Sermon: Spiritual Renewal

Text: Matthew 4:12-15 | Liturgical date: Epiphany 3 A | Calendar Date: January 25, 2026 | Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County | Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Jackson Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County serves Sturgeon Bay and other areas in Northeast Wisconsin. Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County316 W. Main St.Forestville, WI 54213920-856-6420 Text: Matthew 4:12-15 | Liturgical date: Epiphany 3 A | Calendar Date: January 25, 2026 | Location: Saint Peter’s Lutheran Church in Door County | Preacher: Rev. Dr. Christopher D. Jackson Transcript Opening Invocation In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Introduction to Spiritual Renewal Today we’re taking up this passage spoken by the prophet Isaiah in our Old Testament lesson today, and recorded as well in the Gospel of Matthew: “Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them the light has dawned.” And on the basis of these words, we’re going to be talking about spiritual renewal. Personal Story: The Gift of Glasses One of the most important experiences of my life happened in third grade. I actually think that it was a turning point in my life, and had it not happened, there’s a good chance I might not even be your pastor today. What was that turning point? Already in third grade, I got glasses. Yeah, that was significant. I couldn’t see the chalkboard at school. That’s how bad my vision was. So yeah, maybe my grades wouldn’t have been very good. I wouldn’t have learned. Maybe I wouldn’t have been qualified to go to seminary. So there you go—third grade, transformative event. A big renewal in my life. And just to give you a sense of what kind of renewal this was, it really opened up the world to me. Oh, I fought against getting glasses. I didn’t want them at all. But after I got them on, the drive home—it was like the whole world had opened up to me. Did you know trees have leaves? Of course you all have. I didn’t know that until I got glasses. To me, trees were just these big, blobby things. I knew they had leaves when I got close up to ’em, but I couldn’t see them unless I was standing right up next to the tree. I couldn’t see my pastor’s face. I couldn’t see what was being written on the chalkboard. Huge renewal in my life. A major transformation. And it happened through three things. The Need for Community in Renewal First of all, it happened in community. I needed people to rally around me. I needed my parents and my teachers and others to say, “I’m not sure you can see that well, Chris.” I needed people to rally around me for that, and I needed people to give me the formal diagnosis. I needed people to manufacture those glasses, and I needed the nice lady to fit them to my face, right? I needed people. I needed a hard diagnosis. Oh, I fought against that diagnosis. I tried to trick the eye doctor into thinking that I actually could see when I couldn’t. I fought against that, but I still got that hard diagnosis, which I didn’t want, but I got it anyway. And finally came the gift—a blessing, hard-won, not by me, but by my parents and by all these others: the gift of the glasses. And as I said, major transformation, major renewal. There come times in all of our lives where it seems that our eyes are not dim, but rather our faith, our hearts. Perhaps we have doubts. Perhaps we’re not making progress like we would like against some besetting sin. Maybe our confidence is wearing a little thin. The need for spiritual renewal can take many and various forms, but I think it comes for all of us. And in these lessons that we just read, we see the formula for spiritual renewal, which is God blessing us through community, through the church; through the hard diagnosis of the law; through the blessings of the gospel. And that’s the formula. That’s the route for spiritual renewal, which we’ll be taking up today. Isaiah’s Prophecy and Its Fulfillment This prophecy of Isaiah, reiterated by Matthew and fulfilled by Christ—it’s all about spiritual renewal, by the way. What does it mean that the land of Zebulun and Naphtali was dwelling in darkness? What does that mean? Zebulun and Naphtali were the very periphery of the people of God, of Israel, in multiple senses. They were on the periphery of the people of God geographically to begin with. Why? In what sense? The heart of their life—politically, culturally, especially religiously—was Jerusalem. Jerusalem was pretty far south in Israel. Zebulun and Naphtali, however, were the tribes which settled at the very northern edges of the domain, all the way up at the border of Syria. So they were at the very periphery of the life of the people of God physically, and that led to them being on the periphery ...