It’s Not About You – Trinity & Confirmation Sunday, 2012

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“It’s All About God, and It’s All About You” -John 3:16

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this morning is the Gospel just read from St. John chapter three.

It’s not about you. I know you’re wearing white and there’s a cake, maybe even a couple presents along the way. I know there’s a hundred-odd people here. I know you’ve been in class for a couple years, memorizing the catechism and doing sermon studies and listening to pastor’s bad jokes. I know it may seem like you’ve done a lot of work, or at least that you’ve been at this a really long time. I know all this, and so do you. But it’s still not about you.

Why isn’t it about you, you may ask? Well, first off, if it was about you and all your great accomplishments, we wouldn’t be here. None of you have learned everything you should. None of you have done everything right. And I’m only talking about confirmation class! Imagine what it would look like if we examined your life! Or mine. Or theirs. Once we go down the road of weighing our accomplishments spiritually against a standard, well, we’re toast. It’s just that simple.

Now we aren’t the first to have this problem. Remember Isaiah? “Woe is me, for I am undone!” Really, he speaks for all of us. We can never know enough, feel enough, do enough, serve enough, confess enough, or really ANYTHING to earn God’s favor. The more we try, the harder it becomes, and the greater we fail. I think we even learned that didn’t we? “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him.”

This is why it isn’t about you. It’s about God and what He does, who He is, and how He came into the world to save us from our sins, indeed, He came to save us from ourselves!

Think back for a minute to Nicodemus in our Gospel reading. Here was a man in the know. He was an elder, a teacher of Israel. He was respected by one and all. Yet when JEsus started talking about how God works in the world, and how we must be born from above, He got that blank stare on his face. You know the store. The stare you get when all of this God talk has just confused you and left you lost and vacant.

I’m going to let you in on a secret that is really going to help you down the road in your walk as a Christian. We all get that vacant stare. We all have those moments when the God talk doesn’t make sense. Your parents do. Your older brothers and sisters do. Even your pastor does! That isn’t a sign that you aren’t a Christian or that you have missed the salvation boat. That’s a sign that you are a poor sinner who needs the Good Shepherd to come and save him. Now sometimes we get this. Sometimes God has to set you back on your kiester in order for you to see your great need. This is why God has given us John 3:16 and a host of other passages in Scripture, so that you may know of God’s great love for you in Jesus Christ, despite your many failings, and mine.

God gave His Son to you. That’s pretty amazing, isn’t it? Go gave you His most priceless treasure. He gave Him over to death so that you might live forever. And He gives you this very Son today in what we call the Lord’s Supper. Here, you receive all that you need. Here, God is the one who makes you worthy. Here God makes you a part of His holy family, the church. Remember again the words of the small catechism:

Who receives this sacrament worthily?

Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training. But that person is truly worthy and well prepared who has faith in these words: “Given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

But anyone who does not believe these words or doubts them is unworthy and unprepared, for the words “for you” require all hearts to believe.

So in a strange way, it actually is about you. Or maybe “for you”. It’s not about you because you deserve it. It’s about you because He loves you, plain and simple.

So come, confess the faith God gave you in your Baptism. Confess the Creed with us, and rejoice that God has brought you to this place. Come and receive His body and blood for the forgiveness of sins.

[ADDRESSING THE CONGREGATION] Oh, you’re here, too? Hm. For most of you, you stood here at one point. Or at an altar much like this. And if you haven’t, you probably will. All of these things I said to them really apply to you, too. We are all in this same boat. But the boat isn’t a bad place. The boat is the Church. And it’s the place where God demonstrates His love to you time and time and time again. So welcome these young ones in Christ. Well, they’ve really been here for a time, but today we renew our love for them just as Christ Himself loves them and gave His life for them.

So join with us in confessing the faith once delivered to the saints. It’s all about God’s love, and that means it’s all about you, for you are all His beloved children.

Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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

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No Longer Alone (Exaudi 2012)

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text for this morning is the Gospel just read from St. John chapters fifteen and sixteen. We will be looking at the words of Jesus, ““But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” (John 15:26)

T.S. Eliot once wrote, “The remarkable thing about television is that it permits several million people to laugh at the same joke and still feel lonely.” One of the great struggles of our day is loneliness. We are surrounded by people all the time, we have more ways to communicate than our parents could even imagine, and yet we manage to be more isolated, more an island than ever before. There is something about the human condition that brings this out in us. We have entire diseases today dedicated to that sense of isolation. Depression means being stuck in the past and unable to get out. Anxiety means being stuck in the future and unable to move forward. But in either case, whether you live only in the past or only in the future, you are alone.

What is it that makes us so prone to this loneliness? At the heart of it, without a doubt, is our sin. Sin separates us, it divides and keeps us apart. It keeps us apart from each other, but more importantly, it separates us and keeps us apart from God Himself. Think of Adam and Eve hiding from God in the Garden. Or remember the words of the Psalmist, “Turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted” (Psalm 25:26).

How is it that sin does this terrible thing? It does this terrible thing because we are ashamed. We are ashamed of our thoughts and words and deeds. We are ashamed, and because of that, we want to hide. We hide from each other, and we hide from God. Well, we think we hide from God. We live in the delusion that God doesn’t know us and that God is blithely ignorant of our every thought, word and deed. Think of how hard we try to hide our sins and weakensses from each other. Do you really think your spouse doesn’t know what’s going on? Do you truly believe that your parents don’t know what’s happening? That self-delusion is what drives us to loneliness.

But that is not all that drives us to loneliness. Sometimes it appears that we are in fact alone. We all have these fears. A widow lives and waits for the visitor who never comes. A high schooler just wants someone to know of the pain of their life, which no one can guess. A mother spends her life running her children and yet longs for real conversation. A father cannot communicate with his children because he feels he doesn’t know them anymore. Those are just a few, and I’m sure each of you could add more. How estranged our we from distant relatives and friends? Can we even speak with one another without fear?

It is to that loneliness that our Lord speaks to you today. Today our Lord gives us a great promise. He said a little before our text, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18–19) God’s promised gravious with you and for you does not stop. It never ends.

Oh I know, we can’t always feel it. Imagine the children of Israel in our Old Testament reading from Ezekiel (36:22–28). They were off in exile. Their land was taken, the kingdom destroy, the Temple torn apart brick by brick. They were strangers in a strange land. Would God ever return? Would He ever come and save His people? Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. Hear again those great words of promise:

“I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.” (Ezekiel 36:24–28)

This was God’s promise to them, and it is still His promise to you. I will take, I will sprinkle, I will cleanse, I will give, I will put, I will remove, I will cause you to walk, I will be your God. Those are a lot of promises from God. And that is just the beginning of His promises to you.

Jesus in our text today says that He will send the Helper from the Father. This Helper, this Spirit of Truth, He is the one who will give you reality. He is the one who bears witness to Jesus. The Spirit is the one who points you to Christ and says, there He is! His water and Word. His Meal. His Forgiveness. His Life given for you. There He is! That is the Holy Spirits work. The Holy Spirit is the divine delivery system, to connect you to Jesus, and to keep you connected all the days of your life. You remember Paul’s words, don’t you?

“For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”(Romans 8:38–39)

This is why St. Peter exhorts us to love one another earnestly (1 Peter 4:8). Love covers a multitude of sins. By covering one another’s sins, we are the Body of Christ. Rather than tear each other up, build each other up. Rather than try to solve our problems and troubles alone, know that Christ is with you all the way.

How can this be? Can it really be true, that you are never, ever alone? Yes. Yes it is true. You will never be separated from the love of God, because Christ dwells in you even now. God has sprinkled His cleansing Spirit upon you. That is Jesus’ promise to you. It’s a pretty good one, isn’t it? That is His promise. Cling to it, for in this you have eternal life, no matter what may come.

Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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

The Blank Pastor

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Blank. I don’t know what to say. I hear about all of the problems that people have, and all I have is…nothing. Their problems are so great. Their burdens are too much. I cannot bear them. I have no words. I am…blank…I am nothing. I am helpless to solve their problems. I am unable to soothe their sorrows, I am unable to release them of their tensions. I am…blank…I am nothing.

Yet Christ has called me to this place and time. Christ has called me to minister to these people. He does not say to me, “Go and fix them.” He says to me, “Go and preach to them. Go and forgive them. Go and comfort them.”

But it doesn’t seem like it is enough! It is never enough. I preach, I forgive, and I comfort. I exhort when needed and release them of their sins. But their problems remain. Their brokenness continues. Their sorrows know no end. Families are shattered. Sin abounds. Hatred, jealousy and envy are the watchwords of the day. And I am…blank…I am nothing.

Yet somehow, I have missed the point of the Holy Ministry. I have missed why God does what He does, and who He uses to bring this about. Ezekiel writes,

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. 23 And I will vindicate the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Lord God, when through you I vindicate my holiness before their eyes. 24 I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from fall your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, iand cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and myou shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:22-28)

God speaks. It is as if He said, “This isn’t about you, Todd. This is about my name, which you do not believe as you ought. For my name’s sake I will forgive them, I will gather them into my holy house, and I will make them my people. I will do this not because you are such a great pastor, but because I am the One Who Saves. I will use you, even your weak and helpless words. In fact, it is that very helplessless that I will use for My Glory and to save My People. This is about Jesus, not you. It is about His work and indestructible life. He is the one who saves, not you. Get over yourself, Todd. Get over yourself and be at peace. My Son and I will send the Spirit of Truth to give you what you need. That is all you need. That is enough. That is who I am.”

So the blank pastor goes back to the sheep. My words do not matter. It is only His Word, His Name, and His great work for me and for all the flock. I am not blank. I have received the Spirit of Truth. This is reality. This is His Word. I am filled up. I am not blank anymore.

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

(via Show Hospitality To One Another | Canadian Bible Society)

How Do I Speak to My Adult Children About Jesus?

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[This is an article I wrote for our church newsletter.  I would welcome any comments or suggestions you may have. -Peperkorn]

How Do I Speak to My Adult Children About Jesus?

One of the questions that I am often asked as a pastor is how to speak to adult children about Jesus Christ and the Gospel. Every Christian parent, young or old, recognizes that they want their children to believe the Gospel, be baptized, and be connected to the Body of Christ, the Church. This is a part of who we are as Christians, as Saint Paul wrties to the Ephesians “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” (Ephesians 6:3–4)

So the question goes something like this:

But what do I do when my children are adults and have either left the Christian faith entirely or the Christian faith is no longer a meaningful part of their lives? I don’t want to drive them away, but it weighs on me deeply. What can I say or what can I do to bring them back to Christ?

It’s a tough question. There are no simple or stock answers that will fix things, that is for certain. But here are a few ideas to get the conversation started:

  • DO love your children continuously. Hold them up in prayer, give them your affection, and help them in any way you can. They are your children. Be their parents. Your actions will speak louder than words.
  • DON’T be afraid. I know, that’s hard. There is a lot at stake. But Christ promises that He will never leave nor forsake His children. If God can raise Jesus from the dead, then surely he can change the hearts of His wayward children here on earth!
  • DON’T try to argue them back to the Church. Chances are that their falling away from Christ and the Church was the result of years worth of work and attack on Satan’s part. It isn’t so simple as a piece of information is missing. So engaging in an argument will probably just cause a fight and won’t actually get anywhere.
  • SHOW them how important this is to you. It is easy to want to avoid talk about Christ and the Church because it might get awkward. But if it is important to you, and they love you, they will want to listen to what you have to say. This might mean bringing it up in different ways. Write a letter, send an email. What about a baptismal anniversary card?
  • OFFER to help with transportation or other barriers, especially if there are grandchildren involved. While it may not be everything, demonstrating that you are willing to sacrifice in order to keep them connected, well, it will make a difference.

I know that this isn’t magical and that it is very hard. But God is merciful, and He wants your children here as much as you do! In the words of St. Paul, “…let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)

Peace be with you,

Pastor Peperkorn