Monday, January 26, 2015

January 24-26, 2015 Pastor Timothy J Spaude Text: 1 Kings 19:19-21 “THE WORK OF THE LORD GOES ON!”



EPIPHANY 4
January 24-26, 2015
Pastor Timothy J Spaude
Text: 1 Kings 19:19-21

“THE WORK OF THE LORD GOES ON!”

1 Kings 19:19-21 (NIV 1984) So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him. 20 Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you." "Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?" 21 So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.”

          It’s a mess. The country is in a state of immorality. The rulers, hard to see exactly where they are leading, certainly not toward the one true God. So many scandals as though they are above the law. Enemies are threatening. And the church? So many people are not worshipping the LORD, they choose instead the fake gods and religions that tell you what you want to hear. Even when God does something or allows something big to wake people up the effect only lasts a short time and then people return to their self-serving lives. You know of course that I’m talking about the state of affairs at the time of the prophet Elijah. Maybe I was even a little too nice in my description. Our text today follows Elijah’s great
“cave” in to all the pressure. Remember what happened? Because of all the immorality and idolatry God had sent a drought that caused a three year famine to wake the people up to their need for Him. That had led to the showdown with the prophets of Baal where God demonstrated He is the only true God when fire came down from heaven to burn up Elijah’s sacrifice while Baal’s just sat there. The people woke up for a time. They killed all the prophets of  Baal. But after that no one rallied to Elijah’s defense when Jezebel determined to kill him. Elijah had had it. That was it. He ran and hid in a cave. His country was going to Hell in a hand basket and no one else cared. He was done. Game over.  But then the LORD came to Elijah in the still small voice of His word and set Elijah straight. No whining. God would take care of the bad rulers of Israel in His time and His way. And he wasn’t alone. There were still 7000 true believers in Israel and help was on the way for Elijah. A man named Elisha. You know why? Because the work of the Lord goes on!
          Whether you fell into my trap or not to think I was describing our own times we can all at times find ourselves feeling like we’re getting to be all alone. Doing our utmost for God does not matter. People don’t listen. They don’t care. No one seems to join our rallying cries against immorality or for Christ. And where is God? He seems unaware or unwilling to do anything about it despite our cries to him for help. But nothing is further from the truth. As it was in the days of Elijah and Elisha, so it is right now. The work of the Lord goes on. Let’s look at this part of God’s word and figure out where we fit in.
          “So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him”. God had told Elijah to do this, to anoint Elisha as his successor. It’s interesting to note whom God uses. In our first reading we heard about Barnabas, Simeon, Lucius, Manaen, Saul (Paul) and John. In the Gospel reading Jesus called fishermen. We don’t know all kinds of details but in that listing there are young and old. The very well educated Paul and the brothers whose only school was fish. There were working class poor and nobility. We know a little about Elisha. He was a farmer, and a rich one. Twelve tractors and the servants to drive them. Elijah threw his cloak around him. There must have been something about that cloak that said “prophet.” Maybe it was like a pastor’s robe. We wear these to indicate we are in our role as spokesmen for God. And it’s a pastor’s robe, not a pastor’s dress, as two girls I know like to say. A robe. Not a dress.
          Elisha understood what the cloak meant. “Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you." "Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?" Elisha is ready to go. He asks for a chance to say good-bye. Elijah grants it. He understands that this call to do the work of the LORD means changes. “What have I done to you?” Elisha would find out. He would find out some neat things when God would give him the power to do miracles like healing the leprous Naaman and making an axe head float. He would find out the hard things when some young people from a town made fun of him because he was balding. I should mention that those who made fun of the balding word of God speaker were mauled by two bears! “So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.” The work of the LORD goes on. Elisha became Elijah’s attendant. That’s like an apprentice. A student who learns by watching, the doing under supervision, the doing on his own. All of Elijah’s worrying, despair, his pity party were needless. God had everything under control and the work of the LORD goes on.
          Now what can we learn from this? It is to learn to trust what God says instead of what we hear in the media and see with our eyes. It is to take comfort and have confidence because the work of the Lord goes on among us too. And each one of us is an Elijah or an Elisha, of maybe a combination of both. Many of you are of the generation of Elijah. At your Baptism the Lord marked you as his own. He brought you into his service. You have been involved in the work of the Lord for many years. Your parents brought you up in the training and instruction of the Lord. Your grew up. You married. You were careful to train your children in the way of the Lord. You lived through the times where there were these things called family values and Protestant work ethic. While your country was careful not to interfere with religion many of its laws mirrored God’s morality. People generally agreed that America was a Christian country. And now things have changed. It feels downright discouraging. The country’s morality is degrading daily. Work ethic? What’s that? Just give it to me. While for you worshipping the LORD weekly is a given many in the younger generations, your own kids, seem to feel worship isn’t that important and God doesn’t mind second place. Oi!
          Get up Elijah! The work of the Lord goes on. He’s got generations following you behind who will do His work when you are basking in the glory of heaven. Don’t judge with your eyes. Your work is not yet done. There are Elishas to be trained. Their rulers will be more like Ahab and Jezebel than yours were so let’s make sure we train them well. This is why our work across the parking lot in our school and in our high schools is so important. Whether you have kids there or not can we see things in the bigger picture and talk about our kids, the next generation, the new Elishas? What kind of training do we want to give them? What kind of spiritual armor? If they were going to fight ISIS we would insist on the best money could buy would we not?  Strong Elisha’s for tough times. Elijah’s cloak, put over Elisha. New generations of trained workers to carry out the work of the LORD. Yes it is expensive to carry out Christian Education at every level. Let’s find a way to do it. Would some of you Elijahs consider making that happen by placing St Jacobi or WELS or Wisco or Prep in your will, especially if you can’t trust your heirs?
          Then there are the Elishas. You younger people. When grandpa or grandma or mom and dad start bemoaning things, when they fear for your future, smile. Understand it’s coming from love. But then ignore them. They are forgetting that the work of the LORD goes on. Elijah judged with his eyes and was wrong. Elisha served God and  found faithful people for many years. You will too. You don’t have to leave behind your oxen and plow but maybe can you leave behind your generation’s live for the moment mentality, fixation on things and social media addiction and take seriously God’s words in your life. You will need them.
          You will need them because the work of the Lord goes on. Until the Lord Jesus himself returns, the work of the Lord goes on. And you know what’s really neat? Young and old, rich and poor, different levels of education, male, female, man, woman and child, God has chosen each of us to be a part of it! That’s quite an honor. Amen.

Monday, January 12, 2015

January 10-12, 2015 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Acts 16:25-34 “LOOK AT THE POWER OF GOD!”



BAPTISM OF JESUS
January 10-12, 2015
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Acts 16:25-34

“LOOK AT THE POWER OF GOD!”
1.     Opening doors.
2.     Opening hearts.

Acts 16:25-34 (NIV 1984) About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword  and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself ! We are all here!" 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" 31 They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household." 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he and his whole family.”

          Another day, another group of prisoners. They were all the same. Everyone was innocent. Always getting god once they saw the inside of a prison cell. The jailer did have to admit that two of the latest batch were a little different. The fortune telling slave girl in town had told everyone that they were servants of the LORD, the most high God. Then the one called Paul had done something and the slave girl didn’t know people’s secrets anymore. That’s when it all broke loose. Her owners got mad. There had been a near riot. Paul and his friend Silas had gotten beaten up pretty good and flogged by the magistrates. You would think that would be enough punishment but the city fathers wanted them jailed. The city fathers paid the bills so jailed they were, in the deepest cell with feet in the stocks. The jailer had never lost a prisoner before and he wasn’t about to start now. Another day, another dollar. Time for bed.
          What the jailer didn’t realize was how much the most high God loved him and that the LORD had arranged a little wake up call for him. Have you ever gotten a little wake up call from God? They come. He loves us. It might be in the form of an accident or near accident. It might be a serious health issue for yourself or a family member. Sometimes God just needs to get our attention. Like he did with the jailer. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26 Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27 The jailer woke up and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword  and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped.”
          The jailer saw the power of God, the power of God to open doors. A powerful earthquake. Being the responsible jailer that he was he ran to check on his prisoners. How could all the doors be open? What a disaster! Roman law was clear. If you let a prisoner escape you took his place. The jailer was as good as dead or so he thought. He might as well end his life himself.
          But God had plans to give him life.  “Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself ! We are all here!" 29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30 He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" God’s wake up call did its work. He opened the doors to wake the jailer up. Now he opened the jailer’s heart. The jailer realized he needed saving. His question shows he was still stuck with human reason. What must I do? If it is to be it is up to me! How often don’t we think we are the solvers? Paul set him straight. It was not a matter of what he did but rather trusting what Jesus had done. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved--you and your household."
          More doors would open. “Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized.” Look at the power of God. He opened hearts through the power of His word and through the power of Baptism. This is why this reading is appointed to be read when the Baptism of Jesus is observed. While Jesus was baptized to fulfill all righteousness He gave Baptism to us to use to give us His righteousness. The Apostles understood this. Jesus had made it really simple, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” So where the Apostles went they baptized and taught. You see it again and again in Acts. The Ethiopian eunuch sees water and wants to be baptized. Earlier in Acts 16 after the Lord had opened the heart of a woman named Lydia and brought her to faith she has her whole household baptized. Why did the jailer have his whole family baptized? He recognized the power of God at work.
          Do we? You know in the short time the Lord has allowed me to be a pastor I have found that people who have not heard about Baptism before and they are going through the Bible Classes and hear about Baptism, that’s what they want. Just like you see in Acts. I’m guessing it was much like that for the Chinese students at Wisco mentioned in the bulletin. They rejoice to know what God does for them. Then there are those Christians who just can’t seem to come to grips with the power of God. You know them as your friends, relatives and neighbors who go to churches named Baptist or non denominational. They are the ones who raise their eyebrows and question when you talk about having your newborn baby baptized. They hear and read about what God says Baptism does, they hear Jesus clear command to baptize all people but then they think too hard. They can’t figure it out. There must be something I have to do in this. It can’t be that simple. So they don’t baptize children and understand Baptism as something a person does to show they believe in Jesus rather than the power of God working on them. To me that’s kind of like saying I don’t understand how a computer works so I’m not going to use it. Or I don’t get how this cordless phone called a cell phone works, I can’t believe that it can actually send and receive voices so I won’t use it. A little foolish.
          But how about us? We know the power of God at work in Baptism. We make sure we have our babies baptized. But then sometimes do we forget about the power of God in Baptism? That’s kind of like knowing that a cell phone works and will allow you to make and receive calls but then never actually using it. Just letting it be a decoration. Listen, at your Baptism God named you His child. He clothed you with Christ Jesus so that when He looks at you He sees Jesus. Do you understand what this means? You are not in a performance based relationship with God. There is nothing you can do or have to do to make Him love you anymore than He already does. You are as loved as you can possibly be. Remember that when you don’t feel loved or are going through hard times. It’s only for eternal good. He already has declared you to be righteous in His eyes, when He looks at you He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ so you can strive to obey His commandments out of love and thanks instead of fear and guilt. At your Baptism He connected you to Jesus’ death to defeat sin and His resurrection to new life so that yes, you can say no to sin, you can fight it, even those addictive ones or habitual sins can be resisted. You don’t have to give in and the Devil can’t make you do anything. He can only tempt you and with the new life of your Baptism you can choose to serve God instead of self.
          And that can open other doors for you. You saw it with the jailer. “The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God--he and his whole family.” Before God’s power worked on him the jailer had the important job of keep prisoners off the streets. Now He was a Christian jailer. He found ways to advance Christ by helping Paul and Silas. His life was filled with joy. Brothers and sisters, there may come times in life that you feel insignificant.  “I’m just a janitor, just a cop, just a mom, just a retiree, just a…” you fill in the blank. I can assure you that nothing is further from the truth. Through Baptism you are the child of God who gets to be filled with joy if you want and can express that joy in serving others as Christ has served you. That’s the power of God. Amen.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

December 31, 2014 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Exodus 14:13-15 “IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON!”



NEW YEAR’S EVE
December 31, 2014
Pastor Timothy J. Spaude
Text: Exodus 14:13-15

“IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON!”
1.     With appreciation of the past.
2.     With confidence for the future.

Exodus 14:13-15 (NIV 1984) “Moses answered the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." 15 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.”

          The beginning of a new year is a natural threshold for people, a time to look back and look ahead at the same time. The words of God I just read to you occurred when God’s people, the Israelites, were on a threshold of sorts, looking back and looking ahead. When they looked back they saw Egypt, the place that had been theirs and their ancestors’ home for about 400 years. When they looked ahead they saw a desert land that they knew nothing about. A little more urgently when they looked back they saw an angry Pharaoh with all his chariots and horses and soldiers in hot pursuit. The last plague, the tenth plague that killed the firstborn in every house of Egypt, had finally broken Pharaoh’s spirit and he had agreed to let the Israelites go. But now with his hardened heart changed once again Pharaoh was determined to get his slaves back and take a little revenge. When the Israelites looked ahead they saw the Red Sea, unable to be crossed without the aid of boats. Can you imagine being there? What would be going through your mind? What’s going through your mind as you get ready for a new year? Anything you’d like to leave behind? Any potential dilemmas for you to face in the year ahead? Tonight let’s use the words God told the Israelites as we close out one year and enter another. It’s time to move on!
Actually we don’t have to guess what was going through the minds of the Israelites as they stood at their threshold. God tells us what they said. “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn't we say to you in Egypt, 'Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians'? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!" Now while we might have hoped for a little more faith from people who had just seen the miracles of the 10 plagues I think if we had horses and chariots bearing down on us we would be afraid as well. In an indirect way, however they showed some appreciation for the past. There had been blessings from God for them in Egypt. Some a little easier to see than others. They had homes. They had food. They had work to do. God had fought for them with the plagues and had freed them from slavery just as he promised. Then there were the blessings that didn’t look or feel like blessings. Pharaoh making their life hard which God used to make the people want to leave. The overseers making them work harder and harder which God used to strengthen the people for their journey. Now it was time for that journey. Moses encouraged the people, "Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still." But God said, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.” The time for looking back was over. It was time to move on.
          Tonight as God’s people gathered in God’s house we do take the opportunity to look back. Only we will very deliberately appreciate the past. Like the Israelites we too can see some obvious blessings to be thankful for. Most of us have had relatively good health. Some of us went through surgeries that successfully improved our quality of life. We all had more food than we needed and were blessed by God to be able to do more than just survive. We had another year of grace. We were not treated as the sinners we are but instead were treated by God to His goodness and love and a far higher standard of living than most of the people on the planet. Now let’s move on to appreciate those blessings that did not look or feel like blessings. Some of us had loved ones die. There’s no getting around it. That hurts. But those who die in in the Lord are blessed. God says that. They get heaven. Some of us had family or work problems to deal with. Some lost jobs. Some had relationship problems. Some had health problems that didn’t go away. Surely those aren’t blessings are they? While Satan sends things and causes sin problems to harm us, God turns them for good. He gives us a chance to show our faith in Him, to practice what it means to follow Christ in forgiving. He cuts off from us people and things that harm our relationship with Him and strengthens us so we can be more useful and a blessing to others who are also stuck living in this sin messed world. We are grateful for that but it’s time to move on. We don’t live in the past. It’s time behind last year’s hurts and disappointments. God has and will use them for good. It’s time to leave behind last year’s grudges and pet sins. They have no place in our hearts. It’s time to leave behind last year’s blessings. They were for last year.
It’s time to move on and as the Israelites found it’s time to move with confidence for the future. Remember the setting. Furious Pharaoh and blood thirsty soldiers with the ancient tanks called chariots rushing at them from behind. Uncrossable Red Sea in front of them. The choices are bleak. Remain where they were and absorb the wrath of Pharaoh with most of them returning to slavery. Make a run for the Red Sea. I don’t think slave children were allowed to take swimming lessons so you know what that option meant. But there was a third option. "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on,” God had said. Their third option was to listen to the word of the Lord and move on to an unknown future with confidence, confidence because the LORD was with them, that’s the all powerful God of grace and mercy who comes to save His people.
          You know how it turned out. That is if you read your Bibles instead of watching bad Hollywood movies that inaccurately try to portray Bible truth. The Israelites moved on. The angel of God as a pillar of cloud moved between the Israelites and the Egyptians protecting them. The all powerful God of grace and mercy came to save His people by having a miraculous wind part the Red Sea and dry up the ground so the Israelites walked across in safety. Once the Israelites had crossed God let the Egyptians pursue and when they were in the middle of the Red Sea, He threw them into confusion. He made the wheels of the chariots fall off and the Red Sea return to its place and all the Egyptians who had pursued them died in the place where the Israelites had followed on dry ground. Wow! Amazing. Now I’d like to be able to tell you that the next time these Israelites ran into a rough spot that they reacted by saying, “Hey let’s see how God gets us out of this one. We know he will.” But I can’t. They often grumbled and complained instead. Pretty pathetic, right?
          And not what we want to do. We want to move on into 2015 with confidence and we can. We can because the same Lord, the all powerful God of grace and mercy who loves to save His people is with us. We may not have seen the parting of the Red Sea but we know what He did there and in so many more places. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that what God will place before us in 2015 will not be nearly has hard or as challenging as what the Israelites were asked to do but we will have our own challenges. If trends continue it will be harder to live as a Bible confessing Christian. Carrying out the work of the Lord will probably get harder not easier. Some will face cancers or other health problems. Some will face deaths. Some will struggle financially. But you know what?  It’s time to move on and move one with confidence for our future. God is with us.
And when like the Israelites we face another problem and doubt or complain instead of trust remember you live with the LORD, the all powerful God who loves to come and save His people and think back to another miraculous parting He did. When He put His Son between you and the Devil and parted your sins from you through His death on the cross. Confess your sin. Hear His forgiveness. Let go of the guilt. Step forward with confidence because it’s time to move on and we move on with the LORD! Amen.