Fifth Wednesday of Lent 3/28/12

Lent midweek Date: 3/28/12 Text: Psalm 143 Title: Teach Me to Do Your Will, For You Are My God The sermon text for today, is the Penitential Psalm; Psalm 143, which we prayed earlier in the service. We will also be continuing, as we have each Wednesday to examine the explanation of the Office of the Keys as we read it earlier. We prayed in the third verse of Psalm 143, “The enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground”. That is how Satan works, my friends. Satan follows after the Christian and hounds him until the day he dies. Satan’s one and only goal is to get you to deny Christ and his Word of forgiveness. In hounding us Satan will very rarely do a direct attack, for he know that he will more than likely fail. No Satan is sneaky and will do little things to try and draw us away from our Savior. C. S. Lewis wrote a Christian classic titled, The Screwtape Letters. In this book he follows the writings of Satan to an underling, a beginner devil. Satan offers the underling helpful advice, as to how to win over a Christian to their side, all without the Christian knowing what is happening. It is a great book that all Christians should read, for it clearly points out the sneakiness of Satan and his cohorts. Satan will use whatever it takes to win over a soul even if it means using God’s Word for his purpose which he will always misapply. We saw him do that in the Garden of Eden and again at Jesus’ temptation just to name two instances. He is the father of lies, as God’s Word tells us. Satan lies and deceives the Christian into believing that the sin you are doing is not sin. Or, he deceives you into believing that your sin isn’t so very bad, that you don’t really need Christ and his Word of forgiveness. Or the biggest lie of all, God accepts you, as you are, because he knows your nature and that you are trying to do better. This is why we as Christians must pray the penitential psalms, including Psalm 143. While we might not have done what the psalmist is confessing we are sinners who need to always be reminded that we are sinners not worthy of God’s favor who must cling to Christ alone and his Word of Absolution. The psalms teach us that the Christian life is all about confession and forgiveness. In other words, we could say with Martin Luther that the psalms are a little Bible that teach us everything we need to know to believe in Jesus and go to heaven. But notice how very common the sins are that are before us. Let’s look at the catechism again. Which sins are these? Consider your place in life according to the Ten Commandments: Are you a father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Have you been disobedient, unfaithful, or lazy? Have you been hot-tempered, rude, or quarrelsome? Have you hurt someone by your words or deeds? Have you stolen, been negligent, wasted anything, or done any harm? Notice there is no murder listed there. No grand theft auto or adultery or rebellion. The sins listed are a part of your daily life. And notice where they start. Who are you; father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker? Each of us has a calling, a vocation where God has placed us. This is where God has given you to live and to work. And it is in that calling, in that vocation, that we need Law to condemn and the Gospel to receive absolution. Who among us has not been unfaithful or lazy, hot-tempered or rude or quarrelsome? Have you picked a verbal fight with a co-worker or friend, or a spouse, because you didn’t get your way? Have you hurt others by your words or deeds? Have you stolen from your employer by not working as you should? Have you wasted the gifts God has given you? These are real sins. To the eyes of the world, these aren’t big sins. They are trifles, nothing to be so concerned about. Yet it is these very trifles that God died on the cross to forgive. If God takes them so seriously, perhaps we should as well. So that is why we have Confession and Absolution, public and private. God wants these sins gone from your life forever. He wants them cast into the depth of the sea, so that you may arise again as a new son or daughter in Jesus’ name. This Lenten season we have taken a journey, as we have looked closely into God’s gift of Confession and Absolution. It is easy to focus on the sins, on the act of confession. Some of you might have partaken of God’s gift of Individual Confession and Absolution. For those who have done this, you know that it is hard to confess. The words don’t come out right. It’s embarrassing. Or, it almost seems like much ado about nothing. I mean, who cares about how I treat my family or what I did at work or whatever my sin might be? That is the whole point. God cares. He cares so much He sent His Son over to death so that you might live. When Jesus said “It is finished” from the cross, He is talking about your sin. Yes, He is talking about the time you were angry with your wife. He’s talking about the time you nagged your husband and wouldn’t give him any rest. He’s talking about the time you gave your parents the silent treatment and rebelled against their wishes. He’s talking about the time you refused to do what your boss asked of you at work. All of these and more he wants to absolve, for he died to do so. We’ve learned a lot about God’s gift of Confession and Absolution, both public and private this Lent. I know this has been a new journey for many, and perhaps at times a bit strange. It can be a hard journey, but a wonderful journey. God has so many things to teach you and give you that He can hardly wait for you to hear His Word and be reconciled by His love. He longs to hear you say with David in verse 10 of our Psalm for today, “Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God! Let Your good Spirit lead me” So flee to God’s Word of Absolution! Our psalmist cries out in verse 6, “My soul thirsts for You like a parched land.” In a land and a time when sin is ignored or held up as good, flee to God’s Word! He will forgive you for the sake of Jesus Christ, His Son. That is your hope. That is your trust. That is your life as a child of God. All praise to God, for his wonderful gift of forgiveness in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Fifth Sunday in Lent 3/25/12

5th Sunday in Lent 3/25/12 Text: Mark 10:35-45 Title: Saved to Serve. This morning we are going to take a closer look at our Gospel reading Mark 10:35-45 to see what God wants us to learn from it. Jesus has been walking with his disciples teaching them about the Kingdom of God. Just before out text this morning Jesus had told them for the third time what was getting ready to happen to him. Listen with me, as he tells us disciples in Mark 10:33, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles. And they will mock him and spit on him, and flog him and kill him. And after three days he will rise." Jesus was preparing them for the highpoint of God’s plan of salvation; his suffering, death, and last, but certainly not least his resurrection. Now you would think that would have gotten their attention, for, as I said earlier this is the third time he has told them about his upcoming death and resurrection. But as we read it did not, for their minds were on another glorious kingdom, one where they would play a big part, a powerful part in ruling Jesus’ kingdom. They want positions of power, as we read in verse 37, "And they said to him, "Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory." In English we understand that to mean that they want actual positions of power, one on the right and one on the left. In the Greek understanding though what they are asking for is more than that. What they wanted is to be an extension of Jesus, almost his equal. Sounds like the same problem that Adam and Eve had in the Garden of Eden when they wanted to be equal with God and got thrown out of paradise. Jesus tells them that he can’t give those positions of power to them. They are reserved for those that God the Father has prepared them for. He then proceeds to tell them that they will drink from the cup he will drink from and take part in the baptism that he will be baptized with. Of course they don’t have a clue, as to what he is talking about, for all they can think of is the positions of power they will hold when he come into his kingdom. In the end of our Gospel reading for today Jesus once more tries to get them to understand that the Kingdom of God is not about power, but service, as he tells them in verses 44-45 that, “whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Perhaps you have heard of the ancient Greek legend of Narcissus. He was supposedly the son of a river god. A seer had told his mother that her son must never see his reflection if he was to mature into manhood. For that reason everything that he might be able to see himself in such as polished metal, was removed from her son's sight. But one day Narcissus found a spring that formed a pool filled with crystal-clear water. As he stooped down to take a drink from the pool, he saw his reflection on the surface of the pool. He fell desperately in love with himself, and seeking to embrace himself, he fell into the water and he drowned. We don't speak much anymore of the legend of Narcissus. We do, however, use his name to describe one of the great maladies of our 21st century American culture. Ours, in many ways, is a narcissistic culture. We live in an age of entitlement. Simply put; we love ourselves. In fact there is a book written on the subject. It was titled "The Narcissism Epidemic…Living in an age of entitlement." The authors give us a few examples of how our culture has turned in on itself. They write, "On a reality TV show, a girl planning her Sweet Sixteen party wants a major road blocked off so a marching band can precede her grand entrance on a red carpet. They add, five times as many Americans undergo plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures as ten years ago, and ordinary people hire fake paparazzi to follow them around to make them look famous. High school students physically attack classmates and post YouTube videos of the beatings to get attention.” I would add a couple of more examples. The latest rage with teenage girls is to post a video of themselves on YouTube and then ask others to comment on how pretty they are. But it is not just teenage girls, millions of people today are still buying expensive houses, cars, jewelry, and going on vacations they cannot afford; all because they belief that they deserve the good life. None of this, of course, should surprise us. After-all, God told us long ago, through the Apostle Paul in 2 Timothy 3:1-5, "But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. "   Does all this mean then that Jesus is coming soon? Well, maybe, but, maybe not. The malady of self-centeredness is nothing new to our culture. As to our contemporary situation, I suppose we could argue degrees and how pervasive the problem is, but, as Solomon said, there is "nothing new under the sun." Jesus' way of thinking is always counter to our way of thinking. We see success and fulfillment in life in what we attain and in the power we command. Jesus says we gain our lives, in other words, we find significance, purpose and meaning in our lives, by serving others. We, on the other hand see greatness in the number of people over whom we exercise power. We strive in all sorts of different ways to learn to love ourselves, as if that were some laudable goal. Jesus releases us to love others by showing us a world of hurting, dying sinners who are in need of our compassion and care. Perhaps though the greatest counterintuitive aspect of Jesus' ministry among us and for us is that, he came into the world "not to be served, but to serve and give His life as a ransom." While we are not as self-centered as Narcissus who when he saw his reflection in a pool of water fell in love with himself and died in his own embrace we are however all too familiar with the self-centeredness of our hearts and minds. We contemplate what it means for God to become flesh. We struggle to grasp the humility of his servant heart laid open for all to see in the suffering and shame of His passion and cross. When we finally come to see just how much we love ourselves over God and everyone else, we hold ourselves in contempt and plead for God to have mercy on our souls. And he does have mercy on us. He has claimed you as his own in your Baptism. Every Sunday He gives you the assurance of his forgiveness in the Absolution I speak to you. He comes to you in his Holy Supper where you receive his body and blood. He did all of that on the cross. It is called the wonderful exchange because on the cross he became your sin and made you his righteousness! God the Father turned his back on Jesus, so that he can never turn his back on you. He did not stop there though, for Jesus continues to serve you through his Word and Sacraments to set you and I free from our self-centeredness, so that we might live loving and serving others. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ that is good news; life changing news indeed. In thanksgiving to Jesus and what he has done for us let us sing “Drawn to the Cross, Which Thou Hast Blest,” number 560 in our hymnal. Amen