Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
The Resurrection of Our Lord (April 12, 2009)
Job 19:23-27; I Cor. 15:12-25; Mark 16:1-8

For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE.

TITLE: “A Bright Future in Jesus”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is from St. Mark Chapter Sixteen.

The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

“Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” This was the question that the women asked one another that first Easter morn. Their Lord was gone forever. That’s what they thought. All of the talk about Jesus as the Messiah seemed cold and dead on their lips. But they wanted to do what was right. They wanted to bring the spices and anoint His body. If he could not live, at least He should die with honor and respect as a great teacher.

We all fight this battle. This battle with death. Sometimes the battle seems to be going well. We’re healthy, the kids are doing okay, and tax season is almost over. God is gracious, and there is much to rejoice about. Other times, though, it seems as though death and Satan are winning. A loved one dies. There’s a sickness that just won’t go away. The economy. Jobs. School. Divorce. Fighting at home. Sometimes the fight is long and the battle hard. Sometimes this earthly strife which we all undergo never seems to end. It can feel as though there is no future, no hope for things to ever get better.

We, of course, are not the first Christians to ever have this battle with Satan and sin and death. St. Paul writes about it in I Corinthians 15 about those who weren’t certain of the resurrection of the dead. They didn’t know whether the dead would rise. They thought you lived and you died, and that was the end. To that fear and concern he wrote: “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable” (1 Corinthians 15:19 KJV).

How often have you been miserable because you have forgotten the basic, most fundamental core of the Christian faith? How often have you lived as if Jesus’ dead body were still decaying outside of Jerusalem somewhere? When we allow the trials and crosses of this life to define us, it is as if we are asking that question with the women at the tomb. I don’t mean that we should always be happy, or that if we simply have a more positive attitude, that things will automatically get better. Heaven knows that there are times when things are hard. We do suffer in this life. And that suffering is real, it is painful, and it may feel as though it will never end.

But Jesus Christ has risen from the dead. And for poor, weak sinners like you and I, that is good news indeed. No, it is the very best of news. Already with Job we saw that hope. If anyone had reason to complain against God, it was Job. His wife gone, His children gone, his house, his livelihood, his health. His very life was hanging on by a thread. Everything had been taken away from him. Yet even still Job was able to pen those great words of faith,

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job 19:25-27 ESV)

Job points us to this great, beautiful reality. No matter what happens, no matter what sin, the devil and the world throw at you, Jesus is risen from the dead. Everything can be taken from you, even life itself, but that will not separate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Death has no sting, because Jesus is risen.
Your sins cannot weigh you down, because Jesus is risen.
You have a future that is bright and clear, because Jesus is risen.
What is broken and messed up today will be mended, because Jesus is risen.
You are not in prison, you will be free, because Jesus is risen.
Christ’s blood now marks you as His own, because Jesus is risen.

Rejoice this day and be glad. The things of this life which weigh you down will pass. God is at peace with you, and you do not need to be afraid of anything which comes your way. Jesus is risen, and that is all that really matters in this life. Believe it for the sake of our risen Savior, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
The Resurrection of Our Lord (March 23, 2008)
John 20:1-18
For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “Death Swallowed Up”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. The Lord is Risen! (He is risen indeed! Alleluia!)

Mary Magdalene went to the tomb Early that first Easter morning to anoint Jesus’ body. They did have time to do it right on Friday. Things were crazy. The betrayal, the trials, the scourging, the horrible crucifix, the makeshift tomb borrowed from Joseph of Arimathea, these things just piled one upon the other. It was horrible, and it went so fast. Passover one day and the Sabbath the next all meant that nothing was going as it should. Nobody expected Jesus to die, even though He had predicted it many times.

We never really expect death to catch up with us though, do we? Even with the severely ill or aged, where death might seem a release from pain and suffering, even with them death is a shock. You can know it is coming, have everything planned out just right, and you are still numb when it hits you. Death is final. Death doesn’t wait for anyone. Death is no respecter of persons, but consumes us all. Death is still and always the great enemy. We have no power over it at the end of the day. We can’t fight it. We can’t avoid it or defeat it. We cannot do a thing to death, because of our wretched sinfulness. As we just sang in our hymn:

No sun of man could conquer death,
Such ruin sin had wrought us.
No innocence was found on earth,
And therefore death had brought us
Into bondage from of old
And ever grew more strong and bold
And held us as its captive. Alleluia! (LSB 458:2)

The disciples knew no different. It was all they had ever known. Abraham had died, the prophets, all of their forefathers had died. Why should things be any different for Jesus?

But it was different. Mary Magdalene went to the tomb, but it was empty. She ran back and told Peter and the other disciples, and they rushed back to the tomb. When they stooped into the tomb, they saw the linen clothes, and the facecloth lying by itself apart. It was folded and placed there. This was no grave-robber’s work. This was something else entirely.

But they still didn’t get it. The disciples went back home, and Mary remained behind, weeping. It’s one thing to see the tomb empty; it’s another thing entirely to believe that Jesus has risen from the dead! She was so distraught and upset that Jesus Himself came up to her and spoke and didn’t even recognize Him! Eventually He called her by name and she knew Him by His Word.

Our dead God is alive again forevermore! In the flesh, body and soul, He has come back from the dead. Isaiah proclaimed it when He prophesied:

He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the LORD has spoken. (Isaiah 6:8)

He wiped away Mary’s tears, and He wipes away yours this day. For Jesus as Jesus rose from the dead, in the same way you and all of those who have died in the faith will rise again from the dead. Our hope in Him never disappoints, no matter what the trials and pains this life may bring to us. Jesus has risen from the dead, and everything is new.

Our Lord continues to come to you now just as He did with Mary Magdalene that first Easter morning. He hides Himself in bread and wine, the very feast of Heaven. We only know Him by His Word. But what a great and mighty Word it is! This is my body; this is my blood given for you for the forgiveness of sins. With these words the feast of Easter is sealed, you are no longer in your sins, and death has no more part of you. Luther said it best in the hymn:

Then let us feast this Easter Day
On Christ, the bread of heaven;
The Word of grace has purged away
The old and evil leaven.
Christ alone our souls will feed;
He is our meat and drink indeed;
Faith lives upon no other!
Alleluia!

Come and feast forever more on Him who died and rose again so that you might live. The Lord is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

In the name of the Father and of the † Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Messiah Lutheran Church
Kenosha, Wisconsin
Judica midweek service (March 12, 2008)
John 11:1-44, Matthew 27:27-55
For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “Triumphant from the Grave”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for tonight is the resurrection of Lazarus from John 11 and the death of our Lord from Matthew 27.

Lazarus was dead. He was so dead, in fact, that he was beginning to stink. He had been ill, we don’t know with what. So while Jesus tarried, he died. Mary and Martha, Lazarus’ sisters and dear friends of Jesus, sent word to Jesus that Lazarus had died. continue reading…