The Things You Don’t See
40 Comments/in Sermon/by Krista HowardPastor Paul Waldschmidt delivers a sermon entitled “The Things You Don’t See” based on Isaiah 53:10-12 at Peace Lutheran Church in Hartford, Wisconsin.
Delivered on Sunday, July 29, 2018
Man, Chicago Cubs fans are real pieces of work. That’s what a lot of people were thinking—not to mention openly proclaiming—after they saw this video that went viral earlier this week. In case you missed it, Cubs First Base Coach Will Venable tossed a souvenir ball toward a little boy in the front row. The boy missed…the ball rolled under his seat…and the full grown adult sitting in the row behind him gleefully scooped it up and presented it to his significant other, totally ignoring the fact that the ball clearly wasn’t meant for him, but rather for the poor kid in front of him. TV cameras were rolling, soon people posted the video online, and as you might expect the internet responded in its usual gracious, measured, thoughtful manner. Not so much!
There was outrage, name calling, and not at all subtle suggestions for major acts of physical harm to be rained down on this joker. The only problem….it was all a misunderstanding. Eventually, the true story came out. Apparently, earlier in the day, from his seat in the second row, this guy had already caught a ball and given it to the kid in the row in front of him. Then he caught a second ball and gave it to a kid in his row. When this third ball came into the stands, he picked it up and gave it to his wife. But the third time was the only time that the cameras caught! Why am I telling you this story? Because it perfectly illustrates how one brief snapshot often fails to tell the whole story.
The same is true for Jesus’ life, and we see it in our text today. Imagine if our text ONLY consisted of the brief snapshot that we see in verse 10. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer. What kinds of things do we crush? Aluminum cans and paper cups. (Things we have no use for.) Spiders and mosquitos. (Things that repulse or annoy us.) The Holy Spirit doesn’t use any words accidentally. He knew exactly what he was trying to convey when he talks about the Lord’s will (the original Hebrew word is even stronger—to delight!)…about the Lord taking delight in crushing Jesus.
Our text is talking about the cross, of course—where Jesus was crushed to billions of pieces under the mountain of our sins. When you see the blood oozing out from under that mountain, you realize that somebody paid an unspeakable price. Being crushed is gross, and it’s ghastly. And maybe that image sticks with us. So the next time we take inventory of our hearts and see ugly bitterness there, the next time we have opportunity to look at things we should not, and to lash out in hateful words, or to explain away our sins as if we are totally justified in giving ourselves to them…the next time those temptations come, maybe we remember that God is serious enough about sin to draw blood. So serious is he about sin, so much does he hate sin,
What you don’t see is often as important as what you do. If you only concentrate on verse 10, you don’t see what Isaiah says next, especially what he says at the end of our text. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
He was numbered with the transgressors, so that we might be numbered with his holy ones. Through the pouring out of his life, he opened the doors to eternal life for you and me. Only if he first died, could he then rise from the dead three days later. And only a living Savior could hold our hands as we lay dying and say, “Because I live, you too shall live.” The snapshot of the crucifixion is a vital one, but only when we confess, “On third day he rose from the dead, he ascended and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty”—only then do we know the whole story.
God crushed him. But then he put him back together and exalted him. Through faith you and Jesus are inseparable. And so that’s what he does for you too.
I don’t know about you, but so many days I feel crushed. Not by God necessarily, although there certainly Biblical precedent for that sort of thing. Moreso though, we feel crushed by responsibilities and demands—family, work, financial, house and home—they come at us from every direction, there are always new ones being added to our “to do” list, and they all need our immediate attention. That’s enough to leave a person crushed beneath their weight.
Worry can be crushing as we wonder what problem is just around the corner, what issue might occasion our next trip to the doctor, what feather or firestorm will finally be the one that carries a tenuous relationship over the edge. Worry can crush a person beneath its weight.
But perhaps the most crushing weight one can carry is the cargo of conscience. Every day we want to do the right thing, say the right thing at the right time, make God happy, lift up the people around us. And every day, no matter how well we do, or how much good we do, we come to our bedtime prayers with things that haunt us, and a devil that taunts us. The past—be it long ago or quite recent can crush us beneath its weight.
But when you’re crushed, remember—you’re only seeing a snapshot. Even if it feels like you’ve been crushed for decades, it’s really only one page of your eternal story. The God who sees us crushed is also the God who gently, purposely, skillfully puts back together. And exalts us. As it was with Jesus, so it will be with the friends of Jesus.
So understand a few things as we try to tie this all together.
- Contrary to appearances and real live feelings, crushed isn’t all that bad of a place to be. In the Bible, it’s the people who appear to have it all together are actually the ones who are furthest away from the kingdom of God. “But a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”
- Even when he’s the one doing the crushing, Our God sees the big picture. When Jesus was crushed, the Father knew exactly how, when, where and why he was going with all of it. Though the humiliation was great, God saw the exaltation that was coming like unstoppable freight train barreling down the tracks. So it is with us. I think that’s one of the neatest things about believing in God. There are so many days, when all I see is the snapshot, a ten second video clip of our existence. I can’t make sense of much. It all looks like swirling chaos. But I believe, you believe, we believe that there is one who knows exactly where all this is headed. And even if he doesn’t explain it, he’s doing what’s necessary to get us to his side forever. Only then will the unseen be seen, and unknown fully known.
So we entrust ourselves fully to the One who is seated at the right hand of the Father. He’s living proof that what God breaks apart, he can beautifully restore. Today we may be crushed, but because of Jesus, we know—and we rejoice–that one day, our crown is coming. Amen.
Jesus Was Humiliated For You
41 Comments/in Sermon/by Krista HowardPastor Jeremy Husby delivers a sermon entitled “Jesus Was Humiliated For You” based on Matthew 26:47-56 at Peace Lutheran Church in Hartford, Wisconsin.
Delivered on Sunday, July 23, 2018
Friend, do what you came for.
Judas had arranged a signal with those chief priests and elders of the people. The one I kiss is the man. Even if Jesus wasn’t omniscient, the all-knowing God, he would have known that this kiss from Judas was something different. The very word that Matthew used to describe it is only used a handful of times in the New Testament.
When the prodigal son, practicing his apology speech, wandered back home with hopes to become his father’s slave, his father ran out to meet him on the road, threw his arms around him, and kissed him because of how much he loved him.
When the Apostle Paul, preparing for another missionary journey, told the Ephesian elders that he would likely never see them again, they cried and embraced him and kissed him because of how much they loved him.
And, just days before this night in Gethsemane, when Jesus was staying at the house of Simon the Leper in Bethany, a woman came to him, knelt down in front of him, washed his feet with expensive perfume and her own hair, and would not stop kissing his feet because of how much she loved him.
This was the type of kiss that Judas gave to Jesus. The same kiss and embrace he had given him in the past. The same kiss he had received from Jesus when troubled times wreaked their havoc in his life. And yet, with this kiss, Judas betrayed Jesus and handed him over to his enemies for sure and certain death.
And, because he is omniscient, the all-knowing God, Jesus knew why Judas came to the garden that night, with the crowd from the chief priests and elders of the people, with their swords and clubs. He knew why Judas came in close and gave him this kiss. But he didn’t stop it. He didn’t call down twelve legions of angels to be at his defense and disposal. He knew it had to be this way. He knew the Scriptures had to be fulfilled, so there was only one thing for him to say. Friend, do what you came for.
Jesus’ words did not excuse Judas’ thoughts, words, and actions. Rather, Judas’ thoughts, words, and actions were the reason why it all had to happen this way. Not just on that night in the Garden of Gethsemane, but throughout his whole life.
Can you imagine the emotions Jesus must have felt 3 years earlier as he called Judas to be one of his closest companions? Among the rag-tag team of disciples, Judas must have blended in well enough; at times asking Jesus important, faith-filled questions, and putting his trust in Jesus’ response. Other times, like when that woman washed Jesus’ feet, Judas, as did the other disciples, expressed his misunderstanding of Jesus’ ministry.
The whole time, Jesus knew that Judas would betray him with a kiss and not only did he allow it to happen, but he allowed all the event of that evening to happen so that he could win forgiveness for that betrayal and for all of Judas’ sin.
With how much Jesus loved Judas and with how much Judas loved Jesus, one begins to wonder why Judas would have gone through with it. Yes, the Scriptures had to be fulfilled, but that wasn’t the priority on Judas’ mind. He also wasn’t some robot, programmed by God to carry out this task without any consideration for his own will or volition.
Judas, while not the omniscient, all-knowing God, did know who Jesus was and did know what the chief priests and elders of the people wanted to do with him once they could get their hands on him. And yet he not only allowed this betrayal to happen, but even did all he could, with secret midnight meetings, in full premeditated motive, to make it happen.
Do you ever try to come up with an excuse for Judas’ thoughts, words, and actions?
It was just a rash reaction, as the treasurer of the disciples’ bank account, to the woman breaking the alabaster jar of perfume and wasting it on Jesus’ feet.
He was just fulfilling the purpose for which he was put on this earth.
He was overcome by the temptations of the Devil.
He was confused.
He made a mistake and didn’t fully understand the repercussions.
Say what you want, but none of those excuses remove Judas’ fault and culpability for his sin. And, unfortunately, the same is true when you try to use those same excuses to remove your own fault and culpability for your sins.
One thing led to another and, before I knew it, it got out of hand.
I didn’t know how strong that last drink was going to be.
It started out so innocently and then I made a lapse in judgment.
I didn’t know what else to do.
It was a simple mistake. Everybody makes mistakes. Nobody’s perfect.
You know right from wrong. You know who Jesus is and that, when you sin, you are disobeying him. You know that you are not simply allowing sin to happen but, so often, you are, with full premeditated motive, making it happen.
Try as you might, you cannot excuse your sin away, diminish it, or sweep it under the rug. The only way to get rid of it is for your friend to do what he came for. You need Jesus to be humiliated for you.
Jesus’ humiliation was not simply some sort of embarrassment therapy he underwent as some spiritual journey throughout his years on this earth. His humiliation was him accomplishing a task that was outright inconceivable for the almighty God to undertake.
Jesus left the honor and praise of his throne in the glory of heaven to become an embryo in the womb of a woman. The sinless Son of God submitted himself to the authority and commands of sinful human parents. The author and very personification of the Word of God spent day and night studying, meditating on, and teaching the Scriptures in the Temple and its courts. The almighty God, the Sabaoth LORD, in control of the myriad armies of heaven, allowed humans with crude weapons to take him into custody. The one whose face exudes glory allowed it to, instead, be marred by fists and spit, cuts and bruises. The very Resurrection and Life in human form died the death of a common thief and was buried in someone else’s tomb.
He did it all, not to excuse your sin, diminish it, or sweep it under the rug; but to fulfill the most ancient prophecy in the Scriptures and conquer sin, death, and the Devil for you.
Knowing all that you would do, all the sinful thoughts, words, and actions that you have committed and all that you will commit in the future, Jesus was humiliated for you; to live his perfect life in your place and sacrifice that perfect life as payment for them all.
Friends, knowing who Jesus is and what he has done for you, do what you came here for today. Do not do what Judas did, seeing how greatly he sinned against his Jesus and, in despair and desperation, think that your sins are unforgivable as he did.
Instead, confess your sins to the one you have sinned against and repent of them. Kneel down in front of your Savior and, because you love him so much, lay everything you have at his feet. And, because he loves you so much, know that he did what he came for. Jesus was humiliated for you. He fulfilled the Scriptures. You are forgiven. Amen.
Jesus Has Something to Say
40 Comments/in Sermon/by Krista HowardPastor Aaron Steinbrenner delivers a sermon entitled “Jesus Has Something to Say” based on Matthew 6:25-34 at Peace Lutheran Church in Hartford, Wisconsin.
Delivered on Sunday, July 15, 2018
Have you heard the one about the mouse and the magician? A mouse has this great fear of cats. A magician took pity on this poor, little mouse and turned it into a cat. Before long, that cat developed a crippling fear of dogs…so the magician turned the cat into a dog. The dog soon became afraid of panthers…the magician turned the dog into a panther. And in short order, the panther was deathly afraid of hunters. He begged the magician to turn him into a hunter. He magician replied… “I will not. You may look like a panther on the outside, but you still have the heart of a mouse.”
This may be a silly fable, but it does reveal something about you and me. We may try to look tough on the outside…we may try to look like we’re ready to conquer the world…we may want to look like panthers to all who see us…but so often on the inside, we’re just a little mouse…frightened and worried about many of the things around us.
What is it that occupies your thoughts at this stage of your life? What worries you? I’m guessing all of you, if given enough time, could come up with a list of a handful of real-life issues that stress you out. I’m also guessing, that somewhere on that list you’d have something that has to do with finances or money.
Will we have enough? Have you ever asked that question when it comes to finances?
- Will we have enough once we get out of college?
- Will we have enough to start a family?
- Will we have enough to take care of our kids and put groceries on the table and put gas in the car…without putting thousands and thousands on credit cards?
- Or maybe we already have thousands and thousands on credit cards…will we ever be able to dig ourselves out of debt?
- Will we have enough to pay for school or pay for medical bills?
- Will we have enough to retire? How much will I need?
Finances are important. Because we live in a world where so many of our decisions have to do with money, it’s important that we think about and talk about and plan and spend wisely. But it’s also very easy for us to become consumed. And it’s easy for us to worry and be afraid. That can lead to poor decisions like failing to hear and listen to the voice of Jesus. Jesus has something to say.
First of all, worrying doesn’t work. Just like it doesn’t work or help when I yell at the TV when my favorite wide receiver drops the ball or the running back fumbles at a crucial time during the game. My telling doesn’t change the outcome. So also, my worrying and stressing won’t pay any bills or shrink my credit card debt or put the kids through college. Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? So why do it? Because there are so many unknowns. Weren’t you listening before when we wondered if we’d have enough? Haven’t we all been conditioned, in this economy-minded world, to think that the more we have in the bank…the more equity we have in our home…the more stocks and bonds in our portfolio the safer and more secure we will be? That’s why I worry! Even if it doesn’t do any good, it’s natural for us to worry, right?
Wrong! Worrying – listening to what the world has to say and NOT listening to what Jesus says…that’s not natural; that’s sinful. So yes, Jesus has something to say. And he uses two unlikely preachers: a bird and a flower.
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin…yet, your heavenly Father clothes them. It’s a little embarrassing that birds, possessing no soul and no reason, know how to instinctively trust the Creator more than we do. While we’re fretting over whether or not we’ll have enough, the birds take God’s blessings, day by day. While we’re losing sleep over whether or not we can afford a new home or wondering about how we’ll retire, the beautiful flowers of the field stand as a testament of God’s ability to wrap wonderful clothing around his creation. What are you worried about? To worry is to miss the valuable lesson Jesus wants to teach you: you are valuable!
- For Jesus did not humble himself and take on the flesh and form of a bird or a lily…he took on the flesh and blood of a human being – that’s because you are more valuable.
- Jesus wasn’t punished for the transgressions of the animal or plant kingdom – he paid for the sins of the world…a world of sinful human beings.
- In your baptism, Jesus put the sign of the cross on your head and your heart…not the sparrow’s…and your baptism stands as a testament of God’s ability to wrap wonderful clothing around the crown of his creation…a garment of righteousness more beautiful and pure than anything worn by Solomon or anything seen in the fields.
- And it’s true, the Bible says the Lord is so caring and so invested in the whole of his creation that even a sparrow will not fall to the ground without his knowing and caring, yet when Jesus looks at the palm of his hand he doesn’t see the names of sparrows engraved there…but he does see your name. Are you not much more valuable than they are?
You can give your ears to what the world has to say about finances and money. You can follow their advice: Greedily grab as much as you can and stock up as much as you can for the future. You can put your trust in the economy and the size of your savings, which can disappear as fast as you can say Great Depression or Great Recession or Stock Market Crash.
Or you can give your ears to Jesus and put your trust in him. He has something to say. So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
- He won’t promise to drown you in worldly wealth, which can rot and rust – he’s already given you an inheritance which can never perish, spoil, or fade…he’ll make sure you also have bread and water and house and home.
- He won’t promise to be a magician who waves his wand and removes any and every circumstance that seems big and scary – instead he’ll stand by you and invite you to cast your cares on him.
So don’t worry. Why not? Because worrying doesn’t help. Worrying replaces the promises of Jesus with stress about the future. Worrying is unnecessary – for you already have eternity in your hands…you have Jesus!
Amen.
Fearfully and Wonderfully Made
41 Comments/in Sermon/by Krista HowardPastor Paul Waldschmidt delivers a sermon entitled “Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” based on Psalm 139:14 at Peace Lutheran Church in Hartford, Wisconsin.
June Efficiency Project
40 Comments/in News/by Krista HowardExecutive Board Secretary, Herbie Leong presents on the School Efficiency Project at Peace Lutheran Church in Hartford, Wisconsin.
Delivered: Sunday, July 1, 2018
Jesus is the Lord of Life and Death
40 Comments/in Sermon/by Krista HowardPastor Jeremy Husby delivers a sermon entitled “Jesus is the Lord of Life and Death” based on Mark 5:21-24, 34-43 at Peace Lutheran Church in Hartford, Wisconsin.
Delivered: Sunday, July 1, 2018
When the Pharisee Nicodemus, the member of the Jewish ruling council, came to meet Jesus in that famous section of John, chapter three, he did so under the cover of night. It was a secret meeting. Nicodemus didn’t want his coworkers to know that he was going to see, and to talk with, Jesus. He was likely afraid of what they would have not only thought about him, but also what it might have meant for his career. He couldn’t be seen or known to hang around with Jesus, the troublemaker.
Jairus, the man in the Gospel account today, came under no such pretense. He didn’t care what people thought about him, what they might say to him, or what it might have meant for his career. Yes, he was a synagogue ruler. Yes, Jesus’ work was, in some ways, making his own job obsolete. Yes, there would be consequences for being seen or known to hang around with Jesus, the troublemaker. But, that didn’t matter to him in the least. There was only one thing on Jairus’ mind; only one thing important to him. His beloved daughter, his 12 year old girl, was dying and Jesus was the only one who had the power to help.
Have you ever had to get a second opinion? The doctors say that they can’t do anything to help. The disease has taken its hold and no amount of surgery, therapy, or medication will change that. They say they could possibly slow it down, give you a couple more weeks, months maybe, but there is nothing else to do other than just make your loved one more comfortable in their last days.
Well, that may be what Hartford hospital has to say—but what about Froedtert? The Mayo Clinic? St. Jude? That drive down to Milwaukee wouldn’t bother you a bit. Plane tickets to Minnesota or Memphis? Who cares how much they would cost, just get me a flight as soon as possible!
The bible doesn’t say exactly how Jairus knew that Jesus had the ability to help. Mark’s Gospel, prior to this account, reads like pop star’s summer concert tour. Jesus performed here and there, sometimes twice in one day. He drove out a demon and healed a leprous man. He went to a different town, there healing a paralyzed man and performing an exorcism. He went out to sea, calmed the storm, came to land, sent demons into a herd of pigs, and crossed back over to the other side of the lake where Jairus was waiting for him.
It’s possible that Jairus heard about, or even saw, some of these miraculous signs. Maybe members of his family, seeing him in distress, mentioned the man who worked wonders as a last ditch effort.
Whatever it was, Jairus believed that Jesus could do what he was asking. My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live. So that. Not, perchance, she might, if you would. Not, I’m all out of options and I’m just hoping. Put your hands on her so that she will be healed. He believed. So Jesus went with him.
Jairus got the second opinion he was looking for. The healer was going to heal. He must have been so excited as they traveled back to his home. But then came the terrible news. Some men came from the house…Your daughter is dead, they said. Why bother the teacher any more?
He trusted. He had faith. He believed Jesus had the power to help and Jesus had agreed to help. But now it didn’t matter. His beloved daughter, his 12 year old girl, was now dead.
Jairus had seen her suffering. He heard the local doctors tell him that death was just around the corner. No matter how much hope he held out in his attempt to get Jesus to help, it didn’t change the fact that he knew that the death of his daughter was something he would almost certainly have to face in the near future. However, no matter how much you prepare yourself for that which will eventually come, it still comes with shock and surprise and pain and overwhelming sadness.
It wasn’t some sort of failure of faith, it was simply facing the reality of the situation. Even the most minor of medical procedures have a chance for complications. And, the reality of life in this sinful world makes you face reality in more situations than the severity of life and death.
You can have the strongest faith in the world, but still have to face the truth that you might, at any time, lose your job. Your wife could, one day, decide to leave you or, maybe worse, carry on with someone else while still staying with you. The house could go up in a fire, the transmission in your Toyota might drop, or your friends and family could find out about that sin you committed in secret and you would have to live the rest of your life in boatloads of shame, day after day.
That, brothers and sisters, is not doubt. That is not an empty faith. Recognizing the distinct possibility that any of those, including life and death situations, could happen at any time is not sinful.
However, when the fear of those circumstances, or fear during those circumstances, drives you to despair; the corner has been turned. That is what Jesus warns against in this section of Scripture. Listen again to Jesus’ response to the worst news Jairus ever heard:
Don’t be afraid; just believe.
Just a few chapters after this account, Jesus told his disciples that faith can move mountains. Jairus didn’t need his faith to move mountains, he just needed his faith to move his feet forward, following Jesus to the house where his daughter lay dead.
The thought of moving mountains, simply by faith, might be intriguing, but don’t you have more pressing matters to attend to in faith?
Don’t be afraid; just believe that your job loss doesn’t mean the end of your livelihood.
Don’t be afraid; just believe that the difficulties in, or even the end of, your marriage doesn’t mean the end of your experience of love in your life.
Don’t be afraid; just believe that God will forgive even that sin that shames you.
Don’t be afraid; just believe that even though you are suffering right now so terribly, it will not last forever.
Don’t be afraid; just believe that the same Jesus who raised the daughter of Jairus back to life was raised to life again, himself, after the death he died for you and your sins. Don’t be afraid; just believe that he shares the benefit of his death and the power of his resurrection with you and that he delivers and demonstrates it, just as he did for Jairus, through his Word.
Don’t be afraid; just believe his promises to you. Do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will wear he promises. Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you is his pledge to you. I know the plans I have for you he declares. He invites all who are weary and burdened to come to him and he vows that he will give you rest.
Your daughter, dad, or friend might not rise to live here on this earth with you again, but that doesn’t change his lordship. The suffering, pain, and even death that you see and experience is only temporary. It is possible that those circumstances will be removed now, but, even if they aren’t, you can believe beyond any shadow of a doubt that the Lord of life and death will use his power and authority for you. He will remove you from this world of sin and sickness, pain and sadness, when he wakes you from the sleep of death. He will take you by the hand and allow you to feast at his banquet for all of eternity. Amen.
