Don't be fooled! Christmas hasn't started yet. What you're hearing and seeing in the world is a deception!

In actuality, tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent. This is the season of preparation. And boy, do we need it.

The world (in the sense of the sin in the world and in ourselves of course) tempts you to forsake proper preparation and instead to dive right into the tumultuous stressors of the world with Christ. This way, Christmas will lose its meaning; lose its significance and this way, you will be lulled to sleep and perhaps even lose your way.

It is quite possible that in the last couple of weeks, you've already had ample opportunity to compromise and chances are, you've once again been reminded of your own sin. This is not an accident. We are in a battle and this is why our text for tomorrow says, "put on the armor of light (Romans 13:12b)."

Tomorrow we will equip you to deal with the distractions which bombard us and you will receive God's message of how we live in light of what is coming...it is a light so bright that it already leads us -- by God's grace -- to know the life of Jesus in our lives here and now.

Come and be fed; come and be blessed. The Lord's gifts are just that: gifts. He loves you and will prove it once again tomorrow morning. Come and receive His light!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“Getting Ready For Christmas”

(Romans 13:11-14)

The First Sunday in Advent, December 1^st, 2013

Pastor Espinosa

 

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. I hope you had a good Thanksgiving, even though it was marred by the invasion of Black Friday when it wasn’t even Friday but still Thanksgiving. While we were in Bakersfield to see family, my wife took my niece to Walmart who had a voucher guaranteeing my niece a purchase of a high-demand item…all she had to do was interrupt her Thanksgiving between the hours of 6 and 7 pm. Traci said that the lines at the Walmart were winding through the regular aisles of the store. It was a complete madhouse. We made it back home to Lake Forest Friday evening, but on Saturday morning as I was writing this sermon, I heard a Walmart television commercial advertising its “Black Friday” sale spilling over this entire weekend. In other words, “Black Friday” extends its tentacles of commercialism both before and after Friday! In the meantime J.C. Penney came up with a jingle that replaces “Fa La La La La, La La La La,” with “Go Go Go Go Go, Shop Shop Shop Shop.” This is beyond nauseating.  Of course we’re just warming up, since tomorrow is “Cyber Monday.”

 

I try to put all of this in perspective. When I was doing my doctorate at the University of Birmingham, the program required a one-month residency for every year I was enrolled over six years, so I ended up spending a lot of time in England. Birmingham is the second largest city in England, so it’s a pretty happening place. I would do my grocery shopping at Sainsbury’s which I believe is the leading grocer in England. It’s a good grocery store with really everything you need, but I noticed a different feel in the store in comparison to our stores here in the U.S. Frankly, the difference is that our stores have an over-flowing abundance that is practically extreme. We are extraordinarily spoiled in our country.

 

My experience, however, is nothing compared to some of us who have spent time in countries suffering in poverty. In comparison to these countries, a U.S. store has more on their shelves in one of our aisles than the entire inventory in the stores of countries struggling to supply basic needs.

 

I can’t shake the image of people in the Philippines currently overjoyed just to have food to survive right now vs. the image of Americans with stuff coming out of their ears.

 

And the particular life distraction that I’ve just described is just one distraction from your walk with God among many. For example on a separate note from the stuff-craze in our materialistic society, we joke about the whole food thing. A report said that the average American will need about 4 ½ hours of cardio exercise to work off the amount of food they ate for Thanksgiving. I told myself that I would take a better approach this year, but that didn’t keep me from a slice of apple pie, a slice of pumpkin pie, and a slice of key lime pie. It is easy to laugh off certain sins, but gluttony is a real problem. So there are two distractions that I’ve now listed, but there are many more.

 

The one I mention now comes from your pastor who is a huge sports enthusiast: I was reminded that Thanksgiving was an amazing opportunity to foster precious relationships. You know, regardless of how you feel about your extended family, these are people that God has put into your life. He has done so for a reason. We can choose how we will treat these relationships. In many cases, you are God’s chosen instrument for sharing the Gospel with the members of your family. But – while we have these golden opportunities set before us – what so often happens is that our huge, loud, and impressive “entertainment” systems can completely swallow up the atmosphere. On Thursday, the Oakland vs. Dallas NFL game was a game of interest for me, on Friday, the Lakers-Pistons NBA game was a game of interest for me, and yesterday, the UCLA-USC NCAA football game was a game of interest for me, but what are these in comparison to the relationships? Last Thursday, I spoke to one dear family member about what is important and what lasts in life, a conversation that led us to the one thing needful: the Lord; last Friday, I reminded a dear family member that Jesus is her key to heaven…these moments were worth more than the sum total of sports I could ever watch in my entire life.

 

But these are just three distractions, just three. This is also the season for drink. Even those of us who do not drink much at all, it is so easy to find ourselves at parties where social drinking is as easy as chips and dip. But alcohol quickly takes on a life of its own. At one of the conversations last Thursday, I shared with family members gathered that the wine we shared at that table was complementary to the four uses either described or prescribed in Holy Scripture: the Word of God either permits or directs the use of alcohol for 1) medicinal purposes; 2) to help the bereaved; 3) to celebrate; and 4) the Lord’s Supper. As we drank wine, both my brother Larry and sister Susan added the good addendum: “but in moderation,” to which I replied, “Amen.”

 

But how easy is it for us to slip and go too far? Even the strongest Christian never matures past the possibility of falling on account of drinking too much. The strongest Christian has the ability to get carried away, drink too much, and then do or say something they will later regret. It has happened among Christians in the body of Christ and it can easily happen again.

 

Why I am taking this real-life inventory? Because the combined distractions are formidable in threatening to completely erase from our view what is really important: living in faith, hope and love. And what is perhaps the most serious distraction is one I haven’t even mentioned yet: the holiday’s are a time of stress. In my 22 years in pastoral ministry, I know this seasonal dynamic like the back of my hand: family conflicts are heightened, financial burdens are magnified, personal struggles with depression are easily aggravated, time-management is tested to the limits. That is – unfortunately – the season of “peace on earth” through our Savior Christ is often morphed into the season of anxiety and stress. This is the season for blow-ups and blow-outs and I’m no longer talking about big sales in the stores.

 

Put all of these distractions together and now we know why Saint Paul addresses the Christians in Rome this way (of course we have to make adjustments for cultural evolutions), but the words are quite applicable to us as well:

 

Romans 13:11a: “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.”

 

This is not an admonition for unbelievers to come to faith. No, again, Saint Paul is writing to Christians. These people are already converted, these people know that their sins are forgiven and they know that they have eternal life in Christ. At the same time, they are encumbered by serious worldly distractions. Our distractions are capable of lulling us to sleep. Obviously, this sleep is metaphorical and Saint Paul does not mean actual sleep. This is the symbolic “sleep” of getting so distracted by the world that your faith seems to get lost in a maze. In the face of the world’s distractions, your faith can seem to disappear as if it were sleeping. The priorities of the faith can easily take a back-seat to the priorities of the world. And if our faith falls asleep on account of these, then we become “lukewarm” Christians who are in danger of losing our relationship with the Lord!

 

This is the sin being revealed in today’s epistle. Take it to heart Christian. Think about it: how does materialism, food, entertainment, drink, and stress impact your faith? How often do these things -- and the many other distractions of this world described as “the night” in verse 12 -- make you so tired, so busy, so encumbered that frankly, it’s easy to feel like you’ve run out of time and energy for prayer, for worship, for serving others who are less fortunate, for taking the time necessary to apply forgiveness to that relationship, and/or for taking the time necessary to share the Gospel? From the perspective of sin, the evil influences in the world, and the devil, these distractions are designed to make you ineffective in your faith so that you will sink into despair and not only be of no good to others, but even be an instrument of pain and further distraction to others. These are the things of “the night” that Saint Paul is warning us about and it’s as real as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but unfortunately these things of “the night” pervade all seven days of the week, all year round; and these things wind up and down souls far worse than the winding lines in Walmart.

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor Espinosa

As you know "Thanksgiving" is a national holiday, but the theme of thanksgiving is a basic expression of God's people. And when it flows from faith, it is also a virtue of the Holy Spirit which powerfully counters worry, bitterness, complaining, pessimism, discouragement and all sorts of attacks from our flesh and the evil one. Put simply: that which is against God does not want us to contemplate God's gifts which would otherwise fill us with thanksgiving! Our adversary knows that when thanksgiving fills us light overcomes darkness! To give thanks is to remember the myriad reasons we have to be joyful...to be thankful!

1) Even if I struggle with sin, I give thanks that my sins are forgiven in Christ.

2) Even if I struggle with physical resources, I give thanks that the Eternal Kingdom is mine in Christ.

3) Even if I struggle in earthly relationships, I give thanks for the peace of God that is mine in Christ.

4) Even if I struggle in my body and with my physical health, I give thanks for the assurance that the new heaven and the new earth will include my restored body.

5) Even if I feel anxiety and stress, I give thanks that I have God's invitation and welcome to call on His Name and to know that He hears me and answers me in accord with His perfect will.

6) Even if I feel discouraged, I give thanks that I can open my lips to praise the Name of the Lord; that I can fill the airwaves around me with thanksgiving to my God for loving me so much that Jesus lived, died, and rose for me.

7) Even if I feel isolated and depressed, I give thanks that I am welcomed into the family of believers and that to worship the Lord is God's invitation for me to be lifted up by the power of His Word and Sacrament.

8) Even if I struggle with energy and motivation, I give thanks that the Lord never lacks energy and motivation to serve me with His Word and Sacrament, and He never tires of loving me and granting me mercy.

9) Even if I am confused and confounded, I give thanks for the clarity of the Gospel for me...God's grace to me is clear to Him and this is the most important clarity: I belong to the Lord through Jesus!

10) Even if this season makes my head spin, I give thanks that I am safe in the arms of Christ who holds me and keeps me safe in His loving arms as He keeps me in my baptismal grace and feeds me through His body and blood.

11) I give thanks because in Christ I know who I am, I know where I am from, I know why I am here, and I know where I am going: I give thanks that I am a beloved child of God; that I am from God's gracious, purposeful, and miraculous creation; that I am here to love Him and to love those He puts in my life; and I know that I am going to eternal glory to be with the Lord and with all who belong to Him...and I give thanks that this is not by might, not by power, not by my discipline, not by my holiness, not by anything in me, but by His grace, His love, and His mercy in the Lord Jesus Christ, my Savior.

Tomorrow is the Last Day...of the Church Year. 🙂

Point blank: why do so many people NOT persevere until the end? Or asked differently, why do so many people give up the faith? Or asked more personally, why do I struggle with the temptation to give up?

This is what Malachi 3:13-18 is about. It is a MARVELOUS text in God's Word and I can't wait to share this sermon with you.

For today, let me offer this, because it's good to review; it is good for the soul:

WHY GO TO CHURCH?

1) Because God commands us to gather for worship in the 3rd commandment.

2) Because God directs us not to neglect meeting together and to continue to gather to encourage one another (Hebrews 10:25).

3) Because Christ commands us to "do this" (that is we are to constantly receive) the Lord's Supper for the forgiveness of sins.

4) Because of our great need as sinners, we need to receive through the means of grace, the grace of God and the forgiveness of sins constantly.

5) Because we actively struggle with our own sin and the temptations of the world and the devil which assail us, so we need to be strengthened through the ministry of the Word and Sacraments.

6) Because God has also commanded us to abide in His Word and to grow in the knowledge of His Word in many references of Sacred Scripture.

7) Because we are gifted as individual members in the Body of Christ (1st Corinthians 12) and we are called to share these gifts in service to one another.

8) Because we have both the responsibility and opportunity to help support the critical commission and commands the Lord has given to His Church to fulfill -- for example -- the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations.

9) Because the Lord has appointed a pastor and congregation to care to for us and we have opportunity to not only honor God, but to support the ongoing existence of these. To put it bluntly, if no one supports these, they disappear.

10) Because tomorrow morning is the one and only Sunday that I am guaranteed as of tomorrow morning...it is the only one I know I have (if I wake up tomorrow morning)...and on this Lord's Day I have the opportunity to honor the Lord and to receive His gifts.

11) Because it is easy to say you love God, but as far as God is concerned there is only one thing that demonstrates our claimed love: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome (1st John 5:3)."

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“‘What’s In It For Me?’ and Other Such Questions As The Last Day Approaches” (Malachi 3:13-18)

Last Sunday of the Church Year, November 24^th, 2013

Pastor Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. It is a fact that people speak “hard against God” as our reading from Malachi 3 says this morning. That is people are supremely smug in their criticism against God, especially as they use these criticisms as rationales for not believing in God. When people do this they justify – or at least try to justify – living life as if there is no God. This makes things supremely convenient for the sinful flesh, so that we are also justified in doing whatever we want. Which is to say to disbelieve in the true God is to reinforce our justification for being our own god (a very unwise path to say the least), but this is the reason that the saying is true: everyone – in their own way – is quite religious; everyone follows something, even if that something is themselves.

 

But when arrogance takes over, people – mere mortals – speak “hard against God.” To speak “hard” is to speak critically. As easy as it is for some to complain about our government (even though we are called to pray for our governmental leaders, 1^st Timothy 2:2), some find it just as easy – or easier – to complain against God. The original word in Hebrew for this speaking “hard,” is to be speaking “strong,” or in a way that is insolent, presumptuous, wicked, godless, and rebellious. This is the spirit that is completely resistant to God and puts oneself over God. In fact when God in Malachi 3:13 points out the problem, these insolent men talk back and become argumentative towards God: “How have we spoken against you?”

 

You might think to yourself that right about now we should be relieved that the Scriptures here are about the prophet Malachi speaking to a very specific audience: to the priests and people in Judah, and – “whew” – not to me! After all, I am certainly not so insolent as that! But be warned dear Christian: do not lose the application of this word to you and me today. Our sinful flesh is still with us and it knows full well the way of insolence and the resultant hardness towards the Lord! Malachi’s words are just as applicable today when it comes to our sinful nature…we do not want God telling us, we want to tell God! And for this we just plain deserve to die, because it means that we fight against the very Author of Life Himself! So Solomon taught: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death (Proverbs 14:12).”

 

How can we be so sure of the contemporary application to us today? Because our flesh tempts us daily to focus on the critical analysis as elaborated upon in the next verse at Malachi 3:14 which seeks to justify our hardness and criticism against God:

“You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?’”

 

And here we see what the flesh, the sinful nature in all of us does with religion and faith. To put it plainly our sinful nature makes a grandiose presumption about why we are alive, why we are here. That presumption and assumption is that we are here to be pleased on the basis of our own standard, our own desire; we are here to have what we want. Rhonda Byrne wrote a little book in 2006 entitled The Secret which was hugely successful. Here Ms. Byrne explains her basic premise:

 

            There is a truth deep down inside of you that has been waiting for you to discover it, and that Truth is this: you deserve all good things life has to offer. You know that inherently, because you feel awful when you are experiencing a lack of good things. All good things are your birthright! You are the creator of you, and the law of attraction is your magnificent tool to create whatever you want in your life. Welcome to the magic of life, and the magnificence of You! (p. 41)

 

Our flesh likes the worldview that we are the creator of ourselves. That we have a right to take what is pleasing to us. If we believe something is good for us, then that becomes our birthright; that becomes what drives us. Now there are many things in this life that we have freedom to desire or not to desire. If you have interest in certain forms of entertainment (I recommend the Lakers) or if you have an interest to pursue a certain hobby, or if you have preferences in the civil realm when it comes to cultural traditions or political systems, that’s fine, but we cross a line when we presume that our source of peace, our source of identity, our understanding as why we are alive becomes about what we want. This is a grandiose assumption and it is easily applied to faith in the minds and hearts of many. And the moment we permit ourselves to think this way, to expect this way, we set ourselves up for bitter and discouraging disappointment, because this is not why we are here and this is not what the Lord has called us to live for (unless you understand that the desire of faith is the desire for the Lord Himself and His will).

            And yet even Christians are tempted to play this game. To go back to Malachi 3:14 again: “You have said, ‘It is vain to serve God. What is the profit of our keeping his charge or of walking as in mourning before the Lord of hosts?’” And this time we add the consideration of the next verse, verse 15: “And now we call the arrogant blessed. Evildoers not only prosper but they put God to the test and they escape.” And this thought-line of the seeming unfairness of living in faith compared to those who do not believe and yet so often seem so strong, rich, and successful in this life, can be a great source of discouragement for God’s people. Psalm 73 is an amazing elaboration of this very observation that can fill our souls with frustration and tempt us to think that the Lord is permitting an unjust and an unfair situation. We must be very careful against this way of thinking most especially when we take into consideration what will happen in the End when the Lord comes to judge, but first things first.

 

Malachi 3:14-15 teaches us about two HUGE mistakes people make about what faith is, and what the life of faith is about:

I am constantly deeply impressed with the way in which God's Word written 2000 years ago (New Testament) is so amazingly applicable to our lives today. As we approach the end of the church year, we also consider the end when Christ will come again in glory, the end of the world, and our own end. But these themes are not intended for us to get lost in fanaticism, but rather they are intended to lead us to God's way of keeping perspective and living well...in fact, living excellently.

God's way is anything but trying to predict the future, instead it is what some might construe as not very glamorous or exciting. It is an approach, however, packed with wisdom. It (the approach to living in the end times) is so ordinary and yet when properly understood, we see wisdom in it and immense fulfillment while we do good.

So "let us not grow weary of doing good (2nd Thessalonians 3:6-13)!" What is this way of living? What is this God-given counter to anxiety and carrying on about the end times? Come to God's house tomorrow and find out.

For now, I'll give you a clue: the way God calls us to live is in imitation of the ants and the bees...yes, I wrote the ants and the bees...again, come to God's house and be fed and nourished and come and be affirmed in God's way of living in the end times.

Also, come and receive God's great gift of Christ's very body and blood. Come and receive this gift for the forgiveness of all your sins...not some of them, not many of them, not most of them...ALL of them.

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“Do Not Grow Weary In Doing Good”

(2^nd Thessalonians 3:6-13)

26^th Sunday after Pentecost, November 17^th, 2013

Pastor Espinosa

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. As we have now come to the second-to-last Sunday in the Church Year we are especially cognizant of the end times. Let us be clear about what the Lord teaches in His Word: you are living in the end times. You are -- right now -- living in the last days. That’s a fact. It is also a fact that Scripture teaches – clearly – that no one knows when Christ will come again (Acts 1:7) and it is also a fact that these last days may come to an end today or tomorrow, or long after you and I have died. We just don’t know when the end will occur and God makes it clear that it is not for us to know anyway.  In spite of this clarity on the matter, however, it is simply incredible to observe the unceasing fanaticism regarding the end that we see all around us.

 

Many of you are aware that this area of eschatology (end time teaching) and apocalyptic (the kind of genre represented by Revelation and Ezekiel) -- esp. as it is employed in popular American theology -- is my favorite area in sacred theology. My concern for this grew out of a childhood experience: my big brother Robert (a good reader his entire life) had a fascinating collection of books in our room. One of those books was Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth. That book was the #1 best-seller of all books, of all genres and types in the decade of the 1970’s in the United States of America, selling about 30 million copies. The theology represented by that book which fully claims to accurately represent the teaching of God’s Word is both wrong and scary. All of the 21 plagues described in the book of Revelation -- which we understand as representing what sin has already brought into the world and already remedied by Jesus -- are said to be coming in our future (keep in mind that this is a gross mishandling of the book of Revelation). In Lindsey’s book The 1980s: Countdown to Armageddon Christians were to consider the likelihood that the decade of the 1980’s would be the last of history as we know it, and in a later Lindsey book Planet Earth – 2000 A.D. Christians received a revised and updated prediction that by the year 2000 they should not anticipate being on earth.

 

But predictions of the end are nothing new. Like Harold Camping who predicted that the end of the world would occur on May 21^st, 2011, and then adjusted his prediction to October 21^st, 2011, William Miller before him first predicted March 21^st, 1843 and then revised his prediction to March 21^st, 1844 (Rowe, God’s Strange Work, 176). When Jesus did not come as predicted, this led to what historians refer to as “The Great Disappointment.” “There is no doubt that many Millerites, as reported, gave away or sold their possessions, stopped working, paid off debts, and settled old quarrels (ibid, 190).” But when the prediction failed, do you think that was going to stop predictions of the end? Not even close!

 

Hal Lindsey belongs to this tradition (as did the late Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel and of course as my favorite example Tim LaHaye of Left Behind fame does). These Christian teachers believe that when Jesus in Matthew 24:34 and Luke 21:32 referred to “this generation,” that that generation is the generation that is connected to the modern state of Israel coming into existence in 1948. Now if a “generation” is about 40 years, one can see why someone like Hal Lindsey would like 1988: 1948 + 40 years in a generation = 1988. One of the in-house debates of those who think this way is to try to establish what is meant by “a generation.” Is it 40, 60, or 80 years or more? Or should the counting begin not with 1948, but 1967 when Israel took Jerusalem during the Six Day War? Tim LaHaye has given himself more wiggle room and has warned us that the rapture – as they understand it – will occur before the beginning of 2025 (Are We Living in the End Times, 61). Once again, the predictions just keep coming. It seems inevitable for example that just as December 21^st, 2012 received immense press, that when 2029/2030 and 2032/2033 roll around in relation to the crucifixion of our Savior, we will see all of the excitement all over again…but I’d better be careful now, because now I’m making predictions!

All of this dear Christians is precisely the trouble that Saint Paul was dealing with when he wrote the letters to the Thessalonians. We have end-time mania now, we had it in the 1900’s, in the 1800’s (and throughout history), and it was very much alive and well in the first-century A.D. when Saint Paul wrote the first verse of our epistle this morning (2^nd Thessalonians 3:6):

 

Now we command you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from any brother who is walking in idleness and not in accord with the tradition that you received from us.

 

What does it mean to “walk in idleness” and to do so “not in accord with the tradition [that is apostolic teaching]?” The spectacular and extremely practical teaching coming out of our epistle is on how our work, our labor, our vocations, our jobs, our careers -- what God has given us to live on, by which and through which we are able to take care of ourselves -- these are the God-given gifts that occupy our time in God’s service in the world and in society. Your labor, your work, your living keeps you – as the saying goes – “out of trouble,” it keeps you “busy” in the best sense of the word so that you are productive in using the gifts, the skills, and abilities that God has given you in order to help people around you. That is, the best way to avoid worrying about the end of the world and avoiding a religious fanaticism about predictions and such is to work, to labor, and to provide for yourself…this honors God, it serves people, and it provides clarity for living.

 

Religious and spiritual fanaticism, however, was taking over the hearts and minds of some of the members of the church in Thessalonica. “In view of the nearness of the [second coming of Christ] (as they thought) they were refraining from doing any work. They would find such conduct all the easier in view of the Greek idea that labor was degrading (Morris, Leon, The New International Commentary On The New Testament: The First and Second Epistles To The Thessalonians, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmanns Publishing Co., 1959:251).”

In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,

Pastor

We are approaching the end, including the end of the Church Year. Towards the end of our Lord's public ministry, people were gathering to try to discredit our Lord; religious leaders tried to trap Him. Tomorrow's text is about one of these instances, but through it the Lord Jesus -- before His glorious resurrection -- taught about our resurrection, aboutyour resurrection.

This teaching, however, is not limited to impacting only your future, but also most definitely your NOW. There is law from Luke 20 to reveal what threatens you today; and there is amazing Gospel from Luke 20 to encourage and strengthen you today. I hope you'll come to be fed through Word and Sacrament as you receive this sermon "The God of the Living" and the life-giving Holy Communion.

____________

In the face of the typhoon that has taken at least 1,200 lives in the Philippines, I reached out to and have already heard back from Rev. James Cerdenola, president of The Lutheran Church in the Philippines. The typhoon struck the central island of the three main islands where there are three LCP congregations. Please keep these in prayer. At tomorrow's parish council meeting we will discuss how we might extend help to LCP.

____________

Dr. Charles Manske, the founding president of Concordia University Irvine (when it was founded as Christ College), preached before a packed-chapel at CUI yesterday. In his sermon he shared his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and it was obvious that he was physically weak. However, he was amazingly strong in spirit and in the Holy Spirit! His proclamation was tremendously inspirational as he encouraged all of us to make the most of the short time we have here to serve the Lord and to share the Gospel. In the sermon he shared about the long process to establish the university. Against many odds, one of the first priorities he enacted was the formation of a prayer team. I sat there realizing that this is something we should be doing as we seek our own facility at Saint Paul's. Effective immediately, I would like to form -- apart from the site committee -- a team whose sole focus is prayer for our future facility. 

_______________

Our "stewardship program" has not been about time, treasures, and talents...the typical approach to many programs, but has been about our stewardship in the Word of Christ. My interest is for you to experience the benefit of being in the Word more often (which includes the possible formation of more Small Group Bible Studies). What might follow is to grow in our stewardship of vocation, thinking more about our service to the Lord in our everyday life, without putting more on your plate so that you can feel more religious. Let's celebrate our vocations today: loving your spouse, your children, your grandchildren, your neighbors, your co-workers...these are the golden opportunities to love and share Christ's Gospel right now...all of this comes as the Word of God fills us more and more.

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“The God of the Living” (Luke 20:27-40)

Twenty-five Sunday after Pentecost

Pastor Espinosa

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. We are quickly moving towards the end of the Church Year and today is the 25^th Sunday after Pentecost and also the third-to-last Sunday of the Church Year. Themes of the end are properly put before us and our Gospel this morning from Luke chapter 20 records some of the events before the end of our Lord’s public ministry. It seems surreal that the precious Son of God sent to save all people, full of love and mercy; full of compassion and grace would be attacked by so many trying to trip Him up, trap Him in his words, and discredit Him. The assaulters of the Lord line up in this section of Saint Luke’s Gospel. And though the scribes or Pharisees opposed the teaching of the chief priests or Sadducees; the two parties nevertheless found common ground in their goal to kill Jesus.

 

In our particular Gospel at Luke 20:27-40, it is the Sadducees who are taking their shot at Jesus. These particular Jews traced a proud lineage to the high priest under King David, they included lay people from wealthy and privileged families devoted to the temple cult and cut off from other Jews. At the same time they had a tendency to be “free thinkers” and “loose livers” (Lenski, 992), embracing Greek culture and were at the end of the day theological liberals. As a result of their weak Scriptural understanding they rejected the teaching of the bodily resurrection after death and they also rejected the teaching of the existence of angels, both of which of course are major teachings of the Christian faith.

 

Why would they reject such things? That’s a good question, but the ancient testimony of Ephrem the Syrian states that as “Sadducees” meant “the just [ones],” they had a tendency to take pride in their self-image that did not need a reward in order to trust in God (Ancient Christian Commentary, New Testament III, 312). Resurrection is a reward. It is also certainly true that angels are of great benefit.  The Sadducees prided themselves, however, on needing none of this. They were the just ones who believed in God without needing any reward or benefit!
That is to say they were very proud of themselves and it is this of course that is the basic reason for their rejecting Christ and the teaching of God’s Word. They considered themselves above the Lord and above His Word!

 

But the more specific explanation for their rejection of the resurrection is revealed in the way they tested Jesus as recorded in Luke 20. The basis for their hypothetical scenario about the woman and the seven brothers all of whom became her husband was for them to be able to ask Jesus a climatic question which they believed was unanswerable and would in the final analysis demonstrate why Jesus was not be followed: “In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be?”

 

Furthermore, the other characteristic of the Sadducees was to hold to the code of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament, the books of Moses). Moses was authoritative, not Jesus. They had in mind Deuteronomy 25:5-6 which is part of the Mosaic Law that was simply given to not allow the dead, childless brother’s line to die out; the first son of the new marriage would be regarded as the dead man’s child and thus his name and heritage would be preserved. But the Sadducees stretched this teaching out to the extent that they made a grand assumption and this is the real problem revealed: they assumed that the conditions of this world dictate the conditions of the next. If all seven husbands rise from the dead, then you face a ludicrous situation because the woman would have seven husbands after the resurrection! They therefore rejected the bodily resurrection.

 

Fast forward to the 21^st century and you soaking all of this in today: In a way, who can blame us for feeling extraordinary detached from this text in God’s Word? After all, the last time I checked our church roster, none of us here are Sadducees and if you really are, then please see me after divine service, but wait a minute, it may be possible that all of us will need to see me after divine service and I’ll need to see my pastor this week as well. Why? Because it is clear that our sinful nature shares all of the key points of concern this Word of God reveals about the Sadducees:

 

1)      They were fundamentally proud and regardless of their peculiar cultural and biblical positions, their sinful nature is a reflection of our own: we look for ways to qualify God’s Word in order to justify ourselves…both our core beliefs and our core behaviors. Ancient Sadducees aren’t the only human beings who have ever done this. We do this whenever we decide that defending our pride is more important than following God’s Word. I once had a parishioner who did not remain a parishioner for long who very carefully and sincerely explained to me why it was ok for her to commit adultery since she loved the man she was having an affair with and did not in fact (feel) love for her husband. Our flesh engages in this insanity. We are all in this respect happy Sadducees by a different name in 21^st century America.

 

2)      But this isn’t the only way that we relate to their situation: once God’s Word is qualified to suit our own agenda: we miss out in the power of God that is intended to be known and lived out through His Word. For example when the teaching of the forgiveness of sins is embraced, we experience “the power” and the liberation to share that forgiveness with those who offend us, and even if they do not confess their sin -- and we are forced to wait until we can give absolution -- we can still rid ourselves of the bitterness in our hearts and forgive them in our hearts as we pray this liberating power coming from our Living Lord who forgives us every day: “and forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.” But when we change the Word, we forsake its power. In the case of the Sadducees, their pride against God’s Word caused them to reject the resurrection! Does this happen anymore? I would like to suggest that it happens more often than we care to admit. No, we cannot say that this is always the manifestation of the sinful flesh, but it is certainly a very common one, because to reject the resurrected Christ is to accept compromises of what happens after death.

Tomorrow is a very sacred and holy day. We will celebrate All Saints' Day and also celebrate the commemoration of the faithful departed. We will remember the martyrs and all the saints, the faithful who have died in the faith. It is a very precious annual observance for us at Saint Paul's.

We will also proclaim the Gospel from Matthew 5:1-12, the portal to the Sermon on the Mount and a spectacular Scripture known as "The Beatitudes." It is a phenomenal text in which Jesus commences His public words in His saving, public ministry. They are words which establish that Jesus came to impart GRACE! Unfortunately, these words are often treated as new Law, making Jesus into a second Moses. We will proclaim the true meaning and lift up those who are "poor in spirit."

In addition, we will receive the life-giving body and blood of Jesus and experience first-hand the great gift given to those who "thirst and hunger for [God's] righteousness." Come and be fed; come and be nourished!

Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:

“Blessed Are You” (Matthew 5:1-12)

Pastor Espinosa

     Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Jesus saw “great crowds” (Mt 4:25) – some of whom came to hear Jesus (Mt 7:28) as they saw him sit down (as Rabbis typically did when they taught), his disciples also came to Him (Mt 5:1) and at this juncture in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus spoke the very first words of His public ministry; the very first words out of His mouth to reach all people (members of the crowd back then), as well as those already following Him (disciples = mathetes means “learner,” or “hearer,” and translates into one who follows); and these very first words are to the “crowds/all people” today; and to His present-day disciples like you…these are the very first words which mark Jesus’ ministry, which reveal why Jesus came! What would they be? What words would set the entire tone and main content for His saving ministry and the reason for His coming into the world?

 

Jesus’ first words are nine sentences declaring and imparting His blessing upon sinners. These “blessed” (markarioi) statements proclaim and impart grace dear Christians, they are Gospel words! Much to our great shame, however, we treat them over-and-over again as Law words, as man-made, cause and effect words: “If you are this, then you are blessed.” This is wrong and treats Jesus as a new Law-Giver. This false understanding implies that Moses once went up to the mountain for the first set of tablets called the Ten Commandments, and now Jesus goes up to this New Testament mountain to give us a new set of tablets, this time containing a more spiritual law in the Beatitudes.

 

So plain and simple: the words of grace and blessedness are mistreated as ethical prescriptions like these:

 

“If you are poor in spirit, then you will get the kingdom of heaven.”

“If you mourn, then you will be comforted.”

“If you are meek, then you will inherit the earth.”

“If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, then you will be satisfied.”

“If you are merciful, then you will receive mercy.”

“If you are pure in heart, then you will see God.”

“If you are a peacemaker, then you – with other faithful ones -- will be called sons of God.”

Etc.

 

So again with this orientation -- and according to this misinformed view -- Jesus is teaching you and me how we can earn the kingdom of heaven. That is, He is teaching us about how to train our attitudes. “I need to be more humble, more contrite, more righteous, more merciful, more pure, more apt to make peace…and if I am these, then I shall be blessed.”

 

But if this is anything “blessed,” then it is a blessed catastrophe in interpretation and we totally misunderstand our Savior! If this were the case, then the true beauty of poor sinners beholding their gracious Savior – as they will also do in heaven (Rev. 7) and at the end of the world (1^st John 3) – and receiving His free love and mercy is denied and replaced with a picture that isn’t about beholding Jesus, but is a picture of beholding ourselves: looking upon ourselves, and our potential for moral improvement. This view, however, is an affront to everything that our Lord meant in starting His saving ministry with the nine declarations of “blessed.”

 

Besides can you imagine the hypocrisy involved if we actually took the view that our sinful flesh wants to take? How lowly and humble do you make yourselves in service to others really? Perhaps there is a level of some sort of humility in how you treat others, but only when they are kind to you and especially if they agree with you! But how lowly and humble are you towards those who disagree? How lowly and humble are you to those you’ve determined ahead of time don’t serve your lowliness and who do not deserve your humility? And how much do you hunger and thirst for righteousness when you hunger and thirst for the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions (1^st John 2:16)? And how merciful are you towards those you’ve convinced yourself are not deserving of mercy so that you can be like the unforgiving servant who received mercy, but then tried to choke out of another servant what was owed him (Mt 18:21f)? How pure in heart are you when by nature you easily permit the things of this world to become the idols which command your time and energy? If this was the message of Jesus in the commencing His ministry, then He is surely a “Savior” we do not want to know; that is He would be no Savior at all, but only a new task-master intent on magnifying the misery of helpless sinners!

 

But the true Savior, the real Jesus began His great sermon with this portal of grace: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” This is a proclamation of universal grace to you sinner and to all sinners (like me and the rest of humanity). The “poor in spirit” is a description of the status of human beings, it is a description of what we are: spiritually deprived. The poor in spirit have not the spiritual resources to save themselves. On account of sin, they are spiritually bankrupt and lost; they are dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). But in your lost and spiritually dead – spiritually poor – condition, Jesus comes and the very first words out of His mouth is to bless you! And there is but one reason: for YOURS is the kingdom of heaven. The first beatitude and the eighth beatitude are distinct from the 2^nd through 7^th beatitudes. The 2^nd through 7^th describe blessings to come in the future; but the 1^st and 8^th describe THE blessing that is already yours: the kingdom of heaven is yours right now sinner! Why? Because the King of the kingdom has come FOR YOU! Jesus was presenting Himself back then as the Savior of sinners and Jesus is presenting Himself right now – right this moment – as the Savior of sinners. The King comes to you – as helpless as you are – to save you.

 

And this is the significance of the word “blessed,” it is not an attitude – like “be happy” – but a status: you’re saved! You’re rescued! You’re forgiven! You’re given the kingdom with all of its blessings in tow! Not because you’ve made yourself poor in spirit, but because Jesus came for what you already are: Jesus has come for sinners. This message is 100% unadulterated grace for sinners! It is the Good News that saves and blesses us while were enslaved to the sin that made us spiritually bankrupt. You are blessed because Jesus comes for the helpless, period!

In Jesus' Love,

Pastor Espinosa