February 23, 2007 by admin.

Titus 3:4-7

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Amen. (Psalm 118:1)

It’s not uncommon to hear the word “miracle” tossed around when referring to childbirth and children in general. In the delivery room, a new father or mother might refer to their newborn child as “our miracle.” A couple of an older, perhaps unplanned child, proud of the way that child turned out, might refer to him or her as the unexpected miracle in their lives. But, in actuality, childbirth is not a miracle. Make no mistake, it’s a wondrous occurrence. It’s an incredible blessing from God. But technically speaking, it is not a miracle. By definition, a miracle is an event that appears inexplicable by the laws of nature. God beautifully programmed the phenomenon of childbirth into the laws of nature. I would never be so insensitive to point it out to a young mother in the hospital, but physical birth, amazing as it is, is not a miracle. Nearly a decade ago, in 1997, you may recall that one of the largest news stories of the year was coming out of Scotland. Scottish scientists at a facility called the Roslin Institute claimed they were the first ones to successfully complete a process called nuclear transfer—that they had created the first successful clone, a sheep which they called Dolly. It was improbable and supposedly a major step forward in science, but still, this birth of a new sheep was not a miracle. It still came about as a result of the confines of the laws of nature and science which God himself created. Birth is not a miracle. A second birth, however, would in fact be a miracle. It is unnatural. A living being cannot by the laws of physics be born again. But what about spiritually? Spiritually, not only is it possible, but God tells us to do it. Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:3-5, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” Then, while Nicodemus was puzzling over the impossible sounding notion of being ‘born again,’ Jesus explains, “No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.”

Today we will take a look at this miraculous regeneration by studying the words of Titus 3:4-7. We will see

“The Miracle of 2nd Birth”
I. Our Savior Appeared
II. Our Savior Brought Us to Life

Based on evidence from within the letter which our lesson is taken from today, the Apostle Paul’s letter to Titus, we find that Titus was introduced to Christianity by Paul and subsequently joined Paul on his third missionary journey. After Paul’s first imprisonment (60-62 AD), Paul and Titus joined up, working on the Island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea, just southeast of Greece. Paul, needing to attend to other business, then left Titus on the island of Crete to serve as a “troubleshooter” or “problem solver” for the congregation there. When Titus had served there alone for awhile, Paul wrote to Titus to give him advice 1) on the administration of the church and 2) how to handle false teachers. These were some problematic areas for the church in Crete. Equally as large an issue though was the fact that these people Titus was witnessing to lived in the culture of the island of Crete. The name of the inhabitants of Crete, Cretans, over time has simply become an expression referring to anyone of low intelligence and questionable character. In the letter, Paul actually quotes a 6th century BC poet, Epimenides, a Cretan himself, who said, “Cretans are always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons.” (Titus 1:12). In NT times life in Crete had sunk to an even more deplorable moral level.

But as we analyze a culture that was somewhat of a laughing stock of civilization in New Testament times, we note the similarity between Cretan and American culture and it’s pretty embarrassing. Anyone who has been to a foreign culture has probably encountered the negative opinions that many people hold of our country. They see a country whose President can openly lie in court and the country is seemingly indifferent about it. They see a country that seemingly possesses such an arrogance that it refuses to accept the universal measurements of the world, but insists that everyone cater to us and speak our language. They see a country where, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, nearly two-thirds of all its adults (64%) are considered overweight, and it isn’t for lack of exercise equipment, gym memberships, and fad diets, at which we as a country casually throw billions of dollars per year. Likely related is the fact that the average American watches nearly 4 hours of TV per day and spends somewhere close to an hour of their free time on the Internet, not including the non work-related time they spend on it at the office. “Always liars, evil brutes, lazy gluttons”—Epimenedes may as well write for USA Today. And if we think that we are just nominally part of America in these areas, we are mistaken. I realize that some behaviors may be difficult to determine as sin. For instance, how much TV per day do we consider laziness? We cannot arbitrarily throw a number out there and say, “There, that’s laziness.” Nonetheless, we know that wherever the line is for these things, at times we have crossed it. Like it or not, everyone is a product of their environment and influenced by it. We face the same temptations that all Americans face. We have a sinful nature like everyone. But here is the particularly sad thing–despite the revealed knowledge of God’s Word prevalent in our lives, a luxury that not all have, we have fallen victim to sin just like everyone else. In the verse prior to our lesson for today, Paul says, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” We had every opportunity not to sin, but we did it anyway, because, regardless of our ethnic background, we all were born as Cretans.

But, we are not to fear, because “the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared”. It takes a couple times reading this verse, verse 4, to realize it, but “God our Savior” here refers to God the Father. This is the clearest time in the New Testament where we see the person of the Father described specifically as the Savior. I mentioned briefly in my sermon on Christmas day that we aren’t always accurate in concisely describing the Father as Creator, the Son as Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit as Sanctifier. It separates and limits the persons of the Trinity too much. Here, for example, we see the Father as the Savior. The Son is referred to here also, as the embodiment of “the kindness and love” of the Father.

Having just come through the Advent and Christmas season, there is no doubt in our minds that indeed the Our Savior, Appeared in the form of Jesus Christ. But why? Whenever anyone of importance makes a special appearance, it usually is for good reason. What prompted Christ to make the trip? Well, we’re first told what is NOT the reason he came—“because of righteous things we had done”. Despite what our pride would like us to believe, none of us is inherently good. Whether we are talking about the conversion process or eternal life, none of us by ourselves could come to God, so he came to us.

Our lesson speaks of four things that prompted God to come: 1) Kindness: the good will God has toward us; 2) Love: here, specifically, the love of mankind (the word used here is the Greek word from which we get “philanthropy”; 3) Mercy: God looked with pity on our wretchedness and reacted to it. He had compassion on us; 4) Grace: God’s love is generous, undeserved, and unexplainable. These attributes of God all describe why he came. But it wasn’t enough that he merely showed up. He had to save us. He did so on the cross.

Paul reminds Titus, a called leader of the church in Crete, how God bestows his saving act on us. “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior.” This washing done by the Holy Spirit is a specific reference to the sacred act of baptism. Baptism is an act instituted by God for rebirth and renewal. We are born again. The Greek word used here for “renewal” carries a special meaning. It does not refer to something being new in time, but rather new in nature, the implication being that it is now better. In baptism, our old sinful nature is drowned. We die and are buried with Christ to sin. But then, we are raised with Christ to a new life, with a new nature. Baptism brings us into a faith-relationship with Christ. By faith we now wear the perfect righteousness and holiness that our Savior prepared for us through his life, death and resurrection. In his letter to the Galatians 3:27, the Apostle Paul puts it this way, “for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” Baptism is a miracle. God did not create the world with the intention of sin. But he had the foreknowledge that sin would occur, and so he made plans to send his Son to die and wash those sins away. He made plans as to how he would bestow the Son’s forgiveness on his people, which we call the Means of Grace—the Gospel in Word and Sacrament, one of these sacraments being Baptism and the other, Holy Communion, which we will celebrate shortly. These sacraments do not make scientific sense. In Baptism, God pushed aside his previously created laws of nature in order to perform a miraculous feat—Our Savior Brought Us to Life. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” This is the Miracle of 2nd Birth.

How can water and words really change us? How can they offer us gifts like the forgiveness of sins, deliverance from death and the devil, and eternal salvation, as the 6th-8th graders of the congregation have recently been learning in Catechism? Well, let me ask you this? How does physical generation begin? How does life begin? The natural response to that would be that a seed fertilizes an egg and life is born. But how? The most likely next response is??? It just does. God made it that way. Well, okay then, how does spiritual regeneration take place? Plain water is combined with the Word of God in baptism, assuring acceptance as a redeemed child of God. But how? Well, it just does. God made it that way. Why is physical generation (e.g. human birth) so easy for us to accept as fact and yet spiritual regeneration seems so complicated to so many despite the fact that ultimately we really cannot comprehend or explain either? I’d be willing to bet that Satan knows. He is constantly trying to cause us to fail to appreciate God’s gift of baptism. He would rather we never think about it during the day. He would rather get us to believe it’s merely a symbolic act with no real power and no real blessings. He would rather have us not even notice the baptismal font when we come to church or walk up to the Lord’s Supper. Why? Because the farther we are removed from our baptism, the farther we are taken from what makes us God’s beloved children. But the more fully aware of our baptism we are, the more we know where we stand with God—as ones “justified by his grace.”

We have just entered the season of Epiphany in the church year. In Epiphany we celebrate both the baptism of our Lord and the spreading of the gospel news to the Magi, which equates to the spreading of the gospel to the entire Gentile world. In our planning on the Board of Evangelism here at Messiah, we have decided to prepare for a “Baptism Sunday” in the near future, perhaps sometime around May to correspond with the lessons the children are being taught in the Child Care Center. At this time we will be inviting the families of children at the Child Care Center, as well as members of the community, to come, go through a law/gospel presentation, encouraging the adults into a Bible Information Class, and then be baptized. So tell everyone you know about what we are doing to see if they’re interested. But more importantly, tell them about the power of baptism—to forgive sins and grant eternal life. Tell them about the blessings of baptism—to be made a child of God forever. Let’s use this time to appreciate our own baptisms. And if for even a minute you think you’ve gotten to the point where your baptism does not mean all that much to you, come join us for the new Bible Information Class that we are starting on Tuesday evening. We will grow in our understanding and appreciation together. Don’t do it because Pastor and I would love to have a full class. Don’t do it because you’ll feel guilty if you don’t. Do it for yourself. Do it because you know that you will be edified by it. Do it because you are guaranteed to grow in your understanding of God’s will, love, and intimate involvement in your lives. We all need to feed our faith by means of Christian education. Here’s an opportunity. The New Year seems to be the time to make resolutions. Most are admittedly pretty self-centered. The ones I’ve made in the past have mostly been about self-improvement. Be selfish with this one. Do this for yourself. Say, “This year I am going to know my Savior better than I have ever known him before.” And if you pour yourself into understanding God’s Word and knowing your Savior through Christian Education and Worship and at the end of the year, you feel as though you have not valued your time spent or have not been edified by it, please, by all means, hold me personally responsible. I’m pretty confident that your time and energy will not return to you empty though. Because as we study God’s Word, we naturally grow in appreciation for what he has done for us and for what he has in store for us.

The final verse of our lesson informs us that we are “heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Understand the Biblical use of the word “hope.” It is not as we understand “hope” today. Someone might “hope” to win the lottery, or Miss America, or play in the NBA, but they know that the reality of it is quite slim. Biblical “hope,” though, is looking forward to something in confident expectation. We have the confident expectation of eternal life. Why? Because “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” What we have as four verses in our lesson is just one sentence in Greek. It’s the Gospel—the Miracle of 2nd Birth. Amen.

The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. (Philippians 4:7)

–Vicar James Hein

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February 23, 2007 by admin.

Isaiah 62:1-5Dear fellow people of God and members of his church,We are currently in the Epiphany season of the church year. Think of Epiphany as “the time of shining forth.” First of all there’s the manifestation, or “shining forth,” of Jesus Christ as the very Son of God. That’s why we had Jesus’ first miracle at the wedding of Cana for our Gospel lesson this morning, providing proof of his divine power. But Epiphany is also a “shining forth” of the Savior for all the world to see, especially for Gentiles – those not born into the chosen nation of Israel. Our second lesson from Corinthians works nicely here as well, as we are encouraged to use our God-given gifts to serve him by revealing his salvation plan to the world. So you might say that Epiphany is all about seeing Jesus’ glory as the Son of God and then letting that glory reflect through us for others to see.

That’s the message we can take home this morning from the words of Isaiah. Let’s take a look at how:

“The Lord’s Church Shines Forth”

I. In the righteousness of Christ
II. As the bride of Christ

Much of the prophet Isaiah’s message is one of doom and gloom for a nation that had it coming. The people of Judah had forsaken their Lord. In his opening chapter Isaiah proclaims (Isa 1:21), “See how the faithful city has become a harlot!” The nation of Judah had been unfaithful to their God and as a result had forfeited many of the blessings God had in store for them.

So how do we explain the unrestrained joy expressed by the Lord himself in the opening verse of our text (v 1), “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch.” In chapter one Judah is described as a “harlot,” but 61 chapters later they’re shining with righteousness and blazing with salvation! What happened? We know it wasn’t anything that Judah had done as a nation. Even their best efforts still met Isaiah’s description of “filthy rags” (Isa 64:6). No, the change didn’t come from within themselves. The change came from the outside! Jump back a chapter and Isaiah gives us the answer (Isa 61:10), “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.” The Lord was able to sing the praises of “Zion” and “Jerusalem” – names for his people, his church – because of what he had promised to do for them in Christ! The Lord looks ahead to their ultimate deliverance on the last day when the righteousness won for them by Christ would be shining “like the dawn” and his salvation plan would blaze “like a . . . torch.” There would be no hiding what the Lord had done for his people through his promised Messiah. Yes, “the nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory” (v 2). There would be no hiding what the Lord had done for his people!

That’s because God expects his church to shine forth. Notice how he describes those made righteous in Christ (v 3), “You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD’s hand, a royal diadem in the hand of your God.” You and I and all believers are literally the “crown” of God’s creation. It all began that way, back in the Garden of Eden. But then that crown was tarnished when we rolled around in the mud of sin. But now that “splendor” has returned as God has redeemed us – bought us back – and cleaned us up in the blood of his Son. We once again belong to him, resting securely in his powerful and gracious hand, ready to shine forth as his glorious church!

That’s what makes our message such a wonderful one. We have nothing of ourselves to brag about, but we direct all attention to our Lord and Savior. We shine forth as the Lord’s church, simply reflecting the light of the Son of God, much like the moon reflects the light of the sun in the sky. The light isn’t our own, but we still shine forth because of the light of Jesus Christ. His light first came to us by the miracle of the Holy Spirit. The apostle Paul tells us that God “made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Co 4:6). Now we’re called to let that light shine forth for others. We’re like the stained-glass windows depicting the saints that a little girl saw in her church. One Sunday she asked her mother, “Who are those people?” “They’re saints,” her mother answered. “Oh, I get it,” said the little girl, “saints are those who let the light shine through them!”

You and I are saints, washed clean in the blood of a Savior who now tells us (Mt 5:16), “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” We need to let God’s light shine through us, because we live in a world that is surrounded by darkness. Even when the Savior arrived, John tells us in his Gospel that mankind was still hesitant to follow him (Jn 3:19), “Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light.” So with God’s power behind our message, he wants us to shine forth and shatter the darkness. He wants people to see a difference in us, to see a light that they don’t have, a light that shines all the way to eternity, a light that reflects the righteousness of Christ!

As we shine forth as the Lord’s church, we proclaim the special relationship that we now have with our God. Because of God’s love, we now shine forth, privileged to do so as the bride of Christ.

It’s still common for a bride to receive a new name on her wedding day. That new name signifies a major change in her life. Every time she hears her new name, she’s reminded of the special relationship that now exists between her and the one who loved her enough to make her his own. In the same way, the Lord of glory promised to give his people a new name (v 2), “You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.” And what would that new name be?

Remember what these people had coming. Isaiah had prophesied that they would be taken from their homeland, the Promised Land, and led away as captives. It would become so bad that they would have to admit the unthinkable. In chapter one Isaiah pictures the people lamenting (Isa 1:9), “Unless the LORD Almighty had left us some survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.” In anticipating what the future held for them, who could blame them if they thought of themselves as “deserted” and as their land as “desolate”?

But the Lord had new names for them and their land (v 4), “No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD will take delight in you, and your land will be married.” Instead of “Deserted,” as the bride of Christ they would be called “Hephzibah,” which means “my delight is in her.” Instead of “Desolate,” as the bride of Christ their land would be called “Beulah,” which means “married.” The Lord would bless them with his love and restore the relationship they once shared as his people. We sing of this transformation in the words of the familiar hymn (CW 538:1), “The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord; She is his new creation by water and the Word. From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride; With his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.”

Because of Christ, everything has changed for God’s people, for his church (v 5), “As a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you.” The Israelites would again possess the land once deserted, as a man takes possession of a woman in marriage. There’s more (v 5), “As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” As Christ makes us his own by taking us to be his bride, his Father in heaven rejoices. Jesus tells us that “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” (Lk 15:7). So every time one of us became one of God’s children, there was a party in heaven! That’s because each of us is now able to shine forth as the bride of Christ!

What does this mean for you and me today? It means that just like Judah, we’re no longer deserted or desolate. We no longer have to be afraid of being alone, lost in the darkness of this sinful world. Christ has taken us as his bride, caring enough for us to make us his very own. Now we’re surrounded by his love. Our status has changed. In Romans the Lord promises (9:25), “I will call them ‘ my people’ who are not my people; and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one.” He can do this because the wall of sin that separated us from him has been destroyed by the wrecking ball that is our Savior. Now we’ve been cleaned up and adorned as his glorious bride. But we haven’t been “all dressed up with no place to go.” On the contrary! In Revelation we’re told (19:7), “Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” And in Daniel it says (Da 12:3), “Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever.” We have work to do! We have a message to share! We have a light to shine!

I can’t help but think of the song the children in our child care center sing: “This little light of mine – I’m going to let it shine! . . . Hide it under a bushel? No! – I’m going to let it shine!” We’ve been given the righteousness of Christ. We’ve been made his bride. The light burns brightly in each of us. Hide it under a bushel? Never! As the Lord’s church, we’re going to let it shine!

Amen

–Pastor Jonathan Rockhof

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February 23, 2007 by admin.

Corinthians 12:12-21,26,27

In the name of Jesus, the church’s Head and our Lord and Savior, dear fellow members of his body,

If you haven’t noticed by now, your bulletin this morning is a little messed up. You probably found it a bit hard to read. Anyone figure out why? I replaced all the “a’s” with “x’s” – that’s all. I didn’t substitute for any of the other 25 letters of the alphabet – just the “a’s.” But even with just one letter being replaced, notice how the entire bulletin suffered because of it. It proves that every letter of the alphabet is important when it comes to putting something into print. Every letter has a part to play.

It works the same way when it comes to our role as members of our Lord’s church. Sure, we could get by with some of the members not working right, with some sitting on the sideline and not taking an active role in the Lord’s work. But how much better it is when all the members work together as one body, with Christ himself as the head.

Today let’s listen as Paul leads us in a discussion about:

“Body Parts”
I. You are part of the body of Christ
II. Do you part in serving the body of Christ

Not all the keys of the Corinthians’ keyboard wanted to work together. If you lived in Corinth back in the day, a city of wealth and opportunity, you were probably financially secure. You didn’t need anyone else’s help, and you looked at the mere thought of accepting help from someone as a sign of weakness. As a result, your own attitude about helping others suffered. You ended up caring only about yourself, priding yourself on being a “rugged individualist,” needing no one’s help and wanting to help no one. In the end you had become a pretty self-centered person, used to pursuing your own dreams and goals and not caring about those around you.

Then you became a Christian, and your “solo” act came to an end. You learned that you were not “an entity unto yourself,” but you were a part of a group, a significant part of something special. You were now a part of the body of Christ, a member of his church! So after hearing the apostle Paul talk about all the unique spiritual gifts given to members of the church (from our reading last week, verses 1-11 of 1 Corinthians 12), now your attention is directed to how all these gifts are to be used by members working together as the body of Christ.

To make his point that each of us is a part of the body of Christ, Paul uses the example of the human body (vv 12,13), “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body – whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free – and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” The many different parts of the human body all fit together to form one functioning unit. Every part of the body is useful. Medical science used to be believe that the tonsils, the appendix, and certain other body parts were expendable – mainly because of a false belief in evolution. But now it’s been recognized that every body part serves a purpose. And so does every part of the body of Christ.

You and I are some of those parts. We became part of the body when we were “baptized by one Spirit into one body.” The same Spirit worked the same saving faith in each of us, whether it was as an infant through the water of Holy Baptism or as an adult through the hearing of the Word. Regardless of our nationality or social status – “whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free” – we stand as members of one body. And it’s all because of our Savior, Jesus. Paul tells us in Galatians (3:26-28), “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Because Jesus came into our world as one of us, now we are privileged to be one in him. So we can’t help but smile when we hear Paul say (v 27), “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

The next time you’re tempted to think that your life doesn’t have any meaning or that you’re just taking another number in the long line of life, remember who you are – you’re a part of the body of Christ! That means that your life here on this earth has purpose, that because of Christ God wants you in his family and someday promises to take you home to heaven. Whereas this world has a knack for dragging us down and making us feel unimportant, our Lord tells us just the opposite. He’s made us his own, and while here on this earth, he has important work for us to do. Paul goes on to tell us that as part of the body of Christ, we are also to do our part in serving the body of Christ.

We never work alone as our Lord’s body parts (v 14), “Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.” That’s why God has given us all such unique gifts and blessed us in different ways. We’re not just an army of robots, cloned to all work in the same way and do the same things. And being different doesn’t mean that some are inferior to others. No, it was part of God’s plan that we be different and yet still able to come together to work with each other as the body of Christ.

So don’t expect to have the same gifts as everyone else, and don’t expect everyone else to have the same gifts as you. Respect the gifts that each part of the body has been given. Paul uses the human body to explain (vv 15,16), “If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.” Our feet and our hands, our ears and our eyes – you won’t find them quarreling and acting jealous of each other. Even if they could, they still couldn’t decide to not be a part of the body. And yet at times we see members of Christ’s body feuding and separating themselves from the rest of the body. Over the years I’ve had to deal with members who have stopped coming to church, maybe stopped contributing their offerings, and even some who have left the church altogether because in some way they no longer felt as if they were part of the body. How does this happen? Sometimes it’s the fault of the rest of the body if we, as a church, fail to make use of all the members and the talents they’ve been given. And yet it’s my opinion that the wounds are often self-inflicted as members fail to appreciate and respect the gifts and roles of other members, choosing instead to become jealous and to withdraw from active service in the church. Not only do these members end up becoming more and more disgruntled and upset, but they also end up hurting the body of Christ.

That’s because all parts of the body are meant to serve a role, great or small (v 17), “If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be?” There are no giant eyeballs or ears rolling down the street. They don’t exist, because they’re not meant to stand alone – the human body couldn’t function that way. It’s the same with the body of Christ. No part stands alone. There are no giants in the church, at least not any members who are so great that they can snuff out the other members. Some may be meant to be leaders and some followers, but they’re all still necessary parts intended to play a part in serving the body of Christ.

Again, this is how God intended it to be. Just look at how he made the human body (vv 18-20), “But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” Our bodies are made the way they are for a reason. We don’t have our eyes on our sides because then we’d always have to lift up our arms to see. Our hands aren’t attached to our ears because then we’d have trouble reaching things. God had a reason for making us the way we are, for putting the parts where he did, and he has reasons for making us different as parts of the body of Christ. Be thankful for the diversity that we have. Be thankful that everyone isn’t the same as you are, no matter how gifted you may be. There still may be some who are more compassionate, some who are better leaders, some who are more knowledgeable about Scripture, some who are better administrators, some who are better teachers. That’s a good thing, because it makes for a stronger body when we recognize that we are different and yet still needed for the good of the body. As Paul puts it (v 21), “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’” The eye needs the hand to remove the speck of dirt. The head needs the feet to get it to the doctor when it’s sick. In the same way, the pastor needs the Sunday School teachers. The trustees need the church cleaners. The school board needs the volunteers at the child care center. The elders need the members to encourage each other to be faithful in hearing God’s Word. All have valuable functions as parts of the body of Christ and can’t work properly without the others.

When you have that kind of working relationship running on all cylinders, then the parts of the body can’t help but share with each other the joys and the burdens they each experience (vv 26,27), “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” If you stub your little toe on the corner of the bed at night, doesn’t your whole body display the pain? Martin Luther describes it this way: “See what the whole body does when a foot is trodden on, or a finger is pinched: how the eye looks dour, the nose draws up, the mouth cries out, and all the members are ready to rescue and to help, and none can leave the other, so that it means, not the foot or a finger is trodden on and is pinched, but the entire body.” As the body of Christ, we all share the pain of a fellow member who’s suffering in the hospital or who is going through some other difficult situation. But the opposite is also true. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. We all share in the joy of a new baby being born or of new members being added to our church family. We recognize that we’re all here to do our part in serving the body of Christ.

A quick review of our membership list here at Messiah reveals that about 50% of our membership is involved in some form of ministry. That means that half of our body has a visible function or role in serving the rest of the body. The good news? That’s a fairly high percentage for a church. The bad news? It still means that the other 50% needs to have a way to put their gifts to use. As a church, we’re trying to do better. We recently had a “service opportunities” insert in the bulletin with areas in need of volunteers, and the Board of Stewardship will continue to try to match the talents of members with ways to utilize those talents. But perhaps some of the problem might lie with members who don’t want to take the initiative to get involved. They’re letting their gifts lie idle. Does that apply to you? Here’s a test to see if it might. Ask yourself, “Would the body of Christ here at Messiah miss me if I weren’t a part of it?” In other words, would we as a church have to find a replacement for you, someone to do your part, if you were no longer here? Again, it doesn’t have to be something great or noticeable by others. But even a pinky finger is missed when it’s injured and out of commission. What about you? Are you doing your part in serving the body of Christ? If not, pray that God opens your eyes and lets you see opportunities in which you can use your gifts in serving him and his church.

The Shockers lost another basketball game last night. It’s not because they don’t recognize their problem. In yesterday’s paper, there were these quotes: “We’ve just got to become more of a team . . . and make sure we’re on the same page to get us playing better.” “The only chance you have is if you have a team that’s together. It’s too hard in college basketball to win if you’re not together.” “Basketball is very much a team game.” Well, so is church work. We’re all body parts, part of the same team, part of the body of Christ. Let’s do our part to make sure we’re all on the same page. Because then, just like in basketball, when all the parts work together, everyone wins!

Amen

–Pastor Jonathan Rockhoff

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February 23, 2007 by admin.

Psalm 78:1-8

“We Will Tell the Next Generation”

I am not really qualified to give parental advice. I don’t have a child of my own. In fact, I don’t even have a younger brother or sister. Some of my friends are starting to have children, but I haven’t had much exposure to them at this point. I have nephews and a niece, but I only get to see them once or twice a year, and when they were quite little, when and if I got to hold them, they had that look on their face like, “I’m not a football, don’t hold me like one,” and I had to give them back to their parents before they started to cry. I would be the last guy that you’d ask to baby-sit your child. I’ve never even changed a diaper before—and I’m not really asking for tutorials. Being here with the Child Care Center this year has helped, but I still have trouble communicating with the little children, simply due to lack of experience. I openly admit that. And I’m not that much better with the older ones either at this stage.

My point in telling you this is that today, as we examine our lesson—the first 8 verses of Psalm 78, I will be talking about Christian upbringing for children. I’d imagine the temptation for you at some point would probably be to say, “Hey, wait a second, this guy has no idea what he’s talking about. What does he know about child rearing? He hasn’t encouraged his apprehensive child to be brave enough for the first day of school. He hasn’t had to deal with a child who’s been repeatedly picked on. He hasn’t had that helpless feeling of a parent at the bedside of their child before surgery. Who is he to tell me how to raise my children or grandchildren?” But I think that’s what makes me a good candidate to preach on this lesson. I am incapable of giving you my personal, experiential advice on being a Christian parent or grandparent, because I have no personal, experiential advice. All I’m able to do is give you objective exposition of the Christian parental advice that we find here in God’s Word. So take me out of the equation, because I don’t really have much to say about parenting. But the Lord certainly does. He spends no small amount of time and space in Scripture instructing believers on principles of how to raise their children, as is evident by today’s lesson. In this lesson we will find the motivation to echo the psalmist’s words,

“We Will Tell the Next Generation”

The Children of Israel were a frustrating people. You have to believe that when God looked at all the pagan nations of the world and saw them worshipping their false idols, his anger was definitely roused. But, when his own chosen people, the Children of Israel would fall into pits of idolatry and immorality, it had to be that much more personal. It’s kind of like when you see America’s youth fall into drug problems, it’s discouraging, but when it happens to your own kid, you think, “Man, I spoke to this child myself and told him not to get mixed up in this. What could he possibly have been thinking?” This is what God must have thought when looking at the nation of Israel. “After all I’ve done for you. After all the love I’ve shown to you—The the miraculous deliverance, the endless provision, the unwavering protection, and this is thanks I get?” We find the Children of Israel throughout the Old Testament constantly whining and complaining in the Wilderness. Once they settled in the Promised Land, they were often jealous of the sinful lifestyles of their heathen neighbors. So they got involved in idol worship, and sexual immorality, frequently taking heathen neighbors as their spouses, which led to all sorts of problems. Israel just didn’t seem to get it. Perhaps the best synopsis of the fickle faith of the Children of Israel is taught in the book of Judges, where we see a repeated pattern: 1) A new generation of Israelites neglects God and worships other deities; 2) God punishes them through foreign oppression; 3) the people repent and beg God to save them; and 4) God delivers the people militarily through a judge. But then it all starts over again, back at square one! Israel would once again neglect God and worship other deities. Our lesson gives evidence to this in verse 8, talking about the Israelites’ forefathers—a people the psalmist describes as “a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.” Why didn’t they learn their lesson?! That’s really one of the main questions we want to answer today—why did Israel keep falling into unfaithfulness?

The psalmist from our lesson tells us what one of the main problems was—a lack of proper Christian Education. Israel didn’t learn from its mistakes—they did not make it a priority to tell the next generation what had happened, and consequently, what would happen to them if they repeated the errors of their ancestors. But the inspired writer of Psalm 78 has a message from God that says, “Enough. Never again will we forget what happens when we disobey God’s commands to follow our own ways.” And yet, his message still sometimes falls on deaf ears. Every one of us has at some point forgotten or simply not cared about God’s Will for our lives. Sure, you’d probably be hard pressed to find someone who has bowed down before a pagan idol or practiced sexual immorality with a shrine prostitute here. But every last one of us has been guilty of prostituting ourselves to the gods of this age. Each of us has sold a part of our souls for the pleasures of this world. And each of us as individuals knows better than anyone else what that idol is that has at some time or maybe many times come between us and our God. These sins have led many Christians over the years astray, into unbelief. And you think, maybe, just maybe if they had known better about the dangers of these sins by studying the errors of God’s people in the Bible, maybe they could have avoided whatever it was that was their downfall. Maybe they just needed a better Christian Education. Maybe if they had known a little more clearly God’s overwhelming love for them, they would have been more inclined to live lives in accord with his commands. If only they had been told a little more by the previous generation.

We, as a body of believers, are God’s chosen people just as the Children of Israel were. We have the same amount of opportunity and responsibility for Christian Education as they had. But we know what happened to many of the Israelites. Although some sins may have different names now, we face the same root temptations of pride, lust, envy, greed, hatred, apathy, discontentment, and so on, that Israel did. But specifically today, we realize that we face the same temptation they did of failing to instruct future generations.

How can we make sure that future generations don’t suffer the same mistakes that we have and that Israel did? The answer is clear: faithfully instruct them in Christian Education. It sounds pretty simple, doesn’t it? It sounds simple until the alarm goes off on Sunday mornings. At that point, a little extra sleep sometimes sounds like more of an immediate need. It sounds simple until we get home from work. At that point, paying the bills, exercise, or our favorite show seems a little more urgent. It sounds simple until we’re running a little late in the morning and we have to make sure everyone gets dressed, fed, their books together, and their teeth brushed. An activity that focuses the day on Christ like a prayer together or a brief family devotion falls down the priority list. Christian Education sounds simple until our children are bombarded with a million extracurricular activities that they enjoy. Who are we then to say, “No. If this is going to distract you from necessary time spent on Christian Education, it’s not worth it.” Well, we’re the ones God put in charge of instructing them. That’s who we are. To a young sinful nature that thinks at times that we are unfair, we as parents, grandparents, and guardians will proudly say with the psalmist, “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old—what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.”

The words used in this lesson for “parables” and “hidden things” are interesting ones. The word translated as “parable” indicates something that needs to be carefully studied and compared with your own situation before it can be properly understood and applied correctly. The word translated as “hidden things” indicates something that is hidden because it can only be understood through revelation of the Holy Spirit. Keeping these things in mind, we see that if we want our children to understand God’s Word, they will need to carefully, thoroughly study God’s Word. That means that bringing them to church and perhaps dropping them off at Sunday School might not suffice when it comes to careful, thorough instruction in God’s Word. The truths of Scripture are “hidden” from us by nature. Only when the Holy Spirit works on our hearts through the Means of Grace, the Gospel in Word and Sacrament, can we be led to revelation and understanding of these truths. That means that the more exposure we have to the Means of Grace, the more time that is spent in spiritual revelation. As the guardians, we are the ones in charge of this time spent. God tells us the same thing he told our spiritual forefathers in Israel here in verses 5 and 6, “he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.” We are not just responsible for our children, but for their children, and their children’s children. But the best way to instruct those in coming generations is to instruct our children to such a degree that they are able to teach others.

Sometimes we might be tempted to think that we are unqualified to instruct our children. We know how sinful we are and so we think we are unfit Christian teachers. We might be tempted to think that we simply don’t know Scripture well enough and don’t want to do more damage than good to our child. The first point to mention would be that we are all probably more qualified than we think. If you know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, loved you enough to die for your sins, tell that fact to your child, and remind them regularly, because that’s a fantastic start. The second point would then be, if you don’t think you know the Bible well enough to instruct your children, well, the natural solution would be to learn it better.

There is a commonly taught principle in education known as “Hoag’s Learning Ladder.” “Hoag’s Learning Ladder” states that people remember: 5% of what they hear, 10% of what they see, 20% of what they echo, 40% of what they answer, 65% of what they discuss, 75% of what they create, and 90% of what they teach. According to this principle, the person who really is the one that will remember most from my sermon today is…….me. That makes sense. So if you want to take your personal understanding of God’s Word to a new level, teach the gospel message that you treasure to someone else. Pass it on from this generation to the next and you, the teacher, will gain new insight into Christian truth.

Here at Messiah we have as much opportunity for Christian Education as anywhere. We have the children and grandchildren of the congregation. These children have their friends from school. Not to mention, about 50 feet from us we have a Child Care Center. Support these groups focused on Christian Education. Pray for the families of the Congregation and pray for the workers and children at the Child Care Center. We have been given the privilege to help pass the good news of salvation to the next generation.

Make no mistake, the opportunity to spread the gospel is indeed a privilege. Pastor and I have remarked to one another several times how there is perhaps no more inspirational time in public ministry than seeing the Holy Spirit flip a light on in someone’s head in a Bible Information Class. “Wait a second……God wants to grant me salvation but he asks nothing in return but that I believe this? I am so important to God that he knew me and called me before I was even born? God has a room waiting for me in heaven that he himself prepared for me? God loved me so much that he sent his Son to die in order to make me his child?” The realization of forgiveness of sins and the promise of salvation that this Christian Education brings about has softened the hearts of men and children alike. Not a famine, or persecution, or an earthquake, or a snowstorm will stop us from teaching this message. But God says that even if something should stifle us, the rocks themselves will cry out in Christian Education, telling of the free forgiveness won by Jesus Christ. God has simply blessed us with the joy of participating in this act of telling future generations. And take these words of the psalmist to heart, those that we educate, “they will put their trust in God and will not forget his deeds but will keep his commands.”

I had mentioned earlier that God inspired many of the writers of his Holy Word to encourage Christian Education. Some sections of Scripture that come to mind right away are what we have recorded for us in Deuteronomy 4-6, Ephesians 6, and another perhaps more subtle point in 2 Timothy 1:5. Here Paul acknowledges Timothy’s Christian Education by saying, “I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.” It probably wasn’t just a coincidence that here you see three generations of faithful people. It was probably because faithful Christian Education went on between those generations and the Holy Spirit undoubtedly worked through that education. Likewise, he works through our continued education and will work through the education we give to those we teach, who in turn will teach it to those whom God entrusts into their care.

The Holy Spirit leads us to make Christian Education a priority in our lives. He leads us to know where we as Christians have been, not forgetting, but learning from the previous mistakes of God’s people. He leads us to rejoice in keeping the laws of the Lord. He leads us to fully appreciate the One who kept those commands perfectly and yet died as our Substitute for our failure to perfectly keep them. The Holy Spirit leads us to make the same statement as Joshua, God’s appointed leader of Israel right after Moses. During his farewell speech Joshua was encouraging the Israelites to make sure they didn’t forget all that they had been through and all that they were looking forward to. Joshua knew the only way they wouldn’t forget was through Christian Education. He made the choice that his family would be educated to remain faithful to the Lord. His confession was: “If serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” (Joshua 24:15) As Joshua faithfully did before us, “We Will Tell the Next Generation.” Amen.

–Vicar James Hein

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February 23, 2007 by admin.

Jeremiah 17:5-8

In the name of our Savior who speaks to us through his Word, dear fellow servants of our Lord,

A couple years ago I saw a story about it on the local news, so last night I decided to go online and see if I could find it. And there it was – prairietumbleweedfarm.com! Yup – you guessed it! They grow and sell tumbleweeds! Right on their homepage – underneath their motto: “If they don’t tumble we don’t sell them!” – they state: “We ship tumbleweeds anywhere in the world.” And their home base? Garden City, Kansas . . . . “Tumbleweed Capital of the World!” I’m not sure if we should be more concerned about the people who make money selling them or about those who actually buy them! And I used to think that tumbleweeds were only good for target practice on those long trips through western Kansas!

Aside from a novelty item, we’d be hard-pressed to come up with a genuine use for tumbleweeds. After all, they’re just “weeds” that “tumble,” with no life-giving connection. You and I would be just as useless spiritually if we lost our connection to our source of strength. So let’s listen to the Lord as he speaks to us through the prophet Jeremiah. Let’s figure out what we are spiritually:

“Tumbleweed or Towering Tree?”

I. Trusting in man leaves us high and dry
I. Trusting in God brings us water and life

Jeremiah had been given the difficult duty of announcing the Lord’s judgment on Judah. The message was vivid and unmistakable. The Lord told Jeremiah not to marry because famine and the sword were coming. He instructed him not to go to a house of mourning because the Lord no longer would have any pity for his people. Nor was Jeremiah to enter a house of feasting because the sounds of joy were soon to end. The Lord would be severing relations with his covenant people. Jump back to the verse right before our text and we see that the people had only themselves to blame. The Lord tells them (Jer 17:4), “Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know.”

Judah would soon learn that trusting in man had left them high and dry (v 5), “This is what the LORD says: ‘Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.’” When faced with the threat of the Babylonians, Judah turned away from the Lord and instead tried to enlist the aid of Egypt as an ally. The Lord had tried to warn them (Jer 2:18,36), “Now why go to Egypt? . . . You will be disappointed.” Still, instead of repenting and putting their trust in the Lord, Judah turned to military might and political alliances for strength and security.

Soon they would learn how foolish a choice they had made. The Lord describes the fate of anyone who trusts in man instead of in him (v 6), “He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.” Out in the Judean desert one would easily find a number of juniper bushes struggling to survive. When rain comes to other parts of the world, these bushes out in the wasteland fail to benefit. If you want a more modern picture, think again of the tumbleweeds of western Kansas. Due to a lack of water and a very limited root system, tumbleweeds easily lose their ties to the ground and are at the mercy of the wind as to where they end up. They become nothing but lifeless, useless, tumbling weeds! They’re left high and dry, just like the one who puts his trust in man. In our psalm from this morning, those who forsake the Lord are described as “chaff that the wind blows away” (Ps 1:4). By trusting in man, the nation of Judah was left to face the bitter consequences – isolation, deprivation, and condemnation.

“You can do anything you set your mind to do!” Do you believe that? We want to. After all, we hear it all the time – in the business world, in education, in athletics. And yet while such cheerleading may get us all fired up, in the end we run up against the inadequacies of the human flesh. We fail! We lose! We let ourselves down! We find out that there are things that we can’t do, no matter how hard we try. Now I’m not saying we should all be pessimists who are afraid to attempt anything difficult. But we have to realize where our real strength is found. The apostle Paul did say, “I can do everything,” but he added these important words: “. . . through him who gives me strength” (Php 4:13). Without God, we’re helpless. We’re like tumbleweeds, left high and dry. But with the Lord, anything is possible. With the Lord we’re no longer tumbleweeds – we’re towering trees. Trusting in God brings us water and life!

Ask a random number of people today what they’re looking for in life, and you might be surprised how many give you an answer having to do with security. Then ask them where they think such security is found, and the answers will vary: in a large bank account, in stable relationships, in good health, in financial investments, etc. The problems with all those answers is that they’re all temporal solutions — none of them will last beyond this lifetime. For real security we need to think beyond anything found on this earth (v 7), “But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.” Throughout Israel’s history the Lord had proven himself trustworthy time after time. What he promised, he fulfilled. He always provided, always delivered, always responded to his people’s cries for help. And the best was yet to come, for the Lord would respond to the world’s cry for help by fulfilling his promise of a Messiah. When it comes to salvation, on our own we’re all left high and dry. We have no solution – our own works can’t cut it; we can’t bargain with God; we can’t just “do our best” and “hope for the best.” No, God had to step in, wipe our sins away, and plant us once again in his kingdom through the suffering and death of his very own Son, who himself invites our trust when he says (Jn 14:1), “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me.” In Jesus our biggest need has been met. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.”

When we trust in the Lord, then we’ll find the life-sustaining water we need. Then we will be “like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit” (v 8 ). What a difference from that lifeless tumbleweed! Unlike the high and dry bush in the desert, the man who trusts in the Lord is a strong, vital, fruitful tree. Even the unending heat and dryness of the summer are no threats to him. The secret to his fruitfulness? His nearby source of water! Where there is water, there is life. The Lord gives us that living water through his promises of forgiveness, protection, and salvation. He makes us alive again, standing tall as towering trees, firmly rooted in his Word.

If you’re opposed to the idea of tumbling aimlessly through life like a rootless weed, then dig in to the Word of God! Plant yourself here in God’s house every Sunday. Open your Bibles in your homes so you are regularly exposed to the “Son-light” of God’s love, evidenced in all that our Savior did so we could once again stand tall as fruitful trees. Keep yourselves close to your source of strength. Keep your roots by the stream of God’s Word – the water of life! Then you’ll never have to fear when the heat is on, when adversity strikes. When life on earth gets tough and all earthly resources seem to dry up, leaving our strength sapped and our willpower weak, we still will survive. That’s because all our cares, all our worries, have been taken care of in Christ. With roots firmly grounded in the Word, the everyday challenges of life can be met head-on, and in the end we’ll still be standing tall.

And we’ll still be bearing fruit. Trusting in God guarantees that our leaves will “always [be] green” and they will “never [fail] to bear fruit.” And isn’t that why we’re still here on this earth? We live in a world full of tumbleweeds, of people being tossed through life with no roots, no real connection to what can truly give them life. Don’t be fooled by what you see on the outside. People have learned to mask their pain and hopelessness. They’ve learned how to hide their despair. They present a strong front on the outside, but inwardly they’re wasting away. So many have misplaced their trust in someone or something that can’t do a thing for them when it comes to their salvation. They’re dying of thirst, soon to tumble into eternity with no hope, no joy, and no Savior.

Being planted by the water of life means that you and I can’t help but produce fruit. Only by cutting ourselves off from the Word will we be found with bare branches. So stay rooted in the Word – not only for your own sakes, but also for the sake of others, others who need to know that “when heat comes” there’s no reason to fear; and “in a year of drought,” there’s no reason to despair. They have the same Savior we do, one who has promised them also (Mt 28:20), “Surely I am with you always.”

Trusting in man leaves us high and dry. Trusting in God brings us water and life. So what will it be for you: tumbleweed or towering tree? Out on the Prairie Tumbleweed Farm a large tumbleweed is worth $25 plus shipping. But if you live like one you’re not worth a nickel! How different it is for the towering tree! A life firmly rooted in God’s Word, one bearing plentiful fruit, is priceless! And, best of all, that life never ends!

Amen

–Pastor Jonathan Rockhoff

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February 23, 2007 by admin.

Luke 9:28-36
Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come.  Amen. (Revelation 1:4b)
 

“This is My Son, Whom I Have Chosen”

Transfiguration Sunday is something that most Christian churches celebrate every year.  Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox churches traditionally celebrate it in August.  The Protestant churches have celebrated it between Epiphany and Lent.  Celebrating it once a year means that many here have perhaps studied the Transfiguration or heard about it upwards of 40 or 50 times.  And yet, you don’t hear many people referencing it for comfort regarding God’s protection, providence, or forgiveness.  The Transfiguration may not be the first Bible story you think to share with someone in the hospital.  It’s probably not the story you run to for encouragement when you’re having trouble making ends meet financially.  You may not have turned to these words to save your marriage.  We’re tempted to think to ourselves, “What is it good for?  Why have I spent approximately 2% of the Sundays in my life in church on this?”  It seems a bit hollow to think of it merely as a transition Sunday between Epiphany and Lent.  Some churches have sensed this feeling of irrelevance towards the Sunday and tried to turn the Transfiguration into a personal event that we all need to do, make a Transfiguration and transformation in our lives.  But a brief reading of the account indicates clearly that this is not what the Transfiguration is about.  So what is this event that we find in all three Synoptic Gospels?  Today, let’s ask ourselves the good Lutheran question, “What does this mean?” as we examine the Transfiguration, hearing the words of God the Father, saying:
 

“This is My Son, Whom I Have Chosen”

I.                    Behold his glory
II.                  Remember his mission
III.               Listen to his Word
In the verses leading up to our lesson for today, Jesus had asked for somewhat of a confession of faith from the disciples.  They were about to enter a rocky period in ministry, where there would be increased resistance for all of them.  A statement of where they stood spiritually was appropriate at this point.  With Peter leading the confessions, the disciples acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God.  This was obviously the correct response.  But, in somewhat of a surprising twist, Jesus then told his disciples that, for the time being, they were not to tell this to anyone.  He went on to explain how he had work to finish before they spread the news about him any further.
About a week after this conversation, Jesus took Peter, John, and James up onto a mountain to pray.  We’re not exactly sure which mountain this was.  Scholars dispute it.  It was somewhere in the northern part of Israel.  Mt. Tabor or Mt. Hermon, the exact location isn’t really important.  What happens there, however, is.  As was the case in several important situations, Jesus brought along his three closest disciples.  Why just the three?  Maybe it was convenience.  Maybe it was an issue of spiritual maturity.  Maybe it was just that Jesus was human, and we naturally feel more comfortable with some people more than others.  At the very least though, it was a statement of the trust that Jesus had in these three, two of whom would later become inspired writers of Scripture.
At the top of the mountain, Jesus began to pray, and we’re told “the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning.”  What do you think that was like?  Normally, Jesus looked like a man because, after all, he was true man.  Here, Jesus allowed for himself to look like God.  After all, he was true God.  We cannot say much about the details of his appearance.  Certain artists throughout history like Raphael, in his famous deathbed painting of it, have tried to depict the Transfiguration.  Obviously none could do it justice though.  All we can really say about what the Transfiguration looked like is that Christ’s face changed from what it was, and he radiated an extraordinary light.  The scene was glorious and brilliant, just like God, just like the place where God lives.  It was unlike anything you or I have ever seen.  But if we are to be blinded by the light of Christ’s glory, it’s important for us to remember his mission.
 

“Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus.”  Now, I don’t know about you, but that seems a bit odd to me.  Why Moses?  Why Elijah?  Well, thinking it through, we know that these were two of the most prominent figures of the Old Testament.  Moses was the Lawgiver and the Great Deliverer of the nation of Israel.  Elijah was the embodiment of all that a Great Prophet in the Old Testament should be.  He was such an important figure in Jewish culture that it was commonly believed among the Jews that he would return before Judgment Day.  Together, the two summarized the law and the prophets, i.e. the whole Old Testament.  Here’s a piece of information that I find incredibly fascinating: Moses’ successor was named Joshua.  Elijah’s successor was named Elisha.  Another Hebrew name for Elisha is Joshua.  Jesus was the ultimate successor of both Moses and Elijah.  He was the one who was the perfect Law-keeper, who would deliver people from their sins, and then prophesy that Gospel message to the world.  Jesus’ Hebrew name was Joshua.  Joshua is a name that means “the LORD saves.”  It’s hard to miss God’s intricate foreshadowing in the Old Testament.  It’s clear to us that God has an important, well thought out plan here.  But what exactly was that plan that Moses and Elijah were talking to Jesus about?
We don’t receive any quotes from the dialogue between the three, but we do know what the topic of conversation was.  “They spoke about his (Jesus’) departure?”  Reading a little further, we learn what this “departure” was.  We find out that Jesus was about to complete his work very soon and that it would take place in Jerusalem.  This informs us of a sense of urgency as well as a sense of focus for the rest of Christ’s ministry.  That is why this lesson of Transfiguration is such a fitting transition from the church season of Epiphany, where we see the brilliance of Christ shining forth as true God, to the season of Lent, where the final stages of Christ’s redemptive work unfold before our eyes.  As Christ is glowing in a radiant light, he begins to speak about his departure from this world.  The word used here for “departure” is actually the word “exodus.”  Just as God had saved his physical nation of Israel with an exodus under the leadership of Moses, he was now about to save his spiritual nation of Israel with an exodus in the death and resurrection of Christ.
Believe it or not, the three disciples present, undoubtedly exhausted from the journey up the mountain, had been in deep sleep throughout all this.  At some point during the astonishing occurrence, the three woke up.  We don’t hear any words from them until Moses and Elijah started to leave.  It’s as if the disciples were too blown away by the glory of the Transfiguration to speak.  Finally, Peter utters out a couple of words when it’s coming to a close.  He says, “Master, it is good for us to be here.  Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”  This is followed by a parenthetical statement in the Bible which says that Peter “did not know what he was saying.”  Peter was never one to let an opportunity pass him by.  That much we can give him credit for.  But he didn’t always think things through.  Instead, he often reacted to his instincts.  He didn’t really know what it was that he was witnessing, but he knew that it was “good.”  He wanted to remain in the presence of this glory as long as possible, so he throws out a somewhat ridiculous offer to set up some tents.  We look at him and say, “Yeah, Peter, like you’re going to pop up a couple of Coleman’s and have a slumber party with these three heavenly figures,” and it sounds kind of silly.  But Peter just wanted to trap and house that glory of God right then and there.
And we can understand where Peter is coming from.  We’ve all probably at some point experienced a good time we hoped would never end.  Not necessarily that the activity or event wouldn’t end, that might get boring, but that the sensation we experience during it wouldn’t end.  Did that sensation happen on the day your child was born?  Did it happen when you got married?  Did it happen when you landed your job?  We just celebrated Valentine’s Day this past week.  Maybe you experienced that satisfaction of a marriage that has gone through a lot of trials but has still come out on top, and a true sense of peace and joy came over you.  Maybe you experienced the satisfaction of a marriage that hasn’t undergone too many troubles.  Maybe you even met someone new on Valentine’s Day and you got that initial rush of excitement of falling head over heels for someone.  Whatever your most enjoyable moment was, don’t you wish you could store it in a tent and make it last a little longer?  Sometimes today we use the expression “savor the moment.”  That’s what Peter wanted.  Literally, this Transfiguration was a little slice of heaven on earth.  Who could blame him for wanting more?
But the time for the presence of that glory had not yet come.  There was still work to be done, something Peter didn’t fully grasp.  “While he (Peter) was speaking, a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud.”  You would like to think the disciples, especially Jesus’ closest ones, wouldn’t be afraid while in his presence.  But what was happening was so radically different from anything they had seen, that the fear of uncertainty had gotten a hold of them.  Dispelling their fears was the voice of God, which said to them, “This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.”  The word “choose” means that you select something for a reason, with a purpose.  God’s purpose for Jesus to come to earth was to die on the cross.  It had to happen if God was going to reconcile a world of sinners back to himself.  The reason he chose Jesus, his only Son, was because he was the only one capable of such a task.  The Law needed to be kept perfectly if there was to be salvation.  If it was going to be salvation for the entire world, it would need to be the Son of God who kept it, yet was sacrificed for it.  At the Transfiguration, Jesus stood at the top of that mountain as an unblemished sacrifice, ready to descend all the way down that mountain into his grave.  The Father’s charge to the disciples there was to “listen to him.”  “Don’t get in his way.  Don’t start a rebellion on his behalf.  His work needs to be done.  He’ll tell you what he needs from you.”  “Listen to him.”
 If we are to remember Christ’s mission, we too will need to listen to his Word.  These disciples have passed this command from God on to us – “Listen to him.”  Listen to him because he’s got good things to say.  Very soon, on Maundy Thursday, he’s going to tell us about how our faith is strengthened in his body and blood.  On Good Friday he’s going to tell us about how his redemptive work is absolutely complete when he utters the words “It is finished” from the cross.  He is going to comfort his disciples and us by saying, “Peace be with you” before he ascends into heaven.  He will say countless other profound things that have every bit as much meaning and application to our lives as they did to the disciples then.  Just “Listen to him.”

These disciples have passed this command from God on to us –   Listen to him because he’s got good things to say.  Very soon, on Maundy Thursday, he’s going to tell us about how our faith is strengthened in his body and blood.  On Good Friday he’s going to tell us about how his redemptive work is absolutely complete when he utters the words “It is finished” from the cross.  He is going to comfort his disciples and us by saying, “Peace be with you” before he ascends into heaven.  He will say countless other profound things that have every bit as much meaning and application to our lives as they did to the disciples then.  Just  “When the voice had spoken, they found that Jesus was alone.  The disciples kept this to themselves, and told no one at that time what they had seen.”  In the parallel gospel account from Matthew 17:9, we learn that it was Jesus who instructs the disciples not to tell anyone what they had seen.  Now later on they would certainly tell of it.  In Peter’s second letter he writes, “We were eyewitnesses of his (Christ’s) majesty” (2 Peter 1:16).  In John’s recorded Gospel, he writes, “We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only” (John 1:14).  But for the time being, Jesus did not allow them to tell anyone.  Why would he do such a thing?  If you recall, I mentioned that he said the same thing to all twelve of the disciples in the verses prior to our lesson for today.  Simply put, Jesus didn’t want to disrupt his work of dying on the cross and rising from the grave.  This needed to be done.  In addition, the disciples still did not fully understand what Jesus was doing—his plan of action, as was evident by Peter’s behavior.  They wouldn’t fully grasp it until his resurrection, so they weren’t really equipped to teach about it until then.  The time would come for them to tell this gospel story.  This moment was not that time.
But that time is now.  It has been 2000 years since Christ died and rose from the grave.  There have been times and nations in history, as there are still today, where it was and is a crime to tell about Jesus Christ’s free forgiveness for sins.  But now, for us, it would be a crime not to tell about it.  We are lucky enough to have been born into a time and society of almost unprecedented freedom.  Christ’s redemptive work is done and the message of it is waiting to be delivered.  As we listen to Jesus’ encouragement to “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to all creation” (Matthew 28:19) we find the desire and the privilege to do so.  Our human nature sometimes wants to trap the glory of God here on earth—to store up treasures here, to seek pleasure and fame and gloryhere.  But the Holy Spirit living in us tells us to put down those tents, walk down from the mountain with Christ, and take care of the work that still needs to be done.  It is not redemptive work.  That was completed in Jerusalem.  Our work is tell about it.  God will grant us the strength to tell about his Son, Whom He Chose to grant us the brilliant glory of salvation.  Amen.
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy - to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forever more!  Amen.  (Jude 24,25)

–Vicar James Hein

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