Sermon for Second Sunday in Lent

March 12, 2017, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  John 3:1-17

Sermon Theme: “The Born-Again Metamorphosis”

(Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Online Christian Jokes; original ideas; Harper’s Bible Dictionary; What Luther Says; Luther’s Small Catechism)

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

When God changes a human being by replacing the “Old Adam” in him or her with the “new Adam,” we Lutherans like to compare that to the metamorphosing of a an ugly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly.  We tend to shy away from the stronger imagery that Jesus uses in our sermon text of being born again.  No, it’s not just Baptists who use that term, “born again,” Jesus used it long before they did.

In our sermon text, when Nicodemus asks, ‘Can a man enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?,’ Jesus replies, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”

If you’re wondering, does “water and the Spirit” refer to the receiving of the Holy Spirit during the Sacrament of Baptism, the Apostle Paul clears that up for us in Romans 6:4, where he says, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  Paul calls Baptism a “washing of regeneration” in Titus 3:5.  “Regeneration” is also the term Christians use for “conversion” or “being born again,” – we Lutherans tend to prefer the terms “regeneration” and “conversion” to “being born again.”  Whatever you call it, conversion involves a metamorphosis, or change, — it’s never too late, while walking this earth, to become a beautiful butterfly.

Walking through the forest, an atheist heard a rustling in the bushes.  Turning, he saw a massive grizzly bear changing toward him!  He ran as fast as he could but tripped over a stump and fell.  As the bear raised a hug paw to strike, the atheist shouted, “God!  Help me!”

Time froze.   The bear became immobile, the forest was silent, and the river stopped running.  Then the atheist heard a powerful voice:  “You have denied my existence for years, taught others I don’t exist and credited my creation to a cosmic accident.  Why should I help you?”

“It would be hypocritical to ask you to show mercy on me,” the atheist agreed.  “But perhaps you could make the bear a Christian/”

At that, the noise of the forest resumed, the river ran, and the bear dropped to its knees, brought its paws together, and said, “Come, Lord Jesus, be my guest, and let this food to me be blessed.” Continue reading →

Sermon for First Sunday in Lent, March 5, 2017

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Matthew 4:1-11

Sermon Theme:  “Get Thee Behind Me, Satan!”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle A Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff, Series A, Preaching Workbook; original ideas; Emphasis Online Commentaries; Emphasis Online Illustrations; “Temptations,” christianforum.com; Temptation jokes from Hee Haw)

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

On the TV show, “Hee Haw,” Doc Campbell is confronted by a patient who says he broke his arm in two places.  The doc replies, “Well, then, stay out of them places.”

He may have something there.  There is no way we can regularly put ourselves in the face of temptation and not be affected.  When faced with the problem of temptation, we need to take the good doctor’s advice and “stay out of them places.”

We begin this first Sunday in Lent with Satan’s temptation of Jesus, which calls to mind the temptations we are confronted with.  The question I had as I began to prepare this sermon was, “How do we pastors prepare ourselves and others to withstand temptation?”  In one of the sources I used to prepare this sermon, the commentator wrote, “If you’re looking for illustrations on the meaning of Lent, then you might as well start where it begins, by looking in the mirror.”

In other words, don’t lecture others about not being able to resist temptation, when you yourself might be guilty.  You want an illustration?  Use yourself.  It struck me as funny that one pastor preaching a sermon on resisting temptation began, not by using himself as an example, but his wife.

This poor country pastor, barely making it from paycheck to paycheck, confronted his wife the day he received a bill for a $250 dress she had bought.  “How could you do this?!”  he shouted, unable to control his anger.

“I don’t know,” she said, sobbing.  “I was standing in the store looking at the dress on sale.  Then I found myself trying it on.  It was like the Devil was whispering to me, “Gee, you look great in that dress.  You should buy it!”

“Well,” her pastor-husband replied, “you know how to deal with Satan!  Just tell him, “Get thee behind me, Satan!”

“I did,” replied his wife, “but then he said, “It looks great from back here, too!”

That takes me back to the question, why should Lent begin with each of us looking in the mirror?  Continue reading →

Sermon for the Transfiguration of Our Lord

February 26, 2017, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Matthew 17:1-9

Sermon Theme:  “Do We Have to Come Down from the Mountain?”

(Sources:  Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Anderson’s Cycle A Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff, Series A, Preaching Workbook; original ideas; Short’s The Gospel According to Peanuts; Footnotes, Concordia Self-Study Bible)

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

So Jesus takes his three best friends, Peter, James, and John, to the top of a high mountain where they meet up with Moses and Elijah, — that’s how Matthew starts to tell the story of the Transfiguration.  It almost sounds like the start of a joke, — like, “Did you hear the one where three nuns and a penguin walk into a bar? . . .”  It has all the elements of a joke:  there’s a normal setting (a mountain), the people you’d expect (Jesus, Peter, James, and John), — and then there’s the kicker:  Moses and Elijah!

It’s got to be a joke.  Those things don’t go together.  Just like three nuns and a penguin don’t go together, four New Testament leaders of the Way don’t join two Old Testament prophets on top a mountain.  So you wonder what’s the punch line, — but there isn’t a punch line, because this isn’t a joke.  In fact, it’s one of the most serious activities Jesus has involved his disciples in thus far.

This very serious activity, the Transfiguration, took place for three reasons:  ONE, it was to reveal the glory of the Son of God, a glory now hidden, but to be revealed fully when Christ returns at the End of Times; TWO, to serve as proof of the difficult-to-understand teachings of Jesus at Caesarea Philippi; and THREE, to uplift the disciples, to give them a shot in the arm, so to speak, after learning that Jesus would suffer and die in Jerusalem. Continue reading →

Sermon for Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany

February 19, 2017, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Matthew 5:38-48

Sermon Theme:  “Does God Really Expect Us to Be Perfect?”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle A Lectionary Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff, Series A, Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Commentaries; Emphasis Online Illustrations; original ideas; “You Might Be a Perfectionist, FlyLady.net; Cowboy Classified.com; footnotes, Concordia Self-Study Bible; footnotes, Life Application Study Bible)

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

My father was a perfectionist.  The rest of us in the family were not.  My father could never understand us, nor his peers, who weren’t.  He was the only railroad section foreman in his Division of Sections who had a 45-year perfect record of accident-free maintenance:  No derailments.  No train wrecks. No bridge washouts.  No buckled tracks.  Obviously, he was the most sought-after section foreman in Texas.

Those of you ladies who are fans of the Fly Lady and read FlyLady.Net know that she often speaks about the pitfalls of perfectionism.  In one of her columns she did a Jeff Foxsworthy spoof on perfectionism.  Here’s what she wrote:

“You might be a perfectionist if you spend hours cleaning the grout between the tile with a toothbrush when there is a sink full of dishes.

“You might be a perfectionist if you put the children’s toys away while they are still playing with them because it looks too messy.

“You might be a perfectionist if you go to replace a light bulb and end up tearing the whole light fixture apart cleaning it.

“You might be a perfectionist if you don’t have eight hours to clean your house, so you do nothing.”

Whether a section foreman or a housewife, a perfectionist can be difficult to live with if you aren’t one.  Some people believe we must all continue to strive for perfection; others believe it is absolutely impossible to be perfect.  Last week, I saw this Quote of the Day on Facebook:  “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”  That’s not what Jesus said, is it?

So just about the time we settle into thinking it’s OK to be fallible, to be less than perfect, we are faced with the last statement made by Jesus in our sermon text:  “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”  No kidding?  Does Jesus really mean that?

Well, look what our Lord says near the beginning of our text.  “Do not resist the one who is evil.  But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”  Wow!  He’s kidding?

But Jesus goes on.  He also says, “And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.”  Another “Wow!”  Then He gives us that extra mile command:  “And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.”  Then He says we’re to give to beggars and to lend to borrowers, and then He caps it off with, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”  Continue reading →

Sermon for the Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

February 12, 2017, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Deuteronomy 30:15-20

Sermon Theme:  “Choices in Life, — Baptism Is One of Them”

(Sources:  Brokhoff, Series A, Preaching Workbook; Anderson’s Cycle A Lectionary Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Luther’s Small Catechism and Explanation; original ideas; The Gospel According to Peanuts)

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

           As a child, the story of “Alice in Wonderland” frightened me; as an adult the Peanuts’ Comic strip brightened me.  Each in its own way had some very profound ideas to offer up, so I want to begin today by using both of them.

The story of “Alice in Wonderland” illustrates the difficulty of choosing when a person doesn’t know where she wants to go.  One day, Alice was treading the path through the forest in Wonderland when it divided in two different directions.  As she stood there wondering what to do, the Cheshire Cat suddenly appeared in the crotch of a tree.  Alice asked him which path she should choose.

“Where do you want to go?”  asked the cat.

“I don’t know,” said Alice.

“Then,” said the cat, “it really doesn’t matter does it?”

In a Peanuts comic strip, Linus, dragging his blanket behind him, is walking fast away from something, with Charlie Brown following on his heels.  Charlie says to Linus as the strip begins, “What if everyone was like you?”

Linus stops.  Charlie Brown continues, “What if we all ran away from our problems?  Huh?  What then?  What if everyone in the whole world suddenly decided to run away from his problems?”

Linus turns and looks at Charlie and replies, “Well, at least we’d all be running in the same direction.”

Alice doesn’t know which choice to make, and Linus is running away from choices or decisions.  There’s a third response to life, and that’s to make a bad choice.

The setting for today’s sermon text from Deuteronomy is the land of Moab.  Moses addresses the Israelites as they are about to cross over the Jordan and enter the land of promise.  He confronts them with a crucial choice which they must make that day.  The choice is life, which flows from obedience to the Lord, or death which follows disobedience.  They were about to enter the Promised Land, a land where the inhabitants served pagan gods and lived lives of sexual license,  deceit and immoral behavior. Continue reading →

Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

February 5, 2017, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Matthew 5:13-20

Sermon Theme:  “Salt, Light, and the Kingdom of Heaven”

 (Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle A Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Commentaries; Emphasis Online Illustrations; “Paradiso,” Wikipedia; Online “Defining the Parables of Jesus – Defining the Kingdom of Heaven”; Christian Doctrine by Edward W. A. Koehler; “The Kingdom of Heaven, Bible.org; original ideas; What Luther Says, an Anthology published by CPH)

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

           Rev. Bill Mosley tells about the time he fell asleep after reading our sermon text for today and had a disturbing dream.

In the dream, Pastor Bill and some friends were getting into heaven together.  Saint Peter told them they were to wait at the gate for transportation.  Each of them would be getting around in Heaven in a style appropriate to the service they rendered on earth.

Soon a white airplane landed.  The back door opened and Bill could see a spacious interior with a flight staff and a well-equipped kitchen.  He was thinking it was for him, when Saint Peter called out, to his disappointment, “Kenneth.”

Just then a big silver RV arrived.  It was self-contained with air conditioning, kitchen with microwave oven, and bathroom with all the extras.  “I could really go places in this,” Pastor Bill thought; but Saint Peter called out, “John.”  Bill tried not to let his disappointment show.

Suddenly, a golden pickup truck pulled up.  Bill drooled over the front-wheel drive and he wondered where a person could go off-roading in Heaven.  Just as he was about to ask St. Peter if it had a CD player, the revered Saint called out, “Marvin.”  It was becoming obvious to Bill that the modes of transportation were getting smaller, so he was hoping for at least one of those 10-speed bicycles for himself, handmade custom frame with a cushioned seat and puncture-proof tires and balanced wheels.

Right then, Saint Peter handed him a pair of roller skates.  Then he looked in his book again, shook his head absentmindedly, and took one of the skates back.  Pastor Mosley was glad to wake up from his dream.

In our sermon text for today, Jesus begins by telling about those things He expects a true follower of His to be:  the salt of the earth, and the light of the world.  He then tells the disciples and us that He has not come to abolish the Law and the prophets, but to fulfill them.  He concludes by saying, “Therefore, whoever relaxes one of the least of thee commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called LEAST in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called GREAT in the kingdom of heaven. Continue reading →

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

January 29, 2017, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Matthew 5:1-12

Sermon Theme:  “How Blessed Are Your Attitudes?”

(Sources: Anderson’s Cycle A Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff, Series A, Preaching Workbook; original ideas; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Emphasis Online Commentary; Online Jokes about Humility and Meekness; The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible; footnotes, The Life Application Study Bible)

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

The Beatitudes are not prescriptions for how to live a Godly life.  They are descriptions of how a Godly life should look, and rather radical descriptions at that.  A Godly life is humble and meek, merciful, pure, peace-making.  The main characteristic defining the “blessed attitudes,” as they are sometimes called, is humility.  The opposite of humility is pride, which the Bible judges to be the root of all sin.

The wrong kind of pride and a lack of humility seem to be natural human weaknesses, and are even found in the church, even among Christians with credentials.  Sometimes it takes the innocence of a child to put us all in our place.

There’s a story about a pastor who was never seen without his clerical collar, something he wore with the good kind of pride, but also with maybe a little bit of the bad kind of pride.  No one had ever seen this pastor without his collar, so they jokingly wondered if he even slept with it on.

After church, a child who came from an un-churched family and had never seen a pastor’s garb before, asked the Reverend, “Do you have a bo-bo?”

At first the pastor was a little taken aback, and then he realized the boy was looking intently at his white and black Roman collar.  So he pulled out the white plastic insert and showed it to the child, telling him that it was also part of a clergyman’s outfit.

On the backside of every plastic insert are embossed the words, “Wash with warm, soapy water.”  The pastor showed this to the little boy, and, knowing the kid was too young to read, asked him, “Do you know what these words say?”

The boy startled the pastor by saying, “I sure do!”

“You do?  Then tell me what they say,” said the Right Reverend Clergyman.

“It says, ‘kills fleas and ticks for up to six months.’”  Everybody laughed.

The Beatitudes in our sermon text are addressed to people we think we don’t want to be.  We don’t want to be meek or poor in spirit.  And, if being merciful means forgiving our enemies, we certainly want to think twice about that one.  To be pure in heart means we would have to give up all of our impurities, and most of us cling to them.  It’s the same for being a peacemaker; more often than not, we want to carry the grudge.  We certainly don’t want to be persecuted or reviled.  Continue reading →

Sermon for Third Sunday after the Epiphany

January 22, 2017, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Sermon Theme:  “God’s House Divided Cannot Stand”

(Sources:  Concordia Pulpit Resources, Volume 27, Part 1, Jan. 22, 2017, Series A; Emphasis Online Commentaries; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Brokhoff, Series A, Lectionary Preaching Workbook; original ideas; “Donald Trump Versus Hilary,” National Review; Online Trump/Clinton Polls; “Lincoln’s House Divided Speech,” Wikipedia)

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

It’s rather ironic that two days after the Inauguration of our new U. S. President, the Lectionary for today includes Paul’s admonition about divisions in the church.  Paul’s admonition for the Church reminds me of Abraham Lincoln’s famous “House Divided Speech,” when Lincoln said, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.  I believe this government cannot endure, permanently, half slave and half free.  I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided.”

President Trump was elected after a very bitter election battle between two candidates who were both unpopular.  There were many polls leading up to the election showing how divided our nation was.  One poll showed that 56 percent of Americans did not think Donald Trump was qualified to be President, and another poll indicated that 56 percent did not believe Hilary Clinton would make a good President.  Well, polls are polls.

Some movie stars and other celebrities said they would move to Canada if Trump were elected.  Sixty-nine congressmen did not attend the Inauguration held Friday, though all former Presidents except the senior Bush, did attend, and he and Barbara didn’t because they were in the hospital.  Bikers from all over the country showed up to “protect” Trump.  Recognizing the division in our country, President Trump said in his inauguration speech, “When America is united, America will be unstoppable.”

God’s Word does not speak directly to a nation divided, but it does speak directly and explicitly to a church divided.

There are two stories told about very serious divisions in the church, both so extreme, it’s hard to believe the claims that the stories are true. Continue reading →

Sermon for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany

January 15, 2017, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  John 1:29-42a

Sermon Theme:  “Evangelists for the Lamb of God”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle A Lectionary Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff, Series A, Preaching Workbook; original ideas; Online Evangelism Jokes; “Lamb of God,” Wikipedia; “Paschal Lamb,” Britannica; “Sacrifices and Offerings,” jewfaq.org; “The Five Offerings,” telus.net; Emphasis online Commentary; Emphasis online Illustrations; Harper’s Bible Dictionary)

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

Since we are all called to be evangelists, many church members and some pastors go overboard in an attempt to obey this call.  Some pastors take the local telephone directory, divide it up, and give each member of the church several dozen names to call to try to get them to come to church.  Other pastors send the whole congregation out knocking on neighborhood doors.  That is not the Biblical method of evangelism, and it can backfire.

There’s the story about two church members going door to door, hoping to talk someone into following Jesus.  They knocked on the door of an un-churched woman who could not stand evangelists trying to convert her, whether they were Jehovah Witnesses or Lutherans.

She told these two men that she did not want to hear their message and slammed the door in their faces.

To her surprise, however, the door did not close, and, in fact, bounced back open.  Convinced these pushy evangelists were sticking their foot in the door, she reared back to give it a slam that would teach them a lesson, when one of them said, “Ma’am, before you do that again, you need to move your cat.”

Some pastors prefer going door to door themselves rather than sending church members out to evangelize.  There was one such zealous pastor of a small village church in Kentucky.  He tried for years to convert one particularly vicious old mountaineer name Jim, who was notorious for his godlessness and his hatred of the church.  Jim was hard-headed and stubborn, and seemed to enjoy his evil attitude and resisted all efforts to be converted. Continue reading →