Tag Archives: Sermon

Jesus and Fishing (Easter 3c, 2013)

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Easter IIIc (April 14, 2013)

easter3c-2013

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text for today is the Gospel just read from St. John chapter twenty one.

Jesus has risen from the dead. The apostles have seen Him not once, but twice. Maybe even more. Even Thomas has acknowledged Him with the words, “My Lord and my God.” So now what are the disciples supposed to do? Wait. They are to wait until Pentecost, when they will receive power from on High. So like any good Jew from the shores of the Sea of Tiberias, Peter and his friends go fishing.

A lot of life is about waiting for something to happen, isn’t it? Any time there is a big event in your life, there is some kind of a waiting period afterwards, where you have to digest what this really means. A graduation, getting married, having a child, job change, and of course, the ultimate change would probably be death itself. Experts will tell you not to make any big decisions after one of these life changing events, because your judgment may be impaired. You may not be completely making sense at the time.

So they go out and go fishing. All night they fish. All night they ply at their trade, which for many of them had been their very livelihood for most of their lives. Jesus called out to them three years before and said, “Follow me.” Well, Jesus has risen from the dead, but He isn’t there in the flesh to follow. So they go back to what they know, and wait.

Our text then says the following, “They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.” (John 21:3 ESV) It seems that even though Jesus had risen from the dead, they still couldn’t provide for themselves on their own. Do you remember that episode near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when He tells them to go fishing and they don’t get anything? This has happened before to them.

But this isn’t just about them. It is about you. You are baptized, or Lord willing you will be. You have eternal life as your inheritance. You have the very kingdom of God as your possession. You have the ear of the King and the Son of God Himself calls you brother or sister. It is all yours in Christ. But you still can’t catch any fish without Him.

Now I’m not talking about fishing here, not really. I’m talking about the day to day way that you live your life. It is tempting, oh so tempting, for the Christian to put Jesus in a box and want Him to come out for an hour on Sunday, but then to put Him back in the box and keep Him on the shelf until some kind of emergency happens. Maybe it should be a glass box and have a label on it, “If things get really bad, break this glass!”

What we do by nature, time and time again, is try to go it alone. We continue to try and make it so that we don’t need Jesus. Prayer remains a last resort tactic. Hearing God’s Word and receiving His forgiveness and counsel, well, let’s just say that it is not a priority in our lives. It was true for Peter and the disciples. It is true for you and me.

But notice what happens next. Jesus appears to them, but they don’t know it is Him. Hear again this little interchange:

“Just as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.” (John 21:4–6 ESV)

There wasn’t anything special about the right side of the boat. That wasn’t the point. The point was that Jesus instructed them to do it. His Word and promise are sure and certain. Even when they don’t make sense. And if we are honest with ourselves, sometimes Jesus’ Word and promise don’t make sense.

But His call still goes out, “Follow me.” Jesus calls you to follow Him in a life of service to your neighbor. Why? Because He has served you even to death itself. Because of everything our Lord has done for you, you are free to live not for yourself, but for those around you who need you.

You see, beloved, God’s mercy extends to all. What may look like a waste of time or failure to you may be exactly what your neighbor needs to hear and see and know and experience. I’m confident that Peter wasn’t happy about working all night and getting nothing. But without Peter’s failure, they would not seen the mercy of God in providing for them, body and soul.

In your weakeness and need, God provides for those around you. This frees you to be human, to suffer and be in want and not be ashamed. Why? Because Jesus’ death and resurrection points the way.

Eventually Peter and the other disciples knew the risen Lord in the breaking of the bread and the fish. Eventually they would cast out the net of God’s Word into the deep, and it would bring forth a harvest, a Church full of weak sinners redeemed by Christ the Crucified. You are a part of that harvest. It doesn’t happen because Peter was such a great fisherman. The Word doesn’t go out because of the power of the preacher, but because of the promise of the Lord.

That promise is yours today. Come, be in the boat which is His Church. Receive our Lord’s body and blood for the forgiveness of sins, for life, and for salvation. God in His mercy has caught you in His net, and it is a good place to be.

Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

And now the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith to life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

Peace be with you (Easter 2c, 2013)

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Easter 2c (April 7, 2013)

Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Holy Cross Lutheran Church

Rocklin, California

John 20:19-31

easter2c-2013.mp3

TITLE: “Peace be with you”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this morning is from John 20, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

You have in the Gospel lesson today a wonderful picture of the tenderness and love of Jesus Christ, the Son of God who rose from the dead. Put yourself in the place of the disciples for a bit, and you will see how much God loves you and only wants to forgive your sins and bring you the peace which surpasses all understanding.

The disciples were gathered together in the upper room for fear of the Jews. They had heard the resurrection story. The women had even seen the Risen Lord. But there was still this nagging fear. What would Jesus response be to them? After all, how had they done in their commitment to the Lord and His message? Frankly, they hadn’t done very well. In fact, they had all rejected him and fled from the scene. In the face of fear and opposition from the Jews, their friends and relatives, they had left Jesus to die the death of a common criminal, without a friend or a loved one to even stay with him to the bitter end.

But Jesus had risen from the dead! And now the question was before them: what will Jesus do? Now that’s a question, or one very similar to it, that you hear asked a lot. There is even still the remnants of a popular movement that seeks to ask that question. When faced with a moral or ethical dilemma, they want you to ask the question, what would Jesus do?

Of course, that is a completely Law question. Consider your place according to the 10 Commandments, and you will both learn what Jesus would do AND that you fail constantly. As a sinner from birth, there is no doubt that you fail in the quest for perfection. Gossip, slander, theft, covetousness, adultery by thought, word and deed, even hatred or worse fill your thoughts and minds. You may not admit it to others, but it is the truth as sure as you sit in the pew today. You are no better than the disciples who abandoned Jesus so many years ago.

They were afraid. They were afraid that their hopes were lost. But perhaps even more, they were afraid that He was God and that they had abandoned Him to die. What could be worse than abandoning the Son of God to die, only to have Him come back? What would be His response?

If you take sin seriously and believe that it is your sin which caused Jesus’ death on the cross, this is a question you simply must ask of yourself. How does God look you, a sinner? Does He judge you according to the Law and condemn, or does He judge you by looking at His Son and forgiving your sins for Jesus sake?

It is very easy to toss this question away as a no-brainer. Of course God loves me. Of course God forgives my sins. But the nagging doubts will come back at the worst times. Death and heartache brings it out. Broken relationships, painful lives and all of the thousand other things which afflict us all can bring doubt and fear to the front.

This is what the disciples faced that evening of the resurrection. This is what you face as a sinner from birth who needs God’s love and forgiveness. And that is what Jesus comes to give this very day. Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.

God gives peace by His Word. He shows them His hands and His side, but it is finally His Word that creates faith and gives the peace which the world cannot give. For you see, the Word of God which created the world and everything in it creates faith in your heart and gives you the peace which is beyond understanding. That is the joy of Easter. That is the miracle of the Christian faith.

Jesus loves you with an everlasting love. He tenderly invites you to believe in Him and His forgiveness. He gives you a pastor to speak that Word of Absolution to you. He gives you His very body and blood in His Holy Supper to forgive you and draw you into His presence.

I think that is what is so difficult to understand about Jesus’ words, Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained. God defines both the Christian Church and the Holy Ministry. They are about forgiving and retaining sins. Nothing more, nothing less. This is why John says at the end of our text, these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

God creates faith and gives you peace by forgiving your sins. And He uses the most earthy and mundane things in the whole world to accomplish this great and wonderful task. He uses pastors. Common sinners, with all the faults and foibles and weaknesses that every sinner has. He uses words. Just words, that in our day and age are there and gone in the blink of an eye. He uses common wine and bread. He uses common water. But with the breath of God’s life in them, these common things are not so common after all. For when attached to God’s Word and promise, these common things bring you life and peace that does not exist anywhere else. These common things are the tools that God uses to give you faith, the faith that moves mountains, the faith that brings you through this life and into eternal life.

We don’t have to ask the question, what would Jesus do? While it may be an important question in some ways, it ultimately misses the point. The really important questions are, what did Jesus do when He died on the cross, and what does Jesus do even today? He forgives you. He gives you peace. He makes you His own for all eternity. Believe it for His sake. Amen.

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

Sermon revised from 2002.

In My Name (Rogate 2012, also Mother’s Day)

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ, Amen. Our text for this morning is from St. John chapter sixteen. We focus on Jesus’ words, “Whatever you ask the Father in my name, I will give it to you.”

Whatever you ask in my name, I will give it to you. That does seem like a dangerous thing to offer, doesn’t it? I mean, really, how is it that God can offer us anything we want

So what do you want? That’s the question, isn’t it? That is really the question. Riches, people, power. Would you ask for peace on earth, or just the latest in great gadgets?

It is that question, what do I want, that really defines things for us. And that is where prayer comes in. One church father wisely said that the commandments teach us what to do, the Creed teaches us what to believe, and the Lord’s Prayer teaches us what to desire.

And if we are honest, our desires aren’t really that noble. Would you post your real wish list on Facebook? Do you really want people to know what the desires of your heart are? But God, our heavenly Father, frees us from over thinking our desires. Luther wrote this way concerning the words, Our Father, who art in heaven:

With these words God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our true father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and confidence we may ask him as dear children ask their dear fathers.

Now it works like this. god knows that our desires are all over the map. He knows how hard it is for us sons and daughters of Adam to get over ourselves and think of others, and so God gives us a place where we can practice our Christianity, and the shaping of our will to His. This place is called the Church. Well, truth be told, God gives us two places for us to practice: The Church and the Christian home. For it is here, Church and home, that we learn how to love, and forgive, and desire what is best for each other.

The reason I call this practice is, well, it’s practice because we mess up so much. We forget our lines. For forget to love and look out for each other. We bicker and fight with each other, saying, “Not thy will, but MINE be done.” So it is that fathers and mothers teach their children how to get outside of ourselves. And i’m here to tell you as a father that this does not come easily or naturally. We are all selfish by nature, and God puts us in families, at home and at church, so that we can learn to be more like him.

This is why, I believe, that mothers are both exalted and taken for granted. Motherhood forces moms into a place where they simply must think of their children first. Laundry service, cook, taxi driver and nurse, these are just a few of the more obvious tasks that come to mind. We could add cheerleader, encourager, protector and sympathizer. I’m sure each of you could add or subtract from the list.

From our mothers we get a glimpse of what it means to desire what is best for someone else. Now I’m not saying this to put motherhood up on a pedestal. Okay, maybe a little. It is their day, after all. But my point is that in Christian parenthood you see what it means to look out for the best of someone else, without any real promise of reward at the end. Children are expensive and a lot of work, and there is no rational reason to have them. But we do, why? Because of love. Because God has put this spark into humanity, that we create. Imperfectly and with plenty of room to improve, but it is there. No question about it.

Now I’d like you to take a step back from earthly motherhood for a moment and think about another mother. I want you to think about the Christian Church. Every one of us actually has not one, but two mothers. Just as we have an earthly father and a heavenly father, so too we have an earthly mother and a heavenly mother. St. Cyprian, an early Christian pastor, once said that no one can have God as their Father unless the Church is their mother. What Cyprian meant by that is that God brings us forth and makes us His holy children by Baptism, and that we grow up in Him in the Church, His Bride, our Mother.

The Church, perhaps more than anything else, is a place of safety and forgiveness. It is a place of healing, where life’s hurts and sorrows are soothed and where you know, you know you believe. In my experience at most family gatherings there is at least one moment where you have to ask yourself the question, am I really related to all these people? The same could be said of the Church. Here sinners lash out at each other in our sorrow and pain and heartache. No one can hurt you more than a brother or sister, because you know that no matter what they do, you are still bound to each other.

If that is true in earthly families, how much more is that true in our heavenly family, the Church? We fight and argue, have differences in vision and purpose. We can find the craziest things to fight about in church! Have you ever notice how it seems like Satan wants to make every little thing into a nuclear war? It’s because He knows that we, all of us together, are bound together not just by blood. We are bound together by the blood of the Lamb, who has washed us and made us His own. Satan knows that if He can get you to forget who you are, that maybe, just maybe, you will abandon this holy family for one of his own evil choosing.

I remember as a kid thinking that it was so weird that all my mom said she wanted on mother’s day was for all her kids to be together. Have a meal together. Laugh and be a family. In many respects, that is what Christ and HIs Bride, the Church, want for us as well. They want us to show up, have the meal together, listen to the words of our heavenly father. For it is here, in His Word and at His Table, that we are most family. It is here that we learn what it is to desire all things in Christ.

So come to the table, children of God. Come and feast with your brothers and sisters from near and far. Set aside your squabbles, big and small. Come and be a family. Be the Body of Christ. Be the Bride, and receive all good things from Him who loves you and gives Himself completely over to you. Come and be loved. Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

“I Know My Own” – Funeral Sermon for +Marian Winegar+

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+Marian Winegar+

Gary and Carol, Bruce and Monica, family, friends, and all those who knew our dear sister Marian: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning is the Gospel from St. John chapter ten. We focus on the words of our Lord, “I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me” (John 10:14).

Marian Emilie Winegar neé Schroeder was born on January 5, 1920 and grew up in Grand View, Minnesota. She was baptized into the Christian faith on April 1, 1920, and was confirmed in the Lutheran Church on May 1, 1934. In 1940 she moved out to California, and met her husband, Cliff Winegar. They were married on December 17, 1943. They settled in Sacramento, and were founding members of Our Savior Lutheran Church. Marian died in Christ on March 5 in the year of our Lor, 2012. **“And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”” ** (Revelation 14:13)

It hardly seems possible to summarize and hold together in our hands a life of ninety-two years and more. From Minnesota to California. From San Diego to Sacramento to Sun City. Two children. Grandchildren. Caring for those in need and selflessly giving to those around her. All of these could describe Marian’s life. I’m sure there are many more words that could be said, stories that we could tell, and pictures we could look at to try and capture what makes Marian so special. It will be different for each on of you, I’m sure.

I don’t know Marian very well personally. The last time I saw her, I gave her Holy Communion around a friend’s dinner table. She was there, but you could tell that her mind was just beginning to slip. That was just a couple months ago. It seems as though age and a lifetime of care for others had finally caught up with her.

But we are not here today to simply eulogize Marian, to remember the good times and bad. There is some of that, and that is okay. But the sad reality is that we are here because, for all of Marian’s great traits, she was still a sinner. Marian was broken and in need. Her slowly deteriorating body points us to the simple fact that St. Paul is right, the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Slowly or quickly, easy or hard, we are all dying. We all live under the curse of sin. And that is not how it is supposed to be. Not for Marian, not for her dear husband, Cliff, not for you,and not for me.

This is why we grieve. This is why we weep and are sorrowful. It is not right. God did not create us to die, and frankly, it stinks. Jesus Himself wept at the death of his friend, Lazarus (John 11:35). If Jesus recognized that this is messed up and not the way it is supposed to be, then it is okay for us to feel this sorrow and pain as well.

But that is not the end of Marian’s story, or yours. You see, Marian actually died a long time ago. She died at the baptismal font on a spring day in Minnesota 92 years ago. She died there, and her life is now hidden with Christ in God (Colossiand 3:3). For her entire life Marian was hearing the voice of her shepherd, her Savior, her Jesus. She raised her children in the Christian faith. She and Cliff were instrumental in starting Our Savior Lutheran Church in Sacramento, and in working with their school to teach that faith to the next generation, including her own children. Week after week, year after year, decade after decade, Marian heard the voice of her shepherd. In Church, in Bible class, at the font, at the altar, in the voice of preaching and in the mutal conversation with fellow redeemed sinners like you and me.

St. Paul said that the wages of sin is death, but that the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord (Romans 6:23). Those aren’t just words, beloved. Marian believed with all her heart that her end would not be at her death. That happened long ago. Marian believed with Job, that *“…after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God,” * (Job 19:26) Marian believes in the resurrection of the dead. Marian believes that you and I and all who rejoice in the death and resurrection of Jesus will rise from the dead. It’s irrational. It’s crazy. It makes no sense to all logic. But it is true as surely as I am standing before you today. It’s what made Marian tick, and what drove her to give of herself so selflessly.

But until that last day, at the resurrection of all flesh, until that last day we wait. We wait, and we weep. We weep because we miss Marian. And Cliff. And all those sons and daughters who have gone before and are with Christ. We miss them. There is a hole that cannot be denied. Don’t be afraid to weep. But we weep with a twinkle in our eyes. And that twinkle says that this isn’t the end. That twinkle says we will be reunited in Christ at the Last Day. We get a taste of that at His heavenly banquet here Sunday after Sunday, and we will taste it in full on the Last Day.

So rest well Marian. We grieve and sorrow. We miss you and love you. Rest well in the arms of your Savior, until the day of His reappearing, and we are reunited again.

In the strong name of Jesus. Amen

By the Finger of God (Oculi – Lent 3 – 2012)

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Todd A. Peperkorn, STM
Holy Cross Lutheran Church
Rocklin, California
Oculi – Lent 3 (March 11, 2012, rev. from 2008)
Luke 11:14-28

TITLE: “By the Finger of God”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this morning is the Gospel lesson just read from Luke chapter 11.

A house divided cannot stand, so says our Lord. In this season of political speeches and party politics, we can see a little bit about what division can cause. The worse the internal division, the weaker a candidate becomes. This is true in politics, and it is also true at home. A home that is being ripped apart by divisions, hatred, jealousy and envy cannot handle the external pressures put upon it. How many families have fallen apart over some tragedy, because they could not agree on how to handle it?

If this is true in politics and in the family, how much more is this true in the church? Imagine a church where no one agrees on why they are here. Are we hear to preach the Gospel, to provide social opportunities, to serve the poor and the destitute, or are we here because we have always been here? Are we here to serve the community or is there some higher purpose involved? While we may seem to know the answers to these questions, what is obvious to one person is not always obvious to another.

It was the same in the day of our Lord. The Jews were divided in to more little sub-groups than we can imagine. Pharisees, scribes, sadducees, essenes, who knows all of the groups we could have found in Jesus’ day? Each group had alliances with the others on certain subjects and not on others. It is a wonder in many ways that Judaism survived at all.

But this is the way of the world. Pride, vanity, envy, these things all push us to divide, to bicker and fight and divide much more than they do to be at peace with one another. St. Paul exhorts us to be imitators of God and to sacrifice for one another, as Christ did for us (Eph. 5:1-2). But that does not come easy, does it? The me factor in us always gets in the way. “It was the woman you gave to me!” It is much easier to ask someone else to bend, to change, and to sacrifice for us than it is for us to do it for them.

So it is that when our Lord heals this man who was a deaf/mute, that some of the Pharisees declared that He casts out demons by the power of Satan, or Beelzebub. They can’t imagine Jesus being in league with God, far less being God-in-the-flesh. It must be that what He is doing is satanic. Still others didn’t think Jesus’ miracles were enough! He didn’t part the waters like Moses, or the river like Joshua. He hadn’t ascended into heaven like Elijah. If Jesus wanted to be taken seriously, He was going to have to show off a little more. Jesus needed a better PR firm at the very least.

Our Lord, though, is not satisfied to convince a group os skeptics that He is the Messiah. He has bigger plans. He didn’t come to bicker with the various groups in Judaism or to simply be another miracle worker. He came to seek and save the lost, to redeem the captives, to raise the dead and to forgive the sins of the whole world. He came to work by the Spirit and Finger of God to bring you to heaven, and to bring the kingdom of God into your midst even this day.

Do you believe it? Do you believe that Jesus is still at work, here, now, forgiving sins, rescuing from death and the devil, and giving eternal salvation? That is what He is doing here this day. He is as present today as He was for that mute man who was possessed by a demon. But He is not merely present, like a sympathetic friend in times of trouble. No, He is the mighty redeemer. He comes not merely to listen, but to act. He comes to do what you cannot do, to fix what you cannot fix, and to redeem what you cannot possibly redeem.

How does He do this? The Finger of God is His Word and holy sacraments. Johann Gerhard put it this way:

Just as Christ here by the Spirit and the Finger of God expels the devil, so also He still today imparts His victory against the devil and transfers us out of the kingdom of the devil into God’s kingdom of grace through the Spirit and the Finger of God; that is to say, through the Word and holy Sacraments. For the Word and the holy Sacraments are nothing else but the Finger of God which He lays into our ears and upon our eyes. The power of the Holy Spirit is in these means. Through them He works in us faith and rebirth, along with renewal, so that we are redeemed from the kingdom and the power of the devil.

The kingdom of God is your kingdom, dearly baptized. We pray that God’s kingdom would come among us also, and He answers our prayers by coming down through His Word and Sacraments. Through these we receive Christ Himself.

This is why we pray in the Psalm, My eyes are ever on the Lord. In the midst of the fighting, divisions and fear that your life may be sometimes, God enters in to gently place His Finger where it is needed most, and to inscribe His name upon your heart. “On my heart imprint your image,” as we pray in the hymn. The Finger of God does not finally point to you with words of accusation and judgment. His Word and Holy Sacraments create faith out of nothing, hope for the brokenhearted, and peace where there is no peace. That is who He is. That is what He does for you.

So come now, dearly beloved, and feast on great mystery which is Christ Jesus. He has defeated Satan for you. Come and worship Him by receiving what only He can give to you. Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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