The Joshua Victor Theory

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. During October, I am going to highlight some Reformation themes from our Scripture readings as I have done in the past, leading up to the 503 rd anniversary of Luther’s nailing the 95 Theses. October 31, 1517 marked a monumental turning point in the history of the Christian church, as Martin Luther began to reopen the Scripture and led a reexamination of how the teachings of the church compared to the Bible, and led a return to God’s Word. Key among those rediscoveries of Biblical teaching was the teaching of “righteousness.” For October, as “Reformation month”, we will examine the Biblical concept of righteousness. In Philippians 3, Paul contrasts two very different kinds of claims we can make before God. Human beings stand “before God”, who is the Creator and Judge of all. We can’t hide or escape His judgment. Digging our head in the sand and saying there is no God, is like a ...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In Matthew 10 Jesus sends out His apostles on the mission of His kingdom. Life in His kingdom is not an easy mission—quite the opposite—He promises it will be hard. Expect it. Thinking of quitting or surrendering? Jesus speaks courage to your heart! He transforms fear into courage in His kingdom. Let’s see how. In verses 26-33, Jesus uses the word “fear” four times. Three times it’s: “ Don’t fear ”; and once it’s to “ fear God .” What’s there to be afraid of? When you stand up and live for Jesus, you will be misunderstood and rejected, like Him. You can potentially face mockery, hatred, persecution, and in the worst cases, death. Many fears in life are exaggerated and blown out of proportion. But some are perfectly real. But whatever the fear, Jesus calls: “ Fear not.” Virtually no one is trying to kill us because we are Christian. We live in a free country. But that kind of extreme persec...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. In our Old Testament reading we have a beautiful story of forgiveness and mercy. Joseph forgives his brothers the terrible sins they committed long ago against him—selling him as a slave, lying about his death to their father, and their hatred. After their father’s death, he tenderly consoles their fears and assures them that he doesn’t want revenge, but that all is truly forgiven. It pictures what Jesus commands in our Gospel reading: “ Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.” The verses of our lesson explain how we become merciful like our heavenly Father, and to conform ourselves to the pattern of Jesus, so that as the reading also says, that we would be fully-trained , just like Jesus, our Great Teacher. After all, the picture of Joseph’s mercy, and all other human stories and examples of mercy, are small reflections of the perfect mercy of Jesus, who sought no vengeance against His enemies, but forgav...

Sermon Outline Judica Sunday—Introit: Vindicate me against the ungodly, deceitful, and unjust. Ironically, the most truthful and only innocent man (Jesus) also needs vindication. Truth and uprightness don’t stop slander from coming against the innocent. Jesus also appeals to God as Judge…was He promoting His own glory, or God’s? Telling the truth? Unjust accusations against Him. “God, be Judge!” “The words of God” and “truth” interchangeable here. Dividing line—two sides of humanity—hear and believe vs. don’t hear and don’t believe. Keep vs. reject. Believe and have life vs. hate Jesus, seek His death. Jesus’ words and bold confrontation make it impossible to remain undecided as to who He is. Fall down on the side of Truth or error. Cannot long waver between two opinions. On the side of error: can’t bear His Word, follow the devil’s lying and murderous desires, enraged by His teaching. These were supposedly religious...