WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.225 --> 00:00:04.625 Dear friends in Christ, in the name of Jesus. 2 00:00:05.325 --> 00:00:05.925 Amen. 3 00:00:08.525 --> 00:00:14.225 Reading the book of Acts is a little bit like driving in the snow in 4 00:00:14.225 --> 00:00:14.625 St. 5 00:00:14.625 --> 00:00:15.225 Louis. 6 00:00:17.325 --> 00:00:19.525 It can be a bit of an adventure. 7 00:00:20.425 --> 00:00:24.725 You never know exactly what you might encounter and you're rightly 8 00:00:24.725 --> 00:00:27.925 concerned about the other drivers. 9 00:00:30.025 --> 00:00:32.125 So caution often gets the best of it. 10 00:00:32.125 --> 00:00:34.125 Best of us as it has again today. 11 00:00:34.625 --> 00:00:38.125 And so our numbers are a little bit fewer here this morning in 12 00:00:38.125 --> 00:00:38.825 chapel. 13 00:00:39.525 --> 00:00:45.325 And we tend to want to stay off the road. Reading, acts as a little bit 14 00:00:45.325 --> 00:00:48.025 like that. Reading acts can be a bit of an adventure. 15 00:00:48.025 --> 00:00:51.125 You never know what you're going to encounter, what kind of questions, 16 00:00:51.125 --> 00:00:56.625 what kind of uncertainties that may not be so easily navigated. 17 00:00:58.325 --> 00:01:04.025 And so we're tempted to stay safely at home with Paul and with the 18 00:01:04.025 --> 00:01:05.025 Gospels. 19 00:01:06.725 --> 00:01:10.025 But apparently, they didn't consult the Dean of the Chapel when they 20 00:01:10.025 --> 00:01:13.725 decided to go virtual today, because rather than keeping us safe at 21 00:01:13.725 --> 00:01:17.325 home, that Dean of the Chapel has driven us headlong into the book of 22 00:01:17.325 --> 00:01:21.825 Acts with all of its questions and all of its uncertainties. 23 00:01:23.425 --> 00:01:28.725 True to form our reading from Acts this morning does raise a lot of 24 00:01:28.725 --> 00:01:35.825 questions and it provides few satisfactory answers. 25 00:01:37.625 --> 00:01:42.025 Take, for instance, this whole thing about Judas. What exactly 26 00:01:42.025 --> 00:01:43.425 happened to Judas? 27 00:01:43.425 --> 00:01:46.925 Matthew 27 says that he took the money back to the temple. 28 00:01:47.025 --> 00:01:51.125 He threw it at the, the Scribes and the Chief Priests, and then he 29 00:01:51.125 --> 00:01:52.325 went and hung himself. 30 00:01:52.525 --> 00:01:57.925 And now in Acts, we read about him buying a field and having an even 31 00:01:57.925 --> 00:02:00.225 gorier death than hanging. 32 00:02:02.425 --> 00:02:07.625 And then there's the question about Peter and his relative certainty 33 00:02:07.625 --> 00:02:09.125 that we needed to fill this office. 34 00:02:09.125 --> 00:02:10.725 We need to have a 12th Apostle. 35 00:02:10.925 --> 00:02:15.225 Well, why exactly is that that they needed to have 12 one? 36 00:02:15.225 --> 00:02:20.525 One ancient commentator said that 11 is an unholy number because there 37 00:02:20.525 --> 00:02:23.925 were Ten Commandments and they couldn't stay with 11. 38 00:02:23.925 --> 00:02:25.525 So they had to get another to get 12. 39 00:02:26.925 --> 00:02:28.825 Well, that sounds like a Saint Louis driver to me. 40 00:02:30.625 --> 00:02:33.125 By that logic, we could have just gotten rid of one of them I suppose. 41 00:02:36.325 --> 00:02:39.725 And even if even if Peter was right, that they had to have 12. 42 00:02:39.925 --> 00:02:42.825 I've always thought I guess I don't know where I heard it first that 43 00:02:42.825 --> 00:02:43.925 Paul was the 12th. 44 00:02:43.925 --> 00:02:48.525 There was kind of an apostle and so that doesn't make a whole lot of 45 00:02:48.525 --> 00:02:48.825 sense to me. 46 00:02:48.825 --> 00:02:53.625 Then I think about Peters use of Psalm 69 and Psalm 109. 47 00:02:54.325 --> 00:02:59.025 You go back and look at especially what Psalm 69 says and you start to 48 00:02:59.025 --> 00:03:03.725 wonder did David really have Judas in mind when he wrote that song? 49 00:03:03.825 --> 00:03:05.925 And then there are the the final two 50 00:03:06.025 --> 00:03:10.225 candidates, who are these guys? Joseph, called Justus and Matthias. 51 00:03:10.325 --> 00:03:15.125 Clement of Alexandria thought that Mathias was actually Zacchaeus. 52 00:03:18.025 --> 00:03:21.025 Well, about this time, you're wishing you had heated Klinger's, advice 53 00:03:21.025 --> 00:03:25.125 on the telephone message and stayed safely at home and not gotten into 54 00:03:25.125 --> 00:03:27.225 this whole thing called the book of Acts. 55 00:03:28.425 --> 00:03:32.725 Now, of all the questions and the uncertainties that I came across, as 56 00:03:32.725 --> 00:03:37.125 I was thinking about this text, there's one particularly slick, spot 57 00:03:37.125 --> 00:03:43.625 of ice that raises, some questions for me and it was the last verse 58 00:03:44.225 --> 00:03:44.825 that Dr. 59 00:03:44.825 --> 00:03:45.925 Vieker just read. 60 00:03:47.125 --> 00:03:49.425 And they cast lots for them. 61 00:03:50.425 --> 00:03:55.125 And the lot fell on Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven 62 00:03:55.125 --> 00:03:56.025 apostles. 63 00:03:57.325 --> 00:03:59.925 They cast lots for him. 64 00:04:02.225 --> 00:04:03.625 Now, that makes me uncomfortable. 65 00:04:04.825 --> 00:04:07.025 Because that's not how we do things. 66 00:04:07.525 --> 00:04:11.125 When we have big decisions to make, we have important positions to 67 00:04:11.125 --> 00:04:11.725 fill. 68 00:04:12.025 --> 00:04:15.125 We don't cast lots, we vote. 69 00:04:16.325 --> 00:04:18.025 That's how we do it in this country. 70 00:04:18.525 --> 00:04:22.225 That's how we do it in this Synod, which sometimes resembles to 71 00:04:22.225 --> 00:04:23.425 closely our country. 72 00:04:25.925 --> 00:04:27.525 But to cast, lots to cast 73 00:04:27.525 --> 00:04:27.825 lots 74 00:04:27.825 --> 00:04:28.425 come on 75 00:04:28.625 --> 00:04:29.825 that's a little too risky. 76 00:04:29.825 --> 00:04:34.825 That's a little too desperate that leaves a little too much out of our 77 00:04:36.625 --> 00:04:37.925 control. 78 00:04:43.425 --> 00:04:48.325 The 120 followers of Jesus, however, didn't seem to be so bothered by 79 00:04:48.325 --> 00:04:48.825 that. 80 00:04:49.225 --> 00:04:52.025 Now I was going to note that there's probably about 120 here today, 81 00:04:52.025 --> 00:04:54.625 but I'm not going to count you, but we're not even close. 82 00:04:54.825 --> 00:04:56.725 I don't think. Yesterday 83 00:04:56.725 --> 00:04:58.025 we were pretty close to 120 84 00:04:58.025 --> 00:05:00.925 I think. But just put yourself back in that time. 85 00:05:01.125 --> 00:05:04.125 This was the imagine a little bit fuller sanctuary here. 86 00:05:04.125 --> 00:05:06.125 This was this was the church. 87 00:05:06.825 --> 00:05:08.625 These were the people of God. 88 00:05:09.525 --> 00:05:10.925 Pre-Pentecost. 89 00:05:11.925 --> 00:05:14.025 Jesus had just ascended. 90 00:05:16.625 --> 00:05:23.225 And they decide that Peters guidance that they need a 12 apostle. 91 00:05:24.425 --> 00:05:25.525 And so they do some homework. 92 00:05:25.525 --> 00:05:29.225 They check some resumes, they check the credentials and then they 93 00:05:29.225 --> 00:05:33.025 decide well, they'll just cast lots. 94 00:05:36.425 --> 00:05:40.325 And I suppose they could do that because of something they believed 95 00:05:40.425 --> 00:05:41.825 about God. 96 00:05:43.525 --> 00:05:48.325 I suppose they could do that because they believed that God was 97 00:05:48.325 --> 00:05:50.625 actually in charge. 98 00:05:52.725 --> 00:05:56.725 And not just of some things but that he was in charge 99 00:05:57.925 --> 00:05:58.925 of everything. 100 00:06:01.325 --> 00:06:02.825 Now, we believe this too, 101 00:06:04.525 --> 00:06:05.325 in theory. 102 00:06:07.225 --> 00:06:10.225 We believe that God is in charge of all things. We believe that not a 103 00:06:10.225 --> 00:06:15.225 sparrow, nor a snowflake falls to the ground apart from the will of 104 00:06:15.225 --> 00:06:19.525 our Father. The good and gracious will of God is always done even 105 00:06:19.525 --> 00:06:20.825 without our prayers. 106 00:06:23.225 --> 00:06:25.625 And that's very easy to say when things are going 107 00:06:26.125 --> 00:06:33.325 well, when God's will lines up with our will. 108 00:06:38.625 --> 00:06:43.125 I've been teaching here for six years now, and I've noticed a distinct 109 00:06:43.125 --> 00:06:43.925 pattern. 110 00:06:45.325 --> 00:06:50.525 It happens every year, right about this time, end of January, 111 00:06:50.825 --> 00:06:52.325 beginning of February. 112 00:06:52.625 --> 00:06:55.625 I'll walk back to my office in Wyneken 113 00:06:56.225 --> 00:07:00.325 and I'll find students hanging around outside my office. 114 00:07:01.925 --> 00:07:04.325 And they don't look normal. 115 00:07:05.625 --> 00:07:10.525 These students who usually show up in flannels and jeans and t-shirts 116 00:07:10.525 --> 00:07:12.325 and shorts and hats. 117 00:07:12.525 --> 00:07:15.525 They're sitting there and the little area by the copy machine outside 118 00:07:15.525 --> 00:07:21.725 my office, wearing like, three piece suits, they've tucked their shirts in 119 00:07:22.325 --> 00:07:25.825 and they've even shaved and and comb their hair. 120 00:07:25.925 --> 00:07:28.625 And some of them have a spouse who looks just as nice as they do 121 00:07:28.625 --> 00:07:29.925 sitting right next to them. 122 00:07:30.725 --> 00:07:32.125 And I'm reminded that 123 00:07:32.125 --> 00:07:34.325 Oh, yeah, it's January. 124 00:07:35.625 --> 00:07:39.725 And there are calling congregations, who send Representatives. 125 00:07:41.125 --> 00:07:44.625 It's placement time and, and the interviews take place there right 126 00:07:44.625 --> 00:07:47.225 down the hallway from my office. 127 00:07:52.225 --> 00:07:57.825 The placement process has a way of challenging our confidence that God 128 00:07:58.125 --> 00:08:00.425 is in control. 129 00:08:02.425 --> 00:08:07.325 Some of you fourth years are going to experience this quite soon. 130 00:08:09.625 --> 00:08:13.325 Some of you will be surprised on Call Day. 131 00:08:16.025 --> 00:08:17.725 And not necessarily in a good way. 132 00:08:21.625 --> 00:08:24.925 You might just find yourself wondering is God, really in charge, or is 133 00:08:24.925 --> 00:08:25.525 Nielsen? 134 00:08:27.925 --> 00:08:30.925 And God may know what he's doing, but I'm not sure about Nielsen. 135 00:08:35.925 --> 00:08:37.025 And it's not just placement 136 00:08:37.025 --> 00:08:42.125 of course, we start to question who's really in charge here. 137 00:08:44.825 --> 00:08:47.825 You get word of a diagnosis 138 00:08:49.425 --> 00:08:50.325 out of the blue. 139 00:08:54.525 --> 00:08:55.625 You find yourself 140 00:08:57.725 --> 00:08:59.125 so disappointed 141 00:09:00.525 --> 00:09:02.125 with something that happens at work. 142 00:09:05.225 --> 00:09:06.925 You look around at our church 143 00:09:09.725 --> 00:09:12.925 and you see how much damage and destruction 144 00:09:13.525 --> 00:09:15.325 we do to one another. 145 00:09:16.825 --> 00:09:18.125 All in the name of God. 146 00:09:21.625 --> 00:09:27.225 Such times make it really hard to believe that God is actually in 147 00:09:27.225 --> 00:09:30.225 charge and then here's where the problems really kick in. 148 00:09:30.325 --> 00:09:33.825 Not only does it challenge our faith just a little bit. 149 00:09:33.825 --> 00:09:39.525 But when our faith falters so also does our faithfulness and then we 150 00:09:39.525 --> 00:09:42.725 start to feel like we need to take things into our own hands. 151 00:09:42.825 --> 00:09:45.825 And then we start to think that if God's will is going to be done 152 00:09:45.825 --> 00:09:49.225 I better by hook, or by crook somehow make it happen. 153 00:09:49.325 --> 00:09:51.225 No matter who I have to step on. 154 00:09:51.425 --> 00:09:52.225 No matter what 155 00:09:52.225 --> 00:09:55.525 I have to do, no matter what rule, I have to bend. 156 00:09:59.325 --> 00:10:01.725 To make my will 157 00:10:02.725 --> 00:10:03.425 be done. 158 00:10:07.225 --> 00:10:08.825 Back to those hundred and twenty. 159 00:10:10.625 --> 00:10:12.625 Those first followers of Jesus. 160 00:10:13.725 --> 00:10:16.725 Now, I suppose they had, they had good reason to believe that God was 161 00:10:16.725 --> 00:10:17.525 in charge. 162 00:10:19.325 --> 00:10:24.025 They had witnessed personally, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 163 00:10:24.125 --> 00:10:25.625 They had seen him die. 164 00:10:25.725 --> 00:10:27.825 They heard him, breathe his last. 165 00:10:27.825 --> 00:10:29.625 They knew he had been laid in the Tomb. 166 00:10:29.625 --> 00:10:32.725 They saw the stone rolled up against the entrance. 167 00:10:35.525 --> 00:10:41.425 And then they saw him back alive walking and talking. 168 00:10:41.425 --> 00:10:43.425 They they saw him with their own eyes. 169 00:10:43.425 --> 00:10:45.025 They touched them with their own hands. 170 00:10:45.025 --> 00:10:45.925 They ate with him. 171 00:10:45.925 --> 00:10:47.125 They listened to him. 172 00:10:47.225 --> 00:10:48.225 They walked with him. 173 00:10:48.225 --> 00:10:51.725 They talked with him and they knew what this meant. 174 00:10:51.925 --> 00:10:54.125 It meant that what he said is true. 175 00:10:54.525 --> 00:10:56.525 And so, when he said to them, I forgive you. 176 00:10:57.425 --> 00:10:58.525 They were forgiven. 177 00:11:00.025 --> 00:11:04.325 When he said I'm with you always they knew he was with them 178 00:11:04.325 --> 00:11:07.325 always. When he said I'm coming back to take you, to be with me 179 00:11:07.325 --> 00:11:08.125 forever. 180 00:11:08.325 --> 00:11:13.025 They knew they could trust it because he had risen from the dead. 181 00:11:13.425 --> 00:11:17.725 And they knew he was in charge and because they knew he was in charge 182 00:11:18.725 --> 00:11:19.825 they could trust him. 183 00:11:21.425 --> 00:11:24.625 And they could say your will be done 184 00:11:25.325 --> 00:11:26.125 Oh Lord. 185 00:11:30.025 --> 00:11:34.025 God has come to us also. 186 00:11:36.025 --> 00:11:38.725 God has come to you. 187 00:11:41.625 --> 00:11:44.325 He's come to you and he is said to you. 188 00:11:46.125 --> 00:11:49.425 I am with you always. 189 00:11:51.325 --> 00:11:53.825 I forgive you. 190 00:11:55.625 --> 00:11:58.325 I am coming back for you. 191 00:11:58.325 --> 00:12:00.125 That's the promise God has made 192 00:12:00.125 --> 00:12:02.025 He's made it to you in your baptism. 193 00:12:02.025 --> 00:12:04.525 He makes it to you over and over again. 194 00:12:04.625 --> 00:12:07.025 I'm making it to you on his behalf here again 195 00:12:07.025 --> 00:12:07.625 today. 196 00:12:07.825 --> 00:12:08.925 He is with you. 197 00:12:10.225 --> 00:12:15.325 You are his child and that reframes as Okamoto mentioned yesterday. It 198 00:12:15.325 --> 00:12:16.025 a reframes 199 00:12:16.025 --> 00:12:16.925 everything. 200 00:12:17.025 --> 00:12:19.225 It reframes, all of our confidence. 201 00:12:19.225 --> 00:12:22.225 It reframes our need to get our will done. 202 00:12:22.325 --> 00:12:29.125 It allows us to live according to our vocation. To go forth doing our 203 00:12:29.125 --> 00:12:29.925 job 204 00:12:30.025 --> 00:12:32.325 trusting that God 205 00:12:33.525 --> 00:12:36.025 is in fact, in charge. 206 00:12:37.225 --> 00:12:41.425 Now, for the early disciples that manifest itself in a willingness to 207 00:12:41.425 --> 00:12:42.725 cast, lots. 208 00:12:43.925 --> 00:12:47.225 Now, I'm not suggesting that we should start casting lots, but I've 209 00:12:47.225 --> 00:12:50.325 been to a Synodical convention, and maybe that would be a better 210 00:12:50.325 --> 00:12:50.825 idea. 211 00:12:52.325 --> 00:12:54.025 And I'm not even joking on that one. 212 00:12:56.925 --> 00:12:59.125 But that's not the only way we manifest 213 00:13:00.425 --> 00:13:05.225 our trust that God's in charge. We manifest it in all sorts of ways. 214 00:13:05.225 --> 00:13:08.225 We show that, we believe that God's in charge. 215 00:13:08.325 --> 00:13:12.825 When we put the best construction on decisions to go virtual. 216 00:13:16.125 --> 00:13:16.825 We show 217 00:13:18.125 --> 00:13:20.125 that we believe God's in charge 218 00:13:21.125 --> 00:13:22.825 when we lead the way 219 00:13:24.025 --> 00:13:25.425 in forgiving those 220 00:13:27.225 --> 00:13:32.225 who have sinned against us as we've been forgiven by our God in 221 00:13:32.225 --> 00:13:33.025 Christ. 222 00:13:34.025 --> 00:13:39.325 We show the world that we believe God's in charge. 223 00:13:39.325 --> 00:13:44.325 When we spend more time, going to our Heavenly Father in prayer, then 224 00:13:44.325 --> 00:13:47.525 we spend going to whatever is trending on Facebook. 225 00:13:50.425 --> 00:13:54.825 We show we believe that God's in charge when we deal with one another. 226 00:13:56.025 --> 00:13:59.725 When we make decisions. When we have elections. 227 00:14:00.825 --> 00:14:04.425 When we vote in a way that is caring 228 00:14:05.825 --> 00:14:06.925 and considerate. 229 00:14:08.825 --> 00:14:10.225 And kind to one another. 230 00:14:12.925 --> 00:14:19.425 See, as we do these things, we show to others what God has actually 231 00:14:20.325 --> 00:14:21.625 done in our lives. 232 00:14:22.825 --> 00:14:27.825 We show that we are indeed children of our heavenly Father that we are 233 00:14:27.825 --> 00:14:32.325 indeed forgiven that you are indeed forgiven of everything. 234 00:14:34.225 --> 00:14:38.425 And that you've got the the Spirit of the Living God has been given 235 00:14:38.425 --> 00:14:45.225 to you and that makes you comfortable to go ahead and live like a 236 00:14:45.225 --> 00:14:45.925 Christian. 237 00:14:48.925 --> 00:14:54.625 The last thing, Jesus said to the disciples in Acts, Acts 1:8, before he 238 00:14:54.625 --> 00:14:55.625 ascended into heaven. 239 00:14:55.825 --> 00:15:00.325 He said you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and 240 00:15:00.325 --> 00:15:03.025 Samaria and to the ends of the Earth. 241 00:15:03.025 --> 00:15:06.625 He said you will be my witnesses and then he ascended into heaven. 242 00:15:07.425 --> 00:15:10.725 Brothers and Sisters in Christ, you 243 00:15:11.925 --> 00:15:13.725 are his witnesses, too. 244 00:15:15.425 --> 00:15:21.325 Together with the 12, including Mathias, even Joseph called Justice. 245 00:15:22.925 --> 00:15:28.425 Together with the whole church on Earth you are witnesses of what God 246 00:15:28.425 --> 00:15:31.025 has done for you in Christ. 247 00:15:32.625 --> 00:15:38.725 And you, and I shall be his witnesses here and wherever we go. 248 00:15:39.925 --> 00:15:42.725 To the very ends of the Earth. 249 00:15:44.325 --> 00:15:46.825 In Jesus name. Amen.