Kicking Jesus out of the Church

Pastor Mark's Sermon

The Gospel reading for the Fourth Sunday After Epiphany was Luke chapter 4:21-30. The Galileans kicked Jesus out of their synagogue, can you imagine kicking Jesus out of the church? Well of course not here! Not at this church! Some churches do kick Jesus of the their churches, others like to keep Jesus quiet and in back of the church and only bring him out when they need a healing or other help. They don't want Jesus to lead them. Jesus is leading here. We have the ability to be 100 per cent based on the Gospel of Jesus. We should be praying and working to be a Gospel based congregation. Already we are changing toward that goal, and we are not doing so because we are so wonderful, but because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. At the leadership retreat yesterday we discussed what are values are. That is what about here at Peace Lutheran do we value. We came up with a short list: Acceptance, Love, Non-Judging, Hard Working, Grace Filled Living, and Educating. From where do these values come? They come from Jesus and the Gospel, that is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On the non-judging topic it was asked if Jesus did indeed judge. I told them that Jesus was only judgmental of those who were judgmental of others. He accepted everyone expect those who unaccepted others. I did not know that it was possible to have a church 100 per cent based on the Gospel of Jesus Christ until I did my internship 20 years ago in Milwaukee in a church that was in The Core of Milwaukee. This church started out as a white German LCMS congregation and then went into the AELCA and then into the ELCA. Their church had burned down, and they were offered property in the suburbs. They decided to stay in the inner city because it was there that the Gospel was needed. By the time I got there it had become 80 per cent African American and 20 per cent white. It was clear while I was there that they were wholly committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is all sufficient for all they need. Today we hear of more Bible Based Churches rather than Gospel Based Churches. Bible based means they want the Gospel plus something more; they want other things that are not Gospel related. They preach a non-Gospel message or a Gospel-mixed message. If you want to hear what they are like tune in a cable station sometime and I am sure you will hear it. It is rare to have a church like the one in Milwaukee that is is not offended or unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the force behind all that we do. It is my agenda, my theological and spiritual agenda to make us a Gospel based congregation. It is what we should be all about, and it is something that is already here at Peace Lutheran. We live in a culture that elevates rudeness and arrogance. The Gospel is transforming. I want people to notice that there is something extraordinary here--the Gospel