THE GOD OF SECOND CHANCES

Text: 2 Chronicles 33:1-6,10-18

I.

Should Jamarcus Russell get a second chance? The Oakland Raiders fans here today probably have an opinion on that one. Jamarcus Russell was the Raiders’ first round (and first overall) draft pick in 2007. He held out from practice until after the regular season had started, and after the Raiders signed him to a $61 million contract. He played 25 games as a starter in three seasons, but only won seven of those games. The Raiders released him in the spring of 2010, disappointed with his poor performance and reported lack of a good work ethic. The team even filed a grievance hoping to get back some of the money they had paid him. Russell was later arrested on drug charges. But now, in the current offseason, he has been working out, losing weight, getting in shape, and working hard toward finding an NFL team that will sign up—and probably not with a lucrative contract or a starting job this time. So should he get a second chance, or has his opportunity passed him by?

Should Manasseh have gotten a second chance? Football fans probably knew who Jamarcus Russell was before I gave his abbreviated NFL biography, but even fairly decent students of the Bible may not know who King Manasseh was. The ancient nation of Israel became a monarchy, ruled by Kings Saul, then David, then Solomon. After those three kings, the nation split into two kingdoms in 930 B.C.—the northern kingdom was still called Israel, while the southern kingdom took the name Judah. The northern kingdom was eventually wiped out by the nation of Assyria in 722 B.C. The southern kingdom stuck around a little longer before the nation of Babylon deported them in 586 B.C. Manasseh was king in the 600’s B.C., and based on the record in today’s First Lesson, he wasn’t a very godly king, either.

Verses two through six in our reading contain a laundry list of Manasseh’s sins that get successively worse with each verse. “He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the detestable practices of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.” That’s not exactly a compliment to hear that the nations Israel once destroyed at God’s direction as a punishment for their wickedness were now the model of behavior for Judah’s king. “[Manasseh] rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had demolished; he also erected altars to the Baals and made Asherah poles. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them.” The high places that were once locations of idol worship were put back into practice, and the false gods of the surrounding nations along with their sexually deviant worship practices became accepted cultural practice under Manasseh’s reign. “He built altars in the temple of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “My Name will remain in Jerusalem forever. In both courts of the temple of the Lord, he built altars to all the starry hosts.” It is one thing to encourage people to worship false gods; it is that much more offensive to set up the worship of phony gods in the holy temple of the one, true God. And now here’s the clincher: “He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists.” As if Manasseh’s sins could get any worse, he even engaged in child sacrifice, killing his own sons who would have succeeded him on the throne, and engaging in every form of witchcraft imaginable. Our reading expresses the situation quite tamely when it concludes, “He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, provoking him to anger.” Should he get a second chance? 

GOD BLESSES YOU THREE TIMES OVER

1. With the Father’s providence
2. With the Son’s grace
3. With the Spirit’s peace

Text: Numbers 6:22-27

Service video (sermon starts at 32:35)

Introduction

Ite, missa est. No, I’m not speaking in tongues. Ite, missa est are Latin words that are very loosely translated, “Go, for the mass is ended.” For centuries, Christian worship concluded with this somewhat terse way of dismissing worshipers. If we really wanted to be cynical, I suppose we could translate, “Go home! We’re done!” So when Martin Luther arrives on the scene in the sixteenth century, he proposed two options with a slightly more elegant ending to the Sunday service. One option was the closing words of Psalm 67: “God, our God, will bless us. God will bless us, and all the ends of the earth will fear him.” The other option was the blessing God himself gave in today’s First Lesson, a blessing that was to be spoken over the ancient Israelites: “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord look on you with favor and give you peace.”

You hear those words every Sunday. Just before the final hymn, the pastor raises his hands, and intones those familiar words in a familiar way that you can almost hear before he speaks each syllable. But familiarity breeds contempt—or at least it leads us to tune out because the end of the service is in sight! There is much to be found in these words of blessing from God, and the fact that these words were chosen to be read on Trinity Sunday tells us that there is much to be learned about our Triune God in these words of blessings. So let’s do that. On this Sunday that occurs eight weeks after Easter, a Sunday that has been set aside to review the Bible’s teaching that there is one God who is nevertheless three persons at the same time, let’s find out what this ancient blessing has to say to us and teach us about the Triune, three-in-one God. Today’s First Lessons shows us how God blesses us three times over! Our triune God blesses us with the Father’s providence, the Son’s grace, and the Spirit’s peace.

I.

“God bless you.”  Sometimes people will say that after someone sneezes.  I doubt that most people actually offer an unspoken prayer for God’s blessing when they offer a post-sneeze “God bless you.”  For better or worse, “God bless you” has become little more than a nice-sounding religious cliché.

The first part of the triple blessing from God in today’s First Lesson sounds a little bit like the phrase, “God bless you.”  But it’s no cliché.  Those seven short words (only three in the original Hebrew) are packed with significance.  Verse 24 says, “The LORD bless you and keep you.” One interesting point to note is that all the verbs are in a future form.  In other words, this isn’t just some hopeful wish for God’s blessing; this is a statement that God will bless his people: “The LORD will bless you and will keep you.”  The first verb, “bless,” means much more than what we usually mean when we say “God bless you” after someone sneezes.  The term in Hebrew means to endow someone with power for success and prosperity.  In this statement from God, we hear his promise to bless us and bestow on us everything we need for our daily life and then some.  And the next statement adds more to the picture.  “The LORD…keep you.”  That term emphasizes God’s great care for his people.  God isn’t like a parent who throws lots of toys and games at his children just to keep them quiet and out of his hair.  No, he takes great interest in our lives.  He blesses us with so much not to keep us quiet, but to demonstrate his rich kindness and love for his people. 

THE LORD’S LAST LESSON BEFORE THE ASCENSION

Sermon Text: John 14:23-29

Service Video (sermon starts at 31:30) 

Introduction

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

I know what you’re thinking. “Why, oh, why would Pastor Strey torture us with a ten-stanza-long old German Lutheran hymn right before the sermon on a communion Sunday?” All kidding aside, “Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice” has been the appointed Hymn of the Day for the Sixth Sunday of Easter for decades because the last two stanzas of Luther’s hymn match very nicely with the Gospel reading that is also appointed for the Sixth Sunday of Easter. In those final two stanzas, Luther paraphrases Jesus’ words to his disciples on Maundy Thursday which were read from the lectern just before we sang the hymn.

Maybe that raises another curiosity question. Why are we listening to stuff Jesus said on the night before he died when we’re supposed to be talking about Jesus’ resurrection now that the Easter season is six weeks old today? That’s also a good question. You probably noticed that Jesus’ words on Maundy Thursday were preparing his disciples for his Ascension when he would physically leave them, and also for the day we call Pentecost when Jesus would send the Holy Spirit on his disciples to equip them to carry out the church’s work. Jesus said, “I am going away and I am coming back to you. … I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.” Since we are four days away from Ascension and 14 days away from Pentecost, Jesus’ Holy Week words fit today’s service well, even if they don’t seem at first as if they fit into our Easter season timeline. In a sense, Jesus’ words contain his last lesson for the disciples before the Ascension. And on this Sunday before Jesus’ Ascension, the Lord’s last lesson before the Ascension is also fitting for us to consider.

Exposition

And here is the Lord’s last lesson before the Ascension: “Jesus replied, ‘If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.’”

Jesus’ last lesson before the Ascension directs his disciples to hold on to his teaching. Our translation uses the phrase, “He will obey my teaching.” Another translation says, “He will keep my Word.” The idea behind the Greek word here for “obey” or “keep” is to guard and protect something so that it will be preserved. And that’s what Jesus wants his disciples to do. Love for Jesus means holding on to his “teaching.” Notice the word is singular. Jesus is treating everything he taught as a package deal. You can’t divide Jesus’ teaching into the stuff that we have to follow and the other stuff that isn’t as important. It is a unified whole. 

As I prepare for my sermon this weekend, I am reading through some of Luther’s comments on my sermon text, John 14:23-29. Given the constant assaults on the Christian faith, particularly the recent attacks on those who confess traditional, biblical views of morality and marriage, I couldn’t help but notice how Luther’s words almost seemed to speak to us today who may be discouraged with our culture’s increasing rejection of Christ’s Word and will. Without further commentary, permit me to share these words from one of Luther’s sermons; this section comments on Jesus’ words in John 14:24, “My Father will love him.” You can find this quotation in Volume 24 of the American Edition of Luther’s Works.

We have often heard that Christ always draws us up to the Father with great diligence, and does so in opposition to the accursed thoughts which separate Christ from the Father and prompt one’s heart to be concerned and to ask: “Even though I believe in Christ, who knows whether the Father is gracious to me?” Hence Christ is always intent on leading us into the Father’s heart. If we but love Him, we should have no worry or fear. Then we cast and tear all thoughts of wrath and terror far out of our hearts. For the devil has no other dart with which to gain mastery over us than the picture of an unmerciful and angry God. If that shot hits the heart, no man is staunch enough to bear it. Therefore Christ always contends against this and arms us with the weapons of defense by assuring us that He Himself vouches for the Father’s love. If we believe in Him and are in His love, there is no longer any anger in heaven or on earth; there is nothing but fatherly love and all goodness. God, together with all the angels, smiles on and keeps watch over us as His dear children. Then you have no fonder wish than to depart immediately from this life. So thoroughly does God sweep all fear and terror from heaven and fill it with sheer assurance and joy if the heart but remains with Christ and holds to Him.

This is indeed a beautiful and charming message. It costs us no hard labor, and no one need go on distant pilgrimages in search of it or torment himself with arduous works. It costs no more than what we already have in ourselves, namely, that our hearts adhere firmly to it in faith, that our lips make public confession of it, and that we show forth and prove our faith with love toward our neighbor. And even if you thereby must suffer the devil’s and the world’s enmity and hatred because of this, you have here the consolation which enables you to endure, yes, even to despise this enmity and hatred. For what harm can come to you even if the world is most hostile to you, persecutes and torments you? You still know that you have Christ the Lord as your Friend, and not only Him but also the Father, who assures you and testifies through the mouth of His Son that He loves and cherishes you because of your faith in Christ, and your confession of Him. Now since you have this Lord on your side, together with all the angels and saints, why should you worry about or fear the world’s ire? What else do they accomplish with their hatred and rage against you than to load God’s irresistible wrath and curse on themselves? This they will not be able to bear, but they will perish by it eternally when their hour strikes. 

EASTER BREAKFAST WITH THE RISEN LORD

 Text: John 21:1-14

 Service Video (sermon starts at 34:35)

Introduction

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

I’m going to be perfectly honest with you. This sermon has stumped me. This morning we are slated to study the third resurrection appearance of Jesus to a group of his disciples, recorded in the Gospel for today from John 21. When a Lutheran pastor takes a look at a Scripture selection that will direct his sermon, he looks for a couple of things. One thing he looks for is a specific sin or problem in the reading that will address a specific sin or problem in the lives of God’s people today: How does God’s law condemn us and call us to repentance in this reading? The other thing the pastor looks for is a specific or direct way in the reading that the good news of Jesus’ saving and forgiving work is presented: How does the gospel of Jesus comfort us with Christ’s peace and forgiveness, even (and especially) for the sins that this reading points out in our hearts and lives?

As I looked at this reading all week, I can’t say that I saw any specific sin or problem in this account that needs to be addressed, confessed, and forgiven through this reading. Like I said, this sermon has stumped me. But we also know that the Holy Spirit doesn’t waste his words. If the words about this post-Easter breakfast with Jesus and his disciples were recorded for us in Scripture and preserved for us today, they must have a purpose for us, especially in this Easter season. This Easter breakfast account with the risen Lord surely has something to say to us. So maybe the best thing for us to do is to work through this account together and discover not only what happened in John 21 but what this account has to say to God’s people who have gathered here for worship today.

Exposition

 The Gospel for today begins, “Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. ‘I’m going out to fish,’ Simon Peter told them, and they said, ‘We’ll go with you.’ So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.” Chapter 20 ends with Jesus’ disciples gathered together one week after Easter Sunday. Now John adds another account to our list of post-Easter appearances of Jesus. Jesus’ disciples have gone north to Galilee, and for a while they return to their previous lives as fishermen. Maybe that’s the “problem” in this reading. Why did they leave Jerusalem? Why did they go home? Why are they out fishing? Are they slacking in their work as witnesses of the risen Jesus? 

Yesterday (April 8, 2013) marked the start of a new set of Sunday Bible Classes at St. Mark’s. I’m teaching a class on Conversion. You can find resources for the class on this blog’s Sunday Bible Class page. The first lesson in the class dealt with the fall into sin (Genesis 3) as the reason why we need to be converted. This topic was the springboard for a number of interesting discussions, including one on free will. Why did God give mankind free will if he knew that Adam and Eve would fall into sin? Why didn’t God simply prevent us from falling into sin in the first place?

As a part of that larger discussion, I shared some quotes from John Warwick Montgomery‘s book, Tractatus Logico-Theologicus, a premiere modern scholarly defense of the Christian faith. (The book is available on Amazon and through the Canadian Institute for Law, Theology, and Public Policy). Montgomery has a helpful section on the connection between free will and love. I shared a few excerpts with the class yesterday, and I’d like to share those references here, along with several more quotes from the same context. You may find these quotes helpful when you’re faced with questions like the ones raised above. 

MARY MAGDALENE—FROM DOUBT TO FAITH

 Lent/Easter Sermon Series: The Minor Characters of the Cross

 Text: John 20:10-18

Service Video (sermon starts at 29:05)

Note: This brief Easter sermon was preached at the Easter Dawn (7:00 a.m.) communion service at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church. Another sermon was delivered at the later Easter Day (9:00 & 10:45 a.m.) services.

Exposition

He is risen! He is risen indeed!

But Mary Magdalene wasn’t so sure. After a chaotic first trip to the Jesus’ tomb, Mary discovered no stone in front of the entrance, and no body of Jesus in the grave. She reported this to the disciples, and in the Easter Dawn Gospel we heard how Peter and John ran to the tomb to see things for themselves. But Mary returned to the tomb, struck with more grief, because in her mind not only was Jesus dead, but she couldn’t even finish the burial process that they were not able to adequately complete on Good Friday before the Sabbath began. She stood outside the tomb after her return trip, crying and weeping from her emotional devastation and grief.

When we are filled with grief, we often cannot see reality before our eyes. Mary could not see reality before her eyes. Literally. She quickly looks into the tomb on this return trip, and sees two angels—not exactly your run-of-the-mill sight on an average Sunday morning. And instead of coming to her senses, she stays in her grief. “Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, ‘Woman, why are you crying?’ ‘They have taken my Lord away,’ she said, ‘and I don’t know where they have put him.’ At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.”

Here comes Easter morning reality check number two. But as we already mentioned, people filled with grief often cannot see reality. Everything she wanted was standing right before her—a risen and glorified Jesus, not a dead body. Were the tears in her eyes literally too much for her to see reality? Was the expectation of the dead body of Jesus so strong that her mind did not register the resurrected and glorified Jesus who stood before her? Was her mind so set on what she expected to find on Easter that Jesus’ gentle leading question didn’t register with her? “‘Woman,’ he said, ‘why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?’ Thinking he was the gardener, she said, ‘Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.’” 

THE APOSTLES:

1. Observers of Jesus’ continued power
   
2. Recipients of Jesus’ new covenant

Lent Sermon Series: The Minor Characters of the Cross

Text: Luke 22:7-20

Service Video (sermon starts at 33:25)

Introduction

It’s Thursday of Holy Week. We’re gathered for worship. What should we talk about? There are many topics that could occupy a 20-minute sermon on Maundy Thursday. We could talk about the dispute that arose among Jesus’ disciples as to which of them was the greatest. We could talk about the way Jesus ended that dispute by washing the feet of his disciples, a task meant for the lowliest of servants. We could talk about the Passover meal that the disciples ate. We could talk about the institution of Holy Communion during the Passover meal. We could talk about the anguished prayer Jesus prayed in Gethsemane. We could talk about Judas the betrayer arriving with Jesus’ enemies to arrest him in Gethsemane.

There is plenty that we could discuss tonight—enough that make this sermon last until the start of the 1:00 afternoon Good Friday service tomorrow! Lutherans historically viewed Maundy Thursday as the “birthday of the chalice”—a fancy way of referring to the anniversary and commemoration of the institution of Holy Communion. But even if we narrowed the topic just to the Lord’s Supper, there is much we could discuss—the real presence of Jesus’ body and blood, what the Lord’s Supper does for our faith, how the Supper is received properly and how it can be abused and received improperly. The list could go on for a mile. But our task tonight is to simply look at Luke’s Gospel account and let the Holy Spirit take the discussion in the direction he first inspired in these verses. Tonight the Holy Spirit will help us to see Maundy Thursday and the institution of the Lord’s Supper through the eyes of Jesus’ apostles. On the first Maundy Thursday, Jesus’ apostles were observers of the Lord’s continued power, and recipients of the Lord’s new covenant.

I.

Luke’s account of the Passover reads rather matter-of-factly, but there is more than meets the eye in this Bible reading. The account begins with Jesus telling two of his disciples, Peter and John, to go into the city of Jerusalem and make plans to celebrate the Passover. Jesus is likely keeping these plans away from the rest of his disciples and especially Judas, who had already made his plans and struck a deal to betray Jesus. Their private Passover celebration would have been the ideal time for Jesus’ enemies to arrest him, but Jesus is in control of all the details, even the details about his betrayal and arrest. Everything would happen on Jesus’ timetable. 

ENTERTAINER OR SAVIOR?

Lent Sermon Series: The Minor Characters of the Cross

Text: Luke 23:8-12

Service Video (sermon starts at 28:20)

Introduction

Some names from the Bible are popular, even today, nearly two millennia after the final book of Scripture was written.  You don’t have to look too far to find someone named Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John.  You probably know a Sarah, Mary, and Elizabeth. There are a good number of Pauls and Joshuas and Adams and Davids.  But then there those names that aren’t so popular.  I have yet to meet anyone so cruel as to name their child Judas.  The first murderer, Cain, does not find his name in too many books with suggested baby names.  Pontius Pilate, the ruthless governor of Judea who gets dishonorable mention in the Creed each Sunday, has not had his name resurrected in the twenty-first century.  And among those Bible characters whose names have not made a comeback is Herod, the Jewish ruler over Galilee who makes a cameo appearance in Luke’s account of Jesus’ Passion history.  Tonight’s minor character of the cross is Herod Antipas, one of the sons of Herod the Great, the man who tried to kill the boy Jesus after the Wise Men from the East came to worship the Christ child. Tonight we will spend a few moments thinking about Herod’s role as a minor character of Jesus’ great passion drama.  Listen to these words from Luke 23:8-12.

“When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased, because for a long time he had been wanting to see him. From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform some miracle.  He plied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answer.  The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there, vehemently accusing him.  Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him.  Dressing him in an elegant robe, they sent him back to Pilate.  That day Herod and Pilate became friends—before this they had been enemies.”  

A LENTEN REALITY CHECK…

1. With hope for the fallen
2. With warnings to the faithful

 Text: Romans 11:11-21

Service Video (sermon starts at 30:30)

Introduction

He thought his grades were just fine. He was an honor roll student in high school, and it didn’t take much effort to maintain a strong grade point average. He enrolled in a challenging major at the state university, and figured that the same amount of work he expended in high school would get the job done in college. In his first semester, one of his professors asked to meet with him. “Son, I can tell you are an intelligent young man, but your grades so far aren’t reflecting that. You need to buckle down and study more if you’re going to make it here.” That was the reality check he needed if he was going to succeed as a student.

On this fifth Sunday in Lent, just a week away from the start of Holy Week, our Scripture lessons provide us with a Lenten reality check. This reality check is not about grades, and it’s not about finances. It’s about our spiritual status. It’s about the condition of the faith in or hearts. And it’s a reality check that we would do well to heed. In today’s Second Lesson, St. Paul has a Lenten reality check for us to consider. This reality check has hope for the fallen, but also warnings for the faithful.

I.

Our Second Lesson today comes from the letter that the apostle Paul wrote to the Christian congregations in ancient Rome before he had had the opportunity to visit them. It’s a letter that is full of Christian teaching and practical spiritual information for people that Paul had not yet become personally acquainted with. In this section, Paul talks about an issue that might not seem especially applicable to us today. He’s talking about God’s Old Testament chosen race, the Jews, the unfortunate reality that many of them had rejected Jesus as the Savior, and the fact that many Gentiles came to believe in Jesus and were added to God’s family even as many from Israel rejected Jesus. It sounds like an academic discussion, but as we work through these verses, we’ll see that their practical application is much stronger than we might expect at first.

Paul begins: “Did [Israel] stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring! I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministryin the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”