Sermon for 8/21/11: Ninth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Commending the Unjust

Luke 16:1-9 (10-13)

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

At first glance, this is one of the hardest of Jesus’ parables to understand. What is the point of this parable? Are we to model ourselves after the unjust steward, and go cheating our employers so that we can gain benefit from others? Obviously not. The seventh commandment commands us not to steal or defraud. Are we to be wise in the ways of the world, and try and make the church more like a business that operates in the dog-eat-dog categories that we see all around us? Again, obviously not. As Saint Paul wrote in Romans, “Do not be conformed to the world.” So what is Jesus getting at? Let’s recap the story briefly. The steward of the house is accused of wasting the master’s goods. So the master tells him that he is going to fire the steward, and that he has to clear out his accounts. The steward is at a loss. He hadn’t prepared for this. He won’t dig ditches. He’s ashamed to beg. So this unjust steward does the one option left for him: he cheats his master out of money owed him, in order to curry the favor of these other people. One owes 100 measures of oil, so he cuts the bill to eighty. Another owes 100 measures of wheat, and he cuts the bill to fifty. When the master of the house finds out, he can’t help but compliment the steward on his shrewdness. Why? Because he had done the one thing that He could to insure the well being of his future. No matter the risk, this steward was so confident in the mercy of his master that he cheated him.

So why would the master commend that steward? The master commended the unjust steward, because he understood that the most important thing was to insure that he had a future, that he would be taken care of in the long run. What Jesus is saying is that the children of this world understand that you do whatever it takes to insure your future, for that is what finally matters. But the children of light, the Christians, don’t get this basic fact of life. They are deceived and distracted at every turn. Where is your future? Your future is in Jesus Christ as your receive Him in the proclamation of the Word of God and in His Holy Sacraments. That is your future, and the future of your family. This should be your greatest priority, to insure that the Gospel is proclaimed to you and to your family. That is more important than any money, wealth, house or anything else you wish to give your children.

Why is it that we Christians don’t understand this? Think of your own life and your priorities. We spend a fair amount to put a roof over our head and food on the table and clothes on our bodies—necessary things, to be sure. But then, most Americans spend exorbitant amounts of their income on entertainment of some sort. Then if anything is left over, that goes to the church. A dollar here, two dollars there, and somehow this is doing the Lord a great favor. Where is your treasure? The same may be said for time. How much time do you spend teaching your children the Christian faith? I’m not asking about time you spend at church or doing things at church, although I suppose we could ask that. I mean simply teaching your family the faith. Do you pray together? Do you read God’s Word together? Do you teach your family the great hymns of the faith? For most of us, we spend a lot more time watching television that we do teaching and hearing the Word of God. I know that this is a hard message to hear—it’s no easier for me to hear than it is for you to hear. If it’s any consolation, it’s also a hard message to preach. But the question remains: where is the one thing that is needful in your life? Think of our Epistle lesson. The people of Corinth had become complacent. They forgot that they were so dependent on God that they couldn’t make it themselves. They fell prey to temptation. They forgot that the only way of escape is through the blood of Christ.

This draws us back into the Gospel for today. Jesus says, “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.” Notice that Jesus doesn’t say if you fail; no, He says when you fail. All things in this life come to an end. As weak, sinful human beings, your lives are frail and seem to fall apart at every turn. Jesus calls you to put your trust in Him, and not in the things of this world. Don’t be so possessive and greedy with the possessions of this world, because they won’t gain you eternity in the end. What was it that made the unjust steward go and cheat his master? The unjust steward believed in and relied on the mercy of his master, because he knew that the master was merciful.

You are that unjust steward. You squander the gifts our heavenly Father gives you left and right. Whether they are the little things, like the possessions of this life, or the big things of forgiveness and salvation, you have tossed these gifts of God aside like they were nothing. But more important than that, you also know that your heavenly Father is the merciful master. His righteous Steward, Jesus, cancels your debt. Even though you don’t deserve it, He brings you into His house and gives you eternal life. Even though you don’t deserve all of the great things He gives you, the Lord still gives them for the sake of Jesus Christ. The Father looks at the cross of His Son, and He honors the canceling of your debt which Jesus accomplished there. You are free!

Just as the unjust steward used the things of this world, oil and wheat, to further His own good, so also your heavenly Father uses the things of this world, water and bread and wine, to bring about the forgiveness of your sins. He gives you a portion of His treasure, an eternal inheritance, an everlasting home. 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.

REVIEW: "Peace Be With You" by David Carlson

These days, I don't make a habit of reading books that I think I will end up arguing with as I read. Keeping your eyes and ears open is a good idea, and it's never to your advantage to close your mind. That being said, sometimes you've had the same argument enough times that you don't need to have it yet again. I suspected such would be the case with Peace Be With You by Dr. David Carlson (PhD); that being said, I chose the book against my better judgment. I struggle with the role our military has played in world affairs since 9/11, and I thought that there might be some wisdom to be found on the subject in this book.

Dr. Carlson interviewed monks, nuns, and others who sought refuge either temporarily or permanently in monasteries and retreat centers, trying to find what he calls a "word of life" in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the response of the leaders and citizens of the United States. Carlson is a disciple of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who died in 1968. Merton espoused what Carlson calls a "radical unity" in humanity, one in which we see Christ in all our neighbors in light of the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 25. With that as the foundation of his research, Carlson asked his subjects what he thought were the lessons of 9/11 and what America did or didn't learn from what happened.

My major beef with the book is that Carlson repeatedly asserts the superiority of the monastic vocation. Citing the lives steeped in prayer and contemplation, the innate spirituality of monastic life, the ability to view the world without materialistic eyes, throughout the book he asserts that those who live the contemplative monastic life are able to escape the worldliness that fuels the fires of war and vengeance. Because they spend their days praying the daily office (the monastic prayer cycle), they do for the world what the world cannot do for itself: they hold the world together (p.118).

Maybe I'm too Lutheran to appreciate Carlson's approach. The Lutheran Church in its major permutations is one of the few bodies that does not have what Carlson calls a "contemplative" branch. At the same time, many within Lutheranism (and other bodies) seek to live lives of contemplation within their chosen vocations, pastors and laypeople who, though not withdrawn from the world, pray part or all of the daily office, people who pray the psalter each week or month.

I do appreciate Carlson's disdain for American civil religion. The invocation of Jesus by leaders and citizens in support of the war on terror is an abomination. I'm not saying that the war is just or unjust. But naming Jesus as an ally in attempt to prove the rightness of the cause makes Jesus into a man who loves one brother better than another. Whether or not someone believes in Him (and make no mistake, Muslims do not believe in Jesus as God), he is God's creation, and the Father does not rejoice to see His children fighting each other.

Perhaps I've allowed my patriotism and my own theological background to darken my view of this book. I was disappointed with the methodology, but there's certainly something to be said for taking a more contemplative look at how we respond to Islam, to foreign policy, to our individual relationships with each other. If for no other reason than that reminder, I cannot regret reading this book . . . no matter how much I argue with it!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

GUEST POST: Sermon for 8/14/11--Eighth Sunday After Trinity

This is the sermon preached by Pastor Robin Fish, Jr., this past Sunday at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Campbell Hill, Illinois. This is copied from his blog, where he posts sermons, hymns, theological reflections, book reviews, and any number of other things. Thank you, Pastor Fish, for filling in ably and willingly while I enjoyed my first vacation as a parish pastor in six years!

How to Listen to a Sermon

Matthew 7:15-23

This is awkward. I stand before you for the first time as a guest preacher. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. Your pastor and I barely know each other. He isn’t here to criticize me or to defend himself. And yet the lessons drawn for this week of the church year, oblige me to talk about your pastor, and any preacher or teacher you hear—whether in this church or another, on TV or radio, through the internet or in a book. The question is how to listen to them, how to judge them, how to tell whether they are feeding you or misleading you, how to spot a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You have no personal knowledge of whether I can preach my way out of a wet paper bag, and yet I am here to tell you HOW TO LISTEN TO A SERMON. I can only suggest that you pay careful attention; then, after comparing what you hear to the doctrine you have learned from faithful, reliable, and legitimately called teachers, you can make up your own mind.

Let’s start with half of a verse from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7:18a, Jesus says, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit.” Suppose that a minister told you that these words mean that infants need not be baptized. He reasons: God creates each of us and gives us our spirits, so we must be born sinless. God would never create anything evil. And if we’re good by nature, we cannot sin. Just like Jesus says in Matthew 7:18a, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit.” As ridiculous as it sounds, many people are taken in by that very argument. But you should not be. Either because you were taught to know Scripture better, or because you are wise enough to look up passages quoted at you to see whether they are used correctly, you will quickly find the minister was twisting Matthew 7:18. You only need to read the second half of the verse, which says, “Nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” This doesn’t support the spin that we are born in sinless innocence.

Or step back even further. In Matthew 7:17, 19, Jesus says: “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit... Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Now suppose a minister tells you that Jesus is talking about sins versus good works. Jesus would be saying, “Only sinful people commit sins. Godly people do only godly works.” What do you do? You recall where Paul writes in Romans (3:23) that no one is without sin, even the best among us stumble in our weakness (Romans 7:7ff.). And we also know God is the One who justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). He overlooks our sins and declares us righteous for the sake of His Son. If we could not please Him except by doing only good works all the time, none of us could be saved.

But again, when you hear a preacher putting that spin on Jesus’ words in Matthew 7, you are equipped to judge whether he is feeding you or misleading you. Remember the Word of God that you have been taught; or, if you cannot remember, look it up. And observe what else is missing from the context. In verse 15 Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Then He says, “You will know them by their fruits,” and so on, until in verse 20 He concludes, “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” “Beware of false prophets” is Jesus’ topic sentence for that whole paragraph. It tells us what He’s talking about in all those other statements. Taken by themselves, those statements could seem to be about sins versus good works, saints versus sinners. Taken with their topic sentence in verse 15, their meaning totally changes. Jesus is talking about prophets. Which is to say preachers and teachers of God’s Word. And so Jesus’ sermon, like mine, will eventually explain HOW TO LISTEN TO A SERMON.

From the top: Beware. You have been warned. Remember this warning, and be on the lookout. False teachers will come. They won’t be wearing black cowboy hats, or horns, or a sign around their neck that says “Your Enemy.” They will come to you like wolves in sheep’s clothing. There won’t be any visible mark to distinguish them from true preachers. They may seem just as charming and learned and well-spoken and reasonable as faithful preachers and teachers, if not more so. Their manner of life may be exemplary. There may be a certain something about them that you instinctively want to trust or imitate. But Jesus warns us not to be deceived by a handsome face, attractive clothing, a noble character, or a warm personality. You will know them by their fruits.

Now let’s all have our laugh out at Jesus’ mixed metaphor. What could He possibly mean by the fruits of a sheep, or the fruits of a wolf? More pertinent is the question, what “fruits” come from a prophet, false or otherwise? What fruit does a preacher or teacher yield? His fruit is the direction His teachings lead you in your faith and life. If his teachings lead you away from Christ and His doctrine, if they lead you into sins forbidden by God—or even into “good works” not commanded by God—then the fruit is bad and the tree is bad; the man is a false prophet, and you must not listen to him. On the other hand, if his teaching confirms you in the doctrine and way of life you have been taught on the basis of God’s Word, then you must listen to him, support him, cherish him, encourage him, pray for him, and give thanks for him, as though God Himself was speaking to you and opening the doors of Paradise before you.

And now we come to an even tougher question: How are you supposed to tell whether his fruit is good or bad? You really only have two choices: Either to be firmly rooted in the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3)—so firmly rooted that you can readily tell the difference between truth and false teaching, and can fight firmly for the true faith—or to be like the Jews in Berea, who “received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). If your faith has not yet been planted very deeply and firmly, that leaves you only one option: to be daily and constantly in the Word. Besides the Bible, read as much as you can understand in the Lutheran Confessions, the writings of Luther, and other authors who bear witness to the same doctrine.

Don’t stop learning Christ’s doctrine until you know the biblical answer to every question. If that time ever comes—though it is most unlikely—then keep studying the Word so that you may not forget. And if you love your children, teach them well, so they may be fully armored against false prophets, whether they come to them clothed in the sport coat of a high school science teacher, or in the comely form of a future husband or wife, or in all their busy lives’ tempting alternatives to going to church. If you want to protect them from false prophets, know your doctrine, teach them to know it, and teach them why it matters.

Why? Because you are on a spiritual battlefield. You can’t afford to go without the weapons and armor of a spiritual warrior. The devil is not only a fierce and active foe, but also a wily one. Sometimes he tries to crush us by brute and sudden force, while at other times he works at slowly and quietly undermining us. His aim is to destroy our faith, to take us away from Christ, to rob us of salvation. And when he isn’t beating us into despair through suffering, conflict, pressure and temptations from the world around us, he may be trying to tempt us into complacency and to sneak into our midst without our noticing. Persecution is one of Satan’s bold plays, right out where Christians can see where the evil lies; the only question then is whether we can bear it. But with false teachers, Satan infiltrates the holy of holies, disguised as people we respect and trust. And the seeds of false doctrine that they sow grow into trees whose fruits make us sick, and whose roots and branches tear us apart. They, mind you—the false teachers, not the faithful—cause the divisions that rend the body of Christ, the scandals and controversies that embarrass us, and the doubts that make us even readier prey for the wolves.

The only armor that can protect us is God’s Word. And that’s not just a piece of pious, figurative language. It doesn’t mean idly accepting the status quo. It means constantly grappling with the holy Word, and wrestling strength out of the holy Sacrament. And this grappling with the Word is not like wrestling with a padded dummy that you can easily throw down. It’s more like clinging to a huge rock with nothing but your fingers and toes. If you want to stay there, you need to get as strong and deep a hold on it as you can.

How can you tell whether someone is leading you astray? How can you measure his teachings against the Word of God? In a commentary on this text, Martin Luther answers: “Everyone should see to it, above all, that he is sure of his cause and of the doctrine. In his heart he should be so well grounded in it that he can stick to the doctrine even though he sees everyone on earth teaching and living contrary to it. Anyone who wants to move along in safety simply dare not pay attention to any of the outward masks in Christendom and guide himself by them. He must pay attention only to the Word, which shows us the right way of life that avails before God. For example, you must hold on to the chief part, the summary, of Christian teaching and accept nothing else: That God has sent and given Christ, His Son, and that only through Him does He forgive us all our sins, justify and save us” (LW 21:254).

Again, Jesus tells us: “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Even some who call upon Him by name, and preach in His name, will hear that awful sentence. The question for you is whether they spoke according to His Word, whether they led you toward or away from Christ, whether they held up as God-pleasing the works God commanded or ones invented by themselves. Say to yourself as Luther says: “I shall test them where they ought to be tested, as to whether they serve to strengthen my faith in the Word: that Christ died for me; that through Him I may obtain piety and salvation in the sight of God; and that I should carry out my station [in life] and pay faithful attention to it” (LW 21:273–274).

Meanwhile, real prophecy is taking place here. Called by God to serve in an office commanded by God, a man of God stands here every week to proclaim to you the Word of God. And if he doesn’t exactly predict the future, your pastor is called to tell you things that you cannot learn by experience or with the senses. Nevertheless, these things are as true as though God Himself spoke them. Things such as, “Your sins are forgiven.” And as for miracles—how about Baptism? All your pastor does is say the words by which Christ commanded us to baptize, and add water; but miraculously, the water becomes a bath in the Holy Spirit, and you or your baby becomes God’s newborn child. Or how about the Lord’s Supper? We put in bread, wine, and the words of Christ. What comes out is Jesus’ true body and blood, which we can physically eat and drink, and which actually gives us the forgiveness of sins.

A false prophet can indeed give you these things, because these miracles are tied to the office instituted by Christ and the words spoken by Christ. Even an unbeliever could preach the Gospel to you without any additions or subtractions, and so comfort you and build up your faith, though he would not share in the salvation that he brings to you. Jesus does not tell you to look into your pastor’s heart. He tells you to observe his fruits, which is to say, his teachings. What does he tell you to believe? How does he tell you to live? And do these teachings match the right interpretation of Scripture, in which you have been so carefully instructed?

Jeremiah (23:16–19) tells us that God does not want you to listen to false prophets. He means that you should not obey what they teach. Jesus, on the other hand, tells you to listen and to beware. But He tells you this so that you may safely eat of spiritual food, drink the spiritual drink, and take the spiritual medicine that He so richly serves you in sermon and liturgy, in Word and Sacrament. He wants you to feel free to follow the faithful shepherd He has given you, so that through your pastor, Jesus may protect you from wolves and fill you with His precious gifts. Jesus wants you to hear God’s Law in its fullness and purity, so that you know how to live in a God-pleasing manner, and so that you recognize when you are not doing so; and He wants you to hear His Gospel in all its sweetness and power, so that when you falter and stumble along the way, you may not despair but believe that your sins are forgiven through Jesus’ willingly shed blood and through His slain and risen body. And finally, He wants you to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and with the confidence that, as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

HYMN: O Jesus Christ, O Groom Divine

In honor of Evan and Bethany, whom God joins together tomorrow.

O Jesus Christ, O Groom Divine

1. O Jesus Christ, O Groom divine,
You cleansed Your Bride with blood outpoured.
In turning Cana's casks to wine
Your joy in marriage You afford.
Stretch forth Your mighty hand to bless
These two whom You unite as one
That in both peace and in distress
Their prayer may be, "Thy will be done."

2. As You have loved Your spotless Bride,
Let this man his dear bride adore
That, faithful, loving he abide
And seek no other evermore.
Teach him to honor and protect
This helper whom You freely give
That he may prize and not neglect
The treasure he does now receive.

3. As Your Bride clings to You alone
Let this, Your daughter, look to him,
The husband You in love made known.
Let her devotion never dim,
That she be steadfast, blameless, true--
A faithful helpmeet to the end.
Grant her forgiveness ever new
That he may be her greatest friend.

4. O God the Father who bestows
On Your dear children lavish love--
O God the Son who, herebelow,
Has raised Your Bride to dwell above--
O Holy Ghost, O God of grace,
Inspire the hearts of brides and men.
O Triune God, shine forth Your face
To bless this bride and groom. Amen.

© Alan Kornacki, Jr.
LMD
Tune: O GROSSER GOTT (LSB 810)

HYMN: O Lord, I Am Not Worthy

After a lengthy absence, here is my latest offering. Constructive criticism desired--especially in v.2.

O Lord, I Am Not Worthy

1. O Lord, I am not worthy
That You should come within,
For trespasses pervert me
And I am lost in sin.
You lead me to Your altar,
A beggar at Your feet,
But mired in shame I falter
And flee Your mercy seat.

2. Yet speak Your Word of favor,
And, lo, my soul is healed.
O Christ, You are my Savior.
In You is grace revealed.
You set the Feast before me:
Your body and Your blood.
You veil Your heav'nly glory
Within this earthly food.

3. This Supper gives forgiveness,
A truly bounteous meal.
Its benefits are endless--
The power hearts to heal,
Delivering salvation
To all God's children dear
From ev'ry tribe and nation
Who seek their pardon here.

4. O Lord, I am not worthy
That You should come within,
But speak Your Word unto me
And I am freed from sin.
I trust Your mercy solely
My soul and flesh to feed,
For You can make me holy,
My Lord and God indeed.


© Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr., b.1974
76 76 D
Tune: LLANGLOFFAN (LSB 513)

Sermon for 8/7/11: Seventh Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Daily Bread

Mark 8:1-9

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

It’s Sunday morning. Apparently you don’t have to work this morning. The kids don’t have school right now. As residents of the United States of America you have the freedom to be doing pretty much whatever you want right now. You could be sleeping in, golfing, cleaning your garage, swimming, surfing the web, working on the Sunday crossword puzzle—any of a billion things in which we find contentment, enjoyment, order, or some other kind of satisfaction. For some reason you have chosen to spend part of your Sunday morning here. But weren’t you just here last week? Didn’t you hear the Word of Holy Absolution, spoken from the pastor as from Christ Himself? Didn’t you force yourself to stay awake for a sermon then? And what about the Lord’s Supper? Most of you just did all this seven days ago. What brings you back here so soon?

Put simply, we have come here because we are in need. Now, don’t get me wrong: it’s entirely possible that you like coming here. But it’s not your pastor that brings you to this place on this or any Sunday morning. You are here because God in His goodness has gracious gifts to give you, and you recognize that you need what only He can give you. I can’t speak for the state of your soul, but I know that I need what God has for me more often than once a month. Sometimes even once a week doesn’t seem to cut it.

Our Gospel for this morning tells us that Jesus had been preaching to a gathering counted as four thousand men, and they had been attentive to the Word for three days. Jesus seemed to be done with His lesson, though in truth He had one more lesson for the disciples. Jesus stated the dilemma Himself: “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.” Jesus Himself had experienced the pain of hunger during His time of temptation in the wilderness, so He spoke with authority on the matter. And in this case, these people faced the danger of physical hunger because they had so eagerly fed on the Word of God which Jesus delivered to them. He felt responsible for them, and He had compassion on them

The disciples, as always, seem to forget what Jesus has already taught them. “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?” they ask Him.The odd thing is, this is not the first time the disciples have been in these circumstances. Jesus has at this point already fed a gathering of five thousand men in a miraculous way. And these men would surely be aware of how God had fed the entire of nation of Israel in the wilderness for forty years! Surely one meal for four thousand people wouldn’t be beyond the means of the promised Messiah. They still didn’t understand the nature of the Man they followed; but this time they didn’t tell Jesus what to do. They waited for a word from Him, at least trusting that He could do what they could not.

In a certain sense, as much as you appreciate what God delivers to you in Christ when you gather here, you feel a certain obligation to show up here on Sunday morning. And that is not necessarily wrong. Father Luther tells us in his explanation of the Third Commandment, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” You give honor to God and His Word when you come here to receive the Word, whether it’s the spoken Word of forgiveness, the Word preached to you, or the Word fed to you in the Holy Supper. But if it is only obligation which brings you to this place on a given day, if you’re not here because you hunger and thirst for God’s gifts of forgiveness and life, then you too are living in ignorance concerning Jesus. Jesus forces no one to believe, and you’re free to walk out that door and never to look back.

But for those willing to live according to the good and gracious will of God, Jesus does not—and, indeed, cannot—disappoint. He told the people to sit down, and He took the loaves and the fish which the disciples brought to Him and gave thanks to the Father for providing for His people. When He gave the food to the disciples to be distributed, the people ate their fill, and seven baskets worth of food remained when the meal was finished. You’ve heard your pastor say this before, but he will say it again: Jesus is the living fulfillment of the Magnificat which His mother Mary sang:

He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.

When Jesus sent them away, none of them were hungry. He had fed both their bodies and their souls, giving them everything they needed for this life and for the next.

He does the same for you today. When you pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” Jesus is gracious to give you “all that we need to support this body and life”—and even as He delivers to you the physical necessities you need day by day, Jesus gives you all that you need to refresh and sustain your spirit, as well. There is nothing lacking in the daily bread you receive today. The forgiveness of sins which you receive in the Word of Holy Absolution is complete forgiveness for all your sins of thought, word, and deed, whether it’s something you have done that you ought not do, or something you have not done that you ought to do. Jesus died to take your sins upon Himself and rose again to give you new life in His name. The salvation you receive in the Lord’s Supper is complete salvation for all eternity. And while you receive these gifts with thanksgiving often, they are not made complete by receiving them more often; these gifts are complete every time you receive them.

The people came out and listened to Jesus, and He fed them in both body and soul. He does the same for you when you gather here to hear His Word and receive His body and blood. Whether it’s a baptismal blessing or His own body and blood, Jesus will never send a beggar away empty. 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.

Update: HYMN--Fear Not, O Virgin Mild

I have updated my hymn Fear Not, O Virgin Mild, which I wrote before Christmas last year. The first verse originally read as follows:

Fear not, O virgin mild—
Dear Mary, favored maid—
For you will bear the holy Child
As I have bade.
Your Child shall conquer death:
The Son of righteousness.
Rejoice, O Mary, child of faith
Forever blessed.

The re-write reads:

Fear not, O virgin mild—
Dear Mary, favored maid—
For you will bear the holy Child
For whom Eve prayed.
Your Child shall conquer death:
The Life, by all confessed.
Rejoice, O Mary, child of faith
Forever blessed.

Let me know what you think. Should I change the fourth line to "Be not afraid!" to play off the first line?

REVIEW: The Nook Color from Barnes and Noble

To this point my reviews have been of books. But my wife bought me a Nook Color from Barnes and Noble for Father's Day this year, and I thought I'd share the wealth of my experience regarding this e-reader device.

The Nook Color is a full-color 7-inch touchscreen device. It has a high-resolution screen with 16 million colors. The words and images are sharp, and the font size is adjustable. Barnes and Noble have over 2 million titles available to download from their store, and with the ability to sync from a computer, you can add epub books from any source (projectgutenberg.com and others). The Nook is also compatible with pdf files, but the built in pdf reader is not very user-friendly. For 99 cents the user can download an application ("pdf reader") that gives you a more user-friendly pdf experience, but it only works (despite claims by the app provider) when the pdf files are on a micro SD card (which does not come with the Nook Color) in the built-in micro SD slot.

Using the micro SD slot, I've also been able to watch mp4 files on the Nook Color. Thus far I've only watched classic Doctor Who episodes, so the source pictures weren't the best to begin with. The built-in speaker isn't spectacular, but it's enough to watch shows or listen to music while you read, and the device does have a built-in stereo headphone jack. Pandora is provided in your app menu, so those of you who use that for your music experience will not be disappointed.

It's been about two months now that I've had the device, and to this point I have been quite impressed. By the time I received the Nook Color, Barnes and Noble had upgraded the device into a veritable Android tablet. As it stands, the Android application store is not accessible; but Barnes and Noble has its own application store where one can find games, practical applications, and more. For example, instead of buying a New King James Version or using the built-in wi-fi to access biblegateway.net, I downloaded a $5.99 application called "NKJV Bible", strangely enough. I can access the Bible by chapter, add notes, highlight text and more.

The reader itself is intuitive. You turn the pages in your epub format books the same way you turn the pages in a print book: by swiping the page you just read from right to left. As I said, the words appear crisp and clear. I've even converted my own novel into an epub file, and it's a novel experience (pardon the pun) to read my own novel in electronic format.

The device is solidly constructed. The screen, of course, has all the fragility of your average touchscreen, but the user can purchase a screen-protector that does not interfere with the function of the screen.

Oh, and I have downloaded the $2.99 Angry Birds application. Surprise, surprise.

There are a number of things I haven't tried to do yet with the device. I don't use the Nook Friends application, so I don't know how the book lending works. I don't use the built-in web browser much, as I have gotten used to using my phone for my browsing--and the same goes for the built in e-mail application.

Even within those limitations, I would highly recommend the Nook Color, especially for someone who travels. I took mine with me to a youth conference, and it was nice to have over 200 books with me (with the space for more) while carrying only the weight of one book. It also comes in handy around my children, as my son is rough on paper books but has not been able to destroy the device as of yet. (Give him time, though, as he is a highly determined kid!)

(Oh, and if you have a Nook Color and want to preview my novel in epub format, let me know. Always looking for readers!)

Sermon for 7/31/11: Sixth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Higher Standards
Matthew 5:17-26

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

The really annoying thing about hard work is that, when you do it well, it always seems like additional hard work gets added to what you’ve already done. That’s a good thing in the workplace. If your boss gives you extra responsibility, it means you’re a reliable employee who may very well be on the way up the company ladder. That’s all very well and good; but a teenager who finally gets done mowing the lawn and then finds out that he also has to paint the picket fence might not find it so easy to see the benefits of hard work. What, then, do we say when Jesus puts His holy thoughts to the Ten Commandments?

Jesus shows the scribes and Pharisees the difference between true righteousness and their obedience to their own interpretation of the Ten Commandments, and how empty that interpretation is. Look at the example that Jesus gives us: You shall not murder. The scribes and Pharisees would say that, so long as you do not perform the act of murdering someone or use your influence to have someone murdered—as King David did with Uriah—you have not committed murder. It is enough for the Pharisees that you do not commit the deed. And if you don’t commit the deed, you can avoid prosecution. At no time do the Pharisees ever concern themselves with the spiritual consequences of murder; their only concern in obeying the law is about avoiding civil judgment.

But Jesus looks deeper. As only Jesus can truly do, he looks at the heart and mind to see what is behind the act of murder. Now, Jesus is not contradicting or adding to the Law of Moses here. He has come to fulfill the Law, not to abolish it. Instead of doing away with the Law, Jesus shows us what the Law truly means, showing us that it goes beyond the physical act into the emotions and thoughts that form the act. So even though a man doesn’t take up a knife or a gun or a club and cause the physical death of his neighbor, in the eyes of God, a man who becomes inflamed with anger toward his neighbor or even takes the first step of anger in calling his neighbor a name is guilty of murder, and thus faces the wrath of judgment.

We’re no better than the scribes and Pharisees, though. And it’s not just with the Fifth Commandment, either. What about our interactions with our parents, the police, employers, and other authority figures? How many of us have ignored our parents, seeing their opinions as obsolete? How comforting it is look at a police car pulling someone over for speeding and think that they should find a real job instead of harassing decent people. But as long as we give Mom a card for Mother’s Day, as long as we don’t try to get our boss fired, as long as we don’t try to run the police officer over as we drive past, it’s easy to think that we have honored those whom God has placed in positions of authority over us.

It doesn’t matter which Commandment we consider. We act as though we’re lawyers before the city judge, looking for loopholes so that we can be exonerated despite our guilt. We do our best to ignore the fact that we will find ourselves before the righteous Judge of all people, the only Judge who can truly read our minds and our hearts as well as our actions. This Judge knows all the laws and has plugged all the loopholes. God’s Law requires not only outward obedience to the letter of the law, obedience in deed; it also requires inner obedience, perfect obedience, obedience in thought and word. There is no bloody glove that our hand will not fit, no paid-off witness to give a false alibi, and no prison guard who will look the other way while we make our escape. When the Judge declares us guilty—and make no mistake: you are guilty—the sentence is just, and there’s no chance for parole.

Sinners must face the consequences of their sins. When you sin against your neighbor, you are acting against your own conscience. Thus you harm both yourself and your neighbor. But more than that, you are also sinning against God. Jesus recognizes this, and He says to you, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” This is the language of the Church. This is confession and absolution. Brothers and sisters in Christ would not come to the altar for the Holy Supper of Christ’s body and blood until they were first reconciled with each other. The Church from its earliest days has practiced this, and it is a practice which we must still practice today. To approach the altar with unrepentant anger in your heart is to approach the altar unworthily, and what you receive there will be received to your own judgment.

If you plan on receiving the Lord’s Supper but you remember that you have sinned against your neighbor, go to your neighbor. God’s good gifts aren’t going anywhere. Apologize. Make peace with him. If your neighbor has sinned against you and comes to you to apologize, grant him forgiveness rather than holding a grudge. Then come to the altar. Confess your sin before God. Your neighbor may or may not forgive you; but God will surely forgive you. I John tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God is faithful and just, and He is gracious to forgive our sins in the name of Jesus. And with that forgiveness, we can then approach the altar with joy to receive the body and blood of Jesus, which strengthens our faith for this life and the life of the world to come. You cannot trust your own reason or strength. You cannot trust your own works. But even though you cannot trust your own works, you can certainly trust in the Lord. You can trust that Jesus lived to fulfill the Law. You can trust that Jesus died under the sentence of our sin and guilt. And you can trust that Jesus rose again for your sake, so that the perfect obedience and righteousness of Christ is all the righteous Judge sees when He looks at you. When you look to Christ instead of to your own works and strength, God is merciful. He gives you forgiveness, striking away that sentence of eternal damnation, giving you pardon and peace for now and for all eternity.

The Lord has higher standards for us in His Word, standards that we cannot hope to meet. But thanks be to God, for we don’t have to rely on our works. Christ lived in perfect obedience, and through His death and resurrection, in Holy Baptism He has made that obedience yours. 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 7/24/11--Fifth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

At Christ’s Word

Luke 5:1-11

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

Nothing happens apart from the Word of God.

On the shore are two boats. Because of the crowds, Jesus gets into one boat and asks Simon to put out a little from shore. The reflection of the sound off the water enables a larger number of people to hear. Peter's boat becomes a pulpit. From the boat our Lord preaches His Word of salvation. Christ is in the boat for the people, drawing them to Himself. Like a fisherman, He casts the net of the Gospel to draw the fish into the boat.

The boat and the water remind us of Noah. At God's Word Noah built an ark. In that boat eight people were saved from the Flood which drowned all of wicked mankind. Salvation was only in the boat. And Peter tells us in his second epistle that Noah and the flood is a foreshadowing of our baptism. Just as the Lord washed the earth clean of the wicked in the flood, so He washes us clean of our wicked sinfulness in holy baptism and gives us new life. This happens because our Lord combines His Word with the water. Nothing happens apart from the Word of God.

Our Lord now speaks His Word to Simon Peter, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." Simon knows that no fisherman goes to the deep for a catch. For a living catch fishermen stay in the shallows where the nets can reach the fish. Furthermore, Simon knows that no fisherman fishes in the heat of the day. What our Lord commands Simon to do here makes no sense. That’s not how it's done. But that’s the way it’s done with the Lord.

There are those today who question the Lord's methods of baptizing and teaching to draw fish into the church. They say we need something more than the Gospel—groups and programs and gimmicks; changing the liturgy to be more user-friendly to the culture. They say we need to go to where we're most likely to catch fish, relying more on statistics than the Word of Christ to lead their outreach efforts. It's no wonder that, even in our own church body, so many of the new churches are started in the safe, white, middle class suburbs or small towns. Often these churches are growing for reasons other than faith in Christ alone.

But our Lord's thinking is unconventional. "Launch out into the deep," he says. Not only in the suburbs but in the cities and rural areas; not only to people who seem open to Christian spirituality but also to the "unspiritual." Not only to young families with children, but to people of every age and color and nationality and marital status. The church is to proclaim the Gospel wherever Christ gives us opportunity—pastors by visits and by preaching from the pulpit; and you by confessing your faith in your daily callings as family members and workers and citizens and neighbors, so that others might be drawn in to get caught in the net of Christ's preaching and teaching and baptism and by these things enter His boat. Sometimes the catch will come in surprising places.

Peter responded at first by saying, "Master, we toiled all night and caught nothing." By nature we labor in the darkness apart from the Lord. From our own efforts comes nothing. However, in the Light Peter goes on to say, "At Your Word I will let down the nets." Purely by faith Simon surrenders all that he knows and all that he has experienced and lets down the nets. So it is to be in the Church. Not our word but the Word of Christ is our life and salvation. What counts is not what seems reasonable to us, but what is good and right in the sight of the Lord. The Gospel, the message of Christ crucified, is foolishness to the world; but to faith this message is the power of God. His truth orders our lives. Again it is written, "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

Simon does what our Lord commands, and the nets fill up. Simon calls to his partners on shore to come out with their boat. With his partners both boats are filled so that it seems that they will not make it back to shore. So great is the catch of fish that one boat cannot hold them all.

Peter's reaction to this miracle seems a bit surprising. "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man!" This mighty work of Jesus causes Peter to see that he was in the presence of the holy God. And so the unbelief that remains in Peter rises up and begins to overwhelm him. "This is God. God is holy. God hates sin. I am a sinner. I am lost." That is the work of the devil. God does indeed hate sin, and the devil wants you to believe that God’s judgment against sin is the final word.

However, the One who stands before Simon Peter and before you today, Jesus the Son of God, did not come into this world to condemn the world but to save the world. He came to rescue Peter; He came to rescue you. Just as Simon trusted in the Lord when he went out to catch fish in the deep, so now you are to trust in the Lord as He speaks His mercy to you. Notice our Lord doesn't say, "Oh, that's okay, it's not really that bad." Instead He says, "Do not be afraid. I forgive you all your sins. You are reconciled to the Father through Me."

And finally, our Lord does one more amazing thing. He says to Peter, "From now on you will catch men." In other words, He makes this sinner into an apostle, a preacher of the Gospel, so that more fish might be drawn into the boat. So it is with all the preachers Christ calls and ordains: they are sinners. What counts is not what they are, but what they preach. Don't pay attention to your pastor or his personality or quirks; pay attention to Christ who uses pastors as His voice and hands to speak His Word and administer His Sacraments, that you fish might continually be drawn into the church.

Today, our Lord feeds you with the riches of the Sacrament of the Altar. He puts His body and blood into your mouths to hook you and reel you in. The Word alone brings you to repentance and keeps you in the faith. After all, nothing happens apart from the Word 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.

Higher Things 2011: Coram Deo

Something tells me that this blog post won't win Todd Wilken's approval for brevity. My apologies.

I've worked with young people for a long time now.  It's been twenty years, in fact, which is well over half of my life. In that time I've seen trends and fads, facts and figures, gadgets and gimmicks, both in the secular and ecclesiastical realms. 

I don't think I ever posted my critique on this blog, but I am a survivor of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod's 2004 National Youth Gathering (and I do mean "survivor", as it was a nightmare of the worst trends in post-modern evangelical Christianity). There was not much about that event that I would consider Lutheran. There was not much I would even consider inherently Christian. The oozing emotionalism, the specially-produced liturgies, the contemporary Christian music, the Bible study that began with the pastor fanning his softcover gathering Bible while holding it up to his ear and asking if we could "hear the Spirit moving", the sermon preached by the wife of the former Synodical president—these things did not lend themselves to the edification of the soul.

This past week I took kids from my youth group to the Higher Things conference in Bloomington, Illinois. To my great delight, the conference was refreshingly lacking in fads, gimmicks, and the command to "Shout if you love Jeeeeeeeezus!" I was impressed all around with the commitment of Higher Things to traditional Lutheran theology and worship, a commitment demonstrated amply in the 10 different organized services and the numerous plenary and breakaway presentations. I'm going to list, point by point, the things I liked and disliked about the conference, and there's very little you can do to stop me.

WHAT I LIKED

Let's start with all things liturgical. Coram Deo began and ended with the Divine Service. Not only did the conference begin with the Divine Service, but it was a setting taken straight from the hymnal (LSB Setting 1, if you must know), rather than the scattered moonings of some "master liturgist". The confession of sins was an actual confession, where we confess that we are sinners in thought, word and deed, and we received the full forgiveness of our sins; we did not make a confession of sins that doesn't really confess sins, nor did we hear an absolution that doesn't really absolve the sinner of anything. The creed was the Creed taken straight from the hymnal, not some bastardized version of the creed that confesses that Jesus loves us the way the sun loves a flower. No one's wife got up in the middle of the service to preach a sermon in the middle of another sermon. No one's daughter got up to entice the young men in attendance to love Jesus just a little more through the gyrations of her scantily-clad body. The sermons were Lutheran sermons—no "moral of the story", no patronizing the youth. We prayed four times each day: Matins, Vespers, Evening Prayer, and Prayer at the Close of the Day (a shortened version of Compline). This was counter-cultural worship, the kind of things that today's youth aren't supposed to enjoy; and yet many of the kids I talked to described the worship as their favorite part of the conference. And the hymnody?  Well, let's give the hymnody its own section.

And why don't we do that now. Ah, the hymns. The conference hymn was "God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It", which went nicely with the conference theme, which was Coram Deo. I'll talk more about the conference theme in a moment. The hymns were actual hymns, and, with one exception, I was pleased with their selections. We sang the conference hymn at almost every service. We sang the greats like "Thy Strong Word", "At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing", "For all the Saints", and numerous others. We sang all the verses of each hymn. Nowhere were we called upon to wave our hands to heaven as we repeated nonsense phrases. Nowhere were we called upon to emote about what we've done for Jesus.

The conference theme was Coram Deo, a Latin phrase which means "before God" or "in the face of God". Where do you stand before God? As a sinner, that is a horrible question to have to answer. In the way of the Law, you stand before God as a sinner, worthy only of condemnation. But through Baptism, this is no longer a horrifying question to answer, because you stand before God as His redeemed child. You stand before God wearing the white robe of Christ's righteousness, and He sees Christ's righteousness and pronounces you "not guilty". Again, the substance was counter-cultural, raising the bar, asking the kids to think rather than to feel. The plenary speakers, Pastor William Cwirla and Pastor Brent Kuhlman, took the kids into the topic intensively. Pastor Cwirla took the kids through Romans, while Pastor Kuhlman took the kids through the Catechism, both of them showing the kids where they stood Coram Deo—and Pastor Cwirla adding the extra emphasis of Coram Hominibus: how we stand before our fellow humans. The breakaway sessions continued with the theme. None of the speakers I saw needed gimmicks, and at no time did the speakers insult the intelligence of their audience.

As always, I am impressed with the overall philosophy of Higher Things. "The mission of Higher Things, Inc. is to assist parents, congregations, and pastors in cultivating and promoting a Lutheran identity among youth . . ." (which is taken directly from their website). I have attended a Synodical National Youth Gathering, and I have attended District Youth Gatherings. I know that Higher Things does not intend to deliberately compete with these things in their conferences, but as one who has attended such things, it's difficult not to make the comparison. You can't help but notice the difference in the philosophies behind those who are responsible for Higher Things and those who are responsible for the Synodical gatherings. The monthly mailings from the LCMS Youth Ministry Office are strewn with the results of surveys and "longitudinal studies" about "what youth want today" and "what youth are up to today" from George Barna and others. Their conference speakers are not always Lutherans, much less LCMS Lutherans. On the other hand, Higher Things urges you to "dare to be Lutheran". Everything about their conferences, their magazine, their organization, is unashamedly Lutheran.

The Higher Things staff and volunteers (CCVs) impressed me as well, from the top of the organization to the lowliest college student who volunteered their time. I admit that I've met a large number of the Higher Things staff before, and the Media Executive is a good friend. Even without those connections, one cannot help but be impressed by the commitment of the staff in putting together three consecutive conferences in three weeks. And for each of these conferences, a group of college students pays (if sufficient donations are not made) to volunteer their time to making sure the speakers have no technological issues and the youth don't spend too much time lost on a college campus. Of course, two of my adopted sisters were CCVs at the Bloomington conference, so I'm a little biased, but even the ones that I didn't spend a year with on vicarage were excellent.

I was also given the opportunity to appear on Higher Things Radio! Since my group of kids traveled with the group from Pastor Buetow's congregation, Bethel Luthern in DuQuoin, our groups did our nighttime prayers together. When the prayers were over, he said he was going down to record an episode of HT radio where they'd be doing an "Ask the Pastor" section, and he asked me to participate. Of course, now I know why God called me to the Office of the Ministry: to save me from my delusions that I'd have made a dynamic radio personality! Nevertheless, I had a great time doing it, even if I sounded like I've never spoken in public before. You can listen to that particular episode here.

All around, I was impressed with the kids who attended the conference—with a special mention of my own group from St. Peter Lutheran in Campbell Hill, IL. As I said, we traveled with a group from Bethel Lutheran Church in DuQuoin, IL. We also had a group with us from my vicarage congregation, Trinity Lutheran in Norborne, MO. So we already knew some of the kids who were attending. Of course, 20 kids in the sea of 1,200 kids isn't much. But watching how these kids from 25 states and 4 Canadian provinces came together, daring to be explicitly Lutheran . . . well, it was quite a sight to see. With few exceptions, the kids were well-behaved, respectful of the speakers and staff, and willing to jump right in and be a part of something bigger than themselves.

A couple personal highlights: (1) I met Dr. Lamb of Lutherans for Life, an organization determined to preserve human life at all stages. I shared with Dr. Lamb the text of my hymn "Before I Formed You in the Womb I Knew You", and he said to look for it in one of their future periodicals! (2) I was also reunited with three fellow alumni from my alma mater, Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. I hadn't seen any of these gentlemen since I completed my course of studies eleven years ago, and it was nice to be reunited with them (and to meet their wives, two of whom I hadn't met before). (3) It was also a blessing to meet in person for the first time (and to be reunited with) friends from Facebook and other circles of friends.

WHAT I DISLIKED/DISAPPOINTMENTS

My biggest dislike in the whole of the Coram Deo experience—and the only one over which the Higher Things staff had any control—was the selection of the Stephen Starke hymn "We Praise You and Acknowledge You, O God" (LSB 941). It's a wonderful text—it's hard to screw up the Te Deum Laudamus, after all, and I'd love to see the text set to another tune, even if "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" (LSB 940) is one of my favorite hymns—but the tune is Thaxted, which is the melody of the central section of the Jupiter movement of Gustav Holst's "The Planets". I believe that using that tune sends a bad message. We tell our young couples not to use Mendelssohn's Wedding March from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" or Wagner's Bridal Chorus from "Lohengrin" because of the context in which those pieces appear. By the same token, "The Planets" by Holst deals with the astrological and mythical significance of the planets. Whether or not the kids know the context of the music, it's inappropriate for a Christian hymn. It is, however, firmly embedded in Lutheran Service Book and is quite popular with the Higher Things crowd, especially since (If I remember correctly) it was the conference hymn for one of the past conferences, so I have no illusions that it will disappear from Higher Things any time soon.

Of course the Higher Things people have no control over this, but it was hellishly hot in Bloomington last week. It was in the high 90s all week, and I don't think it slipped below 80 until at least midnight. This polar bear nearly went extinct!

The whistles. Exhibitors always attend things like this, and for the most part I was pleased. One exhibitor, however, handed out whistles. Give a kid a whistle, and you know what he's going to do with it. Those whistles were a plague! 

I was ever-so-slightly disappointed in the organ playing. Of course, when you go in expecting to hear the great Chris Loemker, anyone else is going to be a letdown. But circumstances kept Chris away for most of the conference, so he was only available for one service. Dr. Eifert of Mt. Calvary Lutheran in San Antonio, TX, was an admirable substitute, though.

OVERALL

All in all, as I'm sure you can tell, I was very much impressed by the whole experience. Even with high expectations going in, I found those expectations surpassed. I arrived tired and spiritually run down. I departed exhausted and spiritually refreshed. (Yeah, you don't sleep a lot at these things.) If you are a kid, ask your parents and youth leaders and pastors if you can go. If you are a youth leader or pastor or parent, encourage your kids to go. Finally, here is a place where you don't have to be embarrassed to be a Lutheran. In fact, a Higher Things conference will encourage you to "Dare to be Lutheran"!

Sermon for 7/17/11--Fourth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Be Merciful

Luke 6:36-42

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

“Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” Mercy is not giving someone what they deserve. It means that you know exactly what this person has done. You know what they deserve—if all things were right and fair. You know. Yet you choose instead to show mercy to them. You forgive them. You pay the debt yourself. You don’t give them what they deserve. So when Jesus says, “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful,” He is first of all giving us the Law. Do this. Be merciful. This is the Law. Jesus knows perfectly well that you are not merciful. You are full of judgment and hatred toward your fellow human beings. How many times have you sat in the pew right where you sit now and sat in so-called righteous judgment over your fellow Christians next to you? “Well, at least I’m not like them.” How many times have you looked at other people secretly with contempt, knowing that you are really a better Christian than those ones who don’t do as much, or don’t come to church as much, or whose life is a mess, or who have created some kind of scandal, or whatever it may be.

What Jesus is really getting at in our text is the Eight Commandment. “You shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor.” Luther reminds us what this means: “We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.” That’s easy to say, but it’s terribly hard to put into practice. Be merciful. Don’t give into your evil desires! Don’t sit in judgment over others. Many people believe that they are not really poor miserable sinners. Looking at this commandment and what it means reminds us all that we are all unkind and even cruel toward the people we claim to love the most. When it comes to mercy, we are most often unmerciful and just plain evil at times toward our own family. How often have you lashed out at your spouse or one of your children? How often have you kept score with your siblings or held a grudge toward a relative or friend, knowing that sooner or later you would get them back? Every time you take it out on your spouse because you know they’ll take it, you forget mercy.

This is what Joseph’s brothers feared when their father, Jacob, died. In Genesis we hear of how Joseph’s brothers believed that once Jacob was dead, they would get their just desserts. They had sold Joseph into slavery, lied about him and had treated him worse than their worst enemy. Yet Joseph showed them mercy. Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” This is what Jesus is talking about when He says, “Judge not lest you be judged.” What he is saying is that none of us stand in the place of God. It is not your job to stand as judge, jury and executioner over your fellow Christians. That is God’s place. Your job is to defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way. Your place in life is to cover up the sins of your family and friends, and even your enemies. Your place as a Christian is to remember that all are poor miserable sinners, and you are simply being a liar by claiming to be better than anyone else.

Now this is often misunderstood. Do not judge unless you wish to be judged. Many take that to mean that we may never condemn sin or say anything is right or wrong. “Well, they’re living together before marriage. It’s not what I think is right, but who am I to judge?” “Gossip is wrong, but I’ve certainly gossiped before. How can I condemn someone for that?” The problem is that this confuses what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is condemning is a double standard. You can’t hold others to a higher standard than you yourself hold. And what is the standard by which all are judged? The standard is God’s holy law, not our own petty rules. And God’s holy Law does not bend. All stand condemned before God’s Law, which we all break time and time again.

So what is Jesus talking about when He says, “Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful”? The point of this text is that the Father in heaven is merciful. We judge each other on the basis of our limited vision. We look and see what we don’t like in someone else, and we condemn him for it. But your Father in heaven knows all and sees all. There is nothing hidden from his sight. There is no sin that goes unnoticed, no misdeed that is lost. He knows all your faults and shortcomings, down to the very end.

Still, He is merciful. He doesn’t give you what you deserve. He doesn’t give you death. Instead, He gives you the very opposite. He gives you life. Now this life that the Father gives by mercy isn’t just any life. It is eternal life. It is His life, rich and full of blessing. It is a life washed clean of every stain of sin in Holy Baptism, which allows you to stand before God as His redeemed child.

Now what does this mean for you in the real world? It means everything. It means that this is a place where you receive the one thing you need more than anything else: mercy. Here your troubles are not glossed over or held up as a spectacle. No, here in this place our heavenly Father gives you this great gift of mercy, so that your sins are washed away forever. Perhaps this seems like old news to you. “We’ve heard this before, pastor. Why don’t you get to something more useful?” My brothers and sisters in Christ, mercy never goes out of date. Just like the love of God, His mercy knows no boundaries, and it delivers you the peace of God that all desire. This is why we may sing with the Psalmist: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” 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 7/10/11--Third Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Family

Luke 15:11-32

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

The family depicted in the Gospel is not a perfect family. The younger son runs away, but not before demanding from his father all the property that would be his when the father dies. And the older son stays on the ranch, but he is not at all pleased with the situation. He feels like a slave. He’s mad at his brother for running off, and he might even be a little angry with himself for not thinking of it first. Those are only the symptoms. The real problem is that the sons are having problems with forgiveness.

The younger son has sinned against God and against his father. He feels shame. He can’t forgive himself. He has wasted the money his father gave him on extravagant living. He’s going hungry. He has to find a job. He’s gone from raising livestock on his father’s ranch to feeding pigs. There is really no other job in a land ravaged by famine. Don’t forget that this is a nice orthodox Jewish boy. He’s barely supposed to know what a pig looks like, much less spend any significant time with them. He’s shamed himself. He’s shamed his family. How can he go back home? He finally comes to the conclusion that he can go back home, that maybe his father will hire him on as a servant. He remembers that the servants are well-treated and have plenty to eat. He won’t dare ask for forgiveness; what he’s done goes far beyond the bounds of what can be forgiven. But maybe his father will have mercy on him and let him work for his living.

But when he returns home, he finds his father running to him, and his father gives him the forgiveness he could not bring himself to ask for. His father not only welcomes him home, but gives him the best robe, a pair of sandals, and a ring. And on top of all that, he has the servants kill the fatted calf, gives everyone the rest of the day off, and has a big party to welcome home the son that was lost, but now is found. The end. Roll the credits. What a spectacular ending!

But what about the older son? He’s still out in the fields, slaving away for his father. He hears the sound of a party at home, and he wants to know what’s going on. When he finds out that his brother has come home and that the party is for that delinquent, he refuses to join the party. He refuses to speak of the younger son as his brother. He certainly won’t forgive that boy for what he’s done.

Neither son really understands forgiveness. The younger son feels that nobody can forgive him for what he’s done. The older son doesn’t think he should have to forgive, and he doesn’t understand how his father can forgive. Why should he forgive his brother? The older son has never done anything wrong! He’s been loyal to his father, even though he feels like he’s been a slave all these years. He is the one who deserves a party, not his brother. Why should he be the one to make things right again?

The only one in the family who understands forgiveness is the father. When his younger son comes home, he runs out to meet him. He has compassion on him. He throws his arms around him, never mind that he smells like pigs. This is his son, not some stranger. The father completely forgives his younger son, and the son begins to understand. In the face of his father’s grace, he can repent; he has already been completely forgiven. And then the father pleads with the older son to forgive his brother, to show the same complete acceptance the father has shown. The father has not closed the door on either son.

We are members families, and we all face the difficulties of forgiveness. By refusing to forgive, we close many doors on our relationships. Most broken homes exist because someone cannot bring forgiveness to bear. Sometimes one cannot forgive himself. In the same way, if we don’t forgive others, we not only lock them out; we lock ourselves out, too. We see this, both in our homes and in our churches. The divorce rate is higher than ever. Too often we hear and live stories of brothers and sisters who don’t speak for years. And in our churches, we see more and more feuds every year. Pastors are forced out of churches by angry congregations. Angry or ignored church members trickle out of membership rolls a handful at a time, to reappear on other churches, or worse yet, to disappear from church altogether. Church meetings become shouting matches between factions that can’t agree; and these shouting matches aren’t resolved by agreement, but are merely postponed by the forceful expulsion of one of the parties. Thus the argument is never resolved. Sunday morning becomes a war—a war within ourselves and a war with those around us. The worse part of this is that we don’t understand that we sin not only against each other. First and foremost, we sin against God. We don’t forgive those who trespass against us; why should God forgive us? The psalmist writes, “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long.” Rather than seek absolution and reconciliation, we hide away, pretending the problem will disappear on its own. If we don’t confess our sins, there is no chance to be forgiven; and without forgiveness, only death remains.

But before anyone can condemn you, God forgives you. Our God is a forgiving God. Our Lord hung upon the cross to bear all your sins, so that when the Father looks upon you, He sees only the blameless Son. The Son instituted Sacraments in which you receive forgiveness. In Baptism you have been washed clean from the sin that you were born into, and the Lord received you into His family. In the Lord’s Supper you eat the body and blood of Jesus, which is given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins. This is the great family banquet which is shared by the whole family of Christians of every time and place. And Jesus also shows you how to forgive each other. Forgiveness is a complete change. He told Peter that forgiveness isn’t something you limit to 7 times, but something to give freely, 70 times 7, as many times as a person truly repents and asks to be forgiven. That’s a radical concept, as radical as dying on a cross to forgive sins.

In the face of your Father’s complete forgiveness, you can truly repent and you are truly forgiven. And through His forgiveness, you can forgive each other, as well. That’s a normal family—the family of brothers and sisters in Christ. 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 7/3/11--Second Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

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The Feast of Love

Luke 14:15-24

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

There are few words found more frequently in the Scriptures than the word “love.” Just about everyone, even those who don’t really believe it, know the Biblical phrase, “God is love.” And it is true that love is the very essence of God. The problem, however, with the word “love” is that it is easily and often misunderstood and misused. For example, it is often assumed that “love” is always a “Gospel” word, a word that speaks of promises and gifts from God. It is, indeed, often used in this way: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.” But if you would check out “love” in all of its various Biblical contexts you will find that in most cases it is actually a “Law” word, a word of command or admonition to love God or to love our neighbor. And so we must bear in mind always that the word “love” is a two-edged sword: it can bear both a Gospel meaning and a Law meaning; and at times, both may be found together. This text is just such an example.

Now, you may be thinking, “What does any of this have to do with this text? After all, the word ‘love’ is not even found in the text.” That’s true. But still, the love of God for us and the love we are to return to Him is all over this text, whether or not the word itself is there. It is found in the context of a great heavenly banquet, which always speaks to us of the Lord’s Supper; and it also speaks to us of the great feast of everlasting life around the throne of heaven.

The great supper described in this text is a wonderful picture of the love of God. The love of God is a love that is wide, for the invitation to the supper is one that goes out to many. It is a banquet that is full and rich, for it meets all the needs of men. It is a great feast that has been prepared and is ready to be enjoyed. What’s more, this is an unending feast. It is a feast of joy for the present, even as it is one of hope for the future.

There is no worldly feast offered this side of heaven that can give any more than present satisfaction. And even in the best of them there are things that we find less than pleasing, or which do not especially appeal to our taste. But this great supper offers present happiness and future glory. As we gather at His invitation at the table of the Lord, we are given His very body and blood, given and shed for the remission of our sins. This is a “foretaste of the feast to come”, a sign of all the wonders that the Lord of the Church has prepared for those who love Him and who long for His return.

This feast of love is so rich, and the entrance to it so easy, that we cannot help but be amazed at how many refuse the invitation to come. It is like faith itself. Saving faith is a great mystery. But perhaps an even greater mystery is that, when offered the boundless blessings of the Gospel, the fullness of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life, so many will quickly refuse it!

There are many excuses by which the invitation is refused. Some excuse themselves because they have earthly wealth; they simply think they do not need this great feast of love. Others refuse the invitation because they’ve got what they think of as better things to do. Still others refuse because of their families. Can you relate to any of these? You may not be wealthy, but surely there have been times when you have been well satisfied with yourself, and the need for God was far from your mind. And surely the rigors of daily life have kept you busy. At times you have permitted such things to turn you away from the gifts of this great feast of love.

But these excuses are only symptoms. The real reason for refusing the feast of love is because unbelief always yearns for a different feast. Unbelief is too satisfied with earthly riches. It is too busy with daily living. It is too pleased with the delights of family. There is room at the heavenly banquet, but there is no room for the banquet in the hearts of sinners. All excuses are needless. Enjoying God’s great feast will not take away from all these others things; it will enhance them and make them even greater. The enjoyment of God’s great feast will add even more pleasure to those with wealth; it will help those who bear many daily burdens to bear them with joy and without anxiety; it will make even the happiest home happier still.

This parable of Jesus is one that cuts across all the ages of time. The temptation comes to all, including the faithful of the Lord, to think themselves too satisfied, too busy, or too tied down to need the feast of love. And here is the truth that lies at the root of it all, the one thing we need always to remember: we will not taste the feast unless we have the taste for it. That means repentance and faith. The love of God is something that must not be refused by us. His love for us cost Him the life of His Son on the cross, and He will not leave unanswered the rejection of His Son. It is for us to repent for those times when we have thought ourselves beyond the need of the love of God given to us through the saving life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. But even when God’s anger is roused by our sin of refusal, still His love persists. He doesn’t stop sending the invitation; He repeats it again and again, each time full of His desire that we would accept His invitation.

This is an open invitation to the Savior’s body and blood in His Holy Supper, which is a foretaste of the feast to come. The feast is great, its blessings boundless even now; but, as yet, we have tasted only the crumbs, the appetizer. Here the words of the Psalmist come to mind: “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in You.” Hear His invitation, and answer to your everlasting joy and blessing! 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.