Prepared to Make A Defense

Prepared to Make a Defense 

I Peter 3:13-22

     This weekend, as a nation, we take time to remember those who gave their life in the defense of freedom.  There will be parades and gatherings at cemeteries around the country.  Speeches will be made about giving the ultimate sacrifice.  It is good that we take this time because it can become too easy for us to become complacent about the freedoms that we take for granted in our country.  A time of remembrance like this brings us back to the reality that there are those in the world who would try and take those basic freedoms from us.  We must always be prepared to defend those freedoms. 

     That sounds a lot like what the Apostle Peter was saying in his first letter to persecuted believers in the early Christian church.  He was writing to encourage those who faced estrangement from their families and their community because they believed that Jesus was their Lord and Savior.  In more severe circumstances they even faced death because they were believers.  That can be a difficult challenge for a new believer.  It can be a difficult challenge for any believer.  A few weeks ago we had the privilege of hearing ten of our young members pledge their faithfulness to the Lord and His Church even to the point of death.  That can be easy to say when there are no threats because of your faith.  When you suddenly realize that if you persist in making a bold confession of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you may lose your job, your family, your home or your life, you are facing a different story.  Those early Christians needed encouragement.  They needed someone to tell them, “If you should suffer for righteousness sake, you will be blessed.  Have no fear of them, nor be troubled.”

     At the same time, Peter was not just saying, “Don’t worry.  Be happy.”  In the verses that I read before as our text, he gives them a plan of action.  As we consider that today, may we take to heart the advice of Peter and resolve to do what Peter says in our lives.

     As I mentioned before, many of the early Christians had a difficult time because of their confession of faith in Jesus.  Peter didn’t try to ignore that.  Look at the reading again in your bulletin.  As you scan through it you will find many words that describe the challenges that those early Christians faced.  He mentions, harm, suffer, slander, revile.  That shouldn’t come as a surprise to us.  Jesus warned his disciples that there would be those who would try to discourage the faithful.  The devil is always out to destroy all that is good and he will use any means possible to shake the faith of believers.  He will use the world around you and he will attack you where you are perhaps the most vulnerable, your sinful human nature.  That is were the seeds of doubt and fear are felt the most. 

     The challenges to the faith of believers have not gone away.  All you have to do is look around you in the world, watch the news, observe the trends in society, see how the standards of morality have changed over the years, how boundaries of decency have been destroyed and you can see how hard the devil continues to work.  When Christians are depicted in the media as ignorant, intolerant, bigoted fools, for the sake of a laugh, you can feel the challenge to your faith.  When you see it often enough, it can begin to wear you down and if you are not prepared, it can destroy your faith altogether. 

     It is here that Peter encourages all Christians, those in the first century and down through the ages, right up to our own time, to take heart and do not fear.  His words of advice begin with the admonition, “In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy.”  That is where you have to begin.  First of all, know that Jesus Christ is Lord.  He is true God.  He was no common teacher when He was here on earth.  He came to earth and took on our human form to be one of us.  He lived a perfect life for us and then He died as the punishment for our sin.  He rose again to proclaim His victory over the power of sin, death and the devil.  He is holy.  Without Him we would be lost.  But in God’s great love, He came to be our Savior.  He is the Christ, the Anointed One, anointed to be our Prophet, Priest and King.  Through Him we are reconciled to God.  We have new life now and life forever with Him in heaven.  Let there be no doubt in your mind that this is the One whom you love and trust and whom you worship and serve with all your heart, soul and mind.

     That being said, Peter continues by urging you to always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”  Earlier I mentioned those who gave up their lives in the defense of freedom.  I am certain that they went into battle well prepared for they would encounter.  They had the skills necessary to do what their commanding officers expected them to do.  They were prepared. 

     In much the same way, you are to be prepared to make a defense of your faith.  If someone should ask you why you can be confident to live a joy-filled life or why you would be confident to face death unafraid, you could be able to tell then that you trust in the Lord and His promises to always be with you, that nothing can separate you from His love and that when you die, you will be with Him in the glory of heaven for all eternity.  You might be ready to say to me, “That’s easy for you to say, you’re a pastor.  You’re expected to know those things, but what about me?”  I would guess that the early Christians may have worried about the same things.  How do I get prepared to make a defense of the hope that I have?

     The best place to begin is the Scriptures.  That can be a daunting task if you really don’t know where to begin.  You could start at the beginning and just read through.  Many people have done that and it is a wonderful exercise for your faith.  The Scriptures not only inform you of God’s will but they also have the power of the Holy Spirit to work in you to strengthen your faith.  For some though reading through the Scriptures can be a difficult task.  You can get bogged down in the laws that are found in Leviticus and Numbers and you might be tempted to give up.  We Lutherans have a great advantage when it comes to getting in touch with God’s will.  We have the gift of Luther’s Catechism, that little book of instruction in the form of questions and answers that summarize for us the six chief parts of Christian doctrine.  It opens for us the Scriptures and help us to be prepared to make a defense of the hope that we have in Christ.  If you have confirmed your faith sometime in the past, you have studied that Catechism.  That is a beginning. 

     An important part of training is learning and practicing skills.  A good way to be prepared to make that defense that Peter spoke of is to practice the things that you would say.  Find someone else who needs the practice and practice on one another.  If you do it often enough you will become more and more comfortable in making that defense of the hope that you have in Jesus. 

     Be alert then for the opportunities that the Lord places in your life to be able to put to use those skills that you have learned.  Paul prayed that God would open doors for his ministry and you can do the same.  When those doors present themselves, you can be ready to make that defense of your faith.  Peter also urges us to do it with gentleness and respect.  You don’t want to drive people away but at the same time you want be give them an opportunity to hear the good news that is so important to you. 

     You also need to know that you will not always be able to convince someone to believe that Jesus Christ is Lord.  That is the work of the Holy Spirit.  But you can be prepared to make the defense of the hope that is in you.  If you mess it up, if you are not well received, don’t be discouraged.  You have not failed.  There will be other opportunities.  Look to the Lord for forgiveness and strength,  Trust in His Word, remember your Baptism, be strengthened by the body and blood of Jesus in the Sacrament and look for the next opportunity.  Through those Means of Grace, you will be able to share God’s grace with those around you because you were prepared to make a defense of reason for the hope that is in you.   Amen

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

The Sixth Sunday of Easter

   

The Abiding Word of the Lord Is Yours

 The Abiding Word of the Lord Is Yours

 I Peter 1:17-25

     Today ten young members of our congregation will confirm the faith into which they were baptized.  They will confess their faith and they will promise to remain faithful to their Lord and the Church for the rest of their lives.  This is a special day for them and for their families.  After years of instruction in the faith, they are now going to speak for themselves and will enter into a new level of membership in the church.  Because they are confessing the faith that is believed and taught by this church, they are welcomed into communicant membership.  Along with the blessing of being able to receive the Sacrament, they, like all members of the congregation, have the responsibility to use their talents and gifts for the Lord’s work.  As we rejoice with them today, may we also find encouragement from God’s Word that will be helpful to us throughout our lives.

     We have some wonderful Scripture passages assigned for this particular day that speak to all of us but they are especially appropriate for our class of 2014.  There are words of warning.  There are words of encouragement and there are words of assurance.  As you consider what they have to say to you today, may you be able to take them with you and find comfort from the fact that the Word of the Lord is yours to use throughout your life.

     The first lesson for today from the book of Acts is the last part of Peter’s sermon on Pentecost in Jerusalem.  After hearing the part about Jesus being crucified and being raised from the dead, the crowd wondered what they should do.  Peter’s answer was, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”   Then he added, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”  If things were crooked, in other words, not what they were supposed to be, in that time, we know that they haven’t gotten any better today.  The church continues to warn young and old to be alert to the attacks on your faith.  The devil and the world are always trying to pull you away from God.  When you have a sinful nature to start with it can be very difficult to recognize and keep yourself away from the evil forces that try and trick you into ignoring the promises that you make to remain faithful to God.  What is a person supposed to do?  Peter said, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”  The only way to do that is by using the sources of strength that the Holy Spirit provides for us.  You know what they are.  They are the Word and the Sacraments, the Means of Grace.  It is there that you find power to overcome the forces that are trying to lead you astray.

     The Gospel lesson for today takes us along the road between Jerusalem and Emmaus.  It is there late on Easter afternoon that two disciples were walking home from all of the excitement of the weekend.  They were suddenly joined by a man who told them all about the things that had taken place and how they fulfilled the prophecies about the Messiah.  When they came to the place where they lived they invited this stranger to stay for a bite to eat.  When He took the bread at the table and broke it and gave it to them, they realized that this was Jesus, their crucified and now risen Lord.  As they came to this realization, He vanished.  Their comments tell us something about how important the message of God’s love in Jesus Christ should mean to us.  They said, “Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?”  How many of you can say the same thing when you think about all that you have seen and heard in the last few weeks?   During Holy Week you have had the opportunity to hear once again the story of the crucifixion and resurrection.  Has it just become the same old story or can you say that your heart burned within you as you heard that Jesus died for your sins and that He rose again to give you new life?

     This also applies to our confirmands.  During your instruction, hopefully you have come to an appreciation of God’s love.  As we talked about justification by grace for Christ’s sake through faith and you learned what each of those words meant, was it just a bunch of words or did you realize that this was talking about your eternal salvation?   Did your heart burn within you when you realized that God loves you so much that He gave His one and only Son for you so that you would not perish but have eternal life?  I pray that those words never become so familiar that they lose their meaning for you.

     It is in the Epistle lesson for today that we find some very important words that help each one of us to remain strong in the face of temptation and have a true appreciation for God’s great love, an appreciation that will help you to follow Luther’s advice in the last words of his explanation to the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed.  He ends the discussion of Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Man, with these words, “that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity.”

     As Peter writes to the persecuted early Christians, he recognizes that there are going to be all kinds of temptations by the devil, the world and our sinful nature that will try and destroy our faith.  He reminds us that we have been born again not of perishable seed but of imperishable through the living and abiding word of God.  You have been born again through your Baptism by the power of the Holy Spirit and not just by any human desire or intention which can be here today and gone tomorrow.  It is the living and abiding word of God that brings you along, that helps you grow in your faith, that picks you up when you are down, that strengthens you in times of temptation.  Just to emphasize the how important it is that we trust in God’s Word and not in ourselves, Peter adds, “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.  The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.  And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

     There a lot of things in this world that will seem very attractive to you.  It may get your attention for a time but as you know, what was the greatest thing that you had to have at one time, becomes forgotten only a short time later.  Like the grass and flowers that might look really great for a while, you know that at the end of the season they will wither and fall.  So it is with the attractions of the world.  They look great for a while but they soon fade away like the flowers.

     But you have received the one gift that will never fade away.  It is the Word of God that has been preached to you and taught to you and that will continue to be proclaimed until Jesus comes again.  It is yours.  The Word of the Lord remains forever.  You have had the blessing of being able to hear that word and you proclaim that you believe it every time you confess your faith in the words of the creeds.  It is that word that gives you comfort when you are upset.  It gives you peace when it seems like everywhere you look there is conflict.  It gives you hope when all earthly hope is gone.  It gives you direction for your life.  It reminds you that you are a sinner so that you look to Jesus alone for the forgiveness of your sins.  The best thing about it is  that it is always there for you.  The living and abiding Word of the Lord is yours now and until the time when Jesus comes again.  Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

Confirmation Sunday

May 4, 2014

He Is Risen, As He Said

He Is Risen, As He Said

Matthew 28:1-10

     On this glorious Easter morning, our greeting to one another as we heard it in the opening words of the service is, “Christ is Risen” and the response is “He is risen indeed.”  What a wonderful way to start off an Easter celebration and remind one another of the good news that goes out to all the world through our proclamation of resurrection and our songs of praise.  As we hear the Easter Gospel, we can hear the words of the angel who greeted the women at the tomb.  The angel’s greeting was similar to our Easter greeting but it was a little bit different.  “He is not here, for He has risen, as He said.”  There is great meaning in the words of the angel.  As we think about them this morning, may we praise God for the great victory that has been won for us through the resurrection of Jesus and may we find hope in those words for our lives now and for our all the Easters that God gives us in this life.

     “He has risen, as He said.”  Just as He said He would, He rose from the dead.  There was no doubt on Friday afternoon that Jesus had died.  His lifeless body was placed in the tomb that had been provided by Joseph of Arimathea.  But the Old Testament prophets, particularly David in Psalm 16:10, had said that the Lord would not let His Holy One see corruption.  Jesus, Himself, spoke about His death and resurrection to His disciples several times.  It should not have been a surprise to them that the tomb was empty on that morning after the Sabbath.  It was just as He said.  When the angel said, “He has risen, as He said,” they should have looked at one another and said, “So that’s what He meant.”  Yet we are told that they were filled with fear and locked themselves up, not knowing what was going to happen next.  Only after they had seen Him with their own eyes did they finally believe. 

     Before you get too down on the disciples for their lack of faith, you have to admit that you are no better when you are faced with difficult or seemingly impossible tasks in your life, especially when it comes to your life of faith.  Faced with a challenge, your first reaction is often, “Oh, I could never do that.”  “What would I do?”  “There is no hope for that project.”  “I’m left with no hope of ever getting past this.”  I’m sure the disciples felt that same way after Jesus died on the cross.  “What are we going to do now?”  “We had such hopes for Israel and the Kingdom of God.   Now all hope is gone.”  They forgot His promises, just like you are tempted to forget the promises that God makes to you. 

     But His resurrection shows that His promises are sure.  “He has risen, as He said,” was the truth.  It was just as He said it would be.  That also gives us a sure hope that the rest of what Jesus said was the truth.  Think of some of the other things that Jesus said during His earthly ministry that are recorded for us in the Gospels.  Just in the last weeks of the Lenten season, the Gospel lessons included statements by Jesus that are identified as the “I AM” statements.  We heard, “I am the light of the world.”  He brings the light of God’s love to the darkness of sin and unbelief.  We also heard, “I AM the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”  You can also recall the words of Jesus before He ascended into heaven, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”  Each one of those words and promises of Jesus gives the believer hope in this world of sin.  When the world around you seems to be closing in on you and the temptations seem like too much for you to endure, you can be reminded of Jesus’ promises that are true.  Because He kept His promise to rise from the grave, you have a sure and certain hope that He will continue to be the light of your world.  He is still the resurrection and the life and through His resurrection, you too will have life, new life now and life forever with Him in heaven.  He will be with you throughout your life.  Think of what that means for you.  You are never alone.  With that hope in your heart, you can face any challenge in your life. 

     When I use the word hope, you have to understand that this is a certain hope.  The things that you hope for, the things that you need in this life and in the life to come are yours.  There is no doubt about it.  Too often today we use the word hope when there is some doubt in our minds.  You might say, “I hope the Indians can turn things around and win the World Series.”  Are you saying that with certainty.  Probably not.  When you talk about the hope you have in Jesus for those things that He has promised to you like the forgiveness of sins, strength for your faith through the power of the Holy Spirit, eternal life in heaven, you can be sure that His promises are the truth and He will do what He has said.  His resurrection assures us that His promises are true and because of that, there should be no doubt in your mind that you will receive all the blessings that He promises to His people.

     That sounds great and it gives you hope and peace but you still have to deal with your sinful nature.  There will be times in your life when you may begin to wonder if God’s promises to you are as sure and certain as you thought they would be.  When you face trials in your life, and you can be sure that you will, your sinful nature will want you to question God’s goodness.  “Why is this happening to me?”  “What did I do to deserve this?”  It is usually those who are strong in their faith who have to struggle with this kind of temptation.  That shouldn’t surprise you when you think of who the devil is after.  He is after those who are strong so that he can try and get them to doubt.  The other folks he doesn’t need to worry about.  The devil wants to destroy all hope in those who are faithful.  It is a time like this that you can be reminded of Jesus’ resurrection and the fact that it was just as He said it would be.  His promises are sure.  He is always for us.  Nothing can separate us from His love. 

     There will be times when your faith is challenged.  The world around you is constantly sending out messages that challenge what you have learned from the Bible.  Perhaps like never before in your life, you are bombarded with propaganda that tells you to think for yourself, question authority, trust no one but yourself.  When your sinful nature is selfish anyway, that kind of message can be appealing and can tempt you to give up hope in the promises of Jesus.  That can lead you to lose your faith altogether.  When that temptation comes, it is good for you to remember that Jesus rose from the dead, just as He said.  All the other promises are sure as well.  There is hope in things that you can not see.  That is what faith is.  It’s given to us by the work of the Holy Spirit working through the Means of Grace.  That is where true hope is found. 

     It is that hope that comforts you and gives you real peace when the end of your earthly life is near.  Even though you may think that you have lots of time in this life, the hope in the promises of Jesus for eternal life keeps you strong in the faith.  Whatever time you find yourself in this life, you can expect to find temptation, but you also will always have the assurance of the resurrected and living Lord Jesus to bring you comfort, peace, strength and hope.  That’s one of the reasons why we celebrate all the events in the life of Jesus every year.  That is why we make the Easter celebration so special.  Easter reminds us of new life.  Because Jesus lives, we shall live also.  We live for Him now and we live with Him forever in heaven.  Easter brings us that sure and certain hope.   Amen 

Rev. Gerald Matzke
Zion Lutheran Church
Painesville, Ohio
Easter 2014

Christ, Our Great High Priest

Christ, Our Great High Priest

Hebrews 9:11-22

     The Epistle reading for today presents us with a visual image that is not very familiar to most of us.  It talks about a high priest.  I don’t think that any of us has ever seen a high priest so we might miss out on what the writer is trying to say.  The writer directed this letter to people who did know all about a high priest and what he would look like and what he did.  His point was, as you heard in the reading, that Jesus is our great high priest.  The original readers of this letter were Hebrews who knew all about Hebrew tradition and Hebrew worship and the work of the high priest.  They were people who had become believers or who were interested in Jesus and wanted to know more.  The writer does a wonderful job of starting with what they already knew about God and His promise of rescue through the Messiah and showing them that Jesus is truly the one who fulfilled all the prophecies about the Messiah, the Christ.  In this section he is showing how Jesus is our great high priest.  As we think for a few moments about what a high priest did and how Jesus carried out that role on our behalf, may we also see how that role was carried out on that night when Jesus ate the Passover meal with His disciples and instituted the Lord’s Supper for all His followers in the years to come.

     The priests who served the people of Israel came from the tribe of Levi.  When the land was divided after Israel came into the promised land after their forty years of wandering in the wilderness, the tribe of Levi did not receive their own land.  They were spread out throughout the other tribes so that they could serve as the religious leaders of the people.  They were trained in the law, especially as it applies to the religious lives of the people.  They carried out the sacrifices that were required in the law.  They served as examples of a Godly life and they brought the prayers of the people to the Lord.  Aaron, the brother of Moses, was the first high priest.  The robes and the breastplate containing the precious jewels that represented the twelve tribes and the head piece were all part of the clothing that the high priest would wear, following the Lord’s specific commands.  At the time of Jesus, the high priest was still very distinctive in the robes that were worn.  The high priest was also very powerful leader of the people and had a great influence over their religious lives.  As often is the case when someone has great power, there is the danger that the power can cause them to follow their own desires rather than the will of God.  We see that in the Passion Story as the leaders of the Jews ignored their own laws and customs in bringing Jesus to trial.  In spite of all of that, they were still the religious leaders of the people carrying out their traditional roles as priests.  They were seen as examples of a righteous life.  They knew all the customs and traditions and led the people in the observances of all the festivals.  They prayed for the people.  They brought the prayers of the people before the Lord in the Temple.  They were also the ones who carried out the sacrifices of the animals that were brought as atonement for the sins of the people. 

     Into this context then the writer to the Hebrews identifies Jesus as our great High Priest.  In order for this to make sense to the people then and for us now we need to see how Jesus fits the role of the High Priest according to God’s direction.  As the priests were to serve as an example to the people of a Godly life, Jesus, the Son of God, lived a perfect life.  You can’t get a better example than that.  His life and His teaching showed that a true Godly life is not just a matter of putting on a good show for the folks around you.  It is a life that sincerely responds to God’s love and mercy and follows the summary of the Law, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. “  One thing about looking to Jesus and His life and His teaching is that we are confronted with how badly we have fallen short of His example and His teaching.  We have sinned.  But it is important that we realize that so that we look to Him alone for the forgiveness of our sins.  We can’t imitate His righteousness perfectly so we need the help that only He can give.

     Another part of the role of the priest was to pray for the people.  He would intercede for them to the Father.  As we look at the life of Jesus, we see how He prayed for His disciples, not only the ones who were with Him but for all disciples of all time.  Sometime in the same evening when Jesus celebrated the Passover and instituted the Lord’s Supper that we celebrate today, He spoke with them at length about many things.  We find this especially in the Gospel of John.  In chapter 17 of John’s Gospel we find a long prayer that has become known as Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer, where He prays for their safety and for their faithfulness.  In Romans 8:34, we hear that Jesus intercedes for us with the Father.  He knows that we have sinned and He places Himself and His crucifixion as the punishment for our sins so that we could be declared righteous and be reconciled to the Father.  In that way He is also our Great High Priest. 

     As I mentioned before, the priests would also be the ones who would actually carry out the sacrifices that the people would bring to the temple as the atonement for their sins.  All of that sacrificing, the shedding of blood as the punishment for sin, pointed ahead to the one great sacrifice that would be made for the sins of all people.  Jesus was that sacrifice when He gave up Himself on the cross.  The shedding of His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death paid the price for our sins.  He knew that was going to happen.  He prayed that night in the Garden of Gethsemane that, if it were possible, the cup would pass from Him, but not according to His will but according to the Father’s will.  Of course, it was the Father’s plan from the beginning that the power of the devil would be overcome by the sacrifice of His only Son.  It was foretold by the prophets in the Old Testament and now it was going to happen, once for all.  He is truly our great high priest.  He carried out all the functions of a priest and He did it for you and for me. 

     On this Maundy Thursday, commemorating His new command to His disciples, we are gathered to be reminded of that command and to be strengthened by the Holy Spirit, working in us through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments.  He reminds you that you are to serve one another as He has served you.  When He washed His disciples’ feet that night, He was making it clear that true discipleship means humble service to one another. 

     He also gave a new command as He instituted a special part of the Passover meal to be used to remember His suffering and death.  In the bread and the wine of the meal, He gives you His body and blood, that was shed for the forgiveness of your sins.  It becomes a part of you through your eating and drinking.  As you receive it with faith in the words, “given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins,” you receive exactly what He promises. 

     You also receive the power of the Holy Spirit, working through the Sacrament to strengthen you for your new life in Christ.  You are brought back to Jesus’ life and His teaching as the example for your life.  It is through the power of the Holy Spirit in the Sacrament that you are strengthened to love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.  You are given the power to overcome the influence of the devil, the world and your own human nature.  When the temptations come, you know that you are not alone.  You have the power that Jesus, your High Priest, has given to you to

overcome all that tries to separate you from God.  May that power be with you throughout your life as you follow your Great High Priest’s commands.   Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

April 17, 2014  Maundy Thursday

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

I Am the Resurrection and the Life

John 11:1-50

     What happens when death meets life?  That is really loaded question because there are many ways that you could interpret it.  In our world today, we could think of what happens to a person when he or she is faced with their own death.  There can be a number of reactions.  Often people are filled with fear.  To may people, death is considered a venture into the unknown and that can be very scary. To others, a confrontation with death can be a time to be calmly thankful to God for the final blessing of this troubled life.  To see death as the door to heaven puts a believer in frame of mind that confirms what we have always believed.  When God wants to take me from this life, I am ready to go.  All things are in His hands.

     You could also think of my original question applying to those who are left here when a loved one dies.  The survivors are faced with the reality of the death of a loved one and that can be a very sobering and disturbing meeting of death and life.  It causes you to evaluate your own relationship with God.  It forces you to perhaps think for the first time in your life about the reality of death.

     My opening question can also apply to the situation that we find in the Gospel lesson for today.  Death met life as Jesus summoned Lazarus from the grave.  Death met life as Mary and Martha mourned for their departed brother and again when they rejoiced that Jesus had brought him back to life.  Death also met life as Jesus spoke to Martha about her faith in Him as the Messiah.  Death also met life a short time later as Jesus Himself died and rose again.  As we consider these confrontations between death and life, may your faith be strengthened as you see the great victory that was won for you by Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, who is the Resurrection and the Life.

     The scene that is set for us by the Apostle John is one that might be uncomfortably familiar to many of you.  Jesus received word from Mary and Martha, his dear friends from Bethany, that their brother was very seriously ill.  Jesus knew that Lazarus was soon going to die but He also knew that this was going to be an occasion for Him to show His divine power over death and that through all that was going to happen, the glory of God would be displayed.  As Jesus approached the village of Bethany, Martha come out to greet Him and tell Him the news that Lazarus had died.  Martha was a woman of great faith in Jesus and she expressed the feeling that if Jesus had come sooner He could have healed Lazarus so that he would not have died.  Jesus assured her that Lazarus would rise again and Martha responded that she believed in the resurrection of the dead.  It is then that Jesus spoke the words that I read as our text.  “I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.  Do you believe this?”

     Martha’s beautiful confession of faith that follows can serve as a model for all Christians as we confess with our mouths and our hearts the faith that sustains us though life and that saves us.  “Yes, Lord,” she said, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”  It is that faith which makes the confrontation between death and life in your life a confident time for you.  As Jesus then raised Lazarus from the dead, He displayed the power that gave new meaning to His words about being the resurrection and the life.  As we look more closely at those words, may we see what they mean for us as we live now and look forward to living with our Lord forever in heaven.

     Jesus began with the words, “I AM.”  This may seem like the simple beginning of a sentence but they are very powerful when Jesus speaks them.  They take us back to when God spoke to Moses from the burning bush.  When Moses asked God how he should identify the one who sent him, God told him to tell the people that “I AM” had sent him.  The Lord is the great “I AM.”  Jesus, the Son of God, sent into the world to be the Savior is also “I AM.”  He is not just sent by God, He is God.  He is the resurrection and the life.  Those two words do not indicate two separate ideas.  They actually go hand in hand.  Resurrection means undoing the power of death and giving its opposite, life.  The life that Jesus gives is eternal life.  That life that Jesus gives is for all who believe in Him as Lord and Savior.  Even though we may face death now in this life here on earth, we shall live with Him eternally.  Death has no power over us because Jesus conquered the power of death and the devil and paid the price required by God for our salvation.  As our life here on earth comes to its end, we have our Lord’s promise that it will only usher us into the glory of heaven which is ours for all eternity.  It is ours, not because we deserve it, not because we have earned it by our good works, not because of our background and heritage, but simply by God’s grace.  It is ours by faith.  As Jesus added,  “Everyone who lives and believes in my shall never die.”  Living and believing in Christ implies a complete trust in Jesus alone for the forgiveness of our sins and the blessings of eternal life.  A complete trust also shows itself in a life of faith that is a response to the great gift of salvation that we have received.  Living in Christ is evidence that you believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

     As we look at this event in the life and ministry of Jesus, you also have to see the connection between what Jesus said to Martha and His own death and resurrection.  What may not be so obvious at first is that this event had a direct connection to the plot by the Jews to have Jesus put away.  It was the raising of Lazarus that prompted the leaders of the Jews to find a way to silence Jesus.  He was gaining in popularity especially after the word travelled around that He had raised someone from the dead.  The Gospel lesson ends with the statement that from that time on they plotted to take His life.  It was His talk of resurrection that really stoked the fire in the hearts of the leaders of the Jews, many of whom did not believe in a resurrection.

     It is important that you realize that the death and resurrection of Jesus are more than simply historical events.  You have to look beyond the events and understand what they mean for you today.  In the death and resurrection of Jesus, you see, first of all, God’s plan of salvation for all mankind being carried out.  The death of Jesus shows us that God was serious when He made death the punishment for sin.  Adam and Eve were told that if they disobeyed God and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that they would surely die.  When they disobeyed, they began a process of ageing and death that has been a part of all mankind ever since.  God made sure that His people of the Old Covenant understood this by instituting the system of animal sacrifices as a way of making atonement for sins.  That all pointed ahead to the one great sacrifice that would be for the sins of all.  Even though He never sinned, Jesus died because our sins were laid on His shoulders.  He took our sin to the cross and He died a horrible death.

     His resurrection though shows us that God the Father was satisfied with His Son’s sacrifice.  It was the sufficient ransom for the sins of all.  It showed that all that Jesus said was the truth.  Most importantly for us is that because He lives, we shall live also.  His claims that we shall never die, in other words that we shall win the victory over death, are true and sure.  His resurrection guarantees our resurrection to life eternal. 

     The leaders of the Jews did not realize what they had before them.  They were blind to the truth of the message of repentance and forgiveness that was taught by John the Baptist and then by Jesus Himself.  Even after the High Priest, Caiaphas, made his prophetic statement before the Sanhedrin, they didn’t see what was happening and if they did, they ignored it because they were too concerned with their positions and their way of life.  Caiaphas said that Jesus had to die because it was better for them that one man died for the people than that the whole nation perish.  That is exactly what happened.

     Do you realize and appreciate what you have before you in this Lenten season?  Do you see Jesus as the one who died so that you would not have to perish?  The evidence is there for you. His resurrection proves His power.  It proves the truth of His word.  It proves that the Father’s anger over sin has been appeased and it proves that we too shall rise to be with Him forever in heaven.  May you be strengthened in your faith and trust in Jesus as the resurrection and the life.  May you view the remaining days of the Lenten season with a renewed sense of appreciation for the great gift of salvation that is yours in Christ Jesus.  May you say with Martha, “I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who as come into the world to be my Savior, the Resurrection and the Life.”  Amen.

Rev. Gerald Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, OH  44077

5th Sunday in Lent

I Am the Light of the World

“I Am the Light of the World”

John 9:5

     A few weeks ago most of us experienced something that took us back to the pioneer days.  We had no power.  The first time was so much fun, we thought we would try it again a week later.  While it certainly caused us to change the way we did things and was a great inconvenience for many people, we can think back on it now and smile about some of the unusual things it caused us to do as we tried to cope with no electricity.  We wore more clothing indoors than we usually would.  Many businesses were closed.  I don’t know about you but one thing I continued to do when I went into a room was reach for the light switch.  We are such creatures of habit that even when we know that the lights aren’t going to work we still reach for that switch on the wall and give it a flick.  Because we are so used having our electricity whenever we want it, living in the dark, without the marvel of electricity made us very uncomfortable. 

     Our Gospel lesson for today also presents us with the contrast between darkness and light.  In this case, darkness and light can be understood to symbolize the difference between knowing the truth and floundering in ignorance and unbelief.  Apart from the truth of God’s Word, mankind is left with human wisdom to find guidance and direction through life.  The problem with human wisdom is that it follows human nature.  Human nature looks to human achievement to find fulfillment and it is also very selfish in its outlook.  Human wisdom is very good at ignoring the truth especially when the truth doesn’t agree with its point of view.  As a result, human wisdom leaves you in the dark when it comes to the realities of life and your relationship with God.  Human wisdom tries to reinforce that idea that through human wisdom you can find enlightenment but the truth is that you still find yourself in the dark. 

     Even many religions that are based on achievement through certain works still leave people in the dark because there is no assurance that you have ever done enough works to satisfy God.  You get the feeling that you are religious because you have done all or most of the right things but you can never be sure that you have done all that is required.  You remain in the dark and the consequence of remaining in the dark is that you are a lost and condemned person.  Without the truth that brings light, no amount of human effort or wisdom is going to bring comfort and peace to troubled hearts.  You are still in the dark.

     Into a world of human wisdom, Jesus came when the time was right to bring light to this dark world.  The Gospel lesson today shows us both the darkness of human thinking and the light of life that Jesus brought to not only a blind man but also to the disciples and the Pharisees.  It begins by having the disciples of Jesus asking a question that shows how they had been influenced in their lives by human thinking.  They came upon a man who had been blind from birth and they asked Jesus, their Rabbi, their teacher, whose sin caused the man to be blind, his own sin or his parents’ sin.  Human thinking is always looking for answers in human terms.  According to their thinking, if someone has some affliction, then there must be someone to blame. Jesus surprised them and said that the reason the man was blind was to display the works of God.  He was going to demonstrate His divine power and give the man his sight.  That and other similar miraculous signs would be the fulfillment of the prophecies that spoke about what would happen at the coming of the Messiah.  As signs, they pointed to Jesus as the Promised One, the Anointed One, the Christ, who would bring the light of God’s truth to the world.

     While Jesus brought light to the dark world of the man’s blindness, it was also symbolic of the truth of God’s will that would come from His teaching.  Think about how Jesus taught.  He often used parables and as He did he started with the words, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”  He was bringing the light and the truth about the kingdom of God to those who heard Him and believed.  As you hear about the kingdom of God, you soon see that it is quite different in many aspects from human thinking.  Just a few examples will show you how Jesus brought that light and truth to the darkness of human tradition and thinking.  The story of the Good Samaritan not only criticized the priest and the Levite for their inaction but it challenged their conventional thinking about racial prejudice as well as teaching us to care for our neighbor.  The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in the temple criticized the attitude of the Pharisee who listed all his good works thinking that they would gain him honor before God but in a surprising twist, Jesus commended the tax collector because he simply acknowledged his sin and pleaded for mercy.  Both of those parables brought to light the folly of human thinking when it comes to our relationship to God.  At the same time they brought the light of the truth of God’s grace.

     That light continues to shine as Jesus carried out His heavenly Father’s will when He offered up Himself on the cross for the sins of all.  Through His suffering, death and resurrection the light of God’s mercy is shown to sinful mankind.  Human wisdom would never come up with that kind of solution to mankind’s dilemma.  Human wisdom, as I said before, would look for something that we would have to do in order to make things right with God.  You still hear people today using that kind of human reasoning when it comes figuring the way to heaven.  You can’t get yourself right with God on your own.  It is only through faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior, the one who kept the Law perfectly in your place and who then died as the punishment for your sins.  God even gives you the power to have that faith through the work of the Holy Spirit in the Means of Grace.  Luther’s Explanation to the Third Article of the Apostles’ Creed makes that very clear.  “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”  That echoes what Scripture says about faith.  “Faith comes by hearing the Word.”

     It is that assurance that brings light to the darkness of sin and unbelief.  Just like Jesus brought light to a man whose world was darkened by blindness his whole life, so Jesus, the light of the world, brings the light of truth to souls who are darkened by sin.  That light brings forgiveness and new life to those who hear the call to faith and then repent of their sin and live the Spirit-empowered life in response to God’s great love.  It also brings the light of eternal life in the glory of God’s presence for all who believe. 

     In connection with the statement that Jesus made about being the light of the world, Jesus preceded that by saying, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  As He taught, He certainly brought the light of the truth about the kingdom of heaven.  As He died and rose again, He brought the light of God’s love to show that because He lives we shall live also.  After He ascended into heaven, His teaching ministry was placed in the hands of His disciples.  His suffering and death and resurrection accomplished the purposes for which the Father sent Him.  The Holy Spirit was sent on Pentecost to empower the followers of Jesus to carry that light to the ends of the earth.  Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, “You are the light of the world.  Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”  As people of God, the light has been passed to you.  Let the light of Jesus shine in your life so that others may see how He brings light to the darkness of this world.   Amen.

Rev. Gerald D. Matzke

Zion Lutheran Church

Painesville, Ohio

March 30, 2014 

Consecrated Stewards Start in the Right Place

Consecrated Stewards Start In the Right Place

Ephesians 2:8-10

     Greetings from your brothers and sisters in Christ at Zion in Painesville, and from the Ohio District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  I want to thank  Pastor Coulter and your Committee for inviting me to be your guest preacher and Bible Class Presenter and to walk you later through the process of Commitment on this Celebration Sunday.  This is a special occasion in the life of any Congregation.  It is our prayer that this is a time for you to grow in your understanding of true Biblical Stewardship.  By true Biblical Stewardship I mean Stewardship in its broadest sense as Scripture describes it.  As you may have heard during the course of this Consecrated Stewards process, the definition of Christian Stewardship is the free and joyous activity of the child of God, and God’s family, the church, in managing all of life and life’s resources, for God’s purposes.

     That’s a lot to digest if you haven’t heard it before.  It’s important though as you think about Christian Stewardship to start in the right place.  Let me tell you about something that happened in my ministry that helps to illustrate the importance of starting in the right place.  When I was on my vicarage, the pastor I worked under had back surgery and I was left to take care of everything for a few weeks.  A family had scheduled a Baptism for one of the weeks when the pastor was recovering and the congregation got permission for me to do the Baptism.  This would be my first Baptism.  Early that morning, I got a call from a member of the congregation telling me that her daughter had delivered a baby that morning and the baby was several weeks premature.  They wondered if I could go and baptize the baby in the hospital that afternoon.  Wow.  I had never done a Baptism before and now I would do my first ones on the same day.  Things went well in the morning service as I baptized the first baby.  When I got to the hospital in the afternoon, things were all ready for me at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.  What an amazing place.  Those babies are tiny!  The family was waiting for me and took me in.  Everything was ready.  I had to put on a gown, a mask and the rubber gloves.  The nurse gave me a small container of water and a dropper.  Obviously they had dealt with this situation before.  What an awesome experience it was for me to bring the blessings of Baptism to that tiny infant! 

     Both babies grew up to be big strapping boys who are now in their thirties.  The comforting thing to know is that these boys started out in the right place.  On this Consecration Sunday, I want you to think about your Baptism and remember that, like those little boys I baptized, you were saved by grace, freed to serve and called to commitment. 

     As you think back over that text that I read before from Ephesians  2, you have to remember how it starts out.  “By grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”  This is the place to start.  It’s a hard place for many people to start because your human nature would rather have you look to your own accomplishments when it comes to your salvation.  You have a tendency to look at your life and what you want to accomplish and you judge yourself by how well you have done.  You may have a list of things that you want to get done each day and instead of rejoicing over what you did, you get down on yourself because of the things that you didn’t do.  You add those to the to-do list for the next day and so on and so on.  You want to be a good, reliable person but you get frustrated when you realize that you just can’t live up to your expectations.   The danger in that kind of thinking is that it often carries over to your life as a child of God.  You wonder if God could still love someone like you when there are so many things that you have done wrong or so many things that you didn’t do that you should have done.  When that kind of thinking gets you down, you need to go back to the beginning and remember your Baptism.  It’s said that when Martin Luther was feeling down because of his sins, he would say to himself, “But I’m Baptized.”

     Rather than being motivated in your life by guilt, which is often the way of the world, you can be motivated by God’s grace, His undeserved love for you, with an emphasis on undeserved.  He has declared us righteous, not guilty, by His grace because Jesus took my place under the Law and kept it perfectly and then died on the cross as the punishment for my sins.  Certainly guilt can be a powerful motivator.  Humorist Garrison Keillor has said, “Guilt is the gift that keeps on giving.”  The problem is it keeps us enslaved.  God’s love on the other hand is an even greater motivator because it frees us from that slavery to guilt and frees us to serve, not because I have to, but because I want to.

     You have probably seen or experienced this in your life.  A teenage boy mumbles and grumbles when his mother asks him to help clean up after dinner and help with the dishes.  But that same boy will go over to his girlfriend’s house and when asked to come into the kitchen and help with the dishes, he responds, ‘Sure, I’d love to.”  Love can be a great motivator. 

     God’s love frees you to serve, not because you must, but because you want to.  Your life belongs to Him, and it takes on a new meaning when you use it in His service.   The freedom that you have is a freedom from the slavery to sin and the Law, and that leads you to use that freedom in service to others as a joyful response to God’s love.  It is only as you invest yourself in others that you are truly free.  It is only as you give up control of what you think is yours that you are free to enjoy the blessings of being a servant of the Lord.

      Here is where the last verse of our text is very important to the whole picture and gives real meaning to the term Consecrated Stewards.  Verse 10 adds, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  What follows this blessing of God’s grace, that becomes ours in Baptism and through hearing the Word and receiving the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper regularly, is a life of good works, that God has prepared beforehand as the way in which we live our lives.  It often takes some training and direction to know how to live out that life of good works and you have to realize that you also have the devil, the world and your human nature trying to influence you to ignore that important part of your life.  That’s why regular use of the Word and the Sacraments, the Means of Grace, is an essential part of your life.  We teach that in our Confirmation Classes.  It is taught in Bible Classes.  It is preached from the pulpit.  It’s all part of your Christian training.  That would also explain why you would have a special emphasis like Consecrated Stewards and a special Sunday like this.  It helps you to root out all of the worldly ideas that make their way into your thinking and it reinforces the Biblical teachings about God’s grace that leads to freedom that leads to commitment and joyful service in your life.

      Commitment is a part of your life whether you realize it or not.  When you are young you probably had some ideas about what you wanted to be when you grew up.  You committed yourself to those goals and you pursued the education and training that it took to achieve your goals.  When you got married, you committed yourself to love and cherish your spouse till death parts you.  When you made major purchases you committed yourself to payments over a period of years until you paid off your loan.  You are now part of the Body of Christ and you have the opportunity to express your freedom through a joyful response to God’s love in your commitment to regularly demonstrating your love with a portion of that which God has placed in your care as a Consecrated Steward.  The Commitment process is a way of reminding you of all the blessings that God has given to you, both physical and spiritual.  It also is a way for you to think about how you will respond to those blessings.  By God’s grace, through the sacrifice of His own Son on the cross, you have been set free to serve and, as a joyful response, you are called to committing yourself and all that God has placed in your care to be a blessing to His church, to your family, to your community and to the world. 

     It’s not unusual at a time like this that people have questions or reservations about the commitment process.  Sometimes people are reluctant to commit themselves.  There is a great story from the life of Jesus that speaks to that.  It’s the story of Jesus inviting Peter to come out of the boat and walk on the water, just as Jesus was doing.  Getting out of the boat was not a matter of figuring out all of the variables about walking on water.  He didn’t calculate his weight and the wind and the depth and all the other factors.  He simply stepped out in faith.  He was actually able to step out to his surprise but as soon as he doubted and took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to sink.  Today it is your chance to step out in faith.  You begin by starting in the right place, with your Baptism and remembering who you are by God’s grace.  The Lord was with you then when you had nothing to offer.  He is with you today as you consider how you will commitment yourself to faithful stewardship of all that He has placed in your care.  He has already prepared good works for you to do.  Consider how you will carry out those good works, not to earn your salvation.  That is already yours in Christ.  Now you have the opportunity to live out the freedom you have in the Gospel, freedom to serve and freedom to grow in your faith and freedom to commit your life and all of life’s resources to serve the Lord’s purposes.   Amen.

Rev. Gerald D. Matzke

Guest Preacher

Grace Lutheran Church

Thompson, Ohio

March 23, 2014