Rev. Jonathan P. Boehne – Page 4 – Sermons on the One-Year Historic Lectionary (2024)

Trinity 14
Galatians 5:16-24
September 18, 2022

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Today some people are saying that you can walk whatever direction you want to walk in life and it’s all good. It’s all up to you. Whatever your self feels like doing. So if you want to pretend to be a cat or dog and walk around purring or barking, so be it. If you want to be a man or a woman or non-binary, then so be it. If you want to have a baby with no father, or a baby with two fathers, or a baby with two mothers, or pretty much any other combination, then so be it. It’ll be called good. Today, if you can dream up a direction to walk in life, then there will be people who will call it good and right.

But God doesn’t see it that way. The Bible says there’s one direction to walk that’s right and good and there’s an opposite direction to walk that’s wrong and evil. It’s not all relative. It’s not just all your opinion vs. my opinion. It’s not just all “you go your way and I’ll go my way”. No, there’s a way to walk that’s right and a way that’s wrong.

Trinity 12
Mark 7:31-37
September 4, 2022

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Verse 37, “And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, ‘He does everything.’” Astonished beyond measure. This is how I might translate that for you – [jaw-dropping]. Like how you look when you walk into the grocery store and see the price of a quart of ice cream. But no, that’s astonished in a bad way.

When’s the last time you were astonished beyond measure in a good way? Well, you will be. Let me tell you. You’ll be astonished beyond measure, jaw-dropping astonishment, when you come face to face with Jesus. He’s that good. He makes the deaf hear and the mute speak. And He will fix every single other thing that is wrong with us because He’s the Greatest Doctor that’s ever lived. He’s astonishing beyond measure. He’s jaw-dropping good.

Trinity 11
Luke 18:9-14
August 28, 2022

“Stop Believing in Yourself; Believe in God’s Grace for Yourself”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“You’ve got to believe in yourself!” It sounds so good and optimistic. Sounds logical to believe in yourself. And we’re so used to hearing it that we even think it’s a Christian thing. Doesn’t God want everyone to believe in themselves?

But no, He doesn’t. This is how Luke 18:9 starts today, “Jesus also told this parable [of the Pharisee and tax collector, that is] to some who believed in themselves….” Jesus specifically told this parable because believing in yourself is a problem and leads to other problems.

The problem with the general advice, “You’ve got to believe in yourself,” is that it’s second-rate advice. It’s not sufficient for everyone. It’s the advice of a world that has lost God. It’s what Dora the Explorer says to kids, “Believe in yourself,” because Dora doesn’t know who God is. It’s the best advice our schools can give to kids because they can’t talk about God and His grace. It may work in a certain case to tell someone to believe in himself and he stirs up his will to work harder. But it’s not sufficient for most people.

Trinity 10
Luke 19:41-48
August 21, 2022

“More Tears & More Prayer”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jesus was on His way into Jerusalem (this is on Palm Sunday) and He stops to cry bitterly (the word suggests many tears and lamentations like you see people at a funeral and not just one little tear). And He says, “If only you’d known what would give true peace, but you don’t.” He cries for those who don’t believe.

We’re pretty good in this church about praying for people who are physically sick, that is, their physical bodies aren’t well. Most churches are good at that and we absolutely should be. We’re more than happy to pray for people who aren’t members of our church, relatives or members of the community, who are physically sick. Usually it’s cancer but other things as well. For instance, today we’re actually giving thanks for ————–, a pastor a ——-, another church here in town. He said we could take him off our list as he’s doing quite well after a very successful surgery and treatments. We’re also praying for ————, who has cancer.

(no audio available this week)

Trinity 8
Matthew 7:15-23
August 7, 2022

“How to Beware of False Prophets & Stand on Him Who’s Most Certainly True”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Here’s what Jesus says to you this morning. “Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly they’re ravenous wolves.” But this is hard work, guys, keeping on guard of false teaching in this world and the truth is most of us are scared of the hard work.

Trinity 7
Mark 8:1-9
July 31, 2022

“Jesus Provides Everything”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jesus doesn’t just provide some things such as forgiveness, peace, and hope. Jesus provides everything. He provides everything here at Church to you, yes, but He also provides everything at your lunch table today and everything in your home that you go to after Church, and everything anywhere in your life. It’s all from Him.

We have a problem today of separating these things. Separating our faith from the rest of our life. Separating Jesus only into this little spiritual, soul arena. As Nancy Pearcey has described it, we have our Jesus, our faith, in one pocket (for the spiritual stuff) and then we’ve got the rest of our life in the other pocket. And the two hardly ever meet or interchange at all.

But you’re quite mistaken if you think you need Jesus only for the spiritual stuff. In that case, we have a grossly false sense of security. We act like nothing is ever going to happen to us but the reality is that we’re completely vulnerable all the time. How much do you pay a month for all your various insurances—health insurance, auto and home insurance, life insurance, nursing home insurance? You have them because you know everything is vulnerable to attack. Yet no insurance can protect you from this fallen world. Only Jesus can. You cannot protect yourself from hunger, sickness, disaster, food shortages, power outages—you name it. But Jesus is your Protection. He’s your refuge, your fortress, your Rock. He provides everything!

Trinity 6
Matthew 5:17-26
July 24, 2022

“Don’t Play Games with God: Be United with Christ”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Matthew 5:17-26 is our text. The Gospel reading. You can keep that in front of you on the insert there and we’re gong to walk through it and see what Jesus means here.

“Don’t think,” He says, “that I’ve come to abolish the Law.” Why does Jesus say those words, “Don’t think…?” Why would He tell us not to think something? Because we do think this, of course. This is one of the games we play with God, we think that He sent Jesus to get rid of the Law and say, “No more rules anymore. Do whatever you want.” And we’re going to see we play other games as well.

(No audio available this Sunday.)

Trinity 5
Luke 5:1-11
July 17, 2022

“Time for Worship and Time for Work”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We’re going to walk through Luke 5:1-11, Jesus calling the disciples. And this is, first and foremost, the story of this select group of men that Jesus wants to be His first pastors. Peter, James, John, and so forth. But it’s also, secondarily, the story of every one of you Christians. God has also called you. And He’s called you to do two things. First, there must be time for worship just like here in this reading, everyone pressing in to hear Jesus’ word. He’s called you to listen and receive. To hear His Word. Second, He’s called you to work. To serve others. To put down the nets. That’s the rhythm of your life—you need time to worship and then there’s time to work.

Trinity 4
Luke 6:36-42
July 10, 2022

“How to Treat Your Fellow Man”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Scripture I’ll be expounding today is the Gospel reading, Luke 6:36-42, so you may want it in front of you. Jesus says, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not.”

In Pride and Prejudice, the novel by Jane Austen, the word prejudice in the title is for the character Elizabeth Bennet who is always pre-judging people. That’s what prejudice is—judging and specifically judging before one has the ability to make an accurate judgment. So Elizabeth judges one man good who turns out quite bad and another bad who turns out quite good. In contrast to Elizabeth is her older sister, Jane, who is always refusing to judge ill of others, is merciful and forgiving, puts the best construction on others, and explains everything in the kindest way.

Trinity 1
Luke 16:19-31
June 19, 2022

“The Man to Be”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

We know we aren’t to be the Rich Man who gorges himself every day on food and drink and never gives anything to the poor, hungry Lazarus outside. He goes to hell. So that’s not the man for us to be. But if Lazarus is the man that we’re all to be, then the whole world will be full of beggars on every corner and there won’t be anyone to feed any of us. So that won’t work either. This seems like a salient point to be made on this day we’ve set aside to give thanks for men, called Father’s Day. Who is the man that all men are to be? Who’s the man all Fathers are to be?