Had our Lord been crucified this year then Thursday of this past week would have been forty days after His resurrection. In other words, after Jesus was raised from the dead, he spent forty days on earth. He was seen by the apostles, by the women who followed him, and by many who believed in Him. At one time, he was seen by about 500 people. After 40 days he ascended to heaven, the apostles returned to Jerusalem as Jesus had instructed that they should do. They returned to Jerusalem to await the coming of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus promised that He would send to them. So as they returned to Jerusalem we are told that they stayed in the upper room. Now, whether this was the same room in which they celebrated the Passover the night when Jesus was betrayed – the night they celebrated the Lord’s Supper – or another upper room – we don’t know and it makes no difference. The disciples and the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and some of his relatives gathered in the Upper Room to pray and await the promised coming of the Holy Spirit.
Sometime within the ten-day period between Jesus’ Ascension on the fortieth day after the Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, which would be the fiftieth day after the Resurrection, there was a gathering of the apostles, and those who followed Jesus numbering about 120 people. While they were gathered Peter spoke to the group. He spoke first about Judas, who betrayed Jesus, and handed him over to the authorities. He spoke about the manner of Judas’ death, having hanged himself in such a way that when he fell to his death by hanging, his intestines spilled out. The money – the thirty pieces of silver – which had been paid to Judas by the Jewish leaders to betray Jesus – had been returned to the leaders by Judas – but they could not return this money to the temple treasury because it was blood money. So they used the money to buy a field in which to bury the poor. Since, blood money was used to purchase the field, it was named “akeldamak” which is Aramaic meaning “field of blood. The Scriptures had foretold these happenings. The verses which Peter quoted from Scripture “ ‘ May his camp become desolate, and let there be no one to dwell in it’ ; and “ ‘ Let another take his office.’ are quotations from the Scriptures – from Psalms – 69:25 and 109:8.
Peter felt that it was necessary to replace Judas with a man who would serve as a witness to the things that Jesus had done during the time of his ministry – that is - from the time he was baptized by John until the time He was resurrected. So two men were nominated so to speak, one called Joseph also called Barsabbas who was also called Justus, and Matthias also called Mattathias. The people prayed about whom should occupy this apostolic office. And so they cast lots for them. What this means exactly we do not know. Whether they put two broken pieces of pottery in a clay jar with the men’s name on them ----- shook and swirled the jar until one came out – or whether they cast things like dice – or whether they used other means we do not know. But the lot fell on Matthias and he became the twelfth apostle. When things were handled like this, the people believed that God had made His Choice. In other words, it did not just happen that the lot fell to Matthias. He was not selected by chance. They believed that God had made his choice through these means.
So the twelve disciples - the leaders of the early church – were now ready for their Lord’s sending of the Holy Spirit. They engaged in prayer. They read the Scriptures. They believed that the things foretold in the Scriptures such as Judas betrayal and unhappy end - must happen. The Greek word “dei” is used here when talking about things that must happen. “It is necessary” or “edei” meaning it was necessary that things happened as fortetold by God in Scripture. God, in His foreknowledge, knew that these things would happen – just as Jesus knew and foretold that Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed. He did not cause them to happen, but He knew beforehand that they would happen and foretold some of these things in Holy Scripture. The apostles believed in the Holy Scriptures. Though they had been with Jesus – though they had seen him at work – healing, casting out demons, teaching, raising the dead – though they could have claimed some sort of special knowledge from God by being so closely associated with Jesus – they clung to the Scriptures as the inspired Word of God. That dear ones is the main point of our text today from Acts – subtle as that point is made. The disciples clung to Jesus words and promises yes, but they also continued to cling to the Words and Promises of Scripture that they possessed at that time. They were not unlike us.
We also cling to the Scriptures as the Holy and Inspired Word of God. I say it often around here, “If these Scriptures are not from God and are not true, then we have nothing from God to tell us of Him and of His plan of salvation for us. Take the Scriptures away and what do we have from God?” The answer is – of course – nothing. Maybe some would say we would have an oral tradition – but how reliable would that oral tradition be? But we believe – as did the apostles – that the Scriptures are the true and inspired Word of God. The Scriptures are God breathed as we are told in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.”
So, like the apostles who awaited the coming of the Holy Spirit after Jesus ascension, we wait. Indeed the Christian life is a life of waiting. Christ has come into the world and done his salvation work for the world – we don’t wait for that anymore. The Holy Spirit was sent into the world by Christ on Pentecost to do His work of pointing us to Christ – we don’t wait for that any more. But we still wait. We wait for Christ’s coming again in all His Glory. We live our lives in the Scriptures which are Scriptures of promise – promise of a better day – promise of victory over sin, death, and the devil. We live by faith in God’s promises. After all, that is what faith lives by and clings to, faith clings to a promise. And we wait the fulfillment of God’s promises made to us in Christ that He will come again. And never doubt - dear ones - that Christ will come again because He has foretold His coming again. And when He comes, He will be something to behold. And most importantly – when He comes - He will know you as His. Amen.

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Sixth Sunday of Easter – May 13, 2012
Our Savior Lutheran Church – Columbus, MS.
Pastor Floyd Smithey
Sermon Text: 1 John 5:1-8 in particular 6-8
Sermon Title: What do you believe about Jesus?
Sermon Theme: ACCORDING TO THE TESTIMONY OF THESE THREE WITNESSES, THE WATER, THE WORD, AND THE SPIRIT, WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST - THE SON OF GOD.

When there is a trial to determine whether a crime has been committed in the United States of America, the defendant usually has his choice of being tried by a judge or by a jury. Whether a decision is rendered by judge or jury, the judge makes many important decisions as to how the case will be tried. One of those important decisions involves witness selection. Judges rule on whether certain witnesses will be allowed to testify usually based on certain legal precedents that have been established. For instance, spouses are not usually allowed as witnesses against their spouse. And it is a sad fact that many have been sent to jail or executed on the mistaken testimony of one so-called eyewitness.

But for the Israelites of Old Testament days, the Lord God Himself, gave rules that would govern their legal proceedings. From Deuteronomy 19:15 God says, One witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity, or for any sin, in any sin that he sinneth: at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. The precedent established by God was that at least two but preferably three witnesses were required for a conviction. One witness was not enough. They wouldn’t even go to trial if they only had only one witness. American jurisprudence would be well advised to follow this example. But the point I am attempting to make is that God set the requirement and the precedent for the number of witnesses for reliable testimony in the courts of His Chosen People, the nation of Israel. And that number was at least two, but preferably three or even more. God established the precedent regarding witnesses, then human judges made their judgments regarding sin. {PAUSE}

Verse 5 of 1 John chapter 1 reads. “Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” Not long after the resurrection there were those who contested the statement made by Peter and others that Jesus was the Son of God. Heretical teaching began that claimed that Jesus was not really God. A man named Cerinthus was an early Gnosticist, one who advocated that Jesus was a mere man whom the heavenly Christ descended upon at His baptism and left before He died. Thus, the question arose again as it had at the time Jesus lived, “What do you believe about Jesus?” That is the question that confronts all human beings in the past, present and future. Confrontation by the question, “What do you believe about Jesus?” - makes us all into judges. We are judges in an ongoing trial of Jesus- a trial that tries Him for His claim to be the Son of God. So, “What do we believe about Jesus?” Do we believe as we say we do in the Apostles Creed that Jesus was “conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary?” Do we believe that Jesus of Nazareth truly was the Son of God? If we do, then we trust in Jesus the Son of God as our Savior. If we don’t then we put our trust in ourselves or some other false god for our salvation. But, truly God has given us much evidence and not just two but three witnesses to guide us to faith in Jesus as His Son.

The Holy Scriptures reveal that Jesus did many things a mere man could not do such as healing people, walking on water, walking through walls and doors, and raising people from the dead. There were many eyewitnesses to these things. The apostle John - who wrote our epistle text and our gospel text - was one of those eyewitnesses. In our gospel text, John gives us an account of some of Jesus’ teachings as one who was an eyewitness of Jesus – seeing and hearing what He did and said.

And John tells us in verses 4 and 5 of our epistle text just how we come to faith in Jesus as the Son of God. “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” Those who overcome the world have been born of God. In other words, those who have been born of the Holy Spirit who have been baptized in the Name of the Triune God have been given faith in Jesus as the Son of God. This is the faith that overcomes the fallen, sinful, world – faith in Jesus as the Son of God.

And then John goes on to tell us about the three witnesses God gives to us to identify Jesus of Nazareth as God’s Son who came as the Savior of the World. The Son of God came by water. Jesus was born as a human out of Mary’s womb like all of us and was born into the world by water - like all of us. But, He began his ministry as Our Savior by water, when the Holy Spirit descended on him when John the Baptizer baptized him in the waters of the Jordan River. He began his ministry as Savior by water and the Holy Spirit. He came by water then, He comes by water now. We join Him in His death in the waters of Baptism.

But, He did not come by water only. He also came by blood. His mother’s blood fed him as He grew in her womb. But His Blood was different from his mother’s blood. His blood was Holy Blood - pure and innocent blood. His Blood wasn’t tainted with sin. He poured out His Holy Innocent Blood on the altar of the cross as the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Pure, innocent blood was required to pay for our sins and the sins of the whole world. Jesus continues to pour out His Holy blood from this altar each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper. He came by blood then. He comes by blood now.

He came then and He comes now by water and blood, not by water only, but by water and blood. And the Holy Spirit, the one who is truth, leads us to this truth about Jesus. I asked my pastor many years ago about the Holy Spirit. Who is the Holy Spirit? What does He look like? What does He do? He answered by saying that He is Spirit – just as God the Father is spirit - so we don’t know what He looks like. But the work of the Holy Spirit is to always point us to Christ as the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is the quiet, unseen one of the Holy Trinity. The Holy Spirit calls no attention to Himself. He shows us our sin by the Ten Commandments and the Law written into our consciences. Then, He shows us Our Savior by the Gospel, the Good News of the forgiveness of sins that we access by faith in Christ. The Holy Spirit always points us to Christ our Savior. He testifies that Jesus is the Son of God.

Remember that in legal proceedings, God requires at least two or three witnesses, one won’t do! And so it is that each person who lives will be judged according to how they believe in Jesus and how they regard the three witnesses, water, blood, and the spirit. These three testify that Jesus is the Son of God. The Holy Spirit works through the Word from Holy Scripture and the Sacraments where water and blood are present. He works to bring you to faith in Jesus as the Son of God. He wants you to believe the truth - that Jesus is the Son of God. These three - the Holy Spirit of Truth through the Word and the waters of Holy Baptism always pointing us to Christ plus the blood of Christ in the Holy Supper - testify as the three witnesses sent by God that Jesus is the Son of God. It is by the testimony of these three witnesses that you are able to believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. So, what do we believe about Jesus? ACCORDING TO THE TESTIMONY OF THESE THREE WITNESSES, THE WATER, THE WORD, AND THE SPIRIT, WE BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST - THE SON OF GOD. Amen.

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Palm Sunday/ Passion Sunday – April 1, 2012
Pastor Floyd Smithey at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Sermon Text – Mark 15:1-47

The people of Jerusalem waved palm branches and proclaimed Jesus to be the King of Israel. Many of the same people who proclaimed Jesus King would be calling for his crucifixion in a few days. Thus, in addition to this being Palm Sunday, we also call this Passion Sunday. Palm Sunday would be the kickoff to a Holy Week – a week that included our Lord’s Passion.
The “Passion of Our Lord” designates the time and the action between the Lord’s Supper on what we call Thursday night and the time of his death on Good Friday. But, according to the way that the Jews reckoned their days both the Lord’s Supper and the Lord’s crucifixion fell on Friday. So much happened in a short period of time. Following the Lord’s Supper Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was in such agony that he sweated blood. There was a time of betrayal as Judas handed over our Lord by identifying him with a kiss bought and paid for with thirty pieces of silver - soon to be scattered over hell’s half acre.
There was time enough for four trials. There was a trial by the Sanhedrin where the Jews accused Jesus of blasphemy and stirring up the people with his teaching. They handed him over to Pilate, the Roman governor, who tried Him and did not find Him guilty of anything. But, in order to get rid of him, Pilate passed him along to King Herod, who also found him guilty of nothing but mocked him and sent him back to Pilate. Then – at the fourth trial of Jesus – still not finding Jesus guilty of anything deserving punishment - Pilate yielded to the pressure of the people by having Jesus beaten, flogged, and scourged before crucifying Him – using as a reason the fact that Jesus claimed to be the King of the Jews.
By nine o’clock of the morning after Jesus celebrated the Passover with his disciples, all of these things took place. Jesus was crucified for the whole world to see. Crucifixion was truly excruciating – both words come from the same Latin word “excrusiatus” – meaning “out of the cross”. Gentiles and Jews and Romans all gathered to watch. There was a titulus above Jesus head with language for all three ethnicities, Greek for Gentiles, Hebrew for the Jews, and Latin for the Romans. The sign, the titulus read, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
The leaders of the Jews were glad to get rid of him. They mocked him and spit at him and yelled insults at him. Some of the Jews watched in silence. There were others who were mourning. There were those who followed him from Galilee. There were the women who watched from a distance. Only one disciple was present – the disciple John – the disciple whom Jesus loved to whom Jesus would entrust the care of his mother Mary after his death.
Jesus had taught endlessly and tirelessly for three years. Now – on the cross, he was mostly silent – only occasionally groaning or speaking a few words. Christ spoke as the Savior of the world – the one who took the punishment for all mankind. When He gave up His Spirit he spoke loudly with superhuman effort and emitted a loud cry – you see men about to die by crucifixion have no breath – no voice – but this was not a mere mortal man. When the Lord Jesus breathed his last breath, His passion was over. No more would He suffer. No more would He would be separated from His Father.
Passion Sunday is about Christ’s suffering and death . It is about His suffering and death for the whole world – but especially “for you.” - His suffering and death were for the justification of the whole world. But His suffering and death were also for the justification of the individual sinner – for you. And more than that, Christ is here with you today on this Passion Sunday. He comes to you in His Word. He delivers to you the words of forgiveness and absolution for your sins – to make you right with His Father – to sustain your faith – to give to you the promise of resurrection after death with Him.
He stopped at nothing to save you from your sins, to give you paradise, and life eternal with Him. He is present with you now in the Word and in the ever - flowing waters of your Baptism. He is present with you “up close and personal” in the bread and wine of His Holy Supper. He promised to never leave you nor forsake you and He hasn’t and He won’t. He is with you and He will be with you forever. He is your Lord. He is your God. He is true God and true Man. He is the “One and Only Begotten Son” of the “One and Only True and Living God.” Even more amazing and remarkable is that as God and as Man, He came in your behalf - for you. He suffered for you. He died for you. He rose for you. It was all done for you, dear ones. For you. For you. For you. Amen.

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Sermon for Fifth Sunday in Lent- March 25, 2012 – Judica Sunday ( Judge me, O God)
Sermon Text- Jeremiah 31:31-34
Sermon Theme- DON’T MAKE PROMISES THAT YOU CAN’T KEEP.
Pastor Floyd Smithey

Remember that the Israelites complained about the worthless food God gave them. They complained about a lack of water. In truth God fed them food from heaven and water out of a rock. So, because of their complaining, God sent snakes among them that bit them. They repented. When they repented, God forgave them. God restored them into a right relationship with Him. Then, (Exodus Chapter 19) God called Moses up on the mountain and said to him: “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles wings and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my convenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all people, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.” So Moses came and called the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him. All the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” And Moses reported the words of the people to the Lord. And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.”
So Moses went and told the people. Moses consecrated the people. For two days they washed their garment and prepared to meet God on the third day. It was a time of preparation before meeting God. “On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled. Then Moses brought the people ot of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly. And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder. The Lord came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain. And the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.”
God gave Moses the Ten Commandments while he was on the mountain top. He also gave him many other directions about how to worship Him and how to make the tabernacle. At the end of this time, God told Moses to go to the people and that they had already turned from Him and made a golden calf to worship. Their promises were already broken. They forgot the words they had spoken previously. They forgot that they had said all together, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” Promises, promises. Sinners make promises that they can’t keep. We make promises that we don’t keep and can’t keep.
(PAUSE) The young pitcher cried out with joy after throwing the last pitch and striking out the last batter to win the big game. He threw his glove up in the air. He high-fived his teammates. As he left the field less than five minutes later he cried when he found out that his father had not made it to the game as he had promised. His mother told him that his father had called and said something had come up at work. His father was an important man. He had a big job in a big building working for a big company. But he had promised to be there for the big game. He broke his promise.
(PAUSE) The young couple seemed so happy. They ran through the rice cloud that the wedding guests threw at them and sped away in their new car all marked up with while writing wishing them well and other things. Life was good and vibrant for them. Their lives held such promise. They promised so much to each other. They lived well, in fact, too well, they lived beyond their means. In a few short years, the children were born. The time they spent with each other became less and less. Then the economy crunched and he lost his job. Financial problems became critical. The bill collectors knocked on the door and called on the phone. He drank more. She nagged more. The kids cried more. Who could have imagined that in less than twenty years they would divorce in a cloud of hate and disgust. Fifty percent of marriages in America end in divorce in less than twenty years. Christians or non- Christians - it makes no difference. We make promises we can’t keep. We make promises we don’t keep. Promises. Promises.
We’ve all made promises. We’ve all broken promises. Even with God we make promises and don’t keep them. The Israelites were not the only peoples who made promises to God that they couldn’t and didn’t keep. It is not only young fathers with big jobs who make promises that they cannot keep. It is not only the young couples thinking that the world will be kind to them and that all will go well who make promises that they can’t keep. It is all of us. Even after coming here and hearing God speak in kinder tones than He spoke to the people who stood at the base of Mount Sinai, we make promises that we can’t keep. O Lord, just forgive me this one time and I will never do it again. I promise. Just forgive me this one time and I will be a better person. One drink too many that leads into trouble. One admiring glance at the neighbor’s wife or husband that leads to lust. A desire for power and riches that is more than one’s desire for God. I promise Lord, just forgive me this time and I will never do it again. That is what the Israelites said. That is what we say.
And so you are back here this morning. Don’t say it again. Don’t say I will never do it again. Just say, Lord forgive me. Say, Lord forgive me and say it over and over and over each day and each Sunday as you come back here. You come back to confess your sins and hear God’s absolution given to you through the mouth of his prophet, his preacher. You come back through that front door - to these pews to remember your baptism, the day you were forgiven, the day you became a person who could repent and ask for forgiveness, the day when your sins were washed away by water with God’s Word and promise of forgiveness. You come back firmly believing that your sins are forgiven because of what Christ did for you – not because of what you have done or what you have not done.
DON”T MAKE PROMISES TO GOD THAT YOU CAN’T KEEP. Why? Because God has made the promises – because God has already kept His Promises. God made the promise of a new covenant with all people as we heard in Jeremiah 31 this morning. DON”T MAKE PROMISES TO GOD THAT YOU CAN”T KEEP. Instead, rely on God’s promises. In His new covenant with mankind made in Christ Jesus, God has kept both sides of the covenant. He has kept the man side by keeping the commandments perfectly. He has kept the God side by sending the Holy Spirit into our hearts to give us new spiritual life, that is, faith in Christ. God’s promises are certain. God’s promises are fulfilled in Christ. They are a done deal – a contract from God signed in His blood. He said “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” And He has done that at the cross.
You come back to this altar on your knees to bow before Him and receive what he has for you. You come back here for just a taste - a bite of bread that is the once crucified and now resurrected body of the one and only Son of the one and only true and living God. You come back here for just a sip of the blood that paid for your sins that is now sin free and untainted and pure – blood that gives life to you – life to be spent forever in perfection in paradise. DON’T MAKE PROMISES TO GOD THAT YOU CAN’T KEEP. Rely on God’s promises. God has done it all. He has promised to forgive your iniquity – which is not only your sin but mainly your guilt. He has promised to remember your sins no more. He not only will do it. He has done it. Amen.

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Sermon for Fourth Sunday in Lent- Rejoice (“Be Glad”) – March 18, 2012
Sermon Text- Numbers 21:4-9 and John 3:14-21
Sermon Theme- AS MOSES LIFTED UP THE SERPENT IN THE WILDERNESS, SO MUST THE SON OF MAN BE LIFTED UP
Pastor Floyd Smithey

The Israelites were forced to take a circuitous route to the promised land. They were forced to go around Edom where their enemies lived. They became impatient. They wanted the promised land and they wanted it now. So they began to complain against God and they began to complain against Moses. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Remember that God supplied bread from heaven for them daily, manna “what is it” , and He gave them water when they needed it even if it required pouring water out of a rock, and at times He even supplied quail for them in great abundance. Bread from heaven and quail, the choicest of meats – and they called it “worthless food.”
Their complaints about the Lord’s provision for them ticked God off. He sent fiery snakes among them and the snakes bit them and many of the people died. Then the people came to Moses and confessed their sin against God. They asked Moses to pray to the LORD that He would take the snakes away. Moses prayed and the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set It on a pole. And, if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.
The people had rebelled against God, then the people repented of their sins and confessed them to Moses and to God. Then God forgave them and provided a way to restore them. If they believed what Moses said and looked at the bronze snake mounted on a pole - then they would live. That is the pattern – rebellion, repentance, restoration. God forgave, the people lived and were saved. Where there is forgiveness of sins, there is life and salvation. By the way many of the early church fathers believed that the pole upon which the bronze serpent rested was made in the shape of a cross.
So when Jesus said in the gospel text from John 3 that “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” the Jews had some past history that they could relate to. If their ancestors could believe that looking on a bronze serpent mounted on a pole could give them life, surely they could believe that looking on the Son of God incarnate on a pole would give them life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
God loved the world, not just man but animals and birds and fish and all of creation. Even though all of creation is contaminated by sin, death, and the devil, God still loves His Creation - all of it. So that all of creation can be saved, God gave His Only Son as a sacrifice so that all of creation could be redeemed and restored. We call this universal justification. God has done this through Christ for all the world. It is a done deal. God the Father has declared the world righteous because of what His Son did as He was lifted up on the pole – a cross - for all the world to see and believe.
“And this is the judgment; the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his deeds have been carried out in God. Yes, God has sent His Son into the world as the light - so that people would believe in Christ crucified for the sins of the world. But, sadly, many love the darkness of the world, the devil, and their sinful flesh more than the light of God’s truth and God’s salvation.
Many don’t want to see the light because they know when they come into the light of the Gospel the things in their lives which will be exposed is their sin. Their lifestyle will be changed. They don’t want to give up the things offered by the world that allure them, the temptations of the devil, and the love of the flesh. That is why so many reject what God has done on the cross to provide a way for their salvation – their redemption and restoration. They have rebelled against God. They don’t want to repent. They don’t want to confess their sins and ask God to forgive them. Unlike the Israelites who had rebelled against God, those who reject God’s plan of salvation in Christ don’t repent and are not restored to a right relationship with God. The pattern of sinful mankind who believe in God has always been and always will be – until Christ comes again – rebellion, repentance, and restoration. Believers live lives of life and light. Those who have no relationship with God live in rebellion. There is no repentance. There is no restoration. They live lives of darkness and death. .
All men and women are rebellious against God from the time of conception. But the Son of God was lifted up on a pole, the cross, for all the world to see. It is by seeing Him clearly for who He is and what He has done for the whole world and believing in Him that we are saved. For what He did on that cross is objective and solid and certain. It is a done deal. It is the means by which God saved the world that He loves so much. And it is by believing what God has done that we receive the benefit of Christ’s redemption. We receive forgiveness of sins, life and salvation by faith in God’s grace – not through faith in a bronze snake – but through faith in the Son of God – the light of the world. This is the light that leads to eternal light and life. For where there is forgiveness of sins there is life and salvation. And there is no other place where forgiveness of sins is found than on the cross with Christ dieing and then dead for you sins and my sins – later to be resurrected to give us life. Let us lift up our eyes upon Jesus – the author and perfecter of our faith - who for the joy that was before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. So it was that the Son of Man was lifted up. Amen.

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Sermon for Third Sunday in Lent- Oculi (“Mine Eyes”) – March 11, 2012
Sermon Text- 1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Sermon Theme- WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED
Pastor Floyd Smithey

In his letter to the Corinthians, Paul expressed his concern about those who rejected the crucifixion of God’s Son. According to Paul’s way of thinking, unbelievers fit into two categories. The unbelieving Jews wanted an additional sign of some sort to verify Jesus as the Christ. The unbelieving Greeks wanted additional wisdom or knowledge to verify Jesus as the Christ.
The Jews wanted another sign from heaven to show them that Jesus was truly the Christ. They weren’t convinced yet that Jesus was the Christ. They had experienced other men who declared themselves to be the Messiah. These false Christ’s turned out to be mortal men who died and stayed dead. They left the Jews looking like fools for believing in them. So, the Jews asked Jesus for a sign from heaven to prove to them that He was the true Messiah. Now, I don’t know what other signs could have convinced them to believe in Christ. Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies of the Old Testament regarding the Messiah. He brought sight to the blind, healed lepers, turned water to wine, raised people from the dead, and did all sorts of miracles. He fulfilled all of the prophecies of Scripture regarding the Messiah especially those of Isaiah 52,53 regarding a Savior who suffered and died in lowliness and humility. What more convincing signs could heaven have given that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah? But that is the way with unbelief – even when given what it demands – unbelief is maddening.
And then there were the Greeks who wanted wisdom from God to verify that Jesus was the Christ of God. They could not see that God had already given them wisdom and that wisdom was itself the Son of God, Jesus of Nazareth. They could not understand that the wisdom of God is found in weakness and suffering on a Roman cross for all the world to see. They could not see that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” But that is the way with unbelief – it is indeed maddening.
You know about unbelief. What about the people you have told about Christ - who just won’t believe. You gave them all the evidence they needed. You told them that they were sinners who will die. You told them that they need a Savior. You told them that Christ died for their sins. You told them that Christ was resurrected from the dead and that if they believe in him they, too, will be resurrected from the dead. But it seems you wasted your breath. Because they just never ‘got it’ – did they? Unbelief is maddening because unbelievers say they want the very things they reject. On the one hand, they deny the signs and wisdom that come from God. But on the other hand, they say that is what they want – signs from God and wisdom from God. The people Paul wrote about already had been given what they were asking for – signs and knowledge of the crucified and risen Christ. But they rejected those signs and knowledge saying they needed more or they wanted something else. They wanted a way to heaven apart from Christ crucified - not a Savior who gives us life by dying on a cross and rising from the dead. Things are no different today.
Much of so-called Christianity today wants nothing to do with a bloody, crucified Christ. Some of you listen to tv preachers. Beware! They are very deceiving! It is very rare that you will hear a tv preacher even mention Christ suffering and bleeding on a cross to pay for the sins of the world. Today’s trendy, contemporary Christian world - the purpose driven world - the prayer of Jabez world - the Left Behind Series world – the Crystal Cathedral world – the Joel Osteen world - does not and will not preach Christ crucified for the sins of the world. They will not abandon their glory and prosperity theology. They worship a Christ who exists in their minds to help get them what they want in this life. He is not the Christ who died on the cross. If the tv preachers were to mention Christ’s blood and suffering and cross, the stadiums would empty out like water pouring out of a boot. Their ministries would go broke. Christ’s cross is not only a stumbling block to them - it is foolishness to them.
And we can understand why. Being honest we would rather not have a bloody and crucified Christ. We sometimes fool ourselves thinking that Christ on the Cross is not always necessary in our worship services. Why? Because, if we don’t have to look at Chris and Him bloody and crucified, we don’t have to look at our sins. When we look at the cross and see Christ bleeding and dying we must admit that our sins were the cause and reason of his suffering and death. Dear ones, Christ on the cross crucified and bloody was and is necessary for our salvation. But it takes the power of the Holy Spirit to enable sinners like us be led to the foot of the cross so that we look up and see the Son of God suffering, bleeding, and dying to pay for our sins. On our own we make all sorts of excuses not to look at the cross of Christ.
This is what the Jews and the Gentiles were doing in Paul’s time when they wanted signs and wisdom from God apart from the cross. In unbelief they denied that God had already provided a Savior for them. They even considered people who died on a cross to be trash, criminals – not fit to be the Messiah. They reasoned therefore that Jesus of Nazareth could not be the Messiah. But, Christ on the Cross is the ultimate sign from heaven. And Christ on the Cross is the absolute wisdom of God. To those of us who are called, Christ is a powerful sign from God and wisdom from God that leads to salvation. .
Brothers and sisters in the faith, you believe as I do that the man Jesus of Nazareth, who was born some 2000 years ago is the Son of God sent from heaven. We believe that He is true God and true man. We believe that He was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried We believe that by so doing He paid for the sins of the world. We believe that on the third day He rose again from the dead. And we believe that He sits at the right hand of His Heavenly Father and will come to judge both the living and the dead.
We believe that when He comes again, He will judge all who have ever lived according to whether they believe in Him as their Savior. John 3 verse 18, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.” The world is not condemned by its sin because Christ died for the sins of the whole world. It is unbelief in Christ as Savior of the world that condemns. Unbelief in Christ is the one unforgiveable sin.
Salvation is about Christ and Him crucified. WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED - period. Yes, this sign from heaven is a stumbling block and foolishness and even a scandal to unbelievers. But to those of us who believe we find the wisdom of God on the cross. Jesus of Nazareth dieing on the cross is the central event in all human history. It is a sign from God. Jesus life, death and resurrection compose the only truly epic event in history which truly divides even now how we mark time in BC and AD. Take the three days of the crucifixion and resurrection out of history and our lives amount to nothing – like a puff of smoke or a gust of wind. All becomes vanity and meaningless! Take away the crucifixion and resurrection and there is no hope to be found in this world!
God reconciled man to Himself in His Son on the cross. That is the necessity and reality of the cross. God wants to be with us, to be present with us – even now. He comes to us in His Word in Holy Scripture. He comes to us in the waters of Holy Baptism by the power of the Holy Spirit. He comes to us truly in His very body and His very blood in the Holy Supper. God comes to us in these things - to forgive our sins and create and sustain faith in us that His Son was and is the Christ. But in order to accomplish all this it was necessary – the Greek word used in Scripture is “dei” – it was “dei” - it was “necessary” that the Christ be crucified. WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED. There is no other gospel – only that God’s Son was crucified for the sins of the world. Three days later he was raised from the dead. Those three days are our Christian reality and our certain hope. That is it for this sermon. WE PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED – NOTHING ELSE. Amen.

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2nd Sunday in Lent- Reminiscere (“Remember, O Lord”)
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, MS.
Pastor Floyd Smithey
March 4, 2012
Sermon Text- Romans 5:1-11

Policemen are exposed to many dangerous situations. They work car wrecks on busy highways where cars zoom by while they help the injured or take care of the dead. They work robbery scenes and drug busts. But, most policeman dread being sent in to reconcile a family fight. Why? It is an impossible situation. No matter which party the policeman agrees with, the other side will turn on him. No matter which party he decides to take to jail, the other party will likely drop the charges and say that the policeman caused all the trouble. If he takes both parties to jail, both parties will hate him. No matter what he does, it seems that in the end, the one who will be the ‘bad guy’ will be the policeman. Any thing he does to try to settle the dispute will likely only make it worse. Neither side will stop pointing fingers. Neither side wants to admit responsibility for wrongdoing. Neither side asks for forgiveness. And reconciliation between two feuding parties is impossible as long as there is no confession and no forgiveness. Feuds last forever when the participants never confess, and forgive. Even death won’t end some feuds. People died as a result of the Hatfield/McCoy feud -but even then - the feud continued within the families.
So you suspect by now that we’re dealing with the problem of our being reconciled to God. Before the fall into sin, mankind was at peace with God, we were in a conciliatory relationship with God. But, after the fall into sin, God and mankind were at odds. If someone told you that a man was in a feud with God, who do you figure would come out of the short end of the stick? The man, right? Well that is exactly what happened. After the fall into sin, disease, sickness, and death entered the world. And we - all of us - we are chin deep in sin, disease, sickness, and death barely keeping our mouth and nostrils above death every moment that we breathe and live.
Our problem is called original sin. We are born sinful. We are born liars. When we sin, most of the time we try to put the blame on someone else – either God or our parents or some other person - rather than confessing our sins and taking the blame on ourselves. If you need any proof of this, just watch the Dr. Phil show for a few minutes some day. People go on national tv and blame their loved ones and sometimes God for their problems. One thing you hardly ever hear from the feuding participants is, “Forgive me, I am sorry for my sin against God and against you.” People are at war with each other and don’t repent and ask for forgiveness.
God gives us the Ten Commandments to show us what a perfect relationship with him and our neighbors would be like. When we break the first three commandments that outline God’s desired relationship with us, we declare ourselves to be our own God – that is the gist of our problem. Our sin separates us from God and hardens our hearts towards God. We think that we don’t need God. But the truth is that we will perish on our own. Commandments four through ten deal with our relationships with our fellow man. Even while we sit in the pews we think things about our neighbors that we shouldn’t think. We wonder why we think these things. It is because sin is deeply seated in our human natures.
We are so sinful and separated from God that we were lost – so lost that we didn’t know that we had no relationship with God and didn’t care. We could not restore our relationship with God on our own because first, we didn’t know of such a relationship and second, we have no way to find God on our own. It was necessary that God reconcile us to him. It was necessary that God do all of the work of reconciliation in our behalf. Our Gospel text today tells us that the Son of Man – that is, Jesus - must suffer and be rejected. He must suffer in order that we can be reconciled to God. He was dispatched from heaven to restore peace between God and man that peace might exist between man and man also. You might say that He became the man sent from heaven to answer a worldwide domestic disturbance call. But, unlike the policeman on a domestic disturbance call, Jesus did not shirk the blame for the existing trouble between the feuding parties, but instead He took all the blame of the parties on Himself – both the wrath of God and the iniquity of mankind He took upon Himself. He stood before God with all our sins, wickedness and depravity and took our punishment. The injustice done to Him as He suffered in our behalf was the cost of our redemption.
(1 Corin. 1:18)How scandalous and foolish all this is to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. God’s Son was scorned, rejected, despised, smitten, and afflicted. He appeared to be a fool who was claiming to be God ………And then God died making his claims to be God even more ridiculous to the world. The world mocked Christ then and still does - a man who claimed to be God, and died on a cross.
But from our Romans text: “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” “For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Because of what Christ did, despite our wretched, sinful condition, Paul says that we have been re-conciled with God. We are at peace with God again – as mankind was at peace with God before the fall into sin we are now by faith - because of what Christ has done. .
In Church tradition today is Reminiscere Sunday. Reminiscere is latin for remember. In our introit, we cried out, Remember your mercy, O Lord and your steadfast love. Well God DOES re-member you. But unlike us, when God remembers He does not just think about whatever He remembers like we do. When God remembers something He DOES something. God re-members you to Him. In other words, God has re-joined – re-membered - you to Him. Even now, while you are a sinner - God has re-membered you into His Kingdom - put His Name on you and marked you as His. He re-conciled you – re-membered you - to Him through His Son.
Not only that, you have been born- again - re-generated as a spiritual person of faith in Christ as you were re-born spiritually in the waters of Holy Baptism. You can re-joice in the faith that allows you to access God’s grace extended to you in Christ. God has re-membered you to him and has re-conciled you to him through your faith in his Son, Christ Jesus. You are God’s Child by faith – forever and ever.
Since you are reconciled to God in Christ. Since you have confessed your sins and received God’s Words of absolution in faith. Since you are at peace with God and God with you then God in Christ invites you again now to eat and drink at His Holy Table. He will again re-fresh you with His Holy Body and Blood. He will re-strengthen your faith in Him as your resurrected Savior. Come to the table of Your Lord, Your Lord awaits you there in peace and reconciliation. God is not angry with you. Jesus loves you. Amen.

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February 26, 2012 - 1st Sunday of Lent
Our Savior Lutheran Church – Columbus, MS
Pastor Floyd Smithey
Sermon Text: Genesis 22:1-8
God tested Abraham. God called on Abraham to take Isaac, his only beloved Son, to a mountain in the land of Moriah, where he was to slit Isaac’s throat, drain his blood and offer him as a burnt sacrifice. This act would be a sign of Abraham’s complete dedication to God. Abraham did not delay. He left Negev early in the morning and began the fifty-mile trek to the land of Moriah. There was no pause in Abraham when it came to serving God. “So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his beloved son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.” It took him three days to get there. Upon arriving within sight and close walking distance of the mountain, Abraham gave instructions to his two young servants to stay with the donkey while he and Isaac went up on the mountain. Abraham loaded the firewood on Isaac’s back. Abraham took the fire and the knife he brought with him for the occasion. And he and Isaac headed toward the mountain where they would worship God and offer a sacrifice to him. God was testing Abraham severely.
After walking for a while, Isaac asked about the sacrifice. “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering. In reply, Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” And they continued on. “When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.”
What if God tested you like this? What if God told you to slit the throat of your first born child, drain his blood onto a crude rock altar, place his limp, dead body on a raging bonfire, and completely burn it up so that nothing but ashed remained as a burnt offering to God. Could you do it? Would you do it? If you seriously made preparations to do such a thing today in the USA – whether you carried it through or not - you would be tried for attempted 1st degree murder. If you weren’t sent to prison you would be put in a straight-jacket and led away to a psychiatric hospital where your brain would be anesthetized with drugs for the rest of your life as one who hears voices – even the voice of God. But there were no such consequences in Abraham’s time. So, with his hand raised in the air with a knife poised to slit the throat of his only beloved son, Isaac, Isaac received a reprieve from God. What was going through Abraham’s mind? He had heard God’s promise to give him a son in his old age. He had heard God’s promise that through this son he would be the father of a great nation. Now, God wanted him to kill that very son. Yet, Abraham proceeded to do what God demanded of him. No doubt, Abraham believed that if he took Isaac’s life then God would resurrect Isaac from the dead. Abraham stood with knife in hand ready to slit his beloved son, Isaac’s throat - when the voice of the Angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ, called to him from heaven and told him, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
“And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of the place, “The Lord will provide” as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.” Just as Abraham told Isaac, God provided the lamb for the sacrifice. Abraham looked up to see God’s ram caught in a thicket by the horns. He took God’s ram that was crowned with thorns and offered it up as a burnt offering – completely burned it up in the fire on God’s altar.
There are many lines of thought as to what was going on here but we are told that God tested Abraham. He did so. Then God provided the ram in the thicket with its horns caught in the thorns. It was a preview of the Day of Atonement when God’s Son would be sacrificed with a crown of thorns on his head. The God ram’s horn would be blown for centuries to announce the Day of Atonement in Israel. According to tradition, the place where Abraham built an altar to offer his son to God is where the city of Jerusalem was located in later years. And on this very mountain the temple of Solomon was built and later Herod’s temple would stand there in Jesus’ day. This temple would be replaced with the body of Christ – God’s living temple where God would dwell with man forever in the flesh – in the resurrected body of Jesus God would dwell with mankind forever.
And then from Scripture comes the voice of the angel of the Lord who is none other than the pre-incarnate Christ calling to Abraham again from heaven and saying. “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord that because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
If Abraham had sacrificed Isaac on that mountain in Moriah, nothing would have been accomplished as far as atonement for sin either for the world or for Abraham or for Isaac. But, Abraham’s servitude and willingness to follow God’s Word – Abraham’s faith - was credited to him as righteousness. The whole world was blessed through Abraham and his offspring. Even today, those who believe in the Triune God – who are spiritual descendants of Abraham by faith - bring blessing to all the nations of the earth by spreading the Gospel. We share God’s blessing when we share the good news that God’s only beloved Son died for the sins of the whole world. Jesus died for our sins, as God’s lamb caught in a world-sized thicket of thorny sinful people. He died for sinners like you. He died for sinners like me. He did it for every human who ever lived.
Thanks be to God for Abraham, the father of faith. Abraham believed in God and it was credited to him as righteousness. And thanks be to God for his great love made evident by the offering of His Son on a cross as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. Like Abraham, we believe in God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – and our faith is credited to us as Christ’s righteousness. That, Dear Christians, is our salvation. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ. As Jesus says in the last verse of our gospel, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent and believe in the gospel.” AMEN.

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February 22, 2009 - Transfiguration Sunday
Our Savior Lutheran Church – Columbus, MS
Pastor Floyd Smithey
Sermon Text: 2 Kings 2:1-12 (Mark 9: 2-9)
Title : Listen to Him
Elisha saw Elijah taken to heaven. He inherited Elijah’s portion of the Holy Spirit. It was a double portion – he had twice as much power of the spirit as the other sons of the prophets. To prove it, he took Elijah’s mantle and folding it over and over to make an object similar in shape to the rod Moses used, he struck the waters of the Jordan and divided them just as Elijah had divided them. Elijah is generally considered to be one of God greatest prophets. So, as we see Moses and Elijah on the mountain top with Jesus – we see the Moses who was the giver of God’s law, Elijah, the greatest of God’s prophets, and Christ, the WORD and the salvation of God in the flesh.
Peter and James and John saw Jesus meet and talk with Elijah and Moses. Moses had died some fourteen hundred years before the Day of Transfiguration. Elijah had died approximately 600 years before that day. The time of the summit on the mount was the summer before the year of Jesus’ crucifixion. The the cross loomed in the distance. Peter and James and John witnessed a scene unlike any other ever witnessed by mortal men. And though it is remarkable that Elijah and Moses appear in this scene, the truly remarkable thing is the appearance of Jesus. The Scriptures tell us that: “And He was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.”
Peter, James, and John were treated to a “Preview of Coming Attractions.” They saw our Lord Jesus in all His Glory, transfigured into a form that was indescribable. We don’t know exactly what Jesus looked like – but we know that Jesus’ garments “become radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.” {PAUSE}
When Peter said, “It is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” – he wanted to stay of the mountain top even though he was terrified by what he had seen. To say the least, the Lord was impressive in all of His Glory. Though He was in one sense terrifying – Jesus was in another sense a comforting sight for the three disciples. He was after all, their Lord. He took care of them. Staying on the mountaintop with the Transfigured Jesus seemed good compared to returning to the sinful, hard cold world.
But, then a cloud descended upon them that completely overshadowed them. And the voice of God said, “This is my beloved Son: listen to him.” Immediately, Elijah and Moses vanished and Jesus was transfigured no longer. The three disciples followed Jesus down the mountain. On the way down, He told them to tell no one what they had seen until He had been raised from the dead.
These three had been given a “Preview of Coming Attractions.” They saw Jesus in the Glory that would be His into eternity. The presence of Elijah and Moses gave credence to life after death. We can believe with certainty that there is life after death. And Jesus’ radiant glory testified to his Divine Status as God’s Son. This was the God-Man, the Christ, the Messiah. There would be no other. This “Preview of Coming Attractions” would bolster the faith of Peter, James, and John through the coming days – the days immediately before the crucifixion and the days after the crucifixion - when things would not be so good at home in Jerusalem. They would see their Lord as King of the Jews mocked and insulted. They would see him flogged and beaten. They would see him nailed to a cross. The things they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration would bolster their faith as they journeyed with Jesus to Jerusalem for the last days of his life on earth.
Dear ones - with the disciples and Jesus- we have begun our annual journey to Jerusalem. We will follow Jesus in the next few weeks to Good Friday where he will suffer and die on a Roman cross - be placed in a rich man’s tomb – be resurrected on Easter morning. Like Peter, James, and John, we have beheld Jesus’ Glory this morning on a mountaintop – not by sight – but by faith. We too are witnesses to God’s declaration of Jesus’ Sonship. We – too – have heard words from heaven that tell us, “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.” We have had the images placed in our minds of Christ in his radiance and glory. .
We begin our Lenten journey - walking down from the mountaintop - we behold our Lord’s glory. We heard His Father pronounce him to be His Beloved Son. We heard his Father tell us to listen to Him. At our next stop on our Lenten journey, we will encounter our mortality on Ash Wednesday. Jesus Our Lord is God. We are not God. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust we are, but God will raise us from the dead.
We are headed to the garbage dump of Jerusalem – indeed the very place where your sin and my sin and the sin of the world – having been dumped on the Son of God was burned in God’s wrath in the very flesh of His Only Begotten Son. But thanks be to God that our journey will not stop on Golgotha or in the tomb where the dead Jesus lay awaiting preparation for final burial. We will also journey to the empty tomb on Easter morning with two of these very same apostles, Peter and John. All along the way we will listen to our Lord Jesus - by the power of the Holy Spirit – as God told us to do on the Mount of Transfiguration. But for the present time, Lord, we will say as Peter said, Lord, it is good that we are here. It is good that we are here in this sanctuary in your presence on Transfiguration Sunday in the year of Our Lord, 2012. It is good to be here, Lord. Abide with us and in us, Lord Jesus as you came to us in Your Word also come to us now in your Holy Supper. It is good to be here, Lord. AMEN.

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Sermon for 5th Sunday after the Epiphany – 2-5-2012
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – Isaiah 40:21-31

The following was written by Dr. Reed Lessing, Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, Mo. Permission is granted for use and adaptation through Concordia Pulpit Resources and Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, Mo.

I warn you beforehand – the sermon you will hear today is a fowl sermon. It is not foul – like a foul that will get you two free throws – it will not get you penalized fifteen yards – neither is it full of ugly language – it is not a F-O-U-L sermon but it is a F-O-W-L sermon. We are talking about birds here. People in the ancient Near East often used birds to make a point. In Ex. 19:4, the Lord tells Moses: “You yourselves have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself.” Outside of the Old Testament, and during Isaiah’s time, the Assyrian king Sennacherib says he shut up Hezekiah “in the midst of Jerusalem, like a bird in a cage.” So today, birds will be used to make a point or two.
Isaiah addresses those who know the Exodus Eagle’s steadfast love, demonstrated when he delivered their fathers from bondage in EGYPT, Isaiah also addresses those who would know the birdcage of captivity; bound not by Sennacherib and the Assyrians in the eighth century BC; but by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians in the sixth century BC.
What had caused such bondage to be allowed by God? Israel had been like vultures, attracted to what is dead (Is.30:1-5). They had behaved like peacocks, consumed with themselves (Is. 3:16). They were like crows who could only carp, complain, and criticize (Is. 30:9-11). And as chickens, they were content with the low life (Is 5:11,20-23).
We can be dirty birds as well. Our sinful nature is attracted to what is dead (Rom 8:6a). Sometimes we flaunt our status and possessions (Lk. 18:11-12). We all have something to crow about at various times(Mt 20:20-24), and God knows there’s a part of us that loves the low life. (Romans 7:18) We are after all, sinners, and sinners can do some pretty ugly things such as lie, cheat, steal, or gossip about our neighbor. We, like Israel of old have a strong tendency to worship other gods such as money or drugs or sex. We can relate to the birds of captivity for we are in bondage to sin by nature, thought, word, and deed.
But to people in bondage, Isaiah says “wait.” Eagles only soar when they position themselves high on a rock and wait for the wind, for when it comes they’re borne aloft. “Wait!” Jesus says as much. “Stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:49). And ten days later, the waiting was over. Luke describes the coming of the Holy Spirit like the sound of a mighty wind. He delivers all the gifts won through the death and resurrection of Jesus. (Acts 2)
Isaiah writes about how Jesus gave his back to those who beat him (50:6)) and portrays the Savior’s determination to suffer (50:7). Because Jesus was led to the slaughter (53:7) yet rose again (53:10), the wind blows. “The wind blows where it wishes,” Jesus once told Nicodemus (JN 3:8). And it pleases the Holy Spirit to blow in the Gospel preached in conformity with a pure understanding of it and the Sacraments administered in accordance with the divine Word. Where Jesus is forgiving sins, there the wind blows.
And the result? Dare I say it? A sermon about living on eagle’s wings – a day lived like a baby eagle under God’s protective care – a life lived in the free soaring of an eagle that comes from the forgiveness of sins. We are free to mount up with wings like eagles. Eagles have the most powerful eyesight of any bird. The Lord tells Job: “From there {the eagle} spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away” (Job 39:29). From high in the sky the eagle can see a rabbit two miles away. The Hebrew writer speaks of another eagle, old eagle-eyed Moses: “He endured as seeing him who is invisible” (Heb. 11:27). Eagles are the most committed of all birds. Moses says in Deut. 32: 11 that the eagle hovers over its young. In fact, the eagle will never forsake her young, doing whatever it takes to teach them to fly. That’s why eagle Paul stayed committed to the very end. “ I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). Eagles stay fresh, alive, and energized. Ps. 103:5 states: “So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Every day, the eagle preens himself, breathing on his feathers because over night they become matted and stuck to each other. Every day, the eagle secretes a liquid from a gland in his mouth that waterproofs his wings so he can fly through storms. Eagle Paul put it in these words: “Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day” (2 Cor. 4:16).
No wonder the proverb writer declares: “Three things are too wonderful for me; four I do not understand: [the first of the four is] the way of an eagle in the sky” (Prov 30:18-19). Amazing isn’t it? We are no longer vultures or peacocks or chickens or crows. “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor 5:17). We are eagles who soar and are free under the cross of our Lord to live our lives free from the effects of. It’s true:
BECAUSE OF SIN, WE CAN BE “DIRTY BIRDS,” BUT GOD’S GRACE IN JESUS CHRIST TRANSFORMS US TO BECOME “LIKE EAGLES.”
All this is not by might and not by power and not by the will of man - but by the Lord’s Spirit (Zech 4:6), which blows even now to love and lift us in the name of Jesus. Amen.

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Sermon for 4th Sunday after the Epiphany – 1- 29-2012
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – Deuteronomy 18:15-20

A prophet who speaks in God’s Name has great responsibility. If he speaks words that God has not commanded him to speak he will die. If a prophet speaks in the name of other gods he will also die. We are talking here about death that is not temporary - as the death of believers is temporary - but an eternity that also includes punishment. Woe to the false prophet. I am afraid there are many false prophets today as there has been throughout history. A man who stands between God and his people and speaks words to them in God’s Name is in a precarious place. If a man misleads the people – either by speaking other words that are not God’s or by speaking in the name of false gods – he will answer to God for it.
After the Israelites saw the fire on the mountain and heard the thunderous voice of God, they began to realize the position that Moses filled – the position of prophet. They were afraid that if they heard that voice or saw that fire again they would die. Why? They knew that they were sinners who could not face Holy God without death coming upon them. They did as we should do each time we come into Divine Worship – they trembled and were fearful – and doing so, they wanted a prophet from God. They wanted Moses to continue to communicate with God for them.
When we gather each Sunday and invoke the name of the Triune God we call on the same God whom the people of Israel encountered on Mount Horeb (Mount Sinai) with Moses. One encounter was enough for them. They told Moses for him to go and speak and listen for them. They were stubborn, hard-hearted, stiff-necked people – just like us - whom the Lord provided for in spite of their sinful ways – just like us. God provided for them out of his great love and mercy – out of his long suffering and patience – out of his abundant grace God gave and they received – just like us.
And God assured Moses and the Israelites that there would be another prophet like Moses who would stand between Himself and them. God said He would put his words in this prophet’s mouth. This prophet would speak to them only words from God. Whomever would not listen to the Words of this prophet would have their lives taken by the Lord. Remember how God said on the Mount of Transfiguration from heaven, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him.”
And so we see the prophecy of Deuteronomy 18 fulfilled in Mark 1:21-28. Jesus and his disciples entered into a synagogue in Capernaum. The people there were astonished at Jesus’ teaching because he taught them as one who had authority not like the scribes of the day taught them.
Jesus gave them words from God. Even a man with an unclean spirit – a demon – acknowledged Jesus of Nazareth to be the Holy One of God. Jesus demonstrated authority over the demons by commanding this demon to be quiet and come out of the man. When the unclean spirit caused the man to convulse he cried out with a loud voice and came out.
How would you like to see experience something like that this morning? We have unclean spirits – whether greed or lust or pride or whatever – we have them – but most of these unclean spirits do not manifest themselves in a publicly offensive manner. But what if there were a person here who had an unclean spirit that was so bad and so offensive that he or she needed an exorcism – what if that person’s unclean spirits were exorcised in the name of Jesus right here in this church this morning – and the person convulsed right before your eyes and fell out in the floor as the unclean spirit came out of him screaming. Would you be amazed?
Well, the crowd in the synagogue in Capernaum was amazed that Sabbath morning. They questioned among themselves where the authority to command unclean spirits came from that Jesus possessed and exhibited. They saw the results of that authority as it was exercised with their very eyes and heard with their very ears. Even the unclean spirits obeyed Jesus of Nazareth. The people were so amazed that Jesus became famous all over the surrounding region of Galilee.
And Jesus is still famous today – 2000 years later Jesus is still famous. For God the Father gave Jesus the words to speak and He spoke them with authority. And God the Father gave Jesus all authority over heaven and earth – authority to heal and forgive sins – authority to cast out demons and calm storms and raise the dead - authority to feed the physically hungry with bread – authority to feed the spiritually hungry with Words from God and His Very Own Body and Blood. Jesus still has that authority and sits at the right hand of God. As the Savior of the world He is what He is and does what a Savior does – these are things that only He can do – and these are things that give life to the world. Thanks be to God that He is our Savior. He is the Son of God. He has the authority to forgive our sins. He has authority over heaven and earth. He has authority even over demons below the earth. Amen.

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Sermon for 3rd Sunday after the Epiphany – 1- 22-2012
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – Jonah 3: 1-5, 10

When the Word of the Lord comes, it comes with great power – it is not something to be ignored or rejected. God had sent His Word to Jonah before. God had done great things through Jonah as his prophet in Israel among the Israelites and even among the Gentiles. But when the Word of the Lord came to Jonah telling him to go to Ninevah the first time, Jonah decided to head off in another direction so he headed to Tarshish.
But before Jonah ever arrived in Tarshish, God rocked Jonah’s boat. A storm threatened to swamp the boat Jonah booked passage upon. Only when Jonah told the shipmates that he was the cause of God’s anger with them – only when the shipmates threw Jonah overboard did the storms and the seas die down. The ship and its mates were safe. But, Jonah was drowning – that is – until a great fish swallowed him and took him into the depths of the sea. In the belly of a great fish, Jonah prayed to the Lord. He had faith that God would save him and he would survive the depths of the sea even though things were dark and smelled of death. Jonah acknowledged God and God’s power over him and his life. And the Lord caused the great fish to vomit Jonah out onto the dry land.
And when the Word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time telling him to go to Ninevah and preach repentance to the city lest it be destroyed in forty days he did so without delay. It didn’t take long for the people to hear God’s message delivered to them through God’s prophet. Even on the first day of his preaching in Jonah, the people believed God’s Word and began to repent. They put on sackcloth and ashes from the least of them to the greatest. Even the king – upon hearing of the Word of the Lord – arose from his throne – covered himself with sackcloth and ashes.
The king issued a decree to the city for them to repent and turn from their evil ways lest they be destroyed. Their hope was that “God would turn relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that they may not perish.” It would be just that way.
“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and He did not do it.”
God hates sin. As a result of sin and unbelief He always threatens judgment and destruction. He calls to repentance and promises forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation through His mercy and grace. That was God’s message to the Ninevites. That is God’s message all the way through the Bible - to Cain who slew Abel – to the people of Noah’s time – to Sodom and Gomorrah – to the northern kingdom of Israel at the time of Isaiah – to the southern kingdom of Judah at the time of Jeremiah. God is very consistent in the way He deals with mankind. God hates sin. God hates idolatry. God hates unbelief in His Word. But, God is slow to anger and God’s mercy and grace are abundant and endure forever.
Just as we heard God call the people of Ninevah to repentance at the time of Jonah - we hear Jesus call the people of Galilee to “repent and believe in the gospel” in our Gospel text today. Not only that but we know that John the Baptist did the same things just prior to Jesus’ coming – John called the people to repentance even baptized with a baptism of repentance.
Those are the two messages – repent and believe - that are really one message – that we are given through the Bible and its law and gospel emphases. The law shows us our sin and calls us to repentance. We are given a lifetime – whatever that lifetime might be whether a day or a week or a year or eighty years or more – to repent of our sins. God is slow to anger and steadfast in His love and mercy. He is not only the God of one or two chances but He is the God who gives many, many chances. For it is as 1 Timothy 2:3,4 says “This is good and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
God is not only the God of the second chance, He is the God of a lifetime of chances for the sinner to repent and believe. Nothing has changed in this regard from the time of the fall into sin. God calls us all to repent and believe. For some of us those things come sooner. For some of us repentance and faith come later. But the time to repent for all of us is NOW because we do not know when our life will end and it will be too late.
And then there are those we can compare to the Sodomites and Gomorrans. For some repentance and faith in God never come before their time is up and they fall under God’s judgment and wrath. May it never be so for you or for any of those whom you know or love.
The grass withers and the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. Put your faith in the WORD of the Lord. As it came to the Ninevites through Jonah - As it came to Galilee through Jesus – so it comes to you this morning through the Holy Scriptures and through the mouth of a sinner called to be your pastor. Repent and believe – now and every moment of your life. Amen.

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Sermon for 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany – 1- 15-2012
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – John 1:43-51

Some people are expert at what we call - “kissing up.” You know what I mean, when I say “kissing up” – right? Well we are told that Nathanael was not one who “kissed up.” We are told that Nathanael was a man “in whom there was no deceit.” I like the old translations which rendered the Greek term “dolos” as guile but deceit is good also. Nathanael was a man who “told it like it was” - like it or not. He was not a “kisser upper”. Philip had told Nathanael that “we have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael replied by saying, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” That is not “kissing up.”
Knowing this about Nathanael, we might consider that he felt no need to impress others. In fact, it seems that Nathanael had rather offend with his words than flatter. But definitely he was not a “kisser upper.”
So, when Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said about him, “Behold, an
Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” - Nathanael got word of his statement and asked Jesus how it was that He knew him. Again, Nathanael was not timid nor flattering but simply factual. How do you know about me, Jesus?
Jesus surprised Nathanael by answering his question by saying, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” You see, Jews often stopped under trees in the heat of the day to pray. Nathanael had undoubtedly done so. Jesus had not only seen Nathanael praying but – being God - He had heard his prayer. Upon hearing these few words of Jesus, the one who was not a kisser upper, the one who was bold to tell the truth even when it was not flattering – even when it was inflammatory – remarked to Jesus of Nazareth – “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Nathanael gave no thought to whether his words were flattering or inflammatory – they were to his way of thinking – factual.
Nathanael’s words were so much believed by him that Jesus remarked to him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” To a man who had no ulterior motive in regard to Jesus it only took a few words for him to believe. He knew that only God could know of his prayers offered under a certain fig tree.
Was he praying that Jesus might be the Messiah? Possibly. Was he praying about the rumors he had heard about Jesus, was he doubting the things Jesus had done? Possibly. We don’t know what Nathanael was praying about under that fig tree, but we know that Jesus knew and we know that Nathanael knew that Jesus knew. And we know that Nathanael knew that only he and God knew what his prayers were. And we know Nathanael believed that Jesus saw him under a fig tree and knew him even before he met Jesus. Only God could know these thing. Nathanael confessed what he believed about Jesus by confessing his faith in Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of God, the King of Israel.
And after Nathanael’s strong confession, Jesus said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” Such was the call of Nathanael, also known as Bartholemew, into the ministry as a disciple of Christ. Nathanael would be with Jesus and the other disciples at the Jordan River when John the Baptizer baptized him. On that occasion, He truly would see heaven opened. He would see the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus like a dove. He would see angels ascending and descending upon Jesus just as Jesus told him he would see these things. Nathanael was not a man who was easily impressed nor was he a man who sought to impress others. But Nathanael believed in Jesus as the Son of God, the King of Israel. He was not “a kisser upper.’ He was not kissing up to Jesus but merely saying what he believed to be true based on certain facts. The apostle John wrote down these things for you – so that you would believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God and the true King of Israel. May the words of Nathanael strengthen your faith in your Lord Jesus Christ.
But more than that, may you also believe with all your heart that your prayers are heard by this same Jesus who is truly God. When you pray to him, he hears your prayers – no matter where you are – no matter what you have done – no matter how bad it was – no matter – Jesus hears your prayers. He knows of your struggles. He knows of your sins, hears your confession, and forgives you. He knows of your doubts, He would have you believe. Remember, He knew you before you ever knew him.
One day you will also see heaven opened. You will see angels ascending and descending on Jesus Christ, the Son of Man, Your Lord and Savior. Amen.

Amen.

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Sermon for 2nd Sunday after Christmas – The Baptism of Our Lord – 1- 8-2012
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – Romans 6:1-11

Our epistle text comes from Romans chapter six. However, the fifth chapter of Romans ends by saying, “20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” ---- Note in particular the words - “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” --- So chapter six begins by asking the question, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?”
Now Paul was a man – a male. Most of us males think that if a little bit is good, then a whole lot is even better. A man would logically think that if a little sin is covered by that same amount of grace plus some more grace and that is good – then a lot of sin would be covered by a lot of grace plus even more grace and that would be even better. But in answer to the logical question that he himself raised, Paul answers by saying, “By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?”
The apostle Paul – even though he is dead – has a question for you this morning – the same question he asked of the Roman Christians about 25 years after Christ was crucified – “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” {PAUSE} AGAIN “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” {PAUSE}
Christian, you died when you were baptized into Christ’s death. Yet the Scriptures say - “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too (might) walk in newness of life.” Yes Christian you are not only alive but you live a new life. You live a life of faith that is grounded in Jesus’ death.
The word used in verse four for “being buried” with Christ might be better translated from the Greek as “being entombed” with Christ. Dear one, you have died with Christ and entombed with him. You will be resurrected like He was resurrected from the tomb on that first Easter morning. Your old self, the sinner that lives within you has been crucified with Christ and is dead to the effects of sin. Is that old sinner still alive and does that old sinner still sin? Yes, he does. We have a Latin saying that is very important to our Lutheran doctrine, simul iustia et peccator. The phrase means – at the same time sinner and saint. This is another of God’s paradoxes. Though you look like a sinner, act like a sinner, will die physically like all sinners die, you are a saint because God has declared you to be a saint in the Words and the Waters of Baptism. You live a new life – the baptismal life – a life not dominated by sin. The effects of sin are lost on you because Christ bore them in his body when he died. When you joined Christ in his death in the waters of baptism you died also to sin.
Dear ones, you are dead to sin. Like Christ, we are dead to sin. Not only that but –
“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. “We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”

To sum it all up, you died with Christ in the waters of Baptism. As you live the baptismal life of repentance and faith, sin has no effect on your salvation. So also Christ - the one you died with in the waters of Baptism is alive and will live forever. He is the firstborn from the dead. When Christ comes again, He will resurrect you from the dead by sending the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life to raise your dead body from the dust and give you new physical to go along with the new spiritual life you have already received. You will live with Christ in paradise forever. May God’s grace abound in you as you live in newness of life – the Baptismal life that was regenerated in you in the Words and Waters of Holy Baptism. Amen.

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Sermon for 1st Sunday after Christmas – Circumcision and Name of Jesus – 1-1-2012
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – Numbers 6:22-27 – Galatians 3:23-29 - Luke 2:21

“The Lord Bless you and Keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” It is my pleasure and privilege to be able to say these words to you at the end of Divine Service each week. Beginning my sixth calendar year as a pastor, I still marvel at these words. But, more and more I wish that these words of blessing would include the next verse which says: “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” After giving his blessing – after making His face shine upon his people in grace and favor - He lifts His face up to see you through human eyes, the eyes of His Son Jesus Christ - and He gives you Christ’s peace – and then very importantly He puts His Name on You thereby blessing you - “So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
God’s Name is one of the ways He comes to us. It is a mystery but – in the very Name of The Triune God is God Himself. One of the places in the Bible that tells us the importance of God’s Name is in 2 Kings 21:7 - . . . “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever.
Thus it follows from the second commandment, “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God.” What does this mean? “We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie or deceive by His Name but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.” God’s Name is one of the places where He has told us where He can be found. The other places are in the Word and in the Sacraments.
We open our services by invoking God by calling upon His Name. We know that when we do this, God is with us. We know that He hears our prayers. We do not do these things in a vain or meaningless way. No, we do these things having faith in God’s promises to hear our prayers and to provide for us in this world and the world to come.
God gave what we call the “Aaronic Benediction or Blessing” to Moses and the Israelites after He had led them out of Egypt – after the Pharoah and all his armies had been defeated. As the Israelites began what would be a 40-year journey through the wilderness, God traveled with the people. He gave the priesthood to Aaron and his sons. They were to be the mediators between God and his people. They were to proclaim cleanness and uncleanness – that is another way of saying that they were to call the people to repentance. When the people repented the priests were to announce forgiveness to them. They had the same task as your pastor has today.
But the kicker between God and His people is that when the people repented, God not only forgave them, but He blessed them. One way He blessed them by putting His Name on them - marking them as His people – assuring them of His love and protection and forgiveness. You have that very same thing today. God – who put His Name on you when you were baptized – assures you each time that you confess your sins and receive absolution – that His Name is still on you – His Name is repronounced upon you by your pastor. Even though your wandering in this sinful and dangerous wilderness of a world is real and will continue – God is with you. He will continue to be with you and bless you.
These are words that are important for you to hear just before you leave this sanctuary where you have been sheltered from the hard, cold world for a few minutes each week. As you go, remember this - God has His Name on you. You are His. You are blessed beyond all that you can possibly imagine. God has put His Name on you and blessed you. He also put His Name on His Son as He named him Jesus which means “Savior.” Our God – the Triune God - is not only Creator but God who is a Savior, and our God is a Sanctifier who makes us Holy by putting His Holy Name on us via the Word and the Sacraments. This New Year, Anno Domini 2012, I pray that you continue to receive his Name and His blessings in faith. Amen.

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Sermon from Christmas Day
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – John 1:1-14

What a great privilege we had this morning to witness the baptism of Roger Fincher, Jr. who became a member of the kingdom of God this morning. God put his Name on Roger and marked and sealed him as His child. Like the notary public stamps her seal on a document or the county court clerk stamps her seal on a deed making it official, God has put his seal and stamp, His very Name on Roger Jr. He washed all or Roger’s sins away in a baptismal flood of regeneration that gave Roger, Jr. spiritual life. Whereas Roger, Jr. was spiritually dead when he was born into this world because of his sinful condition, he is now spiritually alive, born of water and the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of life. He has been regenerated spiritually as a person of faith in Jesus Christ as His Lord and Savior. No greater Christmas statement could have been made in this sanctuary this morning than the baptism we witnessed. New life, that is the message of Christmas. New life……. You see it in the manger before you this morning……..
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. . . . And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
The Word, became flesh and walked this earth as Jesus of Nazareth. I had heard these words for many years, but never fully understood what they meant. I want you to know in plain and simple terms, this morning, that God’s Word, His very performative, creative Word, that He spoke into the world at Creation, was also His Son. The world was created through the Word of God - which was and is His Son. The Word existed as the Word, as Spirit, until the Word became flesh in the womb of the virgin Mary. This baby in Mary’s womb was conceived by the Holy Spirit of God. The Word became flesh and dwelled among us.
We have seen the glory of the Word Made Flesh. We have seen the glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. We have seen that glory as Jesus hung on that cross suffering and dying for the sins of the whole world – for the whole world to see. That is the glory of God the Father and that is the glory of God the Son which has been revealed to the world. That God would send His Son into the world to take on lowly flesh and live as a man forever is hard to believe. But that God would send this same Son to the cross of suffering as His Glory is even harder to believe. But God’s glory is revealed in suffering as His Son suffered incomprehensibly for the sins of the whole world. God is God in pardox. The result is never what we expect. We never expect God’s glory to be revealed in suffering. God’s glory to the whole world was revealed in suffering and lowliness and humility on the cross.
For it is in the vulnerability of the manger and the suffering of the cross that the glory of the incarnation is fully revealed. God makes himself vulnerable to be with us. That is what love does, it makes one vulnerable to the hurt that might be inflicted on it by the loved one. God is love, so His vulnerability is beyond anything we consider as love. And so we wonder at this time of the year when God’s love became human. The wonder of the Christ Child is so deep that it goes beyond the reasoning power of the human mind. The wonder of the Christ Child is so deep that it plunges from mortal reality into the very fringes of eternal reality. The wonder of the Christ Child is so deep that it transcends human reason and ends up as faith in the full grace and truth of God that was revealed in lowliness and humility and vulnerability in the wooden forms of the manger and the cross.
May your Christmas this year be one of grace and truth that comes from seeing the reality of God’s love for you. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. What a Christmas gift God has given you. In the beginning was the Word. And the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. The grass withers, the flower falls, but the Word of the Lord endures forever. Merry Christmas to you all in the wonder of the Christ Child and in the peace of Christ that His suffering brings to the world. Amen.

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Sermon for Advent Four Sunday – December 19, 2011
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 and Luke 1:26-38

God had delivered the nation of Israel from all its enemies. The promised land was theirs. It was no longer a promised land because – as always - God had delivered on his promises – the promise was fulfilled. The people wanted a King so God gave them King Saul. Then when Saul died - God gave them David as their King. David was the only man whom the Bible says was “a man after God’s own heart”. God has been with David since He was a young shepherd boy. He had brought David – as a shepherd boy with a slingshot - through a battle with the giant - Goliath. God had delivered victory not only over Goliath but over the Philistine nation. God had provided a way for the Ark of the Covenant to be returned to Jerusalem through King David. After the defeat of all of Israel’s enemies, King David led the procession for the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem where it was placed in its rightful place in the temple. So after all that God had done for King David and for Israel, we certainly can’t criticize King David for wanting to build God a house in which to live. It seems like a noble thing to do in gratitude for all that God had done for Him, King David wanted to build a temple in which the Lord could dwell. He wanted to get the Lord out of a tent, the Tabernacle, and put him up in nicer accommodations. Doesn’t seem like so bad an idea, does it?
So, when David told the prophet, Nathan, of his intentions, Nathan immediately gave his approval knowing that the Lord was with David. Nathan told him to do whatever was in his heart. Nathan had seen the miracles that the Lord had performed for David in his conquests. Why should he deny David such a thing? But, Nathan forgot who was in charge. He forgot that God was in charge and that David was his servant. He forgot that God was Holy and David, a sinner. He forgot that God was God and David was not God. Sort of like we forget at times that God is God and we are not God. That very night God spoke to Nathan – notice that He did not speak to David – God spoke through His prophet. God told Nathan that in all his time with his people from Egypt to that day, He had never told any of the judges of Israel that He wanted a house of cedar in which to dwell. God told Nathan to tell David that He took him from being a shepherd and made him prince over his people – that He defeated all of Israel’s enemies and David’s enemies – that He made for David a great name on the earth – that He gave Israel the land he promised them, a land where they could now dwell in peace and rest. It had been God who did all this, not David. God did not want David building him a house. God told Nathan that David would not build a house for Him but that He, God, would make a house for David in essence a house made out of David.
The verses that follow these verses (verses that we did not read) describe how the Lord would make a house out of David. He would take David’s descendants and make a house for Himself that would last forever. We know that God took one of David’s sons, King Solomon and built the great temple in Jerusalem after David died. And so it was that God dwelled in Israel – among his chosen people – until the temple built of stone became defiled and He could live there no longer. The temple that God referred to in our text was not a house of stone but it was a temple built of the flesh and blood of David - a temple that would truly last forever – a temple that could not be defiled - a temple that would exist in the flesh of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. This was a prophecy that speaks of the building of God’s temple in the flesh and blood of His Son, Jesus Christ.
As we read our Gospel text today we read about the building of the House of God that would dwell forever – the coming into the flesh of God Himself into the womb of the virgin Mary. The angel Gabriel – “Man or Hero of God” – announced to Mary that she would “conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” The angel Gabriel continued by saying, “And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob (Israel) forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” There you have it in very plain words. God would give Mary a child who would reign over the House of Jacob also known as “Israel” – and reign over the house of Israel forever.
Mary didn’t argue with the angel, Gabriel, but asked how that could be since she was a virgin. In other words, Mary might have said something like this, “Gabriel, since I have never slept with a man how can I be pregnant?” Seems like a relevant question, doesn’t it?
The angel, Gabriel, continued by saying that the Holy Spirit would come upon her. Remember the Holy Spirit, we say about Him in the Nicene Creed – I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life . . . . The Holy Spirit is the Lord and Giver of Life. In the Apostles Creed we say, And I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary,. . . . The Holy Spirit would conceive a child in Mary by the power of God who would be called – the Son of God. If that weren’t enough to convince Mary about these things, her cousin, Elizabeth – who was old - would conceive and bear a child. The angel Gabriel told Mary that with God nothing was impossible.
Mary, servant of God that she was, said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
In our scriptures today you have the story that runs throughout the Scriptures. You have the story of the Triune God – who wants to dwell with His people. In the beginning God dwelled with Adam and Eve – until they sinned and defiled not only the garden but the whole earth and God could live with them no longer. But God still desired to live among His people. First He lived in a Tabernacle, a tent where a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night indicated to the people that God was present with them. Then he lived in a stone temple built by David’s on, Solomon - until his people defiled the Temple, rejected Him, and God sent the Babylonians to tear it down. Then after the return from exile in Babylon, God lived in another temple built of stone - until his people rejected Him again and defiled the temple again – so that He could no longer dwell among them. That stone temple was torn down after Christ was crucified – just as Jesus said it would be torn down .
In the meantime and in finality, God would build a house of the flesh of the only man of whom we are told was “a man who was after God’s own heart.” This was David – a man who was a sinner – but was a man who repented of his sins by confessing them and believing that He was forgiven through the promise of a Savior who would come and die to pay for His sins. That is what made David “a man after God’s own heart.” God would make a house of David’s repentant flesh. He did so as He conceived that House in the virgin Mary – a descendant of David. Jesus Christ would be the house that would stand forever before God in righteousness – righteousness that was earned in suffering and lowliness and humility on a Roman cross for all the world to see. That house of flesh was built in suffering and fire and would never be defiled.
The house that God conceived in the womb of the virgin, Mary, is alive and doing well. Jesus of Nazareth, though He died, was resurrected from the dead in the flesh. God continues to dwell with man as His Own Fleshly Son shares the throne of heaven with His Father – as God comes in Word and Sacrament to dwell with man forever. The story of the Advent of God into the flesh is a story of God’s love for mankind and the world He created. The story of the Christ Child should be wondered about, pondered upon, marveled at. God is with man – in the flesh. Immanuel. Amen.

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Sermon for Advent Three Sunday – December 11, 2011
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – John 1:6-8, 19-28

Not many men can say that their birth was announced by the angel Gabriel in in the Holy Place in the temple - as John the Baptizer’s conception was announced to his father, Zechariah, a priest on the day when he was serving in the Holy Place at the temple. From the time of John’s conception, his life was dedicated to God’s work. He work was to be the forerunner of the Messiah. He was called to preach repentance to the people – to prepare the people’s hearts to receive and believe in the One who would save them from their sins. The first task of any prophet or preacher – the first task of anyone who proclaims the Word of God - is to call the people to repentance.
That is the most daunting task any man can attempt. Indeed it is a task no man can accomplish on his own. Without the law of God, the Ten Commandments, and the work of the Holy Spirit to call men to repentance we would all be lost in our pride and self-sufficiency and rejection of God. Repenting of our sins is the last thing any of us wants to do. Saying, “I am sorry” is not one of our favorite things. I have known a man ever since I was a boy whom I have never heard say “I am sorry” for anything – indeed the hearts of some are so hard that they cannot say”I am sorry.” But the truth is, none of us would be able to say “I am sorry” unless the Holy Spirit of God had not done his work within us to soften our hard hearts and bring us to repentance. It is only when we acknowledge our sins and confess our sins to God by saying “I am sorry, Lord” that we are sinners who need a Savior from our sins.
We can’t make things right with God – we can’t atone for our own sins. Pure and innocent and holy blood is required to atone for sin. We don’t have any pure and innocent and holy blood. Our blood is impure and sin-tainted and unclean. If we are to be saved then someone must save us. We need a Savior. Someone must lead us to our Savior. So it was with John the Baptizer as he led people to Jesus.
So it was that John prepared the hearts of the people. He convinced them of their sin and guilt before God by preaching the law – the Ten Commandments. He led them to repentance – that is to confess their sins and to believe in the promise of God to send a Savior to forgive their sins. That promise was first made in Genesis 3:15 when God said to the devil – “ I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed and He shall crush your head and you shall crush his heel.”
John even went so far as to point to Jesus and say, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” He witnessed to one who would bring light to a dark world – a sinful dying world.
In our text, the Pharisees sent some priests and Levites to ask John the Baptizer who He was. Was he the Christ? Was he Elijah? Was he the Prophet - meaning Moses - some thought him to be a second Moses? John denied being the Christ. He denied being Elijah. He denied being the Prophet, Moses. He answered by quoting the words of Isaiah, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’
The priests and Levites then asked John, “Then why are you baptizing, if you aren’t the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them by saying, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” In Luke chapter 3:16 – in an account of this same discourse - “John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire.”
Dear ones, God works in certain ways. One of those ways is that when God is about to do something He sends His messengers to point out what He is doing. So it was with John the Baptist. God sent an angel to John’s father to point out his coming. God did the same thing with Jesus, pointing out to his parents that Mary was pregnant though she was still a virgin and assuring them both that it was God’s doing.
So it is that we see John the Baptizer pointing out the coming of the Lord. So, it is that we see the coming of God into the flesh as Jesus of Nazareth. So it is that we look back and marvel at the Christ Child. So it is that we look at His coming to us today in the bread and wine of His Holy Supper as He said He would. So it is that we look forward to His coming again when He comes in Glory. The special word for this time of year is BEHOLD. In southern terms behold means “Lookee”, “Lookee.” See him, recognize him for who He is. Behold your Lord comes to you. God keeps sending people to you to point to His Son as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold Him, God’s Son comes to you! Even today He comes. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world – who comes to you today – veiled and hidden in bread and wine. Sinners, behold your Savior. (point to the altar where the Holy Supper is prepared and awaiting consecration)
Amen.

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Sermon for Advent Two Sunday – December 4, 2011
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – Isaiah 40:1-11

Comfort, comfort my people says your God. God is still saying those words to you today. You are His people. Your lord has paid for your sins. Your iniquity, that is, your sins are pardoned. Your reward will be great in heaven.
Seven hundred years before John, God warned the people of their mortality through the mouth of his prophet, Isaiah. “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass.” Man’s flesh is no more substantive than the grass of the field. Everything living within creation is mortal and perishable and cannot endure on its own. But God pointed out through Isaiah that there is one thing that can be trusted. There is one thing that is faithful and true. There is one thing that lasts forever. Though the grass withers and the flower fades, the word of our God will stand forever. Though these bodies die and decay into dust, the word of our God will endure.
So, God spoke to his people and to us through the mouth of his prophet, Isaiah. The first time in our text he spoke words of comfort. The second time God spoke in this text he foretold the coming of John the Baptist.
John’s voice was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” John called the whole world to take notice, to wake up. John would announce to all who would listen that, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:7,8) John pointed the people to the Lamb of God, Christ, the Messiah.
Finally, in our Isaiah text, God spoke to his people as if He were the city of Jerusalem speaking words of warning and comfort to the other cities. The glory of the Lord would be revealed and all flesh would see Christ as God would reveal him in power and might. He warns that God judges and punishes those who do not believe in Him and are against Him. But - comfort, comfort - God rewards those who believe in Him and are with Him. Isaiah ends the text by referring to God as a shepherd who tends his flock with loving care and compassion. He presses his sheep to his chest in His powerful arms. Our Lord has great power and might but He is gentle. He will lead those who have young ones gently.
It is important that we hear and understand those words, “The grass withers and the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever.” These are words you can carry into eternity. These are words backed by the promises of God. These are indeed the only words one can trust in a world where the flesh of men is no more lasting than the grass of the fields.
And it is important in this Advent Season that you behold your God. See Him. Recognize Him for who he is – Christ Jesus -- the Son of God. Discern your God who came as the Christ Child to be born of a virgin and placed in a feeding trough – humbly and lowly. Thirty-three years later He would suffer and die on a Roman Cross – humble and lowly. Three days later after the crucifixion – still humble and lowly – He would be raised from the dead. All of this would be just as God foretold it through prophets like Isaiah.
The words of God never fail and never perish. The Word of God will never die – indeed it cannot die –for the Word of God is life itself. Our hope is not to be found in this life that we live in this frail and mortal flesh. Our hope lies in the immortality of God’s Word. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. It is in the WORD of GOD that we Christians live and move and have our very being. So take great comfort in the Word of God - that is where your comfort is to be found. The Lord says, Comfort, comfort, my people. Amen.

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Sermon for Advent One Sunday – November 27, 2011
Our Savior Lutheran Church in Columbus, Mississippi
Pastor Floyd Smithey – Mark 11:1-11

As our gospel text opens today we hear that the disciples and Jesus were drawing near to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the city destined by God to be the place where His Son would suffer and die for the sins of the whole world. Thirteen men – twelve mortal men led by one God-Man who would be the firstborn to immortality – were on what seemed to the world to be a pointless mission - especially when Jesus died. However what the world deemed to be a pointless mission was in actuality the most important historical event in the history of man and indeed of the world. For three years the disciples had followed Jesus and learned from Him – now it was all coming to a climax.
It had been three years full of surprises. The disciples – the twelve – who followed Jesus had been treated to a show of power that could only be attributed to God. From the book of Mark we are told of many of these things. There was the casting out of an unclean spirit of a man in the synagogue. Jesus had healed many people in Capernaum where He based his ministry. There was much preaching and casting out of demons in Galilee, his home district where Nazareth was. He cleansed a leper. He healed a man who was paralyzed. He constantly contended with the Pharisees over their vain attempts to keep this law or that law. He healed a man with a withered hand. He appointed the twelve, there was Peter and James and John and Andrew and Phillip. There was Bartholemew and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him.
The twelve had heard Jesus preaching against the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. There was the teaching about Jesus’ true family – not his mother and brother and sisters by birthright – but Jesus considered his true family to be those who do the will of His Father. Then there were the parables – the parable of the sower – the lamp under the basket – the seed growing – the mustard seed.
They had been with him on the Sea of Galilee when he calmed a storm by commanding it to cease. They had seen Jesus heal a man with a demon. They saw the woman with the issue of blood healed by touching the hem of Jesus’ robe. They saw him raise Jairus’ daughter from the dead by speaking to her.
The twelve had been with Jesus when He was rejected in his home town of Nazareth. Jesus had said, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown, and among his relatives, and in his own household.” From there He had sent them out to preach repentance and heal and cast out demons. They had been with him when he learned of the death of John the Baptizer.
They were there to help distribute fish and bread to five thousand men plus women and children – food that came from Jesus’ blessing of five loaves and two fish. They saw him walk on water. He had healed many sick by laying his hands on them. He cast the demons out a little girl who was a Gentile and healed a deaf man. On another occasion Jesus fed four thousand men plus women and children with seven loaves and a few small fish. He healed a blind man at Bethsaida by spitting in his hand – making mud - and rubbing it on the blind man’s eyes.
The disciples had been with Jesus through thick and thin for three years. Recently, Jesus asked them who they considered him to be. They had heard Peter confess that Jesus was the Christ. They had heard Jesus tell of his coming death and resurrection. They had also seen him transfigured along with Moses and Elijah on a mountain top. They saw Jesus heal a boy with an unclean spirit. They heard Jesus speak the second time about his coming death and resurrection. They heard Jesus teach of the perils of divorce - how little children have faith adequate to enter heaven – how a rich young man should give away all his goods and follow Jesus. They saw the rich young man sadly walk away.
Jesus foretold his death for the third time. In Jericho they had seen Jesus heal blind Bartimaeus. We are told about all of these things plus many more in the book of Mark. The disciples had witnessed Jesus do many things that only a man empowered by God could do. So now as they neared Jerusalem, the disciples surely wondered what would happen next.
Jesus chose two of the disciples to send into Bethphage to get an unbroken colt. They did as Jesus directed them. They went and found the colt tied up. They untied him. They answered the questions of those who wanted to know what they were doing untying the colt by telling them that Jesus wanted the colt. The people let them go. They brought the colt to Jesus – they threw their coats on the colt for him to sit on. Many others spread their coats on the road while some spread branches out on the road for the colt to walk upon.
Jesus’ triumphant parade began while people shouted, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” All the way into Jerusalem they went – all the way to the temple. At the temple Jesus got down off the colt and went into the temple and looked around. It was Sunday of the week of Passover. It was late. After a while Jesus and the twelve went to Bethany where his good friend Lazarus lived. He had raised Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus lived in Bethany along with his sisters Mary and Martha.
It was the time of Passover. At least three times the disciples had heard Jesus prophesy that he would be crucified and die. They had heard him speak of his resurrection. All the things they saw and heard in the past three years were almost too much to ponder. Yet they were with him. They would see things speed up soon moving toward a climax of suffering, death, and resurrection. They would see Jesus curse a fig tree. They would hear Jesus foretell the coming destruction of the temple. They would see him chase the moneychangers out of the temple. They would hear of the signs of the close of the age and the abomination of desolation. The next seven days would be like no other week the world had ever seen.
Jesus would celebrate the Passover with his disciples making a new testament - a new covenant - between God and man. No longer would the testament or covenant reside in the blood of animals. Jesus would make the new testament in His blood. He would tell them to remember him often by celebrating this new testament. Then He would die the most horrid of all deaths. They would not be present to witness his death, only John would be present for that. But, even though the twelve saw and heard and experienced, they didn’t “get it” then – not all of it anyway. It would take years for all that Jesus did and taught to even begin sinking in as the understanding of Christ’s mention aided in the formation and sustenance of their faith in Him.
Are we any different? Does it all sink in on the first hearing? Does it take more than human intelligence and reason to believe all that Jesus did and continues to do? Can a person believe all this on his own? The answer to these questions is a resounding “no.” But by the work of the Holy Spirit through the Word and through the waters of Holy Baptism and in, with, and under the bread and wine of the Holy Supper we begin to “get it.” Not by reason or intelligence or any powers within us but by the work of God within us to create and sustain faith. We live by faith – not by sight or by reason or by intellect. We are people of faith in God’s Word and promises made to us through the revelation of His Son, Jesus Christ – the same Jesus Christ who rode an unbroken colt on the first Palm Sunday – the same Jesus Christ who suffered and died on a cross five days later – who was raised from the dead seven days later – who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit – one God now and forever. We begin the Advent Season where we look at the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into this world in the flesh. At the same time we await His Second Coming into this world in the flesh to rule in power and glory and authority forever and ever. Amen.

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