I Build on This Foundation

Text: Matthew 10:24-33
Date: The Fifrth Sunday after Pentecost 6/19/05

  The excitement is building as we approach the celebration of the 50 th Anniversary of St. Mark congregation. It is interesting that the 1955 calendar of days and dates is identical to the 2005 calendar. So it is that last Sunday we noted the 50 th anniversary of the very first worship service of St. Mark's. This coming Thursday is the 50 th anniversary of the very first Voters' meeting officially and legally constituting the congregation in the State of Michigan and The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. What a wonderful opportunity it was, yesterday, to open our grounds and share our joy and greet our neighbors with our Classic Car show. (Thanks to everyone who helped in so many different ways to make that event a success!) Now we look forward to the solemn and joyful anniversary Divine Service next Sunday at 10:00 a.m. with our special choir and instrumentalists and preacher, former members and guests and visitors. Our anniversary banquet promises to be a fun evening of great food, special entertainment and many words of remembrances from Pastor Jon Vieker and especially St. Mark's founding and long-time Pastor William Grafe.

  The Word of God from Matthew's Gospel that has accompanied us in these weeks leading up to our anniversary celebration seems especially appropriate as it has been outlining for us the implications of the Great Commission of our Lord to make disciples of all nations. We have borrowed the words of the catechism that tell how God himself is the Maker of disciples as the Holy Spirit calls us by the Gospel and gathers us to be members of the Body of Christ, the Church. Today we take note of the next catechism word. To equip us for His mission the catechism says He “enlightens us with his gifts.” That is, He gives us the saving knowledge of Jesus, our Savior, so that we trust, rejoice, and find comfort in Him. We need that trust, that joy and that comfort because, as our Lord says to us today, “a disciple is not above his teacher,” and “if they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household.”

  You see, while an anniversary is a time of rejoicing and remembering all the blessings and the goodness of the Lord toward his congregation, today we are also reminded of those other times, in the past and in the future; times of trials and challenges, disappointments and even conflicts, the frustrations and darker moments that are also part and parcel of the history and life of the Christian disciple in this world.

  For instance, every pastor has, at some time, read the words of Jeremiah we heard today as if they were his own confession, “O Lord, you have deceived me and I was deceived” [Jer. 20:7 (ESV)]. That is, every pastor, Pastor Grafe, Pastor Vieker and myself, has had those “Jeremiah Moments” of complaining to God because of the difficult times, maybe, like Jeremiah, because of the hard words of His Law we are called to speak at times and especially when it results in anger or resentment on behalf of those to whom we have been called to speak those words. Or maybe we've complained because we have lost our own patience or think we are too weak to put up with the sinful actions or treatment we encounter or that we ourselves have caused others. The Psalm we prayed this morning made each of us admit that we all, likewise, struggle. As in any marriage, so in any other relationships, the question is not whether there will be conflicts but how a person learns to deal with them. Conflict has a way of drawing you in. It's hard for the old, sinful nature to resist, especially when it gets personal. The Old Adam in us just “loves” to join in the battle. In conflicted situations unless forgiveness is the clear goal nobody wins. For when you thought you've won, everyone has really lost.

  The Gospel isn't about demanding “rights” resulting in winners and losers. The Gospel is learning what forgiveness is really all about. In fact, the way of the Gospel in this sinful world is most often about winning through losing. Didn't Jesus say that? “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it” [Mark 8:35 (ESV)]. As St. Paul said, “[Love] does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” [1 Cor. 13:5-7 (ESV)]. Our Lord Himself is the measure. “Greater love has no one than this,” said he, “that someone lays down his life for his friends.” Then he turns his face to us and says, “You are my friends” [John 15:13-14 (ESV)]. And he laid down his life as the sacrifice for all our sins.

  Therefore our Lord does not send us out unprepared, ignorant of the real world and the real task at hand in making disciples or just being disciples. In fact, he said, “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves” [Matthew 10:16 (ESV)]. Where does that wisdom and innocence come from? The catechism says God calls and gathers us, and then adds that he also “enlightens us with His gifts.” Those gifts are, first, of course, a saving knowledge of Jesus our Savior. It is an understanding of faith through the Word and Wisdom of God.

  The Word and the Wisdom of God go together. In the Old Testament the Lord said to his people concerning his Laws, “Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people'” [Deut. 4:6 (ESV)]. Because Solomon asked not for long life or riches or revenge against his enemies, but asked for understanding to discern what is right, God blessed him with wisdom beyond any (1 Kings 3-4). In the rite of confirmation we invoke the Spirit of the Lord upon our catechumens, “the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord” [Isaiah 11:2 (ESV)]. The psalm reminds us “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” [Psalm 111:10 (ESV)]. The wisdom and understanding of faith, grounded in God's Word, equips us by keeping our vision clear as to what is the truly important issue in any situation.

  Our hymn of the day has us confess, “I build on this foundation, That Jesus and his blood Alone are my salvation, The true, eternal good” [LW 407:2]. Because the foundation of faith is salvation by Jesus and his blood, and the working of the Holy Spirit through the Word creating a new heart and spirit in us, enlightening us with his gifts, listen to our Lord today, then, as he says three times, “have no fear,” “do not fear,” “fear not.”

  “Fear not!” What are you afraid of? When it comes to evangelism, many are reluctant to talk about Jesus to others, especially strangers. They fear they might get a door slammed in their face or suffer some other kind of rejection. My experience has been, however, that most people are not like that. Of course there are those who react with anything from politely ignoring you to outright arguing or even telling you to bug off. Indeed, our American society today seems to be more and more inclined to accuse Christians more than any other religion of everything from bigotry to unfairly imposing our beliefs and unwanted moral judgments. But isn't there something of the conscience involved that perceives the underlying truth that there is a Divine standard of judgment against sin that threatens and offends sinners? And that it should! For it threatens and accuses sinners in order than they may awaken to their need of forgiveness and deliverance from the judgment of God. Look, for instance, at how “the world” got caught up in the blame game when Mel Gibson's film “The Passion of the Christ” came out, arguing about who was responsible for Christ's death, while truly repentant souls perceived it was our own sins that nailed him to the tree, and faith that sees in His blood nothing less than the love of God!

  “Do not be afraid!” What are you afraid of? How about money, or rather the lack of it? We all know personally how “the love of money” drives things in the individual household. And how about in the household of faith, the church? Notwithstanding those congregations that draw big crowds and money by means of exchanging their mission and vision from the Theology of the Cross of Christ to a Theology of the Glory of man, from saving sinners to merely entertaining them, making them comfortably secure in their own self-righteousness and self-satisfaction, it is a truism that the congregation that always meets and exceeds its budget very probably isn't doing very much or as much as it can of the real work of proclaiming sin and grace, Law and Gospel. On the other hand, the congregation that is actively investing themselves in the true mission of the church always seems to be lagging behind financially, and is tempted by fear of failure. On this 50 th anniversary, probably our greatest celebration of God's grace is our decision to reach out in our community through the establishment of a Lutheran preschool. Made by a significant 75% majority, all members have been called to be committed whole-heartedly to this mission outreach. See with me, if you will, a growing number of young parents enrolling their three and four-year-olds here where there is daily teaching of the love of God and Jesus our Savior and, through this involvement in the Gospel, many parents and grandparents and others being drawn closer to their Lord in this place in the coming years.

  “Fear not!” John, the beloved apostle, said, “perfect love casts out fear” [1 John 4:18 (ESV)]. St. Paul encouraged Timothy, writing, “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control” [2 Tim. 1:7 (ESV)]. As surely as there has been and will continue to be resistance, fear, conflict, criticism from the world around us and even in us, even more is the Cross of Christ is the measure of the love of God for his lost world, and the measure of our confidence. We are called, gathered and enlightened to carry that cross here and now. “Do not fear, do not be afraid,” says the Lord. You are of great value to the heavenly Father who has called you to be his own, and has gathered and enlightened you for this task: to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, his love and his salvation to all people. “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”

____________________
Rev. Allen D. Lunneberg

Contacts:

deblocascio.stmark@sbcglobal.net

Pastor: Rev. Allen D. Lunneberg
7979 Commerce Rd.      (1/4 mile east of Union Lake Rd.)
West Bloomfield, MI 48324
Phone: 248.363.0741
Fax: 248.363.4755