Sermon for 11/8/2020: Third-Last Sunday of the Church Year

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The End Is Near

Matthew 24:15-28

 

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

                  

The end is near. And it sure seems like the end times right now, doesn’t it? We have a virus that has sent us scurrying into the dark recesses of our homes for over six months, crippling our economy, sending us into hospitals, and turning us into hermits. Over thirty named tropical storms have sprung up this year, including numerous hurricanes that have landed on United States soil. We have Asian murder hornets making their way to our country. We have a crisis of addiction to painkillers. Cases of depression and anxiety, sometimes leading to suicide, have risen at an alarming rate. And of course, one can’t forget all the drama of this election cycle. This year has been a collection of disasters and nightmares.

And then there are the false teachers and messiahs Jesus warns about, with their shiny teeth and their private jets. Self-proclaimed Christian preachers are leading people to hell with false teachings. Perhaps you’ve heard the preacher who claimed that Jesus took His own life on the cross, which means to him that it is okay to commit suicide. Perhaps you’ve heard that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene. Perhaps you’ve heard the Pope himself proclaim that you don’t have to believe in God to go to heaven. They all sound terribly convincing, and they all claim the authority of the Word of God, even when what they say is against what the Lord has revealed to us in His Word.

Disasters, diseases, and false prophets: all of these things cry out to us that the end is near. The fact of the matter is, Satan didn’t give up on you the day you were baptized. Baptism painted a huge target on your back, as far as the devil is concerned. Jesus wouldn’t remind you of these flashy false teachers if there was no chance that they would make any progress with you. Their words are seductive and tempting. If there was no way they could lead you away from Him, He would have ignored them completely. If the signs had no chance of leading you astray, He wouldn’t mention them to you. The world around you is intriguing. You want to look a little more closely; you want to listen a little bit longer.

But what is a Christian supposed to do in the face of these flashy, seductive teachers? Run to your Baptism! You already have the truth. It is right there on your forehead and over your heart: the mark of one redeemed by Christ the crucified. Nothing the world has to offer is more powerful than what those bloody baptismal waters did to you. Nothing those false teachers can promise you can be better than what Jesus has already delivered to you. Even so, you will be tempted. You will look at what the world uses to distract you. When that happens, return to the font. Remember what that water and Word has done for you. You have already been rescued from Satan. You have been taken up in God’s strong arms and put in His kingdom. Rest in the arms of your Lord and listen when He speaks to you, because He will never lie to you. He will never deceive you.

                   The end is near. The signs are evident, and they are all around us. The false messiahs, the false teachers, they will try to mislead you, even from within the visible Church on earth. But you do not face these things alone, and their siren song is not the only voice you hear. “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.” As we wait for that wonderful Last Day, look to Christ, for He will never let you be ashamed. Do not be afraid, for our Lord Jesus is returning soon. “Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly.” 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: Standing Before the Throne of Grace

It seems almost absurd. More often than not, when I attend Circuit or District meetings, it seems I come up with an idea for a hymn, an idea that refuses to be set aside. Yesterday was no exception. The message during worship—one of two, actually—examined All Saints. I'd read a sermon by the Reverend D. Richard Stuckwisch that morning, and those two factors forced an idea into my head. Focusing on the Epistle appointed for All Saints, Revelation 7:9-17, with help from Hebrews 12:1-2, this text thanks God for the faithful witness of those who have gone before us in the faith and asks God to strengthen us for faithful service as He did for them.

It's an early draft. Feedback is love.

Standing Before the Throne of Grace

 

1. Standing before the throne of grace,

Gathered in a mighty cloud,

Gazing at their Savior’s face,

Saints and martyrs cry aloud:

“Father and the Lamb, we raise

Songs of glory, thanks, and praise”

 

2. These are the blood-washed, robed in white,

Robed in Christ’s own righteousness,

Who have conquered in the fight:

Saints in gleaming, glorious dress,

Serving God both night and day.

He wipes all their tears away.

 

3. In life they faced the daily test,

Trusting in the Lamb alone.

With their Savior now, they rest;

He has claimed them as His own.

Faithful through the earthly strife,

They receive the crown of life.

 

4. O Holy Father, till our death,

Grant that we, like saints before,

Live by faith with ev‘ry breath,

Trusting daily ever more.

Help us to confess Your name,

Free from fear, despair, and shame.

 

 

© 2020 Alan Kornacki, Jr.

87 77 77

WIR GLAUBEN ALL (Metrical) (LSB 953)

The Feast of All Saints; Baptismal Life

Sermon for 11/1/2020: Feast of All Saints

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"Blessed"

Matthew 5:1-11

 

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

 

 

When the Apostle John was granted a vision of heaven, one of the most striking things he saw was the depiction of the saints. “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’” The saints are not shunted off into a corner while the angels and archangels glorify God. The saints are right in the middle of things, singing praise to God through whom they have received salvation.

Today we remember those who have gone before us in the faith—those saints who are gathered around the throne of the Lamb. And yet, we do not remember them for their sake. They don’t care about the honors humanity would bestow upon them. Instead, we remember them because of the One who has done all the work for them, the One who died to win salvation for all mankind, the One who sent the Holy Spirit upon the Church so that the gifts of forgiveness and life would be given to us, even though we have no merit or worthiness on our own. Still, Jesus doesn’t need our praise any more than do the faithfully departed, though He is pleased to receive it for our sake.

So why do we remember the saints if it doesn’t do them or Jesus any good? We remember the saints because, by their faithful example, we learn from them to live by faith. More importantly, we remember them because we see the love of God in their lives—how God in His great mercy called our sinful ancestors to repentance and gave them new and contrite hearts; how God looked upon them and both promised and delivered salvation to them, no matter how ugly their sin, no matter how fouled their hearts without Him.

So if Jesus is the One doing the work, why do we consider the saints to be “blessed?” We must remember that it is our Lord, first and foremost, who is the Blessed One. From there, the blessing He speaks does its work on all people, giving holy lives that live from and in Our Lord and the blessing He is and the blessing He gives. We are poor in spirit before God because Christ made Himself poor in spirit for us. We are meek because Christ humbled Himself. We are filled with the righteousness of Christ in the waters of Holy Baptism, where we received the spotless, gleaming, blood-washed robe of His righteousness.

This is not a blessedness that you earn. It is not a blessedness you live up to. It is not a blessedness that kicks in only when you’ve met the conditions. It is simply blessing, with the heavenly gift clearly and forthrightly attached. What our Lord becomes, what He takes in, what He endures, what He suffers and buries deeply within His own body, what He makes and calls His own—that is what He blesses. And you are a member of His body, made a member of His body in the waters of Holy Baptism.

Because you often stumble and fall on your walk of faith; because you quickly fall into temptation; because you easily fall prey to your bitterness, your anger, your weaknesses—you need examples to inspire you and to help you see that the blessing applies even to you. That is why our Lord raises up saints: they are models of how our Lord’s blessing shapes you. They show clearly through their life and death what our Lord’s blessing gains for you.

So let us thank our Lord for the godly faith and holy virtue He has lived in the saints and martyrs who have gone before us. For even now, as we say ready ourselves to feast on the Lamb at the throne and receive into our bodies His holy life once again—even now, the saints and martyrs who have gone before us in the faith, together with the angels and archangels, join us in rejoicing, in our song of praise and thanksgiving to the God who makes us blessed. 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 10/25/2020: Festival of the Reformation

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The Word Endures

John 8:31-36

 

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

          

“The Word of the Lord endures forever.” The prophet Isaiah wrote those words, and Peter repeated them in his first epistle. It only makes sense that this Old Testament truth would be repeated in the New Testament. The eternal faithfulness of God’s Word is the center of the Gospel. Almost from the very beginning, mere moments after Adam tasted the forbidden fruit, God promised His fallen children that He would send a Savior. And in the fullness of time—certainly not in the impatience of Eve’s time, who thought her son Cain was the promised Seed—in God’s perfect time, the Father sent His Son to crush Satan under His feet. Two millennia later, we gather in this place to rejoice in the fulfillment of that promise for us. We rejoice to receive the Spirit-inspired eyewitness accounts of Moses, the prophets, the evangelists, and the apostles, because “the Word of the Lord endures forever.”

The world and even some within the Church rail against that saying. Jesus tells His hearers, “The truth shall make you free.” But just as Satan deceived Eve into believing that she and Adam would not die if they ate the fruit, the world would have you believe that our God surely could not have meant that abortion is sinful. Certainly God wouldn’t say that it is sinful to give in to the lusts of the flesh. Certainly God would say that one may rob from the rich if one then gives to the poor. At best, condemnations God speaks against sin are considered to be the errors of translation; more often, they are considered the women-hating and bigoted ramblings of the patriarchy disguised as God’s Word; most often, they are considered lies. Even within the Visible Church on earth, some have set aside the Word of God in favor of whatever the world views as loving. They have willingly chained themselves as slaves of sin. They cannot free themselves, and they don’t desire their freedom; they are proud of their chains.

But “the Word of the Lord endures forever.” The Word of God was transmitted from ear to mouth before there was a written language. The Word endured through Israel’s slavery in Egypt. The Word endured through the captivity of God’s Old Testament people in Assyria and Babylon. The Word endured through the persecution of the early Christian Church. The Word endured through the abuses of the Roman Church before the Reformation. And the Word of God endures even today, no matter how hard the world tries to stifle it, no matter how much the Pope tries to steal its power for himself, no matter how diligently the social justice movement tries to pervert its message.

The work of the Church today is to continue to abide in the Word of God. We must cling to it, even if it costs us our lives! Just this week, a Swiss missionary in Africa named Beatrice Stockli was shot to death after four years as a prisoner of Islamic extremists. That’s always a possibility for those who abide in the Word of God. But even in four years as a prisoner of Islam, this woman had her freedom in the Word of God. Not even the prospect of a martyr’s death could force her to abandon the Word of God. She was faithful unto death; the crown of life is her eternal reward. Sin cannot hold her. Death cannot touch her. She will awaken on the Last Day to be welcomed with all the faithful into the eternal Marriage Feast of Christ and His Bride, the Church.

And that promise is for you, as well. Nothing in this life can steal that promise, that crown, from you. The coronavirus cannot touch it, nor can any illness of body or mind. That promise is not affected by who wins the presidential election or which party holds a majority in Congress or the Supreme Court. Not even death can pry it from your hands. That Word of God, that eternal promise, belongs to you; it is your birthright in the waters of Holy Baptism. The truth has set you free. Nothing in all creation can change that, for the truth will endure for far longer than this world will last. “The Word of the Lord endures forever.” 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 10/11/2020: Eighteenth Sunday After Trinity

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Perfect Obedience; Perfect Love

Matthew 22:34-46

 

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

 

 

“‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On those two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” The Law is all about love. Jesus is saying here that everything the Law and the Prophets teach is summarized by those commandments: to love God and to love each other. The words “Law and Prophets” summarize the Old Testament, and the Old Testament points to Christ. So when we hear those words in the New Testament, they point us to Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old Testament promise of the Seed, the One who will crush the head of the satanic serpent. When we hear “Law and Prophets,” we should think, “This is talking about Jesus.”

Perfect obedience to the Law means that one must love God and neighbor perfectly. In perfect love, the young Jesus stayed in the Temple while His parents traveled back toward Nazareth; He was doing the work to which His Father appointed Him. In perfect love, Jesus called sinful men to be His disciples. In perfect love, He rejected the temptations of Satan in the wilderness. In perfect love, He healed the blind, the lame, the leper. In perfect love, He drove the moneychangers from the Temple court. In perfect love, He raised the dead. In perfect love, He called a Samaritan woman a little dog. In perfect love, He prayed for His disciples, knowing Judas would betray Him, knowing Peter would deny Him, knowing the others would abandon Him. In perfect love, Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath for sin to the very dregs. In perfect love, He hung on the cross at Golgotha. He was hanging on the Law, judged there by the Law. There He died for every sinner. He died there for you and for me and for every person who has ever neglected to love God and neighbor. He died there in perfect innocence, the only man ever to perfectly love God and neighbor.

But just as He hung on the Law because we had broken it, Jesus fulfills the Law by hanging on it too. There, on the cross, Jesus shows He perfectly loves God the Father more than all things by being obedient to His Father's will. But He also perfectly loved His neighbor—you―by dying for your sins, by taking them away, by leaving them on the cross. The One who is God and man in one Person perfectly loves God and His neighbor by hanging on the Law's cross. There, on Calvary, your Savior died for what you did and did what you could not do. There the Law is fulfilled. There the Law is satisfied. There your salvation is accomplished by the innocent Lord who put Himself under the Law for you and who fulfilled the Law for you.

How do you know the Law had been fulfilled? Your Baptism says so, because Jesus places His perfect love on you in the blood-washed baptismal robe of His righteousness. His Body and Blood say so, because you receive the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith in that holy Food. His Word says so, because He reveals Himself as the innocent Sacrifice, the Scapegoat who bears our sins for us. His Word and Sacraments are the testimony that His obedience to the Law counts for you and your neighbor. He has fulfilled that Law for you.

Love God. Love your neighbor as yourself. By themselves, these commandments convict you because you have not kept them. But in Christ, those commandments are kept; your sins against them have been erased. In living perfect love for God and for you, He has given you His perfect obedience and love. Come and receive perfect love at this altar, a gift given you from Christ Himself. 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 10/4/20: Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity

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Exalting the Lowly

Luke 14:1-11

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

 Today you have been invited to a Feast. You are invited to be an honored guest at the marriage Supper of the Lamb. You have been invited to take a seat at the Lord's Table. Though not a lesson in table etiquette, it is true that Jesus teaches that we should take the lowest place when we are invited to such a Feast, so that, when the Host comes, He may say to you, “Friend, move up higher.”

I have already said that this is not a lesson in manners. So what does this mean? How do we take the lowest place at the Lord's Table? This is a meal for sinners, and we are each one invited to take the seat of lowest honor by crying out to God and confessing that we are the chief of sinners. Examine yourself according to the Ten Commandments, and you will find that you are full of death and sin. Confess your sin to Him. Hold nothing back. Every indiscretion you think you have kept hidden behind the closed door of your room or in the silence of your heart, lay it bare before Him. Beat your breast and say, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Approach the Lord's Table in humility and with the shame that ought to accompany someone as dirty and disgusting as you know you are. Take the lowest seat, the seat of dishonor. You know it is yours. You know you belong there—if, indeed, you belong at the Table at all.

It is then that the Host of the feast, the Lord Himself, comes to you and calls you “Friend.” That one word alone is worth the price of admission. The Lord of Heaven, the righteous King of kings, calls you, a poor sinner, His own friend. “Friend,” He says, “move up higher.” That's what is happening in this Feast of the Holy Sacrament. The Lord Jesus Christ calls you His “friend” and showers ever-increasing honor on you. While any seat at this Table is an honor and a gift of grace, He lifts you from the lowest seat, the place of dishonor and sin, the place of those who show up late or who have tried to honor themselves and have been humbled. He invites you to sit in a higher place. He takes your hand and starts leading you up along the length of the banqueting Table, your honor increasing with every seat He passes. Still He leads on. Angels look on in wonder. Any minute the Host will decide that this seat is high enough for you, but He just keeps leading you closer and closer to the head of the Table. Finally, there are no seats left, except one. It is His seat, the seat of greatest honor at the Father's right hand. “I want you to have My place,” says your Savior. “I have won it for you.” Once again He fulfills His mother’s words: “He has cast down the mighty from their thrones and has exalted the lowly.”

 Jesus earned this privilege for you by fulfilling His own words. He put Himself in the lowest place in order to save you. He who is the Almighty Son of God, having taken on your humanity, was born in a lowly manger, lived as a poor and humble carpenter, had no home of His own during His ministry and no place to lay His head. He finally died the way the worst of criminals died: by being executed on a cross. Christ didn't claim glory and honor for Himself; He laid aside His majesty as King of creation to be crowned with thorns and to be made the Lowest of the low. All this He did for you. He received the punishment you deserved so that you would be released from your sin and set free. In Christ, the humble Redeemer, you now are forgiven. Jesus has fulfilled these words for you: “He who humbles Himself will be exalted.” In Christ, you are always welcome at this Table; you are His honored guest. 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: Promised Rest Awaits the Weary

Note: This has received an update with an original tune! 

I’m in the midst of a pastoral retreat right now being run by the Doxology organization. The retreat is called “Take Heart! Strength and Confidence for Demanding Days,” and it was organized in conjunction with the LCMS Office of National Mission. With today being the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels, the chaplain for this retreat, Pastor Mark Barz, has been focusing during our worship opportunities on the service of angels to God’s people. Between these sermons and the topic of our retreat, I was inspired to write the following text. Credit goes to Pastor Barz and to Doctor Pastor David Fleming and Doctor Beverly Yahnke of Doxology for their service in general and their presentations during this retreat in particular. 

This is a first draft. Feedback is love.

Promised Rest Awaits the Weary

Inspired by the Doxology Retreat in Wichita, Kansas

September 28-30, 2020

1. Promised rest awaits the weary,

Burdened by the daily test.

“Come to Me, you heavy laden;

I will give you holy rest.”

You who face the battle’s fray

Serving Christ from day to day,

Christ in mercy will befriend you,

Sending angel hosts to tend you.

2. Saints are wearied by their labor

Fighting with the devil’s horde.

You shall savor Bread from heaven 

In the Body of the Lord.

“Come and find your rest in Me

Underneath Elijah’s tree.

Rise to eat! This Bread sustains you

Through the strife that/which harms and drains you.”

3. “I have chosen you, My servant.

I will not cast you away. 

Trust in Me and pray in earnest.

Do not let your fear hold sway.”

Then, beneath the holy cross,

As you bear your shame and loss,

In His arms Christ will enfold you.

By His Blood He will uphold you.

(c) 2020

87 87 77 88

FREU DICH SEHR (LSB 347)

Cross and Comfort; Tentatio; Anfechtung; I Kings 19; Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 11:28

Sermon for 9/27/2020: Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity

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“Do Not Weep”

Luke 7:11-17

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

There are few things in the world that can make us as uncomfortable as when we come across someone who is crying. The reason doesn’t matter, though of course some occasions are worse than others. But when we see someone crying, we don't know what to say. We offer cold comfort. We might give an awkward pat on the back, and then we tell the person, “Don't cry. Everything will be alright.” The thing is, we don’t know if it actually will be alright. Maybe it will. Maybe it won't. But that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that we are uncomfortable, and we would rather say something—anything—that might cover the sound of sobbing, that will let us walk away thinking we’ve done something. Lord, teach us to offer comfort.

When Jesus stops the funeral procession coming out of the village of Nain; when He steps up to the coffin and touches it; when He encounters the mother of the young dead man, He says exactly the same thing we say. “Do not weep.” Yeah, thanks a whole lot, Jesus! I'm sure she'll appreciate that attempt at comfort. What would Jesus do? He’d offer a cheap platitude to a woman who has lost both her husband and her son.

But something is different. When Jesus tells the woman to cease her mourning, He is not just trying to say something nice. He has the power to do things that we cannot do ourselves. This is not a platitude; this is not cold comfort. This is Jesus. Jesus is the Lord of Life. Jesus is the Man who will die and then rise from the dead. When Jesus says not to weep, He knows death happens because of sin, and Jesus has come to forgive sin. He knows that death causes weeping, and He has come to give life to His people; He has come to wipe the tears of death from our eyes. Jesus has come to stop this death procession. Jesus has come to rob death of this man. So he touches the coffin and tells the man to get up. He gives this young man to his mother! Death is powerless before the Lord.

Paul rightly tells us that the wages of sin is death. So Jesus dies to pay the blood price for our sins. Though death may take us for a time, it cannot hold us forever, for our Lord Jesus rises from the dead on the third day. He has gotten rid of our sins, and that means death has lost its sting. Jesus has given you His victory over death. That happens the moment He drowns you in the waters of Holy Baptism and places you in the arms of your Mother, the Church. At that washing of water and the Word, our Lord’s death and resurrection become yours. Now the only thing to wait for is when He raises you from the dead on the Last Day.

But that's the whole point: the death you will die in this life cannot keep you down. It cannot harm you. It can't separate you from the Father and His love, for Jesus has kicked death in the face. And even though your grave is waiting for you, your grave cannot hold you, for Jesus has defeated the power of the grave by walking out of His own tomb, and He promises that He will bring you out of your grave, too. He will raise you up on the Last Day, and you will live with Him forever! Do not weep. Death cannot hold your loved ones who die in the Lord, and death cannot hold you. 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, Enthroned in Humble Splendor

I’m working on proofreading/editing my first collection of hymns. I was going to publish at 100, but two more sneaked in before I got the manuscript to my proofreaders, so the first collection will be 102 hymns. Now that the manuscript is in the proofreading process, I can begin writing for the second collection. 

I’ve had an idea in my head for some time, and I even had some notes for it, but I had other things on my plate that always took priority. But now that I’m supposed to be proofreading and editing, the idea came to the forefront of my mind, and I assembled a very rough first draft. 

There’s a beautiful hymn called Lord, Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor. It speaks of the glory of Christ in His resurrection and ascension, as well as His presence in the Sacrament of the Altar. My text builds on that text, focusing instead of the humble and hidden means in which Christ comes to the world—first in His incarnation, and now in the waters of Holy Baptism and hidden under bread and wine—even though He is the King of kings and Lord of Lords. Right now it’s rough and simple. If you have any suggestions or feedback, I’d appreciate it.

Lord, Enthroned in Humble Splendor

1 . Lord, enthroned in humble splendor, 

Lying in a manger stall,

God in flesh to dwell among us

To undo creation’s fall.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Jesus, King and Lord of all!

Jesus, King and Lord of all!

2. Lord, enthroned in humble splendor,

Seated on a donkey’s foal,

Coming to the holy city,

Come to save the sinful soul.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Son of David, make us whole!

Son of David, make us whole!

3. Lord, enthroned in humble splendor,

Hanging on the sinner’s tree,

In your innocent surrender,

You redeem humanity.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Royal blood has set us free!

Royal blood has set us free!

4. Lord, enthroned in humble splendor,

Buried in a stone-hewn tomb,

Faithful dead receive a sabbath.

Death no longer spells our doom.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

From the grave, new life will bloom!

From the grave, new life will bloom! 

5. Lord, enthroned in humble splendor

In the water, bread, and wine:

Living Water, Bread of heaven,

You are here in gifts divine.

Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

Make our hearts your kingly shrine.

Make our hearts your kingly shrine.

1874 (George Hugh Bourne), 2020

87 87 444 77

BRYN CALFARIA

Incarnation; Sacraments

Sermon for 9/20/2020: Fifteenth Sunday After Trinity

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Trust
Matthew 6:24-34

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

Mammon is simply the things which our Father has given you. You wouldn’t have any of that if our Lord hadn’t given it to you. Martin Luther teaches according to Scripture, “I believe that God has…given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.” All the kids who go through the Catechism learn that list. God is so generous, and yet so often it seems as if the gift attracts our attention and receives our praise more than the One who gives it.

Do we really serve and worship our possessions? Yes, we do. We crassly covet what our neighbor has, and we put our faith and confidence in what we have. We’re all about the stuff. We think we are are happy when we have what we think we need, what we believe is necessary, what we want to eat, and what to wear. If we just have the right car, the right house, the right job, the right seat at the lunch table, the right video game system... The list is endless, because the list, no matter how long it is, is never enough. We always want more, and the more we have, the more we want.

When we don't have everything we think we need, we begin to worry about what will happen tomorrow. We fret as if God will not tend to us, as if He will not richly and daily provide for us in this life. We worry as if the Father has forgotten what we need. And this is true of us as a congregation, as well. The Lord has blessed us for many years, and yet we question His goodness: Can we afford to keep our doors open? Can we afford to pay the pastor? Will we be around as a congregation in five years? We don’t have the answers. Only God knows, and He refuses to tell us what He has planned. Wouldn’t we trust You more, Lord, if You revealed the future? Wouldn’t it be easier for us to believe?

But the truth is, He has already revealed the future to us. Our Lord calls us out of our unbelief to learn from the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. He feeds birds of the air, who don't work or store up things at all. He clothes the lilies of the field. In fact, King Solomon in all His glory isn't dressed up like one lily in the field. He gives them all that they need in this life. Do you believe that He does that for you? That is the future: Our Lord will provide for you, day by day, for the rest of your life, and then for eternity. He tells us this. He shows us this. Every day He reveals this to us. But we doubt. We worry. We despair.

There was One who truly did believe. Jesus lived His life as one who trusted His Father for everything that He needed to support His life. He did not love mammon, but served and loved His Father in Heaven. He took upon Himself our sins, our unbelief, our fears, and our worrying, all the way to the Cross. In His death He has provided all that you need for salvation. What shall you wear? He clothes you in the blood-washed white robe of His own righteousness in your Baptism. What shall you eat? He gives you His own body to eat and His blood to drink in and under bread and wine for the forgiveness of all your sins and the strengthening of your faith. Faith looks to what Christ did on the Cross as all the certainty you need, both in this world and for the life of the world to come.

As we wait for that eternal day, trust in your Father to provide for your daily life as well. He feeds the birds. He clothes the flowers. He provides for your eternity. Faith receives all things as gift from Him. So if He provides for the littlest things of creation, and if He provides for your biggest need in your eternal salvation, you can trust Him to provide for your bodily needs. Don't worry. Don't fret. In Christ Jesus, you are worth more than birds and lilies. 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.