Emmanuel Lutheran Church Asheville

?¨Who??s Your Daddy Now!?Æ April 30, 2006
1 John 1:1-2:2 Pastor Mark Nieting

Maybe it??s just me, but is anyone a little tired of the direction that our culture seems to be going? I??m not anywhere near a fan of the National Basketball Association, but last fall, Commissioner David Stern pushed through a dress code for his players, something most of us know as ?¨business casual.?Æ 

Can you imagine how well that went over with the majority of the highly paid egos in the NBA? Some of them were very vocally opposed, suggesting that Stern was biased against the hip-hop culture and was denying the players their right to express themselves. Stern defended himself, saying, ?¨No way?ñyou can bag, sag, zig and zag all you want, but not when you??re at work!?Æ It??s the same rationale that applies to the dress code found at many Christian schools?ñif we dress ?¨up,?Æ we don??t ?¨act up!?Æ 

This was just another round of what seems to be an almost endless discussion of the decline of the values in our society, evidenced by acts of road-rage, jet-plane-rage, bad language, aggressive assertion of individual rights, underwear that??s not worn under our wear, impatience and even hostility towards those who have differing opinions. There seems to be more shouting, pushing, shoving, demanding, asserting, posturing, condemning?ñ.and that??s just Congress! One blogger suggested we ought to return to the old English custom of High Tea every afternoon, just to slow us down and re-teach us some manners?ñ..so, 2 PM at my house?

I doubt there??s a single one of us here today who doesn??t bemoan the demise of civility and decency in our country and long for kinder and gentler days. I see it even in the change of dress for worship?ñ.I miss people dressing up out of respect for God! Am I alone here? I doubt it. Most of us miss the values of what we call ?¨the good, old days.?Æ And that, my dear Christian friends, is literally the entire message that God has woven into this text through the disciple John in his first letter. The First Letter of John is like a spiral. It returns repeatedly to the same ideas, yet continually builds on them to construct a forceful argument for the loving behavior of the Christian community, love because God loves us.

Jesus had a tremendous affect on John??s life?ñand John wants to pass on to each and every reader both what Jesus did in HIS life and what being a child of God does for each one of us. The opening, which we read just a moment ago, almost parallels the opening of John??s Gospel, both of them testimonies to the LIGHT and to the JOY that Jesus brought into the world.


First, let??s examine a bit of background on 1 John. John was the brother of James, one of the sons of Zebedee. He was close to Jesus, and the one to whom Jesus entrusted the care of His mother Mary at the crucifixion. John wrote his Gospel around 85 AD, after which came his 3 epistles and finally, his Revelation (no ?¨s?Æ here?ñ John had one revelation, albeit a long one!) Much of this letter was written to stimulate love within the Christian community?ñthat we may love, as God first loved us through Jesus Christ.

1 John was also written to combat the onset of Gnosticism in the church. This was a heresy which taught that the spirit was entirely good and that matter and body were entirely evil. Thus from this basic premise came the belief that salvation was NOT found in Christ, but rather in an escape from one??s (evil) body through special knowledge?ñthe Greek word is ?´gnosis,?? hence Gnosticism. The Gnostics denied Christ??s true humanity in two different ways: some said that Christ only seemed to have a body (Docetism..from the Greek dokeo, to seem) and others said that the divine Christ merged with the man Jesus at his baptism and then left him just before he died, a view called Cerinthianism after it??s founder, Cerinthius.

The Gnostic belief system also led to abuses of the body, since the body was inherently evil, it could?ñand should be abused; as well as to the throwing off of all moral restraints, since matter was seen as evil and not the breaking of God??s laws. This seems, I know, paradoxical, but it was how the Gnostics lived. I have posited before that we seem to be living in an age of modern gnosticism, where the body can be abused and there are no moral standards whatsoever, especially among people who call themselves ?¨enlightened!?Æ 

Thus John writes this letter with two basic purposes in mind: first, to expose the false teachings of the Gnostics, and second, to give believers an assurance of their salvation through Jesus Christ. John also is very concerned that people understand the divinity of Christ, all the way back to the moment of His incarnation. 

The central message of 1 John is this: people who are loved behave differently from those who aren??t. This is also the first of two points in today??s message. John referred to himself as ?¨the disciple that Jesus loved.?Æ While modern writers may denigrate what that means by attaching other language to it, John meant it in the most basic and purest way: God loved him and sent to him a Savior, who was Jesus Christ?ñ.who loved him deeply, personally, and sacrificially. John knew it?ñ.and knows it is also true of you and me?ñ..and wants US to know it, and to live it.


Therefore, what John teaches us?ñ.and Paul, for that matter?ñis that we, being loved by God, are called upon to love others. It affects us to the very core of our being. While we once thought we may have been something special in the eyes of the world, now we can and must know that we are special in the eyes of God, simply because He loves us and sent Jesus to die for our sins. And now that that has happened, we are called to live by a new and different setoff rules than those that governed us when we were NOT in the faith.

Therefore: -we love our neighbors as ourselves.
-we listen for God??s voice, not our own voice.
-we consider ourselves to be subject to each other.
-we practice kindness and charity.
-we bear each other??s burdens.
-we forgive, rather than bearing a grudge.
-we want others to know THEY too are loved!

Sounds like a list that needs to be on every refrigerator, doesn??t it? 

Jesus Christ came as our Savior because of the Trinity??s love for each one of us. Love was, and still is, the message of Jesus Christ?ñthat we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul and mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves. It is the central tenet to the commandments?ñ..and the golden rule as well. What could be more Christian than, as Jesus put it in Matthew 7:12, ?¨In everything do to others as you would have them do to you!?Æ 

So, if you want people to be kind to you, be kind to them. If you don??t want to be cut off in traffic, don??t cut people off. If you want civil treatment at Ingles, BE civil at Ingles. If you keep your cool, maybe the next guy will as well!

Finally, and this is point number two, people often express the qualities and tendencies of their parents. It??s the old ?¨apple-doesn??t-fall-far-from-the-tree?Æ concept, taken one step farther than bloodlines. It??s the answer to the question of the day, ?¨Who??s Your Daddy??Æ Is it God?ñ.or is it someone or something else?

Through baptism, as we celebrate with Britni Bucker in HER baptism today, we become children of God. This implies that, by the nature of WHO now lives within us, we will ACT like children of God. We will live to express the nature and the tendencies and the qualities of God, who has come to live within each one of us. This is a direct 180 from the Gnostic belief that the body?ñand even the person?ñis inherently evil. In fact, what John reinforces is that now that God is present within us, by faith we CAN and should do Good Works?ñ.not because they can save us, but simply as a reflection of God within us. It??s not that we are perfect and sinless, not at all?ñ.and John points that out clearly in the text. It??s that God sent His Son to love us and forgive us and make us His!


Therefore, if we behave in a typically non-loving, non-forgiving, non-repenting, non-merciful manner, our very relationship with Christ Jesus is called into question?ñ.certainly not the witness we want to bring to the world around us. Our witness should be just the opposite?ñ. Bringing the love of Christ to the world around us that cannot know true love without Him!

Indeed, people who know God, people who are God??s children, LIVE like it, every single day! 

And to that, the people of God say, AMEN!

?¨Remind Me Again, What Is a Steward??Æ May 14, 2006
First in a Three-Week Stewardship Series Pastor Mark Nieting
The Text is Luke 12: 42-48

Jesus said, ?¨Turn in an account of your stewardship. Give me a record of how you are handling the responsibilities that I have entrusted to you. I have discovered,?Æ Jesus went on,?Æ that people who are faithful in little things are also faithful in big things, but people who are not faithful in little things can not be trusted with big things. I will relieve such a person of the responsibility for the big things, because if you cannot be faithful with the little things of life (like money), how can you ever be trusted with true riches!?Æ

The Pharisees heard this?ñ.and because they were lovers of money first, they turned away in a huff. So do many people today?ñ..maybe even you. The question of the day revolves around one word, and that word is Steward. What is a Steward? The following are stories that involve stewards doing stewardship.

When Ben and Reba were very small, the time would come up for us to a teacher??s conference?ñ.without them. We faced the inevitable question all parents face: who??s going to take care of the kids, the house, the pets, the mail, the plants for a few days. Who is trustworthy enough to do it all?ñ.. and ?¨all?Æ is the important word. I might trust the kid across the street to bring in the paper and even the mail, but you don??t just ask anyone to take care of the kids. Stewards are people who take care of precious property that is not their own.

Another example. Jennifer Hubler is our early school director. Every morning 90 some parents drive up to the lower entrance and drop off their precious cargo: their children. During the days, these parents want to know that their children are safe and well cared for?ñ.especially all the little unseen details like the bruised finger, the book carefully read, the loving tone of teacher??s voices, all the crucially important details that will never show up in a written report. Stewards are people who take care of precious property that is not their own.

Long before there were children in my life, I was hired to ?¨dog-sit?Æ by a wealthy widow who lived in Kensington, Maryland. She had a Kerry-Blue Terrier that she loved dearly, and I was instructed on how to COOK for this dog 3 times a day, how to brush it twice a day, walk it three times a day, and all the steps that were needed to put the dog to bed! Caring for this dog, who was dearly loved, was a huge amount of work and this lady wanted it done right. Stewards are people who take care of precious property that is not their own.

It is with these stories that we approach one of Jesus?? stories about a steward. There are several of these in the New Testament, but we??ll focus on this one. 

?´Once upon a time a rich man, who owned a large villa, was going on a long trip. So he appointed a steward to take care of his property while he was gone. He gave the steward some specific instructions. There were no instructions about the house or the animals or the land, only instructions about making sure the servants were paid their food allowance while the master was gone! ?¨Don??t cheat my servants,?Æ the master exclaimed! Well, the master was gone a long time, but when he unexpectedly came back, he was pleased to find that the steward had taken care of the entire estate and especially pleased that the servants had received their food allowance. IF that had not been the case, Luke 12: 46 states, the master would have cut the steward to pieces and replaced him with a new one.??

When we think of Stewardship Sundays, we normally think of a Sunday or two when the pastor gives a ?¨fundraising sermon?Æ to bring in more money. The pastor in his stewardship sermon is supposed to be part dentist, applying just the right amount of Novocain to numb the pain and the then extract the money painlessly. 

Or we think of the Time, Talent and Treasure campaign where we are all asked to volunteer to teach 5 year-olds at Sunday School or put our names on the usher list.

That is the farthest from the truth. The truth is, I, as God??s called and ordained servant of the Word in this place, am trying to prevent you from being cut to pieces by the Master, who really owns everything anyhow. I am trying to keep you from being replaced with someone new?ñ.especially those of you who KNOW BETTER, who will, in Jesus?? own words, ?´be beaten with many blows!?Æ Anyone sign up for receiving blows when they joined our congregation? I doubt it!

Hear me, dear friends. Stewardship is not about that narrow slice of life we call offerings to the church. Stewardship is not about that narrow time of our lives that we work for the church. Stewardship is about taking proper care of every single thing that God has entrusted to you! 

The word Stewardship comes from the Greek word ?¨oikos,?Æ which means house. Stewardship is about taking good care of household matters. It??s being responsible for God??s household that God has entrusted to us for a while. A related word is ?¨oikonomics,?Æ from which we get the English word economics. Still another word is ?¨oicology,?Æ from which we get the word ecology, meaning caring for the things of the earth onto which God has placed us. Are you getting the picture?


Jesus wisely said, ?¨If you can??t handle the little stuff, like money, who will entrust you with true riches, like HEAVEN!?Æ To Jesus, it was the money that was the little stuff. The Pharisees, who were big lovers of money, laughed at Jesus and made fun of him. But let??s be honest. Many of us are just like the Pharisees. They were people who couldn??t really handle money, and neither can some of us.

On the surface it looks like the Pharisees did alright, because contrary to most Christians today, the Pharisees WERE actual 10% givers. They could be categorized as Biblical tithers. Sometimes I am tempted to say, especially when the weekly offerings are low, ?¨Give me a few more Pharisees in this congregation and we??ll get the bills paid around here!?Æ But that??s just in my weaker moments, because, you see, the Pharisees were good givers but LOUSY stewards. They ?¨loved money?Æ but they ?¨used God?Æ and they ?¨used people.?Æ God??s plan is just the opposite?ñ.we are to love God and love people and USE money simply as a part of our worship and our ministry. 

People who love money will NEVER know true riches: that of truly loving God and truly loving people. The poor old Pharisees gave their ten percent not out of love for God, but out of duty and so it would make them look good. Anyone who loves money and what it will buy will never know true love and true riches!
Jesus said, ?¨Give me an account of your money. Are you managing your money or is your money managing you? Do you love money so much you can??t let go of what I ask you to give? Could it be that you love money more than you love me??Æ

Let me share four Psalms of David with you, songs that reflect the heart of one of the greatest figures in all of Scripture:
Psalm 24: 1 ?¨The earth is the Lord??s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it, for he founded it upon the seas and established it upon the waters!?Æ 
Psalm 89:11 ?¨The heavens are yours and also the earth; you founded the world and all that is in it!?Æ
Psalm 75:1 ?¨We give thanks to you, O God, we give thanks, for your Name is near and people tell of your wonderful deeds.?Æ 
Psalm 118: 4 ?¨O give thanks to the Lord for He is good and His mercy endures forever!?Æ

What is David saying? It is just this. At the heart of all people who truly love God and are generous in their giving is the profound but simple awareness that everything in all creation was made by God and still belongs to Him. Out of love, He does entrust some His riches to people, some entrusted with more and others with less. You cannot be a generous giver unless you believe that everything there is belongs to God. Then, with a heart filled with thanksgiving for all God has done for you, especially through the forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation purchased and won for you by the life, death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, you respond to Him with love and with generosity. Period. Plain and simple. It??s love at work, alive and well. It??s God??s way.

Three Strikes, and You??re Safe! April 23, 2006
Acts 3: 13-15, 17-26 Pastor Mark Nieting

Christ is Risen! He is Risen, Indeed! Alleluia! Grace, mercy and peace from our Risen Lord Jesus, and from God our Father, who raised Christ from the dead.

On this, the second Sunday of Easter, I??d like to pose a question to which I think I already know the answer. Do you know what it means to fail? I??ll answer my own question with a short story. Back when I was in grade 6, my parents signed me up for our church??s baseball league. I was a very shy kid and didn??t like sports a whole lot, but that didn??t matter. I was put on the team and began playing baseball. Ever done that? I think almost everybody has stood up at the plate with a pitcher throwing balls (almost) AT you, right? There I was with a big wooden stick and all my teammates yelling at me. I??d get my feet set and by the time I was ready, the ball would go by and the umpire would yell, ?¨STRIKE!?Æ 

Boy did I feel stupid. How could I have let such a good pitch go by? I was distracted. I would wiggle the bat and be ready. The next pitch that came, I was determined to swing, hard?ñ.and I would do it?ñ.but I wouldn??t hit anything. ?¨STRIKE 2?Æ the ump would yell. Guess I tried so hard I closed my eyes.

Now I was in trouble. It was two strikes. The coach was yelling at me. My friends were rolling their eyes. The guys on base were screaming for me to get them home. This time I would do it right; the right grip, the right stance, even the right grimace?ñ.would the pitch be hittable? I could imagine the ball I would hit sailing almost out to Luther Lane?ñ.a home run?ñ.and as I imagined that, the pitch sailed by, the ump yelled ?¨STRIKE 3?Æ and I was out.

It??s the worst feeling in the world, I guess, at least for a kid. Why did the ump have to YELL? Why couldn??t he just whisper to me to go sit down? OR even better, call the pitch a BALL? And the long walk to the dugout? Painful! Terrible! Boy, does that bring back memories.

Again, do you know what it means to fail? That moment when you realize you could?ñor should have put the brakes on sooner, but didn??t. The moment you open the letter from the IRS about the audit? The big check you forgot to subtract from your account before you wrote your check to church and it bounced? Or the word from a spouse telling you the marriage is over? Or that time when someone really needed to know about Jesus and you sat there quietly saying nothing?

The feeling of failure may only last for a few minutes, or it can last for years, but no matter what, IT HURTS. It hurts terribly.



Peter knew what it meant to fail. The crowing of the rooster while the Lord glanced at him from the palace dug a huge hole in Peter??s heart, so huge that he broke down in tears. Jesus?? words to the women on Easter morning separated Peter from the rest of the disciples?ñ..and that had to hurt. I??m sure Peter felt that he??d never recover from the situation of ?¨three strikes and you??re out.?Æ

Ever been there? Ever felt the pain of failure? Even a failure for Christ? Even a failure to stand up and be counted as a follower of Jesus? 

Then Jesus met the disciples on the shore of the Sea of Galilee (John 21) and lovingly restored Peter with the instruction to ?¨Take Care of My Sheep.?Æ They followed Jesus back to Jerusalem and soon after that came the Ascension of Jesus into heaven from near Bethany and then the Coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost?ñ?ñand Peter was a changed man.

You know this from today??s Gospel. Peter and John, walking openly in the city that had only weeks ago crucified Jesus, healed a crippled man in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. It was such a remarkable miracle that people began talking all about it. Right then and there, Peter gives them ?¨the business.?Æ

?¨God had answered our prayers,?Æ said Peter, ?¨by sending us His Son Jesus, and 1. You handed him over to be killed. STRIKE ONE.
2. You disowned him before Pilate and asked that a murderer be released instead. STRIKE TWO.
3. You killed the author of life. STRIKE THREE. 

Peter laid down the full burden of the law on the heads of the crowd of people who had just a moment ago been rejoicing over the miracle God had done?ñ.imagine how crushed THEY felt?ñ..being confronted with the truth of their sin?ñ?ñ. But then Peter opened a tiny window of hope.

?¨BUT?ñ(he said), GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD!?Æ It was THREE STRIKES and JESUS WAS ALIVE! 

Peter knew what the law felt like, because Jesus had laid it down on him. And Peter knew the power of God??s forgiveness and what it meant to be restored?ñ and he offered the same to the people in Jerusalem. Sure, after this, Peter was arrested?ñ.but Peter never turned around, never turned back, and his voice as a witness to Jesus Christ was never silenced again. Such was the power of the love of Jesus Christ in his life!! For Peter it was ?¨Three Strikes and He was safe!?Æ

Do you know that power in YOUR life? You have that confidence in your discipleship? That??s what Easter brings! That??s what the Holy Spirit brings to the lives of believers like Peter and like you and me.


I??d like to share with you the story of a 29 year old church leader from Adana Protestant Church in Turkey. This happened on January 8, 2006 and it??s all true. (This story comes from the ?´Voice of the Martyrs?? website) I??ll paraphrase it.

Pastor Kiroglu??s church meets on Sunday afternoons at 2 PM. They had opened the church and were welcoming people when 5 young men came in and introduced themselves as newly converted Christians who wanted to learn more about Jesus and Christianity. They requested private teaching after services were over. They behaved a bit strangely, speaking both Russian and Turkish fluently, but showed a great deal of interest in the Bible and the faith.

After services, everyone else left except Pastor Kiroglu and the 5 men, who then wouldn??t leave the building. The Pastor got nervous and insisted they leave. One of the other Christians had come back, so the men started to whisper about a package they had left in the church. He asked them to remove it, and they said, ?¨It is a surprise gift from Al Qaeda and soon you will discover what it is.?Æ 

The pastor left, closed the door and tried to cell phone the police, at which point the men grabbed him and started to beat him. They asked him to deny Jesus and to become a Muslim. He thanked God that his only response was ?¨Jesus is God,?Æ after which they beat him til he was unconscious. One of them put a knife to Kiroglu??s belly and asked him to deny Jesus and become a Muslim?ñ.and if he didn??t, he would be cut to pieces. Miraculously, he wasn??t killed. The men beat him worse, and then left him. The police came and gave him assistance.

Pastor Kiroglu considers it an honor that God tested his faith as God tested the faith of so many who have gone before, and he thanks God for the strength not to give in and deny Christ. He asks for our prayers for Christians in his country.

So does Tom White, sentenced to 24 years in prison for spreading tracts about Jesus in Cuba. He may be in jail, but his voice is not silent.

So does Pastor Samuel Lamb, imprisoned in China simply for being a Christian leader. And his voice hasn??t been silenced either.

What about our voices? What about yours? Has it been ?¨three strikes and you??re OUT?Æ when it comes to sharing Jesus Christ with people around you? 
-Are you willing to pray openly in a restaurant?ñ.even if someone at your table isn??t a Christian? 
-Are you willing to share an Easter greeting with the clerk in the store?
-Are you willing to refute the lies spread about Jesus through books and movies like the Da Vinci Code?


In spite of your sin, in spite of your failures, no matter HOW many strikes you feel you have against you, your Father in heaven has forgiven you, loves you, and works out His carefully laid and blood bought plans in your life. God is right now busy at fulfilling every promise He ever made to each and every believer, purchasing and winning us back from sin and death. 

God says, ?¨Even with 3 strikes, You??re Home Safe!?Æ Christ is Risen?ñHallelujah!

Amen.