Love Takes Time…with the Body of Christ

This sermon was preached on 10/18/09 at Our Savior. It is the second in a series called “Love Takes Time,” which is a stewardship emphasis on our use of time. The sermon text and series title were produced by the WELS for congregations to use as a stewardship emphasis. The sermon itself, though, is my own work.

Love Takes Time…with the Body of Christ

What would the perfect church be like? What would it be like to be in the perfect congregation? Think specifically! What would this church look like if it were the perfect congregation? I can see it now. A packed house every Sunday for worship. There are multiple Bible classes every Sunday to keep up with the need. Every day of the week there's a Bible information class or some other class. Kids are everywhere, going to Sunday school, confirmation classes, teen classes, and youth group events. People are reaching out, visiting the sick, helping the poor, improving the community. Members are constantly telling their friends, relatives, acquaintances, and neighbors about their Savior and their church. Oh yeah, and everyone gets along, always. There's never any complaining. Everyone is working together, and they're doing it joyfully, not because they have to, but because they love their Savior and they want to do all they can for their brothers and sisters in Christ.

Well, how close are we? Maybe we're not quite ready to call ourselves the perfect congregation yet. In fact, every one of us, from me the pastor to the youngest or oldest or newest member -- we all have to admit that our own actions have made this congregation less than perfect. We've complained. We've divided instead of united. We've grumbled about the work to be done. We've let someone else do it all. We've taken our brothers and sisters in Christ for granted. We've failed to talk about our Savior to those we know. We've ignored the needy and the community. Perfect? We're not close to perfect.

So how do we get there? Obviously when we think of things that aren't perfect, we want to fix them. But how? Do we start all sorts of new programs and classes and then "strongly urge" people to come to them? Maybe we start requiring a certain level of church attendance, and if they don't live up to it; they're gone. Maybe we could invest in a laser-light show style worship to keep things exciting around here and keep people fired up. The problem is, those solutions might cause more harm than good.

And then we look at the early Christian church from our text in Acts and we really start wondering how we could live up to their standards. The early Christians didn't just go to church when they felt like it; we hear that "they devoted themselves" (Acts 2:42) to public worship. And in addition to that, "Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles." (Acts 2:43) Hmm. I'm not sure how we'll pull that off.

Outside of worship, the Christians were constantly together. "All the believers were together and had everything in common.  Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need." (Acts 2:44-45) Think of the generosity we're talking about here. They share everything with each other, and if anyone needs anything, they give it. Wow! It makes me realize how much of my own stuff I want to keep for myself. How about you?

Those early Christians also had some pretty amazing fellowship with each other. "Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2:46-47) This wasn't a "see you next Sunday" kind of fellowship. Their lives were completely devoted to each other because they were all devoted to their Savior. And we think, how could we keep up with that! Guess we'll need a lot more sign-up sheets...

But the idea of trying to be the perfect church or somehow trying to keep up with the early Christian church in Acts 2 is an idea that takes us in the wrong direction. It focuses on us, instead of where our focus should be. You might remember that one of the names that the Bible gives for the Christian Church is the body of Christ. Jesus has ascended into heaven, but he still rules all things for the church, which is his body. (Eph. 1:22-23) To be a better church, a better congregation, we can't focus on programs or results. We can only focus on our head, on the only one who can bring us together -- we look, appropriately, to our Savior.

See, with all the amazing things that the early Christian church did there in Acts, it's easy to forget how they got there. That's the beginning of our text. It takes us to the day of Pentecost, and to Peter preaching a sermon to a huge crowd of people. As our text starts, the crowd is stunned. It says, "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart." (Acts 2:37) But you have to go back a verse to see what they heard.

It was Peter uttering the most devastating words -- and the most comforting words -- ever spoken: "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." (Acts 2:36)

No wonder the crowd was cut to the heart. They had killed the Savior. They thought he was an impostor. They'd been convinced that he was a troublemaker, and when the opportunity came to get rid of him; they took it.

Oh sure, not every one of the thousands of people Peter was talking to was directly involved in Jesus' death. Maybe they didn't all arrest him or flog him or spit on him or drive the nails into his hands and feet. But they did all kill him. They killed him with their sins, with their lies, with their hatred, with their unbelief.

And the worst part of it is, so did you. Yes, everyone at Our Savior Lutheran Church, I have news for you: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. Yes, you crucified him. No, you didn't hammer in the nails or crack the whip or thrust the spear. But you have sinned. You have put up roadblocks to the unity of your fellow Christians. You have taken your Christian family for granted. You've treated the Good News like old news. And each sin put Jesus on that cross. For each sin Jesus suffered hell.

So like the crowd on Pentecost, we ask, "What shall we do?" (Acts 2:37) Where can we go with this guilt we feel? The answer we need is the same one Peter gave: "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call." (Acts 2:38-39)

Just about everyone here has already been baptized, but the power is just as real for us now! Repent. Look at your sins and turn from them. Then turn to Jesus. Turn to the Holy Spirit's power given you in your baptism. There you will find forgiveness. There you will find that your sins have been washed away. Your baptism connects you to Jesus' death (Rom. 6:3). The very death your sins brought Jesus is the same death that Jesus used to take away your sins! You are right with God again! You want to be renewed spiritually? You want new life breathed into our church, into our congregation? Look to your baptism! The Holy Spirit is still at work in you, renewing you and building you up.

And in the same way our worship here together as a body of Christ builds us up, too. It's so easy to think of these services as just words, just a little ritual that we go through. It can be so automatic and thoughtless and we can make it mean nothing by our carelessness. But it isn't nothing. Every word and action in our services point to Jesus. Every word of Good News from the Bible is a gift from God that builds up our faith, that the Holy Spirit uses for our good. You want to renew the Church, come here to worship with hearts ready to repent of your sins, with ears ready to hear with joy the Good News of Christ, and with mouths ready to confess and sing your Maker's praise!

That's what the early church did in Acts. They weren't so different than we are! "They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." The Apostles' teaching -- that's like how we hear and learn God's Word here at church. Fellowship --that's the time we spend together as brothers and sisters in Christ. The breaking of bread -- that can be eating together, like we often do, or -- more likely -- it refers to receiving Jesus' body and blood with the bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, another incredible gift we receive! Prayer -- we do that too, as we pray to God in thanks and in requests with boldness and confidence that he hears us because of his Son!

So, no, we're not the perfect church. Sure, we have sins and problems and struggles. But we also have a Savior! We have a Savior who loved us so much that he took all of our sins, all of our problems and our struggles, and he bore their burden on the cross. He's forgiven us, and he wants us to cast our cares on him.

And you know what? He will bless us. He will bless us as we take the time to go back to the very means that he has promised to bless us in. Return to your baptism and the real power of the Holy Spirit working in you. Return to the Word and Sacraments proclaiming your forgiveness in so many different ways in these worship services.

When we do that, our love will grow. Whether we look just like that early Christian church or not is beside the point. Our love will grow as Christ's love grows in our hearts. Yes, love takes time. But we as the body of Christ will continue to grow in Christ's love, and his love will shine out for us more and more as Christians, as a congregation, and as his church.

Love Takes Time…to Know God

This sermon was preached on 10/11/09 at Our Savior. The sermon is the first in a series called “Love Takes Time,” which is a stewardship emphasis on our use of time. The sermon text as well as the sermon title (or something close to it) were produced by the WELS for congregations to use as a stewardship emphasis. The sermon itself, though, is my own work.

Love Takes Time…to Know God

How long does it take to know another person? In some ways, it doesn't take much time at all. If you look around church this morning and see someone that you don't know, there's an easy fix for that. Just walk up to the person after church and introduce yourself. Easy. Done. Now you know each other. It really just takes a couple of moments and a few words.

In other ways, though, knowing someone else takes a lot longer. Think about the people in your lives that you know the best. They're probably not people you just met. Instead, they tend to be people we've known for years, even since we were born. When you are growing up, you get to know your family pretty well. But even then, sometimes years later, you get to know them better, you get to know things you never did before. Most married couples thought they knew each other on their wedding day. It doesn't take long for them to realize, though, that they only get to know each other better as time goes on.

To really know someone takes time. It can take all our lives, and it can take all our love. After all, when we really know someone, it means we know their problems, their faults, their little eccentricities that make them who they are. It's a process that requires our love. We have to work at it, we need to seek to know people to really know them better.

It's the same for our relationship with God. Do you really know God? Most of you would say, "Yes, of course I know him! He's Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He's the Triune God who loved me so much that he sent God the Son Jesus Christ to be my Savior. Because of that, after I die I will live forever with God in heaven." At least I hope that's what you'd say. But even knowing that about God, you don't know him perfectly.

He's a God who hides himself. (Is. 45:15) He doesn't tell us everything he has planned for each one of us in our lives. He hasn't told us why everything happens to us that happens. He hasn't revealed how long our lives will be or how long it will be until Jesus returns to take us to heaven.

But even the things God has told us about himself, none of us knows perfectly. After all, God reveals himself through his Word, the Bible. And how many people have the entire Bible memorized and know all of it perfectly? None of us do! But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try to learn more. In fact, the more we study God's Word, the more we get to know our God, the more we will love him. We'll love him more because we will see his love for us more clearly. Learning more about God, seeking him in his Word, is a life-long process. We will never stop growing in our love for our God and Savior, as long as we never stop growing in his Word. Love takes time, and our love for God grows as we seek God in his Word.

It's my prayer for you that you would know God better. It's my prayer that you seek him in the Bible and grow in your knowledge of his love for you everyday. That's also exactly what the Apostle Paul was praying for in our text from Ephesians. "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name." (Eph. 3:14-15) Right here at the beginning of our prayer, we're getting to know God better, because we're reminded that he's our Father.

We all come from different families and have different earthly fathers, but we all have one heavenly Father. He made every one of us. He keeps us breathing. He provides for us by sending rain to make things grow and giving us wisdom and strength to earn money and be able to buy food and shelter and clothing. To put it another way, God is our Father, and he acts like it.

The fact that he uses that word, "Father" tells us something else about God. We might expect that the God who created all things would be pretty scary. If he's powerful enough to form the mountains and fill the oceans, then what could he do to me if I don't listen to him? And, how could I ever expect him to listen to little old me? He's much too powerful and important to pay attention to me...

But no! He's our Father. A Father listens to his children. So we can approach our heavenly Father with boldness and confidence and ask him for things like dear children ask their dear father. (Luther's Catechism) That shows you something about God's love: he listens to us. He hears our prayers. No matter where we are, God hears us. He hears us because of his Son, as we had heard earlier in Ephesians: "Through [Christ] we...have access to the Father." (Eph. 2:18) What love God has that hears us when we pray to him!

That means he hears the prayer in our text, too. We read, "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." (Eph. 3:16-17)

Usually, if you're going to ask someone for something, you want to make sure that the person is capable of giving it. I don't care how many of you ask me for a million dollars; it's not going to happen. I don't have a million dollars. But with God, we can ask for anything. He is powerful enough to answer. That's why Paul appeals to God's "glorious riches." God is rich, he's got everything, so we can ask for anything. Paul, though asks for power.

God was a good one to ask for this. He is all-powerful. He made the world and everything in it. So if he wanted to give us power to bench-press 300 pounds, he could do it! But Paul's not talking about physical power. He wants God to give us power in our "inner being." He wants us to have a power that you can't see on the outside, but on the inside. It's in our hearts. And what is that power? "That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."

Did you realize that as a believer you have Christ living in your heart? You do! And that really is a powerful thing. On our own, our hearts would probably be in despair. We'd think, "God could never love me, after the way I live. I sin every day, I take him and his Word for granted, I've done so many things that I don't think God could ever love me." But our faith, with Jesus in our hearts, tells us something different. Jesus tells us, "I've forgiven you. I've died for you, but look, I am alive! And you will live, too, because you are connected to me by faith.

And how did we get connected to Jesus by faith? How did he get into our hearts to live there? By God's Word. "Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the Word of Christ." (Rom. 10:17) The Holy Spirit brought us to faith through his Word, or through his Word and the water in baptism. What love our God has for us, that he takes an unworthy sinner, washes our sins away, and God the Son himself comes to live in our hearts by faith. Could we ever fully understand that love?

Maybe not, but we want to try! In our text, Paul continues his prayer. "I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God." (Eph. 3:17-19) God has given us the roots of his love in our faith, and he continues to build on that foundation as we continue to hear his Word. The goal for us is to fully understand Christ's love for us, to understand "how wide and long and high and deep" his love really is.

Of course, we could never truly know God that well that we fully understand his love. Our text says it's a "love that surpasses knowledge." We can't understand it. We can't know it completely. But we can always grow in it. We can grow in it to the point that we are "filled to the measure with all the fullness of God."

So, do you feel like you are growing in your love of God, and in understanding his love for you? Are you seeking God, always thirsting to know more and to grow in his grace? Or are you content with what you have? Does the idea of growing in your knowledge not seem that important, do you think, so what, what's the point?

The truth is, if your faith isn't growing, it's dying. When we don't continue studying God's Word, when we stop hearing it or paying attention to it, our faith gets weaker. Eventually, it could die. And then we would never know God's love, but only his wrath.

But what a testament to God's love that he doesn't want that to happen. In fact, it's his power that keeps that from happening. Remember, Christ lives in your heart by faith, he wants you to keep that faith! He wants you to grow in it! And he promises to bless your faith. How does he do that? Through his Word.

God is here in his Word in our worship services. Going to church isn't meant to be some chore to keep you on God's good side. These services are God proclaiming that you're already on his good side. The services are about God pouring out his gifts on you through his Word, through his Sacraments. Don't stay away from church. Come running to the place where God promises to bless you. Talk to those you know who are no longer in church and encourage them to come and receive God's blessings, too.

God is in his Word wherever you are. Read it. Study it. Come to our Bible studies. Read the Bible on your own. God will bless that as you get to know him better. And yes, it takes time. Love takes time when you are seeking God. But what blessings he gives you as you do! And all the problems and troubles you have in your life, everything you pray for, everything you want or need, remember, God can help you with those things. Remember, he gives more than you could ever ask or imagine. So take the time to grow in his grace. He will never disappoint you.

So let's praise that God with the words Paul used to close our text: "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, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." (Eph. 3:20-21)

The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength

I thought I’d include my sermons on this blog, because they are one of the main ways I feed the sheep of my congregation. This sermon from last Sunday on Nehemiah 8:1-12 also seemed to fit the main subject of this blog well. The text for this sermon came from the Sunday school lesson that the children of our church learned last Sunday.

The Joy of the Lord is Your Strength

What do you think heaven will be like?  You might picture clouds and angels.  You might think of the joyful reunion of friends and loved ones who died with faith in Jesus.  You might remember how the Bible tells us we'll be perfect in heaven and have glorified bodies (1 Cor. 15), and the effects of sin will be gone forever.  You might think of the streets of gold that Revelation mentions (Rev. 21:21) or how we will get to see God.  You might think of how God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain ever again. (Rev. 21:4)

But every once in a while, someone asks me a question about heaven.  Maybe it's a question that you have had, too.  "Pastor, heaven won't be like one big church service, will it?"  We know we will worship our God and Savior forever in heaven.  But then we think, "How can I make it through eternity if I can't make it through an hour church service without checking my watch every two minutes?"  It's no surprise that some churches turn their services into big variety shows designed to entertain people.

This morning, though, we're going to remember that there is something special that we do here in church, and it has everything to do with our eternal life in heaven.  To help us see that, we're going to have to look at something that happened to the people of Israel in the time of Ezra.  Ezra was a scribe, someone who copied manuscripts of the Old Testament, and he was also a priest.  When the Israelites first came back to the promised land from their exile in Babylon, Ezra got everything for the religious life up and running again.  He made sure there were priests and that people could worship in Jerusalem again.

Well, our text takes us to a time when Ezra was called out to help the people understand something critical to their spiritual lives: God's Word.  "All the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded for Israel." (Neh. 8:1) God had commanded the people to hear the Law of Moses, which is another name for the first five books of the Bible.  So, it made sense for their religious leader Ezra to read it. 

Here's how the reading worked.  "So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand.  He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law." (Neh. 8:2-3)

A couple of things stand out about this.  First of all, there were some parts of the worship of the Israelites that only the men would do.  This wasn't one of them.  Out there on this day to hear the Bible read are men, women, and children -- everyone who would be able to understand it.  But I wonder if this is the line that caught your attention: He read it aloud from daybreak till noon. We're talking six or seven hours of a worship service here.  So what were they doing with all that time?

They were doing pretty much what we do.  Hearing God's Word.  Just about every part of our worship service revolve around the Bible in some way.  We have Scripture readings, we have hymns that give the Bible's message, the order of service all points to God's Word.
But look how the people reacted to it.  We had heard that "All the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law." (Neh. 8:3). 

There's definitely something for all of us to learn there. Then later we hear that "Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him because he was standing above them; and as he opened it, the people all stood up.  Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, “Amen! Amen!” Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. " (Neh. 8:5-6)

You can see again that they really didn't do things so differently than we do.  They stood up when the Word was read, like how we stood during the gospel earlier.  This kind of thing is meant to show a respect for what's being spoken.  Remember, this is God's own Word!  When the Gospel is read, those are the words and actions of our only Savior.  We stand to symbolically show him the honor he deserves.

But later on in our text, things start happening that don't usually happen in our church services.  Nehemiah, who was the governor of the people at this time, had to speak up.  " “This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.”  Then it explains why he had to say that. "For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law." (Neh. 8:9)

Unless it was a funeral, I've never heard people break into sobs at a worship service.  People in that culture might have been more free with their emotions than we tend to be, but still, you've got to wonder why.  Why would they feel the need to cry and grieve at just hearing the Bible read?

But then you think of some of the things in those first five books of the Bible.  Words of God like "be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." (Lev. 19:2)  The words don't sound like much until you really think about them.  Holy means perfect -- in thought, word, and deed.  When we really think about it, we realize how not holy we really are.  It's a scary thought.

Also in those first five books are the 10 commandments.  And there it is again.  We've heard the commandments before, but when you really think about them, we might as well call them the "10 ways you've failed."  We've coveted things that aren't ours.  We've lied.  We've taken things from others.  We'd had impure thoughts. We've hurt others or hated them.  We haven't listened to our parents.  We have treated worship and God's Word like they're no big deal.  We have treated God's name like it's nothing, we've used it to curse and swear thoughtlessly.  And in all of this, we haven't put God first, we haven't served him only, we haven't feared, loved, and trusted him above all things.

Maybe we should cry!  Because when you're God is holy, and you've done absolutely everything against what he commands, that's a problem.  That's a problem that God punishes with death.  Not just physical death, either.  Eternal death is what comes with sin.  It's what comes with your sin.

But then how could we hear in our text that "The Levites calmed all the people, saying, “Be still, for this is a sacred day. Do not grieve.”? (Neh. 8:11)  How could Nehemiah go and say to the people, "This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”? (Neh. 8:10) How could they be comforted when they knew that they had sinned against God?  How can we be comforted in our sins?

The answer is the same.  Remember what Jesus said in our gospel reading for today.  In talking about the Bible, he said, "These are the Scriptures that testify about me." (Jn. 5:39) All of the Bible, even our reading from Nehemiah, is really pointing to Jesus.  And we can see that!  They comforted people by telling them that it was a "sacred day."  The word "sacred" means holy.  The people could stop their crying because God had made them holy in their worship that day. 

That points us to Jesus, because it is he who makes us holy today!  He has come to us in his Word and proclaimed that we are holy!  We're holy and perfect in God's eyes because Jesus took God's punishment in our place.  We're holy and perfect because Jesus lived a perfect life in our place.  When we hear that message of the Word, proclaimed so  many different ways in our worship services, we're being told again and again how Jesus has made us holy.  How he has rescued us from our sins, paid the ransom of hell that we owed, and opened eternal life in heaven for us by faith!  That is the greatest message there is, and that is the main message of the Bible!

That's why we here that the people in our text "went away to eat and drink...and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them." (Neh. 8:12)  They rejoiced in the God who made them holy.  The joy of the Lord was their strength.

And the joy of the Lord is your strength, too!  That joy comes from his Word.  It comes as you taste and see that the Lord is good in Jesus' body and blood in the Lord's Supper.  It comes as you hear the proclamation that your sins are forgiven, your punishment is canceled, your place in heaven is reserved, all because of God's love.
When we know what the Bible is really about, when the Holy Spirit opens that meaning to us, then we can rejoice in the strength that we have in the Lord.  Then we can look for opportunities to worship him.  We can look for times to read and study his Word and grow in our faith. 

I'd like you all to consider reading more of the Bible than you do now.  God will bless it!  I've put a schedule of Bible readings in our latest newsletter for you to try if you'd like, and I've given you some other ideas, too. Use them!  Get in the Word!  God will strengthen you!  He is the source of your faith.  The joy of the Lord is your strength!

We may not know what heaven will be like exactly. But we know when we get there, we won't be bogged down by our sinful attitudes and thoughts.  We won't have our pains and troubles.  We'll only have the love of our God.  We will see our Savior, the Lamb, the Word, face to face.  And we will rejoice in his strength that brought us there!