Don’t Shoot the Messenger

Luke 4:13-30

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

14 And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. 15 And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. 16 And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. 17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the ¹book and found the place where it was written, 18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,  BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR. HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES, AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND, TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED, 19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.” 20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 22 And all were speaking well of Him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from His lips; and they were saying, “Is this not Joseph’s son?” 23 And He said to them, “No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well.’” 24 And He said, “Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. 25 “But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; 26 and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. 27 “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” 28 And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; 29 and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. 30 But passing through their midst, He went His way.

I was in shock. I came to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was 35 years old. At 37 years old, I was called by Jesus to preach the original meaning of the Bible. I had started seminary, and the Bishop sent me as a student pastor to a congregation. After two years, I was appointed to my first standalone church. It was a small family size church and had an average Sunday attendance of 80 people. I had taken my preaching class, and of course, the teacher said that we must preach the Bible even if people don’t like what we have to say.

So, I went to this new assignment and started preaching the Bible, as I understood it from my seminary experiences. As I still do today, I researched the passage and did an exegetical review so that I could understand what the passage was all about. Now today I do even more because I search for the original meaning of the Scripture. I want to know when Jesus spoke, what did people actually hear and not what the church likes to tell us today? I was a novice at that part of understanding the Scripture back in 2001 when I was assigned to this small family size church. At that time, I used only the exegetical and interpretation of research that I was taught in seminary.

You would think the people in the congregation would be happy about this because this was the things they had been hearing for years. Well, I was in shock, oh yeah, I already said that. Why was I in shock? About one year into that ministry, a member of the congregation came to me after the worship celebration and cornered me. He looked at me and said “we as the congregation are tired of hearing about what the Bible says. We don’t like being told what to do, so you need to stop.”

Are you shocked also? I was being told that people came to church, but they didn’t want to hear what the Bible had to say to them. Well, it turns out they didn’t want to hear any of the commandments or requirements of being a Christian that Jesus told us. Why would you go to church and not want to learn what the Bible is saying? After all, the Bible is our manual for living that was given to us by God and Jesus.

So, I asked this gentleman what am I supposed to be preaching if you don’t want to hear what the Bible has to say? His response was that I should preach John chapter 3 verse 16 and only that verse. Of course, he didn’t want to hear verse 17, which are the requirements of receiving Jesus as Lord and Savior. No, he wanted to hear every Sunday that Jesus loved him no matter how much he sinned during the week or anywhere in his life and he was going to heaven.

You can say that he wanted his ticket punched the when the Jesus bus arrived. He knew that he could board the bus. He did not like my answer about preaching only John 3:16 and to receive this savings grace, there are some requirements.

A wise lady, who I have high respect for, told me that there’s no such thing as cheap grace. That is exactly what this man wanted. He wanted to know that no matter what he did and no matter what, he said that Jesus was going to accept him flat out with no requirements on his part. Sorry folks, that’s called cheap grace. Also, cheap grace does not exist. You cannot say that Jesus as your Savior than go out into the world and do all the sinning you want to do. You can also find it in several of Paul’s letters, and I believe right off the top of my head that Romans has a straightforward answer about that. The answer is no, you cannot go out and sin after you say that Jesus as your Lord and Savior and died for your sins. Our obligation becomes trying not to sin.

If you don’t know what the Bible says that how do you know what God thinks is a sin? Right, you don’t know. Reading and understanding the Bible is the key to getting that salvation that Jesus offers. Jesus gives us the most beautiful ways to live by God’s laws, by his words and his actions. Jesus showed us exactly how were supposed to react in so many situations so that we are always pleasing God.

There is no free ticket to heaven. If you come before the Lord and you’re baptized, and you proclaim Jesus as Lord and Savior and that he died for your sins and that you will try to live by his ways and then you go out and totally forget about your commitment then your baptism is meaningless.

There are many people who go to Sunday worship and when they leave the church, they go back to living their ungodly lives. Now some of them aren’t that bad in what they do, however they forget that they’re trying to live like Jesus. Jesus said kind words to people and did things to help people. I know a lot of church people who wouldn’t give you the time of day once you are outside of that church building. I have even seen it happen in the parking lot of the church where people disrespected each other.

This respect for people is something that has grown into our society. If 60+ percent of the people in the United States claim to be Christians and if that is so, then we should see a lot of kindness out in this country. However, where not seeing it. Therefore, can we assume that this huge number of people who say that they follow Jesus Christ really don’t and they’re looking for that cheap grace, that free ticket to get into heaven.

If you are getting irritated by my words, then you’re one of those people who don’t want to hear that there is that obligation to being saved by Jesus. You have to do something. The church has struggled with this problem for centuries. This was one problem Martin Luther, who is given credit for the start of the Reformation and creation of Protestantism, had. He did not understand how much you have to do in order to receive that salvation. Eventually, when Lutheranism was established the idea that you had to do nothing to receive salvation was created. Okay, you don’t have to do anything to get Jesus love and his salvation upon you however, you do accept an obligation to live a certain way when you do accept it.

Therefore, there is something you have to do. Sanctification, this is a fancy word to say being saved from sin, is not something that you or I can do to obtain. That comes from Jesus and from Jesus alone. However, once you receive that free gift you have accepted the obligation to live like Jesus and to be like Jesus.

Like Jesus in the synagogue of Nazareth telling the people the truth of God, the same reaction occurs in churches when the preacher tells the people the truth of the Bible. The only difference is that today the people don’t physically beat up the preacher for what he said. Instead, the congregation will do whatever it can to force that preacher to leave the congregation. In Jesus’ day, they really did not want to kill him for what he said. However, they called him a blasphemer, and that required a humiliating punishment, not death. If the people wanted to truly kill Jesus, they would a stoned him in the town.

People humiliate the preacher when they don’t like the message that they just heard. Most of the time, it’s a passive aggressive attitude that develops against the preacher and eventually forces him or her to leave. There are many ways that the congregation will do this to their preacher, and it is totally wrong if the preacher is truly giving the congregation the genuine message of the Bible.

I knew a preacher who told me he could not preach the truth of the Bible because the congregation could hold an immediate no-confidence vote in him and he could lose his job. He was afraid to preach the original meaning of the Bible to the people because they wouldn’t like it. Therefore, he had to temper about everything he said so that nobody would get upset. He also understood that by watering down the Bible in this way, he really wasn’t accomplishing anything for God. However, he had a young family, and he needed employment. That sounds really sad, but it’s a truth that’s out there in our churches.

Therefore, the next time you hear a message from a preacher that stabs you in the heart because you’re not doing what the Bible says, you should do instead of getting mad at the preacher maybe you should get mad at yourself. Inspect inside of yourself and see if you agree with what the messenger from God is telling you.

The Blood Church Warning

Luke 3:23-38

Rabbi Dr. Rev. Michael H Koplitz

Luke 3:23   ^aWhen He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli, 24 the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Jannai, the son of Joseph, 25 the son of Mattathias, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Hesli, the son of Naggai, 26 the son of Maath, the son of Mattathias, the son of Semein, the son of Josech, the son of Joda, 27 the son of Joanan, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, 28 the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmadam, the son of Er, 29 the son of Joshua, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, 30 the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonam, the son of Eliakim, 31 the son of Melea, the son of Menna, the son of Mattatha, the son of Nathan, the son of David, 32 the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, 33 the son of Amminadab, the son of Admin, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, 34 the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, 35 the son of Serug, the son of ¹Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Heber, the son of Shelah, 36 the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, 37 the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalaleel, the son of Cainan, 38 the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

A problem with pastoral preaching is sometimes you have to talk about a hard truth that people do not want to hear. Sometimes you have to upset the congregation with truth in order for them to see the problem. It is equivalent to showing a cigarette smoker the scans of their cancer ridden lungs to get them to stop smoking.  This is one of those messages.

My Doctor of Ministry degree was in Christian leadership. My project thesis for this degree was a study of the leadership of pastors and different size churches. The church modeling that I use was based on Arlen Rothague’s work on church modeling for the Episcopal church. His work became the basis of church modeling. Basically, there are four types of churches identified. The family size church, the pastor centered church, the program centered church and the corporate size church. Each of these different churches, because of their size, requires different leadership needs from the pastor. I also discovered reasons for church attendance increase and decrease. I want to concentrate on decreasing attendance and membership in this message.

Inside the family size church, as you would expect from the name, the people are of the same family. In rural areas of Pennsylvania, there are pockets where everyone is a cousin. Well, I should say most people are cousins. I call these the blood family size churches. Family size churches are characterized by having 90 or fewer people attending worship every Sunday. There are family size churches outside of the rural areas, especially in some of the inner cities where small groups of like-minded people come together to worship God in Christ.

In the rural areas of Central Pennsylvania, most of the small churches are actually blood family size churches. My first appointment to a United Methodist church and actually my last appointment was at a blood family church. Each church was in the southern rural part of York County, Pennsylvania.

Now let me start by saying that I am not condemning the blood family size church at all. I would have no problem offering this type of sermon to a blood family size church because what I want to do is emphasize that these types of churches have been in decline for several years and are going to phase out. There have been numerous blood family churches in the Susquehanna conference of the United Methodist Church that have closed over the 25+ years that I’ve been in ministry. Almost all the closings have been family size churches. I cannot say that they are all blood family size churches because many of them were gone before I even started my doctoral studies.

This is an alarm that I am sounding off to the blood family size church. I had a similar message for the two blood family size churches I was appointed to when I was ready to move on. The problem I found with the blood family size churches is that they refuse to accept people from outside of the biological family. The first blood family church I was at, I had an active young couple who said to me they were not related to each other. Luckily for me, a previous member of the church constructed a family tree dating back 100 years before he passed away. So, we looked at the family tree and we found that this husband and wife were cousins ninth removed. They had the same great great great great great great grandparents. They were shocked to say the least. They were married cousins.

Considering that these people were not mobile until the 1950s when they could afford cars, it’s understandable that you would marry your cousin. And again, I’m not saying is anything wrong with that but when the congregation is comprised of kissing cousins and they don’t allow other nonfamily members to enter the church, then the church is in trouble. This first church that I was at that I just described a little to you did not allow outsiders of the family in. I had a couple move up into the area from Baltimore and they came to the church one day. At the end of the church worship, the three matriarchs of the church grilled them for about 10 minutes to discover that they were from Baltimore and not part of the family. They also clarified that they were not welcome at the church because they were not part of the family. It hurt me because I had met this couple and encourage them to come to church since they only lived about ½ a mile away from the church and the nearest church beside us would’ve been 5 miles away. Boy, did I feel stupid and somewhat embarrassed for the church because they were a young couple who were about to create a family and that’s exactly who you want in your church if you wanted to grow.

The last church I was at was another blood family church. When I got there, over one third of the membership was over 90 years old. If this church was going to survive, it needed an infusion of fresh blood. However, the same problem occurred that the worshiping congregation would not allow nonfamily members to be in the church. They used a passive aggressive mode to get newcomers to leave. Right across the street from the church, a couple in their mid-20s moved in. They came over to the church. Not one person from the worshiping congregation would talk to them outside of my lovely bride and myself. Needless to say, when I went to visit them during that week they told me they would never be back because they had never been in a church that was so unfriendly. At an Administrative board meeting I brought up this problem and I was clearly told that the church did not want anybody there who was not part of the family.

There decrease in attendance and membership was because they were aging and dying off and their children and their grandchildren did not want to live in the rural areas of York County. The children and grandchildren moved to the suburbs or to the city of Philadelphia and they were not going to drive to the church on Sunday. There was one person who was at the church for over 35 years and was not a part of the biological family. I spoke to him about how he was treated by the congregation. He said that if he did not criticize or offer a new way of doing things; the people loved him. One day, he spoke up after all that time. Needless to tell you, two weeks later, he left the church.

Luke included his genealogy in his gospel to show us that Jesus was from the line of David. If you examine it very closely, you see that Luke’s genealogy differs from Matthew’s genealogy. We could spend a lot of time talking about why it’s different. But ultimately, Jesus was linked to David, Abraham, Adam, and ultimately to God. Messianic tradition says that Jesus would be part of the line of David. Indeed, Luke proves that to us.

For the initial Jews who became believers in Jesus and for the Gentile believers, this was very important. It was important enough that Luke investigated every part of the generations and could get all the names. However, the small blood family churches have taken the genealogy to an unhealthy extreme. Luke did not give us the genealogy so that the church can say only family members can belong. Luke gave us the genealogy to prove Jesus’ lineage.

If your church is acting in this way, and it will not allow people to become a part of the worshiping congregation, if they are not a part of the family, then you are writing an epitaph for the church. There are so many pressures on Christianity today that we cannot afford to allow an internal preference like being part of the biological family to stop us. If your church does not allow non-family members to enter, then the church is going to eventually shut down.

Another truth is that we are all connected to Jesus Christ. Jesus spoke about him being the vine and we are the branches. So, if your church wants to be a spiritually family oriented church, it has to learn that the family that Jesus spoke about is not a blood family but a spiritual family. We are connected to each other through our spirituality, not through biology. This is a lesson that even larger churches can learn from.

Every size church must be open to accepting new spiritual family members with open arms and grace. It doesn’t matter where they lived, who their parents were, what their race is, or even what religion they might convert from. Our churches must accept anyone who wants to worship and learn about Jesus Christ.

Some of you might say, “oh yeah, that’s not a problem for us.” The truth is, I was a Jewish convert to Christianity. I was the pastor of churches. And anti-Semitism was in every church I was at. I’m not saying everyone in the church, but I am saying there were enough people there that they would be passive aggressive and eventually convince me to leave when they wanted me out. This also is wrong, and it’s the same as rejecting someone who’s not part of the blood family.

From my studies and years in the pastorate, I want to say to the church stop doing things that are destroying yourself. We exist to make disciples for Jesus Christ and to educate them in the faith. We are to accept everyone who wants to learn about God through Christ. We must have semi-blind eyes in the sense that we will see nothing beyond a lost soul who is looking for God.

I know this sounds harsh, but it needs to be said because the world is constantly changing, and people are looking for the stability of God. Here we are, the church of Jesus Christ, and we need to be ready to serve all people who want to be part of our spiritual family. We need to actively go out and seek the pilgrims who are spiritually lost. The only question that we should ever ask a newcomer is, “how I can help you strengthen your relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?”

How can we relate to Jesus baptism?

How can we relate to Jesus baptism?

Luke 3:21 – 22

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H Koplitz

21   Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”

When I first became a Christian and I read about Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, I wondered why if we believe Jesus was sinless that he would need to be baptized for the removal of sin. I remember asking my pastor this and even he had trouble trying to explain it. After studying these two lines of Scripture and all the symbolism that is within it, I think I have a pretty good explanation of why Jesus needed to be baptized.

Yes, Jesus certainly was sinless therefore, his baptism must have meant something else. When we discover what that meaning is, we need it incorporated into our lives. We need to be baptized into the life of Jesus and we need to be cleansed of the sins we had before coming to know him as Lord and Savior. There is no denying that purpose of baptism. However, there is more to baptism than just the removal of original sin, or any other sin one has.

We need to think about what Jesus did before and after his baptism. The human side of Jesus grew up in a small town named Nazareth. He would have studied the Torah and the other traditions of Judaism while he was growing up. He would’ve learned a trade and that probably would’ve been one that was the same, if not like his father’s. He would’ve lived at home with his parents and any other nuclear family members.

Then one day came where Jesus went to the Jordan River to be baptized. Luke’s gospel does not give us a lot of information about the narrative as the other gospels do. However, what Luke offers us in short verses is very symbolic and contains a lot of meaning.

When each of us is baptized, the purpose of Jesus’ baptism is to show God outwardly what we believe in our souls. We show God that we trust Him, and we have faith in what Jesus tells us. When we read the Gospels and learn about Jesus’ life, we see he dedicated himself to preparing people to enter heaven. He explained to us how God wants us to live under the holy Scripture. So, when we are baptized into the faith, we accept we want to change our lives to align them with the pages of the Bible. Thus, we become the continuing story of God’s work here on earth. Yes, Jesus will live on through every one of us because each of us who has been baptized should act in compliance with what Jesus said.

For us today, we must start the journey with God by clearing ourselves of the sins that we’ve accumulated up to that point. Therefore, the first purpose of baptism is to remove original sin from us and any sins we’ve accumulated. That works very well for adults. If you have never been baptized and you’re an adult, baptism will wash away your sins and offer forgiveness for every one of them. But what if someone baptized you as an infant or a baby who has committed no sins yet?

In this account, I follow the theological interpretation of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. He said that baptizing babies creates a commitment by the parents to raise the child to come to know Jesus Christ as its Lord and Savior. The parents agree to show Jesus to the child. Then, when the child reaches a certain age, Wesley thought around 13 years old that it was up to the child to decide whether they wanted to continue a life in Christ. Wesley believed God protected children until they reached around the age of 13.

The church does not believe that you need to be baptized twice. One reason for this is that God does not need to repeat a covenant that has already been made. Therefore, the church developed the concept of confirmation. This is the ritual where the youngster declares in front of the congregation and God that he or she believes and has faith in the power of Jesus Christ to save them for their sins and that they want to spend their life trying as hard as possible to imitate the ways of Christ.

When we see the actions of Jesus after his baptism, we realize that our baptism or confirmation is our starting point for our ministry work for Christ. Jesus went out to do the work that God had set forth for him. By our baptism, we go out to continue that work that God gave to Jesus because we become his hands and feet on earth. We are the ones that are going to bring the love of Christ to people. That’s an obligation that we accept when we declare that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior.

According to Martin Luther, who led the Reformation, if a person is baptized into the faith of Jesus Christ and they choose not to follow Jesus’ way, then all that occurred to them was that someone placed water on their head. We believe that when you’re baptized the Holy Spirit comes upon you in the same way that it did to Jesus and then you have the strength from the Holy Spirit to go out and do the work that Christ will give you.

So, think about your baptism and if you are child and you don’t remember it think about the obligation that you took upon yourself at confirmation. Ask yourself the question what are you doing for Jesus today? Remember, we are the hands and feet of Jesus Christ, and we must go out into the world and show his love through us and that is done by our words and actions in the world.

Easter message

Easter message

Mark 16:1-8

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Mark 16:1   When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, so that they might come and anoint Him. 2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. 3 They were saying to one another, “Who will roll away the stone for us from the entrance of the tomb?” 4 Looking up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away, although it was extremely large. 5 Entering the tomb, they saw a young man sitting at the right, wearing a white robe; and they were amazed. 6 And he said to them, “Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him. 7 “But go, tell His disciples and Peter, ‘He is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see Him, just as He told you.’” 8 They went out and fled from the tomb, for trembling and astonishment had gripped them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Happy Easter. The Lord is risen. He is risen indeed.

Today is what we call on the calendar Easter. It is a day of celebration that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ rose from the grave to show us that everything he said and did came from God. One thing I noticed when I read the four Gospels for the first time is that there are actually four different stories about Easter morning. Each gospel has a slightly different story. I found this very confusing because of my background as a scientist and engineer, where precision is greatly valued. How could four people document different accounts of such a powerful event that changed human history?

Over time, I found out there are actually more descriptions of the actual resurrection event than the four that are in the Bible. There are books that were not included in the Bible and that was a decision of the church bishops in 456 CE at a church council where the church decided it needed a standard Canon that all churches would use. Be that as it may, I still wanted to know why the four stories in the four Gospels were different. The commentaries and the seminary New Testament professor could not give me a straight answer of why there was a difference.

It wasn’t until I began my studies in trying to understand the original meaning of Scripture that I came across the meaning of why there are four stories. The bottom line is folks, there’s only one story. Semitic people wrote the Bible. These are people who lived in the Near East and their understanding of what a story was differs from what Western people and that’s us, think a story should be. For the Semitic writer, the details are not that important. So, what is important? The meaning of the story. To be more precise the theological meaning of the story. In each of the four narratives about Easter, there is one common point. That point is that Jesus Christ rose from the grave. It doesn’t matter who got to the great first. The point is when they looked in the grave, he was gone.

You could debate all day when it was Mary or Peter, or the disciple Jesus loved who got there first, and that would be a fine debate for Western thinkers like us. However, for the writers of that day, it didn’t matter. The details of the story were not that important, it was the meaning of the story. I know I’m repeating myself so let me give you an example, if you went fishing, and you caught a 6 inch fish when you got home would you say to your friend I only caught a 6 inch fish or would you say you caught a 6 foot fish. In some Semitic storytelling, that six-inch fish would be 6 feet long before the fishers got home. Embellishing stories was a way to make them bigger than life. That’s the way Near Eastern people told stories.

So again, it doesn’t matter who got there first; it doesn’t matter what exactly happened beyond Jesus was not in the grave. Whether there were angels, it just doesn’t matter. That’s the embellishment of the storyteller.

Now why am I saying this? Because our society has embellished the Easter story. You’re probably saying come on Mike, how can you possibly say that? Okay, let me ask you, where in the Bible do you find rabbits during Easter? Or by better question, might be where in the Bible do you find rabbit Peeps, that is those marshmallows shaped as rabbits and taste delicious? I think peeps are an excellent candy, and I hope they never discontinue them. However, it’s not biblical.

Another example is Easter eggs. There is no such thing as Easter eggs in the Bible. However, it’s an embellishment of the story. Christianity has embellished the Easter story, and our society has really embellished the story. Real quick, where did Easter eggs come from? Well, that has to do with the period of Lent back in the Middle Ages. Yes, Lent is also not biblical. But that is ok. During the Middle Ages the church needed to raise money, so they said to the people do not eat eggs but give the church the money you would’ve spent on eggs. Then Saturday night at midnight, which would now be Sunday morning, the people of the church would be together because they had been fasting, which is in done nowadays, and the church would give them eggs. So, the church made a big omelet on Easter Sunday in the middle of that morning or night, which everyone called it. That’s where Easter eggs come from.

Now I must say that I would rather have my Easter eggs as Cadbury eggs and especially the mini eggs. An interesting new fad is that we must buy presents. My understanding is that Easter now is second in sales only to Christmas. Therefore, the retail merchants have taken hold of our sacred Easter day and turned it into an opportunity for them to make money. Where in the Bible does it say you have to receive a gift on Easter, which is monetary.

I say that you get a present because you actually receive the greatest spiritual gift God could give you and that is forgiveness of sin, salvation, and eternal life if you believe in the words and actions of Jesus and that God raised him to life on the third day after his crucifixion and death. That’s the greatest gift ever. I am a chocolate lover, but the gift of Jesus far exceeds those chocolate mini eggs. I’m not condemning our culture and society for wanting to give each other presents on Easter and if you want to send me some mini eggs, that would be wonderful. So exactly what am I saying?

How many people in our society do not know the true reason for Easter in the same way that they don’t know the true meaning of Christmas? That’s where we Christians have to come in and explain to our world that we celebrate our salvation through Christ being raised from the dead. We need to shout it on the mountain tops that Jesus is alive and that our God is with us and will forgive us for our sins.

The world has forgotten that because there are more hyped about getting presidents and Easter eggs and rabbits and all these other things that our society and culture has developed and have forgotten the true meaning of Easter. When your family comes together to hand out those Easter gifts, do you stop for a moment and talk about the true meaning of Easter? It is an outstanding opportunity to talk about salvation from sin through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ and a faith in Him.

Every one of you who is listening or reading this message and has received baptism in the church needs to go back and look at the ritual that you experienced. We believe that when we are baptized; we die with Christ and are raised anew in Christ, just as he died for us and rose from the dead. When we are baptized, we rise into a new life with Jesus. That’s what Easter is all about.

When you celebrate Easter, you are celebrating not only God’s miracle of raising Christ from the dead but also celebrating your own rising to a new life with God. What an exciting and invigorating feeling it is to know that we belong to Christ not only because of his physical death but our spiritual reawakening that we are now a part of him. Now that’s something to celebrate.

So when you break out the Easter Peeps and the mini eggs, remember what God did for us by giving us Jesus who showed us through his words and actions how God wants us to live and was willing to die for those words and actions. Through God, he raised Jesus from the dead to show us that everything he said and did was truly from God. Our lives are so much better because Jesus died to show us the way to forgiveness of sin.

May God and Christ bless you not only at this Easter season but always in your life. Amen.

The Risk of Not Being Quiet

Luke 3:18-20

Rabbi Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Luke 3:18   So with many other exhortations he preached the gospel to the people. 19 But when Herod the tetrarch was reprimanded by him because of Herodias, his brother’s wife, and because of all the wicked things which Herod had done, 20 Herod also added this to them all: he locked John up in prison.

Luckily, in the United States today, the authorities do not execute a person if they speak out about an injustice. However, in the United States in 2024, speaking out against the current government could land you in some difficulties. Even before this time, speaking out against the government could cause trouble. When Pres. Barack Obama was running for his second term. There were three of us in the church that I was serving who joined the Republican Party because we were in disagreement with the policies of the president. Each of us received certified letters from the Internal Revenue Service demanding all our records for a tax audit within two months of supporting Obama’s opponent. Pastors don’t make that much money, therefore the government would not get a large collection because of an error I may have made. In fact, they did not. This is an abuse of government power, and it was well known that Lois Lerner of the IRS was telling her people to go after conservatives and evangelicals. I happen to be an evangelical and still stand behind that title.

Sometimes telling the truth to someone is not the best thing to do. While that sounds terrible, but do we have to think about the results? Let me tell you the story of a friend named Steve. Steve was a very good civil engineer. He went to work for a company, that I cannot mention here, and was placed on a project where the project manager was the wife of the owner of the company. One Sunday at church, he came to talk to me and was in a dilemma because the project manager, according to him, did not know what she was doing. She was also a member of the church who showed up rarely on Sundays.

I asked Steve how her incompetence affected the overall project. He told me she made a lot of mistakes in her calculations and understanding of the theories of civil engineering. I cautioned Steve and said to him he has to weigh the errors in the project versus his status with the company. I told him directly that if he goes into the owner and does not say things perfectly, he was going to be fired before the end of the day. Certainly, the project manager, the wife, would know about Steve going over her head to her husband. She would insist, well demand, that Steve be fired. So, Steve had a moral and ethical dilemma.

He decided to go to the owner and explain the situation. Unfortunately, Steve was not a tactful person and didn’t take the advice of being very gentle in this situation. And yes, he did not have a job by the end of the day. Unfortunately for Steve, the owner of the company contacted his buddies who owned civil engineering firms in the Dillsburg Pennsylvania area and told them they should not hire Steve. It did not matter that Steve was an outstanding civil engineer; the politics were against him. So, Steve went on unemployment and could not find work. Unfortunately, he also had a heart problem and was forced to change his diet because his unemployment did not cover all of his expenses.

The sad part is one morning Steve was to be with a friend and did not show up. So, his friend went to Steve’s apartment and knocked on the door with no answer. The friend tried to call Steve on his cellular phone and on his landline and received no answer. He was able to convince the landlord to open up the apartment. Unfortunately, you probably know the rest of the story. They found Steve dead. An autopsy showed that he had a massive heart attack, and the doctors surmised he died instantly, without pain or suffering.

So, you can say that Steve died because he went into his boss to tell him that there was this problem. That really sounds bad when you think about it. It also makes you think about whether you should do the right thing. Perhaps if Steve was a bit more tactful, he could have explained to his boss the situation and ask for directions on how to deal with his wife. Unfortunately, we will never know.

What can we learn from John the Baptist story and from Steve’s story? Pointing out morality and ethical problems requires a lot of tact. You also have to be very sure that you are correct in your assessment and that you are ethically and morally as pure as you can be before you condemn someone else. Whether or not you are correct about the morality or ethics of another person, there will be backlash about it and you have to be prepared for it. John the Baptist had to know that he was going to be arrested and killed when he spoke about the immorality of the king. Biblical history tells us that when prophets of the Lord went to the king and officials of the kingdom to tell them they were doing something wrong, they ended up being murdered.

Perhaps that is why the morality and ethics of our society are in decline. It is difficult to speak up. The woke culture that is been developing in the country comes with the problem of cancel culture. Many performers and famous people have been canceled because they came out against this woke culture that’s developing in our society. The canceling of television shows and comedy actors can be seen. When this happens to theses actors, they cannot find work. Isn’t it wrong to take away one’s life work because they don’t agree with some small minority of people who have decided they want to upset the current status quo?

In 2024, people are now standing up to this tiny minority of woke culture people and telling them they’re wrong. They are pushing to have some actors and comedians un- canceled. It is amazing to me that most people will allow a tiny minority of very noisy people to change the traditions and ways that society has lived for centuries. A lot of what woke culture says goes against Christian beliefs.

What I found interesting is I had a chat with my doctoral mentor and asked her what she thought about woke culture. She asked me what woke culture was and told me she had never heard of it. Perhaps that’s the problem that the minority of noisy people have been able to take over parts of our culture because such a large segment does not know what’s going on? After I explained the basics of woke and cancel culture, she agreed that this was wrong and should be stopped. So, relating this back to the John the Baptist story, if there were other people behind John telling Herod that what he did was wrong, perhaps Herod would’ve seen the ways of his mistakes and changed? Well, he was the king and probably not.

Woke culture has been taking its toll on Christianity. Woke culture is against traditional values and Christianity sits right in the middle of traditional values. Therefore, younger people are being told that believing in God and Jesus is just wrong. We can turn this around because we who love Jesus are the majority, not the minority. However, if we allow this woke culture to continue to destroy Jesus’ message, then one day we will be in the minority. We have to activate every Christian to stand up for Jesus and tell these woke people how wrong they are, tactfully, and teach them about the love of God through a faithful discipleship to Jesus Christ.

Christianity has been silent in its response to woke culture and needs to become noisy. We have to become brave like John the Baptist and go up to these woke people and just tell them if they want to live the way they’re preaching, that’s just fine, but don’t push it on us. The small minority wants to push their ideas and beliefs towards us. That’s what we must stop. We have to allow Jesus and the gospel message to tell this woke crowd we are not changing, and it is not offensive to be a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. If we stand up to these people and continue to preach Christ crucified, we will prevail because God is with us. Perhaps we can convince some of the woke that their ways are against the Bible and they may change their hearts?

Christmas is Your Birth in Christ Too!

Luke 2:1-20

Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz

Luke 2:1   Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all ¹the inhabited earth. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. 6 While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:8   In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 “This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a ¹manger.” 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14  “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men ^1bwith whom He is pleased.”

Luke 2:15   When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, “Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. 17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary ^treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them.

I remember when I heard the reading of Luke’s narrative about Jesus’ birth in church. That first time was when I attended Christmas Eve worship with my new bride. My knowledge about Jesus’ birth and Christmas came from the TV shows like the “Peanuts Christmas special.” Therefore, it was all new to me. I found it interesting that there were so much fanfare around the story. I was wondering how Jesus could’ve grown up as a normal child with all these people knowing that he was to be something special. However, over time, I learned more about Semitic writing and Semitic storytelling to understand how things were in ancient times.

Semitic storytelling differs completely from the storytelling that you and I learned when we were in school. Students who truly love their teacher would write stories about their teacher and embellish them with all kinds of interesting divine attributes. Now, I am not saying that Luke’s description is not correct. Please don’t think about that. I say that we have to remember it’s a Semitic story, and it’s going to have a lot of components in it that point to the messianic traditions of the time and as with all good Semitic stories it’s one that you’re going to remember.

For example, the story of David and Goliath. Something happened in the valley between the Israelis and the Philistines. The Israelis should have been wiped out by the Philistine army. It was Israel who won the battle. The author of the narrative created a story that could be told to children and that they would remember through all of their adulthood. The idea being communicated was that anything is possible with God. That is how a 13-year-old boy killed a 9-foot giant. Whether it really happen that way or not is not important to the writer nor should it be important to us. It is a fabulous story that we all probably know and remember that it is the lesson that anything is possible with God that is truly important.

Throughout all the centuries, individuals have embellished the birth narrative for Jesus. Every time I went to one of my grandchildren’s Christmas shows, I saw some kind of new embellishment of the story. That doesn’t mean it detracts from the story, it just means that more flair was added to it to make it more exciting, especially for the children. There have been many movies about the birth narrative that have added their own flair to it. I think it’s wonderful that the story is being embellished and told in such a way that non-Christians may get interested in what exactly was going on.

So, how does the Christmas narrative affect us? I think if you allow it to affect your soul, it’s quite impressive. I remember coming to know Jesus as my Lord and Savior, and it was an exciting moment in my life. Now it wasn’t as cool as Luke’s description of Jesus’ birth, but it was still pretty cool to me. I can relate my moment of understanding and revelation to the birth narrative. Every one of us is born again in Christ, that least that’s what we say in our baptism. The baptism ceremony was wonderful and I enjoyed that very much. However, the revelation that occurred when I said Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior was far superior.

In a way, I personally experienced the birth of Christ in me. Perhaps that is a cool way to look at the entire Christmas narrative. At least once a year on Christmas day it would be great to sit back and think about how Christ was born in you. Everyone who comes to know Christ must do it on their own. How did you come to know Christ, and did you have any revelation at that time? I know a lot of people have not had that revelation because they were baptized as infants and never got to have that experience.

My wife and I decided not to baptize our children, but let them decide if they wanted to be baptized. Each of them had their own experience in coming to know Jesus and you can say they had their own birth narrative of when they became believers. Each one of them was baptized in the church and understood what Jesus and God are all about. It was a wonderful thing to watch each of them come to know Christ and show their faith and loving God.

So, perhaps when Christmas rolls around, you might take a moment and think about how Christ was born in your life. Have the celebration because having Christ in your life is the best thing that could ever happen to you.