Posts filed under ‘ABC Extra’
Sermon Extra – “Long Time In Coming”
I am not a person who likes to wait. I can remember standing in the HEB automatic checkout line a few years back behind a person who was painfully slow as he scanned and bagged his groceries. He would search intently for each item’s barcode and then carefully slide it across the scanner only to find that it did not register. So he would inspect the barcode and try it again. And again. And again. It took him a full ten minutes to check out his “20 items or fewer.” I was furious. “If these people can’t figure out how to use this machine, they should go to a checker,” I fumed to Melody. My wife, of course, was embarrassed by my bad attitude and she reminded me that I was a pastor who needed to act charitably. My anger, however, was not dissuaded. “This is ridiculous,” I protested, “I don’t have all day!” My turn finally did come to check out my items. And so I, employing my best breakneck speed, frantically slide my first item over the scanner just to prove how competent I was in using this machine and how inept the person before me was. I had to scan the item again. And again. And again. Maybe the machine wasn’t as user friendly as I thought it was. It took me ten minutes to check out.
In our text for this weekend from Matthew 25, Jesus tells a parable about ten bridesmaids who are waiting on the arrival of the groom so that they can escort both the bride and groom to the wedding reception. Jesus makes this simple note about the groom’s anxiously anticipated arrival: “The bridegroom was a long time in coming” (verse 5). The Greek word for “long time” is chronizo, from which we get our English word “chronology.” Apparently, this groom took so long to arrive to meet his bride, it felt to the bridesmaids as if they were waiting through decades long chronological epic.
Jesus’ parable, of course, is meant to give us insight into His Second Coming. He too will be “a long time in coming.” And indeed He has been. 2,000 years after His first advent, we are still awaiting His second. But already in the first century, people were becoming impatient as they waited for their Lord. They were not people who liked to wait. Thus, the apostle Peter must remind them that Jesus has already promised to be “a long time in coming.” Peter writes: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The Lord’s slowness in returning is not really slowness at all, Peter argues. Rather, it’s an opportunity for repentance and faith.
In 1910, a German theologian and physician named Albert Schweitzer published a book titled The Quest of the Historical Jesus. In it, he portrayed Jesus as a failed eschatological prophet who believed that the advent of God would come sooner and quicker than it did. Thus, Schweitzer estimates Jesus’ ministry to be a failure and the belief that Christ will come again to be delusional. Schweitzer cynically states:
The whole history of “Christianity” down to the present day, that is to say, the real inner history of it, is based on the delay of the Parousia, the non-occurrence of the Parousia, the abandonment of eschatology, the progress of the “de-eschatologis-ing of religion which has been connected therewith. (Albert Schweitzer, The Quest of the Historical Jesus, 358)
The Church, Schweitzer contends, has deliberately downplayed and dismissed the urgent eschatological expectations of Jesus and His first century followers. However, nothing could be further from the truth. For we remember Jesus’ words: “The bridegroom was a long time in coming.” Our Lord is a long time in coming. But make no mistake about it, He will come. And so we pray, “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20), no matter how long that coming may take.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Zach’s
message or Pastor Josh’s ABC!
ABC Extra – Faith and Fear
My wife and I have very different sleep habits. I can fall asleep in five minutes or less with the lights on, the television blaring, the cats meowing, and my phone ringing. My wife, however, has to have complete darkness, total silence, and at least thirty minutes to get to sleep.
From conversations I have had with my married friends, it seems as though, many times, men have a much easier time falling asleep than do women. But, then again, I have always slept easier and better with light and noise than I have in darkness and silence. I can remember, even as a little child, finding complete darkness and total silence to be far too creepy and frightening for me to sleep soundly. And so, I would turn on my nightlight and my radio and settle down for a good night’s rest.
Though my fears of darkness and silence have long since passed away, I still prefer light and noise to silence and darkness, partly because, when our bedroom is completely dark, I have been known to crash into and fall over more than a few things! But as a child, darkness and silence petrified me.
Everyone fears something. It could be an unknown future, or a bank account that never seems to have enough money, or even a person – a bully or a parent – whose approval you can never seem to earn. Fear is a reflexive response programmed into every human being.
In one sense, then, I suppose that it was only natural for the disciples to be scared out of their wits at the situation they were facing in Matthew 8:23-27. A sudden storm had just descended on the Sea of Galilee. The winds were raging. The sea was rolling. Lightning was striking. Their boat was sinking. And Jesus, who was along for the ride on this trip, was…sleeping? Yes, sleeping! Upon being awoken by His disciples, Jesus gently chastises them for their fear in the face of this furious squall: “You of little faith,” Jesus says, “Why are you so afraid” (verse 26)? Shouldn’t the answer to Jesus’ question be obvious?! The disciples are afraid because their lives are in danger! The disciples are afraid because the storm surge is sure to spell their imminent doom! Wouldn’t anyone be scared in this situation?
Yes, it is only natural for the disciples to be afraid. But the disciples’ natural reaction in the face of this storm is not appropriate with a supernatural Savior on board the boat. Matthew explains: “Jesus got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm” (verse 26). There was no need to fear because Jesus was here.
In his commentary on this episode, the great English theologian Matthew Henry remarks, “Jesus does not chide the disciples for disturbing Him with their prayers, but for disturbing themselves with their fears.” In other words, Henry asserts that it was perfectly acceptable for the disciples to cry out to their Savior to stop the storm. It was not appropriate, however, for the disciples to cripple their faith with their fears. They should have trusted in Jesus’ identity as the Son of God and His character as their loving Lord to take care of the storm. Their fear betrayed a lack of faith. And a lack of faith is always a problem.
Fear often is a symptom that we are trusting in ourselves and our own ability – or our own inability, as the case may be – to handle a situation or face a challenge. What are you scared of? Rather than letting anxiousness and fear take root in your heart, cry out to Jesus and ask him to quell your fears and meet your challenges. For the one who can conquer the wind and waves on the Sea of Galilee can also conquer the fears of your heart.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
Weekend Extra – Seminary Training
My graduate alma mater is Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. In 2004, I walked away with a Master of Divinity. The classes I took there and the lessons I learned there have proved invaluable to me over the course of my ministry. They prepared me to make a solemn pledge of fidelity to the Word of God and the Gospel of Christ. And, by God’s Spirit, I intend to keep that pledge through my ministry and through my life.
Seminaries have a long and storied history in the annals of Christianity. Tradition has it that Basil of Ancyra, who gathered around him a group of students to professionally train them in Holy Scripture, started the earliest known seminary. The term “seminary” fell out of favor in the Middle Ages, but resurfaced at the Council of Trent, which mandated that a seminary be opened in every diocese:
The holy council decrees that all cathedral and metropolitan churches and churches greater than these shall be bound, each according to its means and the extent of its diocese, to provide for, to educate in religion, and to train in ecclesiastical discipline, a certain number of boys in their city and diocese, or, if they are not found there, of their province, in a college located near the said church or in some other suitable place chosen by the bishop. (Council of Trent, Twenty-Third Session, Ch. XVIII)
The council continues with stern rebukes of those dioceses which refuse to open or adequately maintain their seminaries.
Even though the advent of the modern seminary is generally attributed to the above declaration of the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century, the notion of a seminary is as old as Christ Himself.
In Mark 6, Jesus encounters a mob of hungry people. Although very few of us are confronted face to face with the tragedy of hunger because of our stations in life, hunger was widespread and commonplace in the ancient world and, indeed, is still widespread and commonplace in our world today. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, over 1.02 billion people suffer from hunger. In Mark 6, 5,000 of these 1.2 billion are together in one place.
So what does Jesus do? How does Jesus respond to such a pressing need? He starts a seminary! “Then Jesus directed them to have all the people sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties” (verses 39-40). The Greek word for “groups” in verse 40 is prasia, meaning, “seed plot.” Interestingly, this is also what our word “seminary” means. It is from the Latin word seminarius, meaning a seed plot in which men are planted to grow in knowledge of God’s Word and to be trained to share that Word with others. Thus, before Jesus feeds the masses with loaves and fish, He plants and prepares them in seminaries so that they may properly receive the blessings that He will soon give them.
By means of His Word, Jesus desires to give you a seminary education. His desire is that you are planted in groups of Christians, being planted and prepared to receive the good gifts which He has prepared for you. Time in worship, small groups, Bible study, and prayer are all seminary training! And it is in these times that Jesus comes and feeds you – not just with loaves and fish, but with the sustenance of His Scripture. And make no mistake about it, we sorely need this feeding from God’s Word. For God’s Word gives us life. As Moses reminds us, we do “not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD” (Deuteronomy 8:3)! May you join with other Christians this week to be trained in Christ’s seminary!
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Prieto’s
message or Pastor Goodwill’s ABC!
Weekend Extra – A Storm Before The Calm
A few weeks back, San Antonio was struck by a bout of severe weather. Lightning, strong winds, torrential rain, and even some hail all contributed to one of the most damaging storm systems this city has seen in a while. When the storm rolled into the area, I was on Concordia’s campus with our youth, leading our Fusion service. I can remember strolling onto campus early in the evening, enjoying the warm and balmy air, and feeling the hot sun beat down on me with nary a cloud in sky. But when I left an hour and a half later, it was a completely different story. The sky was full of clouds tinted by sinister shades of green, the smell of rain hung in the air, and everything was dead calm. But I knew this dead calm wouldn’t last for long. “It’s the calm before the storm,” I thought to myself. So I hopped in my truck and put the pedal the metal to try to beat the storm back to my house. I arrived at my front door just as the rain was beginning to fall.
It is not unusual, shortly before a storm, to experience an eerie calm. But in our reading for this weekend from Hebrews 4, we find the opposite to be true. The preacher of Hebrews says that when it comes to our lives in this world, there is not a calm before the storm, but a storm before the calm. As the chapter opens, we read a promise of our coming calming rest. “The promise of entering God’s rest still stands,” the preacher muses (verse 1). But right now, we are in the midst of a storm. For in this world, there is trouble, torrent, tribulation, and trial. Indeed, the apostle Paul says that we are engaged in a struggle:
Against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Ephesians 6:12-13)
We are engaged in a storm before the calm. How are we to engage with this storm of sinfulness and fight this battle of banality? Paul answers: “Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God” (Ephesians 6:17). Or, as the preacher of Hebrews declares, “The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” (verse 12). God’s Word is our weapon of choice to fight against the storms of this life and world.
For those who refuse to trust the sword of God’s Spirit, the preacher of Hebrews has a stark warning, drawn from the disobedience of the ancient Israelites: “For we have had the gospel preached to us, just as the Israelites did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith” (verse 2). Without faith in God’s Word, God’s promise of a coming calm is of no value, for it must be believed to be received.
In this world, we fight many battles and endure many storms. There are battles over our finances, our relationships, our politics, our nation’s security, and our cultural winds. But none of these battles are nearly as fierce as the battle which rages for our souls. Make no mistake about it, Satan desires to drag us away from God and dissuade and prevent us from entering God’s eternal rest. But we cannot win this battle against Satan by the strength of our bodies, or the whit of our intellects, or the resolve of our wills. No, Satan can only be beaten by wielding the Word of God. And so, take up sword of Scripture so that “you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:11). For Satan cannot stand against God’s Word. As Luther reminds us:
Nothing is so powerfully effective against the devil, the world, the flesh, and all evil thoughts as to occupy one’s self with God’s Word, to speak about it and meditate upon it…Without doubt, you will offer up no more powerful incense or savor against the devil than to occupy yourself with God’s commandments and words and to speak, sing, or think about them…For the devil cannot bear to hear God’s Word. (LC 10-11)
Trust God’s Word! For after this world’s brief storm of sin, you will enjoy God’s eternal calm of salvation.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Nordlie’s
message or John Kammrath’s ABC!
ABC Extra – You’re Inadequate
This weekend in worship and ABC we talked about the stain of inadequacy. We’ve all grappled with inadequacy, of course. A project we’ve been working on isn’t up to snuff according to the boss. And we feel inadequate. The money we make isn’t enough to keep up with our next-door neighbors. And we feel inadequate.
I always enjoy watching the opening outtakes on the hit FOX TV show, “American Idol.” Some of the auditions are atrocious. What is really fascinating to me, however, is that some of these contestants, who couldn’t carry a tune if their lives depended on it, believe that they are truly good singers. When they find out that they are not, they are crushed. And they feel inadequate.
I suspect that Peter must have felt much like an “American Idol” contestant feels after Simon Cowell announces, “That was atrocious.” As Luke 5 opens, we find Peter, a professional fisherman, casting his nets into the Sea of Galilee. And Peter was no poor fisherman. To the contrary, he was one of the best. But even one of the best gets skunked from time to time. And this was the case with Peter. He had been fishing all night and had not caught a thing. But not to worry, for a carpenter from Nazareth named Jesus is on the case. “Put out into the deep water, and let down the nets for a catch,” Jesus says (verse 4). A carpenter giving advice to a seasoned fisherman on fishing? That’s rich. But Peter trusts and obeys the Lord. And the results are nothing short of miraculous: “When [Peter and his companions] had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break“ (verse 6). Apparently, this carpenter knows a thing or two about fishing. And all of a sudden, Peter is struck with an acute bout of inadequacy. He says to Jesus, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man” (verse 8)! Jesus, in turn, responds to Peter’s declaration with a promise of hope in the midst of inadequacy: “Don’t be afraid” (verse 10).
Sadly, many people have twisted this precious promise of Jesus. In the sixteenth century, a young monk named Martin Luther twisted this promise by refusing to believe it. He refused to hearken unto God’s call to “be not afraid.” Instead, in his younger years, he saw God only as a cruel taskmaster who would surely damn all mankind for their inadequacies. Blessedly, he later came to understand the wonderful compassion of our God, expressed in Jesus Christ. In the twenty-first century, many people twist this promise by turning God into a wrathless deity who overlooks, rather than forgives, sins. The promise, “Do not be afraid,” is conceived as an admission that God does not really care about, much less gets angry over, sin. Indeed, a popular preacher recently toured the country with the message, “The gods aren’t angry.” His point was this: God is not angry with you or at your sin. But this is not true. God is angry. And He’s angry at your sin. As the apostle Paul writes, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men” (Romans 1:18). God has wrath at sin. Jesus says, “Do not fear,” not because God doesn’t get angry with sin and sinners, but because His wrath is taken by Jesus Christ in our place for our sins on the cross. It is by Jesus’ work on the cross that our sins are forgiven.
When Jesus tells Peter, “Do not be afraid,” it isn’t because Peter is really a good guy. No, Peter’s statement, “I am a sinful man,” is perfectly true. He is inadequate. But through Christ’s atoning work, Peter’s sin is taken away and he has nothing to fear. The answer to inadequacy is not to pretend you’re adequate. You’re not. The answer to inadequacy is to trust in Jesus because He is more than adequate. He is perfect. And His perfection covers all of our inadequate sins. Find your adequacy in Christ.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
Sermon Extra – More Than Ceremonially Clean
Our world is full of need. Approximately one in eight people in world lack access to safe, clean drinking water. Every year, 15 million children die from hunger because they cannot get basic, nutritional meals. A little closer to home, every night in the US, anywhere from 700,000 to 2 million people do not have a place to sleep. Right now, somewhere around thirteen percent of men, aged 25 to 54, are jobless and cannot support themselves. Basic needs – including those for water, food, shelter, and work – are going left unmet in our world and in our society. And the consequences are tragic. Everything from bankruptcy to depression to death can occur when needs go unmet.
In our text for this weekend from John 2, an urgent need quickly pushed its way to the forefront of a wedding celebration in a little town called Cana. As I mentioned in my sermon, in this day, it was customary – and even mandatory – for wedding receptions to come with “open bars.” That is, the groom was to provide as much wine for his guests as they desired. But alas, apparently, the groom at this wedding was not much a planner. Because the wine runs out. And one of the social necessities of that day is left unmet.
Jesus’ mother, Mary, is mortified by this social faux pas. And so, she says to her son, “They have no more wine” (verse 3). At first, Jesus balks at Mary’s concern. “Dear woman, why do you involve Me?” He asks, “My time has not yet come” (verse 4). But His time quickly arrives as Jesus commandeers “six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing” (verse 6). A couple of things are striking about this verse. First, the number six is striking. In Johannine literature, this number symbolizes imperfection. And indeed, this number is used to describe the imperfect and embarrassing situation of running out of wine. The second thing striking about this verse is the fact that the six stone jars are used for “ceremonial washing.” The Greek word for this phrase is katharos, meaning, “clean.” This word is used in spades in Old Testament literature to distinguish between those things which are “clean” and things which are “unclean.” For instance, when God warns Moses, “You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean” (Leviticus 10:10), the word for “clean” is katharos. Thus, these jars are used by faithful Jews to make sure they remain ceremonially and spiritually clean according to Old Testament law.
But now, Jesus commandeers these jars for His purposes, that He may perform a sign to “reveal His glory” (verse 11). And instead of filling them with water for ceremonial washing, He fills them with wine as a gift from His gracious hand. Later, Jesus would fill another jar with wine and declare: “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28). And this wine, which Jesus says is none other than His very blood, will have a katharos effect on us. As the apostle John writes: “The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). The word for “purifies” is, once again, katharos. Thus, we no longer need large stone jars filled with water to wash us clean ceremonially, for we have the body and blood of Jesus to wash us clean spiritually and eternally.
There is an old spiritual which asks, “Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?” By faith, we may happily answer this question, “Yes.” Take some time today to thank God that, by the blood of Jesus, you are more than ceremonially clean, you are spiritually clean. And Jesus’ cleanness is all you need. For Jesus’ cleanness leads to eternal life.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
Sermon Extra – “I’m A Creative Visionary Leader Who Is Also Obedient”
Creative. Visionary. Leader. Ambitious. Inspiring. We place a high premium on these values in our culture. When we are looking for a job, we know that these words, or some combination thereof, are sure to make potential employers salivate and want to know more about us. When we are seeking out a mentor, these are the qualities for which we look. For the most part, we want to know people – and we want to be people – who are out in front, recognized and respected by many, leading the pack.
Obedient. Now there’s a word you won’t find on a resume or on a top ten list of values to which we aspire. Indeed, this value is more often denigrated than celebrated, especially in our popular culture. From the James Dean classic “Rebel Without A Cause” to a motorcycle named the “Rebel,” disobedience is much more admired and prized than is obedience. After all, obedience seems so – well…boring!
Perhaps we shouldn’t so readily dismiss obedience. For obedience is highly prized in the Scriptures. A sampling of Scriptures will suffice to bring out the premium the Bible puts on obedience:
- “Hear, O Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you” (Deuteronomy 6:3).
- “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (Luke 11:28).
- “This is love for God: to obey His commands” (1 John 5:3).
Clearly, the Bible likes obedience. And no one is exempt from this cardinal virtue of obedience – not even Jesus.
In my sermon this past weekend, we looked at Luke 2:41-52, the only canonical gospel account of Jesus’ childhood. This story is depicted by one of our stained glass windows, pictured above. As the story opens, Joseph and Mary take Jesus in tow, traveling from Nazareth to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Passover Feast. After the Feast, they travel back to Nazareth only to find that Jesus is missing at the end of the first day of their travels. So they make a desperate search for their son. As I mentioned in my sermon, after finding Jesus, when Mary says to her son, “Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you” (verse 48), the Greek word for “anxiously” is odunao, a word meaning, “pain.” Mary’s concern for her lost son was so great that it caused her pain. It put a lump in her throat. It made her sick to her stomach. And Jesus knows this. And Jesus cares about His mother and her anxiety. And so we read: “He went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.” Jesus, the Son of God and the Sovereign of the universe, is obedient to his earthly father and mother. Such is the primacy of obedience. It is a value extolled and practiced by our Lord.
The Greek word for “obedient” is hypotasso, meaning, “to arrange under.” The idea is that, out of love, people should learn to place their concerns, wants, needs, and desires under the concerns, wants, needs, and desires of others. That is, people should be concerned with others before they are concerned with themselves. In the words of the apostle Paul, “Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” (Philippians 2:4). This is obedience – to show concern for the interests of others.
Jesus is concerned with the concern of His parents. For they have been worried sick trying to find Him. And so, He is obedient to His parents. Indeed, Jesus’ whole life and ministry is one of obedience as “He humbles Himself and becomes obedient to death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8)! Jesus’ obedience is so unflappable, it leads Him to a cross.
What premium do you put on obedience in your life? Do you intentionally arrange your concerns, wants, needs, and desires under the concerns, wants, needs, and desires of others? Obedience may not be a secular value, but is a biblical one. And it is a value that, when embodied by Christ on the cross, wins our salvation. Perhaps we should take a value as powerful as obedience a little more seriously.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
ABC Extra – Filled with the Spirit
Recently, I have had some very full days. Many appointments, tasks, and some added duties have kept me plenty busy. My MacBook calendar is filled and my to-do list is long. Of course, seasons like these come and go. From time to time, we all get busy and our days get full.
In ABC this past weekend, we kicked off a brand new series called “STAINED! Windows Into Our Heritage.” In this series, we are reflecting on the stained glass windows which grace the front of our sanctuary and study that biblical stories which they portray. We began our series with our Pentecost window, pictured here.
The festival of Pentecost is as old as Moses. Originally, it was a harvest festival known as the Feast of Weeks, celebrated fifty days after the Feast of Firstfruits – hence, it’s Greek name “Pentecost,” meaning” fifty. In latter days, however, it also became associated with the giving of the Divine Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. Thus, Pentecost was a day to celebrate the gift of God’s Law. But on a Pentecost day in Acts 2, it became a day to celebrate another gift of God.
The story of Pentecost begins thusly: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1). The Greek word for “came” is symplero’o, meaning, “to fill up completely.” Apparently, this Pentecost day was a full one. It was a day that didn’t just arrive on a calendar, but “filled up completely” a moment in history. But it didn’t fill this moment in history with appointments, tasks, and duties. No, the fullness which this Pentecost day brought was much more profound and transcendent.
The story continues: “Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them” (Acts 2:1-4). Some 1600 years earlier on Pentecost day, God has filled His people’s souls by giving them His Law through Moses. Now, once again, He has filled His people’s souls by giving them His Spirit through a rushing wind and tongues of fire.
One of the many precious promises from our God is that He loves to fill His people with His good gifts. As Jesus Himself says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6). And unlike the things of this world, which, though they might fill our lives with their demands and stresses, steal our souls, the things with which God fills us always bless us and keep us in Him. And so we rejoice that Christ fills our days and our lives with His good gifts.
Are you feeling empty? Pray that God would fill your days and life with what you need. May He fill your heart with His love, your concerns with His comfort, your doubts with His truth, your sin with His forgiveness, and your soul with His Spirit. May you be full in, with, and through God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
ABC Extra – The Power of Peer Pressure
This weekend in worship and ABC, we discussed the family fiasco of addiction. The statistics pertaining to various addictions are startling:
- 23% of adults consume more than five alcoholic beverages each day.
- Each year, nearly 35 million people try to quit smoking. Less than 7% are successful.
- 25 million Americans visit cyber-sex sites between one and ten hours per week. Another 4.7 million spend in excess of 11 hours per week on these sites.
Clearly, we are a culture trapped by our addictive behaviors.
Sadly, these addictive behaviors often start when a person is young. Teenagers are drawn into habits of smoking, drinking, drug use, and sexual immorality, usually because their friends pressure them to engage in such activities. Consider these statistics:
- The Adolescent Substance Abuse Knowledge Base reports that 30% of teens are offered drugs in middle and high school.
- According to the Department of Health and Human Services, 74% of high school students have tried alcohol at the encouragement of their friends.
- The Kaiser Foundation reports that 50% of teenagers feel pressured to engage in sexually promiscuous relationships.
Peer pressure is clearly alive and well among our youth. Indeed, it is thriving. The problem is, peer pressure coerces many of our kids straight into harmful addictions.
One of the myths about peer pressure is that it is a relatively new phenomenon. In another survey, teens were asked whether or not peer pressure affected people 100 years ago. 46% of the respondents said that peer pressure affected teens “significantly less” than it does today while another 16% said that peer pressure didn’t affect teens at all a century ago.
In reality, peer pressure is nothing new. In our text from this weekend, we encounter an instance of peer pressure when the Israelites “gather around Aaron and say, ‘Come, make us gods who will go before us” (Exodus 32:1). Notably, the word for “around” – when the Israelites gather “around” Aaron – is al. Al is a notoriously ambiguous preposition and can be translated as everything from “upon” to “beside” to “beyond” to “towards” to “against.” In other words, it is a catchall preposition. Many scholars believe that, in Exodus 32:1, al is best translated as “against.” That is, the Israelites gather against Aaron to put some pressure on him to cast a false idol. In a phrase, the Israelites place Aaron under the weight of “peer pressure.”
Tragically, Aaron caves to the Israelites’ al. He builds their false idol. And, just as in a case of addiction, the Israelites become enslaved to this idol as they worship it even as a drug addict is enslaved to heroin or a food addict is enslaved to sweets. And it all begins with the Israelites’ peer pressure on Aaron.
How do you respond to peer pressure that would lead you down a dead end road to sin? Do you cave in as Aaron did, or do you take a stand even when people are against you? Another famed biblical character, King David, knew well the heartache of having people against him. He cries out to God, “O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me” (Psalm 3:1). But unlike Aaron, David does not cave to peer pressure. For David knows, “You, O LORD, are a shield around me” (Psalm 3:3). David remains steadfast, even in the face of the menacing al of his foes. My prayer for you this week is that when the world would come against you with its addictions, you would stand steadfast in Christ’s righteousness.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
ABC Extra – The Divorce Debate
Divorce. Just the word is enough to make some people cringe, especially when this word is uttered in church. After all, some topics are so tender and contentious that people just assume public discourse on these issues be disallowed so that people’s thoughts and feelings on these subjects can echo privately and undisputedly in hallways of their hearts. This way, people do not have to suffer the cumbersome bother of articulating and defending a controversial position in public. Contrary to the prevailing zeitgeist, however, I would contend that issues such as divorce do need to be addressed publicly – precisely because of all the contention and confusion which surrounds them. For public discourse, when done intelligently and charitably, can lead to clarity concerning some of life’s most confusing riddles. This is why we chose to address the subject of divorce at Concordia this past weekend. And this is why Jesus chooses to address the subject of divorce in Matthew 19.
The scene is rife with tension. Jesus leaves Galilee and goes “to the other side of the Jordan” (verse 1). This region was under the jurisdiction of Herod Antipas, the tetrarch who divorced his wife so that he could marry the younger, prettier Herodius. When Jesus’ cousin, John the Baptist, calls Herod’s divorce into question, the ruler has John thrown into prison and later beheaded (cf. Matthew 14:6-11). It is with this episode looming in the background that some Pharisees ask Jesus, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason” (verse 3)? The verbiage of the Pharisees’ question alludes to a heated debate between two different rabbinic schools of theology in that day – the Hillel school and the Shammai school. The center of the debate swirled around Deuteronomy 24:1: “If a man marries a woman who becomes displeasing to him because he finds something indecent about her, he writes her a certificate of divorce, gives it to her and sends her from his house.” The rabbis of the Hillel and Shammai schools heavily debated the phrase, “something indecent.” What does it mean to find “something indecent,” worthy of divorce, in a woman?
The Hebrew for “something indecent,” is erwat dabar – erwat, meaning “nakedness,” and dabar, meaning “a thing.” The Hillel school took this phrase, erwat dabar, as offering two separate and distinct reasons that a man could divorce his wife. On the one hand, a man could divorce his wife for erwat, that is, “nakedness,” which the rabbis interpreted as a circumlocution for adultery, meaning that if a man caught his wife naked in bed with another man, he could divorce her. But then, on the other hand, a man could also divorce his wife for dabar, meaning “a thing.” Well this isn’t very specific! Thus, the rabbis of the Hillel school capitalized on the generality of this word dabar and taught that a man could divorce his wife for adultery on the one hand and for anything else on the other! In other words, the rabbis of the Hillel school taught that a man could divorce his wife for “any and every reason.” Here, then, is the background to the question that the Pharisees ask Jesus.
Not everyone agreed with this liberal interpretation of Deuteronomy 24:1, however. The rabbis of the Shammai school took the phrase erwat dabar as a single reason for divorce. That is, they interpreted this phrase to mean that a man could divorce his wife for “the naked thing,” that is, adultery. Thus, the Shammai school said that only adultery was an appropriate grounds for divorce.
So who’s right? It seems as though those in the Hillel school were allowing what they wanted to be true trump what they actually read to be true. In other words, they were allowing their desire to get an “any cause” divorce trump a more reasonable reading of Deuteronomy 24:1. In Hebrew, the word erwat is in a form called “construct.” A “construct” form in Hebrew is loosely analogous to a genitive, or possessive, case in more standard grammatical systems. Thus, from a sheer grammatical standpoint, the word erwat possesses the word dabar. Thus, this phrase refers to one reason for divorce, not to two. Literally, this phrase may be translated as, “the nakedness of a thing,” the “thing” being a person. Thus, this text is warning us things to “keep our clothes on” with people to whom we are not married.
Jesus, as a man who takes the biblical text seriously, upholds the interpretation that erwat dabar refers to one thing when responding to the Pharisees’ question: “I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for marital unfaithfulness, and marries another woman commits adultery” (verse 9). But Jesus actually takes His interpretation a step farther: “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way from the beginning” (verse 8). In other words, even divorce because of erwat dabar is not God’s ultimate plan. God’s ultimate plan is that a sinner repents, is forgiven, and receives a new tender heart toward their spouse. Divorce, if it can be avoided, is to be avoided.
Other challenges in a marriage that have the potential of leading to a divorce are outlined elsewhere in the Scriptures. These include abandonment by a spouse (cf. 1 Corinthians 7:15-16) and abuse, often considered to be a form of abandonment because it is a dereliction of marital duties (cf. Exodus 21:10-11). But whether the problem be adultery or abandonment or abuse, the root of all these problems is the same – a hard heart. And sadly, these hard hearts sometimes shatter marriages. But other times, miraculously, these hard hearts are softened and marriages are reconciled. And this is Jesus’ hope. This is Jesus’ plan.
And so, if you are trapped in a marriage that is loveless, cold, and draining, let me invite you get help. See a counselor. Share your experience with a pastor. Confess your sins and receive God’s forgiveness. For God’s forgiveness can crack even the hardest of hearts. And even if your marriage ultimately fails, you can rejoice in the promise that you are still party to a marriage that will last:
Then a voice came from the throne, saying: “Praise our God, all you His servants, you who fear Him, both small and great!” Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.” (Revelation 9:5-7)
You are the bride of Christ. And your marriage to Him is a marriage that lasts – even into eternity. And in a world where marriages sadly and sometimes break, this is a marriage in which we can always rejoice and trust.
Want to learn more on this passage? Go to
www.ConcordiaLutheranChurch.com
and check out audio and video from Pastor Tucker’s
message or Pastor Zach’s ABC!
Pastor Zach's Blog 