Monday, March 22, 2021

March 20-22, 2021 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Jeremiah 31:31-34 “IT’S A NEW COVENANT!”

 

LENT 5

March 20-22, 2021

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Jeremiah 31:31-34

 

“IT’S A  NEW COVENANT!”

 

SERMON TEXT: Jeremiah 31:31-34 (EHV) “Yes, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant of mine, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. 33But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34No longer will each one teach his neighbor, or each one teach his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more.”

 

          Just imagine you are on the game show The Price is Right. You get picked and make the right bid. They reveal what you can win. “It’s a new car!” You know what happens next. Screams and cheers from the crowd and the best reaction from the contestants. The opportunity to win a new car is just so exciting. And to be sure there is something to be said about the excitement of something new, like our new addition, or new clothes, or new shoes for my wife. Excitement and appreciation for something new builds when the old is worn out and broken.

          That’s what God had the prophet Jeremiah announce. It was about 600 years before Jesus was born. The prophet Jeremiah announced something new was coming, a new covenant. Any of the people back then who truly understood the covenant they were living under would be so excited at the prospect of a new covenant with God to replace the old. I imagine them screaming. “It’s a new covenant!” Things are a little different with us. We are living in the days the Lord was talking about, the time of the New Covenant. It’s what the Church year season of Lent points us to: how Jesus marches to Jerusalem to deliver a new covenant and then signs and seals it with His blood. Now here’s the problem. When you’ve had something new for a while, it doesn’t feel new anymore, even if it’s in perfect condition. It starts to feel old. And what happens with to us with stuff that feels old? We don’t appreciate it anymore. So today let’s eagerly examine the two covenants God put into place, the old and the new, with the goal that we will walk out of here once again excited that we have a new covenant!

          Now the best way to do this is simply to have a side by side comparison of the old and the new covenants which is really a comparison of life for believers in the Old Testament to life for believers in the New Testament. That’s what the word testament means, covenant. It’s important to remember that believers in the Old Testament were saved by believing in the Savior who would come and believers in the New Testament are saved by believing in the Savior who has come. Same Savior. Jesus. Life was very different however. Let’s look at some of the differences between old and new.

          First, the Old. It was given only to the Old Testament nation of Israel. Anyone who wanted to be a part of it would have to walk like an Israeli and by that I mean live like them and follow all the rules. Secondly it was put in place by a man, a great man, but just a man. Moses delivered the covenant to Old Testament Israel. Thirdly, the Old Covenant was conditional, two sided. God promised He would do certain things for the nation of Israel like fight their wars and bless their crops and herds. The people had to do their part and keep the laws of the covenant. And there were lots of them like food laws. Certain foods were considered unclean. Did you know that if you lived at the time of the Old Covenant you would never get to eat a BLT or a half or full rack of ribs or have eggs with bacon for breakfast, not even bacon bits on your salad? You would not have ham and rolls for Sunday lunch like so much of the rest of Milwaukee. Pork was an unclean food. Speaking of unclean there were all kinds of laws that made you unclean for a period of time which meant you could not come before God and had to be isolated from other people. You were unclean if you were near a dead body of man or beast. Unclean if you had a rash. All kinds of natural body functions made you unclean. When you learn all those laws you wonder how anybody spent any time being clean. But actually that was one of the points. You can’t clean yourself up. If you lived at the time of the Old Covenant you would have to worship on Saturday and you have to make your schedule work around that day. No going to Badger games. Nothing that resembled work. Fourthly the Old Covenant was bloody all the time. Take a read through Leviticus and find out about the many, many animal sacrifices that were required. Kids when you came to church you would see and smell a lot of blood. I’d have to be an expert butcher. Now the reason for all of this is that the Old Covenant was a teaching covenant. It taught very bluntly that sin makes you unclean so you can’t come to God. Sin is horrible and requires payment in blood and death. Either the sinner paid or a substitute and as soon as I say that word substitute you know what the Old Covenant was designed to do, point to and picture Jesus. Finally the Old Covenant was a broken covenant. It forced you to say, “I must. I have to. I can’t.” Actually do you know how long it took the Old Testament nation of Israel to break their side of the covenant? Remember what Moses found when he came down Mt. Sinai? The Golden Calf. Do you think we could have done better?

          What good news to hear “It’s a New Covenant!” “Yes, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers, when I took them by the hand and led them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant of mine, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. 33But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34No longer will each one teach his neighbor, or each one teach his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more.” Let’s look now at the new Covenant that you and I get to live under. First, it’s for everybody, not one nation. For God so loved the world. Secondly it was put into effect by Jesus Himself, the only Son of God. Thirdly it’s unconditional. It’s one sided. It’s all God’s doing. Six separate times God says “I will” when talking about the new covenant. It’s a covenant that frees us from those unkeepable Old Testament laws. So fire up your Traeger and smoke that pork but just remember as you do so that life under the New Covenant means whether you eat, drink or whatever you do, you can do it all for the glory of God. That happens my friends when realize that our freedom from “I have to obey the law” is replaced with the freedom of “I get to” of the Gospel. Jesus has perfectly obeyed for you in this New Covenant. So obedience flows from love. It’s not I must, I have to, I can’t. It’s I want to, I get to, I will. And when we fail. Did you hear what He said? “For I will forgive their guilt, and I will remember their sins no more.” With God nothing is impossible, even forgetting and what He forgets is our sins. And He can do that because the New Covenant was put into effect with the blood of Jesus shed one time on the cross which made full payment for all sin. And that payment points to another difference. The New Covenant is permanent. It can’t be broken because it’s all on God. This covenant makes us God’s people forever! As great as we might think it is to be able to eat Easter ham and not worry that what we eat or touch will make us unclean what’s so much better is to know that forever is real and forever is with God and forever is with all my fellow believers. It’s a new covenant!

          Now I suspect that those who win a new car on a game show gradually lose their excitement—especially when they realize they owe taxes on what they won. Then the new car becomes old. Friends, let’s not let that happen with us. It’s a new covenant. God’s mercies are new every morning. Every day you wake up you have a fresh start because God remembers your sins no more. And to help us remember Jesus gave us something that every time we see it, every time we participate, is to lead to renewed excitement and joy. You know what that is. “This is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.” What a blessing! Amen.

Thursday, March 11, 2021

March 10, 2021 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Mark 14:55-65 “HANDS OF HYPOCRISY!”

 

MIDWEEK LENT 4

March 10, 2021

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Mark 14:55-65

 

“HANDS OF HYPOCRISY!”

 

          Our Lenten services this year have focused on the hands of the passion to help us grow in our appreciation of what our Lord Jesus did for us. Today we are looking at Hands of Hypocrisy. And fortunately for you I can show you exactly what hands of hypocrisy look like. Here. Can you see what my hands are doing? They are holding a mask. That literally is what a hypocrite is, a mask wearer. Someone who pretends to be what they are not like me pretending to be Mr. Walker when obviously, I am not. The word comes from Greek theater where actors would hold or wear masks so they could pretend to be what they are not.

          Who would come to your mind as the biggest hypocrite in the Passion of our Lord Jesus? Maybe you think of Judas pretending to be a friend when he betrayed Jesus with a kiss. Maybe you think of Peter pretending to be the unbreakable rock but who broke down after he denied even knowing Jesus. Maybe you think of Pontius Pilate pretending to be a fair governor as he washed his hands of Jesus’ death. But when you look at all of them you see at least some signs of struggle or remorse. Judas gave the money back. Peter wept bitterly. Pilate tried every trick he knew to manipulate the will of the people.

          There is one pure hypocrite, a total pretender whose hands were filled with hypocrisy. Caiaphas. The High Priest. As High Priest it was his job, his privilege, his honor to represent the people to God in the Old Testament Covenant set up. His hands were to be busy praying for the people pleading for God to do what was best for them. He also represented God to the people. “This is what God says. This is His will.” His hands were to be busy pointing to the coming Messiah. “This is how these sacrifices point to the coming Messiah. Wait for Him. Look for Him. God has given us the signs.”

          Instead they were busy with hypocrisy. “The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for testimony against Jesus in order to put him to death, but they did not find any. 56Many testified falsely against him, but their testimonies did not agree. 57Some stood up and gave this false testimony against him: 58“We heard him say, ‘I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.’” 59Yet even on this point, their testimony did not agree.” This whole trial was hypocritical. The High Priest was to be the Law upholder but this trial was held illegally in the middle of the night. A trial should try to find the truth but this one’s goal was to find some way to put Jesus to death. The High Priest was supposed to make sure a trial was fair but this High Priest allowed false testimony. Even then it didn’t stick.

          So Caiaphas went into action. You wonder if he was thinking to himself, “You bumbling idiots! If you want something done right…” The high priest stepped forward and questioned Jesus, “Have you no answer? What is this they are testifying against you?” 61But Jesus was silent and did not answer anything.” I’m sure Caiaphas was one of those guys who thinks he’s the smartest man in the room. When his first attempt didn’t work, he continued. “Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” Smartest man in the room had a super smart question. If Jesus says nothing or “No,” they could discredit him. If He says “Yes,” then they could convict him. “I am,” Jesus said. “And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.” 63The high priest tore his robes and said, “Why do we need any more witnesses? 64You have heard the blasphemy! What do you think?” They all condemned him as being worthy of death.” The hands of hypocrisy went into action. Caiaphas tore his clothes in feigned horror. His plan had worked. Jesus was guilty of death. And then for a moment the hypocrites dropped their masks and showed their true colors. “Then some began to spit on him. They covered his face and struck him with their fists, saying, “Prophesy!” The guards also took him and beat him.” Spitting is someone’s face, Beating someone who can’t defend himself who can’t even dodge the blows because he is blindfolded? What kind of people do that to another? And this was the highest religious gathering for the Jewish people. It would be like our Elders doing this or our Synod’s Conference of Presidents. Why? They were hypocrites. The pretended they cared about what God said. They pretended they cared for the people. But what they really cared about was power and honor for themselves. All led by Caiaphas, the High Priest, and his hands of hypocrisy.

          Now what can we learn from this? Have you ever heard someone say something like this? “I’d never join a church. Churches are filled with hypocrites.” Why do they say that? It’s because their understanding of a hypocrites is someone who says one thing and does another. And with that definition they are right. This is a church full of hypocrites. We all acknowledge that what God says is right. Everyone should obey his commandments. We say that. But do we always do that? No. Even if we’ve gotten pretty good and cleaning ourselves up on the outside, no obvious sins, controlling our mouths, we haven’t cleaned up the inside. Sinners one and all. Hypocrites by America’s definition.

          But not by God’s. Remember a hypocrite is really a pretender, someone who wears a mask. Someone who pretends to be a believer but is not. That’s not you. That’s not me. We do believe in Jesus. We are happy to know He’s our Savior. We look at this account from the passion of Jesus and we see not one, but two High Priests present. There is the faker, the pretender, the hypocrite, Caiaphas. But then our eyes rest on Jesus. He is the true High Priest. He has no hands of hypocrisy. His hands aren’t thrown in the air in mock horror. They don’t tear his robes if faked holy anger. They stay stretched wide nailed to the cross as He went through the horror of Hell. They stayed there unused as soldiers gambled for His robe. Why? Because as the true High Priest Jesus represented people to God. He was on the cross as the substitute for all people. He became the world’s one and only sinner. He continues to plead with the Father for our good. And He faithfully tells us what God wants us to hear. Through word and sacrament, through pastors and teachers, through faithful Christian parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles and friends He says, “God loves you. God has forgiven you. Heaven is your home. Come to the Father through me, your great High Priest.”

          Friends let the world call us hypocrites for being what we know we are sinners who can’t save ourselves. Sinners who despite our best intention to follow Jesus faithfully still stumble and fall. But may we never be true hypocrites who pretend to follow Jesus but don’t really at all. For us it won’t be Hands of Hypocrisy, but Hands off Hypocrisy. For the glory of Jesus. Amen.

Monday, March 1, 2021

February 27-March1, 2021 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Text: Mark 8:31-38 “THE CROSS IS NECESSARY”

 

LENT 2

February 27-March1, 2021

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Text: Mark 8:31-38

 

“THE CROSS IS NECESSARY”

1.     It was for Christ.

2.     It is for me.

 

Mark 8:31-38 (EHV) Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things; be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the experts in the law; be killed; and after three days rise again. 32He was speaking plainly to them. Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33But after turning around and looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have your mind set on the things of God, but the things of men.”

34He called the crowd and his disciples together and said to them, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36After all, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? 38In fact, whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

 

          Our church architecture is not unique. Many Christian churches are built this way. What is the focal point? What does the design of this sanctuary force you to do with the pews positioned the direction they are? With the walls gradually narrowing your focus? With the angled top walls? You’re right. Look at the cross! You can’t help it. Now the reason for that is not simply symmetry or aesthetics. It’s theological, Biblical. The focus is on the cross because the cross is necessary.

          Our Lord Jesus makes that abundantly clear in His words to us today. Now I seriously doubt that it was on Peter’s bucket list to be called Satan by the Lord he loved. And yet that is exactly what happened. How? Well right before this Jesus had asked His disciples who most people thought He was. All the answers could be best summed up with “a man.” A great man. A good teacher. One of the great prophets. But just a man. Then Jesus turned to His disciples and asked but “Who do you say that I am?” That’s when Peter had his shining moment. Peter answered for the disciples. “You are the Christ the Son of the living God!” A beautiful confession of faith. Could not have said it better.

          That’s where our text picks up as Jesus explains what it means to be the Christ. Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things; be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the experts in the law; be killed; and after three days rise again.” Jesus taught that the cross was necessary. It was necessary for Him to be the Christ. Jesus had been sent on a mission. While he regularly pointed out people’s sin His mission was not to stop people from sinning but to save them from the eternal consequences of sinning. While Jesus healed some people and fed others His mission was not to make this world a nicer place to live but to make it possible for sinful people to live forever in the joy and perfection of heaven. And for that to happen He had to go to the cross. He had to be betrayed, suffer and die because only His holy and innocent sacrifice was worth enough to pay the awful debt for all the world’s sinners. Only His continued perfect obedience all the way to death would gain Him the right to give that perfect obedience to those who believe as a robe of righteousness, a ticket to heaven. Jesus spoke this very plainly to them.

          And then Peter had one of those moments we all have had. He opened his mouth when he should have kept it shut. “Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.” Rebuking Jesus? Telling Jesus what to do or not do? This isn’t going to end well. “But after turning around and looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! You do not have your mind set on the things of God, but the things of men.” Ouch. He got called Satan. Why? He had his will set toward want people want, the things of men. What is that? Glory. Now. “You are the Christ, Jesus. You don’t suffer and die. You rule gloriously. No enemy can stand against you. You will crush your enemies.” All true statements except that Peter wanted those things for Jesus on earth. He wasn’t thinking of God’s eternal plan. For God’s eternal plan the cross was necessary for Jesus.

          Just like the cross is necessary for those who follow Jesus. Peter is not the only one who misunderstands God’s plan, Jesus’ mission. Peter isn’t the only one who wants to see Jesus triumphing here on earth. We all fall into that. We think, “If I do things right, if I behave a little better, things should go easier for me on earth than for those who don’t.” We think as followers of Jesus some of the glory Jesus deserves should rub off on us. We think if we do what God wants and say what God wants then things should go well for us and everyone will like us. Not a chance in a sin filled world. The cross is necessary for those who follow Jesus. “He called the crowd and his disciples together and said to them, “If anyone wants to follow me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. 35For whoever wants to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. 36After all, what good is it for a man to gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? 37Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?” Ask the rich man in the Bible account of the rich man and poor Lazarus. He would have given anything to get out of Hell. But it was too late. You have to follow Jesus in earthly life.

          And if you will actually follow Jesus, you will have a cross. There is no other way to understand Jesus’ words. To deny yourself means to deny your way of thinking, your values, your priorities and replace them with Jesus way of thinking, values and priorities. When you do that and live that you will get your own cross. You have heard it said, “We all have our crosses to bear.” When people hear that they may think that the cross Jesus is talking about is some illness, or a family problem, a bad relationship or the pain of loss of life or use of limb. But that’s not the cross Jesus is talking about. Those things happen to believer and unbeliever alike. He’s talking about those things that can only come from following Him and His next words make clear what the crosses will look like. “In fact, whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” Crosses for Christians happen when we show loyalty first to Jesus and His words, His teachings. An example. One of our college students told me one of her first classes where the professor asked for a show of hands. “How many of you believe the world is created like the Bible says?” A smattering of hands. “Good,” he says, “now we know who all the fools are.” The class erupts in laughter. Put herself in her shoes, in her dorm room among her classmates after that. That’s a cross. Here’s another. One of our students in college thinking she was messaging a friend shared her Christian values. That “friend” passed on snippets of her comments that brought down a barrage of nasty online bullying. Reported it to the college. Nothing happened. Had to switch schools to feel safe. That’s a cross. It's a cross when your faith in Christ moves you to deal with a relationship or family problem Christ’s way and it does not work like being mean would. It’s a cross when your kids or friends come to you to announce they are going to live together without being married or they are attracted to someone of the same sex and you tell them “I love you and I will always love you. I need you to know that God says that is wrong and dangerous. Can we talk about this?” and they storm out or cut off the relationship.

          There is of course, another way. We can be ashamed of Jesus and His teachings. When God puts those opportunities to speak the truth in love we can turn them down. We can give tacit approval. We can commit spiritual adultery on Jesus by implying that fake gods or no god at all can still get you to heaven.

          No we can’t. This is Jesus we are talking about. He knows how the Devil is going to try pry us away from Him. So He helps us with our weakness. First He warns that those who turn their back on Jesus on earth will find His back turned to them in heaven. Then He gives us what we need to stand strong. Glory. When the Son of Man comes in glory! The book of Hebrews tells us Jesus endured the cross and scorned its shame because of the joy set before. He knew He was winning you so the cross was worth it. Parents who adopt children and have children know this. Why do you go through all the hard work, the angst, the pain? For the joy that will be set before you! You look forward to holding that child. That’s why we are willing to carry our crosses. We know what’s coming. There’s a simple saying to hold on to. First the cross, then the crown. It was true of Jesus. He went to the cross to be the Christ. Now He is King of kings and Lord of lords. It’s true for those who follow Christ. Take your cross now, glory is coming. Remember what He said? Be faithful even to the point of death and I will give you the crown of life. And so He will! Amen.