“Christ With Us”

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Series:  “Christ Through Us” (WELS 175th Anniversary)

Theme: “Christ With Us” (Revelation 3:7-13)

Pastor Nate Walther – Sunday, October 26th, 2025

Eastside Lutheran Church – Madison, WI

            Christ with us.  It’s a fitting theme today as we celebrate the Lutheran Reformation and as we conclude our celebration of our synod’s anniversary.  Christ has certainly been with the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod over the past 175 years, just as he has been with all true confessional Lutheran churches over the past 500 years – as we look back on the past, there’s just so much to be thankful for in connection to this theme… but we’re not going to be focusing on the past in this sermon.  Instead, as we live in the present and as we look at the future, do you appreciate what this means for you dear WELS Lutheran, dear believing Christian, dear precious soul bought back from the fires of hell by the blood of a Savior who loves you dearly?  Christ is with you.

            That may have been true in the past, that may be true for others, that may even be how we comfort people who are hurting in our lives, but what about me?  Do I always believe it’s true for me? What about when people ridicule you for agreeing with the Bible’s Creation account: “you don’t believe in science”, even though you do believe in science – that is, real science, not empty hypotheses about things long ago that no one observed? Or, what about when people attack you for calling something a sin: “you’re so unloving”, even though you do believe in love – that is, real love, which starts with God’s unconditional love for us no matter how we sin, and you’re always ready to share that with anyone who confesses their sin, as a fellow lost & redeemed sinner yourself?… Are we OK when that happens?  Are we certain we’re right?  Do we feel Christ is with us in those moments?  Or, if things aren’t going so well, do we wonder what we’re doing wrong?

            Let’s up the ante a little bit.  Do any of you know what it’s like to have your life in danger?  Do you know what it’s like to live in fear of death because of some serious illness, or fast-spreading infection, or a cancer you’re battling? Do you know what it’s like to have a loved one go through that?  Or, do you know what it’s like to worry that someone close to you with mental illness or a substance abuse problems will come busting through that door, because you know what they’re capable of? Do you even know what it’s like to live like our soldiers who have survived warzones and threats to their lives?  Have you had the experience of falling asleep with a loaded pistol in your hand, and every noise outside or in the house at night wakes you up in a cold sweat with your finger on the trigger?… When this becomes our lives, when we experience the evils of this world, when our suffering gets so severe, where is Christ in all of it?  What are we doing wrong?!

            You’re not alone… these fundamental matters of faith & doubt (ultimately, of life & death) are what our spiritual forefathers faced throughout the past.   For our Lutheran forefathers in America 175 years ago, did you know that, more than anything, they came here from Europe because of persecution.  The government was forcing them to unite with Reformed Christians, even though the two groups believed different things!Meanwhile, for our Lutheran forefathers in Germany 500 years ago, you may already know the story: when told to renounce his teachings that agreed with Scripture if not with the Church of his day, Luther took his stand against the Holy Roman Emperor at the Diet of Worms and refused to compromise on a biblically-bound conscience… so what did the Holy Roman Emperor decree as the most powerful man in the world at his time? He basically had a “hit” put out on Luther.  For the remainder of Luther’s life he lived with the distinct threat that any one of his enemies could simply kill him as an outlaw, and there would be no legal ramifications to dissuade them. Finally, it’s the same thing true believers have always faced, going back to our Christian forefathers in the “O.G. city of brotherly love”, ancient Philadelphia from 2,000 years ago.  As we heard earlier, the first audience from our sermon text was being persecuted for their faith.  Bitterly so.  By this point Christians were being killed for what they believed.  It had happened in nearby Pergamum, to which this letter of Revelation was also written.  It would happen in Philadelphia as well.  And in all of this… seriously, was Christ still with them? 

            Listen again to what we God told them in our sermon text.  “8Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name.”So, in the following verses,the Apostle John (who wrote these words to them) goes on to explain how God would work all things for their good as they continued to place their faith in him… which is great, but it’s in the future, it’s not reality yet.  Instead, for the time being, he simply says “11Hold on to what you have so that no one takes your crown. 12 The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never leave it again…” What we have here is not a message of immediate gratification, but it is a certain message of hope.  Whatever you face in life, however evil has assaulted you, now matter how it causes you to question and worry and doubt, God’s message is crystal clear: “Hold on to what you have.”  Why?  Because if you are with Christ, God says this is doorway.  It will simply get you where you need to go.  That’s why you want to stay on that path. 

Finally, I can’t share an answer with you that will make all the challenging moments in your life easy.  I can just share the answer that’s always worked for God’s people.  It’s what worked for the founders of our church body.  Just think of how their situation turned out: how blessed are we now as Lutherans in America with the religious freedom we enjoy!  It’s what worked our namesake as Lutheranism also.  Despite how dark his things looked at one point – where Luther even had to go into hiding, holed up in a castle while he translated the Bible – still, Luther had a happy and productive life, he even got married and had kids, he died several decades later as an old man surrounded by friends and family. God worked that situation out for good.  It’s even what worked for those Philadelphian Christians.  Yes, including those of them who were killed for their faith!  Because they immediately got to heaven to be with Christ.  No one could shut that door.  In fact, if anything death only allowed them to pass through that door faster.

In a broken world where sin invites such difficult situations, such challenging problems, such pain into our lives, Jesus provides a different kind of solution.  Not searching for something else that still won’t put an end to the bad.  Not trying harder when our efforts are less than perfect and will still yield less than perfect results. Not treating the symptoms, all while ignoring the cause.  No, in fact, where do we find Jesus in all of it?  There, himself in the midst, of it.  He faced that darkness too.  He encountered those threats as well.  He was even killed by them on the cross… And God says, “Hold on to that,” which he has already given you: a substitute who died for your sin and a Savior who conquered your death, a God whose love for you is never in question and whose future for you is never in doubt.  That’s what will work, even if it doesn’t currently seem to be working! 

What else can we say when, in this very last book of the Bible that was written, this is what God says?  His final message through the Apostle John here isn’t to try this new spiritual craze when things don’t seem to be working out for you, nor is it to make new changes in your life. It’s simply to “Hold on to what you have!…”  That may be so hard to do at times, but it doesn’t make it the wrong answer.  Granted, when you’re persecuted or threatened, when you’re sick or suffering, when those questions or doubts creep in, the hardest thing to do is to do nothing.  We want to take matters into our own hands and fix it!  But sometimes there’s just nothing else to do.  Not when you are on the right path.  Because the door is open in front of us, even if the path is hard.  Other paths may be easier along the way, but how often do we fail to raise our eyes and see: there is no open door at the end of those paths, only dead ends!  It’s why – like the difficult daily exercise that eventually gets you to your fitness goals – we need to stay on this path, the same path Christ went on himself.  And he’ll get you through it;  somehow he’ll even spare you even worse trials, just like he promised in our sermon text.  That’s what he’s done for the past 175 years for our synod.  That’s what he’s done for the past 500 years for all true Lutherans.  That’s what he’s done for the past 2,000 years for all true Christians in every congregation.  That’s what he’s done for the past 6,000+ for all believers in the one true God of Israel who always made this the center of his promises: Christ with us. From the beginning of the Bible – as we heard two weeks ago in Genesis 3 – to the end of the Bible – as we hear in Revelation 3 today – that has always been God’s answer.  He’s not going to stop now.  Dear fellow brother or sister in Christ, whatever you face, know that this is true for you.  Christ is with you.  Be comforted by that always and in all things.  Amen.

October 19, 2025 Sermon

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Pastor Horton

175th Synod Anniversary #2

What does success look like?  For the young entrepreneur, it might be creating a product that goes viral in popularity and finding instant global success and establishing their business as a household name and into a legacy.  For the garage band (or college band), it might involve a few lessons learned at the school of hard knocks and maybe some heartbreak to put together a raw and relatable album and in a few years finding their fanbase now filling concert arenas.  Or for the NFL QB plagued by injuries, it might mean having that one bounce-back year where the team comes together and he leads them to a Super Bowl win with great appreciation and joy.  These are the kids of stories, docuseries, and ESPN specials we like to see – because they lift us up.  They encourage us.  They inspire and motivate us.  Stories of success fill us with hope that anything is possible.

I wonder how a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee (aka the Lake of Gennesaret) might define success?  Because what Jesus accomplished in our Bible reading for today was probably more than a success story – it was a downright dream come true.  Retelling what happened would be hard to believe and passed off as just another fisherman’s tall tale.  And yet with the backdrop of this miracle, as we find Jesus calling ordinary fishermen for an extraordinary purpose.  And we are reminded that Christ still calls and works Through Us.

That is our focal theme this Sunday as we consider the 175th anniversary of the Wisconsin Synod.  Last Week we pondered the important truth of: “Christ FOR Us”.  This week?  “Christ THROUGH Us”.  And does that ever give us relief!  Think back to the lowly beginnings of our synod and to the German missionaries who arrive in this state.  In the eyes of the world, our synod’s beginning was far from a glorious chapter of human history.  But there was God’s glory present in his gifts of Word and Sacraments.  The synod did not start with glamor, but it had God’s grace.  And through the years God grew this collection of believers: from one world mission in 1893 to world missions today in 45 countries, from 800 congregations in 1965 to 1200 congregations today.  Such accomplishments are only to the credit and honor and work of our God.  We are reminded in our own history of the Father’s plan to save souls, the Holy Spirit’s guiding work and oversight of his church, and in Jesus a willingness to do the extraordinary through what seems to be the very ordinary.  Just take a look at our reading.

Peter and the disciples witnessed his desire to work “through us” from their first calling.  In fact, Peter would get an eternal-life-lesson on who Jesus was and he worked.  Early on in his ministry, we find Jesus being surrounded.  The Word works and the people get pushy – feeding on Jesus’ message of life.  And yet the crowd wouldn’t turn into a frenzy.  Jesus taps Simon on the shoulder for a little help as he gets into his boat.  And Simon was willing to help since he had already met Jesus – previously Jesus had healed his mother-in-law.  The least he could do would be to return a favor.  But after teaching the crowds from the boat, Jesus makes a unique request, vrs 4”When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.”  According to those who know the Sea of Galilee well, this body of water could at times yield larger amounts of fish, but at night and in the shallows off the coastline.  Professional fisherman, like these disciples, knew that fishing in the heat of the day in the deep waters sounded like a bad decision.  Add into the mix the human element of these guys probably being exhausted and frustrated after a failed 3rd shift of fishing and they were probably not excited to go back out.

And yet…5 Simon answered him, “Master, we worked hard all through the night and caught nothing.  But at your word I will let down the nets.”  In humble faith there is no objection or complaint.  Even if Peter’s reasoning expects the exact opposite result – he goes.  And listen again to what happened!

6 When they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were about to tear apart. Wow!  7 They signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.  The Lord God was able to act in awesome and miraculous ways to provide for his servant.  The Lord God still acts in awesome and miraculous ways to provide for his servants.  Through ordinary resources and ordinary people God does the extraordinary to catch and to save.  The nets packed with fish are a picture of the great catch of souls Jesus wants in heaven one day.  Behold the heart of God in this miracle.

And he gives people like you and me his gospel and uses us in his kingdom!  And isn’t that incredible!  Because who are we?  Peter had a realization as he stood face-to-face with the author of life and salvation.  8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord.”  9 For Peter and all those with him were amazed at the number of fish they had caught.  I appreciate that the inspired author uses his full name here, “Simor Peter”.  Whenever I heard my full name I was in trouble or at the least being called to account.  You get the sense of that here, only it’s Peter by faith calling himself out and admitting his rightful standing before Jesus, the living God.  “Who am I, Lord?  “I am a sinful man.”  

Jesus has an answer abounding mercy and grace and peace for his servant.  Jesus said to Simon, “Have no fear. From now on you will be catching people.”  Christ will be working THROUGH you.  And how much did that mean to this fisherman dependent on this profession for his livelihood?  They left everything and followed him.  Life was different now with Jesus.  Success wasn’t the way the world described it, but rather success would be found in those nets of souls filled for heaven.  And Simon Peter would be one who would get to cast Jesus’ kingdom-nets to the nations.  We find Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost as 3000 were baptised, and writing as an inspired author letters which still encourage us today in our walk of faith.  Oh he was not perfect and like us would still need teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness through Scripture.  But his ministry would be marked by Christ THROUGH Us.  He would be sustained by Jesus and forgiven, encouraged, and equipped by his words. 

What does Christ THROUGH you look like?  Sometimes it’s Christ through us…in spite of us.  May we like Peter be brought through the clear teaching of the law to lay our sins at the cross of Jesus.  May God the Holy Spirit help us see and repent of our wrong.  Because our stubborn hearts find offense in Jesus.  We turn a deaf ear to his calling.  We don’t like to admit our sinful state.  We object and complain when he tells us what to do.  We would rather point a finger and blame other kingdom-things around us.  “That synod of yours won’t let me do this” “or that church or that pastor won’t let me do that.”  But it is God’s law that calls out our Old Adam by full name and we often don’t want to look Jesus in the eye or confess that we are sinful and need his help.  

And yet the same Lord there for Peter and the same Lord there for the previous generations of our synod remains the same Lord today who is a compassionate God at work on our hearts and intent on saving our souls and getting us fish caught up to heaven with him.  Christ paid our way with his dying on the cross.  Christ gave eternal life to us by rising, and through his word gives spiritual life to the lifeless.  That priceless gospel of salvation is ours today as it continues to be proclaimed in truth and purity.  

So what now does Christ THROUGH you look like?  It looks like reconciliation with our heavenly Father through Jesus.  Our reading from 2 Corinthians reminded us of that.  It looks like casting those nets out again because Jesus calls us to do so, and forgiving even if we don’t want to or praying again even if we think it’s not that fruitful.  It looks like embracing the Means of Grace, being students of the Word, so that we might be better equipped to fish.  And it means casting nets and trusting Christ even if it’s in deep waters and away from our comfortable shoreline.   And some of those nets, as our reading from Deuteronomy reminds us, are to extend even into the future generations of your family line so that our homes may thrive in the love of God in Christ Jesus.  Christ THROUGH Us has been seen for 175 years of kingdom work in our churches, school, and missions.  God works through his word to call us fish to faith, providing us with opportunity to serve in the work, and blessing the efforts.  Who will Christ catch through you and through our congregation as we cast the gospel?  Let’s find out – in fact, let’s pray that Jesus continues to grant success and make his future catch great until we’re home with the Lord.  Amen.

“Christ For Us”

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Genesis 3:8-15

Pastor Nate Walther

            Last month we celebrated the 100th anniversary of this congregation.  This month we are celebrating another anniversary, an even lengthier one at that: the Dodransbicentennial of our Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod – i.e. the 175th Anniversary of our Lutheran Church body here in America. That’s kind of remarkable, and it gets me thinking about why our collection of churches has lasted.  Is it truly phenomenal preaching?  (All us pastors think we’re good preachers… but such longevity makes me wonder whether I’d make the cut!)  Or is it having a good, Christian day schools?  (Historically, that’s been a staple of our church body, and we are certainly no exception.)  Or what kinds of programs and ministries does a church offer?  Or what kind of a difference are churches actually making in the lives of their parishioners? 

            Initially, our sermon text may not seem to answer those questions or have anything to do with the topic, but it really does get at the heart of the matter. You may know the background.  When God first created Adam & Eve and placed them in the Garden of Eden, he gave them one command, “Don’t eat from the tree of knowledge of good & evil.”  Yet they ate from it.  And it may not seem like a big deal, it’s just one tiny act of disobedience.  Yet there’s no denying the results

            8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they HID from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  Immediately it’s clear something is wrong.  Never before did Adam & Eve have reason to hide from God, but now something has separated them from God.  So,  9 The Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”  As if God didn’t know!  10 (Adam) answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was NAKED; so I hid.”  That’s a sign that something is wrong also. God made Adam and Eve perfectly in his image, and how could anything that ourperfect Lordcreates elicit shame?  Unless, Adam & Eve’s bodies somehow had been corrupted and changed into something less…  and they were. 11 (God) said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”  That would be disobedience to God’s expressed will.  That, by its very definition in the Bible, is sin.  Sadly, it’s not hard to see their sin in what follows: 12 The man said, “The WOMAN you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”  Instead of accepting responsibility for his action, Adam deflected blame to his wife and even to God, if you noticed!  Likewise, Eve followed her husband’s lead: 13 The Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”  As they point the finger at each other, it’s just an ugly attitude, it’s never what God intended…

            And that’s just the start of it.  In the verses immediately after these God shares that their sin would result in pain: 1) physical pain, like a woman’s pain in childbirth or a man’s painful labor; 2) emotional pain too, of the sort you see that divides families and destroys relationships; 3) finally, there’s the pain of mortality, there’s just nothing as bad as what you find at a gravesite… Speaking of which, in the chapter immediately after this we meet the world’s very first children, Cain & Abel.  What happens to them?  One of them kills his brother!  How serious was their problem with sin if this is what was happening only one generation after God made everything perfectly!?… But the worst part? These aren’t just empty threats or idle warning for us.  This is real for us too.  This is exactly what we see in our world also.  This is sin we are complicit in as well.

            We may try to tell ourselves this story doesn’t really apply to our lives: “Some of what the Bible says is old fashioned!”  Or we may try to rationalize our sin: “A little disobedience isn’t a big deal, it didn’t hurt anyone!” Or we may point the finger: “It’s the people around me who made me to do this, and they’ve done much worse!…”  What we cannot deny is that sin is simply alive & active in our lives.  It’s there in every awful word we let slip out of our mouths that we immediately wish we could take back.  It’s there in the terrible things we’ve done that we wish we could just scrub from the pasts.  It’s there in the pain we suffer in our own bodies, more and more so every year. It’s there in the horrible ways that people have treated us, that we just can’t forget.  It’s there in the depravity we all see on the news or on social media, there’s always something worse!  Even when we try our best to live a good life and do what’s right and push through all of this, still we mess up, still bad things happen to us, still we die… Yet how often do we go to church for something less?  “Don’t actually fix my sins, Lord, or the sins of others! Don’t concern yourself with this eternal chasm that would forever separate us from the good and perfect things you want us to have!… Don’t worry about it because I don’t really want to address this dreary topic, not when it would mean actually confronting my sins, and confessing them, and repenting of them, and changing my life.  Instead, just give me a little less pain on this earth, a little more money in my bank account, a few less problems to deal with – a little more recognition for my (mostly) good deeds – that’s all I’m asking!…” As if that’s gonna cut it in the end! We’re as shallow as Adam & Eve pointing the finger at each other.

            But God wasn’t shallow.  Think about God’s immediate reaction to sin. It wasn’t just to smite Adam & Eve (or you & me) for ruining his perfect plans.  Nor was it to give us all the things we’d like to distract us from the real problems in our soul, but which wouldn’t matter when we’re gone in 175 years (if they even matter next year).  It wasn’t even to spell out all the consequences for their actions (that was important and it needed to be dealt with, but that would come later, only after our sermon text).  Instead, immediately,

14 the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!—That being Satan, who had taken the form of a snake. You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your offspring—that being unbelievers—and hers… HE—that being an individual among Eve’s offspring—will CRUSH your head, and you will crush his heel…” 

With anniversaries, we sometimes use Latin phrases to highlight their significance.  In a similar manner, theologians call this promise from God the protoevangelium – “the first promise” – first because this great promise that would be repeated many times.  Just as the Bible highlights man’s sin one generation after another, God promised this same solution to sin again and again: A descendant from Eve’s own line to crush Satan’s head.  It’s a picture of totally destroying the evil work of sin that the devil helped introduce into the world.  In the process this figure would be wounded – his heel would be crushed – but of course, that’s not a mortal blow… It’s exactly what we see in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who also took on human flesh as a descendant of Eve, who lived a perfect life without sin as our substitute, who could therefore overcome this work of the devil on the cross.  Granted, Jesus was killed in the process, but it would be no mortal wound.  Jesus rose on Easter morning, and he promises the same final victory for us over sin’s worst consequence.

It’s the last thing Satan wants us to know, so with one last lie he tries to get even Christians distracted, and he succeeds in many churches! Oh, he’ll give us Christ, sure, he knows he can’t take that from Christians… but it’s not as we really need Jesus: as a Savior from sin.  Instead, Satan will give us Jesus as a cheerleader, or Jesus as an example for us to follow as we do our best, or Jesus as someone who will make your life better on earth as you follow him – all without pressing on the more pressing matters of sin and salvation. 

But God doesn’t get distracted.  Right from the start, God was ready with something better: CHRIST FOR US. Christ taking our place as a man himself, but doing what we could not do ourselves: a life of perfect obedience without sin, then his work on the cross to crush this work of Satan.  That’s what our brand of Lutheranism is all about.  Not empty promises that can never be certain in a fallen world, nor happy thoughts that simply ignore the reality of sin, just a real Savior with a real solution to the very real effect of sin that we see around us. Thank God for 175 years of that message, and 100 years of it personally as a congregation.  Finally, that’s what truly phenomenal preaching, and a truly good Christian school, and truly fantastic programs boil down to: not distractions, just the cross.  It’s not about what we do, but about what Jesus has already done.

So if you happen to be new here, if you’re looking for a church home to truly settle into, if you’re not sure who would do your funeral when you die… this is what we’re about and this is what we offer.  Talk to us pastors about how we can get you more connected to Christ.  No, I can’t fix all the problems in your life, but I can point you to the one who fixes your soul, and that will help with everything else.  On the other hand, if you have been here a long time, if this was your grandparents’ church, if you’ll be in that pew until you die… don’t forget this is what we’re still about and this is what we always offer.  Finally, Eastside Lutheran isn’t about this building or that school; it’s not defined by an excellent June Jumble Days or an Arts & Craft Fair; we don’t go here because our family has always gone here or our friends go here now.  There may be blessings in these things, but in a far greater way Eastside Lutheran is about CHRIST FOR US.  As we enter our second hundred years as a congregation, and as we march toward two hundred years as a synod, we should keep asking what we can do to further that mission.  You’ll hear more about that next week as we continue this celebration and see that Christ doesn’t just work for us… he works for others too.  But as he does so, that’s where he graciously chooses to work THROUGH us. Amen.

October 5, 2025 Sermon

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Pastor Horton

The 17th Sunday of Pentecost

Travel with me into a church called the Notre Dame in Paris, France, back to December 2, 1804.  Inside that majestic cathedral we’d find Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine draped in white satin as the soon-to-be-crowned emperor and empress of the French.  Pope Pius VII was also in attendance, and as was customary, he would place the crown onto the new emperor’s head.  But that’s not what happened.  When the time came, Napoleon removed the laurel wreath he had begun the ceremony with and set that down, took the crown from out of the pope’s hands and placed it on his own head, and then crowned his wife.  It was a pointed and symbolic move.  Napoleon wanted it to be known through his actions, that he had gained this kingdom through his own power and to his own credit and was not subject to the Church or tradition or divine rite.  He made a statement.

Travel back now if you will once more to Jerusalem, approximately 1000 years before the coming Christ.  King David is nearing the end of his reign and he gathered all of the leadership there before him in Jerusalem: the military generals, palace officials, and the strong men of the nation.  David had been informed by God that although he had a heart for the Lord and a desire to build the great temple in Jerusalem, David would not be given that opportunity.  He was a man of war and had blood on his hands.  The temple-building privilege would be given to his son Solomon.  What would King David do?  Would he act like Napoleon and make the moment about himself and his kingdom? 

I mean he had a case, didn’t he?  He was the youngest of his brothers and yet God handpicked him to be king – you may remember his anointing by the prophet Samuel.  He was the man who had that legendary victory one v. one against the giant Goliath.  He claimed numerous battlefield victories, keeping the Philistines back, capturing Jerusalem, and bringing the ark back to the city of God with dancing.  And he would have his name connected to the everlasting throne of the Messiah.  It would have been easy for David to make a case before the leaders, take the crown into his own hands so to speak, and say, “I know God told me to do something but I’m going to do what I want instead and build the temple anyways.”

But what did David actually do?  We’re told in our chapter for today. “King David said this to the whole assembly: My son Solomon, the one God has chosen, is young and inexperienced. The work is great because this citadel is not for a man.  It is for the Lord God.  According to all my strength, I have provided these things for the house of my God: gold…silver…bronze…iron…wood…onyx stones…antimony (a mineral that looks like a mix between silver metal & diamonds)…every kind of precious stone, and alabaster in abundance.”  He then, in the next verse, offers to go above and beyond, and fund this building project with his own wealth.  To help us better understand this offering, kings back in this day and age would keep a personal treasury which served more than as a rainy-day-fund, it was to help raise and pay for an army if their crown and their kingdom was in danger of attack.  What David is offering is the security of his own throne to build a worship space where God would be enthroned before the people.  And then he goes above and beyond even that, by challenging Israel’s leadership to give generously as well and set an example.  David’s words and actions reflected his heart, and he set the crown not on himself, but upon the altar of our God.  

And the people responded in abundance.  Our verses skip down to David’s awe-struck response at the outpouring of their gifts.  And yet the king looks to the heavens and says thank you to God for his kingdom reign.  Let’s walk through a few of these verses picking back up at verse 10, “David blessed the Lord in the presence of the entire assembly.  He said: Blessed are you, Lord, the God of Israel, our father, from eternity to eternity.”  Remember that Jacob was renamed Israel.  The same God who was there and acted on behalf of those previous generations of believers – is here today continuing to fulfill what he promised!  “To you, O Lord, belong greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty, because everything in the heavens and on the earth belongs to you.”  What can we give you that is not already yours!  “You, Lord, are exalted as head above everything.  The kingdom belongs to you. Riches and honor come from you. You are ruling over everything….Who am I?  Who are my people that we are able to offer willingly like this? For everything comes from you. What we have given to you came from your hand.”  What an incredible understanding from his heart of faith!  All things I can give you you have given me first!  All good blessings come from you!  All things in heaven and on earth, all the achievements you have graced me with serve you, and your good plan, to ultimately save souls.  David’s life was a living testimony to the mercy and might of our loving God in heaven.  This episode from the Bible models a believer’s heart when it comes to freely giving not just of our treasure, but of our time, talent, and daily opportunity today in the kingdom of the Lord. 

I need such a perspective found in the word of God, because I am often missing that viewpoint – and I’d guess that you are often missing out on that perspective as well.  Because we like the attention and the glory when it comes to the might of our hands.  You might say we stumble and fall and are not thinking in Davidic ways (when it comes to these verses) but Napoleonic ways.  We want our kingdom our way.  We want to be the ones to chisel out for ourselves a nice little palace of comfort and live by our own rules and take the crown off the altar and crown ourselves and celebrate our own coronation.  But minds and hearts and actions that are not moved by the freedom of the gospel and the joy of salvation are minds and hearts and actions that are driven by vanity and delusion, and by fear and worry.  If we ignore the kingdom of our God and the eternal providence he provides through his wondrous word, we waddle around and obsess over earthly consumptions of popularity, money, and prideful achievements.  At no time while traipsing about this globe will we ever have enough or be enough for long enough.

Napoleon’s personal reign?  He found himself facing more war (with Waterloo yet to come), more exile, and death.  Napoleon’s kingdom of the French?  They’d keep fighting with folks until well into the next century.  King David reminds us of something better.  

Through his own line and from his own throne, God would provide salvation through Christ Jesus.  His kingdom is an eternal one.  His redemption is a personal one.  Through the saving work at his cross Jesus would pay for each and every sin – even the ones that involve our death grip on his crown.  Thanks to his rising, we will have life with him forever.  We pray for this message of his kingdom to continue to come and to extend to our hearts and lives through Word and Sacraments (all of which is ours this weekend).  Come Lord Jesus indeed, and by the works of your hands bring us home to your heavenly kingdom! 

Homecoming!  This weekend was homecoming for both high schools we support as a church: Lakeside Lutheran (go Warriors) and Luther Prep in Watertown (which both of your pastors graduated from).  I happened to get to a Prep volleyball game and definitely understood the homecoming feeling.  My step daughter and mother were talking next to a pastor and his wife I served with in MN.  My dad was down by the court jibberjabbering with new friends.  In the row in front of me was my cousin, her husband, and next to me his parents who had served in the world mission fields.  In walked my former professors, Pastor Boggs, and former classmates with both their children and parents.  Memories and multigenerations were there under the same room.  It was homecoming.  How much better will be heaven!  Maybe you experienced this sliver on Thursday morning as grandparents and grandkids sang hymns side by side in the pews – what a special moment!  Just a peak at the kingdom!  Or last Sunday at our 100th as former church leaders, school staff, and friends joined us as we fixed our eyes on the cross of Christ and life eternal to come through him.  Such homecoming events give us but a momentary reminder, a tiny twinkle, a fleeting glimpse at the neverending glory that is far beyond our understanding in the throne room of heaven.  Where believers and angels sing in resounding triumph to the Lamb on the throne!  And you will get to come home and be home in God’s kingdom forever!  We can’t wait for that unending celebration that Jesus has made possible!Napoleon in all his pomp and celebration at the Notre Dame will pale in comparison.  For there in heaven our victorious king, who served us as the sacrificial Lamb will reign over us in perfect love, providing for all our needs forevermore.  It is why David could say in verse 18, “Lord, the God of our fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, preserve forever this purpose and way of thinking in the heart of your people. Direct their heart to you.”  Your kingdom, o Lord, on heaven and on earth, is built by your hands.  Amen.

Let’s Go Fishing with Jesus!

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As Jesus was going along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea, since they were fishermen. Jesus said to them, “Come, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him.  – Mark 1:16-18

Let’s Go Fishing with Jesus!

The elusive musky was out there.  While growing up, my family had summer vacations at a lake in northern Wisconsin just outside of Eagle River.  The lake contained plenty of fish: perch, bluegill, and walleye.  The lake also had large muskies waiting to be caught.  Family members had landed them and I had seen one follow our lure all the way up to the side of the boat, but this trophy-fish had always escaped me.  Once, during dusk, I had a musky on the line.  It was lurking under the resort’s floating raft.  Unfortunately, it snapped the line just before we were able to get it into a net.  

Thankfully, fishing wasn’t my day job as it was for so many of the disciples.  Fishing was more than sport for them, it provided them with food and income.  In the gospels we find a good number of Jesus’ miracles in and around the Sea of Galilee involving fish.  Remember how the coin was found in the mouth of a fish, the unexpected large catch of fish, and the feeding of the 5000 all highlighted God’s will to provide what is necessary to sustain our lives.  

Fish are used in teachable moments throughout the Old Testament as well.  We find God undertaking great miraculous acts to save Jonah with a large fish.  In words of warning in Isaiah 50, God is able to make the rivers and seas dry up as the smell of dead fish serves as a sign of judgement upon the land.  And, in Ezekiel 47, life-giving water flowed freely from the temple into areas otherwise dead.  And in that water graciously given from God?  Large numbers of fish!  A picture of the abundance of God’s good blessings given to us both physically and spiritually.  

Such blessings to our faith are found in the saving work and living gospel of our Savior – which brings us full circle to Jesus and those fishermen on the shores of Galilee.  Called by Christ, these average Joes (who for the most part are largely unknowns), would become fishers of people.  Casting the nets of Jesus and his Word out into the sea of humanity, God will use his saving truth to convert and bring souls into his eternal kingdom.  

This is important work for both pastor and parishioner!  What an important job Jesus gives us to do!  And yet, so often we are fishing in life for things that serve me instead of him, aren’t we?  We fish for earthly wealth, security, comfort, and the praise of men.  God the Holy Spirit helps us cut those lines and serve Christ selflessly for the eternal good of others.  For when we are caught in the Word, then we are kept close to Jesus and have peace in his promises.  Our Savior wills this for us and for many more people to hear and believe and be saved.

It’s no wonder the early Christians used the symbol of a fish to identify one another in times of persecution.  Big fish, small fish, fish of all different kinds and in all different places: Jesus loves, values, and has saved human souls.  With this in mind and with help from God, let’s go fishing for people with Jesus!