Tag Archive for: epiphany

Lord Make Me a Better ________

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Pastor Aaron Steinbrenner delivers a sermon entitled “Lord Make Me a Better__________” based on 1 Samuel 3:1-10 at Peace Lutheran Church in Hartford, Wisconsin.

Delivered: Sunday, January 14, 2017

Just for fun I googled Ten Best Role Models, and two seconds later google had a list for me. The list included a couple pro athletes, some actresses, a few pop/country singers, even a member of the British royalty. I don’t know about you, but I have a really hard time relating to celebrities. Regular people who work regular jobs and have regular incomes – I can relate to them.

So our role models don’t need to be celebrities. We can find role models from within our own ranks…in fact, I hope we do. And I hope we keep that in mind. For instance, our children may pay some attention to pro athletes and celebrities, but the role models that will influence them the most will be you – moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas. Athletes can show our kids what to do after making a three-pointer or after scoring a touchdown…
– they will learn how to be loving husbands and wives from you
– they will learn how to treat people with respect, even when you disagree with them from you
– they will learn how to and how often to worship from you
– they will learn how and why to bring offerings to church from you
– they will learn about what’s most important in life from you.

And isn’t it also true that our children can often be really good role models for us. It’s so encouraging and refreshing when we see in our children a child-like trusting faith in Jesus…when we see the excitement they have when they have learned a Bible story…or how unafraid they are to speak openly about their faith in Jesus. Today in 1 Samuel 3 we see a great role model for all of us. He’s not a celebrity…he’s not royalty…he’s a young boy and his name is Samuel.

Samuel teaches us how to listen

Just to understand the setting a little bit better. We’re told “in those days the word of the LORD was rare.” The first five books of the Bible had been written and compiled and were kept in the tabernacle. But the people ignored those books of the Bible…even the priests. And instead of being good spiritual leaders, the priests were taking advantage of the people…living godless lives and being very poor examples for the people. They had no good role models. And nobody seemed to be listening to God’s voice.

Enter Samuel. (now the 4th time the Lord called to him) The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.”

Listening is important. In catechism class, we talked about how it is estimated that there are roughly 4,200 different branches and types of religions or belief systems in the world. Think about that a moment. All those different opinions and ideas about
– who is in control?
– what is right and what is wrong?
– why am I here and how did I get here…and where will I go when my “here” is over and done with?

Only our true God has the true answers. But it seems listening to him, even though we know he has the answers, can be harder than we think. Can I bore you with some stats for a minute?
– Over 200 billion emails are sent each day (that’s 2.4 million per second)
– Over 500 million tweets each day
– Between 2-3 billion snapchats per day (average user opens the app 18 times per day)
– Average American devotes 10 hours per day to some kind of screen time (computer/TV/phone/tablet)

I would say the average American is certainly connected and tapped into technology and the internet. In your opinion, have all those activities and connections translated into a greater and more consistent connection to God’s Word? And what happens when people stop listening to God’s Word?
• Things didn’t go well for Adam and Eve – they listened to the serpent.
• Eli and his sons closed their ears to God’s voice and they became bad role models and were judged for it.
• David, a man after God’s own heart, took a break from listening to God – that led to adultery and murder and cover-up and what he would later recount, the worst, most guilt-stricken time of his life.
• Judas, he stopped listening to God too…and it couldn’t have come at a worse time. He hanged himself in despair.
• It’s not good for us either. When we don’t listen to God’s voice, then we’ll end up only hearing all the garbage the world pumps into our eardrums and all the lies the devil whispers and all the rationalizing and justifying and bargaining our sinful nature hurls at us.

So with Samuel, we cry out, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. Speak, Lord, when I err…when I stray…when my immaturity gets the best of me…when my stubbornness doubles down…when my sinful nature digs in its heels…Speak, Lord, and cut me to pieces and help me see the danger and depravity of my sin. Knock me down into the dust and help cry out, Lord have mercy. Then speak, O Lord, and give me your mercy. Speak to me in your Word, and show me how deep and how unmatched your love. Speak…and give me the same promises you gave to Adam and Eve and David. Speak to me about Jesus. Speak to me in my baptism…speak to me in the supper…speak to me your words of forgiveness. Speak and never cease to speak. Help me to believe and never cease to believe.

In the bulletin the sermon theme was left blank. Lord, Make Me a Better _____________. I could think of several ways to fill in that blank. Lord, make me a better spouse…a better parent…a better pastor…a better evangelist…a better disciple…a better coworker…a better role model…and the lost goes on. You may fill in your blank however you wish. But might I suggest, Lord, Make Me a Better Listener?

If I am a better listener…If I am truly hearing the voice of my God over and through the many distractions…If I am listening to how patient he is with me – won’t that move me to be more patient with others? If I hear again and again how he graciously tracked down and found and claimed my lost soul – won’t that invigorate my efforts to reach out to the lost souls in my own neighborhood? If I am listening to how consistently he protects me and provides for me and attends to my prayers…how compassionate he is and how kind and generous to me even when and especially when I do not deserve one lick of it – wouldn’t that make me a kinder, more compassionate spouse and parents.

Lord, Make Me a Better Listener…and by the power of your gospel, increase my faith…and make me a better servant to those around me. Amen.

 

 

 

 

The Chosen Substitute

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Video not available.

Pastor Jeremy Husby delivers a sermon entitled “The Chosen Substitute” based on Mark 1:4-11 at Peace Lutheran Church in Hartford, Wisconsin.

Delivered: Sunday,  January 7, 2017

If you were to sit in on a class over at Peace Lutheran School, you could probably learn a lot of information.  You could study the history of the United States or take a closer look at her presidents.  You could relearn the basics of algebra or, if you are like me, maybe it would be better to take another glance at simple arithmetic.  Perhaps sitting in on an art class or a lesson in music theory would be enlightening for you.

However, if you could only afford the time to participate in one class, the young people who would probably share with you the fact with the most significance are the preschoolers.  If you were to ask them what Jesus did for them, they would likely give you one of two answers.  They would tell you that Jesus either took away or washed away their sins.

That is most certainly the most important truth that anyone could ever learn in any classroom.  While it would certainly be difficult to live your life without knowing how to read or to add two numbers together, if you did not know what Jesus has done for you, you would not live forever in heaven.

That truth is something that your pastors hope to teach or reteach you every weekend here in worship.  Whether you are hearing it for the first time or for the four thousandth time, the hope is that you would walk away from this place knowing that Jesus took away or washed away your sins.

Forgiveness is an idea that is conveyed to Christians with many different metaphors.  Forgiveness could be taught to be a cleansing.  It could be explained as a courtroom acquittal.  It could be seen as the result of a ransom payment or an undeserved reconciliation with someone you have offended.

Today’s Gospel reading from Mark, though, is literally a textbook example of how Jesus took away or washed away your sins.  Even though you don’t see it at first glance, those phrases and descriptions of what Jesus did for you are right there in black and white.  It just so happens that, in your bulletin, they are a little bit hidden.  Listen again:

John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins…at that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.

There it is.  God has declared that your sins are washed away because Jesus took them away.  That’s what the preschoolers know after hearing these words.  That’s because, even know they may not be aware of it, they know the nuances of the Greek language, from which this English translation was originally written.

The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were coming out to John in the desert for a reason.

Make no mistake, John was a preacher inspired by the Holy Spirit.  That was enough to make people flock from all over to hear him.  His camel hair clothing did make him a sight you had to see to believe, but not just because he had a different sense of style.  He chose those clothes because that is what prophets before him, like Elijah, also wore.  He was simply identifying his occupation.

People went out to see him because he was a prophet of God who was preaching the very Word of God and, on top of that, the Word that he preached was not only what the people needed to hear, but was what they were craving to hear.

Those people of God, like their forefathers before them, had been enslaved by an evil overlord who forced them to work against their wishes and think, say, and do what they did not want to do.  But it was not Pharaoh from Egypt who was in control over them.  It was the Devil, himself.

Each and every day they were crippled with their guilt and were taunted by Satan’s reminders that, because of their sin, they were not worthy to be God’s children, let alone to live with him forever.

They had something they needed to get rid of and so John came, offering to them a way for that guilt to be washed and taken away. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

That word that is translated as baptized is used over and again in the New Testament and, every single time that it is used, it means washed with water.  Whether it was pots and kettles, a ceremonial rinse of their hands, or a cleaning of a couch, the Israelites always used water to wash away whatever had been soiled.

So, when John offered to them that, through this baptism, they themselves could be baptized; that their sins could be washed away, it is no surprise that they flooded that desert region.

When they went into that water, that guilt that plagued them day and night was removed from them.  It was taken away from them and they came up out of the water fresh and clean.

And, friends, that is why it is so important for you today to hear and to know that Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River, too.

As you well know, Jesus did not need to be baptized for the forgiveness of his sins.  He, up unto that point and afterward, lived a perfect life, free from even a single sinful thought, word, or action.  No he was not baptized so that his sins could be taken away, but, rather, so that he could take away your sins.

The sin and guilt of the Israelites did not remain in the water of the River Jordan like the dirt and grime of a third grader stays in the bathtub.  When Jesus came up out of the water, the Holy Spirit descended upon him and the Father’s voice thundered approval from above because he did there what he was chosen to do.  He took on himself the guilt that was taken away from the Israelites and all of the sins that were washed away from you in your Baptism.

And, after he got up out of that water, with your guilt and the sins of all people of all time covering him, he started his walk to Calvary’s cross.  There, he not only took your sins away from you, but shed his own precious blood to pay the debt that sin had incurred.

In this great exchange that takes place through Jesus’ baptism and yours, God gave to Jesus the punishment that you deserved for your sins and gives to you the salvation that Jesus earned with his perfection.

Because of baptism, Jesus’ and yours, you are declared to be children of God, who he loves and, with Jesus’ righteousness substituted for yours, with you God is well pleased.

There are plenty of great things that have happened or that will happen in church today.  It would be great if you leave here humming the tunes of the hymns that we sing or remember those we pray for in just a little bit in your own prayers at home.  But if there is one thing that is most important for you to learn or to relearn today, it is what Jesus has done for you.  He took away your sins by washing them away from you.  You were baptized for the forgiveness of sins.  Amen.