April 9, 2023 Easter Sunday

CWA part Gospel  - Resurrection of our LORD - KBKuschel

Matthew 28:8-10

8 So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Put yourselves into the sandals of the women.  You believe you are a sinner.  You believe God forgives sin.  You believe you are acceptable to God because He promised a Savior who would do everything necessary to provide you with salvation and righteousness. 

    You followed Jesus.  You listened to Him teach.  You listened to Him answer questions. You listened to Him apply the Law to people’s hearts to show them their sins.  You listened to Him apply the Gospel to people’s hearts to show them that they were forgiven because of God’s love.  You are convinced that He is the Prophet promised by God.  He is the Bringer of truth. 

    You watched Jesus work among the people.  You saw Him heal people who were sick,.  You saw Him make nature work under His directions.  You saw Him raise people who had died.  He had the power of God at His disposal.  When He claimed to be using His own power, you considered that He might be the Son of God.  

    You were convinced that this Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ of God.  The One promised by God to provide you with forgiveness of sins, holiness and eternal life.  You got to be pretty comfortable with that conclusion.   

  But then He died.  If He were the Son of God, how could He die?  The crowds at Calvary reinforced those doubts in your mind.  “If he was the Son of God, why didn’t He come down from the cross?”  Why didn’t He just escape?  How could He give eternal life if He is dead?  And dead He was.  You were there when they laid him in the tomb.  You were going to finish the burial process on Sunday morning. 

   But when you went there, He wasn’t there.  His body was gone.  The angels said, “He has risen.”  Could it be?  Doubt again.  Too good to be true.  What really happened?  More doubts.  Then Jesus met you and greeted you.  You grasped His feet to make sure that this wasn’t a ghost.  You knew it wasn’t, so you worshiped Him.  He was who He claimed to be.  His resurrection proved it.  You could on go on with the rest of the day and the rest of your lives without doubt.  Jesus is your LORD and God.  

   Doubts.  They are part of our lives as human beings, aren’t they?  Doubts that get bigger as we grow up.  When we as children learned about Jesus, there was no doubt who He was.  He is God.  No questions.  But as we grow up, our intellect rebels.  A person who was God and human? It doesn’t make sense.  A person who does miracles?  Miracles can’t happen.  Doubts.

    Doubts about the claim that Jesus is the only source of truth from God.  What about all the other spiritual resources in our world.  They all claim to have the truth.  What if Jesus was only another prophet?  What if Jesus was just another purveyor of a religious system?  Don’t other spiritual resource people in other religious systems also do miracles?  How do we deal with doubts like these?    

    Scripture always solves these doubts in the same way.  It always points us to the resurrection of Jesus.  Was Jesus the Christ?  Only if He was God.  Was He God?  Scripture says “Yes.”  Proof?  He rose from the dead.  Can you believe what He spoke and taught.  If He was God. Was He God?  “Yes.”  Proof?  He rose from the dead.  Whose power was He using when He did miracles?  Scripture says His own.  That’s only possible if He was God. Was He God? “Yes.” Proof.   He rose from the dead.  Because Jesus rose, we are free to live without any fears about who Jesus of Nazareth is.  He is our LORD and God.   

Hymn 152:1-3

Put yourselves back into the sandals of the followers of Jesus.  They had been with Him for three years.  They had personally grasped the forgiveness and eternal life which He offered them.  But He expected that they would share those gifts with others.  For three years they had been soaking up the message they were to share. 

    They had been given some trial runs.  Jesus had sent some of them out to take His message to other villages.  They reported back.  They had some success.  They had some failure.  They reported power over forces that opposed Jesus.  They had a taste of what they were supposed to be doing with their lives after Jesus would depart from their presence, something He had promised to do.   

   B1 Their message was very clear.  They had pointed to Jesus as the Christ.  They had told people that Jesus was the One who had come to take the guilt of people on Himself.  They told people that He would sacrifice His life to pay for their sins.

     They told people that Jesus was their righteousness. He was living for them.  Jesus was not sinning.  Jesus was going to cover them with His holiness.  That would make them able to be right with God.    

    Now Jesus was telling the women: “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”  Jesus’ followers were still under orders from Him to take His message to others.  Why should they have confidence that the message they were bringing to others from Jesus was true?  Why did the women eagerly and quickly go and tell the other disciples the message from Jesus?

    Because He had risen.  Jesus’ resurrection is the “Yes,” that God the Father gave to all the work Jesus had done.  Was Jesus successful in taking the guilt of humans.  YES.  Proof?  He rose from the dead.  Was He a success in taking the place of humans and suffering death and hell to rescue us from it?  YES.  Proof? He rose from the dead.    Was Jesus successful in supplying us with holiness so that we are acceptable to God.  YES. Proof? He rose from the dead.    Should the women be confident that the message from Jesus which they had for the other disciples was valid.  YES.  Proof?. He rose from the dead.  

   We are today’s followers of Jesus.  Jesus hasn’t brought us into His family just so that we might be a part of His family forever.   He has also given us a purpose. Our purpose is the same as that of the women in the verses before us today.  Our purpose is to transmit the words and message of Jesus to others.  We can do that through our congregation.  But the LORD is interested primarily in having us be transmitters of His truth to others as we rub shoulders with them in our day to day existence.  

    The message is simple.  I am a sinner.  Jesus took my sins.  Jesus suffered death instead of me.  Jesus suffered hell instead of me.  That frees me from my guilt and the threat of punishment.  Jesus lived a holy life for me.  That gives me His holiness.  That makes me right in the sight of God.  That’s the message.

   Is it really true?  Is there any portion of that message that should be doubted?  Does God really say people are not guilty and acceptable to Him because of Jesus.  The answer in the Bible is “YES.”  Proof? He rose from the dead.  Because Jesus rose, we are free to live without doubt about the Gospel.  

Hymn 152 : 4-6 

Put yourselves back into the sandals of the followers of Jesus.  You had become quite used to having Jesus with you all the time.  You traveled with Him.  You ate with Him.  You were like family.  You couldn’t think of what life without Jesus would be like.  You dreaded the time that He wouldn’t be with you, something He kept telling you about.  Now it had happened.  He wasn’t with you.  He had died.  Would you be able to handle the future on their own?  It was doubtful.  

   But now He was alive again.  Now he had shown Himself to you.  Now he had told you to tell the disciples they too would see Him.  This is very important.  His death hadn’t stopped His presence among you.  Nothing else would stop His presence among you either.  You could go on with your lives without doubt about the future because Jesus was still with you.  

   Jesus’ followers had another very important issue to face.  Death.  Humans die.  That’s just the way it is since Adam and Eve sinned.  But Jesus had told you that even though you would die, you wouldn’t really die.  He kept teaching you that He gives eternal life, a relationship with God that doesn’t end after one dies.  You believed that.  Now He died.  What did that do to His promise?  What did that do to your confidence?  More doubt. 

    But now Jesus was alive again.  He showed Himself to the women.  He wanted to show Himself to the disciples.  Jesus could conquer death.  He could conquer the deaths of His followers.  He could keep His promise.  You would rise from the dead as Jesus had promised.  Proof?   He rose from the dead 

   How do we handle each new day of our lives?  Life isn’t easy.  We are unemployed.  We are confronted daily with that unpleasant person at school.  We have physical handicaps.  People keep telling me to just do it, even though God says not to.  Can I handle life?  I doubt it. 

   We don’t have to.  Jesus is with us.  He gives us patience.  He gives us wisdom. He gives us strength.  He will lead us to do what we are supposed to do.  Is Jesus really with us?  “YES.”    Proof?  He rose from the dead.  That gives us freedom to live without doubt about tomorrow.  

   How do we handle death?  It’s scary, isn’t it?  We watch people die.  We don’t want to experience the pain.  We watch people get killed.  We don’t want to stop existing that suddenly.  It’s scary because we don’t know what is next.  But we do.  Jesus told us.  When we die, we go to be with the LORD.  Then on Judgment Day, we continue to exist in perfection, body and soul, with Jesus. 

    Is that really true? “YES.”  Proof? He rose from the dead.  He conquered death for us.  We will conquer it too.  How do we handle the concept of death?  With confidence, knowing where we are going, knowing what is going to happen next.  How do we handle the concept of eternity?  With confidence Why?  He rose from the dead.  Because Jesus rose, we are free to live without doubt about our eternal future.

  Conc: LORD JESUS, please help us to celebrate Easter every day by living free from doubt about Jesus, about the Gospel, and about the future.  

Hymn 152:7-8

April 2, 2023 Palm Sunday

CWA -Palm Sunday -   Gospel  Kieth Bernard Kuschel

                              John 12:1-11

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. 8 You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.

What do you remember most about the family of Mary, Martha and Lazarus? Maybe that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to Him.  Maybe that Martha was busy serving Jesus and upset with Mary.  Maybe that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead.  In the verses before us this family held a dinner.  It was a special dinner.  It was held (2) “in Jesus’ honor.”  We are also reminded that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead.  We are also told that Lazarus was present at the dinner.   So, I think we could safely guess what the purpose of the dinner was. What?  To honor Jesus for raising Lazarus from the dead.  

    Jesus had eaten at least one meal there before.  I think we can assume that He ate there regularly.  What does that say about His relationship with this family?  They were comfortable having Jesus there.  He was comfortable being there.  Jesus was like a member of the family.  

   On Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, His focus was completely on what He was going to be doing during the next week.  Every year on Palm Sunday our focus is on what we are going to be doing this next week.  On Thursday we are going to have a special dinner.  Now I know that we are having the same dinner today.  But Thursday, when we come to dinner, it is special.  It is the day of the year when Jesus hosted this special supper for the first time.  I remember when I was a boy on Thursday of Holy Week almost everybody in the whole church went to the Lord’s Supper.  It took a really long time.  But it was awesome, I will never forget it.  

    What is this Supper about?  It’s all about Jesus.  He gives us His body and blood together with the bread and wine.  Because the Gospel is announced during the Supper, He delivers forgiveness of sins to us.   It reminds us who Jesus is and what He did.  We say to everybody who is watching us: Jesus is my Savior.  He lived and died and rose for me.  This Supper is to praise Jesus and proclaim His death.  It is  “in Jesus honor.”

    What is this Supper about?  It’s about family.  All of us who share in the meal believe the same thing about ourselves.  We are sinners.  All of us who share in the meal believe the same things about Jesus.  He is our Savior.  All of us who share in the meal believe the same thing about the Supper.  It is the body and blood of Jesus together with the bread and wine.  All of us who share in the meal believe the same thing about the blessing.  We receive forgiveness.  All of us who share in the meal believe the same thing about the Bible.  It is God’s truth.  When we eat together, we are saying, “We are family in Christ.”

Jesus was headed to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.  He was also headed to Jerusalem on this particular Passover because He knew it was time for Him to sacrifice Himself as the Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world.  He had told His disciples very clearly on numerous occasions that he was going to go to Jerusalem and die.  

    While He was at this meal in his honor in Bethany headed for Jerusalem to die, 3 Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.4 But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” 6 He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it. 7 “Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial.” In Jesus’ day bodies were prepared for burial by being washed, anointed with good smelling stuff, wrapped in cloths and then buried.  Jesus’ statement is very clear.   He considers what Mary is doing an early attempt to prepare his body for burial, which, of course, implies that He is ready to die.   

    When Jesus was headed to Jerusalem, and when He was at this meal in Bethany, he was completely focused on what was going to happen on Friday.  His death.   Every year on Palm Sunday our focus is on what we are going to be doing this next week.  On Friday we are going to think a lot about and talk a lot about Jesus’ death.  That is totally out of the ordinary.  People usually don’t want to think about death.  It is unpleasant.  People usually don’t want to talk about death.  Maybe they think it will go away if you don’t talk about it.  Even when somebody dies, people say, “She passed.  He is gone.”  They don’t even want to use the word, “death.”  

     Christians talk about death a lot.  We say, “Jesus died for my sins” all the time.  That is weird to a lot of people - to be so open about death.  If you really want to consider something strange, look at the name of Friday this week.  Good Friday.  A Friday that is the day on which somebody died is good?  A day on which an innocent victim was crucified is good?  Good Friday is a good name for this coming Friday.  It’s good for us.  Because Jesus died, our sins are gone.  Because Jesus died, death isn’t punishment for me anymore.  Because Jesus was separated from God while on the cross, I won’t ever have to be.  On Palm Sunday we get ready for Friday.  Because of the death that happened then.  That is what makes it good.    

Jesus’ presence in Bethany at this meal turned out to be a public event.  People heard that Jesus was present.  Throughout the three years of His ministry His presence attracted crowds.  Some came to hear Him.  Some came to see Him do miracles.  In this instance they came to see the person who had raised Lazarus from the dead.  But they came for another reason.  Lazarus had become a media star by this time.  9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead.” They had heard about him, but they really wanted to see him.  So they were there to see this dead man who was raised.  

    During Jesus’ three years of ministry there was another group of people who came to observe Jesus.  This group was watching His every step.  They were gathering evidence to prove that He was not who He claimed to be.  They were gathering evidence on the basis of which they could get rid of Him.  This group was present here also.  10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well,  for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him. When they saw the results of Jesus’ miracle of raising Lazarus, they were driven to carry out their plan to get rid of Jesus.  They hated it that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the death.   It was ruining everything.

  When Jesus was headed to Jerusalem, and when He was at this meal in Bethany, he was completely focused on what was going to happen on Sunday. He would rise as He had raised Lazarus.  Every year on Palm Sunday our focus is on what we are going to be doing this next week.  On Sunday we are going to see a risen dead Man.   Jesus’ resurrection from the dead is the basis of Christianity.   Because of that we know what He says is true.  Because of that we know that He is God.  Because of that we know our sins are forgiven.  Because of that we know He can cover us with His holiness.  Because of that we know we will rise from the dead one day.  Without Jesus’ resurrection Christianity is nothing.  

    People know that.  So people who oppose Christianity get angry about it. Just like the Jews did about Jesus and Lazarus.  So they ridicule it. “When was the last time you saw somebody rise from the dead?”  they say.  “The disciples must have been on medical marijuana or something to think that Jesus rose from the dead.” Or they divert attention from it.  Easter is about bunnies and eggs and flowers and springtime.    No. It’s not.  On Palm Sunday we are getting ready to see a risen dead man. 

Palm Sunday is about getting ready- for a meal, a death and a risen dead man.   On Palm Sunday we join Jesus in the parade to Jerusalem to get ready for Thursday and Friday and Sunday. For a meal, a death, and a risen dead man.  Thanks for coming.  I’m glad you like parades.

March 26, 2023

CWA - Psalm Lent 5 -  Kieth Bernard Kuschel

                             Psalm 116

I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. 2 Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. 3 The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me;  I was overcome by distress and sorrow. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!” 5 The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. 6 The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me.7 Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.8 For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, 9 that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.10 I trusted in the Lord when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”; 11 in my alarm I said, “Everyone is a liar.” 12 What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.  .16 Truly I am your servant, Lord; I serve you just as my mother did; you have freed me from my chains.17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the Lord.18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the Lord—  in your midst, Jerusalem. Praise the Lord.

Something really important = a matter of life and death

IA1  I was overcome by distress and sorrow(3).  Most of us have felt that way at one time or another in our lives.  What caused you to feel that way most recently?  Diagnosed with a terminal disease.  Chronic health issue.  Loss of capacity.  Loss of job.  Loss of a loved one.  Not knowing what to do next.   Coronavirus.

   2 All of those cause distress and sorrow.   But there is one that is behind many of those mentioned.  It could be called the ultimate cause of distress and sorrow.  What is that?  Death.  The Psalm writer knew that.  He wrote this: 3 The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me.   Why does any disease cause distress and sorrow?  Because it could lead to death. Why do accidents cause distress and sorrow?  Because they could lead to death.  Why does loss of job or not knowing what to do next cause distress and sorrow?  Because your life might end without accomplishing even the basic things like providing the necessities of life for your dependents.

 B1 Is there any help for the distress and sorrow caused by death?   The Psalm writer thinks so: 8 For you, Lord, have delivered me from death.  How does He do that?  Jesus answers that question directly in the Gospel lesson: “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; 26 and whoever lives believing in me will never die.”  Jesus experienced death as punishment for our sins.  We are rescued from death as punishment for our sins because He did that.  Jesus rose from the dead.  He conquered it for us.  We will rise from the dead because Jesus did that for us.  That is how God delivers us from death.  

   2 8 For you, Lord, have delivered me from death. Does knowing that take away our fear of death?  NO.  Anything we haven’t experienced is scary.  Does knowing that make it at least possible for us to handle the thought of death a little bit better?  YES.  Because we know we have been delivered from it even before we have experienced it. 

  3 8 For you, Lord, have delivered me from death.  Does knowing that make it easy when a loved one dies?  NO.  It is always extremely difficult to think about facing life without someone who has been part of your life for a very long time, maybe your entire life.   Does knowing that make it at least possible for us to handle the death of a loved one a little bit better?  YES.  Because we know that loved one who, when alive,  trusted that Jesus lived and died and rose to give him or her forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life has been delivered from it.   The Psalm writer reflects that thought when he wrote: 8 For you, Lord, have delivered .............. my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling.  I shed tears, but not forever and not out of despair.  I don’t stumble and fall into believing the thought, whenever it comes up, that God must not love me otherwise He would not have allowed my loved one to die.

  C1 God continues to love me even when I am dead.  Did you hear what the Psalm writer wrote?  (15)Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. Well, I guess that leaves me out.  I am a sinner.  I am not a faithful servant.  Not so fast.  You are covered with Jesus’ holiness.  You are a member of God’s family. God considers your life to be a thankoffering to him.  He considers you to be a faithful servant.  This verse is talking to you.  

   2 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants.   Precious.  We are valuable to the LORD.  What do you do with things that you consider to be precious?  You protect them.  You hold onto them tightly.  We are so valuable to the LORD that He had His Son live and die and rise to give us forgiveness, holiness and eternal life.  He is not going to let anything, including death release His strong grip on us.  Maybe St Paul had this Psalm in mind when he wrote: “Neither death.... nor anything else will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our LORD.” (Rom 8:38-39). Does knowing that helps us handle death a little bit better?  YES

 IIA1 How do we respond to God’s deliverance?   We 13  “will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord...19 in the courts of the house of the Lord—  in your midst, Jerusalem. Praise the Lord.”  When we can, we gather together in a public gathering place with others who believe what we believe about Jesus.  We lift up for all to see the concept that God has granted us salvation through Jesus.  Others hear that Jesus lived and died and rose to give them forgiveness, holiness and eternal life.  The Holy Spirit leads them to believe that Jesus is their Savior.  Our lives of calling on the name of the LORD help others have eternal life in Jesus Christ.

   2 How do we respond to God’s deliverance?   I utter “my cry for mercy.........I.will call on

him as long as I live. ......3 I was overcome by distress and sorrow. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!”  When my life is filled with distress and sorrow because of terminal disease, chronic health issues, loss of capacity, loss of job, loss of loved one, not knowing what to do next, I cry out to the LORD for mercy repeatedly over the entire course of my life on this earth.  Anyone who rubs shoulders with me hears those cries.  They are informed that my Lord, “hears my voice, turns His ear to me, is gracious, righteous, full of compassion, protects the unwary, and saves.”  The Holy Spirit leads them to believe the same.  Our lives of crying out to the LORD help others have lives willingly dependent on the LORD.     I    

   B1 How do we respond to God’s deliverance?  18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.”  Some of you have vowed to the LORD to love, be faithful to, cherish, support and help in sickness and in health another human being.  When asked why you fulfill your vow, you indicate that you want to thank the LORD for the special person whom He has given to you as a life long companion.  In doing so, your lives  have directed others to the LORD who wants to bless their lives similarly. 

   2 Some of you have vowed to the LORD to live as if fitting for a child of God, and in faith, word and deed remain true to the Triune God, even unto death.   When asked why you fulfill your vow, you indicate that you want to thank the LORD for giving you the ability to speak, the resources to live, the ability to reproduce, a wonderful body with almost limitless capacities, and the people through whom He blesses you.  In doing so, your lives  have directed others to the LORD who wants to fill humans’ lives with blessings.  

   3 Some of you have vowed to the LORD to shape your live with God’s Word, to hear the Word of God proclaimed every week, to use the LORD’s Supper whenever it is offered, to study the Word with your fellow Christians at every opportunity.   When you fulfill that vow, you are directing others to realize that God’s Word is the tool He has chosen to dispense His blessings of forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life because of Jesus into people’s lives.  In doing so, your lives have directed others to the LORD who is the source of those blessings for life.  

  C1 How do we respond to God’s deliverance?  We “sacrifice a thank offering to” the LORD. If we would be living when this Psalm was written, we would literally be involved in sacrificing.  We would bring animals and/or plants and have part of them burned by the priests on the altars at the worship location.  The remainder of the animals and/or plants was used for the physical support of the priests and the operation of the worship location.  What is the modern equivalent to the plants and animals which supported the worship of and proclamation of the true God?  Money.  

  2 We sacrifice a thank offering to the LORD when we dedicate a percentage of our income each year to bring the message to others that Jesus lived and died and rose to give them forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life.  You have the privilege of dedicating a percentage of your income to bring Jesus to others.  We suggest 10% in keeping with God’s Old Testament directive.  In doing so, your lives have helped others have life in Christ.    

LORD Jesus, You are right.  It’s matter death and life.  Your death helps us handle death.  Please use our lives to help others have life.   

March 19, 2023

CW - A  - Epistle Lesson  - Lent 4   Kieth Bernard Kuschel 

Romans 8:1-10

(Rom 8:1)  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, {2} because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. {3} For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, {4} in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. {5} Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. {6} The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; {7} the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. {8} Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. {9} You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. {10} But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

What is inside of you?

What does it do?

Why is it in there?

What is inside of you? Jesus.

Why is He in there?

What does He do?

Today with Paul’s help we want to ask three questions?

IF CHRIST IS IN YOU

I. Are You Condemned?

II. Are You Hostile?

III. Who is in Control?

IA1     A former state probation officer accused of demanding sexual favors from young men under his supervision pleaded no contest to 31 counts.  His plea came as jury selection was to begin..  Prosecutors had filed more than 220 criminal counts against him.  The 31 counts include charges of second degree sexual assault, hindering prosecution, tampering and unlawful restraint and are applied to all 15 victims in the complaint.  Several youths had told police that he threatened to return them to prison if they refused his sexual advances.  The alleged assaults took place in his office and at his former home, according to court documents.  

    2 Did you read that article?  How did you respond? Condemnation!!  What an outrage!  It is bad enough that people do that kind of thing in our society.  But when someone who is supposed to be a representative of what is the right does it, it seems worse.  When someone who is supposed to be helping people to get back on their feet do such a thing, it is awful.  Throw the book at him.  Throw away the key. 

   3 Why did you respond that way?  Because this man had violated what you considered to be a standard.  The law says you don’t do such things.  The conscience says you don’t do such things.  Our society which has abandoned many of the tenets of what is right and wrong at least still says you don’t do such things. 

 B1 A person who at one time in his life formally and publicly stated that he was a believer in Jesus Christ, stated that he would remain faithful to Jesus Christ, stated that he would use the Bible and participate in the Lord’s Supper regularly, and stated that he would live a godly life, doesn’t seem to be any different from anybody else in his neighborhood, never opens his Bible at home at all, and  opens his mouth about Jesus Christ so infrequently that hardly anybody knows he is a Christian.     

   2 How should God respond?  Condemnation.  Anger.  It is bad enough that the general populace is like that.  But when someone who is supposed to be connected with Jesus Christ acts that way, it seems worse.  When someone who is supposed to be leading others to Jesus acts like that, it is awful.  Throw the book at him.  Throw away the key.

   3 Why could/would/should God respond that way?  Because we have failed to do what God says we ought to be doing.   The Law of God says we are to keep Jesus first in our lives, we are to use the Word regularly, and we are to act in accordance with the standard God has set up.

  C1 Is that how God responds?  Listen to Paul:   “ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, {2} because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. {3} For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, {4} in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”  Our sinful nature made it impossible for us to be right with God on the basis of trying to keep the Law.  I was controlled by sin and headed for eternal death.  God condemned me and my sin, but allowed the punishment to fall on Jesus.  In addition He puts the holiness of Jesus on me so that the requirements of the law are met in me.  So there is no condemnation waiting for me. 

1. There is also no condemnation now.  My sins have been removed.  I have been punished already when Jesus was punished.  The accident I just had which broke my leg is not a punishment from God.  Looks that way.  Feels that way.  Smells that way.  But God says it’s not.  The loss of my job is not a punishment from God.  Looks that way.  Smells that way.  Feels that way.  But God says it’s not.  No condemnation.   

2. Thank you Lord for giving me life.  I don’t mean physical life.  I mean real life.  An existence that isn’t threatened with condemnation.  Life that resulted when the Holy Spirit brought me to faith in Jesus.  Life that resulted when the Christ took up residence in me. If Christ is in you, are you condemned?  No way.  

IIA1 You are standing in the check out line at the grocery store and you decide to make conversation.  So, you say, “What do you think about God?” “Excuse me!!!”   Since you took the plunge and approached the subject, you don’t let it go.  “What do you think about God?”  What is the answer, if the person is willing to talk?  “I don’t think about him.  Doesn’t cross my mind during the course of the day.” Is that a hostile response? It is not an overtly angry response.  But it is a response that is hostile to the whole idea of God.  Paul tells us that is to be expected: “{7} the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. {8} Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”   

   2 Got another possible answer?  “I think you should mind your own business.  I wasn’t bothering you.  What’s your problem?  Just let me alone.  The same thing goes for god.  He should just go ahead and do his god thing whatever that is.  I will do my thing.  I really don’t like intrusions into my life.  I know you are going to tell me god wants a relationship with me and I ought to be living connected with him.  I don’t care.  I want to live my life my way.”  Another hostile response to the whole concept of God. Paul tells us that is to be expected: “{7} the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. {8} Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”   

   3 Got a third possible answer?  “I’ll tell you what I think about God.  I think He is a vindictive, unloving, sadistic so and so.  Look what he has allowed to happen in my life over the past few years.  If he were loving and caring, such things shouldn’t happen to anybody.  That’s what I think about God.  You can take your whole idea of God and stick it in your ear.”  That is a hostile response.  Paul tells us that is to be expected: “{7} the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. {8} Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”    

    B1 You are standing in the check out line at the grocery store and you decide to make conversation.  So you say, “How are things going?” “They are going.”  Since you took the plunge, you keep swimming.  “Are the people in your neighborhood nice?”  What is the answer if the person is willing to talk?  “I don’t know.  I don’t have much contact with them.  I am pretty busy.  I don’t think about them.  They aren’t part of my life.”  Is that a hostile response? It is not an overtly angry response.  But it is hostile to the whole idea of loving relationships. Paul tells us that is to be expected: “{7} the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. {8} Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”   

      2 Got another possible answer?  “I am a pretty private person.  I don’t seek out relationships with others.  So I don’t know if they are nice or not.  I kind of like being alone in our own little world.  It is OK if we don’t get any intrusions into our lives from other people.  Most of the time people have their own opinions which often are in conflict with mine.  I don’t like to have to deal with that.  I just like being by myself.”  Another hostile response to the whole idea of relationships.  Paul tells us that is to be expected: “{7} the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. {8} Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”    

    3 Got a third possible answer?  “Things are not going well at all.  My neighbors are rotten.  They go out of their way to make life miserable.  I wish I were living on a desert island.  People are all the same.  They only look out for themselves.  That’s what I think about life right now.  You asked for it.”  That is a hostile response. Paul tells us that is to be expected: “{7} the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. {8} Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.”   

 C1 How would you respond to your own questions?  How about this for an answer?  “I think about God a lot.  I think He is important.  I know He loves me.  I know He cares about me.”  That answer tells me something.  It tells me you are at peace with the concept of God.  Paul says that is to be expected.  “ the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;”   

     2 How about this for an answer?  “Things are going pretty well.  My neighbors are busy.  They have their own lives to live. So do I.   I know they are all sinners as I am.  I try to work at my selfishness.  I try to remember they are just like me.”  That answer tells me something.  It tells me you are at peace with the whole concept of loving relationships with sinful human beings. Paul says that is to be expected.  “ the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;”

    3 Thank you Lord for giving me life.  I don’t mean physical life.  I mean real life.  An existence that isn’t driven by hostility.  Life that resulted when the Holy Spirit brought me to faith in Jesus.  Life that resulted when the Christ took up residence in me.  If Christ is in you, are you hostile?  No way.    

IIIA1 As you were walking around investigating all the parts of the cruise ship, you saw that they had everything you could think of for entertainment.  Even a casino.  You walked through and observed.  There was a nice little old lady sitting on a stool.  She wasn’t smiling.  Her hands were going rhythmically up and down, shoving in coins and pulling the handle.  Her pile of coins depleted.  She immediately got a new supply.  Went back to the same machine and continued.  Who is in control here?  Paul’s answer is: {5} “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires;”         

   2 As you were walking around in the blocks around your hotel in the big city you noticed a man walking slowly, looking at everything.  He picked up whatever he found.  Then you noticed him going through the refuse containers.  When people came by, he would run out to ask them for some money to buy food.  A car drove up quickly.  He ran over & pulled whatever money he had received out of his pocket.  He received a little bag back.  Who is in control here?  Paul’s answer is: {5} Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires.  

    3 As you observe your office mate, you notice he comes in very early, and stays very late.  He seems overly concerned that he might lose his job if he doesn’t put in all this extra time.  He is always talking about getting security.  He never mentions that there is anybody else looking out for him.  Who is in control here?   Paul’s answer is: {5} Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires;   

   B1 As you are walking through the different parts of the facility, you see a little old lady sitting on a stool.  She isn’t smiling.  She is intense.  Her hands go rhythmically up and down.  From the dish of pureed food to the mouth of the man.  You assume it is her husband.  It looks as if she has been doing this for years.  When one bowl is depleted, she gets some more. Looks the same just a different color. She intersperses words about Jesus Christ in with her fast moving hands. Who is in control here?  Paul’s answer is: “but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” {10} But if Christ is in you,  your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

   2 As you are counting the receipts for the fundraiser for the family who lost everything in a fire, you notice a check from a man who picks up cans off the street for the nickel deposit, who drives an old car, who lives in a modest home, and who is considered odd by most except those with whom he worships every Sunday.  The reason his check caught your attention was - you never knew he had that kind of money.  Who is in control here?    Paul’s answer is: “but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” {10} But if Christ is in you,  your spirit is alive because of righteousness.

    3 As you observe your office mate, you notice that he is always busy doing things right after work.  You hear him talk a lot about all the activity that he crams into his weekends.  Most of the things he does seem to have a common denominator.  He is interacting with a lot of people.  He seems intense about rubbing shoulders with a lot of people.  Rumor is that he thinks he might be able to steer them toward Jesus if he has ongoing contact with them.  Who is in control here?    Paul’s answer is: “but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.” {10} But if Christ is in you,  your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 

   C1 “ {9} You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.”  God the Holy Spirit brought you to trust that Jesus died to wipe away your sins.  He brought you to trust that Jesus lived perfectly so that He might cover you with His holiness, He brought you to trust that Jesus rose from the dead so that He might give you eternal life.  But God the Holy Spirit also took up residence in your life at that time and is in charge of you.

    2 How does He exercise His position?  He works in you through the Word of the Lord.  He works in you through the Holy Supper.

    3 Thank you Lord for giving me life.  I don’t mean physical life.  I mean real life.  An existence that is controlled by the Holy Spirit.  “If Christ is in you, your spirit is alive.” 

March 12, 2023

CWA  - Psalm for the Day - Lent 3  - - Kieth Bernard Kuschel

                                               Psalm 143: 1, 2, 4,7, 8, 10 

                        (verses printed in hymnal Christian Worship pg 118)

1 O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in Your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. 2 O LORD, do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you. 4  My spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. 7 Answer me quickly, O LORD; do not hide Your face from me.  8 Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You.  10 Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. 

IA1 One of the favorite topics of people when they get together and converse is: “How bad the world around us is.”   Give me an example.  Why do people talk about that all the time?  Could be a variety of reasons.  It could be because we would like to brainstorm solutions.  It could be because we are scared and want to release a little tension. 

  2 I want to suggest a sneaky spiritual reason.  Maybe we are rehearsing what all the really bad people out there are doing to convince ourselves that we are not as bad as those people out there.  Maybe it’s really a covert way of convincing ourselves that we are really very righteous people since we aren’t involved in those terrible things.  Sort of like the Pharisee talking about the tax collector.  

   3 Why do I say that is a spiritual reason?  Because it is easy to move from the courtroom of human opinion to God’s courtroom.   If I am convinced that in the courtroom of human opinion I don’t fit with those criminal types, I can easily think the same way in God’s courtroom.  “LORD, You know the world is really awful.   People are doing unbelievably ungodly things.  I sure am glad that I have never got sucked into any of that stuff.  You must be pretty happy too.  You must be pretty proud of me.”

  B1 That brings us to verse 2 of the Psalm for today: “O LORD, do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.”  Another translation of the same verse says,  “Don’t bring Your servant into court because no one living is righteous before You.”   No one living is righteous before You.  No one.  Not even we who haven’t killed anyone.  Not even we who always stand up for what is right.  Not even we who haven’t abused anyone. “

   2 Why?  Two different views of who is means to be righteous. God's view = no one (on his own).  View of the court room of human opinion:  "I am righteeous." Why are we so in the dark about being righteous?  Because God’s view of righteous is quite a bit different from the view of the human courtroom. God says righteous is the same as perfect.  Most humans admit: "I don’t perfectly live my life to benefit the people around me all the time.  That’s what God demands.   Just yesterday I insisted on doing something selfish instead of doing something to benefit my family.  Just this morning I (you fill in the blank)  

 3 This "being righteous" using God's definition sounds like an unsolvable problem.  It would be if the LORD hadn’t shined His light into our darkness.  But He has shined the Light of His Good News into our lives.  That is why with the Psalm writer we say {1}“O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in Your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.”  Righteousness demanded by God through His Law doesn’t give relief.  It creates stress.  But righteousness, the gift of God because of the perfect substitutionary life of Jesus Christ. That gives relief.  LORD thanks for getting me out of the dark when it comes to being righteous..       

IIA1 Why do we get trained to cook, do laundry, clean bathrooms, read, do math, operate machinery, manage money or any other skill or task?   So we can handle life on our own and not be dependent on others.  Being independent is a noble goal.  But there could be a negative to that.  I could conclude that I don’t need anybody in my life at all. 

   2 Is that bad?  It could be,  if we have decided since we don’t need anybody, we don’t want to have any interaction with anybody.  Why is that a problem?  Well, what is our purpose in life?  We are to be witnesses for Jesus Christ.  It would be pretty difficult for us to talk about Jesus with others or influence them to live their lives God’s way,  if we had no interaction with others. 

  3 Another possible negative byproduct of self-sufficiency is to conclude, “I don’t need anybody.”  Anybody would mean anybody.  I can cook, clean, do laundry, read, do math, operate machinery, manage money etc.  I provide for myself, protect myself, figure things out for myself, so I don’t need anybody including God.  I can handle life on my own.  

  B1 However, that means we have forgotten some things. It is the LORD who has given us the minds and bodies and capacities that can be trained to do all those tasks in life which need to get done.  The LORD has given us people who have trained us to be able to do those things.  It is the LORD who gives us meaningful opportunities to apply those skills so we are able to take care of ourselves.  We need to be reminded regularly that the LORD made us and manages our lives, otherwise we would wrongly conclude that we can leave God out of our lives because we can take care of ourselves. We need to be reminded regularly that the LORD needs to continue to manage the universe, which includes our lives, otherwise things will not work very well for us. The LORD has turned on His light in our lives.  We understand all of this.  That is why we can join the Psalm writer in praying:{8} “Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You.”  

   2 There are some things we can’t take care of on our own.   We can’t get rid of a troubled conscience on our own.   We can’t get rid of our innate fear of a holy God and the punishment we deserve because of our sins on our own.  If we would try to handle those things on our own, we would have to join the Psalm writer in saying, {4}“My spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.  We need to be reminded regularly that the Lord loves us by washing away our sins in the blood of Christ, shed on the cross for us.  We need to be reminded regularly that the punishment we deserve because of our sins no longer threatens us because Jesus suffered it for us.  We need to be reminded regularly that the LORD’s love and forgiveness don’t run out or wear out, so that we can continue to trust in Him to provide us with all the blessings in this life and  those irreplaceable blessings for our spiritual lives. The LORD has turned on His light in our lives.  We understand all of this.  That is why we can join the Psalm writer in praying:: “Let the morning bring me word of Your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in You.”   

 LORD, thanks for getting me out of the dark when it comes to taking care of myself.         

IIIA1 Third question for this morning is, “What is good for us?”  Is it good to touch a hot stove, smart off to a bigger kid, have a reliable, safe, efficient car, have a secure, challenging, secure job, and enjoy pleasurable activity? 

   2 There are two things in common in all the areas I just mentioned.  One is feelings.  It doesn’t feel good to get burned or get hit by a bigger kid.  It does feel good to have reliable transportation, a secure professional life, and to be involved in pleasurable activities.  

   3 The other is emphasis on self.  The primary concern in experiencing something, doing something, having something is how does it make me feel.  There is no reference to anybody else. 

  B1 What is good for us?  Probably the best source for an answer to that question would be the Person who made us.  The Person who set up our psyche, our emotions.  He knows what will make those emotions and that psyche feel fulfilled.  Interestingly enough, what He tells us is good for us isn’t what we would determine on our own for ourselves.  

  2 God says the reference point should always be others.  Will my actions and words hurt others physically or emotionally?  Will my words and actions benefit, provide for, preserve something for, provide safety for, provide pleasure for, or give good feelings to somebody else? 

  C1 Why does God not leave us in the dark about what is good for us?   Because He wants our lives to be stable.  Jesus quote is: "I give you life in abundance."  The Psalm writer says that in picturesque language: "The LORD would like to lead us to walk our lives on level ground."  If our day to day experience is based on our feelings, we are going to be on a roller coaster, up one day and down the next.  If our life is based on what makes me feel good, I will be frantically searching for that all the time.  But, if our view of life is based on our Spirit led determination to do the Lord’s will, then we will have the fulfillment, satisfaction, and stability of knowing that we with the Spirit’s help have attempted to do what God wants us to do.  

  2 On our own we would say, “LORD, I don’t know what’s good for me." But the LORD has turned on His light in our lives.   So we also join the Psalm writer in saying: 7 Answer me quickly, O LORD; do not hide Your face from me.  10 Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; may Your good Spirit lead me on level ground. 

LORD, thanks for getting me out of the dark when it comes to knowing what is good for me. 

March 5, 2023

CWA Old Testament Lesson Lent 2  -  Kieth Bernard Kuschel

                                   Genesis 12:1-8

1  The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.  2 “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you,  and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”  4 So Abram went, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran. 5 He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.  6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. At that time the Canaanites were in the land. 7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him.  8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.

IA1 As recorded in Genesis 11 Abram, his father Terah, his nephew Lot and his wife Sarai had left their home in Ur and settled in Haran 600 miles to the northwest.  Ur would be in Iraq today.  Haran would be in Syria which we are hearing about all the time now.  Then Abram, his wife, and his nephew moved again.  This time 500 miles to the southwest into what is today Israel. 

   2 Why did he move?  God told him to.  1 The LORD had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. Why?  Because according to Joshua 24 the forefathers of the Israelites worshiped other gods when they lived beyond the Euphrates River.   We also know that Terah worshiped the true God since Abram sent for a believing wife for his son Isaac later on.  So, we have to conclude that the problem was a willingness to mix in falsehood about God with the truth about God.  

   3 Why did God tell him to leave?  When a person is living in familiar surroundings with people you know, you tend to just go along with everything that everybody is doing.  In this case, it was in regard to the truth.  Cousin such and such believes this.  So it must be OK.  Our good friend such and such believes that.  So it must be OK.  I tolerate everything.  It affects me.  God told Abram: “Leave.  Get out of there.  If you hang around there much longer, pretty soon you won’t be able to tell what the truth is and what is not the truth.”  Abram left.  

 B1 God tells us to leave.  He tells us to leave when we are being subjected to teachings contrary to His Word.  But we like to play superman and superwoman. “O come on, Lord. I am not that weak.  I know Your truth.  Nobody is going to get me to back off from Your truth.  I know false teachings when I hear them.  I can put myself in any circumstance.  I can let myself be inundated by anything and still come out smelling like a rose.”

   2 You know how God responds?  “I told you to leave.” “Watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned.  Keep away from them.”(Rom 16:17)    Teachings influence people.  False teachings influence people.  The devil uses false teachings to divert people from Jesus.  God says, “LEAVE.  Your presence where false teachings is being tolerated also indicates that you condone it and or even promote it.  God doesn’t want anybody to promote or condone false teaching.  It leads other people away from Jesus.  “LEAVE.”  LORD Jesus, help us to live by faith.  Please lead us to leave as Abram did. 

  C1 God tells us to leave.  He tells us to leave when we are being subjected to temptation to sin. But we like to play superman and superwoman. “O come on, Lord. I am not that weak.  I know Your will.  Nobody is going to get me to fall into sin.  I know temptations when I hear them.  I can put myself in any circumstance.  I can let myself be inundated by all kinds of temptation and still come out smelling like a rose.”

   2 You know how God responds?  “I told you to leave.  “Bad company corrupts good character.” 1 Cor 15:33.  “Flee evil desires of youth.” 2 Tim 2:22  We are constantly bombarded by the devil, our sinful desires, and the sinful people around us with temptations to sin.  We are incapable on our own of withstanding those attacks.  We can’t ever get away from the sinful desires within us, but we can flee from circumstances that fuel our sinful desires.  We can’t get away from the devil, but we can get away from the people whom the devil uses to tempt us to sin.  God says: “LEAVE.”  LORD Jesus, help us to live by faith. Please lead us to leave as Abram did. 

IIA1 When God told Abram to leave, He gave Abram a whole string of promises.  “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”(3)  The repetition of the promise gives us more detail.  “Through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” (Gen 22:18) Abram’s offspring would provide a blessing that would benefit everybody everywhere throughout the history of the world.   Jesus of Nazareth was the offspring of Abram.  Through His life, death, and resurrection, He provided all people everywhere throughout history forgiveness, righteousness and eternal life.  That’s what this part of the promise is about.  

   2 “I will make you into a great nation.”(2) Abram and Sarai were childless.  Hardly a good start at being a great nation.  Much later in Egypt their descendants became numerous.  Later under David and Solomon they became powerful and influential.   “I will bless you.” (2) Abram was one of the richest men in the area.  “I will make your name great.” (2)Abram became famous. He still is.  People descended from David make sure you know it.  It’s a matter of pride.  Anybody who studies the Bible or the Koran knows who Abram was.  “You will be a blessing.”(2) God used Abram to provide benefits for people throughout his life.  Abram left.  That indicates he believed the promises of God.  He lived by faith.  

 B1 God gives us a whole string of promises.  He promises to forgive our sins because of Jesus’ death.  He promises to take away our deserved punishment because Jesus suffered it for us.  He promises to cover us with the holiness which Jesus lived for us.  He promises that He will give us the eternal life which Jesus won by His resurrection.  We get up every day confident that we are acceptable to God because of Jesus.  Confident that we will remain acceptable to Him. Confident that we will spend eternity with the LORD because of Jesus.  Why?  Because the LORD had led us to believe His promises as Abram did.   

  2 God promises us that He is going to be with us all the time in this world.  He promises to give us the strength we need to handle all the difficulties in our lives.  He promises to give us the direction that we need to make right decisions in our lives.  He promises to turn even the worst of circumstances in our lives to something beneficial for our relationship with Him.  We get up every day confident that we are not alone.  Confident that our problems won’t overwhelm us.  Confident that we will make the right decisions.  Confident that we will stay close to Jesus.  Why?  Because the LORD had led us to believe His promises as Abram did.  

  3 God promises that He is going to use us to accomplish His work.  He promises that His Word which we speak will bring others to trust in Him.  He promises that our godliness will direct others to Him.  He promises that our action will do for others what they need.  We get up every day confident that we can speak Law and Gospel to people when called upon to do so.  Confident that we will live our godliness as a witness to Jesus.  Confident that we will make use of opportunities to love others as the Lord places them before us. Why?   Because the LORD had led us to believe His promises as Abram did.  LORD Jesus, help us to live by faith.  Please lead us to continue to believe your promises.

IIIA1 Twice in the last two sentences we have similar comments.   6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem. So he built an altar there to the LORD, who had appeared to him. ........ 8 From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the LORD and called on the name of the LORD.  Another phrase is significant.  At that time the Canaanites were in the land.  Abram and his people were not alone.  When he did things, people who were already there were watching.  

   2 What tendency would a newcomer have in a situation like that?  To go along with the customs and practices of the people who were already there.  Don’t want to be weird.  Don’t want people to look at me funny.  Do whatever the Canaanites did just to fit in.  Abram didn’t do that in spiritual matters.  He had a different God.  He approached God in a different way.  He had different directions from His God than they did from theirs.  So, he on his own built altars to the LORD and worshiped only Him.  

  B1 Christians are a minority in any society in our world today including here in the United States.  That means we are significantly different from the people around us.   Our being different automatically calls attention to ourselves.  That is a good thing.  People are watching us.    That is a good thing.  When we take time every week to worship Jesus, people notice because not many people do that.  It indicates to others how important Jesus is to us.  

   2 Christians are a minority in any society in our world today including here in the United States.  That means we are surrounded by all kinds of other views of spirituality as Abram was in Canaan.     We are tempted to go along with the beliefs and customs and practices of the people around us.  Don’t want to be weird.  Don’t want people to look at me funny.  Do whatever everybody else does just to fit in.  

   C1 But we don’t.  Why not?  We have a different God.  We worship the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit God.  We worship Jesus of Nazareth who is really God and also really human and lived and died and rose to give us forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life.   We believe He is the only God who exists.  We only worship Him. Nobody else.  Not to be snobbish.  Not to be condescending.  Out of love.  We want others to know who the true God is.  

    2 We don’t do what everybody else does just to fit in.  Why not?  We approach our God in a totally different way than they do.  We don’t approach God because we “have done our best to do our duty to God to keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.”  We are sinners.  That approach would never work.  We don’t have a relationship with God because we have made an intellectual decision to let Him into our lives.  We are by nature dead.  We don’t have the ability to make that kind of a decision on our own.   We don’t approach God on the basis of some mandated spiritual activity.  That doesn’t work.  All our outwardly righteous acts are tainted with sin.   We can only approach God and have a relationship with Him because of Jesus.  We can’t be dishonest and act as if we are approaching God in the same way that others do.  So, we will build our own altar and worship Jesus.   Not to be snobbish.  Not to be condescending.  Out of love.  We want others to know that Jesus is the only way to be right with God.   

   3 We don’t do what everybody else does just to fit in.  Why not?  Because our God has given us directions and perspectives about life that are totally different from what everybody else thinks and does.  So we insist on only doing things God’s way.  Not to be snobbish.  Not to be condescending.  Out of love.  We want others to know that only if we continue in Jesus’ teachings are we really His disciples.   LORD Jesus, help us to live by faith.  Please lead us to continue to only worship You.      

February 26, 2023

CWA- Lent 1 - Free Text - Epistle  - Kieth Bernard Kuschel

                        2 Corinthians 11:14 -15

Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.  

IA1 If you were to ask the man on the street, “What is life about?”, what would he say?   “Life is about what I can see and touch and enjoy and experience right now.  Life is about the people I have relationships with.”  Notice anything missing?  Nothing about the supernatural.  Nothing about God.

   2 If you were to ask the man on the street, “What do you think about the devil?”, what would he say?  “You mean the little guy in the red suit with a pitchfork? I don’t think about him at all.  I don’t believe there is such a being.  I think he is a leftover from people who lived many years ago who were ignorant about a lot of things.”  What’s the point of this survey of the man on the street’s opinion?  We are influenced by what people around us believe. 

  B1 Jesus conquered every temptation which Satan threw at Him.  We had three examples of that in the Gospel lesson for today.  He did that as our Substitute.  He takes the holiness that He lived by conquering Satan’s temptations and covers us with it.  That is what makes us acceptable to God.  “Through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.”(Rom 5:19)

  2 Jesus died as punishment for our sins.  But then He rose.  What does that mean?  It means that the devil can’t end our existence with death as a consequence of our sins as he wants to.  “Jesus shared in our humanity so that by His death He might destoy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil (Hebr 2:14).  

  3 The risen Jesus lives in us.  He empowers us to live our lives His way.  We can say “No,” to Satan.  Because of that “God will crush Satan under our feet.”(Rom 16:20) Why review that Jesus “appeared to destroy the devil’s work”? (I John 3:8) Because that shapes how we think. 

 C1 The devil doesn’t exist.  The devil has been conquered.  Both of those conclusions could lead to something bad.  What?  An attitude which says, “The devil is not a problem.  I don’t need to worry about him.”  I get how the first one could be bad.  But you mean you are telling me Satan could use the truths of the Scripture about Jesus to produce something bad in my life?  Exactly.  Isn’t that what he tried to use with Jesus in the Gospel lesson? 

   2 If you ever catch yourself concluding that the devil is not a problem, please read 1 Pet 5:8.  Be self-controlled and alert.  Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.  Resist him, standing firm in the faith.”  God through Peter wouldn’t have given us that warning if the devil is not a problem.  Paul’s warning to us in the verse before us today is:  Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 

IIA1 A few years ago the bishop of Green Bay, WI, formally invited the pope to visit Green Bay when he comes to the United States.  The Green Bay diocese must have wanted the message of Jesus the Savior to get a big boost in Wisconsin so they invited the pope to come. 

   2 Maybe.  The presenting reason for inviting him to the Green Bay diocese was to have his presence validate a miraculous appearance of the Virgin Mary which occurred in a small town in the diocese of Green Bay some years ago.   

  B1 Sometimes it is very difficult in our lives to know what we ought to do next.   I really miss the advice of my parents who have died.  And you know, when I think about them really hard, I get visions of them talking to me.  Like they miraculously appear to me from the dead and give me advice. 

   2 Sometimes the burdens of this life get pretty heavy.  Especially terminal disease.   Even with all our medical advances, technology, drugs and people, no cure seems to be possible.  My friend told me that they get a group together and touch the sick person and call on God to heal people.  And sometimes miracles happen. 

  3 Sometimes I get really down on myself about my relationship with God.  My trust in Him isn’t very strong.  My godliness isn’t very good. I doubt that I am a Christian.    I need something out of the ordinary to convince me that I am a Christian.  Maybe if I could speak in languages that I hadn’t ever learned as the apostles did on Pentecost that would be a miraculous sign from God that I am really a Christian. 

  C1 What is the common thread in all of these scenarios?  Something miraculous.  A miraculous appearance of Mary. A miraculous appearance of dead parents.  A miraculous healing of people’s physical bodies.  A miraculous activity to cure doubt.  There is another common thread in these scenarios.   No emphasis that Christianity is about Jesus.   No mention that Jesus promises to be with us always and take care of us in the future.  No mention that the physical healing of our bodies is not as important as the spiritual healing for our souls which Jesus accomplished.  No mention that Jesus successful work of living and dying and rising to give forgiveness, holiness and eternal life is the only objective basis of our confidence about our relationship with God. 

   2 What is the point of running through these four scenarios?  The point is just because miracles happen doesn’t mean that they come from Jesus.  In fact, if they point people away from Jesus, they can’t be coming from Jesus.  Listen to Jesus, “False prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect - if that were possible.”(Matt 24:24).  Listen to Paul.  2 Thess 2:9 “the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.”  Paul’s warning to us in the verse before us today is:  Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 

IIIA1 In the Old Testament lesson for today we heard Satan talking.  4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.”  That was a direct contradiction of God who had said, “17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”  Satan was lying about the consequences of sin.  

  2 What was this whole contradiction about?   It was about how to have a right relationship with God.  Human creatures had a dependent relationship on the God who created them and everything around them.  Satan who hadn’t been satisfied with his position of lesser authority indicated to the human creatures that they should strive for a peer relationship with God rather than a dependent one.  His words were. 5 “ when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”  Satan was lying about how to have a relationship with God.

  B1 What is our situation when it comes to having a relationship with God?  Our consciences tell us that we do things that make the Giver of the standard of right and wrong upset.  Our actions disrupt our relationship with God.  That conclusion is reinforced when we hear God’s Law as it is given to us in the Bible.  “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” Rom 3:23

   2 Our logical brains easily come up with a solution to this.  We have to fix this problem.  We have to refuse to sin.  We have to always do what is right.  We have to hang out with the right people who will influence to do what is right.  We have to avoid the situations which will lead us to do what is wrong.  We have to train our minds to think God’s thoughts. 

  C1 We are reinforced in that fix it yourself view by the secular moralists of our world who say that humans must make the world a better place in which to live by working hard at doing what is right.  We are also reinforced in the fix it yourself view by all the spiritual and nonChristian religious people in our world who say that humans have to cultivate the good that is in each of us.  Satan loves it.  He was the originator of the idea that humans had to do something to get to have an appropriate relationship with God.  The problem is:  He was and is a liar.       Listen to Paul: "The devil has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."(2 Cor 4:4)

   2 Jesus is the only one who can make us right with God.  He does that by washing away our sins in His blood, by covering us with His righteousness and by making that relationship with God permanent by giving us eternal life because of His resurrection.  Paul’s warning to us today is: It is not surprising, then, if the devil’s servants masquerade as servants of righteousness.   

   Prayer: LORD Jesus, thanks for reminding me that Satan is a problem,/ that not all miracles come from You,/ and that Satan lies about how I get to be right with You

February 19, 2023

CWA- O T Lesson - Transfiguration Sunday -  KB Kuschel

Exodus 24: 12, 15-18

12  The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”  15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

IA1 Three months before our text occurred, Israel had left Egypt after the firstborn of the Egyptians were all killed.  Then they had walked through the Red Sea. God had provided them with miracles to give them water, manna and quail. 

   2 Now they were at Mt Sinai.  There God told them that they were His special people.  He made His presence obvious to them with thunder, lightning, a thick cloud and a trumpet blast.  He gave them the ten commandments, laws about worship, about slaves and workers, about personal injury, protection of property, social responsibility, justice and mercy and the three major annual festivals.  Then He called Moses into His presence to receive the written form of His commands.  24:12  The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”   

  B1 Where do we get direction for our lives?   Sometimes the direction comes from inside us.  Based on the bad stuff that happened the last time we did whatever it was we are thinking about doing, we decide not to do it.  Based on the positive results that happened the last time we did whatever it was we are thinking about doing, we decide to do it.  Based on the negative feeling we have when we think about doing something, we don’t do it.  Based on the good feeling we have when we think about doing something, we do it.  Some of the direction in our lives comes from our consciences.  

    2 There is a potential problem here.  We can do the opposite of what our consciences tell us to do or to avoid.  And we can make our consciences not work so well anymore by doing the opposite of what our consciences tell us to do.  If that is the case, where are we to go to get correct direction for our lives?  The LORD says to us as He said to Moses, “ “Come up to me and stay here, and I will give you..... the law and commandments I have written for (your) instruction.”  What a blessing it is to be able to go into God’s presence and get direction from someone who loves us and who gives us directions through which we are blessed.  

  C1 Where do we get direction for our lives? Sometimes the direction comes from outside of us.   The laws of our land tell us which way to drive on our roads, among other things.  The rules of our household tell us where it is proper to place our clothes when we are not using them. The procedures of our place of work tell us what is appropriate or not appropriate for that environment.  Other people give us advice as to what is right or wrong in a given situation.  

   2 There is a potential problem here.  Sometimes the government says something like abortion is legal when God says it is sinful.  Sometimes the household rules allow us to not use God’s Word when God says that is sinful.   Sometimes the work environment expects us to be less than truthful when God says that is sinful.  Our friends, relatives, acquaintances and neighbors often tell us to do what is for our advantage regardless of how it affects others when God says that is sinful.  If that is the case, where are we to go to get correct direction for our lives?  The LORD says to us as He said to Moses, “ “Come up to me and stay here, and I will give you..... the law and commandments I have written for (your) instruction.”  What a blessing it is to be able to go into God’s presence and get direction from someone who loves us and who gives us directions through which we are blessed.  

  D1 Why can we have the confidence that what God tells us to do in His Law is intended to bless us?  God made humans.  They were perfect.  God made the world.  It was perfect.  God wanted His creatures to have a perfect existence filled with His blessings.  They had that perfect existence as long as they followed God’s directions for life.  

    2 God hasn’t changed.  He still wants our lives to be filled with His blessings.  He knows how we should live in order to access those blessings.  He tells us in His Law how to live to access His blessings.  The problem is, although the LORD hasn’t changed, we have.  We are sinners.  We don’t carry out the LORD’s directions for our lives.  Thus God’s blessings get cut off.  But we ask His help to implement His directions in our lives so that His blessings don’t get cut off.  What a blessing it is for us to hear the Lord say to us: “Come up to me and stay here, and I will give you..... the law and commandments I have written for (your) instruction.”

IIA1 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it.{15}  For six days the cloud covered the mountain,{16}   This cloud was not something new.  Right after they had left Egypt a cloud guided them on their way.  When they were trapped by the Egyptian army against the water, the cloud moved between them and provided a barrier to help them escape.  Now on Mt Sinai they knew what this cloud meant.  Moses tells us what it meant.  {16}The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. 

   2 There was more to see.  {17}A consuming fire on top of the mountain.  This was not anything new either.  Right after they had left Egypt a pillar of fire guided them at night so they could travel on their way also at night.  When they were trapped by the Egyptian army against the water, the pillar of fire moved between them and provided light so that they could see their escape route through the waters of the Red Sea.  Now on Mt Sinai they knew what this consuming fire meant.  Moses tells us what it meant. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.  

  B1 What conclusions did God want them and us  to draw from this cloud?  A cloud hides.  God is a spiritual creature.  Humans are physical creatures.  The difference is so big that we can’t begin to understand Him.  He is hidden from us   He has to tell us about Himself, if we are to know anything about Him.  

   2 What conclusions did God want them and us  to draw from this consuming fire?  Fire burns up and destroys.  He had told them not to approach Mt Sinai or they would die.  He had displayed His destructive power through the plagues in Egypt.  He had done the same when He let the water drown the Egyptian army.  God has the power to destroy. 

  C1 This hidden God who has the power to destroy on the seventh day ........ called to Moses from within the cloud.  What did He says to Moses?  “Come here, Moses.”  How do I know that? Because of verse  18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.  Who was this Moses who got this invitation?  This was the man who murdered an Egyptian.  The man who tried to talk God out of giving him his job.  This was the man God invited to come through the cloud that hid Him from people.

  2 This Moses was allowed to stay in God’s presence.  The fire didn’t consume him.  God’s anger over Moses’ murder and his refusal to shoulder his responsibility earlier in his life didn’t burn him up.  The power which He had used to destroy in Egypt and at the Red Sea wasn’t used against Moses.  The same hidden God who is a consuming fire invites humans into His presence and lets them stay there.   

  D1 Things haven’t changed.  The cloud hasn’t left.  On our own we humans don’t understand who God is or what He is like.  We just don’t get spiritual things.  The only thing we on our own know for sure about God is that we don’t know much for sure about God.  

   2 The consuming fire hasn’t left.  Our consciences tell us that we are guilty and deserve God’s punishment.  He still threatens to punish sin with physical death and separation from Him.  

   3 But He still invites us into His presence.  He says to us what He said to Moses: “Come here and be with me.”  And He allows us to come and stay.  Why can He do that?  He has taken our sins and put them on Jesus.  Jesus took them to the cross, shed His blood and washes them away.  Why can He do that?  He has taken the holiness, which Jesus lived as our Substitute and covers us with it.  We are acceptable to Him.  Can stand right next to Him on His mountain.  Jesus rose from the dead.  We can stay there forever. 

  E1 The glory of the LORD.   That means “the reason God deserves us to say, ‘God is great and God is good.’” He deserves to be praised because He is way beyond our comprehension as if hidden by a cloud.   He deserves our praise for defining and enforcing what is right and wrong - He is a consuming fire.  

   2 But the primary reason we say, “God is great and God is good,” is because He invites us into His presence and makes it possible through Jesus our Savior for us to stay there.  The biggest reason we praise God is He is our Savior who gives us forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life and allows us to belong to Him.  The glory of the Lord - it’s the Gospel - the good news about Jesus.  

 3 That’s what Transfiguration Sunday is about, isn’t it.  The hidden God of whom we are terrified because of our sins who showed  Himself to Moses, Elijah, His disciples and us in all His glory - in His power as God and with His resolve to go to Jerusalem to die and rise so we might have eternal life.  LORD Jesus, thank You for letting us come into Your presence to see Your glory.  

February 12, 2023

CWA Epiphany 6 Supplemental - Epistle Lesson(Partial)

 K B Kuschel

I Thessalonians 4: 11-12

11 Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your hands, just as we told you, 12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.

      How do I win respect from other people?  Win a Super bowl.  Be a Super Bowl MVP.  Today

St Paul reminds us that there are other ways to win respect.  

IA1 The Thessalonian Christians seemingly had a fixation about Jesus’ second coming.  That’s all they thought about.  That’s all they talked about.  When other people saw them coming, they said, “Here come those fanatics.  Let’s try to avoid them.”

   2 Paul’s advice is: “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.”{11}  Literally the words say, “Get all excited about being quiet.”  In other words, “Stop being fanatics.  Don’t become obnoxious to others when speaking about what you believe.”  

   3 Paul’s advice is “Win respect by leading a quiet life. Live your life, acknowledging that Jesus could return today.  If others ask you about Jesus’ return, tell them He could come today.  Tell them that the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ assumes a second coming of Jesus to judge the world.  But don’t be a fanatic or obnoxious about it.”

  B1 Why is that good advice for us Christians today?  Well, how do people react to somebody whom they consider to be a fanatic or obnoxious about an issue?   They avoid us.  If they can’t physically avoid us, they  tune us out as soon as we start talking.  Why is that bad?  Because our purpose in the world is to share words about Jesus with others.  If they tune us out, we can’t do what we are supposed to be doing.   

   2 “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life.”  Quietly live a godly life on a daily basis.  If somebody asks you about eternity, tell them that yours is secure because of Jesus.  If somebody asks you about Jesus, tell them He lived and died and rose so all of us can have forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life.   Quietly be active in your congregation as it shares Jesus with others.  Quietly give 10% of your income to preach the Gospel in this community and throughout the world.   But don’t get the reputation of being a fanatic, or someone who is obnoxious about pushing what you believe on others.  

  3 This verse reminds me of an ad on TV many years ago.  When EF Hutton, the quiet company talks, everybody listens.    Be a quiet person.  Don’t be a motor mouth. Don’t have hoof-in mouth.  Only speak when you have something meaningful to say.  Don’t get fanatic about every little thing that comes along.  Then people will listen to you.  When we speak the gospel, we need listeners.  Don’t turn listeners away by being a fanatic or obnoxious. Win their respect by leading a quiet life.    

IA1 How would the Thessalonian Christians respond when others didn’t share their fanaticism?  They would probe and push and prod.  Paul’s advice is: “Mind your own business.” {11}

   2 Why that advice?  What do people do with others who don’t mind their own business?  They get very defensive.  They build walls around themselves so that the people who aren’t minding their own business can’t get in.  

   B1 Mind your own business.  What is our business?  Jesus told us.  “Continue in my word," He said.

{John 8:31}  Our business is to know the Word of God.   Use it in worship, in Bible class, in Sunday School, in & for Catechism class, and  in your family unit.  Read it.   Then we are minding our business. 

  2 What is our business?  Jesus told us.  “Love your neighbor,”(Matt 22:39) He said.    We safeguard our neighbor’s reputation, his financial well-being, his sexual purity, and his physical well-being.  We support him financially, physically, and emotionally. That’s minding our business.  

  3 What is our business?  Jesus told us.  “Give thanks in all circumstances.”(1 Thess 5:18)  To the LORD for all He has done for us.  By attempting to follow His will.  To people who have benefited us.  By doing good to them.   That is minding our business.   

  4 What is our business?  Jesus told us.  “Be my witnesses.”(Acts :8)  Tell people Jesus is God and Man in One person.  Tell people that Jesus died to wash away their sins.  Tell them that Jesus lived a holy life so He could cover them with His holiness.  Tell them that Jesus rose from the dead so that they might live forever.  That is minding our business.  

  C1 When we don’t probe and prod and push, people might feel comfortable around us.  When people have not built a defensive wall around themselves against us, they might take us into their confidence in time of need or seek our advice in a time of uncertainty.  

   2 When people are led by their daily contacts with us to realize that we know the Bible, that we attempt to be helpful to people, that we are filled with thankfulness to our LORD, and that we have a relationship with Jesus, even if they don’t agree with what we believe, they will respect us.  In other words, we will have won their respect by minding our own business.

IIIA1 The Thessalonian Christians had such a fixation about Jesus’ second coming, that some of them quit their jobs to wait for Jesus.   As the days passed, they became dependent on the support of other Christians for food, clothing, shelter and other needs.  Soon  they expected the less fanatic Christians, who were still working, to take care of all their physical needs.

   2 Paul’s advice is: “Work with your hands, so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”   Working with one’s hands to provide for oneself is one of the God approved ways to attain the necessities of life.  Choosing to be dependent on others risks the resentment of others.  Choosing to be dependent on others tells outsiders that Christians consider themselves to be special and deserving of special treatment by ordinary people.   That condescension from Christians is a hindrance to the acceptance of the Gospel of Jesus Christ by outsiders.   

  B1 “Work with your hands, so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”     God has given us jobs by which we can earn money to provide for ourselves and our dependents the necessities of life.  When we work hard at those jobs and are thus able to provide for ourselves, we are doing something that pleases God. 

   2 “Work with your hands, so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”    When we do that, we will avoid the resentment of people who would be forced to take care of people who should be taking care of ourselves.  When we do that, we are not going to be viewed as religious parasites.  Christians ought to be viewed as people who have something to give to the world, the message of Jesus Christ, rather than people we are always looking for handouts from the world.  

  3 What kind of reputation does we have in our community?  Are we viewed as people with our hands out always trying to give somebody something?  Or are we looked at as people with our hands out always asking the community to give to us?  “Work with your hands, so that you will not be dependent on anybody.”    When we work hard at our jobs, and  give 10% of our income to the LORD, then we don’t have to have our hands out and be dependent on others to shoulder the financial aspect of preaching the Gospel.   That will win the respect of outsiders.  

  Conc.  You don’t have to be famous to win respect of people who don’t know you.  Just quietly and independently go about minding your own business.  

February 5, 2023

CWA - OT Lesson Supplemental  - Epiphany 5 -  KBKuschel

                                  Joshua 24:14- 24

14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. 15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”   16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods! 17 It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the LORD, because he is our God.”  19 Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the LORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. 20 If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”  21 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the LORD.”  22 Then Joshua said, “You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen to serve the LORD.”   “Yes, we are witnesses,” they replied.  23 “Now then,” said Joshua, “throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Israel.”  24 And the people said to Joshua, “We will serve the LORD our God and obey him.”

Intro

Why has God given you family?

Blessing to you.

Opportunity to exercise responsibility.

Opportunity to practice love

How about: As a platform from which to show Jesus to others

IA1 15“As for me and my household we will serve the LORD.”  Joshua spoke those words.  He spoke them to the assembled leaders of Israel.  He spoke them as a farewell speech. He had been their leader for a long time. He had moved them into the land of Canaan.  He had helped them conquer everybody in sight.  He had led them as they overcame walled cities.  He had led them to settle into the land.  They were now farming their own land, living in their own cities and eating from their own vineyards and olive groves.

    2    14 “Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt.” . 15 or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. These two references remind us that the Israelites had some other gods which they might have chosen to worship.  They had some real skeletons in their history closet.  Some of their ancestors had built the tower of Babel.    Some of them had worshiped the gods in Egypt.  Some of them had worshiped the god Wealth by refusing to dedicate war booty to the LORD.  Some of them had gotten involved with the local gods of the Amorites, the people of Palestine, gods called Baal and Astarte.  There were many other gods besides the LORD for people to serve.  

     B1 “As for me and my household we will serve the LORD.”   We have lots of choices today too, don’t we?   What god are we serving?  The god of the tower of Babel is still around.  Is the god named My Career Advancement?  Are all the decisions made in your family related to the career advancement of the adults?  Is the goal of the family to educate the children in the best way possible so they can have the best careers?   Are all the activities that we are involved in intended to make it possible for the members of the family to get or keep what we would consider to be the most desirable careers?  

   2   The god of Achan is still around.  Is the god your household serves called Standard of Living?  Is a primary topic of discussion amongst the family what you have or what

you want to get?  Is the level of compensation and fringe benefits the thing you focus on when discussing profession or career?  Is the size and location of your home very

important to you?  How about the style or make of automobile? 

   3 The  god of wanting to be back in Egypt is still around.  Is the god your family serves called Pleasure?  Do you work hard at your job so that you can have enough resources to do whatever you want to do?   Do you schedule your life around things that the members of your family enjoy?  Is it really important for the members of the family to get good at something that they enjoy so that they can get the most out of life?

   4 The gods Baal and Astarte are still around.   What really grabs our attention in advertising?  What snags you so that you watch the TV news?   What is on the front cover of the magazines at the grocery checkout place?   What always seems to be a major part of  TV or movie presentations?   If sexuality is such a focus of so much of our attention, what god are we serving? 

   C1 Jesus said to us: “You are lights of the world.”(Mt 5:14)   He could have said the same thing in these words:  “The world, in other words all the people in the world, are to see Me by watching you.”   Or He could have said, “You are epiphanies of Me.  You show Me to other people.”

     2 If people spent some time in our families, would they see who our God is?  Is our god Self,  Resources, Enjoyment, Sexuality, or is our God Jesus?   

IIA1 Why was the LORD Joshua’s God?  Well, God had taken the initiative.  He had picked out Abraham to be the father of a people from whom the Savior was to come.  Joshua was a descendant of Abraham.  Had Abraham deserved that choice from God?  Not if we assume that he was included in the ancestors who worshiped other gods beyond the Euphrates River.  Choice must have been based on who God is.  The God of grace.  

   2 Why was the LORD Joshua’s God?  Well, there was a lot of time in between Abraham and Joshua.  Maybe 600 years.   God had seen to it that His truth was preserved by people like Isaac and Jacob and Judah so that Joshua was aware of who the LORD was.   Did Isaac the one who played favorites and Jacob the deceiver and Judah who got in some really messy situations deserve to be carriers of the promise of the Savior?  Obviously not.  It happened because God loves people who don’t deserve it.  

  3 Why was the LORD Joshua’s God?  It sounds as if there was the danger of adopting the gods of Egypt when Israel was there for 400 years.   But God saw to it that a physical, social and thus spiritual separation existed between the descendants of Jacob and the Egyptians so that didn’t happen.  It happened because God loved them. 

  4 Why was the LORD Joshua’s God?  Because God had decided His people had spent enough time in Egypt, sent Moses in, and forced the Pharaoh’s hand through the miraculous activities which damaged Egypt considerably to allow his free labor to leave, so that they might once again exercise their relationship with Him.  Why?  He loved them.

  5 Why was the LORD Joshua’s God?  Because God hadn’t let all the people who were his ancestors die during their forty years traveling to the land of Canaan.  No normal source of food and water should have meant extinction and no Joshua.  But daily manna and quail from God’s hand solved that.    No trained army should have meant extinction at the hands of the nations through which they traveled.  That didn’t happen either.   

  6 Why was the LORD Joshua’s God?  Because He had kept His promise and allowed them to overcome those living in Canaan even though they were more powerful, had more military experience and lived in walled cities.  These are the words of the text.  17 It was the LORD our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the LORD drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. That is why the LORD was Joshua’s God.  Because God did all that.  

  B1 Why is Jesus our God?  Because God took the initiative.  He picked us out to be His sons and daughters.  Was it because we had such a good track record of seeking Him?  Based on our previous look at all the gods we struggle to excise from our lives, it would not appear so.  His choice must have been just based on who He is.  The God of grace.  

  2   Why is Jesus our God?  Because God saw to it that we had ancestors who were believers in Him as their Savior.  Because God saw to it that we had parents who applied the Gospel to our lives through Word and Baptism.  

   3 Why is Jesus our God?  Because God washed away our sins in the blood of Jesus.  Because God covered us with the holiness of Jesus.  Because  God gives us a relationship that will never stop because of the resurrection of Jesus.  

  4 Why is Jesus our God?  Because Jesus did miracles to prove to us that He is God.  Because Jesus did the miracle of convincing us that He is God and Man at the same time and thus could be our Savior.  

  5 Why is Jesus our God?  Because Jesus continues to live in our hearts as He comes to us through word and Sacrament, thus keeping us trusting that He is our Savior from sin.  Because Jesus continues to live in our hearts as He comes to us through word and Sacrament, thus keeping us motivated to live our lives His way so that we don’t divorce ourselves from Him .  

  6 Why is Jesus our God?  Because Jesus conquered the devil so that he can’t control our lives and can’t commandeer our eternity.  Because Jesus conquers our spiritual enemies who ridicule us and try to badger us to give up Jesus.  That is why Jesus is our God.  Because God did and does all that. 

   C1 Jesus said to us: “You are lights of the world.”   He could have said the same thing in these words:  “The world, in other words all the people in the world, are to see Me by watching you.”   Or He could have said, “You are epiphanies of Me.  You show Me to other people.”

1. If people spent some time in our families, would they hear about all that God has done for us?  Would they then understand why Jesus is our God?

 IIIA1  14 “Now fear the LORD and serve him,” Joshua told the people.  Fear is an attitude.  Fear says, “I know God’s place and I know my place.”  God is in charge.  He is way above me.  He can do anything.  I can’t.  He can punish.  I can be punished.  He can save.   I can be saved.  

   2    Serve is an action word. To serve means you will not merely acknowledge the existence of god.  You will not just be passive recipients of the Lord’s blessings.  You  and your household are going to be doing some action. 

  B2 What actions constitute service to the LORD?  We serve the LORD when we do what He tells us to do.  In order to determine how we as a household serve the LORD, we should first of all ask the question “What is God’s goal for  individuals and families?”  Answer is: “God wants all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.”  So anything that we do which helps anybody come to a knowledge of the truth and be saved is service to the LORD. 

    3 What would you as a household do to try to make sure that every member of the household has come to a knowledge of the truth?  Use the truth regularly.  Your household is going to be serving the LORD when you read age appropriate “Bible books” with your children.  Your household is going to be serving the LORD when you have some program of devotional practice or Scripture study going on as a group or as individual members of the family.   Your household is going to participate weekly with your congregational family as it uses God’s Truth.  Your household members would then be equipped with God’s truth so that they might share it with other people in our world and others might be brought to know the truth and to trust in Jesus the Savior.   

   4 We serve God when we do what He tells us to do.  He tells us to obey, respect, take care of, protect, honor, supply and speak well of others.  He tells us we are to use our assets, our words and our actions to benefit others.  That sounds as if we are serving others.  I thought we were talking about serving God.  Jesus said when we live our lives the way God wants us to, we will lead others to praise our Father in heaven.  When we lead our family members or people outside our families to praise our Father in heaven, they have been led either to have their knowledge of the truth about God reinforced or they have been led to acknowledge the truth about God.  That is serving God.  

   C1 Jesus said to us: “You are lights of the world.”   He could have said the same thing in these words:  “The world, in other words all the people in the world, are to see Me by watching you.”   Or He could have said, “You are epiphanies of Me.  You show Me to other people.”

     2 If people spent some time in our families, would our service to the LORD be obvious to them?

Conc:  LORD JESUS, thank You for giving me my family.  Please help us as a family to be an epiphany of You to anybody who visits us.   

January 29, 2023

CWA Gospel Lesson - Epiphany 4 –- Kieth Bernard Kuschel

Matthew 5:1-12

1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn,  for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 

IA Jesus was talking to His disciples in this section.  He was not saying, “Be like this in order to become a Christian.”  He was saying, “Because you are a Christian, you are like this.”  Jesus was teaching, using paradoxes.  Seemingly contradictory statements which lead us to look beneath the surface of the statement to understand Jesus’ point.    

  B1 What are we like?  “Poor in spirit.” A poor person is one who is without the necessities of life.  A person who is poor in spirit is one who acknowledges that he or she is lacking what is necessary to make oneself right with God.  We Christians don’t constantly rehearse all the wonderful, moral, godly things we do.  Why not?  Because we know that they won’t make us acceptable to God.   Only perfection makes us acceptable to God.  We don’t and can’t produce perfection.  Therefore, we acknowledge that we are lacking in the spiritual area of life.  We are poor in spirit.  Since we are poor in spirit, we don’t focus other people’s attention on us. We  focus them on the solution to our spiritual poverty.  That solution is Jesus.  Poor in spirit people show Jesus to others.

   2 What are we like? “Mourners.”   We are sad because our sins make us unworthy of God. We are sad because we continue to do things that are displeasing to a God who has lived and died and risen to give us forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life.  We are sad because of the problems in our lives as a result of our sins.  We are sad because of all the problems in the world because of sin.  Sadness isn’t a very attractive characteristic.  So we don’t tell people to learn as much as they can about us.  We tell people to learn as much as they can about Jesus.  He takes away the cause of our sadness.  Mourners show Jesus to others.  

  3 What are we like?   “Meek.”   We work as hard as we can to get a 4.0 in school, but we feel embarrassed when it gets put in the school district’s communique to the community.  We are starting wide receivers and score a lot of receiving touchdowns but we don’t ever do a touchdown dance.  We are financially well-off but we live in a modest home and drive an ordinary automobile.  Why?  Because we realize that we are blessed by Jesus with intelligence, athletic ability and financial success.  We are not in this world to call attention to ourselves.  Meek people show Jesus to others. 

   4 What are we like?  We “hunger and thirst for righteousness.”  We have an intense desire to be right with God.  Since we are poor in spirit,  we can’t make ourselves right with God.  We have been led to believe that God gives us the righteousness which Jesus of Nazareth lived for us as our Substitute.   We realize that God clothes us with that righteousness through tools.  His Word and the Holy Supper.  So we have an intense desire to use God’s Word and to participate in the Supper.  That intensity points people to Jesus.  Our hunger and thirst for righteousness show Jesus to others.  

  5 What are we like? “Merciful.”  We are kind to others even if they can’t ever repay us.  We are kind to others because we know how it feels to be in need of kindness.  We are kind to others because we know by personal experience how difficult life becomes when it is filled with problems and concerns.  We work hard at not just looking out for ourselves.  We live that way because that is the way Jesus treats us.  When we are asked why we are like that, we mention that is how Jesus treats us.  Merciful people show Jesus to others.  

  6 What are we like?  “Pure in heart.”  We know that our actions and words are driven by our thoughts and emotions.  We actively avoid places, presentations and people who will make our thoughts and emotions impure.   We don’t want to selfishly and sinfully destroy our relationship with Jesus and other people.   The pure in heart show Jesus to others.

   7 What are we like?  “Peacemakers.” .  We attempt to bring people to repent of their sins.

We attempt to deliver to people the forgiveness of sins won by Jesus by His death on the cross.  That brings peace to individuals.  We attempt to solve differences between people by leading them to repent to each other and forgive each other.  That brings peace to people.  Peacemakers show Jesus to others.  

   8 What are we like? “Persecuted because of righteousness.”   Ridiculed and maybe even attacked for insisting that Jesus is the only source of righteousness.  Ridiculed and maybe even attacked for insisting that Jesus’ way of doing things is the right way of doing things.  People persecuted because of righteousness show Jesus to others.   

IIA What are we like?  We are “blessed.”   A blessing is something beneficial.  A blessing is something that gives us joy.  Some translations don’t translate, “Blessed is.....” in this section.  They translate “Happy is.....” What gives us joy?  With what beneficial things are our lives filled? 

    B With what are we blessed? Jesus says: “Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”  God is active in our lives.  We are comfortable admitting that we are sinners because God is active in our lives through His Law.  We are confident  that  Jesus lived and died and rose to give us forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life because God is active in our lives through the Gospel.  We get up in the morning and are willing to face whatever comes because God is active in our lives through His Word reminding us of His presence.  We look to the future eagerly because God is active in our lives through His Word reminding us of His promises.  We in the kingdom of God show Jesus to others.

   C With what are we blessed? “They will be comforted.”  We are comforted that our sins have been washed away in the blood of Jesus.  We are comforted that we are covered with the holiness of Jesus and thus pleasing to God.  We are comforted that Jesus gives us the strength to go on in life in spite of the problems caused by our sins.  We are comforted that Jesus rules all things and can use the problems in the world caused by sins to accomplish His purposes.  Comforted people show Jesus to others. 

   D With what are we blessed?  “They will inherit the earth.”   We realize that God created the world we live in to nurture us.  We use what Jesus gives us on this earth to take care of our needs as God has directed.  We are content with the amount that the LORD chooses to give us.  We are filled with joy that the entire universe is being managed by Jesus for our benefit.  It all belongs to Him. We are His body.  So it all belongs to us.  Inheritors of the earth show Jesus to others.

   E With what are we blessed?  “They will be filled.”  We know that our lack of holiness has been filled up with the holy life Jesus lived as our Substitute.  We are not driven about wildly trying to achieve our status with God.  We have stability based on God’s gift of Jesus’ righteousness which gives us our right standing with God.  Our fullness shows Jesus to others. 

  F With what are we blessed? “They will be shown mercy.”  We are comfortable being receivers.  We gratefully receive God’s actions for our benefit.  We gratefully receive the forgiveness of sins from Jesus’ death.  We gratefully receive the holiness Jesus lived.   We gratefully receive the eternal life which Jesus won by His resurrection.  That willingness to be receivers is the opposite from humans’ tendency to insist on being accomplishers.  That willingness to be receivers is the result of the Holy Spirit’s work.  Recipients of mercy show Jesus to others.   

   G With what are we blessed?  “We will see God.”  We can’t now.  He isn’t physically present among us.  We will see Him in eternity.  I don’t know how we physical creatures are going to be able to see a nonphysical creature like God.  But God tells us that we will. Besides that Jesus is still the God-Man.  Our confidence that we will see Him tells people that Jesus always keeps His promises.  We who will see God  show Jesus to others. 

   H With what are we blessed?  “They will be called the children of God.”   We are members of

God’s family because of Jesus.  We call each other that.  Other people call us that.  That automatically shows Jesus to others.   

   I With what are we blessed?  “Great is your reward in heaven.  Eternity with the LORD.  A reward given to us not because we earned it but given to us because we are righteous in God’s sight through Jesus.   People in eternity with Jesus because of Jesus show Jesus to others.

   Conc: Jesus made you all epiphanies.  Your character produced in you by the Holy Spirit through God’s Word and your blessedness given to you by the Holy Spirit through God’s Word show Jesus to others.   Thank you Jesus.  Keep the Holy Spirit coming.  Amen.  

January 22, 2023

CWA Epistle Supp - Epiphany 3   - Kieth Bernard Kuschel  

1 John 2:3-11 

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.  7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.  9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. 

IA1 3“We know Him(Jesus),” John wrote.  What does it mean to know something?   I know what the score of the game was.  How did I come to know the score of the game?  Did I read it in the newspaper?  Did somebody tell me the score?  Was I there?  Knowing the score of the game doesn’t tell you if I have had any personal experience which gave me the information about the game.   

   2 I know my neighbor.  Do I recognize my neighbor when I see him in a crowd because he lives next door?  Do I know what my neighbor is like because I interact with him periodically?  Do I know how he thinks because we have a lot of interpersonal contact? Knowing my neighbor doesn’t tell you if I have had much personal experience which gave me information about him. 

  B1 I know Jesus.  What does that mean?    It means I know that the Bible says He is the Word of God who came out of the mouth of God and created all things.  It means I acknowledge that what the Bible says about Him is true.  It means I manage the world around me because He has given it to me and to all other humans as the producer of what I need to live on.  It means I know that the Bible says He sustains all things by His powerful Word.  It means I acknowledge that what the Bible says about Him is true.  It means that I regularly ask Him to keep what He has created operating so that His people can continue to function as His servants in this world.  

   2 I know Jesus. What does that mean?  It means I know that the Bible says He took my sins on Himself, took them to the cross, shed His blood, and washed them away.  It means I acknowledge that what the Bible says about Him is true.   It means I don’t need to try to do things to persuade God to forgive my sins on the basis of me.    It means I know that the Bible says He lived in my place and covered me with His holiness.  It means I acknowledge that what the Bible says about Him is true.  It means I am not constantly working to produce enough good to make myself right with God.  It means I know that the Bible says Jesus rose from the dead to give me eternal life.  It means I acknowledge that what the Bible says about Him is true.  It means I  walk confidently into the future because of His resurrection.  

   3   John put it this way:  3 “We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.”   Knowing Jesus means knowing the facts about Him.  It means believing those facts are true.   It means that the acknowledgment that these things about Jesus are true leads us to do what God commands us to do.  

  C1 What does the Epiphany Season tell us our lives as Christians are all about?  We are to  reflect the light of Jesus to the people around us.  We are to inform them that He is the Creator and Sustainer of all things.  We are to inform them that He is the Substitute who lived and died and rose to provide them with forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life. 

   2 Does anybody see where knowing Jesus fits in?  Knowing the facts about Jesus makes us capable of passing those facts along to someone else just like the score of the game.  Knowing who Jesus is makes us capable of passing along that information to someone else just like passing along knowledge of who your neighbor is.  But when our knowledge of Jesus leads us to manage His world, pray to Him, and trust that He has taken away my sins, covered me with holiness and given me eternal life, then that experienced based transmission about who Jesus is becomes meaningful to others as we reflect Jesus to them.      

IIA1  7 “Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning.”   The command that we are to obey God’s commands is old.  It is as old as the Garden of Eden.  Adam and Eve were to obey the command to not eat of the one tree.  It is as old as the consciences of the human race which tell us what God’s wants and what he doesn’t want.   It is as old as Mt Sinai where God put His commands which were to be obeyed into written form. 

   2   John says, 7b“This old command is the message you have heard.”    From the fact that John calls the first readers of these letters his “dear children” it seems obvious that these were people whom John had worked with closely.  So he knew what they had heard.  He had taught them.  He had taught them God’s Law.  He had taught them that anyone who doesn’t obey God’s commands is a sinner who deserves God’s punishment.  

  B1 And then John sounds like he contradicts himself.  8“Yet I am writing you a new command.”   John had heard something himself just like that.  It sounded like this. John 13:34: A new commandment I give you: Love one another.  As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  35 All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.”   Anybody recognize those words?  That is Jesus talking to His disciples, one of whom was John, in the upper room on Thursday night right before He died.   

   2 What is new about this command to love one another?  Jesus said, “As I have loved you.”  John wrote: 8b“its(the new command’s) truth is seen in him(Jesus).”  In other words, if you really want to know what obedience to God’s Law looks like, you can see it in Jesus.  His obedience was perfect.  What was new?  Jesus’ obedience was done, just recently completed by His life on this earth.  That made newly available the completed, not just promised,  holiness that each of the disciples and we need to be holy in God’s sight.  That is the truth about obedience to God’s commands.  

  C1 What does the Epiphany Season tell us our lives as Christians are all about?  We are to  reflect the light of Jesus to the people around us.  How are we to do that?  Jesus said, Matt 5:16 “Let your light shine before men that they may see (something) and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”  What is the something?  Good deeds.

   2 John wrote: 8b “its(the new command’s) truth is seen in you(us).”  What truth about obedience to God’s commands is new and seen in us?  We don’t strive to produce good deeds to earn our way to heaven. That’s the old sinful self’s view of things.   We strive to keep God’s command to love one another as our thankful response to Jesus’ obedience which covers us.  When people realize why we are striving to obey God’s commands, they don’t praise us for working so hard.  They praise the Father who sent Jesus to be our Savior.  The truth about Jesus’ substitutionary holiness which covers us is seen by us when the Holy Spirit brings us to faith.  It is seen in us when people analyze why we want to obey God’s commands.   Did it every strike any of you that the last two letters in Jesus name are us.  

IIIA1  9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. What is hatred?  John helps us to answer that question in the next chapter: 1 John 3:15 - Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. Hatred is the desire to end somebody’s life.  The desire to do damage that could end somebody’s life.  The desire to have God give them eternal death in hell.  

   2 What is hatred?  I suppose another way to try to define it is to say that it is the opposite of love.   John helps us to know what love is in the next chapter as well: 1 John 3:16 - This is how we know what love is: Jesus laid down his life for us.  And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”  Love is the action of giving oneself for the good of someone else.  Hatred is the action of occupying oneself with attempts to damage and destroy someone else. 

   B1 John wrote: 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.  The Bible uses that picture a lot.  In fact we use that picture all the time when we talk about sins.  We say we fall into sin.  We trip over temptation on our walk toward eternity.  Sometimes we fall.   

    2 But the stumble and fall picture gets even more dramatic in a passage like this. Romans 9:33 - See, I lay in Zion a stone(that is a reference to Jesus) that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in Him will never be put to shame.”  When the Holy Spirit leads me to trust that Jesus lived and died and rose for me, I will never be put to shame.  I will never have to endure God saying, “Depart from me into eternal fire.”  But if I were an unbeliever, if I would insist that I didn’t need Jesus because I am not bad enough to be punished by God, then  Jesus would be the cause of my stumbling and falling away from God and spending eternity apart from God. 

   C1 What does the Epiphany Season tell us our lives as Christians are all about?  We are to  reflect the light of Jesus to the people around us.  How are we to do that? By refusing to get involved in hatred.  People disagree with us.  We feel attacked.  We get angry.  But with the Lord’s help we don’t wish these folks would go to hell.  People do things or say things to hurt us. With the Lord’s help we refuse to get caught up with trying to get back at these folks for hurting us.   John says this about a person who is controlled by hatred.  11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.  

   2 What does refusing to be controlled by hatred but rather loving others say? 5 But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.  That is what it says to us.  What does it say to others?  It says we know where we are walking.  We are walking with Jesus. And we are walking toward eternity with Jesus. 

   Lord, Jesus, help me to speak so others get to know you.  Help me obey so others get to see You.  Help me live so others keep headed toward You. 

January 15, 2023

Free Text Baptism of our Lord -  Kieth Bernard Kuschel

Romans 6: 3-4

3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

5 For if we have been united with him in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin..... 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.............. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. 

  1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

Baptized:when. What

IA1 Baptize.  What does the word mean?  It means apply water in some manner.  It was an ordinary word for “washing” or “applying water” in the Greek New Testament.  In the verses before us today the phrase is “baptized into”.  If there was a flood and you got washed into the ditch, what would your situation be?  You would be surrounded by water.  An equivalent phrase in the next verse is “buried with”.  If there was a mudslide and you got buried with it, what would your situation be? Surrounded by mud.  So what would baptized into Christ Jesus and buried with Jesus mean?  It means we are surrounded with, connected to Jesus.   Paul tells us in verse 5 of this chapter what his definition of those phrases is.  It means we have been “united with Jesus.

   2 What tool does Paul reference as the means by which God connects us to Jesus? Baptism. That is very strange.  How can a washing with water connect someone with Jesus?  Well, this isn’t just any washing with water.  It is the washing which Jesus commanded in Matthew 28.  “Go and make disciples of all nations, washing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  It is a washing which Peter tells us is “for the forgiveness of sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”(Acts 2:38) and therefore also “saves.”(I Pet 3:21)  It is a washing which Paul tells us is to “wash away sins”(Acts 22:16).

  B1 The verses before us today tell us that “all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death.”  Jesus’ death is one of the two most important events which ever happened in the history of our world.   When He died, He had taken our sins with Him to the cross.  He shed His blood so that He could use it to wash away our sins. 

   2 When Jesus died, something else happened.   He suffered death, something that God had mandated as punishment for anyone who sins.  He also suffered separation from God, when He said, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”,  which we usually call hell,  something which God had also mandated as punishment for anyone who sins.  Jesus didn’t deserve either of those punishments, since He had never sinned.  But He took the punishments we deserve because He had taken our sins on Himself.  

   C1 What does Paul mean with the words all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death.” He tells us in verse 5: we have been united with him in his death.  We were connected with Him when He died.  That means His blood, intended to wash away sins, washes away the sins of anyone connected to Him in this process.  That means our sins have been washed away and we are no longer guilty in God’s sight. 

     2 We were connected with Him when He died. That means when He suffered death as punishment for sin, we were being punished right along with Him.  That means when He suffered hell as punishment for sin, we were being punished right along with Him.  So, we don’t have to face punishment for our sins in the future, since we have already been punished for them in the past.  We have been rescued from punishment, redeemed from punishment, because we  were connected with Jesus in His death. 

  D1 Our Baptism connects us with Jesus.  Jesus became connected with all humans when He was born.  He became a real human being just as all of us are, so that He could be our Savior.

One of the requirements for Him to be our Savior was to do all the things which God had commanded humans to do. 

   2 Why was Jesus baptized?  He didn’t need to be connected with the Savior, He is the Savior.  Jesus was baptized because it was part of His being connected with us.  He was baptized because it was one of the things which God had told human beings to do.   Jesus said this when He told John that He was being baptized to “fulfill all righteousness.”

IIA1 The other of the two most important events which ever happened in the history of our world is the resurrection of Jesus.  He died on the cross.  He suffered hell.  Then He came back to life.  He declared His victory over Satan.  Then He appeared to people to prove that He had come back to life.  Paul says that {4}Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father,  The Father deserves our glory, our praise, for a number of reasons.  The most important is that He planned our salvation.  It was the Father’s carrying out of that plan that raised Jesus from the dead.   

  2 Paul says we are also {3}“united with him in his resurrection.”  What tool does Paul reference as the means by which God connects us to Jesus? Baptism.   

   B1 What did Jesus’ resurrection accomplish?  It proved that He was God.  Only God can conquer death.  He had to be God in order to be our Savior.  He had to be God to be worth enough to be the Ransom Payment to wash away the sins of the world.  He had to be God to be able to take the holiness which He lived as a real human being and cover the whole human race with it.  Jesus’ resurrection also proved that what He said was true.  He had promised ahead of time to rise.  He did. So, we can trust that what He promises is going to happen and what He says is true.  

   2 Jesus’ resurrection also proved that our sins have been washed away.  If God would have left Jesus dead, He would have been saying that Jesus’ life was not worth enough to pay for our sins.  So, we would not be forgiven.  Jesus’ resurrection, furthermore, proved that we are going to rise from the dead some day.  If Jesus would not have been able to conquer death for Himself, He certainly could not have done it for us.  But He did, so we will rise to life after death and live with Him forever.   

   C1 It sounds as if that is what Paul is saying in verse four:  4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.   Although it is true that we will live eternally with Jesus because of His resurrection, that is not what Paul is talking about here.  Listen to these verses: 5 For if we have been united with him in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin..... 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.............. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. 

    2 Paul said the same thing from the negative side in verses 1-2 of this chapter: 1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  In this chapter the new life we live because we are connected with Jesus through Baptism is our life of godliness and righteousness right now. 

 D1 Jesus became connected with all humans when He was born.  He became a real human being just as all of us are, so that He could be our Savior.

   2 Why was Jesus baptized?  Jesus was baptized because it was part of His being connected with us.  He was baptized because His connection with us gives us the motive and ability to “crucify the old self, do away with the body ruled by sin, not be slaves to sin, not let sin rule, not obey evil desires, not offer ourselves as instruments of wickedness, offer ourselves as instruments of righteousness, not have sin as our master, and not live in sin any longer.”  All of which we couldn’t do on our own.  

LORD Jesus, thank You for connecting me through Baptism into your death and into a new life.  

January 8, 2023

CWC - Epistle   - Christmas 2  - Kieth Bernard Kuschel

Galatians 4:4-7

4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Tie up and blindfold.

What would we have to give to get released.

Pay for hostage.  Ransom.  Redeem.

God, us.  Sin.  Payment.

IA1 (4)  But when the set time had fully come.  Consider these facts about the timing of Jesus’ birth.  The Greek empire under Alexander the Great had established the Hellenistic Greek language as the worldwide business and cultural language.  That was good for having the Gospel spread quickly.  The Roman Empire was providing the Pax Romana around the entire Mediterranean world.  Peace was conducive to the work of the Lord.  There were Jewish synagogues in almost every major city in the empire, giving missionaries a point of contact and a starting point.  There were Roman roads everywhere.  That made travel easy.  All those things, and I suppose others, we can look backward at and conclude that the time was just right for the coming of the Messiah.

   2 But we really don’t know exactly what was in the Lord’s mind or why He chose that to be just the right time.  The verses right before this say a child is no different from a slave until the time set by his father.  So, the heavenly Father set the time for his Son to leave His heavenly home to become our brother.  God’s time is always the right time.  

   B1 At this exactly right time God sent.  Notice that.  Human beings didn’t decide it was the right time for the Messiah.  Human beings who know about the distress, discomfort, destructiveness, and death here on this earth did not determine that it was time for a solution to the world’s problems.  Human beings didn’t say “God, it’s time for you to send the Messiah to deal with the spiritual problem of sin that is at the bottom of all the other problems in the world.”  No.  Human beings on our own wouldn’t even recognize that sin is the root problem in the world.    

   2 Man didn’t demand a solution.  God sent a solution.  God knew the problem right away when Adam and Eve sinned.  God knew the solution right away too.  He was the solution.  He would have to come and solve the problem.    That was the content of the promises given throughout the Old Testament.  That was the content of the promise to Abraham in the Old Testament lesson for today.   

  God sent His Son born of a woman.  This is not a reference to the virgin birth.  It just says that Jesus was born of a human mother in the same way that other humans are born of a human mother.  God the Son took on Himself our humanity.  In this passage this is the reference to the Christmas event.  The Eternal One had a beginning as a human being as a baby who slept in a manger. 

   2 Why?  He was to be our Substitute.  He was to take our place in all things.  In order for Him to be that and do that He had to be one of us.  He couldn’t really take our place if He didn’t have human characteristics and human experiences.  He couldn’t really take our place if He didn’t go through the processes that all human beings must undergo just because they are human.

   D1 Why did He have to be born of a woman?  So that He might be under the law.  God is the author of the Law.  He is not under it.  He is not subject to its demands.  God has the right to end life because He gives it.  The fifth commandment doesn’t apply to Him.  God owns everything.  It’s impossible for Him to steal anything.  The 7th commandment doesn’t apply to Him.  

    2 But as soon as the Son of God took on Himself our humanity, then the demands of God on all human beings applied to Him.  “Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them.  You are to be holy to me, because I the Lord am holy.”  Those demands fell on Jesus the true man as they fall on us.  In order to take our place and keep the Law which we don’t keep, so that He could give us the holiness the we don’t produce, He had to become one with us - under the Law.  There sure is a lot in this one verse.  At just the right time, born of a woman, born under Law to be one with us, God sent His Son.  Christmas is an act of God.  

IIA1 For what purpose did God send His Son?  {5}To redeem those under the Law.  Which people are  under Law?   To which people do God’s commands apply? Everybody who has God’s law.  That includes not just the people who have read God’s commandments in the Bible.  It includes all people.  God has written a basic sense of right and wrong into the hearts of all people.  So, God’s purpose was to redeem all people.   

   2 Redeem means to buy back.  A person uses something as a payment to buy something back from somebody.  We redeem coupons.  We turn in those small pieces of paper as partial payment to get something from the store.  In some states they redeem bottles and cans.  You turn the empty cans in as a payment.  You get cash back from the store.  The most dramatic circumstances in which somebody redeems something is when somebody is held hostage and we turn some money over to somebody to buy that person back from his or her captor.  

   3 All human beings are under law.  All human beings break God’s Law.  Therefore all human beings need to be bought back.  We don’t use our tongues, our wealth, our time, or our actions to love others perfectly.  That is sin.  That breaks God’s law.  That makes us deserve God’s punishment.  That puts us outside of God’s family.  We need to have somebody make a payment to God to buy us back into His family.   

   4 That’s where Jesus fits in.  Jesus took our guilt on Himself.  He suffered the punishment of death and separation from God we deserve cause of our sins.  He was using His life as a ransom payment to buy us back from the punishment we deserve.  He took our responsibilities on Himself.  He kept the Law for us.  He covers us with His holiness.  He was using His life as a ransom payment to buy us back into the family of God.    He could suffer like this.  He could live as our Substitute because He had become one with us, born of a woman, born under law.  

  B1 The result is: {5} that we might receive adoption to sonship.  What benefits are there from being bought back into God’s family?  We are no longer slaves.  Slaves belonged to someone.  We don’t belong to the devil anymore.  He doesn’t control us.  We don’t belong to ourselves anymore.  Our selfish sinfulness doesn’t own us.  Slaves were forced to do what they were doing.  We are no longer slaves of the law, forced to try to do what it demands to make ourselves right with God.  We have been bought back by Jesus.  That makes us right with God.  That frees us to live our lives back to the Lord freely, willingly and joyfully.  We are no longer slaves.  

                                          5

 2 Second benefit. {6}God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.  We need the Spirit so we might be at one with God.  Jesus makes it possible for us to be at one with God.  But the Spirit brings it about.  The Spirit leads us to believe that all that Jesus did for us is for us. The Spirit leads us to understand what being members of God’s family in Jesus Christ means.  The Spirit directs our activities so that we say, “Thank you,” with our lives to the Lord for what He has done for us. 

   3 Third benefit.  It is the Spirit who leads us to {6}call out “Abba, Father.”  We can view God as our Father because of our oneness with God which Jesus made possible and which the Spirit brought into being.  We can approach God and talk to Him on a personal basis because of what Jesus did and what the Spirit is doing.  We can make requests and demands on the Father because of what Jesus did and what the Spirit is doing.  We can talk to Him fully confident that He will satisfy our needs and take care of our problems.  

   4 One more benefit. {7} “since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”  We get the estate.  We get the inheritance that the Father worked so hard for.  We are qualified to receive our eternal status - perfect and unchangeable children of God forever.  That’s the inheritance God has prepared for us.  God sent His Son to be one with us, so we might be one with God now and perfectly one with God forever.  Christmas is an act of God.                                      6

December 18, 2022

CW-A  - OT Lesson - Fourth in Advent- K B Kuschel

Isaiah 7:10-14 

Take a look at some signs. What do they mean.

Today we have

A SIGN WHICH SHOWS US 

                      HOW OUR GOD DEALS WITH US SINNERS

{10}Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, {11}"Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights." {12}But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test." {13}Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also? {14}Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.

(2 Ki 16:5-9)  Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower him. {6}At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram by driving out the men of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this day. {7}Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, "I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me." {8}And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. {9}The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.

(Isa 7:1-9)  When Ahaz son of Jotham, the son of Uzziah, was king of Judah, King Rezin of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem, but they could not overpower it. {2}Now the house of David was told, "Aram has allied itself with Ephraim"; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind. {3}Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. {4}Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood-- because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. {5}Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, {6}"Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it." {7}Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "'It will not take place, it will not happen, {8}for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. {9}The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.'" You have to know a little history to figure out what is going on in the verses before us today. Remember after Solomon died the nation was split into two.  The northern ten tribes were called the kingdom of Israel.  The southern two were called the kingdom of Judah.  There was ongoing friction between the two.  The people in Israel worshiped at Dan and Bethel so they didn’t have to go to Jerusalem in the south.  They soon lost their hold on the truth about the LORD.  Although the outward practice of the truth about the Lord continued in Jerusalem, many of the people of Judah also abandoned the LORD.

    At the time of the words before us today Israel was trying to form an alliance of small states to ward off the northern power which at this time was Assyria.  Ahaz refused to join this alliance.   Ephraim which is another name for Israel & Aram which is another name for Syria decided to attack Judah.  (2 Ki 16:5)  Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah king of Israel marched up to fight against Jerusalem and besieged Ahaz, but they could not overpower him. {6}At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram by driving out the men of Judah. Edomites then moved into Elath and have lived there to this day.  How did the people of Judah respond to this? {Is7:2}Now the house of David was told, "Aram has allied itself with Ephraim"; so the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.

  B1 Who was this Ahaz?  He was a descendant of David as were all of the kings of Judah.  Do you know what that makes him?  Let me read a couple verses: (Mat 1:9-10)  Uzziah the father of Jotham, Jotham the father of Ahaz, Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, {10}Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, Manasseh the father of Amon, Amon the father of Josiah, (Mat 1:16)  and Jacob the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.  This Ahaz was an ancestor of Jesus.

    2 What was he like?   He was a spiritual and political disaster.  He offered his sons as human sacrifices.  He followed the detestable ways of the nations the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.  He set up altars at every street corner in Jerusalem.

   C1 Why did God send Isaiah to Ahaz? {3}Then the LORD said to Isaiah, "Go out, you and your son Shear-Jashub, to meet Ahaz at the end of the aqueduct of the Upper Pool, on the road to the Washerman's Field. {4}Say to him, 'Be careful, keep calm and don't be afraid. Do not lose heart because of these two smoldering stubs of firewood--because of the fierce anger of Rezin and Aram and of the son of Remaliah. {5}Aram, Ephraim and Remaliah's son have plotted your ruin, saying, {6}"Let us invade Judah; let us tear it apart and divide it among ourselves, and make the son of Tabeel king over it." {7}Yet this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "'It will not take place, it will not happen, {8}for the head of Aram is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is only Rezin. Within sixty-five years Ephraim will be too shattered to be a people. {9}The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is only Remaliah's son. If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all.'" God sent Isaiah with a message of encouragement and comfort.

  2 Why did God send Isaiah to Ahaz?    {10}Again the LORD spoke to Ahaz, {11}"Ask the LORD your God for a sign, whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights."  God wanted to give Ahaz and the people of Judah a sign.  This sign would confirm the deliverance of Judah, pledge the continuance of the Davidic line, and assert the failure of the wicked kings.  Why did God send Isaiah to Ahaz? To offer them a sign?  To lead these people back to Himself.

  D1 How does the Lord deal with us?  He keeps on offering us things.  He offers to talk to us.  “The word of the Lord came” is a refrain throughout the Scripture.  It is also a refrain in our lives.  Think of how often in your lives the Lord has offered to talk to you.  Bible stories on your parents’ knees.  Little Bible books as children.  Sunday School lessons.  Christian school courses.  Bibles readily available throughout your lives. Worship available at least once a week throughout your lives.  Formal Bible study.  Personal devotional material.  The Word keeps coming.  The Lord keeps offering to talk to us.

   2 How does the Lord deal with us?  “Ask the Lord your God!”  He invites us to talk to Him.  He commands us to make requests of Him. Because of the Messiah Jesus of Nazareth He offers us direct access to Him.   The Lord keeps offering to listen.  God offered something very special to Ahaz.  He deals with us in the same way.  He keeps on making offers. 

IIA1 Ahaz refused the offer.  {12}But Ahaz said, "I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test."  What is this “putting the Lord to the test” business?   I think an incident in Jesus’ life helps us answer that question.  Jesus refused to jump off the temple because He did not want to put the Lord to the test.  Jesus knew that the Lord promised to protect His people.  He knew that the Lord carries out His promises according to His own timing and purposes.  Jesus knew that the Lord nowhere promises to protect those who foolishly or needlessly expose                                    

themselves to danger.  He did not want to push God to see if God would protect him.  He refused to put the Lord to the test.  Ahaz’ situation has nothing to do with putting God to the test.  God was telling him to ask for a sign.  He wasn’t seeing how far he could push God or demanding something from God.

   2 Why did Ahaz refuse to ask for a sign? {2 Kings 16:7}Ahaz sent messengers to say to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, "I am your servant and vassal. Come up and save me out of the hand of the king of Aram and of the king of Israel, who are attacking me." {8}And Ahaz took the silver and gold found in the temple of the LORD and in the treasuries of the royal palace and sent it as a gift to the king of Assyria. {9}The king of Assyria complied by attacking Damascus and capturing it. He deported its inhabitants to Kir and put Rezin to death.  Ahaz didn’t ask for a sign because he thought he had taken care of things.  Having enlisted the help of Assyria he didn’t need help from the Lord.  And remember Ahaz really didn’t want anything to do with the Lord anyway, including getting any help from Him. 

  3 Why did Ahaz refuse to ask for a sign?  He was an unbeliever.  He believed Assyria could help him.  He didn’t believe the Lord of heaven and earth could.  God told him to ask for a sign.  Disobeying that command indicated that he didn’t believe the Lord had any power to do anything about the situation in which he and Judah found themselves.   Isaiah acknowledged what Ahaz had done when he said, “13}Then Isaiah said, "Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of my God also?”

   B1 Was Ahaz unique in his response to God’s offer?  I 

don’t think so.  How do humans respond to God’s offer to talk to us?  Most humans refuse the offer.  Life is too hectic to read a devotion based on the Bible every day.   There are too many things to do that are much more enjoyable than listening to God’s Word in a public worship setting.  There are too many tasks to do at home and not enough nights to do them so a formal Bible study time with fellow Christians is out of the question.  NO.  I don’t use the audio and video taped Scripture resources that are sitting in the cabinet.

   2 How do humans respond to God’s offer to come to us in some very special ways - Luther called them visible Gospel - so I think we can call them signs?  Most humans refuse the offer.  Baptism?  That seems so foolish - washing with water supposedly having some spiritual benefit.  Let’s redefine it as our public proclamation that we are Christians. Lord’s Supper.  Seems like a funny way to bring forgiveness of sins into someone’s life.  Let’s just emphasize that it is one of the ways that we remember Jesus. 

   3 How do humans respond to God’s offer to give them forgiveness, righteousness, and eternal life? Most humans reject the offer.  Forgiveness of sins because Jesus died on the cross?  I don’t need that.  I am not a bad person, you know.  Righteousness because Jesus lived in my place and gives it to me?  I don’t need that.  I work hard at being acceptable to others.  Eternal life because Jesus rose from the dead?  I don’t think there is anything after this life.  Life after all is about focusing on the here and now.

  4 How do humans respond to God’s offer to give them absolute truth?  Most humans reject the offer.  Absolute truth 

about right and wrong?  Everything is relative.  I have to figure that out for myself.  Absolute truth about the origin of all things?  Everyone has the right to have his own opinion about those matters.  I like to pick and choose from the options.  Absolute truth about God?  Everyone has his own ideas about the kind of God he or she needs.  I think I don’t want to get too dogmatic about that.   God offered.  Ahaz refused.  God still offers.  All the Ahazes called humans continue to refuse.   

IIIA1 God offered.  Ahaz refused.  What did God do then?  He acted anyway.  {14} “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”  God gave a sign to confirm the trust of the believers in Judah.  He gave a sign so that after Judah was delivered people would recognize that it had been God’s doing.  He gave the sign to show Ahaz that he shouldn’t have relied on himself and his own plan but rather on the Lord.

   2 The sign is: “the virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son.”  Who is this virgin?  The Gospel lesson for today answers that question.  (Mat 1:18-25)  This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. {22}All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: {23}"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel" --which means, "God with us." 

   3 That is the other part of the sign.  His name.  Immanuel.  God with us.  The name reminds us that God is with us.  He helps.  He protects.  He provides.  The name indicates also what was happening here.  God the Son in order to be the Messiah took on himself humanity while remaining God.  We might paraphrase the promise in this way, “She will call his name “God with us” because He will be fully entitled to this name.  In Him and through Him God will truly be with us.”

   B1 How did God respond to a world of Ahazes all of whom on their own refuse His offers?  He acted in accordance with His plan anyway.  His plan was to have God the Son come into our world to become a human.  He acted.  He caused a virgin to be pregnant.  Never happens except when God acts. 

    2 Now there was someone in the position of being qualified to be the Savior.  Someone who could take the place of all.  Someone who could provide humans with what they needed.  So what did God do? He acted.  God the Son acted in complete accord with every one of God’s commands.  He loved God perfectly.  He loved people perfectly.  He did this so that He could give to humans His holiness.  That is what makes us acceptable to God.  How does that holiness get to us?  God acts.  He brings the Gospel into our lives.  God gets the holiness to us.   Humans who are holy.  Never happens except when God acts.

    3 God the Son came into our world.  Now there was someone in the position of being qualified to be the Savior.  Someone who could provide humans with what they needed.  So what did God do?  He acted.  God the Son died because we deserve to die for our sins.  God the Son suffered hell because we deserve to suffer hell for our sins.  God the Son took our guilt on Himself and removed it from us.  How does that forgiveness and rescue from punishment get to us?  God acts.  He brings the Gospel into our lives.  God gets these gift to us.  Humans who don’t deserve to be punished and have no guilt.  Never happens except when God acts.

   C1 What is Christmas all about?  It is about giving.  Is it about giving presents to our children?  Is it about giving to the needy?  No.  Those things are connected.  But that is not what Christmas is about.  Christmas is about God’s giving His Son to become a human so that we can have a Savior.  Christmas is about God’s act of giving.

   2 What is Christmas about?  It is about enjoyment.  It is about doing things that make us happy.  It is about skiing.  It is about singing.  It is about decorating.  It is about worshiping.  No.  Those things are connected.  But that is not what Christmas is about.  Christmas is about a miracle.  Christmas is about a virgin who was pregnant.  Christmas is about the birth of a baby from that virgin.  Christmas is about God’s action of causing all that to happen.

   3 What is Christmas about?   It is about relationships.  It is about spending time with people you love.  It is about getting together with people to renew and rebuild relationships.  It is about the unity of our family.  No.  Those things are connected.  But that is not what Christmas is about.  Christmas is about a miracle.  Christmas is about a unique relationship in one individual .  Christmas is about a person who was God and man at the same time.  Christmas is about a miracle.  The miracle God/man Jesus of Nazareth our Savior.  Christmas is about God’s action of making that possible.         

Conc: God offers.  Humans refuse.  God acts. And what’s left.  We behold.  We sit in quietness and ponder.  May our Christmas be filled with behold.                               

December 11, 2022

CWA - Old Testament Alt Lesson - Advent 3 -  Kieth Bernard Kuschel

Job 1:6-22

6 One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. 7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.” 9 “Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. 10 “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord. 13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” 16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” 17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” 18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!” 20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.

Rejoice: What? how?

IA1 Does anyone know what this weekend is known as in the retail world and in the social world?  Non-family holiday gathering time.  Translate that into understandable language.  Office parties.  Neighborhood parties.  Block parties.  Company parties.  Community based holiday celebrations. 

   2 Why are these gatherings held?  Tradition.  OK.  Why the tradition?  To commemorate the important events at this time of the year.  Hanukkah.  Christmas.  I know that.  But most of those gatherings have nothing to do with Hanukkah or Christmas.  So, back to my question.  Why are these gatherings held?  To cultivate good relationships between the people who work in the same office.  To see your neighbors face to face and actually talk to people who you only see in passing most of the year.  To thank the workers for another year of hard work.  To forward some good cause in the community.  

  3 How many of you are party animals?   What goes on at those non-family gathering times? And what do you like to do at those non-family gathering times. Eating.  Drinking.  Talking.  Playing games.  Dancing.  Gift exchanges.  Fund raising.  

   4 Why is it possible for these gatherings to be held?  Because resources are available.  The business supplies the food and drink and the place to gather.  The neighbors all bring things to eat and drink and to give as gifts to each other.  The company provides all the workers with a bonus.  The participants all bring donations to support the cause.  I didn’t really answer the question. Why is it possible for these gatherings to be held? Because our gracious God has given us so many physical blessings in this life that we can party.  

  B1 13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house.  We are not told what the occasion was here.  Maybe it was family holiday gathering time.  What does this sound like?  A party.  The earlier verses of this chapter indicate that this was a regular thing for this extended family.  It also indicates what occasion precipitated parties.  4 His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. 5 When a period of feasting had run its course,

   2 What made it possible for them to have this party?   They had the resources to do it.

2 Job had seven sons and three daughters, 3 and he owned seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred donkeys, and had a large number of servants. He was the greatest man among all the people of the East.

  C1 God has blessed us with the resources to participate in the non-family holiday gatherings at this time of the year.   We are called upon to “Rejoice” on the third Sunday in Advent.  These gatherings certainly enhance our rejoicing at this time of the year.  Should there be any cautions as we rejoice at these gatherings?  Yes.  Our rejoicing needs to be godly.  Our eating and drinking needs to be godly.  Our talking needs to be godly.  Our playing games needs to be godly.  We, after all, are representatives of Jesus Christ at those parties.   

   2 God has blessed us with the resources to participate in the non-family holiday gatherings at this time of the year.  We rejoice at those gatherings.  Any other cautions needed? Yes.  We, according to God’s will, are given our resources to provide our families with the necessities of life, make sure the Gospel gets preached throughout the world, take care of the needy and pay our taxes.  Using our resources for partying and then not having enough resources to properly carry out those four duties given us by God would be sinful.  

  Trans: Lord Jesus, thank You for making it possible for me to rejoice in my life on this earth by filling my life with physical blessings.  

IIA1 Partying sometimes provides us with welcome relief from what is going on around us in our world.  I don’t remember a time during my life when a war wasn’t going on.  Korean War, Cold War, Vietnam War, various short conflicts, war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  That is just wars in which the USA was directly involved.  At the same time everywhere else in the world, there were constant wars between other nations.  Then there are local wars.  Daily multiple murders in our large metro areas.  Gunmen killing large numbers of people on an almost regular basis in places like malls, schools, factories and office complexes where there are lots of people. Partying sometimes gives us a brief time when we don’t think about all that conflict.   

   2 Partying sometimes provides us with welcome relief from what is going on around us in our world.  There were a thousand wild fires  in the USA this year.   There is drought throughout the western half of our land.  It was so hot earlier this year that the electrical grids couldn't handle it.   Then there were the devastating hurricanes in Florida and the Caribbean.  Add to that the massive storms on the East Coast and elsewhere.   Partying sometimes gives us a brief time when we don’t think about all that devastation.     

  B1 13 One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 14 a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were grazing nearby, 15 and the Sabeans attacked and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”  Sabeans were from Arabia.  They were people who were constantly on the move getting resources necessary to stay alive by plundering whomever they could find.  Just like today. 

  2 Another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”.  Could have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.  Could also have been that lightning struck the hay, the barn and all the animals went up in flames, and the servants acting as shepherds died trying to save them.  Natural disaster.  Just like today. 

   3 Another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”  Sounds no different from the Sabeans.  Just different people.  Probably true.  Just more people at war with each other.  Just like today.

   4 Another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”  Tornado.  Tsunami.  Hurricane.  Just like today. 

  C1 We look at today and what happened to Job and we say, “Everything is out of control.”  It sure looks like that lots of times, doesn’t it.   Where is God in all this?  Is Satan in charge?  Satan thinks so.  Listen to him talk to God.  7 The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”  Sounds like the leader of the drug gang.  “This is my turf.” 

   2 Is it really?  Satan wants to destroy Job as he wants to destroy us.  Did you notice what he had to do first?  Get permission from God. 11 But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 12 The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power.  

  3 What does that mean? In spite of the way things look.  In spite of the wars, mass killings, record heat storms, Sabeans, lightning, Chaldeans, and hurricanes, Satan is not in charge. God is.  So, rejoice.   

IIIA1 Job lost his oxen and donkeys and the servants who were working with them.  These were the equivalent of today’s heavy farm equipment.  So Job lost his ability to generate wealth in the farming industry. 

    2 Job lost his sheep and the servants who were shepherding them.  So, Job lost his ability to generate wealth in the ranching business.  

   3 Job lost his camels and camel drivers.  These were the equivalent of long haul 18 wheelers, freight trains, cargo ships and cargo planes.  So Job lost his ability to generate wealth by transporting his products to near and distant markets.  

  4 Job lost his family.  As parents know, he lost one of his main earthly reasons for getting up in the morning and conducting his farming, ranching, and commerce.   

  5 How did Job respond to all this loss?  20 At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. That indicates how devastated he was.  Then he fell to the ground in worship 21 and said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” 22 In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing.  How could he have responded that way?  The LORD Himself answers that question.  There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”  Job had a relationship with God.  He was blameless, covered with the holiness of the Messiah.  He was upright, empowered by the Holy Spirit to do God’s will.  That led him to acknowledge that God had blessed him with all those earthly blessings.  That led him to acknowledge that the LORD had the right, if He chose to, to remove all those blessings.  That led him to confess that whatever the LORD does is the right thing in every circumstance.  

  B1 All of you are Jobs in one way or another.  Maybe in lots of ways.  I know all of you.  Some of you lost your jobs.   Some of you have lost your abilities.   Some of you have lost your health.   You can’t generate income.   Some of you have lost your homes.  Some of you have lost loved ones to death.  Some of you have lost children to death.  And we are just as devastated as Job was.  We tear our robes and shave our heads.    

   2 But you are all here today.  Why?  You are like Job.  You fall to the ground and worship.  You also acknowledge that your jobs, your skills, your health, your income generating ability, your home, and your families and friends are all blessings from the LORD.  You are like Job.  You are willing to confess that God didn’t owe you any of these blessings and He has the right to take them back at any time.   You believe that God does what is right for you all the time, even when it looks and feels bad.   

  3 How can you respond like that?  Because you know God has washed away your sins in the blood of Jesus who died on the cross to accomplish that very thing.   You know God has covered you with the holiness which Jesus lived as your substitute so you are blameless in God’s sight.  You know God has given you a relationship with Him that will last forever because of Jesus’ resurrection.  You know according to God’s own promise nothing is going to separate us from His love in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

  4 So, in spite of loss of job, abilities, health, income, home and loved ones, you rejoice because your relationship with God because of Jesus Christ, your relationship with God’s people in Jesus Christ, and your purpose in life and eternity, praising Jesus Christ, cannot be lost.  

  LORD JESUS, even when I have torn robes and a shaved head, help me rejoice because I

have You.  Change that.  Because You have me (in your strong hands.)

December 4, 2022

CW-A Epistle - Second Sunday in Advent  -   KBKuschel 

Romans 15:4-13

4  For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. {5} May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, {6} so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. {7} Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. {8} For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs {9} so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name." {10} Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." {11} And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples." {12} And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him." {13} May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

What do you want for Christmas?    

 What is the best gift?

IA1 “All I want for Christmas is.”   You fill in the rest of the sentence.  The gift giving tradition at Christmas time started with the desire to reflect in a small way God’s gift to us - His Son Jesus Christ our Savior.  Because of that gift giving tradition we have come to expect gifts at Christmas time.  “All I want for Christmas is” reflects that expectation.  Are we going to get what we hope we will get at Christmas? Our hopes will be fulfilled or they will be unfulfilled when we open our presents at Christmas time.

   2 All Paul wants for you for Christmas is hope.  At the end of the first paragraph Paul indicates that he wants us to have hope when he writes {4}that we might have hope.”   He doesn’t say your hopes will be fulfilled at Christmas time.  He says he wants you to receive hope as a present from the Lord.  What is this hope that Paul wants God to give us?  It is the confidence that we have on this earth against overwhelming  appearances to the contrary that God is in charge and everything will turn out all right for us.  Christian hope is the same attitude the little leaguer expressed when asked if he was discouraged in the top of the first inning since his team was behind seventeen to nothing.  “Why should I be?” he asked.  “We haven’t been up to bat yet.”  

   B1 What is our confidence leaning on?  The words and promises of God.  God says that all my sins have been washed away in the blood of Jesus.  My confidence says I know that I am not going to be punished for my sins because of what Jesus did.  God says that I am covered with the righteousness of Jesus.  My confidence says I know that I am acceptable to God and part of His family.  God says that Jesus rose from the dead so that I can live forever.  My confidence says I know that I am going to wake up from the dead and spend eternity with the Lord.

   2 What is our confidence leaning on?  The words and promises of God.  God says that He is going to be with us always.  My confidence says that I can go into the unknown called tomorrow because of the Lord’s presence in my life.  God says that He is going to see to it that I have what I need.  My confidence says that I can take on responsibilities because of the Lord’s provision.  God says that He is going to bring about benefit for my soul no matter what.  My confidence says that the difficulty with which I am struggling is not worth bottoming out over.

    C1 Where do we get this confidence that God is in charge and everything will turn out all right for us in spite of overwhelming appearances to the contrary?   Paul writes: {4}“For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”  Paul says hope comes into our lives because the Scriptures give endurance and encouragement.   We look at the Old Testament, which is what Paul meant when he used the term “Scriptures”, and we read about people who kept abandoning God.  But we also read about the drastic measures God took to bring them back to Him.  This teaches us that God is intensely interested in turning people back to Him.  It gives us the confidence that He will treat us in the same way when necessary.   We look at the Old Testament.  We read about God offering these same people His forgiveness by repeatedly sending His prophets .  This teaches us to know that God is intensely interested in forgiving people after they have wandered away from Him   It gives us the confidence that He will treat us in the same way when necessary.  The Scriptures, Paul writes, give us hope.

     2 All Paul wants for us for Christmas is hope.  If hope is engendered in us through the Word, then all Paul really wants for Christmas for us is a desire in us to regularly use God’s Word so that we have that hope worked in us.    Such confidence is a wonderful Christmas gift from the Lord Himself. 

IIA1 In the second paragraph all Paul wants for you is unity.  {5} “May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you a spirit of unity among yourselves as you follow Christ Jesus, {6}so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. {7}Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.”  What is this spirit of unity among yourselves?  Literally Paul wants all of us “to think the same thing among one another.” 

    2 The next phrase helps some more.  “As you follow Christ” literally is “in accord with Christ Jesus.”  What Paul wants is unity based on what lines up with what Jesus is about and what Jesus has to say.  All the unity in the world won’t do any good unless it is in accord with what Jesus says.  The old saying is true: “If fifty million people believe a wrong thing, it is still wrong.”  Only when  believers are united in accord with what Jesus says, in the Scriptures, can there be true unity. 

   B1 What result is Paul looking for from this unity which He wants God to give us?  {6}so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   Unity of heart is good, but it is not very practical.  It is internal.  But unity in mouth is practical.  Paul encourages unity in thoughts, attitudes and beliefs, but then also in our outward statements.  He wants us to be united in the way we publicly profess the belief in our hearts.  And remember he wants that unity to be in accord with Christ Jesus.  Unity of mouth with each other does us no good if it costs us unity in accord with Christ Jesus.  

   2 What result does Paul want to happen from the unity of mouth which publicly professes the belief in our hearts?  “{6}so that with one heart and mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”   We glorify God when we worship Him, pray to Him, or do anything that shows our love and appreciation to God.  Paul is asking the Lord to give us unity of heart and tongue when we worship, pray, or in any other way carry on our Lord’s work for the glory of God.

   C.1 Unity is a abstract concept. So Paul in the next paragraph gets practical.   {7} “Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. {8}For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs {9}so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy,”  Remember in almost all of these congregations to which Paul wrote letters there was a Jew/ Gentile problem.  Different history.  Different lifestyle.  Different emphasis.  Different view of life.  Accept one another in order to bring praise to God.  Let the internal unity that you have be obvious to the world so the world praises God.  When the world saw a group of Christian Jews and Gentiles working together in unity, they would say, “Only God could have pulled this off.”  That is praise of God.

    2 What should be our motive for trying hard to express the unity in faith that we have with others with whom we have nothing else in common?    “just as Christ accepted you” You want different.  Sinners and Jesus are different.  And yet He accepted us into His family, sins gone in His blood, covered with His holiness, but in essence still sinners.  If Jesus could express unity with us even though we are so different, Paul says we can express unity with fellow believers who are different from us.

  D1 Jesus is always the best example for everything.  So Paul cites Jesus here as someone who did what was necessary to express unity with Jews and Gentiles.   {8} “For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God's truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs {9}so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy.”   Jesus kept all the Old Testament Laws in order to keep God’s promises.  One of God’s promises was that the Gentiles would glorify God for his mercy to them.  Because Jesus kept all the OT Laws which pointed to Him, he was the successful Savior of the world.  Thus Gentiles would be led to glorify God.

      2 Notice what Paul does next.  He quotes the Scriptures.  “as it is written: "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles; I will sing hymns to your name." {10}Again, it says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people." {11}And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and sing praises to him, all you peoples." {12}And again, Isaiah says, "The Root of Jesse will spring up, one who will arise to rule over the nations; the Gentiles will hope in him."   Scripture says unity between Jews and Gentiles is possible.  All Paul wants for us for Christmas is unity.  According to the Scripture unity is possible.  On the basis of the scripture unity is possible.  With the help of the Scripture unity is possible.  So, all Paul really wants for us for Christmas is a desire in us to regularly use God’s Word so that we have unity.  Such unity is a wonderful Christmas gift from the Lord Himself.  

IIIA1 All I want for Christmas is a little joy.  I think many people would agree with that statement.  Life gets to be pretty much of a burden sometimes.  Maybe we just lost a friend, relative, or a family member to death. We need some joy.  Maybe we just were told that we have some disease that will last for the rest of our lives.  We need some joy.  Maybe we were just told that the company for which we have worked for twenty years is going out of business.  We need some joy.  How am I going to get this joy?  How am I going to get this joy at Christmas time?  If I just get real involved with other people, if I just participate in all the happy gatherings, I might be able to forget how much of a burden life is for me right now.  

    2 All I want for Christmas is a little peace.  I am sure that people in places like Ukraine and Taiwan would say that at this time of the year. But we who have been blessed with no war on our soil would say the same thing.  Maybe marriage partners are letting their sinfulness drive their lives.  We need a little peace.  Maybe children and parents are in conflict.  We need a little peace.  Maybe the boss is constantly critical.  We need a little peace.  How am I going to get this peace?  How am I going to get this peace at Christmas time?  If we just declare a cease-fire maybe this will help for us as it does in war torn parts of our world.

   B1 All Paul wants for us for Christmas is joy and peace.  Notice how closely He connects joy and peace with hope.  Since we determined earlier that the confidence we have is confidence about the words and promises of God, this peace and joy from God must also be related to the issues about which we have hope.  Where do I really get joy in my life, if I don’t get it from going to all the holiday parties?  I get joy by knowing that the Christian who died is with the Lord and I will be reunited one day in eternal blessedness.  I get joy knowing that God can provide me with the strength that I need to continue to live a productive life even if I have a disease which isn’t going to go away.  I get joy knowing that the Lord can use downturns in my life to keep me close to Him and to open up new avenues of experience for me.  

   2 I get peace in my life knowing that my sins are forgiven.  I get peace in my life reminding the people with whom I am in conflict that their sins are forgiven because of Jesus.  I get peace in my life knowing that the Lord is pleased when I insist on His will even if it results in earthly conflict.  I get peace knowing that I am being faithful in my use of my time and talents even if the humans around me are judging differently.    Most of the time cease-fires are not possible in interpersonal relationships.  But when there is peace inside of me because of my relationship with God, then I can be in conflict and yet at peace.

   C.1. Where do we get the strength to have and implement these attitudes and actions which bring peace and joy?    Paul reminds us “by the power of the Holy Spirit.”  God gives them to us.  The third person of our Triune God is presented in the Scriptures as Someone who takes up residence in our hearts and lives with the intention of shaping our lives so that God can bring about things in our lives like peace and joy.

        2 I want the Holy Spirit to give me these gifts.  Is there anything I can do to help that process along?  Yes.  Use the tools which God the Holy Spirit uses to accomplish this.  The tools are the Bible and the Lord’s Supper.  All Paul wants for us for Christmas is joy and peace.  Since the Holy Spirit works these in us through the Gospel in Word and Sacrament, all Paul really wants for us for Christmas is a desire in us to regularly use God’s Word so that we can have peace and joy.  Peace and Joy are wonderful Christmas gifts from the Lord Himself.

Conc Lord, please use the Scripture to give us hope.  Please use the Scripture to give us unity.  Please use the Scripture to give us peace and joy.

Written Sermon 11/27/2022

CW-A  - Psalm for the day  - Advent 1     Kieth Bernard Kuschel

Psalm 18 (verses in Christian Worship) 2, 16a, 17a, 19,28,27,35

What did you watch this week?

What made you able to watch it?

{2}The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer. My God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. {16}“The Lord reached down from on high and took hold of me; {17}He rescued me from my powerful enemy.” {19} “The Lord brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”  {27}“Lord, you save the humble, but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.”  {28}You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning.  My God turns my darkness into light.  {35} You give me your child of victory, and your right hand sustains me.

A1 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come.”  {Mt 24:42}Jesus said that.  “Our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here.” {Rom 13:11} St. Paul wrote that.  So with the Lord’s help we are watching for Jesus to return.  What is the hardest part about watching?  Waiting.  Why is it so hard to wait?  Because we don’t have anything to grab on to.  Nothing to see.  I haven’t ever seen God.  I haven’t even seen Jesus as some of the first disciples did.  It is hard to relate to somebody you can’t see.

   2 Most of the people around us in our world would say something stronger than that.  Jesus has said He was coming back when He left.  That was almost 2,000 years ago.  Hasn’t happened.  Won’t happen.  Give up on the idea. There has been absolutely nothing that would indicate there was anything to the promise.  Nobody has seen Jesus since he left.  He hasn’t even made an attempt to give people some visual reinforcement that He is around yet and can return.  Somebody whom you can’t see is nonexistent.

 B1 Now listen to David’s description of this Lord in the verses before us today.  {2}“The Lord is my rock.” A rock is something hard that doesn’t seem to change much.  David in the midst of running here and there and changing from this to that form of self-preservation had come to the realization that the Lord is Somebody strong who doesn’t change much.  When everything around me in life is changing, the Lord doesn’t.  When everything around me in life is crumbling, the Lord doesn’t.  No.  I haven’t seen God.  But, with David I know that the Lord is my Rock.  Nice feeling.  Comforting.

   2 “The Lord is my fortress.” {2} Ancient fortresses were made from rocks.  But there is an additional thought here.  A fortress keeps me safe.  David had gone into some walled cities of the Philistines on occasion to make use of their city walls vs Saul.  Where do I go when I do not feel safe spiritually?  To the Lord who is my fortress.  Where do I go when I don’t feel confident spiritually?  To the Lord who is my fortress.  Where do I go when I feel I am being spiritually assaulted?  To the Lord who is my fortress.  No. I haven’t seen God.  But with David I know that the Lord is my fortress.  Nice feeling.  Comforting.

   3 “The Lord is my deliverer.” {1}Who can get me out of jams I put myself into?  The Lord my deliverer.  Who can get me out of situations that are dangerous for my faith?  The Lord my deliverer. Who can get me out of situations that are dangerous to my godliness?  The Lord my deliverer.  No. I haven’t seen God.  But with David I know that the Lord is my deliverer.  Nice feeling.  Comforting.

   4 “Your right hand sustains me.” {35} Where can I go to get strength to make it through the day?  The Lord who sustains me.  Where can I go when my faith is sagging?  The Lord who sustains me.  Where can I go when my godliness is drooping? The Lord who sustains me.  No.  I have not seen God.  But with David I know that the Lord is the one whose right hand sustains me.  Nice feeling.  Comforting.

  C1 How do I keep on patiently waiting for Jesus to return?   Knowing that in the mean time the Lord is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer and my sustainer helps me to be patient.  Sinful human being that I am, on my own I would not believe this about God.  I would not know this about God.  How does it come about that I not only know it but believe it?  The Lord has given me this knowledge from the Scriptures.  The Lord has worked in me the faith to believe it from the Scriptures.  I haven’t seen God.  But I have been given faith. Nice feeling.  Comforting.

    2 David puts it in this way {28}“You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning.  My God turns my darkness into light.”  No. I haven’t seen God.  I am totally in the dark about spiritual matters on my own.  But God through His Word takes away my darkness and keeps His lamp burning as He blesses me with regular opportunity to use His Word.  God opens my spiritual eyes.  I can see.  One of the things God lets me see with my spiritual eyesight is Him.

IIA1 “The Lord reached down from on high and took hold of me; He rescued me from my powerful enemy.”{16 & 17)}  We don’t have to speculate as to which enemy David was thinking of.  Verse one of the Psalm in Hebrew says: “David sang to the Lord the words of this song when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul.”  This enmity was very obvious.  It went from throwing a spear at him when he was playing the harp.  To trying to get him killed in battles with the Philistines.  To ordering  Jonathan, David’s best friend and the king’s son, to kill him.  To trampling all over the territory with part of the army trying to catch David.  This was real enmity.

   2 We know the Lord did rescue David.  David avoided the spear.  He was successful in all the engagements with the Philistines.  He was protected and given advice about his safety from Jonathan.  He and his band of followers escaped from the army of Saul no matter how tight a corner they seemed to be in.  Ultimately the Lord removed Saul not only from his position as king but also from this earth.  David became king.  He had been rescued from his powerful enemy.

  B1 When we look around ourselves, it doesn’t appear as if we have any enemies.  Or at least any effective enemies.  I don’t think any of us have someone like King Saul who is overtly attempting to end our lives.  I think that most of us don’t have someone who is intentionally trying to make our lives miserable.  Most of us don’t have someone who is intentionally trying to take away our livelihood or our reputation or our health.

   2 When we look around ourselves, it doesn’t appear as if we have any spiritual enemies either.  Or again I should say any effective enemies.  Although other world religions have as their goal the destruction of Christianity, up to this point in the history of our world it has not happened.  Most of us don’t have someone in our lives who is intentionally trying to make us doubt what we believe.  I don’t think many of us have anybody in our lives who is intentionally trying to make us into godless people.

   C1 In spite of the way things might appear we are surrounded by spiritual enemies.  In fact the appearance that there is no spiritual enemy around might be the biggest enemy there is.   What happens when there appears to be no spiritual enemy?  We tend to fit right in with the attitudes of all the people in the world around us.  And what is the attitude of most of the people in the world around us?  Self-sufficiency.  Life is about me.  Life is about self-actualization.  God?  God is the farthest thing from our mind. Never think about Him.  He’s not important.  That attitude is an enemy.   That attitude is attacking us all the time.

     2 What happens when there appears to be no enemy who is trying to undermine our godliness?  We let our guard down by not always having God’s standard ready as a point of comparison.  We begin to go along with our own personal evaluations of things.  We tend to do things or say things on the basis of whether it feels right or is comfortable for me.  What happens then?  Well, what do you think happens when our own sinful self is left to determine whether something is good for us to be doing or not?  Our sinful self is an enemy.  Probably the most powerful enemy we have to face every day.  

   D1 What is probably the most dangerous thing in our lives as we are watching for Jesus to return?  Complacency.  Life is good.  No major difficulties.  No major challenges to my faith and godliness.  I guess I can just settle in.  What is the problem with that attitude?  We are not seeing our enemies.

    2 How does it come about that I am aware of my spiritual enemies?  The Lord gives me that knowledge in the Scriptures.  There He warns me of the world and my sinful self - my spiritual enemies.  David wrote: {28}“You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.”   I am totally in the dark about spiritual matters on my own.  But God through His Word takes away my darkness and keeps His lamp burning as He blesses me with regular opportunity to use His Word.  God opens my spiritual eyes.  I can see.  One of the things God lets me see with my spiritual eyes  is my enemies.             

IIIA1 How would you describe life?  Most people say life is a challenge.  It is a challenge to become educated in a way that makes us able to do something by which we can support ourselves.  For some the educational system itself backs them into a corner out of which it is very difficult to get.   For some the competitive job market is a corner into which they don’t like to be backed.  It is a challenge to keep relationships with other people on a level that is beneficial for all involved.  For some this is such a burden that the attempt is no longer approached.  It is a challenge to stay healthy.  For some this alone makes life a burden that sometimes is impossible to bear.  

    2 David writes: {19} “The Lord brought me out into a spacious place; He rescued me because He delighted in me.”  The Lord delights in us.  He loves us.  Because He loves us, He brings us into a spacious place.  He gets us out of those corners into which life backs us.  How does He do that?  Very often by reminding us that He loves us and is with us and will rescue us from our tight corners either in this life or by taking us from this life.  With the Lord and His promises of benefit in my life I don’t feel as cornered when I am being challenged educationally, professionally, in my relationships in life or with health issues.  I can live life challenged but confident.

   B1 How do you approach life?  Most people approach life as consumers.  You approach situations and you use them to try to take out of them whatever benefit you can for yourself.  You have relationships with people to try to take out of them whatever benefit you can for yourself.  You get things to try to use them for whatever benefit you can for yourself.

    2 David writes: {27}“Lord, you save the humble, but bring low those whose eyes are haughty.”  The Lord loves us.  The Lord serves us.  God the Son came into our world to serve us.  He did so by taking our sins, suffering our punishment.  He did so by taking our place in this world and never sinning.  He did so by providing us with forgiveness, righteousness and eternal life.  How do we approach life?  From David’s words it is obvious that the Lord would have us approach life as He did.  As a servant.  Use the situations in life to benefit others.  Use your relationships in life to benefit others.  Use your goods in life to benefit others.  That is being humble.

   C1 What are we doing with our lives as we are watching for Jesus to return?  We are going about our daily lives.  To quote Jesus in the Gospel lesson “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage.”    There are two ways in which we can be going about these things.  We can be either - to quote Paul in the epistle lesson- engaged in : “orgies, drunkenness, sexual immorality, debauchery, dissension and jealousy.”  Or, “ we can “behave decently as in the daytime, clothing ourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and not thinking about how to gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

     2 As a sinful human being I would walk in life totally focused on overcoming the challenges, totally focused on selfgratification.  How does it come about that I can be confident and a servant?  David wrote: “You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning, my God turns my darkness into light.”  God through His Word helps me to see how I ought to walk and then makes me able to walk that way.  

Lord Jesus, continue to lead us into Your Word so that Your Light makes us able to see You, see our enemies, and see how we ought to walk.  Then we will be able to keep on watching.   

Written Sermon 11/20/2022

CWC- Christ the King - Gospel Lesson - KB Kuschel

Luke 23:35-43

35 The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at him. They said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”  36 The soldiers also came up and mocked him. They offered him wine vinegar 37 and said, “If you are the king of the Jews, save yourself.”  38 There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS.  39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!”  40 But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”  42 Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”  43 Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.  

IA1 How do you get to be a king?  You might get born into the royal family.  Or you have to have enough powerful people on your side to make you king and keep you in that leadership position. Kings are in their position because of power. 

   2 A king also exercised a lot of power, or we might say exercised a lot of influence and control. He was in charge of all the people in his kingdom.   He controlled the use of all the resources in his kingdom.  If the king was acting in accordance with God’s will, he controlled the resources  for the benefit of his people.  If the king was acting in accordance with his own sinful nature, he controlled the resources for his own benefit.  

  3 The people and the rulers referred to in vs 35 knew the Old Testament lesson for today which promised that a branch of the royal family tree of David would reign wisely as king and do what is just and right. {Jere 23} 5 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,    “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.”  They had seen Jesus of Nazareth exercise what seemed like the kingly power of God over sickness, death and nature.      

  4 But now He was hanging on a cross.  He had exercised His power and saved people from sickness and death and destruction.  But it seemed now as if He could not exercise His power to rescue Himself from death.  He wasn’t in control of that. He sure didn’t look like a king now to the rulers and the people.  .  

 B1 Although we don’t have royalty in the USA, we know from watching royal weddings in England, that kings are accustomed to the best of everything.  Best clothes.  Luxurious surroundings.  Best food.  Best wine.  The wealth of the entire nation is at his disposal.    

   2 The soldiers around the cross knew that.  So, they gave Jesus some cheap wine to drink.  They were saying, “Here.  Have some of the wine we drink.  Come down to our level, you who claim to be a king.”  Jesus didn’t look like a king to the soldiers either.

  C1 The soldiers had taken the concept of  “king” from the sign above Jesus on the cross.  It read   “Jesus is the king of the Jews.”    With this notice Pilate the governor was saying this crucified person was the king over the people descended from Judah and from Abraham.  

   2 Pilate was saying two things: “This person sure doesn’t look like a king to me.”  But he was also saying: “This pitiful, miserable king is the only kind of king such people as the Jews should have.  Jesus didn’t look like a king to Pilate either.    

  D1 As Christians we publicly profess that Jesus of Nazareth ascended into heaven, physically left this earth, and is now sitting at the right hand of God, occupying His position of power and is in charge of all things for us.  In other words - Jesus is King.  Lord of all.  Keeps the planets in the pathways.  Keeps the cycle of life going.  

   2 Look around yourself.  Does it look as if He is King?  What can you point to and say, “See.  That is evidence that Jesus is ruling over all things!”?  It doesn’t look much different from when He was hanging on the cross.  

  3 In  fact, sometimes doesn’t it seem as if the opposite is the case?   If Jesus is King, shouldn’t the people in His kingdom have special treatment?  Shouldn’t we be better off than people who are not a part of the kingdom?  Shouldn’t we have fewer problems than everybody else has?  Shouldn’t we have some of the spillover from the wealth of the universe which is at His disposal?  Based on the situation of many of us His followers, it sure doesn’t look as if Jesus is king.

   The question is: Can we make the judgment that Jesus is not King on the basis of outward appearance?  Let’s look some more at the incident before us. 

IIA1 The soldiers used the term “king.”  Pilate had written the term “king.”  But the people and the rulers and the criminal used another term. What was it? “The people ....., and the rulers..... said, “He saved others; let him save himself if he is God’s Messiah, the Chosen One.”   One of the criminals (said): “Aren’t you the Messiah? “

  2 What does Messiah mean?  Anointed One.  Who were anointed into their offices in the Old Testament?  Before a priest could sacrifice or lead the worship, before a prophet could publicly speak for God, and before a king could occupy his throne, he was anointed in a public ceremony with a special oil.  The Anointed One became the standard way of speaking about the Promised One who was going to come and fulfill the sacrifices of the priests, the words of the prophets and the rule of the kings.  

  3 The Anointed One would be the Chosen One, hand picked by God to save.   He was to save people from the guilt and consequence of their sins by a sacrifice.  He was to save people from ignorance about God by perfectly bringing God’s truth.  He was to save people from Satan’s influence and control by exercising his power over all His enemies.  

  4 So, this person on the cross was not just the King of the Jews.  He was the Anointed One,  handpicked by God to be priest, prophet, and King.   Sacrificer, teacher, and ruler.  All rolled into one.  

   B1 One criminal gave his personal evaluation of Jesus.  41 “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.” He confessed that he was a sinful human who broke God’s laws and the laws of the land and therefore deserved to die.  But, after observing Jesus he concluded that Jesus didn’t deserve to be put to death.  He had done nothing wrong.  He wasn’t guilty of the charges brought against him.  We know that Jesus had done absolutely nothing wrong, never sinned, didn’t deserve punishment from either God or humans. 

   2 What does that have to do with kingdom?  Why ask the question?  Because the next thing the criminal said was: {42}“Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”    Jesus’ answer doesn’t use “kingdom.”  Instead He refers to paradise.  “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.”  Notice Jesus defines His kingdom in those words.  Being in Jesus’ kingdom means being with Jesus.  Being in Jesus’ kingdom means being in paradise or perfection. 

   C1 When God the Holy Spirit brings us to trust that Jesus lived and died and rose for us, we are in Jesus’ kingdom.  How can we sinners be with Jesus who is holy?  Because Jesus took our guilt, suffered our punishment, lived and never sinned, and covers us with His holiness.  So, we are in God’s kingdom because we are perfect in God’s sight because of Jesus. 

    2 Even though we can’t prove it, Jesus is ruling over all things in our best interest. Even if sometimes, it doesn’t seem that way.   He is ruling in our lives, having taken up residence in our hearts through the Gospel in Word and Sacraments.  

   3 Today.   We are never not with Jesus.  We are never not going to be with Jesus.  After this life we will still be with Jesus.  Our souls go to be with Jesus on the today of our deaths.  Our bodies will be reunited with our souls on the today of Judgment Day after which both body and soul will be with Jesus.  Then we will not just look holy to God, covered with Jesus’ holiness, but all things will be restored to the perfection in which God originally created all things.  With Jesus in paradise. 

  Conc: Does it look like Jesus is King now? Often not.  But when we realize what kind of a kingdom He has and what kind of a kingdom we are in, we can joyfully sing, “and He shall reign forever and ever.”      

Written Sermon 11/13/2022

CWC- Alt Epistle Lesson -Saints Triumphant - - Kieth Bernard Kuschel

                        Revelation 22:1-5

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.

Triumphant = Winners

“There will be no more darkness.”   Darkness is used picturesquely a lot in the Bible.  Maybe one of the most familiar uses is Eph 5:8.  “Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the LORD.”   Human beings on our own are in the dark spiritually.  We can’t see the true God.  We can’t see our way into a relationship with God.   Being in the dark is the same thing as not believing in Jesus as the Savior. 

  When the Holy Spirit brings people to trust that Jesus lived and died and rose to give them forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life, the picture changes to but now you are light in the LORD.”   We see who the true God is.  We see that our sins are washed away in the blood of Jesus.  We see that we have been rescued from the punishment we deserve because of our sins.  The text says, 

“No longer will there be a curse.”

  However, we still remain in the dark about some things.  It is very frustrating for us to not be able to understand how our God can have a threeness about Him called Father Son and Holy Spirit and yet still be one.  It is very frustrating for us to not be able to understand how a real human being named Jesus of Nazareth could have at the same time all the capacities of God.  It is very frustrating for us to not be able to grasp how it is our fault if we are unbelievers, but it is not to our credit if we are believers.  It is very frustrating to be in the dark.  

We remain in the dark about some things.  How come God lets a fire wipe out huge forests?  How come God lets Islam countries wipe out Christians? How come God lets a forty year old mother of three have cancer?  It is very frustrating to be in the dark.  

Is there a solution to our frustration?  The verses before us today say: 4 They(we) will see his face. 5 There will be no more night. They(we) will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them(us) light.   In eternity when we are with the LORD, the LORD will answer all our questions and make everything understandable.  We will be saints - triumphant over darkness. 

We remain in darkness about some things.  How come I work my tail off and never seem to get ahead of the bills?  How come I study for hours and hours and never get an A?  How come that guy can run and jump and shoot the basketball so well and I can’t?  How come that person got the promotion and I didn’t?  It is very frustrating to be in the dark. 

   How come I work real hard at my godliness and still fall into sin?  How come I work real hard at my godliness and nobody seems to notice that I am connected with Jesus and gives me a chance to talk about Jesus with them?  How come I work real hard at my godliness and the people who notice ridicule me for doing it?  It is very frustrating to be in the dark.  

    Is there a solution to our frustration?  The verses before us today say: His name will be on their(our) foreheads 5 There will be no more night. They(we) will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them(us) light.   In eternity when we are with the LORD, it will be very apparent to us and to everyone else that we are valued and valuable because we belong to the LORD.  We will be saints - triumphant over darkness. 

“His servants will worship him.”   Worship for most of us is a habit.  We say “God is worth a lot to me” in a variety of ways.  We say it with the ways we use the blessings He gives us.  The most important blessing He gives us is His gift of eternal life.  He informs us of that blessing through His Word.  We use that Word regularly in our homes.  We use that Word weekly here with the rest of the spiritual family.  God through His Word keeps us holding onto His blessing of eternal life.    Worship is a good habit to have.  

 We gather with others to worship.  We say “God is great and God is good” and others hear us.  We sing “Jesus lived and died and rose to give the world forgiveness, holiness, and eternal life,” and other people hear us.  When they hear us, the Holy Spirit keeps them holding onto His blessing of eternal life.  Worship is a good habit to have.  

  When we realize the benefit for ourselves and others of worshiping, we get into it.   We sing with enthusiasm.  We think about the meaning of the words of the songs as we sing them.  We pray out loud when called upon to do so.  We pray in our minds when called upon to do so.  We think about the meanings of the words of the prayers as we pray them.  We read along with the sections of the Bible when they are read.  We focus on the words from the Bible so that we understand them as they are being read.   We listen to the message from God’s Word so we understand what it means for us.  Worship is a good habit to have.  

  Habits often have down sides to them.  When you do something a lot, it is easy to think that you know everything there is to know about what you are doing.  So we disengage our brains.  When someone in the family is reading the devotion, I am thinking about something else.  When the congregation is praying together, I am thinking about something else.  When the congregation is singing a hymn, I am thinking about something else.  When the Scripture is being read and discussed, I am thinking about something else.  Why?  Because I have heard all this before and I know what it’s about.  Worship has become a meaningless habit. 

   Habits often have down sides to them. When I am deciding whether I am going to gather with others to worship, I decide that I don’t need to do it this time, because I have done it so often already.  I am strong in my faith in Jesus.  I am a godly person.  I never even consider that my presence worshiping with others props them up in their faith in Jesus and in the desire to be godly.  I never even consider that if I am not there, I am not carrying out that important role.  I never even consider that if everybody took a totally selfish approach to gathering for worship, there would never be a gathering.  Worship can become a selfish habit.   

   Habits often have down sides to them.  When I gather to worship with others, I am satisfied that I am present.  I don’t pray along.  I don’t sing along.  I don’t read along.  I don’t think along.  Worship has become something I am present at because God told me to be present.   Worship has become a disinterested habit. 

  What are we going to be doing in eternity? {3} “The throne of God will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.”   We will have an ongoing visual reminder that God is King of Kings and Lord or Lords. No more meaningless, selfish, disinterested  worship.  Our worship will be perfect.  We will be saints - triumphant over bad habits.

   What are we going to be doing in eternity? {3} “The Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.”  We will have an ongoing visual reminder that Jesus sacrificed Himself to wash away our sins.  Was perfect so we can be part of God’s family. Is alive again so we can spend eternity with Him.  No more meaningless, selfish, disinterested  worship.  Our worship will be perfect.  We will be saints - triumphant over bad habits. 

This section of Scripture gives us a little hint of what eternity with the LORD is going to be like. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.   What does that remind you of?    Listen to some other Scripture.  Streams watered the whole surface of the ground.  A river watering the place flowed.   Anybody recognize that?  That is the garden of Eden.  Everything perfectly productive  when God created it.  Everything perfectly productive again in eternity.  

    Did you notice what kind of tree it was?  The tree of life.  Does that sound familiar?  In the middle of the garden( of Eden) were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  In the garden of Eden the tree of life, which had fruit which evidently had the power to bestow everlasting life, grew in the middle of the garden.  In Revelation John sees the tree of life growing once more and he says that its leaves serve to heal the nations.  Nations had to be healed of their sickness of sin.  Jesus came and did that.  This tree then has the power to restore everlasting life.  

   Did you notice where the river of the water of life was flowing from?  {1}Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God .  As you would expect a vision given to John by Jesus backs up the verbal teachings of the Bible.  Life comes from God.  Physical life, but more importantly eternal life.  It is a gift from God.  The gift  has no impurities. Stated the way we usually state is: Eternal life is by grace not on the basis of what we do.    

    There is another part of the answer to the question, “Where was the water of life flowing from?” Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne...... of the Lamb.  Eternal life can only come from God because of the Lamb.  God is holy.  He demands that punishment fall on sinners.  Jesus took sinners place.  God’s punishment fell on Jesus just as it had been pictured for millenia falling on lambs.  Eternal life is by grace because of Jesus.   

    Did you notice anything strange about the tree? {2}yielding its fruit every month.  Ordinary trees don’t do that.  They bear fruit at one time of the year.  They don’t bear fruit for most of the year.  Any guesses as to what this means that a tree is bearing fruit every month?  In eternity everything is complete and total.  Productive all the time.  

     Did you notice anything else strange about the tree?{2} bearing twelve crops of fruit.  I don’t know any tree that bears twelve different crops of fruit.  What does this mean?  Again best guess.  In eternity with the Lord everything is complete and total. Complete range of variety of product. 

   I mentioned earlier some things that frustrate us Christians.  Here is another one.  I never am as productive as I want to be.  That is true in my spiritual life as well as my physical life.  I don’t seem to be growing in my relationship with Jesus as much as I want.  I don’t seem to be increasing my production of godliness as much as I want.  I seem to get stuck in the same old ruts all the time.  I don’t seem to branch out into new areas of living my life for the LORD.  Stagnation is very frustrating.  

    What is the ultimate solution to my frustration. {2} On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.  In eternity when we are with the LORD, we will be perfectly productive with a complete variety of godliness.  We will be saints - triumphant over stagnation. 

  LORD Jesus, thank You for making us winners.