Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent

February 21, 2016, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Luke 13:31-35

Sermon Theme:  “The Pharisees, the Fox, and the Mother Hen”

(Sources:  Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; “You Might Be a Pharisee If” . . . jelc-seville.org; “12 Signs You Are a Modern Day Pharisee’ by Frank Powell; “Am I a Pharisee?,” abouthim.com; original ideas; Believer’s Commentary; Harper’s Bible Dictionary)

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

The popular comedian Jeff Foxworthy made a fortune out of telling “You might be a redneck if” jokes, starting a nationwide trend of telling “You might be, if” jokes.

For instance, “You might be a redneck if you believe you got a set of matched luggage if you have two shopping bags from the same store.”  Or, “You might be a redneck if you think a stock tip is advice on worming your hogs.”  Or, “You might be a redneck if you think Taco Bell is the Mexican Phone Company.”

This has no doubt triggered all the current Lutheran jokes.  “You might be a Lutheran if, rather than introducing yourself to a visitor at church, you instead check out their name in the guestbook.”  Or, “You might be a Lutheran if you forget to put water in the baptismal font, but never, ever forget to put water in the coffee pot.”  Or, “You might be Lutheran if a midlife crisis for you means switching from the old hymnal to the new one.”  Or, “You might be Lutheran if your idea of a mixed marriage is an ELCA bride and a Missouri Synod groom.”

Frank Powell and several others have come up with the Foxworthy paradigm regarding Pharisees.  Here are a few:  You might be a Pharisee if you are sure nobody has ever had to forgive you.  You might be a Pharisee if you go to church to prove you’re good.  You might be a Pharisee if you believe God actually needs you.  You might be a Pharisee if you read the Bible to substantiate your own convictions, not to be shaped in God’s image.  You might be a Pharisee if you think the world would be a better place if everyone were just like you.  You might be a Pharisee if you believe your salvation is based on your works, not on Jesus.

Our sermon text for today is about some Pharisees, a fox, and a mother hen.  Let’s talk about the Pharisees first. Continue reading →

Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent, February 14, 2016

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Romans 10:8b-13

Sermon Theme:  “You’re No Different from Anybody Else”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; original ideas; Believer’s Commentary; Rite of Baptism, Lutheran Worship)

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

Zephyr Wright was for many years the housekeeper-cook at the LBJ Ranch in Stonewall, Texas.  David Brinkley told of an incident when Mrs. Wright answered the phone at the ranch.  Her employer, Lyndon Baines Johnson, was a United States Senator at the time.  An aide was calling to tell Senator Johnson that important legislation he had sponsored had just been voted down.  Would Mrs. Wright relay the message?

She said, “I’m not telling him that.  Mr. Johnson don’t like to be turned down.”

“Why not?,” replied the Aide, “he’s no different from anybody else?”

Mrs. Wright retorted, “Mister, YOU know he’s no different from anybody else, and I know he’s no different from anybody else, — but he don’t know it, and I don’t want to be the one to tell him.”  And she hung up.

‘You are no different from anybody else.  I am no different from anybody else,’ Paul is saying in our sermon text for today.  This little short passage from the apostle’s letter to the Romans packs a lot in a small space.  With one indirect and two direct references to the Old Testament in the text, a person who doesn’t know the Bible might miss something here.

When it comes to God and human beings, in one sense, you are very different from everybody else in that God knows your name and He knows the number of hairs on your head.  But in another sense, you are no different from anybody else, in that God so loved everybody in the world that He gave His only Son.  Then, in yet another sense, true believers are different from unbelievers in that they have received the mark of Christ in Baptism.  Paul is talking about the second sense here. Continue reading →

Sermon for The Transfiguration of Our Lord

February 7, 2016, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Luke 9:28-36

Sermon Theme: “A Daily Face-Lift to God in Prayer”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Concordia Pulpit Resources, Volume 26, Part 1, Series C; original ideas; The Parables of Peanuts; Harper’s Bible Dictionary; Lutheran Cyclopedia; The Veil, the Chalice, and the Dignity of Man, adoremus.org; LiveOrthodoxyOrthoPost; johnsanidopouslos.com)

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

I’m always amused by Lucy Van Pelt’s bullying tactics, her unmitigated gall, and her self-absorbed vanity.  In one Peanuts strip Lucy is pictured admiring her own face in the mirror, with Charlie Brown saying to her, “And besides, never forget that beauty is only skin deep.”

Lucy replies, “I DENY THAT!  My beauty is not only on the surface, it goes down deep . . . layer after layer after layer.”  She looks back in the mirror at her face and exclaims, “Yes sir!. . . . . . . I have very THICK beauty!”

You know, in today’s world, plastic surgery and face-lifts are becoming increasingly popular among those who can afford them.  Those who receive them say that it has helped them feel better about themselves.  Gravity and the pull of the grave have a way of pulling down our countenance.

However, there is another kind of face-lift that will reap far longer lasting and satisfying results.  It’s called looking up to God in prayer.  Our sermon text from Luke says, “And when Jesus was PRAYING, the appearance of His face was altered, and His clothing became dazzling white.”  In Matthew’s gospel account, Matthew adds, “And Jesus’ face shown like the sun.”  Our Lord’s face was radiant with the glow of God’s glory.  A daily face-lift to God in prayer can not only do wonders for your looks but also your lives.  Continue reading →

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany

January 31, 2016, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  1 Corinthians 12:31b-13:13

Sermon Theme:  “Love Makes Peanut Butter Taste Better”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Original ideas; Online Cartoons about Charlie Brown Falls in Love; “You’re in Love, Charlie Brown,” Wikipedia)

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

          It always struck me as funny that the very young characters in the Peanuts’ comic strips often thought about and talked about being in love.

Over the years, Lucy Van Pelt was in love with Schroeder, the kid who never stopped playing the piano.  Sally Brown thought she was in love with Lucy’s brother, Linus.  And while Peppermint Patty is in love with Charlie Brown, Charlie is smitten by the Little Red-Haired Girl, who was identified in TV specials as “Heather.”

Because the Little Red-Haired Girl doesn’t seem to notice Charlie, he is often lovelorn.  In one cartoon strip, Charlie is sitting on a bench eating his lunch, a peanut butter sandwich; he looks up and says aloud, “Nothing takes the taste out of peanut butter quite like unrequited love.”

In another strip, Schroeder, head bent over the keys, is playing the piano while Lucy stands and looks lovingly at him.  She then gets on top of the piano, but Schroeder still doesn’t notice her.  Finally, still on top of the piano, she sticks her face up to his, almost nose to nose, and says lovingly, “You fascinate me.”

Schroeder jumps up with a gasp and pulls the piano out from under Lucy, causing her to fall to the floor.  Lying on the floor on her back, looking straight up, she exclaims, “Never fall in love with a musician!” Continue reading →

Sermon for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany

January 17, 2016, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  John 2:1-11

Sermon Theme:  “You Weren’t Baptized in Vinegar!”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle C Preacher’s Workbook; Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 26, Part 1, Series C; original ideas; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Online puns by Jesus; Nelson’s Three-in-One)

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

Weddings take an awful amount of money and an awful amount of time and work to put on, especially for the Bride’s family.  I know, because I have two daughters and we had wedding feasts for both.  For my oldest daughter, we had champagne for the fun-lovers and “fake” champagne (sparkling fruit juice without alcohol) for the non-drinkers like me.

Fortunately for my pocket book, the consumption of sparkling wine lasted only for one evening, quite unlike the wedding at Cana in our sermon text.  In Jesus’ day, Jewish weddings were elaborate affairs which lasted for nearly a week, during which time the guests were provided with food and drink.  Our text says, “On the third day,” which we take to mean the third day of the marriage celebration.

Our text also says that the wine Jesus created out of water consisted of six stone jars, holding 20 or 30 gallons each.  At most, we’re talking about 180 gallons of wine.  If the guests, made up of the entire community, drank 180 gallons of wine the first three days, and 180 gallons the last three days, that would have been a total of 360 gallons of alcoholic fruit juice for the week.  I got off cheap compared to that.

There are really two levels of this story of the miracle of changing water into wine, — the actual, literal level and the symbolic level, and they were both intended.  Often, however, readers don’t discern the symbolic level.

In the actual level of the story, Mary, Jesus, and His disciples are invited to a marriage at Cana, not far from Nazareth.  During the third day of the feast, the wine played out and Mary went to Jesus with this problem, no doubt believing that her Son was capable of performing miracles.  Yet, Jesus reacted by saying something strange, “Woman, what does this have to do with me?  My hour has not yet come.”  His mother then tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.

Although Jesus seemed to have refused His mother’s request, He goes on to tell the servants to fill the jars with water, and He turns the water into wine.  Later, the Master of the Feast tastes the transformed water and declares it the best wine ever!

The literal level of the story suggests that Jesus approves of joy and fun and celebration in the daily lives of His people, and this fact is especially important considering it was the very first miracle our Savior performed.  The Apostle Paul emphasized the importance of joy in the life of a Christian in Philippians 4:4.

I am reminded of a story told by a pastor about a member of his church whose name was Herb.  The pastor never doubted Herb’s faith, but he never saw the joy of the Lord in Herb’s words or in his demeanor.  Folks in his church said Herb could bring gloom and doom to a room more quickly than anyone else they knew.  The pastor remarked that Herb always acted as though he had been baptized in vinegar; if you look like you were baptized in vinegar, Jesus may not claim you! Continue reading →

Sermon for the Third Sunday after Epiphany

January 24, 2016, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Luke 4:16-30

Sermon Theme:  “Word of God:  Incarnate or Incorrect?”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff’s Series C Preaching Workbook; original ideas; Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 26, Part 1, Series C, 2016; online Christians.unite.com jokes; Messianic Prophecies, Bible.org; Harper’s Bible Dictionary; Believer’s Commentary)

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

While there was only one Temple in Jerusalem, there were many synagogues located in towns throughout Judah, just as there is only one Vatican in Rome, but many Catholic churches in towns everywhere.  In the synagogues, the learned Rabbis would read a passage from Holy Scripture (which in Jesus’ day was the Old Testament), and then they would interpret the passage and explain it to the people.  That’s kind of what we pastors do every Sunday, isn’t it?

Naturally folks expect their pastor to know the Bible well enough to interpret and explain the lection chosen for each Sunday.

I love the story told about a newly ordained pastor, seeking a call to a church.  One church was interested in him, and they asked him to come and be interviewed by their Call Committee.

When he appeared before them, the Chairman of the Call Committee said to the young, inexperienced pastor, “Son, we expect our pastor to know the Bible from top to bottom, — so, do you know the Bible pretty good?”

He said he thought he did, and then the Chairman asked, “Which part do you know best?,” to which the young man replied, “The New Testament.”

“Well, why don’t you tell us the story of the Prodigal Son,” said the Chairman.  “Fine,” said the young pastor, and he started telling the story:

“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, who went down to Jericho by night and fell upon stony ground and the thorns choked him half to death.

“The next morning, Solomon and his wife Gomorrah came by and carried him down to the Ark for Moses to take care of.  But, as he was going through the Eastern Gate into the Ark, he caught his hair in a limb and he hung thee for forty days and forty nights.  The next day, the three Wise Men came and carried him down to the boat dock and he caught a ship to Ninevah.  And when he got there he found Delilah sitting on the wall.

“He said, ‘Chunk her down, boys, chunk her down.’  And they said, ‘How many times shall we chunk her down,’ and he said, ‘Not seventy times seven, but four hundred and ninety times. . .’”

At this point, the Chairman of the Call committee stopped the young pastor abruptly, turned to the other members of the Call Committee, and exclaimed, “We’ve heard enough!  This young man really knows his Bible good!  Let’s issue him a call right away!  They all agreed. Continue reading →

Sermon for the Baptism of Our Lord, January 10, 2016

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Texts:  Romans 6:1-11 and Luke 3:15-22

Sermon Theme:  “Baptized into His What?”

(Sources:  Concordia Pulpit Resources, Vol. 26, Part 1, Series C; Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; original ideas; Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; Online Baptism Jokes, SgForums.com; Believer’s Bible Commentary; Footnotes, Concordia Self-Study Bible.)

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

On this Festival Day of our Lord’s Baptism, the Gospel text from Luke gives a brief account of Jesus’ Baptism, and the Epistle from Romans explains to us what Baptism is all about.  The doctrinal issues regarding Baptism have been a major separating point among various denominations.  Thus many jokes about Baptism center on these differences, like the exchange of words between a Baptist minister and a Lutheran Pastor; here’s their conversation:

Lutheran Pastor:  So, let me get this straight – you believe a person isn’t baptized unless he has been fully immersed in water – is that correct?

Baptist Minister:  Correct.  We believe in full immersion – not pouring or sprinkling.

Lutheran:  So if you walked a person into a stream up to his ankles, that wouldn’t consist in an actual baptism?

Baptist:  No sir.  No Baptism.

Lutheran:  What if you got him up past his knees?

Baptist:  Still not good enough.

Lutheran:  What about if he waded in to his waist?  Would you pronounce him baptized?

Baptist:  No, no, no, — what about immersion do you not understand?

Lutheran:  Please forgive me, I am slow sometimes – I really do want to understand you, and I thank you for your patience.  Just a couple more questions and I’ll move onto other edifying topics.  What if he were immersed up to his chest?

Baptist:  No.

Lutheran:  What if he walked all the way in, held his breath, and was up to his eyeballs in water?

Baptist:  No, he has to be immersed.

Lutheran:  I think I understand now – you and I agree after all!

Baptist:  What?  What do you mean?  Did I convince you that immersion is the only way for baptism to be properly administered?

Lutheran:  On the contrary – you gave me great evidence against it!

Baptist:  I did!?!?

Lutheran:  You sure did.  You convinced me that getting your feet wet doesn’t make one baptized.  You convinced me that getting wet up to your knees or waist doesn’t make one baptized.  You convinced me that that being up to your chest or neck in water doesn’t make one baptized.  You even convinced me that being up to your eyeballs in water doesn’t cut it.

Baptist:  So?!?

Lutheran:  So what that tells me is that both of us deem water being administered to the head as sufficient to consider one baptized.

While that is a humorous response to an age-old doctrinal issue, it is an attempt to get to the true essence and significance of baptism.  The fact that Jesus  allowed Himself to be baptized underscores the importance of the Sacrament, as well as the statement made by Jesus in the last chapter of Mark:  “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Continue reading →

Sermon for the Second Sunday after Christmas,

The Sunday before the Epiphany, January 3, 2016

St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Luke 2:40-52

Sermon Theme:  “Question or Obey?  It Depends . . .”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Illustrations; original ideas; Harper’s Bible Dictionary)

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

Seated among the learned rabbis in the Temple, the twelve-year-old Jesus shows a remarkable awareness of who He is.  His parents should know who He is, considering what the angel said to them before His birth, and what Simeon and Anna and the Wise Men said after His birth, but obviously they didn’t, or maybe they just didn’t know how to act as parents of the Savior of the world.

In “The Prayer of the Frog,” Anthony de Mello tells a story of a grown woman who in a coma, near death, and lost the awareness of who she was.  In the coma, she dreamed she was being taken up to heaven and standing before the Judgment Seat of God.

“Who are you?”  a Voice says to her.

“I’m the wife of the mayor,” she replies.

“I did not ask you whose wife you are, but who you are.”

“I’m the mother of four children,” she replied.

“I did not ask whose mother you are, but who you are.”

“I’m a schoolteacher.”

“I did not ask you what your profession is, but who you are.”

And so it goes.  No matter what she replies, she doesn’t seem to give a satisfactory answer to the question, “Who are you?”

“I’m a Christian.”

“I did not ask what your religion is, but who you are.”

“I’m the one who went to church every day and always helped the poor and needy.”

“I did not ask you what you did, but who you are.”

She evidently fails the examination, for she is sent back to earth.  When she comes out of the coma and recovers from her illness, she is determined to find out who she is.

I think all human beings are a little like that.  During our lifetime, we are always asking, “Who am I?  Why am I here?”

Being both God and human, Jesus did not have that problem.  He knew who He was.  He was the Savior of the World come to rescue fallen humankind from sin and restore them to a right relationship with the Heavenly Father. Continue reading →

Sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas

December 27, 2015, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Colossians 3:12-17

Sermon Theme:  “Taking Back the Christmas Gift That Doesn’t Fit”

(Sources:  Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Brokhoff Series C Preaching Workbook; Emphasis Online Illustrations; original ideas; Online Stories about Exchanging Christmas Gifs)

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

It may be too soon after Christmas for any of you to have to deal with exchanging Christmas gifts that don’t fit.  It’s such a hassle that I’m inclined to want to give the oversized or undersized garment to Goodwill.  And it’s probably a toss-up as to which is more difficult to exchange, that which was purchased at a shopping mall or that bought online.

My bad experiences have been mostly with those purchased online, including a belt from Amazon that would have fit my thigh rather than my waist.  Eventually I was able to return it.

However, I read about a woman who bought a crocheted halter top for her daughter for Christmas from Amazon and had horrible time trying to exchange it.  It was a one size fits all garment, but when she got it, it was too small to fit any human creature; she asked to return it, and they said, ‘No, one size fits anybody.’

Well it didn’t, so to prove her point she put the crocheted halter top on her cat, and took a picture of the cat wearing it.  Then she sent a photo of the cat wearing it to Amazon with a note saying, “See, here’s my proof.”  Amazon was convinced and said she could return it for a refund.  However, the cat hated it and ripped it off.

Most of the time, one-size-fits-all does fit unless you’re excessively obese.  And it is especially true that one size fits all if you are referring to the spiritual clothing Paul describes in today’s sermon text.

Paul says, “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience.”  The NIV says, “Clothe yourselves,” a translation I like better, because the Greek verb rendered as “put on” can only refer to clothing (and not, for example, “put on a pot of soup”).

Mark Twain once quipped, “Clothes made the man.  Naked people have little or no influence on society.”  If that is true, and I believe it is, just imagine the influence a person dressed in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and love would have on society!

The problem is today’s world, based on newspaper headlines, neither possesses nor values such qualities as compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and love; if they did, the world would be transformed. Continue reading →

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

December 20, 2015, St. Paul Lutheran Church, Wallis, Texas

Sermon Text:  Micah 5:2-5a

Sermon Theme:  “Just another Little Town?”

 (Sources:  Emphasis Online Commentary; Emphasis Online Illustrations; “Do We Really Know Where Christ Was Born, CBN.com; original ideas and illustrations; “Bethlehem: Then and Now” by Mitri Raheb; Anderson’s Cycle C Preaching Workbook; Harper’s Bible Dictionary; Introduction to Micah, CSS Bible.)

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

           When I was a kid growing up in the small, rural town of Dime Box, I was ashamed to tell strangers where I was born, because experience taught me they would laugh when I told them.  I thought they were laughing because I was born and lived in a small, nowhere town, but it’s more likely they laughed because of the name “Dime Box.”

Jesus was born in a small, rural town also, a town in Judea named Bethlehem.  Historians and archeologists believe Bethlehem had a population of between 300 and 1,000 inhabitants at the time of Jesus’ birth.  If 300, it would have been the size of Dime Box at the time of my birth.  If 1,000, the size of Wallis when I was called to the church here in 1988, — the population of Wallis was exactly 1,001 in 1988.

A couple years after I was called to serve at Wallis, I was at a pastors’ workshop, and one of the pastors of a big city church asked me where my church was located.  When I told him “Wallis,” he wanted to know how big Wallis was, and I replied that the population was exactly 1,001.

“Are you the one?” he asked me.

“No, I live in East Bernard,” I answered. Continue reading →