​ 
His brothers were sick & tired of hearing him speak.    But it’s a long & winding story that begins with Isaac loving his son Esau more than Jacob.  Then “Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age.   One day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph – a beautiful robe.”  (Genesis 37:3 NLT) 
“…his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them…  One night Joseph had a dream, & when he told his brothers about it, they hated him more than ever.  “Listen to this dream,” he said.  “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain.  Suddenly my bundle stood up, & your bundles all gathered around & bowed low before mine!”
His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do you?  Do you actually think you will reign over us?”  And they hated him all the more because of his dreams & the way he talked about them…  Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem.  When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph:
“Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem.  Get ready, & I will send you to them.”  “I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied.  “Go & see how your brothers & the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said.  “Then come back & bring me a report.”   So Jacob sent him on his way, & Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron. 
When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance.   As he approached, they made plans to kill him.  “Here comes the dreamer!” they said.  “Come on, let’s kill him & throw him into one of these cisterns.  We can tell our father, ‘A wild animal has eaten him.’   Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”  (Genesis 37:4-8, 12-14, 18-20 NLT)    Some traders came along, so the brothers relented from killing Joseph & sold him instead.  As far as the brothers were concerned the dreams of Joseph were silenced for good.  He was no longer able to speak to them.  Nor was he able to report back to their father about them. 
Something like 22 years later, God had turned the tables on Joseph’s brothers.  Now it was their turn at being unable to speak: “And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph!  Is my father still alive?’  But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.”   They weren’t dead yet, but they might as well be. 
They were a few men from a foreign land begging for food in the most powerful nation on earth.   And now they realize that the brother they wanted to silence could, without speaking a word, have them all executed with a flick of his wrist.  We can’t blame them if they thought things could not have turned out any more wrong. 
As the people who called for Jesus’ crucifixion saw Him die, they thought they had silenced Him for good.  Little did they know that, even from death, without speaking a word, the Son of God could have executed them all. 
As followers of Jesus watched Him die on the cross, we can’t blame them if they thought things could not have turned out any more wrong.   You & I also know that feeling, the realization of which leaves us unable to speak.  We’ve endured the brokenness & tragedy of life in this cruel world – suffering upon suffering, betrayal upon betrayal, death upon death. 
We’ve seen the flooding in North Carolina, the wildfires in Los Angeles, the war in Ukraine, the hostages in Gaza, & the division between left & right across our nation.   In our own personal lives, each of us know people that need help beyond what we are able to provide.  In response to our helplessness, God inspired Moses to record the events of Joseph’s life.   They exemplify the truth that God does not promise to take away all possibility of pain & discomfort in our lives.   Rather, God does promise to be with us through it all, & He promises to send us ahead to help our neighbor, just as God sent people ahead to help you & me.  Yahweh promises to make great things happen, but He did not promise to make them come quickly   or easily. 
Joseph endured all manner of evil & injustice before he saw God’s promise come true.  His brothers lived with the guilt of selling their brother to silence him.    Their consciences weighed upon them as their sin rendered them unable to speak the truth to their father about what happened to his favorite son Joseph. 
There are times when God calls us to walk through fiery furnaces, or to bear a cross.   But, on the other side of the valley of the shadow of death we’re always presented with the reality that God had never left us.  And then, life is able to bloom, in the most beautiful & holiest of ways.  We see that as Joseph tells his brothers not to be afraid:
“…do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.  (Genesis 45:5 ESV)   You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, & you shall be near me, you & your children & your children’s children, & your flocks, your herds, & all that you have.  There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you & your household, & all that you have, do not come to poverty.”  (Genesis 45:10-11 ESV) 
 
We see that life is able to bloom, in the most beautiful & holiest of ways:
“As they were talking…, Jesus Himself stood among them, & said to them, ‘Peace to you!’  But they were startled & frightened & thought they saw a spirit.  And He said to them, ‘Why are you troubled, & why do doubts arise in your hearts?  See my hands & my feet, that it is I myself.  Touch me, & see.  For a spirit does not have flesh & bones as you see that I have.’  …Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, & said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer & on the third day rise from the dead, & that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.’”  (Luke 24:36-39, 45-48 ESV) 
 
Jesus suffered, died   & rose from the dead, all within three days, yet, I doubt that His disciples would describe the fulfillment of those great promises as quick or easy.   Still, for those who believe, all things look different on the other side of God’s grace.   Sin renders all of us unable to speak as our Creator & Savior calls us to speak.  Then, the “[Holy Spirit] calls, gathers, enlightens & sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, & keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.”  (Meaning of the 3rd article, LSB p. 323)   In so doing, God restores our ability to speak words of love & forgiveness to our neighbor & to our enemy. 
As God sent parents ahead of Joseph to raise him in the true faith, He then sent Joseph ahead, in Egypt, to save the lives of his family.   As God sent people ahead to share the grace & mercy of His kingdom with you, He sent you ahead to share that same grace & mercy with your children & with other people whom our Lord sent into your lives. 
Unlike us, Yahweh does not always look for the path of least resistance.  All of humanity is deeply flawed, yet through us all God fulfills His promises & continues providing for His creation.  By God’s grace, Joseph saw clearly the two aspects of his being sold into slavery.  On the one hand was the sin of his brothers.   On the other hand – the perfect will of God. 
The Holy Spirit empowered Joseph to fix his attention on the perfect will of God as the only one of consequence.  Jesus exemplified that in Gethsemane, as He prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”  (Matthew 26:39 ESV)   It is the Holy Spirit who enables you & me to speak those same words. 
In our lives we cannot avoid being accountable for actions which hurt & give pain to others.  However, it is the miraculous work of the Holy Spirit that empowers us to speak words of repentance.  Even apart from repentance, God’s Spirit can overcome our sin to bring new life & new possibilities from any situation. 
As children of God, as members & heirs of His kingdom, as ambassadors of His reconciliation, when evil confronts us, we should keep in mind that we are, like Joseph, also being sent by God.   No matter how much Satan means to accomplish evil, & he certainly does, still, the almighty God is always able to bring good out of that evil.  We see it in Joseph’s life, we see that in Jesus’ life & God is doing the same with your life as well.  God is so much in control that He can & He does use evil to accomplish His purposes.  For those who believe, all things look different on the other side of grace.   Until then, we are often unable to speak. 
What God wants to accomplish does not depend on human resolve, willingness, acceptance or understanding.  God does not intend that we should understand Him or what He’s doing, only that we should trust & praise Him.  Joseph’s example teaches that we are not being destroyed when we are afflicted by sin. 
Even through sin, God is saving us & doing good in this world of darkness.  We rarely see that by sight, yet by faith we see it almost everywhere.  It is wise not to follow our own thoughts in trying to understand the misfortune of life & our experiences.  Our judgment is false, our speech is erroneous,   our wisdom   is folly. 
When we try to be the master of our own fate, we have nothing but frustration & unhappiness awaiting us.  What Joseph’s brothers deserved was death, yet through Joseph, God gave them life.  Yahweh has also given life to us, life to live in joy & to His glory, for it is God who has sent us here to proclaim His grace & mercy to a world of darkness. 
As Joseph’s brothers sat in darkness for many years because of their sin, each of us also lives with some darkness in our own lives.  Christ came as the Light of the world to set us free.  There is rest waiting for you in that Light.  Amen. 
 
 
The people that in darkness sat a glorious light have seen; the light has shined on them who long in shades of death have been.     To us a Child of hope is born, to us a Son is given.   And on His shoulder ever rests   all power in earth & heaven.     Lord Jesus, reign in us, we pray, & make us Thine alone, Who with the Father ever art & Holy Spirit, one, & Holy Spirit one.  Amen.  LSB 412:1, 3, 6.  

​6th Sunday after Epiphany – C                                                                      LSB #’s 705, 704, 729
Text – Jeremiah 17:6
 
He is like a shrub in the desert, & shall not see any good come.  He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
 
A SHRUB IN THE DESERT
 
 
If you drive through the flat lands out west,  you’re likely to see tumbleweeds rolling aimlessly across the desert.  It’s what eventually becomes of the shrubs that grow there.   It’s also the picture Jeremiah is painting for us  as the Holy Spirit inspires the OT reading: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man…  He is like a shrub in the desert…”  (17:5-6 ESV) 
God had given the land filled with milk & honey to the Israelites  as a gift & a blessing.  What happened  that now their Creator is referring to them as a shrub in the desert, dwelling “…in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land”?  (Jeremiah 17:6 ESV)   It wasn’t just  that the people had sinned.  It wasn’t just  that they violated the 1st commandment. 
And it’s not  that the people had physically moved into the desert  to live.    Rather, spiritually,  they had left the God of the Promised Land  & sworn their allegiance to the false gods of the unbelieving nations  around them.   Spiritually,  the Chosen People of God were unable to bear fruit  because they were now living in a wasteland that provided no nourishment. 
They had left the source of life & ignored His repeated attempts to call them back.  A few verses before the OT reading, Jeremiah defined the situation with these words, “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond, it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, & on the corners of their altars.”  (17:1)  They were firmly entrenched in the sin of unbelief. 
Hundreds of years later, Jesus quoted Isaiah in speaking of the church leaders of His day, “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.”  (Matthew 15:8 ESV)   Jesus was calling them to repentance, but rather than turn back to their Creator for life,  they crucified Him.  It seems that a similar virus is infecting our nation today.  The corruption, fraud & waste in our federal government  is all over the news these days.  It spans all three branches – executive, congressional & judicial.   Sin becomes rampant when the hearts of people are far from God.  Is our nation is also becoming a shrub in the desert,  or is it already there? 
I say that because,  while many of our people still honor God with their lips, the majority of our citizens no longer attend church  at all.  Research shows that 40 million Americans have left the church, & no longer attend at all, in the past 25 years.   Of those,  68% say that their parents played at least some role, if not a significant one, in their leaving the church. 
Of the 40 million who’ve left the church,  two thirds say  they still believe the main teachings of Christianity.   In other words,  they’re still honoring God with their lips,  but their hearts seem to be drifting further & further away  from the house of God.  Removing themselves from the spiritual nourishment of the church,  are they becoming shrubs in the desert? 
Jeremiah was chastising the people of his time for wrongdoing that was not an isolated event.  Nor was it sin  in a moment of weakness.  Their pattern of evil was engraved by habit as deeply as an inscription chiseled into stone or steel.  Jeremiah wrote, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man & makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.”  (17:5 ESV) 
If the people of our nation are trusting  that they still believe the main teachings of Christianity, are they like the people of Jeremiah’s day?  Are they trusting in what they believe rather than trusting in Jesus?  Are they trusting in their human wisdom & knowledge rather than devoting their very existence to the only source of life in this corrupted creation? 
As our people no longer yearn to be in God’s house,  are they taking their life out into the parched places of the wilderness?  That is Satan’s plan for you & for me.   If he can separate us from God’s Word,  then we will certainly die like a shrub in the desert.  With the Introit, earlier in the service, we confessed with words from Psalm 119, “Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with their whole heart.”  (119:2 ESV)   That is God’s plan for you & for me.  Living in this sinful world is not a safe space.  Though God gives us many blessings here, we draw our life from Him alone.  As Jeremiah wrote of people who trust in the Lord:
“He is like a tree planted by water,  that sends out its roots by the stream, & does not fear when heat comes,  for its leaves remain green, & is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”  (Jeremiah 17:8 ESV)   How can a shrub in the desert plant itself by water?  How can you or I, who are dead in our sins, plant ourselves by the River of Life? 
It cannot be done.  Someone else has to transplant us who were born under the curse of God.  That is the curse of original sin.  Our parents were corrupt all the way back to Adam & Eve.  Sinful creatures do not conceive holy & perfect children.  All of us were conceived in sin, but our Creator created a plan to save us.  He created us for the purpose of being rescued. 
In Baptism, & through the Word of God,  the Holy Spirit transplants us  from the parched places of the wilderness,  to the River of Life.  That transplanting begins in this world, precarious as it may be.  There are still many dangers, & complacency in our spiritual lives always leads in the wrong direction.   For our sake, on the cross,  Jesus became the shrub in the desert. 
In V. 5 of the OT reading, Jeremiah writes, “Cursed is the man who trusts in man…”  The Hebrew word translated into English as cursed,  is the same word used by the Lord God  as He cursed the serpent in the Garden.  Jesus took on our curse that we might inherit God’s blessing.  In reality, Jesus has destroyed the curse,  in order that you & I might live  & even flourish. 
If we look at our lives, it’s easy to see many times when there appears to be no flourishing at all.  However, looking at our lives  is putting our trust in what human flesh can see.  To be certain of God’s blessing, to be certain of our flourishing, the only place to look is to Jesus.  The only thing that separates any of us from hell  is trusting that God already transplanted us into His kingdom.  Our corrupted eyesight struggles to see.   Jeremiah’s shrub in the desert is a man who trusts in his own flesh, his own eyesight.   A shrub in the desert can have no root in that hard packed soil,  so eventually it becomes a tumble weed, blown & tossed about by every wind. 
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man & makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.  He is like a shrub in the desert, & shall not see any good come.  He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.”  (Jeremiah 17:5-6 ESV)    Those verses describe our old Adam that must die & be buried with Christ in Baptism. 
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.  He is like a tree transplanted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, & does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, & is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”  (Jeremiah 17:7-8) 
Those words describe the new man of faith, who rises to new life with Christ in Baptism.  As we remain rooted in Christ, we will not be afraid no matter what our eyes may see, & we will not cease to bear fruit.   
Through His Word & through Baptism, our Creator transplants us from the kingdom of Satan into the New Jerusalem, into His heavenly kingdom, even while we are still here on earth.  We will experience that fully, once we are resurrected from the dead.  Until then, what we see of our lives may appear to be nothing more than a shrub or a tumbleweed in the desert. 
Trusting in the Lord, God’s promise is that you will never cease to bear fruit.  Amen.
 
Renew me,  O eternal Light,  & let my heart & soul be bright,  illumined with the light of grace  that issues from Your holy face.    Remove the power of sin from me  & cleanse all my impurity  that I may have the strength & will  temptation of the flesh to still.   Grant that I only  You may love  & seek those things  which are above  till I behold You face to face,  O Light eternal,  through Your grace.  Amen.  LSB 704:1-2, 4.  

​5th Sunday after Epiphany – C                                                                       LSB #’s 400, 850, 411
Text – 1 Corinthians 14:20
 
Brothers, do not be children in your thinking.  Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.
 
IN YOUR THINKING
 
 
Children can be genuinely nasty  to each other.  In their zest for self-promotion, they’ve been known to do whatever is necessary, even at the expense of other children,  for vicious self-seeking.    Adults    are nothing more than old children  & can also be genuinely nasty  to children & adults  alike.   The apostle Paul was dealing with that  in the church at Corinth. 
  Corinthian society, like ours, was characterized by a feverish quest for power.   That’s why our federal bureaucrats & politicians are screaming so much,  because there was a huge power shift  after the last election.  The cabinet confirmation hearings  are not much more than televised moments of self-promotion.  One group is gaining power  & the other is losing it. 
Corinthian society was much more overtly spiritual  than ours.  The pagan religions of their day thought that divine or cosmic forces  infilled certain people to liberate them from the physical nature & misfortune of this life.   While on this ‘cloud nine,’   they’d demonstrate power through prophetic utterances that were sensational  even if they were incomprehensible. 
This was in great contrast to St. Paul’s message.   He preached that truly spiritual people still live & struggle in weakness  under the shadow of the cross  of Jesus Christ.   Gifted with the Spirit of the true God,  His followers live  not by sight,  but by faith.   They patiently endure the injustice of this world   to join God’s Son  at the final & eternal resurrection from the dead. 
Christ’s followers endure the tensions of their “already but not yet” existence  as saints longing to be delivered from weakness.  They long to put on their spiritual bodies when the Lord returns.   In this  they constantly bear with others in longsuffering love.  They do it to lift up & encourage one another  that as many of us as possible  might enter the pearly gates.  Father, Son & Holy Spirit never endorse a self-centered focus on works, feelings or empowerment  in this life.  Instead, followers of Jesus are always pointed to & oriented toward Christ crucified.  The end goal of that  is to point us toward our neighbor in love  because of how Jesus first loved us. 
It hardly needs to be said that sinful human beings have struggled with this.  After the fall into sin,  Adam & Eve tried to shift the blame to each other, even to God.  The very 1st child born to them murdered their 2nd child.   Thus was born sibling rivalry  along with physical death.   No loving your neighbor there.     Likewise,  members of the Corinthian Church needed instruction:
“Brothers,  do not be children in your thinking.  Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.”   (1 Corinthians 14:20 ESV)    You know from experience that being mature  isn’t always  a lot of fun.   It requires patience & self-sacrifice.  It involves practicing self-control, gentleness & faithfulness.   Being mature does not come naturally.  It must be taught  & modeled for us. 
The congregation at Corinth was deeply troubled by members who thought  they were superior to many of the others.  To Paul it was clear – these “superior” members were being tempted by Satan to think that,  &, like children, they were too immature to resist the temptation.   Our saying “No!” to temptation  is called self-discipline. 
It’s a matter of maturity  when we are eating  to know when we’ve had enough.  It’s a matter of maturity when we’re feeling annoyed by someone  to still treat them with grace & respect.  It’s a matter of maturity,  when someone is offending us,  to talk to them honestly yet not in anger.   “Be infants in evil,  but in your thinking  be mature.”  (1 Corinthians 14:20b ESV) 
Evidently, members who spoke in tongues were convinced they were of more value to the church.  In chapter 13,  Paul approached the conflict by pointing out that sacrificial love is the primary criterion by which the church assesses the value of any gift.  In chapter 14, he shows how speaking in tongues fails the test of love for others in the church.  By comparison, speaking in tongues is extremely insignificant.  It requires the help of another gift – interpretation – to fulfill the highest purpose of every genuine spiritual gift.  All of God’s gifts are for this purpose – the encouraging & building up  of the body of Christ. 
Gifts are given by the Holy Spirit  only  to help other people.  They are not given  so that one person may claim superiority over others.   That  is the work of Satan as he leads us to be genuinely nasty to others. 
Why does St. Paul raise his sharp questions about the specific practices of Corinth in worship?  He does so to guide the church’s life  in  any age.    Unclear,  confusing  or noncommunicative speech in the church  fails the criterion of Christ’s love, which always wants to build up & encourage human beings in the body of Christ. 
Whether the confused tongues of a charismatic service,  or the ecstatic, overly emotional content-less songs  finding their way into church services,  all practices must point to,  & be oriented toward Christ crucified.  That is the only event in history  that pays the penalty of our sin.  It is the event  that enables our resurrection from death  to eternal life. 
Our worship service has no room for selfishness no matter how ‘cloaked’  in spirituality.  Self-promotion  prompts others to say things  far removed from Amen!   In the brokenness & the sorrow of this world,  it is always right  to long for perfect communion with God.   However, due to our own sinfulness,  it always wrong to expect that perfect communion in this life. 
It is always & only  our own sinfulness that separates us from perfect communion with our Creator.  Nothing can overcome that  except our resurrection from the dead.  Where does that resurrection come from?  Not from our own efforts  in any way,  shape  or form.   No amount of mature thinking  can raise our bodies from the dead,  or gain our entrance into heaven. 
We can illustrate it this way.  You can get from here to downtown Detroit in about 90
minutes,  but it’s impossible to do that on your own.  You need a car to make that trip.   However, if your driving on the way  is immature  that can harm your life  & the life of your neighbor.    In the same way,  though we cannot get ourselves to heaven,  childish thinking along the way harms our spiritual life,  & it harms our neighbor. 
That’s what Paul is writing about in the epistle reading.  He tells us  not to be children in our thinking, but to be mature.   He doesn’t say that  so that we earn our way to heaven.  He says it because,  along the way,  we can reduce the harm we do  to ourselves & to the people around us.   Fortunately,  Jesus is able to overcome our childish thinking & the harm we cause. 
You see,  the sermon title tends to focus on the law – on what we should do  to please God.  While the law is good,  & for believers it is helpful,  it does not save us.  In Your Thinking you will always fail,  but in His thinking,  in Christ’s heart & mind,  you are always the focus of His saving grace.  God’s power is such that  at all times  He can focus on each of us  individually. 
The grace of God invites us to encourage one another in Christ’s thinking.  St. Paul wrote of that thinking  in Philippians 2:
“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,  who,  though He was in the form of God,  did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,   but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.    And being found in human form, He humbled Himself  by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  (2:5-8 ESV) 
 
That death cannot  & will not  be erased  no matter what Satan tempts us with.  Responding to that Good News  we long to think  like Jesus.  He sends His Spirit to help us in that,  & for that too  we rejoice.  Amen. 
Lo,  the hosts of evil round us  scorn the Christ,  assail His ways!   From the fears that long have bound us  free our hearts  to faith & praise.    Cure Your children’s waring madness;  bend our pride to Your control;  shame our wanton, selfish gladness,  rich in things & poor in soul.    Save us from weak resignation  to the evils we deplore;  let the gift of Your salvation  be our glory evermore.   Grant us wisdom,  grant us courage  for the living of these days.  Amen.  LSB 850:2-4.  

​4th Sunday after Epiphany – C                                                           LSB #’s 395:1-2, 6; 849, 541
Text – Luke 4:41a
 
And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” 
 
YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD
 
 
If you hadn’t just heard the sermon text, you’d probably guess that the words of the title were spoken by someone who is a child of God.   If you’ve been in the church a while you know we are conditioned to think of demons as unbelievers, even monsters in our worst nightmares.   I am not here to dispute that in any way.   Demons are pure evil. 
What I do want to highlight, however, is that even the demons know who Jesus is.  Church attendance has been declining dramatically across our nation.  People are drifting away from an active, daily faith & trust in Jesus as Lord & as Savior.  They’re becoming more interested in supernatural phenomenon like ghosts, UFO’s, horoscopes, witches & aliens. 
Those things can be just harmless fun, but if anything going on there is truly supernatural it is not from God.   The only other supernatural realm is that of Satan.   The Gospel lesson makes it clear that the demons know who Jesus is, & they know what He came to do.     Do you?     If you do know who Jesus is, what makes you different from the demons? 
Luke wrote his gospel in order to educate us about that difference.  Twenty-three verses before the sermon text, he wrote of Jesus quoting Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives… to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”  (4:18 ESV)    Do you want to be set free from your sins that so oppress you? 
If you do, that is one thing that makes you different from the demons.   They have no desire to be set free from their sin.  They live for being contentious, to stir up suffering & death.  As Jesus described Satan, He said, “The thief comes only to steal & kill & destroy.”  (John 10:10a ESV)   King David described his enemies this way: “For there is no truth in their mouth; their inmost self is destruction; their throat is an open grave; they flatter with their tongue.”  (Psalm 5:9 ESV)    Do those words describe your heart?    Certainly there are times when evil burns within, but as children of God those times eventually bring sadness & weeping rather than excitement & glee.   By the Holy Spirit’s power, children of God react differently to sin than demons do. 
As St. Paul wrote to the church at Rome: “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?   By no means!  How can we who died to sin still live in it?”  (6:1b-2 ESV)    Paul is saying that children of God do not live for sin as the demons do.  Yet, in the next chapter, he honestly admits that he still struggles in trying not to sin:
“I want to do what is good, but I don’t.   I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.”  (7:19 NLT)   “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”  (7:21 ESV)    Demons do not struggle with sin in that way, even though they know who Jesus is, & what He has come to do. 
If you know who Jesus is, what else makes you different from the demons?     Children of God don’t just believe in Jesus, they actively seek to build their entire life upon Him.  Their relationship with Jesus is not just built upon an occasional prayer now & then.  Their relationship with Jesus is not only built upon Sunday morning church services. 
The demons have known from their creation that Jesus was the Son of God, but refused to build their existence upon Him as the foundation for life.   They rebelled against Him not as Savior, but as Lord.  They refused His lordship for all of eternity in one fell swoop.  In His death & resurrection, Jesus offered Himself as our Lord, but also as our Savior. 
Though we were born into sin & death, the Holy Spirit sent Jesus “to proclaim liberty to the captives… to set at liberty those who are oppressed,” as Jesus quoted from Isaiah.   You & I are among those captives.  We are among those oppressed by sin & death.  You experience those effects every day.  You know very well the suffering that goes on in this life.   Since you have heard the good news of liberty that Jesus proclaimed to the captives, life & death lie before you, literally.     Upon which foundation are you building? 
The point of today’s section of the Gospel of Luke is to lay the foundation of God’s kingdom – here on earth, & for eternity in heaven.   You know what that foundation is.  It’s the answer to every children’s message.   Jesus   is the cornerstone of the heavenly kingdom,   & He died for you out of love for you, so that you might join Him in paradise! 
In the reading from Luke this morning, Jesus rebuked the demon, “‘Be silent & come out of him!’  And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.”  (4:35 ESV)  Four verses later, Jesus, “…stood over [Simon’s mother-in-law] & rebuked the fever, & it left her, & immediately she rose & began to serve them.”  (4:39 ESV)
In V. 40, “…all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to [Jesus], & He laid His hands on every one of them & healed them.”  (4:40 ESV)    Jesus performs these miracles to reveal that paradise has already arrived in Him.   In His Son, God has already begun to fulfill His promise to bring His children into the ultimate Promised Land. 
But it’s obvious to everyone that sin is still rampant in our world.  Paradise has arrived but it is far from complete.  There are still an unending number of dangers threatening you every day.  That’s why, in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus shares this, so that we stay alert:
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, & cast out demons in your name, & do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”  (7:21-23 ESV)  
 
Frightening words to hear, but immediately Jesus goes on to explain the reality of life in this fallen world, which He has now invaded in order to bring paradise:
“Everyone then who hears these words of mine & does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  And the rain fell, & the floods came, & the winds blew & beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.   And everyone who hears these words of mine & does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, & the floods came, & the winds blew & beat against that house,   & it fell,   & great was the fall of it.”  (Matthew 7:24-27 ESV) 
 
 Since you have heard the good news of liberty that Jesus proclaimed to the captives, life & death lie before you, literally.   Upon which foundation are you building?   Are you building your daily life upon the rock,    or upon sand?   So you know who Jesus is!   Even the demons know that.    Are you building your life upon Jesus? 
God knows it’s not easy!   His Son lived it out for you.  The great apostle Paul confessed, “…when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.  …Wretched man that I am!   Who will deliver me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”  (Romans 7:21, 24 ESV)   Jesus has rescued everyone & proclaimed that liberty to the captives – you & me. 
We have been set free, but if we use that freedom to build our lives upon sand Jesus told us what will come of it – great will be the fall!  Demon possession is only one nightmarish example.   Rather, Jesus has set us free   that you & I might build our house, our very lives, upon the Rock which is our Lord & Savior. 
When we do that it makes us different from the demons.   They knew who Jesus was & still chose to build their lives upon sand.  Eternity in hell will be the result come Judgment Day.  Though Satan & his demons still wage war against us, in the OT lesson, God promised Jeremiah: 
“They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you, for I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.”  (1:19 ESV)    With Jesus, the end-time kingly reign of the holy God broke into human history ahead of the Last Day.  Jesus reveals that to us as He casts out demons, heals the sick, & preaches the good news of the kingdom. 
Now the Holy Spirit is working in us to build our lives upon the foundation of Jesus
Christ.  Through His word & sacraments, by faith, we enjoy the benefits of God’s victorious rule.  As we build our lives upon His foundation, we reveal to others with faith that our knowledge of Jesus as the Son of God is different from the knowledge of the demons.  Luke wrote his gospel in order to educate us about that difference.
One day Jesus will return in glory & remove far away from us Satan & sickness & death.  The promise is sure, because Jesus demonstrated by His miracles that our heavenly future has already begun.  Simply believing that is what makes us so different from the demons.  Amen. 
 
 
 
Praise the One who breaks the darkness with a liberating light; praise the One who frees the prisoners, turning blindness into sight, praise the One who preached the Gospel, healing every dread disease, calming storms, & feeding thousands with the very Bread of peace.    Let us praise the Word Incarnate, Christ, who suffered in our place.   Jesus died & rose victorious that we may know God by grace.   Let us sing for joy & gladness, seeing what our God has done; let us praise the true Redeemer, praise the One who makes us one.  Amen.  LSB 849:1, 3.