Sermon for 9/13/2020: Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the audio file.

CLICK HERE to view the sermon video.

Diseased in Soul

Luke 17:11-19

                                               

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

         

What the eyes see is leprosy; what their skin feels is leprosy. And the law declares that lepers are not only diseased in body; they are spiritually unclean. Do you really think the Lord’s Spirit lays down a law only about one skin disease and ignores all the other diseases of the body? Or does this particular disease reveal what is in a man’s soul, what infects man’s spirit, what threatens to destroy his spiritual life? Thank God that the condition of our soul is not so much on display today. Thank God that we still have skin to hide the nakedness of our wandering spirit.

Our spirits wander because we so easily fall for the lie. We are weak, and so we are easily enticed and seduced by the lie that says that we have no lord and master. The lie says that we can worship whenever we feel up to it, that we can believe whatever we think is right, that we can help ourselves to whatever life offers, that we make it on our own, that we can treat people as we please, that we need to submit to no one and nothing. The lie drives us away from true love, because the one who truly loves will never live for himself. The lie drives us away from the Truth, for you must sacrifice your sin-blinded notions of right and wrong to live for the Truth. But most of all, the lie stokes your pride, telling you not to repent, not to apologize, not to return to the Lord.

So what is it that eats away at the souls of the ten men? It is pride. And with pride comes pride’s companions: greed, lust, addiction, anger, vanity, despondency, sloth and loathing. If you look throughout the Old Testament, you will see that these are the things that accompany leprosy. The leprous man suffers not from a rash or deterioration of the skin, but of the soul. The leprous man is spiritual sick unto death. Our greatest threat is not physical leprosy; it is the leprosy of the soul, the belief that we can come to God on our own terms, that we deserve His mercy.

When Our Lord sees what we have done to ourselves, how much we hate ourselves, how estranged we are from Him—when He sees how we are spiritually killing ourselves, He is moved with compassion. And so—not because they cry out, but because He is merciful—Our Lord heals these ten lepers.

But did you listen for the medicine they had to swallow? Our Lord Jesus does not say, “You are healed.” He says, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” This is what the Law prescribes. Lepers must be declared by the priest to be clean and healed. But why? Are the priests also doctors? No. But remember that leprosy is not chiefly a skin disease; it is a disease of the soul which makes the leper unclean. And the Great Physician who works through His priests is the only One who can address diseases of the soul.

While we don’t know whether those nine lepers ever made it to the priests, we do know what happened to the one. The Samaritan did not go to show himself to the priests. Rather, when he saw that he was healed, he returned to the true High Priest, the Physician of the Soul. He returned and glorified God. But the man is not just praising Jesus. The Lord brought the man back to sacrifice his pride. The man makes a fool of himself, falling down at Jesus’ feet in thanksgiving for the healing of the soul that the Lord has given him.

As the man gives thanks, the Lord gives His blessing. “Arise, go your way. Your faith has saved you.” Those are the last words that accompany the sacrifice. That is the blessing you are given when you give thanks for the Lord’s mercy. This is the blessing you receive in the medicine of immortality, the body and blood of Jesus, the thanksgiving meal of the healed and redeemed children of God. The priest, speaking in the name of Jesus, has declared that you are clean, forgiven, healed in body and soul. Thanks be to God for His abundant mercy! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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

Sermon for 9/6/2020: Thirteenth Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the audio file.

CLICK HERE to view the sermon video.

Pride or Mercy

Luke 10:23-37

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

The young lawyer in today’s Gospel was so blinded by his pride that he could not see that he was in need of the Lord’s mercy. It was pride that drove him to show off his education and intellect. It was pride that caused him to think that he could trap Jesus. It was pride that urged the lawyer to believe that he had already succeeded in loving God with all he was and all he had. And it was the man’s pride that Jesus used to trap him.

To omit mercy in your dealings with others; to refuse to forgive to the same degree that the Lord has forgiven you; to insist that others meet your conditions before you will forgive; to hold a grudge; to refuse to see that anyone you come into contact with is the neighbor the Lord has given you—that is where this brilliant young lawyer stumbled. His pride threatened his inheritance of eternal life.

The lawyer did not beg for mercy. He would never stoop so low; his pride would never allow him to admit he needed it. But what about you? When you fall to your knees and plead for the Lord to overlook your sins; when you cry out for help; when you sing, “Lord, have mercy”—do you let the Lord’s mercy stop there? Do you let it die within your heart by storing up anger or resentment? Do you live only for yourself? The Lord gives His mercy so that it has it’s way with you, so that it comes alive in you, so that His mercy is lived in you and through you toward your neighbor.

The mercy you seek from the Lord is the very mercy you ought to live: without demands, without conditions, without envy, without pettiness. It is a selfless love, a love willing to empty yourself and all that you have in order to bandage another man’s wounds and bring him into the inn of Christ’s holy Church.

The Good Samaritan is the very picture of our Lord Jesus. Just as the Samaritan was despised and rejected and laughed at by the Jewish leaders in that day, so was our Lord. And just as the Samaritan stepped in where the priest and deacon feared to tread, so does our Lord. And just as the Samaritan spared no expense for the well-being of his enemy, our Lord does not even spare His own life to save you from sin, death, and the power of the devil. Just as the Samaritan poured on the healing medicine of oil and wine, so our Lord pours over you the bloody waters of baptism to cleanse you of your sin, and then He nurses you back to spiritual health with His holy body and blood, the medicine of immortality.

Yes, the Good Samaritan is the very picture of our Savior. And yet, with this parable, Our Lord is also telling the young lawyer—and you—that the Samaritan is equally the very picture of your life in God, for we are to “be merciful, just as our Father also is merciful.” We are to “let brotherly love continue”—not strangling it with harsh words, nor killing it with the refusal to love as you have been loved. For “if you will not love your brother, whom you can see, how can you love God, whom you have not seen?” You are to love everyone, even your enemies, to “bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.”

I urge you in Christ: do not deal with others in harshness or meanness. Do not harbor anger or bitterness toward those who have hurt you. Do not turn away from those who need the healing balm of your kindness and compassion. Instead, show mercy to your neighbor in the same way that you beg the Lord to have mercy on you. After all, our Father readily and mercifully gives you His Holy Spirit so that you might be united to His Son by the Holy Supper. Through these gifts, you live in Him and His abundant mercy, even as He lives His love in and through you toward all your neighbors. 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 8/30/2020: Twelfth Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the audio file.

CLICK HERE to view the sermon video.

Preserved in the Church

Mark 7:31-37

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

Those who desire salvation do well to sever ties with those who encourage us in ungodly living, who tolerate anything that hurts our soul. Our Lord leads the deaf man away from the crowds to teach us that our life in Him is a life apart from what the world calls good and right. Our life in the Church is a breaking of communion with those who only want Jesus part-way or not at all.

But when our Lord took the man aside from the multitude, He was not simply separating him from others. Jesus was also pulling the man into Himself, so that He could bring him into His healing love and righteousness. Jesus did not want to teach us merely to break with our former life, but also to come into communion and life with Him. This is not some manufactured unity with Jesus. We all know people who believe that they can worship God anywhere because He promises to be everywhere. While it is true that God is everywhere, He has attached His promises to the gifts He gives “where two or three are gathered in His name.”

This is why we pray the way we do at every baptism. We pray our Father “graciously to behold” the infant or child or adult, and “to bless him with true faith in the Spirit so that…he may be separated from the number of the unbelieving, and preserved dry and secure in the holy ark of the Church.” We don’t simply want the newborn child of God to be cut off from the unbelieving. We want him kept safe in the Church. Our prayer recognizes that there is no salvation apart from the Church. And so we flee to the Church as we shun those things from which the Lord, by His Spirit, has released us. We must not return to them.

But as you well know, the pull toward wickedness, gossip, selfishness and envy is strong. Addictions of mind or body are easily formed, but they are resisted only by the Lord’s grace and the prayers of the faithful and much self-discipline and diligence. For each of us, the devil plays on what tempts us, and our society cheers us on to give in, to feed our desires, to live as we please and to do what we want. And our own mind rationalizes by saying, “God will still love me.” Yet how can God love the man who harbors anger, or the woman who loves to gossip, or the man who covets what another person has, or the woman who thinks only of herself?

The way out is given the finger of God, which is the Holy Spirit, just as the Lord healed the man in today’s Gospel. He put His fingers in the man’s ears, and He spat and touched the man’s tongue. What is the Lord’s finger but the Holy Spirit? And what is the spit and the touch, except the grace and mercy of God the Father given in the waters of Holy Baptism? And so the man is healed by God’s grace according to the pleading and prayers of his friends. And so are we.

But let us not leave it there. Again, let us not forget what Our Lord Jesus did first. First, He pulled the man aside. First, our Lord beckoned this poor man into Himself, drawing him away from those who wished to lure him back into his former ways. Our Lord brought and led the man into the safety and comfort of His own loving embrace.

And so it is with us. We have been separated from the number of the unbelieving precisely so that we might be preserved, safe and secure, in the holy Church. Our Lord has broken our ties with those who wish us harm. He has drawn us away from those who urge us to tolerate heresy, who pervert the holy Faith. And He has given us a place in His holy Church and a seat at His heavenly banquet. Let us not flee from His Church, nor let us seek compromise simply for the appearance of tranquility. Instead, let us flee for refuge to the infinite mercy He gives us in His holy Church; for that’s where our Lord is, eager to bring us more fully into communion with Him. 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 8/23/2020: Eleventh Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the audio file.

CLICK HERE to view the sermon video.

Humility and Faith 

Luke 18:9-14

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

Humility and faith go together. A faithful child of God acknowledges that anything he offers or does or gives is meager and not worthy to be compared with whatever the Lord gives through His ministers and through neighbors. The humble man confesses that, apart from the Lord, everything he does is worthless and vain. It takes great humility to say, “I was wrong. I mistreated you. I abused our friendship. I am not worthy to stand in your sight.” It also takes great faith, for when you confess your sin, you are not only humbling and lowering yourself; you are also trusting that your apology will be accepted, your sincerity will be believed, your words will not be swatted aside, and your admission will not be used against you. Examine your life; is this you? Has your sin humbled you before the Lord and your neighbors?

The Pharisee has no humility, and so he exhibits no faith. Wise Solomon says, “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” Yet this man, who knows the Law, praises himself for all he has done. He seeks to impress God and anyone else who is listening in. But it’s all camouflage and smoke screen. The louder he boasts, the more we should pity him, because he wants to believe what he says. He desperately wants to believe that he’s not as bad as he fears.

In the end, the Pharisee does not know himself, and he doesn’t truly know God. The man who believes he is perfect also believes he has no need for God. To know God means you must confess and acknowledge and admit that all you’ve done, all your wisdom, all your worldly goods, and all you are is dust and ashes. Your every breath depends on the Father’s life-breathing Spirit. Your every heartbeat depends on the Father’s compassion, demonstrated in His Son’s innocent sacrifice.

How can the Pharisee confess God when he refuses to see who he himself truly is? How can he receive the Lord’s mercy when he demands to be loved? How can he trust God almighty when he trusts his own reason and strength? This man is not justified precisely because he seeks to justify himself. And this Pharisee has no faith precisely because he believes first and foremost in himself.

The tax collector, however, knows himself. He sees the truth about himself; he will not hide behind excuses, the opinions of others, or any work he has done. He has come to know that his only hope is to throw himself on the infinite mercy of God. He stands in the Court of the Gentiles. He lowers his eyes, not daring to look toward the Holy of Holies. He begs, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner.” He does not deserve forgiveness. He deserves the scorn of all his neighbors, the rebuke of the priests, the disdain of the rich, the mockery of the poor, the shunning of the righteous. Most of all, he deserves the wrath of God.

St. Paul wrote, “This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” This man, who truly knows himself, stands among the heathen and speaks the truth about himself in God’s house. This man is humble because he believes; he believes because he is humble. And so, Jesus says, “this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Now that you’ve seen true faith, learn from our Lord by imitating this humble tax collector. He does not view himself as superior; he does not trust any righteousness in himself. He does not approach the Lord because of his righteous deeds, but because of the Lord’s mercy. I urge you in the same : in the humility of true faith, draw near to our heavenly Father, begging His mercy. Draw near in humility to receive the body and blood of Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, for our Father declares His almighty power chiefly in showing mercy to those who cling to Him, who live in the sure and certain hope they have through their baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus 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 8/16/2020: Tenth Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the audio file.


CLICK HERE to view the sermon video.

Peace in Christ

Luke 19:41-48

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

Jesus said, “Days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation.” It seemed preposterous. Jerusalem was the city of God, the apple of His eye. Jerusalem was the home of the Temple, where God Himself promised to dwell among His people. But everything our Lord foretold happened to Jerusalem. Barely 40 years after this, in the year 70, the Roman overlords laid their siege against Jerusalem and annihilated the holy city. Things she loves so dearly—even her godly worship and her beautiful buildings—were taken from her. This happened because the chosen people of God no longer put their trust in God. This happened because they looked for their peace in their status as children of Abraham. This happened because they looked for their peace in what they believed was their obedience to the Law. This happened because Jerusalem—the priests and Pharisees and Sadducees and Scribes and the people—did not know the time of her visitation by the Lord.

But Jesus will suffer first. He is the Temple not built with hands, the Dwelling-Place of God in flesh among His people. He will die first for Jerusalem. He will be hemmed in, surrounded by the chief priests and teachers of the Law. Soldiers will seize Him. They will level Him. He will die just outside the city, put to death for the crime of coming to save people who believe they have no need to be saved. God in flesh has come to visit His people, and they shout, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!” They drive nails into His hands and feet. They lift Him above the earth on a cross. They mock Him as He hangs until He dies. Jesus is the Cornerstone, leveled and rejected by His chosen people. If only Jerusalem knew. If only they knew the cause of their peace.

You know, and still you reject Him daily and much. You have been running after false peace and false comfort wherever you can find it. Do you look for your peace in what you possess? Do you look for peace in what gives pleasure to your body? Do you look for your peace in not being as bad or sinful as others? It’s certainly understandable. After all, others are really bad; they will be the ones that go to hell. And you are basically good, right? You sin from time to time, but it's not like you do anything really bad. Is that where you look for your peace?

Jerusalem's false peace failed them, just as your false peace fails you. You cannot find true peace on your own. Only the death and resurrection of Jesus makes the peace of Jerusalem. His death and resurrection makes for your peace, as well. His death gives you peace with God—peace, Jesus tells us, which the world cannot give. That peace which He won for you on the Cross is delivered to you in His gifts: in His Word of Absolution, in His washing of Holy Baptism, in His holy Supper. There in His Word combined with water, with bread and wine—there is the peace of God.

If only Jerusalem had known. And if they had listened, if they had put their trust in what God had told them through the prophets and through Jesus in flesh, they would have known. But now you know, for you have listened. You have received. And you have rejoiced, for He has made his peace known to you, a gift of pure grace. Jesus is your peace. 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 8/9/2020: Ninth Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the audio file.


CLICK HERE to view the sermon video.

The Steward of Grace

Luke 16:1-13

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

It doesn’t seem right, does it? People who spend their lives trying to do everything the right way receive no credit from the Lord for their efforts. Of course God does not approve of sin, and He doesn’t reward failure to live according to His Law, no matter how hard anyone tries. He is perfectly just, and His Law demands perfect obedience. So how does it make any sort of sense that Jesus commends the manager for his shrewd dishonesty? Does that somehow make Jesus unjust?

In reality, this story is one that Jesus tells describing the saving Gospel coming to lowly debtors. Sinners have gigantic bills. We owe the Lord more than we can ever pay Him. The wages of sin is death, and that is a price beyond our ability to pay. In the language of the parable, we are the ones who have our bills slashed. So—believe it or not—Jesus is the unjust Steward. We call it the parable of the Unjust Steward, but don’t get caught up in that. Perhaps the better title would be “The Merciful Steward.” 

The scribes and Pharisees, the religious leaders of the Jews, were accusing Jesus of wastefulness. He wasted His time and energy with public sinners. Jesus would teach and eat with tax collectors, adulterers, others who had bad reputations, and even those who were unclean according to the Temple law. Jesus welcomed them in order to teach God’s Law and Gospel. He was and is the Steward of grace, tearing up their bills and freeing them of their eternal indebtedness.

The Jewish leaders were upset with Jesus, the unjust Steward, because they believe that He is not tending to those who deserve His time and teaching. They consider Jesus to be contaminating Himself by associating with sinners. But that is precisely the point. Jesus lavishly pours out His grace upon people who are looked down upon by those who see themselves as righteous, upon people who confess their sin and recognize their debt. As King David wrote, “I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.” He is the only one with the righteousness to pay the astronomical debt of our sin and rebellion against the rich Master, our heavenly Father. 

Thanks be to God, for He does not want us rotting in prison. He praises His perfect Steward Son who has taken your bill and actually paid it in full. When Jesus bore the scourge of the whip and the piercing of the nails; when He endured the cruel death on the cross, He was marking your bill. But it was not simply a reduction in what you owe. He eliminated it, erasing the debt with His own blood. Jesus, the great and perfectly unjust Steward, has indeed been faithful in delivering to you wealth that you have not earned. Dr. Luther knew the truth of it when he taught us to confess, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord, or come to Him…” In that way we confess that we don’t have to rely on ourselves. We don’t have to earn forgiveness. And we don’t have to die in our sin.

Instead, rely on His good will. Rely on the promise made true by His Son. Rely on His mercy being so abundant as to cancel all your sin and to receive you into His home in Heaven. Rely on the reasoning of St. Paul: “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” Certainly no one can now lay anything to your charge, you who are God's elect. Nothing shall ever separate you from His love, because the only thing that ever stood between you and Him was your debt, and His Son has shrewdly put all of your debt away. Praise God for the work of this great Steward, His Son, our Lord Jesus 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 8/2/2020: Eighth Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the sermon audio file.


CLICK HERE to view the sermon video.

Fruit for Life

Matthew 7:15-23

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

There are false teachers who are obviously false. They teach that all religions are the same, that all roads lead to heaven. They teach that Jesus is only a prophet, a misguided rabbi, merely a good example for us to imitate. These obvious false prophets—the Mormons, the Jehovah Witnesses, the Muslims, the Jews, Buddhists, the various cults—these are not the people our Lord warns us about in today’s Gospel, though of course you should avoid them. But when Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets,” He is urging you to watch out for preachers who claim to be part of our fellowship. They urge unity at the expense of integrity. They let false teaching and worship live alongside the truth. They are more impressed with the world’s standard of success than with the kingdom of God. They quickly assign tradition to the trash heap and favor only newer, more modern ways. And they not only allow but encourage and even insist on innovations which sweep away what we have received from the Word of God. “Beware of them,” Jesus says. They are not obvious. They claim to seek fellowship, yet with their words they destroy it. They urge you not to get so riled, yet they rile you up. They speak of peace, but they persecute the peace-makers. You have known some of them all your life. They are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Beware of them.

Jesus goes on to say, “You will know them by their fruits.” You will know them by the false doctrine they cling to, by their desire to be popular with the world, by their insistence that the Word of God has mistakes or means something other than what the Church has always taught. You will know them because they welcome those who don’t believe what the Word teaches to their altars and pulpits. You will know them because they rejoice in the death of the unborn. They rejoice in those things our Lord calls sin.

How do you recognize a true teacher? Ask yourself this: Did they lead you to the Christ? Did they encourage you in what Scripture teaches instead of urging you to do your own thing? Did they provide you with true and lasting comfort in your hour of need? And did all their sermons, all their liturgies, all their ministry speak of the hope and salvation that is given only through Jesus Christ? What God used these preachers to produce in your heart—namely, a lively faith and godliness: these are good fruits, together with their bold confession of the faith and their willingness to suffer all, even death, rather than depart from the Church’s Faith. If these are the fruits, then these pastors and preachers are good trees, united to the Tree of Life.

But bad trees are like the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, a tree that offers no life and no hope, housing the devil and his lies. Evil trees cannot bring forth good fruit. In the same way, false preachers and prophets cannot produce the good fruit of faith in their parishioners. Our Lord’s warning must be repeated frequently, lest we begin to desire bad fruit.

But do not let this warning trouble you. Our Lord does not say, “Beware” to frighten or scare you, but to comfort and strengthen you. When you know that there are false preachers and evil prophets; when you know that there are pastors who speak of their own dreams rather than of the Lord’s heavenly vision; when you know that there are preachers whom Our Lord never sent—then you are more intent to search diligently for the true bishops, the godly priests, the faithful pastors who will shield you and soothe you with the Lord’s undying mercy. You cry out for the Word of Absolution. You return to your Baptism daily. You beg for the Lord to feed you with His body and blood. You recognize the Lord through His fruits to you, and you rejoice to receive them. 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 7/26/2020: Seventh Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the audio file.


CLICK HERE to view the sermon.

Compassion

Mark 8:1-9

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

Our Lord Jesus has a way of caring for His children that is unlike any other way that the world has ever known. It is the Lord’s way to gather people unto Himself. It is the Lord’s way to feed those whom He gathers as His own. It is also the Lord’s way to give us what we need in order that our burdens may be lifted. The sort of Lord and Savior to which you and I belong looks beyond Himself to the needs of others. Jesus said to His disciples, “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat.” Don’t take this statement lightly. Jesus uses a word which means His concern for the people causes His insides to ache with sadness. What happens to His children affects Him deeply. The condition of the people affects His very being. He sees a people who are going through a spiritual wilderness, a people who are at risk, who are saddened and troubled. He sees disbelievers, sinners, people who are hurting, people who are troubled. We see those same people when we look in the mirror.

Jesus cares for them with a Divine love. We see in this text something that sounds very familiar to our ears: “He took the loaves and blessed them and broke them and gave them to His disciples.” Time rushes together in such a way that the event becomes timeless. Just as God placed Adam and Eve in a delightful garden filled with food they could eat just by plucking it from the tree; just as God provided manna in the wilderness for His wandering children; just as Jesus, God in flesh dwelling among His people, provided for these 4,000 hearers, He now comes to you in the Word, in the water, in the bread and wine here in the Divine Service, sustaining and blessing His people. It is for you, free, given without any work or worth on your part.

Did you hear it? Remember the words recorded by the Apostle Paul: “The Lord Jesus, on the same night in which He was betrayed, took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, ‘Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you.’” It is sad, though, that, in the midst of these blessings of bread come from God, Israel ends up grumbling about it. Many disciples in the Gospel of John stop following Jesus because of His Bread of Life teaching.

Even today we are sometimes guilty of despairing of ourselves, of not rejoicing in the Supper which is Jesus Himself, taking it for granted, saying it could be something less than special if we receive it more often. At times we are numb to its blessings, and we even neglect the opportunity to receive and find comfort in this gift of Jesus, present in and under bread and wine. We must repent of this apathy. We should thank God that He gives us this holy Feast, and we should cry out and beg Him for it when it is not made available to us.

What we see in the feeding of the multitude is Jesus pointing to the upper room and to Golgotha. Jesus looks upon you with compassion and love. Jesus has mercy for you and forgives your sins—even the sin of our disbelief that God would provide heavenly bread in the midst of the spiritual wilderness of the world in order to give us heavenly peace. The blood He shed, the body He gave as the sacrifice, is the sign of His compassion and love showered upon you. In the same way, the Church looks upon the holy Supper as the evidence of God’s love, mercy, and concern for His people. This is how our Lord operates. When you hear the Words of Institution in this place over bread and wine, God grant that you remember that it is the compassion of Jesus being showered upon you by Him directly. 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.

HYMN: Lord, Let Your Servant Now Depart

Not long after I started writing hymns, I thought it would be fun to write metrical versions of the canticles the Church uses in worship. That being said, it was hard for me to believe that I could do justice to them, which kept me from attempting to do so for a long time. I've written a text before concerning the Christ Child being brought to Simeon in the Temple, but it did not really cover the Nunc Dimittis, Simeon's song. I couldn't sleep last night, and somehow the first line of the text below popped into my head, and since I wasn't sleeping anyway, I went to work. After re-reading this morning what I wrote in the middle of the night, I decided it wasn't total garbage, so I'm sharing it with you. Feedback is love.

I didn't have a tune in mind when I wrote this, which is unusual. Lutheran Service Book doesn't have a lot of options for the LMD meter, so I chose the one which is in the public domain.

Lord, Let Your Servant Now Depart

1. Lord, let Your servant now depart
In peace which You alone can give,
For in the Christ, I taste and see
The promised Savior, and I live.
He is the one revealing Light
To gather wayward Gentiles near,
The glory of Your Israel:
The Church’s Head in flesh is here.

2. All blessing, honor, endless praise
To God, almighty Father, sing!
All worship, holy Jesus Christ,
Immanuel, the Savior King!
O Holy Spirit, Helper, Friend,
To you shall endless glory be!
O Triune God, all thanks to You
Both now and to eternity!

© 2020 Alan Kornacki, Jr.
LMD
O GROSSER GOTT (LSB 810)
Occasion: Nunc Dimittis

Sermon for 7/19/2020: Sixth Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the audio file.


CLICK HERE to view the sermon video.

Righteousness in Christ

Matthew 5:17-26

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

People are always trying to tell themselves that they’re okay, that they are basically good. As long as they are surrounded by other people who are doing worse things than they are, they can feel pretty good about themselves. So then, how are you doing? How righteous are you before God? Are you doing enough—are you righteous enough—to earn your place in the eternal Kingdom of God? We don't want to be like the Pharisees. The Pharisees were hypocrites, right? So long as we please God and are sincere, we should be fine. So long as we avoid becoming narrow-minded like “church people”—like people who think they have everything figured out—we should be safe, right?

We like to pick on the Pharisees and call them names. And why not? They deserve it, don’t they? After all, they were a constant thorn our Lord’s side during His earthly ministry. They were His enemies. But if being righteous comes down to doing those things that make God smile, then we are in big trouble. The Pharisees were far more righteous than you or I will ever be. Many of them were not even that self-absorbed or hypocritical. And Jesus tells us that no one will get into heaven unless he is more righteous than even the most praiseworthy Pharisee. The Pharisees were great at being righteous. They kept the law better than anyone. But not even one of them was righteous enough.

You need to be completely righteous. You need to be sinless before God—sinless in thought, word, and deed, in what you do and what you leave undone. You must love God with all of your being; you must love your neighbor as yourself. And that is an insurmountable problem. Jesus says that those who have had a hateful thought, even if they haven’t acted on it, are guilty of murder. Someone who has an impure thought is as guilty of adultery as someone who is having a tawdry affair. And if you think neither of those apply to you, think about this: During this pandemic, do you love your neighbor by wearing a mask? Or do you love your neighbor by refusing to wear a mask? And which is better way? The righteousness of the sinner is the kind where we believe we are only guilty of those things our neighbors catch us doing. The righteousness of the sinner is the kind where we make our own rules, and those rules change all the time. That isn’t any kind of righteousness at all. We have no righteousness of our own.

This means that we must get our righteousness from somewhere else. The only place where this perfect righteousness can be found is in Jesus. He is the only One who is righteous enough. Therefore, if we want a place in the eternal Kingdom of God, we need His righteousness to get us through the door. And, sure enough, Jesus gives you His perfect righteousness. Of course, that righteousness much better than that of any Pharisee. It is the righteousness of the One who has paid the price for all our Unrighteousness with His own blood. You received that righteousness in the bloody waters of Holy Baptism, where all your sin was washed away and the perfect white robe of our Lord’s righteousness was placed upon you. This righteousness is more than you could ever imagine. How much righteousness does it take to get into heaven? It takes all of Christ’s righteousness. And His righteousness is sufficient for you, for me, and for everyone. 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 7/12/2020: Fifth Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the audio file.


CLICK HERE to view the sermon video.

“At Your Word…”

Luke 5:1-11

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

Peter may call Jesus, “Master,” but it's clear that he didn't truly believe. He already had everything figured out in his own head. He knew how to fish; he was an expert. He knew that he and his partners had worked all night, using the tried-and-true methods they had most likely learned from their fathers. Somehow, there were just no fish. If they couldn’t find any fish, how could this carpenter’s Son be of help? What could this Jesus know about fishing? He was probably thinking, “Stick to preaching and teaching, Rabbi, and let the expert do his job.” Like a child who listens to and obeys his parents but still thought he knew better, he grudgingly, condescendingly said to the Lord, “Nevertheless, at your word, I will let down the nets.”

The Word of God is powerful to do exactly what He says it will do. As the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah, “As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” The Lord tells Peter to go drop the nets in the deep water, and when he does, his boat and the boat of his partners overflow with fish to the point that the boats begin to sink—and this is after these professional fishermen hadn't caught one fish. Peter finally recognized the power of the Word of God, the power Jesus wields as the Son of God. He fell on his knees and said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” The Lord taught Peter to locate true faith in the right place: in His Word. Faith flows from the Word of God and receives what Jesus did for us by the power of the Word.

We have to repent with St. Peter too, don't we? How many times have we tried to find faith and salvation outside the words of Jesus? How many times have we tried to rely on our own reason and strength? In our sin, we've got it all figured out. We smile at our boss instead of complaining about him or posting vague condemnations on social media; we shut the computer down rather than looking at that pornographic website; we throw a vague prayer into the air to demonstrate our faith. We’ve got it figured out. We stop this sin, and God will love us. We do better, and we will catch God's favor. Do we doubt His Word and forgiveness? Our lives confess that we do.

The gift to Peter, James, and John that day was not fish. The fish were left on the shore when they left the nets to follow Jesus. The gift was faith: they received Jesus by the power of the Word. The boats would stay where they were; from now on they would fish for men. They would cast the very nets which caught them: the power of the Word of God. Our Lord sends His fishermen to preach repentance and faith, to share the good news that Jesus died to pay the price for sin. He sends His fishermen to wash those sins away with water and His Name, to make people His own children in those baptismal waters. He sends His fishermen with His own body and blood to feed and nourish that gift of faith.

And it is in those very nets that we have been caught. With water, bread, wine, and the Word of God, your pastors, fishermen sent by Jesus to speak His Word and act as His hands, have used those means to wash away your sin, to speak forgiveness to you, to feed your faith. Instead of departing from you in your sin, your Lord removes your sin. Having received these precious gifts, you are now invited and freed to follow Him. 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 7/5/2020: Fourth Sunday After Trinity

RIGHT-CLICK HERE to save the audio file.


CLICK HERE to view the video of the sermon.

Mercy for Sinners

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 is merciful.” What does this mean? How merciful is our Father? While we were yet sinners, our Father sent His Son to die on the cross for us. That's how merciful He is. You can’t live up to that. After all, even if you have good intentions of being merciful, the old self is still right there. You remember what your fellow sinners did to you—ever slight, every insult, every injustice. And you want to get them back. You assume the worst about your neighbor because you think you know them and how they operate. You bring up people's old mistakes again and again. You get treated that way, and you do the same thing in return.

Sometimes that desire is even justified. It would have been reasonable for Joseph to have taken action against his brothers for what they did to him. He was the de facto ruler of Egypt. His brothers were guilty of a conspiracy to commit murder, of kidnapping, of wrongfully selling Joseph into slavery. It would not have been wrong for Joseph to do exactly what his brothers were afraid he would do.

And God would be perfectly within His rights to destroy you right now, to condemn you to the same eternal torment reserved for Satan and the other fallen angels. That us what sinners deserve. But that's not what He does. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us”—not after we had repented, not after we decided we were going to do things God's way. That is how merciful our Father is.

God does not give you what you deserve, and He wants you to show the same mercy to your neighbor. He would have you overlook and forgive the sins of your neighbor. Yes, you should confront sin when necessary—after all, we don't want people to harm themselves or those around them by whatever it is they're doing wrong—but you must not hold grudges or let old arguments and animosities determine how you think about that person or act toward them. “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”

But the Old Adam is selfish. The Old Adam sees his god every time he looks in the mirror. And that false god, like any false god, doesn't tolerate rivals. When the false god within our own hearts is offended, he demands satisfaction. And there's nothing we can do ourselves to change that. Maybe we can improve our behavior somewhat, but the old grudges, the old hatreds, the old prejudices are still there in our hearts. The false god within us needs to be put to death, and our true God, Jesus Christ, needs to take its place.

And that is exactly what God does to us. He puts us to death. He drowns us in baptismal waters, not just on the day we were baptized, but daily. He puts us to death with Christ on the cross. And that means that He also raises us up with Christ. The Father’s mercy is not just an example for us to try to follow—though we should examine ourselves using His Word as a standard. Our Father's merciful example, and Christ's merciful example towards sinners He encountered in His ministry, is more than an example. It is a pattern, a mold in which God lovingly recreates us.

That incredible standard of mercy and love toward one's neighbor is how God actually sees us in Christ, because that's the standard that Christ lived up to. And that standard is therefore also what we really are according to our new selves. God says we are merciful, because He sees us in Christ, who is merciful. But He doesn't lie. His Word does what it says.

And that means that we who now are merciful will inherit the greatest mercy of all. God provides all our needs, not just for this life, but for eternity. Before we are even aware of a need, He fills it. And that is especially true of our need for His presence and love. We may be capable of having mercy on those who wrong us, but we usually don't like it very much, and we often don't necessarily like to be around that person a whole lot for fear he will do it again. But we who were sinners, for whom Christ died while we were yet sinners, He wants us to be in His presence forever. That's how merciful our God is. 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.