January Newsletter Article

O God, You have taught me from my youth;

And to this day I declare your wondrous works.

Psalm 71:17

Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ, I have had the privilege of guest-preaching and teaching in some of our sister congregations and Lutheran schools over the past month as part of being campus pastor at Christ The King Lutheran Chapel. Speaking about the work the Lord is doing here for the International and American students is fantastic. The services, Bible studies, fellowship activities, and service projects we undertake are impressive, and the students who attend our chapel treasure their experiences here.

While I did speak of the wonderful things that are taking place here at the chapel, I was also asked what parents, grandparents, and pastors could do to help ensure that their own children and grandchildren would take their own faith seriously, continue attending church services at a Lutheran church when they move away from home, and grow and mature as Christians. It was such a good question that I thought I should share this with all of you – many of whom have children and grandchildren of your own. The only caveats I offer are these – first; the suggestions I make here will not guarantee that your children or grandchildren will cherish the faith as you do, nor will it guarantee that they will live out that faith by regularly attending church and availing themselves of God’s gifts in Word and Sacrament, and second; this may be strong medicine for parents who do not consider this to be a serious issue for their families. Please rest assured that I write what I write because of the things that I hear from parents as a pastor to college students.

Near the beginning of most school years at CMU I can count on getting a few phone calls from parents with some or all of the following requests:
- Has my child been going to church?
- Can you make sure my child is going to church?
- How do I get my child to attend church while he or she is away at school?
- My child won’t answer the phone – can you make them talk to me?

Sadly, almost every time I have to ask, ‘and what was your child’s name again…?’ It’s not that I do not care about these students – far from it – the sad fact is that almost every time I don’t even know them!

Again, I cannot guarantee that you will not find yourself in their position one day as well, but there are things all Lutheran parents can be doing for their children throughout their lives to help keep this from happening. First, realize that most of our work in the church is ‘Preventative Spiritual Care.’ Just like you go to see the doctor regularly to stay on top your health and ensure that your body stays strong to fight off diseases and sicknesses, pastors work to prepare you to face the spiritual trials that will surely come down the road. It all begins with Baptism, continues through Sunday School and confirmation preparation, youth and adult Bible study, and is rooted in the Divine Service.

The best thing you can do as a parent is show by example and by your words the following three things:
- the reason you are Lutheran and not something else.
- that weekly church attendance is important for Christians.
- that you expect your children to continue to grow and mature as Christians when they go to college.

Obviously these things cannot happen overnight. You cannot sit down with your son or daughter the night before you drop them off at college, tell them these things, and expect that they will have no spiritual problems while away at college. These things should be part of the pattern of your lives from the time of childhood for your children. Don’t send them away to college as ‘blank slates’ – you will be alarmed at what will fill it. You can’t expect your children to be strong and dedicated Christians in college if you haven’t raised them to be strong and dedicated Christians from the beginning of their lives.

I cannot overemphasize how crucial it is for children going away to college to have a strong, distinctive, Lutheran identity. This identity is confused when they are allowed to sleep in on Sundays instead of going to church. It is likewise confused when they attend multiple churches with other family members and friends. It is further confused when their parents have not expressed – in both action and words – that being a Lutheran is the most important thing in their life.

If your children or grandchildren attend a public university, they will have next to no support or encouragement from their classmates or professors to grow and mature in the Christian faith or even go to church. One of the most difficult things for anyone to do is to go to church alone, and most college students are faced with that very thing as freshmen, when feelings of loneliness are at their highest in a college student’s career. Make it a priority to visit your children while they are at college and go to church with them there. Introduce them to the campus pastor and let them get to know one another. It speaks volumes to your children about your commitment to the faith when you make it a priority to attend church even when you are away from home.

There is surely much more that could be said about this topic, but for now this is plenty of food for thought. Do not be afraid to take the initiative with your children and do not worry whether you might be too late – there is no time like the present to resolve, as parents and grandparents, to tell the next generation what you believe, why you believe it, and why you care that they too believe it!

To Christ alone be all the glory, forever and ever, Amen.
Pastor Bakker

Sermon for Advent 3 (3yr) w/ Thanks to Pastor Cook for the ending!

Jesus, The Preacher

Luke 7:18-28

Third Sunday in Advent, 2009 C

Zion Lutheran Church

Mount Pleasant, Michigan

Pastor Jonathon Bakker

            Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.  The Holy Scripture for our consideration this day is the Gospel reading from St. Luke.

Then the disciples of John reported to him concerning all these things.  And John, calling two of his disciples to him, sent them to Jesus, saying, ‘Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?’  When the men had come to him, they said, ‘John the Baptist has sent us to you, saying, ‘Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?’’  And that very hour he cured many of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits; and to many blind he gave sight.  Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Go and tell John the things you have seen and heard: that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of me.’  When the messengers of John had departed, he began to speak to the multitudes concerning John: ‘What did you go out into the wilderness to see?  A reed shaken by the wind?  But what did you go out to see?  A man clothed in soft garments?  Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings’ courts.  But what did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.  This is he of whom it is written: ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.’  For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.’ 

            Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, Jesus is a gifted preacher.  Now, that may sound odd to our ears, because Jesus is much more than just a preacher, but in this Gospel that is exactly what he does.  ‘Tell us,’ they implored.  ‘We were sent by John the Baptist!’ they said.  ‘Are you the Coming One?’

            It is incredible, when you think about it.  John the Baptist, born to Zechariah and Elizabeth when they were long past the age of childbearing, was brought up in the knowledge that he was the forerunner to the Messiah.  Now he wonders if Jesus is this Messiah.  He was the new Elijah and the new Isaiah, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, and the people came to him as he prepared the way of the Lord.  Now he wonders if Jesus is the Lord.  He baptized Jesus in the Jordan River to fulfill all righteousness; he was right there when the voice of the Father came down from the heavens, calling Jesus his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased.  He saw the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove come upon Jesus.  Now he wonders if Jesus is the Coming One, or if he should be looking for another.

            It is incredible.  Of all the people we would not expect to harbor doubts about Jesus’ true identity and mission, John that Baptist would be among those crowding the very top of the list.  Mary knew for certain that Jesus was God’s own Son; Joseph believed this, Elizabeth and Zechariah believed it, the Twelve all came to believe it, and John the Baptist even proclaimed him to be the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.  At least, that was what he must have thought at the time.

            Those who are skeptical of the religious claims the Bible makes love the fact that passages like this exist in Scripture.  If Jesus truly is the Son of God, why would Scripture include such an embarrassing anecdote about John?  Wouldn’t it lead others to have similar doubts?  Isn’t it incriminating that one of Christianity’s key figures had such serious questions about Jesus’ divinity when the going got rough?

            Herod had imprisoned John at this point in his life for his criticism of several of the evils Herod had committed, not the least of which was marrying his own brother’s wife, Herodias (who also happened to be his niece).  She detested John the Baptist so much that she eventually requested his execution.  John did not know how long he had, but his days were numbered.

            The going was rough for John, and all of a sudden he found himself imprisoned.  No more preaching and baptizing in the Jordan; no more pointing to Jesus and talking about how unworthy he was to untie his sandal straps; he now had some time on his hands to think about the things that had taken place, and he began to wonder.  ‘Is this really how things were supposed to go?  Shouldn’t the Son of God be rising to the top of society?  If Jesus really is the Coming One, wouldn’t he be looking after me, his forerunner?’

            They are good questions, questions we ourselves ask.  Oh, we don’t think about them all the time.  In fact, most of the time we don’t even think about the Son of God and consider what he has to do with the things going on in our lives.  When things go badly, that is when we begin to wonder about all kinds of things, and sometimes that wonder even raises doubts.  In good times, we’re happy to think that God is distant, that he’s there for those who need him, but as for us, we’re doing pretty well on our own.  When things get bad, however, God cannot be too close to us, and when bad times do not improve, or they get worse, we struggle just like John the Baptist.

            ‘Are you going to help me Lord, or should I start looking somewhere else?’ we might ask.  Or it might turn into, ‘If you really love me, Lord, help me.’  Or even, ‘Lord, if you’re really there, I could use a hand.’  No Christian is exempt from the struggles with unbelief we face in this life from the devil, our own sinful nature, and the world.  John the Baptist proves that there is no such thing as, ‘once saved; always saved.’  The sign of the cross given to us in baptism upon our foreheads and our hearts is no mere ‘stamp of approval’ to ward off every spiritual problem and doubt we may ever face – in fact, that cross on us is more like a bulls-eye for the evil one who seeks to plant those seeds of doubt and unbelief within us.  Nothing frustrates Satan like the faith given in baptism, and he will do everything in his power to make you question whether Jesus really is the Son of God, and whether he really died for your sins and rose again from the dead for you.

            Unbelief is persistent in its desire for our souls, never letting us have a moments’ rest while we live.  John the Baptist had reached rock bottom.  The great preacher was greatly puzzled.  Before, he had proclaimed the one who would grant freedom to those imprisoned.  Now that he sat in prison, perhaps his expectation was that Jesus would come and free him.

            Unbelief always seems to demand miracles.  Surely you have heard people give the excuse that they would believe if only God would do something miraculous.  There are no miracles, however, for those caught between faith and unbelief – there are only the words of Jesus.  The great preacher must hear the Greatest Preacher, and what does he say?  Does he give John a straight, ‘yes, I am the Coming One?’  Does he tell John, ‘no, you need not look for another?’  No.  ‘The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them.’  John receives no miracle to stave off execution or free him from Herod’s clutches, but in Jesus’ preaching, he was sprung from the harshest prison of all – the prison of unbelief.

            It is not impossible for modern medicine to drastically improve vision and hearing, and even broken bones and diseases of the flesh are treated with amazing rates of success.  Raising the dead, however, is impossible, but when you think about the sequence of all of these things, the most significant thing Jesus preaches to John is that the poor have the Gospel preached to them.

            No miracle is coming on demand for John – Jesus does not work that way.  He must instead be content that in Christ his sins are forgiven and everlasting life is his in heaven.  This is what it means to have the Gospel preached to you – faith does not feed on miracles but on the Gospel.  Jesus’ answer to John finishes with a cryptic message, ‘blessed is he who is not offended because of me.’  Only the one who takes Christ at his word regardless of life’s circumstances receives the greatest miracle of all – the eternal life and forgiveness promised in Christ!

            Some will still insist that John’s conflict with unbelief compromises the witness of Scripture, but anyone who has engaged in that same struggle – and we all have – knows better.  We need only listen to the rest of the story to hear the answer we long for.  The weakness of John the Baptist reminds us that even the preacher must do battle against the evil one; the dilemma of John the Baptist teaches us that in our own struggles to trust the Lord, he has not abandoned us; and the words of Jesus reveal that in him we have the greatest preacher of all.

            We know where unbelief leads, but what about trust?  Trusting Christ still leads to death – John is not exempt from his coming execution and neither will any of us escape the wages of sin - but trusting Christ also leads past death to resurrection.  Jesus is the way, the truth and the life.  Trusting Christ ends in eternity. 

            To him alone be all the glory, forever and ever, amen.  The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus, our Lord, amen.