Rev. Franke's Theme Thoughts

Series B, Easter 6 May 13, 2012

Lessons for The Sixth Sunday of Easter

Acts 10:34–48 ~ God’s love is known by His message of peace through Jesus to all, including Gentiles.

Psalm 98 (Antiphon: Psalm 98:2)

1 John 5:1–8 ~ God showed His love in sending His Son; we show our love by keeping His commands.

John 15:9-17 ~ Jesus’ command for His followers is that they love one another.

GATHERING THE TEXTS: How Can Anybody Love Me?

Sometimes that is the way we feel, but God showed His love in this: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him. People see that love expressed in our own lives. That is why Jesus said we should love each other as He has loved us. St. Peter recognized God’s abundant love poured out to Gentiles as well as to the Jews, and knew that God loves people of all races equally. We might rather ask, “How can anybody doubt God’s love?”

PRAYER BEFORE THE SERVICE: Father, You have loved me so much and made me a member of Your family in Jesus, Your Son; help me show my love to my sisters and brothers in Christ, and to others who You want to include in Your family also. Amen.

STEWARDSHIP THOUGHT: God has shown His love for us by giving us victory over sin through the death and resurrection of His Son. We show our love for God by our love for each other. As we share all gifts with those in need we share God’s love as well.

OFFERING PRAYER: Use our gifts of love, O Lord, to spread Your word of peace.

Let our love for one another show in all we say and do,

While we tell our sister, brother, that Your mercies never cease.

May our acts of love for others turn their hearts to Christ and You. Amen.

CONVICTION AND COMFORT: Often we doubt God’s love for us because we show favoritism in dealing with others. We see aspects of our own lives we would reject. But God reaches out to us and to those we avoid in our prejudices, including us all in his family through the love he has given in Jesus our Savior. That same love in our lives will overcome our rejections as we learn to love as Christ has loved us.

This Week at Mt. Olive

Good evening, fellow redeemed!

Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. Acts 8:35

I love the account of Acts 8, how Philip was directed by the Spirit to share the faith with an Ethiopian eunuch. There are all kinds of speculations about the Ethiopian, how and why he was worshiping in the temple at Jerusalem and such.

But, just for a moment, let's ponder the little verse I've posted above. These days, there are all kinds of sentimentalities about THE faith and, more importantly, THE Gospel. We're told to "live" the Gospel. I've heard it so many times, "Preach the Gospel and, if necessary, use words." The problem with such sentimentalities is that they basically ignore what the Gospel is and the faith that it births.

Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with a passage of Scripture in Isaiah, Luke records, "he [Philip] told him [the Ethiopian] about Jesus." The Gospel is not a lifestyle. It is not something to be observed. The Gospel is a message made up of words which express complete thoughts. The Gospel is given to be heard, and through the hearing of it, faith is birthed and individuals are brought to confess THE faith.

What is the Gospel? I tell this to the confirmands every year. St. Paul answers that question in 1 Corinthians 15: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve...

There you have it. The Good News about Jesus, the Gospel, that Philip delivered to the Ethiopian is that Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. No wonder the Ethiopian went on his way rejoicing after his baptism, for there is no sweeter word!

This week at Mt. Olive:
The Mother Daughter banquet is this coming Saturday evening. The menu is salad, lasagna, cheese cake, and some homemade bread. Tickets are $6 for adults and $3 for children. Call Dawn Johnson or Kathy Jennings to purchase.

Speaking of the Mother Daughter banquet, I'd like to put some of the guys on standby. I'm not sure how many meals will be served, so I'm not sure how many people will be needed for serving. There are a couple of folks who have graciously volunteered to help prepare, though.

Also for this coming weekend, since it's Mother's Day, I think I'll cancel Confirmation Class so the young 'uns can spend some time with their mothers that day.

Looking ahead - 20 MAY - the Jr. and Sr. Youth will be heading out to see The Avengers. We'll know more about time and costs the closer we get.

Really looking ahead, Vacation Bible School is 9-13 JULY. Put it on your calendar and get ready to have some fun!

Finally, and very important for the life of the Church, Mt. Olive will host an Ascension of Our Lord service in May 17 (Thursday) at 7:15 p.m. This service will celebrate Christ's ascension into heaven and the promise of His return in glory.

This Week at Mt. Olive:
Wednesday, 9 MAY
8:30 a.m.
Chapel

9:30 a.m.
Bible Study (Revelation 20)

Saturday, May 12
6:30 p.m.
Mother Daughter Banquet

Prayer Concerns:
Those who serve in our armed forces and their families: Rob Vadney, John Sorensen
Ruby Rieder, Ann Cleveland, Walter and Pearly Theiss (Houston), Doris and Burt Nelson
The Church throughout the world as she continues to proclaim the resurrection of Christ

God bless!
PKJ

General Prayer Easter 5 One Year Series

Lord God heavenly Father, we praise You for Your awesome deeds and give glory to Your name. Hear us as we come to You in prayer:

Bless the work of Your church on earth as we make known Your deeds among the peoples so that all who hear would bless You for the salvation You have given in Jesus Christ. We thank You for giving a new pastor to Lord of Life Lutheran Church and ask Your blessing upon their life together as shepherd and flock.

Rule this world by the might of Your power and watch over the nations so that the rebellious do not exalt themselves over the righteous. Especially do we ask your blessing upon our nation and its leaders. Protect our military men and women and keep them from harm and danger and grant us courage to take a stand against the filthiness and rampant wickedness that we see all around us.

Encourage all of those who are discouraged and depressed by the hardships of life. Grant them joy as they draw living water from the well of your salvation. Empower us to assist them to meet their material and emotional needs. Especially do we pray for Henry and the Hooper family as they mourn Elvira. Sustain in them the hope of the resurrection. And we pray for Clara as she recovers from a fall, that You would grant her healing.

All around we see a world that is changing. There seem to be very few things that we can count on to remain the same and that makes us afraid and insecure. Remind us that You do not change—that Your goodness and mercy can be counted on to remain the same throughout our life.

We thank You for the gift of Your Word as it is preached and received in the sacraments for it has brought us to life. By your Holy Spirit empower that new life in us so that we show that we are the firsfruits of Your redeeming work by the holy lives we live. In our common life together in families and workplaces and in this congregation help us to be slow to speak and quick to hear and slow to become angry.

We sing praises to Your name for all of the good things You give to us. Especially do we praise You for the gift of life that you have given to Your servant Cruz. As he celebrates his birthday grant him every good gift of body and soul.

Whatever else You see that we need—whatever is good for our neighbor and redounds to Your glory—grant to us dear Father in heaven for the sake of Jesus Christ in whose name we have come before you in prayer. Amen.

Our Heavenly Father Gives Good Gifts

James 1:16-21

The words that precede our text deal with the trials and temptations of the Christians. We Christians are not magically immune from hardships and difficulties and earthly sorrows. The Bible says: blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial.

Neither are we immune from temptation. All of us struggle to be the people that God wants us to be. The Bible says that we are “lured and enticed by our own desire.”

And so we experience earthly difficulties and temptations just like those who do not share our faith at all!

Christians have always struggled with this. We want to believe that since I am God’s child, surely he will give me all that I want and make my life’s journey smooth. We want to believe that since I have faith in Jesus and want to do the right thing that I will go from spiritual victory to spiritual victory.

But of course we know that is not true and that “disconnect” from who we are as God’s children- and what we actually experience in life- has always been a faith struggle for Christians—it makes us wonder why is life this way and why do I feel this way.

Satan uses these difficulties to call into question the goodness of God. He says, maybe the problem is not with you—maybe the problem is not with the world—maybe the problem is with God. The Holy Spirit inspired James to write an answer to these questions we have and respond to these temptations of the devil. The Bible says:

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

The idea that somehow God has failed us when it comes to trial and temptation—this idea the Bible calls a deception—just the opposite of the truth. The fact of the matter is that our heavenly Father can be counted on to give his children good gifts.

In the section of Luther’s Small Catechism that deals with the First Article of the Creed and God as our Creator, we say: I believe that God has made me and all creatures—that he richly and daily provides me all that I need to support this body and life—that he defends me from all danger—and that all of this he does out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy.

The Bible teaches and Christians believe that every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights.

God gives good gifts because he is our Father and he loves us—but we also need to understand that God gives good gifts AS our Father. In other words, it is his wisdom and his values and his foresight and his plans for us that govern the gifts he gives and when he gives them. That begins to explain some of the disconnect between our identity as God’s children and what we actually experience in life.

All of us who are parents know that it is neither good nor wise to give our children everything they ask for. Some things are not good for them. Some gifts are inappropriate for their age. Some things are not part of the values of our family.

Some gifts are not even things that they would ask for. When we get braces for our children’s teeth it costs us thousands of dollars and is not all that pleasant for them—but we know that it is for their own good. So it is with God and the God gifts he gives us.

None us would choose some trial for ourselves. None of us enjoy pain. But God already knows the kind of person he wants us to become and we mature in our faith as we face those challenges and endure that pain and learn to trust his wisdom—confident that he is working good in our lives because that is who he is. The Bible says that with him “there is no variation or shadow due to change.”

What a blessing it is to know that! Our heavenly Father has always been good to us and will always be good to us because he does not change.

When Luther concludes his explanation to the First Article of the Creed that deals with God as Creator, he says that the Father gives me all good things apart from “any merit or worthiness in me.” In other words, God’s goodness to me does not depend upon my goodness—but his. This is the best possible news!

Sometimes our faith is strong—sometimes it is a flickering flame. Sometimes we do a pretty good job walking in obedience to his will—sometimes we live in open rebellion. We’re all over the map when it comes to our faith and faithfulness. What a blessing to know that we can count on a heavenly Father who is good to us simply because he is good!

The truth of that goodness and steadfastness is shown nowhere more clearly than in his desire to save us. The Bible says that:

Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

It is the will of God to save us. The Bible says that this is what love is—not that we loved God but the he loved us and sent his Son Jesus to be the sacrifice for our sins—that in Jesus we see how broad and high and deep the love of God is---and that God has chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world to be his own—and that the Father who did not spare his own Son will graciously give us all things.

The Father’s steadfast will to save us is seen most clearly in the perfect gift he gave to us in his Son Jesus. God has always loved us and will always love us and has given his Son to prove that love beyond any shadow of a doubt.

There may be times of trial and temptation when the love of the Father and his attitude towards us is in doubt—but we are directed to the cross where the proof of his unchanging love and saving will is seen again and again.

And not only has he given us his Son but he has graciously and providentially ordered our lives so that we could come to faith in Jesus and be saved. He is the one who has brought us forth, causing us to be born again unto eternal life.

Many of us were born to Christian parents who taught us the faith. All of us have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus and had the good news of forgiveness preached to us. Our salvation from beginning to end is the work of a loving Father who has chosen to give us life through faith in his Son by the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives through the Word.

And he did this for a reason—that we would be “a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” Now, what does the Bible mean by that? Just this: It is in the lives of Christians who have been born again by the word of truth that we can actually see the fruit of Christ’s redeeming work—we can see what he has accomplished.

One day there will be a new heaven and a new earth—but we can’t see that with our eyes, we have to accept it by faith. One day there will be no more sorrow or suffering—but we can’t see that with our eyes, we have to accept it by faith. One day there will be no more trials or temptation—but we can’t see that with our eyes, we have to accept it by faith.

But the fruit of Christ’s redeeming work can be seen in people who have come to faith in Jesus Christ. In the lives of Christians we see and hear living and breathing examples of God’s saving purpose in the world—the firstfruits of a new creation where sin and death and the power of the devil have no place.

But what happens when we Christians (who are the fruit of Christ’s redeeming work) do not show the saving work of God because we continue to live in sin as if Christ hadn’t saved us at all? The Bible says:

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

James uses the specific examples of anger and sins of speech to make his point—but the effect of sin in our lives, whatever it is, is the same: it does not produce the righteousness of God in our lives.

Here the Bible is NOT talking about the righteousness that counts before God as salvation—that only comes through Jesus—but the Bible is talking about the righteous life that ought to come from our faith in Jesus.

Let me give you an example. When Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant before they came together as husband and wife, he decided to put her away because as the Bible say, he was a righteous man. In other words, his faith in God made him act a certain way—refusing to have anything to do with what he thought was Mary’s sin.

So it is to be for us. The righteousness that we have by faith in Jesus ought to produce a righteous life in us—having nothing to do with sin and making sure that we are doing the RIGHT thing.

The specific example from our text has to do with our relationships and the things we say. Just imagine to yourself what your marriage and family would be like if you were always quick to listen to others, slow to speak, and slow to become angry.

Of course, we know about ourselves that just the opposite is much too often true—we don’t listen carefully to others—we are much too willing to make sure that we are heard—and we become angry quickly. And so what is the solution when we find that our lives are not showing the fruit of Christ’s saving work? The Bible says:

Put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

One of the greatest gifts our heavenly Father gives us is the opportunity to start over. He never washes his hands of us. He never says you can’t come back home. He never tires of forgiving us and lifting us up again.

We don’t always live the righteous way we ought to live as those who are the first-fruits of Christ’s redeeming work. Often times we give in to temptation. Often times we let the trials of life lead us to doubt God’s love. In those moments we need to be clear: God hasn’t failed us—we’ve failed God.

That is when it is time to call the sin and doubt what it is-- and put it way by being sorry for it and repenting of it and confessing it to God. And then listen to God when he tells us that he forgives us and loves us and we are his children and he is our Father and he can be trusted for salvation. Amen.

Rev. Franke's Theme Thoughts

Series B, The Fifth Sunday of Easter May 6, 2012

Lessons for The Fifth Sunday of Easter

Acts 8:26-40 – Philip baptized the Ethiopian, and God created new life along a desert road.

Psalm 150 (Antiphon: Psalm 150:6)

1 John 4:1–21 – Because God first loved us in Christ, we love God and show it by our care for others.

John 15:1-8 – Connected to Jesus, we are constantly renewed in a spiritual life that bears good fruit for God.

GATHERING THE TEXTS: Easter Joy is a Lively Faith.

When the Ethiopian learned that Isaiah had described the suffering of Jesus who had died and risen again, he believed and asked Philip to baptize him. There in the desert the Holy Spirit started a new life in the most unlikely way. In his letter, John wrote that the deeds of love in our lives spring from the source of our faith, Jesus our Savior. Jesus told us the same thing: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

PRAYER BEFORE THE SERVICE: Most gracious God, all the little things that I fret over today, You alone can guide and control. Thank You for taking charge of my life in the big things - like sin, forgiveness, and new life. Keep me connected to Jesus, my Savior, so that I may live for You today, tomorrow, and forever. Amen.

STEWARDSHIP THOUGHT: God’s greatest gift to us is spiritual life through the death and resurrection of Jesus, the Messiah. Knowing God’s love in Christ, we live with love toward each other in the way we use the material gifts God has also given us.

OFFERING PRAYER: Receive these gifts, O Lord, we pray, to glorify Your name;

We give them back to You this day, the One from Whom they came.

Bless them for building up Your church and caring for our neighbor;

May they bring goodly fruit for You and lead folks to the Savior. Amen.

CONVICTION AND COMFORT: God is the source of our life and our love, whether the Spirit is creating new life from the water of Baptism along a desert road or nourishing it through the love that children of God show to each other. When we sever our connection to God in Jesus, our spiritual life withers and dies. Only by God’s constant renewal in his Word are we able to live to give God the glory as we share his love with others.

This Week at Mt. Olive

Good evening, fellow redeemed!

From where I'm sitting, across the music room and the living room, I can see the television. I'm watching the NHL semifinals. Phoenix is playing Nashville. After moving to Corpus, I had kind of lost touch with big league hockey. Up and down the ice, pass followed by pass, shot on goal followed by a frenzy around "the crease." Phoenix is ahead by two goals in the final period, a sizable lead, but not completely insurmountable. Who will win, we simply don't know. The only thing we know for sure is that Boston won't repeat as champions, having lost in the quarter finals.

Praise God our relationship with the Father is not like that. Brought into fellowship with the Father through the Son, the Father gives us life through the same Son. Our Lord Jesus is the one who laid down His life in order that He might take it up again. Thus, there is no doubt about fellowship with the Father through the Son. It's a gift. In today's Epistle, (1 John 3:16-24), the apostle tells us that our Lord Christ has laid down His life on our behalf, we also ought to lay down our lives for one another. Yet, we're not able to die on crosses for the sake of others. No, it is through the sharing of the goods of this world that we lay down our lives for the sake of our neighbor.

Our fellowship with the Father through the Son, our Lord Jesus Christ who laid down His life for the sheep, is a certainty. Christ has died and risen, never to die again. With that in mind, a life in fellowship with the Father moves us to lay down our lives for our neighbor - even the person with whom we don't get along, even our enemy - by sharing the goods of this world.

This Week at Mt. Olive:
Next Sunday is the LWML Spring Rally at Trinity Lutheran Church here in Corpus. Registration begins at 2 p.m. and the program begins at 2:30. You can reserve your place by contacting Lois White at Trinity (Plata123@aol.com).

Our brothers and sisters in the faith at Lord of Life have been vacant for well over a year. They have been faithfully served by Pastor Kirk as vacancy pastor. Earlier this year, Lord of Life submitted the paperwork to call a candidate from one of our seminaries. This week, Tuesday and Wednesday, call services will be held at both seminaries, St. Louis and Fort Wayne. We pray that one of those candidates will hear the words, "Texas District, Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Corpus Christi, Texas".

Also this week, Wednesday Morning Bible Class will break into Revelation 20!

Looking ahead, Mt. Olive will host this year's Ascension Service on May 17 at 7:15 p.m. Sharing in the service will be St. Paul (Bishop) and Trinity (Corpus Christi). The festival of Ascension ranks with Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost in the major festivals of the Church Year.

Finally, I'll be hosting this month's circuit conference for pastors on Tuesday, May 1.

Prayer Concerns:
Pastor Alston Kirk, recovering from surgery
Ann Cleveland, Burt and Doris Nelson, Ruby Rieder, Bud Bird, Walter and Pearly Theiss (Houston)
Those who serve in our armed forces and their families: Rob Vadney, John Sorenson
Our brothers and sisters in the faith at Lord of Life as they await news of a new pastor
The candidates for calls and vicarage assignments who will be receiving their calls and assignments this week.
The Council of Presidents and placement directors from the seminaries who are working both today and Monday to match men to those assignments.

God bless!
PKJ

Living as Servants of God

1Peter 2:11-20

We spend an hour a week in church on Sunday hearing the Word of God and receiving Holy Communion. If we stay for Bible class that’s an extra hour with God’s Word and during Lent and Advent there is another hour.

Basically, we spend an hour or two a week here in church, obeying the Third Commandment, listening to and studying God’s Word, enjoying the fellowship of our fellow Christians—and then it’s out into the world for the other 167 hours of the week. This is where the real spiritual battle to live as servants of God takes place. The Bible says:

Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.

The challenge of being Christian people in the world begins in our own heart and how we see ourselves. The Bible says that we are “sojourners and exiles”. In other words, this world is not our true home—we are citizens of another place—we are simply passing through to our true home with God in heaven.

As sojourners and exiles we are to embody the values of our true home (which is God’s kingdom) and our rightful King (who is Jesus).

But the truth of the matter is, we are attracted to values of this unbelieving world and we are constantly tempted to follow in its ways and so our life in the world is a battle we have to wage every moment between the person that we are in Christ-- and our flesh.

The Bible says that we are to “abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” Abstaining from what we want does not come naturally to us and most of us don’t have a lot of practice doing it. There is some new toy that we want and so we get it. We eat until we groan in pain. We sleep in rather than exercise. And because we never tell ourselves “no” in the small things--we have little ability to say “no” when it really matters—when our flesh is tempting us to sin.

The struggle to live as servants of God begins in our own hearts and too many Christians have waved the white flag in defeat when it comes to saying “no” to their flesh.

This is no small thing. The Bible calls it a war and that is exactly what it is. There will be a victor and there will be a loser. Either your sinful flesh will win out and drag you body and soul into the fires of hell-- or your soul who believes in Jesus will win out and you will go to heaven.

Those are the only two possible outcomes of the spiritual battle each of us face within our hearts and out in the world and against the devil--and so we are called upon by God to abstain from the temptations of the flesh for the sake of our eternal salvation—but also for the sake of those around us. The Bible says:

Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.

The battle that we must wage against our own sinful flesh has eternal consequences not only for us—but also for unbelievers around us.

In other words, when we walk out of this place on Sunday we have a solemn responsibility to live as Christian people so that those who don’t know Jesus as their Lord and Savior can come to know him by how we live our lives in their presence. The Bible says, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable”.

You and I both know that, from Sunday to Sunday, we don’t really have all that many opportunities to speak about Christ. Now, we have many, many more than we actually make use of—but most of our interactions with others don’t provide us with many opportunities to talk about our faith. And yet we have limitless opportunities to live out our faith in how we go about our day-to-day business.

When we are kind to the people who serve us in the various stores around town—when we are patient with our co-workers—when we are helpful to our teachers—when we are generous to those in our communities who stand in need of the necessities of life—it is a powerful witness to Jesus Christ who lives within us.

There are plenty of people in our world today who are ready to think the worst and believe the worst about Christians—plenty of people who reject our values, who doubt our core beliefs.

We can talk to them—we can try to answer their arguments—we can be advocates for our rights as Christians in the public square (and there is value in all of these) but there is one thing that is absolutely unassailable—and that is the power of a genuine Christian life.

Six billion people stop and pay attention when one little nun cares for the poorest of the poor in India. An entire nation is captivated when a group of Amish forgive the man who murdered their children.

And the same thing is true on a smaller scale when you as an individual Christian simply endeavor to be a servant of God in how you live your life. Led by the Spirit, your life draws people to Christ --and that matters eternally.

The Bible says that you are to live in such a way that people see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. This means that on the day of our Lord’s return in glory—when he comes to judge the nations—there will be people going to heaven who give glory to God because they saw how we lived our lives—learned about what we believe and why-- and came to faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

That is the high calling of the Christian life—that in our daily lives we reflect Jesus so that others can see him in us. That is certainly to be true in our lives as citizens in this nation. The Bible says:

Be subject for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.

There are any number of governmental entities and individuals that have a claim upon our lives as citizens. Most of us have just finished paying our taxes. Some of us have received jury summons in the last year. All of us watch how fast we are driving.

Teachers are subject to the laws of the state when it comes to education. Military men and women have commanders above them whom they have to obey. Farmers and ranchers have rules about what chemicals they can use and the times they can plant and harvest. The list goes on and on.

As Christian citizens we are free to advocate for less government and fewer regulations-- but when it comes to the laws that are on the books and the government officials who enforce them--the Bible says that we are to be subject to them.

Christians are obedient, law-abiding citizens, subject to those in authority over us because this is the will of God and a good work in his sight. God expects us to do good rather than evil for our nation and its government and our fellow citizens because it has a positive effect on those around us—silencing their complaints and concerns about having Christians as fellow citizens.

In July of 64 A.D. there was a great fire that consumed Rome. Nero needed a scapegoat and found it in the Christians. This letter from Peter was written at exactly the same time. You can understand his pastoral concern for his flock. He wanted Christians to be such exemplary citizens that any thought of wrongdoing on their part would be immediately rejected by their fellow citizens whether they were Christians or not.

So it should still be today. We ought to be known as exemplary citizens who are good neighbors and hard workers and community supporters---people who can be counted on to make our towns and churches and workplaces better for our presence. The Bible says: Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

There is an honor due to everyone given their place in life. To the young woman who checks us out at HEB it is common courtesy. To the tradesmen who do work for us there is prompt payment of their bill. To doctors who care for us and educators who instruct our children there is appreciation. Honoring everyone means that treat others as we would like to be treated.

Our attitude towards our fellow Christians goes beyond that. The Bible says that we are to love the brotherhood—that is our fellow Christians and especially the members of our own congregation. It is a shameful, sinful thing when Christians despise and mistreat their fellow Christians for we are brothers and sisters in God’s family.

And when it comes to our relationship with God, the Bible says that we are to fear him. It’s an interesting word that the Holy Spirit inspired Peter to use when it comes to what we are to render to God.

In other places, the Bible talks about loving God and trusting God and obeying God-- but here the Holy Spirit says that we are to fear God. And so we should!

That is because these are words are written to us with the expectation that we will obey them. They are not left to our own discretion. They are not optional for the Christian.

We are expected to recognize those places in our life where we have fallen, repent of them immediately and receive the forgiveness of Jesus and then begin to amend our lives by following God’s will for his servants that we find in his word today. The Bible says:

Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps.

It is easy when reading through these words to simply see them as a list of rules that we are to follow that govern our conduct in the workplace and in the nation and in the church. And they are indeed commands of God and God expects our obedience.

But there’s more to it than that. These words about love and respect and obedience are words about Jesus—how he lived his life—doing good even to those who mistreated him—enduring sorrows while suffering unjustly.

Jesus’ life of love and obedience and respect did not earn him worldly success and great fame and wealth—his life of love and obedience led him to the cross—and it will lead to hardship for us too. But it also the only road that leads to eternal life.

That is why the Bible says that it is a gracious thing in the sight of God when we suffer for doing good and endure because that kind of life identifies us with Christ and his life.

And so we live our lives here on earth as Jesus lived his life—as servants of God—speaking our Father’s words and doing our Father’s will and walking in the steps of Jesus, our Lord. Amen.