"Missent to Kenya"

It has always been a lifelong dream of mine to be involved in a mission trip.  In high school the opportunity presented itself to the youth of my church and we were ready.  The task was simple, go to the Lutheran camp in Colorado and be their servants for a week.  We could do that, more importantly I could do that.  physical labor for a high school kid was good work.  Our excitement for the task was whisked away by a  regular summer occurrence in the forest, a fire.  The camp sustained a lot of damage and the trip was off.

Fast forward 10-plus years, the dream still alive, the opportunity to take a mission trip arose again.  You might even call it the trip of a lifetime.  God placed on my lap, in His time, a chance to join a team, led by a good friend of mine and even was made up of good friends.  This trip, go to Kenya and be God's hands of mercy.  A far cry from the corn fields of Iowa that my wife, my kids, and I call home.  A far cry from the attempted mission trip that was to happen in Colorado.  If I had to define the phrase "out of my comfort zone" this would be it.  I have never been out of the country except quick family trips over the border to Canada.  I have never spent more than 6 hours on an airplane.  And here I am staring down the barrel of two 8 hour plane flights (one way) to a new country, to be among people with whom I can't communicate without someone standing next to me to translate.

A stamp on an envelope with aid and support from my district sums it up, "Missent to Kenya".  The piece of mail this envelope contained had shifted at some point and my address was partially covered up.  The machines, through which the mail is processed, only caught the memo line "Kisumu, Kenya Mission Trip".  That stamp says it all.  I was born and raised Lutheran and even have a decent amount of German in me.  I am not one for change and exiting my comfort zone.  As the process rolls along I wonder if I have been missent to Kenya.  I wonder if I am really the right one to go and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those hungering for the Word of God.  Surely there are more qualified Pastors do to the job.  I have doubted and questioned just about every step of the way but one thing has been clear, God is in control.  God has been in the lead of the planning and the carrying out of this plan to this point.  I stressed about funding.  God, for lack of a better phrase, placed it in my lap.  I stressed about filling out paper work properly.  God gave me a great, supportive wife who checks and double checks for me and plenty of experienced travelers to guide me.  I even wondered if I would get along with Rev.Dennis Meeker, the man who runs the school we will be spending our time at.  Wouldn't you know it, God send Pastor Meeker to the Chase house for a visit and gave us plenty of time to get to know each other and realize there was nothing to worry about.

God doesn't missend anyone.  He purposely calls and equips those whom He wishes to carry His divine love to all nations.  What a blessing it is to be His chosen servant.  What a blessing it is to know that He is watching over me and each one of my teammates for this trip.  To know that He is in control.  To know that He has given me a supportive wife and children, supportive churches who have prayed and provided for me every step of the way.

Today, we are 47 days from takeoff, and as I told my churches this weekend, it's coming like a freight train.  I have a request from anyone who reads this post.  Pray.  Pray for myself and the rest of the team that we would have safe travels and that we would be able to accomplish all that we set out of do.  But also pray for the Rev. Dennis and Lorna Meeker, the kids of Point of Grace school, and all those we come in contact with that they would be open to hearing of the love which God has for each one of us and how He has shown that love through His Son, Jesus Christ.              

August 18, 2013 Sermon

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

Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division. 

In the Name of Jesus

Why did Jesus, the Son of God, come to earth?  This is your critical thinking exercise of the day.  Why did Jesus, the Son of God, come to earth?  What things did you come up with?  Perhaps you have visions and thoughts of the miracles and healings he performed, of the demons he cast out, even of those he brought back from the dead.  How happy of times those were for the afflicted who were relieved.  Perhaps you are thinking about his great teachings and his divine wisdom.  Maybe you are thinking about the Cross of Calvary.  Of what Christ accomplished for us on the tree.        

Let me tell you something about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  You know what the Gospel message is.  That Jesus Christ was sent to earth from his heavenly throne at the right hand of the Father.  He came to live a perfect life, to suffer, to die for sinners such as you and me, and then rise again on the third day just as he predicted.  By doing so he bought for us the forgiveness of sins and eternal life in the Kingdom of Heaven.  By our baptism we are connected to his death and resurrection and made heir and partakers of the feast of Heaven, which has no end.  He gives us such gifts out of his love for a fallen creation not because of anything we have done because we are by nature sinful and unclean. 

Did you know that that message, all which I just spoke to you, is foolish?  Did you know that people will look at that message, those words, and laugh?  How absurd it is that you can believe that some divine being is up in the heavens ruling over everything.  I mean, come on.  And you believe that this divine being came down to earth and died on a cross?  How can you put your faith in someone who is dead because I can tell you, there is no way someone is coming back from the dead.  How weak minded are you that you could be swayed by someone who is dead?  What is worse, you think that he is coming back for you and that there is something after this life?  You must be brain washed or something…. 

Do I have your blood boiling yet?  Sadly there are so many who think these things about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, both outside the church and even within the church.  To those who do not want to believe the Gospel is foolishness, it is as Paul says a stumbling block.  The Gospel is contrary to everything we in our human nature believe.  How can one come down from heaven?  How could one be completely innocent from all sin, evil thoughts, pure in all that he did?  How could one be beaten, whipped, crucified, killed, and yet rise again to life? 

Even to those with faith, it is our nature these days to be all inclusive.  To have the thought and conviction that we must accept everyone into our midst with open arms.  There was a video clip that came out last month of a popular TV personality, I don’t like naming names from the pulpit so I won’t, but I will say that I would bet this person was brought into all our homes through TV over the years.  She is a firm believer that there are many paths that lead to the same goal.  We can all “find and feel” God in our own ways and end up in heaven together.  She went as far as arguing and asking one person how they could be so close minded to thing that there was one path to heaven and that the path was through Jesus Christ?  This person goes as far to say Jesus’ purpose on earth was not to die, but to show us the proper way to live and achieve a Christ conscience.  We try to explain our way around that which is difficult.  We explain our way around the cross.  We want to play a part in our salvation and so we say we must do good works to earn our way to heaven, thereby nullifying what Christ so graciously did for us.        

By nature the Gospel divides!  It leaves a clear separation between those who truly believe that what is written is the truth and those who add and subtract from it are sinning and those who feel this is not complete and must supplement the Word of God with their own.  What a statement our Lord makes in the Gospel of St. Luke.  I came to cast fire on earth, and would that it were already kindled!  I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished.  Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division. 

This goes against everything we have thought.  He comes to bring fire!  That is, he comes to bring judgment.  He comes to reveal the Kingdom of God through wrath.  He comes to expose the sins of all and to expose those who are oppose to him.  For wrath must come first.    

And what about this baptism?  Wasn’t he already baptized at this point in his ministry, and even if he wasn’t why would he be so distressed about it?  Hear our Lord’s conversation with James and John in the Gospel of St. Mark.  James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”  And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?”  And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.”  Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?”

Our Lord was not baptized like we are baptized.  He was not baptized with water but with blood.  If this was not his sole purpose for coming to earth, why would he have been so fixed on it?  Why would he have predicted his death three times?  Why would he have said that the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom for many, if that’s not why he came?  Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.  Christ’s death brought the ultimate division.  It brought the division promised in Genesis.  It separated God’s people from the devil and it rightfully put the devil in his place.  Because of our baptism in water, we are joined into his baptism with blood.  On our own we could not withstand the baptism with blood, but praise God he endured it for us.

Martin Luther has this to say of our Lord’s purpose on earth.  I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. Who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned person, purchased and won me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

Why will Jesus, the Son of God, then come again to earth?  Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth?  No, I tell you, but rather division.  As we live our lives here on earth, in sure confidence in what Christ has indeed done for us, not doubting  but firmly believing that what is written in God’s Word is true, we wait for the final coming which will bring the final division.  This will be just as is predicted and talked about by our Lord himself.  This will be the separation of the wheat from the chaff, the dividing of the sheep and the goats, the division and separation of the believers from the unbelievers .  On the last day, Christ will execute final judgment on all people.  To those who believe, to those who confessed him before men, our Lord will welcome into the heavenly kingdom, yet to those who have not confessed him, who have lived contrary to his word, will be cast out into the dark deep pits of hell.  We will hear more of this place next week, but in the words of our Lord, in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

How sad a day it will be for those who created their own path to God, who created their own God, who followed added and took away from God’s Word to suit their own needs and desires.  But think of the joy on the flip side of that, the joy as believers enter the gate of Heaven.  Our Lord says Enter by the narrow gate.  For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few.    

By the grace of God may the anticipation of the final day, the resurrection of the dead and the life everlasting, fill you with joy  

Sermon for August 25, 2013

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

But [the master of the house] will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.

In the Name of Jesus

I would like you, again this morning/evening, to exercise your minds with me.  I would like you to think of the worst place/ worst scenario that you have ever been in.  Think about what made it so bad.  Was it the physical location?  What it because of the reason you were there?  Was it because of the people you were with?  Was it because of what happened while you were in that place and time? 

Keep yourself in that place, in that scenario for me just a few minutes longer.  In that moment when things were the worst, what did you want? 

We know that everything here on earth, especially every bad situation comes to an end.  There is a physical finality to it.  You are able to move past, or reconcile with those who wronged you or even those you wronged.  And what a relief that moment is.  It can feel like a weight lifted off your shoulders, like a light shining in the darkness.    Imagine there being no end to the suffering of that moment, no end to the pain, maybe even the embarrassment.  It seems unbearable doesn’t it? 

Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to hell.  The sermon last week ended with the phrase which we heard in our Gospel reading for today.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.  What a place of torture the pits of hell will be.  This, by far, isn’t the only place that hell is mentioned.  In the Old Testament, look for the word Sheol, used 63 times and then in the New Testament where hell is used 14 times.    And each one of these mentions has a common theme.  Hell is a place of eternal death, eternal torture.  It is highlighted, if you can use that term about hell, by, as our Lord says, eternal fire where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.  By lakes of fire sulfur, by weeping and wailing and even gnashing of teeth.     

But what really is hell?  A good question to ask with that is, where is hell?  Just like it is with heaven, we can’t look at a map and find it.  We have our generalization, heaven is up and hell is down.  But if you had to describe it what would it be?  We learned in our Wednesday Morning Bible Study that hell is complete separation from God.  Hell is NOT being in the presence of the creator of the universe, of the one who saved us from our sins.  It is having our God deny us, not know us, and cast us away from his presence on the day of judgment.  And this is not a temporary separation, it is permanent.  When you receive your final judgment, that’s it!  You can’t earn your way out, you can’t sweet talk your way out, you can’t even sneak your way out.  It is said of Satan, his army, and all cast into hell the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.      

So, how do we avoid such misery, pain, and torture?  We know that because of our sin this is what we truly and rightfully deserve.  Still, what can we do to make sure we do not walk down that path?  Shall we go from here today and live a life of good works in order to please our God and therefore convince him to let us into the gates of heaven?  Shall we meet some man made requirements in order to ease our minds into thinking we have saved ourselves?  By no mean!                

The Gospel, in a sermon on hell, lies in the fact that those who believe in Jesus Christ will be spared such torture for our Lord has endured it for us.  If true hell is separation from God, then on the cross our Lord suffered just that.  For our Lord cried out  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?  Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?  O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.  What a blessing and comfort these words truly are.  He has endured EVERYTHING known to man, down to rejection from God, so that that burden, that curse, would not be ours to bear.    

We have his promise that he will not abandon us to hell.  Hear the words of the psalmist David.  Preserve me, O God, for in you I take refuge.  I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you.”  As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.  The sorrows of those who run after another god shall multiply; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names on my lips.  The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot.   The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.  I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me.  I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.  Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure.  For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.  You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy, at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Friends, this is our joyful hope.  A hope that we will not be abandoned the pits of hell but be graciously brought into the presence of our God.  I reminded a family of mourners recently with this same hope.  And this needs to be clear.  Our hope of everlasting life is not a “well I hope I will be saved” but it is a conviction.  It is a strong confidence which not based in anything we have done, but it based solely on the merits and worthiness of Christ alone. 

Christ is the cornerstone of our hope and faith.  For it was Christ to suffered and died in our place.  He bore the wrath of God in our place so that even now we know, that because of Christ, we are counted with the saints in the heavenly places. 

If you hadn’t figured it out, the story Jesus tells in our Gospel is a story of the last day and the kingdom of heaven.  “Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.  When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’  Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’  But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but you yourselves cast out.   And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.  And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”

The bridegroom soon shall call us “come to the wedding feast”.  When the day comes, when you breath your last breath on this earth, when our Lord comes again and raises the dead and gathers all believers to himself, which group will you be in?  Rejoice that it is not because of our works that we will be brought into the feast.  For if it was based on our works, we would be left knocking at the door for an eternity.  God has called, God bought us with the blood of his son, God has given us the strong confidence that because his son lives, we will live also.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What a joy it will be to live in God’s presence for eternity.  To be freed from all evil, all adversity, all sickness for eternity.  Until that day may our fervent prayer be Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.  Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.  Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 

Amen