Living Christ Plainfield

01/26/2026

Epiphany 3 (January 26, 2026)
Matthew 4:12-25 (Series A)
Now, but Not Yet

Two tribes were mentioned in both the Old Testament and Gospel readings; those names were Zebulon and Naphtali. We rarely hear those tribes mentioned though they are significant in a couple of ways. First, these were sons of Jacob, and their family clans were given land as were the other tribes, except for Levi, when the country was first settled after the captivity in Egypt. Second, they were the tribal lands in the northern portion of Israel, with Naphtali touching the Sea of Galilee, but they were the first taken into captivity by the Assyrians. Eventually as Roman took over the region their identity was erased, by and large in the dividing of Israel into our main regions. Their region would be renamed Galilee and be ruled by King Herod. The other regions were named Judea, Samaria, and Decapolis. These regions were first ruled by the children of King Herod the Great but as a couple died governance changed. The high priest largely controlled Judea, where Jerusalem was and Pontius Pilate took care of legal matters, law and order and the like. Pilate only came to Jerusalem during festival times when crowd control was of greater concern,

So, we might wonder why Jesus removed himself to Galilee, but has it mentioned in connection to Naphtali and Zebulon when those names were not really used any more. The reason lies in Isaiah as were heard those tribes mentioned. The problem was that they were the tribes punishment for their unbelief and their lack of faith in God to protect them. Their spiritual darkness left their people physically outside the kingdom and for many of them they were taken off to Assyrian cities. Contributing to their fall from grace was that these tribes existed along heavily traveled roads upon which Gentiles passed but left their pagan influences upon the people, so the Gentiles were a problem too. Spiritually one might say it had been a land of darkness.

But Isaiah had promised that a day would come when the people who walked in darkness would see a great light including the Gentiles and now Jesus who is the light to the world has come there to begin his ministry. John the Baptist had just been arrested, effectively ending his ministry of preparing people for the Messiah and handing it off for the completion of the mission for which Jesus was sent. Disciples of John were switching over and following Jesus, so the ball was in Jesus’ court as it was intended to be. Jesus makes his home base for a while along the Sea of Galilee, now to call many of his disciples but especially to begin the casting out of demons, healing their infirmities, and restoring the people to the right relationship with God.

Jesus’ words spoke truth as people recognized that He spoke with an authority that the Pharisees and the priests seemed to lack. People were coming from all over Israel but also from lands outside Israel’s borders, just as the promise had always been. God loved all the people of the world and had sent Jesus for all of them. It was beginning then and continues to this day.

I have titled my sermon as “Now, but not yet” and this is how it works. Jesus began his rule of restoring the people to His kingdom. He was doing it then but didn’t stop there. The work of restoring the people to God continues so what He began is not done yet. It was for those in the darkness of sin and unbelief then and is for us all today as well. The Lord is not done. Amen.

01/26/2026

Epiphany 2 (January 18, 2026)
John 1:29–42a
Beholding the Lamb

Last week we observed the baptism of Jesus and today we get a bit of John the Baptist’s take on what had transpired. On what would seem to be the day after Jesus was baptized, based on the text saying it was the next day, he must have been walking near the Jordan River, where John is once again doing his usual preaching and baptizing but now with an even clearer message.

John has made a shift from telling the people the Messiah is coming but now he sees Jesus and points him out saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.” Behold isn’t a word we use very much, and we would probably understand it to mean “take a look at this.” While it does mean that, it means even more. It would say to the people that this is important and look carefully and remember this man that you see today.

Why should you pay attention to him? Because he is the Lamb of God, not just a prophet of God or even the Son of God. So, what was he saying? While we speak of Jesus as the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world, do we really think about what that means?

It was a yearly practice to sacrifice a lamb for one’s sins, but it wasn’t all-encompassing. It didn’t cover everyone else. The yearly sacrifice didn’t cover the Gentiles but the sacrifice of Jesus would. Jesus was being spoken of as the one who was promised all the way back to Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham and Jacob and down through the generations. But it was that early promise that would matter most to the Gentiles. Before the people were divided into nation groups at the Tower of Babel the promise was there for everyone. Jesus was the one.

Interestingly and perhaps somewhat strange, John says he “did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” He was told by the Holy Spirit that when he see a dove descend and remain, that this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and he understood that this meant that Jesus is the Son of God.

John knew Jesus since they were cousins and he seemed to know Jesus was special since the time he was in Elizabeth’s womb and Jesus was in Mary’s. Being the Lamb of God might have been beyond his understanding just as Peter didn’t know Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God until the Spirit revealed it to him.

Now the Holy Spirit descends upon Jesus in the water during the baptism in the form of the dove which we often see simple as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and a symbol of peace. Peace with God is good but John may have connected something more. The Spirit was over the face of the deep in creation, and a dove went out over the water after the flood, both signs of new life being created. The spirit coming down as a dove was seen by John and would be seen by the new Israel as a sign of being recreated by the power of baptism for new life with Christ.

The sacrifice of “The Lamb” along with the power of baptism and the Holy Spirit creating a new living spirit within us was revealed in this moment. It should be noted that when the apostle John writes of Israel versus the Jews he is speaking of all those who will come to faith through baptism, no matter where in the world they come from. Until that moment with John the Baptist, he was unlikely to have understood the extent to which Jesus was truly the Messiah, the one who saves the world from sin. When John spoke of the Jews, he meant those like the Pharisees, and all who would reject Jesus as being the very Lamb of God. Thank God that through the faithful proclamation of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and through the working of the Holy Spirit faith has been worked in us so that we can walk as His new creation to live forever with him. The Lamb of God has died and been raised to new life so that we might live also. What good news for today and always. Amen.

01/26/2026

If You can't attend a service, here is a copy of one of Pastor Steven Latzke's sermons:
Baptism of Jesus (January 11, 2026)
Romans 6:1-11; Matthew 3:13-17 (Series A)
Dead to Sin

I know I have seen it before, but it popped again where someone was making the case that because Jesu ate with sinners that it was okay to sin. The apostle Paul answered that with a question and answer. He said, “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you no know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

So, when and how did that happen? It happened when Christ was baptized. While some people will try to maintain that Jesus was baptized for his own sins, therefore, making the case that Jesus wasn’t God nor perfect, the truth is different. Jesus was baptized to be obedient to all that God required, therefore showing that he strove to be perfect which man was supposed to do. His desire was to serve God perfectly in our place.

But Jesus wasn’t baptized merely because he should be baptized but he did it in order to take our sins upon himself. Baptism makes us part of the family of God. Without baptism we are dead but with it we can have eternal life, because Christ took our sins. Without a means to be lifted out of the water we would drown and in our sinful condition without someone to lift us out of it we would die.

Now, John the Baptist talked about baptizing with water and the word but that Jesus would come with power and the Holy Spirit. John called the people to repent of their sins and their baptism was a ceremonial washing of their sins from their bodies. John did connect this to the coming Messiah with the teaching that without repentance and faith there is no salvation through baptism that is why the Pharisees were not welcome, for they saw their good works as being enough.

When Jesus responded back to John when he thought Jesus should baptize him, the answer given was that Jesus had to be baptized in order to fulfill all righteousness. This wasn’t then just about the righteousness of Jesus but was rather about the righteousness of all people being possible through his baptism. That is part of why we talk about being drown in our sins, dying everyday to sin, and rising to new life in Christ.

Children have been known to say that they are not that dirty so they don’t need a bath, but mom or dad may say otherwise. Small children may need to be placed in the bath and washed and then be lifted back out by mom or dad because they can’t safely do it all themselves.

Such is our condition with sin; some say they’re clean with no sins that matter while others will admit they have sins but don’t want to give them up. Our Heavenly Father, through all the prophets, John the Baptist, the apostles and Jesus, has said everyone needs to get clean. Others, like those who came to listen to John with an open heart and open mind will say, “Yes! I need to be cleaned. I don’t want to be dirty with sin any longer.” It is these people who go to the waters of baptism knowing that they need to be lifted up out of it by Jesus’ death on the cross.

The water puts us in his family but only Christ can lift us up to heaven. Only by faith in Jesus and by the power of the Holy Spirit can we be transformed to have a heart that says, “I don’t want to sin anymore. Having received the grace of God I no longer desire to openly rebel against him. I want help to live new in the light of the Gospel.”

Jesus’ death saw our punishment for sin removed from us; the sins that washed from us by faith through baptism. So, do we sin in order to more greatly appreciate our baptism and forgiveness? No? To do so would mean that we never wanted to stop. This is the error of those who will claim that since Jesus ate with sinners it is okay to keep on sinning. Paul says, “No!” Having died to sin the desire should be to live transformed. We have been lifted from the waters in which we should have died, so why would you want to jump back in.

So we remember our baptism as in the invocation when the words are spoken, “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holly Spirit.” We are being lifted back up by the one who died and rose back to life, resurrected to never die again. He gives us the help we need to keep our eyes up where hope is found. May we live new lives, transformed to not be as we were when the devil had control. Let us die to that sin

12/16/2025

Evelyn Benning

Christmas Cookie Sampler $10 each.

11/24/2025

03/10/2024

LENTEN SEASON WORSHIP
March 13 ** Lent Four “Mine!” (Ex 20:1–17)
Passion Reading: Praetorium
March 17 Worship - Holy Communion
March 20 ** Lent Five “Digging Ourselves into a Hole” (Ex 32:1–14)
Passion Reading: Calvary
March 24, 10:30 am Palm Sunday “A New Beginning!” (Ex 34:1–8)
March 28, 6:30 pm Maundy Thursday “Access!” (Ex 24:1–11) – Holy Communion
March 29, 6:30 pm Good Friday “Agnus Dei” (Ex 12:1–13)
March 31, 8:00 am Easter SonRise “Against All Odds!”(Ex 15:1–18) – Holy Communion