Walk His Way

Sermon preached for the Third Sunday after Pentecost on June 5, 2016 at St. John’s Lutheran Church. Sermon text: Luke 7:11-17

How you walk can show something about what’s in your heart. When I’m walking up front of church with my robe on, I’ll tend to walk a

certain way. It won’t be too slow that I don’t ever get anywhere, but it won’t be too fast, either. I don’t want to rush around, but I want to walk in a way that’s hopefully dignified and respectful in leading a worship service. I want the way I walk to show I care about what I’m doing. Plus the fact that if I moved much faster I could easily trip over my robe.

But there are times where different kinds of walks are required. Those who were graduating from our grade school this past Thursday night couldn’t exactly come sprinting in to the graduation service. But at the same time, there might have been just a little bit of excitement in their steps. Graduating from eighth grade is a big deal; it’s on to high school next year! There’s good reason to be excited and happy in how you walk.

And when the last bell rang and the last day of school ended on Friday, I’d imagine a few of the kids—not just those graduating but some from all the classes—might have even gone running out of the school building! After all, class is over! No more classes and textbooks and tests, at least for a few months! Summer vacation! That’s an exciting time! And it might just show itself in how the kids walk.

There are other times of life with a special walk, too. On her wedding day, a bride walks down an aisle like this here in church. And it’s a kind of formal occasion; she’s not rushing. She’s going slow, maybe in time with the music. But in her walk you might see excitement with just a touch of nervousness as she prepares to begin her married life with her husband.

Of course, an aisle like this can be used for a different walk, too. At a funeral, the casket will often get walked down this aisle, with the family following close behind. There’s different emotions going on there, aren’t there? Sure, I pray there’s hope after a funeral here at St. John’s, but there’s also bound to be sadness. There’s that little thought we have that this person we love isn’t going to be walking with us anymore in this life. So we don’t move as fast. Maybe we keep our heads down. Maybe our hearts are just a bit heavy.

Now, the Bible doesn’t say much about how Jesus walked. But in our text for today, we see two groups of people walking who ran into each other. The group that had Jesus in it was full of excitement and joy, and the other group was sad and mourning. By the time the two groups came together and Jesus had a chance to use his power and love, everyone was rejoicing—and I’d imagine their walks showed it.

So today, I want to encourage you to walk his way. I want you to walk, to live your life, as someone who has been affected, heart and soul, by your Savior’s love. I want you to look at Jesus who rules over your life in good times and bad, and to walk rejoicing in his power that enables you to live now and to live with him forever. 

It’s Time for a New Contract

Why does Aaron Rodgers play for the Packers?¹ That’s not a complaint from a Vikings fan; it’s a question for you to think about. Why does Aaron Rodgers play for the Packers?

Does he play for the Packers because of his great love for Northeastern Wisconsin? Well, he might love NE Wisconsin, and he seems to be a positive person in the community. But that’s not why he plays for the Packers. Does he play for the Packers because of his pure love of football? I have no doubt he loves football; some days he probably loves it more than others. But again, that’s not the reason he plays for the Packers.

It’s actually pretty simple. Aaron Rodgers plays for the Packers because he signed a contract that says he has to play for the Packers. It goes back to when the Packers drafted him out of college in 2005. He wasn’t drafted because he was a nice guy; he was drafted because he was a really good football player. He’d played well in college in California, so the Packers gave him a contract.

It’s a two-sided contract. Both parties, Rodgers and the Packers are doing something for each other to fulfill the contract. Rodgers’s side of the contract is that he plays football for the Packers. In return, the Packers pay him money. It’s a pretty good deal for both of them, actually. In fact, he’s signed new contracts a couple of times, including his current one for many millions of dollars.

How long will he continue to play and how successful will he be? Nobody knows that for sure, but we do know that he is currently under contract to continue playing for the Packers.

Through the course of history, God himself has put people under contracts. Think about it; God drafted Abraham once upon a time. He called Abraham to leave his home and go to the promised land. (Gen. 12:1-9) God’s contract with Abraham——we usually call it a “covenant” when God makes a contract——later included promising to bless Abraham, to make his offspring like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore, and to bless all people through him. In other words, God promised to send the Savior.

Then after God’s people Israel left their captivity in Egypt, God started a different contract. He gave them the Ten Commandments, which was the moral law of how they were to live. He gave them other civil laws about how their society was supposed to operate, and he gave them ceremonial laws giving them the specifics on how to worship. This contract——this covenant——was two-sided. God had to keep his side to bring the people safely to the Promised Land and then bless them once they were there. And the people of Israel had to keep their side by obeying his laws and commands. He even signed this contract in blood². It was all official, and everything was in place. If all went well, they’d live happily ever after.

The thing is, it didn’t all go well. Israel didn’t live up to their side of the contract. They not only didn’t obey all of God’s laws, they chose other gods and worshiped them. And with the contract broken, God no longer had to keep his end. They didn’t stay safe in the Promised Land. They were taken over by their enemies. The city of Jerusalem and the temple of God were destroyed, and the people went into exile. The contract was done. Over.

But what about us? Are we running around this world as undrafted free agents, unsigned players with no connection to God whatsoever? Well, judging from the fact that you’re here in church, I’d guess that’s not how you feel. But what is your contract with God?

Clearing the Clutter

I have a confession to make: I can be a bit of a slob. I still remember, in 2nd or 3rd grade, receiving a dreaded U (for Unsatisfactory) on my report card for “work area.” My desk, all through grade school, was a jumble of books and papers. For the most part, I could find what I needed, but anyone else who dared look through the desk might never be seen again.

Now, nearly thirty years later, not much has changed. I’ve written in the past about how messy my work desk can get, and I admit it’s still a problem. Usually, it goes in streaks: stuff slowly builds up until it gets so messy I finally have to take action. Following a period of relative cleanliness, the stuff begins to accumulate again.

Here’s a shot of my office just this morning.

Now, this isn’t horrible, and it’s been way worse before, but… well, it’s not good enough. The more I’ve thought about it, the more I believe that, for me, a cluttered desk does equal a cluttered mind. When there’s stuff everywhere I find myself having to spend a lot of mental energy to see past all the unnecessary things to get a good look at what I’m actually working on.

Why do I do this? I think it’s based on a lie I tell myself. I’ll come to my office from a meeting or from teaching a class, I’ll be carrying a pile of books and papers, and I’ll think, I don’t have time to put these away right now. Or I think I need to immediately start working on the next thing or immediately set all that stuff down to leave the building. But that’s a lie. I do usually have a few minutes when I could put things away and make sure things are clean. But the lazy lie I’ve been telling myself stops me from doing that.

So, after I took the above picture, I did get my workspace tidied a bit (though there’s still work to do.) But more importantly, I’ve made the decision to make the effort, going forward, to “clear the clutter” every day. Hopefully seeing some of the office clutter disappear will help with the “mind clutter” that tends to grow also. 

I think it will.

Your Light Has Come!

We easily take light for granted¹. Light does not seem extraordinary. We’re not amazed at the fact that we can simply flip a switch and flood a room with light. We expect every morning that the sun will rise, that we can put on some sunglasses if it’s too bright or turn on a lamp if it’s too dim. We have computers and e-readers and smartphones that have their own lights built right in; their screens light up whatever we need to see at the time.

But friends, whether we realize it or not, light is precious. Light is a miracle. Light is a gift from God.

A good example of this is a form of light that is fading with new technologies, but is still quite famous around here: the lighthouse. Lighthouses remind us of times when lights aren’t just modern conviences; they can save your life. Whether they’re marking the entrance to a port or warning against dangerous reefs or rocks, lighthouses shine a clear signal to boats and ships on the dark water.

It’s easy to forget, but this huge lake just a few feet from us here can actually be quite dangerous. Dozens of ships have sunk in Lake Michigan, mostly in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Some famously even sunk very near to us in Two Rivers. It makes you see how important lighthouses were. In a dangerous, dark place, like on the water at night, you need a clear signal, you need something shining out to show you where you need to go.

And it’s not surprising that a lighthouse could be a symbol for what God does for us. It’s right there in our school building up on 45th Street. On a high wall in the commons there, carved on a relief is a picture of a lighthouse with the words, The LORD is my light and my salvation. (Ps. 27:1)

Why do we need God to give us light? Because we live in a dark world. There is all around us, sin inside of us, and it all wants to pull us under. As Christmas and its celebrations fade away, most of us will be going back “to the real world” soon. School will be starting again. Jobs will be back in full swing if they weren’t already. And maybe it’s the cold temperatures or the early darkness that still comes every day, but it’s easy to feel down. It’s easy to feel depressed this time of year. It’s easy to start to think that God doesn’t feel so great. It doesn’t seem like he’s really there for me. It’s easy to sink into despair.

But your light has come! Jesus’ birth guarantees that God has not abandoned his creation; he has not left us alone, sinking in the dark. His death guarantees us that w will live. He has rescued us, pulled us out from drowning in our own sins, and it is he who will bring us home.

So as this Christmas season ends, remember that we have light. Not necessarily a light outside or a light in a lighthouse. We have light from God. We have the light of his presence, his forgiveness, and his salvation forever. Your light has come!

Why I Write

Why am I writing this? That’s a thought that pops into my mind occasionally. It’s not because I have all this extra time I don’t know what to do with; I don’t wake up from my afternoon nap and meander to the keyboard for fun. As a pastor, my to-do list outstretches any hope of completion every day. So why add something else to it — something else I don’t have to do?

I answered this question, in part, on my very first post on this blog over four years ago. In a lot of ways, the answer hasn’t changed.

First of all, I enjoy writing. I like putting words together. Fortunately, my job as a pastor gives me lots of opportunities to do this, as I’m often writing sermons, devotions, newsletter articles, and whatever else shows up. My job requires a lot in the area of communication. Writing is a simple act of communicating. So I want to get better at it. I want to practice it in a setting that isn’t dictated by the situation, by what I have to do to complete the task at hand. I enjoy the opportunity to write and let the words flow.

Side note: I have a memory of the time when writing came the easiest it ever has for me. It was in college. I was taking a lot of Spanish classes, including one in Spanish composition. It wasn’t easy to be assigned writing tasks in a language I was learning. Every sentence, every paragraph, was effort. It never came easy. 

But then, that same semester, I occasionally had to write a paper in English. It was so simple! The words just poured out of my fingers. I filled pages effortlessly; all I had to do was think it and it was there. 

I guess what I’m saying is that I keep writing now to recapture some of that feeling. I keep writing so that all my writing and communication will be better and more fluid.

So I’m not trying to write on hot topics, or something I think will get me shares on Facebook. I’m writing for myself. I’m stretching and working the writing-muscle, eager to watch my strength increase as I go. I hope it’s working!

Oh, and by the way, if your question is Why am I reading this? Sorry. I can’t help you there.

A Year of Dog

I’m not usually one for new year’s resolutions. It’s not that I think they’re bad, or that some people can’t make good use of them. I do think, though, that they can be a source of discouragement. Well, I guess I’ve failed again this year by not keeping my resolution. Who needs that guilt? In a similar way, these resolutions can actually serve as an excuse to not continue doing something. If I’d made a resolution to work out every day in the new year, I’m actually less likely to keep working out after I miss a week than I would’ve been if I hadn’t made the resolution. I already failed in my resolution, and since starting over would remind me of my failure, I’ll just stop working out altogether. No.

Despite this, the new year is still a great time for starting something new or reminding yourself about a goal you’ve set. For me, this usually involves my own personal devotions and Bible reading. I’ve written about this before (here and here and here), but I like to have a slightly different way each year of reading through the Bible and studying it.

This year, I’m following a Bible reading plan that I’ve mentioned before (in one of the links above), but I’ve also decided to add a new element to my study: reading through the Dogmatics notes from my time at Seminary. 

Dogmatics — or “Dog” as we called it in school — is the study of Christian doctrine or teaching. It’s basically an orderly presentation of the all the teachings of the Bible, laid out with passages and other supporting writings about each topic. I had electronic notes from my time at seminary (I graduated 8 years ago), but looking through an old Word document was kind of cumbersome, and tough to keep track of where I had left off.

That’s why I was excited to discover that I could read the notes using the Logos Bible Software that I already own. (If you know Logos, check this out!) My seminary’s website, I noticed a couple of weeks ago, offers files that can be used to add my dog notes to my Logos library. You can check it out here.

So now, I can read through my notes right in the same program I use for other Bible work. Here’s a screenshot of it, with the notes being on the left side of the screen.

Once I did this, I easily set up a reading plan in Logos that gives me a schedule to read through these notes through the course of one year. Nice!

It’s all working great so far, now I just need to keep it up for another 360 days or so!

The Gift Is Yours!

We are on the doorstep of Christmas¹. The day is almost here. Out of all the Christmas gifts in your life this year, are you more likely to be the giver of the gift, or the recipient of the gift?

You really need both parts to have a gift. In the next few days there will be a lot of gifts given and a lot of gifts received. There are classroom parties in school, work parties with gift exchanges, in addition to all the family get-togethers and dinners and opportunities to open presents and enjoy giving and receiving gifts with ones we love.

But which one is better? Giving a gift or receiving a gift? Jesus himself, you might remember, gave us an answer to that question. It’s recorded for us in the book of Acts: The Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ (Acts 20:35) So, there you have it, if Jesus himself has weighed in on the question, it’s been answered.

But wait a minute. I’m not trying to disagree with Jesus in any way, but that quote where Jesus said it’s more blessed to give than to receive is in the context of helping the needy. It’s the Apostle Paul talking about how we need to help and give to people less fortunate than us.

The gifts I really want to talk to you about today are a bit different. We’re not focusing today on gifts between people, but gifts between human beings and God himself. And for those gifts, I would argue that it’s better to be the one receiving the gifts. Sure, we give gifts to God. We use time, talents, and offerings to serve him. But God doesn’t really need our gifts. He’s not up in heaven upset that he missed out on an extra ten bucks in offerings that someone decided not to give. No, the gifts we give to God are really only a small response to his gifts to us.

And especially as we look at Christmas, and the celebration of Jesus’ birth, we don’t focus on what we’re doing for God; we focus on what he has done for us in his Son. This Christmas — really for all time — the most important gift is the gift that God gives. And all of us get to celebrate that. Because the gift it yours.

Press On

I wish I could remember where I heard the following quote. I heard it a week or two ago and it returned like a boomerang to my mind today.

Being an adult means being tired but continuing to do what you need to do anyway.

I might have some of the wording wrong there — but you get the idea. I know sometimes I just feel *tired* all the time, and I frankly don’t *feel* much like doing what I know I need to do. But, because I’m an adult, I do it anyway.

This thought occurred to me so forcefully today because I actually worked out this morning. Now, that’s not so impressive; lots of people work out, all the time. But me? Not so much. It’s never been my favorite thing. Actually, that’s a towering understatement: I hate working out. Ok, maybe not *hate*, but I do not like it. 

But there I was this morning. Right when I got up, I did my excercise. Not because I *felt* like it, but because it was the right thing for me to do.

This reminds me of the way authors in the Bible refer to living out our faith. Paul says it well in Philippians:

**I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.** Philippians 3:14 

We press on in our faith, living out that faith in our thoughts, words, and actions, not because we always feel like it. As a sinner we often won’t. We don’t live out our faith in order to save ourselves: our works could never do that. In fact, even trying to save ourselves with our own works goes against the very heart of the gospel itself. No, we press on because Christ Jesus has called us heavenward. He has already taken care of it all. Now, out of thanks, out of love for him, with his power worked by the Holy Spirit, we press on.

I pray that I can continue my adulthood — both physically and spiritually. I pray you can, too.

Get Back in the Water!

It’s almost December, and we live in Wisconsin¹. I think everyone here knows what that means: it’s cold outside. It’s either snowing or it will be snowing soon. It’s the time of year when we get used to warming up the car for a few minutes before actually riding in it. We’re so used to this cold at this time of year that yesterday’s 40 degrees felt like a heat wave. There was actually that split second of time outside where I had the thought: Do I even need a coat?

As warm as it was yesterday, though, there’s something I definitely would not have done: go swimming in an outdoor pool. It was too cold. But just a little over a week ago, I did get to swim in an outdoor pool. I was thankful then to be able to spend a few days in Florida with my family, so it was warm enough for the pool to be an option.

But even though it was warmer in Florida, even though I got to swim in a pool there, there were still times even there when I felt cold. Walking outside to the swimming pool? No problem. Getting into the water of a heated pool? Felt great. But when I would come out of the water, even just a little bit, suddenly it was freezing. I had to go back into the water for that coldness to go away. It was just cold enough outside, with just enough of a breeze, to make wet skin feel freezing.

So as I spent time at the pool with my family, I went back and forth between two extremes. Every inch of me shuddered when I had to be out of the water, but I got a warm comforting blanket of water when I went back in. So when I was out of that water and cold, one thought kept going off like an alarm in my head: Get back in the water! And when I did, all was well.

When you think about it, the water was really responsible for both extremes. It was the water on my skin that made me feel cold in the breeze, but it was the water all around me that warmed me up afterward.

Today in our text from 1 Peter, we also see water doing double duty. In fact, we see the connection of water and the coming of Jesus in Advent. Water reminds us how Jesus is coming to do two opposite things. He’s coming to save, and he’s coming to destroy. Which one do we want to be a part of? To save us, right? We eagerly wait for Jesus to come and save us at the end of the world. But actually, for right now, we need a little of both. In this sinful world, we need Jesus every day to both save and destroy us. For that to happen, we need to get back in the water. That might sound confusing now, but let me explain.

Crushed

I wish it weren’t so easy to be crushed. Bugs, they should be easy to crush. But we’re supposed to be stronger than that. We’re tough. We’re like steel. We should be able to brush things off and keep going. If someone you love dies, fine. Be crushed then. If your house burns down you’ve earned the right to be crushed. Otherwise, it just means you’re weak. It just means you can’t cut it.

Then I guess you can call me weak. Maybe I can’t cut it. Because it seems like it doesn’t take a heck of a lot to crush me. Oh, I probably wouldn’t have used that word, crushed. Other words came to my mind today: frustrated, anxious, angry. And it didn’t even take much.

My watch broke. Well, the clasp that holds my watch onto my wrist broke. Shouldn’t have been a big deal. It can be fixed. But it’s frustrating. It’s angering. Then when the kids forget to bring what they need to school and my schedule gets tighter and tighter and it seems like everything is happening outside my control no matter what I do… Then the word fits nicely. Crushed. 

But then, funny enough, God spoke to me. He did. He didn’t whisper his voice into my ear or thunder a shout from the clouds. He spoke to me in words that were written long ago and printed in a Bible. He spoke to me with an ordinary psalm. But he spoke what I needed.

**The Lord is near the brokenhearted; He saves those crushed in spirit.**

Psalm 34:18

God reminded me: “I am near you. I have saved you.” It doesn’t matter if it was something big or something ridiculously puny that crushed me. God is still there. He’s already saved me. Jesus lived, died, and rose for me. He’s made me his own. He’s washed my sins away and booked my eternal home forever.

So as I start this day, I realize: I’m not really crushed. I’m not brokenhearted. I live in a sinful world and the sins I deal with most are my own. But God has already taken care of them. He’s with me, and he’s not going anywhere.

May he be with you today, too.