Easter -- He Lives

Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 21, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Acts 1:12–26, 1 Peter 4:12–17, 1 Peter 5:6–11, John 17:1–11

HE LIVES TO GIVE ME EAGER EXPECTATION OF GLORY The Church waits. The Church in Jerusalem waited for ten days between Christ’s ascension and the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost. The Church today waits through the millennia between Pentecost and Christ’s second coming. We are waiting for the gifts that Jesus promised. We live in eager expectation of glory! That glory is not dimmed by early suffering. Rather, our current sufferings only remind us of the glory that awaits us. We are simply following in Christ’s footsteps. First comes the cross, and then comes the crown. Knowing what is coming lets us view our current light and momentary troubles. They cannot mute the joy of living in eager expectation of glory. While we wait during this time between Christ’s ascension and return, we live knowing that we will suffer persecution for our faith in Christ, but God will work it for glory.

Sixth Sunday of Easter

May 17, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • 1 Peter 3:15–22

God accomplishes His purposes through the witness we give in word and deed.

Pentecost Sunday

May 28, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Acts 2:1–21, 1 Corinthians 12:3–11, John 7:37–39

HE LIVES TO POUR OUT HIS SPIRIT Fifty days after the Passover, God’s Old Testament people celebrated Pentecost (Greek for “fifty”). Pentecost commemorated the harvest gathering and was also used to remember the giving of the Law on Mt. Sinai, the start of the Church of Israel. Christ chose Pentecost to be the birthday of his New Testament Church too. By pouring out his Holy Spirit, Christ empowered the Church to gather in the great harvest of souls won by the Son. Pentecost is the third great festival of the Church, along with the Nativity and the Resurrection. The early church fathers mention the Festival of Pentecost often enough to lead many to believe it was celebrated annually at the time of the apostles. Pentecost closes the fifty-day period after Easter and ends the festival half of the church year. The Church dresses in red this day to remind us of the tongues of fire that marked the Spirit’s gift, as well as the blood of the martyrs, which was the seed of the Church.

Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 7, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Acts 4:8–12, 1 Peter 2:4–10, John 14:1–11

HE LIVES TO BE THE ONLY WAY TO HEAVEN The gospel is the most inclusive message in the world. The benefits of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ are meant for every man, woman, and child who ever lived. The gospel is also the most exclusive message in the world, for it maintains that salvation can only be found in one place—the person of Jesus Christ. Just listen to how Jesus speaks: “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). Jesus doesn’t say, “I will show you the true way to eternal life.” The prophets and apostles could say that. But Jesus says, “I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life you crave.” And note that definite article: “the,” not “a”! Jesus is not a way into heaven. He is the way. There is no other way than through faith in the One who died and rose again. The unbelieving world finds this claim—that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven—to be the most offensive teaching in all of Scripture. Yet this is the very truth upon which Christ builds his Church.

Fourth Sunday of Easter

April 30, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Acts 2:42–47, 1 Peter 2:19–25, John 10:1–10

HE LIVES TO BE MY GOOD SHEPHERD Every culture has the concept of an ideal citizen, someone who typifies its values. For much of the United States history, the ideal citizen was the American farmer: hardworking, innovative, and vital to our collective well-being. Even some of our first presidents were farmers. For the people of Israel, the farmer wasn’t their ideal citizen. It was the shepherd. Sheep were an invaluable source of clothing and food. But they were hard to keep in the Judean countryside. Its sparse grasslands are intermixed with desert. For sheep, food is sparse, but predators are plenteous. The survival of sheep was dependent on their shepherd. There he is. Weather-beaten. Sleepless. Armed. In the dusk, he scans the land, counting his sheep, making sure they are all accounted for, every one of them on his heart. You see why Jesus chose the shepherd to illustrate how he cares for us. He feeds us with His Word. He protects us from that roaring lion, Satan. Jesus is leading us into the green pasture of eternal life. For centuries, the Church has observed this Fourth Sunday of Easter to celebrate that he lives to be our Good Shepherd.

Third Sunday of Easter

April 23, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • 1 Peter 1:17–21, Luke 24:13–25, Acts 2:14–31

HE LIVES TO RESTORE MY HOPE Imagine someone you love is near death. Their only hope of survival is risky brain surgery, one so complicated that only one surgeon in the state will attempt it. The surgery is scheduled. But as that doctor drives to the hospital, he is killed in a car accident. Any hope you had for your loved one’s salvation died along with that surgeon. That is how Jesus’ disciples felt after his death. “We hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel,” they said (Luke 24:19). Their hope for a better life died with Jesus. They had let their personal wants and expectations cloud their view of Scripture, which said that the Messiah’s death and resurrection were actually the source of all hope! So, the living Lord appeared to his disciples. He explained. He opened their minds to the truth of God’s Word. And in doing so, he restored their hope. There is little worse than a feeling of hopelessness. Christ’s disciples have victory over that feeling. He died, but he is no longer dead. The one who can heal and give us life to the full lives! He lives to restore our hope.

Second Sunday of Easter

April 16, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Acts 2:14–32, 1 Peter 1:3–9, John 20:19–31

HE LIVES TO GIVE ME PROOF AND PEACE Thomas had been taught and trained by Christ himself. He heard Jesus predict his death and resurrection. Yet, even after hearing the eyewitness testimony of friends who all saw the resurrected Jesus, Thomas had doubts: "Rising from the dead. That can’t be possible!" Today is a day of great comfort for any follower of Jesus who wrestles with doubt concerning Christ’s promises or doubts about God’s Word. Jesus does not come to rebuke Thomas’ weak faith. Jesus comes to strengthen Thomas’ faith, giving him proof of the mind-bending reality of the resurrection—to let him feel it, touch it, and explore it. Jesus didn’t reject Thomas. Jesus engaged Thomas and gave him peace. Still today, Jesus comes to his disciples in Word and sacrament. The living Lord speaks to us. He lets us partake of his true body and blood. When we show weakness of faith, he does not reject us. Just as he did with Thomas, Jesus engages us, giving us proof and peace.

Easter Sunday Divine Service

April 9, 2023 • Pastor Greg Stenzel • Isaiah 12, 1 Corinthians 5:6–8, John 20:1–18

HE LIVES TO DRY TEARS AND REMOVE FEARS Walk through a cemetery at dusk. What do you feel? Is it sadness as you think of loved ones now gone? Is it fear as you sense that it will not be long before you too are buried deep in the ground? Those are natural emotions. For in the normal realm of human existence, dead is dead. Someone dies, and all you have are pictures and memories. Every day that goes by only brings you one step closer to the end of your story. So, it is natural that mortals would walk through a cemetery with tears and fears. But Jesus lives. That changes things. Jesus is the resurrection first fruits for the harvest of humanity. Dead is not dead forever. Death is not final at all! The one brought low by his mortality will be raised immortal! So, your deceased Christian loved ones are not gone. You will see them again, hug them again. When you walk through the doorway of death, that is not the end. It is the beginning. When we face death knowing that Christ is risen, we experience a completely different set of emotions—for he lives to dry tears and remove fears.

Christ Lutheran Church & School

The Sundays of Easter