Four Truths from Christ

[Below, you'll find the message shared during worship with the people and friends of Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio. You'll also find live stream videos of both our 8:45 AM traditional and 11:00 AM modern worship services.]

Matthew 16:13-20

Today’s Gospel lesson finds Jesus leading the twelve disciples into the town of Caesarea-Philippi.

Caesarea-Philippi was a bad place. It’s where Herod Philip, son of Herod the Great, the puppet king of Rome, lived. 

Idolatry was rampant there. The town had one temple devoted to the Roman god Pan, the god of unbridled sex--sex without meaning or love, and another temple devoted to the worship of Caesar.

It’s here though that Jesus starts an important conversation. There are four truths that Jesus reveals in this conversation that I want to hold up to you this morning.

Truth #1: Jesus is higher and greater than the world, by its own knowledge or wisdom, could ever know.

Jesus started this conversation by asking the Twelve, referring to Himself, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” (Matthew 16:13)  

The disciples tell Jesus what they’ve heard people calling Jesus: “John the Baptist…Elijah…Jeremiah…or one of the prophets.” (Matthew 16:14)

All of these are high titles to apply to Jesus. But they’re not nearly high enough! 

After hearing what titles the people of the world are giving Him, Jesus asks the Twelve: “Who do you say I am?” (Matthew 16:15)

Simon’s answer is breathtaking: “You are the Messiah [that is, the Christ, the anointed King and Savior promised by God for centuries], [and, if that wasn’t enough,] the Son of the living God. [God the Son, God in the flesh.]” [Matthew 16:16]

Now, if Jesus was anything less than all that Simon claimed Jesus to be, Jesus’ response to Simon’s confession would be monstrous. Jesus could then be dismissed as a madman or a liar.

But Jesus tells Simon: “Blessed are you [Justified are you, made righteous are you, by this confession you’ve just made], Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 16:17) “You’re right, Simon,” Jesus is saying, “You’re blessed with saving faith in Me as God and Christ, as God and Messiah.”

But how did Simon, of all people, know this about Jesus? 

It wasn't because he was smart, wise, perceptive, or insightful.

It was God Himself Who revealed Jesus’ identity as Christ and God to Simon.

In our own power, by our own intellects, no human being could ever figure that out about Jesus. God Himself must show us Who Jesus is. The Bible says, “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)

One of the reasons regular worship attendance is essential to Christians is that the Holy Spirit uses the Word and the Sacraments, which we know are God’s Word made visible, to lead us to the same confession about Jesus made by Peter, that Jesus is our King and our God.

As the Holy Spirit uses these means--Word and Sacrament--to give us faith and build our faith, we’re able to confess that Jesus is “...the [very] image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created…” (Colossians 1:15-16)

Truth #2: Being led by God the Father to confess Jesus as our God and our King changes us forever.

After Simon makes his confession, Jesus says to him, “I tell you that you are Peter…” (Matthew 16:18) He gives Simon a new name. In Jesus, our old sinful selves are killed and our new selves rise to new life with Him. The confession that God empowered Simon to make changed his identity.

My identity was changed when I was baptized as an infant, when God’s Word and promise and water met and through the Name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, I was claimed by God. The pastor said: “Mark James, child of God [not Mark James Daniels, the name my parents used for me when I was in trouble], you are marked with the cross of Christ and sealed by the Holy Spirit forever.”

Of course, those whom God has claimed and those who have confessed Jesus as God and King can walk away from God. They can shut down their relationship with God by turning away from Jesus and His people. I did that for ten years of my life.

Sadly, people walk away from Jesus. 

But Jesus never gives up on His lost sheep and like the prodigal son’s father, will run to us when we turn to Him. The God Who woos us to faith works to “seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10)

Truth #3: Jesus will build His Church through those who receive the gift of faith in Him.

Jesus tells Simon Peter: “on this rock I will build my church…” (Matthew 16:18) The word Jesus uses for rock here is slightly different from the name He’s just given to Peter. So, it isn’t Peter the man on whom Jesus builds His Church. He builds His Church through all the people God has led to faith in Him.

And the Church remains on a strong foundation not because of programs or the charisma of its pastors and teachers, not because of its buildings or membership rolls, but because of Jesus Christ alone.

Wherever the God we know in Christ is faithfully proclaimed and the Sacraments are rightly shared, Jesus Christ is building His Church. Just as our salvation is His work alone, the life of His Church is His work alone; our call is to attend to His Word and His Sacraments, to gather with His people to receive His gifts. This is how Christ builds His Church, no matter the size of its denominations or congregations.

Truth #4: Satan will assault God’s people, the Church, but nothing, nothing, will defeat the Church.

Jesus says, “...the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” (Matthew 16:18)

We can expect Satan to hate it when we as congregations and individual Christians confess faith in Jesus.

In the last parish I served, I made known my belief that the denomination of which we were then a part was departing from the authority of God and of His Word over His Church. In the course of a few months, our house was broken into and robbed, the church building was broken into and robbed six times, a drunken man slammed into and totaled both Ann’s and my cars and proceeded to bring a handgun onto our front porch as we waited for the police, and, despite having none of the expected underlying conditions, I had a major heart attack. A Christian woman with whom Ann worked observed, “Someone doesn’t want you two around here.” But we prayed and continued; today, that congregation is part of the North American Lutheran Church. 

Jesus says elsewhere: “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) Whether in this life or on the Day of His return when He calls we believers from our graves, we can trust His promise: “...the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.” (Matthew 24:13)

Satan cannot defeat, destroy, or rob us of saving faith in Christ and everlasting life with God. We know that Christ and His Church will prevail!

At the end of today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus tells the Twelve not to tell anyone that He was the Messiah.

The reason for this is that He still hadn’t gone to the cross, where He bore the punishment for sin that we deserve and He still hadn’t been raised to life so that all who turn to Him in repentance and faith will have everlasting life with God.

Many people in Jesus’ day believed that the Messiah would be a magical military or political leader who would wave his scepter and make the country’s borders secure, give everybody wealth, and keep foreigners out, none of which had they taken place, could overcome human sin or the condemnation and death our sin brings.

In fact, I think that the worst thing that can happen to us is for us to get our ways because when that happens, it makes us satisfied with the goodies of this life rather than hungering for life with God that never ends!

Jesus is our Messiah, our King, because, on the cross, He destroyed the ability of sin and death to keep us from life with God. Jesus delivers the fruits of His crucifixion and resurrection–the fruits of forgiveness, new life, eternity with God–to those who, empowered by God just like Simon Peter–can daily turn from sin and daily turn to Christ in trust and hope.

Jesus has given these four truths to you to receive and believe today and so that you too might be blessed with faith that, through Him, every one of your sins is forgiven and you have life with God right now and forever. Amen

Be Unburdened!

[Below you'll find live stream video of both worship services from Living Water Lutheran Church in Centerville, Ohio for July 9, 2023, as well as the text of the message shared during the services. WARNING: The video titled "11:00 AM Modern Worship" actually the "8:45 AM Traditional Worship" and vice versa. Got that? Have a good week. God bless you!]





Matthew 11:25-30

Jesus tells you today, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)

This is the Gospel, the good news, in today’s gospel lesson that Jesus gives to you, that He does to you and does for you today. Literally, Jesus says, “Come to me, all those toiling and being burdened and I will give you rest.”

Many, if not all of you, are toiling and burdened today.

Some of you toil to be “good” people under the burden of old sins that you confessed and God forgave through Christ long ago.

Some of you toil under the weight of sins perpetrated against you, sins of which you either cannot or will not let go.

Some of you toil under the burden of thinking you must create a “best life” for you, your kids, or your grandkids.

Some of you are working to placate God, trying to pile up enough credits to get yourself into His eternal kingdom.

To you and me Jesus says today, “Let go of your burdens–all your guilt and shame, all your pride and self-righteousness, all your self-promoting or self-destroying religiosity–and I will give you rest. I will give you peace.”

Not everyone finds Jesus’ invitation compelling. In fact, it’s true to say that most of the people who have ever encountered God’s gift of new and everlasting life and of rest with Him through Jesus, most, have repudiated it, ignored it, walked away from it. Even derided it or tried to kill it off.

Jesus first spoke these Gospel words–come to me and I will give you rest–in the face of mass rejection of Him by His own people.

Earlier in chapter 11 of Matthew’s gospel, we’re told that as Jesus preached to crowds of people, disciples of John the Baptist, reflecting their leader’s skepticism, ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3) Jesus points them to what they are hearing and seeing Him do: giving sight to the blind, making the lame walk, causing the deaf to hear, raising the dead, and preaching His good news–His gospel–to the poor, to all who can admit that they are not self-sufficient, all who, on hearing Jesus’ word, realize that without Jesus, they can do no good thing. (John 15:5)

Also in Matthew 11, just before Jesus’ words in today’s gospel lesson, He denounces cities whose people have refused to repent–that is, to turn away from sin and the burdensome lie of self-sufficiency.

It’s in the face of this rejection and earthly failure that Jesus, God the Son, prays to God the Father. “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.” (Matthew 10:25-26)

The Gospel, the good news from God that gives us rest, peace, and life with God is hidden from some people and it is seen and heard and trusted by others.

Now, anybody can see, hear, and trust in Christ’s Gospel. God is not a monster! God doesn’t pick winners and losers of salvation.

God’s message to the people of ancient Israel is His message for us today: “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.” (Ezekiel 33:11)

God wants to forgive our sins and give us new and everlasting life with Him.

But most people, thinking themselves “wise and learned,” unwilling to admit their need for forgiveness, or reconciliation, or peace, soldier on under the burden of self-rule. They refuse to daily turn away from the dumpster fire of sin, bitterness, and selfishness that rages in each of us descendants of Adam and Eve and cling to the lie that they (or we) can “be like God.”

These are people like Lot’s wife. Remember her? At the moment she was being graciously delivered from the hell of Sodom, told to not look back but to look ahead to the future into which God was taking her, she looked back anyway.

She may have thought to herself, “If I go back, I can make it better.”

Or, she may have thought, “I know what life was like back there in Sodom. I have no experience of the life God is taking me too.”

The wise and the learned are those who hear the Gospel promise of life and rest with God, but like, in the words of Proverbs, dogs returning to their own vomit, will not give up on the idea that they can be in control, or that they can make their lives right in their own power. (Psalm 26:11)

Jesus says though that “little children” are people who are open to His Gospel.

Don’t misunderstand Jesus here. Jesus doesn’t idealize childhood. The Bible is clear: We are all born sinners, intent on being masters of the universe, disinclined to love God or love neighbor. One of the favorite first words of children is still “No!”

What Jesus is saying is that when children are loved, they credulously and openly receive that love.

When some people hear the Law of God telling them that they were sinful at birth, they take in this truth from God and acknowledge it. (Psalm 51:5)

And when they hear Jesus say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 4:17)--or “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls,” (Matthew 11:29) their resistance is melted. Their wills are overruled. They trust in Christ.

Now, friends, you know that if you are one of Christ’s little ones, trusting in Christ, turning from sin, receiving His promised rest, it isn’t because you’re superior to those still caught up in the lie of their own supposed wisdom or learnedness.

The Bible says “that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)

The rest that you have in God’s grace, given in Jesus, is a gift borne to you by God’s Word: preached, taught, read, heard, and received in the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion. The Bible reminds us that “it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God…” (Ephesians 2:8)

What does all of this mean?

Quite simply, it means this: Today Jesus wants to make a trade with you.

He wants your sins, your death, and all that you try to conceal about yourself from God, the world, even yourself. He wants you to put all of these things on Him. That’s what we do when we repent.

In exchange, He wants to give you all His righteousness, rest, peace, life, hope, joy.

Little children, receive all these gifts from Jesus today.

He tells you again now: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Give Jesus your burdens and He will give you rest in Him.

Amen

Bearing Fruit (Part 1, Reach Up, Reach In, Reach Out Lenten Series)

[Below is this past Wednesday's first midweek Lenten service for 2023 from Living Water Lutheran Church, along with the text of the message. God bless you.]



John 15:1-8

A few years ago, we rewrote the constitution and bylaws of the congregation. After prayerful consideration, we decided we didn’t need to create a new mission statement for Living Water.

Jesus’ mission for His Church, His great commission, appears explicitly in all four gospels and in the book of Acts. The most famous of these appearances occurs in Matthew 28:19-20. There, the crucified and risen Jesus, just before ascending into heaven, tells the Church: “...go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

We adopted these verses as the mission statement of Living Water Lutheran Church.

Distilling Jesus’ commission even further, we can say that the mission of this congregation and every Christian is to be and to make disciples of Jesus Christ. 

Anything we do as a church that doesn’t reflect or advance this single mission is a waste of time and a waste of life on this earth.

As a church and as individual members of this church, our call–our mission–is to be disciples and to make disciples. Period.

Over time, we’ve identified a pathway, which we believe to be Biblical by which this happens. While and after God reaches down to us in Jesus Christ through His Word and His Sacraments, disciples reach up in worship and prayer, reach in to worship together as a church body and to live in relationships of mutual support and accountability, and reach out to our neighbors with the love and good news of Jesus. Later in this series, we’ll talk about each of these components in detail.

But tonight, I want to talk with you about two questions.

The first is what is a disciple?

The second is what does the life of a disciple look like?

A disciple, quite simply, is a sinner who has been found by God and saved by the grace God gives through the crucified and risen Jesus Christ.

It is God’s Word about Jesus, whether proclaimed to us in Word or through the visible Word of the Sacraments–Holy Baptism and Holy Communion, that make us disciples. Those are the three methods God uses to make disciples.

Nobody ever really decides to follow Jesus.

Jesus tells His disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you…” (John 15:16)

This means that Jesus’ choice is to save anyone who will turn to Him in repentance and faith at the prompting of God’s Word.

John the Baptizer had evidently heard the Word about Jesus while still in his mother’s womb and so, leapt for joy inside his mother when he heard the greeting of Mary, then bearing Jesus in her womb. (Luke 1:41)

Others may not come to faith as quickly as that. They’re more resistant to Christ’s Gospel. The thief on the cross, for example, finally received the gift faith, of discipleship, as he and Christ were being executed. He prayed, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:42-43)

God’s Word assures us that we become Christ’s disciples when we are baptized. Even though John and the thief believed without being baptized, in Baptism, God’s Word connected with the water comes to us and we are crucified and raised with Christ. We are saved, made Christ’s disciples.

The apostle Peter said that the worldwide flood that happened during the time of Noah was a bitty symbol of the big thing that happens in Christian baptism: “baptism…now saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a clear conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ…” (1 Peter 3:21)

The disciple then is that person who, because God’s Word has been given to them, is able to confess Jesus as Lord.

“Faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ,” Romans 10:17 tells us.

And we’re told elsewhere in the Bible, “no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’  except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)

Discipleship, everlasting life with God through Jesus, is a gift for which we can take no credit.

Now, to address the second question I mentioned earlier–What does the life of a disciple look like?--I want to go back to why Jesus chooses to make those who believe in Him His disciples.

You see, Jesus doesn’t just save us from sin and death for our own sakes. He has bigger plans than that for His disciples. God doesn’t bring us into some exclusive club to ignore the world around us!

In that passage from John’s gospel I mentioned a moment ago, Jesus says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you [and then Jesus says] so that you might go and bear fruit” (John 15:16) 

Not only did Jesus die on the cross and rise from the dead to save us from sin, death, condemnation, and hell, He also did that so that our lives, transformed by His love, forgiveness, and grace, would bear fruit, would tell the world about Jesus, God the Son!

Now, some Christians hear this and think it means they need to get busy. People like this second-guess their salvation, wondering whether they’re good enough for God and whether by their perceived failure to bear fruit, they ever had Jesus’ salvation or not. They’ll ask, “If I’m a Christian, why am I tempted? Why do I sin? Why do I have doubts? Why do I forget about the needs of others? Why don’t I witness to others about Jesus?” These thoughts come to us because though we are saints, we’re also still sinners. But the more important question for us is to Whom do we turn when assailed by doubt or temptation, when we have sinned, when we fail bear fruit? We turn to the One Who gives new life to us in the first place: Jesus Christ!

When he was dying, Fred Rogers, famously known as Misterrogers and an ordained Presbyterian minister, asked his wife whether she thought he was one of God’s lambs. Rogers questioned his eternal salvation because he thought he maybe hadn’t borne enough good fruit as a Christian. He worried about his good works.

But, friends, hear me on this: The same Savior who saves and justifies you by grace through faith in Christ also produces the fruit of holiness and growth in Christ within you. That’s not your job.

Your call is to turn to Jesus in repentance and faith each day, remaining open to where Christ leads you both within the Church and beyond the Church, and to know that God–and God alone–will cause you to bear fruit, even–and I might say, especially–when you don’t know about it! If you’re doing a thing and wondering, “Am I bearing good fruit for Christ?” you probably aren’t completely. According to Ephesians 2, whatever good works we do as disciples won’t be what we’ve planned, but “which God prepared in advance for us to do.” (Ephesians 2:10)

When I was a child, I couldn’t feel my body growing, my voice changing, or the zits growing. My growth and change were beyond my capacity to decide on, control, or influence. I just kept coming to the dinner table where mom and dad prepared dinners to fuel my growth and the growth happened.

Your growth as a disciple of Jesus is all about what God does in you as you show up each day to receive His Word, worship with God’s people, receive the Sacraments. You just “come and get it” and the growth will happen.

You won’t sense growth happening.

You won’t see the fruit you’re bearing.

But it will be happening.

God uses people who gladly hear and receive His Word to be and make disciples.

A few years ago, we identified the process by which God makes and then uses people to be and to make disciples. We said discipleship begins with knowing Jesus Christ as our God, Savior, and Friend. It continues with growing in Christ. This is what God does to us and in us as we turn to Him through Jesus in daily repentance and faith. Then comes showing Christ. Knowing Jesus as Lord and Savior, being daily fortified by His Word, gives us the comfort and the courage to tell others to “Come and see our Savior Jesus. Come and see the One Who knows all about me and loves me anyway.”

Knowing Christ.

Growing in Christ.

Showing Christ.

This is what God does in us so that we can be and make disciples. This is foundational for our journey this Lenten season.

The seed of God’s Word is planted in us. And it is that Word that makes us disciples and in turn, causes us to grow in faith that we might, in turn, make others Christ’s disciples. Amen