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Episodes
Weekly sermons and Bible studies led by a retired pastor of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Episodes
Wednesday Jan 25, 2023
Wednesday Jan 25, 2023
The Scripture readings for this Sunday remind us of the very high standards of our Holy God and the need to walk humbly before Him. The Psalm is Psalm 15. David begins by asking who can come and continue to stand in worship before the Lord in His tent, His tabernacle. He says it is a person who is blameless, does what is right, and speaks truth from his heart, in contrast to a person who slanders others, does evil to a neighbor, and reproaches (blames or shames or speaks disgracefully) of a friend. David lists other things that people should and should not do and says that one who does these things rightly will not be moved from God’s presence. God’s people try to do what is right, but sometimes fail. Can anyone then stand before the Lord?
In the Old Testament lesson, Micah 6:1-8, the Lord indicts (makes a case against) His own people. He has redeemed His people from slavery and brought them to a land of promise and blessed them with acts of righteousness. Yet His people have rebelled and sinned against Him, as previous chapters of Micah show. What can be done? There is nothing that people can offer to God to make things right. God calls them “to walk humbly” with Him (which implies confessing their sins and seeking His forgiveness and trusting Him,) and then seeking to act in a kind and just way toward Him and others.
Jesus teaches much the same thing as He begins His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1-12 and speaks of God’s high standards and ends Chapter 5 with the words: “You therefore must be perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect.” Who can do that? He is teaching us all about our sins and our need for Him, the Savior. He says that those are blessed who know that they are spiritually poor, and mourn about their sins and weaknesses, and hunger and thirst for the righteousness that can only come from God, and know that they need and can receive God’s mercy for themselves. Then they can seek to show that mercy to others who, like them are not always pure in heart, and to be peacemakers with others, and stand up for the Lord in faith and in what is right, even if there is persecution on account of following Jesus.
In the Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 1:18-31, Paul says that the way of Christ and His Word will seem like foolishness to many in this world, whose own wisdom and standards are very different. In fact, no human being can boast in the presence of God and meet His expectations, no matter how wise and strong and noble a person thinks he is. Our only hope is in boasting in and trusting the Lord Jesus and receiving the wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption He provides for us as Christ the crucified, for our salvation. Through Jesus, we are forgiven and counted blameless in the eyes of God.
(One last note on Psalm 15. Receiving interest on a loan of money is not condemned in the New Testament. See the parable of Jesus in Luke 19:23, where a man is condemned for not even at least putting money in a bank in order to earn a little interest. Usury was condemned for the Old Testament people of Israel, as a nation, so that they would not charge interest for the very poor, who could barely pay back what they owed others, and would not harm their fellow Jewish people who were struggling. This could be a good principle still to follow to show kindness to some people in need.)
Wednesday Jan 25, 2023
Wednesday Jan 25, 2023
Today we will look at two shorter psalms that emphasize an important message of the season after Christmas, Epiphany - when God’s love and plan for the whole world became most clear, with the coming of His Son, Jesus, into the world. It is a time for sharing this Good News. These two psalms speak of God’s care for all people, not just the Jewish nation of Israel.
We look first at Psalm 67, in the Old Testament. Verse one begins with an abbreviated form of a benediction, a blessing, that God first gave to Moses in Numbers 6:22-27. Aaron and the priests that followed him were to speak this blessing to the people of Israel. In this way, God’s name was put upon them, along with His grace and peace, as He looked upon them with His favor.
What may seem to be a surprise, though, is that verse two says that God’s blessing came upon Israel so that His “way” may be “known on earth” and His “saving power among all nations.” God chose Israel to be His nation, so that eventually, His salvation would be among all nations, not just the Jews. This was actually God’s plan from the beginning and announced from the very time He called Abram (Abraham) to be the father of this nation and gave His blessing to him. See Genesis 12:1-3. “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This promise was given again in Genesis 17:3-6. Abraham was to be “the father of a multitude of nations” and “nations and kings” would “come” from him. These promises appear in many places as the Old Testament goes on and especially in promises of the coming Messiah.
God also reminded the Israelites that they were not His people because they had bigger numbers than others (Deuteronomy 7:6-8) or even were “more righteous” than others (Deuteronomy 9:4-7), but simply because of His choice and love and plan (Deuteronomy 9:6,8). By His grace they were saved and were His people. But there were also warnings of judgment if they rebelled and rejected the Lord. (See Deuteronomy 28:15ff. and verses like “62-63.”)
Passages like Isaiah 45:21-23 also remind that is no other “god” than the one True God and that “all the ends of the earth” need to turn to Him to “be saved.” God still wishes to save all of His chosen people (Isaiah 45:25), but there are warnings that only a “remnant” would be saved. See Ezra 9:15, for example. There was also the promise of a whole New Covenant, a New Testament, which finally came with the coming of Jesus as the promised one, the Messiah, the Savior for the whole world, including Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews) who would trust in Him. (See Jeremiah 31:31-34 and the quotation and comment about this in the New Testament in Hebrews 8:6-13.)
If we go back to Psalm 67: 2-5, then, we see the psalmist saying again and again that “all nations” and “all the peoples” should “be glad” and “sing for joy” at God’s saving plan available to all. God will judge the peoples “with equity” (literally meaning “with uprightness,” in a fair way); and He wishes to “guide the nations” with His wise ways, ultimately centered in Christ Jesus.
Verses 6-7 also say that as the Lord blesses people with good crops and other good things, that will be a witness to His goodness and help He wishes to bring to all, so that eventually “all the ends of the earth could fear Him” and love and trust in Him, as their Lord, too. (Jesus Himself reminded that God sends His sun and His rain upon all. That shows His mercy and care for all.)
The other psalm for today is Psalm 117, the shortest psalm in the Bible. It says much the same thing as Psalm 67, but in a simpler, more compact way, in 2 verses. “All nations” and “all peoples” should praise the Lord, for “His steadfast love toward us is great, and His faithfulness will never fail. It “endures forever.” These are promises available to all, Gentiles (non-Jews, the nations) as well as Jews. Verse 1 is quoted in the New Testament in Romans 15:11, along with several other Old Testament passages, telling of God’s love and mercy for all nations (Romans 15:8-13), so that “the God of hope” can fill anyone “with all joy and peace in believing” in Jesus as Savior, “through the power of the Holy Spirit” (Romans 15:13)
In fact, the New Testament says that the true Israel of God is now all believers in Christ, whether Jews or of any other nation, when they are brought to trust in Him. (See Galatians 6:14-16; Galatians 3:11-14, 28-29; Romans 10:8-13; Romans 4:13,16-17,20-25; Luke 2:30-32, 3:6; etc.)
The New Testament also makes clear that God’s “way,” mentioned in Psalm 67:2 and now known on earth among all nations, is centered in Jesus. As we have heard, God plan was to work through Abraham and the Jewish nation to bring, at last, Jesus, His Son, born of a Jewish woman, Mary, to be the Savior of the world (through His life, death, and resurrection for us all). This is clearest in the words of Jesus Himself, who said, in John 14:6, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The early Christians who trusted in Jesus were then called “followers of the Way, of Jesus” (Acts 9:2, 18:25, 19:9,23, 24:22 ).
As Psalms 67 and 117 say, the Good News that the Bible shares, centered in Jesus, is really for everyone in the world. Jesus Christ “gave Himself as a ransom for all" (1 Timothy 2:6). “Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3).
As I write this podcast I know that this Good News of God’s rescue plan through Jesus can be an eternal blessing to everyone who hears and comes to believe in Him. People are reading or listening in various places in the US and in at least 6 other countries and who knows how many more places. Please pray that more will hear and come to trust the Word of God about Jesus:
- “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (Acts 16:31-33)
- “Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” (Mark 16:15-16)
- “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16-18)
May we each also be strengthened in our own faith through what God tells us in His Word. Jesus said, “If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the Truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32). And that Benediction, first given to the children of Israel and mentioned in Psalm 67, is a Benediction given also to us through Christ. “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).
Monday Jan 23, 2023
Monday Jan 23, 2023
Sermon for the 3rd Sunday after Epiphany, based on:
Sermon originally delivered January 23, 2011
Monday Jan 23, 2023
Monday Jan 23, 2023
The Light of the Lord and of His Son, Jesus Christ, continues to shine brightly in this Epiphany season. In the Psalm, Psalm 27:1-9 (10-14), David speaks of the Lord as “his Light and His Salvation.” Therefore, David says in several ways that he is not afraid, even though there are evildoers and enemies who want to assail (attack) him and bring “war” against him. David asks that he continue to be able to come into the Lord's house, “His tent,” (His tabernacle, still being used, since the temple would only be built later). There he would find “shelter in the day of trouble” and “seek the Lord’s face” and “be taught His ways.” Then he could continue to say with confidence, “I believe - that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord” and say to us also: “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”
The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 9:1-4, where the prophet Isaiah predicts that people walking in darkness will see “a great light” that will shine upon them, and “multiply joy” for them and break “the yoke” of burden and oppression that is upon them. It will be like the days when Gideon and a few hundred men defeated the much greater forces of the Midianites and brought peace to God’s people. (See Judges 6-7 in the Old Testament. In fact, in the verses that follow in Isaiah 9:6-7, it will be a “child” who will be born and have the names of God, and would be the “Prince of Peace.”)
This Old Testament lesson is quoted in the Gospel lesson, “Matthew 4:12-25,” with reference to Jesus, who would go to Galilee, in the territory of the Old Testament tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali, but an area in which Gentiles (non-Jews) also lived. Jesus would call all people to “repent,” for their greatest “burden” was the burden of their sins. He came to save people from their sins (Matthew 1:21) by His death on the cross, as the Lamb of God (John 1:29) and to open up the door of “the kingdom of heaven” for them. Jesus also called disciples, fishermen at the Sea of Galilee, to follow Him and help Him by being becoming “fishers of men,” instruments by whom He could bring more people into the kingdom of heaven. Jesus also preached and healed in that whole region, so that “His fame” spread also to the North, to Syria, and to the East, beyond the Jordan River, places where even more Gentiles also lived. It was exactly as God had predicted through Isaiah. Jesus was becoming “the Light of the world” (John 8:12), a “Light” that no darkness could ever overcome (John 1:4-5).
By the time of our Epistle lesson, 1 Corinthians 1:10-18, the Gospel of Jesus had come to Corinth, in the nation of Greece, as we heard last week. Unfortunately, some of the people there were focusing too much on certain leaders and arguing about which one seemed more important to them. Paul had to call them back to faith in Jesus. It was the cross of Jesus alone by which they were saved, and it was His gift of baptism by which they were brought into faith, through water and the Word and the Holy Spirit. Paul and Apollos and Cephas (Peter) and others (including any preacher or teacher or person today) were only instruments through which God worked. It is the Word of the cross of Jesus our Savior that is the power of God by which we are saved. Thanks be to God alone! (See also Romans 1:16-17.)
Monday Jan 23, 2023
Monday Jan 23, 2023
Last week, we looked briefly at the history of the Christian Church and how from the early church on through the Catholic Church and Protestantism, the Church was consistently against homosexual behavior as acceptable - until about the middle of the 20th century. Then things changed because of changing views about the Bible and psychology and culture and philosophy and other issues. We looked at polls and statistics and saw that the latest information shows that 7.1 % of people in the US claim to be LGBTQ, although more than half of this group, 57 %, put themselves in the bisexual category, meaning they can choose to act in a homosexual way at times and then switch to act as a heterosexual. It is all about choices and feelings, without a scientific or Biblical basis. The same is true for transgenders. It is how they feel and want to change genders, and some are beginning to want to change back, with great difficulty about their choices. We also looked at statistics from the CDC about medical issues and the dangers related particularly to certain homosexual activities and behaviors.
We also looked at the fact that a number of church denominations have also changed their views, and for the first time in Christian history, as far as I know, a sizable group within them is accepting and approving of LGBTQ behaviors. This is creating conflict and even division within these churches, and some, mostly conservative, are leaving and starting new denominations. What are churches to do in these circumstances?
To talk about this again, we want to go back to a quick review of the Letter of Jude and what he said should be done, in a general way, without much detail, as God inspired him to write. He was writing to Christian churches, and he wanted to write about the Gospel, the good news of our “common salvation” through Christ Jesus. He “found it necessary,” though, as God led him, to appeal to the faithful church members “to contend for the faith that once for all was delivered to the saints” (Jude 1:1-3).
Jude then spent the next 13 verses, v.4-16, speaking the law of God and warning about “ungodly people” who came into, “crept into” the churches, who were “ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality” (Jude 1:4). “Sensuality” can refer to various kinds of immorality, but often refers to sexual immorality. In the verses that follow, Jude made it clear that he was including in this immorality particular references to homosexual behavior. There is the Old Testament reference to Sodom and Gomorrah and other cities which “indulged in sexual immorality and pursued “unnatural desire.” The phrase in Greek for “unnatural desire” is literally “other flesh,” and in this context seems to refer to homosexual practices, as described also by Paul in Romans 1:26-27 and other places. Peter made a similar reference in 2 Peter 2:6ff. in words very similar to Jude.
Jude then reminded the churches of predictions from the apostles that in the future “scoffers” would come, “following their own ungodly passions” and “cause divisions” as “worldly people, devoid of the Spirit” (Jude, v.17-19).
Only then did Jude speak about what the faithful Christians should be doing, with regard to these “ungodly” people around them, within their churches. He first spoke briefly about the need for Christians to keep being built up in their “most holy faith,” praying and staying “in the love of God” and “the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, that leads to eternal life” (Jude , v.20-21). (Remember also that in the early Christian church, letters like this one of Jude would be read to all the members of the churches to whom it had been sent. That means that even the people who were creating problems by ungodly behaviors would have heard the strong Law that the Lord had brought through Jude. Some of them, at least, may have realized their own sins and been brought to repentance. That is the main purpose of the Law - to show people their own sins and their need for Jesus and the forgiveness and new life He wished to bring them and restore to them.)
Then, having spoken of the mercy of Christ given to believers, Jude reminded the faithful Christians to be ready to show that same mercy to people in the three stages described in Jude, v. 22-23: those who were doubting and wavering in their faith and actions; those who had drifted farther away and needed to be “snatched” from the fire of God’s judgment; and even those whom the believers should fear, because they were a real danger to believers and could pollute them and harm them and could try to pull them away from the faith and what was right and true. God still loved and cared about these people, even though He hated their sins. Christ died for them, too, and they, too, needed to hear about Jesus and that they could be forgiven and restored through Him.
Again, this message of God’s mercy is needed by all of us, because we are all sinners, whether we are heterosexual or homosexual. We must speak humbly when reaching out to others about Christ’s mercy, because we know we need it, too. God hates all sin, as the perfectly holy God. Yet we also read that “God so loved the world” (this sinful, evil world) that He sent His own Son to be the Savior (John 3:16). “He wants all to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
That’s why we don’t hate homosexuals, or heterosexuals who sin, but we try to hate sinful behavior, whatever it is, because God does, and we can’t put a stamp of approval on sin. “The wages of sin is death.” That is what we would all earn, except for the gift of forgiveness Christ brings us (Romans 6:23). It is rejecting Christ and living in unbelief that ultimately condemns (Mark 16:16). That is the danger for those, whoever they are, who keep sinning and resisting what God says in Scripture. They could eventually lose their faith.
See what Romans 6:1-11 says about remembering who we are as baptized believers and seeking to battle sin, whatever it is, in our own lives.
Remember, at the same time, that we are not saved because of what we do and by overcoming every sin and becoming perfect in our life. None of us can ever do that. We still struggle, as Paul describes in Romans 7:15-25, with our old sinful nature. Yet Paul does say, in this passage several times, as a believer in Christ, “I have the desire to do what is right... I want to do right... I delight in the law of God, in my inner being..." and yet he still does not always do what he should.
We want to use God’s Law to help people, homosexuals or heterosexuals, to know what is really right and to desire to do it, even if it is a great struggle and goes against what our culture tells us, and we want to use God’s Gospel, above all, to help people realize that there can be forgiveness and hope and new life through Jesus and trust in Him. Remember that Paul wrote very clearly in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, about many sinful practices, including “men who practice homosexuality,” and other sinful practices, in verses following, such a visiting a prostitute; and he said, “Flee sexual immorality” (6:v.18.) At the same time, in v. 11, Paul wrote, “And such were some of you, But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.” Forgiveness is possible for any of us, through faith in Christ. And then Paul says, when you are in Christ, “you are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).
Let me say something else. Suppose we could convince someone to stop doing homosexual behaviors. That would be very good and helpful for a person’s health and moral understanding. Would that alone, though, make a person a Christian? It would not. Most important is also hearing about Jesus as our Savior and being brought to faith and trust in Him. That is at the center of our Christian witness - God’s love and forgiveness in Christ.
That is what Jude returned to, as he ended his letter. God is able to keep us from stumbling, from being drawn away so that we would lose our faith, and God will present us blameless, counted blameless before Him, through Jesus our Savior and His forgiveness of all our sins, as we hang onto His saving work for us. And to Him, then, be all the glory (Jude v.24-25).
A few last thoughts, and then I want to be done with the Letter of Jude and this subject. We try to bring Law and Gospel to all people, including those within the church. We want to emphasize the mercy of God, but obviously, not all will respond in a positive way, no matter what we wish and pray for. If people keep rejecting God’s Word and keep doing things that are clearly wrong in ways that are clearly hurting and harming others in the church, then others measures may need to be taken.
In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul spoke of such a case of sexual immorality, ongoing and without repentance, and said, “Let him who has done this be removed from among you” (5, v.2). “Purge the evil person from among you” (5, v.13). This person was too dangerous to the church, and the church as a whole could and did expel him. At the same time, in 2 Corinthians 2, we read that “this punishment by the majority is enough,” - maybe referring to the same person expelled in 1 Corinthians. If the person wakes up spiritually, by God’s power, and is repentant and resolves to try to do the right things, Paul then says, “You should rather turn to forgive and comfort him… and reaffirm your love for him” (2 Corinthians 2:5-8).
And what about churches where many have gone the wrong way? You still try to take people where they are and help them and point people in the right way, with God’s Law and Gospel and Christ’s mercy. But when that simply will not work, other words of Paul and other Biblical writers may need to be used.
See Romans 16:17-18: “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such person do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.” John warns, “Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ does not have God… If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting” (2 John v.9-10).
In other words, some of people and even churches, may have to pull out of their old churches and form new groups with faithful believers, over an issue like acceptance and approval and promoting of what is clearly wrong about homosexual behavior and other LGBTQ activity. Thank the Lord that our conservative Lutheran churches are not is such a situation. But let us not become proud and forget to be working on our own faults and failings within our churches, so that we can follow our Lord more faithfully and encourage one another in Christ and His mercy, above all.
Monday Jan 23, 2023
Monday Jan 23, 2023
Sermon for the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany, based on:
Sermon originally delivered January 16, 2011
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
The first two readings for this Sunday, the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, predict the epiphany, the “appearance” with His “light shining forth,” of Jesus, the Messiah. In Psalm 40, David tells of how he waited patiently for the Lord, and the Lord rescued him from “the pit of destruction” and set him on a secure rock, from which he can sing praises to God and boldly tell “the glad news of God’s deliverance” and “salvation.” David predicts that many more people “will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord,” because the Lord will send the Messiah, Jesus, who will have “an open ear” and “delight to do God’s will,” and make a sacrifice of His body “once for all” that will do away with need for all the Old Testament sacrifices. (See Psalm 40, verses 6-8 quoted in Hebrews 10:4-10, with more explanation of all this.)
The Old Testament lesson, Isaiah 49:1-7, is another of the “Servant Songs” of that coming Messiah, along with what we heard last week in Isaiah 42:1-9. That Servant will be named Jesus, from the womb of His mother, and will come from Israel, but also be the One who “will bring back the preserved,” the remnant of Israel, to the Lord, and will be “a light for all nations, that the news of His salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.” This saving work will not be easy, though, and this servant Jesus will be “deeply despised“ and “abhorred” (disgusted with and hated) by many of His own people. Yet, “God will be His strength” and He will be “honored in the eyes of the Lord.”
In the Gospel lesson, John 1:29-42, John the Baptist had been preparing the way for the coming of Jesus and now called Him “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin on the world,” referring to His coming sacrifice on the cross. John even said that Jesus existed before him, although Jesus was born after him. John was referring to the fact that Jesus was the Son of God, God the Son, who had always existed, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, from all eternity. John knew this, because he had baptized Jesus and heard the voice of God the Father identifying Jesus as His Son and saw God the Holy Spirit coming upon Jesus in the form of a dove. Two disciples of John then stayed with Jesus and started learning from Him. One, named Andrew, talked with his brother Cephas (Peter), and told him, “We have found the Messiah, which means Christ.” In this way, even though Jesus was just beginning His public ministry, the Good News about Him as the coming promised Savior, was beginning to spread, as predicted in the first lessons, at which we have already looked. (The word “Messiah” is the Hebrew word for “the One Anointed by God” to do His saving work, and the word Christ is the Greek form of the same word.) Jesus is the One!
The Epistle lesson is from 1 Corinthians 1:1-9. The Good News of Jesus was spreading and had now reached the country of Greece and the city of Corinth, where God had established a church through the ministry of Paul and one of his converts, Sosthenes. See Acts 18, and especially v.17. A little later, Paul wrote a letter, supported by Sosthenes, to the church members at Corinth. He called the baptized believers there “saints” because that is what they were, by the grace and peace of God at work in them, through Christ Jesus. This grace was given to them by God as a gift, including the gift of faith in Jesus as their Savior. “God is faithful,” Paul wrote, and would “sustain” them in this faith to the end, as they stayed close to Jesus and His Word. They would be counted “guiltless” also, by faith in Jesus and all He did for them. So will we, as we abide in faith in our Savior! All our sins are forgiven, too.
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Last week, we looked at more Scriptures from the Old Testament that clearly condemn homosexual behaviors and related things like cross-dressing (men dressing up like women, etc.) We also heard from Josephus, a 1st Century AD Jewish historian, speaking the same condemnation. (We could also look at Jewish Rabbinic literature that condemns homosexual activity and other writings that Jews used which had the same negative view of homosexual behavior.)
We also looked at several New Testament passages that condemn these unnatural sexual behaviors of men with men and women with women. I can add that we find the same condemnations of these homosexual behaviors consistently among the early church fathers of Christianity: with Constantine, the first Christian Roman emperor; with later church fathers; and on through the Roman Catholic Church and Martin Luther and consistently among Protestant churches until about the middle of the 20th Century, until things began to change among some. One person notes that “among the major world religions, only Buddhism takes a neutral doctrinal stance toward homosexuality. Hinduism, Islam, Confucianism, and Taoism join Judaism and Christianity in prohibiting the behavior.”
We cannot go into why so many things changed in the last 75-100 years, but many social and sexual and psychological and philosophical views changed, and the reliability of the Scriptures was questioned and attacked, and we are where we are today.
The Gallup organization has been asking people about LGBTQ issues for a number of years. In the latest poll, reported in February, 2022, 7.1% of Americans claim to be LGBT. This has doubled from the 3.5% who self-identified with this group in 2012. The biggest increase has been among the youngest people. Those in Generation Z, born between 1997 and 2012, jumped from 10.5% claiming to be LGBT in 2017 to 20.8% in 2021. Millennials also increased from 7.8% in LGBT to 10.5% in 2021.
Why this increase? We can’t give all the reasons, but clearly it is partially because of the tremendous increase in talk and publicity about this group and the growing sense, pushed by the media and many others, that in a free country these people have the right to these choices (which they do) and that we must approve of these choices or we are discriminatory toward them. The LGBTQ group is increasing, but there is so much talk in support of them and their lifestyle that other polls indicate that many Americans assume that they must be 20% or more of the population. That is not the truth. The truth is nearer to 7.1%.
Notice another big change, here. Those of us who saw these changes coming in the 1970's and 1980’s were told that these people were born gay or lesbian, etc., and just have to be who they were born to be. They were many attempts to find a ”gay gene” or some scientific evidence that they were born a certain way, but nothing was ever conclusively found. Now, many of these people are admitting that these are simply free choices that they are making and have the right to make.
57% of LGBT people said that they were in the bisexual group, and 75% of the Gen. Z people said they were bisexual in 2021. They are claiming to be sexually attracted to both males and females and can switch and choose to have sex with one or the other, whenever they choose. Men can even decide to be women, and women can decide to be men, or to be some sort of mix, with no real scientific basis for doing so. What chaos and confusion that has created, in bathrooms and on sports teams and on and on, especially for younger people but for all.
The recent “Respect for Marriage” Law passed by Congress is meant to protect same-sex marriages and the like, but does it also provide protections for those whose religious beliefs do not allow them to approve of and support such marriages in active ways, because of their genuine religious beliefs? There is clearly freedom of speech and freedom of religion in the Constitution. Is there a freedom to do sexually whatever you choose to do and to force others to approve of what you are doing?
What is often not also honestly and clearly talked about is the danger of some of the sexual behaviors (which I will not talk about) of these groups. Did you hear about the recent monkeypox outbreak in the US? It was declared a national medical emergency,
but it turned out that 98% of those infected were gay men or bisexual men having sex with other men. There is a vaccination that helps with this disease, but for a while, it was allowed to be given only to gay men. The name of the disease has been changed, too, so that it does not imply anything negative about those contracting this disease.
30 years ago, when the AIDS epidemic was so great, 83% of all AIDS cases were among homosexuals or intravenous drug users. Even now, people are still dying of AIDS, even though there are treatments. In 2019, the US Center for Disease Control (that is where most of these medical statistics are coming from) reported that 53% of all HIV deaths were among gay and bisexual men, and 70% of all new HIV infections (the precursor to AIDS) were men who had sex with men. I could go on with statistics, but I will give you just one more, about other sexually transmitted diseases. In 2014, gay, bisexual, and other men who had sex with men had 83% of primary and secondary syphilis cases, and these people had much higher rates of other diseases like chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Remember, also, that 57% of current LGBTQ people claim that they are bisexual. They can be exposed to some of these diseases in their “community” and then decide to switch and at least take the chance of spreading some of these diseases to the much, much larger heterosexual community. I am giving a worst case picture here, but there are physical dangers with the behaviors going on - along with the more serious spiritual dangers of going against God’s Word and will. Waiting for sex until marriage - and a Biblical marriage of one man and one woman, whose bodies complement one another, in a lifelong, committed relationship, is always the best, in God’s plan.
I want to note one more tragic situation, related to this, within churches in the US and in the Western world, particularly. Numbers of church denominations are being torn apart by differences between those who want to stay with traditional, Biblical marriage and moral teachings on these issues, and those who want to be accepting and approving and supportive of the LGBTQ community. Is is OK for a church leader to be a gay man or a transgender person? Is it OK for a lesbian woman to be a pastor? And on and on. Many are saying “Yes!” Others are very upset with these changes.
The Anglican Church, the Church of England and related groups like the Episcopal Church in the US, are going through these struggles. (Interestingly, Anglican churches in Africa and other non-Western societies are more likely to hold the traditional Christian view. Does that tell you where our Western culture has been going?) The Presbyterian Church in the USA (PCUSA) has gone through the same struggles, and Covenant Church, a conservative, more traditional church in our own community chose, a number of years ago, to leave PCUSA, because of PCUSA’s more liberal views on this and other issues.
We are hearing of these same divisions in the United Methodist Church. In 2019, the General Conference voted to uphold the church’s ban on ordaining LGBTQ clergy and officiating at or hosting same-sex marriages. So, the majority voted for a traditional stance. However, more liberal pastors and leaders have continued to go ahead and ordain LGBTQ clergy and perform same-sex marriages, and nothing is being done about them. So, more than 2,000 churches have already left the United Methodist Church, and are trying to form a more conservative “Global Methodist Church,” and others are trying to leave, but are running into barriers and delays to leave. The same thing is happening in the more liberal Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. (There are unfortunately Lutherans and then there are Lutherans.)
I am part of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, though I am retired and no longer have a call to a particular church. The LCMS fought a “Battle of the Bible” back in the 1960’s and 1970’s and chose to remain conservative, by the Lord’s blessing, saying that Scripture alone is the foundation for what we believe. We did not accept a critical view of the Bible, which said that it only “contained” God’s Word, and we therefore had to try to figure out what was His Word and what was not. With that critical view, we could accept only what we want to accept, on our terms.
In just a little reading about the United Methodist Church , I have seen the idea of a “Quadrilateral” basis on which to read the Bible. We must use Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience, as we approach the Bible, in their view. Depending on what those words mean, that could allow our own human reason and experiences and feelings to be more important than the actual Words of Scripture. That is what seems to have happened in too many churches, on the LGBTQ issue and others, when people are saying the opposite of what the actual words of Scripture say.
A few last thoughts, as I have already gone much longer than I hoped, today. I am obviously simplifying things and giving some of my own opinions and not quoting much Scripture. But I am trying to base what I say on the nine previous weeks of study of Jude and other Scriptures. Next week, I will go back to Jude and a few other Scriptures to talk about what we ought to be saying and doing, when these issues come right into our own churches, if people are off track within the church. That is what Jude was primarily focused upon.
Finally, as I have said several times already, we are not to hate others and want to harm them in any way - but to speak the truth in love and care, and help people go in a better direction, even as we ourselves need to do, in God’s care and forgiveness for us, too.
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Wednesday Jan 11, 2023
Sermon for the Baptism of Jesus, based on:
Sermon originally delivered January 9, 2011
Monday Jan 02, 2023
Monday Jan 02, 2023
Epiphany is on January 6, so we will be in the Epiphany season this Sunday, as we celebrate The Baptism of our Lord Jesus. The psalm is Psalm 29, and David calls upon all people to worship and give the Lord the glory due to His Name. The voice of the Lord is over many waters. His voice was there at the creation, speaking all things into being, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. The Lord’s voice is also heard and His power is shown in storms and thunder and flames of fire. His voice would also be over the waters of the Jordan River and the Spirit of God would also be there at the baptism of Jesus. The Lord then gives Jesus and His people His strength and peace.
The Old Testament lesson is Isaiah 42:1-9, a prophecy of the coming of Jesus, the Chosen Servant of God. The Spirit of God will be put upon Him, and He will bring new things and a new covenant and be a Light for the nations and for prisoners who sit in the darkness of sin. He will bring God’s justice, yet as One Who does not shout or lift up His voice, but steadily and faithfully serves those in need. The Lord will take Him by the hand and keep Him.
The Gospel, Matthew 3:13-17, tells of the baptism of Jesus. He is baptized “to fulfill all righteousness” - as part of His saving work of doing everything right for us, in our place. As it was prophesied, the Spirit of God also came upon Him in His baptism to strengthen Him, and then the voice of the Heavenly Father identified Jesus: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
We are not always well-pleasing to God, though, and we need newness of life and forgiveness of our sins. Jesus died on the cross, once for all, and we received the benefit of what He earned for us, through the grace of God, in our own baptism, as we are told in the Epistle lesson, Romans 6:1-11. We died to our old life, through Christ and rose to a new life, freed from the condemnation of our sins. Now we are called to remember who we are as baptized believers and live for Christ - dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Savior.