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Identity: Lost & Found

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February 8, 2026

Epiphany 5

Pastor Horton

Have you ever looked around in the lost and found, and happened to find something that belongs to you?  If so, there is a certain sense of joy in what was lost now being found.  Was this introduction inspired (perhaps) by our lost and found now outside the church in the entryway, and a longing for you to look over and take your things home?  Yes.  But the joy in discovering what was lost remains.  This happened in a more remarkable way to a college professor.  Years earlier, she had lost a book and gave up her search.  Years later, she bought a used copy online, and would you believe it?  The very book she purchased was her book once lost.  The inside cover had her name in her handwriting with the date she placed there all those years ago!  She had to share her joyful story with others!  

As human beings we understand this in a more profound way.  We too like to find our place.  We don’t want to feel lost.  Be it in the family, in the community, at school or in our career, we are more settled when we find our footing and often tend to project our identity and define it based upon who we are, what we do, and how we think.  Identity is by definition, “the fact of who or what a person or thing is.” And we kind of like to have those known facts about ourselves solidified and secure.  I hold this job and get paid that salary.  I have these political beliefs and have that outlook.  I live in this community and have that hobby.  I am known for this sense of style, I have achieved that accomplishment.  Switch up those reliable facts about ourselves, and we go through a phase of “identity crisis.”  If you have moved away from home, or are retired after years in the workforce, or have graduated from school and are looking to the future, or come home from a war, or have faced personal tragedy, you know how your projected identity can be challenged.  You know how you can feel a bit lost in life.  Maybe you know what that is like right now – maybe you have been wrestling this feeling of being lost for most of your life.  

God gives to us today something more sure and certain than our vantage point from wherever we are at in life.  He gives us a God-given identity in Jesus that raises our eyes of faith no matter what we are going through.  He speaks reassurance to our troubled hearts, and the inspired writer Peter had an audience filled with suffering believers, who certainly had their own doubts soon to follow.  We, like those early Christians, often wonder about God’s guiding hand in our life.  Is he even there?  And does he even care?  Most reassuringly “yes” we are told today in our reading.  For your God has revealed your salvation accomplished through Jesus – and here is what your identity now looks like in Christ – for we are found thanks to the mercy of God.  

Listen, dear child of God, reborn through Jesus, and given a living faith to believe, to verses 9-10,  “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.  At one time you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.  At one time you were not shown mercy, but now you have been shown mercy.”  That verse 10 simply shouts both law and gospel!  The law is blunt.  More than identity confusion or crisis, we were utterly lost.  “One time you were not a people!”  This was our identity upon entrance into this world: “sinful” at our conception.  David is clear on that in Psalm 51.  Walk it back further and we find Adam and Eve, desiring to be like God, doubting his steadfast love poured out in abundance, and wondering if they needed to take matters into their own hands to improve upon what they were….as if they could improve upon their own identity.  “Hang on to what you said there, God, we see a chance to better ourselves.”  And they were wrong.  Dead wrong.  Sin and death went spilling through the ages.  That was our status by birth: lost.  What’s more is this phrase, “At one time you were not shown mercy.”  A tough talk for any and every one of us who try, as we so often do, that we can by our own thinking and choosing do something to earn God’s favor, maybe just a smile from the Almighty, be it ever so small.  A tough talk for the religious peoples…in the words leading up to our verses, many in Israel would stumble at salvation through Jesus alone.  And the temptation still exists for us.  You and I know the extreme excuses we tell ourselves to try and quell our guilty consciences.  And yet our handmade badges of honor and good deeds earn us nothing before the Lord.  Apart from his acting to save, we have nothing.  He should turn his back to us, and close the door on our eternity forever.  We should be lost to hell for good.  But that is not what he has done.

Rather, he looks upon us and shows us “mercy,” he undertook the great plan to save you and to “bring you into his marvelous light.”  He saved you and claimed you as his very own that you know with confidence that “you are the people of God.”  This has been accomplished through Jesus.  This is Jesus’ identity revealed.  Our God has FOUND you lost ones.  Why would God do such great things for us?  Entirely because of mercy!  Out of mercy his plan was created from before time and he knew and chose you to be found as his own.  Out of mercy Jesus lived, died, and rose to remove your curse of our sin and throw off death so that you might have a future in heaven.  Out of mercy God has revealed to you the saving message of the gospel and helps you live with your new identity, not lost but found and secure in Jesus. 

And what does your identity look like to God?  It’s shockingly different from the viewpoint of the surrounding world.  How would the world view those persecuted and mistreated early believers?  How does the world often ID you and me?  As a people who are embarrassingly optimistic? Seeking self-help? Foolish individuals with misplaced hope?  Lowly?  Downtrodden?  Listen instead to how God describes you: “But (rather) you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, the people who are God’s own possession.”  Chosen to be part of the royal priesthood!  Look around the church and find royalty all around you – those whom God has highly valued, sacrificed for, those whom we can respect and serve.  For they, and you, now have a place next to Jesus upon his royal throne in heaven.  You are part of God’s dearly loved family, and cared for by the Almighty himself.  You are also a royal priest, having full access to the Father through Jesus in prayer.  Your life includes selfless, sacrificial acts of service to God.  You may not be an ordained pastor, but carry the gospel of salvation in Jesus with you wherever God directs you.  You have your identity there in the cross of Jesus – and in his mercy.  As people cleansed by the blood of Jesus, we have been gifted a kingdom ID badge.  And our identification is shared with our brothers and sisters in the faith alongside us.  View each other as part of the holy nation, unified by faith in Jesus, richly sharing the gifts and abilities God the Holy Spirit has given to his church.  Moved by God’s great mercy, that impacts the way we think and speak about our brothers and sisters around us.  Now we will want to encourage, support, and build each other up with prayer and thanksgiving – operating within the bonds of Jesus’ love.

And we are also given purpose, “so that you may proclaim the praises of him” who accomplished such great acts of salvation for us!   Moved by that mercy God has given you, many more still are in need of the saving message of the cross.  It is with this perspective, Peter writes an inspired plea, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and temporary residents in the world, to abstain from the desires of the sinful flesh, which war against your soul.  Live an honorable life among the Gentiles so that even though they slander you as evildoers, when they observe your noble deeds, they may glorify God on the day he visits us.”  Dear friends keep yourselves always in this message of Christ Jesus.  And God will help you keep your eyes and hearts upon your Savior.  The big picture is important!  Eternity is coming.  Don’t launch yourself back into the box of “Lost souls.”  Watch out for those sins which blemish your ID in Jesus.  Be careful not to dishonor his name, and worse, be careful you do not become that stumbling block to another soul in need of knowing about the gift of eternal life through Christ.  

Once lost, we have been found and saved by our God.  What an incredible comfort to find our identity not in how we think about ourselves, or in the current facts we know to be true about ourselves, but rather we find comfort in finding our ID in Jesus.  We are his and he is ours.  What great perspective we now have as a people belonging to God!  What great acts of service with which he now includes us for the salvation of souls!  Thank you Lord Jesus, for your great acts of mercy to us!  Thank you for finding us, equipping us with your gospel, and helping us show mercy.  May your kingdom continue to be revealed as you seek and save the lost that many more may be found in you!  Amen.

“God’s Light, Our Lives”

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“God’s Light, Our Lives” (1 John 2:3-11)

Series: Identity Revealed

by Pastor Nate Walther

Third Sunday of Epiphany – Jan. 25th, 2026

            These days I’m not so much missing the cold winters we used to experience when living out in the Dakotas, but if there’s one thing I do miss it’s the night skies.  There’s nothing like being out on the wide-open, high-northern plains without any light pollution so you can truly experience the milky way or the northern lights streaming overhead in their full glory. And one thing you would immediately notice out there?  Those points of light, sometimes 20 or 30 miles away on the horizon, yet somehow you could still see them clearly in a sea of darkness, where even something as small as a tiny family homestead with its one yard light could not be missed.

            It’s kind of daunting when we consider that God tells us to be such light in a world of darkness, doing what is right and letting our faith shine for all to see.  But that is what God tells us today.  Go back to our sermon text again… Verse 3, do we keep God’s commandments as he wants us to – like how we should use our money, our bodies, or our speech – or are we liars that only pretend that what God wants is important to us?…  Verse 5, do we appreciate what God says is true inhis Word – like how he must choose us to come to faith to him (we can’t choose that), or how all sexual acts outside of marriage are wrong (not just those of the homosexual or transexual variety), or how he wants us to help the poor & less fortunate (yes, even if they’ve made some bad decisions along the way)  – or are we bothered when God disagrees with our sensibilities?… Verse 6, do we remain in the Lord – by regularly gathering with God’s people, or readily reading our Bibles, or routinely taking our concerns to God in prayer – or does our walk look quite a bit different than Jesus’ walk, who always delighted in doing all these things?  Skipping ahead a few verses to verse 9, do we love it when God places others into our lives to serve – a needy next door neighbor, a hurting co-worker, even our own children – or do we actually hate this, and we see them more as burdens that get in the way of what we want to do ourselves?

Do I need to go on?  As I think of my own sin, I don’t want to go on!  Yet in words such as these, God shows the damning difference between light & darkness – between doing right & wrong –

which leads to a warning for us in that last example: “The one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes…”   Do I live with that pressing reality?  Or am I blind to the fact that darkness is so close to me and it could truly overcome me!  After all, John is warning Christians here just like me, his audience is not some hopelessly lost heathens!

So also dear fellow sinner, see the darkness in your heart that I see in mine this morning, repent of this sin before it overcomes you… then see the light of the Gospel which shines even more brilliantly for it!  (The darker the night on those Dakota prairies, the more those lights stood out, especially the few cities out there that you would come across.)

Because notice that right here in the middle of our text – in the middle of all this darkness – God places a light which cannot be missed.  “(All this is) true in Jesus… and (therefore) in you, because the darkness is passing away, and the true light is already shining.” In no uncertain terms, this is God telling us that Jesus can produce the light we cannot produce.  It’s the same thing we heard in our Old Testament reading earlier (Isaiah 9), which Jesus repeated in our Gospel reading (Matthew 4).  “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light.  For those living in the land of the shadow of death, the light has dawned.”

Fellow redeemed, whenever you feel lost in darkness without any way out, God tells us today that we don’t have to pull ourselves out of this hopeless gloom of sin on our own.  Anybody can have light dawn on them, and it has dawned on us too.  Christ was born into this world. Christ already walked in that perfection; yes, for you too.  Christ shines a bright light into this world that cannot be unseen.  It’s light that even managed to pierce through all the darkness and gloominess of hell.  Even after the sun ceased to shine over a cross on Good Friday, when all hope seemed lost and our Savior died, still it rose again over an empty tomb on Easter Sunday, and all hope returned when our Savior rose.

That’s finally what explains our theme. In the light of Christ, listen again to the end of our sermon text when God talks about us living in this light, “The one who says he is in the light and yet hates his brother is still in the darkness.  The one who loves his brother remains in the light… and nothing causes him to stumble.”  Again, Jesus already came to be the light, we don’t have to produce it. But now to change OUR LIVES, God stresses the importance of being in HIS LIGHT. 

To put it all in another way, God is telling you and me to be the moon.  The full moon is 10,000 times brighter than the next brightest star, you can even navigate outside in the dark just by its light.   Yet think of how passive the moon really is – just a dead hunk of rock, incapable of producing any light of its own!  So how do we see it?  It’s all about the sun, which shine s400,000 times brighter than the moon. If the sun is not shining on it, the moon reflects no light and its surface remains at a frigid -200 degrees F. But if the sun is shining on it, the moon reflects that light and its surface skyrockets to above 200 degrees F, above boiling!  In other words, the moon is really just a big mirror, it is impossible for it to produce light on its own.

            That’s you and me also. By ourselves we are cold, dead bodies who can produce no light on our own.  God’s Word tells us that: Ephesians 2 says we are born dead in sin, and Hebrews 11that without faith it is impossible to please God.  It mirrors the language of 1 John 2: in the darkness of this world we cannot see and we cannot produce any light on our own… but then came the one about whom the prophet Malachi once said “he is the sun that rises with healing in his rays.”  And when that bright light 400,000 times brighter than us (really, more than that) shines on us?  Well, just the slightest ray from the sun extending past the curvature of the earth will reflect itself on the moon as the thinnest, yet most unmistakable crescent.  So also, if there is any light of Christ on us, we will reflect it.  We go from cold and dead to alive and warm, but not because of anything that is in us.  Rather, the warmth we feel in our hearts and the good we produce with our lives is all a reflection of Jesus’ warmth & goodness.  We shine nowhere near as brightly, but neither are we shining like those stars, cold & distant human traditions and beliefs where you must produce the light on your own and at best can flicker feebly and ultimately uselessly.  The light produced doesn’t help anyone see.  But the more fully we reflect Jesus light, the more we become like a full moon that can make a difference in the night of this world.  We do not light things up entirely, only Jesus can do that.  But we can still make a difference and show a better way, all as we borrow his light.

            It’s why the pressure’s off!  You don’t have to worry about doing enough good things or producing more light, that’s not what our faith is about.  But if we do see that we are lacking that light, the answer is to get back into that light.  To put it simply, today God is telling us to be in Church more, to be studying our Bibles more, to be in prayer more.  Because this is where we find Christ’s light, and the more we have it the more we will reflect it, just like the moon can’t help but reflect the light of the sun…  So what does that look like in a church of 500-600 such as ours?  Well, how can we have about 300 more people in worship every week?  And how can we have about 400-500 more people in Bible Study every week?  And how can we have all 500-600 of us be praying more or reading our Bibles every day?  If that sounds crazy, I’m not kidding.  What else am I supposed to tell you if that’s where GOD says the light is found?… And how can we make that happen?  Let’s start having those conversations among church leadership, among each other, and among our family & friends. If you’re already doing this personally, great – do it even more!  Because only in the Gospel message of Jesus we find eternal life itself and walk in the light of God’s presence.  And as we see differently, that’s what will also change our lives on earth too. 

Dear Christian, from miles away in this dark world God wants people to see you… but not you.  He wants them to see HIS LIGHT reflected in OUR LIVES.  And if people aren’t seeing that when they look at us, the first and last question we ask should not be “what must I do?” or “how can I produce this light?”, but “how can I get back into God’s light?”  Fortunately, it’s easy to find again.  We just need to lift our eyes where we see it shining brightly on the horizon; in fact, it’s already dawned on us, brighter and more brilliant than anything else we’ve ever seen.  It’s right there in Word and Sacrament.  It’s right there in the cross and empty tomb.  It’s right there in Jesus…  Dear Christian, do you want to be a better person?…  Be in Christ more.  It’s all about Jesus and what he does.  Amen.

“No Empty Ritual”

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“No Empty Ritual” (Isaiah 42:2-7)

Series: Identity Revealed

by Pastor Nate Walther

Baptism of Christ, January 11th, 2026

            Are there any EMPTY RITUALS in your life?  Perhaps it’s those cheesy team-building exercises at work that you have to put up with.  Maybe it’s an outdated family tradition where nobody knows why you do what you do, it’s just what you’ve always done!  Or it might be performative social gestures – putting up yard signs, participating in protests, or putting those fancy frames about particular causes around your Facebook profile picture…  It’s not that these are all bad things, but do they really accomplish anything? Likewise, given our focus today, it seems fair to ask whether JESUS’ BAPTISM qualifies as such.  Seriously, why did Jesus need to get baptized?  He had no sins to wash away, and he was already God’s child from eternity!  Was Jesus’ Baptism merely an “empty ritual”? 

Today in his Word God shows us how it’s not.  Our sermon text contains the first of what we call Isaiah’s four Servant Songs, which connects to the truth throughout Scripture that the Lord often worked through servants to accomplish his purposes.  That included men like Saul & David, who were anointed with oil then filled with the Holy Spirit for the important task of leading God’s people.  Earlier in the book of Isaiah, God also calls the entire nation of Israel his servant, and he even calls a foreign king like Cyrus of Persia his servant, since Cyrus would return God’s people to the Promised Land after their exile in Babylon.  That last one’s especially interesting: Isaiah literally mentions Cyrus by name in this book – even calling him God’s “Anointed One”, which literally translated is “Christ” – but Isaiah lived a full 200 years before anyone else knew that name.

Unfortunately, the problem with all these servants is that they were men who had sin.  Israel constantly rebelled against God.  Despite a strong start, Saul completely turned his back on the Lord in the end.  Even David, “a man after God’s own heart”, as the Bible so eloquently puts it?  God didn’t call him that when David was committing adultery with Uriah’s wife.  Finally there’s Cyrus, the man who returned Israel to the Promised Land.  Like Saul, we’re not even sure if he died a believer!  How could any of these men finally be God’s servant, and get the job done as his “anointed one.”  It’s why God needed someone else to be his servant, someone better…

That’s what God talks about in Isaiah’s first “Servant Song”.  Listen again to the words of the first verse of our sermon text, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight. I am placing my Spirit on him. He will announce a just verdict for the nations.”

There’s a lot packed into these words.  First of all, we can see the entire Triune God in this verse.  God the Father is speaking.  He mentions God the Holy Spirit.  And what about God the Son?  Again, “Here is my Servant, whom I uphold.”  At first glance, that may not sound like the Son.  When God says he will “uphold” him, what help did Jesus require as the Son of God himself?  But notice how the Father also describes him as “my chosen one in whom I delight.”  There’s only one person about whom God could truly say that, and we heard it in our Gospel reading from Matthew 3.  At Jesus’ baptism the Father said, “with HIM I am well pleased”, God really did “delight” in Jesus!”  Then, God goes on to say “I am placing my Spirit on him.”  That may also seem a little strange to us, because did Jesus really need that kind help like sinful those sinful kings from the past?  Yet, about this same servant God says, “He will announce a just verdict for the nations.” It’s a picture of a judge announcing God’s verdict over all people in the heavenly courtroom.  Other than the God the Father himself, only Jesus is described with such authority in Scripture.

The rest of our sermon text reinforces the truth that Jesus is God’s true servant.  Verses 3 & 4 describe how the servant himself has the authority to “bring forth” and “establish” justice from God!  Verses 4 & 6 describe how he has authority “over all the earth”, as only God does. Verses 6 & 7 then describe how such justice will result in good things for all people despite their sin – that means this servant is able to overcome it!… In the end, we have to look a full 700 years into the future after Isaiah’s prophecy to find the proper fulfillment of these words, but that’s what we finally find in Jesus, who offers something so necessary in a world of empty rituals… especially when our own faith is full of them also.    

Seriously, how often do we treat baptism or our confirmation vows as such? Maybe you never think these words, but do we essentially live by the mantra, “I don’t always have to live as the child God says I am in baptism or listen to what God says as my Heavenly Father. It’s alright if I renege on those confirmation vows about being faithful to God’s Word and all that.”  Or when does church attendance become such? We go through the ritual not so much because we see the purpose in it, it’s just what we do.  And slowly – as our faith becomes more performative, as our relationship with God becomes less meaningful – we fall short as God’s servants.  It’s the sad reality of sin at work in our hearts.

            It’s why Jesus needed to come and do better than I did, which he did perfectly.  Think of it, the only one who didn’t need any help from angels, nor assistance at all as God himself… He willingly placed himself below angels for a time, as we just heard at Christmas; he willingly became subject to God’s law also, as he took on of human flesh.  Then, to overcome all sin as our substitute, he didn’t just blow away temptation, death, and the devil with his own power as the Son of God.  Instead he used what God has equally put at our disposal as sons of men: the Gospel, found in Word & Sacrament, where the Holy Spirit effectually delivers all of God’s power.

            Baptism was NO EMPTY RITUAL for Jesus.  It was him doing what God wanted us to do by relying on the power of God the Holy Spirit & having in a perfect relationship that always listened to God the Father. That’s why, when the Spirit descended on Jesus in Baptism, he followed that Spirit.   For example, in the words right after our Gospel reading, Matthew tells us that it was the Holy Spirit who led Jesus into the desert to be tempted. Jesus didn’t choose that on his own, but he did choose to rely on God to get him through that episode (we’ll hear more about that in the first week of Lent).  It’s a pattern Jesus follows throughout his life: constantly praying to the Father for guidance & direction as it led him straight to the cross, but not because Jesus lacked anything or needed that punishment. It was because we lacked everything and needed someone to suffer that punishment for us.

            So also, dear Christian, your baptism is NO EMPTY RITUAL.  In this same anointing God has poured out his power on you through his Spirit.  If that’s what Jesus relied upon in our place to overcome all the forces of sin, death, and the devil, it can work for you and for me too.  That means whatever commandments God has placed before me, and whatever tasks he’s assigned to you in your life – even if we think we are not able to do it! – we are able to do it.  The same goes for you kids out there who have been baptized – and you parents don’t you doubt it! – you can do what God says.  Simply trust God like Christ did, then do what God says like Christ did… and wherever you & I still fall short, know that Christ didn’t.  That’s where BAPTISM offers us one more gift that Jesus never needed from his Father & the Holy Spirit: washing for these sins, assurance that we are still God’s children.  That’s exactly what Jesus earned for us starting with his baptism and his work as God’s perfect servant. Someone finally got the job done right.

            In a world filled with EMPTY RITUALS – with superstitions ranging from what socks you’re going to wear on gameday to when you’re going to bathe, all in a futile effort to ensure your favorite team wins – that’s not what we find in baptism.  Jesus never would have gotten baptized otherwise, he never wasted his time on meaningless motions & outward show.  So also, Christian, you are baptized… and thank God for it!  Amen.

One Shining Moment

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Passage: Exodus 34:29-35

Date: March 2, 2025

Pastor: Pastor Horton

Are you familiar with this song?  “The ball is tipped…And there you are…You’re running for your life…You’re a shooting star…”  Any guesses?  What if I continue: “In one shining moment, it’s all on the line…One shining moment, there frozen in time.” It’s a song, recorded by a few artists now called “One Shining Moment.”  It’s played at the end of the final March Madness college basketball tournament when the Big Dance wraps up and a musical montage recaps all the great and memorable moments in the tournament.  And yes, I did my research and rewatched the “One Shining Moment” montage from 2015 when the Badgers made that great run to the championship game beating undefeated Kentucky, making them 38-1 (done) with Sam Dekker, Frank Kaminski, and Bronson Koenig.  And no, I don’t want to talk about the last 10 minutes of the championship game.  It was a memorable basketball run.  One Shining Moment.  Who knows, maybe this weekend here in our Eastside gymnasium, one of the teams or players here today may have their one shining moment as well.

Moses did.  Literally.  His face shone so brightly he needed a veil to cover it.  Why?  Because of the moments he had before God witnessing some of the glory of God.     

Do you remember Moses?  The disciples did.  He lived at one of those major moments in Israel’s history.  God used him to lead the Israelites out of their Egyptian slavery.  It was a shining moment for them, because it marked their birth, no longer as a family or tribe of people, but as a nation.  And when they came out of Egypt, instead of God leading the Israelites directly northeast to the Promised Land, he led them south.  God wanted them to see something out in the desert, at a mountain called Sinai.  They camped at the foot of the mountain.  You may remember how it was covered with black clouds and lightning.  Out of the thunder God called Moses up the mountain.  Many days later Moses came down and proclaimed God’s laws to Israel.  And here is how the Israelites knew Moses had one shining moment with the great I AM – we’re told: “Moses did not realize that the skin of his face was shining because he had been speaking with the LORD.” (Exodus 34:29).  He was shining with God’s glory.  He spoke God’s Words, and when he was done speaking God’s Word, the glory was covered with a veil.

One might reason that it should be the other way around.  You might think that when his face was glowing, that then the veil should be on, and then when his face stopped glowing, that then one could take the veil off.  But God always does things his way, always with his reasons.  Instead, when Moses was proclaiming the words straight from God, the people had to look at his shining, unveiled face.  Then, when Moses was done speaking, the shining glory began to fade away – it was then that he covered his face.  They never saw the plain old Moses.  Their only impression of him would be that of, well, “One Shining Moses”.  Why?

You know how it is with us.  What is amazing on Sunday is the new normal on Monday and thrown in the trash on Tuesday.  God didn’t want that to happen with his words of truth.  And so the veil that covered “One Shining Moses” was a reminder that Moses had spoken God’s word.  And even though he was just a regular guy, he was still God’s spokesman.  So, the veil wasn’t to hide the glory of God, but to hide the un-glory of the imperfect man Moses.  In addition, the veil served as a reminder that the laws given through Moses were temporary.  So, the man Moses was not able to save.  And the law given by the man Moses was unable to save, but they all pointed forward to a better reality.

We would do well to stop and think about how this applies to us today.  Because the truth is we want shining moments before God.  And much like a basketball player hitting a game winning three pointer, we often think that we can create such moments through the law.  We want to shine before God when it comes to our own deeds and accomplishments.  We want to hang our hat of salvation, not upon Moses’ name but upon ourselves. 

But humans are not able to save themselves.  For God tells us that the law demands perfection.  And it probably doesn’t take very long for each of us to recognize that we have lost some of the sparkle and razzle dazzle we had hoped to find within ourselves.  Take a quick look at your life as I do mine and we and realize that we have fallen far short of what the law demands.  Our hymnals even lead us through a series of questions we can use to examine our hearts before God and help us to recognize our great need to receive forgiveness at the Lord’s Supper.  Have we always made the most of our moments in ways that honor God?  Or have we wasted some of our time of grace on mindless pursuits, pastimes, and handheld devices?  Have we been the best employer, employee, and spouse, child, parent, or friend we could be?  Or have we had some not so shining moments of pettiness, selfishness, and stubbornness?  Have we been great encouragers and prayerful in light of God’s grace?  Or have we been mean and vindictive?   Have we always loved God above all things and loved hearing from his Word?  Or have we thought at times that we’re good enough law-keepers all on our own?  Should I keep going?  Because I could – I could keep calling you and me out.  Far from perfect people, we find in ourselves a darkness of sin – something we are born with and something we need help from God to be rid of.  And God helps us look away from ourselves and towards his solution in his Son.  We need shining moments with Jesus.

God opens up his glowing gospel for us today.  The true glory of God is only seen in Christ Jesus.  Here is perfection.  In his life, in his innocent death, in accomplishing our salvation, by swiping away every last one of our sins at the cross and declaring total triumph for you over death at his now empty tomb – which now radiates victory.  Jesus blocked  – he stuffed – the devils best work to destroy us.  Jesus himself says in John 12:46, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”  God’s plan to fulfill the law in Jesus was a complete success.  And now we, who have been made right before God in Jesus, we can joyfully live for him, not living in the shadow of what we have done but living for the light before us.  You know what really causes rejoicing in basketball – it’s when a player throws down a giant dunk.  The crowd gets on their feet and erupts in celebration.  We have more to rejoice over in our Savior Jesus!

And what’s more is that God gives us shining moments with Jesus, and helps our faith grow in him.  Our epistle reading tells us, “But all of us who reflect the Lord’s glory with an unveiled face are bring transformed into his own image.”  What a difference this shining moment makes for you and me!  When Moses came down the mountain after talking with God – the Israelites were afraid of him.  The law brings fear.  But the gospel of Jesus gives to us a peace that the world cannot and a peace that we cannot give to ourselves even through all our self-saving efforts to follow the law.  Jesus removes fear and helps us grow in life and in love.  Jesus changes hearts and renews souls.  That’s why today we look beyond the “one shining Moses,” we find the glory of God’s one and only Son.  

No matter if our basketball teams have the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat this weekend – we have these moments in the gospel right now with Jesus.  We see his glory on the Mount of Transfiguration.  We see it veiled at times though Lent but there shining bright again in Holy Week!  And we get to have our “one shining moments” here at church with Jesus.  We see his coming to us as our needed Savior through his same powerful message.  We hear his gospel of peace.  We have his body and blood with the bread and wine in the Supper and we get forgiveness through him as he promises you!  We know that these moments are faith-building moments because God has promised to be present and at work through such means for our salvation.

And we can rejoice.  Because one day we will get to see the glory of God with our own eyes – better than what Moses did and longer than what the disciples had.  One might say, that all thanks to Jesus, our future song may not be “one shining moment,” but something more to the tune of “Forever with the Lord…Amen so let it be” .  Thank you, Jesus.  Amen.

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.

“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.

God’s Motto of Mercy

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Author: Pastor Horton

Date: January 26, 2025

Passage: Luke 4:16-30

“Forward!” that is the motto here for the State of Wisconsin.  And it’s a good one.  Cities have mottos.  Where I first served in rural Minnesota there were some unique ones out there, like “Home of the Rollie Bollies.”  And “The smallest polka town in America.”  And where I served, in Morton, MN, it was known as “The Oldest Story in North America.”  A bold claim, but one evolution made as rainbow granite deposits supposedly were some of the older rocks.  We know they all dated back to creation.  States have mottos.  Alaska’s is “North to the Future.”  New York’s “Ever Upward.”  And Virginia?  Perhaps said in Latin by John Wilkes Booth after assassinating Abraham Lincoln, jumping onto the stage at Ford’s Theater, and injuring his leg “Thus Always to Tyrants.”  History has viewed his opinion differently regarding Lincoln.

Did you know that today in our reading Jesus shares with us God’s Motto of Mercy?  It was a motto he first shared with his hometown city of Nazareth.  There before the watching eyes of the synagogue worshipers he proclaimed: “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” 

To better understand the scene, it might help to review the setting taking place in the synagogue.  You might not remember these worship houses from the Old Testament accounts, but they seem to be everywhere in the New Testaments.  There’s a reason for that.  You may remember that back in the days of Moses, the children of Israel were to have one focal point of worship, that is the Tabernacle.  It was a specific tented areas that could be taken down and reassembled as Israel moved through the wilderness and into the Promised Land.  It housed, among other things, the Ark of the Covenant with the Ten Commandments inside.  And it was where God spoke to his people.  It was used for some 400 years until Solomon built the Temple, a permanent house of worship in Jerusalem. 

Based off the Tabernacle design, the Temple was then to be the sole location for Israel to make their sacrifices to the Lord as it stood at the heart of the nation’s worship.  There the people would pilgrimage up to Jerusalem for the big festivals throughout the year.  There the morning and evening sacrifices were made.  There blood was shed for sin each and every day.  But now make another 400-year jump forward…

And the Babylonian captivity had begun.  The children of Israel had been sinfully defiant towards God and despite plenty of warning, God allowed for his people to be conquered, uprooted, and in some cases killed or scattered.  The Temple was pillaged and destroyed, and the once vibrant worship life there grew silent.  But not all was lost, for the people repented.  They realized the prized possession they had when it came to the Word of God and wanted to be in the Word and wanted their families to gather together in the Word.  And so they began to meet, as we are this morning, in a local building set aside specifically for worship.  Wherever the Jews went on planet earth, they build synagogues for this purpose.  It is why when we heard of Jesus’ life and times, and also the missionary work of Paul in Acts, there seemed to be a synagogue in every town.

That basic structure from Tabernacle to Temple to synagogue has carried over into Christianity as well.  The apostles used the worship forms in the early Christian church that were familiar to the people.  We still today have tent-like churches, and an elevated altar area which focuses our attention on the Word of God (and in our case a large cross where the ultimate sacrifice once for all took place).  Even portions of the service, the readings, message, and music have some similarities.  But we don’t come to worship today for the architecture, or for the traditions, or even exclusively for the community, but we come to be connected to Jesus and hear from him as he proclaims a Motto of God’s Mercy. 

That’s what he did that day in the synagogue in Nazareth.  “Today, this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”  Did you notice in our reading?  Where do followers of Jesus follow him?  To his Father’s house!  To church!  According to our reading “as was his custom!”  His sheep want to hear their Good Shepherd’s voice.  We want to be fed by him who is the Word made flesh and a fulfillment of God’s gospel promises. 

And how would this be received in Nazareth?  We’re told in this intense scene, “He rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.  The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him.”  The worship practice then involved seven scheduled readings (we have three), the first to be read by a priest (if you had one there) then by a Levite (if you had one there) and then by five reputable men of the town who were at least 30 years old.  They would then allow for discussion from the congregational floor so that not just anyone could say anything.  Jesus, a hometown boy, now of proper age to read, carried with him growing excitement over his words and his miracles.  He is asked to participate.  He reads from Isaiah, sits down, and begins to speak.  The Jews read God’s Word standing up to show respect and then would comment from a chair to show humility – that their commentary wasn’t on par with God’s message. 

What would Jesus say?  He would proclaim fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy in himself.  As true God it was why he was here on earth – to live under the law for us as a substitute.  It was where he was going, resolutely to suffer, to die, to rise and to save.  All of Scripture was built upon him, and as true God he could perfectly fulfill it.

Nazareth’s reaction?  Stunned.  Impressed.  The listeners spoke well of him…at first.  But then something changed causing that great-gospel-motto to ring hollow in their hearts.  Human reasoning invaded and corrupted God’s truth.  “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”  They had known Jesus through the years.  Maybe he played with their children or was hanging around his father’s shop in his youth.  Him?  Isaiah the inspired prophet was talking about him?  Countless Jews through thousands of years were waiting for…Joey’s kid in this po-dunk hill town?  A young man we know?  How could that possibly be?  And then… things got complicated.

Knowing their hearts and the troubling condition they were in spiritually, Jesus addresses it.  “Do you need to see the same miracles in Capernaum in order to believe it?”  If Nazareth was a state, it might be Missouri, the “Show Me State.”  A slogan that supposedly came from a no-nonsense politician who didn’t want to hear someone talk the talk but walk the walk.  Or, Nazareth’s town motto might be the very quote Jesus speaks in our reading: “’Physician, heal yourself,’ and then, once you are proven, we may choose to believe you.”

What a mess!  It’s no wonder Jesus gives examples and holds up God’s great acts of mercy shown to non-Jews outside of the nation of Isarael.  To “a widow in Zarephath in Sidon.”  And to “Na’aman the Syrian.”  They had nothing special they offered God.  They didn’t choose faith in God.  And yet out of pure mercy and grace Jesus highlights the heart of God.  It is he who gives truth.  He who gives faith.  It is he who saves apart from ourselves.

This remains a good and necessary reminder for you and me today, worshipping in God’s house just like those folks from Nazareth.  Seeing can get in the way of believing.  Doubts and questions and ultimately fears can creep into our minds and hearts of faith.  Virgin birth?  Six day creation?  Jesus as God?  Great acts in lowly sacramental elements?  These are big truths we are asked to simply hear and believe.  They challenge our human reasoning.  As one pastor put it, “What if faith is simply faith and does not require proof?”  God does not need to answer to our intellect how and why he acts to save.  But rejoice because he graciously and mercifully saves us through Jesus. Rejoice that this message of forgiveness is for all.  Rejoice that he wants you and your family and hometown in heaven with him. 

Listen to Jesus who says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” “Blessed are you…for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.”  Thanks be to God for his Motto of Mercy proclaimed by Jesus today!  Lord keep us in your word.  Keep our faith and our connection to you living and active and growing.  Keep us from all doubt and unbelief.  Keep us humble.  Keep us believing.  Keep us looking for opportunities to share this message with others.  And keep this motto in our ears, in our hearts, and in our lives until home in heaven with you.  Amen.

“Baptism: It’s a Miracle!”

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Author: Pastor Horton

Date: January 12, 2025

Passage: Titus 3:4-7

            “Eleven seconds, you got ten seconds, the countdown going on right now.  Five seconds left in the game! Do you believe in miracles?  Yes!” exclaimed ABC sports commentator, Al Michaels.  And then the patriotic celebration ensued as the 1980 U.S. men’s hockey team staged the biggest upset in Olympic history beating the heavily favored Soviet team.  On February 22, 1980, over 1,100 athletes from 37 countries participated in the Winter Games, but the ones people most remember are a bunch of college kids (their average age 22) who beat the unbeatable Russians.  It was an unlikely miracle in sports history.  The Disney movie about it is simply called “Miracle.”

            This morning, we are reminded how unlikely miracles still happen.  The improbable takes place every time we witness a baptism.  Now a baptism may not seem like it packs the same punch as the human drama and emotion of a great sports upset, yet, it is none-the-less a mind-boggling event.  This miracle of God shows us is his love and mercy.  So today as we celebrate the baptism of our Lord, we can quote a phrase from Al Michaels, “Do you believe in miracles?  Yes!”  Because “Baptism!  It’s a Miracle!”

            In his letter to Titus, Paul was writing to a fellow pastor about the work that needed to be done on the island of Crete.  Paul reminded Titus that he needed to teach his congregation sound Bible teachings, and to encourage them, in light of Jesus’ love, to do what is good.  And in order to understand what they had become in Christ, the people first needed to know what they were without Christ: disobedient, foolish, and enslaved by their desire for pleasure.  At one time, it was unlikely, and downright improbable that they’d ever be one with God.  They were steeped in sin: which a holy God has no part of.  They needed saving.  They needed a restored relationship with God.  And they needed to know how this was accomplished for them.

            And this is a need all people have.  A need which wasn’t needed in the very beginning.  Can you imagine being created in the image of God?  Having righteousness and holiness?  Being able to enjoy a perfect relationship with your Creator?  It’s hard to imagine because we have fallen so far into sin.  That reality is so far above us we can’t even begin to picture that reality.  And now from generation to generation we are unable to pass down that status with God, but rather with sin we pass down the reality of death.  That broken relationship is your birthright.  The psalmist David tells us, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.”  We had need.  Need for help.  Everyone of us.  Need for God to do something otherwise death and eternal death awaited.  It doesn’t matter our age….

            There is a story of a little girl who once noticed that her mother, with a full head of brunette hair, had several strands of rogue white hair sticking out.  “Why are some of your hairs white, Mom?” she asks.  Her mother replied with a motherly replied: “Well, every time you do something wrong and make me cry or unhappy, one of my hairs turns white.”  The little girl contemplated that for a few seconds and asked, “So how come ALL of Grandma’s hair is white?”  The painful truth is that we like to think we’re not that bad but our sins stand as a sign that say differently.  We sin against God and each other, and it shows.  We have not kept one commandment perfectly.  Our sin shows itself when our minds drift away during prayer, when we are not willing to sacrifice our living for God’s sake.  And our sin could even cause us to despair, thinking, “maybe I’m a hopeless case.” 

            But Paul tells us: “when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”  And in baptism, that love of God for us unlovable people appeared.  Paul tells us how God restores our relationship, he writes: “He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”  Through this miracle of baptism, the Holy Spirit does the unthinkable.  In our baptism He enters dead hearts, these unclean temples, and he performs this most improbable miracle – he washes and renews.  In our baptism He cleans up our hearts steeped in sin and turns them into throne rooms of Jesus.  In our baptism the Holy Spirit comes to us and creates saving faith in our hearts.  In our baptism we are reborn into a new relationship with God.

            It is almost unthinkable!  Yet think of it like this, Peter did in his first epistle: In the flood, God destroyed all life on this earth with the exception of the occupants in the ark.  The whole world was totally submerged under water.  Everyone and everything was dead, rotting, and decaying.  And yet above, lifted not only by the water but also by the protective hand of God, the ark floated safely.  Above was life, but beneath the water the earth was a worldwide graveyard.  Can you imagine such a thing?  Then the waters receded after washing clean all that death completely away.  The earth was reborn in newness.  In the same way, our baptismal waters have washed away the decay of death and sin from us; returning us to that right relationship with God.  It’s a miracle!

            While reborn, our sinful nature is still lingering in us.  To keep us from losing what we have the Holy Spirit continually renews us.  With His help we are to daily we are to throw off our sinful nature.  No, not snuggle up to or cater to or carefully hide our sinful nature but throw it off and drown it in our baptism so that our new life in Christ can, with the Spirit’s help, be watered, grow, and bear new fruit.  That takes a miracle – for that takes God at personal work in us.

            Throughout history people have considered Holy Baptism to be unlikely.  Why?  Just like salvation, baptism defies human reasoning; and just like the Lord’s Supper the saving gospel is connected to something tangible in front of our eyes.  People have a hard time with it.  But Scripture explains how baptism gives us new live because it joins us to Jesus.  God’s plan of salvation was always focused in Jesus Christ.  Paul tells us, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  Jesus shed his innocent blood on the cross, sacrificing himself, as payment for our sin.  Our sin was transferred onto Jesus, the perfect sin offering, the Lamb of God, without defect or sin.  And, with no sin of His own, but to live under the law for us, Jesus even carried out his Father’s will by being baptized.  This agreed with the good will of our Father in heaven.  Luke writes for us, “And as he was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form like a dove.  And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”  

            However, a day would come when the Father would not seem so pleased.  That day was Good Friday.  On the cross, God was silent.  Jesus was undergoing our punishment.  Suffering our death for the sins we commit.  There was no voice from heaven, no cry of approval.  Only the words “My God, my God!  Why have you forsaken me?” under the weight of your sins, my sins, and the sins of the whole world.  

            But the Father was pleased with the sacrifice!  So pleased he raised Jesus from the dead.  So pleased he declared the world no longer guilty for its sin.  Paul tells us in the last verse of our text, “that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.”  Did you hear Paul?  We!  We have life in Jesus.  We are no longer dead in sin.  Because of what Jesus has done, we are free from sin, death, and the devil.  Paul tells us, “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”  In baptism our sinful flesh was buried with Jesus.  In baptism we rise to new life in Jesus. 

            What an incredible miracle found there in the water and the Word of baptism!  What a personal pledge of forgiveness given to you!  What a great reminder that we are no longer our own, but that our new lives are as God’s children!  God has done it all.  He saved us.  He cleansed us.  And He inspires us.  Death and hell have indeed lost their sting, because as Peter proclaims: “baptism now saves you!”  In baptism God has opened the doors of heaven to you.

            So, to once again quote the sportscaster, Al Michaels, “Do you believe in miracle?” We can answer in confidence with a resounding, “Yes!”  Baptism!  It’s a miracle!  Watch God do what seems impossible!  And live in your baptism grace! Amen.

A Strange Doxology

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That word “doxology,” is not a strange word for us. It comes from a combination of two Greek words: “doxa”, which means “glory,” and “logia” which means, “word.”

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