Isaiah 25:6-9

"A Feast for Eileen, A Feast for You"

October 4, 2016

Why did you want to become a pastor?  Next question something along the lines of “Who was the biggest influence on your decision?”  I’d like to say that there was some big, emotional story of God’s call to the pastoral ministry, but in reality it’s all quite ordinary.  The first question was easy. I liked the Bible, theology, and I wanted to tell other people about Jesus.

The second question wasn’t all that difficult either. The most important people were probably my parents. They didn’t do anything extra-ordinary really. They brought my family and I to church. They prayed with us. We did devotions together, not all the time, but on a regular basis. We used an Advent wreath and calendar at home.  They helped me with confirmation homework. They modeled the Christian faith. Sunday School teachers (Granny Joyce), pastors along the way most of whom I don’t remember their names or what they were like. They simply told me of Jesus and delivered His goods that I may receive them.

Who was the most important figure in your life of faith? Who told you of Jesus, of His salvation? Who explained the wonderful mysteries of the faith? Parent or grandparent? Pastor?  Sunday School teacher?  Friend?  School teacher or classmate?

 Paul’s opening in 2 Timothy on the various ways the teaching of faith is passed from one person to another, from one generation to the next, “a faith that lived first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, lives in you” (v. 5). The gospel we speak and hear, the care and comfort we give and receive, comes person to person, heart to heart.  Paul brought Timothy’s faith into maturity, and this faith was made whole not only by the doctrine he was taught but by the life that they shared. 

More often than not, the kind of mentorship that Timothy received from Lois, Eunice, and Paul is “caught” rather than “taught.” It’s the whole axiom, “actions teach louder than words.”  One of the confirmation kids said something last week that really struck me. I asked how he knew all this stuff. He looked at me with a dumbfounded look and said, “My family is Christian. We go to Church. I go to a Christian school. We go through this stuff over and over and over and I just remember it. It’s the way things are.”

The easiest evangelism we do, yet also one that is often neglected, is that which takes place in the home. Parents are the most important and have the most impact on a child’s life. Timothy’s mother and grandmother, Lois and Eunice, taught Timothy the Christian faith from infancy.  They passed the faith by reading and speaking the Word of God to him. What they hear, what they see, what they practice at home. As the head of the house ought to teach his children. Parents, don’t starve your children of the Word of God.  Don’t leave them to fend for themselves in a world where temptation will come and many will be seduced. Taught by parents and the community of believers through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. Lived out in the home, in school, in the world.

We have a deep need, a deep human need, to be formed into the life we live, not only in our formative, growing-up years, but at every stage of our lives. We can always be shaped by the wisdom and teaching of those who know more, who have lived longer, who have been where we are now. And we can receive the faith they give us as a gift. It can, indeed, “rekindle the gift of God” within us.

It is the Apostle Paul who will be the first to remind us that this faith that was passed from one hand to another, didn’t start with any of them either. “This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (vv. 9–10). None of us can stand in faith without standing on the shoulders of sainted forefathers, brought to light in the ageless grace of the living Christ who was resurrected from the dead.

St. Paul encourages us to guard the good deposit entrusted to us. To remain in the Christian faith that was passed on down to us so that we might pass it on down the line.  Keeping faith with those who came before is just as important as passing on the unchanging sacred deposit whole and undefiled to those who come afterward. The pattern of sound words of the Christian is what we pass on.  We don’t just make this stuff up. We aren’t just left in the dark or having to try to reinvent the Christian faith – both what is believed as well as how it is lived out. What are the pattern of sound words? Scripture. We use the Small Catechism to help with this, which is nothing else than Scripture.

This is for the Confirmation kids in particular, so listen up.  It’s for those of you who attend Zion’s school, and those who participate in Sunday School and Bible studies.  But it’s also for the rest of you as well.  When you’re asked to memorize Bible verses, the Small Catechism, I don’t want you to put in your own words. I want you to use God’s Words. I want you to take the deposit and pattern of sound words, learn them, believe them, and then tell them to others. In part, this is why we have Sunday School, adult Bible studies, women’s Bible studies, Men’s Bible studies. This is so important that we devote ourselves to the study of God’s Word so that we are ready to give an answer to the hope that lies within us.

One of the most common questions I hear as a pastor is wanting to tell others about the hope you have in Christ is not knowing what to say. What do you say to the wife whose husband of 60 years just died? What do you say when a mother has just had a miscarriage? What do you say when someone denies the existence of God, or wonders how a loving God could allow evil? These are hard questions, but they are nothing that hasn’t been asked before.

What do you say to someone who wants to know what God’s purpose for them is in life?  You tell them the 10 Commandments and teach them what they mean. What do you say when someone wants to know what you believe about God?  You speak the Creed and confess what it means. The Creed helps us do what the 10 Commandments demand of us. What do you do when someone wants to pray but doesn’t know how or what to pray for? You pray the Lord’s Prayer with them.  What do you say when someone asks if God still cares or if God is involved in the world? You tell them about Baptism, Confession and Absolution, and Communion – the means by which God delivers His grace to His people.

As God’s grace in Christ is the instrument of strength for spreading the Gospel in which are revealed the glory and power of God, we pray with the Disciples of Jesus, “Lord, increase our faith.”

This morning in our Gospel reading we heard the story that Jesus tells to the Pharisees about a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. This is a fairly familiar story that illustrates several points.  Remember the weeks we heard the parable of the dishonest manager from Luke 15.  The Pharisees overheard Jesus saying this and were offended because they were lovers of money. And so this is directed toward those like the Pharisees, those like the rich man who refused to help the poor man, those who do not listen to Moses and the Prophets as they testify about Jesus, those who would not believe even after Jesus has risen from the dead. 

This serves as a stern call to consider our purpose.  Last week the shrewd manager heeded the upcoming judgment and acted accordingly, being faithful to his master and what his master had given him.  Here now, the rich man who faces the same upcoming judgment but does not act accordingly.  He answered the question about the purpose of life, “to make myself comfortable.”  The rich man realizes his mistake too late as he asks Abraham to tell his family that this is what awaits them if they don’t believe in God.  So he begs Abraham to send Lazarus back from the dead to tell his brothers to believe in God and to warn them of the torment of hell. It doesn’t work this way, and even if it did, it wouldn’t work.  Abraham’s answer is simply this: The Word of God is enough.

The author of Hebrews starts his letter in this way: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom He also created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Through the Word, God created the heavens and the earth. Through the Word, God promises a Messiah to Adam and Eve who would atone for the sin of the world and restore creation. Through Moses and the prophets, God spoke His Word to the world.  And the Word became flesh, dwelling among us, allowing the self-serving, self-loving, self-indulging world to crucify Him. And then the Word rose from the dead, to still speaks the Word of God to the reality that we saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone.  Through the Word, God creates and sustains faith. The Church’s mission of making disciples of Christ is accomplished solely by the Word of God.

What is our worship, the liturgy, but the Word of God, flowing from the Old Testament to the New in a pattern that goes back to the patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? What are our prayers but repeating back to God what is most sure and true according to His Word?  What is our song but the Word of God put to music to express and teach the faith?

So why is so easy for us to fall into the trap that the Word isn’t enough.  How many times has the Christian Church over the years, and even us here, tried new gimmicks or programs? How many times have we tried to add to the Word of God because we feel like it doesn’t work as well, or as quickly, or as efficiently as we’d like? The fix isn’t in new, pop sounding music, it isn’t in flashy programs and the latest and greatest.  It is simply, and purely, the Word of God. Church isn’t an entertainment venue and the worship service isn’t a marketing ploy.  It is where God meets man in His Word and in His Sacraments. And where we respond with our joy and thanksgiving, founded upon the Good News that Christ has been crucified for the forgiveness of our sins.

Jesus tells this story as a warning to the Pharisees—and to us—for like the Pharisees, our sinful selves yearn for something more than God’s Word, and we love the “good things” of this life: earthly honor and wealth. It is not wrong to ask God for our daily bread, and to receive the blessings of this life with thanksgiving: health, clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, spouse and children, money and goods.

But God has nowhere promised us constant bounty or ease in this life. He has not promised us honor and recognition in the world’s eyes. He has not promised us fine clothes. Sometimes God’s people are clothed with sores and sickness. Sometimes God’s people face heartache over their children, disappointment in their retirement years, seeming failure in the pursuit of their dreams, tragic accidents that bring life screeching to a crawl. Sometimes God’s people must endure humiliation. Sometimes they must live as beggars.

What God has promised in His Word is that lasting bounty and lasting joy are found in Jesus Christ, in the world to come. This is the testimony of Moses and the Prophets, of the apostles and the Church of God. This inspired Word of God conveys the promises of God, and God does not lie. Whoever turns aside from these divine promises to set his heart instead on earthly pleasures and riches is a fool—in fact, tragically, a damned fool.

Whether we are rich or poor, when we die each of us will stand as a beggar before God. The good news is that, in Christ, God makes beggars rich. As St. Paul writes: “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, so that you by His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor 8:9).

None of us is worthy to ask or inherit anything before God—not the rich man, not Lazarus, not you or me. There is only one who is worthy of riches before God: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing! (Rv 5:12). And Jesus, who alone is worthy, shares this inheritance with all poor, sinful beggars who look to Him in faith.

In the Christian Church, Jesus makes beggars rich. Not at the bank, not at the mall, but in God’s house we find our true prosperity. Here the crucified Savior addresses us in Word and in Sacrament that those who believe in Him have a place at His side. When you lack and worry and fear and weep, look up. Turn your eyes up. The wealth of the eternal God is yours. Christ has purchased for you an everlasting kingdom with His blood. Come then, beggars of mercy, one and all. Come wear the fine purple and the linen robes of Christ’s righteousness! The days of hurting and hungering are almost ended. The feasting and friendship of Jesus coming kingdom are nearly here. Keep praying, keeping waiting, hear the Word, proclaim the Word, for God works through His Word. And by that Word He invites you today to live with Him in eternity, and so we come. Week after week, we come . . . and we are as rich as Lazarus!

The manager in this parable has been unfaithful. He’s squandered his master’s wealth. When confronted, he has nothing to say. He is guilty of being entrusted with a great responsibility, which has brought him great honor, and he wasted it.  As a result of his unfaithfulness, he is being removed from his position.

The manager then goes to some of the debtors and lowers what they owe. When the master discovers what the manager has done, it leaves him in a bind.  He can reverse the decision of lowering the amount due, but that will make him cruel toward his debtors and bring to question whether he really is a generous and merciful lord.  If he lets the adjustments stand, he has further secured the good will of his debtors, but he has allowed someone else to dictate the terms. Notice here that the master commends the dishonest manager for his acting shrewdly. He is not agreeing with his actions, but admiring his resourcefulness in having done such a clever thing – a thing that rests upon the graciousness of the master.

There’s a direct application here to us who are here today when we realize how blessed we are to be children of God.  We have received countless blessing from God in abundance and we are often guilty of squandering what has been entrusted to us. We owe a debt that we can never repay. Sin brings a debt far too great for us to even start. We deserve to imprisoned for eternity, yet God is merciful and chooses to be gracious to us and grants us forgiveness.  While that forgiveness is freely given to us, it was not free for God. In the parable, the debtors received the benefit of the master’s mercy and forgiveness of their debt.  In our lives, God was willing to make the sacrifice of His Son upon the cross that our debt might not be reduced, but completely forgiven.   This forgiveness means that we are no longer accountable for the sins we’ve committed, for bad management of God’s gifts. We are free in the Gospel with the assurance of eternal life.

With this freedom comes great privilege. We are placed in this world and entrusted with gifts and blessings from God. Yet all too often we fall into the same materialistic trap as people who do not know Christ.  We often are more concerned about our security for ourselves than being faithful to God. We take what doesn’t belong to us, what belongs to God, we use it for selfish and sinful purposes. And God still forgives! And God still gives! 

Jesus’ says, “I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” This directs our attention to the very purpose of our earthly blessings. Jesus encourages us to imitate the manager, but not by being unrighteous. The sons of this present age are more prudent in worldly matters because they know how to be unrighteous – how to bend the rules, to play the game, to beat the system – in order to accomplish their goals. But Jesus wants His disciples to be ignorant in such things because they have no lasting value and is harmful for those whose hope is in the age to come. We are to be prudent by focusing upon God’s mercy given to us and to the world in Christ.  The manager in the parable used worldly possessions shrewdly to obtain a physical place to dwell.  Jesus turns this idea around and tells us to use these things to obtain eternal dwellings. That’s being faithful! What’s the purpose of receiving abundance from God if not to use it to extend His kingdom?

Jesus is not saying that earthly wealth is evil. He is saying that we cannot serve two masters. In our service of Christ, then, we recognize that God is the master and we are the managers. In other words, all that we have belongs to God, and He has entrusted material goods for our use. The question then becomes how to use God’s gracious gifts.  The focus here is to use earthly wealth, which is of value only here in this sinful world, in a shrewd manner so as to be received into eternal dwellings.  We are to practice stewardship in such a way as to use that which has been entrusted to us by God in this life to extend the kingdom of God into the lives of other people, whereby they would have eternal dwellings.

Zion, how do we invest in proclaiming the Gospel of Christ to people? How do we invest in extending the kingdom of God, both in your personal lives as well as in in your communal life as the Church? God always gives infinitely more than we pay for, and it moves us to do business of this life with His blessings so that others might share in His grace. God has placed you here in this world, in this time and in this place to be a reflection of His grace and mercy.

This is why we pass the plate each week.  We gather our tithes and our offerings for the work of the kingdom of God.  Just to be clear, a tithe is 10% of our income, our offering is that above and beyond.  We do it for the work of the church, so that the Gospel may be proclaimed both inside these walls and into our community. As Christians we have an obligation to keep up our church building and our properties for this and the next generation. We have an obligation to our Lord and to our brothers and sisters in Christ to not pass down our debt, or the consequences of our bad stewardship, to our children. Rather, we are to pass down the Word of Christ, His mercy, His forgiveness, and a generous heart. We have an obligation to teach our children the ways the Lord, through Bible study, church attendance, our school, and our daycare. If we have proven to be unworthy in our use of temporal things, the things of this world, how can we expect to be faithful in the use of eternal things?

Ultimately, though, it comes down to this.  Being faithful with what the Lord has given.  The wealth of the Church that matters is doctrinal integrity, Scriptural unity, and attendance.  Where these remain, the finances are will endure.  Without them, no amount of money can rescue a lost church (Pr. Larry Peters). But, as we heard last week, the Lord searches out the lost. And He has found you and brought you here. He doesn’t need your money or your possessions, they are already His. He wants you, for He desires all to be saved and come the knowledge of the truth – that Christ has been crucified for the forgiveness of sins and He provides all that is needed for this life and for eternity. 

Fifteen years ago today was a milestone for our country that lives on in current memory. Many of you might remember the pictures and reports from 15 years ago. It’s hard to imagine now that everyone who is not in high school was born after that event.  The attacks are now history apart from experience for the youngest generation among us.

If you remember, during those times, rescue workers searched and searched for survivors amid the ruins. One of our former pastors here, Pastor Steve Lee, was on the ground shortly afterward as a Christian chaplain to those first responders, praying with them, helping them, sharing the Gospel of Christ amid a horrible situation. I remember the sadness of the days afterward, while still looking for so many people buried in the rubble, hoping against the odds that they were still alive. And the joy that was felt by so many across to the country when someone was found alive.

If there was joy in such a thing as this, it is almost beyond imagining the joy that felt in heaven over one sinner who repents. When our Good Shepherd pulls us out of the rubble of this sinful world, the angelic crowds rejoice. The saints in heaven rejoice! This is what Jesus’ ministry is all about – calling sinners to repentance and faith in Him. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:32)

And so Jesus has to explain this to those who think they need no saving. The Pharisees and scribes were grumbling because Jesus was eating with sinners. These people didn’t deserve to have Jesus there.  The Pharisees felt don’t deserve the attention of a rabbi, much less of God in the flesh. And so Jesus speaks to them in parables explaining that the lost, the least, and the lowest are those from whom the Son of God came.

Two parables we hear this morning, the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. Both have the same point – Jesus goes out in search of the lost. When Christians speak of “the lost” they are almost always referring to those outside the Church. The phrase is used especially when talking about mission and evangelism. The Church—it is said—is to seek “the lost.” To be missional is to focus our efforts beyond the walls of our church, beyond the people here gathered and toward the reaching of “the lost.” Rather than “preach to the choir” or concern ourselves only with “the ninety-nine,” a church that is faithful to its mission must foster a “zeal for the lost,” so that “our hearts would feel a burden for the lost.”

On the one hand, this gives expression to something very important, namely, that Christians need to lift our gaze to those who are hurting, to those who need to hear the gospel. Too often the church gets stuck looking inward, directing all its efforts toward the self-sufficiency of its own community rather than seeing and living outward. We are called into a sacrificial life looking always to those who are in need, those who are suffering, those who are lost. But you see, that’s not really what Jesus is talking about here.

Consider why Jesus is telling these parables. These parables are the answer to the grumbling of the Pharisees and the scribes who are offended that Jesus receives sinners and eats with them. And so the “lost” in the parables—the lost sheep, the lost coin—are clearly these people that are drawing near to hear Jesus—these tax collectors and sinners, whose repentance brings joy into the heavenly places. And who are the 99? Who are those that Jesus leaves behind? They are the “righteous persons who need no repentance.” They are the Pharisees and the scribes, of course—these that grumble against Jesus’s association with the lost. These parables are set to condemn them, to make their grumbling stick in their throats.

So, consider the implication: the line between the lost sheep and the ninety-nine, the lost coin and the other nine is not between Christians and non-Christians, between churched and unchurched. The line is set between those who, on the one hand, draw near to hear Jesus, who repent, those who need Jesus, those with whom Jesus chooses to have fellowship; and, on the other hand, those who have no need of Jesus, have no need to repent, and are secure in their own righteousness. We make a serious error when we speak as if that line simply divides church members from non-members, “us” and “them,” “churched” and “unchurched,” “in-reach” and “outreach.”  There is only “reach”, reaching the world with the Gospel of Christ, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. 

To the contrary, Jesus continually challenges any attempt to label and categorize people for the sake of governing our attitude toward them. Thus, earlier in the Gospel of Luke when the lawyer asked Jesus earlier “who is my neighbor?”—Jesus would not allow him to use the label on others and instead, through the parable of the Good Samaritan, answered: you are the neighbor, you go be the neighbor, so that everyone is an object of your love.

We can all repent and consider anew how we might reach out again to those who have neglected the gifts of Christ. We can pray for them by name. We can make an effort to get to know them. We can also work at making our congregation more welcoming and more supportive by becoming more attentive to the needs of one another. Then, we can stand alongside the world—not over against it—and bear witness to this Jesus who has come only for sinners—He has given Himself for us all. Only then will the world be able to look at the church and begin to see in our midst “this man who receives sinners and eats with them.”

We should know, however, that some of the guilt that we feel in this regard is false. We should be willing to take an honest look at ourselves and repent, but at the same time we should not give too much credence to the excuses made by those who despise Christ’s gifts. All of the elect will be in heaven no matter how bad we fail to reach out to them.  No one goes to hell because we were bad at evangelism. No one goes to hell because you didn’t do enough outreach.  All the elect of God will be in heaven.  In same way, no one goes to heaven because of our efforts – the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God to call, gather, and enlighten His Church.  It is Christ who saves sinners.

Ultimately, each person will have to answer for his or her own sins. For the person who trusts in Jesus, who has answered for the sins of the world by His death on the cross, he or she can take comfort that that same Christ has risen to secure his or her own resurrection on the Last Day.

It is our privilege to proclaim this saving Gospel to the world. And we can do it in the freedom of the Gospel knowing that the Holy Spirit will work through His Word to do these things.  We can express the joy we have in Christ, support the church’s work of training pastors and missionaries to do this in specific thing.  Of supporting our pastor, the teachers of our school, the workers in daycare to do this very thing. We have a young man in our congregation who wants to go to the Seminary in a couple of years – this is a worthwhile thing to consider.

Jesus seeks the lost. There is no easy answer or program or solution, but we should not despair or wring our hands. We have the Word of God and the means of grace. We should seek reconciliation with those who have left us. But if they won’t forgive and rejoin and be reconciled to Christ, we take comfort that God has reconciled us to Himself by the death and resurrection of His Son. God will take care of His Church. He continues to search out the lost, and He will pull His people from the rubble of this sinful world.

Luke 14:25-35

The Cost of Discipleship

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 18C

September 4, 2016

Now, this life of faith is not easy.  We have been spoiled in the United States so often because our culture has matched up fairly close with our faith.  But we are seeing things move farther and farther away from Christ and His Word. And as our culture does this, we are going to be faced more and more with the radical nature of what it means to be a disciple and a follower of Jesus.  And keep in mind, that this life of faith finds both its source and its goal only in Jesus.

And so Jesus tells these crowds who follow Him, both then and now, what this life entails.  Here, Jesus speaks of three things in regards to discipleship that we are going focus upon this morning: hating family, carrying the cross, and leaving possessions.

Hating Family

The use of the word hate is not a call to not love our father, mother, wife and children; it is not a call to harm our family, or wish them ill; it is a call to heed the 1^st Commandment. We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things – and that includes our families. This is simply Jesus saying that your relationship with God comes first above all other relationships. There’s a reason why the 1^st Commandment is first: all the others flow from our relationship to God. This is why Scripture summarizes the 10 Commandments to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor. You cannot love your neighbor if you do not love God, or rather know the love of God.

Does this mean that we can have no relationship with our families or that they don’t matter? Of course not. As we look to the teachings of Jesus on what it means to follow Him we see that it would be impossible to follow Him and not have deep meaningful relationships. But it does mean that our relationships with each other are transformed by our relationship with Christ. Our relationships with everyone from family to neighbor, happen in light of, and because of, our relationship with Christ. And this relationship, we are assured, will cause discord. Christ promised, repeatedly, that persecution will come to those who follow Him; there will be those in the world, those who are counted as friends, and those who are family who will reject us—that is the cost of following Jesus.

Carrying the Cross

And there’s more. Jesus continues by saying “whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be My disciple.” He then goes on to speak a couple of parables concerning this and counting such a cost – of a man building a tower and a king going off to war. The point of these, as Christians, we build our lives on the firm foundation of the teaching of Jesus and the Church. Through Baptism, God brings us into His family and a new life with Him. Baptized, we are crucified to the world and the world to us. Here and now, the disciple of Jesus loses the world and gains only a cross. This brings war against the devil and our sinful flesh.

Theses parables illustrate the point that one would never begin this new life without the resources to complete it.  And let’s face it, we don’t have those on our own. There’s no earthly foundation that will not crumble.  We don’t rush off into this spiritual war thinking that we can win it ourselves. The enemy is fierce and we are outnumbered. The only way to win is to carry the cross Jesus carried and to follow Him, for He is the One who knows the terms of peace (Luke 14:32). So again, Jesus makes His point that the crowds are in need of Him. For He paid the cost by His blood and He is our cornerstone. He builds His disciples up, supplied only by Word and Sacrament.

Renouncing Possessions

Lastly, Jesus warns of that those who do not renounce all that he has cannot be His disciple. This is a common theme throughout the Gospel of Luke because possessions are one of the greatest threats to discipleship.  Things can all too easily become a god. Being a disciple of Christ means the readiness to give up anything and everything if duty to God calls for it. All that we have belongs to Him already anyway.

Jesus then leaves his hearers with one final image of salt. There is no in-between with salt. Salt is either salty or it isn’t. There is no “sort of” salty. If it isn’t salty it isn’t really salt and it should be thrown away.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, as baptized children of God, the Lord sets before you today life and death, good and evil. This is not to tempt you, for the Lord tempts no one, but to teach you of the radical cost that Jesus went through to make and keep you as His disciple.  So with the crowds in our Gospel text we go where Jesus goes for wherever Jesus goes there is life and there is goodness as we live in a world surrounded by death and evil.  Following Jesus we learn the way to God and the way of God.  His way leads through death and grave to eternal life.  You have been baptized into His way, and kept in His Way by His Word and Sacrament. 

It’s for this reason that we are called to be His disciples, to continually come to Him to share in His Word, His life, His mercy, love and forgiveness and to share that Good News with others.  Thus being a disciple of Jesus is not a single event but a lifelong endeavor, it’s not a few minutes or hours a week, but a daily repentance and faith in the Son of God.  Being a disciple of Jesus means being where Jesus is. During the week that means serving your neighbor with the love and life of Jesus through your vocation as empowered by His Word.  And most importantly that means regular attendance in the house of the Lord, receiving the benefits of the great cost of His sacrifice upon the cross through His Word and Sacraments.  Psalm 26:8 “Lord, I love the habitation of your house and the place where Your glory dwells.” There is life and there is goodness in this place not because we are here, but because Jesus is here to give us these things.

*some of this was adapted from sermons by Mike Hanel and Tony Sikora, as well as insights from concordiatheology.org.

Luke 14:1-14

Humbly Exalted

Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost/Proper 17C

August 28, 2016