Forgiven Forgive

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Date: February 23, 2025

Passage: Genesis 45:3–15
Pastor: Pastor Horton

A 17-year-old author named Pliny the Younger watched, as a firsthand witness, as Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, burying the city of Pompei.  He wrote about the event and said that a dense cloud shot up like a pine tree and the ash of eruption spread out in the air like the branches of a tree.  He watched as large walls of fire spewed from the mountainside.  Darkness covered over those who lived in the shadow of the volcano, and many perished.  I imagine as an eyewitness to this, you had to have been awestruck, overwhelmed, and paralyzed by fear.

We aren’t often in such situations thankfully.  But I imagine such an emotion had to have swept over the eleven men in the Old Testament reading for this morning.  Awestruck, overwhelmed, and paralyzed by fear.  Not because of what they had seen but because they had just heard.  Can you picture them with their eyes fixed on the man standing in front of them?  Their adrenaline pumping, their flight or flight response perhaps kicking in, maybe they were even pale in appearance as blood rushed to their muscles and brain.  They were scared to death all because of what he just said. 

“I am Joseph.”  And you could hear a pin drop.  In an unexpected plot twist, the Egyptian leader who stood before them was their brother.  And you might expect this to be some sort of a happy family reunion – after all, it had been a whopping 20 years of separation from one another – but it wasn’t.  More likely, is that those years had weighed heavy with the brothers’ guilty conscience. 

We do know that they were haunted by the memory of selling Joseph off into slavery.  They confessed their guilt to each other in a previous chapter saying, “we saw the misery of his soul when he begged us, but we would not listen.”  The last time they had seen their brother, he was pleading to them for his life.  What were they laughing at him?  Mocking him?  Were they distracted from his impassioned begging as their eyes looked over the clanging coins handed to them by slave traders?  These human traffickers would get rid of their goody-two-shoes brother once and for all!  Even if it meant keeping a secret from their loving father.  But as the years went by, the memories remain.  As they grew up, and got married, and had their own families, what they did to their flesh-and-blood brother was guilt they couldn’t shake.  And that must have made them miserable!

But now Joseph, through incredible turns of events directed by God’s merciful hand, had been raised up and stood him before his brothers.  This was far more than family members bumping into each other at the local McDonalds.  They were in a palace, and it was Joseph’s palace.  Maybe you have met a famous person or even a powerful politician, but probably not one with the authority of Joseph.  He was now the right-hand man to the king of Egypt, a senior statesman in this world superpower, and overseer to feeding the western world as the living God personally aided him in planning for the famine.  This power is that kind of power you find in regimes or dictatorships.  What Joseph says goes.  And if he wants you gone – it is so.  Object to his decision, and you will soon disappear as well.  As they looked up to Joseph, they knew that the full vengeance backed by the might of Egypt could rightly come crashing down upon them worse than a wall of fire from Mt. Vesuvius.  It’s no wonder the Bible tells us that “His brothers could not answer him, because they were terrified by his presence.”

But then Joseph did the unbelievable, he forgave them.  Again, cue the pin drop.  He forgave them.  And he promised to take care of them.  And he promised to give them land in Egypt so that they could be safe and close to him.  And this promise of providence extended to their families and to their grandchildren.  What is happening?  They stood speechless.  But maybe some of the color slowly returned to their faces as Joseph repeats his message of forgiveness and blessings.  And twenty years of guilt slowly begin to melt away.  Forgiven forgive!

This is what God wants for you.  In fact, this is what God has given to you in Christ Jesus.  Forgiveness.  It should amaze us every single night that we have been forgiven in Jesus.  Why?  Because every single day we sin against God.  Maybe it’s using his name in vain, or neglected time with his word, or reacted with petty thoughts towards someone else’s blessings, or you name it – and we have sinned it.  Especially when it comes to the relationships we have with one another.  Sometimes we have the biggest issues with those closest to us in life and have a hard time forgiving. 

How could Joseph do it?  How could he forgive his family who did him so very wrong?  His relationship with God impacted his relationship with others.  He knew where he stood with the Almighty God, and that he had been treated far better than his sins deserved.  As we approach the cross of Christ, we underserving believers see, appreciate, and reflect the love of God found there in our relationship with other, fellow, undeserving individuals.

Real forgiveness is hard.  It’s more than being nice to someone.  It’s more than getting along with a difficult person.  It involves being wronged – being sinned against – and letting our right to be mad melt away so that soothing and healing might take place.  That’s hard because we want that self-seeking right to be mad.  We sinful humans want our anger to burn red hot and we want to extract volcanic vengeance for years – maybe even for a lifetime.  It is hard to forgive and to be at peace with whatever issue may be.  It involves resisting the temptation to go and pull it back out of the dumpster at a later date.  Forgiveness from Jesus is full and free.  With him our wrongs are gone forever.  “Help me Lord Jesus,” could be our nightly prayer, “to fully and freely forgive ________ (you fill in the blank) as you have first forgiven me.”  Forgiven, forgive.

 Was it easy for Joseph?  After all he was now the one with power and authority.  It may not have been easy.  There may have been trauma from all those years of being unfairly treated.  There may have been moments of doubt, certainly questions of God while unfairly suffering during those prime-of-life years.  Was there some temptation to extract some degree of payback for his brothers?

What we do have is the example he gives us.  Jospeh speaks nothing but gracious words to his brothers.  We find Jesus’ instruction from our gospel lesson on display in this account: “I say to you who are listening: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

Another example is the simple trust in God’s control over his life.  Forgiveness understands and believes God’s promise that “all things work together for the good of those who love God.”  Joseph believed that.  Three times he said this about his slavery and prison term: “God sent me ahead of you.”  Those lost years were not his brother’s doing, but God’s doing.  Forgiveness becomes easier when we trust God to use our lives – the good and the bad – to ultimately serve his bigger plans. 

One more lesson, we find in this reading that forgiveness is loving and also honest.  Not all the deaths caused by Mt. Vesuvius were from giant boulders falling on people.  Some deaths were from lots of little soot, ash, and pebbles building up on roofs until they collapsed.  When there is sin committed, forgiveness does not sweep it under the rug, but addresses it.  Joseph did that.  He doesn’t say let’s not speak of this ever again, but tells his brothers “do not be upset or angry with yourselves for selling me to this place.”   Naming the sin, even as lots of little ones build up upon an issue, helps the forgiveness process address and remove the issue, and allows both sides to move on in peace.

Often after a disaster there is some calm.  For the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, it would take time to clean up and rebuild in the region.  Sometimes forgiveness takes time as well.  Sometimes that time is at the end of a loved one’s life when a family is able to talk honestly and lovingly – forgiving and lifting guilt off of hearts.  Joseph and his brothers would take time and patience to rebuild the trust in their relationship.  Why not start today for us?  Let’s return to the cross of Jesus to find forgiveness for us.  And with God’s help, may we Forgiven, Forgive.  Amen. 

Why Matthias?

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Pastor Souksamay K. Phetsanghan

February 16, 202

Text: Acts 1:15, 21-26 (EHV)                        

Theme: Why Matthias?

Grace and peace to you from him who is, and who was, and who is to come. – Rev. 1:4

Dear fellow Christians,

Do you remember Matthias, the apostle? If you don’t, don’t worry. There is a pretty good reason why you might not remember him. For you see, we know absolutely nothing else about him, except what we hear in Acts 1, today’s sermon text. That is literally it. We don’t know about his parents. We don’t know his hometown. We don’t have any words of his recorded in Scripture. We hear about how he is added to the number of apostles, and then he fades from Scripture and we never hear of him again. So then if you didn’t remember who Matthias was, you really can’t be blamed for it. But that is exactly what we will do today: remember Matthias. For February 24 is the day set aside in the Church to remember him. Today we will ask ourselves the question: why Matthias? That is: Why remember him? Why remember someone who has such a small role in Scripture?

Where we are in Scripture and in the life of the Church is shortly after Jesus ascended back to heaven. The 11 apostles, not 12, saw Jesus ascend back to heaven, and then they went back to Jerusalem to join with the other believers. Peter seems to be the natural leader of this group, for what do we hear in v.15? “In those days Peter stood up among the believers (a group numbering about a hundred and twenty)” (v.15) So after Jesus has ascended into heaven, there are about 120 believers, they are all gathered together here in Acts, chapter 1. Among these 120 people are the 11 apostles, Mary the mother of Jesus, and Jesus’ very own earthly half-brothers. Peter stands up among this group of 120 and says that someone needs to be added to the apostles to replace Judas, who betrayed Jesus, and then later killed himself. Their number of apostles needs to be 12 again. Or as Peter puts it in v. 21-22 …

“Therefore it is necessary to choose one of the men who have been with us the whole time the Lord Jesus was living among us, beginning from John’s baptism to the time when Jesus was taken up from us. For one of these must become a witness with us of his resurrection.” (v.21-22) To be added to the apostles, Peter lays out the criteria for what they want in an apostle. The first criteria: it has to be a guy who has been with the believers the whole time, from when Jesus was baptized to when he ascended into heaven. That all makes sense, doesn’t it? It has to be a guy who knows Jesus, who knows what has been going on these past 3 years. It has to be someone who has seen Jesus, seen him preaching, teaching, performing miracles. This guy needs all of that to be able to do the second criteria: to be a witness alongside the other 11 apostles, to be a witness of Jesus’ resurrection. For that is what Jesus left his apostles and all the believers here to do. So after the two criteria are laid out, what do we hear? There are two guys who fit these two criteria.

“So they nominated two men: Joseph called Barsabbas (also known as Justus) and Matthias.” (v.23) This actually sounds a lot like a call meeting, doesn’t it? You have what you want the new pastor or teacher or staff minister to do, or what skills they should have, or what knowledge they should possess. You have your criteria for the new person. Then, for us, we go to our synod with our criteria and then they give us a list of people that can fit that description and fill that need. The 120 believers have their criteria and then they have 2 guys, who fit that criteria: Joseph and Matthias. Then much like a call meeting, the believers pray to God and say in v 24-25.

“Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.” (v.24-25) In this prayer, we have that all important reminder when it comes to call meetings and a call to be a pastor or teacher or staff minister. It is that reminder that this call is from the Lord. The ministry: being a witness, being a pastor, teacher, or staff minister, is from the Lord. It is his church and he puts people into his church where and when he wants them. This prayer reminds us of that working together in the call: the 120 believers know what they want in an apostle, and the Lord will provide such a person. And in their case, the Lord provides in a unique way. The last verse for today, verse 26.

“Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.” (v.26) This is not what we do in our call meetings today. So it might sound odd or strange to us. But this was a common thing, coming out of OT Jewish customs. The high priest had a special part of their clothing called the Urim and Thummim (Ex 28:30; Lev 8:8, Num 27:21). The Urim and Thummim were part of the priestly clothes that the high priest would wear. We don’t know exactly how it worked, but the high priest could ask a question of the Lord and then use the Urim and Thummim to get an answer from the Lord. So similarly, the 120 believers asked a question of the Lord, they used this casting lots to get an answer, and the lot settled on Matthias. He gets added to the apostles, and then promptly he fades from the pages of Scripture. We have such a detailed description of how he is added to the apostles, but then we never hear of him again. Why? Why Matthias? Why remember him? Why remember someone who has such a small role in Scripture? Why does Scripture spend so much time on him becoming an apostle, but not what he did as apostle? Why are we spending a whole sermon on him?

II. Maybe there are two things that I would like us to remember when it comes to remembering Matthias. The two things are two ways to answer that question: Why Matthias?

1. Why Matthias? We have in this one account, a call meeting. You have had plenty of call meetings. I do quite a bit of guest preaching and so have also been involved in plenty of call meetings, even leading some of them. And this one account from Scripture, reminds us that in those call meetings, the Lord is in control. He is the Creator of all things. It is his Church. We pastors, teachers, and staff ministers, he lets us serve in that Church. He places us where he wants us. When we get calls to other places in his Church, he is there also guiding and helping us. When someone gets a call, when I get a call, I always try to remember this advice that I got years ago now. “Don’t consider, if you leave, how will the place you currently serve get along without you. That is the Holy Spirit’s business. Don’t’ consider how the place to which you have been called, how can they possibly survive unless you take the call.  If you do not accept the call, the Holy Spirit will continue to take care of them. When you have a call, think as a steward. How can your talents best serve the Lord at the present time? Think kingdom, not congregation. Think only of how your talents can best be applied to the Lord’s work today.” So why Matthias today? Matthias is a reminder for our call meetings, present and future: the Lord is in control. The second answer.

2. Why Matthias? This second answer to why Matthias can apply to all of us. For such a question could be asked about us. Why us? Why were we chosen to be believers? Most of us won’t have accounts written down about how we came to faith. Unlike Peter or Paul, most of us won’t have books written about what we did as believers. Most of us will be closer to Matthias. Our Lord brings us to faith. We quietly live our life of faith without anyone noticing or maybe even caring … but God notices, God cares. We may not know what Matthias did as an apostle … people may never know what you do as a believer … but God knows. God sees. God is served by it. So why Matthias? Matthias is another reminder for all of us: to keep being a believer.

Today in Matthias we get the first reminder that our Lord is in control of the call: when and where his servants will serve him in his Church. Today in Matthias we also get this second reminder: we are Matthias. People may never know who we are or what we did as believers, and that is fine. We still keep doing that. We keep being believers. We keep being witnesses to our Lord’s resurrection, until he comes again, until we join Matthias and all the other believers, known and unknown, until we all join our Lord in his heavenly home. AMEN.

The peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. AMEN.

25-26 School Registration

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“Chosen!”

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Author: Pastor Horton

Passage: Jeremiah 1:4-10

Date: February 2, 2025

There was a commercial a few years ago which took place in a baseball dugout.  The team, made up of community adults were watching their at-bat play out.  The coach says, “we need a clutch hit”, and looks down the row of men on the bench and calls out a name: “Derek.”  And an average athlete with an unkept appearance jumps up  – albeit surprised that he is one called upon in this moment.  The coach clarifies, and pointing behind the man says, “Derek….Jeter.”  And the Hall of Fame Yankee shortstop, hero to some, with 14 All Star Games and 5 World Series Rings stands up behind him ready to score the needed run…and does.  Whoops.  That’s the one the coached wanted – that’s the chosen one.

It’s a short commercial but one we can relate to because we have maybe been that child on the playground wanting to get picked – or have wanted to be the one chosen for special academic recognition – or chosen for an artistic award.  And simply as social human beings we long for acceptance and want to be chosen as one of the team with equal respect among our friends, our family, and our peers.  But what about when it comes to being chosen by God? 

We may know some of the Bible stories with “chosen ones,” those heroes of faith.  We hold them in high regard, and rightly so.  The things they endured.  The crosses they carried – both figuratively and literally.  The times and places in which they served.  And, over and above all that, the confidence with which they stood . . . firm and unmoved.  Rightly, they hold the title: “hero.” 

But remember also what some of them endured as “chosen” ones of God.  Hebrews 11:36-38 tells us that, “Still others experienced mocking and lashes, in addition to chains and imprisonment.  They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were tempted; they were killed with the sword; they went around in sheepskins and goatskins, needy, afflicted, and mistreated.  The world was not worthy of them as they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground.”  And yikes!  Who would want to be chosen for any of that!?!

Even though his name doesn’t appear in that chapter, Jeremiah is for us, a deserving “hero of faith.”  His steady proclamation of God’s Word and warning took place over the reign of a number of kings who drifted with the people away from God and away from repentance before God.  For his steadfastness, Jeremiah would be threatened, imprisoned, and call a national traitor.  And this morning, our lesson takes us all the way back to his calling.  We see him as the Derek-Jeter hero type, but he may have initially been feeling like more of the bum on the bench.  How could Jeremiah serve as he did?  Where did Jeremiah’s confidence come from?  And like him, we also have been chosen by the same Lord God to speak for him and to represent him in this world.  We find an answer in this account of Jeremiah, for our confidence comes from what the LORD did, what He does, and what He will do.  Our reading highlights this.  It beings:

“The word of the Lord came to me.  Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I set you apart.  I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.”  Perhaps the first thing we need to note is that, in grace, the LORD came to Jeremiah – that’s important.  This prophet wouldn’t be chosen by his own selection.  He didn’t discover the word of the Lord by meditation and breathing exercises.  He didn’t suddenly find himself learning gospel promises while out on a walk one day in nature’s cathedral.  Nor did he empower himself to be this hero – taking a stand before the kingdom and its rulers.  Rather a quick glance and we find Jeremiah to be somewhat of an outcast at work during the Babylonian Captivity, Judah’s low-point, and, most likely, was an eye-witness to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.

And yet, in the midst of national turmoil and tyrants, the LORD taps an unlikely hero on the shoulder through his Word and says, “I know you.  Jeremiah, I have set you apart and I am going to use you for my purpose to accomplish my will.  Jeremiah, your confidence cannot be in yourself; but it has to be in what I’ve already done.”  God knew his past – all of it.  God knew him even as a cute little baby.  But God knew him even before that. 

What a great reminder!  You are not a cosmic accident.  You are not subject to the random events of the world and the universe.  You are not living as one adrift upon the blustery winds of life.  God knew you, like he knew Jeremiah, from well before your birth.  God cared dearly for you even back then.  God formed you as one uniquely and wonderfully made.  And God placed you into this time and place, he gave you the precious gospel of salvation, and he gives you purpose within his good will for you.  No matter your age or your issues or your hesitations: That is incredible!  And that is special!  And that is gracious!

But while we’re speaking about our hesitations about being chosen by God, hero-of-faith Jeremaih’s response: “But I said, “Ah, Lord God!  I really do not know how to speak!  I am only a child!”  (And yes, there really is a Hebrew word for the interjection “ah-hah”).  Jeremiah may have been born into a priestly line but calls himself “a child” – a word used for one young enough to not yet have a profession or fully know yet what direction they would go in life.  And now, God would give him this life at this time and in this place to these people?  “Ah-hah.”  Sounds like the response of other prophets God chose like Moses in Exodus 3 and Gideon in Judges 6.  Jeremiah’s self-concern is familiar, “I’m not quite ready for this yet.”

And perhaps, this seems to be where our similarity to Jeremiah is amplified.  As sinners, we tend to make excuses to what our God commands.  And, often times, our excuses shift the focus from His Words to our feelings.  He says to each of us, “Go and make disciples.”  We say, “well, I kind of feel like someone else is probably more qualified.”  He says, “make disciples of all nations.”  We say, “but that might make me feel pretty uncomfortable.”  He says, “baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”  We think, “maybe there’s an easier way to attract new members other than by using the Means of Grace.”  He says, “teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”  And we say, “I mean, everything?  I don’t know if I’m ready or willing to be chosen by God for this!”  Wow.  How embarrassing!  In sin, we turn inward and make it about ourselves and hide behind our feelings; and at times want to cut the rope ourselves and be adrift from the challenges which come with of God and his Word.

But look at how our God responds to our feelings of inadequacy and doubt.  “The Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’  You must go to everyone to whom I send you and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, because I am with you, and I will rescue you, declares the Lord.”  God says, “It is I, the great the ‘I Am’ who makes you chosen!”  The LORD redirects Jeremiah’s focus from what the prophet can’t do to what God continues to do!  Because it is he who gives the word of salvation to us and there remain people who still need to know about Jesus.  People in Jeremiah’s day and in ours still need to understand that sin separates, sin kills, and sin condemns.  People then and now who need to know what the God of free and faithful love did and still does!

And what does he do with you and me?  He calls us off the bench and to get into the game – into this life and these times with purpose.  He says, “My child, you have nothing to fear!  I am with you.”  And then he sets your heart on the cross as proof.  For God knew you – and he knew how to save you through Christ Jesus.  He is one who wiped every sin away there at the cross.  He is the one who rules and reigns and promises to go with you and to help you.  His promises are certain in an uncertain world.  And that’s your confidence. 

Even if, as it was for those other heroes of faith, things get unpleasant or downright dangerous.  Our final verses tell us, “Then the Lord stretched out his hand and touched my mouth.  The Lord said to me: There!  I have now placed my words in your mouth.  Look, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and to tear down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”  We fear not for we, for like Jeremiah, have been chosen to be equipped with God’s words.  And when God wields his word, it is powerful and effective – greater than the strongest of nations.  And that powerful Word he gives to you, even if we are simply unsure of ourselves. 

And since we have his words of salvation in Christ, and we therefore have life with God.  Life through the forgiveness of sins.  Life through the new creation that we are in Christ.  And life with our Lord in heaven one day.  Dear fellow heroes of faith, through his Word God has made you an all-star on his team.  You have his precious gospel to live and to share and to rejoice over – come what may.   For you have been chosen by God.  And his gospel will win more chosen souls still.  Go with God confidently every step of life’s way.  Amen.

New Year, Same Foe, but Same God

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Author: Pastor Horton

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. “Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.” – 1 Peter 5:8-11

I can’t imagine traveling in an open air jeep on a safari, only to watch as a lion springs out in a murderous ambush upon its prey.  Lions are powerful and ferocious, but they are also sneaky.  Laying in wait for the right time to pounce is a tactic that has worked well for them.  When they are meandering out in the open they are far easier to spot as we recognize them as a clear danger.  

Just like a lion, the devil finds sneaky ways to fool believers. Look at a few of the Bible examples we find where God’s children have been subjected to a sneak attack by Satan. Adam and Eve were told they could be like God, so they ate the fruit. They were wrong. David thought no one would find out about his sin with Bathsheba. Now everyone knows. Peter didn’t think anyone knew he denied     Jesus. Jesus did. Abraham thought God needed help to give him a son. God didn’t. Sarah secretly laughed when she heard she would have a baby. God was watching her. 

Satan is still with us today! He still roams the earth searching for God’s children who can be easily deceived. The danger to our soul remains real. A favorite scheme of his is to make us doubt the Bible, so he places all kinds of difficulties in front of us like: “How do you know the Bible is really God’s Word?” “God must be really mean to send people to hell.” “All those miracles must have a practical explanation.”  And the list goes on.

However God is also still with us today and has overcome the devil!  He helps us to be alert and of sober mind, resisting Satan and his attacks while standing firm in the faith.  How does he help us?  He gives us faith through the lion-proof defense of his Word.  There we hear of our salvation in Jesus, and of the close and caring relationship God has with you.  He is our protector and will see us home to heaven.

God even helps us recognize and flee from Satan’s dangerous traps. Call on the Lord to show you when Satan is trying to mislead you. Go to God’s Word every day to learn how to fight against Satan’s lies and to become stronger in God’s Word. Don’t become like the unsuspecting antelope that heads toward the pond for a drink and is unexpectedly devoured by the crafty lion. Be ready for Satan’s attacks. They will come, but God can help you stand up against them. And when you do fall, remember what the apostle Peter wrote about how a victorious God helps you back up and encourages you, “And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast. To him be the power for ever and ever. Amen.”