CROWN OF LIFE BULLETIN AND SERMON
OUR WEEK WITH THE LORD
Today8 & 10:45 AM- Worship with Communion
9:40 AM- Sunday School and Bible Class
Monday10:00 AM- Revelation Bible study
5:00 PM- Board of Elders
Tuesday9:00 AM- Pastors’ Circuit Meeting at Cape Coral
5:00 PM- Education Committee
7:00 PM- Voter’s Call Meeting
- No choir rehearsal
Thursday9:00 AM- Evangelism Committee
10:00 AM- Rubies Women’s Bible Study
Saturday9:00 AM- Youth Class
Sunday8 & 10:45 AM - Worship
9:40 AM- Sunday School and Bible Class
SERVING THE LORD AND US TODAYNEXT SUNDAY
Organist:Joyce WhiteJoyce White
Elder:8 – Daniel HellmannMarv Lehman
10:45 – Paul CondonMel Pavlisin
Ushers: 8 – Dave Lamper & Jeff TroyRon Rahn & Marcel Krueger
10:45 – Mike Burke & Nick YunkerMel Pavlisin & Kevin Syverson
Greeters: 8 – Linda ThielKay Lehman
10:45 – Red & Cherl KreuterMatt & Katie Visaggio
Fellowship: Carol Campbell & Lynn BurkeOpen
Counters:Dave Balza & Nick YunkerBrian Kopp & Paul Condon
Communion:Linda Thiel
FLOWERS on the altar today have been given to the glory of God by Klara Imshaug. Thank you!
TIME OF FELLOWSHIP: Everyone is invited to enjoy refreshments and fellowship after the service at the school.
SUNDAY SCHOOL AND BIBLE CLASS will meetabout 9:40 AM. Our Bible Class will continue our stewardship series on Love Takes Time. Everyone is invited to join us for our Bible study.
REVELATION BIBLE STUDY: We will meet this week on Monday at 10:00 AM for our study of thebook of Revelation. Everyone is invited at the school.
SPECIAL VOTERS’ MEETING is being called for Tuesday, February 8th, at 7:00 PM to call for a new pastor and a new director and teacher for our preschool.
RUBIES’ WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY will meet on Thursday at 10:00 AM.
PICTORIAL DIRECTORY SIGN-UP: Please take timeafter the service to sign up for photo appointments for our new pictorial directory on Friday, February 18thand Saturday, February 19th. There are still 16 appointment openings from 4:40 – 9:20 PM on Friday and 15 openings from 10:20 AM – 5:10 PM on Saturday. Everyone who has their photo take will receive a free 8”x10” photo and a free directory.
PRAYER LIST: Please rememberin your prayers: Pam Adams (back/recovering), Agnes Woodard (husband, Deuel, has dementia in a nursing home in New York), Norine Metzger (Pastor Metzger’s wife from Michigan with physical problems), Levi Zimpelmann (Pastor Zimpelmann’s son from Montana with seizures), Carol Dobrunz (recovery from knee replacement surgery and cancer treatments), Kenneth Lange (son of Darlene Lange with cancer), Kimberly Wallace (the granddaughter of Darlene Lange who has been diagnosed with a form of breast cancer), Ruth Hayes (recovering from
back surgery), Pat Hartwig (recovering from back surgery).
MEMBERSHIP BIBLE INFORMATION CLASS: Anyone is welcome to attend the new Bible Information Class that will begin on Thursday, February 17th, at 6:30 PM. There will be a series of 15 weekly lessons. The class will also be offered to anyone who would like to attend on Monday morning or afternoon. Please contact the pastor.
CROWNING TOUCH, our church newsletter for February, is available in the narthex for anyone who did not receive it by email or desires a hard copy.
FORWARD IN CHRIST: copies of our church magazine for February are available in the narthex.
BIBLES: NIV softcover large-print Bibles are available for $7.50 each. Please see the pastor if interested in purchasing.
CHURCH MUGS with theCrown of Life logo and Bible passage are available on the table in the narthex for $4 each.
LOVE TAKES TIME: Are you a list person? What is on the top of the list when it comes to priorities? Where do the sacraments rate in relation to sports? Where does work rate in relation to God’s Word? Next week’s Christ’s Love, Our Calling theme calls us to carve out precious time with the Body of Christ, his Church. The ancient Church had it right: “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42). May the Lord bless the members of our congregation as, together, we make first things first!
LWMS: We are saving Meditations again for the WELS Prison Ministry. A donor to the Special Ministries has made it possible to again have postage money to mail the Meditations to the Prisons. I am not presently collecting Christmas card covers but will still collect special occasion card covers, as I have a large back log of Christmas covers. These items can be put in the basket under the mail slots. If anyone would like to write Christian messages on the backs of the covers, please let me know. It is a large job for one person. PILL BOTTLES: I have just sent my first box ofpill bottles to the Central African Medical Mission (CAMM) in Malawi, Africa. Postage was paid for by donations at the LWMS Rallies. Please save for me only wide opening Pharmacy bottles that can be stacked one inside the other, not narrow top bottles. Put in my mailbox or in Meditation basket. Thank you Crown of Life members.We are a mission minded congregation. – Carol Campbell
SERMON
Sermon Text: Luke 15:11-24
11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13 Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.”
Sermon Theme: “GETTING TO KNOW OUR SUPER DAD”
Do you know what today is? Well, it’s commonly known as “Super Sunday”. That’s because this is the day of the biggest game of the year, called the “Superbowl”. But for many that is just a good excuse for the biggest party of the year – the “Super Party”. Even if you have no use for the game, you can always enjoy the party.
But since this is “Super Sunday”, I thought I might as well preach a “super sermon”. No, the sermon itself will not be so super, but it will be about a super person. Since we have some time to spare this morning before the super game, I thought we would make this a time for “GETTING TO KNOW OUR SUPER DAD”. He is a Dad who loves usin spite of what we are like and only because of who He is.
1.
First of all, I don’t want you to think I am blaspheming the name of God by calling Him “Super Dad”. The Hebrew or Aramaic word for “Father” is “Abba”. That is the word a little child would use to address his or her father who was a kind and gentle and loving and caring and forgiving. “Abba”, then, is equivalent to our English word “Dad” or “Daddy”. And since there is no better Father in all the world, that is why I can call God our “Super Dad”.
Our lesson today is a parable that was taught by Jesus. As you probably know, a parable is “earthly story with a heavenly meaning”. It’s a story taken from everyday life that usually has one main spiritual lesson to teach us.
This parable of our lesson was intended by Jesus not only for His disciples but also for His enemies - the Pharisees and teachers of the law. Jesus had been associating with tax collectors and other great sinners. That would be like you and me taking a group of homeless people or convicts out to lunch at a fancy restaurant. Can you imagine what the elite of our society would think or say about that?
Jesus ate with sinners because He loved all people the same. He wanted all people to be saved. But that is something the Pharisees could never handle. To them, just hanging out with sinners made Jesus guilty by association. How dare He claim to be the “Messiah”.
Well, that is when Jesus teaches a series of parables. The first two were the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin. And the main point of both was this: “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
And now Jesus teaches the third parable of our lesson. The NIV Bible calls it “the parable of the lost son”. You and I probably remember it also as the parable of the “prodigal (or wayward) son”. But the real name of the parable should be the parable of the “loving father” – the “Super Dad”.
Jesus says that "there was a man who had two sons.” Our lesson only teaches us about the one son, the younger one.He was the “prodigal son”. As a son, he grew up in the home of his father. He had it made. He had the best of everything. We would say that he was blessed beyond measure. But there was one big problem. You know what it was? This son was ungrateful. He did not appreciate what he had or how good he had it.
But there was more to it than that. This young man still considered himself to be a son of his father. The first word he speaks in the parable is “Father”. But – and I don’t know how old he was – he had become very worldly-minded. The good values his father had taught him no longer meant a thing to him. He wanted to taste the good things in life. He wanted to see how the rest of the world lives. That is why he did not just ask but actually demanded that his father give him his share of the inheritance.
But now that he had what he wanted now in the way of money and material things, he left home and “set off for a distant country”. He went to a place where his father would not be able to see what he was doing. And boy, did he live it up. Jesus says that he “squandered his wealth in wild living.” He lived the kind of life that would have embarrassed and certainly disappointed his father.
But this young man did not care. No, he cared – but he only cared about himself. If it looked good to his eyes and satisfied his sinful flesh, he wanted it. But then all his material possessions ran out. Maybe there was a recession and his greed caught up to him. Now everything was gone and he was destitute – and desperate. It got so bad he had to take any kind of job he could find – and it turned out to be feeding pigs. That’s about as bad as it could get for a Jew, not only because of the low pay but because it meant working with animals who were considered to be “unclean”. There were even times when he was so hungry and so desperate that he tried to eat the same food that was fed to the pigs. But even that was denied him.
Does this ungrateful and self-centered young man remind you of anyone? Well, keep in mind that he still considered himself to be his father’s son. That is like a church member who thinks that his membership is going to get him to heaven – sort of like “heavenly life insurance”. But then the church member grows tired of going to church and spending all that time worshiping and praying and denying himself so many pleasures he could have.
So what happens? He falls away. He falls away because he is so ungrateful and never thinks about how blessed he was to be a member of God’s family in Christ. The only thing he cares about is himself and having a good time and enjoying all that this life has to offer. He has no use for the really good things that he once had.
The point is, that is the kind of person most fathers would disown the moment they left home. Most fathers would say, “that ungrateful son of mine is never going to see another penny from me for the rest of his life. He deserves what he gets.”
And there is a lot of truth in that. The Bible itself tells us “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” If a person sows to his flesh, then he is going to reap the consequences of his actions. That’s sad, but it happens to so many who think they are better off without God and without Jesus in their lives.
2.
But like I said before, this parable is really not about the wayward son but about the loving father. This father was not like most fathers. Not only did he grieve to see his son make the worst mistake of his life, but every moment his son was gone, he thought about him, longing for the day he might return. How many fathers would ever think of doing something like that?
But that wasn’t all. He loved his son in spite of what his son was like. You see, the father loved his son because of who he was.
The time finally came when we are told this son “came to his senses”. Up to this time he had been living the kind of life that made no sense at all. It was dumb, it was stupid, and it only brought one problem after another. And yet, he had brought it all on himself by his life of sin and self-indulgence.
But now a miracle happened. The son was brought to his senses by the law, because of the miserable life he was living. Now he thought about going back home. He thought about the fact that his father’s servants were far better off than he was. So he decides this is what he is going to say to his father: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.” He is hoping that, maybe, his father might take him back as one of his hired hands.
That is when Jesus says that the young man set out for home. And “while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” Wow, what a super dad. We definitely get the impression here that this father was looking out the window every day, just waiting for his son’s return. While his son was still a long way off, the father ran to meet him. He threw his arms around his son and kissed him. Welcome home, son!
And then the son says to his father: “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." The father could see that his son was repentant, and even before his son could finish what he was going to say, the father tells his servants to prepare a celebration feast. His son who was lost in sin was now alive again spiritually and eternally.
The celebration included three things. First there was the “best robe” that was put on his son. That is the robe of righteousness in which we are dressed through faith in Jesus. Jesus earned that righteousness for us by the perfect life He lived in our place. And then there was the ring that was placed on his finger and the sandals on his feet - symbols of the fact that this unworthy son had been restored to the family. Yes, his sins were forgiven. That, too, is what Jesus did for us when He cried out on the cross, “It is finished”. Yes, our sins were paid for in full and His resurrection from the dead on the third day proved it.
But you see, that shows how special we are to our Father. There is a real celebration in heaven every time we repent and look to Jesus in saving faith. His Word and the gifts of our baptism and His Supper assure us that we have a Super Dad - a Dad who loves us in spite of what we are like, only because of who He is. Yes, “how great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are”. Amen