“Chosen!”

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Author: Pastor Horton

Passage: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Date: February 2, 2025

There was a commercial a few years ago which took place in a baseball dugout.  The team, made up of community adults were watching their at-bat play out.  The coach says, “we need a clutch hit”, and looks down the row of men on the bench and calls out a name: “Derek.”  And an average athlete with an unkept appearance jumps up  – albeit surprised that he is one called upon in this moment.  The coach clarifies, and pointing behind the man says, “Derek….Jeter.”  And the Hall of Fame Yankee shortstop, hero to some, with 14 All Star Games and 5 World Series Rings stands up behind him ready to score the needed run…and does.  Whoops.  That’s the one the coached wanted – that’s the chosen one.

It’s a short commercial but one we can relate to because we have maybe been that child on the playground wanting to get picked – or have wanted to be the one chosen for special academic recognition – or chosen for an artistic award.  And simply as social human beings we long for acceptance and want to be chosen as one of the team with equal respect among our friends, our family, and our peers.  But what about when it comes to being chosen by God? 

We may know some of the Bible stories with “chosen ones,” those heroes of faith.  We hold them in high regard, and rightly so.  The things they endured.  The crosses they carried – both figuratively and literally.  The times and places in which they served.  And, over and above all that, the confidence with which they stood . . . firm and unmoved.  Rightly, they hold the title: “hero.” 

But remember also what some of them endured as “chosen” ones of God.  Hebrews 11:36-38 tells us that, “Still others experienced mocking and lashes, in addition to chains and imprisonment.  They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were tempted; they were killed with the sword; they went around in sheepskins and goatskins, needy, afflicted, and mistreated.  The world was not worthy of them as they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.”  And yikes!  Who would want to be chosen for any of that!?!

Even though his name doesn’t appear in that chapter, Jeremiah is for us, a deserving “hero of faith.”  His steady proclamation of God’s Word and warning took place over the reign of a number of kings who drifted with the people away from God and away from repentance before God.  For his steadfastness, Jeremiah would be threatened, imprisoned, and call a national traitor.  And this morning, our lesson takes us all the way back to his calling.  We see him as the Derek-Jeter hero type, but he may have initially been feeling like more of the bum on the bench.  How could Jeremiah serve as he did?  Where did Jeremiah’s confidence come from?  And like him, we also have been chosen by the same Lord God to speak for him and to represent him in this world.  We find an answer in this account of Jeremiah, for our confidence comes from what the LORD did, what He does, and what He will do.  Our reading highlights this.  It beings:

“The word of the Lord came to me.  Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I set you apart.  I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”  Perhaps the first thing we need to note is that, in grace, the LORD came to Jeremiah – that’s important.  This prophet wouldn’t be chosen by his own selection.  He didn’t discover the word of the Lord by meditation and breathing exercises.  He didn’t suddenly find himself learning gospel promises while out on a walk one day in nature’s cathedral.  Nor did he empower himself to be this hero – taking a stand before the kingdom and its rulers.  Rather a quick glance and we find Jeremiah to be somewhat of an outcast at work during the Babylonian Captivity, Judah’s low-point, and, most likely, was an eye-witness to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

And yet, in the midst of national turmoil and tyrants, the LORD taps an unlikely hero on the shoulder through his Word and says, “I know you.  Jeremiah, I have set you apart and I am going to use you for my purpose to accomplish my will.  Jeremiah, your confidence cannot be in yourself; but it has to be in what I’ve already done.”  God knew his past – all of it.  God knew him even as a cute little baby.  But God knew him even before that. 

What a great reminder!  You are not a cosmic accident.  You are not subject to the random events of the world and the universe.  You are not living as one adrift upon the blustery winds of life.  God knew you, like he knew Jeremiah, from well before your birth.  God cared dearly for you even back then.  God formed you as one uniquely and wonderfully made.  And God placed you into this time and place, he gave you the precious gospel of salvation, and he gives you purpose within his good will for you.  No matter your age or your issues or your hesitations: That is incredible!  And that is special!  And that is gracious!

But while we’re speaking about our hesitations about being chosen by God, hero-of-faith Jeremaih’s response: “But I said, “Ah, Lord God!  I really do not know how to speak!  I am only a child!”  (And yes, there really is a Hebrew word for the interjection “ah-hah”).  Jeremiah may have been born into a priestly line but calls himself “a child” – a word used for one young enough to not yet have a profession or fully know yet what direction they would go in life.  And now, God would give him this life at this time and in this place to these people?  “Ah-hah.”  Sounds like the response of other prophets God chose like Moses in Exodus 3 and Gideon in Judges 6.  Jeremiah’s self-concern is familiar, “I’m not quite ready for this yet.”

And perhaps, this seems to be where our similarity to Jeremiah is amplified.  As sinners, we tend to make excuses to what our God commands.  And, often times, our excuses shift the focus from His Words to our feelings.  He says to each of us, “Go and make disciples.”  We say, “well, I kind of feel like someone else is probably more qualified.”  He says, “make disciples of all nations.”  We say, “but that might make me feel pretty uncomfortable.”  He says, “baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  We think, “maybe there’s an easier way to attract new members other than by using the Means of Grace.”  He says, “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  And we say, “I mean, everything?  I don’t know if I’m ready or willing to be chosen by God for this!”  Wow.  How embarrassing!  In sin, we turn inward and make it about ourselves and hide behind our feelings; and at times want to cut the rope ourselves and be adrift from the challenges which come with of God and his Word.

But look at how our God responds to our feelings of inadequacy and doubt.  “The Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’  You must go to everyone to whom I send you and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, because I am with you, and I will rescue you, declares the Lord.”  God says, “It is I, the great the ‘I Am’ who makes you chosen!”  The LORD redirects Jeremiah’s focus from what the prophet can’t do to what God continues to do!  Because it is he who gives the word of salvation to us and there remain people who still need to know about Jesus.  People in Jeremiah’s day and in ours still need to understand that sin separates, sin kills, and sin condemns.  People then and now who need to know what the God of free and faithful love did and still does!

And what does he do with you and me?  He calls us off the bench and to get into the game – into this life and these times with purpose.  He says, “My child, you have nothing to fear!  I am with you.”  And then he sets your heart on the cross as proof.  For God knew you – and he knew how to save you through Christ Jesus.  He is one who wiped every sin away there at the cross.  He is the one who rules and reigns and promises to go with you and to help you.  His promises are certain in an uncertain world.  And that’s your confidence. 

Even if, as it was for those other heroes of faith, things get unpleasant or downright dangerous.  Our final verses tell us, “Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth.  The Lord said to me: There!  I have now placed my words in your mouth.  Look, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”  We fear not for we, for like Jeremiah, have been chosen to be equipped with God’s words.  And when God wields his word, it is powerful and effective – greater than the strongest of nations.  And that powerful Word he gives to you, even if we are simply unsure of ourselves. 

And since we have his words of salvation in Christ, and we therefore have life with God.  Life through the forgiveness of sins.  Life through the new creation that we are in Christ.  And life with our Lord in heaven one day.  Dear fellow heroes of faith, through his Word God has made you an all-star on his team.  You have his precious gospel to live and to share and to rejoice over – come what may.   For you have been chosen by God.  And his gospel will win more chosen souls still.  Go with God confidently every step of life’s way.  Amen.

God’s Motto of Mercy

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Author: Pastor Horton

Date: January 26, 2025

Passage: Luke 4:16-30

“Forward!” that is the motto here for the State of Wisconsin.  And it’s a good one.  Cities have mottos.  Where I first served in rural Minnesota there were some unique ones out there, like “Home of the Rollie Bollies.”  And “The smallest polka town in America.”  And where I served, in Morton, MN, it was known as “The Oldest Story in North America.”  A bold claim, but one evolution made as rainbow granite deposits supposedly were some of the older rocks.  We know they all dated back to creation.  States have mottos.  Alaska’s is “North to the Future.”  New York’s “Ever Upward.”  And Virginia?  Perhaps said in Latin by John Wilkes Booth after assassinating Abraham Lincoln, jumping onto the stage at Ford’s Theater, and injuring his leg “Thus Always to Tyrants.”  History has viewed his opinion differently regarding Lincoln.

Did you know that today in our reading Jesus shares with us God’s Motto of Mercy?  It was a motto he first shared with his hometown city of Nazareth.  There before the watching eyes of the synagogue worshipers he proclaimed: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 

To better understand the scene, it might help to review the setting taking place in the synagogue.  You might not remember these worship houses from the Old Testament accounts, but they seem to be everywhere in the New Testaments.  There’s a reason for that.  You may remember that back in the days of Moses, the children of Israel were to have one focal point of worship, that is the Tabernacle.  It was a specific tented areas that could be taken down and reassembled as Israel moved through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.  It housed, among other things, the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments inside.  And it was where God spoke to his people.  It was used for some 400 years until Solomon built the Temple, a permanent house of worship in Jerusalem. 

Based off the Tabernacle design, the Temple was then to be the sole location for Israel to make their sacrifices to the Lord as it stood at the heart of the nation’s worship.  There the people would pilgrimage up to Jerusalem for the big festivals throughout the year.  There the morning and evening sacrifices were made.  There blood was shed for sin each and every day.  But now make another 400-year jump forward…

And the Babylonian captivity had begun.  The children of Israel had been sinfully defiant towards God and despite plenty of warning, God allowed for his people to be conquered, uprooted, and in some cases killed or scattered.  The Temple was pillaged and destroyed, and the once vibrant worship life there grew silent.  But not all was lost, for the people repented.  They realized the prized possession they had when it came to the Word of God and wanted to be in the Word and wanted their families to gather together in the Word.  And so they began to meet, as we are this morning, in a local building set aside specifically for worship.  Wherever the Jews went on planet earth, they build synagogues for this purpose.  It is why when we heard of Jesus’ life and times, and also the missionary work of Paul in Acts, there seemed to be a synagogue in every town.

That basic structure from Tabernacle to Temple to synagogue has carried over into Christianity as well.  The apostles used the worship forms in the early Christian church that were familiar to the people.  We still today have tent-like churches, and an elevated altar area which focuses our attention on the Word of God (and in our case a large cross where the ultimate sacrifice once for all took place).  Even portions of the service, the readings, message, and music have some similarities.  But we don’t come to worship today for the architecture, or for the traditions, or even exclusively for the community, but we come to be connected to Jesus and hear from him as he proclaims a Motto of God’s Mercy. 

That’s what he did that day in the synagogue in Nazareth.  “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  Did you notice in our reading?  Where do followers of Jesus follow him?  To his Father’s house!  To church!  According to our reading “as was his custom!”  His sheep want to hear their Good Shepherd’s voice.  We want to be fed by him who is the Word made flesh and a fulfillment of God’s gospel promises. 

And how would this be received in Nazareth?  We’re told in this intense scene, “He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.  The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.”  The worship practice then involved seven scheduled readings (we have three), the first to be read by a priest (if you had one there) then by a Levite (if you had one there) and then by five reputable men of the town who were at least 30 years old.  They would then allow for discussion from the congregational floor so that not just anyone could say anything.  Jesus, a hometown boy, now of proper age to read, carried with him growing excitement over his words and his miracles.  He is asked to participate.  He reads from Isaiah, sits down, and begins to speak.  The Jews read God’s Word standing up to show respect and then would comment from a chair to show humility – that their commentary wasn’t on par with God’s message. 

What would Jesus say?  He would proclaim fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in himself.  As true God it was why he was here on earth – to live under the law for us as a substitute.  It was where he was going, resolutely to suffer, to die, to rise and to save.  All of Scripture was built upon him, and as true God he could perfectly fulfill it.

Nazareth’s reaction?  Stunned.  Impressed.  The listeners spoke well of him…at first.  But then something changed causing that great-gospel-motto to ring hollow in their hearts.  Human reasoning invaded and corrupted God’s truth.  “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”  They had known Jesus through the years.  Maybe he played with their children or was hanging around his father’s shop in his youth.  Him?  Isaiah the inspired prophet was talking about him?  Countless Jews through thousands of years were waiting for…Joey’s kid in this po-dunk hill town?  A young man we know?  How could that possibly be?  And then… things got complicated.

Knowing their hearts and the troubling condition they were in spiritually, Jesus addresses it.  “Do you need to see the same miracles in Capernaum in order to believe it?”  If Nazareth was a state, it might be Missouri, the “Show Me State.”  A slogan that supposedly came from a no-nonsense politician who didn’t want to hear someone talk the talk but walk the walk.  Or, Nazareth’s town motto might be the very quote Jesus speaks in our reading: “’Physician, heal yourself,’ and then, once you are proven, we may choose to believe you.”

What a mess!  It’s no wonder Jesus gives examples and holds up God’s great acts of mercy shown to non-Jews outside of the nation of Isarael.  To “a widow in Zarephath in Sidon.”  And to “Na’aman the Syrian.”  They had nothing special they offered God.  They didn’t choose faith in God.  And yet out of pure mercy and grace Jesus highlights the heart of God.  It is he who gives truth.  He who gives faith.  It is he who saves apart from ourselves.

This remains a good and necessary reminder for you and me today, worshipping in God’s house just like those folks from Nazareth.  Seeing can get in the way of believing.  Doubts and questions and ultimately fears can creep into our minds and hearts of faith.  Virgin birth?  Six day creation?  Jesus as God?  Great acts in lowly sacramental elements?  These are big truths we are asked to simply hear and believe.  They challenge our human reasoning.  As one pastor put it, “What if faith is simply faith and does not require proof?”  God does not need to answer to our intellect how and why he acts to save.  But rejoice because he graciously and mercifully saves us through Jesus. Rejoice that this message of forgiveness is for all.  Rejoice that he wants you and your family and hometown in heaven with him. 

Listen to Jesus who says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” “Blessed are you…for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”  Thanks be to God for his Motto of Mercy proclaimed by Jesus today!  Lord keep us in your word.  Keep our faith and our connection to you living and active and growing.  Keep us from all doubt and unbelief.  Keep us humble.  Keep us believing.  Keep us looking for opportunities to share this message with others.  And keep this motto in our ears, in our hearts, and in our lives until home in heaven with you.  Amen.

Look What God is Able to Do!

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Author: Professor Noah Headrick

Passage: Ephesians 3:14-21

Date: January 19, 2025

To him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

to him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

        Really? God can do immeasurably more than all I can ask or imagine? It doesn’t look like that.

                I had that Powerball ticket in my hand. I prayed like I’ve never prayed before. None of my numbers matched! No money. I didn’t even win my two dollars back. What gives? If God isn’t able to give me a billion-dollar Powerball payout, which I can totally ask and imagine, how is he able to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine (3:20)?

                Well, let’s look closer at what God actually says in all these verses. Look what God is able to do! God’s power and ability are limitless, but sometimes God chooses to limit what he gives us based on his love. And that’s where Paul starts – God’s love.

                For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (3:14-17).

                Paul is praying for Jesus to dwell in the hearts of the Ephesians – to permanently reside in them so he can influence every choice they make, every word they speak, and every thought they think. In other words, he’s praying for their faith to be strong and mature.

                And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (3:17-19).

                What is Paul begging God for here? What is he hoping and praying his people grasp? The love of Christ. The enormous, humongous, gigantic love of Jesus Christ for us.

                And when you step back and take it all in, it is amazing. Think of what we were, what we are, and how much God loves us anyway. Earlier in Ephesians Paul wrote, “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins; all of us gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts” (2:1, 3).

                All of us have been there. Some of you are still there. You do what you want. If you desire it, you pursue it. You don’t think much about what God wants because you’re too busy thinking about what you want. God’s will? God’s glory? That’s not even on your mind.

                And yet, even then, if you ask God, “How much do you love me?” he will show you. Look what God is able to do! God came to earth. God himself – Jesus Christ – wore our skin.

                Jesus took the burden of your sin into that skin. God nailed that skin, with your sin, to a tree. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Who could have asked for that?

                God’s perfect plan, to give us perfection through a perfect Substitute, was completed when he raised that perfect Substitute from the dead. Who could have imagined that?

                Look what God is able to do! He raised Jesus from the dead! Water to wine? Child’s play for Jesus. Jesus raises the dead! Give you everything you need for your body and your life? Of course. God raises the dead!

                Look what God is able to do! Nowhere is that more evident than in the wide and long and high and deep (3:18) love of Christ, who lived and died and rose for you!

                “Alright Pastor, I get it. Jesus’ love is big. But shouldn’t love give whatever is asked for?”

                Well, if you ask for a billion-dollar Powerball payout, is that what’s best for you? “Obviously!”  Maybe, but maybe God knows better than you do. Plenty of lottery winners have had their lives ruined by it.

                Conversely, plenty of people with cancer have said, “Getting cancer was one of the best things that happened to me, because it taught me to ‘rely on God, who raises the dead’ (2 Corinthians 1:9).”  Maybe God knows better than we do.

                Maybe that’s why Paul prays for spiritual maturity, because immaturity is a problem. Spiritual immaturity makes us pray for the wrong things or stop asking for good things.

                You give up praying for your children to turn around, because you’ve asked enough, and if God wanted it to happen, he would have done it. Or my sinful nature tells me, “I’ve talked to my new neighbor six times. Jesus has come up. He doesn’t seem interested. It’s not worth it. God can’t really do anything anyway.”

                Sometimes we live like sinful pessimists, and we don’t need to. Look what God is able to do: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us (3:20).

                It’s hard to convey the power of God that this verse shows, immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (3:20). Our God is able to go above and beyond anything we could ever ask him for, anything we could ever dream up.

                Look what God is able to do in the big things, like taking away your sins. The miracles of water and Word washing away sin, bread and wine giving the body and blood of Christ? Above and beyond all you ask or imagine!

                Look what God is able to do in the little things, like the blessings you have just in being and breathing. Above and beyond all you ask or imagine!

                So keep on asking big! Keep on thinking big! Who could have bigger, more audacious goals than a Christian? Who could be a bigger optimist than someone who follows the Son of God who rose from the dead? Ask big! Think big! God’s love and power are such that you can never ask too much.

                All this he does according to his power that is at work within us (3:20). Hold on, wait a minute. The power that created the universe is working in you? The power that put your sins on your Savior, the power that raised him from the dead is working in you? Yes!

                And this is not just power for power’s sake; this power of God is working in you, energizing you. Look what God is able to do! God is keeping you in the faith. God is keeping stubborn sinful me close to Jesus. That power is working in you!

                With that kind of power on our side, power that is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (3:20), we will want to ask for more. Don’t stop praying for your kids, even if they haven’t been to church in ten years. Look what God is able to do!

                Don’t stop thinking big! How many people will God bring to your congregation to hear the gospel in 2025? Think, ask, pray big! That’s connecting to God’s power. How many students will learn about the gospel in your school in 2025? Think, ask, pray big!

                Of course, we can’t say that God has to make our churches and schools bigger. Maybe he has other plans. But look what God is able to do, look what God has promised to do – immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (3:20). So pray for great things.

                Martin Luther described it like this: “What would you think, if the richest and mightiest king in the world summons a poor beggar, tells him to ask for whatever he wants, and is ready to give this guy great, kingly gifts, but the fool just asks him for a cup of soup? You’d think the guy was an idiot, who never should have been there in the first place, because he treated the promise of his king like a joke!

                “In the same way, it is a great shame and dishonor to God if we – to whom he promises immeasurable treasures – despise those treasures or don’t have the confidence to ask for them” (adapted from Large Catechism 3:57).

                God gives us some pretty energizing verses here. Don’t let them go to waste. Ask big. Think big. Pray big, trusting God’s power and recognizing that God gives what he knows is best for us, better than we know ourselves.

                Imagine if we all had this attitude, confidence that Godis able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine (3:20). Look what God is able to do! What’s left for us to do? Think big, pray big, expect bigger. What’s left to say?

                To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen (3:21).

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“Baptism: It’s a Miracle!”

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Author: Pastor Horton

Date: January 12, 2025

Passage: Titus 3:4-7

            “Eleven seconds, you got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now.  Five seconds left in the game! Do you believe in miracles?  Yes!” exclaimed ABC sports commentator, Al Michaels.  And then the patriotic celebration ensued as the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team staged the biggest upset in Olympic history beating the heavily favored Soviet team.  On February 22, 1980, over 1,100 athletes from 37 countries participated in the Winter Games, but the ones people most remember are a bunch of college kids (their average age 22) who beat the unbeatable Russians.  It was an unlikely miracle in sports history.  The Disney movie about it is simply called “Miracle.”

            This morning, we are reminded how unlikely miracles still happen.  The improbable takes place every time we witness a baptism.  Now a baptism may not seem like it packs the same punch as the human drama and emotion of a great sports upset, yet, it is none-the-less a mind-boggling event.  This miracle of God shows us is his love and mercy.  So today as we celebrate the baptism of our Lord, we can quote a phrase from Al Michaels, “Do you believe in miracles?  Yes!”  Because “Baptism!  It’s a Miracle!”

            In his letter to Titus, Paul was writing to a fellow pastor about the work that needed to be done on the island of Crete.  Paul reminded Titus that he needed to teach his congregation sound Bible teachings, and to encourage them, in light of Jesus’ love, to do what is good.  And in order to understand what they had become in Christ, the people first needed to know what they were without Christ: disobedient, foolish, and enslaved by their desire for pleasure.  At one time, it was unlikely, and downright improbable that they’d ever be one with God.  They were steeped in sin: which a holy God has no part of.  They needed saving.  They needed a restored relationship with God.  And they needed to know how this was accomplished for them.

            And this is a need all people have.  A need which wasn’t needed in the very beginning.  Can you imagine being created in the image of God?  Having righteousness and holiness?  Being able to enjoy a perfect relationship with your Creator?  It’s hard to imagine because we have fallen so far into sin.  That reality is so far above us we can’t even begin to picture that reality.  And now from generation to generation we are unable to pass down that status with God, but rather with sin we pass down the reality of death.  That broken relationship is your birthright.  The psalmist David tells us, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”  We had need.  Need for help.  Everyone of us.  Need for God to do something otherwise death and eternal death awaited.  It doesn’t matter our age….

            There is a story of a little girl who once noticed that her mother, with a full head of brunette hair, had several strands of rogue white hair sticking out.  “Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?” she asks.  Her mother replied with a motherly replied: “Well, every time you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.”  The little girl contemplated that for a few seconds and asked, “So how come ALL of Grandma’s hair is white?”  The painful truth is that we like to think we’re not that bad but our sins stand as a sign that say differently.  We sin against God and each other, and it shows.  We have not kept one commandment perfectly.  Our sin shows itself when our minds drift away during prayer, when we are not willing to sacrifice our living for God’s sake.  And our sin could even cause us to despair, thinking, “maybe I’m a hopeless case.” 

            But Paul tells us: “when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”  And in baptism, that love of God for us unlovable people appeared.  Paul tells us how God restores our relationship, he writes: “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”  Through this miracle of baptism, the Holy Spirit does the unthinkable.  In our baptism He enters dead hearts, these unclean temples, and he performs this most improbable miracle – he washes and renews.  In our baptism He cleans up our hearts steeped in sin and turns them into throne rooms of Jesus.  In our baptism the Holy Spirit comes to us and creates saving faith in our hearts.  In our baptism we are reborn into a new relationship with God.

            It is almost unthinkable!  Yet think of it like this, Peter did in his first epistle: In the flood, God destroyed all life on this earth with the exception of the occupants in the ark.  The whole world was totally submerged under water.  Everyone and everything was dead, rotting, and decaying.  And yet above, lifted not only by the water but also by the protective hand of God, the ark floated safely.  Above was life, but beneath the water the earth was a worldwide graveyard.  Can you imagine such a thing?  Then the waters receded after washing clean all that death completely away.  The earth was reborn in newness.  In the same way, our baptismal waters have washed away the decay of death and sin from us; returning us to that right relationship with God.  It’s a miracle!

            While reborn, our sinful nature is still lingering in us.  To keep us from losing what we have the Holy Spirit continually renews us.  With His help we are to daily we are to throw off our sinful nature.  No, not snuggle up to or cater to or carefully hide our sinful nature but throw it off and drown it in our baptism so that our new life in Christ can, with the Spirit’s help, be watered, grow, and bear new fruit.  That takes a miracle – for that takes God at personal work in us.

            Throughout history people have considered Holy Baptism to be unlikely.  Why?  Just like salvation, baptism defies human reasoning; and just like the Lord’s Supper the saving gospel is connected to something tangible in front of our eyes.  People have a hard time with it.  But Scripture explains how baptism gives us new live because it joins us to Jesus.  God’s plan of salvation was always focused in Jesus Christ.  Paul tells us, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Jesus shed his innocent blood on the cross, sacrificing himself, as payment for our sin.  Our sin was transferred onto Jesus, the perfect sin offering, the Lamb of God, without defect or sin.  And, with no sin of His own, but to live under the law for us, Jesus even carried out his Father’s will by being baptized.  This agreed with the good will of our Father in heaven.  Luke writes for us, “And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  

            However, a day would come when the Father would not seem so pleased.  That day was Good Friday.  On the cross, God was silent.  Jesus was undergoing our punishment.  Suffering our death for the sins we commit.  There was no voice from heaven, no cry of approval.  Only the words “My God, my God!  Why have you forsaken me?” under the weight of your sins, my sins, and the sins of the whole world.  

            But the Father was pleased with the sacrifice!  So pleased he raised Jesus from the dead.  So pleased he declared the world no longer guilty for its sin.  Paul tells us in the last verse of our text, “that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”  Did you hear Paul?  We!  We have life in Jesus.  We are no longer dead in sin.  Because of what Jesus has done, we are free from sin, death, and the devil.  Paul tells us, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  In baptism our sinful flesh was buried with Jesus.  In baptism we rise to new life in Jesus. 

            What an incredible miracle found there in the water and the Word of baptism!  What a personal pledge of forgiveness given to you!  What a great reminder that we are no longer our own, but that our new lives are as God’s children!  God has done it all.  He saved us.  He cleansed us.  And He inspires us.  Death and hell have indeed lost their sting, because as Peter proclaims: “baptism now saves you!”  In baptism God has opened the doors of heaven to you.

            So, to once again quote the sportscaster, Al Michaels, “Do you believe in miracle?” We can answer in confidence with a resounding, “Yes!”  Baptism!  It’s a miracle!  Watch God do what seems impossible!  And live in your baptism grace! Amen.

“Jesus’ Christmas Card”

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Passage: Hebrews 10:5-10

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Author: Pastor Horton

Date: December 22, 2024

Christmas Cards.  I’m willing to guess you have sent yours out by now and have had a few trickle into your mailbox at home.  Some Christmas cards still have Christian imagery and a Bible verse – although those seem to be a bit more scares this year depending on where you shop.  Some include a family picture or a photo montage made by Snapfish.  And yet others list, family member by family member the joys, blessings, and accomplishments which happened over this past year. 

This morning as we near the festival of Christmas, we get to open up a Christmas card from God within the pages of his Holy Word.  And what do we find?  Good tidings of great joy – our salvation arriving in Christ Jesus!  But a closer examination might have to ask why such a message is needed to be announced in the first place?

After all, if we are talking lists of accomplishments, the writer to the Hebrews reminds us that God’s Old Testament people and their priestly system had a very long list of accomplishments which they did.  By the time of Jesus, there were so many priests that each only served two weeks out of the year at the temple.  But centuries earlier, at the beginning, when Aaron and his two sons were Israel’s only priests, they were there at the temple making sacrifices 365 days a year, every year.  Every morning.  Every evening.  Every day!  And then don’t forget to add in Sabbath sacrifices, New Moon sacrifices, sacrifices for Israel’s religious feasts, sacrifices brought by individuals, and then there was the Passover with its thousands of lambs all sacrificed on the same afternoon.  That’s a lot of work.  That’s a long list of accomplishing what God had asked of his people.

You almost have to wonder if the priests, knife in hand and dripping red, ever thought, “Here we go again.  How many animals do we need to slaughter?” Or “Surely, all this meticulous minding of every single letter of the law must amount to something before God?  He must see our good deeds and praise us or reward us.”  To be fair, there was a thick river of blood and mountains of dead animals used for sacrifice, lining Israel’s path through history.  When is enough, enough?  Could the Old Testament people write a card to God and say “here – look at all you asked and look at all we accomplished!?”

No.  Our God understood that temptation and his Word disproves such a thinking.  Right before our reading, Hebrews chapter 10 reflected, “It (the law) will never be able to make perfect those who continually offer the same sacrifices year after year.  Instead, these sacrifices reminded them of their sins year after year.  The fact is that the blood of bulls and goats cannot take away sins.”  Sacrificing animals was an endlessly repetitive task, and an unpleasant one at that, and at the end of it all, it didn’t actually take away any sin!  At the time of Jesus, it had been going on for 1,400 years, that’s half a million days!  Half a million!  What a long list of accomplishments!  And yet what was the point of those Old Testament sacrifices?  “In fact, the law is only a shadow of the good things to come, not the actual realization of those things.”

This is where Hebrews is so special.  The whole book wrestles with the question: How do the Old Testament and New Testament fit together?  How does the covenant made on Mt. Sinai mesh with the covenant made in Jesus’ blood on Mt. Calvary?  Hebrews spends a lot of time showing how that old way of doing things compares with the new way of doing things in Jesus Christ.  In every case, Jesus is the superior answer.  As our reading puts it: “He does away with the first in order to establish the second.”

And while the priests back then could write up a list of all the sacrifices they made each year – and turn them into God– those sacrifices were not the answer to humanity’s sin problem.  They were commanded by God.  Insufficient when it came to forgiveness, but important in their purpose.  When the many animals were slaughtered, people became aware of how serious sin is before God.  Sin doesn’t sound so serious when you just talk about it.  But when you actually go out to your flock, pick one of the best animals, and care for it as you transport it to the temple, only to have it killed and sacrificed and burnt up – one begins to understand how our sins are a stench in God’s nostrils.  It’s not just an issue of being on a “naughty” list.  Our sins offend God.  And sacrifices directed people to trust God’s mercy, not their own holiness.  It was a system that led souls to realize that they needed a substitute for their sin.  It was “a shadow of the good things to come” in Christ Jesus.

You and I need that reminder as well, don’t we?  We need the reminder that Christ alone accomplished our salvation.  We need that reminder because in each of our hands is a Christmas card to God with a list of our accomplishments – vain though they may be – making a case for why we should be on his “nice list.”  Our hearts, naturally create such a list.  It’s filled with big boasts and proud promotions about all the good we have done before God, not to his glory but to our own.  We try to excuse the deathly damage our sin creates.  We try to justify our not perfect selves rather than hear and see the perfect justification won for us on the cross of Jesus.  We cling to our list as if our eternal lives depend on it – yet those lists of our accomplishments have a way of disintegrating right before our eyes. 

It kind of like those cards one can buy off of that joker greeting website.  They sell actual Christmas cards that play music (annoying music) or have an animal barking along.  Only once the card is open, the music doesn’t shut down until the battery runs out of energy.  Think you can outsmart it by ripping the card open to destroy the battery?  The interior is filled with messy Christmas glitter.  It really takes the right kind of person to receive such a card (maybe spare grandpa and grandma that one).  In the end one is left with a card ripped to shreds, smashed battery, and a giant mess that’s hard to clean up.  That’s symbolic of our lives of sin and the best we can do before God.

But thankfully through the Word, we get to read Jesus’ Christmas card to God the Father today.  It’s how our reading began, “Therefore when he entered the world, Christ said.”  It feels like, almost as if we are hearing Jesus setting aside heaven and leaving a Christmas note for the Father before taking up residence in a womb and then be born in a stable and laid in a manger.  “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but you prepared a body for me.”  Our reading, for the sake of us time-bound people, puts the eternal God in the moment before the first Christmas.  The Son of God is about to give us the one accomplishment we need on our list: payment for sin.  Old Testament prophecies are lining up according to God’s direction as our readings today focus our eyes to humble Bethlehem and a virgin named Mary.  All is prepared for our Savior.

You can almost picture Jesus writing to the Father, “Here I am.  I have come to do your will, God.  In the scroll of the book it is written about me.”   The Word about to be made flesh.  That will be his entire life’s mission.  He would give up a list of potential worldly accomplishments.  He would give up personal freedom, subject himself to suffering, and even die his death on someone else’s terms.  Yet he looks forward to it.  He’s determined.  Everything and every scroll inspired and written in God’s Holy Word centers upon Jesus.  He would come to obey God perfectly.  He would come to live every moment for others.  He would come to win eternal life for you.

And so in these days before Christmas we eagerly wait for what all creation had been waiting for and for what God himself was planning!  Not a gift under a Christmas tree or a family gathering or small flood of Christmas cards in the mail (though those all are to be counted as blessings), but something bigger.  It is about God’s fix to what the endless repetitive sacrifice of animals could not do.  It is about God’s fix to our sin – something no amount of human bartering or human sorrow or human efforts could do.  Here comes Jesus.  He will do it all, once for all.

“By this will, we have been sanctified once and for all, through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ.”   That makes for a pretty good Christmas card message to embrace by faith.  We’re a few days away!  Here comes Jesus to be our Savior!  Amen. 

Rejoice! Our Lord Does

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Do you have a favorite hymn?  During Grandparents Day here at the school that question was asked and there were so many answers we could have had a second Grandparents Day just to sing through all the many favorite hymns.  And that’s a good thing.  Maybe you have one that you’ve always loved since you were a small child.  Or one that brings a tear to the eye because you think instantly of singing it at a loved one’s funeral.  Or maybe you have a rotation of favorites – a personal Top 10 List – one which changes depending on the season we’re celebrating in the church year.  And that’s okay.  Hymns are like different flavors of ice cream – you are allowed to have more than one favorite.  Or maybe your musical ability isn’t where you’d like it to be, but you have a deep thankfulness when it comes to appreciating those musicians gifted and willing to make a joyful noise to the Lord.

Favorite hymns and joyful noises will be sung one day in heaven.  And the Final Day may be today for all we know.  That’s a clear reminder in the book of Zephaniah.  With an uncertain future for God’s people, the prophet directs their gaze to the living God and gives them reason to Rejoice! For our Lord Does!

Truth be told, as a pastor I’m not often paging around in the book of Zephaniah (it is only 3 chapters).  I’ve never done a Bible study on it.  According to my digital files I preached a New Year’s devotion on it once about 5 years ago.  And if it’s not all too familiar to me, I don’t want to assume it’s all that familiar to you.

We don’t know much about Zephaniah.  We don’t know where he lived or served.  We do know that Zephaniah was a prophet who preached to Israel in a time of religious reformation.  This reformation had to take place because of the rampant corruption of godliness amongst the people.  And that’s why much of his book involves stern words about God’s judgment.  And yet here, in the last half of a page or so, Zephaniah unwraps a pretty great gift of God’s grace for those who are meek and humble before the Lord.  Our reading takes place right as we shift from shivers of judgment to songs of joy. 

But first, the warning cry to be obeyed.  The opening chapters of his book are hard-hitting.  God says, “make no mistake: judgment is coming.”  Judgement is coming to Jerusalem.  “Woe to the filthy, foul city, the city of oppressors.  She does not listen.  She does not accept correction.”  Judgment is coming to the wicked surrounding nations.  “I will bring distress upon all people…blood will be poured out like dust, and their bowels will be spread like manure.”  Judgment is coming to all people.  “The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of his jealousy, because he will make an end—yes, a terrifying end of all who dwell on the earth.”  Merry Christmas?  So far, this is the exact opposite of rejoicing and singing.

There is a strong reality here for us regarding sin.  Sin brings about the opposite of peace on earth and a peace between God and man.  Leading up to our words we are reminded about our God’s status.  “The Lord in her midst is just.  He does no wrong.  Every morning he brings his justice to light.  He does not fail.”  God is perfect, holy, and righteous.  He does not have any fellowship with anything remotely or even slightly wrong.  God is also just.  More than that, he carries out perfect justice.  He must put an end to any and all wickedness.  It is who he is.

 And knowing that, we may become a bit uneasy.  Because we know that we have sinned.  We know that we have qualified ourselves for something far worse than a lump of coal – an eternity of death – and the eternal separation from the love of our God.  Think for a moment about the times when we have not rejoiced over what God had to say to us because our sinful flesh wanted to live for itself.  Or about the times you have not rejoiced over being in his house and worshipping him because we had other things we wanted to do and other things in this life to worship.  Think about the times when we’ve not rejoiced over our God but resented him, acting only out of obligation as if we were contractually forced – making him into some merciless dictator.  Our sin drains our hearts of joy.  Our sin should make our hearts fearful of the future in light of God’s judgment.

And yet not only is God perfect, holy, righteous, and just; God is also love.  And at this time of year, we are preparing our hearts to celebrate and sing once again about God’s great plan of love.  We find God’s love with that little baby in a manger who had a greater purpose than being a cute story.  That child came to save every child belonging to God by faith.  That little one came for the cross.  As our reading describes: he would be as verse 17 says, “a hero who will save you.”  That little one would grow up to singlehandedly defeat our greatest enemies of terror: sin, death, and the devil.  This Savior, Jesus, paid for your place in hell, and opened up a place for you now in heaven. 

Our reading tells us the gospel as well!  That, “The Lord has removed the judgment against you…Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst!  You no longer need to fear disaster.  In that day Jerusalem will be told, “Do not be afraid, O Zion.  Do not give up.”   There was an intensity to his battle – a dashing into action.  And a total cleaning of sin and its judgement.  At this time of year, we might have unexpected visitors all the while there are still baking pans scattered about in the kitchen or gift-wrapping supplies on our tables, if company arrives, we dash into action to sweep away all the mess.  That is what our Savior King Jesus has done for us at his cross.  Jesus swept away the mess of our sins.  We need not fear or give up, since he has secured our salvation and remains in control in our lives.

Verse 17 sheds even more light on his current reign, “The Lord your God is with you as a hero who will save you.  He takes great delight in you.  He will quiet you with his love.”  Jesus comes to us in love through Word and Sacrament.  He is not a petty earthly ruler in it for himself.  He is “with you,” “delights in you,” and “he will quiet you.”  Sounds more like a loving parent giving us his attention and care!  Behold the heart of your God who works with each of us in very personal ways so that we might one day be in heaven with him.

It is what he wants and celebrates.  Today we also find Zephaniah sweeping out the sanctuary, dusting off the instruments, setting up the sheet music, and raising the church banners of the eternal gospel.  For verse 17 tells us: “He (the Lord) will rejoice over you with singing.”  God singing about us?  We come here to church and to sing, especially at this time of year, our praises to God for his plan of salvation in Jesus.  That is rightly so.  But the picture of rejoicing extends into heaven itself.  Our God also sings celebration songs.  His gospel plan was not only a good one, but one that was carried out perfectly by Jesus.  And his kingdom advances as the gospel continues to win souls.  And you and I get to be a part of that, and our God rejoices.

Picture this passage, as our eternal King on his throne of heaven, standing and singing as he leads the music we make (even singing Christmas hymns) with a thunderous voice and pure joy in his heart.  His plan to save us worked perfectly.  God would be with us in that little baby so that we would be with God one day in heaven.  And now our king on heaven’s throne leads our congregation in singing.  What an awesome Christmas party!  Fear not, your sins are removed by Jesus!  Heaven is yours today!  Rejoice!  Your Lord Does!  Amen. 

Gains for God

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Safety with our Savior

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For those of you parents or grandparents (or Godparents) of our school children, you know the scene well: somewhere around 7:45-8am on each school day as you approach the school doors pastor or one of the teachers are there to greet you every morning and give each child the Eastside welcome of a fist-bump. 

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God Defines “Greatness”

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You don’t usually see greatness with your own eyes, do you?  Now if you happened to watch the Olympics this past summer, perhaps you caught some of the gymnastics work of Simone Biles and were able to see greatness in your lifetime.

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The Elements Affirm the God of Salvation

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“Do you remember, the 21st night of September?”  Now those who are younger maybe thinking “well, what do you mean…we’re not there yet!”

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