Sermon for the Nineteenth Sunday after Trinity - Gen 28:10-17

                                                                                                Trinity 19

                                                                                                Gen 28:10-17

                                                                                                10/22/17

            In our text this morning we see that Jacob was in quite a mess.  And the sad truth was he had brought it upon himself. Of course he didn’t get all the credit for it. Mom had a hand in it too.

            Jacob was the son of Isaac, and the grandson of Abraham.  Isaac’s wife Rebekah had given birth to twins: to Jacob and his brother Esau.  Esau had been born first. Twins, of course, share the same day of birth. They are the same age.  But that doesn’t change the fact that one is born first and the other is born second.  Matthew likes to remind his sister that he is older than she is … by about ten seconds.

            Esau was born first.  And in the ancient world this meant more than just bragging rights about which twin was older.  It had very important implications for the future. The first born son received preferential treatment in the inheritance.  They may have shared the womb for nine months, but because he came out first, Esau was going to inherit the most as his birthright.

            Esau was a manly man. He was a skillful hunter – an outdoors kind of guy.  Jacob was a homebody who liked to stay inside the tent, and even did some cooking.  One day, Esau had been out hunting and returned exhausted and famished.  Jacob was cooking stew, and Esau demanded some.  Jacob said he could have some … in exchange for Esau’s birthright.  Clearly Jacob was breaking the Ninth Commandment – he coveted his brother’s inheritance and was scheming to get it. Esau was impulsive.  He thoughtlessly despised his birthright and sold it to Jacob for some stew.

            Isaac loved his manly son Esau.  Rebekah loved her mama’s boy Jacob.  When Isaac was very old, he asked Esau to go out hunting and to prepare a meal for him, so that as father he could impart his blessing on Esau his first born son.  However, Rebekah overhead this and looking out for her favorite she prepared a meal. She had Jacob dress in Esau’s clothes and cover himself with the skins of goats so that he would pass for his hairy brother before Isaac who could not see. And Jacob pulled it off. He fooled Isaac into speaking the blessing over him instead of his brother.

            When Esau learned what had happened he was incensed.  He plotted to kill Jacob after his father had died.  He spoke to others about his intention and the word got back to Rebekah.  So she told Jacob that he had to leave.  She sent him to live with her brother Laban in Haran, northeast of Palestine. Rebekah instructed Jacob that he was not to take a wife from the local Canaanites, but instead to marry one of Laban’s daughters.

            In our text we see Jacob on the run.  He has nothing.  His brother wants to kill him.  Just like so many of the problems in your life, it is sin that has caused it.  He coveted. He lied.  Rebekah showed partiality.  She schemed to deceive her husband and take from her older son.  And of course all of this sinning occurred in the setting of family.  If this sounds very familiar, that’s because you are no different.  Your sins in the setting of your family cause problems and heartache. They mess things up.

            Jacob stopped for the night and had to sleep out in the open – with nothing more than a stone for a pillow. That night he had a dream in which he saw a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven. The angels of God were ascending and descending on it, and above the latter stood Yahweh.

            Then, God spoke to Jacob and made four promises.  First he said, “I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. The land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring.”  Next he said, “Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” Finally he added, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

            Now for the reader of Genesis the first three promises are no surprise. They are the same thing that God had promised to Abraham and Isaac.  Yahweh promised to give them the land.  He promised to give them many descendants.  And he promised that in their offspring all nations would be blessed.

            At that moment, these promises must have been hard for Jacob to fathom.  After all he had nothing.  He was running away from his own family so that his brother didn’t kill him.  Land? Descendants like the dust of the earth? All families being blessed in him and his offspring?  At that moment, Jacob’s goals probably weren’t much bigger than getting through the next day.

            And so Yahweh added a fourth promise: “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  Jacob needed encouragement.  And so God declared that he was with Jacob.  The dream – the vision – of the ladder, and angels and Yahweh drove home that point.  God was with Jacob. He was going to keep Jacob and God would not leave Jacob until he delivered on his promise.

            When he awoke, Jacob knew for sure that God was with him.

He said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I did not know it.” Then he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

            Jacob was in the midst of the mess that sin had caused. But God knew where he was.  He knew what was going on.  And he spoke his promises to Jacob. He spoke promises that were fulfilled in Israel as God created a nation form the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and gave them the land of Palestine.  He spoke the promise about the One who would descend from the patriarchs and be a blessing to all families.  And he spoke the promise that he would be with Jacob and keep him in God’s care.  Yahweh made his presence known to Jacob in a way that left no doubt.

            Yahweh kept his promises.  In fact he did it in a manner that has gone beyond anything Jacob could have imagined.  Not only did he create Israel and give them Palestine.  But in Jesus Christ, the offspring of Jacob, the patriarch’s descendants have indeed spread out to the west and the east and the north and the south.

            You are among those descendants.  Paul told the Galatians that because they were baptized, they were in Christ.  They had been united with Christ who is THE descendant of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and so now they too were descendants of Abraham.  He wrote, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.”

            It is in Jesus Christ that blessing has come to your family through the line of Jacob.  His experience at the place he would name Bethel left quite an impression. And it did so for a reason.  When Jacob woke up, he was afraid. and said, “How awesome is this place!”  We could also translate this as, “How fearful is this place!”  Jacob had come into the presence of the holy God, and his reaction was the same as everyone else in Scripture who had this experience: he was afraid.  That’s the way it always is when sinners find themselves before the holy God.

            But Yahweh had not come to cause fear.  Instead, he had come to comfort and encourage.  You find comfort in Jesus Christ the descendant of Jacob because through his death and resurrection God has provided atonement for your sins.  Your sin is no longer a barrier that keeps you from God.  It no longer causes fear in God’s presence.  As Paul told the Galatians, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”  You have been covered with Christ’s righteousness and so when God looks at you he does not see your sin.  He sees the holy righteousness of his Son.

            And in Jesus Christ, you find encouragement.  Jacob needed encouragement.  He had a long way to go – and I am not just talking about his journey to Haran and his uncle Laban.  He had a long way to go in life with many twists and turns.  He would experience the deception of his uncle as he sought a bride.  He would return to Palestine and face the fear of the impending reunion with Esau.  He would experience the devastating loss of his son Joseph whom he believed was killed by a wild animal.  He would experience the elation of learning that Joseph was in fact alive, and was even second in charge of Egypt.

            The experience that we hear about in our text was meant to tell Jacob that Yahweh was with him.  God has acted in Jesus Christ to tell you the same thing.  In fact Jesus Christ is God with us – Emmanuel.  God has acted in the flesh of Jesus Christ to reveal his love for you – in flesh nailed to a cross.  But then on the third day he raised that flesh, and transformed so that it can never die again.  The living hope of the resurrection of Jesus gives us the encouragement that we need.

            This is not encouragement to do the spectacular.  It is encouragement to walk step by step through the course of life.  It is encouragement to live in your vocations, doing the things that God has given you to do – the things God uses you to do for others.  It is encouragement to trust that God is with you when there is depression or cancer … or a brain tumor.

            This is encouragement that we need.  And that is why you come here each week.  Good Shepherd is not the biggest church you are ever going to see.  If you are looking for that you need to go to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.  Good Shepherd is not the most ornate church you are ever going to see.  If you are looking for that, there are a lot of options, but I recommend St. Mark’s in Venice, Italy. 

            But because Christ’s Means of Grace are present here, Jacob’s words are true of Good Shepherd: “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”  Jesus is here to encourage you – to build you up through his Spirit.  As the crucified and risen Lord, he is here to speak to you through his Word and to give you his true body and blood, given and shed for you.  He is hear through Word and Sacrament to say, “Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go.”

 

             

               

                                                                                                                       

Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist

Today is the Feast of St. Luke, Evangelist. According to Colossians 4:14, Luke was a physician.  He joined Paul during his second missionary journey (Acts 16:9-11) and accompanied him during several portions of his travels.  He traveled with Paul to Jerusalem and was with him during the two years that he was imprisoned in Caesarea (Acts 21-26).  It is likely that Luke used this time to gather material he used in writing the Gospel of Luke.  Luke wrote the Book of Acts as the second volume that accompanies the Gospel of Luke (Acts 1:1-2).  More than one-third of the New Testament was written by Luke.

Scripture reading:

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go. And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no moneybag, no knapsack, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace be to this house!’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and they receive you, eat what is set before you. Heal the sick in it and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’ (Luke 10:1-9 ESV)

Collect of the Day:

Almighty God, our Father, Your blessed Son called Luke the physician to be an evangelist and physician of the soul.  Grant that the healing medicine of the Gospel and the Sacraments may put to flight the diseases of our souls that with willing hearts we may ever love and serve You; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Ignatius of Antioch, Pastor and Martyr

Today we remember and give thanks for Ignatius of Antioch, Pastor and Martyr.  Ignatius was the bishop of Antioch in Syria at the beginning of the second century A.D. and an early Christian martyr. Near the end of the reign of the Roman emperor Trajan (98–117), Ignatius was arrested, taken in chains to Rome, and eventually thrown to the wild beasts in the arena. On the way to Rome, he wrote letters to the Christians at Ephesus, Magnesia, Tralles, Rome, Philadelphia, and Smyrna, and also to Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna. In the letters, which are beautifully pastoral in tone, Ignatius warned against certain heresies (false teachings). He also repeatedly stressed the full humanity and deity of Christ, the reality of Christ’s bodily presence in the Lord’s Supper, the authority of the bishop, and the unity of the Church found in her bishops. Ignatius was the first to use the word catholic to describe the universality of the Church. His Christ-centeredness, his courage in the face of martyrdom, and his zeal for the truth over against false doctrine are a lasting legacy to the Church. 

Collect of the  Day:

Almighty God, we praise Your name for Ignatius of Antioch, pastor and martyr.  He offered himself as grain to be ground by the teeth of wild beasts so that he might present to You the pure bread of sacrifice.  Accept the willing tribute of all that we are and all that we have, and give us a portion in the pure and unspotted offering of Your Son, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Sermon for the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity - 1 Co 1:4-9

                                                                                                Trinity 18

                                                                                                1 Cor 1:4-9

                                                                                                10/15/17

            I am correct in assuming that you don’t read your neighbor’s mail … right?  I am sure that you don’t go up to your neighbor’s mailbox and open their mail to see what is going on in their life.  You don’t open their credit card statement to see what they have been buying and whether they have any debt.  You don’t open their mortgage statement to see how much they still owe on their house.  You don’t open any medical bills to see what kind of tests or procedures they have had recently.  You don’t do this because it would be rude and completely inappropriate.  It is also, by the way, illegal.  It is a federal crime to open intentionally another person’s mail, punishable by up to three years in prison.

            So if you would never do it at home, why are you doing here at church?  Here are you are, reading the Corinthians’ mail.  Well ok, actually I am the one who reads it to you, but we are all in this together.  After all you knew I was going to do it.  I do it pretty much every Sunday and none of you have ever raised any objections about it.

            While I speak this introduction in jest, it does highlight something that we just take for granted in the Church.  Paul’s letters are in the Bible.  They are Scripture. They are God’s Word.  And so of course, we read them in church.  But at the same time they are also real letters that were sent to a particular group of people.  When we read them, we are reading someone else’s mail.  We are reading letters that often are addressing specific concerns and issues in that particular church.

            You can see this in our text today from 1 Corinthians, if you know where to look. Paul’s letters begin with an opening address.  So, he begins this letter by saying: “Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

            After the opening address, almost all of Paul’s letters sent to a congregation next have a thanksgiving.  Here Paul expresses thanks to God because of what he has done in Christ for those Christians, along with some aspect of how they are now living in the faith. So in our text he writes: “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge-- even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you-- so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

            It is clear that Paul’s letters were to be received as if the apostle himself were present there speaking to the congregation.  They were “long distance sermons.”  The convention in the ancient world was that an address began with praise of the audience.  The speaker “warmed them up” for his message by first telling them something they liked to hear.

            Paul does this in the thanksgivings of his letters … but with a twist.  Paul’s thanksgivings usually introduce subjects that he is going to talk about in the letter.  Sometimes those are subjects that will involve correcting errors in belief and practice among those Christians. That is certainly the case here.

            Paul says that he gives thanks to his God because in every way the Corinthians have been enriched in Christ in all speech and all knowledge.  He says that they are not lacking in any spiritual gift and that the Lord will sustain them to the end, guiltless. And then he adds, “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

            If fact, this is a list of problems at Corinth that Paul is about to address.  Speech: The Corinthians thought that were superior spiritual people and they were focused on speaking in tongues because it showed how superior they were.  Knowledge: The Corinthians thought that their knowledge about the triune God being the only true God permitted them to eat food in any pagan cultic setting they wanted.  Spiritual gift: The Corinthians wanted to focus on tongues rather than the whole range of gifts the benefit the Body of Christ. Blameless: The Corinthians did not see sexual sin in their midst as being contradictory to the Christian faith.  Fellowship: The wealthy Corinthians were mistreating the poor ones in the very setting where the Lord’s Supper was celebrated.

            If St. Paul wrote a letter today to Good Shepherd, what would he be mentioning in the thanksgiving section of the letter?  I think he would give thanks for the manner in which Christ’s Means of Grace are valued here.  I think he would give thanks for the way this congregation welcomes people in Christ.

            But what else would he mention as he introduced the problems – the sin he wanted to address?  Would he mention knowledge?: That because we have the sure knowledge of our baptism, we feel that sin is not really something against which we need to struggle? – After all, we are forgiven.  Would he mention blameless?: That more and more we take on the world’s views about sex? – Sure I watch some porn, who doesn’t?; - Sure I am having sex with my girlfriend or my daughter is living with her boyfriend, that’s just what people do these days.  What else would he mention?

            In our text, we hear some of the major problems at Corinth that Paul is going to address in the letter.  There is some bad stuff there.  If you take an honest look at yourself – you’ll find bad stuff there too. You will find sin. But remember that Paul’s opening address is just as true for you as it was for the Corinthians: “To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours.”

            You have been called by God.  Through baptism and the Word the Holy Spirit gave you faith in Jesus Christ.  As Paul says in our text, “I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus.”  You have received God’s grace – his undeserved loving favor. He has given this unmerited and undeserved love to you in his Son Jesus Christ who offered himself for you on the cross.

            Because of Jesus you are saints – you are holy ones in Christ Jesus.  He is the One “who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  Already now, you are ready for the judgment of the Last Day.  The sins of the past can’t change that.  As Paul says in chapter six: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

            We don’t live as people who are bound by chains of guilt about the past. You have been freed by Christ!  You are forgiven.  You are a saint.  Through his Spirit, Christ gives us all we need so that we can live with eager expectation.  Paul says in our text “that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

            Our present – the way we live right now – is determined by the fact that the crucified Christ is now the risen and ascended Lord.  Paul lays it on the line in chapter 15 as he says, “If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”  Jesus Christ has risen from the dead!  This fact trumps everything.  It conquers every problem and difficulty you are facing because you have a certain hope.  No matter what twists and turns your life may take, you know that you have victory in Christ – you know how it ends.  It ends with the return of Jesus Christ who will raise your body to be like his.  And so as Paul says, “you eagerly wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

            With the living hope of the resurrection, we eagerly wait for our Lord.  But that eager waiting turns out to be a very active thing.  It is a life lived on the basis of the hope we have in Christ.  So, seek to live as what God has made you to be.  We are a new creation in Christ.  Our hope filled lives now seek to live like it. 

            Corinth was the home of the Isthmian games – an athletic competition like the Olympics in Athens. When Paul talks about this aspect of the Christian life, he uses athletic metaphors as he says in chapter nine: “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

            This desire to live in ways that are true to God’s will; this effort to resist sin and live in love towards others is produced by faith – faith in Jesus Christ.  It is made possible and led by the Spirit who created that faith and sustains it.  It does not find its source in us, but instead in God.  And at the end of our text Paul reminds us about good news that we need to hear: “God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

            Paul tells us that God is faithful. This means that he keeps his promises.  He is true to his word.  If he says you are forgiven in Christ and that you will share in his resurrection, then you will.  After all, he is the One who has called us into fellowship with his Son, our Lord Jesus.

            For us, this fellowship is experienced in a way that speaks to both our present and future.  Here at the Sacrament of the Altar we share in the fellowship of the body and blood of Christ.  Here, he gives you his body and blood given and shed for you. He gives you forgiveness in the present. 

            And by coming to us in this miraculous way – by coming into our midst bodily – our Lord assures us that he will come again on the Last Day.  We sing “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” for the One who comes to us in the Sacrament.  He comes to us now as he gives us his body and blood in, with and under bread and wine.  Through this gift he strengthens and sustains faith – faith that trusts in God who is faithful; faith that serves the neighbor. He does this so that, as Paul says in our text this morning, “you are not lacking in any spiritual gift, as you eagerly wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”