June 30, 2008 by admin.

In the name of our God, whose presence is always with us, dear fellow believers,

It’s taken many months of campaigning, but we finally have our two candidates for this fall’s presidential election. No doubt over the next few months we’ll continue to hear Senator Obama and Senator McCain debate about key issues that they feel will influence people and how they vote. These issues will include health care, gas prices, the economy, and the like. Another hot topic is sure to be the war in Iraq and our involvement in the affairs of the Iraqi people. It’s a pretty polarizing issue. Either you feel that we don’t belong there and should pull our troops, or you’re of the opinion that we should stay put until we accomplish our objectives. Either way, it appears as if we will be “at war” for up to and possibly beyond a decade once all is said and done.

Even though the battlefield is miles away, the reports of casualties remind us that this battle is very real and affects many people in our country. And yet there’s another battle closer to home, a war that is being engaged in every human being. We’re not facing an army from another country. But we are up against a very real and a very dangerous adversary — three of them, in fact. We’re battling the devil, the sinful world around us, and an enemy who’s all too close for comfort — the sinful nature that lives in each of us. On the other side of the confrontation is what we call our “New Man,” the part of us that desires to please our Lord, given to us and supported by God the Holy Spirit. The battle these combatants wage is hard, and the battle is long. As St. Paul reminds us this morning, every day, every hour, every minute of our lives:

“We Are at War”

I. The cause

II. The conflict

III. The victory

Our enemy didn’t invade from another country. We were born with it. It’s our inheritance from Adam (Ro 5:12), “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.” There’s no way of avoiding this fate. Earlier Paul describes us all as “slaves to sin” (Ro 6:20). We’re at war because we were born with sin.

The New Man in us is frustrated having to coexist with the enemy we call sin. Sin causes problems (v 15), “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.” Earlier Paul reminds us that as Christians we “have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God” (Ro 6:22). And yet our sinful nature still brands us as sinners and slaves to sin. The New Man in Paul wouldn’t acknowledge what his sinful nature did. He wanted to do only what was pleasing to his Lord, and yet when he takes inventory of his life, Paul sees just the opposite. It would be like working on an automobile assembly line, watching a car creeping down the line take shape. Doors, fenders, windows, the engine, and the transmission are all in place. Workmen have applied the last coat of lacquer. All that’s left is the final step of rustproofing. But what comes off the assembly line is covered with a bunch of dents and scratches, displaying areas of rust and erosion. What could have happened? What went wrong? That’s what Paul must have been asking himself when he took inventory of his life.

The problem wasn’t with Paul’s New Man or with God (v 16), “And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.” The war within us isn’t God’s fault. As Christians we recognize the benefits of having God’s law to guide us and to show us our sins. The real culprit is sin itself (v 17), “As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.” Sin is the intruder, the trespasser who doesn’t belong in us. And yet we appear virtually powerless to expel him from our lives. It’s as if we’ve become puppets, with Satan controlling the strings. Sin takes over, and since sin is still a part of us, we are responsible when our sins win out over our New Man.

The cause of our warfare goes deep beneath the surface. It’s like the old clock in the church that no longer kept the proper time. It usually went too fast, causing the people to think the pastor was keeping them too long. Finally the pastor made a little sign and posted it by the clock. It read, “Don’t blame the hands. The problem lies deeper.” The problem wasn’t the hands pointing out the wrong time. The problem was with the inner mechanism and springs. So it is with us (Mt 15:19), “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” That’s what causes us to go to war with God, for “the sinful mind is hostile to God” (Ro 8:7).

And yet God’s grace brings to our side a worthy opponent for sin. In 1 Corinthians we’re told (1 Co 6:19), “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you?” We’ve always got company, because through baptism we’ve gained an ally. Just like the Lord assured Moses of his constant presence, so also we aren’t fighting alone. We know the cause of the battle — sin. Now let’s take a look at the conflict between sin and our New Man, supported by our ally, God the Holy Spirit.

On the one side you have the desire for good. On the other side we find the failure to carry out that good (vv 18,19), “I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do — this I keep on doing.” Our sinful nature is rotten to the core. We want to do good, but our sinful nature overrules us. It’s like wanting to put up beautiful shining Christmas lights to adorn our lives, only to have sin keep pulling the plug.

It seems that even our best efforts are always overcome by sin (vv 20,21), “Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” Sin is responsible for turning “all our righteous acts . . .[into] filthy rags” (Isa 64:6). Sin taints everything we do. It’s like the sleeping dog lounging alongside us. It may seem harmless enough, but as soon as we make our move to do something good, that dog awakens and attacks, destroying any good intentions we might have had. Such is the conflict we face.

And yet our New Man continues to do battle, even though it appears to be a losing one (vv 22,23), “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.” As Christians we, like Paul, take pleasure in finding ways to please God. And yet we, too, find “another law” that often leads us instead to do things that are pleasing to the devil. It often seems as if our entire body is under the devil’s control, as he infiltrates our minds and takes us prisoner. In the end we might say that we feel like a boxer knocked out in the opening seconds of the fight — we’re defeated before we ever get a chance to fight! It seems as if our demise is inevitable.

Our conflict against sin and Satan is never-ending. It’s like pulling weeds in your garden — they keep coming back, no matter how many you pull. Satan keeps coming back, no matter how often we try to “pull” him out of our lives. When we go to war with him, be assured that there will be no cease-fires, no days off, no vacations from the battle. Peter tells us (1 Pe 5:8), “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” He keeps tempting us into those pet sins that we find so hard to resist, and we end up giving in so many times. The worst thing we could ever do would be to underestimate our opponent. So let’s recognize the battle we’re in and the enemy we’re up against. If you don’t feel the heat of the battle, then you’re really in trouble because Satan has tricked you into a false sense of security. You sense a peace that you can’t obtain on your own. With Satan there is no such peace. We’re always in for a fight, battling for our eternal soul.

Yes, we may lose many of these battles, but there’s still some great news. We’ve won the war! It wasn’t our doing. But the victory has been achieved for us — all by the grace of God in Christ Jesus!

First of all remember your own inability to overcome sin (v 24), “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?” When we see the losses brought on by sin, we’re dejected, but let us never despair. That’s because even though we may lose some battles, we’ve won the war. We know that eventually our conflict will end, and it will end in victory. That’s why we share Paul’s desire (Php 1:23), “I desire to depart and be with Christ.” We long for the day when the fighting will be done and we will be at peace for all eternity.

That day will be possible, not because of what we’ve done, but only because of our Lord (v 25), “Thanks be to God — through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Why do we say “thanks be to God”? Because “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8). God gave us the victory over sin and Satan, just as he had promised way back in Eden when he told the devil (Ge 3:15), “He [the Savior] will crush your head.” The Lord kept his promise and sent his Son: “Jesus,” the God-man, the one who mediates between us and our Father in heaven; “Christ,” the one anointed by God to fulfill all the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament; “our Lord,” the one who’s always in complete control, before whom “every knee should bow” (Php 2:10). That was Paul’s Savior. He is our Savior as well.

We are at war, but remember (1 Jn 4:4), “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.” Our enemy is tough, there’s no denying that fact. He’s impossible to defeat by ourselves. It’s foolish to even try. Many still do, as they attempt to moralize, rationalize, or even sympathize their sins away. But ignoring the battle won’t make it go away. The only solution is to repent and believe — believe that even though your enemy is strong, your Savior is stronger! He carried the entire weight of the world’s sins to Calvary, and there he disposed of them for all eternity. Now that same Savior picks us up and carries us through our daily battle with all our enemies. With him we know that the victory has already been won. Because ours is guaranteed to be a winning battle, we have the strength to keep at it. As we shall soon sing, (CW 537:1), “Onward, Christian soldiers, Marching as to war, With the cross of Jesus Going on before.” And as we march on, we do so as winners, because with Christ in the lead, we can’t lose!    Amen

–Rev. Jonathan Rockhoff

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June 24, 2008 by admin.

Peer Pressure is one of the more powerful influences that we have in our world. Almost everyone wants to be accepted in their social peer groups. Nobody likes to be the “odd man out”. Nobody likes to be singled out as “different” or “unusual”. Rather, people make every effort to be accepted, to be like the others in the group.

This is OK until it happens that what the group is doing is wrong. Other people in your office may help themselves to stamps, staplers, pens, and other equipment that belongs to the company. Our faith demands that we NOT join them, that we not participate in the sin, even though it may seem somewhat insignificant. In fact, our faith tells us that weshould try to prevent people from doing what is wrong.

I imagine that you would be a bit unpopular if you confronted your fellow employees. It would be easier for you to mind your own business, or perhaps even join in doing what the others are doing. At the time of our text, God had sent a prophet named Hananiah to warn the people of Judah about what they were doing. But Hananiah knew that if he did that, it wouldn’t make him very popular with the people. And Hananiah wanted to be accepted. Hen wanted to be liked. So rather than do what God sent him to do, Hananiah patted the people on the back and told them to keep up the good work.

Our text today describes the reaction of Jeremiah when he heard the words of Hananiah. He wasn’t afraid of confronting him, and he didn’t worry about how his rebuke would sit with the people of Judah. He had a responsibility that he had been given by God, and he knew that it was more important for him to

“Be True, Not Popular”

1. The World’s Sinfulness Demands It

2. God’s Love Demands It

Jeremiah wrote, “Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD. He said, ‘Amen! May the Lord do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you h ave prophesied by bringing the articles of the LORD’s house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon.’” God selected men through whom He would reveal His will to His people. When Hananiah was chosen by God, it was his responsibility to relay the message from God accurately. Hananiah was commissioned by God to speak a harsh message to the people, a message of captivity and destruction. Such a message would make Hananiah unpopular with the people. So he changed it. He told the people that they would soon be free from the enemy and that good times were just around the corner.

Jeremiah immediately confronted Hananiah. Before the priests and the people who were at the temple, he challenged the message of Hananiah. But he did so in a pretty unique way. “Amen! May the LORD do so!” he said. Jeremiah had prayed that the exile into Babylon would not be necessary. He had hoped that the people would confess their sins and repent. If so, God would forgive them and, perhaps, spare them from the Babylonians.

But Jeremiah knew that the people had not turned from their sinful ways. They had not repented and were not going to be spared from God’s punishment. The message of Hananiah only led the people to continue along their path of sin. If Jeremiah did not stand up and confront Hananiah and the sin of the people, they would soon meet the full wrath of God. He called the message of peace that Hananiah proclaimed “the words you have prophesied.” Hananiah had failed the LORD. He did not proclaim God’s message. He proclaimed a message that would make him more popular with the people.

While confronting people with their sins may be difficult, it is vital. God tells us that when a person sins against us we are to “go and show him his fault…” (Mt. 18:15) In the Old Testament Moses wrote, “Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.” (Lev. 19:17) What God wants us to do is clear. But doing it won’t make you the most popular person at the time. Unfortunately, the devil has misled people into believing that a harsh rebuke of sin isn’t so necessary. Misapplied Bible verses about God’s love and mercy have been used to downplay seriousness of sin and its consequences. We are surrounded by churches and religions that do not hold people accountable for sin, but rather preach a message of tolerance so that they do not offend anyone.

In our text, Hananiah took that route and was challenged by Jeremiah. He wrote, “Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms.” Pointing to the prophecies of the other men whom God had sent, Jeremiah noted a warning far different from the sugarcoated pat on the back spoken by Hananiah. So who was right? Jeremiah wrote, “But, the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true.” While Hananiah meant to bring joy and relief to the people, all he really did was lead them further away from God’s love.

II. God’s Love Demands It

When Adam and Eve fell into sin, God searched them out to offer them His help. When King David fell into sin, God sent Nathan to bring him His love. Jesus Himself reached out to a woman whom He met at a well who was spiraling toward hell because of her adulterous life. But in each case, the love was first shown by leading the person to recognize his or her sin. God said to Adam and Eve, “Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (Gen. 3:11) Nathan spoke to David in a picture story describing a rich man who stole a poor man’s only sheep to lead David to realize what he had done with Bathsheba. And Jesus made a simple, but leading, request of the woman He met at Jacob’s well, “Go, call your husband and come back.” (Jn. 4:7)

The justice of God demands that He punish sin. He is not able to ignore it or close His eyes to it. Sin will be punished, and the sinner will pay eternally. But only the unrepentant sinner. For those who confess their sins and turn to God for mercy, the blood of Jesus will set them free. God’s great love moved Him to punish His son in our place. Those who trust the words of the Lord and the forgiveness He promises will be set free from their sins.

And that is what leads us to preach God’s law, even when it is not a popular message. While a parent or doctor does not enjoy telling a child or patient that they are sick, it is necessary so that the problem can be confronted. If God had allowed the people of Judah to go about their lives misled by the sugarcoated message of Hananiah, they would have lived comfortable while on earth, but faced a horrible verdict on Judgment Day. God’s love demanded that He send Jeremiah, and His love demands that He send us to preach the whole will of God.

And, yes, that includes His love and mercy. We will never hesitate to assure a grieving sinner of God’s love for him. But it also includes God’s wrath and anger against sin. It means holding the guilty accountable. In love, we will need to do that without sounding condescending or arrogant. We will have to be careful about how we approach someone who has sinned. A parent can use each day to establish God’s will in the heart of his child. Other times we need to work slowly to win the confidence of a friend or neighbor so that they understand our intentions when it is necessary for us to speak with them. And in a world that wants to soften the message, we must hold firm to the unchanging will of God.

Peer pressure can be used to prevent us from doing what God calls us to do. We don’t want to be unpopular. We don’t want people to be angry with us. But imagine how angry they will be as God convicts them of their sins and sends them away into hell if you don’t help them. God calls on us to be true to Him, not popular with the world. Sometimes you can be both. Pray the people will follow the will of God and turn to Him in repentance and true faith. Amen

–Rev. Roger Rockhoff

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June 3, 2008 by admin.

In Christ Jesus, the only Way that leads to our salvation, dear fellow-redeemed,

The statement is so straightforward and simplistic, we’re often tempted to just slide by it (v 9), “‘Follow me,’ he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.” Was this some kind of mind control being displayed by Jesus, some divine power that caused Matthew to drop everything and follow after our Lord? No doubt Matthew had heard about Jesus and the gracious words of forgiveness that he had spoken, but those words wouldn’t have meant anything to Matthew unless he had first realized the tremendous burden he had been carrying in his heart.

Matthew was a tax collector, a Jewish man chosen by the Romans to gather in taxes from his fellow Jews. And the Romans loved to tax everything — clothing, food, land, slaves — you name it! You can imagine that these tax collectors weren’t local favorites, working for “the enemy” and taking their hard-earned dollars. Add to it that many of these tax collectors were crooked individuals known for inflating the price of merchandise and taxing it accordingly, just to line their own pockets with extra profit, and you see why they’re often lumped together with “pagans” in Scripture.

Like all tax collectors, Matthew suffered shame and disgrace because of his vocation. He wasn’t allowed into the synagogue for worship, in addition to being treated as an outcast by his own people. We’re not told that Matthew personally was a shady character known for taking advantage of people, but you have to wonder what else was weighing on his conscience that day. What led him to so quickly take Jesus up on his offer? We may not know the specifics, but what we do know is this: Matthew realized that he was a sinner. He knew he needed help. He knew he had no answers of his own, and here before him was the one sent “to seek and to save the lost” (Lk 19:10). His was an invitation Matthew couldn’t pass up.

This morning we rejoice, not only for Matthew, but also for ourselves, because we also have received our Lord’s invitation. This morning he says to each one of us:

“Follow Me!”

I. An invitation meant only for those sick with sin

II. A call meant only for those saved from sin

The account before us this morning occurred early in Jesus’ ministry. While up in Galilee, he had been giving evidence of his divine authority by healing a great number of people. He had just finished taking care of a paralyzed man, the one whom his friends had lowered down through the roof to get close to Jesus. Not only did Jesus make it possible for this man to walk again, but he offered him something even more important. He said to him (Mt 9:2), “Take heart, son, your sins are forgiven.” What a happy day, right? Not in the eyes of the Pharisees! These self-proclaimed religious “know-it-all’s” rained on the parade by accusing Jesus of blasphemy, of making himself out to be God! Keep this in mind when we come back to these same Pharisees a bit later as they continue to stick their noses in Jesus’ business.

Jesus wasn’t about to let a little opposition deter him from his mission. That’s why he goes on to issue his invitation to Matthew, the tax collector. He knew that Matthew was sick – sick with sin – and only he as the Savior had the antidote. And there was enough to go around for everyone who needed it.

Good thing, too, because Matthew had some friends for Jesus to meet who were as sick as he was. So he issues an invitation of his own to Jesus, inviting him over for dinner (v 10), “While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and ‘sinners’ came and ate with him and his disciples.” A motley crew indeed! You might say it was a whole houseful of Matthews! Here the word “sinners” has the connotation of social degenerate. This designation could have included everyone from prostitutes and thieves to those who were just guilty by associating with tax collectors and other social rejects. Even with various backgrounds and their own unique stories to tell, they still had one thing in common – they were all sinners.

It didn’t take long for the Pharisees to log their complaint (v 11), “When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and “sinners”?’” In those days sharing a meal with someone was one of the closest expressions of fellowship you could make. The Pharisees wouldn’t be caught dead in the company of such lowlifes, and they wanted to know how Jesus could lower himself to such a level. Even though they couldn’t stand Jesus, still they were miffed because he was wasting his time with these “sinners” while neglecting to hold an audience with them.

Why didn’t Jesus spend time with these Pharisees? Why didn’t he invite them to follow him? Because his was an invitation meant only for sinners, and the Pharisees didn’t think they fell into that category. They didn’t think they were sick. So Jesus explains why they were left out (v 12), “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” Jesus’ invitation was meant only for sinners. Matthew and his friends knew they were sick. The Pharisees claimed otherwise. Jesus came with a cure – in Matthew’s case, he even made house calls! He came calling with the medicine of his blood and righteousness, through which he could heal all people with the balm of forgiveness. But the Pharisees rejected the cure. In their eyes they were just fine, able to save themselves from the cancer of sin. Little did they know, they erred in their self-diagnosis, and the result would be deadly.

Jesus still comes calling today with his invitation, “Follow me.” And, just as in Matthew’s day, that invitation is meant only for those who know they are sick with sin. Unfortunately, the world around us is intent on convincing people that they’re not sick, that there’s nothing wrong with them, and that anyone who would tell them otherwise is out-of-line and judgmental. What’s even worse, this faulty and fatal perception is also being perpetuated in the religious realm, even among many Christian churches. No one wants to talk about the sickness of sin, choosing instead to ignore such negative thinking in light of offering more of a “feel good” message instead. Just check out the sermons of the popular TV preachers today, and let me know how often you hear self-esteem being promoted and sin being ignored. No one likes to hear they’re sick. No one wants to hear they’re a sinner.

But unless we know how sick we are, we’ll never appreciate how precious our Savior’s cure is. Until we realize how helpless we are in producing a cure, we’ll never long for the cure found only in the blood of Jesus. Unless we take a long, hard look at the x-ray of God’s law and see how terminally ill we are, we’ll never treasure the antidote of God’s grace. So don’t be surprised when you come here to Messiah and you get a dose of reality in all its ugliness dumped on you every Sunday by hearing over and over again that you’re a sinner. Then and only then will you appreciate the joy of hearing Jesus say to you, “Follow me.”

Jesus’ invitation to Matthew actually served a twofold purpose. Not only was he inviting him to receive the solution to his sinfulness, but he was also issuing him a call – a call meant only for those saved from sin.

Take note again of how Matthew responded to Jesus’ invitation, “Matthew got up and followed him.” The verb tense used in the original Greek language indicates that his following of Jesus began at that moment and continued uninterrupted into the future. In his account, Luke adds the information that Matthew “left everything” to follow Jesus (Lk 5:28). He left his counting table and everything else behind to serve his Savior, no longer collecting taxes but now eager to collect souls for his Lord!

Matthew started his ministry at home with a little “friendship evangelism,” inviting his friends and coworkers over to meet Jesus. We can just picture how elated he was, realizing what a difference Jesus had made in his life and now being so anxious to share his joy with those around him! So it works with us too. We know what we were and what we are now because of Jesus. We’re satisfied customers, and everyone knows that satisfied customers make the best salesmen. Just like Matthew, we know that we’ve been called to share our Lord’s cure with the world!

This is where the Pharisees got it all wrong. Jesus concludes by telling them (v 13), “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” You heard me read those words earlier as part of the First Lesson for today. They were first spoken by the Lord to the hypocritical Israelites in the Old Testament who continued to make sacrifices and carry out other outward signs of worship even though their hearts weren’t in it. That’s the same pit the Pharisees had fallen into. On the outside they prided themselves in keeping God’s laws, but their sacrifices were empty of mercy, as evidenced in the fact that they protested Jesus’ healing of the paralyzed man along with many others. They had refused mercy to sinners. They refused to heed Jesus’ invitation to forgiveness and his call to service. In their own eyes they considered themselves “righteous.” Jesus only wanted sinners – saved sinners – to serve in his kingdom.

Today I want you to take home with you the positive example of Matthew in heeding the Lord’s call, while recognizing the error of the Pharisees and their attitude towards worship. Sometimes we tend to think that our service to God only has to do with attending church, reading the Bible on occasion, saying some prayers, and plunking a few dollars into the collection plates each week. But the Lord wants more than our outward sacrifices. He once told his prophet Ezekiel (Eze 33:11), “My people come to you, as they usually do, and sit before you to listen to your words, but they do not put them into practice. With their mouths they express devotion, but their hearts are greedy for unjust gain.” Lip service is just pharisaical hypocrisy. God wants more – he wants our hearts! He wants us to take to heart what we’ve learned, to appreciate our Savior’s forgiveness, to abandon our sinful lives, to make changes in line with his will, and to seek out ways to serve him by reaching out to others. We’re all equipped to do so, because Jesus’ call was meant only for those saved from sin, and we all fall into that category.

So did Matthew. While recognizing his sinfulness, by the power of the Holy Spirit, he also recognized his Savior and heeded his call to “follow me.” Tradition has it that, in addition to writing the Gospel that bears his name, Matthew ended up doing mission work in Ethiopia where he was either burned to death, stoned, or beheaded – just for following Jesus! For Matthew it was all worth it, for as sick as he was with sin, he was healed by Jesus, and he considered it a privilege to serve him. May we also heed his invitation and his call, always considering it a joy and a privilege to hear our Savior say to each of us, “Follow me.”

Amen

–Rev. Jonathan Rockhoff

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