Sermon for Easter 3: "Death and Resurrection Story"

 + 3rd Sunday of Easter - May 4th, 2025 +

Series C: Acts 9:1-22; Revelation 5:1-14; John 21:1-19

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

Ever noticed how some of the classic stories have similar themes or central events that hold the whole story together? Like how Spock died after entering a chamber full of radiation to save the Enterprise, only to come back to life again. Or how Snow White and Sleeping Beauty are both brought back from the death of poison or a curse by a beloved kiss. Or how Aslan lays down his life in sacrifice on the Stone Table, only to arise the next day and crack that same Stone Table, defeat the Witch, save Narnia. We watch or read these stories and think…well, that’s a good story and all. Too good to be true. Everyone knows that dead people stay dead and death and resurrection stories are just that, stories, and happy endings only happen in fairy tales.

 

But what if there was a story that sounded too good to be true, only it really happened. What if there was a true story of death and resurrection, that wasn’t made on screen or in a fantasy world, but in real history? Well, there is, and it’s the story we hear and the theme that is echoed throughout all of our Scripture readings this morning. The true story of death and resurrection in Jesus who died and rose for you.

 

From Paul’s conversion in Acts to John’s Revelation to Jesus’ appearances with his disciples after his resurrection, it’s Jesus’ death and resurrection that is at the center of each of these true death and resurrection stories.

 

In Acts 9, we’re given the account of Paul’s conversion. And while outwardly he appears to be alive, “breathing threats and murder” before the high priest…in reality he is dead in his trespasses and sin. As Paul will later describe our sinful condition in Romans, his mouth and heart were an open grave spewing forth curses against Christ and his followers. Saul, as he was known before this, was a dead man walking. 

 

But then Saul gets blindsided and knocked off his horse by the resurrected Lord. A light from heaven blinds him - a reminder that he’s blind in sin as well as sight, and helpless apart from the holy one of Israel. And Jesus speaks to him. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 

 

As the story goes on he’s led to Damascus where he waits three days. Three days of blindness and death…but then resurrection. Faith given and created by Jesus who died and rose for the dead in their trespasses sinners like Saul and you and me. Jesus sends Ananias to be his servant and bring his death and resurrection to raise Saul from the death of his sin. “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18 And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; 19 and taking food, he was strengthened.

 

What happened to Saul on the road to Damascus was a miracle. Jesus turned Saul into St. Paul — an enemy of the Gospel into a bold preacher of the Gospel. Jesus performs the same miracle upon you in Baptism. We are all “Sauls” according to our sinful nature. Dead in sin and unbelief, and rebels against God. But Jesus’ death and resurrection was poured out upon you in the waters of Holy Baptism. The font is your Damascus road. You were dead and now you’re resurrected.

 

Death and resurrection is at the center of the reading from John’s Revelation today as well. In Revelation 5, John weeps because no one is found to open the scroll - who can possibly hold all the world, its history and events in their hands? Is there anyone? There is. John is shown the Lamb. The Lamb. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Lamb who is slain and yet victorious. The crucified and resurrected Lamb who ransoms us by his blood. It’s not just the church on earth that praises Jesus the Lamb for his death and resurrection. The airwaves in heaven are filled with the songs of death and resurrection. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain.

 

When Jesus appears before his disciples again in John 21, once again Jesus’ death and resurrection surrounds the events. There’s Jesus’ own appearance before his disciples…yet another confirmation that he who is crucified is also now risen from the dead. Jesus reveals what his death and resurrection mean for his disciples, then and now. He reveals how his death and resurrection shape our own callings in life. 

 

For the disciples this was a reminder that everything they had - from the tunics and cloaks wrapped around their bodies, to the fish in their nets (all 153 of them!) came from Jesus. On their own they have nothing…they’re as good as dead in body and soul. And so are we. On our own, what do we have? Nothing. We’re as blind as Saul. As empty-netted and lost in denial as Peter. We’re as empty-handed as the fishermen disciples. 

 

And this is exactly where our Lord wants us as his disciples. Every artist has their favorite medium to work with. Some prefer paint. Others prefer wood or clay or metal. When it comes to his saving work and gracious rescue, God’s favorite medium for the artistry of his grace is dead and broken and lost things. Death and resurrection is Jesus’ specialty. Jesus dies and rises. Then, as we see in Acts with Saul and John in Revelation, and the disciples in John 21, Jesus brings his death and resurrection to us. Death and resurrection isn’t just the story of Jesus’ life. It’s the story of your life too. 

 

When the pastor poured that water over you in your baptism, you died. Your sin was put to death, drown, and sunk to the bottom of Christ’s tomb. But you also were raised out of those waters, brought up from the deep, given new life, and resurrected in Jesus’ resurrection. And so, now every day of life follows that same pattern. We die to sin. We live in God’s gifts of repentance and forgiveness of sins, knowing that here in our brokenness and death and lostness is where Jesus does his best work: raising us from the dead, giving us new life, reconciling us to him and to one another by his dying and rising. 

 

Your life in Jesus is also one of dying and rising. It happened in your baptism. It happens daily. And it’ll happen again when our Lord returns. For we already know the end of the story. Jesus rose from the dead, and in him, so will you. Your faith isn't fiction or fantasy. Your faith is founded on this fact: Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again. 

 

For unlike all the other world religions and so-called saviors out there, we have a God who knows his way out of the grave. We have the God who died and rose to bring us a truly happy ending in the true story of his death and resurrection for you.

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

Sermon for Pentecost Sunday: "The House that God Built"

 + Pentecost Sunday – June 5^th, 2022 +

Series C: Genesis 11:1-9; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:23-31

Beautiful Savior Lutheran

Milton, WA

 

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

 

Every house has a builder. Looking for American Prairie style? Frank Lloyd Wright is your man. Want sweeping lines and curves? Try Eero Saarinen who designed the St. Louis Arch and the Fort Wayne Seminary. 

 

Every house has a builder. So…think for a moment: what famous architect specializes in clay? That builder, of course, is God. And on this day of Pentecost we see that he builds much more than walls and roofs. By His Spirit, God builds you and the nations into the Church.

 

And in a way, this is what God has always done ever since the beginning. God is the greatest architect of all. Only He didn’t use AutoCad. God spoke creation into being. Let there be…and there was. And on the sixth day, God built our first parents by His Spirit. God makes his will known. God spoke. Let us make man in our image. Then God created, fashioned, formed. From the very clay he created, God fashioned man. He breathed life into the clay, and the man bore the image of God. The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. 

 

God also took a rib from this man and out of it he built a woman. And the man and woman delighted in each other. For they were bone of each other’s bone. And flesh of each other’s flesh. One with each other and one in fellowship with God. Eden was a garden, yes, but also a house that God built, along with Adam and Eve.

 

Sadly, however, we know what happens when God is not the builder, and when man tries to venture out on building his solo career of architecture in this fallen world. When man tries to build by himself, he builds for himself. Apart from God, what man builds always falls, and fails…sometimes catastrophically, as it did in Genesis 3, when everything God built and declared very good became corrupted, twisted, and warped in sin. That is what sin does, it touches and twists and taints everything we think, say, and do. 

 

That’s what happened in Genes 11 as well. You would think after Cain was banished for murdering Abel; and after the waters flooded the entire earth because of man’s wickedness, that sinful, fallen man would progressively improve. But in fact sinful, fallen man is only good at progressively making things worse. The Tower of Babel is a great example of man’s building skills. 

 

Man makes his confounded, sinful will known. Man speaks. “Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens. Man even fashions the clay, attempting to imitate His divine architect and Creator. Man formed the clay into bricks. Brick upon brick. A tower, not like the Chrysler building, but more like an ancient ziggurat. Man’s poor, pathetic attempt at remaking the mountain paradise of God in Eden. Man formed the clay but it has no life. He cannot breathe life into it. Yet, he wants the clay to bear his name, his image. let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” In the end, man is scattered. Confounded and confused. And all who call on the name of man – whether it was in Babel, or today – are scattered, yet man babbles on in our own self-serving ways.

And yet in spite of all that, God comes down for us just he did at Babel. In Genesis 11 he came down to see our inability to build. Our failure to create.

 

In the opening chapter of John’s Gospel we hear that God has come down again, this time in the clay of his own creation. The One who made man in His own image is made man for you, in order to redeem you and to restore you in God’s image once again.

 

It is this clay, the flesh and blood God-man, Jesus Christ, whom God uses to rebuild what we tore down so long ago. All of our babbeling, confused, chaotic, self-centered sinful ways are restored, reordered, redeemed, and rescued in Jesus’ death and resurrection. Christ crucified – He’s your cornerstone and builder. 

 

And so on this day of Pentecost we remember and rejoice that God not only sent down His Son to save us, but now through His Son Jesus, He also sends down the Holy Spirit. That’s why Peter quotes the prophet Joel at Pentecost, as the apostles heard the rushing wind, as the tongues of fire appeared on their heads, and as the people gathered heard the gospel in their own language. And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh.

 

At Pentecost God builds the Church by His Spirit. He does the same for you too. God takes our hardened hearts of stone, softens the hard-packed clay of our sinful hearts with baptismal water and breathes the breath of life in us sons of Adam and daughters of Eve. By His Spirit, God builds you into the Church. 

 

As God did in creation, so too, today, God speaks his saving will to you and all your sins are forgiven. As God once breathed the breath of life into Adam and he became a living human being, so too, he breathes the breath of His life-giving Spirit into you by water and the word. He places his saving name upon you as His Spirit descends. As God took a rib from the side of Adam and built his bride, Eve, so too, out of the pierced side of Christ crucified, our second Adam, God has fashioned and built you into His holy bride, the Church. The blood and water flow from the temple of his body into the font to regenerate and rescue you, into the chalice to save, sanctify, and satisfy you in the forgiveness of sins.

 

As God once scattered the nations at the Tower of Babel, now by His Spirit, God calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies you here in His Church, the house that God built. Here God builds you on the Rock of Christ crucified and risen, not the shifting sands of our sinful hearts. 

 

And by this same Holy Spirit, who was present at creation, who descended upon Jesus in the Jordan River, who was promised by Christ, and finally sent by Christ, and poured out upon the Church at Pentecost. By this same Spirit of God, God builds the nations into the Church. God speaks his will in every language, as we heard in Acts 2, and in Revelation, as we see all nations and tribes and languages around the throne of the Lamb. God uses us, his clay vessels to proclaim the saving Name of Jesus. That whoever calls on the name of the Lord Shall be saved.’

 

Every house has a builder, and the builder of the Church is God. That’s why we rejoice this Pentecost day. You are built on the rock of Christ crucified. Built by the Spirit for God’s own habitation. Built to last in Jesus. Built by God, by His Spirit, to be the Church. 

 

A blessed Pentecost Sunday to each of you…

 

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 

 

Sermon at Graveside Service of Evelyn Colclough

 + Graveside Service for Evelyn Colclough – December 19, 2020 +

Acts 16:11-15

Sumner Cemetery – Sumner, WA

 

In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.

 

The more I thought about Evelyn this week, the more I realized that – even in the short time I’ve known her – she reminds me of so many of the great women of Holy Scripture. 

 

How her trust in God’s promises reminded me of God’s promise to Eve to one day send a Son who would destroy death by dying for us. How her steadfast faith – even in her last weeks and days of life – reminded me of Sarah and Elizabeth whose steadfast faith reveals the greater steadfast love of the Lord.

 

How her faith would give voice to God in prayer like Hannah knowing that in His own way and His own time, he would answer her prayers in His good and gracious will in Jesus.

 

How her quiet moments of listening to God’s Word reminded me of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. And how her moments of loving, serving, and caring for others in countless ways reminded me of Martha. 

 

But of all the faithful women in Scripture, Evelyn reminds me most of all of Lydia. Now, Lydia’s home city of Thyatira and Evelyn’s home of Edgewood, WA are worlds apart. And yet Evelyn and Lydia have several things in common. 

 

Like Lydia, who was a seller of purple goods, anyone who knew Evelyn, whether for a moment or much longer, knew she loved the color purple. In Scripture, purple was a royal color, a color that reminds us of Lydia and Evelyn’s true hope and comfort – in Jesus who is our King of kings who was enthroned on the cross, crowned with thorns, and died for Evelyn and for you. Then rose for Evelyn and for you.

 

But Evelyn and Lydia have far more in common than the color purple. Luke tells us in Acts 16 that Lydia was a worshiper of God and that the Lord opened her heart to hear the Gospel that St. Paul was called to preach. 

 

The same is true for Evelyn. She too lived her life as a worshiper of God and his Christ. This life of faith and worship is God-given, to Evelyn, and to you. The gift of faith and worship that rejoices in the simple, yet saving truth that even though we have no gift to bring God but our sin, He gives us all we need. Everything we have – body and soul and all things – is a gift from God. The Lord opened Evelyn’s heart as surely as he did Lydia’s, and yours and mine too. All by his Holy Word, by his Holy Spirit, in the waters of Holy Baptism.

 

Evelyn also has this in common with Lydia, that after she was baptized, she spent her life in service to our Lord. So too for Evelyn. She loved others because Christ first loved us. She was the consummate hostess because Christ was her chief host, serving her in His Word, water, body and blood. She loved to care for others because Jesus had shown her God’s love and care in laying down his life for her, as he did for you.

 

And that is why I remember Evelyn along with the other great women of Scripture. What made Evelyn’s faith, hope, and love so great was that she knew she had a Savior in Jesus who was greater than sin. Greater than her illness. Greater than even death itself.  

 

A great Savior who died in her place on the cross. A great Savior who rose from the dead and promises that in Him, one day, Evelyn and all his saints, will rise from the dead as well. 

 

A great Savior who comforts you this day and always with his sure and certain promise: 

 

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.  And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. 

In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.

Sermon for Feast of St. Matthias

+ Feast of St. Matthias, Apostle – February 24^th, 2019 +

Isaiah 66:1-2; Acts 1:15-26; Matthew 11:25-30

Beautiful Savior Lutheran, Milton

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

If you do a Google search for Lutheran Church names, you’ll find a plenty of St. Paul’s, St. John’s, and St. Peter’s Lutheran Churches, but not too many congregations named after St. Matthias.

By worldly standards, Matthias gets less attention than a D-list celebrity or a one-hit wonder. No fame. No glory. Nothing the world would call super-spectacular, much less make the ESPN top ten plays. 

St. Luke spends the better part of a whole chapter of Acts on how Matthias was chosen to take Judas’s spot as an apostle. But after that we don’t hear another word about Matthias in the New Testament. 

Why then, we wonder, does the Church have a feast day for St. Matthias?

Today the Christian Church remembers and gives thanks to God for Matthias.

Because he was called to be an apostle, not a celebrity. A faithful eye witnesses to the historical events of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection.

Because Matthias, like John the Baptist, was called to decrease, that the good news of Jesus Crucified would increase.

Because Matthias was called to proclaim, not himself, but Jesus crucified and risen in word and deed. For all people. For you.

There may be a lot we don’t know about St. Matthias. But we do know a few of the most important things about him. He was baptized. Redeemed. Made holy. Chosen and called by the Lord to be his messenger. Sent out in his vocation to serve.

The important thing about Matthias isn’t the man, the messenger, but rather the message. Not so much whowas called, but whathe was called to do. As St. Peter declared…

So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these men must become with us a witness to his resurrection.” 

An eye-witness to Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. That’s the job-description of the apostles. To preach, proclaim, teach, and deliver God’s saving gifts of forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ death and resurrection. And to do so not as men spinning threads of fantastic fairy tales or legends, but as historical fact. These things happened. 

Matthias was an eye witness. He saw Jesus dead on a Friday afternoon, and alive again three days later on Sunday evening. That’s the joy of the Christian faith and Scriptures. It isn’t made up. It’s real. It’s true. It happened and was seen by real people. We didn’t see the death and resurrection of Jesus. We didn’t hear with our own ears what He said. But Matthias and the others did and they faithfully delivered it wherever they preached. To the Church. To us today. 

This is God’s way of doing things. Working through sinful men to accomplish his saving work and to care for others. In the Old Testament God had his 12, his chosen people Israel. Through the 12 tribes of Israel came the Holy One of Israel, Jesus. In the New Testament God had his 12, his chosen, called disciples. Through the 12 disciples and later the 12 apostles, the Holy One of Israel, Jesus was proclaimed. And God still has his 12, His chosen, called, beloved people. You. The baptized. Redeemed. Made holy by the blood of Jesus. Gathered as his Church. All by God’s grace, just like Matthias.

For by God’s grace, he simply, quietly yet boldly, did what Jesus called and sent him to do. To be a witness to Jesus’ death and resurrection for him and for all. To preach this saving good news to all. To love his neighbor as God in Christ has loved us.

In this way, we’re a lot like Matthias. Matthias’s story is our story.

The same Word of God that turned Matthias into an apostle, turns us away from sin and death to be God’s baptized, beloved children. 

The same Holy Spirit that called Matthias to hear and proclaim God’s saving Gospel opens our hears to hear and our mouths to declare the forgiveness of sins to those around us. 

The same saving good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection that Matthias witnessed is witnessed and received among us today in the Scriptures we hear and meditate upon, and in the forgiveness of sins we hear, taste, touch, and see at our Lord’s Table. 

The same Lord who used and equipped Matthias to serve as an apostle, along with the other apostles, sinful men all of them, still chooses to call and equip sinners as his chosen instruments to serve others, here in our congregation and in our community.

It’s tempting, in our sinful flesh to want to make St. Matthias day all about St. Matthias. Just as it is tempting to make our daily Christian life all about ourselves. To want to make a name for ourselves, to want the spotlight, and to be self-serving. But that is not the way of God’s people, just as it was not the way of Matthias and the apostles. 

God calls us, as he called Matthias and the apostles, not to self-service, but to sacrificial service. To glory in Christ crucified, not ourselves. To point, as John the Baptist did to Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. For you. For all. To speak the words of Jesus that Matthias was called to speak. Those words that are Spirit. Life. Salvation. And true rest in a busy world.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

A blessed Feast of St. Matthias to each of you…

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Sermon for Feast of St. Barnabas: "Sons of Encouragement"

+ Feast of St. Barnabas (observed) – June 10^th, 2018 +

Isaiah 42:5-12; Acts 11:19-30, 13:1-3; Mark 6:7-13

Redeemer Lutheran, HB

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. (Acts 13:1-3)

Set apart. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies –gives the Lord’s holiness to his people, consecrates, and sets apart – the whole Christian church on earth and keeps her with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

Barnabas was not the first to be set apart by the Holy Spirit for the work of the Gospel. The Lord set apart Noah and called him to build an ark. The Lord set apart Abraham and called him the father of many nations, for by the Seed of Abraham, all nations on earth would be blessed. The Lord set apart Moses and later Joshua to lead his people out of slavery in the exodus, through the wilderness, and into the promised land. The Lord set apart David to be his anointed king and promised him that one of his descendants would make his throne an everlasting throne and give us an eternal kingdom. The Lord set apart the Old Testament people of Israel to be the family tree that would bring about the birth of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit sets us apart too. And just like Barnabas, our Lord’s holiness, his calling us, our being set apart is gift. To be holy isn’t like being bit by a radioactive spider and wake up in the morning with super-holy powers; it’s not like a caffeine buzz or a Red Bull energy boost; and it’s not likee that feeling of being twitterpated that Thumper tells Bambi about in the springtime. No, for Barnabas, you, me, and all Christians, God’s holiness isn’t something you achieve, but his gift you receive. Think of it like a noun that our Lord declares about you – you are holy in Him who is holy - not a verb you do to be holy.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sets us apart by water and word in Holy Baptism. We are set apart as God’s children through baptism into Christ. We are set apart from sin and death by baptism into Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are set apart by the Holy Spirit to be God’s holy, chosen people, his beloved, treasured possession. Called by the Gospel. Enlightened with his gifts of water, word, bread and wine. Sanctified and kept in the one true faith, just as St. Barnabas was…by grace through faith in Christ. You are holy in Jesus. You are set apart in Jesus.

Barnabas was too. We first meet Barnabas in Acts 4, where Luke tells us that he sold a field that belonged to him and brought the proceeds to the feet of the apostles for the work of the Gospel. Barnabas had heard Jesus’ call to take up his cross and follow him, by grace in the same Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

After Paul’s conversion to Christianity, it was Barnabas who took Paul under his wing, introducing him to the apostles and assuring them that Paul no longer persecuted the Church, but proclaimed Christ Crucified.

Barnabas also joined Paul on his first missionary journey. There at the church in Antioch, Barnabas was ordained by the laying on of hands for a simple, yet important purpose. Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. The work preaching God’s Word of good news to all nations. The work forgiving sin in the stead and by the command of the Lord Jesus Christ. The work of teaching and baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The work of being a steward of the mysteries of God, faithfully administering the sacraments.

His name says it all. Barnabas means “son of encouragement.” And if that word sounds familiar, there’s a good reason for it. It’s the same Greek word for comfort, consolation, and helper. It’s similar to the word Jesus uses when he promises to send the Holy Spirit, the comforter. Coincidence? No.

As Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians (1:3ff) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 

This is the work Barnabas was set apart to do, wherever the Lord called him. But of course, St. Barnabas’ feast day isn’t really about St. Barnabas is it?

It’s about God the Father who sent his only Son who gave up all he had - not a field, gold or silver, but his holy precious blood, and his innocent suffering and death…that Barnabas, and you, and me, and all people, would be his own.

It’s about Jesus who was set apart for you. Born for you and called the Holy Child, the Holy One of Israel. Jesus is God and man to deliver us from everything we think, say, and do that is unholy. Jesus is holy for you. He is called and set apart in His perfect life, lived for you, and His perfect death on the cross where He died for you. Jesus was set apart and called by God to accomplish salvation for Barnabas and for you. Jesus our greater Noah by whom we are set apart in his holy ark of the Christian Church. Jesus the Offspring of Abraham who is our brother, Lord and Savior, who set’s us apart to be God’s own children. Jesus, David’s son and David’s Lord who reigns as king from his manger to his cross, and from his resurrection to his heavenly throne.

It’s about the Holy Spirit who set apart Barnabas for the work he was called to do, which means today is also about how the same Holy Spirit calls and sets you apart too.

Through Jesus’ dying and rising you are also set apart and called. In Baptism you are set apart from your sin, and you are holy. In your Baptism you are set apart by God for His calling: your calling to faith in Jesus, and to love your neighbor. Your vocation may be entirely different from Barnabas’, but like Barnabas, you are set apart to receive the Lord’s treasures: His Word, water, Body and Blood, and called to speak that Good News to anyone who asks you for a “reason for the hope that is within you” (1 Peter 3:15).

As a congregation you are set apart as well. The work that our Lord called Barnabas to do, he calls Redeemer to as well. The faithful preaching and teaching of God’s Word to you his people, and to this community. The work of calling and ordaining pastors who forgive sin in the stead and by the command of Jesus. The work of teaching and baptizing in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The work of being rightly handling the word of truth and faithfully administering the sacraments as our Lord taught and gave you. The work of being a Barnabas, a son of encouragement in all you say and do, in your callings in life here at Redeemer, and in your callings in life at home, work, and society. It is my heartfelt prayer and encouragement to you all that you remain faithful in these things, even as our Lord kept Barnabas in the one true faith.

Today, we thank God for St. Barnabas, the “son of encouragement,” who brought the encouragement of Christ wherever he went, who lifted up the weak and the wavering, who comforted the distressed and brought calm to controversy. And we thank God for the Barnabas’ in our congregations today, who encourage the discouraged and bind our wounds, that the good news of Jesus may be preached even more.

A blessed St. Barnabas’ day to each of you…

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the Conversion of St. Paul: "The Apostle Formerly Known as Saul"

+ Conversion of St. Paul – January 25^th, 2015 +

Redeemer Lutheran, HB

Acts 9:1-22; Galatians 1:11-24; Matthew 19:27-30

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In countless movies and books, death and resurrection is the key to the story: Mr. Spock in Star Trek III and IV. Emmet in The Lego Movie. Harry Potter’s defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named…twice. Gandalf’s return in Fangorn Forest after battling the Balrog. Aslan died and rose to save Narnia from the White Witch’s curse. Or remember the Beast from Beauty and the Beast, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and even Baloo in the Jungle Book.

These death and resurrection stories gives us a glimpse of the greatest death and resurrection story: Jesus Crucified for you and your salvation. Jesus’ death and resurrection is greater because it is both meaningful and true. It is history:  Jesus was crucified, died, buried, and rose again for you. This was the sum and substance of St. Paul’s preaching after his conversion.

I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him Crucified.

Today’s festival – The Conversion of St. Paul – is also a death and resurrection story. After all, every time the Holy Spirit creates faith there’s a death and resurrection. Your Baptism is a death and resurrection in Jesus, just as Saul’s was. Christ crucified is the sum and substance of our faith as well.

So we celebrate St. Paul’s conversion, not because he accomplished so many great things, but because Jesus brought death and resurrection to one who was such an enemy as Saul. He was made dead to sin, but alive by the Word…and made alive for the preaching of this gracious Word to the world…and to you.

Today we join St. Paul in rejoicing in and proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for us. For Jesus has also brought us back from the dead.

That’s precisely where Paul’s story begins. No doubt he felt alive, heading down that Damascus road breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord. The high priest gave him a license to persecute. Then suddenly a blinding light. Heaven flashed before his eyes. Saul fell to the ground as a dead man. And the voice of Jesus rang out in his ears.

 “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.

Saul probably thought he was going to die. But there’s the irony. Saul was already dead — dead in trespasses and sin as he would later write in Ephesians 2. His mouth was an open grave that spewed forth curses, bitterness, and deceit (Romans 3) against Christ and Christians.

He was blind – spiritually – and for three days physically as well, to show all the more clearly the blindness of sin, and more clearly still that faith is a gift, not of works so that no man may boast. On the Damascus road Jesus took all of Saul’s boasting in the Law, confidence in the flesh, and zealotry, and revealed it for the rubbish it truly was.

Saul, who had so violently warred against Jesus and the Way, became utterly and completely dependent, like a newborn infant. Rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do, Jesus said. Saul couldn’t even do that on his own. The men traveling with Saul led him, blind and helpless into Jerusalem, to Ananias.

Saul’ conversion is a marvelous picture of how our Lord converts all of us. Like Saul, we were enemies of God. The wages of our sin is death. We breathe threats and murder against our neighbors. No, probably not with physical violence. But Jesus makes it clear that whenever we hate or despise our brother, we have already murdered them in our hearts.

And though probably haven’t participated in any stonings lately, like Saul at the death of Stephen. No doubt, we’ve tossed more than our fair share of rocks in judgment at our family, friends, even our brothers and sisters in Christ. There’s a little Saul in each of us who delights in doing whatever we think is right, and doing it with great zeal.

Like Saul, though our sin offends and harms others, including ourselves, we chiefly offend and persecute God with our sin. We’re right there onthe road with Saul. Enemies of God. Blind. Helpless. Uutterly dependent. Dead…and in need of resurrection.

And that’s precisely where your story begins.

You were dead  in trespasses and sin (notice the past tense)…But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ.

The wages of our sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You were blind, but now through Baptism the scales of doubt and unbelief have fallen from your eyes and you see Christ your Savior with the clear eyes of faith.

By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 

Rejoice with Paul for “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost" (1 Timothy 1:15).

In Saul’s conversion, we see our own. We are utterly dependent upon God’s mercy, completely helpless on our own. Perhaps we haven’t all had a dramatic experience like Saul, but Christ gives us faith in Him the same way: death and resurrection. 

Saul was saved - saved by Jesus who, though he was first, became the Last One for you. Jesus put all of us before Himself and died for us all.  After he was taken to Ananias, Saul was given new birth in baptism, and a new name too - Paul.  Jesus converted Him - changed his direction. “He who used to persecute Christ is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy.”

Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.

By the Lord’s Word and Baptism, Saul was raised from the dead. And if Jesus could be such a Savior, to save one who approved of Stephen’s murder and persecuted His church - how much more can He save you. If Jesus saved Paul, who says that he was the chief of sinners, then how much more will Jesus be the chief of Saviors for you. Today we rejoice and give thanks, not because it’s all about Paul, or you, or me. But because the same Jesus raises you from the dead.

What happened on the road to Damascus was nothing short of a miracle. Jesus turned Saul into St. Paul — an enemy of the Gospel into a bold preacher of the Gospel. Jesus performs the same miracle upon you in Baptism. We are all “Sauls” according to our sinful nature. Dead in sin and unbelief, and rebels against God. But Jesus’ death and resurrection was poured out upon you in the waters of Holy Baptism. The font is your Damascus road. You were dead and now you’re resurrected.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

In Baptism you receive new birth, and a new name too. Holy. Saint. You are called and chosen by God. First as His holy child. And then called to serve others: in the home, church, workplace, community.  Christ takes us, with all the baggage of our past, anoints us in Baptism, and sends us into the world to declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9-10). He sends you to declare to family, friends and neighbors that Jesus, the Son of God, was crucified for chiefs sinners like us.

For there is no sin or wickedness so great that it unpaid by the blood of Jesus. Jesus’ death is greater than Saul’s sin, yours and mine.

So rejoice this day. For the salvation and eternal life won for you by Christ, are delivered to you the same way they were delivered to St. Paul. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ (Romans 10:17). In Baptism, God saves us through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). Jesus feeds us His own body and blood. And as often as we eat the bread and drink the cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Like Saul, you are baptized into Christ. You are dead to sin and alive in Jesus. So, come to the Supper. Eat the holy food of Christ’s body and blood and take strength in the forgiveness of sins.

A Blessed Conversion of St. Paul to each of you…

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.