Category: Articles

Rev. Marcus T. Zill

St. Mark 2:1-12

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

There was a buzz. It was a sold out packed house. Standing room only. Jesus was back in town. The people were flocking to hear him – curiosity seekers, skeptics, zealots, the paparazzi, and of course, young people in Higher Things t-shirts. They were all there because Jesus was there.

Jesus – the one who casts out demons, who heals with the touch of his hand and a word. Yes, he tried to keep the fanfare down, but the word had already spread all over Galilee. They wanted signs and wonders. So what does Jesus do? He preaches His Word.

But wouldn’t you have liked to see a miracle too? But Jesus is on a mission and Jesus doesn’t have attention deficit disorder – He gets right to the point and He always stays on point– and the point is forgiveness.

Most people would think the physical healing of this paralyzed man was the most extraordinary thing here. But the greater miracle is what occurred right before that.

Now we don’t know for sure what caused this man’s paralysis. But whatever it was, he had to be carted around by four of his friends to get anywhere. You can imagine the anguish he went through physically and mentally because of his condition, and even the spiritual questions that ran through his mind: Why is this happening to me? Is this God’s punishment against me for my sin? Has God abandoned me?

But this man and his friends had heard about Jesus and the miracles He had performed. They had to get to Him, even if it meant climbing on top of the house, and digging a hole in the roof. They risked the mockery of the crowd and the anger of the homeowner. None of that mattered. They were focused solely on one thing: receiving the help that only Jesus could give.

Jesus sees their faith, their determined trust in Him, but He does a rather surprising thing, He says to the paralyzed man dangling in front of him, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” He absolves him. Next. What? That’s it!?! They were expecting a healing, a miracle. And all He does is absolve him? Really?

Well, forgiveness is not what we expect (or seek) from God, either. We want answers, solutions, miracles. Pills and programs? Sure. Spiritual ATM’s? Sounds great. Religion that offers quick answers, good feelings, and easy fixes? Even better. But forgiveness? Plus, downright blasphemous they thought. Jesus knew what they were thinking. “Who does this Jesus think He is? God? Only God can talk like that. Only God can forgive sins. Yes, absolution is an outrage to our religious sensibilities. Of course – it’s also the whole point.

Luther said. If all we had was forgiveness, we’d have everything. Life and salvation. Like a good physician, Jesus isn’t content to treat the symptoms, he goes for the disease, the root cause of all that ails you – Sin. And He reaches for the cure. Forgiveness. And He can’t wait to give it to you.

When we come before God today – He does the same thing – every time – he gets right to the point: Forgiveness. That’s what happens every time you gather in His Name. Jesus comes and says to you, “I forgive you all of your sins.”

But who does the pastor think he is? That’s what the teachers in Jesus’ day were saying about Him. “He’s blaspheming! How arrogant! Only God can talk like that. Only God can forgive sins.” Little did they know that Jesus is God in the flesh with the full authority to forgive. And little did they know that it is the will of Christ that His human voice continue to be heard in the church through His ministers who speak His forgiveness in His name and by His authority.

Deep down, though, don’t you struggle to believe that forgiveness can be that easy. You have to earn it, right? But notice what the paralyzed man did here. He did absolutely nothing! He was carried by others on a board, lowered to Jesus. St. Mark doesn’t record a single word from the paralyzed man. Could he even talk? There was no prayer, no confession, no promises. He wasn’t even really there to be forgiven; he was there for Jesus to fix his legs.

This man is a perfect picture of each of you. You can do nothing before God. You are paralyzed in sin and death. You have to be carried to Jesus, like babies brought to Baptism. You can’t move. You are even worse than paralyzed, you are dead.

However, in the words of Isaiah, “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance…He will come and save you.” And your Lord Jesus has come and He says to you today, “Your sins are forgiven.” Literally, “your sins are loosed.” The chains are off. Your sins are Jesus’ burden now. And you can’t have them anymore. They’re His, and He died with them. He submitted Himself to the paralysis of death in your place to save you. And He rose from the grave in victory over your sin and sicknesses and even over death and the devil himself.

Remember what the Catechism says: “Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation.” Don’t take these words for granted.

Dear loved ones, repent of your own desire to see the “super duper spectacular” that has not been promised you in this life while taking your eyes, and your ears, off of those routinely miraculous words of your Savior meant for you in this life: “Son (daughter), your sins are forgiven.” You are Coram Deo. So confess your sins. Be a real sinner before God; because you are receiving real forgiveness from God. Real forgiveness – from a real Savior – for real sins.

In order to show that His absolution was real, Jesus looks down at the paralyzed man lying there on his stretcher and says, “Arise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And Jesus’ words do what they say. They always do. The man stood up, and immediately he took his pallet in full view of a whole house full of people and walked out. And notice that we still don’t hear a peep out of him because he isn’t the point – Christ’s forgiveness of his sins is!

Yes, the real miracle that occurs here is not simply the temporary healing of the paralytic, but the eternal forgiveness of sins which the paralytic receives through the simple, but extraordinary words of Jesus – words that bring the paralytic unending life and resurrection.

Don’t foolishly think that God isn’t still performing miracles today, for you. He does through the preaching of the Gospel. That is the point.

What Jesus did for that paralyzed man that day in the crowed house in Capernaum, He does for you. He forgives sin. And He raises the dead. It is His authority to do so. And He loves to do it.

And now He forgives you. “Son (daughter), your sins are forgiven.” And when you have forgiveness you have everything.

Everything.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Brent Kuhlman

Matthew 3:13-17

Well, there you are! Man alive, it’s really good to see you again! Where have you been Jesus? We’d lost track of you. It’s been eighteen years since we’ve last heard from you. You were a twelve-year old kid amazingly wowing the Bible teachers and seminary professors at Temple Jerusalem with your knowledge of the Scriptures! Then you went back home and lived in Nazarene obscurity. TMZ Palestine couldn’t even keep tabs on you! And now here you are! Thirty years old! The clock is ticking! Are you finally ready to crank up a kingdom of heaven on the earth? Are you at last going to get all this Messiah business off the ground? You are? That’s great! It’s about time!

Hold on! Wait a minute Jesus! What are you doing? Don’t go there! John, aren’t you going to say something? Get Jesus away from the riverside! Somebody stop Him! This is the last place in the world Messiah should be!

John, your baptism is for sinners! Losers! Screw-ups! Flunkies! Greasers! Critters! Deadbeat sinners that deserve the wrath of God! Brood of viper reprobates that have earned eternal damnation! The Jordan River is teeming with their filthy, foul, rotten, salacious, nasty, obscene sin! And you, Jesus, want to get hip deep in that? Up to your armpits?

That’s it John! Keep Him out! Don’t you dare baptize Jesus! Tell Him John! He should baptize you. He should baptize all of us chief of sinners! He is the Holy One!

And to our dismay, Jesus keeps insisting on it! “Baptize me John,” Jesus says. “After all, this IS all part of getting my Messiahship in gear. All part of cranking up a kingdom of heaven on the earth! Of doing a salvation that only I can do!” And that’s when John finally caves!

You’re freakin’ us out here John! Jesus doesn’t belong here we tell you! Sin and Jesus don’t go together! Stop John! You just can’t let this happen! Surely you are smart enough to know that if you let Jesus step into that toxic and polluted water, it will kill Him! What then of His Messiah business? His kingdom of heaven on the earth? You’ll be flushing all that down the toilet because He’ll end up graveyard dead if He’s baptized in that sin-infested water!

John doesn’t listen to us. He listens to Jesus. And he does it! He baptizes Jesus in the Jordan!

And yes, all the contaminated, toxic, poisonous, noxious water full of sin will be lethal. Totally deadly!

And that doesn’t bother Jesus one bit! In fact, He is quite bullish about it. This is precisely why He’s there in the water. To absorb all deadly sin in His body like a sponge! Seriously! Yours. Mine. The entire world’s. Why?

In order to take it to Calvary to do a Good Friday! That’s an afternoon you can call “good” for a reason. For on the tree He who knew no sin was made to be sin! On Him was laid the iniquities of us all. You name them. He doesn’t leave any out! So that He is counted as MAXIMUM SINNER! The greatest thief, murderer, liar, adulterer, idolater with all sin borne in His body! Shedding His blood as the atoning sacrifice for sin – once for all! For you! And for the world!

And that’s precisely why heaven breaks wide open! That’s why the Father is delighted! “Do you see that Jesus? He’s MY Son! I love Him! I couldn’t be more pleased with Him! After all, He’s doing exactly what I sent Him to do! To be the sin bearer! To be the Savior!”

And for such Messiah work – for getting His kingdom of heaven business cranked up – the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in dove form. Jesus is anointed, consecrated (set apart) and empowered by the Spirit for doing the salvation job. That Jesus takes sin, all your sin and all its damnation, in order to answer for it is a Holy Spirit- filled ministry!

Would you still try to keep Jesus out of the water?

I didn’t think so. Time to repent of all that. And all the rest of your sin while you’re at it. For I have good news for you!

This Jordan River Baptism leads to dark – deadly — but Good Friday. Jesus: Savior – FOR YOU SINNER!

His Baptism and Good Friday count for you. You, sinner, are died for. And you are baptized. Yes, you too, were plunged into the water. A baptismal font! And there Jesus pulled you into the only death that answers for all your sin, its condemnation, and God’s wrath! In Holy Baptism you have been baptized into Jesus’ death! “Buried with Him through baptism into death.” And then “raised .. to new live a new life.” All your sin is forgiven. For the blood of Jesus in the baptismal water cleanses you from all sin.

In the Name of Jesus.

Rev. George Borghardt

Hebrews 10:11-18

In the name of Jesus. Amen. You are Coram Deo perfect. Perfect in every way in Christ. Just perfect. Each of you, every last one of you who can hear my voice today. Perfect. Not a sin, not a bit of it, you are complete.

You’re perfect. You are perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Just perfect. The CCVs who yesterday made fun of how short I am are perfect. Even this guy, he’s perfect too. Me too! Perfect in Christ.

Look at the person to the right you. Give them a thumbs up. They are perfect in Christ.

Then, look at the person on your left – and for me that’s my other right – and wink at them. They are perfect too in Christ.

Perfectly holy – wholly holy. Not a bit of sin. Not a one. Your head is perfect. Your toes – and I don’t even like toes – they are perfectly forgiven in Christ too. You have not a single sin, not a chance, not in Christ, zero, zilcho, zip!

Y’all are Holy Baptism perfect. Holy Absolution – “I forgive you” perfect. Holy Communion Body and Blood of Jesus perfect.

And I’m not blowing wind up your conference shirts either. Nor is this psycho-babble like looking in the mirror and saying over and over again, “I’m perfect” when you sooo aren’t.

And I’m not saying that everything you do smells better than it actually does. No, your pooh still stinks and so do you – before God and before your neighbor too.

But, in Christ, because of His sacrifice, you stand before God perfect. You smell perfect before God – like the sweet aroma of the sacrifice of Christ, your High Priest.

Christ is the offering, the sin offering that makes every last part of you perfect, complete and whole before God. Completely holy. Completely the Lord’s. Perfected by Christ’s holy sacrifice.

His holy life and perfect sacrifice atones for, pays for, answers for, for all your sins, all your imperfections, and all your evil. The Cross makes you perfect, complete, holy before God.

But there’s that sin, and that other one that if anyone knew, you’d be well, just perfectly done.

So, you try to do better. You try to cover your sins like a cat covers their “business” in their cat box, but your stuff still stinks. You excuse yourself, justify it, but it still smells everything up, stinks you up, and there is no air freshener that will fix it. 
And He sees it all, smells it all- all your blunders, your hidden thoughts, your stinking works before God. He knows it all. There are no secrets before the Almighty.

One little imperfection, one mess up, one sin, ruins the whole thing – one stain, one spot, soils you completely.

And you can’t do anything about it. You can’t sacrifice enough, change enough, do enough to be perfect before God all by yourself. Which means, you all by yourself are perfectly lost.

So..Repent! Repent of your own perfection. Die to your stinkiness before God. Leave it in the grave with Jesus and receive.. receive the sweet aroma of Christ’s sacrifice which covers your stench and soothes the angry nostrils of Almighty God.

In His sacrifice, you are in Christ perfect. Christ crucified for you perfect. Nails in to each of His hands and feet perfect. Spear in His side perfect! Christ risen from the dead perfect.

Christ ascended to the right hand of God perfect. All your enemies under His feet perfect.
 “By His one sacrifice [by His Cross] Christ has perfected all those who are being sanctified, [all who are baptized into Christ, all who hear His Words, all who are absolved, all who eat and drink the Body and Blood of Christ.]

You are perfectly forgiven from head to toe. Head. Hands. Arm pits. Knees. Bottoms. Toes. All of you. You are perfectly holy – every bit of you. Christ has redeemed even your stinky parts.

Not just for a little bit or until you sin! All of you stands perfect in Christ before God.

This second, this minute, this hour, this day, this week, this month, this year, all the way until forever.

Now…Back to the people sitting on your left and right… The same sacrifice that makes you perfect before God makes them perfect before God too.

And if they stand before God perfect in Christ, there’s no reason for you to find fault with them when they stand before you. Christ doesn’t, so why should you?

The sacrifice of Christ has splashed everything with blood. Blood that once for all time takes away every one of your sins. Leaving you, and those around you, perfect.

In His gifts – in His Word, in His Baptism, in His Absolution, in His Supper. You are His perfect people made perfect by a perfect Lord who gave up His perfect life as the once-for-all time perfect sacrifice for you.

You are… Perfect in Christ – Coram Deo perfect! INI. Amen.

Rev. Michael Kumm

1 Kings 8:22-43

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

King Solomon, son of the beloved King David, was on his knees and extending his arms in a gesture of eager supplication….Coram Deo – BEFORE GOD. This was a man, who became King at a young age, to whom God in a dream said, “ask for what I will give you.” But who did not ask for wealth, nor health nor anything for himself, but asked God for wisdom…to discern what is right. And God granted it. This man, who has now received the gift of wisdom above all others….kneels Coram Deo – BEFORE GOD. But why, why would such a man…a KING…the Wisest of Kings…kneel Coram Deo? He’s dedicating a temple. A house built to honor and worship Yahweh, the ONE true God.

The altar he kneels before was 30 feet wide, 30 feet long, and 15 feet high (2 Chron. 4:1), and was used for burning the sacrificial animals as offerings to the Lord. Appropriately, Solomon’s prayer, seeking God’s attentiveness and His forgiveness when the people sinned, was spoken at the place where atonement was effected through sacrifice. Approximately a millennium later, Jesus, who gave Himself as the ultimate sacrifice, emphasized that the temple was a “house of prayer” as God himself spoke of old through the prophet Isaiah.

Solomon began his prayer by acknowledging God’s uniqueness: “O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to your servants who walk before you with all their heart,” Solomon described God’s uniqueness not only in acknowledging Him as the “One True God”, but also in terms of His faithfulness in keeping His covenant with “servants who walk before you with all their heart”. Note here….the word “heart” appears in the singular with the plural possessive “their.” This construction calls attention to the corporate nature of the covenant community. As individuals, they were many, but their confession was one. Such as with ONE heart and ONE voice we confess our faith. Here, at the dedication of the temple was ONE faith, ONE body, Coram Deo, BEFORE GOD.

Solomon focused on the reality that God was far too great and glorious to dwell in the temple he had built. The phrase “heaven, the highest heaven” refers to the vastness of heaven, which still couldn’t contain God. The temple Solomon built was, by comparison, infinitely inferior in size and scope to heaven so why would God would listen to the prayers made in this place? But, Solomon’s acknowledgment of the temple’s inadequacy enabled him to trust God’s past dealings with His people as a guide for future relationships. God would listen to the prayers because of His greatness, not because of the temple’s greatness. You see, God didn’t need the temple; rather, the worshipers at the temple needed God and that is exactly why we are in this place today. A temporary temple that we may gather as one body and one voice and one heart, Coram Deo. We need God.

Solomon directly petitioned God to listen to his prayer and to hear the cry and the prayer he was offering that day. The king made his request by twice referring to himself as God’s servant, as he was on his knees, realizing he could approach God only in a posture of total humility and servitude. Yet God could be expected to listen because He had promised to David that this house would be built and He knew its inadequacies before the first stone was put in place. Solomon continued to plead for the Lord to hear his prayers and the prayers of His people. He asked the Lord to reply graciously when His people turned to Him in prayerful confession and repentance. When Solomon finished praying, the Lord in fact responded with a promise to be present and to hear the prayers offered to Him by humble people (1 Kings 9:3; 2 Chron. 7:14).

Solomon specifically requested God’s attention to prayers at times when a person sinned against his neighbor, when Israel was defeated by an enemy, when there was drought, and when there was famine (1 Kings 8:31-37). He then offered a general plea for God to respond to whatever prayer or petition anyone … might have. At this point in his prayer, Solomon was concerned primarily with the prayers from God’s people Israel. Interestingly, he mentioned the same prayer posture of spreading out his hands but replaces the earlier phrase “toward heaven” (see 8:22) with the words “toward this temple.” This wording probably indicated Solomon’s belief that the temple was the supreme place of God’s presence on earth. Even those who couldn’t travel to Jerusalem and stand in the temple court could pray toward this temple.

Solomon explicitly asked the Lord to hear, forgive, act, and repay. He believes the Lord is a God who actively interacts with people. He hears their prayers. He alone can forgive their sins. Once God hears and forgives, He will act in the best interests of His people in accordance with His divine will. Prayer is never just a spiritual transaction; prayer has real implications in the daily realities of our lives. When God acts, we’re affected in tangible ways. Solomon’s request for God to repay captures the idea of the fuller phrase “repay the man, according to all his ways.” The request to repay is important because it guards against the idea that people can sin all they want and then have their sins forgiven just by praying to the Lord, only to return to their sins. Because God knows every human heart, He knows whose prayers are offered in genuine repentance, humility and sincerity.

Solomon included “the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel” in his prayer (8:41-42). This acknowledges the Lord’s promise to Abraham concerning all the earth’s peoples (Gen. 12:3) even the Gentiles. Later, Isaiah recorded the Lord’s desire to welcome all people to know Him and to pray to Him (Isa. 56:6-7), thus His house would be called “a house of prayer for all nations.”

Solomon prayed for the Lord to hear the prayers of the foreigner as the prayers of His own people. He believed that when God heard the prayers of foreigners, all the people on earth would come to know the Lord’s name and fear Him. Solomon also believed the other nations would know this temple he had built was called by the Lord’s name. This strong association of the temple with the Lord’s name marked Solomon’s dedicatory prayer as the fulfillment of God’s promise to Moses to choose a place for His name to dwell (Deut. 12:5,11,21). Even after this prayer, the people of Israel would associate the temple in Jerusalem as the place to go to keep the Lord’s command to appear before Him at the Feasts of Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles (Ex. 23:14-17).

The Temple has equal importance today as we gather, not from all nations, perhaps, but all parts of our country, a variety of congregations, individuals with one confession as one body with one heart, Coram Deo. We come to receive His gifts… as like the nation Israel, we need God.

We come several times a day to this temple, a place free from distractions of the world, humble in heart, repentant of our sins to receive the very means of God’s grace in His Word and the Sacraments of Holy Absolution; Holy Baptism and the Holy Supper. He gives, we receive as the old hymn confesses, “nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.” In this Temple we confess, that is we speak back what God has spoken to us; we sing His praises, hear His Word and preach Christ and Him crucified and receive with boldness and confidence the ultimate gift given with these simple words: You are forgiven for all of your sins…

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Rev. William Cwirla

Gen 2:4-9, 15-25 / Romans 12:1-8 / John 19:16-30

In Nomine Iesu

The Bible is the story of two Adams. Adam 1.0 and Adam 2.0. The first Adam was from the earth. His name tells you that. “Adam” means earth. Earthling, mud man, Dusty.

Adam 1.0 was the high priest of creation before God – coram Deo – lifting up all creation as a thanksgiving sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

The Lord placed Adam 1.0 in a garden, an ordered place, a liturgical space. Adam’s chancel was the center of the garden with its two trees – the Tree of Life and the Tree of knowing Good and Evil. The liturgy was simple: “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of knowing good and evil you shall not eat; for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” How much simpler could it have been? Eat, don’t eat. Eat from any tree you wish. Every fruit and nut is yours for food to sustain your life. Eat free from the Tree of Life and live forever. But do not eat from the tree of knowing good and evil. That one is not given to you.

“To know” is to experience intimately. To experience the good creation as good and evil was not given to Adam the Priest. God made everything good. Every living creature was paraded before High Priest Adam for him to name. That’s how he exercised his high priesthood, lifting up the creation coram Deo, before God, and naming every living creature.

It was “not good” for Adam 1.0 to serve as high priest alone. He needed an assistant, a complementary counterpart. Someone like him yet not like him. Equal to yet not interchangeable with. And so the Lord put Adam 1.0 to sleep and took away a portion of his side, his female side, and from it God made a woman. Eve 1.0 Man and woman, male and female, ish and ishah. Bone of his bones; flesh of his flesh. The High Priest and his Bride together. Joined together in the intimate union of his “knowing” her and she being known by him, the two would be one flesh. And the High Priest and His Bride both were naked coram Deo and before each and without shame. Of what would they be ashamed of?

Adam 1.0 acquired a deadly virus called Sin, a Trojan Horse unleashing all manner of sins and death. The high priest and his bride listened to the pious lie and bit into the seductive notion that they could be gods in place of God. Instead of high masses, Adam 1.0, the high priest of creation, now offered black masses. Inverted, mancentered liturgies. Idolatries. Blasphemies. He hid from God. He blamed His Bride. They both blamed God.

Adam’s priesthood became a drudgery. Work. His food would no longer be fruits and nuts he did not work for, but bread that came from wheat laboriously sown in weedy soil and watered by the sweat of his brow. Now he had to be covered in vestments. Not the fig leaves of his own self-justification but with the skins of vicarious blood sacrifice.Something had to die in his place. Adam 1.0 was totally corrupted by Sin. There was no rehabbing him. He had to die. From the dust he came; to the dust he would return.

You and I are sons and daughters of Adam. You 1.0 Everything we do is corrupted with the trojan horse of Adam’s Sin. The symptoms pop out all over – jealousy, anger, division, rage, disobedience, lawlessness. We attempt to justify ourselves. We invent our own liturgies to gods made in our image and likeness. The sacred union of Adam and Eve as “one flesh” has been totally corrupted by our hookups and shackups and infidelities and all the ways we use the good gift of our bodies for our own pleasure rather than service to others. The Trojan Horse of Sin has unleashed all manner of sins in us. There is no fix, no upgrade, no firmware, no patch. Adam 1.0 cannot be rehabbed.

God sent a second Adam, Adam 2.0, humanity’s new head and High Priest. Born of woman, born under Law, born without Adam 1.0’s Sin. True God of His Father; true Man of His mother. Like us and not like us. He came to be humanity’s High Priest, to live coram Deo under the Law and to offer the one world-atoning sacrifice. Himself. His own body and blood, His death and His life, for the life of the world.

Adam 2.0 has a Bride too. Like Eve, this Bride was also taken from her sleeping Adam’s side. The Church, the Bride of Christ, has her origin in the blood and water that flowed from dead Jesus’ side. Adam 2.0 sleeps and His Bride is made.

High Priest Jesus lifts up His sacrifice on the cross by being lifted up. Like Adam 1.0, He too is naked coram Deo as the world raffles off his clothing. He bears the shame of Adam’s nakedness and your shame.

He places His mother in the care of His favored disciple. A man must leave father and mother to cling to His bride. In His death, the second Adam offers Himself up as a sacrifice for the first Adam and all his children. For you. His last word, “It is finished” seals His sacrifice. It is complete. Nothing more can be added to this one, perfect sacrifice, and that includes your works, your pieties, your prayers. This sacrifice is His alone to offer.

From Adam 2.0’s side comes His Bride, the Church, your mother in Baptism and the mother of all the living reborn from above. Second Adam rises from the sleep of death to delights in His Bride as “bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh.” He names her; He claims her; He saves her. He washes her with water and the Word. He is one flesh with her. He gives to her in love, and she receives from him in faith.

Baptized into Jesus, you are priests in the royal priesthood of High Priest Jesus, the second Adam. Born anew from above. Washed pure and holy. Clothed with Jesus’ vestments of righteousness. Fed from the fruits of His tree – His Body and His Blood, His death and life for you. Forgiven. In Adam 2.0 you are a new you. You 2.0. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; behold the old has gone, the new has come.” You 1.0 is dead. You 2.0 lives in Christ.

That means you are free. Free to serve those around you in love, lifting up all creation, consecrating everything you touch by the Word of God and prayer, offering your own bodies as living sacrifices. Not dead and bloody. That was for Jesus to do for you. But living sacrifices that are holy and acceptable for Jesus’ sake.

In Adam 1.0 we die. In Adam 2.0, in Jesus, we live, coram Deo. Now and forever.
Amen.

Rev. Kurt Onken

1 Kings 8:22-30

Where do you go to find God? Where do you go to learn about him? To find out what he really thinks about you? To find out what your status is Coram Deo … that is, “before God.”

Nature? Some people search for God in nature. The power of ocean waves. The splendor of mountain peaks. A starlit sky in the desert.

You can certainly see evidence of God in nature. After all, in Psalm 19, David sang, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Ps. 19:1). There is beauty in creation. Order. Signs of “intelligent design.” Life.

But what do you do when things become disorderly and full of death?

For those of us who live in the Pacific Northwest, what do you do when a mountain blows up in your face, like Mt. St. Helens did a number of years ago?

For those of you from California what do you do when the ground starts to shake, and buildings and overpasses begin to topple down on your head?

For those of you from the plains states and the Midwest and the South, what do you do when a tornado tears through your neighborhood and demolishes everything in sight?

And what about those people on the seacoast of Japan, whose homes and lives were swept away by a wall of water following an offshore earthquake?

Creation is not always a happy place. It’s broken. It’s fallen. If you didn’t know the whole story of Adam and Eve – how rebellion against the Creator brought death and destruction into creation – you might not like the One who created the cosmos. You might not like the God you were searching for in nature. You might find him to be capricious. Arbitrary. Unpredictable. Downright mean.

So where else might you go to find God? Where else might you go to learn about him? To find out what he really thinks of you? To know what your status is Coram Deo?

How about your heart? Some people search for God in their hearts. They base their opinions about God on their feelings, their emotions, their inclinations. They meditate in solitude, trying to listen to God’s voice speaking from within. They may feel that their heart is “strangely warmed.” They imagine that there is a “burning in their bosom.” But how do you know it’s not the burrito you ate yesterday? Or perhaps it was the Double-Double cheeseburger with grilled onions from In-N-Out.

When you look inside your heart, you might not like what you find there. Jesus knows what you’ll find there. What did he say about the heart? “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matt. 15:19). Our hearts are deceptive. Your sinful nature will either cause you to deny what’s in your heart and make you think you’re okay before God. Or it will cause you to despair when you recognize the ugliness there.

Dear Christian, God does indeed dwell in your heart. “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15). Jesus “dwell[s] in your hearts through faith” (Eph. 3:17). And Romans 8:11 says, “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Yes, the Triune God does indeed live in your heart.

But that’s not where we are directed to find him … that is, if you want to know for certain where he is, in particular where he is for you, with his grace and mercy and forgiveness.

Not nature. Not your heart. But a house! “God’s House.”

Remember when you were children in Sunday School, and you called the church building “God’s House”? Perhaps you even thought the pastor was Jesus, and that he lived there. But then you got older and you realized how silly that was. God cannot be contained in a building. Even wise King Solomon knew that. “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!” (1 Kings 8:27).

God cannot be contained in a building. But he can certainly will to be present in a building with his grace and mercy. He willed to be present in the temple. He appeared there in a cloud. He promised to be present on the mercy seat between the cherubim on the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. The temple was indeed “the house of the LORD.” His Name was there. His Word was proclaimed there. He listened to the prayers of his people offered there. He forgave the sins of the people there. Wherever God’s Name is, there he is with his grace and forgiveness.

God cannot be contained in a building. But there came a day when “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). The temple in Jerusalem was replaced by the divine presence of Jesus. The temple and all its bloody sacrifices found their end in Jesus, the Lamb of God, whose bloody sacrifice on the cross is the once-for-all payment for your sins and mine.

So now where do you find God? You still find him wherever he has placed his Name.

His Name was placed upon you when water was poured over your head “in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

His Name is placed upon you each time you confess your sins, and your pastor says, “I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

And the Crucified and Risen Jesus is truly present at every altar where he gives us his body to eat and his blood to drink.

All these things most often take place in a church building. And so, it’s not so silly after all to call it “God’s House.” Sometimes it’s elaborate and ornate. Sometimes it’s simple and plain. Sometimes it’s rather shabby and rundown. Sometimes it’s a college theatre. But if God’s Name is there, then he is truly present with his grace and mercy. Wherever God has placed his Name, that is the best place to go to know where you stand Coram Deo. You are a sinner who deserves nothing but wrath and condemnation. But Jesus suffered and died in your place. Through baptism you are united to your Savior’s death and resurrection. You bear the holy Name of the Triune God. You are a part of “God’s house of living stones, built for his own habitation.” God listens to your cries and your prayers. His eyes are open toward you night and day. And your sins are forgiven.

Amen.

Rev. Kurt Onken is pastor of Messiah Lutheran Church in Marysville, Washington. He also served as Catechist for the Coram Deo Conference in Las Vegas.

Rev. Mark Buetow

“Location, location, location!” That, they say, is what’s most important for a business to do well. Well, our Easter Gospel is about, location, location, location. All too often, when we get into a discussion about God, we leave location behind. God is just “out there” or “up there” somewhere. You can’t see Him. You just assume He’s there and doing something or other. That’s how the world thinks of God and the devil loves to trap Christians into thinking that way too. But through all that abstract, “out there” God talk and clutter, the Easter Gospel shines brightly, reminding us that God is really a location, location, location God. He tells us where He is and what He’s doing. And Easter is really all about that.

Location: Nazareth. The angel says to the women, “You’re looking for Jesus of Nazareth.” That’s a location. A specific person from a specific place. It’s a reminder to us that God became man. He was in Mary’s womb and born in Bethlehem and raised in Nazareth. Our Lord isn’t just “out there somewhere.” He was in Nazareth. He lived there. Grew up there. Played there. Ate there. Worked there. And when He began His work of salvation in earnest, He preached there too. The point is this: God is located in the flesh. He went places and did stuff. When we speak about God, especially to unbelievers, we don’t need to get caught in their trap of “abstract God somewhere.” Talk to them about Jesus, the God who grew up in and was from Nazareth. You can still go there today. It’s a real place. And He’s a real person that was there.

Location: The cross and tomb. The angel goes on: “Jesus…who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him!” Now Jesus went lots of places but the most important place He was, was the cross and tomb. On that cross, God died. On that cross, God took away our sins. On that cross, Jesus, the Lamb of God, gave Himself as the sacrifice for sins. It happened there on a hill called Calvary. And that hill is still there today. And then there is a garden tomb. He was there too, resting in the tomb until He rose on Easter. The women knew where that tomb was and they and the disciples saw clearly that it was empty. But there in a particular place, our Lord hung on the tree. There, God was. He didn’t look like God, all bloody and dead, but you can’t get a more specific location than that. It’s where, in the midst of all our suffering and asking that question, “Where’s God?” we can point to Calvary and the cross and say, “Right there, pierced for you!”

Location: Galilee. “Tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going to Galilee. There you will see Him just as He told you.” Because He’s risen! He’s alive! He WAS on the cross. And He WAS in the tomb but now He is alive. And He is where His Word said He would be: In Galilee. Eventually He would appear to all His disciples, where they were, in His Body. He is no ghost or spirit. No vision or dream or delusion. He’s alive and He can prove it by showing His disciples the LOCATION of those nail and spear holes. The God who walked around Galilee and Judea before He died is the same God who walked around Galilee and Judea when He was alive again. Once more, God is not an “out there” kind of God, but the God who is in the flesh, who suffered for our sins, rose again and was seen by all of those eyewitnesses.

Location: Christ’s church today. Just as our risen Lord had told His disciples where He would be (in Galilee), so He tells us where He will be. After He had conquered sin and death, died and risen, before His Ascension, Jesus told His disciples to go and preach and baptize and that He would be with them always to the end of the age. So now, today, where is the Lord? Where do we find Him? Sure, He’s everywhere because He’s God, but remember: Location, location, location. He tells us where He is going to be located for our salvation. For our comfort and strength. And where is that? Right here in His church. Where water is put upon you at the location of the font. Where your pastor is located to preach and teach Christ’s Word to you and absolve you of your sins. Where Christ Himself is located in His Body and Blood on the altar in the meal of salvation. In these locations, these specific, concrete, actual places, we don’t get caught up in the “somewhere out there” God but the God-with-us in the flesh who is still with us in His church. If you want to know who God is, He is there in Christ. And if you want to know where Christ is, He’s right here in His church. Therefore we are rescued from useless arguments about a God “out there somewhere” because we have a God who has come in the flesh and still comes in His flesh through His Word and Sacraments in His church.

So Easter is about location, location, location! God has a location! He’s not just everywhere and anywhere. He’s somewhere. And He’s somewhere FOR YOU. That location, that somewhere is His holy Christian church on earth where His gifts are given for forgiveness, life and salvation. His church where by the forgiveness of sins He won by His death and resurrection, sin and death and the devil and hell are all defeated. His church in which we are nourished in the faith and kept in that faith til the day our Lord comes back and raises US from the dead, just as He rose from the dead on Easter. Therefore don’t seek Him in there, in your feelings, “out there,” in nature, our “up there” in the sky somewhere, or anywhere else. He is right HERE for you. For to say that Christ is risen is to confess that He is right here in this location for you. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! In the Name of Jesus. Amen.