Third Sunday After Epiphany Service

Opening Banter and Pre-Service Conversation

Did you check out those things I sent you?

No.

What?

The thing is, here's the thing. You've sent too much stuff.

No. Yeah.

No, it's everybody. Everybody's doing what you're doing. I mean, I get to it eventually.

OK.

Procrastinated.

I took the pros and procrastinated. See, with me, when I'm usually doing stuff, I'm just hyper-focused on it.

I know.

Well, listen to it.

Dude.

Especially video games. I'm worse than you, Matt. BookTube's a little better.

Finally.

So they destroyed the compound, the mansion. And the park has been all over the place. But she's like, I don't matter.

I'm just not going to do that.

Isn't that horrible? She looks like a little bitch.

Irish or Scottish girl.

I don't know which. I miss being little.

That is a very good question.

You know, it's like.

And why do they want to curse you? It's so expensive.

I know.

So Josh.

I'm still angry.

Great. At least.

Right. You know how much I hate building chairs?

Yes.

So I want to run something else.

Yes.

I'm going to use the Amazon.

I did laundry yesterday.

I did all my adult chores.

Yes.

And then I'm going to go to the hotel.

And I want to do a satire.

No.

The alcohol's going to dry.

And there must be a toilet.

I'll do that. OK.

In the bedroom.

So all my clothes are going to dry.

Well, not all of your clothes are going to dry.

You have a towel.

But I don't care.

I'm not going to mess with it.

Oh, no, you do.

You do.

You're going to be good. You're going to be fine.

I'm not going to mess with it.

I'm not going to mess with it.

No. All right.

So let me tell you what I did.

Rest in peace.

So you know how there's a magazine.

And I have one.

But I don't remember how I made it. So what are we doing?

But it's going to be rare.

But what?

The thing is, you already have the dryer.

That's why.

All right.

It's not just like, oh, I lost the dryer.

I know. I know.

So what do you want to do? Do you want to do like a press-to or a press-on?

I'm like, I'm going to seize time.

No, but you've still got a long way to go.

I mean, it's great.

This is great.

This is great.

And you're straight on down. I'm going to speak out. I'm going to tell the inside of the story. And then she whispered in my ear. She was really attractive to me.

And it was just a little awkward.

And I was like, I don't know.

And I looked up and started talking to her.

And I was like, I don't know.

And she said, you know, would you see what I'm saying?

Yeah.

I can't do everything.

No. I know.

But it's really great.

It's really great.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God. Larry.

That's my person.

All right. Thank you. Yeah. No. Okay.

All right.

All right.

Check this out.

Hello.

You know what?

No.

Oh, yeah. I've already seen it.

Cool.

They're really good. So let's do this.

All right. All right.

All right.

All right.

All right. All right.

So what is that?

Sorry.

It's just awesome. That's important.

We need to have this. I don't know.

This stuff here is out of date one.

Yeah.

Unplugged and not recording.

No, it's literally, you can see it at a time.

But I mean, you're not hooked in to it?

So technically, yeah.

Oh, OK.

I need to get a roll of glass across my head,.

Because it'll be like screaming like this.

It's very spooky.

I bet you'll get a rat.

That's what I'm talking about. It's got to be like that. It's got to be like that. Because it's got to stay on top of the desk.

That's what I mean.

So how do you use this option?

Well, the problem is, I have a way around people.

Oh, no.

No, no, no.

No, no, no.

I've never tried that. I'll show you what I'm talking about.

No, but I'm so glad.

OK.

Well, then maybe I'll show you.

You have to read this.

It works caps.

Super awesome.

That's so cool.

I love it.

You can use it also for your cap.

Do you want to go get the children's book today in bed? Do you want to get that before school starts? I got a rat out there.

I brought it.

You know where it is, right?

Yeah.

It's working.

It's good.

It's right on the counter. You know where the regular is?

Happy birthday.

It's your birthday today. How old are you? You look beautiful. Is this your birthday dress?

I love it.

It's not a birthday.

It's not a birthday. Do you know that now?

It was a gift.

That is lovely. Did you already have the birthday gift?

OK.

It's actually a gift.

You came to the party.

Yeah.

You said you have a gift.

I've never had a gift.

How fun.

I have a birthday gift.

What?

I have a birthday gift.

I think it's one of those gifts.

You did?

Oh, my goodness. Which one did you get?

Aren't they different?

Which one did you get? Did you collect those? Or is it just your very first birthday?

I don't know.

He's from New York.

He's from New York. That's so sweet.

That's so sweet.

That is amazing.

He has to be at my birthday. I know.

He put on a show.

I know. Oh, my.

That is so fun.

That is so fun.

Service Welcome and Opening Liturgy

Welcome you all to Kongsvinger Lutheran Church. Today is the third Sunday after Epiphany. We'll be following the order of Divine Service Setting 1. If you are physically present at Kongsvinger and able, please rise for the opening hymn.

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

Amen.

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. Let us then confess our sins to God our Father. Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone.

We have not loved you with our whole heart. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve your present and eternal punishment. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us.

Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways. To the glory of your holy name. Amen. Almighty God in his mercy has given his Son to die for you, and for his sake he forgives you all of your sins.

As a called and ordained servant of Christ and by his authority, I therefore forgive you all of your sins in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the people see his glory.

For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth. You are exalted far above all gods. The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice. Let the many coastlands be glad. O you who love the Lord, hate evil. He preserves the lives of his saints.

He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and joy for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous, and give thanks to his holy name. Glory be to the Father and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever.

Amen. The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the people see his glory. For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth. You are exalted far above all gods. In peace, let us pray to the Lord.

For the peace from above and for our salvation, let us pray to the Lord. For the peace of the whole world, for the well-being of the Church of God, and for the unity of all, let us pray to the Lord. For this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and praise, let us pray to the Lord.

Help, save, comfort, and defend us, gracious Lord. Glory to God in the highest, and peace to his people on earth. The Lord be with you. Let us pray. Almighty and everlasting God, mercifully look upon our infirmities, and stretch forth the hand of your majesty to heal and defend us.

Naaman Cleansed in the Jordan

Through Jesus Christ, your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. You may be seated. The Old Testament reading for this, the third Sunday after the Epiphany, is taken from the book of 2 Kings 5.

Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favor, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valor, but he was a leper.

Now the Syrians, on one of their raids, had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman's wife. She said to her mistress, Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria, he would cure him of his leprosy.

So Naaman went and told his lord. Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said, Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, ten changes of clothes.

And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman, my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy. And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, Am I God to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy?

Only consider and see how he's seeking a quarrel with me. But when Elisha, the man of God, heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, Why have you torn your clothes?

Let him come to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and his chariots, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.

But Naaman was angry, and he went away, saying, Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.

Are not Abana and the far par, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, My father, it is a great word that the prophet has spoken to you.

Will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, wash and be clean? So he went down and he dipped himself seven times in the Jordan according to the word of the man of God. And his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

And then he returned to the man of God, he and all of his company, and came and stood before him. And that's the end. This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

The story was just getting good. Talk to the church fathers, why they cut it off there. Please rise. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 8th chapter. When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.

And behold, a leper came to him and knelt before him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, saying, I will, be clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed, and Jesus said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded for a proof to them.

When he entered Capernaum, a centurion came forward to him, appealing to him, Lord, my servant is lying paralyzed at home suffering terribly. And he said to him, I will come and I will heal him. But the centurion replied, Lord, I am not worthy to have you come under my roof, but only say the word and my servant will be healed.

For I too am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to one, go, and he goes. To another, come, and he comes. And to my servant, do this, and he does it. When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, truly I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.

I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And to the centurion, Jesus said, let it be done for you as you have believed. And the servant was healed at that very moment. This is the gospel of the Lord. You may be seated.

Christ Among Us: Healing, Sin, and the Benefits of Yahweh

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God the Father,.

The Son, and the Holy Spirit. You may be seated. In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

So, I'm gonna note something here. Jesus is on the ground, and the whole point of Epiphany are texts that manifest, that reveal that God is now among us in human flesh. That's kind of the point. But here's the thing.

Jesus coming to earth is not at all like when the President of the United States visits an area that has been destroyed by a natural disaster. I just wanna make that clear. This is not like if Trump visits the Carolinas or visits the fire victims in California, because here's the deal.

What exactly can the President do? Well, he can be empathetic. He can promise resources. He can declare a state of emergency. But you'll note that beyond that, there's not much that a President or a head of state can offer.

That being the case, Jesus is not like that. You'll note that Jesus doesn't just come to earth and go, oh, this place is a disaster. Look at what sin has done to people. This is not what he does. Jesus is able to do something about it.

And do something about it, he does. And in so doing, he reveals that we are being visited by God himself, which is kind of the whole point. A good way to think about it is that in Psalm 103, it talks about the benefits of Yahweh.

And the benefits, as they're listed, the entirety of the list, is very holistic. You'll note that one of the things you'll see in our text today is that often in Scripture, and I'll show you this from our Old Testament text and extra Old Testament text as well as our Gospel text, that leprosy is oftentimes kind of a spiritual metaphor for our own sinful, fallen state.

You'll note that according to the Mosaic Covenant, those who are lepers, are they allowed to go to church?

Nope.

Are they allowed in the presence of God?

Nope.

They're not allowed in the presence of God at all. The leprosy has separated them from the community, has separated them from the presence of God, and it's a lonely, miserable existence. And I would note, all of this is because of kind of the general category of man's fall into sin.

But we read in Psalm 103 these words, Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and all that was within me, bless His holy name. Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity.

By the way, the Hebrew word for all here means all, not just some, all, every single one of them. Who forgives all of your iniquity, who heals all of your diseases. Now, a little bit of a note here. Do we still get sick as Christians?

You betcha. Do Christians die from illnesses and diseases and chronic things like that? Yes, they do. So, obviously, there's an eschatological thing here, but you're gonna note, forgiving our iniquity, healing our diseases, the two just get smushed together.

Right?

And that's kind of the point, because in the healing that Christ does with the leper in our gospel text today, did Jesus just merely heal him physically? How about Naaman? You know, the famous cutoff passage here.

It's like I wanted to keep reading, right? Get to the big punchline. The big punchline was that there's Naaman, and he says, now I know that there is no other God in all of the earth except for in Israel.

Does Naaman come out of the waters of baptism? Yes, I said that correctly. Does he come out of the waters of baptism just merely cleansed of his leprosy? No, he comes out a full believer in the one true God.

So, the benefits of God. He forgives all of your iniquity. He heals all of your diseases. Who redeems your life from the pit. What pit are you talking about there, Pastor? What pit is this referring to?

Let me be blunt. It's referring to the pit of hell. Are you saying that hell's a real thing? Yes, absolutely hell's a real thing. And you gotta note that Jesus is the one in all of scripture who preaches the most about it.

A little bit of a note here. I don't know if you've noticed, I've got a burr in my saddle. I'm a little angry right now. And I keep going after the lunacy that's going on within the charismatic movement because I know for a fact it's destroying people's lives.

And so, I on social media yesterday afternoon decided that I was going to take a shot at Charisma Magazine. They recently published a video interviewing a lady by the name of Katie Sousa claiming, and the headline on the video and the thumbnail is that she was chased by a werewolf.

So, my response to Charisma Magazine, I linked to the video and I said to Charisma Magazine something to this effect. That this is lunacy and is as ridiculous as somebody claiming that men can menstruate.

Right?

Now, you say that on an open social media forum, guess what's going to happen? So, some guy came flying out of the Twitterverse right up in my face and proclaimed to me, well, trans men menstruate. To which I basically told him, listen, Jesus said in Matthew 19 do you not know that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female?

And I basically said this, when you die and are dead for three days and rise from the grave then and only then will I consider any of the stuff that you have to say. Until then, I think you've unbuckled yourself from reality.

Right?

This is nonsense. But all of that being said, you're going to know this is one of the big consequences of our sin. That we have unbuckled ourselves from reality itself. And when we hear that there is a pit and that there is a hell, there are many, many Christians today in the visible church who sit there and go, I don't really like that.

That just seems like God is so mean.

You know?

I mean, what kind of gospel is it if God is saving us from himself? Right? And this is how they talk, with their kind of smarmy attitude. It reminds me of that bishop lady who preached to Trump earlier in the week.

But all that being said, here's the deal. You don't want to believe in hell? Explain why Jesus preached about it and described its fires as eternal. It's not because merely the fire is eternal, because the occupants of hell are there for that same amount of time that the fire is running.

That's the point. That's what we're being saved from. And so one of the benefits of God is he has redeemed our lives from the pit of hell. And he goes on. Who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

Now, a little bit of a note here. I was annoyed this week. My good friend Stephen Kozar put a video out. And in that video, he dug up a video that I put out about 10 years ago. And it was weird seeing myself from 10 years ago because I had color in my beard.

And my eyes didn't have bags under them. You're just like, ugh! Visible reminder that my youth has not yet been renewed. A good way to think about it is this way. The wages of sin is death, right? How many of you have ever had a job where your employer didn't pay you?

Didn't pay you week after week, month after month, year after year, until the day that you finally retired? That's not how it works. When you get a job, they pay you on a regular basis. Wages come sometimes every month, sometimes every two weeks, sometimes bimonthly.

This is how this all works. All that being said, have you ever stopped to think the wages of sin is death, which means we're getting paid a little bit of death on a regular basis? Just look at your photos from 10 years ago.

I'm just saying, right? But know one of the benefits of Yahweh is that He promises to renew our youth like that of the eagles. There is a day coming when I will once again have the body of an 18 year old forever.

Amen.

Right?

So will you. It's going to be a lot easier to look at you guys and for you to look at me. I'm just saying. But all that being said, note here who is the one who does these things, who forgives iniquity, who heals diseases, who redeems your life from the pit.

It is God Himself. And that's the point of our text. God is on the ground. God is among us. And He's proving it by His works. So our Gospel text begins with when Jesus came down from the mountain. What mountain is this?

This is the mountain that He preached His first sermon from. The sermon on the mount, right? And so you'll note, Jesus' inaugural sermon, the first we ever hear of Jesus really preaching and teaching is in the chapters right before this one.

And Jesus begins with, blessed are the poor in spirit, the spiritually bankrupt, the losers who have not even a spiritual penny to their names, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. You sit there, how is that possible?

Because God only forgives the ungodly. Salvation is a gift given only to those who are sinners, who recognize that they have nothing.

To offer God in exchange.

For their salvation. Later in the text that we read in 2 Kings 5, Naaman, when he comes back after being cleansed, he offers money for his healing. And you know what Elisha says? I'm not going to take even a penny from you.

Nothing.

Salvation is free. So Jesus comes down from the mountain, a great crowd is following Him, and I love the way the Greek is, Idu lepros! Behold a leper, right? He's like, oh no! Have you ever tried to pet a cat that didn't want to be pet?

It's like a visible version of the matrix in real life. Try to pet a cat that doesn't want to be pet.

They get.

All contorted and stuff like that, and you can't touch that cat. I would note that when a leper appears among a great crowd, people are going to go whoa! And the reason.

Why is because he ain't supposed.

To be there. Lepers are supposed to stay away from crowds and from the community. They're supposed to cover their lips and say, unclean! Leper coming through, unclean! This guy didn't do that. Just behold, there's a leper.

Okay?

And what does he do? The text says that he knelt before Jesus. It's a little bit more than that. The better way to put it is that he was on his face, on the ground, prostrating himself before Christ. And this guy leads the conversation.

Lord, if you will it, you can make me clean. That's a pretty good statement. That's a confession of faith. Isn't Yahweh the one who heals our diseases? This guy is on to Jesus. It's like he's saying,.

I know who you are.

It doesn't matter why you're here. I'm going to make it so you're here for me.

Right?

If you will, Lord, you can make me clean. And I would note, is that not the very same appeal that you and I make? Every divine service when we confess our sins together, I confess that I am by nature sinful and unclean.

Sinned against you in thought, word, and deed. Are we not saying this also? Lord, if you will, you can make me.

Clean.

Leprosy, Sin, and Exclusion from God's Presence

Now here's where I want to do a little bit of work before we get to the resolve of this. And I want you to see the connection between leprosy and sin because the scriptures really draw this out. If you remember in the Old Testament, there was a faithful king by the name of King Uzziah.

He started really.

Well.

But there was a big hiccup very shortly after. And it says this regarding King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles.

All the people of Judah.

Took Uzziah who was 16 years old and they made him king instead of his father Amaziah. So Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for 52 years in Jerusalem. That's a long time. 52 years.

Starts reigning as a 16 year old. I don't even know if he had his driver's license before he was coronated, right? So his mother's name was Jechaliah of Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of Yahweh according to all that his father Amaziah had done.

He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah. You know the prophet Zechariah who instructed him in the fear of God and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. A young 16 year old man who fears the Lord who's being instructed by the prophet Zechariah.

Sign me up, right? I'll.

Take a monarch like that over some of the people we've had. But all of that being said the story continues and it takes a very dark turn. It says that when he was strong Uzziah grew proud to his destruction.

He was unfaithful to Yahweh, his God, and he entered the temple of Yahweh to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah, the priest, went in after him with 80 priests of Yahweh who were men of valor.

I want you to understand what the problem here is. God has made it very clear in the Mosaic Covenant there is one tribe and one tribe only that is allowed to serve God in his presence in the temple and it isn't Judah.

It's Levi. And Uzziah is a direct descendant of David. Jesus is a direct descendant of Uzziah. He's of the tribe of Judah. So he's decided he doesn't like the restrictions that God has put in place. God is a God for everybody.

Why are we making distinctions like this? I love God as much as the Levites do.

Shouldn't I.

Be able to offer incense in God's temple like they do? I would note this is a very dangerous way of thinking. This smells of Korah's rebellion a little bit. Right? You can smell it. There's a little sulfur hint to it.

You'll note there's a lot of.

People today who engage.

In the same kind of thinking. What's it matter if we have women be pastors or not? Right? I know many women that are much more educated and are better public speakers and more engaging than some men that I know and some pastors that I've listened to who are men.