Sermon for 10/28/12--Festival of the Reformation (observed)

Slaves and Sons

John 8:31-36

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

      

Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” It would not be a mistake to say that these words explain the central truth of the Reformation. Abiding in the truth of the Word of God was Martin Luther’s main point. That main point was reflected in his translation of the Holy Scriptures into German, so that anyone—not just the clergy—could read the Bible. That main point was reflected in Luther's Catechism, written so that anyone could understand and teach their children the basic doctrine of the Bible.

Jesus said, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Sadly, the people who heard Him took offense to His words. The astonishing thing is that those who took offense were those described as “those who believed Him.” But if they truly believed Jesus, why would they be offended by what He had to say? And the answer is simple: though they believed what Jesus said to them, their confidence was in their ancestry, their heritage. “We are Abraham’s descendents,” they said. Abraham was their idol; it was as if he was a god to them, and their heritage as his sons was their salvation.

Many of you have been Lutherans since the day you were baptized as an infant. Some of you come from generations of Lutherans. Some of you are descendents of founding members of St. Peter. Some of you even attended our day school. You know the Bible, the Catechism, and the great hymns of the faith. You’ve learned the truth of the Word from your parents and from faithful pastors and teachers. You come to this place to hear the truth. You sit in your pew and you listen as your pastor preaches the Law to you and then speaks to you the comforting message that Christ has delivered forgiveness to you through His death and resurrection. You come here to return to your baptism through repentance and faith. You come here to hear the word of Holy Absolution, spoken to you by your pastor as by Christ Himself. You come here to receive in your mouth the body and blood of Jesus Christ, given and shed for you. You have a heritage of faith, and that’s a wonderful blessing from the Lord.

And yet…and yet, there are times when the message is not what you think you should be hearing. Your pastor preaches, and you can’t help but think that the sermon is being preached to the choir, that there’s no need for the pastor to preach to life-long, every-Sunday churchgoers the way he does to real sinners. It makes you uncomfortable, for example, when he speaks of individual confession and absolution. It irritates when he preaches about the Lord’s Supper on days when it’s not offered. His message makes you squirm in your pew because he’s telling you that ‘the way things have always been,’ the way your parents and grandparents did things, does not cut it as a reason to refuse the gifts of God. “But isn’t it enough that St. Peter has been a faithful outpost in Campbell Hill for nearly 125 years?” “Isn’t it enough that our Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod has been bringing the Word to our country and the world for 165 years?” “Isn’t it enough that, 482 years ago, Martin Luther gave us a theological heritage?” These earthly institutions become idols, slave chains that bind you to sin. Being called “Lutheran” or even “Christian” cannot save you. Many who claim those names have abandoned the Word. Neither Martin Luther nor CFW Walther can free you from slavery to sin. Membership here does not give you an eternal heritage.

Only the truth of the Word of God sets free repentant sinners. That is the true, eternal heritage we have as sons of our heavenly Father, disciples who abide in the Word of God. Our true heritage as sons is that our Father’s dwelling place is our home as well. The Divine Service is our family gathering. In this house we are clothed with the white robe of Christ’s righteousness in Holy Baptism. In this house we are fed with the body and blood of Christ, our Brother—a meal which fully nourishes us and quenches our thirst. Our Father spends quality time with us in the Word, where Christ’s faithful preachers share our family history, telling us the good news of how our Brother took our sins upon Himself, bearing them to the cross, suffering and dying in our place, and then raising us up with Him in baptismal waters. That sacrifice has broken the chains that bound us to sin.

The Gospel is an offense. The Word of God will never be popular in the eyes of the world. The children of the world are happy to be slaves. They have their reward: earthly treasures of fame, popularity, and fortune—all of which will fade away, all of which leave them as slaves of sin. But as sons of our heavenly Father, our heritage, our eternal inheritance, is freedom from sin and a place in the house of our heavenly Father. “The Kingdom ours remaineth.” 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 10/21/12--Trinity 20

The Wedding Banquet

Matthew 22:1-14

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

The imagery of marriage is one of Scripture’s richest and most beautiful pictures of the relationship between God and His people.  It is expressed frequently in the New Testament as an image of the “marriage”, if you will, between Christ and His Church.  We see this as early as Jesus’ miracle at the Wedding at Cana.  But this was also a picture not unknown to the Old Testament.  Now and again, the prophets would speak of God as the “husband” of His people, which meant, of course, that they were like a “bride” to Him.  He would love them and care for them and provide for them, and they were to honor and love Him in return.  And when they would not, it was as if they were committing adultery; evil, treacherous, destructive, and even self-destructive.  And that is how this text finds Israel.  She has had the invitation for years, but has made one excuse after the other to justify her spiritual adultery.  The succession of servants sent by the king with his invitation have been met with anger and spite; they were treated shamefully, and some were even killed.  Finally, the patience of the king ran its course.  Angrily, he sent his troops to kill those who had murdered his servants, and then burned their cities to the ground.

Keep in mind that this feast was not just any feast.  It was a marriage feast, and a royal one, at that.  It was a feast given by the king for his son, the prince.  It was a feast to end all feasts.  To be invited to it was a mark of profound privilege; to reject such an invitation was an offense like no other. The meaning was plain for those who would see it.  Jesus Himself was their last invitation.  If they rejected Him, they would suffer the consequences of that rejection.  To spurn the personal invitation of the king, delivered by his son, would be the height of arrogance.  There would be no more invitations.  

It’s easy for us to look at this parable in a detached sort of way.  After all, we are those who were out on the thoroughfares, as the parable describes it, those in the streets to whom the king sent his servants with the invitation.  The feast was all prepared, but there was no one to enjoy it; no one to share the king’s joy in the marriage of his son.  That is where we come in.  The invitation has gone out to others.  They are called the Church, literally, the “called-out ones,” those whom the king has called to fill up His banquet hall.  But, are we not faced with the same danger that overcame those who were first given the invitation?  Don’t we find excuses to turn a deaf ear to the king when he calls out to us?   Don’t we find it too easy to neglect that invitation that is always new and always fresh with its promise of the king’s blessing?

Consider the man who tried to crash the party without the appropriate wedding garment.  Today, entrance to a great feast would be gained by means of an engraved invitation, most likely. In this instance, the king gave to each one invited a garment that would be instantly identifiable as his; there would be found his name or his mark, something which would set his garments off from all others.  

And that is just what we have been given.  We have been “clothed with Christ”, St. Paul said.  His reference was to Holy Baptism.  In Holy Baptism we have been named with His name.  We are unmistakably identified with our Lord Jesus Christ, set apart by Him for a life that is eternal.  But, what happens all too often is that Baptismal faith is not fed and nourished.  It is not sustained with the Word of God and prayer, and thus withers up and dies like a branch that is severed from the vine.  And only because of neglect, only from taking for granted the king’s invitation, not taking seriously his wish to bring us and to keep us at his eternal feast.

Does this, in any way, describe where you are at this moment?  Is it possible that, though you may be here frequently, still you have, in truth, neglected the invitation of the Lord to enjoy His eternal feast?  There is one above all, and that is the feast our Lord spreads at His table for us, the blessed meal of His holy body and blood, a “foretaste of the feast divine,” as it sometimes called.  And that it surely is!  As we confess in the liturgy, it is that point at which we join with angels and arch-angels and the whole company of heaven.  It is a preview of the marriage feast of the Lamb, whose Kingdom will have no end.

If you have neglected this invitation, here is where to make amends.  The wedding garment you were given in Holy Baptism still bears His name.  It is still the guarantee of your entrance to the eternal feast.  As you confess your sins and have received the Lord’s word of absolution, come to this table and partake of the very body and blood of the Lamb of God who was slain for the sins of the world.  Even now He prepares that eternal feast of His love and joy for you, and you are an invited and welcome guest at His table.  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: Your Sins Are Now Forgiven You

It may be a little ambitious, and I don't expect to be done any time soon, but I've embarked on a project to write a hymn for every Sunday of the Church Year in the 1-year Lectionary as we have it in LSB. I already have a bit of a head start from hymns I've already written, and I don't mind using work I've already done on a new project (since this isn't school and I'm not passing it off as new work anyway). 

My latest is based on the readings--especially the Gospel--from this past Sunday, the Nineteenth Sunday After Trinity. The Gospel is Matthew 9:1-8, and, as is revealed by the repeated theme, my text focuses especially on verse 8: "Now when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such power to men." As always, I'd appreciate any feedback, as this is a very raw first draft.

Your Sins Are Now Forgiven You

1. "Your sins are now forgiven you.
Arise and go your way."
Our Lord, who bears the keys to death
Holds all sin's might at bay.
He speaks forgiveness unto us
Who sin and sin again.
All glory be to God on high
Who gives such pow'r to men.

2. He bore our sins unto the cross.
He paid redemption's price.
He showers us with grace through His
Atoning sacrifice.
As God and man He knows that we
Are paralyzed by sin.
All glory be to God on high
Who gives such pow'r to men.

3. Authority to loose our sins
Belongs to God alone.
But Christ, who intercedes for us
Before the Father's throne,
Calls men to serve, and in His stead
They preach God's grace again.
All glory be to God on high
Who gives such pow'r to men.

4. All glory to the Father be,
Who sent His Son to save.
All praise to Christ, our Paschal Lamb.
His life He freely gave.
All praise the Spirit, working faith
In blood-bought, baptized men.
All glory be to God on High
Eternally. Amen.


(c) Alan Kornacki, Jr.
CMD (86 86 D)
Tune: ALL SAINTS NEW (LSB 661)

Sermon for 10/14/12--Trinity 19

A Man Forgives

Matthew 9:1-8

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

Jesus forgave and healed a paralyzed man. The scribes were outraged because only God can forgive sins. But the crowds were amazed, and they glorified God who had given such authority to men. What amazed them, even more than seeing a paralyzed man suddenly able to walk, was that a man could forgive sins. With that forgiveness, every accusation of the Devil against the forgiven man is dropped. That's what forgiveness does. It turns everything around. It rescues us from eternal punishment, cancels every accusation, destroys all evidence for our judgment and transfers us from the darkness of eternal despair to the everlasting life and light of God Himself. The Jews thought only God could do that, but here was a man doing it! Of course, as we heard last week, Jesus is true God and true man. But this is the same authority Christ then gave to His church. 

The center, the big deal of the Christian faith is the forgiveness of sins purchased for us with the blood of Jesus. The paralyzed guy and his friends come so that Jesus can heal him and make him walk. But Jesus gives him something extra. He forgives the man's sins, granting him everlasting life. Jesus is all about forgiving sins. Sins bring condemnation. They are the reason we are separated from God. But Jesus came to forgive sins, to cancel debt. This forgiveness comes at the price of Jesus' blood. On the cross, Jesus has our sins. Every last thought, word, deed and curse upon us is taken by our Lord and washed away by the blood He sheds. Every last accusation of the Devil is turned aside. Every punishment of sin is lifted from us because Jesus is now the lightning rod of God's judgment. By His death, Jesus takes away sins. By His resurrection He triumphs over death. Sin has been overcome. 

And then Jesus makes sure that this forgiveness is delivered to us and bestowed upon us. How do we get this forgiveness? How does what happened at the cross become ours? Praise be to God who has given such authority to men! By the hand of your pastor, you were washed at the font with God's Word and water. By the mouth of your pastor your sins are forgiven every time the absolution is spoken either publicly or privately. By the hand of a man, your pastor, Christ places His body and blood into your mouth for the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. The same thing Jesus says to the paralyzed man is the same thing you pastor says: Your sins are forgiven. When your pastor, called and ordained by Christ, preaching and teaching Christ's word, forgives you your sins, then have no doubt that they are forgiven. How can this be? It is so because God has given such authority to men! The forgiveness your pastor speaks to you is Christ's own forgiveness. What Jesus won at the cross, it's your pastor’s job to deliver and give to you. Our Lord doesn't keep you guessing as to whether you sins are forgiven. He speaks His word of forgiveness plainly through the mouth of your pastor who says, “In the stead and by the command of Christ, I forgive your sins.”

But there's more. The authority given to men to forgive sins is given to you, too, because you are a new creation in Christ. You have the same power, from Christ Himself, to lift the burden of sin from others. Think about this carefully! Parents, when your children are crushed by the wrong they've done, scared that you don't love them, worried that they're out of the family, forgive them! Lift from them the burden of wondering whether their sins have made your and God stop loving them. Husbands and wives, when your spouse is troubled that whatever they've done or failed to do means you have every right to stop loving them and throw them out the front door, then forgive them! Lift from them that burden of their sins which brings them to despair. Lift them up with such forgiveness as you have received, that they are comforted. Pay close attention to people around you. You will see that most are struggling with the burden of their sins. Something they've done. Something they've failed to do. The devil can get at consciences so easily, fooling people into thinking their sins are enough for God to stop loving them and have nothing to do with them. As a baptized child of God, do your job! Exercise the authority Christ has given to cast down Satan and rescue sinners: tell them that their sins are forgiven. Forgive them if their sins are against you and deliver to them the forgiveness of Christ. When someone sins against you and they tremble to seek your forgiveness, give it gladly! And rejoice that Christ has given such authority to you! Receive the forgiveness Christ has for you so that in confidence you may forgive others with that same comforting gift. 

Christ's word of forgiveness, spoken to us by men, truly rescues us from our sins and makes us, like the paralyzed man, leap up and glorify God. And just as the paralyzed man could now walk and go home, so now we, forgiven of our sins, go home to be with Christ. Let us glorify God, who has given such authority to men! 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 10/7/12--Trinity 18

Son and Lord

Matthew 22:34-46

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


If Jesus is David’s Lord, how can he also be David’s son? The religious leaders of Jesus’ day didn’t even try to answer. And because they couldn’t understand, they wouldn’t believe that Jesus was the Savior. What about you? Can you answer that question? This question separates Christians from non-Christians. It’s the question which shows whether a person’s religion is about them or about the Lord. How can Jesus be David’s Lord and a descendant of David? Here’s the simple answer—and I hope it sounds very familiar to my catechism students: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.” As God, He is David’s Lord. As a man, he is the descendant of David.

That’s all well and good, but what does that have to do with the commandments of which Jesus speaks? He says that you are to love God and love your neighbor, and He adds, “On those two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” What hangs on those commandments? Jesus does! When He hangs on the cross, He’s hanging on “Love God” and “Love your neighbor.” Those two commandments judged and condemned Him for your lack of love for God and your neighbor. But also while hanging on the cross and dying for our sins, Jesus is keeping those two commandments. On the cross, He loves His Father above all things and is obedient even unto death. And on that cross, since He’s dying for you, He is loving His neighbor. The Law is God and neighbor. The Savior is God and man. What Jesus does on that cross has everything to do with who He is as both David’s Lord and David’s Son.

Some want to imagine that Jesus is only God. He is high and exalted and almighty. How are we supposed to relate to a God who is pure awesome holiness when we’re just miserable sinners? They are disgusted to think that God could become man and take on human flesh. They believe that should be beneath Him. But a timid God doesn’t save us. Our Lord must become man to be human like His creatures and take what is ours—our sin and death. On the other hand, some think that Jesus was just a man. But no mere man can save you. No man’s sacrifice can be for the whole world. No mere man can overcome the devil and death. Jesus wasn’t just a moral example. He is the God-man Who gave Himself as a sacrifice for us so that we may have eternal life.

It is so easy to look at Jesus and see what you want to see. But my brothers and sisters in Christ, you are Christians because Jesus is God and man. Jesus is not so big that He has nothing to do with you. He is not out to get you. He doesn’t see you as small and insignificant. And He is not so small that He is unable to handle all your sins, worries, doubts and fears. He knows your doubts and fears, your struggles and temptations. As a man, He faced them, too. But as God and man both, He knows your struggles, your needs, and your sins, and He has the power to overcome them

So how can Jesus be David’s Lord and also His son? Because Jesus is true God and true man. There He is, keeping the commandments. There He is: the sacrifice for our sins. There He is: the salvation of the world. He is your confidence that you are the Lord’s forever. In a world where every man tries to be “god” and every so-called god is really just a man, the true God becomes a real man and loves God and neighbor perfectly. He dies on the cross and rises again, and in doing so He takes away your sin and gives you life. At the font and the altar, this God-man comes to you, washes you, and lifts you from your sins to be with Him. He feeds you and promises to raise you to everlasting life on the last day. He who is David’s Lord is our Lord, and He who is David’s son has made you a child 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.

HYMN: See the Son Arise with Healing

I enjoyed an introvert's holiday today. I spent most of the day huddled in my office, working either silently or with some quiet music playing in the background. I was looking through the Propers for upcoming Sundays in the Church year, and I came upon the Propers for the Second Sunday in Advent. An idea popped into my head to blend the readings together, and I ran with it. As always, any feedback would be appreciated.

See the Son Arise with Healing

1. See the Son arise with healing,

All His righteousness revealing

For the saints who fear His name.

They shall prosper without measure

Who in Christ have found their treasure.

They shall ne’er be put to shame.

2. Sun and moon and all creation

Wait in eager expectation.

Nations rage in deep distress,

For the Son of Man is coming.

With His pow’r the earth is humming.

Lo, He comes to curse and bless.

3. Yet the proud the Lord will chasten.

They have spurned their own salvation

Given by the Lord Most High.

In that day the Christ will snare them.

Cares and drunkenness—beware them,

For the Son of Man comes nigh.

4. Stir our hearts and make them steady,

That we might be ever ready

To prepare Your blameless way.

Cleanse us, Lord, to serve You solely.

Make us humble, pure, and holy

For that great and glorious day.


© Alan Kornacki, Jr.
887 887
Tune: ALLES IST AN GOTTES SEGEN (LSB 732)

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.