Ash Wednesday Sermon series on Amos 2/13/13

Ash Wednesday 2/13/2012 Text: Amos 1:1-2 This year my Lent series is going to be on the book of Amos 1:1-2. In this study I hope to show you through Amos the prophecy of the Messiah. By looking at his writings and the secular and religious writings of the people living during that time, especially the writing down of a great earthquake we can pinpoint with great accuracy the time Amos was prophesying. In 760 B. C. according to the ancient records of the city of Hazor a terrible earthquake took place. I mention this because it sets down for us the time frame in which Amos was prophesying, the earthquake that happened is the earthquake Amos is talking of in the first verse. It sets the primary theme of the whole book, for it is Yahweh’s earthquake-like judgment that will shake Israel, Judah, and the nations until everything comes crashing down. Only then will Yahweh re-create a new era of Davidic rule, abundant life, and permanence in the land. Amos heard the voice of Yahweh in the earthquake and compared his experience to hearing the roaring of a lion, a roaring that causes pastures to mourn and forests to wither. Everything that follows in the book needs to be heard with this roaring in the background. Amos will personally encounter Yahweh as a Lion and this in turn will lead to Israel’s encounter with Lion Yahweh. Throughout the book of Amos, Yahweh appears as the roaring Lion looking to devour first the nations, then Judah, and finally Israel. Amos places the Judean king Uzziah before the Israelite king Jeroboam ben Joash; the roar of the lion comes from Zion and Jerusalem, not from Bethel and Samaria. This roar coming from Zion and Jerusalem is critical for the whole prophecy, for it is from Zion and Jerusalem that King David’s fallen line will be resurrected; Easter morning when King David’s greatest Son, Jesus the Son of God, conquered death and the grave for us. The temptation, for us today is to put our hands over our ears to drown out his roar. The world, the devil, and the old Adam continue to urge the baptized to clip the claws on the Lion and clean up the bloody Passion they are called to follow. But the Bride of Christ is called to holy reverence before Yahweh, the lion of the universe. The Lion of Judah is found in a series of books titled The Chronicles of Narnia. They were written by one of the greatest Christian writers of modern times C. S. Lewis. These books have been read by millions and in 2005 a blockbuster move of that title was made. In the book and move of the same name, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Mr. and Mrs. Beaver have this conversation with Lucy about Aslan: “Is—is he a man?” asked Lucy. “Aslan a man?” said Mr. Beaver sternly. . . . “Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion.” “Is he—quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” “That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s any who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.” “Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ’Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.” Yahweh is not safe, but he is good; very good. This Lion will never be safe, but he is very good; forever. As a Lion, Yahweh’s words have teeth in them. He is an undomesticated deity who is powerful enough to shatter all of Israel’s conventional categories and systems of control. Yahweh intrudes into Israel’s settled existence in unsettling ways. He comes to afflict the comfortable and hold them accountable because of their unloving action toward the poor and needy. To become mesmerized with the evils of this present age and with its prince of darkness is to become blind to a much greater destructive entity; the Lion Yahweh. While there are biblical images of Yahweh as a caring Shepherd in Psalm 23:1, a nursing mother in Psalm 131, and a mighty redeemer in Job 19:25; wonderful images of comfort, we dare not let these images remove from our mind the claws and fangs of our God, the Lion who roars from Zion. The Book of Amos was written to restore the rightful roar from the Lion, Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel to the people of his day, as well as ours. But just like the lion in the Chronicles of Narnia who was terribly fearful, but still good our God is good beyond anything we can imagine. When our world crumbles all around us, when the realization of our sins threaten to overwhelm us shattering our confidence, when all our dreams become our worst nightmares, God comes to rescue us in the rubble of our lives. The Lord still says, “My dear child, remember I love you!” And this love rebuilds what the earthquake or maybe we should say what the tornado actually destroyed in your life has in itself been destroyed. God promises in Amos 9:11 to repair and rebuild our lives, for he says “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old.” These sure and certain promises to the house of David are fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Our Savior reaches into our wreckage of life to pull us free and He does it with his body and blood, for you see his body was all he had. His disciples had deserted Him. His garments had been gambled away. Even God the Father had turned his back on him. Nails were driven, lashes were given, and blood was shed, and we are saved. Blood was all he had, but the blood of Jesus is all we need. “What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus! What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus!” At the Holy Supper today Jesus reaches into your rubble of life, my rubble of life here and now. His blood rescues, redeems, restores, and repairs everything that has been so broken. All we can do no better than respond to his wonderful gift than use Saint John’s words in Revelation 1:5–6 to thank, praise, serve, and obey our loving God. “To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.”

Transfiguration Sunday 2/10/13

Transfiguration Sunday 2/10/13 Text: Luke 9:28-36 Title: Today we are at a transition point in the church year. We are finishing the season of Epiphany where we have been spending time learning more about Jesus. This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent. This year my sermon series will be on the book of Amos. We will have two services, one at 2pm and one at 7pm each Wednesday during Lent, so that everyone will have an opportunity to worship God that day. This Wednesday we will serve King cake before the services, so come early and enjoy King cake brought in from New Orleans. The ending of Epiphany gets lost quite often especially in this area because of the parades and festivities being celebrated this weekend. It is a shame, for today is an important day for Christians, as you will see. The season of Epiphany started with the pagan wise-men worshiping the baby Jesus. This event told the Jewish people that God has come for the Gentile people also. Immanuel, God in the flesh has arrived, as it was foretold by the Old Testament prophets. The next Sunday we read of Jesus being dedicated to God at the temple of Jerusalem. This taught us that even though he is God that as a human he perfectly kept God’s Law. Because the season of Epiphany is so short this year we were not able to go over the other events where Jesus perfectly kept the Law for us. We also learned that Sunday that in his being dedicated to the Lord that he was going to be the replacement for the temple where God dwelt. The next Sunday in our Gospel reading we heard God, at Jesus’ baptism declare that Jesus was his beloved Son. This taught us that Jesus is not just another prophet, but the Son of God. Next we see Jesus and his disciples at a wedding where the wine had run out. Jesus created the best wine that could be made out of water. This taught us that Jesus has power over earthly elements; to change them as he sees fit just by his words. Then in the Gospel readings for the next couple of Sundays we saw Jesus drive out evil spirits, heal people, and tell the religious leaders that the Old Testament prophecy concerning the Messiah were being fulfilled in him. In other words, he said to them and is saying to us today by the Word that he is God, for he and the Father are one. All of the lessons we studied during Epiphany showed us that Jesus had the authority of God behind him, for as he said, he and God the Father are one. Today’s gospel reading for this Sunday, the last Sunday of Epiphany, is, as I said earlier, an important reading for it, unless you just don’t want to believe it, it is proof that Jesus is God while still being human. Saint Luke describes what happened that day on the mountain, “The appearance of his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white.” In the Greek it reads that his total self was changed and his clothing was if you were looking at a continues flash of lightening. That is not just dazzling white, but almost blinding white, if you have ever been close to a lightning strike. You just can’t keep looking at it. Now you know why they were afraid. Who wouldn’t be if while you were standing there if the appearance of Jesus’ face changed in such a way that he showed God’s presence and his clothing was as bright as a flash of lightening? This was not just some glow like a bright light bulb. This changing of Jesus’ appearance was not that Jesus became a different person, but that his Godhood showed through him. Jesus is not half God and half human. He is not just a human who God takes over from time to time. Jesus is God, 100% God while at the same time he is 100% human. I know the math does not work, but with God it does, just as God’s Word teaches very clearly we are saints and sinners at the same time which logically makes no sense but is true anyway. You see, as we learned (or will learn) in the Broken Bible study this morning that while reason is a good thing, in fact it is a great thing, it cannot take you into the full understanding of God’s way, as it is shown in God’s Word to us. Human reason fails, as it should always fail, when you try to understand God, for think about it a moment, if human reason were able to grasp God fully; in other words prove God’s existence by human reason, what we would come up with could not be God because he is beyond our ability to understand him. We just cannot depend on knowing God through our feelings, or by coming up with our own set of rules in making ourselves acceptable to God, or by human wisdom, which by the way God tells us in 1 Corinthians 1:20-25 concerning human wisdom having the ability to know the true God and his will, "20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God (according to human reason) is wiser than men, and the weakness of God (according to human reason) is stronger than men." What is God’s foolishness, God’s weakness? In God there is no foolishness or weakness. What we see as foolishness and weakness is his death on the cross. But it is on the cross in his death where Jesus’ real wisdom and power shows up. His death was seen as being foolish and weak the day Jesus died, and for many today, those without faith, continue to see his death on the cross as still being foolish and weak. The saving act of God on behalf is still a stumbling block to the Jewish people and folly to many many people today, for as we are told in God’s Word, “It is foolishness to them that do not believe.” At the beginning of Epiphany when Jesus had been baptized we heard God the Father say in Luke 3:22,"You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased." On this day, the last day of Epiphany at Jesus transfiguration we hear God the Father speak about Jesus, as it is recorded for us in Luke 9:35 "This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!" He opens Jesus ministry by declaring that he is his beloved Son and, as Jesus comes to the close of his ministry he declares it again and adds, “Listen to him.” He is saying to them and us, for God’s words speak to us just as they spoke to the disciples, “This Jesus, who you are seeing talking with Moses and Elijah, whose appearance and clothing are so brilliant you can’t keep looking at him, who I have begotten in a way that you cannot truly grasp is wanting to teach you the truth about himself and what he came to accomplish. Get rid of all your preconceived ideas and listen to him, for in him alone is there forgiveness and eternal life.” “Listen to him, for his words are my words and you are not listening because you think you know about God and his ways. Trust me; you don’t, for it is only his words which are my words that can give you true wisdom. Foolish people you are, if you don’t believe his words, for I have caused them to be written down for you, for your good.” It is my prayer that not a single one of you would be seen as being foolish before God. It is my prayer, if you have not yet accepted the wonderful gift of Jesus and his forgiveness, that you will accept it, so that you will be wise unto salvation. That has been my prayer, is my prayer, and will continue to be my prayer every day that I am your pastor. Trust the Word of God. Don’t trust your feelings, for they are notoriously unreliable. At the very least they change over time. Don’t trust in your ability to please God, by adding your own rules to his, because you cannot. And certainly don’t believe that you can figure God out, for you can’t. Just trust his words, for they have stood the test of time. They are your joy in your time of sorrow, your certainty in your uncertainty, your salvation in your helplessness before God, for they are the good news of forgiveness and acceptance. Amen