Feb 7th - In Person

Please pray with me. Lord God, Heavenly Father we come today and we think about the Apostle Paul. And we think about how he speaks so eloquently. He says "my grace is sufficient in his weakness." As we think about what that means for us as Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we ask your Holy Spirit to reign within us. That we would be motivated to share Jesus in every way possible. In Your name we pray. Amen.

So, I was trying to think of a word for the last eleven months, and the word I have is pause. It's like we paused.

I mean a year ago, March, I was coming back from Phoenix with some pastor friends. And then when I left it play was pretty full, and when I came back was half full. In one week!

I can't tell you how many weddings, how many funerals have been postponed or narrowed down.

We think about our economy, and we think about our government. And the word was pause.

So when I think about that, and I'm talking about the Great Motivator. I mean what gets you up in the morning? What gets you going, maybe is what I'm trying to say. Because when you think about it when you have that word pause, it's very true.

I was an athlete for almost all my life, and what I enjoyed was how you would play, and you would hear the fans. You know, there'd be a great play or hit or a touchdown or whatever and then I did all that, but I was thinking about it as I was watching college basketball yesterday, and you can just tell it was canned noise. There's this great play and there's this er-er-ee same thing. There's nowhere it's full.

Several years ago at the world championships, NBA players were there it and because it was in the east part of the world, there were very few US citizens there. But what happened was back here in the United States, they opened up the auditoriums, and they had the big screens on.

So the people here in the United States could cheer on the players that they love. One of the players was interviewed after that and he said...

They asked him "how were you motivated?" And he said, "Well, I knew that our fans were back in our auditoriums. It was like I could feel their applause." I thought that was ironic. That was his motivation. Well, think about the Apostle Paul for a second. And I mean this is a man who basically wrote 2/3 of the New Testament

In our lesson for today, he talks about what that meant to him. but you have to understand he was not accepted. In 2nd Corinthians Chapter 11, I'm just going to tell you a little bit about what he suffered for the Gospel. He said, "I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flawed more severely, been exposed to death again and again. Five times, I received from the Jews 40 Lashes minus one." Now, you have to understand 40 lashes minus one is what happened to Jesus on Good Friday. And literally people died from it because it ripped skin.

"Three times, I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea. I've been constantly on the move. I've been in danger from rivers, in danger from battles, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger from in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, in danger for my faults, Brothers. I have labored and toiled have often gone without sleep. I have known hunger and thirst. I have often gone without food. I have been cold and naked besides everything else. I face daily pressure of my concern for all the churches. Who is week. I do not feel weak. Who is led into sin and I do not inwardly burn. If I must boast, I will boast of all things that show my weaknesses.

What was the Apostle Paul's motivation? I would put you it is the Gospel. Pure and simple.

Remember the road to Damascus? Jesus called him and said "Saul, Saul" - he was named Saul first. "Why do you persecute me?" And then he took on the name Paul.

He planted churches throughout the Roman Empire.

The gospel motivates.

Before my wife and I were involved in teaching in Africa, I was with the Brazil mission sociaty. And this is probably not a word you know "fevelo." But when we went to Porto Alegre, let me back up. You have to understand that the Lutherans, the German Lutherans came to Brazil in 1904. And what do German Lutherans do? They build churches and they build schools. You are part of that heritage. Well, the fevelo is the garbage dump. But because in Porto Alegre, there's not enough space for people to live, the city basically - as the garbage dump filled in - the city would build right over it. Your Lutheran church, the partner with the Lutheran Church-Missouri, Synod they had one school just outside of the fevelo. And then they had one just a little bit in, and then they had one almost towards the middle.

I remember going to the middle one, and it took a day to get the stench out of my nostril.

But why am I telling you this? In Brazil, you get tested at sixth grade. And if you fail that test, you no longer can have any more education. If you passed that test, then you have the government pay for your education through college. Sixth grade. What's interesting is that I visited all three schools and and I have my undergraduate degree - my bachelor's degree in elementary education. I taught before I became a pastor. And I went into the first grade classroom, and they're doing third grade work. I went into the third grade classroom, and they're doing fifth grade work.

What was their motivation? It's two-fold. One was they wanted their children to leave the fevelo.

But the second is the same motivation you have here at Immanuel. They wanted a school which shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ every single day. That's what Mr. Betts was trying to talk about. We talked about Lutheran Schools Week and celebrating that.

So what motivates you? I got a few things up here. I mean I like to go to the Y 4-5 days a week. You know, I got some other things there about hiking, different things, you know. But what motivates you? In our culture, in our society today, there's a variety of things that get people motivated, but you know, the top left there - money, obviously, you know, if you got enough, you're going to be happy, right?

Or maybe fear motivates you. I think, you know we talked about the pause button - whether you agree or disagree. I think fear was part of the instrument that enabled us to shut down as quickly as we did.

Or maybe it's applause like I talked about with the players.

I'm going to date myself here, but if there's a group called Led Zeppelin in the 70s. And they had a song called "Stairway to Heaven." And at the opening of the verse talked about a woman who talked about the stairway paved in gold. And the song would go on to talk about how money is how it did.

What's interesting is, is that was the number one song for a long time. And I think it was 2005 or 2008. They did the top 100, top 100 rock songs, and it was number three.

You want to know why? Y'all know Barnes & Noble, right? Bookstore? What's the number one are of sales?

It's spirituality. Spirituality. Not Christianity, I'm talking spirituality. That could be anything any faith, any religion you have. And the reason is God created us as spiritual beings. Even if they don't know Jesus, they're still looking for The Stairway to Heaven. They're still looking because we are, we have souls. We have spirits. That's why I always pray about the Holy Spirit reigning. I really feel the greatest motivator is love.

A man several years ago said that when there is love, then you have the will to care. The will to care.

We talk about love and caring and motivation. What if you had a spouse or a child or grandchild - some of us here are where we have that. And they needed an operation.

What would what would you do to help them? Would you empty your bank account? Absolutely! Would you sell your house if you had to?

Would you get a job even though you were retired to help out? Yes, I would. Maybe a second job, or would you clean dishes to the night shift at some diner? I don't know. But because of the love that I have for that child or for that grandchild, I would do whatever it takes. Because that's th motivation I have.

The Apostle Paul understands that. You know, First Corinthians 13 is often referred to as The Love Chapter: love is patient, love is kind. And the whole part of that. And at the end he says "faith, hope and love. But the greates of these is love. Do you understand why?

Because on that last day when Jesus comes, the faith will be complete. We won't have to hope anymore, because everything we hope for is going to be there.

Love will remain.

It will be the greatest of all.

That's why we talked about the love that our Father had for us. That's why in a week and a half, on Ash Wednesday, we're going to put the imposition of ashes on which is "from dust you came, from dust you shall return." And that points us to Holy Week. And the cross. And his suffering. But also the motivation behind it.

God's love for you. God's love for me is the motivation behind it.

Have you ever had a Cadbury Easter, chocolate Easter egg? My wife has a little bit of sweet tooth, so I know about them. The history of that is they started in Victoria England in the 1800s.

I guess this was their theme, if you want to call it that. And if you read that verse, you see that, you know, you share your love and service and love. John Cadbury, when he builds his factory, did a very unique thing, because then the degradation of the factories that that time were... pffff. He built this factory, and then he built houses for his workers. They gave each of them garden plots so they would have fresh vegetables, even had a sports field. And later on, they had a retirement plan which was unheard of at that time.

The Cadburys were Quaker Christian. Quaker Christian. You understand, they don't believe in war. But when World War II broke out, George Cadbury, who was the head guy at the time, resurrected what the Quakers called the ambulance unit. These Quakers would go out into the battlefield where the people were dead and dying, and they would pick up the bodies when they'd bring the wounded back, and in the process, they often became part of the dead and dying.

And they were motivated by the scripture throughout the generations. Even today.

Jesus was asked, "What is the greatest commandment?" What did he say? Remember? "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind." And the second was "Love your neighbor as yourself." We are under that love. And that's the love that Saint Paul had. In our text for today what he talks about, "This is why I do what I do. Because of the Gospel. To the weak, I become weak. To save the weak. I do all things so that I may save some."

That particular Scripture is very personal to me, because that was my dad's theme verse. He was an LCMS Pastor for 61 years. And that's how he did his ministry.

And we are under that love too. We are under that motivation understood properly of the cross. We are under that motivation properly. And the love that our God has for us and the grace He bestows upon us.

So, we, too do all things. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we might save some. In Jesus name, amen.

And now may the peace that passes all understanding, preserve and keep your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ. Amen.