Bethel Lutheran Church

 

 Expected Rewards [10:50m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Prayer:
O God, in our weakness we have failed to be Your messengers of forgiveness and hope in the world. Renew us by Your Holy Spirit, that we may follow Your commands and proclaim Your reign of love.  Amen.

Readings:
Jeremiah 31:31-34 (New fellowship with God.)
Hebrews 5:1-10 (Jesus, our true high priest.)
Mark 10:32-45 (The measure of all greatness.)

Sermon The following is just some of the points made in the sermon.  Listen to the full sermon by clicking on play above.

In our gospel lesson today, Mark 10:32-45, James and John have a mentality that figures that they should be a part of Jesus’ upper echelon.  After all the did give up everything to follow Jesus. They gave up jobs, homes, time.  But their timing was really bad, you see in our gospel lesson, Jesus has just told these clowns that they are going to Jerusalem and he is going to be mocked, arrested and crucified. But the disciples just don’t get it.  They still view Jesus’ kingdom as earthly, a new reign to free the people from the oppression of the Romans.  They see the coming of the kingdom as a big fight.  They think Jesus is going to pull it out in the end, not die and be the victorious worldly king.  And when Jesus enters his kingdom, they want to be rewarded for their efforts.  They ask for a commitment from Jesus.  Jesus asks them what they want.  And they ask him “Well when you come into your kingdom, can one of us sit on your left and one of us sit on your right.”  Jesus tells them “you do not know what you are asking for.”  They still don’t understand.

Later when the other disciples hear about James and John asking for such a high place, they are upset with them.  Maybe it was for having the audacity to ask for such high places, or maybe it was for beating them to the punch. But Jesus draws them together and teaches them.

The same thing can happen to us that happened to these disciples; we can approach God and say, you know how much time i spend in your church, how much money i give to your offerings, how i am always there with a cheerful smile, how i really want the best–it is only natural that you should reward me.  And in the way our world works, that is appropriate.  But not with God.  For you see God flips the world upside down and teaches truth.  Jesus first dispels that we deserve anything from God.  For indeed our time is from God, our money if from God.  Everything we give to God was from him in the first place.  We are purely receivers in this relationship.

Jesus calls us to follow him. Jesus laid out for the disciples again what he had come to do.  Jesus, from God, to earth, came here to serve.  To pay the ransom for our sins.  A ransom is something that paid to get something more valuable back.  Jesus tells his disciples if you want to be great, be great at serving.  Just as the son of God came here to serve, so we serve too.  Serving does not get us into heaven.  But Jesus’ call is to serve others, to serve as he served us.

There is an old saying that we should expect great things from God, and dare to do great things from him.  We are really good at the expectation part, but we stumble a bit in doing great things for him.  Our lord calls us to serve in humility and love, but be ambitious for the right things.  We let people know how important they are to Christ by serving them.   Serving in love, in response to Jesus’ amazing love for us.

 

 Conflict and Stewardship [14:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Prayer

O God, from whom all good things come, lead us by the Spirit to think on those good and right things, and help us to do them. Amen.

FIRST READING: 1 Corinthians 1:1-11

Paul, called to be an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and our brother Sosthenes, To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ–their Lord and ours: Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him you have been enriched in every way–in all your speaking and in all your knowledge– because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you. Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you.

EPISTLE :  Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:24-31

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do….put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.

HOLY GOSPEL:  Matthew 18:15-23

“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector. “I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

SERMON:  “Conflict and Stewardship”

Listen to the sermon by clicking the play button above.

1. The One Goal of our Church is to pack Heaven.
2. The way we fulfill that goal is in many ways.
3. We have what it takes to accomplish this mission!
4. Why did Christ save us according to Eph. 2:8-9:  “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God–not by works, so that no one can boast.”
5. What are we called to do according to Eph 2:10: “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
6. If a fellow Christian offends you,  you must follow Jesus’ Matthew 18:
   • Go and talk to them privately
   • If they will not listen, then go again but with 2-3 others
   • If again they will not listen, then take the Pastor or an Elder along
   • If still they will not listen, then reveal it to others in the Church.
7. If the person hasn’t done these steps—IT IS GOSSIP.
8. Gossip hurts others because they can’t defend themselves, they aren’t aware of the attacks, and they haven’t been given the opportunity to reconcile with the person if they did cause offense.
9. Gossip hurts the person who hears it because it may be untrue; it pollutes the mind against someone; and it may enlist you in a battle that you shouldn’t be involved in.
10. If we hold up certain gifts/people over others—IT IS FAVORITISM.
11. Stewardship lets us rejoice in the proper use of all that God has given each of us.

 

 A World beyond Figuring Out [12:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Prayer

God of all mercy, by Your power to heal and to forgive, graciously cleanse us from all sin and make us strong; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Readings
Numbers 21:4-9 (Impatience punished by serpents.)
Ephesians 2:1-10 (Saved by grace through faith.)
John 3:14-21 (Faith reaches for life.)

Sermon

It doesn’t take long in a newspaper to figure out that this world is beyond figuring out.  Jesus speaks about darkness, and how by nature we are creatures of darkness who choose to do wrong.  Our world minimizes this.  It says people were just misguided.

Click on the play button above to hear the full sermon.

 

 Ripped Off [12:27m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Readings

Exodus 20:1-17 (The basic terms of the covenant.)
1 Corinthians 1:18-31 (The power and wisdom of the cross.)
John 2:13-25 (Cleansing of the temple.)

Sermon

Listen to the full sermon (by clicking on the play button above) for an amusing antidote from pastor’s childhood and hear how his childhood “tire business” relates to our gospel lesson!

In our gospel lesson today, people were being ripped off.  People who were coming to bring their offering to the Lord were being robbed.  Faithful people who were coming to Jerusalem to worship their God were being stolen from.  And this angered Jesus.  Especially since it was going on in the area that gentile converts had to worship God.

We come to the church as pure receivers.  We are undeserving.  Jesus wants to make sure we come to church to do one thing, to praise the true God.  To worship him in truth and honesty and to come to him with our sins and know that we are forgiven.

When Jesus disrupted business at the temple, the Jews came running.  They were upset that Jesus had disrupted their commerce.  But when they hear Jesus condemning the actions, they cannot argue with it.  So the Jews try to attack jesus instead.  They question his authority.

 

 Standard Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Prayer

O God, Your Son once welcomed an outcast woman and gave her faith.  Give us faith like hers, that we also may trust only in Your love for us. Amen.

Readings

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16 (The covenant name)
Romans 5:1-11 (God’s grace is for all.)
Mark 8:27-38 (Confessing the way of the cross)

Sermon
(Listen to the full sermon by clicking play above.)

First, sorry about the poor sound quality on this recording.

A question, On this powered microphone, where the soundboard puts out 47 volts, and the mic requires 4mA, what microphone resistance is necessary to keep the sound board from burning out? Is it 6.8 Ω or 6.8 kΩ?  I might assume that 1% of you know the correct answer.  Everyone else who then doesn’t know the right answer might pick one or the other.  So those who picked the wrong answer didn’t know and even those who picked the right answer didn’t know either.  (the answer is 6.8 kΩ)

In our gospel lesson today, Jesus asks his “Who do you say that I am?” And Peter answers that you are Christ, the one to save his people.  But Jesus sat them down and told them they are going to Jerusalem and he was going to be mocked and suffer and be killed.  But Peter, when he guessed that Jesus was Christ, he assumed that Jesus would be popular, go to Jerusalem and over throw the roman government and be great rulers with his disciples on earth.  But to die on a cross, they knew Jesus was better than that.  But they just say, “No Lord.”

Sometimes we fall into the same misunderstanding, that because we live as christians, we should get kick backs in this life from God.  That because we give up our time, money, talents and energy for God, that he should make it better for us.  But put this into perspective, that we should take everything from God on the cross and then give a little back and then saw “You owe us.”  And then beyond that to think that we should be rewarded here on earth when our saviour wasn’t.

God intended for us to have eternal life, and that is why Jesus came.  The disciples were mistaken to think that Jesus was going to establish a Kingdom and they would live in his protective shadow.  Jesus came to die for us on the cross, and take away our sins, and that is what gives us life.  We receive this life not because we earn it or because of our allegiance to him.  We receive it because he cares for us, not because he owes us.

Jesus tells us that whoever wants to follow him should pick up  their cross.  How much time do we spend a week reflecting that we are children of God? That a bird doesn’t fall to the ground without him knowing and that he cares for you.

The love of God is constant, steadfast, but we spend our time worrying about the events of this world.  There is a Philosopher who says really we are such worldly beings, and that is not right.  He says we think of ourselves as worldly beings who have spiritual experiences.  But he says that we are actually spiritual beings having worldly experiences.  We belong to Christ, we are his children.  That should be our number one concept and view.  Jesus says who ever wants to follow me should take up our cross.  We are blessed when we do; we are a blessing when we do.

Our call is to serve our lord, to reach people with Jesus, to serve our Lord, pick up our cross and follow him.