Monday, August 26, 2019

August 24-26, 2019 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:18-26 (NIV 1984) THE MEANING OF LIFE


PENTECOST

August 24-26, 2019

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:18-26 (NIV 1984)



THE MEANING OF LIFE

                                  1. Without Christ It Is Meaningless

                                  2. With Christ Everything Has Meaning.



Ecclesiastes 1:2, 2:18-26 (NIV 1984) “Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” 2:18I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21For a man may do his work with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then he must leave all he owns to someone who has not worked for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 22What does a man get for all the toil and anxious striving with which he labors under the sun? 23All his days his work is pain and grief; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is meaningless. 24A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.”



          I begin with an apology to anyone familiar with British comedy group, Monty Python. You saw the sermon theme “The Meaning of Life” and it took your mind to where you did not want it to go. So wipe it away and realize that long before that group existed the Book of Ecclesiastes was written to carefully expound the meaning of life here on earth. And a good thing. It’s one of the basic needs of all people to know that their life has meaning. That is why philosophers new and old spend so much time trying to figure it out. What a waste. Their work is already done for them contained in this book of the Bible we call Ecclesiastes. Now if you have read that book of the Bible recently or choose to soon you might come away feeling down or depressed. It does a good job of demonstrating how meaningless life can be. And yet Pastor Martin Luther wrote this about Ecclesiastes. “It is a book of comfort.” How does that work? Let’s find out.

Ecclesiastes was written by Solomon. Remember him? He’s the son of David that asked for and was given by God great wisdom for ruling the nation of Israel. He’s the one who told us the fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom. It seems later in life he left the Lord out of his life. Ecclesiastes seems to be his fruits of repentance, his teaching to others to help them learn from his mistakes. What had he discovered? Without Christ life is meaningless! "Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless."  That’s how the book starts. Solomon calls himself the teacher and goes on to describe how he had tried to find happiness, meaning in life, by pursuing the best knowledge the science of his time could provide. But when he learned it all, he was still feeling empty. Meaningless. Then he tried to find meaning by pursuing pleasure. First he tried neutral pleasures, laughter and entertainment, building projects and gardens and parks. Still his life was empty. Meaningless. He amassed great wealth. Still he felt meaningless. Then he tried sinful pleasures of all kinds. He summed it up this way in chapter 2:10-11 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my work, and this was the reward for all my labor. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”

In this part of Ecclesiastes Solomon Teacher contemplated something that takes up a good portion of our lives, working and acquiring things. “I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. 19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the work into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.” I guess that about sums it up. You work hard all your life. You save and take care of your things. You die and someone else gets your things. They may not value them like you do or take care of them. You can be frugal and save money and your heirs might waste it. That's it. What good did all that saving do? Meaningless.

Now we probably haven’t gone down all the roads to meaningless that Solomon did but you can recognize the times we have been heading there. You know how when you make a purchase and you got a great deal and how good you felt? But that feeling doesn’t last. Kids, remember that toy you had to have for Christmas, or that video game you had to have? Still using it? Oh yeah and how about that work thing. If all there is to life is an endless cycle of working to pay bills and keep your head above water and stress about things all night, life is meaningless. Working hard and saving up and building things only to have the next generation ruin and waste it all is meaningless. What did Jeffrey Epstein find with his pursuits? Meaningless. If that’s all there is to life then let us eat and drink and try to be merry for tomorrow we die life has no meaning. Meaningless!

But that isn’t all there is Solomon went on. “A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?” Did you catch it? “Without him who can find enjoyment.” Without whom? The Savior God. The Lord. In Old Testament times the Teacher, or Solomon, simply knew their Savior as the LORD, the powerful God how saves and promised to send a Savior. We know that Savior is Jesus Christ. While everything really is meaningless without Jesus everything becomes meaningful with Him!

With Him, with Jesus in our life we can find enjoyment now and know the best is yet to come. With Jesus in our life everything has meaning. Let’s take some of the things Solomon pursued and found meaningless. Knowledge and learning. Science. With Jesus in your life you are led to an awe and amazement of how wise God is putting this world together. That may lead you to a vocation where you will use your knowledge to help people in the medical field realizing God loves people and wants certain things cured or healed. You see that there is good entertainment and things that make you laugh and often the best laughter is at yourself. Laughter can really be the best medicine because it is a gift from God. There are pleasures in this world that aren’t sinful. Whether you eat drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. You can thank God for chocolate or coffee a good tasting wine or beer. None of that have to be used sinfully. Think of the gift of friendship as a gift from God. With Christ even amassing wealth is meaningful. A nice home or vacation home can be enjoyed with a grateful heart. You can use money to do the work Jesus gave you to do not only now but when you go to heaven with your will. With Christ my job is a gift from God, a mask He wears to provide for me. With Christ the job lost is an opportunity gained, the house offer that fell through a needed guidance from God who has something better for me. With Christ I realize that the people I am coming into contact with every day are there for a reason and who knows but I am the one through whom God will work to reach them. Think of what it would be like to deal with a sickness or hardship without knowing it too is guided by the hand of  a loving God. How can you deal with those things without being able to look at Christ on the cross to know your sin are forgiven and God has a good plan. Some people ask me how do those who don’t know Jesus as Savior deal with death and I say I don’t know. Without Christ it is meaningless. With Him the door to heaven.

With Christ everything is meaningful because with Christ the best is yet to come. No matter how hard I work at taking care of this body it will be destroyed. No worries. I’ll get a new one. A better one. A perfect one. All things amassed on earth will not only go to someone else but will ultimately be destroyed. I’ll lose this home and get a better one. The meaning of life then is to know Christ and to make him known to others. Because only with Christ does this life matter. Your job is to cling to Him above all else so you can share Him with others at all times. Amen.

Monday, August 12, 2019

August 10-12, 2019 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Sermon Text: Colossians 3:12-17 "KEYS TO A SUCCESSFUL REMODELING/EXPANSION"


PENTECOST 8

August 10-12, 2019

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Sermon Text: Colossians 3:12-17



"KEYS TO A SUCCESSFUL REMODELING/EXPANSION"

1. Clothe Yourself with Christ.

2. Immerse Yourself in the Word.



 Colossians 3:12-17 (NIV 1984) “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. 16Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”



          This weekend brings us to an exciting point in our building expansion program. After services on Sunday our construction firm, Catalyst Construction, will be meeting with you to let you know how each of you can be involved in our building expansion and narthex remodeling project. With all their experience they have the keys to successful church projects. The word of God before us today also gives us some keys to some more important remodeling and expansion, the remodeling of our sinful selves for the expansion of Christ’s Church. Let’s see what they are.

          The word of God before us today comes from Paul’s letter to the church in the city of Colossae. Paul, the great missionary Apostle, was in prison at the time he wrote his letter, but even with Paul on the sidelines the work of the Church would go on through the Christians in the church at Colossae, like it does with us. But for that to happen there needed to be some remodeling done.

Paul first addresses why remodeling and expansion was important. “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved.” It’s been a long process so maybe you’ve forgotten. How would you answer this question? Why are we doing a building expansion and remodeling project? Some possible answers: To have a bigger, more open welcoming space coming into church. To get those bathrooms up to code. Because the current MPR is often too small and overused. To have a modern EC center. All good answers but not the ultimate answer. The ultimate answer is because we are God’s chosen people. He picked us for His family. We didn’t pick him. He made us holy by giving His only Son Jesus to take our sins away. He dearly loves us. How else can we respond but with our best? We want to do the best work for Jesus we can. Buildings serve ministry so we are building together to serve God better. That’s why. It’s also why we need to remodel ourselves daily. We can’t be content to let sin have a place in our lives. We can’t be content to look, talk and act like people who aren’t God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved. Only our best for the Lord will do.

How to remodel? “Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. 15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.” There’s a word picture here. Putting on clothes. Kids, have you ever read the story, “The Emperor’s New Clothes?” It’s a good one. You have to read it. In it a couple of tailors convince the emperor to wear invisible clothes so he ends up walking around naked. Can you imagine? As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, we don’t want to walk around naked. The clothes we are to wear is Christ. All the characteristics listed are really Him! Compassion, that’s caring when someone else is hurting or in trouble. Kindness which leads to doing things that bring a smile to someone else’s face. Humility, thinking of the needs of others first, gentleness, staying calm in dealing with other people, having a smily face not an ugly one. Patience, absorbing life’s yuck without getting yucky in return. Bear with each other. This part of God’s word always makes me smile. The ones we have to put up with, God says, are each other, not the unbelievers. He knows us so well! Forgive as we have been forgiven. Be at peace. The reason we need to put on Christ is because our sinful natures are the exact opposite. Without Christ on we are irritable, uncaring, arrogant, quick tempered and prone to bitter feelings against each other. Kind of reminds me of a great prayer I read. It goes like this: “Dear Lord, So far today I’m doing alright. I have not gossiped, lost my temper, been greedy, grumpy, thoughtless or selfish. I have not whined or complained. But I will be getting out of bed in a minute and I need your help.”

How do we get it? Immerse yourself in the Word. That’s our second key for a successful remodeling and expansion. “Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” Three times this word of God urged an attitude of gratitude. “Be thankful, with gratitude in your hearts to God, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” We are urged to teach and admonish one another with all wisdom. But there is only one way we are equipped to do that. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Richly. Not miserly. Richly. Not a little bit. Richly. Why did Eli finally tell Samuel to say, “Speak Lord, your servant is listening?” What did Jesus say was the one thing needed? It’s God’s word. What did God use to create? His word. Why is the Devil working so hard in your life and my life to distract us from the Word? He knows where God has placed His power. It seems so unassuming. Words in a book. But they come from the mouth of God and they are filled with His power. They are faith food. Some of you may remember a story I told years ago of how one of our Apache brothers in faith described to some of his friends how his life was different as a Christian. He said, “Before Christ came into my life only a black dog lived in my heart and it was mean and nasty and liked to get drunk and fight and so that is what I would do. But when Jesus came into my heart He brought a white dog to live there too. And the white dog loves Jesus and wants only to please Him and so now the black dog and the white dog they fight in my heart over what I will do.” To that one of his friends replied, “Well how do you keep the black dog from winning.” To which our brother replied, “Ah, the white dog I feed.” So smart. A sinful nature. A Christian nature inside each one of us. How do we keep the sinful nature from winning? The Christian nature we feed with God’s Word. After service I’ll share some ways to help you do just that.

But let’s go back to why. Why is it so important for us to do the daily remodeling of our sinful selves. Let’s say that after we build they come. They meaning people from our community. They bring their children to our brand new Early Childhood Center. They enter our brighter more open welcome space. They come to some community outreach or service event that we hold in our new beautiful and large multi purpose room. Now remember again why we are doing this. Our best for our Lord Jesus with the express purpose of drawing souls to Jesus so they can be saved. But what do you suppose will happen with those folks if when they come they find people who don’t seem to care, who bicker and fight, who are grumpy and  complaining, who have no attitude of gratitude and appear not to even like each other. How’s that going to go? On the other hand what if they find a bunch of people who kind of look and act like Christ? Remodeled Christians get many more opportunities for expansion of Christ’s kingdom. And like our other remodeling/expansion it takes work and planning and daily diligence and we all can be involved as we follow the keys presented in God’s Word. Clothe yourself with Christ and immerse yourself in the word. Amen.

Saturday, August 3, 2019

August 4th, 2019 Luke 10:25-37 Pastor Waldschmidt


Luke 10:25-37  Just then, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” 26“What is written in the law?” he asked him. “What do you read there?” 27He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.” 28He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.” 29But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” 30Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among robbers who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 31It just so happened that a priest was going down that way. But when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32In the same way, a Levite also happened to go there, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 33A Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where the man was. When he saw him, he felt sorry for the man. 34He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He put him on his own animal, took him to an inn, and took care of him. 35The next day, when he left, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend, I will repay you when I return.’ 36Which of these three do you think acted like a neighbor to the man who fell among robbers?” 37“The one who showed mercy to him,” he replied. Then Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
DON’T WALK ALONE ON A DANGEROUS ROAD
In the name of Jesus, the hero of the story, dear fellow redeemed  
    I would imagine that most of us have had the experience of walking on a road where we didn’t feel very comfortable.  Maybe there are roads that you don’t like to travel on for all kinds of safety reasons.  God’s word has a message for us today.  DON’T WALK ALONE ON A DANGEROUS ROAD.  Jesus tells the story of someone who got hurt that way.  Except the main point Jesus is making is not about staying on street where no one will rob you and beat you up or where you might get hit by a car.  Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan as he answers a question about the road to heaven.  Remember the man came asking “What must I do to inherit eternal life?”  Jesus makes clear that the road to heaven is a dangerous road if we sinners are going to try to walk it alone.  Don’t walk alone on a dangerous road.
    “Just then, an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus, saying, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” “Just then” always sets off the radar to ask, “what just happened?  Jesus had just been talking with his disciples about the road to heaven, “the Kingdom of God.”  He sent out 72 of his followers.  They experienced joys and frustrations of living and sharing the good news of the Savior in a sinful world.  Through that whole experience they had their hearts more and more centered on Jesus as the way to heaven.  Jesus told his followers, "Blessed are the eyes which see the things that you see; for I say unto you, “Many prophets and kings desired to see the things that you see and hear." And along comes a man who is thinking that he can walk the road to heaven without any help.   That is a dangerous road.  If one is going to try to get right with God on their own.   Jesus reminds him what God requires.  “What is written in the law?” he asked him. “What do you read there?” He replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself.” He said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this, and you will live.” Martin Luther wrote, “Christ shows him that he has as yet done nothing, when he allowed himself to think he had done everything.”  Yes, do this and you will live.  The problem is that we have not and we cannot.
    But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”   Jesus makes clear that if he is trying to get to heaven on his own he will need to keep the law.  The man is bold enough to try to parse down God’s law into what he thought would be a manageable bite.  “Who is my neighbor?” I  recently heard a joke about a conversation in a jail conference room where the attorney tells the accused, “I have some good news and some bad news.”  “What’s the bad news?” asks the accused.  “The bad news is, your blood is all over the crime scene, and the DNA tests prove you did it.”  “What’s the good news?”  “Your cholesterol is 130.”   There isn’t much good news there.  This lawyer might have thought he had done a pretty good job of outwardly keeping some of God’s commands.  But that was a little like having a good cholesterol count when there is incriminating evidence all around.
     In his love, Jesus doesn’t just wave the man away and move on.  Instead Jesus tries to get the man to see that God expected perfection in every single interaction with God and with every single person.  He tells  story that would probably have made the news in our day.  “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell among robbers who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead.”  You would think that someone would be easy to spot and could easily get help.  Here comes a priest.  “It just so happened that a priest was going down that way. But when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.”  Maybe we might think that he didn’t want to take the chance of contaminating himself and thus not be able to serve on the priestly duties that day.  But he wasn’t headed to Jerusalem he was headed away from Jerusalem, like the man who was beaten up.  Well maybe it was just a bad apple and someone else will help.   “In the same way, a Levite also happened to go there, but when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.”  We are looking for a hero here.  The hero in Jesus story ends up being someone no one would expert-a Samaritan.  “A Samaritan, as he traveled, came to where the man was. When he saw him, he felt sorry for the” man.  He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them. He put him on his own animal, took him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day, when he left, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him. Whatever extra you spend, I will repay you when I return.’ 
     Jesus audience never would have expected a Samaritan to be the hero in Jesus’ story.  Racism and hatred are not brand new thoughts to our world.  At Jesus’ time, there was bad blood between the Jews and Samaritans, even though they were related, which went back over 700 years.  When the Northern Kingdom of Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians they mixed everybody up.  They moved  some of the people out to far away land, left a few farmers behind and moved in new people.  They left behind a mixture of people and customs. When the remnant from the South returned to Israel after their captivity in Babylon, the friction began.  In America we take pride in calling ourselves the great melting pot, even though so often we don’t do very well at getting along. The Jews and the Samaritans didn’t like the idea of a melting pot and many hated each other.    That’s why it probably took everyone by surprise that a Samaritan was the hero in Jesus story. 
      Martin Luther King Jr once said, "I imagine that the first question the priest and Levite asked was: 'If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?' The good Samaritan reversed the question: 'If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”  The Samaritan didn’t pass by on the other side of the road.  He stopped and helped.  He bandaged wounds.  Put him on his own donkey and took him to an inn.  He paid for the injured man’s stay and provided for his future care from his own pocket.  By telling this story Jesus was trying to get the man to see that God doesn’t just expect us to treat our family and friends well.  He expects us to love all people, even our enemies.  Who is our neighbor?  Everyone! It’s pretty easy for me to be nice to my friends.  It is quite another for me to be nice to those who hate me- who have been mean to me.  Truth be told I haven’t always been kind to my friends and family-let alone showing kindness to those who hate me.  If you honestly examined your life too, which would you find selfishness or selflessness?  Would you find that you have passed by on the other side when you saw someone in need?  Would you find grudges held tight?  Those sins make traveling alone on the way to heaven a dangerous road.  Those sins crush any hope of making it into heaven if we are traveling alone.
       Who is the hero in Jesus’ story-one who sees someone in need and helps?  Jesus is the Good Samaritan.  He saw our need. He saw the damage sin did to us and he helped. He could have passed by on the other side.  Instead he traded places with us.  He put his perfect love on our record.  He took our selfishness and callousness, our shame and hatred upon himself.  He bound up our wounds and provided for our eternal care in heaven.
      That changes everything!  We don’t travel on the road to heaven alone.  Our substitute goes with us.  Our Savior’s loved changes the way we treat others.  We might think to ourselves.    But if I’m kind to others that’s a dangerous road too because I might get taken advantage of.  But our Savior goes with us.  His compassion toward us opens our eyes toward the needs of those around us.  We don’t have to think that there are so many people out there, I can’t help them all.  Help the people God puts in front of us in our lives.  God says, “as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.”  The Bible says that God has prepared in advance good works for us to do.  I wonder how many I missed along the way.  But my Savior and your Savior goes with us.  He helps us on the road to heaven.
     There is a quote from Mother Teresa I saw the other day, “The greatest disease in the West today is not TB or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for. We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness is love. There are many in the world who are dying for a piece of bread but there are many more dying for a little love. The poverty in the West is a different kind of poverty -- it is not only a poverty of loneliness but also of spirituality. There's a hunger for love and there is a hunger for God. …I'm a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending a love letter to the world.”  Many people try to cure that hunger for God on their own like the man who asked the question of Jesus.  That’s a dangerous road.  But we know there is one who stopped to help us.  Yes, this world is a dangerous place but we don’t walk alone. Jesus walks with us.  One who showed compassion.  One who showed love.  Let’s show his love.  Let’s share his love.  Amen.