Sermon for 9/30/12--Tnity 17

Healing on the Sabbath

Luke 14:1-11

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

Why can’t just anyone commune in our churches? Why must they be baptized and learn the Scriptures and the Catechism and be confirmed? Why must they be examined and absolved by the pastor before being given Christ's body and blood? The answer to all this is given in the Gospel: You don't just come in and go straight to the head of the table as if you belong there! Rather it is Christ who invites you to His altar and supper. Jesus uses the example of the Pharisees and experts in the Law who would throw a dinner and then they would all scramble to sit up near the host instead of farther away. The closer you sat to the guy throwing the party, the higher your social status. For the Pharisees, a dinner was a chance to show off how important you were. For the Pharisees, the Sabbath was a chance to show off how religious you were. For many people, going to church and receiving the Sacrament is the same thing: it's a chance to prove to others how pious you are. It's an opportunity to remind God how lucky He is to have you show up for church! But that's not what the Sabbath is all about.

The Sabbath is the day for hearing God's Word and being healed from our sins. For the Pharisees, the Sabbath is a day to act religious and holy. For Jesus, the Sabbath, like any other day, is an opportunity to speak God's Word and heal those who are sick and hurt by their sins. The reason to come to church is not to impress God, but to receive from the Lord the forgiveness we need—without which we will perish eternally. The Sabbath is all about Christ healing people. The Sabbath is all about the Lord taking the broken and the humble and bringing them to the place of honor while taking those who are proud and religious and haughty and knocking them down. For those who are humbled by the preaching of repentance, the Lord brings healing and an exalted spot at the table. Those who in their pride need no repentance, the Lord casts aside. In short, the Sabbath, our Sunday liturgy, is not about us telling God what we're owed. It's about the Lord telling us what He has given us in Christ.

That's the problem with sinners. We like to make going to church a work that we do to show we're religious—just as the Pharisees would never think of the Sabbath as a day for healing. We figure we had better show up because that's what's expected of us. Worse, we think that because our name is on some membership list somewhere or because we call ourselves Christians, that we are entitled to just walk into God's presence and expect Him to acknowledge us. That is not repentance and faith. That is pride and arrogance. But in truth, you have no worthiness. Learn the repentance that brings you to the foot of the table, the worst place, the place you deserve. Leave it to Christ to lift you up and bring you higher.

You see, Christ is the very person of whom He speaks. The Father prepares a wedding feast. Does Christ jump to the head of the line? Does our Lord shove everyone else out of the way and put Himself first? Does Jesus come into this world to dethrone kings and emperors and take their place, lording it over the world? “I'm Jesus! I'm the Son of God. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” No. Jesus comes and takes the lowest place. Born in a barn, raised in the backwater of Galilee, He never has power or money or any of those things the world prizes. But then He goes to the cross. There, on the cross, He is condemned as a common criminal and judged by His Father as the worst and only sinner. There, on the cross of Calvary, Jesus is the lowest, the most despised, the most humble, the worst, the weakest, the least. There, He has the lowest place of all. By taking that place, He takes our sins on Himself and takes them away by His bloody death. Then what? Jesus says, “Take the lowest place and then you will be asked to come up higher.” So Jesus defeats sin, death and the devil. He rises from the dead. He ascends and is seated at the right hand of the Father. Christ has been brought up from the lowest place—suffering for our sins—to the highest place: the right hand of the Father. He has been crowned with all glory and majesty and honor. As Saint Paul writes, “God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” So He lords it over us now, right? Not at all! He is lifted up so that we are lifted up with Him!

Jesus says, “Whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles Himself will be exalted.” We who have been humbled in our sin are now with Christ who is seated at the right hand of God! If the Sabbath for you is nothing more than showing off your religion, then repent! If you expect you are owed the Sacrament but don't want to learn Christ's Word and Catechism, then repent! Be humbled. If, on the other hand, you are humbled by your sins and recognize your unworthiness, then rejoice! For Christ has lifted you up. Having been brought from your sins in humble repentance, hear again the Lord's invitation to come up higher. Come now to the feast, be welcomed as Christ's holy guests and be given the gift once more of forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. 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 9/23/12--Trinity 16

Power Over Death

Luke 7:11-17

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

Jesus walked up to the open coffin, and everyone stopped. He said to the woman, “Do not weep.” Then He told the boy to get up. That is how our Savior deals with death: He treats it as a nothing. There was weeping and wailing and a widowed mother burying her son. And Jesus just strolled up to the coffin and brought the boy to life. It’s as if He has power over death, as if death must yield before him. And it must. Death runs from Christ because He defeated death. He died on a cross with our sins. But on Easter, the third day, death flees from Him. Jesus is alive. Death is powerless before Him.

The one thing that the world cannot control is death. You could probably argue that there are plenty of non-Christians out there living happily without any sort of faith at all. But they will face death. Death can come without any warning. The world fears death. It spares no expense trying to avoid it or overcome it. But it can’t. And every person—the poorest and the richest, the oldest and youngest and even the unborn—eventually will be lowered into that hole or shoved into that vault or poured into an urn. There are no exceptions.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, this is where the Christian faith matters most. Many religions have morality. Even people without religion have some sort of right and wrong. There are many who seem to get along just fine in this life without any reference to God or faith. But the great equalizer is death. And for death, for which the world can’t find an answer, we Christians know the truth: Death is defeated. It’s not natural. It’s not a natural part of life. Death is an enemy, but it’s an enemy that has been defeated. When it all comes down to it, nothing in this world can answer the question of what happens when we are put into the ground other than the Christian faith: namely, that on the Last Day we will be raised up again and live forever.

Death may seem a long way off, but we know it can come at any time. In order to teach us not to fear death or think that it’s the end or buy into the world’s silly idea that it’s just a part of life, Jesus rescues us from it. The young man of Nain is an example of this. Jesus touched the coffin, spoke His Word of life, and handed him to his mother. He does the same thing for you. You were born into this world dead. But at the font, Jesus spoke His Word and raised you from the dead. And then He handed you over to your holy mother, the Church, who cares for you in life and when you die. Your whole life in Christ is a denial of death. Now, we don’t pretend we’re never going to pass away. But we do deny the power of death. We deny that death is the end of our lives, that it will keep us down. Against all these things Jesus’ victory over death and your Baptism into that victory mean you have the victory over death as well.

When Jesus raised this widow’s son, the people were amazed. They said, “God has visited His people.” That’s what happens when God shows up. He takes your sin and your death into Himself and gives you life. He raises the dead and gives them to their mother. He gives you victory over death by your Baptism and His Body and Blood, and He puts you into the care of your mother, the church. And on the last day, He will speak to you in that hole in the ground or that urn on the shelf and say, “I say to you, arise!” And you will rise. You will live forever in the new heaven and earth that your Father has prepared for you. “O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The Lord has conquered death, and it no longer has any power over 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: The Blood of Martyred Children Cries

Here is my latest work. It's meant for the Feast of the Holy Innocents, celebrated on December 28, the day the Church commemorates the martyrdom of those children murdered by King Herod when he sought to kill the Christ child. The text is Matthew 2:1-18. As always, any feedback would be appreciated. (NOTE on 12/28/12--Edited to add verse 7 about abortion.)

The Blood of Martyred Children Cries

1. The blood of martyred children cries.
Innocent, Rachel's children die,
Victims of Herod's heedless rage.
War on the helpless he did wage.

2. The wise men from the East drew near.
"We seek the King of Israel here.
Lo, we have seen His glorious star
And come to worship from afar."

3. Then Herod, with a troubled mind,
Asked his advisers Christ to find.
"Seek Him in Bethlehem," they said,
"Who would be King in Herod's stead."

4. He sent the wise men to the Child
To lead him to this King reviled.
But they returned a diff'rent way.
His dreadful plan was held at bay.

5. He schemed to murder Jesus still,
His earthly kingdom to fulfill.
Blameless young boys he put to death,
Robbing them of their life's last breath.

6. We thank You for the Innocents,
Martyrs for Christ without offense.
Grant that we share their holy rest,
Clothed in Christ's perfect righteousness. 

7. Protect Your own dear children, Lord,
From those who wield abortion's sword.
Teach us to love what You create
And keep all life inviolate.

8. We praise you, Father, holy Son,
And Holy Ghost, forever one.
To You all laud and honor be
Now and for all eternity.


(c) Alan Kornacki, Jr.
LM  (88 88)
Tune: ERHALT UNS, HERR (LSB 655)

Sermon for 9/9/12--Trinity 14

Where Jesus Is
Luke 17:11-19

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


What lesson does Jesus want to teach us when He says, "Where are the other nine? Did only a foreign Samaritan come back to give glory to God?" Is Jesus upset because they didn't come back and say "thank you?" Was He disappointed in their parents for not teaching them better manners? Is our Lord insecure? None of the above. Rather, Jesus wants to teach us, as the one Samaritan leper learned, that to glorify God means coming back to where Jesus is for more good gifts and blessings.

Let that sink in for a moment. To glorify God, to give God glory means to be where Jesus is, receiving His gifts. That means you are glorifying God right now because you are here where Jesus is giving out His gifts. Jesus isn't glorified when we tell Him how great He is. He's glorified when He gives out His forgiveness and life and salvation and we receive His gifts by faith, trusting that He always has more for us. To glorify God is to daily live in the promises of your baptism. To glorify God is to say "amen" to the forgiveness of the absolution. To glorify God is to hear the reading and preaching of His Word which calls you to repentance and faith in Christ for the forgiveness of sins. To glorify Christ is to kneel at His altar, receiving His body and blood as the gift that heals us from our sins just as He healed the ten of their leprosy. To give God the glory isn't just to say that He's great, but that He's great because He saves sinners.

When we think of God's glory we usually picture the Lord seated on the throne in heavenly splendor. The disciples saw that when Jesus was transfigured. That reminded them that Jesus is indeed the God who made all things and rules over all things. But His biggest display of glory was the one nobody realized at first: the cross. The truth is, the big deal about God isn't that He can be shiny and mighty or heal people. The big deal about God is that He became man to suffer and die for your sins and wash them all away by His blood, and then on the third day rise triumphant from the grave. In other words, the truest glory of God is not that He looks like we imagine God should look. It's that He takes what belongs to us—our sins—and saves us by His death and resurrection. The big deal about God is that He is not afraid to get near lepers and sinners and heal them.

Now don't misunderstand me. We should give thanks to God. We should always in our hearts and with our mouths give thanks to the Lord and acknowledge that He is the One from whom we have every good gift. “In everything give thanks.” But we need to learn that Jesus with these ten lepers isn't teaching us that He's a God who has to fish for compliments as if we exist merely to make Him look good. Rather, the Lord does what He does to make us look good, to have us stand before the Father clothed in His own righteousness. Christ became man and went to the cross because we need Him to take away our sins. We need Him to heal us and forgive us and take care of us, and that's exactly what He does.

The problem with the other nine lepers isn't that they weren't happy or grateful. They just didn't seem to need Jesus beyond getting their leprosy cured. It's the same for us. When we seem to get what we need from the Lord, it's easy for our prayers to fall off or for us to pay less attention to the Word of God. Until we need Him again. Repent! Repent of thinking you only need the Lord when something's wrong. In Christ you have a God who is there for you all the time. He always has more gifts, more forgiveness, more of his Word, more comfort, more peace. With Jesus there's always more. And like that Samaritan leper, we return here to receive what He has for us.

What does Jesus want us to learn from His words? Learn that He alone is the one who can save us, heal us, and forgive us—and not just when we're in trouble but always. There is never a time when we don't need to be healed from the leprosy of our sin. There is never a time when we don't need the Lord's grace and mercy. And so we come to Jesus in His church—not to show off that we have good manners or to tell Him how great He is. We come to receive what He has for us. And what He has is water, word, body and blood: forgiveness, life and salvation. We praise Him for that and glorify Him as we receive His gifts with joy. 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: The Funeral of Tille Gerberding

A Future of Peace
Psalm 37:37

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text is Tillie’s Confirmation verse, Psalm 37:37.  We consider this verse:

Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace.

Thus far our text.

Our Gospel for this past Sunday was the parable of the Good Samaritan. You may recall the tale: how a man is beaten by bandits and left for dead on the side of the road. A priest and a Levite, seeing the man, pass by on the other side of the road, lest they become ritually unclean. Finally a Samaritan, an enemy of the Jews, passes. He sees the man on the road, takes him to town on his own donkey, tends the man himself, and provides for the man’s further care. The Samaritan was the true neighbor to the beaten man, even though he was supposedly an enemy to him. The priest and the Levite, men who knew the Law of God and should have been willing to help the man, passed by him, making themselves dead in sin in their desire to avoid a moment of ritual uncleanness.

The example of the Good Samaritan illustrates what David meant when he wrote, “Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace.” Certainly the Samaritan was upright; he demonstrated love toward his neighbor by helping him when no one else would dare to help—not even those considered most upright in the eyes of the world. And it makes even more sense when we realize that, when Jesus is talking about the Good Samaritan, He is really talking about Himself. No one can perfectly love his neighbor except for Jesus. And so, when we sinners try to love our neighbors, it is only by the power of Christ within us through the waters of Holy Baptism that we succeed.

The psalmist tells us that the future of such a person is peace. I know that I’m preaching to the choir when I say that Tillie Gerberding demonstrated the love of Christ throughout her life. So if the future of the blameless and upright is supposed to be one of peace, then why did she suffer so long? Why was so little of her later life spent in the nursing home in pain? Why didn’t she get to experience the peaceful future that David says is the reward for such a life?

The unfortunate truth is that, as loving and as generous and as compassionate a woman as Tillie was, Tillie was also a sinner. Sinners suffer and die—not because God wants us to suffer or die, but because through our sin we have brought death upon ourselves. Sin demands payment, and that payment is death.  This is what our hearts fear when we see death at work among us, and it is good that we do. We know then that whether we live or die is a question that is taken out of our hands.  We cannot stop our death; we cannot save ourselves.  And that moves us to recognize that, unless God has an answer to our sin and death, there can be no hope for us.

It is our supreme joy that God does, indeed, have the answer to sin and death. Someone else has paid the price for our peace, and that was our dear Lord Jesus Christ.  The price was His own life. The purchase price of our peace was the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, our only Savior. Our sin has been met with His redemption. Our death has been met and overcome in the death of our Lord Jesus Christ. He died, and He has risen from the dead! Our sin could not hold Him forever. Death could not bind Him in the grave. He came out of His grave alive, with the promise that those who live and believe in Him will never really die, but will live in the hope of the resurrection, when all our bodies will come out of their graves, and the bodies and souls of His faithful ones will live eternally in peace with Him.

How, then, does His life become our life? How does his righteousness make for our peace? When all else fails, our Baptism remains. On those days when Tillie could not recognize what was going on around her, she remained a baptized child of God. When our ears can no longer hear God’s Word, when our eyes can no longer see the altar of His presence, when our bodies fail us, when our minds can no longer comprehend, Baptism remains. In Holy Baptism our Lord called us by name and made us His own. We die with Him in those waters. Our sin drowns. And just as Jesus has risen, He raises us with Him into new lives, blameless lives in Christ, lives that, even when our bodies die, will go on forever. That is our future peace. That does not give us a license to sin or to live in sin, but we have the comfort that, when we repent of our sin, it is forgiven, no longer held against us.

As we await that day when His peace becomes fully ours—as it has now for Tillie—let us take our comfort in the fact that, in Holy Baptism, He has called our names and linked them forever with His own. Because we are His, there will be no trouble—not the battle of living, not the struggle of dying, not the fight with grief—that will ever overcome us and take us away from Him. Tillie was a baptized child of God, and He has now given her in full that peace which the world cannot give, the peace which is her legacy as a child of God. As baptized children of God, that peace is your legacy, too, your inheritance from your heavenly Father. 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 9/2/12--Trinity 13

“Do This and You Will Live”

Luke 10:23-37

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, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” That is the summary of the Law of God. Love God; love your neighbor. “Do this and you will live.” There are lots of preachers out there who will tell you that if you have faith and if you try hard and if you learn the life-enrichinging principles they teach, that you'll be able to keep God's Law. We like to think it's just a matter of making good decisions so we'll be able to love God and love our neighbor.

But to see what the Law apart from Christ looks like, just look at the priest and the Levite. Seeing a guy half-dead in a ditch, they pass by on the other side of the road. When we take the Law—love God, love your neighbor—and we give it a go apart from Christ, this is where we end up. Like the young expert in the Law, we try to justify ourselves. We show God how good we are by doing the commandments. But when someone falls into a ditch by their sins, we don't pull them out. We pass by on the other side. Husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, dear Christians: do you think that you can despise each other and still claim to love God? Do you think that you can hold a grudge and be angry at someone and still say you love God? You can't love God. You can't love your neighbor. You can't get yourself out from under the judgment of the Law. When you think you are demonstrating love as you are commanded, Satan beats you up, robs you, and throws you in a ditch. The Law won't do you any good there.

But then, along comes the Samaritan. The Samaritan, despised by the Jews, sees the poor man in the ditch and saves him. Who is that Samaritan? Who could possibly live the Law like that? That's Jesus keeping the Law. He comes to rescue sinners who have been tossed aside by the Devil, robbed of righteousness and left for dead. Jesus comes to keep the Law to save us. He comes to love God and to love His neighbor.

How can that be? Look at what the Creed teaches us about Him. Jesus is true God, begotten of the Father, and He also true man, born of the Virgin Mary. That makes Him both God and neighbor. When the Father commands the Son to save sinners, Jesus does it. He goes to the cross for you. He hangs there for you. He dies there for you. Jesus is crucified, bearing the wages of sin, perfectly loving God in His obedience and perfectly loving His neighbor in His sacrifice. The Law is fulfilled. There, on that bloody cross, God and neighbor are loved perfectly by the Savior who is God and Man. He perfectly keeps the Law. He saves the man in the ditch. It is Jesus who loves God and loves His neighbor.

That perfect obedience, that salvation, that perfect love is given to you. It is given when Jesus, the Good Samaritan, pours His healing medicine on you in the waters of Holy Baptism. He carries you to the Inn, His holy church, where puts you under the care of His innkeeper, the pastor who Jesus sets apart to care for you until He comes again, leaving your pastor the Word and the Sacraments to provide for your health.

Have you loved God and your neighbor as you are commanded? Of course not. The Law shows us so. But Jesus kept the Law perfectly. He loves God the Father and He loves His neighbor. He has put His perfect obedience on you in Baptism and has fed you that obedience in His body and blood in His Holy Supper. Do you love God and your neighbor? In Christ, the answer is yes. Christ within you has kept that Law. This is what St. Paul means when He says that the Law kept us under sin until the time of the Promise. By itself, the Law condemns us. But in Christ, the Law is kept. Your sins are forgiven. That's the rescue the Good Samaritan has given you. To tell you, “Do this and you will live,” is now nothing more than to tell you that Christ lives in You for the benefit of your neighbor and the glory of God. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.


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

Sermon for 8/26/12--Trinity 12

Opening Ears and Lips

Mark 7:31-37

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

There's a reason Jesus needs to open our ears and loose our tongues. The healing of this deaf and mute man shows us what we are in our sin: unable to speak and unable to hear. Of course, we already practice selective hearing. When we hear a juicy story we can usually repeat it pretty accurately. When we hear a sermon, we'd be hard pressed to say what it was about much past lunch on Sunday—and that’s true of the one who preaches the sermons, too. We are deaf to the Word of God and can't repeat it clearly.

The Lord opens the ears of this deaf man and looses his tongue. Jesus does it to show this man and us that He is the Savior. Part of what we need saving from is being deaf and dumb when it comes to God and His Word. The world around us is that way. The world closes its ears to God's Word, and it can't say anything understandable about God's Word either. One the one hand you have the so-called "experts" and "scholars" that can say all kinds of nothing and use big words to do it. On the other hand you have the charlatans and frauds, the false preachers who do nothing but babble nonsense. And of course there's our sinful flesh, which just loves to cover our ears and drown out the Word with childish noises.

We need Jesus to open our ears and loose our tongues. And He can do it because He's the Lord. He's the One who was not deaf to our cries but heard them and answered them. Jesus healing this deaf man is about more than just showing He can do it. It's about showing that He can do it because He's the Son of God who came to save sinners. Since it is our sin which makes us deaf to God and unable to speak clearly what He says, He takes away our sin—and in doing so, He opens our ears and looses our tongues.

Jesus is the only one who can open our ears and loose our tongues. We can't hear God's Word by trying to pay close attention. We need Him to stick his fingers in our ears and to spit and touch our tongues! How does He do it? The Apostle John called Jesus “the Word made flesh.” Whenever we hear His Word, whenever the Word goes in our ears, that is our Lord, touching our ears to open them. In Holy Baptism, in the preaching of the Word, Jesus opens our ears. And when He gives us His body and blood to eat and drink, there He touches our tongues to loose them so that we might confess His Word and speak and sing His promises! It is by Christ's Word and through His forgiveness that He gives that our ears are opened and our tongues are loosed to speak.

But such clear speaking only comes from hearing Christ's Word. If the deaf man's friends didn't bring Him to Jesus, his ears might never have been opened! Just so, if we cut ourselves off from Christ's Word, our ears are shut and our tongues just babble nonsense. If your children had a speech impediment, you'd do everything to make sure they got therapy to help them to speak clearly. If they were deaf, you'd seek medical help or teach them sign language or seek another avenue of help. How much more do you need to bring them to hear God's Word so that Jesus will open their ears and loose their tongues to hear and confess Christ and His forgiveness! The Divine Service, Sunday School and Catechism and Bible Study: those are the places where Jesus opens your ears and teaches you to speak plainly. If your confession of Jesus isn't clear, then be where He opens your ears so that the Word that goes in will come out of your mouth clearly.

In the order of Matins we pray, “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.” Jesus opened the ears and looses the tongue of a deaf man. According to the prophet Isaiah, this identifies Him as the true Savior of sinners and healer of those who are under the curse of sin in this world. This Jesus is the One who has also opened your ears by His Word, who has touched your tongue and loosed it. Because of this, we can confess: “He has indeed done all things well.” 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 8/19/12--Trinity 11

We Are Beggars
Luke 18:9-14

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


Two days before his death, almost as if he somehow knew his end was near, Martin Luther wrote: “We are all beggars, it is true.”  What a strange way to add up a life, especially his life!  This was the man who stood up to kings and councils and popes and not only survived but thrived!  This was the man whose written work compromises dozens of volumes, whose translation of the Scriptures actually shaped the German language, and whose courage helped to reshape the geography of Europe.  Surely, at the end of such a life there must be time for a bit of boasting.  Yet, like St. Paul, his boasting was in his weakness and, above all, in the power of the cross.

“Not worthy.” Those words are almost like a liturgical refrain on the lips of all the beggars that inhabit the pages of the Scriptures, and indeed, the history of the Church.  There was Zacchaeus, who was content to merely get a glimpse of Jesus as He passed by, and received infinitely more.  The woman who suffered from massive hemorrhages did not dare to ask of Jesus.  “If only I can touch the hem of His garment,” she thought.  Mary, who sat at the feet of her Lord soaking up every word He spoke, was also one of the humble.  At his death, the thief on the cross chastised his cynical companion and humbly asked Jesus to remember Him.  Unworthy beggars, all of them, and yet each of them ended up more wealthy than they could ever dream.  They received those precious gifts of healing, forgiveness, and the presence of the Lord.  They received grace upon grace.  As surely as the exalted are humbled, the unworthy who come to Christ in faith are exalted.

And so it was that two men, one a Pharisee, the other a publican, a tax collector, came before the same altar of God.  Each of them prayed.  The Pharisee, no doubt a sincere man, thanked God that he was not like so many others, especially that tax collector over in the corner.  He laid out his many accomplishments for God to see.  Not only did he avoid dishonesty in his business and unfaithfulness in his personal life, but even exceeded the legal requirements in piety by fasting twice a week and figuring his tithe before taxes.  The publican, however, could find nothing worthy of boasting.  His only plea was for mercy.  And both men received what they asked for.  The Pharisee asked for and received nothing; He had no need for God.  The publican received just what he prayed for: mercy.

In a world that attempts to eliminate guilt, if not deny it altogether, and where most efforts are not aimed excusing sin or denying that sin even exists, the publican seems unnecessarily hard on himself.  It is difficult, if not nearly impossible for most people, maybe even some of us, to really understand the publican’s repentance, or when Luther described himself as “poor stinking maggot fodder.”  That is beggar language, and in most circles such language doesn’t get it.

But in the kingdom of God, the picture of a beggar is one with profound meaning.  It is an eloquent description of your relationship to God.  You come to God with nothing; neither morality nor religious affiliation mean anything to Him.  You come to Him poor and humble and empty, or you do not come at all.  You enter the waters of Holy Baptism as strangers and aliens, and that flood washes away everything to which a sinner would cling.  You emerge washed, cleansed, and named children of the Father in heaven, a gift that gladdens the heart of every beggar, large or small.  If being children of God depended on what you do, or how well you have performed, or even how sincere your faith happens to be, you can never be certain whether you have done enough.

You can read all of the best-selling pop psychology books you like, and everything that has been written about the power of positive thinking, and you will look in vain for anything that will help you deal with your greatest need; the need for mercy.  What happens when broken human beings find the “gospel of self” just one more burden to bear?  What happens when the great movers and shakers of this world falter?  When you have tasted the bitter tears of failure and have grown weary of trying to save your own life, there is little hope found in “positive thinking.”  That is when you turn to a Gospel for beggars, and learn of a gracious God who understands your weakness, and lifts your burdens, and delights in showing mercy.

When you gather for the Divine Service, the first thing you do is beg. It’s not pretty, but you have no choice—you are beggars. And so you say, “O almighty God, merciful Father, I, a poor, miserable sinner, confess unto You all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended You and justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment.  But I am heartily sorry for them and sincerely repent of them, and I pray You of Your boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of Your beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to be gracious and merciful to me, a poor, sinful being.” And when you come before God as beggars, He graciously gives you what you need. He speaks His Word of forgiveness and life to you, and then He feeds you with the body and blood of our Savior: a meal filled with forgiveness and joy and hope.  It is a feast of victory, a foretaste of the eternal banquet where, after a lifetime of begging, you will gather to eat as sons of the King, receiving all that is His.

Until that day, uplifted by His Word, filled with His Supper, you come to Him with empty hands awaiting His gifts to make things right, to make you right with Him, and to sustain your lives.  In all of life, as Luther said, “We are beggars, it is true.”  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 8/12/12--Trinity 10

Knowing What Makes for Peace

Luke 19:41-48

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

The deepest longing of the human heart is for peace.  And that is really the same thing as saying that our deepest longing is for God Himself.  St. Augustine put it this way: “Our souls were made for Thee, O God, and they find no rest until they rest in Thee.”  Peace was the condition of our first parents in paradise before they fell into sin and set this world into chaos.  And peace is where the faithful of Christ are heading, because there is nothing in heaven that will upset the peace of eternity.  In the meantime, however, peace is not a word that we would often use to describe our present condition.  Life is anything but peaceful.  It is disturbed all too often by disappointment and regret, by pain and grief, and we know too well that the storms that “rock our boats” are often of our own making.  Instead of peace, we have opted for chaos.  Instead of God, we have chosen ourselves.

It is enough to make a man cry, which is just what Jesus did.  He wept because He knew what could have been, and what should have been; and He knew what now would be.  Jerusalem, the holy city, had chosen the way of wickedness.  Instead of peace with God, she had chosen to turn God away at the gate by rejecting the very Messiah He had promised.  She did not know the things that made for her peace.  How much of this description fits the Church today? How well does it describe us as individual Christians?  Do we know the things that make for our peace?

Christ gives Himself and His peace to us in particular ways.  He gives to His Word the power to do more than merely inform but to give us the fruits of His peace made with the Father in heaven for us: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.  In Holy Baptism our sin is drowned in the death of Christ, and we are pulled out of those waters into a newness of life that is full of the peace of God which surpasses all understanding; so far beyond our understanding that we often fail to realize that it is there.  In the Sacrament of our Savior’s body and blood we are given the remission of our sins, and there is nothing more conducive to a godly peace than to know that our sins have been taken away.  These are all simple things really: Word, and water, and bread and wine.  These are things we can hear, feel, and taste.

But there is also a complexity behind these things that defies our understanding and tests our faith.  What is in the mind of God?  Why would He do what He has done, and say what He has said?  When we question God’s ways, we question God Himself.  And we have all done this.  We have questioned God’s timing in taking a loved one from us.  We cannot seem to get it though our heads that there is a profound peace that is given in the death of a Christian; he is now with Christ forever.  We have questioned God’s wisdom in putting us where we are in this life.  We fail so often to see that all of life is a gift from His hands, and thus is a part of the peace He offers.  But often, all we see is a difficult job with difficult people, or children who test not only our patience but our sanity, or those many circumstances over which we have absolutely no control.  And, sadly, what frequently happens is that peace with God is broken.  We forget what makes for our peace.  We let our fear and frustration, our pettiness and anger, get in the way of God pouring out His peace on us in measures we would never expect.  We forget that the peace of God does surpass all understanding, and that it is present wherever Christ is with His grace and His gifts. But we tend to come at such things the opposite way.  If only we can understand something, then we will be able to accept it.  If only I can understand why this death occurred, then I will be able to accept it.  If only I can understand why these terrible circumstances have hit me now, then I will be able to accept them.

But that is not the way God works with us, nor is it the way He works with His Church.  We are called to faith first; then understanding, as much as we are able, will follow.  It is only when we first believe God’s Word of promise to us that it begins to make sense to us.  It is only when we believe that water joined with the Word of God cleanses us from all sin that we will begin to understand, as much as we able, how powerful the ongoing blessing of Holy Baptism really is.  It is only when we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ gives us His very body and blood with the bread and wine for the remission of sins that we will begin to understand, as much as we are able, that this blessed Sacrament is “the medicine of immortality,” as early Christians loved to call it, the food of eternal life.  It is only when we know that God has made peace with us, through the blood of Jesus Christ, that we will begin to understand what makes for our peace.  It is only when we know that God has visited us in Jesus Christ, His dear Son, that we will begin to understand that He continues to visit us in His Word and His Sacraments, that He gives us Himself there; that He is really present with us when we gather in His house of worship and prayer to receive the gifts He has invited us to receive.  It is only when we know that this same visitation of grace is what sustains and strengthens us in the midst of grief, and pain, and suffering, that we will begin to see the gracious hand of God in everything, even in that grief, and pain, and suffering.

And when we know and accept these things, then we will begin to understand one other thing of supreme importance.  When peace has been broken, when sin has brought its stain into our lives, God is also in the business of restoration.  And He restores peace in the very same way He makes peace; He gives, and gives, and gives beyond our understanding.  Even as He gave His own Son into death for the sins of this world, He continues to pour out the gifts of this salvation for the life of the world.  He continues to visit this world with His peace and will until the end of days, until He has restored His peace to all His people, that they might have it unto eternal life.  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 8/5/12--Trinity 9

Unrighteous Mammon
Luke 16:1-13

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


This servant is ripping off his boss, and he gets caught. He's about to lose his job. So he does the only thing he knows how: he rips off his boss some more, but this time to the benefit of his boss's clients. Then his boss praises him? And Jesus tells us that Christians can learn from that? Just what exactly is Jesus trying to teach us from this? The answer is this: the people of this world know how to spend what belongs to others better than we Christians know how to spend what is the Lord's for the benefit of others. Jesus is teaching us to stop being stingy with what is His and to spend it like there's no tomorrow. Because of what Jesus has done, we have been given unrighteous mammon to spend lavishly—unrighteous because it's not ours.

The steward knows what God's people seem to have a hard time grasping. He takes what belongs to someone else and uses it for the benefit of others. Do we do that with what belongs to the Lord? Jesus is talking about a currency that isn't earned but that is given—the forgiveness of sins. Think about what our Lord does. He's Lord of heaven and earth, but He lives as if all the glory and righteousness the Father has given Him is His to give away! On the cross, He is so free with that righteousness that He even forgives those who nailed Him there! And by that death, Jesus piles up such a treasury of forgiveness for you that it will never run out. The debt of your sins has been paid in full. Your death has been overcome.

Through baptism, like young Carter, you have been made dead to sin. You have nothing left to lose. You can live by spending what is the Lord's to make the lives of others better. That means you can dish out forgiveness as if it's yours to spend! When someone wrongs you, sins against you, hurts you, goes against you, then you forgive them. The forgiveness for your sins that is given by your Baptism, which you receive in Christ's body and blood, is for you to give away to others. It’s an embarrassment of riches that you can share by refusing to hold the sins of your neighbor against him, by refusing to hold grudges, by treating him as if he has not sinned against you!

That's what it is to live by spending what belongs to Jesus. You see, when you think the forgiveness is yours, you hoard it for yourself. You might, if you thought they were worthy, give a little bit to your neighbor, like you might to a charity. This is why Jesus says the sons of this world are more shrewd than the sons of light. The world knows how to spend other people's money, but we Christians can be really stingy with the Lord's forgiveness, withholding it from those who don't deserve it in our sight. It's not your forgiveness; it belongs to Jesus! Spend it foolishly! Dole it out like it costs you nothing. After all, it didn’t. The Lord has more forgiveness than the world has sins.

Jesus says that His people can't serve both God and mammon. By dying and rising for you, by washing you and feeding you, He replaces the mammon of this world with the riches of His forgiveness. He rescues you from the idolatry of worldly mammon by dishing out His forgiveness. He rescues you from a life lived for yourself to a life in which you have His goods to spend on others, to better their lives with the forgiveness that was first shown to you. Jesus knows that the world is good at spending what belongs to others. So He gives you something even better to spend on others: His forgiveness. And with such a gift, you will be more shrewd than any of the sons of this world. 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 7/29/12--Trinity 8

The Gate of Life Immortal

Matthew 7:15-23

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

The Bible is full of texts that make even Christians uncomfortable.  This is one of them.  False prophets and bad fruit; the fires of judgment rendered against hypocrisy; the Lord closing the door of eternal life to those who are unfaithful to Him—these are fearful things, unsettling things.  It would be so much easier if Jesus had said none of this.  But the Church cannot ignore it, and Jesus won’t take it back, so the Church must read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest these things by faith. These are words that the Church must hear in faith with the understanding that they are for your good.

The Lord knows well the difficulties presented by His teaching, but that knowledge never leads Him to compromise the truth of what He is saying. On the contrary, Jesus at times said things that were so difficult to accept that He lost many of His followers.  And while that, no doubt, troubled His loving heart, it never moved Him to change what He said.  He would have been unfaithful to His own divine nature as the living Word of the Father if He tried to accommodate divine light to weak, sinful human eyes.  Rather than accommodate, He tried to enlighten those who heard Him.

To really get a sense of the urgency of these words, we need to back up a bit.  In the verses that just precede the text, Jesus said: “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.  Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”  Jesus is speaking about the way that leads to the Kingdom of His Father, the gate of that fold over which He watches as Shepherd.  The gate is narrow because the sheep go in one by one to make sure there are no goats or sheep from other folds that have been mixed in.  The Shepherd knows each of His sheep.  As they enter the gate they recognize Him even as He does them.  And inside the fold of the Great Shepherd there is life and joy, all gathered around their common Shepherd, in the safety of His protection.

False prophets want to undo all of this.  They are wolves who disguise themselves as sheep in order to pass as one of the flock.  “Listen to us,” they say.  “Don’t you see that we are just like you?”  They come dressed as sheep to appeal to everything in the nature of sheep that would cause their ruin, were it not for the shepherd.  Wolves want the sheep to follow their own instincts, which will unfailingly lead them astray.  Far from their shepherd, who cannot protect his sheep when they are so far away, the wolves prepare for their own diabolical feast; the death of the sheep.

Jesus says that these fake prophets try in every way possible to look and like the real article. They deceive the unwary with a teaching that brings death rather than life.  They offer a way to the kingdom that is broader and less difficult than that of the true Shepherd.  And yet, the narrow path and the difficult teaching have always been the way to God. The Word of God is life itself.

And so Jesus says: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord’, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but He who does the will of My Father in heaven.”  The one who does the will of the Father in heaven is the one who enters by the narrow gate.  Above all, Jesus is the One who has done the Father’s will, and He makes you able to walk that narrow way and enter through that gate.

It is a difficult path. You enter the kingdom of God only by following Jesus through the gate. We all wish to enter through the narrow gate.  The alternative, the judgment that follows, is unthinkable.  The true prophets speak the Word of God; false prophets would pass off their own words as God’s Word.  What is the Christian to do?  Does God leave you to try and sort out all of this yourself, to distinguish the good from the bad, the true from the false?  Hear again the words of St. Paul from today’s Epistle: “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.” The Holy Spirit bears witness to you, so that you may cry out, “Lord, Lord!”—not in fear or doubt or deception, but in the boldness of faith.

Our Father in heaven does not forsake His children. He gives His Holy Spirit to you to convince you that you belong to Him, so that you may know that it’s the voice of Christ you are truly hearing and following, keeping you on the narrow way.  He put you on that narrow path in Holy Baptism, where He first put His name on you.  He gives you food for the journey in His body to eat and his blood to drink, given and shed for you for the remission of sins.  And he gives you a picture of what to expect when you go through that gate, the narrow gate which is the entry to the Kingdom of heaven, when He says: “Come to Me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give You rest.”  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 7/22/12--Trinity 7

Paradise Restored

Mark 8:1-9

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

God placed man in the Garden of Eden. Man could eat freely of every tree of the garden. Only the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was off limits. The tree was there as a way for man to honor God as his Maker, to acknowledge the holiness and the greatness of God, to show love for God by holding to His Word. This was man's worship. For him to eat of the tree would be to put himself into the place of God, and that meant death for man. "In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die."

We all know the story. Man succumbed to the temptation. Adam and Eve ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Mankind's rebellion brought a curse on him and on the creation God had given him. And yet it might appear to the casual reader that what God said would happen didn't. The Lord had said, "In the day you eat of it, you shall surely die." But Adam and Eve were still alive and kicking for many years and decades after they ate, even if life had become much more difficult. So what's going on here? Did God's judgment fail?

Of course not. Death from the eternal perspective has to do with a lot more than just the body giving out and the heart stopping and the brain no longer functioning. Death ultimately has to do with being separated from God, being cut off from His presence and His goodness. That's why hell is rightly called eternal death: it is the place where God and His grace are absnt. That's the place for those who think they can live without God. So while physical death is indeed the earthly consequence of sin, spiritual death is the ultimate consequence of sin. In the day that they ate, Adam and Eve did die. They were only hollow shells of what they once were.

When the Epistle reading says that "the wages of sin is death," we know it doesn't only mean that death will be coming to us someday in the future. We're already experiencing it. We experience it in our bodies in various troubles and sickness and aging. And we experience it in our spirits, too. Every sin brings death with it. Laziness brings boredom with God's creation and dissatisfaction His blessings. Lust and sexual immorality diminish people and ruin families and sear consciences. Overindulging in food or drink produces health problems and a sluggish spirit. Self-centeredness and impatience lead to destructive anger. Greed overwhelms good relationships. Don't ever think those pet sins of yours are no big deal. They're killing you. Indeed, the wages of sin is death, even before we die.

However, that's only the first half of the verse. The last half trumps the first half when it declares, "The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord!" Notice the difference in terminology. The first half talks about wages; the second half talks about a gift. The first part talks about what we have earned; the second part talks about what God has freely given. Our working has led to death, but God's working leads to life through His Son.

In the Gospel we see a wonderful picture of how God worked to save us from death and bring us back into His life. We see Jesus in the wilderness with the people. After three days they were feeling the effects of sin's curse, being hungry and weary with no food around to refresh or sustain them. Man's sin had turned the world from the abundance of Paradise into a bleak and harsh place, and so Jesus entered into that harshness as a true man in order that He might undo the curse and restore all of creation. The Son of God took on your human body and soul and put Himself smack dab into the middle of this fallen world in order to rescue you and raise you up.

Jesus said, "I have compassion on the multitudes." That word, "compassion," in Greek has to do with the deepest possible empathy and feeling. So fully does Jesus empathize with you that He went so far as to suffer with you and to suffer for you in order to take your suffering away forever.

You can begin to see that taking place already in this miracle of the feeding of the 4000. Jesus produces bread in abundance apart from any sweaty or tiring labor. In this moment He restores the bounty of the Garden of Eden, where food is received in full measure from the gracious hand of God. Here you see God the Son beginning to break the curse of death and overcome the fall into sin. You see a glimpse of how it was in the beginning and how it will be even more so in the new creation of the age to come.

Jesus would complete His work of undoing the fall and breaking the power of the curse on the cross. That is where the deathly wages of sin and the abounding gift of life come together. The wages that you had earned by your sin Jesus suffered to death in His body. The judgment you had coming, He took on your behalf. Because of His sacrifice, the gift of life now flows to you and to all who believe in Him. Sin has been undone, and so have the wages of sin, namely death and hell. All that leaves for you is life.

Jesus took the seven loaves and gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. In the same way still today, Jesus speaks His words of thanks and consecration and His ministers distribute the Sacrament of the Altar. The seven loaves were multiplied to feed and fully satisfy 4000 people. In the same way today, Jesus uses seemingly insufficient bread to multiply His grace and feed and fully satisfy the church with His very life-giving body. We have a glimpse of Paradise right here. As you receive the bread of life, you are being given a taste of heaven. Heaven is where Christ is; and Christ is here for 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.

Love and Saying No

I made the mistake of reading an opinion piece from the New York Times . I usually don't read from the Times, whether it's what they call news or what appears on the op/ed page, as I wouldn't even trust it as fish wrapping for fear of food poisoning. Anyway, in this piece, the writer attacks a political figure for things she said based on the Christian Faith which is formed by the Word of God.

The source isn't important, really, since the Times is by no means the only rag that considers it their "journalistic" (and I use that word loosely) and editorial duty to attack the Christian Faith and those who cling to it. And the target isn't all that important, either, as the world is fond of calling the Church a collection of hypocrites and vilifying Christians because we do not blindly accept every travesty of humanity--things like the GLBT agenda, abortion (in the name of the feminine agenda), et cetera and ad nauseam--in the name of "love." After all, "Judge not, lest ye be judged." "Love your neighbor." "Love bears all things..." 

In the end, sometimes the Church has to love someone so much that it says, "No." No, we cannot abide what the Word of God calls sin. No, we cannot look the other way. That doesn't make us homophobes. That doesn't mean we hate women. Rather, it means we love them so much that we do not desire to see them abide in sin. Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me" (John 14:23-24). That means that Christians do not--or should not, rather, though it happens--choose indiscriminately what teachings of the Word of God that we keep and which ones we discard. If you consider yourself a Christian but don't take seriously what the Word of God says, maybe you shouldn't call yourself a Christian. "Be thou faithful unto death" doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room.

Do you love your child enough to say "no" when he reaches for a knife or a pill bottle? Do you love your friends so enough to keep them from climbing in a car when they're drunk? How can you then love someone so little that you'll let them live in a way that leads to their eternal death?

The world can keep what it calls love. I'd rather have the real thing.

Sermon for 7/13/12--Funeral of Dave Young

Depart in Peace
Luke 2:25-31

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


My brothers and sisters in Christ, the Lord works in mysterious ways.  Given the opportunity, each of us could tell of a time when the Lord worked in some strange, unexpected way in our lives.  Simeon in our text was no exception.  We don’t know a lot about Simeon.  All our text says is that Simeon was “just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.”  The same could be said of many people throughout the Old Testament, those who waited for the Messiah promised to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and to his children.

But then our text tells us of the extraordinary work of God in Simeon’s life.  Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon that he would not die before he had seen the anointed one of God.  And suddenly, that promise was fulfilled.  Mary and Joseph enter the Temple with the Christ Child, and Simeon is actually given the wonderful privilege of holding in his arms the Savior of the world.  What the universe cannot contain, one man held in His arms. Who in the world, looking at an infant, would consider the possibility that the child could be the Salvation of the world?  But Simeon knew.  Even as he held the Child in his arms, Simeon knew that the Holy Spirit’s promise to him had been fulfilled. The Lord does not work this way anymore, does He?

Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I tell you the truth, David, our dearly departed brother in faith, received the same promise from the Holy Spirit.  Do you find that hard to believe?  If so, then what I say to you now will be even harder to believe: you have received that same promise from the Holy Spirit, as well.  This is a strange and wonderful idea, but it’s hard to believe.  Let me explain. The Lord looked down from above, and He knew that David would not die until he had seen the Christ.  And David did see Him.  I can tell you this for a fact.  Do you need evidence?  One: Dave was a Baptized child of God.  In Baptism, Dave beheld his Savior.  Once he had received that washing of regeneration, David could have departed in peace as a baby.  But that was not God’s will.

Two: David frequently confessed his faith in God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Having seen the Lord for himself in the Word, in the preaching of his pastor, and in the words of the worship service, David was able, with his family and his congregation, to confess his faith in his God.  Having seen his God in all of those things, he could have departed in peace.  But again, this was not God’s will.

And Three: Two days before he died, David took part in the very mystery in which Simeon was blessed to take part.  We knelt at this rail and before this altar, and through the wonder and mystery of the Word of God, we actually held in our hands and tasted the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. David knew very well what he received that day. He had confessed it all his life, and when his life was nearing its end, he continued to confess it. And having seen his Lord once again, he was again ready to depart in peace.

So when would it be?  When would the promise to David be fulfilled?  None of us knew until Tuesday, when the Lord finally took Dave from this world of pain and sin, taking him to Himself for rest.  Of course, God knew all along when David’s time would be.  He had promised David that he would not die before he saw His Lord.  And sure enough, when the time was right, the Lord kept His promise.

This is not meant to be an account of how good and just and righteous a man was David Young.  Like the rest of us, David was a sinner.  Even until his dying breath, David was a sinner.  But the Lord forgave him those sins.

So what about you?  Do you still find it hard to believe?  Believe it or not, the promise is for you and for your children.  Whether you believe it or not, Jesus died for you.  If you have been baptized, you have seen your Savior.  Like God brought Simeon to the Temple, God calls you to be where He is, even today in your grief.  Even in grief, ours is a life of faith.  Living by faith means believing in the Word even when we feel cold and dead inside, when our minds have gone numb with grief.  Even then, we live by faith, and we trust the Word of God.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, time is not without an end, and neither is your sorrow or your pain without end.  Jesus lives.  He is coming back.  For now, while we wait, He is here for you in the places where He promises to be.  And even as you mourn, you see your Savior Jesus Christ: even as He promised you; even as He promised Simeon; even as He promised David.  And so with Simeon, and with Dave, we can rejoice: “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”  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 7/15/12--Trinity 6

Shallow Righteousness 

Matthew 5:17-26

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


When you walked into church this morning, were you carrying a grudge? Did you bring with you some anger against someone that has hurt you? Did you come to the Lord's house this day seeking His forgiveness while having secretly tucked away anger toward someone in your life? What grudge against another person or disagreement is clinging to you as you come here today? What proof might be laid against you that you killed someone this week—if not with a gun or knife, then with your angry words and vicious looks?

The Lord has given us His holy Law, the Ten Commandments. They're summarized by saying "Love God and love your neighbor." The words of Jesus expose and lay bare our self righteousness. We who walk with our heads held high while casting a nasty glare at those we don't like—we are robbed of any excuses before God for our murderous behavior. Jesus illustrates this by showing us what the Fifth Commandment really means. The Lord tells His hearers: "Until heaven and earth pass away, not one little bit of the Law will pass away.  Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there's no way you're getting into the kingdom of heaven." The scribes and Pharisees have an outward self righteousness. Look at the example Jesus gives of the Fifth Commandment: “You shall not kill.” The religious and holy people of Jesus' day figured they kept that commandment as long as they didn't cause the physical death of their neighbors. If you don't take a life, then you haven't killed and thus have kept the Fifth Commandment. One down; only nine to go to be holy!

But Jesus won't stand for shallow righteousness. If you're going to keep the Fifth Commandment, then keep it all the way: have no hatred or anger and bear no grudges against your neighbor. You break the commandment when you are angry and hateful towards others. You murder when you speak words that pierce and wound. So look at your life again. Have you murdered your husband or wife this week? How about you kids? Have you murder your brothers or sisters this week? Parents, have you been killing your children? If that is the kind of righteousness without which we won’t get into heaven, we're all doomed. We're all murderers and deserve the death penalty ourselves—not just for now but for all eternity.

So what hope is there for murderers? There is only one hope: the One who comes to keep the Law and fulfill it. Jesus, the Son of God who came not only to keep the Fifth Commandment but the other nine as well; Jesus, whose perfect life is demonstrated in His perfect fear, love and trust of God the Father and His unwavering and pure love for His neighbor. He knows you cannot keep the Law. He gave these commandments to bury you under the judgment of sin. But then He came Himself to keep them in your place. And He even overcomes death by rising the third day.

What wonderful news! You are forgiven because Jesus died on the cross! Now you can treat each other like dirt; you can hate and despise and speak badly toward others and it's all forgiven. You can go on sinning, knowing that it's all been taken care of, right? Not so fast! St. Paul asked that question of the Romans: "Should we go on sinning so grace will abound? Certainly not!" Rather, Paul explains that by baptism into Jesus, you have died to sin. Because you are baptized into Christ, His death and His resurrection are your death and resurrection. Sin has no power over Jesus; and because you belong to Jesus, sin has no power over you.

My brothers and sisters, the salvation Jesus accomplishes for murderers is delivered to you at the font in Holy Baptism. It's also given in Absolution and the Supper. But in Baptism you are united to the death and resurrection of Jesus in such a way that His death is now yours. You are dead to sin because you have died in the water and the Word with Jesus. You have risen from the dead because at the font, Christ's Word and promises have given you new life. Sin simply has no power over you. It no longer owns you. It can't accuse you. It can't convict you. Jesus, who has lived perfectly and died under God's judgment has given Himself to you at the font and therefore you have been justified, redeemed, rescued from sin.

You know that you cannot perfectly keep the Law. You fail miserably! So confess it! Acknowledge it! Plead for God's mercy to such a murderer as you! And then get to the altar, where the verdict of "not guilty" is declared to you once again. Come to the Lord's house where you will hear over and over that your innocent Savior Jesus has taken your guilty place. Live daily in your Baptism which declares that you are dead to sin and alive with God. Rejoice that Jesus has kept the Law for you. Rejoice that His righteousness is far beyond that of the scribes and Pharisees. And rejoice that His death is yours, His life is yours, and His righteousness is yours in the waters of the font. Rejoice in that good news which for you. And now, when you leave church today, the forgiveness of Jesus means all that you'll leave with today is what you can carry in your hand.  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 7/8/12--Trinity 5

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.  


The first time you look at it, fishing and preaching don’t seem to have a lot to do with each other, do they?  One involves praying, writing and speaking God’s Word; the other involves bait and tackle, and nets.  In our Gospel, though, our Lord Jesus proclaims to Peter that he will become a fisher of men.  He won’t fish for men with nets and fishing rods and the like, but Peter would become a fisher of men by casting out the Word of Christ through preaching, and then waiting to see what the catch would be.  This is a picture of how God works in the world through the Church, and it is also a picture of how to hear the Word of God.

The crowd pressed in on Jesus, listening to Him as He was standing by the lake.  He stepped onto Simon’s boat, asked him to push off from the shore, and sat down to preach.  Peter’s boat became the first Christian pulpit.  After He finished preaching He decided to give Simon a visible demonstration of the power of His Word.  He told Simon to put out into the deep and lower the nets for a catch.  Any self-respecting fisherman of that day would know it was crazy!  You catch fish at night, and along the shore—not out in the deep. Peter covers himself by saying, “Master, working hard through the whole night, we took nothing; but at your word I will lower the nets.”

Imagine Peter’s surprise when they caught so many fish that they had to signal their partners in the other boat to come and help them with the catch!  The Lord who spoke the world into being had spoken a word and they had more fish than they could handle.  It is no wonder that Simon and the others were amazed at this.  What was Simon’s response?  He fell to his knees and said, “Depart from me, because I am a sinner, Lord.”  In the sight of God’s holiness and power, Peter falls to his knees and cries out that he is not worthy to be in the presence of God.

The Word of God has great power.  By the Word God created the heavens and the earth. By His Word all the earth was filled, and Adam and Eve were made.  By His Word the flood came over the earth, and afterwards the rainbow.  By His Word the Son of God was prophesied to come into human flesh.  By His Word He crushes and kills with the Law, as we see with Peter here.  Peter has caught but a glimpse of the awesome power of God, and it terrifies Him that He can do nothing to save Himself.  He realizes that his entire life is in the hand of God. What a frightening thought that could be.

It is a strange thing, isn’t it?  On the one hand, Christ commands you to work, and on the other hand shows that your work accomplishes nothing.  If the work of the disciples had accomplished anything, it would have happened during the night, when the fishing was good.  Christ commanded them to let out the nets in broad daylight, to show them that all of their so-called work was useless without the grace and presence of God.

So what is the purpose of the work that you do, day in and day out?  Jobs, home life, school, whatever it may be: the temptation is always there to put your trust in what you’ve done.  “I take care of my family, so I’m a good Christian.”  “I do well in school, and I don’t get into trouble, so I must be good.”  Or whatever.  Add to that is the fact that the world would have you believe that all life is really about is making choices, good or bad.  If you make better choices, then your life will be better.  But you know that’s not true!  Peter and the disciples made all the right choices.  They had done everything right to catch the fish; but it amounted to nothing without Christ and His Word.

Christ here shows you that all works are as nothing without Him, and so it is no wonder that Peter was terrified.  It’s terrifying!  And it should be.  The Law crushes and kills. It forces the pitiful sinner to see himself as he truly is: nothing without Christ.

But thanks be to God that the Lord does not leave it there.  After Peter’s cry of despair, Christ says to him, “Do not fear; from now on you will be catching men.”  Christ absolves Peter, and gives him an amazing promise: not only is Peter forgiven, but also Christ will use Peter to forgive the sins of others.  This is really a foretaste of Christ’s commission to the apostles in John chapter twenty: “Receive the Holy Spirit.  If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

And so you see the perfect picture of what Christian preaching is all about.  Preaching is about delivering Christ and the forgiveness of sins.  The purpose of preaching is to catch men, to get them caught up in the net of the Gospel and into the boat.  It is no accident that the portion of the church where you are sitting is called the nave, because nave is the Latin word for boat.  The boat is where Peter and the others come into the forgiving presence of Jesus…and so it is with you.  Just like Noah and his family in the ark, so also you are kept safe in this place.

It is so easy to get caught up in the ebb and flow of the waters of the world.  Apart from Christ, your life has no purpose; you drift and go back and forth without knowing finally where you are.  The preaching of the Gospel is the net that brings you into the boat where Christ is with His people.  Just as the Word performs for the sake of the disciple, so the preaching of the Gospel will bring many people into the Church, but not all.  Like Peter, the pastor can only let out the net and see what catch the Lord will give that day.

The office of preaching is the net that draws you into the boat where Christ is to be found.  We are all the fish who are caught in this net of Christ’s forgiveness.  You are caught, not to be food like the fish in the text, but to be fed at His Table.  Here Christ gives Himself to you for food.  What a glorious mystery and blessing God has given to you, that you should be caught in the net of the Gospel!  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: Holy! Holy! Holy Lord!

After my liturgical nap after the Divine Service this morning, I opened my Bible to a random spot. Perhaps it's because I've read from this particular chapter quite often, but what turned up was Isaiah 6:1-13. It's one of my favorite portions of Scripture for a couple reasons. First, it shows a beautiful picture of heaven: the holy Lord on His throne being praised by the hosts of heaven. Second, it shows the dichotomy between the holy Lord and the sinful Isaiah--and yet the Lord chooses sinful Isaiah as His prophet to preach to a sinful nation. "Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips."

Having just come from receiving and distributing the Lord's Supper to His people this morning, and having sung the Sanctus, these things were fresh in my mind. I was pointedly reminded that I am a sinner, and I was reminded that the body and blood of Jesus are the coal which purifies my lips to preach the Word, to speak Holy Absolution, and to sing His praise.

With all this in mind, I sat down with my handy-dandy notebook (thank you, Steve and Blue's Clues!) to work on a hymn for the first time in months. (I've written two novels since I wrote my last hymn!) It's not a long hymn, but it doesn't have to be. I envision this as a Sanctus substitution a la Divine Service Four in Lutheran Service Book or as a Communion hymn. Feedback is appreciated.

Holy! Holy! Holy Lord!

1. Holy! Holy! Holy Lord!
Lord of hosts in glory shining,
Be by heav'n and earth adored
On Your mighty throne reclining.
Bless-ed be the One who came
In the Lord's most holy name.

2. Hail! Hosanna, David's Son!
Save this lost and sinful creature.
Woe is me! I am undone:
Fouled, my lips, and fouled, my nature.
Wash my soul of ev'ry sin.
Touch my lips and make me clean.


(c) Alan Kornacki, Jr.
78 78 77
Tune: MEINEN JESUM LASS' ICH NICHT (DARMSTADT) -- LSB 609

Sermon for 7/1/12--Trinity 4

Mercy

Luke 6:36-42

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

Would you dare to have mercy upon someone who doesn't deserve it? Would you do good to someone who couldn't pay you back? Jesus tells us today, "Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful." Jesus teaches us what it means that God the Father has mercy on us sinners and He calls us as His disciples to learn that mercy for our neighbor, for the people who are in our lives.

“Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful." And how is our Father merciful? Our heavenly Father is merciful in this way: Rather than giving us what we deserve for our sins, He sends His Son to take our sins away. Rather than punishing us, He sends the Son to take the punishment for us. Rather than give us what we've got coming, He sends Jesus to arrange eternal life and salvation for us. God's mercy is that He saves us from our sins when he doesn't have to. God is under no obligation to forgive us or save us. He doesn't owe us anything. But He is merciful. That means we don’t get what we have coming. It means we get Jesus instead, who obeys the Father and accomplishes our salvation by dying for sinners.

"Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful." How do you do that? Jesus tells us: Don't judge. Forgive others and don't complain about your neighbor's speck while you've got a plank sticking out of your own eye. When Jesus says not to judge, we need to listen closely. This doesn't mean that parents don't judge their children and pastors don't judge doctrine and call people to repent when they're doing wrong or that actual judges don't condemn and sentence prisoners. No, when Jesus tells us not to judge, He's telling us not to treat others as if their sins are greater than ours. As if we are holier than they are. As if they deserve what they've got coming and we don't. Are you merciful? Or do you deny mercy to your neighbor and those around you? We love to come and receive forgiveness for our sins, but we just as easily turn around and withhold that same forgiveness from others. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this must not be! With all of His words, Jesus calls us to repentance for wanting forgiveness for ourselves but not passing it on to others. You should know this: If you want forgiveness but you refuse to forgive, if you want God to turn away from judging you while you judge someone else, then don't claim that you are a Christian. Repent of that hypocrisy and cry out to the Lord that He will be merciful and take the plank out of your eye.

To have your plank removed is to be baptized and washed clean of all your sins. To remove the plank is to confess your sins and receive Holy Absolution by which those sins are declared no longer held against you. To remove the plank is to kneel at the Lord's altar and receive the body and blood of Jesus through which God is merciful and forgives your sins. That is how our Lord takes the plank out of our eye. He continually pours out His mercy upon us, continually showers His mercy upon us in Jesus Christ.

"Be merciful as your heavenly Father is merciful." That means now you are clear of the plank in your eye to deal with the speck in your brother's eye. How do you do that? You deal with them as God has dealt with you: with mercy—mercy like the Father's mercy. My brothers and sisters in Christ, mercy means that, just as you have been forgiven and God does not hold even one sin against you in Jesus Christ, by the same Lord Jesus Christ you don't hold anything against anyone else. Don't hang on to their sins. Let them go. Treat them as they do not deserve, just as your Father in heaven deals with you in Jesus Christ. But what if they sin? Gently, with love and patience, correct and teach as you need to.

"Be merciful as our heavenly Father is merciful." With those words, Jesus destroys our self righteousness and delivers what we don't deserve: mercy and forgiveness. With those words, "Be merciful," we learn what sort of mercy our heavenly Father has for us in Jesus Christ. And with those Words, Christ calls you to exercise that same mercy toward others, to forgive as you have been forgiven. How else does someone live who has Christ dwelling in them? And when we fail at mercy, as we surely will? Come back to the Lord's mercy poured out from font, pulpit, and altar. It is mercy that pours into you, forgiving you all your sins, and then spills out of you onto your neighbor. That's the kind of mercy that God the Father gives you in 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. 

Sermon for 6/24/12--Trinity 3

     

Joy in Heaven

Luke 15:1-10

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

It must have been strange for the scribes and Pharisees, watching Jesus. Eating with sinners and tax collectors? Hanging out with them? What does He think He's doing? Maybe Jesus doesn't know they're sinners. The scribes and Pharisees certainly know. Maybe Jesus should hang out with the righteous so He can learn who the right people are. Jesus is causing a scandal!

The sad thing is, sometimes we think the Pharisees and scribes are right. Jesus shouldn't be with those people. He should be teaching why those people shouldn't get to eat dinner with everyone. We think that way because that's how we treat sinners. You know who the sinners are. They are the people who do you wrong, who hurt you. You have no time for those who sin against you. They had their chance and they blew it. More than that, they probably keep doing it. No sitting down to dinner with them. Instead, shun them. Give them the silent treatment. If it were a sheep, we'd go find it. If it were a coin, we'd sweep in every corner. That's because we treat our stuff better than we treat our people. We take better care of our things than we do our neighbor. We get along well enough until someone does or says something we don't like, and then we're done with them. We label them as sinners and have nothing to do with them anymore.

So why are you here today? You are here today because Jesus receives and eats with sinners. You are here today because Jesus seeks lost sheep and searches for that lost coin. You are here because you wandered off like a sheep or rolled into the corner like a lost coin and the Lord spared no effort in finding you. He became man to go after you. He was baptized and took your sins to the cross to bring you back. He gave His life to bring you back. That's why you're here today: because Jesus comes to find and save sinners. That's what He does. Jesus leaves the righteous to themselves. Those who think they are good enough for God are no concern of Jesus. He comes for sinners, for those who can't save themselves. That's you and me.

And why is there joy in heaven? Why do the angels rejoice? They rejoice when a sinner repents. And that's not about you. They don't rejoice because you did something. They rejoice because the Lord did something. He searched and He found you and saved you. They don't look at you and say, “Wow, you repented and really turned your life around. Let's party!” No, they rejoice because the Lord whom they serve day and night became man and went to find and bring back sinners. That's what repentance is: Jesus finds you. Have you repented? That’s a hard question, because you can never be sure that you’ve fully turned away from your sin. But has Jesus found you? Yes. You were found by Him the day you were baptized and brought into His kingdom. Jesus receives you when your pastor absolves your sins. And then the Lord brings you home to His church and eats with you. And He's not just here as the guest with us; He's the food, too! Why would He do that? The scribes and Pharisees say, “Jesus receives sinners and eats with them!” What does it mean? It means that the One who is worthy also makes you worthy to sit with Him.

Jesus came for all people, but those who are sinners are the ones He receives and eats with. Tax collectors. Sinners. You. So what does Jesus think He's doing eating with tax collectors and sinners? He's saving them. So what are you doing here today? The Lord has come to save you. He has saved you. He brings you to His feast. Are you a sinner? If so, then you are the one Jesus receives and eats with. His meal is the meal of salvation. Jesus has come to save sinners: to find lost sheep and coins. He has found you. He has saved you. The scribes and Pharisees don't like it, but that's what Jesus does: He saves sinners and eats with them. And He does it again here today.  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.