Our Saviour Evangelical Lutheran Church - WELS

06/15/2026

Sermon for June 21, 2026

2 Timothy 4:1-8

Last Sunday night the United Fight Club held its Freedom 250 event on the White House lawn. It was a seven-bout contest, with stunning upsets and underdog winners. An estimated 80,000 spectators watched from the Ellipse near the White House. Every one of the seven bouts ended with a TKO – a Technical Knock-Out. New champions were crowned.

But, dear Christian friends, you and I are involved in a fight as well. It's a fight against enemies that we can't go into a ring and fight. Some of these enemies we can't even see with our eyes! Our battle has our souls on the line – and our opponents are the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh.

Today we hear St. Paul's encouragement: FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT!

Fight the good fight – aware of the times.

2 Timothy is Paul's final letter. When Paul wrote these inspired words, he was in a Roman prison. He was waiting for death. He wrote one final letter to his younger co-worker, Timothy. Paul wanted to give Timothy words of honesty about what he would face as a young pastor, now with Paul no longer there to provide advice. But Paul also wanted to leave Timothy with words of encouragement.

Paul writes: “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge.”

Paul sees himself in God's holy courtroom. Paul has been called to testify. He lifts his hand, puts it on the Bible, and swears an oath. He calls God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ to witness his oath, to certify that in everything he has said in his ministry, and in everything he's about to say to Timothy, Paul is telling the sacred truth.

Paul swears his oath: “in view of [Christ]'s appearing and his kingdom.” Jesus is coming back – at any moment. He “will judge the living and the dead.” The Greek word Paul uses for “will” means, “Jesus is ABOUT TO judge.” Jesus' return could happen at any moment. And his judgment will be of “the living and the dead.” Everyone will be included. No one will escape. Paul wants to be certain that he will be accepted when Jesus judges. He wants to be sure that he will be faithful to Jesus, and to the Gospel ministry, up until the moment he dies. These are solemn words, sealed with an oath. Timothy should pay close attention! And we should too!

Paul gives his charge: “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage – with great patience and careful instruction.”

Paul urges Timothy to “preach the Word.” The Greek word means, “be a herald” of the Word. The herald, the town crier, was the way that people heard important news. The town crier was the tornado siren, the public address announcer. And he was sent by a higher authority, like the king. So the herald came with a message that wasn't his own. The herald was only saying what the king had sent him to say. The herald had no right or authority to change one word of what the king had told him to say.

Fight good fight, aware of the times.

Paul gives Timothy a vivid picture of the times he would face, the times we Christians face as well.

“For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teaachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

In the Greek, “myths” has a definite article: “THE myths.”

What myths were people then tempted to believe? What myths are people in 2026 tempted to believe? What scratches people's itching ears more than anything? To answer those questions, let's go back to the very first temptation. What did Satan tell Eve? That she could be like God, that she could know as much as our Creator; in short, that she could run her own life without submitting to God. No matter what form it takes, that myth is a strong temptation. Everyone of us here knows someone who has said: “I don't need God to be a good person. I can live a perfectly happy and moral life without God.” This is the myth of self-salvation, the devil's myth of work-righteousness.

Fight the good fight – aware of the times. Paul tells us how to deal with these times: “with great patience and careful instruction.” We will need patience. Don't get angry and break off the argument the first time we hear someone say something that disagrees with God's Word. Be patient. The Greek word means “taking a long time to get angry.” Instead of getting angry, we'll want to instruct with patience. Simply bring people back, again and again, to God's Word.

Paul identifies patience as one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit. So, to be aware of the times, to have the patience and instruction we need, we'll want to be faithful students of the Scriptures ourselves, so that we know what they say – and always with a view to asking, “How can I share this with someone else?” We'll want to be fervent in prayer, asking the Holy Spirit to equip us with the patience and instruction we need.

Paul tells us: “Keep your head in all situations, endure hardship.” Again, we'll need God's Word and fervent prayer to help us do all of these things, to help us keep fighting faithfully.

Paul knew that his fight was almost over. So he encourages us:

Fight the good fight – rejoicing in the reward.

Paul tells us: “For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.”

The drink offering was wine poured out beside the altar after the worshiper had brought a sacrifice. The drink offering was the final step in the sacrifice ceremony.
So, when St. Paul says, “I am already being poured out like a drink offering,” he means that his death as a martyr for Jesus will be the crowning act, the grand finale, of his faithful witness to the Lord Jesus Christ. His willingness to lay down his life as a witness for Jesus would show everyone that his faith was sincere.

“And the time for my departure is near.” The word Paul uses for “departure” has the picture of a ship letting loose the lines that tie it to the dock, so that the ship can set sail for a new destination.

Because Jesus lived a perfect life in our place; because Jesus died for our sins on the cross; because Jesus rose again from the dead to declare that his sacrifice has been accepted by the Father; because Jesus ascended into heaven to prepare a place for us; because Jesus is coming again to take his believers home to heaven; you and I, like Paul, can look on our death with peace, comfort, and joy. Our death is letting loose the lines that tie us to this perishing world of sin and death, and setting sail for the heavenly harbor.

Paul tells us what's waiting for us there: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day – and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.”

The “crown” Paul refers to is the victor's crown, awarded to the winner of an athletic event like a race. We today would think of a gold medal in the Olympics. The earthly victor's crown was made of laurel leaves. It stayed fresh and green for only a few days, until it faded and crumbled away. But Jesus will give us a crown that lasts forever. It's “the crown of righteousness” – the righteousness of Jesus, which he credits to us.

That's how Paul knew he would pass the test in God's courtroom. That's how Paul knew for certain he would be welcomed into heaven: because Paul would stand at the pearly gates dressed, not in Paul's own faithfulness – even as impressive as it was! No, Paul would stand at the pearly gates crowned with the righteousness of Jesus, purchased with Jesus' blood.

And that's the very same way you and I can be confident that we will be accepted at the judgment and welcomed into heaven – because of Jesus.

Oh, may thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold fight as the saints who nobly fought of old
and win with them the victor's crown of gold. Alleluia! Alleluia!

And when the fight is fierce, the warfare long, steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
and hearts are brave again and arms are strong. Alleluia! Alleluia!

06/03/2026

Sermon for June 7, 2026

Scripture Readings: Exodus 3:1-15; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Matthew 9:9-13

Murderers. Hasty hotheads who tried to force God's hand. A collaborator with a tyrannical government, viewed as a sellout and a traitor against his people and his faith. These are the men we meet in our three Scripture readings today. Moses, Paul, and Matthew are all poster boys of God's amazing grace. So are you. So am I. “By grace [we're] saved, grace free and boundless.” This morning, we say: THANKS BE TO GOD FOR HIS AMAZING GRACE!

Grace that called us to faith;
Grace that called us to serve.

When Moses was forty years old, he tried to incite a rebellion among the Hebrew slaves. Moses killed an Egyptian task master and, in fear, buried the body in the sand. “He thought that his brothers would understand that God was giving them deliverance by his hand, but they did not understand” (Ac 7:25). When Moses was eighty, God called him to go back to Egypt. Now, when most of us would be long retired from our jobs, now God called Moses to set the Israelites free.

Saul of Tarsus “persecuted [Christianity] to the death, tying up and throwing both men and women into prisons” (Ac 22:4). He confessed that he had been “a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a violent man” (1 Tm 1:13). Paul tells us that his conversion to faith in Jesus Christ was like pulling a baby out of his mother's womb before it can reach full term (1 Cor 15:8).

Levi Matthew was a tax collector. His fellow Jews would have regarded Matthew as a traitor to his faith and his people. But one day, Jesus walked by Matthew's tax office and said the words that changed Matthew's life: “Follow me” (Mt 9:9). Matthew left his well-paying job to follow Jesus.

You and I probably don't have as dramatic a conversion story as Moses, Paul, or Matthew. We've no doubt never seen a burning bush or a blinding light. But our faith in Jesus as our Savior is no less a miracle of God's grace.

Paul tells us what a great miracle our faith in Jesus is: “God, because he is rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved!” (Eph 2:4, 5). God opened our spiritual eyes when we were spiritually blind. God raised us from spiritual death. God opened our hearts to trust in Jesus, when by nature we were “an unspiritual person [who] does not accept the truths taught by God's Spirit, because they are foolishness to him” (1 Cor 2:14).

Because of this amazing grace that God showed to us, we'll never want to look on anyone as beyond the reach of God's grace in Christ. As long as they're alive on this earth, God is giving them a time of grace. “He is patient...not wanting anyone to perish, but all to come to repentance” (2 Pe 3:9).

Thanks be to God for his amazing grace!

Grace that called us to serve.

When God called Moses to return to Egypt, Moses went with a Gospel message: after four hundred years of slavery in Pharaoh's mud pits, God was going to set them free and bring them back to Canaan! When Jesus brought Saul of Tarsus to faith, “immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues, saying, 'He is the Son of God'” (Ac 9:20). When Jesus called Matthew to follow him, Matthew had a dinner party at his house. Matthew wanted his coworkers down at the tax office to meet Jesus and to hear his Word for themselves.

Let's think for a moment of how God could have chosen to bring his Word to the world. He could have used his holy angels. They would have done the work without delay and without any human limitations. Or God could simply have proclaimed his Word himself. Think of the times when God himself spoke from heaven.

But instead, God has chosen to use you and me to share his Word with the world. How much more fully could God show us that his amazing grace in Christ has forgiven us all our sins through faith in Jesus? God not only has forgiven our sins, but he has given us his authority to forgive and to retain the sins of other people. The same amazing grace that called us to faith has called us to serve.

05/25/2026

Sermon for May 31, 2026 (Holy Trinity)

Psalm 8

Today we celebrate the Festival of the Holy Trinity. For one Sunday, we pause to worship and praise the Triune God. God reveals himself in his holy Word as one God in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In faith worked in our hearts by God's Word, we trust in simple faith what our human reason can never comprehend. But faith is content with what God has revealed. Like the holy angels in Isaiah's vision, we shout out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty! The whole earth is full of his glory.”

That joyous worship and that humble adoration is also the theme of Psalm 8 (read the text here):

With the inspired psalmist, we worship and adore as THE TRIUNE GOD REVEALS HIS GLORY!

In creation

David writes: “O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Set this glory of yours above the heavens.”

God's name is so majestic that his glory towers above the highest heavens. Early last month, the Artemis 2 mission took four astronauts farther than any human being has ever traveled from the earth: a distance of 252,756 miles. But God's glorious name towers far above that heightest height. Astronomers tell us that there are one hundred billion galaxies, and that each galaxy has more than one hundred billion stars! Yet God's Word tells us: “He counts the number of the stars. He calls them all by name” (Ps 147:4).

Yet this majestic God, whose name is set above the heavens, is pleased to receive the lisping worship of little infants: “From the lips of little children and nursing babies you have established strength.” Jesus tells us that this was fulfilled when the little children of Jerusalem burbled out their “Hosannas” to him when he came into Jerusalem at the beginning of Holy Week. Jesus tells you and me to imitate the faith of little children. They trust God's Word. Human reason doesn't get in the way of their faith.

David marvels at God's love for us, his human creatures: “Whenever I look up at your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place – what is man that you remember him, the son of man that you pay attention to him!”

God gave human beings dominion over his creation. But we quickly ruined God's good creation by rebelling against him. All of the evils we see in our world – pollution and crime, poverty and injustice, war and riot – and the list could go on – all of these things are in the world because our first parents rebelled against God and coveted what God, in love, had said was off limits for them.

God would have had every right to destroy this entire mess. He would have had every right to turn his back on us rebels forever. Instead –

God reveals his glory in Christ's humiliation and exaltation

But God beheld my wretched state before the world's foundation, and, mindful of his mercies great,
he planned for my salvation. A father's heart he turned to me, sought my redemption fervently;
he gave his dearest treasure.

He spoke to his beloved Son: “It's time to have compassion. Then go, bright jewel of my crown,
and bring to all salvation. From sin and sorrow set them free; slay bitter death for them that they
may live with you forever.” (CW 557:4, 5)

Jesus fulfills the words of Psalm 8: “Nevertheless, you make him suffer need, apart from God for a while, but you crown him with glory and honor. You make him ruler over the works of your hands. You put everything under his feet.”

Jesus fulfilled these words. The Second Person of the Trinity, the eternal Word through whom the Father created all things, came down from heaven. He became incarnate. God took on a true human nature, yet without sin. “He humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross. Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name” (Php 2:8, 9).

Jesus became our perfect Substitute. Jesus is the Second Adam, who perfectly obeyed his Father's will and died under the curse and punishment we deserve for our sins. Jesus is the Man with a capital M, the Son of Man with a capital S. Jesus restores to us the relationship with God that we lost by our sin. We have just celebrated Jesus' resurrection from the dead and his ascension into heaven, where Jesus is preparing a place for us, so that we will be with him forever.

And,

The Triune God reveals his glory in Christians.

God's great and good plan was to share what belongs to him with us, his human creatures. Even when we fell into sin, God didn't stop loving us. From eternity, God planned his amazing rescue operation, to restore us to fellowship with himself.

When Jesus returns, he will create a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells (2 Pe 3:13). There we will share in the royal reign that Jesus himself now exercises. God's Word promises: “Dear friends, we are children of God now, but what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he is revealed we will be like him, and we will see him as he really is” (1 Jn 3:2); and, “It is even more certain that those who receive the overflowing grace of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ” (Ro 5:17).

How much more forgiven could we be through the Triune God's great rescue plan? Not only has God forgiven our sins, but will also share his glory with us forever.

O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

05/19/2026

*** CAR SHOW POSTPONED ***
Our Saviour Lutheran Church of Westland's Classic Car Show has been postponed because of the possibility of rain. This event will be rescheduled, probably in October 2026.

05/12/2026

Sermon for May 17, 2026 (Easter 7)

Acts 1:13-26

God willing, on December 31, 2027, something will happen here at Our Saviour Lutheran Church that hasn't happened for 22 years. Our pastor plans to retire, and our church will be vacant. What will the future hold?

The early Christians in Jerusalem faced the issue of THE FIRST CHURCH VACANCY. What would they do? How would they continue the Gospel ministry in the future? The Lord Jesus hadn't left behind any instructions before he ascended into heaven about how to fill a vacancy in the ministry. Jesus had established the pattern that there would be twelve apostles. Now Judas had horrified and shocked the other disciples. Peter reminded the congregation in Jerusalem of the sad history: Judas “became a guide for those who arrested Jesus. Judas was counted as one of us and was given a share in this ministry.” Guilt-stricken, Judas had hanged himself. Added to their shock and horror was the later discovery of Judas' body, which had suffered the effects of hanging in place in the hot Judean sunshine. The citizens of Jerusalem had memorialized Judas' gruesome death by naming the field purchased with Judas' 30 pieces of silver “Field of Blood.” Everyone passing by would forever remember Judas' act of betrayal.

THE FIRST CHURCH VACANCY now needed to be filled. How? And, with whom? Let's see that the first congregation in Jerusalem

filled the vacancy by prayer and by a very human process;
God blessed their human process with divine blessing.

The first church vacancy was filled by prayer and by a very human process.

The Churh recognized that there were important qualifications for whomever was chosen. “It is necessary that one of the men who accompanied us during the entire time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from his baptism by John until the day Jesus was taken up from us, become a witness with us of his resurrection.”

The new apostle had to be a man. The new apostle had to be an eyewitness of Jesus' ministry on earth, especially, an eyewitness of Jesus' resurrection.

“They proposed two: Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus) and Matthias. Then they prayed, 'Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen.”

The Church produced a call list. They chose two men, both of whom had the qualifications that were required for the ministry. Then they prayed that God would show them which of the two men was God's choice.

How would they find out which man was God's choice? “Then they assigned lots for them.” They probably put each man's name on a stick or a stone, and then they pulled one out, like drawing straws or flipping a coin. They used a very human process; but at the same time, they trusted that the Lord would bless that human process. They trusted God's promise in Proverbs: “Lots are cast into the pouch, but the LORD determines all their decisions” (Prv 16:33).
Our Saviour Lutheran Church will follow a human process. Last Tuesday night, the Church Council began a discussion of some options for the future of Gospel ministry here in Westland, Michigan. We'll share those options with you next Sunday. There will be updates. There will be discussion. There will be questions and answers. There will be time for prayer. There will be time for pondering, consultation, and exploration. Faithful pastors from our synod and our district will walk beside us to provide advice and counsel.

Some time in 2027 – after this human process – the congregation's voters will make a decision. And we will ask God to bless that decision.

“The lot fell to Matthias. So he was counted with the eleven apostles.”

This is the last reference to Matthias in the New Testament. We know nothing about where he traveled or how he died. I think that's the point: Matthias was a witness to Jesus. Matthias preached the resurrection of Jesus, of which he was one of the eyewitnesses. Matthias as a person didn't matter; Jesus mattered.

And that's what we will confess about the person who serves the members of Our Saviour Lutheran Church of Westland, Michigan after our pastor retires. The man who serves us doesn't matter. He's a servant of Jesus. His message is Jesus our Savior from sin, and his death and resurrection.

That means we don't have to have anxiety or worry about the future of Our Saviour Lutheran Church. I'm sure we do have anxiety and even some worry. We're sinful human beings. We always worry about the unknown future.

But we just celebrated the Ascension of our Lord Jesus into heaven. We heard last Thursday night that Jesus ascended into heaven to be “head over everything for the church. The church is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Eph 1:22, 23). Jesus already knows the future. Jesus knows how he is going to use the events that are going to happen over the next twenty months for our good and for his glory, just as surely as Jesus has been guiding and blessing his Church for the last twenty centuries.

05/04/2026

Sermon for May 10, 2026 (Easter 6)

Acts 17:16-31

“Jesus said: “[God] makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Mt 5:45). Paul told the people in Lystra: “[God] did not leave himself without testimony of the good he does. He gives you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons. He fills you with food and fills your hearts with gladness” (Ac 14:17). We may wonder:

WHY IS GOD SO GOOD TO PEOPLE WHO DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE HIM?

Let's answer that question this morning – (read the text here):

Let's discover together some reasons why God is so good to people who don't acknowlege him:

He wants to touch their conscience;
He wants them to find him before they meet their Maker.

Paul was on the second of his three great missionary journeys. He came to Athens. While he waited for his co-workers and friends Silas and Timothy, Paul did some sight-seeing. But Paul didn't walk through Athens as a curious tourist on vacation; no, Paul walked through Athens to prepare himself to preach the Gospel there.

“He was very distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” Athens was filled with statues, temples, and shrines of every sort. Not only were there statues of the various Greek gods, but there were even statues dedicated to various virtues and qualities. We might think of the statue of blind Lady Justice outside a courthouse, or the Statue of Liberty in New York. The people of Athens wanted to be on the good side of whatever deity there might be. They tried to cover all the spiritual bases. They even built an altar “To an unknown God.” They didn't want to offend any of the various gods or goddesses that they might not have honored by name.

Paul spent some time in downtown Athens with “those who happened to be in the marketplace every day.” Paul stood in the local outdoor shopping mall getting to know the people – how they thought, what was on their minds.

“Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also debated with him.” The Epicureans were people who lived for sensual pleasure. The Epicureans were the YOLO crowd of 52 AD. “YOLO” is a term used by some younger people today. It means, “You Only Live Once.” The Epicureans would fit very well into America in 2026. The Stoics were people who said, “You can't control anything that comes into your life, so just approach joy and sorrow, happiness and sadness, with the same uncaring, emotionless attitude. You can't do anything about what happens, so just be numb to everything.”

Paul began to proclaim Jesus' resurrection from the dead to them. Jesus' resurrection from the dead told the Epicureans, “No, there is much more to life than living for sensual pleasure. Jesus has risen from the dead to give life eternal to all who believe in him as their Savior. Jesus came to give you new life in him.” Jesus' resurrection from the dead told the Stoics, “You can approach the joys and sorrows of life with peace and comfort in your hearts. Jesus is reigning on his throne, using all things for the good of those who love him.”
The sophisticated philosophers of Athens mocked Paul's message. They called him a “seed picker.” That was an insult meant to belittle Paul and his preaching. A seed picker is a little bird that hops around on the lawn gobbling up little bits and pieces of bugs and seeds, and then spits them out again to his baby birds in the nest. So, the philosophers accused Paul of jumping around to all kinds of topics they didn't understand.

But, Paul's preaching did attract curiosity and attention. They decided to make Paul the speaker at the Athens Chamber of Commerce meeting, called the Areopagus.

Paul's message touched their conscience. He told them that God is the Creator of every human being. Every breath we take is a gift from God. “In him we live and move and have our being.” That's a quote from the Greek writer Epimenides. Paul showed the Athenians that he was an educated man, not a seed picker. Paul was familiar with their culture, and he respected what he could in it. Paul assured them that even the blind squirrels of their philosophers had found the acorn, that there's more to life than just this existence. Even pagan Greeks realized that there is a God, and that he's the Giver of good gifts. Paul quoted another Greek writer, Aratus, who said: “We are God's offspring.”

Paul touched their conscience. He told them, “Your conscience tells you there's more to life. Your conscience calls out to you that there is a God who made you. That means you're accountable to that God for how you live your life. God has a claim on you. God wants you to investigate that God and to search out what his claim on your life is.” This is a message we can share with the YOLO people around us in 2026 just as Paul shared that same message in Athens in 52 AD.

This message about creation and God's claim was Paul's preparation for the message Paul really wanted to bring them. God wants people to find him before they meet their Maker.

Paul told them: “[God] has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness by the man he has appointed. He provided proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” The heart and core of Paul's message was Jesus. The center of Paul's ministry was Jesus' resurrection from the dead, and that Jesus is coming back as the Righteous Judge. Acknowledge the unknown God who sent his Son to save you from your sins. Trust in Jesus before you stand before him on Judgment Day!

Paul boldly proclaimed God's Word, and Paul left the reaction and the results to God. “When they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some of them started to scoff. But others said, 'We want to hear you again on this subject.' Some men became followers of Paul and believed.”

As it was in 52 AD, so it will be in 2026. Some will scoff at God's Word. Some, by the Holy Spirit's power alone, will believe and be saved.

Lord, speak to us that we may speak
In living echoes of your tone.
As you have sought, so let us seek
Your straying children, lost and lone. (CW 561:1)

04/27/2026

Sermon for May 3, 2026 (Easter 5)

Acts 6:1-9; 7:2a; 51-60

Last Sunday we heard that the first group of Christians in Jerusalem “were together and had everything in common...with one mind they were devoted to meeting in the temple area..They shared their food with glad and sincere hearts” (Ac 2:44, 46). Their Christian unity made an impression on the unbelievers who saw their love for one another: “Awe came over every soul...[they were] viewed favorably by all the people” (Ac 2:43, 47).

Today we hear about a dispute that threatened that beautiful Christian unity: “In those days, as the number of disciples was increasing, a complaint arose from the Greek-speaking Jews against the Hebrew-speaking Jews, because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.”

How did those first Christians resolve their dispute? How did they keep their unity? They used the gifts the Holy Spirit had given to the members. Today we learn how

OUR RISEN AND ASCENDED LORD JESUS GIVES US CONFIDENCE AND COURAGE!

Jesus gives us confidence by giving us gifts with which we can serve him and others.

The apostles came up with a wise solution that would meet everyone's needs: they would involve more members in ministry. In their Christian freedom, they created a new office in the church: the office of deacon. “Deacon” is a Greek word. It simply means, “helper.”

My friends, ministry in the Old Testament was exclusive, and it was strictly regulated by God's Old Testament ceremonial laws. To be a priest, someone had to be able to trace his genealogy back to Aaron, the first high priest. That meant that the priests had to come from only one of the twelve tribes of Israel: the tribe of Levi. No one who had any kind of physical defect could be a priest.

There was also the office of Levite – men who helped to carry the tabernacle furnishings and who later served at the temple. Likewise, there were ceremonial laws that governed the service of the Levites.

But in the New Testament Church, our risen and ascended Lord Jesus has given us Gospel freedom! In our Christian freedom, we take a look at the needs of the church, and we structure the ministry to meet those needs. In our Christian freedom, we can have forms of the public ministry that meet the people's needs.

But anyone who serves in public ministry must have the proper scriptural qualifications for ministry. In the case of the seven deacons, the apostles encouraged the congregation to “carefully select...seven men with good reputations, who are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom.” Their good reputations would put an end to the division and the complaining, because the good reputations of these seven deacons would assure the congregation that these men were honest and fair. None of the widows would be overlooked anymore. Problem solved!

One of those seven deacons was Stephen. God's Word describes him as “full of grace and power.”

Now, we have some questions about Stephen's ministry. We find him basically preaching a sermon in the Jewish synagogue. Did the work of the seven deacons include a call to preach? Or, did Stephen just find himself in a situation in which he had the opportunity to speak about his Christian faith? Either way, the risen and ascended Lord equipped Stephen with confidence to serve God and other people with the gifts the Holy Spirit had given to Stephen.

Stephen briefly, but skillfully, painted a mural of God's dealings with Israel. With broad, bold brush strokes, Stephen reminded them of how Israel had shown contempt and disobedience for God's goodness to them. Then Stephen concluded with his call to repentance: “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit! You are doiong just what your fathers did. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who prophesied the coming of the Righteous One, and now you have became his betrayers and murderers.”

The people in the synagogue that day “were furious and gnashed their teeth at him.” They formed a lynch mob and stoned Stephen to death.

But our risen and ascended Lord Jesus gives us confidence and courage.

Jesus gives us courage in the face of death.

“Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed up into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He said, 'Look, I see heaven opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.' While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!' Then he fell to his knees and cried out in a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.' After he said this, he fell asleep.” Stephen died as the first Christian martyr. “Martyr” is a Greek word. It means witness. But it has a special meaning: someone whose witness to Jesus Christ leads to their death.

Just before Stephen's death, the Lord Jesus gave Stephen courage in the face of death. Stephen received the same miracle that Jesus received at his baptism. Heaven was opened. Jesus was about to fulfill for Stephen the promise he made in our Gospel reading this morning. In the upper room on the night before his death on the cross, Jesus promised: “Do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you” (Jn 14:1, 2). Stephen saw Jesus, not sitting on his throne, but standing up to give Stephen a hug and welcome him home to heaven.

Just as his Lord Jesus had done on the cross, Stephen prayed for forgiveness for the men who were killing him. Like his Lord Jesus had done on the cross, Stephen prayed that the Lord would receive his spirit.

Because Jesus lived a perfect life for us; because Jesus died a perfect death for us on the cross; because Jesus rose again from the dead for our justification; because Jesus ascended into heaven to reign over all things for the good of his Church; we have the same courage in the face of death that Stephen had.

I am flesh and must return unto dust, whence I am taken;
but by faith I now discern that from death I shall awaken
with my Savior to abide, in his glory, at his side.

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