Lenten Meditation--Facing the Cross: Temptation

Facing the Cross:  Temptation                            

I Corinthians 10:12-14

        When you hear the Old Testament lesson for tonight about Adam and Eve being tempted in the Garden of Eden, you sometimes want to shake your head and say, “How could they?” “How could they disobey their Lord in this wonderful paradise where all their needs were being taken care of and they were living in harmony with God and each other?”  In our world today, it would be very common to analyze the situation to the point that you could understand and even excuse that first sin and call it a weakness. You might be tempted to say, “After all, they weren’t used to temptation.  They didn’t know how to handle it.  Their punishment should not have been so severe.”  But the fact remains that God had told them not to eat of that particular fruit.  The consequences for all mankind were catastrophic.  Knowing what you know now, you might wish you could have looked Eve straight in the face when she was about ready to take a bite out of that fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that they were forbidden to eat and say, “Stop it!” But the truth is that you find yourself in similar situations when you are tempted to do something that disobeys God and after considering all of the options, you went ahead and disobeyed him, just as Adam and Eve did. You have disobeyed God who has so lovingly given you everything you need on this beautiful earth.

         When you hear the other readings for tonight and you think about your own struggles you are reminded that temptation is not a thing of the past or something that you don’t need to worry about anymore. It is something that is still a part of your current sinful existence in the fallen world, and it is something you must face head-on.

          You, too, like Adam and Eve, are drawn to what looks pretty, what is pleasing to the eye, that promises something better than what you think you have now, but at the same time is something that is ultimately not good for you spiritually and is not in line with God’s will for your life.

          The devil knows just how to trip you up, too. He knows your weaknesses. For some it is passing on that juicy bit of information about someone that could ruin their reputation. For some of you it is eating something you know you shouldn’t, for others it is looking at something online you know is not healthy for you. You know that this is your weakness and you also know that in those situations where you are going to be tempted, you need to put your guard up extra high.

    Some things are easy for you to turn away from and say, ‘No!” But there are other things that keep your head turning back and keep your eyes distracted. And those are the things that you try your best to keep away from not only during this season of Lent but every day of your life.

     Specifically committing to giving up something these forty days of Lent is one very good way to fight temptation as long as it is something that is truly a temptation for you. Another way is to come up with a strategy for dealing with temptations when they come your way, no matter what they are. When you are drawn to look at something tempting, for example, have a Bible close at hand to look at and read instead of engaging in the temptation before you. Or when tempting thoughts start entering your head, you might also want to have a list of healthy, holy thoughts that you can ponder instead, like times you felt close to God, a favorite hymn, people who have helped you in your faith. A guiding principle in making a list like this is found in the words of Philippians 4:8-9: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.”

     Living with these thoughts in your mind and dwelling on the fact that the God of peace is with you always have the added benefit of helping you resist the urge to fall into temptation because your focus has shifted from you and your needs to God and what he desires and what you can do to bring glory to Him.  That is really the key difference when it comes to considering your attitudes and actions.  Is this going to glorify God or is it simply going to satisfy my curiosity or my sinful desires.  It is much like the temptations of Jesus in the wilderness that we heard in the gospel Lesson. The devil tried to tempt Jesus to use His divine power to satisfy His hunger.  If He gave in to that temptation it would only be for His own good.  It would not glorify God.  The good thoughts that Jesus employed in that situation were from Word of God.  He countered the devil’s temptations each time with the words, “It is written.”

     Sometimes you may feel like you are the only one who is being tempted.  You feel alone in your battle against the devil and you wonder if there really is hope for you.  The words of our text for this evening give us a warning and a word of comfort.  “Therefore, let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.  Never get the idea that you are so spiritual and so strong in your faith that you will never be tempted.  Think about it.  Who do you think the devil works hardest against?  He’s got the unbeliever in his hand already.  The weak Christian is an easy target.  It’s the confident believer that the devil works hardest on.  If you think you are above temptation, be careful.  The next line then reminds us that we are not alone in facing temptation.  “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.”  Even Jesus was tempted with three common temptations, giving in to human desires regardless of the consequences, temptation to power and wealth, and the temptation to popularity and fame by putting God to the test.  You have all faced those temptations in your life.  They are common to all.  But there is hope for us in those times of temptation.  St. Paul adds, “But God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

     For the times when temptations do creep into your life, even in your strongest periods of faith, you know you have your Savior, Jesus, who can provide you with the strength you need to emerge victorious from any battle you might have with Satan. You can take comfort from the words of Hebrews 4:15-16, which say, “We do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” His triumph over the devil becomes your triumph today because of the cross. Christ’s death on the cross, even more than his resistance to temptation in the wilderness, strips Satan of the power of his tricky, tempting ways. Because of the cross, you have the confidence of knowing that the power of Jesus is within you to face temptation and you will come out as the winner.

          As a result, there is no longer a feeling of helplessness and hopelessness when it comes to dealing with temptation, because the death and resurrection of Christ has done away with the devil’s power over you. Because of Christ, it becomes easier and easier for you to turn away from temptation and move on. So move on and move away from the wiles of Satan, and be energized in your ability to live a life that constantly looks up to the cross.  A life focused on the cross is a life that is filled with trust in the power of the cross, a life that is focused on Jesus and not on yourself, a life that considers the desires of life on earth not worth comparing to the life yet to come in heaven, where the triumph over the devil will be complete and secure forever.       Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Lent 2013

      

It Is Written

It Is Written 

Luke 4:1-13

     A consideration of the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness is a good way to start the Lenten season.  Since Lent is a time of meditation on our sins, it is comforting for us to know that even Jesus faced temptation.  The big difference is that we so often give in to the temptations of the devil but Jesus never sinned.  But we can certainly learn something from Him.  It was our sin that caused Jesus to have to come into the world to be the sacrifice to pay the price for us.  Therefore, this is a time of solemn reflection on our sins that caused Jesus to die.  

     This is also a time of repentance. Repentance actually involves several steps.  You first have to acknowledge your sin.  That can be hard for many people because your sinful nature has become so skilled at making excuses and denying the serious nature of your sins.  If you are not willing to be honest with yourself you will never feel the need to take the next step and be sorry that you have sinned against God and against others.  This is more than just saying the words that you are sorry that you did something wrong.  True repentance realizes that you have disobeyed God and you have fallen far short of what God expects of you.  Having acknowledged and confessed your sins, a repentant heart then will have a desire to remove that kind of sinful behavior or sinful attitude from your life through the power of the Holy Spirit.  You are reminded of your Baptism which gives you the power to begin each day anew.

     Lent truly is a time of repentance and renewal.  We have no better example of how to resist temptation than Jesus Himself.  As you heard in the Gospel reading for today, Jesus was tempted three times by the devil and each time He was able to throw that temptation right back by using the power of God’s Word.  The devil simply cannot stand up against the truth of God’s Word.  As we look more closely at what Jesus did in the face of temptation, may you learn to make use of the power of the words, “It is written.”

     When we look at the three temptations that the devil set before Jesus, we can see that those temptations were really the three basic kinds of temptations that the devil uses on all of us.  They fit into three categories.  The first was to turn the stones into bread in order to satisfy His hunger after fasting in the desert for forty days.  To do so would be to use His divine power for His own benefit to satisfy His earthly desires at a point in His life when He was preparing Himself for His earthly ministry.  You are often tempted to satisfy your earthly urges without giving any concern for the consequences of your actions for yourself and for others.  Instant gratification has become a way of life in our world.  Advertising tells you that you deserve to have everything and you need to have it now.  But Jesus countered that temptation by telling the devil, “Man does not live by bread alone.” He drew from the Scriptures a passage that tells us that our priorities are not always about satisfying our earthly desires.

           The second temptation was one that you face at one time or another to some degree. The devil offered Jesus wealth and power.  All Jesus would have to do is bow down and worship the devil.  What a temptation!  You would probably think through the implications.  Writers have had a field day with this one.  Plays, movies and operas have all explored the possibility of selling your soul to the devil in order to get the one thing they always desired.  Jesus on the other hand commanded the devil leave with the worlds, “It is written, “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only.’”
          The third temptation touches on a couple the basic sinful desires.  The devil tried to get Jesus to jump off the highest point of the temple in Jerusalem, telling Him that God would send His angels to catch Him.  Wouldn’t that create a buzz around Jerusalem!.  If Jesus could jump off the temple and land unharmed, He would be an instant celebrity.  He would attract all kinds of attention and be the biggest thing to hit Jerusalem since the days of David and Solomon.  Think of what that could do for His ministry.  He would have more followers than anyone else.  They would all think that He was something very special, maybe even the promised Messiah.  It could all happen if He simply would put God to the test and challenge Him to keep His promise to send angels to protect Him and see to it that He wouldn’t hurt Himself, even if it meant doing something foolish.  The devil even tried to use the Scriptures to make this temptation more attractive.  That tricky devil conveniently left out part of the passage.  From Psalm 91, he said, “He will command His angels concerning you to guard you, and they will lift you up in their hands.”  He left out the part that said,  “to guard you in all your ways.”  Jumping off the temple was not something that a person would normally do.  That would be foolish.  Once again you have to ask yourself, “Who would be helped by this miraculous event?”  No one would benefit except Jesus and we know that this was not have Jesus operated.

     Acceptance and fame may not be at the top of your list of desires but you are often tempted to put God to the test.  You try to make deals with God.  “God, if you would do this for me, then I will do something for you.”  Or you might say, “God if you really love me, then prove it by giving me what I want.” You are putting God to the test.  Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy 6, “It is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”

      That was it.  The temptations were over at that point.  The devil was forced to leave but we know that he didn’t give up.  He continued to try and put roadblocks in Jesus’ way to try and prevent Him from carrying out His purpose of giving His life for us.

     What is most interesting is that Jesus resisted the temptations of the devil with the power of God’s Word,  In each case, Jesus drew from the well of God’s wisdom that had been revealed through the prophets down through the ages.  God had spoken to His people and addressed every aspect of life.  Jesus now was demonstrating for us the power of that Word.  You can use that same power to resist the temptations that come your way.  The Word of God has power because the Holy Spirit works through that Word.  It is the Holy Spirit who makes a difference in people’s loves.  He gives you power through the Word to come to repentance.  He gives you power through the Word to change your sinful patterns.  He gives you power through that Word to resist temptation and do good works.   

     The Word is easily available to you.  God has directed His writers to put His will in human language.  God has also guided the scholars and translators down through the ages to put the Word in understandable language so that anyone can hear or read His Word.  All you have to do is make use of that Word and you will be able to have that storehouse of wisdom that has the power of the Holy Spirit in it to help you through your life.  Think of what you hear in church.  You hear the Old Testament.  You have learned the Ten Commandments.  You have heard the writings of Paul and Peter and John in the Epistle lessons that tell you how to live your Christian life.  You then have heard the Gospel lessons that tell about the life and teachings of Jesus.  You have heard His Sermon on the Mount, for example, where He gave a commentary on the Ten Commandments.  He also spoke about various other aspects of Christian living like prayer and witnessing.  It’s all there in the Bible.  It is God’s Word.  When you are familiar with your Bible, you can also confront the devil by saying, “It is written.”

     You also know that there are times when you don’t use the power that God makes available to you and you fall into sin.  But God has blessed you by giving you not only His Law but also the Gospel in His Word.  He has assured you that all is not lost even though you have sinned and fallen short of what He expects.  He has sent Jesus to take your place under the Law and then also on the cross.  He died so that your sins could be forgiven.  He rose again to show you that you too can have new life now as well as life with Him forever in heaven.

     As a result, you can live with the sure faith that trusts in your Savior Jesus alone for  the forgiveness of your sins and that trusts in the power of the Holy Spirit, working through His Word, to guide and direct you throughout your life.  You can trust that His power is greater than the temptations of the devil.  You know that when the devil tempts you, you can follow Jesus’ example and confidently proclaim, “It is written…,” and then you can fill in the rest from your knowledge of God’s Word and through the power of the Spirit, the devil will have to back down until the next time.  What a great power God has given to you!  Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

February 17, 2013 

Without Love I Am Nothing

Without Love I Am Nothing  

I Corinthians 12:31b-13:13

     What was the first thing you thought of when you heard the Epistle lesson for today?  I would guess that for many of you those verses brought to mind a wedding, either your own or one you have attended.  Those verses may have been read or may have been used as the text for the pastor’s message.  Many couples have asked for that passage to be read as a part of their wedding ceremony because of what it says about the nature of love.  It has such a wonderful application for a man and a woman who are about to become husband and wife.  When you get to the part about love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud, it speaks to your human nature.  It is actually a warning for you about letting your human nature take control of your relationships.  When that happens, you are headed for trouble and the statistics that you hear about failed marriages seem to back that up.  Most of the time when marriages end in divorce it is because there was not a willingness to be patient, kind, trusting and self-giving.  This is a great text for a wedding if it is understood properly.

     Having said that, it is also interesting to point out that the context of these words aren’t really speaking of a marriage.  Paul had been talking about life in the church in the verses that come before the love verses.  In the Epistle lesson from last week from I Corinthians 12, we heard about the body of Christ.  “You are the body of Christ and each of you is a part of it,” Paul wrote.  He talked about the importance of each part of the body.  In comparing the church to a body, he mentioned that no one part can exist on its own.  The various parts of the body need each other and each part plays an important function in the body.  Not all the parts have the same job.  Some are more out front that others.  Some are in the background.  Yet it is important for the whole body to realize that it is one body.  When one part suffers the rest of the body suffers with it.  When one part rejoices the other parts rejoice with it. 

     He continues with a summary of this line of thinking and then makes a direct application to the church.  He mentions a number of functions in the church and makes the point that we don’t all have the same task.  Not all are prophets, not all are teachers, not all are miracle workers and so on.  We are not to become jealous of the gifts that others have and ignore the gifts that we have.  Instead we are to use the gifts that the Lord gives us in His church in love.  It is in that context then that he speaks about the importance of love.  Paul summarizes his point by saying, “Without love I am nothing.”  As we think about that statement today, may you come to realize the importance of God’s love in your life and may you be moved to put God’s love into action as you serve your Lord by serving His church and your community.

     “Without love I am nothing.”  What a powerful statement that is!  First before we consider anything else, we have to understand what this love is.  That word gets used and abused all the time in our world today.  We talk about loving everything from our spouse to our pets to a new outfit to a large pizza with the works.  Of course we mean different things as we use that word in different contexts.  Greek does the same thing only it uses different Greek words for different kinds of love.  The love that is mentioned here is a special kind of love that has its source in God.  It is a love that is completely familiar with the object of love and loves with a giving kind of love that expects nothing in return.  It is unconditional.  It is not a love that has all kinds of “ifs” or “whens” attached to it.  It is not “I will love you if you do what I tell you.” Or “I will love you when you start showing me some respect.”  It is a love that simply loves you because you are God’s special creation.  It is the love that Jesus spoke about when He said, “God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son.”

     It is a love that caused Him to sacrifice His only Son as the punishment for your sins.  It was not deserved.  It did not require complete obedience on our part.  Without that love of God, you would be nothing. You would still be a lost and condemned sinner.  Without that love you would not be able to be called a child of God through your Baptism.  Without that love you would not be a part of the Body of Christ, the church.  Without that love from God you would not be able to show that kind of love to others and especially to those in need.  Your service to the church and to other people would mean nothing without the love of God in your heart.

     It is that love then that empowers and gives value to your service to the church.  There you see the context of these words coming in to play.  Paul mentions a number of things that happen in the church that would be of no value at all without the love of God in your heart.  He starts with the preacher.  “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I am only a noisy gong or a clanging symbol.”  In other words, I could be the greatest speaker in the world but if I am not speaking out of love for my hearers, I am just a lot of noise.  It may be an impressive sound but it doesn’t really convey a message, much less the message of God’s love.  I could be the greatest intellectual mind in the church but if I am not operating out of love for God and for the rest of the body of Christ, I am nothing.  Even if I am generous to the poor and even sacrifice everything I have, even my life, but do not have love, I gain nothing.  If all I am concerned with is personal gain, a good reputation, making a name for myself, in other words, just concerned with myself, I really don’t have that love of God alive in my life.  I am nothing.

     Paul then continues with the description of love as it is demonstrated in your relationships with others.  It is patient.  It is kind.  It does not envy or boast.  It is not arrogant or rude.  It does not insist on its own way.  It is not irritable or resentful.  It does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.  Loves bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never ends.  Once again, remember the context in which these words were written.  He is talking about your life together in the church.  How many churches down through the ages have been torn apart by people who did not allow this love to rule their hearts?  The fact that we have so many different denominations just might be traced to the fact that personalities did not show the kind of patient love that is not proud and self-seeking.

     That points out an important fact here. You are not perfect.  You sin. You let your human nature rule your life when you know better.  You are tempted and you have given in.  Yet the beauty of God’s love is still there for you.  Even when you rebel against God, He continues to love you with that never-ending love that knows all about you and loves you anyway.  With that in mind, when you receive forgiveness, you are empowered to take that same love into your life and demonstrate it in your relationships with those around you in the church and in the other areas of your life. You show it to those in the church because you are fellow members of the body of Christ.  You need them and they need you.  When the body is not working together, you can imagine all of the painful things that can happen.  Yet to show love to all the members of the body means that you are not resentful.  You are not irritable.  You do not insist on your own way.  You can bear all things, believe all things, hope for the best and endure all things no matter what happens. 

     Paul closes this section of his letter with some additional comments about our life together in the church.  First he says, “Love never ends.”  God’s love for you never ends and you will always have it to share with others.  Then he mentions that you need to keep in mind that your purpose here as a child of God is not just to satisfy yourself here on earth.  He said, “Now I see a poor reflection in a mirror; then I will see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully even as I have been fully known.”  The “then” that he is talking about is in heaven.  Your time here is short.  This is not your final destination.  You are looking forward to the completion of all things in heaven.  Your goal is heaven.  The goal of the church is to make disciples of all nations so that all people may know fully and see God face to face.  As you wait for all things to be completed, these three remain the key components of life in the church: faith, hope and love.  But the greatest of these is love.   Amen.

    

Rev. Gerald Matzke
February 3, 2013

Did You Find Your Gift?

Did You Get Your Gift?    

I Corinthians 12:1-11

     In our Gospel lesson for today, we are told about the first sign that Jesus did.  He changed water into wine at a wedding feast in Cana.  As a result, he manifested His glory and his disciples believed in Him.  They saw something in Jesus that they hadn’t seen before.  It was a sign that He was something special and the number of followers grew.  In our Epistle lesson for today, we heard about how God continues to grow His church among us now.  Instead of miraculous signs and wonders, God uses the people of the church to carry out the work of building one another up and building up the number of believers.  St. Paul, God’s special apostle to the Gentiles, wrote to the Corinthians, the Romans and the Ephesians about how this was going to be done.  Our text for today is part of a letter to the church in Corinth where Paul explains how God works in us for the good of the church for the benefit of all.

     The church in Corinth was a troubled church.  They didn’t seem to understand how faith in Christ has an impact on the way they lived their lives.  They had a hard time letting go of the worldly ways that had ruled their lives before.  In addition to teaching them about the proper way to receive the Lord’s Supper, he also wanted to instruct them about spiritual gifts and how those gifts were to be used for the common good.  These gifts come from the Holy Spirit.  He wants to make it clear to them that the work of the Spirit is very important in their lives.  In verse three we hear, “No one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says, “Jesus is accursed! And no one can say, ”Jesus Christ is Lord, except in the Holy Spirit.”  New Testament scholars feel that this was the first creed in the Christian Church.  When someone was ready to become a part of the church, they would make a profession of their faith.  The profession of faith was, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” 

     When one would come to faith, in addition to the faith to proclaim Jesus is Lord, you would receive certain gifts from the Holy Spirit to be used for the good of all.  He continues by saying that there are varieties of gifts.  There are many gifts but they all come from the same Spirit.  In these verses and others in Paul’s writings we have some examples of the kind of gifts the Spirit gives.  Here he mentions wisdom, knowledge, and faith.  Wisdom is given to some to be able to understand the mysteries of God as we heard a couple of weeks ago.  God’s messages to us in the Bible are not always clear and we all benefit from the special ability that some have to make these difficult things easier to understand.    Knowledge is the gift to be able to transfer the mysteries of God into practical application.  Some have the gift to be able to see and apply the message of God into everyday situations.  The church benefits from that gift as people see how God works in their lives.  The gift of faith here means the special ability to move ahead with confidence especially when others see only difficulty.  This is a confidence in God’s promises to be with us and  direct us.  We all should have that to some degree but others have been given that particular gift to be able to say “Yes we can,” when others are saying, “It’s too hard.”  Without those people with extraordinary faith, the church could get mired in simply keeping things the way they have always been because that is the easy, comfortable way and those are usually the churches that are dying.

     The other gifts that were mentioned were important to the early church because they were signs of God’s presence and that this was truly the time of the Messiah.  As God’s revelation of His will in the Scriptures was made known through the sacred writers, the need for the sign gifts was no longer there.  Of that group, only prophecy, in the sense of speaking for God, and the discerning of true and false spirits are still needed in the church today.

     In later verses of this same chapter 12, Paul mentions  that the Spirit gives gifts to some to be apostles, prophets, teachers, for miracles, healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues.  In Romans he adds, ministering, exhorting, ruling, showing mercy and in I Peter we hear about showing charity, hospitality and serving.  All of these back up the statement that there are varieties of gifts that the Spirit gives for the common good, for the building up of the church. 

     There is a very important point made in verse seven that touches the life of everyone here.  “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”  Did you catch my emphasis?  Each one of you in the church is given at least one spiritual gift for the good of all.  That leads us to the question, “Have you found your gift and are you putting it to use.”

     Christmas wasn’t that long ago.  Think for a moment how bad you would feel if you bought someone a special gift and found out that the receiver of the gift put it in the closet and never used it.  You picked out what you thought would be the ideal gift for that person.  You were sure that they would use that gift and maybe even use it to help others.  Now the gift was being wasted.  What an ungrateful person they would be to ignore such a carefully chosen gift!  That’s just the way it is with you when you do not use the gift or gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to you for the good of the church.  God, in His wisdom, has gifted each of you and given you the responsibility to see that His work is done.  To not use your gifts is to hinder the work of God’s church here on earth. 

     The story is told of a man who came to the pastor and asked about joining the church.  He had just moved to the area and wanted establish membership somewhere.  He had one request though.  He said, “I want to join the church but I don’t want to have any jobs or responsibilities.  I am very busy and I don’t have time for any church work.”  The pastor said that he could understand his concern but he told the man that he was probably looking into the wrong church.  He gave the man directions to a church that was a few blocks away that might suit his needs a little better.  The man thanked the pastor and went to look for the other church.  He followed the directions and  found a run-down, boarded-up building that looked like it at one time had been a church.  If the people of the church are not willing to use their gifts, their special talents and abilities for the good of the church, the church might as well be boarded up and left to decay. 

     The question might be asked then, “If I have some gift, how can I find what that gift is and how can I put it to use.”  The first step would be to become familiar with what the Scriptures say about them in I Corinthians 12, Romans 12 and I Peter 4.  Then experiment with as many of the gifts as possible.  Try different things.  Try speaking to someone about Jesus, try teaching, try serving on a committee, try singing in the choir and the list could go on.  Be patient and try things out.  The next step would be to examine your feelings about what you tried.  Did you enjoy what you were doing?  Did you see that others were helped by what you did?  Did others recognize that you were successful?  Did they see that you have a gift for that kind of work?  You might be surprised what your gift really is.  The important thing is that you find your gift and use it for the common good.  You see yourself serving the Lord who gave His life for you in order to bring you back to God and save you from eternal punishment.  Too often in our modesty we say that we don’t have any special gifts but our text for today says just the opposite.  The manifestations of the Spirit are given to everyone.

     The last verse of the text then summarizes this by giving us one more statement about the way the Spirit distributes the gifts.  “All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as He wills.”  It is the Spirit’s decision who is to receive what gift.  They are not given out on the basis of merit.  You don’t earn special gifts because of your good works or good intentions.  Just as all you have is a gift from God, just as your salvation is a gift from God, so the spiritual gifts that God chooses to give you come out of His grace.  In fact the Greek word that is translated “gifts” in these verses is from the same word family as the word “grace”.  What a blessing it is that that distribution of gifts is in the hands of the Holy Spirit,  That then removes any possibility for complaint, envy or boasting.  The gifts I have to do God’s work are gifts from the Spirit.  The gifts that someone else has are also from the Spirit.  He has given them as He wills out of His divine wisdom.  It is up to each one of you to use the gifts that you have been given.  The end result then will be that the body of Christ, the Church here on earth will be built up, will be strengthened and then can grow.  Don’t waste the gift you have been given.  Find it, develop it, and use it for the glory of God and the benefit of the Body of Christ, the Church.  May God grant you the strength and the willingness to serve Him with your spiritual gifts.  Amen

Rev. Gerald Matzke

January 20, 2013

The Mystery Is Solved

The Mystery is Solved                                             

 Ephesians 3:1-12

      Most people like to try and solve mysteries.  There is a sense of accomplishment when you have been able to solve a mystery. One of the largest sections of most libraries is devoted to mystery novels.  The popularity of mystery movies or TV shows indicates that people like to become involved even as spectators in solving a great mystery.  We even instill that in our little children when we are playing with them and we try to hide one of their toys.  Instantly you have all the elements of a mystery.  Something is unknown and you follow some problem solving steps to reveal the truth.  When the truth is found, those who have been searching are relieved and at the same time they feel a little bit of pride in being able to solve the mystery of the disappearing toy. 

     Today we are celebrating Epiphany.  It is often called the Gentile Christmas and in fact there are some Christians around the world who consider this their Christmas.  As you heard in the Gospel reading, it commemorates the coming of the Wise Men, or Magi, to worship the Christ Child.  They brought Him gifts fit for a king, which is what He truly is.  Their journey was somewhat of mystery for them.  They didn’t know where to find this new-born king although they were following a mysterious star.  The logical place would be in the palace of the king.  It wasn’t until Herod the king consulted with those who were familiar with the Scriptures that the Wise Men were directed to Bethlehem.  Then their mystery was solved.  But the mystery surrounding the birth of this child was far from being solved completely.  That was going to take some time.  There had been some clues all along about what this child was to be and how He was going to be the Savior but the full scope of that information was still a mystery to many people.  As we think about this mystery today, may you be given the power of the Holy Spirit in the Word to be able to completely understand the truth about this Child and why He came to earth and what it means for you today and into the future.

     From the words to Adam and Eve in paradise after the fall into sin, God began to reveal clues about His plan for the rescue of His special creation, mankind.  He said something about the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman but it probably didn’t make much sense to them at the time.  Down through the ages the clues were given through the prophets that help God’s people to see a little bit more about the One who would be called the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ.  From Isaiah’s prophecies we hear things like, “with His stripes we are healed,” or “like a lamb being led to the slaughter, he opened not his mouth”  or even the words that Herod heard from his advisors, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little among the tribes of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient times.”  When you put all those clues together you will find that this child born of Mary would fit all the descriptions. 

     Like so many other mysteries, this one was misunderstood by many people of that day.  The Children of Israel had considered themselves God’s chosen people.  When the Messiah would come, He would make of them a great nation.  There were times in their history when they were a great nation but because of their sin, their rebellion against God and their stubbornness, they were punished.  Their hope was always for that Messiah to come and make them a great nation again.  When Jesus was born, it was in a time when the chosen people were under the rule of the Roman government, a situation that they saw as unacceptable.  For them the Messiah meant one who would rescue them and drive out the Romans and establish for them a great nation again.  They were ignoring the clues.  The identity of the Messiah was still a mystery for them.  That the Messiah would be for anyone else in the world was not even a consideration.  He would be their Messiah for political reasons and no one else would be included.

     Do you see what happened?  They ignored the clues and as a result they were thrown off the right track.  They would never be able to solved the mystery of God’s plan for salvation because they were looking for the wrong things.  That should sound familiar.  That still happens today as people forget what God has told them in His Word and start to make up their own way to God.  His plan of salvation is deemed too unreasonable and instead they turn to finding personal fulfillment.  If I can reach my spiritual goals, then I will be truly fulfilled in this life and somehow that will carry over to the life to come, whatever that might be.  Many world religions have been following that kind of path for centuries but in recent years those same kind of ideas have become very popular in our society.  The true plan of salvation from eternal punishment in hell remains a mystery to many people.

     As we hear in our text from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, the mystery has been solved.  In these twelve verses in this version, the word mystery is used four times.  Paul recognizes that there are many people who still don’t understand the mystery of God’s love in Christ Jesus and that the grace of God is for all people, Jews and Gentiles alike.

       In a good mystery novel there is often a surprise ending.  Only at the end is the mystery solved and the truth is revealed. That will be the way it is for many people who have refused to follow the clues and put them all together.  If they did, they would see from the testimony of the prophets and apostles that Jesus was the Messiah who came to offer Himself as the substitute for all people under the Law and then offer Himself again as the sacrifice for the their sins.  He was, as John the Baptist proclaimed, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”  He was the One by whose stripes we are healed.

       The blessing of that great work is for all people.  That was somewhat of a mystery even to Jesus’ followers.  They had a hard time understanding that the blessings of forgiveness and eternal salvation were for all people, including the Gentiles, the non-Jews.  That was the essence of Paul’s message.  Some Gentiles were no doubt led to believe that the Messiah was not for them.  Paul writes to the Gentiles in Ephesus that indeed, he was given the grace to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God who created all things.  He continued by adding, “This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in Him. 

     On this Epiphany Sunday, when we remember the visit of the Wise Men, the coming of the Messiah, the Christ, for all people is especially emphasized. We don’t know exactly where these Wise Men came from but they had some knowledge of the Jews and their writings.  They knew that an unusual star meant the birth of a king.  Their gifts were the kinds of things that you would give to a king.  We don’t know anything more about them and what they did after they went back without telling Herod about their experience with the Child who was truly the King.  But we can be impressed that these Gentile Wise Men from afar were led by the Spirit to worship Jesus and in so doing they fulfilled the prophecies that spoke of the coming of people from other lands who would not be turned away.  The Messiah was for them as well. It is that mystery that was revealed by Paul to his Gentile readers to help them to see that God’s plan of salvation was for them as well.  There are still people in our world today who are deceived by the devil into thinking that there is some other way to get to heaven.  Whether it is by good works, by following the proper discipline or by reaching a state of ultimate personal fulfillment, it all leads to eternal punishment. 

     Jesus came to bring life and the mystery that has been revealed to us through Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit is that salvation comes by God’s grace, because of what Jesus did for us through His perfect life and His suffering, death and resurrection and it becomes ours by faith which is worked in us by the Holy Spirit who works in us through the Word and the Sacrament, the Means of Grace.  There are still those in our world for whom this is still a mystery.  For us who believe, the mystery has been solved.  It is now our privilege to help those around us see how the mystery is solved in Christ.  Epiphany means to shine forth.  As the people of God, you have the privilege to let Jesus shine forth in your life in order to unlock the mysteries of God in the lives of people all around you.  The mystery is solved.  Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke
Epiphany 2013 

God Is For Us All Year Long

God Is For Us All Year Long                                       

Romans 8:31-39

     I don’t think that St. Paul wrote the words of our text on New Year’s Eve.  He probably didn’t intend for them to necessarily be read on New Year’s Eve either but they certainly are appropriate for us to consider as we close out another year and look ahead to the new year.  They are encouraging words for any time in a Christian’s life but as we pause to worship on this last day of 2012, they speak to us in such a way that we are warned, encouraged and challenged to go forward into the new year or into whatever we have to face next in our lives.  As we consider what Paul was telling the Roman Christians in this text, may we see that we can look forward to the new year confidently because God is for us all year long.

     As you do look back on the old year, you are often tempted to say good riddance.  So often when you look back you can only see the trouble and the problems that you had to face.  2012 has had its share of problems.  Economically, things were not that great.  There are not many people who could say that their lives have not been touched by the slumping economy. You might think of health problems that you have faced.  Good health doesn’t usually stand out in your minds but you do remember the illnesses that were diagnosed or the cold that seemed to hang on for weeks.  There may have been family problems that left you worn out and confused, wondering which way to turn.  There are a lot of negative things that could fill your minds as you say good bye to the old year.  Saying good bye to the old year does not necessarily mean that you say good bye to the old problems.  You hope that you could but they will no doubt be with you at least for a while as you turn the page and start to use a new calendar. 

     It is part of our human nature though to focus on the negative and either forget or give little attention to the many wonderful things that have happened to you in the past twelve months.  There are many good things that that you have experienced that often balance out the bad for some reason, they fade from your mind rather quickly.  Maybe the reason they fade from your mind is that many of those good things just seemed to come and go.  They come into your life and then they leave.  They have no real lasting value.  When you think about it though, that same thing is true of the seemingly bad things that have happened to you.  In the whole scheme of things, very little that happens to you on earth is of much lasting value.  As a child of God, you know that you will have eternal life with God and that all earthly things are temporary.  When you compare your time here on earth with eternity in heaven, things that happen here, whether you see them as good or bad, are actually very fleeting. 

     Again, as a child of God who has been reminded of the great gift of the Savior at Christmas time, you can look back on the year now coming to and end and think about some of the blessings that you have received and really look back then with joy.  Things that are earthly and temporary give no lasting joy.  Things spiritual though have a value that will benefit us now and for eternity.  God’s love is yours now and forever. The forgiveness of sins that is yours through Christ is for now and it assures you that you will enjoy the perfect joy in heaven.  Those blessings are lasting.

     Therefore you can look back with joy because you can see how God has kept His promises of love to you.  For help in listing some of those blessings we can turn to our text from Paul’s letter to the Romans.  In verse 32 Paul says, “He who did not spare His own Son but gave him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give us all things?”  The greatest blessing that you have as a child of God is Jesus.  God did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all.  Over this past year you have been reminded often of what God did for you in giving His Son.  You have just celebrated and are still celebrating the birth of Jesus and are still meditating on all that His birth means for you.  As you look back on the year you can also recall how you celebrated Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection.  You were led to the cross to consider your sin that caused Jesus to suffer and die.  You were drawn to the empty tomb on Easter morning to celebrate the fact that death could not hold Him and that because He lives, you shall live also.  Thinking back on those truths, you can be filled with joy.

     The rest of that verse reminds you also that God gives us all things.  Because He did not even spare His own Son, He will also give you all the other things that you need.  In His divine wisdom, He knows what you need and He lovingly provides for you.  You also have celebrated that fact in the past year.  Each day you gave thanks to God for His blessings but as a nation and as a church we set aside a day of Thanksgiving.  It is a time for you to stop and think about the blessings that you have received from our gracious and merciful God. 

     As you read farther in the text you are also reminded by Paul that nothing can separate you from the love of God which is Christ Jesus.  When you look back on the past year, you can see how this has been true.  He still provides you with what you need, both physically and spiritually.  In terms of your spiritual needs, you can see that He continues to provide you with the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments.  The Word is still preached and available to you.  I think I would be correct in saying that every household in our church family has at least one Bible.  The church is still open and is regularly offering the Word of Life.  The Sacraments are still being offered for the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith.  Because these things are given so freely and regularly, we often take them for granted.  You have to remember what a great gift from God these things are.  It is God’s way of providing you with the spiritual food that is necessary for your soul’s survival.  Without them you would perish.  The Means of Grace are truly a blessing and as you think of how they have been given to you during this past year, you can be joyful.

     Paul also says that in the difficulties of life, you are more than conquerors through Him who loved you.  As you look back on the past year, you can say the same thing.  His love has sustained you and the victory is yours.  When you think of those in the family who have died in the past year can say that they too are more than conquerors.  They especially know what it means to win the victory.  Those who have died in the Lord now have the victor’s crown of righteousness, the crown of life, promised to all who are faithful unto death.  You truly can look back at the old year with joy.  In spite of all the problems and struggles, you can say with Paul, “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

     As you now look ahead to the new year you can reflect on how God has helped you in the past and look ahead with confidence.  As you think of how He has shown His love to you in the past, there is no reason for you to think that His love will not continue.  God’s promises are sure.  You can depend on Him and He will never leave you.  You have His promise that nothing can separate you from His love.  The last two verses of this chapter assure us of that.  “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

     Of special interest to us on this New Year’s Eve is that statement, “nor things to come.”  Nothing to come can separate you from the love of God.  There is nothing in 2013 that can separate you from God’s love.  What a promise!  What confidence that promise can give you!  Nothing, not even your own unworthiness, can separate you from God’s love.  It will always be there for you.  It will always be offered to you through the Means of Grace.  It can overcome any obstacle.  With that assurance you can look forward to the new year with confidence that can keep you going through difficult times, with confidence that can make you to accept challenges in your life of service to the Lord and with confidence that, should the Lord call you from this life during the year to come, nothing will be able to separate you from His love and you will be with Him forever in the perfect joy of heaven.

    May God grant you the grace to look back on this year with true joy, joy that comes from knowing that God has richly blessed you and may you be given the faith to look ahead with confidence, knowing that nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus your Lord.  Amen.

New Year's Eve 2012
Rev. Gerald Matzke

Waiting For Our Blessed Hope

Waiting for our Blessed Hope                                          

Titus 2:11-14

     Christmas is a time of the year that is full of symbolism.  When you think about it, there is probably no other time of the year that has generated so many meaningful symbols as Christmas.  The decorations that we put up at Christmas time give us a good example of what I mean.  As you look around the church you can see shapes and colors that are rich in meaning for Christians who are celebrating the birth of their Savior.  Our trees for example are decorated with a simple color scheme that says a lot about the purpose of the Savior coming into the world.  The white lights and decorations remind us of the purity of Jesus, who lived a perfect life for us, but the white also tells us what we are like now as a result of what Jesus did for us.  We are reminded of the prophecy in Isaiah 1:18 that says, “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow.”  The color green that is so prominent in our decorations is the color of life.  The use of evergreen trees for Christmas even adds the meaning of everlasting life which is ours through the coming of the Messiah.  Wreaths remind us of eternity with their round shape.  The circle has no beginning and no end.  So it is with the love of God.  It will never end.  Certainly we would have to agree that the decorations and colors of Christmas are rich in meaning. 

     Sometimes we don’t even realize what the meanings are until we stop to think about it for a while.  That is often the case with certain Bible passages.  There are some passages that we know are especially meaningful for us and at the same time there are some passages that we either don’t understand or they just don’t seem to say much to us.  Our Epistle lesson for this Christmas Eve is one of those passages that might be passed by because of the company it keeps.  It is a rich passage of the Bible but yet we might pass it by because the other passages with it are so rich themselves.  The Old Testament passage is a familiar prophecy about the Messiah.  The Gospel lesson is the beautiful Christmas story from Luke 2 that you heard before.  The words of Paul to Titus express to the early church and to us the real purpose of the coming of the Savior into the world.  To celebrate Christmas without focusing on the real meaning of the event for our lives would be like putting up a lot of decorations without understanding what they meant.  That would seem like a great waste of time if the decorations had no meaning.  Without understanding the purpose of Christ coming into the world, Christmas would seem like a waste of time and money.  All we would be left with would be a modern version of the pagan festivals that were so prominent in the world before the celebration of the birth of Christ was established by the church.  As we celebrate Christmas this year, as we look at the decorations, as we share gifts, as we light candles, may our hearts turn first to God in thanks and praise that He loved us so much that He sent His Son to earth to be our Savior.  Let us also understand and appreciate what that gift of a Savior means for us not just during the Christmas season but throughout our lives. 

     Paul’s words to Titus in our text seem to be addressing this very issue.  The letter to Titus shows a concern for life of the church.  It touches on such things as the requirements for pastors, standards for teaching and relationships with those around us both inside and outside the church.  All of this instruction has as its center an appreciation for the grace of God.  All we do as God’s people is possible only because of His grace.  These verses that serve as our text for tonight revolve around two uses of the word, “appear.”  Paul talks about two appearings that ought to be the focus of our relationship with God.  The first is described in verse 11.  “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.”  That could be called Paul’s Christmas message.  That verse is one of the truly rich passages in the Bible.  The grace of God tells us that our God is merciful and loving to people who in no way deserve the goodness that He brings.  Grace means undeserved love.  Our disobedience, our selfish attitudes, our rebellion against God is put aside because the overwhelming love of God sees through the sin and focuses instead on our need: our need for rescue and our need for eternal salvation.  His grace that brings salvation has appeared to all men in the form of God’s Son, made flesh, made under the Law, the Word, Jesus, born of Mary.  He came for all people.  This is almost an echo of the message of the angels to the shepherds that we heard before.  “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people, for unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”  Our gracious God has shown His salvation to the world.  That appearing has happened.  It is that appearing that we celebrate tonight.

     That is not the end of that sentence though.  That is not the end of what God intended when He sent His Son into the world.  We do not just pack up the decorations after Christmas and forget about Jesus.  His coming has meaning and implications for our lives each day.  Paul goes on to say in verse 12, “For the grace of God has appeared training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.”  Does that come as a surprise?  When we think about the coming of Jesus we usually think about the fact that He came to save us, which of course, is true.  But He also came to call us to repentance.  His ministry involved teaching about the Kingdom of God. 

     Much of what Jesus had to say to the crowds, especially to the Pharisees, the so-called religious men of His day, was instruction about living a God-pleasing life.  Paul summarizes Jesus’ teaching very well in this one verse.  He taught that we should put away ungodliness and worldly passions, in other words, all things that our selfish, worldly nature would try and get us to do, say and think, and instead we should live self-controlled, upright and godly lives while we are here on earth.  It doesn’t mean that our lives are to be spent in a monastery, shut off from the world around us.  We must live in the world in order to witness to the grace of God through Jesus Christ to those around us.  It does mean that our lives have new priorities.  We can draw on another passage from Paul’s writing to emphasize that point.  In II Corinthians 5:15, Paul writes, “He died for all that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who for their sake died and was raised.”   Having seen the grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ, we now praise Him for our salvation by living our lives for Him, for His purposes.  Serving God with lives of obedience and humility should be our first priority.  Jesus came to serve and His example gives us direction for our lives.  His Word also gives us the power to be able to make such a transformation in our lives.  He promised His disciples the power of the Holy Spirit and we know that through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments, the Holy Spirit works in us to empower us to live the kind of lives that Paul describes here as living lives that are self-controlled, upright and godly. 

     The reason we do this it to, first of all, give praise to our gracious God with our lives.  We show our gratitude for our salvation through our godly lives.  But we are also looking forward to the second appearance that is mentioned in the text.  The first appearing of the grace of God came when Jesus was born.  We also look for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, to use the words of our text.  We wait in hope for the time when Jesus will come again.  This will not be in a humble stable with only a bed of straw.  When He comes again it will be glorious as Paul says.  The angels will once again announce His coming but this time He will call all His faithful to the mansions of heaven.  The time of repentance will be over.  The present world that Paul spoke of will come to an end.  Paul’s message then for Titus and the early church is the same essentially as the message of John the Baptist and Jesus.  Now is the time to repent and prepare yourself for the next appearing of Jesus Christ.

     That is the essence of Paul’s Christmas message.  As you sing your songs of joy, remember that the joy does not end tonight or after church tomorrow morning.  The songs of joy continue all throughout your life as you live for the Lord who redeemed you, who purified you, and who empowers you to do His will.  Christmas is a time of renewal as you once again reflect on the appearing of the grace of God.  May the light of the candles also have a rich meaning for you as you thank God for sending you the Light of the World, that light that shines in the darkness and may the flames remind you of the power of the Holy Spirit in your life through Word and the Sacraments to strengthen you for your life of righteousness and godliness as you wait with hope for the glorious second appearing of your Savior Jesus Christ.  In that we you can keep the true Christmas spirit alive in your heart throughout your life.  Amen

Christmas Eve 2012

Rev. Gerald Matzke