and bound in this slavery. He left His home of heaven behind to come to this strange and sinful land. He bought us out of slavery by paying the price to buy us, the price of His blood and His very own life on the cross. And He got us into the safety of His protection and presence by rising from the dead and being our living Lord. He made the greatest sacrifice of all to free us from the slavery we were captive in.
              Those girls who were freed from slavery and given the gift of a new life, they not only begin to smile and love and be happy again, but I can only imagine how willing they are to listen and be obedient to the pastors who are in charge of the safe houses. You see this new life they have comes with someone who truly cares about them and protects them, and it also gives them instructions and lessons on how they are to behave and live this new life. The children, knowing the love these people have for them that rescued them from slavery, listen and obey these leaders out of their love. They are happy to have order in their life that is for their good. This is what God’s law is for us. He has freed us from slavery, and now that He is the one watching over us, protecting us, and loving us, gives us His “law”, or His will on how He wants us to live because it is for our good that we live this way. He gives us order to keep us safe, to show us He still loves us. That is why the law is good, that’s why we could truly and gladly say, “Praise to you, O Christ” after hearing the words of law from these 17 verses. Praise be to the one who loves us enough to pay the price of His own life to free us from slavery, give us our new life of freedom, and then give us instructions on how He desires us to live in this new life that is truly for our good. In one way, the law always condemns. But in another way the law gives us order in our lives so that we do not fall back into the slavery of sin we have been rescued from.
             We do not need to do the law for our salvation; we get to do the law because we have our salvation. We have been freed and rescued from the terrible slavery of sin, bought with the costliest price of our Savior’s life, and now we get to live as His people according to His will, because of His forgiveness and salvation. We have been called by the power of the Holy Spirit to be His holy people. That is how this works. The law still applies to us because it is His will of how we live in this new life we have been granted and it is for our own good. We have been freed and we strive to live as sanctified lives as we can according to His will out of loving obedience to the one who rescued us from slavery. However, we do not need to be in despair or fear of if we have done enough, because it is not our actions that matter, but the actions of Christ claiming us as His people, freeing us of this slavery, that gives us our salvation. We do not need to do the law for our salvation; we get to do the law because we have our salvation. We have been freed from the slavery of sin, and now have the gift of new life to live as his holy people, according to His will that He gives us in His law. This is truly worth saying, “Praise to you, O Christ.”

In the name of the one who rescued us from slavery, in the name of the one who gives us our new life, and the one who gives us His will to live by, Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

Wedding and Wedding Sermon

     Greetings to you in the name of our loving Lord, Christ Jesus.  What an amazing weekend!  The wedding was a blast, everything went so smoothly, and it was just an enjoyable time together.  I am proud to have another brother in the family and so happy for both JoAnna and Steven.  It is weird though to call JoAnna Mrs. Van Horne.  Of course I am always going to call her Mrs. Van Richter Horne anyway.  I messed up my back last week, and it decided to be about as bad as it could be Friday.  Yes, one day before the wedding.  However, I went to a chiropractor there in Omaha twice on Friday.  He was a good Christian man and really went out of his way to help me be ready for the wedding.  He did two adjustments in one day, only charging me for one, and it worked.  I woke up Saturday morning with very little pain and almost full motion again.  So I thank the Good Lord for that.
       Then Saturday was actually a very stress-free day.  The actual ceremony at the church was only fifteen minutes long, but that is what they wanted.  It was still very well done for being that short.  Then I got to ride around with the wedding party on the party bus.  Then the reception was a lot of fun.
       I am back at work now trying to get back into work-mode after a few days off.  I am preaching this Sunday and realizing writing a sermon every other week is going to be a challenge.  I am a little anxious about someday when/if I have to write a sermon every week.  However, the Lord is always with me helping me write them.
        Here is my wedding sermon.  Short and sweet just like the service.  I almost lost it in the beginning, but used every ounce of might to hold off the tears.  My heart was racing and pounding about a foot outside of my chest the entire time.  However, everyone said I did well so I take it they couldn't notice.  Again, so happy for both of them and truly do wish them God's richest blessings.

The sermon for today will focus mainly on the Old Testament reading from Genesis 2, specifically looking at verse 23 where Adam says, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man.”

JoAnna and Steven,
        I am honored to be a part of this joyous ceremony and celebration today. For those of you who may not know I am JoAnna’s younger brother. I can’t say little brother anymore now that I’m the biggest sibling of the four. I am four years younger than her and have spent my entire life annoying her, teasing her, making fun of her like a good little brother should, and giving her great nicknames like JoBubba. Well JoBubba, even with all the teasing and annoying things I have done to you, I know you know that I love you. As we have both grown older and maybe even grown up a little, we have become great friends. I truly do think of you as one of my bests friends and my older sister who I know I can count on and always rely on. As much as I love you, my love for you does not even begin to compare to the love that Steven has for you. Watching you two be friends over basically the past decade, and hearing you talk about him and how you felt, then seeing that friendship finally become a relationship, and watching you two grow as a couple, I have seen the love you have for him and the love you have for her.
       The way you two love each other makes me think of our text for today, which is why I chose it. We know in Genesis, God created all of creation, the heavens and earth. He created everything that fills the earth such as plants, animals, birds of the sky and the fish of the sea, and mankind. He created everything in six days and it was good, it was perfect. And then here in Genesis two we get a little flash back into how Eve was created on the sixth day. God was bringing all the animals of the field to be named by Adam. And after Adam had named every animal, God realized none of these animals would do to be a suitable helper for Adam. So as we know, God put Adam in a deep sleep, took out one of his ribs, and using Adam’s rib and the dust of the ground, God created Eve. When Adam wakes up and God brings Eve to him, his reaction is just so inspiring and touching. The English is translated as “This at last,” but what the Hebrew is actually conveying there is “FINALLY!” Adam has been staring at animals all day naming them, but when he sees Eve he says finally. Finally this is the one that is like him, she is the one God has brought to him. “Finally” God has given me the one that is meant to be.
         You both have your pasts of failed relationships and enduring trials in the love department. But today as you stand here getting married, you can say, “Finally!” God has finally given you your suitable helper and the one that is meant to be. God has brought you together and given you to each other just as He gave Adam and Eve to each other in the garden.
       So, Finally, God has brought you together and led you to get married and that’s it, the final step right? Well, not quite. Just because you have the rings on your fingers and have said “I do”, does not mean all the troubles and hard times disappear. In fact, in some ways they are about to get harder. Now every trial you face, you must face together as husband and wife. We live in a sinful world and that sin will be a part of your marriage. There will be trials and temptations, there will be hurt feelings and anger, and there will be harmful words exchanged and wrongs done. Sin will be a part of your relationship and the Devil will be ever present trying to tear this union apart. But remember, God brought you two together. I encourage you to hear and take to heart the words our Lord Jesus Christ speaks from our Gospel reading for today. In Mark chapter 10 Christ says, “What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” God has brought you two together, do not let that union be broken or separated because of sin or the Devil. Do not let the trials and hard times come between you or undo the work God has done to bring you into this marriage.
        Remember these words of our Lord as you work together every day to keep this union healthy and holy. However, also remember that it is not just the two of you. God is always with you. The same one true God who created Adam and Eve and brought them together, the same God who has brought you two together, is the one true God who loves you and is with you. He loves you so much He sent His Son Jesus Christ to give Himself up unto death for you out of this love. That is why St. Paul says in Ephesians, “be like imitators of God and walk in love as Christ loved you.” If you walk in the love Christ has for you, nothing can separate you, because the love of Christ is stronger than sin and the devil. This love that Christ has shown you by giving up Himself for you includes forgiveness. So even when you fail to walk in this love together, and you let down the other person or hurt the other one, even when you sin because you are a sinner, the love Christ has for you is still stronger than all sin because there is forgiveness. Keep this love that Christ has shown you and the forgiveness that is included in that love as the foundation to your marriage. Strive to use these trials and hardships to grow closer instead of growing apart or risk being separated.
         So on this happy day you can both say “Finally” knowing God has brought you together and this is the one that is meant to be; but your life together is not final, it is only beginning. As you walk together in the love God has shown us in His Son, no man, no sin, and no work of the devil can separate this blessed union God has brought together. I pray God’s richest blessings for both of you as you walk together in this love. 

In the name of our Lord who loves you and has brought you together, Jesus Christ. Amen.   

Relationships Sermon

       Greetings to you in the name of God who loves us so dearly.  I am trying to get everything done before I take off for a couples days.  Our family has this little, non-exciting event happening this weekend.  I mean it's only JoAnna's wedding, no big deal.  Just kidding, I am super excited to see her and Steven get married.  I am still working on my wedding sermon, trying to make it short and sweet and yet meaningful.  Although, no body remembers wedding sermons anyway.  I am going down to Nebraska on Wednesday night after confirmation and will be there until Sunday afternoon.
        I will try to post the wedding sermon on here next week.  For today though here is the sermon I preached yesterday on Hebrews 2.  I had been studying the Beatitudes all week and trying to come up with a sermon for that.  So I went to my supervisor for some advice and he asked me why I was working on a sermon for that text.  I showed him that was the assigned text for the 4th Sunday of Epiphany.  However, he informed me we were celebrating the festival of Purification and Presentation.  So, getting three new texts, I chose the Hebrews text to preach on.  There are about forty different sermons one could write off of this beautiful passage of rich Gospel.  However, Spirit-lead, I wrote and preached this one.  Hope you enjoy:

Text Hebrews 2:14-18 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

         Relationships are a funny thing. Now when I say relationships, I do not mean just dating or marriage. I am talking about all relationships, parents and children, sibling to sibling, friend to friend, boss to employee, but yes also boyfriend to girlfriend, and husband to wife. Every relationship is different. Even in my own life I can see that. My relationship with my mom is far different than my relationship with my dad. My relationship with my sister is much different than my relationship with either one of my brothers. Even my relationships with my two brothers are different. Each relationship is a little different, and yet they all have some things in common.
      You all know this from your own lives and experiences. You have relationships in your life that probably mean the world to you. And yet you have probably had relationships in your life that maybe you wish you didn’t. We have all had good and bad experiences with the numerous relationships we have had in our lives.
       In our text today from this beautiful passage from Hebrews we see a special kind of relationship. This passage is giving us a beautiful Gospel statement that Christ became human in order to save humans. As I was reading this text earlier this week, I immediately thought of 1 Corinthians 9, which you may have noticed in the As We gather on the front cover of the bulletin. St. Paul says that became as a Jew in order to win Jews and he became weak in order to win the weak. St. Paul puts himself on the same level as whoever he is ministering to in order to be able to relate with them and connect with them. The Gospel message is received and shared so much better when there is a connection and a relationship with the other person. You can walk up to a stranger and tell them you love them and want them to go to heaven, and they will most likely just give you a weird look and walk away from you. But when you have a relationship with someone and have shown them you care about them through your actions and words, now when you say you love them and want them to know the love of Christ, they will know you are sincere and be much more receptive. The Gospel is shared through relationships because the Gospel is a relationship. Christ was born of the flesh, becoming a human being. In verse 14 of our text is says that children share in the flesh and blood, so Christ partook of the same things. Then in verse 17 is says that he had to be made like His brothers in every respect. He became a human just like us, being born in the flesh and blood like all children, being like us in every respect. And this is the beautiful Gospel statement the writer of Hebrews is giving us in this passage.
       Most likely all of you have heard the old song, “What if God were one of us.” People sing that song or at least that one line of the song because they want a god they can relate to. They want a god who knows them and knows the struggles they go through. A god who is just up in the sky and doesn’t talk to us and doesn’t show himself does us no good. A god who cannot relate to his people and is not there when they need him is no god at all. Unfortunately, this is the view too many people have about the one true God. They think God really can’t relate to them, that He doesn’t talk to them, or ever show Himself. They think He is just up there sitting on the clouds watching us struggle and suffer through this life for His entertainment. I think some people feel abandoned by God, that He made them and then left them to make it through this world on their own. They do not know the true God or the Gospel truth of how He really works, and they do not care to try to learn more about this worthless god they have imagined in their minds.
       I can remember a conversation I had about this topic, I think it was with a seminary professor but I don’t remember who. Anyway, the conversation was asking does God use the relationship we have with Him to teach us how our relationships in our lives should function, or did He design the relationships in our lives to teach us about the relationship we have with Him. Does the relationship of our heavenly Father who protects and loves His creation teach us how to be good parents, or does the love and protection of a parent teach their children that He is our Heavenly Father who loves and protects us? I believe both are true and this it does work both ways. Today though I want to focus in on the second one of how our relationships in this world teach us about our relationship we have with God. I like this because since God intentionally designed relationships his way, it shows that He hardwired us to have relationships. It shows that He created us to not be alone, but to have family and friends. This is how God has made us, to desire to be with other people, to share our experiences in this life with others. He wants us to have relationships because these relationships remind us and teach us about our relationship we have with Him.
       Now the problem is that we live in a sinful world. Sin affects every part of us and our lives and unfortunately even our relationships. We were created to have relationships that would teach us about our relationship we have with God. But because sin has entered these relationships, it has corrupted them and therefore corrupts our understanding of our relationship with God. An example could be sin causes a husband or wife to cheat on their spouse. They have been cut deep with betrayal. They are left with either self-doubt of wondering why they weren’t good enough or what they did wrong, or else with anger and resentment towards their spouse. If you try to witness to that person that Christ loves His church like a bridegroom loves His bride, the person who has been hurt through their marriage does not see this as a positive thing. They will shift their hurt and feelings of betrayal, anger, or self-doubt from their relationship with their spouse onto their relationship with Christ. Or a little more extreme example, and yet it happens far too often in this sinful world, would be a young girl who was sexually abused by her father as a child. She is emotionally scarred for life. If you try to tell her God is her Father, she will most likely shift those feelings of being used and abused by her father towards God and think He will use and abuse her too. Even in cases not as extreme as these, sin affects our relationships. A happily married couple of forty or more years will tell you that they have been hurt and let down by their significant other on more than one occasion. A child will tell you they have been mad at their parents more than once. A parent will tell you they have been disappointed in their child several times. Every relationship we have with any other human has its times of pain, confusion, stress, fear, or anxiety. And that is because these relationships that are designed to be a blessing have been corrupted by sin. And yet we know they are still a blessing, they are still worth the times of hurt and stress. The good times in a relationship are what help us get through all the bad times. They were designed to be a blessing and teach us about our relationship with God, but the corruption of sin in these relationships causes blame, anger, and pain. We allow those things to be placed onto our relationship with God to the point where we are angry with God, question Him, or think He is the one hurting us or leaving us.
       This is why God sent His Son to be one of us. To partake of the flesh and blood, to be like us in every respect. He sent His Son to be our brother. I love the way the writer of Hebrews includes that term, “Brother!” He had to be made like His brothers. Christ came to this world in the flesh to have this relationship with us as our brother. God wants us to know He can and does relate to us. He proved that by sending His Son to be our brother, our brother who lowered Himself from the perfection of heaven to the sin of this world. To suffer and be tempted, to laugh, cry, sweat, and die just like us. He can relate to us and knows what we are going through because He has been there too. Verse 18 tells us “For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” Our God is not just sitting up on a cloud watching us suffer for His entertainment. He is not distant or aloof to what is going on. He is personally connected to us, because He has a relationship to us.
        And unlike other sinner who we might be in a relationship with who does let us down, hurt us, and leave us, God is not a sinner. He loves us unconditionally, constantly, and continually. He will never abandon us, hurt us, or let us down. He is the perfect Father who created us and sustains us. He protects us and is always there with us. He talks to us through His Word and sent His Son into the flesh to show Himself to us. He lets us make our own mistakes and lets trials and tests cross our paths, but He is there always with us to help us through them and to pick us back up when we fall. He truly does love us unconditionally and He proved it to us by sending His Son to be like us, to live like us, to relate to us. Jesus tells us in John’s Gospel, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” Christ laid down His life for us, His friends, but even more importantly His brothers and sisters. He lived a life in this world to relate to us, but He laid down His life for us, the ultimate suffering and sacrifice to be the propitiation for our sins. You see we are the ones who corrupted our relationship with God by sinning and turning our backs on Him. And yet He His unconditional love for us caused Him to fix that broken relationship. Propitiation means to appease the wrath of God. Christ appeased God’s wrath that our sin caused by dying for us, laying down His own life as the greatest act of love for His for His brothers and sisters. We are now reconciled back to our Father who never stopped loving us. Our ultimate relationship is with our Heavenly Father through His Son Jesus. This relationship is one hundred percent pure blessing. He continually loves us, forgives us, and gives us the blessings of prayer, His Spirit, and our eternal salvation in this relationship, on top of the abundant daily blessings He showers upon us.
      Our God loves us, He speaks to us through His Son and His Word, He has revealed Himself to us by sending His Son to be like us in every respect, He relates to us because He has been through trials and suffering Himself, He is always with us and knows what we are going through. He blesses us with the relationships we have with other people, and He blesses us through our relationship with Him. He reconciled us back to Him so that this relationship is not affected by sin. He proved through His Son, our brother, that He does indeed loves us unconditionally, constantly, and continually.

In the name of our brother, who became one of us to reconcile us back to the Father who loves us, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Mission Trip

Greetings to you all in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.  One thing vicarage is teaching me is that you can never be fully "caught up".  As soon as you think you are making progress, you realize you have seven Lent sermons to write.  Now I understand Lent is not for awhile yet, but I want to have the entire series done before the season actually begins.  I have decided to use the seven Penitential Psalms as my series for the Wednesday nights of Lent.  I will be preaching every Wednesday night and Pastor will preach every Sunday.  I will be focusing in on the different ways the Penitential Psalms focus in on their sinful condition and their faith in God.  I am hoping it will be a good series, plus everyone knows my love of the psalms.  Speaking of the psalms, I am starting my devotions on the psalms again today.  I kind of took a month and a half off from writing them, which means I didn't post any either.  I am going to start them back up today and will be posting them here shortly.
       The Mission Trip to Lyons, Colorado was the best trip I could have asked for.  Everything went so smoothly and it was just such an enjoyable week.  Friday, January 3rd, I went to campus and got one of the schools 12 passenger vans.  Since we are a technical organization on campus, we were allowed to use the school vehicle.  This cut our transportation costs in half.  I had it figured up what we ended up paying the school in mileage on the van was pretty close to what just rental fees would have been for a van from somewhere else.  So we didn't have to pay for any gas, and saved all of that money.  It worked out very nicely.  We also got the school's newest nicest van which was pretty sweet.  We had originally thought we would pull a small enclosed trailer behind us for all the students' gear, luggage, winter clothes, and our tools we took.  However, since I only ended up taking seven students plus myself we had enough room to pack everything in the van without the trailer.  This also made the trip twice as nice because we drove in a lot of wind and that little trailer would not have had enough weight in it to not bounce around and be a pain.  Also, we did drive on some snow covered roads up in the mountain which was scary enough, let alone with a trailer.  So I got the van Friday.  Saturday afternoon, we packed up the van with all of the students' stuff, had a short devotion, and then hit the road.  The worst road conditions we had were actually leaving Brookings.  It had rained the night before so everything was ice.  However, once we got a little south, the rest of the roads were smooth sailing.  We drove down to Grand Island, Nebraska.  I have to give a huge shout out to my dear friends Ben and Shalee Peters.  Ben is a life-long friend I made in college.  He and his wonderful wife Shalee, let us stay in their house even though they were not home.  So we spent Saturday night at their farm house.  We got up the next morning and headed the rest of the way west to Colorado.  Wed made it to Boulder about 4 P.M. Mountain Time.  They had gotten 12 inches of snow the night before, but most of the roads were cleared off already.  We met the pastor of the University Lutheran Chapel of the University of Colorado.  He actually is a previous vicar of Brookings so I had met him and heard about him and his vicarage here.  We had church with him and two of his students that Sunday night in their chapel.  Then they went out to eat with us in Boulder.  We slept in the fellowship hall of the chapel that night on either couches or air mattresses.
      Monday morning we got up and went to Lyons.  We met Pastor Curt at a house in Lyons.  They had breakfast for us and then we had an hour Bible study.  This is how we started our day every day that week.  He is a Pastor affiliated with Calvary Chapel in Florida.  He was definitely not Lutheran, but yet still a great guy and knew the Gospel very well.  He led the Bible study, but I took notes on things that the students and I talked about later.  There were just some comments or things he said that did not quite line up with what we believe.  Then after Bible study and breakfast, we would go out to his trailer and get tools.  He has a huge enclosed trailer with every tool you could ever imagine it in.  Him and his wife, Mary Jo, are disaster relief missionaries.  They travel throughout the U.S. going to the next disaster and helping out with whatever they can.  They specialize in organizing work for groups like ours who come in and want to help.  So we would get our tools out of the trailer every morning, and then head to the job sight.  There was also a group of 13 students from Oregon, not Lutheran, but from the school George Fox just outside of Portland.  We split in to three crews between the two groups.  I was a crew leader for one crew.  I had with me three of my students and two from the Oregon group.  We went up into the mountains into the town of Pinewood Springs to do deconstruction to a basement up there. They had cedar 1x12's diagonally on the walls.  So we had to pull off all of those.  Then behind those was drywall that had to come out, and then the insulation too.  They only had a couple inches of water in their basement, but they wanted everything out to just start over from scratch.  We spent three days but we got the entire basement done.  We found out that the crews for hire that come in and do what we did would have charged them between ten and fifteen thousand dollars.  That was also a good feeling knowing they can now spend that money on fixing it back up instead of just tearing it out.
      The second crew was the other four of my students plus two or three from Oregon.  They worked on a house in Lyons that had over a foot of water in it.  They had to tear out everything up to four feet on the walls.  They had to even rip out all of the flooring though to the point it was just the running 2 x 6's that stand vertical to hold the floor up.  You could see the dirt right below the house through these runners.  This crew also got their house done within the four days they were there.  Then the third crew that consisted of the rest of the Oregon students was at the local community church putting dry wall back up.
       We worked Monday through Thursday.  Mary Jo told us that most crews take at least a week if not two to get a whole house done and our group got two houses done in the four days we were there.  Everyone out there was so impressed with the students.  Not only their work ethics, but just their general behavior, manners, and positive attitudes.  I was very proud of my group.
      We stayed with Pastor Paul Rhode in Longmont Monday through Thursday nights. They fed us two nights and were such gracious hosts.  It was nice having a house with beds to sleep in.   We would spend our evenings playing cards and just relaxing after working hard all day.  We did run up to Fort Collins the one night to see a couple of the students' cousin.  She took us out for supper to the local brewery and restaurant.  It was a fun evening and they had some good beer.  We only had two students who were under 21 and they behaved themselves.  Then Thursday night, the church fed all of the workers and volunteers.  This was nice because the students from our group and the students from Oregon got the chance to interact and get to know each other.  Then we went out to a local micro-pub and restaurant for the evening.
      Friday morning we packed up the van, and Pastor Paul had a devotion with us as we went on our way. I cannot thank him enough for everything he did for us while we were there.  Then we drove up the mountains just west of Boulder and went skiing.  It had been sunny and nice all week as we worked.  Then Friday as we are skiing, it was cold with sixty mile per hour winds blowing snow.  We bundled up though and spent all day skiing.  I found out mountain skiing is much different than Midwest skiing, but I did get the hang of it.  I even made it from the very top of the mountain to the bottom all in one run without falling down so I can say I defeated the mountain.  I also went down a black diamond or two too.  It was a blast even though it was cold.  Then Friday night we stayed at the chapel in Boulder again.  Saturday we got up and drove the whole drive back in one shot.  I had two students who were drivers and each took a turn to help me out.
       Again, I cannot thank the Good Lord enough for such a perfect week.  We had so much fun and a lot of laughs.  We had zero accidents or injuries.  And we worked hard to help others in a time of need.  We did not get to do a lot of direct witnessing, but the second crew did get to witness to a guy who had been hurt by the church.  He was a neighbor who was helping them work.  They had been warned he had a foul mouth and did not act very Christian.  By the end of the week, he apologized to the students and said he was going to work on his language.  He also told them he was beginning to think differently about the church after meeting them and seeing how they worked and acted.  When the student told that to the church in our presentation, one member said that right there made the entire trip worth it even without all the work you did.  It truly was a blessing to the students and myself, but also hopefully to the people we helped in Lyons.
    I could go on and on for another four pages but I have a sermon to write.  I will leave you with this, Lyons is going to take about another several years to fully recover from this flood.  So if you know of any groups in the church looking for a mission trip or opportunity to serve, tell them Lyons is in desperate need.  Also, Colorado is becoming the number one state in the nation of unchurched people.  So the more Christians we can send in to help, the more opportunities there are to show the love of Christ through the abilities He has given us.  Pastor and I are already considering a second trip this summer with church members and I would go back in an instant.  I continue to pray for them and that not only the work gets done, but the light of Christ may shine in their darkness.  If you have any questions about our trip, do not hesitate to ask.  The Lord bless your day this day.

First Sermon of 2014

       Happy New Year and greetings in the name of our Lord, Christ Jesus.  I realize this is my first blog of 2014 and I apologize for it taking so long.  January has been such a busy month I haven't had time to think straight. I will post later this week about our mission trip, but it was the most perfect week it could have been.  Everything went not only smoothly but absolutely amazingly rewarding and fun. I will try to include some photos too.  Last week Pastor took a week vacation and trying to cover his stuff on top of mine almost drove me to insanity trying to keep up with everything.  However, I survived and got everything that had to be done accomplished.  Showed me how crazy the ministry can be at times.
            Here is my sermon I preached this last Sunday.  God's blessings to you.



Text – Matthew 4:17-22

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

       Our text for today in Matthew’s Gospel comes right at a transition point of the Gospel. The first three chapters of Matthew focus in on the life of Christ prior to His ministry. Then here in chapter four we see Jesus begin His ministry. He has just been triumphant over the devil tempting Him in the wilderness. He comes out of the wilderness and then He finds out that John has been arrested. He moves north to Galilee, and He goes north preaching the same message in the same wording that John was preaching, “Repent, that the kingdom of God is at hand.”
       It is here in the way Matthew sets up His gospel that we get a small glimpse into how our God actually works. God sent His Son into this world to be the Savior the one who was promised throughout all of the Old Testament. Jesus is the Christ, the messiah, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He was born into this world in the flesh to live a life of teaching, preaching and healing. Jesus performed numerous miracles, healing the lame and the sick, opening the eyes of the blind, opening the ears of the deaf and even casting out demons. He astonished all who listened with His parables and sermons. Everything He did was according to the will of the Father who sent Him, and by the power of the Spirit who was with Him. He could have done it all by Himself, He didn’t need help, I mean after all He is the Son of God. But this is what we see about our God in this text, that even though He can do everything Himself, He still uses humans to help do His work. 

       Think about it, why did Jesus need the disciples? The crowds and other followers were witnesses to everything He did, so He did not specifically need disciples who would follow Him to be witnesses. He didn’t even need them to tell their story after He would be gone. I mean Luke wrote a Gospel and he was never a disciple. So why did Jesus need the disciples? That’s the point, He didn’t need them, but yet our God chose to work through them anyway. Our God who is all-powerful, almighty, all-knowing chooses to use us sinful, weak, certainly not all-knowing human beings to help accomplish His work. We see this in Matthew’s gospel as He shows us Jesus begins His ministry and the very next thing we see is the calling of the first disciples.
       Jesus is walking along the Sea of Galilee and ends up gaining four disciples. All four men were fishermen and working at their current job as Jesus comes to them and says “Follow me”. Jesus called these men, but this call is in three different ways. First and most simply, He calls them to be believers. He invites them to have faith in Him, trust Him, and follow Him. He is calling them to accept His proclamation that they do indeed need to repent because the kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus invites them to follow him in the same way the crowds and masses will follow Him around listening to His teachings and seeing His miracles. The people in these crowds are not called fishers of men or disciples. They are simply believers, followers of Christ, and this is the first thing Christ calls these four fisher men to be.
        Christ calls them to be believers, but He does also call them to be His personal disciples too. This is the second part of their call. I do not think they realize quite everything that will be included in this call as they follow Him in ways the crowds and general believers do not. They must leave their nets, boats, and jobs behind. For James and John, they leave their father behind as well. They will spend almost all of their time either with Christ or traveling around spreading His gospel of repentance. Being a disciple gives them a much more personal one on one relationship with Christ than anyone of the crowds gets. They get to be on the boat with Him when He leaves the crowds on shore, and they get to witness Him calming the storm and walking on water. They get the personal explanations to the parables. They will get to be with Him at His last meal and hear the original words of institution. They will be there when He is arrested. But yet they are the ones He appears to after the resurrection with His message of peace. He appears to the crowds as well, but not behind locked doors where He lets them see His wounds and touch His side. They are called to be believers, but they are called to be His personal disciples also.
       They will be His disciples throughout His entire life on this earth. They would have to give up more, witness more, and experience more than I think they ever realized when they dropped their nets and walked off their boats. However, their most challenging call will be their call as apostles after His ascension. Now they no longer have Him with them to correct their mistakes, adjust their thinking, and show them the way. They will be challenged, chased out of town, arrested, stoned or even crucified. All of their time is now dedicated to traveling and preaching in order to do what Jesus told them to do in the Great Commission at the end of Matthew’s gospel. This is when they will truly become the fishers of men. Christ taught and prepared them for this calling, knowing they would not always have Him right there with them. This is how he will make them fishers of men, by training them for their apostleship and the work they will continue after He goes back to His throne. We know there were at least seventy other disciples who were called to be believers and disciples, but were not called to be apostles like these four men. Jesus calls these four fishermen to give up everything in order to serve Him, eventually even their own lives as His apostles.
        So Christ called these four men to be believers, disciples, and apostles. He calls them by simply saying, “Follow me”. Just as He invites all Christians to “follow Him”, calling them into the faith. Christ has called everyone who has been a Christian into the faith. The explanation to the third article of the creed in the Small Catechism states, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.” There is not a single one of us who decided to believe in Christ as our Lord without being called into faith by the power of the Holy Spirit. We have been invited by our Lord to follow Him.
        He has called you to be first and foremost a believer. If you didn’t even have that call you wouldn’t be here this morning worshiping Him. So Christ has come to you and invited you to follow Him, and you accepted. However, just like the four fisher men’s calling was different than the crowds, the other disciples, and all the other followers of Christ, we each have our own calling too.
       We each have our own calling because we each have our own vocations, opportunities, strengths, and abilities. God uses all of us who He has called into the faith to help Him accomplish His work of spreading the gospel and strengthening the faith of each other. But again how He uses us may look a little different in each of our own lives. If you are a husband or a wife, you have a vocation through which you can serve God and He can work through that a single person does not. And yet that single person may have more free time or other opportunities through which God works through him or her that a married person does not have. We strive to use each one of our individual vocations to be faithful followers of Christ.
        Pastor Wurm and myself believe we have a divine call into the ministry. That’s why he went to the seminary and has now served two churches. It is why I am attending the seminary and very blessed to be serving my vicarage here as well. However, just as I already mentioned, not every believer was an apostle, not even the all of the other seventy disciples were apostles. Not every Christian can be a pastor or a full time church worker. We thank the Lord that He has called and led a lot of men to be pastors and go through the seminary in order to serve the church, and we thank Him for all the women He has called to be deaconesses. This is a call from the Lord that they have accepted, but it is not the only call or the only way to follow Christ.
        The church needs good lay leaders too. I am so thoroughly impressed with the amount of volunteers and number of people who serve on boards and as teachers in this church. It truly is an awesome thing, and I thank all of you who have felt that this is the way you are being called to serve your Lord.
Not all of us are even necessarily called to be lay leaders in the church. There are some people who would not feel comfortable at all serving in one of these positions or teaching children’s Sunday school. That is not a bad thing. Looking at the text the majority of the people who follow Christ are the believers in the crowd. Just because the people of these crowds are not disciples or apostles does not mean Christ is not working through. Look at the four men who lower their paralytic friend down through the roof to be healed by Jesus. It saws when Jesus saw their faith, he told the man his sins were forgiven and then He healed him. It was the faith of all of them, the friends and the man. These friends who lowered Him down were not disciples or apostles and yet God worked through them and the faith He called them into.
       All of our callings look different. We as faithful Christians strive to use these vocations He has blessed us with to serve Him so that He can work through us. He has chosen to include us creatures in His work, and so we try our hardest to make sure He is able to work through us.
       Now we are still sinners and there are times, much like the disciples, that we mess things up, miss opportunities, use our talents and abilities for the wrong things, and do not strive to be the best we can be in each vocation. We tend to get lazy, fixed in bad habits, or even get stubborn and know were wrong but don’t give in anyway. And if it were truly up to us and how well we followed Christ that mattered for our salvation we would all be damned. But this is why Christ was the one who accomplished the plan of salvation on His own. He is the one who was born into the flesh to live a perfect life. He is the one who died on the cross for all sins, and He is the one who would rise from the dead to defeat sin, death, and the devil. That part of God’s plan, His plan of salvation, Christ did 100% on His own. He did it 100% on His own because He knew we never could. Now that He has accomplished that part, and our salvation is guaranteed He lets us help Him with the spreading of that Good News we know is true.
       It is important to remember all the words that Jesus gives to the disciples in the Great Commission though. He sends them out to make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of our Triune God, but He gives them the true Gospel message of “I am always with you, to the end of the age. God has called us into the faith, and has given us vocations, opportunities, and abilities to serve Him in that call. However, He doesn’t just send us out alone and expect us to do this on our own. He is always with us, working through us, blessing us and our service because it is He who chose to use us in the first place. He is the one who is truly at work, while we strive to be the best follower of Christ we can be. We know we will slip up, we know we fail at times, but through His grace and mercy we have His forgiveness and our eternal salvation is secure. He is working through us to share that comforting news we live by everyday with those who have never heard it or even other believers who are having doubts or questions. It is His ministry; we are simply accepting our call to follow Him to the best of our ability with His help and guidance so that He may work that ministry through us. He has called us into the faith, assuring us of our forgiveness and salvation, and He has chosen to use us, promising to always be with us, to bring the Good News of the Gospel to a world that so badly needs to hear it.

In the name of the one who secured our salvation, the one who called us into the faith, and the one who is always with us, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.