Oct 7, 2012 Sermon "A Match Made in Heaven"

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto your from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Amen

Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

In the name of Jesus

Marriage these days, is a very touchy topic.  In fact, when one mentions marriage in a conversation, I would bet many of you get nervous about which way the conversation will go.  There are many different views of what marriage should be in the world today.  We hear so often about preserving the sanctity of marriage, but also we are bombarded with a push for marriage equality.   

While we do get many descriptions of what marriage should be in the Bible, there aren’t a whole lot of good examples for us to follow.  Often we read about kings of the Old Testament who had numerous wives.  We read about King David who slept with another mans wife and then kills the man to cover up his sin.  We do not read of the disciples, other than Peter, being married and Jesus Himself was not married.  So while we are given these words in Genesis, “therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh,” what should be our model for a good marriage? 

God created man.  Adam.  But God saw that it was not good for him to be alone.  So God cause Adam to fall into a deep sleep and then took a rib from him.  From that rib God created woman, man’s partner.  From that point on, man and woman were in a relationship with each other.  The Bible’s first earthly marriage.  Expectations were in place from the beginning between Adam and Eve as to what the marriage was to be.  Adam was to love and provide for Eve and Eve was to love and respect him.  Before the fall, these expectations where not a problem.  But after the fall of man, their sinful natures stepped in and created tension. 

While Adam and Eve were the first earthly marriage, they were in a much more important and fulfilling relationship.  They were in a relationship with God, their creator.  Like woman was formed from mans rib, and therefore looked like man, so Adam and Eve were created in the very image of God.  They were righteous, holy, and perfect.  And from the moment of their creation, they were in a marriage with God.  There were high expectations between man and God in the relationship.  God was to love and provide for his bride.  And his bride was to love and respect him and submit to his will.  And, just as it was between Adam and Eve, before the fall it was easy to meet these expectations. 

But after Satan tempted Adam and Eve, it was impossible for them to please God in their relationship.  They ate the fruit which would open their eyes to see like God, and the relationship was broken.  Instead of relying on God to provide, they took upon themselves to seek out what they wanted.  They were unfaithful to God. 

Not exactly the perfect realationship.  In the Bible we do great one great example of the prefect marriage.  An example which every earthly marriage should follow.  The bride was given everything she needed.  She was given land, food, meat and drink, house and home, and all that she needed to support her life.  And she was happy.  The marriage was perfect.  In turn her bridegroom providing what she needed, she loved him and submitted to his will.  Life for her was completely and unquestionably flawless.  But she wanted more.  So she went after what she wanted and in doing so caused a great pain in the marriage.  She was unfaithful to her bridegroom.  She tried to find pleasure in another, but only found great pain.  The bride tried and tried to gain her way back into the arms of her once loving husband but the damage was done.

The bride found herself falling farther away from her bridegroom and things were different.  Since he did not provide for her any more, she had to work for everything.  There was a great distance now between her and the bridegroom.  It seemed as though things would never be the same again. 

I am sure you have figured this out, but the bridegroom is Christ and the church, me andyou, his bride. We to are in this same relationship with God as Adam and Eve were.  We are the creation of God.  We have the same expectations placed upon us.  We are to love God and respect him.  And we are to submit to his will.  But how difficult this is for us.  While we see daily the great gifts around us, given to us by God, we don’t think they are good enough.  We seek out the things we want on our own, which causes us to stray from God.  We make what we want more important than God.  We struggle daily trying to please God, to make this marriage work.  Yet on our own, we are unable. 

After all the failed efforts of the bride to come back to the bridegroom, he came back to her.  While it seemed to her that the bridegroom had left and not taken her back, he had never left her side.  He was there, but the bride’s unfaithfulness hid him from her.  IT was her unfaithfulness that caused the bridegroom to come to her and endure what she was going through.  He was tempted, He was tortured the same way as his bride, but he remained faithful to the end.

Christ, our Bridegroom, showed his ultimate devotion to us by coming to earth in human flesh.  He showed ultimate devotion by enduring the same temptations we do.  By his enduring of the same mocking, ridicule and physical torture, even to the point of death, he showed his love for us and his desire to be with us eternally.  Yet again he provided what we needed to live.  He came to die and give us the complete forgiveness of our sins, forgive us of our unfaithfulness to our bridegroom.

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.”  What fascinating words.  We have seen how Christ, the Son of God, left his heavenly throne to be united with his bride.  We saw how even in our most unfaithful times, Christ has held fast to us.  After times of searching after other gods, trying to find something to replace the one true God, he is eagerly and joyfully waiting to take us back.

So how do we become one flesh with God?  While yes he is everywhere, he dwells in heaven.  How do we, here on earth, possibly become that intimate with the one who dwells in heaven?  The answer is before us here every week.  The first way is when we hear the God’s word read to us as.  Both Old and New Testament are filled with words God wants us to hear.  They are filled with his love for us.  And when those words enter our hearts through our ears, we are made one with him.  We were made one with him at our baptism, where the Holy Spirit entered our hearts and made us his own child.  And we become one flesh with our bridegroom at this altar when we celebrate the Lord’s Supper.  Here we taste his body and drink his holy precious blood.  We become inseparable from Christ. 

Jesus says in our Gospel “But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’  ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’  So they are not longer two but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together let not man separate.”  What therefore God has joined together let not man separate.  God has joined us to himself.  And how will he who gave up his only Son, not stop any length to make sure we are his. 

I am sure that you all can think of times where God opened doors to bring you back into the marriage.  When he opened doors to reassure you that you were indeed in his grasp, safe and secure.  And God uses us for a greater purpose as well.  Since we are in this great marriage with him, he uses us as witnesses to his greatness.  God uses us, through the Holy Spirit, as window and door stops to give others direct lines, saving lines, into the church and into his fold. 

You see, that loving, respecting, and praising which was demanded by God of Adam and Eve and of us, that is the greatest witness we can give.  In a world of uncertainty, you and I are certain of one thing, God is coming back for us.  Our future is set because of our relationship, our marriage with the creator.  Let people see that excitement and confidence in our everyday life and let the Holy Spirit open doors to witness to them. 

Thanks be to God for his constant faithfulness to us.  And that through that faithfulness, even to the point of death, we have the promise of being gathered from the ends of the earth to celebrate with all the faithful the marriage feast of the Lamb in kingdom, which has no end. 

AMEN

Sunday September 30, 2012 Sermon: "Who's Right?"

Grace, Mercy, and Peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ Amen.

“Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.”

In the name of Jesus

Perhaps you all remember the popular Christmas song It’s the most wonderful time of the year….  Only 39/38 days left.  You might be thinking to yourself, Pastor, you need a new calendar Christmas is three months away, let’s not rush things.  I know.  It’s the OTHER most wonderful time of the year.  Election time!  Oh man, I don’t know about you but the ads, the promises, the guarantees, the slandering, the constant coverage is getting to me.  Time, on its own, moves way to fast, but I wish that the next 39/38 days, or at least the voting, would just be done with. Each candidate has the perfect plan.  They will right the ship, everyone will have a job, a house, and by the end of four years, we all will be living the American dream.  How do you know who to trust?  How do you know who is the right candidate?  How do you know that the person behind the ads, the promises, the guarantees are going to fulfill their words?  It’s the most wonderful time of the year….  Only 39/38 more days and it is over….maybe. 

The disciples had a bit of a dilemma on their hands.  There was always only One man in their eyes. There was always only one who could do heal the sick, give sight to the blind, speak with heavenly eloquence, cast out demons.  They thought that they were in a special place because they were the sidekicks of this man.  All of the sudden another man started going around doing the some of the same thing, casting out demons to be exact, and his name was not Jesus of Nazareth.  Red flags, buzzers, signs, were all going off.  They thought only their master could do these things.    Now his mystique, his ability to captivate, the place of the disciples among him was at risk.  He was going to rise up and be like Jesus.  And if this man could do it, surely more people like him would come, and soon Jesus and the disciples wouldn’t be so special. 

It seems like the logical thing to do. Tell Jesus that one is out doing the same things, who is not following them.  They openly admit, we tried to stop him.  Think about it, is that what you would do?  If nothing else, shouldn’t Jesus have been told and informed of the competition?   

We are duly warned of the signs of the coming age and the end times.  As our Lord drew closer to the Jerusalem and the coming sacrifice, Jesus began to say to them, “See that no one leads you astray.  Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.  Like when we reach an election year, whether it is for president or governor, we find ourselves guessing, second guessing not really the policies, but the motives behind the candidates.  We weed our way through the information before us and try to find our way to the “truth”. 

Sadly, there are times we must apply this to religion as well.  Everyone claims to hold the key.  Everyone claims to worship the one true God, or at least convince us that we all worship the same God.  Often we wish we could have the power to tell those following these supposed prophets that they are being lead down dark paths.  So many look attractive on the outside yet on the inside are only filled with things to kill eternally.

Maybe we as Lutherans can be faulted for thinking that we are the only way to heaven.  That you must learn Martin Luther’s Small Catechism inside and out, you must be able to quote the Book of Concord, maybe even recite a few hymns, then you will be ushered in through the pearly gates.  Is it true?  Are we the true religion?  Are we the only ones who will be standing at the throne of our Father singing his praise?    

Jesus said to the disciples, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me.  For the one who is not against us is for us.  God works in mysterious ways.  He works through a variety of ways.  He uses people, situations, to cause His children to recall His goodness.  He uses them to call to those not his children and bring them into the fold. 

Isaiah speaks so eloquently of the goodness of our God “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.  “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

God’s word is perfect, those who bear it are not.  No messenger of God, other than his Son, has been or ever will be perfect.  But thanks be to God that it is his Son that perfects us.  His Son cleanses us.  His Son, with the Holy Spirit, grants us the ability to point others to the Cross.  That’s what it is about.  That’s what it is all about.  God created the heavens and the earth, so that his Son could be sent into it and be killed.  God sent his prophets to the people of the Bible, so that through their rejection, His Son’s rejection might be foreshadowed.  God sent John the Baptist, to fulfill the prophecies concerning His Son. 

There the true miracle lies.  God uses many to fulfill His Word, he uses many to spread his Word.  As we look at the many explanations of the Word of God, the many explanations of the very essence of God, we have to place our trust in that which does not make sense to us.  We have to trust in that which does not make sense.  The Son of God came down from heaven, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross for sinners.  Thanks be to God it does not make sense.  If He only did things which made sense, we would be lost for all eternity.

We CAN NOT make God something which our sinful human minds can understand, which so many want to do.   Who is going to be the one to tell God he can’t use someone for the furthering of his kingdom.  Jeremiah told God he was too young.  Jonah told God he was not right for the job.  In fact every messenger of God has used one excuse or another.

We CAN NOT tell God who he can and cannot use as his messengers.  Who are we to tell God anything other than that we are poor miserable sinners in need of his forgiveness?  What method could we use to decide who is right, who is real and who is a false prophet, one coming to lead many astray?  Trust in God.  Trust him to cause his Word to prosper.  Trust him knowing that he cause the right people to bear his Word faithfully, and that those who are out to deceive will receive their reward. 

This really is the most wonderful time, not just because Christmas is only 3 months away, not just because it is election time and we get to fulfill our God given right to elect officials, but because we are living in a time where we can freely study and proclaim God’s Holy Word.  Isaiah’s words are still true For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.  What a blessing and comfort that is.      

God be with you and causes you to fear and love him so that you do not despise preaching and his Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.                 

This month we began something new at the Triple Parish, adding a newsletter article to our monthly calendar.  While I wrote this particular one a few years ago, it still rings true.  

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,

            The church, like the world, is ever changing.  Churches are trying to do what they can to fill the pews, thinking that numbers are what spell out success.  They try new approaches.  They fill the church with electric guitars, drums, projector screens, and other ploys simply to fill their seats.  Everything seems to change with these churches, including the message preached.  In order to reach people and make them feel good, their pastors will refrain from using scripture and preach on world issues that might be more appealing to the eye.  They fill the hearts of the listeners with fluff that will not last. 

            Isaiah wrote that “A voice says, ‘Cry!’  And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’  All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.  The grass withers, and the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass.  The grass withers, and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:6-8)   

Reformation Day is quickly approaching. Like some pastors today fill hearts with things that will wither and fade away, God has blessed His church with faithful leaders that fill our hearts with the good stuff.  They fill us with the true word of God which will never fade away but will stand strong forever. 

Reformation Day is a day of praise and thanksgiving to God for the blessings he has bestowed upon the church especially faithful leaders, like Martin Luther, who do not stray from the word of our God.  It is a day of praise and thanksgiving that while many churches are changing around us and straying from the Word of God, we have remained steadfast in the Word and will, by the grace of God, continue to remain there until the second coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. 

A Blessed Reformation Day to you all!

Rev. T.A. Chase