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Sermon - Trinity IX, 2026 - Luke 16:1-13

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The Parable of the Unjust Steward , Marinus van Reymerswaele, 1540 Christian Wisdom Seeks Eternal Dwellings Wisdom is forward thinking and focused on the goal Christian wisdom employs every treasure, heavenly and worldly, for the sake of reaching the goal If there is a hardest parable, it might be this one; throws people off every time. The parable presents a rich man with a steward who was found wasting the rich man’s possessions. The job of a steward is to be faithful with someone else’s possessions, and this guy wasn’t cutting it. So obviously, he got fired. What’s crazy is the rich man lets the steward hand in the books, and he doesn’t hunt them down and take them from him immediately. The steward does exactly what you don’t want the steward to do, which is why normally the books get taken from the steward: the steward cooks the books. He meets some of the rich man’s debtors, probably tenant farmers, and in order to ingratiate himself with the debtors he adjusts how much they owe, ...
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Sermon - Populus Zion 2022 - Luke 21:25-36

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Last Judgement,  Jan Luyken, 1649-1712 Jesus is coming again News of Jesus’ second coming is comforting to us Christians Let us not be filled with fear, drunkenness, gluttony and cares of this life Rather, let us be watchful, awake, and praying The end is near and the last day is coming! “ For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. ” If you’re an unbeliever, the last day, when Christ returns, sounds horrifying! Jesus shall return to judge the world, and those found unprepared will be cast into the burning fires of hell forever. It’s no wonder that there will be “ people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. ” Afterall, they’re about to be eternally condemned by the Judge. But for us believers this isn’t something that should fill us with fear, but with joy! Jesus ...
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Sermon - Ad Te Levavi 2022 - Matthew 21:1-9

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Jesus Christ the King of Kings and Great Bishop, circa 1600 Jesus is our King He rules over us with gentleness He has come to save us. Happy new year dear christians! This world orders the days, seasons, and years by the movement of the sun and the moon in the sky. We christians however order our days not by this creation, but according to the Creator. The Christian year of grace doesn’t follow the sun in the sky, but follows the Son of God, Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior, our King who comes to save us. So the Christian year begins with Advent, four Sundays with which to prepare our hearts for our coming King. Today we reflect upon the profound reality that Jesus is our King. As our King He rules over us with gentleness and He has come to save us. In recent years the idea of a monarchy and having a king has been becoming increasingly popular. Part of the appeal is, I would guess, the result of romanticized kings in books and movies. Like the ancient Israelites who demanded earthly king...
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Sermon - Thanksgiving 2022 - Luke 12:13-21

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The Rich Man and Death , David Kindt, 1580-1652  Life consists in being rich toward God.  Earthly riches are blessings from God, but they’re not the main thing. Having God and being filled with the Spirit is the true treasure. A happy and blessed Thanksgiving to you, my dear friends in Christ Jesus! I commend you for taking some time out of your busy day to blend your voices in praise and thanksgiving to God for all of His many gifts which He lavishly showers upon you. Indeed, God’s gifts are many and without number.  Some families and communities have traditions of listing out-loud some of the things for which they’re thankful. But we Lutherans could just recite our catechism. In the first article of the creed we say: “He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly an...
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Sermon - Last Sunday of the Church Year 2022 - Matthew 25:1-13

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Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins , 1616, Hieronymous Francken II The readiness of faith while awaiting Jesus’ return We must always be ready for Jesus to return by having faith Jesus’ return is joyful and hopeful news for the faithful We mentioned this last week, but it happens again this week; at the end of a long project we need two things: encouragement and sobriety. Last week the encouragement was a reminder of God’s abundant forgiveness, and the sober warning was a reminder that we must also abundantly forgive each other. Last week was about God’s abundant grace, this week is about the readiness of faith while we’re awaiting Jesus’ return. So the joyful and hopeful encouragement is that Jesus is returning. The sober warning is that we must always be ready for Jesus to return by having faith. In St. Paul’s letter to the church at Thessalonica it appears as if the Thessalonians understood quite well that Jesus’ return was imminent. “ You yourselves are fully aware that the da...
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Sermon - Trinity XXII 2022 - Matthew 18:21-35

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Parable of the Unforgiving Servant,  Claude Vignon, 1629 The Abundance of God’s Grace God’s forgiveness is boundless Our forgiveness must also be boundless As we approach the end of the church year we begin to think about the end times and the last day when Christ shall return to judge the earth. Whenever you are nearing the end of any long and difficult project you need two things: encouragement and sobriety. You need encouragement so that you don’t give up and quit. You need sobriety so that you don’t get sloppy and ruin everything. Since the end of this life is so near Christ does those two things for us: He encourages us and He warns us to keep us sober. Jesus assures us of His grace, and He warns us of dangers that may lead us astray from His grace. Indeed, today is about the abundance of God’s grace , and so we’re encouraged to hear that God’s forgiveness is boundless, and we’re warned that our forgiveness must also be boundless. This is a crucial reminder for us Christians i...
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Sermon - All Saints Day 2022 - Matthew 5:1-12

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The Eight Beatitudes , Philip Galle & Hendrik Goltsius, circa 1578 The saints are blessed. Saints on earth Saints in glory The Feast of All Saints’ Day is fairly popular among us. It’s a day in which we celebrate the fact that the saints are blessed. Usually on this day we focus on those saints who have fallen asleep in the Lord and are now at rest from their labors. That’s certainly part of what this day is about, as we hear in Revelation about the saints in glory. That said, there’s another part of this day which is often neglected, namely that the saints are blessed even while here on earth. On other saints’ days, such as the feast of St. James from a few weeks ago, we don’t just rejoice that the saints rest from their labors, but we rejoice that the saints labored ! Afterall, you can’t really delight in rest unless you first labored and have a reason to rest. Thus when we’re considering our loved ones who have died in the faith and are asleep in the Lord, we don’t just take no...
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