He Prayed For You!

May 12th, 2013

Rev. Brian Henderson, Pastor-Trinity Lutheran Church-San Diego
Easter 7C, May 12h, 2013

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“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word.”  [John 17:20]

This morning Jesus shows you that He has prayed for you.  In the prayer which is brought to us in our gospel reading (John 17:20–26), He makes some pretty exciting promises. Do you trust His  Word?  Do you really believe that when He says something, it is in fact God Himself speaking to your heart, and when He says something it is not only going to happen, in fact, in God’s  perspective,  it has already happened!  If you answered yes, well then, this message will be both exciting and challenging for you.  If you answered, no or you aren’t sure, well then, it is God’s desire  that this morning’s message would be one of faith; a message that will both create faith within you and sustain it.  Would you like that?  Good!  Let’s get right into it.

This morning Jesus prays for two things: Unity and Glory.  He prays that we would be one in thought, word, and deed, just as He and the Father and the Spirit are one, and He also prays that just  as He is now in glory, seated at the right hand of the Father, we too would join Him there in glory.

This last Thursday was a day to celebrate, but because it did not fall on a Sunday, it probably passed you by.  On Thursday, the church celebrated the ascension of our Lord.  The day Jesus ascended  into Heaven and into His glory.  But when He left, He gave us this commission, backed by a powerful promise.  Listen: “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and  make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” [Matthew 28:18-20]

So when Jesus prayed for you in our gospel reading, He backed up that prayer in Matthew 28, when He ascended into Heaven. He’s letting you know that what He is praying for is powered by His real presence with us.  He is ever interceding for His church as it fulfills its mission to bring God’s love to the world.  And, He prays for you who are here this morning to be an active part of that mission.

He prays for you who believe that when Jesus says something it is fact; He knows that you will believe because you have been given faith through the word of the apostles, which is the very Word of God. (v. 20) Through the Word of God you have been brought into the body of Christ.  So as part of Jesus body, the church, you are also one with the Triune personhood of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And now as part of the church, you have been given the glory of God.  What is this glory that God gives you?  Is it a glory that makes you better than your neighbor?  Is it a glory that makes you the head and not the tail?  No, not at all; instead it is a gift that not only invites us into unity as one body, but in fact it gives us the unity. (v. 22)

But how can we be one?  Well to answer that question, we will need to jump ahead to verse 26, where we hear Jesus declare this wonderful promise: “I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” (v. 26) So here is the very thing that empowers our mission into a world that is lost to sin; it is the love of God.  (Talk about a Mother’s love) It’s a love that was and always shall be communicated through the Father’s giving of His Son unto death so that a world lost and dead in its sins may live.  This is the great purpose or mission of the church: To be filled with the love of God and to share that love with the world.  This is now both the mission of the church, and its gift to the world:  A love from God that fills us and fulfills us.

It’s the love of God that not only gives us our mission but our unity.  Jesus prayed that as He and the Father were one, that we would be one with Him and each other. (vv. 21, 22b)  He prayed that the glory of God would be within us and fulfill us in unity so that…

The world might believe.  But believe what?  That Jesus, is the Son of God, and in a gift of love that God the Father has given so that we would believe that God is still with us and that He still loves us!  Another way to say this is, through our unity with God and each other the world will see God’s forgiving love and believe that both Jesus and His gift of eternal life are real!

So how do you think we are doing with that mission?  In our community alone we have hundreds of churches of various denominations and creeds.  It is not uncommon for these churches to compete for a finite number of believers.  This competition is always centered on truth, but not necessarily God’s truth.  So many churches seem to have become its own living definition of what truth is, thus separating itself further and further from their brothers and sisters in other denominations and churches.  And the unbelieving world sees this and shakes their head at us.  A world that we are suppose to be reaching with the truth is laughing at some church’s made up truth and never really getting to see the power of God’s own truth in action.

And what is the source of unity, love, and truth?  Nothing but the pure Word of God; not opinions, not theories, but only the pure Word of God, which is both truthful and mysterious.  Where the Word declares bold truths concerning sin and salvation, punishment and forgiveness, we are suppose to also as one voice declare the very same message.  Where the Word is silent or mysterious, we are never allowed to “fill in the blanks” so to speak but simply remain silent and trust even more in God’s mercy and grace.  While it is true that even when God’s Word is declared in purity and unity many may still reject His call to repentance, that is not suppose to trouble us.  We are simply asked to speak Words that give faith and then turn them to the object of their faith, Jesus Christ, crucified, resurrected, and ascended; Jesus the Son of God who alone is able to intercede for them and grant them eternal life and peace with God.

So, is the mission of the church hurt by defective Christians?  Yes, but it is never destroyed.  Each one of us must remember this one great truth… Jesus is praying for us!

As he prays, He prays for his church’s glory.  He knows that there is a great division between His church and those lost in this world of darkness.  Listen: “O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. (v. 25)

In these Words Jesus not only assures you that you belong to Him but also, ultimately it is His burden to bring faith to those who are lost in sin.  We are simply to look out upon this world and see the difference between faith and faithlessness.  We are to see the difference in the lives of those who live under the Father’s judgment and those who live out His gift of grace. Our mission this morning is to not only see the difference but live out that difference so that others will see the presence of God among us, through His gifts of love, forgiveness, and unity, and then desire to be a part of our community that gathers around those gifts.

So you see, it is for you that Jesus prays.  He prays that you will trust Him and rest in His love for you.  He prays that in His Word you will see Him always with you, always interceding for you who have been given to him by the Father.  But He also prays that you will let Him lead you out into our community seeking peace first with each other, then with your brothers and sisters of different denominations, and finally with the lost and unbelieving world.  And finally, He prays to remind you, that the kind of peace He invites you to share with others can only be found in the pure Word of God.

This morning, Jesus’ desire is that one day soon you will come to His side to a place where there will be no more sorrow, suffering, sickness, or disease; a place where all divisions will cease.  “No longer will there be anything accursed (among us), but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and we His servants will worship Him.” [Revelations 22:3]

Will you trust His Word; will you rest in a reality that declares, Jesus prays for you?  If you will, you won’t be disappointed; you will see His glory and you will forever know the Father’s love.  AMEN!

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Posted in John 17:20–26 | Comments Off

A Little Message of Joy!

May 5th, 2013

Rev. Brian Henderson, Pastor-Trinity Lutheran Church-San Diego
Easter 6C, May 5h, 2013

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“Until now you have asked nothing in my name.  Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” [John 16:24]

NOTE: The congregation has just sung the following verses of Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice.”

1. Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice, with exultation springing, and with united heart and voice, and holy rapture singing.  Proclaim the wonders God has done, how His right arm the vict’ry won.  What  price our ransom cost Him!

2. Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay; death brooded darkly o’er me.  Sin was my torment night and day; in sin my mother bore me.  But daily deeper still I fell; my life became a living hell, so firmly sin  possessed me.

3. My own good works all came to naught, no grace or merit gaining; free will against God’s judgment fought, dead to all good remaining.  My fears increased till sheer despair left only death to be my share;  the pangs of hell I suffered.

4. But God had seen my wretched state before the world’s foundation, and mindful of His mercies great, He planned for my salvation.  He turned to me a father’s heart; He did not choose the easy part but  gave His dearest treasure.

The sermon hymn that we just sang, “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice” is a beautiful hymn, but if we do not finish it this morning, that is if we stop at the 4th verse the message really doesn’t give us much to be joyful over.  So, a little later, we will sing the next 6 verses as part of our message, our little message on joy.

Haydn, the great musician, was once asked why his church music was so cheerful, and he replied: “When I think upon God, my heart is so full of joy that the notes dance and leap, as it were, from my pen, and since God has given me a cheerful heart it will be pardoned me that I serve Him with a cheerful spirit.”

So our desire this morning is to leave here knowing that we have true joy; a gift from God that can only come from God.  If we understand this truth, we will not have to pretend to be joyful, but we will rejoice and trust that God is our champion who fights for us, no matter how contrary to this truth things may appear.

In our gospel reading this morning (John 16:23–33), things did not appear very joyful there in the upper room as our Lord and His Holy Apostles prepared to depart for the Garden of Gethsemane, where Judas would betray His Master by leading the temple guards to arrest Him in secret.  Jesus knew what was about to happen, but He also knew that after the betrayal, in His arrest, suffering, and death, all things would become clear to the apostles and the disciples.  They would see that it really is true that the things that the devils and sinful men mean for evil, God turns into good.

So Jesus says to them, “In a little while you will no longer see me; and then in a little while you will!  Amen, amen, I say to you, that you shall sob and wail, but the world will rejoice.  You will be filled with sorrow, but your sorrow will become joy.”  [John 16:16-20]

Very soon, in just a few short hours, the first part of Jesus proclamation would become crystal clear.  They would see him beaten, hung on a cross, suffering, with death the final outcome.  Most of them would abandon Him there at the cross and one would deny Him completely.  “In a little while you will no longer see me.  In a little while you will sob and wail.”

Imagine, something that you have staked your entire past, present, and future on is ripped away; that was plan A and you have no plan B!  You have been left alone, lost, hopeless, and you seem to be damned by God.  That is what our sermon hymn is communicating to us in the 2nd and 3rd verses.  Listen to those words again:

“Fast bound in Satan’s chains I lay; death brooded darkly o’er me.  Sin was my torment night and day; in sin my mother bore me.  But daily deeper still I fell; my life became a living hell, so firmly sin possessed me.  My own good works all came to naught, no grace or merit gaining; free will against God’s judgment fought, dead to all good remaining.  My fears increased till sheer despair left only death to be my share; the pangs of hell I suffered.”

That is the true nature of one who has not been baptized, but it is also the true nature of a person who has walked away from their baptism.  They are prisoners of war so to speak.  Satan has them trapped in the chains of sin; their sin and the sin of the world.  The more they try to escape the hold of sin, death, and the devil, the tighter the chains bind them.

But how does a person try to escape without Jesus?  Well, they think that they can do it through there own good works of course; by trying to be a good and noble person; by trying to be compassionate and considerate, outside of God’s blessings through Jesus Christ.  Well what is wrong with that; good is good isn’t it?  And to that question, God answers, “No!”  Outside of Jesus Christ, all of our good works are like filthy rags!  But, if you are seeking glory only in this world, it will be at the expense of glory in the next.  And mark these words, there is a next; there is another place that you will live forever after your time here is through.

For those who hear the gospel call and ignore it, or for those who have heard and for a little while believed, but latter walked away from the call to trust, follow, and believe in Jesus in search of other things, Jesus says that the little while where they will no longer see Him or experience Him is now.  It is a dark time of sobbing and wailing.  But if you will hear and believe what He says next, He promises that you will once again rejoice!

“Again, in a little while you will see me and your sorrow will become joy.”  This is precisely what verse 4 is saying; listen: “But God had seen my wretched state before the world’s foundation, and mindful of His mercies great, He planned for my salvation.  He turned to me a father’s heart; He did not choose the easy part but gave His dearest treasure.”

So how can we have this loving heart of God the Father?  By receiving His Word, which alone gives us His dearest treasure, His Son, Jesus Christ!  Please sing with the me, the next five verses of our sermon hymn:

5. God said to His belovèd Son: “It’s time to have compassion.  Then go, bright jewel of My crown, and bring to all salvation.  From sin and sorrow set them free; slay bitter death for them that they may live with You forever.”

6. The Son obeyed His Father’s will, was born of virgin mother; and God’s good pleasure to fulfill, He came to be my brother.  His royal pow’r disguised He bore; a servant’s form, like mine, He wore to lead the devil captive.

7. To me He said: “Stay close to Me, I am your rock and castle.  Your ransom I Myself will be; for you I strive and wrestle.  For I am yours, and you are Mine, and where I am you may remain; the foe shall not divide us.

8. “Though he will shed My precious blood, me of My life bereaving; all this I suffer for your good; be steadfast and believing.  Life will from death the vict’ry win; My innocence shall bear your sin, and you are blest forever.

9. “Now to My Father I depart, from earth to heav’n ascending, and, heavn’ly wisdom to impart, the Holy Spirit sending; in trouble He will comfort you and teach you always to be true and into truth shall guide you.

10. “What I on earth have done and taught guide all your life and teaching; so shall the kingdom’s work be wrought and honored in your preaching.  But watch lest foes with base alloy the heav’nly treasure should destroy; this final word I leave you.”

This morning Jesus declares to you, “In that day (that is the day of your salvation), you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” [Vs. 23, 24]

Now here is where our joy is full and complete.  What is the greatest thing you could ever ask of God?  Is it money, fame, or fortune?  No, but isn’t it the complete forgiveness of your sins?  Isn’t it having the absolute assurance from God that you are at peace with Him and have nothing to fear?  This is God’s will for all people; this is what He wants us to ask of Him.  He loves all sinners, baptized and unbaptized.  For the unbaptized, He wants nothing more than that they should turn from their evil ways and receive His Son’s love and grace, within the waters of baptism.  For the baptized who have walked away, He wants nothing more than they would return to the Lord their God, because He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  And for those of us who are still trusting in His Son Jesus Christ, seeing the remedy for our sin, which is the cross applied to us through the washing of water and His Word, nourished in the meal of forgiveness at His Holy table, and reassured in the Holy Absolution of forgiveness, He wants us to have our joy fulfilled.

Imagine the joy the disciples were increasingly filled with after Easter morning, when time after time, their resurrected Lord appeared to them.  Imagine how their despair and hopelessness was replaced with joy and confidence; a confidence that declared with the centurion at the cross: “Surely He was the Son of God!”

Dear friends in His Word this morning, you have heard Jesus speak Words of peace and encouragement to you.  You have heard the Spirit of truth once again declare to you.. “You are forgiven.” I pray that these Words will not only bring you peace but also joy.  I pray that through God’s forgiving love your frown brought by fear and worry, would be turned into the smile of peace and confidence: “(You know) a smile costs nothing, but creates much. It enriches those who receive it without impoverishing those who give it. It happens in a flash, and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None are so rich that they can get along without it, and none so poor but are richer for its benefits. It fosters good will in a business, it creates happiness in the home, and it is the countersign of friends. It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and nature’s best antidote for trouble.” —Henry H. Evansen

This morning God in His Word is smiling upon you; I pray that you will do the same towards each other and your neighbors this week, simply because you know that for Jesus sake, God loves you. I ask all of this in Jesus name… AMEN!

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Posted in John 16:23–33 | Comments Off

It Was Love… A New Kind of Love!

April 28th, 2013

Rev. Brian Henderson, Pastor-Trinity Lutheran Church-San Diego
Easter 5C, April 27th, 2013

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A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” [John 13:34, 35]

What was it that moved Christ to go from the upper room, to the garden, and then to His suffering and death upon the cross?  It was love; a new kind of love; a type of love that before was impossible for human flesh, sinful human flesh to express!  But Jesus is God—what does that have to do with us?  Simply this, Jesus said we must now have and express this kind of love.  “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another, as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

This means, we are to express a type of love that costs, even hurts at times.  We are to love each other with a sacrificial kind of love.

A grumpy old man called a church one-day and explained to the pastor that he was looking for a new church, as his old church no longer met his needs.  He said that he wanted to join a church that didn’t press him to get involved, a place where only the old hymns are sung, a church that didn’t keep calling him at home checking to see if he was alright, simply because he missed a few Sundays.  He wanted to be a member of a church that didn’t issue offering envelopes or keep track of his giving.  He then asked the pastor if his church fit the bill, and if not, could he recommend one.  The pastor was silent for a moment and then responded: “Well yes, I think I know just the place for you.  Do you have a pen and paper?”  The man said yes, and then wrote down the exact address of a local church that the pastor gave him.  The man got in his car and went out immediately, only to find a church that was boarded up, closed down and for sale.

That story is simply an illustration that points out the problem with each of us, if left on our own; we want life and all of it’s circumstances to meet our needs; we want everything to be done in a way that makes us happy.  It’s as if we are saying, “OK, I’ve been baptized and I have Jesus, now leave me alone and let me rest in His glory until He calls me to my mansion.”  Let’s call this way of thinking and living a theology of glory.  But that is not the love, the life that Christ calls us to live out.  He said, “Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.”

This morning in our gospel lesson (John 13:31-35), Jesus teaches us a new theology; a theology of the cross.  His love took Him to the cross; the emblem of suffering and shame; a place where all mankind’s glory is destroyed and made empty and meaningless.  In the cross, God calls a thing what it is; He says that our sin, even our sinful flesh is vile and rotten and it must be destroyed.  But here is the amazing part; He doesn’t want to destroy our sinful flesh, but instead He destroyed the perfect flesh of His only begotten Son.  And even more amazing, the Son agrees that only this self-sacrificing love will save sinners like you and me.  And now from the cross, Christ calls out to each of us… follow Me!

Does this kind of love make you nervous or afraid?  If so, good; you should know what you are getting into.  Or, you should know what you’ve already signed up for.  This is love, not that we love God, but that He first loved us, and proved it upon the cross.

In our first lesson (Acts 11:1–18), some of the “holiness” brothers that were of the circumcision party, heard that Peter was hanging out with dirty gentiles, and even calling them brothers.  So they conveyed a board of inquiry to get to the bottom of this scandal.  But when Peter spoke of how even the gentiles were repenting and turning to Christ alone for salvation, they were quieted and then let go of their own agenda, and glorified God.

How were these Godless gentiles able to receive the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of Jesus and be saved?  Well the same way every one does; through the Gospel message that Peter shared with them.  When they heard about their sins, and the penalty of death God imposes because of those sins, they were at first terrified.  But when they heard about the Son of God, Jesus Christ willingly taking upon their sins upon Himself, and suffering and dying for them, they were grieved, but then… once they realized that this meant peace with God, they were over joyed that God truly loved even them so much, that He gave His One and only Son, that if they believed and received Jesus’ gift of the cross, they would be forgiven.  And they were; and there after they too were baptized and renewed by the love of Christ.  They were remade to love as Christ loves.

How did all of this happen?  Through the gift of repentance and the gift of love.  Repentance is simply agreeing with God that He is right and we are wrong.  It is simply turning to the only means that God has made to save us from our own sins and the sins of others.  Contrition and faith, or Law and Gospel, which come through the Word of God, are the only means God chooses to turn our hearts from love of sin (love of self) and then turn them to the cross of Christ where we are all equally given full pardon and love for God and each other.  Where ever, when ever, and to whom ever God’s means speak to the heart of a sinner, new life is given.

Now what we must remember is that while this new life is invisible, because it exists in our soul, it is always expressed in how we live out our physical lives.  For those of us sinners who know how much we have been forgiven, we will certainly be able to demonstrate a love for Jesus that is empowered by this new kind of love.  And that new love will express itself first in our confession of faith, then our consistent worship of Him, next in our prayer life, and finally in our service to His church and each other.

But what about the good life; what about the glory of walking and talking in blessings with Jesus?  Now in that question is exactly where and how the enemy the devil tries to deceive us.  Nowhere did Jesus say that the life of faith is one without suffering and pain.  Nowhere does He say that once you’ve been baptized life will be easy; in fact He said the opposite.  Jesus said that, “In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” [John 16:33]  But Jesus does promise that there will come a day, perhaps sooner than we know when all of our suffering and pain will cease and then we will forever rest in glory.

Listen to this hope expressed in our Epistle reading (Revelation 21:1-7): “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “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.”

Sounds good doesn’t it?  That is your promised inheritance, but for now, we must wait for that glorious day; but we aren’t waiting like a bunch of lost lambs bleating for their shepherd.  No, Jesus has sent us the Helper, the Holy Spirit who since the day of our baptism, continues to dwell richly within each of us.  Through this indwelling of the Spirit, we also have Jesus real presence, and together with the Father, Jesus truly has made all things new, even you.  It is a done deal; complete and finished, lacking nothing but the fulfillment of time.

To the thirsty, those who thirst for true love, Jesus as the Good Shepherd, calls us to drink in His Word and dine at His Holy Table.  We may fill ourselves with as much as we can hold, without cost, because Jesus has paid for it all with His very lifeblood.  And you will need every bit of this spiritual nourishment, because it alone gives you the strength to hold onto Jesus until the last day.

If you will remain in Him, through these God appointed means of grace, Jesus promises not just complete forgiveness, but also the ability to love others as He loves them; a love for even the unlovable; the kind of love that is willing to take risks and even receive injury.  On your own, you could never truly have or demonstrate that kind of love, but with God living and working within you, you will be able to watch in amazement how unexplainably it flows out of you.

How did the church go from a bunch of self-serving cowards to powerful and unafraid conquerors of sin, death, and the devil?  It was love!  It was the radical movement of love envisioned and empowered by our Lord, and today and everyday, it begins with us.  This morning, behind the closed doors of this church, God continues His campaign to save the world with His love through forgiven sinners like us.

Filled with the Holy Spirit of God, our relationship with one another becomes a strong witness to the world of just what true love is.  We are not just to open the church doors and shout out what love is, but we are also to open the doors and let the world look in and see what love is; let them see true love at work in us; changing and rearranging us.  We aren’t just to preach love, but we have been empowered to practice it, and not as the world knows love to be, but a new kind of love born out of Heaven that experiences being loved by the Lord of love.

Dear friends, we can testify about love until we’re hoarse, but until the world can see that love alive and lived out among us, and personally experience that love through us, all of our witnessing about love will be in vain.  As followers of Jesus, we live behind glass doors.  The world constantly looks into see what we are like.  If we show a new kind of love, the world will know it and investigate it.

Isn’t that an exciting challenge the Lord has left us?  Can we actually do it?  Yes, if we continue to follow Jesus and remember that it is He who works within us, forgiving, loving and teaching us how to do the very same thing.

Now, you who have been forgiven so much and loved so greatly go out and allow the Holy Spirit to do the same through you.  And if you should fall short this week, come back next Sunday to be forgiven and renewed for love!  I ask this in Jesus name… AMEN!

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Posted in Acts 11:1-18, John 13:31-35, Revelation 21:1-7 | Comments Off

You Can Hear Him!

April 21st, 2013

Rev. Brian Henderson, Pastor-Trinity Lutheran Church-San Diego
Easter 4C, April 20th, 2013

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“My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” [John 10:27]

As our nation gathers together to morn and sort out the events surrounding the terrorist attack against those gathered at the Boston Marathon, as our fellow country men, there and across this  great  nation gather for moments of silence and combined “all-faith” worship services, you have instead come here; to God’s house.  For most of you, this is not unusual, because you do the very  same thing most every Sunday.  For some who are visitors this morning at Trinity, or visitors to my website, you may be listening to or reading this sermon with the intent of trying to find some  comfort or perhaps find a higher purpose to all of the fear and suffering, let me repeat the Words of Jesus again: “My Sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

Can you hear Jesus speaking to you in those Words?  If so, good!  Continue hearing; listen to His Words and you will find strength and comfort.  To those of you who may answer, “No” or  “I’m  not sure,” that is alright; you should continue to listen as well, because you see, it is only by listening to the Word of God that you will find faith and be able to hear the voice of Jesus’ speaking to  you.

A truth that is even sadder than the Boston carnage is the fact that there are many people in this world who will not not hear Jesus speaking to them.  They demand new proofs and evidence all  while dismissing the great proofs that have already been recorded for them.  It is as if they are calling out with unbelievers in our gospel lesson (John 10:22-30): “If you are the Christ, tell us  plainly.”  And as Jesus answered the unbelievers then, so He answers them today: “I (have) told you, and you do not believe.  The works I do in my Father’s name bear witness about me, but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.” [John 10:25, 26]

Why don’t they believe?  Because they are not among Jesus sheep, so they don’t hear His voice.  But their lack of hearing; their lack of believing isn’t Jesus’ fault, it is their own.  Jesus speaks to them; He desires them to hear, but they will not.  They choose instead to hear many other voices that call out to us through out the world.  For instance…

They will hear the voice of Hedonism.  A voice that discourages higher learning and critical thinking, and instead encourages a generation of Reality T.V. to “Party on… eat, drink, and be merry!”  Or…

Then there is the voice of Materialism, which constantly pressures us to buy things.  “Buy, buy, buy” it says, “until you find contentment.  You deserve to be happy and experience the good life.”  And as we follow that voice, we become so caught up in acquiring more possessions, that those left in need, suffering in poverty go without, and finally die because we would not help.  And …

Then there is the voice of Narcissism—Self-centeredness that constantly encourages us to join in singing the hymn of all fallen and sinful creation: “It’s all about me; it’s all about I; it’s all about me oh my, oh my!”  Within this voice, are the various word of faith leaders and “possibility thinking” hucksters and philosophers who want us to “Tap into the great potential that is you!”  This voice really makes the voice of Christ unneeded, because if you believe their message, you can be your own savior!

And finally, there are the voices of the religious fanatics.  Their voice is perhaps the most dangerous, as they teach that change, their kind of change, must come from outside of a society, and it must come by force, fear, intimidation, and death if necessary.

So what voice are you really hearing?  Which voice has won your attention; has peeked your interest?  If it isn’t Jesus’ voice, then again I repeat, it is not Jesus’ fault.  He has spoken to you repeatedly, but you will not hear; you will not believe.  His works, His suffering and death upon the cross and His resurrection from the dead verify that He is the very Son of God.  The lives of Christians living in peace and seeking peace from others, with no fear of death is also proof that this Jesus is the risen Son of God.  He truly is the Good Shepherd who can provide mysterious gifts of comfort and security in times of turmoil.  The lives of Jesus’ little lambs proves that He really does care for His sheep.  All of this proves that…

His sheep really do hear His voice.  Jesus tells you this morning that: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” [Vs. 27]  Jesus sheep always hear Him speak.  While it is true that they don’t always listen, or follow, they do always hear.  And when they wander, for we sheep of Jesus are prone to wander, He leaves the secure and safe 99 sheep to bring His lost little lamb back into the fold, which is His church.  He brings us back in the same means that He first saved us, with His voice.  And within that voice, we sheep hear the content of that voice, we hear the gospel Word, you are forgiven; come home.

To those this morning, who are not His sheep, either because they never have been or have chosen to wander away, Jesus speaks the gospel call this morning to become one of His little lambs.  This morning Jesus tells them who and what they really are without Him, “You are not my sheep.  You have not been saved from the coming judgment.”  But He also tells them who they will become if they listen; if they allow the Words and the voice to give them faith.  To those sheep who are caught up in the sound of another voice, Jesus promises that if they will hear Him speak forgiveness of sins and new life, “I (will) give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father who has given them to me, is greater than all (other teachings and voices), and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” [Vs. 28, 29]

“But how can this be true,” some may ask?  And to this Jesus speaks Words of mystery, but Word’s that also give faith: “I and the Father are one.” [Vs. 30]

Do you hear the mystery that is God?  God exist as One, yet in a very intimate and close relationship of persons—Father, Jesus the Son of God, and Spirit, and you have been or are invited to be brought into that relationship through baptism.  If you have wandered away, you are invited back into the church.

Through Jesus Christ, the Son of God you are guaranteed that not only does God the Father know you but He loves you; He becomes your Father.  You are recognized and you will always recognize Him because you will know the voice of your Good shepherd when He calls.  You need never be alone or afraid in this world, because God is with you.  And with the rod and staff of His Word, He leads and protects you.  With that same Word He gives you cool drink and green secure pasture.

In His Word He invites you to His banquet table, where you feast on His very body and blood in, with, and under the bread and wine, where he satisfies a hunger and thirst that can only be satiated at His table; it is a feast of complete forgiveness and strong faith in your God Who alone is your Good Shepherd.

Imagine that you are walking on a street within our community and there in the driveway of a home are three little children getting ready to climb inside the family’s mini-van.  The van is packed with luggage and coolers.  The father is just about to close the rear door for departure and the mother is locking the front door of the home.  Obviously, they are going on a trip.

You walk up to the little children and you ask: “Where are you going?”  Wide eyed they stare back at you, silent.  They don’t know.  “What highway will you take?”  Again, no answer.  Where are you going to have dinner tonight?”  No response.  Then you ask what in their minds is the only question that matters: “Who are you going with?”  Now there eyes light up, their faces break into smiles.  “With Mommy and Daddy!” they exclaim.

Dear friends, your life lies ahead of you.  There are many unknowns, even many dangers that are ahead of you.  For many of the questions you have in life, like the whys and how comes, you for now, will get no answers.  But you do have “The Answer” with you always.  Jesus is with you and He has already called out to you with the Words “Follow Me!”  He has promised to be by your side every step of the way.  And because of this truth, for you His little lambs, eternal life isn’t something you enter when you die; no, you are in it right now!  And His means of grace, His Word and Sacraments are what sustain you every day in this world of uncertainty.

The sign of the cross at the beginning of our service helped us recall our baptism, which is a “spring of living water” for us.  Therefore we “hunger and thirst no more.” [Revelation 7:16]  And at His Holy Supper you again will receive life giving food, which for us, is a foretaste of the feast to come.  Therefore, we join in with all of the company in heaven robed in white praising our God around His throne.

You are forgiven.  God has raised Jesus from the dead and your redemption is assured.  Now Christ calls you—His sheep and His witnesses—to follow Him.  You do hear Him!  Now, what shall you do?  AMEN!

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Posted in Acts 20:17-35, John 10:22-30, Psalm 23, Revelation 7:9-17 | Comments Off

How Should We Worship the Lamb Who Sits Upon the Throne?

April 14th, 2013

Rev. Brian Henderson, Pastor-Trinity Lutheran Church-San Diego
Easter 3C, April 13, 2013

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In our Gospel reading (John 21:1-19), we meet Jesus and some of His closest disciples after a long night of fishing.  Jesus appears out of no where and says in essence, “Have you boys caught  anything to eat yet?”  To which, they reply “No!” “Well” He says, “cast your net on the right side of the boat and you will get some whoppers!”  And they did!

So what does all of this mean?  Well St. John, the disciple that Jesus loved knew the answer: “It’s the Lord!” And how does a person respond when they realize that the Lord is with them?  Plunk,  into the water; that’s how spontaneous St. Peter responded.  Impetuous Peter; if ever there was a disciple who needed to experience the love of Jesus it was Peter; he wanted so badly to be loved by  God and to love him in return, but it seems that he just kept messing things up.  Well, Jesus was about to change all of that for Peter.  He was about to change Peter’s heart so that he could both  experience God’s love and love God in return.  Peter, like every disciple before and after Him needed to learn to see God perfectly in Jesus; to see Jesus as the glorified Son of God, the very Lamb of  God who now forever sits upon the throne of God, and to worship Him.  How do we worship Him?

Well, this morning we will explore this life of worship in three things, three gifts given from God, which are common to all baptized Christians, both the oldest of us and the youngest.  They are,  faith, obedience, and success or living out our Christian vocation.

In regards to faith, I am sometimes grieved over how difficult some people make our understanding of faith to be.  So many bad explanations of what it is have completely taken away the beauty of what God says that it is.  Faith is nothing more than a gift from God.  It is a gift that He keeps on giving and we are simply asked to keep on receiving it.  It isn’t hard to receive, because it comes simply by gathering around and receiving His Word.  We do this very thing every Sunday here at Trinity.   You are receiving the Word right now in this message, but before I stepped into this pulpit, before we declared God’s Word in the words of the Introit, we received the gift of faith in the words of absolution, which came after our public confession of sins.  And then we along with baby Sarai received God’s gift of faith as we witnessed and participated in her Holy Baptism.  There at the font, God not only called her by name and washed her clean, he recreated her into a new sanctified person of faith, who must be continually nourished and strengthened every day with the same Word of God.  In other words God’s Word must constantly feed her so that the gift of faith will continue to save her.  As she grows, her parents, God-parents, and all of us here at Trinity must speak the Word of God to her, teach her, and encourage her to grow in her faith, and one day she will be confirmed “ready” to receive the very body and blood of the Lamb of God, who continually takes away the sin of the world.

This is the rhythm of life for a Christian; God speaks and we respond; we grow and we experience more of Him.  For some of you, this rhythm has led you consistently; you never really over thought it, you just lived it out.  While it’s true, you have experienced good days and bad days, you never really dwelled on either; you simply lived out a life of faith.  You are much like John, with your spirit declaring, “It’s the Lord!”

For others, their journey of faith started at an older age, and perhaps after living a rough life.  For them, maybe they can relate more closely to St. Paul, who was blinded by the Lord on the road to Damascus as he heard, “Why are you persecuting me?”

Yes it is true that some of us lived lives that were not only faithless, but also extremely opposed to Jesus and His invitation of faith.  But, here you are too, by the grace of God, being fed faith by the same means of grace.

So we have established that faith is the mark of one who worships the Lamb of God who sits upon the throne.  But how is that gift of faith expressed in the life of a Christian who worships the Lamb?

Simply put, it is expressed in obedience.  In our first lesson (Acts 9:1-22) we see obedience played out in two different people, in two very different ways.  With Saul, who would become St. Paul, it was very dramatic and physical.  Not many saints have ever been confronted with a light straight out of  heaven, and not many have heard the very voice of Jesus say, “(Hey you), why are you persecuting me?”  Not many of us have been blinded as a way to get our attention, so that we could hear God speak faith into us, but Saul was.  Why?  So that He would hear what was spoken next: “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.  But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”  Did you hear it?  Jesus gave a command, but it wasn’t an order that is given just so one person can bully another.  No, Jesus is no bully; that was Saul’s identity; Saul was the one that practically begged for the authority to hunt down and persecute Jesus’ little lambs, the Christians.  Our Lord Jesus, was simply giving a command of love that would allow Saul to see that He was his Lord too; He wanted Saul to become Paul, who would be one of Jesus little lambs.

But there is still another example of obedience in our first reading that must be brought out into the light for us, and it is with a simple man named Ananias.  The Lord said to him in a vision, ““Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.””

For both Saul and Ananias Jesus told them what they must do.  For Saul, it was go and be baptized into the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  To Ananias it was to baptize all people who the Lord brought to him, even evil Saul, all so sinners can be filled with faith, saved, recreated, and given a new life of obedience.  Obedience to become all that the Lord Jesus has declared them to be; in Saul’s case, he was to become Paul, an apostle of the very Lord He was persecuting.

So far, we have talked about God’s gift of faith and His gift of obedience.  Now let’s add the third heavenly gift common to all baptized Christians… success.

What is success? Well simply put, it is the realization of an objective, or a goal.  In the life of a Christian there are two goals that we wait to realize: personal salvation and the spread of the gospel.  The good news is, that in both, Jesus promises to do all of the work.  He doesn’t need us for either, but instead invites us to participate and follow Him; He asks us to trust in His will and rest in the promises of His Word; promises like “He who began the good work in us and within this sinful world will complete it.” [Philippians 1:6]

Now, this is where the other two gifts from God become a big help.  It is the Lord who gives us the ability to trust Him, it is the Lord who gives us a new spirit of obedience to learn and grow in our faith, and it is the Lord who promises that because we trust in these other two gifts the third gift of success is guaranteed.  You will be saved from your sins and the gospel will advance, and the church will grow one forgiven sinner at a time!

Because Ananias was obedient, Saul was saved. Because Saul was obedient, he became Paul, followed the call of Jesus into the gospel ministry, and wrote the saving Words of a good portion of our New Testament, all so that faith would continue to be planted in the hearts of sinners and countless people be saved.

What is success?  It is following the call of the gospel and repenting from a life apart from God, and then receiving a new command to live a life following Jesus under the cross and inviting others to do the same.

Towards the end of our gospel lesson, we see this all come out in a way that was both painful and beneficial to Peter.  “(Peter, you who once said that even if all of my other disciples were to abandon me, you would never leave.  You who thought you loved me more than all of the others, but abandoned me, left me alone on the cross to die) do you love me more than these?”

Now this is a portion of scripture that we need to bring a little meaning to.  This is where our English language falls short.  So bear with me, just a few more minutes, and let me clear something important up so that God’s marvelous love is not lost to you.

When Jesus asked Peter if He loved Him more than the others loved Him, He is speaking directly to Peter’s guilt over His sin of denying Jesus on three separate occasions.  Jesus asks this same question three different times in slightly different ways, so that Peter will understand that not only is He forgiven fore each time He denied His Lord, but He can also, through this complete forgiveness finally receive the ability to love God as He has always desired.

The first two times when Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him, He used the Greek Word agape, which is a higher form of love; it is the love of intellect, reason, and understanding; it is a love that has a higher purpose or goal as it’s source of being.  In other words, it is a love that can only be given to us from God.  Did Peter love Jesus with this God-given love?  Obviously, Peter couldn’t say yes; he had abandoned Jesus!  So, Peter answers Jesus with another Greek word for love which means “affection”.  “Yes Lord; you know that I have great affection for you.”  Now Peter is being honest; he understands that he does not love Jesus, His Lord and God as he should.  He finally sees that the kind of love that one should have for God, is completely outside of him.  Now, here is the most beautiful part of this teaching:  Jesus did not disqualify Peter from His church for his lack of agape love.  Rather than send Peter away broken and sinful, He shows Peter what real forgiveness is by inviting him deeper into ministry; “Go and feed My little lambs” He says.  He tells him to use His means of grace to strengthen his own faith and then in that grace, go and build Christ church my speaking the same forgiveness to Jesus’ other lambs.  In this way, Jesus is empowering Peter and the rest of the church with God’s gifts that will provide faith, obedience, and success.

This morning, Jesus speaks to us, His church and He says, “Baptize and reach, nourish and teach them with my Word and water, and with my very body and blood; be and become like Peter, men and women of faith; filled with love and wisdom as you teach others to do the same.

Did Peter understand?  Yes, Jesus made sure he would, so that he would receive not only forgiveness of sins, but the ability to love with the agape love that led Christ to die upon the cross for all of the worlds sins.  You see, the third and final time Jesus asked the same question to Peter, He did it with a little twist; instead of asking Peter if he (agape) loved Him, He asked, “Peter, do you have affection for me?”  Peter finally gave in, he let go of his pride and his guilt and he simply answered, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I (have affection) for you.” Now that Peter has confessed his sins, Jesus gives him the absolution again… “Feed my sheep and follow me.”

Peter needed to hear those comforting words of forgiveness; he needed to know that Jesus still wanted him as part of the church.  He needed to experience complete forgiveness so that he could receive and give complete agape, self-sacrificing love.  Peter would discover what many of us have also discovered, that loving God and following God is never easy and sometimes painful; following God means being committed to His church where Christ freely gives His gifts to all who come.

Here at Trinity, as one of our Lord’s faithful churches, we are called to receive Christ’s gifts and we are called to invite others to receive them also.  That means, that we must learn to love people who are sometimes unlovable, just as we once were and sometimes still are.  Following Jesus means that we must let go of the old sinful ways and learn a new way to be happy; we must learn the way of the cross.

Like Saul, Ananias, Simon Peter, and all of the other saints, every day as we gather around the throne of grace, which belongs to the Lamb of God, we see behind it His cross.  Everyday that cross reminds us of God’s love for us, and we receive faith.  And along with faith, we also experience sacrifice and suffering, but right along with those things, we also receive obedience, and promised success.  All of these wonderful gifts come from the very same source, the Word of God.  Do you want to experience God’s agape love, and do you want to be able to love Him back with that same love?  Then hear the very Words that provide those wonderful gifts… you are forgiven… HE IS RISEN… indeed!  AMEN.

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Posted in Acts 9:1–22, Easter 3C, John 21:1–19, Revelation 5:8-14 | Comments Off

It’s a Fact Jack!

March 31st, 2013

Rev. Brian Henderson, Pastor-Trinity Lutheran Church-San Diego
Easter Sunday C, March 31, 2013

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“If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.  But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” [1  Corinthians 15:19, 20]

He is risen.  He is risen indeed?  Are you sure of that?  Can you be sure?  And so begins the incessant drip, drip, drip, of doubt and the voice of skeptics and atheists.  If you don’t believe  me, turn on the Discovery or History channels on your televisions and see how they pick apart our hope in the empty tomb.  See how they love to cast doubt on the completed work of  our crucified and resurrected Savior and King, Jesus Christ, the Son of God!  I say, through the power of God, let them babble on, because I know by faith my Savior lives.  He IS risen!    He HAS risen indeed!

And yet, even good Christians like yourself, when you hear the Easter story, the report about a man who is also God, whose tomb was empty when his friends came to visit, and who  was claimed by two angels — in dazzling white to be risen from the dead, you may be tempted to dismiss it — or if not that, to doubt it, and attempt to come up with a rational  explanation; attempting to make the miraculous scientifically palatable. Why do people do this?  One reason may be that, they feel it’s just too good to be true and therefore it can’t be t  true.  It must just be a preposterous hoax. But wait just a minute there.  Isn’t the promise that all of our tears will be dried, that all our sorrows will be turned to joy, that all our  tragedies will be transformed to triumphs, that beyond our death there is life, isn’t that really the universal hope of all people?  Then why should we dismiss that hope it if it might just be true?

Another reason for dismissing the resurrection may be because nothing like it has ever been reported before or since.  Most thinking people will gladly tell you that precedents are always indications that thinking people must proceed with caution and really dig into the facts. “Don’t be so gullible” the unbelievers tell us. “It’s an event without comparison. No one else has ever been raised from the dead never to die again; this story about Jesus’ resurrection is just to unique.”  But why should that surprise or confound any of us? History is, after all, a collection of unique events. No two wars are the same. No two works of art or musical compositions are the same. No two sunrises are the same. No two earthquakes are the same. Think of your friends; are any two of them the same? Only machines — like the copier in the church office, are able to duplicate documents and pictures precisely, and that has nothing to do with human interactions that make up events that, in turn, make up history. Yes, Jesus’ resurrection is a unique event — perhaps a little more, but certainly no less than any other. We must get over the truth that it can’t be repeated for scrutiny by scientists, but does its uniqueness disqualify it from having happened in history?

Now another reason, some of your doubting friends will encourage you to reject the miracles recorded in scripture, especially the resurrection of our Lord is the fact that the gospel accounts don’t seem to be reporting the exact same pieces of information.  They will tell you that obviously either the witnesses or the recorders of the witnesses statements didn’t get all of the facts straight. They want the testimonies to mesh like fine gears in an expensive watch, and if they don’t, “Well” they’ll tell you, “you’ll just have to agree that the story is mostly fable.” But these differences in witness statement shouldn’t surprise us. I was a law enforcement officer for 30 years, and I can tell you with certainty that eyewitnesses at the scene of a major accident or crime seldom agree precisely as they relate their impressions of what happened. And if they did, the investigating officers are always suspicious, and then they begin to look for another crime, collusion or witness tampering.  You see, perception is always colored by emotional involvement. And yet all witnesses of a crime can agree that the crime really happened and what’s more, they saw it! And so it is with the Easter stories — the women, the disciples, whoever else were involved — they didn’t see Jesus actually rise, but they saw that He had risen, because they saw and spoke to Him!

Others may shy away from taking Easter too seriously because if they did take God at His word, they’d react just like the women at the tomb — with their eyes cast down. That is to say, if it is real, that Christ really did rise from the dead, well then He must really be the Son of God, and if He really is the Son of God, then all of those who doubt or attack His death on the cross and the resurrection are really attacking God Himself; in other words, they’re in big trouble!

You see, if the resurrection is for real, then it brings sinners face-to-face with a perfect and righteous God. Like the women at the tomb, they too may think that no one can see God and live, so they stare at the ground so as not to see God and die.

For all of our talk about Easter joy, there is a certain amount of terror that Easter strikes.  The first ones who knew the resurrection was a fact, were “terrified,” says St. Luke. They ran away “afraid”, says St. Mark. Indeed, the resurrection means that God really has forced His way into our reality, and His mighty arm has struck a deadly blow—to death. The fact that God has used divine power, can and should make weak and sinful men shudder.  It should make sinners fall over in terror.  Because you see, if Jesus really did die on a cross and rise from the dead, then that means that death is not the end, and if death isn’t the end, then there really is a place that we will live eternally.  And because there is an eternity, then there must really be only two places that we will spend that eternity… in Heaven, or… in HELL!  If that is true then that means that we really are accountable for how we live; we are accountable for every sin we have ever committed.  And if all of this is true, then that means we really do need God’s intervening help; we really do need a Savior who dies on a cross for our sins, on our behalf.

And this is really what Easter is finally about.  The resurrection of Jesus Christ is God’s final physical miracle to prove the ultimate spiritual truth… we need God and His intervention; we need His Son our Savior, Jesus Christ.  Yes it’s true that if the resurrection were not true, we Christians of all people are to be pitied above all others, because while we were living a life of sacrifice under the cross, we could have been living a life with no rules which daily sought to pursue all manner of pleasures, just like the rest of the unbelieving world.

It is as if we have been living our lives like a mountain climber making a long and painful approach to the summit, clinging to the face of a giant mountain, following a very small ledge for most of the climb, while all others have been walking on a spacious road, complete with safety rails.  Below us is death, and above us are only clouds and more rock.  We know that we can’t go back, because the path has crumbled behind us.  So we push on ahead, and because we will not give up, the others on that broad and spacious path laugh at us.  But we know what lies ahead of us; where some might see uncertainty, we see and push on towards the promise of God; the promise of rest and reward.  Yes, we push on following our resurrected Lord, until one day, maybe sooner than we think, the ledge of suffering will lead to a wide path, which will connect to solid ground; to a meadow of lush and inviting vegetation.  And there in front of us at the end of a short path, will be the beautiful city of Zion.

And as we enter our new eternal home, we will hear our Savior King, Jesus Christ declare, “Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But (here in your eternal home), be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create (a new) Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.  I will rejoice in (this new) Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.”  [Isaiah 65:17-19]

Oh what a day that will be; a day when we will finally see our God and Savior face to face.  It will be a time where we rejoice in His presence and He rejoices in gladness that we are finally home.  But for now, we must live our lives by faith; faith in the promise of what is to come.  We must hear the Words which proclaim, “He is risen” and know that “as in Adam all in sin die, so also in Christ all (people of faith) shall be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ (as) the firstfruits, then at His coming (again) those who belong to Christ.” [1 Corinthians 15:22, 23]  Oh what a glorious day that will be.

Of course no one can really describe precisely what it means to say that Jesus rose from the dead. Language itself breaks down when the barriers of space and time are broken down. And I suppose that it really wouldn’t do anyone any good if we were to try to describe what happened as He rose or what he was like once He was risen.  But what does do a person good is to grab ahold of this risen Son of God — to cling to Him alone, and to use him as the Lord of life, your Lord over death, even your own death!

And that is precisely what Easter is all about. It is in using Jesus Christ — grabbing onto and clinging to His promises of mercy, His grace, His forgiveness, and His love for you who are baptized in His name.  This is how doubts are overcome, this is how questions are answered, and this is how death itself is finally defeated. For He is risen.   He is living and reigning to all eternity.  He is inviting all of us who may sometimes think the Easter story is nonsense to make sense of it. And how? By using him as our point of access to God. If we know by faith that He is alive and in our midst, behold, we can not only look at God and live, we can in fact live a life of abundance, right here and now. And as we go on living our lives of faith in this sinful world, our fear of sin, death, and the devil, especially our fear of finding and truly knowing God will melt away once we sense God’s own joy at our future return to Him. And that return will be complete when we, too, are raised from the dead — like Him who really did go before us on that first Easter Sunday to prepare our new heavenly home.  Yes, it really is a fact Jack; He has risen.  He has risen indeed!

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Posted in 1 Corinthians 15:19–26, Easter C, Luke 24:1–12 | Comments Off

Meditations of Grace!

March 30th, 2013

Good Friday (Year C), March 29, 2013
Pastor Brian Henderson-Trinity Lutheran Church, San Diego, CA

Click here for audio of this message

“Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our  iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed.   All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the  Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6)

When have you turned away from God?  The answer unfortunately is, every time you sin!  Now are you aware that when you turn away from God, when you sin, you are really turning away from life  itself? But how can you turn back to God after you’ve turned away? How can you return to the very God you have so terribly disobeyed?  You seem to be in a bit of a conundrum; between a rock and a  hard place.  I mean if you’ve sinned against him you need his forgiveness, right?  But isn’t it your sin’ which perhaps is your pride, that keeps you from asking for His forgiveness. So how can God  forgive such blatant sin? How can God forgive sinners like us? How can we truly know that when we have done such great wrongs against Him, that we can just run back to the very God we sinned  against.   How can you be sure that when you call out to Him, you will find a loving Father who forgives?

Here is one important truth: You can’t know this or believe it by your own reason or strength. God Himself must reveal it to you and teach you about it. And so He does that very thing. Tonight,  through the prophet Isaiah, God teaches us his gospel, the good news about His forgiving love with absolute certainty, as He shows us the life and struggle of His suffering Servant whose very real  suffering alone brings us forgiveness, peace, and health.

Every spiritual blessing God has to give to sinners like us, He gives because of the suffering of His Servant. The suffering of the Servant of the Lord, which has accomplished something great and  wonderful. It has opened for us the door to Paradise. It has taken away our sin, reconciled us to God, and given us eternal life. We call what he did the vicarious atonement.

It is vicarious because the  Servant suffered for us, on our behalf as our substitute. He took our place. He did what he did for us, as our representative. He acted vicariously.  It is atonement because His suffering brought us back into a right relationship, into fellowship with God.  Through the Servants vicarious suffering, He brought us true peace with God, and He fulfilled all of our obligations of holiness, by paying everything we owed with His own suffering.  This vicarious atonement is at the center of our faith as Christians.  If you take it away, we are no better off than any of the false religions and cults.  You see, the vicarious atonement  reveals God’s love for us.

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. They were our griefs and our sorrows. Some are caused by others through no fault of our own, but surely many have been caused by our own sinful living.  Regardless of how or why they come to us, He carried every one of them. He not only sympathized with us because we suffer, He in fact took up every one of those sufferings! He bore them in his own body. When he healed the sick, He took on every painful malady and experienced it in His own suffering. The disease he cured he bore. The griefs he removed he suffered. So, we can say that all of the benefits that He gives to His church, He paid for with His own suffering.

Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. Pay close attention to these words, “Stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.”  Do you understand that it was God the Father who placed these things upon His Servant Son? It wasn’t a miscarriage of justice plotted against Jesus by corrupt religious leaders and sneaky politicians. No, God did it Himself. While it’s true that God used those sinful, evil men to carry out his will ultimately, it was God who did the deed! When we see Jesus alone, suffering the abuse of men we must always remember that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God himself because of us. God punished all sins of all sinners of all times and placed them squarely upon His Son Jesus Christ as punishment for our sins!

God punished his Servant. This is the most amazing kind of love. All other forms of love pale in comparison. Who would imagine that the Father would ever strike, smite, and afflict His own dear Son whom he loved from eternity to save sinners like us! What a mystery this is, and so beyond our sinful minds’ ability to grasp!  It is a kind of love that no human at any time could ever have thought of or demonstrated.  St. John described this agape love like this: “This is love, not that we have loved God but that he (first) loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation (or payment) for our sins.

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. So, does God punish or forgive?  Well, He does both at the same time. The Servant was wounded, pierced, punished, and  He was crucified. For what?  For your sins. God forgives you by punishing Jesus. “The chastisement for our peace was upon him.” He was punished instead of us. God makes peace with us by punishing His Son Jesus instead of us. That is love. “And by His stripes (by His sufferings) we are healed ( we are forgiven).” Jesus was whipped. That’s what brought us forgiveness; our healing from the disease of sin. He takes our place and by taking our place he gives us what is His and takes what is ours. Isaiah goes on:

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Grace might be free, but it’s certainly not cheap. How dare we imagine that forgiveness of sins comes from nowhere!  Someone has to pay; don’t you see that?  Where does it come from?  I will tell you from where… it comes from love and it comes from suffering. That kind of forgiveness must be earned.

It’s not that God isn’t a gracious God, because He is. It’s not that God can’t forgive, because He does.  But we must always remember that God in His Word has clearly declared that sin must be punished.  So, you can now see that if we have any hope of forgiveness and life, it must come from a God who can never lie or deceive or make false threats or false promises. It must come from a God who both forgives and punishes. We can never have one without the other, as if we could choose between the God who forgives and the God who stands in judgment against sin. They come from the same God; they are the same God.

So how can God be both gracious and just at the same time? How can God forgive sins and punish sins at the same time? Well the prophet Isaiah explains: “And the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” God doesn’t forgive without paying the price for forgiveness. The reason we can know for sure that God forgives our sins is because He laid every one of them upon His Son Jesus.

Tonight, I hope you understand now that through Jesus vicarious atonement, He is both teaching about Himself and showing us how He deals with our sin.  Isn’t it comforting and reassuring to know that we can always run to God and find him as a loving, forgiving, and gracious Father who will never turn us away?  I pray that you will always remember this teaching tonight about Christ’s vicarious atonement, and let it help you remember two important truths about your faith: First, for Christ’s sake all of your sins are forgiven.  Second, apart from faith in Christ you will never have true forgiveness of sins.

For Christ’s sake all our sins are forgiven. How do we know? He was wounded for our transgressions. That’s how we know. He was bruised for our iniquities. That’s how we know. The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. That’s how we know. We know our sins are forgiven because we know Jesus. Our sins aren’t forgiven because we believe they are forgiven. Our sins are forgiven because Jesus Christ, true God and true man, suffered and died for them. Our faith didn’t put him on the cross to suffer and die. Our faith doesn’t take away our sins.  Jesus and Jesus alone take away our sins, and he does it by suffering for them. For Christ’s sake all our sins have been forgiven.

What we must understand, is that apart from faith in Christ we don’t have the forgiveness of sins. The fact that God forgives all sins for Christ’s sake doesn’t mean that everyone has the forgiveness of sins. God forgives. He forgives all those for whom Jesus suffered and died. That means he forgives the whole world. There is no one for whom Jesus did not die. Therefore, there is no one God did not forgive when Jesus suffered and died on the cross.  But God forgiving someone does not always mean that that someone receives the forgiveness of sins. We can’t put Jesus on the cross to take our sins away. Forgiveness is God’s gift. But forgiveness is never received outside of faith in Jesus Christ. Only those who trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins receive from God the forgiveness of their sins. Apart from Christ our sins are not forgiven. Only through faith in him do we know that we have received the forgiveness of sins.

This is why we believe, teach, and confess Jesus as the suffering Servant.  It is why no other message must ever be preached from this pulpit, and this is why we should never tire of hearing this gospel message. It is the source of our faith, and it alone is what brings us joy. It is our strength when we face doubts and temptations, and it is why we confess our sins to God and claim his suffering Servant as our very own. When we know Christ and him crucified we know that God sees us at our very worst and forgives us all our sins, sets us at peace with himself, and rescues us from death and hell. Like foolish sheep we wandered away, but by God’s grace we poor sheep have been returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. Amen

[1] Based upon a devotion by Pastor Rolf David Preus (Rolf) on Monday, March 25, 2013

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It IS the Lord’s Supper Don’t Ya Know!

March 29th, 2013

Rev. Brian Henderson-Pastor, Trinity Lutheran Church, San Diego, CA

Maundy Thursday (C), March 28, 2013

If you were invited to have dinner at a friend’s home, would you tell that person that you didn’t want to eat what they served you, and that you’d rather have them  order pizza instead? What if your friend served prime rib, would it be appropriate to tell everyone the next day that you were served hot dogs?  Yet in churches t  throughout this nation we find many different explanations about what Jesus instituted and served on that first “Christian” Passover meal long ago.  So, how are we  to suppose to approach this Holy meal this evening?  Well, let’s allow our Lord to answer this question for us; After all, it is HIS Supper you know!

On the night before He died, Jesus shared with His disciples the Passover, or the Seder. But in the midst of this Seder meal, Jesus served and instituted another meal, a whole new  meal, a meal that was meant to be repeated; it was “The Lord’s Supper.”  Tonight, through eight explanations, we will explore just what kind of meal it was and continues to be today  and always will be until He returns!

I.  First, it is a historical meal. In Exodus 12, we learn that the Seder meal was instituted as a way to help the Jews remember how God led them out of captivity in  Egypt towards their promised land.  God did it. Not one Hebrew warrior stood against the mighty Egyptians; not one Jew contributed anything in accomplishing  their deliverance!  Freedom came in the blackest night while Hebrew slave families huddled around the Passover table, their bags packed, waiting for deliverance.  Why was it called the Passover meal?  Well, it’s because the angel of death visited only the homes of the Egyptians but it passed over the homes of the Hebrew families because they had marked their homes as God directed them—with the blood of a lamb.  The Jews celebrate that event each year with humility and praise through the Seder meal.  In that meal they remember how God alone saved them; in this meal, there is no room for pride. For the children of Israel, independence from Egypt meant dependence on God. In fact, God comes back to this event throughout the Bible as a way of describing himself: “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt.”

Much later, in the upper room, Jesus would give Passover night an even broader significance. In a time when Jews throughout the world were bringing out their choice lambs to slaughter, eat, and remember the blood and deliverance, Jesus would now show the world that He had been selected as the TRUE Passover Lamb, not just for the Jews, but for all of humanity (1 Corinthians 5:7). The words “When I see the blood, I will pass over you” (Exodus 12:13) came to convey a whole new meaning. The Lord’s Supper is now superior to the Passover meal in that it promises salvation not from physical slavery, but deliverance from the power of sin, death, and the devil.

II. Second, it is a Memorial Meal That Remembers Christ’s Death on Behalf of Us All. St. Paul speaks of Holy Communion as a memorial meal in this way: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me (1 Corinthians 11:23-25).

Did you notice that each time Jesus delivered the elements of His Holy Supper that he punctuated it with the need to Remember Him?  Since the bread eaten is Christ’s body “for us” and the wine drank “is the new covenant in (His) blood” then clearly this meal is a memorial or a way of remembering Christ’s atoning death. In churches all across the world, we can find other Christians partaking in the Lord’s Supper and recognizing it as a meal that remembers Christ’s death. But sadly, sometime after the zeal of the Reformation wore off, some churches began to look at HIS Holy Supper as nothing more than a memorial meal.  Now it’s here that we need to turn our hearts towards God and receive everything that He’s lovingly giving to us in this meal, because it is so much more than a memorial meal!

III. It is a Holy Meal, because God’s very Word makes it holy. When someone asks you “Why do you believe that the bread and wine are holy in the Lord’s Supper?” simply answer that “It is God’s Word that makes it holy!”  You see, the words of consecration that Christ spoke at the Last Supper and which the Pastor repeats each time this meal is served are the very power of God. Now, we do not say that a pastor or priest by virtue of their ordination has the power to transform simple bread and wine into a holy meal, but rather it is the very Words of Christ spoken over the bread and wine that makes it holy, presenting both bread and wine and Body and Blood. But why does God do this?  The answer to this question brings us to our Fourth explanation of what kind of meal this is.

IV. It is a meal in which God feeds us with the forgiveness for all of our sins and serves us an overflowing cup of peace with God. In our Gospel reading you heard Christ Himself say, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” Friends, if you can only remember one thing about this meal then remember this, IT IS A MEAL OF FORGIVENESS!  Take your sins to this meal and exchange them for God’s mercy and peace!

Just as the preached Gospel announces and gives forgiveness through the cross of Christ to everyone who believes, so does this meal. In the Holy Supper, the Gospel of forgiveness is not only heard but it is also seen, smelled, touched and tasted. But why?  Because we have been wonderfully created to experience God in ways even the angels stand in awe of!  You see God created us as flesh and blood.  We experience God through our senses.  Through all of our senses then, God is allowing us within His Holy Meal to experience the complete forgiveness that Christ has won for us upon the cross. In the Lord’s Supper, that once-and-for- all forgiveness is freely given to each one of us who have been baptized and by faith, believe in His promise.  Friends, God wants you to experience the assurance that all of your sins, including the ones that are heavy on your heart right now, are completely forgiven.

That’s why we teach that the Lord’s Supper is for true sinners.  If you are sorrowing and struggling over your sinfulness, then Jesus says “Come unto me ye weary and I will give you rest!”  Friends, this is not a meal for people who feel worthy, but it was instituted for those peculiar children of God who cry out “Have mercy on me Lord Jesus, a pitiful and unworthy sinner!”

V. Fifth, it is a Meal that is God’s Work for Us, Not Our Work for Him. Just as the Jews played no part in their deliverance from the oppression of the Egyptians, we also play no part in our Salvation and the complete forgiveness of our sins.  This is all entirely the work of Jesus.  It was His blood that was poured out for the forgiveness of your sins. In this holy meal, Jesus invites us to eat and drink His forgiveness. Can you see that it is Jesus, not us, who is the one who offers, prepares, and serves this Divine Supper?  He serves us His body “which is given for you” (Luke 22:19). He serves us His blood “which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20). All the emphasis is on what He does for us. Our “job” is only to receive.

VI. In our sixth explanation we are taught that this is a Meal in Which We Eat and Drink Christ’s Body and Blood. Now most Christian traditions affirm that Christ is present somehow in the Lord’s Supper. But it’s not enough to just say that Jesus is present in this meal. Some Christians today speak of Christ’s “real” presence in the bread and wine as being spiritual.  Some will say that when Christians eat and drink they spiritually ascend to Christ who is at the right hand of God. While these words may seem harmless, we must not be deceived; remember, IT IS HIS SUPPER, NOT OURS!  Jesus clearly says “This IS my body” and “This IS my blood.”  He did not say that this represents my body and blood; nor did he say ‘I am spiritually present in the bread and wine.”  No, our Savior clearly states that the bread IS His body and the fruit of the vine “IS (His) blood of the new covenant!”

We Lutherans firmly believe that this is a meal in which we consume Christ’s body and blood along in, with and under the bread and wine. We base this on the words of institution, in which Christ offers bread and says of that bread, “This is my body.” and offers the wine and says of that wine, “This is my blood.” Do we try to explain how this can be? No! We simply accept the plain sense of the words that the bread, somehow, is also Christ’s body, and the wine, somehow, is also Christ’s blood and we let it remain within those words.

VII. In our seventh explanation, we learn that this meal is also a Family Meal that gives and Celebrates Unity among those who eat it. The Lord’s Supper has often been called the Sacrament of unity. Why? In part, because of the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:17 where he writes: “Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.”

These words hint towards two things. First, they tell us that the one bread broken and distributed signifies the oneness of the body of Christ, the Church. On most Sundays this may be difficult to understand when we receive individual bite-size wafers. But tonight I will distribute the body of Christ from one large loaf of bread.  As the bread is broken and distributed think about this concept of unity. Realize that while you may be receiving only one small piece of the loaf, every one here is being fed from the same source.

Second, the words of Paul infer that those who partake of the one bread become one body; that is, the eating of this meal creates as well as celebrates unity within God’s people. St. Paul’s point is that it is wrong to enter into communion with those with which you have no true unity – and true unity includes recognizing all of the mysteries that are given in His Holy Supper.  For us here tonight, when we respond to His invitation to eat and drink, we are professing that we come together truly as a family that is one body in Christ, one in faith, and one in doctrine. When we eat this meal together, we will as one heart celebrate our Lord’s life, death and resurrection until He returns!

VIII. Lastly, in our eighth explanation, we discover that this is a Meal that is “a Foretaste of the Feast to Come.” This phrase, taken from a Communion liturgy of Lutheran Worship, beautifully expresses another aspect of the Lord’s Supper. It is a foretaste of that eternal, heavenly meal that we will enjoy with our God. For this meal points not only backwards but also forward in time. It looks to the past and remembers, looks to the present and receives and gives thanks, and looks to the future and anticipates!

In this look towards the future, we are strengthened in the present.  In His Supper tonight, we are allowed to look ahead to a time when there will be no more tears or pain, only joy and peace with the God who created us to be in a relationship of love with Him and each other.  Through this Holy Communion, we are assured that no matter how difficult our current circumstances may be, through our crucified and risen Savior, we shall overcome, and feast with Him in glory forevermore!  How can this Holy Supper do all of this?  Because He says so, and after all “IT IS THE LORD’S SUPPER!”  I pray that God will richly bless each of us this evening as we approach His table to hear, see, touch, smell and taste forgiveness.  I ask this in Jesus name… AMEN and AMEN!

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Those Fickle Crowds!

March 24th, 2013

Rev. Brian Henderson, Pastor-Trinity Lutheran Church-San Diego
Palm Sunday C, March 24, 2013

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“The next day the large crowd that had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem.  So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying out, “Hosanna!  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!” [John 12:12-19]

This Sunday morning is a special Sunday; some call it Palm Sunday and others prefer Passion Sunday, because it is the first Sunday in Holy Week.  I say, why do we have to choose?  Let’s remember both, and so we have by preserving all of the Gospel readings assigned (John 12:12-43).  This morning, God wants us to answer this: “Who is Jesus to me?” I believe that is the question many who gathered on that first Palm Sunday also were struggling with.  Let’s be honest, there were many who were there just for the show, for the hope of witnessing another miracle, another demonstration of unexplainable power.  Our reading this morning makes that clear: “The crowd that had been with Him when He called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to bear witness.  The reason why the crowd went to meet Him was that they heard He had done this sign.” So I guess a second question I could ask you this morning is, “Why are you here?” But I think that question will answer itself once we answer the first question.  Who is Jesus to you?

Prophet yes, but also so much more!  In His flesh a man, but not just a man; no, because you see He is also God… the living Word of God to be exact!  This is Jesus, our Prophet, our Priest and our King!  This is the One who has come and is coming again; He is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!  He is the one who comes with all of God’s power and authority.  Why?  Because He is God!  He is the one who comes to us humbly, mounted upon a donkey.  He comes with compassion and mercy, but He also comes to judge and punish.  He is a God of contrasts, a God who comes to kill and make alive; to wound and to heal.  And when He acts, none can deliver out of His hand! [Deuteronomy 32:39b]

In our Old Testament reading (Deuteronomy 32:36-39), God, speaking through Moses reminded the Israelites about His anger for their past sins and He warned them about His coming anger for their future sins.  But why was God angry?  What was this sin that angered Him so strongly that He would judge, punish, wound, and kill?  It was the sin of worshiping false Gods!  They did it in the past when they longed to return to Egypt as slaves, just so they could get their fill of the food they were accustomed to eating.  They did it when they tried to replace Moses as their leader, because they didn’t like the message.  And of course they did it when they created the golden calf to worship.  And now, God is telling His people that He will judge them.  He challenges them to turn to their false gods, their false means of hope for protection from His anger.  Listen to how God mocks their false gods: “Then I will say, ‘Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge”. [vs. 37]

Through Moses, God reminded the Israelites then and He reminds us today of our sinful tendency to be fickle and run after what ever new thing peaks our curiosity, and thus forgetting about the God who has never changed and never stopped saving us and providing for us in our time of trouble.  When we try to seek God in any way outside of His Word and Sacraments, we are setting up false gods to worship and follow.  Through Moses, this morning God is warning us to  “Return to the Lord your God, for He is faithful and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love!” What false gods have you set up in your life?

For some, the false god maybe in the man made government or political party that they are affiliated with.  For others, another false god in their lives can be found in their own self-sufficiency.  Maybe you’ve experienced this sin as I have.  It happens when we trust our own resourcefulness instead of having complete trust and confidence in God.  Another false god that we must consider is our family.  While it’s true that love for family is important, sometimes we can love them more than the God who gives us our family.  Sometimes our love for our children or other family members can lead us to do things that we know are wrong.

Finally, perhaps the most insidious false god may be the very comfort that God’s blessings bring to those of us who are part of Christ’s church.  We who make up Christ’s body have been blessed with eternal life, washed clean in the waters of our baptism.  We enjoy a certain peace of mind and soul that no other person outside of grace can ever experience.  Every day we are protected from the attacks of the devil and we have prospered.  We love our comfort and long for more of God’s blessings yet we ignore the leading of the very God who provides all of this for us.  How do we ignore Him?  By neglecting worship or the study of His Word; by forgetting that we too need to cry out to Him like the crowds on the first Palm Sunday, Hosanna!  We need to live a life that demonstrates praise to our Savior God and to Him alone; a life that gives back to Him just as generously as He gives to us!

How do we do this?  By knowing God as He really is.  How do we know God?  We know God by knowing Jesus!  By knowing who Jesus is for us and who He is for our neighbor our lives will be transformed! God wants us to know that Jesus is more than just His Son; He wants us to know that He is also our brother.  He wants us to know that Jesus is at all times both God and man.  He is eternal; He is the Son of God, who together with the Father and the Holy Spirit are eternally worshiped and glorified, yet… Jesus was also born of the Virgin Mary.  What a mystery… God was born!  But even more mysterious, Jesus died… the God who is eternal and cannot die did in fact die—but not just any death… He died upon the cross.  He died the death of a slave, the death of a condemned criminal.

And to all of this truth, our sinful minds cry out, “But how can any of this be?” But asking “how” is the wrong question friends.  It is wrong because God’s ways are not our ways; His ways are far above ours.  The right question to ask is “why?” If we understand the why, then the how becomes unimportant.  Hosanna!  Hosanna to the Savior God!

When the Son of God took on our flesh to save us, He chose to make Himself nothing by becoming our servant, so that as our servant, He could suffer and die in our place.  The God-man Jesus Christ humbled Himself for us, by dying for us!  From the moment He was conceived by the Holy Spirit He chose to be born in order to die.  Now here is where God’s ways become very mysterious to us; at no time did Jesus cease being God.  Not in the womb and not upon the cross.  Out of love for you, Christ put aside His deity and chose to live out your humanity.  At any time He could have walked away from our flesh, but if He would have done that, then He could not have paid the penalty for your sins.  If He would have allowed His angels to save Him from your death, the death that you should die, then He could not have won salvation for you!

Dear friends, by taking on your flesh and dying your death for your sins, Jesus became your Warrior King.  When He rode into Jerusalem that first Palm Sunday, He indeed rode in as a warrior king.  But not the type of warrior king the people expected.  Warrior kings ride in on strong stallions, suited with armor and with sword and shield in hand.  But Jesus rode in on a donkey armed with only our flesh, our mind, and our sin.

He who is Spirit and truth, and without sin took on our flesh and our sins so that He could fight and win for us!  But these strange weapons were exactly what He needed to defeat sin, death, and the devil.  They were in keeping with the work that He came to do.  He didn’t come to conquer nations or empires; He came to conquer your sin; YOUR SIN.  This was God’s means of waging war against our enemies.  Jesus had to be our substitute, and He could only do this by being obedient to the Father’s will; by suffering and dying to pay for our sins.  And make no mistake friends; He could not have done this without His full deity.  He had to attach the full weight of His deity to His human flesh in order to be obedient unto death, even death upon the cross.  And as we will proudly proclaim and celebrate next week on Easter morning, He must have all of His deity in order to rise from the dead.  So, even in death, Jesus was mighty God so that by His death and resurrection we could be assured of the very same thing happening for us.  Hosanna!  Hosanna to our Savior King!

Dear friends, by knowing and believing in this truth our hearts can’t help but cry out Hosanna!  We will naturally cry out Hosanna when we know whom our true Savior King is and how and for whom He came to save.  He came to save you dear friends, but not just you… He came to save your neighbor.  You have a message to declare… you have a story to tell.  It’s a story that God wants you to share with as many people as possible.  But what shall you tell them?  Tell them that they have a God who comes to them as a Savior; a Savior who put Himself to death so that they could live.  Tell them that by putting Himself to death for them God was able to heal the sins of the entire world… even their sins.  He is our true God and all that He asks from us in return is that we would worship Him and Him alone.  He asks us to trust only in His love for us and then rest in His presence and protection.

Friends, it’s no wonder that the crowds came out on that first Palm Sunday shouting “Hosanna in the highest!” But in five short days, another crowd would gather at the Roman headquarters shouting, “Crucify Him!” This morning let’s be on our guard to assure we don’t become one of those who make up the fickle crowd.  Let’s resolve to continue gathering around God’s Word and Sacrament as we are moved to continually turn by faith to  Jesus as our Messiah, the Savior God.  I pray that each of us will be moved to praise Him with our time, talent, and treasure, as we share His message of forgiveness with whoever God puts in our path.  Let’s try to remember each day that it is the Lord alone who delivers us from all of our enemies, even sin, death, and the devil.  Let’s try to thank Him each day that He has not only given us grace, but the faith to believe that Jesus died for each of us.

Dear friends, we say hosanna to our Savior God because it is He alone who saves us; He saves us from all harm.  He has defeated all of our enemies.  His name is great, and His name is …. Jesus.  There’s something about the name Jesus.  Some thing about the name Jesus; it is the sweetest name I know.  And at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  AMEN

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Jesus is Our Foundation Stone

March 17th, 2013

Lent 5C, March 17, 2013
Pastor Brian Henderson-Trinity Lutheran Church, San Diego, CA

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The song you just heard, “I Can Feel It Coming in the Air Tonight” will act as our mental hook to hang the message on this morning.  It seems to play right into our text this morning: “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” [Isaiah 43:16-21]

Are these Words encouraging us to know God by feeling or experiencing Him; are our emotions the means that God has chosen to use in order to give us hope.  Is that what God is saying; is He inviting us to “feel” Him?  No, not at all; you see, just before those Words of God were spoken by the prophet Isaiah, God invited the people of Israel and us to know Him by remembering the mighty works of salvation He had performed in the past, as a way of knowing what kind of God He is today, and will be in the future.  He was and still is that LORD who parted the Red Sea; a work which allowed His children of faith to safely cross over to the other side.  But when Pharaoh and His mighty army of chariot and horse, army and warrior followed, they were all made to lie down and die within the waters that God allowed to collapse around them.  They were extinguished, quenched like a wick. [Isaiah 43:16, 17]  So do you recall that story from the book of Exodus?  Good.  And remember, you recall it because God ensured that it was written so that you could know Him.  Well listen, today that same Word of God says to forget it; that is don’t live in the past, but expect more of Him in the future, that is your future.  Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old, because you “ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”

Behold, God is now doing something even greater in our midst today.  It’s happening all around you even within you right now.  So how will you perceive it then, if not by feeling it?  Through His old way, which is new again; through the Living Word of God, which is the way of faith; the way of the promise of a Savior, a champion, who intervenes in a powerful way to save His people.

In our gospel lesson this morning (Luke 20:9–20), Jesus, knowing that he was just two days away from dying on the cross, tried one last time before His death to get the people and the leaders of Israel to see that He was and is that new thing that God is doing.  He is the new thing, in that for the first time in man’s history God the Son, the Living Word of God was dwelling with His people, as one of them, in the flesh of Jesus Christ.  The very Son of God was sent to the people of God so that they would receive Him as their Savior from their greatest enemies, sin, death, and the devil, but they would not!

So Jesus, their Savior and God tries one more time to show these religious leaders the truth about their sin; He is still speaking to them and us, as He tells us His parable of the vineyard.

The heavenly Father of course, is the owner of the vineyard and the vineyard is the people of God; people who through God’s means of grace, live lives centered around His prophetic Word, and are given eyes of faith to believe in Him and trust His ways.  Now, just as God has always used His Word to teach and care for His people, He has also always used leaders from within the people to deliver that Word and teaching.  If these leaders delivered the Word correctly, and the people followed it wisely, well then the Word of the Lord would grow among His people.  But if these ambassadors of His did not use His means of grace correctly, then the people would begin to languish and perish.

As Jesus spoke, the religious leaders who were listening knew that He was talking about them.  The Sanhedrin were those leaders; they were the tenants who rejected all of the Father’s other servants who faithfully spoke the Word of God to create faith in the hearts of the people.  They were leaders who refused to look into the prophecies of God and see that they all predicted and announced the coming of God’s own Son to be the real leader of His Father’s people.

As Jesus tells His story; the purpose of the story begins to unfold.  The leaders were to see their own wickedness; a wickedness which is personified in their unbelief.  It is the same unbelief that caused the leaders to mistreat and even kill the prophets of old.  And as Jesus was speaking to them, they were planning His death.  Why?  Because they wanted God’s vineyard, the church all to themselves; they wanted to be gods!

Isn’t it amazing that even though Jesus knew how He would be treated by sinful men, He still came to the vineyard; He still came to sinful man to save us?  Isn’t it a glorious thing for us that our Lord hasn’t abandoned His vineyard, the church, and His people of faith, despite all of their rejections?  Even in the middle of this last rejection, Jesus demonstrated unbelievable patience and love.  Even though the scribes and the high priest wanted to lay hands on Him and kill Him, Jesus still loved them!  Even though Jesus knew that these same leaders and the faithless people would soon demand His death, and then watch Him be beaten and die on a cross, He still loved them.  Why?  Because Jesus Christ came to die and save sinners, even those sinners.

At the cross of Jesus, God gives us the place where our perceptions, our intellect, and feelings are suppose to rest.  At the cross, God the Father sends His Son into this sinful world, even into our hearts and says, “If you confess and believe that Jesus is the Son of God and your LORD, you shall be saved!”  At the cross, Jesus shows you all of your past sins, your past years of unbelief and says they have been obliterated; taken away for ever, if you will not reject the Son and understand that you are now part of His vineyard.

At the cross of Jesus, in His suffering passion and death you are told what to perceive.  You are told that you cannot create a false Savior or a false faith that is based on what you think is fair and right.  All of these false means of grace are to be discarded, and you are to trust in what God’s own Word says.  Along with Paul in our epistle lesson (Philippians 3:8-14), you are invited to count all of your accomplishments as complete loss and pure rubbish in comparison with what you gain in knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  At the cross you are shown a suffering savior, and you are invited to follow Him even in suffering, even unto death.  You will do this because God is creating within you the only fruit that is pleasing to Him: sorrow for your sins, repentance, and faith!

At the cross of Jesus alone, you are promised not only the love of God but complete forgiveness and an eternal life of peace with your God who created you and restores you.  So if you are resting there at the cross of Jesus then you have by faith perceived that God is indeed doing a new thing.

But perhaps for some of you today, like some who listened to Jesus tell this story then, are finding this talk about repentance and forgiveness, surrender and suffering a bit too much.  Maybe in your hearts as well, you are thinking “Surely not!  No way!”

Maybe some of you still prefer to perceive a different god other than the God of our message this morning.  This morning, as I speak, there are millions of Christians that still prefer to have a God of their own making.  This morning God’s Word warns them that how they respond to the Son will determine how the Father responds to them!  Jesus does this with one last parable about a stone; a stone that the builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.

It is quite clear that when Jesus talks about this cornerstone or capstone, He is talking about Himself.  The builders who are rejecting Him are still with us today.  They are the leaders of the church who preach, teach, and confess anything extra added to Christ Jesus, crucified and resurrected, as necessary for salvation.  They are the Jesus plus crowd.  Here is a mathematical certainty, Jesus plus anything else equals punishment and eternal death.

Sadly, the real Jesus of the Bible is still seen as a threat to much of the established church.  That Jesus, is considered only half a god that must be interpreted, explained, and augmented by the leadership itself.   In other words, they want you to believe that without them, you cannot understand God’s Word and know Jesus unto salvation.

And yet this morning Jesus teaches us the very opposite.  It is Jesus the Son of God alone who the Father honors.  It is this Jesus who was rejected by the leaders then and is still rejected by the false leaders of today.  The truth is, only the Jesus of the Bible is the capstone of our faith. A capstone is interesting because it is the load bearing support stone that holds up the entire gigantic arch.  Once the capstone is in place, all one is called to do is look upon it and marvel at its beauty and ingenuity.  You are even invited to come close to it; touch it if you like, but then you must be taught that it is this stone alone that is preventing all of the other stones from crashing down upon you and pulverizing you.  God wants you to see that if you try to dislodge it or replace it; well then, the full weight of all of the other stones that make up the arch will come crashing down on you.

Through God’s Word and the power of the Holy Spirit, we receive Jesus Christ as our capstone.  He alone becomes our sure foundation.  Sadly, there are Christian leaders today who are trying to replace Jesus with a false capstone.

Habemas Papa!  We have a pope!  Big deal, we have had one for over 1,500 years! The Pope is not your capstone or your foundation.  He is simply as I am, a pastor;  a sinful man who needs a Savior like everyone else; a sinful stone that rests upon the perfect capstone.  If you are trusting in the Pope, mother Mary, any of the saints, or any of the other plus Jesus things sinful men dream up, then I am afraid that one day all of your hopes and dreams will come crashing down around you.  So turn your eyes of faith off of the imperfect, and turn them instead to the cross of Jesus Christ, who alone is the author and perfecter of your faith.

In our spiritual lives, we need the solid foundation of Jesus Christ alone.  Our faith isn’t some slum lord’s shanty, but a glorious building of God’s design, which needs a firm foundation throughout our lives.  Tragedy, sickness, sadness, and loss during difficult times will shake us to the very core of who we are, just as it has for all people throughout the history of the world.  But Christ, our foundation and capstone is never shaken or removed.  He helps us and is with us through out all life events.  The good news for you this morning is that Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you.  In your baptism, He was with you to cleanse you and recreate you into a person of faith.  In His holy Supper He feeds you faith and forgiveness of sins.  In the messages, even from this pulpit He speaks Words of hope in uncertain and often tragic times.  In His Word proclaimed, He provides a solid foundation that you can place your faith in.  Jesus alone provides all of this, through His Word.

“Behold, He is doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  WE HAVE A SAVIOR!”  I pray that you would trust your savior, Jesus Christ alone… AMEN!

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Posted in Isaiah 43:16–21, Luke 20:9–20, Philippians 3:8-14 | Comments Off

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