“A Sacrament, not a Sign”
Pastor David Horton from Eastside Lutheran in Madison, preached for both our Wednesday Lent Services. He continues with our theme “Baptized into His Death”.
Love Lifted High!
We have the opportunity this morning to consider something very important in our Bibles, and that is types of Christ in the Old Testament. What exactly is a “type of Christ”? A type of Christ is something God used in the Old testament – maybe an object or a person or an animal – to teach the people some truth about the Savior who was to come. For example, the Passover lamb was a “type of Christ.” That lamb that was killed, whose blood was painted on the doorpost and meant life for those inside the house.
“A Great Power and a Greater Gift”
Today our Lent worship services were led by Pr. Jacob Scott from Zion Lutheran in Leeds and Lodi. He preached for our series “Baptized into His Death”.
The Weak and Foolish, Powerful and Brilliant Cross
Those who approach DeForest from the south and are driving north on Main Street are treated to, what I think, is the best view of this building. On the south-facing exterior wall of this building is a huge cross. It is especially beautiful at night when the cross is back-lit. I wonder how many people since this building was built in 2000 have seen that cross! It has to be hundreds of thousands. Maybe over a million?
“The Right Tool for this Job”
The Roman soldiers had a job to do. They had been given the job of torturing and finally executing Jesus of Nazareth. They tended to be very good at their job. They had the right tools to do their job. They had that tool called the scourge. It was a handle with strips of leather attached. Attached to the leather were jagged pieces of bone or metal. The scourge was used like a whip. The victim was stretched out, back exposed. The scourging began. Those jagged pieces of bone would rip and gouge flesh. It was a horrible tool! But it did the job!
“He Can’t Sing that Hymn Now!”
The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. May the name of the LORD be praised. (v. 21) Those are the words Job speaks at the end of our text. Have you ever paused to consider how utterly absurd these words seem? Also consider, they are prefaced with these words, He fell to the ground and worshiped. (v. 20) Job is worshiping! He is praising his God! Some would say, “He can’t sing that hymn now!” I mean, how could he? Just look at his day!
“Baptism is Needed by All”
For our mid-week Lent service, Pastor Scott Schwertfeger from Zion Lutheran, Leeds and Lodi preached on our Lenten theme Baptized into His Death.
God is FOR US!
I’ve got some great news this morning! I pulled a few strings, and I have been able to arrange a little football game. Lord of Love will put together a team and we will play against…are you ready? The world-champion Kansas City Chiefs! Who wants in?
Tear Your Heart, Not Your Clothing
In order to understand and apply our text, we need to understand an ancient custom. Long ago, a person might show deep sorrow or anger by grabbing hold of their robe, or whatever garment they were wearing, and tearing it. We have many examples of this in the Bible. We mention only a couple. When Joseph’s brothers presented Joseph’s blood-stained coat of many colors to their father and told him the lie that Joseph must have been killed by a wild animal, Jacob grabbed his robe and tore it. He was devastated!
The Glorious Face of Christ
Most of you are likely familiar with this picture. This is a rather famous painting of Jesus. It was painted in 1940 by an American artist named Warner Sallman. For many Christians, if you told them to picture Jesus in their minds, they would immediately think of this painting. The truth of the matter is, we don’t know at all what Jesus looked like. The Bible contains no physical description of Jesus. He may not look anything like this painting!
