Sermon for October 30, 2016

Sermon for Reformation Sunday, October 30, 2016

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  John 8:31-36

Sermon Theme:  “Preaching the Truth for 500 Years”

(Sources:  Anderson, Cycle C, Preaching Workbook; Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 26, Part 4, Series C, Aug. 28 – Nov. 20, 2016; Brokhoff, Series C, Preaching Workbook; original ideas; Online Lutheran Jokes, Christian Forum; LCMS Plans Taking Shape for 2017 Reformation Celebration by Roger Drinnon; LCMS Convention Prepares to Celebrate Reformation 500th; Online Lund and the Quest for Christian Unity by Timothy George; Vatican Radio, Pope to Take Part in Reformation Events in Lund)

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

It’s been a while since I have had a Junior Confirmation class, but here’s a story I can relate to.  It seems a Lutheran Pastor was teaching his junior confirmation class about the Sacraments of the church when he noticed that young Johnny was not paying attention.

“Johnny!,” the Pastor said in a loud voice.  “Pay attention!  The Sacraments are very important to the church!”

“I know,” replied Johnny.

“Then, how many Sacraments are there in the Lutheran church?  Catholicsrecognize seven Sacraments, but how many do we acknowledge?”  Having just explained what a Sacrament is, the Pastor was very put out with Johnny.

Panic-stricken because he hadn’t been listening, Johnny searched hismind, trying to think of all the things his parents had always said were important to the church.  Then he took a breath and said, “Two.”

The Pastor was really impressed; he couldn’t believe Johnny got it right!

“And what are those two Sacraments?,” asked the Pastor.

Thinking he had it right, the boy responded with great confidence,

“Coffee and donuts!”

Tomorrow is October 31, Reformation Day. Today is known as Reformation Sunday.  On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Castle Church door in Wittenberg, Germany, marking the start of the Protestant Reformation, — which means that this year we begin the 500th year.  For 500 years, faithful Lutheran pastors have preached the truth, and the truth has set people free!

That’s why the pastor in my story felt it was so important for Johnny to understand the two Sacraments of the Lutheran Church. Continue reading

Sermon for October 23, 2016

Sermon for the Twenty-third Sunday after Pentecost

October 23, 2016, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Luke 18:9-17

Sermon Theme:  “Actions Flow from Attitudes”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; original ideas; Online Jokes about Self-Righteousness, cybersalt.org; Online Emphasis Illustrations and Commentaries; Online Evangelical Outpost; Harper’s Bible Dictionary; footnotes, Life Application Study Bible)

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Two elderly Southern women, attending their Full-Gospel church, were sitting together in the front pew of the church, listening to a very fiery preacher.  When this preacher condemned the sin of stealing, these two ladies cried out at the top of their lungs, “AMEN, PREACHER!”

When this preacher condemned the sin of lust, they yelled again, “PREACH IT, REVEREND!”

And when the preacher condemned the sin of lying, they jumped to their feet and screamed, “RIGHT ON, BROTHER!  TELL IT LIKE IT IS!  AMEN!”

But when the preacher condemned the sin of gossip, the two got very quiet.  One turned to the other and said, “He’s quit preaching and now he’s meddlin’!”

The attitude of these two faithful, church-going women is similar to the attitude of many folks when they read or hear the parable in today’s sermon text.  It’s a familiar parable, but in its familiarity, people miss the twist that Jesus intended.  If folks go away thinking that the Pharisee is the villain in the story and the Tax Collector is the hero, they missed Jesus’ intent.

In the parable, a Pharisee and a tax collector walk into a temple.  The Pharisee stands before the altar and prays, no doubt with palms lifted up to heaven and raised eyes.  The Pharisee prays, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.”

In contrast, the tax collector, standing off to the side, looking down, not able to lift his eyes up toward God, and beating his breast, prays, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.”  Jesus of course says  that the tax collector is the one of the two justified.  No doubt, those listening to Jesus tell this story, were staring at the Pharisee and thinking, “What a self-righteous group of men, those Pharisees are!  They are wicked!  Thank God I’m not a Pharisee!”  Before we go any further, let’s make sure we understand why the people felt the way they did about tax collectors and Pharisees. Continue reading

Sermon for October 16, 2016

Sermon for LWML Sunday, October 16, 2016

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Texts:  Luke 18:1-8; Luke 21:2-4; 2 Corinthians 8:1-7

Sermon Theme:  “Models of Persistence and Sacrificial Giving”

(Sources:  Emphasis Online Illustrations; “Mite Offerings,’ LWML website; “Mite Box Explanation and History,” LWML website; original ideas and examples; Life-Application Study Bible; Harper’s Bible Dictionary; Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 26, Part 4, Series C; Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook)

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ)

Often, persistence will get a person, or an animal, what he wants.  Our cat Gatsby is one of the most persistent creatures God ever created.  He follows me into the kitchen and begins to beg for snacks with a quiet meow.  I ignore him, and the meows get louder and louder.  I continue to ignore him and he starts to howl, throwing himself in front of me and lying on my feet.  I can’t take it any longer, so I toss him a handful of treats.  His persistence always works!

It works with people, too, Harpo Marx, one of the famous wacko Marx brothers, once experienced this truth.  Harpo was staying in a New York hotel when a lady who worked for a charity found out where he was staying and phoned him twelve separate times in the space of 48 hours, always with the same request, ‘Would you please speak at our charity benefit?’  Eventually Harpo relented and agreed to appear.

To make sure he wouldn’t duck out at the last minute, the lady showed up at his hotel room to personally escort him to the charity benefit.  On the way out of his room, the phone rang.  Harpo ignored it.  She asked, “Aren’t you even going  to answer your phone?”

“Why bother,” Harpo replied, “it’s probably you again.”

I have chosen three sermon texts for LWML Sunday.  The first one, Luke 18:1-8, shows the persistence of a widow.  The second one, Luke 21:2-4, shows the sacrificial giving of a widow.  And the third one, 2 Corinthians 8:1-7, shows the sacrificial giving of a congregation. Continue reading

Sermon for October 09, 2016

Sermon for the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, October 9, 2016

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  2 Timothy 2:1-13

Sermon Theme:  “Be Strengthened in Grace As You Share in Suffering”

(Sources: Concordia Pulpit Resources, Volume 26, Part 4, Series C; Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff, Series C, Preaching Workbook; The Wycliffe Handbook of Preaching and Preachers; Online Sermon Illustrations; “Nero Persecutes the Christians,” eyewitnesstohistory.com; original ideas; Online The Fiscal Times, March 22, 2015; Life-Application Study Bible footnotes; Lutheran Cyclopedia; “Charles Spurgeon: Preaching through Adversity” by John Piper)

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Once when Bob Hope, the famous comedian, received a major award, he responded, “I don’t deserve this, but then I have arthritis, and I don’t deserve that either.”  Neither suffering nor grace is deserved, but we have both.  Well, — in some cases, you do deserve the suffering, if, for example, you rob a bank and you suffer in prison as a consequence of your evil action.

Someone once asked famous Christian writer, C. S. Lewis, “But why do the righteous suffer?’

“Why not?” Lewis replied, “they’re the only ones who can take it.”

No one could write about the righteous endurance of suffering better than the Apostle Paul could.  In his second letter to Timothy, Paul tells his young co-worker Timothy, and us, four things:  ONE, In this life, all people suffer, and while Christians may suffer, they also endure; TWO, thus, as Christians, we have a need to be strengthened; THREE, we are strengthened by God’s grace, His favor that is in Christ Jesus; and FOUR, we are strengthened so that we may speak the saving Word to our neighbor, that is to all people.

No human being can live in this worldly life without eventually suffering.  As in the case of Paul in our text, it may be innocent suffering, — Paul was shackled in prison like a criminal because he preached the Gospel.  It wasn’t because he BELIEVED the Gospel, it was because he PREACHED it.  Paul fully expected to spend the rest of his life in prison or to be executed.

This was the second time Paul was in prison, and it was during the vicious, vicious persecutions of the Emperor Nero.  During his first imprisonment, around 60 A.D., Paul had been merely under house arrest, but this time, around 66 A.D., he was shackled in a prison cell.  To grasp the impact of what Paul is saying to Timothy, we must consider how inhuman this persecution was.  Under Nero, not only were they imprisoned in rat-infested dungeons, but also Christians were covered with the skins of wild animals and thrown into an arena filled with hungry dogs to attack them.  Under Nero, Christians were nailed to stakes and crosses.  Some had hooks driven through their throats and were hung from trees.  Some were doused with oil, ignited and used as human torches to light up Nero’s gardens.   Continue reading

Sermon for October 02, 2016

Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost

October 2, 2016, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Luke 17:5-6

Sermon Theme:  “’Dead Duck’ Faith”

(Sources:  Emphasis Online Commentaries; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Anderson, Cycle C, Preaching Workbook; “the Seed of Faith,” bunbury.org; original ideas; “Verses Showing Justification by Faith,” CARM; Nelson’s Three-in-One Bible References; Online article on Faith by Greg Koukl; Luther’s Small Catechism and Explanation; Scientific American Online)

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let me begin with a story.

A lady goes to the vet with a duck, which she presents to the veterinary surgeon.  The duck is quite clearly dead, and after a cursory examination, the vet duly informs the lady that her duck has breathed its last.

Outraged, the lady tells the vet he doesn’t know what he’s talking about and challenges him to prove that her duck is, indeed, dead.  The vet sighs, but then opens the back door of the surgery room and ushers in a large black Labrador who walks up to the examination table, puts his paws on the table, and sniffs the duck from head to toe.  The Labrador looks dolefully at the vet and slowly shakes its head and leaves the room.

The vet then brings in a large tabby cat, which he places on the table beside the duck.  The cat also sniffs the duck from head to toe and also looks up to the vet and shakes its head.  The vet removes the cat and then says to the lady, “There you are, I told you it was dead.”  He taps a few keys on his computer and says, “That will be $150, please.”

The lady, clearly shocked, says, “$150 to tell me that my duck is dead, that’s outrageous.”

“Well,” said the vet, “if you’d taken my word for it, it would have only been $20, but with the Lab test and the cat scan, it’s a hundred fifty.”

In other words, ‘Have faith in me and my diagnosis.’  We Christians talk about being saved by grace through faith alone, and faith comes from hearing the Word of God, but you can have faith in many things, — your veterinarian, your own doctor, your own intelligence, the plumber you call, the experienced roofer, a contractor, etc.’ Continue reading