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Text of the page (random words):
oud your vision and you may not always see yourself as god s child don t rely on your eyesight though trust your lord s promise you will see clearly when he appears and we know that when he appears we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is as john also tells you today everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure you have been made pure in your baptism as pure as jesus is and you will get to see that when he appears keep your eyes on the goal it helps you persevere our gospel reading gives us jesus at the beginning of his ministry he begins his teaching by giving us end time promises to sustain us in our journey to new life with your eyes on the goal you can persevere first jesus promises to fill all who suffer from innate emptiness note the words he uses to describe you me and all his followers poor in spirit mourning meek hungering and thirsting your innate empty condition leads to the result of how you live because you are spiritually bankrupt because you have absolutely nothing to offer to god you live all of life mourning your own sin and the sin that infects the world because you are meek and lowly truly in need of deliverance you hunger and thirst for jesus rightness only jesus can fill your innate emptiness he does this in both the now and the not yet now he promises and assures you that his heavenly reign with all its blessings belongs to you now by faith to be sure what lies ahead in the not yet you will be comforted you will inherit the earth the new creation you will be satisfied all of that because you now have and will then have him your savior the lamb who purifies you by his blood then jesus promises to transform his disciples with his very own life jesus mercy shown on the cross makes his christians merciful by his shed blood he creates in you a new and pure heart so that you will get to see god face to face since you are thus made a child and heir of god himself you now get to live move and have your being as a peacemaker that s another way of saying a bringer of the gospel to those around you and when you are persecuted and reviled for belonging to jesus confessing him and being his faithful follower you have a very real and powerful promise in the here and now his heavenly reign with all its blessings still belongs to you there s no room for triumphalism in jesus church just as he reigns and blesses from the cross so too you and i get to live under the cross that s what helps us persevere even as we keep our eyes on the goal promised by him so come and be filled at his table come and be transformed by your lord s very body and blood here at this table in this meal your lord gives you the blessings of his heavenly reign forgiveness life salvation peace and hope all saints day is not only the day of preaching the parish s funeral sermon it s also the great easter feast of the second half of the church year on easter we celebrate our lord s resurrection from the dead his victory over death itself on all saints day we celebrate and anticipate the coming fruits of his resurrection for us his church the golden evening brightens in the west soon soon to faithful warriors cometh rest sweet is the calm of paradise the blest alleluia lsb 677 6 amen posted by randy asburry at 1 54 pm no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels feasts and festivals homilies hope jesus christ preaching saints 26 october 2020 homily for reformation day observed 2020 free indeed john 8 31 36 jesus says if the son sets you free you will be free indeed talk of freedom resonates with us americans our ears perk up we love our liberty freedom is our national middle name our country s heart and soul our very dna everything from the year 1776 to the fourth of july every year to freedom of speech and religious liberty proclaims our love for liberty but when we talk of freedom we must ask two crucial questions 1 free from what and 2 free for what in our national experience our love of liberty is rooted in freedom from government tyranny that is from government presuming it knows better than you how to run your life for you think king george great britain and burdensome taxes and regulations in the late 1700s building on the notion that all people are created equal our american founders built a governing system of the people by the people for the people as abraham lincoln would say a century later think freedom for living by the god given rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness which means keeping your property in our gospel we hear of a different deeper freedom jesus teaches some jews who had believed him they ve heard his teaching and they believe that he is god s promised messiah exactly what they understood that to mean may be up for debate so jesus begins his sermon if you abide in my word you are truly my disciples and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free at that all ears perked up will set you free these good jewish believers thought they were already free we good americans think that we are already free what does jesus mean by free free from what the jewish believers who listened to jesus could not stomach being told they were slaves they pushed back we have never been enslaved to anyone on the surface we might say oh yeah had they conveniently forgotten their forefathers who lived in egyptian slavery for 400 years what of their ancestors who lived in babylonian exile for 70 years must have slipped their minds did they have blinders on to the roman empire occupying their backwater little country even as they spoke or they may have been thinking of something else even when they were enslaved in egypt they could claim they still belonged only to the god of israel even when they were exiled in babylon they still belonged to and served yahweh even as they lived under roman rule their self proclaimed allegiance was to the true god either way jesus had to redirect their focus they were forgetting one undeniable truth slavery to sin we also conveniently forget that we are in fact slaves to sin as jesus says everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin we all commit our sins insensitive words or deeds uncaring spiteful thoughts and feelings neglecting to care for family or friends gossip greed and so on jesus wants us to abide in his word his word of truth but we succumb to the slavery of our society and question if there is such a thing as absolute truth we say with our fellow slaves in society what s true for you is not true for me jesus wants us to abide in his word he wants us to remain in his truth he wants us to dwell in his message of the liberated life but all we need to do is examine our daily routines and priorities daily routines of work and school tend to crowd out time spent dwelling in jesus word our slavery to our schedules drives us to say i don t have time for worship for bible study for family prayer we are slaves to thinking we are in control of all things in life we are slaves to our calendars our commitments and our self imposed goals and priorities we are slaves to the very computers devices and smart phones that are supposed to make life more free we are slaves to ourselves to imagining that we must control everything in life even god himself so jesus says the slave does not remain in the house forever no slave no sinner gets to dwell in god s house that is no sinner slave who is not freed by christ himself our sins hang around our necks and weigh us down our guilt for putting ourselves in the place of god shackles us down we cannot move we need help we need someone to liberate us so if the son sets you free you will be free indeed jesus christ true son of god in the flesh comes to set you free how so by taking the chains of your sin and your guilt off of you and putting them on himself and he takes not only your chains but also the chains of the people around you the chains of all people of all times and all places these chains of sin shackled jesus to the cross and bound there by his eternal love for you and for all people he was crushed under the burden but then he rose from the dead and you are free free from what free from sin free from a guilty conscience now we can ask free for what luther and the reformation give us a great blessing the church always refocusing on god s unshackled grace in christ jesus in christ we have all of god s boundless mercy and love in christ jesus we have freedom from sin death and hell now what now that we no longer have to impress god butter him up or buy him off how do we go about life for what are we free it s sad but true that in our liberty loving land of america freedom has come to mean free to do whatever i want many in our land love freedom so much that they trash and defame the very country that gives them freedom it s even sadder that we christians do the same with god s rich sweet life giving mercy how often do we use the freedom of our lord s forgiveness to slip back into our sinful ways what of the times when we either think or act as though hearing our lord s word and receiving his body and blood were somehow optional rather than necessary for life st paul captured this dilemma what shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means rom 6 1 2 shall we use our freedom from sin to sin all the more of course not st paul goes on having been set free from sin you become slaves of righteousness rom 6 18 yes you are freed from sin for living a better life a different kind of life you are freed from service to self so that you may live as god designed you to live luther expressed it this way during the reformation a christian is a perfectly free lord of all subject to none a christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all subject to all here s the paradox of our freedom in christ we are free before god free from sin guilt and eternal death we are completely free to relax in god s presence at the same time we are also free for living as god s servants we are completely free to practice the kind of humanity that god designed for us that means trusting god above all things and serving our neighbors in love for what has christ set you free he has set you free for service to other people you are free to serve one another parents you are free to serve your children especially by teaching them god s life giving word children you are free to serve your parents by honoring and obeying them workers and students you are free to put your best efforts into your work supervisors and managers you are free to take care of your workers as christians god s free forgiven people you are free to be slaves slaves to people around you free for service by god s grace may it be so for you free from sin before god free for service to your neighbor if the son sets you free you will be free indeed amen posted by randy asburry at 10 53 am no comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels gospel homilies jesus christ preaching reformation 12 october 2020 homily for trinity 18 2020 where does your love face matthew 22 34 46 it s been a rough few days for jesus on sunday he rode into jerusalem to shouts of hosanna and then cleansed the temple that angered the religious leaders on monday he cursed the fig tree and taught some greeks now on tuesday he s had his authority questioned he s had to teach some hard things by means of parables and he s been peppered with gotcha questions to test him would he pay taxes caesar does he really believe in the resurrection now some self righteous teacher of god s law tests him about the greatest commandment it s the ultimate gotcha question which is the great commandment in the law would they finally catch him or trip him up would they confirm that he s actually on their side against the sadducees jesus gives a two for the price of one answer you shall love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind this is the great and first commandment and a second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself the two go together hand in glove love your god and love your neighbor what does this mean bible commentator frederick bruner gives a helpful picture when jesus gives this love command as supreme bruner says he opens the hearts of believers like flowers to the sun to their living posture we were made for love jesus does not so much give us an activity that can be calculably done as he gives a direction to face churchbook 794 when our lord commands us to love our god and love our neighbor he does not so much give us things to do he gives us a direction to face of course that direction to face bears fruit in things to do where does your love face in the first and greatest commandment jesus says your love must face god ward that s easier said than done though you see you and i are so accustomed to looking in the mirror and taking selfies we re quite efficient at looking out for number one martin luther used the latin phrase incurvatus se being curved in on oneself we might also call it navel gazing or belly button itis and what happens when you walk around in life with your face directed toward your belly button you run into lots of things and get hurt we are accustomed to the love god command showing us our sin as our catechumens learned last week when god gives his commandments he demands full compliance perfect completion no exceptions whatsoever in god s grading scale 100 is the passing grade everything else even 99 99 is a failing grade we do not love god as we should because we cannot it s rather difficult to face god ward when we are so prone to facing self ward when jesus says love god he says with all your heart with all your soul and with all your mind we can also say with all your will with all your emotions and with all your reason if you love god with your whole heart you make god s will your will if you love god with your whole soul you fully desire god more than anything else if you love god with your whole mind your every thought is continually directed toward god whoever loves god with the heart but not with the whole heart is straddling the fence that s not love for god because god wants to fill a person s whole heart whoever loves god with the soul but not the whole soul has a lukewarm love god will spit that lukewarm love out of his mouth whoever loves god with the mind but not the whole mind does not yet know god as their highest good that person may suppose to love god but really only loves god s gifts and creatures where does your love face in the second greatest commandment jesus says your love must face neighbor ward this is the pure extension of love for god as paul said the whole law is fulfilled in one word you shall love your neighbor as yourself again this is easier said than done just reflect on how every human being loves himself or herself on how you love yourself you do not merely love yourself but you love yourself sincerely not coldl...
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