The Eternal Gospel

The Eternal Gospel 

Revelation 14:6-7

     Our annual celebration of the Reformation is one of special times of the year for me.  I can remember those times when my family would go to a special service where we would get together for worship with many other Lutherans from around the area and recognize the work of Martin Luther.  It was a big deal for me, especially when I was old enough to sing in the combined choir that made a joyful sound like I had never heard before.  It was truly a celebration.  I can remember going to a theater in town and seeing the 1953 Martin Luther movie for the first time.  It made quite an impression on me.  Little did I know then how many times I would see that movie again later in my life as a teacher and pastor.  Each time I see it I am impressed again how the Lord blessed Martin Luther with wisdom and the courage to speak the truth and return the eternal Gospel to the church.  Reformation is not simply a time for us to have a pep rally to cheer on Team Lutheran.  It is a time for us to remember how important it is for us to remain committed to the eternal Gospel message as we wait for the time when Jesus comes again.

     In the passage from Revelation that serves as our first reading for today, we hear about an angel in John’s vision that flew overhead with an eternal Gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth.  Of course there is only one eternal Gospel that has been proclaimed since the beginning of time.  When God confronted Adam and Eve and the serpent after the fall into sin in the Garden of Eden, the Gospel message was proclaimed in the condemnation against the serpent.  In Genesis 3:15 we hear, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”  That is the first Gospel promise in the Bible.  The seed of the woman would be the Christ.  The devil would bruise his heel, but the Christ would bruise or crush the devil’s head.  The message of Christ’s victory over the devil and the rescue of God’s people would continue to be proclaimed through the prophets of old.  The promises of salvation from the devil’s power and eternal punishment were fulfilled when Jesus came into the world and became our substitute under the Law and then took our place when He died on the cross and rose victorious from the grave.  That is the message that has been proclaimed by God’s messengers ever since and will be proclaimed until Jesus comes again. 

     The ultimate victory over sin, death and the devil has been won but until Jesus comes again, we still have to deal with our sinful human nature.  One of the results of that human nature is the inclination to try and take things under our own control and use them to our advantage as we see them.  Human nature is basically selfish and self-centered.  When you hear the Gospel message that you are declared righteous by God’s grace because of what Jesus has done for you and that the blessings of that salvation become yours by faith alone, the temptation is always there to nod your head and say, “Yes, but…”  There are all kinds of things that you can say to finish that sentence and down through the years there have been all kinds of endings that reflect the desires of human nature.  In doing that the eternal Gospel has been changed by human thinking and the result is that the Good News of salvation has been watered down, has had additional baggage added to it and the true joy of that eternal Gospel had been lost. 

     One of the early “Yes, but…” ideas was that I have to somehow cooperate with God in order for that salvation to be mine.  When that happens, the individual becomes responsible for their own salvation and that takes away from the truth of the Scripture that tells us that it is by God’s grace alone that we are saved.  It is not your own doing so that no one can boast.  Paul in our Epistle lesson calls it a gift.

     Down through the years, the church corrupted the eternal Gospel by adding requirements to that gift of God in order for the forgiveness that is freely given in Christ to be finally received.  It was another “Yes, but…”  The church taught that you have to earn the forgiveness that Christ won for you through your good works, that would be assigned to you when you confessed all your sins before the priest.  It was a clever way for the church to gain full control over the lives of the people.  In their human nature, their quest for power caused them to pervert the Gospel even if it meant contradicting the Scriptures. 

     Even yet today our human nature tempts us to say, “Yes, but…” In a time when people are more apt to question authority and are  encouraged to think for themselves, the eternal Gospel can become polluted by human thinking.  “Yes, I hear what you are saying, but it seems to me that....” and then your human mind, influenced by your sinful human nature, begins to question God, just like Eve did in the Garden.  Do you see how the devil continues to work today.  God’s truth is made clear to us in the Scripture but human nature is never satisfied until you can twist things around to suit your own thinking.    Modern philosophy that ignores the Bible has come up with all kinds of exceptions to the eternal Gospel.  Unfortunately much of that kind of thinking has made its way into the attitudes and beliefs of people of influence in our society and we all have been touched by it.  We see it on TV, in the movies, in music and books.  “Yes, but…” has touched every one of us. 

      While that is true for our time, it was also very evident at the time of Martin Luther in the 1500’s.  Through His study of the Scriptures, Luther was able to identify the ways in which the eternal Gospel had been perverted by a desire for power and greed in the church.  When he spoke out against some of the abuses that he saw in the church of his day, he was put on trial and declared an outlaw, which meant that anyone who found him could kill him with the blessing of the emperor.  Again, God’s hand was protecting Luther and he was able to continue his work of bringing the true church back to the message of the eternal Gospel.  It can be simply summarized in three statements that have become the motto of the Reformation.  Grace Alone, Faith Alone and Scripture Alone. 

      The eternal Gospel, the Good News of salvation is that you are saved from the eternal punishment that you deserve because of your sin by God’s grace alone.  It has nothing to do with your goodness, your good intentions, or your good works.  He has chosen to save you because of His undeserved love for you.  He accomplished that by sending His only Son into the world to do for you what you could never do for yourself.   The blessings of that sacrificial work of Christ become yours by faith alone which itself a gift from God that comes to you through the work of the Holy Spirit, through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments.  All of this is made known to us in the Scriptures alone.  It is not based on human reason or logic.  It is not based on the human rules of any church.  It is not based on the decrees of any human leader.  It comes from God’s Word alone.  Grace alone, Faith alone, Scripture alone. 

     Our Reformation observance is one way of helping us to realize the importance of remaining true to that eternal Gospel.  In the passage from Revelation, the angel that proclaimed that eternal Gospel also spoke of the final judgment that was soon to come.  At first that may not sound like good news.  It will not be for those who have rejected Christ.  It will be good news though for the faithful who have had to suffer here on earth because the coming of Jesus will mean that their suffering is over and that they will be in the eternal joy of heaven in the presence of God.  That is an important message as we near the end of the church year when our readings will be reminding us of the end times. 

     May this Reformation observance be a time for us to give thanks to God for faithful servants such as Martin Luther and may we resolve to stand firm on the principles of the Reformation:  Grace Alone, Faith Alone, Scripture Alone.   Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

Reformation 2013

Are You Ready To Die For Jesus?

Are You Ready to Die for Jesus?

II Timothy 2:1-13

     I would like to have you think back to the day that you confirmed your faith.  Confirmation Day is a big event in the life of a young person as well as in the life of an adult who is ready to publically confirm their faith before God and the congregation.  It takes a lot of study and preparation before you are ready to stand before the Lord and answer those questions about what you believe.  Do you remember what you promised on that day?  You can find the questions on page 272 in the hymnal.  Do you acknowledge the gifts that God gave you in your Baptism?  Do you renounce the devil?  Do you renounce all his works and all his ways?  Do you believe in the Triune God as described in the Apostles’ Creed?  Do you hold the Scriptures to be the inspired Word of God?  Do confess the Doctrines of the Lutheran Church as you have come to learn them from the Small Catechism to be faithful and true?  Do you intend to hear the Word of God and receive the Lord’s Supper faithfully?  Do you intend to live according to the Word of God in faith, word and deed and to remain true to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit even to death?   And now comes the last question that gets to the heart of what we heard in the Epistle lesson for today.  Do you intend to continue steadfast in this confession and Church and to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from it? 

    Whether you made that solemn promise on Confirmation Day a few months ago or ten, twenty, thirty or maybe even eighty years ago, the question still needs to be asked, “Are you ready to die for Jesus?”  That can be a difficult question to answer especially since you are living in a time and place where you are not really in danger because of your faith, much less be threatened with death because of your connection with a Christian Church.  The truth is that your faith is being threatened all the time by the attacks of the devil.  Most of the time those threats are so subtle that you don’t even recognize them. 

     The question still needs to be considered.  “Are you ready to die for Jesus?”  What does it take to be strong enough to stand against the attacks of the devil?  First of all it takes a strong faith.  Faith is actually a rather complex thing.  It involves knowledge of the Triune God and His plan for my salvation.  But there is more than just a knowledge of God.  The devil knows the facts and that makes him that much more determined to work against God’s plans.  True faith also involves trusting that what Jesus did was for the forgiveness of my sins and that eternal life in heaven is mine because of what Jesus did for me.  Even the power to believe comes from God as the Holy Spirit works in me through the Means of Grace.  If you can say that you are ready to die for Jesus, it is only because God has given you the faith to trust in His Word and promises.  One of those promises is eternal life with Him in the perfect joy of heaven in His presence. 

     As you read God’s Word further you also find that eternal life is not the only blessing that God give to you as a result of your faith.  You also have the gift of new life now.  That new life comes when you die with Christ and are raised to new life with Him through His resurrection.  Through our Baptism, your old self, that old sinful nature, dies with Christ and the new self arises to live for God.  You still have to face the temptations of the devil but you do not face them alone.  You now live with Christ and you have His power, a power that was able to defeat the devil.  That power will help you when the challenges to your faith come. 

     Paul uses several images that help us to see what this struggle is all about.  In the first one, he says, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”  When you think about a soldier you can see many parallels to your life as a child of God.  For one thing a soldier is disciplined.  A soldier learns to follow orders.  A good soldier knows the rules and also knows the consequences of failing to follow orders.  Strict discipline is essential for the continued effectiveness of the army.  A good soldier is prepared through the proper training and practice in skills that are necessary for battle.  A good soldier is also loyal to the cause and to those who are in command.  Most importantly, a good soldier is willing to sacrifice everything, including life, in order for the higher purpose to be accomplished.

     Think about how that applies to your life as a soldier of Christ Jesus.  Not only would you have to consider the question of being ready to die for Jesus, but also are you ready to live for Jesus.  I started by talking about discipline.  The root word for discipline is disciple.  Christian discipline includes an on-going study of God’s Word.  It includes making regular worship a priority because that is part of what God expects of those who are disciples.  A good disciple also knows that worship is not just following a command.  It is also an opportunity to thank and praise God for His goodness and mercy and an opportunity to grow through the regular use of the Word and the Sacraments, the Means of Grace. 

     A good soldier is also prepared for life in the world because of good training and practice in the skills that are necessary for dealing with the challenges that will come as we live in a world influenced by the devil, the world and our own sinful nature.  That training and practice come from a thorough study of God’s Word where you see how the Lord worked in the lives of His people and prepared them to face the world.

     A soldier for the Lord Jesus is also loyal.  When I started I mentioned the Confirmation vows that included a statement about remaining faithful to the Lord and the Church.  In this world you are pulled in many directions and there are influences that try to pull you away from a life of discipleship.  It can be difficult at times to remain faithful to the Lord when friends, worldly interests and the tug of your human nature try to influence you to let your loyalty to the Lord slip.  That is when your Christian training and discipline that come from the power of the Holy Spirit are so important. 

     The final point brings us back to my original question.  A soldier for the Lord is willing to suffer all, even death, in service to the higher calling as we heard in the Epistle lesson last week.  Certainly no one wants to suffer but the reality is that in this world there will be suffering as we face the enemy of our faith.  Think, though, of the strength that you have as a soldier for the Lord when you know that the victory is already yours.  Jesus has won the victory over sin, death and the devil.  Knowing that, you know that you can’t lose if you remain loyal.  In writing to Timothy, Paul says to him, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead.”  His victory is your victory.  Serve Him with confidence.  The Word of God is not bound, even though, as Paul said, we may be bound for a while by the world, “but I endure everything for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.”  

     As a good soldier for Christ Jesus, you remember that you are serving the Lord’s purposes and that means that the good of others is your primary concern, especially their eternal salvation.  Like Paul, you can endure suffering for the sake of the elect so that they can come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Take heart in the midst of the battle.  The victory has been won. Now I ask you again, “Are you ready to die for the Lord?”  By God’s grace and with His power, we can say confidently, “Yes!”

Amen.

     

      

     

      

 

Fan Into Flame the Gift of God

Fan Into Flame the Gift of God

II Timothy 1:1-14

    What do you do when you have a problem and you can’t figure out what to do?  Most people usually go to someone with more experience and ask for their advice.  When that kind of help is easily available and is intentional, we often call that mentoring.  The idea of mentoring has been used in a number of situations.  It can be used to help young people who do not have a good adult role model as in the Big Brother, Big Sister program.  It is often used on the job when entry level employees are assigned a mentor to help them get acquainted with policies and procedures.  Your Board of Elders spend several months reading and discussing a book called The Mentor Leader as a way of helping them see the ways that intentional mentoring can help to improve the work that they are doing now and help them as they look to the future as new elders join the board. 

     As you read and hear the Epistle lesson for today you can see how St. Paul served as a mentor to young Timothy who was growing as a leader of the church at Ephesus.  Paul wanted to emphasize the importance of remaining faithful to the teachings that he had learned and to make use of the sources of strength that God would provide for him as he did his work.  His words of encouragement can be good words for you as you seek to remain faithful to the teachings of Scripture and at the same time seek to serve your Lord and Savior by serving His Church and those around you.

     The key words that stand out as I read this passage are found in verse 6, that I read before.  “Fan into flame the gift of God.”  If you have ever tried to build a fire, whether at a camp-site or in a fire place, you know what a difference it can make when you fan the flame.  Sometimes when the fire seems to be dying out, all you need to do is fan the flame a bit and soon the flames will grow.  Perhaps the best example of that can be seen when you watch a blacksmith.  Fanning the flame is an important part of getting the iron hot enough to make it workable.  A blacksmith will use a device called a bellows which blows air at the embers of the furnace to make it hotter.  The fanning of the flame makes his work more effective.  

     Paul tells Timothy that the gift of God that had been given to him needs to be fanned so that it can grow and be effective in the spreading of the Gospel and the leading of God’s people.  That will happen when Timothy continues to follow the pattern of sound words that he had been taught, both by his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice and by Paul himself, words of faith and love in Christ Jesus.  Behind all that good teaching, those sound words, was the Holy Spirit who would also be with Him to help him guard the good deposit, as Paul called it, that was entrusted to him.  That’s an interesting way to describe the teachings that you have received.  It is a good deposit, deposited in you so that it can grow. 

     As Timothy’s mentor, Paul also felt that it was important to warn him that there would also be suffering for the sake of the Gospel.  Paul was actually writing to Timothy from prison in Rome.  Scholars feel that this was the last letter written by Paul.  Paul knew about suffering for the Lord.  Yet he also boldly proclaimed, “But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.”  He knows that there is no other to whom he can turn for his eternal salvation and he is convinced that the Lord will keep his faith strong until that Day when Jesus comes again. 

     As you read the letters to Timothy, it should be fairly easy to identify with him and in a way see the Apostle Paul as a mentor for your Christian life as well.  He could be talking to you, giving you encouragement for the times when you will be called on to undertake something that may seem at first to be beyond your comfort level or too hard for you.  When those times come, and they happen all the time to the people of God, the same words could be said, “Fan into flame the gift of God.” 

     Think of when that gift of God was given to you.  For many of you it was given to you at your Baptism.  God gave you the gift of the Holy Spirit who would continue to work in you as you heard the word of God and grew in your faith in your early years.  Like Timothy, the foundations of the faith were taught by family members. For Timothy it was his mother and grandmother.  For you it may have been the same or perhaps someone else who taught you the first prayers, told you about Jesus, encouraged you to grow in your knowledge and trust in God’s saving love.  They were fanning into flame the gift that God had given to you.  The flame continued to grow as you had your first experiences with Sunday School.  Your Sunday School teachers fanned the flame so that it would grow.  Your faith grew as you became more and more aware of what it meant that Jesus died for your sins and that through His suffering and death and resurrection your sins were forgiven and you were given the gift of eternal life in heaven. You became aware of more of the gifts that God had given to you as you grew older and through the pattern of sound words and teaching, you came to understand the calling that you have as a child of God.  Paul talked about the holy calling that you have, not because of your works but because of God’s own purpose and grace, which He gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.  That’s a long sentence from verses 9 and 10, but he essentially tells us that God’s plan for us, by His grace, was to carry out a holy calling of sharing the Gospel of Jesus, a message of Law and Gospel, of sin and grace, that will bring new life to people now and eternal life to those who believe.

It truly is a holy calling because it comes from our holy God. 

      But you also know what happens when the embers of a fire are left alone for too long.  The fire goes out.  When that happens, it can become difficult and discouraging to try and carry out that holy calling in a world that always seems to be saying just the opposite.  That is what Timothy was going to face as a leader of the church in Ephesus where the Christian church was a very distinct minority among many pagan religions.  That is what you are facing in the world today.  The world around us doesn’t like to hear the message of Law and Gospel.  It has become pagan in many ways.  You may become fearful to the point that you chose to do nothing with that holy calling that you have.  Yet the encouragement that Paul gives to Timothy can be the same for you.  “Fan into flame the gift of God.”  Make use of the ways that God has provided for you to fan those embers of faith that have been given to you.  The Holy Spirit works to strengthen your faith through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments.  As you hear God’s Word, meditate on it, study it, take it to heart, the embers of your faith are being fanned and your faith is strengthened.  As you remember your Baptism, you are reminded of how the gift of the Holy Spirit was given to you to help you grow in your faith, all the time fanning the flame.  When you receive the Lord’s Supper, the Spirit is fanning into flame the gifts that God has given to you so that you are strengthened and given the courage to carry out your calling as a child of God.

     Some of those gifts include various talents and abilities that can be used for the good of God’s Kingdom here on earth.  God gives those gifts as He chooses in every congregation so that His work in each place can be done and can succeed.  When God’s people continue to fan into flame the gifts that God has given, great things can happen.  The church will be carrying out God’s plans and more and more people will be blessed as the people of God share the grace and love that are in Christ Jesus.  You can be the one who fans into flame the gift of God for someone.  That good deposit has been given to you.  By the Holy Spirit who dwells in you, guard that the good deposit entrusted to you.  Fan it into a flame that touches everything around you.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

October 6, 2013    

    

What Do You Do With Overflowing Love?

What Do You Do With Overflowing Love?

I Timothy 1:12-17

     We are getting to that point in the growing season when gardeners are often experiencing a surplus in their harvest.  If things have gone well and you got the right amount of rain and the temperatures were just right, you have more of some vegetables than you know what to do with.  Your baskets are overflowing and you are faced with the dilemma of what to do with all of the tomatoes or squash or whatever it is you planted in the spring.  At one congregation that I served, members were urged to bring the overflow to the church to share with those who did not have a garden.  It was called the “Garden of Eatin’”. 

     There are times in our lives when God blesses us and we have to come up with some way of handling the overflow of blessings that God has given.  A few weeks ago in the Gospel lesson, we heard about a man who had an abundant harvest and asked himself what he should do.  His solution was to build bigger barns so that he could store his abundance and then enjoy life.  Eat, drink and be merry was his plan.  That did not please God and the man was called a fool and the Lord took His life.  That was a parable about how we should share what we have with those who are less fortunate.  Our Epistle lesson for today takes that a little deeper as St. Paul writes to Timothy and describes his own situation. 

     Paul knew what kind of life he lived prior to his conversion.  It was no secret that he was active in persecuting the church.  He acknowledged that he was a blasphemer, persecutor and an insolent opponent.  He was a blasphemer because he rejected Jesus as the Christ.  He, like the leaders of the people, did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah because He didn’t fit their human idea of what the Messiah would be.  Because Jesus criticized many of their customs and traditions, they wanted to eliminate Him and His followers.  That is when Paul became a persecutor.  He had followers of Jesus put in jail and even had letters from the chief priest, authorizing him to travel outside of Israel to round up believers who had fled from the persecutions.  He called himself an insolent opponent of God’s plan of salvation for the world through Jesus Christ.  He was determined to put an end to the Jesus faction once and for all. 

     It was in the midst of that kind of life that Jesus appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus and changed his life.  After a time of reflection and prayer and study, Paul came to see how wrong he had been about Jesus and came to understand the mercy of God.  He came to see the truth in the statement that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners and he considered himself the foremost sinner of all.  He put himself on the most wanted list of sinners because not only had he sinned by rejecting Jesus as the Messiah but he actually worked against God’s purposes by speaking against God’s plan of salvation through Jesus, he persecuted those who believed in Jesus and fought against the spread of the Gospel.  You can’t get much worse than that and he knew it. 

     That’s why the mercy and grace of God meant so much to him.  He knew how bad he had been and therefore he appreciated the love of God that much more.  In verse 14, you can see how much he thought of the mercy of God on his miserable life.  He says, “The grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” 

     Remember what I said about the overflowing harvest of garden vegetables.  Sometimes you don’t know what to do with them all.  Paul recognized that the grace of the Lord was overflowing for him.  When you have an overflow, you have to find something to do with all that you have been given.  Paul knew what God’s plan was for his overflow of blessings.  In verse 16, he tells Timothy and us, “I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life.”  In other words, Paul was saying that if God can love someone like me who really messed up, His love is there for you as well.

     He also then added a statement of praise to God for His great love.  “To the king of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen”  As a result of God’s great love shown to Paul, he wanted to express His honor and glory to God not only with words but also with the way in which he lived his life for the Lord.

     When you think about the life of Paul and all the good that he did in spreading the Gospel of Jesus around that part of the world, you might find it hard to imagine that he would call himself the foremost or chief of sinners.  Would you ever consider yourself to be the chief of  sinners?   When you hear this passage read, it certainly is something to think about.  Would I ever call myself the worst sinner in town, the worst sinner in the church, the worst sinner in my family?  Probably not.  After all I’ve been a member of the church all my life.  I have been a faithful church-goer.  I’ve tried to keep the Ten Commandments and I try to remain faithful to my Confirmation vows.  Paul could have said the same things and yet he considered himself the chief of sinners.  Another time he also considered himself to be a Pharisee of Pharisees.  He was educated in the laws and traditions of the church and as far as he knew, he had kept those laws better than anyone he knew, yet later on he considered it all rubbish.  What changed everything for him? 

      For one thing, Paul met Jesus on the road to Damascus.  He was struck blind until he was baptized and his sight was restored.  During that time he was shown the truth about his sin and God’s love for him, a love so great that God sent His only Son into the world to do for us what we could never do for ourselves, no matter how hard we tried.  Paul recognized his sin and his need for the forgiveness that was won for him by Jesus on the cross.  He came to know the overflowing love that was given to him by faith in Christ.  He understood God’s plan for his life, namely that he was to be an example of God’s overflowing love to those who would also be shaken out of their denial of their sin and shown the love of God in Christ Jesus.  That change in attitude  comes through the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Good News of the Gospel.  When he was baptized, the Spirit worked through the words and promises of God connected with the water. 

     You have had those same blessings given to you as you have had the opportunity to hear the Word and you have received the Sacraments in your life.  You have had the overflowing love of God given to you in Christ Jesus through faith and the grace of God.  In Paul’s case, he was aware of that overflowing love because he recognized what a terrible sinner he was.  He was brought from the depths of sin to the highest heights of God’s love.  When you think about your life and your sin, probably sins that no one else knows about, if you are honest, you know that you could very well have been called the foremost of sinners.  Only if you acknowledge your sin will you be able to rejoice in the overflowing love of God that has become yours through faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.  Without a knowledge of your sin, you see no need for a Savior.  But to know your sin, you also know the greatness of God’s love for you. 

     Now you have to consider what you will do with the overflowing love that God has given to you.  It’s more than you need.  It is overflowing.  For one thing, you can think of what Paul said. You can be an example to others of the great love of God and in that way bring them into a fellowship with their Lord and Savior.  Who better can relate to a sinner than a fellow sinner.  Who better to lead someone to Christ than one who has experienced the overflowing love of God.

     Another way to share the overflowing grace of God is by helping those who need to be aware of a bit of God’s love in their life.  His love is always there.  Some folks just need to see how it all works and that’s where you come in.  You have plenty to share because His love is overflowing in your life. 

     When you think of how your gracious God works in you and through you, you can also say with Paul, “To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever.  Amen.”

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

September 15, 2013   

Jesus Christ, the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever

Jesus Christ, the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever

Hebrews 14:8

     One of the things that I really do not like to hear is that you have to keep up with the times.  Maybe it’s a factor of my age.  That may be true because I think that in some ways I have given up trying to keep up with the times because some of the things that I see are often so disgusting.  There are some things that are certainly good about the times that we live in.  Technology has come so far.  I can remember typing out my first sermons over thirty years ago on a typewriter.  Some of you probably don’t even know what that it.  I like being able to use a computer so that I can fix my mistakes easily as I go along.  I also like having a smart phone that puts the world of information right in my hands.  A question comes up and I can look up the answer in seconds.  I have the Bible, the Lutheran Confessions and the latest sports scores on my phone.  Those are some of the good things that come from keeping up with the times.

     On the other hand there are a lot of other things that have changed over the years that are not so good.  Most of those things have to do with people’s ideas of what is right and what is wrong, what is acceptable and what is not acceptable behavior.  Morality has become a matter of personal choice.  There is a lot of discussion and debate about how things got this way, but it finally comes down ignoring the First Commandment, “You shall have no other gods.”  When you think that your own ideas carry more weight that God’s commands, you have made yourself your own god.  That would explain of lot of the modern thinking that comes to the conclusion that there are no absolute rules and that everything has to make sense to me, or at least has to have my own approval. 

     Apparently that kind of thinking is not that modern after all.  When you look at the Epistle lesson for today you will find a number of areas of life that the writer discusses.  They are just as relevant today as they were back then because they are dealing with human nature.  Each of the admonitions in this reading speak to an area of the Christian life that shows evidence of our faith and the response that believers can make that demonstrates the love of Jesus in their lives.  At the same time, you can see the importance of making each statement because the temptation is always there to follow your sinful, selfish nature and do what ever seems right at the moment.  Look down the list again.  “Let brotherly love continue.” If you don’t let brotherly love continue you will be living only for yourself. 

     “Show hospitality.”  The opposite again is just taking care of yourself.  “Remember those in prison.”  The easy thing to do is forget those in prison because after, they are just getting what they deserve.  How does that show Christ-like love?  “Let marriage be held in honor and marriage bed be undefiled.”  Is that what the world encourages you to do?  Hardly!  Godly attitudes toward marriage have been thrown out the window by many people because it can be complicated or too much work or whatever rationalizations the human mind can come up with.  “Keep you mind free from the love of money.  Be content with what you have.”  Once again the First Commandment is broken when your love and trust is in money and not God and His promises to provide all that you need.  “I will never leave you nor forsake you,” says the Lord.  “Do not be led away by strange and diverse teachings.”  Why would the writer say that if it weren’t for the fact that there were diverse and strange teachings attacking the faith of God’s people all the time?  In the midst of all of these admonitions, the writer reminds you that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

     The important point here is that sin is still sin.  It was sin when God gave Moses the Ten Commandments at Mt. Sinai.  It was sin when Jesus reviewed the Commandments in the Sermon on the Mount.  It is still sin today and sin is still sin forever.  Jesus Christ and His teaching, which are the same as the teachings that God made clear through the prophets of old, do not change.  It is still sin as much as you try to deny it or give it new names, like weaknesses or bad habits.  It is still sin when it is contrary to God’s will as He has made it known to us in His Word. 

     If it is still sin, then you are still guilty even as you try and suppress your guilt.  Your human nature is skilled in trying to talk your way out of any kind of guilt.  Blaming others is one of the top strategies for suppressing guilt.  Claiming that you have to keep up with the times is another one of the guilt suppressors.  Everybody else is doing it is one of the first tricks that you try to use to lessen the guilt that you feel because of your sin.  

     With sin and guilt then also comes the need for forgiveness.  Because of your sin, you have fallen farther and farther away from God.  Left to your own wisdom and skill, you will do all you can to justify yourself before your peers, in your own mind and you will even have the mistaken idea that you can justify your actions and attitudes before God.  How foolish you become when you are trying to avoid the guilt of your sin!  Yet the reality is that the only way that you can hope to stand before God is by having your sins taken away. 

     That brings us back to the statement that was made before.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Not only does that remind you of the unchanging message of God’s Law, but it also reminds you the unchanging nature of God’s love.  The writer takes you to the foot of the cross, outside the city where Jesus suffered in order to sanctify the people through His own blood.  Do you realize the power in that statement?  Jesus suffered.  It was not an unfortunate accident that happened to a popular, yet radical teacher, as some have tried to say.  It was all part of God’s plan for your eternal salvation.  By God’s great love that was evident yesterday, today and forever, Jesus was sent down from heaven to become one of us.  He lived the perfect life that you could not live and then shed His blood as the sacrifice for your sins.  He called people to repentance so that they could see how they had offended God with their sin.  They could see the seriousness of their sin and look to God alone for the forgiveness that only He could give.

     The result is that you are sanctified by His blood.  You are made holy.  That’s what sanctified means.  You can’t make yourself holy.  God has done it for you by His decree.  He declares you not guilty because the blood of Jesus paid the price to set you free.  That was God’s plan from the beginning with Adam and Eve after they sinned.  It was His plan when He spoke through the prophets who warned the people about their sin and foretold the coming of the Messiah.  It was His plan when Jesus came into the world.  It is still His plan today that the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ be shared with all nations so that they too can receive the blessings of forgiveness, life and salvation.  That’s what it means to make disciples. 

     Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  He has to be because the devil, the world and our sinful nature are the same yesterday, today and until the final victory has been won when Jesus comes again.  Then their influence over you will end.  Until that time, you will have to be alert to the temptations that will come your way.  You will need to be vigilant in your fight against the powers that try to tell you that you have to keep up with the times.  The fight will be difficult but you know that you do not struggle against the evil influence of this world alone.  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.  Here we have a third level of understanding of this passage.  He will be there to send you the power of the Holy Spirit to help you be strong in your faith and unyielding in your fight against the spiritual darkness that surrounds you in this world.  Just as the prophets of old were strengthened for their struggles against evil in the world in ancient times, and just as the Apostles were strengthened by the gift of the Spirit on Pentecost, so also the Spirit strengthens you for your spiritual warfare through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments.  The blessings that Jesus Christ has given to you and to all believers are the same yesterday, today and forever.  May we never forget that until the time when we are called to stand in the presence of God and come to know the blessed reality of the “forever” part of God’s promises.    Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

September 1, 2013 

Serving One Another

Serving One Another

Galatians 5:13b

    The summer months have flown by and now it is just about time to start another school year.  When you think about it that way it can either be exhilarating if you just can’t wait to get started or it can be kind of a downer if you wish that you could wait a bit longer before you have to get started.  I guess it just depends on your perspective.  Usually it’s the younger students who just can’t wait to find out all the new things that are going to be happening.  The older students have learned by now that although there is the promise of some new things, the reality is that it is still school and there will be schedules and early mornings and homework and tests and all the other things that make school what it is.  It’s the same for teachers.  Getting back to a routine has its benefits.  Getting to know a new group of students can be fun.  But soon the reality sets in that there will be lessons to plan, papers to grade, and the challenge of getting students back into the routine and order of a school day.  It is exciting.  When you get to be my age, you start thinking back about the good old days.  I started adding up all the years that I have spent in Lutheran Schools as a student, teacher, parent and pastor and I came up with the fact that this is my 54^th school year in and around Lutheran Schools.  And you want to know a secret.  The beginning of a new school year is still exciting for me.

      One of the things that makes a new school year exciting is the possibility of learning new things.  You would think that after all those years, I wouldn’t have much left to learn but the truth is that I have a lot to learn.  It seems like the more you learn the more you realize that you don’t know.  One of the things that makes a new year interesting is the theme for the year.  A theme is usually chosen because it makes us think about something very important, something we can all learn.  The theme for this school year at Our Shepherd Lutheran School is “Serving One Another” taken from Galatians 5:13.  It talks about an action.  It’s an action that everyone involved with the school needs to take toward everyone else.  This theme can be understood in many ways.  We could think about serving one another as it relates to students serving other students.  That is a daily lesson that needs to be taught because the natural tendency of human beings is to want to be served.  Our human nature is selfish and we often expect others to do what we want them to do.  We need constant reminders about how sinful our human nature can be.  When you have a Scriptural admonition like the theme for the school year, you will be reminded often of the God-pleasing way to treat one another.  The same can be said when we think of students serving their teacher.  There are many opportunities each day for students to serve the needs of their teacher in the classroom.  At the same time we can also think of how teachers can serve their students.  You might say that something like that happens all the time.  It is the nature of the profession.  But there are times when caring teachers will go beyond the demands of the curriculum to serve the needs of the students.  What a wonderful example that becomes for the students when they see their teacher doing some of those little extra things that make the school experience special. 

     We can also understand this idea of serving one another when we think about the relationship between teachers.  You are all working together for the good of the students and the school.  You are all individuals with your own set of demands on your time and needs in and out of the classroom, but you are also one in Christ.  You will have many opportunities to serve one another in love as you pick one another up at the end of a difficult day, as you encourage one another as the school year goes on and as you laugh together and even cry with one another at times.

     The same could be said as you consider the important relationships that develop between parents and teachers.  Often conflicts can arise when you fail to realize that parents and teachers are all working toward the same goal.  The theme reminds you that you are here to serve one another.  It goes both ways, parents to teachers and teachers to parents. 

     At this point you might be thinking that it would be great if it only worked out that way in real life.  If you try to do it on your own, by your own strength, it would be impossible.  Your human nature would take over and you would simply look out for yourself and expect everyone to serve you.  But you have a wonderful example in Jesus who not only came into the world to be an example of service but also gave His life for all your sins, sins of selfishness and greed, sins of jealousy and pride, sins of disobedience and hatred.  He came to show us the grace of God that loves us in spite of our sins.  Through His suffering, death and resurrection, we are set free from the bonds of sin and set free to love and serve one another. 

     Our service to our Triune God becomes then our response to God’s great love.  As we see ourselves in ministry together, our over-arching goal is to serve the Lord and His purposes here on earth.  That shows itself in our service to one another in love.  By the power of the Holy Spirit that comes to us through the Word and the Sacraments, we can follow St. Paul’s admonition to the Galatian Christians when He said,
“through love serve one another.” 

     As the school year progresses, it will be our prayer that demonstrations of that service to others become part of the daily routine.  We pray that they become such a part of our daily life together that we can see God’s love growing in us and that it makes a difference in our classrooms, our school, our families and in our congregations.  Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Opening Service of the 2013-14 School Year

Our Shepherd Lutheran School

August 25, 2013 

Speak My Word Faithfully

Speak My Word Faithfully

Jeremiah 23:23-29

     During the first full week in August, I had the privilege of attending two very important events.  The first was an extension class from the St. Louis Seminary titled, “Being Lutheran in a Non-Denominational Situation.”  The professor wanted us to wrestle with the question of what it means to be Lutheran and does being Lutheran matter in our world were there are so many different churches and where there are also churches that do not want to be identified with a particular denomination.  Of course the answer was ultimately that it does matter that the Lutheran Church continues to be dedicated to preaching the Word of God in its truth and purity and administering the Sacraments according to God’s command.  The Word and the Sacraments, of course, are the Means of Grace that God has given us to bring us to faith and keep us in saving faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  Those important teachings are not always high priorities in many churches where the teaching has become more man-centered and less Christ-centered.  That doesn’t even take into consideration the people who have very little to do with the church at all.  Their world view is totally secular and God is not even in the picture.

      The second important event was the Regional Outreach Conference that was sponsored by Lutheran Hour Ministries.  Once again the importance of a clear message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ was the priority.  As Lutheran Christians we have a wonderful gift that we have been commissioned to share with the world around us.  Jesus, Himself, has given us the great commission to go and make disciples of all nations.  He started with a group of eleven apostles who were sent out after Easter and the Ascension and look at what they accomplished.  After many generations, the commission has been given to us.  It is not easy because the devil, the world and your own sinful nature are constantly trying to work against you to distract you from what should be your primary goal.  But that should not deter you from reaching out with the Good News of Jesus to all people, beginning right here in our own community and branching out finally to the ends of the earth. 

     Both of those special events, the seminary class and the Outreach Conference, had essentially the same theme.  It seems rather appropriate then that in the wake of those two events, the Old Testament lesson for today centers on God’s command to speak His word faithfully.  As we consider what that means for us today, may you be strengthened in your appreciation of the true Word of God and may you be moved by the Spirit to find ways in which you can share the Good News with those around you.

     In our Old Testament lesson for today, we hear the Lord speaking through the prophet Jeremiah.  That is how God communicated with His people at the time when He was establishing His covenant with them.  They did not have all of the collected Scriptures that we have today.  A prophet was one who spoke for God.  As we read the words of the book of Jeremiah, or from any of the other prophets for that matter, it is important that we remember that these are not their own words but these are the words of God.  That was one of the issues that God was addressing in these verses before us today.  He spoke about false prophets who lie and who prophesy the deceit of their own minds.  God said that their purpose is to try and get the people to forget God.  It happened many times in the past and He even mentions the times when the people of Israel turned to Baal worship.

     As long as the devil continues to tempt people with his lies and as long as there is a sinful, selfish nature in people, there will be those who try and deceive others with false prophecies that lure people away from the truth.  That is why it is so important that those who have the true word of God proclaim it faithfully.  The devil will try to get his followers to push people farther and farther from the truth.  What is happening now could be explained in verse 27 of our text, where the Lord speaks of the false prophets, “who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal?”  Instead of Baal, we could insert prosperity, self-fulfillment, or any number of other philosophies that seek to draw people away from God. 

     God has warned us about those who teach from the deceit of their own hearts.  He has put us on the alert.  At the same time, He encourages us to speak His Word faithfully and then He also gives us three word pictures to tell us why and how His Word is to be proclaimed.  The first word picture comes in the form of a question.  “What has straw in common with wheat?”  Here the dreams and deceit of the false prophets are compared to straw and the Word of the Lord is the grain.  It is the grain that is of the most benefit to us.  The grain is harvested for food.  The grain is what nourishes and sustains us not the straw.  So it is with God’s Word that nourishes and sustains our faith.  The Word of God has substance that comes from a heavenly source.  It is not merely the ramblings of human minds prompted by the devil who wants to destroy your soul.   It is from the God who loves you and sent His Son into the world to reconcile you to Himself.  It comes from the God who wants what is best for you and wants you to be with Him forever in heaven.

      The second word picture that the Lord used to describe His Word also comes in the form of a question.  “Is not My Word like a fire?”  There are many applications that you can find in this little question.  Think of what fire can do.  It can consume.  When faced with the truth of God’s Word, all of the false dreams and deceit can not stand.  They will ultimately be unmasked for what they really are and will be destroyed.  At the same time, fire can be used to refine.  When gold or silver is melted down by the heat of a fire, the impurities are separated out and rise to the top and the precious metal is purified.  Under the fire of God’s Word, the pure truth remains and the dross of dreams and deceit can be eliminated.

     I learned another lesson about what fire can do when I was in Junior High shop class.  For a quarter of the year we had metal shop and the first thing we got to make was a hammer.  We had to cut a piece of metal in the right shape and file it down and drill a hole for the handle and put threads in the hole so the handle could be screwed in.  Then the hammer head was put in an oven and exposed to tremendous heat in a process called tempering.  The hammer head that came out of the oven was different than when it went it.  It was now very hard.  The metal was strengthened by the heat.  That is how the Word of God works in you.  It strengthens you.  It strengthens your faith so that you are able to stand firm when you are attacked by those around you who would try and get you to forget about God.

     The next word picture that is presented continues the question that began with the fire and the Lord says, “Is not my word like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?”  That kind of hammer would be much bigger than the one I made in shop class.  This one is big and has real power behind it.  A minister once sent a number of old books away to be rebound.  Among them was a copy of the New Testament.  When he got them back he was surprised to find that on the spine of the New Testament the book binder had only enough room to put the letters “TNT” for The New Testament.  When he thought about it, he realized that it wasn’t such a bad idea.  The New Testament and all of God’s Word are real spiritual dynamite.  It has great power.  The hammer of God’s Word keeps banging away and breaking down your defenses and excuses.  The Law shows you your sins and brings you to repentance.  But it is also there time after time to bring you the Gospel of forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  You are reminded that in spite of your sins, God loves you and through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus, your sins are forgiven and you are reconciled to God.  You are brought back into His loving arms where you are strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit who works in you through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments.

     That is the Word of the Lord that is to be proclaimed faithfully.  It has been given to you through those prophets and apostles whom God has chosen as His spokesmen.  It is the Word that continues to be proclaimed by faithful pastors and teachers today.  It is the Word that you need to continue to hear all throughout your life until the time when you will hear the voice of the Lord with your own ears in heaven.  Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio