St.Michael& All Angels – Sermon: “On Guard For You”

ToddPeperkornNo Comments

St. Michael and All Angels, 2013 (September 29)

Holy Cross Lutheran Church

Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn

(Matthew 18:1–11)

Sermon 9-29-13

TITLE: “On Guard For You”

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

New Consecration Sunday is a day when we as a congregation commit to our ongoing work, evaluate our giving of time, talents and treasure, and ask what we are able to do in the year to come. Holy Cross has done New Consecration Sunday for about 7 years now, and it has become a sort of tradition at Holy Cross, leading into our budget planning for the upcoming year.

What I would like to talk with you about this morning is how we as a congregation live and work together. Congregations change over time. People come and go. Budgets change. Faces that were once regulars are no longer here, and faces that no one knows become more and more famliar. It is easy in the midst of such change to become discouraged, to wonder about the future and to even despair over what may come.

So in order to get a glimpse at our future in Christ, what I want to talk to you about this morning is children. Children at our pre-school and kindergarten. Children in our Sunday School. Your own children and grandchildren.

Children, it seems, have a special place in God’s heart. In our Gospel for today from St. Matthew chapter eighteen, we hear that unless we repent and become like little children, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 18:3). Jesus then goes on to say:

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt. 18:4)

What is it about children that are so special to God? Children are helpless. Children are naive. They will believe almost anything. They don’t contribute much. They are the exact opposite, in Jesus’ day, of someone who would contribute to the good of the group. They are work. And yet, they are the ones that are the most valued in the kingdom of God.

In our minds, this is pretty poor stewardship. I mean, really. The church is never going to grow if we focus our attention on people who can’t contribute, who can’t do the jobs we need done, and who are more needy than they are helpful.

That is the world talking. That is measurement committees and human resource departments. That is the disciples asking who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. They have a place, but that is not how things work in the kingdom of God. Remember the last words from Jesus in our text:

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of Man came to save the Lost.” (Mt. 18:10–11)

What this means is that the little ones’ angels always stand before God, they are always interceding, always bringing their needs and fears before the throne of grace. They are the ones whom God is most concerned with. In the kingdom of God, the Last shall be First and the first shall be last. In the kingdom of God, if you want to find the treasures of the church, you look to the poor, the needy, the downtrodden, the lost and the lonely. As congregation is not measured by its success. A congregation is measured by its mercy in receiving God’s Word and delivering that mercy to those in need in their midst.

Now what does this mean for us here, at Holy Cross Lutheran Church? It means this. Today is New Consecration Sunday. That means this is a day when the congregation ask you what you are able to give in terms of time and talents and treasures. How do we spend our time and energies as God’s people? How do we put our skills to work in God’s vineyard. And where do we spend our money? So think of it like this. What we are doing as a congregation is asking, “who are those in need in our midst?” Who are those who are in need of God’s mercy and care, and how can God use us to bring that about?

We are, of course, not alone in this work. The angels of God are looking out for the little ones in our midst. I rather like that picture. It is the picture of the guardian angel who keeps us safe. But these guardians who watch over us do not use the weapons of this world. They do not use sword and shields, guns and missles. No, they use the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. An angel is, above all, a messenger. They bring the message of God’s love to the lost ones. That means children. That means our shut-ins. That means our preschool and kindergarten. That means the broken and bent among us. That means you. For you are lost without Him and His love.

We at Holy Cross are turning our eyes to the future of our congregation. Yes, this means budgets and buildings and all that. But more importantly, it means faith. It means opening our eyes to the needs of those around us, and it means opening our ears to hear His promises.

Today God calls you to see with your ears, to listen to His Word and promises. He calls you to trust in Him for life and salvation, and for all of your needs of body and soul. Rejoice and be glad, for here, with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, you are surrounded by the whole church in heaven and on earth. You are not alone, but you are guarded and kept by Jesus Christ Himself, who forgives your sins, shows you mercy in your time of need, and who delivers Himself to you today and every day.

Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

And now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and mind sin true faith, to life everylasting. Amen.

 

The Party of a Lifetime (Funeral Sermon for Bonnie Gilbert, September 21, 2013)

ToddPeperkornNo Comments

Funeral Service for Bonnie Gilbert (September 21, 2013)

Holy Cross Lutheran Church

Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn

Isaiah 25:6–9

BonnieGilbert09-21-2013

TITLE: “The Party of a Lifetime”

Jack, Cheryl, Matt, family and friends of Bonnie, grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is the Isaiah chapter 25.

Bonnie Halboth Gilbert was born in New Mexico on November 26, 1942, and was baptized that same year. She was confirmed in the Lutheran Faith in 1955 by her father. She died in Christ in the year of our Lord, September 14, 2013. “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!”” (Rev. 14:13 ESV)

I’ll be honest with you. We had a pretty hard time planning this service. Now it is true that there is grief over the loss of our dear sister, Bonnie, but that’s not what made it hard. What made it hard was that we kept getting distracted by laughter. Getting lost, spoiling the grandchildren, cooking, throwing parties. Whatever it was, it seemed Bonnie went into these things whole hog. I still haven’t found a good Bible passage to use for shopping. Sorry, I tried.

But I think it would be fair to say that Bonnie had not been herself for sometime. The once always active could hardly move around. The do-er seemed to be done-in. It was hard to watch, and I have only known Bonnie for the last couple years. For those of you who have known the long history, and who knew Bonnie in her prime, I’m sure it was much worse. In the end she could hardly walk, had a feeding bag, and her life was not what she had known for so long.

We hear from God’s Word both why and how this happened. While there are medical descriptions of what happened, as a Christian our understanding is a little simpler. “The wages of sin is death,” St. Paul reminds us in Romans. All of us were born into this world sinful and unclean. Even Bonnie. So it is that we are all dying, every one of us.

But that, beloved, is not the end of the story. Not for Bonnie. Not for you. You see, St. Paul goes on to say, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord.”

So while Bonnie was dying, she was dying to live. This is what Isaiah is getting at in our reading from his book. Hear this part of it again:

“On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 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 25:6–8 ESV)

God promises that there will come a time for each one of us when we will celebrate what we might call the party of a lifetime. This picture from Isaiah is one I think Bonnie would appreciate. A feast, good wine, great food, a celebration with family and friends unlike anything we have ever known. God, you see, promises to swallow up death forever. God promises that at the last day, that death itself will die.

How is this possible? How is it that our sorrow can turn to joy, even in the midst of such grief? God knows your tears. He sees your heartache. That is why He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to come and take our sins upon Himself, to die upon the cross. Jesus died on the cross so that Bonnie’s death is not the end of her story. Jesus Himself put it this way:

““Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?” (John 14:1–2 ESV)

This day we weep and are sorrowful, but strangely, we also rejoice. Bonnie is not in pain anymore. She can walk again. And she is at the party of a lifetime. I’m sure she’s making sure everything is setup just right for each one of you when you get there. Frankly, they probably don’t know what hit them.

So today we weep, but we weep with hope. Today we are sorrowful, but full of memories, and looking forward to a day that has no end, when the party and the rejoicing will never end.

So until that day when we are reunited, Bonnie, rest well. Rest well in the arms of your Savior. Save a seat for us at the party. We’ll all be there soon.

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.

Nothing Left to Lose (Luke 16:1-13, Proper 21c, September 22, 2013)

ToddPeperkornNo Comments

Pentecost 19, 2013 (September 22)

Holy Cross Lutheran Church

Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn

Luke 16:1–13

sermon 9-22-13

TITLE: “Nothing Left to Lose”

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

Nothing left to lose. That’s how we might describe the behavior of the manager or steward in our text. He is losing his job. His reputation could well be lost, if not for the mercy of his rich boss. What is he to do? He can’t go back to manual labor, and he is too ashamend to become a beggar on the streets. He has a life. Probably a family. What is he to do? He is backed against the wall here. There is no obvious solution. There is no “out” that seems to make sense.

This place of desperation is no fun. Perhaps you’ve been there. Trapped, stuck with no place to go and nothing, it seems, to do about it.

There are any number of picturees like this in the Bible. People with illnesses that won’t go away. Children who are dead or dying. That quiet desperation is throughout the Scriptures. Abraham and Sarah. Saul. David. Jacob and Esau. Joseph. The disciples in the new testament show it all over the place. When things are messed up and out of control, we become reactionary, fearful and unable to figure out what to do.

So you have to give the man in our text credit. He remembers two incredibly important things along the way out. First, he remembers that securing a future is way, way more important than anything that happens today or even tomorrow. The second thing the man remembers is that he can rely on the mercy of the master to cover up his wrongdoing. Now that’s a big and somewhat crazy assumption, but the steward knows the mind of his master.

So he does the impossible. He risks everything, banks on the mercy of the master more than life itself. It is a bold move. It is a huge risk. We can’t entirely understand it all. But somehow, it pays off for him. He does a fire sale on oil and wheat, and the rich man’s tennants come out loving both the rich man and his dishonest manager. Everybody wins, except for the rich man, who is out the money that was owed to him.

Jesus then goes on to make this crazy, outrageous statement. He says, “And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings.” (Luke 16:9 ESV)

There are several things we can take away from this parable. And they are important, because they teach us a lot about the kingdom of God, about stewardship, and about how to live our lives as children of the King of Kings.

Know What or Who to Trust

The shrewdness of the manager is not that he was a cheat and a liar. That was obviously wrong. His shredness came because he knew where his bread was buttered. He recognized what the most reliable thing is in his life. The most reliable thing in his life was the character of his rich owner. The rich man was generous and merciful. His tennants cared enough about him to tell him when the manager was wasting things. So for this manager, he could rely on the mercy of the rich man.

What this means for you is this: you can rely on the mercy of God. God will be merciful to you. He has been doing it for thousands of years. That is the most reliable thing in your life.

Don’t Let The Things of This World Intefere with What is Truly Important

The second takeaway from this parable is not to let the things of this world interfere with what is truly important. For the dishonest manager, taking care of his future was more important than anything else. For you and me, insuring our place in heaven is more important than anything else. How many of us have been distracted or led astray by things that didn’t matter, that we’re that important, or that were ultimately irrelevant to your life? What is the most important thing to you, that is what matters. And the most important thing to you is that you are baptized, that you have a place and a family and a home in Christ. Nothing else can get in the way of that.

God is the One Who Pays our Debts, Not We Ourselves

Finally, and most importantly, God is the one who pays our debts, not us. For the dishonest manager, he knew that the mercy of the rich man was reliable, and that he could bank on it. As a result, the dishonest manager risked everything, and the rich man paid it all in the end.

For you and for me, in a very real way we have nothing to lose. God has paid all our debts. He has paid the price for our sin by the death of His Son, Jesus Christ. That means you are free to live your life as one of service, not as a slave. You are free, and God has given you stewardship over everything you have. But He did not lend you these things for you to squander or waste on yourself. He lent them to you so that you would serve those around you. Family, friends, church, strangers, there are many in need all around you.

So what are we to take away from all of this in the end? First, God’s mercy is the most reliable thing in your life. Second, nothing can get in the way of receiving that mercy. And third, God is the one who pays our debts for us, even when it doesn’t make sense.

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.

 

The Narrow Door (Proper 16c, August 25, 2013)

ToddPeperkornNo Comments

Proper 16c, 2013 (August 25)

Holy Cross Lutheran Church

Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn

Luke 13:22–30

sermon08-25-2013.mp3

TITLE: “The Narrow Door”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is the Gospel just read from St. Luke chapter thirteen. We focus especially on the words of our Lord, “strive to enter through the narrow door”.

We hard a hard time in our culture with anything that is seen as limiting. I should be able to marry whomever I want (male or female), whenever I want, wherever I want and by whomever I want. There was even a New Mexico Supreme Court case that came out this past week saying in effect you now have a constitutional right to have whomever you want photograph your wedding! Yes, we have a hard time with limitations, and with rejection it seems.

But it doesn’t have to be about hot-button topics like gay marriage. We can talk about something really mundane that demonstrates the point. Let’s talk about food. I don’t know about you, but I hate it, hate it, when someone tells me what I can and cannot eat. It makes me crazy. I am an adult! I can eat whatever I want! We all have our hot-buttons, though. Maybe it’s alcohol. Maybe it’s your free time. I’m quite sure it is something.

We all have these things that push our buttons. So when Jesus says “enter through the narrow door” it shouldn’t surprise us a whole lot that our first reaction is that God isn’t fair. It may seem as though God is being a stickler for details, a pesky, particular God who wants to make sure that everyone does things just so in order to get to heaven.
But that is not the point of the narrow door picture.

The book of Hebrews tries to give us the answer. Hear again these words:

“It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:7–11 ESV)

When we face discipline, when the way seems narrow and hard, it is exactly then that God is forming you, shaping you as His own sons and daughters. He does not discipline you because He hates you . He does it because He loves you.

The doorway to heaven is narrow, as Jesus Himself says. No one may enter this door on their own merits or works or worthiness. Every time you try to gain God’s favor by your own efforts and strength, you smack into the wall and not through the door. And it’s painful, isn’t it?

Let’s be clear about something here, though. The door is narrow, but it is for you. And the point Jesus makes here is not that if you only work really, really hard will you enter heaven. No, no, a thousand times no! The point Jesus is making is that the only way you get through the door is if Jesus Himself leads you there. We could even say that Jesus is Himself the door (John 10:7).

So think of it this way. What Jesus is saying to you today is that you trust in Him, for He is the only way you will be saved. It won’t be because you’re nice or mean. It won’t be because you have a certain kind of friend, or that you know certain things. No, the way that you are saved is through Jesus Christ and Him alone.

The book of Hebrews goes on to put it this way,

“For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12:18–24 ESV)

There is where you are. You are now at Mount Zion and the city of the living God. You are in the heavenly Jerusalem, where angels and archangels and all the company of heaven praise His name, and you with them. You are enrolled in heaven, and you are in the presence of Jesus Himself, whose blood marks you as His own child and heir.

This means so much in how we look at our lives before God. Your life before God is not limited by the narrow door. It is because of this door that you have entered into God’s very presence by His Word and Spirit! And in this door lies freedom, and hope, and comfort, and a place, and an inheritance that never fades away. In this door, in this place lies heaven itself. For where Jesus is, there is the Church, His bride. And you are baptized as His bride, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come through the door marked by His blood. The Passover Lamb is now before you on the altar of God. Come to the Table, for the feast is now ready for you.

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.

Asking for the World (Pentecost 10, Proper 12c, July 28 – 2013)

ToddPeperkorn2 Comments

Pentecost 10, Proper 12c, 2013 (July 28)
Holy Cross Lutheran Church
Rocklin, California
Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn
Luke 11:1–11

TITLE: “Asking for the World”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today is the Gospel just read from St. Luke chapter ten. Let us pray:

O Lord, let Your merciful ears be attentive to the prayers of Your servants, and by Your Word and Spirit teach us how to pray that our petitions may be pleasing before You; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

When we pray, more often than not we ask for too little. God’s grace and mercy, so it seems, is limited not by Him but by us. It is easy to think of God’s mercy and love when we are talking about asking for something up there or out there, but it is much harder to believe when it is to pray for healing for your mother, or forgiveness, or hope, or consolation and comfort. The more concrete we make our prayers, the harder it is for us to get our expectations up too high. After all, nobody wants to be disappointed.

That’s why this story of Abraham negotiating with God is such a strange one. God has spoken to Abraham and told him what is going to happen to the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He is going down to visit and to judge them on their sin. Certainly this would be a daunting and unpleasant experience for the best of us. Abraham knows that his nephew, Lot, lives there along with his family. What will Abraham do? He does not want to see his nephew die with his family. But what could he do? Would God listen to the likes of him?

Faith, beloved, sometimes means asking the impossible. And so that’s what he does. He actually goes into negotiation with the almighty God for the lives of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now if you are a good negotiator, what you need perhaps more than anything else is what we’ll call leverage. If you negotiate, you have to have something to negotiate with. Money, a trade in car, whatever it is, negotiating means convincing the other person that what you have is worth what they have, maybe even more.

So what does Abraham use to negotiate with God? What does Abraham have to offer in this bargaining process? What he has is God’s character. Now you have to admit, that is a pretty weird negotiating chip. I mean, doesn’t God know his own character? Surely God knows who He is?

Well, yes He does. So what Abraham does is he dares to hold this character of God up and to pit God’s justice against God’s mercy. Will you destroy the city if there are fifty who are righteous? Surely the God of mercy would not do such a thing. No, I would not, He said. Well, what if there are only 45? 40? 30? 20? What if there are only ten righteous who are left in the city? Will you keep the city for the ten? Yes, God sighs. I will keep the city even if there are only ten righteous.

So here’s the deal on this whole story, which we will also see from Jesus in the Lord’s Prayer. God is merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Like in the days of Noah, or perhaps even worse, the time is coming for the world’s end. We don’t know exactly when, but we know that it will happen. The reason that God spares the world is not because we deserve it. Our efforts at helping our neighbor are feeble, and we are all full and filthy with sin. No, God spares the world for the sake of those who will be saved. He delays His final judgment because of love. And because of this, you are free to be bold in prayer, and to act without fear before God.

So let’s fast forward to now and to your life in Christ every day. Each day you have troubles, you have fears, you have worries, hurts of body and soul. Every day you know people whom you love that are in great, desperate need. You may not even know what to pray for. But you have been call in holy baptism to a great and wonderful purpose. Hear how St. Paul described it in Colossians:

Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.
(Col. 2:6–7)

God has called you to walk in Christ. You were filled up in Christ when you were baptized, and now Christ fills Himself up in you by Holy Communion. You are in Him and He in you. You are rooted, built up, and established in the Christian faith. What that means is that God’s promises still drip off of your head in the waters that you received, where it was days or weeks or months or years or decades ago.

Walking in Christ means not walking in fear. It means knowing how much God loves you and continues to be with you no matter what. It means, as St. Paul said, abounding in thanksgiving. Thanksgiving, by the way, is the word eucharisto, from which we get the word Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper.

But what if you are afraid? What if the fires of Sodom seem to be raining down upon you? What if you are too pressed down to ask for help? What if you can hardly walk, because of the burdens that you bear for yourself and others? When that happens, and it happens to all Christians who walk in Him, when that happens, it is then that Christ comes down again and again and again to show you His mercy and love. He does’t just give you marching orders and expect you to carry them out. No, He fills you with Himself. And when that sack is empty, He fills you up again.

This, beloved, is why we call God our Father. This is why His name is holy, and His will is to be done among us. This is why His kingdom comes among us. This is why His will goes out into all the world. This is why He feeds us with our daily bread. This is why He keeps us from temptation, and delivers us from evil. He does all this out of Fatherly divine, goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in us.

Abraham negotiated with God and used God’s own mercy as the bargaining chip. You, too, have that great bargaining tool above all. You have Jesus Christ, the very mercy of God made flesh. God to Him. Pray for the world, for you just might get it.

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.