The lutheransermons's Podcast

Preparing for Worship - March 20, 2022

In the Old Testament lesson, Ezekiel 33:7-20, the prophet Ezekiel is told to speak just what the Lord has told him to say. For people burdened by sins and guilt, Ezekiel is to say, “Turn back from evil and live in the Lord… and your sins will not be remembered against you.” If people are rejecting the Lord and calling Him and His ways “unjust,” they are to be warned of coming judgment, unless they also repent and return to the Lord. For, "as I live, declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” God wants to have mercy and forgive repentant sinners.

The Psalm, Psalm 85, tells of how God’s people have received mercy, but there is always the danger of ”turning back to folly.” The psalmist prays for God’s “steadfast love” and “salvation” in troubled times. Then, “love” and “righteousness” and “faithfulness” and “peace” are personified and meeting together on earth. That literally would happen in the coming of Jesus Chris, who combined all these characteristics in Himself and “gave what is good” to us and the world, in His saving work.

The Epistle is from 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. Paul warns that “anyone who thinks that he stands (spiritually) should take heed lest he fall.” Paul speaks of the blessings that God gave His Old Testament people when He rescued them from slavery in Egypt and cared for them - yet how many of the people drifted away from God into evil. We will be tempted, too, Paul says, but “God is faithful” and He can help us “endure” and “escape” in faith in Him.

The Gospel lesson is Luke 13:1-9. Jesus spoke of tragedies in His own time and said that people should not think that they are better than those people who died, for we are all sinners who need continually to repent and be forgiven. Jesus then told a parable of a fig tree that bore no fruit. The one who cared for the tree asked for more time to work with the tree to see if it would bear fruit. If it went on and on bearing no fruit, it would eventually be cut down. The good news is that the Lord is patient and there is still time for those who have resisted and resisted the Lord to repent and be brought to faith in Him. The warning is that people do not have forever, and a time can come when it is too late to repent and receive faith.

Sermon for Midweek Lenten III - March 16, 2022

Sermon for Midweek Lenten Service III

“Free Will vs. Bondage of the Will”

 

Sermon originally delivered February 27, 2013

Bible Study - Book of Jonah Part 7 - Matthew 12:38-41, 16:1-4; Luke 11:29-32

In this final portion of our study of the Book of Jonah, we look at the comments of Jesus about Jonah. We look first at Matthew 12:38-41. Just before this passage, Jesus had healed “a demon-oppressed man who was blind and mute.” The man could then speak and see, and the demon was cast out of him. The people were amazed and wondered, “Can Jesus be the Son of David?”- the promised Savior? The Pharisees claimed, though, that Jesus cast out evil spirits by the power of the devil himself. They rejected this miracle and many others that Jesus did, so that He could help people in need (Matthew 12:22-24).

Instead, the Pharisees wanted Jesus, in Matthew 12:38, to do some other kind of “sign” for them, according to their own wishes and desires. Jesus responded by saying that “it was an evil and adulterous generation” that demanded “signs” on their own terms (Matthew 12:39). It was a pattern that could be seen among the people of Israel in the wilderness wanderings and many other times in the Old Testament. Moses said of his people, “They have dealt corruptly with God; they are no longer His children because they are blemished; they are a crooked and twisted generation” (Deuteronomy 32:5).

In Psalm 95:7-9, we hear the warning, “Today, if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts, as…. when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.” God’s people had seen so many miracles already in their rescue from slavery in Egypt and in the way God provided for them as they traveled to the promised land. Yet for too many of the people, it was never enough, They wanted more “signs” before they would trust and follow God as He asked.

This was the very kind of temptation that the devil gave to Jesus when He was in the wilderness in Matthew 4:5-7. The devil said, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down” from the pinnacle of the temple. Angels will surely take care of you; and what a great proof this would be to all the people who would see you rescued. Jesus simply replied, quoting from Deuteronomy 6:16, “It is written: You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” Jesus simply lived “by every Word that comes from the mouth of God,” as He also quoted to the devil from Deuteronomy 8:3. He listened to and followed His Heavenly Father and not the devil or anyone else. So, in Matthew 12:39, Jesus told the Pharisees that no sign would be given but the "sign of the prophet Jonah.”

As Jesus explained more, He clearly believed that the story of Jonah was a true story, from beginning to end. “For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Remember that we have already seen that this meant that Jonah was in the great fish for parts of three days and then was rescued. This was a prophecy pointing to Jesus, who was to die and be buried, but be raised to life on the third day. See passages like Matthew 16:31 and Luke 24:45-46. The death and resurrection of Jesus would be the central evidence, the sign of the completion of Jesus’ saving work for the world - not any other “sign” that people might want or demand.

Jesus went on to say that the people of Nineveh really did repent at the preaching of Jonah, by God’s mercy, just as the Book of Jonah said. They can rise up on the day of judgment in condemnation of the many people who did not listen to and believe the words and work of someone “much greater than Jonah” - Jesus, the Son of God, who did die and rise again to be the Savior of the world (Matthew 12:41). (We will talk about verse 42 when we look, in a moment, at Jesus’ comments in Luke, also.)

The religious leaders did hear what Jesus had said about dying and rising again, the sign of Jonah, as the center of God’s plan for Him, as Savior. They heard it often, and did plan to kill Jesus, but would not believe that Jesus could rise again. They were afraid, though, that some disciples might steal His body and pretend He had risen. Read their plans in Matthew 27:62-66. They could not stop the resurrection of Jesus, though. Read what happens in Matthew 28:1-4, and how they tried to cover up what really happened in Matthew 28:11-15. Their rejection of Jesus continued, no matter what, for too many of the people. And it continued on and still goes on today. (See other descriptions of a “faithless and twisted generation” in Matthew 17:17, Mark 8:31-33, Philippians 2:14-16, Acts 2:40, and Psalm 78:8, for example.)

Notice also how the religious leaders asked again that Jesus show them a “sign from heaven” in Matthew 16:1. Jesus reminded them that they could predict weather conditions, but could not see the real “signs of the times,” and told them again that the only sign they would see would be “the sign of Jonah” (Matthew 16:4). God had already given a sign from heaven, long ago, when the star appeared that led the wise men to Jerusalem. The chief priests and scribes had been there and had helped identify Bethlehem as the predicted place of the birth of the coming Messiah, the Christ. But it seems as if none of them bothered to go with the wise men and find out more about this amazing sign of the star or to see what child had been born. The leaders only wanted to do things their way and ignored everything else. (See Matthew 2:1-12.)

Turn now to Luke 11:29-32, where Luke tells also in his Gospel that there would be no sign but “the sign of Jonah” for the “evil generation” in which Jesus lived. Jesus added that Jonah himself was “a sign to the people of Nineveh,” who repented at his preaching. In the same way, Jesus Himself was “a sign to His generation” and to all generations, especially through His death and rising again to life, just as the Book of Jonah predicted.

Luke also tells that Jesus gave the example of “the queen of the South” - a reference to the queen of Sheba. Read in 1 Kings 10:1-10 how she came to visit King Solomon and was amazed at his knowledge and wisdom and was also amazed at His God, the God of Israel. She could tell that the Lord was a Lord of love for His people and concerned about justice and righteousness and wisdom for them. If she could learn so much from Solomon, Jesus asked, should not the people of Israel learn from and listen to Jesus, who is much greater than Solomon?

Look also at John 2:13-22. Very early in His ministry, Jesus had “cleansed” the temple, chasing out the sales people and money changers. Right away, people were demanding that Jesus show them a “sign” to give evidence that He had the right to do this “cleansing” (John 2:18). Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). They did not understand that He was talking about “the temple of His body.” Even His disciples did not understand what He meant until after His resurrection. But wasn’t He talking about the same thing that the “sign of Jonah” meant -that central to His whole ministry was His dying and rising again, just as the sign of Jonah signified?

See Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25. “The Word of the cross is the power of God for us who are being saved” (v.18). “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek (human) wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified” (v.22-23). The death of Christ to pay the penalty for our sins was essential for the saving plan of God. “Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures,” Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:3. Equally important is the fact that “He rose from the dead on the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4). We need the whole of the sign of Jonah, and Jesus provided it all for us, in His love for us. Jesus is our hope and joy, in all that He did for us.

A few last thoughts, as we close our study of the Book of Jonah. The three questions God asked Jonah in Jonah, Chapter 4, are worth our pondering about ourselves, too. When God provided a plant for shade for Jonah and then chose to take it away, in His wisdom, Jonah was angry. God simply asked, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?”
Jonah was only angry because he had lost the personal benefit of that plant. Do we sometimes also put too much emphasis on things that we like that are really not so important and miss things that are much more important for us?

Jonah was especially misunderstanding the mercy of God. When God asked him, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah was particularly angry about God’s mercy for certain groups that Jonah did not like and that he felt were not deserving of mercy. But who is deserving of mercy? Do we deserve it because we are somehow better than others, even though we have our own sins and failings in our lives, too? Can we want God’s mercy for us, but want to deny it to others? God wanted Jonah (and us) to think, as He asked the third question, “Should not I pity Nineveh” also and all the people there?

Ultimately, we all have hope for our future and for eternal life only by the mercy and forgiveness and grace of God, earned for us by the perfect life of Jesus in our place and His death on the cross, paying the penalty for our sins, and His mighty resurrection, in victory over sin and Satan and death. “Grace” means undeserved love and favor, and John reminds us, “From the fullness of Jesus, we have all received grace upon grace”
(John 1:16). Even faith in Jesus itself is “the gift from God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). And clearly, God wants not just us who now believe to have faith in Christ. We are very grateful that we have been brought to that faith; but “God our Savior desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).

We must try to keep all this in mind, even as we need to speak out against evil in Ukraine and so many other places in the world, including Yemen. (I read this week that many scholars think that the Queen of Sheba, about whom we heard in this study, came from what is now Yemen, and where there has been terrible civil warfare for years.) Sin is sin, and we cannot approve of it; and there will be be judgment for those who reject God and His will, as did later happen to many in the Assyrian empire and Nineveh when they turned away from the Lord. But we speak, always knowing that we are simply forgiven sinners ourselves, through Christ Jesus. And we try to hope for a merciful outcome, over time.

Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Lent - March 13, 2022

Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Lent, based on:

Jeremiah 26:8-15

Philippians 3:17-4:1

Luke 13:31-35 

Sermon originally delivered February 24, 2013

Sermon for Midweek Lenten II - March 9, 2022

Sermon for Midweek Lenten Service II, based on Luke 22:1-6, 24-34

"Man's Gospel vs. God's Gospel"

 

Sermon originally delivered February 20, 2013

Preparing for Worship - March 13, 2022

The Old Testament Lesson for the Second Sunday in Lent is Jeremiah 26:8-15. With courage, Jeremiah brings God’s message that Jerusalem and the Temple will be destroyed if the people do not repent and turn from their evil ways. This message only angers the priests and other “prophets” and many of the people, who want to kill Jeremiah for bringing such a message. Jeremiah affirms that he is speaking the truth and that killing him would only be shedding innocent blood. (This predicts the Old Testament destruction of Jerusalem and prefigures Jesus’ own coming and message to His people.

The Psalm is Psalm 4. David speaks of the Lord rescuing him from difficult situations. He warns of those who are still speaking vain words and lies about him and calls them to realize the danger for them in what they are doing, and to trust instead in the Lord and His ways. David also says that the Lord will give true “joy” and “peace” and “safety” to the “godly” who do trust in Him.

In the Epistle Lesson, Philippians 3:17-4:1, Paul warns of “enemies of the cross of Christ,” who focus on their own desires and glory in “shameful earthly things.” In contrast, Paul calls upon believers to “imitate” him, in “standing firm in the Lord” and waiting in faith for the return of Christ, who will transform our “lowly bodies” and take us to our place of true “citizenship,” in heaven.

In the Gospel Lesson, Luke 13:31-35, Jesus is warned that Herod, the tetrarch, wants to kill Him. Jesus is not concerned about that “fox,” but knows that he must keep going toward Jerusalem, where His suffering and death would happen at the hands of His own people. He laments that He could not gather His people together under His wings of protection and care. They were refusing Him, and their “house,” their temple and city would eventually be “forsaken.” If they could only recognize that He was their Lord and Savior!

Sermon for the 1st Sunday in Lent - March 6, 2022

Sermon for the 1st Sunday in Lent, based on:

Deuteronomy 26:1-11

Romans 10:8b-13

Luke 4:1-13

Sermon originally delivered February 17, 2013

Bible Study - Book of Jonah Part 6 - Jonah 4:1-11

Last week, we heard how Jonah finally went to Nineveh and preached the message that God gave him, warning that Nineveh would be “overthrown” in 40 days. The Word of God worked and the people of the city repented of their “evil ways” and “violence” and cried out for God’s mercy. God gave His mercy to them and did not bring the disaster He had predicted through Jonah.

As Chapter 4 of Jonah begins, one would expect that Jonah would be very happy that the people listened to his message and that the city was spared. Instead, what happened “displeased Jonah exceedingly.” Literally, what God had done “became evil to Jonah as a great evil,” and “he was angry with God” (Jonah 4:1). Jonah admitted that this was what he had expected all along and why he had tried to run away from God and His will and ended up in the belly of the great fish, until God rescued him and gave him another chance to do His work.

Jonah also admitted that he knew that God “was a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2). It is the great Good News of the Bible, that God has mercy and forgives us sinful, struggling people in this world, ultimately through the saving work of Jesus our Savior. It is good news for us all. See these Scriptures as a small example of this expression of God’s mercy: Exodus 34:6, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8-13, Psalm 145:8-9, Micah 7:18-19, Lamentations 3:31-33, Joel 2:13, etc. Even in the Old Testament, God showed that mercy to His own chosen people, but also to people like the Ninevites, through Jonah.

Jonah selfishly wanted that mercy from God for himself, to be rescued from the great fish. He wanted that mercy for his people of Israel, but he did not want that mercy to be given to non-Jews and especially not to the people of Nineveh. The Assyrians were an enemy of and a great threat to God’s people, Jonah thought. They did not deserve and should not have God’s mercy. That is why Jonah was so angry with God. God was doing the wrong thing, in his view.

In fact, Jonah wanted to die, rather than see God spare the city of Nineveh (Jonah 4:3). There were other examples of leaders of God’s people who wanted to die in times of great difficulty and when they felt they were failing in their ministry to God’s people. See Moses in Numbers 11:10-15, Elijah in 1 Kings 19:1-18, and Jeremiah in Jeremiah 15:10, 20:14-18. In contrast, as the commentator Roehrs says, “Jonah wanted to die because his mission had been successful, against his own expectations and desires.”

God needed to wake up Jonah to his wrong thinking, though, and asked him very bluntly, “Do you do well to be angry” (Jonah 4:4)? Jonah remained angry, though, and went out of Nineveh and built a makeshift booth for himself, to see what would happen, likely hoping that God would change His mind and still destroy the city. It was hot, though, and God in His mercy, as he had “appointed” the great fish, now “appointed a plant” to grow up quickly and provide shade and a little comfort for Jonah. This is the only time in the whole Book of Jonah where Jonah was happy and “rejoiced with great joy” (Jonah 4:5-6).

Jonah’s attitude was still so wrong that the next morning, God “appointed a worm” to attack and wither the plant, and He “appointed a scorching east wind” and hot sun to make Jonah feel faint, so that again he wanted to die. This time, Roehrs says, Jonah was angry because God was “not gracious enough to him. In overwhelming self-pity,” he felt that God had been unfair in taking away his “sunshade” (Jonah 4:7-8). “Sirocco” hot east winds were also used at other times by the Lord as discipline and to wake people up to their wrongdoing. See Isaiah 27:8, Jeremiah 4:11, Ezekiel 17:10, and Hosea 13:15 as examples.

Again, God needed to ask Jonah very bluntly, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And again, Jonah thought he was “doing well” to be so angry, angry enough to die. God reminded him that he cared so much for and “pitied” the plant, though he did not labor for it or make it grow and it only lasted one day. Why then, God said, should I not have pity on the 120,000 human beings and their animals and cattle in Nineveh and help them to repent and and be spared and know of My love and care (Jonah 4:9-11)?

Jonah could be hard-hearted, in his sins and weakness, though he should not have been, but the Lord God could not, especially as He thought of these misguided people of Nineveh, “who did not know their right hand from their left.” God’s plan had always been to work through Abraham and the Jewish nation to bring in the Lord Jesus, who would be a Savior for all nations - even those who were so far from God that they did not know their right hand from their left. Israel had the Word of God and knew to go that way only and not to wander off to the left or right. (See these passages, continually calling God’s people to go the way of the Lord: Deuteronomy 5:32-33, Deuteronomy 17:20, Joshua 1:7, Joshua 23:6, and Proverbs 4:27, etc.)

God’s heart loved His people and He did keep showing them mercy, even when they strayed. God is God and not a man like Jonah. See Hosea 11:8-9. But God’s love is also for the whole world (John 3:16). He could not push the Ninevites aside, though Jonah was willing to do so. (We hope, of course, that eventually, Jonah also repented and returned to God’s love and willingness to share that love with all around him.

Lest we be too hard on Jonah, though, remember the message of Jesus in Luke 15 for us, too. Jesus was being strongly criticized for associating with “tax collectors and sinners” who were despised by most people. Jesus then taught about His mission to reach out to the lost and straying, with stories about lost sheep and lost coins.

He also told the story of two sons. One was a prodigal who left home and wasted his money and his life and finally came home in sorrow and repentance and received a joyous welcome from his father. The other son had stayed home and faithfully worked with his father. When the prodigal son came home and was treated so well, the other son was very angry, just like Jonah. He felt that the prodigal son did not deserve such honor, and selfishly felt that he had been disrespected by what the father did. Only he was really worthy, he thought, and certainly not the bad brother. The father, who is a symbol of our Heavenly Father, still loved both sons, even with their weaknesses, and helped them both to know His great love and forgiveness, which could rescue and restore them both. Don’t we too often act like one or the other of these sons and need God’s forgiving love, too?

One last thought.  When we see the terrible things being done in Ukraine by the Russians (and historically, the people of the Assyrian empire were very similar in their ruthless conquests of other nations, at times) it is easy and proper to condemn what is happening. But how quickly and easily could we forgive the Russians and forget - even if they backed off and were truly repentant? It would be very hard, wouldn’t it, as it was for Jonah? Remember also the words of Romans 5:6-11, when we hear how bad things were for us when Christ died for us and for the world. God is truly gracious and merciful to us all, in Jesus.

Next week we will have some final thought on the Book of Jonah and look especially at what Jesus said about this Scripture.

Sermon for Ash Wednesday - March 2, 2022

Sermon for Ash Wednesday, based on:

Psalm 51:1-17 

Mark 8:27-34

Sermon originally delivered February 13, 2013

Preparing for Worship - March 6, 2022

The Lenten season begins on March 2, Ash Wednesday. The focus in this season is on what it took for Jesus to win His victory over sin and Satan and death for our sake and our eternal salvation.

The Old Testament lesson is from Deuteronomy 26:1-11 and is a reminder to God’s people, as they enter the promised land and enjoy its blessings, to take a basket of the first of the fruit they receive and offer it to the Lord. They are to remember all the good that the Lord has given them, as His gift, and to worship Him with thanksgiving.

The Psalm is Psalm 91:1-13. The Psalmist reminds God’s people that as they live in shelter of the Lord Most High and trust in Him, He will care for them and deliver them from many troubles and His angels will guard them, too.

The Epistle lesson is from Romans 10:8b-13. Paul speaks of the Word of God, the Word of faith that centers in Jesus and needs to be in our mouths and hearts. One scholar calls it the Word that calls us to faith, but also creates that faith in us, as we hear the Good News, the Gospel of Jesus. That Gospel is the power of God for salvation for all who believe. See Romans 1:16-17.

The Gospel lesson is from Luke 4:1-13 and describes the battle between Jesus and the devil, as the devil tempts Him to go against the will of God. Jesus continually uses and follows the Word of God, as the devil tries to get Him to do wrong. The devil finally retreats and waits for more opportunities to tempt and test Jesus, as the battle continued throughout the ministry of Jesus.