Today at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine — the First Sunday in Lent, February 17th, 2013 — “Temptation” (Luke 4:1-13)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
In the 6th petition of the Lord's Prayer we pray "and lead us not into temptation." This does not mean that we ask the Lord that we never be tempted (see the actual definition from the Catechism below), but that we would not be overcome by temptation. Along the way we must come to realize that we are never called to resist on our own and without the grace and help of God. Instead, we pray that the Lord Himself would help us when temptation comes. What is the basis for our confidence in asking Him to help? The simple answer is because Christ and Christ alone overcame temptation. He is the victor over temptation for us. Here is an excerpt from this morning's sermon:
1. Thus we pray in The Lord’s Prayer: “And lead us not into temptation.”
What does this mean? “God tempts no one. We pray in this petition that God would guard and keep us so that the devil, the world, and our sinful nature may not deceive us or mislead us into false belief, despair, and other great shame and vice. Although we are attacked by these things, we pray that we may finally overcome them and win the victory.” (Luther’s Small Catechism, explanation of the 6th petition of the Lord’s Prayer)
2. Some of us, however, feel defeated before we even begin the fight. A mother once told her little boy that she was going to the grocery store and that he was not to touch the jam! Upon returning, the mother noticed the jam all over the little boy’s fingers and on the corners of his mouth. “Didn’t I tell you when Satan tempts you that you should tell him to get behind you?” his mother quizzed him. But the little boy explained, “Yes mommy, but as soon as he got behind me, he pushed me right into it!”
3. We can relate. We know better, but we can all say with St. Paul in Romans 7: “…I do the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15)
Part I: Away from trying to deal with temptation through our own will power and such, instead let us run to Christ!
- The problem is that too often we convince ourselves that the key to overcoming temptation is our own self-discipline. In other words, “we have to be stronger.”
- But none of us can withstand the assault. The devil is stronger than we are period.
- There is only One who has stood against him successfully: The Lord Jesus Christ!
- So when tempted, flee to Jesus!
- Notice in the book of James -- at chapter 4 verse 7 -- where we are taught to resist the devil, the command is qualified by the part just prior to your resisting. Scripture says, “submit yourselves therefore to God.” That is, we are to return to Christ. Otherwise any so-called “resistance” is only wishful thinking!
- We must understand that temptation is not for us to defeat. Rather, believe in the Gospel and confess the truth of what the Gospel reveals: Jesus defeated temptation FOR YOU!
- The temptation in Luke 4 (and the other Gospel parallels) is extremely important for our Lenten season. Lent is not for you to embark on 40 days of making yourself better, but 40 days of having Christ before your eyes of faith, the ONLY ONE who faced and defeated all temptation! On account of His victory over the devil, Jesus said he saw the devil fall from heaven like lightning (Luke 10:18). Jesus saw his defeat. Thus it is Christ’s victory we must cling to in temptation.
- But too often our sinful pride takes over and we want to imagine that we can muster up the strength to be our own saviors. This is delusion.
I hope to see you God's house.
In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,
Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa
Tomorrow at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine, February 10th, 2013: “We Would Rather Build Houses” (Luke 9:28-36)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Tomorrow is the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany and we will celebrate the Transfiguration of Our Lord!
The Law will focus on the great comfort we take in realizing the glory of our Savior, Jesus Christ to the extent of a sinful reaction: we want to soak it in, bask in it, hide in it, and shut down in it. This self-centered reaction is carried on to the extent that we become inactive in bearing the cross, doing the Lord’s work in the world, and caring for our neighbors. We would rather build a house to enclose the glory we know (Luke 9:33). In this way, we also avoid all suffering. We forget that the purpose of the Transfiguration was to strengthen and encourage the Lord Himself who entered our weakness and His disciples for “his departure. (Luke 9:31)” This was not the time for house-building, but the time to be girded and prepared for the Passion of Christ. The glimpses of glory are shown to us not so that we would sit on it or in it, but to strengthen us to go forth and to “listen” (Luke 9:35) to the Son and to follow Him no matter our cross. Lent cannot be endured without this encouragement; without this background knowledge of glory. But when the Holy Spirit keeps the greater reality of glory before our eyes of faith, then we are empowered for the battle until we see the Lord face-to-face…in glory!
During the service we will also receive our newest members to Saint Paul's, we are blessed to be receiving eight (8) new members to the congregation and all of them are adults. One of them will be confirmed into the LC-MS and to Saint Paul's...this promises to be an exciting day.
Here is an excerpt from tomorrow's sermon:
“We Would Rather Build Houses”
(Luke 9:28-36)
Pastor Espinosa
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. The Transfiguration of our Lord is perhaps the most glorious of all of the epiphanies of Christ which we celebrate. In this epiphany our Lord most certainly once again revealed His divine glory when He was shown in “dazzling white” while being flanked by Moses who had lived about 1450 years before Jesus was ever born and Elijah who lived about 850 years before Christ came from The Virgin. Both of these prophets appeared from heaven and stood there speaking to Jesus about -- as the Scriptures say -- “his departure” (Luke 9:31). The stunned disciples Peter, James and John were so amazed at what they witnessed that when St. Peter finally opened his mouth to speak, his words betrayed the incapacity of the human heart to absorb the glory of God.
And yet even at that, the disciples did not see the full and unrestricted glory of God – as I proclaimed a few weeks ago – since God does indeed hide Himself for our own good. If the disciples had witnessed the full glory of Jesus, they would not have lived to tell about it. They got to see in accord with what was most likely the limit of their capacity to see, but even this was dumb-founding to them as proven once again by Peter’s words.
But why all the fuss? Does it seem to you dear Christian like a lot of extra pomp and circumstance? Haven’t the Scriptures up to this point already clearly revealed that Jesus is the true Savior? Surely we already know this by now through the revelation of the Star of Bethlehem, the Baptism of our Lord, His first miracle at the wedding of Cana, and indeed His manifestations in and through His Holy Bride The Church and in and through each and every one of Her members who have been given a manifestation of the Holy Spirit for the common good (1st Corinthians 12:7). It appears that the Lord has had ample occasion for us to get the point. So it just might seem that the Transfiguration of Our Lord is a beautiful and yet somewhat superfluous religious climax to reinforce the theme of Christ’s epiphanies. And if we left it at that, we would be committing a grievous error. The Transfiguration is so much more than that.
Come and hear about the "much more"!
In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,
Pastor Espinosa
Tomorrow at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine February 3rd, 2013: “Demons and Sickness Rebuked” (Luke 4:31-44)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. In today’s Gospel Jesus uses one word three different times. It is the word in the original language epitimao, and it means to rebuke, denounce, express strong disapproval (the idea includes having authority to do all of this; and when that authority is expressed, it is done in the form of a command that metes out that authority and puts everything in its proper place, or to mete out in due measure; things can only go so far under the authority of the one who has the power and the right to establish the boundaries). It is a very important word that is immensely appropriate for the epiphany theme. When Jesus speaks this way, He speaks as only God can speak. And in using the word the way He does in our Gospel, Jesus shows that His authority extends both to the spiritual and physical realms.
- In Luke 4:35 and Luke 4:41, Jesus rebukes demons. That is Jesus has the power and authority to mete out and control the boundaries of demons, and the good angels for that matter.
- In Luke 4:39 Jesus rebukes (remember same word) the fever of Peter’s mother-in-law (that’s right the first “pope” was married, had a wife; in fact church tradition records that they had children, but this is another sermon); the point here is that Jesus rebukes and controls what happens here on earth, even things like fevers.
And I would like to make our list even more thorough by reminding you of what Luke 8:24 says when Jesus and the apostles were in a boat and the boat started to be overcome by water. The panicking disciples woke Jesus up and the Word of God records: “[He] rebuked the wind and the raging waves, and they ceased, and there was calm.” Once again, the same word is used.
The Lord Jesus Christ proves in the Word of God that He controls the spiritual realm (all angels and demons must bow before Him); and He controls the physical realm, not only the wind and the waves, hurricanes, tropical storms, tsunami’s, tornado’s, earthquakes, but He also controls the physical aspects of our body (good health, cancers, cataracts, fevers, lupus, diabetes, celiac, ms, Alzheimer’s, all of it). Be sure you maintain an enormously vital biblical distinction: these things Jesus does not cause. No, we can thank those fallen angels and human beings (like us) who rebel against God for that. It is not God’s fault that we rebel, it is ours. God does not cause these things, but once these things are released, make no mistake about it, the Lord Jesus Christ is in complete control of all of it. Jesus says in Matthew 28:18: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.”
In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,
Pastor Espinosa
Tomorrow January 27th, 2013 at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine: “The Church — All of You — Are Christ’s Epiphany, Especially for the Unborn”
Dear Christian Friends,
Sermon
“The Church – All of You – Are Christ’s Epiphany…
Especially For The Unborn”
Rev. Dr. Alfonso O. Espinosa
Introduction: We’ve Been Talking “Epiphanies”…the Wise Men following the Star; The Baptism of Christ; The Holy Spirit in your life (last week); but there is another and it is our life together as the people of God, the body of Christ, the Holy Church esp. as we stand together to speak the truth in love -- even if we are persecuted -- in the face of evil in the world.
And it is important in this regard that we cut to the chase and speak of those things which are most difficult to address and stand against. Luther addressed this principle:
“Neither is it of any help if someone would say, ‘I will gladly confess Christ and His Word in every other article, except that I may keep silence about one or two that my tyrants may not tolerate…’ For whoever denies Christ in one article or word has denied the same Christ… [in] all the articles…” (Luther’s letter to Graf Albrecht von Mansfeld on June 3rd, 1523, Concordia Journal/Fall 2009, p. 356f)
- It is so easy to be silent about so many things nowadays!
- Why is it so sinfully easy?
- We like to avoid controversy, confrontation, and offense.
- Closely related is that we want to be liked.
- And frankly we all experience the gravitational pull of universalism in American religiously…the goal is to simply have a general “belief in God,” “to be a good person,” and to avoid absolutisms whenever possible. After all, if you do this, then you can maintain that you are not a “judgmental” person…after all, didn’t Jesus say, “Do not judge. (Matt 7:1a)”?! Answer: Jesus did, but He did not mean do not discern between good and evil OR do not take a stand against evil…He meant do not condemn (leave eternal destinies in the hands of God where they belong)…but on the other hand, you must take a stand…not in order to demonize people (for we are all sinners), but in order to be faithful to God and in order to truly love your neighbor!
- How important is this?
Matthew 5:13: “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”
- Part of our problem, is that we let way too much time go by and just put things off…and tomorrow never comes! Like I have been putting things off as your pastor and it’s been bothering me.
- For the first time in pastoral ministry and I’m sure only by the grace of God, I began to lead a “life-ministry” in my congregation at Living Word Lutheran Church, The Woodlands, TX while I served there from 2002-2010. We had a very simple and focused and pro-active approach: we participated in “40 Days of Life” with other Christian Churches (trans-denominational) in the Houston Area that organized to stand vigil at the local Planned Parenthood centers in the Houston area, including the largest complex of Planned Parenthood on the North American Continent in Houston, TX.
- As many of you know Planned Parenthood was started by Margaret Sanger who was the greatest modern advocate and leader of abortion in America in the history of our country.
- You know about the Holocaust and the 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazi’s. While I traveled in Germany recently, I saw a very large memorial to those Jews in Berlin…it was striking and commands an ongoing memorial so that the Holocaust would never be forgotten.
- Well there are other things that mustn’t be forgotten nor ignored by the Christian Church if we are to be Christ’s light in this world. A lot happened last week: the country celebrated the contributions of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King, President Obama was inaugurated, but did you catch the significance of Tuesday, January 22nd? It was the 40th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, when legalized abortion in America became a reality. Again, we remember the 6 million Jews who were the murdered victims of the Holocaust, but we cannot forget, we must never forget either the 50…the 50 million unborn babies who had no defenders when they were murdered (think of all the people in the state of California plus millions more, murdered)…and make no mistake about that regardless of the most or least sophisticated reasons for conducting those abortions, innocent human beings have been slaughtered in the womb. Let it said plainly and simply: abortion is a crass violation of God’s 5th commandment: “Thou shalt not murder.” As a country, we are without excuse.
I will continue this sermon tomorrow and lead us to the single, most important reason in Christ that we are moved by the Gospel to love the Lord's gift of life beginning at conception.
Bless you dear Christian!
Dr. Espinosa
Tomorrow Sunday, January 20th, 2013 at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine: “The Manifestation of the Spirit” (1st Corinthians 12:7)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. As you know “epiphany” is about God being manifest. We need for this to be the case, because if God did not reveal Himself then we would never know Him, nor would we ever be saved. This is why we have to be careful when we encounter the popular objection to believing to God: “Why should I believe in a God that I cannot see?” This objection along with many other objections is used to keep a safe distance from faith and from entering into a relationship with the Living God, especially when it is presupposed that such faith is unreasonable and without warrant.
Unfortunately, the answers that come back from Christians to those who state this objection are often inaccurate. How many Christians with good intentions will answer the objection, “Why should I believe in a God that I cannot see?” with something along the lines of, “You just need to believe.”? What is perpetuated here is the idea of “blind faith”. Now it’s easy to be confused about these matters. After-all, at first glance it may seem that the Bible itself supports such an idea. Consider for example Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Well there you have it: faith is the conviction of things not seen. Case closed. Christians must therefore believe in blind faith. Not so fast.
There is a biblical context and backdrop to these words. To put it simply: if God suddenly appeared in all of His glory – in front of you and me right here and right now – we would all be in a lot of trouble. As sinful human beings, we would be overwhelmed. No one can see the full glory of God and survive. Even to Moses, God said, “Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:23) The ancient church father Tertullian commented on this state of affairs: “It is not permitted us to contemplate the sun, in the full amount of [its] substance which is in the heavens, but we can only endure with our eyes a ray” (ANF3:609).It is in this respect that the Bible records God speaking these words in Exodus 33:20: “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”
This is why we sometimes explain this situation in terms of God “hiding” Himself. He hides Himself not in the sense that He is undetectable, but in the sense that we do not and cannot see His full glory. This is indeed an important biblical teaching. Listen to the words of Isaiah the prophet: “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior.” (Isaiah 45:15)
Tomorrow Morning January 13th, 2013 at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine: “The Baptism of Our Lord” (Luke 3:21-22)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
“With You God Is Well-Pleased”
(Luke 3:21-22)
Pastor Espinosa
“21Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heavens were opened, 22and the Holy Spirit descended on him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.’”
Introduction: There Are Many Ways to Approach Life
A. In the multitude of ways in which you strive by your own standard or righteousness OR by approaching life in accord with God’s standard and righteousness.
B. If we choose our standard or righteousness, we enter into a sinful maze that leads to disaster as we try to follow the vast-array of “god-substitutes”: (from Keller’s The Reason for God, 290-291)
1. If you center your life and identity on your spouse or partner, you will be emotionally dependent, jealous, and controlling. The other person’s problems will be overwhelming to you.
2. If you center your life and identity on your family and children, you will try to live your life through your children until they resent you or have no self of their own. At worst, you may abuse them when they displease you.
3. If you center your life and identity on your work and career, you will be a driven workaholic and a boring, shallow person. At worst you will lose family and friends and, if your career goes poorly, develop deep depression.
4. If you center your life and identity on money and possessions, you’ll be eaten up by worry or jealousy about money. You’ll be willing to do unethical things to maintain your lifestyle, which will eventually blow up your life.
5. If you center your life and identity on pleasure, gratification, and comfort, you will find yourself getting addicted to something. You will become chained to the “escape strategies” by which you avoid the hardness of life.
6. If you center your life and identity on relationships and approval, you will be constantly overly hurt by criticism and thus always losing friends. You will fear confronting others and therefore will be a useless friend.
7. If you center your life and identity on a “noble cause,” you will divide the world into “good” and “bad” and demonize your opponents. Ironically, you will be controlled by your enemies. Without them, you have no purpose.
8. If you center your life and identity on religion and morality, you will, if you are living up to your moral standards, be proud, self-righteous, and cruel. If you don’t live up to your standards, your guilt will be utterly devastating.
OR you can put all of the man-made systems of righteousness aside and go with God’s plan…
C. But here’s the rub (the impossible challenge in one respect at least), God’s plan is the “righteousness of God.”
1. This teaching in God’s Word has multiple facets. It has the facet of God’s saving righteousness, esp. as we know it in St. Paul’s “righteousness of God (Rom 21f.),” but it is a concept that is also alongside of God’s justice. (Kittel, ed., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Volume II, 195-197)
2. It had a very precise sense, however, when in a parallel to our Gospel in Luke 3 this morning – in Matthew 3 – Jesus said as he approached John the Baptist (who is practically beside himself and aghast at the idea that Jesus would come to him for baptism):
Matthew 3:15: “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.”
D. At Jesus’ baptism Jesus is touching on that aspect of the “righteousness of God” that expresses itself in “the right conduct of man which follows the will of God and is pleasing to Him, for rectitude of life before God, for uprightness before His judgment. (Kittel, 198)”
1. In other words, “the righteousness of God” includes the idea of doing what is pleasing to God.
2. And at this juncture in which the righteousness of God might be isolated in accord with this biblical and legitimate definition, we find ourselves still in a mess.
3. All of the man-made systems of righteousness only lead to satanic confusion and sinful addictions, so we try to do the right thing and turn to God’s way…
4. That is, the effort to do what is pleasing to God; to live in the righteousness of God.
a. We try to think the right way, but our thoughts betray God’s righteousness.
b. We try to desire the right things, but our hearts are found to be corrupt in light of God’s righteousness.
c. We try to commit ourselves to right ways, but our sin keeps rearing its ugly head, and we fail in accord with the standard of God’s righteousness.
d. God knows how His righteousness in our lives should be expressed: we should love Him with all of our hearts (with all that we desire); with all of our souls (with all that we commit to); and with all our minds (with all that we permit to characterize our thought-lives), but we fall-short. In sin, we love ourselves more than God…our own desires, our own commitments, and our own thought-lives betray God...for all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Ro 3:23).
Part 1: All of These Reasons Are Why Jesus’ Baptism Was Vital for Our Being Rescued from These Terrible Circumstances!
[The rest of this sermon explains the power of Christ's baptism for us!]
Tomorrow Morning at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine January 6th, 2013: The Epiphany of Our Lord
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Introduction: Popular images that don’t quite represent Scripture. Case and point: The Epiphany “Kings” or “Wise” Men Who Followed the Star:
- Calling them “kings” is something that did not occur until the 6th century; calling them “wise” did not occur until the 8th century! (Gibbs, Concordia Commentary: Matthew 1:1-11:1, 123-124)
- But our cultural images have built up these popular ideas about the magi who came to pay homage and adoration towards the baby Jesus (who was about two years old and was now being raised in the house of Joseph and Mary). This also corrects our typical “manger scenes”: the magi never made it to the manger, but traveled for many months to see the baby Jesus when much time passed after His birth. So the shepherds worshipped at the manger, but the magi bowed down before Christ in the humble home of Joseph and Mary many months after the birth of Christ.
- In the typical manger scene we have the poor shepherds and then the elaborate magi right there with them, but the biblical evidence states that the magi arrived long after the shepherds and furthermore Scripture will not let us be too terribly impressed with the magi.
- Magi were often servants of rulers who oppressed the people of Israel as we seemingly have depicted in the book of Daniel. They were most certainly not kings, but again, servants.
- Furthermore, any good Israelite would never admire their so-called “wisdom.” Ancient astronomy was often associated with the occult. From a Jewish perspective, this was a form of false and idolatrous knowledge and learning. For the people of God at the time, this would be something to be shunned.
- But even more fundamentally disturbing is that these magi were Gentiles…they were outsiders in relation to the people of God…they did not belong in association with the Holy Messiah!
- So who were the magi…they were not really kings, but servants; they were not really wise, but were known for occult science; and they were not even among God’s people, but Gentiles! How much should these men – in terms of their own persons and credentials – be admired? Not at all! And yet…these are the ones who came seeking Christ!
Tomorrow Morning, the First Sunday after Christmas, December 30th, 2012: The Presentation (Luke 2)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.
B. But there was much more to be done and 40 days after His birth and 32 days after the circumcision He is brought to the temple this time for a presentation that was for purification.
1. The holy family brought prescribed clean and sacrificial animals for their entire families’ purification. In this case, a pair of turtledoves and two young pigeons (v 24).
2. And while it may be easy for us to understand why Mary and Joseph needed purification, what about Jesus (because He too was definitely included)?
3. This tests us dear Christians as to how much we actually understand the Gospel. Too often religious folks throw the word “Gospel” around, but if one were to stop and ask, “What does this mean?” I’m not too certain how folks would do. The good news of salvation in Christ Jesus is quite simply a happy and glorious exchange…if we are to be saved we must know and trust in this truth:
Christ took our sin; we took His righteousness.
Or put in another simple way…
The righteous is counted as sinner; sinners are counted as righteous.
This Morning — Christmas Morning December 25th — at Saint Paul’s Lutheran Church of Irvine: “God’s Christmas Tent” (John 1:14)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Merry Christmas! If you’ve ever been camping, have you ever noticed how close you’ve gotta be with the people you’re camping with? All vanity is thrown to the wind! You get up in the morning and the friends you’re with will see you at your absolute worst! Most of the time, you don’t even have a chance to look into a mirror before you step out of the tent and your friends see your hair in total disarray and who knows what the rest of your face looks like! You eat, sleep, work, play and do everything else in close proximity…so much for pride and dignity!
When you go camping, when you go tenting, you start to really and truly relate to the people you’re with. You realize that all people get cold, all people get embarrassed, all people laugh, all people get worried (especially if you’ve realized you’ve forgotten toilet paper), all people get excited, all people look kinda funny when they get out of their tent first thing in the morning and all people share a lot more in common than we realize. But it is a very good way to bond and to grow closer and again, to relate, to be like a family and to be close. Tenting really makes you grow close and see all that you have in common! Tenting makes you join one another, sharing each other’s space and sharing each other’s lives.
In John 1:14, the original word that the ESV translates as “dwelt” may also be properly translated as “tented”. Thus, the verse could very easily read like this: “And the Word became flesh and tented among us, and we have seen his glory…”. The Word – Jesus Christ – “tented” among us. It takes us back to the Old Testament when the people of Israel were so close to the Lord, because He literally traveled with them through the desert in the elaborate and beautiful tabernacle that was in truth a great tent! God was camping with the Israelites. The cloud of His presence was constantly over the tabernacle and on some occasions, the Lord Himself met the high priest in the Holy of Holies within that great tent. God joined His people in a wonderfully intimate way.
Tonight — Christmas Eve, Monday, December 24th, 2012 — at 7 pm: “A Savior Has Been Born To You” (Luke 2:8-10)
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Christmas Eve is tonight -- Monday, December 24th -- at 7 pm at Crean Lutheran High School.
From the 405 or 5 take Sand Canyon east towards the hills (northeast Irvine).
Cross Irvine Blvd.
Turn right at Saints Way onto the campus of Crean Lutheran High School.
We worship in the hard shell "tent" building.
Come and join us this holy night. We are excited to offer a Candlelight Service of Scripture Readings, Hymns, and Sermon complete with a candle for everyone in attendance as we sing "Silent Night". This night we celebrate the gift of God born in the flesh to save us from sin, death, and the power of the evil one. He came into our lives to give us eternal life. With great joy we gather tonight. We would love to welcome you to this service!
Here is an excerpt of the sermon tonight:
So again, the shepherds epitomize this great reversal. They are not kings, governors, Roman centurions, or priests, but shepherds, so that the theme of the Gospel would be established from the very beginning of Christ’s coming into the world: God has come for the weak, not the strong. Some will object, “But I thought the angels said for ‘for all people,’?!” Yes, true, but the strong reject the Savior who comes; He does indeed come for the strong as well, but the strong do not need Him (so they miscalculate); they love the world more than anything else; and they do not want the things of God; they do not want Jesus; they believe that they do not need Jesus, so even though Jesus comes for them as well, He is also rejected by them. This is why we say He does not come for the strong. We are simply pointing to the end result. Because the strong reject Him, they do not receive Him.
Instead, He comes to the poor shepherds who represent the poverty of hearts and spirits weighed down by sin; He comes to the exhausted, the lowly, and the despairing. Some of us despair because we are ashamed – struggling with a sinful addiction – some of us are filled with guilt knowing that what we have done and what we are doing is no only an affront to others created in the image of God, but rebellion towards God Himself, and some of us are full of fear for that medical diagnosis or that situation that seems to be spinning out of control...all such conditions make us feel weighed down with sin, poor, and weak. And in the world’s version of Christmas the ironic “solution” is to try hard to mask what we despair of through merchandise that will fade and money that is useless for repairing broken hearts. If you relate to what I’m saying then you’re like the shepherds...you too are like those who take great joy that Jesus has entered your life, your real life. If He could come for the poor, dusty shepherds, then He could – and did – come for the likes of you and for the likes of me!
Thank God that he came to shepherds! Hear the words of Jesus as recorded in Matthew 9: “But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners (vv 12-13).” And hear from Matthew 11: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest (v 28).” These words fit shepherds, and more importantly, they fit you.
In Your Service and To Christ's Glory,
Pastor Espinosa