THE AUTHORITY OF JESUS

This year, St. Valentine’s Day falls on Ash Wednesday. So in 2024, we essentially have an annual celebration of love wrapped up together with an annual commemoration of mortality. Consequently, this strange juxtaposition of the romance of Valentine’s Day with the solemnity of Ash Wednesday highlights the fact that this world is often a mixed bag of the joyous and the sorrowful, the wholesome and the broken. In fact, we’ve seen this mixed-bag reality on stark display within current events, both nationally and internationally. Moreover, the Bible readings for our Sunday worship services recently have been focused on Jesus’ spiritual warfare against evil spiritual forces. Therefore, we’re reminded by everything I just mentioned above that our world’s physical conflicts, both locally and globally, are actually reflections of immense spiritual conflicts.

Throughout the Four Gospels of the New Testament, we see our Lord Jesus on the march against the demonic forces that oppress and bedevil humanity. From town to town, and from synagogue to synagogue, we see Jesus in the Gospels continually on the move to cast out demons and bring us healing. And it’s not insignificant that Jesus often used the setting of a synagogue as the arena of his spiritual combat. For even the meaning of the word synagogue has something to say about this.

Although the word synagogue describes a Jewish congregation of faith, it’s actually a word of Greek origin due to the widespread Greco-Roman influence on the ancient Mediterranean world. So, synagogue literally means “together bring” or “together gather.” And this is like other such words with the “syn“ prefix: words like synthesis (meaning “together stated” or “together put forth”) and synod (meaning “together path” or “together journey”). So, over and over in the New Testament, we see Jesus moving ever onward to synagogue with us (to “gather together” with us) and to synod with us (to “journey together” with us) in order to engage with the demonic forces of the spiritual realm, and to heal us with the good news of mercy and redemptive love freely granted to us in faith by his sacrificial death and resurrection life.

Furthermore, Jesus does this healing and restoring of our souls through three principle ways: 1) through his teachings, 2) through his forgiveness, and 3) through his rebuking of evil spiritual forces. That is, Jesus synagogues with us and synods with us in order to provide us with the deep personal healing of his Divine Guidance (his teachings), of his Divine Absolution (his forgiveness of sins), and of his Divine Authority (his absolute sovereignty over all spiritual powers). So just as Yahweh-God in the Old Testament rebuked the waves of the Red Sea to lead the Israelites into freedom, our Lord Jesus Christ also rebukes the demonic disorder and chaos of our world in order to restore us to the right-guidance and wholeness of God’s goodness. For example, when Jesus was confronted with someone who had an impure spirit in Mark 1, he immediately silenced this corrupt spirit and cast it out. And he did so with no magical incantation; no wizarding spell or potion; no sorcerer’s abracadabra. It’s simply because of his Divine Authority as the Son of God through his Word of Command.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, we all know that the year ahead is going to be a conflicted one because of a very contentious US Presidential election and a very unstable global system. But as Christians, we also know that all of these things are physical manifestations of the much larger spiritual warfare that is being fought. Yet we have a Commander and Champion who has absolute authority, always provoking and exposing any and all unclean spirits that vie for our hearts and minds — any and all impure philosophies or theologies or spiritualities we might have.

Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, constantly challenges any and all bad ideologies so that we might be healed from these demonic spirits. For Jesus wants us to be rightly-guided by the good order and original blessing that God intended for us and his whole creation from the very beginning of it all. He wants us to synagogue together and to synod together (“gather together” and “journey together”) according to his Word, knowing that whenever we begin speaking and sharing Jesus’ good news of his grace and truth to seek and save the lost ones of our world then that’s when the unclean spirits can be provoked and stirred-up. But our Lord Jesus Christ himself commands these unclean spirits to “Be silent!” and to “Come out!” By the Divine Authority of his Holy Word and the Divine Power of his Holy Spirit, our Lord Jesus frees us from the disorder and chaos of the various demonic forces we encounter within this fallen and sinful world, and he restores us by his grace (over and over again) unto his original blessing — unto the good order, wholeness and true fulfillment of God’s uncorrupted intention for his creation.

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

NOW THAT IT’S IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR

I’m sharing a picture of me with my quarantine lockdown beard that I grew back in 2020. This was taken at the height of the lockdown when I was doing video announcements, devotions and messages from my office. And growing this wizard beard was fun for me to do during an otherwise very difficult time for our nation and world.

Since the time of this photograph two years ago, the pandemic has moved into our rearview mirror. As in the rearview mirror of an automobile, we can still see the effects of the virus but the pandemic is now behind us. It’s essentially over since it has moved into an “endemic” reality. We have moved from the pandemic into an endemic phase, which means this virus is always going to be with us as a part of the overall ecosystem of annual illnesses. Consequently, there will always be new variants just as there are with influenza each year.

We have also learned that the expectation of never getting this virus is simply an unrealistic one. The truth is that, if we haven’t had it already, we are all going to get it at some point. But thankfully, due to the artificially activated immunity from the vaccines and boosters, and due to the naturally occurring immunity that comes from getting this illness, we now have widespread “herd immunity” moving forward. In addition to all of this, the various excellent therapeutics that have been developed also give us further confidence that we are free to embrace life and ministry to the fullest once again.

As a congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ, we certainly should never again take for granted the opportunity for connection with God and each other that is provided to us through regular participation in Bible study, choir, ministry committees, worship, and Holy Communion with the Lord at his Holy Table each week. Therefore, “not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some” (Hebrews 10:25), let us recommit ourselves to the blessed habit and weekly rhythm of congregational life — especially to in-person Sunday morning worship, face to face. Let us resist turning Christianity into something to be consumed electronically, understanding that Christian fellowship, discipleship and spiritual growth happen best in the week-to-week interaction of in-person community, which is beautiful (but sometimes difficult) and always truly necessary for us.

So now, let’s sing loudly together from our pew seats at church. Let’s boldly praise the Lord without inhibition. Let’s resoundingly speak our liturgies and sing our hymns by the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s walk away from the Lord’s Table each week with a lingering foretaste of the Kingdom of God in our mouths and hearts and souls. And let’s reach out to our unchurched neighbors with the good news and lovingkindness of Jesus Christ, inviting them to the variety of outreach activities and events we are now offering, which include the following:

+ MOLC Summer Day Camp

+ MOLC Trunk or Treat

+ MOLC Holiday Artisan Festival

+ MOLC Community Luncheon

+ And more to come…

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let us be changed by what we’ve experienced over the past several years to live more fully, to love more joyfully, to worship more faithfully, and to share the gospel more urgently. And may we always remember that God is with us to guide us, empower us, and embolden us forward in mission and ministry. God is here in our midst, giving us new life and hope and courage.

A very happy and blessed Fall be with all of you!

Together in Christ Our Lord, Pastor Tim

JESUS, GOD’S PRISM

The Seasons of Advent, Christmastime and Epiphany all share together the theme of spiritual light. And Jesus of Nazareth is the Holy Son of God who shines God’s Eternal Light on us and the whole world.

Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”

(John 8:12)

Our risen Lord and Savior is the Light of God that’s revealed to us in specific and concrete ways. Through Jesus Christ, God’s Light is not only reflected to us by Jesus but it’s also refracted to us by him in very specific hues. Through our Lord Jesus who is God’s Prism, we see the Light of God refracted into its specific spectrum of colors for us to clearly see and understand.

The Universal Light of God is made known to us in the sevenfold spectrum of Jesus’ birth, his life, his teachings, his suffering, his death, his resurrection, and his ascension. Through these seven rays of Jesus’ earthly and heavenly ministry, the rainbow spectrum of God’s Light is shed upon our lives to save, redeem and guide us.

Jesus said, “If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

(John 14:7)

Therefore, as we avail ourselves of the full rainbow of God’s Light in Christ our Lord through his gracious gifts of Word and Sacrament, we receive grace upon grace, and we are strengthened and kept in true faith. And the continuing challenge to all of us is to recognize that this grace and truth of God in Christ will never fit neatly into either a loose universalist faith or a strict fundamentalist faith. Jesus Christ is God’s grace and God’s challenge to absolutely everyone.

Revealed through Jesus Christ and his Apostles, may the New Covenant rainbow of God’s Light grant us the new life of a born again spirit (see John 3). And may Christ’s New Covenant rainbow of God’s Light fill us, challenge us, change us and renew us. Amen.

Good Advent, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and Blessed Epiphany!!!

Together in Christ, Pastor Tim

LENTEN PLOWING & SEEDING

The good news of Jesus Christ is for the desperate. Those who recognize their sinful condition and their desperate need for God’s grace are the target audience of his gospel. And recognizing our basic spiritual desperation is the very thing that readies us to receive the all-surpassing consolation and salvation that can only come through the Living Word of God, Christ Jesus our Lord.

Due to the fall of humanity, allegorized in the Garden of Eden narrative, the fallen condition of the spiritual soil of the human soul is nothing but rocks, hardpan, weeds and thistles. Consequently, “good soil” within the human heart is not so much found as it is created. Just like it is with farming, soil suitable for planting must first be prepared by clearing, weeding and plowing.

Therefore, our hearts need repentance to be prepared to receive the seed of the gospel of Christ. When we sinners have the soil of our hearts broken up by the sharp plow blade of God’s biblical law, then our hearts are made repentantly soft and joyfully able to receive God’s gospel of grace. And the Season of Lent is a very useful time of year to get spiritually plowed up by God’s biblical law and prepared again to be planted anew with God’s saving grace in Christ.

Technically speaking, farmers do not plow to make the soil productive, but rather for the purpose of making the planted seed productive. That’s what God does with us, and that’s what he wants to do anew this Lenten Season. He wants to soften us up for an effective implantation of the grace of the gospel. Through the dying and rising of Jesus the Son of God, it is God’s righteousness alone that grants us this renewal, not our own righteousness. For indeed our human righteousness is so flawed and inadequate that God (who is totally good and holy and pure) regards it as something that is soiled and foul smelling at best, because our human righteousness is compromised by sinful pride and selfish gain. 

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteousness is like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”

Isaiah 64:6

Jesus comes to transform the curse of the soil of the human heart. He comes to give us an honest and contrite heart that appreciates its own sinful condition and desperately longs to be renewed by him through his saving gospel. For only a contrite heart can genuinely appreciate its need for the atonement and redemption that cannot be produced by our own merit, but must be first planted within us by our loving God.

“You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Psalm 51:16-17

May the Lord of grace and truth make our fallen and sinful hearts to be soft and receptive, may he take hold of us and lead us with him through his sufferings of the Garden of Gethsemane and the Cross of Golgotha, and may he raise us up to new life in him.

“Thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread everywhere the fragrance of knowing him. For we are the pleasing aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.”

Second Corinthians 2:14-15

Good Lent & Blessed Holy Week!

Pastor Tim