Sermon for 1/30/22: Fourth Sunday After the Epiphany

 

No audio or video files. My apologies. For some reason, my voice recorder app on the iPhone is glitching. Going to have to take my iPad with me to Church.

 

“Groaning”

Romans 8:18-23

 

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

There is a lot of groaning going on in the eighth chapter of Romans. “...The whole creation has been groaning in the pains of child birth until now.” We ourselves groan, we are told. And then, in verses 26 and 27, we are told, “The Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groaning too deep for words...” All of these groanings are born out of a deep-running tension between present reality and future realization. As one Biblical interpreter put it, we are living in the “now, but not yet.” That is the tension laid on us by the revelation of God’s redemptive plan. As such, these groanings remind us that anyone who really expects to find peace of mind in the service of our Lord is chasing an illusion. Despite all the talk of the glories of being a Christian in this world, those glories are not to be found here. They await us elsewhere.

The Christian life is, in fact, torn with turmoil and scarred with struggle, because it is caught up in a deep longing for what is yet to be. Our destiny is a as certain as it is splendid. But the way is long, and it is surrounded by the circle of our own weakness and sin. What we know here is the cross and all of the affliction it brings. St. Paul himself might serve as the supreme example of one who agonized over his bondage to death and corruption. “I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Nothing less than the shining splendor of our Lord’s return will strike down these chains.

But, of course, we live in hope. And why wouldn’t we, with all the promises God has given us? But oh, to have just a touch, just a brief glimpse of their fulfillment! We understand so well how Peter, James, and John felt on the Mount of Transfiguration. Everything was glorious and beautiful there in the shining presence of the Son of God. But even that did not continue for them, and it is denied to us. And so we are thrown back on our prayers, our longings, our anticipation. But we are handicapped by our own weakness. We don’t really know how we ought to pray. We may know how to talk about prayer, but, really praying? That’s another matter altogether.

And there are two very good reasons for this. First, we cannot pray rightly because we cannot foresee the future. We might well be praying to be spared from things which are for our good, or we may be praying for things that might, in fact, harm us. And second, we cannot pray rightly because in any given situation we do not know what is best for us. Even the pagan Greeks, that culture in which the New Testament grew up, were aware of the moral weaknesses of men. Pythagoras forbade his followers to pray for themselves, because they would not, in their ignorance, know what was good for them. Even Socrates taught his disciples simply to pray for good things in general and to leave it to “the gods” to decide what things ought to be given.

Those pagan Greeks, however, their hearts and minds darkened by unbelief, were ultimately lacking the help and the hope we are given. But even with our imperfections, our groanings flow from faith, however weak, and ascend to the throne of God. As the Psalmist put it: “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and his ear toward their cry.” And those groanings, St. Paul tells us, are too deep for words. They remain unspoken. They arise from our frustrations, our anxieties, our misgivings, our disgust with ourselves, our heavy disappointments. They come from deep down inside, from that part of us psychologists call the “subconscious.” And they cannot be forced into the narrow framework of human speech. They are much too dark, too bitter, too despairing for that. And the wonder is that God understands those groanings for what they are, and from where we are. They do not require the promptings of the psychiatrists couch. For God hears our groanings because He hears in them the speech of His own Spirit, who is busy shaping our longings and our hopes into the speech of intercession.

We really don’t know how to pray as we ought. If we think we do, we are only engaging in self-delusion! Why we even catch ourselves day-dreaming in the middle of our prayers. This is unworthy of sons and fellow heirs with Christ. But, right there is God’s own Spirit to pick us up and to maintain our contact with the heavenly Father. In turn, He searches our hearts to look into their deepest and darkest corners. And there He hears and understands our wordless groaning.

Now that we know this, we can live in hope a while longer. We can endure this eager waiting for a little while yet. And when that prayer is finally and fully answered, we shall be done with all those groanings and sighings that are too deep for words. For the glory of God’s presence will bring forth from us that new song of which every syllable is clear and distinct: the song of the saints before the throne of God. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 1/23/22: Third Sunday After the Epiphany

CLICK HERE for the audio file.

CLICK HERE for the video file.

 

“Willing”

II Kings 5:1-15a

 

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

 

Both our Old Testament and Gospel readings have to do with healing that comes from God. In the Old Testament reading in particular, we have this account of Naaman, who suffered from leprosy, a disease that affected the skin and the nervous system. Certainly, his leprosy brought him physical suffering, but it also meant that he would be treated as an outcast as long as there were any signs of the disease. Naturally, he sought relief from his sickness. An Israelite servant girl told him about the prophet in Samaria who could heal him. Naaman jumped at the chance; he gathered together gifts and even a letter for the King of Israel, and then made his journey from Syria to Samaria in search of a cure.

But after he arrived and heard how he could be cured, he balked. “Wash in the Jordan seven times? Really? We have greater and cleaner rivers at home. I come all this way, and the prophet doesn’t even come out to cure me personally?” Naaman had his doubts, but he was eventually convinced that he should do as the prophet instructed. And he was, in fact, cleansed. No, the healing wasn’t glamorous. It was simple, straightforward. And it worked because it was healing from God! God worked through the word of the prophet and the earthly means of water to heal Naaman. And this is a very significant thing to learn. God works through means; He uses earthly instruments. It is not that God cannot heal directly; He can if and when He chooses to do so. But He doesn’t normally work that way. He normally uses doctors and medicines and therapies to heal our ills and ease our sufferings.

But we are often like Naaman. We doubt that these will work, and we balk at what God would have us do. We second-guess doctors; we refuse certain medicines; we avoid therapy that might help. And this is not to advocate a blind trust of doctors and medicines. We are to use our God-given wisdom in making medical decisions. But we are also called on to trust those to whom God has given such skill. Doctors and medicines are among those gifts spoken of in the First Article of the Creed, gifts through which God provides what we need to support our bodies and lives.

At its root, our lack of trust is not so much a suspicion of doctors, but a lack of trust in God to work through those things for our good. This lack of trust is nothing other than sin. When we ignore our doctors as a God-given means for healing, we are, in fact, denying God’s power to heal and mend through such earthly means. Of course, it is true that we are not always healed by the treatments prescribed by doctors. Sometimes, doctors make mistakes. Sometimes, medicines fail or don’t work as well as we would hope. And we don’t always recover from every illness or injury. We have a bottom line we all know to be true: “The wages of sin is death.” In this life, our sinful nature still stains us. We still suffer sickness, disease, and pain because our sinful nature still cries out that we cannot trust doctors, and we cannot trust God.

Our comfort is that we do not suffer alone. Christ Himself suffered for us. He suffered because He knew the suffering illness and other afflictions bring into our lives. He suffered because He knows the suffering we bring on ourselves by our sin. In His mercy, Christ carried all our suffering all the way to Calvary, and there suffered even to the point of death on the cross. As He suffered, He also took on our sickness; He took on our pain. He forgave our sinful lack of trust in God to heal and make us whole. Isaiah put it like this: “Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace; and with His stripes we are healed.” Jesus died, not just for sin, but also for the consequences of sin. He carried also all of our diseases to the cross. He took all of our suffering there: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. And because He did, we are promised the peace of God and healing of our own.

As a seal and pledge of that promise of bodily healing, Christ has given us His word: a word that tells us He is willing, that He will cleanse us. And He has also given us His very body and blood in the Holy Sacrament for the healing and sustaining of our souls. So, do not fear your doctors: they are God’s hands of mercy for your body. And do not neglect the gift of the Holy Supper, for the body and blood of Christ is the medicine of immortality for both body and soul. Through the means of medicine, God sustains us in this life. And through His Gospel gifts of Word and Sacrament, He sustains us, body and soul, for the life to come. Through these gifts He promises that one day we will know exactly what Naaman and the leper in the Gospel felt like, for Christ has promised to look on us with compassion, stretch out His hand, and speak His word to each of us: “I am willing. Be clean.” In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 1/16/22: Second Sunday After the Epiphany

CLICK HERE for the sermon audio.

CLICK HERE for the sermon video.

 

Seeing the Glory of God

Exodus 33:12-23

 

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

 

 

Moses was one of the most unique individuals in all of history. He was chosen by God to do amazing things. Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt and slavery while the man who was, arguably, the most powerful man on earth stood by helplessly. Pharaoh had done everything he knew to do, but he had been brought to submission by a preacher who didn’t even do most of his own talking. Even when Pharaoh changed his mind about letting Israel go, and sent his army out to retrieve them, they were destroyed by God, seemingly at the hands of Moses, at the Red Sea. And then Moses single-handedly led these people through the desert of Sinai for forty years. And all the while, as the verse just prior to our text says: “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with a friend.”

And that is where we find Moses in our text: conversing with God. God has explained how Moses has found favor with Him. Favor, by the way, is the Old Testament word for “grace.” And Moses is making use of that favor. Much of what Moses says is well-pleasing to God. He asks God to be with His people as they make their way toward the Promised Land. God graciously promises to go with his people, though He warns Moses that they are a stiff-necked people and that His presence with His people will be hard for them to bear. But for the sake of his servant, God will go with the people, and he promises Moses rest.

But then, Moses makes this request: “Please show me your glory.” Moses was asking for something he could not understand. The glory of God is not what Moses expected. He wanted to see something a human could comprehend. But God explained to Moses that what he was asking wasn’t possible. And so, God said to him: “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name, ‘the Lord.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”  What Moses wanted to see was the undiminished glory of God. He wanted to look upon God and fully understand Him. And what God meant in response, was not that no one could see Him, but that no one could see Him as He is, in all His power and glory and holiness. In the Scriptures, God showed himself to various people in various ways. But when those people saw God, they saw what He wanted them to see, so that they would believe what He said to them. None of them, however, saw God fully as He is. So God gave Moses only what he could see and still live.

In the same way, because no man can see God’s face and live, God veiled His glory in the flesh of Jesus Christ. Jesus is no less the glory of God; that glory is just filtered through His human nature so that we human beings can see Him. The glory of God is not chiefly in His power; the glory of God is in His mercy, His grace, His forgiveness, in all that He has done to redeem us from sin and death.

God’s glory is in the suffering of the cross! His grace is such that Jesus set aside, for the moment, all that it is to be God, and willingly took on human limitations and human flesh and blood and became man. At the same time, of course, He was and is fully God. But for us and for our salvation, He permitted Himself to endure being born as an infant, to growing slowly as a child, to living humbly as a man—a man who had neither wealth nor influence in the circles of His day. He endured human sin and unbelief. He would suffer ridicule and torture and be cruelly executed on the cross for us to satisfy the justice of God and to endure that wrath of God against sin and sinners. He died in your place; He paid for your sins; He redeemed you, setting you free from sin, enabling you to live as God’s people should live. You don’t have to look like you deserve salvation, nor do you need to have a lot of the stuff of this world to know that the love of God is with you. You need only look to the cross, and take God at His Word, and trust in His promises.

And so, if you want to see the glory of God, then look at the cross, where the Son of God endured the unendurable for you. Look at the Baptismal font, where God called you by name and took you as His own dear child in Jesus Christ. Then look at the altar and the Holy Supper, where the Son of God feeds you with His true body and blood. Finally, look around you at this holy fellowship into which He has gathered you. Don’t be deceived by appearances or the size of the crowd; instead, look and believe all that God has spoken about these things and all the things He has promised about them, and you will be seeing the glory of God! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen. 

Sermon for 1/9/22: Baptism of Our Lord

CLICK HERE for sermon audio.

CLICK HERE for sermon video.

Strength and Wisdom
I Corinthians 1:26-31

 

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

John was baptizing for repentance and remission of sin. But Jesus needed neither repentance nor forgiveness. How could it be that He would come to John? After all, He was the Son of the eternal Father. John, in all sincerity, said: “I need to be baptized by You. And do You come to me?” That certainly seems a proper response. But Jesus answered him: “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Out of our Lord’s words, one of the great mysteries of the Christian faith unfolds. The One who comes with the power to save, the One without sin, becomes sin for us, “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Had we been God, we would have done things differently. But we are not God, and His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts our thoughts. And for that we are eternally grateful.

Just as our Savior does not fit the preconceived mold most would want to put Him in, so too most people in this world see Christians as being a bit odd. One man has described Christians as “well-programmed suckers.” It is true that we do not have the same goals, nor do we participate in the same kinds of fun, as much of our society with its debauchery and immorality. And the pressure to conform to such standards is severe. Our teenagers and young adults especially know how difficult this is. What is needed is to know how God defines both strength and wisdom.

We want to be seen as strong and wise; no one wants to be seen as weak or foolish. Society glorifies strength and cunning. In our cleverness, we seek after our own goals. For example, it used to be thought that the purpose of an education is to cultivate the mind, which is a marvelous gift of God. But these days, education is something to check off the list on the way to a job that offers the highest salary possible. That is what strength and wisdom consists of in this materialistic world. Man glorifies himself; he believes it is his own strength and wisdom that gets him all these things.

The case St. Paul makes in this text is that we have all of this backwards. What man sees as strength is actually weakness; what he thinks is wisdom is, in truth, foolishness. And the road built by strength and wisdom as defined by man is not merely a dead end; it is a road that leads to destruction. One who is on this road has no hope of gaining and understanding true strength and wisdom because He is blinded by his own vanity. One who trusts in himself cannot realize that he is weak.

The truth is, when we think we are strong, we are really weak; when we think we are wise, we are actually foolish. We just acknowledged in the liturgy that “we are by nature sinful and unclean.” We are all weak and foolish. The first step toward having godly strength and wisdom is to admit that we don’t have it, and that what we do have is weakness and foolishness. This demands repentance and confession of sin, and then receiving the forgiveness of sin from the One who is truly strong and wise, our Lord Jesus Christ. We find true strength and wisdom on our knees.

True strength and wisdom are gifts from God. In the words leading up to our text, St. Paul writes: “...we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” The cross of Christ, in the eyes of unbelief, is the very height of foolishness. There is nothing more offensive in the presence of unbelief than the suffering of the cross. It makes God out to be the fool, and the One called His Son still more foolish. But what faith knows to be true is that God turns everything around. His foolishness is wiser than the wisest man. What the world thinks is folly, God calls wisdom. What the world thinks is weakness, God calls power.

And now, consider your calling in light of all of this. In the eyes of this world, you are weak and foolish, with no power nor influence. You are despised and unsophisticated. And in this respect, you are no different than Jesus, for that is what they also think of Him. But as Paul writes: “He is the source of your life..., whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”

And this draws us back to our Lord’s baptism. Now we know why Jesus humbled Himself and stood before John for Baptism. What appears weak and foolish before the world is, in fact, the working out of God’s strength and wisdom. Things must be done God’s way, and God’s way is to subject His own Son to suffering and death for the sins of the world, with the sure and certain promise of the resurrection to life and glory everlasting. That is what was begun at His Baptism. And the same promise is given to your faith: what seems weak and foolish to you now is but the working out of the will of God in your life to save you. Only in eternity will you know this fully. For now, in the midst of trial and temptation and suffering, you have the strength and wisdom of God, which is Jesus Christ—and that is enough! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 1/2/22: The Epiphany of Our Lord (observed)

CLICK HERE for the audio link.

CLICK HERE for the video link.

Treasure
Isaiah 60:1-6

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen. 

 

In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul wrote: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.” He makes clear the identity of those jars of clay in today’s Epistle. “When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the Gospel. Of this Gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of His power.”

These jars of clay, men formed from the dust of the earth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, drew the Magi to Bethlehem. How would they have known where to go had they not heard and believed God’s Word? And it’s one thing to hear the Word of God; it’s still another to follow a star to a faraway land to see whether that Word is true. And now, that same Holy Scripture, proclaimed by today’s jars of clay, continues to draw men to Jesus Christ.

Many Americans consider themselves Christians. They own a Bible or two. The read published devotional materials. They buy and read best-selling Christian books. But when it comes to practicing the faith with fellow Christians, some seldom, if ever, make the journey to the Church to honor the presence of Jesus in the proclaimed Word. Joining a Church carries with it too many expectations. After all, the Church wants your money, your time, and your consistent presence. It is better to be in church only occasionally; that way you keep people guessing. And you have God’s Word anyway. Isn’t that all you need?

No, that is not enough. It is not enough to merely know about the Gospel. It must be believed and grasped with the heart—that is, by faith—or Christ will not be received. Reading the Bible at home and praying daily is a good and salutary thing. Still, it is neither good nor right to be alone in practicing the Christian faith. There is much more of the gifts of Christ to be found in His House. Isn’t that why you invite people to come to Church? As Isaiah the prophet wrote in today’s Old Testament reading: “And nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising...Then you shall see and be radiant…”

Epiphany is the mission of the Church. Gentiles in all generations come to the Light of the world as He makes Himself known to all the world. He did so as a 12 year old boy in the Temple, confounding the doctors of the Law. He did so at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. He did so on the mount of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John. And then He went from the mountaintop to the plain, walking to Jerusalem as the King of kings, to do His kingly duty on the cross and then come out of the tomb. Mission accomplished. And we then see Him ascend into heaven, only to return, when the time is right, to judge the living and the dead.

You know that Jesus came to seek and to save the lost. But how many in our world today consider the Light of the world dying on a cross as nothing more than a myth, and not a very good one at that? Why would God’s Son do such a foolish thing as to lay down His life for the life of the world? The answer to that question is the mystery to which St. Paul refers in the Epistle. Why does God want to save you, a poor, sinful being? He desires your salvation because He created you, He loves you, and He wants you for His fellowship now in Word and Sacrament, and into eternity. But that He would do this in the way He did remains a mystery; it is an answer that is believed. God draws whom He will, when He will. The only answer we can give is “Amen.” The gift is received.

And what a gift we have received in that bright Morning Star, Jesus Christ. As we just sang: “Lord, when You look on us in love, at once there falls from God above a ray of purest pleasure. Your Word and Spirit, flesh and blood, refresh our souls with heav’nly food. You are our dearest Treasure! Let Your mercy warm and cheer us! O draw near us! For You teach us God’s own love through You has reached us.” Just as the search of the Magi ended when they were led to the Child, your search for love outside yourselves finds its end in Jesus Christ. He loves you all the way to the cross, through the tomb, and into eternity. He is, indeed, your dearest Treasure. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always.  Amen.