Written Sermon 12/28/2025

  Pastor John Eich

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church

Alma, MI

 

Today we turn to Romans 1:1-7 

1 Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart  for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised in advance through his  prophets in the Holy Scriptures. 3 This gospel is about his Son— who in the flesh was born a descendant of David, 4 who in the  spirit of holiness was declared to be God’s powerful Son by his  resurrection from the dead—Jesus Christ, our Lord. 5 Through  him we received grace and the call to be an apostle on behalf of  his name, to bring about the obedience of faith among all the  Gentiles, 6including you, who were called by Jesus Christ. 7 To all  those loved by God who are in Rome, called to be saints: Grace to  you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: 

It’s a topic that perhaps drives you nuts. Is it “Merry Christmas,” or  “Season’s Greetings”? “Blessed Christmas,” or “Happy Holidays”? Which  greeting do you prefer? I believe most Christians would say they like a  greeting with the word “Christmas” in it. After all, the reason for the  season is Christ’s birth. But what exactly do you mean if you say to me,  “Merry Christmas!” Are you expressing your hope that I have a good  time opening presents with family? Oh, I think we Christians can do  better than that. The Son of God didn’t take on human flesh and  endure a birth in a barn so that we could look forward to unwrapping a  doll or a new tablet under the Christmas tree. His birth has brought so  much more meaning to our lives than that. The Apostle Paul helps put this birth into perspective by offering his readers a greeting which could  be described as God’s Christmas greeting: “Grace and peace are yours!”  Let’s find out why that greeting is worth sharing. 

“Grace and peace are yours.” That’s a greeting Lutheran pastors often  speak from the pulpit. Because we’ve heard it so often have we stopped  thinking about what those words mean and treat the greeting like the starting gun for the sermon? It was a greeting that the Apostle Paul  loved too, and included in twelve out of thirteen of his epistles. His use  of this greeting in his letter to the Romans makes it clear that this was  not just a throw-away phrase. The Christians in Rome could be certain  that grace (undeserved love) and peace from God was really theirs even  though Paul would also say to them: “The wrath of God is being  revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness  of men” (Romans 1:18). God is angry, explained Paul, at our sexual  impurity, our envy, gossip, and the disobedience we show our parents  (Romans 1:29, 30). These were just a few of the sins that Paul  specifically pointed out in his letter to the Romans. 

But does such talk about sin get tiresome – especially at Christmas?  Aren’t we supposed to be talking about cheerful things like sugar plum  fairies, eggnog, and presents under the tree? If that’s what we think,  then we are like the people of the prophet Isaiah’s day. God said of  them: “They say to…the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what  is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. Leave this way,  get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of  Israel!”…This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel,  says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and  trust is your strength, but you would have none of it” (Isaiah 30:10,  11, 15). 

God wants your pastor to talk about sin because he loves you. He’s like  the doctor who subjects you to various medical tests and then tells you  everything that’s wrong with your body, not because he gets a kick out of seeing you squirm, but so that you will take action before the  bacteria and viruses lurking in your body can do fatal damage. So  friends, don’t treat your sins like the salty grit you track into your car at  this time of year. You can shrug off that mess because what can you do  about it? That’s life in Michigan. Keeping your car mats clean at this  time of year is impossible so why waste time worrying about it?  Likewise, we sin every day, often committing the same sin several times  

in an hour. What can we do about it? Just shrug it off? No. God says that  every sin is a problem, for it has the potential of forever separating us  from his love. God’s message to us this morning is to be sorry for those  sins – the way you would be sorry if you tracked mud across Mom’s  clean kitchen floor whether you meant to or not. 

But being sorry for my sins doesn’t repair my relationship with God any  more than being sorry I muddied Mom’s clean floor will make the floor  clean again. Action must be taken…but not by us when it comes to the  matter of sin; God must act to restore the broken relationship. God did  act in the person of Jesus. Paul said of Jesus in our text: “…who as to  his human nature was a descendant of David, and who through  the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God  by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans  1:3, 4). 

Jesus is like no one else in this universe. He has human ancestry, yet he  is God from eternity. Ponder this mystery with me for a minute. When  Jesus was brought to the temple eight days after his birth, he was at the  same time eight days old…and older than the dirt on which his parents  stood. At that point in his life his legs weren’t even strong enough to  support the weight of his tiny body…and yet he was powerful enough to  keep earth from being pulled too close to the sun and scorched. Later  in his stepfather’s wood shop he learned for the first time how to nail  two boards together…while at the same time was the one who had put  hydrogen and oxygen together to make water on Day 1 of Creation. 

We ponder this mystery because it shows how much God loved us - so  much that he came down to us. He took on a shoe size and shirt size – not just to hang out with us but to save us. He did that by diving into  this manure pit of sin, wrapping his arms around us, and then pulling  us out by climbing the ladder of the cross. The result is that Paul could  write to the Romans and now to us: “Grace and peace to you from  God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 1:7b). 

Grace! Not grapes of God’s wrath. Peace! Not punishment. This is good  news indeed and this is God’s Christmas greeting to the whole world.  Paul put it this way: “Through him and for his name’s sake, we  received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the  Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith” (Romans 1:5). 

Like every Christmas, people this year are looking for something to  make them merry and jolly. Some hoped that Christmas parties will do  that for them. But the buzz from the wine, beer, and hard liquor won’t  last. Others hoped that for once the family would get along when they  get together for Christmas. But what hope is there for people who by  nature believe the way to happiness is to insist on having things their  way? A Christmas tree with presents stuff underneath seemed like a  sure way to joy, but how do you feel now after all the presents have  been opened and there’s nothing left under the tree except shredded  wrapping paper? It’s a lonely feeling isn’t it? Still others hoped to find  peace in giving instead of getting this Christmas. And so they buy tons  of presents, even for people they may never meet. But if they do this to  attract attention and love, they are disappointed on that front too.  Thank you cards are often late in coming if at all. But Christmas can be  different. You can be the one to tell others: “Grace (underserved love)  and peace are already yours! You have heaven. You have eternal life!  That’s what God has given you through his Son, Jesus.” 

Please understand, I’m not suggesting that it’s wrong to wish someone  a merry Christmas. But let’s not forget what makes Christmas merry - not presents, family, or turkey. God gave us the reason to rejoice when  he sent his Son to save us from sin. Share the reason for your joy with  those who think there is none. For God’s grace and peace are not just  for you; they’re for all. Enjoy the true Christmas greeting – grace and  peace to you! Amen.


Written Sermon November 16, 2025

 Written by Pastor John Eich

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI

Jesus Gives Us Certain Hope

Luke 20:27-38 

27 Some of the Sadducees (who say there is no  resurrection) came to him. 28 They asked him a  question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a  man's brother dies leaving a wife but no children, his brother should take the wife and raise up  children for his brother. 29 So there were seven  brothers. The first took a wife and died childless.  30 The second took her as a wife, 31and so did the third, and in the same way the seven  died and left no children. 32 Finally the woman died too. 33 So in the resurrection, whose  wife will she be? For the seven had her as a wife.” 34 Jesus said to them, “The people of  this age marry and are given in marriage. 35 But those who are considered worthy to  experience that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in  marriage. 36 In fact, they cannot die any more, for they are like the angels. They are sons  of God, because they are sons of the resurrection. 37“Even Moses showed in the account  about the burning bush that the dead are raised, when he called the Lord: ‘The God of  Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38He is not the God of the dead, but of  the living, for all are alive to him.” 

What happens after death? Everybody agrees that something happens. But what?  

Despite all of its advances, science has stripped away any reassurances  about life after death. Most people in the modern world accept the  scientific model. In doing so it logically follows that when the physical  body dies, in all likelihood the immaterial aspects of being human — mind, soul, memory personality, thoughts, and feelings, etc. — are  extinguished at the same time. 

Or one asks, “Where do we go after we die?” the two main ideas — we go  to heaven/hell or we vanish into a cloud of atoms and energy waves. They  confront a mystery that refuses to reveal its secrets. 

And as people do, when they don’t know or when they reject the facts,  they make up their own. That’s what the Sadducees did. 

First things first, who were the Sadducees? The Sadducees were the  elites, the 1%, the super-rich and super-powerful of Jesus’ day. They  controlled the temple and ran the Sanhedrin, the governing body of  Israel (Acts 23:6). They were also “fundamentalists” of a sort, meaning  that while they may have paid lip-service to the entire Old Testament,  they really only considered the books of Moses, Genesis through  Deuteronomy, to be authoritative. That’s why they didn’t believe in an  afterlife or the resurrection or angels and demons (Acts 23:8). They didn’t think there was anything in those books which supported those  doctrines. Thus, they set out to destroy Jesus’ teaching about the  resurrection and confirm that this life is all there is. 

So the Sadducees come with a life after death question for Jesus. It may  be a sincere question on the minds of some, but it was not a sincere  question from them. This is the question about the widow who married  her seven brother-in-laws, and whose wife would she be in the resurrection on The Last Day. They were using the Levirate Law of the  Old Testament. By like all those “hypothetical” questions posed trying to  trap someone, it was an extreme distortion of the issue. They hoped to make Jesus look foolish. 

The answer that Jesus gave the Sadducees all those years ago is just as  important to us today as it was then. 

Jesus answers, “The people of this age marry and are given in marriage.  35But those who are considered worthy to experience that age and the  resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage.  36In fact, they cannot die any more, for they are like the angels.” They  are like the angels. I want to be sure you heard that right. Jesus doesn’t  say that we will become angels. So you can shake the images of floating  around in the clouds and halos and wings and harps out of your head. He  says we will be like the angels. Meaning that 1) we will not die; and 2) we  will no longer marry. We like the not dying part. But that second part,  that we will no longer marry can be disturbing. “Well, what if I kind of  like my spouse? Does God intend to tear marriages and families apart in  the resurrection?” While those questions may seem innocent, they  actually come from a heart that doubts God’s goodness and love. God  wouldn’t do away with marriage without a good reason and Jesus gives  us the reason: Marriage is only for this age. Marriage is God’s gift to  build closeness, unity and family. In heaven we won’t miss marriage  because we will all be members of God’s perfect family. In heaven all  things will be made right, everything that disrupts and destroys our  relationships in this life will be gone (Isaiah 65:17). Because through faith  we will enjoy the perfect unity in God’s family where the only marriage  that matters is the marriage of Christ and his Church (Ephesians 5:25-33). That will make our relationships in heaven even more wonderful than  our marriage relationships on earth. 

Then Jesus addresses the Sadducees’ real problem. They denied the  resurrection and the afterlife. He reminds them 37“Even Moses showed in  the account about the burning bush that the dead are raised, when he  called the Lord: ‘The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ 38 He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all are alive  to him.” God didn’t use the past tense, “I was the God of…” He used the  present tense “I am the God of…” indicating that to God those patriarchs  were still alive.  

But what is eternal life and how does one achieve it? Achieve is not  exactly the right word: The baby just baptized, the teenager, the adult, the old man or woman just baptized receive this resurrection of Jesus as  a guarantee and gift. In the combination of the water and the Word of  God, it is not just plain water but a blessed Sacrament where sin is  forgiven, where the Holy Spirit enters in and gives the gift of faith in  Christ Jesus. It folds them into Jesus’ side on the cross in His death,  burying them into Jesus’ death in the tomb, and raising them with Him  in His resurrection. And since God has declared us alive in Christ He sees  us already seated with Christ at the Father’s right hand until the Last  Day. Are you baptized? This gift is yours from your Heavenly Father, in  Christ, through the working of the Holy Spirit. He gives you lips to  confess this faith to be true, your very possession by grace through faith. 

That’s why it is called a living hope. This new life, God’s promise of  eternal life, lives and breathes in us now on earth. If fills our hearts with  peace and joy. It fills our lives with a hope that this world is not all there  is.  

In the midst of grief this can be hard to see, even sometimes for the  Christian. The World says, ‘dead is dead.” The World says, ‘you are no  different than an animal, all that awaits you is nothingness and  decomposition.” The World says that once the water is dried off after  your baptism if you still believe what was promised to you there then you  are a complete fool.” These are not new complaints. That’s what the  Sadducees believed. So Jesus proclaims to them and to you and me that  our Father in Heaven is not the God of the dead but of the living.  

This new Life, this Eternal Life involves your personal resurrection from  the dead. What is this resurrection going to be like? Listen carefully: All  your dear ones who have had a recent surgery, those of you who are going  for surgery, all of you that are even now suffering with illness, suffering  with chronic pain, you who face your coming physical death, you who  deal with abnormalities, and diseases, sicknesses of all sorts, conditions  of the mind - frailties of the body, corruption of the soul by sin. Listen  carefully.  

When we become alive in Christ – when our sin is washed away in the  blood of Jesus, when this happens God also had, and has, a plan for our  bodies – for in The End we will be made whole: body and soul made perfect on The Last Day, and sin will never touch your soul again for the  rest of eternity. Arthritis will be gone, germs and viruses will never kill or  injure again, our eyes will see perfectly, our hearts will pump perfectly, our nerves will feel and operate perfectly. If a loved one has wasted away  with cancer leaving them a shell of their former self, they will be made  perfect on that Day by the power of Christ Jesus. If their bodies have  turned to dust, they will be made new. Look at your hands; these hands  you will see on that day, missing fingers restored, broken tendons made  perfect, swollen knuckles relived from their suffering, wrinkles and liver  spots washed away. 

Again the ascended Lord Jesus also promises this from the Father’s  throne in heaven when He says, “Behold, I am making all things new. 

“Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O  death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin  is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our  Lord Jesus Christ.” 

The Sadducees may not have been looking for a real answer to their  question but once they received Jesus’ answer that day and then  ultimately in Jesus’ Easter morning bodily resurrection from the dead. They couldn’t deny it without lying to themselves and calling God a liar.  

We trust in God our Heavenly Father and we trust in His Son Jesus, we  confess every Sunday, week in and week out, that the Resurrection of the  body is real and forthcoming, the promise of it is true for you and for me  and it is part of our great Christian hope. With confidence, by the grace of  God, we then confess together: “I look for the resurrection of the dead  and the life of the world to come.”  

Amen. 


September 14, 2025 Written Sermon

Pastor John Eich

 Luke 14:25-35 

25 Large crowds were traveling with  Jesus. He turned and said to  them, 26 “If anyone comes to me and  does not hate his own father and  mother, wife and children, brothers  and sisters, yes, even his own life, he  cannot be my disciple. 27 Whoever  does not carry his own cross and  follow me cannot be my  disciple. 28 For which of you, if he  wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has  enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not  able to finish, everyone who sees it will begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This  fellow began to build, but was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, as he goes out to  confront another king in war, will not first sit down and consider if he is able with  ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with twenty  thousand? 32 And if he is not able, he sends out a delegation and asks for terms of  peace while his opponent is still far away. 33 So then, any one of you who does not  say farewell to all his own possessions cannot be my disciple. 34 Salt is good, but if  the salt has lost its flavor, how will it become salty again? 35 It is not fit for the soil  or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. The one who has ears to hear, let him  hear. 

Can you imagine Taylor Swift telling any would be fans that they have to  hate their families to be her followers? Can you imagine a sports figure  telling someone who wants an autographed jersey that it will bring them  resentment, hatred and persecution when they wear it? Can you imagine  any leader telling his followers that it will cost them everything and if  they don’t give up everything they will be thrown into prison?  

Those are the hurtful words of Jesus. 

Jesus is not trying to get rid of followers. He just wants them – and us – to know that the cost is high to be a disciple of Jesus. So we need to  consider: Is it worth it? 

Jesus’ first statement is alarming: If anyone comes to me and does  not hate his own father and mother, wife and children,  brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be my  disciple. We actually heard Jesus make a related point three weeks ago. Is Jesus saying I must hate my family to be a Christian? No, that’s not  what he’s saying. But he is saying something not too far from it.  

“Hate” is a strong word in our language. When we hear the word, “hate,”  we are usually thinking of a deep, intense loathing. It doesn’t seem to fit  mesh with what the Bible says in the fourth, fifth, or sixth commandments. We’re supposed to love our parents, love our neighbors,  love our spouses. The Bible tells us that “Anyone who hates his  brother is a murderer.” So how can Jesus be telling us to hate? 

It’s interesting that neither the most common word for “love” in the  original Greek, nor the most common Greek word for “hate,” refer to an  emotion. To “love” someone means to act in his or her best interests  despite your feelings toward that person. Likewise, to hate someone  means to treat them a certain way despite your feelings for them. And in  this context, it means ranking them behind Jesus in order of importance  in our lives, no matter how strongly we feel about them. It means siding  with Jesus’ words or commands even when every fiber of our relationship  with someone screams not to. To be Jesus’ disciple, he has to come first,  even ahead of our families. Is it Worth it? 

Jesus continues, “Whoever does not carry his own cross and  follow me cannot be my disciple.” As shocking as the word “hate,” is  for us, the picture of carrying a cross would have been even more jolting  for the crowds following Jesus. The cross was the favorite tool of  intimidation and torture for the Romans. However, Jesus says that  following him means being ready to carry a cross. So why are we  surprised when we find out that Jesus was right? When being a Christian  makes our family conversations awkward, that’s the cost of following  Jesus. When someone makes fun of you for doing what Jesus wants,  that’s the cost of following Jesus. When you feel sad about your sins and  you can’t just do whatever you want, that’s the cost of following Jesus.  Following Jesus means you will give up things you want and have things  you don’t want. It means that we will have to deal with problems, issues  and hurts that non-disciples won’t have to deal with. It isn’t being easy  being a Christian. The devil, the world and our own sinful flesh war  against us. And the world will think we are fools for believing and living  as we do. And here’s the most challenging part… you don’t get to pick  your struggles. Jesus does. Is it Worth it? 

Jesus lays out these hard truths before the crowd because he wants them  to know in advance what being his disciple means. He wants them to  carefully calculate the cost. He wants this to be a deliberate decision  rather than impulsive, which is why he continues with his two  illustrations. “For which of you, if he wants to build a tower, does  not first sit down and count the cost to see if he has enough to  complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is  not able to finish, everyone who sees it will begin to ridicule  him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build, but was not able to  finish.’ Or what king, as he goes out to confront another king in  war, will not first sit down and consider if he is able with ten thousand to oppose the one who comes against him with  twenty thousand? And if he is not able, he sends out a  delegation and asks for terms of peace while his opponent is  still far away.” 

It’s clear from Jesus’ words that being a disciple of Jesus is an all or  nothing proposition. There’s no straddling the fence – “I’ll follow Jesus  here, but I won’t give up that.” You have to make a choice, and keep  making that choice. This isn’t a one--and-you’re-done thing. It’s an  ongoing, day-by-day, moment-by-moment surrender to God. Jesus is telling us that we need to have our priorities in order. He needs to come  first.  

And so the question before us then is: Is it Worth it? 

On the surface, it may not seem like it. How can it be worth it to possibly  alienate ourselves from friends and family? How can we possibly leave  everything behind if it gets in the way of obeying everything Jesus  commands? How can we choose what we don’t want over what we want? By nature, we can’t. By nature, the cost isn’t worth it because by nature  we hate God. We see God as an angry judge who wants to punish us. No  one loves the judge who is handing them a death sentence. And if we had  stayed in that condition there’s no way that we’d see being a disciple of  Jesus as worth it. But something has changed. God worked that change  in your heart through the Holy Spirit. Through that gift of faith, we no  longer see God as an angry judge, but as our loving heavenly Father.  Through that gift of faith, He allows us to see the incredible value of put,  prioritizing him in our lives.  

When Jesus walked this earth, He did it as our perfect substitute. We fail  at times to put him first. We side with our family instead of him. We take  the path of least resistance instead of taking up our cross. At times we  treat the things of this world as more valuable than the things of heaven. But Jesus didn’t. He never wavered in his priorities. Even when it meant  turning his own mother away at the wedding at Cana, or calling one of his  disciples “satan,” or even allowing himself to be tortured and killed  rather than to backtrack on God’s word. He counted the cost for your  salvation and He gave it His all. And by grace through faith His  perfection becomes ours. Not as a license to not try, but as an assurance  of forgiveness when we fail. 

But not only should we consider what it costs to be a disciple of Jesus, we  should also consider the benefits. Like a stock market investment  discipleship brings great returns. But with no risk! We gain a life with  peace knowing that God is in control and works everything to be a  blessing. That even includes the crosses and troubles discipleship will bring. It’s a life penetrated throughout by love. Love for God, love for  others and love for ourselves that embraces us. There is hopefulness that  stands firm in the most discouraging of circumstances. Discipleship  brings a power to say or do what is right even when it brings trouble.  

The question you have to ask yourself is this: Is it worth it? Is it worth  giving up abiding peace with God to have peace with people? Is it worth  sacrificing a life penetrated by limitless divine love to settle for earthly  love that is fickle and fades? Is it worth cutting yourself off from the faith  that trusts in God’s overarching plan for your good, in order to run your  life the way you want to? Is it worth giving up hope, and the power to do  what is right? Is it worth it to you to say “No” to God’s abundance, so you  can skimp by on your own meager resources? Is it worth losing an  eternity with God in order to sit with sinners? Because that’s what it costs  to not follow Jesus. 

When we say “yes” to following Jesus, when we surrender our will to his  will, something amazing happens. Bit by bit, we change. Each time we  keep saying “yes, Lord, I leave behind everything to follow you,” we are  re-formed, transformed, becoming more and more like Christ. We  experience abundant life, by God’s grace. And we discover that the cost of  following Jesus, something we thought we couldn’t possibly afford, is  worth it all. Because the price has already been paid out of God’s deep  love for us. When we give our all to Christ, we receive so much more! 

Here’s how I know. Jesus didn’t say, “Pick up your cross and head that  way. I’ll meet you in heaven.” No. He said, “Follow me.” If you’re  following Jesus, then you’re right behind him and he’s right with you.  When being a Christian is hard, Jesus is with you. You might not know  how he’ll take care of you, but you know he’s not far away. 

It’s about Christ and his kingdom taking first priority amidst everything  else in life. That’s important, friends: for the time will come for each one  of us when we will need to be clear about the path of faith we are taking  in this life; when our next steps forward will be as a witness to the life  that is real life. 

So let’s do a cost-benefit analysis. Is following Jesus worth the cost? It  will be hard. You’ll need to trust him. But both here on earth, and forever  in heaven, you’ll be happy you did. 

Count the cost – Jesus did.